Chapter Eight

"Oh shit!" Ed exclaimed when he woke up with a start. Sighing, he quickly looked down and found Sam sleeping soundly. Easing himself out of bed, he walked out of the room and into the his office where he picked the phone up and dialed a number.

"Yeah, give me surveillance, please, this is Ed Deline," he said once the person on the other end of the phone had picked up. Seconds later, he said, "Danny, I totally forgot, I have your money. I'm sorry I didn't think of it earlier, it just slipped my mind." He paused as he listened to his protégée. "Yeah, swing by the house and I'll get it to you." Deline smiled softly as he shook his head, "Quit saying that, okay? You don't have to worry about paying me back, buy me a steak at Mystique one night and we'll call things even." The man nodded as he glanced down at his desk, "Yeah, I'd better get off this line in case if somebody tries to get through, I'll see you in a few hours, okay?" He hung up the phone and sighed deeply and then jumped when he felt a pair of hands come up from behind and rest on his chest.

He turned around and looked at the brunette woman who had mysteriously appeared behind him. "I thought you were sleeping."

"I thought you didn't get into the financial affairs of your employees?" She shot back with a quirk of her brow.

Ed chuckled quietly, "Danny... His father's in some sort of a jam so I told him I'd help him out."

Sam's brow furrowed, "How bad of a jam?"

"Thirty grand,"

The woman winced, "I hope things get better for him, Larry's a good, decent man."

"Yeah," Ed agreed, "There are so few of us too."

She smiled softly at him, "Yeah,"

Placing an arm around his girlfriend's shoulder, he led her down the stairs, "How are you feeling?"

"Okay," she admitted, "worried, scared, nervous..."

Ed nodded, "I know, me too. I'm glad you slept though, you needed it."

Sam nodded, "Yeah, you did too." She sighed when they got down to the kitchen. Drumming her nails on the counter, she looked at Ed, "You think it'd drive Luis completely out of his mind if I called for an update?"

"You know what?" He asked her as he reached into the fridge and grabbed two Coronas, "I don't care if it sends him all the way to the loony bin, call the man."

She nodded as she reached for the cordless phone and dialed the number to the police station. After asking for Luis' extension, Sam swiveled around on the barstool.

As Sam made her call, Ed twisted the caps off the bottles and placed one in front of Sam and took a drink out of his beer. It was only after he felt the alcohol slide down his throat, that Deline wondered where it came from. Knowing that he and Sam weren't beer drinkers, he had to scratch his head in puzzlement. A few moments later, he heard the beep of the phone and saw Sam set it back down.

"Nothing?"

She sighed as she shook her head no. "This is a nightmare."

Setting the bottle down on the counter, Ed walked over and hugged her, "She's gonna be found, Sam."

"I'm just..." she ran her hands through her dark hair, "so damn frustrated! I have this urge to just break something, completely trash a hotel room or something."

Feeling her frustrated rage, Ed looked around and spotted a platter. Grabbing it, he threw it down with force on the tile, watching it shatter. Grabbing some bottles of wine, he handed them to Sam, "Break away."

Looking at him in shock, Sam suddenly felt herself blush, "Ed, I'm not going to destroy your home."

"This is all materialistic, Sam," he said, taking one of the bottles and throwing it against the wall. "Come on, break some stuff. It's a good way to vent and get out our anger and frustration."

Looking around, Sam spotted a decorative pitcher on a shelf. Pushing herself off the bar stool, she grabbed it, "I've always hated this ugly thing."

"Me too," Ed agreed, "break it."

Without hesitation, she threw the pitcher on the floor, cringing as it broke. Letting out an anguished cry, she propped her elbows down on the tiled counter and put her head in her hands.

Staying where he was at, Ed felt the strings of his heart tugged as he watched, and listened, to the gut wrenching sobs escape from the woman that he loved.

Detective Luis Perez walked back into the conference room after taking the call from Sam Marquez. Sighing deeply, he ran a hand through his dark brown hair and looked down at the many images of Jasmine Marquez which littered his desk.

"Hey,"

Luis looked up in his doorway and found Delinda Deline standing there, holding a box of what appeared to be food. "I thought you went home to be with your dad and Sam."

Delinda shrugged as she walked in, "Daddy already has one hysterical woman he has to try and keep calm, he doesn't need another." She set the box of food on his desk, "I thought maybe you might be hungry so I picked up some Chinese."

Perez smiled softly at the consideration, "That was sweet, Delinda, thanks. How much do I owe you?" He took his wallet out from his back pocket.

