VIII.

Sam took a look at her watch before burying her hands in her pockets. 2 p.m. – late for a lunch break, but the good thing about days, when there weren't any hot cases, was that at least she had a real lunch break. And knowing Jack she guessed he wouldn't be mad if she stretched the break a little longer than she was actually supposed to – after all, she had probably worked about a hundred hours overtime since Martin had been shot – having a replacement on the team or not.

It wasn't raining when she walked out of the FBI-headquarters but there was an unusually strong wind blowing between the huge buildings of the city, making it very clear that summer for this year was over.

Sam was lost in thoughts; autumn was always making her a little melancholic. She didn't mind, though, as long as it didn't get too much…

When she walked past McDonald's she suddenly noticed how hungry she was, which shouldn't be a surprise since she hadn't eaten anything all day. With a sigh she pushed the door opened and almost bumped into a group of people that looked – and sounded – suspiciously like German tourists. As she made her way past them she tried to decide what to have for lunch. She had long given up on trying to avoid junk food, especially since her times with Martin, who had seemed to live of that stuff only.

Before she could help it her mind wandered back to the times when she'd first joined Jack Malone's team, the first six months – before that stupid affair she'd had with her boss, a mistake she regretted painfully on some days, but still couldn't help clinging to on others – before that affair, on days like these, she would usually go to lunch with Danny.

Sam smiled at the memory of thinking he was trying to pull, when he'd asked her if she wanted to join him for lunch on her second day with the team. Very quickly, though, she had realised, that that wasn't the case at all.

Of course, he would flirt with her, easily able to make her feel special around him, even more so since she knew there were more than enough women who would have given anything to be in her place when they flirted. He had never tried anything else, though, and since Sam had had feelings for Jack from the beginning, she had easily managed to build up a solid friendship with Danny, not too close, but close enough to know he'd always be there for her if she needed him.

Sam finished the last bite of her hamburger, than made to leave. Outside it had started to rain again, just a bit, but enough to make her mood change from melancholic to miserable. She was tired, too. After all, she hadn't slept well.

A shop window caught her attention; it displayed the most beautiful dress Sam had seen in a while. Way too expensive of course, but still Sam entered the shop. She was going to try it on, anyways, maybe that would brighten up her mood.

Of course, she looked beautiful in it – or so the shop assistant said, no; shouted!

Sam smiled and shook her head. "I'll come again tomorrow with my boyfriend", she told the disappointed young woman and walked back out into the rain.

Yeah, right. Your boyfriend.

Of course she didn't have a boyfriend, which was, probably, because every time she met someone decent she would always screw it up. Like she had with Eric Keller. Martin. Not to even mention Jack.

It was time to get back to the office, Sam suddenly noticed. And she didn't mind because the rain was getting worse again. On the way back she walked past Angela's, the place Danny had taken her to on that first time they'd had lunch together. She had liked it, and he'd taken her there again. They would take turns at buying each other lunch. Sam sighed – they hadn't done that in a while. In fact they hadn't done that in years. The affair with Jack had gotten in the way, and afterwards Sam had intensified her friendship with Viv looking for someone she could confide in after that fizzled what-ever-it-was she had had with her boss.

But what about Danny?

After their fight that morning Sam had asked herself a hundred times all morning if maybe she'd been unfair. After all, she was used to him being there for her, and she'd expected him to be there for Martin as well. But she had never really thought about how he might feel; about Martin, about the shooting – about all of it actually.

Maybe she'd just taken his friendship for granted?

The thought had hit her hard, when she'd left the office walking past Danny's desk. He hadn't seen her, had been too caught up in his conversation with the blond woman. What was her name? Sam couldn't remember. All she knew was that when she'd seen the two of them she had suddenly felt very bad.

Jealous, maybe?

Of course not!

Really, Samantha?

She was not in love with Danny or anything – they had known each other for way too long and had developed a more brother-and-sister-like kind of relationship and he also wasn't the type of guy she would want to be with. Yet, in his own way he was sweet nonetheless, and good-looking as well and she couldn't deny that she had always, secretly, enjoyed the fact that, at work, she was the only one he would sometimes flirt with.

