Reversal of Fortune
Chp. 1
Disclaimer: No Copyright Infringement intended. The Missing characters do not belong to me. I don't own them. At all.
After a long day at the office, Jess pulled her Jeep Liberty into her parking space. Her thoughts were mostly of the case they'd just solved. A happy ending came out of it all, but now she was tired and wanted to sleep. When she reached her apartment, there was a small note attached to her door.
Hey Babe,
I miss you. I really wanted to see you tonight, but I was called back to work on another assignment. Sorry. Always thinking about you.
Colin.
After reading the note, Jess smiled. It was an unexpected surprise because she thought he was still undercover on a previous assignment. She wished that Colin was there to help her relax as she walked into her apartment whispering a quick prayer for his safety.
Nicole walked into her apartment feeling spent. She was tired, but her thoughts were of Antonio. She didn't really know how things between them got the way they were. Nicole loved Antonio, and she knew he loved her, but things were complicated. She knew things would never be the same, and she wondered if they would ever be able to make the whole "being friends" situation work. For a brief moment, she let her mind wander to their recently solved case. She smiled with satisfaction knowing that they saved a woman's life and returned her to her family. With her mind roaming, Nicole prepared to turn in for the night.
The next morning, Jess arrived at work 30 minutes early. As soon as she stepped off the elevator, she was greeted by Nicole.
"Hey, Jess."
"Hey, Nick. How was your night?"
"It was okay. Yours?"
"Same here. Colin left me a note on my door last night. He's on another undercover assignment."
"Wow, he's on another assignment. How long was he on the last one?"
"About three weeks."
As Jess and Nicole were talking, the elevator doors opened and Antonio stepped off.
"Hey, Jess."
"Hey, Antonio."
"Hey, Nick." Antonio said turning towards Nicole.
"Antonio." Nicole returned while looking at Antonio with her mind full of thoughts.
"I hope pleasantries are over with because 'mes enfants' it's time to do what we do best." Pollack stated as he walked past them into the bullpen. Jess and Nicole glanced at each other as they all followed Pollack to learn about the next assignment.
"Okay people. We have a missing girl." Pollack began as an agent handed Jess, Nicole, and Antonio some files about their new case. "Katie Shields, age 10, went missing from her grandparents' home in Philadelphia around 10 o'clock last night. She was staying with her grandparents, Tom and Katherine Shields, while her parents, Matt and Madison, were on business trips. Matt Shields is a computer engineer working for Gondine Enterprises, and is currently on business in Los Angeles. Gondine Enterprises is a nationwide computer engineering firm based in Philadelphia. Madison Shields is a self-employed architect on business in Chicago." Pollack gave the agents a few moments to absorb the information before continuing. "Thelma and Louise, go to the scene and interview the grandparents. You, Cortez, will get me a copy of the phone records and anything else that can be useful before heading over to the scene. Go." Without saying a word, the agents began to leave when Pollack spoke again, "I don't have to tell you guys that 24 hours is our window of opportunity to find this little girl. Move quickly." After that, the team went to work.
Jess and Nicole arrived at the grandparents' residence surveying the scene. Jess saw an elderly couple talking with a police officer.
"There are the grandparents." Jess said nudging Nicole.
"Well, let's go talk to them."
Nicole and Jess walked over to the couple.
"Mr. and Mrs. Shields?" Nicole questioningly stated before pausing a moment as Katie's grandparents nodded in confirmation. "Hi, I'm Special Agent Nicole Scott, and this is my partner Special Agent Jess Mastriani: FBI. We'd like to ask you a few questions about your granddaughter's disappearance."
"Sure." Tom answered while embracing his wife.
"Mr. Shields, when did either of you notice Katie was missing?"
"Earlier that night around 9 o'clock or so she let Fluffy, her dog, go outside. About an hour later, it was time for Fluffy to come in for the night so Katie went to call her inside. A few minutes later, Fluffy came inside, but Katie didn't. We went outside to look for her, but we couldn't find her. We asked a few of our neighbors if they knew where she went, but none of them had seen her. That's when we called the police." Tom answered as Katherine started to lightly cry on his shoulder.
"Did you notice anybody around your property or did you see anything out of the ordinary?" Nicole asked.
"No, we didn't. We're so worried about her." Tom answered. "Her parents are on business trips this week, and we were watching her. They often leave her in our care because they travel so much." Tom paused before adding, "We just want our Katie back."
"Mr. and Mrs. Shields, we're going to find Katie." Nicole said with confidence.
"Is there anyone you know that would want to hurt Katie?" Jess asked.
"No."
"What about her parents? Do they have any enemies?"
"I don't know. Maybe. Maybe not. They travel so much, and they interact with many different people everyday because of their jobs. I'm not really sure." Katherine answered.
"Okay, uh, Mr. and Mrs. Shields, does Katie have a room here?" Jess asked.
"Yes, of course. We'll take you to it." Tom said.
Jess and Nicole followed Tom and Katherine into the house. They walked up a flight of stairs and down a hallway before stopping in front of a door with 'Katie' in big pink letters on it. Tom opened the door and walked inside.
"This is her room. She stays here every time her parents are away on business."
"Oh, I can't stand it." Katherine walked out of the room as she began crying again.
"Excuse us." Tom said as he followed Katherine out of the room.
"Of course." Nicole replied.
Jess looked around the room. She eyed Katie's pink bed with its pink blanket and pillows. There was a bookshelf full of books and puzzle boxes in a stack next to the bookshelf. She looked over the titles of Katie's books and all of the puzzle boxes in the stack. Jess walked over to Katie's desk and looked over the drawings. While Jess was looking around, Nicole's cell phone rang.
"Scott." Nicole said answering her phone. There was a brief moment of silence while she listened to her caller. "Thanks, Antonio." Nicole said and hung up her phone. "Antonio said the parents have just arrived at the airport, and are headed to the office." Nicole said to Jess. "I'm going to go talk to the grandparents some more."
"Okay, I'll continue to look around." Jess said to Nicole as Nicole left the room. As Jess was looking at the drawings, she was suddenly thrown into a vision:
Katie was sitting on the floor quietly drawing. Jess walked over to her, "Katie?" There was no response. Katie just continued to color. Jess tried again. "Katie, are you alright?" When Jess reached Katie, she looked at the picture she was drawing. It was a picture of two families. In one family, the parents were wearing white and the little girl was wearing black. In the other family, the parents were wearing black and the little girl was wearing white. "Katie, where are you?" Jess asked. Katie looked up at Jess and said, "I'm not who they think I am."
"Jess." Jess was snapped back into reality at the sound of Nicole's voice. Nicole was standing in the doorway looking at Jess. "Did you have a vision?"
"Uh, yeah. Katie was drawing a picture. Two families of parents and a little girl. The parents of one wore black and the little girl wore white. In the other, the parents wore white and the little girl wore black. Then Katie said "I'm not who they think I am."
"What do you think it means?" Nicole asked.
"I don't know, but I believe Katie was kidnapped."
"Well, let's get Antonio on it." Nicole said walking out of Katie's room.
"Yeah." Jess looked around Katie's room once more before she followed her partner out.