Samantha arrived at the office not long after leaving Martin's apartment to find that Jack and Danny were already there.
"Hey, Sam!" Danny greeted her as she walked into the bullpen. "Where's Marty?"
"I don't know, is he not here yet?" she looked Danny in the eye; Jack was sitting at the table with his back to her.
"No, he's not," the supervising agent answered.
"We've got a new lead!" Danny told her, excitement dancing in his dark eyes.
"Great, what?" Sam asked.
"We got a call from a girl in the group home that said one of the employees raped her and Janey was trying to get the man arrested," Jack informed her.
"And you know who the man was?" Danny questioned a grin on his face.
"The man I've been trying to find, the one who was lay off?"
"You got it," Danny said, still grinning. "Randy Vice."
"But I thought Martin talked to all the kids?" Sam asked, "Why didn't she speak up then?"
"Because this girl was in a different section than Janey and I only told Martin to talk to the kids in the same section," Jack answered. "Okay, Sam why don't you stay here and run Randy Vice's credit cards and phone records while Danny and I go talk to this girl at the group home and check out Vice's apartment. Fill Martin in when he gets here."
"Okay," Sam said. As she watched them leave she wondered why Martin wasn't there yet, she checked her watch. He was late. He must have needed a little more time to clear his head before coming to work, Sam thought, so she got to work on phone and credit card records.
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Lower East Side, Manhattan Twenty-Seven Hours Missing 9:16 AM
"Lisa?" Danny spoke softly to the frightened young girl. "I'm Danny Taylor with the FBI and I'm looking for your friend Janey, can you tell me about the man who hurt you?"
The girl looked from Danny, who sat next to her, over to Jack who was standing in the corner.
"It's okay," Danny said, smiling kindly, "He's my friend and is helping me look for Janey."
The girl nodded. "The man worked at night, and he would come into my room and do things to me…"
"Okay," Danny reached into his coat and pulled out a picture. "Is this the man?"
"Yes," Lisa said looking away quickly.
"Okay and can you tell me about what you and Janey were trying to do about it?"
"She said that he tried to hurt her too and that no one would believe her 'cause she'd lied about that stuff before, so she needed my help to get him arrested."
"And did that work?"
"No, before I told anybody about it, they fired him."
"Did this man know that Janey was trying to get him fired?" Jack asked from the corner.
The girl looked at him for a moment. "Yes, the day he left I hear him tell Janey that she was going to pay for it."
Jack and Danny exchanged looks.
"Thank you, Lisa, you've been very helpful," Danny said shaking her hand.
"You're going to find her, right?"
"We're going to do our best," Danny smiled at her.
Jack and Danny left the building and headed back to their car.
"If Vice knew that Janey was the one who got him fired he'd have a good reason to want to get rid of her," Jack said, getting into the car.
"Yeah," Danny agreed.
They drove to Vise's apartment, Jack called Samantha on the way to ask her what she'd found out.
"Well, his credit cards are all max out and have been for months and his phone records were very helpful either, his phone has been disconnected for three months for not paying the bill. What did you find?"
"Well, he definitely had motive to hurt her," Jack informed.
"So you think he's our guy?"
"Yeah, did you do a back ground check on him?"
"Yep, I've got it right here…Okay, he's been accused of sexual assault three times but they could never prove it."
"Anything else?"
"Yeah, petty theft, car-jacking and domestic abuse."
"Married?"
"Um…Divorced."
"Kids?"
"Two."
"Boys or girls?"
"Both girls."
"How old?"
"Um…just a minute…twelve and fourteen. You thinking that he abused them too?"
"Probably, why don't you see if you can track down the ex-wife and see what you can get out of her?"
"Okay."
Jack and Danny arrived at the apartment building and headed up to their suspect's apartment. After the super let them in they started looking for anything to link him to Janey.
"Looks like he left in a hurry," Danny said of the mess.
"Yeah, it does," Jack agreed.
They searched a long time and came up with nothing until Danny found a news paper on the coffee table.
"Jack?" Danny handed him the paper. It was that morning's edition opened to the article about Janey's disappearance. The two gave each other knowing looks. They headed back to the office.
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FBI HQ, Manhattan Thirty Hours Missing 12:01 PM
Upon reaching the office Jack went to his office and Danny headed to the bullpen.
As he approached the group of desks Danny saw Samantha working at her desk and notice Martin's empty one, Sam looked over at him when head him coming.
"Hey, where's Martin?" Danny wanted to know.
