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"Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength; loving someone deeply gives you courage." Lao Tzu

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Chapter 13

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"What in the hell happened to you?" Anna asked from her desk.

Charlie sat at the table looking through some files but stopped and looked up when he heard Anna's comment.

"Slipped on some ice." He replied as he walked into the bullpen with Sam in tow. The ride back to the office was quite and introspective. Her body language on the sidewalk told him everything he needed to know: hands off. So now he was sulking like an injured dog licking his wounds. "Where's Dominic?"

Anna glanced between the two agents and Martin was sure that their tension was radiating off of them like sunrays. "Um, we put him in the conference room down the hall. We already set up the monitor for him to see the footage but we wanted to wait for you to translate."

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Sam take a seat at the table next to Charlie. "I'm going to go change and I'll meet you there in fifteen minutes."

Martin headed down the hall and into the locker room. He always kept a spare suit in his locker in case of emergencies. He stripped off his muddied pants and kicked them aside. He wished he could see his back because it was hurting like hell. He was certain he bruised it when he fell. He pulled his clean slacks out of the locker when Charlie wandered in.

"So?" Charlie asked.

"So what?" He replied as he stepped into a pant leg.

"What's going on between you and Spade? This morning the two of you are like a couple of peas in a pod and now you look like you don't want to be in the same room with her. What gives?" Charlie asked with his hands in his pockets.

"She's just so…so….I just have no idea what she wants but she sure seems hell bent on keeping me guessing." Martin commented as he pulled on his pants.

"What do you mean by 'guessing'?" Charlie asked as he rocked back and forth on his heels as if he were seriously enjoying seeing Martin so flustered.

"One minute she's fun and affectionate and the next it's like she wants to be as far away from me as possible. I just wish she would commit to one of those behaviors and let me get some peace one way or another." Martin muttered as he tucked in his shirt.

"Oh man, you got it bad." Charlie said with a wide grin.

"What?" Martin replied. "Please…."

"Marty, I've known you for over two years and not once in all that time have I ever seen you get this frustrated about any woman." Charlie leaned against the row of lockers and added, "She's really getting to you and you've known her less than a day."

"I think frustrated is the operative word here." Martin commented as he pulled out the jacket that matched his pants and started to put it on.

"Like I said, you got it bad. She wouldn't make you this crazy if you didn't care so much." Charlie said with a laugh.

"Shut up." Martin replied as he slammed his locker shut.

"Martin and Samantha sitting in a tree….K-I-S-S-I…." Charlie sang in a cheery tone.

Martin glared at him as headed to the door when it swung open and a disgruntled and smelly Danny appeared. He suit was covered in sticky wet noodles, pasta sauce and brown smudges that Martin couldn't identify but judging by their smell he would rather not know.

"Hey man, you just have to investigate the dumpster not go diving in it." Charlie cheerily commented now that he had a new victim to harass.

"Very funny, you should take that act on the road." Danny grumbled as he headed to the bench and took off his shoes.

"So, man, what really happened?" Martin asked, secretly pleased he wasn't the only one having a rough morning courtesy of one Samantha Spade.

Danny removed his tie, tossed it on the floor and blew out a frustrated breath. "I thought I saw something in the dumpster and when I leaned in to look a gust of wind knocked the lid down, hit me and I fell inside."

Martin tried to suppress his laugh but Charlie wasn't so kind and laughed loudly. "Oh man, that sucks!"

Danny clenched his jaw and had a menacing look on his face. He obviously did not enjoy being the butt of jokes.

"Well, don't take it too hard." Charlie supplied as he thumbed in Martin's direction. "This one here fell on some ice and ruined his suit too."

Martin gave Danny a sympathetic look, shrugged his shoulders and said, "The towels for the shower are in that closet."

Danny nodded his head in thanks and Martin took it as his cue to exit. He walked down the hall and entered the conference room where Sam and Anna were sitting and waiting for him to join them.

