Emily wasn't at home. Fuck! I should have known better than to let her go. He tried to call. It could have been a stupid thing to do, but she still didn't know that he had found out all about her and Eddie and that gave him hope that he could find out more. "Emily? Glad to hear your voice."

"What do you want?"

"I know you're mad and I'm sorry. I should have been more comforting you, the way I acted was wrong."

"That's true." Her voice was cold.

"I was just worried about my brother. But he hurt you and that wasn't right." Oh hell, it wasn't even enough for what you did to him! "I want to apologize and take you out for dinner."

"Sounds good, but I'm afraid that I can't. I have other plans. What about lunch tomorrow? Noon, at our favorite place?"

"I want to see you earlier, just to apologize in person. Can't you give me half an hour? Maybe some coffee?"

"Coffee sounds good. But I only have 20 minutes left."

"Let's meet at my place then, I will be home soon."

"Okay, it's on my way to the appointment anyway."

They hung up and Hank felt sick. Listening to her was hard. She managed to make it sound like she was merciful enough to accept his apology. Snake isn't such a bad name for her after all.

Hank got in his car and drove to his house. There was some traffic and it took him a while. It wouldn't upset him on a normal day, but this was way far from a normal day. He got impatient and drove as fast as he could, whenever there was a chance. Luck seemed to be on his side as far as police and speed limits were concerned. He came to his place and jumped inside to prepare the cups, when he heard Emily's car. He started the coffee. It wouldn't take long to have it ready to serve.

Emily came to the open door and closed it after her. Hank came up to her. "Glad you could make it."

"Sure, Hank." She kissed him. He felt sick again, but tried to hide it.

"Now sit down, Em. I get us the coffee. You know, Evan is still gone, hope he doesn't do anything stupid."

"Well, you know you're brother, I'm sure he invented doing stupid things."

Hank was with his back to her and got mad at her, even though he had to admit that it could have been something he had said, too. Still, knowing what she and their father had done to his little brother, made it even more wrong for her to say such a thing. He turned around with a smile on his lips and the cups in his hand. "Here one for you and one for me. What is this appointment about?"

"It's a patient. So nothing I can talk about. I'm glad you called."

"Yes, I just had to. Things go to well with us. Didn't want to risk anything." She nodded and he smiled again. "Didn't know that you knew Eddie. I mean you told me you thought it was him who picked Evan up."

For a short moment she bit her lip, recognizing she had made a mistake, but it didn't take long for her to play her game. "I don't know him, I saw a picture of him somewhere. Don't know. Maybe Evan had one." She held her cup tight and took a few sips from it.

"I think you're lying!"

She was just pouring down the rest of the coffee and almost started coughing. She swallowed deep. "Hank, why would you think that?" She bent over to kiss him, but his lips didn't move, her tongue couldn't get into his mouth.

He pushed her away. "Where is my brother?"

"How am I supposed to know? I told you what happened."

"You shouldn't waste my time, for your own good. You haven't enough time left, so it's better you stop playing games with me, bitch!" He was surprised that he could sound this hard and mean, didn't think he had it in him.

"What are y-you..." Emily realized that something had been in her coffee. She felt a strange tingling in her fingers. "What did you give me?"

"Where is Evan?!"

"What was it?" She was scared now, but not enough.

"Tell me where my brother is!" He laid his hands on her shoulder and the back of her neck. "Tell me!"

She couldn't believe that he was able to act like this. Little did she understand what his brother meant to Dr. Lawson. Whatever he had given to her made her dizzy and sick. She bent over to vomit, but he pushed her back and held his hand over her mouth. "You're not getting rid of the poison I gave you. Not before you tell me, where Evan is."

She swallowed heard and took a few deep breaths through her nose to keep the sickness down. Did he say poison? He's lying! He let go off her mouth, when she wanted to speak. "You'd never poison me."

"I thought the same. Was as surprised as you are, even more. But I never was in a situation that left me so desperate." He looked in her eyes and all she could see was anger and she wasn't as sure anymore.

She tried to sound strong and fearless, but it wasn't working. "You will never find your brother."

"Do you already feel the numbness in your legs and arms? Are you dizzy? Let me tell you a story. It was back when we were teenager. Evan was twelve and I was sixteen. He was in school. I have been to a different school. Some older kids treated him like dirt and things went worse every day. He never said a word about it, tried to deal with it alone, but then one of the boys pushed him from behind and he stumbled forward where he hit his head on an iron sculpture. He was bleeding and the other boys hit him till he wasn't able to cry for help anymore. The boy that had pushed him, broke his left arm and the fingers on his right hand. Some other kids came out of the school with a teacher and the boys ran away. Evan has been unconscious for several hours. I just sat by his hospital bed and waited. He was in pain, when he woke up. I've never seen him like this. And all the tears on his face broke my heart. I went to his school the next day and asked kids, if they knew who had done this to him. They told me who their leader was and I waited to get my chance with him. I followed him. Then I asked him to follow me to a lonely street. Told him I had something cool he needed to see. Before he knew, I used some hard 'n' heavy piece of wood and smashed it against his left shin, several times and then I ran away. He had to use crutches for six weeks. It was wrong and I know it, but I'm still proud, because my brother deserved the vengeance. And as it was, nobody stopped this gang, though they were known for violence. " He let his words sink and watched her. She wouldn't be conscious for long so he had to find out more. "Imagine what I do to you, comparing the situations. Where. Is. My. Brother.?!"

She had a heard time to focus, whatever he had given her took finally over. She finally believed that he had given her poison. "Help me and I tell you."

"No! You tell me and then I'll help you." He held a syringe in front of her. She didn't know what was in it, but assumed it was the antidote.

"He's with Eddie."

"Where?"

"Please, give it to me!" She had tears in her eyes. But he didn't answer. "In his house. In Eddie's house."

"What did you give him?"

"Sedatives, different drugs, messed with his mind."

"You're such a bitch!" He didn't want to, but he couldn't help himself. He hit her on the face where she had said Evan had hit her before. Then he let the syringe fall on the floor and pushed a foot on it. It broke and the carpet soaked all the liquid in.

"No! You can't do that." She was terrified now. "I'm the only one who knows what he is been given."

"I can and I do. It wont be long for you to lose consciousness and then there is nothing I can do anymore."

She tried to speak up a last time, but the darkness took her in. She struggled to fight it, but wasn't able. Then she finally didn't feel anything.

Hank got some rope and put her hands together on her back. He brought her to his car and put her in his trunk. Eddie should see his wife and maybe it would help him to get his little brother back.

He looked at her face and the tears she had shed. He had to smile some. "God, I make up a story about our teenager years and she starts to believe I'm a monster. Funny, how people react to a normal sedative, when they think it's something else." He shook his head, but couldn't help to feel satisfaction about his plan and her panic. It was definitely worth it and somehow less than she deserved, but he wasn't a killer.

He got back to the house to pack a few things for him and for Evan and then ran to his car. He hoped to got to his fathers place in time, hoped Evan would be okay. Messed with his mind, those bastards!