Somewhere A Clock Is Ticking

[Lauz]

Ooooooh torture Im mean... that's bad

Well as long as Zoe and Tracey aren't being tortured in all good Poor victim I hope it's someone I hate!!!

[luckyrabbit]

PART 5

With only three seconds left to go, Eve buried her face in Tracey's hair and counted down the final seconds in her head. Three…Two…One…. The alarm on the timer went off. Cautiously Eve opened an eye. There was no explosion. No horrible, flamey, burning death. Pressing her forehead against Tracey's, they both laughed in that half hysterical, we just cheated death, kind of way.

"I guess you cut the right wire." Tracey sighed in relief.

Eve pulled back and raised an eyebrow. "Of course I did. Was there ever any doubt?" She said cockily. "You know, I kind of rock!"

Tracey laughed. "Yeah, you kind of do." She agreed in admiration and got up off the floor. "Come on, we'll let bomb squad take it from here." She said, holding out a hand to Eve. "They should be here in a minute."

"Dad? Dad I have to…" Jack said in a rough voice to his shell-shocked father as two police cars screeched to a halt outside the Surf Club. "Dad?" He touched his father on the arm but his Tony couldn't look away from the paramedics checking over his unresponsive son while Jack couldn't bring himself to look. "Look, Beth's coming and I have to go talk to Harper, explain what's happening. Will you be okay?"

Tony nodded. "Go."

Reluctantly Jack left his father, only to be stopped by Beth, with Ric, Cassie and Matilda bringing up the rear. "Jack? What happened? The kids said there's been a…" She trailed off as she saw the paramedics drape a sheet over Lucas' body. "Oh." She turned to the children as Jack left to join his colleagues. Matilda was sandwiched between Ric and Cassie, both teenagers had their arms wrapped around her. "Ric? Cassie? Could you take Mattie home please?"

"Y-Yeah." Ric stuttered.

"Of course." Cassie added, trying guide Matilda away but she resisted.

"No. What about Lucas?" Matilda finally spoke up in a frail voice. "I can't just leave him, he's hurt."

Tony let out a sob and sank to his knees. Beth looked at the kids pleadingly to get Matilda out of there.

"He'll be okay, Mattie." Ric lied.

Matilda looked at him trustingly. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, of course." Cassie said with false cheerfulness. "Best thing we can do now is get you home, okay?"

"Okay." Matilda agreed, letting herself be lead away.

Eve and Tracey exited the Surf Club hand in hand, only stopping to talk to the Yabbie Creek bomb squad and let them know what they are dealing with, they made their way over to the large group of police officers gathered near the outdoor tables.

"What's going on over there?" Eve asked casually, nodding to where Lucas' body was being loaded into the ambulance.

"Hit and run." Harper said gruffly. "Holden's brother."

Eve sent what could be considered a sympathetic look to Jack and Tracey muttered some consoling words that she barely meant. "Alright, I want witness statements and crime scene analysis of the accident site." Eve said, all business. "Now."

"What's the problem?" Tracey asked when the officers failed to respond. "You've briefed them on the situation, haven't you Jack?"

"He's briefed us." Harper confirmed. "Doesn't mean that we're going to like taking orders from you."

"Then it's a good thing that you're not required to like it." Tracey snapped defensively. "Just get it done."

"Ah, there might be a problem." Jack finally spoke up.

Eve closed her eyes and sighed. "What now?"

"Beth sent the three main witnesses home." He admitted reluctantly.

"And you just let her….you know what, we'll talk about it later." Eve said, realizing that having a go at Jack in front of everyone just after his brother died wouldn't help endear her to anyone. "The rest of you, get to work."

"I'm sorry but I'm still having trouble taking orders from a woman who has terrorized this town." Harper said vehemently and a few of his fellow officers nodded in agreement.

"Look, I know that things between us got off to a rocky start." Eve said slowly, her frustration with dealing with people she considered to be barely competent was clear.

"I'd say that's a bit of an understatement." Constable Fitzgerald muttered under her breath.

"You had us chasing our tails for months." Harper added in agreement.

"All the more reason you should be grateful that she's working with you rather than against you." Tracey passionately tried to reason with them.

