Two days into the interview process, Fisher finally got somewhere with Martin.
"You know, I will tell you where Abby is, but you have to do something in return," It had come out of the blue, just like that. Fisher had never seen it coming.
"And what is that?"
"I talk to Jake, him and nobody else. I will tell Jake his girlfriend's location,"
"What's the catch?" Fisher didn't like where this was going, Martin was tricky, he knew how to mess with peoples minds.
"No catch, it will just be interesting to see Jake's reaction when I tell him how Abby would plead for her life," Martin smiled.
"No deal," Fisher didn't trust Martin, but at the same time, he couldn't figure out exactly what Martin was up to.
"Fine, but you'll never find Abby, and what if, just by chance Agent Fisher, that she is still alive. She can't last much longer without food or water. She hardly lasted three days the last time I checked on her, so that would give you another day at the most."
"If she is alive,"
"True, if she is alive. So what is your decision? This is a one time only offer Agent, take it or leave it, but it will not come up again,"
Fisher just stared before turning and walking out of the room, looking for Jennings.
"Jennings!" he shouted, when he saw her in the break room. "Go to County and bring Jake here now!" Fisher ordered, the urgency in his voice was apparent, for Jennings dropped her sandwich, grabbed her jacket and ran out of the room.
Ever since Martin's arrest two days earlier, there was a new feeling to County's ER. It was no longer despair, but it was not hope either. The longer Martin was in custody, the more apparent it became that Abby had been murdered and it would only be a matter of time before the FBI was able to locate her remains.
Jake was attempting to keep himself busy, by seeing patients. Of course they were non emergent cases, a stomach ache, a broken finger and a headache were his current workload. He was busy looking over the stomach ache's chart with Susan, neither saying a word, when Agent Jennings walked up to the admit desk.
"Jake." the way she said his name, sent chills up both Jake's and Susan's spines. "Agent Fisher was interrogating Martin, when he asked me to come get you,"
"Abby," his heart jumped into his throat
"I don't know what happened, but we need you down there now,"
Jake looked over at Susan, "Go," she said, and within two minutes, both Jennings and Jake were on their way to the police station. As they drove, Jake couldn't help but think what could be so important. The only thing he thought of was that they had found Abby, alive or dead they had found her.
The drive seemed to last forever, today he would know the answer to the question that had been plaguing him for over three weeks, what had happened to his Abby?
"Excuse me, Agent Fisher, I need to speak with you," Jennings stuck her head in the room where Martin and Fisher were. Without so much as another word, Fisher got up and walked out the door, coming face to face with Jake.
"Jake," he began, not really knowing the right words to this. "Martin agreed to tell us where Abby is, but he will only do it, if you are in the room,"
"How do we know its going to be the right place, that this isn't just another one of his games?"
"We don't, but we can't risk it. Jake, I honestly don't know what he is going to tell us. I want you to prepare yourself for the worst here, he might just come out and say that he did murder her and give us the location of the body. That's most likely what we are going to hear. But on the other hand, he can tell us that she is still alive, and lead us right to her."
"You mean to tell me, when I go in there, that asshole is going to tell me exactly what happened to her?"
"That's what he said, butwe can't waste anymore time," he gestured for Jake to enter the room, Fisher following close behind him.
When Jake first saw Martin, all he felt was anger. Anger for what he had done to Abby, anger for what had put the staff through, for what he had put Abby though.
"You know Jake," was Martin's introduction, "the night I took Abby, we walked right past you, I had her with me as you were busy talking to another doctor. You looked straight at me, and you had no idea. Can't blame you though, you weren't the only one, Dr. Carter actually stopped and had a conversation with me!"
"Where is she?"
"Sit down, a few more minutes wont hurt her!"
"Look, you said you would tell me where she is!"
"Yes, and I will! But Jake, wouldn't you like to hear how much fun we had together? I remember when she first woke up and realized where she was," Martin laughed "She actually kicked me, tried to fight me off, doesn't that sound just like her? I had to keep her sedated for a while after that, until she calmed down."
"You drugged her?" Jake fought back the urge to throw up, the idea of Abby being drugged physically made him sick.
"On numerous occasions, it kept her obedient, let me do my work," Jake cringed at how he so lightly used the word obedient when referring to Abby, as if she were an animal to be trained "She's very strong willed, did you know that? Doesn't give up very easily, maybe that's what kept her alive," Martin looked up at both Jake and Fisher, wanting to capture their reactions once they realized that he had not killed Abby. Fisher had turned white, as had Jake, both men stared on, needing more information, not yet ready to believe what he was telling them. "That's right boys, Abby Lockhart is still alive, at least the last time I saw her she was,"
Jake didn't know what to think, he had convinced himself that Abby had to be dead, but now Martin was telling them that he had not murdered her.
"Where are you keeping her?" Jake asked, trying to hold onto the emotion threatening to overtake him.
"Its funny, you searched for so long, and sometimes you came so close, but yet you never found the house. It is ten minutes walking distance from your hospital Dr. Jake. For three weeks, Abby was only ten minutes away from you. And do you know what's worse, she knew it. Abby knew how close she was to you, and she couldn't do a damn thing about it!"
"What's the address," Fisher was already planning the rescue operation, providing what Martin was telling him was true, and that when the SWAT team raided the house, they wouldn't find a corpse.
"What's the rush? You know she's alive,"
"Yeah, well what if she's injured or sick? She needs help, she needs medical attention now!"
"Well I could tell you her injuries if you'd like, but I don't think any of them are life threatening. She has been pretty sick lately, she is probably pretty dehydrated by now."
"WOULD YOU JUST GIVE US THE DAMN ADDRESS?" Jake screamed, he had lost his restrain, just as Martin had wanted him to.
"Yes, I can do that, do you have a piece of paper," instantly paper and a pen appeared on the table, and Martin scribbled down the location that would lead the FBI to Abby, to who they had been searching for so long.
