I feel Jack's hand on my back as we head towards his car and he hands over the keys for me to drive. He tosses my bag into the backseat and we buckle ourselves in before pulling out of the parking garage.

I nod my head and Jack gives me directions, as we start in on our way.

*****

We're on the road for an hour and we haven't said much to one another. With the radio on, I'm grateful it's not complete silence in the car. I feel Jack's eyes on me, and I glance over in his direction.

"What?" I question.

"I'm just worried about you," he answers. "You seem to be doing better, but I'm concerned it's just an act you're putting on and hiding your real feelings."

"Real feelings?" I repeat his words, pretending to be oblivious to what he's talking about.

"Martin," he states soundly.

"Oh, yeah, him," I feel a soft smile tugging at my lips. "No, I'm not acting Jack."

"So, you love him then?"

"I told you last week it wasn't love," I remind him. "I can't describe it, but I can't let something good get away from me."

"So you're over us?" I feel his eyes burning my skin.

"Does it matter? You're married?" I glance towards him and see his gaze glance out the window. "Jack, what's going on at home?"

"Nothing," he whispers.

"Don't lie to me," I state and turn off the radio. "I thought we were friends?"

"We are."

"Then tell me what's going on with you and Maria."

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Then who are you going to talk about it with, Jack? I know how you're feeling. Believe me, I do. For a while I wanted nothing more than to share with someone how I felt for you, and how crushed I was when it was over. I couldn't do it, though---not with you and not with anyone else. I'm offering you my friendship, Jack; take it."

"I can't," he shakes his head no.

"Why?" My eyes meet his and his bore into mine as I feel the car hit the indentations on the highway and I immediately shift the car back into the correct lane.

"I'm still in love with you, Samantha, and I can't be. It's not right. You're finally moving on; I'm married," he breathes out.

"Jack, do you love your wife?"

"Of course," he answers rather too quickly for my liking.

"Then what's the problem?"

He lets out a sigh and shuts his eyes for a moment.

"I wish it were that simple," he breathes out before reaching over to turn the radio back on, signaling the end of our discussion.

We make our way to the bar, parking the car and stepping inside. "I'm Agent Spade and this is Agent Malone. We're with the FBI." I flash the bartender my badge as he finishes getting someone a drink.

"What can I do for you?"

"Were you working last night?" Jack questions.

"Till two in the morning. What's this about?"

"Do you remember seeing Damon Relic?" I show him a picture of our missing person and he nods his head.

"Yeah, it was his twenty-first birthday. He came in with a bunch of friends."

"Regulars?" I probe.

"Somewhat," the bartender answers. "We're about eight miles out from the campus, so we see a few of those guys on weekends and what not."

"Can you tell us what you remember?"

"I've worked in this business for fifteen years," he tells us. "You can tell when someone's never been drunk." The bartender eyes me intently. "His friends kept buying him rounds of shots and he didn't want to drink anymore, but he kept swallowing them down. Wouldn't surprise me if the guy had a killer hangover."

"Did you see him leave?" I question.

"No. I was getting another couple their drinks and he was just gone. The boys asked me if I knew where he was, but I didn't see anything."

"Do you know any of the regulars' names?" Jack questions.

"Not really," he shakes his head. "I'm sure you could find that out from the school."

"One more question," I quip. "Did you see any girls hanging around him? Anyone seem interested in him?"

"Not that I recall."

"Thanks for your time." I leave my card with the bartender and Jack follows me to the car.

I head out towards the campus and notice Jack answering his phone. "Malone." He pauses and glances towards me after a minute. "Yeah, what have you got?" Another minute or two passes before he hangs up.

I glance towards Jack, curious about who was on the phone. "Our guy quit his job about two weeks ago and was planning on finding something closer to school rather than home," Jack tells me. "He hasn't had contact with his family in over a month, which they don't consider odd."

"Was he living on campus or an apartment?" I glance towards Jack as he thumbs through the file.

"An apartment, alone."

"Might explain why he wanted to find a job closer to school, and probably to put in more hours to pay for it."

"Sounds plausible. Danny mentioned that the parents pay his tuition but the rest is up to him."

"Think he's running from responsibility?" I eye him quickly before turning right towards the apartment complex. We step out of the car, and make our way towards management to retrieve a key and search the premises.

I unlock the front door and carefully step through, making sure no one else is around. I eye the living area, seeing how neat and kept up it is, almost as though he has a girlfriend tidying the place up. I head towards the bedroom, eyeing the clothes strewn on the floor and glance back at Jack, slightly surprised by the mess.

"Find anything?"

