Chapter 9
A few weeks later they were in the middle of the Chelsea Prince case. There were just twelve hours left on the voting and everyone was working hard to find who had taken the heiress and where. Samantha was with Mack in the tech room when an intern called her name. She signed for the package without paying much attention, thinking it was related to their current case.
With her eyes still on the screen, Sam opened the padded envelope. She pulled out an oddly shaped bundle. It was wrapped in green tissue and tied with a pink ribbon—definitely not related to the case. Her hands trembling, she undid the ribbon and let the tissue fall away.
Mack sensed she wasn't following his work and turned his head. He saw her face grow pale and spied the envelope on the floor. Mack picked it up and turned it over to check the return address. He wasn't surprised to find there wasn't one; there hadn't been on any of the other envelopes or packages from her stalker. He looked in the envelope and found the card Samantha missed. He took the liberty of opening it and felt the blood drain from his own face as he read. 'I'm giving this back to you because I want you to wear this for me one day soon! You're so beautiful, Samantha. Love, Me.' Mack turned back to Sam in time to see her drop the bundle to the floor and bring her hands to her face.
Samantha gasped as the tissue fell away to reveal her black satin nightgown the stalker had stolen from her apartment. She let the whole bundle fall from her fingers and sank into a chair. Her hands covered her face and she let out a soft sob, "No!" Coupled with two bouquets of flowers and another teddy bear, this was his fourth contact with her this week. Samantha wasn't sure how much more she could take.
Mack quietly left to find Agent Fitzgerald.
"Sam?" Martin sat next to her and pulled her to him. "Shh, it'll be alright. We'll find him."
"I can't keep doing this, Martin," Sam said quietly from behind her hands.
He pulled her hands down and softly kissed her, "We'll find him, Sam. As soon as we get Chelsea, I'll call my dad for an update."
She looked into his blue eyes; seeking comfort from the love she saw there, "Before, what he sent was mean, nasty. It scared me, but I could deal. Now he's sending courting gifts. Like he wants to win me from you; and it's ten times scarier." Sam could feel her walls crumble inside. All her defenses were down and the nightgown was the last straw.
"I know, Sam. He scares me too," Martin pulled her onto his lap and held her tight, "But we'll find him. He can't hide forever."
"It's going on eleven weeks, Martin. He's done a damn fine job of hiding so far," Sam sighed and put her head on his shoulder.
Martin felt her shoulder dig into his chest and was reminded again how much this had affected her that she was losing weight—weight Martin didn't think she could afford to lose. He kissed her temple, "He can't hide forever, Sam. He's going to make a mistake. And when he does, we'll deal with him—harshly!"
Samantha would have said something when Danny interrupted, "We've got a lead. Jack wants us all in the bullpen."
Once the whole team was gathered in the bullpen, Jack started handing out assignments, "Danny, Martin, Samantha I want you three with me. We're heading to Albany. Vivian's going to stay here and feed us information as it comes in."
"Jack?" Vivian tread lightly, these days, no one knew exactly what mood Agent Malone was in. "I think Samantha should stay here. We still don't know who her stalker is, and by searching door to door, it could present an opportunity he shouldn't have."
"You're up for this, then?" he asked.
"I'll even drive," she countered before turning to her teammate, "If it's alright with you, Sam."
The nightgown had thrown her more than she wanted it to and welcomed the opportunity to stay out of harm's way, "I think it might be best."
"All right. Let's go find Ms. Prince," Jack motioned for everyone to head out. "And Sam? Make sure your phone's charged!"
Victor Fitzgerald hung up the phone and stared at it for several minutes. Things were moving quickly now. One of his best senior agents was close to finding Agent Spade's stalker. It had taken a little bending of the rules—ok, a lot of bending—but she was practically family. If his son had any say in the matter, she'd be family soon enough. And if Victor turned a blind eye to anything, it was how his own family bent the rules now and again. Protecting his family was what drove Victor to the FBI in the first place and now, in his position of power, he'd be damned if he didn't keep protecting them.
Almost there. His plans were almost done. He just had to find one more place to stash the damned interloper. He already had a couple, but wanted one more, just to be safe. There was no way the damned interloper was going to escape from him. And Samantha would be free—and all his—forever.
Both men were ready for the next step. Both men were doing whatever they thought was in Samantha's best interests.
Neither man counted on the hand of fate.
