Episode 3.25

Conner’s Apartment

Maggie brought the pot of coffee out to the living room, pouring several cups. The apartment was filled with officers from the department. Conner was off by the window looking out, contemplating what he had done to make his daughter choose to leave. Nothing that crossed his mind gave him the slightest reason or explanation.

Fiona McKay took one of the cups of coffee Maggie has just poured and brought it over to her son, “They’ll find her sweetheart. I promise.”

Conner didn’t move, he just continued to look out the window, “Where do you think she is?”

Fiona sighed, “On her way home, Lysa won’t be gone for long, I trust that she’ll be home soon.”

“Sean, come in here!” One of the officer’s called out from Lysa’s room.

Maggie stood in the corner, watching as Sean rushed to his niece’s room.

Sean looked at his fellow officer, “What is it?”

“This.” The officer did a few quick keystrokes that Sean couldn’t follow, and a moment later he brought up the recent history of a search Lysa did on Mexico, “Think this could mean something?”

“Mexico? I’m not sure, see what else you can find.” Sean went back to the door, glancing back once again, hoping he had cleared the hard drive well enough to keep any information regarding him and his involvement secret.

“Found something else.”

Sean turned back, “What did you find now.”

The officer leaned back in the chair, “Ever heard of a guy just named Doc?”

Sean shook his head, sure his voice would give away the truth.

“He preys on young girls between the ages of 14 and 17. I just found a word file with a mention of going to his cabin, and well she’s your niece I’m not sure how much further you’d like me to go with that.”

“I’m not making a connection.”

The officer stood up, “Whoever this Doc is, I think he’s involved in why your niece is missing. Chances are, she’s not the only young girl who went missing either. He likes to send the girls off in pairs. “

Sean crossed his arms over his chest, “What do you mean send the girls off?”

“He sells them as sex slaves. This man knows how to relocate the headquarters well enough that its been impossible to even have a face to go with the name Doc.”

“You think Lysa was sold as a sex slave?” Maggie stood behind Sean, her face showed the horror she was feeling inside.

“Maggie, don’t say a thing about this to Conner. I’ll figure out how to tell him.” Sean looked at his brother’s girlfriend.

“Find her Sean, Lysa is Conner’s life.” Maggie looked over at Lysa’s bed, still made, “She’s who makes him happy.”

Hallow Hills—The Nursery

Adel looked down at her grandchildren as they slept. She couldn’t believe what had happened earlier. How could they believe Chad had killed Kathryn Layden?

“Adel?” Laura stood in the doorway, “Chad’s lawyer is on his way. He’ll go directly to the station and work to get this all figured out.”

“Thank you Laura.”

“He’ll be find Adel, he’s a strong young man. He can get out of this without so much as a scratch.” Laura took a few steps in, looking down at the sleeping children, “He’s not going to let anything or anyone keep him away from these two.”

“I know your right, but I’m still afraid.”

Laura put her hands on Adel’s shoulders, “Just let me know what I can do for you. You’re family and anything you need taken care of during this I’ll do my best to handle.”

“Thank you Laura. You’re a better sister then my own.”

Carlton Compound—Mexico

Lysa looked out the large window in her bedroom she had a view of the nearby mountains. It made her homesick she missed the Rockies. When she and Claudia arrived at the house, Brent had sent them each to a different room and told them to unpack. She hadn’t seen him since.

The room itself was large, the king size bed, just against one wall. She could sit in bed and just look out at the mountains. The closet was large, but empty. A nearby chair had a terry cloth bathrobe, a bar of soap, and a few towels.

Lysa laid down on the bed, looking at the intricate design on the ceiling. All she could do was wonder why they were here and what would be done with them.

PHPD Squad Room

Preston Layden and Clay Sapp walked in, news had broken about someone being arrested for Kathryn’s murder. Now Preston had to see it for himself.

Preston looked around, the room was buzzing with officers running around with papers and on phones. “What the hell is going on?”

Clay glanced a few things, “Missing persons case. Let’s just find Detective Lane and then we’ll find out what’s going on in your sisters murder case.”

“Clay Sapp, what brings you here?” Siobhan Lane stood behind him, a smile graced her face until she realized Preston was with him. “Ahh the murder case.”

