Chapter 9: The Clock is Ticking

The small group of people gathered in the conference room of the Santa Barbara Police Station. Ryan Anderson and Jake Gordon were setting up the projector and their computers. The Chief was at the head of the table on the phone. Lassiter and Juliet were flipping through files. While Gus and Henry sat on one side of the table and watched the flurry of activity. Karen hung up the phone and said, "Okay people, let's recap what we have so far. Lassiter."

"Chief, can I interrupt for a second?" Gus said politely.

"I'll get to you, Mr. Guster. Lassiter," she said sternly.

"Well, the warehouse location was a trap. Cushing was wearing a vest filled with C4 and detonated it, killing himself. So far, there is no evidence that Spencer was ever there. I have the Crime Scene boys going over what's left of the office with a fine tooth comb. They're looking for enough of Cushing to make a positive ID. We just want to be 100 certain. They'll call us with any updates," Lassiter explained.

"Was anyone else hurt?" Henry asked.

"Luckily, nothing serious. Two officers were treated for smoke inhalation, some other minor cuts and burns," Lassiter said and shared a look with Gus. Gus knew that was as close to a thank you as he was going to get from the stoic detective.

"O'Hara, what did you find at the mother's place?" The Chief asked.

"Chief, seriously, this is important," Gus demanded.

"Gus, in a minute," the Chief said. Gus was starting to get mad, darn his good manners.

"Well, we found a briefcase that contained the deed to the warehouse and a notebook. The notebook details pretty graphically the suspect's plan for emotional therapy. It mentions the hostility that this man had against the system that put him in foster care. He hates his mother, and his therapist. He talks a lot about the foster family that he attacked and you, Mr. Spencer," Juliet said, looking up at Henry. "He found out why you couldn't see him before he went into foster care."

"Right, I told him that. Shawn was in the hospital that night for observation," Henry said knowingly, and then he understood. "He knew about Shawn's fear of confined spaces?"

"Yes. He got a hold of the hospital records about the incident where Shawn was trapped inside a refrigerator as a child. He used that fear in order to perform his so-called therapy," Juliet continued.

"So, he's been planning this for some time then?" Lassiter asked.

"Well, I think he's been hoping to conduct his therapy for a while and Shawn was just at the wrong place, wrong time," Juliet theorized.

"I'm not sure about that. Cushing was asking questions about Shawn and Henry before Shawn walked in the office," Vick said.

"Okay, that's all great information, but that's not helping us find Shawn. He's running out of time," Henry said angrily.

"Cushing sent me a text message," Gus stood up and yelled.

Everyone stared at him. "Why didn't you say so? What did it say?" Karen asked.

"I tried to tell you, several times. The message read, 'He'll be where all my rage began'," Gus said.

"That should help us narrow down his location," Henry said.

Karen nodded, "What do you two have on the phone traces?" She asked the two technicians.

"Well, we've traced the origins of all the phone calls down to a two-mile radius. Here," Ryan explained, projecting the map on the screen.

"That's a big area to cover. Do we have any ideas how much time we actually have to find Spencer?" Lassiter asked.

"Looking at the size of the box, the time Cushing might have left him, I'm estimating about more two hours and he'll be out of air," Jake said. The room fell eerily silent.

"This message that Cushing sent to Gus demonstrates that this man has acted very deliberately. We need to find to this place that he is referencing. What is in this radius that means something to Cushing?" Karen stated. Juliet and Lassiter were flipping through files.

"Where's his mother? We should get her up here. She may know something we don't," Henry said. Karen picked up the phone.

"Could it be his parent's house, where he grew up and his father was killed?" Lassiter said.

"No, that's in the other part of town," Henry said.

"The family that he attacked, what is that address?" Juliet asked. Lassiter turned to the page in the file. He looked up to the map.

"Holy Christmas, that's it!" Lassiter exclaimed jumping to his feet.

"I'll mobilize the units. Go, go, go! Lassiter and O'Hara, take Mr. Spencer and Mr. Guster with you," Karen yelled to their retreating forms.

Ryan and Jake high-fived each other. "Good job, gentleman," Karen told them as she mobilized her troops.