Without a Trace

Author's note--Okay, now I'm kind of at a loss at what to "name" the segments, since technically at this point, no one is missing. I'm pretty sure that, if there is a continuation between episodes, there is still someone missing at the beginning of the next one. (Actually, I'll check on that and get back to you...so I reserve the right to change the name of this episode if I come up with something better.

For now, though, everything is tumbling around in my head, and I can't write it down fast enough! Not enough hours...garrrr...

Thank you to all of my returning, faithful readers! Thank you to everyone who has reviewed thus far (and especially thank you to those who continually review!) And if this is your first read-through, welcome! I hope you enjoy!

Edit: I figured out what to call the episode chapters, so here it is. The previous title (if this helps) was "July 5th 9am"...the new title is "Nine Hours Missing" and you'll found out why in later chapters. I came up with something better, so here you go (even if you don't know why at this point) Cheers!
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Without a Trace

Episode 2

NINE HOURS MISSING

The team gathered in the conference room the next morning, still feeling a little bit apprehensive about yesterday but ready to catch some bad guys. Ashleigh had called the nearby coffee shop and had the team’s favorite coffees delivered, along with a small assortment of croissants, bagels, and a couple of doughnuts (for Martin). Vivian looked as polished as ever and was in a subdued good mood. Samantha had small circles under her eyes, but she smiled easily if someone looked her way; Martin perked up after inhaling a doughnut (with Vivian, ever the mom, playfully chiding him to ‘chew or you’ll choke’). Elena watched the goings-on, amused, but she had had a good night’s rest and was clear-headed. Danny seemed a little bit ragged around the edges but functional; the team knew that HJ’s girls were basically living at his apartment for the time being. Jack had darker circles under his eyes, and he walked into the conference room with an air of grim and haunted determination. Accepting his coffee, he called the meeting to order.

“Good morning, everyone,” he said. His voice sounded as gravelly as ever. “Where’s HJ?”

“He spent the night at the hospital with Draco and Parker; since we still have some suspects on the loose, it was good that he stayed for protection, just in case,” Sam answered. Vivian nodded her assent. Jack only looked mildly surprised. “This has hit him harder than any of us, Jack. I figured we should just let him sleep for right now. We’ll be going by the hospital later anyway.” She shrugged.

“Right. Okay, that’s fine,” he said, turning to Elena and Martin. “Where are we with the women in custody and the investigation?”

“We currently have Pansy and Narcissa Malfoy in custody, Jack,” Martin answered. “Elena and I were busy compiling the new information from last night before we questioned either of them again, and then we got the call to go home. We haven’t questioned Pansy since yesterday, and we haven’t talked to Narcissa at all.”

“What’s the new information?”

“We think we might have figured out who HJ was talking about when he called Snape a murderer yesterday,” Elena replied, holding up a frontal picture of a very old man with long flowing white hair that blended with his beard, wearing half-moon spectacles, and was smiling cheerfully at the camera with a noticeable twinkle in his eye. “They weren’t very forthcoming with the information, but we know a little bit. Albus Dumbledore was the Headmaster of Hogwarts, which is a private boarding school located in Scotland. He died mysteriously and unexpectedly nine years ago, and no one was ever charged with his murder. There wasn’t a formal investigation until a year and a half later, and that coincides with the death of Draco’s father and the arrest of Narcissa. We found one document from the British government that mentioned the possibility of arresting Severus Snape on charges of murder, but nothing was ever formally filed. We couldn’t figure out why; it’s all very confusing.”

“But that doesn’t have to do with the kidnapping,” Danny pointed out, sitting up. “Spaulding was their only connection here in the US. Everyone else is from England and from the father’s past, which includes HJ’s past. Spaulding’s dead, and we currently have the mother and grandmother in custody here. We know that the grandmother was a key player in orchestrating the kidnapping, along with Spaulding. The wife, the lover, and this Snape guy were all involved to some degree, but the two men are in England. We can’t charge them with anything from here, and we might need them to prove the wife’s involvement; otherwise, she’s going to walk.” He glanced around the table, watching as everyone realized the problem. Jack leaned forward, putting his elbows on the table.

“Okay, so we get in touch with Scotland Yard and have them arrested and extradited,” he suggested, and Danny shook his head.

“They won’t do it,” he began, but Samantha interrupted him.

“The little boy is British! I can understand if it was an American child; they may not be so inclined to help, but he and the family are subjects of the Crown. Surely they’d move on that alone,” she said.

“But the only crime committed in England was aiding and abetting in the grandmother’s escape from jail,” Danny’s sentences kept getting cut off.

