'Til Death

By

Tracy Wood

Disclaimer: This is a work of fan-fiction, written, and hopefully read, strictly for enjoyment. The main characters of Mark, Steve, Amanda, and Jesse, as well as Alex, Cheryl, CJ, Dion, Captain Newman and Chief Masters are from the series Diagnosis Murder, and as such are the property of CBS/Viacom. All other characters, especially Detective Reagan Yeager, her family, Jo/Texas Walters, Martin Robertson, Officer Campbell and Doctor Wil Collins are mine.

I owe a lot to my two wonderful beta readers, we had a lot of fun working our way through this, and I hope it shows. I couldn't have done it without you guys. Thank you so much.

This story follows on from Animal Passions. Some time has passed since Jo went back to Texas, and both Steve and Rae are now back at work. Rae is a permanent member of the LAPD, and looking forward to her future with Jesse and all her friends.

Familiar Faces, Cold Cases

Steve lay in bed and looked up at the ceiling. He had been lying there almost all night, trying to get his thoughts around the fact that he was alone, again. Jo had been gone for just over four weeks, although it felt more like four years. He had received one e-mail and two letters and the latest one was sitting on his nightstand waiting to be read. He didn't know why he was afraid of opening it, but it had been there for, he checked his watch, twenty-two hours now.

He got up and padded towards the shower. He turned the water on to warm and then once he had washed he turned it to cold and let the jets pummel him into submission. Then he got out and grabbed the nearest towel. His hair dripped water down his face and he was reminded of the dunking booth he had sat in just after Jo and he had started going out. For a moment, he smiled as he recalled that she was the only one of his friends who had successfully dunked him with all three of her throws. Then, the pain of being without her rushed back, and he shook the water and the memory away at the same time. He missed her so much that he could hardly concentrate on anything else. Taking a deep breath he grabbed the jeans and shirt that were on top of his everlasting ironing pile and began to dress.

Mark was making breakfast when Steve walked up the stairs to join him. "Hi, Son, have you got time for anything?"

"Coffee, and a slice of toast. I can grab something else later. I have to go and sort out this undercover operation on the docks. You know I have a feeling that we may have missed the boat on this one." He smiled as he realised what he had said. "With everything that has happened over the last few months it got sort of pushed to one side."

"Well, you are on it now, you can only do your best, it's not dead in the water yet!"

"Dad!"

Mark smiled at his son as he watched him down his coffee in a few gulps, fold his toast in half and begin to eat it as he headed for the door.

"See you later, Dad." Steve headed towards his truck, his mind already on the day ahead. As he sat in the driver's seat he felt Jo's envelope bend slightly in his pocket. He sighed. Maybe he would open it when he got to the station.

Rae stood in her kitchen watching Kira as she ate her food. She still had the list up on the refrigerator, and so she ticked it off. She hadn't forgotten to care for her cat since that awful day when Texas had found her upset and confused about what she had done wrong, but she was scared to get rid of it in case she did forget again. Rae checked her watch and saw that it was half past seven. She was due in at eight, so she stroked her pet, grabbed her car keys and headed for the door.

She got into Tom and joined the morning traffic. She had been furious when she discovered a scratch on the paint, but Steve admitted that it was his fault, that in a fit of temper he had kicked a soda can that hit the car and scratched the trunk when he and Martin were searching for clues to help catch Jo's kidnappers. He'd meant to tell her, but he'd found Jo on the edge of death in the parking lot at Community General, then he, his dad, Ron, and Amanda got sick from the pathogen Joseph Donovan had injected into Jo, and he'd forgotten all about the soda can. The day she came in grumbling about what she would do if she 'ever got her hands on the idiot that scratched my car' she had seen Martin give Steve an accusing look, and, grinning in embarrassment, Steve had confessed the incident and offered immediately to pay to have poor Tom repainted once again.

As she made her way into the office, her head was full of ideas for the undercover operation they were going to start to plan today. She also had an appointment with the widow of the first victim of the warehouse gunman, for lunchtime. She had been trying to meet with her for the whole time she had been back at work, but it appeared that Matthew Franks' widow had been having a real hard time coming to terms with her husband's death, and had been staying with her sister almost every other week, just to get away from the house.

