A/N: First off I'd like to thank Silver2018 for leaving some helpful reviews. You've been a great help. Next, I want to say I mention a few characters' ranks after promotions. If I made a mistake please let me know so I can fix it. Lastly, this story isn't completely in canon with events in Saw V. Some character's last names are different. In addition, the trap Hoffman was conducting never happened.
Chapter 4
One week later…
"Corbett, wake up." Hoffman said. He shook her shoulder and she woke up right away.
"Do I have too?" Corbett whined.
"Yes. Your aunt and uncle are coming and I don't want them to think you've been living in a pigsty. We have to clean everything up. Come on. This may take a while."
Hoffman looked around the living room. There were toys, stuffed animals, paints and dishes all over the floor. Crayon drawings were on the walls. Trash managed to find its way everywhere, even on the blades of the ceiling fan. Corbett herself was a mess with pen and marker on her hands and face. The giant mess was the result of a week of no-rules parenting, courtesy of Hoffman. Guilt had convinced him it was the least he could do for Corbett. Now looking back it wasn't a good idea.
The long stay only happened because Corbett's aunt and uncle were snowed in by a blizzard. The storm went on for days and the clean up took longer. They had to wait to get on there flight but finally managed to get on the plane and leave for California. They were expected to arrive in the afternoon.
Rigg waltzed in Art's office. He just back from a drug bust in the suburbs. There were several men from a gang equipped with guns. Luckily, none of the men seemed to knowhow to aim a gun and the team left without incident. Rigg settled in a chair while Art finished a phone call.
Rigg, Art, Hoffman and even Eric received promotions as a result of their work during the Jigsaw killings. Kerry, Tapp and Sing were also posthumously promoted. Rigg was now a captain. His rank entitled him to be the leader of the department's SWAT team. Hoffman was also given the rank of captain. He in turn became the head of the homicide department. Rigg knew Eric's promotion to Lieutenant was more of a compensation for Eric's suffering because six months ago Eric was one mistake away from getting fired. Kerry, Tapp and Sing were all promoted to Sergeant. Art was offered the position of District Attorney but settled as the police department's attorney.
"Daniel, how are you today?" Art greeted. He recently got in the habit of calling Rigg, "Daniel" as a result of their friend ship.
"Fine, you?" Rigg replied.
"I'm alright. Haven't got anywhere in the Young case though. We have nothing on her."
"What about their hideouts? They were checked. In the Wilson Steel plant, we found strands of Amanda's hair and there was a pool of her blood in the Gideon factory where monitors were set to watch traps as they took place. Her prints were also lifted off of a trap."
"The trap in question is Amanda's old reverse bear trap. She kept it as a memento. She cut her hair and hand. So we have the hair and blood. Amanda likes to cut things on herself and keep dangerous things around that could kill her. That doesn't help us. It helps the defense, the insane part to be specific."
Rigg was puzzled. He put his hand to head. "Are you with me or against me? I'm doing the best I can."
"I know that and I'm trying to do the best I can to help but Amanda's sanity is the big question. We have enough evidence to say she was there. We need evidence that says she was sane. Right now everyone believes she was under Jigsaw's mind control."
"Art, the whole mind control thing is crap and you know it. Who can do things like that when they're insane?"
Art chuckled. He stopped after Rigg gave him a mean look. "I always thought you were the kind off guy who would say 'Who does this when they're sane?' All accounts say the insane do these things. There was one guy; his name was Scott Tibbs. He was the friend of Adam Faulkner and obsessed with Jigsaw. He was making a documentary and at the end got in a trap he made for himself. Needless to say he died. His band mates said he had a behavioral disorder and forgot to take his medicine during the time. Basically he was an insane man that made a lethal trap. You say the insane can't do this, prove it to me and I might have a better case."
Corbett and Hoffman finished cleaning the afternoon. The entire house was spotless. They were now cleaning themselves up. Hoffman was really amazed. The house hadn't been so clean since he moved in. Corbett also had fun. She had fun. She said that she hadn't spent time with her parents recently and was glad to be spending time with him now. Hoffman liked having Corbett around too. She kept him grounded to the other side of life. If he wasn't so involved with work he wouldn't let her go.
The doorbell rang alerting Hoffman that Corbett's relatives were there. He answered the door after telling Corbett her family was there. The couple looked something like Hoffman envisioned them. They were middle aged but looked older. Corbett's uncle was tall with brown hair. Stubble speckled his square chin which matched his block like muscles. Hoffman thought he looked like a stereotypical PI. Corbett's aunt on the other hand looked forgiving and compassionate. She was Lynn's sister for sure. They could have been twins.
