"You cannot expect me to sit around here and do nothing!" Ian lashed out at Detective Kelly while he instructed his subordinate to look for a black minivan with tinted windows across the city's surveillance cameras.
"What the hell do you want to do, Ian? You shouldn't have gone to your office, leaving her alone in your car. You should have dropped her home first. At least, she would have been under police protect..."
"Screw police protection. That asshole was able to get in and out of my apartment building with your damned cops keeping guard!"
"He abducted your girlfriend right out of your car, Blaine. So no need to give me bullshit right now! It is better for everyone if you wait here. I don't want you prowling the streets and ending up in trouble like Tara. You stay put. I have got my best men on this. We have the van leaving the parking garage. We have the number plate."
The fact that Ian could let all this happen in the first place, hit him like a ton of bricks. How could he have been such a fool? Kelly was right. He shouldn't have left her alone in the car. He should have dropped her home or he should have asked her to come up to the office with him. How could he ever have thought that a parking lot would be a safe space. There had been few cars parked in close proximity to Ian's vehicle but there was nobody nearby when he had gone up to the office. He couldn't believe that the emptiness of the garage hadn't bothered him -- how had it not raised a red flag?
He thought back to those few moments when he had gotten off the elevator and seen broken glass near the front door of his car; he still remembered the sheer panic with which he had looked inside. His heart had sank at the view of fresh drops of blood over the front seats; there had been obvious signs of struggle. Tara had fought to free herself but she had been taken. What he had felt in that moment was what he had felt when he had seen Jake's body lying on the bedroom floor. Ian hadn't been able to move, not even a muscle. A dark fog had clouded his mind and forced him into inaction. A feeling of numbness had spread through him like an ink stain in clear water. And then, he had had to snap out of it, which had been a herculean mental struggle; it took all his might to forcefully clear the haze that was his mind. He had then called Kelly and let him know what had happened, and then he had gone to building manager to have a look at the surveillance footage.
He saw her struggling with a masked man - and then unconscious. He saw her being carried to a black minivan not parked far from his own car. And he saw her being driven away -- it boiled the blood in his body. Cold fury and rage pulsated through his entire being and all he wanted to do was to find her and bring her back. He wanted to kill the murderer in cold blood.
As Ian sat in the police station, he racked his brain for any possible clues that he could have missed. He played over every little detail following Jake's death, like a tape in his mind. How the killer had cover his tracks by using bleach on the crime scene, how they had left evidence and threats. How Ian and Tara had gone to Montauk chasing the wrong lead. Montauk...what had happened there that was out of the usual?...Nothing! No, it could not be nothing or he would not be thinking about Montauk again. Suddenly, the Montauk Monster came to his mind, an ugly carcass of an unidentified creature, and then his mind ran to the grandmother and the two smiling kids who stood next to it. Such a hideous monster next to them and the kids had a smile plastered on their face and then...a moment of epiphany chanced upon Ian. How did he not think more about it at the time? His mind was crystal clear as he remembered...the grandkids had had amber eyes! The girl and boy in the picture had not been older than ten at the time, but since Ian clearly recalled Ida telling him that the monster had been found ashore in 2008, it meant that the kids were all grown up now.
Ian dialed his PI's number. "Hey, I would like it if you could look into the alibi of Ida Boyd and call me back as soon as you can."
As Ian waited for the PI to return his call, he looked up the Montauk Monster online and discovered that Ida Boyd had accurately remembered the year she had taken the picture with the creature.
Ian's phone screen lit up. It was the PI on the other line.
"What have you got for me." Ian desperately hoped to hear something good.
"Ok. So, something strange happened. I checked out Ida Boyd's statement about the medical bills and Jake's charity and well, everything checked out except for one little detail."
"And what is that?'
"Ida Boyd never received a cake from Jake. Jake's office doesn't have a record of him ordering a cake for her. In fact, he had never sent gifts to any of the patients his charity had helped out,"
The moment Ian heard this he jumped out of his chair and rushed out of the precinct to his car in the lot. He reversed his car out and the wheels screeched against the road as his car sped away.
The PI was still on the line with him, "this means that Ida never made that phone call to Jake to thank him about the cake."
Ida Boyd had been caught in a lie and even if it was grasping at straws, Ian was not going to sit around and wait for the police to investigate this brand new information. He was heading straight to Montauk.
When Ian reached the street of Boyd residence, it was close to nine at night. He parked his car some distance away from the house and retreived his gun and a pair of binoculars from the glove compartment of his car. Ian had bought the binoculars on Tara's suggestion while returning home from Long Island. He used them now to look inside the Boyd house. There was a single bulb lit up in the living room which was viewable from the first window on the side of the house. Ian kept watch through his car and he saw a shadow of man with blonde hair walk across the living room. Ian couldn't make out much of his other features because of the low indoor lighting. Ian slowly got out of his car and hunched across the street to the Boyd's front yard. He remained low as he walked to the side of the house to look through the windows. He stooped lower in order to avoid detection and moved on cautious steps lest someone hear the crunch of fallen leaves under his feet. He kept his head low and passed by the living room window because he could hear voices coming from inside. Ian then moved towards the back of the house. It was here that he saw a car parked close to the back yard, shrouded under a thick cloth. The car's shape resembled that of a minivan. Ian got close to the car and then moved around to the back of it and lifted the cover to view the paint and the number plate; it was the same black minivan that had been used in Tara's abduction. She was inside the house.
