Chapter Two - Stacie

"Her school pictures were just taken recently, so I don't have one of those yet. But, this picture was taken last month while we were visiting my uncle." Stacie handed the picture of Maggie to Vivian, who smiled at her reassuringly.

"Do they still have that place on Martha's Vineyard?" Danny asked her, glancing at the photo over Vivian's shoulder.

Stacie gave him a tired smile. "Yeah. We couldn't get up there this summer because my work schedule has been crazy, so we decided to just take a weekend trip a few weeks ago. The off-season, you know. Most of the tourists were gone so it was nice and quiet."

Stacie ran her fingers through her blond hair and sat down on the sofa in the living room of the apartment that she shared with her sister. She couldn't believe this was happening. Maggie couldn't really be missing. Hadn't they been through enough already?

"I have just a few more questions, Ms. Callahan. Maggie's friends said that you had grounded Maggie recently when you found drugs in her room. Can you tell me about that?" Stacie looked up at agent Jack Malone, standing above her with a look of concern on his face, and tried to focus on the questions he was asking her.

"Uppers. I guess they are calling them 'homework drugs' or something like that." Stacie stated, trying to recall the incident. "She was using them to help her stay awake while she was studying. I went in to check on her one night and found her passed out at her desk. I tried to wake her up to get her into bed and I could feel that her pulse was slow. I called 911 and they pumped her stomach." Stacie sighed, shaking her head. "It turns out that she was writing papers for college kids for money. Then she was turning around and using that money to buy the drugs to keep her up while she did the extra work. It was a vicious cycle she managed to get herself into."

"What did she need the extra money for?" Danny asked, moving to sit next to her on the sofa.

"She wouldn't tell me." Stacie looked over at Danny. "She knows I'll get her anything she needs, but..." Stacie's voice trailed off and then strengthened again. "She was so mad at me for having her stomach pumped and then grounding her. She closed up on me. I just chalked it up to her being a teen-ager."

"Did Maggie ever mention a boyfriend named Bobby?" Jack asked.

"Bobby?" Stacie shook her head, then nodded. "Oh yes. He was the one paying her for the papers. Some frat guy from over at NYU. I didn't know he was her boyfriend, though."

"How were things between the two of you?" Danny asked quietly. He was having a hard time maintaining his professional composure. He hadn't seen her in close to ten years, but she was still as beautiful as he remembered. But the fear and pain he saw in her eyes when she learned about Maggie had almost been too much for him to handle.

"It wasn't easy, Danny." Stacie sighed and looked over at the picture sitting on the end table. It was their last family portrait, taken at Mike and Stacie's wedding in 2000. Maggie couldn't have been more than 10 at the time. It had been such a happy moment in their lives, captured forever on film. None of them had known that only a year later their lives would be change in an instant. She looked back at Danny and said, "It was just me and my dad for a long time after my mom died. Then he met Linda and they got married in what seemed like a whirlwind. I was sixteen when Maggie was born. We never really had a chance to get to know each other because the next year I was off to college and medical school. I didn't get home to Brooklyn as often as I wanted. You know how crazy life was during those years." Stacie shook her head and picked at the loose threads on the sofa pillow while Danny smiled. He and Stacie had fallen in love during those years and he knew all too well about the craziness of her schedule...it had ultimately been their undoing. "Before I knew it, Maggie was 10 years old and the junior bridesmaid at my wedding. A year later, they were gone. Dad, Linda, Mikey. Maggie and I were the only ones left." Stacie's voice caught in her throat as she fought back the tears. She was quiet for a moment, so Danny took her hand in his and squeezed it to encourage her. She smiled sadly at him, then said, "So I moved her over here to Manhattan and we tried to adjust. It was tough at first...we had a lot of baggage and it was hard trying to figure out where that line was between sister and guardian. But we made it through. We healed together. Because we had to." Stacie ran her thumb over the back of Danny's hand and continued. "Things were OK. I mean, the stomach pumping thing was a bump in the road, but we were getting through it. We'd already been through worse."

Stacie stood up suddenly, letting go of Danny's hand and walked over to the window. She touched the windowpane and looked out onto the streets of New York. Somewhere out there was her little sister. She turned back to the FBI team and said, "She didn't run away." When they all turned and looked at her, she continued, "I know it looks that way. I know it looks like she was mad at me over the stomach pumping and the grounding, but she didn't run away. I know her. Something has happened to her." Stacie's eyes began to fill with tears. "Someone took her. You have to find her."

Vivian moved over to the window and put her arms around Stacie to comfort her. "We're going to do everything we can, Stacie. I promise."

Danny felt his heart hit the floor as he watched the tears finally fall from Stacie's eyes. He was rooted to his place on the sofa, unable to move to comfort her. He was afraid that if he took her in his arms he might never let her go. That's not what she needed from him now. She needed him to find Maggie. And that's what he was going to do.

As Danny, Jack and Vivian moved toward the front door of the apartment, Stacie quietly said, "She's all I have left, Danny. I can't lose her, too."

Danny turned back to face her and told her, "I'll find her, Stacie. If it's the last thing I do, I'll bring her back to you."