Chapter Three
Danny and Jo entered the Grosvenor Transportation Ltd depot, a delivery firm, and made their way to the nearest employee. A tall, skinny man with long black hair tied in a pony tail.
"Quentin Sosa?" Danny asked the man.
He looked up as Danny flashed his badge and then nodded towards a door.
"He's out back. Cigarette break."
Danny nodded and then he and Jo carried on through the depot towards the door they'd been directed to. Outside was a small caged off area clearly designated for employees to smoke their cigarettes whilst on assigned breaks. It was Jo who spotted Sosa first and pointed him out to Danny. The tall, brawny man was standing half facing them, chatting with two other workers. They were laughing at something together and unaware that two cops were approaching.
"Hey, Quentin Sosa?" Danny shouted as they got nearer.
Sosa looked up and immediately his face dropped and he sprinted away from them. An outside gate to the caged area was open and the brawny man sprinted through and away from them.
"Shit!" Danny cursed as he started running after him.
"I'll go round back!" Jo yelled as she turned and went back the way they'd come.
Danny could see Sosa up ahead, knocking whatever he could find into his path. Danny yelped as some crates tumbled down on top of him and he fell to the ground. He jumped up as quickly as possible but could already tell that Sosa was getting away from him. He sprinted on further, jumping over a couple of knocked over boxes and bins.
"Get down on the ground now!" Jo shouted as she suddenly emerged from round a corner, gun pointed straight at Sosa.
Sosa didn't even stop but ran full pelt into her and she went flying.
"Jo!" Danny yelled as he ran even harder to catch up.
Sosa was on the ground too, looking rather dazed and attempting to right himself. Danny growled and threw himself on top of the fallen man.
"Time to give it up, buddy!" he snarled as he snapped his cuffs onto the man's wrists.
He then turned to Jo who was getting up from the ground. She had blood trickling down the side of her head.
"Jo, are you okay?" Danny gasped as he pulled Sosa up.
"I'll be fine, I just hit my head as I went down."
"Are you sure?" Danny asked worriedly.
"Fine," Jo confirmed. "Let's just get this nice gentleman back to the precinct where he can be treated to a lovely stay."
"I've done nothing wrong!" yelped Sosa as Danny led him away.
"Yeah, yeah, buddy. And the rest," Danny muttered as he shook his head.
Jo trailed along behind them, pain jolting through her head. It had been a hard hit and she felt light headed and slightly nauseous. She'd get Sheldon to take a look when she got back.
"Here we go," Flack said cheerfully as he pulled into the driveway of Thorn Everidge Mental Institution.
"About time," Mac replied. He was getting stiff from riding in the car for so long.
"If I'd known this place was so far out I would have had lunch first," Flack grumbled.
"I thought you did know," Mac frowned.
"Yeah, but I was excited to get here and forgot," Flack grinned, glancing briefly at Mac beside him.
Mac shook his head in amusement of the younger man.
"Driveway goes on a bit," Flack muttered.
About two miles down the driveway an old building finally came into view and Mac started to get a strange feeling inside him. The place was calm, it was quiet, like the atmosphere of a cemetery, and yet the people here were very much alive, unlike those residing in the ground.
Flack pulled the car up outside the entrance and shut off the engine. The two detectives got out and proceeded up the stone steps to the front entrance. Inside was a huge reception hall with a desk at the far end. They made their way over to it and flashed their badges.
"We're looking to speak to whoever is incharge here?" Mac said politely to the receptionist.
"Doctor Chastaine is away until further notice," she replied, glancing up at them to note their badges and then back at the screen in front of her.
"Is there someone else we can speak to then?" asked Mac.
"Doctor Fremont is also away until further notice," she replied without even looking up.
Flack sighed and turned from her. He began to walk around the room, glancing at the pictures on the walls. A huge staircase led up to higher floors to the left and on the right was a set of double doors with a number lock.
"Are there any doctors here at all?" Mac asked.
"Of course," she replied.
Mac pursed his lips in annoyance. "We rang earlier about some disappearances in conjuncture to a murder investigation and need to speak to whoever is in charge here. Would you rather I come back with a warrant?" Mac knew he'd never be able to get one but still, the threat almost always worked.
