Chapter 8 - Focus
He woke to someone shaking his shoulders.
"Wake up! Wake up, please!" Paige Bennett leaned over his face, screaming, tears on her cheeks.
Bobby wanted to answer, but couldn't find his voice. She gave him tepid water to drink, but it didn't help. The words were all scrambled in his mind.
"You wanna get outta here?" Paige asked as she clumsily drew his shirt around his shoulders, then pulled his hands through the arms of the shirt. Next came the jacket, which proved harder as Bobby began faltering. "No, no! Wake up! I'm gonna help you stand, okay?"
Bobby nodded slowly, her words penetrating the fog. She's okay! And now she's helping me? I was right; Larkin was losing control. He held onto her hand like the lifeline it was, and rose stiffly. Something was wrong. Was I drugged too long? Was I gone too long? Oh God, I'm so tired...
"Hey! Hey! Wake up! I know you're, like, really tired, but we gotta go."
Words formed on his stiff lips. "Comin'."
Her smile was like daylight. "Cool."
As soon as Kenneth left, Paige wandered into the kitchen. Feeling more herself than she had in days, she tried to think of a way out of this mess. She tried remembering what he'd told her to do.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw one of the men staring at her. "What do you want?"
"You," was all he said.
Paige tried to remember her self-defense classes, but decided on the skillet next to her hand. One hand on the skillet, one hiking up her skirt, she waited for him to get closer. She swung the skillet as hard as she could, but miscalculated where he would be. Fortunately, the guy had a glass jaw and went down when she connected with his chin. With a backhand that would make her tennis instructor proud, she swung the skillet back, catching him on the side of the face with a satisfying BWANG! Gently placing the skillet back on the stove, Paige stepped over the unconscious man, then ran for the detective guy's room.
As she ran, Paige tried to focus her scattering thoughts. She needed to get her bearings, and find the keys to the black car in the garage. Throwing open the door to the small room, she saw the man on the rickety cot. She ran over and tried to rouse him. He was in the same curled position she saw him in last. Only now, he was burning up with a fever worse than... yesterday? Last night?
Running back to the office, she found his shirt and jacket, but not his coat. A phone? Damn! She screamed at frustration at the lack of one, but gathered the other things. It was cold out, but if she got the car started, they would be warm. Returning to the room, she began shaking the man awake. There was no response, and she didn't now how much time she had left. Finally, he blinked.
"Wake up! Wake up, please!" She knew she was screaming, but he didn't seem to hear.
Eyes fluttered until they focused weakly on her face. In the dim light, she could see confusion in the brown eyes. I don't know his name! People focus better when you use their names, don't they? In frustration she slapped his face several times to get his attention, "You wanna get outta here?"
Once he was upright, she fumbled with the shirt and jacket, pulling them over his too warm body. He began listing to the side. "No, no! Wake up! I'm gonna help you stand, okay?" She could see he was struggling to listen and make sense of her words, but he looked beyond exhausted. Paige hoped he would focus on her voice. "Hey! Hey! Wake up! I know you're, like, really tired, but we gotta go."
After blinking a few times, he finally spoke. "Comin'."
Relief like a cool shower washed over her. "Cool."
Slowly, they made their way through the warehouse. After realizing she didn't have the keys, she tried focusing and in her mind saw them setting on the table in the room the men had kept watch from. Another thought hit her as she shivered. It's cold out there! Running back to the kitchen, she pulled the jacket off the prone man still lying on the floor in the kitchen.
When she returned to the car, she found the man leaning heavily on the car. Sheer stubbornness seemed to be holding him upright. "Hi," he said breathlessly.
"Hi. What's your name?"
The man thought quietly; his face showing confusion again. He watched her open the door. "Bob... Bobby."
"Umm, okay, Bobby. We're going to get out of here, but you've got to help me. I'm still not too clear on things right now; it kinda' comes and goes. And I'm not sure where we are right now. If you see something that can help us, let me know okay?"
"Mmmhmm."
She shook her head, and closed the door. He's going to be a big help, NOT! Sliding behind the wheel, Paige started the car. We're leaving! As soon as I figure out how to... D is for drive! Oh God, I'm slipping.. Focus! Turning the wheel, she steered the car towards the open end of the warehouse.
#
Danny Ross loved his job. And, not just because he'd finally made it to Major Case as the captain. He had a talented crew of dedicated and hard working set of detectives. Now one was missing. Bobby Goren wasn't special in the big picture, but in the lives of the people he worked with everyday he was, even though he was often considered an oddity. But today he was missing and he had witnessed a scene involving the kidnapped daughter of a state senator.
Ross shook his head. On paper, it would have made a great novel. A man, who had served in one of the intelligence agencies of his country, appears to be a kidnapper. Throw in a detective with an incredible memory and intricate knowledge of the criminal mind, one who solved a high percentage of cases by instinct and an impeccable eye for detail, a state senator and kidnapped daughter and an entire police unit looking for them both.
Larkin had tied up the loose end known as Elise Thompson, but no one had yet to find out what her connection really had been. What bothered Ross the most was other than the first ransom call to the senator; there had been no further contact. They suspected that Larkin was losing control of the situation and that Goren had become some sort of obsession, causing his focus to shift. But why?
Robert Goren was one of his hardest working detectives, one of the most dedicated he'd ever seen. He didn't understand the man at all, but he recognized the daily burden he carried that was for the most part unseen by his co-workers. He saw it every time the detective had a rough case, wondering if he had gone home at all, if he'd gotten any sleep. Yesterday was no different. Goren was never satisfied with the results. On all of his cases, he felt the case should have been closed sooner, that he could have done more, that he'd missed something. He had all the recognition and approval he needed, but his passion for perfection would kill him one day.
The phone on the desk rang plaintively, bringing him out of his thoughts. Direct line. That can't be good. "Ross."
"Hey, Danny. It's Harris."
"Jack, good to hear your voice. How's Missing Persons treatin' you?" Danny let out a silent sigh. He'd been holding his breath, thinking the call might have been bad news.
The man on the other line sighed heavily and wearily. "Well, if people would quit misplacing themselves, it'd be a whole lot simpler. Listen," Harris sobered. "We caught a break on one of the traces we've got running. Your missing detective's cell phone was used this morning, just a couple of hours ago."
All at once, the air in his office stilled. "Do you have tape of it? Or a location."
"We don't have an exact location and the call wasn't too coherent. But it was Paige Bennett. All I have is a transcript. And I can't tell you how we even got this… but I'm sending it over to you now."
"Thanks, Jack. I owe you."
"Yeah, not a problem. If it helps even a little in getting your detective back, it'll be worth the reprimand it'll earn me if anyone higher up finds out about it. This case has been a high profile nightmare for my team for the last two days. Maybe by working two different tracks, we can close both our cases."
"I'll do my best, Harris. Thanks for letting me know." Ending the call, Ross glanced out of his window. The late afternoon sun shone through an overcast sky. Looks like snow.
