IV.

As soon as Sam had left his office Jack turned his attention to Danny who was fidgeting in his seat. "Could you please try to sit still?" he asked and stared sternly at Danny who shrugged as he said:

"I'm sorry, but it makes me a little… nervous. I mean, she's…" He trailed off as if he didn't know what to say.

"Yes?"

"She's not just somebody, you know…"

"Who? Sam?" Jack asked, although he knew exactly who they were talking about.

"No, Lilly Rush."

"So there was something going on between you two."

Danny looked surprised at first but then answered, reluctantly. "Yeah, well… if there was, would that be so bad?"

Jack shrugged. "Depends on how you're going to handle this."

Danny looked at him questioningly, making Jack sigh before he explained: "Danny, I don't know what was between you two, and God knows I don't want any details, but you seem nervous to me and it is understandable, even if you two were only friends. But since the… the shooting you have been more edgy than ever – and I admit that it's partly my fault because I let you work full time right afterwards – but that's exactly the reason why I want to keep you in the office for a day or two, now."

"I haven't complained", Danny said.

"Not in words. Not yet, at least. But you will once I finished, because I am going to tell you now that I want you to finish writing your report on what happened yesterday and hand it inbefore you go for your appointment with Dr. Harris, which…" Jack paused to look at his watch, "…is in three hours, by the way."

"But…" Danny started but Jack interrupted him:

"See, I told you, you were going to complain."

"No, I wasn't."

"No?"

"No, I was just going to say that there's a lot I can do here on those cases. I mean somebody could call the homes where those women lived, see if there is any information that's interesting and that the detectives who handled those cases forgot to ask about and…"

"The report, Danny, you're writing your report, and I want it to be detailed, so it's going to take you some time. Also I would suggest you have a proper lunch break today. You're right about making some calls, though, but it doesn't necessarily have to be you who makes them, right? I'm going to get Martin working on this."

Danny didn't answer. He looked unhappy. After a moment of silence he opened his mouth to say something but Jack was faster. "Don't even think about it", he said quickly.

"You don't trust me, do you, Jack? After last night?"

"I want to, I really do, but you have to be patient and convince me by following my orders. So, go and write that report and make sure you're on time for your appointment with Lisa. Oh – and if you see Martin, send him to me and hand him those files; he will need some background information before he can start making those calls."

Danny nodded reluctantly. "Okay."

Jack watched him get up and leave his office. He looked disappointed, but there was nothing Jack could do about it; the good thing was that Danny didn't seem angry. A week ago – or even a day or two ago – they would have argued about this, so this was an improvement.

………………

"Hey."

Surprised, Martin looked up from his work so see Danny standing in front of his desk. "Hey, everything alright?"

"Yes, I just… um… – Jack wants to see you in his office."

"Oh."

"It's nothing to worry about; I think he has an assignment for you."

Martin nodded, his curiosity winning over his concern. He struggled to stand up and saw Danny look away quickly so that he wouldn't have to watch him reach for his crutches; the uncomfortable feeling was back and Martin felt sad, too, wondering if it was always going to be like this now.

Slowly and carefully Martin made his way to Jack's office. He was thankful that his boss hadn't decided to come to his desk to speak to him there; it would have made Martin feel uncomfortable being treated as if he couldn't make to his boss's office on his own.

Jack looked up from his paperwork when Martin entered and smiled. "Martin; how are you doing today?"

"'m okay", Martin lied. He had been worse, but okay was far from how he felt. "Danny said you wanted to speak to me."

"That's right. Did he give you those files?"

"What files?"

"So he didn't?"

"Jack – what is this all about?"

"Sit down Martin." Jack motioned towards the chair on the opposite side of his desk. "I've got an assignment for you."

"That's what Danny said." Martin sat down carefully. He was still in pain and he couldn't hide it from Jack. His boss didn't take his eyes off him, a worried look on his face.

"Are you sure you're okay?"

