Finding Family, Finding Love

Chapter 9: Where is She?

After hanging up the phone I walked over and sat on the couch, wrapping my arms around myself I waited. I didn’t have too wait long. before I heard knock at the door, Horatio was right, Ryan must not live too far if he got here that quickly.

Standing up I walked slowly to the door.

“Who is it?” I asked my voice cracking slightly.

“Ava, it’s Ryan.” I heard his voice through the door. I looked out of the peephole to confirm. Seeing that it was in fact him I began to unlock the door. I opened it slowly to see Ryan standing there with a concerned look on his face.

“You okay?”

“I don’t know…I mean no…Brooke was supposed to be home hours ago. She always calls or something. I knew something was wrong when I came home from lunch with Horatio and my note was still lying on the table where I left it, but I know Brooke she can be a blonde.” I paused at Ryan’s raised eyebrow. I gave him a small smile before continuing. “What I mean is that she can be ditzy, she forgets stuff, so I figured I would give her a couple of hours before I started looking for her. I fell asleep on the couch and woke up just a little bit ago and everything still looked the same. She didn’t call me. That’s when I called Horatio.”

“Okay so you don’t think she’s been back here since you left this morning?” Ryan asked. That’s when I noticed that he had his kit with him. I looked back up at him. “Brought it just in case.” I nodded.

“Can you tell me what…” He was interrupted by a knock on the door. I stood up and walked to the door, looking out the peephole I saw that it was Horatio. I opened the door and automatically hugged him. No doubt totally confusing Ryan.

“Are you okay?” Horatio asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just worried. I’m just really hoping that I’m just overreacting. I’m hoping she’ll walk through that door in a few minutes and tell me that she’s sorry for not calling and that it will never happen again…” I stopped talking when Horatio pulled away.

“Ava... tell me everything that happened today, leave nothing out.”

“Umm… well I woke up this morning with Brooke in the front room yelling my name trying to wake me up. That was probably around 10:00 and I got dressed and went into the kitchen to have a small breakfast. I was nervous because I was going to leave and was heading to the lab to meet you. I left the apartment and Brooke was still here… wait, I remember her telling me that she was going to meet Kevin…” I stopped and looked at my hands.

“Who’s Kevin?” Ryan asked reminding me that he was still there.

“Kevin,.. Kevin Shipley…he’s a guy Brooke and I went to High School together. He, if I remember correctly, is going to school down here. We ran into him last night at a club and he helped me bring Brooke back here. She was completely trashed last night. So he knows where we live, but when I came home nothing had been moved. Nothing was disturbed, or out of place.” I looked between Ryan and Horatio. “Do you think he could have done something to her? I mean he always had a crush on her in school. I figured that would have changed by now but maybe not.” Horatio looked over at Ryan.

“Mr. Wolfe I would like you to look around and collect anything that seems important.” Ryan nodded before getting to work.

“Ava, I want you to stay here with Ryan. I’m going to go back to the lab and run this guys name through the computer.”

“Okay dad.” I said quietly hoping the Ryan didn’t hear. I knew that Horatio had, I saw a small smile before he nodded. “Kevin is around my age and has a scar above his left eyebrow, football. Green eyes, brown hair, about 6’1”. I don’t know if that helps any.”

“It helps. I’ll call Ryan when I get something.” I nodded as he walked out of the door. I slowly turned around and walked back to the couch. I was completely aware that Ryan had stopped processing and was watching me carefully. I picked up my cell phone and dialed Brooke’s number again. It rang twice before her voice-mail kicked in.

“Hi this is Brooke sorry I missed your call….” I shut my phone before the message ended. I tossed my phone on the other side of the couch before leaning back and putting my hands to my face. The situation completely sunk in and I started to cry silently. I didn’t even notice that Ryan had stopped what he was doing until I felt his arms around me, letting me cry. A few minutes later I let go of him.

“Sorry.” I said.

“Hey, it’s okay. She’s your friend and you’re worried.” He gave me a weak smile.

“She’s my best friend. We've been friends since we were in diapers. I don’t know what I would do without her. My dad….” I looked up at Ryan. He nodded.

“Horatio.” I shook my head and continued.

“Horatio…was the reason I wanted to move down here. It had nothing to do with school or a job or anything. I just wanted to know my father. I was going to come alone but Stacie insisted that if I was going so was she. We both go accepted to school down here and had full scholarships so I couldn't really argue with her. I just never had another friend like that, one that would just drop everything just so I wouldn't be alone…” I stopped talking when my phone rang. I looked at it for a few minutes before grabbing it and answering it.

“Hello?”

“Ava, help me.”

“Brooke! Are you okay?”

“Kevin, he won’t let me leave…I’m scared…he’s crazy…”

“Brooke do you know where you are?” I asked interrupting her. I knew it was important to find out where she was.

“I’m not sure…we…we…went out for drinks…after…after the third drink I don’t remember anything…his house…maybe…I've got to go…he’s coming…”

"Brooke don’t hang up, please.” I was answered only by the dial tone. I looked up at Ryan with fresh tears in my eyes.

“It’s Kevin. I think he may have drugged her when they were at dinner. I don’t really think he took her from here, but ummm…he may have left some fingerprints last night or when he picked her up today.” I wiped a stray tear away from my eye as Ryan dialed Horatio.

“Horatio, Brooke called…yeah Kevin has her…she doesn’t know where…” I heard them talking.

