The Big Question

Part 6: Adding it Up

Melanie, Brent, and T went to a local restaurant. They all talked about the missing puzzle pieces of this mysterious case. "Somethings up," Brent stated, "I've been praying, stressing, and thinking. Usually, I can figure some stuff out by now." Melanie, who found that funny, responded, "Remember God has a purpose. This girl won't die on our watch. We just have to found the missing pieces." Mr. T agreed, "That's very right." Reminders help us get our minds in the right state. "His room was spotless," Detective T realized, "How weird is that? Teens always have crap lugged and hoarded in their closets. 'the best hiding spots' some would say." Brent then shared with Melanie and T, "A basement is usually a place you find random crap. There was nothing there either except for three boxes. Literally, only three." Melanie took a moment to think, "The results." Brent and Mr. T were confused. Melanie explained, "Underwood said that he couldn't really remember, but was almost positive that he had taken a drug test. Where would the results be then?" There was a lot that needed to be added together.  

Later on that night, Brent had spent a bit of time to himself. He told Mr. T and Melanie he needed a break for the day to work his best tomorrow. What he did was take a self-care night. He prayed to the Lord for strength and wisdom through this case. Next, he washed his face and took a steaming bath. While he did that, he listened to a Christian podcast, "The Mysteries of Life". Lastly, he went to bed early. Seemed like enough to him. 

On the other hand, Melanie and Mr. T decided to stay a bit late and keep working. "I can try and see if I can reach anyone at the station who worked with Underwood his first night at the prison," Melanie said. "Okay," said the detective. He was really focused on his search at Underwood's house. "How weird is it that we had not seen Underwood's parents at all? Not even when he was in prison. Not at the house. There was barely any evidence they were there," He thought to himself. "No luck," Melanie said, "it must be too late at night. I'll try in the morning." Mr. T kept mumbling on and on about Underwood, "He must have a different place. Another setup, his storage area. Or maybe even a workspace. What about his parents, though?" Melanie went on, "Sir, did you hear me?" Mr. T said confidently, "Yes" and went back to thinking.  Melanie decided her safest bet was to go along with his theories. "I can have Brent check Underwood's parents' status. See if he was adopted or anything like that. I'll also work on the drug test results, and we can take things from there?" Mr. T responded, "Sure thing. Guess we have to wait now." 

It was early morning, the detectives had already started working. Melanie gave orders today. She told Brent about Underwood and how weird it was his parents were never around. She also reminded Mr. T about the drug test results. Mr. T remained in his bubble thinking, while Brent worked on finding information on Underwood's past and Melanie continued to find the drug test results. 

They all met with each other around noon. Melanie did not have the greatest news. "The kidnapper we are dealing with is smart. The unsub is sneaky enough to steal the results of the drug test from all of our files." Mr. T asked, "What about the place that we got the results from?" The police station usually takes all drug tests to a place to double-check the drug results.  Melanie answered, "Well, the kidnapper A. either hired someone to discard the computer files or B. the unsub is pretty tech-savvy." "Well," Mr. T began, "How about Me and Brent go to the drug testing place to check all computer files. And, how about you, Melanie, check out Underwood's parents?" Both Melanie and Brent agreed, "Sounds good!" So, Brent and T went to the place where the drug test was sent to check out any suspicious people. While Melanie first went to Underwood's house (for a second time in a row that week). 

"Detective T and this is Detective Brent," T introduced, "We have a really important case going on. We were wondering if you could help us?" The person they were talking to was the boss of the drug test results association. He did not seem so dedicated to his job. "Sure, whatcha looking for?" Brent chimed in, "Well, we were wondering who would've gotten drug results in the Destin, Florida?" The guy had to think for a minute, "I believe it's Grace over there." He pointed to a very small desk that had loads of papers crammed on it. The girl was hunched over doing work on her computer. She seemed unorganized. "Okay, thank you" Detective T recognized.  As they walked over, Grace saw them almost immediately and turned around and smiled at them. "Hello," Grace said. "Hi," Mr. T said. "I am detective T and this is detective Brent." After the introduction, Brent began right away, "I was hoping you could help us with something, Grace." Grace seemed shocked that they already knew her name, "Sure." "So," He said, "I need to know if you are able to search all the people you've gotten drug tests from?" "Which area," she then clarified, "I work with many different areas in Florida, maybe five of them." "Oh," Brent said in response, "We need Destin, Florida." Grace nodded and got to work. "Here is the listed," she printed a document of all the people who have gotten drug tests in Destin." Brent took the paper in a gracious way and looked for the name Underwood Green. Meanwhile, Mr. T asked Grace questions, "Have you've received any weird work calls?" Grace answered suspiciously, "Um, no. My work only gives me a computer to work with. That's it." Brent saw Underwood's name. "Here, can you give me the results of Underwood Green?" Grace said, "Okay, sure." Mr. T took Brent away for a moment, "I thought they couldn't trace his results?" Brent answered, "Yeah, I know. It's worth a shot, though." Grace called out, "It says, he had was drugged with a Benzodiazepines." Brent said, "Thank you. Do you know why those results did not go back to the prison in Destin?" Grace said, "Sometimes information gets mixed up. The prison should have the same data as us, though. Not sure why you couldn't access that information there." Mr. T said goodbye and thanked her. 

Melanie went back to Underwood's house. She knocked on the door and when no one answered she opened the unlocked front door. Her eyes were shocked.