She knew, of course, that outside work there were more than enough women in his life – although she was sure that none of them lasted too long – but at the office she was the only pretty single woman around him, the only one who would get compliments from him, and she wanted it that way.

All just for her own damn self-esteem.

Suddenly Sam felt ashamed. How could she have expected Danny to be always there for her – and everybody else – when she had never wasted a thought on how he was feeling? Or what he might want? Quickening up her pace she made her mind up to apologize for her behaviour that morning and maybe try and find out how he was really doing these days. If she couldn't keep a relationship going, at least she may be able to keep a friendship.

………………

Danny was frustrated. He and Lilly had discussed the case over and over again, had checked every bit of information they been able to get on Olof Benson, they had studied the file on Amy Bradfort – who as they now knew had been Dina Larstrom, all the time.

They kept running into dead ends, and despite being aware of how childish it was Danny just wanted to rip the whole file into pieces and throw them away.

The conversation between him and Lilly had died a few minutes ago, none of them feeling much more motivation, and both fed up and lost in thoughts for a while.

A well-known voice finally pulled Danny back to the present. "Have you two been working all the time?"

He looked up to find Sam staring back at him, seemingly amazed by their industry.

"We're… kinda havin' a break right now…" he finally answered.

"Good." Sam turned to go, hesitated and, suddenly, she appeared to get a little nervous.

"Danny?"

"Yeah…"

"Can I speak to you for a moment?" Sam asked the question he had been waiting for. He had actually dreaded it, but there was nothing he could do, because Sam shot Lilly a meaningful glance and before Danny could say or do anything to hold her back, the other woman excused herself – "Need to use the toilette, anyway…" – and left.

Danny sighed. "What is it, Sam?"

"I… uh… just wanted to say I'm sorry. For this morning, you know… I…"

"No need to be sorry", Danny cut her off, not wanting to delve into this conversation.

"No, there is. Because I was just so mad at you because I couldn't think of any reason why you would abandon Martin the way you did…"

"Sam…"

"… but now I think it's because you're suffering from the shock of the ambush as well and…"

"Sam, it's enough." Danny had laid his hand on his forehead as if he was annoyed, hiding his eyes in the process. He didn't want to get all emotional with Sam around, but he couldn't help being touched by what she said. "It's okay, really. You were right, actually."

"But…"

Okay, now or never Taylor. She's not gonna let go.

"Sam, the thing is…" He hesitated. Then, after taking a deep breath he finally spoke, so fast he wasn't even sure she would understand him: "You know… I hate to tell you this but I just keep asking myself if maybe I could have done better and could have kept Martin from… being shot… and I need to get rid of these thoughts, and I won't, seeing how bad he's doing which is why I haven't visited him lately. – And let's not talk about this anymore. You think you can do that?"

"Sure", Sam replied in a small voice.

"Fine. Now, I've got work to do." Turning his back on her, Danny started to rummage through the paper sheets on his desk again, pretending to suddenly be very busy.

But Sam wasn't quite done. "You know, he doesn't blame you, Danny, don't you?"

Why can't she just leave?

"Yeah", he managed to reply. He didn't look at her, though, hoping for her to think it was just because he was trying to make it clear the conversation was over, but the real reason he avoided her eyes was that he was, indeed, getting emotional; a lump forming in his throat and he could even feel his damn eyes getting wet!

Danny had often cursed his tendency to get emotional, although deep down he knew it was what had probably kept him on the right track during his life. If he hadn't always felt so intensively about everything – no matter if good or bad feelings – he knew he may have ended up like his brother; too dull to differ right from wrong. He had, still, tried to kill a lot of these feelings during his youth, had tried for years, actually, to suffocate them with alcohol and excess partying and sex. It hadn't really worked, but that was exactly why he was here now, instead of where he could be; in jail, like his brother or maybe even dead. Danny knew that and was grateful for it.

A voice pulled Danny back to the present: "She one of your co-workers?"

Lilly was back, and, swallowing that lump in his throat, Danny hurried to regain his composure before turning to face her.

"Yeah, we usually work on the same team."

"How many of you all together?"

"Five."

"Martin, too?"

"Yes."

There was silence, then Lilly said: "She's pretty."

Now Danny grinned. "Is she? Hadn't noticed."

