Chapter 83

"Ryan what are you doing here?" Liam asked when he saw Ryan enter the building. "I'm working here, last time I checked." Ryan answered without stopping, as Liam fell into step next to him. "I know that, but I told you to take a few days off to process what happened." Liam explained since he really wasn't expecting him to be in office today.

"O'Connor look, if I didn't want to be here, trust me, I would've stayed home. But I'm here now and I'm fine. So please don't check up on me, or ask me how I'm doing every time you see me." Ryan laid down the ground rules to his superior and Liam nodded, watching as the younger man disappeared as the elevator doors closed.

"Alex, how's he holding up?" Liam enquired when she came through the doors after a little while. "That conversation the two of you had just now, that's how he's holding up." Alex told him, not knowing how else to explain it. Ryan didn't say much last night, after he told her. He didn't get much sleep either. Tossing and turning most of the time, and at one point he got up and went downstairs. She fell asleep after a while and when she woke up this morning he was in the bathroom busy getting ready.

They went through their usual morning rituals by checking emails and checking file cases on what was expected of them for today. They usually go on based on what they have unless Maranda or Liam calls them out to a meeting when they need all hands on deck on a certain case.

"Parrish, can I see you outside please?" Maranda asked and Alex followed her out into the corridor. "I need you and Ryan to go out on this case for me." Maranda started handing over the single piece of paper. "We got a call some guy who was surfing at the beach got killed this morning, looks like a normal murder case but there's always something deeper. Find out what you can I'll brief the rest." She explained when Ryan came down the stairs holding the same piece of paper Alex was given and they drove towards the beach. Liam following behind them

They walked up towards the shore and saw two police officers standing close to the scene and an investigator standing over the corpse. "His name's Lucas Duncan, 47 years old his body washed ashore. Found his paddle board about two miles from here. No sign of a vehicle or any witnesses who saw this happen." The investigator explained.

"Do you know how long he's been here?" Alex asked looking at the badly hurt corpse. "About two hours I'd say." The investigator answered. "There were no boat crashes reported, it could've been an accident." Alex thought out loud kneeling down to get a closer look at the body.

"I would disagree with you on that. The wound patterns are way too distinct. Look at his back, that's where he first got hit." The man explained. "So he could've been on his stomach?" Ryan asked and the guy nodded. "His legs got caught in something of the boat, assuming it's a propeller. The boater made a U-turn and struck him a second time almost cleaving his head off. Sorry, I'm John." The investigator extended his hand introducing himself to Alex and Ryan.

"Where do we find the boat?" Ryan asked looking at Alex. "Your guess is as good as mine." She answered scanning the dock with her eyes.

They called the office and search teams were sent out. They had helicopters in the sky and boats cruising along the dock looking for anything suspicious, or a boat parked illegally where it's not supposed to be. One of the coppers located one pared out of sight and a team, together with the help of a crane brought it to land.

"You sure this is the right boat? If this was used to hit that guy there would surely be a dent in it or something. This one's still intact." Liam noticed as he walked around it looking for something out of place.

"Excuse me, that's my boat." A man rushed over his car barely stopped properly. "I got a call from the FBI offices that you guys found it. Lee Simons." The guy introduced himself. "So you're the guy who reported a missing boat?" Alex asked and he nodded. "Did you guys find out who stole it?" Simons questioned and Alex and Ryan shared a look. "We're working on it. Anyone besides you who had access to the boat?" Ryan asked and Lee shook his head. "No sir, I'm the only one." He answered.

"I had a little too much whiskey last night and left the keys in the ignition when I docked her last night. This morning when I came over to get it it was gone." Lee explained not sure why these guys are asking him so much questions.

"Your boat was used to kill a man." Liam told him and his expression changed. "What, no I don't know anything about that." Lee said shaking his head. "Here's some grease stain on the steering wheel." John said from where he was inspecting the boat. "Yeah, that wasn't there last night." Lee said looking at John. "Well, it's there now." Liam said and the cops took him in for questioning.

Everything they found on the boat that looked suspicious John and some of the other investigators took samples off and sent it to the lab ensuring the guys that they will get the results back as soon as possible.

