"Sam Paterson" Collins held out Sam's ID. They were back at the precinct, Collins insisted on him questioning the man they had saw with Nancy. Barbara wanted to conduct the interrogation herself but Collins knew how she would be harsh on the man. If the man was just an ordinary citizen, they might be disciplined for arresting him talkless of treating him like a criminal.
"Yes I am, can you please tell me now why I'm here?" The man questioned with his brows raised up and his expression says he was totally upset.
"You are here because someone made a call to us that your spouse was in danger by them, and we think you made the call" Collins said while he gazed was focused on Sam's face, trying to see his reaction.
"Goddamit, she's not even my spouse, I don't fucking know her okay, it was just a hookup and if I had known I would be harassed with a gun pointed at me just because we fucked, I wouldn't have agreed" Sam said distastefully. He was recalling the moment he had wooed Nancy and regrets it every passing minutes. Collins was quite sure the man wasn't the one they needed but just to please Barbara, he needed to get informations on Mr Paterson to show as evidence to Barbara.
"What do you do for a living Mr Paterson" Collins asked calmly.
"Well I don't work anymore, for now, I just got fired from my workplace two days ago and I thought I could blow off some steam in the nightclub, that was where I met her okay" Sam said. He was already having a bad week but now he got arrested just because he wanted to make himself happy. Collins imagined himself being in the man's shoes, he swore he would surely hit the detective who made his day worse.
"Do you have any relative we could contact" Collins asked.
"Hmm, my grandmother" Sam said. If it was another situation, he would have said nothing about the old poor woman. The woman was oblivious of his situation about his job and he knew how devastated the woman will feel when she hears of his misery.
Collins took a small jotter from his seat cabinet and a pen, he lays the jotter in front of Sam and puts the pen on top of it.
"Okay, write down her details here, her number, where she lives and where you live" Collins said.
"My hands are cuffed" Sam said with his eyes glaring at Collins.
"Fucking write with that" Collins said and turned his back to walk towards where Barbara and Nancy was.
"You know, I will get you all sued when you confirm whatever you wanna confirm, I had no idea fucking a girl could get me arrested, rules I never heard about" he heard Sam shouted from behind.
"And what do hell in the world do you think you are doing Lindsey" James, one of their colleagues at work said when Collins passed by him.
"I will explain to you later" Collins said and didn't wait for his response before he entered into a room.
"Hey" Collins said to Barb who was speaking to Nancy before but when she sights Collins, she gets up and walks closer to him.
"Does he seem like our guy" Barb said quietly while her arms were crossed, standing just few inches away from Collins so Nancy wouldn't have to listen on their conversation.
"Not pretty much, I don't think he is Barb" Collins said and Barb sighs.
"We should at least make sure first and we need to check the CCTV around Nancy's apartment, he might be lurking around when he made the car or perhaps he might have been there some times" Barb said thoughtfully.
"My God" she mutters to herself while her gaze was set on the tiled floor.
"What" Collins asked knowing Barb's expression at the moment means she must have thought of something.
"Do you think he might have been watching all along, he might have been right outside the building, maybe in a car, hidden away" Barb said while she struggled to hold on to that fact, it was terrifying to her to think about it.
"That's a possibility, I should probably go check out the CCTVs" Collins suggested.
"No, I will do that, you should just look into Paterson's information" Barb said.
"No, I can't have you go there by yourself, it's risky, you are the one being threatened remember?" Collins argued and he had made up his mind to not let Barb tag along.
"I will be fine Collins, I just need to see for myself" Barb said but Collins insisted further.
"No you won't, look into Paterson's or do nothing" Collins said.
"This is not the time___" Barb wanted to argue further but Collins cut her off.
"That or nothing" Collins insisted which left Barb with no choice but to accept to let it go, she knew she would have persisted as well if it were Collins in her shoe. Barb went back towards Nancy and said somethings to her which Collins couldn't hear but he assumed it was just for her to stay right where she is.
"Have James tag along, I think he could be trusted until we confirm it all" Collins said to Barb when she walked up to him.
"Okay" Barb simply said and passes by Collins. Knowing the type of person she is, Collins knew she must be upset just because of the little argument of her safety.
"Wait here Nancy, you could grab a coffee over there" Collins said to Nancy and he pointed to her where the bean-to-coffee machine is. Nancy nods and mouthed a thank you. Collins left afterwards, he saw Barb getting the sheet from Sam and asking him some informations. He stops by them to talk to Barb.
