Chapter 2

The entire SWAT team and several ambulances pulled up to the factory. The SWAT team broke in and scoured the building. Not too far in they found the group. Five of the SWAT members accompanied them out and the rest moved to search the building. When they walked out Eric was moved into an ambulance. Hoffman carried Corbett to another ambulance. Hoffman got on the ambulance after Corbett. "I'm coming with her."

The paramedic nodded, "Fine. You know how she got this way?"

"Asphyxiation. She was being held in a small closed off room."

"Where are her parents?"

"Dead."

Rigg and Art stood outside being questioned by police. They watched as the bodies of Jeff, Lynn and John were brought out to ambulances. Strahm was rushed out with a paramedic holding a compress to his left leg. When the police offered them a ride to the hospital to be checked out Rigg realized Amanda was missing. "Hey, did you see Amanda leave?"

"Who?" Art replied.

"Amanda. The woman who was with us. She's Jigsaw's helper."

"She was following Hoffman, last time I checked. Do you think she got in with Eric?"

"No. I saw Eric off. She's probably in the building. I'm gonna look for her."

"That building's a crime scene now. SWAT will find her. If not someone off the street will." Art shrugged, "You need to take a break. Come on." Rigg followed him in the car. He looked back at the building as they rode hoping to see Amanda hiding in a corner somewhere.

Everyone was checked out as soon as they got to the hospital. Corbett was admitted in the pediatric ward for mild oxygen deprivation. Eric on the other hand was treated like as a special case. He first was medicated for all diseases he may have contracted from being exposed to dead rats and whatever else may have carried diseases. He was then given IVs for malnutrition and dehydration. After being sedated, the trauma surgeons began evaluating his foot.

In another part of the building Hoffman was waiting to be cleared to see Corbett. He looked up at a woman who was wear sunglasses and had a hood over her head. She carried a bag at her side and sat down next to the detective. Hoffman noticed the woman staring at him and took another look. He looked at her boots and pants then realized it was Amanda. Hoffman hid his shock. He was told Amanda had disappeared. Trying to be discreet he looked away and whispered, "What are you doing here?"

Amanda followed suit turning her head a different direction and covering her mouth, "I had nowhere to go."

"So you figure that a hospital swarming with police trying to get information on John is the best place to be? Not one of your smarter ideas."

"Well, I hope you aren't expecting applause on the 'keep a little girl in a room running out of oxygen' idea. That wasn't too good either."

"I know. They said she'll be fine by morning. She wasn't out too long."

"What about John and Lynn and the other two?"

"I haven't heard about Agent Strahm. But you and I know both know John, Lynn and Jeff died."

"Did they even try save John?" Amanda cried. She turned her head to the ground and wiped at her eyes. "He could have been in shock or unconscious. He didn't have to die."

Hoffman sighed. He understood Amanda's close attachment to John as a father. He knew that her father was abusive and John replaced him like a foster parent. Hoffman also had a bond with John but it wasn't nearly as strong as Amanda's bond to him. Hoffman continued giving Amanda the bare facts about John's death. He figured that if he lied that Amanda would be angrier when she found out the truth and she wasn't one that need to be angered. "He was cold when they got to him. The bullet ripped through his lung and heart. There was no chance. Even if he made it to the hospital there was nothing they could do. CPR wouldn't have helped and the paddles would have made it worse. There doing an autopsy on him now. We can see him afterwards to pay our respects."

Amanda looked at him. "You're just as cold as he is." She gasped as a hand hit her shoulder and she looked back.

A security officer stood behind her. He had a stare in his eye that reminded her of the stare Eric gave her before he had arrested her. A stare of victory and triumph mixed with no remorse of possibly taking apart someone's life. "Ma'am, I need off your hood and your glasses."

"Any specific reason why?" Amanda said.

"Security reasons. We get a lot of junkies and criminals trying to get free meds. It's a simple precaution." Amanda nodded. She turned around and waited for the guards hand to let off. Once he did she grabbed her hood. She waited a second then bolted out of the room. The security guard ran after her pushing people out of the way. Amanda closed in on the main entrance but was stopped short after being grabbed at the waist. "You're under arrest." The guard tried to grab her arm and she sung at him with a punch that sent him flying. Amanda started to run but was pulled back by Hoffman who had followed her from the waiting room.

"Don't worry." Hoffman whispered. In his normal tone, he again told Amanda she was under arrest specifically for assaulting the police officer. He handcuffed her also showing his badge to a suspicious cop. Amanda reminded him about her hood and glasses which got her there in the first place. Astonishment filled the room when Amanda's identity was revealed. Spectators gasped and their eyes widened as they collectively realized they were witnessing the arrest of a notorious murder's accomplice. Hoffman stated merely for show, "Amanda Young you're under arrest for the murders of Allison Kerry and Troy Marcus as well as being an accessory to over a dozen other murders." Afterwards Hoffman told Amanda not to speak a word, not even her name until a lawyer was present. He handed her off to the other cop in the room. He walked away from the commotion silently. At the moment he felt there were more important things to tend to.