“His house maybe.” I said interrupting them.

“Ava, says maybe his house or apartment. Yes, sir I’ll finish up here…do you want me to bring Ava with me?” He asked I couldn’t really tell what Horatio had said but I hoped it was yes.

“Okay I’m going to finish lifting fingerprints and then we are going to go to the lab. So anything you want to take grab it. We may be there awhile.” I nodded and walked back to my room. I could hear Ryan moving around while I looked around my room. I wasn’t sure what I should take, so I grabbed a little bit of everything. I grabbed a book, change of clothes and some CD’s. I put it all into my twilight tote bag and went back to the front room and sat on the couch. Twenty minutes later Ryan was done processing.

“You ready?” He asked watching me cautiously.

“Yeah.” I replied grabbing my keys, phone, and my bag. I walked out the door, locking it behind me. Ryan and I walked down to the car in silence. I was still in shock.

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

I was getting a little worried. I mean I know that everyone processes stress and trauma a different way but Ava was silent, staring off into space. I was just glad that when I talked to her she actually answered. I turned my attention to getting the hummer out of the parking lot. I glanced at her once more before pulling out onto the road.

I couldn’t believe what I had heard earlier. Horatio was her father. Now I would never be able to ask her on a date. Dating the bosses daughter had to be a no-no. Of course right now I shouldn’t really be thinking of asking this girl on a date when her best friend is missing. Hopefully this girl, Brooke, was where she thought she was. I couldn’t imagine being in Ava’s shoes, knowing her best friend was missing and there was nothing she could do about it.

I pulled into the lab and noticed that Eric and Calliegh were already there. Good all hands on deck for this one I guess. I help Ava out of the hummer and we walked into the lab. Walking in I noticed that Eric and Calliegh watched us with interest. Eric had a small smirk on his face. I knew what he was thinking. I ignored him for once and went to Horatio’s office seeing that he was up there. I knocked on his door letting him know that we were there.

Horatio stepped out. Ava looked up at him before she hugged him. Horatio never showed emotions like this in the lab, but tonight it didn’t seem to matter.

“Okay, it’s okay.” I heard him whisper, it was then that I heard her crying again. I snuck away to give them a little privacy. Walking up to Eric, I saw that he was curious and confused.

“What’s up with that man?” Eric asked nodding toward Horatio.

“I probably shouldn’t tell you but uh…she’s Horatio’s daughter. The kidnapped girl is her best friend.” I replied feeling bad that I had told Horatio’s secret.

“His daughter? I thought he had a son.”

“He does you moron. Kyle is his son and Ava is his daughter. He just found out today.” I looked at Eric. For once I had his full attention. “She came into the lab a couple days ago looking for him but he wasn’t here. That’s how I met her. She came back today and told him and they went to lunch.”

We watched them standing there for a minute before I could see she was talking to him. Probably telling him about the phone call.

I decided to run the fingerprints from her apartment. It only took a few minutes for something to pop up. A match on Brooke’s prints. An outstanding parking ticket but other than that nothing else. I tried another set, they came up to Ava; no criminal history. At least I know she is in fact a good girl. I tried six more fingerprints all matched the girls. I only had three more sets left to try. On the last one I got a match to Kevin Shipley.

“H, I got a fingerprint match to Kevin Shipley but I think you should look at this. His real name isn’t Kevin Shipley it’s Charles Raven.” I said looking at Horatio.

“Charles Raven? Are you sure? He’s supposed to be in prison for the rape and murder of twelve women. No chance of him getting out.” I watched as Horatio went into his office to make a few calls.

Eric and I kept processing what little evidence we had. I heard a small knock at the door earning both mine and Eric’s attention.

“Sorry to bother you but Horatio kicked me out of his office for a few minutes. Ummm…so the guy that we thought was Kevin wasn’t actually Kevin was it?” She looked at me for the answers.

“No he’s not.”

“I had a funny feeling about him but he looked just like him and some of his mannerisms were the same ya know. Kevin always was an idiot but he couldn’t hurt anyone. Of course I’ve been wrong before.” She sat on a stool away from the machines and the evidence. She looked at Eric.

“I’m Ava Morgan.” She stood and introduced herself.

“Morgan, I thought Horatio was your father?” Eric asked shaking her hand. She raised an eyebrow looking over at me. I shrugged and gave her a small smile.

“Yes, Horatio is my father but I have my mother maiden name which is Morgan. No that you know my name I’m pretty sure this is where you tell me yours so I’m not calling you ‘hey you.' I know we met the other day but I'm horrible with names.”

“Sorry it’s Eric Delko.” Calliegh walked in the lab.

“Hey guys. You know your not supposed to bring girls into the lab. Horatio won’t like it.”

“Umm…I pretty sure that I’ll be okay. Horatio told me to come here. I’m Ava.”

“Calliegh. You know you look a lot like…never mind.”

“I look like my mother. You saw a picture of her in Horatio’s office. He’s my father.”

“Oh, yeah I guess that would explain it.” At that moment all conversation was cut off as Horatio came into the lab looking angry.

“Charles Raven was released from prison three weeks ago for good behavior. He switched bracelets with another prisoner who was up for parole. They let the wrong man out.”

Everyone just stood in shock. They had let a murder out in place of another person.

I knew that there was a girl out there scared out of her mind. She had no idea what she was about to encounter. This person was no man, this person was a monster. A monster that had one name:

Charles Raven.