Disclaimer and notes: see Chapter 1
Samantha Spade's apartment, New York City
November 22, 5.15 a.m.
The phone was ringing relentlessly, forcing her to open eyes and reach for the receiver. She couldn't't have been asleep for more than half an hour, she thought as she answered the phone.
"Hi, it's Danny. Sorry to wake you so early. Jack just called. NYPD has found a body, they think it's Diane. They're excepting us at the scene." Danny sounded as bright awake and cheerful as ever. She was wondering how he did that, seeing that he had not gotten any more sleep than she had.
"Yeah. Give me the address and I'll meet you there." Samantha answered groggily, her brain not quite following the conversation yet. Danny gave her the address and she jotted it down on the notepad she always kept beside her phone. After Danny had hung up, she just sat on her bedside. She glanced at her watch. 5.20 a.m. she had gotten several hours of sleep, yet it had felt like only minutes. Still feeling foggy, she got up and started to get ready for work.
After a cup of coffee and almost an hours drive her head had cleared somewhat. She was still tired, but felt considerably more alert now. The body had been found outside the city. When she had looked up the address on the map, she had realized that it would take at least 45 minutes to drive out there, probably more depending on how heavy traffic in the city was.
She cold already see that she had found the right spot when she saw several police cars parked at both sides of the small road. She parked behind one of the police cars and climbed out.
"Hello, I'm Detective Dawson. I'm with NYPD. We spoke on the phone?"
"Yes, I'm Agent Taylor, this is Agent Spade. We've been investigating the disappearance of a woman named Diane Durkin."
"When we checked the contents of the purse found a few feet from the body we found a library card in the name of Diane Durkin. That's when we called you."
"Who found the body?"
"Young couple. They were having fun inside their car parked up the road. They decided to go for a romantic morning walk, that's when they stumbled over the body. They are standing over there." the detective pointed to two shaken looking figures, talking a another officer. " But I doubt you'll get anything out of them. They're both pretty stoned. At least they were lucid enough to dial 911."
"Where exactly was the body found?"
"Down there in the woods. Maybe 10 meter away from the road. It could have gone undetected for months, maybe even years. It certainly wouldn't have been found before spring."
Danny and Samantha looked in the direction that the detective had indicated.
The spot in the woods was illuminated by strong light used by the crime scene technicians. They followed Detective Dawson. Although the spot certainly wasn't far away from the street, it was indeed well camouflaged. The body was lying in a small ditch, loosely covered with branches. The medical examiner was already inspecting the body, dictating notes while doing so. Danny recognized her as the same woman who had been working on the earlier scene in Diane's apartment. She turned to them.
"Good morning Agents. We've met before."
"Good morning, Doctor. What do you have for us?"
"As always not that much without a post mortem exam. What I can tell you is that whoever this woman was, she had been dead for a few days. Rough estimate between seven and fourteen days. But I'll be able to get a more precise estimate once I have climate data."
"Diane has only been missing for one week. If this woman has been dead longer than that it cannot be her."
"Sorry, can't help you with identification yet. It's impossible to tell age ion her state of decomp. "
"What about cause of death?" Samantha asked.
"This here." Dr. Sommer turned the head of the body slightly, revealing what undoubtedly looked like a wound to the back of the head. "A gunshot wound to the back of the head. She would have died instantly. Large calibre. Your typical execution style. But there is more. Her legs. She has severe laceration to her lower legs, the bones are broken. She probably had fresh injuries to her face as well."
"What could have caused them?"
"I'd say, if it weren't for the gunshot, that this is a classic hit and run."
"What happened to her then?"
"I can tell you that she was shot in the head and that she was hit by a car. Also, the car must have hit her first because she was standing upright, which she wouldn't have after taking one to the head. But you have the come up with the theory of how that fits together. I can't say that I envy your position." Dr. Sommer gave a wry smile. "I'll try to get my report to you as soon as possible." Dr. Sommer walked back to the road.
Samantha looked around. The forest wasn't very thick. Plants and bushes had been trampled by the police and the couple who had found the body. There was no way to detect any trail made by the killer or killers.
"Let's get back to the road. We need to find the spot where the car hit her. It's probably not too far from here. This road isn't very well travelled, that explains why nobody saw anything. " They returned to the roadside. A forensic team was in the process of searching the area.
"Any luck so far?" Samantha asked a man who looked like he was in charge of this part of the investigation.
