Chapter 3:
"Matthew Newman?" Martin asked when the door of the apartment was opened. The building itself was a bit run down, but the man that greeted them at the door seemed to be an average citizen. He was rather small and had curly, dark hair. His clothes revealed him to be an individual of the sort "alternative". On his T-shirt stood in large letters "Red hot chili peppers".
"Yes that's me."
Martin held up his ID and introduced himself and then Samantha.
"Special Agent Fitzgerald and this is Special Agent Spade. We're with the FBI."
A sign of relief showed on Matthew's face.
"It was about time. Please come in."
The agents entered the small apartment. Martin was at ease with what he saw although he had to admit he hadn't expected it. This place was rather tidy.
"Nice apartment." He stated.
Matthew turned to him.
"Yeah, well, thanks. Trying to make the most of what I got. It's not really the nicest area to live in, but not so expensive either. Why don't you take a seat."
Both agents sat down on a sofa.
"So you called the police, because of your sister Juliet?" Sam asked.
The young man nodded.
"That's right. She wanted to meet me for dinner last night. We don't really see each other very often, because we move, how should I put it, in different circles. She is much of a party person. I wouldn't know anything of drugs and that sort of thing, but you know how such parties are. And I've been having a hard time getting my life in order myself. I really tried hard and finally got a job in the library. But she is my sister after all."
Sam began to feel a little uncomfortable. This reminded her quite a lot of the dream she had had that night. Maybe this wasn't a coincidence after all that she had had that dream. Maybe this feeling that something was wrong and that this day was going to be a tough one had been her instinct. Something inside of her trying to tell her something.
"And your sister didn't show up?" Martin continued the questioning when Sam didn't say anything.
"No, she didn't. So I went over to her place, but she wasn't there. I really don't know everything about her life and actually I don't want to know, but she never missed a dinner with me. She would have called to cancel it at least. But I didn't even get her on the phone."
"So you wouldn't know if she got herself into trouble?"
Matthew shook his head.
"I would probably be the last person to know. We grew up in a little town in Kansas and our dad died when we both were still young. Julie turned out as quite a rebel. She gave everybody a hard time. I don't say that I was much better and my mum sure could have been a better mum, but I think the one who suffered most from all this was Julie. She always wanted to get out of Riverside no matter what. And that's what she did. She made her decision. I finished High school and followed her to New York."
"Do you know of anyone who is very close to her?" Martin asked while quickly checking on Sam. She had been far too quiet he thought.
"There would be Lucy Hayes. She lives with her. I think they are good friends. But I wouldn't know of anyone else."
"Alright." Martin stood up and prepared to leave. Sam joined him.
"We come back to you if we have further questions or if we find out anything."
"Thanks for coming. I hope I just turn out to be too worried. Maybe it's just a misunderstanding."
Martin gave Matthew a reassuring smile. He liked the young man.
"We're doing our best to find her." He said before they left.
When they were down in the car Martin let out a deep sigh. Sam didn't even react.
"If I could only read your thoughts right now." He finally said. She looked at him with a smile contrasting the sad features on her face.
"Come on. You know you can talk to me." He would never admit it, but it really hurt him to see her like that. And he wanted to help her just as she had helped him lately.
"I know I can. But it's just not so important." She looked out of the window and waited for him to start the car.
"Well it's been on your mind all day so I dare say it's important to you." He tried again to get something out of her.
It was in moments like these when she realized how much he actually meant to her. She looked into his eyes, but her glance quickly shifted to her hands she had placed on her legs, for fear of what might well up in her if she didn't.
He smiled weakly to himself when he realized what this moment was about, but he didn't want to push it.
Both remained silent for a while before Sam started talking again.
"You know, it's just this whole Newman family reminds me a lot of my own family and I've been thinking about them since I had that dream tonight. It's a bit confusing and I keep wondering if there is a message in this for me. Now I start sounding crazy." She chuckled a little bit, but at the same time a silent tear streamed down her cheek. She wiped it away quickly and hoped he hadn't seen it. He had, but he knew she wouldn't want his pity so he ignored it.
"If you ask me I'd say it's nothing you need to think of as crazy. If someone turns up who has lived almost exactly the same life as you have up to a certain point in life it's only natural to ask yourself the question "What if". And if I may be bold enough to say this: Your family was never a chapter in your life you really came to terms with."
Sam hadn't expected him to say such a thing, but he was right and she slowly nodded. Her headache caused her more pain now than it had the whole morning, but at least she felt a little better after talking about this with someone who understood.
"Maybe we should go see this Lucy Hayes now." She tried to change the subject.
Martin nodded and started the car.
"But just so you know, you're not alone in this, okay? I won't let you." He had a knack for saying the right things at the right time.
Sam just looked at him and he looked at her, but they both remained silent.
"Danny, what have you got on the phone records of Alexander Rowley?" Jack asked when he rushed into the office closely followed by Elena Delgardo.
Danny instantly checked the papers in front of him. He had been studying them for quite a while, but had seen nothing out of the ordinary. But it often got a lot easier when you knew what you had to look for. He hoped Jack had found something that would help.
"Nothing interesting so far. Are you looking for anything in particular?" He put the papers back on his desk.
Jack came over to his bullpen.
"How about an affair?"
