Absolution

By Midnight Caller

Disclaimer, ratings, summary, and all that good stuff in chapter one. :)

Thank you to everyone for the reviews!

*****

Chapter 2

The chirp of her Nextel woke Samantha from her half-asleep dream, and she sat up, glancing at Jack quickly before putting the phone to her ear.

"Spade," she answered.

Jack briefly looked over to her and she mouthed 'Danny.' He nodded and went back to driving as Sam pulled out her notepad to jot down a name.

"Yeah, okay, I'll tell him. Thanks, Danny." The phone clicked back onto her belt and she rested her elbow up near the window, leaning her head against her hand.

"He says forensics didn't find any signs of foul play, but they did find some pot in the bathroom." Jack stayed quiet, his mind elsewhere. Sam flipped open her pad again. "Some anti-depressants in the medicine cabinet gave us the name of her doctor, a Gabriel Patel. Danny says he's got an office in Baldwin Harbor. They also found the boyfriend, Tommy, hanging around the house – he says they had a fight the night she showed up at her parents'. He didn't even know Andrea was still missing."

Jack nodded inattentively, as his eyes suddenly caught something. Samantha followed his gaze to the exit sign they were approaching:

"Oceanside – 3 mi

Cedarhurst – 3.5 mi

Rockville Centre – 2 mi."

As the sign whipped past, Jack couldn't take his eyes from the last name on the list, his head turning to follow the words.

He was so engrossed in the sign that he didn't notice the car had started to drift onto opposing traffic. Several loud honks brought his eyes back front, and he suddenly flinched as he saw oncoming traffic headed straight for them.

"Jack!" he heard from the passenger side.

Samantha's hands were instantly on the wheel, steering them back into the safety of the right lane as a large truck barely missed the side of their car.

She kept her hands where they were until he grabbed the wheel from her, blinking rapidly as he gruffly announced, "I got it."

When she didn't let go, he shot her a look, his hollow, sad eyes scaring her enough to let go of the wheel. She slowly sat back in her seat, her eyes still watching him carefully.

**

The engine cut out as Jack turned the keys, but then he sat for a moment, not making any move to get out of the car. Sam paused, her fingers on the handle as she looked over to him. He stared at his lap, fiddling the keys in his hands.

"You okay?" Sam asked quietly, her hand automatically landing on his arm.

His eyes shifted from the keys to the fingers draped over his sleeve, and for a moment, he allowed himself to enjoy the gesture. Raising his head, he finally met her gaze.

"I... uh... I'm sorry," he practically whispered, and as her expression softened, he looked away before he lost himself in her eyes.

Clearing his throat, he reached for the handle. "We should go," he declared.

Looking away, Samantha drew back her hand and opened the door.

**

Patricia Feldman sat on the couch, hands clasped between her knees, as her husband David paced behind her, his large arms crossed over his chest.

"How could this have happened?" he remarked, mostly to himself, running a hand through his gray hair. "How could no one have seen her?"

Sam glanced at Jack, but he was engrossed in a picture on the mantle, so she stepped forward. "I realize how difficult this must be, but we need to know as much about Andrea as we can so we can try to figure out where she might be."

Mrs. Feldman frowned in confusion, looking over her shoulder. Sam explained, "It's called profiling, and it's more effective than you might think."

David stopped pacing. "You don't know what I think, Agent Spade."

Samantha licked her lips and looked again to Jack for some help.

His back was to her as he held a picture frame delicately in his hand, his eyes wandering over the family in the photo. On Andrea's left was her mother. Her hair was shorter, and darker; Jack guessed the photograph to be several years old. On Andrea's right was another similarly aged girl with long, dark hair. Pretty. She was laughing, glancing sideways at Andrea, who was doing the same to her.

"Who is this next to Andrea?" Jack asked, holding up the picture.

David exhaled. "That's Karen, our other daughter."

Jack put down the frame. "And where is she?"

Patricia rubbed her hands together. "Brooklyn. She's a photographer."

Stepping forward, David's hands moved to his waist. "Look, I don't see how this is helping. Karen isn't missing – Andrea is, and—"

"Mr. Feldman," Jack interrupted, stepping closer. "Like Agent Spade said, it's important for us to know as much as Andrea as possible so we can figure out where she might have gone if she were in trouble."

