A/N: Hey, here's chapter two! I would like to thank you all for reading the first chapter and I hope you keep reading this story. And thanks to those of you who have favourited and alerted this story. I would especially like to thank aperceptionisonlyaperception for the review, my one, lonely review. I'm not one to beg for reviews or hold chapters hostage, but reviews do brighten my day, so If you could please let me know what you think, that would be great! It only takes like two minutes, not even. And I don't care if it's just a three word review, I'll take it.

When Walls Come Crashing Down

Chapter 2

Within minutes, police cars were parked on the road, officers were diverting traffic and Morgan was very confused. A couple of officers had relieved him of crowd control duty, so Morgan stood next to his SUV trying to figure out what was going on. Luckily, the home owners weren't home when the house collapsed; Audrey was talking to them now.

Almost no one was talking much at the scene; the spectators just stood there watching and the local officers were very tight lipped. It was as if they knew what had caused the earth quake, but wouldn't say it.

Chief Wournos made his way over to Morgan.

"Sorry for the inconvenience, I know you probably want to get back to your case," he said.

"It's alright," Morgan replied with a shrug. "I talked to my team; they don't need me back right away."

"Hey," Audrey greeted as she approached. "I talked to the family and they said the house was only twenty years old."

"A house that new wouldn't just crumble like that," Morgan said.

"Not unless there was a problem with it like termites or mold or something," the Chief replied.

"I can tell from here that it's not termites or mold," Morgan said and pointed to some beams. "Some of those support beams are split in multiple places, they didn't collapse."

"How do you know that?" Audrey asked quickly.

"I own properties and fix them up," Morgan told her.

"Okay, well, look into it anyway," Chief Wournos instructed her. He began to walk away.

"Nathan, I wasn't done," Audrey called. She seemed annoyed.

"Oh," he replied and came back.

"The destroyed house belongs to Lee and Jane Delano. They were out shopping while this happened and their two young sons were at a friend's house," Audrey said.

"So no one was home, we already knew that," Wournos replied.

"Lee had another daughter before his marriage to Jane and the girl's mother died about four months ago. Her name is Tara Nichols, she's sixteen and she's been living with the Delanos," Audrey told him. "She ran away."

"Crap," Wournos muttered. "When was the last time they saw her?"

"Right before they got the call about their house," Audrey replied.

Audrey and Wournos shared a look that made Morgan suspicious. It was like they were talking without saying anything. He wasn't sure if it was his presence that made them keep their mouths shut or if they always did that.

"You need to find her," Wournos commanded.

"It's only been what, an hour? She couldn't have gotten far," Morgan said.

"He's right." Wournos nodded. "Talk to the dad, see if he knows anywhere she would go."

"Why do I have to do this by myself?" Audrey asked before he left.

"Because I have other stuff to deal with," Wournos replied and walked away.

Audrey sighed heavily. Morgan could tell she wasn't happy doing things on her own, and the way Wournos was acting was just cold.

"I'll stay and help," Morgan volunteered.

Audrey's head snapped up. "Oh no, you don't have to," she replied. "We can handle this and you should probably be getting back to Bangor for your case."

"A missing kid isn't something to take lightly," he told her.

"I know," Audrey interrupted.

"And as long as I'm here, the least I can do it help. I don't have to be back until tonight," Morgan finished.

"I really appreciate you offering your assistance, but-"

"No buts, I'm helping with this case," Morgan said sternly.

"Alright then," Audrey replied reluctantly. "Let's go talk to Lee and Jane."

As Morgan and Audrey approached the couple, Morgan noted the devastation and pain etched onto their faces; whether it was for their destroyed house, their missing daughter or a combination of both, he wasn't sure. Lee and Jane both appeared to be in their mid-forties, dressed in shorts and t-shirts; Morgan figured they must be on vacation. Lee was pacing, while Jane stood with her arms crossed, staring off into space.

"Lee, Jane," Audrey greeted them with a nod and small smile. "This is Agent Morgan, he's with the FBI. He wants to help find Tara."

"I'm sorry," Lee said and stopped pacing. "But is the FBI really necessary?"

"Mr. Delano, your daughter is missing," Morgan stated in disbelief. "Don't you want all the help you can get to get her back?"

"Agent Morgan, she isn't missing," Lee replied a little frustrated. "She threw a temper tantrum and ran away. She'll be back in a few hours, simply because she has no other place to go."

"Has she done this before?" Audrey asked.

"Yes, a few times actually," Lee said.

"Why is that?" Audrey questioned.

"Like I told you before, Tara's mother died four months ago from cancer." He paused. "I left them when Tara was a baby, so Tara's not very happy with having to live with us," Lee admitted.

"That's to be expected given the situation," Morgan said. "Is she talking to anyone about it?" Morgan directed the question to Jane.

"Not that I know of," Lee replied.

"Do you know of anywhere she would go?" Morgan asked hopefully.

Lee shook his head.

"What happened before she ran off? Was she mad or upset about something?" Audrey questioned.

Lee glanced at Jane, who still remained silent. Lee was about to speak when Morgan stopped him.

"Mrs. Delano?"

"Hmm . . .?" She looked up, a bit startled they were asking her.

"What happened while you were shopping?" Morgan said, repeating Audrey's question.

Jane looked at Lee then sighed. "We were shopping because she needs new clothes. She didn't want us buying her any and I said that that's what parents do, buy their kids new clothes. She didn't like that, so she freaked out and ran off."

