Dee woke up the next morning to find Ryo gone and a note on the bed side table proclaiming: Had to bring the car to a repair shop for an oil change. I'll walk to work from there. It's close by. See you later. –Ryo

"Lovely to know he trusts me alone in his house," Dee muttered.

He was in a very bad mood. Ryo had resisted his come-ons all the time but had never rejected him outright. In fact, he'd almost thought Ryo had liked him as more than a working partner. He led me on!

Dee slammed his fist against the pillow in anger but calmed down within seconds. He was being too hard on Ryo. Ryo had never led him on. It was he himself, Dee, who had led himself to almost believe that Ryo had loved him.

"Ryo, can Carol come here after school today? We have to-"

Bikky stopped short seeing Dee in the room and Ryo gone. "Where's Ryo?" he asked rudely.

"Why do you want to know, punk?"

"RYO?" Bikky yelled so loudly the Dee cringed.

"Alright, alright. Just shut up. He went to work early."

"Well, tell him that Carol is going to drop by after school! Thanks!"

Before Dee could say anything else, Bikky had grabbed his backpack and ran out the door with one last smart-alecky smile at me. "Fat-assed monkey!" Dee flopped back down on the bed.

His eye was level with the bedside clock. "9:00 ALREADY?" he yelped, "I'M LATE!"

He dressed within seconds and was in his car, munching on a half-toasted piece of bread. "The coffee machine better be working when I get there," he muttered.

Ryo wasn't in their office when he got there. Dee frowned. Maybe he's avoiding me or something.

He sat down, and began going through files but when Ryo didn't show up after twenty minutes, he couldn't concentrate anymore. He went to Berkley's office and opened the door without bothering to knock.

Diana was on Berkley's lap. "Oh, am I interrupting something, here?" Dee asked.

"Come in, Detective Laytner," Berkley sighed, "What do you want?"

"Have you seen Ryo this morning?"

"No, I haven't, Detective. I have more important things to do that keep track of who's here and who's not," Berkley, coolly picked up a stack of papers and began sorting through them.

"Well, since it's Ryo, I thought you would have noticed," Dee sneered.

Diana had gotten off of Berkley's lap by now. Berkley set down the stack of papers with another sigh. "You're so difficult sometimes, Detective, has anyone ever told you that?"

"More times that you would possibly guess."

"Hmm…" Berkley picked up the papers again but Dee could tell he was not reading them. His eyes weren't moving. "Did Detective MacLean, not show up for work today?" he finally asked.

"That's what I was asking you!" Dee growled, "But since I have not seen him in his office yet, that's what I'm assuming."

"Is there another reason Detective MacLean could be avoiding his office?" Berkley's mouth was turning up in a slight smile, "A more… personal reason?"

Dee's face reddened slightly. Damn! he thought He can read me nearly as well as I can read him. "Even if there was, Commissioner, I doubt he would jeopardize his work. You know Ryo nearly as well as I do."

Berkley didn't say anything. He had picked up the papers in another fake act of reading. "If you wish to contact Detective MacLain, I suggest you call his house. Perhaps he is sick. I don't see what I've got to do with this."

"I WAS JUST OUT HIS FRICKEN HOUSE!" Dee yelled, his face going slightly redder, "HE LEFT THIS!" he threw the note that Ryo had left onto the table, "HE'S NOT SICK! IF HE'S NOT HERE THEN I HAVE NO IDEA WHERE ELSE HE IS!"

Berkley's face remained impassive despite Dee's outburst. "Place control yourself, Detective Laytner, or I may have to ask you to leave this office."

He picked up the note that Ryo had left and read it. "Perhaps they asked him to stay until his car was finished. If he isn't here in a few hours, then we'll worry. Until then, place get back to your work."

"But commissioner!" Dee yelped.

"Come on!" Dee found that Diana, who had been standing quietly behind Berkley the entire time, had grabbed his arm and was trying to pull him out of the room.

"DIANA!!!!!!"

"Come on!" Diana said even more forcefully, and dragged Dee out of the commissioner's office.

She dragged him all the way back to his and Ryo's office. Dee was so shocked; he didn't even fight her until he was back in his own office. Then he exploded. "DIANA! RYO'S NOT HERE!!!!! THERE'S SOMETHING WRONG!!! I CAN FEEL IT!!! LET ME BACK AT THE COMMISSONER!! I'LL SWEAR I'LL BEAT HIM UP!! I'LL - "

"Really, Dee…" Diana crossed her arms, "Your concern for Ryo is touching. On the other hand, you really need to get a hold of yourself."

Dee took a few deep breaths and then said in an equally threatening voice, "I don't give a shit what the commissioner thinks. This is not like Ryo to not be here and you know it!"

"Did you and Ryo have a fight?"

Dee went silent and didn't say anything. "Answer me, Dee! Do you and Ryo have a fight?"

"Not really," Dee muttered, "More just like he completely fucking turned me down. But it wasn't a fight…"

"But that's reason enough for Berkley not to be worried about it," Diana said, quietly, "He's got a lot on his mind right now and Ryo is the least of it…"

"If this has anything to do with the case…"

"So what if it does?" Diana asked, "That's not my point! My point is that if you really think something has happened to Ryo, you're going to have to have a cool down and be sensible for once. Just try not to think about it for a few hours. If he doesn't show up by then, the Commissioner will start to worry. He loves Ryo just like you do."

There was pain in her voice, Dee noticed. "Do you…" he started.

Diana cut him off. "Now let's think about this. You said Ryo went to the repair shop. Just what do you think could have possibly happened to him?"

"I don't know…" Dee racked his brain and then suddenly, a horrible thought came to him, "That gay molester! The case! OH MY GOD! WHAT IF RYO IS BEING RAPED AND MURDERERED EVEN AS WE SPEAK?"

"Calm down, Dee," Diana said, in a softer tone, "Think about it. All of the victims were children. Ryo is a full grown man. I highly doubt that someone who targets children of nearly have Ryo's size could possibly deal with him. Plus that fact that he carries his gun around with him all the time."

Dee was silent for a long moment and then said, "I can pin him down."

He looked away. All the pain of the previous night was flooding back to him. "Have you ever thought that maybe he let's you pin him down?" Diana asked, "God, Dee, for someone as smart as you are, you can be awful dense sometimes."

"Why would he let me pin him down?" Dee's voice was rising, "WHY THE FUCKING HELL WOULD HE DO THAT ESPECIALLY SINCE HE DOESN'T EVEN LIKE ME?!?!"

"Maybe we shouldn't talk about this now," Diana said, quickly, "Okay, back to the point. Ryo has a gun with him. It's hardly likely that he is being raped."

"Bikky said a group of people!" Dee said, in realization, "A group, Diana! Surely you can't argue the possibilities, there! Come!" his voice suddenly turned demanding, he made sure his gun was securely in his holster, "Go to Berkley and tell him that if he cares about either Ryo OR the case to get his ass here right this minute!"

"Dee, you're…"

"Maybe I am crazy! I don't care! All I fucking know is that Ryo might be in trouble and I'd much rather look stupid than risk loosing him forever. Now hurry! This is important!"

Gah- I'm so sorry for how long it takes me to post. I thought the last chapter (Act one, Scene 4) was very bad so I'm going to try to make up for it in this one. A question to all readers: Does anyone mind me boosting this story up to an 'R' rating: thus adding sex and such?

I don't think anyone would have an objection due to the nature of the FAKE series but if anyone does, please tell me. I'm writing this for you guys.