"You think she's in trouble?" Patricia asked, panic flooding her voice.

Samantha leaned forward on her chair. "We're not sure," she said, trying to keep her voice calm.

"We're going to need an address for Karen," Jack said. Samantha shot him a look, but he wasn't paying attention.

Patricia got up to look, and David went back to pacing. "When was the last time you saw Andrea?" Jack asked, pulling out his pad.

David paused for a moment, thinking. "The day before we left town, about a week ago. I was surprised because she actually stopped by." Off of Jack's look, he explained. "We're not too close with Andrea. She's ... distanced herself from most of the family, and we're usually lucky to get a phone call."

"What did she want?"

Running a hand through his hair, David returned to pacing. "She wanted to borrow money."

"How much?" Jack interrogated, and Sam tried to catch his eyes to tell him to back off.

"Eight hundred dollars."

"Did she say what it was for?"

Finally, David stared him down. "No, she didn't."

Jack stared right back. "Did you give her the money?"

David bit his lip. "No, we didn't. We... she decided a long time ago that she didn't need us. She made a big effort to shut us out of her life. Then she shows up here out of nowhere one day and wants eight hundred dollars? We wanted to help her but... we just couldn't."

Jack thought for a moment before asking, "And do you have any idea why she might have needed that much money? Debt? Drugs?"

"My daughter does not do drugs!" David stepped toward Jack, his voice raised.

Jack was unfazed. "Our agents found marijuana in her apartment. Any ideas?"

David looked away, breathing heavily. He shut his eyes. "It was probably Tommy's."

"Was he a drug dealer? He said he and Andrea fought the night she disappeared."

Exasperated, David flung his arms. "I don't know! He never had any money, so probably not. And they were always fighting. Tommy is impossible sometimes."

Jack wrote on his pad, and Samantha took the chance to step in. "Do you have any idea why she would have shown up here last night, banging on the door?"

David shrugged, running his hand over his mouth again. "I don't know." After a moment, he added, "She doesn't have a key."

This interested Jack. "Why not?"

"We had them changed after an incident with Tommy," David said defensively. "It was for the best."

"Right."

As the two men prepared to square off, Patricia returned with an index card, handing it to Samantha. "That should be current. It's got her phone numbers, too."

Samantha smiled. "Thank you." She turned to Jack, finally catching his eyes, and nodded toward the door.

David watched them leave, and then draped his arm around Patricia as her head fell to his shoulder.

**

Outside, Jack walked out in front of Sam, halfway to the car before she even got past the chimes hanging from the porch. As she shut the door, she glanced at the lock, noticing the scuffs and scratches in and around the keyhole. She made a mental note and then looked up in time to see Jack leaning against the car, his eyes watching something down the street.

When she'd gotten to her side of the car, Sam looked over the roof to Jack, still staring at something distant. "They're lying," he mumbled, and Samantha shrugged, her eyes locked onto him.

"Jack."

He blinked, looking at her, and then seemed surprised to find anger in her expression.

"Was that your new bad cop/good cop technique?" Sam asked, raising her eyebrows.

Jack dismissed her and got into the car. That only seemed to anger his companion, and she got in and slammed the door, grabbing the keys from Jack's hands before he could start the engine.

"Sam, give me the keys."

"I asked you a question," she growled, staring at him as she held her hand out of his reach.

"We got what we needed," he said roughly, exhaling loudly as he sat back in his seat like a teenager awaiting a lecture from a parent.

Samantha gathered her thoughts, her eyes scanning over Jack's features, his restless eyes. Her voice softened. "I've just never seen you like this before, I—"

She stopped when he finally looked at her, caught completely off-guard by the darkness she saw in his eyes. Several long seconds passed between them, until she eventually looked away, feeling herself on the brink of tears. She held out her hand, turning away from him as her other hand came up to cover her mouth.

He took the keys and shoved them into the ignition switch. Samantha didn't notice as Jack stole a glance at her before starting the car and backing down the driveway.

**

tbc…