Continued from chapter 13
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Raising his head, Jack spotted Samantha exit the elevator at the far end of the corridor and walk toward him, carrying a styrofoam cup in each hand.
"Sorry," she spoke as she reached him, handing him one of the cups. "This is the best I could do, but drink it at your own risk. All the decent places have closed."
Glancing at his watch, Jack sighed, accepting the offered cup. "Well, at this hour I´m impressed you managed to get your hands on any coffee at all." He took a sip, cringing. "If you can call this coffee."
Releasing a low chuckle, Sam sat down on the floor beside him. "Don´t say I didn´t warn you." She took a sip herself and made a disgusted face. "Coffee? More like battery acid."
"And you would know how?" Jack inquired with a small grin, then added, "Never mind, I don´t want to know."
Sam just shot him an enigmatic smile over the brim of her cup, swallowing down more coffee and with another sigh, Jack followed suit.
It was long past midnight and they had been waiting in the corridor outside James Crowther´s apartment since late evening. They had banged on the door long and loudly enough to rouse the attention of several of his neighbours, and one of them had been able to tell that he had left earlier in the day. However, Jack had decided he wasn´t leaving without having spoken to the man, so they had camped down on the floor, killing time with mindless chatter, heavily contested games of battleships and the occasional phone call from Danny to get them up to speed with the questioning of Erick White´s girlfriend and friends. Of course, by now both Danny and Martin were sound asleep, and Sam and Jack had been left to their own devices fighting both boredom and fatigue with increasingly bad jokes and cups of weak coffee from the nearby diner.
Both having finished their coffee, there was a moment of silence before Sam spoke, "Do you remember Mrs. Thompson in 3B from earlier? I think she thought us crazy sitting out here." She debated mentally with herself for a few seconds, then kicked off her shoes, her jacket already discarded hours earlier. "She looked like she wanted to call the cops on us."
Jack, who was also down to his shirt, leaned his head back to stare up at the ceiling. The faintly flickering night lighting in the corridor was dim to say the least, casting interesting shadows on both them and the wall. Following one displayed across the ceiling, he replied wryly, "To be fair, I think we´re crazy, too, but we need to find Leo Altman and Crowther´s the best chance we have." He looked down again, turning slightly to look at her and speaking with a smile, "You could have gone home, you know. You didn´t have to stay as well."
"Ah…" Sam just shrugged, staring absentmindedly at the opposite wall. "By the time I would´ve gotten home it would be too late for me to get much sleep anyway. Besides, it´s not like I have anything better to do."
Jack only nodded, not finding a better response. Soon he too was staring at the opposite wall as if the cream-coloured wallpaper was the most fascinating sight ever. His mind began to drift and he felt his eyelids grow heavy despite the amount of coffee he had had when Samantha´s voice brought him right back.
"Um… Jack. Can I ask you something?"
"Sure," he turned to her, but she was still looking ahead.
"Did…" she hesitated, glancing at him out of the corner of her eye before continuing. "Did Martin ever say anything to you?"
"About what?"
That at last made her turn her head to face him and she stated in a weary voice, "You know what."
And he did. He had just wanted her to say it out loud. Seeing the look in her eyes, however, Jack decided to keep it light. Sending her a smile he hoped came across as mellow, he answered as honestly as possible, "He might have said a thing or two. Nothing serious."
Sam stared at him, her eyes widening as a flush spread on her cheeks, and Jack wondered if she had always been able to read him that easily. "Oh my God!" She buried her face in her hands for a moment before looking back at him. "I´m sorry, Jack. I never meant for anything like that to happen."
"I know," he spoke soothingly and even though he felt her plight, he couldn´t help but be vaguely amused by her mortified expression. "I can handle Martin just fine. Besides…" He shrugged. "It´s not like I didn´t deserve it."
"I should have told him not to take it out on you."
Jack acknowledged her words with another shrug. "Maybe, but I doubt it would have made much of a difference. In any case, Martin needed to get some stuff off his chest and now he has. It´s probably for the best in the long run anyway."
She looked at him, unconvinced, and Jack´s first impulse was to reach out to her, but he held back and instead spoke with as much sincerity as he could muster. "Relax, Sam; it´s okay. No harm done. Martin will get over it, and as far as I´m concerned, nothing ever happened. The slate´s clean."
"You won´t hold anything against him?"
Jack half smiled, hoping to cheer her up. "No more than I usually do."
It worked, as she gave him a pale smile in return. "Okay." She searched his eyes for a little while longer as if to make absolutely sure, then leaned her head back against the wall. Gazing upwards, she sighed quietly and said, "I guess it´ll all get easier with time."
