275 Where is Jackson?

Saturday

7:21 AM

Mr. Adams woke up and did his morning routine in the bathroom. After dressing up, he went to the dining room for breakfast and checked his phone.

"Paula…" Mr. Adams called his wife stiffly. "Where is Jack?"

Mr. Adams shrugged. "In his room, maybe. You know that he had a date with Sabrina. Maybe things went better than we expected." She said happily while bobbing her head.

"What was he wearing?"

"A suit." Mrs. Adams narrowed her eyes at her husband. "What is the meaning of all those questions?"

Mr. Adams gave her his phone and she gasped at the photo which shows a heavily beaten man (if that is a man) in some dark place, surrounded by black trash bags.

"What is this?" Mrs. Adams asked in outrage.

"Look at the text…"

It took Mrs. Adams a second to realize that there is a text under the photo: "Your son ordered us to take care of Ashton Grant. He didn't pay us after the job was done, so we did to him the same as what we did to Ashton Grant."

"This…" Mrs. Adams was not sure how to react. "Is this real?"

Mr. Adams eyed his wife suspiciously. She is always the scheming one, pushing Jackson to do things and he was not sure if she is really surprised by this or is she faking it. "You tell me."

"Why do you think I would know? Did Jack really hire some guys to take care of that boy? And did he not pay them? And is this person on the photo him? When did you receive this? … Two hours ago! If this is Jack, he is probably dead by now!"

"Calm down…" Mr. Adams urged his wife. He can't think with all the yelling.

"How can I calm down!?" Mrs. Adams screamed while her body shook uncontrollably. "There is a chance that Jack is dead! No. No. There is no chance this is him. How can he hire anyone? He didn't leave his room until last night."

Mr. Adams rubbed his temples.

"Call the police!" Mrs. Adams screamed. "Someone wants to blackmail us! What kind of a sick joke is this?"

"Calm down!" Mr. Adams shouted. "Stop panicking and use your head!" He took a deep breath and continued in a calmer tone. "First, let's check if this is Jack. If he really hired someone and the word spreads, we should not be hasty to call the police. There is a chance that he is fine, and someone is playing a game with us in order to get money. You see that the text is talking about money. You check if he is in his room, we should check if he is in his apartment… I will call him. Go, check his room."

"He went on a date with Sabrina. We should call her…"

"Let's check our side first." Mr. Adams said.

Of course, Jack was not in his room and he didn't answer his phone.

They sent a maid to go and check his apartment, and fifteen minutes later, she responded that Jack is not there. She has the key because she is tidying up his place once a week.

"Yes, Mrs. Adams?" Sabrina answered stiffly.

"Do you know where Jackson is?" Mrs. Adams was not in the mood for pleasantries.

"Why would I know where he is?"

"You had dinner with him last night."

"No, I didn't." Sabrina denied it.

Mrs. Adams paused. "Are you sure? He went to have dinner, with you."

"Why would I have dinner with my ex-fiancé? I was nice to call him when I heard that he returned from the hospital, but that's it. We broke up and I moved on. I hope that Jackson and you can do the same and don't find various excuses to call me."

Mrs. Adams could not believe this. Jackson came to her gloating that Sabrina called and invited him for dinner. And now Sabrina says that she was not with him? If Jackson was not with Sabrina, where was he?

Mrs. Adams remembered how she spoke with Jackson before he left the house and they were coming up with various scenarios on how he will win Sabrina over. "You are lying!"

"Why would I lie? I will tell you where I was last night." Sabrina said irritably. "I was in the Franciscan Medical Center next to my boyfriend who was beaten up on Thursday afternoon. Do you really think that I will abandon my boyfriend who is in the hospital in order to have dinner with my ex? And if you need further proof, three other people were here, and none of them was Jackson. Anything else, Mrs. Adams?"

"Uhm… no…" Mrs. Adams ended the call and looked at her husband helplessly. "What do we do now?"

Mr. Adams listened to the conversation over the speaker. He lifted his hand, indicating to his wife that he is onto something. "Sabrina said that she was next to her boyfriend, in the hospital. That confirms the information in the text, Jack hired someone to attack that boy."

Mrs. Adams shook her head frantically, unwilling to accept it. If that text is true, it means that there is a chance the person in the photo is Jack. "How can he hire someone? He didn't leave his room. Is he stupid enough to do an online transaction and leave a trail that police can find?"

"No. He should know that the Anderson family is watching him… Someone was here and helped him set it up…"

Mrs. Adams' eyes flashed when she realized: "Rita. She came to visit Jack."