“What about the threats? Conspiracy to kidnap?” Martin tossed out there.

“The threats that stopped when the boy was born?” Danny sounded skeptical. “What I’m saying is that the planning part all happened in England, so it’s out of our hands. We can’t tell them to arrest them for something that is against our laws that didn’t happen here.”

“So let’s extradite them, like Jack said,” Elena threw out there. Danny shook his head even more emphatically.

“That’s what I’ve been trying to TELL you!” He exclaimed. “We can’t extradite them! England will not extradite British citizens to be arrested in America.”

“Why not?” Jack was getting impatient.

“Because they could face the death penalty,” Danny said triumphantly. “England abolished the death penalty and signed an international agreement, so they cannot extradite their citizens to places that still have the death penalty, which includes…”

“The United States,” Samantha filled in, sitting back. “Even though New York hasn’t used the death penalty in almost thirty years?” Danny smiled.

“Even though New York’s death penalty has been declared unconstitutional,” he corrected. “The state might have abolished it, but the country as a whole has not, and therefore, England refuses to extradite their citizens to stand trial in America. BUT since the kidnapping was committed here, we can choose to charge the grandmother here OR send her back to England. And we may not be able to charge the mother IF she didn’t do anything against the law here.”

“What are the guarantees that either of them will be arrested in England if we send them back?” Jack fired. “How do you know all of this stuff anyway?” As soon as the question was out, he realized the answer.

“Ashleigh,” Danny responded. Sometimes it helped enormously to have a girlfriend who also happened to be an expert in international law. “I asked her about all of this last night, just in case. And no guarantees. It would be a diplomatic arrangement, and you know how THOSE go. But since the grandmother escaped from jail, she would be sent back because of that, so it’s not like she would go free. She just wouldn’t be going to jail for the crime of kidnapping the boy.” Jack rested his lips on his fist, thinking furiously.

“Okay, so we want to keep them here at all costs, and if the English authorities won’t arrest the lover and the professor, then we need to lure them here to America and arrest them,” Jack puzzled out. Everyone looked semi-surprised and then nodded in agreement.

“I’m not saying I’m disapproving, Jack, but is that legal?” Elena queried. It was true that Jack was known for pulling stunts of questionable legality in order to catch criminals, and while various team members may or may not have approved at times, they all stood behind their leader, no matter what.

“Maybe ‘lure’ was the wrong word,” Jack suggested, smiling just a little. “We know that they threatened HJ’s girls, so maybe we need to ‘ensure’ that all of the people involved are caught and punished in accordance with American justice.” Even Elena laughed at the formal wording that meant, basically, the same thing.

“But how do we do that?” Martin asked.

* * * * *

“That’s the million-dollar question,” Jack replied. “Okay, talk it out. What do we know about everyone’s involvement?”

“Chronologically,” Vivian began. “The school principal died unexpectedly in June of 1996, according to a few newspaper articles.”

“Draco was supposed to kill him, but Snape did it instead, according to Draco,” Samantha interjected. “Narcissa was furious at him for it, so my guess is that’s when she started planning something. And then in December of 1997, the leader of that cult they were talking about yesterday died.”

“I was able to find out that, two months later, the father died resisting arrest, in February of 1998, so my guess is, that’s when Narcissa was imprisoned as well,” Vivian continued. “HJ said that they graduated in May of 1998, which was when the threats started coming to Draco’s home, and they continued through Draco and Pansy getting married one year later, and they stopped in April of 2002, when Parker was born.”

“Why did the threats stop?” Martin interrupted. Vivian shrugged, opening her mouth to answer when Jack spoke.

“The lover,” he said. “What was his name?”

“Blaise Zabini,” Elena supplied.

“Think about this for a second,” Jack got up, taking the stack of pictures from the dark-haired female agent and walking over to their timeline and suspects list, tacking them up in the appropriate places. “The grandmother said that this Snape guy put her in touch with Zabini and the wife. How would he know unless he had been keeping in contact with the grandmother while she was in prison? So let’s assume for a minute that he keeps in touch with her, she’s pissed off at her son, so she asks Snape to threaten Draco. Zabini is in love with Pansy so either he goes to Snape or Snape knows and asks him for help—that distinction isn’t important right now—but the point is that the two of them are the main source of the threats. Zabini is pissed at the father for marrying the woman he is in love with, but then why stop as soon as the baby is born?”

