Of Monsters & Men

Chapter Twenty-One

Meanwhile…

When Emma walked into the precinct again, the station was in an uproar as a number of officers were running around the bullpen while looking through past case files and boxes that appeared to be from the evidence room involving Peters, and making phone calls, then before she could make her way towards her old friend's office, Captain Chapman stepped out while he shouted, "If anyone receives a tip or lead on Brennan Peters' whereabouts, I want to know about it right away. He's holding an innocent man prisoner. Our main priority is to find and save this man's life. If you find out where the son of a bitch is hiding out, no one is to go in to try to apprehend Officer Peters without me being present, or at the very least without clearing it with me first if you feel you have no choice. Is this understood?"

Most of the men simply nodded at their Captain's orders, while a few of them answered in unison, "Yes, sir!"

"Emma!" Lionel suddenly called out to her when he saw his friend slowly making her way through the chaos, as he motioned for her to join him in his office like she had before.

"Emma, you remember Officer Conway… Peters' partner?" he continued as soon as she walked into the room, closed the door behind her while she took a seat in the chair where Bill was sitting moments before when he stood and offered it to her, then sat down in the other chair beside her.

The Savior nodded as she replied, "I remember you very well, Officer Conway. From the case I brought to you back then."

The lower ranking officer stood nearby as he responded, "Yes. I understand that you since learned the man you believed had been stalking you was innocent. And that since then the two of you married. Let me just say, I'm so sorry about your husband's abduction. I promise you, I had nothing to do with his disappearance. I had no idea my partner was dirty even though I've been working with him for the last four, nearly five years. I should have noticed something was off with him."

"We don't always see the things that are right there in front of us," Emma answered him in understanding. "Especially when they're those who are closest to us. I know this only too well. Time and time again, I tried to push Killian away because he was a different man when I first met him. Over time, I began to see him change into the man he is now, but I continued to deny my feelings for him because I was afraid of being hurt. Fortunately for me, he never stopped fighting for me, fighting for us. The same is true in circumstances such as yours, Officer Conway. I know that firsthand too."

"Please, call me Bill," he quickly replied.

Lionel sat down behind his desk and turned to Emma again while he spoke up again saying, "Yes, there's certainly no need to be formal in here. Now, I assure you that we're doing everything we can to find Officer Peters and where he might have taken your husband. I've got most of the precinct working on locating him. We've put out a BOLO for him, I've sent men down to the harbor to talk to witnesses who might have seen something you didn't, my men here are going through his past case files and any old evidence as well to see if there's somewhere listed among it all that could be the place he's hiding out. We're also trying to track him through his phone, though I suspect he's already ditched it. So far, we haven't found anything, as we've only just begun. But we have already discovered some key pieces of evidence missing that we never knew about before, which makes me suspect it was Peters who stole the evidence in the case you helped me out with. When you were talking with him, Emma… did he say anything to you? Anything that might give you an idea where he might be now?"

She shook her head as she responded, "Not that I know of. And this morning wasn't the first I've spoken with him either. He called me last night to set up our meeting at the harbor. He said he had taken my number from Killian's phone when he took him, then smashed it. I found the broken pieces on one of the docks the morning I first came to talk to you; yesterday. While I spoke with him, Peters was torturing Killian. It sounded like he was electrocuting him in some way. I could hear Killian screaming. I have no idea what condition we'll find my husband in when we find him, but we have to. We've been through far too much together for me to lose him now. We're on… or we were on our honeymoon."

"I know how difficult this must be," the Captain remorsefully answered. "I don't doubt that if there's anyone who can find him, it'll be you. These witnesses you said you spoke to yesterday, do you believe they'd be willing to come in to talk with us? I can have Bill here and a few other men go down to pick them up."

"You will need my help to talk with the homeless kids living out in the old boathouse at the harbor," Emma replied worryingly. "They don't trust easily and they're shy. Honestly, I'm amazed they trusted me, but I think I can help you with them. As for the other two… the couple who witnessed Peters kidnapping my husband, if you can assure them you'll listen to them and promise not to dismiss them because the boyfriend has a record, I'm sure they would be willing to help you too. They can all collaborate my story."

