Disclaimer: I don't own Without a Trace, any of the characters, storylines, or actors. However I do own my ideas.
Zai: Well here it is, the next chapter. Thanks for you continued comments. Enjoy!
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17 hours missing
Martin stared at the half empty bottle in his hand. A cloud of guilt descending on him, obscuring his logical reasoning that weakly argued; There was nothing you could have done. No way you could have know. The alcohol did not help. Martin was not normally much of a drinker, but he had not known what else to do. Jack had sent him home. He had failed to protect her, and now he had failed to find her.
He had not heard from the team since he'd left the office. Not that he should expect them to keep him updated. They would call him when they found her... if they find her... Martin washed the dismal thought away with another long drink directly from the bottle. He could not give up on her.
He just had to trust that Jack, Danny and Viv would find her, and get her back safe. The thought frustrated Martin more than it comforted him. He hated leaving Samantha's safety to anyone else. Even his team.
The bottle in his hand attracted his attention again. He stared fixedly at the liquid in the coloured glass container. The day's anger and frustration boiled through him. He was angry at Jack for kicking him off the case. Angry at Danny for pulling him off that guy Richards.
He threw the bottle at the far wall in disgust. Samantha was missing and he was moping half-drunk on his couch. The dark liquor drizzled down his wall pooling on his carpet surrounded by the shattered fragments of glass. He knew his anger at them was irrational. They were his team, and they had done the only thing they could given the situations he had placed them in. He was angry at himself and looking for someone to blame.
Leaning forward Martin let his head fall into his hands. Tears stung at his eyes. He could not fail her. Not like that other girl... Martin was unsure were the sudden thought had come from. But he knew that it was a case that would haunt him for a long time.
He had been the first to arrive, it was Sunday and the team had been called in from home. He was the closet. The young woman's fiancé, a young man named Robert Guthrie, had called it in. She had left his apartment late the night before and no one had seen her since.
Three days straight Martin and the rest of the team had worked the case. So little to go on. It had seemed like a random grab. No one had seen anything. The suspect leaving nothing behind to trace.
Three days. Then her beaten body had been found. The coroner had declared her death on the third day. She had been held alive for three days before he finally killed her. During that time she had been beaten multiple times and... Martin shuddered, vividly remembering the sight of her lifeless body. But in his mind's eye it was Samantha's limp body he saw.
After that the case had been transferred to the local NYPD homicide department. He could have let the police talk to the fiancé, but he did not. He had broken the news as gently as he could, but the guy had just snapped. He blamed Martin and the team for her death, and the pain she had endured in the three days leading up to her brutal murder. He had no one else to.
Homicide had no new leads, and as far as Martin knew after all this time they still had nothing. He still remembered the look of pain and anger on the young man's face as he shouted curses and threw a glass vase at Martin's head.
He'd never told the team how about that. He understood the poor man was grieving. He had never once thought that the guy really blamed him. Really believed that he was responsible for the death of his girlfriend. Nor did he believe the man was capable of seeking revenge on him.
But if it was him, why wait so long to take revenge and why on Samantha... unless... the sick bastard. He wanted Martin to feel everything he had. He had taken his revenge now because now Martin had someone who meant more to him then his own life.
Martin felt sick to his stomach. He felt sure he was right, which meant, Samantha was missing because of him... because he had failed to save that poor woman. Without a moment's hesitation he grabbed for his car keys. He had to find that bastard - before it was too late...
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20 hours missing
The discouraged team sat around the large conference table in the centre of the bullpen. A few new possibilities had come up, all been checked out, and all had been ruled out. They were back to square one. With nothing to go on.
Jack tossed yet another file into the pile building up beside him. The clock was ticking. They all knew it. "We've got nothing." Jack muttered trying to keep the frustration out of voice. They had gone through file after file, hoping to find a link, a possibility, anything.
"We'll find her." Vivian said sounding more confident than she felt.
Danny nodded sullenly. He tried to be optimistic, but they did not have a clue. It was late, none of them had even mentioned heading home, but Danny became suddenly aware that he hadn't eaten anything in a long time. "Let's take a dinner break. Maybe we'll see something new when we look at it fresh." He suggested.
"No."
"Jack," Vivian reasoned not surprised at Jack blatant rejection, "Danny's right. We're going to miss something working through like this."
Reluctantly Jack conceded, he knew they were right. He closed the file in front of him and rose wearily, "All right. Half hour, dinner break. Then we're back at it."
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Martin sat in his parked car on the side of the road across from Guthrie's apartment building. Impatiently shifting in the driver's seat.
Upon his arrival he had walked over to the building and found a side door to the parkade unlocked. After a survey of the parking lot he had found a red station-wagon that seemed to match Samantha's neighbours description. He had been watching them, for over a week and Martin had not once noticed.
He had found him, the only problem now was Martin was not sure how to proceed. There was no way Guthrie could have gotten Samantha up to his apartment without someone noticing. Even late at night. He had to be holding her somewhere else.
He considered calling in the team, but he had no evidence. No way to bring him in legit. Besides, if he did not talk, they might never find her. No, Martin decided, the only way to handle this was off the books. And he could not bring the team into that.
If Martin was right, Guthrie intended to make him live through everything he had. Which meant he would be holding her somewhere. For three days, torturing her, in the same way his own girlfriend had been. Before beating her to death on the third day.
It was killing Martin to sit there and do nothing while he could only imagine what the bastard had done to Samantha already. However, he knew his best, and only chance of finding her was to follow him there when he went back. As long as he was in his apartment at least Samantha was relatively safe.
He would find her. He had to. If he failed to bring her back safely too, Martin knew there was no way he would be able to live with himself.