HOMESTAY 008

Back at Long Beach intelligence, Mariah walked briskly down the wide reception to Tucci's office. "Did you do your homework?" She spoke first.

"Good morning to you too. My homework and yours Sullivan, come, take a look at this" he cornered his table and she followed him. They sat at his PC and he showed her the similarities between Fandango and the other websites used for home stays.

"Do you have Donna and her husband?"

"We couldn't get a warrant"

"Tucci..."

"I know what you are thinking but we can go to them."

"Then arrange it. I'll go with Kinner" she stood to her feet.

"By us, I mean my detectives. I can't let you go out of my jurisdiction, we'll be breaking rules"

"Tucci..."

"Except you want Dave to know about this" this hit her like a bombshell. If Dave knew about it, he would put an immediate cross on the investigation and make her handicapped like he did last season. She couldn't risk being suspended. She'd barely thought about this when Kinner walked in.

"This is my case Tucci. I need to get in a room with these people. My brother-in-law is missing!"

If only what she meant was ex-brother-in-law. But like Dave, Tucci had principles too and Long Beach was guarded by those principles as well.

"I can understand this is personal for you but Denver is not under my jurisdiction. I can't have some cops busting people's house for information without following proper protocols. I am doing this for you Mariah; unless you want Dave sending me a letter of dismissal"

"Calm down guys."

"Damn protocols!"

"Calm down Mariah. It’s simple! We'll visit Donna and Peter"

"Mr Kinner..."

"Not as detectives. Are you satisfied?" He removed his badge and tucked it in his pocket "how about as casual people who wants to know how their new stay at Denver is"

Smart idea. Mariah looked at Tucci and he was dumbfounded. Oh sorry Mr Tucci, you don't know Shawn. He is the one who gives meaningful ideas when least expected. Nice knowing you Mr Tucci.

Mariah rolled her eyes.

"I'd have Griffin follow you" Tucci added

"It's just suppose to be my wife and I, now we have a son"

"Son? Griffin is more like the husband and you are the son Shawn..."

Tucci assessed Shawn. There is no way, he'd let a grown man like that follow them and call himself son. It was really absurd

"Fine! You two go. I will try my best to keep you off grid" Tucci exhaled in frustration

"Love you too Tucci. Will get back to you" Mariah said as she walked out briskly with Shawn following behind her.

"You know, you owe me Mariah"

"For doing your job? I don't think so" she had a wolfish grin on her face.

........................................................................................

Dwayne paced restlessly at the reception of Long beach Intelligence police department. He needed to talk to Mariah. His brother has been missing for six days and he feared his brother might be dead. His mother has been buzzing his phone and he had deliberately turned it off out of worry.

The doctor said she was hypertensive and that was one major reason why he overlooked Jessie's immature behavior and brought him down to Long Beach. And now, Jessie was missing.

He had both hands tucked into the pocket of his bermuda shorts that covered his knees. He needed to see Mariah, he needed to hear from her because unlike Kinner who had sugar coated words, Mariah would tell him the truth.

He was asked to wait for the detective in charge even though he made it clear he wanted to talk to Mariah Sullivan.

After a while, Griffin appeared "Mr. Jefferies?"

"Yes. Dwayne Jefferies. Any news?"

"Would you like to sit?" He offered Dwayne a seat

"Sure." Dwayne settled "any news?" He queried again

"Mr. Jefferies. Your brother has not been found...yet." Griffin said then waited to see the impression he created on Dwayne before he proceeded. "We figured..."

"I want to talk to Mariah" he cut Griffin short

"Detective Sullivan is on the field. We are still working on this."

"For how long huh? My brother never leaves for this long without contacting anyone."

"You need to calm down sir..." But before he could finish, there was a familiar voice reaching him.

"It’s okay Griffin, let me handle this" it was Mariah and she had just come out of Tucci's office with Shawn. She was going to dodge this time but Kinner had pushed her to the front. She heaved a sigh and waited for Griffin to evacuate the seat before she took it.

"What is going on Mariah?" Dwayne said through clenched teeth. Mariah steadied her breath then, carefully selecting her words, she spoke. It was high time to tell Dwayne the truth.

"We are looking at a homicide case here. We have three dead bodies..."

