PART THREE

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 2008

OUTSIDE INTERVIEW ROOM #2

DETECTIVES UNIT

CITY POLICE HQ

WASHINGTON, DC

0540

"I don't think that we're going to get anything more out of them tonight. What do you think, Jim? Should we cut them loose?" Detective Dave Chandler asked his partner, Detective Jim Tanner.

"We definitely don't have anything that we can hold any of them on, but the fact is that we don't have any leads in this case. I mean this kid didn't just disappear without a trace!" Tanner replied, his frustration building with each word.

"Maybe it was a ghost like the woman suggested," Chandler said with a laugh.

"I know that we've been up all night, but you aren't taking that woman's statement seriously, are you?"

"No, but if we don't get something to go on, it may be the only explanation that we have," Chandler replied.

"True, so while we wait to see if either the search dogs catch his scent or the CSU team comes up with a lead for us, let's take one more shot at each of them to be sure that we've covered all the bases that we can for now."

"Sounds good to me. Which one of them do you want to start with?" Chandler said.

They'd separated the four Academy students at the station, and each were in a different room."

"It doesn't matter to me…pick a door," Tanner replied.

Chandler walked to the closest door and opened it. Then they started to question each boy again about their missing friend.

SQUAD ROOM

DETECTIVES UNIT

CITY POLICE HQ

WASHINGTON, DC

0615

Chandler was sitting at his desk and rubbing his temples. He was tired and he had a headache.

Tanner dropped his phone's receiver back into its cradle. "CSU didn't get anything useful to us. The dogs didn't get a scent. Where is this kid?"

"So there's no sign of him being in the house or having left the house. It's like he just vanished into thin air. Maybe it was a - "

"Don't you dare say that it was a ghost!" Tanner said, cutting off his partner.

"I was going to say it, but I don't believe it. I don't know what did happen, but there's got to be a rational, logical explanation," Chandler stated calmly.

"Yes, and it's our job to solve the mystery," Tanner commented before offering up what was going to be their next steps in the investigation. "The uniforms notified the boy's parents that he's missing, but I think that we should go pay them a visit. We can't rule out anything at this point, and I think that they need to understand the importance of calling us if their son shows up or if they receive a ransom demand. We also need to see if we can get access to the kid's dorm room at the Naval Academy. Maybe there's a clue as to why he'd want to fall off the face of the earth at either his parents' home or in his dorm room."

Chandler got to his feet. "Then let's go. You can tell me what you meant by 'CSU didn't get anything "useful" to us' on the way to Falls Church where the boy's parents live."

"I meant nothing that helps us now. They got plenty of fingerprints, but unless one of them matches a convicted kidnapper in the system, which would at least give us a lead, I don't see how they're going to help. According to the manager of the Decatur House, they get in the neighborhood of 10,000 visitors to the house a month. Of course, someone is going to touch something and leave their prints...even if there's a sign that requests that they don't. CSU did find some fibers on the wall behind where our witnesses all agree that the victim was last seen, but they won't have them analyzed for a couple of hours," Tanner said as the two made their way to the squad room doors.

"Older homes often have plaster instead of Sheetrock for walls. I'll bet that a guest snagged their sweater or coat on the rough surface," Chandler suggested.

"Probably, but was it some otherguest, or will the lab be able to tell us with any level of certainty that it was our disappearing midshipman?" Tanner asked before both men exited the squad room.

SQUAD ROOM

DETECTIVES UNIT

CITY POLICE HQ

WASHINGTON, DC

1147

"You have any idea what our next move should be?" Chandler asked his partner while rubbing his tired eyes.

"We've spoken to his parents and heard the usual 'he's a good kid. No one would have a reason to hurt him,' yada, yada, yada. A search of his room at their home gave us nothing of interest," Tanner said before sighing.

"His room at the Academy was pretty clean, too," Chandler added.

"Yeah, just textbooks and clothes. His laptop was also pretty clean, but maybe the lab will be able to retrieve something that he erased from his hard drive that will give us a lead," Tanner said, leaning back in his chair.

"No ransom demand, no hits on his ATM or credit card...we don't even have anything that indicates whether he met with foul play or just ran off," Tanner continued, taking a look at his watch.

"We've been going for fourteen hours straight," Tanner said with a yawn. "We've done all that we can do for now. I say that our next move is to let them call us if the lab finds something on his computer, a ransom demand is made or someone uses one of his bank cards, and we get some sleep so that we can think straight if we get a lead."

"Sounds like a good next step," Chandler said, feeling tired himself.

