Death by Deception

Jerrica was a middle aged woman, unable to have children and married to Justin for the past 10 years. She was happily married for the first few years, but she had one complaint, Justin would not allow her to work; he felt that was his job to provide for his family and no wife of his would ever have to work. Jerrica enjoyed her freedom until the past couple of years, feeling useless she wanted to do more.

"Justin, honey I want to go to work. I need to do something different. I love that you want to be the bread winner, but I need to feel more productive." Jerrica said, while expressing her need for something more.

"Oh honey, you know how I feel about that. No wife of mine is going to work not while I am able to provide for her. Your job is taking care of the house and going out with your friends. Most women would give their right arm to be in your position. Why don't you get involved with some group that has some sort of cause and maybe you would feel better." He said with such a patronizing tone it infuriated her.

Justin was the type of person that was set in his ways. He was raised with the concept that women were to stay home and not work. She could do anything she wanted, just not work. He had no rules against her going places with her friends, spending money, or talking on the phone. As long as she kept the house in order, food in the refrigerator, and do what a wife was suppose to do, he was happy. He had a good job that paid him well which provided them a comfortable lifestyle.

Jerrica had a few good friends, but they all had jobs. She envied them and wished she could be them for one day to see what it was like to work. Some days they would get together and just be silly. They would go shopping together and sometimes go out to a club and dance. That was nice and she enjoyed her friends, but that just wasn't enough. She loved her husband very much but she was bored with her life. She felt there was no purpose, no reason to get up, just nothing new or exciting in her life.

"I just don't understand why you won't let me get a job." Jerrica protested to Justin "I need something to fill my days, a way to feel needed." She paused trying to think of something that would sway Justin to her side.

"Honey, do you know that every woman in America, who has to get up everyday and go to work, would love to be in your place? " Justin said trying to make her understand how great her life was.

"I have no purpose or direction in my life. I feel worthless, useless and unimportant. I need some structure, something to do that will make me feel worth while, and more complete." Jerrica told Justin as he began to walk away from her.

"Why do we have this conversation over and over? You know my feelings on the matter. Your purpose is to be my wife and live like a princess. You have everything you need; I make sure of that by working my butt off everyday." Justin said to Jerrica with a matter of fact tone.

She could tell by his tone of voice he was done discussing the matter. He just didn't understand what she was trying to say. She felt he just took her for granted. She would always be there. Jerrica knew he loved her but the romance and affection had gradually disappeared over the years.

Was she just a mannequin for him to dress up? Was she a robot programmed to respond the way he wanted her to act? Was she just what some would say "Arm Candy"? It was driving her crazy. No one understood why she was so obsessed about getting a job. How could she not enjoy the life and not have to go to work every day? These questions haunted her daily, filling her every thought, and forcing her to find and answer that would make her happy.

Shaken back to reality by a kiss on the top of her head by Justin, she realized he was leaving. "Bye Honey, I'm off to work. You have a good day and don't worry so much. Things will be fine. You'll see. Love you." He said as he was walking out the door.

Following him to the door she waved good bye and said, "I love you too. See you tonight. Jerrica began thinking to herself that today would be different; she was going to think of a way to get her life back. At least a life she thought she wanted. The only question was how was she going to do this?

For the next few weeks Jerrica became more depressed, unable to find anything to help bring her back to her old self. She tried volunteer work, it was somewhat helpful, but still didn't give her what she was searching for. Justin didn't notice the change in her, because whenever he was around she would put on her happy face. Jerrica knew that it was hopeless to keep nagging at him to let her get a job. She realized it was up to her to make her happiness a reality.

Jerrica spent hours thinking of what she would like to do. She ran hundreds of scenarios through her head. Like movies that had not been edited, she changed the beginning, the middle and the ending. Each time she come to the same conclusion, there were nothing but questions, questions, and more questions with no viable solutions. Should she get a job and not tell Justin? Should she leave Justin and start over? Would she be happy on her own or would she be happy deceiving her husband, by getting a job? She was alone on this quest, something she needed to figure out on her own.

