"Then she would have just done it in his home, gone into a frenzy, and stabbed him as soon as she was inside.She was thinking straight enough to take him from there because she needed to take time with him.He’s a special prize for her, which is why he would take her to…Riverside.The facility was closed down, right?"
"I believe so," Moore said.
"And what is it now?"Alison asked.
"I can find out," Moore said.
"That’s our best shot," Alison told her."If it’s been converted into something else, she won't take him three, and if that’s the case, then I have no idea where she’ll take him, and he’s as good as dead.However, if we find that the building is still empty and not used, then I think that provides enough poetic justice for the man who both released her brother and had him killed.We have to hope the building is disused or we’ll soon hear about another death."
***
Moore screeched to a halt outside the abandoned building, and she and Alison both rocked forward.Alison reached out her hands and placed them against the dashboard to stop her from hitting her head.When she rocked back, her hand lifted instinctually to point toward the car parked outside the building.
"That has to be her car," Alison said."This building isn’t used anymore.No one should be here.That’s her car."
"Stay here," Moore ordered."I’ll call in SWAT and tactical."
Alison opened the door and exited.Moore quickly got out on her side.
"We need to wait for backup," Moore told her.
"We both know that’s not happening," Alison said as she jogged towards the budding.
Moore matched her pace, dialing and pinning the phone to her ear to call for backup.
"She knows we’re after her," Alison said as they ran."She could go into a frenzy and kill him at any time.She wanted to take him from his home and kill him here because it would take more time.But she won't hesitate.She’ll want to get out of here as quickly as she can in case we get here before she can leave.She hasn’t left yet, so there’s still a chance."
Alison stopped talking and continued running as Moore talked to the team back at base to direct them on what they needed.
They reached the metal fence to find that some of it had been moved, and other parts had toppled.That wasn’t Sarah’s doing.People had gone into the abandoned building over time, and no one had come to rebuild the fence.No one cares about the building anymore.
You testified against your brother.You wanted him locked up for the rest of his life.That must have been hard for you to do that, but you had to, didn’t you?You knew him better than anyone else, and you had to make sure he wasn’t a danger to anyone else.Do you love him and hate him at the same time?
Alison didn't know what she would think of Emma if she were not murdered all those years ago, but it had turned out that she had murdered someone.Would she still love her sister?Would she testify against her because it was the right thing to do?What would she feel?
Those were impossible questions to answer.
Her brother was treated in this building for five years.Alison thought a lot about that as they reached the closest door.
Moore was off the phone, and she stuck her arm out across Alison’s chest, stopping her from going first.Moore didn't tell Alison not to go in, but it was clear that Moore wanted to go in first, and by showing that, the obvious command after that was for them to remain quiet as they entered.
This is a symbolic location for you.The place that failed your brother, and in doing so, failed society.Did this place fail you, too, Sarah?
Moore drew her gun as she pushed open the door, slowly and silently.It was hard to see into the darkness within, coming in from the light.Moore stepped in first, followed by Alison, and it took a couple of seconds of them blinking in the dusty darkness for them to become accustomed to the lack of light.Still, there was enough to see by.Light came from the partially open door behind them, filtering in through numerous broken windows and doors, as well as holes in the structure, reaching out like long tendrils of illumination into the not-so-far reaches of the building, leaving the main areas lit but not all the dark corners.
Moore made another gesture, telling Alison to stay behind her.Two women, two competent women in many ways, but in the dimness of the abandoned building, there was only so much Alison could do; she remained behind the armed detective as backup raced from elsewhere to aid them.
And she tried not to cough.Alison felt the stirring of dust in her lungs as they stirred the dust that may have already been stirred by Sarah and Dr.Connor.The only hope was that they were going in the right direction.Sarah would know she was somewhat in a race against time.
Would she take Dr.Connor to the room she’d been committed to?Was it the same room?Or Michael’s room?Perhaps they would go to Dr.Connor’s office.They didn't know the location of any of those rooms; there had been no time to conduct a thorough refresh.Nor did they have a map of the facility.They were working on instinct.
Moore stopped and gestured toward the floor with her gun.There was enough light to see what looked like a footprint in the dust floor, along with a drag mark.Still, it was impossible to know at a glance if the tracks were fresh.Alison nodded, more to acknowledge that she’d seen the footprint than anything else.
They continued forth, Moore holding the gun out in front of her, and Alison following behind, both of them stepping softly, but it was easy to walk on the bare concrete floor.They listened, but heard nothing, watched, but saw nothing, and all the time, tasted the old mustiness of the building.With each breath came the tang of age, tinted by sterilization.Alison couldn’t smell bleach or any other chemicals, but there was something in the air that suggested cleaning had been done in the past.Or perhaps her imagination was playing tricks on her.
Then she was there.Sarah was before them, rushing at them, a flurry of black and grey as Moore pointed her gun, ready to take her down by any means necessary, and the bright eyes, ordering in the gloominess, dark but with pinpricks of red that reflected what little light there was, and—
Birds!