This is for all my faithful readers and reviewers. Thank you for making this fun and I hope you like the way this chapter turns out!
Sonia pulls up in front of a wealthy-looking residence.
"The Carter's are the richest family in town," she says turning to Jack, "Bert's father made the money and Bert invested it wisely. They also own the fertilizer plant. Nick and Eleanor are going to inherit the whole thing. At least they were. We'll see about Eleanor. Tilda and Bert never managed to have children of their own. Eleanor's disappearance was a catastrophe. They never got over it, especially Nick. He adored her. Worshipped the ground she walked on."
She falls silent. After a while she says:
"His car is not there. Let's get to them before he comes back. He usually runs the whole show when he's around."
Tilda Carter opens the door.
"Well, Sonia," she says surprised," To what do we owe the pleasure of your visit?"
"This is Special Agent Jack Malone, Tilda. He is from the FBI. We need to talk to you, Bert and Eleanor."
Tilda's eyes widen with fear and Sonia instantly knows that Tilda knows. She is kicking herself inwardly for having been complacent and asleep for too long.
"Oh, dearest," Tilda says nervously, „this is not convenient at all, and Nick is not here. I'm afraid it will have to wait."
Sonia does not care about being nice any more. She pushes her way in.
"This is very important, Tilda, and it can't wait. We have to do this now."
Jack follows her.
"Who is it, mother?" a voice asks. Jack recognizes it instantly.
He looks up. Sam is standing on top of a flight of stairs. She looks thin and ill. He has to hold himself back not to bolt up the steps.
"Never mind, baby girl," Tilda says in a high voice, "Just take a nap the way you planned to, and your father and I will take care of this."
Sam is coming down the stairs.
"Take care of what?"
She looks directly at Jack but there is no recognition in her eyes.
Tilda climbs up the stairs to meet her. She grabs her hand and starts to pull her away.
"Never mind," she says.
Sam turns to follow.
Jack is glued to his spot. He feels paralyzed. He does not know what to do.
Then she turns her head, looks at him, and her mouth silently forms one word:
"Jack?"
"Mrs Carter," he says, "I need to speak to your daughter. Now. Alone."
Sam pulls away from Tilda.
"Okay," she says, „Let's talk in the library."
She leaves Tilda standing on the stairs, speechless.
Jack follows Sam and Sonia into the library and closes the door. They are ignoring Tilda's pleading cry:
"Eleanor!"
He turns around to face her. He is unable to speak.
In a sudden flash Sam sees herself being lifted up, carefully so as not to hurt her more than necessary, slowly, because the man lifting her has a bad knee that can not really support their combined weight.
"It is you," she whispers. For a moment she closes her eyes because memories are coming back to her in bursts. But she opens them again almost immediately to look at him, drinking in his appearance. No one in the past years has ever looked so good, so familiar to her. She reaches up to touch his face and he leans into her hand, closing his eyes for one moment.
"Sam," he says.
Oddly enough she hears another voice intruding, a voice from the past:
"Jack is calling you Sam all the time."
And in a flash everything is there, their time together, his fingertips softly brushing her cheek while his voice tells her that it is over, their hands, grabbing each others arms, knowing that they might never see each other again and then his eyes staring into her own:
"Yeah, I'm going to miss it."
So she touches his face and she starts to cry.
Jack is desperately fighting for composure. He can not go weak now. He wraps her up in his arms solely to steady himself.
"Jack?"
He manages to utter a low rumble. Anything more and he fears he will start to sob.
"When you leave here take me with you. Don't let me stay."
"I won't," he says, his voice choked.
"Well then," Sonia mumbles in the background, "I have the feeling that case is solved."
She looks out of the window to make sure there is no sign of Nick.
Jack looks at her. There is a plea in his eyes.
"Yeah, all right," she says, "I'm getting you two out of here right now."
Jack leads Sam to the police car while Sonia is trying to calm down a hysterically weeping Tilda. After a while she seems to give up about the calming down bit. Jack hears her demanding voice:
"Tell me what happened to Eleanor. You know. I know that you know."
There is more weeping and Tilda is shouting something unintelligible at Sonia. Sonia raises her voice:
"Tell me where he buried her."
She is almost screaming.
Jack shifts his attention back to Sam. He settles down with her on the backseat not releasing her from his arms. She is shaking all over as if in shock. Her face is buried in his neck. He strokes her back. His hands are trembling but he does not notice.
