The Cutting Edge

Distractions

After having Paige talk to a sketch artist, and then comparing the new sketch to the one in her sister's case file, they confirmed that the man who broke into her house was indeed the same one who had kidnapped and murdered her sister.

Unfortunately that meant they still had nothing to go on, the man known as Wiley was a ghost then, and remained a ghost now.

They tried running facial recognition and searching any and all traffic cameras in the area surrounding Paige's house, but it proved fruitless, he was exceptionally good at covering his tracks.

After a stressful and exhausting couple of hours, Paige nodded off in Liam's chair.

Benny paused as he passed by, and gently draped a blanket over her before moving over to a small conference room where Liam and Lance were busy looking over old case files and new evidence.

"You dudes think it's time for Paige to get home? She's out cold, poor thing's gotta be worn clear out."

Lance and Liam glanced up, the latter glancing out the door distractedly.

"Well, she doesn't exactly have anywhere to go at the moment, it's not likely she'll feel safe returning to her own house, even with officers posted outside."

Benny lifted his hands in the air. "Well then what're we supposed to do? I can't just leave her sleepin' out there on a chair, my pride as a gentlemen won't allow it."

Lance rolled his eyes and turned back to the papers as Liam chuckled and stood up, stretching as he replied. "I'll call her best friend and get her to come pick Paige up, I'm sure Beth will be more than willing to let her crash at her place until we get her home situation worked out."

"Right! Great plan, well now that that's sorted, tell me what we're working on here." He sat in Liam's vacated chair, and listened intently as Lance began to explain the details of the case.

Liam walked out, closing the door behind him before walking into the break room and calling Beth. He waited as the phone rang, glancing at the clock when he realized how late it must be. Beth would be asleep for sure, but this couldn't wait until the morning, and she'd probably kill him if he didn't fill her in on what had happened.

"Whoever this is, you'd better have a helluva good reason for waking me up in the middle of the night." Beth's voice practically snarled on the other end of the line.

"Beth, it's Liam."

"Liam? Why are you...oh my God, is something wrong with, Paige?!"

The panic and fear in her voice caused a twinge of guilt to pick at Liam, he felt responsible for not protecting her. "Yes, but she's safe and unharmed."

Beth sobbed with relief. "What happened? Where is she now?"

"She's at the station with me, I'll explain everything, but I'd rather do it in person. The gist of it is someone broke into her house and so I need you to come pick her up and let her stay at your place until we can get her house secured."

"Yes! Of course, anything! And she's okay? You're sure she's safe?"

Liam's grip tightened on the phone. "She's at the station with me, she seems to be handling it really well."

"Okay, okay I'm on my way right now, I'll see you soon."

"Alright, bye." Liam hung up and then closed his eyes, pressing the phone to his forehead. How could he have let this happen? Who knows what this would do for her mental and emotional condition. While this incident supplied them with new leads on her sister's case, it would be dredging up years of impossibly painful memories for Paige. He almost wished this Wiley character would just disappear forever, let Paige move on from her past.