THE SEARCH FOR HARM
STANDARD DISCLAIMER
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ACROSS TOWN – THE NEXT DAY
Harm woke up feeling groggy. He wasn't sure how long he had been out or what day it even was. If Mac were here she would know, he thought. God Mac, she must be going crazy right now. Even if it was only a few hours, he was sure someone, namely Mac, would know he was missing. Harm looked around the room. This was all too bizarre. He saw his jacket hanging in the corner otherwise he was fully dressed. Why was she doing this? He struggled to get up and staggered towards the door. The padlock was not there, he tried to open the door but it was locked from the outside. He noticed a tray on the dresser; the food was still warm so she must have been in the room recently. He was not about to eat anything; who knew what she had put in the food. "Why are you doing this?" He called out. "After all these years? Why?"
HARM'S APARTMENT
It was 8am and Mac was going through papers and files, anything that might indicate where he was. Mac had called the Admiral last night and told him that she hadn't heard from Harm except for a message he left her earlier in the day. The Admiral called Sturgis and the two met Mac at Harm's apartment. They left Mac there to see what she could find while they went and contacted hospitals and the police. Unfortunately, it had only been a few hours and the police would not consider Harm missed for another day. A knock at the door indicated Sturgis's return to Harm's apartment.
"Mac have you been doing this all night?" Sturgis asked looking at the piles all over.
"I'm lost." Mac said. "There is nothing here that would indicate where he could have gone."
"Mac in a little bit we will call his clients, maybe he had a meeting." Sturgis said trying to be positive.
"Are you sure he didn't say anything else to you?" Mac asked.
"Just what I told you. He wanted to bounce ideas about the Jonas case then he said he was going for a walk." Sturgis replied.
"Well he didn't go to Norfolk. He would have told me or left a message if he was." Mac said.
"Mac where were you yesterday?" Sturgis asked.
"I had a fitting, he must have forgotten." Mac replied throwing her head back on the couch.
"Mac you need to get some rest." Sturgis said looking at her.
"No I need to find Harm. What time did the police say we could file a report?" Mac asked.
"Ten, that was the last time any of us heard from him." Sturgis answered.
"Ok, one hour and 48 minutes. I need to find a current picture." Mac said jumping up. Nervous energy was taking over, Sturgis could see that Mac was not going to make it 10 more minutes let alone another two hours.
"Mac, the Admiral already has the report ready, we are just waiting to file it. You need to get some rest." Sturgis pleaded.
"No! How can you possibly expect me to sleep? Would you sleep if Bobbie was missing?" Mac demanded.
"No, but I also know that Bobbie would not want me killing myself. Anymore than Harm would want you to." Sturgis replied.
Before Mac could reply there was a noise at the door.
"Harm is that you?" Mac yelled as she ran to the door and swung it open. A hand that was about to knock greeted her.
"Ma'am, my name is Officer Reilly with Metro Police. Is Harmon Rabb Junior here?" He asked.
"No, and if you had let us file a missing persons' report last night you would know that already." Mac snapped.
"Mac, take it easy." Sturgis said coming to her side. "I'm Commander Turner, this is Colonel MacKenzie, Commander Rabb's fiancé. Why are you looking for him?"
"His car was found at the Pierce Mill at Rock Creek Park." Officer Reilly said.
"Found? Was there anything in his car?" Mac asked.
"Just a cell phone ma'am. Along with the registration and insurance id." Replied Reilly. "You mentioned a missing persons report?"
"Yes, the last time any of us heard from Commander Rabb was yesterday morning. Our CO is getting ready to file a report at 10." Sturgis replied.
"May I use your phone?" Reilly asked. He called his CO and advised him of the situation and was informed that a detective would be there shortly. "Ma'am Sir, this is now a missing persons case. They are sending a detective over."
"Mac I am going to call the Admiral." Sturgis said picking up the phone.
Thirty minutes later the Admiral arrived and so did Detective Soriano from Metro Police. They sat and went over everything pertaining to Harm. His current cases, past cases, the upcoming wedding all things that were Harm.
"Is there any chance this may be a result of cold feet?" Soriano asked.
Before Mac could open her mouth the Admiral noticed the anger that was showing. "Detective, if you knew the history of these two, you would also know how absurd that question is. There is not a chance in hell that Rabb has cold feet. If he's not here it's because something is wrong."
"Forgive me, but I had to ask. The Commander seems to have had some rather interesting cases any chance a former defendant is involved?"
"We ran a check and any one involved in capital crimes is still put away." The Admiral replied.
"Sir any chance this could be Palmer?" Mac asked.
"Mac, Palmer is locked up tight and from what we have been able to tell he had nothing to do with this." The Admiral stated.
"Palmer?" Soriano asked.
"A prisoner at Leavenworth. He had or maybe still has an obsession with Rabb. Usually he's at the bottom of everything." Sturgis said.
Soriano turned to Reilly and told him to check that out.
"I want to go to the mill. " Mac said.
"Ma'am, we are currently looking for leads there, we can't allow anyone there to obstruct our investigation." Soriano said.
"Detective, I am a Marine and a lawyer don't talk to me about obstructing anything. I have also led enough investigations to know what is a clue and what isn't." Mac advised him.
"Ma'am you aren't a marine here. You are the fiancé of a victim." Soriano said flatly.
"First a marine, last a marine and in between is everything else. Harm knows that and so do I. I'm going." Mac said as she grabbed her keys.
"Admiral can you help me here?" Soriano pleaded.
"Sure, get out of her way before she knocks you down." The Admiral advised. "Mac, take your phone." He said throwing the cell phone to her.
