Day One

Within a couple of weeks of meeting with Brooke and deciding to take the job, Nicole, Jess and their families were settled in their Levi home. Nicole and Jess opted to try two weeks in homicide first. Antonio was searching for some kind of high security job. And Nathan decided he didn't want a bunch of sick people in his home, so he was going to work out of the house.

Brooke finished reviewing their duties and then gave them their first case.

"This one is a little different then what you will normally see. In most cases we know who the victim is. This body was found in a shallow grave at a camping site ten miles south of here. We know she is a woman, and that's about it. The medical examiner finished the autopsy, so you'll have to go to her for the rest of the details. You take it from there. Any questions?"

"No."

"Good. I'll be in my office, if you need anything."

xxxxx

After meeting the M.E. she explained her findings.

"She was stabbed once, but what killed her was being buried alive. Dirt in the lungs indicate she was still alive when she was buried, but there was no dirt under her nails. She didn't fight the burial. She had to have been unconscious."

"Any idea how old she is?" Nicole asked.

"Between twenty-three and twenty-six. Her finger prints aren't in the database."

"All right. Thanks." Nicole turned to leave.

"Actually," Jess said. "Can you give me a minute?"

The medical examiner thought it was strange, but she left Jess alone in the room with the body.

Jess reluctantly reached to hold the victim's hand, hoping that whatever happened wouldn't be that bad.

Suddenly she was in a townhome watching the victim and a man fight over another man. The killer stabbed her once in the chest and she fell to the floor, when the victim slipped in to unconsciousness, Jess returned to reality.

"Any luck?" Nicole asked when they left the building. She couldn't tell because Jess seemed like herself—not shaken up at all.

"Yes. The M.E. was right. The victim was buried unconsciously, thank God. I know because after he stabbed her, the vision ended. That means she didn't experience anything after that."

"Do you know who she is?"

"No names were mentioned. The killer was yelling about some guy, I guess she was killed by her husband or boyfriend. He was wearing a denim jacket. His hair was dark."

"Maybe he's in the database. How do you think Antonio's doing?"

"I just hope he's still alive."

xxxxx

Antonio was at his wits end. He wasn't having any luck finding a job and the kids were driving him nuts—crying, screaming, tantrums, yelling, hitting, fighting over and over and over. Jess and Nathan tried to warn him that he was not going to be able to take care of their kids all day. Toby was a handful by himself, but him and Joe and Madison were unbearable. Even Nicole tactfully told him in the privacy of their bedroom the night before that Jess and Nathan's kids would be too much for him. But he insisted that he could hold the fort down while Nathan was applying to hospitals.

xxxxx

"How do know it was a townhome?" Brooke asked Jess.

"I saw out the window several other homes connected to each other, all the same color—yellow and white. I also saw the parking lot."

"And you're sure they were not apartments?"

"Positive. Two stories and bigger than apartments."

"Okay. Try to find townhomes matching that description in this area," Brooke told another agent. "And you two see if the killer is on file."

xxxxx

Nathan walked through the door and, despite all the chaos he heard in the house, was still in a great mood. He found Antonio at the dining room table engulfed in newspapers.

"Did you find anything?" Antonio hoped Nathan had more luck.

"Saint Francis Memorial in San Francisco. They hired me as and E.R. doc. What about you?"

"Nothing. I gave up on the job search an hour ago. Now I'm looking for daycares."

"Tough day?"

"Tough doesn't begin to describe it. Nicole was right. I can't watch these kids by myself."

"So did you find anything?"

"No," he sighed from exhaustion. "All the centers and programs in San Francisco are full and Levi only has home child care preschool programs. So far I haven't found any that take children under three. If I have to stay home until Zachary and Madison turn three in July, I'll lose it…Thank God!"

"You found something?"

"Perfect. Read that…"

Child care offered at the Levi Library. Now accepting children two

and up. After-school pick up from Levi Day School. Toddlers and

preschoolers are cared for in the "Preschool Room" located in

auditorium 2 and school-aged children are cared for in the

"After-school Care Program" located in auditorium 1.

"Let's go check them out."

xxxxx

The killer didn't come up in the database, but the analyst found the townhome property. Twenty-one out of the twenty-three renters of the ten homes were accounted for in just ninety minutes. Missing were Suzie Logan and Gerald Meyers. The minute she stepped into the home Jess knew it was the one from her vision and the pictures were of the couple she saw fighting.

"This is her. And Gerald killed her."

"Now we just need some actual proof."

"D.N.A. tests from the family will prove it's her body."

"Yeah, but it won't prove Gerald killed her."

"Then we need to find him. If I freak him out with enough details on him stabbing her and the fight they had, maybe he'll confess. Let's hurry up and find him, I really want to get home."

