disclaimer: I owe nothing.

Chapter 10: Where Does The Good Go?

After what Casey claimed, they both fell in silence. Both were stunned at her words.

"What? How could… Who? Who tried to kill me?" Derek asked her.

"What I mean is I think I know. I'm not certain but it can't be what I'm thinking. Why would they?" she mumbled to herself.

"Casey, think out loud please. Tell me why you think you know," he directed.

"Well… Derek, after we started dating, my friends became your friends and vice versa. From that, we had four close friends, the same ones we have today: Sam, Sabrina, Anna, and Darrin."

Derek nodded. "Uh-huh," he said, more confused than ever. He couldn't see the connection.

"Anyways, Anna dated the way you did in high school. She had short-term relationships like you wouldn't believe. It became difficult to keep track and remember all their names. Sabrina came up with an idea to mesh Anna's name and whomever she was dating at the time together. We kept this naming system for about a year and during that time, Anna began to catch on. In order to kind of push her off the scent that we were teasing her, we came up with names for ourselves too. Darrin was dating a girl named Molly so we called them Dolly. It was hard for Sam and Sabrina, both names start with a 's' so we called them D.S., short for double s'es. Our combined name Derek, was Dasey. D, A, S, E, Y. Dasey. He wanted the death of your Dasey. Us, the death of us," Casey explained.

"Oh shit," Derek uttered. "Who knew about that name? Who called us that?" he asked.

"Only our close friends. It was like a phase, we only called each other that for about a year."

"How many people knew that name?"

"Only me, you, Sam, Sabrina, Anna, and Darrin. Only us," she said.

"Then you're saying that one of our friends tried to kill me."

"No!" Casey cried. "It doesn't make sense. They're our friends. We've known them for years. They would never try to hurt us."

Derek grabbed Casey's hand and looked at her. "Casey, it has to be. What else could 'the death of your Dasey' mean?"

Casey pulled her hands out of Derek's, wanting to just hold herself. She couldn't believe what was happening. "I don't know. It's just… if it's one of them, I've let a murderer into my house, around our children. I just can't see one of our friends doing this. Any one of them. I can't see it."

"Well, let's try to think rationally. Let's look at them one at a time and where they were that day. Sabrina first. Where was she?" Derek asked Casey.

Casey immediately shook her head. "Both she and Anna were with me. They were there when Sam called me to tell…" she chocked, having to pause. Derek squeezed her hand, reminding her that the horror that day was long gone. "To tell me that you were shot," she finished.

"Neither left for maybe a half an hour? To get food or something?" he asked.

"No."

"Okay, Sam."

"Derek, he's your childhood best friend. You can't think that he would-"

"We have to look at each of them. One of them has betrayed us. Sam left seconds before the shooter came in, claiming that he had doughnuts in the car. He could have changed his clothes quickly, put on a mask and disguise his voice-"

"No Derek. Jim showed me the security tapes when you were first in a coma. A store across the street had a tape showing the street in front of your store. We watched Sam go to his car and grab the doughnuts while the shooter went inside."

"Well, that leaves Darrin."

"No, he called me minutes before, asking me about the pregnancy. He couldn't… no human could have called a wife if he was planning to kill the husband seconds later. Besides, how could he have known that you were at the store?"

"He called."

"What?"

"Seconds before it happened, but he didn't call me on my cell like he usually did but on the store phone. Why would he do that?"

"But why would he want to kill you? He has always been there for me when you were in a coma, always around to help-"

"Damn it!" Derek said, standing up and pacing, the pieces were falling together.

"What?"

"'The death of your Dasey. Derek and Darrin both start with a 'D'. If I died and you got together with Darrin, it would still be Dasey. It all makes sense. He's obsessed with you."

"No, that's insane! It can't be that… Oh God," Casey said in horror, realizing what had been staring her in the face all along. "Oh why didn't I see it?" she demanded.

"What?"

"Every girl he's dated had some sort of resemblance to me. I just didn't ever consciously note it. Even Molly back in university had the same body shape as me."

"Well he's dating Emily and you two certainly do not look the same."

"Oh my God, Emily! They're out tonight! I have to get her away from him! Phone Jim Derek and I'll contact Emily!" she directed, grabbing her cell phone.

---

"Here you go," Darrin said, opening his front door and allowing Emily to walk in first. "Make yourself at home, I just need to use the restroom," he finished, placing his wallet, car keys, and cell phone on the table in the foyer.

Emily nodded, having been over at his house many times before. When he closed the washroom door, she felt her cell phone vibrate in her purse. She opened up her purse, searching for her cell phone. When she pulled it out, her lip gloss fell and rolled under a door connecting to another room.

"Shit," Emily said then looked at her phone and saw that it was Casey but she missed the call.

