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chapter four

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hold on
hold on to yourself
for this is gonna hurt like hell
--Sarah McLachlan, "Hold On"

xx

7:50 pm

2 hours missing

"Excuse me," Samantha cut in front of the line to speak immediately to the man at the registration desk. "I'm Special Agent Spade, this is Special Agent Russell. We're with the FBI, can you point us --"

Samantha never got to finish her sentence though, as the glass doors to the emergency room rushed open and Danny motioned them inside. "They're with me," he waved casually at the registration desk. The volume of unaware patients in the waiting room groaned, but the man behind the registration desk didn't even look up.

"Oh, great. So we know security at this end is tight." Naomi was clearly unimpressed, and she wasn't the only one.

"Yeah, he's a real winner," Danny said, motioning back towards registration. "Anyway, so far I haven't found too much. The girls' nanny dropped them off here at 5:00 like she always does on Fridays, usually they play in the staff lounge for an hour or so until one of their parents finishes. People are in and out of the lounge all the time, charge nurse noticed them missing at about 5:50."

"Have you talked to the parents?" Naomi asked. "Victor Fitzgerald is going to be all over this."

"I haven't. Dad's apparently out of town presenting at a medical conference, mom has been franticly running around since I got here."

"Lockdown procedure?"

"Apparently, they followed protocol down here in the ER, but it was to late. They were already gone. We've got a team on the security footage right now, but nothing so far."

"Hello?"

The three turned around as a blonde-haired woman in purple scrubs made her way towards them.

"I'm Joanne, they told me you were brought in to help find Caro's girls."

Sam nodded. "I'm Special Agent Spade, this is Special Agent Russell and Special Agent Taylor. We're with the FBI. Were you the one who first discovered they were missing?"

"I am."

Naomi tapped Sam on the shoulder. "Excuse us, we're going to check back in with security to see if anything has turned up on the cameras."

After Danny and Naomi left, Sam and Joanne moved to a slightly quieter area of the emergency room, although given the state of chaos that surrounded them, that was easier said than done.

"I just, I can't believe I let this happen!"

"This wasn't your fault," Sam tried to reassure her.

"I usually keep an eye on them when they're here on Fridays. Their dad, Tim, usually finishes evening rounds at about 5:30 and will come down and get them. They'll go across the street to the diner to wait for Caroline. But Tim is in Philadelphia this weekend presenting at CHOP -- Children's Hospital of Philadelphia," Joanne explained, noticing the confused look on Sam's face.

"Has anyone been able to get in touch with their father?"

"Not that I know of. I just ... I should have been watching them more closely."

"You noticed them missing at about 5:50, right?" Joanne nodded. "When was the last time you saw them?"

"It was about 5:15 --"

"Aunt Jo!" Kelsey squealed happily from her place on the sofa in the lounge. "Look what I did at school today!"

Joanne shut the door behind her as she made her way into the lounge to grab something - anything - to eat for dinner while she had the chance. Friday nights were usually busy, but today the waiting room was nothing if not just short of a mob scene.

Kelsey scooted down to where her school bag sat, taking out her day's artwork and holding it out with unsteady hands.

"Oh, that's beautiful Kels. Did you draw this for your dad for when he gets home?"

"Nope. I drew it for Uncle Marty - Mommy says he gets lonely at his house. Daddy won't be lonely when he comes home because he's got us."

"And what are you up to, Bridget?"

The two year old didn't look up from her coloring book, where she was hard at work coloring over a picture of Peter Pan and Tinkerbell. In purple crayon.

"Bridget! That's not how you're supposed to do it!" Kelsey exclaimed indignantly before turning back to Joanne. "She hasn't taken art class at school yet," she stated, as though that clearly explained everything.

Joanne moved to the fridge, taking out her yogurt and a spoon. This was going to have to do for now.

"W'as that?" Bridget asked, looking up from her now entirely purple-streaked page.

"Yogurt. You want some?" She held the spoon out near the toddler's face.

"Eww! No!" Bridget giggled.

"Good, because your mom would kill me if I spoiled your dinner." She ruffled both girls' hair.

Just then, she heard a loud 'thud' and a flurry of activity coming from right outside. She opened the door to reveal a middle-aged man lying in a pool of his own blood.

Joanne dropped her yogurt on the counter and shut the door as fast as she could, trying to prevent the small girls' curious eyes from the scene that was collecting outside of their safe haven.

"I should have told them to stay put, that I would be right back," she lamented. Samantha squeezed her arm reassuringly.

"Did you notice anyone hovering around when you left? Anyone who looked suspicious?"

"You can't get into the lounge without the code. But I wasn't really paying attention -- our GI bleeder in 16 had just dropped his H and H to 5 and 19."

Samantha nodded, although she had absolutely no idea what that meant.

"Security was there, but I think my nursing student called them."

"Thank you, Joanne. You've been very helpful. If you think of anything else," she said, giving her a card, "please don't hesitate to contact me."

"Of course."

"Can you point me in the direction of Dr. Byrne?"

"Dr. Fitzgerald," Joanne corrected. "It'd be too complicated if they were both Dr. Byrne," she went on, and began to motion to the back hall of the ER. "She's over there talking to Dr. Gibson. She must be signing out."

One look at the two women in that direction, and Samantha knew exactly which one was Caroline Byrne. Fitzgerald, she corrected herself. The family resemblance was uncanny.

