Double Check

by Sammy

Chris and Rita team up with Palm Beach's new homicide team

Double Check

written by Sammy

It was early Monday morning. Everybody was still sleeping. Really everybody? No, not everybody. In the nursery little Christopher was sitting in his crib, holding his teddy in his arm. He seemed to be telling the teddy a story. He babbled and giggled. Then he pulled himself up at the grating of his crib. The teddy accidentally fell out of the bed. Christopher tried to reach it but his tiny arms were just too short.

"Mama!" he yelled but nothing happened.

"Mama! Dada!" he yelled again and again nothing happened.

"DADA!" he yelled one last time.

In the bedroom next door Chris awoke. He had heard his son yelling. He looked at Rita who was still sleeping. Then he glanced at the watch. 6:12 a.m.

"Why must he be such an early bird?" Chris asked himself and went to the nursery. Christopher was still standing in his crib.

"Dada!" he said and pointed at the teddy.

"Ooooohhhhh, teddy's fallen out of bed, I see." Chris smiled and grabbed the teddy from the ground. "You want it back, yes?" Chris tried to hide the teddy behind his back. "Where's the teddy? Where is it?"

"Back." Christopher said and reached his arms out.

"Back, no there is no teddy." Chris showed his left hand that was empty.

"Back!" Christopher repeated.

"Look, there's nothing." Chris showed his right hand after he took the teddy in his left hand and hid it behind his back.

"Back, back, back!" Christopher yelled and jumped up and down in bed.

"Okay, you got me. Here's the teddy."

Chris gave the teddy back to his son. Then he stroked his hair.

"Up." Christopher suddenly said and reached his hands out to Chris.

"Up? Oh, come on, Chris, it's not even 7 am."

"Up, up, up, dada!"

Chris kneeled down on the ground so that he was almost as tall as his son.

"Mmmmm, let me think, I ain't an early bird, your mother ain't an early bird, so why are you an early bird, my son?"

"Dada!" Christopher began to get impatient and jumped up and down in bed again. "Dada." he whined again.

"Okay, I'll take you with me next door. Mommy is still sleeping which means you, my friend, won't wake her up, okay?"

Chris picked Christopher up and went next door to his bedroom. Rita was still asleep. Chris sat his son down on his side of the bed. Christopher got excited about his new surroundings. He spotted his mama and immediately made an effort to make his way over the blankets towards Rita.

"Chris, hey, Chris, shhh!" Chris whispered and tried to get hold of his son, but he was too late. Christopher already had reached Rita and now patted her cheeks.

"Mama, mama, mama..." Christopher giggled while patting his mother's cheeks. Rita stirred for a moment and then opened her eyes.

"Mama wake." Christopher noticed.

"Hey you early bird." Rita said and smiled at her son. Then she looked over to Chris. He just shrugged his shoulders.

"I told him he should let you sleep, Sam, but he didn't listen." he explained.

"What time is it?" Rita asked and stopped Christopher from patting her cheeks.

"6:20 a.m." Chris replied.

"Uuuuhhhhhh..."

Rita took one of the pillows lying next to her and lay it on her head. Christopher thought it was a game Rita wanted to play with him. So he tried to put the pillow away.

"Get mama, get mama..." he repeated and finally got hold of the pillow.

"That's enough, mister. Leave your mommy alone."

Chris plucked his son from the bed.

"Get mama, get mama..." Christopher repeated again and reached out his tiny hands. He struggled and kicked Chris with his feet.

"Christopher Lorenzo jr. I said that's enough for today."

Christopher stopped kicking his daddy and looked at him. He just knew he seemed to be in trouble every time his father used his full name.

"Dada..." he said innocently.

"Uh uh, no way, mister. I know that face."

Rita sat up in bed and glanced at her husband and her son. She wondered how it would be with another baby around in a few months.

"Come on, Sam, let it be." she said and ran her fingers through her hair.

"Well, there you hear it, Chris, mommy's little boy."

"Mommy's little boy? I beg your pardon?"

"Forget it, Sam." Rita just shook her head and got out of bed. She walked around the bed and took Christopher on her hip.

"Okay, Chris, what about taking a bath with me this morning?" Rita asked and smiled at her little son.

"Oh, every time you want, Sam." Chris replied and smiled the big Lorenzo smile.

"Sam!"

"No, no, no, don't say Sam. I mean you said Chris and I assumed you..."

"Yeah, you assumed. Come on, Chris, we leave daddy assuming. Maybe in an hour he knows who I meant." Rita glanced at Chris smiling and left the bedroom.

Rita was in the bathroom with Christopher while the phone was ringing. Chris answered it immediately.