Gritting his teeth Martin managed a "Yes", that he knew didn't sound convincing, but Jack obviously accepted it.

"Okay, listen, I need you to find out some background information on four missing women. Find out as much as you can about them and see if there are any commonalities or anything out of the ordinary."

"Okay." Martin nodded. "Anything else?"

Jack smiled. "I think it's enough work for a while. I'm not even sure if going to be as easy as it sounds – those women went missing ten years ago. Ask Danny about the files and have a look at them before you start making calls."

"Ten years ago?" Martin asked, surprised, but then he thought of the conversation he had had with Danny earlier that morning. "Oh, I see – he said something about a few old cases this morning but he didn't want to tell me what it was about. Why are we investigating these cases?"

Jack hesitated a moment. "I'm not sure, but they could be related to the disappearance of a woman, a detective who works with the Philadelphia PD. Danny knows her, and I think he's very worried."

"That's the reason?"

"Not the only reason", Jack admitted. "I had a call earlier from an agent from our Philadelphia office who told me to stay out of this, and… I don't know… something just didn't seem right. It's just a feeling, maybe it's nothing, but having a look at this can't hurt."

Martin grinned. "If you say so, then I guess that something isn't right."

"I don't know… I can be mistaken. I just want to make sure we don't overlook anything. Now, I suggest you start working on it and if you got any questions go and ask Danny, he knows more about this than I do."

"Okay." Reaching for his crutches Martin got up. He could see from Jack's face that his boss had to stop himself from offering him help, but Martin was grateful that Jack didn't say anything. When he was almost out the door, he turned around once more: "About what you told me last night…"

"Don't worry about that Martin, it's not because of you. I have been considering it for a while, for a long time actually, and after last night... I have to admit that I had no idea know how badly Danny really was after the ambush. He should have taken some time off, but I couldn't afford giving him time off with you and Viv not being there, either. I tried to get a replacement for you but it took one week before we found somebody. So I decided we need an extra body on the team."

"You had considered it before?"

"Yes, and now I can justify the extra money it will cost. I've already received some applications; actually I'm going to see a few people for interviews this afternoon, but as I said – don't you worry, we'll be fine."

Nodding slowly Martin opened the door and walked back to his desk.

That is – if you can call that walking…

………………

Sam was trying hard to concentrate on the road but after driving in silence for five minutes curiosity got the better of her. As she had to hit she brakes at a stoplight she looked over at her colleague, Special Agent Vivian Johnson. "So… Lilly Rush…?"

Vivian turned her head towards Sam, raising her eyebrows. "What about her?"

Rolling her eyes Sam said: "Oh, c'mon Viv, you know why I wanna know…"

Vivian's expression didn't change while she kept looking at Sam, waiting.

"I saw them together once when she was here in New York", Sam explained. "They seemed to get along well, but Danny says she's just a friend."

"So?"

"Viv! Don't tell me you don't understand my question."

"You didn't even ask a question."

Sam sighed, impatiently. "Is she just a friend, or is there more between them?"

Vivian gave a snort, lifted her hands and shrugged. "How on earth am I supposed to know?"

"Oh c'mon, you know Danny better than any of us, right?"

"He's hardly going to tell me about his feelings for a woman. And I don't ask, either." Vivian smiled at Sam who couldn't hide her disappointment; "Sorry, Sam I'm afraid if you want to know you will have to ask him yourself."

The noise of a horn made both women jump. "Lights are green, Sam."

………………

Detective Behr looked to be about sixty years old, with grey unkempt hair and a bushy grey moustache. It didn't appear as if his career had progressed since he had handled the missing persons cases that Sam and Vivian wanted to speak to him about, and to Vivian it seemed that years of hard work with less than expected success had made him bitter.

He didn't greet the two agents very politely. Vivian noticed how he looked them up and down as they entered his small, untidy office.

"Take a seat", Behr said. "What can I do for the FBI?" The last said with such open hostility it almost made Vivian laugh. How can you be that unprofessional?

