Disclaimer: Still don't own it
Mike was finding it hard not to punch the guy.
As he sat there on the chair and listened to the Administrator protest his warrant, the young man was starting to lose his patience.
It was pretty obvious to Mike that the man was trying to hide something; given the huge amount of protest. To his credit, the young man was very polite when he had entered the office, which Toby taught him to do. He explained the situation as much as he could without revealing too much of the case and asked for permission to go through the prison's systems; staying civil the entire time. Mike was immediately surprised how the older man suddenly burst out and started yelling at him, catching the young officer off guard. He couldn't even get a word in as he was accused of various things, some of which were completely outlandish.
Whatever was up, it had to be big given the amount of yelling that was going on. The two were currently alone in the office and Mike had no doubt that the Administrator could be heard well in the hallway; though no other people seem to be running to find out what was going on.
This told the young officer that the other staff either saw this commonly and they were simply used to it or they had prepared for something like this because something happened that was being covered up. He had a gut feeling that it had something to do with the case since it was too much of a coincidence that the man was uptight about something in the exact same place where A had been imprisoned. He was even starting to think that maybe there was something up with Charles's suicide since everyone focused on that he was really dead and not how he really died.
Mike was about to get in on the shouting match himself since he was getting tired of the Administrator and his accusations when Mona came into the room. There was something in her eyes that told Mike that it was in his best interest to say out her way; seeing a similar look back when they had been still dating. Her face was completely blank but she gave the Administrator a hard look, which seemed to shut him up completely. She walked over to his desk and slapped something down on it which Mike leaned in closer to see. It was her badge and while the NSA designation was obvious to see, there were other coding on it that made it clear where she worked; the other coding making it radically different from Spencer's badge.
The way his face became pale at the sight of it, there was definitely something more to the badge than what it appeared to be.
"Tell me about Dr. Tabitha Clark," Mona ordered as she sat down in the chair next to Mike. For some reason, he couldn't build up the courage to ask who that was and let the young woman take the lead.
"She's one of our main psychologists; the woman is on sabbatical," answered the older man in a slightly disorganized way and Mike knew instantly that he was lying.
"Administrator Nelson; do you see my badge there?" Mona inquired in a sweet manner and motioned to the ID still on the desk; that chilled her companion to the bone since it was a tone he was quite familiar with. Instead of answering, the older man just stayed silent and slowly nodded.
"I know you used to work in the Federal Government for quite a number of years so you should recognize these little symbols here; so you better answer my questions truthfully," threatened the young woman with no emotion in her voice at all as she pointed at a few of the things on her badge. While there were many things that Mike missed about Mona, her acting like this wasn't one of them.
"We haven't seen her for a few months. We discovered some time ago that she had stolen most of the files on Charles DiLaurentis," informed Mr. Nelson nervously as he began to sweat.
"And you didn't report this?" Mike asked with his mouth open, astounded by what he was hearing. Something like this long needed to be reported since it often led to legal issues.
"We were trying to handle this in house; this facility did not want to be in the news for something that wasn't our fault. We followed all Federal-mandated protocol and Dr. Clark somehow slipped through the cracks," stated the older man solemnly, almost in a defeated tone of voice.
"Why don't you tell us the whole story," ordered Mike since he was still somewhat confused about the backstory to everything. Mona nodded and crossed her arms, giving the Administrator a hard, cold look.
"Charles DiLaurentis was a troublesome prisoner and we had to take extra steps to make sure he was secure; especially given his heightened intelligence. He was allowed no electronics to speak of and everyone who came into contact with Mr. DiLaurentis was searched head to toe. We also had to keep him isolated from the other prisoners after a certain incident took place," explained the Administrator to the two people in front of him.
"What happened?" asked Mona casually, not really surprised by what she was hearing.
Back in Rosewood High, the young woman had prided herself at being the smartest person in the school. She had managed to fool everyone around her and manipulate every one of her enemies; forcing them to dance at her will. It had been enjoyable to punish them given that they had treated Mona and some others horribly. Then Charles came and stole everything she had ever built; turning her back into the victim. Worse, the man had outsmarted her on many occasions and even trapped her in the Dollhouse; forcing the young woman to act like Alison. He had humiliated her and to this day, Mona still had nightmares about the whole experience. She had been glad when he had committed suicide though she wished she could have done the deed herself.
"There was another patient who we believed Charles manipulated into jumping off a ledge; though the man was a convicted r*** so it didn't cause any problem. We couldn't prove what Charles had done it but we had to place him in a more isolated cell at the edge of the facility. We went through three different therapists until Dr. Clark came along," informed Mr. Nelson as he recalled the memory.