It was more rhetorical than anything, but Jack answered nonetheless, "That´s usually the way it works." He watched her profile for a couple of seconds, then blurted out, "What exactly did you tell him?"
It was one of those questions he knew he shouldn´t ask, but he felt somewhat justified since she had been the one to bring it up. Still, he worried about her reaction, but she didn´t seem to mind and just replied tiredly without looking at him, "The truth."
"I see." Her answer didn´t help Jack one bit, but he decided not to press further. They were both exhausted and it would be only too easy for either of them to do or say something the other could misconstrue. However, he was not quite ready to let the subject go. Searching his mind for an approach, he finally spoke, "Why Martin?"
Sam didn´t react at first, then she slowly turned her head back toward him, her expression difficult to read. Jack suddenly wished it wasn´t so damn dark in the corridor. "Why not? Most women I know would think him quite a catch," she added, almost challenging.
"Well…" Jack cleared his throat to gain time, strongly regretting he ever uttered the question. "I was just wondering if-"
"If it was just convenient?" she interrupted and he didn´t need to have proper lighting to tell from her face that she was getting angry. "That´s what you´re thinking, isn´t it?"
"No," Jack hurried to object even though the thought had crossed his mind once or twice since he first discovered Samantha and Martin were seeing each other. "That´s not what I meant. I was just curious since he´s so… well, different from…" He trailed off, kicking himself mentally for ever having opened his mouth. This was exactly what he had wanted to avoid.
"From you?"
He paused, unsure what to do, but then admitted, feeling a little sheepish, "Well, yes."
"Perhaps that was the point."
Both her tone and her words were intended to hurt and she succeeded, causing Jack to break eye contact and turn away. A few moments passed, then he felt a hand gently touch his shoulder. "I´m sorry."
Jack closed his eyes briefly, then took a deep breath and turned to her, a bittersweet but genuine smile on his face. "Again, no harm done."
She studied him thoroughly, seeking reassurance that her apology had indeed been accepted. Finding it, Sam sighed, smiling regretfully. "The two of us really shouldn´t be allowed to be alone together. Or maybe we should just quit talking to each other altogether. Might be easier."
A small grin showed on Jack´s face. "Might be." He grew more serious. "I wouldn´t want that, though."
"No," she smiled faintly again, leaning back against the wall and holding his gaze. "I wouldn´t want that either."
For the second time in 24 hours a companionable silence fell between them.
/-
"Sam? Sam? Samantha? Wake up." Jack watched as Sam´s eyes reluctantly flickered open, fixing him with a bleary-eyed stare. "I´m sorry to wake you, but if you continue to sleep in that position you´re going to have a severe crick in your neck in the morning."
She stifled a yawn, then craned her neck as she straightened up beside him, abruptly wincing from the movement. "I´m afraid that´s too late already. Damn. How long have I been asleep?"
Jack checked his watch. "A little more than two hours; it´s almost 4:30."
"Still no sign of either Crowther or Altman I take it."
"Nope, not one."
Raising a hand to rub her stiff neck, she shot him a little embarrassed but endearing smile, "Sorry about falling asleep on you by the way."
"That´s all right," Jack smiled back. He hadn´t minded it one bit. In fact, he had rather enjoyed the sensation of her leaning against him all relaxed and unguarded. Which was probably why he let her sleep in that position longer than he should. "You were tired and I´m sure my shoulder´s a very comfortable place to sleep."
"Oh, it is," Sam murmured, preoccupied with loosening up her tight neck. Closing her eyes, she turned her head carefully sideways, but not carefully enough. "Ow!" A crack loud enough for Jack to hear made him grimace in sympathy.
"Sorry."
She opened her eyes again, sighing, "Well, it´s not your fault." She looked as though she was about to say more when something else occurred to her. Regarding him thoughtfully for a moment, a slow, mischievous smile began to spread on her face.
"You know, in the past you would have offered to rub my neck by now."
Both Jack´s eyebrows skyrocketed and Sam´s smile broadened as she watched him search for a response.
"Well… I… I guess so, but that was before-"
"Relax, Jack." She leaned toward him, bringing their faces close together and whispering conspiratorially as if she was divulging a big secret, "I´m just messing with you."
This time, just one of his eyebrows rose and he gave her a look, but his words were filled with good-natured teasing when he spoke, "You think you´re so funny, don´t you?"
"Sorry." She moved back a little again, but she was still smiling and looked completely unapologetic. "When I´m this tired, I just can´t help myself."
"What would you have done if I´d offered?" Jack heard himself ask in a tone of voice he had sworn he would never use with Samantha again.
She recognized that tone he could tell, her entire body subtly tensing up and her smile slowly vanishing.
