The following morning, Phil Hunter walked into Sunhill CID and headed in the general direction of his desk. The first thing he noticed was that Sam was not there yet which struck him as strange because she was usually there early. He smirked to himself as he thought of what the D.I would say if Sam was late.
He settled himself at his desk and buried himself in his overdue paperwork. An hour later, he looked up and was surprised and a little anxious when he saw that Sam had still not made an appearance. He got back to his paperwork but looked up hopefully everytime the door opened. He was worried about her now. She would never turn up this late without phoning in before hand.
He dug deep in his pocket, pulled out his mobile and punched Sams home number in. No answer. He tried her mobile instead but his anxiety increased when he was told this number was no longer in use.
Without wasting a moment more, he got up and headed straight for D.C.I Jack Meadows office. Knocking twice, he walked in without waiting for a reply.
"D.S. Hunter?"
"Guv its Sam. Shes not turned up yet, shes not answering her house phone and her mobiles out of use." he said in a rush.
"Calm down Phil" Jack said seeing how agitated his sergeant was. Even though he was worried about Sam, Jack had to conceal a smile as he thought back to the days when Sam and Phil were constantly at each others throats and found it hard to be in the same room as each other. Now here was one clearly worried because the other was an hour late.
"Give her half an hour Phil. If shes not in by then come back and see me."
"Guv" Phil said as he left the room to back to his desk.
He spent the next half hour staring out the window, willing Sams silver car to come round the corner and into the car park but he wasn't in luck. When the thirty minutes had passed he went back to the D.C.I's office.
"She's still not turned up guv" Phil said trying to keep the growing panic out of his voice. "Ive tried her house and mobile three times and I still can't get through."
"Right come on, we'll go round to her house and see whats happening."
Phil gasped as pulled up outside Sams house. The front door was lying wide open and her car was still parked infront. Now Jack was worried too but hid it from Phil. Both of them took their asps out and cautiously proceeded into the house.
"guv" Phil said faintly as he spotted the roll of duck tape on the floor. Jack stared at it for a minute before walking to the kitchen. He spotted the broken window and turned to Phil.
"Phil, put a call out over the radio. It looks like D.S Nixons been abducted."