05:30
Frank sighed and stood up to leave his living room. For the past two hours he had been trying to calm Horatio down, after the news of Calleigh's death. Horatio had broke down completely, crying and hitting himself in the head with his fists. Alexx and Frank drove him to Frank's place. Once inside the exhausted Lt crouched down on the floor and just cried. He cried for almost an hour, before agreeing to sit down on the couch. Horatio couldn't stop crying. Several years without crying and all those tears made their way to the surface. Neither Frank and or Alexx had ever seen their friend so sad. Not even when his brother died. But back then Horatio hadn't met Calleigh yet. Back then when Raymond died, Horatio had been a loner, shutting everyone out.
The news of Calleigh's death spread fast. But no one was as sad as Horatio. Eric had called, asking to speak to his mentor and friend. Alexx, who had answered the call, had told him that today was not a good day for Horatio to talk on the phone. He needed to rest and be by himself for a while. Ten minutes ago, the read head had fallen asleep on Frank's couch. Alexx had then taken the twins back to her place. Horatio was in no state to take care of them right now. First he needed to eat and sleep. Then he could be reunited with his sons. His sons would from now on be the only thing keeping him alive. Horatio would never let Jr and Donovan down. The boys were the only ones he had left.
Frank yawned as he walked into his kitchen to make some food for himself. He would go to sleep soon, but first he needed to eat. He couldn't really believe that Calleigh was dead. It felt too unreal to be true. It just couldn't happen. Horatio had thought the same thing. He had kept on saying that he didn't believe Dr. Anna Marple. Frank and Alexx had been force to tell him several times that the doctor had no reason to be lying. And every time they told Horatio that, it broke their hearts as well as his. A loud knock on the door made Frank rush to the door. He didn't want Horatio to wake up. Frank opened the door and was surprised to see Molly standing in front of him.
"Molly, what are you doing here? You should be home, sleeping." Frank asked.
"Well, I can't sleep." Molly said. She gave Frank a sad smile.
"Alright, come on in."
Frank opened the door wider and Molly stepped inside his house. Together they walked into the kitchen.
"Can I get you anything?" Frank asked.
"No, thanks." Molly said and sat down by the kitchen table.
Frank soon joined her with a sandwich. He could see that Molly had something on her mind, and it wasn't about Calleigh's death. Molly had, of course not, known Calleigh as long as everybody else, but Molly had become the "Baby Sister" in the team. And she was closest to Calleigh then to any other woman at the PD. Frank had expected Molly to cry. But she didn't.
"What's on your mind, Molly?" Frank asked.
"Well, do you want me to go straight to the point?"
Frank nodded.
"I don't think Calleigh is dead." Molly said.
Frank raised an eyebrow at her, "Why not?" He asked.
"I asked Dr. Marple if I could see her body. She wouldn't let me."
"Well, it's not for you. It's for… Horatio, he's the one who will have to… identify her." Frank sad sadly. The words hard to speak.
"That's not what struck me the most." Molly said intrigued, "It was the fact that Dr. Marple was nervous and never made eye contact with me."
"She's hiding something?" Frank asked. He wasn't sure he could handle more news right know.
Molly nodded and gave Frank a small smile.
"Frank. I checked at the morgue. Calleigh's body is not there. And guess what?"
"It's not at the hospital either." Frank sighed.
"Exactly. It's gone." Molly said, "That's good."
"How is that good?" Horatio asked from the doorway. He looked at Molly with furious, yet sad eyes.
"Because it means that she might still be alive." Molly said.
"Or this Mario-guy we're looking for and whoever he hangs out with, took her bod…" Horatio said sadly.
"Let me look into it." Molly said, "I will find her okay?"
Horatio snorted and walked away. Leaving a confused Molly in the kitchen with Frank. Molly looked confused at Frank.
"He's sad Molly. He believes Cal is dead." Frank sighed, "Look, I don't know if I believe you yet. But you've never been wrong before. So start an investigation about this. Though you'll probably have Stetler breathing down your neck in no time." Frank said, "And I hope you're right about your suspicions."
Frank stood up and left the kitchen. Molly didn't follow him. Instead she left the house, she couldn't wait to start the investigation. Her friend was not dead, and she would prove it. Calleigh was alive, and Molly would bring her back to Horatio. She had to.
Frank heard the front door close as he walked into the living room. Horatio sat on the couch. He was angry. Frank sat down in a chair and looked at his friend. Horatio didn't say anything. But Frank could see how exhausted he was. He could barely keep his head up. After less then five minutes Horatio had fallen asleep again. Frank yawned and decided to just sleep in the chair. He didn't have the energy to walk to his bedroom. He just wanted to get a few hours of sleep.
-I-
06:15
It was a known fact that when homicide Dt. Molly believed in something, when she wanted to prove something, she did everything she could do just that. Therefore she had gathered the whole team and every lab tech in the break room. They yawned and drank lots of coffee to keep themselves on their feet. But none of them wanted to go home. When Molly told them about her suspicions they seemed to agree, and it motivated them to work even though their shift was over long ago and they were practically dead on their feet.
"Alright. We need a plan." Eric sighed, "Ryan and I will talk to all the nurses who attended Calleigh's surgery."
"I will check the surveillance tapes." Natalia yawned.
"And I will talk to Anna Marple again." Molly said.
