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Missing Love	By : SisterWine Category: 1 through F > Cold Case Views: 1032 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: Lilly Rush and the Cold Case team belong to Meredith Stiehm. I make no money from this nor do I wish any harm or slandre against this series. The OCs, including the ME and Tom Cort, are my own inventions. THIS WORK IS FICTION

Chapter List
- 1-One
- 2-Two
- 3-Three
- 4-Four
- 5-Five
- 6-Six
- 7-Seven
- 8-Eight
- 9-Nine
- 10-Ten
- 11-Eleven
- 12-Twelve
- 10
- 11
- 12
"Cory?! Cory, say something!" Shannon felt ill. She paled as the line went dead. She had tried to call it back but it had been turned off and went straight to voicemail. "My baby." She closed her eyes and sobbed into her hands and hadn't noticed that she was gently being eased into the arms and chest of John Stillman, who held her and let her cry.
Jessica stared at the mobile on the table and felt horrible for Shannon. She wiped away her own tears and stood up. Her heart ached and jumped when she heard Cory's voice on the line and could hear the terror in his voice as he spoke. "At least we know he's alive and safe, for the moment. Shannon...?" Jessica made her way around to where Shannon still sat, sobbing into Stillman's chest. She crouched down and placed a hand on Shannon's arm. "We'll get him back." Jessica bit her lip and turned to look at Kat as if asking the woman what to do next. She turned back to see Shannon sniffling and calming down but also looking over at her. With a reluctant glance up at Stillman, Jessica had decided. "I want to show you something." She removed her own mobile from her pocket and turned it on. She had missed 27 calls from her daughter and 5 from her husband, adding to the 18 voicemails, since she had been there. Flipping through the photo album, she stopped on one of she and Julie, at a family picnic, that Carson took. "My husband took this, last year. Her name's Julie; Cory's daughter. I wasn't sure how to tell you, in therapy. Out of all the bad things that happened, there, she's the light of my life. We'll get him back. Okay?"
Shannon's eyes welled with tears again as she turned and stared at the young woman's smiling face. "She looks just like him. My Cory." She sat up and wiped the wetness from her cheeks, smiling at the photo. Turning to look at Stillman, Shannon took a breath and held it for a few seconds before releasing it.
Standing silent by the door and hearing the whole conversation, Lilly felt bad for Shannon. "What did he mean, 'tell Lilly I love her' and he's sorry?" She stood with her arms folded in front of her, as if she were cold. She stepped forward as Shannon and Jessica both stood up.
"He means, Vince won't let him go, this time. And it's starting all over again." Shannon swallowed the lump in her throat and turned back to Stillman as he also stood and kept watch on her, just in case. "I want to talk to Justin."
Stillman nodded in agreement but had to rationalise the next move. "We would have to call in SWAT. That would take time to mobilise. With the size of the compound and after 30 years being in ruin, we'd have no way of knowing what we're walking into. There's a strong chance Vince has already amped up security and set traps for anyone coming in, possibly even you, Shannon. We have to take this one step at a time to make sure both you and Cory are safe, when we arrest Vince. I'm sorry but we can't take any chances and have more people hurt in the process." Stillman's expression was grim. "Are you sure? He seemed fairly upset that you were here."
Nodding and taking a deep breath, Shannon leveled herself and dried her eyes. "I'm his mama. He'll talk to me. Whether he likes it or not. And then, I'm going to get my son back from that monster."
"Anything Justin tells you could be misleading." Lilly hadn't wanted to play Devil's Advocate but she wanted to make sure Shannon understood what she was saying and that she wasn't rushing into things to get either Cory or herself hurt or worse.
Shannon turned to look at Lilly. "I've lived in that Hell for 24 years. I know most of Vince's secrets. And Justin can't hide the truth from me."
Lilly nodded, admiring Shannon's courage.
~~~
Stillman opened the door to the second Interview Room and nodded to Scotty. "Can we have a minute, Scotty? Shannon has something to say to Justin." His monotone voice piqued Scotty's as well as Justin's interest as he stood in the open doorway, hands in his pockets and a cool expression on his face.
Scotty smirked and looked from Stillman back to Justin, as their conversation hadn't really gone anywhere and was trying Scotty's patience. "Sending in the big guns. Huh? Good luck, kid." He stood from sitting at the end of the table, facing the door, with Justin on his left. Gathering his notes and the file on Justin, he walked to the door and nodded to Stillman as they passed one another.
