Chapter Two: Veronica, Where Could You Be?


"You're going to tell me everything you know about Detective Callaghan," asked Veronica's captor, as he held an iron rod in a burning fire. The red sweater that Veronica had been wearing over her black tank top had been discarded, and her arms were now bare.

"I don't know a Detective Callaghan," she pleaded, "My parents have never mentioned them."

"Liar," he captor snapped, before ripping the iron rod out from the fire, quickly placing it on her bare arm. Veronica screamed at the top of her lungs, as the iron rod burned her flesh. She struggled to get away from it, but her captor held her still in her chair, jabbing the iron rod into her arm.

"Please stop," she begged, "I don't know who you're talking about."

"Luke Callaghan, Detective Callaghan," her captor yelled. She flinched as he yelled at her once more. In her whole life, Veronica had never heard the name Detective Luke Callaghan pass through the lips of either of her parents. She couldn't very well tell him about someone that she had never heard of. Tears were still pouring down her face, as she begged and pleaded with her captor to let her go.

"Please," Veronica begged, "Please, let me go. I can't tell you what you want to know-"

"But I think you can," he interrupted her, "You know the exact information I need, but you don't want to tell me anything." Before Veronica could continue to beg for her life, her captor stood before her and ran his hand over her face, causing for her to flinch away from his touch. It was coarse and rough, nothing like the protective touch of her father or the loving touch of Zack.

"You see, your father, mother and Detective Callaghan ruined my girlfriend's life and career and you, the darling Swarek Princess, will tell me everything I need to know about Detective Callaghan," he said, turning away from her and out the door, locking it behind him. In the fire lit room, Veronica began to sob. She cried for the parents she would most likely never see again, the boyfriend who would need to learn how to love another and the friends that would have to move on. Veronica couldn't tell him what he needed to know and she would have to learn how to accept her fate.


Sam and Andy, unable to return to the home in which their daughter had been taken from them, had been offered the spare room of Jerry and Traci Barber. Their eldest Leo, had moved out at the beginning of this year to move in with his girlfriend of two years. The room had been renovated and transformed into a guest room, in which Sam and Andy were now lying wide awake in staring at the ceiling.

"Do you think she'll be okay," Andy asked, quietly, turning to look at her husband, who continued to stare up at the ceiling as if it held all the answers to their current predicament.

"I know we'll find her alive, Andy," Sam answered, not tearing his eyes away from the ceiling, "I can feel it. She's my little girl. I taught her how to fight, how to keep herself alive. We'll find her and bring her home."

"We're going to have to find somewhere else to live," Andy stated, turning back onto her back to join her husband in starring at the ceiling. Sam smiled slightly.

"Yeah," he agreed, "V won't want to sleep there when she gets back. She won't feel very safe, even if we're down the hall."

"It seems so wrong to go to sleep," Andy said, "She probably doesn't have that luxury."

"We can't think like that Andy."

"I know Sam," Andy sighed, "But she's our daughter. We both swore that we would protect her from the moment, we found out I was pregnant with V and now look, she's god knows where, probably frightened, trying to figure out why this happening to her-"

"Andy," Sam interrupted quietly, "We protected her as much as we could. We cared for her and made sure she was always safe when she was growing up. We can't protect her every minute of every day-"

"But we can try," Andy cried, before they were both silent for a long moment, "Sam?"

"Yeah?"

"What if-"

"No, Andy, no what ifs, we'll find her," Sam said, finally tearing his eyes from the ceiling to look at his wife, directly in the eye.

"That wasn't what I was asking," Andy said quietly, "What if it's like Sarah?" Sam was quiet for a moment, and turned back to look at the ceiling for a moment, before he answered. What happened to Sarah was horrific and gruesome, and he wouldn't wish it on his worst enemy, much less on his own daughter. He didn't want to watch someone else he love become distant, depressed and suicidal, he became an officer to prevent that. He couldn't think like that. He needed to be strong for Andy and when Veronica was found, he would need to be strong for her. It was another moment before he spoke again.

"If it's like Sarah, I will hunt down the bastard myself and tear him limb from limb for doing that to Veronica," Sam promised, before turning back to his wife and grabbing both of her hands in his, placing a kiss on both of them.

"We should get some sleep," he sighed, "We're no good to V exhausted." He pulled Andy closer to him, allowing Andy to place her head on his chest. Both of them sighed and tried to fall asleep for at least a couple of hours.

In the next room, Jerry and Traci were in the same position as their friends. The moonlight shining in through the white curtains that hung in their bedroom. Jerry couldn't help, but think about his goddaughter that was out there alone and most likely scared.

"Jer, we're going to find her right," Traci asked, as she looked at her husband.

"V's a strong girl," Jerry said, "Sam taught her everything he knows. We'll get her out of this alive and we'll put whoever took her behind bars."

