A/N Wow. Thanks to everyone who has reviewed. I am trying to maintain the
integrity of an actual case, but one part, we had to go home with an agent.
Anyway, hope you enjoyed your commercial break!
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22.5 hours missing
Vivian sighed as she pulled herself away from the seemingly endless list of numbers and highlighter streaks. She checked her watch, aware that she only had an hour before she'd have to catch the train home. Tonight was spaghetti night, the one night during the week she was always allowed to go home. No matter what. She glanced in Sam's direction and saw an enraptured woman, completely oblivious to the world.
Vivan had always envied Sam's ability to focus. Viv's mind was constantly wavering between home, her son and work. She'd be sitting at her desk on the phone when she'd remember she'd forgotten to put carrots in Reggie's lunch, or that she hadn't told her husband to pick up the dry cleaning on the way home. Sam didn't have any of that. She had a revolving boyfriend and an overloaded work schedule.
As the printer slowly spat out imperative information, Sam sat frowning. Melburne. She hadn't even thought of the place in months. Psychology. Psychology and Melburne. The thought alone made her shiver. As she scanned over the fresh information, she turned to find her boss leaning against her desk.
"I can't get the schedule yet. The school is having problems with their fax machine and can't send me the information any other way. It should get here before the boys though."
"That's all right. I've already gotten a lot of information on her anyway."
"Good. Martin called and said they should be getting here within 10 minutes."
"Great," she replied mechanically.
"Hey, Viv, having any luck over there?" He called over across the large table.
"Not really. She wasn't much of a talker. I'm almost done with the phone records for the past six months."
"Keep looking, maybe you'll come across something."
"Yeah, hopefully."
"I'll be in my office if you need me," said Jack as he retreated back into his room of solitude.
-----------------
Danny and Martin returned with the information they collected from her dorm room and conversations they'd shared with her roommate and her boyfriend. Everyone had reassembled around the table and listened intently.
"Both the roommate and Harris were unaware that she was not attending class. Apparently, the last time she was seen was when she walked with Harris to his Old Testament class," Martin paused to take a sip of his tea. "She was going to her advanced French class. He said she had her books with her, but when Danny and I went by her dorm earlier, her French book was there. So we know she dropped by her dorm room sometime after leaving him and before disappearing."
"Her boyfriend is the same age correct?" said Vivian, glancing at Danny across the table.
"Yes. He is enrolled in the theological college and what was it he played?"
"Rugby," replied Martin. "Right, he plays rugby. When we got to his dorm he seemed to be out of it," said Danny.
"His girlfriend just disappeared, wouldn't you be?" said Sam.
"No, I mean it was almost like the guilty kind of freaked out. He had phone numbers everywhere, he definitely hadn't slept that night and he was all over the place."
Martin nodded in agreement. "We figured they'd just had an argument or something before she left. He alluded to it, but never specifically mentioned anything that could lead us to make the assumption that he was involved," said Martin.
"Do you know for sure that he was in class?" asked Jack.
"No, but we can call his professor."
"How did he not know she wasn't going to class. Did he never see her enter or leave a building? How did she even stay on campus?" said Viv.
"We asked him how he didn't know what she was doing," said Martin.
"She always took early classes and I'm not much of a morning person," said Troy, carefully balancing on his heels as he squatted on the floor. Looking for another person to call, he didn't try to hide his distracted state as he shuffled through papers shoved beneath his bed. "She had French on Mondays and Wednesdays at 6 p.m. and the only other class that was late was this seminar and that was on Tuesday nights from 8 to 11."
Danny watched as the young man stood up quickly and started pacing the room, rubbing his hands over his short brown hair. He was shaking and talking at an accelerated pace, unable to remain in one position for long.
"How was your relationship?" asked Martin as he leaned against Harris' desk.
"Uh, good? The last few weeks have been a little rough, but we've been working through everything. She'd been stressed out from all the classes she was taking. After she won the award she went through this whole issue with living up to their expectations. She seemed fine though yesterday, we'd eaten lunch together and I'd gone to practice and we then we met up again to go to class."
