27 Hours Missing
Peter Riegel had seemed very surprised to find two FBI agents at his door, but he let Martin and Vivian in without hesitation. Upon finding out that Kate was missing, he became very distraught and explained that the two of them had been seeing each other for some time, but because they were both in relationships, they had kept it quiet – which explained why Molly hadn't recognized the number.
"I still don't see what this has to do with me," Peter said, after the initial shock had worn off. "I'm happy to help, of course, but I don't know how much help I can be."
Vivian cleared her throat, took a deep breath, and said, "Anything you can tell us will help."
Martin narrowed his eyes. Viv seemed to be in pain. He'd noticed it before, but he didn't want to say anything. At least, he didn't want to say anything to Viv. He'd mentioned it to Sam, once or twice, and Sam had said that she didn't know anything. But the way that she said it made Martin think that she did know and just wasn't talking. If something was seriously wrong with Viv…
He broke off his train of thought when he realized that Peter was talking. He launched into the entire story of his and Kate's relationship. She'd come to his office because she was editing an article on NCAA basketball and needed to double-check the facts. They hit it off and started secretly seeing each other.
"It started out, it was just going to be a fling," Peter said. "We're both involved, but I haven't been happy with my girlfriend for some time, and she told me she thought her boyfriend was cheating on her."
Martin, whose thoughts had drifted during the story, suddenly snapped back to attention. "How long have you two been seeing each other?"
Peter pursed his lips. "About three months, I suppose."
Martin exchanged a look with Viv. Three months – the magic number. He turned back to Peter. "And did she ever mention her roommate?"
Peter rolled his eyes. "All she ever talked about was how everyone liked her roommate better than her." He ran his fingers through his hair. "Kate has major self-esteem issues. In the end, her lack of self-confidence was just too much. I couldn't handle constantly having to reassure her. I broke things off a few days ago."
Martin wondered if self-esteem was Sam's problem, too. Maybe she just couldn't understand why anyone would love her, and that was why she was so unwilling to admit that what she and Martin had what, in most parts of the world, constituted as a relationship. Hell, in Portugal, they'd be married.
"So you aren't together anymore," Viv said, and Martin had to force himself to tune back into the conversation.
"No," Peter said, shaking his head.
Martin sank back into the couch. They were still treading water with this case. All of their hot leads fizzled. He looked at Peter. "Can you think of any reason someone would want to hurt Kate?"
Peter shook his head again. "I can't, no." He paused, and there was a sudden, sharp intake of breath. "Unless it had something to do with that article she was working on."
Viv looked confused. "I thought you said it was about basketball."
"Well, yeah, basically. But there was a lot more to it. I mean, if someone knew how to use the information in that article, they could seriously make a lot of money."
Martin and Viv exchanged another look, and Martin couldn't help thinking that Molly apparently made a lot of money on NCAA basketball.
"Do you have a copy of the article?" Viv asked.
Peter nodded emphatically. "I'll go get it."
Apartment 4G looked much the same as it had earlier that morning, right after the call came in, with only one glaring difference – the words painted on the wall.
Sam couldn't take her eyes off the words. She gave an involuntary shudder as she thought of how the scene looked like something from a horror movie. A forensics expert had determined that they had been painted in blood – but it wasn't human blood, which meant that someone hadn't drained Kate to use her blood for paint. It was hardly a reassuring thought, considering the intent behind the words. The message was unmistakable – and dripping all over the carpet.
It was now clear to Sam that whoever had nabbed Kate hadn't done so because of anything she had done; they were obviously trying to get to Molly.
But why? What had the girl done that was so horrible someone had to resort to kidnapping – and possibly killing – her roommate? Something wasn't adding up.
And speaking of Molly, the important job of calming the hysterical roommate had apparently fallen on Danny's shoulders, judging from the way they were standing. She was in tears and didn't seem to be able to stand, supported only by Danny, who had wrapped his arms around her. Sam raised an eyebrow at the sight. Jack had mentioned to her that he thought Danny was becoming too involved with the case, but she had taken that to mean that he was taking it personally. They all had cases like that. Jack had Chet Collins, and she had Colleen McGrath. But it seemed as though Danny's "involved" was slightly different from theirs.
Sam instinctively glanced around for Martin, but he wasn't there. Viv wasn't either, but Sam already knew why – she was going to check out the sports agent. Martin had probably gone with her – most likely in an effort to put some distance between himself and Sam. He was obviously still upset with her. And perhaps he had a reason to be, but that didn't give him the right to act like a teenager.
She was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't notice Jack come up to her until he snapped his fingers in front of her face. "Hello in there," he said, grinning. He obviously thought he was funny, but she had never wanted to punch him more than she did at that moment.
"Been able to get anything out of Molly?" she asked. Business, Sam, she told herself. Stick to business. Jack doesn't need to know that you were obsessing about Martin.
Jack just gave her a look. "Does it look like we've been able to get anything out of her?" He shook his head. "Danny told me it took him five minutes just to get her to stop screaming."
Sam stifled a smile. "Oh, he pried himself away to talk to you, did he?"
"The shortest conversation I think I've ever had."
Sam glanced around the apartment. "So what do we know?"
Jack sighed in exasperation and buried his face in his hands. "Not much. Viv and Martin are going to call in after they talk to this Peter Riegel person, and Danny's been trying to get Miss Sheehan to talk for the better part of an hour. But as near as we can tell, whoever took Kate did so to get to Molly."
Sam's eyes came to rest on Molly, who looked horrible. She was still crying – so racked with sobs that her whole body was shaking. Danny cupped her face in his hands and spoke softly to her, obviously trying unsuccessfullyto calm her down.