"Yeah, Lorenzo... Cap, yeah... no, no, Chris already woke us up some time ago... oh, I know where it is... Rita? She's in the bathroom with Chris... yeah, I'll tell her. We'll be there as soon as we can. See ya."

Chris put the receiver down and went to the bathroom. Since the door was locked from inside he talked to Rita through the closed door.

"Sammy, Cap called, we have a DB." he shouted after he'd knocked on the door.

"Damn! Where?" he heard Rita answering from inside.

"Ocean Park Hotel. The girl who found the body says she only wants to speak to you."

Chris heard Christopher giggling inside. He also heard Rita talking to him. She still seemed to be in the bath tub with him.

"Who is it?" she yelled.

"I don't know. Cap didn't tell me. He only said the girl insisted on talking to Sgt. Rita Lance."

"Okay, give me 15 minutes to get ready."

Shortly after 7 a.m. they arrived at the Ocean Park Hotel. As it was really early they didn't know where to go with Christopher. So the little one was sitting in the back of the car in his carseat. Chris and Rita got out of the car. Chris the took his son out. There were already many officers rushing around in front of the hotel.

"Hey Sam, wait a second until I'll find someone to watch Chris." Chris said when he saw his wife walking down the path towards the yellow tape.

"You can do that, Sam." she replied and waved her hand.

"As your superior I am telling you to wait, Lt. Lorenzo."

Rita stopped and looked at Chris.

"You don't remember what Cap tells us nearly every day? Don't get involved in the same investigations or you'll certainly end up in trouble. Consider yourself only as my driver this time, okay?"

"Nope, not okay. This is a homicide, I am a homicide cop, I can assign who I want and I assign myself. Just a chance the girl asked for you, hmm?"

Rita shook her head and walked down the path. In the distance she saw the body lying on the ground. It was already covered by a white blanket. She asked one of the officers if they already knew who the victim was and he told her the guy's name was Liam MacAllister. A minute later Chris joined Rita.

"Where's Christopher?" she asked as she bent down to have a look at the body.

"Ugh, over there with one of the officers. What do we have here?"

Chris kneeled down as well and removed the blanket. There were some red and blue marks around the victim's neck. They formed an unusual pattern, like a huge metallic chain.

"The victim's name is Liam MacAllister. He seems to be on vacation here in Palm Beach, he had a Scottish passport with him. He was strangled about 2 or 3 hours ago." Rita explained and looked at the pattern a little closer. "Looks like a chain. See that blue spot here? The perp must have twisted the chain here. The imprint is much deeper."

"Very impressive, Sam."

Chris got up and took off the gloves. Rita got up as well.

"Thank you." she smiled as took off her gloves.

"You're welcome. Oh, who's this mysterious girl who wanted to talk with you?"

"I don't know. But we can check it out. She's waiting in the lobby."

"Let's go."

Chris and Rita entered the lobby. Indeed it wasn't a girl that was waiting there for them, it was a young woman. Neither one of them knew her.

"Are you Sgt. Lance?" she asked as Chris and Rita approached.

"Lt. Lorenzo. That's my partner." Rita introduced herself and then pointed at Chris.

"I said I only wanna talk to Sgt. Lance." the young woman objected. She nervously drew a cigarette out of her purse and lit it.

"I was Sgt. Lance before I was promoted and got married." Rita explained. "So why do you wanna talk to me?"

"One of my friends told me if I was ever in trouble with the cops I should ask for Sgt. Lance." the young woman replied.

"Who is this friend?" Chris asked, while waving his hand to dilute the smoke of the cigarette smoke .

"I don't remember her name. I met her some years ago when I was... when I... who cares when I was homeless. She said you worked for this institute kids can go to when they don't know where to go. She said she trusted you."

"Okay. Then tell us your name." Rita said.

"Diane." the young woman replied.

"And?"

"Diane Sumner."

"You found the body?" Chris asked.

"Yeah, I did." Diane answered nervously. She moved her hands not knowing where to put them. It was obvious she had something to hide.

"What were you doing outside the hotel this early?" Chris inquired. He already seemed to know the answer.

"Uhm... yeah..." she began.

"So?"

"I spent the night here." Diane finally confessed.

Chris studied the young woman. She didn't seem to have the money to afford all this. Ocean Park Hotel was one of the most expensive hotels in Palm Beach.

"Alone?" Chris asked and looked around in the lobby.

"Uhmm..."

"Ms. Sumner, please answer my question."

"No, I wasn't. But I can't tell you who was with me. What does this all have to do with the murder? I just found the man, I didn't kill him!" she exclaimed

"Yeah, and we're here to find the one who did."

Rita looked at Chris with this 'please stop that' face and shook her head. Then she turned to face the young woman again.