The house was dark when Justin came home. This was unusual for all the lights to be off, Jerrica always left a light on in the entry way. He suddenly had a very bad feeling that something was not right, where was Jerrica? He began calling her name, going from room to room looking for her, but she was no where to be found. Maybe she was with one of the girls and was running late getting home. He went to the phone and one by one called each of her friends. No one had seen or heard from Jerrica in the past few days. They all expressed concern that she had seemed different, they couldn't explain it but there definitely was something wrong.

He began to vividly run through the last few weeks. What had he missed? Why had he not seen there was a problem? He just couldn't understand, what had he done wrong, that had made her so unhappy? They had been no fights or misunderstandings that he could recall. The only problem was she wanted to get a job and he didn't want her to work. Surely that wasn't the problem or was it? It had been weeks since she had brought the subject up for discussion, he thought she had realized he was right and that was why she was doing her volunteer work. He dismissed this thought and knew something else was wrong, it had to be.

He went to the bedroom to look for any signs that she may have left him. All of her clothes were still in the closet, nothing seem to missing. All of her makeup and jewelry were in there place. Everything seems to be in order, with nothing out of place. The only thing missing was Jerrica. He decided to wait for a while to see if she returned back home before he would allow panic to set in.

Justin took a shower and put on his sweats and decided to relax. He went into the kitchen made a sandwich and went into the living room to watch television. Unable to find anything worth watching he decided to watch a movie on his VCR. He started to fumble through the tapes and finally found one he thought he wanted to watch. Turning on the VCR he ejected a tape that was in the machine. He grabbed the tape and something caught his eye on the tape. On the tape in red letters was, "Watch Me Justin". Baffled and confused he put the tape into the machine, set down, and pushed play.

When the tape started the first thing he saw was the words, Where Is Jerrica? "Oh my God, what the hell is this?" Justin said out loud in disbelief as he continued watching. Then a voice began speaking on the tape. It was an eerie voice, unrecognizable to him. What the person was about to say would send chills through Justin's body. It would send his panic and fear to the highest level. A feeling of helplessness and hopelessness would firmly grip his stomach and the urge to throw up would continue throughout the tapes viewing.

"Where is Jerrica? Do you miss her? Would you like to see her? How many times did you tell her you loved her? I decided you do not deserve her. She was not happy with you and you were too stupid to see, that encased in your caveman beliefs, you were destroying her. Now I am going to make you realize what you had. Did you understand what I said? Had, not have, but had. Meaning you will no longer be able to talk to her, see her, touch her or make her feel inferior to you ever again." The voice was so matter of fact that it put a fear in Justin he had never known before.

"Oh God, who has my Jerrica, what have they done with her? Where are you Jerrica?" Justin screamed and beat his fists on the chair he was sitting in. "Why God, was I so bad? I am so sorry. Why did I not hear what she was saying?" Justin continued to scream and continued to watch the video.

The video continued with clips of Jerrica sitting in the park alone. Various other places and with other people, some with her and her friends out in a club, some with them sitting in a restaurant, eating and laughing. There were some holiday video, birthdays, Christmas and Thanksgiving. All the time, the voice was taunting, berating and playing with Justin's emotions. "Realize this one thing, Justin; you will never see these happy days again with Jerrica. You have lost her forever, how does it feel to know she is gone because of you and you alone?" The voice said tauntingly and with that the video ended.

Justin was stunned with disbelief. What was he going to do? Should he call the police, her mom and dad, her friends? Why was this happening? He left for work today and everything seemed normal and tonight his whole world was turned upside down. He finally decided to call the police first, and then he would call everyone else. He had to find Jerrica. He knew he couldn't live without her.

Within a few minutes the police were knocking at his door. He let them in and began spurting out incoherent bits and pieces of information. Unable to make any sense of what he was saying the first officer spoke up, "Sir, please calm down so we can understand what you are trying to tell us. I am Detective Walker, this is Detective Simon and this is Officer James. We are here to help you if we can, now, tell me your name and your wife's name first."

"My name is Justin Buckleson and my wife is Jerrica. She is missing and I can't find her any where." Justin said trembling as he waited for the Detective to respond.

"I have a few questions I need you to answer. We must collect as much information from you that we can to help us find your wife. Do you think you will be able to answer them for us?" He said carefully watching Justin's expressions and body movements.

"I will answer them as best I can. I just want to find my wife before something bad happens to her." Justin told the Detective with much sincerity.

"Ok, let's start with when was the last time you saw your wife?" Detective Walker asked him.

