Author's Note: Wow. I am so sorry that it took me so long to get a chapter up. I was so busy with school and such, but I have finally posted another one of my notoriously short chapters (sorry about that, I try). I hope you enjoy and hopefully I will be able to update again soon.
Sam drifted in and out of conciousness, when she finally awoke her vision was slightly blurred, as was her memory of the day's events. She awoke long enough to realize she was in a moving vehicle, and to notice her niece's head leaning against her shoulder, the memories flooded back and she quietly drifted off again.
Sophie was a bit sketchy about the details. Needless to say, she was quite a bit relieved to find her Aunt Sam next to her in the trunk of what she gathered to be a large SUV, but still she could not settle the growing feeling that she and Sam were in serious trouble, and no matter how hard she tried she couldn't stay awake.
Samuel Bennett was a bit flustered but he had a pretty good idea of who had sent him the ransom. He explained to the agents, including Danny and Martin who had only just arrived, "One of the things my company specializes in is helping people invest in the stock market, a while back this man had about $500 dollars in his pocket, he asked us to make him millions, well, millions is about what he lost. We invested his money in a up-and-coming production company with plans to put out 2 TV series and a movie that summer, well the company tanked in the first couple months, and the guy was pretty pissed." Samuel continued, "He said he would get me back one way or another, I had security escort him out of the building. Sophie was in my office at the time, waiting for Samantha to pick her up for the weekend, Sam came in right before the man started his rampage. His name was Walter Frankel."
"Alright," Jack booms, "You heard the man, Let's find this Walter guy."
Everyone hurried to set up the technical stuff while Jack asked Laura Bennett to take him up to Sophie's room. Vivian came with him. Laura left them there. The first thing they noticed was the neatness, it was impeccable, the bed was made and it looked as though it had never been slept in.
"I could probably count on one hand how many times I made my bed when I was her age," Jack said to Vivian.
Vivian looked incredulous, "I don't even know what to say, I consider myself lucky if I can walk through Reggie's room without tripping over something."
The room was furnished beautifully, everything matched everything else in a subtle, indirect way. There was a picture of her and Sam, a while back, Sophie appeared to be about 5 or 6, while Sam looked about 17 or 18. There was a large black and white picture of her with her gray gelding, she was holding a first-place ribbon. There was another of her with her parents, maybe a Christmas picture, and then another with a girl her age, which they guessed, was probably her best friend. Jack opened the top drawer of a desk, on top of which sat a Mac and a speaker holding a video ipod. Jack just shook his head, kids were spoiled these days, and he thought of his own daughters who both had their own Sony PSPs. On top of some papers in the drawer Jack found an older picture, it looked well handled, or loved, if you could even say that to describe a picture. It was Sam and Laura, Jack could tell that much, it wasn't a professional photo, but it almost looked posed. The two little girls sat in the grass, ducklings surrounded Sam and Laura was feeding cheerios to a wary mother duck.
"Viv, take a look at this," Jack called across the overly large room.
"Wow," Vivian smiled, "So Samantha Spade does have a childhood."
"I always knew she did." They both gave each other knowing smiles.
Meanwhile, downstairs, the search continued. Walter Frankel had conveniently disappeared.