Tiffany is at the office, pacing around the room, worried. Emily is acting as calm as usual, but she's worried too, however, for Tiffany's sake, she can't show it. She has to stay strong for the person she considers her best friend. Although she'll never admit that. "Hey, Tiff. Could you stop pacing, please. I'm trying to focus on the security footage."
"I'm sorry, Emily. I can't just sit by and wait. Mandy is in danger. I have to help."
"You want to help? Here, look over this footage for anything suspicious, while I look up bank statements."
"Alright then." Tiffany sits down and takes over security footage duties while Emily changes her focus. "Hey Emily. Thanks"
Emily smiles, reassuringly and takes off her sunglasses, revealing a missing eye and a brutal scar. "Don't worry about it. We'll find Mandy. Nothing will stop us."
The morgue. A gray, sterile room with three cold metal tables and a wall of draws. Each designed to hold a dead body. One table had a body on it, covered head to toe in a white tarp. A young lady is sitting at a desk, typing on a computer. She's wearing a black shirt underneath a plain white lab coat with small blood stains spattered
on it. She's wearing white trousers and large black boots. Her hair is long, white and braided and her eyes are bright red. "Thanks for coming, Carla. I promise you'll get your vacation day back in return." Captain Gage says as he waits for Carla's autopsy report.
"I understand the severity." Carla says in a soft and quiet, monotone voice. "It's unfortunate when someone dies. Especially someone close. I didn't know Chris well, but I feel like I do now. As I do with everyone I autopsy. My condolences, Marcus."
"Thank you, Carla. So, what did you learn?"
"Chris was dying."
"What?"
"You didn't know? He definitely would have known. He had cancer. His liver. It was severe, he wouldn't have survived the year without a transplant."
"So that's why he was so desperate to find the money. He needed it for his operation. Damn, if he told us, I'm sure everyone would have pitched in to help."
"Humans are complex and secretive creatures. Everyone is a mystery. We can't expect to know every person's thoughts and feelings. You did what you could with what you knew about him. That's all that can be expected."
"Thanks Carla. What about the bullets? Anything stand out?"
"Not at first glance. You'll have to go to the forensics lab and check with David."
"Alright then. Thanks, Carla." Captain Gage leaves the morgue.
Carla gets up off her seat and walks over to the body on the table. "Secrets are a stupid thing to die over. Idiot."
Captain Gage enters the forensics lab. The room is well maintained. Fitted with high tech equipment of all kinds. Desks surround the room, with all the equipment a forensic scientist could need. Standing over a microscope, is a short, old man. He's got hardly any hair left on his head, his wrinkles have wrinkles and he's wearing a labcoat identical to Carla's. "David. Got anything for me?"
The man turns around and faces captain
Gage. "Oh hello captain. May I offer you a drink? I fixed the coffee machine earlier so it should work now."
"I don't have time, David. The case is too important."
"Indeed. You're quite right. The gun used to kill officer Chris Stucker was a common pump action shotgun. The killer could have gotten it from anywhere. However, he was sloppy and forgot to pick up his shell casing."
"I suppose, even with military style training, you can slip up in a rushed situation. Did it have any fingerprints on it?"
"That's where our luck runs out. It's clean."
"So what you're saying is, we've got nothing?"
"I'm sorry, captain. They didn't leave much to go on."
"Damn it!" Captain Gage shouts and slams his fist on a table. "What do we do now?"
A clenched fist swings into my face, the impact causing pain on my bruised eye and bleeding, possibly broken, nose. I take a breath and spit out some blood. I look up at my attacker. "Is that the best you've got? One of my adoptive fathers used to hit me harder than that."
"False bravado won't save you, Amanda. Now, you'll tell me what I want to know"
Alex Meridian punches me in the face again. I hold back the tears and yells of pain. I can't show weakness, not now. "I
don't know where the money is. I don't even know if it exists at this point. Besides, if it does, my dad's probably run off with it by now. You'll never get a cent of it. I promise you that."
Alex punches me again, then takes a handkerchief out of his pocket and cleans his knuckles with it. "You're strong. I'll give you that. How about we test how strong your sister is, shall we."
"Don't you dare hurt her. If you lay a finger on her, I swear I'll kill you." I yell.
"Then tell me where the money is and I won't have to hurt her."
"I swear I don't know."
"Not good enough." Alex Meridian punches me one more time, knocking the chair I'm
sitting on to the ground, then he turns around and leaves the room.
