Title: Lost...
Author: Katelynne
Rating: PG-13, for possible future adult themes.
Characters: Martin, Danny, Sam, Vivian, and Jack from Without A Trace and my own character Josie Sinclair.
Disclaimer. The characters from Without a Trace are not of my creation, but I use them with only the utmost respect. I don't think I'm very good at writing the crime portions, so I apologize.
Description: Calleigh Johnston disappears and the only clue is a recorded 911 call she made. After the case, Vivian and Marcus celebrate their anniversary by having a dinner party.
Category: General; Angst; Friendship.
Feedback: please, on list or off, laws4907@uidaho.edu
Calleigh Johnston had been missing no less than 31 hours when Josie walked into the office. Vivian walked up to her and said, "Thank goodness you're here. I need you to go over this 911 call."
"Good morning to you too, Vivian." Josie smiled good naturedly, "What am I looking for?" She asked, addressing the woman's concern. Vivian handed Josie a CD-R and explained, "There's a lot of background noise and we're hoping that if you can separate the different sounds there might be a clue."
Josie nodded, "I'll get right on it."
Vivian hesitated next to Josie's desk as the woman put her briefcase down. "Listen, I know this might be short notice, but Marcus and I are having a small dinner party for our anniversary this Saturday and I'd love it if you could join us."
"That sounds really nice, I'd love to come." Josie nodded.
"Just yourself," Vivian smiled, "We'll have cocktails at 6 and dinner at 7."
"Okay. I'll get right on this." Josie held up the disc and Vivian thanked her before heading off to find one of the other team members.
Josie sat at her desk and started up her computer, getting ready to start her day. While the machine booted up, Josie went to the break room and grabbed a cup of coffee; one sugar and skim milk.
Back at her desk, she slid the disk into the hard drive and began the analysis program. Quickly absorbed in her work she didn't even notice Martin standing in front of her desk until he cleared his throat. Josie looked up surprised, "Oh... hey."
"Hey," Martin smirked at her; "I've been so busy the past couple of days that I never got a chance to thank you for the pizza the other night. I was starving."
"Well, really, it was no problem." Josie shrugged, "There was way more than the Ryan and I could've eaten. Besides, it was the least I could do after you went out of your way to bring me my pager."
It was Martin's turn to shrug, "Actually, it wasn't really out of my way... I live two subway stops from you. That's why Jack asked me."
"Well, in that case, I want the pizza back." Josie teased him.
Martin chuckled, "Thanks again. I've got to go round up Danny so we can talk to Calleigh Johnston's mother."
"All right, talk to you later." Josie waved good-bye to him and turned back to her program. First she started by removing the static that was always on every recording. That would make it easier to pick out the individual layers. Soon she had three layers of individual sounds to examine; the 911 operator, Calleigh's panic-stricken voice, and the background. Josie proceeded to put the background noise in it's own window so she could work on it.
A few hours later, she had something noteworthy, so she set off down the hall to find Vivian. Within moments, she had tracked down the woman at Sam's cubicle. "Hey! I've got something for you, if you want to give it a listen." Sam jumped up out of her seat and the three women convened in Josie's cubicle. Josie sat down and cued up the portion of the call that was pertinent.
The sound was faint, but distinct. "That's a train departure announcement at Grand Central." Sam remarked. "Can you play it again?" Josie played it again for Sam.
Vivian spoke up, "It sounds like an announcement for the 6. That gives us a terminal, maybe someone will recognize Calleigh's picture."
Sam grinned at Josie, "Great job."
"Good luck," Josie called after the two agents.
An hour later, Sam and Vivian were at Grand Central Station showing Calleigh's picture to some of the Track 6 ticketing agents. "I remember her, because the guy she was with totally did not seem like her type." A college-aged kid told them.
Vivian pressed him for more information, "What do you mean, he wasn't her type?"
The man shrugged, "You know... he was older than her, kinda haggard looking. She seemed really antsy too. I thought maybe they were stoned or something."
Sam asked if the witness would be willing to come down and work on a sketch of the suspect. He shrugged non-commitally, "Yeah, sure... you'll clear it with my boss so I can leave work?" Sam sighed, "Of course..."
The next day, the sketch was shown to Calleigh's parents who recognized the man as a local grocery store employee, Jerry Lambert. A quick search turned up records for the Lambert, who had been convicted of sexual assault. He'd served time and was free on parole.
