3. Help me

Greg looked back at Morgan, a worried look in his eyes. "Who's got them? And why are you so sure anyone has taken them? Maybe they just went to get some groceries and they forgot to lock the front door… There were no signs of forced entry after all…"

"He's got them, okay? I know it!" Morgan snapped at him. She then shook her head. "I'm sorry, Greg, I didn't mean to snap at you like that… It's not your fault! Look, the truth is that Melody's ex, Dylan's father, has been after them for years. That's why they've constantly been moving from one place to another and that's why Dylan can't go to school."

She gave him an impatient look, one that said 'Now you understand why I know he's got them?' Greg, however, just thought for a moment and then said: "Isn't it possible then that they saw the guy and ran? Let's not assume the worst right away!"

"But, Greg…" she started, but he gave her a strict look and repeated: "Let's not assume the worst. Like I said, there was no sign of forced entry and I don't see any signs of struggle here inside. So maybe they just saw the guy and took off together. But… just to be sure, I'll call Russell and ask him if he can send someone else to check your house for any evidence of an uninvited guest, okay?" he added, seeing how worried she looked. She seemed to relax a little and nodded. "Okay."

Relieved that she had calmed down a bit, Greg called Russell and explained the situation. His supervisor promised to send someone as soon as he could. After thanking him, Greg walked back to Morgan, who was still standing in her bedroom with Dylan's toy car in her hands.

"Russell is going to send someone," he told her. "If there was anyone in your house, we'll find something, I promise!"

Suddenly worried again she looked at him. "What if whoever Russell sends finds evidence that you were here? Your fingerprints are going to be everywhere and if they check the bed… And what about your toothbrush in the bathroom? Oh, and your…"

"Do you wanna find Melody and Dylan or not?" he asked her, a sharp tone in his voice. She looked down at the ground. "Yes, of course I wanna find them…"

"Then we have to risk everyone finding out about us," Greg decided. "Let's hope Russell sends Sara, she'll help us keep it a secret…"

Of course they weren't that lucky: Russell had sent Finn over to check Morgan's house. She checked the door knob for fingerprints and bagged Dylan's toy car. She also agreed with Greg that there were no signs of forced entry or a struggle anywhere in the house.

"Do you have a DNA sample of your friend Melody?" she asked Morgan. "Did she leave her hairbrush somewhere or her toothbrush? I saw two toothbrushes in the bathroom, is one of them hers?"

"Well, actually…" Morgan slowly started. She looked at Greg for support, but he was just as lost for an excuse as she was. Finn, who hadn't missed Morgan's look at Greg, smiled. "Ah, I see…"

"No, they're both mine!" Morgan suddenly blurted out. "Whenever I get a new one, I always forget to throw the old one away until I'm close to having to buy a new one again. Once, I even had three toothbrushes!"

"Of course you did," Finn said with a nod and an amused look in her eyes. Clearly, she wasn't buying Morgan's excuse.

"I really did!" Morgan insisted. "If you don't believe me, check with my Mum: whenever she got me a new one, I never threw away the old one either."

"I believe you," Finn reassured her, but Morgan wasn't convinced the older CSI really believed her. Angry, she crossed her arms. "So do you think anyone has been inside?"

"Probably not," Finn told her. "I'll check all the prints that I've found just to be sure, but like I already said a couple of times: there are no signs that anyone has been inside your house. Plus the fact that I didn't see any suitcases or things that belong to a child, other than the toy car. I think your friend and the little boy just took off."

"They didn't have any suitcases or luggage," Morgan told her with a sigh. "They always travel with a passport, some money and Melody's driver's license only. No clothes, no toys, no food… nothing!"

Finn looked at her for a moment. "There's something about your friend that you aren't telling us, is there?"

Reluctantly Morgan nodded. Finn looked at her again before she said: "Alright, it's up to you whether or not you tell us. But if I were you, I'd tell it as it might help me find your friend."

Morgan shook her head. "No, it won't. It'll just make Melody harder to find!"

"Why?" Greg asked her. "You told me her ex is after her and Dylan and that she tries to hide from him. But then we should still be able to find her, right?"

"If Melody doesn't want to be found, no one will be able to find her," Morgan grimly told him. "The police are looking for her in several states as she has got quite a record…"

After Morgan's confession Finn decided it was better that they went back to CSI all together. There, Morgan had to explain the whole story.

