Author's Note: Hi, everyone! Told you I wouldn't be long! College apps are going smoothly. I've even gotten some acceptance letters, which is a huge relief. A bit nervous about my Bio IA though...

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the chapter! :)

15. Kale

Kale Platz flew into Australia early the next morning.

He informed Fiona as soon as he landed, who had been closely following his trip anyway. It was all she could do when she was so anxious. For the whole day, Saul's status had not changed. Having evaded the law for over twenty-four hours, he was still a fugitive, and the police were still looking for him.

Such news came as both a relief and a nasty shock for Mrs. Greeniaus. On the one hand, her husband was still free from police custody! On the other, things hadn't been cleared up with the police yet. Just what on Earth was going on?

Fiona had even tried to call Saul to no avail. His phone rang out before going to voicemail in the beginning and by the end it didn't even ring anymore. Wasn't Saul supposed to be investigating Cadel's case? Fiona wondered just what he was doing.

The prevailing theory was that Saul had been kidnapped by Prosper English. It was what the children thought, it was the adults thought. Even though they tried not to talk about it while Fiona was around, continued to treat her with kid gloves, she had caught snippets of the conversations they had while she wasn't in the room.

"But if that were the case what on Earth would Prosper even be doing with him?" She heard Lexi ask on her way to breakfast that fateful morning (she didn't feel like eating anything, but Judith had talked her into at least getting a piece of fruit down). She paused in her tracks. She hadn't reached the doorway yet, so everyone's faces were invisible to her. She could only hear their voices.

"Killing him, probably," was Devin's morose response. Fiona couldn't stop the hand from flying to her mouth.

"Devin!" Lexi shrieked, but to Fiona's shock Sonja jumped in to defend him.

It-makes-perfect-sense, she had chimed in through the agency of her speech synthesizer. -wouldn't-he-want-to-kill-him?

"Because it would hurt Cadel?" Gazo's cockney accent was tentative, as if he wasn't sure what he was saying. Perhaps he expected to be struck down, which was exactly what Hamish did.

"Why would P-P-Prosper care about that?" he snorted. He sounded like he had food in his mouth.

"Cadel seemed pretty convinced Prosper had saved him after he returned from America."

But-Cadel-admitted-himself-that-was-mostly-just-the-shock-and-trauma. He-told-me-later-he-changed-his-mind,-anyway.

"Funny," Gazo said. "Cadel never told me anything like that."

"I'm sure he p-probably d-d-did," Hamish said, presumably still through a mouthful of food. "I'm g-guessing you just weren't listening."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Gazo sounded injured. Now Fiona came to the doorway, poked her head around the corner to see what was happening in Judith's kitchen. Sonja, Hamish, Gazo and the Wienecki twins were all there from the look of it. Hamish had a bowl of cereal in front of him. He set his spoon down in the bowl and spoke plainly.

"What I mean is, out of all of C-Cadel's friends, you're n-not exactly the smartest or the most obser-servant…" Gazo colored.

"I know that," he spluttered. "But what's that got to do with this? You think I'm wrong about Cadel's true feelings for Prosper English?"

"Yes!" Hamish urged. "Why on Earth would he h-h-harbor any affection for someone who held a g-g-gun to his head and got me into an accident‽ It'd b-be insane for him to think any different!"

"Then why was Cadel so adamant that Prosper had saved him before?"

"I don't know," Hamish spluttered. "But that's n-not how he thinks now! He told me!"

He-told-me-too, Sonja agreed.

"Well, that's not what he told me!" Gazo said, turning away from the group. He eyed the fruit basket on Judith's counter.

"Well, then what do you think is going on with Saul and Prosper, then?" Lexi asked. Her voice carried a lot less hostility than Hamish's.

Gazo only shook his head. "Honestly, I've got no idea."

"Of course, he doesn't," Hamish scoffed.

"Perhaps they're working together?" Gazo suggested cautiously. Silence fell in the room. Even Fiona gaped. You would've thought he'd grown three heads with the way everyone was staring at him.

Compelled by the quiet, Gazo cleared his throat before he argued his case. "They both claimed to be Cadel's father at one point. Maybe they both want to find him?"

