Robbery In Progress

*Emma*

My phone was ringing, but it was dark out. That was definitely my phone though. I cracked open one eye to look around the room, and confirmed that indeed it was still dark out. The clock on my dresser confirmed that it was two in the morning to be exact.

*Who in the heck is calling me at two in the freaking morning?* I asked myself as I reached for my phone. Kelsey shifted next me to but didn't appear to wake, causing me to sigh in relief. One glance at the number calling me, though, and my blood pressure was back up. *It was Joe.* Why was Joe calling me at two in the morning?

I quickly answered the call before I could miss it completely and slowly got out of bed, heading towards the kitchen so I didn't wake Kelsey.

"Hello?" I asked, just in case someone found Joe's phone he was using to contact me with.

The voice on the other line threw me, though. It was a young girl. "Are you the FBI agent? The negotiator?"

This was dangerous territory to be in, confirming my identity could put Joe in danger, but what if the person calling was the one in danger? "Who is this?" I asked, hoping to gather more information before making any sort of decision. "Joe is my father. Please tell me you're Emma." Her voice was hushed but she spoke hurriedly, "I found this phone my dad's been carrying around earlier and your number is the only one in the call history."

"It's okay, you don't have to worry. What's your name?" My voice sounded confident and calm, but my heart rate was going crazy.

"You have to find my mom. He says he'll let us go when we're done but I don't trust that he will."

"Shh, shh, calm down for me. What's your mom's name? I can't find her if I don't know who I'm looking for." I reasoned softly.

"Samantha. Samantha O'Rourke." Finally, something to crack this case wide open, I thought. I pulled my phone away from my ear to throw that name in a note.

"Okay, that's good. Can you tell me your name?"

There was a pause, "Sarah." It was quiet but I heard.

"Sarah, that's good. You're doing great. Okay, Sarah. Who took your mom?"

I heard ruffling in the background and then, "someone's coming. I have to go." The line went dead before I could say anything else.

*Kelsey*

The first thing I noticed when I woke the next morning was that the bed was cold beside me. Rationally, I knew she hadn't left me the morning after because we were in her apartment and I would like to think we've moved past that. But the doubt still crept in at least a little.

Since my clothes were nowhere to be found, I stole some of Emma's sweats and a t-shirt. The sweats had the FBI logo on the right leg, which reminded me of how I used to see them before Emma happened. Thinking about how she changed my mind made me smile, sure some of thing were still not great people, but plenty of them are great and I won't forget that.

As I approached the closed bedroom door, I heard muffled voices on the other side. Emma was talking to someone but I wasn't sure who. It wasn't a voice I recognized.

"Why would I check missing persons reports for a bank robbery case?" The man asked her.

"I realize that it's not textbook, but we should have enough information to identify them now. I mean, how many Joe's can be from Boston, with a law enforcement background, and have a wife named Samantha O'Rourke that was kidnapped, and a daughter named Sarah?"

"How do you even know that his name is Joe? Or that his wife is really missing?"

"And how do you know that it isn't? Or that she isn't? I know that he could be messing with us, I realize that's a possibility. But we wouldn't be doing our jobs if we didn't at least look into it. Because what happens if this is true, and we do nothing? Our job is to protect the people, Drew. That means all of them, even the ones that might be lying to us. Even the ones committing crimes."

They were both silent for a minute and I started feeling a little guilty for listening in.

"I haven't heard you talk like this since Sam," was all he said.

"Yeah, well...it's hard to be compassionate when you're all caught up in your own misfortunes."

"And you're not caught up in them anymore?" His tone was gentle. If I wasn't already convinced that this was another negotiator then this would have been a clue in, he knows how to make people feel safe enough to open up without too much effort from the looks of it.

"I'm coming out of it. Now would you please do the search?" Now that their little heart to heart was over, I didn't want to hide any longer so I opened the door of her bedroom and made my way to the kitchen, trying to act as natural as possible. The motion absolutely caught both of their attention because when I looked up from the coffee pot they were both staring at me.

"Um, morning?" My greeting was laced with confusion as I stood in the middle of her kitchen, coffee mug in hand. They were in the living room, he was sitting on the couch and she was standing. Probably because she liked to pace when she was working over a problem.

Her expression softened when we made eye contact but I could tell she was still on edge about something, "hey."

"Sorry, I didn't realize you had company." The man added as he rose from the couch. "I'll be on my way, I have a search to do anyway." He nodded in my direction before letting himself out. *One of these days I swear we are going to have a normal morning after,* I thought to myself.

"I'm sorry about that. How did you sleep?" She was already showered and dressed for work, considering it was only six in the morning I shudder to think what time she got up and wonder if she got any sleep at all.

"Good, but I woke up alone. And I had to steal some clothes since mine weren't around. I hope you don't mind." My whole body was screaming to get closer to her but something was holding me back. She didn't approach me either, which only fueled my concern.

"I don't mind, they look better on you anway. Your clothes are in the dryer, I ran a load so you wouldn't have to wear dirty clothes to work."

Well, that was considerate of her. I slid into stool and took a sip of coffee, "thanks. You must have gotten up mighty early to do that." I was fishing, I knew it, she knew, we all knew it.

"I didn't get up for that. I got a phone call around two am and I couldn't get back to sleep after it so I figured might at well." She joined me at the island with her own cup of coffee. She continued when I didn't say anything, "it was Joe's daughter. Allegedly, I guess." She rolled her eyes in a huff, "Drew doesn't want me saying anything in absolutes until we know more."

"So that was Drew?" I waved my hand in the direction of the living room in an effort to direct my question.

"Right, you two haven't met. Yes, that was Drew. My boss. I told him about the call, asking him if he would run a missing persons search when he got into the office today and he decided to make a pit stop." She fell silent again. "This is my first case back in the field since Sam died. I think he's worried that I'm getting too attached, letting my judgment blur. But I'm not." She assured me, and I rested my hand on hers.

"I know you aren't. Tell me about the call." My main goal was to comfort and assure her, but this was my case too so I wanted her to confide in me.

"It wasn't very long. I thought maybe it was Joe calling, since it was the number from our text we sent yesterday. But when I answered it was a woman. Young, maybe mid twenties if I had to guess. She wasn't very forthcoming, but I don't think that was on purpose. She was just short on time and wanted to tell me about her mom. I had to ask her twice for her name, only once for her mom's."

"Okay, and what did she say about her mom?" My mind was racing with this new information, was Joe's daughter being held captive? Or was she possibly the female robber we've received eye witness accounts of?

"Just that I need to find her. And Joe messaged back, I saw that after the call."

"What did he say?" I asked when she didn't continue.

"He said 'She's lovely. I hope to meet her another time or two.' I haven't really worked out what that means yet, it's giving me a headache."

I set down my coffee and slid off the stool. "I am going to go shower and get ready for the day. We can brainstorm when we get to the precinct." She just nodded and I headed towards the bathroom. Somehow we were just given more information than we knew what to do with while also having nothing to go on. I just hoped we figured it out in time.