"Oh, I'm sure Antonio is fine. Nathan might be back by now."

"It's not them. I'm worried about Toby. He is so unhappy, all the time."

"I've noticed."

Jess couldn't help but laugh at Nicole, who was so obviously worn out by his fits.

"I wouldn't worry about it, especially now. They've moved across the country. They're going to be starting yet another child care program, and they are all still getting over Teresa. It'll get worse before it gets better…"

"What?"

"Nothing."

"You were going to add something to that. Tell me…Please, I need all the help I can get."

"I was going to say, it might help if you and Nathan were more consistent in your discipline of him, all of them actually."

"God knows I try, but I am gone all the time and Nathan just won't. He doesn't want to upset them."

"They seem pretty upset to me."

"That's exactly what I told him. He still refused."

xxxxx

The daycare services at the Levi Library were located on the east side in the auditoriums, just down the hall from the entrance of the library. Although they were labeled auditoriums, they were only a little more spacious than the average classroom.

"Look for something that says Preschool Room," Nathan suggested.

"Here it is."

The six of them entered the room and were greeted by two caretakers—a woman in her fifties and a kindly gentleman in his early sixties.

"Hello," the woman said. "I'm Deborah Hall and this is my husband Roger. We also go by Ms. Deborah, Mrs. Hall, Mr. Roger, Mr. Hall, or Roger depending on which child you ask," she chuckled. She seemed very nice and Nathan and Antonio knew their children would take to them right away.

"I'm Nathan Massey and these are my children—Joseph, we call him Joe, Nathan, and Madison."

"Hi," Roger said friendly.

All the children barely muttered hello or hi under their breath.

"Hi, I'm Antonio Cortez and this is my son Zachary.

xxxxx

Gerald was still gone and the pair had no leads to follow up on, so Jess decided to go back to the townhome and hold some of his things to induce a vision. Nothing. She noticed all the knives were missing from the holder, so she held that and was led to the bloody murder weapon in the dumpster of a shopping mall. But the case wasn't closed until they found Gerald. It was starting to feel like a missing person case.

xxxxx

Roger and Deborah Hall's services were invaluable to the Levi community. Not only did they volunteer in the Preschool Room Monday through Friday, they also offered night and weekend care in their home. Nathan and Antonio were impressed by their accommodations.

"That's great," Nathan said. "I know this place closes promptly at five-thirty and I'm not sure if Antonio and I will be able to get here in time."

"If you can't pick them up by five-thirty, you can pick them up from our home at your convenience. We even have a spare bedroom with cots for children to spend the night. Sometimes parents get off late and the kids are already asleep and since we're headed back to the library in the morning anyway, it makes sense that they sleep over."

"We just love children." Roger added. "We were never able to have any of our own, so we consider this class our brood."

Antonio and Nathan left Madison, Zachary, and Toby in the Preschool Room and brought Joe to auditorium one to see the After-School Care Program since he would be starting Kindergarten that fall.

That program was run by a volunteer named Layla Pierson. She was a mother of one child in the after-school program and one in the preschool program. Her room was just as colorful as the preschool room with many toys. Joe liked it immediately.

xxxxx

Brooke Haslett congratulated her agents on the recovery of Gerald Meyers and his confession.

"Case closed. That has to be a record. Did you enjoy your first day of homicide?"

"I think I need to give it more time to adjust." That was Jess-code for 'I was bored'. Nicole agreed.

xxxxx

Jess and Nicole stayed in the office late that day, solving some cold case murders. By the time they got home, everybody was in bed.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you," Nicole didn't expect Antonio to be asleep at nine o'clock.

"That's all right. I can sleep in tomorrow. I was going to wait up for you, but the kids killed me today."

"I told you. And I hate to burst another bubble, but tomorrow is Friday. Jess and I are working, so you and Nathan have the kids, no sleeping in.

"Nathan got a job in the Saint Francis E.R. and Joe, Toby, Madison, and Zachary will be leaving with you tomorrow morning. We enrolled them in a child care program at the library."

xxxxx

"It's going to be so good to be working again," Nathan said. "You wouldn't think a few weeks out of work would be as bad as it is."

"I'm glad you found something you'll enjoy doing."

"How was your day?"

"Boring. I didn't say anything to Brooke yet, but I am definitely going back to M.P. as soon as possible. I don't want to think about work right now. How is Toby?"

"Same."

"Something's telling me this is more than just Teresa. Maybe I'll take him to see someone."

"A shrink? Come on, Jess, it's not that serious. He'll come around."

xxxxx

Nicole and Jess opted to be transferred back to the Missing Persons' Unit. They were happy to be back to their old familiar roles and, except for their home lives, everything was fine.