Gazo's bright gray eyes canvassed the room, but only Lexi returned his gaze. Devin simply headed to the fridge while Hamish shook his head over his bowl of cereal. Sonja snorted and Fiona was pretty sure it wasn't the cerebral palsy.

"Mornin' everyone!" Judith's booming voice filled the room as she entered the kitchen. She looked back at the doorway. "Fiona, what are you doin' in there? Aren't you going to grab anything to eat?"

"Oh! Uh…" Fiona stepped into the kitchen, flushing, as did everyone else who had been in the kitchen before. She had been caught eavesdropping while they had been caught speculating openly about her family. It was embarrassing all around, but as always, Judith either didn't notice or didn't care. She grabbed an apple from the fruit basket.

"Here, have some of this. You've really gotta eat somethin' love. Can't have Saul and Cadel coming home to you starved to death!"

"No, I suppose not," Fiona said, and she took a tentative bite of the apple, still feeling everyone's eyes on her. Judith was so nice, but Fiona sure wished she could be more subtle about things.

Meanwhile, Judith herself migrated to the pantry. She stood in the kitchen, noisily shoving around boxes of rice and cans of soup. "Oi, Sonja!" She boomed, filling the silence all on her own. "What would you like for breakfast?"

Some-oatmeal-sounds-nice-this-morning.

"Any brown sugar?"

Yes-please.

The phone rang. "Oh! I've got it!" shouted Gazo, but Judith was quicker. She picked up the receiver right before him.

"That's quite alright, Gazo," Judith said politely. "But I can handle the phone. Could you please make Sonja her breakfast, please?" and without even waiting for an answer, she shoved the box of oatmeal packets into Gazo's hands. "You've reached the Bashford household, who is speaking please?"

Now everyone was interested. As Gazo went to make the oatmeal, Fiona and the teens listened intently to Judith's side of the conversation. She didn't say as much at first, merely nodded with a serious expression, lips pressed together. Her eyes were hard to read.

Finally she said, "Remember…" she trailed off. Then her eyes came alight with a sudden clarity. "Oh, yes, I remember you! We met at the airport!"

A pause as she listened to the voice on the other end. "Yes, I figured… yes, I did see it. Hasn't everyone?... the police station‽… oh, I see. Well, who do you need?... hm, let's see, there's a lot. So there's me, Gazo, Hamish, Sonja, Devin, Lexi, Fiona, Zach, Cliff, Tony…yeah, I think that's everyone… well, of course! But we couldn't possibly all go at once… oh, yes, that makes perfect sense… oh yes, that works… yes, that's perfect… thanks you so much…" Judith nodded. "Yes, see you soon." She put the receiver down.

"Who was it?" asked Lexi.

"Kale Platz. He's in Australia. He's officially back to work on Prosper English's case."

"Kale's back?" Gazo said. He pulled Sonja's bowl of oatmeal from the microwave. "Things must be pretty serious if he's back in the picture."

"They sure are. Kale wants all of us down to the station for an interview."

"What‽" Shouted Fiona and the teens all exclaimed in anger and surprise. Gazo's eyes went wide. Even Sonja was distressed and one of her arms flailed about, almost hitting the coffee table. Judith rushed over to catch it.

"It's not because they suspect us of anything?" Judith assured them all. "They just want to rule us out of any involvement. Not to mention, they think we could have some valuable information pertaining to the case."

"What case?" Hamish asked. "Cadel's disappearance or P-P-Prosper's return?"

"Well, their job is to investigate Prosper. But Kale and many of his colleagues think the two incidents are directly related."

"Well, tell them good luck," Devin snarked. "Because I'm just as stumped on both of those things as everyone else is."

Fiona couldn't help agreeing. What could she possibly tell Kale in an interrogation? Nothing, unless she asserted to him that Saul was innocent. But her claim had not a shred of evidence or reasoning behind it. Nothing but the longing for it in her heart to be true. And she knew Kale, as serious about his job as he was, would never accept her version of the story. At least not when all the information was so fuzzy.

"Did Kale say anything about Saul?" Fiona asked Judith. She shook her head.

Not a word in the phone call, though I suspect Kale will have no shortage of questions in your interview."

