Dream Hunter

Chapter 7

"Roberto, we've been here for over an hour. What else are you looking for?" Jax asked as he watched his partner rummage though his wife's car.

"Anything that'll tell me the truth about my wife," Roberto loosened his tie and ran both of his hands through his dark hair. "Those idiots won't help me."

"Those idiots are the police and you know they can't help you when you have a text from her saying she's alright," Jax said cautiously. "Roberto, let me take you home. If you want, you can crash at my place tonight."

"Dammit, not you too," Roberto waved his cell phone in Jax's face. "This text message is total crap and you know it. Gladys would never cheat on me much less leave me. Never."

"Roberto-"

"No. I have to be missing something here...I have to be."

"You already called all of her co-workers and the principal. No one knows anything," Jax reminded him.

"Exactly! That's proof too. Don't you see? If she had a secret boyfriend, wouldn't one of her friends know about it? It doesn't make any sense. None."

Jax wanted to tell his friend that if she did have a secret boyfriend, it would be unlikely that her friends would know about it much less tell the angry husband about him. Instead he crossed his arms and waited for his partner to calm down. Jax turned away from Roberto and stared at the barely lit parking lot.

He noticed something dark on the ground and glanced at Roberto before pulling out his cell phone and using the screen to light up the cement parking lot.

Tire marks were a few feet away from Gladys' car as though it had stopped too quickly and burned the rubber into the cement. Jax turned on his phone application and using his flash, took a picture of the tire marks.

"What are you doing?" Roberto asked.

"It could be nothing...but we have tire tracks here," Jax turned his head and warned his partner. "Keep in mind this is a parking lot. It could be nothing."

"Or it could be everything," Roberto whispered. "Do you think we can have someone take a look at them? Find out what kind of vehicle it was?"

Jax nodded, "I have some favors I can cash in."

"Good. That's something," Roberto muttered before crouching to the ground. "I don't know what I'll do without her. This is like some bad nightmare and I want out."

"Hey man, pull yourself together. If something really did happen to her, you need to be focused to help her," Jax said.

"There are only two options of what could have happened to her. One, she really did leave me. Two, someone took her from me. What does it say about me to hope that it's number two?" Roberto wiped his eyes and coughed.

"That you're human," Jax answered.

"I just...I just keep thinking what if someone has her? Is she okay? What if she's hungry? Is she waiting for me to find her?"

"Don't worry partner. You'll find her."

Roberto turned his head towards his wife's car and cursed.

"What is it?" Jax asked.

"Point your cell's flashlight under the car."

"What am I looking for?" Jax asked as he did as he was told. His eyes widened as he saw what Roberto had seen. "Is that a piece of fruit?"

"No, it's a prop."

"Are you sure? It looks like an apple to me," Jax said.

He watched Roberto reach under the car and pull out the apple.

"This is plastic. It's fake. It's a prop. Do you know what this means?"

Jax shook his head.

"That Gladys did leave the school and she was here. She must've dropped this."

"If you add that with the tire tracks, we do have a suspicious situation," Jax was e-mailing the photo he took to one of his friends in forensics to analyze.

"The real question is the text," Roberto said. "If Gladys was taken, who sent that text?"

"More importantly," Jax wondered aloud, "Why?"

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"Stop it! Leave me alone! What do you want? Why are you doing this?" the woman shouted in the unlit corner of the room. "I'm not her! I can't be your mate!"

Large yellow eyes surrounded by darkness glowed back at her. Unbeknownst to her, a dark figure cloaked in a black robe stood behind her. 

"Please...you don't want my help. I'm married. I have a husband and I love him. Just let me go!"

The yellow eyes blinked but didn't respond.

"Please let me go. Please."

The sound of a wolf growling burned her ears and she began to cry.

The hooded man stood behind her quietly as she begged for her freedom. An arm reached out towards her and a sliver of light shone on the limb.

A tattoo of a lone wolf stared back at her with golden eyes that silenced her. She could've sworn she saw her reflection in the wolf's eyes.

"Let me go!"

The tattooed arm reached up until its hand wrapped itself around her neck, squeezing until she was gasping for air.

Dani awoke grabbing at her neck a long quivering breath escaping her.

She reached for the lamp near her nightstand and turned on the light. The dream catchers over her bed gave little comfort as she thought of the hooded figure in her dream again. Instead of dwelling on him, she got out of bed and grabbed a sketchpad. She wanted to draw what she had seen while it was still fresh in her memory.

She drew the eyes of the wolf and the reflection she had seen. Her charcoal pencil quickly forming the frightened woman with short dark hair.

After she was done, she stared at the picture and gasped. With trembling hands, she dialed Jax's number knowing he would answer no matter the time.

"Hey Panda Eyes, what's wrong?"

"Jax," she couldn't help the crack in her voice.

"Are you okay, Dani?"

"I had a nightmare."

"Was it a bad one? Do you need me to come over? Roberto's here with me. He's having a tough night."

"Jax...listen to me. This is important. The nightmare. I know who it belonged to."

"Whose was it?" she could tell from his voice that he was tired.

"Roberto's wife, Gladys'."