They taped the scene and had people guard the dock while they headed back to the office. They got a hold of his family and tracked down his son. Alex and Ryan made a trip to their house hoping to get his son there.

"Marcus Duncan? Is Lucas Duncan your dad?" Alex asked as the kid came through the front door with a backpack. "Yeah, he's at work he'll be back at around seven. I'm sorry I'm late for class I got to run." Marcus said but Ryan stopped him.

"Marcus, we got to talk to you about something." Alex said and he stopped and looked at them. "Marcus, we're with the FBI, what we have to say is not easy." Ryan started and the son looked at him waiting for him to continue. "Your father was killed in a motor boat accident this morning. I'm sorry." Ryan explained and Marcus stared at them shaking his head but not uttering a word. He turned around in the pathway and walked back inside the house leaving the door open and the two agents followed.

They walked into the house with him and sat down on the couch opposite him. Ryan looked at all the pictures on the walls of him and his father and the trophy case. "Marcus, you're a big motor cross champion. And that you pulled out of a big race last week." Alex mentioned and the teen nodded his head. "People said they heard the two of you arguing."

"Really? This is what's happening?"

"I'm sorry but we have to ask you these questions." Ryan explained trying to calm the boy's mind that they're not insinuating something. He looked at the boys hands and saw oil stains under his short finger nails.

"Of course you do. My dad thought I was cheating. Everybody has an oversized engine that they install themselves to make the motorbike faster, even though the regulations state that you're not allowed to do it. He told me to pull out of the race or he'll report me. To him things were either black or white, no gray areas." Marcus informed them.

"Did you follow your dad down to the beach this morning?" Alex questioned and Marcus shook his head.

"No I did not. I did not kill my dad." Marcus said softly and the agents nodded. Walking out of the house asking him if it's okay if they can question him some more as the case continued and he agreed.

They walked over to the neighbor's house to ask if they know about anything. Ryan knocked on the door while Alex looked at her trash. A man dressed in a suit came out the door and walked across the lawn to get in his car, nodding and winking towards Ryan.

A woman dressed in a short satin red gown came to the door and smiled broadly at him. "Hi, you're earlier than I expected. Come on in." She invited friendly and smiling broadly. Her smile disappeared when she saw Alex standing behind the man. "Uhm, look I'm going to charge extra if it's for the both of you." The woman explained and Alex looked at her weird.

"No ma'am. I'm with the FBI I have a few questions about Lucas Duncan, if you don't mind." Ryan showed his badge and the woman nodded, securing the short gown around her tighter crossing her arms in front of her chest.

"Do you know that he died this morning?" Alex asked.

"Lucas? Dead? Look that guy was a pain in my ass but I didn't do it if that's what you're thinking. He was always complaining about the height of my grass or the amount of foot traffic I have coming over to my house at all hours of the day." She explained looking them in the eye.

"But I swear I didn't have anything to do with it."

"Okay, thank you for your time. Ma'am." Alex greeted extending her hand.

"Taylor. Taylor Hall." The woman introduced herself and walked back inside closing the door behind her. Ryan looked at Alex and she put a finger up to stop him from saying anything he was about to say. "I'm going to charge extra if it's both of you." Ryan laughed and Alex just looked at him shoving him down the pathway towards the car, laughing to herself.

In the office Caleb handed Ryan the lab report John delivered while they were out. It wasn't much to work with, basically just DNA samples of the blood they found near the boat that confirmed it belonged to Lucas, and the grease stain. That they wasted their time with since it was basically engine oil used in motorcycles and trucks. This can go one of two ways, wither it's his son who killed his father or they are not making any progress at all.

"Won't his car have some evidence as to what is going on?" Natalie asked when they got into the briefing room. "Do we even know where it is? It wasn't at home when Ryan and I were there." Alex said thinking back to the empty drive way. "We can call the impound lots or get a warrant. If it's possible." Shelby said clicking the back of her pen continuously.

Nimah headed up to Maranda and asked her if they can do that, since the car might be part of the crime scene and to track down whoever killed this guy. It took a few phone calls but eventually after pleading and arguing from Maranda's side of the telephone they got the green light. The car would be delivered to the lab later in the day.

