C25 Drunk as a fish

The Black Cadillac stopped in front of the Meyer Mansion and Nickolas Meyer came out, taking long strides toward the entrance of the Mansion. inside the hallway, James was standing with the Chief of Police. they turned their heads in his direction when they saw him.

"Mr. Meyer, it is rather unfortunate to meet under these circumstances." he took off his hat as he greeted the other man politely.

"I'm glad you could make it personally." He extended his hand to the man who gladly took it in a firm handshake.

Once the two men finished with the courtesies, James took Nickolas to the side and left the chief of police with his man to do their work. when they were out of hearing range,

"How is Grace doing?" he could hardly hold the drumming in his chest.

"I called the Doctor and he sedated her. I don't see how she will recover from this one." James looked at him distrustfully. "I called your office first and your secretary said you went to lunch with a certain miss Oxton." he dropped the hot potato and watched to see how he would untangle himself from this one. But rather than untangle himself. Nikolas gave him a cold stare but James was unfazed by his gaze, he wasn't about to let him get off the hook that easily.

"Are you two back together?" he asked, his eyebrow raised. "I thought we talked about this." he looked shocked. "Your son is missing for crying out loud."

"Niells disappearance has nothing to do with Amelia." he raised his voice at the old man. then looked around and spoke in a whisper.

"And No, we had lunch, if you don't mind..." he left him standing there and headed upstairs to Neill's room

When he entered the room, one of the detectives was inside the room, looking at the window seals for any sign of forced entry. when he saw Nickolas, he walked briskly to him.

"I'm sorry sir, but you cannot be in here. we need to dust the room first," he said to him.

Nickolas nodded and left the room. his phone vibrated in his inner pocket. he took it out and Amelia's name flashed on the screen.

"Miss me already?" he tried to sound casual but Amelia could hear the tightness in his voice.

"You left so quickly, wanted to find out if everything was okay." she sounded concerned, there was a hint of sincerity in her tone.

silence stretched out before he could answer her. when his brain couldn't come up with an excuse he decided to tell her the truth.

"My son is missing, James was calling to let me know they couldn't find him anywhere together with the nanny." he felt fighting around his chest. saying the words out loud made everything real. at first, he thought James had made a mistake. he hoped he made a mistake. but now everything was as real as he was. Someone had kidnapped his son.

"How's Grace coping?" she took a deep breath when she realized that the words were out before she could stop them.

"Uhm Grace...Grace, she's sleeping. the doctor put her to sleep, she was hysterical." he was uncomfortable discussing Grace with her. "About today Amie..it was a mistake, we were both drunk and I took advantage of the situation. I don't want us to complicate things, hope you understand." He did not wait for a response but he hung up the phone and went to check on his Grace.

Amelia clung to the phone after it got disconnected. she wanted to say she did not mind being taken advantage of by him. but he didn't give her a chance, he was slipping through her fingers again. just when she thought she had a grab on him, he shifted. hers was a game of cat and mouse.

Grace's room was a pin-drop silent compared to the chaos that was happening anywhere else in the mansion and the rooms upstairs. she had been given a sedative, so she was out like a light. he sat next to her bed and looked at her face. she had bags under her eyes that he hadn't noticed before. but her face was serene and peaceful. his fingers traced on top of her button nose. he brought her hands to his lips. all the avoiding they had been doing didn't seem to matter compared to the disappearance of their son.

"I'm sorry," he said to her sleeping face. he failed to protect her, and now his son was missing and Grace was on the brink of falling apart completely.

When Nickolas got to his study, James and Luther were already inside, going over the details of all the staff members of the Meyer mansion. the police would be interviewing everyone but Nickolas would be conducting his investigation on the side. what appeared strange to the three men was that no one saw Susan leave the gates of Meyer's mansion with Neill. James had her file in front of going through any holes in her history.

In the meantime, Nickolas opened a drawer and took out a packet of cigarettes, he went to the window and lit one up. James only noticed what his boss was up to when the smoke hit his nostrils.

'When did he start smoking again?' James shot up a look at him and realized there was no point in arguing. he seemed dazed and was miles away. Nickolas could not be trusted to make any sound decisions, he was too involved. James had to, for the safety of everyone take the matter into his own hands.

The chief of police was done with his man. he said he would be in touch if anything came up. he wasn't too committed, the whole setup had seemed premeditated to him. it was pros work. James was to contact him if they received any Ramson calls, which he thought unlikely seeing that the child was taken by his nanny, if she had wanted money from the Meyers, surely there were other avenues in which she could have tried. making contain with the family would only expose her.

By now Nickolas was completely out of the discussions, he poured himself a stiff drink. Luther nagged James and they looked at him. James shrugged when he saw Nickolas state. there was no point. they had to continue looking at the list of suspects. Susan, the child's nanny was involved, that went without saying, they had a whole list to go over and they were not even close.

It was close to midnight when James and Luther got a breakthrough. To Nickolas it seemed like ages, he was drunk as a fish on the couch. on the CCTV, there was a young man who kept appearing on and off the screen until he disappeared completely out of site, there was something suspicious about the way he kept on looking at the camera. The young man was a new addition to the staff at the mansion. James took one look at him and recognized that face. he could point out that face anywhere, even in the darkest of rooms.