"Is there anyone she could have seen during that period to make her feel compelled to leave?" asked Danny.
"I don't know, maybe. But even when we were going to class she was fine. I just don't understand. How was she not even taking classes this quarter? Wouldn't she have to move out or something?"
"Apparently not as long as the school gets her money and she returns within 60 days that she first began her leave of absence."
"She was lying all that time. This is so not like her. She's always been honest. It's one of the things I admire most about her. Aww geez. This can't be happening."
"Troy, we need you to calm down," said Martin calmly. "Agent Taylor or I will probably be back tomorrow if we have more questions. Before then, I want you to get some sleep and please - take a shower."
The tall boy, he was six foot three, nodded his acquiescence and sat down dejectedly on his bed.
"Take care of yourself Troy, we are doing our best," said Danny with a sincere tone and reassuring pat on the shoulder.
"Did you run into anyone else who knew what was going on?" asked Sam as she finished recording the information.
"No, we tried meeting with one of her Psych professors, but she wasn't available. Looks like we're heading back tomorrow," said Martin.
"Good job guys. Viv did you find anything?"
"She calls her grandmother once a week, every Sunday. She spoke with Troy frequently and none of the other calls seemed irregular. Her credit cards have nothing extreme charged on them and the last time she pulled money out of the bank was Monday. She only pulled out forty, so I'm assuming it was enough to get her through the next few days for food."
"Okay, Sam what have you got?" asked Jack.
"Basically she's a work-a-holic, she constantly overloaded her schedule and even then she worked on this research project. It was quite unusual though. She was offered the chance to work on it even before she entered college. Apparently she'd done some work on the same subject in her home town and had received several scholarships for the advancements she'd made."
"Do you know what the focus was?" asked Danny.
"That's the problem, in everything I've read, there are no accounts of what it was she actually did. I just got her schedule so I should know more in a little bit."
"Good. Sam keep working on that and Martin and Danny I want you to start going over the items you got from her dorm. Make sure it's okay with the roommate you have all of this," he gave them a knowing look.
"Don't worry," said Danny. "She practically gave it to us."
"Whatever you say. Viv, keep working on what you've got."
One by one the team got up and went to their tasks, each pulling out pieces to put in this dysfunctional puzzle.
-------------------- 35 hours missing
The next day everyone arrived at work refreshed and ready to go. Everyone- but a certain blond who had a startling resemblance to their victim. Unlike the others, she didn't sleep that night. Instead, she took several showers trying to wash this transparent layer of filth that had accumulated on her skin. When that didn't work, she hopped on her treadmill and turned on her cd player and ran. She ran until her CD was done. Contemplating going for another round, she decided against it when her clock read 2:30 a.m. She walked slowly into her cramped and cluttered office, scanning the bookshelves and going in and out of file cabinets, searching for something.
It appeared that she didn't know the location of that for what she was looking. However, she knew the exact location, she just had to find all the pieces. Finally, she sat down on the floor and looked at the objects of her search. Her eyes glazed over every surface, calling to mind the reason she'd kept these few objects from her college years. A certificate, a notebook, a cluster of papers, a journal and a tape. This tape was found in her locked filing cabinet, behind a row of tightly packed manila folders. It was found in a dark, worn leather bound case, which also contained the notebook and her journal. Touching these objects almost made her fingertips feel as though they were grazing the stove. She couldn't bring herself to do anything but stare at them. And stare she did. Her mind was numb and her systems had shut down, only her body in its physical form remained in the room that housed files and reports and memories.
As everyone carried their work with them to the large conference table, petty conversations bounced back and forth, some light casual banter. Sam of course to part in this early morning ritual, one of the only times throughout the day they believed it was tolerable to smile. Jack began talking and smiles dissipated, humor locked away for another dull moment.