"Ryan, Liam. Duncan's car will be at the lab later today. I need the two of you to check it out." Maranda ordered and the two men nodded not saying a word to each other but walking out the building anyway.

The two agents didn't say anything on the way to the lab to check the car out. They understood that after the kind of morning they had and the talk Ryan gave Liam that he abide by the rules of keeping quiet and only spoke when he was spoken to. Maybe this is how Ryan deals with grief and he has to respect that.

"Let's see what we got." O'Conner said and they both opened the two front doors of the SUV searching and looking for something out of the ordinary. A cellphone rang and they both looked at each other thinking it's one of theirs but when it was neither of their phones they shared a look and searched the car trying to locate the noise.

Under the seat they found his phone but it stopped ringing when they got to it. Ryan checked to see the number and there was a voice message. "Mr Duncan, it's me Julian, from yesterday morning at the convenience store. I need your help, I'm in trouble. Please it's urge…"

"Okay that sounds bad." O'Connor said when the message stopped halfway. "And it's a blocked number so we can't trace it." Ryan added, taking a seat on the passenger side of Lucas's car looking around for something more.

"Does the car have GPS? If we can trace his steps and recreate his day maybe we can find out where the call came from. Get traffic camera footage on the corners of the thousands of convenience stores here is in the city." Ryan groaned thinking how long that will take them, by then whoever did this would be long gone.

"Or not. Let's hope the car's GPS can get us there easier." Liam said looking over at Ryan. "That tech guy over at the lab still one of your buddies?" Liam asked Ryan. "I owe that guy so many favors already but I'll ask him." Ryan agreed as they drove off.

Ryan knocked on the door but Adam didn't even look up. His eyes were focused on the screen the entire time. "This is going to cost you a bottle of whiskey and a six pack of beer." Adam said when Ryan stood next to him looking at the map on the screen.

"Good to see you too my friend." Ryan slapped his shoulder. "What are we looking at?"

"Basically recreating Duncan's day and following him around. According to the car's GPS Lucas left his house at 8AM, the yellow dots are the surveillance cameras in the area. I pulled all the footage I could find along his route." Adam explained as they went through it.

"There he is at 08:30. Convenience store." Ryan noticed when the camera showed the man walking across the parking lot. "Yeah but look, he doesn't enter the store, he stops and talks to someone but I can't see who it is." Ryan said. "Let's look at another camera on the corner, maybe that angle will show it to us." Adam said punching things in on the keyboard and the camera angle changed.

There was a kid sitting on a bench with a black duffle bag next to him. "That must be Julian." Adam said and Ryan nodded. "There's something at his feet, can you zoom in on that." Ryan asked. "Looks like Julian was sick, maybe that's why Lucas was worried. Oh and look he's handing over a business card."

"And this guy comes out the store and walks right up to them. And he doesn't look happy." Adam huffed. "Zoom in on that guy's belt, is that a knife?" Ryan asked when the handle of the knife stuck out. The footage continues where the guy is talking to Lucas or more like arguing when he came out of the store with a brown paper bag in his hand, grabbing Julian by the arm and shoving the boy towards the car.

"We can't see his face but we have a license plate for the car he drove. I'll get them to run that at the office. Thanks man." Ryan wrote the plate number down and headed out.

"I would appreciate it if you can do a home delivery for my alcoholic beverages I requested." Adam shouted when the special agent left the room, hearing Ryan laugh.

Ryan walked into the office, his horrible parking not bothering him right now. He saw Alex at the counter in the cafeteria and walked over to her. "Hey you got a minute?" He asked and she nodded walking with the cup of coffee in her hand and a salad in the other. "Let me help you with that." Ryan offered taking the cup out of her hand while occasionally taking sips of the caffeine.

"O'Connor left Lucas's phone back in trace in the hopes of finding some number he may have called, so we need to pull his cellphone records. But that kid on the message, we found footage that he hopped in the car with this guy that was tatted up. Lucas gave him a business card and he called saying he was in trouble." Ryan explained as they walked through the office slowly.

"What's your next step?" Alex asked taking the coffee out of his hand. "Hey I was still drinking that…"

"Anyway, can you run his plates for me while I go ask Liam if he got anything?" Ryan asked handing Alex the piece of paper he wrote the license plate on. "Yeah, you really need to work on your handwriting, Ryan." Alex said looking up but he disappeared.

