Back at the hotel, Tara, Myles, Dimitrius, and Steve along with his officers hurried to the suite that Tara had been sharing with Sue and Lucy, hoping against hope that Lucy was still there. Though she may possibly be hurt too, they just hoped she was there. "Lucy! Lucy?!" Tara called out when she entered the room.
"Luce!" Dimitrius yelled. "It's us! We're here!"
"Lucy, you in here?!" Steve hollered. "It's all right, it's safe now!"
"Lucy!" Myles shouted. Though they'd had their rough spots, thanks to him, he was truly worried about his friend-ex-girlfriend-and hoped and prayed that they didn't find her the way they had Sue. They searched everywhere they could, but there was no sign of Lucy, and her cell phone was found in her purse on the dining table. As the forensics team scoured the room for clues possibly not visible to the naked eye, Myles and Dimitrius questioned the hotel staff from the receptionist down to the janitors. They also paid a visit to every guest in the building, which earned them a great deal of glares, annoyed residents, and a handful of slammed doors-particularly for couples who'd been appalled at their weekend getaway being disturbed-. They'd shown Lucy's, White's, and Lance's photos to everyone they'd questioned. Steve put out an APB on Lucy, White, and Lance while Tara, with her FBI creds, had been cleared access to the hotel security video feed so she could spy on any and every hallway, floor, and elevator.
"Steve? Look at this." Cheryl spoke up. She was holding a tin spittoon that had been shoved away under the window curtain and hidden behind the loveseat.
"What have you got?" Steve asked as he knelt down next to her, and Tara stood behind them.
"Looks like an assault with a deadly weapon do-dad." Cheryl replied. "And see here, blood." She pointed to the lip at the top base. There was a small pool of blood stained on it.
"Must have been what he used to knock Sue out with." Tara said quietly with a gulp. She was a seasoned FBI agent who'd seen a lot, but...it always made a difference when the victim in question was someone close to her.
"And possibly kept hitting her with." Steve muttered.
"My thoughts are the analysis will confirm it's Agent Thomas's blood." Cheryl remarked as she rose to her feet.
"Or..." Tara started, but lost her words.
"Or?" Steve prodded.
"It could be Lucy's blood too!" Tara declared, shuddering at the mention and thought of it.
"Drew, bag this." Steve ordered the sergeant, as he handed him the assault weapon. "You know, it is possible that Sue also might've used it to fend him off." At least he hoped, then they'd know the phantom attacker's blood type and might be able to track him down if he sought treatment.
"That would be a lucky break." Cheryl agreed.
"All we can do is hope and wait." Tara sighed. Cheryl walked over to the other side of the room and Tara hung her head. Steve was hesitant, but he touched her shoulder reassuringly.
"Hey, it'll be all right. I know you're worried, but we'll find her." Steve said softly. Tara glanced up at him and weakly smiled. "We'll find the dirt bag who did this."
"I know we will." Tara said lowly then cleared her throat. "Thanks. Well, uh..." Steve nervously removed his hand from her and gulped, unsure what to do or say next. "I, uh...I'd better get back to my spy station. Maybe some unwanted wanted thug will pop up. Let's just hope he's not one of those paranoia types." Tara smiled, gaining back some of her spunk.
"Yeah." Steve nodded. "I wouldn't count too much on finding prints, but...maybe we'll get lucky."
"One can always hope." Tara commented.
"I'll, uh, I'll get this to Amanda when we get back to the hospital and have her analyze it. You know, I really hope it's the attacker's blood."
"Don't we all." Tara agreed and went back to her trusty laptop. Myles and Dimitrius entered.
"You guys get anything?" One of the officers asked.
"Well, aside from a bunch of 'Get outs', slammed doors ringing in our ears, 'Sorry, we can't help you's, 'You guys figure it out's, and several threats to report us to the owner of this building for peeping and invasion of privacy, it's been quite an evening." Myles remarked.
"You know, you westerners bring up such a cooperative culture of people." Dimitrius said sarcastically.
"Well, we're just trying to make you all feel at home." Sgt. Barnes retorted.
"So, you didn't find anything." Steve growled.
"It seems that the desk receptionist and the cleaning lady were the only ones who gave us helpful information." Dimitrius said. "They both saw a guy in an orange jacket and baseball cap, carrying a stack of pizza boxes. But after that, they didn't see anything."
"I'm assuming you showed the ID pics to them." Steve raised his eyebrows.
"Yes, but neither of them recognized White or Lance." Myles muttered.