With a warrant in hand, Martin and Danny tracked Lambert down to his apartment. The NYPD officer they'd called in, waiting with Lambert while the two agents searched the small two room walk up. Martin's heart dropped like a stone into his stomach when he found a pair of girl's underpants with droplets of blood on them. He walked quickly into the other room and railed at Lambert, "Are these Calleigh's??? What did you do to her you bastard?!"
Danny reluctantly stepped in and held Martin back from losing it completely. "Let's take him in for questioning." He said calmly, even though his insides were burning with anger.
Once they got Jerry Lambert in the interrogation room, it didn't take long to break him. Lambert had seen Calleigh when he'd delivered groceries to her home and had begun to stalk her. The urge to make her his built and built up until it was too strong to resist. He had waiting for her to get home from a study date and had grabbed her in her own driveway. He had forced her at gunpoint to the train station, thinking he could control her until they were alone. He hadn't expected her to run. Unfortunately for Calleigh Johnston he'd caught up with her. Overreacting, Lambert had hit Calleigh with the butt of his gun. Calleigh would be 17 years old forever.
Two days later, the Johnstons had their daughter's body and some semblance of closure. The Missing Persons Unit had another case solved and unanswered questions about the capacity for evil that existed in some people.
Josie sighed heavily as she approached the door to Vivian's home. After the tragic closure to the Johnston case, it seemed strange to go on with life as if Calleigh Johnston had never been a part of it. The thought depressed her. I think about death far too much, Josie thought sadly as she rang the doorbell.
Vivian smiled warmly when she opened the door, "Come in out of the cold and let me take your coat." Josie entered the house and pushed away the dark thoughts that had been clouding her mind. It was time to celebrate her friend's anniversary; she couldn't let her own painful past affect that.
Vivian took Josie by the arm and led her over to where Marcus was mixing drinks for some of the other partygoers. She introduced the two of them and Marcus set Josie up with a glass of wine. Josie made some small talk with Vivian's husband and then stepped away from the bar when she saw Sam's blonde head. The woman looked preoccupied with her thoughts and Josie wondered what she was thinking about.
Sam stood off to the side, sipping her glass of wine and taking stolen glances at Jack and Marie who had just entered the room. She told herself she should be happy that they were working things out, but the selfish girl inside wished he'd chosen her. She spotted Josie walking toward her and quickly averted her gaze. "Hi!" She said overenthusiastically, "Nice party, huh?"
"I just got here myself, but it looks like a pretty good turnout." Josie glanced around the room, "It's nice that they have so many friends to help them celebrate." Her voice caught in her throat suddenly as the memory of similar parties that she'd never have.
Sam looked at Josie worriedly, "Are you all right?" Sam thought Josie looked like she was about to weep.
Josie shook her head, "It's nothing... just feeling a bit..."
Sam nodded, thinking she understood. "Yeah... it never gets any easier when the endings aren't happy."
"No, I suppose it doesn't." Josie took another sip of her wine, just as Danny came up to them with an attractive woman on his arm.
"Hi Sam, Josie." Danny smiled at them both, "I want to introduce you to Chris Sanders."
Josie smiled politely at the woman. Sam cocked her head, "The fire investigator? You worked with us on the McAllister case, right?"
Chris nodded as Josie excused herself. Walking over to the edge of the growing crowd, she found an unoccupied window seat and looked outside. Martin interrupted her memories, "Penny for your thoughts."
Josie looked up at him and smiled slightly, "Guess I was lost in my own thoughts."
"It happens, are you okay?" Martin asked her.
"Yeah... why does everyone keep asking me that?" Josie bristled slightly.
Martin held up his hands defensively, "Just making sure that you weren't upset about the case. Nobody would blame you. Hell, I'm upset about the case."
Josie softened, "I'm sorry... it's just, been a tough week." She couldn't expect him to understand that it wasn't just the case for her. Being at an anniversary party was a special kind of torment that she was forcing herself to endure.
"I take it you were able to find a babysitter on short notice?" Martin changed the subject, sensing that Josie didn't want to pursue that particular avenue of conversation. It's not the best topic for a party anyway, he told himself.
"Ryan is spending the night with his cousins tonight." Josie explained.
"Ahh... so, you have a sister or a brother?" Martin asked.
"Both actually", Josie smiled, "But the kids are my sister's. She lives in Jersey."
Martin was relieved to see Josie relax. Something about the look on her face when he'd seen her across the room had made her appear so fragile. Maybe it was the fact that she was alone in the world with a young son, or the fact that she had a haunted look in her eyes that Martin almost recognized. He felt like he needed to protect her from shattering. These thoughts caused him to suddenly blurt, "I hope you and I will become good friends."
Josie smiled gratefully, "I hope so too. I could really use a friend."
