Disclaimer: without a trace is not mine. That makes me cry. A lot.
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"God, you're such a cliché, Jack," said Maria. "The middle aged guy who spends all his time at the office and ends up leaving his family for the pretty young blonde he works with."
"I'm not leaving my family," Jack said. "I just thought you had a right to know."
"A right to know? What about my right to expect fidelity in the first place?"
"How many times do I have to say I'm sorry?"
"Sorry doesn't cut it, Jack. This wasn't a one night stand with some woman you met in a bar. You fell in love with somebody you work with everyday. What happens a couple of months down the line if you decide you'd rather be with her? Will you start seeing her behind my back again or will you just up and leave?"
"I'm not going to decide I'd rather be with Samantha. I am staying right here with you. I promise."
"Yeah, you also promised to be faithful. Right now, your promises mean nothing."
"Give me another chance, I'm begging you. We can work through this."
"No. No, I'm tired of fighting for a marriage that you don't care about."
"I do care. I love you."
"Obviously not enough."
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Maria spent an hour driving around the city with Hannah and Kate in the back seat, waiting for them to fall asleep.
She and Jack had been married for 12 years. They had two children.
How could he do what he did and just expect her to forgive and forget?
She wanted to make him pay for it.
She wanted to make him sorry that he had ever met Samantha Spade.
When she was sure that the girls were sound asleep, she went to the nearest payphone. She called one of her clients, Tim Barret, and arranged to meet him.
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Maria looked into the mirror of her powder compact, examining the bruise that was starting to come up around her eye.
"Are you sure they're gonna believe he did that?" asked Tim.
"I'm sure," said Maria. "Everybody knows how important the kids are to him and that he has a temper. If I tell the police that I tried to leave with the kids, they'll believe me. It'll ruin his reputation and he'll really be sorry for screwing around."
"You really want to hurt him, don't you?"
"Yes."
"If you truly want to destroy his reputation, there is another way."
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"Hannah. Hannah, wake up sweetie."
"Mommy?" Hannah said, still half asleep.
"Hannah, listen to me. I have to go out. I'm gonna leave you and Kate here, but you have to promise me that neither of you will leave this room until somebody rings your dad, okay."
"Okay, Mommy."
"I love you."
"I love you too."
Maria left the motel room and drove away. It was too late to change her mind now. She had paid Tim 10,000dollars to help her and he was already working on his part.
She drove to the nearest bar and went in. She waited nervously at the bar for somebody that she could talk to.
After 10 minutes, and two neat whiskeys, a man came over.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
"Not particularly," she said.
"How did you get that?" he said, pointing to the black eye.
She started telling him the story that she and Tim had concocted.
Her husband had hit her when she tried to leave and it wasn't the first time he had done it; she had left the kids somewhere where they would be safe and now she was on her way back to tell him that it was over.
She hoped that this would work, that the missing persons unit would find this guy and he would tell them what she told him.
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Maria was waiting in the alley across the street, watching her apartment building.
Jack would be leaving for work soon. Tim had drained most of the gas from Jack's car so he would have to stop and fill it up, which would make him late for work.
She had used her copy of the key to get into his car, cut her arm and left blood in the trunk.
She saw Jack leave the building and drive away.
She ran across the street and went into their apartment.
As quickly and as quietly as she could, she made it look as though the argument she had with Jack had got out of control.
She ran out of the building, making as much noise as possible so that at least one person would hear her.
Outside, she got into her car and drove after Jack.
A few blocks away, as arranged, she fell into place behind a car that was identical to Jack's; same make, model, color, and fake plates with Jack's number.
Driving the car was a carefully chosen friend of Tim's. Maria smiled.
From a distance, it certainly looked like Jack at the wheel of his own car.
She pulled her car around in front of it and got out.
She began shouting at the driver, making sure that she called him Jack at least once, before she climbed in and they drove off.
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The real licence plates were back on the car and now Maria was heading out of the city in it.
She was thinking of what she had done. She was glad that she was making him pay for hurting her.
There were two things that bothered her.
Firstly, it had only just begun to sink in that she was leaving Hannah and Kate. Even if she and Jack were through, they were still her children. She didn't even know where they were. Had Jack taken them back to the office?
Had they witnessed their father being treated as a suspect in a murder investigation?
Or had they been looked after by another member of the team?
Samantha?
That was the other thing that was bothering her: Samantha.
Yes, she was getting her revenge on Jack, but she was letting Samantha get away with it.
She slammed the brakes on and did a u-turn, heading in the direction of FBI head quarters.
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Maria pulled up outside the building. She had seen the appeal on the news, so she knew that she was officially a missing person and she would not get clearance into the building without them alerting the missing persons unit.
She looked in through the front window. There were two receptionists at work. She knew one of them from the times she had come to visit Jack, but she had never seen the other one.
She waited outside until the one that she knew left and went in.
Maria asked her to call Samantha Spade down and, while she waited, she stepped away from the desk in case anybody recognised her.
When she saw Samantha standing by the front desk, she ran at her, knocking her to the ground.
Samantha screamed.
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A/N Again, sorry it took so long. Writers block came back! Anyway, only one more chapter to go after this. So, while you're waiting for the final instalment (which I will try and write quicker!), review this one. Pretty, pretty please. With a cherry on top.