He shakes his head no as I open the clothes drawers, then glance over his desk, looking for clues that might give us his whereabouts.

I head back into the small kitchen area, opening the fridge to see it well stocked. "Doesn't look like the guy was planning on skipping town."

"No, it doesn't," Jack muses aloud, walking towards me to look into the fridge before I shut it. I glance down at the answering machine with several flashing messages and click play. The first two are from family wishing him a happy birthday, showing he never came home or, if he did, he didn't check his messages. The greetings turn into concerns from some of the guys he must have partied with.

"Do you think this guy left with some girl?" I offer. Jack shrugs in response and we make our way out.

We knock on a few neighbors' doors, hoping to find some information that we can use. After the third apartment, we head back down to the car, making our way to the University for some guidance.

We investigate the phone records and come up with a few friends' names that called after his disappearance. Jack and I decide to split up and meet back in an hour to get through the long list of friends.

I head for University Housing and make my way towards the Dean to gain access to the student that decided to stay on campus during winter break. After twenty minutes, the student I've asked to speak with comes down to meet me.

"I'm Josh Campbell," he says as he shakes my hand and takes a seat across from me in the lounge.

"I'm with the FBI, Josh. My name is Agent Spade." I show him my badge. "Were you with Damon last night?"

"Yeah, we went to the bar for a few hours; that was the last I saw of him."

"You didn't see him leave with anyone?" I question.

"No, although it didn't surprise me he managed to sneak out."

"Why do you say that?"

"He didn't want to drink that much in the first place. Everyone kept pressuring him to have more. We all figured he was going to the bathroom to puke. We had no idea he wouldn't be back."

"Was there anyone sober there at the party?"

Josh laughs softly and shakes his head, "No."

"How did you plan on getting back?"

"We didn't really think about it. There's a bus that runs till midnight and there's always the campus late night ride system."

"How did you get home?" I question.

"I wasn't that wasted."

"So you drove?"

His eyes dart out towards the window.

"Are we done?"

"Who else was at the party last night?" I question.

"Five of us, including me."

"I need their names." I hand him my small notebook and he jots down the information. "Their addresses too," I tell him.

"Everyone else lives in the apartments together. Damon and I were supposed to room together but we ended up in a disagreement last year, so here I am," he gestures towards the dorms.

"Thanks for your time." I hand him one of my cards. "If you think of anything else, call me."

I stand up and head outside, dialing Jack's number.

"Malone."

"Hey, I've got a few names we can check up on," I tell him.

"Good, because these friends of his haven't seen him in three days," Jack answers. "I'll swing by and pick you up."

"All right." I hang up my phone and wait around a few minutes until I see him pulling up in front.

I take a seat in the passenger side, content on letting Jack drive a little ways. I give Jack directions to the apartment complex and we make our way to the front door, knocking briskly.

"FBI. Open up." Jack knocks repeatedly as we hear people scurrying around before opening the door. The room is filled with smoke, and not that of cigarettes.

Jack and I show our badges to the young men occupying the apartment. "We're here investigating Damon Relic's disappearance," I tell them.

"Yeah, he left last night at the bar."

"What time?" Jack questions, pulling out his small notebook to jot down notes.

"A little after midnight," the shortest of the four tells us. "He just up and left."

"Did you see with whom?" I eye him steadily.

"No, we thought he was going to the bathroom, but he never came back."

"Does he have a girlfriend? Someone he might have gotten a ride with?"

"He's not exactly boyfriend material."

"Why do you say that?" Jack questions.

Another one of the roommates speaks up, "He's pretty quiet, keeps to himself. Doesn't do much in the social light. Last night was his first time getting drunk."

I nod my head, "Is there anyone that might want to hurt him?"

"No," they all consider the question. "We figured he caught a cab home but stopped by this morning to give him hell for leaving us, and he wasn't there."

"If you think of anything else," Jack hands him his card and we make our way to the car. "Any ideas?" He eyes me as we pull out of the parking lot.

"I'm not sure I'm seeing the whole picture, Jack. I mean this guy seems fairly quiet and keeps to himself, then why is he hanging around these other guys that are obviously going to get him into trouble?"

"Maybe he's lonely," Jack muses, eyeing me intently. "We should stop for dinner," he states, heading out for the main road. "We didn't eat lunch and I know I'm hungry. You must be starved."

I shrug in response, letting out a soft sigh. "I could use something to eat."

"By the time we're done with dinner, we should check into a hotel. In the morning I want to go back to Damon's apartment and make sure there's no surprises lying around."

"What did you have in mind?" I whisper.

"Drugs, alcohol. These friends are definitely party people. I have this feeling that they're hiding something about Damon."