Deception

It was around 04:17am when Andrea Mahone’s phone rang, she groggily answered and immediately got to her feet, she got dressed as quickly as possible, and sped like a F1 driver to the hospital. Bursting through the doors she yelled, “where is he?!” A nurse tried to calm her down and she shoved her out of the way, she ran to the front desk and demanded once again, “where is he?!” The lady stared at her blankly and used the intercom to call security. Andrea did not move from her spot, and when security arrived, they stopped and looked at each other with worried expressions. “Detective, I’m so sorry, we had no idea it was you.” The nameless security responded. He looked at the receptionist and told her to give Andrea any information she wanted. “I just want his room number.” She said in an authoritative voice. The information was given to her, and she approached his room, she saw her partner already waiting outside. “Bailey, what the hell are you doing here?” she asked angrily, “Nice to see you too Mahone.” He replied dryly “I was on night duty, dispatch called me in, I got here an hour ago, he was still in surgery, he just got out, I was waiting for you, and also for him to be fully awake.” “Were you going to start this process without me?” she asked surprised. “I don’t know, this is very close to you, I saw your little theatrics and how you entered in here, this isn’t some crime show where you can throw a tantrum and get away with it, you think Carter won’t have you penalised for that? You constantly break protocol, pull yourself together.” He replied annoyed. Marcus Bailey and Andrea had been partners for 3 years, but had very different tactics and didn’t always see eye to eye, Andrea had a knack for acting on impulse, which also didn’t sit well with her boss Carter Wallows. She had multiple warnings, but a lot of them were overlooked due to her ability to solve cases, however this case was none like any other, this case was the one that completely changed her life.
When Andrea had joined the academy, she showed outstanding results, top of her class in every field. She moved up the ranks very quickly, and in a few short years she landed her job as a detective, her dream was to be a lead detective, but that was already given to her partner Marcus. Andrea was so consumed in her job that her personal life took a major hit. Her fiancé left and took along their son Elijah, she was not granted any custody only supervised visits, however it made it difficult for her as her fiancé lived 6 hours away, she only saw her son through a screen. She continued to fight for custody, but her fiancé Travis was adamant that keeping the child with her would put him in danger due to the nature of her job, however, the court disagreed and stated that as a cop, she was fully capable of keeping her son safe, therefore she was granted custody for holidays and one weekend a month. The first few months was great for her, she got to watch her son grow, and she wouldn’t be a stranger in her own house. One evening after a day out with her son, she tucked him in, and decided to have a glass of wine and watch a movie, however one glass turned into a few and she passed out on the couch. She woke up startled as she heard her son scream mommy in a distressed voice. She fumbled off the couch and saw the man she had been chasing for years carry her son. “Stop! Let him go!” The man merely smiled as he started to walk out the door, she ran and grabbed the gun on her counter, although her vision was blurry, she was confident she could make the shot, she missed, and a bystander got shot as the door was open, the man took Elijah and ran, she tried to follow but she passed out. Neighbours reported the gunshot, and immediately ambulances and cops were on the scene. The bystander unfortunately didn’t make it, which resulted in Andrea getting suspended, her house had cameras all over, and after reviewing the footage, they deemed the nature of her actions as negligence, she didn’t face jail time, but was put on probation, and was forced to attended rehab for her dependency on alcohol. The abduction of her son was kept quiet as the family did not want unnecessary attention, however the search for Elijah went on for months and no body had been found, which led Andrea to believe that he was still alive. Travis blamed Andrea and swore that if his son was ever found then she would never see him again. She made it her mission to find the man, she was already obsessed with him before as he was known to be a serial kidnapper, but could never be found, but after her son, her entire life became catching him. She lost weight, she was behind on rent, she stopped taking care of her house, all she cared about was finding him.