Fiona nodded. Boy, she was really dreading today.

"Alright, people!" Judtih shouted to everyone in the room. "I suggest you all eat quick and start getting ready! And this is a police interview. So I recommend you all dress nicely as well." Judith stared down Hamish, Lexi and Devin who all scowled but accepted her words, silently finishing their breakfast as quickly as possible. Gazo gave Judith Sonja's bowl of oatmeal and withdrew. Fiona followed not long after, because she felt she would need quite a bit of time alone to prepare for this interview.

Oh, Saul, she thought, her eyes welling with tears for the thousandth time. Where are you?

It was a day out of sorts. It had to be. Judith's home was so far away from the police headquarters in downtown Sydney that it would've been beyond impractical to have everyone drive down one at a time for their interview. So everyone had piled into two cars and come into the station together.

Now, a group of ten sat in a sterile white room as they waited for their turn to be interviewed. Interviewed. Fiona couldn't help scoffing at the mere thought of it. This was an interrogation. How could it not be? Nine out of ten of these people had been part of an illegal operation, whether it had been the Axis Institute (Gazo) or Genius Squad (everyone else). Fiona was the only one among them who hadn't participated in either. But she knew that her record wasn't clean anymore. Not in the ways that mattered, not now that Saul, her beloved husband, was a wanted criminal associated with Prosper English.

So Fiona's mood was quite dour as she sat in her seat and waited for her turn to be over. She was quite anxious, as anyone could see from the bouncing of her legs and the way she sighed and huffed while hunched over, fist upon her cheek. She was impatient for the interview to start but at the same time she never wanted it to. Curse Prosper English! Curse the police! Curse this terrible situation!

"Alright, you guys. We gotta be careful." Lexi was addressing her twin, Hamish, and Sonja. She and the former two seemed to have as much energy as usual. "We don't wanna reveal anything about Genius Squad during this interview, okay? No matter what, we can't mention it!"

"Wh-wh-why not?" Hamish spluttered. "I already did my time at that worthless university! There's nothing they can do to me!"

"There's nothing they can do to you," Lexi shouted. "But unlike you and Sonja, Devin and I never got caught!"

Devin laughed aloud and Hamish colored, for he didn't like to be reminded about how he had been forced to go to school while the Wienecki twins had lived it up on their own.

"Well, is it even th-th-that much of an advantage anyway if you still have to worry about being caught? Honestly, I'm quite happy to have all that off my shoulders."

"And if you want my opinion, you really shouldn't be mentioning that sort of thing in a place such as this, anyway."

The teens jumped. A new voice had interrupted their conversation, a serious one with an American accent. Everyone looked up to see a neat man with dark hair, bright silver eyes and a stern expression.

Kale Platz.

"D-D-Detective!" Lexi stammered. She seemed to be in full panic mode. "We weren't uh… well, you didn't… eh, what I mean was… um… you didn't hear that."

Lexi's attempt to avoid suspicion was transparent as hell. But Kale only patted her on the shoulder.

"I know exactly what you did. And your brother too. And all I'll say to that is that you're lucky I have bigger concerns right now." He turned to the rest of the group, the adults. "I trust you're all ready for your interviews?"

Zach nodded, said, "Yes, we are," in that gentle voice of his. "But could you just tell us, really quick, please, what sorts of questions you'll be asking. Will you be diving into our pasts at all?"

"I will actually. But only your dealings with Saul Greeniaus. Any other activities are irrelevant to the investigation at this time."

"Whoo!" Fiona heard Lexi heave a sigh of relief. Many of the others in the group seemed relieved too. But Fiona's heart only sank. She was going to have to work hard to defend her husband's name.

Kale turned to Fiona. "Mrs. Greeniaus, would you mind going first?"

Fiona felt her heart leap. Looking up at Kale, his expression revealed nothing, his gray eyes as unreadable as ever. Judith put a large hand on her shoulder.

Fiona swallowed. She set her jaw.

"No, I wouldn't mind at all," she said, and despite everything she was impressed with herself. Her voice sounded so confident, so even.

Judith patted her shoulder one last time. Fiona stood.

