I.O.U.

Antonio, Nicole, Jess, and Nathan had three peaceful months. Nicole and Antonio had a wonderful Thanksgiving and Christmas when his family came to stay with them. They enjoyed the holidays with Antonio's family, Nicole's mom, Heather and her grandmother, and even Elias was there—that was the highlight for Antonio. Nicole's highlight was Zachary's first Christmas.

Some of Jess and Nathan's relatives came to Maryland for the holidays. Sylvia couldn't be there because her baby kept her too tired. But both Nathan's parents came. It wasn't as bad as he expected it to be, but it could have gone better. Overall their holidays were fun.

xxxxx

It was January 2009 and the gang was back to work.

"At first I didn't give it a second thought, but now I remember I have seen her somewhere before." While Nicole, Jess, and Devin waited around for Thomas to give them their assignment that morning, Jess was telling them about a lady she saw watching her in the parking garage before she came up. The woman with short dark hair in her mid forties noticed Jess notice her watching and drove away.

"Maybe she was just there. Just because she was looking at you doesn't mean she was watching you," Nicole said.

"But I know I've seen her before. This is going to drive me nuts all day."

"I know right? It's like when you get a song in your head, but you can't remember who sings it," Devin said.

"The husband of Amelia Brock of Brock Enterprises is missing," Kemyss said. "Phillip Brock never showed up to work this morning. When Amelia got to work this note was found on her desk. Attached to it is a picture of Phillip."

Nicole took the note from him and read it. "If you ever want to see him alive again go home and wait for further instructions."

"When you get to their house try not to look like federal officers in case the kidnappers are watching."

xxxxx

"I don't think I ever saw her around here. She must be from Indiana," Jess said as they drove to Amelia and Phillip's home.

"Who?" Nicole asked. "Amelia Brock?"

"No. The woman I was telling you about. The one in the parking lot."

"Jess, let it go. It's nothing I'm sure."

"You're probably right, but it bothers me that I can't remember who she is."

xxxxx

Nicole went over the speech she'd spoken millions of times—about what to say and not say when talking to someone who calls for ransom. "And make sure they let you talk to him. Do you have any questions?"

"I got it," Amelia said.

"You and Agent Scott will wait for the call. I'm going to talk to some of your employees."

xxxxx

Nicole and Amelia sat around the living room in Amelia's Virginia mansion. It was dead quiet as they both stared at the phone, willing it to ring.

"When will they call?"

"There's no way to tell."

"Shouldn't something more be being done?"

"My partner is talking to your employees, friends, and family and other agents are going over a list of all the people your company has fired in the past twelve months. But until we get a call we can't do much more."

"I don't even understand how this happened. My husband is almost six feet tall and weighs almost two hundred pounds."

"Anybody can be kidnapped."

"How? How do you take a six foot tall, two hundred pound man right off the street?"

"Threats. Someone could have had a gun on him or they could have threatened to go after you if he didn't come with them. They could have said they already had you."

xxxxx

Jess came back and called Nicole away for a moment.

"Brock Enterprises across the country have fired over three hundred people in the past eleven months. It's going to take a week or more to clear all those people. And that's if we can get help from the field offices in those areas."

"We don't have that kind of time. What about Phillip's colleagues?"

"Thirty people work at his firm. We're in the process of going over all of them now, but nothing stands out. Most of the people didn't even know what his wife did."

xxxxx

Nicole and Jess were at Amelia's with her when all either of them could do was wait.

"I'll be right back. I'm going to the powder room," Amelia said.

When Amelia was out of the room Jess went back to racking her mind about the lady she saw that morning.

"This is killing me. I know I've seen that woman before. I know I have seen her before."

"So, Jess, you think you've seen that woman before?"

"I know I have! Who was she?"

Nicole's joking mood passed. Now it was time to be serious again. "I don't know, Jess, but we have to focus on this guy right now. After we find Phillip you can go back to your insanity. Okay?"

"Fine."

xxxxxx

The agents had been there all morning and most of the afternoon. Finally the phone rang.

"Hello," Amelia said.

"Did you call the police?"

"No. What do you want?"

"Sixty-three thousand dollars."

"When do you want it?"

"Before eight. Place it in Phillip's black gym bag and go to the women's locker room at the Y.M.C.A. on Highbanks Blvd. Put it in locker six."

"What is the combination?"

"There isn't one. Go to the women's bathroom and you'll find the key in the last stall. It's in the toilet paper roll.

"It'll be there if I know my husband is alive. Let me talk to him."

"Honey."

"Phil, are you okay?"

"I'm fine, baby…" Dial tone.

"That went well," Nicole said. "You were perfect."

"Were you able to trace it?"

"We're headed there now. It's almost always a payphone, but we'll talk to people who work in businesses in that area. And if they have cameras outside of their businesses that will help us a lot. You just get that money together."

"Does your husband work out at that gym often?" Jess asked.

