Author's Note: Sorry about the wait! I have four other stories on here that I split my time between and I also had finally caught up with myself and had to finish this chapter before I could post it. I really hope you all enjoy this chapter! Hopefully, it will reveal a bit more as to why this story is named 'Panic'!
Traci finished talking with Chloe on the radio and stared at the screen in front of her as the blurry image of Gail and Holly illuminated by a flash-light appeared on the TV. "Andy..."
"Yeah, Traci?" Andy said as she stood up from looking underneath the sofa.
"What did you just hit?" Nash asked still staring at the screen behind McNally.
"Just a remote control," she replied as she lifted the object in the air. "I accidentally leaned my elbow on it when I was looking under the couch." Sighing to herself, she continued, "Guys... I don't think this is working. This is the cleanest house I have ever seen. My house would never get this clean in a hundred years! Can you believe there wasn't even a dust bunny under that sofa?" Andy stopped and stared at her friend. "Tracy... are you okay? At least say something."
Sam and Steve stopped what they were doing as they caught a glimpse of the TV behind McNally. "What?" Andy gave a faint chuckle, " Ah... I get it... trying to pull a joke on me, right? What? Now am I supposed to look down at my uniform and expect to find all this dust or something on me? I'm not a rookie any more guys... it won't work." She said with a smile but as the seconds wore on, she realised that they were not staring at her, but what was behind her.
Turning around, Andy immediately saw what everyone else had noticed beforehand, "What the hell?" She mumbled to herself as she moved to the side of the screen so everyone could see the two women trapped in the panic room.
"Guys..." Tracy said softly, "I think this isn't a panic room."
Steve snapped out of his shock, "Sam... see what is taking Chris so damned long with the tools!" He started to beat on the wall, "Gail! Holly!"
"I don't think they hear you, Steve," Andy said as she waited for a reaction from the two women.
"You're right..." he said with a sigh. "Andy see if you can call Collins again. I want him to bring her to the station and figure out what the hell she is up to in this house!"
"You know," Holly began as she stared at Gail's injured hand. "I can fix that for you when we get out of here."
"Right..." Gail drawled. "As if I am going to let you suture my hand."
Holly rolled her eyes and smiled. "Well, I am a doctor you know. Stitching your hand would be the easiest thing I do all day."
"You are a doctor for dead people, Holly," Peck replied with a smirk but quickly sobered once she played back what she said. "Not that I don't adore you or think that you are not actually a doctor, but... you are a doctor for dead people."
Holly nodded her head, "I understand... my girlfriend adores me, but is afraid I will not do a good job on the sutures because I am a pathologist." She barely contained her smile as she watched Gail roll her eyes.
"Forget I said anything." Gail muttered as she slid off the table, "Now do you have any idea as to what the hell this thing actually is?"
Holly ran her hand through her hair and sighed. "I have thought about it for a while and... honestly? I have no clue."
"Well, I have thought about it and it feels like a damn sauna that has a broken door," Gail stated as she wipes the sweat off her face. "At least it is a dry heat though. I don't think I could deal with it as long as I have if there was humidity as well."
The pathologist's eyes widened as a thought crossed her mind. "Oh shit!" She exclaimed as she jumped off the table and scrambled over to her bag. "Why didn't I think of it sooner! Shit, I hope it isn't too late..." Holly rummaged through the bag and pulled out two HEPA masks and tossed on to Gail. Shoving the apparatus over her face she glared at the officer. "Gail... please honey... put it on, now!"
"What the hell is this all about, Holly?" Gail questioned as she slowly put the mask over her mouth. "I swear if this is some sort of joke, it isn't very funny."
"It's no joke, Gail," Holly replied. Her voice sounding muffled through the mask. "You gave me an idea as to what it could be, and quite frankly, the idea really scares me... especially with the amount of time we have spent in this room... who knows what it could be. How hot do you think it is in here exactly?" Holly shook her head dismissively and said, "Never mind. I think I have an idea as to how hot it is in here." She grabbed the flashlight off the table and slowly shined it over the top of the door. "Help me reach the vent again. I need to be one hundred percent sure on this before I start panicking."