"Nothing so far. But most evidence would have been washed away after the rain in the last few days. The only thing we found is this." He led the agents to a pile of logs at the left side of the road. "Look at this log. It's splintered, something impacted with it not long ago. The wood hasn't darkened much yet, from that you can see that it must have been recent. We did collect some paint particles from it wood. It's most probably car paint. But any car could have hit that log. It's quite easy to lose control in the rain on this street. In any case, we'll analyse it and send the report to you."
"Can I see those paint splinters?" Danny asked the crime scene technician.
"Sure." the man sounded surprised, but showed Danny the plastic evidence bag. "Not much that you can see there."
Danny looked at the splinters. They were small all right, but clearly white in colour. A white car. The boyfriend didn't have his own car, but they knew of a stolen car.
"Samantha, the car theft that martin found out about yesterday. What colour was the stolen car?"
"It was a white VW van. Why?" Samantha asked, already guessing what Danny was talking about. This might turn out to be their first real lead on the case.
"The splinters are white as well. Without a test there is no proof, but I think we might look into this further."
"I agree. Any ideas where to start?" Samantha couldn't really see how they could find out who had been driving the car, if it had been the car that had killed Diane Durkin, and in a way her children right along with her.
Danny walked over to the police cars were Detective Dawson was enjoying an early breakfast of coffee and doughnuts. He held out the box of doughnuts to them. Both of them shook their heads. It was far to early for that kind of non-food. At least for people whose name was not Martin.
"Detective, where does this road lead? Is there a connection to the highway?"
"No. It just leads out to private property. There is a parking spot about half a mile from here. It's a popular starting point for hunters. About six miles further there is a farm or something. It's private property. Most of the forest around it is also privately owned."
"Thanks, I'll be checking out the area." Danny was surprised at how well they were working together with city law enforcement. Often inter-agency working relationship was strained enough.
Samantha and Danny got back into the car and drove further down the road towards the private property located at it's end. While Samantha was driving, Danny called in to the office to order background on the property and it's owner as well as any incident reports around the time that hit-and-run must have occurred.
FBI Missing Persons Unit, New York City
November 22, 8.30 p.m.
Jack's morning at the office was starting out quite well. He had been woken by a call notifying him that Tom Dyson, Diane's ex-husband had been brought in. He had been in lock up related to a drug bust in the Bronx. He hadn't had nay papers on him and the police had only identified him the previous night. The police had not been able to make any drug charge stick, so he had now been transferred over to the FBI for questioning regarding the disappearance of his ex-wife as well as child neglect. He met with Vivian at the office.
"He's already in. I was just waiting for you." She greeted him.
"You okay with questioning him?" he asked, referring to her reaction the previous day.
"Yeah." Vivian took a deep breath, not sure whether she could keep her cool this time any better. Of all the cases she had dealt with, she had hardly ever had similar difficulties in focussing on the facts of the case.
Mr. Dyson did not look well rested. Nor did he look pleased about his change of location.
"Good morning, Mr. Dyson."
"What the hell do you want from me? I had nothing to do with the drugs. I was just crashing at the place. I already told the police everything I knew. What do you want from me?" Tom Dyson repeated angrily.
"This isn't about the drugs. A week ago your ex-wife Diane went missing from her apartment. She left her children in the apartment when she went out to a club. She never came back. Your daughter and you son Robert died as a result of that. Your son Tom is in the hospital in critical condition. This is what we want to talk to you about." Jack elaborated.
Tom Dyson was silent. The news was hitting him somewhat hard, that was obvious. He probably had not thought about what might happen to the kids. But regardless of the news he had just received, his mannerism had not changed.
"This is the first thing I have heard about her being missing. Haven't seen her in months, Can't see why I would want to see that bitch again."
"!When was the last time you saw her?"
"When she got me thrown in jail, that's when."
"We have witnesses that claim that you saw her November 14, and that the two of you were fighting. You have scratched on your neck. Care the explain how you got there?"
"I don't known. Ask the police. They weren't exactly being careful when they busted in. Ever heard about police brutality." Tom Dyson asked sarcastically.
"Mr. Dyson two of your children are dead because their mother didn't come home again, You were the last person seen with Diane."
"I didn't do anything. I haven't seen the bitch in months, I already told you that. Why would I? She probably ran off with some guy. She never was big on looking after them. Used to have social services over all the rime."
"And you didn't think it was necessary to excel as a parent either. Paying alimony didn't occur to you? It would made have made the lives of your ex-wife and children a lot easier."
"I have no incomes, check my revenue statement." Tom Dyson seemed to start enjoying himself. If he had something to hide from them, he wasn't worried about them finding it out.
