Title: The Case of William Black

Author: A.Mind.of.Disturbed.Current

Rating: M

Pairing: Ali McCormick/Simon Ross

Disclaimer: I do not own Cold Squad and I make no money from this story.

Summary: COLD SQUAD. Sophie can't accept the finding that her father's disappearance was likely suicide and pleads with Sgt. McCormick to take on her father's case. Post 02x13 "Bobby Johnson".

Author's Note: There is a disturbing lack of Cold Squad fan fiction around, which is really weird since it's such a great show, so I figured I'd write some myself. Please review and let me know how I am doing.

Sorry about not posting this yesterday as planned, my mom's latest problem with me is that I "spend too much time on the computer," so I'm looking at a reduction in access until the end of this long weekend, when she goes back to work. Geez. She never quits with the nagging. Sigh. I'll start writing the next chapter on paper shudders There will be one more chapter after this one for sure, just to tie things together, perhaps two. I'm not sure yet.

Chapter Seven

That evening, just as the cold squad collectively was about to head home, Ross stormed once again into their domain. "Where do you think you're going?"

"Home?" asked Eddie, cautiously.

He stared at the lot of them in disbelief. He couldn't believe it. A group of trained investigators and not one of them seemed to realize what was going on, or even that something was wrong. Were they really that dense? He shook his head. "I need you to do a property search on William, Kendra and Sophie Black. I want the results on my desk as soon as you get them." He turned to leave, "No one is going home tonight." They looked at one another, wide eyed, as he strode away.

Logozzo raised his eyebrows, "Well, I think it's time we found out what's going on. I'd get started on that property search if I were you."

"Where are you going?"

"I'm going to talk to Inspector Ross," he said.

He jogged up the stairs, catching up to Ross just as he was entering his office, "Inspector."

"Detective Logozzo. I know you haven't finished the search so quickly," he said pointedly.

"The search is being worked on, I want to know what's going on."

Ross closed the door behind them and took a seat behind his desk, "Well, it's about time."

"What?"

"Ali-" he cleared his throat, "Sergeant McCormick has been missing since last night. Are you telling me it took you until now to notice?"

"I knew she wasn't here if that's what you mean. And we all knew something was wrong, even Mickey had to concede that, and you know how she is."

"And you said nothing."

"We didn't know what was going on, you didn't tell us. We thought you didn't want our involvement," he accused.

He sighed, leaning back in his chair, "That's true." Perhaps he had underestimated the cold squad, choosing to think less of them simply because others, some in positions of power, did. The truth was, they weren't just a bunch of washed up cops, despite what was said. "I noticed McCormick was missing last night, but I wasn't certain until this morning. I retraced her steps, best I could, the evidence indicates that she may have been kidnapped."

"Kidnapped? What kind of case did you put her on?" he demanded.

"I had nothing to do with this," he responded tersely. He slid the folder across the desk, "This is the case she was working."

Tony slipped on his reading glasses and flipped through the folder, coming to the same conclusion Ross had, "This doesn't make sense, there's nothing here—"

"I know." He took the folder back. "There are only two people who knew where she was last."

"The woman you had Mickey chasing after?"

"Yes. And she can't be found."

"But that makes no sense, McCormick was helping her, why would she do something like this?"

"It's all we have to go on."

Ali pulled her knees to her chest, trying to keep herself warm. It seemed to be getting colder, and she was sure that sitting on the bench would provide some small amount of relief (at least she wouldn't be sitting on concrete), but she wasn't going to sit next to a corpse. She had no way of knowing how long she'd been here, if she had been wearing a watch, Sophie had taken it, and she couldn't know how long she'd been unconscious, but she was certain that she had missed her dinner with Ross by now. Hopefully he realized she was missing and didn't simply think she stood him up.

Sophie hadn't reappeared since she dropped the small amount of food and water down, and there had been no response when McCormick tried calling out to her a couple more times. Either she wasn't there or was ignoring her…or she couldn't hear her unless the trap door was open. There was no way to know.

Ross was still sitting at his desk when the cold squad finished the property search. By now it was well into the night, but there was no way he was going to wait for morning, Ali could be in danger, and he wasn't going to chance waiting even a few hours. It didn't take long to obtain the search warrants; there were only three properties in the family's possession, their respective homes and a third that was jointly owned-the old family home-and in which no one lived at present. It was the third that he found most likely, so as he sent officers to check the other properties, he and the cold squad headed for that one.

The house was completely deserted, though did show some signs of recent occupancy, such as fingerprints in the dust, and they searched it from top to bottom, but came up with nothing. They checked every room, every closet, and every cupboard. The cold squad had moved outside to search the yard, but Ross wasn't holding his breath, there was no shed or other structures out there, it was an extremely long shot.

He walked into the kitchen and pulled a chair out from the table. He sat down heavily. If she wasn't here, then where was she? Could he have been wrong, was she at one of the other properties? As if reading his mind, his cell phone rang moments later. Unfortunately, it wasn't good news. Both searches had come up empty. He sighed, rubbing his temples; his options were running out fast. There must have been something he had overlooked. He pushed the chair back, letting it scrape noisily against the floor, and stood up. He would check the house again.

Just as he was about to leave the room, he heard a faint sound. He cocked his head to the side, and staying perfectly still, listened. He heard it again. But where was it coming from?

TBC