"Tell me what is going on first," Gail replied as she stared at her lover. "Don't keep me out of the loop just because you think I won't understand." She gestured with her injured hand which caused Holly to gasp through her mask.
"Fuck..." Holly muttered as she raced back to her bag and pulled out several pairs of gloves.
"What are you..."
"Don't touch anything with your injured hand, Gail," she said as she interrupted the blonde. "Put these on now." The pathologist walked over to the officer and handed her the gloves. "Shit... I will help you, but let me put on gloves as well."
"Holly... can you please tell what is going on? What has you so scared?" Gail asked as she watched her lover place the latex gloves on her hands before she reached over and slowly unwrapped the officer's hand.
"I'm not scared," Holly replied though her voice betrayed her emotions. "I just want to take extra precautions just in case."
Traci stared at the screen as the remaining officers rush back in forth behind her. The cacophony of hammers and crowbars echoed behind her. "What the hell is Holly doing?" Nash asked no one in particular as she continued to watch the two women in the room.
"What was that?" Sam asked as he came up behind the detective.
"What is Holly doing?" Traci repeated not taking her eyes off the screen as she watched the pathologist put gloves on Gail's hands. "They have masks on and are now putting on gloves. I just don't get it."
"Holy shit..." Steve muttered as he came up behind the two detectives. "Forget calling Mrs. O'Neil. We might have a bigger problem on our hands!" He ran towards the stairs away from the rest of the group and they could hear the front door slam behind him.
"Where's he going?" Andy asked as she stopped hammering on the wooden panel in front of her. Sweat trickled down her face as she stared at the backs of her friends. "Hey... what's going on in there exactly? They look as if they are about to do a science experiment or something."
"Shit!" Traci exclaimed as her eyes widened and understanding hit her full on. "Don't do anything else Andy!"
"Okay..." Andy replied slowly as she lowered the hammer to the ground. "Was it something I said?"
Sam shrugged his shoulders, but understanding slowly crept over him, as Traci walked up the stairs her phone in hand as she quickly hit the speed dial. "I think you might have said something that made her worry just a bit."
Upstairs Traci stalked back and forth in front of the sofa. "I don't care how long it takes you to find her, Nick! We have to find this Patricia!" She exclaimed as she gripped her phone tighter. "You did go to the hotel you dropped her off at, right?"
'Of course I did, Traci. Where else do you think I would go first?' Nick replied slightly annoyed. 'The front desk told me that she hung around the reception area until I left and then called a cab.'
"Did they say where the cab took her?" Traci asked as her mind reeled with all the possibilities of what could happen to her friends in the room.
'No. He said she had used her own phone and then threw it in the trash after she was finished. He thought it was really weird that she would do such a thing.'
"Please tell me..."
'Of course I bagged it. It's evidence after all, but why are you all so gung-ho to get in touch with her?' Nick asked. Through his side of the phone, Traci could hear the slamming of a car door and an engine turn over.
"Are you in your car now?" Nash asked though she already knew the answer.
'Yeah... do you want me to meet you guys at the house or do you want me to drop by the station?'
"Drop by the station and give that phone to Dov. He might be able to get a tech on it or might can figure something out about it himself, but I think it might be a dead end... probably a burner since she threw it out. I want you to stay there with Dov and Chloe." Traci sighed as she ran her hand through her hair. "I think it has gotten a bit more complicated here than we first thought."
'What do you mean by that?'
"I mean that..." Traci trailed off as she saw Steve enter the front door. "Steve just got back in... I will call you back when I find out more."
'But...'
Nash hung up her phone and walked over to the haggard looking detective. "So what do we do now?"
Steve huffed as he stared up at the ceiling in the living-room. He closed his eyes and breathed deep before answering. "I called the morgue and told them to take every precaution known to modern science with the body."
"I bet they had a lot of questions when you told them that," Traci said with a grim smile.
"Actually, I told them what we saw on the screen first and they readily replied with the request." He puts his hands in his pockets and stared at his girlfriend. "I also called in a couple of favours and a team will arrive shortly. Hopefully, Holly can determine what is going on in the mean time."
"So what do we do now, Steve?" Traci asked as she bit her lower lip.
He took his hands out of his pockets and sigh. "We wait. That is all that we can do at this point."