Aria (a psych fanfiction)

Chapter 23

"We need to talk." Aria stopped in the threshold of the living room.

Her captor glanced up from the newspaper, slightly amused by her crossed arms and apparent seriousness. "I'm listening."

"I'm hungry. And I'm sick of cold cereal and sandwiches. I've behaved since you brought me here, all I'm asking in return is a hot meal. Preferably pizza. Or soup. Or, omigod, pancakes! I'll make 'em and everything, promise. Or we could go to IHOP or something, there has to be somewhere we could - " A cold glance brought her rambling to a halt. "Sorry."

"I don't know, little bird. You haven't been behaving very well lately." He sighed, tapping a finger to his lip as he considered. "But perhaps a going away present is in order."

Come again? "Going away? Wha - "

He chuckled, and she bit her tongue. There was nothing she hated more than the sound of his laugh, and he knew it.

"Santa Barbara's been fun, I must admit, but it's high time we moved on." He smirked as he straightened his sleeve. "How does New York sound? I thought you might miss the city. We could revisit your old haunts, relive some memories - remember that time your mother surprised you for your birthday by scrounging up enough money to go a caricature artist? We could get a new picture done...your mother wouldn't be in it, of course, but it's the thought that counts - "

"Please."

"Please what, little bird?"

Please let me go. Or kill me. Whichever is easier. "How does this end?"

The corners of his lips curled up. "Who says it has to?"

"This has to end, Shawn."

Shawn didn't bother looking up from the computer screen. Gus clicked his tongue and pulled over a chair. "What are you looking back, anyway?"

"Old New York Times articles. Maybe it'll say something about her disappearance, or her dad, or - "

"She was homeless, Shawn, and crazy-abductor-dude said he got rid of her mom before he came here."

"I know, I know, I just - " His eyes fell back on the screen. "Gus."

"What?"

"'Missing Teen Discovered Dead. It has been nearly two decades since the unexplained disappearance of sixteen-year-old Calliope Ann Greyson...' Look." He tilted the screen.

The girl's school picture was black and white and slightly blurry, but not so much that they couldn't make out her features. Same eyes, same lips, same dimple in her left cheek as she grinned at the camera. Everything about her screamed Aria...except her name.

Shawn opened a new tab, performing a new Google search, shaking his head as he skimmed the results, clicking back and forth between links. "Senator's daughter, went missing a little less than a week before Election Day. No ransom note, no signs of struggle...Some people said they spotted her around the city, but those claims died out a few years after she disappeared."

"That doesn't make any sense, though," Gus said, his brows knit as he reached over to click back on the original article. "It says Calliope Greyson disappeared in October of 1993. Aria wouldn't even be alive by then, let alone in her teens…"

Even over the phone, he could hear the twisted glee in the man's voice. "Aria and I met about a year ago. Or, rather, I met her mother. Calliope…"

"Gus, I want you to close your eyes." His friend gave him a strange look before complying. "Imagine this: teenaged Callie Greyson, model student, model daughter. After all, Dad's a political figure, so she has to be. Elections coming around, she's under pressure to keep up appearances, maybe something happens to push her over the edge, she runs away."

Gus's eyes flew open. "Oh my God."

Shawn nodded. "Aria told us she never met her dad, or any relatives aside from her mother, and she just assumed that they were homeless, too."

"But they weren't," Gus finished for him. "But...what about her dad?"

Shawn shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe Callie had a boyfriend, they got careless, her parents found out she was pregnant and freaked on her, or she ran away instead of telling them, or she ran away and then met the guy."

"Right." Gus bit his lip, thinking. "How does this help us, again?"

"What if Calliope Greyson and James Frederick knew each other before she disappeared?"