76: Soap Opera

(originally posted 03/20/2012)

I'm writing this one entirely in 3rd person to avoid having to repost the different perspectives.


After sending Chaz and Justin off to have yet another look around the bar, John heads out alone to the location where Elena was abducted. Others have already been out here and collected what they could find. He just can't resist being in the last place his love was seen.


The floor creaks as his feet hit the boards. The whole building smells of mold. As John walks in, the door slams shut behind him due to a sudden gust of wind. The floorboards from the floor above him rattle and a bit of dust settles about him. He looks around and pulls out his flashlight.

So this is where they got her. I hope she put up a good fight. X-man said he saw her fighting with one of them before the other one gave up on him and went to help the first one. A flaming crossbones tattoo. Our resident tattoo artist says she's never done one like that before, so the man is probably not local.

The light from the setting sun barely makes it through the grimy windows as John takes a few more tentative steps into the building.

I wonder how long they held her here. They would've had to move her in broad daylight. DID they move her? What if she's around HERE somewhere? Surely someone would've seen them if they'd moved her to somewhere around the bar during the day. It just doesn't make any sense. It's like she's vanished into thin air.

I wouldn't be surprised if Lawrence disappears in a few days. Oh my god, that would be awful. Elena, I have to find you before then! He could go ANYWHERE. Hurry up, Marian. I need that proof. Now.


Not finding anything new, and feeling helpless in this location, John decides to head for home to rest a while before heading back in to the station.


Meanwhile, Chaz and Justin poke around outside On The Rocks. They've made it to the far back wall and Justin decides to kick around in the bushes that run alongside it.

Justin: Hey. What's this?
Chaz sighs: What?
Justin: This area here looks like it's all tracked down, see?
Chaz walks over and sees that there does seem to be a path in between a few of the bushes: Huh. That's strange. Why would anyone need to be going back and forth through here?
Justin moves aside a small branch from one of the shrubs: Whoa! There's a stairwell here!
Chaz: You're joking.
Justin: I'm not. See for yourself!

Justin stands aside as Chaz stomps his way over.

Chaz: How come we never noticed that before?
Justin: Maybe the path through the bushes wasn't as obvious as it is now?
Chaz nods.
Justin picks his way down the staircase. The further he moves down, the brighter things become until he finds himself in a storage room of sorts.


Justin: It's like... a basement. With stuff from the bar. Or.. spare stuff they didn't need.
Chaz: I'm coming down.


Justin: Just checking, this isn't breaking the rules, right?
Chaz: It's not locked, is it?
Justin: Nope.
Chaz: It's... bending the rules.


Justin: Why would anyone want to HIDE a room like this? It's obviously being used.
Chaz stares at Justin like he's impressed the boy's brain works this much.
Justin looks back at Chaz: What?
Chaz: Nothing. And you're right. WHY hide it? And WHY not attach it to the new part of the building?
Justin: Exactly.

The guys move around to see what they might find.


Justin: Looks like they're aging this stuff? And they bought alot more chairs than they needed. Tables too. I guess just in case stuff broke. (He sighs.) Just the one room?

Chaz runs his hand along the wall in a bored, childlike gesture like he did when he would walk down the hallway back in his school days. Suddenly his finger dips into a vertical crack in the wall. Looking up, he notices it runs from floor to ceiling.

Chaz: I think I may have found something.
Justin sounds agitated: There's nothing here. I can't believe this is a dead end.
Chaz: I wonder... This has to be something.


Justin turns around and walks over to the wall Chaz is feeling. I get it, he thinks, he's just as desperate as I am to find something. I hate looking into the chief's eyes knowing what I let happen. But, I'm starting to wonder now if Sergeant Cooper has lost his mind.

Justin: You sure you're not just seeing things?

Chaz finds a catch in a deeper part of the crack and the wall shudders.


Chaz: Nope. Not seeing things.
Justin: S---!
Chaz turns around and grins at the boy.
Justin: Can we open it?
Chaz: We can try.


Justin stands there as Chaz pushes with all his might at the wall: Let me help.
Chaz grunts: No... Room... Just... Wait.
Justin shifts his weight from one foot to the other with impatience.


Meanwhile, John has made it home and taken a shower. Once dressed, he stands and stares mutely at the bed.

I can't do it. I can't sleep in it when it still smells like her. The sheets haven't even been touched since she got out of it.


I hate feeling helpless. I hate that anything could be happening to her right now. I hate that I can't shake the feeling that she's right under my nose. That would be just like this guy. To take pride in the fact that he pulled one over on me right under my nose. Sicko.

Tate Williams. Crime family. Trent White. Lawrence Rock. Trent White... Greg dead near Tate's grave. Greg... why kill Greg? Unless he knew something... or... found out something. Oh my god! What if it was a grown up Trent at the graveyard? What if Greg found out that Trent IS Lawrence?
........
S---! I need to see Marian. NOW.


Back in the lab:

Rodney: No, Marian. Like this. See?
Marian groans: I'm DOING it like that.
Rodney mutters under his breath: Engineers.
Marian: What?! At least my degree makes sense!
Rodney ignores the jibe: So how come you work here and not for some firm or something?
Marian rolls her eyes: I like it here. Each case is like homework. I like homework.
Rodney: You're a real nerd, you know that.
Marian's jaw drops in shock.
Rodney just smiles: Not that I hold it against you.


Downstairs:

Hugh: Hello. My name's Hugh Carson.
Angela: Hi, I'm Angela.
Hugh: You wanted to talk to someone?
Angela: Yes. Something very curious happened to me the other day, and I've been debating whether or not I should tell you guys.
Hugh's eyebrows raise: Oh?


