As the day wore on Samantha became more and more tired and it wasn't because she hadn't slept. The case that they were working on was taking a lot from her. She had never dealt with anyone she knew before. Sure there had been the case of Martin's aunt but she didn't know Bonnie before the fact.
Sara was a big part of the community Samantha now lived in. Samantha was proud that in the time she had been here she had made friends. Friends that back in New York she would never dream of. New York had meant so much to her when she first moved there but as time went on the only friends she really had were the people from work. She loved them all dearly but were they enough?
LA had given her so much. The apartment block she lived in, people actually knew who she was. Back in New York it was joked once that she had better not go missing from her apartment building as no one would notice. But here in the warm sunshine of California, she knew almost all of her neighbours and was friends with more people than she had ever been. When Danny and Martin had shown up it had been proof, she had been babysitting. When in New York had she done that?
The light was starting to go down in the office and they were closer to finding Sara but not quite close enough. Looks like she wouldn't get to have dinner with Martin after all. She really hoped to have breakfast or lunch or something with him before he left to go back to New York.
Picking up her cell she rang the familiar number she still had programmed in on her speed dial. The amount of times she had almost called him before but never had the bottle to do so. "Fitzgerald." The silky smooth voice came through the earpiece.
"Martin, it's Samantha. Listen I was looking forward to meeting up with you but it doesn't look like that is going to pan out. Can I call you in the morning and maybe we could do brunch? I'd really like to see you before you go back." Samantha's voice sounded so happy.
"Yeah, sounds good. Hope you get the result you are looking for tonight." Martin said a little disappointed as well that he wasn't getting to see her that night, but hopefully they would get to chat before he left again. Surely they would work things out.
The night wore on and on. It seemed never ending. No one could locate Barry or Sara. One of Barry's friends had told them that he had been harassing Sara for a while but didn't have any idea where he would take her.
Samantha sat at her desk, leaning her head into her hands and whispered. "Come on Sara, where are you?"
The sun shining in the office window alerted Samantha to the new day. Glancing at her watch she saw that it was almost seven. She had last seen the time around four but couldn't' remember falling asleep. Heading out into the bullpen she found Jodi and Becca asleep at their desks. Joseph and Carla had headed home around ten the night before. Samantha thought someone should get some sleep. "Guys, come wake up and lets go get some coffee." She said in a voice she knew would wake them.
"Coffee sounds good." Jodi yawned. "When did we fall asleep?"
"I last looked at the time around 4 this morning, so I guess we've had about three hours. Not enough really but lets get coffee to wake us up." Samantha said leading them towards the exit.
Returning with steaming hot coffee and bagels, Manny appeared at the office again with messages for her. "Ms Spade the police have been on the phone. They got a tip off about a woman being held against her will down on Redondo Beach."
"Manny you're a star. Can you call Joseph and Carla for me and get them to meet us there." Samantha said quickly guzzling some more coffee. "Girls let's go. We've got a lead."
Police already surrounded the building they suspected Sara to be in. Samantha, Becca and Jodi pulled up, as they were about to go in. "Has there been any contact at all?" Samantha asked the officer in charge,
"Not yet, though we have heard some noises." The officer told her. "One of my officers has seen inside. He says the girl is in there and the guy isn't anywhere to be seen right now. Do you want to go in first?"
"Please." Samantha replied.
Heading to the front door of the property she drew her gun. Jodi followed closely behind. Becca and one of the uniformed officers went around back to enter that way. Bursting through the door Samantha yelled, "FBI." And cleared the entrance hallway. Entering the large room on her right she found Sara tied to the chair in the middle of the room. She was bound gagged and had been beaten to a certain degree. "It's all right Sara, we're here now." She spoke softly to the girl as she took the restraints from her wrists and mouth. The girl cried out as the gag came off her mouth. Samantha immediately wrapped her arms around the girl. "Sara, where's Barry?"
"I don't know." She shook her head. "He left an hour ago. Said something about another girl."
"What other girl?" Becca asked as she walked into the room.
"He didn't say." Sara was shaking as Samantha brought her to her feet. "But he also mentioned school. I think Barry has a daughter. Maybe he was talking about her."
"I'll check it out." Jodi offered. Samantha nodded in thanks.
"Right Sara, lets get you home." Samantha helped the girl out.
Back in the office victory muffins were bought. Joseph had gone to see how Sara was and Becca had gone with the police to Barry Murray's ex-girlfriends home.
Samantha picked up her cell phone and dialled a familiar number. "Fitzgerald."
"Martin, it's Samantha. Was just wondering if you wanted Brunch?" She asked hesitantly.
"Sounds great. You pick the place. You know more places than I do." He told her excitedly.
"Okay be here at the office in half an hour." She told him before hanging up. Looking down at her clothes she realised she was still in the same ones as the day before. Luckily she knew she had a spare set of clothes in her gym locker down the stairs. She only hoped they were respectable clothes. She was really excited about seeing him.