The next morning Serena knocked on the door of Max’s house and found it locked, and she checked to see that his car was gone which meant he wasn’t passed out drunk inside or she hope he wasn’t, and his car got stolen so she used the spare key to get inside and saw it a mess.
But no Max.
Two bottles of beer, a whisky glass and a mess of papers all over the place like he was tossing it around looking for something, but no Max.
“Max are you here?” Serena yelled through the empty house but heard nothing back. “You better not be passed out drunk in there with some bimbo,” she muttered as she walked into his bedroom and found a made bed that didn’t look like it was slept in and that was not like Max to make his bed she knew from the little time she spent at his place during his dark period after originally joining the force.
“Max, come on where are you…”
Nothing, “Damn”, she whispered when she couldn’t find any evidence where he might have gone. All she saw was a screenshot of Bella’s birth certificate and records.
“What’s up?” she wondered as locked up his house and got back into her car and headed for the precinct where she found no Max.
“Tessa has Max be in for a visitor’s pass?” Serena asked as she approached the secretary for their boss.
“Nope,” Tessa shook her head. “Should he have…”
“No, well, I don’t know. He was talking about coming in her this morning, but I swung by his place and he wasn’t home, so I thought maybe he came in to talk to the Davidson boy.
“Oh, then no, I haven’t seen him, or he hasn’t phone in to request one in advance.” Tessa said. “Maybe he went back on vacation, and wherever he was before coming back.”
“Yeah maybe,” Serena thought as she wondered if Max went back to Roswell without telling her… But she knew he still had some unanswered questions for the Davidson kids and so to leave suddenly wasn’t like him but then Max did tend to be mysterious when he first joined the force when he would disappear suddenly and show up again with no reason for his absence. The chief was almost at the end of his rope when finally, Max cleaned up his act, and started acting like a model cop and he moved up to detective alongside her with relative ease.
“You think he would tell me,” Serena muttered as she headed back to her desk and got sucked back into another case, and she soon forgot Max’s disappearance.
*
“Should I be seeing Sean?” Liz asked Michael as they sat and talked about the newest developments. A child in Chicago had been found after being missing longer than Bella, and there was early suspicion it could be Bella until they learned the deals of the disappearance and it turned out she was another missing girl and she had been reunited with her family and so it gave Liz some renewed hope they could find her daughter and that Bella could come home safe and sound and most of all alive.
“It will give him an edge?” Michael advised. “As much as it might give us some answers still it might allow him to think he can stone wall us and hold any information over our heads. He will try to get in your head and play with your thoughts, so you give in and testify for him.
“I would never testify for him,” Liz muttered. “Especially not if there is any truth to the theory that he took Bella to get even with me, and to hold it over me…”
“But he will try to play with you mind so you give in…”
“He might know something,” Liz pointed out. “He wants to see me, and if he does goad me, well, he might slip if he’s around me.”
“Trust me Liz, right now let’s not give him that win.” Michael assured his friend. “I promise you that I am doing everything to track down his associates back then. Some are dead, some are also in jail. But one or two are out in the world, and I just have to find them.”
“I hope you do…”
“We can’t give Sean the hope he has us…” Michael said. “We’re find out if he’s guilty another way and plus he’s now under constant monitoring, so he can’t contact you again.”
Liz nodded as she elected to go for a walk as she saw Michael to the elevator as he had to get back to the office before picking Betty at camp. Liz sighed as she thought of the fun activities she did with her own daughter during summer break. Trying to break from the funk she was in, she went for a walk and saw the sights of the hospital.
*
While Isabel was arriving home, she heard the phone ringing and she let it ring, and after she settled down her bags the phone rang again she grabbed it. “Hello, Valenti residence. Isabel speaking, how can I help you?” she asked. “Hello…” she said again to silence. “Max is that you?”
“No,” said the voice. “I am sorry for bothering you or maybe scaring you. My name is Serena Franklin and I am partners with Max out here in Los Angeles” Serena said politely from her desk at the station.
“Oh,” Isabel said quietly. “My brother has talked a little about you,” she said as fear came through. “He is he okay, is my brother safe?”
“I hope so that is why I am calling,” Serena said. “As far I know he is fine, or I am hoping he is as I was wondering if he was there visiting you again.”
“Why?” Isabel asked instantly wary.
“Because I can’t seem to find him, and I know he was planning to go back to Roswell and resume his vacation, and I was curious if he headed back and just didn’t tell me.”
“No, my brother isn’t here,” Isabel muttered. “I haven’t heard from him since he left my home yesterday to return to his home. Didn’t he have business to conduct?” she asked as icy form came through her voice. “Look obviously my brother doesn’t tell me what is going on with his life as we hadn’t spoken for many years until the last week so…”
“I understand,” Serena sighed as she understood the tension in Isabel’s voice. “He’s told me some of what happened and why he stayed away.”
“Did he,” Isabel asked snappish.
“I totally get why you’re upset with him, and if I was in your place I would be the same with my own brother. We are not as close as we could be, still though I would hate if he dropped out of my life and stayed gone, and then a decade later came back into it.”
“It’s just a little overwhelming,” Isabel allowed.