Angela: I work down at the bistro. Well, we had a delivery order for the new bar slash dance club, On The Rocks. I thought, 'You'd think they'd prepare their own stuff', but then I thought, 'Well, maybe they're bored with that.' So, I delivered the food they wanted and brought it to their kitchen. They paid, thanked me, and I left. As I was about to get in my car, I saw them exit out the front door and head around to the back of the building.
Hugh: Okay...
Angela continues: I love going on picnics, and I wondered if there was a spot that I didn't know about yet. So, I casually followed them to see where they were planning to eat. I saw them turn the corner, but by the time I made my way back there they were gone. It was like they vanished into thin air, you know?
Hugh's brows come together: Strange. Thank you for telling me this.


Back to the "storage room":

Justin: Let me try it.
Chaz, exhausted: Fine, kid. Give it a whirl.

Chaz chuckles into his hand as Justin groans while pushing with all his might at the strange section of wall.


Suddenly, the wall starts to give.

Justin: Ah HAH!

Chaz spins around to see that Justin has moved the wall a little to reveal a room behind it. Justin starts to walk into the room when the wall section starts to swing closed again.

Justin: AGH!!

He barely has enough time to step out of the way before the wall section crushes him. Unperturbed, he starts at it again, this time with more force.


Justin: Finally!

The two of them victoriously enter the previously hidden room.


Justin: Nothing. Nothing but nothing. They hid a room full of... nothing.
Chaz: This can't be it.
Justin sighs exasperatedly.

Chaz begins running his hands along the wall, thinking that if it worked the last time, it might work this time. As he'd hoped, he found another crack.


Back at the station:

John checks with Marian and sees she's almost done. He's on pins and needles waiting for her. To ease his anxiety, he walks into the work out room to talk to Hugh.

John checks the time on his phone: This is driving me crazy! I've got it all figured out but nothing to go on, if that makes any sense.
Hugh: Speaking of not making sense, I talked to a lady a little bit ago. She told me something weird.
Eager to take his mind off of waiting, John asks: What?


Hugh: She was a delivery driver for the bistro.
John had had deliveries before: Angela?
Hugh blinks: Yeah.
John: Go on.
Hugh: Anyway, she tells me about a time recently that she made a delivery, and then as she was getting into her car she saw them leave out the front and walk around to the back of the building with their food.
John's brows come together.
Hugh: She followed them, hoping to find a nice picnic location, but by the time she made her way around to the back of the building, they had disappeared.


There's a pause before John speaks: Have Chaz and Justin reported in yet?
Hugh: No, they haven't actually. I was starting to wonder what they were up to.


John pulls out his phone: No answer. It went straight to voicemail.


Underground:

Chaz had found another moveable section of wall and asked Justin to start trying to open it, since he did such a good job the last time.

While Justin grunts, Chaz looks in a barrel in the corner and finds that it's full of a white powdery substance: Oh boy. I bet I know what this is. (He brings a tiny bit to his tongue.) It is. Somehow I doubt Elena has anything to do with that. I should call the chief.

He checks his phone.

Chaz: Huh, no service down here. I'll just step outside a minute.


Justin succeeds in opening the panel. Chaz puts his phone away as Justin, with the force of the effort, gets thrown into yet another room.

The panel closes behind him in an almost obstinate way.

Chaz's voice is muffled as he yells through the panel: Are you okay?
Justin yells back: Yeah, go call the chief.

Justin hears a familiar woman's voice scream "NO!!!!!" His gaze pops over to a stairwell, and at the bottom he sees Lawrence Rock. Holy s--!

Laurie: You're not Jack! Corey! Take care of this for me!

A huge guy runs up the stairs at Justin.


Corey: What are you doing here, pig?
Justin: Was gonna ask you the same thing.
Laurie yells up the stairs: I didn't ask you to invite him to tea! Take care of him for me!


Corey attacks Justin. Justin fights back, of course, but he just hopes he can get past Corey because he's now positive he's found Elena. The fight continues for much longer than either the thug or cop expected, and Justin can hear a struggle going on down the stairs. Elena is yelling her head off.


John's phone rings. Oh, Chaz. Good.: Chief Parren here.
Chaz: Sir, we've found a hidden stairwell that leads to an underground section of the bar.
John's eyes get enormous: Where?!
Chaz: In the back.


John: I'm on my way! Where's Justin?
Chaz is quiet a moment: Um, he pushed open a secret panel and it closed behind him. I wanted to call you because I've found coke in a few of the containers in there.
John: So I've got him on something!! Go make sure Justin is okay. I'm coming.


Chaz calls through the panel: Justin, you okay, kid?

There's only the muffled sound of grunting and faint pounding noises that indicate to Chaz there's something going on on the other side. S---. Why did I leave before the panel was open?

He grunts as he tries to open the moveable wall. Suddenly, there's a sound of a gun going off.


A sudden, searing pain hits Justin just above his right hip. He hears Elena scream again, but it's cut short for some reason. He falls to his knees to the floor. The thug kicks him, and Justin curls up from the pain.

Laurie: Corey, let's move.
Corey leaves Justin to his pain: Coming.

Justin can hear Sergeant Cooper yelling from the other side of the panel. He can also hear Elena fighting again. He half crawls, half rolls his way down the staircase.


Justin: Let her go!
Corey: Oh, you have GOT to be kidding me!
Laurie's voice is strained from trying to keep hold of Elena: Kill him.
Corey fires again and Justin feels another searing pain to his shoulder.
Laurie: God, you're an awful shot. Let's just get out of here.

Justin hears Chaz yelling from the top of the stairs as he sees Laurie hit a rock in the wall as yet... another... panel opens up. The two crooks escape with Elena, and the rock wall reseals itself.


Chaz stands there stunned.
Justin barely whispers: Through the wall.


Chaz starts to panic as Justin passes out on the floor.