"You Det. Mark Hoffman?" The man asked gruffly.
"Yes. Who are you?" Hoffman asked, as if he didn't know.
"Anthony Constantine. I was told by the cops you were taking care of my niece. Where is she?"
"In her room getting her things together. What took you so long? It's been a week." Hoffman invited them in. He sat in an arm chair and they sat on the couch. It was similar to the interrogations that Hoffman was so used to.
"There was a blizzard. No traffic was going anywhere. Now it's my turn to ask the questions. Who exactly are you? How do you know Corbett?"
Hoffman was taken aback. Here's something he wasn't used to a person turning the questions on him. He thought of his answer carefully. He wouldn't be in Minnesota to tell Corbett to lie so she might let on that he was involved. "I'm a cop. I was held in a trap. I found her shortly after I got out. By then her parents had already died. Social services wanted me to keep her while you were out."
"How did she handle the news?" Anthony pressed.
"I didn't tell her. I didn't have the heart to."
Anthony was about to explode but Corbett's aunt managed to hold him back. "I don't think I could have either. By the way my name's Lilly." She shook Hoffman's hand. Lilly tried to get Anthony to do the same but neither man budged. Hoffman was almost sure if he did his hand would break. Lilly continued, "I couldn't believe. It when I heard. Lynn was such a good woman. She didn't do anything wrong. I admit I thought Jeff needed some psychiatric help after Dylan's death but still he didn't deserve death. I don't even understand why Corbett had to be involved. Who would that to a little girl? I'll tell you who; a monster! Every last one of those psychos are monsters. Evil right out of Hell!"
Hoffman nodded slightly and got very quiet. He thought he made a mistake bringing Corbett into the trap but never thought he was a monster. Monsters would never have kept a little girl safe from harm. A monster wouldn't care about anyone else. So how was he a monster? He tried to avoid suspicion by saying, "There were a few righteous killings. A rapist, a murderer, a domestic abuser. Two, actually one of them killed my sister."
"I'm sorry about your sister." Lilly said, "While there may have been a few 'good' deaths, the rest were uncalled for."
"A lot of them were immoral." Hoffman argued.
Anthony leaned towards Hoffman. "You sound like you admire him. Get some kind of sick enjoyment out of this bastard, huh? I'm going to get Corbett. She probably shouldn't be in this house." Without asking where she was Anthony marched throughout the house. Lilly and Hoffman sat uncomfortably while Anthony got Corbett. However Corbett seemed unwilling to go.
Corbett begged, "Come on, uncle. Do I have to go?"
"Yeah, you do. Come on Lilly we're going." Anthony said.
"I want to stay with Mark. He's nice. He let me stay up all night." Anthony didn't listen instead he dragged Corbett out then shut the door. Hoffman looked at the door longingly. He couldn't understand why Anthony wanted Corbett out so quickly. All he said was some people deserved what they got. He didn't get a chance to grieve too long though. He got a call from the police department saying they found a body.
Rigg came to the hospital to pick up Eric and take him home. He brought him clothes from his apartment. To his surprise, Eric had already dressed himself. Not in clothes Rigg had expected however. He was back in the demeaning orange jumpsuit and his leg was strapped in the old rusted leg brace. Beyond that Rigg thought that both items should have been confiscated as evidence. Although the case was basically over Rigg thought they could still be useful in Amanda's trial.
Pointing to the leg brace Rigg said, "That thing is going to give you tetanus."
Dryly, Eric replied. "No. They gave me my shots. Why do you have clothes with you?"
"I thought you needed them. I didn't expect you to wear a jumpsuit. It makes you look like a convict."
Eric chuckled. He hopped off the bed. He held his balance while he grabbed his crutches. He stood up on the crutches then stopped. After a moment he tried to hold his crutches up straight. Rigg watched him quizzically. He didn't bother asking what he was about to do. Eric stay focused and tried to swing on his crutches like a gymnast. The first two times he failed but landed on his feet. Holding the crutches out in front of him Eric ran foreword attempting a big swing. Unfortunately, the crutches fell down. Eric fell flat on his back hitting hi head on the floor.
"Eric, you alright?" Rigg rushed to his side. Eric looked up at Rigg vacantly. He turned his head looking around. "Eric. Eric, can you hear me?"
Eric looked back at Rigg. He was confused. "Yeah, I can hear you. Help me up." Rigg helped stand Eric up then gave him his crutches.
