Chapter fifteen
Against the clock
Lloyd was studying over the yearbook; he flicked through pages feeling strange. He's been used to seeing weird things, but everything in the yearbook made him not want to be in Derrick's mind. "No…" Lloyd laughed while he glanced over the corner of the front page.
"No what?" Erica made her way from the sofa to Lloyd, resting a hand on the table.
Lloyd turned to Erica, then back to the yearbook, "I thought he wasn't so smart, oh but he's really smart," Point to the page, "Password." He laughed, "Who would have thought."
"Password," Erica peeked over his shoulder, "You sure that's the password?" One hand on her waist,
"One way to find out," Lloyd flexed his fingers, he wasn't much when it came to computers, he was more of a book kinda guy. Tapping the keys quickly, while looking to the little sequence of numbers in the small corner of the front page.
Erica kept watching, her eyes wide, "No way!" She laughed, "No fricken way." Her hands pressed on Lloyd's shoulders taking a closer look at the screen.
Keeping still, Lloyd eyes slowly moved from Erica's hands squeezing him to her eyes. He could feel her warm breath on the side of his face, "What are you doing Erica?" He sounded worried, her hands rubbing down his arms; it was an awkward moment of him not knowing how to take this kind of attention.
"Do you know, you have really firm arms…" Her voice soft, "Just really," her voice trailed off, "Have you thought about? You know."
Lloyd's eyes wide, "Erica, as much as this moment has occurred in my mind as idle fantasies," He watched her, "I don't think this is," he paused as her other hand moved to the front of his shirt, "Really an appropriate time…."
"Why don't we go, to the sofa, in the break room," Erica smiled, "But I think you know what I mean," Her hands brushing down his chest now, "Come on…"
Lloyd quickly jumped up, "Erica no!" His eyes focused, he glanced over her face before looking to her eyes. "You're high…."
"I am not high!" Erica pointed to Lloyd, "Why, why would you say that?" her head tilted to one side while carefully moving closer, "You know? You know?" Her finger pointed more.
Lloyd nodded, "Yes, you are very much high right now," he stepped closer to Erica, he could tell from her eyes, her face soft. For once her features weren't so hard.
"How can I be high?" Her voice calm, "Huh, Lloyd, how?" Stepping closer to him again, "I only took an aspirin from Elizabeth's desk…" Her hands brushing into his hair, "Soft…"
Lloyd stepped back again knocking into the desk, he didn't like this attention from her, "Look at me," He spoke calm as he could, "Really Erica, it's me, Lloyd, Lloyd Lowery."
He exhaled quickly, "When was the last time you found a guy like me attractive?" He asked trying to stop her from touching him, it was enough that they still have an escaped con to find, but having this kind of attention from Erica was making him nervous.
"What's going on in here?" Charlie broke the silence, his attention going from Erica to Lloyd, "Where is Julianne?" sounding more wound up about this case.
Lloyd cleared his throat, "We, I," eyes going from Charlie to Ray and back again, "Julianne went to get something to eat…" He reached his hands into his hair, he lightly tugged at his ears for a second, "The password, I found out the password!" He used this time to move further from Erica.
"Julianne's gone out for food, with Liz right?" Ray kept tense, the entire drive back he wanted to know the connection. Being a part of Julianne's life, he took on the role of big brother, so he felt like an older brother to Elizabeth too.
Lloyd glanced over to Erica, she had now moved over to Ray, her hands brushing from her waist to her hips, "Nope, Liz has been gone for a long time…" Her voice trailed off, her eyes kept looking over Ray, moving carefully around him, "she's not been here for a while."
Shea sucked on his bottom lip for a moment, "Yo, Erica," He caught her attention, Shea glanced over her face, "What the hell is up with you?"
"Erica, are you okay?" Charlie not sure what was going on, but he wasn't a complete idiot either.
Lloyd exhaled, "I think she might of taken ecstasy instead of pain killers," he nodded, "something in Elizabeth's desk."
"Ecstasy?" Ray and Charlie chimed at the same time, Ray slowly looking down to Erica; he just noticed her hands running up his arm. "Erica, I think you need to step off a little," carefully pushing her away, "Lloyd I want you on that Laptop, find everything you can."
"Yeah, I was going to," Lloyd turned to the desk, away from Erica, "Are we completely ignoring the…?" He pointed out, Erica still standing by Ray, "Cos she's really freaking me out."
"Lowery I want you on that laptop, I want you to find this sick bastard, and I'll deal with Erica," Ray was pointing, his face was mean, he really wasn't handling this well, "Okay?"
"Wow, you know, when you get all," Erica exhaled a sigh, her eyes watching Ray's face, "You know you look so sexy…" biting her lip she kept watching Ray.