Chapman sat up a little as he responded, "Thankfully their sides of the story aren't necessary right now as we work to try to find Peters. Is there anything else you can tell us?"

She shook her head in frustration as she answered, "I only know that he's been stalking us ever since we ran into him on the street outside of the theater Killian and I came out of after seeing Wicked. Peters saw me and came up to talk. Killian had walked away to get us a cab, but when he came back to me, Peters' face turned cold and I knew then something was wrong, just as Killian did too, but again we shrugged it off until we were mugged a few nights later. These thugs made it clear they were hired to attack us and one of them called my husband a deranged maniac like Killian told me Peters had said when he interrogated Killian last year after I had him arrested. I told you all of this already."

"Yes, and just so you know, I've put out a BOLO for them as well," Lionel replied. "It's a long shot and I doubt they'll be of much help, but perhaps with the right push, they'll tell us whatever the hell they know."

"Peters has become obsessed with proving both to me and to Killian that he's a criminal and that he doesn't deserve to live happily with me," Emma continued sadly as she stared down at her hands resting on her lap. "Killian and I moved back to our home in Maine where we lived before I lost my memories, but I guess Peters' obsession returned when he saw us outside of the theater. He thinks I would leave Killian if Killian were to admit he's a criminal and I were to open my eyes and see him as a monster Peters believes him to be. Your man thinks he's trying to save me."

Emma was suddenly interrupted as one of the other officer knocked and opened the door as he stated quickly, "Sir, men have just apprehended one of the men believed to be involved in the mugging. He was found in a hospital with a dislocated shoulder and a broken arm."

When the officer left and closed the door again, Emma responded, "They attacked us down in the subway. Killian and I defended ourselves against them. The man I fought was knocked out and his friends left him behind. I can tell you for sure if you have one of them or not."

"All right, but give us some time to get him into a lineup," Captain Chapman answered as he stood up to leave, along with Officer Conway. "We need to do this properly, otherwise this thug's lawyer will have the means to get him off. Wait right here."

"Thank you, Lionel," she said quietly as he was about to close the door to leave her alone.

He nodded and replied, "You're welcome, Emma. Try not to worry. We'll find your husband."

The Savior responded, "I know we will."

Emma sat back against her chair and waited nervously for the Captain to come back to get her. After a few minutes, she raised her hand up to her neck, then reached down beneath her blouse to pull out the chain she still wore that held the ring Killian had given her in Camelot once belonging to his brother, and now held her husband's wedding band on it as well until she could find him and give it back to him once he was safe.

She stared at the two rings for several minutes, when she strangely felt a pulsing from her coat pocket as Emma quickly reached in to pull out the gold compass she still carried since the Dragon had given it to her the night before and was surprised to see its arrows spinning, faster and faster until she suddenly became bombarded by what felt like one of her visions from before she had fought the final battle. Only she knew this vision was different, as she could first see flashes of Killian lying barely conscious upon the ground of some rundown building, then of the dirty cop who had taken him as he knelt over her husband to tend to a wound in his shoulder Emma could hardly see.

The flashes all happened so fast, but before she could try to make sense of anything she was seeing, magic burst from the face of the compass into her mind and when the power dissipated again, Emma somehow knew exactly where Killian was being held and how to find him. She glanced down at the compass again and saw it was back to as it was before its power ignited, then turned her head to look out into the bullpen through the room's window to see if anyone else had seen anything, but it appeared that no one had.

Again, her heart was telling her to use her magic to transport herself to Killian, but her mind told her she needed to somehow convince Chapman and Conway she knew where to find her husband and Peters. The problem would be how to do so without exposing magic, as has been her trouble all along. She needed their help to save Killian and to stop Peters, so he would go down once and for all, and no longer be a threat to anyone. Luckily, Emma always had a few tricks up her sleeves.