DINING ROOM

RABB RENTAL HOME

MANASSAS, VIRGINIA

LUNCHTIME

HARM'S POV

'I wonder who could be keeping Mac on the phone,' is my thought as I strap Matthew into his highchair.

Mac had gone into the kitchen to see if she could help Grandma and Mom with lunch once she'd fed Patty. I'd heard the phone ring. I'd also heard Mac holler from the kitchen that she'd get it, but as I try to entertain Matthew who's waiting for his lunch, I'm wondering to whom she could be talking for so long.

Mac's been on the phone long enough that my mother has come out with a plate of grilled cheese sandwiches and then returned to the kitchen for the large serving bowl of soup. Frank then doled out sandwiches to each of the children before taking a seat at the table next to Ty.

My grandmother has also entered with another plate of sandwiches, but returned to retrieve her forgotten coffee cup.

'Who could she be talking to?'

'It has to be Harriet because she's the only person who I can think of who would keep Mac on the phone for going on ten minutes now.'

With Matt all strapped in and ready to start devouring his lunch, I test the sandwich that Frank had placed on a plate to cool for Matt. He wants to feed himself these days, so when the food is or can be made into finger food, we oblige him.

I cut the sandwich into several pieces to make sure that the cheese is cool enough for Matt to eat before placing them on his tray, and Matt immediately picks up one and takes a big bite.

With my children enjoying their lunch, I'm about to excuse myself to go see what's keeping Mac when my grandmother enters the dining room carrying her coffee mug and a sippy cup of milk for Matthew.

"I've got Matthew's milk, but Mac is bringing the others," my grandmother announces as she steps into the room.

"I'll go see if Mac needs any help," I offer.

"Three glasses of milk, I think that I can handle it, but thank you for offering," Mac says as she enters carrying two glasses in one hand and one in the other.

"I wasn't thinking that you couldn't handle the job. I just thought that you might need for me to bring them out because you were still on the phone," I explain.

"That was sweet of you, but there was no need this time."

"Who was on the phone?" I ask.

"Mattie," she replies, already standing beside Ty and placing his drink down in front of him.

"Isn't she coming here this weekend after all?" I ask.

"Yes, she's coming. She just called because she's usually here around lunchtime and she didn't want us to worry because she's running late. She thought that our imaginations might run away with us since we knew that she'd attended a party last night. Since she said that she was getting ready to head our way, I didn't think that I'd be on the phone that long, but she kept adding more, and I didn't want to cut her off," Mac explains as she places glasses of milk in front of Abigail and Sami.

"Is there anything that you want to let me in on now or am I going to have to wait until she gets here?" I ask as Mac takes a seat next to me, hoping that, if Mattie has any news that will be shocking to my system, Mac will give me a heads up.

"Not that she mentioned specifically. She said that she had a great time last night at the Halloween party and that she'd stayed later than she'd planned. That's why she'd slept in later than usual today. When I told her that, if she needed some more sleep, she could skip coming this weekend, she said no, that she had something that she wanted to tell us, so she'd be here later this afternoon," she says while taking her seat next to me. "Then, when I thought that she was about to end the call, she said that she almost forgot to ask if it was okay if Kevin came to dinner here on Sunday. She said that he has something that he wants to talk to you and me about," she informs me as she makes eye contact with me.

"Did she give you any hint as to what he might want to talk about with us?" I ask as Mac reaches for her sandwich.

"I'd say that Kevin wanted to ask for our approval to date our daughter, except that she asked about him coming by as more of an afterthought at the end of our conversation."

"Do you think that he's finally said something to her?" I ask.

"I don't think so, but I can tell you that Mattie sounded all dreamy on the phone, so I do believe that having fun at last night's party has something to do with a boy. However, I didn't get the feeling that Kevin's the reason."

"Then let's hope that she's talkative when she gets here and fills us in on what happened last night and about what Kevin wants to talk to us about," I state, ending the speculation on what's happened in Mattie's life since we saw her last weekend.

LIVING ROOM

RABB RENTAL HOME

MANASSAS, VIRGINIA

1440

HARM'S POV

I hear the door open and know that, with everyone else already home, Mattie has arrived and that at least some of our questions are going to be answered.

Mattie comes into the living room, and I can see that Mac was right. She has that dazed look of a smitten teenaged girl in her eyes.

I refuse to believe that Mattie could be in love because, with love comes marriage.

I'm not ready for a son-in-law, yet, and with a five-week old baby in the house, I'm certainly not ready to go from father to grandpa!

