Don't Leave, Please

Helping Hand

The team sat in the "meeting room" at the Phoenix Foundation. They were waiting for Matty to walk in with some answers.

When Matty walked in, she also walked in with Gabby and Lance.

"Mac!" Lance smiled and ran up to him, his small arms wrapped around Mac.

"Hey Lance." Mac smiled down at the little boy.

"I heard what happened to Cathy." Gabby looked at the group.

"She's here to help us with any information on Danny." Matty looked up at the girl. "Please, sit down." Matty motioned over towards one of the seats in the room.

"You won't find a record with Danny's name on it." Gabby said. "He's learned how to make his record disappear."

"How do you know this?" Jack asked.

"I made Cathy tell me everything about Danny," Gabby looked at Mac, "even the abuses."

"This man abused her?" Riley asked.

"He abused every girlfriend he had." Gabby looked at Riley. "He could never stop." Gabby sighed. "He's a terrible person. I helped Cathy escape him. Danny was the one who got Cathy into stealing things, but she didn't take them for herself. She gave them away to the poor."

"Why was Danny after Cathy?" Mac asked.

"I don't know," Gabby said honestly, "after their breakup, Danny seemed lost without her. He wanted her back, but Cathy told him no."

"So," Jack started, "he gets upset and kidnaps her. Just so he can have her?"

"Danny was never the one to take no for an answer." Gabby said.

"Did Cathy tell you anything new about Danny?" Matty asked.

Gabby went silent. Her eyes slowly wandered towards Mac.

"We were having a 'girls' conversation. Talking about men." Gabby paused. "I brought up Mac to Cathy. I told her that she has a crush or something for him. She got defensive and brought up Danny. Cathy began to cry and told me that every time she falls for someone, Danny always make sure they 'disappear'. He threatens her and the men she dates. Then Cathy told me that  either the men wind up leaving her, or they suddenly vanish." Gabby kept her eyes on Mac. "Cathy wanted to say something to you, but she thought you would be taken away from her. So, she never said anything. Cathy hid her feelings."

"Thank you Gabby, for this information." Matty walked the girl out of the room. "we'll call you if we need anymore help."

Gabby nodded her head and walked down the hall, Lance waved goodbye to Mac and followed his mother.

"Riley, pull up the video from last night." Mac asked.

Riley brought up the video.

"Is there anyway for you to take out Danny's voice and only listen to the background?" Mac asked.

"Yeah." Riley began her work.

The video played. All you could hear was the wind and maybe a few cars going by.

"Wait, did I just hear a car drive by?" Jack asked.

"That can't be right," Riley typed a few things on her computer, "the sound of the car sounds fake."

"Almost as if it was recorded." Mac said. He sighed and ran his hands through his hair. "Let's keep looking."