Mind (the) Game

by Kelly Shade

“Hmm, so he is recovering slowly or not at all, judging by those.” Jane said thoughtfully while examining the pills.

  “I guess so, if these are his.” Smith said.

  A woman, one of the FBI’s agents, with beautiful features, shoulder-length dark brown hair and light blue eyes came to them with the words “You must be Jane Blake.”

  “Yeah, and you are?” Blake answered irritably, she didn’t feel like meeting new people at the moment.

  “Agent Barlow, Miss. Blake.” She changed her friendly tone to a firm one “You may want this.” And handed Jane two photos.

  “Thank you, agent Barlow!” Blake said with monotonous voice and looked at the photos.

  One of them was the same as the one Jane and her grandmother had, the other was of a baby boy. Blake carefully examined the boy’s photo. The baby had somehow familiar features but Jane couldn’t reckon from where.

  “Gray?” Jane turned to Ryan but she saw he was three feet away talking to agent Barlow. She waited for him to finish his conversation and when he returned to her, Jane asked.

  “Can you age this photo somehow? Can you, I don’t know, umm, use the baby’s face to make an older version of him?”

  Ryan laughed but Jane’s expression was so serious that he had to take the question seriously.

  “I can try, yes, but it won’t be very accurate.” Said he with a smile.

  Blake walked around the house with Tylor, Ryan and Barlow. It looked like Morse left in a hurry. Smith’s team was able to collect the DNA of several people plus many fingerprints which would help with the identification of his accomplices.

  Unfortunately, they didn’t find anything substantial or indicating where Morse headed after he left.

  Blake was very disappointed of the turn of the events but at least Ryan seemed pleased they went to Brazil. He was having an excited conversation with agent Barlow.

  After examining the house and finding nothing, Jane decided it was time to go home. There was no point in wandering around the empty house.

  Blake and Gray took the next flight to Los Angeles and sixteen hours later they were at LAX.

  Blake had one more thing to do before going home, she had to go to the hospital and check the blood test results. She said goodbye to Ryan, who this time left her alone without too many explanations, and went to meet the doctor.

  “Jane Blake, right?” said the doctor while looking through a lot of documents and searching for her results.

  “Yeah.” Jane confirmed.

  “Well. Miss. Blake, you should have told me about the drugs. This would explain your health condition without all the tests.” Said the doctor firmly.

  “What drugs?” Jane asked with surprise.

  “So you are not taking any?” the doctor was as surprised as she was.

  “Not that I know of!” Blake lifted her eyebrow.

  “All right, so,” the doctor took a deep breath, looked at the paper in his hand and continued. “we found high levels of benzodiazepines, anticholinergics and antidepressants in your system. This simply means that you have taken those for at least two months in a row every single day!”

  “What are these anticholinergics and benzodiazepines?” Blake felt puzzled.

  “Benzodiazepines are the type of drugs prescribed for anxiety or as sleeping pills. The anticholinergics are kind of like sleeping pills but they are known to have the opposite effect of an Alzheimer’s drug and a greater use of them increases the chances of developing Alzheimer. And the antidepressants are quite obvious…” patiently explained the medic.

  “Yeah, they are!” Blake sighted. “Thanks for everything.” She said, stood up and reached for the document.

  “How all of these medications entered your system if you haven’t taken them?” the doctor asked with concern.

  “I have several ideas.” Jane said and took the document off his hand.

  Chapter 17

  The lost memory

  The next few days the FBI and Jane’s team were trying to find where did Morse went after leaving Brazil. It was a stream of dead ends, which made everyone anxious and tense.

  Blake accepted the date with Kyle and didn’t regret her decision. They had a nice dinner at a restaurant downtown. Collis was a perfect gentleman when he didn’t have to impersonate Dan Peterson. Kyle was funny and understanding and somehow loner, just like Jane.

  “Tell me, what happened after Alvaradoz saw you with the cops?” Blake asked eagerly.

  “He froze, what else.” Kyle smiled “It turned out that his daughter was in charge for some time now but Lucco was keeping her in the dark. The whole deal with Vercelli was her idea.”