"We will, Mr. Dyson." Vivian said with little conviction. As perfect as Tom Dyson had looked as a suspect on paper, he somehow didn't give them the right impression. Sure he had been an irresponsible father and husband, but his reassurance that he had not had any contact with his ex wife seemed believable. But no matter what impression he gave, the DNA test would tell them more. Vivian didn't know who they would do without science and time honoured investigative work. Sure, instinct and getting a feeling for the people involved, helped in their line of work, but she saw the dangers in getting too emotionally involved. She had seen that only the previous day when she had allowed her judgement to be clouded by emotion. Time and a good nights sleep had allowed her to regain more control. She still craved to bring whoever was responsible for those terrible deaths to justice, but she had herself under control now. She took a deep breath and left the interrogation room. They had heard all that they were going to get from Tom Dyson.
Property of Liam Kendall, outside New York City
November 22, 9.45 a.m.
They had to park their car about thirty minutes ago when they had encountered a sign and a roadblock indicating that they were about to enter private property. Since there was no way to contact to owner at the moment they had decided to continue on foot. They had assumed that the farm Detective Dawson had mentioned was just around the bend in the road, but it became clear that this wasn't the case. They had been walking through the thick forest for a while now with no sign of any kind of farm or house.
"I just don't get this case." Danny said. "Nothing makes any sense. Nobody knew Diane, nobody noticed that she was missing, and nobody noticed that her children were looked up alone for a week, starving to death. I don't get this how no one could notice anything."
´
"No one wants to get involved with the problems of other people." Samantha said. "But there is a lot more that doesn't make sense. Diane deliberately left everyone in the dark. She had no friends and her parents still believe that she worked as a cashier. She had something to hide. It has to do with the cash in her apartment. Whatever she was doing, it probably wasn't legal and it was probably what got her killed. And she was the one who left her children alone in the first place." Samantha pointed out, trying to distract herself from her aching leg. After the stair climbing the previous day, her leg didn't take much pleasure in the hike through the woods.
"Maybe. But she couldn't have known the she was going to be hit by a car. You can't lay all the blame on her."
"No, you can't. It's not just one person. Of course, her killer is guilty, but her kids could have been saved if just one person had taken the initiative and made sure that everything was all right. Diane's parents should have done that. We need to talk to her father. Maybe he knows more than her mother, who isn't exactly well informed about her daughter, as it seems."
They followed another bend in the road and a building, set back behind trees came into view. It was impossible to see any details, trees were hiding most of the property. Slowing down, Danny and Samantha carefully approached the building.
"I don't see any cars. Maybe no one is home." Danny whispered, just in case they weren't alone.
Before Samantha had any change to reply, a shot exploded in the air above them. Samantha froze in shock. Suddenly, the cottage in the woods seemed unreal, all that she was certain of was the shot that had just been fired. It was all her mind could focus on. The shot echoed through her mind. Danny instantly yanked Samantha down to the ground with him as he dove for cover behind a tree.
"We're with the FBI. We just want to talk to the owner." Danny yelled, hoping that whoever had fired on them didn't intend to actually hit them.
"Are you okay?" he asked Samantha, who seemed dazed.
"Yeah, I'm fine. It's just my leg." That wasn't a lie. Her leg hadn't taken kindly to the sudden fall to the hard ground. But it wasn't the reason why she had frozen.
Danny knew that Samantha was lying, but now was hardly the time to press the issue. He got up carefully and waited. When no shots followed, he emerged from behind the tree, conscious of the risk he was taking. He had his gun raised and immediately trained it on the man who presumably had fired on them. A bearded man in his fifties, holding a rifle was standing in front of the houses main entrance.
"Put the weapon down, I'm a Federal Agent." Danny demanded
The man complied silently, tossing his rifle to the ground. Danny walked toward him, wearily eying the man, but detected no signs that he intended to make a move. Danny grabbed the rifle and let out the breath he had been holding. The situation had been tense and he could very well have been wounded her even killed. The realization sent a chill down his spine. This wasn't something he could just shake off with his usual cheerful manner. Samantha joined him from behind the tree. She was still looking pale and shaken, Danny noted worried.
"Who are you?" He asked their would be assassin.
"I'm Ronald. What are you doing here?"
"We want to ask you a few question. Is this your property?"
"No, my brother Liam owns everything. But he is away on business. I'm taking care of the property while he is away." Ronald spoke strangely mechanical and slow.
"Why did you fire on us? That's assault on a federal agent." Danny asked.