Corbett was only eight years old. She still was a sweet, innocent girl. She had a lot of friends. She played soccer. She made good grades. She was supposed to be living the easiest part of her life but it was slowly and surely turning in to the worst of it. Her brother had died a few years back forever splitting her family. Now in one night she lost both of her parents. She wasn't the first child to be used for one of Jigsaw's tests but she was treated the worst.

Hoffman sat next to her bed watching her. He couldn't help hating himself for not stopping John from including Corbett in his games. He held the girl's hand thinking that it could in some way help her. A woman came in the room without Hoffman noticing.

"Are you her guardian?" She asked.

"No. I'm just watching her." Hoffman replied. He saw the woman give a puzzled look and he clarified, "I'm a police officer. My name's Detective David Hoffman."

"Maria Smith. Social Services. Do you know who I should talk to about Corbett's situation?"

"Me. No actual relatives or contacts turned up. There were a few willing to adopt her though. I was waiting for someone to tell me what was going on. Didn't expect to see you so soon actually."

"Well, we knew it was a difficult situation and wanted to get things in order. We tried to find close relatives that could take her in but so far we only have a grandfather with Alzheimer's in a nursing home and an aunt and uncle in Minnesota."

"That's it?" Hoffman asked.

Maria was flustered. "We're still looking. It's possible there's a family friend or godparent that simply got overlooked."

"I don't want anyone overlooked. Keep searching until you find someone who can take her by tomorrow." Hoffman ordered. Maria moved out of the room obediently.

Corbett started to move around in her bed. Hoffman looked to her. Her eyes were still closed. She moved again then opened her eyes. "David?" She groaned, "Where's my mommy?"

Rigg came in Eric's room. Eric was lying unconscious on the bed. His hair was still long and shaggy as was his beard. The crude leg brace was lying under his bed. Rigg picked it up examining it. It was feat of makeshift engineering, composed almost entirely out of scrap metal and leather belts.

"John made it."

Rigg turned around dropping the brace and almost falling on Eric. Amanda was lounging in a chair. Rigg stepped toward the door. He looked around anxiously to check for anything that could be set up as a trap. Amanda smiled at him. She walked to Rigg making him back in to the door. Amanda picked the brace up and showed it like a trophy. "Yeah, even on his deathbed John couldn't resist the call of his workbench. It was the nature of his work so traps would vary. It would have been too easy to just let a trap be reused until someone go out. This brace was ingenious. Scared?"

Rigg had pushed him self so tight against the door it was about to give. Amanda wasn't standing within ten feet of him and he was still sweating and shaking. He tried to ease up. It put an edge on him so he wouldn't be so weak he couldn't attack if necessary. "What are you doing here anyway? You were arrested."

"I didn't talk. There was enough evidence. Plus David bailed me out. They had no reason to hold on to me."

"David? So you and Hoffman are on a first name basis now? I guess it would work. Live together, kill together. Bailing each other out and running away isn't too far off."

"We aren't that close, Lieutenant. You are turning him in, right?"

"Only if I see more traps while you're rotting away in jail."

Amanda scoffed. "You really think I'm going to jail. I can make any lawyer or cop play my games. I can put fear in anyone." Amanda looked at Rigg to add weight to her claim. "Especially, if I put fear in you."

"Juries decide cases not cops." Rigg said. "Any real educated jury won't let you escape. We have enough to put you with the crimes. Also, you disappeared for two years. How can you explain that?"

"If you were nearly killed, had record and were enticed into your killer's games you'd want to disappear to. You'd want nothing to do with your old life and wish that you can be gone until you're missed. Then maybe take pity from friends and turn your life around. Either way you still don't have a motive. If you don't have a motive you can't prove I had anything to do with it. One more thing, the guy who was knocked out, Strahm? How's he?"

Rigg looked at her quizzically. Amanda's expression was serious and he answered out of fright, "He's in a coma. Severe head trauma. They said is leg was blown and they needed to amputate it."

"Amputate? I didn't think the blast out side of it would be that big. I mean, Lynn's head was blown off but a leg? I'm actually a little impressed. Ironic though. Poor Strahm lost his leg in an unintentional blast. Eric on the other hand. His foot's going to be fine. He may even be able to walk again as long as he uses a cane."

Rigg looked over at Eric. His foot was placed in a professional brace to keep it together. Amanda handed Rigg the old brace. "Only Eric's ankle was severely broken. The nerves, muscles and blood vessels were actually in a repairable state. If it wasn't for that brace, his ankle wouldn't have healed to well. Nothing John made was meant to purposely take a life. He wanted to give people second chances. Eric's second chance required his foot."

Rigg couldn't believe it. He never considered Jigsaw to be heartfelt or sympathetic. He thought Jigsaw made Amanda kill Kerry. He thought Jigsaw was just a sick, old bastard that needed to be put away. Rigg didn't think about the second chances just the death. Amanda, herself was given a second chance; she could have died of a drug overdose if she wasn't tested. He wasn't close to accepting Jigsaw as a savior or accept Amanda at all but at least he could live with the fact he let Eric live.