Chapter 4

Chain of Events

Amanda came by later in the day. Sara hated what she was about to ask but if Amanda knew something, it could help them with their case.

"Feeling better?" Amanda asked, taking a seat across from Nick.

"Worse. Another girl was killed. Brutally." Amanda gasped

"Who?"

"Lauren Bray." Amanda reeled back.

"Are you sure? It wasn't her younger sister, Diana? It was Lauren?" Sara sighed heavily. This was where things got difficult.

"You knew her."

"Yes, I knew Lauren. You didn't?"

"We were… acquainted. We didn't talk at all."

"She was my roommate. One of my greatest friends."

"So were Ellen and Emily. So am I." There was the link they had been looking for. It wasn't Sara after all.

"What are you getting at?"

"Do you know any one who would want them dead? Because Sara didn't know Lauren, Sara's eliminated as the link to the murders. You just took her place," Nick explained.

"Is there anything you want to tell me? Sara asked disgusted at how clichéd it sounded.

"Who would want to kill my friends?" Amanda asked softly. Sara sighed.

"You can't think of any one who would want you to suffer? If this escalates…?"

"I don't have a family, Sara. My parents died years ago. My friends are my family," Amanda spat out, tears in her eyes. Sara looked helplessly to Nick. Nick shook his head, indicating that this was between her and Amanda. He couldn't get in the middle of it. Squeezing her hand and lightly brushing his lips over her cheek and forehead, he left, standing just outside the door. Sara took a deep breath.

"He's killing your family," she said softly.

"He killed me." This was a statement Sara was not ready for. Who? What? When? Sara was confused.

"Start from the beginning, Amanda, I'm confused."

"You remember Anthony, right?" Sara nodded, a ghost of a smile gracing her lips. Amanda and Anthony had been very much in love in college.

"It wasn't as perfect as it seemed. I told no one about the things that went on during the weekends we'd go to his parents or the weekends we'd go to the little cabin on the lake." Amanda laughed bitterly at the words coming out of her mouth.

"I was stupid. I knew what you were going through but couldn't bring myself to put my relationship with Anthony in the same category as yours with Jack. It was so much worse. Verbal, emotional, physical abuse but I always put on a happy face. I went to a therapist, got help for the mental and emotional pain that was running through my mind. Anthony didn't know. I always told him that I was going out with you or Ellen or Emily or Lauren or one of my other friends. I never told him I was going through therapy because our relationship had permanently damaged me.

"I promised you, the day we moved you into your new apartment, that I was going to move here with you. My therapist had, for a while, been advising me to leave. To get out of town and away from the man that was hurting me. I was never as stong as you, so I didn't think about it."

Sara, in the back of her mind, realized she had just contradicted the story Amanda had told Catherine. She had been quiet thus far, knowing it helped to not be interrupted. Her friend's normal blue-grey eyes were void. The only emotion in them was pain. There was no fear, no anger, no sorrow, just pain. A pain Sara felt in the pit of her stomach and in the marrow of her bones.

"Then I remembered my promise to you. I would move to Vegas. You know I would never go back on a promise and I had never once made one to stay with Anthony forever. He was out late one night. I knew he would be, I knew exactly how long I had to get out of there. Did you know what I changed my name? Not legally, legally I was still Amanda Bell, but to my colleagues at work and my new friends I'm not Amanda Bell. I'm Victoria Jones. It kept Anthony at bay while I rebuilt my life. Emily took my mail and forwarded it to me and I got away from Anthony. Everything was working perfectly.

"Every year we have a chemists conference and I had never missed it. I wasn't going to just because I was scared some one would recognize me, but I never expected Jack Banning to be there. He'd never once attended one, and I didn't believe he was up to it because it just wasn't his thing. He was there. I guess… Anthony knew I wouldn't miss it. Jack was the closest thing to him being there. I didn't tell him that I was living in my own place. I didn't tell him that I had changed my name. I went to that conference as Amanda Bell."

"How did you keep you identity a secret?" Sara asked slightly in awe.

"Wigs and contacts. To my colleagues, my hair is blond and my eyes are brown. My clothing is retro, not the normal Amanda style. Jack could have been standing right in front of me and he would never recognize me, nor would Anthony. I kept away from men, only letting them be friends. Some how I guess Jack figured things out. Jones was a pretty standard last name but Victoria Jones was an odd one."

"Your mother was Victoria Jones before she married," Sara said, eyes narrowed in confusion.

"2 and 2 makes 4," Amanda quipped in response.

"Then he started harassing you, blackmailing you into…"

"He tried to blackmail me into telling him where you were. I didn't think Anthony knew where all my friends lived or where they worked…"

"You think he's responsible for all of this?"

"Can you think on any one else who'd want to hurt me like this? If you would have died, I would have been ready to commit suicide. If I had lost all of my best friends, I wouldn't be able to live knowing that there was a good chance I was the cause."

"Slow down. So, if he couldn't have you, no one could… but you just found out Lauren was dead."

"Sara, you've been on painkillers too long. Why would some one attack you if they wanted you to suffer? Why would some one try to put a lethal dose of drugs in your system? Revenge is about torture in their case, not about death. They want us to run back to them, beg them to stop. Then they'll say 'on one condition, you come back to me'. You can't do that, I can't do that."

Talk about a curve ball, Sara thought shaking her head.

"Listen to me, Amanda. I want you to go and explain things to Catherine. She'll help you through this and maybe we can predict this guy's next move. Anthony could never do things on his own. He's got an accomplice or two."

"And you?"

"I'm not going anywhere, am I? I'm stuck in this bed until the doctor says I can go home."

"An you're not going home," Amanda jumped in suddenly.

"Um…"

"I can't take that chance. You can't be alone." Tears were forming in her eyes and spilled down her cheeks.