"Hi, Harm," Mattie says with a look of adolescent delirium on her face as she scans the room.

"Hi, Mattie," Ty says, turning away from the TV screen for only as long as it takes to greet her. He's watching a documentary on space exploration.

"Mattie, you're finally here," Sami says, jumping to her feet to run and hug her, thankful for the distraction.

Sami's interest in the documentary had been over just minutes after she'd come in from her nap and had begun to watch the program.

"Hi, Sami," Mattie says enthusiastically as she embraces her.

"It's just the four of you in here? Where's everybody else?" Mattie asks.

"Abigail went to potty," Sami announces proudly.

"Yes, Abigail will be back in a minute. Frank left about an hour ago. He said that he had a few things that he wanted to do, but that he'd be back in a little while."

"He needed a break, huh?" Mattie asks, glancing at the floor where Matthew is playing and Ty is sprawled out watching television.

"Probably," I say with a chuckle before Mattie is distracted by Matthew.

"Oh my God, when did he start doing that?" Mattie asks after witnessing Matthew abandon crawling for a standing position.

"The standing part ... or the walking part?" I add the latter since he's just demonstrated the newest addition to his skills by taking two wobbly steps towards her before plopping down on his bottom.

"I can't believe it. He was standing last week, but this week he's walking." She sounds as disappointed as I imagine I'd be if I'd missed it.

"He took his first solo step last night, at least the first one that anyone saw. He took a step towards me when I came in from work last night - just like he's doing to say hello to you now. He's still pretty unsteady, so he takes only a couple of steps before he drops down on all fours and then he'll try again a minute or two later. If he feels like it's taking too long to get to where he wants to go, he'll crawl the rest of the way. So I don't think that we can really say that he's walking yet, but he's certainly working on it."

"My week just keeps getting better and better," she says with a sigh.

"You said your week, not your weekend, so something good happened before last night's party?" I inquire.

"Yes, but I want to tell everyone at the same time...after I get something to eat. I'm starving," Mattie replies as she heads for the kitchen, knowing that, though we've already had lunch here, there will be something in the kitchen for her to snack on before dinner.

"I've known you longer. Doesn't that at least entitle me to a hint?" I ask with a big smile before she leaves the room, causing her to stop and look at me.

"Okay, your hint is that I have an announcement about -"

"Mattie, you're here," Mac says, entering the living room from the direction of our bedroom and cutting off Mattie before I get my hint.

DINING ROOM

RABB RENTAL HOME

MANASSAS, VIRGINIA

1455

MATTIE'S POV

I've finished my snack, and Frank has just returned from whatever errand he'd been running.

With Patty napping and the other children occupied by the space documentary that was on when I came in, I've gathered the adults around the dining room table so that I can make my announcement before one of us has to leave to take Abigail to her piano lesson, which is at 1530.

Mac takes a seat next to Harm, and the eyes of my parents, grandparents and Gee Gee are on me, waiting for me to get on with it.

I didn't think that I'd be worried about whether my choice of majors would disappoint them until this moment as I look at all of their anxious faces.

"You know that I'm two months into my second year and it's time for me to decide on a major. Well, this week, I did, and I wanted to tell you what it is."

My eyes settle on the faces of Harm and Mac, who's clasped hands are now resting on the tabletop and waiting for me to finish, when I'm suddenly struck with fear.

'What if, because I didn't pick a law career, they're upset with me?' Is my first thought.

'It isn't too late. I could go to school on Monday and change my major.' Is my next thought.

'No, I just need to tell them. It's Harm and Mac. They'll understand that it's what I want to do,' I tell myself before Harm's voice breaks through my thoughts.

"And you've decided to major in..." Harm says, encouraging me to finish.

I swallow hard before speaking.

"Fine arts, photography in particular, with a minor in business management..." I say firmly, but quickly back peddle by saying, "...if it's okay with you."

"Is it what you want to do?" Harm asks.

"Yes."

"Then it's okay with me," Harm responds immediately.

"I know that it's unlikely that I'll be as successful in my photography as say Annie Leibovitz, but that's why I chose business management as a minor, so I'll have something to fall back on if I can't make a living at being a photographer."

"I know that you'll do well in business management because you've already had experience in running a company. I worked for you for a while, remember?" Harm says with a big grin on his face.

"Worked for her?" Gee Gee asks with a confused look on her face.

"At Grace Aviation," Mac reminds her.

"Oh, yes, my grandson's crop dusting days, I remember now," Gee Gee replies, shaking her head.

