Title: The Attacks
Author: S.G. Cash

Wednesday, October 7th

Home: 8:15 AM

Thomas Winters slipped his coat on and walked out to the garage, got in his car and drove to work. He was the sergeant of the detective bureau of the Metro Police Department. His wife, a charge nurse at Mercy Hospital and between the two of them they lived a lifestyle that was very different than most ‘normal’ people. Thomas called his wife on his way to the station. She had left for work some two hours earlier.

“Yes, Sir?” He heard the soft voice of his wife, Kira, say through the little speaker on his iPhone.

“I just wanted to let you know that I’m on my way to the station and I’ll should be home at the normal time unless something major happens today.” Tom said.

“Ok, I’ll text you later with ideas for dinner for your approval, Master.” Kira said.

“Ok. I’ll see you tonight. I love you.” Tom said, easing the unmarked Ford Crown Victoria into rush hour traffic on the cross-town freeway.

“Love you too, sir.” Kira said and hung up the phone. Tom had only been paying attention to the radio slightly when he heard something that got his attention.

“Thirty four, roll me a medic and see if anyone is home in the Detective bureau.” Tom picked up the mic

“S twelve to radio.” Tom said into the microphone for the Motorola radio that was mounted in his dashboard.

“Copy thirty-four, S twelve, go.” Came the voice of one of the dispatchers in the city’s dispatch center.

“Badge Twenty one sixty two for the computer, add me to the card on what ever thirty four has and send me the info that’s on the run.” Tom said, typing his info into the Panasonic tough book that was mounted in his car. The tough book was tied into the city’s computer aided dispatch system via a radio link to headquarters.

“Copy S twelve. Would you like me to round up another D unit to assist you?” the dispatcher asked. Tom knew that he would have all of his detectives in the office before nine am.

“Negative, they will all be in before nine and knowing them they are all listening. I’ll call in if I need additional resources.” Tom said.

“Copy, S twelve. Time is zero eight nineteen.” The dispatcher said. Tom glanced at the screen on the tough book to see where he was going. Part of the computer aided dispatch system was a module that provided GPS data, both to the computer in the car and to the dispatch center. The system was telling him he would have to turn around. Tom glanced over his left shoulder to check for traffic and saw that the lane was clear, so he moved left and then into the left berm and approached a turn around. Tom turned into the turnaround and waited for a gap in traffic to pull back out into. Tom activated his beacons and started driving down the berm. A hole opened in the traffic and he merged back into it, and shut the beacons off. Twenty minutes later he pulled into a parking lot on the outskirts of town. It would make sense to dispose of a body out here. This area of town had fallen prey to the recession that had gripped the whole nation and was now pretty much a collection of abandoned buildings that their owners were trying to find tenants for. Tom parked behind Officer Joe Miller’s car and got out. Miller turned to look at Tom.

Warehouse 3: 8:49 AM

“Morning Sarge.” Officer Miller said. “Victim is a female, thirty to thirty five years of age, she’s been beat up pretty good. No ID, but she does have some interesting jewelry on…” Sergeant Winters raised an eyebrow.

“Oh?” Tom said. He looked around at the abandoned buildings. “You started to see if anyone saw anything?”

“Not yet. I just got here and I’m still trying to figure out where my medic is.” Miller said.

“I’ll find out.” Tom said, taking a step closer to the figure of the young girl lying on the ground. She was wearing a simple long sleeved cotton dress, which wasn’t really warm enough for the crisp morning at the beginning of October. The sun was beginning to finally come up over the top of one of the buildings and Tom could now see the strange jewelry that Miller had referred to. Beneath the mousy brown hair that was splayed all over, was a metal band that fit rather snuggly around the girls neck. She had similar bands around each of her limbs. Tom pulled the handheld radio from his side and held it to his mouth. “S twelve.”

“S twelve, go” Tom heard the dispatcher say.

“Where is the medic that thirty four requested?” Tom asked, as a Medic pulled in next to the two cruisers. “Radio, Disregard. Could you please have D1 and D3 respond to the scene?”

“Affirm at zero eight fifty two.” The dispatcher responded. Tom watched as the medics got the gurney out of the back of the truck and rolled it over.

“Morning’ Sarge.” Paramedic Beth Johnson said. “What do we have?”

“Female, thirty to thirty-five years of age, no idea what happened, but we’ll get to the bottom of that.” Tom said. Beth nodded and pulled the gurney to the figure lying on the pavement. Tom watched as they very carefully rolled her on to her back on top of a backboard and then lifted the back board to the top of the gurney. Tom noticed that there was a tag hanging from the metal band around the girls’ neck. He walked over and looked at it. Engraved on the oval shaved piece of silver metal were the words ‘Corrine, Property of Mistress Chloe.’ The back just had a nine-digit number. Tom pulled a notepad from his jacket pocket and made a few notes. He walked back to his cruiser and sat down as Detectives Frank Wells and Sarah Cunningham pulled up. Sarah parked next to Miller’s car and Wells parked the crime scene van next to Tom’s car. Both got out of their cars and walked up to Sergeant Winters’ car.

“Morning Sarge.” They said in unison.

“Morning.” Tom said. “We have an assault, but treat it as if it’s fatal as we don’t know the victims status.” Tom looked at the medics preparing to load the gurney into the truck. “Find me anything you can. Anything physical that you find, get it to Grace and keep me in the loop.” Grace Tompkins was the head of the departments forensic and ID departments, and was very good at her job.

“Yes, sir.” Both detectives said at the same time. Tom watched as the medic turned around in the empty parking lot. He put his car in gear and pulled up next to the medic.

“Where ya guys headed?” He asked. Beth looked down from the drivers seat.

“Mercy East.” She said. Tom nodded and picked up the mic for the radio.

“S twelve” Tom said into the mic.

“Go S twelve”

“Medic twenty one is transporting to Mercy East. Mark me enroute as well.” Tom said.

“Copy, enroute at zero nine twelve.”

Mercy East Hospital: 9:25 AM

Tom pulled in behind the medic and parked his car in the small lot reserved for emergency medical personnel. He shut off the engine and opened the door, pulling his handheld radio off his belt as he did so.

“S twelve” He said into the radio as he walked up to the medic that was now unloading the girl that he only knew as Corrine and would refer to as a Jane Doe until he knew exactly who she was. Tom rubbed his temples as he waited for an answer from the dispatch center. After enough time had gone by that he should have gotten one, he tried again “S twelve to Radio.”

“S twelve, Go.” Someone finally answered him.

“Code ten at Mercy East, Will advise status in a bit. The cell phone may be the best way to get in touch with me.” Tom said, walking into the ambulance entrance and turning toward his left toward the charge nurses station.

“Copy. Time is zero nine twenty six.” The dispatcher said. Tom walked up to the charge nurses station and glanced at the patient boards and saw where his victim had gone. He turned around and walked toward exam room four.

Mercy East Hospital: ED Exam Room Four: 9:28 AM

Sergeant Winters walked up to the door of room four which was open and he could see that Doctor Samantha Franklin was the on duty physician. He knew Dr. Franklin from the various social events that he had gone to with his wife.

“Morning Doctor Franklin, how is our Jane Doe?” He asked slipping in the room. Samantha looked up at him.

“Morning Sergeant. I assume that you already know the particulars on some of this, but she fought her attacker,” Dr. Franklin picked up Corrine’s hand and showed Tom the wounds that she had obtained fighting back. Tom made a note on the notepad. “What do you want us to do with all of this hardware?” She asked. Corrine was now lying on her back, and Tom could see the metal bands clearly, which he recognized as being manufactured by a company called Axsmar, based out of Germany. Tom frowned and looked at Dr. Franklin.

“Leave it unless it’s causing problems. She’s got on close to fifteen hundred dollars worth of hardware. That’s only a guess.” Tom said, reaching out to finger the collar. He ran his fingers around the band feeling for a small hole that would allow removal of the collar. He frowned again as he found none. “I’m going to go make a few phone calls, I’ll be out by the charge nurses desk if you need something.”

“Ok, Sergeant.” Dr. Franklin said, taking another pulse reading. Tom walked out and picked up a phone and called Grace Tompkins.

“Tompkins.” Tom heard Grace’s soft voice say.

“Gracie, it’s Winters. There is some stuff headed your way from an assault this morning that Miller had. I need you to do me a favor though.” Tom said, pulling a pen out of his breast pocket.

“Name it.” Grace said.

“I have a female victim. She’s wearing a collar, with a tag that reads Corrine, property of Mistress Chloe on one side, and a nine-digit number on the other. I’m not sure what the number is. She has brown hair, is about five feet tall, maybe one twenty soaking wet. I don’t have an eye color; I haven’t seen her eyes yet. Can you run the DMV database and see if you can find any matches to the description I gave you?” Tom asked.

“Yep. I’ll let you know if I find anything. See if you can get me her prints somehow.” Grace said.

“Will do.” Tom said and hung up the phone by pressing the button the receiver would push if the phone were in the cradle. He released it and dialed another number. Tom tapped his foot while he waited for someone to pick up.

“Metro PD, Tech thirty-two.” Came the voice of tech thirty two at the city’s dispatch center.

“It’s Sargent Winters, connect me to the radio room Sergeant, please.” Tom said.

“Stand by one, Sarge.” The tech said. There was a click as the tech put the call on hold to transfer it to the on duty radio room sergeant.

“Schafer.” Came Sergeant Julie Schafer’s voice.

“Hey, it’s Winters.” Tom said. “Where did the call this morning on thirty-four’s run come from?”

“Hang on one second, Tom.” Julie said. Tom could hear her typing on the keyboard in front of her. He knew that she was pulling up the data in the system from the run. “Miller called it in at zero eight nineteen. He stumbled across the victim in routine patrol. Nothing else of interest is noted… Do you have an ID on the victim?” Julie asked.

“Not yet. I’m still working on it.” Tom said.

“Ok, Let me know when you get something so I can update the card.” Julie said.

“Will do. I have Grace running a search through the DMV based on physical traits and I’ll have her let you know if she comes up with something.” Dr. Samantha Franklin was walking up to nurse’s station holding an evidence bag that contained the dress that Corrine had been wearing when she was rolled into the hospital. “I’ll give you a call in a bit Julie.” Tom said and then hung up the phone.

“Thought you might want this. I ran it under a UV light and found traces of stuff on the inside, but I’m not sure exactly what it is. Your forensics people might be able to tell more.” Dr. Franklin said.

“Probably. Anything else of interest?” Tom asked.

“Bruising on and around the knees from something. She has some decent callouses on her knees. It’s almost like she spends a lot of time on them. I know of a life style that would wear the jewelry that she has and spend a lot of time on their knees…” Dr. Franklin said.

“Oh?” Tom said.

“Yeah. We’ve treated people in here that have had on collars and are people’s submissives or slaves.” Dr. Franklin said. This was the answer that Tom had been expecting.

“Last time I checked, Slavery was illegal.” Tom said.

“This is consensual, they have chosen to give up everything. More often than not it’s to a significant other, Husband, wife, boyfriend, girlfriend. Whoever this Chloe is on the tag that is on that collar, is someone that cares about Corrine, more than likely. If Kira were to not come home one night, wouldn’t you be beside your self with worry?” Dr. Franklin said.

“I understand this more than you know, Samantha, more than you know.” Tom said quietly. Dr. Franklin raised an eyebrow.

Metro PD Headquarters: 9:45 AM

Sargent Winters pulled his car into his assigned parking spot and shut off the engine. He grabbed the evidence bag and the manila folder that he had used to roll Corrine’s fingerprints onto. Tom got out and walked in the back door of the four-story building that housed the Metro Police Department. He went down stairs to the department headed up by Grace Tompkins. The door was open so he just walked in. Grace was sitting with her back to the door, her long blonde hair was in pigtails mounted high on the sides of her head. She had on her white lab coat but he could see that she had on a shorter skirt underneath the coat, just like she usually did.

“Grace.” Tom said, mainly so he wouldn’t scare the crap out of her if he were to just reach out and touch her. She jumped slightly, and turned to look at Tom.

“Hey. What do you have for me?” She asked, looking at the bag.

“The dress that the victim was wearing, and her prints, they are labeled. She had on a collar with a tag that said ‘Corrine, property of Mistress Chloe’. If you find a Corrine, try to cross the info in the database with a Chloe at the same address… Tom said. Grace raised her eyebrows.

“Kinky.” Grace said, “How is Corrine doing?”

“She was stable when I left the ED at Mercy East, I left the on call doc my card to call me if any thing changes.” Tom watched as Grace reached up to feel the stainless steel bar that she referred to as a necklace to everyone. “I’m going to run up to my desk and grab a few things, I need to go talk to Schafer in communications about some stuff. Call me if you get any hits.”

“Will do.” Grace said, and turned her attention back to the search in front of her. Tom walked back up the stairs and swung by his office to grab some papers off his desk. After grabbing the dispatches from the night before, he headed for communications. The communications center was on the fourth floor of the building. Tom preferred to take the stairs and went all the way to the top floor of the building. The doors that led into the hallway were key coded so that only certain people could access the floor, and then you still needed to have a different code to gain access to the radio room it self. Tom entered the radio room and walked up to Sargent Schafer’s office. The room was a large windowless affair that was tiered so that the all of the dispatchers could see the large screens at the front of the room that displayed the location of every cruiser, the pending runs, and the status of all of the units that were signed into the system known as PDnet. He noted that Wells and Cunningham were both still on scene at the warehouse where Miller had found the body of Corrine. He knocked on the door to Schafer’s office. She waved him in through the glass wall that separated her office from the rest of the center. He walked in and sat in one of the chairs that faced the desk.

“What do you have, Tom?” She asked, typing something on her keyboard.

“Not much. Grace hasn’t come up with anything yet, I just gave her the dress the victim was wearing, and her prints that I pulled using an ink pad and a manilla folder. Ya know, like the days before the computers did all of this stuff for us…” Tom said.

“Yeah, some days I want to take all this computers and chuck them out the windows…” Julie said.

“Victim was stable when I left Mercy East and headed here. I left my card with the charge nurse to call me if any thing changes.” Julie nodded. “I’m going to head back out to the scene and see if Wells and Cunningham need anything.”

“Alright, I’ll call if I come across any info.” Julie said. “I’m already having my people keep an eye out for anyone reporting a missing girl matching your description.”

“Ok, thanks.” Tom stood, “I’ll keep in touch via the radio.”

Warehouse 3: 10:09 AM

Tom pulled his car up behind the crime scene van and got out. Wells and Cunningham were crouched down looking at something on the ground. Scattered around the crime scene were plastic markers of things that they thought were of importance. A dozen things had been marked so far and they were using the laser range finder to sketch out the scene.

“What do you guys have?” They both looked over at Sergeant Winters and neither looked happy.

“Signs of a decent struggle. It looks like she fought pretty hard. We even found her shoes.” Detective Sarah Cunningham pointed toward a marker that had a pair of what appeared to be six-inch heels next to it. The straps on the shoes were broken, one of the heels broken, and almost detached. “We have tire tracks that we are trying to figure out. No signs of a sexual struggle, but if there was one it may not have occurred here. This may have just been a dumping ground.” Tom turned around in a three hundred sixty degree circle and examined the scene. This had gone from odd to odder. That was something that after twenty-five years, Winters could say hadn’t happened too many times. As the saying goes, just when you think you’ve seen it all…

Forensics Lab: 10:17 AM

Grace was sitting at her desk when the computer attached to AFIS had finished it’s course. The computer across the room beeped and the results were flashing on the monitor. Grace adjusted her glasses to try to read the screen from where she sat. It was useless. Grace stood, leaving her lab coat on her chair and walking across the room, skirt swishing. Her attire today wasn’t that far off of her normal attire. The skirt was a little shorter, but she liked that from time to time. If she wasn’t careful she’d show someone the satin panties that she was wearing. She pulled the screen up that had the results of her fingerprint search on it. The results came back as belonging to a Kristen Corrine Nairn. Grace ran that name through the DMV database and got a hit, she printed the papers and then picked up the phone and called Sergeant Winters. While she waited she did a search to see what other drivers licenses were listed in the BMV Database. She got two hits. One a fifteen-year-old girl named Madison Abigail Nairn, who had her temps; and the second a thirty two year old woman by the name of Rebecca Chloe Anderson.

“Winters.” Grace heard over the phone.

“Sarge, it’s Gracie. I got a hit for you. I sent the picture of the girl to your MDC, but this got interesting.” Grace said. She heard the door on the car shut then the Sargent Winters typing on the keyboard in the car. The MDC was the Mobile Data Computer, which was tied into the overall system known as PDnet.

“Yep that’s her. Kristen Corrine Nairn, huh? What did you get on the check of the address?” Winters said.

“Two hits on the address. A fifteen year old female named Madison Abigail Nairn, and a thirty two year old female named Rebecca Chloe Anderson.” Grace said.

“Rebecca Chloe Anderson? I think we just found ‘Mistress Chloe.’ Send that to my MDC if you would please.” Tom said.

“Done. The trace amounts of fluid on the dress seems like they are Corrine’s. Beyond that, I have nothing new.” Grace said.

“Ok, call up to Schafer and make sure that she knows that you got a hit on the prints I gave you.” Tom said. Grace heard the door on the car open. “I’ll call you back in a bit.” There was a click as Tom hung up his cell phone. Grace started to look for previous runs to the address that was listed on Corrine’s drivers license. She found two previous runs, both were Domestic violence runs, and the caller was anonymous. Neither run had developed into anything, just a visit to a seemingly normal household. Grace did a little bit of digging and discovered that Madison attended Stark High School and she forwarded that over to the MDC in Sergeant Winter’s car as well.

“I wonder if Madison knows where her mom is…” Grace said aloud in the empty laboratory.

Warehouse 3: 10:25 AM

Tom skimmed the screen of the tough book and then removed the mic from the clip on the dashboard.

“S Twelve to Unit Twenty four.” Sargent Winters said.

“Twenty Four, Go sir.” Came the voice of Officer Anthony Hunter.

“Can you private call my car, please?” Sargent Winters said. Private calling was basically a radio to radio call that went through the city wide trunked system.

“Affirm, are you at seven six four three two still?” Hunter’s voice came through the amplified speaker that was mounted between the front seats.

“Affirm.” Tom said into the mic and then waited on the radio to beep. Tom’s radio beeped and then he pushed the button to answer the incoming call.

“What do you need, Sarge?” Officer Hunter asked.

“Can you check with attendance and see if Madison Nairn is in class.”

“Can I get a spelling on that last name, Sarge?”

“Sure. November Adam India Robert November. N a i r n.” Sargent Winters said.

“Copy, I’ll call you back in a few with the answer.” Officer Hunter said.

“Thank you.” Winters said. “If you try the car and I’m not in it, my walkie is Seven Seven four one five.”

“Copy Sir.” There was a beep as the private call disconnected and the radio went back to the channel labeled as Zone 1.

Stark High School: 10:32 AM.

Officer Hunter walked through the doorway of the attendance office and looked at Pat Carter.

“Morning, Officer Hunter, what can I do for ya?” She said.

“I have a request from the Detective Sargent to find out if someone is here.”

“Ok, who is it?” She asked, clicking a few things on her computer. Hunter consulted his note pad.

“Madison Nairn.” Pat typed away for a few seconds, and then looked up at Officer Hunter.

“She’s absent today. Looks like she was signed out early yesterday by a Rebecca Anderson.” Pat looked back at the computer. “She’s listed on the card to be able to sign Madison out.”

“Was there a call for today’s absence?” Hunter asked. Pat punched out a few more keys on the keyboard.

“Nope.” Pat said. Hunter pursed his lips.

“Why the questions? Madison is usually here, rarely misses a day, in fact.” Pat said.

“I know. I’ve talked to her.” Officer Hunter said.

“Is there something going on that we should be aware of?” Pat asked.

“I don’t know yet. As soon as I find out, I’ll let you know. Is there any way you can check for siblings in the other schools in the district?” Officer Hunter asked.

“On it. You want me to see if any siblings are absent today as well?” Pat asked.

“Please. Call me down in my office, I need to make a phone call.”

“Will do.” Pat said and then started to work on the computer. Officer Hunter left the attendance office and went back to his office. On the way there his mind ran through several possibilities, none of them were good. He pulled his own walkie off of his belt and private called Sergeant Winter’s walkie. The walkie would on Winter’s hip regardless of where he was.

Detective's Bureau: 10:41 AM

Sargent Winters had just sat down at his desk when his walkie beeped. He pulled it off of his belt and saw that it was Officer Hunter. He wasn’t sure if a response this fast was good news or bad news, but either way, he was about to find out. He pushed the star and pound keys together to let the private call connect.

“Winters.” Tom said into the radio.

“It’s Hunter. Madison isn’t in school today, the attendance secretary said that she was signed out early yesterday by a Rebecca Anderson.” Hunter’s voice came from the speaker on the radio. “She is checking district wide student database for siblings, and if she finds any, she’s going to check on their status for me.” Tom blinked at the radio.

“Copy. Let me know on siblings. We queried the database for drivers licenses or ID cards.” Winters said, making a note on a pad of paper in front of him. “Tony, can you get me a number off the emergency card, I’d like to do a welfare call.”

“Yeah, I’ll get it when I go back down that way. Ten minutes, Max.” Hunter said.

“Thank you, Sir.” Tom picked the sheets that Grace had printed out up off his desk. Corrine wasn’t a bad looking girl, and he could imagine what Madison looked like just by looking at the picture. Tom turned to his computer and brought up the status list of all of the units that were out on the street. He was the only detective listed and that was only because he was logged into the MDC in his car. Tom stood and left his office and went up to the communications center.

Communications Center: 10:46 AM

Sergeant Winters walked into the Communications Center and then into Sergeant Shaffer’s office. Schafer looked up at him.

“What’cha got, Tom?” she asked.

“I would like you to pull all of my units that are out in the field in. I think this Jane Doe that Miller found this morning has more to it than meets the eye.” Tom said. “Also, could you do a crisscross if I got you an address?” The crisscross was a method to check for a phone number by an address, or the other way around. They mainly used it when they needed an phone number based on an address. Julie pulled the book out of her desk drawer and sat it on her desk.

“What’s the address?” Julie asked. Tom glanced at the paper in his hand.

“Thirty seven forty one Oak Hill Dr. It’s in the Oak Hill sub division.” Tom said. Julie flipped through pages in the book. She looked at Tom and frowned.

“The Address is listed but there is no phone number attached. Must be cell only…” Julie said. This was becoming more and more of a problem, as families ditched their land line phones for the portability of cellular devices. Tom frowned.

“Ok, I have Hunter seeing if he can get me the number off the emergency card. For the card, Jane Doe’s name is Kristen Corrine Nairn. She has a fifteen year old daughter that I can’t locate right now and that bothers me.” Julie glanced at the monitor in her office that showed the pending runs.

“No one has called in a missing. Any other siblings?” Julie asked.

“None that I’m aware of. Hunter is checking for that as well.” Tom said, standing. “If you could do an all zone call for the D-units to return to head quarters, I’d appreciate it.”

“I’ll have them all in shortly for you.” Julie said. “If there’s any thing you need, just shout.” Tom nodded and left the communications center.

2938 Chapman Street: 10:52 AM

Madison Nairn pushed her little sister, Sophie behind her as Chloe opened the door to the basement that they had been locked in since midday the day before. Madison had no sense of time, as there were no clocks or windows in the basement.

“You will listen to me, Madison, your mommy’s not here to save you now…” Chloe said, an evil smirk appearing on her face. “If you listen to me, then nothing will happen to Sophie.” Madison stepped backwards and pushed Sophie closer to the wall. Both girls still had on the outfits they had worn to school the day before. Madison’s consisting of a red long sleeved tee shirt, a red and black plaid skirt, black tights and a pair of boots. Sophie had on a pink long sleeved tee shirt, a pair of black skinny jeans, and a pair of pink ballet flats. There was one mattress and a bucket for the girls to use as a toilet in the room and that was it. The mattress had no blankets, and was only twin sized. Madison had gotten a few fitful minutes of sleep the night before while holding Sophie as she cried for their mother. Madison had no words to comfort her sister and did the only thing she could do. Madison had last seen her mom the morning before when she had dropped her off at school before heading to work her self. Based on the events that Madison could determine, her mother had never made it to work and was presently, missing.

“Why would I listen to you? I think you did something to my mother.” Madison said, Chloe’s face turned to rage, and she backhanded the fifteen year old on the left side of the face. Madison’s head spun with the blow, but she willed her self to not cry in front of this bitch.

“Don’t hurt her!” Sophie screamed. By the time Chloe’s hand was in a position to strike the nine-year-old girl, Madison had recovered from the blow to her face. Madison stepped in front of Sophie again and snarled.

“Let us go, you bitch!” Madison shouted, suddenly feeling very protective of Sophie. “Where is my mom?” the evil grin appeared on Chloe’s face again.

“I don’t know.” Chloe said. That grin was beginning to piss Madison off. “Maybe you should shout really loudly and see if she shows up…” Chloe slammed the door shut and Madison heard a few clicks and knew that it was pointless to tug on it. She had tried after Sophie had cried her self to sleep the night before. Right now, Madison’s only goal was making sure that she and Sophie survived what ever this sadistic woman was going to do. Madison would try to shield Sophie as much as she could.

Stark High School: 11:02 AM

Officer Hunter walked back in the attendance office and looked at Pat Carter. She looked up when he entered, her face grim.

“Ok, I polled the database, Madison has a little sister, Sophie Nairn. She attends Cassingham Elementary. She was reported absent as well, and was singed out by Rebecca Anderson, about twenty minutes before Madison was signed out.” She said. Hunter didn’t even bother with the radio. He picked the phone on Pat’s desk up and called the radio room.

“Tech fourteen” Came a voice through the phone.

“It’s Hunter over at Stark. Connect me to Sergeant Winters.” Hunter said. His voice was more demanding than normal.

“Stand by, Sir.” The tech said. There was a click and then Hunter heard “This is Sargent Winters, I’m not at my desk right now.” Hunter pushed the button to hang up the phone and dialed the radio room again.

“Tech twenty six.” Came a different voice.

“This is Hunter at Stark HS, connect me to the radio room Sargent.” Hunter said. There was a click and a few seconds later Sergeant Schafer came on the line.

“Schafer.” Julie said into the phone.

“Hey, it’s Hunter over at Stark HS. Tell Winters that Madison Nairn has a little sister named Sophie, she was out of school as well today. They both were signed out of school early yesterday by a Rebecca Anderson.” Pat wrote a number on a piece of paper and showed it to Hunter. “I also have a number for Winters from the Emergency contact info.”

“Ok, hang on, let me get something to write on.” Schafer said. “Ok, go ahead.”

“Seven three four, nine two six five. I don’t know if that’s a landline or a cell.” Hunter said. Pat put the paper back on her desk and wrote ‘Land line’ and held it back up to Hunter. “It’s a landline according to Pat.”

“Ok, Stand by, I’m going to try to patch us through to Sargent Winters, hang on.” There was a click, and then a second click.

“Winters.” They heard over the phone.

“Sarge, I have a landline number for you, if you are ready to copy.” Hunter said.

“Go.” Winters said.

“Seven three four, nine two six five.” Hunter said. “Pat Carter at the high school did some digging and found out that Madison has a little sister named Sophie who attends Cassingham. Both were signed out yesterday by Rebecca Anderson, and neither were in classes today.”

“Any body make a call to the number on file to see if we can find out where the girls are?” Winters said

“Any one make a call.” Hunter asked. Pat nodded.

“I got the machine.” Pat said.

“Pat Carter tried, and got the machine.” Hunter said.

“Damn it.” Winters said. “Schafer, I’m going to take Cunningham and do a welfare check on the house. Something’s not right about this.”

“Ok. If you need something, call. You know that. Hunter, if you come up with anything new, let me know. My direct number is seven three nine four.” Schafer said.

“Yes, Ma’am.” Hunter said and hung up the phone. He looked at Pat Carter.

“I have a bad feeling about this and I think Sergeant Winters is having the same feelings. Who is Madison’s Guidance counselor?” Pat typed on her keyboard and then looked up at Officer Hunter.

“Mr. Ian Woon.” Pat said. “His office is around the corner.”

“Thanks Pat, I may be back.” Officer Hunter said and then left the office and walked around the corner to Mr. Woon’s office.

3741 Oak Hill Dr: 11:23 AM

Tom Winters and Sarah Cunningham pulled up from two different directions and park about four houses away from the structure they were looking for. They got out and surveyed the area and looked at each other. They both moved toward the house. What they saw when they converged on the house astonished them. The front door was knocked off the hinges, and the front windows were shattered. Tom and Sarah looked at each other.

“What in the world?” Sarah said. Tom was pulling his walkie off of his belt.

“S Twelve to radio.” Tom said quietly into the radio. He twisted the knob on the top of the radio for volume to turn the radio down.

“S twelve, go.” Came a very quiet answer.

“Start two street units, and D three with the van to three seven four one Oak Hill Dr. We have an open building. One vehicle on location, a maroon Ford four door, tag alpha kilo echo four three two two. Run it and let me know who it comes back to.” Sergeant Winters glanced around. This had to be recent, but one would have thought that someone would have called the dispatch center.

“S twelve, D three is enroute, Tags come back to a Kristen Nairn. NIFWW, no DR, expires ten twenty eight this year.” The dispatcher said.

“Copy. D one and I are about to enter for a search.” Winter’s said.

“Copy, eleven twenty six” the disembodied voice that came out of the radio said. Winters pulled out his departmentally issued Glock model 19, which was a nine millimeter semi automatic pistol. Sarah Cunningham did the same thing and nodded at Tom Winters. They quietly approached the front door and started to search the house. By the time the two street units arrived, they had completed their search and found no one home. Sarah and Tom stood there dumb founded. Someone had obviously ransacked this house, but they couldn’t figure out why. The two rooms that belonged to Madison and Sophie had been turned inside out. There were clothes strewn all over the place, and the majority of Sophie’s stuffed animals had been sliced open. Sarah and Tom watched as Frank pulled up in the van. They both walked over and opened the back door on the van. Tom and Sarah both grabbed cameras and went to work on taking care of photographing anything and everything.

Cassingham Elementary School: 11:30 AM

Principal Catherine Appleton walked into the main office and stopped by the secretaries’ desk.

