Danny and Abby

Chapter 1: Lost Boy

„We need to get him for something and when it is a parking ticket. We can´t prove anything without evidence. Mayor Crime counts on us to find something to get him on forgery of document. They need it." Peter, Diana and Jones are buried in boxes of paperwork.

"Unbelievable that he might be a kidnapper and murderer. Look at his life. He looks like the most boring person in the world." Diana continues. She hates cases like this. All of them hate them. The cases with children.

"How many did he take?" Jones is counting the files on his side of the table.

"Ten, they found nine bodies. He takes the children from their family, keeps them and after a while he disposes of the bodies. Our colleagues haven't found a single piece of evidence that could lead to his arrest. The only thing that they have is a witness that claims that he had seen him with the two latest victims shortly before they disappeared." Peter opens the file of the two children. Ten-year-old twins form St. Louis.

"Abigale and Daniel Brooks. Never arrived at home after school. The mother first thought they were outside playing, reading this the police thought she was drunk as they arrived the next day as the children didn't make it to school. They lost 15 hours before anyone was even looking for the children. Sadly, that the same as with the other children too. All their family homes were far from perfect." Diana reads out loud of the file.

"And how are we supposed to find something at the man after 15 years and why did he stop?" Jones questions. He closes another file.

"They want him now before the 15-year mark is reached." Peter opens a photo on his laptop of their suspect, Henry Fitzpatrick. Psychologist, worked for over 30 year in the same institution, two divorced and no children. Peter doesn't like his eyes. These are lizard eyes, dripping with poison. "They think it has something to do with the last victims. They could never figure out what he does to the children and why he keeps them. They never found the last body maybe something went wrong. After they found the girl, they had no hope for the boy but one day they had to stop looking." Peter sighs. He knows how it is. One day a new case appears on your desk, you need to focus on it, then the next one and so on. There is just not enough time to do more.

"We could try to get him over the name?" Diana offers a new file and puts it on the ever-growing pile. "He did buy a few suspicious items under a false name with a credit card 10 years ago. I mean it´s not much but they could connect the name with him, maybe he used this name or another for something else."

"That´s a great idea, I will check all property purchase, he could have used this name to hide his little dirty secrets from his wife in a different house or apartment." Jones opens the web side and starts his research as Neal enters the conference room, wearing his hundred-million-dollar smile, his fedora and a freshly brought cup of coffee.

"Sorry I´m late. I couldn't get a taxi before the morning rush hour reached its peak. What are you doing? Looks like a lot of paperwork. Maybe I will just go back to my-" Neal is on the way to turn back as his eyes caught on something. Peter ignores it and is on the way to push one of the unopened boxed with more files toward Neal a the still hot coffee cup loses its owner and falls to the ground, splashing the hot liquid everywhere.

"Neal-" Peter wants to shout at his CI, but the look in these blue eyes stop him immediately. This was not Neal that looked horrified at the laptop that still shows the picture of their suspect, this was a terrified little child confronted with his darkest nightmares. "Neal?" Peter asks softly, the sound of his soft voice get him the attention from Diana and Jones but not Neals. Neal starts slowly moving away from the picture, form them and only stops as his back reaches the wall of the room. He slowly slides down and finds it in his ability to move further into the closed corner.

Shocked by his CI´s behaviour Peter had frozen in place. Neal suddenly starts to cry, his body rocks for and back. His finger starts scratching his skin on his neck and face as if he tries to pull off his skin, he mumbles words Peter can´t hear from the distance. His breathing is too fast and in under a minute the calm, happy man had transformed into a crying mess during a full-blown panic attack.

Finally reacting Peter slowly closes the distance between him and Neal. Diana locks the door to the conference room to prevent any interruption and Jones closes the blinds of the glass walls. To prevent further injuries Peter takes Neal´s wrist, careful but keeps them in a strong grip. His fingernails are already bloody from where Neal had scratched his skin open.

"Neal? Take a deep breathe. You are save. No one here will hurt you." Peter recognizes a panic attack when he sees one and this is a really big one.

"… Abby." Neal repeats the name over and over. His eyes are blown dark orbits unfocused and clearly nowhere near this building. "Abby."

"Neal, I need you to calm down. Tell me what´s wrong." Peter tries to touch Neal´s face but with his hands still occupied to keep Neal from hurting himself again.

"What is he saying?" Diana asks while she closes the laptop and covering the files. The only thing she thinks of doing because this is the only thing she can do. It had to be something here in this room that spooked their colleague and friend. Jones is helping her, but both keep their distance. Peter has Neal secure in the corner; they don't want to crowd him.

"He says the name Abby over and over again." Suddenly a thought appears in Peters' mind. He had read this name only minutes ago. "Diana what's the name of Abigale Brooks brother?"

She opens the file she had closed a second ago. "Daniel."

"Daniel?" Peter had just looked at the pictures of the ten children for seconds not wanting their eyes haunting his nightmares, but this is the only conclusion for Neals sudden panic. "Danny?" And that gives him a reaction, finally.

Neal stops rocking and his hands that had keep fighting against Peter holding them gone limp. His CI finally blinked and looks at him as if he sees him for the first time.

"Danny?" Peter asks again and Neal goes limp. His whole body just shuts down. At least Peter reacts fast enough to catch him.