"Why do you think that she would help Jack with this?"

"She was publicly embarrassed at the recent party Anderson's hosted. She was fuming and I heard her saying that she will get back at them."

Mr. Adams thought about how it makes sense. Anyway, they don't have any other clues. "Let's go and visit the Stones."

~ Seattle, the Stone family villa ~

"You are saying that Rita worked with Jack to get Sabrina's boyfriend hurt?" Mr. Stone asked in outrage.

Mr. Adams ignored Mr. Stone and turned to his daughter. "Rita, if you know anything… please, tell us. Jack is missing, there is a chance that he is hurt, and we have no idea how to find him."

Rita bit her lip and lowered her head. She wondered if she should say something. She only called those thugs and left an envelope with money at a given location. Why is she being dragged into this? Should she be involved? Admitting that she plotted against Andersons is a suicide.

"Why don't you call the police if your son is missing?" Mr. Stone hissed.

"Because if he hired someone, we need to figure out what happened." Mrs. Adams was irritated that he is meddling. Rita was about to say something!

Mrs. Stone didn't like that those two came into their house and are throwing random accusations. "What is this with Sabrina having a boyfriend? Isn't she engaged to your Jack?"

Mrs. Adams sighed. "That is not important, is it? Our boy is missing since last night, someone sent us a gory photo saying how the person on it is Jack. Rina, if you know something, tell us."

Rina gritted her teeth. There is no way she is admitting to anything. She was stupid enough to believe Jack how his plan was foolproof and that no one will find out because she needs to use cash and a burner phone. How is this foolproof when his parents are here, demanding an explanation? Jack got caught, but she is not going down with him.

"I visited Jack because of our friendship. If I knew that I would be accused of something like this, I would not come. If he is missing, you should call the police. Or do you think that Jackson's life is more important than your reputation?"

Mr. and Mrs. Adams returned home empty-handed. The only thing they got left was to call the police.

~ Seattle, the Franciscan Medical Center ~

11:21 AM

Sabrina was feeding Ashton when the police came.

"Ashton gave you a statement about his attack. Do you have more questions for him?" Sabrina asked two police officers. They are different than the ones who came previously about Ashton's attack, but she assumed that these two are following up on the same issue.

"Actually, we came to talk to you, Miss Anderson." One of the police officers said. "Your fiancé is missing, and his parents told us that you had dinner with him last night. That makes you the last person to be in touch with him, so we came to take your statement…"

Sabrina frowned. "I don't have a fiancé."

The two police officers exchanged glances before one asked. "Jackson Adams is not your fiancé?"

"We broke up a while ago. It seems that his parents have difficulty accepting it." Sabrina said curtly. "As for last night, I didn't have dinner with him. I was here, taking care of my boyfriend. The whole evening, I didn't leave this place."

The police officers didn't care if Sabrina is engaged or is dating someone.

"Can you confirm that Miss Anderson was here last night?" The police officer asked Ashton.

Sabrina responded. "He was unconscious, and he woke up this morning. But three other ladies were with me until after midnight. I will give you their names and contact information…"

The police officers took contact information for Liz, Mia, and Olivia.

The girls have everything figured out. Three of them will confirm that Sabrina was with them. The restaurant where Sabrina and Jackson went had a reservation on Max's name and if the police ask him, he will say that he had dinner with some business partners. Ian took care of the security footage from the restaurant, and Sabrina paid for the dinner with Max's card.

"Is Jack dead?" Ashton asked when the police left.

"Do you really want to know?" Sabrina asked seriously. She observed Ashton for a few seconds who struggled to come up with an answer. "He is not dead. Death is an easy exit for him."

Ashton was not sure if he should be relieved or not. Jack is not dead, but it didn't sound like he is any better. "What do you plan to do with him?"

"We will keep him for another day or two before he shows up in a hospital."

"What will you do if he accuses you of attacking him?"

Sabrina looked at Ashton confidently. "We all have alibis and Jackson is an angry ex-fiancé, an addict, who got beaten up by thugs he hired and didn't pay. The fact that he has similar injuries as you will only confirm that story and also implicate him in the attack on you. If the police do not come to that conclusion within a few days, we will provide them with additional hints. If Jack says anything about us attacking him, it will be slander and we will sue him."

Ashton has to admire Sabrina's plan. "You thought of everything."

Sabrina smiled and urged him: "Eat more soup before it cools down completely…"

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