"You saw something unusual?"

"No, nothing. I just saw him lying on the lawn. At first I didn't know what to do. I was so shocked. Then I called the police and asked for you." Diane told them. One of the officers approached them and gave a small piece of paper to Chris. He read what was written on it and nodded.

"Excuse me for a moment. I'll be right back." he said to Rita and Diane before heading off with the officer. Rita and Diane remained in the lobby.

"So you don't know the man." Rita asked again.

"No." Diane replied and shook her head. "Who is he?"

"His name is Liam MacAllister. Does that ring a bell?"

Diane jerked a moment and then shook her head again. Rita realized she had jerked. She was certainly hiding something.

"Okay, then we're finished. But you know, stay in town. We might have some more questions."

"That's really great."

Rita left Diane Sumner and went outside to where Chris was talking with the officer. Chris nodded, and the officer left them alone.

"Sam, can you please tell me what you were doing in there?" she exclaimed and gave Chris a look.

"What do you mean?" Chris replied, though he knew very well what she was talking about.

"The questions. They had nothing to do with this murder."

"In case you didn't notice it, this hotel is way too expensive for this girl. She can't afford it. I think she has something to hide."

"If she has, it's none of our business at the moment. We are here to investigate a murder and not to take some prostitutes down."

"And, and?"

"And what? This is my case. Please stay out of it."

"Ooohhh, your case? When did anyone say this is your case?"

"I said it's MY case. Finished. Let's go and take Chris to Frannie. And I need something to eat. I will starve to death if I don't get something to eat immediately."

After they took Christopher to Frannie they drove to the headquarters. Before they entered they had breakfast at the food stand next to the headquarters. They were sitting at a table near the palm trees.

"Geeze, I was starving!" Rita said while she ate another fork of the toast. She grabbed the honey from the table and put some on the toast.

"Hmmm, the little Lorenzo seems to be very hungry." Chris smiled and took a draught of his coffee.

"Actually, I am very hungry. Can't tell you if the little one is hungry as well."

"Oh, I know."

"Yeah, if the baby has your appetite than it certainly is hungry all the time." Rita laughed. Chris looked a bit confused at first, but then he smiled as well.

"Rita, about that case..." he started and leaned over the table.

"Uh uh, this is breakfast. I am not going to discuss work with you right now. This has to wait." Rita interrupted him. She didn't want todiscuss this right now. She knew it only would cause problems.

"Okay, if you want. I only wanted to say..." Before he could say he wouldn't get involved in that case Rita interrupted him again.

"Chris! I said I am not going to discuss work with you right now. And that's that."

Rita took another bite of the toast. Then she saw Cap. Lipshitz walking over to them.

"Hey Cap." she smiled at him.

"Chris, Rita, just the two I was looking for."

Cap. Lipshitz seated himself in a chair between Chris and Rita.

"Why?" Chris asked and drank the rest of his coffee.

"This case, I got a fax from the British Embassy in Miami."

Cap. Lipshitz handed a piece of paper to Chris. He read the paper very attentively as his eyes began to open wide.

"The victim was a British diplomat?!" he exclaimed and handed the paper to his wife.

"Oh, just what we need." she said as she read the paper.

"We? I thought it was your case, Sam."

Rita gave Chris that 'please stop that' look again. Chris mouthed the word 'what' and Rita shook her head.

"Anyways, I don't care whose case this is right now. The new police commissioner wants my two Lt.s to investigate this case." Cap. Lipshitz interrupted them.

Chris suddenly had his bright Lorenzo smile on his face and smiled at his wife. Rita only rolled her eyes.

"But I'll tell you, this is a delicate case. So please don't mess things up."

"We won't, Cap."

"So what are you waiting for? Back to work!"

"Oh, jesus, we're on our way. Don't let a pregnant woman finish her breakfast."

Rita grabbed the last slice of toast from her plate and followed Chris to the headquarters.

"Did you realize this, Sammy?" Chris asked while they walked up the stairs towards the entrance.

"What do you mean?"

"Look, it's 8:15 a.m. now. MacAllister was found about one and a half hours ago. Cap got the fax from Miami let's say around 8 a.m. How did they know so fast one of their diplomats was murdered, hmmm?"

"Well, that seems like something we should check out."

"There's something very, very, VERY strange going on here. Try to get someone's attention at the Embassy - no matter which one - down in Miami before 9 a.m. and they'll blow up in your face!" Chris stated and waved his hands. "Puff!"

"You ever tried that?"

"You want an answer?"

Rita rolled her eyes and laughed.

"Okay, now that we're on this case together, Mr. Lorenzo, I can ask you to do the work for me this afternoon. I would have asked you no matter if we were partnered or not, but this time I got you. You can't say no!"