"Good. I'll take you to the office, then." The two departed. Fiona looked back at the small crowd of people one last time. Judith shot her a reassuring smile and Gazo a thumbs-up, trying to be supportive. Lexi, Hamish, and Devin had already lapsed into another argument.

And then Kale led her through the sterile white halls of the police headquarters, to the place where she would be interviewed, no interrogated on her husband's activities.

"Here we are," Kale said after a short walk, and he opened one of the white doors in the hall.

Office. Another word that made Fiona scoff today. She looked at the interrogation room with distaste as she walked in. There were tables and chairs, nothing more, nothing less. There wasn't even a clock in the room! Saul had once told her that all interrogation rooms were like that. It distorts the criminal's perception of time, he had said. It makes them more stressed and thus more likely to confess.

"Take a seat," Kale said. He even offered Fiona a chair, which she took. He then walked to his own seat and turned on his tape recorder.

"This is Kale Platz with the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It is currently 11:29 am on October 29, 2023. This is an interview with first name, Fiona, F-I-O-N-A, last name Greenius, G-R-E-E-N-I-A-U-S."

Then, he read Fiona her Miranda rights.

"How are you today, Mrs. Greeniaus?" he asked.

"Could be better. Life's been stressful these past few days, what with my son being missing and my husband being falsely accused."

"Yes, I would imagine that would be hard on anyone. I'm very sorry, Fiona."

"This is quite a barren office," Mrs. Greeniaus observed pointedly at which point Kale sighed.

"I know you feel this is unfair, Fiona," Officer Platz said, "but we're doing this out of necessity. This is simply to rule you out and make absolute sure that you don't have any ties to… well, the situation."

"And what about Saul‽" Mrs. Greeniaus blurted, her voice rising. "You're acting as if he's a criminal just like Prosper English! When he very likely hasn't done anything wrong!"

"Fiona-"

"You want my theory on things‽ You want to know what I think is happening‽ What is probably happening‽ I bet Prosper English kidnapped him!"

"Mrs. Greeniaus-"

"I bet you Prosper's got both him and Cadel cooped up somewhere, and he's planning to destroy both of them!"

"Do you have any evidence to support this, Fiona."

"Do I need evidence?"

"Fiona-"

"No, think about it! Just think for a second!" Mrs. Greeniaus leaned over the table, until she was all up in Kale's face. "Why would Saul commit any sort of crime? He's a police detective for God's sake, this isn't something he would do!"

"Fiona, I know this is stressful for you, but you're jumping to conclusions."

"And you aren't‽"

"No."

Kale's voice was so calm, so even, so unbothered that it made Fiona stop in her tracks. She straightened and blinked. Her voice, which had been loud and shrill before, lowered to a rumble.

"Oh, really?" She said, and she put her hands on her hips. "Then you must have some proof, then."

"Yes, we do, actually."

Kale Platz pulled out a laptop and a USB stick from his computer bag and placed it on the blank, white table. Fiona's breath caught in her throat. What was he about to show her? Photos? Security footage, perhaps? No! No, there was no way they could have real proof! Fiona's anger burned bright inside her, but now there was another feeling, one that had been there since she first saw her husband's face on the news, floated up to the surface. The claws of fear seized her heart, squeezing it tight.

"I didn't want to show you this," Kale confessed. "Though, I knew I would have to. Your husband, Fiona… there's evidence that he broke into the old GenoMe building."

"What‽" Fiona was dumbfounded. "But… why would he even do that…?"

"We don't know yet, but he was with Prosper English-"

"So Prosper must've made him do it!"

"Fiona. No."

"But-"

"Mrs. Greeniaus, we don't know."

"But there's no other explanation! This is so out of character; this isn't like him at all! There's no way on Earth Saul would commit any sort of crime unless threatened with his death or someone else's!"

"That may be the case, but we're still analyzing the information. Body language, time of day, it's all important. And all of this stuff is relatively new." A pause. "Would you like to see it?"

Fiona scoffed and crossed her arms. "Why would I want to see it‽" She asked, turning her body away from Kale.

"I think you should see it," was Kale's measured response. "Perhaps then it'll drive home to you the nature of the situation."

"I already know the nature of the situation," Mrs. Greeniaus retorted, but Officer Platz was already loading the files. He turned the laptop so it could face her. Kale pressed play.

