"I'm looking for this girl." I slowly brought the picture upwards and watched as the man checked it again and again. I was worried he would dismiss me but he shook his head yes.

"She comes here every once in a while. Why are you asking? Are you a cop?" The man stopped cleaning a glass and looked me up and down. I was no cop, but I was certain with my stern and stoic exterior I could fake to be one, but I was too honest to lie, even to this man. I also did not need someone bringing up how I lied to find her.

"No, I'm a friend. Just worried about her." He nodded slightly. Again looking me up and down before speaking up again.

"She was here a couple months back. She use to come here all the time. But the last time she looked a little worked up. Got into an argument with someone on the phone. Things seemed heated but just as fast she hung up and went back to drinking with a friend, male with red hair. And then suddenly she was dragged out by someone who looked like a security guard. Mark the bouncer went to check on her, but she said she was fine, that it was just her dad being overprotective." I nodded and thanked the man. Quickly walking out of the bar I had first met Shannon in.

It had been weeks and still I had not been able to find the young woman. It was almost as if she was hiding. And after hearing the bar attender I was starting to believe that she was. Or maybe someone was hiding her. I had done some more research on Abe and Janine, and everything that I found made me sink deeper and deeper into the muddy pit I had clawed my way into. Everything just felt like a mess, a mess I could not seem to clean up.

They were well on their way to receiving an award soon. They had published a new experiment recently. An experiment that sounded way too close to what they had done to Rose. The only problem was they had kept it anonymous. There were no names used, no terms to indicate that the two subjects were related to them. But I knew better. Their study, their experiment had been done on their two daughters. Their twin daughters. They use what was right in front of them. They should have been protecting their daughter not putting them in danger.

It was a sick thought but Janine and Abe had raised their daughters to be their test subjects. From day one they had raised them apart. At the beginning it seemed they had treated the girls similarly. But as they aged things began to change. In the study they claimed it was two siblings, one brought up in foster care while the other one was adopted by a loving family. The lie was believable, but I knew who they were. They had treated their daughter polar opposites to see what would happen, and they seemed to have gotten what they were looking for.

The more closed doors I bumped into the more Rose was starting to think it was not worth while. But I knew better. Things like these took time. I just feared that Rose did not have the time. Or more so she did not want to give it the time. She wanted immediate results and that was not something I could give her. I had tried to explain this to her, all the times ending with her going into a fit.

I felt for Rose I really did, but this entire situation was stressing me out more than it should have. I was taking my job way too seriously. It was now consuming my everything. All I could ever think about was Rose, Rose and the situation her parents had put her in. My mind was in constant use, I never had time to take a break. And the longer I went the more frustrated I became. It also did not help that my heart would skip a beat every time Rose walked through the door. My house was now covered in papers, all leads to something I could not seem to grasp.

I still did everything I could to help Rose in the hospital, but I could feel myself barely being there mentally. I could not focus one hundred percent knowing her parents had done something so horrible. I sometimes felt so useless, and at times I wanted to give up. Then Rose would walk in and a new hope would rise in me. My feelings, and inappropriate crush were what pushed me forward. I knew in order for Rose to get better she had to know her parents were going to pay for they had done.

"If you really want to find her, you got to get to her best friend." My head snapped up as I reached my car and was about to open the door.

"What do you mean?" I was slightly confused with the person in front of me, I figured no one had been paying attention to me. But this red head was clearing looking for me.

"I went to college with Shannon, actually more than college. We dated for a little bit." He stepped closer to me extending his hand to me, I looked him over once before deciding it was alright to shake it. "Mason Ashford."

"Dimitri." He nodded his head and waved towards my car.

A few minutes later Mason and I sat in my car, an awkward silence filling the car. I tried my best not to study him but it was hard. The doctor in me could not help but notice the way he fidgeted, the way he scratched at his forearm. Mason was going through withdrawals. I immediately regretted letting him in my car, but I was running out of ideas. Mason claimed to know Shannon and I hoped this would help me.

"Are you Okay?" Masons eyes snapped towards me and he let out a long sigh.

"Yea, its complicated." I nodded my head hopping he knew I understood. I may not have known him but I knew what it was like to have your life be a complicated mess.

"So you know Shannon?"

"Yea, I've known her forever. We met in middle school. We both went to St. Basil's." That made sense it was a private school. Now I knew why the two girls never crossed paths in school.

"And you dated?" He nodded his head and looked out the window.

"We actually were dating until not to long ago. I kind of messed things up." He sounded defeated, his head hanging in shame. I wondered if the reason Shannon had come on to me was because of whatever happened with him. "I was going through a rough patch turned to the wrong stuff."