“Did I hear you talking to someone earlier about Sophie Nairn?” Mrs. Appleton asked.

“Yeah, Pat Carter from the high school called over and asked about her. Sophie’s sister, Madison is out today as well. Pat said that they were both signed out by a Rebecca Anderson. Something’s not right.” Susan Summers said.

“Is this Rebecca Anderson person on the card?” She was referring to the card that listed people that could sign out a student.

“Yeah. But something about this doesn’t seem right. I’m just not sure what it is.” Susan said. The phone rang.

“Cassingham Elementary, this is Susan.”

“I’ve kidnapped Sophie Nairn. If you want to see her again, I want two million dollars. I will call again in two hours with more details.” A robotic voice said on the other end of the line. Susan looked at Catherine Appleton as the line went dead.

“Something is defiantly not right. That was a ransom call for Sophie Nairn.” Susan said, depressing the hang up button and releasing it. “I’m calling Metro PD.” Little did Susan know that a similar call was being made three blocks away at Stark High School.

Communications Center: 11:32 AM

Sergeant Schafer was sitting her office when she saw two amber lights turn on above two different call takers stations. The amber lights were used to indicate to the shift sergeant that there was a potential high priority case. There were three modes: off, which would indicate normal everyday traffic for the division; amber: potential high priority cases such as accidents, missing people, and fights; and red, which would be any thing that would require a response where the units would respond running their emergency lights and sirens. The odds of two call takers getting calls that landed in the amber category at the same time was slim, actually, Julie thought that this was the first time it had ever occurred. She watched the boards to see what was going on. Two runs appeared on the list as suspicious activity. One was at Stark High School, the other at Cassingham Elementary School. She opened the door that led out to the main floor of the communications center and walked out.

“What are these two runs at Stark and Cassingham?” She asked the floor supervisor. The supervisor looked at the big board and then at the computer in front of him. He typed a few things and then had the two runs appearing side by side on the screen.

“Ok, the high school received a ransom demand for a student named Madison Nairn. The elementary school received a ransom demand for a student named Sophie Nairn. They are a minute old and have not been dispatched yet, ma’am” Jack Frost said, he looked up at her.

“Don’t dispatch those over the air. Assign them both to the Detective Bureau, Winters has a Jane Doe that he’s had ID’d as Kristen Nairn.” Julie said, picking up a phone on the console and dialing Sergeant Winter’s extension.

Detective Bureau: 11:35 AM

“Ok, Add D1 and I to the card for the high school run, and D3 and D4 to the card for the run at Cassingham. See if you can get with a judge over at the court see if we can get a subpoena for the call records.” Winters said.

“Will do.” He hung up the phone and stood, walking out to the larger office that the detectives shared.

“Wells, Harrington. Go to Cassingham Elementary, talk to the secretary who took a call about a ransom demand for Sophie Nairn. Get as much detail as you can.” They both nodded and then left the room. “Cunningham, your with me. The rest of you keep working on connections to Corrine Nairn. Lets find out how her and Rebecca Anderson met.” Tom watched as Sarah stood and then brushed her hair back behind her ears. Everything except for one little group of her strawberry blonde locks that served to frame her face. Sarah’s hair just barely touched her shoulders and sat in a bob on the top of her head.

“Where are we going, Sarge?” She asked as they jogged down the stairs that would take them to the back door where Tom’s car was parked.

“Stark High School. They got a ransom demand for Madison Nairn.” He said, pushing the back door open. Wells and Harrington made the right hand turn out of the parking lot. Tom and Sarah got in the Crown Vic and pulled out of the lot. Tom grabbed the mic.

“S twelve to unit twenty four.” He said. Sarah typed something the MDC.

“Twenty four, go Sarge.” Hunter said.

“Can you private call my car please?” Tom said.

“Affirm, Stand by.” Hunter’s voice came out of the amplified speaker. A few seconds later, the radio beeped and Winters pressed the buttons to answer it.

“Hunter, Cunningham and my self are on our way over. Someone took a call with a ransom demand for Madison. The secretary at Cassingham took a similar call about Sophie. I have Wells and Harrington on their way over there now.” Winters said before Hunter even got a chance to talk.

“Copy.” He said slowly. He was right, something was very wrong.

2938 Chapman Street: 11:45 AM

Madison closed her eyes when she heard the door that led to the basement open. A few seconds later she noticed that the light was on, she could see a slight tinge of red through her eyelids. Sophie had her eyes open, and had squinted them closed when Chloe had flipped on the single forty watt light bulb in the ceiling. Madison heard Chloe unlock the door, felt something hit at her feet, and then heard the door close. She heard Chloe talk through the little window in the door.

“Put those on your sister and yourself, and then face the wall. I want only one garment on you, and it’s what’s lying at your feet. Nothing else.” Madison opened her left eye and saw a pile of dark blue fabric at her feet under the light blue fabric there was a little bit of pink sticking out. Madison bent over and picked up the two piles of fabric. Madison saw that the pink one was the larger of the two. Madison wasn’t too fond on the shade of pink, it was a baby pinkish shade and the outfit that Sophie would end up wearing was a navy color. Sophie looked at the two outfits that her older sister was holding. Madison looked at her sister and nodded. Sophie looked pleadingly at Madison and started to take her clothes off. The two garments that Chloe had thrown at Madison looked like a unitard that Madison had used as part of a costume when she was a cat for Halloween some two years before. The difference between that one and these was that these had hoods on them. Madison looked at her sister, who now only had panties on.

“Those need to come off too, Sophie. I know it goes against every thing that mom has taught us, but I don’t want you to get hurt, ok. Remember, I helped mom change your diapers, and I’m a girl too, so I’m not going to see any thing that I shouldn’t.” Madison said quietly. She slipped her skirt off and pulled her shirt over her head, hooking her fingers in the waistband of her footless tights, she pulled them off and tossed them in the growing pile of clothing. Madison was now standing in front of her sister wearing a pair of yellow bikini panties and matching bra. She was hesitant to remove the bra and let her breasts hang free. She was worried about her back starting to hurt. She watched as Sophie hooked her thumbs in the waistband of her white cotton panties and slowly slid them to the floor. Madison unzipped the navy garment and held it so that her sister could step into it. Sophie was blushing as she stuck her left foot in the left leg and pulled the fabric up her leg and then repeated the motion with her right leg. Madison watched has her sister slid her arms down the sleeves and worked her fingers into each finger on the gloves that were sewn onto the ends of the arms. “Are you ready for me to finish helping you get dressed, Princess?” Sophie made a face at being called princess by her older sister and nodded. Madison walked around behind Sophie and gently pulled the hood up over the younger girls brown locks. Madison slowly drew the zipper on the hood down, and then pulled the zipper on the bottom of the one piece suit up and then when she got to the top she noticed that the two zipper pulls were designed to connect with one another. When Madison did that, she heard a click and then tried to pull the zipper pulls apart and they wouldn’t budge.

“Maddie?” Sophie said, her voice barely above a whisper.

“Yeah?” Madison said, her hands on her younger sister’s shoulders.

“I can’t see anything, and I’m scared…” Sophie whispered.

“I’m scared too, but trust me, I’m not going to let anything happen to you. I don’t know where mom is, but you are my life.” Madison reached up to brush a tear away. Madison reached behind her and unhooked her bra, letting her breasts hang free. It was cool in the basement and her body responded to that. She tossed the bra over on the pile of clothes, and then did the same thing with her panties. Madison didn’t care for the baby pink color of the unitard that she was putting on. She leaned against the wall and slid her legs into the legs of the unitard. That was when she noticed that the material was velour, and it was soft side in. “Sophie?” Madison asked, slipping her arms down the sleeves and into the attached gloves.

“What?” Sophie said quietly.

“What’s that suit made of?”

“Velvety stuff.” Came the nine year olds reply. Madison could almost hear a smile in Sophie’s voice. Taking a deep breath, Madison pulled the hood over her head and gently pulled that zipper down, and then started pulling the zipper at the bottom up. The suit seemed to shrink as she zipped it, and when she got to the area of her chest, it was almost as if the suit were two sizes too small it was so tight. Once Madison brought the zippers to their meeting point, she hooked the two zipper pulls together just like she had done to Sophie’s outfit. Madison reached out to find Sophie, her eyes having the same padding that Sophie’s did over top of them. Madison turned Sophie to the wall and then stood there her self, right behind her sister, blocking the path from the door to younger girl.

Stark High School: 11:55 AM

Tom pulled up and parked in front of the cruiser that belonged to Officer Hunter and shut off the engine. This case had gone from just an assault to an assault to a pair of kidnappings and everything they had pointed to a single suspect: Rebecca Anderson. Tom opened the door and got out as Sarah Cunningham did the same. Tom hated it when cases of any kind involved children, and he hated to see the suffering, mainly of the kids. Tom saw Hunter standing in the doorway, and he and Sarah started walking that way. Tony opened the door for them to come in and then went into his office. Tom and Sarah followed him in, and as there was only one other chair, Tom let Sarah sit down.

“Ok, I’ve been doing some digging, and I was talking to Mr. Woon, Madison’s guidance counselor. He said that a few of her teachers had reported that she was distant, not paying attention in classes, not turning in her homework like she normally did. She had all of the symptoms of depression. No one, not even her friends could figure out why. Mr. Woon was going to try to talk to her today, but now we know this… No one but a handful of people here at the school know what is going on. One thing that Mr. Woon noticed was that Madison went from never wearing a skirt or a dress to wearing nothing but. She also would wear long sleeves and tights when it was eighty out. Not normal behavior.

“Mr. Woon started quietly asking around, and no one could say for sure what was going on. He had all of the signs of abuse right in front of him and he had no way to prove that it was occurring. That’s what I think was going on. Madison’s mood changed because she was being abused. I talked to her every day and I didn't catch it and I’m trained for that kind of thing.” Hunter said, banging his fist on the table. “I propose that we get the word out, issue an AMBER.” Tom looked at Hunter.

“Tony, don’t beat your self up over it. Even if you could have done something, there is no way you could have known what was going on. I agree about the AMBER. Get me the most recent photo the school has of Madison.” Winters said, pulling his phone out. He dialed a number.

“Frank, get the most recent photo that the school has of Sophie and get it to me. If we need to we can tap the NCMEC for the most recent photo. We are going to issue AMBER’s on both girls. I want these girls safe.” Winters said, and then hung up the phone. He looked at Hunter. “Let’s go see Pat…”

Communications Center 12:00 PM

Sargent Schafer picked the phone up on the first ring.

“Communications, Schafer.” She said.

“It’s Winters, I want to issue AMBER’s on both Sophie and Madison. I’m getting pictures for that. Expect a flurry of activity. I’m going to take my units to Detective two, we are going to use that as a tac for our operations. We can do everything we need to from the field and we aren’t stopping until we find these girls.” Winter’s said.

“Understood, my people will be here if you guys need something. I am thinking about putting it out over teletype the basics right now.” Schafer said. Julie had been at this as long Tom had and they both thought alike. She opened the door to her office and walked out to the floor. She looked at Jack Frost and frowned.

“Winters just took his units to DTECT2. Lets monitor that for communications as well as main airs. Do you have a spare handheld?” Jack nodded and handed her a handheld that sat in a charger on the desk. She turned it on and changed the channel to Detective two. “Put out and all zone call for all detective units to move to DTECT2.” Jack nodded and pushed a few buttons on the console in front of him.

“All Detective units to Detective two per S twelve. All Detective units to Detective two per S twelve.” Jack said into his mic.

“Have someone in here keep an ear on DTECT2.” Jack nodded as Julie went back into her office.

2938 Chapman Street: 12:05 PM

Chloe came back into the room and unlocked the door to the smaller room that she had constructed in the basement of the rented home. She noticed that collar that Madison had on caused the neck of the garment to stick out around it. Without a word, Chloe unhooked the zipper pulls and pulled the hood off of Madison’s head. Madison kept her face to the wall as Chloe removed the collar, and didn't’ move an inch as Chloe replaced the hood, and reconnected the zipper pulls. Madison stood there, not moving, hands at her side. Chloe took Madison’s wrists and pulled them behind her back.

Chloe tied the Madison and Sophie’s wrists together and walked them out to a van that sat in the attached garage. As far as they both knew they were miles from home when in reality they were around the corner. The van was a white Chevy that looked like any number of vans out there, and while Chloe was going to be driving, the tags came back to a company that she had all of the falsified documents for. Chloe she the alarm on the house, which did two things, one it actually set the alarm, and secondly it started a countdown timer that would cause an electrical short that would destroy the house by fire and it would be ruled an electrical fire by the arson squad that showed up after the firefighters had put the fire out.

Stark High School: 12:10 PM

Winters, Cunningham, Hunter, Mr. Woon and Mrs. Carter all were staring at the monitor. They were playing back the recordings from the previous day when Madison had been signed out by Rebecca Anderson. Winters was beginning to piece the puzzle together, except for a few odds and ends here and there.

“There!” Hunter said pointing at a feed from one of the cameras that faced down the front hallway… Pat pushed a few buttons and the feed went to full screen on the second monitor. Mrs. Carter just happened to pause the video when Madison looked right at the camera. Pat leaned forward and looked at the monitor.

“That’s Rebecca. I don’t think that she ever looked up.” Pat said. Rebecca wore a white tee shirt and jeans and had a sun hat on. There wasn’t a clear view of the woman’s face. She had a hand on Madison’s left arm. Madison’s face was frozen in a frown.

“She’s pretty.” Winters said. He leaned forward and looked at the screen. “What’s around her neck?” Hunter leaned forward and looked at the screen.

“When I asked, she told me that it was a necklace. It looks just like the one that Gracie has, except the one that Madison has doesn’t have the rings…” Tom nodded. This was getting more and more interesting.

State Route 21, City of Stark: 12:15 PM

Madison and Sophie’s heads bounced off of each other as the van made a turn.

“Sorry Maddie.” Sophie said. She would have reached up and rubbed where their heads had made contact but was unable to do so as her wrists were still tied together. Madison was attempting to work her wrists free and as the van turned a corner the other direction, she finally broke free. Sophie was sitting in one of the front corners of the van and Madison scooted close to hold her sister.

“It’s ok. We’re gonna get thorough this.” Madison said as Chloe slammed on the brakes. If the girls weren’t already at the front of the back end of the van they would have tumbled end over end until they got there. Not being able to see was driving Madison nuts.

“Learn to drive you fucking idiot!” She heard Chloe shout from the other side of the panel.

“Learn to drive you fucking bitch!” Madison shouted loud enough for Chloe to hear. Chloe reached back and pounded on the divider.

“You’ll shut up if you know what’s good for you Madison Abigail.” Chloe shouted back.

“You’re nothing but a coward that will kidnap children to get what you want…” Madison shouted. “This kids are going to win this round, and you are going to lose.” Madison reached up to fumble with the zipper on her outfit and finally got the two pulls to separate. She unzipped the hood and pulled it down in front of her so that she could see. She was just in the back of a van. She took a good look around and saw that the divider was a solid metal wall, which meant that Chloe couldn’t see the girls from where she sat in the drivers seat. Madison decided to use this to her advantage and moved to the backside of the van. She could access the light housings and remove the bulbs. This would cause the van to get rear ended, but that was a risk that she would have to take to save the lives of her and her sister. Madison removed the bulbs from the housings and let them dangle. Crawling back up to where Sophie was, she wrapped her arms around her sister and waited.

Communications Center: 12:21 PM

Sergeant Schafer looked out of her office in time to see four red lights light up at the same time. She glanced at the board and saw that there were four calls on a run regarding a fire at twenty nine thirty eight Chapman Street. Julie opened her door and looked out at the floor supervisor.

“Have you gotten in touch with someone from Fire about that run?” She asked. He turned to look at her, nodding.

“Yeah, they’ve dispatched two whole companies, although the reports we are getting seem like it’s a lot of smoke and not much flame. They may be able to return one of their companies to quarters.” The shift supervisor said.

“How about we let them decided that one, Mark?” Julie said.

“Yes, Ma’am.” He replied with a smile.

“Start a pair of street units over there to assist in any way they can,” Juliet said.

“Already done, Sarge.” Mark Jones said, pointing to the pending run screen.

“Bump that run up to priority. I want units there just in case they are needed.” Mark nodded and tapped a few keys on the keyboard. The status of the run on the screen changed to the top of the priority list. That meant that it would be the next run dispatched. The screen showed a handful of non-priority runs and that was it. “Thank you. I’ll be in my office if you need me.” Julie turned and went back into her office.

Detective Bureau: 12:30 PM

Tom Winters opened the email that contained the photos and sat down at his desk and examined them. Madison and her sister were both very pretty young ladies. After calling the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in Washington DC and explaining the situation, he had been emailed high, medium and low resolution images to use as he needed to help him find the girls. He looked at their school files, which he had also obtained copies of and noted that Sophie had an allergy to nuts. After skimming the files, he had an accurate description of both girls. Madison had dishwater blonde hair, stood a few inches shy of five feet tall, and had some captivating grey eyes. Every time that Tom looked at the photo his eyes were drawn to the girls eyes. He moved the photo on the screen so that he could open the one of Sophie. He looked at the little girl, who looked like an exact copy of her sister, only smaller. The phone on his desk rang and the ringer indicated that it was an outside call. Tom picked up the phone.

“Winters.” Tom said, staring at Sophie’s eyes. If pictures were doing this to him, he could only imagine what he would do when he had the girls in front of him.

“Hey it’s me. Are you still going to be home tonight at fiveish?” Came the voice of his wife, Kira. She was probably starting to plan for dinner.

“I’m not sure yet. We have an assault that seems like it also has a pair of kidnappings attached to it. Two very pretty girls. Say, can you pull up the status of a patient over at Mercy East?” Tom said.

“Yep. Got a name?” Kira responded.

“Jane Doe.” Tom said. “I know her name, but I haven’t gotten a chance to get back over there to let them know that.” Tom could hear Kira typing.

“Oh, What’s her name?” Kira asked. “Ok, She’s still stable, been moved to a room. No change in her level of consciousness. There’s a note in here that says that you told them to leave a collar and cuffs on her.” Kira said. “Is she in…” Kira let the thought trail off, knowing that her husband would pick up the rest of the line in his head.

“It seems that way, yes. Her name Is Kristen Corrine. And it’s her daughters that are missing.” Tom said. The phone beeped indicating another call coming in. “Kira, I have another call coming in, it’s from communications. I’ll call you when I leave. I love you.”

“Ok, I love you too.” There was a quiet click as Tom took the call from Communications. “Winters.”

“Hey, It’s Julie, Higgins just found something of interest to you.” She said.

“Oh?” Tom said. He fired the two pictures that were the same background to the Walmart photo center, and told them what he wanted. He included wallets of the two pictures. He was going to put them in his dashboard to keep his mind on the goal at hand.

“Yeah, come up to Communications.” Julie said and hung up. Tom stood, slipped his suit jacket on and left his office.

Communication Center: 12:32 PM

Tom walked in and looked at the boards, the only thing of interest that he saw was a fire on Chapman. He walked up to Julie’s office and watched as she nodded at him to enter. He walked in.

“Ok, I sent Johnson and Higgins to that fire on Chapman. They found a room in the basement that contained two sets of clothing, both young girls. The house is otherwise empty. It was being rented to a Christina Ellis, who doesn’t appear to be real. What do you want to do?” Tom glanced at the screen

“Dispatch Lawson and Andrews. Also put me on the card. I know what the Nairn girls were wearing yesterday.” Julie nodded.

“Ok. Do we have pictures yet?” Julie asked. Tom pulled out his iPhone and forwarded the message from the NCMEC to Julie’s email address.

“Now you have them in your email. Distribute them as needed, and send them to all of the MDC’s if we can. I want their pictures out there so we can find these girls. It’s bad enough that their mother is in the hospital and they don’t even know.” Tom said. Julie nodded and checked her email.

“Ok, Thanks.” Julie said.

“I’m heading to the address on Chapman. Either private call me or call the cell phone if you need something.” Julie nodded.

2938 Chapman Street: 12:48 PM

Winters pulled up to the scene and and got out. It looked like most of the damage was smoke related and that he and his team might be able to get something useful from here.

“Anyone leave before the fire started?” Tom asked Officer Meyers.

“Yeah, some people saw a white chevy van leave about twenty minutes before they saw smoke. That’s not the interesting part.” Meyers handed Tom a pair of nitrate gloves. “Follow me.” Tom followed him through the front door of the house. Tom examined the door frame and decided that the fire department had used a haligan tool to get into the structure. Tom followed Officer Meyers down the steps to the basement where a little room, no bigger than ten feet square sat in the middle of the basement. Someone had rigged a light that hung in the room and there was nothing more than a pile of clothes, a bare mattress, and a bucket that had some urine in it. Outside, Sarah Cunningham had pulled up in the crime scene van. A few seconds later she was down stairs and was looking at the room with Meyer and Winters, holding a camera.

“What’s this?” She asked, peering around behind Meyer.

“I think this is where Madison and Sophie Nairn were held. The pile of clothes looks like what the video showed Madison wearing yesterday. The cameras at Cassingham were just installed, but the final wiring hasn’t been done yet, so while it appears the cameras function, they are actually doing nothing” Winters said. Madison’s clothes were on the top of the pile and the top most items were her bra and panties. Tom frowned.

“What kind of creep would make a fifteen year old take off her bra and panties?” Sarah said.

“More importantly, what creep would make a fifteen year old and a nine year old strip naked?” Meyers said. Tom crouched down and photographed the pile of clothes using the camera that Sarah had brought in with her. Tom turned to look at Sarah.

“The kind that kidnaps two little girls.” He said, dryly. “Run out to the van and get a bunch of evidence bags. I want to bag the clothes individually, drain the urine out of the bucket into a container, and bag the bucket. Lets bag the mattress as well. I’m gonna call for some more bodies” Tom said. Sarah nodded and went back out to the van. Tom pulled his phone out and called the communications center.

“Schafer.” Julie said after picking up the phone.

“It’s Winters, Start Wells, and Harrington over here. The Nairn girls were here, Also advise Grace that I’m going to need some fast work on some things. I’m bringing some stuff back with me as soon as we bag it and tag it.”

“Will do. I got your pictures out to the street units, and one of my dispatchers took a call saying your pictures were ready.” Julie said. “What’d you do, have those pictures printed?”

“As a matter of fact, yes. I did. I ordered enough wallets for one for every detective’s car…I want to keep our eyes on the goal here. That is getting those girls back alive.”

“Understood. I’ll have Wells and Harrington start that way. Tom, find those girls.” Julie said.

State Route 92: 12:53 PM

Madison was growing impatient. Chloe hadn’t hit the brakes since she had removed the light bulbs from their housings. All she knew was that Chloe needed to be stopped and soon. All of the sudden, the lights that were dangling from their wires in the back corners of the van lit up at full brightness. Madison grabbed Sophie to shield her when she heard tires squealing from behind where the van sat. She closed her eyes tight in anticipation of the collision. The car behind them must have come to a stop before it collided with the back of the van. Madison opened her eyes as the van started to roll.

“You shouldn’t stop short you stupid bitch.” Madison shouted.

“You need to shut your trap, Madison.” Chloe shouted back, mashing the gas. Madison and Sophie slid back toward the door at the back of the van. Madison saw the handle on the inside of the door and had a thought. She reached up for the handle and opened the door. It was unlocked and it opened quietly. Madison threw the door open and blinked. The sky had grown cloudy and it looked like it was about to rain. Madison tried to figure out were they were. She could tell they were in the city still, but where she wasn’t sure. The van flew down the road, past a route marker on the other side of the freeway. They were on State Route ninety-two headed south. Madison thought for a few minutes. Her mom had brought her down here to drive, and had Madison get home without the GPS. Madison had gotten home and wasn’t really paying attention to how they had initially gotten to where they switched places. Madison quietly shut the door on the van and went back to where Sophie was sitting, her knees tight against her chest. Madison held her sister as the tail lights shone brightly again.

Communications Center: 1:10 PM

Julie Schafer stood and looked out the door to her office as Mark Jones walked over. She waved him in. He opened the door and poked his head in.

“Just got a call from a business owner, she found the body of a female behind her dumpster. I’ve started two street units, twenty-seven and nineteen that way. Should I get in touch with Winters?” Mark said.

“I’ll call him. Is this a similar MO to thirty four’s run this morning?” Mark nodded. “How similar?”

“She said that the body had a collar on. Said the girl is dead.” Julie looked at Mark.

“Start Fire. See who’s on duty over at the corners office.” Julie sighed and picked up the phone.

Metro PD Headquarters: 1:15 PM

Winters parked his car and got out, popping the trunk. He walked behind the car and grabbed the bags containing the stuff that they had bagged at the address on Chapman. He had just walked into Gracie’s lab when his phone rang. He sat the stuff on Gracie’s table and then pulled the phone out of the holster. He missed the call, but saw that it was Schafer’s phone that had called. He walked over to Gracie’s desk and picked her phone up, and dialed Schafer’s extension.

“Schafer.” She said. “What’s up, Gracie?”

“It’s Winters. I was bringing some stuff in from the run on Chapman for Gracie to examine. What’s up?”

“One of the call takers took a call from a business owner over on fourth. Said she found a body behind a dumpster, same MO as before. Said the girl had on a collar and was naked. I’ve got Wilson and Appleton started, as well as notified the corner’s office. The bastard struck again.”

“Ok, send the info to my MDC, and put me on it, I’ll be out there shortly.” Tom said. Now he had to split his attention three ways. The attacker of Corrine was probably the same person that attacked this new victim, and he still had two scared little girls out there to worry about.

129 N. Fourth Street: 1:34 PM

Tom pulled up and parked his car behind the van that belonged to the corners office. He left his beacons running and got out, walking around a member of the media who was video graphing the scene. Detective Wells had beat Winters there and was already taking pictures with one of the cameras that all of the detectives carried in their cars. Tom walked over to him.

“What do we have Frank?” Tom asked him.

“Roughly nineteen year old female, brown hair, and brown eyes. Ligature marks indicate strangulation; we’ll have to wait on a report from the corners office to know for sure. Appears otherwise healthy at the time of her death. She’s wearing a collar like the other victim, no tags, no identifying marks, no ID.” Tom glanced around and then looked at the scene. It had already been contaminated by the dozens of people milling about. Tom wondered if these people didn’t have any thing better to do or if they were all unemployed. “Her buttocks are rather bruised, it looks like she had been struck several times with some kind of object.”

“You don’t know much about this subset of society that we are dealing with do you?” Tom asked him.

“No sir, I just know that right now, we’ve got a 32 year old girl in the hospital, and a dead 19ish year old girl. Neither have had a chance to live yet. Not to mention we have two missing children to find.” Wells said. Well, Tom couldn’t fault him for having the facts straight.

“We are dealing with a very specific subset of the BDSM culture. This is referred to as a Master/slave or submissive lifestyle. These two girls, Corrine, and this young lady are either someone’s submissives’ or slaves. If I had to take a gander, I’d say they are both slaves. The person that has abducted Corrine’s children is more than likely her dominant. I’m wondering how much Madison and Sophie know about how their mother lived…”

“When you say slave, do you mean like early to mid eighteen hundreds in this country slaves?” Wells asked, looking at the figure covered under a white sheet.

“Kinda. This is consensual; the slaves can walk away at any time and there is nothing the dominant can do about it.” Tom said. “I’ll be right back. I want to print her, do you have any index cards or file folders?” Wells shook his head. “I’ll have to improvise then.” That was one motto of all of the police officers on the department: Improvise, adapt and overcome. Basically if you needed to do something, you figured out a way to do it and then overcame the obstacle. Tom walked back over to his patrol car and popped the trunk. He wasn’t sure that he had anything he could use, but he was sure going to try. He found a rubber stamp that contained an inkpad that had his signature on it, and then found an old folder that he could use for what he was doing now. He walked over and crouched down next to the body and printed her right hand, marking what each finger was so that Grace could feed the data to AFIS database.

Detective Bureau: 4:00 PM

All of Tom’s detectives were seated around the large conference table in the conference room of the detective bureau. In front of each detective there was a manilla folder. Tom had put together some info from the two cases and also very controlled details on the lifestyle that they were going up against in these cases, as well as the photos of Madison and Sophie.

“Guys, the girls are our primary target right now. I want them found. We’ve issued an AMBER alert on them as well as an APB to look for Rebecca Chloe Anderson, who they were last seen with. Madison is the older of the two girls and Sophie is the younger. I want each of you to tape those pictures on your dashboards until we find them. Their mother is laying at Mercy East in what appears to be a coma, and we think that this might be related to that.

“We are processing a scene on Chapman that is related to this case. The clothing that the two girls were wearing is still there. Someone had rigged something so that the house would catch fire, but it failed… knowing what I know right this second, it’s my belief that the girls are still in the city. Rebecca Chloe knows that we are looking for the girls now.”

“Tom, have we talked to classmates to see if any of them noticed anything?” Detective Wells asked.

“Not yet, we need to make a lot of phone calls first. We can’t just question children without parents present.” Tom replied. Frank nodded.

“Have we pulled any runs to the address on Oak Hill?” Detective Wilson asked.

“Nothing there except two previous runs for DV, both anonymous, and neither amounted to anything. Other than those two runs which are both a year old, we’ve not been to that address.” Tom said. Tom watched as Wells pursed his lips.

Warehouse on the West Side of Town: 4:32 PM

Chloe carefully pulled the van into the bay of the rented warehouse as Madison pulled the hoods back up her Sophie and her own heads and reattached the zipper pulls. Chloe opened the back door and looked at the two figures that were huddled in the corner.

“I see you got the ropes off…” Chloe said. “Come here if you know what’s good for you.” Neither girl moved. What Chloe didn’t know was that Madison had pulled the pads out from over her eyes and that she could see what was going on, albeit unclear as the fabric that was a bit thick. Madison could tell that they were in a large open room that was empty with the exception of two wooden crates that sat open. Madison had a bad feeling about this. What Chloe also didn’t know was that Madison had a tire iron in her right hand. Chloe never saw the tire iron come flying from her left side and hit her over the head. Chloe fell to the ground and Madison hit her again.

