Chapter 7

Martin rushed through the streets on his way to the places Sam could have gone. He carefully scanned every person he passed not wanting to miss her if she might walk by. The fact that her hair was light blonde made this task a little easier for him, but only a little, because it was almost 7 p.m. and still very busy on the sidewalk.

For a second he was thinking about calling Danny for help, but he didn't want to alarm anybody if it was likely that there was nothing to worry about.

He walked past the library, a photo shop and a couple of restaurants.

When they had been together about a year ago they hadn't gone out very often, but he remembered eating at a couple of them.

There was the small Mexican restaurant. He couldn't recall the name, but his memories of the drinks they had had there where quite vivid or blurry, that depended on the way you looked at it. The only thing he knew for sure was that he had been glad that he didn't have to work the next day. He had never felt so miserable in his life as he had after he had woken up the next morning, but he would never have admitted it in front of Sam, because she had seemed to be fine.

And Kali Singh's Indish restaurant where Sam nearly choked, because the food had been so spicy. Everybody had watched as she had gasped for air and Martin had got so worried that he had told the waiter to call 911.

Instead he had brought a glass of a yogurt drink called Lassi which helped instantly.

Martin had to smile when he thought about the catastrophes the evenings of them going out had ended in.

He was called back into reality when someone bumped into him.

It was a blonde woman, but he immediately realized it wasn't Sam.

"Sorry." She muttered and moved along disappearing in the crowd.

It was in moments like these that Martin hated New York City. In a small town it would have been a lot easier to find the one you were looking for.

He stopped to call Sam's cell phone again, but as he had expected there was no one picking it up.

It didn't seem as if he had another choice as to do it the old, familiar way and search for her.

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He reached the supermarket and there had been no sign of her yet.

It was not very likely that anyone would remember having seen Sam, because it was bustling inside, but he didn't want to give up just now.

"Excuse me...," He studied the nametag on the woman's dress, "...Helen, but you didn't happen to see a woman with light blonde hair, about your own size here approximately between 12 and 1 p.m., did you?"

Helen snorted and shot him a look as if she was sure to have a complete idiot in front of her.

"First of all, we have hundreds of customers every hour so I don't really recall every face or hair or whatever and second I'm not even sure who asks that. For all I know you could be a complete nutcase or a stalker or whatever..."

Martin resisted the urge to show her his badge though he would have loved to see her face when she realized she had just offended a federal agent.

But he just nodded. "Thanks for your help." He said demonstratively friendly so that even she wouldn't be able to miss the irony.

"You're welcome..." She answered and Martin couldn't help a thin smile.

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He didn't have any luck at the supermarket, but he hadn't expected anything else.

When he left the building he had to admit that he could already feel frustration rising in him . The hope with which he had entered was blown away like dust in the wind.

He reached for his cell phone once more. Maybe Sam had come home in the meantime, but when he heard it ringing for the fifth time his heart sank.

There was still one place he could go looking for her, the drugstore. If this also turned out to be a dead end he would call Danny.

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The drugstore wasn't very far from the supermarket so that it took Martin only a couple of minutes to get there.

"Hi!" The elderly woman behind the counter greeted him when he entered.

"Hey!" Martin greeted her back and looked around to see if he could make Sam out, but there only was a young woman with what seemed to be her little daughter and an old man in the store.

"I'll be with you in a minute." The assistant told Martin and then disappeared in the back of the store.

When she got back she held a small packet in her hands and gave it to the old man.

"Here, Mr. Peerce, this is what you need. It's 4,90$."

The man paid, thanked her and then left.

"Goodbye, Sir!" She called after him and then turned to Martin. "What can I do for you?"

He felt a bit awkward asking her the same question as he had not 10 minutes ago in the supermarket. It didn't bother him to actually ask her, but he feared the answer.

The woman thought for a moment.

"When did you say it was again?" She asked. Martin was stunned, because he had expected her to disappoint him right away.

"About 1 p.m. And she comes regularly to get medicine for her neighbor ."

The woman thought again.

"And you said she was light blonde and about my size?"

Martin nodded.

"Well I'm not 100 sure, if it was the one you're looking for, but it sounds pretty much like the woman who had to be brought to the hospital at about noon."

Martin couldn't decide whether he was puzzled or shocked.

"The hospital?" He asked to make sure he got this right.

The woman nodded.

"She was standing right in front of me when it happened..." She stopped.

"What happened?" That came out a bit harsher than intended and Martin apologized. "I'm sorry, it's just... I'm worried about her."

The woman put her hand on Martin's shoulder and gave a compassionate smile.

"It's alright..." She paused for a moment to be certain he was okay. Then she continued her story about the woman that supposedly was Sam.

"She came in here and I don't remember what she wanted to get, but suddenly she went all pale and when I asked her if she was okay she shook her head. So I told her to sit down and I would get her some water, but the only thing she did was try to grab the edge of the counter before she sank to the ground. She was unconscious and had hit the floor pretty hard so I called 911 and they were here within two minutes. They said that she would be okay... When they left with her she was just regaining consciousness, but they wanted to take her with them, because they feared she suffered a mild concussion and they wanted to check on that. That she fainted must have had something to do with a low level of blood sugar. And she is in good hands so you don't need to worry."

Martin nodded, but he was concerned nonetheless.

"Do you remember where they took her?" He asked.

"They didn't say, but I would guess to St. Vincent's. Nothing else would make sense as it is the closest."

"Okay, thanks!" He said and already thought about the quickest way to the hospital. If Sam was alright, what everybody seemed to be sure of, he could calm down a bit. But he wasn't really able to, not as long as he hadn't seen it with his own eyes.

"If you find her tell her to get well soon." The woman called after him as he was about to leave the store.

"Thanks, I will. And thanks for the information again. You've been a great help." He turned around to tell her that. If it hadn't been for her he might have never found out about this. He was wondering why Sam hadn't called him though or at least let somebody call him.

End Chapter 7...

A/N: And as I promised I updated... Hope you like it