Chapter 16

"Bri, what happened?" Jill demanded, rushing over to the driver's side window as Sabrina parked her car. Sabrina shook her head and pushed open the door, forcing Jill to back up to let her out. Jill crowded her again as soon as she stepped out of the car.

"What happened?" Jill repeated impatiently.

"They saw us taking pictures at the shipyard. We blew it." Sabrina said angrily, her voice still hoarse from her attack. She pushed past Jill, trying to get inside as quickly as possible. Jill grabbed her arm and jerked her to a halt.

"Will you stop and talk to me?" she asked, her voice high and frightened. "Are you alright? What happened to you?"

Sabrina sighed in frustration and turned to face Jill. "Tom. The guy in the picture. Someone must have told him to get rid of me."

Jill's eyes widened at the sight of the red marks on her friend's throat, the finger shaped bruises telling the story without Sabrina having to say a word. She reached out and tilted Sabrina's chin up so she could get a better look.

"Jesus Bri, he could have killed you. How did you get away?"

Sabrina pulled away from Jill and rubbed her throat. "I brained him with a doorstop. C'mon, Boz must be going crazy."

The two girls jogged up the steps and hurried inside to the office. Bosley stood up and quickly approached them as they opened the door and walked inside.

"Hey, are you two ok?" he asked in concern. He looked them over. "What happened?"

Jill spoke up so Sabrina wouldn't have to. "We spied on Peralta in the shipyards earlier. Someone must have seen us and followed Sabrina back. I went over for lunch and someone shot at us both."

She paused a moment and looked at Sabrina. Sabrina didn't try to take over so she continued. "And someone spread the word around. One of Bri's co-workers tried to kill her." she explained. She gently ran her fingers through Sabrina's hair. "Nearly succeeded, by the the looks of it." she finished, still eyeing the marks on her friend's neck.

Sabrina scoffed. "Don't worry. I'm fine." she insisted.

Bosley looked at both girls, blown away at how lucky they were to be standing here. "Are you sure you're ok?"

"Yeah, Boz, we're fine." Sabrina assured him as she flopped down into the couch. "We don't know about Kelly, though."

"She wasn't at home and she's not answering her car phone. I've been calling her for the past hour." Jill added from the bar. She poured a glass of water and returned to the couch. She took a seat next to Sabrina and handed her the glass.

"Thanks, Jill." she muttered. She drank the water and stared miserably ahead. Jill gently rubbed her back, knowing that Sabrina was beating herself up over their situation.

"When was the last time you saw her?" Bosley asked.

"I took her home a little before eleven. I stayed with her about forty five minutes and then I left." Jill said. "She hasn't tried to call you either, Boz?" she added hopefully.

Bosley shook his head. "No. And that's not like her."

Sabrina suddenly stood up. "We can't wait around here. She may have gone to the shipyards and I think that should be the first place we look." she said decisively

Bosley nodded his head. "Go together. I'll call highway patrol, see if somebody has spotted her car. Keep in touch."

Armed with a plan of action, the two girls quickly left the office and jumped into Sabrina's car, Jill insisting on driving. It was five in the afternoon and the L.A. traffic was unusually heavy for a normal weekday. Both girls fidgeted anxiously as they slowly crawled towards their destination. With nothing to do but sit and wait, they took turns calling Kelly's car and house phone in the rapidly diminishing hope that she would answer.

"Try again, Jill." Sabrina said tersely.

Jill sighed and dialed Kelly's car phone for the fifth time. Both girls waited in anticipation as the phone rang on the other end. After fifteen rings, Jill sighed and shook her head. Sabrina's face fell.

Kelly still wasn't answering.

"Bri, what if they already got her?" Jill asked, her voice breaking.

Sabrina shook her head.

"Maybe she went somewhere else."

"Where the hell else would she go? You should have seen her, Bri! She was exhausted! She wouldn't just get up and run errands!"

Sabrina rubbed her face in frustration. She knew Jill was right.

"I don't know, Jill."