“Sophie, get up front.” Madison said, pulling the hood off her head. Sophie did the same, hopped out of the back of van and got in the passenger seat. Madison slammed the back doors, kicked Chloe for good measure, and ran up and got in the drivers seat of the van. Madison adjusted the seat, started the engine, buckled her seat belt and put the van in gear. She mashed the gas and turned the van around, aiming for the door that the van had pulled into. The door was down, and Madison hit the gas harder, and collided with the door. The thin metal door gave way without much in the way of complaint. Madison looked around as the van exited the warehouse while adjusting the mirrors. She silently thanked someone for power mirrors as she headed back toward the freeway. Traffic was heavy as everyone was getting off of work. Madison didn’t know if she was being followed so she sped up. Madison knew that she was headed for East Main street, and had a rough idea of where it was from where she was right this second.

Communications Center: 4:39 PM

“Unit sixteen, I have a report of a white Chevy van being driven at a high rate of speed by a possible under aged person, Northbound on the ninety two at the Simpson-“ the dispatcher paused, “Correction coming up on the MLK overpass. Suggest you move toward the Glenn highway to intercept.”

“Sixteen copy.”

“Time is sixteen thirty nine.”

“S four.”

“Go S four”

“I’m on ninety two at the forty four. They are still south of me, I’m going to hold tight and wait on them. Do we have tag information?”

“Negative, Sir. Would you like sixteen to stay on the card?”

“Affirm; he can help me try to catch them.”

State Route 92: 4:40 PM

Madison saw the cruiser and then glanced down at the speedometer. She was doing ninety. She didn’t even bother hitting the brakes. She saw smoke as the officer punched the gas and spun his tires. A few seconds later he was right behind her and she knew that her and Sophie were finally safe. Madison slowly pulled over to the left side of the road as there was nowhere else for her to go easily.

“Sophie, sit tight and don’t move. We escaped from Chloe, now lets not get shot.” Madison said. Sophie was white faced from the fear that was part of the speed run that Madison had just done. Madison shut the engine off and tossed the keys out the window. The officer approached the driver’s side of the car very carefully. Madison looked at him when he got to the window. The sergeant blinked.

“Can I see your drivers license and proof of insurance, please, Ma’am.” Madison smiled at him.

“Umm. No. Sir. This isn’t my car and right now I’m not sure where my learners permit is.” The sergeant blinked again.

“You don’t know where your learners permit is, and the vehicle isn’t yours?” He asked disbelievingly. Madison gave one of those shy little smiles, one that indicated that she knew that she was in trouble. She knew that she wasn’t supposed to be driving without an adult in the car, and she knew that her sister didn’t count.

“No sir, my sister and I were kidnapped. I hit our abductor over the head with a tire iron that I found in the back of the van. She was unconscious in a warehouse that she had taken us to. I told Sophie to get up front, I hopped in the drivers seat and now here we are.” Madison said.

“What’s your name, sweetie?” The Sergeant asked.

“Madison Nairn.” The only response that the Sergeant gave was to grab the microphone that was attached to his left shoulder.

Home: 5:23 PM

Sergeant Winters had just backed his car into the garage and shut off the engine when his radio crackled.

“S four to S twelve.” Tom heard as he shut the door to his car. He pulled his radio off of his belt and walked toward the door that led into the house. Kira’s car was in the garage and Tom could smell something cooking. He opened the door and walked into the kitchen.

“S twelve.” He said into the radio. Kira was kneeling on the floor looking down. Tom walked over and gave her long brown hair a gentle tug. She stood and looked at her husband.

“Sir, may I private call?” S four asked.

“Affirm, seven three two six one.” Tom said. Kira looked at him questioningly.

“What’s going on?” She asked, stirring a pot of something that was on the stove.

“I have no idea.” Tom said as the radio beeped and the scanner that was in the kitchen locked on the radio ID; Tom reached over and turned it down. He pushed the two buttons to answer the call.

“Sir, You’re not going to believe who is in front of me.” Sergeant Jackson Cockerel said.

“Rebecca Anderson?” Tom said into the radio, he could only hope that the bitch had been found so he could find the girls.

“Negative. I have the Nairn children in custody. We can cancel the AMBERs. I’d recommend that you come on down here, we are northbound on the ninety-two at the forty.”

“Jack can you say that one more time? I want to make sure I heard you correctly,” Tom said.

“I have the Nairn children in custody, we can cancel the AMBERs.” The radio repeated. Kira saw her husband smile.

“Copy. I’m enroute.” Tom said into the radio. He looked at Kira. “Set two more places. I’m going to go get the two girls and take care of doing the interviews here. I may have to stop and get some clothes…” Kira noted that her husband’s voice was the most relaxed that it had been all day.

“Ok. Is there anything else that you are going to need?” Kira asked.

“Put a second chair in the den. I’m going to work in there; everything else is in the car. I’ll be back in half an hour to forty-five minutes, more than likely. An hour tops.” Tom said. Kira kissed him.

“Be careful, sir.” Kira said.

“I will be.” Kira watched him go back out to the garage, heard his car start and then watched from the window as he took off down the road.

State Route 92: 5:50 PM

Tom pulled his car into the median beside Sergeant Cockerel’s car and got out, leaving the lights running. He walked over to where a tow truck driver had hooked the van and was in the process of loading it on to a rollback. Sergeant Jackson got out of his car and walked over to Tom.

“Hey Sarge.” Jackson said. “Madison gave us a rough description of where she came from. I’ve sent units down there, but we couldn’t find this Rebecca Anderson person. My street units are holding the scene, pending the arrival of your D units.” Tom nodded, and pulled his phone off of his hip and dialed the radio room. He looked into the back seat of Jackson’s car. Madison looked scared to death.

“Metro PD, Tech 37” Came the voice of a dispatcher.

“Hey, It’s Winters. Connect me to the radio room sergeant.”

“Stand by, Sir.” There was a click and then hold music.

“Sergeant White” a voice said

“Sarge, it’s Winters. Contact Wells, and see if Cunningham is available as well. Have one pick up the van, and respond to the address that Cockerel sent units to. Also, cancel the ABMER alerts on the Nairn Children, maintain the APB for Rebecca Chloe Anderson.” Winters said.

“Alright. Anything else, give me a call. I’m at five three four two” White said.

“Will do. Thanks Sarge.” Sargent Winters said as he walked over to the car that the children sat in and opened the back door. Madison turned to look at him.

“Good Evening. I’m Sargent Winters. Can I have you two ladies come over here to my car?” Madison nodded, let go of Sophie, slid out of the car. Sophie slid out and took Madison’s hand, and didn’t let go as Tom led the way to his car. He opened the back door and watched as the girls slid into the back seat… They put on their seat belts as Winters closed the door.

“Jack, I’m taking the girls. Get any evidence you have to Gracie and make sure that I get copies of the reports.” Jack gave a thumbs up to indicate that he had heard Tom and then went back to inventorying the van.

Home: 6:45 PM

Tom backed in the garage and parked the car. Madison and Sophie had fallen asleep on the way to the house. Tom opened the door and gently shook Madison’s sleeping form. Sophie had laid down in the back seat and had her head in Madison’s lap.

“Huh.” Madison said, looking around.

“Slide out and I’ll get your sister.” Tom said. Madison nodded. Tom had apparently earned Madison’s trust. Tom gently picked Sophie up and carried her in the house.

“Hi.” Kira said, with a warm inviting smile. Madison looked at her and smiled, but said nothing. “I have some stew on the stove, if you are hungry.” Madison looked at Tom.

“Mr. Winters, is it ok if I eat without Sophie?” She asked.

“Yes it is. I’m going to go lay your sister down on the bed in the spare bedroom, I’ll be right back.” Tom carried Sophie up to the bed and tucked her in. Tom figured that neither girl had slept well in the last twenty-four hours. After Tom had gotten Sophie tucked in he went back down stairs to find Kira having served dinner to three of the four places at the table. Both Kira and Madison were kneeling on the floor. Tom furrowed his brow. “Get up there and start eating.” Tom said, watching both Kira and Madison sit at the table and then not start eating. Tom sat and started eating. Madison and Kira both looked at each other and then started eating.

Communications Center: 8:00 PM

One of the dispatchers was reading over the current APB’s that had been issued and sat the one regarding Rebecca Chloe Anderson aside to cancel it, not knowing that it was still in effect. The dispatch center had erroneously received instructions to cancel the APB for Rebecca Anderson as well as the two AMBER Alerts for the Nairn children.

Home: 9:30 PM

It had taken Kira an hour to give Madison an examination and note everything that she found. Kira had found extensive bruising on the arms, legs, and buttocks of the girl; as well as a few places where there had been welts that had been so bad that they had been open wounds at one point. Madison had on a pink flannel nightgown that Kira had not worn in a while and she walked up to where Tom was sitting in a recliner.

“Sir, I have a question.” Madison said, after kneeling next to Tom’s feet.

“What’s that, Madison?” Tom asked.

“May I sit in your lap and have you read me a story?” Tom was slightly taken aback by the request. He looked at Madison and then dropped the footrest of the recliner. He patted his lap and Madison climbed up, and laid her head on his left shoulder. He sat there, gently rocking the fifteen-year-old girl, and stroking her hair. Madison must have been exhausted as she was asleep in no time. Tom carefully stood, and carried the girl to the room that her sister was sleeping in. He laid her in the bed next to her sister and covered them both up with blankets, gave them both a kiss on the forehead and then left the room, quietly closing the door behind him. Tom walked back down to the den and started to write up what had occurred in the interview so far and the results of Kira’s examination. Tom had finished typing and then walked out of the den, and back into the kitchen. Kira was sitting at the table, cup of coffee in her hand and kind of staring off into space. Tom walked over to the coffee robot and pushed the button to make a cup of coffee. When it was done, he took the cup and sat at the table, across from Kira.

“Master, Madison was looking for love where she could find it. That little girl hasn’t had the kind of love that a child needs, she’s been giving out that to her sister. If that’s how she is, I’m not sure I want to see how her sister is. She was in your lap for about five minutes before falling asleep.” Kira said. “She seemed glad to get out of the clothes that you bought her, and I’m sure there was a reason. Those jeans were tight, and that was probably pressing on the bruises on her legs and hurting slightly.” Tom looked at his wife.

“She told me that the jeans themselves were uncomfortable. Chloe had taken both her mom and her pants and tossed them in the fireplace as they watched. I’m petty sure that Madison’s head is a little messed up from that. She’s only been allowed to wear skirts and dresses since school started. Do you still have those dresses that we bought that were too small for you?” Kira looked at her husband, knowing where this was going.

“Yeah. You want me to give them to Madison?” She asked. She had meant to give them to goodwill, but had never actually done it. Tom nodded. “They were short on me, I think I have some tights around here that will go with them. I would rather her be comfortable than uncomfortable. Watching you with her makes me wish that I was able to give you a child, Sir.” Kira gave Tom a sad smile. It was something that they had tried to do around a year after they had gotten married and they had been discovered that Kira was infertile. They had discussed adoption, but had never actually looked into it. Tom had become a mentor to some youth that were on the verge of ending up in Juvie and they had turned their lives around. That was the closest that Tom had come to kids of his own. Tom reached out and took one of Kira’s hands.

“It’s ok, sweetheart. We’ve made due this far. I think we should go to bed, I still have a lot of processing to do with the two children tomorrow and you have to get up early to go to work.” Tom said. Kira nodded and looked at her husband, then took his coffee mug and her own and put them in the dishwasher, and then got up and left the kitchen to go get ready for bed. Tom followed after her, turning off lights.

Thursday October 8th

Home: 3:45 AM

“No! Get away from her you bitch!” Tom’s eyes popped open and he grabbed the Glock model 26 from the night stand, the Trijicon night sights glowing and then headed for the room that Madison and Sophie were sleeping in. He recognized the voice as Madison’s. He opened the door and used the flashlight mounted on the rails of the Glock to light up the room and see around. Tom watched as Madison rolled right out of the bed and landed on the floor with a thump. Her eyes opened after she hit the floor, she blinked in the light from the flashlight. She crawled over to Tom and hugged his leg. Tom picked her up and just held her. She wrapped her arms around his neck and didn’t let go as he made his way toward the master bedroom to put the gun back on the nightstand. When Tom had gotten out of the bed, he had woken her up. Kira looked at her husband and smiled. He sat the gun on nightstand and carried Madison down to the living room and sat down in the recliner and started rocking her. Madison calmed down rather quickly which as far as Tom was concerned that was good. By quarter after four, both Tom and Madison had fallen asleep in the recliner and Tom was just glad that Madison was sleeping again.

Home: 6:15 AM

Kira woke up to the alarm clock going off and noticed that Tom wasn’t in the bed. She knew that he hadn’t left the house after Madison’s nightmare, and if he would have he would have told her that he was leaving. She listened quietly for a few seconds and didn’t hear anything. Kira quietly got out of bed and dressed, and then went downstairs to look for her husband. She found him, and Madison in the recliner, both asleep. Kira quietly made her way to the coffee robot, as her husband called it. It ground the beans and then would brew a cup of coffee, and then eject the grounds. The sound of the coffeemaker grinding the beans woke her husband up. Madison remained still and had her head on Tom’s left shoulder. Kira walked over into Tom’s limited field of vision and smiled at him.

“Good Morning, Sir.” She said quietly.

“Morning.” Tom said, before stroking Madison’s hair. “What time is it?”

“Quarter after six, Sir.” Kira said, quietly. “Is there anything I can get for you?”

“Yeah, turn the TV on and find out what the weather is supposed to be like today, and then I’ll decide how we should dress this munchkin.”

“I heard that…” Madison mumbled. Tom smiled and gave the half sleeping girl a kiss on the forehead, which resulted in a contented sigh. Kira stood across the room and watched her husband and this child that wasn’t theirs, wondering how long the girls would be living under the same roof.

Mercy East Hospital: 7:04 AM

The alarms had just started going off when a team of doctors and nurses went flying into the room that Kristen Corrine Nairn laid in. The elapsed time between the alarms starting and the team of medical professionals showing up in the room was mere seconds, but those same mere seconds were all it had taken for Kristen to succumb to a sudden cardiac arrest. One of the three doctors in the room looked at the clock.

“Time of Death is seven oh six.” He said. The on duty charge nurse hung her head as she slowly walked out to the nurses station. She hated to be the bearer of bad news, but she had no choice.

Home: 7:10 AM

Tom had finally convinced Madison to sleep on the couch with the promise that she wouldn’t be out of his sight. He had only left her long enough to go get a shower and get dressed. Even though he wasn’t going to be going into the office, he still dressed as if he would be going to the office. Kira had laid a heather grey turtleneck sweater dress and a pair of black tights out of Madison to wear. Kira had just come back into the kitchen as Tom was hanging up the phone. She looked at him questioningly. It wasn’t normal for him to get phone calls at quarter after seven in morning. Tom glanced at the sleeping child on the couch and pursed his lips. He opened the notes application on his phone and typed out ‘Kristen Corrine Nairn arrested this morning at 0706. Autopsy results later.’ He spun the phone so that Kira could see it.

‘Their mom?’ Kira typed back.

“Yes, I don’t know how they are going to take it. I think Madison might already know something is up.” Tom typed. He handed the phone to Kira. She read the message and nodded.

‘She asked me if I knew where her mom was when I was doing my exam last night. She’s smart and tough. I think she can handle it. She’s attracted to you and you seem to be able to comfort her. I worry about Sophie.” Kira typed back. As if Sophie knew that she was being talked about, she appeared in the doorway with tears streaming down her face. That wasn’t the first thing that Tom noticed, the first thing that he noticed was that Sophie had wet the bed. Tom smiled at her.

“Mr. Winters, I wet the bed. I’m sorry. Please don’t hit me for it.” Tom very slowly and open handedly walked over toward Sophie.

“Sophie. I’m not going to hit you. I am going to do everything in my power to protect you. Can Mrs. Winters take you upstairs and give you a bath?” Sophie sniffled and nodded. Kira walked over to the phone that as mounted on the wall and dialed a number.

“Katherine, it’s Kira. Something’s come up and I’m going to take a personal day. I’ll explain it all to you as soon as I’m allowed.” Kira listened for a second and then looked at Tom. “Ok, thank you.” Tom watched as she hung the phone up. Kira crouched down in front of Sophie.

“Lets go get you cleaned up and see what Mr. Winters got you to wear at the store yesterday.” Sophie sniffled and nodded. Kira took the little girls hand and then led her toward a bathroom.

Detective Bureau: 8:04 AM

Sarah Cunningham was the first detective in the bureau that morning and she had to turn the lights on. Normally Sergeant Winters was the first one in and usually had the lights on and the coffee maker in the corner going by now. She frowned and then walked into the conference room and pushed the button on the PolyComm to get an outside line. When she got a dial tone, she dialed Tom’s number from memory.

“Winters.” Tom’s voice resonated through the room.

“Hey it’s Sarah. Where are you?” She asked, hearing the door to the bureau open. She turned and saw Wells walking into the room.

“I’m at home, making waffles for the kids. I probably won’t be in this morning, but I do need someone to make a run to Mercy East, Victim number one eighteend this morning. I need a report, also get with Gillenwater’s office to get details on both victims. I’m conducting the interview with Madison from home. Sarah she’s scared. She’s been abused by the exam that Kira gave her last night. Hunter was kicking himself for not knowing, but it’s been going on a while, perhaps before school started.” Tom said. Gillenwater was Clearance Gillenwater, the county corner, and he would be the one preforming the autopsy on the victim that had yet to be ID’d as well as Kristen Corrine Nairn. “I need you to write me up a letter to give to the court for temporary custody. Nearest I can figure, there is no NOK.” Even though Madison was in the shower, Tom didn’t want to say next of kin out loud and so he used the abbreviation that the bureau used to indicate that they had contacted a next of kin on reports that they passed between each other.

“Will Do, Sarge. What else do you need?” Sarah asked. By this time Wells had come into the room and was on the call as well. “Also, Frank is here with me.” Sarah wrote ’V1 10-18 this AM’ on a notepad and showed it to Frank. Frank pursed his lips.

“Once you get everyone assembled for roll call, patch me through on the polycomm, I’m going to try to get in a position where I can lay everything out. Chloe Anderson is still our primary suspect. She must have come to and escaped before units arrived at the warehouse.” Tom said. “Make sure that Schafer knows that I’m working from home. If you guys call and I don’t answer, leave me a voice mail. Tell Gracie that I may have some samples coming her way as well.”

“Will do. Should Gracie be ready for anything in particular?” Sarah asked.

“Negative. I’ll wait for the roll call, breakfast is about done.” Tom said.

Home: 8:15 AM

“Negative, I’ll wait for the roll call, breakfast is about done.” Madison heard Tom say as she came back into the kitchen. The sweater dress that Kira had given her to wear fit like it was made for her. Kira had set out a pair of black ballet flats for Madison to try on and they fit so Madison was dressed. She was wondering what Sophie would be wearing that day. Tom looked over at Madison and smiled before saying “Ok, I’ll talk to you then.” And hanging up the phone. Tom smiled at Madison.

“Are you hungry?” He asked. Madison smiled at him.

“Yes sir. I’m very hungry. What we had for dinner last night seems like it didn’t do much to keep me from being hungry.” She giggled. Tom considered her giggling to be a good thing given what she had gone through in the last forty eight hours. Tom flipped a waffle onto a plate and sat it on the table, and a few seconds later, Sophie and Kira came into the kitchen. Sophie walked over and hugged her sister, and then whispered something into Madison’s ear. Madison hugged her sister tight and looked at Tom. “Sir, Sophie said that she’s sorry for wetting the bed.” Tom crouched to look into Sophie’s blue grey eyes.

“Sophie, accidents happen. With as quickly as you fell asleep last night, I’m not surprised you wet the bed. Can you do me a favor tonight though?” Tom asked. Sophie nodded.

“What would you like me to do, Mr. Winters?” Sophie asked.

“Go to the bathroom right before you go to bed tonight.” Sophie smiled. She was afraid that she would have to wear a diaper to bed. Sometimes when she wet the bed, Chloe would make her wear diapers the next day and not let her go to the bathroom.

“I can do that.” Sophie said, sliding into a chair next to Madison.

“What would you girls like to drink?” Tom said, spinning around and opening the refrigerator. “We have milk, chocolate milk, orange juice, apple juice and grape juice.” There was a few seconds of silence so Tom looked at Madison and Sophie.

“We usually would just drink what we were given, Sir. What would you like us to have?” Madison asked. Tom furrowed a brow. Chloe had maintained that much control over these children?

Communications Center: 8:30 AM

Sergeant Schafer was looking over the reports from the previous night when something caught her eye. She saw that the AMBER alerts for the Nairn children had been canceled based on the children being taken into custody. What she didn’t see was a report of Rebecca Anderson being taken into custody, however there was a cancel on the APB for her. She picked up the phone and called the detective bureau to talk to Sergeant Winters. Sarah Cunningham picked up the phone.

“Detecteve Bureau, This is Cunningham.” She heard over the phone. One of her dispatchers flipped on a red light.

“Sarah, it’s Julie up in Communications, is Tom in?” She asked. The floor supervisor stood, and walked toward Julie’s office. Julie waved him in.

“He called about an hour ago, he’s at home with the two Nairn children; Their mother suffered an arrest this morning and passed away. He’s seeking temporary custody. Right now I agree with his thought process that in the home of a police officer is the best place for those girls. Also, it seems like Madison has attached to him as a father figure. I’ve been doing some digging and it looks like their father a Tyler Zokoff was killed in a automobile accident six years ago. Looks like Kristen went back to using her maiden name and changed the last name of the girls as well.” Schafer glanced at Mr. Topak, who was the floor supervisor.

“An apartment manager down on Thomas Lane just found a body inside of an apartment. They were scheduled to go in and do maintenance, when they entered, they found the body of a twenty year old female, said that they knew that she was involved in an alternate lifestyle. Told Debbie that the girl had on a collar, and her limbs were locked together with chain that would more or less only let her crawl. The chain was locked to the bed, so there was no way that she could have gotten away from her attacker.” Mr. Topak said. Schafer rubbed her eyes and looked at the board.

“Ok, Start Williams, and Green. I’ll have Cunningham start her people.” Julie said. Mr. Topak looked at her.

“Where’s Winters?” He asked. Julie looked at him.

“Took the day off, in a way. He has the Nairn children at his house right now. Let’s increase patrols around his house.” Mr. Topak nodded and left the office.

“Julie, I heard Mr. Topak. I’m starting myself, Wells, and Harrington to your run down on Thomas Lane.” Sarah said. There was a click as the line disconnected. Julie put the phone back in it’s holder and walked to the door of her office.

“Mr. Topak, D two, D four, and D six are all enroute to the Thomas Lane run, add them and send details to their MDC’s please.” Julie said. This was already shaping up to be a long day.

Home: 8:47 AM

Tom was double checking the equipment, making sure that each of the recorders had enough tape in them to finish out the session when his phone rang. He pulled it out and saw that it was Sarah calling, but from her cell phone rather than one of the phones in the bureau. This was not a good sign.

“Winters.” Tom said, smiling at Madison as she walked into the den. Someone had brushed her hair and put it up in pigtails with a pair of pink ribbons that worked with the dress and the color of her eyes. She sat in the same chair that she was sitting in the night before.

“Hey, It’s Sarah. We have a third victim. An apartment manager and maintenance man were going into an apartment on Thomas Lane to do some repairs, found a twentyish year old female chained to the bed. She’s going straight to Gillenwater’s office.” That told Tom the victims status. “Someone is attacking people in this lifestyle, Tom. And it’s up to us to stop it.” And their kids Tom thought looking at Madison. “Also, Houk signed the custody order. Congratulations, Tom. You now have two kids. You may need to do some more formal paperwork to actually adopt them if this goes that far, but you have custody for now.” Sarah said. Madison was sitting patiently, waiting for Tom to get off the phone.

“Ok. I’ll pass that info on to Kira. Call me if you guys need me. I’m leaving the bureau in your hands, Sarah.” Tom said. This wasn’t the first time he had done this and he usually rotated units when he did.

“Yes, Sarge. I’ll leave the walls up, might redecorate though. I’m pulling up to the scene on Thomas. I’ll get you details later.”

“Thanks.” Tom said, hanging up the phone. He looked at Madison and smiled.

“Come here, we need to go tell Mrs. Winters something.” Tom said, offering his hand to Madison to help her up.

Thomas Lane: 8:49 AM

Sarah pulled up behind Wells’ car and parked, Harrington pulled up behind her and parked the van. Sarah watched as Harrington got out of the van and walked up to officer Miller.

"It's the same MO as the one I found yesterday." Miller said. "Speaking of Corrine, how is she doing?" Cunningham and Harrington looked at each other. Sarah was the first to speak.

"Victim number one arrested this morning. And at the moment, Winters has custody of her two daughters. He thinks that the safest place for them to be is with an officer." Sarah said. Miller pursed his lips. “I happen to agree with him. From the way he made it sound, Madison has, in a way, adopted him.” The three detectives walked around to the back of the van and opened the doors. Sarah grabbed two cameras and handed one to Wells. He turned it on and followed Sarah and Miller toward the house. Harrington grabbed a hard kit and walked after them. The inside of the apartment was a mess. In the bedroom they found the victim, face down on the floor and chained to the bed by the ankle. Sarah and Harrington looked at each other.

“We need to find this guy…”

Circle Drive North: 9:10 AM

Chloe Anderson slowed to a stop. She put the car in park and got out. Carefully looking around, she turned and walked back up Circle drive. She needed somewhere to drop the car that she had stolen from Nicole Leftfield. She didn’t even look back as she made a left turn on Center street and headed back toward the downtown on foot, she had a few friends to check on, and hopefully one that could smuggle her out of the city. What Chloe didn’t know was that her picture had been plastered all over the television and that an elderly gentleman had seen her get out of the Buick that owned to Nicole Leftfield.

Communications Center: 9:15 AM

Two dispatchers had set condition yellow as Schafer’s phone rang.

“Communications, Schafer.” She said after she picked it up.

“Hey, It’s Winters. Just for your info, I’m about to start interviewing Madison Nairn again. The alarm on the house is set, I saw that someone had authorized an increase in patrols around here.” Tom said.

“Yeah, it was Sarah’s idea. She also said that you had secured temporary custody of the two children pending the investigation.” Julie said.

“Yeah. I can’t think of any safer place for them to be. Do you just have units on increased patrols, or are there stationary units around here as well.” Tom asked.

“It’s a little bit of both. I’m rotating them out, but at least two unmarked units are near by.” Julie said. “I know that you don’t want any thing to happen to those kids. I have five by seven’s on my desk of them now. Don’t worry Tom, the rest of the family has your back.”

“Thank’s Julie. You don’t know how much that means to me. I’ll notify you about any movement that we make, and which car we are in.” Tom said.

“Ok, Thanks.” Julie said before hanging up the phone. Mr. Topak came up to the door and knocked. Julie waved him in.

“Ma’am just so you know, I have two callers reporting a woman matching Rebecca Anderson’s description abandoning a vehicle on Circle Drive north, and walking to Center street and disappearing. I’ve started two units. No one has given me a tag on the car yet.” Julie nodded. She picked up the phone and called Cunningham.

Home: 9:20 AM.

Madison had gone to the bathroom, and Sophie was playing with Kira down stairs when Madison looked at Tom.

“Sir, May I ask a question before we begin?” Madison asked. She was sitting upright, her back not even touching the back of the overstuffed chair.

“What’s that, sweetie?” Tom replied, looking at her. Madison bit her lower lip, tears starting to form in her grey eyes.

“My mom passed away didn’t she?” Madison asked. Tom patted his lap and the child came over and climbed up.

“Yes. She passed away this morning, she suffered a cardiac arrest and was gone seconds after it had started. She didn't feel any thing.” Madison tucked her head into the crook of Tom’s neck and started bawling her eyes out. Suddenly she sat up and looked at Tom.

“It was that bitch Chloe, wasn’t it?” Tom looked at her.

“I don’t know yet, but I intend to find out. Don’t you worry about that, and don’t worry about your safety. For right now, I have custody of you guys, and I’ll be damned if someone is going to hurt you.” Madison was seeing a protective side of someone that she had only known for sixteen hours and she knew that he meant what he said. “Madison, from what I’ve gathered, you were forced to grow up too fast, and forced into something that you shouldn’t have been forced into. You don’t have to kneel when Mrs. Winters kneels. How often did Chloe strike your mother?” Tom asked, still holding the girl.

“A lot. A lot of the time after she would hit mom, she would hit me, just to drive it in to mom that she had better do what she said. Mom had thought of giving us up for adoption when Sophie was a baby, she wanted us away from Chloe. At the same time, Chloe would do every thing she could to not let both of us be out of the house at the same time with mom. She was afraid of what would happen if I got away. I could bring everything crashing down on her.”

“What was she afraid of, do you know? Did you ever think to tell Officer Hunter what was going on?” Tom asked.

“She was afraid of going to jail for child abuse mainly. She knew that the marks that I tended to have would be enough to send her away. Mom tried to fight her once, I paid the price for it after she had tied mom up and made her watch. She used a paddle that was full of holes on my behind for something close to an hour. The next day my bottom was so sore that it hurt to sit on the chairs we have at school, and it took a while to heal.” Tom pursed his lips, and just held the girl close. “She never hit Sophie, it was almost as if Sophie was better than mom and I. Or maybe it was because she knew that she didn’t have the control over Sophie that she did me. In regards to telling Officer Hunter. Yes, I thought about it, but I also thought about what would happen to Mom if I told and we got taken away. I couldn’t bear the thought of that bitch doing any thing to mom because we had gotten taken away.”

Downtown: 9:32 AM

Chloe got off the bus and read the sign in front of her. She saw that there was a gun show today through Sunday. Madison had escaped and she would ensure that she couldn’t do that again. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a bicycle policeman rolling toward her, so she examined the bus route map that was next to the gun show flyer.

“S twelve, Did you want me to collect Miss. Nairn’s homework?” she heard as the officer rolled slowly by.

“Affirm, bring it by after you leave Stark. I’m at six two nine four Hunington.” A different voice said. Chloe pulled a pen out of her purse and jotted that address down, She had found Madison and it was because the police department didn’t shield their conversations very well.

