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Chapter Seven:

"Shared Tears"

Boscarelli is in bed sleeping. It is 6:10 am and his phone rings. He is startled awake and as it rings a second time, he reaches over and slaps the alarm clock off. When it rings a third time, he opens one eye, takes a peek at the clock and picks up the phone. In a sleepy voice he says, "This better be important."

A mans voice says from the other end, "Bosco, is my wife there?"

Bosco rolls over and looks at the empty spot next to him in his bed and says, "I don't know who this is but your wife is not with me. Don't call here again."

"Bosco, it's me...Fred."

"Fred? Do you know what time it is? I just went to bed a few hours ago."

"I know what time it is...Faith never came home last night. I don't know where she is." Then he starts talking faster. "She always calls if she's going out after work. Even then she always gets home in time to get the kids off to school. She don't even answer her cell phone. Now the kids are late and I'm gonna be late. I'm really worried..."

Bosco can hear the panic in his voice. He sits up on the edge of the bed. "Fred hold on. I'm sure she's ok. Did you call the precinct?"

"Yes. They're no help. They keep telling me that her shift starts at three and I should call back then."

"Ok. Did you call any of her friends to see if she went for breakfast?"

"That's why I called you. Did you see her last night when she left? Was she with anyone?"

"Alright. Let me think...I saw her...I offered her a ride home. She said she wanted to walk. It sounded like she was going straight home. Are you sure she didn't come home and go out again?"

"I'm not sure of anything except that she is always home for the kids. Or she would call to make sure that I got them up for school. Something's wrong, I can feel it."

Bosco doesn't want Fred to hear it, but he is also starting to get worried. "Did you call the hospital?"

"No I didn't. Jesus Bosco."

"I don't think she is hurt...just...maybe she came across an accident and went to the hospital with the vic, that's all I meant. Call there. The nurses know her. They'll tell you if she was there or not."

"Ya think? I mean...ya think that's what happened?"

Bosco says, "Make the call Fred. I'll call some of the guys and see if anyone knows anything. Then call me right back."

Fred calls the hospital and Bosco calls Sullivan and Doc. Within a few minutes they are talking to each other on the phone again.

"Any luck?" Bosco asks.

"No...you?" Fred responds.

"No." He stops to think and then says, "Alright, I'm gonna make one more call and then I'll meet you at the precinct."

"Ok. I gotta get the kids to school first, then I'll come right there." Then Fred says quietly, "You don't think...this can't have any thing to do with...you know...those missing cops."

Bosco replies as convincingly as he can, "No Fred. I'm sure she's ok. Faith can take care of herself."

He hangs up the phone and dials Sergeant Cruz's cell phone. She answers it, "Sergeant Cruz."

"Yah...this is Boscarelli. You didn't...uh...they didn't find the body of that missing cop yet, did they?" He knows that the killer wouldn't have grabbed another cop unless the one he had was dead.

"As a matter of fact, I got the call a few hours ago. Why? What do you know?"

Bosco's heart dropped into his stomach. "Damn it! Faith's husband just called me. She never came come last night. She's missing."

"I didn't hear about this. When was she last seen?"

"Last night. She was walking home after her shift."

"So was she wearing her uniform home?"

"No...but..."

"Well that isn't our guy's MO. Your partner is probably having an affair, or doing something she doesn't want her husband to know about."

"Faith wouldn't...." Cruz hangs up before he can finish.

He glances at the phone then hangs it up. He sits there on the edge of the bed for a minute. There has to be an explanation as to where Faith is and why she didn't come home or call. There has to be. He tries to remember the conversation he had with her the night before, but there is nothing there to give him a clue to where she may be now. He is getting a bad feeling in his stomach. As he gets dressed, he thinks about what he's going to do when he gets to the station house. And he clings to the words that Cruz said, 'that isn't our guy's MO.'

[Back at Daniel's cabin]

It is early in the morning and it's still dark. The fire had gone out in the fireplace hours ago so it is dark and cold in the cabin. Faith can feel herself starting to fall asleep. She has been fighting it all night and she is exhausted. She can't fight it off any longer.

She can feel herself drifting...drifting...then the sudden rush of falling and she snaps herself awake again. But for that few seconds, the dead weight of her body drops on the rope around her neck. Her throat closes off and she starts gasping for air. Her body wants to cough but it can't. She is choking.

Her hands are still cuffed behind her back and they frantically grab at the wall that she is standing against, but there is nothing there to grab on to. She lifts up onto her toes and steadies herself as she tries to lift her weight off the rope that is becoming tighter as she grows weaker.