Various expressions flickered quickly across her face and her lips moved soundlessly a few times. Jack thought he saw her eyes grow darker, but it could just be his imagination. When she finally answered, it was in a near whisper, "I don´t know."
She licked her lips nervously and Jack felt an instant rush of desire. Trying to ignore it, he said almost gruffly, "You shouldn´t tease."
She recognized that tone, too.
"No." She swallowed, but didn´t break eye contact and neither did she move away. "I shouldn´t."
Jack searched her eyes, looking for something, anything, to decide his next move. He found a lot of answers, but there were just as many questions, and he began to feel the same kind of frozen indecision which was clearly affecting Sam. Then she licked her lips one more time and he had his answer. It might not be hers, but it was his.
"Samantha, if you don´t move away within the next five seconds, I´m going to kiss you."
His softly spoken words sounded both like a promise and a plain statement of fact.
She blinked in response and let out a low gasp of – he didn´t know, surprise perhaps – but still she didn´t move.
"Five."
He watched her lips part slightly. It distracted him and several seconds ticked by in silence.
"Four."
He hadn´t spoken. It was she. He almost didn´t recognize her voice and it was nearly inaudible, but it was she.
It made him smile, but his smile faltered when she didn´t return it, and for a moment, he felt almost paralyzed by the intensity of the gaze directed at him.
"I think my five seconds must be up by now."
It was she again and Jack was relieved as he had suddenly found himself at a loss for words. But before he could either do or say anything, the low bling signaling the arrival of the elevator was heard in the otherwise silent corridor. Then he heard the sound of the doors sliding open, followed immediately by the sound of someone stepping out and walking towards them. However, it wasn´t until he had felt Samantha´s slow exhale graze his face and seen what could only be described as disappointment emerge in her eyes, that he turned his head to see who it was.
It was James Crowther.
For one of the first times in his life, Jack wished for another person to get lost - utterly and truly, never-to-be-found-again lost.
/-
James Crowther didn´t seem the least surprised to see them outside the door to his apartment in the wee hours of the morning, and if he thought anything strange about the position he found them in, he kept it to himself. He just gave the disheveled looking agents a nod when he reached them, unlocked the door and stepped inside, leaving the door wide open for them to follow.
Grabbing his jacket, Jack got to his feet quickly, putting it on and straightening and tightening his tie. Samantha was busy doing similar things with her own clothing. He tried to catch her eye before they entered Crowther´s apartment, but she wouldn´t look at him.
Crowther was standing in the middle of the room that was part living room, part kitchen. His arms were crossed and he watched them patiently, the expression on his face haggard but composed.
"Mr. Crowther-" Jack began, but he was interrupted before he could explain why they were there.
"Have you found Leo?"
Jack turned to Sam in surprise, but she was still looking at Crowther, so he just said, "No, we were hoping you could tell us where he is."
James Crowther sighed, running a hand through his thinning hair. "No, I´ve been out all night looking for him myself.
"Why?" Sam asked and Crowther´s gaze moved from Jack to her. Both agents could tell he was struggling with himself what to say, but then a look of resignation showed on his face and he muttered reluctantly, "Because I´m worried."
"Why are you worried, Mr. Crowther," Jack spoke, taking a step closer to the man. "And why did you naturally assume we were here about your nephew?"
"Because he´s missing!" Crowther´s outburst seemed both out-of-character and overly defensive. "And you guys deal with missing people."
Jack stepped even closer, speaking in a tone that clearly indicated this wasn´t the time to test his patience. "Yes, that´s true, but that´s not really the reason, is it? First of all, no one´s reported Leo Altman missing yet, not you or his mother, so technically we really wouldn´t know that he´s gone." He stared into Crowther´s increasingly uneasy eyes that kept flickering back and forth between him and the door. Deciding he would gain more by pushing less, Jack moved away a little to give him some space and said with a sigh, "Look, Mr. Crowther, it´s almost five in the morning and Agent Spade and I have been here all night. We´re tired and just want to get this over with so we can get out of here, and I´m sure you want us out of your hair as well. I know you don´t like us and frankly I´m not so fond of you either, so why don´t you just save everybody´s time and tell us the real reason why you´re worried about your nephew?"
"You tried to pin Deborah´s death on me." James Crowther sounded almost petulant, glaring at both Jack and Sam. "I told you again and again, I didn´t have anything to do with it, but you just wouldn´t listen. Why should I trust you now?"
"Because somebody did kill Deborah Harrison, Mr. Crowther," Sam spoke quietly from behind Jack´s back. "Somebody did place his hands around her neck and squeezed hard enough to crush her windpipe and someone did dump her body under a bridge like she was just another piece of garbage." She stepped around Jack, walking to stand right in front of Crowther, but her demeanour wasn´t threatening. Sounding almost kind, she continued as he stared at her with avid fascination, "From all you have told us, it seemed clear that you truly cared about her. Was that just an act?"
