"Becky," Arnold said the moment he entered the building. The receptionist looked up and gave Arnold a chipper smile.
"Hello Mr. Shortman! Lovely day, isn't it?" She said in her fake sunshine tone, but her eyes conveyed a warning to Arnold: don't say anything. Arnold ignored it.
He pulled the paper from his pocket and held it up to her. "Tell me what you meant by this."
Becky stared at the little note in Arnold's hand, her handwriting clear as day, facing her. She faltered, but only for a moment, before plastering a smile on her face again. "I'm not quite sure what you mean, Arnold, but I can direct you upstairs to someone who might be able to help you!"
"Someone else was here," Arnold read the sheet of paper, and Becky shushed him.
"Arnold!" She hissed. "Not here!"
She looked around before hurrying around the desk, grabbing Arnold's hand and pulling him out onto the busy street. Arnold looked puzzled. "I thought I told you never to bring that up again."
"What do you mean someone else was here?" Arnold hissed, holding the paper up to her again. "What does this note mean?"
"It means exactly what it says," Becky said, frustrated. "It means someone else had been snooping around in those files before me!"
"What?!" Arnold yelled. Becky shushed him again. "How can you tell?"
"Arnold, I can't…I can't talk about this, remember?" Becky pleaded desperately.
"Well I need to talk to you about it," Arnold said sternly. "Where can we go to talk? Your computer room?"
"No no no," Becky said, waving her arms at the suggestion. "We need…someplace secure…"
Up on the seventh floor, Becky knocked on Dr. Bliss's office door. A few minutes later, Bliss ushered the pair into her office.
"Okay, now explain yourself," Arnold demanded. He was angry. Bliss looked between Arnold and Becky, who was sitting in the leather patient's chair.
"What's this about?" Bliss asked.
"She knows something and she's not telling me," Arnold said, advancing on Becky. "How do you know someone had been hacking Helga's flies before us?"
"People leave digital footprints," Becky answered quickly. "The person who had read those files before me clearly wasn't a great hacker; there was evidence of their tampering everywhere. Actually, it made it kind of difficult to cover up our own tracks, they left such a mess."
"Can you figure out who it was?" Arnold asked, pacing the floor now. "I need to know."
"I…Arnold, I can't," Becky said putting her hands on her head with a heavy sigh.
"Why?" Arnold continued to press her, unrelenting. His academy training had taught him how to question people like Becky, and he was using it to his advantage. "Tell me why you can't figure it out."
"It's not that," Becky said. "I…do you promise I won't get into trouble?"
"What do you mean?" Arnold asked.
"Just promise me," Becky said. "Promise I won't be arrested."
"You're helping an office find a missing person," Arnold explained. "I can protect you if it's anything bad. You can say what you need to say."
Becky took a deep breath and exhaled, regaining her composure. "I already know who it is."
Arnold stayed silent, turning to look at Bliss to see if she had any idea what was going on. She was sitting at her desk, mouth agape, completely blown away.
"It's a guy I went to school with," Becky continued, her pace fast, wanting to get everything out before she lost the courage. "We were in a few classes together and he had expressed an interest in learning how to hack. He joined the computer club I was part of and that's how we got to know each other better. We even worked together a little on a few projects, I can't tell you what so don't even ask…but he's still here in Hillwood."
"Where?" Arnold asked. Becky told him the address of his lab.
Arnold marched down the street, anger pumping through his veins, his face contorted with rage as he walked up a familiar stoop and wrenched the office building doors open. He wound his way through the building, making his way to the bright white hallway he knew too well. As he walked, he drew his office-issued pistol from his belt, cocking it before arriving at the heavy metal door. He crashed his fist onto the cold metal and waited.
In only a few moments, the door cracked open, and Arnold slammed his body into the door, sending the occupant of the room flying backwards off their feet, sliding across the tiled floor. Arnold approached the cowering man on the floor and pointed the gun directly in his face. "You son of a bitch, you ratted her out."
Brainy lay on the floor, hands in front of his body, palms out, in surrender. He winced with pain and fear as Arnold stood over him in a complete rage. "You better start talking."
"I don't know what you're talking about!" Brainy cried, closing his eyes and turning his head from the gun as if it would go off at any second. He wasn't wrong.
"Like hell you don't," Arnold reached down and grabbed Brainy by the front of his shirt, yanking the man off the floor to his feet and slamming his body against the lab bench behind them. "I know you set Helga up, I know it was you're fault, now TALK!"
"Okay, okay!" Brainy yelled, trying to regain control of the situation. "I'll tell you everything."
