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Chapter 15

“Nothing in here.” Nick shouted across the street to Granger who was standing on the sidewalk on the other side. They were in Tura, searching for Ali, or someone or something that would lead them to her. So far, they had found nothing. Nick was getting more and more frustrated, and couldn’t help but feel like they weren’t getting anywhere. He knew that the incidence the night before had been a breakthrough, but he also knew that he might have spoiled their opportunity to find anything.
“Let’s have a look in there.” Granger pointed towards an old barn that looked like it was about to fall apart any second. Nick sighed, and nodded. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to look; it was just that he was tired of not finding anything. And in addition to that, for every new building or room they stepped into, he was scared of what they might find.
A body?
Parts of a body?
Or worse… nothing at all.

“Are you ok?” Granger asked as they stepped into the abandoned barn.
“Yea, why?”
Granger shrugged. “You look tired.”
“I just haven’t had much sleep lately.” Nick paused to look around. “I mean, I’m used to not getting that much rest, being on the road and stuff, but this is just so mentally exhausting.”
Granger didn’t say anything; he just nodded and walked over to the other side of the barn to look behind a large green container. Just then, Nick’s call phone rang. He pulled it out from a pocket on the inside of his jacket and pulled off his thick gloves to press the answer button.

“Hello?”
“Nick, it’s AJ.”
“Hey.” Nick walked a little further away from Granger.
“Listen, I need you to get back to the hotel as soon as possible. I need to talk to you.”
“What? Why?”
“I can’t really tell you right now. Can you just get back here?”
“Can’t it wait until tonight?”
“No.”
Nick waited for AJ to continue, but there was only silence coming from the other end.
“I’m kinda busy AJ…”
“I know that, but this is important. I overheard something, about Ali, and I need to talk to you about it.”
At the sound of Ali’s name, Nick instantly became more interested.
“What do you mean?”
“Nick… like I said, I can’t tell you right now.”
Nick sighed. “Alright… I’ll be there in half an hour.”
“Ok, good. I’ll be in my room.”
“See ya.”

Nick hung up and walked over to Granger.
“I gotta get back to the hotel.”
“Why?” Granger stopped what he was doing, and turned around to face Nick.
“AJ said he had to talk to me about something. I don’t know what though, but I told him I’d get back there right now.”
Granger nodded in approval. “Ok, no problem. You can take the car. I’ll finish up here and call Tara or Cody when I’m done.”
“Thanks.”
Nick turned around to walk outside.
“Hey.” Granger called out after him. “Get some sleep, will ya?”
Nick smiled. “Yes sir!”

~*~

“She said what?” Nick stood up from AJ’s bed and looked at his friend in shock.
“She said that she saw something, and that she’s not gonna tell us, because she doesn’t want Ali to be found….” AJ repeated.
“She said what?”
“She said that---“
“No, I heard you. I just… shit!” Nick tilted his head back and ran his fingers through his hair.
“I just figured you wanted to know.” AJ said as he watched Nick who was pacing around the room.
“What do we do now?”
AJ shrugged. “Dunno… I guess we should tell Granger and then confront her about it.”
“Yea, I guess we should. He won’t be back until later though…” He sat down on the bed again, slamming his fist on the white sheets. “God! I knew something was up with her… If this is what we think it is I swear I’m gonna break her neck. What if what she saw could’ve led us to Ali?”
AJ nodded. “I know. It’s insane, I mean, she’s a police officer.”
Nick sighed. “I guess we’ll just have to wait until Granger gets back then… I should stay here. I’m so mad right now that if I leave the room, I’ll probably go straight to hers and break the door down.”
“That would’ve been something.” AJ chuckled a little. “I’ll order some room service.”

It was later that night, and Nick, AJ and Granger were on their way to Tara’s room to confront her about what AJ had heard earlier that day. They hadn’t told Granger about it yet, because Nick wanted him to see Tara’s reaction before he had gotten the chance to evaluate the situation himself. They reached Tara’s room, and Granger placed one solid knock on the wooden door. She opened it after just a few seconds, wearing only a pink silk night gown that left nothing to the imagination.
Granger cleared his throat uncomfortably, and Nick noticed that he had a hard time keeping his eyes away from her chest as he spoke.
“Good evening Tara.”
“Granger, hi. AJ. Hi Nick.” Nick felt her eyes linger on him for a few seconds before she turned her attention back to Granger. “What can I do for you?”
“We wanted to speak to you about something. Could we come in?”
Tara nodded and took a step to the side to let them into her room.
“Maybe you should put on something a bit more appropriate?” Granger commented as he walked past her.
She shrugged and walked into the bathroom to arrive a moment later, wearing a bath robe.
Nick, AJ and Granger were all sitting on the small sofa in her room, and as soon as she walked out, they all sat up straight and waited for her to settle down on the double bed across from them.
“AJ and Nick wanted to talk to us about something.” Granger said and turned to AJ, “So why don’t you tell us what’s going on?”
“Well…” AJ paused, thinking of what to say to make it sound as reliable as possible. “I was walking down the corridor earlier this day to get something to eat, and I walked past your room.” He said, looking at Tara. “Your door was open and you were on the phone. I didn’t mean to listen in on your conversation, but you were speaking kinda loud… I guess you could say I heard some things that I wish I hadn’t heard…” He paused again, looking from Tara, to Nick, to Granger to see their response. Tara was showing no sign of nervousness or anything like that.
“What did you hear?” Granger asked, looking a bit confused.
“She said that she saw something that she didn’t want us to know about because she doesn’t want Ali to be found.”
Granger raised his eyebrows. “Tara… is this true?”
Tara laughed. “What? No, of course not! Why would I say that?”
“Because obviously, you want Nick to yourself.” AJ interrupted before Granger had the chance to respond.
“Ok, ok… slow down a little.” Granger made the ‘time out’ sign with his hands. “Tara, could you please explain to us what it was that AJ heard?”
For a second or two, Nick thought he saw a sign of hesitation in her eyes, but it was gone before he even had a chance to react.
Tara laughed a little. “It’s kinda embarrassing actually…” She said. “I was on the phone with my sister, and she’s always asking me for all the dirty details concerning my love life, considering she has none. There’s this guy that I like, who’s dating my best friend. I saw them… you know… in his apartment, and I don’t want my friend to find out because she’ll know I was there. That must’ve been what you heard.” Tara looked at AJ innocently and then back at Granger, flashing him a smile.
“AJ… could this be what you heard?” Granger asked.
AJ shook his head. “No. She was talking about Ali.”
“Did you hear her use Ali’s name, specifically?”
“No…”
“Did you hear her use Nick’s name?”
AJ sighed. “No… but---“
“Then we should trust her that she’s telling the truth.”
“What?” Nick hadn’t spoken before, but at Granger’s last words, he stood up and looked at him in disapproval. “How can you believe her just like that?”
“Nick, Tara’s one of our best officers, and if she says she never said anything like that, I trust her.” Granger argued.
“What about what AJ says? He’s like a brother to me. He would never say anything like this if he wasn’t a hundred percent sure.”
“I know that you believe him, but as a police officer, you’re bound to trust what other officers are telling you. It’s an unwritten rule, Nick.”
“I can’t believe you. Let’s go AJ… I need to get out of here before I do something I’ll regret.”
AJ nodded and shot both Tara and Granger a look of disgust, before he stood up and followed Nick out of the room.