Thomas Lane: 9:45 AM

Sarah looked at the print that she had lifted from the handle on the bathroom. Whoever was here had gone into the bathroom to look for something. Sarah fed the print into the instant ID system. It came back with an almost instant result. Sarah pulled her phone out and called Winters.

Home: 10:00 AM

“Ok, Thanks Sarah.” Tom said, running his hand through his hair. He hung up the phone. Tom looked at Kira.

“That was Sarah. They confirmed that Chloe was at the apartment on Thomas lane. Found her prints going into the bathroom.” Madison looked up from the glass of water that she had just requested. Tom was trying to figure out how to deprogram this girl from some of this stuff.

“Thomas Lane?” Madison asked. “That’s where Nicole lives.” Tom tilted his head to one side.

“Nicole?” Tom said.

“Yeah. She was another of Chloe’s girls. Another that she beat the snot out of.” Tom pursed his lips.

“She’s not gonna get us again is she?” Sophie asked. Tom crouched down to look at her.

“No. She’s not, Sophie. And even if she tried, she’s not going to succeed this time.” Tom said. “I promise you that.” Sophie gave a small smile. Tom and Kira looked at each other. “Tell me more about Nicole, Madison.”

“I’m not sure how Chloe knows her, I just know that in the time we’ve lived with Chloe, that she would have to go make sure that Nicole was staying on task. What ever that meant.” Madison said.

“I have an idea of what it meant.” Tom said, frowning. Kira looked at him.

Metro PD Headquarters: 10:15 AM

Sarah walked into Gracie’s lab carrying the bags of evidence that that had collected at the apartment of Nicole Leftfield. Gracie stood and walked over to the long empty table and looked at the four boxes that Sarah had carried in.

“Thomas Lane?” Grace said, looking at the stuff.

“Yeah. We lifted a print that Instant ID tagged as belonging to Rebecca Anderson.The resident was a Nicole Leftfield.” Grace nodded, and started to sort the contents of the boxes out.

“What’s the status of the victim?” Gracie said.

“She’s 18.” Sarah said. In two days, there had been three young ladies struck down at a young age.

“Ok. Sarah. Let me get this started and I’ll give you an answer as soon as I can.” Sarah nodded and went back upstairs.

Home: 10:24 AM

Tom and Madison were back in the den, and were having a causal conversation. The two recorders were off and Madison was sitting in Tom’s lap, her head tucked into the nook of his neck.

“It never was supposed to happen this way.” Madison said. “We were supposed to stay with Chloe only until Mom found us a new place to live. After my father passed away, I ended up taking care of Sophie as Mom was at work and when mom started having trouble paying the bills, Mom found Chloe, who helped around the house and would help us with our homework and cooking. After a while, it eventually ended up with mom as Chloe’s collared slave and mom and I doing most of the house work… Chloe just sat on her ass and bossed us around. Sophie seemed oblivious to what was going on, and I’m still pretty sure to this day that she didn’t know what was going on. As I said last night, after she had burned our pants in the fireplace, I got depressed, and I’m sure that mom saw it and then when mom tried to do something to remove me from the situation, that bitch, Chloe would figure out a way to stop mom from getting me out of that situation. Mom told me once to just tell someone at school. It was one of those days that I had school and Sophie didn’t.” Tom stroked the girls hair. “I didn’t know what Chloe would do to mom or Sophie if I didn't’ come home from school. She was so afraid of losing her control that she didn’t expect to have it all come crashing down on her because she did something stupid, did she?” Madison smiled at Tom.

“Nope. But now she’s on the run and she’s scared. Can you tell me anything about any other girls that she had?” Tom asked. Madison shook her head.

“Nope, the only one she mentioned was Nicole.” Madison said. Tom pursed his lips.

Downtown: 10:45 AM

Chloe stepped off the bus and walked toward the venue where the gun show was being held. She walked in and looked around. She wandered the tables before finally finding a table that had some revolvers. She looked at a few, held them and finally decided on a pair of thirty eight caliber revolvers. After handing the guy some cash she walked around until she found someone selling cases and holsters. She purchased a holster that was for concealed carry that was a purse and had a spot for the firearm in it. She slipped the two guns inside and then left the warehouse. She would wait a little bit and work on perfecting her plan to kill Madison and Sophie Nairn. Her head still throbbed from where that damned little girl had clobbered her with the tire iron. She was surprised that Madison didn’t run her over as she had sped from the warehouse. Chloe looked at a sign for a bank and noted that it was eleven am. She needed to get a car and do a little bit of research. She needed a rough idea of the layout of the house where the girls were staying. She figured that she would have to make some changes to her appearance to prevent her from being as easily recognized. A man walking down the street bumped into her and then turned to look at her.

“Sorry, Miss. I lost my footing.” He said.

“It’s ok. Have a good day, Sir.” Chloe said to him.

“You too.” Chloe turned and saw that a bus was coming. It wasn't the one that she needed, but it would take her somewhere to get some ammunition, as well as some hair color. Blonde should do it She thought. I’ve never been a blonde before. That will throw everyone, including Madison off.

Detective Bureau: 11:05 AM

Sarah Cunningham sat down at her desk and looked at the photos. She had figured out why Rebecca Anderson had been in the shower. After killing Nicole Leftfield. Chloe had taken a shower and changed into something that Nicole had owned. Sarah wasn’t sure yet what, but she was determined to figure out what Chloe’s next move was going to be. She glanced at the white board and then added a few notes. She sat back and looked at it. The board to the left had locations that Chloe had been identified as being there, and the board on the right had her drivers license photo as well as the photos of the three victims and the two Nairn children. Sarah sat back and scratched her head. She looked up as Wells came into the room and looked at the board.

“Anything new, Sarah?” Sarah looked at him.

“Nope. I’ve figured out why the print was on the handle going into the bathroom though.” Sarah said. Frank poured himself a cup of coffee.

“Oh?” He said, taking a sip and staring at the boards.

“Yeah, she needed to get the blood off of her. There was blood all over that scene. She had to have gotten some on her self as she had stabbed Nicole. I bet you we find Chloe’s prints on the knife, not that Nicole stood a chance.” Sarah said. “I should call Tom and let him know. Where’s Harrington, and do we know Chloe drives yet?” Harrington had made a stop to check on a few things that related to a case that was on his desk before this popped up.

“He stopped to look at some stuff on the Franklin case. Said something suddenly clicked to him.” Wells said. Sarah nodded.

“I’m going to run up to Communications. Lets see what Miss Anderson drives.” Sarah said, standing and leaving the room. Wells continued to look at the boards.

Communicatons Center 11:23 AM

Sarah punched the codes in to the door at the top of the stairwell and entered the communications center. She walked over to Schafer office and knocked, and Julie waved her in.

“Yeah, I just discovered it. I’m not sure how it happened, but it did. We are reissuing it. Hang on, Sarah just walked in, let me put you on speaker, Tom.” Julie said, and pushed a button on her phone.

“Hey Sarah,” Tom said “Gracie called and told me you found Chloe’s prints at the run on Thomas Lane. Any idea what she was doing there yet?”

“Nope, Not yet. What is being reissued?” Sarah said, glancing at Julie.

“The APB for Rebecca Chloe Anderson. Somehow in the shuffle last night when Tom had the AMBERs canceled, the APB got canceled as well. We are reissuing it.” Julie said.

“Ok, I came up to see if we could pull DMV records and find out what Chloe was driving. I want to know so we can have street units looking for it.” Julie was typing as soon as she heard DMV and Chloe in the same sentence out of Sarah’s mouth. “Also, Tom. The official paperwork from the court arrived about 10 minutes ago. They are yours. Paperwork is on your desk”

“Thanks, Sarah. I’ll be in later to pick the papers up.”

“A tan Ford Explorer.” Julie said after a pause.

“Great a common vehicle.” Sarah and Tom said at the same time. “I’m going to go back downstairs, call if you find anything.” Sarah said.

Detective Bureau: 11:25 AM

Sarah walked back into the bureau and sat down. She wondered if they had even been close to Rebecca Anderson and no one knew it because the APB had been canceled. She stared at the white board when she realized something… She picked up the phone and called Tom.

Home: 11:28 AM

Tom had just laid Madison on the couch when the phone rang.

“Winters.” He whispered into his phone.

“Hey, It’s Sarah. Why are you whispering?”

“Madison fell asleep and is on the couch. I’m trying not to wake her. She woke up at quarter till four having a nightmare. We fell asleep in the recliner, but I don’t think it was that restful for her.” Tom said, glancing at the sleeping form on the couch. He had covered her with a blanket and she looked a lot younger than what she was.

“Ok. I just thought of something. Are we tracking Chloe’s banking?” Sarah said. Tom put his hand to his chin and thought about it for a second.

“I’m not sure, I don’t think so, why?” Tom said.

“Depending on what she’s doing, we might be able to find a pattern and figure out where she is.” Sarah said. “It may work, or it may not. She’s already the prime suspect, it makes sense in my head to track it.”

“Fair enough, write it up and submit it, lets see if we can get a judge to agree with you. Where are we with reissusing that APB?” Tom said, pushing a button on the coffee robot to make a cup of coffee.

“It’s gone out over teletype, and to all of the active MDC’s in the city. It’s also been sent to the Metro Alert agencies. We’re going to find her Tom.” Sarah said

Northside of the City: 11:42 AM

Chloe walked over to where she had parked her car two days before and looked at it. It didn’t look like anyone had messed with it, which she considered a good thing. She unlocked the Toyota Camry and got in, starting the engine. She looked around and then headed in the direction of Stark High School. She would wait until that imbecile of a cop, Hunter, left the school to take Madison’s homework to her and then follow him. She wanted to know where this S twelve person lived.

Stark High School 12:09 PM

Officer Hunter walked into the attendance office and looked at Pat Carter. She glanced up from her computer.

“Do you have anything on Madison?” She asked. Word hadn’t spread through everyone yet about the Nairn children’s whereabouts.

“Yeah. Both Madison and her sister, Sophie were taken into custody by Sergeant Winters last night about six PM.” Hunter said. “They are still with him and that’s why I’m here.” Pat breathed a visible sigh of relief.

“What do you need, Mr. Hunter?” Pat asked, a smile appearing on her face for the first time since she discovered that Madison was missing.

“Madison’s absences to be excused, official absences. Hopefully Tom can get her and Sophie back into classes tomorrow, but I’m not sure about the timing on that.. I know this whole thing as slightly messed Madison up, I’m not sure about Sophie though.” Hunter said. Pat nodded.

“How is their mother?” Pat said. Officer Hunter looked at Pat and frowned.

“She passed away this morning. Went into Cardiac arrest and didn’t make it out of it. Sergeant Winters has obtained temporary custody and I think he may go for full custody. Those girls have been through a lot.”

Home: 12:20 PM

Tom smiled at Madison as she woke up. She sat up and stretched, making a cute little noise that caused Tom to smile even bigger. Tom felt a tug on his pant leg and he looked down to see Sophie looking up at him.

“Yes?” Tom said to her.

“Mr. Winters, I’m hungry.” Sophie said. Madison rubbed her eyes.

“Me too.” She said, stretching. Kira came into the kitchen.

“I see sleepy head work up.” Kira said with a smile. Madison blushed. She could get used to these two being her parents…

“Kira, get the girls ready to travel. Let’s take your car.” Kira nodded and then took Sophie’s hand and led her back upstairs. Madison stood and walked over and gave Tom a hug.

“Where are we going, Sir?” Madison asked after Tom had let her go. Tom looked at her.

“Why don’t you decide?” Tom said to her. Madison pondered this for a little bit and then looked at Tom.

“Anywhere I want to go?” She asked.

“Yep.” Tom said.

“There is a pizza joint at the mall that I’ve been to once and I liked it. So did Sophie.” Madison said. “Something pizza kitchen.”

“California Pizza Kitchen?” Tom asked. Madison smiled.

“Yeah, that’s it.” Madison said.

“Kira and I have been meaning to go try there.” Tom said. Madison went back to the couch and slipped the ballet flats on her feet. Kira and Sophie came back into the kitchen. Sophie’s hair was now in light brown pigtails with pink ribbons holding them up.

“Where have we been meaning to go, Sir?” Kira asked.

“California Pizza Kitchen.” Tom said. Sophie’s face lit up.

“I’m ready to walk out the door when you are, sir.” Kira said.

“Let’s go, we’re taking the Passat.” Tom said. Sophie looked at him.

“Which one is that?” She asked. Madison took her hand and walked with her out to the car. She and Sophie stood by the passenger side back door and waited for Tom and Kira to come outside. When the did, Tom opened his door and got in, and the girls all did the same. Tom opened the garage door and then backed out, pausing in the driveway long enough to make sure that the garage door was closed. He called the communications center, not thinking any thing of the dark green Toyota Camry that passed him as he went down Hunington Avenue.

Communications Center: 12:29 PM

Schafer answered her phone on the second ring.

“Communications, Schafer.” She said.

“Hey, It’s Winters. We are enroute to the California Pizza Kitchen up at Townsbridge. Two quick stops; one at the station, I need the papers that Sarah has for custody, and the second to Cassingham El. Need to get Sophie’s homework and update EC info. Stark will be on the way home.” Tom said. Julie heard Sophie in the background.

“Aww Man” she heard the voice that belonged to Sophie say.

“Have a pair of street units meet me at the school, I need someone to stand guard on Kira, Madison, and Sophie.”

“Copy, what’s your ETA?” Julie asked, walking over to the door and opening it.

“Twenty minutes.” Tom said.

“Copy.” Julie said, and looked at Jack Frost.

“Jack, start two units to Cassingham El on a security detail. S twelve is on his way, ETA twenty minutes.” Julie said, Jack nodded.

“Unit’s seventeen and fourteen, Respond to Cassingham Elementary on a 49S.” Julie heard as the door to her office shut. Julie heard the same broadcast come from the phone.

“Thank’s Julie. You can have them back as soon as we clear the school.” Tom said.

“You’re welcome. Just for the MDC’s what are you driving?”

“We’re in Kira’s Passat. Adam Whiskey John seven four three two is the tag.”

“Thank you. Give me a call if you need anything else.” Julie said.

“Will do.” Tom said, and then the line went dead.

Metro PD Headquarters: 12:39 PM

Tom backed the station wagon into the parking spot and put the car in park. He looked at the three people in the car.

“I’m going to run inside and grab the papers that Sarah has for me. I’ll be right back.” He got out and went into the back door of the station. Tom took the stairs two at a time, until he got to the third floor and then he punched the code on the electronic panel next to the door. He pushed it open as the electronic lock unlocked. The room was deserted. Tom went into his office and turned on the light. The papers were laying in a stack on his desk. Tom skimmed them and then folded them and stuck them in his pocket. He shut the door to his office and then left the Bureau. He went back down stairs and out to the car.

Cassingham Road: 12:48 PM

Units seventeen and fourteen sat on the edge of Cassingham road waiting for Tom to come down the street. As soon as they saw the Passat, Unit seventeen hit his four ways and Tom slowed to allow him to pull out in front of him, and fourteen fell in behind. They rolled that way until they pulled into the lot of Cassingham Elementary. The lead cruiser stopped and Tom and unit fourteen did the same. Officer Steve Johnstone got out of the lead cruiser and walked up to Tom as he got out.

“Sargent.” Johnstone said, giving a playful salute. ”Not used to seeing you not in a suit…” He said with a smile. Tom chuckled.

“I know, it’s not my normal attire.” Tom said. Walking around the car to let Sophie out of the back seat. Sophie got out, and looked at the school. The last time that she had seen the building was two days ago, when Rebecca had signed her out. Sophie and Tom walked into the building and then into the office. Susan smiled as she saw Sophie and then breathed a sigh of relief and then came over to hug the girl. Principal Catherine Appleton came out of her office and also hugged Sophie. Tom pulled his shield out of his pocket and showed it to the two women.

“Mrs. Summers, could you take Sophie to her class room to get any homework that she has missed?” Tom said. Susan nodded and walked with Sophie out the door. Tom tilted his head toward Catherine’s office. She nodded and led the way. When they got in the office, Tom shut the door. Catherine sat on the edge of her desk, and looked at Tom, who was still standing.

“Mrs Appleton, I am Detective Sergeant Tom Winters. I’m the lead investigator on the kidnapping of Sophie Nairn and her sister Madison. As you know, on Tuesday, Rebecca Anderson signed both Madison and Sophie out of school and subsequently kidnapped them. As you see, they got away, thanks to some quick thinking and action on Madison’s part, they escaped. Unfortunately, Rebecca Anderson also escaped. We are searching for her. This morning, Madison and Sophie’s mom, Kristen went into cardiac arrest and passed away a short time later. I immediately sought temporary custody of both of the children.” Tom pulled a folded piece of paper out of his pocket and handed it to her. She unfolded it and read it. “As you can tell, The courts agreed with my request for custody. We need to change the emergency contact data to reflect my wife, Kira, and I as her guardians.”

“Well it looks like you have the paperwork in order.” She said, pulling out an emergency contact card. She handed it to him and he stood and filled it out. He handed the card back to Catherine. She looked it over. “Who is allowed to sign Sophie out of school?”

“Only Kira or I. If Rebecca Anderson shows up, have someone call the Communication Center and put the school in lockdown. I will be both picking up and dropping Sophie off for school.” Catherine nodded.

“Completely understandable. How long will you have custody, Mr. Winters?”

“At least until our investigation is over, after that I’m going to seek permanent custody.”

“If you need a recommendation for that, Mr. Winters, I’ll write you one.” Tom smiled.

“Thanks.” Tom said. “Also, just an FYI, Both Sophie and her sister will be getting cell phones, I want the girls to have them on their person at all times. This is a matter of security.” Catherine nodded.

“Mr. Winters, you do understand that students are not to have phones on their person when they are in classes, correct? This is a district wide policy.” Tom looked at her.

“Ma’am, how many students in your building right now have phones on them?” Catherine thought about it for a second before answering.

“I’m not sure, Mr. Winters. I do understand the question and concerns that you have. Make sure to tell Sophie to keep it away and on vibrate. I assume that you will be tracking the locations of the phones if they get them?” Tom nodded, slowly. “I can’t guarantee that they will work in here, but keep them put away.”

“Thank you.” Tom said, and then turned around as the door to the outer office opened and he heard Sophie’s voice.

“I actually can’t wait to come back to school.” She was saying. Tom smiled at Catherine and stuck out his hand. She reached out and shook it.

“Good luck to you, Mr. Winters. Call if you need anything, also, we will keep Sophie safe.”

“Thank you. I’ll see you tomorrow, Mrs. Appleton.” Tom turned around and opened the door. Sophie stood there, a grin on her face and a stack of paper in her hands.

“Come on, Sophie, lets go get lunch.” Tom said, taking the papers out of Sophie’s hands. “Madison or I can help you with your homework.” Catherine Appleton and Susan Summers watched them go.

Townsbridge Mall: 1:15 PM

Tom parked the car and got out, as Kira did the same. They both opened the back doors of the car. Tom and Kira walked on the outside of the two girls, with Tom on the extreme outside. They walked in the mall and headed straight for the California Pizza Kitchen.

“Good afternoon, four of you today?” The hostess asked.

“Yes.” Tom said, eyeing the room.

“Would you like a kids menu for your daughter, sir?” Kira tried to hold back a fit of laughter, Tom just smiled, and Madison started giggling. Sophie had the cutest shade of red on her cheeks as she blushed.

“Can I, daddy?” Sophie said. Tom nodded, and smiled one of the biggest smiles that Kira had seen since their wedding day.

“Yes, a kids menu for my little girl.” Sophie beamed.

“Right this way.” The hostess said, turning and leading the way to a booth in the far corner of the room. Tom had the girls sit with their backs to the room and he and Kira sat with their backs to the wall. Tom fingered Kira’s purse and felt the grip of the small firearm that she was licensed to carry.

Motel, North side of the city: 1:20 PM

Rebecca Chloe Anderson was busy trimming her long brunette locks away and preparing to dye her hair the platinum blonde that she had purchased at the store down the street. She re-read the instructions and then started the process. She wanted to be as unrecognizable as possible while she scoped out where Madison and Sophie were.

Stark High school: 1:30

Officer Hunter had walked the building with Madison’s schedule, visited all of her classes and gotten all of her homework. Now all he had to do was deliver it to Tom’s residence on his way back to the station that evening. He carried the stack of paper back to his office and sat it on the corner of his desk. He left his office and made his way toward the main office to see Brenda Norton, one of the two secretaries that ran the school. He wanted to get an EC card to take to Tom as word had quickly circulated through the department that he was the guardian of Madison and Sophie Nairn. He walked into the office and Mary Franklin, the other secretary smiled at him.

“Afternoon, Officer Hunter.” She said. “What can I do for you?”

“Well, I need an emergency contact card. We need to update Madison Nairn’s info. One of our Sergeants has custody of her and her sister, Sophie at the moment. He’s expecting to get Madison back into school tomorrow, I think. I want the card to give to him so that he can bring it in with her. I also would like to speak to Mr. Woon, Mr. Chapman and Mrs. Gray in the conference room at their earliest convenience, please?”

“I know that Mrs. Gray is available, as is Mr. Chapman. I’m not sure about Mr. Woon. If you want to go around and see, I’ll have the others meet you in the room.” She handed him the card to Officer Hunter and picked up her phone and dialed an extension. Hunter took the back hallway of the office to get to the guidance department. A few minutes later, he had everyone in the conference room, sitting around the table.

“What’s going on, Officer Hunter?” Mr. Chapman asked. James Chapman was the principal of Stark High School.

“Tuesday, Sophomore Madison Nairn was signed out by a Rebecca Anderson, who was listed on the card to sign her out. Rebecca had ulterior motives when she signed Madison out, and she subsequently kidnapped both Madison and her sister, Sophie. They were recovered by one of our shift sergeants after Madison attacked Rachel Anderson. Mr. Woon you and I had talked about how Madison had withdrawn and seemed distant over the last few weeks, and how her grades had slipped because she wasn’t doing her homework. Madison and Sophie are both in the custody of one of our Detectives, and I think that he is hoping to have both of the girls back in classes tomorrow.” The three people in the room nodded. “I know he has stopped by Cassingham to talk to the principal about this. Expect him to do the same. I would also expect to see more marked units around the school, knowing him, he’s not taking any chances.” Both Mr. Chapman and Mr. Woon nodded. “Mrs. Grey, I bet you are wondering why you are here.” She nodded. “I think that you should try to talk to Madison, and see if she’s ok and if not we can get her the help that she needs.” Rhonda Grey was the school psychriast.

“I’m going to need a guardian’s permission.” She said.

“Ok, I’ll make sure that Tom gets with you on it. Tom Winters seems like he’s going to be a good father. That’s all I have. I just wanted to say it once and not have to repeat it three times.” The three people around the table stood.

Townsbridge Mall: 1:45 PM

Tom walked into the AT&T store with Kira and the girls on his heels. Tom looked at the attendant, whose name tag read Samuel. Kira took the girls and sat down, Tom stood at the counter.

“Good Afternoon, Sir.” Samuel said. “What can I do for you?”

“I need two iPhones, both 32 gigabyte versions. Make those new lines, and then we are going to put the two new phones on the two existing lines, and move the old phones to the new lines…”

“Ok. What phones do you have now?”

“We both have 16 gigabyte 3Gs’s. I’ve been thinking about upgrading, but I also need the children to have phones that I can track.”

“So you are looking at the family locator service, then Sir?” Tom nodded. “Your daughters are pretty.” Tom smiled.

“Thank you.” Tom said, glancing at what he was considering his family for the time being. They were waiting patiently for him to finish the transaction.

“Ok, Let me go get these phones and I’ll be right back.” Samuel said. He went in the back room and was gone for a few minutes. He came out carrying the phones and some accessories. He sat them all on the counter. Tom could now see what he had brought out. Two docks, two Otter Box cases and two regular cases. Tom looked at him.

“Ditch the regular cases and give me the Otter boxes. The docks wont’ work with the Otter boxes.” Samuel nodded and put the four items on the counter behind him. He scanned the barcodes on the boxes and then cashed out the transaction. He cut the cellophane off the boxes and opened them, plugged them into the computer and then looked at Tom.

“I need the two 3Gs’ to complete the swap. I’m assuming that you have all of your data backed up ?” Samuel asked. Tom nodded, since he and Kira used Gmail, it would only be a matter of reinstalling all of the applications on the phone, and he would also have to set up his department email as well, but that could be done in the field. His apps would have to wait until they got home and he could connect the phone to his computer. Tom had handed Samuel his iPhone right as someone called it. Samuel handed his phone back to him and shrugged. Tom answered the call after seeing that it was from Gracie. He beckoned Kira over, and she brought the kids with her.

“He needs your phone.” He said. “What’s up Gracie.” Samuel was kind enough do do a backup on Kira’s current phone and then to restore the data to the new one. “Ok. Hang on, Gracie, I’m going to call your DID from Kira’s phone, the guy at the AT&T store needs mine.” Kira handed her phone to Tom and he dialed a number with it. “Ok So you found Sophie and Madison’s hair in the stuff pulled from the Thomas Lane Run?” Tom’s walkie beeped. “Hang on, Gracie, someone is private calling me.” He pulled the radio off his belt and answered the private call.

“Winters.” He said into the radio. There were several customers in the store that were looking at him.

“It’s Cunningham. Have you you been back by the station since you picked up the papers?” Sarah asked. Kira glanced at him.

“Negative. Should I stop by?” He asked.

“Have you talked to Gracie or Julie?”

“I have Gracie on the phone.”

“Did she tell you what she found?”

“Yeah, but I don’t think that my present location is wise for you to just say it.”

“Where are you?”

“Townsbridge. We came up for lunch and we’re doing some other stuff that we needed to get done. I’ll call your cell when we are done here.”

“Copy.” The radio beeped as the direct connection between the radios disconnected. Tom put the radio back on his belt. He reached up and stroked his his chin. “Gracie, Chloe had to have carried those hairs in; the eighth units haven’t been to that address. Tag them regardless.”

“Ok. I’ve got the phones all switched around.”

Communications Center: 1:49 PM

An Amber light had come on above a call taker’s cubicle. A few seconds later, Mr. Topak knocked on the door. Julie waved him in.

“What do you have, Mr. Topak?” Julie asked. He frowned as he looked at her. One of the unmarked units that was around S 12’s house just called in. A dark green Toyota Camry has been in the area for about an hour with someone sitting in it. Mark doesn’t want to give up his position to get a look, and he wants a street unit to make a pass and run it.”

“Proceed. S 12 isn’t home right now anyway. They are up at Townsbridge. Lets see if we can ID this car and the person occupying it and if we need to, take them out of play. I would honestly prefer to have the kids out of play, but Tom wants them in play. He’s just going to be extra cautious. Lets start a plan to put increased patrols around Cassingham El and Stark tomorrow.” Mr. Topak nodded and then left the room. Julie’s phone rang.

“Schafer.” She said.

“Hey, It’s Sarah. Can you do an all zone call to get all of my units to DTECT2, Please?”

“Yes, Ma’am. Give me a few seconds.”

Townsbridge Mall: 1:53 PM

Tom, Kira, Madison and Sophie were at the only known Old Navy store to be placed inside of a mall. Kira and Madison were looking at and for stuff that Madison would be able to wear with little discomfort. Tom had always thought that if he had kids and they were little girls that he would prefer to have one be a girly girl and the other be a tomboy.

“KQD2983 to all Detective units, Please respond to DTECT2 per D4. KQD2983 to all Detectives, Please mark on DTECT2 per D4.” Kira and Madison looked up from the maroon sweater dress they were holding up to Madison and looked at Tom. He reached down and flipped the radio to DTECT2. Sarah had a reason, or she wouldn’t be calling everyone back to 2.

“All units, Be advised, there has been a possible sighting of suspect number one near S12’s residence. Lets step up patrols, I’ll have the comm center do the same with marked cars.” Sarah said. Madison and Kira looked at Tom.

“What’s that mean, Daddy?” Sophie said.

“It’s nothing for you to worry about, sweetie.”

“Ok.” Sophie said. Kira pursed her lips. She understood exactly what Sarah had said. Madison draped the sweater dress over her arm and pulled a white and heather grey sweater dress off the rack. She wandered over to the where the tights and other garments of the sort were hanging. Madison selected some that were her size and then walked back over to where Kira and Tom stood. Between the skirts and the dresses, Madison now had enough clothes to last her a week and a half. Having one of the kids with enough clothes was decent. Now to do the same with the other one.

Home: 3:00 PM

Tom backed the Passat into the garage and shut off the engine. He reached up and shut the garage door. Tom opened his door, got out and opened Madison’s door. Madison got out and walked to the trunk so that she could carry the bags of stuff that they had bought inside. Tom had been thinking about taking over the dining room as it was the only empty room in the house. The only thing that was in the den was the desk and that would be easy to move. Tom opened Sophie’s door and picked her up. He thought one of two things, either the shopping trip had worn the younger girl out or she just fell asleep easily in the car. He was beginning to think the latter…

“What should I do with this stuff, Sir?” Madison asked, after sitting the bags down in the kitchen.

“Take it up and put it away in your sisters room.” Tom said. Madison blinked.

“My sister’s room?” She said, sounding confused. “What about my room?”

“I’m getting there, it may take a few days, but tomorrow is Friday and we have the weekend to create your bedroom.”

“Oh, ok.” Madison said, and headed for the stairs. Tom went over and sat down in the recliner, and pulled out his laptop. He connected his phone to it and put all of his apps back on the new phone. He logged into the website, and added the family locator service and set it up so that he could track Madison and Sophie’s phones. He then downloaded and configured the app to do the tracking on his phone. He logged in and saw that the phones were together at the house. That was a good thing. He closed the app as his radio beeped. He pulled it out and connected the private call.

“Winters.”

“It’s Hunter, I’m enroute. I’ll mark when I get there.”

“Copy.” Tom stood and walked into the dining room that was empty and he looked around trying to put his home office together in the slightly smaller space. He shrugged and went out to the kitchen where Madison was standing there looking into the fridge like something was hiding in there.

Stark High School: 3:07 PM

Officer Hunter carried the stack of papers out to his car and got in. He sat the papers on the dash board and started the car.