The two girls drove in worried silence for a few minutes, before Sabrina brought up the matter at hand.

"Jill, we still have to go through with tonight no matter what happens." she said quietly, waiting for Jill's reaction.

Jill turned and glared at her for moment before turning away.

"Don't do this to me, Jill." Sabrina pleaded, rubbing her temples. "I'm worried sick about her too, but a lot of people are depending on us."

Sabrina had just about abandoned hope of getting a response out of her, when Jill sighed and turned to her.

"You're right, I'm sorry. Let's just check out the shipyard first, maybe she's there." she said.

The two girls remained quiet the remainder of the drive and parked in the alley. They crept towards the window that they had been spying through earlier that day. Sabrina and Jill exchanged a worried glance.

There was no one inside.

"Where else could she be?" Sabrina asked desperately.

Jill shook her head. She had been certain they would have found her at the shipyards. She gasped as she remembered something Kelly had told her a few days ago.

"Bri! Didn't Kelly say something about a little shack out on 405?"

Sabrina paused as she tried to remember. Kelly had mentioned it once before as the place where they were storing drugs for themselves.

"Yeah, she did. You think she could be there?" she asked excitedly.

"I'll check. It's getting late, we need to tell the police what's going on. Have them on standby in case the plans change."

Sabrina nodded. "I'll take care of that. Do you know where that place is?"

"No, but it's off of the freeway somewhere, I'll try to find it. Take me back to my car, we'll split up and meet later."

The two girls drove back to the office and prepared to go their separate ways.

"Jill, be careful. Check in every thirty minutes." Sabrina said seriously. "Let's meet at the office at nine."

"Fine. Call if you hear anything." Jill said shortly. She jumped in her car and drove away. Sabrina watched her go and then got into her own car. She pinched the bridge of her nose in helpless frustration. Neither of them had any idea where Kelly was and it was making her stomach turn with dread. Any hope of Kelly's absence being a misunderstanding was now gone. Kelly undoubtedly would have called them had she known she couldn't make their meeting at 5:30. It was nearing 6:00 now, and Kelly was undeniably in trouble.

If she was still alive.

Sabrina groaned and started driving aimlessly. She dialed the L.A.P.D. and waited for an answer.

"Los Angeles Police Department, how may I direct your call?" came a pleasant woman's voice.

"I'm with Townsend Investigations, can I please speak to Lieutenant Alan Michaels."

"One moment."

Sabrina waited impatiently for her call to be transferred. As she waited, she realized that she was unconsciously driving back towards the shipyards. She started to change directions and then changed her mind. That was a good a place as any to check out again.

"Lieutenant Michaels."

Sabrina jerked back in surprise, having momentarily forgotten that she was on the phone.

"Lieutenant, this is Sabrina Duncan with Townsend Investigations. Look, we're having some problems. One of our associates has disappeared so we're going to have to change plans a little." she said quickly.

"Disappeared?" Michaels echoed gruffly.

"Yeah, we think our cover was blown and they got her." she explained. Sabrina winced at the cold, unfeeling way she brushed over her best friend's situation. Now wasn't the time to fall apart, though. "Listen everything is going down tonight at midnight at Warehouse 59. They're should be a whole crowd of dealers there to buy up Peralta's drugs."

"And you're sure of this?"

Sabrina frowned. "Not entirely, they may change plans slightly because they know who we are, but those are the plans as of now. We'll call immediately if we find anything else."

"Alright, then." Michaels sighed. His tone seemed like he was inconvenienced by the call. "I'll get a team out there at midnight."

"Thank you." Sabrina said. She hung up the phone, feeling agitated and uneasy. Anything could happen now that their covers had been blown. Sabrina drove on until she reached the shipyard. Something suddenly occurred to her. They had seen her car.

She passed the shipyards and swung around looking for the nearest car rental service she could find.

A few miles down, she found one and quickly swung in the lot. She was glad Charlie provided them with company credit cards for any random supplies they might need during a case. Twenty minutes later, she drove away in a blue 1972 AMC Gremlin.