Rae felt guilty about the way that they had handled this case. It had got lost in all that had happened, and that shouldn't be. She pulled into her parking space, locked Tom and wandered into the building. Bob was just finishing his shift as Rae entered. She looked at him, smiled and carried on up the stairs. She was still on autopilot as she headed for the kettle and made herself a cup of herbal tea.

"Hey, partner, how are you this morning?" Steve's voice broke her trance and she turned and smiled.

Rae considered for a moment. "Well, I'm awake, and I'm here. Apart from that I have no idea. You?"

"I'm ok, apart from this." Steve held up the letter from Jo. He had told her about it yesterday morning, and she'd sulked because she didn't have one. The sulk had lasted about thirty seconds before she had wanted to know what the letter said. Steve smiled at the memory. Some of the childishness still remained.

Rae looked at his hand. "Oh, don't tell me you still haven't opened it." She softened the tone of her voice. "What's the matter, Steve, do you think it's a Dear John letter?"

"Oh, God, I hadn't even thought of that! Thanks a lot! No, I think that it's just that I don't want her to tell me that she still isn't coming home."

"Steve, she is home, Texas is her home, LA is just a place she was living. I know she was here for quite a long time, but it still isn't home for her." Rae felt awful but she knew that what she was saying was true. She moved over to her partner's desk and put her hand over his. "I had a letter waiting when I got home last night. It's alright." She moved away then and left him to himself.

Steve opened the letter and sat down at his desk. Slowly he began to read it, and a small contented smile spread across his face.

My darling Steve,

I am sorry that I haven't written for a week, but the time has just flown by. I can't believe how much I have enjoyed being back home with David, sleeping in my old room, eating meals I remember from when I was a child, and being able to go out and ride for hours and see no one.

I miss you so much, and I talk to your photo all the time, telling 'you' what I have been doing, and how I am feeling. Which is much better, by the way. I feel much more relaxed and happy with being me, and I know that a big part of that is because of how I feel about you and how you feel about me. I guess that sounds crazy, but you know what I mean.

I have been on to Michael and told him to keep the house just as it is for the time being. I have decided that I will come back to LA, I just don't know when. But don't worry, I won't turn up unannounced, I like to be met at the airport, so you will have plenty of warning. I always feel so sorry for those poor souls who arrive somewhere and nobody cares. That won't happen to me.

I have told Rae about the house, and plenty of other girlie things that you really don't want to know about. But if you are curious, I'm sure she will tell you.

David and I have talked all about you and he says hi. And now I will say bye!

Take care, my darling,

Remember that I love you.

Jo

x~x~x

Steve read the letter through again, and as he went to put it back in the envelope he noticed something else was in there. He pulled out a photo of Jo, smiling at him from the veranda of her house. She looked beautiful; her hair was cascading down in curls and seemed even longer than he remembered it. She had dark blue jeans on and a white floaty top. Steve thought she looked more wonderful than ever, and as he looked at her he missed her even more than usual. There was still something in the envelope and he slid it out. It was a small dark green packet. On the front written in silver were the words 'Keep this close to your heart' He opened the flap and saw that inside was a dark brown curl of her hair. He slid it into the pocket on his shirt and then opened his wallet and put the photo inside.

Rae smiled over at him. "Still glad you waited to open it?"  Steve smiled back at her and moved across to her desk. She had been looking at the photo of her children that lived by her phone, but as Steve came and stood next to her she put it back down.  "I guess we had better get to work then, huh? Did you have any more thoughts on this undercover operation, or are we just going to begin talking and see what happens?" She had a pad in front of her and was ready to get started.

Steve nodded. "Sounds good to me. I don't want Martin to get left high and dry, this will be his first undercover operation and he will need back up, most, if not all, of the time." Steve looked over to where the young detective was sitting writing up a report. They would share their plans with him when they had some idea themselves.

Slowly they began to work out how they would organise the back up. It had already been arranged that Martin would sign on with one of the temp agencies that provided the first two warehousemen. Then hopefully he wouldn't have to wait too long to get put on the dock. From what they had discovered so far the agency had nothing to do with the killings, in fact they'd had trouble even getting them to admit to handling the vacancies.