Sonia comes running. She bends down and looks at Jack.
"I want to take your colleague to the hospital as soon as my back-up's here. Check her out. Make sure that Nick doesn't get away with anything. God, I will take that sucker down!"
Jack looks at her.
"You think he killed her?"
She looks away.
"It is something that has always been at the back of my mind. I never did anything about it. I mean, the Carters own the only major company in town. A lot of people depend on them."
Her gaze wanders to the huge garden.
"I'm going to find her," she says.
OOO
Jack paces around the waiting room. Sam has been with a doctor and a nurse for almost an hour now. He is becoming concerned. It is not the kind of concern that drives you crazy, it is the kind that makes you want to break down the door, because you can stand it no more.
Sonia looks at him.
"Are you all right?"
"I will be," he answers.
Finally the doctor shows up, looking frazzled. He closes the door and shakes his head.
"God, Sonia, I can't believe this story. It's totally crazy."
"Well," Sonia says quietly, "you better believe it. We are looking for Nick all over right now. I hope we'll find him soon."
"He has been beating the crap out of her. I never thought Nick would do something like that."
Jack has only felt like this once before in his life. That is almost five years before, when he sees her on a stretcher, being lifted into an ambulance, her face beaten up and bloodied after her almost deadly run-in with the gang of drug-dealers. It is anger and an overwhelming guilt. And with it comes the feeling of unworthiness, of not having the right to be in her presence. These feelings are irrational. It is not five years ago. He is in no way responsible for what Nick did to her. But that does not register with him.
The doctor finally becomes aware that there is someone else in the room.
"Oh, sorry," he states. He contemplates the aging FBI-Agent with the hunched shoulders and thinks that he looks remarkably unaffected.
"Are you the husband?"
"No, no," Sonia answers, "Ms Spade is not married. This is her colleague from New York, Special Agent Jack Malone."
"Oh," the doctor says surprised, "So you are Jack. I assumed she spoke of her husband. Well, never mind, she asked for you. Come with me please."
Jack follows him into an examination room. Sam is sitting on a cot looking lost. When she sees him relief fills her. He stops at a distance.
"Sit down," the doctor says, pulling up a chair and placing it close to Sam. "This will take a while. We need to wait for the police photographer. I want to document this."
He leaves the room again and closes the door.
Sam looks at Jack but he avoids her gaze. He sits down and takes her hand lightly in both of his. She notices the golden wedding band on his left hand.
She feels confused. She very clearly remembers their time together, she remembers how good working with him is and above all she remembers her love for him – no, she feels her love for him. It is like a tree, standing firmly rooted in good soil, its trunk growing upwards strongly, the branches reaching for the sun and the stars. A thought that she remembers she had often in the past hits her then. Maybe it is just not the same for him. Maybe what he feels is more about attraction and sympathy than love.
"Have you been looking for me all that time?" she asks almost shyly.
"Yes," he says simply as if it has been nothing. Then he grows mute. There is a long silence between them and Sam suddenly feels like crying.
After a while the photographer arrives. Jack wants to leave the room but the way to the door is blocked by the doctor, Sonia and two nurses so he retreats to the back of the room and tries not to be in the way. Then he sees how uncomfortable Sam is.
"Look," he says to Sonia, "It's getting pretty crowded in here. I think maybe a nurse and the photographer would be enough?"
One of the nurses nods in understanding and starts to usher the others out.
Sam turns to face Jack.
"Don't go."
It sounds like a plea.
So Jack stays. He looks at what Nick Carter did to her. He sees that some of it left scars. He notes fresh weals on her back. Sam's head is bent. She does not see his face. If she had, there would never again be any doubt in her heart, how much he loves her.
When the photographer leaves, the nurse, sensing something between the man and the woman she does not want to intrude in, quietly retreats. Jack helps Sam to get rid of the hospital gown and assists her in putting on jeans and a t-shirt. He sees that she is moving slowly because of the multitude of bruises. He brushes aside her hair and feels a painful stab go through him when he sees the scar that starts at her temple and is traveling back on her head. He traces it with his fingers. It is far too long.
Sam leans into him. He puts his arms around her.
"Sam, Sam," he whispers into her ear and Sam is comfortable like this, feeling his arms tighten around her, hearing him repeat her name over and over again with something that she can not name, something that could be pain and joy, guilt and love, rage and tenderness all rolled up into one.
TBC