Chapter 3

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

They walked out of the elevator and followed Sam down the hall towards Martin's apartment. She stopped at the door marked '1509' and rang the doorbell. As they waited she thought about how this place was almost a second home to her for eight months but now she stood outside the door like she was a volunteer from the Sierra Club looking for signatures.

After a few moments, when Martin still had not answered the door, Jack reached across her and pressed the button again.

"Maybe he really is playing hooky." Danny teased just as Jack started knocking hard on the door.

No answer.

"Danny, run back downstairs and get Charlie to come up and let us in." Jack said with his eyes focused on Martin's door. Sam knew Jack well enough to see that the wheels in his mind were spinning.

"Jack, what aren't you telling us?" Sam's demanded with a voice of restrained irritation.

Jack sighed audibly and replied, "Victor got a cryptic email from Martin's account and he just wants us to make sure he's okay. He was pretty shaken up by it."

Sam eyed him carefully before pulling her keys out of her coat pocket and locating the one Martin had given to her several months ago. He hadn't asked for it back and she hadn't offered to return it. With everyone's eyes on her, she inserted the key into the deadbolt and unlocked it before moving to do the same with the doorknob. She opened the door and slowly walked in, loudly announcing herself, "Martin? Martin, it's me, Sam. I'm with Jack, Viv and Danny, are you here?"

The apartment's lights were all on but the air was still and quiet. She moved inside the living room with the others right behind her.

"Well, it looks like he definitely was here and was sick." Viv commented as she waved a hand over the coffee table that was littered with half empty glasses of water and Gatorade, a bottle of cough syrup, wadded up tissues along, an empty box of Kleenex, a bottle of prescription pills and the remote for the TV.

The sofa had a pillow and quilt on it and it looked like he'd been taking quite a few naps there. Sam eyed the quilt that she knew very well. One night after they made love she wanted to go sit on the balcony so he bundled them both up in it as they sat on the Adirondack chair and looked out over the city.

Sam sighed and snuggled up closer against Martin, her back to his chest. His skin was warm and smelled like the heady combination of his own scent and their coupling earlier. It was a surprisingly beautiful night for early October, the air crisp and cool. They sat together in comfortable silence as they looked out at the city skyline.

She still found it hard to believe that she was here with him like this. He was so different from the men she normally dated. He didn't play games or struggle for the power in the relationship. He just wanted to be with her plain and simple. And while most women would appreciate that kind of openness, Sam found it to be a real challenge. As it turns out, uncomplicated was much more difficult.

They reclined there for awhile just listening to the sounds of each other breathing and Sam took her eyes off the skyline to look at their legs wrapped up in the blanket. They limbs intertwined, she didn't know which bumps were him and which were her. As she studied the hills and valleys of their bodies underneath the blanket she couldn't help but notice the elaborate patchwork.

"This is a really pretty quilt, how long have you had it?" Sam asked as she ran her fingers over the frayed piping.

"Since college. Bonnie made it out of my old baby clothes. She used to do that for all the nieces and nephews." Martin replied softly. He sighed and Sam knew that he was thinking of his aunt so she just kept still and let him remember. "I thought it was a weird thing to give a guy going off to college but I took it so I wouldn't hurt her feelings. I kept it in the trunk of my car knowing I'd never put it on my bed in the dorm. Funny thing is I ended up using it all the time, at picnics, pep rallies, tail gate parties, camping, you name it. And now it's actually my favorite blanket." He paused a moment before kissing her temple and murmuring, "Of course, I like it even more when there is a beautiful woman wrapped up in it."

"Oh, I bet you do." Sam laughingly replied as Martin playfully tickled and kissed her.

Sam took her eyes off the quilt, now was not the time for romantic reverie.

"Martin?" Jack's gruff voice shouted out and finding no response. He looked down the dark hall to the bedroom.

"I'll go check the bedroom." She turned and headed to the back of the apartment. Wordlessly, Viv came into step alongside her. Sam quickly glanced back as she walked and saw Jack poking around the living room, picking up the bottle of prescription pills and reading the label.

"I'll check the kitchen," Danny announced as he headed in the opposite direction.

"Martin?" The door was open as she entered the bedroom. He wasn't inside but there were signs of him having spent time in there as well. The bed was unmade with the sheets bunched up at the foot of the bed. More empty cups on the nightstand and a box of tissues. Vivian went to go look in the bathroom and came out shaking her head that he wasn't there either. The humidifier in the corner emitted a grumbling sound and when Sam walked over to inspect it she saw that all the water had long ago evaporated so she shut it off.

"In here!" Danny shouted; his voice filled with panic.

Sam and Viv looked at one another before hurrying down the hall towards the kitchen. When they rushed in they saw Jack standing next to Danny who was crouched on the floor next to a pool of blood. Sam looked around and saw blood smears along the counter and door that lead to the service stairwell.

She suddenly forgot how to breathe.

Danny grabbed some paper towels from the counter and pushed open the door to see if he could see anything else. Acting on their training, they pulled out their weapons and followed him out. The stairwell was clean and there were no signs of Martin or anyone else anywhere. Danny and Sam went to check the downstairs while Jack and Vivian went up. After a fruitless search, they met back up at Martin's doorway.

"Don't touch anything." Jack ordered as he stood in the stairwell and pulled out his cell phone. "This is Special Agent Jack Malone. I need a crime scene unit sent to…."

Sam stopped listening and walked back inside the kitchen. She stared at the blood on the floor and wondered who would have wanted to hurt Martin and more importantly, where they would have taken him. She looked up and saw that Danny and Vivian had walked back in as well.

No one spoke as they studied the scene before them, the silence only broken by the sound of the refrigerator's motor whirring to life.