The difficulty was the way to get them all in. Although parts of the docks were busy day and night, this wasn't one of them. In the end they decided that Steve would have to sign on as well, and if Martin got a job first, wander around the area as if he was desperate for work. But he couldn't shadow Martin all the time, so Rae needed an excuse to go in there too. The only problem was that she was now a very well known cop. The accent didn't help either.

Gradually a plan came together, and Rae began to type it up on the computer. She wanted to have something to show the Captain that would prove they were serious about this case now, and so she was very careful about how she set everything out and made sure that she itemized it to show how they felt things should happen.

She had finished typing and checking it and as she hit the print icon she felt Steve jump slightly beside her. She turned to see that somebody had their hands over his eyes. Rae watched as he turned around and a grin split his face. A tall slender woman smiled back at him and planted a kiss on his cheek and then Steve put his arms around her and hugged her. Rae, feeling a little as if she was intruding, turned back to her work. The plan began to flop into the tray on the front of the printer, and she picked it up, moved away and began to read through it, even though she knew what it said.

As she kept her head down a shadow appeared across the pages in front of her and she slowly looked up. Steve was smiling down at her, and so was the woman standing next to him. Suddenly she thought knew who it was. "Cheryl?" She straightened up and found herself in a hug too.

"Rae, I feel I know you already. Are you all right?" She turned to Steve. "You were supposed to keep her safe."

"I had enough problems getting her to keep your desk tidy. She got into trouble all by herself!"

"Hey!" Rae looked at Steve, his eyes were bright, and he was obviously delighted to have his old partner back. She smiled at them and took a breath. "I will leave you two to catch up, I have to get down to this." She moved away. Suddenly she wondered how secure her partnership with Steve was. He had worked with Cheryl for a long time; she couldn't blame him if he wanted her back now.

Martin had been watching Rae, and her reaction to Cheryl's return. He knew that it was he, who was supposed to be working with Detective Banks, but part of him hoped that he would finally get to work with Rae officially. He smiled at her, and she walked over.

"Do you want to see what master plan we have come up with?"

"Yeah, is this for my undercover assignment? I have to say I am worried about it." Martin looked at her and she could see that he was a little nervous.

"Ok, we have gone over and over this, and as far as we can see, you will never be on your own. Either Steve or I will be around, all the time. I have to clear it with the Captain, but I don't think he will change anything. Or at least I hope he won't. I'd like to sleep tonight."

Martin smiled at her again and took the pages of print from her. She watched as he began to read it, and she turned to go back to her desk. Then she stopped. It wasn't her desk anymore. Martin had the spare one. She had no place to go. All of a sudden she felt like an interloper. It was a feeling she had never had since the day she walked into the building. But now she had no idea what to do, or where to go. She looked around. Martin was busy reading. Steve and Cheryl were talking away like the old friends they were, and she was alone.

Slowly she picked up her jacket and began to leave the room. Nobody stopped her, and she found herself out by Tom before she really knew where she was. She knew that she had a good excuse to go off, her appointment with Mrs Franks was only about two hours away, and she needed some lunch. So she got in her car and as she joined the traffic, she put a call through to Martin and told him where she had gone.

After Rae had spoken to Martin she called Mrs Franks' number and asked if it would be possible to come earlier. She had a feeling that the woman would be glad to get it over with, and she was right. She arranged to go straight there, and after consulting her map found she was only about ten minutes away.

Slowly Rae drew up outside a run down house. It was a dingy white colour, and the paint was peeling. There was a small garden in front, which obviously hadn't had any care, probably since the day that Matthew Franks had died. Rae's heart went out to this woman, even though she had no idea what she was like. She walked up the path and rang the doorbell.

Steve and Cheryl had been talking for about twenty minutes when Steve looked round to ask Rae something and realised that she wasn't there. He looked over towards her desk but all he saw was Cheryl's bag and coat. Martin was slipping his jacket on, phones were ringing, and the squad room was its normal hive of activity but Rae was nowhere to be seen. He stood up and moved over so that he could see into the Captain's office, but the room was completely empty.

Martin turned. "She's gone out. She called me and said that she was gonna grab some lunch and head over to see Mrs. Franks.

"Why does she want to see her?" Steve looked confused.