"I don't know, he still hasn't been in," her voice was calm, but Danny knew she was worried. "I've called his house three times and got nothing, his not answering his cell either."
"I'm sure he's fine, Sam," Danny tried to comfort her.
Jack walked up just then, hearing the tail end of the conversation. "I had a message on my office phone from Martin," Sam and Danny looked at him expectantly. "He said was going to be late coming in; said he had to 'check something out'."
"When he didn't come in I tried calling his cell and got nothing," Sam said trying not to sound too worried.
"Yeah, I tried calling him too," Jack stated. "Must have turned his phone off by accident."
Jack's ringing cell phone ended the conversation. He didn't say much but listened intently for a long time before hanging up.
"You guys stay here and keep working, there's something I've got to check out."
"You want any help?" Danny asked before Sam could say anything.
"No, keep working on our suspect, I'll be back soon," Jack left the bullpen heading for the elevator.
The two younger agents did as they were told, but worried about what the phone call had been about.
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Lower East Side, Manhattan Thirty-One Hours Missing 1:11 PM
Jack had gotten a call from a friend in the police department who told him that they'd found something he need to see himself.
When he reached the address that he'd been given Jack was met by his friend outside an old building.
"What's going on?" Jack asked.
"We got a call that there been a shooting down here, but there was no one around when my men got here, but they did find something I think you'll be interested in," he led Jack into the building. Once inside the police detective took Jack to the crime scene. There was a puddle of blood by an overcoat on the ground.
"What's this have to do with me?"
"Well, nothing, until we found this. I thought you should see for yourself," he moved under the police tape and lent down to move the overcoat slightly. There was a FBI badge lying on the ground.
Jack tried to ignore the sick feeling in his stomach, as he knelt down to look at the overcoat and badge more closely. It was definitely a FBI badge, moved the overcoat with a pen to look at the tag, it read: Fitzgerald.
"Shit," Jack swore under his breath.
"One of yours?"
"Yeah," Jack stood. "I'm going to need a sample of that blood."
"Anything you want."
"What the hell happened?"
"We don't really know," the detective said. "But we're quite sure that the shooting itself took place upstairs," he pointed to the staircase they were standing next to. "And that the victim fell down the stairs, probably after being shot."
The sick feeling was getting worse.
"Anything else?"
"No, I'm afraid not," the detective replied.
"Keep me posted," Jack said as he left.
As Jack headed back to the office he started calling hospitals and mortuaries. There were no matches as he reached the office. Jack headed strait for the bullpen knowing he had to break the news. Samantha and Danny were sitting at the table talking as Jack walked up and sat down, halting their conversation.
He sighed. "Martin's missing."
Danny and Sam just stared at him for a long moment.
"H-he can't be missing, Jack," Danny smiled nervously.
"You know that abandoned building that you checked out, the one that Janey used to hung out in?"
They just nodded.
"The police found his overcoat and badge in it," Jack told them. "Next to a puddle of blood."
Both hearts skipped a beat.
"I-is it Martin's?" Danny asked after a long silence.
"Won't know until DNA comes back," Jack relied.
"What are we going to do?" Danny asked, looking at Sam, who gone deathly pale.
"Our jobs," Jack answered, looking at Samantha as well. "We need to run this like he was any other missing person, credit cards, phone records, that kind of thing."
"We're going get to run this?" Danny wondered.
"Yes, we'll be passing off the other case to someone else."
"Don't you think that the two are connected?" Danny questioned.
"I think that Martin thought he need to check out that building again and it got him into trouble, but I don't think it has anything to do with the reason Janey is missing, no," he relied.
"He said he'd be in in a few minutes," Sam said, not realizing she'd spoken aloud.
"You talked to him this morning?" Jack asked.
Sam looked up and just stared at him, Jack might know about hers and Martin's relationship, but she didn't like to talk to him about it. But this time she knew she had to tell the truth.
"I-I spent the night at his apartment," she said looking away from Jack and down at her hands.
"Okay," Jack sounded very professional. "I'm going to need you to tell me how he was."
"Well, you know, he was still a little upset last night, but this morning he seemed a little better, ready to get back to work," Sam looked from Jack to Danny, guilt on her face.
"It's not your fault, Sam," Danny place a comforting hand on her arm.
"He's right, Sam," Jack agreed.
"He said he'd be right in," she said, fighting tears.
"We'll find him," Danny told her.
