It was close to 1am when Cal and Gillian arrived back at his house, both exhausted and desperate to fall into bed. Emily was already asleep when they got in. Without exchanging a word, they brushed their teeth side by side and while Gillian removed her makeup, Cal decided not to wait for her to leave the room before emptying his bladder. Gillian was so tired she just rolled her eyes and grunted "ugh, seriously Cal?". He moved behind her and reached around either side of her waist to wash his hands, pressing fully against her back. She threw him out when he was done so she could pee in peace.

Entering his bedroom, they stripped down and as Cal put his pyjama bottoms on, Gillian stole his sleep t-shirt, saving herself the effort of finding her own pyjamas. Ordinarily Cal would tease her or jokingly complain about her thievery, but tonight he simply climbed into bed and reached across to pull her under the covers beside him. Before she was fully settled, Cal was wrapped around her and falling asleep. She turned into his embrace and kissed his neck, tightening her own grip around him before following into slumber.

Nobody had slept well that night. They had awoken to Gillian's phone alarm at 5:30am an hour earlier than usual. Exhausted but motivated for the day ahead of them, they kissed briefly and dragged themselves from the bed. Cal woke Emily to update her on what was going on, letting her know that they wouldn't be around much but if she needed anything she should call one of them. While Cal spoke to his daughter and started the coffee, Gillian showered and got dressed for the day. Then Gillian prepared a quick breakfast of toast and cereal, finishing the coffee and making tea for Cal while he got ready. They were out the door by 6:15.

Arriving straight back to the crime scene they spoke to Captain Mallory, Officer Davis, and Wallowski, all of whom looked like they hadn't slept at all. They discussed how they would be working with the police units for the day. Loker was already setting up their recording equipment with Mark, who was looking decidedly uncomfortable surrounded by cops who might recognise him and being completely obvious about trying to play it cool.

"Davis is pretty sure he knows your new guy", Wallowski queried subtly. "Wants to check his record to see if we should be allowing him to work with us."

"He might want to look into mine while he's at it then. Maybe yours too, Sharon." Cals reply effectively shut down any further inquiry into the suitability of his employees. Wallowski nodded to affirm his point was well made and returned to her colleagues.

Ria Torres was standing by, near Cal and Gillian, waiting to get started but watching everything around her closely.

As it turned out, Amy Hamilton's father and brother were on scene to join in the search party. The police had advised that they might be better off waiting at home for any updates or calls that might come through, but Kyle Hamilton had insisted that his wife would be staying at home with a police liaison in case the kidnappers called. He would not sit by and do nothing while his youngest child was missing. His son, David, seemed less keen on joining the search, but his father had insisted that he should be involved. The boy showed fear but observing him for a moment suggested that the source of the fear was more likely to be the trauma of the situation and the risk of either upsetting his father or of finding his little sister in any state other than the best-case scenario. They would certainly talk to them later, but until then they suggested that the police monitor them closely. Mr Hamilton showed no signs of guilt upon first impressions. It seemed unlikely the family had anything to do with this, but the police were suspicious regardless due to the lack of other leads and their desperate need to have a closed case on the books.

Once the search party set off again, Loker and Mark headed back to the lab to review the footage from the morning and previous night again. They would remain on standby in case they were required for further field work, but otherwise would continue to work on some of the other cases they had on the books.

Setting out with the other units, Gillian, Cal, and Ria each accompanied a separate unit of police officers, going door to door to observe any signs of deception from the routine canvassing. The task was difficult; people tended to get nervous when the cops knocked on your door. There were signs of fear, guilt, shame, and signs of distrust from many of the local homeowners and passers-by who were questioned. Nobody professed to have seen anything out of the ordinary around the time that Amy was taken, nor in the time surrounding the incident. Nobody reported any unusual behaviour from their neighbours that might cause alarm. Nobody really wanted to talk about it to the police either. They each noted which of the interactions seemed benign and which seemed to raise a concern that someone was hiding something serious, but without actually sitting face to face and interviewing each person in more depth, it was difficult to get anything, although there was nothing overtly sinister from anyone when the police talked about Amy or the kidnapping.

