Chapter Four

Everyone other than the paramedics stood in shock as the mysterious phone call abruptly ended.

"What are they talking about?!" Scotch exclaimed. "Did they try to kill Lawton to get at you?!"

"That's definitely what they indicated," Hans said angrily. "And now they're threatening to harm Anna! I don't know what they're talking about; I don't have anything that belongs to someone else!"

"Maybe Lawton does?" Radley suggested.

"That's possible," Hans agreed. "But we won't be able to ask him."

Radley watched as the paramedics started to wheel Lawton out of the room and towards the elevator. "I'd better call Malcolm and let him know what's happened," he said with a heavy heart.

Hans sighed and nodded. "You should. And I'll have to go through all of our belongings to see if I can find something that shouldn't be there."

"What are you going to do about going to the track tomorrow?" Scotch asked.

"I'll still go," Hans said. "Now, more than ever, I need to draw this madman out before something else goes drastically wrong!"

"He might go after Anna there instead of you," Kalin pointed out.

"I know," Hans said. "But that could happen whether I'm there or not. Anna needs to be warned, but she'll never believe it coming from me."

"The police will probably handle it," Kalin said. "You shouldn't even try."

While they discussed how to let Anna know what was happening, Radley was dialing the Facility on his phone. His request to speak with Malcolm was swiftly granted and the older man soon appeared on the holographic projector. This time he looked much less grouchy than earlier.

"Well? What've you found out, Radley?" he asked.

Radley gave a heavy sigh. "There's been a lot of trouble, Malcolm. It is our Lawton we've been looking for. I'm really sorry to have to tell you this, but he's been badly hurt."

Malcolm wavered. "How bad?"

"He was stabbed with a poisoned knife," Radley said. "They almost lost him."

Now Malcolm paled. "Is he going to make it?"

"We don't know yet," Radley said. "I promise I'll keep you updated."

"And they don't know who could have done it?!" Malcolm's eyes flashed. He knew better than anyone that Lawton had committed more than enough crimes to get people angry enough to harm him, but it still upset him that someone would.

"We don't," Radley sighed. "Someone is trying to kill the race car driver Lawton was managing and it looks like he was a casualty of that. We're trying to figure out now who's behind it."

"Who is this guy?" Malcolm asked. "Not that I'd know anything, but . . ."

"He's going by the name Hans Joris to race," Radley said carefully. "Do any of the prisoners at the Facility talk about him?"

"Yeah, some do," Malcolm said. "I'll try to poke around and see if anybody knows something."

Radley smiled a bit in touched surprise. "That would be really great, Malcolm. Thanks. Be careful, though. If you stumble on something, you might become a target too."

"I know Lawton's not worth that after the way he treated me," Malcolm said gruffly. "But I'm going to look into things anyway."

"Okay," Radley said. "I'll talk to you later."

The others were still standing around as he hung up. Hans especially looked troubled.

"Are you going to the hospital?" Kalin asked.

Hans sighed and shook his head. "I wouldn't be able to do anything there. They'll call me when they have some news or if he's awake. I'm not expecting much for tonight. I'm going to try to rest for tomorrow." He doubted he would sleep, however.

"We should try to sleep too," Radley said.

Hans nodded. "Do that. I haven't found anything in my room that isn't mine or his, but I'll also need to go through anything of Lawton's that survived the blast at the hotel."

"Yeah," Radley frowned. It went without saying that this had to be solved fast. This person meant business. "Well, we'll be right across the hall. Let us know if anything else happens."

"I will," Hans said.

Once they were back in their suite, Radley looked to Kalin and Scotch. "This has been a crazy evening," he remarked. "I never thought Lawton would be so brutally attacked like this."

"I wonder how he even was," Kalin remarked. "You'd think someone with Lawton's build couldn't be stabbed even once without more signs of a struggle, at least in the chest."

"Hmm. It would be hard to really get the drop on him," Radley remarked. "Especially coming straight at him. He would immediately fight them off. I'd think stabbing him in the back would be easier than the chest."

"So what does it all mean?!" Scotch exclaimed.

"It means we need more information to really put anything together," Radley sighed. "Hans has the right idea. Let's try to get some sleep."

Scotch hesitated for a long moment. ". . . I never thought I'd need to ask this, but . . . should we be praying for Lawton?"

Both Radley and Kalin paused, blinking in surprise at the awkward, earnest question.

". . . Maybe pray he survives long enough to tell us something helpful," Kalin grunted at last. "You thought he said 'Raisin.' That can't be right."

"It did sound like 'Raisin'!" Scotch retorted.

"Maybe it was something else that just sounded that way?" Radley mused. "We'll have to make a list of everything that could sound like 'Raisin,' especially if the person is slurring."

