Chapter Three

Daniel sat at his desk the next morning, a tea in his hand and a pen in the other. He had no classes to teach today, so he was enjoying the morning crossword at home. He took a sip of tea and his hand descended to answer 32 across.

"Naw man, you got it all wrong." Said his most current hallucination, a fourteen year old gang banger sprawled in a chair.

"You know..." Said Daniel, not even glancing at the young man. "You are the most ANNOYING hallucination to date. Way to set a new record."

"Not my fault man. You the one who is hallucinating me. Nothin' I can do about it." He said, cracking a cocky smile. Daniel briefly glanced up at him and sighed, preferring to say nothing. He continued to solve his crossword until their was a knock upon the door. Daniel glanced up at where the teenage boy was, but he was gone. Daniel stood up, and walked to the front door. He opened it to reveal Kate Moretti, in her usual work attire. She had a knowing smile on her face, and Daniel couldn't help but smile when he saw her.

"To what do I owe the pleasure of this house call Agent Moretti?" He asked in an almost flirtatious manor. Kate smiled and took no time in answering him.

"We just got a tip from the landlord. Apparently Joycean had a boyfriend, Adrian Calson. I was going to go over to his apartment and thought you would like to come along." Kate said, getting that look in her eyes, the one Daniel liked so much.

"You have no idea how much." Daniel said, grabbing his coat and scarf, and following Kate down the steps.

Kate knocked on the door of the dirty apartment and waited for a response. When none was forthcoming, she knocked again with the added "FBI, open up!" to hopefully get the message through. Stirring could be heard in the apartment. A thump, a curse, and the shuffling of feet across a floor. Soon the many locks on the door were being unlocked and the door opened a crack. A young man's eye could be seen as he surveyed Daniel and Kate outside of his apartment.

"What do you want?" He asked, his voice nervous and irritated. Kate gave Daniel a quick glance, one that told him to be ready in the event of danger.

"Adrian Calson? My name is Kate Moretti I'm an agent with the FBI, and this is Doctor Daniel Pierce. We would like to come in and just ask you a few questions about Joycean Roan." Adrian said nothing as he closed the door, undid the last chain, and opened the door wide for Kate and Daniel to enter.

Daniel followed Kate into the shoddy living room, and sat down on one of the only clear spots on the couch. Kate sat right next to him to keep from sitting on anything resembling pizza or cans of soda and beer. So close were they, that Daniel could feel her shoulder brushing against his arm. He tried to keep himself focused on the matter at hand, but he was acutely aware of her presence, and was dangerously close to blushing.

"Joycean in some kind of trouble?" Adrian asked as he sat down in a chair facing the couch. He crossed his arms and slung one leg over the arm of the chair.

"As of right now we can't be sure. Joycean's apartment was found trashed and covered in blood. The lab is doing a DNA test right now." Kate said leaning forward. "How long have you known Joycean?"

"Since we were kids. We lived on the same block in a rough part of town." Adrian said, shifting uncomfortably in his chair. Daniel took note of that as Kate continued with the questioning.

"Did you know that Joycean had past ties to the Bloody 66?" Kate asked as Adrian squirmed.

"Yeah I knew. We both ran with them for a little while in middle school and high school. But we quit all that when the crew got busted." He said, shifting again and touching his face.

"Man, gotta give him props. Dude don't squeal." Said Daniel's 14 year old hallucination that appeared behind Adrian and to the left. "He's hiding something." Daniel looked at Adrian's face and really payed attention to his eye movements.

"You didn't just quit did you Adrian." Said Daniel suddenly. Kate looked over at him, as did Adrian.

"What you talkin' 'bout man?! Of course we quit, we didn't want to get busted too." Adrian stood at this point, a hint of panic in his voice. Daniel stood as well and continued to speak.

"I'm right. You didn't just quit. You and Joycean did something. Something that caused the leaders of the Bloody 66 to get arrested." Daniel's eyes were ablaze with understanding and passion as Adrian stood in abject shock.

"Adrian, if we find out that you knew something, and didn't tell us, you could go to jail for obstruction of justice." Said Kate, standing as well, her expression more sympathetic. Adrian looked at Kate, a haunted expression on his face as he battled his own continence.

"It's not what we did, it's what we saw."

Daniel sat in front of the computer as Kate interrogated Adrian in the FBI headquarters. On the other side of the one way mirror, he could see everything that was going on, and one the screen in front of him, he had an up close view of Adrian's face.

"Tell us what happened Adrian." Kate said, her hands knit and in front of her on the table.

"It was an initiation into the Bloody 66. I was about fourteen, fifteen at the time. I had been runnin' dope for them for a few years cause my big brother was a member at the time. Me and about five other kids, including Joycean, were taken to an abandoned warehouse. There were six guys there, tied up and beaten. They said that we had to kill 'em if we wanted to be apart of the crew. Only one of us did it. And he didn't just kill his guy. When the rest of us didn't do it, he killed the rest of them too." He paused for a moment before continuing. "They beat us up. Raped Joycean, and dumped us by the side of the road. Someone called for an ambulance, and we were taken to the hospital. All five of us turned states evidence for immunity, and remained anonymous."

"So you're saying that Joycean was killed because of this?" Kate asked, leaning forward slightly.

"I don't know. I haven't seen any of the others since the last trial... except Joycean of course." Adrian said, his head in his hands.

"Can you tell us who the other three were?" Kate asked. Suddenly Daniel felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned to see the young teenager from that morning behind him.

"You know who one of the remaining three are Daniel." He said simply. Daniel quickly looked back at the interrogation but Adrian was saying nothing. "Think about it. Who am I Doc?" Daniel suddenly turned to the young boy in question and really looked at his features.

"Oh god."

Max Lewicki stood under a bridge in a seedy part of town. It was raining, and he had his hood up, not wanting to be seen. He stood and waited for a few moments, when suddenly he heard a quiet "Max?" From the shadows. He stepped out into the light just as a young woman with dark skin stepped into his view.

"Joycean?" Max ran to her and she threw herself in his arms. She was shaking and crying.

"Max, they got Cameron and James. You and Adrian are next." She stepped away from him as Max held her at arms length.

"It's going to be okay Joy. Tell me what happened, I thought you were dead!" Said Max also scared and angry. Joycean opened her mouth to answer, but suddenly stopped as she saw something over Max's shoulder. Terror spread across her features as Max turned to see.

There were two shots, a scream, and then silence.