"I saw her this morning at breakfast, before I left for work. I kissed her good bye and that is the last time I saw her today." Justin answered sobbing uncontrollably

"Did you talk to her at any time during the day on the phone?" He continued with his questions.

"No. We sometimes talk but usually I am so busy that I don't get a chance to call her. She goes out with her friends for lunch or shopping and lately she has been doing some volunteer work, at the hospital and one of the nursing homes." Justin said.

"Did you check the house to see if any of her stuff was missing or anything else of value? Does she have her own car? If so, where is it at?" Detective Walker asked and continued writing down everything Justin was saying.

"I didn't find anything missing. Yes she has a car and I don't know where it is? I assumed she was gone in the car.' Justin confessed to the Detective.

During the interrogation others began to arrive. Geni and Jim, Jerrica's parents, Ann and John, Justin's parents, were the first to arrive. Right behind them were Sam and Wendy, George and Tracy, mutual friends, of Jerrica and Justin. Sally and Stormy, Jerrica's sisters and Justin's brother Rob came bursting through the door. All of them were asking the same question, "What is happening Justin? Where is Jerrica? What about the video tape? What's on the video?

"Calm down folks, calm down and have a seat we will get to all your questions and we have a few questions for you also." Detective Simon said trying to ease the tension in the room.

Detective Walker then took control of the situation he began by telling them, "We are going to do all that we can to find Jerrica. We need to ask you some questions hoping one of you might be able to give us a clue as to what happened here. Is there anyone who might have any idea who would want to kidnap Jerrica or to hurt her for any reason? Do you know of any enemies that she might have?

Everyone answered, "No I don't."

"Do you have any reason to believe that Jerrica and Justin were having marital problems? Did she have any reason to leave Justin?" Detective Walker continued to ask questions, looking for anything that might spark an answer he could use. Apparently, they had no answers to his questions.

"We don't know anything. What makes you think we can tell you something we don't know?" Sally yelled at the Detective. "For God's sake my sister is missing. Don't you think we would tell you if we knew anything about her disappearance?"

"I didn't say you did, but maybe you don't realize it. Anything you might say could shed some light on what happened here." Detective Simon chimed in and tried to reassure her.

"I want to see that damn video. I want to see it now. We have a right to see what some sick; you know what is torturing my brother-in-law and the rest of us with." Sally demanded.

Everyone else spoke up in unison, "We do too. Turn it on now; we are tired of your questions that are not giving us any answers."

"Alright, alright, Officer James would you please start the video?" Detective Walker asked.

"Yes Sir," James said as he turned on the VCR.

While the video was playing, Simon and Walker carefully watched and listen to everyone's reaction to what they were seeing. Jerrica's mother was crying while her husband was holding her hand. Unable to sit there any longer Geni ran out of the room and Said, "I can't watch anymore. Jim who has our baby? What do they want? Oh God why did this happen?" She screamed.

Jim ran after her, "Geni, Geni, please calm down. Your heart can't take all this excitement. I don't want to lose you too. I know you are upset, I am too, but you need to try and calm down please. We will find her. She will be fine, I promise."

"You can't promise me that. You have no clue where she is at or what that sick person is doing to her right now. He could kill her and I would never see my baby again." Geni yelled at Jim, in such a distraught tone it sent chills through everyone who could hear her.

"Honey the police are going to do all they can to get her back. We have to be strong for her, so we can be here when she comes home to us." Jim said desperate to reassure her.

You could hear every uncontrollable sob she made and everyone else had tears streaming down their faces as they watched the video. The Officers knew something wasn't right this whole thing didn't make sense. The pieces didn't fit what were they missing?

After the video was over the same question was on everyone's lips, "What are you going to do to find Jerrica? We want answers and we want action." Several of the spectators exclaimed!

"We will file our report and take the video for forensics and see what they come up with. We might get lucky and find a fingerprint or something that would help us. We will keep in touch with you and if you think of anything that might help us please don't hesitate to call us. I mean day or night, we will be available. Our goal is to find Jerrica as soon as possible." Detective Walker said trying to give some comfort to her family and friends.

Detective Simon spoke up, "We will put an APB out on her car with a description of Jerrica. If you have a picture of her it would help. We could fax a copy of her to the surrounding police departments, and ask for their help also. We will check the surrounding hospitals, morgues and other places she might possibly have visited in the past few days."

