Chapter 11

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

"I have Agent Taylor going through your files but if you can recall any cases that standout that would be extremely helpful." Jack asked as he clasped his hands and leaned forward on his desk.

"Jack, you and I both know that a career in the bureau makes a lot of enemies." Victor replied. "At this point, considering how much my profile has grown these past few weeks it could be anyone. Was your tech able to get anything from the email?"

"He's working on it." Jack glanced at Beth who looked ashen. "We did find out that whoever did this had access to Martin's apartment. He used photos out of Martin's album and we were wondering if any of the images had any significance?"

Victor shook his head but Beth leaned up straight in her chair. "Can I see the photos?"

Victor turned to Beth and said, "Why?"

"I just think I can find some connection. I can't put my finger on it but I can feel there is something there." Beth replied determinedly.

Jack watched as Victor looked at Beth curiously and said, "Sure. It's in the bullpen." He stood up and added, "Come with me."

The three of them stood up and walked out of the office to the bullpen. Jack saw that Sam was back and looked really distressed. It hurt him to see her looking so forlorn. As they neared the agents looked up. Jack made quick work of the introductions and he couldn't help but notice that Beth looked longer at Sam than the others.

"Viv, we need the album. Mrs. Fitzgerald would like to look at the images." Jack said to Viv.

"The album is bagged but I printed out each image from the email." She walked to her desk and brought over the six photos and laid them on the remaining clear space on the conference table. "Here you go, Mrs. Fitzgerald."

"Thank you." Beth sat down and began looking through the photos. Victor glanced back and forth between the agents who were watching them warily before pulling Martin's chair away from his desk and sitting next to her. He leaned in close and looked over her shoulder.

Jack was unsure if he should stay there or go back to his office. He finally decided to hang out for a bit and get the latest updates from his agents. Sam, Danny and Viv updated him on all they learned while Victor listened intently.

While Danny and Victor discussed the cases that Danny felt were worth noting Jack stole a glance at Beth. She was staring at the picture of Martin by the lake. She looked wistful as she ran her fingers over the picture. While Jack had spent so much time dealing with parents whose children have gone missing this was a really hard situation. He knew the parents and the man who no matter how old was still their son, their boy. He didn't know what he would do if anything were to happen to Hanna or Kate.

Victor ended his conversation with Danny and turned his attention back to Beth who was now looking at the newspaper clipping of Martin's little league game. He leaned in close to whisper to her in private but given where Jack was sitting he could still overhear them talking.

"I don't remember this game." Victor commented softly.

Beth turned to look at him and sadly said, "That's because you weren't there. You were working VCU during that time. You were usually gone before we got up and we were asleep by the time you got back."

"Yeah, that's right….." Victor narrowed his eyes and took the printout from Beth. He studied it closely and asked, "When was this game?"

"Martin was about ten years old so the year would be 1980. Why, did you think of the connection?" Beth looked at Victor hopefully.

Victor looked at her with a furrowed brow and appeared to be thinking. He turned back to the table and looked at Danny. "Do you have my case files from 1980?"

Danny looked at Victor before going through a large stack on the conference table. As her searched he looked at Victor and asked, "Do you remember any names? That might make this go faster."

"It was the Christopher Miller case." Victor replied.

Danny searched through the folders and pulled one out. "Here it is." He handed the folder to Victor.

He grabbed it and started flipping through the pages.

"What was the case?" Jack asked hoping that they made have found a connection worth pursuing.

Victor studied the file for a beat before looking up and saying, "It was one of the toughest cases of my life. I was in the bureau for almost ten years but I had just started in Violent Crimes. We were assigned the case of a pedophile serial that preyed on young boys between the ages of eight and eleven in the Arlington area. He had already molested and killed four boys when Christopher Miller went missing."

Victor pulled a photo out of the file and handed it to Jack. Christopher Miller was a sweet faced boy with blue eyes and sandy blonde hair. It was a Little League photo where they have the boy pose with a baseball bat as if they were really up to bat.

Jack handed the picture to Danny who took it and looked at it with Viv. He looked back at Victor and asked, "Did you catch the guy who did it?"

"Yes, his name was John Clarkson. He was a security guard at a local mini-mall. Unfortunately we didn't find him until after we found Chris' body." Victor rubbed his forehead and continued, "He had been dead for over 36 hours. I had worked in White Collar, Major Thefts and Public Corruption but I wasn't ready for the kinds of things you deal with in Violent Crimes. Plus, I made the classic rookie mistake of trying to comfort a parent and promising to find their child. Having to tell Chris' parents that he was dead was one of the hardest things I ever had to do." Victor pulled another photo of Christopher out of the file and added, "I just wanted to find that boy alive so badly. My ASAC even threatened to take me off the case claiming that I over empathized with the Miller's because Chris was the same age as Martin."