"Yes, and we need to get on it," Jack said. "Are you going to be alright?" he looked at Sam.
"Yeah," she answered quickly.
"Okay, I want you to go over to his apartment, you'll be able to tell if anything is out of place," Jack told her, still a little worried about her.
"Do you want me to go with her?" Danny asked, looking from Sam to Jack.
Jack looked at Samantha, "Maybe you should, and I'll check his phone records."
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Uptown Manhattan (Martin's Apartment)
Janey Missing Thirty-Two Hours Martin Missing Six Hours 2:20 PM
Danny drove them to Martin's place, Samantha hadn't said a word since they'd left the office and he was worried.
"You doing alright, Sam?" he asked almost to their destination.
"I just can't imagine what he was thinking!" she practically yelled. "I said I'd go in first and he told me he would be right in."
"He'd been really bothered by this case, did he tell you why?"
Sam shook her head, "He said he didn't want to talk about it and I didn't push him. I thought I could talk to him today, after he'd cleared his head a little."
"We're going to get him back, Sam," Danny said in no-joking-manner.
"Yeah, I just hope he's okay, if that's his blood…"
"Sam, don't even think it, I'm sure he's fine," Danny looked her in the eye after having just parked the car. "Come on, let's go check his place," he laid his hand gently on Samantha's shoulder, before they both got out of the car.
They walked into the building and rode the elevator up to his floor and then door to his door. Danny was not surprised to see that Sam had her own key.
She unlocked the door and they walked into the short hall that led to the living room.
"Is he always this neat?" Danny asked looking around the tidy apartment.
"Yes, he gets annoyed with me if I move something and don't put it back where I got it, too," she said looking for anything to be out of place.
"'A place for everything and everything in its place', huh?"
"Something like that, yes," she answered, distracted as she walked into the kitchen where they'd sat together only hours before. The paper he'd been reading was neatly folded and the two coffee cups they'd used were rinsed and in the sink.
Sam turned back around to stare at the spot at the counter where he'd been sitting that morning; she could almost see him still sitting there with his coffee in one hand and the paper in the other. She had to use all of her self-control not to reach out to him as the image faded away.
They searched awhile longer and nothing seemed out of place or unusual so Danny and Samantha headed back to the office hoping that Jack had found something.
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FBI HQ, Manhattan Janey Missing Thirty-Three Hours
Martin Missing Seven Hours 3:08 PM
When they returned to the bullpen Danny and Samantha were surprised to see Vivian sitting with Jack at the table.
"Hey, Viv, what are you doing here?" Danny asked as he gave her a friendly hug.
"What did you think I'm doing here? I'm going to help get Martin back."
"No, you're not," Jack said authoritatively, "You are going to go home and get some rest."
"I've had plenty of rest, Jack," Vivian returned in the same tone. "I can't just sit around the house wondering if he's okay when I could be helping."
"I'm not going to let you do anything that might cause you any problems."
"Jack, I'm fine," she rolled her eyes. "At least let me run phone records or something."
"I've already got his phone records," Jack sighed.
"Anything interesting?" Sam asked.
"Yes," Jack paused. "He tried to call me three times between eight and nine."
Everyone stared at him.
"The first one was to the office, that one we got. The other two went to my cell, I must have been on the phone with Sam the times"
"Did he leave messages?" Danny spoke up.
"Two," Jack replayed his phone messages for them.
They listened intently as Martin's voice came over the line.
"Hey, Jack, it's Martin. I think you guys should come down to that building Janey used to hang out in. I really think that there's something here, call me back."
The message ended.
"It's this one that bothers me," Jack said starting the second message.
"Jack," Martin's voice sounded anxious. "I've found her!" the group exchanged glances. "I'm going to need back up; I think she's got a gun." Sounds like feet on metal steps and someone yelling in the back ground come through the phone and then a sound like the cell phone was dropped. "Janey put the gun down!" Martin was yelling but his voice was slightly muffled. "I'm with the FBI and I'm here to help you, put the gun down!"
The girl's voice comes then, yelling but quieter then Martin's. "No! I don't need your help, go away!"
"Janey, I need you to thrust me, put…the gun…down."
"Please…no, I'm-I'm fine, really."
"Okay, just put the gun down."
Silence…then, crashing, yelling and…gunfire. Sam jumped, Danny flinched, and Viv stared at Jack who was staring at the phone.
The message ended and the team sat in silence. No one could speak, they sat still, and no one even dared breath.
To Be Continued…