Dwayne shot to his feet and ran a hand through his hair.

"Jessie?"

"No. People with similar cases. I just want to prepare you for whatever might happen or what we are into but I promise you, we are going to find Jessie..."

"No you are not" A solid voice reached her. She waited, processed who it belonged to, bit her lip then turn around to see the man who might turn out to be her worst nightmare. "You are off this case Sullivan!" She growled then steadied her breath to speak.

"What?!" Even at that, she failed.

"Dave?" Kinner had come to the scene

"You too Shawn"

"What is going on?!" Dwayne was impatient. Was he wrong to have thought Mariah would handle the case well? Mariah glanced at him; he had a puzzled look on his face. She was going to say something but Tucci came to her rescue.

"Captain Dave Mars"

"What is this about?!" Dave snapped

"Why don't we talk in my office?"

"Both of you too"

Mariah turned to look at Dwayne and his eyes was peering at her, holding on the same way it did before he slapped her with a divorce and here she was again letting him down. She stood like that for many seconds, feeling guilty before the words rolled out of her mouth. "I am sorry Dwayne"

"Sorry? Mariah you promised"

"I did! And I am sorry Dwayne" that was the first time she'll tell him that. She had been sorry times without number but was too Sullivan to let it roll from her mouth but now, she was putting the ego aside and put verbally the words she was too proud or too scared to speak.

"Mariah..." But she left, again.

In Tucci's office. She barged in, she always did and in the room, Dave, his two body guard, Kinner and Tucci were waiting for her. "Dave you can't throw me of this case!" She yelled as soon as she came in.

"I already did Mariah! And I’m having both of you on the next flight to Nexus" Dave snapped

"I am this close. We have liable suspects..."

"Suspects Mariah. That's all you had last time and nothing else"

"Let me on this one Dave"

"Can you even hear yourself speak?" Dave tucked his hands in the depth of his pocket "you took a case outside your own jurisdiction without proper legalities. You broke the law Mariah..."

"But..."

"Let me finish. You broke the law and that makes you a criminal."

"That's enough Dave!" Kinner interjected. "A case got buried..."

"Not buried but closed. We found nothing!"

"Now, there is something! We have kids out there who would probably die if we do nothing. So you know, out of seven, three are dead!"

"This is not our call. Not yours, not mine! We have protocols!" Dave turned to Tucci "you thought I won't find out? The bad part is, the agency thinks I let you onto this one"

"You only care about yourself Dave." Mariah snapped

"You are blinded by this Mariah. Take time off! Go on rehab, it is getting into your head."

"Okay, Dave, we have a cover case. We are also talking about a young man who left your jurisdiction to ours and disappeared, so we have to work together on this one." Tucci added

"I don't care what jurisdiction he left. He is in yours now which makes it your business. I never remembered signing any transfer letter for Mariah and Shawn to work on this."

Mariah scoffed "People are dying Dave!"

"That's nature. So until you get your shit together, I would send the agency your suspension letter so you won't drag the rest of us down your psycho shit-hole" his voice was firm.

"You know what Dave, I always thought there was still some human left in you; people are dying and all you care about is god dammed reputation!"

"Mariah..."

"Let me finish. It's my turn to finish! You are a self-serving narcissus who would do or say anything to keep his goddamned medal even if it involves people dying." Mariah voice trembled

"I came here to tell you personally Mariah that we would allocate other people to do this. Not me, not you, not Shawn. You don't belong here. I am doing this for you. Or would you rather let the agency handle this?"

"I'd rather you do nothing at all Dave"

"You are suspended Mariah and you too Kinner, end of discussion" Dave said sternly

"Dave..."

"End of discussion Sullivan. You will listen to me this time!" Silence shook the room like someone pulled the plug. Sullivan froze; it hit her like a bombshell. What she didn't want to let happen was happening fast and clear. It began to play in slow motion.

“Jessie is missing” she said in a trembling voice “this is big of a deal for me Dave.”

“That’s why you need time off Sullivan and let the agency handle this one”

She looked at Kinner and he had the same frozen look on his face, the tempo of her heartbeat increased and the maniac playing tins and kettles in her head just reached a crescendo.