"Put that back, Luis," Delinda said as she took the cartons out of the box, "this is on me."

"Well, thanks," he said, helping her lift them out. "How are your dad and Sam?"

The woman nodded as she sat down, "I'm not really sure to be honest. The three of us sort of went our separate ways once we finished up here. I am getting the impression that dad kind of doesn't want a third wheel around, you know?"

Luis frowned as he sat down, "Delinda, Ed doesn't think of you as a third wheel. He loves you very much. My god, can't you see it? You are the man's sun, moon and stars all wrapped up in one."

Delinda gave the man a soft smile, "I know he loves me, it's just really hard for me to see him with someone else, especially someone whom I consider to be a good friend. It totally creeps me out knowing that they both share the same bed that my dad shared with my mom."

The man's fork became suspended in mid-air en route to his mouth. "Yeah," he agreed, "that'd creep me out too."

She laughed quietly at his expression and then sighed deeply as she dropped her fork. "Who am I kidding? I can't eat right now."

Luis set his own fork down, "Delinda... earlier, you said that Ed couldn't lose another child... what did you mean?"

Delinda sighed as she looked at him. Normally she would never consider revealing such an intimate part of her life, but for some reason, a reason she couldn't explain, she felt like she was safe with the detective. "I had a twin," she confessed, "his name was Brandon. My mom was in a car accident when we were four, Brandon was with her and I was with dad. Needless to say, Brandon didn't make it."

"Oh, Delinda," Luis said as he reached across the table and took her hand, "I am so sorry, I had no idea."

The blond woman shrugged as she ran a hand through her tresses, "I just really don't want him to have to go through this again, Luis. He'll die if he does, I know he will. He may not physically die, but his spirit, heart and soul will disappear, so he may as well die."

"Delinda, if I have to travel to the four corners of the earth, and if it takes me to my dying breath, I swear to you, Ed will not have to go through that."

She smiled quietly as she leaned across the table and kissed his cheek.

The plane slowly taxied to the terminal. Jasmine looked around, suddenly afraid. Without warning, the woman grabbed her hand as they rose to their feet. "Jacinda, don't dawdle, we have to get out there, daddy is waiting for us."

The little girl visibly stiffened in fear, causing the woman to sigh as she knelt down to pick her up. Carrying her on her hip, she said quietly, "You scream, you'll pay."

Knowing that the woman would hurt her, Jasmine kept quiet. Squirming in the woman's arms, she said, "I want to walk."

The woman looked at her, "Can I trust you not to run?"

Jasmine nodded in silence and soon was back on the ground, her hand clamped tightly in the woman's.

As the two walked off the plane, the woman's expression went blank when she saw who was waiting for them. Walking over to the man, she said, "Where is he?"

Richie Phillips smiled at her, "Karla, Karla, Karla, you aren't happy to see me?"

Karla Marin's face didn't mirror the smile that was on the man to whom she was speaking, "Where's Jonathan, Richie?

"Would you relax?" Phillips said. Adopting the voice of Sean Connery, Richie added, "He's in a place that is secure."

Marin rolled her eyes, "Let's just get there, okay? Jacinda is giving me problems and the quicker we get there, the better."

"Sounds good," the man agreed.

Ed walked into the living room, holding a tray with a sea foam green tea pot and matching cups. "Here, sweetie," he said as he set the tray down on the table. "I made you some tea."

Sam looked at the surface of the tray, her eyes focusing on two white pills, "Ed, what are those?"

"Tylenol," he said, handing them to her. "I thought they could help your headache."

She looked up at him, softly, "How do you know I have a headache?"

Ed smiled at her quietly as he sat down next to her, placing the pills in the palm of her hand, "Because I know when you get upset and cry, a headache often follows."

Sam nodded as she put the pills in her mouth and washed them down with a cup of tea. Sighing deeply, she moved closer to him and put her head on his shoulder. Ed wrapped his arms around her and sighed quietly, "I called a friend, they are going to help us find Jasmine. He ought to be here in a minute."

She nodded, softly, "Who?"

Before he could answer, the door bell rang. Ed kissed Sam's temples, "He's here." He disentangled himself away from her and walked over and answered the door, only to be met with the panicked face Jack Keller.

"Jack," Ed greeted, pulling the man in for a hug.

"I got here as quick as I could, Eddie," Jack said, giving his friend a hug back. "What do you need me to do?"

Sam rose to her feet and watched the two men. "Over my dead body will this man have anything whatsoever to do with helping me find my daughter."