“Yes, you found who killed her, they’re in custody right?” Preston’s blue eyes drilled into Siobhan for a moment, sending a chill down her spin.

“Yes we’ve arrested someone. Please Mr. Layden let us handle this.” Siobhan placed a file on her desk, “Mr. Sapp I believe you understand why at this time.”

“The grand jury brought down an indictment, its only fair my client knows what happened to his sister.”

“Clay, I can’t do that. You know I can’t.”

Williams House

Larry and Ariel paced back and fourth as Cassie finally came down the stairs and sat on the couch next to her younger brother. “What’s wrong?” She crossed her arms over her chest.

“Nothing at all.” Larry sat down on the coffee table and looked at his children. He started to think about it, his oldest child was twenty-seven years old. He had a daughter who in less then a month would be eighteen, and a son who wasn’t even a teenager yet. “This is actually really good news.”

“Yeah, at least we think so.” Ariel sat next to Larry and put her hand on his knee.

Cassie could feel her younger brother’s gaze on her and she shrugged, “What is it?”

Larry took a few unsure breaths as he looked at his two children, “A year ago we were a much different family right?”

They nodded, “Yeah Dad we were. And now we’re together well sort of.” Cassie replied as she leaned forward, “What’s the point?”

“Well in a few month’s we’re going to once again be a very different family.” Ariel sighed, “I’m pregnant.”

Cassie’s eyes grew wide and Gary’s jaw dropped.

“I know this is a shock, we obviously weren’t planning on this, especially considering I’m the same age as Maggie.” Ariel cringed, “Okay that just sounded really bad.”

“You’re going to have another kid?” Cassie looked at her father, “Gees Dad! Maggie’s twenty-seven, I’ll be eighteen soon, and Gary’s twelve!” She stood up, “Mags is gonna flip out when she finds out.”

Larry sighed, “I know, we didn’t plan this Cassie. It’s a shock, it was for us as well that’s why we waited to tell you.”

“How long have you known?”

“Since Valentine’s Day.” Ariel chewed on her lower lip.

“I’m calling Maggie.” She stormed up the stairs and the sound of her door slamming shook the house.

Pinõn Peaks Parking Lot

Maggie recognized the melody that Cassie had programmed into her cell phone for when she called as she sat on the sidewalk throwing pebbles against the blacktop.

“Hey Sis, you have no idea how good it is you called, it’s been a crappy day.”

Cassie sighed, “It’s about to get worse.”

Maggie rubbed her throbbing temples, “I doubt it, but shoot.”

“Ariel’s pregnant. Get ready for a sibling that’s twenty-eight years younger.”

“That’s not funny Cassie.”

“I wish it was a joke, Ariel and Dad just told me and Gary. I obviously freaked and stormed out and went to my room to call you.”

Maggie continued to hold her cell phone to her ear as she leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees, “God, I can’t let this sink in right now. Cassie, I’ll call you back we’ve got a bad situation right now and I need to get back inside.”

Before Cassie could respond Maggie had flipped the phone closed and stuffed it in her back pocket.

Carlton Compound

Brent walked into Lysa’s room and saw she was asleep, her hair fanning the pillow. He stood over her for a moment, and he was glad his father had fancied Claudia instead. His stomach turned as he thought of what his father did with these girls. Something was drawing him to Lysa though. Never before had he done what he was about to do.

Brent reached out and touched Lysa’s shoulder, gently shaking her, “Hey wake up.”

Lysa stirred and her eyes fluttered open, she pulled herself up and glared at Brent, “What do you want?”

Brent’s shoulders sagged, “I wanted to see if you wanted to go for a walk, to get some air. The garden’s are amazing.”

“Okay, that would be nice actually. It’s a bit stuffy in here.” She climbed off the bed and walked to the door, Brent just behind her.

PHPD

Dan sent a glare towards Clay Sapp and Preston Layden as he sat down at his desk with a file, “I don’t trust them. Something about Preston Layden just doesn’t seem right.”

Siobhan looked up, “Well he’ll leave us alone and start harassing Kyle now that Chad’s being charged with murder. Have you gotten a hold of Abby yet?”

