Diamonds Are Forever
Part 11
Tanis hung up the phone and groaned inwardly. She hadn't liked what she'd heard; it was just like her partner to get himself into trouble, she thought.
"Come on, Tanis, move your butt and get to the hospital," she said to herself.
Grabbing her badge and her gun, she made her way towards her car. She hoped with Mark and Amanda's help that they'd be able to find Steve and Jesse. She hoped.
The drive was quiet. Uninterrupted, except from an annoying radio station; which she immediately turned off.
Less than ten minutes later, she arrived at Community General. As arranged, she met with Mark and Amanda in the doctor's lounge.
"So, what do we have so far?" Tanis asked, getting straight to the point.
Mark sighed. "Unfortunately, not enough," he looked to the file they had composed of all their information.
"Well, we know that they're not at that warehouse; we already checked," Amanda added.
"OK, do we have any suspects?" Tanis looked at the file.
"We think maybe George and Bert Rain," Mark answered.
Tanis frowned, thoughtfully. "I don't see any connection".
Mark smiled, despite his concerns. "We think they wanted Jesse. That's why they were asking for him and why they came to the beach house".
"Mark," Tanis said, profession demanding her to be serious, "I don't see any reason why they would want Jesse. There's only a remote connection through the case and that's because he helps you".
The older doctor stared into the distance. "No, that's not the only connection," he said slowly, "he also treated Gregory McCalson".
"I don't understand, Mark," Amanda watched her friend closely; "didn't you also help treat him?"
Mark nodded. "Yes I did, but Gregory spoke to Jesse, not me," he said matter-of-factly.
"I still don't-," Amanda was cut off.
"You think that someone saw and assumed that Gregory told Jesse where the diamonds are," Tanis cut in, sharply.
Smiling, Mark said, "that's exactly what I think". He paused, thinking. "Now, we think Neil Lennon is involved in this and he owned that warehouse," he stopped.
"What?"
"What is it?" Amanda and Tanis asked together.
"Does Lennon own more than one warehouse, by any chance?" he asked.
Tanis thought for a second. Nodding she said, "yeah, a few, I think".
"Do you think we could get a list?" Mark asked, in full gear now.
"I'll see what I can do," Tanis said as she left.
Amanda looked at Mark. "You think he's got them at one of his other warehouses, don't you?" she asked.
"Let's hope so, Amanda," he said, sadly, "let's hope so".
-
Jesse gulped as Bert approached him, and cringed inwardly at the look of utter glee on his tormentor's face.
He turned to Steve, who was now struggling violently against his restraints in a bid to protect his friend. The detective grunted in pain as he was shoved rudely to the floor.
Bert was upon him now. He knew there was nothing he could do, but still he tried to move away from the hands which reached down to grab him.
"None of that now, Doc," Bert's voice sounded again. Sighing with frustration, he followed Jesse and effortlessly grabbed him and hauled him up. "Now, are you gonna tell us where the diamonds are?" he asked for what felt like the millionth time for Jesse.
"For the last time," he said between breaths, "I don't know about any diamonds".
"Wrong answer," Bert growled. He kneed him viciously in the stomach, pulled him up and punched him in the face.
Jesse was vaguely aware of Steve yelling out as he fell to the floor. He sensed, more than saw, Bert descending on him again. As he was lifted up he could do little more than hang limply in his grip.
"Where are they?" Bert yelled in his ear.
"I don't know," Jesse spoke through gritted teeth.
This seemed to anger Bert even more. He pushed Jesse against the wall and punched him thrice more in the stomach.
He let the blonde doctor sink to the floor. When he was about to strike him again, he paused. The doctor was looking up again but not at him. Jesse's gaze was fixed on Steve. He looked at the detective and saw concern etched on his face. And not just concern for anyone; concern for the doctor.
Bert grinned to himself. It looked like this little game was about to take a turn. Maybe the doc will give me some answers, Bert thought, if I pick on his friend here.
Jesse saw his intention and lifted himself onto his hands and knees. He tried to stand, but found he no longer had the strength to do so.
"Well, Doc," Bert sneered as he took a place beside Steve. "Would you spill if I picked on your friend here?" he indicated to George to lift the detective to his feet.
Jesse didn't answer. He couldn't; he was struggling to breathe. He knew he should try and breathe evenly, but he was too scared for Steve's sake to concentrate.
His chest hurt with every shallow breath he took. He was close to hyperventilating.
"Don't…don't hurt Steve," he managed to force out.
"Oh?" Bert looked at him, "why shouldn't I?" With that, he turned and punched Steve in the chest.
"No," Jesse whispered, despairingly.
His evil grin back on his face, he returned to Jesse's side. "Think about your answer the next time we meet, Doc," he snarled.
Together, Bert and George left the two friends alone in their prison once more.
Jesse, too weak to do anything else, collapsed ineloquently on the floor.
-
Mark, Amanda and Tanis sat at a table in BBQ Bob's, all wearing worried expressions. Time was running out, fast.
They had no idea what could be happening to their friends and no desire to think upon it.
"OK," Tanis started. "Here's what we found". She passed a document listing the warehouses owned by Lennon. "This is all the ones we know he owns," she said, "unfortunately, there maybe others which we don't know about".
Mark nodded. "Well, let's start with these ones first".
The next half an hour was spent checking the locations of the warehouses and trying to pinpoint a likely place to search first. Suddenly, Mark sat up straight and frowned at the address in front of him.
"I think I might have found something," he said slowly.
Amanda and Tanis looked up, waiting impatiently to see what he had found.
"Look here," he indicated the warehouse he had been looking at.
Tanis frowned. "What do you mean, Mark? I don't-," she looked closed at the address. "Wait a minute. This warehouse is right next door to the other one. You're not saying-".
"It's the perfect place to hide someone," Mark explained. "No one would think of looking right next door to where this whole thing started".
They looked at each other incredulously , considering the possibility. Tanis got up, saying, "let's go then, we haven't got time to waste".
"Right," they agreed as they, too, got up and left the restaurant.
-
Author's Note: sorry it's sucha short chapter this time guys, but it seemed a good place to leave it. Plus I have my first AS exams soon and so haven't had much chance to write recently. Some good news though, I have nearly finished the hand written version of this (currently at just over 104 A4 pages long) so the rest of this story should hopefully follow. Thanks again for all your support!! Keep reviewing.
