Flack was silent when he entered the lab beside Mac. Mac did not question him due to the fact Mac was never a man of many words. Also, they both seemed to be deep in thought.
Flack furiously tried to reason away the boy who appeared in the interrogation room. As much as he tried to reason away he knew what he saw. He knew he wasn't crazy. Flacks don't go crazy, they get angry, and they solve things.
What scared him the most was what that boy said about the man, Jack Miller. Did this Jack Miller have more to the story then they originally thought.
Flack shook his head, was he really taking this ghost boy seriously? Maybe he'd be the first Flack in the loony bin.
"Don?"
Flack looked up and saw that he was in the lab and Stella was in front of him. She was looking at him searchingly.
Flack gave her an apologetic look, "Sorry, tired. What's going on?"
"Hawkes is heading to the apartment. We think we found a surveillance camera on a convenience store shop. We might be able to pull footage on that payphone."
"Finally, some good news." Flack sighed with relief. It seemed that everyone was steeling themselves for the worst.
"Do you have any updates from what Danny and Lindsay collected from the scene?" Mac inquired.
"Nothing incriminating. They're running more tests on the knife but it seems that these guys were pretty careful."
Mac sighed, "Have them keep on it." With that he left Flack and Stella in the hallway.
"This case seems to be hitting him pretty hard" Flack observed and Stella raised an eyebrow.
"I think it's hitting everyone hard. Lindsay said Danny was acting strangely at the crime scene."
Flack straightened, "Yeah?"
Stella shrugged, "I think we're all just tired." Flack made a noncommittal noise in the back of his throat.
"How about you? Are you dealing with this okay?"
A strange expression flickered across her face, "Adam has always been someone special to me. We're not going to let this case go." Her jaw was set and she had a fierce gleam in her eyes.
Flack nodded, "Well, I'm gonna see how Danny is doing. Talk to you later, Stel."
Flack walked down a few corridors. He was fiercely debating on whether he should bring up what he saw to Danny.
If Danny was acting strange was it possible that he saw the same thing? He looked through one of the clear walls and Danny was staring at a computer screen with a bored expression.
It seemed to be processing data and the loading bar was at 45%. Flack walked in and slapped Danny on the back. Danny turned around and held his hand against his heart.
"Geez Don, you nearly gave me a heart attack." Danny complained. Flack smirked.
"A heart attack for just a little slap on the back? You must be getting old."
Danny pulled a face, "Har, Har. What're you doing here?"
"Interrogation was completely useless. Thought I'd come down here and see if there was any good news." Flack sighed and sat on one of the stools.
"Besides the surveillance cam news this case is impossible."
"What about you. Heard you were being weirder than usual at the crime scene."
Danny jerked up, "Who told you that?"
"I have my sources." Flack answered cryptically but was pleased to see Danny seemed a little jumpy on this subject.
"Well, I don't know what you're talking about. I'm doing fine. It just was a little unsettling to be in a friend's apartment and see his blood all over the walls."
"Are you sure that's all? I'm pretty sure my source wouldn't have mentioned it if wasn't anything out of the ordinary."
Danny paused for a second and gave Flack a look that probably said "Piss off" but Flack just waited.
After a few beats Danny sighed in surrender, "Do you think it's possible for ghosts or whatever to be real?"
Flack smothered a grin. So he wasn't crazy, "Not until recently."
Danny looked at Flack sharply, "Do you mean you saw it too?"
"The ghost boy?"
"Yeah, said his name was Adam Ross – crazy, huh?"
"Oh, well I didn't ask him his name when I saw him."
Danny rolled his eyes, "Really, Don, you got to be the most socially inept-,"
Flack waved his hand as if to shush him, "Whatever, back on subject. What do you think this means? Are we both going around the bend or is this ghost kid for real?"
Danny shrugged helplessly, "Maybe we should wait it out. See what happens."
Flack nodded in assent.
Sheldon approached the convenience store that had a neon sign blinking "open" at him. There were scantily clad women hanging around the store and few unsavory characters that lurked in the alley way.
He walked in quickly and saw an overweight man behind the counter. The man was leaned back on a patio chair and reading an inappropriate magazine. He wore a stained wife beater, had slicked back, greasy black hair, beady, dark eyes and thin lips with a scar running down his face.
Sheldon stood, silently waiting for the man too look up. After a few moments of the guy ignoring him Sheldon had enough.
"Hello sir, I'm Sheldon Hawkes, a crime scene investigator and we're investigating the crime scene across the street." The man's eyes flickered up to Sheldon.
"Well, what's that gotta do with me?"
"We saw a security camera out front and we see it as crucial to our investigation to get those tapes."
The man sniffed, "Mike isn't here."
"Excuse me?" Sheldon gave the man a confused expression.
"Mike – he's the one who knows all the camera stuff. I don't know nothin' about running those thingamabobs out there." The man said while scratching his stomach.
"Well maybe you can bring me to where the tapes are being recorded." Sheldon suggested.
The man frowned in annoyance. "Why don't you wait for Mike to get here?"
"When will Mike get here?"
"How the hell should I know? He'll get here when he gets here."
Sheldon smother his frustrated sigh, "We need those tapes immediately. I will search this entire place till I find them."
"Have at it." The man had a challenging look in his eyes. Sheldon lifted his chin and stared the man down.
"Anything that I come across that might be illegal I'll be force to report."
The man sighed and slapped his magazine on the counter. He reached into a drawer and pulled out a silver ring with a couple of keys and threw them at Sheldon.
"It's in the back." He thumbed toward the back of the store. Sheldon didn't ask for any clarification and decided to figure it out himself.