Ian went around to the back of the house and peeked inside a window to a bedroom. The lights of the bedroom were off but Ian still made certain that the bedroom was empty, he then reached for the window, slid it up and jumped into the house. Ian was carrying his loaded weapon on him, he retrieved it from his jacket pocket and held it in combat grip. Ian inched across the bedroom to its door and stood flat against it. He tilted his head a fraction to peek outside and saw a small hallway that led to the living room. He saw Ida Boyd sitting on one of the sofas there and a man sitting across from her.
"Where should we do it?" The blonde man solemnly questioned Ida.
"Dear, I think it will be better to go out of Montauk. There's plenty of water everywhere. It just needs to be done very late at night." Ida's tone was sweet honey.
"Late at night sounds good. We won't get caught."
"Your sister will keep you safe. You don't have to worry."
"I don't want her being implusive."
"She has always been impulsive. She gets it from me!"
"But the police shouldn't connect anything back to you!"
"As soon as her body's dumped, I think we should also move. I am fancying the south, what do you think?"
When Ian heard Ida mention a body, he froze. They couldn't be talking about Tara, could they? His mind reeled with worst possible scenarios and all he wanted to do was get out of the shadows and open fire on both Ida and he persumed, her grandson. It was at that moment that a door in the middle of the hallway opened and a blonde woman walked out. Her blonde hair veiled her face as she bent her head low to lock the door behind her. She then turned towards the living room and Ian only saw the back of her head as she spitefully exploded, "I hate that bitch! She didn't eat anything. I don't know why I was thinking it would be polite to give her her last supper."
"Grandma thinks we need to get her out of Montauk before killing her."
Ian heaved a sigh of relief; Tara was alive.
"No, I will do it here and we can dump her anywhere across America after!" The blonde woman spoke with an air of finality.
"Don't be stupid. The police must be on alert already. Do you think it will be wise for us to carry a dead body in our trunk?"
"We have to dump the van, first. You should take it away to the creek in the forest."
"What if I am seen?"
"It is so deep into the woods. Nobody will see you. Just dump it and get back. Does nana's car have a full tank?"
"Yes, I got gas in the evening."
"Then that's the car we will use. Take only the essentials, leave the rest."
The blonde man grabbed hold of keys off the key holder, "I wish I didn't have a psycho for a sister. I thought that when we came back to our childhood home after all these years, we'd be settling down for good. I had a good thing going in New York!"
"Remember Maine? We moved here because of you!"
"He had only just hit his girlfriend a few times!" Ida sounded genuinely offended by her granddaughter's insinuation.
"See, even nana thinks you need to dial down the crazy!" The grandson gave a cruel chuckle.
"Fuck you, if I knew you were going to give me this holier than thou bullshit, I would have never asked you to kidnap her! I could have just as easily done it myself!"
"Ok, now children. What do I tell you? You have only each other to depend on. Nobody can bring you down if you have each other's backs!"
The grandson acquiesced, "Nana's right. Did you talk to her?"
"Not yet. She recognized me from the shop. I want her to know everything before I kill her with my own hands. I don't want her to die unaware."
"Have the conversation and get this over with. We don't have a lot of time." The grandson reminded his sister.
"Alright. You go dump the van."
"Yeah, I know what I gotta do."
Ian saw the brother leave through the main door. The granddaughter came back to the door in the hallway and began unlocking it. Ian was about to jump her when the brother walked back in. "The car's having some trouble starting, I am gonna attach jumper cables, come outside for a bit."
"God, you can't do anything right!" The blonde woman informed him in exasperation and left with him, leaving the door unlocked. Ian knew this was his chance. He sprinted to the door, giving Ida a cursory glance to see if she was still busy watching tv in the living room.
He cautiously opened the door and realized that it led to the basement. He began climbing down the stairs, the gun steady in his hand. The moment he landed on the last step, he saw Tara tied up in a corner. Infinite relief washed over him as he rushed to her side and removed the gag from her mouth. He knew it wouldn't take long for the blonde to come back in, so he hurriedly began untying Tara's legs and then arms. "Ian...I can't believe you came for me...but why did you come here alone? These people are dangerous! The have weapons. You have to leave!"
"It's ok, baby. I know. I have a gun!" Ian gave Tara's lips a quick kiss. As Ian untied the last of the ropes, Tara got to her feet, Ian held on to her hand and they both ran to the empty space beneath the stairs and hid themselves well.
Ian took out his cellphone called Kelly and told him to send back up to Ida's residence, he then texted him the address.
"How long will it take, Ian?"
"Kelly will inform the local police so not that long."
"What are you planning to do?"
Ian knew that the brother had left to dump the van in a creek so it was just the blonde woman and Ida in the house, "when the blonde comes down the stairs, I'll hold a gun to her head."
"Ian, there's also a guy...."
"I know, he isn't at home right now."
It was at that moment that Ian heard a door open, he signalled Tara to remain quiet. He saw the blonde woman climbing down the steps through the see-through stairs and as she reached the last step, Ian got out from underneath the stair space and came behind her and held the gun to her head. "Got you! Now turn around!"
And when the blonde turned around and Ian looked at her face, he couldn't believe he had not thought about her as a possible suspect before.