Even though his nudge was a gentle nudge, Ben immediately felt Whitney begin to shake & fall.   She looked up at him just as he reached out to catch her & found a catch in his throat at the same time.  Here was this woman who was normally a rock, falling apart in front of him.  She'd been at a hundred crime scenes, many that were much more gruesome & horrible than the one in her kitchen.  
Then he realized, it was HER kitchen & after what had happened to Mike, Ginny's husband, when Mike & Whitney were called to the scene of a possible burglary in process & it ended up being Mike & Ginny's house.  The burglar had escaped after a quick shoot out before he could even get in the house.  But Mike had been hit in the chest & even though the surgeon had removed the bullet and stitched up every hole he found, 2 weeks later, Mike died.  He'd regained consciousness only once, just long enough to tell Ginny he loved her, just moments before he finally gave up fighting.  
Ben couldn't begin to imagine what thoughts were running through Whitney's brain, but he knew the woman he loved needed him now more than ever, even if he didn't know what to do or what to say, she just needed him to be there for her.
"Whitney," he whispered, "Breathe baby, just breathe.  If there's an answer we'll find it, I promise.  I'm going to put Marshall in charge of the scene & take you to the safe house myself"  
Whitney stifled a little whimper, "No, Ben, with you and Marshall working together, you'll figure it out that much faster & I can come home that much sooner.  Stay here & do your job.  Just, come find me as soon as you can."
"I will, you know I will."  & Ben gave her a gentle hug trying to not make it look like a hug since there were other officers already filing back into the room.

30 minutes & 4 bags later Sammy & Whitney were pulling away from her house in an unmarked vehicle & heading towards the safe house, twenty minutes away.
Hey Whitney, Chief gave us some money for some supper for y'all.  I know you're not much of a fan of fast food, but Chief said to drive through somewhere & pick something up anyway & make sure I see you eat something.  You have any preferences?"  Sammy looked over at her briefly to watch her reaction.  If Whitney had any reaction at all, she wasn't going to let him see it.
"hmmmm, what Sammy?" well now he knew why he didn't see a reaction she wasn't really here, not emotionally anyway. "oh yea, well not really, let's just pull into the  frosty freeze.  it should be slow right now. which means we should stand a chance of getting some burgers & fries fast & hot.  2 for each of the boys, fully loaded & double fries.  Ginny's with no mustard & mine with no mustard & no lettuce.  2 salad's on the side with french dressing.  chocolate shakes all around.  And whatever you want of course.  And don't say no, since I know you'll stay with us until Chief get's there, even with 2 guards outside & 1 inside.  In fact.  order some burgers, fries & shakes for them too"
Sammy grinned & even blushed a little since he knew that Whitney knew he had a crush on Ginny.  "Ok, fine, miss smarty pants.  I'll get you back for that one Whitney!"  He chuckled a little and was surprised when she gave just a little giggle too.  
10 years her senior, but Sammy was still a little boy at heart.  He'd been her partner since Mike died.  Sammy is professional and experienced, but at the end of the day, never let her take the job too seriously. 
"Sammy, can I borrow your cell?"
"Yea, sure, it's in the cubby"  Sammy, reached to his right & opened the cubby between them. "Hey, you're not going to call your folks or someone are you?  chief said you weren't to make any calls"
No Sammy, I just wanted to see if you had any games I could play.  Of course I'm going to call my folk's house.  Mom has probably walked a hole in the kitchen floor and Dad's picked up & slammed the old phone in his office at least a hundered times, enough to make Mom yell at him 98 times.  I'm calling them.  With your cell, not mine."
"Whitney, think about it.  Even if you call them on my cell phone instead of your own.  If someone is listening, or tracking their calls, you could still put them at risk.  Chief has sent an unmarked car over there, partly to pick up Ginny & the boys, but also with instructions to let your dad call my cell from the officer's phone.  That should be safe enough, if you talk for just a couple minutes, just enough to reassure your dad you're ok, that's all.  Just be patient ok?"
"You're right Sammy.  It's just so frustrating.  None of it makes any sense.  It's like looking at all the puzzle pieces inside the box & when you look at the front of the box to see what the picture looks like, but there's no picture.  So, now all you have is a bunch of pieces you have to put together, without anything to guide you.  If even one piece is missing, you may never get the puzzle put together or know what the picture looks like.   Right now we seem to be missing a lot of pieces!"  Whitney felt herself beginning to shake again.