Liam, Maranda and Ryan looked at the phone records and traced he numbers back so they can listen to the conversation. Apparently Lucas called 911 reporting that he saw the young boy who was sick and he got into a car with a man that didn't look like his father at all. He described the man as someone who had a tattoo. He was following them but then got cut off as you heard him curse and slam on the breaks.

He told the call center operator that he got cut off by some trucker and lost the car he was following, but the lady told him it's fine they'll take it from there.

"So what now?" Ryan sighed sitting down in one of the chairs in Maranda's office. "Now we need to find that kid and the driver of the car first. I'll look over some of the cellphone numbers he dialed. You and Alex going to look for him?" Maranda asked and he nodded.

Alex and Ryan pulled up to the impound and showed the warrant as they looked through the cars. Checking the plates. They thought it would be a quick fix but there were quite a number of cars in the lot.

"I found it. These are the right plates but the wrong car." Ryan noticed. The car in the footage was silver this one is white.

They looked around some more and found the white car on the farthest end of the impound without a lisence plate. Ryan opened the door and took a look inside. A cellphone and the black duffel bag. "This says Julian Marquez flew in from Mexico last night. One way."He read the paper.

"That's not good. What's on the cellphone?" Ryan asked. "Check if Lucas's phone number is on the call log." Ryan instructed and Alex nodded, turning the phone towards him so he can see. In the duffle bag were only a towel and a pair of shoes. On the back seat where they found the cellphone and the plane ticket there was a brown paper bag. Alex picked up the bag and took the contents out. "Laxatives?" he asked and cursed under his breath.

"They're using the kid as drug mule." Ryan answered the questioning look on his face.

"If they're desperate enough for these drugs they'll cut him open if they have to. And a one way ticket? Ryan, they're not planning on sending him back." Alex panicked and Ryan nodded his head trying to think on his feet where they need to go from here.

"Remember Lucas was following him, and he got cut off because that truck swerved in front of him. What if that guy knows something?" He remembered.

They brought the guy in for questioning and Ryan showed the footage. "I just need to know if you were the one driving that truck?" Liam asked pointing to the tow truck. "Yeah, that was me. I'm no longer with the company. It downsized." The man said. "I'm sorry to heart that."

"What can I do for you?" The man asked Liam. "I just need to know if you've seen this white car in your surroundings while you were driving downtown. The boy in the car is missing." He explained and the man thought and looked at the screen.

"Yeah, I cut someone of because I needed to get past him he was driving way below the speed limit, and that car was driving in front of the man. It took a left turn into Betty's Diner. Which was weird because I thought it was closed down." The man answered shrugging. "The driver was a dark haired guy, and he had some flames tattooed on his arm."

They kept the guy there for further questioning while Ryan and Alex went down to the diner. The place was dark and stale and the furniture, or those that remained were covered in see through plastic. They walked through the place weapons pointed in front of them, through the front and then they met up in the kitchen. Alex heard a ruffling to her side and went around the corner back to where it is they came from while Ryan searched the kitchen.

The boy was there. He hid in a corner under one of the counters trying his best to keep quiet. His eyes grew wide with fear when he saw Ryan, but he put a finger to his lips letting him know to stay still showing his badge tucked in he side of his pants.

"I'll trade her for the boy." Came a voice from the inside and his heart started pounding. "Don't do anything stupid sexy or you'll regret it." The man said.

He had Alex in a headlock and a knife against the side of her throat. It was just her and Ryan. No back up. "Fair enough. But now I've got a trade for you" Ryan said from behind them. "A six by nine retirement plan or a trip to the great unknown. You decide." Ryan gave him the options and he let the knife fall slowly. Ryan Rushed forward and grabbed his hand as he loosened his grip on the knife and the hold on Alex. She stumbled forward running towards the kitchen where she found the boy softly crying in the corner.

