The Answer

Chapter 5

Dr. George Wallis, what did he have to do in all this? Was he the one toying with him and if so, why?

Gerard didn't have time to absorb what he had to just do, because he now has this small glimmer of hope that his son was alive. He prayed to god, something he hadn't done in such a long time, that his little boy would be okay. Fuelled by the adrenaline of his first conclusive need and his paternal instincts, he glided out of the elevator and to the front desk.

"Is Doctor Wallis in today?"

The receptionist looked up, startled by the presence she hadn't noticed, "Doctor Wallis?"

"Yes, Doctor George Wallis?"

"Well, we don't have a George Wallis here sir." She replied, crosschecking on her database.

"Oh wait," she said, " there was, but he's been in retirement for the last five years."

"I see, I'll need his details." Gerard said, pulling out his notepad.

"I-I can't do that, sir." She replied nervously.

"Yes, you can," Gerard placing his police badge discreetly in front of her, "and you kind of have to."

The receptionist quickly extracted the Doctor's personal details and jotted it down on a small piece of paper, handing it to him with a trembling hand.

"Thanks."

She stared at him with bewilderment as she watched Gerard leave the hospital. "Did you see that?" She turned to ask the nurse behind her, who nodded in equal amazement of what she had just witnessed.

Gerard hailed a cab, thinking he could really use his own car for all this. Not his own of course, that stuff is traceable back to him. No, he needed a police car. Persistent honking stuck out like a sore thumb in the regular cacophony of downtown traffic. Gerard looking at the source, annoyed.

It was Philip, waving at him from inside a police car like a maniac. Gerard groaned, wishing he could take back the wish he just made. Philip pulled up in front of him, beaming "Hi sir, need a ride?"

"Yeah, going to the station?"

"Yup!," he chirped, "I just got a hold of the footage of the bus when it was left unattended."

"And?"

"Well, I didn't see it yet but we'll see it at the station."

"Then how do you know this tape is even useful?"

Philip fell silent, unsure of what to say.

For the rest of the trip, there was silence. Blissful silence in Gerard's mind, who wanted anything but small talk with this beam of sunshine over his already aching eyes. He didn't even realise how dependant he'd become on the alcohol, if only this rubbish withdrawal phase would end. Philip was visibly sweating in silence the rest of the way.

Gerard hopped out of the car before it even came to a full halt, muttering a simple thanks on his way out. Philip deflated, now terrified of his job. He quietly parked the car and scurried to catch up with Gerard, who threw open the door to David's office without a second thought. He looked up, aware of who it was.

"Anything?"

"We need to find a Doctor George Wallis, apparently Philip has the footage from when the bus was unattended."

Right on que, Philip stuck his hand out with the thumb drive in it. David looked at him, perplexed but didn't say anything. He connected the thumb drive and played the sole video on it. The video was of poor quality and it was quite dark, David applied an enhancer to help improve the picture quality, which didn't do much but definitely helped. A man, wearing all black and a red P cap approached the bus and crawled under it when nobody was looking. It was evident from the way he used his cap that he knew exactly where the cameras were and how to avoid them.

"This guy has this well planned out." Gerard muttered, frowning.

"Do you think this is a terrorist attack?" Philip asked.

"No, not exactly," David replied looking at Gerard, "we have reason to believe it might be personal."

Gerard nodded, "Max might be alive, the body they had at the morgue wasn't his."

David sat up, "What do you mean?"

"The height of the descesed didn't match his, the doctor at the morgue said its the body of a kid about eight or nine years old. My son is six."

A thoughtful silence followed. David found the courage to break it first by asking softly, " Are you sure?"

"Absolutely."

David sank in his seat, aware that the case has suddenly become more complicated than he had originally anticipated. He looked at Gerard, who looked worn out but determined to get to the bottom of it. It was clear that he knew the stakes and that he was hoping against hope his son was still alive. David only hoped his body and mind could cope with the job ahead, nobody was sure if he'd be able to keep it together when he goes home alone at night.

"Alright, so we can conclusively say that this is closely tied to Detective Sanders." David stood up, "bring the footage to the main conference room and call the Sargent, I think its time we made a task force for this."

Philip nodded, trying to contain his excitement. In his two years on the force hed never been a part of anything as exciting as this, he just wished it wasn't with such a grim overtone. He went up to the Sergeant and whispered a brief gist of what was to come, after which the Sergeant raced to David's office. Philip watched him go, reading a fine print on the Captain's door. One day, he hoped to be more like Captain David Beeman; the man was a legend and a force of nature.

David gestured at the Sargent to wait outside, turning to Gerard. "Are you sure you can do this?"

"I don't know," Gerard replied, allowing his face to soften which made him look more exhausted than ever, "but there's a chance my son is still alive and I've got to try."

"We're with you all the way, then." David replied, standing up and placing a hand on his shoulder, "I'm here as your friend, too."

Gerard nodded, patting David's hand. "This would've been my seat if I hadn't walked away, right?"

"Yeah, everyone knew you were meant for this office. Everyone but you, of course."

Gerard chuckled for the first time in a long time, leaving the office and going to the conference room. The stakes were high and there's nobody Gerard would've trusted with this than the squad he was about to meet.

With that thought, he pushed opened the door and looked around the room. It was full of chattered youngsters, some were busy with their phone and some so engrossed in conversation they hadn't noticed him come in. When one of them finally snapped back to reality, he shushed the others who stared at him in bewilderment. Gerard stared back, speechless.

"Are you the task force?"

"Yes, sir." One of them stood up, gesturing to the others to do the same. They stood up, causing a distasteful amount of screeching with their chairs. Gerard sighed, he sure hoped David knew what he was doing.