Before letting Shannon into the room, Stillman took a moment to speak to Justin, candidly. "Your brother just called your mom. She's pretty upset by it. This can go one of two ways, Justin. You can either help us get your brother back safe and sound or, you can keep up your 'tough guy' act, stress your mother out more and get the same sentence as your father will get, when this all comes to an end. You really want to break your mother's heart by having her sons at odds with each other?" He could tell Justin wasn't listening to him as the younger man only scoffed and slouched back in his chair, looking away from him.
"She ain't no mother. She didn't stand up for me and Nick. Just coddled Cory. She was the one that left my Pa. She should be crawling back to him, begging him for help." Justin said, under his breath. He sighed as he was getting tired of sitting in the room and being told what to do and how to feel about the people that abandoned him. He had been cuffed to the thick bar on the table and was prevented from standing up, due to the well-muscled officer behind him.
Stillman stared evenly at Justin, hearing the first door open, he stepped closer and leant over the table and added, "It takes a pretty big coward to make his own mother worry and cry about her children. She's been there for you, you just haven't accepted it." He straightened and turned to wave in Shannon and Lilly whilst Jessica and Kat stood in the observation room with Scotty.
"Hello again, Justin. "I'm Detective Lilly Rush. Your mom's told me a lot about you. Cory and I talked the other day, too. He sat right in that chair." With no response from him, she continued. "He's made a pretty good life for himself. Got a girl, got a job, got a new lease on life. Your little brother's his own man, now. Aren't you happy for him?"
Justin didn't flinch. "I ain't gonna help the cops arrest my Pa. Why don't you just leave him alone?"
Shannon stood in front of the closed door, staring passively at her son. At first blush, she wanted to hold him, thankful he was alive and well. At second glance, she saw him as the cruel brat his father had instilled in both the oldest boys. She hated Vince for that. Her anger bubbled under her cool façade. She wanted to scream and shake the man into telling them what they needed to know. However, she only stood there and stared at him through heartbroken eyes. With a deep breath, she forced herself to speak in a tone she hadn't used in years. "The detective asked you a question. Answer her, Justin Aaron."
Justin shifted and grumbled under his breath, not looking at his mother. "Yeah. The baby's doing great. Who cares?" He shrugged.
"Why does your dad want Cory and Shannon back, Justin?" Lilly continued, her voice calm.
Scowling and tossing a snarl over to the woman, Justin raised his voice. "None of your damn business. Leave us alone! We were doing just fine until all of you came nosing around!"
Sighing and moving to grab the empty chair and sit down adjacent to him, Shannon narrowed her eyes at his lack of concern for his younger brother. "Justin, look at me." When he finally turned to look at her, Shannon took a breath and laid it all on the line. "June 19th, 1959 was the date I'll never forget. A man named Vincent Parker kidnapped me from my campsite. Dragged me to that dungeon he calls home and refused to let me leave. I begged, pleaded with him to let me go and he wouldn't. I hated every minute with him. But he gave me four beautiful children. Do you remember those days, Justin? And when Nick would pick on Cory or Cady, you were right there to put him back in his place. How dare anyone pick on your little sister." She paused as Justin downcast his eyes, as if he didn't like being scolded. "What happened to the little boy who used to bring me wild flowers and cuddle me on bad days? I know Cory isn't the only one with a big heart. You're a man, now. Time for you to act like one. Now, you're going to tell this detective what she needs to know to get your brother back, or so help me, you won't forgive yourself if anything happened to Cory." Shannon stopped as she could see he was wrestling with his emotions. "He'll hurt him, Justin. He's a sick man who doesn't care what happens to anyone who gets in his way. Is that how you want to be? Alone? Afraid of everything and hating yourself for it?"
Justin's memory flashed back to his nine-year-old self playing with his brothers and sister, down by the creek on the cold and rainy day. He could hear her tiny voice calling to him to "wait up" as she and Cory fell behind. He had turned in time to see his little six-year-old sister slip on a wet stone and fall in slow motion, hitting her head on a large rock that protruded from the side of the thin creek. He had dropped his stick that doubled as a toy gun and ran back to help her up, shoving Cory back towards the cabin, for their pa. He had hated Vince for not "fixing Cady" and he remembered the spankings he got for backtalking him.
"If you help us bring him in, I'll personally see about getting a reduced sentence for you." Stillman offered. He stood in a forgotten corner of the room, not to far from Justin, in case he became irate and needed corralling. "Bring him in without incident and we'll see to it you might be allowed visitors. Up to you, Justin."
Lilly added. "You could live just like Cory does. With your own house, job, family and friends to help you. Your mom is stepping up and I bet Cory would help you too."