The End
Author: Katelynne
Rating: PG-13, for possible future adult themes.
Characters: Martin, Danny, Sam, Vivian, and Jack from Without A Trace and my own character Josie Sinclair.
Disclaimer. The characters from Without a Trace are not of my creation, but I use them with only the utmost respect. I don't think I'm very good at writing the crime portions, so I apologize.
Description: Calleigh Johnston disappears and the only clue is a recorded 911 call she made. After the case, Vivian and Marcus celebrate their anniversary by having a dinner party.
Category: General; Angst; Friendship.
Feedback: please, on list or off, laws4907@uidaho.edu
Calleigh Johnston had been missing no less than 31 hours when Josie walked into the office. Vivian walked up to her and said, "Thank goodness you're here. I need you to go over this 911 call."
"Good morning to you too, Vivian." Josie smiled good naturedly, "What am I looking for?" She asked, addressing the woman's concern. Vivian handed Josie a CD-R and explained, "There's a lot of background noise and we're hoping that if you can separate the different sounds there might be a clue."
Josie nodded, "I'll get right on it."
Vivian hesitated next to Josie's desk as the woman put her briefcase down. "Listen, I know this might be short notice, but Marcus and I are having a small dinner party for our anniversary this Saturday and I'd love it if you could join us."
"That sounds really nice, I'd love to come." Josie nodded.
"Just yourself," Vivian smiled, "We'll have cocktails at 6 and dinner at 7."
"Okay. I'll get right on this." Josie held up the disc and Vivian thanked her before heading off to find one of the other team members.
Josie sat at her desk and started up her computer, getting ready to start her day. While the machine booted up, Josie went to the break room and grabbed a cup of coffee; one sugar and skim milk.
Back at her desk, she slid the disk into the hard drive and began the analysis program. Quickly absorbed in her work she didn't even notice Martin standing in front of her desk until he cleared his throat. Josie looked up surprised, "Oh... hey."
"Hey," Martin smirked at her; "I've been so busy the past couple of days that I never got a chance to thank you for the pizza the other night. I was starving."
"Well, really, it was no problem." Josie shrugged, "There was way more than the Ryan and I could've eaten. Besides, it was the least I could do after you went out of your way to bring me my pager."
It was Martin's turn to shrug, "Actually, it wasn't really out of my way... I live two subway stops from you. That's why Jack asked me."
"Well, in that case, I want the pizza back." Josie teased him.
Martin chuckled, "Thanks again. I've got to go round up Danny so we can talk to Calleigh Johnston's mother."
"All right, talk to you later." Josie waved good-bye to him and turned back to her program. First she started by removing the static that was always on every recording. That would make it easier to pick out the individual layers. Soon she had three layers of individual sounds to examine; the 911 operator, Calleigh's panic-stricken voice, and the background. Josie proceeded to put the background noise in it's own window so she could work on it.
A few hours later, she had something noteworthy, so she set off down the hall to find Vivian. Within moments, she had tracked down the woman at Sam's cubicle. "Hey! I've got something for you, if you want to give it a listen." Sam jumped up out of her seat and the three women convened in Josie's cubicle. Josie sat down and cued up the portion of the call that was pertinent.
The sound was faint, but distinct. "That's a train departure announcement at Grand Central." Sam remarked. "Can you play it again?" Josie played it again for Sam.
Vivian spoke up, "It sounds like an announcement for the 6. That gives us a terminal, maybe someone will recognize Calleigh's picture."
Sam grinned at Josie, "Great job."
"Good luck," Josie called after the two agents.
An hour later, Sam and Vivian were at Grand Central Station showing Calleigh's picture to some of the Track 6 ticketing agents. "I remember her, because the guy she was with totally did not seem like her type." A college-aged kid told them.
Vivian pressed him for more information, "What do you mean, he wasn't her type?"
The man shrugged, "You know... he was older than her, kinda haggard looking. She seemed really antsy too. I thought maybe they were stoned or something."
Sam asked if the witness would be willing to come down and work on a sketch of the suspect. He shrugged non-commitally, "Yeah, sure... you'll clear it with my boss so I can leave work?" Sam sighed, "Of course..."
The next day, the sketch was shown to Calleigh's parents who recognized the man as a local grocery store employee, Jerry Lambert. A quick search turned up records for the Lambert, who had been convicted of sexual assault. He'd served time and was free on parole.
With a warrant in hand, Martin and Danny tracked Lambert down to his apartment. The NYPD officer they'd called in, waiting with Lambert while the two agents searched the small two room walk up. Martin's heart dropped like a stone into his stomach when he found a pair of girl's underpants with droplets of blood on them. He walked quickly into the other room and railed at Lambert, "Are these Calleigh's??? What did you do to her you bastard?!"
