Absolution

By Midnight Caller

Disclaimer, ratings, etc. in chapter one. Thank you for all the kind words!! I'm glad you guys are enjoying the story. :)

**

Chapter 3

The marker squeaked on the whiteboard as Danny underlined the details of Andrea's whereabouts for 7pm on the night she disappeared: "Fights with Tommy." He dropped the marker on the ledge and turned back to the others, gathered around the table.

"So we know she was in major debt," Vivian began, casting a sidelong glance at Jack as he stared through the surface of the table.

Danny flipped open a file. "12,000 dollars just on this one credit card," he added.

Samantha sighed. "And she asked her parents for 800 dollars the night before she disappeared."

"Any idea what it was for?" Vivian asked.

Samantha shook her head. "That wouldn't even begin to pay off some of those cards."

"What if it was something more immediate?" Martin inquired, leaning forward. "Like she owed a bookie or a drug dealer or something that was more urgent?"

"My money is on the boyfriend," Danny said, and Vivian nodded in agreement. "I don't think he's telling us all he knows."

"Should we bring him in?" Samantha asked.

"No," Jack said, finally joining the conversation.

All eyes were on him as he leaned on his elbows. "Danny, you'll get to interview the boyfriend again. Take Martin and follow Tommy to see if he pays a visit to any 'friends' of his." He turned to Vivian. "Go talk to Andrea's doctor in Baldwin Harbor and see what you can find out."

Vivian, Martin and Danny gathered their coats and headed out, leaving Sam alone at the table with Jack. She watched him, but said nothing as he stared at the whiteboard.

Finally, she pursed her lips and leaned close. "I just want to know if I should prepare for you to be like this the rest of this case."

He met her eyes, cocking his head. "And how I am being, exactly?"

She tried to keep her voice low. "Agitated. On edge. Impatient."

He sighed loudly, looking away.

"Look at what happened on the highway today, Jack, I just—"

"That was an accident," he cut her off, and she was immediately quiet.

She held her tongue for a moment, pleading silently with her eyes. Keeping her voice low, she asked, "You're going to try to tell me that this doesn't have anything to do with Doris?"

Her words struck an instant nerve, and he stiffened at the name. Clenching his jaw, he looked down at the table, blinking. "We have to go talk to the sister," he said as calmly as he could, getting up from the table to put on his coat.

**

In the garage, Jack waited for Samantha as she came out of the elevator, and as they approached the car, he moved to her side, putting a hand on her arm to stop her. She was surprised to see him holding out the keys to her.

"You drive," he said quietly.

She gently took the keys from his hand as he brushed past her to open the passenger door.

Before she started the engine, she glanced over to her right. Jack was staring out the windshield while his fingers played with a button on his coat.

"It wasn't your fault," Sam said softly, and saw him shift slightly in his seat, still avoiding eye contact.

After another few seconds passed without a response from him, she turned over the engine and backed out of the space.

**

"Have you ever seen '2001 A Space Odyssey'?"

From his reclined position in the parked car, Martin turned to look at his passenger, a frown crinkling his brow. "Yeah..."

Shifting to his side, Danny pushed his sunglasses up onto his head, his hands moving excitedly as he talked. "Okay, a friend of mine made me watch this thing the other night and... and I just don't get the end. I get the monkeys and the bone and the big black thing they find on Jupiter or wherever, and I get the HAL computer, but what is with the floating baby?"

Martin blinked, obviously not expecting this conversation. "It's been a while, but... I think it's supposed to represent regression, or maybe... the cyclical nature of life or something."

Danny was dumbstruck, sticking his head forward. "Okay… a floating baby in space is supposed to be symbolic?" he asked, a little irritated.

Chuckling, Martin answered, "Well, yeah. Like a giant egg or something. Someone explained it to me once."

Danny shook his head, exhaling, but he snapped right back into professional mode when Martin suddenly tapped his arm and quietly said, "Here we go."

They both looked out the window to see Tommy crossing the street of this low-income neighborhood carrying a paper bag under one arm.

He looked both ways before knocking on the door of one house, and before long, a sloppily dressed man answered and let him in.

Martin looked at Danny. "Do we wait? Or go in?"

Danny twisted his mouth. "We wait. We don't know how many more are in there."

They didn't have to wait long; in a few minutes Tommy emerged, bag-less, and got back into his car.

Keeping their distance, they followed him a few streets away to another shady-looking house.

Tommy parked in the driveway, but barely got out of his car before the agents were upon him, Danny pushing him against the hood of the car as Martin frisked him down. Pulling a wad of cash out of Tommy's pocket, Martin held it up for Danny to see.

"Makin' a little deal, Tommy?" Danny asked, pushing Tommy against the metal.

"It's not what you think."