"Melody fell in love with a guy named Damian Marks," she started. "They were happy and after only a few months, Melody found out she was pregnant. Everything was still fine and Dylan was born. Melody decided she wanted to stay at home for a year with Dylan, so Damian had to work fulltime. But when Dylan was two months old, he was fired for making a huge mistake at work. Because of that mistake, he was unable to find another job. That's when everything started. Melody refused to find a job herself because she didn't want to leave Dylan, but they needed the money. Finally, Damian got mixed up in the wrong crowd in a desperate search for money and he joined a street gang that was selling drugs. He and Melody soon started arguing on a daily base: Melody didn't want him to earn money like that and Damian told her that if she wanted money another way she had to find a job herself."

Morgan stopped for a moment, remembering all the telephone calls she got from Melody during that time. She had offered her friend money, but Melody hadn't wanted to take it, in spite of all the arguments at home.

"Their arguments slowly got out of hand," she continued, while she tried to push the memories of those horrible phone calls to the back of her mind. "As Damian continued to be part of that street gang, he became more and more violent and he started hitting Melody. Since she was too scared to leave him, she stayed, also because she wanted to protect Dylan. Inside she grew angrier, though, and one day, when Dylan was nearly four years old, she couldn't control her anger anymore. Damian came home when she was making dinner and when he tried to hit her again, she grabbed the knife she was using to cut onions and stabbed him…"

Finn and Greg both listened quietly, their faces showing no sign of judgment or anything.

"He survived," Morgan told them as tears appeared in her eyes. "And of course… he pressed charges… Melody was terrified of having to go to jail, so she took Dylan and ran away."

"Wait, didn't she stab him in self-defense?" Finn said with a frown. Morgan nodded. "That's what I said as well when she and Dylan showed up at my house in LA… Thanks to his street gang Damian had managed to find a good lawyer, though, and he was able to make it sound like it was all a big misunderstanding. He had come home, had wanted to hug Melody because he loved her and then she stabbed him…"

Again, it was Finn who spoke up: "Weren't you able to prove that he hit Melody?"

"That's what I tried," Morgan told her. "I had just started working at LAPD at the time and I asked some of my colleagues to help me. But somehow, everything we found seemed to point to Damian telling the truth and Melody stabbing him for no reason. In the end, they even wanted to arrest Melody in LA. I know it's wrong, but I told her two officers were on their way to her hotel room and she quickly took off. Ever since then, she and Dylan have been on the run," she finished her story. Neither Finn nor Greg said anything, as they were still letting the story sink in. Finally, Finn softly said: "But I thought you said Melody had quite a record… and that the police were looking for her in several states…"

"She was on the run for Damian and for the police," Morgan reminded her. "Do you really think she took legal jobs to survive? At first, yes, when she had managed to reach Hawaii. She worked in a hotel for nearly two years, Dylan went to school there, but then Damian showed up in the hotel and she immediately took off. After that, she hasn't worked a regular job anymore."

Finn let out a deep sigh.

"This isn't good, Morgan," she softly said. "I don't know how bad the things are that she has done, but if the police are really looking for her in several states, then it's going to be very hard to find her…"

"Finn, please tell me you'll help me!" Morgan begged her. "If you won't do it for Melody, then please do it for Dylan! He's only twelve and he's terrified of his father finding him! Damian believes he's the only one capable of raising him and he's even been to court to try and get custody! If he gets custody of Dylan, then…"

"He'll probably have to join that street gang," Finn understood.

"Or worse…" Morgan whispered. "Dylan's a good boy, he'll do anything to stay away from that street gang. And once Damian realizes Dylan won't do what he wants, he'll… he'll try… to kill him…"

A tear slowly ran down her face.

"Hey…" Without caring that Finn was still there, Greg pulled her into his arms and held her tightly. Finn probably knew about their relationship already, so this didn't matter anymore either. He gently rocked her in his arms until she calmed down.

"We'll find them, I promise," he told her, looking directly into her eyes. Next to him, Finn nodded. "Yeah, don't worry, Morgan. We'll focus on finding Dylan for now and once we find Melody, we'll see what we can do about her record. Do you have a picture of Dylan anywhere? Maybe we can send out an Amber Alert!"

Just then, Hodges walked into the breakroom. Greg quickly let go of Morgan, but the Trace lab tech had already raised his eyebrows. "What's going on?"

"Not now, Hodges," Finn sharply told him. Hodges made one of his famous faces. "Alright, fine, I'll leave again. Can I still give this to Morgan? I found it near my car, out of on the parking lot."

He handed her a drawing with Morgan's name on it. The drawing was of a red car, or at least: that was obviously what it was supposed to be. It was clearly drawn very quickly as the 'car' had only three wheels and was only half colored in. Morgan touched the letters that formed her name above the car. "That's Dylan's handwriting…"

"There's something on the back," Greg noticed. He took the drawing from Morgan and turned it around. The message on the back was clear. 'HELP', it read in big letters. And in smaller letters near the bottom 'Find me'. One look at it was enough to let Morgan burst into tears.