It's Ok to Cry

“I have no idea what you’re talking about!” A scruffy, long blonde haired man yelled at them.

“Don’t lie. Just tell us the truth. We already have you for taking the bag, just spill. What else have you got to lose!” Luke yelled after slamming his hand down on the table.

Michelle quickly walked out of the room that she was in to look in on the interagation while Luke paced the room for a couple seconds, sent the man a glare before pointing at him and saying, “This isn’t over.” and then exited the room.

“My turn?” she simply asked when he exited it, shutting the door securely behind him.

“Yeah. Good Cop, Bad Cop always works. Go in there and get something out of that guy.” Luke ordered, his anger slowly subsiding from getting out of ‘Bad Cop’ character.

She smiled sweetly at him, went over to the little water jug they had and got a cup of water before entering the room that Luke previously had came out of.

She smiled sweetly at the man before her who looked like he was on the brink of tears.

“I brought you a cup of water.” she stated and then walked over to the table and put it down before taking a seat across from him while he muttered a quick thank you and then took a sip.

She studied him for a minute to think back to everything that they had learned today.

They went over to Eric and Johns house. Also Sam’s just to know if he knew the other guys at all since they did go out for the same job, but no such luck. Eric was home, and when interrogated slightly about him losing his cool about not getting the job, he simply showed them a picture of his wife and two kids and said, “I have a family I need to take care of. Big deal that I got a little upset. I was really hoping for that job to help pay some bills.” When they went out to Johns address that he had written down for the job application, a young married couple answered the door and said that they just moved in about a three weeks ago and that they didn’t know where the guy who lived there previously went. They didn’t really think too much of it anyways. He wasn’t the one who freaked out about not getting the job. Plus, they had to hurry up and get into position for the drop off that took place a little over an hour ago.

The man that had came to the drop off place and grabbed the bag, didn’t look like a guy that would be responsible for kidnapping a child. His hair was long and untamed and quite dirty looking. His jeans that he had on had holes in them and ripped all along the bottom, and not in a fashionable way. His dark blue t-shirt was tattered and very worn in looking while his jacket…it was a miracle that it was still held together.

“So…want to tell me what happened?” she simply asked while he finished the rest of his little cup of water.

“Why don’t you tell me. One minute I’m sleeping on a park bench and the next I’m getting hauled in here by you guys.”

She looked at him apprehensively for a few minutes, trying to read him.

“Are you hungry?” she asked him. She had a gut feeling, that this wasn’t their guy. That this wasn’t even remotely close to the guy who kidnapped Frankie. It was decoy. Someone to throw them off course and get them all hot and bothered while the guy who was behind all of this was laughing and calling them ‘typical stupid cops’.

He looked down at the table and started playing with his hands for a few seconds before saying, “Starving” really quiet.

“What do you want? A burger? Steak? What?” she asked simply while sending him a sweet smile when his head popped up to look at her confused.

“What do you mean what do I want? You’re going to feed me even though you think I did something wrong?” he asked, completely confused by her actions.

She leaned over the table slightly and curled her index finger towards her for him to lean in with her, which he did immediately.

“I don’t think you did anything wrong.” she whispered quietly. “But they all think you did. So if you start talking and convince them, you’ll be set free. No harm, no foul.”

She straightened up again and sat stick straight in her chair, still smiling sweetly at him before asking, “So what will it be?”

30 minutes later and half a steak gone on both of their parts they started the questions up again.

“So what exactly happened today?” She asked him before taking a sip from her water that she had before eating some of her potatoes.

“Well, I was sleeping on the park bench like I said before and this guy woke me up and asked me if I would do something for him.”

Michelle’s eyebrows peaked slightly from that information but still kept eating, as if uninterested with what he said.

“He asked me to pick something up for him at 6 today and when I told him to ‘Get the hell away from me’ he simply threw down $200 on the bench. And let me tell you, that got me up really quick.”

She nodded her head in understanding and finished her bite and then asked, “Do you remember what he looked like? What he was wearing? Anything?”

She watched his face contort while he thought for a few minutes before answering.

“He had on…..I’m not too sure. Like…just a t-shirt and some jeans with a baseball hat on his head which covered most of his face.” he stated and then took a bite of his steak.

“Do you remember how tall he was or anything like that?” she asked, getting desperate for this case to be cracked. She didn’t even know if the kidnapper called at all to yell at them or set up another drop off time or anything. She’d been in the interrogation room for the last 45 minutes or so, and it was going onto two hours after the drop off was supposed to take place.