"Yeah, right", Lilly said, but smiled.

What's happened with her?

Happy to have something positive to think about, Danny began asking himself if maybe Lilly was totally the opposite of what he had thought of her before. In fact, she seemed quite nice, now. Nothing left of that cold, inapproachable manner she'd shown him at the beginning.

He wanted to say some more, maybe even flirt a bit – he could damn well use a little flirt to brighten up his mood – but she seemed to guess what he was up to and with the words "Don't even try!" she quickly shoved the case material in his direction again.

Danny sighed. "Okay, here we go – again."

They had spread all three of the pictures over his desk; the two older ones and the newer one of Dina alias Amy. They had also written a timeline like Jack usually did on the whiteboard, only they had used a clean sheet of paper for it. Danny noticed the timeline started only four months ago, when he and the team had started their investigation on Amy's – no, Dina's for fuck's sake, Taylor, concentrate! – disappearance.

"What about we start at the beginning?"

Lilly looked confused. "What do you mean?"

"Let's start at the very beginning – before Dina became Amy – and establish a complete timeline from back then until now."

"Okay… so we start…" Rummaging through her own notes Lilly found the information she was looking for. "Here it is; we start in 1985, when Dina Larstrom and her husband Ole Larstrom move in next to Amy Bradfort. – You got that? Good. So, over the next six years the two woman get close friends and Dina starts to copy Amy – or that's what Amy's mothers thinks."

"Yes", Danny nodded in agreement. "So, when Dina's husband Ole dies…"

"… and leaves her behind with a huge amount of debt, according her suicide note…"

"…she suddenly decides it's time to take over Amy's life because Amy's wealthy and after her husband's death there nothing to hold Dina back."

"Correct. Scotty says everybody they asked about Dina said, she didn't have many friends, nor did she have any family, either. Just her husband's family but they live in Sweden so there wasn't much contact with them, either." Lilly paused, waiting for Danny to finish writing everything down and continue with their story:

"So my guess is that Dina murdered Amy, then made sure she wouldn't be seen for the rest of the weekend, maybe skipped town or something, and left the rest to Benson. When she returns the two of them arrange the funeral and since Amy and Dina were known as best friend and Dina didn't have anybody else, nobody asks any questions. However, Dina does make one little mistake by letting herself be seen in that supermarket before she was due back in Philly."

"Yes, but she had it all planned well enough it almost worked out perfectly", Lilly pointed out.

Danny nodded. "So, after all this, I suppose Dina pays Benson for his help – who's only interest in Amy was probably just the money anyway – and then she moves to New York in…?"

"1991."

"Okay. So… she moves around a bit until she finally settles down next to Mrs Guerin in 1995. The two of them become friends, but apart from that there's not much happening in Dina's life until four months ago."

"And that's when the other timeline starts; she was last seen on the morning of that day she went missing. It was Monday but she didn't go to work that day, so around noon her boss reports her missing. Her neighbour, Linda Guerin claims to have seen her around eight a.m. that same day, but she has no idea what she's been doing on the weekend. You guys get involve but you're not able to fill that blank since nobody has seen her on Saturday or Sunday. Doesn't seem usual, though, since she's always been a bit lonely according to her neighbour", Lilly ended the story, staring at the paper Danny had written on. Then she lifted her head to stare at Danny. "You know what annoys me?"

He didn't say anything just raised his eyebrows, questioningly.

"The fact that Benson could help so little. The problem is he really seems to have told us the truth about not having heard of Dina since she went missing."

"From the looks of it he hasn't heard from her since 1991. It's obviously just coincidence he is here in New York now, too." Danny shook his head and directed his attention towards the photos of the two women again. "No, he's not the answer to this. I have a feeling, though, that we might be closer to it than we think."

"That so?" There was more amusement in Lilly's voice than genuine interest. At least that was how it sounded, especially since Danny suddenly noticed he had pinned his tongue between his lips as he was concentrated on thinking and therefore probably didn't look like he could be taken seriously. He corrected that quickly, pressing his lips to together now with his tongue inside his mouth when – suddenly – it came to him.

"That's it!"

How could we have been so blind?

"What?"

Slamming his fist onto the desk so hard it hurt he exclaimed the name: "Linda Guerin!"