A Hope Waiting In The Dark

Ideas And Memories

"Text messages. Gimme your phone," Jamie stood up and took his brother's phone.
"What're you doing?" Sean wondered, looking at his Uncle.
"When Linda texted you last," he quickly found her texts, "11: 35."
"Great. That'd be helpful if we knew the when, where, and how." Danny grumbled, "the bastards aren't going to go to the same old warehouse. They might be stupid, but they're not that stupid."
"Warehouses," Eddie pointed time Danny, standing up. "This whole copycat case is molded after one in, what was it? The sixties?"
"It was '89," Erin corrected, looking to her sister in law.
"Okay. And there were more popping up over the years. What's the thing they have in common? Other than kidnapping and rape."
The family thought for a moment, thinking of the common denominator.
"Warehouses." Jamie stated, "warehouses in the next state over. In Florida, it was Georgia. Virginia, North Carolina."
"And it's usually been down," Erin mused, starting to follow Eddie's direction. "So Linda could be in Jersey."
"And all we gotta do is get a list of shut down factories near New York, assemble ESU...." Danny grabbed his coat from the couch, "Eddie, you may be a genius. I'm gonna get on this."
"You're gonna need warrants," Erin called, grabbing her coat as well.
Eddie watched them leave, "you think we broke the case?"
"The first half, anyways." Jamie stood up, "Come on, we can do some research back at the apartment. Dad, I can fix that hole. It's not that hard to do," he jabbed his thumb over his shoulder.
Frank looked at Henry, then Jack and Sean, "I guess you two will be staying here for the night."
"Cool."
***********
A few days later, the Reagans had narrowed the list from about 150 warehouses to forty five.
"Great. We're just equally as lost as we were three days ago!" Danny grumbled, looking at the files.
"We'll find her, I know." Baez smiled over at him.
"Yeah, we'll find her," Danny agreed softly, "cold, pale, and not breathing."
Baez's heart broke for her partner. "We'll find her alive and— maybe not well, but we'll find her alive. I know we will."
***********
Danny poked at his food long after the boys had gone to bed. He had texted them saying he would be late, and that there were leftovers in the fridge. Jack had texted back, without any of his usual playful quips. The yellow thumbs-up emoji had stared back at Danny, haunting him silently. Now, his cold spaghetti was haunting him.
He sighed, looking towards the window. He remembered the first time Linda had eaten spaghetti with the family.
~~~~~~
"You know what I've always wanted to do?" A young, eager, extremely happy Linda smiled, twirling her spaghetti on her fork.
"Marry Danny?" Joe smirked, noting how close his brother and future sister in law were sitting.
"No, well, that too. I'm talking about the spaghetti scene from Lady And The Tramp! Y'know, when they're at the doggy diner, eating the plate of spaghetti? Tramp has one end, Lady had the other, and, unknowingly, with each little bite, they get closer together. Then, they have their doggy kiss."
Danny picked up a noodle with his fingers, handing it to Linda. "Hold this."
Smiling widely, she took the noodle as he hunted for the end. Once found, he put it in his mouth, Linda doing the same. They mimicked the scene, their kiss lasting much longer than the doggy kiss.
A contended smile slowly spread across the blonde's face. Her eyes still closed, she breathed out, "wow."
To a thirteen year old Jamie, the sight he had just seen was utterly disgusting. "I think I might puke."
"Jamie!" Linda barely scolded, her smile going on for miles.
~~~~~~~~
Danny put the noodles away, and deftly cleaned the little that was messy. He grabbed some files, a beer, and headed towards his bedroom. He was going to solve this case even if it killed him.