He waited for Arnold to release him, but Arnold just stared at the despicable person in front of him, gun pointed in his face, so he began his explanation.
"I…I loved her," Brainy said, clearly looking for some sympathy. Arnold just tightened his grasp on his shirt, holding the gun closer to his face. "She hurt me! She denied my love! I just wanted to get back at her, I wanted her to suffer the way I had! I wanted her to lose everything the way I had! I didn't want her to die, I swear!"
"What did you do?!" Arnold demanded.
"I discovered her research and I told Angel Co. what she was doing. I gave them her list of companies that were polluting and told them to warn the others. They were supposed to start cleanup efforts before her paper ever got published. That way they could save face and hopefully make her look like a fraud. If they got themselves cleaned up before she published, then her data wouldn't make any sense! She'd be ruined just like me!"
"What do you know about the kidnapping?!" Arnold yelled.
"I…they…" Brainy struggled. "They asked me where she was. I told them. I told them where she was staying in Mexico. I hacked her accounts and I found out where she was staying based on her credit card statements. I told them what hotel she was in. That's all I know!"
"LIAR!" Arnold put the gun directly on Brainy's forehead. "You know more! I know you do!"
"Alright! Alright!" Brainy yelled back, sweat beading down his face now. "I know…I know everything, okay?!"
"Then keep talking!" Arnold could barely see straight, but he wasn't about to let Brainy know that. His head was swimming with grief. This man betrayed her, and he never said anything to anyone. He caused her pain. He was the one behind her suffering.
"The people at the protest were not actual protesters," Brainy continued. "It was a set-up. I know because they…they kept me involved. I don't know why, maybe it was to keep me quiet. If I knew what they were capable of, I wouldn't turn them in or something, I don't know, either way it worked…"
"Will you continue with the fucking story!" Arnold shouted, not caring at all about any excuse Brainy would have for doing this to Helga.
"They sent people from their own companies to the protest," Brainy said in a hurry. "They took Helga right from her hotel room. They died her hair brown in case anyone saw them traveling with her to make it look less suspicious. They planted the girl, the blonde from the hospital. She was an actress and the promised her a lot of money for a flawless performance. She pretended to get hit, and then the officers took statements from the protesters. They told the officer it was Helga, but it wasn't. Then, at the Hospital, they got a doctor they had paid off to pretend that this girl was, in fact, Helga, and convinced her parents she was dead. They put horrible make up on her to make her face look swollen and unrecognizable to her parents when they came to identify the body. The actress walked away with a chunk of change, her parents walked away thinking they had lost a daughter. It's what they wanted."
"Where is she?" Arnold demanded.
"I don't know, they wouldn't tell me," Brainy said, tears swimming in his eyes. "I just asked them not to kill her. They said they wouldn't as long as I kept my mouth shut. If I told anyone, they would have killed her."
"Why are they holding her?" Arnold asked. "Why didn't they just kill her? Why keep a promise to you?"
"I'm not sure," Brainy replied. "Ransom? Pay back? Keeping her quiet without killing her? Maybe they kept her alive to save their own asses? Maybe they kept their promise because they knew I had nothing to lose and no reason to keep quiet! Maybe she knows something about their rival businesses that would help them? I don't know, there could be a lot of reasons!"
"Give me one reason," Arnold hissed through clenched teeth. "Give me one reason I shouldn't kill you right now."
"Because it's illegal?" Brainy ventured a guess. "Because you still want to find Helga and killing me would only hinder that. They'd throw you in jail no questions asked."
Arnold stared at the man below him, shaking with anger. Brainy stared up at him, searching for mercy. "You wouldn't do it, would you? You couldn't kill me, right?"
Arnold held his gun at the man, trying to clear his head and make the right decision. Thinking on his feet, he spun the man around, forcing him to bend over the lab bench and pinned his arms behind his back. He reached into his pocket and grabbed a zip tie that, as a cop, he had ready just in case. He tied the man's hands together before pushing him roughly to the ground, where he fell face first onto the linoleum.
His gun still pointed on the man's face, Arnold stood for a long time. Without taking his eyes off Brainy, Arnold pulled his phone out and dialed someone. "Hey, it's me, I need you to come meet me somewhere…I've got someone who wants to confess to a crime."
"What the fuck happened here, man!"
Not long after Arnold made his call, the sound of sirens approached in the distance. Within minutes, backup had arrived in the basement lab in the form of Gerald who certainly didn't expect to see Brainy tied up on the floor with Arnold's gun pointed in his face.
"You thought I was nuts, remember?" Arnold growled, his teeth gritted and his hands aching from holding tightly to his gun. It took all his will power to keep himself from pulling the trigger. "Well ask this fucker what happened to Helga."
