Author's note -
First off, thanks to everyone for all your lovely reviews! It makes me want to get this story out faster. So here's the next chapter. I got it up a lot sooner than I thought I would. This chapter really just flowed out. I actually had a lot of fun writing this chapter. It's pretty creepy, and pivotal. This chapter is from Brooke's point of view, and she and Lucas are still investigating still trying to find more evidence about Dan's involvement with Chris. However, the storm may get in the way, along with some other surprises. But just read and I hope you all enjoy. Since I seem to be done with school and I don't have writer's block anymore, you should expect the next chapter up within in a week, maybe sooner.

Chapter 5- Where the Truth Lies

"Come on Lucas. Dan could walk through the door any second. We need to get out of here, and we need to talk to Haley and Nathan-----like pronto."

But Luke was simply ignoring Brooke, and she had to admit she was starting to get scared. Right now, Lucas was going through everything of Dan's in sight. They had gone into every room in the house and tore them apart.

Luke just dumped a drawer full of stuff onto Dan's bed, and quickly went through it the pile of things on the bed. He stopped when he found, nothing; like they had in every room. Lucas sat down on the bed, and shook his head. He looked beyond mad.

"You know I don't care anymore, if Dan walks through that door. Let him. Ever since I moved in here, I vowed to bring Dan down. But I don't think I ever realized just how evil he was until I got to know him, and the more I find out about him------the worse he became. Dan is responsible for everything Brooke; All the pain; all the destruction. He destroys every single thing he touches", Lucas said tears brimming his eyes, but pure venom in his voice. Then he looked Brooke right in the eyes. "Nathan and Haley. He's the cause for all everything they've been through----and when I think about that, well, I don't like the person I've become, because I want him dead Brooke. I wish now more than ever that he died from the heart attack."

Brooke wasn't exactly shocked by what Lucas had just said. Dan was the devil, and he had ruined everyone's life. When she thought about how a father could do that to his own son, it made her sick to her stomach. Her parents might not of been there for her, but at least their weren't in the midst of plotting conspiracies in some evil lair. She then walked closer to Lucas and placed a hand on his shoulder. Lucas took her hand for a minute and squeezed it. A few seconds later, he let go, and put his head down.

"Dan is going to be stopped. And Lucas, you're going to do it. And everything's going to be right again. Dan is not going to win," she told Lucas softly.

Lucas peered up at her. "I won't let him win. I am willing to do anything to protect the people I care about. I don't care what happens to me Brooke. As long as he is stopped and everyone can just be happy, that's all I care about," Lucas said passionately.

Lucas then rose of the bed and started pacing. "But we know Dan is responsible. We know, Brooke! But how can we prove it? We have nothing! A crumbled piece of paper with Chris's phone number! We need more. If we could just find something!"

"Lucas we've looked through every room. There's nothing here.

We should go see Nathan and Haley, and tell them what we know. "

Lucas shook his head. "Oh my God-------When Nathan finds out about this. Haley------they'll be beyond devastated."

"Lucas they have to know. They deserve to know. They marriage was torn apart by this."

"I know. Okay. Let's get out of here. As much as I don't want to give up on finding something, I think we would of have found it by now", Lucas said as he started to put the stuff back into the drawer. He put the drawer back where it belonged, and sat back down on the bed. He put his hands over his face.

Brooke saw the boxes lying on the ground that they had gone through from the closet, "I got these". She saw Lucas from the corner of her eye. He looked beyond miserable, and it looked as if he was trying to say something.

"After today, I don't know what's going to happen, Brooke. Either way, Dan will be out of our lives. But no matter what happens I want you to know that-----------"

Just then, one of the boxes slipped out of Brooke's hand and it slammed to the ground. She bent down to put the stuff back in, and while she was sitting on the ground, she noticed a weird thing on the floor.

"Wait. Okay, that's strange. Lucas come over here!" Brooke shouted.

A second later, Lucas was right on the floor next to her. He noticed the same thing. They both looked at each other, and they knew they might be on the verge of finding the evidence they finally needed.

"Brooke, go get a hammer. There's one in my dresser top shelf, in a tool box", Lucas said with great anticipation.

"Okay", Brooke blurted as she rose up from the ground and headed down the hall towards Lucas's room.

