A/N: Thank you for all the love on the last chapter!
Tobias feels like the air has been knocked out of him as he hears the woman who is shackled to the other bed whisper her name.
"Myra McKinney?" he asks and she nods in response. "How long have you been here?"
"I don't know," she says quietly looking at the floor again with her arms still wrapped around her knees. "I shouldn't be talking to you"
"I am going to get us out of here Myra, I promise you," Tobias says trying to keep his voice as calm and reassuring as he can.
Tobias can hear the door upstairs open and he notices Myra automatically draw further into herself in the corner. He can tell there is more than one person upstairs and it sounds like there are dishes being used and water running.
Soon he hears what sounds like locks being removed before the door to the basement opens and someone descends down the steps. To his surprise, it's not Al who enters but a tall girl with dark hair. She doesn't look at him or acknowledge him but goes straight to Myra and leaves a tray with a sandwich, a bowl of soup and an apple, and a glass of water in front of her and she sits on Myra's bed.
"Myra please eat something," the woman says "You only make things worse when you do things like this."
"I'm sorry, I'll tell him I'm sorry," Myra says quietly.
"He's going to want you to think about what you did a little longer"
Myra nods and the woman gets up and goes back up the stairs without even acknowledging Tobias at all. He can hear the door lock once she closes the door. Tobias goes back and lays on the twin bed, knowing he's not going anywhere soon. He keeps looking at the board and trying to figure out the connection but nothing comes to him. Al didn't look familiar.
Tobias doesn't know how long he stares at the board and at the ceiling finally having to give in and use the bucket to relieve himself. He knows Zeke should have found all the clues that he left so that means only two things, that either Al moved him from the location he led him to or something else was wrong that was preventing him from coming to rescue him. He had to figure out a way to get out of the restraints.
Myra eventually eats the food on her tray. The noises continue upstairs but then Tobias hears both sets of footsteps go and the front door slam shut.
Once he feels satisfied that the house is quiet again. He decides to take a chance with Myra again
"Who was that who brought you your meal Myra?" he asks quietly.
"The first one", she says quietly.
Tobias thinks hard and after a minute.
"Is her name Molly?" Myra nods her head slowly.
"Why did she tell you that you only make things worse?" he asks.
"I shouldn't be talking to you," she says quietly.
"I know but it would mean a lot if you could help me out," Tobias says softly.
"I tried to run away again," Myra says almost so soft Tobias can barely hear her.
Tobias sucks in a deep breath. God he had no idea that Al was this sick.
He looks at the pictures again and notices a picture of him from almost ten years ago.
"What the hell," he says quietly.
"Myra, have we met before?" He asks her. So nods her head in response.
Tris wakes up to the baby kicking. At first, she is panicked realizing that she isn't at home in her bed she shares with Tobias but in a dark room not knowing where she is her breathing picks up. As she sits up she remembers that she fell asleep in Zeke and Shauna's guestroom waiting for Zeke to come home. No one woke her up so Tobias still had to be missing. She gets up and wanders into the kitchen and sees the clock says it's close to 3 am and Zeke is sitting at the kitchen table looking exhausted.
"Hey, Tris are you okay?" he says with his voice sounding strained.
"I should be asking you the same thing, you look like shit," Tris says as she sits down next to him. "I take it you haven't been to sleep yet?"
"No, I got home about an hour ago, I decided to let you sleep and I would update you in the morning. The address that Tobias led us to was empty. I assumed that might have happened but I don't have any clues of where else to look" Zeke replies whipping his face with his hands. "You and the baby need rest more than I do, I don't think my mind will rest if I try to lay down right now."
"Yeah, the baby likes to play at night, I've been up at this time for the past week. I hope he gets this out of his system before he makes his debut" Tris says with a nervous laugh. "Do you have any chamomile tea? It has been helping me fall back asleep"
"Yeah it helps Shauna fall asleep too, I'll make us both some" he replies moving to grab two mugs from the cabinet.
Zeke fixes them both a cup of camomile tea hoping Tris will go back to sleep even if he doesn't.
"Do you think he's hiding in plain sight?" Tris asks as she blows over the warm liquid, holding the cup with both hands.
"I do actually. My plan in the morning is to start sweeping houses in the neighborhood of that house. I don't think Al could have gotten far with Tobias."
"Should I go home in the morning, maybe there is some kind of clue there. He can't contact me if he has my phone. He has to be planning to get in touch with me soon"
"Yeah I think that's wise but Harrison and I will go with you. I don't want to let you out of my sight until we put this sick son of a bitch behind bars" Zeke spits out. Tris can see how much he is struggling with this. She knows how close Zeke and Tobias are and if there was anyone who was going to work day and night to find him it was Zeke.
"How are you so calm right now?" Zeke asks her as he takes a drink of his tea.
"I feel it in my spirit that Tobias is okay right now. I can't explain it. I would know if he wasn't. Do you remember that time you and him got into that car wreck when you two spent the summer in Boston? I knew he was hurt, I have no idea how, but I did".
Tris smiles at the memory, she and Tobias had met their freshman year, they had started casually dating, even though neither one of them had been interested in anyone else. They both agreed that they would have fun over the summer since Tris was spending her summer doing a study abroad program in Mexico and Tobias was spending the summer in Boston. Even though they couldn't stay away from each other and they both felt the strong connection between the two of them, Tris didn't want to pressure him over the summer. As soon as they returned for the fall semester of their sophomore year they had been inseparable.
