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"You can give without loving, but you can never love without giving." - Robert Louis Stevenson
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Chapter 21
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Martin couldn't help but have a silly grin on his face as the ambulance drove away. His mind was imagining all sorts of possibilities of how he could make it up to Sam. It was exciting that she was opening herself up to him. He had to admit he didn't know what propelled him to just take her arm in his hands without even asking but he was secretly pleased that she let him and didn't pull away.
"Agent Fitzgerald?" A uniformed police officer asked, disrupting his thoughts. "Are you ready to head over to the station?"
"Yeah, I'll meet you there." Martin nodded his head to Carl and added, "He's really bad news and I want to put him away for as long as possible so let's make sure we don't give his lawyer any loopholes to work with okay?"
The young officer squared his shoulders and said, "Believe me Agent, I don't intend to."
Martin smiled and reached out to shake the officer's hand. "Thanks man, see you later."
He wandered over to his car and got inside. Sitting in his car he pulled out his cell phone to call Charlie and let him know that they found Erica.
"Denooyer." Charlie answered gruffly.
"Hey, it's Martin. We found Erica." Martin replied cheerily. "Sam's escorting her to the hospital."
"Well that's fantastic news because I got Dominic here with us." Charlie replied sounding mildly amused. "It seems he followed our car after we left his house. You're losing some of your skills Fitzgerald that you didn't notice a car tailing us all the way from Chicago."
"Damn it." Martin replied irritated that he didn't in fact notice. Fortunately in this once instance there was a relatively happy ending. "You might as well take him to Mercy General to see Erica."
"Can do." Charlie replied before asking, "Where are you?"
"I'm on my way to the station to process Carl for assault on a federal officer." Martin then told Charlie everything that happened. "Sam's fine but he marked her up enough to have a strong case."
"That's good news, see you at the station." Charlie replied before adding, "And Martin, try not to let anyone follow you okay."
"Hey, I don't remember you making any comments on the drive over." He replied mockingly.
"Fair enough, later man." Charlie said before he hung up.
Martin closed his phone and tossed it onto the passenger seat next to him. He blew out a breath and rubbed his eyes as his lack of sleep was finally starting to catch up with him. He yawned and inserted his key into the ignition when his cell started ringing. He reached over to pick it up. "Fitzgerald."
"Martin, how are things over there?" Louisa's voice asked with a hint of urgency.
"We found Erica and arrested her ex-boyfriend, Carl Battarbee." Martin began before giving Louisa a brief but thorough report.
"That's wonderful because we have a new case. A toddler was kidnapped from his daycare in Elgin. The mother suspects it was the ex-husband. I want you and Charlie to meet us there right away." Louisa ordered. "Let Danny and Sam wrap things up there."
Martin wanted to argue that he should stay there but he knew that this was his job. "I'll go pick up Charlie and we'll be on our way." He clicked the 'End' button before dialing up Charlie again.
"What's up Marty?" Charlie asked.
"I just got a call from Louisa…." Martin then told him what she had told them and then asked, "Where are you?"
"Danny and I are on our way to the hospital. Let's meet there, it's in between."
"I'm on my way." Martin started up his car and pulled into the street. He always hated getting cases right on top of one another but he was really bummed that this case was interfering with his plans to see Sam before she left. He looked up at the sky overhead and gave a silent prayer that the storm that was hitting Chicago would mean that all the flights would be cancelled. He knew that he was being selfish to want to strand thousands of travelers but he really didn't want her to leave without getting his second kiss.