Shea shifting his weight from one foot to another, "Yeah, she's totally tripping," He nodded, he wasn't sure how to take this side of Erica. "Tripping."
"Erica, you're with me. Lloyd just do your god damn job!" Ray snapped, he took Erica by her arm now pulling her away from the others; this case was really pissing him off.
Her head felt three times as heavy as it should be, her eyes sore, most of all, her hands tight. Fighting the need to open her eyes, Elizabeth wiggled her fingers, slowly coming to, fighting against the light, her body felt tense, but most of all, she had no clue what had happened to her.
"Be careful," A sweet voice spoke to her, Elizabeth didn't want to open her eyes now, she knew Derrick's tone, she remembered it too well.
Elizabeth kept her eyes shut tight, she tried to move her feet, but she couldn't move them either. She knew she wasn't going anywhere. "No, no." Her voice weak, she felt everything was pushing on her, a hand brushing into her hair.
Derrick kept stroking her hair, "Lizzie," he whispered softy into her ear, "It's me, why are you doing this?"
"Maybe you shot me with a dart gun, you've tied me down," Elizabeth exhaled, "Might ring a bell or two." Elizabeth snapped while trying to move some more.
Derrick's hand letting go of Elizabeth's hair, he moved back slowly, "Why are you doing this?" He waved his hands, "Lizzie, you need to calm down." His tone soft, watching Elizabeth struggling against the ropes, he felt panic rushed through him while stepping from one foot to another. "We need a plan Lizzie, we need a plan to get to Mexico…"
Elizabeth felt her pocket vibrate, she knew it was on silence, so while Derrick was pacing, she awkwardly moved her thigh to her elbow hoping to press the answer button, "Mexico?" Elizabeth repeated, keeping still now, there was no point in fighting.
Derrick nodded, "Yes, Mexico, we'll get a bar, I can serve drinks, you can sing, you still love to sing and dance?" He smiled.
Elizabeth inhaled, for a moment she needed a plan of her own, she didn't want to argue with him. Point one, don't make him angry, with point two, earn his trust and get untied. "Sing," Elizabeth smiled, it was hard to make it look real. "I sing, yes." Her voice was cracking.
"You always sounded," Derrick clapped his hands, "Oh you sounded so beautiful," He stepped closer to Elizabeth brushing her hair again, "We need to wait for the heat to die down," He nodded, "We'll wait until them people who were holding you from me, to go away."
"What people Derrick?" Elizabeth tried to sit up, but the ropes around her ankles and wrists were making it near impossible to get comfortable.
"What's that?" Derrick snapped, he heard a voice, it was small, but enough for him to hear, "What have you got there?" He reached for Elizabeth's pocket.
Elizabeth fought it, but was unable to stop him, in his hands Derrick was holding her cell phone, "You shouldn't have done that Lizzie…" His voice was seriously tense.
"Please tell me you've found something!" Shea sat in a chair beside Lloyd, it had been ten minutes, only ten minutes and Shea was already on his case.
"Why is everyone so anxious?" Lloyd turned to Shea, he wasn't one for speaking up against him, but Lloyd knew something was off.
Shea kept quiet for a while, rubbing his hand under his nose, he quickly scanned the area; Charlie was in his office on the phone, Ray in the interrogation room with Erica. "Look, what I am about to say, if anyone ask, I never said anything."
"Right," Lloyd leaned in closer, he wasn't sure what was going on, but he knew something wasn't right either. "Lay it on my brother…"
"Don't," Shea waved his hand, "Just listen," He exhaled, "At the Malcolm's place, we found out Harriet comment suicide two weeks ago."
"Well, with the capture and ordeal…"
"Lloyd, I don't really," Shea rolled his eyes from Lloyd cutting him off, it pissed him off sometimes how Lloyd would try and put himself into a teaching position, when Shea didn't really care. "Anyway, Derrick wrote the family a letter, saying sorry, trying to convince them he'll make it up to them," Shea laughed darkly, "Like that's going to work."
"So why is everyone uptight?" Lloyd carefully turned back to the laptop; he wanted to look busy, even if he wasn't even sure what he was looking for.
Shea leaned closer again, "Well I found a picture of Liz, with Harriet in the house."
"A picture of Liz, as in Elizabeth, as in Julianne's little sister?" Lloyd asked, he was suddenly getting a clue into why everything got intense about the laptop.
Nodding Shea inhaled sharp, "Well Charlie got to asking about Liz and her relation to Harriet, they were like real close friends," he paused, "Until she went missing for five days, shows up and stops talking to everyone she knows."
Lloyd froze for a second, "Wait, Elizabeth went missing?" He felt really off his game.
Shea gave a quick smug nod, "Yup, five days, her mom was freaking out, then she comes home, out of the blue. Just like nothing happened."