"Yeah, well, you can tell us what we think downtown," Martin said as they led Tommy back to their car.

**

15 Hours Missing

Sam rang the buzzer to the loft, feeling Jack behind her as they waited for an answer. Glancing over her shoulder, she saw him staring at the floor, but before she could say anything her eyes caught someone approaching them down the hall. It was the pretty, dark-haired woman from the picture. When she saw the two agents, she slowed, obviously hesitant.

"Can I help you?" she asked, switching her bag to the other hand.

"Karen Feldman?" Samantha asked, and the woman nodded. Sam pulled her badge, and saw Jack's arm reach past her as he did the same. "Agents Spade and Malone with the FBI. We need to talk to you about your sister."

Karen looked shocked, and then proceeded to open the locks. After having trouble with one key, she explained, "These new keys stick sometimes." The door finally opened and she led them into her apartment.

A large seamless background hung between two c-stands in one corner of the room that was scattered with bits and pieces of photography equipment. In another corner was a small kitchen, and some hallways led off into darkness at the far end of the room.

Karen set her bag down on the counter, shrugged off her coat, and crossed her arms, leaning on one arm of her sofa. "Is Andrea okay?"

"She's been missing since last night," Samantha informed her.

"Oh my God," Karen gasped, covering her mouth with her hand.

Jack stepped forward, brushing his shoulder against Sam's. "When was the last time you saw your sister?"

Karen exhaled, thinking as she massaged her neck with her hand. "It's been a while... a few months at least."

"That seems kind of unusual, two sisters living in the same city who never see each other," Jack fired back, but eased off when he felt Samantha lightly press up against him.

"We aren't very close," Karen explained. "Not for a while..."

"What happened?" Sam asked.

Karen shrugged. "I'm not sure. I guess one day we suddenly realized that we really didn't have anything in common."

Jack looked at her for a moment, and then flipped open his pad. "Your parents said they changed the locks on the house recently – do you have a key?"

"Yes, but it's really just if they need me to watch the house or something," Karen said, rubbing her hands over her thighs. "I mean, they keep some spare cash in there, so I don't think that many people have a key."

Jack tipped his head. "That must've made your sister a little angry, that she was locked out and you weren't." Samantha shot him a glance, but she knew it was the right thing to ask.

"Look," Karen said, "My sister chooses to have a loser, junkie boyfriend. She chooses to not work half of the year and bum money off of whoever will give it to her. And it isn't my house, anyway – I don't make the rules."

"Did she ever ask to borrow any money from you?" Jack asked.

"No," Karen replied quietly. "She's too proud to do something like that."

After a moment, Jack cleared his throat to get the conversation back on track. "You said you had to have new keys made..." Karen nodded. "Why's that?"

She swallowed. "I lost mine."

"Wouldn't you feel safer changing the locks?"

Karen blinked, caught in Jack's stare. "Well, I'll do that, too, of course. I just haven't had time yet."

"And your parents' house keys... did you lose those, too?" Jack asked without missing a beat.

Sam's eyes moved from Jack to Karen.

"Yes," Karen said, and then stood. "I have a client coming in a few minutes... if we're done here..."

Jack nodded. "Yeah, we are."

**

Outside the building, Sam pulled her scarf closer around her neck and turned to Jack as they walked back to the car. "So..."

He didn't answer at first, and she thought maybe he didn't hear her at all.

"Ja—"

"We're running out of time," he remarked, still not looking at her.

Sam jogged a few steps to catch up to him. He never walked this fast. "So what's the plan?"

Jack kept talking as they approached the car. "She must have really wanted that eight hundred bucks..." he murmured.

"So what's our plan?" Sam repeated, trying to keep her patience. "Head back to the office?"

"Yeah..." he said absently, drawing an exasperated sigh from the woman behind him.

Jack paused outside the passenger door, turning to look at Sam as she was about to step off the curb.

She caught his eyes and stopped. "What?"

Their eyes connected, and he searched her features as if he hadn't looked at her for a long time. But just as she took a step toward him, he finally spoke. "Nothing," he said, turning to open the door.

Sam bit her lip and walked around to the driver's side. Jack was pulling out his phone as she wrapped the seat belt around her shoulder. He checked the numbers, hesitating for a beat before he took the call.

"Malone."

Sam turned the keys over in her hand, waiting for Jack to finish.

"Yeah, I'm... fine," he said, his voice softening. He caught Sam's eyes as he continued to talk. "You don't have to keep checking up on me," he said, rather irritated.

Suddenly very uncomfortable, Sam looked away, pushing the keys into the ignition lock.

Jack's voice got increasingly louder as he spoke. "How many times are we going to have this argument?" He took a deep breath. "Fine," he said quietly, and flipped his phone closed.

Before he had a chance to say anything, Samantha turned the keys and started the car.

**

tbc…