Daniel wakes to the sound of her choking. He feels the coldness in the cabin and goes to the fire and brings it ablaze again which lights up the cabin enough that he can see her standing, almost hanging across the room. Slowly he walks towards her. Staring...Elating. He can see her lips moving. She is trying to speak but the only sound that she can make is small gasps. He is fascinated.

He puts his hands on the wall behind each side of her head and leans in close to her. She is begging him to help her. He can make out the word 'please'. Her face is wet with tears. He leans his ear close to her lips so he can hear every sound she makes, bringing his face closer to hers...so close that a tear touches his cheek and runs down his face. His eyes flutter closed and they are sharing something that he has never shared with anyone before.

He stays there for a few minutes more, not moving, just absorbing. It feels good. Then he steps away and unties the rope. She collapses to the floor and lets out a gasp of air. He removes the rope from around her neck and gently touches the mark it left on her skin.

He also removes the cuffs from her wrists that have embedded themselves into her flesh. She feels the relief of their removal but her arms have been in that position for so long that she can't feel her hands or move her arms, and pain stabs at her shoulders. Everything hurts and she feels nauseous. Her body finally gives in to it's desire to shut down.

[Bosco arrives at the station house]

It is weird for him to be here at this time of the day. Something feels terribly wrong. A ford truck is parked in his parking spot. There are all different cars parked in the usual parking spaces and the faces he sees milling around are distantly familiar. The feeling in his gut tells him that things are not going to get better.

As he approaches the front desk, he notices a group of officers wearing latex gloves searching through a tote bag. It looks vaguely familiar to him and as the officers notice him walking up, they all stop and look over at him...including the day sergeant, who says, "Boscarelli...I tried to call you at home."

He asks what they are doing, and it dawns on him that the bag they are searching belongs to Faith. He had seen her fill it a hundred times getting ready to go home. He looks up at each of the officers, that are still staring at him, and says, "What's going on?"

The sergeant puts his hand on Bosco's shoulder and says, "Foot patrol found this bag in the street this morning."

Bosco says, "It belongs to Faith."

"I know. All her ID was in it. Her badge, her wallet...even her money. So we know she was not mugged. We called Cruz in on it." He pauses, waiting for some response from Bosco, and when none comes he continues, "I tried to call her husband but there was no answer. I was told that he called here looking for her."

"He called me. He is on his way over here. Don't let him see you digging through her stuff, take it into the interrogation room. Did you find anything else? An eyewitness?"

"Bloodstains." Was all the sergeant said.

Bosco feels himself welling up and quickly says, "A huh...I see...I have to go change. Let me know when Fred gets here." He quickly walks away.

Bosco goes into the men's room and splashes water on his face. He looks at himself in the mirror as he wipes his face with a paper towel. He sniffs and wipes at his nose. His eyes are red and he looks like hell. He only had a few hours of sleep and it's going to be a long day. He takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly. Soon he will have to talk to Fred. He decides that he will go with what Cruz said, and tell him it can't be the cop killer. Even though he knows different in his heart.

He heads into the locker-room and starts putting on his uniform. He pulls a paper out of the pocket of his jeans and unfolds it. It is the paper he showed to Faith last night with a list of all the black vans in the city. There are so many. Four hundred and twenty two just in New York city alone. The list is made in order of location, the closest to the 55th on the list first, then getting farther away down to the end of the list.

He is staring at the paper but his mind suddenly draws up an image of Martin...Lucas' partner. He remembers how Martin looked the last time Bosco saw him in the parking garage. Bosco feels, like Martin looked. He remembers telling Yokas that Martin should be doing something to find his partner and Yokas said 'What good would it do to be running around the city.' He stares at the list and says out loud, "It will make me feel like I'm doing something."

Just then the door opens and someone yells in that Yokas' husband is here. Bosco snaps out of his daze and hurriedly finishes dressing. When he walks out of the locker-room he spots Fred sitting on a bench near the desk. He has his face in his hands and he is shaking his head. The lieutenant is standing over him and so is Cruz. She is holding Faith's bag which is tagged and wrapped in plastic. He walks over and stands directly in front of Fred and says, "It's gonna be alright. I'm gonna find her."

Cruz adds, "We are all looking for this guy. It is just a matter of time before we get him."

Bosco grabs Fred by his shoulders and says, "Look Fred, I know what you're thinking and it isn't that guy. She is not with the cop killer. Who ever did this does not know she is a cop. She wasn't in her uniform, she doesn't have her badge or any ID on her. This is something else."

Fred looks up at him wiping his eyes, and says, "Then what is it? Where is she?"

Bosco says, "I don't know but I'm not going to think the worst." He holds out the paper and flashes it quickly to Fred and says, "I've already got some leads. I'm going to check em out now." And before anyone can ask what leads he is talking about, he walks out the door.