“24 to radio,” Hunter said. He knew that second shift was in roll call so he assumed that the communications center was in the middle of a shift change as well.

“Go 24.” Came the voice of one of the female dispatchers.

“I’m enroute to S12’s home on a 49X.” A 49X was an untyped special duty run.

“Copy, Time is 1508.” She said. Hunter put the car in gear and drove toward the intersection of Stark Road and Memphis Drive. As he turned left on Stark Road a dark green Toyota Camry pulled out behind him. As he drove across the city the Camry stayed with him, hanging ten to twelve car lengths back, and when Officer Anthony Hunter parked in front of Sergeant Winter’s home, the Camry passed by and continued down Hunington Lane before turning left on Education Drive. Hunter got out of his car, grabbed the stack of papers and private called Sergeant Winters.

“24, Code 10, S12’s residence.”

“24 is Code 10 at 1527.” A different dispatcher said. So he was right, the communications center had gone through a shift change as well. Hunter jotted the time down on his log, grabbed the stack of papers and then private called Tom Winters radio.

“Winters.” Came Tom’s voice through the speaker on the radio.

“Hey, It’s Hunter, I’m out front, and the coast is clear.”

“Copy. I’ll get the door.” A few seconds later, the front door opened and Sergeant Winters stood there.

“Come on in.” Tom said. Hunter walked into the home that belonged to Sergeant Winters.

Home: 3:27 PM

Tom and Officer Hunter walked into the kitchen. Sophie was sitting at the table, working on her homework. Madison was sitting next to her, helping her with it as Sophie had missed the teacher explaining all of the homework. Madison looked up as the two men entered the kitchen. She eyed the stack of paper in Officer Hunter’s hand.

“That’s mine, isn’t it?” she asked. Officer Hunter nodded. Madison pouted, but she reached out to take the small stack of paper. She flipped through it and realized that it also contained the relevant sections of the books so that she could at least do her homework as no one knew where her books were at that point and time.

“That’s everything you’ve missed, Madison. I think your teachers are expecting it when you come back to school.”

“That will be tomorrow. Work on what you can, Madison, it’ll all be done by Monday.” Tom said. Madison nodded and started to read the papers in front of her. Hunter turned to Tom.

“Here’s an emergency contact card, I know you updated the one for Sophie at Cassingham to reflect the current information. I need to get my cruiser back to the station, I’ll see you in the morning.”

“Thanks Tony, Madison and I will see you in the morning. Check my box in your guys’ roll call and make sure that there is nothing in there, if there is just tell me about it in the morning. “

“Will do, Sarge. Have a good evening.” Tony said and then left the house. As soon as the front door had shut, Tom’s phone rang. Gracie was calling him.

“What’s up Gracie?” He said.

“I just tied Rebecca Anderson to the victim that we found on Fourth Street.”

“Oh? How did you do that?”

“I have hair belonging to both Rebecca Anderson and Kristen Nairn, I also have a partial left thumb and a full right thumb on the collar.”

“Ok, So that’s three murder 1’s and two counts of kidnapping, Several counts of child abuse, and who knows what else.”

“That sounds right to me.” Gracie said. “If I come across anything else, I’ll let you know.” Madison looked at Tom.

“Three? I know of two, who’s the third?” She asked. Sophie looked at her.

“Is that Madison that I hear?” Gracie said. Tom looked at her and then pointed at her homework.

“Yes, it’s Madison, who should be doing her homework.” Madison pouted, and returned to doing her homework.

“AFIS hasn’t popped a hit on the prints to the second victim yet. It seems like it’s really bogged down for some reason. There were no messages saying that there was going to be any maintenance. I’m not sure what is going on. I’ll let you know as soon as I get an ID and then we can try to tie her to Rebecca Anderson.”

“Yep. Call me if you find anything. If you see Sarah, have her call me, please.”

“Will do, Sarge.” Gracie said and hung up the phone. Tom looked at Madison in time to see her wipe a tear away. He walked over and kissed her on the top of the head.

“You girls keep working on your homework, I’m going to go upstairs for a few minutes.”

Motel on the North side of town: 4:00 PM

Chloe pulled in to the parking spot in front of her room at the cheap motel that she had selected to stay at. It wasn’t much to write home about, but after she had ransacked the house on Oak Hill Drive she needed somewhere with a shower and hot water. She was unaware of the fact that the fire that was supposed to turn the rented house on Chapman into a pile of ash had failed and the police knew who had rented the house, and who had been there. Chloe pulled out the map of the city and marked the locations of the house where Sophie and Madison were as well as the high school and the police station. She also marked the location of Cassingham Elementary. She wondered what the response time would be to get to Winters’ house. She figured that it could be anywhere from five to ten minutes depending on how the police officers were spread out. She looked at all of the routes to and from the house where the children were currently staying.

Home: 5:30 PM

Tom had carried most of the furniture out of the den and placed it in the living room. The only things left upstairs were the bookcase and the desk. Tom just needed to carry the books down and then put them back when he got them down stairs. Madison came into the dining room and looked at Tom.

“Dad, My homework is done, what should I do now?” Tom looked at her.

“Dad?” he asked with a chuckle.

“Yeah, it just seems… Right.” Madison said, her face turning red from where she had started to blush.

“Ok. What do you like to do in your spare time?”

“I haven’t had any since we started school this year. After my homework was done, I had chores that I had to do.”

“What kind of chores?” Tom asked, his eyebrows raised.

“I had to cook dinner every night, and clean up afterward. By the time that I was done with that it was time for bed… I don’t even think I want to go get into that.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah… Anyway, what should I go do?”

“You want to help me bring the bookcase and desk down here?”

“Sure.” Madison said. Tom smiled at her.

“Come on. Let’s go get your room cleaned out.” Tom wrapped his arm around Madison’s shoulders and walked with her up to the previous den.

Motel on the North side of the City: 6:54 PM

Chloe walked out of the motel room as a police cruiser rolled slowly through the parking lot. She had an idea that every officer in the city was actually looking for her, but she would be hard to find as she was driving a car that wasn’t registered to her, and she had changed her appearance. She was going to go for a drive for a little bit, covering the possible routes to and from the schools and the house that they might use to get to the school. The officer drove past with out a second glance. As far as he was concerned, she was just another out of towner staying at the motel. She would have to be careful around the house where the girls were as she knew that there were officers watching the house and near by. She backed out of the parking spot and drive toward Stark high school. She knew from following Officer Hunter that the house sat on the part of Hunington that had no exit. It had one way in and one way out, that meant that she would have a limited chance to escape after she went after Madison. She pulled into a fast food joint and parked the car as another cruiser drove by. She would need to not attract attention to herself to conduct her planning

Home: 9:30 PM

Tom, Kira and the girls sat in the living room as the TV show ended. Madison was sitting with her head on Tom’s shoulder, and Sophie had fallen asleep with her head in Kira’s lap. Madison and Tom had, between the two of them carried the desk and book cases down stairs and rebuilt the den in the dining room. Tom could tell that moving the furniture down stairs had worn Madison out.

“Maddie, lets get you two up to bed.” Tom said. Madison looked up at him and nodded, sleepily. He had asked both girls to change into the nightgowns that they had purchased earlier in the day. After Tom picked up Madison and Sophie from school the next day, he and Madison would go out and buy a bedroom suite so that she could be in her own room by Saturday night. Madison got up and watched as Tom picked up her younger sister and carried her, still sleeping, up to the bedroom that the two girls were sharing. He gently laid Sophie in the bed. Madison started to kneel next to the bed. Chloe had trained her to do certain things, and Tom was going to have to untrain her.

“Maddie.” Tom said, she glanced over, half way to the floor. Tom shook his head. She slowly stood back up. “Madison, you are still a child. You don’t have to do what your mother did. You don’t need to make that kind of decision yet. I know right now, you have placed your trust and life in my hands, but that was out of necessity. As your temporary guardian, I have a duty to protect you. My role is not to take every right you have away. I want you to have as close to a normal child hood as you can. Children don’t kneel before they get in bed, and most children are allowed to do most things with out asking.” Madison looked at Tom.

“You mean that I can just get in bed with out me asking, or that I can watch TV with out asking?” she said. Tom smiled and hugged her.

“Yes. That’s what kids your age do. They don’t ask if they can do this or that. They don’t ask permission to go to bed, or to get in bed. They just do, within reason.” Madison smiled

“Ok Sir…” Madison said.

“Get up there with your sister.” Tom said, smiling. He pulled the blanket up over both the girls and kissed then both on the forehead. “Goodnight, sweetie.”

“Goodnight Mr. Winters.” Madison said. Sophie had mumbled something that Tom didn’t understand but it seemed like she was still asleep. Madison rolled over and draped her arm over Sophie. Tom turned out the light and walked in the hallway. Kira was standing there, a grin on her face. Tom pulled the door shut and smiled at his wife.

“What?” he asked with a chuckle,

“You make a great father, Sir.’ She said. Tom felt a warmth rise inside of him, the kind of pride a parent feels when someone says something nice about their kid.

“Thank you.” Tom said, wrapping his arm around Kira and walking with her toward the bedroom. He flipped on the light in the bedroom and he and Kira got ready for bed. “I was thinking about something.” Kira looked at him.

“What’s that, Sir?”

“Adopting the girls. They trust us.”

“Well, we’ve discussed it before, it seems like this is supposed to be happening. Let’s do it.” Kira said.

“I’ll find out what we need to do after we catch Rebecca Chloe Anderson.” Tom said to his wife.

Friday October 9th

Home: 5:00 AM

Tom Rolled over and swatted at the alarm clock before finally getting it to stop making it’s annoying buzzing. He reached over and turned on the light, blinking in the sudden brightness. He slipped his robe on and he went into the bathroom and took a shower. Ten minutes had passed before he was done in the shower and he got out, dried himself off and then got dressed. He had just finished tying his tie when Kira sat up in the bed.

“Morning, Sir.” Kira said, stretching. “I take it that you are planning on going to work today?” He chuckled.

“Yep and you should plan on going to work too.” Kira smiled and chuckled.

“Yes, Sir.” She said. Tom grabbed his suit jacket and headed down the hall to wake up Madison. He knocked on the door to the bedroom and then opened the door, using the hall light to illuminate the room.

“Madison, it’s time to get up, sweetie.” He said. Madison’s eyes slowly fluttered open and she looked at Tom.

“Morning, Mr. Winters.” Madison said, standing up and looking at Tom.

“Good Morning.”

“What would you like me to wea-“ Madison stopped mid sentence as the conversation that they had the night before came back into her head. Tom raised his eyebrows. “Never mind, Sir. I was going to ask you what you wanted me to wear, but our conversation from last night came back to me. I’m pretty sure that this not having to ask for stuff is going to take a while… I think I’m going to go take a shower and then get dressed and I’ll see you down stairs.:” Tom smiled and left the room.

Communication Center: 5:15 AM

“37, can you start me the on call detective?” the voice came from the radio.

“Affirm, Time Is 0515.” Unit 37 had been dispatched on a robbery of a convenience store and it appeared he had an active case. The dispatcher picked up the phone and dialed a number.

Home: 5:20 AM

Tom’s Cell phone started ringing as Madison entered the kitchen. She went right to the fridge and opened the door.

“Winters.” Tom said into the phone. Madison poured a glass of orange juice and pointed at the jug to see if Tom wanted any. He shook his head. “Ok, I think the on call is Cunningham. Give her a call and have her start that way.” Madison smiled at Tom and drank the juice. She had put on the maroon sweater dress and a pair of black leggings. On her feet were a pair of boots that Kira had worn once or twice. Kira walked in and gave Tom a funny look as he was on the phone already this morning. “Ok, I’ll get with Julie as soon as I get in.” Tom said, hanging up the phone.

“Who was that?” Kira asked.

“That was the Comm Center. There was a robbery over on Sampson and they need the on call…” Tom said. Kira nodded. Madison looked confused.

“The on call, Mr. Winters?” she asked.

“Yeah, the on call detective. Every night there is someone on call incase members of the Bureau are needed overnight. Some times it’s me, others it’s not. Last night it wasn’t. The others know whats going though my head with your guys’ security, and they’ve got my back. The whole family in blue has our backs.”

“Family in blue?” Madison asked.

“Yeah, The police department. We watch out for each other. They’ve been making rounds at least every fifteen minutes on the house. Maybe more often than that. You two girls have never been safer.” Madison smiled. Sophie walked into the kitchen, wearing a pink tunic and black leggings.

“Oh, ok.” Sophie walked up to Tom and turned around. He glanced down and saw that there were ties on the sides of the tunic that weren’t tied yet. He crouched down and tied them, and then stood up. He looked at Madison.

“Find something to eat, we have to leave kinda early to get you to school, and I need to meet with the principal.” Madison nodded as she opened a cupboard. This one had glasses in it. She opened a different cupboard. This one had plates and bowls hiding behind it. She turned to Tom who was smiling. He pointed to a door on the far wall. She smiled and walked over to the pantry. She opened the door and looked inside. Sophie poked her head around the door. Madison pulled the box of oatmeal out of the pantry. She looked at the box and then at Tom.

“Will this work, and if so, where are the pans, Mr. Winters?” Tom pointed at a cupboard as his phone rang for the third time that morning.

“Winters.”

“Hey, It’s Sarah. I think I just found Rebecca Anderson. She’s the one that hit the store on Sampson. We’re three blocks from Stark, and four from Cassingham. Advise me on it.” Tom’s eyes flicked to Madison.

“Have Communications increase marked patrols around all protection areas.”

“Yes, Sir.”

“I’ll be in around 8.” Tom said before he hung up the phone. Kira looked at him, her eyes wide. Tom had explained the three protection areas to her. He had worked with the communications center to create three protection areas that consisted of the two schools and Winter’s house. Tom watched as Madison boiled water he used the speed dial to call the radio room.

“Tech 34.” Tom heard.

“It’s Winters. Patch me through to the Comm Room Sargent.”

“Stand by, sir.” There was a click and then hold music. A few seconds later, the comm room sergeant came on the line.

“Santiago.”

“Sarge, it’s Winters. I am putting Protection plan Alpha in place. Have your units put start on it.”

“Yes, Sir.” Tom hung up the phone in and put it in back in his pocket.

“Protection plan Alpha?” Madison asked.

“Yeah.” Tom said, not going into it. Madison finished making the oatmeal and then carried both bowls to the table, where Sophie sat. Tom walked over to the coffee robot and started to make his second cup of coffee.

Stark High School: 7:00 AM

Tom pulled up outside of Stark High school. He backed the car into the parking spot and shut off the engine. He opened the door the same time that Madison tried to open hers. Her door, of course wouldn’t open from the inside. Tom was chuckling as he opened her door from the outside. She rolled her eyes as she slid out of the back seat of the Crown Victoria. Sophie slid out after her. Tom shut the door and walked behind the girls toward the school. Unbeknownst to Tom, Chloe was sitting in the driveway of a business across the street watching through a pair of binoculars. They entered the school and headed for the office. Tom opened the door and looked at Mary Franklin.

“Good morning, What can I do for you, Sir?” She asked, smiling at Madison.

“My name is Tom Winters. I would like to speak to the principal, as well as Mr. Woon.” Mary nodded, and then picked up her phone and dialed an extension.

“Mr. Woon, would you please meet a Mr. Tom Winters in Mr. Chapman’s office?” She said. “Ok, Thanks. I’ll call her.” Mary depressed the hang up switch on the phone and dialed another extension. She hung up the phone and looked at Tom. “Head down this hallway, third door on the right is Mr. Chapman’s office, he’s actually expecting you.” She said. Tom nodded and walked down the hallway, Madison and Sophie walking behind him. Sophie was in a state of shock, she had never been in a school that was this large. The door to Mr. Chapman’s office was closed and Tom knocked on it. Mr. Woon was the one that opened it.

“Mr. Winters, Come in.” Mr. Woon said. Tom entered the office and was followed in by the two girls. Madison had been down here three times and really didn’t know Mr. Chapman. She knew that he was a fair guy and listened to both sides of what had happened before deciding anything.

“Mr. Winters.” Mr. Chapman said, standing and extending his hand. Tom reached out and shook it.

“Mr. Chapman.” Tom said. “I am Detective Sergeant Tom Winters, and I’m the lead investigator on the kidnapping of Madison Nairn and her sister Sophie, both of whom are sitting behind me. As you know on Tuesday, Rebecca Anderson signed both Madison and Sophie out of school and subsequently kidnapped them. Due to some quick thinking on Madison’s part, they escaped.” Tom turned to Madison, and Sophie. “Maddie, can you and Sophie wait in the hallway for a few minutes for me, please?” He asked.

“Yes, Mr. Winters.” Madison said, she had an idea of what Tom was about to tell the two men in the room. After Madison and Sophie had shut the door, Tom turned back to Mr. Chapman and Mr. Woon.

“Yesterday morning, Madison and Sophie’s mother, Kristen passed away from a cardiac arrest while she was in the ICU at Mercy East hospital. I immediately sought temporary custody of the two children, and I was granted that request.” Tom pulled both the documentation form the court out, as well as the completed emergency contact card. He handed the court document to the principal, who read it, and then handed it to Mr. Woon. “I have filled out a new emergency contact card and I will give that to Mrs. Franklin before I leave. I have changed her info so that only my wife, Kira or myself can sign her out for the time being. If you guys see Rebecca Anderson near the school, please go into a lockdown and call the communications center.” Mr. Chapman and Mr. Woon both nodded.

“Are you saying that Mrs. Anderson poses a security risk to my students, staff and school?” Mr. Chapman said.

“Potentially. One of my Detectives ID’d her as a suspect on a surveillance video of a robbery of a connivence store three blocks from here. I don’t know what she was doing there or what her motives were for robbing the store, but she did and that puts her too close to the schools for my liking.” Tom said. “I’ve already got a plan in place to increase patrols of marked units around the school, and I’ll fill Officer Hunter in as soon as he goes on duty. The safety of both of the girls are my primary concern.” Mr. Chapman nodded, He could see where Officer Hunter was coming from with Tom being a good father.

“Ok, do you have a business card that I can have?” Mr. Chapman nodded. Tom pulled one out of his wallet and handed it to Mr. Chapman. “Yesterday Officer Hunter basically told us everything that you are telling us now, so none of this is news to us. One thing that he did pass on was that our school psychariast, Mrs. Grey may want to talk to Madison.” Tom nodded. He had considered that.

“I’ll sign any thing that I need to allow that.” Tom said. Mr. Chapman and Mr. Woon nodded.

Corner of Stark Ave. and Moss Ln: 7:13 AM

When Chloe saw the first of the marked cruisers that came down Stark Avenue, She put the car in gear and made a right hand turn to head toward Cassingham Elementary as that would this sergeant’s next stop. No one paid any attention to the blonde driving the beat up Ford away from the school.

Stark High School: 7:17 AM

“Ok, so for the immediate time being, you will be both picking up and dropping Madison off?” Mr. Chapman said.

“Yes, After we catch Rebecca Anderson and get her taken out of play, I’m going to seek permeant custody. As for now, only my wife, or I are to sign her out unless there is an extenuating circumstance and then Officer Hunter can remove her from the school. There will be certain guidelines for him doing so though.” Tom said. Mr. Chapman nodded. Tom pulled the radio from his hip.

“S12 to Unit 24.” Tom said into his radio.

“S12, Unit 24 hasn’t marked in service yet.”

“Copy, when he does, have him private call me at seven three two six one, please?”

“Affirm, S12. Also be advised that D4 is looking for you.”

“Copy.” Tom put the radio back on his hip. Tom looked at Mr. Woon and Mr. Chapman. The phone on Mr. Chapman’s desk rang.

“Good Morning, Rhonda, can you come to my office really quick. I have a Mr. Tom Winters that you need to talk to.” He listened for a few minutes and then chuckled. “Ok, Rhonda, See you in a few.”

“That was Mrs. Grey, the school psychriast, she will be here in a few minutes to talk to you and get your permission to begin talking to Madison.” Tom nodded. He was going to see about this anyway, and apparently Tony and he thought alike.

“Ok.” Tom said, as his radio beeped. It was a private call that was coming in. He pulled the radio off his belt and connected the private call.

“Sarge, it’s Hunter. Radio advised me to private call you when I marked on duty.” The disembodied voice came from the radio.

“Yep, when you get to the school, could you swing by Mr. Chapman’s office?”

“Affirm, Sarge.” Hunter’s voice came form the radio. There was a knock on the door, and Mr. Woon opened it.

“Ah, come one in, Rhonda.” Mr. Chapman said. “Mr. Winters, This is Rhonda Grey.” The two of them shook hands, and then Mr. Chapman continued. “Rhonda, Officer Hunter suggested that you speak to Madison Nairn yesterday. She’s sitting outside of my office. At some point today, with, Mr. Winter’s permission of course, I would like for the two of you to get together." Rhonda sat some papers on Mr. Chapman’s desk and Tom pulled out a pen. Tom signed the documents and handed them back to Mrs. Grey. She skimmed them over and then looked at Mr. Chapman.

“I’ll look over her schedule and pull her from study hall if possible. I’ll let all three of you know preliminaries as soon as I have any ideas.” She said, and then left the room. After she had left the room, there was another knock on the door. Officer Hunter stood there, looking like he had just jogged from one end of the school to the other, which he probably did. He came into the office and handed a sheet of paper around the room.

“Good morning.” Officer Hunter said. “Detective Cunningham was in our roll call this morning passing out that piece of paper. That is what Rebecca Anderson looks like now. She’s cut her hair and colored it blonde. Sergeant Winters has probably told you about the convenience store getting hit this morning four blocks from here. That picture is from the surveillance video.”

“Do we know what she’s driving?” Tom asked.

“A beat up, late model Ford Tempo or a Taurus. The attendant said he wasn’t sure which and the car that she got in didn’t have tags on it. We have people trying to enhance the video and find out what it was.” Hunter said.

“We’ve never gotten a good image any time we’ve tried it. Don’t hold your breath.” Tom said.

Near Cassingahm Elementary: 8:10 AM

Rebecca had no intentions of trying to harm Sophie, but if it was the only way to bring Madison out of hiding long enough to kill her, then she would harm the little girl. As far as Rebecca was concerned, Madison had screwed up her life, and she was going to screw the girls life up but good.

Cassingham Elementary School: 8:25 AM

Tom pulled up and parked the car in one of the visitors parking spots and got out. He surveyed the area and then let Sophie out of the back of the car. Tom took her hand and walked toward the school. Tom took Sophie right into the office. Mrs. Summers wasn’t in yet, but Mrs. Appleton was. Sophie waved.

“Good Morning, Mrs. Appleton.” Sophie said

“Good Morning, Sophie.” She said. “Mrs. Chadwick is here so you can go to your classroom.” Sophie nodded and went down to her classroom. Mrs. Appleton and Tom looked at each other. After Sophie had gone toward her classroom Tom spoke.

“Rebecca Anderson robbed a connivence store four blocks from here a little before 5 am. She’s changed her appearance: she’s cut her hair and dyed it blonde.” Tom pulled the paper that Hunter had given him out and handed it to Mrs. Appleton. She looked at it.

“Now she looks like Kristen.” Mrs. Appleton noted. Tom looked at the paper again.

“With the exception of being blonde, you’re right…” Tom said. He pulled his phone out and called Hunter.

“Tony, it’s Tom. Pass it on to those that need to know; if you have someone come in claiming to be Kristen Nairn, go into lockdown and advise the Comm Center. Mrs. Appleton over at Cassingham just pointed out that with the exception of the blonde hair, that Rebecca looks like Kristen. I agree.” Tom hung up the phone.

“I’ll make sure that I pass it on to Susan.”

Tom nodded. “Would it be possible for me to go down and talk to Mrs. Chadwick?” Mrs. Appleton nodded. “Ok. Don’t be concerned if you see what appears to be a marked increase in marked cruisers today. Because of how close that robbery was, we’ve bumped up patrols around the schools.”

“Ok. And if we go into lockdown because this psychotic woman comes to the school, then call the comm center?”

“You got it.” Tom said. “I’ll let you know before I am out of the building.” Mrs. Appleton nodded. Tom left the office and headed for Mrs. Chadwick’s room. When he got there, Sophie was the first to see him.

“Mr. Winters, this is my teacher, Mrs. Chadwick.” Sophie looked at Mrs. Chadwick. “We’re staying with him for the time being.” She said. Tom pulled his shield out of his pocket and showed it to Mrs. Chadwick.

“I’m Detective Sargent Tom Winters, I’m currently watching after Sophie and her sister, Madison. I was just wondering how she’s doing with her homework?”

“Well, if the stuff that you guys picked up yesterday is done, then she’s all caught up. I would assume that you and Madison helped her with it?” Tom nodded.

“Madison did help her, but she didn’t give her the answers. I was in the kitchen when they were doing homework.” Tom said. Mrs. Chadwick chuckled.

“Sophie is one of the better students in my class. She usually helps the others with stuff.” Mrs. Chadwick said. Sophie blushed.

“I kinda figured that. Her sister, Madison is the same way. They both are very smart.”

Detective Bureau: 9:00 AM

Sargent Winters walked into the Detective Bureau and then into his office. A few minutes later, everyone else came in. Sarah poked her head into Tom’s office.

“Sarge, we’re ready for you.” She said. Tom scooped up a pile of paper from his desk and walked into the conference room. His detectives all stood when he entered.

“Sit.” Tom said. His night the previous night had been better than Wednesday night. “Ok, so we found the Nairn children. They are still in my custody. Now lets turn our attention to Rebecca Anderson.” Tom turned to one of the white boards. “Ok. We know that she was on the south end of town as of Wednesday night.” Tom used a laser pointier that had been laying on the table to point at the map that hung on the wall. This morning just before five, she hit a connivence store at the corner of Stark and Sampson. That is three blocks from Stark High School and four blocks from Cassingham. I know that Sarah and Frank were here on the polycom when I called and explained the idea I had. The plan called for creating three protection zones. One around my house.” He circled a rough area around his house on the map. “And both Cassingham and Stark.” He drew circles around these areas as well. “I’ve already had communications increase the patrols of marked units in those areas. What I want us to do is the same thing. We are going to blend in better than the marked cars will. I’m going to ask the Vice Squad to do the same thing. They are even better at blending in than we are.” His men nodded. Tom turned to a different white board. “So far, we have three charges of Murder 1, child abuse, arson,[ Figure out what else she’s getting chagred with…] and probably one or two other things that I’m forgetting. As I’m sure you are all aware, the two children’s mother passed away yesterday after suffering a cardiac arrest. I requested temporary custody and as Madison and I have already started to create a bond as father-daughter, I’m planning on seeking permeant custody of the two children.”

Cassingham Elementary School: 10:45 AM

Rebecca Anderson causally walked up sidewalk and into the office of Cassingham Elementary. She walked in and smiled at Susan Summers.

“Hello, Mrs. Summers. I’d like to sign Sophie Nairn out, and take her out to lunch.” Susan pursed her lips. Mrs. Appleton looked out of her office. She instantly recognized Rebecca Anderson. She picked up the phone on her desk and pushed the intercom button.

“This is a level three lockdown. This is a level three lockdown. This is a level three lockdown. Code Alpha 3. Code Alpha 3 Code Alpha 3.” Mrs. Appleton said into the phone. She disconnected the intercom and dialed 911.

Communications Center: 10:47 AM

“Metro PD, this is Tech 32.”

“Yes, this is Catherine Appleton at Cassingham Elementary. Rebecca Anderson was just here, trying to sign Sophie Nairn out. We are in a level three lockdown.”

“Stand by Ma’am.” The tech stood up and looked at Mr. Topak, the floor supervisor. “Cassingham just went into a level three lockdown. Rebecca Anderson was in the building..”

Cassingham Elementary School: 10:48 AM

“This is a level three lockdown. This is a level three lockdown. This is a level three lockdown. Code Alpha 3. Code Alpha 3 Code Alpha 3” Mrs. Appleton’s voice came over the PA system. Everyone in the room went for the corner of the room that was on the hallway side so that they couldn’t be seen. Sophie calmly walked over and climbed in the storage closet. Mrs. Chadwick made sure the door was closed, and then hid in the corner with her students.

Detective Bureau: 10:49 AM

Tom was sitting at his desk when his radio started making the all zone alert sound.

“KDQ2983 to all units in the vicinity of Cassingham Elementary, Be advised that the school just went into lockdown because suspect number 1 from the open case was spotted in the building.” Tom jumped up, grabbed his suit jacket and went flying out of the building that housed the Metro PD headquarters. He jumped in his car, started the engine, hit the lights and flew toward the school. As he drove, he picked up the microphone on his dashboard.

“S12 to Unit 24, what is your status?”

“We are Level two. The 32 is secure.” The 32 that Hunter was referring to was Madison.

“Copy. S12 to the units responding to Cassingham, wait for my arrival to begin a search. ETA 2 minutes.”

“KQD2983 to all units, Zone three is in 10-100.”

“S3, Copy S12. Waiting your arrival.” Tom hit the gas as he flew through an intersection. The car got a little bit of air as he cleared the far side and came crashing down, sparks flying.

“1051.” Came a dispatcher’s voice. Tom’s phone rang. He glanced at it, Sophie was calling him. He reached up and answered it and placed the call on speaker phone.

“Mr Winters!” Sophie sounded scared.

“I’m coming, Sophie, where are you?”

“I’m in a closet in the classroom. Mrs. Chadwick put me in here. She’s after me isn’t she?”

“I don’t know. I’m going to get you as soon as I can. Stay where you are!”

“Ok.” Came a very little, scared voice. Tom hung up the phone and came skidding to a stop behind one of the six marked cruisers that sat outside of the school.

Stark High School: 10:49 AM

“KDQ2983 to all units in the vicinity of Cassingham Elementary, Be advised that the school just went into lockdown because suspect number 1 from the open case was spotted in the building.” Hunter heard after his radio had blared the all zone alert sound into his ear. He did three things simultaneously: jumped up from his desk sending his chair flying, grabbed the school walkie off his belt, and pulled Madison’s schedule from his breast pocket. He looked to see where Madison was right this second and put the radio to his lips.

“This is Hunter, go to condition Alpha 2, I repeat, go to condition Alpha 2.” He said, securing the doors by his office. After they were secure, he took off for Room 245. Madison was in History, and as far away as she could be without being in a modular classroom. As he ran down the hallway, he heard the PA system click on.