"Fucking coward!" I yell at him as he shuts the door. I look around the room, trying to find something to help me escape, I can't find anything though. There's only one exit and all I've got within reach is...I suddenly realize my hands aren't as tightly tied as before. The rope must have gotten loose. I shake around a bit and eventually, one of my hands is freed. I untie the rest of the rope and get up off the ground. 'OK. No phone, no gun, no backup. OK Mandy, think.' I look around the room for something I can use as a weapon. My eyes focus on the only thing in the room, besides the dead body. The chair. I position the chair at an angle and stomp down on it, hard. With a snap, one of the legs breaks off. I pick it up and swing it like a baseball bat. "It'll do." I quietly sneak up
the stairs and press my ear to the door to listen if there's anyone behind it. I can't hear anything, so I asses my options. I could either slowly open the door but it might be locked, and just because I heard nothing, that doesn't mean there's nobody there. Opening the door slowly could attract attention. Option two. The door is your simple, old, wooden door. All it needs is a bit of leverage. Option two it is. I prepare for a fight and, with all my strength, I kick the door open. It works. The door swings open with a burst of splinters. Turns out, that was the right option. On the other side of the door is a long, white hallway. Sitting a few feet away, is a man, presumably a guard, reading a magazine. He notices my dramatic entrance and gets up off his chair. He attempts to reach for a pistol, holstered on his waist, but I don't give him the opportunity. I run up to him and swing the
chair leg I'm holding, right into the man's head. He falls to the ground in a daze and I take the opportunity to grab his gun from him. I grab him by his shirt and lift him up. I point the gun to his head. "Where is my sister!?" I yell at him.
"I don't know. I swear. The boss just said to stay guard and shoot you if you escape." The man whimpers.
"Ok, bitch. Where's the boss?"
"Hold on a sec. Something about this doesn't seem right. These numbers aren't adding up." Emily says aloud, typing away as usual.
"What's up, Em?" Tiffany asks.
"The Meridians. Thanks to your testimony, we got a warrant for their financials. So I'm trying to find something suspicious about them, that may lead to figuring out their involvement."
"So what's wrong?"
"It says here that they're broke. So much so, that there's no way they could afford to keep living in a mansion like they do."
"They didn't seem to be in any financial distress when me and Mandy visited. Check with Sophie. She should be there by now."
"Good idea." Tiffany picks up her phone and makes a call to Sophie.
The phone rings for a bit, then Sophie picks up. "Hey Emily. Is Tiffany OK?"
"Yeah. She's fine. A little impatient but she's doing well, all things considered. Have you spoken to the Meridians yet?"
"No. They weren't home. Nobody was. Unfortunately, thanks to a huge security gate, I can't get a look inside. Why ask?"
"Their finances are down the drain. They couldn't be more broke. So where is the money coming from?"
"Could they have the magpie money?"
"Unlikely. Grace was looking for it. She'd probably know if they had it."
"Oh. Emily. Put the phone on speaker. I just realized something." Tiffany says in a hurry. Rushing over to the desk Emily is sitting at. Emily presses the speaker button. "Sophie. Listen. If the Meridians
are so broke. How could they afford to put Grace in rehab for years?"
"What are you thinking, Tiffany?" Sophie asks. Curious to see where this is going.
"I like your thinking, Tiffany." Emily says as she types faster.
"Emily. I can hear you typing. What are you doing?" Sophie asks, concerned.
"Who's typing? Who's Emily?" She responds jokingly. "Holy shit. Tiffany you genius. Come take a look at this."
Tiffany looks at Emily's laptop. "Well, that explains that."
"Could someone please tell me what you found?" Sophie asks, desperately.
Bang! Bang!
Gunfire disperses from all angles. 'How many guards did Alex hire?' I think to myself while I hide around a corner, trying not to get shot by the many guards approaching me. I look at my gun I picked up. No ammo. "Fucking great. Now what?" I look around to find an exit. I have no choice but to leave this place. I can't save Grace if I'm dead. Plus, thankfully, it seems the Meridians need her for something, so they won't kill her. Yet. "Hold on, Grace. I'll find you. I promise." I find a door that leads to a stairwell. I run for it when the gunfire stops. I run upstairs and hear the guards coming after me. I reach the ground floor and exit out to a room I recognise. The lobby of the rehab center. And it's filled with guards. All pointing their guns at me.
"I'm sorry Grace. I failed you."
Bang! Bang! Bang!
"NYPD! Get down on the ground! Drop your weapons!"
'Oh thank God.' I think to myself as a group of familiar people rush into the lobby.
Sophie, Captain Gage, Mark, and even Holly, with help from a bunch of uniformed cops, arrest the guards and shoot the ones who try to fight back. Once all the chaos is over, Sophie rushes up to me and hugs me. "Oh my goodness. You're OK."
"Heya Sophie. Took you long enough." I say, jokingly.
"Don't be an ass, Mandy. We were really worried. Especially..."
"Mandy!" Tiffany appears and runs up to me. She hugs me tight. Tears rolling down her face. "I was so worried. I thought I lost you."