“Well, he was a little bit shorter than me, and I’m like…5’9” almost. So maybe 5’7”-ish. And he was bulky. I remember that. His arms were kinda big and he had kind of a broad chest. But I do remember the smirk on his face. That was only thing I could see on it. He looked like he’d be a nice guy, like a really nice guy. Like a guy who would help pick up your groceries if you dropped it or something like that. But his smirk….and his voice….it gave me the creeps. But that’s about it. I don’t remember anything else.”

She nodded her head, trying to keep her excitement contained they at least knew that the guy behind this did make contact with the outside world besides phone calls to people. The only question was, where did he keep Frankie while he was out trying to find a decoy homeless person?

“Thanks. Once you’re done, an officer will escort you to the locker room area where you can clean up if you like and there will be a change of clothes waiting for you. Thank you for cooperating with us. The family that has been troubled thanks you immensely and so does the L.A.P.D.” she stated while getting up and extending her hand to shake hands with him before leaving the room to meet Luke outside of it.

“Well, at least we know one thing, he’s not afraid to come out in public whatever the reason may be.” Luke stated while Michelle let out a sigh.

“I guess.” she simply said while putting a hand to her forehead and shutting her eyes for a few seconds.

“You’re beat. Why don’t you just go home and go to sleep. I’ll make sure he’s taken care of and start looking into that lake lead.” Luke said to her while putting an arm around her shoulder and steering her towards their desks.

She smiled slightly and let out small laugh before nodding her head and saying, “I think you’re right. I’ll do that. I’m pretty beat.”

“As you should be. I’ll see you tomorrow bright and early at the Jonas’.” Luke simply said while giving her a quick kiss on her head before walking back towards the interrogation room to take care of their informant.

As she was taking her belt off and putting it into her drawer her phone started to ring and she quickly grabbed it and flipped open while still getting ready to leave the building.

“Agent Hillbrook.”

“Michelle…” the mans voice said, dragging out the last syllable, causing her to stop what she was doing and stand there rigid. “You really think I would be stupid enough to come and pick up that money when I knew you guys would be hiding in the bushes and trees? Although I must say, being pinned underneath you like that lowlife was did make me want to surrender myself to you.”

She cringed slightly from hearing that and how sick his voice got. Like he was picturing the image in his head and was getting some sort of sick pleasure out of it.

“It’s so frustrating that you would underestimate me so much to make that little mistake.”

His voice sounded strained, like he was trying to keep control of himself but then he blew up when he yelled, “And I will never be underestimated again!” before he hung up.

She took a deep breath and swallowed before closing her phone and looking frantically around her.

No one was in that part of the building, they were all on the other side by the interrogation rooms and probably now the locker room area.

Her phone went off yet again and she jumped slightly from hearing it go off and looked at the number. She didn’t recognize it at all and instead of answering it, especially after that last phone call, she sent it straight to her voicemail and continued to get ready, her senses on full alert now.

She didn’t know what the man meant by him not being underestimated anymore, but she really didn’t want to find out.

* * * * *

He was leaning up against the bricks of her apartment building, waiting for her since she invited him to come over when she called him back.

For some odd reason, he couldn’t have been more ecstatic that she invited him over to talk. He would’ve settled with just a over the phone conversation but he didn’t mind seeing her. He actually kinda missed her since she had been gone all day after her and Luke talked to his father. Granted he’d only known her for 2 days but he still felt like they shared a connection. The first time they met at the school, she broke down with him slightly and engulfed him in a hug.

I’m pretty sure cops don’t do that to everyone.

And when she talked to him in the backyard on the swing, he felt like they connected there too. Whatever she went through, she was able to relate somewhat and he really liked that he had someone he could talk to about it with and tell him that it wasn’t his fault. And then this morning, in the kitchen, sure it wasn’t a hug or anything, but that pat on the shoulder…that wasn’t just a friendly one. It was a ‘thank you’ one. An appreciative one.

She somehow in a matter of two days of knowing her, was the only one he felt comfortable talking to about this, and was the only one who seemed to understand. And because of everything that was going on, he really needed that someone he could talk to. His parents had each other and Nick and Joe had each other. Hilary was just hopping back and forth between Joe and their mom to try and console them and that left him all by himself. He also knew that even though no one else wanted to say it out loud because of how high strung everyone was to begin with, they all thought a small bit of it was his fault.

