Hello my wonderful readers! Did the last chapter just blow your mind? (Sarcasm abounds here) Not really? Well, hopefully the next few chapters may up the action a bit. Perhaps Jane will get a paper cut. Oh the horror! Maybe Lisbon will bump her knee and get a bruise! In order to see what deep, intense action sequences will occur next, please ENJOY!
The ride to Helen's house was silent, with Jane still staring out the window and Lisbon trying to make sense of the case.
Eventually, they arrived on a street in a good neighborhood(tall trees, clean yards and nice cars) and parked in front of one of the bigger, more kept up houses. Lisbon and Jane both, unknown to the other, thought the same thing: this woman was trying to hide something. The car was a little too new, the yard too perfect, and everything gave the sense that the lives of the occupants were perfect(and that they were trying to hide something behind the walls).
They walked up to the front door and rang the doorbell. The door opened and a woman smiled out at them.
The woman was in her early forties, straight brown hair and blue eyes, managed her weight and was of medium heigtht. "May I help you?" She asked.
Lisbon put on a smile. "Yes, we are looking for a Helen Mark?"
"That's me."
"I'm Agent Lisbon of the C.B.I, this is Patrick Jane a consultant. We are here to talk about your daughter, Sarah. May we come in?"
The woman frowned. "Sarah? Well, yes, please do come in," She opened the door wider, but watched her guests carefully.
The inside of the house was just as neat and tidy as the outside, and Jane was not sure if the sofa was to be sat on or to be showcased in a museum.
"Would you like some tea or coffee?" Helen asked.
Lisbon jumped in before Jane could get some tea. "No thank you."
"Okay, then what is this about Sarah? Has something happened to her?"
"Ma'am," Lisbon began carefully, "We have been led to believe that your daughter has disappeared."
"Disappeared? You mean, like kidnaped?"
"We are still looking into it, but that is still a possibility."
Helen gasped and covered her mouth with her hands. "That can't be. Not my Sarah, not my daughter!" Jane sat beside her with a tissue as she began to cry.
After a minute of crying, Helen calmed down enough to say, "What do you need to know?"
Lisbon glanced at Jane, who was watching Helen carefully. "Well, ma'am, we were hoping that you could tell us when you last saw your daughter and where she was three nights ago."
Helen took a deep breath. "I saw her a week ago, right before she went camping with her friends."
"Camping?" Lisbon asked.
"Yes, she was going on a camping trip with a couple of her girlfriends. She didn't tell me where, saying that she did not even know yet."
"Does she normally go on these camping trips?"
"Occasionally. She and her friends like to go hiking and such. I know her friends pretty well, they are good kids and stay out of trouble, so I never really worried about her."
"Has she ever mentioned wanting a father figure?" Jane chimed in. Lisbon gave him a look, but Helen just pasued.
"Father figure? Perhaps when she was little, but no, not for years now. What does that have to do with anything?"
Jane shrugged. "Nothing, just wondering."
Helen looked a little confused, so Lisbon tried to steer her back. "Do you know if your daughter has had any dealings with bad people or could have possibly been involved in illegal dealings?"
"Sarah? No, absolutely not! She is a wonderful girl, always wanting to help people, and if she was in need of money she would have come to me."
"We can see that," Jane mumbled, glancing around the room. Lisbon gave him another look, but Helen was ignoring him.
"Please tell me, what happened? How do you know that my daughter disappeared? Did one of the girls she was with report it?"
Lisbon paused before responding, carefully choosing her wording, but Jane jumped ahead of her. "Your ex husband told us. Apparently he just happened to be in the area and reported it directly to us."
It took all of Lisbon's self control not to throttle Jane, while Helen just looked confused.
"My ex husband? Which one?"
"Lampton," Jane answered.
Helen jumped up, wringing her hands. "That, that, oh, what to call him! I knew he was trouble from the moment we got married. Why did I have to fall for his cheap tricks? If he hurt my daughter in any way, I'll, I'll," She burst into tears again, "Oh Sarah, what happened to you?" She slowly sat down again, while Jane handed her another tissue.
Lisbon knew that it was best just to let Helen cry for a minute before continuing her questioning, so she spent that minute giving Jane the deadliest glare she could manage. He just smirked at her, completely unaffected.
When Helen finally calmed down (again), Lisbon was able to get a few more details about Sarah and Mr. Lampton, but nothing that helped them.
Lisbon and Jane were shown out by Helen, who still clutched a tissue in her hand. Before she closed the door, she whispered, "Please, please bring Sarah back to me. If she was hurt or, killed, I don't know if I could live with it."
Jane nodded. "Don't worry. I am sure that she is just fine."
And with that, he smirked and headed off towards the car.
Okay, time to sign off on this chapter. Please REVIEW! I love to hear from you people, I laugh at a lot of the comments you leave in your reviews :) Until next chapter, Li Li.
P.S. Happy 30th Chapter! Wow, how the chapters keep flying by. A big Thank You to all my reviewers, and all the people who placed my story on their Story Alert/Favorite Stories lists. That means a lot to me :)