Justin interrupted the Detective, "I need my wife. I can't live without her. Some crazy person has her and God only knows what he might be doing to her or already have done to her."

"I understand Mr. Buckleson, I need to get to the Police Station and get the ball rolling. The sooner I get all this evidence to them the sooner we might get some answers. We need everyone's help with this matter." Detective Walker said to all that were listening to his every word.

"We will help; just tell us what to do." Jim said. "I want to find my daughter."

"Yes, yes of course we will help in anyway we can too." Everyone else chimed in.

"Ok, we will be in touch. We will make a plan and we will keep you all in the loop. Please try to get some rest tonight; you are going to need all your strength in the next few days." Detective Simon said.

"Alright folks, we will talk to you tomorrow. Thank you for all you help. Keep the faith we will find Jerrica." Detective Walker assured them as he left the house.

"Thank you Detective. We will be waiting to hear from you." Justin said as he shook the Detective's hand.

Everyone decided to stay the night. They needed to be together and felt it would be better if they all stayed together in one place. Maybe Jerrica would come home. Maybe this was just a bad dream they all would wake up from and live would be back to normal.

Chapter 2

Geni and Jim were the first to awaken the next day. Geni couldn't sleep, so she went to the kitchen to make coffee. Jim felt her get up, he was right on her heels, afraid to let her out of his sight. He knew Geni hadn't slept well, he heard her sobbing most of the night. His heart was breaking too, the helplessness he felt was overwhelming but he had to be strong for Geni and Justin.

Jim followed Geni to the kitchen and set down at the table. "Geni dear come sit down." Jim said tenderly.

"I will, let me start the coffee first," She answered softly. Grabbing two coffee cups she set them on the table, pulled out a chair and set down. Feeling overcome by the events the night before, she began sobbing again.

"Geni darling, I wish there was something I could do or say that would make you feel better. I know there isn't, just don't give up hope, we will find Jerrica." Jim told her trying to sound confident. He was thinking to himself, please God; don't let anything happen to our baby.

"Good morning everyone, anyone mind if I have a cup of coffee?" John asked as he headed for the coffee pot.

"Sure, sit down and join us." Jim said solemnly.

"How are you doing Geni?" John asked knowing she probably hadn't slept all night.

"I'm doing as well as I can under the circumstances. Really, I am numb. I still can't believe what has happened. I was hoping when I woke up this morning it would just have been a bad dream. However, when I awoke I realized it was a nightmare, I couldn't wake up from." Geni said with a tone of disbelief.

"What are we going to do? I just can't set here and twiddle my thumbs. My baby girl is out there somewhere and I need to be doing something productive to find her." He said with both determination and helplessness in his voice.

"We could make up flyers and put them up." John said offering his assistance.

"That's a good idea. Let's get a good picture and go to the print shop and we could start doing that today." Geni continued with a bit of hope in her voice.

"Let's call all our friends and family, I know they would like to help us." Jim offered another suggestion.

"We'll contact the newspaper, radio, and television; maybe they will let us do a live plea for help. I am sure if we could show Jerrica's picture and give a description of her car, with the license plate number, someone out there saw her. I just know it." Geni continued with desperation in her voice.

"I am going to wake everyone up and we can start brainstorming a plan of action." John said as he got up and left the kitchen.

Geni and Jim set at the table and continued to talk, as they listen to John yelling at everyone to get up and come to the kitchen. Within minutes the kitchen was filled with noise, and everyone grabbing a cup of coffee, trying to wake up and make sense of the excitement Geni, Jim and John were exhibiting. After they were informed of the plan that they had come up with, everyone else started throwing out suggestions too. All agreeing this would accomplish more then just sitting around and waiting for the Police to come up with something.

Geni took charge and handed out assignments for everyone to do and giving them a time to rendezvous back at the house. The house was full of chaos as each person scrambled to get dressed and out the door. They were equally excited at the prospect of being instrumental in finding Jerrica before the Police could. Their only objective was to bring Jerrica back safe and sound.

