Blinded
Chapter 6
Current Day
It was like staring into darkness, into pure evil. It made no sense. He knew this man had gone astray but to be this depraved, to want this degree of retribution. He tried not to break eye contact as he regained his breath.
His thoughts went to her praying she wasn't being harmed the way he was. He thought of his kids praying they were safe.
His captor finally broke into a sneer and went towards him. He couldn't help but flinch anticipating another blow. Instead his strong arms reached to the side of the metal, cold chair and began to turn him around. Within moments, he saw her. She had been sitting on her own metal chair, bound, gagged. Bruises were blooming all over her face, blood matted in her blonde hair, and her eyes looked dazed and vacant. He moaned involuntarily straining against his restraints to get to her. He held back a deep sob.
She had to be in such pain.
"I told you she was here"
-STFBE-
The body had been transported to the coroners office. By that time Bobby and Myles had also arrived and had joined them, staying near Marty. Jack had disclosed he couldn't identify the body but it would be first priority of the coroner. Marty broke down. Jack could hardly watch the man, clearly tortured by the unknown. Glancing at Sue, he saw her eyes were teary. She felt his gaze and looked up towards him, her face pale and full of grief. It was all too much.
Bobby and Myles committed to staying with Marty and bring him back to the FBI. With nothing further to do, Sue and Jack left the scene to the CSI's to continue gathering evidence, pushing through the crowds of police, scientists and public who had gathered to see what had happened. Jack had his hand gently at the small of her back, her mind occupied with this case as she was jostled by someone.
"Sorry" she said quietly, as they continued to make their way towards their vehicles. Jack walked her right to her drivers side door and opened it for her as he then went to the back door to let Levi in. She paused. Jack looked at her questioningly.
"Do you think she's still alive?" She asked softly. "Even if that isn't her, who could be so evil to do this to Marty?"
"I don't know Sue. It doesn't look good." Sue nodded. "I know I keep asking, but are you going to be okay?" Sue sighed.
"No, but we need to do this" Sue responded with a sad smile, echoing Jack's response earlier when she had asked him the same thing about trying to identify the body. Jack didn't know what to say. He wished he could shield her from all of this, but it was their job.
"See you back at the office?" She nodded and got into the car. Jack waited until he saw her car moving and merge into the traffic, with only a short commute to the Hoover building. He moved towards his own vehicle and got in, looking as the sun was only starting to rise on the horizon and wondering if even doing this job was worth it anymore.
-STFBE-
Sue made her way into the bullpen which Tara and Lucy quickly approached her before she could even remove her coat.
"Was it Gayle?" Tara quickly asked.
"Jack couldn't tell" Sue replied. They all looked crestfallen. "They've taken the body to the coroner's office and they hope to identify her as soon as possible."
"So it was a woman?" Lucy asked. Sue nodded.
"I've been trying to look up any traffic cameras from the area where Marty and Gayle live." Tara started. "Of course they are in the middle of suburbia West Virginia so I havn't found anything yet. Someone must have picked her up in a vehicle."
"I have no other clear leads either" Lucy added. "I've been looking at all of Marty's old cases, including the ones you worked on with him and a few he recently defended. I've only gone back 2 years so far but continuing to look. There was one person though I'm looking further into."
"Who?" Sue asked.
"Martin Stack" Lucy replied.
"Gwen Stack's brother in law from my first year working here?" Lucy nodded as Sue recalled the case.
"He was released from prison a couple of months ago. His brother Jed though remains behind bars. Gwen went into witness protection along with her sister." Tara jumped in.
"You never heard from them, did you?" Sue responded negatively.
"Still, I'm trying to see if there is any way to potentially connect Martin, or maybe Jed to all of this, but it doesn't seem to fit. Or at least not yet." Lucy replied.
"I'll see what I can find too." Tara added as she moved towards her computer. Lucy put her hand on Sue's arm.
"I still need to go back further. I also have been reviewing Gayle's history – her emails, just in case we missed anything. Everything indicates, including the communications that whoever is doing this is targeting Marty, but I'm hoping to see whether there was any other hint of someone coming after him." Lucy paused. "Are you doing okay?" Sue gave her best friend a small smile. First Jack, now her, but she didn't want to burden them.
"I'll be fine. I just hope the body is not Gayle's and that we find her soon." At that moment, Jack walked into the bullpen. He looked exhausted, despite Sue having seen him recently at the crime scene.
"Jack…" Tara started, giving Sue a quick look and nodding at Lucy to join her to update him on what they had just discussed with Sue. Sue went to her desk, finally removing her coat. She went to grab her blackberry from her pocket. As she pulled it out, along came a small piece of folded paper Sue couldn't remember having in there. She unfolded it and sat, her heart pounding, the others distracted as she read the words in messy writing.
You'll be next.