"Remember the honourable man thing? Well, she's still on about that. She thinks it's important, I have no idea if it is or not, but she just won't let it go." Martin smiled. She had come along way since the accident, which had left her in a coma for two days, but she was still like a small child when she had something on her mind. She had decided that this was important, and nobody or nothing was going to change her opinion. Martin checked his watch. "Steve, I have to go, I need to get to the agency. I shouldn't be long, about half an hour or so."

"Oh, right. Let me know when you get back, ok?"

Steve still didn't know why she had left the squad room without saying anything, but Martin was right, she had been on and on about this honourable stuff. Hopefully this way she would drop it. As his mind raced he began to wonder, maybe they were doing her a disservice. If it had been Martin who was going on about this he would have commended his initiative, but with Rae they were dismissing it as the wilfulness of a child. He would ask her later about why she ran off. He had a feeling that it had more to it than just Matthew Franks.

The door to the Frank's residence opened slightly and Rae held her ID up to the crack. "My name is Detective Reagan Yeager, Mrs Franks. I called you a while ago." The door opened a little wider and Rae could see a very tearful face staring at her. "Can I come in, ma'am?"

The door was opened fully then, and a small slight woman was revealed. She had brown hair that had been pulled back into a band, and she was wearing a completely black outfit. Top, pants, even shoes.  Rae thought that she was probably in her early forties. The woman didn't say a word, but she moved out of the way so that Rae could enter and then indicated a chair with her hand.

The house was untidy, and the floor had cat and dog hairs on it. Rae knew that the woman was suffering, but surely she must have some friends who could have helped her out. "Do you know why I am here, Mrs. Franks?" Rae felt she ought to start right at the very beginning.

"Yes, because of my Matthew. Have you found out anything more?"

"No, I'm sorry, but we are working on it as hard as we can. I just wanted to ask a few questions if that is all right with you."

The woman seemed to suddenly get very animated and she moved quickly across to where Rae was sitting, and put her hand on Rae's arm. "You must find who did this. He can never be at peace if you don't. He was a good man, and he deserves to spend eternity at rest."

Rae looked at the woman who was crouched down in front of her. She had felt no fear as she had darted across to her, and now she put her own hand over the thin cold one which was still on her arm. "That's what we plan to do, ma'am. We want to catch the people who did this. But I need to know a little about your husband. Can you tell me about him?"

Mrs Franks nodded her head, and Rae continued to talk. "You said to the officer who came to see you that he was an honourable man. I really need to know why you said that."

"I don't know. He was an honest man, and faithful too, I know that. But he just kept saying it, over and over. He seemed very worried the last two weeks of his life…" The tears started to spill down Mrs Franks' cheeks and Rae reached over and passed her a tissue from the box on the table. "He wasn't a clever man, he never graduated high school, and he found it hard to get a job, but he liked to work down by the water, he loved water. But things had changed."

"What things?" Rae looked expectantly at the woman. "Things at work, or at home?"

"At work. He was always eager to go to work, to watch the ships and to do his model making, that was what he used to do at night, if it was quiet while he was on duty." She smiled and pointed to a beautiful boat, which was sitting on the windowsill. "But then about, ooh, I don't know maybe two weeks or so before he … he died he changed."

"In what way?"

"He didn't want to go to work. But if you're a temp and you don't go in, you don't get paid. I know this is no palace, but we had to pay the rent."

"So you have no idea what he meant by 'I am an honourable man'? What about your children, would he have spoken to them about it?" Rae was alarmed by the reaction her words had.

The woman seemed to shrink in on herself even more and she shook her head violently. "No, no… I don't know. I'm sorry. I haven't seen them in a while."

Rae was confused now. From her notes the Franks had two children aged fourteen and twelve. "I'm sorry, ma'am, but I don't understand what you mean."

"After their father… well you know. They had to go live somewhere else. I see them sometimes at weekends, but never in the week. We don't talk about their father very much, because I get so upset."

Rae could feel her anger building. This woman had lost her partner and her children, and they had done nothing. They had been so wrapped up in their own problems that this case had been neglected. She stood up quickly and Mrs Franks let out a gasp.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. Did your husband have a journal, where he would have kept his thoughts and worries?"

"No, Detective, not that I know of, but I will have a look around. Thank you for coming to see me, I know that things will move now that you are on the case." Mrs Franks smiled for the first time, and Rae felt her heart sink.