Sabrina quickly acclimated herself to the unfamiliar car as she made her way back to the shipyard. She parked fifty yards away, hiding her car in the dark shadows, grateful that it was a less noticeable color than orange. Her lesson learned from their last visit, she cautiously made her way towards the warehouse, on constant guard for anyone spying on her.

Satisfied that there was no one around, she made her way to the same window Kelly had looked through earlier that day and peeked inside. Fred was pacing inside, swinging a telephone in his hand, talking into the reciever as he walked.

- wasn't sure. So he changed it to number 78."

Fred paused for a moment as he listened to whoever he was talking to. "Yeah." he responded finally and hung up the phone. He rubbed his face in nervous frustration and then dialed another number. Sabrina waited anxiously for more information, but to her dismay Fred walked to the opposite side of the room, the phone cord trailing behind him.

Sabrina sighed. She felt paranoid and was afraid to hang around the window any longer. Fred had mentioned 78. What was that? Was that the address of the warehouse? Moving locations would certainly be a logical move on their part. Sabrina jogged back to her car and got inside. She reached down to call Jill on her car phone and then realized that the rental car didn't have one. She leaned her head back, suddenly very agitated.

She wanted this to be over. She wanted Kelly to be safe. She wanted to scream.

And most of all she wanted this goddamn car to have a phone in it.

She growled her frustration to herself and started the car. Sabrina drove along the seaside warehouses, noting the big numbers painted on each one. She stopped when she got to 78. Could this be their new location?

Sabrina parked along the street and warily made her way towards the new warehouse. Warehouse 78 was much smaller than the previous warehouse but had the same basic design. Most of the windows were boarded up, but from the ones that weren't she could tell it was completely dark inside. She sighed to herself and jogged up for a closer look.

Sabrina found a window and peeked inside. She pulled back in disgust. If there was anything inside, she couldn't see it. It was completely dark. Fred could have been talking about this place, but it was still too early for anyone to have arrived.

Or he could have been talking about something else entirely, she had no clue. Feeling useless, she went back to her car and sat quietly for a moment, trying to calm her nerves.

She hoped Jill was having better luck.
__________________________________________________________________________________

"I hope Sabrina is having more luck than I am." Jill grumbled to herself. She had been driving up and down the same thirty miles of freeway looking for the shack that Kelly had described to her. Finally, running low on gas, she noticed a run down gas station. It looked shabby and uncared for, the owner probably not caring because it was so out of the way. But there was no annoying red flag so she pulled into the station. She parked at one of the pumps and began filling up her tank.

She looked up as a tan Cadillac pulled into the station a few moments later. Jill tilted her head as she looked at it. It's entire left side was dented in and a huge green scrape ran along the length of the car. They must have been in an accident just recently. She turned away as two men got out of the car, both from the passenger door, the driver's door having been rendered useless by the accident.

Jill quietly continued pumping her gas, her interest in the Cadillac gone, while the men exchanged a few words. Suddenly, their conversation caught her attention.

-should go back and make sure. Peralta will kill us." said the man pumping gas. Jill's head popped up and she tilted her head to listen closer.

"I already told you, it doesn't matter. She can't do anything now. The deal goes down at ten in the new place. We'll just tell him what he wants to hear."

Gas spurted out at Jill as the tank reached it's capacity. She let go of the handle and distractedly wiped her hands on her jeans as she listened to the men talk. The men changed topics and a few minutes later, one of them ran into the store to pay. Jill pulled the nozzle out of her car, her hands trembling. Those men worked for Peralta. Were they talking about Kelly? She fought the urge to pull out her gun and demand an answer from them. She quickly went inside the store to pay for her gas. As she walked inside, the man she had overhead stepped aside and politely opened the door for her.

"Hi, how are you?" he asked with a charming smile. Jill tersely nodded her head at him and pushed past him, unwilling to open her mouth for fear of what would come out. She stepped up to the counter to pay for her gas, keeping an eye on the Cadillac. She planned to follow them and was anxious to get out of the store.

