Twisted, Chapter 6

"We're back to square one," Cragen said, staring at the wall where they had tacked up photos of Ben, Brooke, Brad, Jason and Dana Locke.

"I don't think anyone thinks that Dana Locke knew anything of whatever happened," Olivia remarked, "and I believe Brooke."

"What exactly did Brooke say?" Cragen asked.

"Not much. She ran away after her dad left for the store, but she didn't say why. We tried to ask her later but her parents walked in. She said that she didn't know Ben was missing until we told her," Elliot read from a few notes he had jotted down.

"Where has she been for her to have not heard about him and her supposedly missing?" Fin demanded. "It's been all over the news since it happened."

"She just said she stayed at a friend's apartment while the friend was out of town. We checked her story and it was true. The friend doesn't have cable, so she never watched TV or really left until she felt bad and decided to come home," Olivia told them.

Cragen shook his head. "Have you talked to the father yet about what Brad said?"

"No. We decided to corroborate Brooke's story first."

"I want him in here. I want the mom in another room. I want the boy in another. I'm sick of this family's crap. We've tried being nice with them; someone needs to play hardball with Jason."

Olivia and Elliot managed to convince the Lockes to come to the station without much hesitation, though Elliot's threat that he would arrest Jason Locke based on obstruction of justice.

"Why do we keep having to talk about the same shit over and over again?" Jason demanded.

Elliot stared at him.

"My son is missing. Why would I hurt my child? You people aren't doing anything by constantly asking Dana and me questions!"

"Mr. Locke, we have people out looking for your son. However, the investigation has taken a turn with your daughter's return. It's a different situation now," Elliot told him calmly.

"Yeah. I've told her all about how she has delayed the focus being on her brother," Jason snapped. "I have never been so angry at someone as I am right now."

"She's your child too," Elliot started, "Aren't you at least glad that she's safe?"

"Don't ask stupid questions. Of course I am. But we were looking for HER and Ben when we should've been focusing on Ben all along. She was holed up in some apartment, perfectly safe. She didn't care that her brother was missing."

"She didn't know."

"Whatever. The fact remains that Ben is still missing—"

"And, if you want to know the truth, we think that you know exactly where your boy is."

Jason laughed. "That's funny, because if you want to know the truth, you don't have a damn shred of evidence. Or I'd be behind cell bars and not sitting here."

"Did Brad tell you that he told us what you said to him?" Elliot asked, smiling to himself as Jason's cocky grin faltered.

"No, but I'm sure you're really going to use the words of a kid whose brother is missing against me."

"You don't even know what he said, so how can you dismiss it?"

"Of course I know what he said!" Jason snapped. "The kid had a damn nightmare."

"You didn't find it suspicious or even worth mentioning that he said something about seeing a strange man in his room the night his brother disappeared?" Elliot yelled, slapping the table in front of Jason.

"Brad has nightmares every other night. Do you want me to tell you the one about Freddy Krueger? Maybe he has Ben!"

Olivia was sitting across from Brad, watching him drink a Coke.

"This must be pretty tough for you, Brad," she said softly.

Brad stared at the table. "At first I thought that it was going to be over quick. But now I keep hearing people say all these things about time. I don't want Ben to be dead," he said, wiping at his eyes.

"Brad, we're going to find him, sweetie. We just need to talk about that night again, okay?"

"My dad said that you guys aren't doing your best to find Ben!" He exclaimed. "And that by talking to us you're wasting time. And so I shouldn't talk to you much."

"We're trying our hardest to find Ben. I promise. We just need to talk some more. There are so many people out there looking for your brother."

"Well why aren't you and Elliot?"

"We're different kinds of police officers, Brad. We're more for investigation and talking to people. And then there are police officers who are out there right now, looking for him everywhere."

Brad didn't say anything after that. Instead, he took to reading the ingredients on the can.

"Okay, so tell me everything, starting from when you woke up and saw that man."

"Well, I woke up but I thought I was having a dream…And he was just standing there. Then I woke up and I looked at Ben's bed but it looked like he was under the covers sleeping. I went downstairs and my parents told me to get Ben and Brooke for breakfast, so I went upstairs and they weren't in bed. Then they called the police and that's when I told dad about the guy and he told me I was dreaming. I tried to mention it again after that and he just said the same thing."

"And you don't remember anything about his looks?"

"No! He was turned to Ben's bed. I guess you could tell that he was old. He had gray hair."

"Brad, has your dad said anything else weird? Maybe anything about Ben, or your sister?"

Brad shook his head.

Olivia smiled at him and told him that she'd be back, then stepped out to where Fin, Cragen and Munch were waiting. "Nothing new," she said, shrugging.

"Dana Locke wasn't much help either," Munch said. "She didn't even know that Brad had seen someone. I mentioned it and she got this weird look on her face, though."

Cragen's phone rang and he turned around to answer it.

"We're getting absolutely nowhere with this family. Brad is just completely lost, Jason is a cocky asshole, and Dana's world is falling apart. I think she believes that Jason had something to do with it."

"That was Warner. They found some hair on Ben's bed, and it matched someone in the database," Cragen said. "Liv, you and Fin go talk to her right now."