“This is Mr. Chapman. Due to some activity at Cassingham Elementary, we have gone into condition Alpha 2. The halls are to be empty, Teachers, secure your rooms, and make calls to the office if you need something. Hopefully this turns out to be nothing, but we are still taking precautions.” Hunter jogged up the steps to get to the second floor. As he jogged down the hallway, doors closed and there was the distinct sound of the locks being thrown. He knew that some kids would end up in classes that they weren’t normally in, and for a few minutes the internal phone system would be overloaded as kids reported to their teachers where they were. He slowed to a stop, breathing heavily outside of the door to room 245. He took a second to get his breathing under control and then pulled out his keys and opened the door. Twenty four sets of eyes looked at him.

“Mr. Bloomfield, I’m pulling Madison.” Hunter said. Mr. Bloomfield raised his hands. He wasn’t going to argue with the school resource officer. Madison was pale, knowing that her sister was at Cassingham Elementary. Madison had hurriedly packed her stuff up and she walked quickly to the door. After she was in the hallway, Hunter had closed the door to the class room and locked it.

“Officer Hunter, Rebecca was at Cassingham, wasn’t she. Where’s Sophie?” Madison asked as the pair moved quickly through the hallways.

“Yes, she was. They locked down immediately. I would imagine that Sophie is safe in her classroom. My understanding was that Rebecca didn’t make it into the school proper.”

Cassingham Elementary School: 11:51 AM

Sergeant Winters led a team of ten men room to room in the school, releasing the rooms from lockdown. Rebecca Anderson was still on the run and neither Mrs. Appleton and Mrs. Summers had seen where she had gone, or how she got away. By the time that the group of officers had gotten to the room that Sophie was in, she had been confined in a dark cabinet for about forty five minutes. Tom walked over and nodded to Mrs. Chadwick, who unlocked the door. Tom peeked around the door after she had opened it and saw that Sophie was asleep. That girl can sleep anywhere…He thought to himself, before reaching in and shaking her.

“Sophie, wake up.” Tom said, softly. Sophie’s eyelids slowly opened. She smiled at Tom.

“Hi.” She siad, groggily.

“Come on out of there.” He said to her. She slowly climbed out of the cupboard and hugged Sergeant Winters. “Are you ok?”

“Yes, Sir. She was after me, wasn’t she?”

“Yes, she tried to sign you out. I’m not going to let her get you, ok, Sophie.” Sophie nodded. “I need to go talk to Mrs. Appleton. I want you to stay here with Mrs. Chadwick, ok?” She nodded again. Tom left the room and Sophie’s class mates all crowded around her trying to figure out how she knew the police officer that just left.

Stark High School: 12:00 PM

Madison sat in nurses office, as that was one of the few rooms in the school that had two ways out, but was windowless. She was working on some of her homework when the door opened from the outside. Officer Hunter stood there.

“We’re clear, Madison, you can go back to class.” As soon as Hunter had heard the call go out that Cassingham was in lockdown, he immediately instructed the staff of the high school to go to a level two lockdown. The doors to the building were locked and there was controlled movement within the building.

“May I have your attention please.” Mr. Chapman’s voice came over the PA system. “I want to thank you guys for remaining calm, the incident that has placed our school, North Middle, Cassingham and Edison Elementaries into a lockdown has been resolved.” Madison looked at Hunter. “We are going to clear the lockdown now. Teachers, you may open the doors again.”

“How’s Sophie?” she asked. Hunter looked at her, and private called Sergeant Winters’ walkie.

“Winters” Madison heard Tom’s voice come through the radio.

“It’s Hunter. Madison is concerned about Sophie.”

“She’s ok. We’re piecing it together. We are still investigating.”

“Copy. Keep me advised. I’ll keep her updated.”

“Thanks.” There was a beep as Hunter disconnected the call. Madison looked relieved.

Cassingham Elementary School: 12:05 PM

Mrs. Appleton, Sergeant Winters, Mrs. Summers, and Officer Miller all stood in Mrs. Appleton’s office. The were discussing the situation.

“I’m going to have communications place two cars here for a bit to see if she’s dumb enough to come back. You said she fled after you issued the Alpha 3.”

“Yeah, just turned and ran. Didn’t see where she went or what she got into.” Tom pursed his lips and looked at the door to the school proper which was open. Mrs. Chadwick was walking with Sophie, who was crying.

“She wants you, Mr. Winters. I can’t get her to calm down.” Mrs. Chadwick let go of Sophie’s hand and Sophie came running over to Tom and wrapped her arms around his legs.Tom reached down and rubbed her back.

“Darn. I was hoping that someone got a look at what she was driving. I would say that you guys could return to regular classes.” Tom said. Mrs. Appleton nodded.

“Can I go with you?” Sophie said. Tom looked at her and then walked with her to the main office and sat in a chair. Sophie climbed up in Tom’s lap. She laid her head on Tom’s shoulder.

“Miller, have Communications release the 100, and maintain patrols… Advise them that I will mark when I’m enroute to headquarters or wherever I go from here.”

“Will do, Sarge.” Tom stroked Sophie’s hair. A few minutes later, Sophie’s breathing had gotten deep. Tom looked at Mrs. Summers, who smiled.

“Sophie…” Tom whispered. The little girl didn’t stir. Tom looked at Mrs. Summers again, a smile on his face this time. “Do you have something I can lay her on?” Tom whispered. Mrs. Summers nodded and then walked over to a door and opened it. Inside was the nurses office and there was a cot in the room. Tom stood, which caused Sophie to wake up.

“Mr. Winters, am I safe?” She mumbled.

“Yes, you are, Sophie. I’d like for you wake back up and go back to class. I promise you are safe here. The only people that are going to take you out of the school are Mrs. Winters or my self.” Sophie’s grey eyes looked up at Tom.

“Are you sure?” She asked in that voice that told Tom that she didn’t quite believe him.

“Yes, Sophie, I’m sure.” Tom said with a chuckle.

Stark High School: 12:30 PM

Tom pulled up and parked in front of Officer’s Hunter’s car. He got out and walked into the building, which was still in a semi lockdown. There was a staff member on both entrances. Hunter was in his office and he came out when Winters had walked into the vestibule.

“Sarge.” Hunter said.

“Hunter. Madison’s at lunch, right?” Hunter pulled a copy of Madison’s schedule out of his pocket. He skimmed it.

“Yeah.” Hunter looked at his watch. “At least for another ten minutes and then she’s up in 210 for Algebra.” He said, folding the schedule back up and placing it back in his pocket. Tom and Hunter walked into the commons area of the school and surveyed a quarter of the school sitting there at lunch. Tom’s eyes found Madison sitting with her friends. She glanced up at Tom and gave a shy smile. Her friends noticed and then turned to her. Tom assumed they were asking who he was. Madison walked toward where Tom was standing. She walked up and hugged him.

“What happened earlier?” she asked.

“Rebecca looks a lot like your mom. She tried to get into Cassingham and sign Sophie out. They went into lockdown and she fled. We haven’t found her yet. Keep your eyes open. Where’s your phone?” Tom asked. Madison patted the pocket on right side of her dress. “We need to get you a purse…” Tom said, letting that thought trail off.

“Yes, Mr. Winters.” Madison said.

“Go finish your lunch and I will be here at 2:30 to get you, ok? Wait with Officer Hunter until I get here.”

“Yes, Sir.” She said with a smile. Her friends had all moved closer to try to figure out who this guy standing with Officer Hunter was. Tom turned to Hunter.

“Keep an eye on her. I need to head back to headquarters. Also, I wouldn’t put it past Rebecca to try to come in here and sign Madison out.” Tom said.

“You think she’d be that stupid?”

“It’s going to be that stupidity that’s going to be her undoing.” Tom turned and walked out the door.

Metro PD Headqurters: 1:02 PM

Tom parked the car and went into the building. He walked up to his desk and sat down. Sarah came in and looked at Tom.

“We couldn’t find what she got away in. Couldn’t find her, either, for that matter. We aren’t sure where she went, Tom. I’m sorry.” Sarah said. Tom sat back in his chair and steepled his fingers.

“It’s ok, I would feel better if I knew what she was trying to do.” Tom glanced past Sarah and looked at the map of the city. He saw Sarah’s strawberry blonde locks bounce as she nodded. Tom stood and walked toward Sarah. She stepped aside and then followed him from the office and out into the hallway. He went toward the steps and then took them two at a time, ending up on the fourth floor.

Communications Center: 1:10 PM

Tom opened the door to the communications center with Sarah on his heels. They walked up to Sergeant Schafer’s office. She saw them coming and waved them in. She hung up the phone.

“What can I do for you guys, Tom?” She asked.

“How many units were around Cassingham before the call about the lockdown came in?” Julie furrowed her brow, and typed on her computer.

“What are you thinking?” Julie asked. One of the monitors on the wall showed the city wide display of tracked vehicles.

“Zoom in to zone two.” Tom said, he watched as the map went from showing the whole city to just the zone that Cassingham Elementary sat in. “Ok, now pinpoint the school.” Tom said. He heard Julie type and then a red marker appeared on the school. “How long before the call was this?”

“Um.” Julie said, consulting the dispatch logs. “This is ten minutes prior.”

“Ok, so no marked cruisers in a, what is that, 7 block area?” Sarah said.

“Yeah.” Julie’s voice was quiet.

“When was the last pass by the school?” Julie consulted the logs again.

“Twelve minutes prior.”

“Ok, so two minutes prior to this we had a pass. Roll it forward, in real time until the call.” Tom watched as the dots moved. “Display the tags, please.” The map changed to show the unit ID’s on the MDC’s in the cars. Tom watched the map in silence. Sarah stood behind Tom and watched as well. She didn’t know what he was looking for, but it seemed that it was something specific. “Roll the timer.” In the upper left hand corner of the map a timer appeared, counting backwards to the time that the call came in. “Pause it when the call came in.”

“Ok.” Tom watched as three more units had passed Cassingham. Two of the dots stopped in the street and sat for a minute.

“Pause it.” The playback paused with three minutes and forty seconds before the call. “Can you show a four block view of Stark High School on this monitor.” Tom pointed at the monitor to the right of the main screen.

“Um.” Julie hit a few buttons on the keyboard. The screen changed and showed what Tom requested.

“Thank you.” Tom said. “Let’s continue playback” The playback continued, and Tom thought of something else. “Julie, can you display a list of runs and dispatches that runs realtime with this mapping data?”

“Yep.” The screen below the one that showed the four block radius around Stark changed to show the runs that existed at that time. Tom’s eyes darted between the three screens. “Pause!” He said a little louder than he intended to. On the screen that showed the runs, there suddenly were five suspicious vehicle/suspicious person calls that pulled everyone on the zone away from both schools. Up until that point there had been few calls on the zone. This was what Tom was looking for. He stared at the wall and heard Julie typing. The screen with the runs changed to show response time and clearance codes. All five runs were marked as the code for nothing to report.

“Huh.” Julie and Sarah said at the same time. Tom frowned.

“Ok, Roll it forward, we only have forty seconds until the call came in.” When the call came in, every unit on the zone had little red and blue lights appear above the dot for the car. Tom stared at the map. There was one route that no cruisers had taken to get to the school. Tom stepped forward and tapped the monitor. “That’s how she got away.”

Stark High School: 1:30 PM

Officer Hunter was waiting outside of Madison’s algebra classroom for her to come out. He had been there when every one of her classes had gotten out, and he had walked her to her next class. Madison walked out of the room and smiled at him.

“They find her yet?” Hunter pursed his lips and shook his head. Madison’s smile faded. They walked in silence to the room that held Madison’s computer class.

“I’ll be back here when class gets out. Winters would hang me if I let something happen to you.” He chuckled.

Detective Bureau: 2:00 PM

Tom was looking over some papers that sat on his desk when Sarah knocked on the door..

“Julie has increased patrols around Stark. I’d like to come with you to pick up Madison.” She said. Tom nodded.

“Three sets of eyes are going to be better than two. You’ve also seen what she looks like since she changed the color of her hair. Ride with me.” Tom said. Sarah nodded, and watched as Tom stood, put his suit jacket on and walked out of his office.

Stark High School: 2:15 PM

Tom and Sarah counted every marked unit that was on the zone near the school. Tom pulled up next to Officer Hunter’s car and got out, Sarah doing the same thing. Hunter was waiting for them.

“She’s up in 206. Upstairs, north west corner of the building.” He said, folding the schedule and putting it away.

“Thanks Tony. Keep your eyes open.” Hunter saluted as Tom and Sarah walked into the building.

Cassingahm Elementary School: 2:19 PM

Sophie was watching the clock, knowing that Madison would be getting out of school in a few minutes. She knew that she was glad that Mr. Winters was picking them both up from school. She had been on edge since the school had gone into lockdown that morning.

Mercy Hospital: 2:21 PM

“Trauma Alert Q, Trauma Alert Q, Trauma Alert Q. Inbound 5 minutes. Trauma Alert Q Inbound 5 minutes.” Kira sighed and picked up the phone. She dialed a number.

“Prepare Trauma 1, have Dr. Thomas on standby.” She said into the phone.

“Mercy Air to Mercy Main.” The radio crackled.

“Mercy Main, Go Mercy Air.” Kira said.

“We are inbound with a sixteen year old female, injured in an automobile accident. Patient was restrained by a seat belt. Vitals are as follows: BP 100 over 60, pulse is 57 on room air. Respers are 30. We will be on the ground in five minutes.” The medic on board the chopper said.

“Copy, we will be ready for you.” Kira said. She sat the mic back in it’s holder and picked up the phone again. This time she called her husband.

Stark High School: 2:25 PM

Tom and Sarah were waiting on the bell to ring when Tom’s phone started ringing. He pulled it out and looked at it, tapped the screen and then put the phone to his ear.

“What’s up?” He said.

“It’s me. We just had an inbound trauma announced. I will be here for a bit. I’m not sure what you want to do for dinner, but I’ll figure something out for me when I get home.”

“Ok. What is it and how are they coming?”

“Sixteen year old female, from an automobile accident. She’s coming in via Mercy Air.”

“Ok. Call me when you are on your way home..”

“Yes Sir, I love you.”

“I love you too.” Tom said, before hanging the phone up and putting it back in it’s holster. Sarah looked at him.

“Let me guess, Kira?” She said.

“Yep. They had an inbound trauma, via air. Sixteen year old female from an automobile accident.”

“Nice. Who was the reporting agency?” Sarah asked as the bell rang.

“No idea.” Tom said. Madison came out of the classroom and saw Tom standing there. She walked over and smiled. “Hi, Madison. How was your day?”

“It was fine, with the exception of spending a period locked in the nurses office…” Madison said, with a chuckle. Well, at least she’s giggling… Tom thought.

Drive to Cassingham Elementary: 2:42 PM

It had taken Tom, Sarah and Madison ten minutes to get out of the school and another seven to get out to Stark Avenue. Sarah turned in the seat to look in Madison.

“So you spent some time in the nurses office today.” Sarah said. Madison shuddered slightly as she recalled the ordeal.

“Yeah.” Madison said, before turning her eyes to the windows that were beginning to get wet as it was raining. “As long as Sophie’s ok, I don’t care what happens to me.” Madison turned and looked at Sarah.

“We’re not going to let any thing happen to you.” Sarah tilted her head toward Tom who was driving. “Trust me. Tom’s not gonna stop until he has caught Rebecca, and he’s gonna do everything in his power to keep you girls safe until she is in custody.”

“I know he will. He also seems like he would be a good father. He cares about Sophie and I and he doesn’t have to. Mrs. Winters is the same way. I’m surprised that they don’t have kids.” Madison said. Sarah noticed a pained look appear on Tom’s face. She knew how bad he and Kira had tried to have kids before.

Cassingham Elementary School: 3:15 PM

Tom pulled up in front of the school and backed into a parking place, observing the school… Nothing looked out of the ordinary. That hadn’t stopped Rebecca Anderson from doing anything stupid already… Tom got out and opened Madison’s door, while Sarah got out and of the passenger side of the car. The three of them walked into the school, and into the office. Mrs. Summers smiled at them as they entered.

“Anything else happen after we all left earlier?” Tom asked her.

“Not a thing. How are you, Madison?”

“I’m better now that things seem to be stabilizing again.” Madison said. Tom wrapped his arm around her shoulder.

“You guys can go on back to Mrs. Chadwick’s room. “ She said. Tom nodded and the trio headed for Mrs. Chadwick’s room. When they got there, they still had to wait 10 minutes before classes got out. Tom leaned up against the wall and looked up and down the hallway. It was empty as Tom had expected it to be.

Outside Cassingham Elementary School: 3:20 PM

Rebecca Anderson pulled up on Moss Street and stared at the front of the school. Well, her hopes of grabbing Sophie again were dashed as soon as she saw the white Crown Victoria that sat in a parking spot outside the school. She put the Ford Taurus in gear and left the area before someone that she didn’t want to see her, saw her.

Cassingham Elementary School: 3:30 PM

The bell rang and Tom waited for Sophie to come out of the classroom. After all of the other kids had left the room, and Sophie hadn’t come out, Tom, Sarah, and Madison went into the room. Sophie sat at her desk, staring at the blackboard.

“Sophie.” Madison said. Sophie turned her head, and then jumped into her sister’s arms.

“Madison!” Sophie said. Madison about fell over when her sister had jumped into her arms.

“She wasn’t going to leave the room until you came in to get her. She has been on edge since this morning, which I can understand.” Sophie let go of Madison.

“I can too. Judging by the fact that we haven’t been back, I think it’s safe to say that she hasn’t been back?” Tom asked.

“Not as far as I know, and if she had been no one’s told us.” Mrs. Chadwick said.

“Probably for good reason. It tends to set everyone on edge after a lockdown.” Tom said. Mrs Chadwick nodded. “Is Sophie caught up now?” Mrs. Chadwick furrowed her brow, and then typed on her computer.

“Yes, she’s all caught up.” Mrs. Chadwick said. She looked at Tom and then at Sarah. “May I have a moment alone with Mr. Winters, please?” Madison and Sophie looked at Tom and then at Sarah. Tom nodded at the children and they went out in the hallway with Sarah. Tom looked at Mrs. Chadwick after the door had closed.

“Mr. Winters, It’s nice to see someone care so much about children that they don’t have to care about. You don’t have to care for Madison and Sophie, but you do. You care for them as if they are your own children. Can you tell me what happened to their mother?”

“She went into cardiac arrest yesterday morning. I have temporary custody of the kids while we are investigating. I’ve given serious thought to adopting them.” Tom responded.

“Would you like my opinion, sir?” she asked. Tom nodded. “I think you should. You already are acting as a parent to them, and I can’t imagine what would happen to them if they had to go into foster care.” Tom rubbed his chin.

Home: 4:20 PM

Tom pulled the Crown Vic into the garage and shut off the engine as he hit the button to close the garage door. As the garage door shut Tom opened his door and got out of the car. Tom opened Madison’s door and let her out. Madison walked around and let Sophie out of the car. They walked into the house and Madison and Sophie both sat at the table and pulled out their homework and started working on it. Tom started opening cupboards and trying to figure out dinner. Madison noticed this and looked at Tom.

“What are we having for dinner, Sir?” She asked. Sophie chewed on the end of her pencil as she looked in Tom’s direction.

“I have no idea.” Tom said, closing a cupboard and opening the refrigerator. “Is your homework done?” Madison grinned and then shook her head. “Get it done.” Madison smiled and then turned back to her homework. Tom closed the refrigerator as his phone rang. He pulled it out and answered it after seeing that the caller was Kira.

“Hey, what’s up?” He asked.

“I’m on my way home. The level one that was brought in coded, so we only had a bit of paperwork to do.” She said. “Where are you?”

“I’m home with the girls. They are working on homework. I’m looking for something for dinner. Any ideas?”

“Hmm…” Kira let the thought trail off. “I don’t think we have much in the way of food in the house.”

“I’ve noticed. Let’s wait for you to get here, and then we will go eat, and Madison and I need to go get furniture for her room.”

“Tom, we are buying a lot of stuff for kids that may not be with us for a while.”

“I’ve been doing some serious thinking about that, honey.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, but I will discuss it when you get home.” Tom said to her.

“Ok. I’ll be there in about ten minutes.” Kira said.

Hunington Ave 4:30 PM

Rebecca Anderson drove down Hunington Avenue past the house the Tom Winters lived in and glanced at it. It didn’t appear that anyone was home. She continued down the street.

Home: 5:30 PM

Kira pulled her car into the garage. When she walked in the house after closing the garage door, the kids were hiding in the pantry and Tom stood there, his hand on the grip of his gun. Kira smiled at Tom.

“Madison, Sophie, Mrs. Winters is home. You guys can come on out.” The door to the pantry opened and Madison and Sophie stepped out. Tom kissed Kira and watched as Madison made a face.

“What were you thinking for dinner, Sir?” Tom looked at Kira.

“Honestly, I was thinking about ordering a pizza.” He responded. Madison and Sophie smiled.

“Pizza sounds good to us.” Madison said. Tom nodded, and ordered the pizza.

Near the Winters' Residence 5:40 PM

Rebecca hadn’t actually left the area around the Winter’s house. She had watched as Kira had pulled her Passat wagon into the garage and shut the door. She saw that the police officer was home too. That told her that the kids were in the house. She would watch for a bit longer before she decided to make her move.

Metro PD Headquarters: 5:45 PM

Sarah was sitting at her desk finishing up some paperwork from some stuff that had existed prior to the discovery of Kristen Nairn. The second victim had yet to be identified, and the third vicim had been identified as Nicole Leftfield. The units in the Bureau had figured out how Rebecca had known the first and third victim, but until the second victim was identified, there was no way to know the relation between the two.

Home: 6:10 PM

Everyone in the house looked toward the front door after someone had knocked. Tom nodded at Kira and the kids and then quietly made his way to the front door. He peered through the peephole and saw the pizza guy standing on the other side of the door. Tom opened the door, and conducted his business with the pizza guy, surveying the area. Nothing looked out of the ordinary, which given the events of the last few days was a good thing… Tom carried the three boxes and the bag containing the two bottles of soda in to the kitchen. After Tom had ordered the pizzas, Madison had set the table and had everything ready to go for the pizza to sit upon the plates. Tom poured the drinks, while Kira placed pizza on every one’s plates. The four ate around the kitchen table, something that Tom and Kira hadn’t done in several weeks.

“So how was school today?” Kira asked the girls.

“With the exception of a lockdown at both schools, it was pretty much a normal day.” Madison said. Kira looked at Tom. He hadn’t mentioned that the two schools had gone into lockdown.

“Lockdowns?” Kira asked, “Why?”

“Rebecca Anderson tried to sign Sophie out of Cassingham. It send Cassingham, North, Edison and Stark into a lockdown. That is the procedure when one school in a cluster goes into a lockdown. The catch is that Stark is far enough away that it’s close to two miles away. They normally wouldn’t lock down Stark. With Madison attending Stark and not knowing what or who Rebecca was after for sure, we had no choice but to lock down Stark.”

“Yeah, I spent a period locked in the nurses office.” Madison said. Kira chuckled.

“I think that I would rather have you two safe than slip once and have something happen to you guys. That’s all it’s going to take is one little slip up from Mr. Winters or his detectives, and they will be hunting for you again. If there is one thing I will say about Mr. Winters it’s that he knows when to exert protective actions. Now is one of those time. It may seem excessive, but he’s only concerned for your guy’s well being.”

“I know.” Madison said. “I just thought that living somewhere other than with Chloe would be less restrictive…” Madison reached up to wipe away a tear

“I’m not being restrictive because I can, I’m being restrictive because, frankly, I don’t trust Rebecca Anderson and I’m not going to stop until she’s in custody and no longer a threat.” Madison nodded.

“Yes sir.” Madison said. It was nice to have someone that cared enough to put his foot down and tell them that what was going on, and what they needed to do to stay safe. Madison dropped her chin. “I’m sorry I questioned you, Sir.” Tom reached over and lifted Madison’s chin.

“Now don’t be like that.” Tom said. “It’s only because I care about you girls.” Madison nodded at Tom and smiled very slightly “Kira, Sophie; Madison and I need to go furniture shopping, do you guys want to come with us?” Sophie looked at Tom.

“Will we be safe here?” she asked.

“Yes, we will, sweetie.” Kira said. “I can be just as protective of you as Mr. Winters. What do you say we go put on our nightgowns and curl up in the bed and watch a movie?”

“Ok.” Sophie said.

“Sophie and I will clean up, You guys go so you can get back.” Kira said. Sophie nodded.

“Ok.” Tom said standing. Madison stood and straightened her sweater dress out. Madison was beautiful. Tom thought. I’m going to have to be fighting off her boyfriends for her. Tom picked up the dark grey wool peacoat that Kira had worn back into the house and held it out for Madison. Madison slipped her arms into the sleeves and then buttoned the five buttons on the front of the coat. Tom grabbed his suit jacket and the pair headed out to the garage. Madison started to get in the back seat and Tom stopped her. “Sit up front.” Tom said to her.

“Are you sure, sir? When ever we are in your car, I ride in the back.”

“In my car there is stuff that is usually sitting in the front seat. That’s why you don’t ride up front. Would you like to ride up there?” Tom asked, as Madison carefully slid into the passenger seat.

“Yes, sir.” Madison said, buckling her seat belt. “I would like that.”

“All you have to do is ask.” Tom said, starting the engine and pulling out of the garage.

On the way to the furniture store: 6:20 PM

“Mr. Winters, what did you and Mrs. Chadwick discuss when you had Detective Cunningham, Sophie and I step out of the room earlier?” Tom glanced at her, while coming to a stop at the corner of Hunington Avenue.

“She said that it was nice to have someone that didn’t have to care about you girls, care about you. She also asked what happened to your mom. I told her, and you know what she said to me?” Tom shifted the car and turned on to Chackel Street.

“What did she say?”

“She said that once our investigation is over, that I should look into adopting you guys. That said, I’m already trying to figure out who I need to talk to. If you girls end up in foster care, I am pretty sure that you would end up separated. That would’t be fair to either of you.” Madison smiled.

“You and Mrs. Winters can’t have children can you?”

“No. Mrs Winters has a condition that has caused her to be unable to bear children. We’ve talked about adoption, and I think that you guys came into our lives at just the right time for the right reason.”

“I didn’t mean to imply that you were too protective earlier. I actually kinda like it. I’ve had to adjust to being able to do most things on my own, but there are times that I almost ask for permission to do something. I almost asked before I ate the pizza. I kinda envy Sophie, she’s never had the restrictions placed her that I had placed on me. You are doing the same things that Chloe did, but the difference is that you care about us and you are restricting out of love. That makes all the difference to me.” And I would love to have the honor to call you father. Madison thought.

“We’ll get to where you aren’t thinking about asking me for permission to do everything.” Tom pulled the Passat in the parking lot. “Lets go get you a bedroom suite.”

White's furniture 6:45 PM

Tom and Madison walked in and headed right for the bedroom suites. Tom looked at Madison.

“How big was the bed you had before?” He asked. A salesman approached.

“Good evening, My name is Jack Regnier, anything you guys seeing peaking your interest?” he asked.

“Well, we’re looking for a bedroom suite.” Tom replied.

“For your daughter?” Jack asked. Madison blushed.

“Something like that.” Tom said, and looked at Madison, who beckoned him closer to him.

“I didn’t have a proper bed before, just a mattress on the floor. It didn’t even have sheets. I think it was only a twin sized. I know if I stretched out, my feet hung off the end.” Madison whispered in his ear. Tom pressed his lips together.

“I’m looking for a full sized bed at least.” Tom said. Jack nodded, and looked around the floor.

“Everything on the floor is adaptable. Most of them will do full and queen sized mattresses.”

“Ok, The trim in that room is a dark cherry, so lets go with that color.” Jack nodded.

“What are you looking for?”

“Bed, Nightstand, dresser.” Tom said and then looked at Madison. “And a mirror…” Madison blushed, which made Tom smile.

“Ok,” Jack said turning. “If you would follow me, I have a set in mind that might fit your needs perfectly.” Jack led them to a dark cherry set, that also included an armoire. “This one is $499 and it adds an armoire. Your daughter could store some of her clothes in there as well as the closet.” Tom looked at Madison, who shrugged.

“What size mattress?”

“It can be full or queen. The queen mattress adds another $200 to the price. The $499 price is with the full mattress.” Jack said. Madison looked at Tom. It was his money after all.

“We’ll take it. Can you deliver it tonight?” Tom asked. Jack looked at his watch.

“It’s a little late to try to deliver it tonight. I think the last run is out at 7, but let me go check really quick.” He said.

“Ok.” Tom said, watching as Jack went for the desk at the back of the store. He spoke to a grey haired lady at the desk and then turned and gave Tom a thumbs up. Tom gave a thumbs up back, and then wrapped his arm around Madison. Together they walked back to the counter to finish the transaction and get Madison sleeping in her own bed that night.

Home: 7:30 PM

Tom backed the Passat in to the garage and got out, and then walked around and opened Madison’s door for her. They both walked into the house, which was, for the most part, quiet. There was some giggling coming from upstairs, which Tom thought was a good thing. The two of them went up stairs to the master bedroom. Madison opened the door and giggled, Tom looked in and shook his head. The giggling was Sophie being tickled by Kira.

“The tickle monster is going to get you.” Kira said, reaching out and starting to tickle the little girl again. She glanced up and saw Madison standing there, smile on her face.

“Did you guys get something?” Kira asked, giving Sophie a chance to breath.

“Yep, and it will be here before eight thirty.” Tom said. Kira nodded. Tom looked down at Madison.

“Why don’t you go get changed into your jammies and you guys can watch what ever it is that these two were watching before the tickle monster came to play.” Madison smiled at Tom.

“Yes, sir.” She said, and disappeared off into the bedroom that the two girls shared. Tom held up two fingers to Kira, who nodded. Two fingers was the departments sign for everything’s ok. Tom heard a door open and he turned around to look and see Madison, wearing a mint green satin night gown. Madison took a flying leap to the bed, All Tom saw was green, and legs. The mattress groaned from the force of the impact and Madison started to tickle her sister.