“Hey.”

Her soft voice brought him out of his thoughts and a smile immediately graced his face from seeing her and his self pity, of having his little brother being kidnapped be his fault, vanished.

“Hi.”

“Wanna come up?” she simply asked while getting her keys out of her pocket and unlocking the door to enter the building.

He simply nodded his head and sent her a small smile while following after her, up into her apartment and shutting her door behind her once they were inside.

He took in the apartment and he couldn’t help but smile to himself to see how homey it was even though only one person lived there.

“Can I get you anything to drink?” He heard her ask him as she made her way from her bedroom where, he was guessing, she put all her stuff down.

“Water’s fine. Thanks.” he said while taking a few steps into the living room of the apartment.

“Sit down. Make yourself at home.” She called from the kitchen while shutting the faucet off, and making her way towards him while he took a seat on the couch. “I’m just gonna change really quick.” she stated before walking back towards her room after he sent her a small smile and nodded his head.

A few minutes later and a couple sips from his water, she came back into the living room and his heart sped up for a few seconds, having his eyes land on her.

From seeing her wear her uniform all day, which she made look good, she looked absolutely stunning in just a plain white tee and jeans. Her hair wasn’t pulled back into a bun anymore, but it was let loose, flowing freely with small waves in it down a little past her shoulders.

“Ok…” she trailed off while getting comfy on the ground in front of the coffee table and pulling her notepad out of her back pocket to take notes. “You said you remembered something?”

He shook his head slightly, trying to make it less noticeable to snap out of his little trance she had put on him before saying, “Yes. This guy kept calling our house, saying things like, we were gonna pay and stuff like that. My parents didn’t recognize the voice at all from anyone that they knew and figured it was just a wrong number. Shockingly, that happens more than likely to us where people call and ask for Mildred or something.” he said with a short laugh and taking a little sip of his water.

“And now they think otherwise?” Michelle asked, jotting down that there were phone calls placed to their house and made a mental note to call Luke and have him pay more close attention to the random timed phone calls that happened a couple weeks back.

“Yeah. And now that I think about it, the phone calls stopped like…3 or 4 days before Frankie’s disappearance.”

“That’s probably because he was plotting his attack and didn’t want to tip you guys off anymore so than he did already.” Michelle answered back while jotting it down and then asked, “Is that all?”

He nodded his head sadly and then took a sip of his water while she finished up her writing and then laid down on the ground, letting out a giant sigh.

“So….” Kevin trailed off while rubbing the side of his glass with his thumb a few minutes of silence later. “Did you get anything from the guy you hauled into the station after the drop off?”

“Sort of. The man behind your brothers kidnapping paid the man that we took in $200 to pick up that duffel bag. Then he called me an-” she cut herself off and smacked her head with her hand for letting that slip. She didn’t even tell her partner that and here she is telling the guy that’s part of the family that had the crisis, about the phone call of the man’s weird non-threat threat.

“He called you? What did he say?” Kevin instantly asked while leaning forward in his seat and having his elbows rest on his knees.

She let out a sigh and covered her face and slowly sat up, having her hands slowly come off of it and said, “I can’t say and I need a beer.” and then got up from the floor and made her way towards the fridge to get one but let out a disgruntled groan upon opening the fridge door.

“All out?” Kevin asked from his seat, trying to bite back his laugh from seeing how disappointed she looked and decided to drop the whole phone call thing to her phone. If she didn’t want to talk about it, he wasn’t going to push her. Plus, obviously it was her business if the man called her phone to talk to her. If it was anything important, he was sure him and his family would hear about it tomorrow.

She simply just nodded her head and shut her refrigerator door and stared at it for a few seconds before turning towards her living room and looking at Kevin with a semi-confused and questioning look on her face.

“What?” he simply asked when he noticed her looking at him.

“Want to go out and get a beer with me? I could use the company to prevent people from hitting on me.” she stated and he laughed slightly before nodding his head slightly and she sent him a smile.

“Just let me get some shoes.” she said while she pointed her thumb over her shoulder to her room before turning around and going to it.

A few minutes later she exited her room, shutting her door behind her with a light jacket on, her hair pulled back in a ponytail and some black heels on.

“Alright. Let’s go.” she simply said while he followed behind her, small smile on his face as he shut her door behind the both of them.