Title: Unconditional 2/?
Author: sharonmjl47
Rating: NC-17
Category: Movieverse./AU
Disclaimer: I own nothing, and no one. Sad, isn’t it!
Feedback: Please, bad or good. If no one tells me it’s bad, I won’t know!
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There was no one with her. After she had explained what had happened, the police officer behind the main desk had ushered her in here, got her a cup of coffee, and said he would be back with the officer in charge of missing persons. That was 40 minutes ago.
The coffee that the cop had put in front of her had gone cold a while ago. She sat in the room, silently staring at the cup. She was numb; she couldn’t think past the fact that Warren was gone, with him. What was going on? Where had they gone? What if he was hurt, or dead? No, no, she couldn’t think like that. What if he was injured and left to die on his own? What if he was scared and alone.
“Ms. Sutton?” She never noticed the man beside her; she just kept starring at her polystyrene cup. “Ms. Sutton?” It wasn’t until he pulled a chair to sit next to her and touched her arm that she noticed him. “Marie?” She jumped. “Hey, it’s ok.” She looked at him a little confused. “Detective Howlett, Logan. You remember from the diner?”
She nodded but still didn’t understand why he was there. She looked across the table in front of her. Detective Summers was leaning against the wall. “Are you in charge of missing persons?”
Logan shook his head. “No, we’re not. Tell me what happened today.” He was a little gruff with her, but he needed to get her to talk.
“I went to pick up Warren – that’s my son – from school, but he didn’t come out. I went in to the school to see where he’d got to and a substitute teacher said that his father had picked him up at lunchtime. She said no one had told her about the restraining order, so she let him go.”
“Your ex-husband is Ethan Palmer?”
“Yes.”
“There’s been a long running investigation into your ex-husband’s nightclub and casino businesses. It’s a murder investigation, and we’re homicide detectives.”
“You’ve been investigating him? Is that why you came into the diner?”
“No, we go in there a lot. I didn’t know who you were.” Her glistening eyes, ready to cry, made him take a softer tone.
“Homicide?”
He nodded. “A number of girls over the last few months and our undercover officer have been murdered.”
“You think Ethan killed them?”
“Yeah. We can’t prove it yet, but we think that, yeah. We also think he’s been trafficking people, the girls.” He noticed that she didn’t look shocked by that and wondered if she would be shocked to find out they were young girls of 12, 13 and 14 years. “The desk cop said you called him?” She nodded, tears slipping down her face again. “What did he say?”
“He said he was going on a little trip and that he was taking Warren with him. He said, oh God… he said that I would never see him again. What did he mean by that? Because if he means that he’s gonna hurt him… I can’t...” Her voice broke with emotion.
“Shh, it’s ok. Do you have any reason to believe that Ethan would hurt the boy?”
“Yes, he has done before. That’s why we left him. Warren saw him hit me, and he tried to stop him. Ethan didn’t think twice; he hit him. So yeah, Ethan would hurt him if he got in the way.” Logan glanced at Scott who squared his jaw in disgust.
“Ok. Look, we’re in the process of getting search warrants for his house, casino and club because of the murder investigation. We’re now incorporating your son’s kidnapping into that investigation. We’re going to hit all three at the same time. With any luck we’ll find him and your boy.”
She nodded and wiped her face. “Sorry. He’s all I’ve got. I don’t know what I would do if anything happened to him.”
She hadn’t noticed that Summers had left the room until he came back in. “Logan, we’ve got the warrants. Grady is taking a squad to the club. Morris and Fuller have the casino, and we’re taking the house.”
“Ok, let’s go.”
Logan stood up, and Marie stood up with him. “I’m coming with you.”
“That’s not a good idea.”
“I’m not staying here.”
He put his hands on his hips. He was getting annoyed, she could tell. “Ms. Sutton, I don’t think…”
“My name’s Marie, and I’m coming with you.”
He smirked at her boyishly, and even with the situation as it was, she couldn’t help but smile back. “Marie. It’s not a good idea.”
“He’s my son, and the first person he will want to see is me.”
Logan sighed. “Ok, but you stay back and do as I tell you.” She nodded and followed him to their car.
She sat in the back of the SUV biting her nails while she watched around ten police officers storm Ethan’s house. They brought out two of the servants in handcuffs, but no one else. After around ten minutes, Logan and Scott walked out of the house. Logan holstered his gun and walked to the SUV. She jumped out to meet him, her mind racing with every horrible possibility.
As he approached, Scott went to one of the patrol cars, but called to Logan first. “I’ll make the call for the coroner.”
She looked at Logan and shook her head, all the colour draining from her. “Why do you need a coroner? No…NO! Not Warren!” He caught her as she tried to pass him and go into the house.
He pushed her back against the SUV roughly. “It’s not your boy. Easy.” She broke down into sobs and fell into him crying. He didn’t really know what to do, so he just held her to his chest while she shook and cried uncontrollably. After a couple of minutes, he found himself gently stroking her hair.
“I’m sorry. I was just so scared and when he said coroner, I just thought…”
“I know. It’s ok. This is hard, I know. We’ll find him. Marie, look at me…” He put his hand under her chin and lifted her face. “We’ll find him.”
“You promise?”
He stared into her eyes, almost getting lost in the deep brown colour. “Yeah, I promise.” She pulled away from him shyly and wiped her face again.
She gestured passed him into the house. “Who… in there?”
“Palmer’s parents. They’ve been shot.”
“What? Katharine and Peter? Why? Why would someone kill his parents, for god’s sake? Ethan took over the family business from his father just before we got married; Peter was a bit of bastard, but why would anyone…?”