"Six dollars and forty eight cents." the clerk said slowly.

Her eyes still on the car outside, she handed him a ten dollar bill.

"Hold on, miss. Drawers stuck again." he said distractedly.

Jill bounced anxiously from one foot to the other as the clerk fussed with his cash register. The two men outside were both in the car now. She heard their engine start. She whirled around back to the clerk.

"Here you go." she said impatiently, holding out the bill to him.

As if his mission was to keep her there as long as possible, he slowly took the bill and began to pluck out coins to make change. He looked up, surprised to see Jill at the door.

"Hey!" he called.

Exasperated, Jill turned around. "Yes?"

"Your change?"

"Keep it!" Jill called out as she raced out the door. The Cadillac was pulling out of the driveway, back onto the road. Jill ran to her car and followed, seconds behind them.

She tailed them back to the freeway, hoping with all she had that they would lead her back to Kelly. A few minutes later, her hopes were dashed. They were headed back into town. She let out a scream of anger.

Tears of frustration welled up in Jill's eyes. Kelly could be hurt and scared somewhere, desperately needing help and not getting it because her two friends didn't know where to find her. What if she was dead? Or dying, suffering alone somewhere, still able to be saved, but doomed to die because there was no one to help her.

Jill shook the troubling thoughts from her head. She needed to stay calm and think positively. Kelly was alive.

And she was going to find her.

Not knowing what else to do, Sabrina drove out of the city, headed to where she knew Jill would be looking for Kelly. She drove up and down the highway, unknowingly taking the same route that Jill had taken earlier.

After driving aimlessly for an hour, she realized that it was almost 8:30. She wouldn't make it back to the office in time to meet Jill. She again reached down for her car phone and again was irritated that she wasn't in her own car. Sabrina noticed a gas station to her left and turned around, deciding that there was probably a payphone right outside of it.

She pulled into the station, noticing with surprise that it was closed. Whoever owned it apparently decided that it wasn't worth the trouble of staying open once it got dark. She got out of her car and jogged over to the payphone that was against the wall. She fished into her pocket for a dime as she picked up the phone and held it between her shoulder and chin. Right before she plunked the dime into the slot, she realized that there was no dial tone. She stared at the payphone in disbelief.

It was broken.

Sabrina dropped the phone in disgust, letting it fall to the length of its cord and swing loudly into the metal backing of the wall behind it. She stalked back to her car, giving the useless phone one last look. She scoffed derisvely and threw her car into reverse.

Then suddenly changed her mind.

Inside the gas station there would most likely be a telephone. Sabrina shut off the engine of her car as she considered this fact. Desperate times call for desperate measures, she decided. She jogged back to the front of the building and looked out into the highway. This wasn't a particularly busy road, it was likely no one would notice her. She climbed the three steps and stood at the front door, sizing up the lock. It wasn't complicated, she could do this. She fished in her purse, pulled out her lockpick and set to work at the door.

Fifteen minutes later, the lock clicked and she swung the door open in triumph. It was completely dark inside the station and she decided to keep it that way. It wouldn't do her any good to have a customer come by and try to buy something. She groped around the counter and found a telephone. Relieved, she dialed Jill's car phone.

Jill picked up on the first ring.

"Bri. What's up?" she said quickly, her tone hopeful.

"Not much, Jill. Something about 78. Might be a new warehouse. Might be nothing. I'm out here near where you are. I'm at a gas station. You got anything?"

"Maybe. I overheard two guys talking earlier at the same station that you're at. I'll meet you there in thirty minutes, alright?"

"Ok, Jill." Sabrina said. She bit her lip. "The gas station is kind of closed, though. The lights are off, but I'm in here."

Jill was silent for a moment before answering.

"I assume you will explain that to me when I get there?"

"Yeah."

"I'm on my way."

Jill hung up, leaving Sabrina alone in the darkness of the empty gas station. She sighed and buried her face in her hands as she took a seat behind the counter. The dark stillness of the gas station should have helped with calming her nerves, but it didn't.

Nothing could help right now.