Lloyd pursed his lips, he kept thinking, "You know it all makes sense now," He turned back to Shea, "She's irrational, protective, plus I am assuming the drinking and drug use." Lloyd snapped his hands, "This afternoon, the mention of eight victims," Lloyd's voice low, he didn't want to attract too much attention, grabbing the year book he knew what to look for, and in a matter of second he found it. "Elizabeth Simms," Lloyd glanced over the picture of Elizabeth, her hair was much shorter than it was now, just brushing her shoulders, it was the same shade of blonde as Julianne's. Lloyd and Shea both looking over the picture, like the others with a small heart.
"Life is not about the destination, but the journey." Shea read Elizabeth's senior quote out loud, "Performing arts, debate," Shea glanced over the photo again, "She seemed to be the high school everything."
"Ambition, to be a world class doctor, or if all else fails a starving artist." Lloyd kept looking over a photo of a girl he knew, but didn't seem to understand until now.
Shea kept still, "So, the laptop?" he asked, but feeling like he really didn't want to know what kind of things were kept on it.
"Laptop," Lloyd flexed his fingers, for a moment he was trying to find something, but everything was neat, nothing much in the photo files except pictures of a bedroom, comic book strips.
Shea watched, "Seriously Lowery!" He pushed Lloyd out of the way of the laptop, "For someone who's got an IQ of two hundred."
"And Ten…" Lloyd cut on.
Shea's eyes narrowed, "You really don't know how people hide things on their computer," he finished off while quickly finding a hidden folder in a location on the laptop. "You really are not that computer smart."
"I prefer to seek my information via books and the world, I don't spend so much time on a computer that isn't necessary." He exhaled, "So what have we got?"
Shea slowly pushed himself away from the laptop, "I don't want to see."
"See what?" Lloyd turned to the screen, in the file were photos, video files, the thumbnails didn't give a good impression, but glancing around Lloyd saw one jump out at him. It was a schoolyard, a stage. "This one shouldn't be bad."
Lloyd clicked play, as the video popped onto the screen, Shea glanced over, it was a bunch of kids singing and dancing what seemed a musical number, "I honestly don't get it."
"It's RENT," Lloyd met Shea's confused stare, "It's a musical," Lloyd shook his head, "Yes, I am aware of musicals," he finished while looking to the song.
On the screen it was the song La Vie Boheme, Lloyd and Shea watching it carefully, "well there is Liz, who's…" Shea trailed off, "I think I want to watch this musical." He smirked to the two girls kissing on the stage.
"Why are you two staring at my sister's performing arts video?" Julianne's small voice behind Shea and Lloyd made them both jump. She was holding bags of food in both hands, Lloyd quickly turning the video off, his eyes meeting Julianne's, while Shea was pretending to glance anywhere expect Julianne's face.
"Well, it's, this is," Lloyd couldn't think of anything to say that wouldn't upset Julianne, her eyes big, it was like looking at Bambi after the hunters killed it's mother.
Shea cleared his throat, "we're thinking she's involved with Derrick Florey." He said it so quick, Lloyd was shocked, he didn't think just blurted it out.
Julianne kept still, looking from Shea back to Lloyd and back again, her eyes kept getting bigger, to the point where she look on the brink of crying. "No," Her head shook, placing the bags of food on a spear desk, "No, Liz has nothing to do, she can't, she doesn't," Her face kept avoiding Lloyd and Shea, "It's a coincidence…" She now started to walk away.
"Why didn't you tell us that Elizabeth was missing for five days around the times of the disappearances four years ago?" Lloyd said sharp, he watched as Julianne slowly turned to face him, "The fact she's been abusing not only prescribed narcotics and alcohol as well as illegal drugs in this office."
Julianne had never felt so lost, she glanced from Charlie's office, she couldn't find Ray anywhere, but most of all, she hated the way Lloyd was staring at her. She knew he was judging her actions, summing her up. "She's," Her voice felt painful in her throat, her eyes welling up, she didn't want to think about it, she read up on Derrick Florey for the case, she knew what he did, how he did it, she didn't want to picture her sister in that way, "She's Liz, she says she's popping to a friends, I don't see her for a whole week, she goes out for a walk, she'll go away for a while longer." Julianne brushed a falling tear from her eye, her head still shaking, "She's ignoring my calls, it's her being mad at me being too nosy." Now Julianne couldn't stop it, the tears freely falling down her cheeks. "Lloyd please, just say this isn't happening." Her eyes focused on him, "please…"
Quickly Lloyd closed the gap between them, the one thing he never wanted to do was make her cry, he was worried, but he felt bad for speaking his mind. "Julianne, how long has Elizabeth been ignoring your calls?" he brushed a hand down her back, trying all he could to calm her.
Shea sitting at the desk watching, he didn't think this was going well at all, more the point that Elizabeth was now missing, it was making this case worse.