Kat had watched the entire scene and glanced over to Jessica, adding under her breath, "she can be pretty stand-up when she wants to be."
Smirking and nodding, Jessica remembered Shannon was not a woman to be trifled with, when it came to those she loved. "She's a tough woman. She had to be to put up with Vince."
"Why does he want Shannon and Cory, Justin? What's he trying to do?" Lilly asked after a moment of tense silence.
Shannon placed an open hand on his cheek and smiled. "I promise, I will be right there with you, through everything. Please, Justin."
Justin turned to look at his mother as he answered. For a brief moment, he was the 23 year old who guarded his family from the onslaught of police that stormed the compound in the early morning hours. "He just wanted us to be a family again. He said he hated that people were always leaving him. That no one was on his side. Cory shouldn't have said all those things. They were lies!"
"No, they weren't. I was kidnapped and held there against my will. Daisy, Carla, Tessa, Erin, Jessica and even you three and the kids. Vincent lied. Not Cory. What your father did was not what a normal, loving family does. Cory saw people being hurt. He was hurting doing what your father told all you boys to do. Cory knew it was wrong. You know it's wrong. Families don't hurt one another. That's just what Vince did. We weren't a family. We were prisoners. And don't think Cory got off scot-free, after the trial, because he didn't. He had a lot of hard work to do. It wasn't easy for him, at all. But, he did it and what hurt him even more was that he had to do it alone. It cost him family, friends and peaceful nights sleep. Please, Justin. Cory misses his brother and I miss seeing my boys."
He was silent for a moment, closing his eyes and smiling at his mom's touch. He had missed it, even hearing her voice had forced him to be at war with himself. When he opened his eyes, he came face to face with his mother. "Pa said you and Cory needed to be taught a lesson. It never sat right that Cory would go against his own Pa that way. He said Cory destroyed our family. Cory never could mind him. He's gonna build up the compound, better than it was. This time, no one's getting out. I'm sorry, Mama."
The years of stress and worry and hatred had melted away as mother and son embraced.
Miller nodded, thankful that nothing happened causing incident for either one of them. She smiled at how well Shannon had handled herself and Justin. "Sometimes, a boy just needs his momma."
~~~
Vince kicked the door to the basement closed and turned around to see Carolyn standing there, mouth open in shock of what she heard. "Any objections?" He dared her to say something and cocked his head in taunt. Angrily, he slipped his belt back into the loops and fastened it before moving away from the door. He headed back up the stairs but stopped as he noticed she wasn't on his heels. "Hey! He stays down there until he learns. Hear me?"
Turning her head to look up at him, Carolyn was at a loss for words. This wasn't what she was promised at all. It wasn't even what she thought it would be, either. "But...?"
"I'll have my supper in bed. Unless you want some of what he got...?"
Carolyn grunted nervously. She wasn't sure what to do. Half of her wanted to go down and see if Cory was alright whilst the other half told her that maybe she had better take her car and go. "Uh, okay. This is really too weird. So, I'm gonna go. You have fun playing mountain man. Bye!" She headed for the kitchen to grab her purse and keys and was on her way back to the door when Vince had grabbed his shotgun and cocked it, forcing her to stop in her tracks, halfway to the door.
Vince walked up behind her and grabbed her by the arm, spinning her around to face him. "I said, nobody leaves here." he growled. "That bitch, Jessica, took my family from me. My boys are in jail, my wife's siding with her son. I ain't got much left. But I can start over."
Her brain told her to run but his heavy hand on her arm refused to let her move. "Vince, I..." Carolyn had started to wriggle out of his grasp when her mobile rang from her purse. She groaned in pain as he shook her and told her to answer it. She reached into her small, white handbag and removed the brand new slider she had given herself that summer. Recognising the burn phone she had given Justin, she showed it to Vince. "It's Justin."
Narrowing his eyes, Vince nodded for her to answer it.
Carolyn pushed the green button and held it to her ear. "Hello...?" She listened for a moment and then handed the mobile to him. "Shannon wants to talk to you."
Grabbing the mobile from her, he stared at Carolyn as he had let go of her arm to take the call. "Shannon." He spoke as he held the device to his ear.
"Vincent, Let Cory go. I'm the one you want. Please, don't hurt him." Shannon pleaded as she heard his voice.
Vince growled under his breath. "He should have thought of that before he let that bitch ruin our lives. He ain't going nowhere, now." Glaring at Carolyn, he stepped in front of her and shook his head, silently telling her to step away from the door.
