William paced the hospital room where Eric slept, David had gone to get them some food.

A safe place. That's what he needed, a safe place to hide David and Eric while he goes back to the hotel to investigate Frank's clue.

But he was new to this town, everyone he trusted was seriously hurt. He hadn't been able to get in touch with captain Fields since the night he desperately called him for help.

"What happened to your friend, did you say his name was Frank?" David asked.

"Yes, I don't know." William answered honestly. "But I think he is in trouble."

"What kind of trouble?" David asked.

"I don't know. But he is not safe, even in the hospital." William said, chewing the spoon with an absent mind.

"Him too?" David said frowning. He found it hard to believe and was beginning to wonder if William was just a paranoid guy.

William however looked up when David said this. A look of revelation on his face.

"You are right!" He said. "This town is too small for so many mysteries."

"So then maybe my parents are ok?" David said hopefully. "And they are probably out there looking for us too!"

"No." William said "I think the people who took your family, hurt Frank and Adam too."

"Who is Adam?" David asked. William did not answer.

"What did your friend Frank say?" David pressed.

"I think he is he only one who knows who is behind all this." William said.

"And now he is in a coma!" David groaned.

"Medically induced coma." William corrected. "They probably attacked him because he knew too much but they don't kill him because they need something from him."

David sat down. This looked bad! What if he never got to see his family again? What if he had to take Eric and go back home alone?

Would they get tossed into the foster care system or would they have to go into hiding because the people who took his family would come after them too?

David looked at William seriously. He looked as terrable as David felt which was the only consolation at the moment.

"You look like you could use some sleep." David said.

"I'm fine." William said "listen, the doctors are going to discharge Eric soon so I thought it would be best to go back to the hotel for a while."

"Go back?" David asked, surprised. "What if whoever took my family finds us there."

"They won't." William replied. "You won't be going back to your room."

An hour later, they were back to the hotel at the men's quarters.

"This is my room, you can hide out here for a while." William said before turning to Frank's cupboard.

There was nothing but plain coloured shirts and pants, neatly pressed and folded into the shelves.

William tapped all the panels inside the wardrobe but nothing sounded hollow. He then pulled out the drawers one had a keypad locked box and the other was full of junk like keychains, cigarette boxes and gum.

William pulled out the drawer with the junk and threw it onto his bed in frustration. Was Frank crazy after all?

William sat down on the other bed and put his head in his hands. What was he to do now? Where was the captain?

When he looked up, he noticed something strange. The drawer did not have a back panel. Wondering if he broke it in anger, he bent down and peered inside.

He could see the back panel still inside but stuck. He put his hand inside and slowly began to slide it out.

This was definitely not a broken drawer. It was a carefully built secret drawer behind the existing one.

Frank is a genius!

William pulled it out to reveal a thick file full of newspaper cuttings, photos and documents and then threw it on the bed.

"What's this?" Eric asked, limping towards William on his crutch.

"Frank wanted me to see this. We might find some answers here." William said as he flipped open the file.

Most of the newspaper clipping had the same headline.

LANCHESTER: MISSING YOUNG BOY

LANCHESTER: MISSING NURSE

MISSING COUPLE'S CAR FOUND AT THE OUTSKIRTS OF LANCHESTER

MISSING OR CAPTURED?

William thought that the only thing the clippings had in common was that it happened in Lanchester, but he was wrong.

The victims had some things in common too. They were lonely people who dint tell people where they were. There were no friends and families who would pressure the authorities to try and find them.

"What's that?" David asked, pointing at a list of handwritten names at the end along with dates.

William gulped. "It's a list of victims and the day they disappeared."

"Oh god!" Eric gasped as he went through the photos.

William grabbed it from him and quickly scanned them.

They were pictures of a healthy looking man of average looks. In each picture he would look a little thinner. His eyes would get red and swollen.

Soon there were pictures with his arm in a cast and his face with scratch marks. He looked terrible.

The next set of photos was if an old man. William recognised this old man. He was at the bar.

The pictures of the old man was different. It looked like Frank followed him and tried to take pictures.

In some pictures, the old man had a yellow prescription bottle in his hand. This was mostly when he was serving drinks. This evidence was enough to open an investigation against the old man but the fact that it wasn't done told William that Frank was attacked because of the information he had.

William picked up a document at the end of the file. It was a hospital blood test report.

Patient is severely intoxicated  with an unknown substance resulting in fast degeneration of brain cells.

"Unknown substance?" William groaned as he flipped through the other reports.

Patient name: Luke Morgan

State illness:

-broken arm-

-displaced shoulder-

At the bottom of the page there were several notes from the doctors.

-refer psychological treatment-

-multiple suicide attempts-

William read in horror as everything reflected to what happened to Frank. Also the name Luke Morgan struck him as familiar.

All the hospital documents belonged to the same guys. Who was he?

Suddenly it hit him. Frank's old room mate! Frank mentioned his room mate left unexpectedly and that he hoped to find out what happened. Maybe he had already started the investigation.

"Do you mind if I take some food from the fridge?" David asked, his stomach growling loudly.

"Sure, go ahead." William said.

"So what are these about? How does it help us?" David asked taking a bite out of some leftover pasta.

"It tells us what happened to the people who stayed here. This is organised crime? Most likely a group with access to some kind of drug to mentally to torture people." William said.

Eric's jaw dropped.

"And now they have my parents?" He moaned. "How do we ever get them back?"

But before William could reply, David came forward with a knife. Placing his hand on the table he began to play the five finger fillet game.

Horrified, William jumped off his bed and grabbed the knife out of David's hand.

David did not react. He stared blankly at the wall and began scratching his arms and neck.

"Shit!" William gasped.

"What happened to him?" Eric cried.

William ran his fingers through his hair looking around, wondering what to do. He spotted the open box of leftover pasta.

"Intoxicated with unknown substances." William whispered to himself in realisation.

"Don't eat the food!" He told Eric. Then he tucked David in the bed.

Then there was a knock on the door.

"William cooper!" Someone called from outside.

"Just a moment please." William said as he and Eric quickly stuffed all the papers back into the file and put the drawers back in place.

Then William opened the door. It was the police.

"William Cooper, you are under arrest for suspicious disappearance of Adam Davis." Said one man.

"Turn around and show us your hands." Said another cop holding up his handcuffs.

"What did I do?" But nobody replied. Eric watched in horror from inside. David seemed to be unconscious.

"Just stay here!" William said to Eric as they cuffed him.

"I'll be back but stay here and don't eat the food." William said urgently as they pulled him away.

******

I am so sorry... This has probably been the longest gap between posts....

I'm back now and will be regular like before!

I hope you enjoyed this chapter... If you did....
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