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Chapter Five: While the World Goes Down the Drain

Martin bounced on the balls of his feet rather impatiently while he waited for Jack to finish interviewing a neighbor. He counted himself lucky that the guy they were talking to had never seen him. They either met at Danny's officer or Martin's apartment. Danny used the excuse that his place wasn't quite as friendly as Martin's and now he'd seen for himself that it wasn't that great of a place. The building was kind of in shambles but he knew that Danny couldn't really afford to live anywhere else. He didn't take on cases of rich people. The people he helped were usually at the end of the line, he became their last attempt to stay afloat. That was one of the many things that he loved about the lawyer; that he gave up the glory of working high profile cases and the money that went with them. It showed him that there were still nice people in this world, that someone still cared even when others didn't.

As he checked his watch for the twentieth time he heard Jack thank the guy and say goodbye. And they were on the move again, heading back out onto the street. He knew that within the bowels of the building a team of crime scene investigators were going through Danny's apartment to find any evidence that might give them a lead on what happened to the lawyer. Climbing into the passenger side of the car he tried to think of who might have called in Danny as a missing person. Could it have been the same people that had taken him and then turned around to tell Martin that he had to stall the investigation? Or had it been one of Danny's clients come to see him and found the office to be a mess?

"Do we know who called in the missing person report?" he said aloud before he realized it.

Jack looked over at him, turning the key in the ignition, the engine purring. "An elderly woman. She said that Mr. Taylor runs an office in the building where she has her maid service. I figured we'd head over to that building now, maybe get a look at the office. It could have a clue as to where this guy has gone or what happened to him."

I know what happened to him, Martin thought. He kept his mouth shut as Jack pulled into traffic. How was he supposed to stall the investigation without making himself look suspicious? And when Jack figured out how was he going to explain himself? He wanted to request that he be removed from the case, making up some lie that would leave him on desk duty for a while but he knew that that was not an option. Sitting back and doing nothing would not being stalling the investigation. And while he chewed over how he could do that he was also worried about going to the office building. People who worked there had seen him. Would they say anything or keep quiet on the matter? He could feel the twisting knot in his gut as the vehicle sped toward the ever so familiar building. Not even two hours into the search and everything was already going to fall apart. He closed his eyes and let out a sigh. Maybe there was a way that he could tell Jack without compromising anything.

But he didn't say anything. He just kept his mouth shut. He was in way over his head this time and couldn't figure out how to get out.

They pulled up outside the office complex and Jack got out. Martin remained in the car, afraid to get out for fear of being made. He had to come up with something, anything to get them away from this building. So while Jack walked around the vehicle to the sidewalk he pulled out his cell phone to fake a call. Flipping it open he pretended as though he was talking to someone while in actuality he was trying in vain to figure out what the hell he could do to get them away from here.

And then it hit him.

He rolled down his window. "Jack, I just got a call from the office. I think you might be interested to know that our missing guy has a brother that's had one too many run-ins with the law."

Jack's eyebrows rose ever so slightly in surprise. "Is that so?" He looked back at the building. "Call Sam and tell her to get over here. I want her to check out the office, interview some of the people in the area to see if they remember anything. You and I are going to have a talk with that brother. Maybe he knows what happened."

Martin let out a sigh of relief as he rolled the window back up. Though he knew it was a bad idea to drag Danny's brother into the investigation, and that Danny would get mad if he found out, it was the only thing that had come to him. He didn't know Danny's brother, they had never met but he did know from the stories told by the man he loved that he wasn't an up and up kind of guy; that he had run-ins with the law. He just hoped that this proved to be worth it.

--

When they arrived at Rafi's apartment Martin was quickly ashamed of himself. When he saw the way that Rafi's girl looked at him when she opened the door to find two Federal agents standing there, his heart sank. This move may have gotten them away from the office but now he'd made things bad for Danny's brother. And how was he going to explain that to Danny? That was, if he ever saw the lawyer again. He chastised himself, told himself that he needed to stop thinking like that. Jack grilled Rafi for nearly two hours in hopes of getting something, anything to help them locate his missing brother. But try as he might Jack was unable to get any information out of Rafi. The ex-con hadn't even been aware that his brother was missing. While Jack had been talking to Rafi, Martin looked around at the stuff in the slight dingy apartment; the pictures on the wall, the schoolbooks on the small table, a toy here and there. These people were all the family that Danny had and all Martin had done was bring them trouble they clearly didn't need. But he was happy to learn that Rafi didn't know anything.

They left to return to the office. Once there they learned that the girls had about as much luck as they'd had; coming up short. Though Sam didn't mention that one of the women mentioned something about seeing a young man with brown hair. She was hopeful that they might get a sketch of this person. That just gave Martin one more thing to worry about. He couldn't even recall having seen anyone last night, how had they seen him?

By the time he left work he was torn. One part of him was happy that the investigation hadn't gotten anywhere for the day. The other part of him was deeply depressed over the same matter. He wanted his friends to find Danny at the same time that he didn't want them to find Danny. It was tearing him up, stressing him out. That's why, before taking a shower he popped another one of the pills, downing it with a swig of water. Stepping under the stream of hot water he felt his muscles relax while his brain kept running on full throttle. Try as he might he couldn't chase away thoughts of Danny. Where was he? Who had him? What were they doing to him? Why had they taken him in the first place? He had all these questions and no answers. As he watched the water swirl down the drain he realized that he didn't even know what was his next move.