"Right, I can't say no, but I can ask you what you're planning to do this afternoon, Mrs. Lorenzo, without me!"

Chris gave her his best puppy look. Rita had to smile. She always had to when he did that.

"One of Christopher's check-ups at hospital. And after that I'll have one of my check-ups. I told you yesterday."

"Oh, yeah, I remember. When's Christopher's check-up?"

"3 p.m."

"3 p.m... hmmm...." Chris said and frowned.

"What does this 'hmmmm' mean? Oh no, you won't dare, will you?"

"Will I what?"

"No way you're going to hospital with me. I can see it certainly will end as it ended the last time when Christopher had his check-up. No way, Sam!"

Rita walked through the palm tree doors, Chris followed her.

"When's your check-up?" he asked while he ate the last bite of her toast.

"3:45 p.m. Why?" she mumbled.

"Okay, I'll meet you at hospital at 3:30 p.m. Is THAT okay with you?"

"Aaahhh, Mr. Lorenzo wants to attend the ultrasound. Why didn't you say that earlier?"

"Because... geeze, I thought I could go with you without having to ask you first. I mean you're my wife and this is OUR baby."

"Oh, poor boy."

Rita gave him a look. Then she walked over to her desk and grabbed the file lying next to the phone.

"Riiita!" Chris yelled through the whole office.

"What now?"

Rita turned around and looked at her husband who was still standing in the middle of the office.

"Ugh, you didn't answer."

"Don't be late, okay?" was all she said before she sat down at her desk, grabbed the receiver of her phone and dialed a number.

It was 10:25 a.m. when suddenly Rita's phone was ringing. She had become so absorbed in her work at the computer that she jerked. She answered the phone after it had rung for the 3rd time.

"Lt. Lorenzo... what?... uhm?... ah, I know, Lt. Chris Lorenzo. Just a second."

Rita glanced at the door to Chris' office. He was just about to leave his office.

"Sam!" she yelled and waved her arm for him to come over. "There's someone at the phone for you."

Chris came over and took the receiver out of his wife's hand.

"Who is it?" he asked, while covering the receiver with his hand.

"Uhm... a woman. She didn't tell me her name... do I have to be jealous?"

"Not until I know who it is."

"You...!"

Rita slapped Chris on the arm with one of her folders and smiled at him. She knew she was being teased. Chris answered the phone.

"Lt. Lorenzo... yeah, you got my wife on the phone... nope, not kidding. My wife... no, not good this afternoon..."

Did Rita hear this afternoon? She raised her eyebrows and tried to hear more of Chris' conversation with this woman.

"... tomorrow? I don't know if I can arrange things. We just got another murder to investigate... you'll come here tomorrow morning?... you'll bring him with you?... okay, fine. See ya tomorrow."

Chris hung up and smiled at Rita.

"What did I hear? Not good this afternoon? Tomorrow will be better?"

"Ohhhh, Mrs. Lorenzo is getting jealous."

"Excuse me, Mr. Lorenzo..." Rita started but was interrupted immediately.

"No, Sam, it was work."

"So, work. Really."

"I told you about those two new detectives? You, my dear friend, talked to Sgt. Cassandra St. John. She asked when she could come here to be introduced."

"And who's she going to bring with her?"

"Her partner, Sgt. Tom Ryan, her husband, uh, ex-husband."

"You mean... oh dear, this sounds like it is getting to be fun. A lot of fun!" Rita burst out laughing. She couldn't imagine two people ever got along very well after a divorce.

"Uhm, Sammy, let's see, we could make it the same way they did it."

"What do you mean?"

"Getting a divorce and being partners again. Just like they did." Chris teased and kissed Rita on her cheek.

"As long as you pay the lawyer..." Rita replied and smiled.

Around 12 p.m. Chris and Rita left the office. They went to Luigi's, one of their favorite Italian restaurants, to have lunch there and to discuss some details of their current case. They were seated at a table near the window. After they ordered they began to discuss their case.

"Okay, you checked this girl. What did you get?" Chris asked and began to play around with the fork.

"Well, she's from New Orleans. She ran away from home when she was 16. She was arrested for prostitution about a year ago but charges were dropped."

"I told you she was a prostitute."

"Chris!"

Again Rita had this 'please stop that' look on her face. Chris didn't know why.

"What? No, no, I was right about that."

"I mean the fork. Put it down. You don't have to imitate your son, do you?"

Chris put the fork down.

"Better?"

"Better. Okay, let's go on. At the moment she's working for a company called Night Owls. I checked it out. It's one of those companies you call if you need a nice girl to accompany you to a party. She's working there for the last 7 months. I checked who her last client was and the name was very familiar."