Dave had just threw it against her chest and the air around her had began to suffocate her. Everywhere seemed blank and the lights around began to fade.

Kinner had told her to go to the hospital but she was waiting for it to build up and it just did.

She muffled a weak "you'll regret this" and stormed out.

"She's being dramatic" Dave groaned as soon as she left. This angered Kinner. Like Sullivan, he had the same driven passion for the case - people were dying and all Dave cared about was reputation. Outrageous!

"You are the one being dramatic Dave. She didn't want to run it by you because she knew this is the kind of stunt you'd pull" Kinner looked at Tucci who was caught between whatever web Dave had spun around them.

"There is nothing I can do if the agency cancels" Tucci shrugged.

"You know what Dave, if these people die, I will stick it to you for the rest of your goddamned life!"

"We are following protocols!"

"Protocol demands you save a life before any..." Kinner's voice broke "Mariah is right, if you don't pull back, you'll regret this" He said firmly and stormed out as well.

Dave was dumbfounded. He was only being protective of his own but they couldn't see it. He looked at Tucci who shrugged again "don't look at me" Tucci rested in his seat "you pulled your men back. I would do everything in my capability to solve this case but if it proves abortive, it’s all on you"

..........................................................................................

HOMESTAY 007

Sullivan turned on the faucet. The cold water dripped from the tap and stung her skin when it landed. The thought of having to dig deeper into the case that turned her marriage to a mess made her upset and the fact that she would stop at nothing to unveil its mysteries piqued her pulse. She washed the sweat off her skin and rubbed her body all over again with soap and as she did, every detail was sinking in; details that her ex-husband might get disappointed in her if she failed nipped her in the bud.

Dwayne had been her prince charming but she let work consume her, she let it get in the way and it suffocated him. It pushed him to the wall and he could not take it and they grew apart. And suddenly, one morning he slapped her with a divorce.

Even after a year of divorce, she hadn't been able to move on and now, he was in her face begging her to help him with that one thing he used to push her away. Now that she thought about it, he was a complete bastard.

Why did he come to me? She asked herself. She touched her chest and it was pounding. Stop it Sullivan! Stop being a prick. He is over you, his baby brother is just missing. He wants you to help him find Jessie not that he wants you back in his life and even if he wanted you back in his life, you don't deserve it because all you care about is your job. She scolded herself.

But it was not true, she deserved him. She loved him and was to Sullivan to admit it. Now that she thought of it she wasn't less of a bastard than he was.

She wished she hadn't just put her signature on the divorce but had held him back. But it was for the best.

After a long thought under the stinging pain of dripping water, she turned off the faucet, cleaned herself, got dressed into a clean robe and strode to her bedroom. Kinner was in the other room so, she had little privacy. She had barely lay to sleep when there was a light knock on the door. She grumbled a silent curse before she stood to her feet "God so help me Shawn, if you are here to talk about what Dwayne told you, I will punch you in the face..." She muffled as she pulled the door open and to her utmost shock, she gazed at the man at the entrance. She stood there for like almost a minute, her lips agape before she finally decided to shut them and be formal about it even though she was stupidly standing there dressed in a bathrobe.

"Dwayne." She croaked "w...w...what are you doing here?"

"I don't know" his voice was husky and he reeked of alcohol. The Dwayne she knew doesn't drink, she would have called him prudish but he wasn't a complete prissy prince. "I shouldn't be here at all but I can't help it"

"Are you drunk?" She raised a brow

"No. I am in my right mind"

"You reek"

"I do." He sniffed "can I come in?" His glare darkened. He was gazing at her deeply as he stumbled into her apartment.

Still trying to process the whole thing, she closed the door and latched it from behind. "What are you doing here?" She repeated in a whisper and turned to him. Shawn was in the other room; he had teased her about what a jerk she was for denying she still felt something for Dwayne and she had told him, maybe not directly, that she and Dwayne, no way on earth would they get back together. And there she was breaking that promise. How would she come up with an excuse if Shawn showed up? How would she explain Dwayne standing in the middle of her room drunk and her in a bathrobe with nothing underneath?

She heaved a deep sigh and looked at Dwayne who seemed a mess but was putting a great deal of effort to hide it. What happened to that prissy prince she got married to? Was it Jessie that affected him so much or was he missing her?

