The man nodded. "I'll take you up."
"You don't have to." I'd already inconvenienced everyone enough.
"I'm not leaving you alone until this asshole is locked behind bars or dead." Hank stood, looking just as menacing as he sounded. "Abe would hand me my head if I let anything happen to you."
I had no idea why that statement made me smile.
"McDermott, Judge, I'd like you to take Kaito and Ewan back to Ian's place and see what clues you can pick up. One of you is to stay with them at all times. I do not want them left alone for any reason."
Ewan's eyes rolled.
Kaito bristled. "We're not incompetent, you know."
"I am fully aware of what you are capable of," Hank replied. "I have Santos living in my house, remember? I hear about it on a daily basis. That does not mean you don't need some protection until this guy is caught. We have no idea what he's capable of."
Kaito huffed. "Fiinne."
"What do you want me and Andrew to do?" Cooper asked.
"I need you to go back to Danny's place and pack a bag for him for a couple of days. I'm pretty sure he's not leaving the hospital until Abe does."
I nodded vigorously even as I wondered at Hank's insight. He was right. The next time I walked out the door of the hospital, Abe would be at my side. "Thank you."
Hank nodded once before looking back to Cooper. "Make sure you include some toiletries. Depending on how long it takes for Abe to get on his feet, Danny's going to want to shower and shave."
I didn't shave, but yeah.
"I need my laptop from the bunker," I said, then frowned as I remembered something else. "There's another laptop under the couch. I dropped it so I'm not sure if it's working or not. If someone could check on that, I'd appreciate it."
"I can take a look at it," Kaito said.
"Thank you." Kaito would figure out if it was broken, and hopefully be able to fix it if it was. He was good with that type of thing. "Could you check and see if they messed with it at all? I know they messed with my security cameras."
"They messed with your cameras?" Hank asked.
I nodded. "But just the ones in the living room, dining room, kitchen, directly in front of the house, and the one showing the alleyway out back."
"How did they even know where they were?" Hank asked. "Or that they were even there?"
"I have a theory about that."
"I'm listening."
"After they broke in the first time, Abe had me make a disk with the video feed of them breaking in and give it to the cops. Only the cameras showing the video on the disc were disabled."
"So you think they didn't know about the other cameras because they didn't show on the video feed you gave them?"
"That's my theory."
"So," Hank mused, "the cops are in on this?"
"I'm not sure all the cops are in on it, but I have the impression that Atkins has a lot of money, and money talks."
"Well." Hank crossed his arms over his massive chest. "That makes things a little more interesting."
"That's one of the reasons I didn't want you to call an ambulance."
"No, I get it, Danny," he stated. "Until further notice, we don't trust anyone except those standing right here." He turned and looked at each person. "Is that understood?"