Danny reluctantly stepped in and held Martin back from losing it completely. "Let's take him in for questioning." He said calmly, even though his insides were burning with anger.
Once they got Jerry Lambert in the interrogation room, it didn't take long to break him. Lambert had seen Calleigh when he'd delivered groceries to her home and had begun to stalk her. The urge to make her his built and built up until it was too strong to resist. He had waiting for her to get home from a study date and had grabbed her in her own driveway. He had forced her at gunpoint to the train station, thinking he could control her until they were alone. He hadn't expected her to run. Unfortunately for Calleigh Johnston he'd caught up with her. Overreacting, Lambert had hit Calleigh with the butt of his gun. Calleigh would be 17 years old forever.
Two days later, the Johnstons had their daughter's body and some semblance of closure. The Missing Persons Unit had another case solved and unanswered questions about the capacity for evil that existed in some people.
Josie sighed heavily as she approached the door to Vivian's home. After the tragic closure to the Johnston case, it seemed strange to go on with life as if Calleigh Johnston had never been a part of it. The thought depressed her. I think about death far too much, Josie thought sadly as she rang the doorbell.
Vivian smiled warmly when she opened the door, "Come in out of the cold and let me take your coat." Josie entered the house and pushed away the dark thoughts that had been clouding her mind. It was time to celebrate her friend's anniversary; she couldn't let her own painful past affect that.
Vivian took Josie by the arm and led her over to where Marcus was mixing drinks for some of the other partygoers. She introduced the two of them and Marcus set Josie up with a glass of wine. Josie made some small talk with Vivian's husband and then stepped away from the bar when she saw Sam's blonde head. The woman looked preoccupied with her thoughts and Josie wondered what she was thinking about.
Sam stood off to the side, sipping her glass of wine and taking stolen glances at Jack and Marie who had just entered the room. She told herself she should be happy that they were working things out, but the selfish girl inside wished he'd chosen her. She spotted Josie walking toward her and quickly averted her gaze. "Hi!" She said overenthusiastically, "Nice party, huh?"
"I just got here myself, but it looks like a pretty good turnout." Josie glanced around the room, "It's nice that they have so many friends to help them celebrate." Her voice caught in her throat suddenly as the memory of similar parties that she'd never have.
Sam looked at Josie worriedly, "Are you all right?" Sam thought Josie looked like she was about to weep.
Josie shook her head, "It's nothing... just feeling a bit..."
Sam nodded, thinking she understood. "Yeah... it never gets any easier when the endings aren't happy."
"No, I suppose it doesn't." Josie took another sip of her wine, just as Danny came up to them with an attractive woman on his arm.
"Hi Sam, Josie." Danny smiled at them both, "I want to introduce you to Chris Sanders."
Josie smiled politely at the woman. Sam cocked her head, "The fire investigator? You worked with us on the McAllister case, right?"
Chris nodded as Josie excused herself. Walking over to the edge of the growing crowd, she found an unoccupied window seat and looked outside. Martin interrupted her memories, "Penny for your thoughts."
Josie looked up at him and smiled slightly, "Guess I was lost in my own thoughts."
"It happens, are you okay?" Martin asked her.
"Yeah... why does everyone keep asking me that?" Josie bristled slightly.
Martin held up his hands defensively, "Just making sure that you weren't upset about the case. Nobody would blame you. Hell, I'm upset about the case."
Josie softened, "I'm sorry... it's just, been a tough week." She couldn't expect him to understand that it wasn't just the case for her. Being at an anniversary party was a special kind of torment that she was forcing herself to endure.
"I take it you were able to find a babysitter on short notice?" Martin changed the subject, sensing that Josie didn't want to pursue that particular avenue of conversation. It's not the best topic for a party anyway, he told himself.
"Ryan is spending the night with his cousins tonight." Josie explained.
"Ahh... so, you have a sister or a brother?" Martin asked.
"Both actually", Josie smiled, "But the kids are my sister's. She lives in Jersey."
Martin was relieved to see Josie relax. Something about the look on her face when he'd seen her across the room had made her appear so fragile. Maybe it was the fact that she was alone in the world with a young son, or the fact that she had a haunted look in her eyes that Martin almost recognized. He felt like he needed to protect her from shattering. These thoughts caused him to suddenly blurt, "I hope you and I will become good friends."
Josie smiled gratefully, "I hope so too. I could really use a friend."
The End