"Liam MacAllister."

"Right, partner. He was listed several times the last few weeks."

"So we have a liar here."

"What did you get?"

"Not much. I ran into closed doors while trying to get some information from Miami about MacAllister. He'd been here in Florida for 2 months working at the Embassy in Miami. The rest we already knew. Before we left, the report of the opening came in."

"Anything unusual?"

"Well, the report states that he was strangled. That's the cause of death. There also was a lot of alcohol in his blood and he'd been sexually active at least an hour before he was murdered."

"Not that much. You think Diane Sumner is involved in the murder?"

"Yeah, I think. She has something to hide. I don't think she did it alone. She has an accomplice. This girl never could have strangled this man. He was too strong for her."

"Hmmm, why should she murder him? She has no motive." Rita frowned.

"At least none we know about. How does this sound, she got paid by let's call him Mr. X, to seduce MacAllister. This Mr. X wants to see him dead. So he tells Diane about his plan and together they murder him during one of his meetings with Diane."

"If your Mr. X really existed, why would he like to see MacAllister dead? And who is this Mr. X?"

"Hey, it's our job to find that out, Sam. I think maybe it's someone from the Embassy. We got a reaction from down there just too fast."

"Another thing that's bothering me. What was he doing here in Palm Beach? I mean he's working in Miami and it's not like it's a 15 minutes drive between here and Miami."

"If you were living in Miami I would drive there every night to see you." Chris said matter-of-factly and nodded, "Every night, Sam."

"Oh, that's so sweet, Sam, but unfortunately it's not case related!"

"No, I think it was because of a woman - Diane! Men can become crazy about women."

"Yeah, and you once had this experience."

"Yeah, I had. And I still have! I am crazy about you!"

"Chris, be serious."

"I am deadly serious. You know, every time I make you a compliment you think I am kidding."

"Well, most of the time you are, Mr. Lorenzo."

"I tell you I am crazy about you, you say I should be serious. I tell you you're the most attractive woman in the whole world, you ask me if I told that to every woman I've ever been together with. I tell you..."

"Okay, okay, stop it, Sam. It's enough, it's enough. You're right."

"Thank you."

"Ha, that's just what you wanted me to say, right? You wanted me to say you're right."

"Oh, Sam..."

Later that day Rita picked up her son at Frannie's and drove him to hospital for his check-up. This obviously was something he really hated because while Rita entered the hospital with him on her hip he began to struggle and kick her.

"No, no, no!" he screamed.

"Come on, Chris, it's just a check-up. Stop kicking me."

"No, no, no, no, no, no!" he repeated and finally began to cry.

"I said stop kicking me, mister, okay?"

"Mama, no!"

Rita sat Christopher on the counter and waited till one of the nurses came. While she was waiting she talked to Christopher.

"Listen to me, young man, this is just a check-up. No one will come with needles, I asssure you. So please stop screaming, okay?"

Christopher rubbed his eyes and looked up at Rita. He stopped screaming.

"That's better." Rita said and kissed him on his head. A nurse came over to the counter to where they were standing. As Christopher had his back to her, he made an effort to climb around on the counter in order to look at the nurse.

"Hey Chris, stop that." Rita lifted him back on her hip. "Uhm, my son has one of his check-ups this afternoon. We're a little late." she said to the nurse.

"Oh, yes, Dr. Rosengarden's 3 o'clock appointment. He's already waiting for you and Christopher. You can go directly to his room."

"Thanks."

Rita walked down the corridor with Christopher on her hip. The little one still looked a bit afraid. While entering Dr. Rosengarden's room he covered his eyes with his tiny hands.

"Now hello, who do we have here?" Dr. Rosengarden greeted Christopher and brushed his hair.

"Oh, he's a little shy today. And a little bit afraid of needles. Good day, Dr. Rosengarden."

"Good day, Mrs. Lorenzo. Please sit Christopher down on the stretcher."

Rita sat Christopher down on the stretcher. Christopher was still covering his eyes with his hands.

"Hello mister, there we are." Rita smiled at her son and pulled his hands away from his eyes. Christopher shook his head no and covered his eyes again. "Oh, come on, Chris."

"Dada!" Christopher exclaimed.

"Daddy, yeah, I still see what happened last time. Therefore we're here alone this time. Let's take your shirt off, Chris. And take your hands off your eyes."

Rita tried to undress her son, but Christopher fought her. He screamed and kicked.

"That's a battle itself." Rita stated.

"As I can see we don't have to worry about his spinal cord injury. His coordination is already pretty well developed."