After several hours both the search party and the door canvassers returned to base, nothing new having been discovered. The police returned to their precincts to run background checks, starting with the few individuals that The Lightman Group found to show the highest levels of suspicion. The three deception experts were confident they would turn up nothing more sinister than a few minor drug habits in most cases, but there were a few hallmarks of domestic abusers, and one guy Ria was certain would turn out to be on a register of some kind. They weren't optimistic that there would be anything that would result in additional investigations for the cops, and they certainly weren't expecting any new leads for the matter at hand.

By 2pm, Ria had been sent back to The Lightman Group Offices while Cal and Gillian headed to the police precinct to talk to Wallowski about interviewing the Hamilton family. They agreed that the best place to speak to them first would be at the family's home, with all of them together. This way they might be able to set the family at ease with them while they could observe how they interact with each other and perhaps find some semblance of the true family dynamic by seeing them inside the home.

Arriving at the Hamilton home, Detective Sharon Wallowski and her new partner, a quiet young detective named Ibrahim Hamed, accompanied Cal and Gillian into the home of the young victim's family. Wallowski introduced the two psychologists as tactfully as she could having previously mentioned that they would be recruiting a consultation group to assist with the case, however the family initially balked at the idea that the deception experts would want to sit down to interview them. The first challenge with these types of cases was always convincing the family that it was an essential part of the process to talk to them.

A defensive Kyle Hamilton showed clear disgust when the detectives suggested that the family should give time up to The Lightman Group. "You think we have something to do with this!?", Mr Hamilton exclaimed looking between the detectives and the newcomers. "You should be out there finding who did this! All of you! We should be out there helping to search instead of here doing nothing!"

It was Cal who stepped in this time. Even though Gillian was normally the calming influence in a room, sometimes Cal was the best person to deal with these types of outbursts. It was clear that Mr Hamilton was the dominant force in the home, both his wife and son's body language suggesting that they would be submissively deferring to him and following his lead. It was equally clear that he was the type of man who would best respond to the authority of other men, and Cal could be commanding and authoritative in both a confident reassuring manner and a domineering one depending on what the situation called for. In this instance, he opened with a reassuring confidence that fell just short of charming.

Cal stepped forward, extending his hand to the other man before introducing himself. "Mr Hamilton, we're here to help find your daughter. I've got a daughter myself, around the same age as your son there", Cal gestured towards David and continued, "I'd be exactly like you are now if anything like this were to happen to her. Your instincts are based in emotion though and the urge to do something to protect your family. The police are professionals, they know exactly what they're doing here. And so do we. We're not here to suggest that you or your family had anything to do with the abduction, not at all. But there is a possibility that you might know something that could help to figure out what did happen. And to do that, we're going to have ask you some difficult questions. Questions that might seem accusatory to you. But I assure you, we're only looking for the truth. That's what we do. We find the truth.", then he turned towards Gillian and held out his hand, palm up, "This is my colleague, Dr Gillian Foster".

Gillian stepped forward then to join Cal, nodding her head towards Mr Hamilton, understanding instinctively that he was not the type to shake hands with a woman. He was a slim man of above average height, but not tall, with pale white skin, dark brown hair and a cold blue stare. No doubt his manner was influenced by the stress of his missing daughter, but Gillian got the impression that Kyle Hamilton was not a warm personality.

"Now, do you mind if we get started? The sooner we talk to you all, the sooner we can be out of your way and moving on to finding who might be behind this," Cal said as he moved further into the house with Gillian by his side.

"Let's get this over with, Dr Lightman," came the tense reply from the missing girl's father.

The group moved into the family living room, the cops hovering in the background as much as they could, Cal and Gillian moving in to take a seat on the sofa opposite where Mrs Hamilton and her son were sitting on the second sofa that filled the large space. Mr Hamilton remained standing even though there were two seats remaining in the spacious room. Julia Hamilton was quite different to her husband, in appearance and manner. She was around Gillian's height, sans heels, with chocolate brown skin, black hair and wide brown eyes. She was a beautiful woman and Cal thought, looking at her sitting there, that her husband was extremely fortunate, punching way above his weight, considerably out of his league, and based on his attitude likely had no idea. If not for the situation, she would likely be quite amicable. Where Kyle seemed aloof and standoffish, Julia was warm with a naturally welcoming aura.

"Do you know who has your daughter?", came the inevitable first question from Cal.

The reaction from the occupants of the room was equally inevitable. The Hamilton family exploded in a flurry of outrage and shock.

