Chapter 14 – "Come Out and Play"

PCPD

The young officer, barely out of the academy, rushed into the hastily arranged conference room. He held up the stack of papers he had just printed off the computer. "Priors" he announced, handing the stack off to the female agent that had come in with the suspects.

Ky waved distractedly, dismissing him in the same motion as recognizing his presence. "Thanks." She took a hurried gulp of her badly made, rapidly cooling coffee. Not even bothering to see if the officer was still waiting or had left, she grabbed the first separated stack from the rest. Skimming the information, Ky didn't even raise her eyes. "I still say I should get Sleepy."

Taggert groaned and Garcia attempted to hide his smile. "Will you please refer to him by the right name Thompson?" Taggert barked. "We don't have time to decipher your mumbo jumbo."

Taking a final swig of the vile sludge, Ky crumpled the paper cup and tossed it in their general direction. Both men ducked out of the way. Unfortunately Jesse Beaudry wasn't so lucky. The cup hit him square on the chin. Ignoring the dirty look the detective shot her, Ky rolled her eyes at her team members. "Then pay attention Big Angry. I don't have time to retell the story each time."

The easier path was always to ignore Ky. Garcia learned that when he first started at the Bureau. "The clock is ticking ladies and gentlemen. Less than 24 hours to get these bozos to confess and give up the big cheese. What do we got?"

"Besides my eyewitness account of Grabby, Shorty and Sleepy trying to get to the kid?"

"Yes. Anything that ties them to the last attempt?"

Jacob Cohen, the forensic department representative, shook his head. "Forensically speaking, we have nothing. If these were the guys they left no trace of themselves."

Officer Byron Murphy raced into the room. "Maxie Jones identified Drew Collins and Tim Schwartz as the voices she heard that night! 100 percent positive. Listened to everyone and picked them out."

The three FBI agents smiled at each other and the other members of their team. Taggert gave voice to what everyone was thinking.

"Bingo."

Interrogation Room One

Frank Henderson waited nervously at the table. He drummed his fingers in a tuneless manner. His shoulder still hurt from where Spencer had slammed him against the wall. Frank would have complained about the pain, but he had a feeling he wouldn't get much sympathy.

Stupid Tim. He said the babysitter wouldn't be a problem. Stupid Drew. He hadn't found that the babysitter was a freaking Fed? The great brain of the operation had missed that fact? This was their entire fault.

Now he wondered just how much Drew had told them was true. Did the police really have nothing on them? Drew had been absolutely certain there were no Feds in town. And look how wrong he was on that count. What did the police know and what did they have?

And more importantly who gave them that information?

Frank wasn't an intelligent man by society's standards. He hadn't even attended high school. However if there was one thing Frank knew, it was looking out for number one. And no one he had ever met did that better than Drew Collins. He wouldn't put it past that slimy snake in the grass to try to pin this whole thing on him and Tim.

"Mr. Henderson." The dark haired agent strolled into the room, closing the door behind him. "I'm Agent Garcia of the FBI."

Frank eyed this cop warily. He was no stranger to interrogation rooms. He wasn't fooled by this nice guy introduction. They would have to do better than that if they wanted him to spill.

Garcia took a seat across the table from Frank. He made a show of reading through the file that Murphy had quickly put together for him. It was a gamble going after Frank this way, but the case against him for both attempts was the weakest. They needed Frank to confess.

Garcia took a sip of water. "Well, Mr. Henderson, I am surprised a vetern of the legal system like you hasn't asked for a lawyer. Especially in a situation like this. I mean going against two attempted kidnappings…"

The startled glance Frank shot him was all the incentive Garcia needed to bait the hook farther. "Oh didn't you know?" He got up and moved behind Frank, lowering himself so his mouth was right at Frank's ear. "Tim and Drew were wrong. The babysitter was still there." Frank slowly turned in Garcia's direction. "And she saw everything."

Frank gulped. The first babysitter was there? Shit. The cop was too calm to be faking about that. If there had been a witness the first time, they were fucked. Pure and simple.

Garcia smiled. He could see the wheels turning in Frank's head. The fish was on the hook. "Save yourself man. Save yourself."

Frank nodded. It made sense. "What do you want to know?"

The Squad Room

Ky paced the floor, arguing with herself against going into the waiting area for family members. She knew Lucky, Liz, Cameron, and unless she missed her guess, the entire town that knew the truth about the original kidnapping attempt. She really didn't have anything new to tell them, she told herself sternly. Sure Frank had flipped, but they still needed Tim and Drew to get to the mastermind. Frank had fingered Tim and Drew as the guys who had brought him into the plot. But they still didn't know who was behind the plot in the first place.

"He caved!" Taggert crowed triumphantly. "Schwartz fingered Collins as the ringleader of the gang."

Ky rubbed her hands together in giddy anticipation. "Goody. I have a date with Sleepy."