Brooke felt excitement rushing through her as she walked through the door to Lucas's room. They might be on the verge of finding some solid proof, Brooke thought as she smiled to herself. She kinda felt like one of those CSI's on TV; like right before they solved a big puzzle. But she never would have thought a few months ago that she would practicably become like Nancy Drew. Who thought Tree Hill had so many conspiracy theories to uncover? However her life was right now, it felt so great helping Lucas, and taking part in bringing down Daddy evil. That's been pretty much all she's been doing for the past few weeks, and while she would rather be no place else than helping Lucas, she felt kind of guilty. Ever since Jake left town and broke things off for good with Peyton, she went off the deep end. She started back on drugs again, and well let's just say she isn't doing good at all. She moved in with Peyton after her parents moved to California, so Brooke knew first hand what bad shape her best friend was in. She told Peyton to call her cell if she needed anything. But Brooke made a mental note to herself to check up on Peyton in a little while. As Brooke started going through Lucas's toolbox and grabbed the hammer, she felt sort of nauseous all of a sudden. It just really dawned on her that this was some pretty serious crap they were dealing with. Dangerous crap. And Dan could come home any minute and find out what they are doing. Or Deb could wake up, but she doubted that since was passed out from drugs like always. Chills went down Brooke's spine, but she couldn't let the fear get to her, now that the moment of truth was almost upon them. As Brooke closed the drawer, her attention drew to the window. She hasn't realized it, but it was RAINING. And it was raining really hard. The storm must have started up again. She thought it had cleared up, but apparently it came back with a vengeance. She peered out the window and couldn't believe how terrible it looked outside. It was DARK outside. Almost like night. Patio furniture at the house across the way got swept off the ground and flew away. Huge chunks of tree branches were being torn off trees and crashing back to the ground. If Brooke didn't know any better, this was serious. And it was a sign too. Bad things to come. She turned her back, and was about to run back to Lucas. Before she left the room she heard this huge bang and a force coming right at her.

"AHHHHH!" Brooke screamed. She immediately turned around, frozen with fear.

She laughed at herself, when she realized it was just the window that popped wide open, instead of Daddy Evil who she pictured looming right in front of her. She put her hand on her head, and told herself to calm down. She walked over to close the window, but she felt someone's hands on her back. This time she wasn't taking any chances. She turned around, hammer raised in the air.

"Brooke! It's me!" Lucas shouted as he slowly took the hammer from her hand.

Brooke hit Lucas on the shoulder, and then she put her hand to her heart. "Lucas, don't do that! You scared the crap out of me!"

"How do you think I feel? Who takes five minutes to run and get a hammer from right across the hall? I thought-----something happened to you."

"Well I was coming until I noticed outside------Look," Brooke told Lucas peering towards the open window, very cool air filling the room.

Lucas immediately ran over and tried shut the window, but it kept popping back up from the wind outside. Brooke joined in and tried to help shut it with him, but it was no use.

"Okay, that's obviously not going to close", Brooke mumbled.

Lucas peered at the window, then at Brooke. "Let's see what's in the closet, and get the hell out of here as fast as we can. The storm is getting worse and we are going to have to be able to drive in it. We cannot be stuck here. That's not an option. This has to end today".

Brooke nodded and Lucas grabbed her hand as he opened the door. He glanced into the hallway to check to see if it was clear. He shook his head, and they walked as quietly as possible into the hallway.

Just then lightening struck. The power flickered off. It was pure black in the house. Brooke and Lucas stopped in their tracks. They were both waiting there hoping that the power to go back on, but it didn't. Brooke grabbed a hold on to Lucas's arm.

"What are we going to do?" Brooke whispered.

Lucas reached into his pocket and brought out his keys. On his key chain was a mini flashlight. It lit up the hallway just enough so they could see in front of him. They entered Dan's room a minute later and Lucas searched the room quickly to see if it was clear, and then they closed the door behind them.

Lucas walked over to Brooke, but he turned the flashlight off to save on battery

power. She could barely make out his face when he was standing right in front of her.

"Brooke. I gotta tell you. This is bad. But we gotta do this and we got to do it now. I know you're scared, and Dan could walk in that door any second, but it doesn't matter anymore. It's now or never", she heard Lucas's voice say dimly.

"I know", Brooke shook her head in agreement.

A minute later they were both on the floor, and Brooke was shining the flashlight by Lucas, who was holding the hammer.

"Ready?" Brooke asked.

Lucas didn't say anything and just took the first swing.

BANG BANG BANG BANG. The floorboard on the closet floor started to break up in pieces, and they were flying every where. Brooke had to dodge to prevent them from hitting her in the face.

BANG BANG BANG. Lucas then put the hammer down on the floor. "Okay, I see something. Shine the light on that", Lucas whispered.

Brooke peered down in the large hole that was in the floor now. And she shined the small flashlight down in it. Yep, it was another one of Dan's secret lairs. Right there in the hole was some sort of secret compartment; a medium size silver gray box rest in there towards the end of the hole. Lucas and Brooke glanced at each other and smiled. If they were going to find some answers, this was where they were going to find them.

Lucas reached in and grabbed the box out, and placed in on the floor between Brooke and him. Of course it was locked, and Lucas grabbed the hammer to break the lock. It finally broke after a couple of times. Lucas threw the broken lock onto the floor, and glanced up at Brooke. She knew what he was thinking. This was it. They would find everything or nothing. This was their only and last chance.

Brooke shined the light on the box while Lucas carefully opened it. After all of this time, coming this close to Dan's real agenda was frightening. Something was in this box, and it was incriminating. After all, it's not everyday people go to that length to hide stuff under their closet floor. This had to be it, or well they were screwed.