"Four times a week. He goes there at five in morning and works out before work."

xxxxx

"What do we know?" Kemyss asked his three agents.

"The call was traced to a payphone," Nicole replied. "There were no cameras, no evidence."

"What about the ransom?"

"We know whoever did this lives in Virginia. Someone stalked that family for a while. They knew Phillip's work out schedule."

"Since it was an odd ransom request and not anywhere near as much as they could have gotten, we think it was an employee that felt entitled to that money," Devin told the boss.

"What do you think?" he asked Jess.

She wasn't listening to what they were saying. When she noticed Kemyss looking at her she just said the last thought she had about Phillip's kidnappers and hoped her reply had to do with what he said. "Someone who was fired probably. And there's a woman involved. She was in the ladies' locker room and bathroom."

"I think so too. Work on that theory—it was an employee that was fired from the Brock Enterprises in Virginia. Find out why he felt Amelia owed him that money."

xxxxx

"Here we go," Devin said.

"What?" Nicole asked.

"Jerome Franco was fired eleven months ago. He was two months away from retirement. His pension would have been sixty-three thousand dollars."

"Let's go."

Phillip was found alive, and his abductors—Jerome and his wife—were arrested.

xxxxx

After finding Phillip Jess decided to take her mind off the lady she saw watching her and go see the latest information Maryland had on the serial killer. When she got back to D.C. to write her report on the Brock case an agent told her someone named Maggie Patterson was waiting for her in her office.

"Hello?" Jess said.

"Jess, hi." Maggie shook Jess's hand.

That was her! The lady that occupied most of her thoughts that whole day was standing before her. Finally she would know who she was. "Do we know each other?"

"I know you. I kind of watched you grow up. Your father showed me pictures and we met when you were little."

"My father…You were at his funeral weren't you?"

"Yes. Last winter when you found that Indiana boy and you talked to the reporters; they mentioned you work here. That's how I found you. I couldn't talk to you this morning because I didn't have all my thoughts together. I didn't mean for you to see me drive off like that. I hope I didn't upset you."

"Oh, not at all."

From the next room they heard Nicole cough on the coffee she was swallowing when she heard Jess say that.

"I need your help," Maggie said.

"Is someone you know missing?"

"No…My grandson is dying."

"Sit down, Mrs. Patterson."

"It's Ms. I was never married. You can call me Maggie."

"I'm sorry about your grandson, Maggie, but I don't understand why you're here."

"Luke—that's my grandson—has leukemia. He needs a bone marrow transplant. My son, my daughter, myself, and all our relatives on my side have been tested. None of them are a match. The only chance he has is to have my daughter's father's side tested. That's where you come in."

"And you need me to find your daughter's father?"

"Luke's mother—my daughter Kate—is your sister. Jess, your father and I had an affair and we have two children together."

"Look, Ma'am, I don't who you are, but-"

"I'm desperate. I know this is hard for you to believe, but this did happen. I never wanted you or your family to find out, and I wouldn't be here unless it was a last resort. Luke is your nephew. He's only fifteen months old and he's dying. We need you. If you don't believe me you can arrange a D.N.A. test for you and Kate."

"That won't be necessary. Please leave."

"Please-"

"Leave my office or I will call security."

xxxxx

When Maggie got to the parking garage her daughter was waiting for her.

"Kate, what are you doing here? You should be with Luke."

"Did you tell her?"

"Yes. She reacted pretty much the way I thought she would."

"Damn it. You should have let me tell her."

"We knew her first instinct would be to deny it. I'll talk to her tomorrow. I won't give up until she agrees to the D.N.A. test. For now, just go back to Indiana and be with Luke."

"I am not leaving here until I talk to her. I'm going to wait until she comes down. Where is her car?"

"Over there."

Maggie went to her hotel. Kate waited by Jess's car until she came down.

"Who are you?" Jess said somewhat annoyed. An hour had passed since the "crazy" woman told her her father had another family. She refused to believe it and resigned it to what Nicole said it was: "just what happens when you are on the news as often as agents with our solve record are. Any time you're in the public eye you run the risk of attracting maniacs." But Jess was still upset that it was said.

"Kaitlyn Mastriani."

"Okay. That's it. If I see you or your mother again I will press charges against you for harassment."

It was just then that Nicole came down to hear the last of that conversation. "What's going on here?"

"This is Kate, Maggie's daughter, I assume," Jess said.

"You know stalking an agent is a serious crime?" Nicole told Kate.

"I know. I'm sorry, but…" She reached into her purse and pulled out a picture of her toddler son. "…I don't know what else to do. My baby is sick. I know it doesn't look like it in this picture, but he is."

"Kate," Nicole said, "leave this garage or I will arrest you right now."

"Nicole," Jess said.

"What?"

Jess couldn't take her eyes off of the baby in the photo. He was sitting in his hospital crib looking up at the camera. His hair was blond and he looked remarkably like her fourteen-month-old son. "Nicole, look. He looks just like Toby."