Shannon was silent a moment. She worked to control her breathing, and not to break down on the line. "Vincent, he's our son. Our baby." She gasped and swallowed as she couldn't believe what she was saying. "I'll come home if you let him go. Think about this, Vince. Don't you want your son to be happy?"
"You got one hour, woman. Get home." Vince ended the call and tossed it back to her, as she sat in his arm chair, telling her to turn it off.
Carolyn dropped the mobile back into her purse and stood up. "If she comes back here, what am I supposed to do, just let her have you? I thought we meant something to each other, Vince." She crossed her arms and pouted, looking away from him. She had liked being with Cory but he hadn't exactly fulfilled her needs, which was something Vince took charge of, immediately.
Vince stepped forward and grabbed her by the jaw, forcing her to look at him. "She's the mother of my boys. She knows what I need and how I run things." He placed the shotgun down in the chair and grabbed her with his free hand, holding her against him. He stared into her eyes and could see the hurt he caused. "Cory's gonna need a woman. Soon as he learns his lesson, he'll never cross me, again."
Breaking his hold on her jaw, Carolyn turned away. "He doesn't give me what I need." She pushed away from him. "I'm supposed to watch her fuck you?! It's not fair, Vince! I'm the one that got you outta that hellhole. I'm the one that gave you everything, for three FUCKING years, Vince." She turned back and glared at him. "I don't wanna settle for second best." She continued to pout as he stared at her. She looked away but looked back warily as he took hold of her hands and gingerly uncrossed them.
Vince then reached up and guided her chin to look up to him as he leant in for a kiss. Wrapping his arms around her, again, he guided her to lie down on the floor and broke the kiss to loom over her, unfastening his belt and pants before shoving her skirt up and ripping her brand new black lace panties she had bought for him. He stroked himself a few times before shoving into her and thrusting hard into her. He smiled as she moaned in pleasure. He was urged on by the breathy gasps in his ear before capturing her mouth again. His mind no longer saw Carolyn beneath him but Shannon, and had long awaited the time to make her his, again.
~~~
The Compound, 1950
"Vincent? Vincent!" His mother's voice called to him from the upstairs window. "Vincent! Get down here and take care of sister." She called to him as he hammered away, placing new shingles on the roof. She pulled her shawl around her arms and shut the window, shivering at the brisk air. She went back to her chore of knitting and mending their clothes, listening to Vince climb his way down to the ground and run around to the front of the house, where his sister sat, on the front porch.
Birdie Parker sat on the floor of the porch and played with her dolls. She looked up at him and smiled as his thin shadow blocked the sun. Moving her tousled blonde hair from her eyes with the back of her hand, she scrunched her nose and squinted as he squatted down. She sighed as her older brother blinked at her and shrugged. "One day, I'll learn to walk, and then you and me will go away from here, Vinnie." She had sounded confident and even jutted her chin out as she smiled.
Vince smiled back and winked at his little sister. "I believe you will. We'll go anywhere you wanna go, Biddie. You just name it." He moved to stand but remained bent over and stepped forward to lift her into her chair.
She had sat there for most of the morning, legs outstretched widely, leaning against the banister, playing with dolls her mother had made for her. "You really think I can do it?" She asked as he wrapped his arms under hers and lifted her up, carrying her the few steps over to her chair. She looked up at him, admiring his young and handsome profile. She was just past 12 and had been in the old, wicker high-backed chair since toddler age, after a fall from mid-stair way up. She had landed wrong and it had crushed her already fragile spine, leaving her helpless from the waist down. She had admired her older brother, who had gone out of his way to make sure she was comfortable and taken care of, as her mother had gone into a state of disbelief and refusal to believe her daughter couldn't walk.
"You bet." He winked. The 15 -year-old placed her in the chair and draped the blanket, that had rested over the arm of the chair, over her legs. "Pee?"
Birdie scrunched her nose at him. "Mm-hm."
Vince nodded with her and made his way around the back of the chair to push her over to the stairs before carrying her back down them and over to the outhouse. With her legs over one arm and her arms around his neck, he carried her with ease and made small jokes, making her laugh and smile. He placed her in the stall and pulled her panties down, for her, waiting outside as she went. The rest of the day, they coloured pictures and laid on the porch, staring at the clouds that lazily drifted by.
***
A few weeks had passed and Birdie, under considerable help from Vince, had taken her first shaky step. She smiled as her foot slid across the floor, slowly. "Look, Vinnie! I did it!" Her face brightened with excitement.
Vince smirked at his sister's triumph. He stood in front of her and watched as she held on to the railing of the upstairs, that was done on one side of the house, leaving the living room open to the vaulted ceiling. "That's great! Try another." He beamed at his sister's delight and looked over at his mother, sitting in the rocking chair, next to the bed. "Mama, look! She took a step!"