Soriano turned to another officer that was there. Shaking his head in defeat, "Go with her."
PIERCE MILL
Mac arrived at the park and saw the squad cars there. An officer tried to stop her but the officer with her told him she was cleared. As she walked around she saw the boutonnière on the ground. "What's this?"
"A rose. Bag it." A detective said. "You are?"
"Colonel MacKenzie from JAG. Commander Rabb is a Naval JAG officer." Mac replied.
"I'm Detective Torre. That explains something." Torre said.
"What do you mean?" Mac asked.
"Come with me. In the mill we found an insignia, I didn't think much of it. Thought maybe a visitor had dropped it." Torre said.
"May I see it?" Mac asked as Torre showed her the evidence bag. "That's a JAG insignia." Mac took out her cell phone and called Sturgis. "Hey Sturgis, do me a favor. Check and see if Harm's JAG insignia is on one of his uniforms."
"Hang on Mac." Sturgis said. A few minutes later, "It's here Mac."
"Thanks." Mac said then turning the Torre, "It's not his, can you run it for prints?"
"Already planned to." Torre said.
ACROSS TOWN
Harm had no idea where she was. He checked his watch and saw that it had been 5 hours since he woke up and she had not been back into the room. He didn't hear anything from the living room. He went to the window to see if he could recognize anything. The windows had been blacked out and from what Harm could remember from their arrival there were security bars on them. Suddenly the door opened.
"Hello my love. Did you sleep well?" She said.
"What day is it?" Harm asked.
"It's our second day as husband and wife. I went shopping." She said showing him a bunch of old bags with nothing in them.
"Very nice." Harm said shaking his head. "Do you think we could go out for some fresh air?"
"The weather is terrible today. I thought we would just enjoy our honeymoon." She said with a smile and left the room.
Harm sat there looking at the ceiling, why was she doing this? Of all the people he had encountered he never thought she would be the one to go off the deep end.
PIERCE MILL
"Detective Torre!" An officer called out. "I think I found something." The officer ran over and handed him a piece of paper.
"It looks like a wedding invitation." Mac said.
"A child's invitation." Torre replied. The handwritten invitation said,
YOU ARE INVITED TO MY WEDDING WHEN I WILL BECOME MRS. HARMON RABB JUNIOR.
THE CEREMONY WILL BE AT PIERCE MILL AT ROCK CREEK PARK
RECEPTION IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWING AT 167 M STREET NW
"What in the world?" Mac said. "This is weird."
"Do you know this address?" Torre asked.
"Not at all, but I am about to know it." Mac said taking off for her car.
"Colonel MacKenzie." Torre called after her, "It could be dangerous…" He got on his radio and called in the address. Mac was already tearing out of the lot.
ACROSS TOWN
Mac made it back to DC in record time. On her way she called the Admiral and gave him the address. Once at the building she looked at the mailboxes and saw the name Rabb written by apartment 2B. She raced up the stairs and pounded on the door. "HARM ARE YOU IN THERE?"
The door swung open. "Mac, I knew you would be here. Really now flying to Paris to try and win him back. You lost face it."
"Who the hell are you?" Mac demanded. "Where's Harm?"
"I am Mrs. Allison Krennick-Rabb." She said.
"Commander Krennick?" Mac said in complete shock. She didn't know this woman personally but had seen her name in enough files. Mac pushed her way into the apartment. "Where is he?"
"He's resting now. It's surprising how the jetlag has effected him." Krennick said.
"HARM? Where are you?" Mac yelled.
"Mac, in here. She's got the door locked." Harm finally called from the bedroom.
"I don't think so Colonel." Krennick said showing Mac her gun.
Mac stood there for a moment looking at Krennick standing there with the gun. There was no way this woman was going to do this. I've been waiting a lifetime for Harm. Mac thought. "What happened to you?" Mac said.
"After I left the navy, Harm and I fell in love. I have watched all of you. That silly game he has been playing with you, laughable that you fell for it. Your first date, remember Mrs. Paradon? I thought for sure that would scare you away. When a ghost entered your life. The actress I hired was wonderful. Wasn't she?" Krennick said.
"You forgot one thing. Marines don't scare that easy." Mac said and with quick deliberate moves she lifted her leg and kicked the gun away from Krennick. She then went after her rendering her defenseless. In the middle of Mac's attack the Admiral and Detectives Torre and Soriano arrived with the police. The Admiral pulled Mac off of Krennick and the police took over.
"Mac, calm down." The Admiral said trying to hold her back.
"Let me go!" Mac said trying to get out of the Admiral's grip.
"Colonel, stand down!" The Admiral bellowed. "Is Harm here?"
"In the bedroom." Mac said as she went to the door. "Harm are you ok?"
"Fine, just get me out of here." Harm yelled. "There must be a key somewhere."
"I don't need one. Move away from the door." Mac said as she kicked in the door. She ran into the room and into Harm's arms.
"That's my ninja girl." Harm said holding her.
"Harm what happened? I don't ever remember hearing that Krennick was crazy." Mac began.
"Commander Rabb? Would you mind coming down to the station? We have a lot of questions." Torre said.
"Let's get this over as quickly as possible." Harm said. They all left for the station.
EXPLAINING WHAT HAPPENED
Allison Krennick who had always had romantic feelings for Harm had left the navy several years before. She returned to the DC area after a brief but unsuccessful marriage. Having been in the Navy she had been able to keep watch on the happenings at JAG. She had been watching the feelings between Mac and Harm develop for years. Somewhere along the line it became an obsession. There was no need for a trial military or otherwise. Allison Krennick was going to be committed.