Lost and Found

Chapter Five

Nick's POV

"What kind of detective am I?" I groaned into my hands. I was sitting on the bed at home, wondering why I hadn't been able to find anything out about what happened to Trubel.

"You're going to find her," Adalind promised me as she took a seat next to me on the bed.

"I don't see how," I said frustratedly. "I checked security footage, I had Wu try to trace her phone, Hank checked every hospital in the area... And we've found nothing. There weren't many cameras in the area that Hank and I found the blood, and the ones that were there didn't have any important footage. Wu didn't find anything. Trubel didn't check into any hospitals or have someone checked in..."

"You'll figure something out. No matter what you're thinking now, you're a great detective, Nick, and you will find some way to solve this," Adalind assured.

"This is more than just a normal case," I said.

"I know that. I don't want anything happening to Trubel either," Adalind told me gently, taking my hand in hers. "I'm just saying that you're going to do everything that you can. You can't put all of this blame on yourself."

Adalind was usually good at comforting me, but I just couldn't relax on this one. I kept thinking about the scene and the lack of details that I had.

"I just don't get it," I blurted out. "The scene was just so clean of anything that could lead me to Trubel. Whatever happened, it happened fast. I think these people knew what they were doing."

"I hate to say it, but are you sure that Trubel didn't just disappear? Maybe she went on an assignment?" Adalind guessed. I wished she was right, but my gut told me she wasn't.

"She wouldn't call me for that," I told Adalind. Trubel didn't usually keep secrets from me, even ones she was supposed to. She had kept secrets about Juliette, but she felt horrible for it; I had a feeling she wouldn't do that again. "She called me for help and something happened to her after that. I just don't know what that is," I said, sounding more and more frustrated.

"I had to ask. I'm just trying to help," Adalind said. She smiled weakly at me and said, "I'm awful at it, but I'm still trying. Anyway, you're not going to get more alert with less sleep, so I think you and I should get some."

"I can try," I said, standing up and walking to my side of the bed. I got under the covers where Adalind was waiting for me. She kissed me and said, "Goodnight," before rolling over to face away from me.

I was exhausted from running ideas through my head all day, but I was sure I wasn't going to get any sleep. I stared at the ceiling, hoping inspiration would come to me.

It didn't.

*************

Trubel's POV

I was exhausted. I hadn't gotten much sleep, and it seemed like my babysitters' favorite activity was waking me up.

On top of the lack of sleep I was also hungry. They "forgot" to bring me food sometimes.

Basically, it was clear that I was at the end of my rope, and everyone else seemed to enjoy it. I was probably going to die before Nick found me, assuming Nick actually found me. But, even so, I liked to imagine what he and our friends would do to these creeps. Hank and Wu would probably start shooting people. Nick would probably take down Andre in some violent and painful way. Monroe would rip someone's throat out, and Rosalee might, too. Renard would do a big fat nothing because he only cared about himself and had no friends.

Wow, being here had almost made me forget how much I hated Renard...

Anyway, I missed my friends. I wouldn't actually want them to risk their lives on a rescue mission, but they probably wouldn't all come anyway. Nick probably would come, right? I didn't know. I was questioning everything: my relationships, my life, my actions, my friends, my enemies. I missed my friends. They were part of what made me the person I was, and without them, it felt kind of like the way I used to feel. Just empty. Just surviving.