Missing

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A/N:

Chapter 24 (To Find the Truth)

Andre pressed himself against the wall of a house and held his breath, trying to keep from panting. The person inside spotted him and he needed to regain his low profile. He couldn't keep up what he was doing without feeling a deep sense of guilt, no matter how much he told himself it was for the good of the innocents in holly's custody.

In one month, he'd only gone through six of the names on Holly's list of thirty criminals. Not every one of them was easy to find, and those that weren't escaped convicts but former criminals were much more secluded. There were familiar names on the list, names that disturbed him to see. Such as Nora, a woman who was released from prison six years ago for having abducted Cat in a revenge plot against her roommate.

"Come on kid." The person's voice bellowed in the air, causing him to flinch. He turned his head and wiped away a bead of sweat on his temple. "I know you're out here, and I don't know how you found me."

This was one of the tougher convicts on the list, a serial killer himself and a man that Andre hoped wouldn't spot him.

His hand closed around the blow pipe and his chest expanded forward. "For Cat, for Trina. I have got to do this. I can't let Holly overwhelm the police." Of the thirty, there were only nine total escaped criminals. They were his first targets because of their anger and sheer power. However, once done, he wanted to go after Nora Dershlitt and take her out as well, just to ensure she didn't come to work for Holly, and potentially harm Cat.

"Where are you!" A crash struck his ear and he bolted in the opposite direction. It wasn't cowardice so much as he wanted to avoid a fight and to avoid a struggle. At the same time, he was trying to find a way to lead the cops straight to Holly's mansion. "You can't hide forever."

"I'm not hiding," he muttered, "I'm waiting for the opportunity to strike." He raised the pipe towards his lips and narrowed his eyes while listening for the heavy footsteps.

Andre peered around the corner and smirked when he saw the musclebound man with his back turned. "Forgive me, but I have to do this." He stepped around the corner, took a deep breath and blew into the pipe as hard as he could.

The man swat his neck as though swatting a fly and slowly turned around. His pupils were dilated and his lips were parted slightly. "Y-You chump."'

"Serial killer Todd Xerxes…" He removed Gary's handgun from the holster at his hip and started to approach the man, watching as Todd's eyes slid upwards. "Copy-cat of the Boston Strangler. Assaulting your victims sexually before strangling them to death in the process." Todd backed against a wall, his body trembled and his knees looked to buckle.

Sadly some people took longer to be knocked out by the tranquilizer, but in this instance, Andre didn't care.

A sneer stretched across his face as he pressed the nozzle of the pistol against the man's chest. "For me, you are the easiest to kill. Emotionally speaking. The other escapees probably could have gotten away with their lives, but you don't deserve to walk the streets."

The gunshot echoed in the air and Andre flinched as blood splattered onto him. He wiped the blood from his face and reached into his pocket as the man's body slumped to the ground. "Okay Todd, you're going to be my messenger. I hope you don't mind…"

He removed a copy of the list and carefully placed it beneath the man's belt. If anything, this list would give the investigators a sense of what Holly was up to, and perhaps aid in their getting the people on this list off the streets. He wasn't sure why he didn't do this on the first person, but for the most part he didn't feel that the police would have gotten all the people before it was too late. This way, he was eliminating them for the investigators.

It might not be the right way to go about it, but in his mind, it was the best way. He saw no other way to protect Trina and Cat, and no other way to keep the investigators from being overwhelmed.

"They're coming for you, Holly, and they're going to end you."

"Yet another one." Jade clicked her tongue and watched as Rick crouched beside the victim's body. "This one's different though. The others were killed inside and on their backs, but this man-"

"Looks like he saw the killer," Rick replied. Jade slid her hands down to her hips and sighed as the man grabbed a piece of paper stuffed in the victim's belt. "Take a look at this. El asesino le abandono." She ignored the Spanish and grabbed the note.

What she saw stole her breath, it was a list of names with several crossed off. As she read, she deduced it to be a payroll of some kind. "There are thirty names on here, Ricky. All of them either the escaped convicts or former criminals." Rick looked up and raised an eyebrow. She recognized many of these names from cases that she went over in the last nine years on the police force. "Small time petty thefts all the way to this guy here-the only serial killer in the escaped criminals."

"What's the point?" He rose up and walked over and furrowed his brow at the list. "Tori will not like seeing this when she gets back on the job."