Gerald approached Arnold and put his hand on the gun, pointing it to the ground, his eyes full of concern for his friend. Arnold disengaged the gun and put the safety on, sighing heavily. The adrenaline flowing through his veins was slowly dissipating, leaving Arnold feeling weak, his hands shaking. He sat in a chair, allowing the full effect of his grief flood his system. He put his head in his hand while Gerald crouched by Brainy, asking for him to repeat his story.
Moments later, Gerald stood. His back was to Arnold as he stared out in front of him, taking in what Brainy had told him. After a couple of minutes, he crouched down and Arnold heard the zip tie holding Brainy's hands together snap.
Arnold stood, shocked. "What the hell?"
He barely had time to get the words out when he heard the metallic clicking of handcuffs being placed on the crumpled man. Gerald hoisted him to his feet, reading him his rights which he had memorized. Gerald marched Brainy past Arnold, out into the hallway and towards the stairs. Arnold followed, watching in awe as Gerald pushed Brainy into the back of his patrol car, slamming the door shut and immediately locking Brainy in before calling the station to inform Wolfgang they had the suspect in custody.
Gerald approached Arnold, still not saying a word, staring at his friend for a long time. Arnold watched as Gerald's eyes searched his own, piecing together everything Arnold had said and done since Helga had been pronounced dead. He relived every moment, every doubt he had in his friend, and Arnold could see the painful truth finally setting in. Helga had been Gerald's partner as well, and while he wasn't nearly as close with her as Arnold was, they were still friends. Tears began welling in his friends eyes.
"Arnold, I," Gerald started, his voice deep with emotion, wavering as he tried to get the words out. "I…I'm so sorry."
"It's okay," Arnold said reflexively.
"No, it's not," Gerald replied, shaking his head and casting his gaze towards the concrete. "I didn't believe you… I… I wanted my friend back."
Arnold remained silent as Gerald finally let his grief out. "I was hurt when we lost Helga, believe me. I was in so much pain. I know you think I didn't like her much, but I did. We were a team, and she was my wife's best friend and…and I knew she loved you."
"You knew?" Arnold asked.
"Phoebe told me," Gerald said. "I was sworn to secrecy… maybe that's why I didn't like it when you guys were getting so close, I don't know. I didn't want to see her hurt, but at the same time I didn't want you two to leave me behind. I didn't want our team to break up. Then when she died…it was like I lost you too."
"I'm sorry you felt that way," Arnold replied. They were sitting on the front stoop to the complex now, waiting for more backup to arrive to gather evidence from Brainy's lab. "But I was right there the whole time."
"But a piece of you died with her. I just wanted everything to be normal again." Gerald confessed as he quickly wiped tears from his eyes before letting them fall. "I'm sorry I ever doubted you."
"I mean," Arnold said, leaning back, propping himself up with his elbows on the step behind them. "You kind of had good reason to doubt me. If I were you, I wouldn't have believed me either. Who the hell talks to dead people? Minus that weird kid from the Sixth Sense, but that's a movie."
Gerald laughed, shaking his head. "Do you always have to look on the bright side?"
"Man, I haven't heard that in a long time," Arnold laughed along with his friend. "Probably because I haven't been very cheerful since this all happened."
"Yeah no kidding," Gerald said. "We've all been a little out of it though."
"True," Arnold agreed, nodding and looking up at the sky. "But the sooner we can find Helga, the sooner we can all heal the way we were meant to."
"Do you think Brainy will know where she's kept?" Gerald asked as more cop cars started pulling up. Arnold stood up and made his way to Gerald's squad car.
"I think he does, but we won't know that until after his confession and interrogation," Arnold said, pulling open the passenger door and glaring at the scum in the back seat. "He's lucky there's a Plexiglas window between us."
"He's lucky you called for backup too," Gerald said, sliding into the driver's seat, giving Brainy an equally disgusted glare before starting the car. "Anything we should be on the lookout for? Surveillance tapes? You doing anything insane?"
"I mean it wouldn't hurt to check those things out," Arnold said, scratching his neck and looking out the window. Gerald laughed and shook his head.
"So I have to ask," Gerald said, his tone serious again. "I know Helga left us to work for EARTH, but…"
"But what?" Arnold asked, though he already knew what was coming.
"I know…I know you guys had a pretty big fight before she left too," Gerald said, treading lightly.
"Yes we did." Arnold stated matter-of-factly.
"Want to talk about that?" Gerald asked.
Arnold hesitated, thinking about what it would mean to finally talk about this. "If you can get to my apartment tonight for drinks…I think we could talk about that."