"It's working," Sam said. She turned back to Jack. "She works for the CIA. Do you think this could be in retaliation for something she was working on?"
Jack shook his head. "I checked with her supervisor. After some cajoling, he admitted that she hasn't had any major cases for a while. She's been on hacker patrol."
Choosing not to wonder exactly what kind of "cajoling" the supervisor needed, Sam asked, "Hacker patrol?"
"She monitors the internet, trying to catch hackers and identity thieves. A pretty boring job, from what I understand."
Sam furrowed her brow in confusion. Why would they have someone like Molly doing something as mundane as that? Sam thought that she was supposed to be some kind of math genius. "Did he say why she hadn't had any major cases?"
Jack lifted his shoulder in a barely perceptible shrug. "A few months ago, someone broke into Miss Sheehan's college library and stole a bunch of theses – including hers. Apparently, her supervisor was afraid that someone would try and hurt her because of whatever she wrote about." He shot a pointed look at her. "We need to find out what was in that paper." He used his head to gesture at Molly. "And she's not being very cooperative at the moment."
"How many months ago?" Sam asked. "Three months?"
Jack screwed up his face in thought. "I think so, yeah."
Sam stared at Jack, slightly shocked. It wasn't like him to be so preoccupied that he missed something so important. All the odd behavior exhibited by both girls began about three months ago. Perhaps the theft of Molly's college thesis was the catalyst behind it all. Sam couldn't figure out exactly why, not without that paper, but it couldn't be a coincidence. Jack was right – they had to find out what her paper was on. And if Molly was incommunicative, they only had one other option. Or rather, many options, depending on the point of view.
"Her sorority sisters," Sam said.
Jack cocked an eyebrow. "Excuse me?"
"Her sorority sisters. One of them has to know what her thesis was about, right?"
Jack's eyes lit up. "Good thinking. She's got some numbers on that dry erase board over by the fridge. One of them has to be in her sorority. She said there are some on the island."
Jack watched Sam leave and bit the inside of his cheek in an effort to feel something besides the jealousy that was burning in the pit of his stomach. Sam had been so obvious, looking around the apartment for Martin, that Jack had finally just come right out and told her where he was. It shouldn't bother him – it really shouldn't, he and Sam had been over for years – but damnit, it did. He'd assumed, once his marriage dissolved, that he and Sam could pick up where they'd left off. But he hadn't quite known how to broach the subject, and after the deposition from hell, it didn't seem like the right time. But finding out about her and Martin, it was like getting punched in the gut – several times.
He glanced at Danny and Molly, and the sight of them just angered him all the more. It didn't look like an FBI agent comforting a victim; it looked like a boyfriend comforting a girlfriend. And even if Jack hadn't been pissed off with women at the moment, he still would have found the situation entirely inappropriate.
He stormed over to them, but they were so wrapped up in each other – and just the thought made Jack nauseous – that they didn't even notice him coming. He cleared his throat as loudly as possible and enjoyed seeing the two of them jump.
"You have news?" Danny asked, making no apologies for his behavior.
Jack grabbed him by the elbow and yanked him roughly away from Molly, dragging him several feet until they were among a throng of police officers. "What are you doing?"
Danny raised his eyebrows, apparently confused. "I'm talking to you."
"That's not funny. Your behavior is completely inappropriate."
"I'm calming her down," Danny said. There was a challenge in his tone that Jack secretly hoped he gave in to. As the person Jack really wanted to punch wasn't there at the moment, Danny was the next best thing. "That's what you told me to do."
Jack licked his lips and clenched his hands into fists. "I didn't tell you to fondle her."
Danny's eyes widened so much that his eyebrows disappeared into his hair – and as Danny didn't have much hair, that was saying something. "What?"
"You were groping a suspect in an ongoing investigation," Jack said through clenched teeth.
"I was not groping her," Danny said, in a voice that could only be called a growl. "What's gotten into you?"
Jack poked Danny in the chest. "You are way out of line."
A small voice in the back of Jack's brain told him that he was being irrational, that Danny hadn't done anything wrong, and that he was only displacing his anger with Martin and Sam onto the nearest available target, but at the moment, he didn't give a rat's ass, because the anger was liberating. He hadn't felt this good in a long time.
Danny looked incredulous. "I'm out of line? I'm just doing my job."
Jack made a noise in the back of his throat. "I see. So now your job description includes screwing – "
He didn't get to finish that statement, as Danny's fist hit him squarely in the jaw. Jack stumbled backwards into some random officer, then gathered his strength to throw a punch at Danny. But someone – the police officer he'd bumped into, most likely – grabbed him and held him back. Another officer was doing the same to Danny, and Molly, who looked remarkably composed for someone who'd been bawling her eyes out only moments before, stepped between the two of them.
"What is wrong with you two?" she asked, whipping her head back and forth to glare at both of them in turn. "You're supposed to be professionals, and you're acting like hopped-up teenagers. So unless you two are fighting about who gets to be the one to tell me that you found my roommate, you better stop right now before you break any more of my stuff."
She turned around, jerking away when Danny tried to grab her, and stomped off, presumably disappearing into her bedroom, because seconds later Jack heard a door slam.
Danny narrowed his eyes menacingly at Jack. "Feel better?" he asked in a snarl, before going after Molly.
Jack rubbed his jaw and winced. He didn't feel better. In fact, he felt about ten times worse than before.
A/N: The whole Portugal thing is something my friends and I used to do in eighth grade. I can't remember where we got it from, but at 14, I thought it was hilarious. Which should tell you something about the kind of kid I was.