"My brother told me not to let anyone come here other than the people he said are okay." It became clear that Ronald was slow of mind.
"Did your brother tell you about a woman named Diane? Does he know her?" Danny tried to keep the question simple.
"I don't know. I'm not good with names." Ronald shrugged.
Danny turned to Samantha. She nodded, this wasn't going to be easy.
"I'm calling for back up. We need forensics here." Samantha got out her cell phone.
The Durkin's house, New York City
November 22, 3 p.m.
"Mr. Durkin?" Martin asked the man who had finally opened the door, after ringing repeatedly.
"Yes that's me. What do you want?" the man looked like he had just gotten up.
"We're with the FBI, I'm agents Johnson, this is Agent Fitzgerald. We like to have a word with you about your daughter." Vivian introduced them.
"They already called me. I have nothing to say to you." he was about to close the door in their faces.
"Please, it is important that we find your daughter, she could be in danger. Do you know where she is?"
"No, and I don't want to know."
"Can we talk to your wife then?"
"She's still at the hospital, went there as soon as they called about the grandchildren. She told me that you already talked to her yesterday. What more do you want from us."
"Two of your grandchildren are dead, Mr Durkin, and your daughter is missing. You should talk to us." Martin tried to reason.
"It's all her fault, This was just waiting to happen. She'd always been like that.
What is she like? Is she mentally ill. Please you need to tell us."
Vivian shook her head, this wasn't working.
"Mr Durkin, you either cooperate with us, or you'll be charged with obstruction of justice. "
This threat worked better than every attempt at reasoning. He unsecured the door and let them in. This wasn't a case where the children had surpassed the social status of their parents. The house was perfectly normal, middle class suburban, not like the inner city dump where his daughter lived.
"Please sit down", he led them to the couch, his demeanour having suddenly changed with the threat of criminal charges."
"About your daughter when was the last time you saw her or spoke to her?"
"I haven't seen her since last Christmas. It was the only tome she ever come by when I was round, She often comes when I'm not home. My wife is still trying to help her. It's pointless."
"What problem did your daughter have?"
"All of them, She been like that since she was young. Going out, spending money she doesn't have, taking drugs."
"What kind of drugs did she take?"
"Pills, all kinds of them, She went to a clinic when she was first pregnant, I have no idea whether she still takes them. She used to take all kinds of stuff. She was even arrested when she was seventeen. But they just let her go, She should have gone to jail, that would have straightened her out."
"Do you know whether she had been using any drugs presently?"
"No and I didn't want to know. She wouldn't have listened anyways. Not to me. You'll have to ask my wife about that."
"Any friends, boyfriends of your daughter, or places she frequented?
She's run, that right? She was married to some son of a bitch. Getting divorced from him was the best she thing ever did. But he'd to beat he and children r for two years before she finally did it. And even then it was only after he put her in the hospital with a broken nose and a concussion."
"What his name?"
"Tom Dyson." He spat out the name. "of he ever shows his face around here, he'll regret it. Ever since she was married to him , it only got worse."
"What got worse?" impatience started to appear in Vivian's voice,
"lost her job, stopped paying the bills, got her phone disconnected. But my wife would always jump in. But she was always using all her money on drugs."
"Mr Durkin, do you know any friends, anyone your daughter might have had contact with on a regular basis?"
"No."
´The rest of the interview was equally fruitless. It was clear that Mr. Durkin had kept out his daughter's troubled life. Discouraged, Martin and Vivian left.
"I don't believe this guy, he completely looses all interest in his daughter, including his grandkids?" Martin wondered as soon as they had stepped out in the street again."
"We see it every day. Maybe he had juts given up one day. We need to talk to her mother, sounds like she might tells us more. The father said she was a drug user, but we didn't find anything in her apartment, no pills, no other drug paraphernalia.
But what was all that money for?"
"Maybe she was saving. And she didn't take it to the bank because she earned it by doing something she didn't want the tax bureau to know about, or maybe nobody."
"That would mean that we're not looking for a fugitive but a victim?"
"No proof for either she could have just walked out when it all got too much, but she would probably have taken the money with her. Before we have confirmation on the body in the woods, we won't be able to tell. Hopefully Danny and Samantha will have news for us soon."
FBI Missing Persons Unit, New York City
November 22, 4 p.m.