The box was finally open. Brooke took one look, and she knew right there and then that they had him. Lucas's mouth hung open a little as they both saw the gun lying on top. On the side there were about five digital tapes, a digital camcorder, and a cassette recorder. They brought out all the tapes, but they all had some weird unique labeling on each of them. They put those aside as they noticed, there were two separate folders in the box still. Brooke took one and Lucas took the other. Brooke tried to shine the light on both of their folders, but even if she didn't she would still be able to see what was right in front of her. Picture stills after Picture stills of Lucas in his bedroom and at the dealership. Pictures of Lucas around town talking to Andy. Then she saw the stack of pictures with her and Lucas. She threw down the pictures, and couldn't believe what she just saw. What a sick bastard. He was following Lucas and had surveillance of him everywhere. He must have video surveillance of him too, Brooke guessed when peering at the tapes. Dan must know, Lucas knows something, she realized alarmed.

"Lucas, I think Dan knows about us investigating him", She cried as she slammed the pictures down in front of him.

Lucas looked up at her and shoved some pictures down in the front of them too, as well as papers. His face looked beyond being able to express emotion.

"Dan knows everything, because Dan did everything. We know about Chris right? He was just a plant get her on the tour, and the tour was just to get her out of the way, so Dan could swoop right in. And Dan made it possible for Haley to go on it. That's not exactly a surprise anymore, But Dan's paying Chris off, and who knows else on that tour just to have Haley there", Lucas finished saying while looking at the rest of the pictures. Then he looked her dead in the eyes. "We got him, Brooke. He set this whole thing up! Some elaborate scheme to tear apart their marriage, along with ripping their heart's right out with it! I hope that son of bitch rots in hell! If I see him, I don't know if I will be able to stop myself", Lucas promised. Brooke then see Lucas peer down at the gun on the floor. Lucas took the gun, and slid it into his pocket. He didn't look Brooke in the eye after that. They just sat there listening and looking at the rest of the evidence. Just then the power started to flicker back and forth, and the doorknob started to open. Lucas was just about to see what was on the camcorder, and he practically dropped it, but Brooke caught it as they both shot up in surprise. They both expected Dan to come through the door, and Brooke grabbed onto Lucas tightly.

The door opened, but it was so dark, they could barely see who was staring right in front of him. Brooke squinted through the darkness, and the blonde haired woman standing before them, was looking more guilty and weak than Brooke had ever seen a person look.

Lucas and Brooke looked at each other, not knowing what to expect.

Deb walked closer to them, and stopped and looked down at the box and pile of evidence on the floor. Tears escaped her eyes.

"I didn't know- this was going to happen like this. If I could take it all back I would in a minute... I wanted----------my son back, you have to understand Lucas. That was all I could see. "

Brooke was confused. Deb was acting like she already knew about what was going on. Had Deb been involved this whole time?

"You were apart of this, weren't you?" Lucas asked outright.

Deb looked back at the evidence on the floor, and then back at them. "Yes. If you didn't find out by now, I was going to tell you; my part in all this. Yes. I helped Dan break up Nathan and Haley. But If I would have know the destruction that would of caused-

"You would of what? Not help rip apart your own son's life!" Lucas shouted.

Deb walked closer towards them. "Lucas, I know how this may seem. Yes. I helped Dan. I enabled him. But it was only at first. Now I have nothing. And letting that bastard get to me was the worse mistake of my life! I want my life back Lucas. I want to make things right. I want to help you bring down Dan".

There was a moment of silence. "So you think that just because you only helped Dan at first, you get off? Without blame?. I don't think so. You're apart of this Deb! You helped break up your own son's marriage! You ruined their lives! Haley is my best friend! Nathan is my brother! How could you? You can rot in hell just like Dan", Lucas told her coldly.

Deb walked over to Lucas, but Lucas and Brooke backed away. "Get the hell away!" Lucas shouted.

"Listen to me please!" Deb cried intensely. "I agree with you Lucas. I was the worst-----I mean I am the worst kind of person. Mother. I know that. I am not looking for your forgiveness, or you're understanding! All I want to do is help you, and finally do something right in my life for once. And get Dan out of all of our lives once and for all!"

Brooke looked at Deb and her eyes seemed sincere, and almost desperate. She didn't know what to think. If Nathan's own mother was in it this, let's just say that was the least thing she expected. How could someone's own mother be responsible for ruining their own son's life? Brooke felt her blood run cold, and felt only hate for Nathan's mother.

"How could you do that? To your own son? Your sick", Brooke spat out.

Deb looked wide eyed at Lucas and then at Brooke. "Please", she whispered.

The air was silent. Except for the lightening.

"Alright----------Consequences will come later for you, I swear. But right now all that matters is Dan is going down one way or another. Tell me everything you did-----now", Lucas stated frankly.

8:01 a.m.