Placing her phone on the table beside Darrin's she decided to retrieve her lip gloss before calling Casey because the door that it went under was a room that Darrin didn't want her to see. He claimed that it was work related business and would bore her but she figured that the reason was really that some stuff was confidential. Not wanting to make him angry on their anniversary, she quickly opened the door, turned on the light to find her lip gloss but stopped in her tracks.

All around the room were pictures of Casey. Some she posed for while others were like what a paparazzi or stalker would take. The pictures that had Casey with Derek together, Derek's face was covered with Darrin's.

"Holy Mother of pearl!" Emily whispered.

She knew that she had to tell Casey. Running out of the room, she left the light on and the door wide open. Panicking, she grabbed the first cell phone she saw, picking up Darrin's and scrolled down on the program numbers. She couldn't really focus because she was shocked at what she saw. Hearing a door open, Emily pressed the send button just as she saw Darrin stepping into the hallway. Emily hid the phone behind her back, hoping that whomever she called would pick up and realize that she was in trouble.

Recognition sparked in Darrin's eyes when he saw the terror in hers and the door open to his study.

"So, you know my big secret now," Darrin said calmly, walking towards her.

"Get back Darrin!" she screamed. "You're sick! You're the one who shot Derek!"

"Of course. Casey married him and it didn't look like she would leave him so I was giving her a light push," he said, still walking towards her as Emily backed up against the wall. "I can't have you ruin things though."

Before Emily could react, Darrin grabbed a picture frame and slammed it over her head. With only a slight scream, Emily went unconscious, falling to the ground as she dropped the cell phone. Darrin calmly checked to make sure Emily was still breathing when he realized that Emily had called someone. He started to panic a bit as he picked up the cell phone.

He pressed redial and heard Anna's voice talk as the answering machine on her cell phone pick up. He knew that he had to get his hands on that cell phone and delete that message.

He glanced at the clock, remembering what day of the week it was and knew that Anna was working at the dance studio tonight and that it was almost time for her to lock up. Looking down at Emily, he formed a plan.

For a brief second he wondered why Emily used his cell phone and not her own and searched for hers. Picking it off the table, he discovered that she had a message. He pressed the button to listen to it and Casey's urgent voice filled his ear.

"Emily! Listen to me, Darrin was the one who tried to kill Derek. I'll explain the details later but you need to get away from him! Come to my house as quickly as you can! Derek called the police and they'll be looking for him! Emily, please, get away from him! Call me!" the message finished and Darrin stood up.

So it didn't matter anymore if Anna heard the message. Now what only mattered was to get Casey and he knew exactly how was going to do it. Emily and Anna were going to help him. Reformulating his plan, he grabbed his car keys, gun, and duct tape. Pulling Emily into his arms, he left the house, and drove to the dance studio.

---

Anna turned off the last light and stepped outside, the door automatically locking behind her. She then reached into her purse, looking for her car keys and realized that she left them inside while accidentally locked herself out of the studio.

"Aw crap," Anna said, pulling out her cell phone. She called Sabrina, knowing that with a day like Casey's, she wouldn't be up to drive over.

"Hey Sabrina," Anna said when the phone was picked up. "I managed to lock myself out of the studio with my car keys are still inside."

Sabrina laughed. "Really Anna, this is like the third time in two months."

"I know, I know."

"I'll be there in a couple of minutes."

"I'll be here."

Like she said, Sabrina appeared a couple minutes later, parking her car next to hers and climbed out. While Anna was waiting though, she was bored and scrolled through her messages, realizing that she had one, she pressed it as Sabrina walked over to her. Horrified at hearing the conversation between Emily and Darrin, Anna turned to Sabrina just as she opened the door.

"Sabrina, listen to this," she said, replaying the message.

"Oh my…" Sabrina let out in disbelief.

"What do you think happened?" she asked.

"I could tell you two and put you out of your misery at guessing unless you want to speculate first," a voice behind them said.

They both jumped, knowing who was behind them. As they faced him, they saw him pointing a gun at them.

"Stay calm and everything will be fine," he said.

He pulled Emily out of the car who was still unconscious. She had duct tape on her mouth, and her hands and ankles were taped together. He tossed her to Anna and Sabrina, who both caught her, trying to hold her up.

"Now, slowly go inside," he ordered.

What seemed like hours but probably only minutes, Darrin had duct taped Anna and Sabrina to match Emily and put them into the bathroom floor that was connected to the largest dance studio. He took their cell phones and car keys.

"Now, I'm going to move your vehicles and I'll be back. If you aren't exactly where you are when I get back, I'll shoot one of you," he said as Emily was waking up. Before any of them could react, he closed the door, leaving the three of them in the dark.

---

"Hi, you have reached 555-2461, leave a message and I'll get back to you when I can," Emily voice sang in Casey's ear.

"Damn!" she said, closing her phone.