Geni and Ann headed off to the print shop, to get the flyers printed. Jim and John were contacting the Television Station WJJO. Justin was looking for a picture of the car and getting the license number. Sam and Wendy were off to talk to a reporter from the newspaper and George and Tracy were off to talk to someone at the Radio Station WKKT. Everyone else was calling all the friends and family they could think of, for assistance in the search of Jerrica.

On the way to the Television Station, Jim and John rehashed the events of the night before. They tried to make sense of what had happened, but nothing seemed to fit. Arriving at the station they met with the station manager, and began telling him their story. After hearing all the facts they had to offer, he agreed they needed to do a live feed of a plea for help. He was glad to help them in any way he could. They set up a time and Jim and John were ecstatic as they left. Neither of them could wait to get back home to give the family the news.

George and Tracy traveled to the Radio Station, anxious to talk to a reporter there. When they arrived the Editor took their information and wondered why it had not come in on the police blotter yet. He called the Police Station to confirm their story before he committed to doing a story. Once he had conformation, the Editor was more than helpful. He promised to send a reporter to the house that afternoon, giving them time to prepare all the facts for the story. George thanked the Editor and they left the Station to report their success to Geni and the others.

On the way home, Tracy began to speculate about Jerrica's disappearance. She was one of Jerrica's closest friends, so she was privy to some of Jerrica's deepest thoughts. Jerrica had been very depressed and Wendy had been concerned about this. However, Jerrica would always become very quiet when Tracy tried to discuss this with her. She knew Justin would not let her get a job and that was something Jerrica wanted more than anything. She just couldn't make Justin understand this. He was controlling, in Tracy's eyes and she didn't like him much for that.

George was very close to Justin and he was perplexed by the stubbornness against her getting a job. Many times he had told Justin, just let her get a job, maybe she'll get tired of it and be glad to go back to her simple life. He did not agree, telling George that no wife of his was going to work. She had enough to do, taking care of him and the house. He never denied her anything except working.

"Why do you think Justin wouldn't let Jerrica get a job?" Tracy began hesitantly hoping George could give her some insight.

"I don't know. I have had many talks with him, but he is adamant about the subject. He gets very upset and the look on his face let you know to drop the subject." Sounding puzzled himself, at Justin's stubbornness.

"What do you think happened to her? I can't believe someone would kidnap her, do you?" She asked still trying to make sense of it all.

"I don't know why anyone would kidnap her. They don't have a lot of money, so it can't be for money. I mean they live comfortable, but their not rich." George continued sounding more perplexed than ever.

"If it weren't for the video I would say she just ran away. That video gives me the creeps, something about it just peeks my curiosity." Tracy said with a shiver.

"What do you mean?" George asked.

"I don't know, it is just a feeling I have. Call it women's intuition." Tracy confessed.

"Ok, Sherlock, we'll just have to ride this out and hope for the best. What ever suspicions you have be careful voicing them around Geni or Justin. You could spark something you don't want to get into. Let's just keep our ears and eyes open, maybe there is a clue we can pick up on." George told her hoping she would listen.

Tracy gave George a look of surprise but agreed to his proposal. They continued in silence as they drove home. Tracy had every conceivable scenario running inside her head. George had his own thoughts as to what might have happened. They both vowed to themselves not to speak of this at least until they had something concrete to say.

Tracy and George weren't the only ones that had doubts that this was a simple kidnapping. Tina had her own suspicions. She was afraid to voice them to anyone. Joe was Justin's best friend and he always told her that Jerrica was crazy for wanting a job. Joe was always on Justin's side and wouldn't allow anyone to disrespect is decision on the Jerrica not working subject. Tina knew she could talk to Tracy and Wendy but would wait until they could be alone, then she could ask them their opinion. She knew that Jerrica was unhappy, even if it was only about working; it was eating away at her. It was something Jerrica felt strongly about, and she did not like Justin controlling her in this way. She had told Tina she would figure a way around Justin's stubbornness, or she was going to lose her mind.

Back at the house Geni and Ann had arrived back home with a car full of flyers. Very pleased with themselves, they came in smiling ear to ear. Tina, Joe and Rob were still on the phone calling in the troops for additional help. Tina looked up and said, "Hey girls, how did it go?"

"It went great; we got the posters ready for distribution. We can start putting them up around town, and in other towns around here." Ann said anxious to get started.

"Have you heard from any of the others yet?" Geni asked.

