Disclaimer: I do not own Without a Trace or any of the characters from it, nor do I have any affiliation with it.
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Danny Taylor and Martin Fitzgerald stood in the car lot of the motel, waiting for Jack Malone to arrive. They knew he was not going to be impressed with the lack of knowledge that they had on this particular case. Jack had arrived late for work that morning and had been in a bad mood ever since, but nobody could get him to tell them why.
Jack's car pulled up and he climbed out of it.
"Okay, what we got?"
"Woman checked in at about 11 last night with two young girls," Danny began. "She left at about 2am, leaving the girls in the room. Guy at reception saw her leaving, when she hadn't returned by 9, he knocked on the door and one of the kids said they weren't supposed to leave until he got their dad. He had no way of getting dad, so he called it in."
"What's the name of the missing woman?"
"We don't know. He said she didn't want to give her name so he put down Jane Doe and she paid in cash."
"That's all we have? No names or anything?" Jack questioned. "How come we've been called in?"
"It is a missing persons report. Technically two, seeing as we have to find both parents."
"Fine," Jack sighed. "First step then, is to talk to the kids. Ask them if mom told them anything else. Which room are they in?"
Martin signalled to one of the rooms and Jack walked over, Danny and Martin following him.
Jack knocked on the door.
"Hi. My name's Jack. I'm trying to find your parents. But I need your help. I know mom told you to wait till your dad came, but I really need you to open the door for me. Please."
Jack heard the door unlocking and it was slowly opened. He had seen a lot of things in his time as an FBI agent, but nothing had prepared him for what he saw in front of him now.
He looked down at the girl who had opened the door then glanced past to the girl on the bed.
Danny, seeing Jack frozen in shock and getting no reply when he asked what was wrong, pushed past him to see for himself.
"Oh my God."
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Samantha Spade and Vivian Johnson climbed out of the car and walked over to Danny and Martin.
"Where's Jack?" Samantha asked.
"He's with the kids, comforting them," Martin told her. "They're pretty shaken up."
"We got any names for the kids, yet?" Vivian asked. "Or better still, the parents."
"All four." Martin continued. "Girls names, Hannah and Kate Malone. Father's name is Jack Malone."
Vivian looked across at the room. She saw Jack sitting on the bed, Hannah beside him and Kate on his knee.
"That means," she said, "the missing woman is Maria."