"It was much easier to keep track of him when he was crawling. He's a little wild. I think he inherited that from his father. He has to go into everything, most of all into those things he's a little small to reach."

Finally Rita had undressed her son.

"Eedles, eedles, no, no, no!" Christopher screamed and climbed around on the stretcher.

"No needles today, Christopher. We use only this."

Dr. Rosengarden showed Christopher his stethoscope. Christopher immediately reached for it.

"Listen, you can her your heartbeat with this."

Dr. Rosengarden put the stethoscope into Christopher's ears and then the other end on his chest next to the scar.

"Oooooohhhhhhhhh..." Christopher said and looked at the stethoscope. "What?" he asked and pointed at the stethoscope.

"That's a stethoscope."

"Sope." Christopher said.

"Stethoscope, right. Do you let me hear as well?"

Christopher just nodded before Dr. Rosengarden took the stethoscope out of his ears. For a few seconds Dr. Rosengarden listened to Christopher's heartbeat and then put the stethoscope down.

"Does Christopher sometimes have any pain from his injuries?" he asked Rita.

"No, ever since he left the hospital he never has had any pain. I mean he won't tell us, but I think he hasn't."

"Was he crying for some unknown reasons or aggressive or anything else?"

"No, never."

"Okay, then we're finished for today. The scar healed very well, he's developing very fast for a... oh, how old is he now?"

"16 and a half months."

"Oh, then he's really developing very fast. My daughter didn't start speaking until she was 20 months old."

Dr. Rosengarden smiled at Christopher who answered the smile with a big grin reaching from one ear to the other. The same grin as his father. Rita had to smile as well when she saw this. Then she turned to talk to Dr. Rosengarden.

"Dr. Rosengarden, there's a question I would like to ask you concerning Chris' sleeping habits." she asked while she began to dress her son.

"There are any problems getting him to sleep?"

"The problem is he's awake almost every morning around 6 a.m. We can't get him back to sleep then. Around 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. he then sleeps for maybe an hour but that's all over the day. My husband tries to get him to sleep every evening around half past 8 but he won't sleep until maybe half past 9. Is that normal?"

"It's different for every child. Some sleep all the day, others need only a few hours to sleep. I wouldn't worry about that. This is only a phase. You'll see in a few months you won't get him out off bed in the mornings."

"Thank you, Dr. Rosengarden."

Rita lifted Christopher on her hip.

"Say bye bye to Dr. Rosengarden, sweety."

Christopher waved his hand good-bye.

"Bye bye, Christopher." Dr. Rosengarden said and smiled.

Rita left the room and walked down the corridor towards the elevators. While she was waiting there with a giggling Christopher on her arm she saw Chris entering the hospital.

"DADA!" Christopher yelled and reached his arms out.

"Hey big boy."

Chris took his son out of Rita's arms and lifted him high in the air. Christopher giggled and laughed.

"Hello sunshine." Chris then greeted his wife and kissed her. "Everything okay with Chris?"

"Nothing we have to worry about. He's okay."

A bing was heard and the doors of the elevator opened. They all got in.

"Chris, what do you think, we take a look at the new baby now?" Chris said to his son after the doors were closed.

"Sam, he can't go in with us."

"Why not? I mean he's the big brother. Well, that's what you are, sweety."

Christopher giggled and laughed while his father tickled him.

"That's just what I need, having Chris with me in there."

"Uhm, Sam, just a question, you mean him or me?" Chris teased.

"Think about it."

The doors opened again and the three of them left the elevator. The corridor was less crowded than the corridor on the 1st floor. They walked down the corridor to the left towards one of the counters there. Half way the nurse already came over to them.

"Mrs. Lorenzo, Dr. Webster is in room 330 today. It's down the corridor the other side." she said and pointed down to corridor.

"Thank you."

"So, Christopher, let mommy and daddy go there alone."

The nurse wanted to take Christopher out of Chris' arms but the little one clawed his tiny fingers into Chris' shirt.

"Nurse, you think we can take him with us?" Chris asked.

"Sam! No! I can't have him in there with me." Rita exclaimed and then looked over to her son. "Chris, be a nice boy and stay here, okay?"

Christopher stopped clawing himself into his father's shirt and went into the nurse's arms.

"Look, Christopher, we have some blocks over there. Let's go and build a huge tower, what do you think?"

The nurse went down the corridor with Christopher on her arm. Rita and Chris walked down the corridor the other way until they reached room 330.

"Oh, Sam, before we enter some things: don't make any stupid comments..."

"Did I ever make any stupid comments?"

"... and please don't ask every second what Dr. Webster is doing, okay? She knows what she is doing."

Rita opened the door and entered the room. Chris followed her. Dr. Webster was already waiting inside.