"They told me to wait in here for you. Did you find that kid?" The man asked. "We did thank you." Liam said and handed over a business card to the man. "I have a buddy who owes a towing company, give him a call and he might be able to help you out." Liam shook his hand and noticed and oil stain on the sleeves of the guy's shirt. He didn't say anything but looked down at his shows when he left the room and there were sand on them. "Ronald Banks. " the guy extended his hand and introduced himself getting ready to head out.

"You know what, just stay here for a while. I'll be back." Liam said and left to find Ryan, who just came downstairs with the phone records of Lucas Duncan in his hand. The tattooed guy they found on the scene in one of the other interrogation rooms. Alex went to hospital with Julian making sure he was okay since he was alone and having to handle the paperwork that might be a part of it. Before they send him back home.

"Yeah what's up?" Ryan asked the older neared him in a hurry and kept looking at the room where Ronald was.

"That guy in there. I just saw a grease stain on his sleeves."

"Could be engine oil."

"That's what I'm thinking. And look at these records, he made a call right after he lost sight of the white car Julian was in." Ryan said looking at the records.

"A guy in a tow truck cut him off and he slammed on the breaks." Liam remembered the info Maranda brought back to them in the briefing room. They called the number Lucas dialed when he got cut off.

"Report my driving how may I help you?" The operator asked. The two men shared a look and dropped the call looking back at Ronald who was nervously wiping his palms against each other.

They both walked into the room and Ronald looked up at them nervously. "You didn't even know the man you murdered." Liam started looking at the guy. "I lost my pension, my job, everything. Because a guy like him dialed ten digits, because he didn't like my driving. How would you like it if you made one wrong move and somebody could call your boss?" Ronald asked.

"They do Mr Banks. They file complaints against us they take us to court, we don't kill anyone because they do that." Ryan told him where he and Liam stood on the opposite side of the table looking at the man in front of them.

"Most people file complaints anonymously. That guy left his name and number at the call center!" Ronald exclaimed.

"And when you found out his name you started following him." Liam stated and he nodded. Liam and Ryan walked out the room and they cuffed him as some other agents were working on the other guy. "God job today man." Liam touched Ryan's shoulder as he walked off.

"Everything okay with the boy?" Ryan asked when Alex came back inside. "Yeah, his parents are on their way." She nodded. "We got the guy. I'm headed back to tell Marcus about it. You coming?"

"Yeah." She said softly and left the office with him.

They knocked on the door and Marcus opened inviting them in. He was busy talking on the phone still answering questions from the funeral home and his family checking up to see if he was allright.

"Thank you. I saw on the news that you guys made an arrest in his case today." Marcus said and the agents nodded.

"My dad was murdered, because some trucker was a bad driver. That's the punch line of a bad joke." Marcus huffed ruffling his hair.

"Marcus, your dad was not a joke. He was not an embarrassment." Ryan told him as he sat down and looked at the teen.

"That's very nice of you Agent Booth, but what do you know? You're just saying all these things while your dad is still alive and well." Marcus mumbled

"Actually my father passed away yesterday , Marcus." Ryan said and the bot's face changed.

"I'm not being nice. I know your dad was tough. I'm sure he was a stickler and maybe very difficult to live with. That being said, he was one of those rare people. He noticed the little things, he knew that if there was a little problem chances are there are a bigger problem to it." Ryan took a deep breath before he continued.

"And trust me, now more than ever I wish I had a relationship like that with my dad. Marcus His life was not wasted. Because of him we made very important arrests today."

"You did?" Marcus asked smiling a little.

"Yeah, we broke up a drug ring targeting little children, because of your dad we saved a boy's life and took down the lady across the street with her little business she had going." Ryan explained.

"Because of my dad?" Marcus asked again.

"He cared so much about you. About everyone. He couldn't just look the other way. And that's a really noble." Ryan finished and the teen looked at him.

"Thank you, for coming over and for saying that. I really needed to hear it." Marcus thanked them and they got up and left. Alex stood at the door the entire time while Ryan was talking to him not saying a word.

"That's why I love you." She said linking her hand in his as they walked to the car, ready to call it a day.

12 pages and 4766 words later…this feels a bit all over the place and not like the cases I usually do, I hope you could follow it. I didn't have much time to edit as I wrote it right before I went out. But I hope you guys enjoyed it. Thank you for reading. And give me your thoughts and ideas, they're always welcome.