Chapter Thirty-Seven

I follow Jacob into this huge abandoned looking warehouse, but my mouth just hangs open from shock when I walk inside. I had never seen a place like this in all of my life, I thought it was just in those crime hunting tv series. The outside looked like a rundown warehouse whereas the inside, was decked out with high level computers and more devices than I have seen in all my life! As we walk in, I spot three other people sat there, who hadn't noticed we had walked in due to their heads being buried in work. 'Look alive people!" Jacob exclaims loudly which does finally get their attentions, they all whip their heads up to look at Jacob before all their eyes turn to look at me trailing behind him. 'We need to widen our search for Brooke, we need to look at places where Markus frequents the most" he tells them stopping at a table, I was a little behind him just trying to take all this in as I was still pretty shocked about it all. 'Do you believe there is a connection between Markus and her disappearance?" One of the guys ask who was behind his computer, Jacob turns to look at me for a second before turning to look back at the guys in front of him. 'Markus just showed up at Payton's house and started to ask her questions about Brooke, we know he does this to test the waters to see if people are suspecting him, so yes I do believe he is involved and that is why it's so important that we ramp up this search" Jacob says which was the first time I had heard about the connection, but it was the only option that was really making sense for where Brooke had gone. The guy who asked nods his head before running over to a different computer, but he was just in front of that one, couldn't he have done the work that he needed to on that computer? Either he likes to use different computers for each task, or I'm unclear how computers work! Jacob soon turns to me with a smile, I think he could tell by my face how nervous I was about being here. 'You can walk further in Payton, I promise you're safe here" he tells me with a smile, I nod my head smiling back before my eyes start to wonder around the room more and let me tell you, it was huge! As I take a look at the walls, I find they are littered with documents and different kinds of photos with different people. Most of the pictures were of Markus, or him with different men and then just the men on their own. I'll take a guess and say these men must work for Markus, they fit the type that would work for him. As I take a look over, I even see some of me and Austin together! It was from the day that I had helped Austin with the cut on his arm, thinking about that day, he never told me how he actually got that cut on his arm. 'You guys have really followed Markus, haven't you?" I ask still looking around at all the different photos, this must be months of work in photos! Long before I ever came onto the scene. 'We've been trying to catch Markus for nearly ten years now, where we have got virtually nowhere" Jacobs says while I walk closer to the photo wall, this for some reason was growing rather intriguing to me. 'Well, that was until you agreed to help us Payton" he says which does make me look away from the wall to him, he stood with his arms crossed just looking at me with a smile on his face. 'As soon as I saw you and Austin and the way you were acting, I knew I just had to talk to you" he says while I just smile, he came to see us just before I was attacked but it looks like from these photos, he knew about me long before that. 'I just want to keep the ones I care about safe" I smile over at him, I know I keep saying the same thing but it's true, I don't care what Jacob has me do as long as I know in the end it will all be okay. 'Getting Markus off the streets, will keep a whole lot of people safe" he says which I knew was true, someone like Markus is too dangerous to be let out in public, he needs to be locked up and the key thrown away! 'I've been able to track down Brooke's phone, it seems to be at her address!" The dude from before shouts from his computer, Jacob sends me a smile before walking over to take a piece of paper from the guy. 'Have you checked her address yet?" I ask looking around at them all, in my mind that would be the first place that I would check, but they shake their heads no at me, what if she's at home just lying on the floor hurt or something?! 'I asked my boss if he could sort the papers out so we would be able to search, but he told me there wasn't much point if they didn't have any evidence that anything bad had happened to her" Jacob explains which is a whole lot of crap, maybe Brooke disappearing from the face of the earth is enough to search! 'That's stupid! Doesn't he see that time is obviously of the essence!" I exclaim annoyed at this man whoever he is, doesn't care that Brooke could be out there hurt all because of Markus! 'I couldn't agree with you more Payton, but until I get those papers from my boss telling me I can enter, there is really nothing that none of us could do. But now Markus has brought her up, that gives us what we need to get the papers" he says with a little smile, well at least something is going to happen after taking this long! 'Could I come with you to search her house, as it's partly my fault all of this is happening?" I ask hoping he was going to say yes, I feel like if I involve myself, it will feel like I'm doing something and not just taking a backseat. 'None of this is your fault Payton, you never asked Markus to come into your life" he says trying to make me feel better, but I couldn't help but let out a sigh as I look down at the ground. 'Neither did Austin but look where we are now" I say with a sigh, I can't help but wonder where we would be now if Austin never started working for Markus, I know he regrets ever accepting the job. 'We'll have to wait until we get the warrant so we can enter" he says sending me a little smile to help me feel better, I smile but then an idea soon comes to mind, is there a way around it that we could enter without a warrant? 'If I could open the door without breaking in, could we look then?" I ask crossing my arms over my chest, if he says yes then I have a way for us to get in anytime that I want! 'If the door is unlocked that bends the law a little bit, but how would we pull that off?" he asks not understanding where I was going with this, but I know once he does, he's going to love my plan. 'If only someone here knew where they kept the spare key" I say walking around with a smirk on my face, Jacobs face lights up as he looks over at me finally, understanding where I was going with this. 'Let's go!" he cheers finally getting a break in this case, he takes me by the arm and begins to pull me in the direction of the door. 'Keep working!" He shouts to the guys behind us before walking me out of the door.