"I will do my best for you and your family." She moved towards the door and then turned as she got there. She handed over one of her cards and smiled. "If you or your children do think of anything please call me. And if you don't mind me saying, you should talk to them about their father, that way you will keep his memory alive."

"I know, but it's so hard." She wiped at her tears again as she looked at Rae.

"It will get a little easier as time passes." Rae smiled and put her hand on the woman's shoulder. "I'll see myself out, and I'll keep in touch." With that Rae left the house and headed back towards Tom. She had a good mind to come and attend to the garden herself, but she would wait a while. She didn't want to intrude.

As she drove along Rae wondered about Edward Judge's widow. He had been the second night watchman murdered. She didn't have the address on her, and she knew she really should get back to the precinct. She had worked hard on the details of the undercover operation with Steve; they should present it together. She turned at the next junction and headed back.

Steve and Cheryl were talking at Steve's desk with Martin when Rae walked back in about half an hour later. She hung her jacket on the coat hooks by the door, not wanting to assume that her desk was still hers. Steve looked up and saw her as she stood, a little awkwardly, and moved over to her.

"Hey, where did you go? Rae, are you all right?" Steve looked at her, she seemed all of a sudden out of place, and he had never seen her like that before.

"Yeah, it's nothing. I just saw Mrs Franks that's all. I thought we should present the plan we worked out to the Captain."

"Oh. I did it with Cheryl; I hope that's ok. He liked it, very much, and wants us to get working on obtaining all the stuff we need, getting identities sorted out, that type of thing." Steve stared at her. He had a feeling that it wasn't ok, it wasn't ok at all.

Rae took a deep breath and then forced a smile. "I will try and find out about the van then, Martin can I use your phone?" She saw the young detective nod and she turned to his desk. Steve shrugged his shoulders and moved back to Cheryl and carried on their discussion.

Martin watched as Rae moved towards his desk. Then he heard Steve speak to him and he returned to the matter in hand.

By the time Rae had got a van organised, and arranged some of the details of her own new identity it was time to go home. She moved over to where Steve and Cheryl were sitting and smiled. "I think I'll call it a day, Steve. Are you gonna register with the agencies tomorrow?"

"Yeah, Martin went in while you were out today and I'm going in about ten. Let's hope we don't have to wait too long. If there aren't any openings in the next few days, I think we'll just go down and try the direct approach."

"What direct approach?"

"Door knocking, please give me a job, that sort of thing."

"Oh, right."

"Listen, I think that you and Cheryl should work together on your part of this. Two heads are better than one, and if anything happens, you'll need back up too, ok?"

Rae just nodded. "I'll see you then. Bye all." With that Rae moved over and picked up her jacket from the stand and headed down towards her car.

Steve watched her leave. Something wasn't right; he would call her later, and have a word with her.

When Rae drew up into her parking space at home she was delighted to see that Jesse's car was already there. She knocked at his door, and waited. "Hey, handsome, how was your day?"

"Fine, busy, but fine, are you coming in?"

"Yeah, and then you can tell me to grow up and get over it."

"What?" Jesse turned and watched her walk into his apartment. As he shut the door with his foot he took her in his arms and began to kiss her. Slowly they pulled apart and Rae smiled at him.

"I had a strange day, is all." Rae wished now that she hadn't mentioned it.

Jesse pulled her down onto the sofa and put his arm around her. They had only been back together for four weeks, and he still couldn't believe how lucky he had been that she had wanted him back. "Ok, give. Something's not quite right here."

Rae gave a tight smile. "I'm feeling jealous, it's not something I feel very often, and I guess I'm a little disgusted with myself."

"Jealous about what?"

"Cheryl came back today. Now I have no desk, no partner, and a lot of feelings I didn't know were there, all crowding to the surface."

"Like what?" Jesse looked at Rae. He had stopped being jealous of Steve and Rae's relationship a long while ago, but he knew it wouldn't take much for it to come to the fore again.

"She knows so much about him, they worked together for a long time, I know he missed her while she was away, and he hardly said two words to me after she came into the precinct." She took a breath. "And they presented our plan to the Captain while I was out." She ran her fingers through her hair. "I've finished!"