"How dare you!", from Mr Hamilton.

"What is this!?", gasped Mrs Hamilton. "I thought you said we weren't suspects!?", she sobbed, looking back to the detectives.

David said nothing, but his eyes widened in shock at the unexpected question and ensuing reactions.

Wallowski clearly expected the opening line of questioning, but her inexperienced partner hadn't yet had the opportunity to meet Cal Lightman and he looked like a deer caught in headlights.

"As you know, we're pursuing all possible avenues of enquiry at this time", Wallowski interjected with an effort to back Cal up.

"I said we're not here to suggest that you had anything to do with it, but we do need to know what you might know", Cal spoke up with a tone that immediately put a stop to the unrest in the room, although the tension had only increased.

"We need to ask some difficult questions in order to get a baseline reaction from you and rule out the possibility that you might have any leads for the detectives working to find your daughter", Gillian continued more tactfully than Cal had begun. "Your immediate reactions suggest to us that you don't know anything, as I'm sure you could have told us yourselves, but we're looking beyond your words. We needed to see how you reacted to the question". Gillian took over the questioning then, both she and Cal understanding that at least for the time being the Hamiltons would be resistant to Cal.

"Have you noticed anything out of the ordinary lately? Changes in Amy's behavior maybe, or any new friends or people hanging around? Has there been any changes to any of your routines at all over the last few months?", Gillian asked the standard questions while Cal observed the faces of the three members of the Hamilton family. They gave nothing away that would indicate they had any agenda beyond recovering Amy safe and well. Amy's brother showed no signs of resentment towards his sister, although he did seem uncomfortable when his parents discussed how happy and well adjusted their children were, and as they detailed the disciplined routines that the entire family adhered to. As happy as Mr and Mrs Hamilton insisted their children were with the academic and extracurricular regime they followed, David's face and body language suggested anything but.

The Hamilton family certainly weren't as happy as they wanted to portray, but so far there were no signs that they had anything to hide in relation to the abduction of their daughter. As Cal and Gillian were about to ask to look at Amy's room and around the rest of the house, Wallowski's cell phone rang. The abrupt straightening of her posture and deliberately clipped professional tone as she attempted to leave the room discretely raised goosebumps for everyone in the room. When she returned, she made every effort to look calm as she signalled for Cal and Gillian to make a move along with Detective Hamed. Wallowski entered the room then, addressing the family.

"We're sorry to have taken up so much of your time Mr and Mrs Hamilton, we'll let you get some rest now if you can. Call us if you think of anything or if you receive any calls. There'll still be a marked car stationed outside and we'll contact you soon with any updates on the investigation. We're doing everything we can", she excused them in as reassuring a voice as she was capable of.

"What was that call you took? Do you know something? Did they find something? Is it Amy?", Mr Hamilton's tone became increasingly erratic with every question, causing his wife to fret and reach out grasping her sons arm in a death grip as David squirmed in his seat in dismay.

"We don't have any news or leads on Amy's whereabouts at this time, Sir. Please just try to get some rest, we've disturbed you enough. I'm sure you're all exhausted. We'll be in touch soon"

Wallowski led the small team from the house without elaborating, each member of the group knowing not to show signs of discomfort or curiosity until they were out of sight of the family.

Before Wallowski could explain what was going on, Cal interjected. "Well, the family don't seem to have anything to do with this, so you can report the bleedin' obvious back to your boss. The boy seems a bit off, but I don't think he's suspicious. More likely just doesn't like baseball practice. What was the call about?"

"That was Captain Mallory. Cops in Virginia found a body in Belle Haven, about an hour's drive south of here. It's not Amy, but she matches the general description that was released, just about ten to fifteen years older and darker complexion. Slim build, black hair, similar facial structure. If not for the clear age difference, we'd be asking the family to come in to ID the body. Seems a strong coincidence, even though it's some way away. The body was discovered in a ditch on the outskirts of a field. It's outside of our jurisdiction, but we're collaborating with all surrounding police departments for any leads", Wallowski summarised the call with a grim demeanor as she led them all away from the house and towards their respective cars. "We're gonna head out there and talk to the local PD, maybe see if we can take a look at the crime scene".

A combination of horror and relief fell over the group. They were all relieved it wasn't Amy, but the discovery, if connected, complicated this case immensely.