He eventually found the right door and corresponding key and found himself in what seem to be the maintenance closet. There was a bookshelf full of VHS cassettes lined up by date.
Sheldon took the tape for that day and for the day before and after; feeling he'd better be safe than sorry. He put them in a plastic bag and placed them in his messenger bag.
As he turned he nearly fell backwards. A young boy was looking around the closet and then he noticed Sheldon looking at him.
"If I worked here this would be my secret clubhouse." His voice had a tinge of excitement.
"It's not safe to be hanging around here." Sheldon answered feeling uneasy. There was something off about this kid and something vaguely familiar.
The kid scrunched his nose, "Why does everyone say that? I've been on tons of adventures."
"I'm sure this is different." Sheldon answered but the boy kicked the floor with a confused look on his face.
He bit his lip nervously, "Can you tell Mr. Flack, I'm sorry?"
"Oh, was he questioning you?"
"He made me mad. I was just trying to help like Mr. Danny asked but then Mr. Flack told me to go away." The boy huffed in frustration and crossed his arms.
Sheldon was very confused now. Why were Don and Danny not communicating with each other?
"Do you know something about what happened up there?"
The boy looked at him with wide eyes, "Of course I know! I was there but then I left!" His voice got several octaves higher towards the end of the sentence.
"You were there?" Was this kid making this up? How could this be overlooked?!
Suddenly the kid paled, "You don't remember me either?! I thought you liked me."
Sheldon furrowed his eyebrows. He had no idea what this kid was talking about. "I'm sorry, I like you from what I know about you."
The boy suddenly smiled eagerly, "Really?!"
"Yeah, do you think you can help me out? What happened?"
Honestly, Sheldon was afraid of the answer.
The boy's eyes darkened, "That man out there has a secret clubhouse. He and Scarecrow man go to it all the time. This clubhouse would be better though – I don't like their clubhouse. It's scary."
Sheldon felt a shiver run down his spine. He didn't understand what was happening.
The boy looked scared and he went to pat his shoulder but then his hand went straight through the boy. The boy's eyes widened and then he suddenly disappeared.
Sheldon sucked in his breath and dropped his bag. What just happened? He was talking to an illusion this whole time? He looked around and saw nothing that was incriminating. He shook his head – maybe he fell asleep?
Sheldon sighed – he really needed to take a break. Right after he got these tapes back to Stella.
Stella walked into the AV room to see Flack, Danny, and Lindsay hovered around Hawkes. Hawkes was currently fast forwarding through the tapes.
Everyone looked extremely tired and frayed at the edges.
"After this all of you guys need to go home." Stella ordered. They all looked on the verge of protesting.
"Us being tired isn't helping anyone. We're just going to cause more mistakes."
"We can't just leave this here if we find something." Danny pointed it out. Stella shook her head.
"It can always wait a few more hours. We can't be productive with sleep deprivation."
"I agree." Mac walked into the room.
Danny looked ready to protest once more but was instantly deflated with Mac's arrival.
"Everyone is going home after this. That's an order." He gave Danny a long look and Danny clenched his jaw. Obviously he was not happy with stopping.
Sheldon suddenly straightened, "Look at this. I think we have our caller here." Excitement was barely suppressed in his tone.
The team all gathered in hovering over the screen to see the tape.
A tall, slender woman approached the phone booth. She looked in several directions before dialing. Her long bleached blonde hair cascaded across her face.
It was only a minute before she wiped the handle and looked suspiciously around once more. She hurried across the street and out of view from the camera.
"Rewind that." Mac demanded.
Sheldon started to bring it back.
"Stop. Do facial recognition on her."
Sheldon clicked various buttons until a crosshairs centered on her face and constructed facial recognition points. It started to stream through the database of people.
A few moments later it stopped.
"Brenda Carrington – been in and out of jail for drug abuse, prostitution, and drinking and driving." Stella read off the screen.
"That's not your usual good Samaritan." Lindsay pointed out.
"Maybe she was the one who brought trouble to Adam." Flack replied.
"No, the biggest question is, why was Adam having dinner with drug addict slash prostitute?" Danny crossed his arms. This was so unusual to Adam's behavior.
"Well we can answer those questions when we interview her first thing tomorrow morning." Mac's resolute tone rang across. The looks on the rest of the CSIs' faces showed exactly what the thought of that plan.
As they went to turn and leave Sheldon spoke up, "Wait a second. Do you see that?"
"See what?" Danny hurried back to the monitor.
"That figure right behind the payphone. I think there's someone there."
"Sharpen it." Mac squinted his eyes and leaned forward. Sheldon clicked a few buttons and it sharpened the picture and zoomed in.
Flack, Danny, Mac, and Sheldon all visibly reacted in shock. Stella and Lindsay looked on in confusion.
Danny nudged Flack, "Well it looks like we're not crazy. There's our little phantom."
Sheldon turned his head sharply to the pair, "You mean you've guy's seen it also?"
"'It', Sheldon, it is a he. Be a little more humane." Danny jokingly scolded.
Mac stood there silently studying the small boy in the screen. He was the same one that had approached him in the hospital. What was the purpose of this boy?
Stella mildly frustrated with the enigmatic conversation spoke up, "What is going on? Who is that boy?"
The men looked at each other. They all look very uncomfortable explaining the exact situation they were in.
AN: Okay, stopping it there. Sorry for the excess of typos. I write this during my graveyard shift and my tired eyes don't catch everything. Next chapter Adam is going to show himself to one of the girls and we'll see how helpful a woman can be in this situation. Please review - I'd love to hear your thoughts.