The receptionist sighed in annoyance and then picked up her phone and pressed the digit four.
"Doctor Hartmann, I have two detectives here wishing to speak with you. Fine."
She placed the phone back down and stared up at Mac.
"Doctor Hartmann will be down in a moment. Please take a seat."
"Thank you," Mac replied. He turned around and walked to a cushioned settee that was resting against one of the walls. Flack soon joined him.
"It's kinda quiet here, Mac," the detective whispered.
"What did you expect?" Mac asked.
"I dunno. It's the loony bin. Some screaming?"
Mac shook his head laughing. "You watch too much TV," he smirked.
Flack grinned at him.
Suddenly the double doors opened and a man in a white coat strode toward them. He was young, around Flack's age and just as tall. But he had dark brown eyes, floppy blond hair and bronzed skin.
"Gentlemen. I'm Doctor Hartmann. Please do come this way," smiled the young doctor and flashed them a brilliant smile.
They followed him through the doors and down a long white corridor and round a corner into another long white corridor. Then they went up a smaller staircase, three flights to a door which had another code. Once again they then found themselves in a long white corridor which they proceeded down. Every so often they'd come to another coded door which the doctor typed in before they eventually stopped outside a door which he unlocked with a key.
"Got enough security, eh?" Flack joked lightly as they entered the room behind the doctor.
Doctor Hartmann stared at him in distaste. "The safety and wellbeing of the patients here is no laughing matter."
Flack immediately dropped his smile as he sat down in a chair opposite the doctor's huge wooden desk. Mac sat down in the other seat while the doctor sat across from them.
"So how may I help you, gentlemen?" he asked.
"We're investigating the murder of a man found in New York City this morning" Mac stated.
"And this has what to do with Thorn Everidge?" Hartmann frowned.
"We have reason to believe he had recently escaped some sort of facility for psychiatric care," Mac replied.
"And you came to this exact institution for..."
"We've been informed that you have suffered from some disappearances of your patients," Flack piped up.
Hartmann stared at him for a moment before speaking. "Where did you hear that?" he asked.
"A colleague of mine rang up earlier on today," Flack replied.
"Oh? And to whom did they speak?" asked Hartmann interestedly.
"Do you recognise this man?" Mac asked, interrupting by pushing forward a picture of the victim.
Hartmann slowly tore his eyes away from Flack and looked down at the picture.
"No. I have never before seen this man," he replied.
"Are you sure about that?" Flack asked. "Perhaps you might want to check again to be sure."
"I am sure, detective," Hartmann replied.
"How many patients have gone missing then?" Mac asked. He could sense the tension building between the two other men.
"I'm afraid you have been misinformed detective. No-one has gone missing from this facility since I started working here twelve years ago."
"Twelve years ago?" Flack snorted, his eyebrows raised. Hartmann looked far too young to have been working as a doctor for such a long time.
"Is something funny to you?" Hartmann sneered at Flack.
"Nope" Flack muttered shaking his head and looking away.
"Well then, is there anything else I can help you with, gentlemen?" Hartmann asked politely.
"No, I think that should be all for the time being," Mac stated.
"I'll show you out then," the doctor replied.
He rose from his seat and led the two detectives out to the corridor and then locked his door. Once again they followed him back through the maze of corridors towards the entrance hall. The whole time not one sound was heard. It creeped Flack out.
"Well thank you for your visit. I do hope you manage to solve your investigation," Hartmann smiled as he said goodbye.
"We may well be back," Mac said coldly.
If the doctor was surprised he didn't show it but smiled again and then left back through the double doors. Flack and Mac made their way out of the building.
"Well that was creepy," Flack muttered.
"I agree, that place did seem a little off," Mac nodded.
"You reckon there are actually any patients in there?" Flack asked, looking back at the building.
"Who's to know," Mac mused. "But right now that lead was a dead end. We need to get back to the city and see if the others at the lab have discovered anything else that might help."
"So you think it's got nothing to do with this place?" Flack asked as he opened the car door.