"It would probably have to be something else that starts with 'R,'" Kalin said. "No other sounds are similar to that."

"Raydon, resin . . ." Radley sighed and shook his head. "Let's think about it after we sleep. And . . ." He smiled at Scotch. "It does say in the Bible to pray for our enemies. If you're thinking of doing that, it would be a nice gesture. Not that Lawton would even appreciate it, but maybe something like that is more for the person praying anyway."

Scotch nodded. "Yeah. . . ." He headed to the bathroom to brush his teeth. "I think I will."

Radley smiled after him. "Scotch really does have a pure heart."

Kalin sighed and shook his head. "Even if we're supposed to pray, I don't feel much like it. Not for him. Not after all he's done to us without repentance or remorse."

"I know." Radley laid a hand on his shoulder. "And that's okay."

"Maybe it's not." Kalin looked concerned. "I don't want to be damned because I can't make myself forgive him. But if I only pray for that reason, it probably wouldn't count anyway."

"Maybe pray that you can feel like sincerely praying for him and forgiving him?" Radley suggested. "I really struggle with forgiving him myself. But . . . I'd like to feel as Scotch does."

"Maybe I'll do that," Kalin said.

Radley smiled and patted his shoulder. "Let's get some sleep if we can."

Kalin wondered if he would sleep at all with these new concerns, but he nodded.

xxxx

The second attempt had been cutting the brake line on his car. He had never thought he would experience the terror of flying down the highway with no brakes, but now he knew what it was like. After finally swerving off the road and making the car hit a bush to stop, he slumped over the steering wheel, breathing heavily and trying to get himself under control.

"What happened there?!" Lawton suddenly demanded from the passenger seat.

"The brakes were gone!" Hans insisted. "If this had happened during a race, I'd be dead!"

Lawton snarled and got out, then bent down to look at the brake line. "Cleanly cut and leaking fluid!" he announced angrily.

"It was deliberate then, just like the knives!" Hans was furious now. "And this time your life was in danger too!"

Lawton straightened, his eyes narrowed. He knew that very well and he didn't like it one bit.

"You didn't have any luck figuring out the knives," Hans said. "There probably won't be any clues now either."

"I'll look into it anyway," Lawton said. "Maybe someone saw someone hanging around your car." He got back inside and took out his phone. "I'm calling the insurance. They probably won't get here for ninety minutes, so we need to get going on the wait."

Hans scowled and folded his arms. Lawton was unfortunately probably right on that.

"Do you still think that queen isn't behind this?" Lawton growled as he dialed.

"I'm sure she's not," Hans said. "This isn't her style at all. I can't feature her hiring an assassin in the first place, and especially not one who's trying all these different methods."

"Who, then?" Lawton retorted.

"I don't know," Hans said. "It's probably someone I've never met, some random, angry citizen of Arendelle or some crazed fan of the movie, like we already talked about."

"I wonder," Lawton said.

"Do you have any other ideas?" Hans asked.

"No," Lawton said. "Not yet anyway. But you can bet I'm going to be thinking about it." Then the insurance agent finally came on and Lawton began to gruffly explain the problem.

Hans opened his eyes to the light of the new morning. For a moment he lay there, somewhat surprised he had been asleep at all. He hadn't thought he would succeed in that after the events of the past night.

Sighing, he reached for his phone and checked for calls or messages. There was neither. Most likely, the situation at the hospital had not changed.

Well, the best thing he could do for himself and Lawton both was to try to get to the bottom of this mess once and for all. He would make a quick trip to the Royal Hotel to look at the remains of Lawton's room and then go on to the track.

Hopefully the police had managed to get in touch with Elsa and Anna to explain the problems to them. They needed to know of the possible danger surrounding them, and he hated to think of how poorly that would go if he tried to do it.

He got up with a sigh and moved to get dressed.

xxxx

Radley, Kalin, and Scotch were ready to make the trip to the Royal Hotel with Hans by the time he was prepared to leave. In the lobby of their own hotel, they met up with Billy and the others of the Bunch he had brought.

"Biff!" Scotch grinned as he bounded over to his other best friend. "It's been an adventure and a half so far! With all of us here, I know we can crack this case soon!"

Biff looked at him and shook his head. "How did all of this even happen?" he wondered. "I needed to stay in town yesterday and you guys were only supposed to be gone a couple of hours for you to get this out of your system! Now we're all mixed up in a murder plot!"

"Yeah, and someone even tried to kill Lawton!" Scotch said.

"That's not really a surprise," Billy scoffed.

"It's sure made things a lot more hectic," Radley said. "It looks like he was attacked just because he's Hans' manager and not because of the horrible things he's done."

"That's so off-the-wall," Jimmy said. "Why?!"

