Duane Tompkins sat shackled to the table in the interview room. He had been stewing in there for hours, and after the second time he assaulted an agent, they refused to even loosen his bindings. The DNA match had given them enough probable cause for a search warrant, but they were not ready to lay charges in the kidnapping, so Duane had been arrested and booked on assault, which conveniently allowed them to keep him in custody while Hawkins and a team of NIA agents tossed his apartment, van and the bar. Ryan had stayed behind to study Duane himself; he had spent hours poring over everything from his military history (what little there was) to his known associates, to his credit score. He was very aware that they would only get one shot at making this suspect talk, if he decided to clam up, they might never find his accomplice, or Alex Pauling. Certainly not before the deadline. So, they were not going to risk approaching Duane until they were fully prepared.

It was late in the afternoon by the time Ryan found himself again standing next to Hawkins, outside the two-way glass. They both waited for a moment, watching Duane fidget in his chair. The agent guarding him seemed relieved that they had finally arrived.

“All he’s done this whole time is tell anyone who’ll listen about how he’s going to kill you, Stone. Maybe now he’ll finally shut up,” the exasperated agent muttered as he left.

“Well, I think we’ve found one of your talents,” Hawkins chuckled.

“And what’s that?” Ryan raised an eyebrow.

“Inciting people to murderous rage. You’re lucky you survived the ride back from the bar. Was there a point to antagonizing him like that, or was that just a male ego thing?”

Ryan laughed,

“Hey now, I was working that entire time.”

“Really? To what end?”

“I was establishing a relationship with the suspect.”

“Oh, is that what you call it?”

“Hey, mock if you want, but we need him to talk, don’t we? He’ll want to talk to me now, I guarantee it.”

“Talk to you? If I remember correctly, he wants to, and I quote, ‘rip off your head and spit down your neck’.”

“True,” Ryan conceded. “But he can’t. So, he has just been sitting there all this time, thinking of things he can say to me to prove that he is a big man, that I was wrong about him. It is eating him up inside, me thinking that he is just some loser who can’t even handle himself in a fight with an unarmed woman. No offence.”

“You think he’ll tell us where the boy is?”

“Indirectly, sure. I just need to keep him talking, and we’ll get something out of him eventually. I am certain of it.”

“You really think he’s so dumb he’ll admit to a kidnapping to prove how tough he is?”

“I certainly hope so. It is a two-step plan. Get him talking and build a rapport, then make it look like he has nothing to lose by admitting what he did.”

“Nothing to lose, eh? Ok, I think I see where you are going with this,” Hawkins’ smile was unnervingly devious. “Shall we go play?”

Ryan rubbed his hands together. This was the part of his job he loved most,

“I can hardly wait.”

“Since you two are already friends, and you’ve got the brilliant plan, you take the lead. I’ve got your back.”

“Seriously? You actually trust me to handle this?”

“Hardly,” she snorted. “But, since I am stuck with you, you might as well make yourself useful. Show me what you’ve got, kid.”

It was a test, she wasn’t even trying to pretend that it wasn’t, but he decided that it was a good sign. If she was testing him, then it meant that she saw potential for this partnership to actually benefit her in some way. He just needed to prove that, in spite of his pathetic performance this morning, he really was good at his job.

“Alright, let’s do this. Follow my lead.”

Ryan strode through the door and into the interrogation room. Hawkins followed a few steps behind.

“Hello again, Duane.” Ryan purred.

At the sight of him, Duane leapt to his feet, straining against the chains that bound him to the table.

“When I get through with you, you’ll be able to wear your own ass as a hat you son of a…!” Duane snarled.

Stolen story; please report.

Ryan chuckled good-humouredly, pulling out a chair,

“That’s actually very creative, Duane. Guess we kept you waiting too long, if you had enough time to think that one up,” Ryan grinned, leaning back in his seat. “I mean, we all know that you aren’t exactly the brightest bulb on the Christmas tree.”

“You wouldn’t talk so big if your bodyguard wasn’t here,” Duane muttered, glaring at Hawkins, who had taken a seat over in the corner of the room, and was silently watching the two of them with a look of disinterest, verging on boredom. She gave Duane a little half wave, and then she interlaced her fingers and closed her eyes. Duane’s lip curled up in disgust. Ryan pulled the man’s attention back to him,

“I’m not trying to piss you off, Duane. I’m just trying to start things off with the truth. And the truth is you are in some serious trouble. But if you’re honest with me, this is going to go a lot better for you.”

“You wanna be honest, pal?” Duane muttered, “How about you tell me why I’m here in the first place? I know my rights. You gotta tell me.”

“It isn’t your first trip around the dance floor, eh? But you know why you’re here, don’t you?”

Duane said nothing.

“Alright, if you want me to say it, I will. I brought you here to talk about Alex Pauling. You know, the kid you abducted yesterday?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Duane replied nonchalantly.