At the hospital, while they were waiting for the assailant to wake up, their boss arrived. “Well, Mahone, why am I not surprised that you caused a scene?” He said in a mocking tone “Boss, you know what this means to me, we’ve been looking for him for years, I need this, please give me point on this?” She pleaded, “Boss no” Marcus stood up in protest “she can’t lead this, she’s not well, her mental state will get in the way of making sound decisions, need I remind you that she killed an innocent bystander by shooting her weapon while drunk!” “Oh fuck you Marcus! I’m a better detective than you and you can’t handle the fact that I have bigger balls than you and I am more willing to risk my life than you are!” She responded angrily. “Enough!” Carter yelled “You two are like teenagers in love but don’t want to admit it, neither one of you are leading this case, I will be taking point, that’s why I’m here.” Andrea and Marcus looked at each other in confusion, “Boss, with all due respect, you haven’t been out in the field for years and I think-” “What you think is not any concern of mine.” Carter interrupted “Unless you want me to have both your badges, then I suggest you leave, and don’t you dare make me ask twice.” Andrea and Marcus left in silence, both confused at the sudden involvement of their boss. “You want to get breakfast? My treat.” Offered Marcus, Andrea simply nodded as she had nothing to say. “I’ll drive, we’ll come fetch your car later.” Andrea only nodded once again. When they got in the car, he leaned over and kissed her, “We don’t get along when we’re on the job, but don’t forget that I love you, I want to crack this guy as much as you do, you gotta let me do my job Drea, I won’t fail you.” He pleaded. “I love you too Marcus, but this man took my son, right from my home, I just need to know, is he alive or not, and we don’t have the same tactics, and I can’t change my attitude towards you now that we’re together, Carter will have our badges, and this job means a lot to both of us.” She replied tearfully “I can’t fail my son Marcus, I have to do this for his sake.” She buried her face in her hands, and he leaned over to hug and comfort her. “Stay with me tonight?” She asked almost desperately. “Yeah, of course, let’s just go, we’ll fetch your car later.” On the way home, Andrea was bothered by something, “Marcus, did anybody call Travis?” “Yeah, I did, he said thanks, and hung up. Why?” “Can we ping his cell” Andrea asked in a worried voice. “Sure, I’ll check when we get to your place.” When they finally arrived, they did a check on Travis and saw his location was at the hospital. “That’s weird.” Exclaimed Marcus, “he’s not a cop, he shouldn’t be allowed there.” Andrea’s brain started to think back and put puzzle pieces together. “Marcus, the night Elijah was taken, there was no forced entry, I hadn’t been followed because the outside camera would have seen it, but Travis still has access to my security system and a key, he can check in and see when he feels like it, what are the chances that the assailant would come on the day I had wine, we’ve been tracking this man for years, all we had was a face, but we could never spot him anywhere, why would he come to my house, unmasked and stand at the door to make sure I saw Elijah get taken?” She explained in slight confusion. “Wait, hold on, that night, was the bottle of wine you had already open?” Marcus asked with suspense. “Yeah, why?” “Drea, I don’t think you were drunk, I think you were drugged, when Travis came to drop off Elijah you said he came inside to canvas the place, he could have slipped something in your wine, hired the assailant to abduct Elijah, turning him into a ghost so that Travis can keep him to himself.” Marcus looked worried “We need to get back to the hospital!”
He and Andrea sped to the hospital, and caught Travis and Carter having a conversation. “What are you doing back here?” Carter asked angrily, Andrea ignored him and approached Travis, “Where is he?” She asked coldly “Where is Elijah?” Travis looked at her with cold eyes, he had a smirk on his face. “He’s dead Andy, we both know that.” He replied casually. “Why are you waiting outside his door, you’re not a cop.” Demanded Marcus. Travis looked back and forth between him and Andrea. “Oh gosh.” He said in-between laughter. “You’re fucking my ex aren’t you, man this is bitch is crazy, good luck, I hope you enjoy my sloppy seconds.” Marcus lunged at Travis and held him against the wall, Andrea pulled out her gun and pointed it at Carter. “I’m going to ask this once, where is the boy.” Marcus demanded angrily. “Fuck you!” Travis replied almost matching Marcus’ anger. Andrea cocked her gun pointed at Carter. “I will fucking kill you, you know something about this, how much did he pay you? How much did he pay you to keep my son away from me?” She yelled in anger. Carter gave her a look of disgust and approached her. “Do you really think you can beat me in combat?” Carter responded arrogantly. As he approached, the assailant coughed. Everybody froze and exchanged glances, he softly called for Travis. Marcus let him go and took out his gun, he pointed it at him and told him to walk inside. “We’re going in, just me and you.” Andrea and Carter stood outside anxiously, she still had her gun pointed at him for fear of him attacking her. Marcus came out with Travis in cuffs. He called over the radio for backup, he gave Andrea a distressing look. “Arrest him.” Marcus said upsettingly as he pointed at Carter.
Once they got to the station, Travis and Carter were put in interrogation rooms, due to the familiarity between everyone, they had to call other detectives to interrogate them. Obviously Carter knew his rights so his integration was tricky, but Travis cracked under pressure and spilled it all. The detective came to Andrea and asked if she was sure she wanted to know the story, she knew at this point that it would be bad, but she needed to know. The detective sat with her and began explaining the ties and connection. “Carter was the uncle of Travis, but Travis changed his name so nobody would be aware, the assailant, whose name is Aaron, is the cousin of Travis. Aaron abducted kids because Travis was a paedophile. Aaron never touched the kids, Carter covered all the cases. Travis wanted to keep Elijah to himself, who he admitted to abusing as well, he did in fact drug you, and made you think it was Aaron so as not to put suspicion on him. One night he said Elijah was being uncooperative, and he began to hit him, he struck him on the head, and when he realised what he had done, he called Carter and Aaron, and they helped dispose of the body, we have officers en route to canvas the area right now. I’m so sorry for this evil that was put upon you.” The detective got up, gave a sympathy nod to Marcus and walked away. Andrea fell to her knees and started wailing. Marcus held her tightly, and told her she doesn’t need to be strong. She gripped him tightly and pleaded that he never leave her, he was all she had.
Months had passed, Andrea had a funeral, and all three men were sentenced, Travis had no possibility of parole, she buried Elijah right next to her parents. She continued her work, and got engaged to Marcus, she was never the same after what happened. She started a non-profit to have search parties for missing children, and created a special hotline for kids to call if they’re experiencing abuse. She wasn’t happy, but satisfied and that was enough for her.