He shook his head, “She has her cell phone turned off and I’ve already called 5 times so that many missed calls should alert her to something abnormal.”

Siobhan stopped typing and looked at him, “She’ll understand I promise.”

“I hope so because if she doesn’t she’ll always have that disappointed look in her eyes when she looks at me. I don’t know if I could handle that from my little sister.”

“She’s a big girl she knows how this works.” Siobhan hit print, “So think you can handle working with Johnson while I’m on vacation.”

“You’re going on vacation, when?”

“In a few weeks, to a nice little island in the Bahamas where it’ll be just me, sand, and drinks with little umbrella’s.”

Dan slouched in his seat, “Wonderful.” He looked over at Johnson who was brushing powdered sugar off his round belly.

“You’ll be fine.” She stood up with a file in her hand.

Memorial Hospital

Trista rested her head against the cold metal of her locker door before feeling familiar hands kneading her shoulders, “Long night?”

She just nodded, “Drunk driving accident.”

Carsyn wrapped his arms around her, “Go home and get some sleep.”

Trista opened her eyes and continued to lean into him, “That’s what I’m going to do. That and take a hot bath.”

“Good.” He released her, “Otherwise how are you doing?”

She looked into her locker; “Kyle won’t talk to me still.”

“It’s his loss if he can’t even listen to you.”

Trista turned, crossing her arms over her chest, “I messed up, he’s upset and he has every reason in the world to be upset.” She sighed, “What about you, are you moving on?”

Carsyn nodded, “Yeah I’ve been out with a few women here and there. Nothing solid yet.”

Hallow Hills

Doug stood at the window in the library, looking out at the sunset.

Jeff watched his older brother from the doorway, “Chad’s just like you. Impulsive and in desperate need to be in charge.”

Doug didn’t turn around, he kept his eyes focused on the mountains outside, “Is that good or bad?”

“I saw you and Adel holding him back at the wedding. You know as well as I do he’s in love with Abby, my sons wife.”

“Jeff, if your going to go off about this now. Stop!” Doug spun around, his face red, his eyes bulging. “My son was arrested for murder. For killing the woman who tried to destroy this family.”

Jeff nodded, “I’m sorry.”

“Chad can’t go to prison.”

“He won’t. He’s innocent, right?”

Doug rested his tired body against the bookshelf, “I don’t know. I just know I didn’t do it, Adel didn’t.”

Jeff sighed, “Lets wait to see what evidence they have against him. It could be all circumstantial.”

“I can’t watch my son go to prison.”

Jeff put a hand on his brother’s shoulder, “You won’t have to.”

Judy’s Bed and Breakfast

Abby rubbed her wet hair with the hotel towel as she walked into the bedroom, turning on the television.

Today in Pinõn Hallow, we bring you two news stories. First there is an amber alert out for a teenaged girl who is believed to be taken as part of a string of abductions in the area. Police are reporting that Lysistrata McKay has been taken; she was last seen Saturday Afternoon, wearing a denim skirt, and black t-shirt. If you have any information please call the Pinõn Hallow Police.

In other news the Pinõn Hallow Police have finally made an arrest for the murder of Kathryn Layden. This afternoon, local columnist and millionaire Chad Davis was taken into custody after a grand jury indictment.

Abby dropped the towel and starred at the television.

Ethan walked in with the towel around his waste, just in time to see his cousin’s face plastered on the screen. “What happened?”

“Chad’s been arrested for the murder of Kathryn Layden.”

PHPD

Chad nervously drummed his fingers on the metal table as he looked around. Where the hell was a lawyer? He had been sure he heard his Aunt Laura say she would take care of it.

The door opened and Siobhan came in, placing a file on the table. “Hi Chad, you’re lawyer should be here soon. I promise.”

Chad didn’t say anything he just looked at the window.

“Ahh keeping quite until the lawyer gets here. Good move.”

Dan came in, “Some guy outside claims to be Chad’s attorney.”

“What’s his name?” Chad asked, finally breaking his silence.

The door opened, Becker was standing there and from outside they could hear someone else, “I’m Chad Davis’ attorney, Christian Quick. Let me in to see my client.”