She kept calling Emily practically every five minutes with no luck. She was sitting on her couch in the living room, much like she had the night before. Only this time, there were cops in the living room, including Jim, trying to get as much information on Darrin. They were having a hard time finding him and figured he must have realized that they were on to him.

After Derek called, Jim got one of the detectives to do a background search on Darrin, to see if he had any prior convictions. It was then that they found out that Darrin changed his name before he went to university and his mother and stepfather had put a restraining order on him. There was speculation that he killed his stepsister who he had been obsessed with and was remarkably named Casey. He was never charged though because the police never found the gun that killed her.

Upon gaining this information, they were able to get a warrant and upon searching his house, they discovered the pictures and detailed notes on Casey, leading them to conclude that he viewed Casey as his stepsister. The only thing missing was the gun.

"Does he have any friends that would hide him?" Jim asked Casey.

She shook her head, too stunned at what Jim had told her. All these years, Darrin was obsessing over her because he believed that she was someone else. She also mentally kicked herself because if she once realized how little knowledge that she had on Darrin and how he acted towards her, they might not be in this situation now.

Before Jim could ask another question, Sam burst into the room. "What the hell is going on?" he demanded, walking over to Casey. "What happened? Did he hurt you?"

"No man, I got my memory back, well most. I remember that I love Casey," Derek said, coming into the living room.

Sam glanced at Derek and Casey and saw look they shared. They looked sickeningly like
newlyweds. "And you're just gonna take him back? Man, Sabrina is going to kill you," he said.

"Sam, what are you doing here? How did you know we called the police?" Casey asked, changing the subject. No reporter had caught wind of this yet, and they wanted to keep it that way, afraid that Darrin would panic if he saw the story on the news.

"I didn't. I came to ask for your help. Sabrina's missing. Anna called a while ago because she locked herself outside of the studio with her keys inside again. Sabrina went to open the door and that was over an hour ago. I tried calling her and she won't answer but you know how she is with her cell phone, it probably died. I tried Anna's but she didn't pick up either her cell or home phone. I then drove by the studio and no one is there, no car, nothing. After I dropped the kids at my parent's house, I came here, hoping that you knew something."

"No Sam, I haven't talked to either Sabrina or Anna since this morning. In fact, we're looking for Darrin and Emily," Casey replied.

"Darrin and Emily are missing too?" Sam asked, now completely confused.

As Derek began informing Sam on Darrin, Casey's cell phone rang.

"Hello?" she said into the phone, standing up and walking towards the window.

"Casey, I want you to stay calm and do exactly what I tell you to do unless you want your friends to die. Now don't let anyone know that you're talking to me," Darrin said into the phone.

Casey quickly swivelled around and faced the window so the no one would see the look of pure horror on her face. "Hi Anna," she said trying to sound indifferent. She heard all talking stop behind her but she didn't turn.

"Good. Now you must make up some reason to get down to your dance studio alone as fast as you can. If I see one other person around here, I'll shoot either Emily, Anna, or Sabrina. Personally, Anna would be the first to go, she always had a way to piss me off. Although, maybe Emily, she caused me so much trouble phoning for help. Then again, Sabrina has children. Wouldn't it be fun to leave two small children motherless?"

"You and Jason had a fight and you and Sabrina went to a coffee shop to talk. Oh, well, Sam's really worried about Sabrina… You need girl advice… Oh I understand… You want me to see you?... I'll be there… I have to tell you some stuff too. Hang in there. I'll be there as soon as I can," Casey replied into the phone, hoping that she sounded natural.

"Good, see you soon then," Darrin said hanging up.

"Bye Anna," Casey said to the dial tone. She then turned to the group looking at her. Five years of hiding her emotions helped her present a completely blank slate to the group.

"Anna and Jason had a fight and she needs to be around friends at the moment. I'm going to tell them about Darrin but I might be a while," Casey told everyone in the room.

"I'll come with you. You have no idea what Darrin will do if he finds you," Derek said as Sam and Jim nodded their heads in agreement.

"No. We need girl time. Stay here and try to contact Emily," Casey replied. Before anyone could contradict her, she ran outside to her car and drove away.

Not even a minute after she left, the house phone rang. Derek walked into the kitchen to answer it while Sam followed behind him, still bewildered at the events unfolding.

"Hello," Derek said into the phone.

"Hey. Derek, right? It's Jason, Anna's boyfriend. I was just wondering if you know where she is."

"She went to a coffee shop to cool down after your fight," Derek said.

"Fight? What fight?"

"Uh… the one the two of you had."

"We never fought. I haven't seen her since this morning before I went to work and trust me, we definitely did not end on a bad note."

"Then what did- Why would Casey lie?" he asked himself.

Sam, even though was just getting Derek's end of the conversation knew only one reason why Casey would lie.

"To protect someone," Sam whispered, as he imagined his wife and two of his best friends in danger.

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