Chapter Five

Ed led Sam into the elementary school. The minute she saw her father, Delinda jumped to her feet and ran over to him, hugging him tightly as she cried, "Daddy, I'm so sorry, I don't know what happened, I was here on time."

Ed gently rubbed his daughter's back, "It's okay, honey," he said quietly, his voice raw with emotion. "You didn't do anything wrong."

Sam looked around blindly, "Where's Luis?"

"Right here."

The trio turned around to find Detective Luis Perez walking into the office. "Ed, Sam, the first few hours are crucial. Luckily, the first few hours are also the time that the child is recovered. I've got my guys scouring the area and surrounding areas as well."

Sam nodded as she wiped a tear and sighed deeply, "Just find my little girl, Luis, please."

The Hispanic police officer nodded, "I won't sleep until she's found, you have my word."

Ed wrapped an arm around Sam and pulled him close to him as Perez briefly excused himself to direct some officers on where to go, "Fan out," he told them, "I want every square inch of the school covered. Classrooms, bathrooms, halls, the gymnasium, cafeteria, playground, parking lots... Everything. Anything that doesn't look right, bag it, but be sure to wear latex gloves so you don't get your prints on it." Turning his attention back to Sam and Ed, he looked at them, "Listen, why don't you two meet me downtown, okay? We can get everything done then."

"No," Sam said as she shook her head, "Jasmine may come back here, what if she comes back and nobody's here? She'll think we don't care about her."

"Honey," Ed said gently, "she didn't runaway."

The woman just looked at him before crumbling in tears. Knowing she was becoming unglued, Ed quickly brought her over to a chair and sat her down. Sighing deeply as he held her, the man squeezed his eyes shut, willing himself to stay strong for her sake. "Come on, sweetheart," he said quietly as he slowly stood her up, "Let's go and give Luis the information, okay?"

Nodding as she sniffled, Sam whispered softly, "Yeah."

Delinda watched as her father led her friend out and sat down, riddled with guilt. As he was leaving, Perez watched the woman sink down in a chair. "Delinda," he said softly as he walked over to her. Squatting in front of her, the man took her hands in his, "We'll find her," he said quietly, knowing she was beating herself up for it. "I promise. Nobody blames you either. I know Ed and Sam don't. How could you possibly have foreseen this coming?"

Nodding as a tear fell, she sighed deeply, "Yeah, I know. I'm just scared."

"Understandably so," Perez said quietly as he stood up. "Listen, you probably are in no condition to drive. Why don't you ride along with me, okay?" He held a hand down for Delinda.

Grasping at the offered hand, Delinda rose to her feet and nodded, "Yeah, okay, thanks."

Luis wrapped an arm around her shoulders as they walked out of the school.

"Hey, have you seen Ed?" Danny asked as he walked into the surveillance area with two cups of coffee. Handing one to Mike, he sat down. "He was supposed to check on something for me."

"Hey, man," Mike said as he took the cup, "Thanks. No, I haven't seen Ed at all today."

"Damn," McCoy said with a sigh as he sat down, "He was supposed to help me out with a problem my dad is having."

Looking at his friend, Cannon asked, "Something wrong with Larry?"

"I don't know," Danny admitted, "I hope not."

"Yeah," Mike said quietly, going back to looking at the monitors, "Me too." His eyes focusing in one on of the cameras, he said quietly, "Damn, talk about being ready to pop a kid out at any moment."

"Whoa," Danny said as he looked at the monitor, "How far along do you think she is?"

"Judging by that watermelon she's carrying around, my guess is she was due sometime last millennium."

"There's sensitivity at it's finest," McCoy muttered softly.

"Hey, I'm just thinking of the other players." Mike defended, "I mean, having that pregnant of a woman playing at the tables has to be a distraction."

Danny sighed as he grabbed a phone, "Yeah, it's McCoy, do me a favor, okay? Have a paramedic unit on stand-by, okay? We have a very pregnant woman at pit eleven, the excitement of her surroundings may cause her to go into labor." Rolling his eyes, he said, "Yes, John, I'm serious."

From where he was sitting, Mike snickered, causing Danny to give him a glare. Once McCoy was finished on the phone, he hung up and sighed, "Damnit, Ed, where are you?"

Luis filed Ed, Sam and Delinda into a conference room at the main headquarters of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. Once the trio was in the room, Perez closed the door behind them. "Can I get anybody anything? Soda? Water?" Glancing at Deline, he said, "Ed? Coffee?"

Ed shook his head no silently, as did the women. Sighing, Luis walked over and pressed the button on an intercom, "Can I get an officer in here, please?"

Sam looked at him, her face a mask of confusion, "You aren't going to lead this?"