"Shhh, honey, listen to me. You're right, they were together for a long time, but he didn't work as well with her as he does with you. You get along differently with him than she does. It will be ok. I never thought you were unsure of yourself. Come here."

Slowly Rae looked up at him. She was already as close to him as she could get, so 'come here' was a problem; she felt his fingers as they began to twist in her hair and then they began to kiss each other again. The problems of the day seemed to float away and Rae began to just enjoy the moment.

Steve and Cheryl sat at Bob's and he watched his old partner eat her meal with great enjoyment. "This I missed. I had a great time, but your barbeque is the best there is."

"Thank you. You know you have a British accent!"

"I do not. Well, I won't by the end of the week. You know, Rae always came across as so friendly in her e-mails, but she seemed a little distant today."

"Yeah, I'll call her later, maybe she's coming down with something, she certainly wasn't herself. So, do you think you will work with Martin ok?"

"I don't think it will be a problem." They had spent most of the day getting used to each other. Martin had filled her in on some of the cases that he was working on, and she had read through the files of what had been happening while she was away. "You know I will need to get a desk moved into the room. Martin has the old spare one, and I can't work on the floor." She began to smile and then a look of horror spread across her face.

"What, what is it?" Steve looked worried.

"I know what the problem is with Rae. I came in, put my stuff on her desk, monopolised her partner for the whole day, and to make it worse I even presented her plan to the Captain. She's jealous, Steve, she feels left out, and now I don't blame her. I will apologise when I see her."

As Steve went to speak his pager began to bleep. He looked at the message and with a sigh got up and headed for the phone.

Rae and Jesse had retired to the bedroom, and were lying there lost in each other when they heard the bleep bleep of a pager. They both groaned and then Jesse got up off the bed and headed for the living area. "Hey, it's yours."

"Oh, great." Rae rolled over and picked up the phone. "The station right?" Jesse came back into the room and nodded. Rae dialled the number and waited.

Half an hour later Rae and Jesse were standing on the docks, leaning up against Tom, waiting for Steve. She turned as she heard a noise and saw not only Steve but Cheryl as well, and began to walk towards them.

"Steve, Cheryl, I don't even know what to say about this." Steve was surprised to see how upset and angry she looked.

"Why, what's the matter?"

"There's a guy in there, in the warehouse, with a bullet through the brain. If we had concentrated on this when we got the first call, this man wouldn't be dead." She went to march away from her partner but stopped as she felt him touch her.

Steve put his hands on Rae's shoulders and turned her to him. "Ok, hold on here. If you would care to look at this properly, there are a few things you need to remember. First of all we were getting nowhere with this and we had filed it away. Then we started on the animal rights case, and life got a little crazy. You were injured, then Jo was kidnapped, and to cap it all most of us ended up in the ICU. Where the hell were we supposed to fit this in? Stop wallowing and feeling sorry for yourself, Detective, and do your job." Suddenly Steve was shouting, and Rae moved back from him.

"Thank you for the pep talk, Lieutenant. I guess I'll show you the body." She turned from him then and walked into the building.

Jesse felt very uncomfortable; he stood up straight and got back in Rae's car. It was unusual for her to feel so out of sorts with herself, but he guessed she would get over it. He resisted the temptation to go after her; he had a feeling it wouldn't help. He leant back in the seat and looked around him. The area was almost cut off from the rest of the docks. The warehouses were large and quite modern. If he had the ability to look round corners he knew that he would be able to see the water.

There were all the usual things that you would expect to see on a dockside in front of him, although in the dark with just the warehouse lights to show them up they took on an almost mystical look. He tried to think of the words he would use to describe it. The area had a ghostly feel to it, almost ethereal.  He wouldn't have been surprised if creatures of the night had appeared in front of him. Get a grip Travis, or Rae won't let you watch Buffy any more!

Rae led Steve and Cheryl into the warehouse directly to their left. "This is the same warehouse as the first murder, Matthew Franks. The victim's name is Daniel Jenkins. A security guard who noticed that the door was open and came into see if everything was ok found him. Obviously it wasn't, and I don't think he plans to investigate anything ever again!"

They had been walking as Rae was talking and as she paused they found themselves standing in front of the body. Amanda was working there.

"Hi guys. Cheryl, how are you? How was London?" Amanda stood up, wiped her hands on her jacket and hugged her friend.