Danny and Samantha had returned from their action filled morning in the woods. The reports from the pathologist would still take at least until the evening, but most probably until the next day. For now, they had enough paperwork to file in the wake of having been shot at. Forensics had uncovered the bullet from the rifle. It had been far off from hitting them. Ronald Kendall had been alone in the house and search had revealed nothing. Ronald was with social services at the moment. He had not been able to tell them were they might find his brother. As Danny had already suspected he was mentally retarded and as far as they had learned he had been in the care of his brother for decades. But that was all they had been able to ascertain for the moment. No link to the dead body had turned up. The car involved in the accident might very well have made a turn at the parking place and never reached the cottage. It was another dead end.
Samantha was angry at herself and frustrated about the case. It seemed so pointless sometimes. This morning had illustrated it. They had risked their lives for a dead lead in a case where in all likelihood there was no one left to find. It was all so random, it seemed. She got up and walked over to the window, aware the Danny's gaze was following her. He hadn't mentioned the episode at the cottage but his look was telling. The city was buzzing by in front of the window. What did their work matter to them? For who could they actually do something? Certainly not for Diane or their children.
Martin who had been sitting at his desk reading something, suddenly called for them.
"Danny, Sam, just got the report from forensics. From Diane's apartment. No trace of accelerant, but it was arson. They found the remnants of a lighter at the origin of the fire. No usable prints on the lighter. Print analysis from the rest of the house is still in the works. So far we have family members and several sets of unknown prints, we're hoping to find a match. No prints from the ex-husband yet. On the money there were traces of GHB. It looks like Diane was still into drugs. That would explain why she needed that much money."
"Sounds like a theory." Jack conceded. "We need to find her dealer. We'll start by getting info on all the known drug dealer in the neighbourhood, find out who is carrying GHB." Jack ordered just as Vivian returned to the office.
"I've got bad news." Vivian announced. " I talked to the DA, but there is nothing he can do. We have to let Tom Dyson go. The DNA sample is out of the question as well. "
"Let him go, you have to be kidding?" Martin asked.
"I wish I were. But because no one at the club is willing to testify that they were there, we have no more witnesses that place her with him. For all we can prove, he might as well not have seen her for months like he claims."
"Isn't there something else we can hold him on? What about that drug bust?" Martin still wasn't happy about the situation, as was everyone in the room.
"His tox screen is negative and there was no drugs found on him, so they can't charge him. He's a free man. Even he has rights" Danny said.
"We'll keep him under surveillance. "Jack suggested.
"I don't think that'll give us anything. I talked to the officer in charge of the drug operation. They had the place under surveillance for the last ten days. They never saw him leave. So I don't think he had her held hostage anywhere. He's not the type either. He might have killed her right there in the parking lot and then gotten rid of the body."
"I'll have the CSI team use luminol on the apartment of the drug bust. It's his only known place of residence. Maybe we'll get lucky."
"It's a big if. Even if they do find blood, without a DNA result it will not get us anything with the DA."
"Since this lead isn't working out, Danny and I found something else that might be of interest." Samantha announced.
"Yeah, this morning I made a request for any incident reports in the area where the still-unidentified body was found. What local police failed to mention to us what that the parking place about two miles from the dumpsite is a know out-of-the-city drug trading spot. Narcotics had two major operations going there in the last year alone. So we were thinking that since we still don't know what Diane was doing was the large amounts of money she was having in her apartment and she used to do drugs, maybe she was driving out there with her dealer. A fight turned ugly, she gets out of the car, or he makes her get out and then she's hit by a car. Maybe by accident, maybe not."
"That's all just speculative. We still don't have confirmation."
"I'll make a call down to forensics, maybe they already have the tox report on the DB in the forest." Danny offered.
"No need for that. I'll do that. I'll need to get down there later anyways." jack said. He was aware of the looks that Vivian and Danny shot him, but he didn't elaborate. Now was not the time to explain, he could still do that once he had the results of the forensics test on the threat note he had received. "In the meantime, martin, go over what we have again. Check all of her contacts from the phone records. Maybe there is something we missed. Samantha and Danny, check into Liam Kendall, his property and the drug angle."
Samantha sighed, she was going to be chained to her desk for the rest of the day. But she didn't feel that apprehensive about it today. Unlike yesterday, she didn't exactly feel overconfident about her ability to handle herself in the field. The memory of this morning was still vivid on her mind. The looks that Danny kept giving her ever since they had gotten back to the office had only confirmed that he had very well noticed what was going on and had drawn the right conclusions from it. She could only hope that he wasn't going to go to Jack because of it. More worry and concern from him was the last thing she needed right now.
FBI Forensics Labs New York State Division
November 22, 4-30 p.m.