"So she was his doctor?" Mike inquired, writing this down on the little notepad he kept in his pocket. While other officers used their cell phones to jot down useful information, the young man preferred paper and pen since he could write faster with it.
"Yes; her encounter with him was by accident since she was originally assigned to another patient," answered the older man.
"Is that patient still here?" Mike asked since it might be relevant to the case.
"No; the patient was released after serving her sentence. Dr. Clark had requested to become responsible for Mr. DiLaurentis shortly before," answered the Administrator.
"What was the relationship between Dr. Clark and Charles?" Mona asked, already knowing the answer. The two love birds had told her quite a lot but she wanted to hear it from the older man himself instead of relying on idle gossip.
"At first, it was professional and seemed to go well. Charles seemed to be accepting his treatment and we didn't see the point of interfering with Dr. Clark until a guard mentioned that the two seemed to be acting a little unprofessional. There were unauthorized night time visits and the mood between the two seemed to be a little closer than what regulations allowed. When Mr. DiLaurentis killed himself, it had been in her company and we became suspicious," answered the older man which caught the two by surprise; even Mona since the two lovers hadn't mentioned that little tidbit.
"Are you stating that Charles DiLaurentis was murdered?" Mike asked, completely astounded on what the Administrator just hinted.
"Officially, Charles DiLaurentis committed suicide and the coroner had confirmed that; supported by a second autopsy. There were irregularities though and we began an in house investigation; even bringing outside help from the prison system for support," informed Mr. Nelson and there was a firmness in his voice.
"Didn't you inform the family?" Mona inquired, surprised that they would keep something like Charles's possible murder a secret.
"The DiLaurentis Family seemed more concerned with him being really dead than possibly being murdered so we never told them," answered the Administrator with a shrug. Personally, he had been surprised on how relieved they had been; though understandable given what Charles had done during his many years in life.
"What do you know about Dr. Clark?" the young man in front of him asked. Mona was also curious since she had yet to look the woman up on her phone.
"That she was single, graduated early from college as well as attained her license to practice, and had a high IQ rating. From her application, she was a foster and supposedly did not know her birth parents; emancipated before she turned eighteen. The woman often kept to herself and insisted on bringing her own food to work; even going as far as to cook her own meals in the cafeteria. It was a bit weird but as long as she did her job, it really wasn't a concern to us," answered the older man simply.
"Until Charles," said the younger woman in front of him, starting to understand their possible suspect; though still too early too completely know for certain.
"Pretty much; she would spend her free time with him and their conversations sometimes included things that strayed outside the therapist-patient relationship from what several nurses as well as guards testified. It was rumored they might have been secretly engaging in sexual relations though there wasn't any hard evidence. By the time we decided to make a move and place Dr. Clark on suspension, Charles DiLaurentis died," informed the Administrator.
"You said that his death was suspicious; explain that," Mike ordered, wanting clarification since it was an important piece of information.
"Supposedly, the young man committed suicide by overdosing on his prescription meds. The coroner however noticed hemorrhaging in his eyes that told him that Charles could have been suffocated; though we were not sure with what. We were going to arrange an autopsy to be sure but the brother, Jason DiLaurentis, was insistent that we merely confirm that it was indeed his brother and turn his body over to cremation. So we filed his death a suicide since we didn't have hard proof that it was indeed murder," explained Mr. Nelson in a serious tone.
"But you had your suspicions," Mona stated as more as a fact than a question. It didn't surprise her that Jason wanted the affair dealt with as quickly as possible given what Charles had done in life.
"Indeed; we order a subtle review of the incident and found that some of the security feed had been altered; though we never found proof of how. We watched Dr. Clark very closely and she didn't seem to act any different; which bothered us somewhat," said the older man.
"Why?" asked the young officer, curious.
"Common sense would dictate that a therapist would show some emotion in losing a patient; especially to something like suicide. The fact that Dr. Clark didn't show any emotion would be a cause of concern and raise some alarms," answered Mona before the Administrator; who then nodded in agreement.
"If Dr. Clark did kill Charles, why didn't you just arrest her; or even confided her to the facility until a thorough investigation was completed?" Mike inquired, not understanding why the prison didn't just make sure the Doctor was secure.
"We had no hard proof of any wrong doing and we didn't want to tip her off. By the time we could move against her, she committed the theft and escaped the prison without a trace," stated the Administrator reluctantly.