  “I knew there was something with that daughter of his.” Jane murmured.

  “Yeah, me too.” Kyle said and added excitedly “It was the biggest bust in years!”

  “All thanks to you!” Jane raised her glass of wine for a toast.

  “And to you!” Kyle also took his glass.

  The rest of the dinner went well, as pleasant as it was in the beginning. Blake liked Kyle but she wanted to take it slow, she didn’t want to make the same mistake she did with Jason Carter. This time she wanted to keep her private life private as long as possible.

  The date was followed by several more and Jane didn’t understood how it happened but in the span of a week she was already in a relationship with Kyle. Collins was sweet and smart, he also wanted to keep their personal life a secret, he wasn’t demanding at all, and for Jane it was the perfect boyfriend. At least for the time being.

  Two weeks went like a blink of an eye for Jane. She was busy searching for killers with the Homicide team, then she was spending time on trying to locate Morse, and seeing Kyle.

  December had come and the weather was getting a little bit chilly. Jane woke up and saw it was raining, it was cloudy and depressing. She ran to her car under the cold rain. Blake felt way better these days, the migraine was almost gone, the brain fog wasn’t bothering her, Jane felt she was coming back to her old self.

  She got to the Station in a great mood. She walked to the café upfront, not caring about how wet she will get, to buy coffee and saw a couple kissing in front of the Station. “Cute!” she thought and looked one more time, narrowing her eyes. With horror she realized she knew the man and the woman. It was Ryan and that Barlow agent from the FBI. Jane received her coffee, paid to the cashier without looking and ran towards Gray. She pretended she didn’t see him and bumped in him.

  “Sorry!” Blake said as if she didn’t know she hit Ryan.

  “Hey, Blake!” Gray said coldly.

  “Oh! I am sorry!” Jane fake-smiled “Agent Barlow!” Blake nodded to Ryan’s girlfriend.

  “Stacy, you can call me Stacy!” smiled the agent and kissed Ryan good bye and went away.

  Blake pretended she wasn’t interested in Ryan’s new relationship and walked inside. In fact, she felt angry at him. Jane knew she had no right to be mad, especially since she was with Kyle, but she couldn’t help it. Besides, when she saw Barlow, Jane didn’t like her at all.

  “I, well, we…” started Ryan nervously.

  “Congrats!” Jane forced herself to say and added “You needed a woman in your life, I hope she makes you happy!”

  “She does.” Said Ryan with a smile but his eyes were showing irritation, as if he wanted to provoke jealousy or at least some kind of reaction in Jane.

  Blake and Ryan walked in the homicide office where their colleagues were already piled up with work. When Victoria saw Jane and Ryan, she went to the kitchen and minutes later she came back with two coffees. Evans was mostly in the office and she developed a habit to act as the team’s secretary as well. Nick didn’t like it but Victoria thought this would make Jane like and approve of her being there.

  “Don’t settle, we have a case!” Valdez ordered.

  Jane and Ryan drank their coffees in a hurry, turned around and headed back to the parking lot.

  The team arrived at the crime scene which was i
n a deserted back alley, down town between two apartment buildings.

  “Well?” Jane asked when she saw Barbara Bradley sitting near a puddle of blood.

  “Well, honey, we have a murder but no body!” Bradley said with a grimace.

  “How do we know it is a murder?” Blake asked but before Barbara could explain, one man of the CSU arrived with all the information.

  “Neighbors heard two gunshots around five am this morning but when several people looked through their window, there was no one here. We found bullets from a nine-millimeter stuck in the wall on your left,” he showed the place where the bullets were “and footprints from three people, and also a set of tire tracks.”

  “At this point I can say that a person certainly died, but I don’t know if the shots were fatal or the victim bled out.” Bradley added to the report “I’ll take samples to the lab, then I can tell you more.” She said and stood up.

  “Who called it in, Travis?” Ian asked the CSU member.

