Tone of Deceit

Disclaimer: I own nothing

A/N:

Chapter 17 (Personal Snooping)

Both phone records and computer records of Nurse Kotter and Madame McKee were being investigated by the police; but according to Tori, it didn't look like a lot was being turned up. McKee made a phone call with a burner phone found on her possession to a cell phone; but that was the only call, suggesting they trashed and swapped out burner phones on a regular basis.

It was tedious to have to be on the non-exciting side of the investigation, but they understood that they were not the police. Even still, Jade was not content with sitting around, and thankfully she had a best friend who felt the same.

It was decided that they were going to try and visit Mr. Sikowitz at his home, with the excuse that they were going to talk to Jason. While there, they were going to search the place. Sure, they didn't have a warrant or anything of the sort; but they could use the excuse that they stumbled across something vital.

Of course, if Jason were legitimately at the house, it meant they'd get in trouble. "It's possible we've not thought this all the way through," Jade said while standing on Sikowitz's porch. "I mean, Trina would probably roast us for sure."

Cat's face scrunched a bit and her gaze fell to the door. "Trina's probably here quite a bit with Jason, so I assume she and Jason have already gone over this place with a fine toothed comb. No way they haven't tried to find something."

Another reason they had to be extremely careful was the fire surrounding the school had grown much hotter. The public, being made aware of the salacious fog thanks to Robbie, were now being made aware of student abductions. While the police haven't handed over to the press a great deal of information regarding the investigation, Ryder Daniels coming out as a survivor of human trafficking just after the attempted abduction of Eric and Selena, meant the public was becoming aware of another problem.

The undercover operation was almost unnecessary, but they still had use for undercover operatives in seeking the connection to human trafficking and gangland crimes.

The school was on the brink of closing down, anything else would likely lead to its end. This was the cause of the fire lit within Jade's and Cat's hearts; and even the hearts of the boys. They wanted to find something, anything, that would lead to the collapse and end of Hollywood Arts.

Thankfully, Robbie had used a fake account to communicate with people-a fake account to be used under the nose of his super strict father, so Eikner wasn't able to track him down. Surely, Eikner would love to get his hands on the person that gave him all this headache.

Noticing a clicking noise, Jade stiffened and readied herself for Sikowitz to upon his front door. She felt Cat's hand on her shoulder and looked to see her friend giving a nod of determination.

As it started opening, they were startled by a flash of brown hair. It only took a second, for the door opened fully and revealed Trina standing in the doorway. Her eyebrow was raised and her lips were flat. "Oh," Jade said with a staggering breath, "Trina? What are you doing here?"

"Jason and I were about to head out to dinner." Trina crossed her arms. "We had to stop in because Mr. Sikowitz desperately wanted to talk to his nephew about something." The annoyance on the woman's face was clear, and it looked like it was less directed at them than Jade thought at first. "Wouldn't stop calling us until Jason gave in…"

She stepped outside and shut the door behind her. "It's another one of the man's attempts to bond with Jason." Trina rolled her eyes and sighed. "Honestly though, I'd like to get on with the date than to have to deal with a needy ass man trying to get attention from someone that hates the guy more than I do."

"So why did you guys give in?"

"Because the man is still family…" Trina sighed and shut her eyes. "Jason and I are both sure he's a criminal, a killer, and a highly dangerous man; but he is all that Jason's got left. I'm not going to be the type of woman who becomes a bitch demanding her fiancé flat out abandons the guy."

"Won't it become hard playing babysitter? I mean…" Jade shrugged. "Isn't it akin to the women who have trouble with mama boys?" Trina scoffed.

"Don't compare me to the bitches that leave their men just because they're attached to a relative. Or, even further, those who leave just because things 'have changed' or leave at the minute of trouble. Yes, it gets tiresome; but it's not enough of a problem that we can't deal with it." The woman cleared her throat and narrowed her eyes as she peered down her nose at Jade. "So, why are you guys here?"

"No particular reason."

"Don't lie. You were planning on snooping around, weren't you?" Jade and Cat shared a weary look and glanced back to Trina without any word. They knew it would be useless. "Jason and I have already looked under every object in this damn house for anything that could implicate Mr. Sikowitz." Trina scratched her chin and shut her eyes. "The man is smarter than he seems. It might explain why he appears to be Eikner's close second. Almost."

"Yeah." Jade furrowed her brow. "So, how did you and Jason meet?" On one hand, she was hoping to change the topic to avoid answering for snooping around, but on the other hand she was curious. After all, she was dating the nephew of the investigation's prime suspect. "You guys have been together a long time it seems."