Sammy noticed her agitation so when he spoke he spoke slow, quiet and soft to calm her down with his voice.  A trick they'd both learned in their police training for talking to suspects and victims.  
"Yea, but if anyone can find the missing pieces you know our team will.  First things first.  Let's pull in here to the Frosty Freeze and get us something to eat"
"Sammy?"  
"Yea?"
"I want 2 chocolate shakes please?"
Sammy laughed, "You got it Whitney!"
They didn't talk again until they had the bags of food in the bag seat, Whitney and Sammy had their chocolate shakes in their hands and they were back on the road, on their way to the safe house.
"Let me ask you something Sammy, was it just me or did that guy remind you of someone?"  
"How weird you would say that Whitney.  I thought it was just my imagination.  Everyone was busy and when I was helping the CSU team with the victim, I just kept thinking there was something oddly familiar about his face.  Like, I know him, or I've seen his face somewhere before, but I can't quite remember where.  Definitely weird."  
"Ok, so either we've both seen him somewhere before, or he reminds us of someone.  Is it his mouth, his eyes, his hair? What is it?  No ID, but what do we know about him Sammy?  How tall would you say he was?"
"mmmm, 5'10", maybe 6', hard to tell since he was crumpled up on the floor like that.  Did you see his suit?  100% silk.  Designer shoes.  Not your typical burgler for sure."  
Whitney had to stop sipping her shake for a moment, "right, I'd say he was just a little older than me, but not as old as you."
"Hey, now watch it girl!"  He smiled at her.
"C'mon , you know what I mean," she smiled back, "And did you see that ring on his right pinkie?  It looked like it could have paid for my house twice over.  But I didn't see a cell phone or any kind of stuff most rich people have in their pockets.  Of course, we don't really know what was, or wasn't in his pockets.  But he might have left all of that in his car."
"Maybe, I don't recall seeing any strange vehicles in the neighbourhood, did you?"  
"No, but I wasn't really thinking about that at the time.  He could've taken a taxi too, but there wasn't any taxi waiting around in the area either.  But if he'd asked the taxi driver to wait for a few minutes and then he didn't come back out the driver would have just left.  With only one taxi company in town that should be easy enough to check out."  Whitney took a big gulp of her shake. "I also noticed his cuff links, they were real silver & monogrammed with the initials K.M.  It might take a few days before we find a missing persons report to match his initials and description.  but someone should report him missing pretty soon..  He looked like someone people would miss."
Whitney jumped a little when Sammy's phone rang.  "Sammy here.  Yea she's right her just a minute.  Whitney, it's your dad, be quick about it ok?"
"Yea, thanks Sammy.  Dad, hey, I'm ok, How are Ginny and the boys?  How's Mom?"
"They're good Whitney.  How are you, really, how are you?  Where are you guys going?"
"Dad, I'm fine, honest.  And you know we can't say where, but it will be a safe house, with guards.  I would never let anything happen to Ginny or the boys"  (she realized how odd that sounded now that she'd said it out loud, since it was her home where the body was found).
"You know your mom is coming unglued.  Do you have time to talk to her?"  
"Only for 1 minute Dad, and I mean it, just a minute."
the next voice she heard was her mom's "Whitney, sweetheart," Mom always started out all sugary sweet then, "WHAT is going on, and you'd better tell me the truth because you know I'll find out eventually anyway and you know, well you just better tell me the truth!"  
"Mom, all I can tell you for now is I'm safe, but we just can't go home tonight and we can't stay at your house either.  It's going to be ok Mom.  I promise.  But I have to go now, so the officer's there can bring Ginny and the boys to the safe house."
"Whitney, I ...."
"Gotta go Mom, I love you and I'll call you as soon as I can."
"Just tell me you didn't get shot like Mike did"
"Mom, I didn't get shot,  I'm not in an ambulance and I'm talking to you aren't I?  I have to go Mom."
As Whitney hung up the phone and took another sip from her shake, she was already thinking about something her mom had said, "
you didn't get shot like Mike did",  like Mike did? 
"Sammy, I think I know where I saw that guys face before!"