Deeks phone buzzed as he walked towards the enclosure. He backed into an alley to take the call. "What ya got Bro?"
Eric missed his friend and wanted him back in the building with them but more so, on the water. "Bro, Sam and G said to call you and let you know that Hubbard is on his way back to the enclosure. He left a group of street entertainers two days ago and is slowly making his way back there. I lost him on Pennington Street. I'm still looking but can't find him anywhere. He must have ditched his coat and hat again. Callen asked that you find him and cut him off."
Deeks let out a slow breath. He'd been all over this area for the past two days and nothing. "I'll give it another go. Talk to you tomorrow." He hung up and did a slow reversal of his steps. Had he walked past Hubbard in the last two days and not known it? He didn't see how that would be possible. Why would he come back here? Deeks had heard of the trip to his former home. It seemed like he was trying to atone for something or make amends in some way or maybe he'd just given up. That idea put a bit more urgency into this search.
Deeks spent hours searching behind dumpsters, in alleys, behind stores that had closed hours ago. Where was Hubbard? He checked out every piece of discarded clothing, and went to everywhere he knew that had food out for the homeless. Hubbard was nowhere.
It turned into a very long night. He wandered every street from Seymour to Pasadena Avenue and found nothing. He went into every church to see if he spent the night in one of the shelters, nothing. One priest said that he'd been there, gave a confession and went on his way. The confession gave Deeks the creeps. If he was right; Hubbard had given up and in turn that made the search even more frantic for Artie.
Deeks had just gone back to the enclosure when Sadie and Jonas began their morning. They finished their breakfast and offered some to Artie, and they sat with them as he ate. Marty turned to look for Oscar and realized he had left earlier. He was the early bird.
The fire had already been doused for the day and everyone had packed their carts and left. Deeks for some reason was the last one still inside. He heard Sadie yell a welcome to someone. "Hey it's nice to see you again." Marty's ears perked up and he made a dash for the gate. Randall Hubbard was just coming through into the enclosure but before he could get inside another figure bolted around Jonas and Sadie and charged up to Hubbard. Before Deeks could stop it, a garrote had been thrown around Hubbard's neck and pulled tight.
Deeks moved closer and pulled his weapon. "Stop, LAPD. Drop the weapon." But it was too late. Both the garrote and Hubbard hit the gravel and George Lange took off running down Pasadena Avenue away from the freeway and towards the ocean."Call LAPD and get someone out here." Jonas and Sadie looked on in horror at what had just happened in front of them. Deeks took off running after Lange. He knew he didn't have much time to apprehend him. Deeks dug in and ran after Lang shouting. "Halt, LAPD." Lange continued and never looked back. People were beginning to fill the streets and it made it more difficult for the detective. Lange had no problems with bowling innocent bystanders down. Knowing that he wasn't going to be able to take a shot, Deeks just kept chasing Lange with his weapon in his hand. As they neared the beach the crowds grew thicker and it became harder to keep track of Lange. Deeks kept his eye on his quarry. Lange just jostled his way through the crowds in a desperate attempt to flee.
Marty shouted again to him to stop. "LAPD, STOP!" With the noise of the crowd that gathered on the boardwalk his voice was lost.
Lange turned into an alley hoping to lose the cop following him and proceeded for about fifty feet where he ran face-first into a six foot wire fence. He rounded and found the detective cautiously coming up behind him with his service weapon at the ready. Lange didn't carry a gun so he dropped to his knees and put his hands behind his head and waited for Deeks to take him in. He knew he'd been caught.
Deeks cuffed him, read him his rights and sat him on the ground. He then pulled out his phone and called LAPD to tell them where he is with an arrest and where to find Hubbard's body. He wiped the sweat from his brow and sat on a box by a bakery door. His next call was to Hetty to fill her in on what just went down.
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The team arrived at the enclosure to help with the investigation into Randall Hubbard's death. They had expected to find Deeks there but when Callen and Sam inquired, a young officer informed them that Deeks had left and gone back to the precinct with the suspect. Callen though it odd that he'd leave but he understood why he might.
Kensi watched Ian Hatfield on the side with a young woman and a detective. She walked over and flashed her badge and credentials so that she could listen in on the conversation. The detective started to question Ian. "So Ian, what happened here?" The detective looked less than thrilled to be questioning homeless people about anything.
Ian looked spooked. The young woman with him looked frazzled herself. Ian answered the question that the detective had asked him. "Professor Shane, I mean George Lange, came out of nowhere and strangled Randy...I mean Randall Hubbard, right in front of us, sir.
The detective looked at the young woman who stood beside Ian and saw complete agreement on her part. "Your name Miss and what is your relation to Mr. Hatfield?"
Sadie blanched. "My name is …Sadie Quentin and Ian is my friend. I know Ian as Jonas Plourde. We live here with two others, Oscar Johnson and Artie…wow… who I now know is a cop. There were two others, Christopher Lille who died a few days ago and Randall Hubbard who died here this morning." Kensi could tell she was flustered.
The detective asked another question to the pair. "Did either of you know George Lange before today?"
Ian looked perplexed as to the question. "I knew him as Professor David Shane until late yesterday and then NCIS told me he was George Lange. I never met him before going to college."
Kensi looked up at that. She hadn't thought that was an issue until now. How did he not know Lange? They'd served together on the Reagan. She needed to ask some questions of Ian as well.
Callen and Sam came to stand in on the questioning. Both agents flashed their badges at the detective who nodded at them.
Kensi pulled Callen aside. "He says he didn't know Lange before he started the class at Reseda. How can that be?"
Callen smiled at her. Nice catch Agent Blye. Have Eric look up service records for time spent in the squadron."
Kensi walked away to make the call. Sam and G stood on the side waiting for the detective to be done with his questions. Sam bet that Kensi would have more when she returned.
Sam watched the proceedings with caution. He'd heard Kensi's report on the issues facing Hatfield. He wasn't sure the detective with him had that information and if he did how to use it.
Kensi came back. "Eric came back with interesting information off the service records for our two sailors. Seems they didn't replace Hatfield immediately. They had to fly a replacement in and that would be George Lange. The two of them never met on board. Hatfield was placed on kitchen duty for the rest of his float. Lange could use him because he knew Lille and Hubbard. I wonder how many others he used as well."
Callen felt sorry for Ian Hatfield. He'd been used for this and didn't even know what he did. He'd need psychological help for a long time. There would be no more questions from NCIS.
Sadie took Ian back to the enclosure for some quiet.
Kensi looked around at all the cruisers and officers. "I wonder why Deeks didn't wait for us." Callen wondered about it too and he didn't like where his reasoning took him. He'd have Hetty look into it if Marty didn't show up soon.