"We knew each other before I actually started going to Hollywood Arts." She shrugged. "There was a martial arts camp I attended when I was fourteen. Jason was there as well. So we developed a friendship at that point."

"Cool."

"He was still living in Texas with his parents at the time. He moved here a year later." She turned her head over her shoulder and sighed. "As a matter of fact, it was Jason that made us start to suspect Mr. Sikowitz. Not the missing student seen hugging the man, that put him higher on our radar."

Jade was taken aback by the news. It was a personal detail, so she could see how Trina might not have wanted it mentioned. Still, it gave her something more to understand just how much Jason might hate his uncle. "I know it's been mentioned how badly Jason doesn't like his uncle, but…You said his hatred was because he blamed his uncle for Lindsay's death."

"Ever wonder why he would even blame Mr. Sikowitz for that?"

"Not really."

Trina took a deep breath and glanced at the door. "It's because when Jason's parents went on their trip-they never returned home and were found dead in their hotel room." She closed her eyes. Jade's heart stopped and Cat's expression turned distraught. "Around the same time, Jason was attacked by someone while he was walking home-here-and managed to fight the attacker off only to realize it was someone that he saw Sikowitz talking to a week before."

Jade cupped her hands over her mouth and her eyes grew wide. Had Jason been an attempted victim of his own uncle? Could he have been one of the potential missing victims?

"He never found a connection between the two, but after hearing about that girl-Tiffany-he thought maybe his own uncle was trying to get him abducted. He blamed his uncle for his parents' death, which like I said, took place at the same time Jason was attacked."

Jade whistled and shook her head. "No proof found?"

"No proof. Not yet, at least. While I've reminded Jason about that time and time again he's adamant that his uncle had his parents murdered so that he could be abducted without anybody asking questions. He further believes that it could've been done to provide a sense of sympathy should anyone suspect Sikowitz. After all, why would a man involved in human trafficking possibly have their own nephew kidnapped?"

"But, Tori told us Mr. Sikowitz was protective of Jason."

"True," Cat replied, "Even on the night of the sleepover, Mr. Sikowitz seemed a bit concerned that Jason was going to head out late at night to begin with. He didn't say it, but I saw his expression and thought he just wasn't saying he didn't want Jason to go."

"He is protective." Trina unfolded her arms and her face tightened. "That's why it seems odd to me that he'd even consider an abduction of his own nephew-even when his nephew isn't a student at H.A." The girl's voice trailed and for a moment her gaze flickered off to the distance. "Then again, after hearing about Principal Eikner and thinking about the type of man he is-it could be Eikner tried to force Sikowitz to do the deed. Student or not, Jason is a lucrative prospect."

"Really?"

Trina moved her hands behind her back and chuckled softly, her cheeks turning red. "I mean he's strong like an ox." Jade's eyebrows rose high and she could feel a tinge of heat rising to her cheeks. "If we're suspecting human trafficking, a young and strong, virile man would certainly fetch a high price."

"True."

Cat looked between the two women and rolled her eyes. "Guys. Focus." The redhead snapped her fingers and lean forward. "Why not use that to the advantage of the case?" Trina raised a hand back to her chin, humming softly. "If Sikowitz is desperate for Jason's attention, maybe he'd spill details if he thought it might win his nephew's attention."

"That is definitely something to consider."

"I think it's perfect. It might not work, but if it did you would certainly have something big."

"True, but focusing individually rather than a whole may not be the best angle. You're bound to stumble upon the greater threat by focusing on individuals, but there's also a chance you may not. We need to find proof that Sikowitz, Nurse Kotter, Madame McKee, Eikner are all connected. Right now, as it stands, we have McKee knowing that Kotter had tranquilizers in her office. How she knew, we haven't made that connection yet. We suspect Eikner is the ringleader; but we have yet to find anything from McKee or Kotter that connects those dots."

Jade leaned back against a pillar on the porch and sighed. "How is all that going with Nurse Kotter?" Trina frowned and bowed her head.

"She was found dead in her home."

The words hit her like a ton of bricks, forcing her off the pillar. "What?! Nurse Kotter's dead?" The horrible news was difficult to stomach, especially as they needed to have someone that could potentially talk. "Please don't tell me she killed herself."

"It's not certain." Trina exhaled slowly. "She's been dead for a few days, not long after Madame McKee was caught. She was found in her bed, having been injected with tranquilizers."

"Shit."

"There were no restraints, nothing to suggest that she was forced to take these injections. So, either she took her own life or was murdered. Either way, Nurse Kotter's gone."

The nurse's death was a devastating blow, not only because it was the first person aside from McKee that had knowingly participated in the disappearance of one of the victims, but because see was essentially like the Joseph Mengele of this investigation. If anything, she would've overseen-if not participated-in the drugging of nearly every missing student.