"Ah, Mrs. Lorenzo, just in time." Dr. Webster shook Rita's hand. "Mr. Lorenzo." She nodded towards Chris.

Rita sat down on the stretcher while Chris seated himself in a chair next to the stretcher. Dr. Webster grabbed a file from the table. She looked something up and then put it back on the table.

"If you want, I can already tell you the sex of the baby. But only if you really wanna know it."

Rita looked at Chris. He first shrugged his shoulders and then shook his head no.

"No, we don't wanna know." Rita said and smiled.

"Okay. Then there we go."

Dr. Webster put some of the cold, slimy gel on Rita's belly. Then she put the gadget on her belly and a picture appeared on the monitor.

"There's an arm, there's its leg, there's the other leg and this is the head." Dr. Webster explained and pointed to different parts on the picture. "And here we have... oh!"

"What? Something wrong with the baby?" Rita asked, a little frightened.

"No, nothing wrong. Wait a second and you'll hear what I mean."

Dr. Webster put a second gadget on Rita's belly. A fast heartbeat was heard. Dr. Webster moved the gadget from the left to the right. For a moment the heartbeat stopped - and then there it was again.

"What... what is this?" Chris asked.

"Two?" Rita asked surprised.

"You're expecting twins, Mrs. Lorenzo."

"Tw... twins? Oooohhhhh... ooohhh! Wow!" Chris said, no yelled.

"Chris, hey Chris!"

"Sammy, did you hear that? Twins!" he smiled.

"Yeah, I heard it." Rita smiled back.

"Uhm, Dr. Webster, are they... I mean, are they the same sex? Not that I wanna know what sex, just if they have the same sex."

"Sam, if she says, they don't have the same sex, we know that it will be a boy and a girl."

"But Sam... oh, come on. I wanna know this. Twins! Tsss..." he stated. "You don't have to listen if you don't want to."

Rita shook her head and smiled. She knew it was only a matter of time before she would give in. At first Chris would gave her his best puppy look and then she couldn't say no. So she decided to say yes.

"Okay. Dr. Webster, are they the same sex?"

"Yes, they are They are 100% identical twins." Dr. Webster assured.

"Oh man, identical twins!" Chris yelled and grinned all over his face.

Later that day Chris and Rita were back at the cop shop working on their case. Matter of fact, Rita was working while Chris sat on her desk chewing the end of a pencil.

"Sam, should I get you some donuts instead? They taste much better." Rita asked, but Chris didn't answer.

"Hey, earth to Chris. Earth to Chris! Are you there? HEY!"

"Huh?" Chris jerked. "You shouldn't interrupt people like that."

"What's going on in your mind? We have a case to solve, did you forget?"

"Uhm, Rita, I thought about what Dr. Webster said." he whispered and bent forward.

"You mean the twins?"

"Yeah. Do you... do you think we can handle that? I mean Chris will be only 1 and a half when the twins will be born. It will be a lot of work."

"Do YOU think we can't handle that?"

"I... I don't know. I mean this is more than weird. We'll need a new apartment. The old one will be too small for 5. And.... and..."

"Sounds to me like you have cold feet, Sam."

"No, not cold feet. I just wanna be sure I can be the father I want to be."

Rita got up and sat down on the desk next to Chris. Chris really seemed to have frost bitten feet but she didn't know why. About half a year ago they had decided to have a second baby. Indeed they wanted to wait until Christopher was a little older, but things happened different.

"Remember, we already had this conversation before Chris was born. And after he was born. You are a great dad, Sam, and nothing can change that. Christopher adores you. And so will the twins."

"Thanks, Sam."

Chris kissed Rita on the cheek. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Cap. Lipshitz opening the door to his office and stepping outside.

"You two Lorenzos, into my office, NOW!"

Cap. Lipshitz went back into his office while Rita rolled her eyes and got up. Chris remained sitting on the desk.

"Hey Chris, do you want Cap getting even wilder than he already is?" she asked and gave him a look.

"Uh, Sam, nothing about the twins to anyone. At least not now, okay?"

"Okay."

Chris and Rita walked into Cap. Lipshitz's office and sat down in the chairs standing in front of Cap. Lipshitz's desk.

"Yo, Cap, what's the matter?"

"What's the matter? What's the matter? This is the matter." Cap. Lipshitz kind of yelled and threw a file on his desk.

"What's this?" Rita asked upon opening the file.

"I thought you checked the victim. How come you didn't find out he was working for Scotland Yard? I got this about an hour ago."

Oh, oh, there he got them on their blind side. They never thought about that.

"Cap, I called the Embassy in Miami several times but I ran into closed doors every time. They didn't want to tell me anything about MacAllister." Chris tried to apologize, but he knew it wouldn't help much.

