Amelia was just making a fresh pot of coffee when her doorbell rang. Her heart was pounding as she spoke into the intercom. "Hello?"
"Miss Parker? It's Special Agent Fitzgerald. I need to speak to you about your father's case."
"Oh of course come on up" She pressed the buzzer to unlock the front door of her apartment building. She was on the third floor of a five floor walk up. She opened the door as Martin came up the steps. He smiled seeing her. "Come on in." she smiled glad he was alone. She didn't think he'd give her bad news all by himself.
"Thank you." Martin smiled and walked into the neat apartment. "I'm sorry I didn't call first." He said to her.
"My father always says 'If you've got questions for someone it's best to catch them by surprise.' He said it doesn't give them time to rehearse their answers."
"He's right." Martin nodded with a knowing grin.
"Won't you sit down?" Amelia indicated to her sofa and chairs "Would you like some coffee? I just made a pot."
"That would be great thanks." He smiled and took a seat on the large overstuffed chair in the living room. She went into the kitchen and came back carrying a tray with the coffee and a plate of sweet little shortbread cookies. "Wow thank you." Martin sat forward. "You didn't need to go to all this trouble."
"It's no trouble." Amelia smiled "Baking has been keeping me sane this week." She confessed "Do you have anything new?"
"A bit, but the details are still a bit sketchy." Martin took the cup she offered. "Thank you… wow that's really good…" he sipped the coffee. He set the cup down and took out his little notebook. "So far we've found out that Mickey may have been involved in a car accident sometime Saturday night." He said gently. "We think he may have called your father for help."
"Was Mickey driving? He's only 15…" Amelia had put her cup down. Martin could see her hands shaking in her lap.
"No his older brother Frankie was driving." Martin told her. "We're not sure of all of the details yet like I said. We do believe your father went to help him. We have eyewitness reports of Mikey and his brother arguing with a man fitting your father's description at the scene before they both fled, Frankie in his car and Mikey presumably on foot."
"Was anyone hurt?" she asked softly she couldn't look at him. "Did they hurt my father or anyone else?" she looked at him and Martin was struck by how big her eyes were and just how much of her emotions showed in them.
"We think Mikey was hurt in the crash. We found a bloody shirt hidden in his closet. We think your father either walked or drove off. We did find his car at Big Daddy's Diner."
"That was where they had their first date." She said softly.
"Who did?" he was surprised by her response.
"My parents, dad was in grad school and didn't have a lot of money." She smiled sadly. "He took her there after the movies for an old fashioned ice cream soda. I think they still make them. I used to go there, sometimes…"
Her words raised an echo in his memory, a conversation with Danny once they were trying to decide where to stop for lunch. 'How about Big Daddy's?' he'd asked Danny. 'They make really great ice cream sodas… I used to go there sometimes…' Danny had told him before suggesting another place. Martin looked at Amelia she seemed so sad he hated to press her further. There was something about her that made him want to protect her.
"How badly hurt do you think Mikey is?" she asked quietly.
"That's hard to say, there was quite a bit of blood on his shirt, but he hasn't turned up at any of the hospitals yet." Martin said diplomatically.
"What about the morgues?"
"No" he shook his head.
"What about the people in the other car?" she asked.
"I'm afraid the woman driving it was killed." He said seeing her go pale at the news. "I'm sorry but I have to ask. Your mother was killed in a car accident is that right?"
"Yes, it was on the Brooklyn Expressway, another car lost control and ran into them." She cleared her throat. "My mother was killed along with a man and a woman in the other car. I think there was another person in the backseat." She shook her head "What does this have to do with my father's disappearance, or Mikey's?"
"We need to look at every possibility," He told her, "the more information we have the better our chances of finding them." Amelia nodded. "Could you tell me a bit about the accident and the time afterwards? I know it's difficult but I'm trying to get a picture of your father's state of mind."
"I understand." She nodded and in a quiet voice she told him about loosing her mother and the way her father shut down after her death. "He was great with the foster kids… especially my foster brother Danny." She smiled and quickly looked away. She was struggling to keep her composure as it was and speaking about Danny might just make her loose it.
"He must have been special. He's the only one you've referred to as your foster brother." Martin said softly.