"That's right, Gee Gee," I say, wondering if her lapse in memory is her age or a mental block that her fighter pilot grandson was once a 'crop duster'.

"Don't worry, dear, I've seen some of the pictures that you've taken of your siblings. I think that you're going to be the next Anne Geddis," Gee Gee says with a prideful smile.

"Thanks, Gee Gee..." I reply, feeling slightly embarrassed. "...but I'm hoping to be more like Ansel Adams than Geddis.

"I think that it's great that you found a way to make your interest in photography into a career," Mac chimes in.

"As your grandmother, I do get to show your work in my gallery first, don't I?" Trish asks with a devilish grin.

"Of course! You can have exclusive rights if you think that my work is good enough for your gallery," I say excitedly, both because she's being supportive and because she's offering me a wonderful opportunity.

"I think that your work will be magnificent," my grandmother says confidently.

I'm feeling relieved that everything went so well until it dawns on me that everyone is still just sitting there. It's like they're waiting for me to say something else.

"What?"

The question just came out.

It sounded so immature.

"We're waiting to hear the rest of your news," Harm says.

"That's it. Why would you think that there's more?" I ask.

"It's big news, but you said that a lot has happened to you this week and, on the phone, I got the impression that maybe you'd met someone," Mac says, letting her voice trail off.

I know that I'm blushing, which should give it away, but I also offer a verbal response, "I did."

"I don't know if I want the details of that," Harm says, his eyes darting over to Mac before they come back to me. "I was waiting to hear the reason why Kevin wants to talk to us."

"Kevin said that he wanted to talk to you about some project that he's doing for school. I don't know what it's about exactly. If he said, I wasn't listening."

I watch as Harm and Mac exchange a look.

To anyone who didn't know them, one might think that it was just a casual glance, but I know them. They just had one of those silent conversations that they can have with only a look or two.

"Yes, we had a fight," I confess.

Both of them look at me like 'did we say anything?'

"I said that a lot happened. I didn't say that it was all good," I add defensively.

"You want to talk about it?" Mac asks.

"Not really," I reply, knowing that, at some point before I leave to go back to school, I'll have talked to Gee Gee, Grandma or Mac about it.

"Since Harm doesn't want to hear about it, after he leaves to take Abigail to her piano lesson, I'll tell you about Kyle," I say.

I'll bet that I'm blushing again.

"Hey, Harm, mind if I tag along to that piano lesson today?" Grandpa asks.

"Not at all. I'll go tell Abigail that it's time to go."

"Mind if I rescue, I mean, bring Ty along?" Grandpa inquires.

"No. In fact, we can take Sami, too. If we all go, that should give them plenty of time to talk," Harm replies.

'Who's going to rescue me?' I wonder as the men walk from the room, leaving me with three woman who I know love me, but who are staring at me and waiting for information about my love life.

"So his name is Kyle. Where did you meet him?" Mac asks.

SQUAD ROOM

DETECTIVES UNIT

CITY POLICE HQ

WASHINGTON, DC

1500

Detective Tanner was sitting at his desk and flipping through his field notebook.

There had to be something that they'd missed. There had to be some clue, no matter how remote that they could pursue.

There's always something left behind at a crime scene or on a victim. It's whether or not you can find it that leads you to finding who committed the crime.

He flipped another page.

"Hell, the best theory that I can come up with right now is that it was a ghost," Tanner mumbled to himself.

"There are no ghosts. The kid either disappeared for some reason ...on his own, or someone arranged for him to go missing for some other reason," Tanner said, flipping his notebook back to the first page pertaining to this case to look through it again.

Scanning what he'd written on the first page, he spoke to himself once again, "I wouldn't be thinking that it was a ghost if I'd gotten some sleep."

"You talking to yourself?" Chandler asked his partner while shoving a cup of coffee from a nearby diner at him.

Tanner looked up from his notes.

"Thanks," he said, taking the offered cup. "I was just looking over my notes."

"Find anything that got passed us earlier?" Chandler asked.

"Nothing definite, but what about the Henderson kid?" Tanner asked, flicking the small pad of paper. "In my notes here, I wrote that his behavior was a little odd, but I didn't put down anything specific."

"You know, the victim's roommate, Kincaid, said that Henderson and Chissom didn't get along, and last weekend they almost came to blows."

Tanner started to get to his feet. "I want to talk to all the midshipmen again and anyone else at that school who might be able to tell us what happened to our missing person," he said firmly.

As the two men stepped away from their desks towards the doors of the squad room, Chandler muttered, "Glad that my coffee is strong and already in a to-go cup."