Zeke lets his mind go back to that summer too. It had been fun the six weeks they were in Boston, Zeke had been accepted to a special summer program at Boston University and Tobias had thought it would be fun to tag along to visit his grandparents that summer. Tobias and his father had been estranged with his mother leaving him after he was physically abusive when Tobias was 10. His father had died when he was 17 and they never reconciled but his grandparents had made an effort before they had died to get to know him.
Zeke went to classes during the day while Tobias worked at his grandfather's law office and ran errands for his grandmother. During the evenings and weekends, Zeke and Tobias had fun exploring Boston.
One night that summer Tobias and Zeke went out with two girls they had met. Tobias hadn't been interested even though he and Tris had agreed to see other people that summer. Zeke had met a girl that was also in his summer program that said she would go out with him if he found a date for her friend. Tobias had reluctantly agreed and thankfully the young lady wasn't keen on being fixed up with him either and they hung out comfortably the rest of the evening. Tobias borrowed his grandfather's car that evening as he had many times that summer. The four of them had gone to a movie and a diner to grab a bite to eat. After leaving the diner that night the brakes went out causing Tobias to run a stop sign. He ended up with a concussion and a broken arm, while Zeke and the girls had some cuts and bruises.
Tobias had woken up in the hospital to an email from Tris asking if he was okay because she had just felt the need to check on him that morning. Zeke knew then and there they were supposed to be together.
"Try and sleep Zeke, especially if there really isn't anything we can do until morning. Even if it's only a few hours, you are going to need it tomorrow."
The tea does help lull Tris back to sleep. Zeke even sleeps for about 3 hours but it isn't a restful sleep as he tosses and turns. That night he dreams of that summer in Boston and the accident.
The next morning Shauna fixes them all breakfast trying to keep Tris as calm as possible before she goes with Zeke and Harrison to the loft. When Zeke comes into the kitchen Tris is telling Shauna the same thing that she had told Zeke the night before about how she had known something was wrong with Tobias that summer.
"Of course Zeke would beg Tobias to double date with him," she says with a chuckle as she places Tris's plate in front of her. Zeke, Shauna, and Tobias had all gone to high school together but Zeke hadn't wised up that Shauna was into him until their junior year of college.
"Oh my God, I'm an idiot!" Zeke says standing straight up in his chair with Tris and Shauna looking at him with wide eyes trying to figure out what was going on."How did I miss this?"
"Miss what Zeke?, What is going on?" Shauna asks still looking bewildered.
"The accident in Boston, my date's name was Maria but Tobias's date was named Myra and she was from Texas. The three of us were in this summer program at BU folks wanting to go into criminal justice. I barely remember what either of those girls looked like now but I hadn't thought about that night since I don't know when until you brought it up last night Tris".
"Wait, do you think she was Myra Mckinney?" Tris asks starting to pick up on what Zeke is putting together.
"All this time we've been trying to find the connection between what Al is after" Zeke mumbles as he gets out his phone to call Harrison.
"Oh my God, Al targeted me and Myra because we both are connected to Tobias?" Tris says after letting the information sit with her for a minute.
"But what about Molly, did Tobias ever date her in Boston?" Shauna asks.
Zeke holds up his finger while he talks to Harrison and he hangs up when it sounds like Harrison is on his way to Zeke's house.
"No there was no Molly, not that I can remember but there has to be something there," Zeke says.
"Why, how does he know Tobias?" Tris asks with her eyebrows furrowed.
"I don't know Tris but based on other cases I've seen likely it's likely Tobias isn't aware of whatever connection that triggered Al's obsession."
About 20 minutes later Harrison arrives and Zeke goes over all of his revelations.
"I'll be damned, it was right there in front of us. We always asked Mrya's parents if she was friends with Molly and where she met Al. I doubt they even realized the connection was because she spent six weeks in Boston the summer of her freshman year of college." Harrison says looking at the files on the kitchen table.
"I still think there is a piece of the puzzle missing though," Zeke says and Harrison nods his head in agreement.
"Do you think he's going to hurt Tobias since that is who he really wants ?" Shauna asks, holding Tris's hand.
"Not right away, He still wants Tris, my guess is that he wants Tris to love him more than she loves Tobias and he wants to shove her in his face". Harrison reflects after analyzing the situation.
Tris scoffs in response but then she breathes a heavy sigh. "What's wrong Tris?" Shauna asks.
"Do you think he tried to get to Lauren?"
"Shit, you're right," Zeke says
"I'm on it," Harrison replies, pulling out his phone and getting up to make a phone call in the den.
"Do you think that's why he killed Myra and Molly even though they were never really with Tobias like Tris was?"
"It's crazy but maybe he's been stalking Tobias all these years. I need to confirm with Harrison if the time frame of when Molly went missing lines up."
Tris takes a moment to call her parents and Tori with an update. Her parents insist on coming with them but Tris urges them to stay put. She doesn't need them potentially in harm's way too. Shauna offers to go sit with them so she's not alone and Natalie will have someone to fuss over.
She takes a deep breath and holds her hand to her belly and whispers "Don't you worry, Daddy's going to be okay and he's going to come home to us"