"Great, but I missed night calls to the cold and dark parts of LA." Cheryl smiled at Amanda and watched as she crouched back down.

"Ok, Daniel Jenkins, shot at point blank range through the back of the skull. Small calibre bullet, which is still in there. I will let you have more details when I get them. But he died instantly and there was no struggle."

Rae had walked away while Amanda was talking; she had heard it before. There was a security guard sitting slightly off to the right of where the body was and she moved over to him. She had spoken to him earlier, but now she wanted Steve to hear what he had to say. "Steve, over here."

Steve looked over and saw Rae standing next to a very shocked looking man. He must have been about sixty and was wearing a blue set of overalls that said Sight Security on them. He had heard of the firm, he guessed that the name was supposed to be funny, but the first time he had seen it he had thought it was a typo.

"Steve this is Ernie Lane, he is the security guard for this part of the docks. He found Mr. Jenkins body. Mr. Lane, this is my partner, Lieutenant Sloan."

Cheryl stood a little way back and watched as Steve moved over to where the security guard was sitting. Rae's body language had changed the moment she had got near the man. He was obviously shaken and Rae was taking care not to distress him further.

"Do you want to tell Lieutenant Sloan just what you told me, Mr. Lane? There is no need to hurry. Just take your time."

"Well, as I told your partner here, I was doing my rounds when I saw the door over there was open. This is almost the end of the part of the docks that I cover. I know that when I walked past on my way up it was shut, but by the time I was on my way back, about five minutes later it was open." He paused and looked up.

"Did you hear any noises, gun shots anything like that?" Steve was taking notes as he spoke.

"No, Sir. The docks are a noisy place during the day, but at night, they are dead quiet." He shuddered as he realised what he had just said. "If there had been any noises to hear I would've heard them."

"What happened after you found the open door, Mr. Lane?" Rae smiled at him, encouraging him to keep talking.

"I called out. I didn't know who was working here; they have a high turnover of staff. But I knew that one guy had been found dead in here. There was another one too, but that wasn't on my patch."

"Were you working when the first night watchman was killed?"

"Nope, I was on vacation. Wish I still was." He shuddered then and looked up at the tall male detective looking down at him. "I came in when I didn't get an answer and there he was, just lying there. I knew he was dead and I didn't touch nothing. Put a call in and waited. Then your lady friend came and the coroner." He stopped talking, and leant back against the wall.

"Are you all right, Mr. Lane? Would you like me to get somebody to run you home?"

"That would be mighty kind of you, ma'am. And tomorrow I will be handing in my notice. You won't get me back down here, day or night." With that he moved away and headed for the doorway. Rae followed him and directed him over to where one of the black and whites was parked. She explained to the officer what she wanted him to do and then she turned back to Mr. Lane.

"In the morning, I would be obliged if you could come into the station and make a statement. The officer on the desk will know that you are coming in. Thank you for your assistance tonight." Rae paused and then suddenly thinking of something spoke again. "Will you be on your own tonight, Mr. Lane?"

"What, no, no, my wife is at home. Don't you worry, I'll be fine. Thank you, you made it easier to talk about it than I would have thought." He got into the car and Rae watched as he was driven away.

Cheryl had stood in the doorway while Rae was talking to Mr. Lane. She wanted to see how she worked, and she was impressed. She could see why Steve liked working with her so much that he had asked the Captain to dissolve their own partnership. She shrugged. Twelve months was a long time, she couldn't expect things to stay the same. As she stood there, Rae moved off towards a little red car. Cheryl carried on watching, curious to see what she was going to do next.

Jesse was leaning back in the seat with his eyes closed. He was glad that he had come, if only to see that Rae was working like she used to before her accident. He hadn't been sure how she was coping with being a full time cop again. Especially since he had given her the added pressure of knowing how much he disliked it. He was brought back from his meanderings by a knock on the window. "Hey, I was just thinking about you." Jesse smiled at Rae as she grinned at him.

"I'll be a while longer, did you want to take Tom home, I'm sure I can get a lift."

"If you're sure then. I'll see you when you get back. I'm not starting until one. What about you?"