"No," he said, "I am, but I just want to get an officer in here so they can take down some information."

The brunette nodded numbly and soon a uniformed police officer entered. Glancing at the detective, she asked, "Did you need me, Detective?"

Perez nodded in confirmation, "I need you to take down information."

"Yes, Sir," she said as she grabbed a legal pad and a pen and sat down. Luis Perez sighed softly as he looked at his friends. "Alright, Sam, I need you to explain to me, in as much detail as you can, what Jasmine wore this morning when you dropped her off at school."

Sam took a deep breath, "Oh god... Umm... bright pink cotton Capri pants... a little white button down tank top style shirt..."

"Was there any design on the shirt? Or any embroidery or anything on the pants?"

"Beads," Ed said quietly. "There was a little beaded fringe on the cuffs."

Delinda glanced at her father, surprised that he'd remember, or notice, such a minute detail. Sighing quietly, she wracked her brain to try and remember if she had seen Jasmine that morning.

"Sam?" Luis prompted, "Anything on the shirt?"

"The fabric had some little pink rosebuds embroidered on it, they matched the color of her pants... she had on white anklet socks and pink and white Nike tennis shoes..."

The officer in the room wrote everything down as Luis nodded, "Good," he said, gently patting Sam on the shoulder, "How was her hair fixed today? Down? Up? Curly? Straight?"

"Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail... it was curly... she had a pink ribbon..." Sam became silent as she remembered the last time she saw her daughter. Sighing deeply, she said softly, "I yelled at her this morning, she was messing around and we were running late..."

"Sam," Ed said softly, knowing what she was doing.

"I yelled at her, Ed," She said, turning to look at him, "I told her she needed to hurry up and get her ass in the car or else I was going to leave her at home." She put her head in her hands as she sighed deeply, a few tears streaking her face.

"You think you are the first person to tell a kid something like that, Sam?" Luis asked. "I can't tell you how many times I've told my nephews that if they didn't keep their mouths shut when the Lakers were playing than I'd shove one of my dirty, stinky gym socks into their throats."

"Did she have a backpack?" The female officer asked, trying to get everybody back on task.

Ed nodded, "Yeah, she had one, it was purple, it had some cartoon character on it, a few of them, actually."

"Any of them recognizable to you?" Luis asked.

Giving him a look, he said, "I don't follow today's cartoons."

"It was Dora," Delinda said, remembering the backpack. "It was that Dora the Explorer, and the monkey and fox."

"Swiper the fox," Sam said numbly, "and Boots."

Detective Perez sighed deeply, "Okay, do any of you guys have a recent picture of her?"

Sam grabbed her purse and took her wallet out. After thumbing through a small album, she found a picture of Jasmine at the Shark Reef at the Mandalay. Looking at the picture, the frazzled mother crumbled into tears, clutching the photograph close to her chest. Swallowing the lump forming in his throat, Ed reached over and wrapped his arms around a sobbing Sam as Luis gently pried the picture from her fingers.

"I'll get this distributed out and get it back to you guys as soon as I can," He said quietly, his heart breaking for his friends.

As Luis left, Delinda suddenly felt uncomfortable. Standing to her feet, she slipped out of the room wordlessly and sighed as she ducked into a hallway containing vending machines. Walking over to one, she slipped some coins into it and pushed a button. When her selection didn't come out, she began to kick at the machine, pounding it hard with her fists.

As he was walking back into the room, Luis spotted Delinda abusing the machine. "Hey, hey," he said as he ran over to her and wrapped his arms around her from behind, trying to calm her.

"Let go of me!" Delinda demanded as she tried to twist out of the man's arms.

"Calm down," Luis said quietly, "just calm down." Moving in front of her, Perez held her as the woman sobbed.

"My dad can't lose another child," she sobbed, "he'll die if he loses another one."

Unsure of what Delinda was talking about, Luis put a thumbtack on that in his mind, "He won't," he said softly, "We'll find her and she's going to be fine, I promise."

Pulling back, the blonde looked at him, "How can you promise something like that, Luis?"

Giving her a soft smile, Perez tucked a lemony lock of hair behind the woman's ear, "Because I believe it in my heart." Leaning in, he kissed her cheek and looked at the vending machine. "Did you want something?"

Delinda nodded, "A sprite."

"Okay," Luis said softly as he put some more money in the machine. "These things are like strippers," he explained, "They'll only give something up after putting enough money in them." He pushed the button and then bent over and grabbed the bottle and handed it to her.

"Thanks," she said softly as she twisted the cap off and took a drink.

Luis watched her, concerned, as she took a shaky breath. "Are you ready go back in there?"

Delinda nodded quietly as she let Luis lead her back into the room.