“Because the mother turned to him AFTER the birth,” Martin sat up suddenly, almost falling out of his chair, locking eyes with Jack. “If he’s in love with her, and she takes him as a lover out of the blue, he’s not going to want to continue to threaten her. So he convinces Snape to stop with the threats because he’s banging her—” Vivian, Samantha, and Elena all fixed Martin with glares.

“Until he’s upset again that Draco is taking her and the child away to America for a vacation!” Samantha cried, standing up as well. “When I talked to him at the toy store yesterday, that was the first time he mentioned Blaise Zabini as a potential suspect. He was angry that they were going to New York, which would make sense if he was sleeping with her.”

“But Spaulding said on the tape that he got a call from Snape six months ago,” Elena reminded them. “How would they have found him if the father didn’t even know they were coming to New York?”

“On the tape, Spaulding mentioned HJ first,” Vivian said slowly. “And then again with regards to his twins. Spaulding has nothing against HJ, and Narcissa said that Snape did research to find Spaulding, so what if the twins were the intended targets?”

“Wait, wait,” Danny held his hands up. “You’re saying that a crackpot from England called up Spaulding and told him to kidnap HJ’s girls? I thought everyone had a grudge against Draco here.” Jack began pacing again, wagging his finger absently in Danny’s direction.

“Yesterday when I mentioned Snape, do you remember how hostile he sounded? HJ sure doesn’t like him, so what if the feeling is mutual? Narcissa asks Snape to threaten Draco; the wife’s lover gets involved and talks him out of it, so he refocuses Snape on HJ to make him stop threatening the family. Snape finds out that HJ is working with me and gets in touch with Spaulding to fuck with both of us,” it was becoming clearer and more muddied at the same time.

“So what changed?” Samantha asked.

“Draco decided to take his family to America, more specifically New York, which is either just a very big coincidence or else the wife might have known about it, thus influencing his decision,” Jack’s voice started to get louder. “The lover gets angry that they are leaving, calls Snape up again, and then the plan changes to kidnap the little boy.”

“And then he tells the grandmother,” Martin interrupted. “Who wants to be a part of it, so Snape helps her escape, maybe with the lover’s help? But then she comes here to hook up with Spaulding to get revenge on her son by kidnapping her grandson.”

“Okay, so we need to find out, first of all, what aspects the mother is involved in,” Danny said. “Because if she was in on this whole thing, including choosing to come to New York so that they can kidnap her son, et cetera, then we have solid evidence of conspiracy.”

“She seemed genuinely surprised when I talked to her yesterday,” Martin tossed out. Danny waved it away.

“We also need to find out how involved the lover is,” he continued and was interrupted by Elena this time.

“On the phone yesterday, Blaise didn’t sound as surprised as he should have for someone not involved in the kidnapping,” Elena said shortly. “And when she mentioned the ransom note, he sounded very surprised. He also didn’t answer her question about whether Snape or the grandmother were involved.”

“Okay, well, considering we can’t arrest them from England, if we let them know that their plan has failed, they’ll run for it,” Jack said. “Does the press know we have the boy in custody?”

“I don’t think so,” Sam replied. “There weren’t any reporters or cameras at the hospital last night.”

“Okay, Samantha, I want you to go to the hospital to stay with the father and son and send HJ back here. He knows all of them involved so he’ll be able to help us more here than protecting them. Vivian, as soon as we’ve compiled all of the new physical evidence, hold a press conference. Maybe if we keep the vultures distracted, they won’t find out about the boy.”

“Jack, they know Spaulding is dead,” she said. “They were on shore when we left with the body.”

“Okay, include that in your statement and tell them that we have the deranged grandmother in custody; mention that we think there might still be some suspects on the outside that we are currently tracking down. Don’t tell them where the suspects are or that we have the boy, but maybe this will be enough to keep them hopping for another few hours,” Jack replied. “Danny, what is the newest physical evidence?”

“I’m on it, boss.”

“Okay, go get on that and get back to us. Martin and Elena, actually, wait a minute. Martin, I want YOU to go to the hospital instead of Sam. Sam and Elena, I’m putting you two on a plane to England right now. I want you to keep quiet surveillance on our suspects, and I think that you can either do it without arousing suspicion or you’ll…come up with something to keep them around.” Elena frowned, confused, and Samantha glared at Jack before turning to Elena, shooting dirty looks at Martin as he hid a smile and at Danny’s back, since she had seen his smirk before he walked away.

“He means that he’s sending us because we’re female and beautiful,” she interpreted, and Elena’s eyes widened, not sure what to say about that.