"Did she say anything specific before she ran?" Audrey asked.

"She said we aren't her parents and we have no right to say we are," Jane answered.

"So she was really mad then?" Audrey clarified.

Jane nodded.

Morgan really didn't understand why what Tara was feeling exactly before she ran was important. Yes it would help them get into her head and figure out where she would go, but the extra attention was unimportant.

"And then you got the call about your house?" Audrey said.

"Yes," Lee replied. "We felt that this situation . . . Deserved our attention."

Morgan wanted to yell at them for how careless they were being. But he couldn't, so he kept his mouth shut. Audrey on the other hand didn't feel the same way.

"Your daughter is missing and you don't feel the need to look for her? She just lost her mother and her life has been completely uprooted. No wonder she ran away."

They all stood there in an awkward silence; Jane was still staring off into space, Lee was glaring at the ground, Audrey was kicking the dirt and Morgan was looking from one person to another.

"I'm sorry," Audrey finally said. "I shouldn't have said that."

"No, it's fine," Jane spoke up. "You're right. So are you going to go find her?"

"We're going to do our very best," Morgan reassured her.

Audrey felt terrible about saying what she did to Lee and Jane, she really did. But it was completely true and someone needed to say it. It just wasn't really her place to say it. So Audrey decided to keep her mouth shut for the rest of the conversation. Derek asked a few more personal questions about Tara, none of which Lee or Jane could answer. Audrey wanted to ask Lee why he left Tara's mother, but it would have seemed irrelevant to Morgan and could have raised some red flags in his mind. She was still a bit undecided on whether or not Tara's disappearance and the house collapsing were linked. She needed more background information on Lee's family and Tara's mother's family; she just couldn't get it with Mr. FBI Agent hanging around. The shrill ringing of Morgan's cell phone caused him to step away from the conversation and Audrey saw her chance.

"What was Tara's mother's name?" she asked.

"Cecelia. Cecelia Nichols," Lee replied.

"I don't mean to pry, but why did you leave Cecelia? Was there any particular reason?" Audrey questioned as gently as she could.

Lee stared at her for a moment before saying, "She was just hard to please, I guess. She had horrible mood swings -which Tara's seemed to have inherited. Cecelia would bounce from one mood to the other and she was hard to keep up with. Especially when she got angry; I wouldn't dare say two words because I thought she was going to explode."

Audrey nodded as she thought about her next question. "When Cecelia became angry, did anything unusual happen?"

"What are you suggesting?" Lee snapped. "We know The Troubles are back, but you can't possibly think that a dead woman has anything to do with our house collapsing or my daughter running away."

"Mr. Delano," Audrey said quietly. "I don't think Cecelia has anything to do with this. Like you said, she's dead. But that doesn't mean that if she was Troubled, her Trouble died with her." She saw realization dawn on Lee and Jane's faces. "Remember, this is all a big if," she stressed.

"I . . . I don't know what to say," Lee confessed quietly. "It makes sense though."

"Does Tara have any other family on her mother's side?" Audrey asked.

"No." Lee shook his head. "Cecelia was an only child and Tara's grandparents are dead."

"Okay, well thank you for your help," Audrey said and turned to find Morgan.

He was standing by his SUV again, and hung up the phone as Audrey approached.

"Did you get anything helpful out of them?" he asked as they both watched Lee and Jane.

Lee had resumed his pacing and Jane was now fiddling with the necklace she wore.

"No, not really," Audrey replied. She wasn't completely lying; they didn't tell her anything that would help them find Tara, but they did fill in a few blanks concerning the cause of their house collapsing.

"So then what were you talking about? Because whatever you said certainly affected them," Morgan commented.

Audrey shrugged in an attempt to downplay the conversation. "We were just talking about Tara's mother."

Morgan gave her a look that told her he wasn't completely buying it. "Alright then." He sounded annoyed. "So is there any place in particular we should go to look for her?"

"Well, Nathan probably has officers driving around town looking for her. We don't know anywhere she would go either, so what are you thinking?"

"Is there anyone on her mom's side of the family we can talk to?" Morgan asked.

"No," Audrey replied. "Tara's grandparents are dead and her mother was an only child."

"Okay," Morgan said as he thought for a moment. "We can't go to her school and talk to her teachers because it's the middle of summer. What about her mother's friends? There has to be another adult in her life she's close to."

"Good idea," Audrey agreed.

"But how do we find out who that might be?" Morgan pointed out.

"Hmm, I might have an idea," Audrey told him. Her best be would have been to ask Dave and Vince, and she could even get more information on the Nichols family as long as Morgan wasn't in the room.

"Would you care to share it with me?" Morgan asked after Audrey didn't continue.

"I know a couple guys who might be able to help us," Audrey replied cryptically.

Morgan pulled out his keys. "Let's go then."

"Can I drive?" Audrey asked. She already knew the answer, but she thought she'd at least give it a shot.

"Not a chance," Morgan replied.

"Why? It would be easier than giving you directions," Audrey pointed out.

"Well, because you have-"

"Don't say you have to be FBI to drive that SUV," Audrey cut him off. "And just so you know, I used to be FBI."

"Oh, well . . . I'm still driving," Morgan said and hopped in the driver's seat.

Audrey sighed and got in the passenger seat. She had to figure out a way to get Morgan out of the room for a bit so she could talk to Dave and Vince by herself. Audrey had also noticed that Morgan was starting to see that something else was going on in town. She was going to have to start lying her ass off to keep him at bay.