Mac stared up at the imposing building looming over them.
"I don't know," he murmured.
High above them Hartmann watched them from out of the window, then he placed a call.
"The cops were here...you already know?...Yes, two of them. A tall, skinny one and a shorter older one... Someone had leaked to them about the disappearances... Yes, I'll find out who that was...What about the two cops?...I see, I'll leave it up to you then."
Hartmann placed his phone back down and smiled to himself. Oh people were going to pay for this mess.
"Jo, are you sure you should be doing this?" Danny asked worriedly, his hand on the interrogation room door.
"I'm fine, Danny, really. Hawkes checked me over and said it was just a nasty knock."
"I really think you should go to the hospital, Mac won't be pleased when he gets back and..."
"You just leave Mac Taylor to me," Jo smiled and then pushed past Danny to enter the small room. "Mr Sosa, how are we doing?" she smiled as she sat down opposite him.
"I've done nothing wrong. Why am I here?" Sosa asked nervously.
"Why'd you run from us if you've done nothing wrong?" asked Danny, standing next to where Jo sat.
"Cos I know what you guys are like? Pinning your crimes on us innocent folk," Sosa exclaimed.
"Well then how about you tell us why your truck was seen stopping here in these pictures?" Jo said, pushing some stills of the camera footage towards Sosa that clearly showed him stopping near the alley and the John Doe appearing from out of his truck.
"I, urgh, I needed some milk on my way home, err, but then I remembered I already had some and went on my way."
"And the man who got out of your truck? Who was he?" asked Jo.
"Man? I see no man," Sosa said nervously.
"You blind?" Danny scoffed. "He's right there!"
Sosa glanced nervously at the picture and then back up to the two detectives.
"I didn't do nothing to him. He was like that when I found him."
"Do what to him?" Jo asked pleasantly.
Sosa looked between them both and fidgeted anxiously in his chair.
"The guy was crazy. He jumped out at me as I was driving along doing my deliveries. Minding my own business."
"Where was this?" Danny asked.
"Up north out of the city, I can't say for certain. It was nighttime and I was just focusing on the road, not exactly where I was."
"So why did you let him into your truck?" Jo asked.
Sosa swallowed nervously. "The guy was out of his mind. He needed help so I let him in and was gonna take him to a hospital when we got to the city."
"But instead you threw him out in the street?" Jo said unimpressed.
"He was in my truck, man. He was shivering and mumbling the whole time. Saying they were gonna get him, he had to get away. They were trying to kill him or some such crap. It was like he couldn't remember getting into my truck. He suddenly went crazy...crazier and started attacking me, saying I was taking him back there. Nearly caused us to crash!"
"So what happened?" Danny asked.
"I pushed him out!" Sosa said. "I was scared for my life, man."
"And caused his death," Jo said sadly, staring directly at Sosa.
Sosa stared back at her and gulped. "He...he's dead?"
"Yeah. And if you'd taken him to a hospital he might have survived," Danny replied in disgust.
"Hey, it wasn't my fault. The guy was crazy, he attacked me. I got kids, man, a wife, I can't die!"
"And so might have this man," Jo said with some distaste.
"We're going to need a map of the route you took last night and all the places you stopped, Sosa," Danny muttered.
"Sure," Sosa said nervously as he looked down at his hands.
Jo looked up at Danny who grimaced at her. Some people were just so selfish.
The man sat in his car, hidden by the trees and watched as the two cops got back into their vehicle. He'd read all about them now via the information sent to his phone and knew exactly who they were and everything else. He didn't like that they'd got to the Institution. Someone had blabbed, that much was for sure and he felt sorry for whoever it was. There would be no mercy shown to them when they were found. His phone suddenly vibrated and he answered it.
"Yes?...Yes, still in my sights...I understand...it's already done."
The call ended and he placed his phone back in his pocket. So they were getting worried upstairs? The man grinned to himself, oh he'd have fun seeing to this job...yes, Sir, would he have fun. He started up his engine and moved off after the two cops, keeping a good distance between them. Now he just had to wait for the right moment.