"Martin and Vivian, as you recall, Sam highlighted the professors that could give us some insight to the case. I want you two to go to the school and see what you can dig up."
"Sam, I want you to stay on background. Danny, I want you to track down her whereabouts for the past two months. What she ate, where she shopped, what she listened to in her CD player. We have a very disturbed girl on our hands. Work as quickly as you can, because the glass doesn't stay half full as the clock ticks away."
Each fed with their assignment and noble crusade, the team dispersed, silently agreeing to meet back by noon. Jack went to his office and began negotiating with the university to see if he could make her missing person status a local news issue. He felt that the school wouldn't appreciate the bad publicity, but it was worth a shot.
Danny rode in the large black car without standard license plates, mentally questioning the person he was about to interview. Melanie had a therapist in the outskirts of the city, close to her school. He figured with all of her lying there had to be a sole reason behind this, fueling her to be dishonest. As far as he could tell, this was a missing person case, not a kidnapping, but with college students and an enormous city, anything could happen. He parked the car close to the building and waited for traffic to pass by before he tried to exit the vehicle.
He entered the office and looked around. Plain white walls with the occasional $40 painting and the standard table with coffee were what comprised the waiting area. He went to the front desk and asked for her therapist's office and was directed upstairs to another bland waiting room.
After conversing with the receptionist for a minute or two, convincing her that he only needed to speak with the good doctor for a only few minutes, he sat down on a large overstuffed couch. He didn't wait long and was quickly ushered into Dr. Freelan's office.
She was a tall woman with dark hair and long legs. Very distracting long legs that bounced back and forth when she sat in her plain, functional chair.
The office wasn't much to rave about. It had few pictures, but a large window and a small, but comfortable couch. Danny sat on this couch, waiting patiently while Dr. Freelan finished speaking with a patient on the phone. After the conversation ended, she resumed her position in her chair.
"I am aware you can release nothing that is confidential to us, I only need to ask you certain behavioral signs for the sake of our investigation," said Danny.
"I will do my best to offer what I can."
"Obviously you saw Melanie on some of her worst days. But was there any recent noticeable decrease in her behavior or attitude?"
"For the past few weeks she's been somewhat scatterbrained. Late to appointments, calling to reschedule then never following through. She said she was really busy with her classes."
"About those classes. Are you aware that she was not taking any for the past quarter?"
"No. No I wasn't. We uh, we talked about one of the classes she was helping out with frequently - Infant and Child Psychology. She'd already taken the course, but the teacher asked her to stay on and help with a project he was running."
"Do you know which teacher this was?"
"I think it was Dr. Raymond. Can't tell you more than that though, she never really elaborated. Most of what I knew about her classes was more passing conversation before our sessions started."
"From this professor, do you think working on the project had an effect on her?"
"I'm not sure exactly. I don't even know when she met him."
"Can you tell me anything else about her?"
"Melanie was a smart kid. If she really was lying about not taking classes, then she had a very good reason for not taking them. I haven't seen her in almost two weeks though, so her behavior could have changed dramatically in that time."
"Do you know if anything happened to her recently that would cause her to harm herself?"
"I can't tell you that. Nice try though."
There was a buzz on her phone. Another patient had arrived. She gave Danny an apologetic look and smiled. "Sorry. I need to meet with this patient," she stood and held out her hand. Danny shook it and put his notebook back into his jacket. "If you have anymore questions, here is my card. My home phone number is on there as well."
Danny thanked her again and turned to exit the office. He thought of one more question.
"Did Melanie live in the city or on campus?"
Dr. Freelan looked up from the paperwork on her desk.
"Uh I think she lived in an apartment. I have her address on file. Would you like it?"
"Yes, that would be great."
Danny left the building, happy he'd asked that last question. He pulled out his phone to give Jack a call.
"Hey Jack. I have another address for Myers. Apparently she had a place in the city as well."
"Wonderful. Where is it?" Danny opened up the door slowly and gave Jack the address, adding that it was in a decent neighborhood.