“One of the servants said that Palmer packed up a load of money and some papers, then tried to leave with the boy. His parents wouldn’t let him, but he forced the issue.” She put her hand over her mouth. Ethan had killed his own parents. She felt sick. Warren could have seen the whole thing. “I need a picture of Warren. We’re gonna check the airports and borders.”
“I have tons back at the apartment.”
“Ok, we’re go there to get a couple while Summers waits for the coroner.”
She nodded and got into the passenger seat of the SUV while Logan told Scott where he was going. He got in and pulled off, noticing her faraway expression.
“You know what gets me the most?”
“What?” He glanced at her and then back to the road. He was telling himself to listen to her rather than look at her. She was so beautiful.
“He’s never paid that much attention to Warren. I don’t know why he would even want him. He only ferried him out at his big parties: ‘Oh this is my son, my heir.’ That kinda crap.”
“Yeah, I know the type. My dad was the same. He couldn’t care less if me or my sister was there or not, not unless he wanted to play the good father act for his friends. In the end, he left us with my Aunt once our mother died. He died a couple of years ago.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Why? Not your fault.”
“My father’s dead too. Car accident, two days before I married Ethan. I should have taken it as a sign; my dad never wanted me to marry him. On the day, all Ethan could do was ask, why wasn’t I smiling?”
Logan thought about what she said and stored the information away. Then he shook his head. “What the fuck did you see in him anyway?”
“He was charming. He spoilt me, presents, flowers, and I fell for it. Soon found out the truth, though.”
He stopped the SUV outside her apartment building. “Was it that bad?”
“Yes, and I thought it was over, but it never is with him.” She took her keys out of her pocket and opened the door. “I’ll be back in a minute.”
He held her arm and stopped her. “You might want to get changed.”
She looked down at herself. She had forgotten she had her uniform on. “Right, thanks for pointing that out.” She blushed and went to her apartment.
She opened her door and left it open while she ran into her bedroom. She got out a tin of photos from under her bed and chose the best two. The first was a picture of Warren outside in the sun; she had taken it a couple of months ago when they had gone to the local park with some of his friends and their mothers.
The other was his school picture; she ran her fingers over it and sighed, wishing she could hold him tight. She held the pictures close to her chest, the emotions swelling up in her again. She shook her head.
“Not the time to cry.” She put the photos in the back pocket of her jeans and took off her apron and shirt, throwing them on the bed. She pulled out a black vest top and pulled it over her head quickly. Next she took off her boots and put on her sneakers, then brushed her hair out loose.
As she walked out of the bedroom, a large arm swung into her, and she was roughly thrown backwards into her bedroom. She screamed and tried to get up, but the man pushed her again, and she landed in the centre of her bed. He caught her hands easily and sat on her legs. She got a good look at him for the first time.
He was huge, tall and broad, shaggy blond hair and a nasty look in his eye. She knew him instantly: Victor Creed. He worked for her ex. “Mr. Palmer said to send his apologies, but you gotta die!”
He clamped one huge hand around her throat and began to squeeze. She tried desperately to get him off, but he was simply too big and strong for her. He was shutting off her airway, and her face was getting redder while she struggled to get him off.
Logan was sitting in the SUV, tapping his fingers on the steering wheel. “How fucking long does it take to grab a couple of photos?”
He got out of the SUV and walked into the apartment building. He walked up the stairs one flight and looked up and down the corridor, unsure of which direction to go in. He heard a woman scream and immediately drew his gun and ran in that direction.
He turned round the corner and saw her door open. Running straight into the apartment, he saw the big blond man trying to strangle her. He knew if he tried to shoot him, he might shoot Marie instead, so he quickly holstered his gun and grabbed the man by the shoulders, hurling him off of Marie. “GET THE FUCK OFF HER!”
The man spun on his feet and punched Logan in the stomach and then in his face. Logan fell to the ground with a groan, and the blond man ran out of the apartment. Logan got too his feet and ran into the hall. The man was obviously gone, so he ran back to Marie who was lying in the middle of her bed coughing and holding her throat.
He got on the bed and made her sit up. “Shit! Marie, you ok? Marie?” She nodded but kept coughing and then she started to cry. Logan held her to him, rubbing her back and sighing with utter relief that she was ok. “Let’s get you outta here.”
“Why would he want her dead?” Logan and Scott were standing next to the coffee machine in their open office. Marie was sitting next to Logan’s desk with his jacket around her shoulders. She was holding a cup of steaming coffee in her hands but hadn’t touched it. He could still see the marks on her neck; they were slowing turning from red to blue.
Logan shook his head. “Either she knows something and she’s not telling, or she knows something but doesn’t know it means anything, and Palmer wants her dead before she’s realises and tells.”
“What about this Creed guy?”
“He’s worked for Palmer since he got out of prison 6 years ago. His arrest sheet makes interesting reading: assault, attempted murder, attempted rape. Nasty son of a bitch.”
“She was lucky. Shouldn’t she be in a safe house or something, not here?”
“Scott, I’m not letting that woman out of my sight again. While I was looking up Creed, I looked her up too. She was in and out of hospital while she was married to Palmer: broken wrists, most of her fingers.”
Scott nudged him on the arm. “Jean always said you liked the damsel is distress.”
He smiled. “Let’s leave my sister out of this one, shall we?”
“So, not only are we trying to find Palmer and the boy, we’re now trying to keep her alive, too?”
He smirked at Scott. “You know me. I like to complicate things.” Logan and Scott turned as their Captain called them into his office.
************END OF PART TWO
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Author's Chapter Notes:
More thanks to Gamma.
Summary: “Ms. Sutton, I don’t think…” “My name’s Marie, and I’m coming with you.”
Summary: “Ms. Sutton, I don’t think…” “My name’s Marie, and I’m coming with you.”