  “The girl over there. Shirley Rose.” Travis pointed at a crying teenager leaning on one of the police cars, surrounded by policemen.

  Blake made a gesture to Nick to follow her. They went to the girl and the policemen left them to speak in private.

  “Hello, Shirley, I’m detective Lee.” Said Nick gently “We need you to tell us what happened.”

  “I got in a fight with my mum and ran out through the fire escape.” Sobbed the sixteen-ish brunette girl in a sweater and jeans. “Then I saw the blood and I remembered I heard shots and… I decided to call 911.”

  “You are not telling us everything.” Jane noticed that Shirley was avoiding their eyes and her voice went thinner when she mentioned the blood. Also, Jane thought she is far too emotional over a puddle of blood.

  “I,” hesitated the girl “I’m telling you all I know.”

  “This is not the truth and we both know it!” Jane said firmly. “And if you withhold information you can be charged with obstruction of justice.”

  Shirley looked scared, her eyes were trembling by the effort she was making not to cry.

  “She is right, Shirley!” Nick confirmed.

  “If I tell you, they will kill him!” Murmured Shirley.

  “Who?” asked Jane and Nick in one voice.

  Shirley started crying again, she sat down on the ground and spoke quietly.

  “If I knew earlier I would never have called!”

  “If you knew what, Shirley?” Nick asked kindly and stroke her back.

  “I was supposed to meet my boyfriend. That’s why my mum and I fought, she doesn’t approve our relationship.” Started Shirley “When I came, I saw the blood, called 911, and climbed to his apartment.” She pointed at the fire escape of the building on the left side. “He wasn’t in his bedroom, instead I saw his mother talking on the phone. I hid and listened. Someone wanted a ransom for her son and they said if she calls the cops, he will die, just like his father! I ran but you were already here and two policemen started questioning me, I couldn’t get away!” finished the girl.

  “His name?” Lee asked with prepared notebook and a pen.

  “Frederic Kutcher.”

  Nick and Jane exchanged worried looks. Lee ran to the team to inform them about the hostage situation.

  “Why didn’t your mum approved?” Jane asked.

  Shirley looked at her puzzled.

  “He is rich and my mum thinks he is spoiled and he will break my heart.” She said.

  “How rich?” Jane kept asking.

  “A lot. His father owns the Kutcher’s publishing company.” Shirley answered.

  Blake went to her team who already called the Hostage Rescue Team (HRT).

  The LAPD Homicide detectives were going to work with the HRT in order to solve the murder case and the hostage situation.

  Everyone was anxious on the ride back to the Station. Ian and Ryan informed Jane that the tire tracks found at the scene by the CSU, were from a van and they also had found white paint.

  When they arrived at the office, Ryan sat in front of his laptop to get as much information about the Kutcher’s family as he could. But several minutes had passed and he stood up and made a gesture to Blake to follow him to the kitchen area. Luckily, no one noticed them going out because the office was now of with people- two agents from HRT had arrived, Hunt was also in there.

  “What?” Jane asked.

  “I just found out a breach in the system,” Ryan spoke quietly while he was preparing coffees for him and Jane.

  “And?” Blake looked at him with her eyes wide open.

  “I tranced it and your hacker friends are behind it.” Ryan said with a serious expression. “Wanna tell me something?”

  “Yeah, about that,” Jane said slowly “keep it quiet, please. I’ll explain everything later, okay?” she added, took the cup of coffee and headed back to the office.

  Blake was asked to go at the victim’s home with the head negotiator, so she had to leave Lee, Valdez, Gray, Evans and the FBI to deal with the search for the van and Frederic Kutcher, while she was supposed to question Mrs. Kutcher.

  Jane went with agent Roy Francis and his team at the Kutcher’s home. The apartment was fancy furnished and decorated. It was obvious that the family was wealthy.

  Mrs. Kutcher didn’t want to let them in at first but at some point she decided to cooperate. Blake went in, followed by four FBI agents and Roy Francis. The agents started preparing the tracking equipment and Blake and Francis went in the kitchen with Mrs. Kutcher, sat on the chairs at the huge square table and started with the questioning.

