Title: Gone
Author: Day (Dayliobserver)
Rating: Probably R to be safe
Disclaimer: All the characters belong to Hank Steinberg and CBS. I´m just playing with them and will put them back after use.
A/N: My first WaT fic, so be gentle. It begins M/S, but is a J/S story. I wouldn´t know to write it any other way. It´s set in the current season three and if any inconsistencies occur with the show, it´s because I have yet to see it. I´ll attempt to update once a week.
Thanks to Diane for being an amazing beta!
Deborah Harrison slowly made her way from her living room into her kitchen. It wasn´t that long a walk, but her hip had been playing up quite a lot lately, so she knew to take it easy. Resting briefly with a hand on the back of a chair, she reached for her purse lying on the kitchen counter. Erick was supposed to have showed up today, but he hadn´t and instead of feeling angry at him or sorry for herself, Debbie did what she always did in such situations: she set out to take care of business herself. That was the way it had been for the last sixty years and that wasn´t going to change any time soon. She did appreciate her daughter making her grandson come by every once in a while to see if he could help, but she didn´t appreciate the fact that it felt like her only child was checking up on her. Pitying her. She had been alone for nineteen years since Caroline´s father died, and she knew how to take care of herself. Retired or not.
If only her daughter could remember that.
Scanning the fridge, she reached the conclusion she had expected all along. She was out of milk as well as eggs and that would make her cooking an omelet later that evening somewhat difficult. Erick had failed to do the shopping for today, but Deborah didn´t mind that much; she would have to do it, sure, but it would also show Caroline that she was indeed capable of just that, actual doing something for herself.
Slowly walking into the brightly lit bathroom, she applied a touch of rouge to her cheeks (age didn´t mean you shouldn´t make sure to look your best), gave her mirror image a ghost of a smile, and, after making sure all the windows and doors were locked, left for the nearest grocery.
She never returned.
MISSING ? HOURS
"Fitzgerald," Martin´s voice was hoarse and sleepy as he answered the phone and Samantha Spade groaned inwardly, rolling onto her side. It could barely be six in the morning and she was not even remotely ready to leave the bed yet.
"Uh-huh…" Martin managed to get out between yawns, absentmindedly running his free hand through his ruffled hair. "This morning… Okay. Yeah, yeah, that´s all right. I´ll tell her. Okay… Yeah, be right there." He closed the cell phone with a loud snap and Sam let out a resigned breath, knowing only too well the finality of such a gesture. They were needed at work, not now, but five minutes ago.
"That was Danny, he-"
"Yeah, I know, I know," Sam spoke tiredly, slipping out of bed, glancing around to locate her clothes. "We´re needed." Reaching for her shirt, she stopped abruptly, looking back just in time to see Martin stumble towards the bathroom, "How did he know I was here?"
"I don´t know," Martin answered indifferently, disappearing into the bathroom, while still talking to her, "I guess he tried to reach you at home and when he didn´t, he just figured you´d be here. Is your cell phone off?" He poked his head back out, smiling at her, "Does it matter anyway?"
"No, no, of course not," Sam replied quickly, returning his smile a little hesitantly. "I was just surprised is all, I didn´t know he knew about, well, you know…" She gestured awkwardly around the bedroom, clothes thrown everywhere.
Martin gave her a small and affectionate grin, obviously a little amused at her discomfort, "Well, Samantha, we´ve been discreet, but not actually hiding, have we? And Danny is a federal agent after all." He moved back into the bathroom and the sound of running water followed, his voice carrying out to her, "I´m sure the others know, too, but you know them, they wouldn´t make a too big deal out of it."
Sam didn´t move for a few seconds, listening to Martin humming a little tune as he stepped into the shower. Then as if she had just received an electric jolt, she dropped her shirt; her head swirling as her eyes anxiously scanned the room. Finding what she was looking for, she swiftly moved and fished out her jacket that seemed to have ended up somewhere behind the laundry basket. Reaching into a pocket, her fingers found the hard form of her cell phone and she pulled it out, deftly flicking it open.
It wasn´t on. Nobody would have been able to reach her.