“No?” Ryan’s hand shot out, grabbing Duane’s right arm and pulling back his sleeve in a smooth, quick motion. “Then how’d you get that lovely child sized bite mark?”

The welt on his arm was red and fresh, the shape of tiny teeth was evident in several places.

“It’s nothing,” Duane averted his eyes. “My cousin’s kid bit me yesterday, when I was over at his place.”

Ryan had noticed the injury during the fight in the kitchen. When Duane had brought his arms up, he had exposed the bite on his forearm. It was obviously the source of the lost tooth and the blood in the shed. He knew that surprising Duane with the evidence would illicit the best response; when people don’t have much time to think of a lie, what they came up with could be just as revealing as the truth. Ironically, this was especially true if they were good liars, because every good lie should contain a grain of truth. As long as you were expecting a person to lie, you could easily harvest those grains. Ryan Stone was an excellent farmer, even if he said so himself.

“Who’s this cousin?”

“Andre Martin,” he replied confidently.

Now Ryan was sure. He looked over at Hawkins, her eyes still looked closed, but she was clearly paying attention, because she smiled faintly at him and nodded subtly. Then, she got to her feet, scraping the chair loudly across the floor in the process,

“I told you we were wasting our time here,” she muttered angrily. “This guy is a moron. He couldn’t have planned something like this. You do whatever you want. I’m going to go talk to someone who might actually know something useful.”

She rose and walked out the door, slamming it behind her.

Ryan turned back to Duane,

“Sorry about that, my partner and I are having a bit of a… disagreement. To be frank, she thinks that you aren’t worth her time. I can’t really blame her. I mean, whoever pulled off this kidnapping, they were a genius. So, you can see why she doubts that you had a hand in the planning. She’d rather talk to the brains of the operation.”

“What does a woman know about brains anyway? I think we both know that a girl is only good for one thing, and it ain’t thinking. Know what I mean?” Duane sneered. “Besides, I already told you, I had nothing to do with this. I have an alibi, just talk to my cousin!”

Ryan smiled,

“Oh, but we’re already talking to your cousin, Duane,” he smiled ingratiatingly. “Didn’t I just tell you that my partner is talking to the other person who was in on the kidnapping? The brains?”

Duane blanched instantly, the shock on his face confirmed what Ryan had already suspected; Andre Martin was definitely in on this. He just hoped that Hawkins had been on the same page as him; it was very hard to tell with her.

“I mean, who do you think we have been with all this time, while you were waiting? How do you think we knew where to find you in the first place?” Ryan continued, projecting a false confidence. “Andre’s already told us pretty much everything, Duane.”

Duane looked shaken, scared even, but he tried to bluster through it.

“He wouldn’t tell you anything,” he said defiantly. “Because, there’s nothing to tell,” he amended quickly.

“Really? That’s funny, for someone with nothing to tell, he’s been doing an awful lot of talking.”

Duane was silent, but his aggressive, self-confident demeanour was beginning to evaporate. He talked big, but he was really a coward. Ryan could play off of that, but it would be a bit of a gamble. What he really needed was more information.

“You know Duane…” Ryan was cut off by a knock on the viewing window. “Excuse me for a second. Hopefully that’s my food. Take this opportunity to think about what I said, Duane. I really don’t think you are as big of an idiot as you appear to be. Consider this your chance to prove it.”

Ryan smiled kindly and slipped out the door.

Hawkins was waiting for him behind the window; as he turned the corner, she tossed him a folder. In it was Andre Martin’s police and military record.

“Looks like you and I are on the same wavelength after all,” Ryan grinned.

Hawkins returned the smile,

“Good call on Martin. I phoned and talked to his wife. He’s in the wind, she hasn’t seen him since before the kidnapping. She told me that he works as a janitor downtown, I called them, and they said he took a two week leave of absence, he said his mother was dying and he needed to go be with her.”

“And is she?”

“The wife said his mother died 3 years ago. She thought he was at some sort of training seminar for his job. I doubt she has any clue as to what’s really going on. I’d bet that he’s with the kid somewhere; didn’t trust his cousin with that job, obviously. We need to find him, Stone. We don’t have much time left; 5am is the deadline.”

Ryan was still flipping through the file; he looked up at her and nodded,

“I can get it. Duane knows and he’ll tell me. I am getting to him.”

“You sure?”

“I’m not completely useless, you know,” Ryan muttered. “This should actually be pretty easy. Duane already doesn’t trust his cousin; all he needs is a little push.”

Hawkins chuckled,

“Well then, let’s see the magic.”

“There is something that I need you to do though.”

She raised an eyebrow quizzically.

“You walked the scene, and you said you watched the surveillance videos. How well do you think you know what happened in that house?”

“I’ve got most of the main points.”

“Perfect, ok this is what I need you to do.”