"Not yet, but we have been on the phones constantly ever since you left." Joe said as he was dialing another number.

Ann and Geni waddled into the kitchen, carry an armload of flyers. Dropping the papers on the table, Ann decided to make some lunch. Geni suggested they make sandwiches, everyone will be hungry and they needed to keep their strength up. Ann grabbed the bread and Geni went to the fridge, brought out the meat, cheese, mustard and various condiments. Doing all these simple tasks seemed to take their minds off Jerrica if only for a few minutes.

While making the sandwiches, Geni began reminiscing about Jerrica when she was little. How they use to spend time baking and cooking. Jerrica love to help her mom in the kitchen, and Jerrica was able to cook by the time she was a teenager. Tears began welling up in her eyes; these were fond memories, things that could never be taken away from her. Wiping her eyes she continued her task at hand, determined to keep her spirits up.

Ann noticed the tears in Geni's eyes, not wanting to intrude on her thoughts; Ann continued helping Geni make the sandwiches. Ann had her own thoughts, fond memories of how happy Justin was when he married Jerrica. She thought of the many family dinners, and all the holidays they had spent together. She loved Jerrica as she did her own daughter and would be devastated if she lost her daughter-in-law.

As Geni and Ann finished making lunch, they yelled for everyone to come in and get a sandwich. While the food was disappearing onto their plated, Jim and John came walking in with a big smile on their faces. Announcing they were going to be live on the five o'clock news. The crew would be about an hour early to get everything set up. This brought shouts of jubilation from everyone in the house. There was such a chatter of how this would bring Jerrica home. They all wanted to say something on the news, but finally decided that Justin, Geni, Jim, Ann, and John would be the focus of the interview.

The excitement was building as Justin, Stormy and Sally came through the door. "What the hell is all this noise? What is all the excitement? Have they found Jerrica? Is she alright?" Justin asked with a weird look on his face.

"No, no, the Television Station agreed to come over and we are doing a live broadcast on the five o'clock news." Jim told them excitedly

"Oh God, Dad I thought you had found Jerrica. You have no right to celebrate until my sister is home." Stormy chastised them for being happy.

"Sorry Honey, but this could be the break we need, there might be someone out there that saw something, or knows something about your sister." Jim said trying to calm her down.

"Whatever Dad, I just don't feel like celebrating till I see my sister. No one here is going to change my mind. So don't expect me to be happy about anything but getting my sister back." She said defiantly, daring anyone to cross her.

"Did you get the information on the car, Justin?" Jim asked.

"Yes, I did. I have it right here." He said as he handed the information to Jim.

Geni and Ann began putting all the information together. They had only a couple hours before the Television people would be there. Having all their ducks in a row was essential, they didn't want to forget anything that might be important. Not knowing what she had been wearing, posed a small problem, but one they could overcome. Geni sent Sally and Stormy up to look through her clothes to figure out what type of clothes she may have worn that day. Justin was no help; she had still been in her nightclothes when he left for work.

Sally and Stormy started upstairs, when Tracy and Wendy decided to go with them help. Tracy spent more time than anyone with her so she thought she might be able to figure out which clothes were missing. After a few minutes the girls came down and decided she must have worn jeans. They came to this conclusion because Jerrica had borrowed a pair of jeans from Tracy that were missing, and everything else seemed to be there. Jerrica was very meticulous and her clothes were in order. The missing clothes came from the jean section of her closet. There were a couple of t-shirts on the floor in the closet, highly unusual, but she could have worn another t-shirt.

Things were beginning to come together, Geni was sure she had everything they would need for the broadcast. Sitting there thinking, suddenly she was startled back to reality, when she was asked a question by Justin. "Did anyone contact Detective Walker and let him know what we are planning to do tonight?" He asked.

"No, I didn't realize we had to clear anything with him. We need all the help we can get to find Jerrica and I don't see why he should care." Geni answered quite shortly.

"I just thought we would discuss it with him before we actually went on Television tonight." Justin replied trying to calm her down. "I don't want to do anything to jeopardize her safety.

"I'm going to do anything I can to find my daughter; your wife and I don't care what it takes to do it. If there is someone out there that can tell us something, the sooner we find them the sooner we get out Jerrica back." Geni said with determination in her voice.