  “Mrs. Kutcher when was the last time you saw your son and husband?” asked Francis.

  “Yesterday, around ten pm.” Sobbed the woman.

  “What about in the morning?” Jane joined in.

  “They went to a conference together in Washington. Larry was teaching Fred how to run the business.” Said Mrs. Kutcher. “I expected them to come home tonight.”

  Blake stood up and walked to the kitchen drawers. She opened and closed several of them to check what was inside. Mrs. Kutcher followed her with disapproving eyes but didn’t say anything.

  Jane decided to make tea for the tensed woman while Roy Francis was explaining the procedure of negotiations. Blake make the hot drinks, served them to Kutcher and to Francis and went back to get hers.

  Jane stoop up, watching the photos on the huge fridge with her back against the woman and the FBI agent. She took a sip of the green tea with lemon, then another and turned around sharply as if an idea came to her. For a moment everything went black in front of her eyes, then the room started spinning. She felt how her hand couldn’t keep the tea cup, it slipped, fell on the ground and broke into pieces. Jane’s legs refused to work and she dropped on the ground, feeling nothing but numbness everywhere, seeing only two shadows running towards her, hearing loud ringing noise in her ears. In a matter of seconds blackness and nothingness fell over her and Blake was out.

  Jane didn’t felt when Francis took her in his arms, she didn’t hear Mrs. Kutcher screaming, Jane didn’t know when the ambulance had come, she couldn’t feel the paramedics fighting for her life.

  Blake had several flashes of bright light in front of her eyes and heard people talking over her, then again she blacked out.

  Jane woke up in a hospital bed after, what she thought, several minutes. For her surprise, Ryan and Hunt were there with worried expression on their faces. Blake looked around, her vision was blurry but getting better. She saw flowers on the night stand on her left.

  “What happened?” Jane said with a hoarse voice, her throat was sore and dry.

  “You passed out.” Hunt said the obvious and Jane gave him a ‘you-don’t-say’ look!

  “Agent Francis said you just faded.” Ryan took her hand “How are you now?”

  “Fine, I guess.” She said. “How long I’ve been out?”

  “Couple of hours.” Gray answered.

  “Drug overdose, Jane!” H
unt said hiding his anger. “How did that happened!?”

  “I can explain.” Blake said irritably.

  “You will explain but not now!” Hunt cut.

  “Why is that?” Blake lifted her eyebrows.

  “You are suspended until further notice.” Connor said and headed to the door “And I have a case to crack and a hostage situation to handle!” he turned to her and added “Get well.”

  Hunt stormed out of the hospital room.

  “What’s up with him?” Jane asked Ryan who was terribly calm.

  “One of the best on the team faded on a job with the feds because of drug overdose. What do you think?” Gray said with a grimace.

  Blake decided not to comment on that. It was obvious Ryan and Hunt thought she was taking pills on purpose.

  “What’s up with the case?” Blake changed the subject.

  “They called for a ransom and the FBI traced their location. They are on their way now but Francis is not sure if they’ll find the boy alive.”

  Blake looked at him with a worried expression.

  “Jane, talk to me!” Ryan said and sat next to her on the bed. At this point he didn’t care about the case but for her.

  “Will you believe me if I tell you?” Jane asked.

  “I will.” Gray lied.

  Jane drank a little bit of water, cleared her throat and with difficulty started explaining.

  “I did take medications but I didn’t know until several days ago. The blood tests showed it. Somebody put them in my drinks or food for several months. Can you think who might that be?”

  Ryan looked at her puzzled. He sat quiet for some time then he said slowly. “If you think someone drugged you daily, you must suspect somebody with access, which means you think it is someone in the department.”

  “Yeah,” she nodded “and …?”

  “But who would want that? Why?” Ryan rubbed his head “Wait a minute!” he said and stared at Jane “Your hacker friends, they were going to check the person you suspected!”

  “That’s right!” Jane admitted.

  “I caught them before they could do whatever they were trying to.” Ryan said slowly.