"He was." She smiled sadly "I wish I knew where he was now. What has happened to him…"
"You don't know?" Martin asked.
"No, on the fourth anniversary of my mother's death he ran away." Her voice was no more than a whisper. "He just left in the middle of the night… We'd been talking. Well I was talking about my mom. I told him how she died… sometimes I think I scared him… he didn't leave a note, he never said good bye." She couldn't help the tears this time. "I'm sorry" she wiped her eyes "You'd think by now it wouldn't bother me anymore."
"It's never easy to loose someone you care about." Martin said softly. "I'm sorry to put you through that." He closed his notebook.
"I hope it was helpful." She gave him a weak smile.
"It has been, more than you can imagine." Martin stood. "I won't keep you any longer. I'll be in touch if I have any new information. You have my numbers right?"
"I do" she nodded and walked him to the door. He hadn't taken more than two steps from the closed door when he could hear her crying. She's leaned against the door and sunk to the floor her head on her knees. Martin stood for a moment torn between going back to her and going back to work. He sighed and hung his head before he headed for his car. He hoped Danny had better luck at Riker's
Danny hated going to Riker's Island. The ferry rides over always filled his head with painful memories. He forced them to the back of his mind. He paced the deck going over Frankie's details in his little notebook. It was a warm day and there were a lot of people on their way to Riker's for visiting hours. What a lousy way to spend a day, he thought to himself before a couple of kids caught his eye, a boy and a girl both about fourteen. She had long dark hair, his was short dark and spiky. The girl was sitting turned half towards him rubbing his back. "It will be OK" he heard her say "You know you're not alone in this…"
Danny was instantly transported back to his own trips to Riker's to visit Rafi. He could see himself at fourteen sitting there with Amelia Parker, his foster sister and so much more. Amelia would sometimes go with him when her father would take him to visit Rafi. Those were the few trips he made willingly.
"I hate this place Mia" Danny whispered to her. They were sitting close together on a bench on the ferry deck. Amelia sat half turned towards him gently rubbing his back. Mr. Parker was sitting inside drinking a coffee, as always he had his nose buried in another case file.
"Danny, it will be OK" Amelia said in her soft voice. "Just go in say 'Hi' ask him how he's doing…" she smiled encouragingly, "It will be over before you know it." He looked at her skeptically, "It will be alright Danny." She'd say it to him a few times and then she'd talk to him about music or food or the beach. She talked about anything, everything and nothing. He didn't care what she talked about he just needed to hear her voice. It always did make him feel better.
"Do you want to go to Big Daddy's, for a float afterwards?" he looked at her.
She could see the pain in his eyes and she wanted to get his mind off of his brother even for a few seconds. "Are you sure your ego is ready to be beaten in another game of pinball?" she teased him with her most wicked smile before she stuck her tongue out at him playfully. It worked, with a wicked grin of his own he tickled her and they were both laughing and smiling when the ferry landed.
"I wonder why Parker never came to the diner with us." Danny asked himself quietly. He didn't have time to think of an answer, the ferry was docking. This time he wasn't smiling.
Danny checked his weapon at the entry point for law enforcement officers. The guard buzzed him inside and Danny walked the long familiar corridor to the visitor's rooms. His nose wrinkling at the smell of the place, institutional disinfectant, stale urine and something he couldn't and didn't want to identify. He walked purposefully to the visitor's room. There were over a dozen picnic tables bolted to the floor a prisoner and their visitors at each except one. A young Hispanic man sat alone. He was wearing the bright orange jumpsuit to denote his status as a prisoner still pending trial. His hands, arms and neck were covered in gang tattoos. A guard stood close behind him. "Frankie Cortez?" Danny asked as he walked up.
"Who wants ta know?" the guy leaned back and looked Danny up and down.
"I'm Special Agent Danny Taylor, FBI" Danny held up his ID. "I got it." He nodded to the guard. The guard nodded and moved a discreet distance away. "I've got some questions about your brother Mikey." Danny said.
"What did toad do?"
"Toad?" Danny said.
"Yeah, boy's always croaking 'bout somthin' so…"
"Well, he's missing." Danny said. "No one has seen or heard from him since the accident."