"What are you implying, Geni? Don't you think I want to find her as much as you do?" Justin asked with stress in hi voice.

"Of course you want to find her. We all want to find her. Let's not start getting upset at each other now. We can accomplish a lot more by working together toward our common goal: finding Jerrica" Jim said trying to keep everyone calm.

Sam, Wendy, George and Tracy came through the door, just as Jim had finished. "We have some good news; the newspaper and the radio station want to run a story. They will be sending someone over later today to get all the details." George announced before any of the others could speak.

"Isn't that great?" Wendy asked beaming.

"That's wonderful, I am so happy." Geni said voice quivering from happiness, but on the verge of bursting into tears again.

"We have good news of our own, television station WJJQ, will be hear around four O'clock to prepare for a live broadcast at five tonight." Ann announced their good news with pride.

"Oh my God, I can't believe we have accomplished so much today. I bet the cops haven't made any headway at all." Tracy spoke up loudly.

"We'll show that creep he picked the wrong family to mess with this time won't we guys?" Sally said with determination in her voice.

Everyone was in agreement with Sally and they continued to chatter about what to say, how to say it, and getting m ore excited as the minutes passed. The anticipation of being on television was scary, but they were doing it for Jerrica. Questions loomed over the entire house, were they going to be successful? Would someone come forward with information? Should they offer a reward? They decided at least at this time not to offer a reward, afraid they would get every crack pot within a hundred miles, beating down their door. They wanted to find Jerrica, not to deal with crack pots or glory grabbing viewers.

Promptly at four, there was a knock at the door; Jim got up to answer it. "Hi I am Satina Sayer, television station WJJQ. We are here to get your story and broadcast live at five." The lady at the door said as she introduced herself.

"Come in, come in, and I will introduce you to everyone." Jim said as he motioned for her to enter the house.

Satina entered the house and Jim introduced her to everyone. They spend the next few minutes going over the facts they had about Jerrica's disappearance. Satina explained to them that they would have ten minutes to say anything they thought would help find their daughter. She had a few rules they would need to follow. They couldn't use profanity, any kind of racial slurs, nothing that could bring any kind of retribution to the station. If she felt they were starting down a wrong road she would pull the plug and the broadcast would end.

Satina explained she was there to do anything she could to help, but rules had to be followed and maintained. The family expressed their gratitude and promised her they were only interested in finding Jerrica and would do nothing to prevent the broadcast from happening. They needed all the help they could get and were so thankful that she had agreed to come do their story.

The plan was for Satina to introduce the family and give a few facts about Jerrica's disappearance, and then she would let the family talk. At the end of the broadcast, Satina would wrap it up with phone numbers where viewers could leave any information they might have. She also agreed with the family they shouldn't offer any reward as of yet, too many people would call in with false information. This would hamper the case rather then help, using precious time that shouldn't be wasted, chasing false leads.

While Satina and her crew were setting up, the newspaper reporter and the radio station van pulled up to the, Buckleson house. Talking to Satina, she directed them to the house and where they could set up, once they cleared it with the family. Both crews walked toward the door and were met on the front porch by John and Jim. After the introductions were made, they were lead into the house for further introductions.

"Everyone, I'd like to introduce Dana Spain, reporter from the newspaper and Carl Tempur, radio station WKKT." John said as each was greeted by handshakes from the guys and hugs from Ann and Geni.

Carl Tempur began speaking first, "I would like to set up along side Satina and do a live broadcast over the radio of Jerrica's disappearance during your televised broadcast. We won't interfere; we feel that we can help reach the listeners that may be traveling and not able to see the broadcast on T.V."

"I think that is a wonderful idea. The more people we can reach at one time the more chance we have of finding Jerrica before something worse can happen to her." Geni said grateful that so many people were so eager to help.

"My photographer and I will be standing in the background taking notes, during the broadcast. I want to confirm every detail with you before we go to print." Dana Spain said wanting to get her bid in for the story also. "If we do this right we can go national with the story and if Jerrica has been taken out of state, we can make people aware of the situation also." She continued.

"That thought never crossed my mind. I just assumed she probably was somewhere in the area. Why would someone take her out of state?" Jim asked confused.

"We aren't that far from the state line and they would have a better chance of keeping Jerrica longer if we think she is still in this area." Dana said trying not to scare them.

