Chapter 15

Greg sat down beside Jim Brass and looked at Jarrod Carrey. Carrey glared back at him, but without any real animosity. He knew what Greg was there for, and his lawyer and worked out some arrangement that was in his favor.

"So Carrey, I hear you're ready to talk." Jim began, not one to beat around the bush.

"Yeah, fire away." Carrey looked to Greg expectantly.

"So you want to tell me why you were chatting with Garnica so much?" Greg questioned.

"I wasn't talking to Garnica."

"Your phone records say otherwise. Suppose it was twenty-two wrong numbers?" Greg slammed the printout down and pointed to the highlighted calls. "And Garnica made forty-one wrong number calls to you?" Another print out was slapped down beside it. "Please, feel free to explain."

"My cousin was staying at his place, I was talking to him." Carrey rolled his eyes as if anyone should have known that.

"Your cousin?" Greg looked through the file quickly, but he didn't need to, he knew it by heart, cover to cover. "What's his name?"

"Kiefer. Gerome Kiefer." Carrey looked at Greg with interest. "Why?"

"Have you had contact with him since you've been in here?" Greg drummed his fingers on the table.

"No, can't nobody find him."

"Does he have a record?"

"Nope, he ain't ever been arrested. He's a good kid, not even a speeding ticket."

"Kid? He's younger than you?"

"Yeah, looks about your age. Hey, what's with all the questions about Gerome?"

"Well, Garnica and a crew of guys attempted to attack your previous victim. They didn't succeed. I'm concerned that one of the assailants was your cousin."

"I don't know anything about that! I ain't rollin' over on my cousin!"

"There's no need for that. You see…..they didn't succeed, we have them all….in….custody." Greg wondered how to explain it to the man.

"Aww-sheeett!" Carrey moaned. "Ya telling me that he's been arrested?"

"No…the reason they failed is because they're all dead." Greg explained, "I think your cousin is one of the unidentified."

Carrey frowned at him, looking as if he could actually start to cry. "You think so?"

"Care to look, maybe see if you recognize one of these men as your cousin?" Greg pulled out the pictures of the two unknown assailants and placed then face down on the table. "It's up to you, whether you look at them or not."

Carrey reached over with his cuffed hands and flipped over the pictures. He grimaced and paled as he looked at the second photo. "Awww…Gerry!"

"I'm sorry. I take it this is your cousin." Greg took the photos back, handing the one of the cousin to Brass.

"Gerry was a good kid." Carrey glowered. "I told him that Garnica would lead him to no good!."

"Yeah, but it wasn't Garnica that set the deal up was it?" Greg made a show of shuffling his files. "Any idea how they got hooked up with all this? Did you get them involved or did they recruit you?"

"Garnica connected me to the chick." Carrey groused. "Said she had a job that he couldn't do, so he gave me her number. Then she contacted me again for the Brown woman. I tole Gerry to stay out of it."

"Was your cousin involved with the Holcomb kidnapping?" Greg continued.

"He didn't do the kidnapping." Carrey told him maintained before admitting. "But Garnica was having him watch the brats. I swear…..I don't know where they are! I know Gerry didn't hurt them!"

"So….with Garnica and his crew dead……who's watching the girls?" Greg asked Brass. Suddenly the small hope they had held onto disappeared.

Warrick stood leaning against the SUV. They'd been driving around in circles for hours with no luck. Nick and Sara had gone inside the diner to get them some sandwiches, Lucy was stretching a few feet away from him. Looking through the window, he could see that they would be waiting for a while. He pulled out his phone and dialed. When the call connected he smiled. "Hey Baby, how are you feeling?"

Lucy stepped away, trying not to eavesdrop, but he wasn't trying to hide. "Yeah Baby, I'm fine………sure……I'm just fixing to take a nap on the break room couch." He lied easily, blushing slightly. "Yeah Baby, we're going to find the girls. I swear…I won't stop until we do. No…..Baby…..I'm not coming home until I find these girls."

Warrick paced beside the car with the phone, listening to his wife as she spoke. "Gemma……I'm thinking you should take Grams and Jess, take a trip to visit Mama Peg for a while." He winced as she said something to him. "Sweetheart….I want you guys safe. I'm tired of you being in danger."

"Hey Subs for everyone!" Nick called out as he and Sara came out with their to-go boxes.

"Look, Baby, I've got to go. I'll call you back later….I really want you to think about the trip to Oklahoma. I gotta go…..Love ya Baby." Warrick hurriedly finished his call, putting his phone into his pocket, he took the sodas from Sara. "Let's eat while we drive some more."

"Warrick-"Sara began to argue, but stopped herself as she saw the stubborn expression on his face. They were all tired, they were all stressed, but Warrick had it worse. His family had been hurt from all this. His family were still threatened by this. It was slowly tearing him apart. "Why don't I drive for awhile? You need to rest."

"No." Warrick went around to the drivers side. "I'm okay."

The group climbed back into the SUV, Nick passed the sandwiches out as Warrick start out again. Only because his friends continued to harp on him, did Warrick even pick at his sandwich. He just wanted this all to end.

"Warrick, stop!" Lucy cried out an hour later. Warrick braked hard, jarring his passengers. Lucy scrambled out of the vehicle, pointing at an old abandoned building. "That's it!"

The CSI's rocketed out of the SUV, coming to stand and look at the building she was pointing to.

"You sure?" Warrick questioned. "This is where you've seen?"

"It's an old police station." Nick declared. "I remember they were discussing whether to tear it down a couple of years ago."

"Well, let's go check it out." Warrick pulled out his gun, checking it as he strode towards the building.

"Wait! Warrick! We don't have a warrant!" Sara made to grab him, but he was too quick for her. He made it to the fencing surrounding the place and started looking for a way in.

"At this point, do we even care?" Nick hurriedly followed suit.

"I'm calling for backup." Sara decided. She called it in, then followed the guys, who were slowly making their way around the lot, looking for some sort of break in the fencing. Sara went the opposite direction.

Lucy stayed where she was, unsure of what to do. The SUV was still idling in the middle of the street, doors wide open. She looked to the CSI's then back to the vehicle. Common sense told her that she shouldn't interfere with their business.

Instead, she went around the vehicle, shutting the doors until she got to the drivers side. There, she got in and moved the SUV to the side of the road. Turning off the motor, she pocketed the keys and headed towards the direction she had last seen Sara.

"Guys! Over here!" Sara called out suddenly. "I've found a way in!"