"I just hope Sam and Andy will be okay," Traci said, as she thought about her best friend and her husband, that were most likely only trying to sleep in the next room over. It killed her to see them having to go through this. It was killing them all that Veronica was taken. It was all any of them could think about, even with their own children in the hospital, Veronica being out there all alone and probably scared, had them more worried.


The next morning, the entire team made their way into the barn, ready to crack open any old cases, that could give them anything that could lead them to who took Veronica and maybe even to where she was. Several folders were sitting on Andy and Sam's desks and were even sitting in several boxes surrounding them.

"How are we going to sift through all these," Andy said, as she looked at the top folder on her desk.

"I don't know, but we will, because these piles right here hold the key to where our daughter could be."

"Maybe we should start with some names, that could be holding grudges against you both," Jerry said as he pulled up a chair across from Sam at his desk. Sam sat down for a moment and looked at the picture of him and Veronica that sat on his desk. It was at her sixteenth birthday party. She was dressed in the dress, her and Andy had combed through fourteen shops for. She looked beautiful. Andy had asked them both for a picture…just one at their little girl's birthday party. And now she out these without him for protection.

"Anton Hill," Andy said suddenly. Sam looked at her confused and then he thought about for a moment and nodded, and began to soft through all of the file folders on his desk.

"You'd think all of this would be on computer file," Traci said, as she helped Andy look through the pile on her desk for the Anton Hill file.

"He would take Veronica for revenge, he-"

"He's dead. Died about three years ago, car accident," said Oliver as he walked into the bull pin.

"What," Sam asked, "What are you talking about?"

"Anton Hill," Oliver answered, "I had a hunch last night. He hated you. He'd be the perfect suspect for a kidnapping that targeted your daughter specifically, so I pulled his file last night," Oliver held up the file that both Sam and Andy were looking for, "And then I found the accident report that pronounced him dead."

"Okay, so that's one name out of how many," Andy asked. Sam nodded and began to sift through several other files that sat on his desk, when he came to a familiar name. L. Callaghan. He held up the file and showed to Andy.

"We never found out who shot him," he said, as Andy sifted through the witness reports to ballistics to the autopsy report. That had been the last case she worked, before she found out that she was pregnant for the first time.

"I wonder whatever happened to Jo," Andy asked, as she flipped through the file. The sudden murder of Luke Callaghan had been the end of Jo Rosati's career. It had ruined her. Andy had just forgave Luke for cheating on her with Jo, when he had been killed.

"No one really knows," Jerry said, as he read the file over her shoulder, "She fell off the grid as soon as Luke died. No one ever saw her after that." There was something that felt odd about finding this file so suddenly to Andy, as if it held all of the answers to Veronica's kidnapping. Luke had died while investigating Boyd's ties to some of the gangs in the area. It had been a week after her and Sam had returned from the honeymoon.

"Is there any way we could track her down," Andy asked. Sam looked at her.

"Andy, come on how could Luke's murder have anything to do with Veronica's disappearance," he asked her seriously. Andy looked at him.

"I don't know it's just everything between us started with Luke, Jo and Boyd," Andy said, explaining the connection she saw, "When Luke died, Jo just fell off the map, we couldn't find her anywhere and we needed to figure out the silent connections Boyd had with some of the gangs, but he was keeping silent. Veronica could have gotten mixed up into this-"

"She's a good girl, Andy, you and I both know that," Sam argued, "She gets straight A's, she's dating Diaz's kid for god's sake and she's part of the cheerleading team. There is no way she'd get mixed up with gangs."

"I know all of that Sam," Andy yelled, "She's my daughter too, but the moment she was born, she was mixed up in this, because of who her parents were. You and me, were the reason she's in this mess and I'm going to explore every lead we could possibly have until we find her." Sam and Andy glared at one another, before Andy collapsed in a fit of tears. Sam fell to his knees in front of her and cradled his distraught wife in his arms.

"I love you," he whispered to her, as she cried into his shoulder, "We'll find V and then we'll be a family again and I will never anything happen to her again."

"Sam," Andy sobbed.

"I promise you that," Sam said, taking the glass of water from Traci that she handed to him. He then offered it to Andy. She smiled at him and then took a sip from the small plastic glass. She wanted nothing more than to have her daughter back.

As Andy continued to sob into Sam's arms, Jerry's cell phone began to vibrate in his pocket. He quickly dug it out and answered it.

"Barber," he said, and then he paused as he listened to the person on the other end speak. Traci looked over at her husband and then back at her best friend who was now in the process of trying to dry her tears.

"We'll be on our way," Barber said, before he hung up his phone and turned to Traci, "Dean's awake, he has a slight concussion, but he's awake. Oliver and have him question Dean about V's kidnapping, since I can't." Sam looked at Jerry.

"Oliver, you said yesterday, that Mrs. Harvell said the guy was masked, what is Dean going to tell us, he was the first one knocked out," Sam snapped, as he continued to cradle Andy in his arms.