Jack has left the office right after the meeting. The case didn't require his immediate attention, they had reached a temporary standstill while waiting for the results of forensic tests. But he had important matters to attend right now. He had handed in the anonymous note he had found on his car the previous night. He had requested that he be paged when the results were in.
Angie Wright, specialist for document analysis was already awaiting him in her small, cluttered office, filled with reference paper sample and books.
"Agent Malone, I've been expecting you. Here's the report on the note you gave me. I'm sorry, I don't have much for you. As you probably suspected, there were no prints on the paper. The printing was done with a laser printer, most likely newer model. With the number of new models on the market, we don't have a database for them. But when you find the printer, there may be a possibility for a positive match. The paper is standard as well. But one thing: there were traces of GHB on the paper. You author most likely frequents drug circles. I hope that helps you in your investigation." Angie shrugged and handed jack a Manila folder.
"Thanks for getting this done for me so quickly." Jack got up to leave.
"Agent Malone. I'll need to official case forms for this evidence." she reminded him.
"Of course, I'll get them to you by tomorrow."
Jack replied absentmindedly. There were no official forms, because there was no case. Not at the moment at least.
"There is no rush. Have a good night, Agent Malone." Angie said cheerfully before he left her office.
Missing Persons Unit, New York City
November 22, 6 p.m.
He was too late. She was already on her way out. He hadn't wanted to have this conversation somewhere in a corridor. Truth was he didn't want to have that conversation at all. He knew he had to bring it up, but still he didn't feel like he was in the right position to tell her. And more importantly, he worried about her reaction. She would be furious, hurt and angry. And that anger would be directed at him, at least in the heat of the moment. She was in a difficult situation. He had been there himself and knew how hard to was to get back to the same routine at work as before, In a way, it would most likely never happen, but hopefully she would find peace with what had happened. It wasn't going to come over night, but talking about it with someone outside would help. He needed to have that conversation, not just for Sam's sake, but also because of his responsible toward the work and the rest of the team. In the extreme case, it could cost them their lives. They had to be able to rely on another in the file, trust each othe with their lives. At the moment, he wasn't sure he could trust Samantha to keep her cool in a tense situation.
"Sam!" he called after her.
She promptly stopped, turning around to him. She gave him that familiar smile of hers, making it even harder to form the words he needed to say.
"Sam, I'd like to have a word with you,"
The smile was returned, by mild alarm.
"Sure. In your office? Her tone let him know that she knew that this was going to be unpleasant. He lead the way, hearing her steps behind him as she followed him into his office. He sat down at the edge of the table, searching for the right words, where he knew where none.
Samantha was getting more nervous every second. She knew that nothing pleasant was going to come up and she hadn't forgotten about Jack's reaction when he had met her at the scene the previous morning.
"I talked to Danny after you two got back from the scene this morning. He told me what happened at the cottage." he paused, not looking at her directly. Samantha didn't say anything, there was nothing she could say to defend herself because Jack was right. She had hesitated to pick up her gun when they had been at the property. Part of her wanted to lash out at him for bringing this up, but part of her saw his point. For the moment she managed to restrain herself. She decided to wait for what else Jack had to say.
"Samantha, it is very early after the shooting and maybe you should see someone about it. I want you to see someone about it. "
She didn't know what to say.
"I'll think about it." She finally replied evasively.
"That's not good enough, Samantha. I need you in the field at one hundred percent."
She nodded, having no intention to follow his advice unless he made it an order. She suddenly felt like a defiant teen-ager again. Jack, to her surprise, didn't continue to press the issue.
"It's been a long day. Maybe you should go home and get some rest." he said and grabbed his briefcase, ready to leave as well. He simply didn't feel up to discussing the question of professional help further with Samantha at the moment.
"Okay. Nothing to say against that." Samantha smiled and got ready to leave. The two of the walked to the garage, keeping several meters distance between them. They didn't have any plans together, those days were over, but still, after the OPR investigation, they had to do everything possible to avoid further suspicions of improper conduct
.Samantha's thought were still with her conversation with Jack as she exited the elevator and stepped into the garage. Jack who had been ahead for her was still there, he was standing hunched over the hood of his car. She couldn't see what he was doing, but it certainly struck her as more than a little odd.
"Jack, are you all right?"
Jack looked around, almost fearful. She had clearly caused him to jump.
"I'm fine, I'm fine." he said.
Samantha didn't believe him, but after their conversation earlier in his office, she didn't want to risk an argument by prying into his private affairs. But uneasiness stayed with her as she climbed into her car and drove home.