"If we knew that, we might have the secret to all of this insanity," Hans said as he stepped forward to head for the doors. "All we know for sure is that he was attacked because he or I have something the culprit feels is theirs. So far I've had no luck uncovering anything that fits." He paused and looked back at the newly expanded group. "I'm Hans Westergaard, by the way. I guess there's no point using that fake name here."

"We all know the truth anyway," Virgil said.

"Of course," Hans agreed with a nod. "Well, I hate to be rude, but I have to hurry to get to an appointment. If you're all coming, we need to leave now."

"We're coming," Radley promised.

Things still seemed to be chaotic at the Royal Hotel, with rooms #9 and #10 blocked off by crime tape. But with Hans and company arriving with the police, they were allowed access to the rooms.

"Just find anything you can that belongs to Lawton," an officer encouraged. "Or yourself."

Kalin looked around warily at the demolished rooms. "You know, I thought of something," he remarked. "Why would someone blow up these rooms and risk destroying what they want so bad?"

"They're either idiots with itty-bitty pea brains . . . or they know it isn't in the rooms," Radley said.

"Where, then?" Hans frowned. "In the car? On my or Lawton's person?"

"They're ideas worth trying," Radley said, "but I'm sure you already have."

"I checked my clothes, anyway," Hans said. "I don't find anything that's not supposed to be there."

"Maybe it's Lawton then," Radley said. "If it's not one of you, it must be in these rooms or the car."

Kalin nodded. "It's obviously not a case of mistaken identity when they've gone out of their way to make it clear who they want and why."

Hans sighed in frustration. "Well, in any case, I can't find anything here that could be a candidate for what they want." He stepped back and surveyed the room. "I'm going to call the hospital and then go to the track." He took out his phone.

Radley sighed too. "I hope going to the track is the right approach. They may not take the bait. Whoever this is, they seem to be pretty methodical."

"If it was me, I'd probably go to the track too," Kalin said. "At this point, I don't know what else he can try other than sitting around just waiting for the next thing to go wrong."

"And that sure wouldn't be either your approach or his," Radley remarked. He folded his arms. "The fact that they just keep staying in the shadows and doing all these horrible things says to me that they think Hans knows who they are and what they want and that he just won't give it up. Otherwise, they could just call him up and talk straight asking for it."

"Do you think he does know and this is all an elaborate act?" Kalin asked.

"I just can't feature him being that stupid about his own life even if he doesn't care about anyone else's," Radley said.

"I think he cares," Scotch said. "He looked genuinely horrified last night about Lawton, and also when that creep called him up to threaten Anna!"

Radley smiled a bit. "He did, you're right."

Hans hung up looking discouraged but not surprised. "They gave him the antidote to the poison, but they're not sure if his body's accepted it. He's still unconscious and barely clinging to life. They're looking into asking his brother to go to him and see if that would help any to get him to fight to live."

"It won't," Kalin said flatly. "If Lawton isn't strong enough on his own, he'll die."

"Malcolm will probably agree to try anyway," Radley said.

"He's just lucky this person used a kind of poison that an antidote was available for," Hans said. "It must have been an elaborate scare this time. They probably don't want him to die." His eyes darkened. "But they said it will be different if they target Anna. I'm not going to allow that."

"Did the police get in touch with her?" Kalin asked.

"I called and was told they had," Hans said. He walked past them to the door. "I'm going to the track."

Radley watched him go. "And we are too," he mused.

"Let's hope this isn't a mistake," Kalin grunted.

xxxx

Hans had known it was a high possibility that he might run across Anna as she and Elsa were finishing up at the track. But somehow he hadn't fully expected to literally walk right into her upon arrival.

"Excuse me, I . . ."

"I'm so sorry, I . . ."

And then they just stared at each other. Anna going several shades of pale was unmistakable. "Hans. . . ."

He stepped back. "I really wasn't watching where I was going. I'm sorry."

To her credit, she pulled herself together very fast. "What are you doing here?" Her voice was frosty at best.

"I have the track next," he explained. "Didn't the police mention that when they called?"

"Police?" Anna frowned. "Why would they be calling?"

Hans stared at her. "They didn't call?! I was told they had!"

"Well, they didn't," Anna said. "Whatever lie you're pulling now isn't going to work."

Hans was still reeling. He had been lied to! Why? Now things were even more complicated. He sighed heavily. This was going to take a lot of explaining.

". . . Someone's trying to kill me," he said at last. "It's not a lie, it's the truth."

"Oh, and the police think maybe it's us?" Anna interjected.

"No!" Hans exclaimed. "I know it wouldn't be you! No, you see, my manager was almost killed last night and I got a phone call that you would be next if I didn't give them something I supposedly have of theirs."

From Anna's expression, she didn't believe one word. "You'd better give it to them then."