"He might've regained consciousness, before passing out again Sam, we don't know. Sam, you're an officer, you know that we need to question all possible witnesses, so right now Traci, Jerry and I are going to head back to St. Michael's and you and Andy will meet us there later, so we can question him, okay," Oliver asked, before grabbing his jacket. Sam shook his head and looked at the Luke Callaghan file that had fallen to the ground. He thought about it for a moment. Boyd would have a grudge against him and he does have the connections that could kidnap his daughter without fear of consequence. He needed to consult somebody. And it was in that split second that Sam Swarek made his decision. His decision to visit Jamie Brennan in the Brockville Jail.


Jerry, Traci and Oliver walked into St. Michael's and headed straight for Dean Barber's hospital room. When they walked in they saw, Dean and Zack sitting opposite each other on the hospital bed. Zack's head was in his hands again and they can tell that he had been crying. Dean was offering Zack all the support he could in his current position. Jerry opened the door, and both boys looked to see their uncle Jerry, aunt Traci and uncle Oliver.

"Hi mom, dad," Dean said, as he leaned back into his pillows. Zack crawled off the bed and made his way to exit the room. Traci could see that Veronica's kidnapping had begun taking a toll on the young boy.

"Zack, are you okay," she asked. Zack looked up at her and shook his head, and held out his cell phone. Traci looked at Jerry and Oliver before taking the cell phone that was being offered to her.

How could you let him take me Zack? – V

It's your entire fault! I thought you loved me! – V

If you just wanted to break my heart, you could've just broken up with me! – V

You were going to be my first Zack, now he's taken it from me – V

Traci read through several texts that all came from Veronica's phone. She looked at Zack, before handing the phone off to Oliver and Jerry, so they could see the texts that had been sent to him. Oliver and Jerry shared a look. The GPS on Veronica's phone could help them locate her.

"Zack, when did you start getting these texts," Traci asked, putting her hand on the boy's shoulder.

"When I woke up this morning, I had five texts from her. If she has her phone, why isn't she calling for help, why is she texting me these things," Zack pleaded, tears in his eyes, threatening to fall. Traci broke at the look on his face.

"It isn't V, who's doing this Zack," Jerry said, coming to stand in front of him, "Whoever took her, wants you to feel guilty about not being able to protect her in time. It's this quality in him, that'll help us catch him. Since he's using Veronica's phone, we'll be able to track it via GPS, because we all know Sam."

"Yeah Sam, will get someone to put an extra GPS, that can't be shut off on her phone, because V's his little girl," Zack said, as he rubbed the tears from his eyes. Traci placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Why don't the two of us, go and get some hot chocolate," she offered. Zack nodded and the two of them left the room. Jerry watched the two of them leave before turning back to his son.

"You okay, Dean," he asked.

"Yeah Dad, I'm fine," Dean answered, running a hand over his wrapped head, "You got any leads on who could've taken V?"

"That's what Oliver is here to talk to you about, Dean," Jerry explained, "You're my son, so I can't but, Oliver will need to ask you some questions on anything you might know about the disappearance okay?" Dean nodded and looked at Oliver, who had a pad and pen ready.

"So what happened, when the four of your arrived at the Swarek house?"

"We were hungry. Zack and I had some money for a pizza, so we asked V if we could order one. She said that it was fine and that she was going to take a quick shower before it got here. Laura and her didn't feel like having a pizza though, so Laura volunteered to make a salad."

"Alright, what happened, when you heard the knock on the door?"

"It had been about 20 minutes after we ordered the pizza, so I grabbed the money Zack and I pooled off the table and went to the door. When I opened the door, I was hit the head, that's all I remember," Dean said, looking at Oliver. Oliver nodded writing everything down.

"Wait," Dean said, causing Oliver to look at him, "I remember hearing V start screaming at someone to let her go. She wanted to check on us, I think." Oliver nodded.

"What can you tell me about the grey car that tried to follow you home about three weeks ago?"

"We were on our way to the Swarek's house, like we do every day, when V noticed this car was following us. She said, that we could cut through the park to lose them, since they wouldn't be able to follow us through there without leaving his car," Dean explained.

"Did you get a good look at the guy," Oliver asked, hoping that it could lead them somewhere.

"Kind of, like I noticed he had black hair and kind of a long face, but other than that, I didn't notice anything significant," Dean apologized.

"It's okay, did you see his plates," Oliver asked.

"M9T, that's all I can remember," Dean said. He shook his head and took a deep breath.

"I just can't believe she's missing. V was always smart one out of us all," Dean said, fiddling with his hospital blanket. Oliver looked at him and put his pad and pen away before pulling up a chair beside the bed.

"Whoever did this Dean, targeted her specifically," he explained, "But whoever this guy is, he messed with Sam Swarek and you and I both know…"

"That's a big mistake," Dean finished.


A/N: Okay, here's chapter two. Let me know what you think.

xo