"That's nice, dear." Abigail Parker didn't look up from darning the wool socks. Instead, she nodded and glanced at her small, gold watch on her arm. "Vincent, call your father indoors and then get your sister ready for bed." She rocked back and forth as she sewed the heel of her husband's sock.
"Yes, Mama." Vince winked over at Birdie and then turned to yell to his father, who sat on the porch and drank his fifth beer. "PA! Time for bed, Mama says!"
Abigail stopped her darning and shot her son a mean look. "Vincent!"
Both children giggled quietly to each other. "Sorry, Mama."
"I wanna take another one." Birdie exclaimed, giddily.
Ralph Parker, a twenty year park ranger, came into the house and slammed the screen door before slamming the front door shut. His nightly routine was the come home from work, drink beer and sit on the porch, after supper and drink more beer. Tossing the crushed and empty can in the direction of the rubbish bin, that sat at the end of the wall that separated the kitchen from the living room, he made his way upstairs, where he was greeted by his son.
"Pa, look! Birdie took a step!" He turned back from seeing his father at the top of the stairs to his sister, who held on to the railing with anticipation.
Ralph, a pudgy man with graying and balding hair, glanced over at his daughter and numbly mumbled congratulations as he made his way over to the bed and flopped down on it, absently knocking over the wheelchair in the process. He sighed and nagged his wife to turn out the bright light that beamed down from overhead.
Vince's smiled and applauded his sister on her third step, before being told to get to bed. "Yes, Mama. We'll go again, tomorrow. Okay?" He turned back to a now visibly struggling Birdie as she clung to the railing.
"Vince, I'm tired now. Can I sit down?"
Nodding, Vince hugged her to him and looked around for her chair, "Mama, would you help me with her chair, please? Mama?" He stood by the railing and looked over at his mother, still darning the last sock.
Abigail sighed loudly. "Just carry her to bed, Vincent. Go on." Still, the woman never looked up from her darning. She was old-school family woman and teacher who had grown tired of the country woods life but hadn't had the nerve to just get up and leave her husband and her two ragamuffin children.
Vince stepped forward, his arms still full of his sister. "Mama, just tip the chair, please." He became exasperated with holding his sister, now groaning and whining that he was holding her too tight, and his mother's lack of consideration. He hooked the arm of the chair with his foot and tried to no avail, right it as he asked again.
Growling and sitting up, Ralph tossed a mean look over at his wife, still sitting beside the bed. "Dammit, Abby! Just pick up the damn chair, already! It won't kill ya!" Ralph shoved off of the bed and stood up to wobble over to the chair and turn it over, standing in front of it so that Vince still couldn't put Birdie down. He turned back to his wife, still not stopping what she was doing. "You have to do some things around here, too, ya know!" He shouted angrily at her.
Sighing in frustration, Abigail finally stopped and looked up at him, her crystal gray eyes now thin slits with her anger. "If I did anything else, you wouldn't have clothes to wear, this winter." She stood and looked at the chair. "You've already done it. Now, what should I do? I still have the seat of your pants to put back in."
Birdie groaned again. "Vinnie, it hurts." She looked up at her brother with troubled blue eyes.
"Pa...?" Vince asked. Their mother and father were busy yelling at each other that they hadn't heard him ask again and try to move around his father.
"Vinnie!" Birdie whined once more before her father growled again and turned to grab the girl from Vince and drunkenly toss her over the second floor railing.
Vince watched in slow-motion-horror as his sister limply tumbled over the railing and fell to her death, landing twisted and crumpled on the living room floor. "BIRDIE!" He raced down the stairs and scooped his limp sister into his arm, tears streaming down his cheeks. He sat in the middle of the dark living room and stared up at his awed parents, now standing at the railing. A moment later, they were back to bickering at each other, now over the horrific act of losing their daughter. Vince sniffled and took a ragged breath before kissing her forehead and drying his eyes. He sat there, still, and spotted his father's shotgun in the glass gun case, at the far end of the living room. It rested where the staircase, had jutted out from far wall, and made two rooms of the living room and dining room. Laying her body down carefully and standing up, he made his way over to the case and removed it from the rack, cocking it as he made his way back up the stairs, his parents still fighting loudly.
A short while later, he had dumped both his parents down the stairs of the basement and dragged them to the far, dark corner to lay side by side on the cold cement. He returned back upstairs to sit with his sister, a little while longer before eventually placing her next to them, posing her to rest in peace.
Continued.
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Missing Love