Martin quickly signed his apologies to Dominic for making him wait. Then for the benefit of Anna and Sam he spoke as he signed, "We were able to get some footage from the parking lot where Erica was last seen. We want you to look at it and tells us if you recognize the car or the man."

Dominic nodded his head solemnly and turned to face the screen. Anna hit the 'Play' button and the grainy security footage appeared on the screen. Martin kept his eyes on Dominic as he watched the footage in disbelief. A look of hurt crossed his face and Martin knew that it was very difficult for Dominic to witness his wife being assaulted by a man and then appearing to leave with him willingly. Anna paused the footage at just was Erica got into the other car.

Dominic leaned his head forward and covered his face with his hands. Martin knew that right now waves of doubt were crossing the husband's mind and there was nothing they could do to reassure him. They gave him a few moments to compose himself when Dominic looked up at Martin.

He moved his hands animatedly as Martin spoke. "Who is he?" Martin then gestured and said, "We were hoping that you might know. Do you recognize the car or the man?"

Dominic shook his head.

"It looks like she knew him. Looking back do you think there was anything in Erica's behavior to indicate she might have been seeing someone? Or maybe reconnected with an old friend?" Martin said as he deftly moved his hands and arms.

"No. Not Erica." Dominic said aloud as he shook his head. He met Martin's eyes and began signing.

"He hit her, he threatened her and he took her. She only went with him because she had to." Martin spoke the words Dominic didn't speak. "You need to find her."

As Martin finished he looked over at Sam and met her eyes. She looked back at him and he knew that she was also thinking that whether or not Erica was having an affair, Dominic refused to believe it.

"Do you have any questions?" Martin asked Sam and Anna. They both shook their heads no so he volunteered to walk Dominic to the elevator.

After Martin had sent Dominic home he entered the bullpen to find his entire team sitting at their designated desks and a now clean Danny was sitting at the table with Sam. Scattered on the table were evidence bags and in one Martin spotted a woman's wallet that must belong to Erica.

"Hey." Sam greeted. "How's the husband?"

"He's still pretty convinced that whoever that man was he wasn't Erica's lover." Martin commented as he walked to his desk and sat down.

"I told them about what we learned from Christine Bremner." Sam said in a soft tone with her eyes on Martin. "Anna is running a search on this Valerie Shapiro to see maybe her husband might be the guy in the video."

"Good idea." Martin said in an equally soft tone. He could feel any annoyance with her slowly dissipating.

Danny cleared his throat and with his eyes darting between the two of them he said, "Everything in Valerie's wallet was still there along with about forty-three dollars in cash. If she had planned on disappearing she is using money from another source."

Martin broke his gaze from Sam and asked, "Prints?"

"There was one other set of prints and they are being run now. So far no matches though." Danny explained.

James entered the room and had a big grin on his face. He dropped a file on the table near Sam and announced, "Get this: we got a hit on this Carl Battarbee. He was arrested for domestic violence in Philadelphia seven years ago."

Sam went wide-eyed and opened up the folder. Martin rolled his desk next to her so he could peek over her shoulder at the file. It seemed the police responded to a domestic disturbance call and when they entered they found Carl beating his girlfriend. While they were trying to restrain him he punched a cop so he was placed under arrest. While the girlfriend refused to press charges he served some time for assaulting an officer.

Sam closed the folder and said, "So, what are we thinking? Carmela is dating Carl back in New York but he is abusive. She finds out she's pregnant and decides to disappear. She comes to Chicago, changes her name to Erica and starts a new life. Carl reappears and what? Why would she go back to him?"

"A lot of battered women go back to their abusers." Anna said from her desk.

"I don't know. She had a new life – a better life." Danny replied. "This is what I'm thinking: most abusers get power over their victims by threatening to hurt the people they love most. I think maybe Carl threatened to hurt Dominic or the kids."

Sam leaned back in her chair and looked over at the picture of Erica on the board. "If she loved them as much as everyone told us she did then she would do anything in her power to protect them."