"What's going on in here?" Ray snapped walking from the interrogation room, Erica slowly behind him, her eyes focused from Lloyd to Julianne.
Lloyd exhaled, "Well, Elizabeth isn't taking any calls."
"But she's like that, she," Julianne watched Ray, her eyes pleading with him, her hands shaking by her side. For once she just wanted to not be on the spot.
Ray stepped closer to Julianne, he'd not seen her this worked up since the day she was kicked out of the academy, her eyes puffy, her skin pale, Ray didn't know how to say the things he wanted to say without upsetting her more. "Why didn't you tell me about Liz going missing?"
Julianne's lip quivered, she knew it was too much, "I didn't think, she was gone, she came home." Julianne exhaled, "She said she was, was at a party, that she lost track of time, so my mom believed her," Julianne watching everyone watching her, "I didn't."
Shea who'd gone back to looking at the laptop, "What the hell is Stockholm Syndrome?"
Lloyd's ears pricked up, with one arm still around Julianne, it was like a light bulb going off in his mind. "What do you mean?" He asked Shea a little too promptly.
Shea pointed to the screen, "He's got a whole file dedicated to it," He turned his attention to Lloyd, he knew that he'd must of found something good, if Lloyd's face was lighting up like a Christmas tree.
"I think I know what he was planning on doing," Lloyd glanced over to Julianne, "Stockholm Syndrome, it's when someone is kidnapped for so long, they start to show compassion towards their captor." Lloyd exhaled, "I am thinking, if he's looked up on it, he's possibly thinking by kidnapping the girls, slowly giving them treats, small acts of kindness, they'll stay with him." He glanced to the photos of the girls, he looked over each one. "He started off, not so sure," He pointed to Rebecca the first victim, "But with each new victim he gets a little smarter, knowing he'll have to be more careful." He paused at Harriet, "He let her go as a test, he was testing her," turning to look at everyone, "She turned him in, she failed the test."
"But what about Elizabeth, how is she involved?" Charlie who'd overheard the whole thing, "According to Mrs Malcolm, she went missing before Harriet."
Lloyd inhaled placing his hand in front of his lips thinking it over, "Stockholm Syndrome," Lloyd pointed out, "She was tested, he let her go, but instead of coming back, she just hid, hid and prayed he'd not find her…" He stepped away from Julianne, "When she didn't returned, he simply moved to the next victim, Harriet Malcolm!"
"Really Lloyd?" Erica spoke up, "you really think that Liz had compassion for the guy who held her against her will for five days?" For a second she felt woozy, holding onto the doorframe, "She didn't tell anyone, because it's the best way to lie to yourself."
"And what would you know of that?" Lloyd kept serious, it seemed the effects of the Ecstasy were wearing off.
Erica felt everyone watching her now, "Because I know what it's like to deny something, because I don't want to remember it." Her eyes meeting Ray's for a second she could feel his stare, "I think we need to find him sooner rather than later."
"WE can trace her cell phone," Julianne spoke up, "If her phone is still on, we'll be able to trace her, if I make a call," Her voice weak, but she needed to find a way to find her sister. "It's a long shot, but hopefully it'll work."
Lloyd watched as Julianne stepped away from him, getting to her desk, Shea was still sitting in her chair. He got up quickly letting her sit down. Julianne felt her hands shaking, picking up the phone, she felt all eyes were on her, but this was a very long shot, part of Julianne was hoping Elizabeth was fine, just ignoring her calls like she normally did in a bad mood. Listening to the ringing, it kept ringing louder. For a second there was silence, but Julianne knew it weren't voice mail, the ruffling sound, then breathing. "Mexico." Elizabeth's voice was in her ear.
"I got something," Julianne put the phone to loudspeaker.
""Yes, Mexico, we'll get a bar, I can serve drinks, you can sing, you still love to sing and dance?" Derrick's reply muffled from the fact the phone was in Elizabeth's pocket.
Julianne inhaled, she didn't like this, but knew for another few seconds her phone will be traceable. "That's a girl!" Lloyd said over the conversation they were all reluctant to hear. "She's keeping a level head, the more she keeps him…" Lloyd went quiet.
"What's that?" The tone of Derrick's voice changed dramatically, "What have you got there?" The sound of a struggle followed, Julianne could feel her stomach knotting up, her throat going tight, "You shouldn't have done that Lizzie…" His voice was seriously tense.
Charlie looked from Ray to Julianne again, "I'll get on the phone, and I'll find the location of Elizabeth's cell phone!" Reaching over to Touch Julianne's shoulder, "We'll find her," His tone both filled with authority and compassion towards Julianne, "We will find her." He now went to his office.
Lloyd could only see how white Julianne's face was, everything she'd been denying for so long was being flooded into her mind, she couldn't think before bringing her hands to her face in horror.