"Great. I'll be over there with Sam in half an hour."
And the plot thickens.
---------------
22.5 hours missing
Vivian sighed as she pulled herself away from the seemingly endless list of numbers and highlighter streaks. She checked her watch, aware that she only had an hour before she'd have to catch the train home. Tonight was spaghetti night, the one night during the week she was always allowed to go home. No matter what. She glanced in Sam's direction and saw an enraptured woman, completely oblivious to the world.
Vivan had always envied Sam's ability to focus. Viv's mind was constantly wavering between home, her son and work. She'd be sitting at her desk on the phone when she'd remember she'd forgotten to put carrots in Reggie's lunch, or that she hadn't told her husband to pick up the dry cleaning on the way home. Sam didn't have any of that. She had a revolving boyfriend and an overloaded work schedule.
As the printer slowly spat out imperative information, Sam sat frowning. Melburne. She hadn't even thought of the place in months. Psychology. Psychology and Melburne. The thought alone made her shiver. As she scanned over the fresh information, she turned to find her boss leaning against her desk.
"I can't get the schedule yet. The school is having problems with their fax machine and can't send me the information any other way. It should get here before the boys though."
"That's all right. I've already gotten a lot of information on her anyway."
"Good. Martin called and said they should be getting here within 10 minutes."
"Great," she replied mechanically.
"Hey, Viv, having any luck over there?" He called over across the large table.
"Not really. She wasn't much of a talker. I'm almost done with the phone records for the past six months."
"Keep looking, maybe you'll come across something."
"Yeah, hopefully."
"I'll be in my office if you need me," said Jack as he retreated back into his room of solitude.
-----------------
Danny and Martin returned with the information they collected from her dorm room and conversations they'd shared with her roommate and her boyfriend. Everyone had reassembled around the table and listened intently.
"Both the roommate and Harris were unaware that she was not attending class. Apparently, the last time she was seen was when she walked with Harris to his Old Testament class," Martin paused to take a sip of his tea. "She was going to her advanced French class. He said she had her books with her, but when Danny and I went by her dorm earlier, her French book was there. So we know she dropped by her dorm room sometime after leaving him and before disappearing."
"Her boyfriend is the same age correct?" said Vivian, glancing at Danny across the table.
"Yes. He is enrolled in the theological college and what was it he played?"
"Rugby," replied Martin. "Right, he plays rugby. When we got to his dorm he seemed to be out of it," said Danny.
"His girlfriend just disappeared, wouldn't you be?" said Sam.
"No, I mean it was almost like the guilty kind of freaked out. He had phone numbers everywhere, he definitely hadn't slept that night and he was all over the place."
Martin nodded in agreement. "We figured they'd just had an argument or something before she left. He alluded to it, but never specifically mentioned anything that could lead us to make the assumption that he was involved," said Martin.
"Do you know for sure that he was in class?" asked Jack.
"No, but we can call his professor."
"How did he not know she wasn't going to class. Did he never see her enter or leave a building? How did she even stay on campus?" said Viv.
"We asked him how he didn't know what she was doing," said Martin.
"She always took early classes and I'm not much of a morning person," said Troy, carefully balancing on his heels as he squatted on the floor. Looking for another person to call, he didn't try to hide his distracted state as he shuffled through papers shoved beneath his bed. "She had French on Mondays and Wednesdays at 6 p.m. and the only other class that was late was this seminar and that was on Tuesday nights from 8 to 11."
Danny watched as the young man stood up quickly and started pacing the room, rubbing his hands over his short brown hair. He was shaking and talking at an accelerated pace, unable to remain in one position for long.
"How was your relationship?" asked Martin as he leaned against Harris' desk.
"Uh, good? The last few weeks have been a little rough, but we've been working through everything. She'd been stressed out from all the classes she was taking. After she won the award she went through this whole issue with living up to their expectations. She seemed fine though yesterday, we'd eaten lunch together and I'd gone to practice and we then we met up again to go to class."