“I just think that you have better methods of persuasion than Martin or Mr. Trigger-Happy in this situation,” Jack tried to pacify them, to no avail. “Keep tabs on them so that if they try to skip town, you’ll at least be able to follow them, hopefully. Zabini called Snape last night, and that was…” Jack checked his watch, counting backwards. “That was about twelve hours ago, plus the fact that it’ll be a six hour flight and a five hour time difference, and they might have a day’s lead on us. Go now.” Samantha and Elena pushed back from their chairs and headed for the door; Sam was muttering to Elena, and the team heard Elena’s last words.

“Hey, it gets us to Europe, right?”
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Chapter notes:

1. England abolished the death penalty and signed an international agreement, so they cannot extradite their citizens to places that still have the death penalty. This is true. Well, at least I learned SOMETHING in my "Abolition of the Death Penalty" human rights law class...even if I skipped a few class periods. :P Ashleigh will probably show up later to help explain if anyone is still in the dark.


Author's note--Alright, yeah, my human rights classes keep popping up at random times. HAHA Okay, so maybe you're thinking that Jack just kind of pulled all of that out of thin air (about Blaise and Snape and all)...and I was kind of wondering that myself. On one hand, that's how it happens in the show.

Sometimes it's someone else, but most of the time, it's Jack who pieces the information together (even if sometimes it seems insufficient for him to have known all of that) so....if you're familiar with WOaT, does it seem believable within that context? If you're not familiar with WOaT, does it seem believable in the context of a "crime drama"?

*sigh* I think that I'd rather stay true to WOaT, even if it means Jack pulling stuff out of his ass, rather than try to explain it all away...I have no idea if that makes any sense at all, but I'm trying here.


Shananigans--HAHAHAHAHA That's awesome! Well, welcome back! (It wasn't THIS episode that was on TV, was it? *wink* I know, not possible, but that would be WICKED awesome if they ever DID make this!)

I don't know why there would be a rule against responding to reviews, unless it's to avoid flame wars. But I saw another author post that in their story, so I thought I should check, lest the powers that be yank my story for breaking the rules. But I couldn't FIND said rule, so I'm thinking it's not an official one. Thanks for your review!

WeasleyWench--No, no, the fervor is BACK in full force! Oh cool! Can't wait for more of "For the Best"! Have fun with that bus thing...the weekend was a blast! Actually, a friend of mine from the US (who is currently studying in Ireland this semester) came to see me this past weekend, and we had SO much fun! It was really great to talk to her because she's from my "old" life. The one that I'll be returning to in about a month! But that makes me sad to leave Europe, even though I'll be back next semester. But I'm dying to get back home and see everyone! Thanks for reviewing!

thrnbrooke--YAY! *dances around* I made thrnbrooke happy! Thank you!

mariahs_fantasy--Freudian slippage all around! (With Harry and Draco, a cigar is NOT just a cigar! LOL I should be shot for that one!) I am very glad you liked the chapters! Alright, Sims 2...actually, I am uber shocked at just HOW much HP stuff there is to download!!!! You can seriously download Harry, Hermione, and Ron (pre-made Sims)!!!!! Not to mention Hogwarts, Hogsmeade, the Dursleys' house, Number 12 Grimmauld Place, and even Spinner's End!!!!!! And all kinds of Hogwarts uniforms! Hermione's dress from the Yule Ball (from the movie)......dude, I've decided that while my obsession might be a little bit...obsessive for ME, there are people out there who have it BAD. (ie worse than me, I think) But I'm not complaining because I am reaping the benefits!

For my Sims 2, though, I have not downloaded any HP add-ons. Yet. I created my Harry and Draco completely from scratch, and I have a fondness for them, even if they don't look *exactly* like Harry and Draco from the movies. And yes, Harry became a daddy quite by accident. For about the first week after Lily arrived, one of his "fears" was "adopt a child" so WHOOPS! But he loves Lily now, even if he's not a "family-oriented" Sim.

Note to self: with next round of Harry and Draco, make them more "family inclined" and not "love inclined" because then they'll be more focused on each other, instead of wanting to "make out with 3 different Sims" or "meet someone new"...little rat bastards! They have each other...what's up with this "someone new" crap? haha

ALTHOUGH I was playing Draco today, and Harry came over quite randomly a couple of times ONLY to shove Draco and be mean to him. I think it's because they've been getting along so well (I'm up to making them do the Woo Hoo 4 times in a row...with nothing in between...before they pass out or one of them goes home) It's great. Except that Harry's acting like a Slytherin prat, but when I'm playing Draco, I have no control over Harry. I'm sure that when I switch to play Harry next, Draco will do the same thing (come over, be mean, and make Harry cry....yes, Draco DID cry after Harry did that to him! I was speechless) only with Draco being mean and Harry crying, it doesn't seem AS "out of character" hahahahahahaha

Whew! Thanks for your review, and I'll just say beware about asking me to "tell you about" something because I AM long-winded!