The image was grainy and dark, mostly because it had taken place at night. The time stamp indicated that it was 4:48 am October 27, 2023. Fiona inhaled sharply. She recognized that date and time. Almost an hour earlier she had become concerned about where Saul was and called him asking if he was alright. Her husband had claimed he was at the station, searching for Cadel.

Had he been lying?

The video depicted an old, abandoned laboratory. Flasks and tubes were scattered around large, dirty lab tables. A giant grate was in the center of the smooth tile floor. With a sickening scrape, it came open. Out emerged a tall man with a trench coat and a hat that obscured his hair. Fiona didn't recognize him at first. It was only when she used context clues, along with old memories of the photos in news reports and Saul and Cadel's accounts that she could figure out just who she was looking at.

"Prosper English," she whispered. Kale nodded, seeming impressed by her deduction skills, despite himself. But Fiona's heart only contained white, hot anger.

You got me into this mess. She wanted to transfer all her hate and anger to the man in that grainy footage.

Except Prosper wasn't the only one. Soon another man followed suit, one she recognized instantly. After all, how could one mistake that neat, wiry frame or that neat, dark hair. Fiona gasped.

"No!" Fiona slammed the laptop shut. "I don't want to see any more."

Silence reigned for several moments. She couldn't dare to look at Kale in the eyes, not when they were so worried and concerned and hers were so full of angry, fearful tears. She hastened to wipe them away.

"Do you see why we have to do this now, Fiona?" Officer Platz finally asked. "Do you see why all of this is necessary?"

"No." Fiona's voice was laced with tears, but it was also harsh and accusing. "Because you're going about this all wrong."

"Bringing down the law on Saul when he's been nothing but a good citizen and an upholder of the law, when he's probably under pressure from that rotten Prosper English, when his own son is missing! And then torturing his wife with your senseless investigation! Is that what you think the right thing is to do in all this‽"

"Fiona-"

"No!" Fiona shot up so fast her chair toppled over. "What you're doing is wrong! It's madness! It's straight up Kafkaesque! I thought in America it was innocent until proven guilty! I thought Saul was your friend!"

"It is! I mean, he is!"

"Then why are you treating him like a criminal!"

"Because that's what the evidence has presented us with!" Kale shouted. And now he stood up too, his chair crashing to the ground just as Fiona's had done. "He's broken into buildings, Fiona! He's in cahoots with multiple criminals! It's suspicious behavior! We have to be careful!"

"Careful? Careful‽"

"Yes, that's right, careful!" Kale said. "That means not jumping to conclusions. That means doing my job the right way!"

"Well, some job you're doing! You have your facts all wrong, I just know you do!"

"And what? You could do it better?"

Fiona paused. She swallowed, still fuming. But Kale was right. How could Fiona do Kale's job? Just hearing about her husband's work when he came home would send shivers down her spine, making her nervous. And Fiona had no illusions about her own state, especially right now, when she was so stressed.

But Fiona also knew that she had nothing to lose. Her son was gone. Her husband was gone. Maybe not forever, but it certainly would turn out that way if she let things go on as they were going on right now. If she didn't take matters into her own hands.

Kale's gaze was steely, bright, and silver, coins glinting under electric light. His jaw was set, his mouth drawn in a thin line. Not even the sweat on his face could ruffle his hair, softening that certain, impeccable expression.

Fiona had to psyche herself up to say what she was going to say next.

"Yes."

"What?"

"Yes," Fiona said, firmer this time. "Yes, I can do a better job than you. And I will."

"Fiona, what?"

"You think you've got it all figured out. You and your police friends. But you're wrong." Fiona pointed a finger. "You're wrong."

"Mrs. Greeniaus-"

"I'll take matters into my own hands! I'll find my own answers! You'll see!"

"And just how are you going to do that‽" Kale asked, putting his hands on his hips. But Fiona had already spun on her heels. She was marching out of the interrogation room.

"Fiona, wait!" Kale called after her. "This interview isn't over-"

The door slammed.

"Interview…" Fiona drawled, with one last, venomous look at the door. "That was as much an interview as this is an investigation."