Author's note: Student teaching has been eating me alive. Additionally, I have no idea where this is going anymore, so it may be a while before I update again. Thanks to all of you for standing by me while I get this figured out, and for all of your lovely comments!

Michael

I dragged Fiona back to the charger when she got the lock open the second time. Pushing her into the passenger seat, I leapt over the hood and threw myself behind the wheel. As I threw the car into gear, the man came running down the driveway with a shotgun in his hand.

"Oh? That's an odd reaction to people who come claiming they have money." Fi commented, reaching for the glove box.

I slammed on the gas pedal and fled down the street, ignoring the shots that followed us. Not even the bullet shattering the rear window made me slow down until I was sure that we were clear.

"Right. Not going back there for a bit." I sigh. "Did you get the bug planted?"

"Of course. Slipped it into the remote while you were prattling on about needing to get a hold of her."

"And he didn't notice you?"

"He was looking at you." She shrugged. "Anyway, we know one thing. He knows where she is, and isn't telling. I say we nab him, drag him back to the loft or to your mother's garage and let me-"

"Fi, we are not going to torture him."

"Not even a little?"

"No." I ignored the look she gave me. "We don't know for sure that he isn't innocent."

"He shot at us."

"Yes. But what if someone else is holding his wife hostage?"

"For three weeks? Michael, that is stupid."

I slid my hand onto her knee, watching the traffic stopped in front of us. "Fi, right after the FBI took you into custody, I was certain that I wouldn't get you back, no matter what I talked to Agent Pierce about. I also didn't think that she would really believe me." I sighed.

"That's sweet. So?"

"So," I said, glaring at her. "Nothing is impossible Fi."

"Whatever. So now what are we going to do? That idiot will probably do something even more stupid if we go back there."

"Call Sam. Have him meet us at Mary's. I want to get her take on how her step-father reacted to us."

Fiona sighed, but pulled out her phone to pass on the message. A half hour later, we made it through the traffic and onto the other side of town, where another neighborhood of manicured lawns and guesthouses sprawled down towards the beach.

"That is a lovely view." She murmured, getting out of the car.

"You can see the ocean from the balcony at the loft. Sort of."

"No, that's the waterway."

"If you want a nice view, I can take you to a hotel with an ocean view." I brushed her hair back from her face.

Fiona smiled. "You can't afford that." She rose up onto her toes and brushed her lips against mine. "But thanks."

Sam pulled up behind me and Fiona dropped back to her feet, the smile fading from her face. Exchanging looks with Sam, I slid an arm around her shoulders and led the way up to the glass doors. After several minutes of waiting, a woman near my mother's age answered the bell.

"We're here to see Mary and Jim." I said, giving her a wide smile.

"Follow me." She said stiffly, not returning the smile.

Shrugging, I stepped into the house after her and glanced around. Marble floors, a marble staircase with what I thought to be a gold plated hand-rail. Whoever Jim's parents were, they were not afraid to flaunt their wealth. There was probably a state-of-the-art security system installed, though I hadn't seen any indication of one. Some sort of silent alarm or something, where only those who knew about it could disarm it. If Fiona got her hands onto the security system, she would love taking it apart to see if she could replicate it and at the same time, figure out a way to bypass it.

We were led into an expansive back yard, one side of which was dominated by a full length swimming pool. The back fence sat at the edge of a cliff, with the ocean glittering beyond. Views like that were expensive, particularly at a hotel.

Both of the kids sat on the edge of the pool, their legs dangling into the water. As we drew closer, I saw that Mary was strapped into some sort of brace made up of metal rods and plastic cuffs. Jeff rose to his feet and helped Mary to stand and shuffle the three steps to where the wheelchair waited. He nodded to the housekeeper, who turned and marched back into the house.

"thank you for coming out so soon." Jeff said, motioning to the table as he sat. "Please, sit."

"I've got bad news, Mary." Sam said, taking a seat.

She nodded slowly, the color draining from her face. I resisted the urge to sigh. Telling the girl the bad news first was certainly not the route I would have taken. No matter how strong she had acted the previous day, Mary was just a young girl, worried about her mother.

"Sam, don't be an idiot." Fiona snapped. "Mary, we didn't meet yesterday. I'm Fiona, and apparently I'm the only sane one here. We haven't located your Mum yet, but I believe you are right, that she is missing, and your stepfather has something to do with it. What kind of car does she drive?"

Mary blinked. "Umm… A Lexus?"

"Well, her car is in the garage, which would be consistent with her going on a trip where she wouldn't need it.

"How would your stepfather act, do you think, if someone were to go to him looking for your mum, claiming to have a relatives inheritance?"

"He'd probably try to get the money." Mary murmured.

"So he wouldn't chase the money-offerers out with a gun."

"A gun? No way. Mother always had… has had… a thing against guns. She wouldn't even let Sam bring his into the house, and insisted that he lock it in the glove-box of his car when he came over." Mary stared at Fiona. "Why, what did you do?"

I gave Fiona a look. "We went over to speak with him, pretending to be handlers of your mother's Irish grandmother's estate with money for Julie."

"But we don't have family in Ireland."

"Exactly. If you didn't know of the family, and they did exist – and if your Mum had gone over to see them, he would have called us out on the lie. But he lied about where she is to us, and tried to shoot us. So, therefore, he knows where your mother is." Fiona grinned triumphantly.

"Hate to ruin your joy, Fiona, but I looked into Julie's phone records this morning while you were getting shot at. Up until her phone was turned off, or ran out of power two weeks ago, it was pinging from the same cell tower out near the Everglades."