“Madison! Stop or I’m gonna pee.” Madison stopped tickling her sister and curled up next to Kira on her left, and Sophie crawled over and laid with Kira’s arm around her shoulder. Kira draped her other arm around Madison’s shoulder and picked up the remote. She turned the movie back on and Tom dimmed the lights and closed the door. Tom went back downstairs and worked on setting his den up in the the old, dining room.

Communications Center 7:42 PM

“Unit 37.” Came a voice from a speaker.

“37, go” A dispatcher said.

“For the Comm Center Sarge’s papers, I just made a pass on S 12’s residence, Everything was ok.”

“Copy, Time is 1942.”

Motel on the north side of town: 8:00 PM

Rebecca stripped out of the jeans and tee shirt that she had put on that morning and stepped into the shower. She took a quick shower and then looked at what she had laid on the bed. She picked up the thick black lycra catsuit and started to step into it. She pulled it up and slid her arms into the sleeves. She reached behind her and zipped the suit up. Before she walked out the front door, she slipped a black ball cap over her newly cropped blonde hair. She had taken a pair of clippers to her hair, and it was now a short crew cut. She had often thought of shaving Kirsten and Madison’s heads. She knew it was one of those things that she would to have tied them up to do, much like the night that she threw all of their pants in the fireplace. If none of this would have happened, she would have eventually done the same thing to Sophie. She had given serious thought to doing to anyway, before Sophie turned thirteen. The only thing that had actually stopped her was the depression that Madison had slipped into. She knew that it had started after she had thrown all of the girls pants in the fireplace, and while she thought she was doing the girl a favor by taking all of her pants (The majority of which she thought were too tight and showed off too much…) and throwing them in the fireplace and watching them burn. She knew that Kristen had gotten calls from someone at the school about Madison’s depression even though no one knew that’s what it was yet. When Kristen had signed the contract that deemed her the property of Chloe, there had been addendums to that contract that gave everything that Kristen owned, up to and including her kids. Chloe had been thinking about changing Madison’s name to something else, just to prove the power that Rebecca had over her life. Madison had listened to what Chloe had told her to do so that she wouldn’t have to see her mother get punished on her behalf. Rebecca was sure that if she had enough time, she could break Madison’s will. Rebecca hadn’t counted on the two children getting away. Tonight, right around 11 PM she was going to change that.

Home: 8:15 PM

Tom had just finished plugging the computer in and turing it on when there was a knock on the door. He quietly made his way to the front door and looked through the peephole. On the other side was a burly man that had dark hair and a dark beard. Tom opened the door a few inches and peered out.

“Mr. Winters?” The bearded man asked.

“Yes, Who are you?” Tom asked.

“My name is John Jacobson, I’m from White’s Furniture, I have a…” He glanced at the clipboard in his right hand. “Bedroom suite that you purchased earlier tonight.”

“Ah, yes. Let me show you where it’s going.” Tom said, opening the door up further. He took John Jacobson up to the now empty room and looked at him.

“This where it’s going?” John asked. Tom nodded. Kira had walked over to to the door and opened it. Now she stood there with Madison and Sophie on each side of her. John exited what would become Madison’s room and looked at the rest of Tom’s family.

“You have two very beautiful daughters.” John said. Madison blushed and Sophie’s jaw dropped.

“Thank you.” Tom said, showing John down the steps. Kira winked at him. John was already back out the door by the time that Tom had gotten down stairs and him and his partner were unloading the headboard from the white box truck that sat in Tom’s driveway. John carried the headboard in and up the steps. John’s partner carried the footboard in. Tom watched as the partner went back out to the truck and got the rails that would support the mattress and box spring. He carried them in the house and up the stairs. Tom walked up the steps to see what the room was looking like and found Madison watching the two men transform what had been a den the day before into her bedroom. The room was slowly getting transformed into a bedroom. The two men went back out to the truck and carried the box spring in, and up the steps. They gently set the box spring down in the frame and returned to the truck. This time they carried in the mattress. Tom watched it go up and in the bed room. It was placed on top of the box spring. The two men disappeared back down to the truck. Madison went in and laid on the top of of the mattress. She smiled up at Tom.

“Mr. Winters’ you didn’t have to do this.” She said. Tom smiled down at her and then stroked her hair.

“I know. You need somewhere to sleep, and I know that you and Sophie can’t be sleeping that well in that twin sized bed. So you can sleep in here, and Sophie can sleep in there.” Madison smiled.

“I don’t think it’s gonna work, I think she’s gonna end up in here with me.” Tom smiled down at the young girl laying on the bed.

“You think?” Tom asked. Madison nodded. Tom turned to look as John and his partner carried the dresser into the room and set it against one of the walls. Madison rolled over on her stomach and looked at the dresser. Tom smiled at her. “We’ll see.” John’s partner carried the mirror up and put it on the dresser. John’s partner disappeared and a few moments later, the pair carried the armiore up and placed it on the wall between the door to the room and the closet door. Tom still hadn’t emptied the closet out, but the armiore would hold everything that Madison had for now, but probably not for long. John opened the door of the armiore and pulled out the same clipboard that he had when he walked up to the door.

“I just need you to sign here, acknowleding delivery.” John said. Tom signed the paper, and walked down stairs to the front door with John. After John handed him his copy of the paperwork. Tom shut the front door and locked it.

Corner of Main and Holland: 9:00 PM

Rebecca sat in a parking lot of a grocery store that sat at the corner of Main street and Holland Avenue. She was hoping to not attract too much attention while she sat there biding her time. She knew that normal police departments did shift changes every eight hours usually at 7 AM, 3 PM, and 11 PM. She was banking everything on the guess that Metro PD worked the same way. She went over the plan in her head again. She had one chance to get it right. She knew that her chances of getting away were slim, and that she would probably die while or after the attack on the house. She planned to take out the front door, go in, find Madison and Sophie and shoot them both, and then go after that Sargent and his wife. The Sargent would pose a problem though, as he was probably a better shot than she was. Maybe she should take out the defender before taking out her primary target. She mulled that thought over and eventually decided to go for Tom before he went for her. He certainly wouldn’t miss.

Home: 9:30 PM

Madison, Kira, Sophie and Tom stood in the door way, looking at the bedroom. Tom and Madison had forgotten something important when they were out earlier. They had forgotten to pickup a bedding set for the new bed. Kira had rummaged up a sheet set and a spare comforter that way the girl could sleep in the bed.

“Should we continue our movie?” Kira said to the girls.

“Sure. After that it will be bed time, right?” Madison looked at Kira.

“Yep.” Kira said, and then looked down at Sophie. “Where are you sleeping tonight?”

“I want to sleep in here with Madison.” Sophie said. Madison smiled at Tom.

“Told you.” She said, trying not to giggle. Kira looked at Tom.

“Told you what?” She asked.

“That Sophie would sleep in here with her, rather than in the other bedroom.” Tom replied with a shrug.

Communications Center: 9:45 PM

“Ok, We’ll send an officer out.” Shift Sargent Joshua Smith overheard a call taker saying. He watched the board and saw a run appear that was a suspicious person call.

“Joe, what and where is the suspicious person run?” Sargent Smith asked. Joe Clark typed on his keyboard and then looked up at Sargent Smith.

“It’s a possible sighting of Rebecca Anderson, at the Motel 23 on the north side of town.” Joe said. “I’m sending three units just incase the call pans out. We’re ready for anything.” Joe said.

“Ok, Mark that run priority, and keep me in the loop. I’ll call Winters and let him know we have a possible sighting of Rebecca Anderson.” Sargent Smith said. Joe nodded.

Home: 9:48 PM

Tom was standing in the den, rearranging the books on the shelf when his cell phone rang. He pulled it out and looked at it, noticing that the caller was the communications center.

“Winters.” He said, answering the phone.

“Hey Sarge, It’s Joshua Smith, we have a possible sighting of Rebecca Anderson at Motel 23 on the north end of town. We are starting three units just in case she’s there. A night manager saw her picture on the news and recognized her, and then called us.”

“Ok, Wells is the on-call, so if you need a D-unit, call him, but keep me in the loop. Also, I’m not sure if it’s getting passed on shift to shift, but if you get my banner, or an alarm from the alarm company, treat it as a 3. Don’t verify it, just start everything.”

“Will Do, Sarge, be safe and have a nice night.”

“You too, Sarge.” Winters hung up the phone and went back to his books.

Motel 23: 9:55 PM

The three units pulled into the parking lot of the motel with all of their lights off. The six officers that occupied the three cars got out, and conferred around one of the cruisers. One of the officers went to the office to get a key and details on which room it was.

“I’m Officer Mark Palmer, I understand you called in because you think that you have a person of interest here?” Palmer asked the night manager.

“Yeah, she’s in room 12, but I don’t think she’s here now.” The night manager, a man who’s name tag read Eric Jordan, handed Palmer a key.

“Is this the key to the room?”

“Yes, sir. I’m authorizing you to go in the room. I pulled the data on the room and she registered it under than name Michelle Marsh. Even has an ID to match.” Eric showed Palmer a piece of paper. “She’s been here for two days, checked in yesterday. She’s driving a late model dark Ford Taurus. I don’t know what the tag is.” He said.

“Ok, we’ll take a look around. I’ll let you know what we find.” Palmer said.

“Ok.” Eric said. Palmer went back out to his cruiser and looked at the other five officers.

“Ok, The night manager, an Eric Jordan, has authorized us to go in, she’s got room 12 under the name of Michelle Marsh.” Officer Brian James opened the passenger side door of one of the cruisers and leaned in, typing on the MDC.

“I found 6 Michelle Marsh’s in LEADS that are local, None match the current description of Rebecca Anderson.” Officer James said. Officer Palmer nodded. LEADS was the Law Enforcement Automated Database System. It basically tied into the major databases that Officers would need in the field.

“Any one of them drive a late model Ford Taurus that is dark in color?” Palmer asked.

“Um.” Officer James said, ducking back into the car. His head popped up a few seconds later.

“Yeah, she lives at 427 North Front Street, Apartment C.” Officer James said.

“Ok, Attach it to the card.” Palmer said, Officer James gave a thumbs up to indicate that it had been done.

“Unit 29 to Radio.” Palmer said into the microphone attached to his shoulder.

“Go 29.” Came a female voice from the radio.

“Can you send a unit to do a welfare check for me?” Palmer asked.

“Yes, Sir, Do you have an address?” Palmer looked at Officer James.

“427 North Front, Apartment C” James said.

“427 North Front, Apartment C. It belongs to a Michelle Marsh. If she’s there, ask her if she knows where her car is.”

“Yes, Sir.”

Communications Center: 10:02 PM

“Unit 29 to Radio.” Came the voice of Officer Palmer

“Go 29.” Dispatcher Kelly Stone said into the mic attached to the console.

“Can you send a unit to do a welfare check for me?” Palmer asked.

“Yes, Sir, Do you have an address?” There was a slight pause, She assumed that it was because Palmer was looking at a paper or something to get her the address.

“427 North Front, Apartment C. It belongs to a Michelle Marsh. If she’s there, ask her if she knows where her car is.”

“Yes, Sir.” She said into the mic. Sargent Smith placed a hand on her shoulder. She looked up at him.

“Make that welfare check a priority run. Also, get me as much info as you can about that car.” Smith said to her. She nodded.

“Yes, sir.” Smith disappeared back to his office. Once there he picked up the phone.

Home: 10:04 PM

Tom had just sat down in the recliner when his phone rang again. He pulled it out and looked at it. It was communications calling again.

“Winters.” He said, dropping the foot rest on the recliner.

“Hey, It’s Smith. Palmer is at the motel, he said that the room was rented by a Michelle Marsh. The name mean anything to you?” Smith said.

“Not a thing. You check the LEADS to see if there are any in the area?” Winters said.

“Yeah, Palmer did that. The night manager told him that the person that rented the room was driving a dark colored late model Ford Taurus. We found one match, at 427 North Front, Apartment C. Are you near a computer? I know that you still have one unidentified victim, I want to send you her DMV photo and see if she matches your Jane Doe.”

“Yeah, send it to my department email address. I’ll pull it down on the computer in the den. Tom said, walking into the den and booting the computer up.

“Sent. Tom, I’ll be honest, I think Rebecca Anderson is up to something, but I don’t know what.” Josh Smith said. Once the computer was on, Tom connected to the webmail side of the system and opened the email and stared at the picture.

“Yep. That’s our second victim.” Tom said, looking at the picture. He pursed his lips. That was her alright. “I’ll update our records to ID the second victim. Gracie never did get a hit on the girls prints.”

“We’ll look for a next of kin for you. I’m not sure how successful we’ll be. You guys are usually better at it than us.”

“Thanks, Josh. Put out an APB on that car. We have to find Rebecca Anderson.”

“Yes, Sir.” Smith said. Tom hung up the phone and looked at the girls picture, and then went up stairs to the bedroom where Kira and the girls were watching TV.

North Front Street: 10:09 PM

Officer Stephanie Webb walked up to the door of Apartment C. She knocked a few times, and got no answer. She was just getting ready to leave when one of Michelle Marsh’s neighbors opened the door and looked out.

“Are you looking for Michelle?” The woman asked.

“Yes, Do you know where she is?” Officer Webb asked.

“No, Ma’am. Haven’t seen her since Monday.” The woman said. Officer Webb pursed her lips.

“Thank you”

“You’re welcome, Ma’am.” The neighbor said. Stephanie watched the door shut.

“Unit 16 to Radio.”

“Go 16” came a male dispatcher’s voice.

“There’s no one home, also, Be advised that a neighbor stated that she hasn’t seen the resident since Monday.”

“Copy 2209.” The Dispatcher responded, sounding deflated.

Communications Center: 10:11 PM

“Unit 16 to Radio.”

“Go 16”

“There’s no one home, also, Be advised that a neighbor stated that she hasn’t seen the resident since Monday.”

“Copy 2209.” The Dispatcher responded, sounding deflated. The dispatcher looked up at Sargent Smith and shook his head. Sergeant Smith dropped his head.

“Lets see about getting in there. Winters ID’d this Michelle Marsh as his second victim.” Smith said. “Also, put out an APB for her car.”

“Yes, Sir.” Joe Clark said. Sargent Smith went back to his office and shut the door. Smith picked up the phone.

Home: 10:13 PM

Tom Walked into the bedroom and looked at Madison.

“Maddie, do you know someone by the name of Michelle Marsh?” Tom asked her. Madison pursed her lips.

“Nope. The name doesn’t ring a bell. Why do you ask?”

“Because we just ID’d Rebecca’s second victim.”

“Oh.” Was all Madison said.

Motel 23: 10:15 PM

Palmer opened the door to the motel and shone his flashlight around. The room was empty. Who ever was in here had packed everything up and left.

“29 to radio, this room is empty. Start me the on call detective to process the scene, please.”

“Copy 29. Time is 2215.”

Wells Residnece: 10:18 PM

Frank had just sat down on the couch when the phone rang. He reached over and answered it.

“Hello.”

“Detective Wells, This is Sargent Smith. We have a request for the on call detective. Unit 29 is at the Motel 23 on High street, he is pretty certain that he has the room that Rebecca Anderson has been staying in.”

“Ok, I’ll be there in about twenty. I need to get changed and pickup the van.”

“Copy, sir. I’ll let him know.” Sargent Smith said. Wells sighed and hung up the phone and went upstairs to change.

Home: 10:20 PM

Tom was sitting in the den when Madison came in to the room.

“Mr. Winters, do you have a picture of this Michelle person?” She asked. Tom nodded and pulled the picture that he had from the DMV records up. Madison looked at it.

“Nope, don’t know her, and I’ve never heard Mist-“ Madison stopped mid sentence and looked at Tom. “Rebecca mention that name.” Tom smiled at Madison.

“Old habits die hard, don’t they?” He said to her. She smiled back.

“Yes, sir. They do.” She looked at him. “I was wondering if you could come tuck Sophie and I into bed.” Tom smiled at her.

“Yep, I’ll be up there in a few moments.” Tom said.

“Ok.” Madison said, before disappearing into the kitchen. Tom watched the little girl go.

Corner of Main and Holland: 10:25 PM

Rebecca looked around the parking lot. It was empty this time of night, which she realized made her slightly stand out with the car that she had stolen from Michelle Marsh sitting out near Holland Avenue. She decided that for her plan to work, she would have to take out Tom first, and that was going to be a challenge. She didn’t know what kind of training he had, just that his training was probably better than hers. Once she got him out of the way, she would go after Madison and Sophie. That little bitch Madison was protective of Sophie, so she would force Madison to watch as she killed Sophie and then she would kill Madison. By that point, she would have to kill her self because she was sure that the officers on the department would respond in force to a duress call from one of their own. Rebecca started the car and put it in gear, and started to drive toward the house that would be her undoing.

Motel 23: 10:30 PM

Wells pulled in the parking lot and got out of the van. He walked up to Officer Palmer.

“Evening Detective, I’m 99% sure that Rebecca Anderson was in this room. In the trash we found papers that had Madison and Sophie Nairn’s names on them. There is no indication of what she’s planning to do though. The Night manager, an Eric Jordan, said that she’s driving a dark colored late model Ford Taurus. The name that she’s using comes back to a person that owns a car that the DMV lists as matching that description, From the way it sounds, that person isn't home though.” Wells nodded.

“Anything else indicate that Rebecca Anderson was in this room?”

“Nothing that we can see, but I’m sure that there are fingerprints in there. Most people don’t take the time to wipe down a room. She’s packed up and moved out.”

“Ok, Thanks Palmer. I’ve got Cunningham on her way. She will be here shortly and will assist me, you guys can clear.” Palmer saluted.

“Yes, sir.” He said and then went and got in his cruiser.

“29, I’m clear Code 7, turned the scene over to unit D-4.”

“29 is clear code 7, 2230.”

Home: 10:31 PM

Tom walked into Madison’s room and looked at the two girls sitting on the edge of the bed. They smiled at him, and he smiled back.

“Ok, Lets get you two girls to bed.” Tom said, watching as both the girls stood, and pulled the blankets back. They both climbed in the bed and Tom walked over. Tom pulled the comforter over top of the two girls, and then leaned over and gave Sophie a kiss on the forehead.

“Goodnight, Mr. Winters.” She said to him. Tom walked around the bed and looked at Madison.

“Goodnight, sir.” She said to him. He bent over and gave Madison a kiss on the forehead.

“Good night girls.” Tom said, moving to the door and turning out the light. Tom smiled at the two girls as he shut the door. Tom walked into the bedroom and looked at Kira.

“They found where Rebecca was staying. And we ID’d the second victim. That’s the name she used to rent the motel room.” Kira looked over at him.

“She was using the dead girl’s, Corrine, was it? ID to rent a room?”

“Not Corrine’s. Corrine was the first victim. This was the second victim. The one that we hadn’t actually figured out how she fit into this puzzle.” Tom unbuttoned his dress shirt and started to take it off when he heard glass break.

Outside The Winters' house: 10:32 PM

Rebecca slinked through back yards, undetected as she was wearing all black. Surprise was all she had going for her. She had the two pistols that she had purchased in the pockets that she had sewn into this catsuit. She pulled out one of the two pistols and used it’s grip to break a window.

Home: 10:32 PM

Tom calmly picked up the departmentally issued Glock model 19, and slid the flashlight on the rails of the weapon. Kira looked at him, the subcompact Glock 26 already in her hand. He opened the door to the hallway and used short bursts from the flashlight to clear the hallway. Tom reached over and hit the emergency call button for the police department on the alarm panel. He left the bedroom and headed for the room that Madison and Sophie were in. Once he got there and opened the door, he used the flashlight to look around the room. Madison was holding Sophie tightly.

“Go get in the bedroom with Kira, Now!” Tom said. Madison stood and carried Sophie to the Master Bedroom. Kira’s phone rang. She answered it, and looked at Tom, who picked up his radio.

“S12 to radio I am 10-3, I repeat, I am 10-3, I am 10-3.”

“Yes, My husband pushed the button. Ok, Hang on.” Tom’s radio made the all zone alert tones. Kira handed her phone to Tom.

“Yes?” Tom said into the phone

“All Units, S12 is 10-3, at 6294 Hunington. I repeat S12 is 10-3 at 6294 Hunington.”

“Sir did you push the alarm button?”

“Yes I did. We just had glass break. I haven’t gotten a chance to inspect anything.”

“Comm Center Sergeant to Unit S12.” Came Joshua Smith’s voice.

“S12, go.”

“Sir wait for the police to show up, they are on the way.”

“What is your status, Sarge?”

“I am a police officer.” Tom said into the phone.

“We are in the upstairs bedroom, southwest corner of the house. Myself and my half unit are armed.”

“Sir did you say that you and your half unit were armed?”

“S12, the closest unit is still three minutes out.”

“Copy. I’m heading out of the room, headed for the kitchen, that’s where the sound of the glass break came from.”

“You should stay put, Sir.” The guy on the phone said. Tom looked at Kira.

“Bathroom. Take this guy with you.” Kira nodded, and took the phone from Tom. Madison and Sophie were white as sheets as Kira gently pushed them toward the bathroom that was attached to the Master bedroom. Kira shut the door and locked it. Tom knew that if push came to shove, she would have to shoot. But Tom was going to do everything in his power to keep that from happening.

Intersection of Main and Smokey Row: 10:35

Officer Brian James punched the gas as he entered the intersection of Main Street and Smokey Row Road. He never saw the Toyota Corolla come out of the driveway of the Shell Station making a left hand turn. Officer James’ car made contact dead center on the drivers side of the car. The force of the collision was so bad that it broke the motor mounts of the Ford Crown Victoria. The force of the impact had thrown Brian James into the steering wheel knocking him out. The victims in the other car never stood a chance. As the two vehicles slid the three hundred feet that the Crown Victoria’s momentum pushed the cars right into a street lamp. Right after the cars came to a stop, a fire ignited under the leaking fuel tank of the Corolla. Both cars were fully engulfed before anyone could do anything to help the three people in the two cars. No one knew that there was a toddler in the back seat of the Corolla.

Communications Center: 10:36 PM

“Ok.” Jonathon Franks said, standing. “Get Fire to the Intersection Main and Smoky Row, we have an Officer involved in an accident.” He shouted.

“Who is it?” Sargent Smith asked.

“Not sure yet. I can’t tell by looking at the maps.” Jonathan said, shaking his head.

“As soon as you figure out who it is, let me know.”

“Yes, Sir.” Jonathan said

Home: 10:37 PM

Tom tiptoed downstairs and looked around. He didn’t see anyone so he went toward the kitchen. He flashed the light a few times and saw that someone had broken the glass on the back door and come in that way. Tom flashed his light around the living room and didn’t see anyone. He moved toward the den, flicking the light on and off. That was when he heard a scream from upstairs. Tom took off for the steps, taking them two at a time, but slowing his pace once he got upstairs. He saw that the bedroom door was open, and he knew that it wasn’t open when he left. He ran in to the room and looked toward the bathroom. He saw the back of Rebecca Anderson and he also saw some of Sophie’s blonde hair over Rebecca’s right arm.

“Rebecca!” Tom shouted. Rebecca spun around, dragging Sophie by the neck. Tom leveled his weapon at Rebecca. She smiled, and Tom was ready to knock that smile off of her face for all of the problems that she had caused the two girls. She held a small framed revolver to the side of Sophie’s head. Sophie surprisingly was not crying. %% %% “Drop your gun, Sargent, or I’ll put a bullet in Sophie.” Tom nodded and slowly sat the gun down. Rebecca smiled again. Tom looked at Sophie and nodded. Sophie bit down on Rebecca’s arm. In the shock of suddenly being bitten, Rebecca released Sophie. Tom drew his backup weapon from the ankle holster on his left ankle and fired off two shots. Tom picked up Sophie and then kicked the pistol away from Rebecca’s outstretched hand. His two shots had hit center of mass, just like he had been trained 25 years ago when he had gone through the academy. If she hadn’t dropped with the second round, his next shot would have been between the eyes. Tom picked up his radio.

“S12 to Dispatch.”

“Go S12.” Came Joshua Smith’s voice.

“I’m 10-2, Roll Fire, Suspect is down, I repeat suspect is down.”

“Copy.” Joshua Smith said. “Can you call the Communications Center?”

“Affirm” Tom pulled his phone out and called the Communications center.

“Sargent Smith.” Joshua Smith said.

“What’s up, Sarge?”

“Brian James was involved in an accident on while responding to the three.” Tom collapsed on the berber carpet as tears had started to flow. A 10-9 was the departments code for an injury accident. Sophie had crawled over to where Tom had collapsed. She crawled into his lap and he wrapped his left arm around her, and pulled his phone out with his right hand. He speed dialed the communications center.

“How did it happen?” Tom choked the words out.

“He was coming through Main and Smoky Row, a car turned left in front of him and they collided. The impact ruptured the fuel tank in the car he hit, both cars went up. The car he hit had a mother and her eighteen month old son in it. Fire thinks that Brian was knocked unconscious by the impact. If he hadn’t been he would have probably gotten out.” Joshua paused. “Tom, I’m sorry.” Tom could tell that Sargent Smith was about to lose it but was trying to keep it together.

“L3 to Radio.” Tom’s radio crackled.

“Go L3”

“I’m responding to S12’s residence.”

“Josh, did he suffer at all?” Tom asked. Madison carefully stepped over the body of Rebecca Anderson and joined Sophie in comforting Tom. Neither knew exactly what had happened yet, just that something had upset Tom. Rebecca suddenly sat up and pointed the second gun that she had right at Tom. There were three shots that rang out. Tom heard a bullet whoosh past his head, and then watched as Rebecca slumped forward, this time with a little trickle of blood from her mouth. Her eyes rolled back in her head and she fell to her right.

“You’re not killing my daughters or my husband you bitch.”

“What the hell was that?” Tom heard Josh say.

“She sat up, pointed a wheel gun at Madison, Sophie and I, and Kira took her out.”

“28, I’m pulling up to S12’s residences, break.”

“Go 28.” Came Josh’s voice from both the radio and the phone.

“Be advised, The missing vehicle from the welfare check is parked on the street about four houses south of S12’s residence.”

“Copy.” Tom looked at Madison. “Go open the front door. The calvary is here.” Madison rubbed her ears and nodded. Kira looked at Tom, who still had his gun in his hand and the phone in the other. Tom looked at Kira.

“Drop the gun.” He said. Kira sat the gun down as Officer Jessica Clark came in the bedroom.

“Josh, Officer Clark is here. I’m going to let you go.” Tom said into the phone.

“Are you guys all right?” Officer Clark asked. Tom nodded.

“Yeah, except for Rebecca Anderson. I’m sure she’s dead.” Officer Clark walked over and tried to get a pulse off of Rebecca’s body. She looked at Tom and shook her head. Tom collapsed backwards, taking the girls with him. He hugged them tightly. Three more officers walked in the bedroom. Officer Eric Lowe looked down at Tom.

“Sir, if you, your wife and the kids would come with us, please?” He said. Madison and Sophie didn’t get up at first.

“Come on, girls. Lets go with Officer Lowe.” Tom said, sitting up. Madison and Sophie sat up and then stood, both moving in such a way that it would prevent Officer Lowe from seeing their panties. Tom held out his hands and Officer Lowe helped him up. He left his firearm where it lay on the berber carpet. Tom stood and looked at the mahaym that Rebecca Anderson had created.

“Tom, do you want to find the girls some clothes to wear, I’m not sure how long its going to take us to process the scene.” Eric said. Tom nodded and led Sophie and Madison by the hands to their rooms. He let Madison go into her own room first and change. Madison came out and Tom looked at her. She had changed into a dark heather grey sweater dress and a pair of black leggings. Tom nodded at her and the pair of them walked Sophie to her room so she could change. Tom stood guard outside the door to Sophie’s room. Kira walked over and stood next to her husband. She was crying, probably as she realized that she had just killed someone. Tom wrapped his arms around her. Madison opened the door and saw that Tom was hugging Kira. Tom turned slightly as the door opened he looked at the girls.

“Let’s go downstairs to the living room. They are going to want to talk to us individually.” Tom let the girls walk in front of him and Kira as they went down the steps.

“Mr. Winters,” Madison started. “What’s going to happen to Sophie and I?” she asked after the two girls had sat next to Tom on the couch. Sophie laid out with her head in Kira’s lap. Four more people came in the front door, and they came into the living room. Tom saw that it was Detectives Wells, Cunningham and Harrington and Kevin Lane.

“Sarge, we are all going to take one of you. Sarah has called Madison. I would like Kira to go with Kevin, You can go with Daniel and Sophie can come with me.” Detective Wells said. “Gracie is on her way over, she’s going to collect the firearms for ballistics data.” Tom nodded.

“The 19 never fired, the two 26’s got two off a piece, and she had some wheel guns, I think she got a shot off from each weapon.” Tom said to Wells.

“Ok, I’ll make sure that Gracie knows that.” Wells nodded. “I don’t like doing this so lets get it over with. Where can we go, Tom?”

“One group can stay here, one can go in the den, one can go in the family room, and the other can go in one of the bedrooms upstairs.” Frank nodded.

“Sarah, you and Madison Take the den, Sophie and I will stay here, Kira, you and Kevin take the living room and Tom and Daniel will take one of the rooms upstairs.” Wells said.

Home: 11:39 PM

It was just after 11:30 when everyone except for Gracie, and Detectives Wells and Cunningham had left the house.

“Need to get something to board up that window. Do you think the kids will be safe if you and I go, Sarge?” Wells asked. Tom looked at Kira.

“We’ll be fine. I’m going to send the kids with Gracie for a bit and try to clean our bathroom up. I’m sure that there is something playing at the theater for them to go see.”

“I can handle that, I just need to make a phone call and make sure that Tim knows what’s going on. I may just take them to my house, and you can come get them after you get the house secure, Tom.” Gracie said, she reached up to fiddle with the stainless steel ring around her neck.

“My mom had one of those.” Sophie said.

“I know.” Gracie said, crouching down so her face was level with the little girls. “I’ve seen your mommies. Hers was a little different than mine, wasn’t it?” Sophie nodded.

“She said something about hers not coming off unless she was dead…” Madison said. Gracie looked meaningfully at Madison.