She bit her lip, frowning. Why wasn´t it on? She knew better than that to switch it off, her job not actually being nine to five. What had she been thinking? Her frown deepened, she didn´t even remember doing it. She stared at the phone in her hand for a moment, willing it to answer, then she sighed, shaking her head. Maybe she was getting old.
"Samantha? Why don´t you get in here while the water´s still hot?"
Martin´s voice startled her and she nearly dropped the phone. Recovering quickly, she answered a little distractedly, "Yeah, I´ll be right there." Giving the phone one last look, she switched it on and tossed it onto the bed and went to join Martin in the shower. She didn´t need to look at the display to know it would show several missed calls.
"Her name is Deborah Harrison, retired teacher, age 73," Danny spoke as he attached a portrait to the white board, the old woman´s kind blue eyes smiling at the people seated around the table. "Her daughter, one Caroline White, reported her missing very early this morning. She works as a nurse and occasionally drops by after her night shift. Apparently Deborah Harrison suffers from insomnia and is frequently up at that hour."
"Uh," Vivian sighed in sympathy to Samantha´s right. "I feel tired just thinking about it."
Danny gave her a brief smile before continuing, his eyes moving from person to person, "Her husband died nineteen years ago and she has lived alone since, but in a protected community with mainly elderly people."
"Any surveillance?"
Danny´s eyes shifted to meet his boss´ dark gaze, "Yes, according to the daughter the front door is video monitored and possibly the yard as well."
"We´ll need those tapes."
"They should be on the way as we speak," Danny assured. "All right… um…" He hesitated for a second before recovering his line of thought. "Right. There appears to be no signs of a forced entrance and everything in the flat was very neat." He looked to Vivian, who nodded, "Yes, there was definitely nothing out of order there, her daughter says she always liked to…"
Despite her best efforts, Sam´s thoughts started to drift. She felt utterly exhausted. Between working late yesterday and spending the night with Martin, she had had very little sleep. She had known last night that the smart thing to do was to leave alone and sleep in her own flat, but Martin had given her such a mock pleading look that she hadn´t been able to say no. She smiled inwardly, he knew exactly when to turn on the Fitzgerald charm and it generally never failed. Shaking her head lightly, she forced her attention back to Danny and Vivian, her eyes resting for a second on Jack before moving on without even realizing it or noticing as he sharply turned his head toward her.
"-only daughter, divorced Ian White three years ago, they have a fifteen-year-old son, Erick White. He was supposed to have stopped by at his grandmother´s yesterday, but didn´t."
"Why not?" Sam heard herself ask.
Danny smiled a little resigned as if he couldn´t believe the youth of the world today, "Apparently he forgot."
"All right," Jack spoke suddenly, four heads turning in his direction. "I haven´t seen the scene myself yet, so I´ll be heading there and talk to her neighbours. Danny and Viv talk to her immediate family and see what else you can find out. We need to have the time frame narrowed down. Martin, stay here and go through the surveillance tapes both for Deborah Harrison and any possible suspect. Sam, you´re with me."
Without further ado or sparing them a second glance, he rose from the table and briskly walked past them. The other agents´ eyes met for a moment, some confused, some bemused, then they all rose.
"Someone seems a little grumpy," Sam heard Vivian remark to Danny as they all hastened to get their coats.
"Guess he didn´t get enough sleep last night," Danny answered casually.
Vivian sighed, tying her scarf, "Yeah well, but wasn´t that the point of us being at the scene this morning? So the boss could sleep in for once?"
Danny just shrugged, not really caring either way, but giving Sam a teasing grin, "Have fun with Jack today, Samantha, I´m sure it´ll be… interesting."
She resisted the urge to roll her eyes at him and only raised a delicate eyebrow instead, but before she could reply, Jack´s impatient voice rang through the corridor, "Samantha! Any day now!"
Suppressing her annoyance, she shared a quick exasperated look with Danny and Vivian, sent a smile Martin´s way, who was already hovering in front of a monitor, and swiftly walked to meet up with Jack at the elevator.