"What did she steal besides the records on Charles?" questioned the NSA Agent; while she was tempted to report the incompetence that had occurred here, she couldn't completely blame the Administrator and his staff given what they were dealing with.
"Just that as far as we could tell; she stole the hard records and made copies of the digital ones," answered the older man truthfully. If there was anything else she had taken, they were not able to find out what it was.
"Did she have an office?" Mona inquired, hoping that was the case since she wanted to study Dr. Clark's workplace.
"Yes; right his way," answered Nelson as he rose from his chair and led the two out of the office and down the hall. It was three minutes before they arrived in another part of the facility; a smaller section where the offices lay.
"We left everything the way it was in order to make sure that our investigation was thorough," stated the Administrator as he opened the door to Clark's office.
At first impression, it seemed like another doctor's office in Mona's opinion. The carpet was clean and grey, the walls were pure while with cheap plaster with there were various degrees on them, and there was a wooden desk with the usual computer and other essentials. There were a few potted plants in the corners of the room as well as a few bookshelves with the usual reading material for a room like this. That was what also bothered Mona; that it was too much like another Doctor's office and felt that it was just too fake looking. It lacked any personality that other therapists liked the incorporate in their work space which caused alarm bells to go off in the young woman's head.
"And you found nothing out of the ordinary?" Mona asked as she walked around the office, studying every little bit to confirm her suspicions.
"No; her computer was completely clean, though we weren't sure if it was because she had scrubbed it of information or not," answered the older man.
"She would do that; you can go," Mona said, more as an order than anything else. The Administrator seemed to get the hint by her tone and simply smiled before leaving the two alone in the room.
"What are you thinking?" Mike asked Mona, sensing something was up with her as he watched the young woman walk about the room as if she were studying something. If there was something here that was relevant, he couldn't see it.
"She didn't work here; Dr. Clark has another place where she operated at somewhere in this facility," stated the NSA Agent as she looked at the reading material on one of the bookshelves.
"Where?" inquired the young man, not doubting the young woman since he knew that she was probably right.
"No clue; we might need the others as well as the staff to search the facility," answered Mona, noting the dust on the books that seemed to indicate to her that they have never been read.
"What else?" he asked again, sensing that there was more to it than just that.
"Tabitha Clark is definitely our A; we need a photo of her ASAP as well as find out more about," the young woman stated and it seemed like she fully believed that in Mike's opinion.
"I agree; the way the Administrator described her, it sort of fits the usual personality of who A could be," he said, instantly regretting his words since he had forgotten that at one time, Mona had been A as well. If Mona was offended, she didn't show it and simply gave him a look that told him to go contact Toby.
Once Mike was gone, Mona went over to the empty chair behind the desk and sat back as she booted up the computer. The way everything was set up on the desk, Mona felt that she was definitely right in that the desk was hardly used; which told her that the computer was probably never used in any capacity. Once the computer was fully booted, her suspicions were confirmed when she went through it and found no signs of it being scrubbed; just good as new. Back when she was A, Mona had a similar thing with her home computer in order not to draw any suspicions from her mother as well as Hanna. Everything in the office was completely fake and all for show to the outside world.
Which meant that Dr. Clark's real work space had to be located somewhere else.
There was a chance that the Doctor had simply destroyed her Lair on the way out; when she had somehow escaped the facility without anyone knowing. That is what Mona would have done if Toby hadn't been her partner at the time; making sure that no one would be able to use her things other than herself. It ended up happening anyways once Charles had stolen her Lair and taken possession of all of her things; mostly because he had used the information about Toby's mother to have the young man steal it for her back then. It occurred to her that Toby still owed Mona for that all those years ago; especially since that little thing had caused the Liars to think that Mona was still A. She might have to remind him of that if he became too snarky with her again when it came to Spencer.
Wherever the Lair was, Mona would find it since time was of the essence. She fully believed that Tabitha Clark was A though she was curious if that was because she had always planned to don the persona or this was somehow Charles's attempt to play the game from beyond the grave. It could be that Charles's death was an assisted suicide and not murder; though Mona could not know for certain. When he went to prison, he had seemed to act as if he had been defeated though he gloated on all the damage he had caused in his wake. She also knew that he was just as possessive as she was and would not let anyone start the game again without him. That told Mona that maybe Charles met someone that was far more diabolical than he was; stealing the A Game from him as he had with Mona.
Which scared her more than anything else.
Please Read and Review; also a shout out to my friend Paraddicted for the pre-read!