Vivian knew it was best to come straight to the point: "We need some information from some cases you investigated ten years ago."

"Ten years ago?" Behr was obviously surprised but then he grinned. "You're kidding, right?"

"Unfortunately we're not", Sam said, and Vivian could hear the suppressed anger in her voice. "We found them in our file archives; these cases have never been solved, and we're here to find out why."

"Ladies, its ten years ago – I don't remember anything from then. I'd say you're ten years late", he snorted with laughter at his own joke.

One look at Sam told Vivian that her co-worker was boiling with anger. With a small, unobtrusive gesture she motioned for Sam to contain herself and remain silent. Then she reached into her briefcase for the copies of the photos showing the two missing young women that Sam had made earlier.

"Isabell Lynch. Joanna Albert." She handed the photos to Behr and watched as his face changed into an expression of recognition. "You still don't remember, Detective? Think carefully."

"Yeah… well… I… I have to admit, I do remember those two." Suddenly the cocky tone was gone and Behr stared at the photos, frozen. Finally, he gave them back to Vivian and looked from one woman to the other and back again, confusion obvious on his face. "But what do you want from me?"

"We want to know, why the investigations were dropped for no obvious reason", Vivian said, impatiently. "It says in the files that you were in charge, but it's mentioned nowhere what happened, or why you abandoned those cases."

"Why don't you just ask your own people?"

"What do you mean?" Confused, Vivian and Sam looked at each other and then, at the same time turned their heads to stare at Behr.

"I mean… you guys took them from me!"

"What, you mean the FBI?"

"Yeah. Well, not exactly you of course, but to me you're all the same."

"Now, now, Detective", Vivian said, warningly. "Let's just stay objective, alright? Tell us the whole story."

Behr shrugged and inhaled deeply before he replied: "There isn't much to tell. All I know is that one day my boss comes in and tells me I have a new case; a mid-twenty, disabled woman's been reported missing; I should go and have a look at it. I wasn't happy about that, ya know. Missing, disabled woman – not exactly interesting…" he trailed off, pausing for a moment when he saw Sam's expression. "However", he finally continued, "told myself I was gonna have a look at it. Before I knew it, there was a second case and I figured out that they had to be related."

"Ah, so you're a genius", Sam remarked, sarcastically.

Behr gave her an angry glance. "You gonna hear me out, or what?"

"Yes, sure", Vivian quickly interjected, her voice as calm as always.

"I was following a few leads, but then, when we were finally making some progress, the Feds showed up and told us they were going to take over; like they were the only ones who could…"

"What reason?" Vivian interrupted him.

"Huh?"

Shaking her head Vivian repeated the question. "What reason did they give you for taking over?"

Behr shrugged. "Don't remember if they gave me a reason at all. I mean, I don't think I asked; Feds wanted take over that case – I didn't care…"

Sam was speechless, but Vivian said: "Okay. Thank you, Detective Behr. Would you excuse us?"

"Sure, whatever."

Once they were outside the office Sam exhaled, deeply before staring back at the door in disgust. "Oh my God, tell me what we just experienced wasn't true."

Vivian smiled half-heartedly. "Like a bad dream, wasn't it?"

Sam nodded. "No wonder he's never made it far. – But isn't it confusing about what he told us about the FBI taking over those cases?"

Vivian nodded. Suddenly, a strange and uncomfortable feeling in her stomach made her want to get out of that building as quickly as possible.

"You think he told us the truth?" Sam asked.

"Yes, I think he did, but I don't understand it", Vivian admitted while they were walking back to their car. "If the FBI took over the investigations, why were they dropped without a reason?"

"Well, maybe they weren't", Sam suggested. "Maybe the files are just incomplete."

Vivian looked at her, seriously. "Yeah, but that makes me wonder why they're incomplete and if – maybe – there's a purpose in that…"

"You mean somebody in is hiding something?"

Vivian shrugged. "I don't know. But I got the feeling that something strange is going on here."