"Then we need to be moving faster!" Jade was outraged. "How on earth can we be losing the suspects so quickly?"

"We could detain some of them, but it's hard to do without direct evidence." Trina straightened herself. "The benefit of having Ryder is we now have some probable cause for obtaining warrants and questioning people." She squinted and leaned sideways a bit. "It would be nice if he could actually connect some of the others, like Eikner; but we do have one good outcome."

"What's that?"

"He suggested Coach Davis may have known Nurse Kotter and her intentions. There's a possibility she acted on the orders of teachers sending students to her." Jade felt her heart leap for a moment and a grin started to form on her lips. "He was being overworked, similarly to how Madame McKee was overworking Selena and Eric. This resulted in him spraining his ankle and being sent directly to Nurse Kotter. The coach had taken him there personally, and then left the room."

"Well shit, if that's to be believed, then Kotter carried these things out herself and McKee only got caught because the nurse wasn't present at the time."

"Precisely…" Trina smirked and bounced once on her heels. "The police picked up the Coach for questioning. We're hoping that he won't call a lawyer, but I'm thinking he will. If he's smart, that is, he won't want attention being drawn to him."

"Ugh." Cat rolled her eyes and growled. "Now I know why my mom complains about defense lawyers." She threw up her hands and Trina laughed. "Sure, they're doing their job, but half the time they're making investigator lives difficult."

"Sure. Sometimes if they feel like their client is guilty, they have to try to get the minimum penalty possible. It's not like they all actually try to get a guilty client off scot free. Some do, some try to have themselves removed from a case-it really depends. There's a lot of ethical and moral debate with some people saying a defense attorney needs to do their job at all costs, even if they're told by the client that they are, in fact, guilty."

Cat nodded slowly and looked away with a heavy sigh. "Mama always says she prefers the prosecutor's job, which is why she went that route; but they're not without their own problems. Just, they don't get nearly as many people debating and arguing over them as defense lawyers do."

"What would you rather complain about? The lawyer getting a criminal off scot free or a lawyer managing to get an innocent person thrown into prison? Get an innocent person put in jail, the real killer is out there murdering again; but let a murderer go free, that person is now free to commit more murders in the future."

"Rough…" Cat groaned and looked off at the cars driving along the road. "So, let's hope that the Coach will give something, and hope that he doesn't call a lawyer to block anything."

"If we're lucky, he'll tell us more about Nurse Kotter's role. That's what Dad and I are hoping for at least." Trina looked over her shoulder, studying the door. "Anyway, I'd better get back inside. I would encourage you girls to move along." She glanced back, her eyes narrowing. Jade chuckled nervously and took a step back.

"I'm guessing it wouldn't be useful trying to convince you to let us in?"

"A moot point, especially because that would be putting you girls at risk." Trina placed her hand onto her chest. "Sikowitz doesn't have any reason to worry about me at this point because I am Jason's girlfriend. I have a reason to be at his house right now, he expects me to be alongside his nephew. You two, he has no reason to expect a random visit from you. If he's close enough to Eikner, he could tell the man that you girls visited, and potentially even looked around his home. It's just not a situation you girls need to be placed into."

Seeing Trina's point, Jade had no choice but to agree. If Sikowitz thought they were snooping around, it could spell disaster. "Fine, we'll go. Besides, you just said you guys searched his home already, right?"

"Yeah. Even when Jason lived with the guy, Jason searched every place he could to no avail. Sikowitz holds his cards close, it seems. Still, the tide is turning and we're hopeful something is going to turn up soon."

"We'll be keeping that in mind then." She turned to Cat with a sigh. "Let's go." Cat nodded and followed her off the porch. Part of her wanted to tell Trina that it wasn't just them that were investigating some of the suspects. The boys had taken to action as well.

Andre was trying to get in on chatting up Mr. Anthony, the one other instructor that was suspected while Beck had made an appointment with Lane and was going to use that to try and find any kind of evidence that he could. Robbie was helping Andre at the moment, mostly because it had been said Andre was in greater danger of being a potential victim than Beck; so no one wanted Andre doing anything by himself..

Rather than say anything to throw a wrench into the boys' investigations, Jade opted to stay silent in hopes that they could learn anything at all. They had some great news with Coach Davis being investigated; but it just simply wasn't enough.

Well, we've learned quite a bit here. Sikowitz is clingy and needy for his nephew's attention, Kotter's dead whether murdered or not, and they've got the coach. Alas, let's see what the boys are up to. What are your thoughts on everything learned in this chapter?