Trying not to get ideas into her head, she spoke quickly "Shawn had told you everything you needed to hear. We are still working on Jessie's case. We have a strong lead, I'm sure we'll find him" but he wasn't saying anything neither was he moving. He just stood still, staring at her, his glare piercing its way into the depth of her bone marrows.

She ran a hand through her hair. She shouldn't fall for this, she shouldn't fall for him.

"You can't just show up in someone's apartment in the middle of the night for no reason" but he was still mute. He took solid steps towards her, his hands in the depth of his pocket, his look was stern but before she could figure out what his next move was, he brought out a sharp razor from his pocket and like a flash of lightening, pain stung her in the chest.

******************************************

"Mariah, Mariah!" A hand touched her shoulder "are you okay?"

Honestly, she wasn't. Her eyes fluttered, trying to wake up from whatever nightmare that was. She touched her head, her face and her chest to be sure she was awake and not in another realm then the environment began to sink in.

She was buried in a stack of files and had fallen asleep on the stiff wooden bench in the one room she and Shawn had rented. Her vision finally settled on the nervous-stricken fellow in front of her and when it all settled, she sighed in a guttural voice.

"Nightmare" she said as she sat upright.

"You scared shit out of me" Shawn shook his head, sitting backwards. "Are you okay?" He queried

"I am fine Kinner" she looked around and judging from the littered room, she knew he had been busy working, trying to track down Donna and her husband Peter "what did you find?" She blinked but he didn't respond. His eyes was all over her like she had been shot and he was looking for an exit wound.

"I am fine Shawn. What-did-you-find-?" She stood to her feet and crossed the room to the wall of pictures and links, connecting possible people in the investigation"

"You need to slow down Mariah"

"That's the last thing I need. We need to search the Briggs house. I think we are missing something"

"Calm..."

"Stop Shawn!" She trembled. She didn't want him to know anything was wrong but even at that, she failed "for the love of God, the last thing I need now is that..." She touched her head, exasperated. But Shawn wasn't her partner to just work on cases together, he felt responsible for anything that happened to her under his watch. Ignoring her, he raised a hand to her forehead and quickly, he withdrew it.

"God! Mariah, you are having a fever" his voice was firm. "You need to go to the hospital"

"You want to know what I need, I need you to butt off. I need you to focus on finding Jessie and not me!"

"I can't focus on anything Mariah when you are a mess. Look at yourself!"

"Shawn..."

"You need to calm down..."

"Shawn..."

"It has just been..."

"Shawn!" She snapped "Shawn, I am fine" then, her voice drained calmly. She knew how worried he could get when it came to her but it wasn't about her, it was about Jessie - it was always about that brat. And when she said she was fine, she meant it. "I can handle this" he went silent too "what do you have?"

"Donna and Peter now live in Dallas with their son. They relocated from Denver three days before Jessie got missing... Leaving their son"

"Steve"

"Why would they do that?"

"Well, that's not all. Steve is a ghost. I ran the picture in all database and found nothing"

"But you found Donna and Peter"

"Yup"

"So, it's either Steve does not exist or this picture isn't Steve's"

"Bingo!" Kinner ripostes and walked briskly to his PC. "So, I did what every other CIA tech guy would do in such case, I ran the photo on the CIA database using Dave's password and look what I found" he turned the screen towards Sullivan who was now close. She ran her eyes through, pulling a stool to sit.

"Joshua Divalski?" She raised a brow "Steve Craig... Joshua Divalski" she sighed "why didn't we think about this before Shawn?" She said without intending a response. There could have been a possibility that Steve who is now Joshua didn't use his real name. Almost all kids don't use their real name on social media. She scrolled through the information Kinner had gathered. Now looking at the concrete picture of Steve who now turned Joshua, he looked pretty young like Dwayne had described probably about twenty, twenty one.

She stood upright and retrieved the non-disclosure agreement Jannie had claimed she received the day after she spoke with the Craigs and scanned through it.

"Why didn't Jannie get this the same day she spoke with Donna and Peter?"

"I guess there is only one way to find out" Shawn eyed her

"Donna and Peter" she croaked.

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