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Chapter 11: Confirmation

Prue, Phoebe, and Sarah, the other manager of Quake, followed a near hysterical Piper into the police station. Mark was now missing for eights hours, and Piper was close to panic. They walked up to the front desk, looking for Andy.

There was an air of excitement throughout the station. Cops bustled in and out of the station, most smiling or joking merrily.

Andy, who was huddled over his desk with Darryl, looking over files, looked up and saw Prue, Phoebe, and Piper. Andy excused himself form the huddle and made his way over to them.

He walked over to them and smiled, then leaned down to give Prue a kiss. "What brings you guys here?"

"Mark," Piper blurted out.

Andy looked at her in confusion.

"Mark, he's missing. He never showed up to work, no one's seen him, no one can't get a hold of him…" Piper broke off, close to tears.

Prue out one arm around her. "Andy, can you help us?"

Andy let out a breath. "How long has he been missing?"

Piper was going to answer, but Prue was afraid she would break down, so she answered. "Piper noticed him missing about eight hours ago, but no one had heard from him since he left the apartment this morning. Never showed up to work, never left a call."

Andy ran a hand through his hair. "Technically, I can't do anything until he's been missing for at least twenty-four hours. He's a legal adult, free to leave on his own free will." Andy took a look at Piper's grief-stricken face. "But I can start checking with hospitals, see if anyone who fits his description has been admitted in the last eighteen hours."

"Thank you, Andy," Piper said.

"I just hope everything is okay," he said.

"Me too," Piper whispered.

A young cop called out to Andy. "Hey, Trudeau! Take this down to Evidence, will ya?" he threw a plastic bag with something it to Andy.

"Sure," Andy said, easily catching the wildly tossed bag.

Everyone peered at the bag Andy now held.

"What is it?" Phoebe asked.

"It's a necklace we found on a dead body. We believe the body is Tony Wong, local drug lord and con artist. We've always known he was involved in things, but never enough evidence to pin him. It looks like he finally met his match."

Everyone seemed interested in his story, except for Piper who was staring intently at the bag. It looked like a piece of jewelry, possibly a bracelet or necklace.

Piper suddenly sucked in a loud breath. She saw that piece of jewelry before.

"What is it, Piper?" Prue asked upon hearing her take a loud breath.

"That's Mark's necklace."

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"What?!" Andy exclaimed, taking the necklace out of the plastic evidence bag. "Take a closer look. Are you sure?"

"Yes. Turn it around. You'll see his initials, MC, carved into the back."

Andy did as he was told. "She's right," he simply said.

Piper's face turned pale, almost an ashen white. Sarah, Phoebe, and Prue forced her to sit on a nearby bench while Andy conferred with another officer.

Piper put her face in her hands and began to sob. "He's dead, isn't he?"

Prue rubbed her back. "Shh. I'm sure he's fine," Prue told her, but the sincerity in her voice was forced.

Piper could tell she wasn't telling the truth, but she didn't care. From the moment she saw the necklace, she had known in her heart that Mark was dead.

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Andy almost choked on his tongue when he heard Piper say, "That's Mark's necklace."

After Piper described it in detail to him and he confirmed it, the pieces began to fall into place. As Piper was ushered to sit on the bench, Andy called out to the young cop who handed him the necklace earlier.

"Get me the evidence inventory and all related files about Mark Wong."

The officer looked at him in confusion.

"NOW!" his voice roared through the station house, causing everyone to turn around and look at him. He held up his hands in mock surrender. He went to Piper, asking her to come with him.

Andy took her to one of the interrogation rooms at the back of the station. Prue, Phoebe, and Sarah faithfully followed her, even though they weren't invited.

"Andy, what's going on?" Piper pleaded.

"I don't know," he said honestly. There was a knock at the door and he opened it to discover the young officer standing there with two boxes full of evidence and numerous files. "Thanks, Mendel." The officer, Mendel, walked out of the room and stood by the door.

He set the boxes on the table and began sifting through them.

"Andy, what is this?" Piper asked, a hint of desperation in her voice. "What does this have to do with Mark?"

Andy didn't seem to hear her. "Piper, did Mark see a dentist regularly?"

"Yes. Why?"

"Who?"

"Dr. Kim Kessler. Why?"

Andy stood up and went to the door to talk to Mendel. "Go to a judge, get a subpoena for dental records of Mark Chang, patient of Dr. Kim Kessler. I want you to get them and deliver them personally."

Mendel nodded his head and walked away.

Piper thought she was going to pass out when she heard that. Dental records were used to identify dead bodies. She began to shake.

"Andy, what is it? Is Mark dead?"

"I don't know. Give me a minute," he said. After ten minutes of shuffling through paper and things in evidence bags, Andy cried out in triumph. "The ring!" Andy said, and dumped the ring out of the evidence bag and onto the table. He dug out the report on the ring and began to read. Then he set the file aside.

The pieces finally fell into place. A body was found in the alley, too badly burned to be identified by fingerprints. Upon further examination, the cause of death was found to be a gunshot wound to the chest. Only tangible evidence available was the necklace, not then identified as Mark's, and a ring known to belong to Tony Wong. Height and size of the body was approximate to that of Tony Wong. The combination of the two lead to the assumption the body belonged to Tony Wong.

That assumption was clearly wrong. After looking over the evidence, Andy discovered a big mistake made by the San Francisco Police Department.

The ring had been put on the body after it had been burned.

Translation: the body wasn't Tony Wong. Someone had been shot to death, burned, and then had the ring placed on them to mistaken for Tony Wong. Andy had a sinking suspicion that someone was Mark Chang.

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After twenty minutes of listening to the girls begging him to tell him what was going on, he finally asked them to be quiet. He refused to answer their questions, just in case he happened to be wrong. He didn't want to see Piper any more broken than she was.

Mendel knocked on the door and Andy answered it. Mendel handed him a large manila envelope. Andy knew it had the dental records.

"Thanks," Andy told him. "Stay here with them, will you?" The Halliwells and Sarah were not under arrest, but they said they weren't leaving until they knew what happened to Mark. Andy had no doubt they would.

Mendel nodded and Andy walked down to the morgue. Once there, he gave his greetings to the coroner.

"Hello there, Andy. Don't see your type around here much," the coroner commented.

"Dead bodies are depressing," Andy said.

"I'd rather be with the dead than the living," the coroner retorted.

"Your wife must love that.

The coroner just smiled. "She loves it. Now what can I do to you?"

"I need the dental x-rays of the body found burnt in the alley."

"Tony Wong?"

"Maybe not."

The coroner didn't say anything; he just raised his eyebrows. He retrieved the x-rays and Andy handed him the dental records to compare them to.

After five minutes of comparing, muttering, and giving and occasional exclamation of confirmation, the coroner face Andy. "It's a match."

Shit, Andy thought.

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Andy rubbed a hand over his face, procrastinating having to step foot in the interrogation room. To step in that room was to deliver horrendous news, to step in that room was to destroy the life of someone he cared about.

He took a deep breath and opened the door and entered the room.

Piper immediately stood up. "Andy, I'm tired of waiting. Just tell me!" Piper said through her tears.

Andy didn't have to say a word. Piper looked him directly in the eyes, and she knew the answer.

She broke down crying, falling to her knees.

Prue made a motion to go to her, but Phoebe held her back.

It was Sarah who went to her and held her as she cried.