"No," he mumbled, glancing down at his feet. "I did. She was always very nice."
"Then why don´t you help us out here? You´re worried about your nephew, right? Why is that? Do you think something has happened to him, or does he know something he-" Sam abruptly stopped herself as realization hit her. Looking into his eye, she could tell that he knew what she was thinking and somehow it seemed to calm him down. Or maybe he was just relieved.
"I didn´t want to believe it," he spoke very quietly and Sam saw the pain etched across his face. "I just didn´t. He´s family after all, and he deserved a chance just like I did back then. I straightened myself out and so could he. It wasn´t too late for him. I…" He faltered, then looked Sam straight in the eye, whispering, "I did everything for that boy."
"What makes you believe that your nephew has anything to do with Deborah Harrison´s death?" Jack asked, apparently on the same page as the rest of them.
"Little things. Things he said, or he did, but it was never enough to… it was never enough…" His eyes pleaded with Sam as he spoke even though Jack had been the one to ask the question. "He deserved a chance."
"He tried to implicate you," Jack remarked, not sounding the least sympathetic. He was way past empathy at this point. "He let you rot in a cell. Despite everything you have done for him, he would´ve let you go down for murder. And yet, you still protected him."
"He´s family," James Crowther just said as if that explained everything, turning his gaze to Jack. "And I didn´t know… I didn´t want to believe it."
Jack regarded him in silence for a moment, then simply asked, "What changed?"
"Erick White came by. He was looking for Leo. He said all this stuff about making him pay for what he did. He was really out of it. I tried to calm him down, but he stormed out as soon as he realized Leo wasn´t here."
"When was that?"
"Some time around noon, I think. It really bothered me. I mean, I didn´t want to think that… Well, that´s why I went out looking for Leo. I wanted to, well, ask him and also make sure that nothing would happen."
"Nothing would happen?" Sam spoke up, drawing James Crowther´s attention back to her. "You´re afraid that Erick White may harm your nephew?"
Crowther nodded quickly and he seemed almost eager to help them now, but whether that was out of concern for Leo or because he wanted justice to be served was impossible to gauge. "Yes. I´ve never seen Erick in a state like that before."
Jack and Sam exchanged a look, making eye contact for the first time since entering the apartment. Silently agreeing, they looked back at him and Jack said, "We need you to come with us into the office."
"Now?" Crowther was flabbergasted. "But I have been out all night searching for Leo; I haven´t had any sleep at all. Can´t it wait?"
"No, it can´t," Jack informed him flatly. "Change your clothes if you like and get some water on your face, but that´s all there´s time for."
He was clearly about to argue, but Sam stopped him in his tracks. "Mr. Crowther, in case you haven´t realized it, you´re really pushing the envelope right now. You´re lucky we haven´t arrested you for conspiracy to commit murder or just plain old obstruction of justice. Agent Malone and I are just as tired as you and I would strongly advice you to stop making our lives more difficult."
His mouth fell open as if only just realizing he could be in trouble himself, but one look at the agents´ faces told him that arguing his case with them now really wouldn´t be a good idea. Instead he nodded, speaking quickly, "Okay, I´ll just change my shirt. I´ll be right back." He left, disappearing into what was presumably his bedroom.
"So," Sam turned to Jack, keeping her tone low so that Crowther wouldn´t hear. "What do you think?"
Jack sighed and Sam wondered if she looked as tired as he. She probably did. "Well, my mind isn´t working at top speed," Jack admitted with a touch of humour in his voice that had been absent while James Crowther was in the room. However, there was no trace of it as he continued, "But I think we´d better find Erick White very soon. And when we find him, chances are we´ll find Leo Altman, too."
They were both really too exhausted to properly discuss the new developments and so they just fell silent, impatiently waiting for Crowther to return. Walking around aimlessly, Sam stopped in front a picture on the wall, studying it with disinterest.
"I don´t know how you do it."
"Do what?" She asked absently without turning around.
"Manage to look so beautiful at this hour when everyone else is looking like crap."
She didn´t turn around at first, but when she did, Jack could tell she was flattered although she was trying to hide it. "Thank you," she gave him a faint smile. "You don´t look half bad yourself."
Jack just rolled his eyes in response and it made her laugh softly. Stepping over, she wordlessly reached up to straighten his collar.
"You have done this before," Jack commented quietly.
"Yes, I have," she acknowledged just as quietly.
She rested her hands on his shoulders for just a moment, looking into his eyes, then, almost reluctantly, she stepped away. Before Jack could speak, James Crowther reappeared and the three of them left the apartment without anything else being said.
TBC…