"I missed you too, Tiff. I'm glad you are OK." I hug Tiffany when the others come over to us.
"You've got some battle scars there, Mandy." Captain Gage says as he approaches. "How are you feeling?"
"Better." I say with a smile.
"Hey, Mandy. Last I saw you, your face didn't look so ugly" Holly jokes.
"Still prettier than you, Holly." I joke back. We both laugh together.
"See Tiffany. I told you she's OK. She's too stubborn to die."
"You're not wrong, Emily." I say as we hug.
"Glad to see you alive and well, Amanda."
"Hey Mark. I'm surprised you came too. What happened to keeping it safe until retirement?"
"My family was in trouble. I came to help. No questions asked. I'm sure you would have done the same for me."
"In a heartbeat." Everyone gathers around me and hugs. "So. What happened to Chris?"
"He died." Sophie said, sadly.
"Damn. How'd you guys find me, anyway?"
"Oh that was thanks to Tiffany." Emily says.
"I can't take all the credit."
"Don't be modest, young detective. You're a genius. There's no denying that."
"Thanks Mark."
"Um, guys. You didn't answer my question. How'd you find me?"
"It's a long story." Tiffany says. "Where's Grace?"
"They have her."
"The Meridians?" Tiffany asks.
"Yeah. You know?"
"It's part of how we found you. How do you
know?"
"Alex Meridian was the one who did this to my face. He was hitting me over and over..." I hesitate for a second. The fear of the moment, finally gripping me. Tiffany and Sophie both pick up on this and hug me again. "Thanks girls. I'm OK now. Anyway, back to Alex. He was only asking for one thing. "Where's the money?" It's all he seemed to care about."
"It's because he's broke." Emily clarifies. "His security business is going under. Though one thing still confuses me. If he's broke, how can he afford this rehab center?"
"Hold on. Afford this center? What do you mean?" I ask.
"The rehab center is owned by the
Meridians. It's paid for under a secret bank account."
"Emily, hack this place. Find out everything you can." I say, confident we will uncover more answers.
"Ok. Give me just a second, and done. OK I'm in. What am I looking for?"
"Emails. Correspondents. Anything that doesn't seem right."
"This definitely doesn't seem right. There's apparently a lab here, somewhere. Actually, there's multiple. Twenty six in fact. I've got multiple emails saying things like, lab twelve, production slow. Lab 8 accident report. Construction underway for lab twenty seven."
"Emily, check security cameras. Find out
where Alex ran off to. Also, see if you can find one of these labs." I ask her.
"Checking now. Bugger. Alex Meridian is gone. I've got footage of him getting in a helicopter, just before we arrived."
"Damn it. He's our only lead to finding Grace."
"Don't worry, boss. We'll find her." Tiffany reassures me.
"Woah. Check this out. I've found a lab. It's a drug lab." Emily turns her laptop to us, showing us footage from a drug lab. The room is dark and filled with all sorts of science equipment.
"The Meridians are drug dealers? Holy shit."
"Well, now you guys know where they get
their money from." Holly says.
"Hold on. The Meridians are drug dealers who use this rehab center as their drug lab. It's not a rehab center at all, is it? So why put Grace here after her accident?" I have most of the pieces of the puzzle, but I'm still missing something important and it's bothering me. Wait a minute. That's it. "It's Grace. It's always been Grace."
"Mandy? Care to share with the rest of us?" Sophie asks. Confused by my outburst.
"Ok, so, hear me out. The Meridians are drug dealers. Very successful ones too, especially if they can hide in plain sight like this. One day, they hear about the Magpie and all the money he stole. Then, the Magpie's daughters are put up for adoption. They adopt Grace. Not because
of love, but because they think she can lead them to the money."
"Hold on, boss. What if the missing persons report isn't off the record. What if they changed their minds about filing it in the first place. What if, they leave Grace alone and let her lead them straight to the money. Maybe even help Grace without her knowing."
"Tiffany, that's brilliant. You deserve a raise."
"But then, why do the Meridians want the money so badly?" Sophie asks.
"Greed. They just want more." Captain Gage answers.
"Probably. But I still don't see why Grace wants it." I say aloud.
"Only one way to find out. Ask her." Holly says.
"You're right. Emily. Can you track the helicopter?"
"Already on it. It flies south, then I lose it over the state border. It could be anywhere by now."
"FUCK! We've lost them." Damn it. I can't let it end here. I refuse.
"Sorry, Amanda. It's out of our jurisdiction. We can't reach it."
"You can't, perhaps. But I can. Emily, find me that helicopter. I'm crossing the border."
"Amanda."
"Captain?"
"Be careful"
"No promises, Captain. I'm going to do whatever it takes to save my sister."