"Look, I know that this…arrangement is going to take some getting used to, and believe me when I say that I didn't want this anymore than you did, but right now we are wasting valuable time, so will you please just go and do your jobs?" Eve felt like she was beating her head against a brick wall.

Jack looked over to where his distraught father was leaning heavily on Beth, relying on her to keep him upright. "Can I…"

"Go."

With Eve's permission, Jack rushed off to join what was left of his family.

"Beth? Dad?" Jack asked cautiously. "What's going on?" He'd seen them load Lucas' body into the ambulance, he didn't get why they'd still be hanging around.

"We're just taking a moment." Beth informed him, rubbing slow circles on Tony's back in a futile attempt to comfort him.

"I…uh…I have to go to the morgue." Tony said. "I'm going to ride with Lucas…with, with the body." His voice cracked on the word body, his whole body shuddered so hard his knees went weak and for a moment he thought he was going to faint . "I don't want him to be alone." He forced out, the grief in his voice was almost overwhelming.

"You shouldn't be alone either." Beth reminded him gently. "I'll go with you."

Tony ran a hand across his face, futilely trying to wipe away his tears. "You should be with Matilda-"

"Mattie, has Ric and Cassie with her. She'll be alright for now." Beth assured him.

"I have to stay behind." Jack laid a hand on his father's shoulder and gave it a squeeze. "Dad, I'll find whoever's responsible for this. I promise."

"I know, Jackie." His father said, reverting back to using Jack's childhood nickname. "I know."

"Lucas isn't okay, is he?" Matilda said flatly, finally starting to come to her senses as she entered her home. Ric and Cassie exchanged concerned looks, they didn't know what to do.

Finally Ric spoke up. "No, he's not."

Matilda sat down heavily on the sofa and stared at her hands, the hand that Lucas had been holding less than an hour ago. "He's dead, isn't he?" She didn't even had to ask, it was like all of a sudden this fog cleared and she knew, she just knew. And if she hadn't the looks on her friends faces would've confirmed it. "It's my fault." She choked on a sob.

"Mattie, no-" Cassie denied passionately, sitting next to her friend and putting an arm around her narrow shoulders.

"Yes it is." Matilda said miserably. "I froze, he was trying to save me, it's my fault. It's not fair." She whined, tears streaming down her face. "Everything was finally starting to go right between us, after Lee and everything…we were...I killed him."

"That's not true." Ric said softly. "You can't blame yourself for this."

Suddenly Matilda raised her head. "You knew." She accused. "When you were trying to get me down on the beach, you said that he would be fine but you knew that he wasn't going to be okay. You lied to me!" She said, her voice getting shrill.

"It wasn't like that." Cassie tried to explain. But Matilda shrugged her away.

"You lied!" She repeated, jumping up and pointing an accusatory finger at her friends. "You lied and because of you I never got to say goodbye. I never got to tell him how much I loved him and it's all your fault!"

"Mattie, that's not true." Cassie tried to defend herself. "We didn't know…"

"You knew enough." Matilda said viciously. "Don't touch me!" She yelled when Cassie moved to comfort her. "Get out."

"Matilda we're not going to leave you here alone." Ric tried to reason with the devastated girl. "Not like this."

"GET OUT, GET OUT, GET OUT!" Matilda shrieked, reaching for the nearest object, which happened to be an apple and hurling it a Ric.

Luckily, it was a mile off target and smacked uselessly against the wall. "We're not going anywhere."

Matilda looked blankly at the people she used to call her friends. "Fine, I'll go." She was out the door before anyone could stop her, but she didn't go far.

"Mattie, come on, let us in." Ric called, banging on the door to Lucas' room where Matilda had locked herself in.

Cassie touched his back, signaling for him to let her try. "We just want to help you."

But Matilda wasn't listening, clutching Lucas' favourite shirt close she laid down on his bed and cried herself to sleep.

"Jack." Martha called, separating herself from the crowd that was allowed to make it's way off the beach now that the threat was over. "Jack, I just heard about Lucas." She said, wrapping her arms around her husband and burying her face in his chest. "Are you okay?"

Jack took her by the arms and pushed her back. "I'm fine"

Martha didn't seem to take the hint that he wasn't in the mood for being touched, she cupped his cheek and forced him to look at her. "I'm serious Jack. You can't just bottle this up, you're probably in shock."