At that moment, Detective Walker came storming in the house. "Would someone like to tell me what is going on? Why are there camera crews set up outside? Did anyone think to call me before you made some stupid mistake and jeopardize Jerrica's life?" Walker said commanding answers from somebody.

"What have we done that is so wrong? We just want to find our daughter and we need help doing it." Jim said not understand why the Detective was chastising them. "Who called you anyway? Was it Justin? Who do you think you are coming in here and yelling at us when we are only trying to do something constructive?" Jim continued getting a little brassy with the Detective.

Before the Detective could speak, Dana spoke up, "Sorry I called him. I had to check with the police department before we printed the story, to get the facts from them. We needed to see if they had any information we could use in our story. I didn't realize there was going to be a problem."

"There is no problem, Dana. We just like to be informed so we can be on hand to help answer questions the family may not be able to answer. We also want to make sure a certain protocol is followed so as not to jeopardize our case. I'm sorry I sounded upset, but the first 48 hours are critical to a case like this. We want to find Jerrica and we will gladly accept any help we can get." Detective Walker said apologetically

"All right we are all on the same page; now let's get this show on the road. We have a Jerrica to find." Dana said hoping things would get rolling.

Outside Satina and her crew were finishing up a few last minute checks on their equipment. Carl and the radio crew were in place and just waiting for the broadcast. Each of the crews was in constant contact with their stations, ready to broadcast when it was time. Dana had her recorder set up and the photographer was already taking random pictures. Satina had the family in position and ready to go. Each member of Jerrica's family was full of anticipation and confident that someone would be able to help them in their search.

Satina had switched into reporter mode, when she saw her camera man's fingers start the countdown, ten, nine, eight, seven, and so on. "Its Showtime folks get ready." Satina said as the last finger dropped.

"Good evening, I'm Satina Sayer, and I am here with the family of Jerrica Buckleson. Jerrica disappeared sometime yesterday and her family is asking for your help in finding her. We will be hearing the story first hand from her husband, mother, father, and her in-laws. Listen carefully and at the end of the broadcast we will have phone numbers you can call if you have any information that might help them locate their missing loved one.

Geni was holding Jim's hand so tight it was turning blue and Ann was beginning to feel a little weak as she grabbed for John's arm. Justin was holding an eight by ten of Jerrica in one hand and a picture of her standing by her car in the other. Geni had a picture and Ann was holding one also. They stood there waiting their turn to talk to the people who would be watching and listening.

Justin would be the first to speak. He would explain how he came home and found his wife was missing, the video tape that confirmed his suspicions she was missing, He would go on to ask with tearful eyes for someone to please come forward with some information to help find his wife.

Then the torch would be passed to Geni and Jim. They would make their plea for help. Talking about how they missed her and how she was the light of their life. She was a sweet girl wouldn't hurt a fly and that they couldn't understand why someone would want to hurt her. This would prove to be one of the hardest things that Geni ever had to do. Becoming so distraught she was unable to finish and was lead off camera with Jim's help.

Ann and John expressed their concern for Jerrica's safety and the need to get her back as soon as possible. They told everyone how much they loved her and wanted her back. Then they said to the camera, "Jerrica if you are out there and can hear us, we are going to find you honey, we love you and don't give up. We love you."

With those final words the camera shifted back to Satina Sayer where she did a wrap up of the story and gave the phone numbers where people could leave any information they had. She also told them to contact Detective Walker who was handling the case. There was a number given where if someone wanted to be anonymous and give a tip they could do that too.

The pleas for help were also broadcast across the radio waves too. Everyone driving in their cars that were tuned in to station WKKT could hear the heart wrenching story Jerrica's family was telling. The radio station would broadcast the news continually throughout the night, at the top of every hour, adding any updates that they might receive.

Dana had her recording and notes she had taken from the broadcast. The photographer had taken pictures of all the family and friends. Dana made sure before she left that she had everything the family wanted her to include in her article. The article would receive front page status and all the contact information her readers would need if they had any information to give.

As Geni, Jim, and Justin stood on the porch, watching the last of the crews disappear down the road, confident they would get some good information tomorrow. All would be able to sleep a little better tonight, knowing they were not alone in the search for Jerrica. Tomorrow, a new day, more hope and more help.