Chapter 5

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Sam stood in the kitchen watching as the CSI techs photographed the scene and took blood samples for analysis. She wished she had something to do, a lead to follow, something to keep her busy so she wouldn't just stand there worrying about Martin. She turned and walked into the living room where Jack was on the phone with Victor.

"Yes, they're processing the scene. Can you send me the email you received? I can have our tech look at it. Yes, I understand. I'll wait for it. See you shortly." Jack's voice was calm, Sam noticed that it was the same tone he used when dealing with parents of missing children. "I just talked to Victor and he is on his way. Danny found Martin's holster and the gun and his handcuffs are missing. I'd like for you to look around the apartment and tell me if anything else is missing or seems out of place. You are the only one who has spent enough time here to notice."

Jack's words weren't accusatory but there was no mistaking the hurt tone underneath. Sam squared her shoulders and nodded, "Yeah, sure."

The living room was crawling with police officers and techs so she decided to begin in the bedroom. She pulled the latex gloves out of her pocket and slid them on as she walked into the room. Someone had opened the doors to the balcony sending in a cool breeze. Glancing around, she didn't see anything out of place but she walked over to the bureau in the walk-in closet and opened the drawer where Martin kept his watches and other items of value. She immediately saw that all his watches were missing as well as the various cufflinks his mother had given him over the years.

She turned around to let Jack know when she saw the duffle bag where Martin kept all his climbing gear was unzipped and stuff was hanging out of it. He was always very neat about his climbing gear – he wouldn't just leave it looking like that. Sam kneeled down and opened up the bag to see that his cords were in disarray. She immediately knew that whoever took Martin used some stuff from this bag. She stood up and went to go tell Jack.

When she entered the living room, she saw Danny and Viv standing behind Jack who sat at the dining room table with a laptop in front of him.

"What's going on?" Sam asked as she stood alongside Viv.

"Victor sent Jack the email he got earlier." Viv replied without taking her eyes off the screen.

The Real Player opened up to a black screen and the Harry Chapin song, "Cat's in the Cradle" began to play. They all remained quiet as they watched images of Martin growing up appeared on the screen while the melancholy tune played. Sam held her breath when the headline article of the kidnapping appeared on the screen. It was when she saw the photo of Martin exiting the building and how it was distorted that she had never felt more terrified in her entire life.

The video stopped playing and the entire team stared at the black screen waiting for some message, some demand to appear but that was all.

"He's taunting us." Jack said quietly.

"What does he want?" Vivian asked. "If he was planning on killing Martin why not leave him where we could find him? Why take Martin away?'

"I don't know." Jack paused as stared at the screen thinking. "Whatever it is though, this is about Victor. Sam, go downstairs and talk to Charlie. Ask him when the last time he saw Martin was and get the names and addresses of the other doormen. They must have seen something or someone. There are no signs of forced entry which means whoever did this knows this building. Danny, I need you to start researching all the cases Victor has worked. Viv I'll forward the email to Mac and have him see if he can get any information off of it. Research the photos and tell me if you come up with anything."

"Hold on." Sam said when she suddenly thought of something. Still wearing her gloves she walked over to Martin's bookshelf and pulled out his photo album. She opened it to the first page and there was Martin's baby picture. She flipped through the album and each photo that was in the video was there right up until Martin's graduation from Quantico. She held it up and said, "Jack, with the exception of the last two, all the images are here. If whoever did this could get into Martin's apartment without any signs of forced entry it's possible that they had access to this as well."

"Bag it. Viv please take the album and have the CSI's check for fingerprints. Anything comes up you know what to do. Also, Victor and Elizabeth are on their way, have them go through and see if anything significant comes up. He had an entire album of photographs to choose from – he may have chosen those photos for a very specific reason."

As they all left to get to work Sam turned and looked back at the sofa. As she rode the elevator down to the lobby she remembered the last time she sat on it.

They were lying on the sofa watching the Knicks play the Bucks on TV. Their heads on opposite ends, Martin was closest to the back of the sofa and he was mindlessly playing with her socked feet with his eyes on the television. The camera cut to Spike Lee sitting courtside and Sam stole a glance at Martin. It had been a little over a week since their argument on her front stoop about going public and things had been a bit tense since then. It didn't help matters that Jack now knew about them and she felt more self-conscious around the office and Martin sensed it.

The game cut to commercial at half-time and Martin maneuvered himself off of the sofa and stood up. Sam immediately missed his warmth. As he walked to the kitchen he asked, "Do you want a beer?"

"Yes please." She replied as he walked through the door. She rolled onto her back and looked up at the ceiling. She blew out a frustrated breath and didn't know how she could possibly fix things. She knew that Martin was growing tired of how their relationship was going but she didn't know how to fix it. He wanted more from her but she wasn't sure she was capable of giving it to him.

He walked back to the sofa and she moved to sit up. He handed her the beer and sat back down with his eyes on the TV.

She looked at the cold beer in her hand and turned to Martin, "Thank you." He quickly glanced at her and nodded his head before turning his attention back to the TV. "Are we going to talk about this?"

"About what?" Martin asked without breaking his eyes from the game.

Sam looked up in time to see Michael Redd make a three-point shot. "Martin, don't play obtuse."

Martin sighed heavily, "I don't want to fight."

"Neither do I but I don't like being given the silent treatment either."

He leaned back into the sofa and lifted the beer up but didn't take a drink. "I'm not trying to punish you with the silent treatment. I just don't know what to do anymore. I thought once everyone knew it might be easier but now whenever I try and get close to you I can feel you pull away. You either fight with me or initiate sex to get me to shut up."

She wanted to tell him that wasn't the case but she knew that he was right. So instead of telling him he was wrong, that she did care about him, she just took a drink of her beer and kept her eyes on the TV.