"So, it could be another accomplice?"
"No clue. What can you tell us about the pizza boxes?"
"Just that they are definitely phony." Steve explained. "Jay-Jay's Pizza went out of business seven years ago. It was a small company, not very widely known, and they went bankrupt really fast. All their merch had been confiscated, at least until now." Steve held up an evidence bag with one of the boxes. "See, look really close right there. See how faded and worn the cardboard is?"
"And how about that logo?" Myles added. "Definitely discolored."
"Then whoever did this had to know about their business." Dimitrius said.
"But why bring expired 'pizza' to someone if they knew it was phony?" Tara asked.
"No offense, but only new comers wouldn't know it was phony." Steve sighed, "Anyone who's lived around here long enough would know that they went out of business years ago."
"But that brings up the real question," Tara gulped. "How did the delivery boy know that Lucy and Sue...are newcomers?" Steve, Myles, Dimitrius, and a couple other officers all glanced at each other wide-eyed.
"Either someone in the hotel is working with him," Sgt. Barnes suggested.
"Or, he's been stalking us." Tara bit her lip.
"I think we need to have a few more questions asked." Dimitrius remarked. "And we need to inform Garret about what's going on." He pulled out his cell phone and left the room again.
"I'd better get a unit over to the warehouse where all of the Jay-Jay's Pizza themed items were stored away, to see if it's been broken into." Steve remarked and pulled out his phone to do just that. After another half hour, Cheryl told Steve he should wrap things up and that they'd catch up later on their findings. Steve agreed and walked over to Tara. "You can bring the video feed with you, right?" He asked.
"Yep." Tara nodded. "I'll go over it again at the hospital." And she closed down her laptop. Dimitrius returned.
"Well?" Myles inquired.
"The desk receptionist said that no one has been asking around for or about us, or the girls." Dimitrius shook his head. "So, if it was White, he didn't advertise his sleuthing."
"But she said she didn't recognize either of his pictures. Which means?" Myles raised his eyebrows...
At Community General
"If it was White, but she didn't recognize him in either picture, then maybe he's decided to use a different disguise. If he took Lucy, maybe it's because he knows we're on to him." Jesse suggested.
"I don't see how he could've possibly have known that." Myles said.
"Unless, he's been following me since the day you all arrived, when I lost him near the park." Steve huffed.
"Great, just what we need." Myles grunted, leaning on the counter at the nurses' station.
"I wouldn't be so quick to judge if I were you." Jack spoke up as he appeared. "Come here. Tara and Mark found something." Myles, Jesse, Steve, Bobby, and Dimitrius followed him back to the lounge.
"What's up?" Jesse asked eagerly.
"What have you got?" Dimitrius asked.
"They found something very interesting on the surveillance video." Jack said with his arms crossed. "You're gonna want to see this."
"You're not going to like it," Tara warned, "but it's definitely a lead you don't want to miss."
"What? The hotel receptionist paid White to sneak into the hotel and then out with Lucy?" Myles spoke cynically.
"Nope." Mark shook his head, placing his glasses back on his face. "But this is just as dangerous."
"What?" Steve asked nervously.
"We've been going over the footage from the time we were supposed to meet to the time we arrived and found Sue." Tara explained. "A guy in an orange jacket and an orange baseball cap enter the hotel with pizza boxes with Jay-Jay's Pizza logo on them. Unfortunately, no cameras caught him going in or out of our suite. However, one did catch him dragging Lucy!"
"But once he realized that he'd be seen, he spray-painted it." Mark said.
"There was no other signs of them. Several other cameras on the lower levels of the hotel, including those leading to the basement were covered in spray paint, so they can't tell us much." Tara added.
"So, Lucy was definitely taken!" Jessie piped up.
"Did you get a good look at the guy?" Dimitrius asked hopefully.
"It was pretty brief, but Tara wired the video to Cheryl at the station and ordered her to get some blow up snapshots so we can get a better look at it." Mark answered.
"And see if there's anything else we can pick up." Tara said.
"But from what we were able to see," Mark stated, "the man did not match White's features."
"Terrific!" Steve growled. "Now we have another anonymous accomplice to track down."
"Maybe not." Jack objected. "Like Jessie said, it could be White using a new disguise. With the up-close photos that should be coming in, we might be able to rule that out."
"Let's hope so." Myles said quietly."That would explain why the receptionist didn't recognize any of the pics we showed her of White."
"You said you guys found something really dangerous." Jessie remarked.