Even though Jack agreed with her, he couldn't bring himself to talk about it. "Look, I have work to do here. I want you to go home with Alf and Sally, you'll be safe there."

"No! Jack you need me, if you think that I'm just going to-"

"Martha, please!" He cut her off. "I couldn't take it if anything were to happen to you. I've already lost someone I love today because I couldn't protect them, I'm not about to let it happen again."

"Jack, what happened to Lucas, wasn't your fault." Martha tried to comfort him by running a hand through his hair.

Jack grimaced. "I know that but…I want you to be safe, I love you so much, I don't know what I'd do if I lost you. So will you please go home with your grandad?"

"If that's what you want." Martha agreed quietly, not wanting to stress Jack even more by being stubborn. They kissed quickly before Martha rushed off to catch a ride with Sally.

"Holden." Eve came up behind him, Tracey as usual following two steps behind her. "You alright?"

"I will be when we catch whoever's responsible for this." Jack replied emotionally. Prompting Tracey to ask Eve quietly if she thought he was going to cry.

"Good. What the hell were you thinking letting Beth Hunter send witnesses home without getting their statements first?"

"They're just kids, I thought that they've been through enough today." Jack protested.

"You thought that…you know as well as I do how important it is to get a witnesses statement as soon as possible before their memories can be corrupted."

"I know, I'm sorry." Jack apologized.

"Look, Jack, we'll understand if you want to take some time off after everything…" Tracey interjected.

"No, I had enough time off after the fire. I need to catch these guys."

Eve raised an eyebrow. "I'm not like Peter, Jack. One more screw up and I have no problem kicking you off this case." She warned.

Jack nodded. "I understand. Do you think that Luc…that the hit and run, is connected to the Stalker case?"

"We have to look at all the possibilities." Tracey said coolly.

"It could've just as easily been an accident." Eve added. "But there is a strong probability that it is connected." She conceded.

Jack tried to take the news in his stride, and failed. "Do have any leads?"

"A few."

"You've been working this case for two years and that's all you've come up with?" Jack questioned angrily.

Eve tried to tamp down on her flaring temper. "We have one lead that could reveal vital information, providing we apply the right amount of pressure." She told him, ignoring the question entirely.

"Then what are we waiting for?" Jack said, clenching his jaw. "Let's go apply some pressure."

Next time on Somewhere A Clock Is Ticking: Who is going to get a painful surprise visit?

[Lauz]

Thanks for updating Rabsey Love the hit and run!!! I mean, people got injured but it was AWESOME!!!

[Oxidizer]

"I…uh…I have to go to the morgue." Tony said. "I'm going to ride with Lucas…with, with the body."

LOL I shouldn't really be laughing but that sounded very necro in my head - bad Tony! Ahem, but I really loved this part! Wickedly awesome update Rabsey! I can't wait for the torturous surprise.

[luckyrabbit]

"I…uh…I have to go to the morgue." Tony said. "I'm going to ride with Lucas…with, with the body."

LOL I shouldn't really be laughing but that sounded very necro in my head - bad Tony!

OMFG! I didn't even think of it that way and I thought I had the dirtiest mind of anyone I know.

You're a dirty boy Andy

[Oxidizer]

"I…uh…I have to go to the morgue." Tony said. "I'm going to ride with Lucas…with, with the body."

LOL I shouldn't really be laughing but that sounded very necro in my head - bad Tony!

OMFG! I didn't even think of it that way and I thought I had the dirtiest mind of anyone I know.

You're a dirty boy Andy

Hehe I know.

[Traceve]

OMFG that was awesome, Please update Soon

[luckyrabbit]

Thanks guys!

Here's a teeny tiny bit from the torture scene. Anyone want to take a stab at who the victim is?

Eve circled around behind ______ and put a hand on his shoulder. "Fact is _____," She whispered dangerously. "you have nine fingers left and until you tell me what I need to know, I have all the time in the world to break them. So…" She took hold of ____'s index finger. "Do you get where I'm going with all this?" She asked, tightening her grip threateningly.

[Oxidizer]

Ooh! I seriously aint got a clue who the victim is - but I love the sound of it! *Thinks up a list of torture-suspects*

[tasha7905]

Brilliant. I cant believe Luc is dead. Hope there is more soon.