"What about us?" Cooper asked, "We're just going to sit in the lab and do nothing?"
"No, you'll find Jake Berkley somehow." Eric said, "We haven't seen him since Calleigh got stabbed. Yet he is one of her oldest friends."
"Yeah, it's weird that he hasn't shown his face around here yet." Ryan agreed.
"Alright, let's get to work." Molly said.
Everybody left the break room. The team went to the parking lot to get their hummers. Stetler stood by his car and simply watched as the team left. He knew they were up to something, and he would find out sooner or later.
-I-
Calleigh moaned and opened her eyes slowly. She tried to move, but groaned as pain shot through her body. She could feel some bandages with her hands over het stomach and chest and then an IV. Her vision was blurry, but she was able to make out some paintings, a window and an oxygen machine. Once her vision became more clear she realized that she was not in a hospital. Hospital walls were white, but the walls surrounding her were brown and made out of wood.
"Good morning, star shine." A familiar voice said to her.
Jake smiled at Calleigh and sat down on the bed next to her.
"Jake?" Cal asked quietly.
"Yeah, that's me." Jake smiled, "Here have some water." He brought a glass of water to her mouth.
Calleigh took a sip and then just looked at Jake. He had done something, she knew it, and it wouldn't take very long for her to figure it out either. She just had to be more awake when she tried figuring it out. Because soon Calleigh was asleep again and Jake sighed. He had bribed a paramedic at the hospital to drive him and Calleigh to a small house that Jake had rented at a small shore. It had cost Jake 7 thousand dollars.
But it was worth it, because now Calleigh was safe. No one knew Jake was here. He had rented the cabin under a fake name. He hadn't told anyone what he had done, and he was sure that the paramedic, Dr. Marple and the nurses would keep quiet. After all he did pay all the nurses 2 thousand each. Dr. Anna Marple hadn't been hard to convince at all. She had just looked at Jake's badge and helped him. She didn't even look to see that it was an LAPD badge and not an MDPD badge.
Flashback 23:45
"Excuse me." Jake said.
Everybody in the room turned around and looked at him.
"I'm looking for the Dr. in charge." Jake said.
"That would be me." Anna said and walked outside the OR room with Jake.
"Hi, I'm a police officer and also a good friend of the woman you have on the OR table." Jake said, "She was attacked by a mob guy, and I need to keep her safe. I need her to come with me."
"Why?" Anna asked.
"It's for her own safety." Jake said, "Just finish the surgery fast and help me."
"And then what?" Anna asked.
"You do what you always to when somebody dies." Jake sighed.
"You mean you want me to tell her family that she's dead?" Anna asked shocked.
Jake nodded, "Yes, for her own safety. Until the case is closed."
Anna sighed. She didn't really want to it, but the man as an officer.
"Alright, but what about my team of nurses?" Anna asked.
Jake sighed, he went inside the room. Gave all the five nurses 2 thousand dollars.
"This if for you. All you need to do is to help me and keep quiet." Jake said.
By the smiles on the nurse's faces he knew he had them on his side.
End Of Flashback
A gray-haired man walked inside the bedroom.
"Did she wake up?" He asked.
"For a minute." Jake said.
The man was a retired doctor and also Jake's uncle Bob. He was the one who made sure that Calleigh's wounds healed.
-I-
07:00
Eric and Ryan smiled to each other as the five nurses nervously moved around in their chairs. Eric and Ryan hadn't told them why they had been brought in. Fact was that they couldn't prove that they actually had anything to with Calleigh's disappearance. But maybe fear was enough for the five of them to confess. Eric and Ryan were both wired up with recorders.
"Nervous?" Ryan asked, smirking.
"Should we be?" One of the male nurses asked, his name was Chase Bucket.
"Well, it depends. Have you done anything criminal lately?" Eric asked.
All the nurses shock their heads.
"Really? Then tell me where I can find Calleigh Duquesne's body?" Eric asked.
"At the morgue at MDPD." Chase said. He seemed to be the only one brave enough to answer.
"She's not there." Ryan said, "All of you were attending the surgery of Ms. Duquesne. You were the last people to see her."
"So?" A nurse named Becky asked.
"So where the hell is she?" Eric asked, "We already have Dr. Marple in interrogation and we're checking the surveillance tapes. It's only a matter of time before we got you on tape hiding Ms. Duquesne's body."
"It was Anna's fault!" Becky snapped.
All the nurses sighed in anger. Becky had screwed everything up. The other nurses knew that the surveillance cameras in the OR didn't work today. So there was not way that Jake Berkley had been caught on tape bribing them.
"Really, why is that?" Ryan asked.
"A blonde guy paid us to help him hide Ms. Duquesne. He didn't say why." Becky said, "He talked to Anna before telling us to do what he said and keep our mouths shut."
"How much?" Ryan asked.
"2 thousand dollars." Chase sighed.
"Do you have that money?" Eric asked.
All the nurses nodded and gave their money to Eric and Ryan. Hopefully there would be prints from the guy who paid them on the money.
"Thank you very much." Eric said, "Oh and just so you know. We only suspected that you had something to do with this. We couldn't prove it since the cameras ain't working in the OR. But thanks for telling us."
Eric and Ryan left smirking as all five nurses were under arrest. They went back to the lab together with Natalia who had tapes from the hallways. And she had seen quite an interesting person on those tapes.
TBC…
AN: Please review!