"Don't swing on them." Rigg advised. Eric snatched the crutches away from him. He started to head out the door. "You know being an introvert won't help you out at all. Everyone here is just trying to help you out and you keep shrugging them off. As long as I've known you, you've been a bit of a hard ass but you always gave a reason. Now you act out just for the sake of it. Man, if there's something wrong with you tell us."
Eric walked over to Rigg. He got in his face and his voice quivered, "You want to know what's wrong with me? I was held by a serial killer for six months without reason. That's what's wrong! I was interrogated. My son was kidnapped. I broke my foot with a toilet tank cover! I was held in a small room in a sewer with no light, no air. My only food was some sort of watered down gruel. Eric laughed. Quietly at first but he became hysterical, "My only company was a family of rats that I used as dolls after they died! Rigg, I was a hostage for a game. You expect me to open up. Give me a break. I spent so much time in there by myself I almost forgot how to talk. I'm still getting used to it. You going to take me home or not?" Rigg nodded and followed him out to the parking lot.
When they came to the parking lot Eric stopped. He took a deep breath of air and smiled. The air was still pungent. Smog surrounded them like an evil mist. People's arguments were heard from blocks away. Cars screeched and swerved. Still Eric loved it. His nose wasn't burning from disinfectant and he was nauseous from the smell of dead rats. It wasn't dark. It wasn't dim. It was bright from the sun. The best part of it all, the part that made Eric want to scream with joy was the endlessness of it. He could walk for hours in one direction, turn in another, walk some more and he wouldn't have even left the city. There were no walls to restrain him. That moment he realized he wasn't a prisoner anymore. He was free.
Eric wanted to experiment with his new freedom. Ignoring his clothes, he decided to walk across the street to the vacant lot. Mostly homeless people lived there but there were also passed out addicts and a few prostitutes. After waiting for a few passing cars, Eric crossed the street. Observing the people Eric noticed something familiar. A sleeping woman was wearing light blue pants with a red skull on the right leg. She seemed to rest her head on a back pack but in fact slept on her hand. Eric only knew a few people who would have dressed in those pants and probably would have slept on her hand. Taking a wild guess he gently kicked the side of her head. The woman jumped. She drew a knife that she was holding below her head. Eric back away. "Calm down, Amanda. I'm not going to hurt you."
Amanda closed the knife and tucked it in her back pocket. "What do you want then?"
Eric shrugged. He didn't have anything specific for Amanda. "I don't know. Thought I'd ask how you were."
"As good as it can get for me. I'm just trying to avoid jail."
"I heard. It's on the news. Don't you need a place to stay?"
"No. This is where I stay."
"An empty lot surrounded by buildings, in front of a hospital that has a bunch of junkies and pros isn't what the court had in mind. You know you can stay at my apartment if you need to."
Amanda laid back down on her back pack. She smiled at Eric deviously and said, "The court wanted an address. I have an address. There's even a mailbox to prove it." She pointed to a blue painted cardboard box that had a sticker of an eagle on it. A corvette pulled to the side of the street flashing its lights. Amanda got up and walked to the car. "If you'll excuse me I have a date."
"A date?" Eric asked.
"I have to make money some way. The court said I needed a job too." Amanda yelled back. She got in the car and it drove off Rigg came up to Eric. "You done talking to serial killers? We have somewhere to go." Eric turned around and headed back to Rigg's van.
When Eric and Rigg got to Eric's apartment they were shocked at the condition of it. It was clean. Eric expected a thick layer of dust on everything. He walked to his table where there was a note. He showed it to Rigg then read it aloud, "I decided to clean up your apartment every week until you get back. I'm sorry that we had a fight. If I knew what would've happened, I wouldn't want that fight to be the last thing we said to each other. I would have apologized. I miss you and hope to see you soon. Your son, Daniel."
Eric tried not to cry but couldn't. "He made it. He got out okay. Right, Rigg? He wasn't hurt was he?"
"Nothing serious." Rigg reassured, "Kerry found him in the safe. He had an oxygen tank on him. He moved back with his mom and he's in college now. We told him that we found you but he hasn't responded since. No one can get in touch with him. His roommate seems to be hiding something so we're working on it."
"You don't have to. If Daniel wants to see me he'll find me. He's just hardheaded. A little like you."
"Well, you did name him after me. Not too surprising."
Eric put the note down and walked around the apartment. On the end table he saw a picture of him, Daniel and Kerry on a fishing trip. It was back when Daniel was ten and eager to follow his father's footsteps. Kerry and Eric were dating but his marriage covered up the relationship. It caught him by surprise that he hadn't heard from Kerry. "What about Kerry? I haven't seen her anywhere either. As involved as she was in the case you'd think she'd be the one to announce its end instead of Agent Erickson."