"You told James yet?" Collins asked and just then, James crept to his back.
"Tell me what" James said which got Collins a little startled but what upsets him was that Barb wasn't willing to be safe.
"Oh God Barb" Collins said with furrowed brows.
"You can go, I will tell him" Barb said which got James curious of what their argument is all about.
"Tell me what?" James asked again but got no response again. Collins only stared at Barb from the corner of his eyes.
"That they arrested me unjustly and now they want to ransack my home without a warrant like I'm some goddarn criminal" Sam shouted which made all the eyes in the open office turned towards them.
"Alright, you need to tell me what's going on now" James said with his arms crossed while looking at Barb and Collins for answers.
***************
"What!, are you both insane, you were planning on going to a criminal's might be location without backup and you asked her to go to a strangers home just because you believed what he said and having me along was the worst idea, for fuck's sake Collins, I got two kids and a wife" James said just like he had always ended his sentences if it was something risky.
"It might be dangerous to inform the Captain yet, we don't know who is who, I'm not saying the police might be part of this but I think something is wrong somewhere, I mean, how could we be chasing after a psycho without having any clue for the past years, it's strange"
"You have a point Collins but I can't have us walk into a den"
"It's no fucking den James, more of the reason I wouldn't go with your idea" Barb said the last sentences peering her eyes up at Collins. James sighs and then nod.
"Okay, I will tag along with her but on one condition, we will tell the Captain everything because I'm sure as hell he wouldn't be part of this even if you think so little of him" James said. Collins knew how much James believed in their captain so he accepted.
Barb said nothing but only got out of their company. She went back to Sam to have him locked up in the cell till it was all confirmed, she knew she would be disciplined if Sam was innocent but she cared less.
"Be safe" Collins said to her when he passed by her. She gave no response which made Collins sigh. He goes out of the precinct and gets into his car. He had made a call to one of their colleagues to have his car driven to their precinct from the crime scene.
Collins had lots of thoughts running through his mind at the moment. He wondered why of all people Barbara would be the one targeted. He sighs repeated until he got to the location. He stops his car and gets out of it. He looked around the area, seeing if there was CCTVs that could capture the moments he wanted. He looked opposite the building Nancy lived at, there was only the road there. He sighted a traffic monitoring cameras on top of a pole near the building, he also saw a CCTV right on a side of the building that could capture everything. He walks closer to the building and head inside to. The CCTV room was somewhere in the building, he knew so he decided to ask anyone he might come by questions on it. When he saw nobody passed by, he resolves into knocking on doors for answers.
Meanwhile, back at the office, Barbara was still hesitating on telling the captain the whole story, it wasn't because of trust but she believed it could put Nancy into more danger if she did.
"Hey come on, if you don't go in right now, I will barge into his door and blurt everything out" James said standing akimbo while his face was mixed with anger and worry. Just then, Barbara heard her phone ring. She got it out of her pocket and stares at it for a long time seeing it was an unknown caller before picking up.
"Hello" she heard a little boy's voice from the other end of the phone. She was hesitant to respond but eventually did. James mouthed a 'who' to her but she ignored him and walked away from where he is. He threw his hands up in the air on the thought of how unbelievable Barbara's stubbornness is.
"Who is this" Barbara said in a quiet voice.
"I can't tell you my name but I can tell you something you want to know badly" The kid said which made Barbara a little scared, she looked around the office and saw everyone was going about their business and she was the only stressed out one.
"Who are you" She asked.
"Like I said, I can't tell you my name" The voice said, sounding almost innocent but Barbara knew it wasn't.
"What is it you think I want to know badly" Barbara said.
"The killer, well I know him" The voice said which made Barbara's anger arisen.
"You are not a kid, are you?, you are faking the fucking voice" Barbara whispered shouted cause she doesn't want to attract any attention to herself.
"You got that wrong, I'm actually a kid, first clue, he has his eyes on you in your office so be careful" The voice said and it made Barbara look around again.
"Who is it" Barbara whispered.
"I'm not giving that out but I can give this out instead, I'm giving you twenty minutes, come to Ellwood, 36" The kid stopped and continue "Alone" he added before ending the call.
"What the__" Barbara was cut short as she realizes the call has ended.
"Fuck" she sweared and look around to see if there was anyone taking a peak at her. She saw no one so she carries on going to where the voice directed her to.
Right at the corner of the office, a middle aged woman in a janitor's outfit smiled as she watched Barbara dive outdoor knowing she was going right into their trap.