"Definitely not." She tucked her thumb inwards and pointed it to Holly's name at the bottom of the list. There was a statement issued declaring the names on the list were meant to serve as a force to call upon should the police find and attack the mansion. "Why would the killer leave this list behind? Seems intentional, but now we have a list of his targets."

"You suppose there is a reason he is eliminating these people?" She had that in mind now that she saw this list. "Tori seems insistent that Andre is behind these murders. If that is so, and he has left this list, then Jade had to assume he wanted investigators to know something was up.

"I think we'll need to find the people on this list, unless that'll be looking at the wrong thing." She wanted to keep pursuing Holly as Tori wanted, but she had to focus on other crimes as well. Fortunately, this list seemed to confirm that the murders were connected to Holly, which meant if she followed the trail this list provided, she'd find Holly. "Where we find these criminals, we find Holly and where we find Holly…"

"We find Trina. How close are the others on their investigations?"

"Jesse and Sam have been hanging around the address listed on that photograph, they've been trying to see if the car in the picture will drive up. It's assumed Gary works there, but none of the employees know where Gary lives."

"Then how do they expect to track him?"

"I believe by tailing him when he drives to work and leaves to go home."

Jade shook her head and glanced at Nora's name on the list. It could be good to try and use Sam's connection to that woman to find a way to the Holly, but as Nora had been out for a few years and hadn't gone after Sam, it wasn't likely she'd try attacking the blonde straight off.

"Any one of these criminals knows where Holly is. I suspect if we can use this to find these people, we can not only keep this serial killer from taking their lives-but we can also find out where Holly is staying."

"Si." Jade folded the list and pushed it into a plastic bag. They were going to analyze this document some more and see if they could get any further information besides just a list of names. "Do you feel that this man, Andre, is truly innocent?"

"I don't know. I'm just remembering him as I once knew him, and I'm trying to figure out why he would be killing these people. It seems like it would have to be a desperate move, like he's trying to reach out and just doesn't know how…"

"He may not be the same person you once knew him as, Officer West."

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. Rick was right, but that didn't mean she was going to stop holding out hope that her old friend could be trying to do good. "I won't argue it, but I'm not going to start off believing the worst in the guy. As a cop, it's our duty to find the truth. The truth and nothing more."

"Yes, do not let your passions get in the way, and try to remain impartial at best. Tori is counting on all of us right now." She smiled as the man walked towards the car. She followed after, studying him closely.

"One more question." She caught up with him and leaned back against the car. "Is there something going on with you and Tori? She won't tell me." Rick folded his arms and raised an eyebrow. Jade knew this man wasn't going to lie to her, at least she'd never known him to be dishonest. "If there is, there's no problem. I just want to make sure she's not going to get hurt or anything, she hasn't had the best relationships in her life."

"Sounds like she's due for a positive one."

"Yeah." Rick was a good man, so if they were in a relationship, he might not do anything to hurt Tori. "I know she doesn't like people butting into her personal and private life, but I mean well. Beck and I, as well as her dad and Sam, we've all kind of looked after her these years."

"She is a strong, beautiful and capable woman."

"Yeah, that's true, she likes to tell us she can deal with stuff on her own." Jade flung her hair over her shoulder with a chuckle and spread her hands out to the side. "But everybody could use advice from somebody with experience."

Rick scratched his chin and the right corner of his mouth lifted. "This is true, she loves advice when she asks for it." He whisked his hand away as though his breath blew it from him. "Tell me, do you speak Spanish?" Her heart stopped and she shook her head from side to side.

"I speak just a little bit, but not enough to really know the language."

"Ah, I see." He closed his eyes and opened the car door. "I will not lie to you Detective." An eager grin swept across her face as Rick made eye contact with her. "Hemos estado en una relación durante dos años, y están muy enamorados." Her jaw dropped and her hands closed to fists. Rick entered the vehicle and motioned for her to enter the other side. "Siempre voy a cuidar de ella, y voy a respetar sus deseos. Ella la dirá cuando quiere."

"You know I have no idea what the hell you're saying, right?"

"Si Senora."

She rolled her eyes and entered the car. It was clear she wouldn't be getting anything out of him, even though she had the sinking suspicion he answered her question with full honesty.

"Goddamn your thick accent and fast speech…let's get back to work."

haha ah that last part is amusing. Well this chapter was quite the interesting chapter, what are your thoughts?