Sam stepped back from the white board and the team looked at the picture with broadening interest. The picture was of a young girl, maybe 15. She had shoulder-length hair with cute side-swept bangs. She had a tan complexion and elegantly defined facial features. Her deep almond-colored eyes bore a striking resemblance to Sam's. She was quite pretty.

"That," states Sam quietly, "is my 15-year old niece."

"So you do have family," Danny adds sarcastically.

"Yes." Sam shoots back. " She is my sister, Laura's, daughter, Sophie. They live as far away as you can get from the city when you live in New York. Laura married Samuel Bennett, a wealthy big-shot executive. They met when Laura was hired as his personal assistant and it was love at first site. They have an amazing house, big and beautiful, on about 15 acres. They have a barn; horses are Sophie's passion, and a lot of the time her horse keeps her away from the boys. It's about a un-Sophie like as possible for her to disappear. She is everything you would wish for in a teenage daughter. She's a straight-A student, responsible, neat, diligent, and athletic. Unfortunately her parents aren't around much to enjoy her. Samuel travels around the globe and Laura travels with him. They were in China last week, Tokyo the next, and then they came home for about three days, long enough to notice their daughter's disappearance. Laura says she knows Sophie was there for breakfast because her dishes were still in the sink and Sophie's best friend Cameron talked to her this morning. Sophie and I are pretty close. I spend as much time as I possibly can manage with her, but it takes me about an hour-and-a-half for me to get to their house."

"Okay, Sam, thanks for the intro," Jack cuts in, "Any questions?"

"She is quite a beauty Sam, her eyes look just like yours," Vivian compliments.

"Thanks, Viv," Sam says with a hint of a smile, the closest she had come to smiling all morning.

"You don't think she would attempt a suicide, it sure does sound like she could get pretty lonely," Martin adds his thoughts.

"No!" Sam exclaims loudly, making everyone jump.

"Now Sam, you can't be biased on cases like this," Jack says warningly.

"I am not being biased," she defends herself, "I know her and she wouldn't do something like that. She has Cameron and her horse, and she would never leave anyone like this. She hates to worry people."

"Maybe she is rebelling against her parents' absence, she is a teenager," Martin adds his thoughts.

"Not everyone is like you when you were a teenager, Martin," Sam practically growls.

Danny couldn't help but snicker at the comment, and Vivian couldn't hold back her smile. Jack looked annoyed by Sam's behavior, and Martin, well Martin did look a bit hurt. Sam walked back to her desk, picked up her cell phone, and pressed redial. No one even had to ask whom she was trying to call.

To be continued…