"Are you Okay now?" Again he nodded, breathing in deeply, this time he turned to face me.

"I am but she's not." My eyebrow shot up and I urged him to continue. "This bad stuff, well I dragged her into this mess with me. It started off small you know. I liked the feeling of getting high, we smoked. But then it wasn't enough. I turned to heavier stuff and Shannon, well Shannon joined me. I never meant for things to get out of control. I love her you know."

"But we made a mess. I found my ground and saw what was happening so I tried to stop it. Easier said than done." Again he looked away. "Her parents found out and flipped out. Started yelling about how she wasn't suppose to be the one who this happened to. How they had done everything perfectly and she was suppose to be the one. I don't know some weird shit. Suddenly Shannon was angry wanting to keep doing the drugs, but I wanted to stop, so she left me. Her parents have yet to get her under control, something that I know bothers them, but you know it bothers them too much."

"Where is she now?" I was trying to feel bad for the guy but he had given me more information than I thought I would get.

"Her parents basically got her on lockdown. She got away for about a month, but they caught up to her." The sadness in his voice made me feel for him. He cared about Shannon, maybe even loved her and he blamed himself for what happened.

I could not help but think about Rose's parents though. They had essentially created a "perfect child" and an "imperfect child". In reality they had just messed both of the young women up. In their efforts to create the perfect experiment they had ruined not one but two lives. They had claimed in the study that the second child had a near perfect upbringing, but how could Abe and Janine be perfect parents when they were willing to use their own daughters as their subjects.

"Why are you telling me this?" Mason stayed silent for a while I did not think he was going to answer me but when he did, he spun a web.

"I knew, know Eddie. From your job. He met Shannon once and mentioned that she looked like one of the patients where he worked at. I never said anything to him or Shannon but the statement sparked something in me. Shannon growing up said she would hear someone screaming, someone who sounded like her. She even tried to help them, but could never get close enough. In her drugged up state she once told me she saw her. A girl who looked just like her."

"I thought it was the drugs until one day I met up with Eddie and he said that about the patient. Recently Eddie told me about you. About how they were trying to find some horrible parents or something. I just put two and two together. I'm right aren't I? You think Shannon is related to this patient? That something horrible happened."

"Her parents weren't all there, they were so caught up with work, I always thought they were capable of horrible things, I just never knew how horrible. They did do something horrible right?"

I did not know what to say. What Mason was saying to me was all information that I could use. Mason suspected something, so had Shannon. I just did not know whether or not I should be getting someone else, some stranger involved. But I had to admit he could help me. He was so wond up with his feelings for Shannon that he would do anything for her. Maybe even prove to Shannon that someone had been there, growing up with her, just differently.

"You said I needed to get to her best friend in order to get to her, why?"

"Because thats the only person they let see her. Its the only reason I know where Shannon is, and that she's Okay, or as Okay as she can be."

"What do you mean by that?" He looked angry now, and I had to know why.

"Because her parents have Shannon all doped up. They swear its to help her, but I know what its for. Its so they can control her. So she will stop asking questions. Shannon started the drugs because her parents expected perfection, she could not handle it. No one is perfect."

"What if I told you she was right that there was someone else there growing up in the same house. And that the patient was her?" I look at the young man before me and watched as his shoulders dropped.

"I would be scared. Worried for both of them." His words surprised me.

"Why do you say that? I mean it would prove that her parents are really messed up?"

"You have no idea what those two are capable of. The things they could do, the stuff they can pull off. Dimitri you need to be careful. Right now everything they have is falling apart. I'm afraid they want to dispose of their failed experiment."

Fear shook through me. It was sick, and wrong, but it made sense. They had published their experiment and received praise. But what would happen if someone found out what had really happened? They would be exposed and brought down. The only way they could prevent that was by disposing of the evidence.

It did not take long for me to put two and two together. Not only was Rose's life in danger so was Shannon's. And Mason was more than willing to help me. I was no longer working with an larger time frame. My time was being cut short, and I was going to have to act fast if I did not want all this to fall to pieces on me. I would never want anything to happen to Rose. I cared for her, feared for her.

"So you'll help me?"

"I'll do anything you need me to."

Aha so the plot thickens! So what did you think? Do you think Dimitri can piece this puzzle together fast enough? Will Mason and him be able to save their women? Whose the best friend? Can Dimitri get Rose's hopes up? Let me know what you think... I know its been like forever but I got it done and now its getting exciting... Sidenote, baby Luka started holding his bottle last week... My baby isn't even 3 months old! Tear!