"I can't lose another friend."

Sara looked at the door, willing Nick to come back into the room. Amanda needed Sara's comfort; Sara needed Nick's comfort. He did re-enter the room, watching in awe as Amanda cried on Sara's blanket. Sara's hand was in her friend's hair, shushing her as best she could. Nick stood beside Sara, across from Amanda and threaded his own hand through Sara's hair. Amanda's sobs tuned dry, she had no tears left in her. Then she coughed, and coughed. She wouldn't stop.

"Breath, Amanda, come on, breath." Amanda lifted her head. Spots of blood were on the sheets and where the tears had washed off her make up, Amanda's face was white and pasty.

"Have you been eating? Sleeping? Doing anything other than worrying?" Sara asked frantically. Amanda shook her head, another round of coughs shaking her thin frame. Sara looked up at Nick, asking him softly to go and get her nurse. He did as was asked. Amanda was carefully put on another bed on her side, where nothing could choke her. Nick held Sara's now unoccupied hand as they watched.

"What happened?" the nurse asked them.

"We were talking. I don't think she's eaten or slept in days," Sara supplied, worry creasing her bruised features.

"We'll try to settle her down," the nurse soothed. "It won't do you any good to worry too much. She's in good hands. We're going to take x-rays and stuff to makes sure nothing's broken. Has she fallen, been hurt in any way lately?" Sara shook her head.

"We'll tell you when we've got something."

"Thank you," Nick responded for Sara. Part of Sara knew it was for Amanda's sake they were taking her out of the room but another part wanted her friend close by.

"She's been through a lot. She might be scared; might lash out," were the words that came out of her mouth.

"Thanks. We'll bring her back in when she's better." Sara nodded watching as they wheeled Amanda out of the room.

"What was she talking about?" Nick asked finally.

"A lot," Sara answered launching into an abridged version of what Amanda had finally confided. It was something Nick needed to understand, especially for the case.

"Can I use your phone?" she asked when she was done. Nick wordlessly handed her the small device and sunk into the chair next to her. Sara dialed Catherine's number.

"Catherine." Sara heard the background noises of a diner and berated herself for interrupting Catherine's meal.

"Hello?" Sara sighed heavily before beginning.

"Cath, I need your help." Sara knew it probably wasn't the best thing to start with but she couldn't think of anything else. Her brain was on over-load.

"What's wrong?" Catherine's voice sounded slightly panicked.

"Amanda's got something to do with these deaths. I asked her about the new DB…" Sara stopped to catch herself and keep her voice at least slightly normal. She would cry after she got off the phone not while she was on it.

"Lauren Bray. I didn't know her. Amanda did."

"And Amanda knew Emily and Ellen," Catherine affirmed. Sara could almost see the wheels turning in Catherine's head. She'd come to the same conclusion Sara had.

"Alright. I need to go and make another call. Sorry. I'll stop by later." Sara agreed and they both hung up. Then the tears fell in rivers down her cheeks. Nick was there, pulling her as close as the cast and hospital bed would allow.

"It's okay, honey. Everything will work out," Nick whispered. Sara's sobs continued. When she calmed down again, she picked up the phone that had fallen limply to the bed.

"Brown."

"I'm going to go out on a limb and say Catherine gave you a call."

"Hello to you to, Sara. Doesn't any one say hello anymore?"

"Amanda's in the hospital," Sara said with a roll of her eyes at Warrick's need for a greeting.

"Alright, I'll be there."

"Be gentle with her."

"What?"

"Please?"

"Okay…" Warrick said, confusion evident in his voice.

"Just… trust me," Sara said, her voice choking up again. Warrick promised her he would be careful and they hung up. Sara fell back into her pillows, wanted to cry, scream, anything to get her friend's face and emotions out of her system but tears wouldn't come and she was positive screaming in a hospital wouldn't go over very well.

"What am I going to do?" she asked Nick. "My best friend is down the hall, probably on IV and who knows what else, not to mention she's completely terrified of what could happen to her friends…" Nick scooted her over carefully and climbed on the bed beside her to wrap his arms around her. She rested her head on his should and her arm across his stomach, turned on her side. Her shoulder was feeling much better since the doctor had removed the sling and Sara had freer movement of her arm.

"Everything will work out Sara, I promise," he responded, smoothing her hair. Her mind drifted to the last few days. Her memory was on overload, slowly remembering almost every word exchanged, yet not the ones she had said. Then her head hit a roadblock.

We love you, both of us.

Her body tensed.

"Sara?"

"You… said something. Some time ago…" Sara began carefully. Nick tried to think of what it was that could have set her off.

"And…"

"Did you mean it?" Nick was silent for a moment thinking about what it was he could have said.

"Do you really love me?" His mind was so preoccupied, he almost didn't hear the question. He couldn't remember saying the words out-loud.

But, he reasoned with his head, now's as good a time as any.

"Do you doubt it?" Sara's hand absently began drawing circles on his stomach. The sensation flew through his entire body, making it hard to concentrate on anything else.

"As a sister and a friend, never."

"As more?"

"I always have." Nick knew her reference to her past.

"I won't hurt you."

"I know."

"Ever."

"I know."

"I do love you." Sara didn't respond immediately.

"I know," she said finally, looking up into his face. He smiled and brought his lips gently down onto hers. Sara kissed him back lightly, her hand on his stomach fisting into his shirt. He pulled away gently, watching her face as her eyes fluttered open.

"I love you, too."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Here's another one done! Hope this one was good. It goes a lot deeper into Amanda's past and how she's involved in the case. Hope you enjoyed!

Coming soon… Sara gets out of the hospital and settles in with Nick while the case is still open

Amanda feels helpless in the hospital

~Kavi Leighanna