Always Home for Sunday Dinner

H is for Hostage Part 1

Here he sat on the bank floor trying to figure out how his day shifted the way it did. His days never seemed to go how he expected them to but he didn't expect the events to transpire the way they had either. He started out looking for a murderer, and ended up with the barrel of a gun being pressed against his skull and the man responsible negotiating with his father outside. Trying to figure out how he got here seemed like a pointless exercise. Now all he could do was try to figure out how he was going to get out.

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6 Hours Earlier

Detective Daniel Reagan got out of a squad car with a smile on his face and his phone in hand. He walked passed officers as he approached the yellow tape surrounding the crime scene, splitting his attention between the words he was typing to his girlfriend, Claudia Rivers, and the direction in which he was walking.

"Well you seem like you're in a good mood," Baez called out as she watched him walk towards her. But he didn't look up at her; he simply said "hey" while staring down at his phone.

"What's up with the phone?" Baez asked finally grabbing his attention.

"Sorry it's just my son," Danny lied as he ducked under the tape, finally putting away his phone and looking at his partner.

"Lemme guess," Baez started, "it's the reason you're all jolly this morning."

"You can say that," Danny dodged as he walked over to the body lying on the pavement, "So what'd we got?"

"Worker at a Bank was killed on his way to work," Baez informed as Danny knelt down next to the man's body lying in the streets, "His name's William Everett, age 45 worked at First Republic bank. He's got a wife and two kids."

"Anyone talk to the wife yet?" Danny asked.

"She's out of town, his son is at a college out of state and his daughter's 10," she informed and Danny sighed, already getting stressed.

"So we can't talk to her," Danny concluded, "great. What bank did you say he worked at again?"

"First Republic why?" Baez said.

"Okay that's where we start," Danny said, "We talk to his coworkers see who he had a beef with." And with that they jumped into their car and made their way to First Republic Bank.

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As Danny sat behind the wheel deliberating the case with Baez, his phone sitting in the cup holder of the car went off continuously. Danny didn't seem to be fazed by it, but it was something Baez noticed with each vibration.

"Who keeps texting you so much?" she finally asked as his phone buzzed once more.

"I told you this morning," Danny said simply, not directly answering her question.

"Aren't your boys supposed to be in school?" she asked, not fully believing his answer.

"They're teenagers they're gonna text in class," Danny continued.

"Their dad?"

"Why not?" Danny stated, only to receive an unconvinced eye roll from his partner, "I'm offended you don't think I'm that cool." As Danny turned his eyes to the road while he spoke, Baez picked up his phone to see messages flashing on the screen with the name "Claudia" above them. The name was accompanied by two heart emoticons, and looking passed them, she noticed the image that covered his screen. It was a photo of a beautiful female brunette with glasses that framed her face that Baez knew had to have been the mystery girl sending him messages.