"What accident?"
"The one on Sunday that landed you in here." Danny
"Aw man that was all Mikey's fault! If that little shit had just shut up when I told him, that lady'd be ok." Frankie shrugged.
"That 'Little Shit' is your little brother!" Danny said firmly. "He's hurt and he's missing?"
"How do ya know he's hurt if he's missing?" Frankie snorted.
"Because we found his bloody shirt, now what happened on Sunday?" Danny asked again.
"Man I don't think I should be talking to you without my lawyer!"
"Oh you want to play it that way? OK. We'll get your lawyer. Just be sure you understand you're already facing one murder charge. If anything's happened to Mikey or Mr. Parker, we can make it three." Danny got up and signaled the guard.
"What! Oh no dog! Don't play me like that!" Frankie shook his head. Danny turned his back to walk away. "Ok! Ok! I'll talk to you… without my lawyer." Danny stopped and turned. "Guy's a no good PD anyway." Frankie laughed. "What do you want to know?"
"What happened Sunday…" Danny sat back down and took out his notebook. "…with Michael."
"I called him to see if he wanted to hang with us." Frankie shrugged. "We were chillin' had a slice, then Turbo asked for a ride home.
"What's Turbo's real name?" Danny asked.
"Darnell Thompson." Frankie said. "Anyways, Mikey was in the back and Turbo, well he's got a mouth… and he's usually cranked up… that's why we call him Turbo… well he starts going off on one about some old beef we had. Little bro jumps in thinking he's helping. He's just getting Turbo more pissed off. I know Turbo is packing so I turned to tell Mikey to shut up… next thing I know WHAM!" he slams his palm down on the table. "Good thing we had airbags."
"Yeah" Danny says with quiet cynicism. He was starting to feel a little sick. Suck it up! He thought to himself before asking, "Was Mikey hurt in the crash?"
"He cut his head," Frankie shrugged. "No biggie." He said dismissively. "He was crying like a little girl about that Parker dude his at his foster home. He kept saying he needed to call home. I told him he was a chump, that guy Parker was like the rest he was in it for the money."
"You know Mr. Parker?" Danny asked.
"Nope, never met him until that night" Frankie shrugged
"You met Parker?"
"Yeah Mikey called him. Turbo lost it when he showed up. He'd already checked that lady and said she was dead and we should be ghost."
Why? Because you killed her, Or because you were in a stolen car?"
"I thought you was interested in Mikey and that other guy." Frankie said suspiciously.
"I am." Danny said. "What happened when Parker got there?"
"He lost it completely." Frankie looked at Danny. "The guy took one look at the woman and went out of his mind. It was like he knew her. He kept calling her Louisa. He took a swing at Turbo. I got between them and Turbo and me we split. He was yelling at Mikey and calling the cops when we split. That's the last I seen of them." He shrugged.
"Thanks, you've been a big help." Danny closed his notebook knowing he was no closer to finding either Mikey or Parker. As he walked out of the visitor's room he heard a familiar voice in the distance.
"Sylvia! Nicky!" it called.
Danny turned and his stomach lurched. It was Rafi. He was in a dark grey jumpsuit. He was a long term inmate at Riker's. Rafi had been in and out of jail a number of times. Danny stopped keeping track. "Damn I forgot he was here" he sighed quietly. He watched Rafi greet the woman and the young boy warmly. He felt guilty for not coming to see Rafi. Then he was angry with himself for feeling guilty. I helped him get out once and what did he do? He thought to himself. He dutifully checked on Sylvia and Nicky, but Danny was always busy when it came time for them to visit Rafi. Forget it! Don't get involved again! He thought to himself. He drew a breath and walked out never realizing that Rafi had seen him as well.
On the ferry back Danny called Vivian. "Hey Viv, we need to check out a Darnell Thompson… a.k.a. Turbo." He relayed the information he'd been able to gather to her.
"Ok Danny," Vivian said to him. "Come on back in. We should have the 911 tape by the time you get here."
"Yeah sure" Danny hung up. He didn't want to go back to the office; he wanted to go have an ice cream soda. "Later." He promised himself and resolutely returned to see what progress they were making back at the office.