"Is there anyone she could have seen during that period to make her feel compelled to leave?" asked Danny.
"I don't know, maybe. But even when we were going to class she was fine. I just don't understand. How was she not even taking classes this quarter? Wouldn't she have to move out or something?"
"Apparently not as long as the school gets her money and she returns within 60 days that she first began her leave of absence."
"She was lying all that time. This is so not like her. She's always been honest. It's one of the things I admire most about her. Aww geez. This can't be happening."
"Troy, we need you to calm down," said Martin calmly. "Agent Taylor or I will probably be back tomorrow if we have more questions. Before then, I want you to get some sleep and please - take a shower."
The tall boy, he was six foot three, nodded his acquiescence and sat down dejectedly on his bed.
"Take care of yourself Troy, we are doing our best," said Danny with a sincere tone and reassuring pat on the shoulder.
"Did you run into anyone else who knew what was going on?" asked Sam as she finished recording the information.
"No, we tried meeting with one of her Psych professors, but she wasn't available. Looks like we're heading back tomorrow," said Martin.
"Good job guys. Viv did you find anything?"
"She calls her grandmother once a week, every Sunday. She spoke with Troy frequently and none of the other calls seemed irregular. Her credit cards have nothing extreme charged on them and the last time she pulled money out of the bank was Monday. She only pulled out forty, so I'm assuming it was enough to get her through the next few days for food."
"Okay, Sam what have you got?" asked Jack.
"Basically she's a work-a-holic, she constantly overloaded her schedule and even then she worked on this research project. It was quite unusual though. She was offered the chance to work on it even before she entered college. Apparently she'd done some work on the same subject in her home town and had received several scholarships for the advancements she'd made."
"Do you know what the focus was?" asked Danny.
"That's the problem, in everything I've read, there are no accounts of what it was she actually did. I just got her schedule so I should know more in a little bit."
"Good. Sam keep working on that and Martin and Danny I want you to start going over the items you got from her dorm. Make sure it's okay with the roommate you have all of this," he gave them a knowing look.
"Don't worry," said Danny. "She practically gave it to us."
"Whatever you say. Viv, keep working on what you've got."
One by one the team got up and went to their tasks, each pulling out pieces to put in this dysfunctional puzzle.
-------------------- 35 hours missing
The next day everyone arrived at work refreshed and ready to go. Everyone- but a certain blond who had a startling resemblance to their victim. Unlike the others, she didn't sleep that night. Instead, she took several showers trying to wash this transparent layer of filth that had accumulated on her skin. When that didn't work, she hopped on her treadmill and turned on her cd player and ran. She ran until her CD was done. Contemplating going for another round, she decided against it when her clock read 2:30 a.m. She walked slowly into her cramped and cluttered office, scanning the bookshelves and going in and out of file cabinets, searching for something.
It appeared that she didn't know the location of that for what she was looking. However, she knew the exact location, she just had to find all the pieces. Finally, she sat down on the floor and looked at the objects of her search. Her eyes glazed over every surface, calling to mind the reason she'd kept these few objects from her college years. A certificate, a notebook, a cluster of papers, a journal and a tape. This tape was found in her locked filing cabinet, behind a row of tightly packed manila folders. It was found in a dark, worn leather bound case, which also contained the notebook and her journal. Touching these objects almost made her fingertips feel as though they were grazing the stove. She couldn't bring herself to do anything but stare at them. And stare she did. Her mind was numb and her systems had shut down, only her body in its physical form remained in the room that housed files and reports and memories.
As everyone carried their work with them to the large conference table, petty conversations bounced back and forth, some light casual banter. Sam of course to part in this early morning ritual, one of the only times throughout the day they believed it was tolerable to smile. Jack began talking and smiles dissipated, humor locked away for another dull moment.
"Martin and Vivian, as you recall, Sam highlighted the professors that could give us some insight to the case. I want you two to go to the school and see what you can dig up."
