Chapter 7

The juggling act David was trying to pull off was starting to make him wonder why exactly he'd thought it was a good idea to go for supervisor. He trusted Nikki and Colby to deal with Robin and the search of her house, but he definitely needed to talk to Robin at some point. Then there had been informing a devastated Alan and Charlie as to what had happened and answering their questions about what would happen next while they waited to see whether Don made it through surgery. That had been tough. There was also the forensics from the house where Don had abducted Liz, the SUV, the other car and Don's apartment, plus anything on Don's actual body to follow up on. Add in reporting to the ADIC, trying to work with McGowan, and the hostile looks he was getting from some of their fellow agents (whether it was because they believed Don was innocent and therefore David was the devil or that he was guilty and therefore David was still the devil) and David was about ready...to go calmly into the men's bathroom and wash his face with water. One member of his team completely losing it was enough for one day. He wasn't going to give anyone a reason to pull him off the case.

He leaned on the sink, head bowed and eyes closed as the water dripped off his chin. Six thirty in the morning and it felt like the longest day he'd ever had. He let a few tears join the droplets of water that were still on his face, tears for what two women had gone through...and for Don. If Don had done all of it of his own accord, then Don was not the man David had known and that man (and his friend) was lost. If he'd somehow been forced into it, then the man had been through hell and was going to have as hard a recovery as Robin and Liz would, if not harder because of knowing that he was responsible for their pain. That was assuming he even survived his injuries. David looked up at himself in the mirror above the sink. The pain he was feeling was plain in his eyes. He splashed his face again and towelled off, trying to put his feelings on the back-burner. There would be time later for tears, guilt and beating himself up for not knowing sooner that there was something seriously wrong. Now was the time for gathering evidence and building up a complete picture of what had happened and why.

"It's hit the media," McGowan said quietly as he reached his desk, pointing to one of the TVs on the wall.

David looked up. There was footage of Robin's house from the air and a photograph of Don flashed up onto the screen, one from a few years before when his hair was shorter. David was grateful that the sound was off, he didn't want to hear what was being reported. They changed back to the reporter in the studio and a banner came up on screen underneath her talking head: 'Breaking News: FBI Agent Don Eppes suspected in abduction of FBI Agent and prosecutor.' It was probably expecting too much to hope that it wouldn't get picked up by the media, but David would rather that Don had not been tried in the media circus before they'd figured out exactly what had happened and why.

"I bet that made you happy." David couldn't help sounding bitter, the words out of his mouth before he'd really thought them through.

"Actually, Agent Sinclair, it doesn't. We do not have all the facts yet, ruining a man's reputation in the media before all the facts are in is not how I operate. There are rules and regulations to be followed to make sure that the right conclusion is reached before the general public is involved. This is helpful to no one." McGowan gestured towards the TV again.

The man wasn't a complete bastard. David had already known that, yet David had still felt the need to bait him. Stress, he reassured himself. That's all. Perfectly understandable and McGowan did have it in for Don before. The interrogation that McGowan had put all of Don's team through had not endeared the man to any of them. Or made David feel that he should trust him, particularly where it came to Don's life and career on the line.

David's cell rang and he felt a flicker of irritation. The morning had been phone call after phone call; he would have given anything to have half an hour without his cell trilling like a possessed and very annoying canary. He managed to answer it without snapping, listening quietly as the caller imparted their reason for contacting him.

"We can look at the laptop now," David told McGowan as he made his way over to the elevators.

It had been a potentially nasty surprise to find in the trunk of the car. Liz had told them that Don had moved it from the SUV to the car, which therefore made it valuable in terms of possible motive or evidence for why Don had gone postal. Considering the bombs that had been found at the house and Don's FBI background, they'd decided to leave booting it up to the techs who'd be better able to deal with anything that they could possibly come across. Forensics had already let him know that they'd found Don's prints on the outside of the laptop, the area around the keyboard and the power button. There hadn't been any fingerprints from anyone else on or in the laptop, not even around the battery.

"Agent Sinclair," the female tech greeted them when they joined her at her table. David was fairly certain her name was Simone, but it had been a while since he'd had evidence that she'd examined and knowing her name wasn't high on his list of priorities at that moment. The laptop was open in front of her, one of the default wallpapers for Windows of a sand dune covering the screen. There were very few icons for programs. "Okay, so we've got no nasties, well, at least none computer program related. No programs to wipe the hard drive or anything else malicious. However, there are a number of video files going back a bit over a month and one combined video and audio file, and those..." She shook her head grimly, bringing up the folder that contained the files. "This one is the most recent, time stamped this morning." She hovered the mouse cursor over the file. "It's the one with the audio as well as video and, believe me, you're not going to like it."

Video and audio from that morning. David had to close his eyes for a second, exhaling softly. He had a bad feeling he knew what it was going to be. "Play it."