“I understand,” Serena smiled. “I care about your brother Isabel. We have been partners for five years and he’s saved my life numerous times as I have his, and he was at my wedding and he’s seen my kids grow up to this point.”
“He missed my wedding,” Isabel sighed.
“He told me,” Serena sighed. “He wishes things could have been different. I think it will always be a major regret to him how handled things and he wishes things could have been different.”
“We all do,” Isabel muttered.
“He’s kicking himself for a lot these days and a lot of his stems from his past in Roswell. So, don’t think he’s been carefree back here and not thinking about home or you guys,” Serena sighed. “He has, and it’s defined himself and he wants to find some way to reconcile it all.”
Isabel grew silent. “Was he as dark as he said he was?” she couldn’t help but ask.
“Yes,” Serena muttered. “I only knew him at the tail end of it but when he came to work here on the force he hadn’t yet cleaned up his act. But I can tell you he’s now completely different than the Max I knew in those early days.”
Isabel sighed.
“It’s like the hellmouth is opening up for him, and all the wounds are coming out and he’s drinking too much, and that is why I was curious where he might have gone…”
“Michael tells me what he also saw in Max,” Isabel said and clarified. “Michael is our best friend.”
“Yeah,” Serena said. “For five years he was sober, but these last few weeks have done a number on him.”
“It’s the past. Going through it in the first place was tremendously hard for him and to know it and remember, well, it couldn’t be good for him” Isabel acknowledged
or anyone? she mused.
“He mentioned some of the gory details,” Serena sighed as she thought of what he told her of his prior life. “That is why I am concerned. I went by his house this morning to take him to work so he could interrogate someone we have in custody and he wasn’t there. His place was a mess, but his bed was made, and his car was gone. I saw empty bottles, and I am worried what he might have done.”
“His bed is made?” Isabel asked. “That doesn’t sound like my brother. Not when he’s in a mood about something…”
“Yeah,” Serena worried. “When I last saw him, well, he was drinking, and he was working on your friend’s case.”
“Bella?” Isabella asked.
“Yeah,” Serena admitted. “Then suddenly he’s gone so I was hoping he was headed back to your place.”
“No, he hasn’t been seen so far today” Isabel sighed. “I would have heard if he showed up at the hospital to see Liz or to our parents.”
“Look, I am sorry for calling you and getting you concerned about your brother,” Serena sighed. “I didn’t want to open up a hornet’s nest with this call. I am sure your brother is safe and sound,” she said as she ended the call with his gratitude to Isabel for speaking to her…
“Then where is he?” Isabel muttered as she got off the phone as she saw Kyle walk into living room. “Max is missing…”
“Again…” Kyle asked warily as he saw his wife’s fallen face. “Sorry…”
“That was his partner, and he hasn’t been seen today” Isabel said softly. “She was hoping he was headed back here…”
“Well, I haven’t heard the earthquake if he had been seen at the hospital,” Kyle muttered.
“Where could he be… He was apparently working on Bella’s case when Serena last saw him.”
Kyle shrugged, and Isabel fretted.
*
Back in Los Angeles Serena was worried she woke up a lot of trouble by alerting Max’s family but even checking her connections… her partner was nowhere to be seen. She had even checked the hospital, and Molly hadn’t seen him, and she had some new drawings of Max and this Liz she assumed by the name Isabel namechecked in their call and she had heard Max speak
of the one who got away. The drawings were of a
chamber of some sorts with green glowing pods. Serena couldn’t help but wonder if it was all some
fantasy Molly was dreaming. But as she returned to the station and her desk, well, her partner hadn’t turned up and now she truly was curious when she was called down to forensics.
“CJ, you rang?” Serena asked as she entered the room. “I just got back from visiting Molly.
“Well you wanted something…” CJ Baker asked as she made Serena look at the screen of results that just pinged as she called up for Serena to come down. “While I am still waiting for any potential match of Molly to the Roswell girl, but in the meantime, we got a hit on our initial search of Molly’s origins…”
“What…” Serena’s eyes went on alert… “Are you saying that she’s been found in the database?”
“Yup,” CJ nodded as she did a double look over the results. “Can I ask, where is Max by the way. I assumed I would see him in the building today.”
“I don’t know,” Serena said as she deeply sighed. “That is my second investigation of the day, finding out where the heck my partner went without any warning to me. He wasn’t at his place, and his car is missing, and it hasn’t turned up…”
“Weird,” CJ asked. “That sounds like the Max we knew from five years ago, not of any recent times I can remember.”
“I know…” Serena nodded as she tried to concentrate on her work and not the fate of her partner. “So, tell me… you said Molly showed up connected to someone.”
“Yup,” CJ nodded as she glanced over to Serena as she prepared for this bombshell to land on her friend. It was a discovery that had even shook her and made her run the sample twice to make sure all the connections matched up before she alerted Serena.
“Whom?” Serena asked. “CJ, who does she match?”
“MAX!” was all CJ said as Serena’s jaw dropped as the news hit her like a car hitting her… “I know,” she sighed. “And Serena, the level of the match can only be possible unless they are father and daughter.”
“Max is Molly’s father?” Serena whispered as the world opened to new possibilities she hadn’t thought possible.
“Yes…”