“Tom can I have a word?” Tom nodded and then tilted his head toward the front door. Gracie walked toward the front door and Tom walked behind her. They stepped out on the porch and closed the door.

“Do they know that Kristen is dead?” Gracie asked. Tom could see goose bumps appearing on her legs in the light from the porch.

“Madison does. I haven’t figured out the best way to tell Sophie yet. Why do you ask.?” Tom replied leaning against the wall between the two windows.

“Gillenwater’s office called. They managed to remove the collar and cuffs that Kristen had worn without damaging the locking mechanisms. They used the hidden pin lock system that a company called Axsmar developed. Basically it looks like a solid band that can’t come off, but it can. Do you think that Madison would want them?”

“I don’t know.” Tom said. “Did Wells tell you that he managed to ID the second victim?” Gracie nodded.

“Yeah.” Gracie said. “I can’t believe that Rebecca was stupid enough to try to break into your house.” She shook her head. “Break into a police officer’s house. That’s stupid.”

“Yeah. Once again, the good guys win.” Tom said, and turned and opened the door. “Hey Madison, would you come out here really quickly?” Tom said loudly.

“Coming.” Madison said. She stepped out on the porch a few seconds later. Tom pulled the door shut.

“Madison, I know that you know what kind of life your mother led. Grace just told me that the Corners office managed to remove the collar and cuffs that your mom wore. She asked me if you would want them. I told her I didn’t know.” Madison looked at Tom, and then at Gracie.

“Yes, I would like them.” Madison said. She turned her gaze back to Tom. “Mr. Winters, would you have any issues with me wearing them in honor of my mother?”

“I wouldn’t, no. But you may get funny looks from some of your class mates and random people on the street.” Tom said to Madison.

“I would wear them proudly. I already follow in her foot steps, it only makes sense.” Madison said. Gracie glanced at the girl, her dishwater blonde hair gently lit by the porch light, giving her a slightly angelic look. Tom reached out and hugged her. “Sir, what happens to Sophie and I?” Tom looked down at the fifteen year old girl.

“I am going to seek permeant custody, as looking at the data that we put together trying to find you guys and Rebecca Anderson, we couldn't’ find anyone that would have custody rights. I have no clue who I need to talk to, but I’ll figure it out and when I do, I’m going to adopt you and Sophie.” Tom reached over and opened the door to the house and the three of them went back inside.

“Any idea where we can get a piece of plywood at this time of night.” Frank said.

“I have some in the garage. Lets go get it. I would prefer to not heat the outside all night.” Tom said. Frank nodded. The pair went into the garage and came back with a large piece of plywood and a drill and a box of wood screws. Tom was planning on building something with that wood, but had never gotten around to it… Between Tom and Frank they boarded up the back door and when they were done, they looked at each other. Tom was not surprised at the fact that Frank, Gracie, and Sarah had stayed after the rest of the department had left.

“I’m going to try to get the girls to go to sleep.” Kira said. She had sat in the recliner and then Sophie had crawled up in her lap, and was now looking very drowsy. Tom nodded at her. Madison looked up at him. She was sitting with her legs folded under her, and her back against the couch.

“Do I have to go, Mr. Winters?”

“No, Madison, you can stay up with us, but when I say it’s bed time, it’s time to go, ok?”

“Yes, Sir.” She smiled.

“You said that you were following in your mother’s footsteps earlier.” Gracie said, “What did you mean by that?”

“I’m submissive, and I know that. Hopefully I can find a person that will take care of me properly, unlike that bitch Chloe did to my mother and I.”

“Madison, don’t rush it. Live a little first and then decide. You can still serve someone without them just using you. You could help Mr. And Mrs. Winters around the house, and neither one of them own you. Although I don’t see Kira owning anyone…” Gracie let the thought trail off. Madison looked at her quizzically.

Saturday, October 10th

Home: 12:49 AM

Tom and Kira had finally convinced the girls that they should go back to bed and that they would be safe. He had just tucked the girls back into bed and had given them both a kiss on the forehead. Madison beckoned Tom down so that she could whisper in his ear.

“Sir, Thanks for protecting us. You could have done nothing and let what happened happen. But you didn’t. You are a true hero.” Madison said. He looked down at the little girl, her face gently lit from the light in the hallway.

“No one has ever said that to me before, and you are welcome for protecting you. I could just say that I’m doing my job, but for some reason you girls mean everything to me.” Tom replied. He could see tears welling up in her eyes. One escaped and rolled down her cheek to the pillow. “Now get to sleep, we are going to go to Gillenwater’s office tomorrow and pick up the stuff that they have.” Madison nodded, rolled toward Sophie and rested her left arm over her sister’s shoulders.

“Good night, Mr. Winters.” Tom heard her voice say, already starting to drift off. “Night girls. Sleep tight.” He walked to the door and exited the room, shutting the door silently behind him.

Home: 6:00 AM

Tom rolled over and hit the snooze button on the alarm clock as Kira sat up. She always was the one that woke up to any sound. Tom felt the bed shake gently as Kira got up and then heard the door close. Tom rolled over stretched and sat up. He rubbed his eyes in the dim light of the bedroom. Tom stood up and walked to the bathroom that was attached to the Master Bedroom. He took off the tee shirt and shorts that he had slept in and stepped into the shower. Tom got out the shower and dried off. He pulled on a pair of slacks and put on a dress shirt and went toward the kitchen. Madison’s room was quiet, which Tom thought was a good thing… When Tom walked in the kitchen, Kira sat the cup of coffee that she had made for Tom on the counter and knelt.

“Up.” Tom said to her. She stood up and her black satin night gown fell back down to her thighs.

“Good Morning, Sir.” Kira said, before hugging her husband. She turned to pick up the coffee, and handed it to Tom. He did the same thing that he normally did in the morning when he had his coffee: go stand at the back door and look into the back yard. This particular morning, he was met by the sight of plywood. Tom drank the coffee, picturing what the back yard looked like. Tom heard little foot steps and turned to see Madison standing in the door way. She sleepily rubbed her eyes and smiled at Tom.

“Good Morning.” Tom said to her.

“Morning, Sir.” Madison said

“Morning. What are we doing for breakfast. I’m hungry.”

“Where’s Sophie?” Kira asked.

“She was waking up when I came down stairs. I would imagine she will be down shortly.” Kira walked over and turned on the TV to see what the weather was going to be like. The high was forecasted to be in the low forties. Madison saw this, and then looked at Kira.

“If Sophie wants to wear a skirt, Please put her in leggings or tights.” Madison nodded, already thinking that.

“Anything you would like me to wear today, Ma’am.” Kira looked at Tom, her eyebrows raised.

“I think this is the first time that someone younger than me has called me Ma’am.” Kira said to Tom, who was looking at Madison. Madison’s eyes were wide, like she was afraid that she had done something wrong…

“Is there something else that you would rather I call you?”

“No, Ma’am is fine.” Kira said with a chuckle. “I’m just not used to having kids your age call me that. To answer your question, no, there is nothing in particular that I would like you to wear.”

“Ok. I’ll be back with Sophie and we will be dressed.” Madison said, smiling. Tom and Kira watched her turn and go back toward the steps.

“Go get dressed. Let’s get breakfast out.” Tom said. Kira nodded and went the same direction that Madison had gone. Tom sipped his coffee while his family got ready to go out. Tom drank another cup of coffee in the time that it took the three girls to get ready. Madison and Sophie were the first two downstairs, both wearing hunter green sweater dresses and black leggings. Madison looked at the coffee robot.

“May, I, Sir?” she asked, pointing.

“Yeah.” Tom said, “Can you fill mine back up?”

“Sure” Madison said, before taking the coffee cup from Tom. She poured the two cups and handed Tom his cup back. Tom gave her a kiss on the top of the head.

“Thank you.” He sipped the coffee and looked at Sophie. “You girls look nice.”

“Thank you.” Madison said, executing a slight curtsy, which caused Tom to smile.

“Where did you learn to do that?” Kira asked, coming down the hallway.

“I learned when I was taking dance.” Madison said, quietly.

“You took dance?” Kira asked “Why did you stop?”

“Chloe thought it was a waste of money for me to take lessons, so she made mom stop letting me take them.”

“I disagree.” Kira smiled. “Let me guess, you could walk around with a book on your head with no problem?” Kira giggled. She remembered doing that as she learned to move gracefully.

“Yep. Sophie may be too young to remember me doing it. I bet I still could.”

Kira nodded. “I bet you could too. I bet I still could as well. Maybe we should try when we get back from breakfast…”

“Ok.” Madison nodded.

“While you two are walking around trying to absorb information by osmosis, I’m going to call and see about getting the glass replaced in the back door…” Tom said, with a chuckle.

“What’s osomos…” Sophie asked.

“It’s where your body absorbs stuff such as nutrients and other stuff that your body needs, without you actually eating it.” Kira said.

“Right now, if we don’t go eat soon, my stomach is going to digest it self. Let’s go.” Tom said, chuckling. Kira took Sophie’s hand and led her out to the Passat. Tom wrapped his arm around Madison and walked with her to the garage. Tom pulled the door shut and locked it, and then walked over and opened Madison’s door. Kira opened Sophie’s door and the children got in and and then Tom and Kira got in the car. Tom watched as the garage door went up and then he started the car and pulled out of the garage, and pointed the car in the direction of somewhere that served breakfast at six thirty in the morning.

Bob Evans: 6:30 AM

Tom pulled into a parking spot of the Bob Evans that was relativity deserted at this hour on a Saturday morning. He got out and opened Madison’s door. Kira did the same for Sophie the four of them walked into the restaurant. The hostess looked up at them

“Four of you today?” She asked.

“Yes. Three adults and one kids menu.” Madison gave a small smile and looked questioningly at Tom. “Make that two kids menus…” The blonde haired hostess smiled at Madison.

“I still like to color too.” Her name tag read Heather. “If you guys would follow me.” She said, leading the group to a booth that sat in the corner. Tom stood there as Madison slid all the way to the wall on the side that had the wall to her back. Kira shrugged and had Sophie slide in across from her sister. Tom and Kira sat across from each other, Sophie ignored the printed side of the placemat and started to go to work on the unprinted back side. Kira smiled as Madison did the same to her place mat. Tom just smiled as Madison drew using the crayons that the restaurant provided. Between the two girls there were three colors to chose from as both of the girls had a red crayon. Their server came over and took their drink orders, and stated that he would be back in a few minutes to give them time to look at the menu. The server came back about five minutes later with coffee for Tom and Kira and orange juice for the two children.

“What can I get for you guys today?”

“Scrambled eggs and bacon for the kids, I’ll have a triple stack of pancakes and bacon.” Tom said, The server wrote it down, and then the server looked at Kira.

“And for you, Ma’am?”

“I’ll have a waffle and some sausage links.” The server, who’s name tag read Jackson, nodded and wrote down Kira’s order.

“I’ll get this in, and it should take about ten minutes.” He said.

“Thank you,” Tom said, handing the menus back to Jackson. Tom watched him go and then looked at Madison, who had drawn a house, and a family, that consisted of a father, mother, and two girls. She looked over at Tom smiled and then blushed.

“Whose that?” Tom asked pointing, at the family.

“Us, Mr. Winters.” Tom raised his eyebrows, and shot Kira a look. Kira gave a small smile and glanced at what Sophie had drawn. It looked like a child’s drawing of a puppy.

“A puppy?” Kira asked. Sophie nodded.

“I’ve always wanted one, but Chloe wouldn’t let us have one. Said she didn’t want to deal with all of the hassle of a puppy…” Sophie said. Now it was Kira’s turn to shoot Tom a look. Madison tapped Tom on the shoulder and then looked at her orange juice. Kira watched as Tom pursed his lips and then nodded. Kira’s expression matched Tom’s as Madison picked up the glass of juice and took a drink.

“Madison, you don’t have to ask, remember?” Madison’s head dropped as if she had done something wrong.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Winters. It’s just that Chloe had pretty much beat that into me. I almost couldn’t eat lunch at school because there was no one to ask for permission to eat.” A couple followed Heather to a table across from the table that Tom and his family sat it. The woman had glanced over at Madison when she had finished her statement.

“Madison, lets talk about it when we get home from Gillenwater’s office.” Madison nodded and finished her orange juice. Tom watched as Jackson brought the food out from the back and carried it over to the table. There was silence as all four of them tucked into their meal.

Home: 7:45 AM

Tom backed the car into the garage, and shut off the engine. He decided that Sophie hadn’t slept very well the night before as she had fallen asleep on the way home from the restaurant. Tom opened Madison’s door for her and then walked around and gently pulled Sophie out of the car. She didn’t stir as Tom carried her into the house. Tom gently laid Sophie on the couch and then went into the den where he booted up the computer and started searching for a company that would respond as soon as possible to replace the glass in the back door. Tom pondered simply replacing the door with one that had less glass in it, but he liked being able to stand there and look outside. He heard a knock on the wall to the den and looked over to see Madison standing there. He waved her in, and she came over and sat in his lap.

“It was hard to eat lunch at school because there was no one to ask for permission to eat?” Madison nodded. “Did it occur to you that no one else at your school had to do that?” Madison nodded again.

“Yes, but I also knew that I led a different life than ninety nine precent of my classmates. Before Chloe tossed my pants into the fireplace, I got straight A’s. I was at the top of my class. I’ve ruined that now.”

“I disagree.” Tom stroked Madison’s hair. “You can still fix it. This school year is just starting, and you have plenty of time to correct it. I do have a question for you, though.”

“What’s that?” Madison asked.

“Would you have any problems seeing someone to help you with possible PTSD in addition to Mrs. Gray from the school?”

“PTSD?” Madison asked. Tom smiled.

“Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. I think that you and Sophie are going to suffer from it. Kira will be seeing someone for it as soon as I can arrange it, and, as I fired my gun last night, I have to see someone because of department policy. I’m worried that all of this has messed you girls up, and we need to be proactive about treatment.” Madison nodded.

“I wouldn’t object. Isn’t that what soldiers have when they come back from war?”

“Yes. It’s been called different things over the years, the one that stuck around for the longest prior to the publication of the DSM-IV[ Find out when PTSD was added to the DSM and which version] was the term ‘Shell Shocked’ because it affected soldiers that were on the front lines.”

“DSM-IV?”

“It’s the Diagnostic and Statistics Manual, Fourth revision. It’s what psychriaist’s use to diagnose a patient. I’ve flipped through one, there are a lot of mental issues out there. It helps provide a diagnoses by listing common symptoms of disorders.”

“Oh.” Madison said. “Sounds complicated…” Tom chuckled.

“It can be. I’ll find out about it and let you know, ok?” Madison nodded. “Go walk around with books on your head…”

“Ok.” Madison said, standing up, and heading back into the kitchen. Tom turned his attention back to the computer and finished his search for someone to replace the glass in the back door.

Home: 9:15 AM

Tom watched as the two men from Metro Glass replaced the glass in the back door. Tom was just happy to be able to see his back yard again…

“Ok, Sir, I need you to sign here.” One of the two men said, holding a clipboard and pointing at the spot where Tom needed to sign. Tom pulled the pen out of his pocket and signed the paper. The man gave him a copy of it, and Tom followed them to the front door.

“Thank you for coming out so early on a Saturday morning.” Tom said to the two men.

“You’re welcome, sir. Sorry to hear what occurred here last night.” Tom had given a brief description of the previous nights incident to the person he talked to at Metro Glass.

“I’m just happy that my family is safe.”

“I understand that, Sir. Have a good day.”

“You too.” Tom watched the two men get back in their van and then shut the door, locking it behind him. Tom glanced at the top of the steps, and saw Madison walking down them with a book on her head. She was smiling and had on a pair of Kira’s heels and still kept the book on her head. Tom went back to the den and heard the click of the heels that Madison had on behind him. He sat in his chair and watched as Madison came in to the den, and sat in a chair, the book staying put on her head. Tom shook his head, and Madison started giggling. That was when the book fell off.

“Did you get all of the information you were going to get from it?” Tom asked, chuckling.

“I guess.” Madison said, replacing the book on her head. She stood up and left the den, and went back upstairs.

Home: 10:34 AM

“Madison, Lets go to Gillenwater’s office.” Tom shouted up the stairs. Madison and Kira had been working on dancing for the last hour, and judging by the sounds that Tom was hearing they were having fun trying.

“Coming, Sir. Let me get my shoes back on.” Madison replied from somewhere upstairs. A few seconds later, Madison came down stairs, sans the book on her head.

“Kira, we’re taking the Passat. We’ll be back later.”

“Ok, I’m sure I can entertain Sophie while you guys are gone.” Kira said down the steps. Tom pulled a black coat from the closet and held it so that Madison could slip her arms into it. Tom walked over and opened the door so that Madison could walk out to the garage. She walked over to the Passat and got in the front passenger side. Tom sat in the drivers seat and opened the garage door before starting the engine. He turned to look at Madison.

“Let’s go, sir.” Madison said softly. “I want to get this over with.” Tom nodded, and pulled out into the driveway. Tom made sure the garage door was shut before he pulled out into the street and pointed the car toward the offices of the County Corner.

County Corners Office: 10:58 AM

Tom backed the Passat into the parking spot and shut off the engine. He reached over and patted Madison’s knee.

“You ready?” Tom asked. Madison nodded, and then opened her door. Tom got out, and walked around to where Madison stood. Tom placed his left arm over Madison’s shoulders and the pair walked into the corners office. Tom and Madison walked up to the front desk and looked at the receptionist. She looked them both up and down.

“What can I help you with, sir?” She asked.

“We are here to collect the personal effects of someone that was brought in on Thursday Morning.”

“Name of the victim?”

“Kristen Corrine Nairn.” Tom watched as Madison bit her lower lip.

“What is your relation to the victim?”

“Court appointed guardian of her children and Sergeant with Metro PD.” Tom pulled his shield and ID out and showed it to the woman.

“Mr. Gillenwater is expecting you. Hang on.” She picked up the phone and dialed a number. “Mr. Gillenwater. I have Sergeant Winters here.” She paused for a second as she listened. “Ok, I’ll send them back.” She looked at Tom. “You guys can head on back to his office. It’s the third door on the left.” Tom nodded, took Madison’s hand and walked down the hallway toward Clarence Gillenwater’s office. The door to the office stood open and Tom reached up and knocked on the door. The older plump man looked up from a report on his desk.

“Tom, How are you?”

“I’m good, Clearance. How have you been?”

“Good, who is this young lady that you have brought with you?”

“Clearance, this is Madison Nairn. We came to pick up the her mother’s personal effects.” Upon hearing this, Clearance got up from his desk, walked around to where Madison stood, crouched down in front of her and took her hands in his.

“Madison, I’m sorry for your loss. If there is any thing that we can do to help, all you have to do is call.” Tom could see tears start to form in Madison’s eyes.

“Thank you, Mr. Gillenwater, but I’m pretty sure Mr. Winters has most everything under control. I’ve not been out of his sight since he rescued us.” Clearance glanced up at Tom, who nodded. Clearance held his hand out so that Tom could help him up. Tom helped the older man up.

“If you guys would follow me, I’ll transfer your mom’s personal effects to you, Madison.” Clearance walked out of his office, and turned left, and walked down a hallway to a door labeled ‘Effects’. Swiping his keycard, he pushed the door open and the trio walked into the room. It was a large windowless affair, probably thirty feet wide by forty feet deep. The lights came on as they entered the room. Clearance opened a cabinet and then withdrew a plastic bin, not unlike those that the Postal Service use for mail. He sat it on the long metal table that was in the center of the room. Madison looked over the top edge of the bin, and saw the collar and cuffs that her mother wore on a daily basis. Madison reached in and picked up the collar, she saw the tag hanging off the front of it and looked at the two men.

“Could one of you please remove this tag?” Madison asked, holding the collar up. Tom took the collar and marveled at it. He had seen the pictures of one, but had never held one in his hand. It felt lighter than Kira’s collar, and he really liked the way it looked. Tom worked the tag that hung off the collar off the built in ring and then handed the collar back to Madison. Madison held it around her own neck and looked at Tom.

“Are you sure you want to do that, Madison? It took my people hours to figure out how to remove it from your mothers neck…” Clearance said. Madison smiled at him.

“Yes, Mr. Gillenwater, I’m sure of what I want to do.” Madison knew that her neck was about an eighth inch larger than her mothers, and that would make the collar just a little bit tighter. Madison looked at Tom for approval. Tom gave an almost imperceptible nod of his head. Madison knew what she was looking for, and Clearance Gillenwater couldn’t see Tom so he couldn't see Tom give permission. The room was silent as the two halves of titanium slid together and the click of the locking pin sliding into its recess echoed around the room. Tom watched as Madison shuddered at the sound, and then a grin appeared across her face. Madison picked up the cuffs and proceeded to place one around her slender left wrist. The smile stayed on Madison’s face as she repeated the process with her right wrist. Madison picked up the ankle cuffs and looked at them, thinking over putting them on. She knew the size of her neck and wrists were close to the size of her mothers, but she didn’t know about the ankles.

“Well, I can say that I’ve never seen that happen before…” Clearance Gillenwater said.

Home: 12:20 PM

On the way home, Madison reached up to feel where the tag has been attached to the collar. She seemed to have adjusted to the collar and cuffs rather quickly. Tom backed into the garage and walked around to open Madison’s door for her. Madison got out, and stood there, looking at the door. Tom watched her, trying to figure out what was going through her head.

“What going on under that blonde hair, Madison?” Tom asked her.

“I’m worried about Sophie seeing me wearing Mom’s collar and cuffs. I’m not sure that she will understand.”

“I think she will.” Tom replied, crouching so he could look into her eyes. “You may have to explain what is going on, and about your mom, but Kira and I are going to be here to help you pick up the pieces, Ok?” Madison looked at Tom, and nodded. She had feared of her mother’s death before she and Sophie had been rescued. Madison’s face changed from a look of worry to a look of determination. Tom smiled at her, as Kira opened the door. The two of them walked in to the house in silence. Sophie looked at Madison and smiled. Tom and Kira watched Sophie carefully.

“Maddie, those are mom’s aren’t they?” Madison bit her lip.

“Yes, they are.” Madison paused, trying to maintain her own composure. “Sophie, I have to tell you something, come over here and sit with me.” Sophie looked at Tom who nodded.

Home: 2:30 PM

Tom was sitting in his den, looking through the medical plan books to see if he could find a psychriast for Madison when his phone rang. He pulled it out and looked at it, seeing the caller was Cunningham.

“Winters.”

“Hey It’s Sarah, I just got word from Houk. He is requesting see you at 11:30 in his courtroom, 12C, on Monday.”

“Wait, Houk called you?”

“Yeah. I’m the only contact he has at the moment and he knows that I’ll pass messages on to you.”

“Yep. Pass on the message that the entire family will be there Monday.”

“Will do. I added it to your calendar so if you were to actually look at it, you would see it.” Every one that had an email account had a calendar as well. There was even a master calendar for the detective bureau so that the Detectives could put court dates on so that everyone would know when someone was due in court.

“Ok. I will make sure I check my calendar more, mom.” Sarah chuckled.

“I should smack you for that, Sarge…” Sarah said, still chuckling.

“I wouldn’t do that. But thanks for the heads up. I’ll give you a call Monday when we are done and let you know what the status is.”

“Alright, I’ll see you Monday, Sarge.” Tom put his phone back in it’s holster. He stood and went upstairs. Kira and the girls were in the master bedroom. Tom pushed the door open and saw Madison holding Sophie, and Kira holding both girls. Kira looked at him as he entered.

“What’s up?” She asked, not calling him Master in front of the kids.

“I just got off the phone with Sarah. She said Judge Houk has requested that we be in his courtroom at 11:30 Monday Morning. It’s for custody.” Madison smiled and Sophie looked confused.

“What does that mean?” She asked. Tom could tell that she had been crying.

“That means that Kira and I are going to take care of and protect you until you turn 18.” Tom said to the little girl.

“Oh.” Was all Sophie said.

“Sir, May I make a suggestion?” Madison said.

“What’s that, Madison?”

“That Sophie and I wear matching outfits.” Now Sophie really looked confused.

“Ok. Two questions: one, why and two, what?”

“Why is so that we look professional. We aren’t just popping around to a friends house for a visit, we are going to a court of law. And what is a simple black skirt and white blouse.” Sophie pouted.

“Do I have to?” She asked.

“Actually, Madison, I like your idea. I think we may need to go shopping.” Tom said.

Home: 5:30 PM

Tom served the casserole that he made onto the plates that Madison had set on the table. This was the first time that the four of them had sat down around the table and eaten. Sophie looked at what Tom had scooped on to her plate and then looked up at Tom.

“What is it?” Sophie asked, poking at the food with her fork, almost expecting it to move.

“Tuna Noodle Casserole.” Madison replied. Tom had let her sample it before he mixed it in with the noodles and placed it in the stove. “It’s good. I could eat it before it was baked.” Sophie picked up a small piece of the food from her plate and took a bite. Tom watched as her face went from a dubious look to a smile. “I told you it was good…” Madison said, digging into the food that was on her plate. Kira smiled as she shook her head, and watched Tom nod at her. Kira dug in. This was one of her favorite dishes and she didn’t think that Tom cooked it nearly enough.

Monday, October 12th

Domestic Court: 11:30 AM

Tom and Kira had both taken the day off of work so that they could stand before the Honorable David Houk. He was the same judge that had signed the order granting temporary custody of the girls to Tom. This time, Tom’s request would be for adoption.

“All Rise for the Honorable David Houk.” The bailiff said. Tom, and the rest of his family stood. They were the only ones in the court room, and Tom had picked out the clothes that the girls wore today. Madison and Sophie were dressed alike, both in black skirts, and white satin shirts. Kira was dressed in a skirt suit. Madison had raised the eyebrows of the security guards as she had gone through the metal detectors and had the collar and cuffs that had been her mothers set off the detectors. They ended up wanding Madison and determined that it was the visible metal that had set off the detectors and let her go through as she couldn’t remove the cuffs and collar without the improvised tools that were still at the house. “You may be seated.” Judge Houk said. The Bailiff remained standing.

“Your honor, we have State of Ohio and others, versus the Nairn children. This matter was brought before His Honor on Thursday with out the interested parties present in a request for temporary custody. Your Honor today, we have Mr. And Mrs. Winters as well as Madison and Sophie Nairn. The matter being brought before his Honor today is permanent custody of the two children.

“Mr. Winters, it’s nice to finally meet you in person.” Judge Houk said.

“Likewise, your Honor. I appreciate you allowing me to have one of my detectives seek custody on my behalf.”

“So the bailiff says that you are hear to seek permanent custody, Mr. Winters.”

“Yes, Your honor, that is correct.” Tom said, Judge Houk looked at Madison.

“Miss Madison.” Madison’s gaze shifted from the floor to the bench where Judge Houk sat.

“Yes, sir?” she said, standing.

“May I ask what is around your neck and limbs.?” He asked.

“They are the collar and cuffs that my mother wore daily, Sir.” Madison said.

“Ah. What do you think about Mr. And Mrs. Winters adopting you and your sister?”

“I would be honored, Sir. Mr. Winters has been the father I never had, and I can tell that he would make an excellent father.”

“What about you, Sophie?”

“I miss my mother, and I never really knew my father, but I think that I could adjust to living with the Winters. I know that we would be safe regardless…” Sophie let the thought trail off, and reached up to wipe a tear away.

“Mrs. Winters, How would you feel about taking the two children under your wing, so to speak and guide the children?”

“I would consider it an honor, and do everything in my power to make sure that the girls were raised right, your Honor.” Kira said. Judge David Houk leaned back in his chair and looked at the four people in the court room.

“I hearby, under the powers vested in me by the state of Ohio, grant custody of Madison and Sophie Nairn to Mr Thomas and Mrs. Kira Winters. Sophie and Madison Nairn will hereto be refereed to as Sophie and Madison Winters.” Judge Houk said.

Epilogue: 2 years later

Tom pulled up outside of Stark High School and looked at the building. He didn’t have to honk, Madison was sitting outside. The clouds had broken and the sun was now shining.

“Hey dad.” She said getting into the front seat of the Crown Victoria.

“Hey Sweetie. You ready to go down to Columbus and visit Ohio State?” Madison had been looking at colleges where she could learn the fine art of criminal justice or forensics. She was still not sure which field she wanted to go into.

“Yep.” Madison said. Brushing her now dyed brown hair out of her face, causing the tag on the collar to jingle. Madison had requested a tag to attach to the collar that said “In Memory of Kristen Corrine Nairn.” On one side and on the other: “We miss you, Mom.” She buckled her seat belt.

“Ok, We’re gonna stop for lunch on the way. How much research have you done into this?” He asked, putting the car in gear and pulling away from the school.

“A fair amount.” Madison said, sliding her silver framed glasses back up her nose. Tom had discovered her sitting close to the screen on her laptop one night, gotten her in to see the eye doctor and he determined that her eyesight had grown weaker since the eye exam that the state required in the ninth grade. Sophie had been diagnosed with worsening eye sight as well and she now had glasses which had improved her grades as she could now see to do her homework “OSU is the one of the top schools in the country in both forensics and criminal justice. I am going to do one or the other, just not sure which.”

“Just like your dad, huh?” Tom said, chuckling has he got on Interstate 75. Madison flashed a smile, her grey eyes sparkling in the sunlight.

“Yep. How much you want to bet that Sophie goes into nursing, just like mom?” Madison said.

“She may. She’s taking interest in what Kira does during the day. It would make a lot of sense.” Tom said. The two rode in silence for about four miles.

“Dad. I miss mom.” Madison said suddenly. It had been just over two years since Madison had found out that her mother had been killed. Tom reached over and placed his hand on Madison’s shoulder.

“I know, Madison, I know. My mom passed away when I was your age. She died in a car accident that disabled my father. As I was the oldest I had to take on some of the things that they did as parents. I didn’t get the chance to finish out my child hood like you have. You and Sophie got a second chance at child hood. Who knows what Rebecca would have you doing now if she had succeeded.”

“Probably serving her every beck and call.” Madison said, glancing at Tom. “Thank you for doing what you did to save us and keep us safe. You didn’t have to try to gain custody in the first place.”

“I know, and you are welcome. There isn’t a day that I don’t give thanks for the two of you. You’ve made mine and Kira’s lives whole.” Tom said.

End