Rigg was dreading the moment Eric would ask where Kerry was. Instead of beating around the bush, he was completely honest. "Kerry died."
Eric slumped down. "Don't tell me she died because of Jigsaw."
"I'm sorry." Rigg said.
Eric punched the wall in front of him. "Damn it! He went after her just because she was on the case. He's trying to get rid of all of us isn't he? When the whole department falls down he's going to take over with his crazy sense of justice. That's what this is! After the department is gone he can't be arrested. We have to stop him and you're going to help me."
"John Kramer died. The whole thing's over."
"No. There's someone else."
"Amanda Young? We got her too. There's no one else."
"There's someone else! The person who locked me up! The one who gave me these clothes and this brace. It wasn't Amanda and it wasn't Jigsaw. There was someone else. A man, younger than Jigsaw, older than Amanda. We have to find him."
"Okay. I'll look. You got rest though. You'll be okay by yourself?" Rigg asked. Eric waved him out and lay on the couch. At first Rigg pushed away what Eric said. Then he remembered that Hoffman told him that he was involved. Rigg rushed to the department right away.
The homicide department was busier than expected. With the Jigsaw Killings over and a majority of murders hiding the department should have been calm. As Rigg pushed around he found Hoffman's office in the back of the floor. He waited for a second before Hoffman came in.
Rigg talked first "What's going on here?"
"A body was found in the sewers 30 feet away from what we think was a trap." Hoffman informed, "However the trap was burned and the body was so badly decomposed that we may not be able to identify it."
"Mark, I already know what you're hiding. You don't have to treat me like I'm an oblivious cop."
"I didn't do it. The body is at least 5 years old minimum. Jigsaw wasn't even active at that time. So why did you come down here?" Hoffman sat down behind his desk.
Rigg leaned over and whispered so no one could hear even though the door was closed. "Did you kidnap Eric? He knows that someone took him and if he figures out it was you he won't hesitate turning you in. I told him about Kerry. He's not too happy about it."
Hoffman kept a straight face clearly unruffled. "I did take him. He was required for your test. You got him back alive that's enough. If he turns me in, I'll turn you in too. I'm not done with Jigsaw yet."
A police officer knocked on the door. Hoffman let him in the office to keep Rigg quiet. "Captain, this girl wanted to talk to you." He stepped aside and in walked little Corbett. She was still happy as any girl could be.
"Hi, Mark!" She greeted. Hoffman picked her up and sat her in his lap. "Guess what?"
"What?" Hoffman replied.
"My uncle is going to let me stay with you. I kept telling him how great you were and he said that I could stay with you since I liked you."
"Oh. Is your uncle here?"
"No, he went back to Minnesota."
Hoffman sighed. "Corbett, I'm sorry but I can't take care of you. It's very busy." Corbett started to pout and guilt hit Hoffman hard. "Alright. I'll take care of you. But if you misbehave I'll send you back to your aunt and uncle."
Corbett smiled and hugged Hoffman. Hoffman smiled back but couldn't ignore Rigg's threatening stare.
Late at night Eric drove himself back to the empty lot. The corvette was there dropping Amanda off. He waited for to settle while he gathered himself. He was about to do something he knew he would hate in the morning and for the rest of his life. He walked over to Amanda. "You came back late."
"I don't remember you giving me a curfew." Amanda retorted.
"Sorry. Look, are you actually going to stay here?"
"Yeah. I have been for the best week."
"I want you to stay at my place."
"No way! Why would you even ask that?"
Eric took a breath. "I guess I feel bad for putting you in this position. It's hard to explain but I feel guilty. Let's just go and get out of the cold."
Amanda laughed loudly almost waking the other occupants of the lot. "You can't be serious."
"I am. This is more of a guilt thing. It's not like I want to do this." Amanda just lay back down on the ground ignoring Eric. He kneeled down next to her. "If you don't I'll arrest you for violating your bail terms." Amanda casually looked at him and he took out a pair of handcuffs. "This will just get me my job back faster."
Amanda scoffed but obeyed. She wasn't ready to go back in jail. She walked in front of Eric to the car. He grabbed her, cuffed her then took the knife out of her pocket. He pushed her into the car. Eric sat in the driver's seat. "I have a feeling this isn't going to work out too well." Amanda said.
"You're probably right." Eric replied, "But think of it this way. When the cops sweep that lot for criminals in a half hour you won't be jailed. I owe you."
Amanda knew guilt was the main cause for Eric's actions. She started to feel bad herself. She was so harsh to him when all he was trying to do was find his son. Under her breath she said, "I owe you something, too.
