Lost and Found

Chapter Twenty-Three

I knew that face. 

"Trubel," I whispered. I was in shock.

"Either that, or an evil twin," Wu said, also in shock. His sarcasm didn't have the biting tone it usually did because his voice came out in a whisper like mine.

"This is from last night?" Hank clarified frantically.

"Yes," Renard said.

I couldn't believe it. Trubel was alive? She couldn't be, but she was!

I didn't know how she did it, but she was alive.

"She's alive," I said quietly.

"That's what I'm thinking," Renard said casually.

"How?" Hank asked, baffled.

"I have no idea," I said. "But I don't care." I was full of so much bliss, I didn't realize what the footage meant.

"You should watch the rest of it," Renard suggested, pressing the play button.

Trubel struggled against the men who held her. That was when I noticed the bruises on her face; even though the footage was blurry, I could still see the purple injuries around her eyes and jaw. I saw the leader look at her before turning towards the clerk. His eyes had an expressiveness about them that made me think he was smiling. He pulled the trigger once and the clerk sank to the ground. It looked like the leader said something to the men holding Trubel. The men let her go, and she leaped over the counter. I couldn't see what she was doing, but a few minutes later, she sprang up and looked like she was yelling at the leader. I could have sworn by the shape of her lips that she said, "You killed him!"

The leader pointed the gun at her head.

Trubel said something and followed the masked men out of the store.

"Is the clerk dead?" Hank asked.

That's when it hit me. I realized that Trubel had just participated in an armed robbery. My Trubel just came back from the dead and used her new life to rob and potentially kill someone. I was happy she was alive, but I was wondering what the hell she was doing. 

I wanted to help her. She needed an escape from whatever was going on and thinking she was dead helped me realize that there was nothing I wouldn't do for her.

"The clerk is alive. He's in the hospital, and I think you should talk to him," Renard said.

"Oh, we will," Wu said enthusiastically and exasperatedly.

Renard handed me a file with the information gathered on the case so far. "Before you go, there's something else you should see."

Renard played another video oh his computer. Trubel walked into another convenience store alone. She must have been wearing makeup because I couldn't see bruises the on her face anymore. She greeted the clerk before moving through the whole store. She was the only one there, and it looked like she was making sure of that. The clerk came over to help her with something and they walked to the counter together to buy whatever they had picked out. As soon as the register was open, two men with bandanas ran in. They looked like they were different men than the ones from the other robbery just by their size and shape, but they were wearing the same bandanas. One man was talking to the clerk while the other held Trubel and pressed a gun to her head. I really hated watching it, but some part of my mind told me Trubel wasn't in danger this time.

I saw her yelling and screaming and crying as one of the men held her. I was pretty sure she was acting because she wasn't one to panic.

The terrified clerk unloaded the register and held Trubel in his arms when the men left. It looked like he reached for something, but Trubel got in his way. Trubel got up, left the store while the clerk was making a call, and never came back.

"This takes place after the first one I showed you," Renard said.

"She planned this one," I suggested. "This robbery was a lot cleaner than the other one. Look," I said, pointing to the computer screen. "The gun is never pointed at the clerk. He never has to fear his own life. No one gets hurt like in the other one," I listed. "This crime is clean, quick, and the least traumatic it could possibly be."

"Her planning this does not help her case," Renard disapproved.

"The people she's with are making her do this," I said. "I don't think she has a choice."

"We have to find her," Hank said.

"Let's talk to the first clerk," I said.

We all left the office except for Renard. We piled into my car and drove to the hospital listed in the case file.