"Thank you, again."

Before she could make her way over to speak to the girls' mother, Danny and Naomi returned from security.

"Anything?"

"Nothing on any small children matching their descriptions leaving the area through the ER," Naomi started.

"They were last seen in the staff lounge at about 5:15 or 5:20, but there were no signs of anyone forcing their way into the lounge. So either the girls left the lounge on their own, or the person who took them had access."

"Is security getting us a list?"

"Already on it," Danny nodded. "We just talked to Jack, who said that Victor Fitzgerald is on his way here and barking out orders. Naomi is going to talk to the nanny, I was going to stay here to talk to a few more people and see what else turns up. Jack wants you to bring Caroline down to the office to talk to Vivian, see if we can get the mother-to-mother aspect to work in our favor. And 'Daddy Dearest' lands in twenty minutes."

"So when Victor Fitzgerald jumps, the rest of us mere mortals cower in the corner." Naomi's voice was laced with sarcasm.

"Yes, and you two should change into more professional cowering clothes ASAP. I don't want him criticizing your wardrobe on top of everything else that I'm sure he's going to have issues with."

Samantha looked down at her jeans and, for the first time since she'd gotten Vivian's call, realized that she and Naomi were still dressed as civilians.

Damnit, she thought. Tonight cannot possibly get any worse.

xx

8:40 pm

Samantha sighed as she studied the information on the DOD board, knowing instinctively that this was one case they could not afford to have go cold.

"I'm sorry I had to drag you in on your weekend off," she heard Jack come up behind her. "I hope I didn't drag you away from a hot date."

She shrugged, and it didn't sting nearly as much as it would have just a few weeks ago. It was really none of his business what she had been doing.

"It's fine. We haven't gotten a ransom call yet, have we?"

"No, but I think that's the angle we should work this as until we get anything that makes us think differently."

"Their parents are both doctors, though. Danny was going to ask around to see if there were any patients who may have had a motive."

Jack nodded, turning away from her to face the white board. "Phone records look pretty clear too, nothing that would indicate an affair on either parent's end."

"So we've got absolutely nothing yet, great." Sam moved back to her desk, going over the notes she had taken while talking to Joanne.

"Just be glad that you're not the one who has to look Victor Fitzgerald in the eye and tell him we have no viable leads as of yet," Jack put his hand on her shoulder before moving back into his office. She was, at that point, so distracted by her notes that she didn't even notice him leave.

Maybe five minutes later, Vivian and Caroline returned from the room down the hall where they had been talking. "If you can just wait here for a few minutes, I'm going to go talk to Agent Spade," she turned to see Vivian motion to the empty lounge before heading back to the bullpen.

"Did you get anything, Viv?"

"Mom says she sees countless patients from the ER who might have a grudge against her, mainly addicts who don't get what they want. Nothing substantial to go on, though. And I heard from Naomi, she said the nanny didn't notice anything unusual or suspicious but had said she would call if anything came to mind." Vivian stopped at her desk before turning around, "What about you?"

"I just can't get something that the charge nurse mentioned to me about how close the girls are with their uncle. The phone records I've looked at back that up. I don't know if it means anything, but if what she said is true and he is close to Caroline and her family... What if this isn't about the girls being Victor Fitzgerald's grandchildren at all --" Sam's voice rose as she allowed the reality of her words to sink in. "What if this was some group who wanted revenge on Senator Fitzgerald?"

"Are you thinking a group who was opposed to his election, or more a group that would have gotten angry because of how he's come out strong on death penalty reform since Delia Rivers and Winston Bell?"

"It could be either," she paused, considering her words and the fact that she was talking to Vivian. "We might have to find a way to talk to Senator Fitzgerald, see what he knows."

"Well don't go buying a plane ticket to DC just yet, Sam. It seems Victor Fitzgerald has decided to bring Washington to us." At Vivian's words, she finally looked up from her desk to see the Deputy Director and a woman who must be his wife stepping quickly down the halls of the Federal Building. She couldn't make out Martin's form behind his father's looming profile, but knew that she definitely recognized the three men who walked to the side of the group.

Upon entering the bullpen, the party fanned out and Caroline, hearing the commotion, jumped up from where she was seated in the lounge. Samantha watched as Caroline moved immediately to her mother, finally letting go and clinging to her. Mrs. Fitzgerald rubbed her daughter's arm and whispered soothing words that Sam couldn't quite make out.

It was Victor who broke the momentary silence, seemingly unsure of any way to comfort his daughter and instead applying the all-professional approach. He stepped forward to shake Vivian's hand. "Agent Johnson, this is my wife Lydia and our son Martin, and this," he motioned towards the three men who stood just off to one side, "is Dennis, Mike, and Lou. They're Secret Service, I hope that won't be a problem."

It was a statement, not a question, and Vivian simply nodded. Victor then turned to Samantha, and with a look that told her he knew, began, "And you must be Agent Sp--"

But he never finished, as Dennis suddenly piped up, "Agent Spade, of course! We've met before."

Caroline and Lydia both turned to stare at Dennis, while Sam watched Victor's gaze flicker from Martin to herself and back again. Martin simply shrugged his shoulders, giving her a slight smile.

Well, she mused. You were the one who thought tonight couldn't get any worse.

A ring broke out in the otherwise quiet room, and she was absolutely certain she'd never been more relieved to be interrupted by her cell phone.

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