They rode the first twenty minutes in the car in silence. Samantha´s attempt at making small-talk or talk about the case failing miserably and eventually she just gave up. If Jack wanted to be a jerk, then so be it. It wasn´t her fault if he was in a sour mood. Turning to look out of the window, she began collecting her thoughts, going over the information from Danny. It didn´t look good, she couldn´t think of any 73-year-old grandmother who would just up and leave. Something must have happened and whether it was an accidental or intentional act, she was afraid the outcome could only be bad. She ran a hand through her hair, grimacing lightly as she felt the onset of a headache. It was barely 8 am; it was going to be one of those days.
"Your phone was off."
"What?" Sam´s head swivelled around by the sound of Jack´s voice.
"This morning," he spoke, not even glancing at her, but keeping his gaze straight at the convoluted morning traffic. "That´s rather irresponsible."
Sam bit her lip, biting back a less than friendly retort. She took a breath, "Yes, I know, and I´m sorry. I honestly don´t remember switching it off." She tried to catch his eyes reflected in the windshield, but he wouldn´t look her way. "It won´t happen again."
"Good," was his only reply.
They drove in silence for a moment.
"Especially if I can´t count on reaching you at home."
She couldn´t help it, but she froze. Swallowing involuntarily, she kept her gaze as steady as Jack had earlier, staring at the taillights in front of her as if it was the most interesting sight she had ever seen.
Guess the cat was out of the bag.
Obviously she had known he would find out sooner or later, part of her having suspected he already did. And maybe he did, maybe he had known all along, but had been able to pretend otherwise as long as he wasn´t presented with direct proof. She herself had been a master at that in the last stages of their affair when he had become distracted and anxious, tensing up from an unexpected touch.
Their affair. It felt weird thinking about it even after all this time. She had told herself she had reconciled to that part of her life a long time ago. However, if the feeling in the pit of her stomach was anything to go by, it was less black and white than she had led herself to believe.
Suddenly she felt incredibly angry, both at herself and him. This was stupid and it was none of Jack´s business anyway and why the hell did she feel so upset that he now knew. She should be feeling relieved.
About to say something, her eyes finally met with Jack´s as their reflections accidentally met in the windshield and the words died on her tongue. She knew that look, the look behind the accusatory stare. He was hurting and dammit if it didn´t affect her still. Even when it shouldn´t. Even after all this time. Even with Martin.
The anger drained slowly from her and a strange kind of mental exhaustion set in and she almost felt like laughing out loud, wondering if it would sound as hysterical as she felt. This was insane. Jack had no right to be upset and she had no reason to care if he did.
Except that she did.
Holding his gaze a moment longer, she then turned her head away, speaking softly, "I don´t know what to say…"
She heard him shift in the driver´s seat as he cleared his throat and said gruffly, "You could have told me."
Sam winced, but his tone was more tired than angry or hurt now. Sighing, she closed her eyes briefly, knowing that if this had been any other of her ex-lovers talking like this, she would have been seriously pissed by now. But this was Jack. It was always different with him.
Still not knowing what to say, she chose the safe way out, "You know I like to keep my work and personal life separate."
She thought she heard him suppress a snort, but before she could retort, he said suddenly, "We´re here."
"Oh."
He stopped the car, but neither made a move to get out and they sat in silence. Moments later she felt his eyes on her, so she counted to ten mentally before turning towards him, defences high. What she saw stopped her in her tracks; he was smiling at her, albeit somewhat ruefully.
"I´m sorry, Sam," he spoke quietly. "I´m out of line." He gave her another smile and she thought he looked older than he was. "I´m surprised you haven´t bitten my head off by now. I would have deserved it."
She returned his smile, first reluctantly then more warmly, "Don´t think it didn´t cross my mind." She sighed, reaching for his hand still on the steering wheel, and giving it a quick squeeze, "Let´s just say I´ll let this one slide, but only this time, okay?" Getting a small nod for confirmation, she continued, "Now, I believe we have work to do."
He looked at the hand she had just touched for a moment, then her, his face unreadable, and said, "Yeah, let´s get going."
As they exited the car, a gentle rain began to fall.