"Sam, I want you to stay on background. Danny, I want you to track down her whereabouts for the past two months. What she ate, where she shopped, what she listened to in her CD player. We have a very disturbed girl on our hands. Work as quickly as you can, because the glass doesn't stay half full as the clock ticks away."
Each fed with their assignment and noble crusade, the team dispersed, silently agreeing to meet back by noon. Jack went to his office and began negotiating with the university to see if he could make her missing person status a local news issue. He felt that the school wouldn't appreciate the bad publicity, but it was worth a shot.
Danny rode in the large black car without standard license plates, mentally questioning the person he was about to interview. Melanie had a therapist in the outskirts of the city, close to her school. He figured with all of her lying there had to be a sole reason behind this, fueling her to be dishonest. As far as he could tell, this was a missing person case, not a kidnapping, but with college students and an enormous city, anything could happen. He parked the car close to the building and waited for traffic to pass by before he tried to exit the vehicle.
He entered the office and looked around. Plain white walls with the occasional $40 painting and the standard table with coffee were what comprised the waiting area. He went to the front desk and asked for her therapist's office and was directed upstairs to another bland waiting room.
After conversing with the receptionist for a minute or two, convincing her that he only needed to speak with the good doctor for a only few minutes, he sat down on a large overstuffed couch. He didn't wait long and was quickly ushered into Dr. Freelan's office.
She was a tall woman with dark hair and long legs. Very distracting long legs that bounced back and forth when she sat in her plain, functional chair.
The office wasn't much to rave about. It had few pictures, but a large window and a small, but comfortable couch. Danny sat on this couch, waiting patiently while Dr. Freelan finished speaking with a patient on the phone. After the conversation ended, she resumed her position in her chair.
"I am aware you can release nothing that is confidential to us, I only need to ask you certain behavioral signs for the sake of our investigation," said Danny.
"I will do my best to offer what I can."
"Obviously you saw Melanie on some of her worst days. But was there any recent noticeable decrease in her behavior or attitude?"
"For the past few weeks she's been somewhat scatterbrained. Late to appointments, calling to reschedule then never following through. She said she was really busy with her classes."
"About those classes. Are you aware that she was not taking any for the past quarter?"
"No. No I wasn't. We uh, we talked about one of the classes she was helping out with frequently - Infant and Child Psychology. She'd already taken the course, but the teacher asked her to stay on and help with a project he was running."
"Do you know which teacher this was?"
"I think it was Dr. Raymond. Can't tell you more than that though, she never really elaborated. Most of what I knew about her classes was more passing conversation before our sessions started."
"From this professor, do you think working on the project had an effect on her?"
"I'm not sure exactly. I don't even know when she met him."
"Can you tell me anything else about her?"
"Melanie was a smart kid. If she really was lying about not taking classes, then she had a very good reason for not taking them. I haven't seen her in almost two weeks though, so her behavior could have changed dramatically in that time."
"Do you know if anything happened to her recently that would cause her to harm herself?"
"I can't tell you that. Nice try though."
There was a buzz on her phone. Another patient had arrived. She gave Danny an apologetic look and smiled. "Sorry. I need to meet with this patient," she stood and held out her hand. Danny shook it and put his notebook back into his jacket. "If you have anymore questions, here is my card. My home phone number is on there as well."
Danny thanked her again and turned to exit the office. He thought of one more question.
"Did Melanie live in the city or on campus?"
Dr. Freelan looked up from the paperwork on her desk.
"Uh I think she lived in an apartment. I have her address on file. Would you like it?"
"Yes, that would be great."
Danny left the building, happy he'd asked that last question. He pulled out his phone to give Jack a call.
"Hey Jack. I have another address for Myers. Apparently she had a place in the city as well."
"Wonderful. Where is it?" Danny opened up the door slowly and gave Jack the address, adding that it was in a decent neighborhood.
"Great. I'll be over there with Sam in half an hour."
And the plot thickens.