"Eleven, but I get the feeling I will just work through. I guess it'll be a couple of days before I see you again then." She smiled at him, kissed her own finger, placed it on his lips and turned away. Her thoughts were crowding in on her and she could feel her temper rising. She walked over towards the edge of the dock and looked at the water, trying to regain control of herself. After a few minutes she gave herself a mental shake to try to lighten her mood a little, but as she walked back towards the warehouse her mind was still working. The first thing was that they shouldn't have answered this call. She marched up to Steve and stood squarely in front of him. "Why did we get this?"

"This what?"

"This call." Rae looked around and moved further into the warehouse. "We're supposed to be here undercover, hopefully by the end of the week, and here we are flaunting the fact that we're cops. Maybe we should paint targets on our backs at the same time!"

"Rae, what is the matter with you? Ok, you're right, we shouldn't be here, but it's not like you to lose your temper. You've been off with me all day. Go home, Cheryl and I can sort this out. Get some sleep, I'll see you tomorrow."

Rae bit down on her tongue and managed to keep back the words she wanted to spit out at him. Instead she just looked at him and in a very tight voice asked him, "Am I being dismissed, Lieutenant?"

"Yes, Detective, I guess you are."

Rae said nothing more, she walked out of the warehouse without a second glance and over to one of the three black and whites still outside. "I could do with a lift, if you don't mind."

"Sure, hop in." The officer who was leaning up against his car waiting to find out which part of the warehouse he was to search looked into the face of the English Detective standing in front of him, and decided that it wouldn't be a good idea to ask why she was leaving. So he got in the car and without another word drove away from the docks.

Cheryl moved over to where Steve was standing and put her hand on his shoulder. "Hey." Her voice was soft and welcoming and Steve turned and smiled at her. "Come on, she's had you to herself for twelve months, and they have been pretty rough months from what I've heard. Everybody has off days. Especially you, Sloan. Now what do you want me to do?"

"Just check around, there must be a reason why people are getting killed down here. Anything unusual, give me a shout."

Rae got out of the car at the edge of the parking lot and walked over to the main entrance of the building. She walked in and up to Jesse's apartment and rang the bell. After she had done so she realised what time it was, but it was too late now, so she stood and waited. A very sleepy face peered round the door and slowly broke into a smile. He put his hand out and pulled her into the room. "Hey, I didn't think I would see you again tonight." Jesse looked at her and realised that she wasn't as happy to see him as he was to see her. "Ok, this time we are gonna talk, come on. I'll make you a cup of tea and you can tell me what happened."

"Jesse, don't. It's nothing more, well, not much anyway, I'm angry enough with myself as it is. Don't make it worse. Just take me to bed and hold me tight, please?"

Jesse turned the kettle back off and walked over to her. He gently peeled her jacket off and then took her hand. She followed him meekly to the bedroom and then smiled as he closed the door and turned to her. "You need to relax, and with my help you will." He slowly undid the shirt she was wearing and slipped it off her shoulders, then he began to work on the buttons on her jeans. Rae put her hands up and peeled off the t-shirt that he had been sleeping in, but when she moved her hands down to his shorts he stopped her. "Nope, you may not go there, not tonight."  He undid the clasp to Rae's bra and then he moved her over to the bed. "Lie down, on your front and wait." Rae did as she was told and after a couple of minutes felt him sit over her.

"What are you going to do, Jess?" Rae tried to look round at him but stopped as she felt something warm being drizzled onto her back. Slowly she felt Jesse's hands begin to massage her back and shoulders. It felt wonderful, and she surrendered herself to him and his hands. The feelings of anger and resentment began to disappear. Then the sympathy she had felt for Mrs Franks, which had been eating at her all afternoon, began to dissipate and she let herself relax just as Jesse had told her she would.

Jesse slowly ran his hands over Rae's back for the final time. He knew that she was fast asleep, and had been for a few minutes now. He had carried on for two reasons; one was that he didn't want the sudden cessation of the movements to wake her, but mainly because she felt so fantastic under his fingers. He couldn't believe that he hadn't done this for her before. Maybe next time it would lead to other things, but this time he had achieved his objective, to get her to relax and sleep. And it's much safer than a sedative in her soup. For her and me! He moved off her and went to wash his hands. When he returned Rae had turned over and was lying on her side curled up, he turned the light off, moved behind her and coiled his body around her. Then with a smile he waited for sleep to claim him too.