“Sir you asked to be informed of any African American Jane Doe’s brought in. the patrol officer said. ”

“Yeah. Don’t keep me waiting. What have you got?” John asked.

“An African American woman was found in the quarry, looks like there is minimal decomposition, but sir, someone hurt her really bad, she is almost unrecognizable. The water being cold this time of year has preserved the body, but she died hard, the officer said. ”

“Take care of her, and call my brother over at Forensics and get him down there. Don’t touch anything. Tell Michael I want everything by the book, and then some. No one messes this up. I’ll be there soon. John said. ”

Damn, I hope I’m wrong, please let me be wrong. He sighed and called Evangeline, and told her he had to go in to work, and he would be dropping Annie off. He didn’t tell her about the possibility about having found Sam. He needed to go the scene to get the facts. He would tell her in person if it turned out to be her sister. He gave Annie a few more minutes before indicating to her that they had to go. She looked sad, so he picked her up and rubbed her forehead with his and kissed her gently and she settled in his shoulder content. That was there way of saying, hello and good-bye, and I’ll be back. They just got each other just like he and the other Williamson woman, he was just that good, and it came easy when you knew that you were loved and loved back.

Quarry (CSI)- Crime Scene Investigation

Michael had been the Assistant Chief Medical Investigator for about two years. He was excellent in the field of forensics, he was meticulous, inquisitive, and kept up on the latest techniques in forensic investigations. He kept abreast of experimental techniques, in case they proved useful in solving future cases. Mostly he was good because he was a team player, each member had a deep respect for individuals expertise in his or her respective fields. They were a small group but close nit. There was Antoine Rosecroft (Tony), who joined the team last year, and expert in ballistics. Jane Crow (Jan) she was good in analyzing blood splatter evidence and reconstructing the crime scenes. The final and most intriguing member was Chief Lorenzo Alcazar. He had been appointed two years ago, he had received training at Quantico, despite his families’ ties to organized crime. He was above reproach and had and excellent field record. No case was left improvable on his watch. Michael admired him, even if he didn’t know him well personally.

The team arrived; the Chief had told them that McBain wanted everything by the book. The woman’s body had been pulled from the quarry. Jan had the camera and began to take shots of the area and the body. Michael checked out the bruising and levity of body and took preliminary notes. “Guys we won’t know about time of death until we get her to the lab, but the cause of death may be due to a severe beating, but I’m not going to call it until I get her on the table.” Michael said.

“Look I’ve got all the shots. The scene looks clean. It will be hard to find evidence on a scene that has so much traffic, but we will do our best.” Jan said as she put her camera and equipment up in the bag.

“Yeah, we need to bag anything that might help us, but it looks like the body was dumped here, Tony said.”

Twenty minutes later McBain arrives. “Hey Michael, what you guys got for me?”

“Hey. We got an African American female. She may be in her late twenties, or early or mid thirties, hard to tell do the bruising and swelling. She appears to have been beaten by person or persons unknown. Time of her death is unknown, yet. We won’t know more until the chief or I get her on the table.” Michael said walking up to the body and preparing it for transport to the lab.

“I need to know if any identification is on the body, and a DNA sample, just to check and see if this is Evangeline’s sister, but I hope to heaven it is not.” John said this with a heavy heart.

“Hey I’ll move it autopsy to the top of my list. The lab will need Evangeline to give them a sample. Maybe you won’t want her to make identification until the test is run. Michael said.”

“Yeah you’re right. I’ll talk with her. Only this is one conversation I don’t want to have, John said with a sigh.”

“Yeah, well I’ll let you know what we find as soon as our team finishes with the examination. When we know you will. Tell Evangeline we will speed up the test, and that’s a promise.”

“Thanks. Mike I know you were coming for dinner tonight, but I need this report like yesterday.” John said.

“Okay but tell E to hold me a plate for pick-up tomorrow.” Michael said.

“Thanks, let me move out, I need to check in to start the paperwork, let me know if you find something I need to know. John said. ”

“Will do, Bro, Michael said. ” Michael went off to supervise the evidence collection and the finish his notes.

John scanned the scene, watched as they placed the body of the young victim in the car and took a deep breath. He knew this was the beginning, because if the victim was Samantha, then he had to find the person who hurt her. He was a protector, and his women were in danger he could smell it in the air, something dark and sinister was coming their way, and he had to be ready. No one was going to hurt another woman McBain loved, not if he could help it. He realized that he had one tough woman in Evangeline, now he had to go home to prepare her, and him self, their lives just got a little more complicated. Had he known it, someone was watching the removal of the body, and the brooding man who seemed more interested than just it being a job. The man in the shadows heard his name and set about finding out more about the man he heard called McBain.

---------------------------------------------------

Evangeline’s Home

“Mom do you think this needs more pepper?” Evangeline asked as she checked the sauce for the spaghetti.

“Let me see, Amelia got a spoon from the counter and tasted. No tastes perfect, maybe a little more garlic though.”

“I knew it was something. Annie still sleep?”

“Yes. She was tuckered out after John brought her home. She adores him doesn’t she?”

“They adore each other, sometimes I feel left out, Evangeline laughingly said. ”

“Yes. I felt that way too, when you were growing up.”

“Mom, I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. I realize with age and wisdom that you and your father had a special relationship. That didn’t make it easy for me because I guess I felt shut out sometimes.”

“We didn’t mean to,” Evangeline said and put down the spoon and turned down the burner. She took her mom’s hand and caressed it gently. “Mom you know I loved you just as much, Dad just seemed to understand me, even when I didn’t speak.”

“I know. I watched you two finish each other’s sentences. Run to each other as soon as you saw each other, but my most special memory was when you were about six and he taught you to dance.”

“I remember I stood on his feet and he and I danced to him humming dum, dum da dum… or something silly like that,” Evangeline smiled warmed by the memory.

“Yes, I accepted it then, that you two had something special and I thought I had that closeness with Samantha,” Amelia eyes darkened with sadness.

“Mom Sam loved you. She really did. I don’t know what happened?”

“Life and love and all that means.” Amelia said.

“Samantha fell in love, and she walked away. Mom you didn’t push her away. You tried to make her see that Gabe was trouble and I did too. We were all so fractured back then. I’m not blaming you, but when you and dad broke up, our worlds turned upside down.”

“For that baby, I’m truly sorry. If I had to do it all again, I don’t know. I choose not to want to look back. Right now we have a little girl here who can’t or won’t talk, and suffered things I don’t even want to know about. I just wish we could have been there for both of them.” Amelia said.

“Me too, all we can do now is hope and pray we find Samantha and we can heal, and move forward. Annie needs all of us, and I hope Sam sees that when we find her, Evangeline paused; her mom had squeezed her hand tightly. “Mom what?”

“Nothing, I just got a chill, when you said Samantha’s name, I have not been feeling good lately, probably jet lag. I’m going to rest a little. Call for me in an hour, she says”

“Sure.” Evangeline gave her a kiss and watches as her mom leaves a little more worried than she was a minute ago, it was as if someone had walked over her grave, and she knew her mom had felt it too.