Danny looked up in surprise, then turned to his computer screen and grinned.
"So perfect Alex Rowley had an affair, ha?"
"Maybe. At least he had a reason to tell his wife he was working late and his coworkers he had to be home with his wife on time. So something is rotten in the world of Alexander Rowley."
"I'll take care of that." And Danny looked back into his papers to check the phone records once again.
"Elena, why don't you give him a hand. Vivian and I go visit the unknowing wife once more."
"Not really the place where you want leave your door unlocked at night." Martin said while he looked at the dreary scenery of run down town houses. In one corner he could make out some shady figures and a couple of young children were running across the narrow street jumping into the puddles which were left from the morning rain.
Sam just nodded at Martin's comment. Every time she saw the people in such a neighborhood it made her value her own way of life even more, but it made her sad at the same time. Children that grew up here had it harder than anyone else to break through this cycle of hopelessness and many of them wouldn't succeed even though they were neither less intelligent nor didn't they deserve it less than children living in a better neighborhood.
"So where do we have to be?" Sam asked not wanting to pursue these thoughts any longer.
"Over there I think." Martin pointed at a door right left of them.
They walked over there and Martin knocked at the door. A small, corpulent man who was wearing a dirty undershirt and trousers opened the door. He had a cigarette in his hand and coughed the smoke he had just inhaled right into Sam's face.
Sam didn't try to hide her disgusted expression, but turned her face to breathe in some fresh air.
The man didn't seem to bother and an apology certainly was out of the question.
"What do you want?" He asked instead.
"Special Agents Fitzgerald and Spade." Martin introduced them. "We would like to speak to Lucy Hayes."
The man opened the door for them to enter and eyed them curiously.
"What kind of trouble has she got herself into now?"
"None that we know of." Sam said.
"What are you here for then?" The man asked rubbing his hands on his dirty shirt.
"A girl she lived with went missing. We have a couple of questions we would like to ask her." At first Martin wanted to add an "if that's okay with you", but he doubted that this guy would get the message.
"Oh, you mean Juliet. I haven't seen her around for a while. Thought she might have gone on the game again."
"She was into prostitution?" Martin asked curiously while Sam wrote the facts down on her notebook.
The guy smirked and Sam was even more disgusted by him.
"Every now and then when she needed money. Sometimes couldn't pay the rent, you know."
Martin took a deep breath.
"I think I get it, Mr...?"
"Wright, Gary Wright. I am the super of this building."
"Okay, Mr. Wright then. So she went on the game for drugs?"
The guy shrugged and then nodded.
"Well what else for would you do that."
"Mrs. Rowley, you told us your husband has been working late lately. Do you know how long he has been doing this?" Jack sat next to Vivian in the Rowley's living room again.
Mrs. Rowley shifted uncomfortably in her seat. She had an idea into which direction this was heading and she clearly didn't like what Jack was implying.
"A couple of months. I didn't exactly mark the day in the calendar. Is there anything you want to tell me?"
Jack had done this a lot of times in his FBI career, but that didn't make it much easier. Every time he revealed such a detail as an affair he could be certain that he had just destroyed a seemingly perfect family. But it was necessary, because sometimes the ones that were hurt by their partners began to reveal essential information which lead to finding the missing person. But he felt bad nevertheless.
"We only found contradictions in your statement and that of his boss Mr Thornton. Your husband always seemed to leave work on time."
Mrs. Rowley couldn't believe it. She sat staring into nothingness for a minute or two and then said in a feeble voice:
"Are you saying he had an affair?"
Jack held up his hands and tried to calm her down a bit.
"We don't want to jump to any hasty conclusions, but that might be an option."
"I don't believe it. Everything seemed to be fine."
"I know this won't really help, but in cases like these it often does." Vivian said sympathetically.
At that moment Loraine came down the stairs with a piece of paper in her hands.
"Didn't you bring Elena?" She wanted to know from Jack.
"No, she is in the office trying to find your dad."
"Okay. Would you give this to her? I painted it. It's my dad. Maybe this will help find him." She handed the paper over to Jack, who swallowed hard when he took it.
"Of course I will."
"This guy was...yuck!" Sam said still shivering with dislike when she thought about him..
"Yeah, but not everybody knows the purpose of a piece of soap and clothing that covers at least the hair on your back." Martin laughed.
Sam grimaced and softly slapped his arm.
"Martin, stop it! I really don't want to remember. And the thought that this girl might have slept with him is giving me nightmares. How could any woman even touch a guy like this?"
Her partner shook his head.
"No idea. But there are different tastes, you know..."
They made their way up the stairs until they reached the door of Lucy's and Juliet's apartment.
This time it was Sam's turn to knock at the door.
"Lucy Hayes? This is the FBI, please open up."
Nothing happened. Martin knocked once again, but still the door remained shut.
"Great." Sam moaned as she leaned against the wall.
END CHAPTER 3...
A/N: So that was chapter 3. Please let me know what you think. Reviews are very much appreciated;) (There are 2 more chaps to come btw)
Oh and I would like to announce something: I purchased myself my very first own car! The little one is not the newest and not the most handsome, but he's mine (!) and goes by the name of MARTY;) Which of course doesn't mean that I think our FBI Marty is old or not handsome. Quite the opposite actually;)