"Yeah, what's that about?" Bobby asked.
"We did. Well, we were going over the footage from the passed few days in case there was something we missed." Tara stopped and stared intently at the men. "And there was!"
"This is a video taken the day you all arrived in LA," Mark began. "And Tara told me it's about the time she, Lucy, and Sue went back to there before you all came to our place at the beach."
"What are you getting at, Dad?" Steve prodded.
"Take a look really close. Right there! Tara, freeze it." Mark pointed to the screen. Inside the large green bushes behind the chain linked fence across from the hotel was...was a...a man, with a camera!
"Tara, can you blow it up?" Dimitrius spoke. The screen enlarged and though it was fuzzy, everyone recognized the man to be...Jeffrey White!
"Oh, man," Jack gulped hard.
"He's been watching us the whole time?!" Bobby gasped.
"But how did he know?" Jessie sputtered.
"My guess is I didn't lose him that day as well as I thought he did." Steve pursed his lips. "Blast it!"
"So, now we know that he knows where we are." Dimitrius stated. "Question is, does he know how much we know he knows?"
"And he's going to make Lucy his next victim!" Jessie announced, much to everyone's dread.
"We've got to find her before that happens." Mark declared.
"We'll find her!" Steve raised his voice in determination.
"Tara, pack your bags. You're not staying in that hotel a minute longer." Dimitrius ordered.
Tara nodded. "But where can I..."
"She can stay with me." Mark interrupted. They all stared at him quizzically. "It's no trouble. And it'll give us a chance to work together faster at trying to solve this." Though they were in an urgent situation, Steve couldn't help feeling a bit delighted at the prospect of getting to watch Tara closer at her fabulous work, and maybe get to know her better.
"I've always wanted to have a free getaway on the beach in the California sun," Tara cocked her head, smiling. "Looks like an offer I won't be able to refuse."
"Thank you, Dr. Sloan." Bobby whispered in relief. "We appreciate that." He felt more calm knowing Tara would be safer with their new friends than she would be at the hotel. She could work with Mark on tips they might've overlooked, plus Steve would be there to ensure her safety.
"My pleasure, son." Mark smiled, then turned serious again. "Steve, any word from forensics yet?"
"Not yet. But I'd better let them know what's going on now!" Steve replied, pulling out his cell phone.
"So, what are we thinking here?" Myles suggested. "He grabs Lucy, then Sue walks in on the situation and he attacks her so she can't tell us anything?"
"I bet you any kind of money you've hit the nail right on the head, Agent Leland." Mark nodded, wide-eyed.
"I just might take you up on that." Amanda entered the doctor's lounge.
"Well, guys. Sorry, but the blood on the spittoon was definitely Sue's." Amanda sighed.
"Thanks, Amanda." Mark said glumly. "How is she doing?"
"No change yet."
"All right. Bobby, Mark, you want to fill her in on what's going on?" Jack asked. "I'm gonna go be with Sue for a bit."
"Sure thing, mate." Bobby nodded sadly.
Jack walked quietly through the halls of the ICU and glumly made his way into Sue's room. Levi was lying on the bed between Sue's feet. He glanced at and slightly wagged his tail when he saw Jack. "Hey, buddy." Jack softly patted his head. "You're keeping an eye on her, aren't you? Well, you're doing a good job." Jack stared at Sue's face. She was still unconscious and completely oblivious to his presence. He came closer to her and warmly gripped her hand. Man, how he wished she could hear what he had to say! Then the thought came to him, and he signed into her fingers as he spoke, hoping and wishing by some miracle that she'd understand what he was trying to tell her. He lifted his eyes to the ceiling. "God," he earnestly prayed, "God, please make it so she can understand me! Please. And watch over Lucy! Help us find her before it's too late!"
He began signing with his fingers into Sue's hand as he spoke the words. "White's-W-H-I-T-E-S got Lucy-L-U-C-Y, Sue-S-U-E. But, trust me. We're gonna find her. We'll find her, Sue-S-U-E. I promise. And...and I promise, this guy won't hurt you again! I won't let him!"
So, they've been stalked without knowing it!
I would like to thank Snowgirl01 for how much you've enjoyed and followed this story, and keep begging me for more chapters. I'm so glad for your support and that you're reading this fanfic. Remind that for the next chapter I need to include the clues they found or were still searching for from this one.
Just you know, I do have a plot idea for another Diagnosis Murder/Sue Thomas crossover down the road, but let's finish this one first, okay?