Night--Playing Sims 2 is making me crazy too! At least I recognize that I need to take a break and EAT at some point! lmao I have not heard of that Japanese game you mentioned. I honestly don't know a LOT about Japanese games, anime, or movies or anything...although I HAVE seen a little bit of anime (not my favorite genre) and I did watch a Japanese horror flick called "Suicide Club"

Anyway, yeah, Sims 2 is SO addicting! And I don't feel very ADD when playing it because it sucks you in and before you know it, you've spent about 5 hours making Harry and Draco have lots of sex! (which, sadly, isn't shown....well...sort of! *arched eyebrow*)

Actually, with the "sex shower" patch that I downloaded, it gives the option of "oral sex" or "doggy style" so whoever I'm NOT playing bends over in front of the other one and.....OH MY GOD I think I died the first time they actually went at it. And then I was playing it on my gaming PC and opened up one of my stories on my laptop and was READING about Draco fucking Harry and then looking at the other screen and SEEING Draco fucking Harry in the shower! *passes out from hotness*

Although...I still haven't figured out how to download the patch that gets rid of the nudity, but I think I just might die once that happens...right now, their midsections are blurry, but the thrusting! OH GOD! The thrusting! Anyway, um, yeah, thanks for your review! *embarrassed giggle* Oh yeah, THAT's what I'm supposed to be doing!


chantalmalfoy--HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHA YES I HAVE CONVERTED SOMEONE!!!! WOOOO Okay, first, thank you for your review! That was the idea behind the "Previously on WOaT" so that if you needed a refresher...BAM there it is! So thanks!

And NOW onto the GOOD stuff! Okay, whenever there is a file that is too big to download as it is (even if you have a ton of memory and a fast internet connection), programmers will "zip" it up to make it smaller and more easily downloadable. It's also called a "zip file", a RAR file, or "compressed". The only downside to it, is once you download the zipped file, you have to have the software to "unzip" it so that you can save it to your computer and *actually* use it.

That's where I am right now with the nude patch, I think. It is saved onto my computer, but I don't have the software to "unzip" it, but I'm in the process of remedying that.

NOW there are LOTS of kinky add-ons for the Sims 2! And there are HP add-ons. (Currently, I have not found any "kinky HP" add-ons, but I'm okay with that...) For example, there is the "masturbation mirror" where you can make your Sims jerk off or finger themselves. The "sex shower" which is also good for threesomes and such. There is a "masturbation chair" (when they sit in it, they masturbate) and a dildo. Also a stripper's pole, porn magazine racks, and I think you can even download some BDSM bondage outfits (you know, tight leather, fishnet, stilettos, etc) for your Sims to wear.

Okay, THIS story is really fucked up, but last summer, I wanted to see how long it would take for a Sim to die. So once two of my Sims were in the same room, I got rid of the door, so they were trapped, and took everything out except for a couple of masturbation chairs and a dildo. It took them about 2 Sim weeks to expire, and I was giving them commands to "masturbate in chair" or "fuck themselves with dildo" until they died. I know, I'm sadistic.........and then I felt bad after they turned into urns. I didn't save that game.....

But it's funny that when you have masturbation chairs, the masturbation mirror, or a dildo, that's what they gravitate towards if left to their own devices. Or if you invite friends over, they will immediately go to those objects. For example, whenever Harry comes over, after Draco greeted him, Harry would head straight for the hot tub. Now, though, he heads upstairs to the masturbation mirror. Draco's usually not too far behind him, though, because I have Draco get in the sex shower and invite Harry to join. Then they usually move to either the bed or the hot tub, where they (in this order) cuddle, tender kiss, make out, and then Woo Hoo. And then I make them Woo Hoo about 3 more times (with nothing in between) until they pass out or Harry goes home. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH I love it!

I will send you an email with the sites that I currently download from, but you need to register in order to be able to do so. And, of course, if anyone else wants these sites and what not, just send me an email (or leave me a comment...but if I don't respond with an email in a couple of days, email me)

Draca--haha But of course! Here you are and enjoy!

Cheers, fellow slashers! hahahahahaha Hopefully talking about Sim sex is helping with the lack of it during this episode of WOaT!