The video started and David was proven right. Every single second of it turned his stomach, making him glad he hadn't felt up to eating the breakfast that another agent had gone out and bought for him and McGowan. Robin's absolute terror came through louder than her sobbing. There was nothing of Don in the man who touched and hit her, who told her that her fear was beautiful. Who left her to sob hysterically, after he finally left the room. The sound almost completely died off when Don left the room the first time and there was no sound at all at the end after he'd left. Seeing Robin cry without any sound, it was almost more painful. David angrily wiped away the tear that had rolled down his cheek as the video ended.

"The other files?" McGowan asked, his voice rough and his eyes full of sympathy, both for Robin and for David.

"Nothing like this," the tech said, shaking her head again. "Sex videos from the same room, involving Agent Eppes and the woman, and from another room which looks like it's in a different house. They all seem consensual, although whether their filming was consensual is something you'd have to ask the woman. The placement of the cameras is the same for all the videos, they weren't moved. That last video, at the very least, could have been streamed on the internet, as the website is still operating. It looks like it was downloaded, though, as a whole file from a different website that has since been taken down." She opened Internet Explorer and brought up a site that showed a picture of Robin's bedroom. David could see a man in an FBI jacket who was broad enough to be Colby standing mostly out of frame.

"This is live?" he asked, his eyebrows raising, hand already retrieving his cell. The tech nodded as he called Colby.

"Granger."

"Are you in Robin's bedroom?"

"Yeah."

"Turn around and move slowly to your left."

David was right, Colby was the man standing on the edge of the video. He waited until Colby was standing in the middle of the camera feed.

"Stop. There's a camera somewhere there in front of you."

Colby in the video leaned down closer to the camera, his face becoming large.

"Got it." His voice was tightly controlled, realising exactly what the camera implied.

"That's not the only camera," the tech said, bringing up another webpage. "There's two others."

"Stay on the line, there's other cameras."

The next camera looked to be in the kitchen from the view of the sink and fridge.

"The other one?"

The final camera had a clear view of a sofa and part of the entryway into the house.

"Colby there's one in the kitchen and the other has a view of a sofa downstairs."

"Okay, give me a second."

Half a minute later Colby appeared on screen, off to the left.

"Move to your left, in front of the sofa."

It took a few more directions, but they finally located the camera. The one in the kitchen was easier to find. Cameras watching his girlfriend's almost every move...that was sick.

Colby shook his head, the camera clearly catching his angry expression. "Please tell me he didn't film whatever he did to Robin."

"He did."

"Anything else?" Colby asked abruptly.

"No."

The Colby onscreen quickly snapped shut his cell before moving out of camera view.

"That all?" David asked the tech.

"Not exactly." She picked up two evidence bags that were sitting beside her and handed them to him. "These are from what was found on Agent Eppes at the hospital."

David blinked in surprise at the small object in one of the bags as McGowan leaned in to look as well. A small slither of hope was starting to develop. "An earwig?"

"It was in his left ear. And the other is a microphone which was on his shirt. It explains why the sound pretty much dies when he leaves the room in that final video, the sound was coming from the microphone."

"An earwig and a microphone," McGowan repeated, just as aware of the possible implications as David was.

It was the first indication that maybe Don had been under someone else's control. The cameras could even be explained by it: a way to gather information and make sure Don did as ordered. In his left ear the earwig wouldn't have been noticed by Liz while he was driving. Reality decided to intrude on David's hope. So far it was the only evidence that they'd found that implied that someone else could be involved. By itself or even with Don saying that someone else was forcing him, it would likely not be enough to stop Don being charged-he could have put the earwig in himself to make it seem like he was under duress and give himself a defence, and the microphone could have been so he could record it all for his own sick amusement afterwards. The earwig could also have been used to keep track of Robin, if there was a microphone in her room. There were explanations for it that fitted with Don being responsible. It would probably raise reasonable doubt at his trial and stop him being convicted, but David had a feeling that the powers that be would push for him to be charged unless they found something more concrete that indicated Don had been under duress. He'd be unlikely to get bail and they all knew what prison was like for law enforcement officers.

David rubbed his chin. "We, uh, need to check whether there were cameras in the cars and at the house where he abducted Liz. And whether there's a microphone anywhere in Robin's room."

And they needed to report the new information to the ADIC. David could barely let himself hope that what the earwig and microphone implied was true. If it was, the person who'd set this all up appeared to have covered their bases thoroughly, making it seem like Don was responsible for everything. It was going to be hard to definitively prove differently. By this point, David had largely convinced himself that Don was responsible, as much as he didn't want to believe it. He didn't want to start believing the opposite and then have that belief crushed.

He had to stay objective and trust in the evidence. And the evidence overwhelmingly indicated that Don had done it all. He'd rejoice if they managed to prove otherwise, but until they had more proof, he couldn't start believing in Don again.

TBC...