"I don't even know what it is," Hans said. "This all has to be some terrible misunderstanding."

"Just like when you left me to die and tried to kill Elsa," Anna said. "Right? A terrible misunderstanding." She moved to walk past him, but paused. ". . . I hope your manager will be okay, if he's really been hurt."

"So do I," Hans said.

He just watched helplessly as Anna walked off. That certainly could have gone worse than it had. He had fully expected to be punched in the face. But she definitely didn't believe him and didn't even know what he was talking about.

And why didn't she? Why hadn't the police contacted her, and why had he been lied to and told they had?

This was going to require immediate investigation. The track would have to wait.

xxxx

Anna was aware that she had started to tremble after walking away from Hans. She had known the day was likely to come, had prepared for it, steeled herself for it, and then when it had happened, she had felt herself start to shatter inside upon seeing him again. He was charming again, and endearingly clumsy, and he had seemed sincerely worried.

But he wasn't. She knew he wasn't. She could never believe anything he said ever again.

And in spite of her best efforts, that still made her tear up inside.

And outside. She brushed away an angry tear.

"Hey! Anna, what's wrong?"

She turned to look at a confused and concerned Kristoff. Dear Kristoff . . . so vastly different from Hans' refined behavior, but still so much the superior person in every way.

She drew a shaking breath. "I just saw Hans," she said.

Kristoff stiffened. "What?! What's that creep doing here?!"

Anna gave a helpless shrug. "He said he has the track next. And . . ." She hesitated. Should she tell the rest?

"What did he say to you?" Kristoff demanded. "It must have been more than that!"

". . . He said I'm in danger from someone trying to kill him," Anna admitted. "They got his manager and then threatened me."

Kristoff's eyes flashed. "Where is he?" he snarled. "I'll go punch him out and try to get security to toss him out for harassing you!"

Anna was moved, but her response surprised even her. "No," she said. "He honestly acted worried. I . . . I don't want you to punch him or have him thrown out."

Kristoff froze. "You can't believe him!" he said in disbelief.

"Not really," Anna said. "But he wondered why the police hadn't contacted us. It would be easy enough to check and find out if they were supposed to call. I'd like to know about that before doing anything else." She looked around. "Have you seen Elsa?"

"She should be changing to leave," Kristoff said, glancing around. "Let's go ask Olaf and Sven if they've seen her."

Anna nodded. "Okay."

But as they started walking, it only took a moment to see that Elsa had instead spotted Hans and was striding over to him in angry determination. "What are you doing here?" she demanded.

"I came to use the track," Hans explained. "And I need to talk to you. I know you don't have any reason to believe me, but Anna is in danger. Maybe you are too."

"And who are we in danger from? You?" Snowflakes were starting to appear in the air above Elsa. Extreme emotions could still trigger her powers, even though now she was usually able to keep them under control.

Hans held up his hands in protest. "No! No, not from me. From someone trying to kill me! They threatened Anna last night after poisoning my manager. The police were supposed to contact you and let you know, but Anna didn't know anything about it. It doesn't sound like you do either."

"I don't," Elsa agreed. "And I don't believe anything you say."

Hans held his ground. "It shouldn't take much to find out if I'm telling the truth. Just call them."

Anna hurried over now. "Let's do that, Elsa," she said, taking her sister's arm. "Let's call them."

Elsa glowered at Hans, not taking her eyes from him even as she let Anna pull her back. "Yes," she said. "We'll call. And if this doesn't check out . . ."

"It will," Hans insisted. He stepped back, allowing them to leave without protest.

Kristoff gave him a look that epitomized the oft-used phrase If looks could kill. He clearly had a lot he wanted to say, but respecting Anna's wishes, he just left with the girls instead.

Watching from a distance since they were not allowed on the track, Radley sighed in relief. "It looks like that crisis has been averted, at least for now."

"I wonder what's going on down there," Kalin frowned. "The way they're acting, it looks like Elsa and Anna don't know anything about what's happened."

Hans walked over to the fence to see them. "They don't," he said, overhearing Kalin, "and I don't like it. Why didn't the police get in touch with them? We need to find out now! At best, it's a bad mistake. At worst, a crooked police officer wouldn't let the message go through and then lied to me and said it had!"

Radley's eyes narrowed. "We definitely need to know," he agreed. "Who did you talk to when you called?"

"I talked to Officer Trudge and he told me what someone called Gabrielle Valesquez said," Hans said. "She was the one who was supposed to have contacted them."

Kalin frowned more. "They're both honest. Something's not adding up here at all."

"Well, nevermind the track now," Hans said. "I'm going to the police station."

Kalin nodded. "I'll let Yusei know to meet us there instead of here." He took out his phone.