"The commissioner gave the case to you because he wanted his best detectives to work on it. And what did you do?" Cap. Lipshitz face began to turn red.

"Cap, wow, slow down for a moment. Think about your health!"

"You two will read the file, get to know everything about MacAllister AND you'll drive to Miami NOW!"

"Now? Oh, come on, Cap. This means work the whole night for Rita and me."

"If you'd found that out earlier it wouldn't have meant that. Tomorrow you'll get backup by the two new detectives, Ryan and St. John. I don't want Scotland Yard getting involved in this case. Just the four of you, is that clear?"

"Yeah, that was clear enough. But, Cap, you know what this means for you?"

"What does it mean for me except getting a headache, Lorenzo?"

"You know, you have this beautiful, handsome godson of yours to watch over the night."

"It will be a pleasure for me to do that. And now out of my office and down to Miami. HURRY!"

"Oh, geeze, we're on our way, Cap."

Chris and Rita left Cap. Lipshitz's office.

"I wonder if he can see what will come next." Chris said and grabbed his jacket from Rita's desk.

"What do you mean? The twins?"

"No, no, I mean our little early bird. Oh, oh!"

It was past 6 when Chris and Rita arrived in Miami. They knew they wouldn't be allowed to enter the Embassy but it was worth a try. They managed at least to get into the Embassy, but then everyone stonewalled them.

"Lt.s Lorenzo and Lorenzo, Palm Beach PD." Chris said and showed his badge to a woman sitting behind a counter in the looby. "We wanna talk to someone who can tell us something about Liam MacAllister."

"Palm Beach? You are in Miami. And you are on British territory here." the woman replied rudely.

"Mrs..." Chris glanced on the little shield the woman was wearing, "... Puttnam, we only wanna talk to someone who can tell us something about Liam MacAllister. His secretary, someone of his family..."

"Mr. MacAllister didn't have a family."

"Then we would like to talk to his secretary." Rita said and leaned against the counter.

"I don't know where he is."

"He?" Chris asked surprised.

"Peter MacDonald, he is... was Mr. MacAllister's secretary."

"Where can we find him?" Chris continued his questioning.

"I already told you I don't know where he is."

"Where is he living?"

"I am sorry, I can't tell you."

"Look, Mrs. Puttnam, we are investigating the murder of Mr. MacAllister. We need some information about him to find the murderer." Rita explained and tried to get a look on the papers laying in front of Mrs. Puttnam.

"I am sorry, I can't help you there. I have my orders."

"Ugh. Mrs. Puttnam, you may have your orders, but we have ours, too." Chris said kind of impatiently.

"I said I can't help you there. Will you now please leave the Embassy? Otherwise I have to call our security."

"There's no need to call the security. We will leave. Thanks a lot for your help."

Chris and Rita left the Embassy and walked to their car. Chris had seen Rita had read something on the papers laying in front of Mrs. Puttnam.

"Okay, Sam, was there something interesting written on these papers?" he asked and opened the door to the car. Then he leaned on the roof and glanced at Rita.

"I couldn't read one damn thing on these papers. What do you think, we should drive to MacAllister's apartment?" she responded and placed her blazer on the back seat of the car. Then she leaned on the roof as well.

"Sure, unless we don't know where he was living."

"315, Sea View Drive."

"Sam, how..."

"Ah, that's something you wanna know now, right?" Rita smiled at Chris.

"It was in that file Cap gave you, am I right?"

"You're so bright, Sam."

About 15 minutes later they arrived at Liam MacAllister's apartment block. The janitor opened the door to MacAllister's apartment for them. It was a huge apartment with an ocean view. Chris began to look into the drawers of MacAllister's desk while Rita examined his bedroom. Chris opened one of the drawers as suddenly a file dropped on the floor. It must have been pinned under the drawer. It had a red 'Confidential' sticker on it. Chris opened the file and began to read.

"Wow! Hey Sammy, I think I found something very interesting." he shouted still reading from the file. Rita came out of the bedroom and walked over to Chris.

"What is this?" she asked and looked over Chris' shoulder.

"It was pinned under one of the drawers. It's a file of Scotland Yard. Read this. MacAllister accused someone in the British Embassy of selling British immigration papers to people from Cuba. None of these persons ever would have gotten such papers legally. There we have our motive. He got too close and was murdered."

"This makes this case even more complicated. The Embassy is British territory which means we can't do a thing there even though MacAllister was murdered in Palm Beach. Try to arrest a diplomat for murder and someone will blow up in your face!"

"Uhhhmmm, I really like such cases. You know everything and you can prove it, but nothing will happen."

"Let's get this straight, Sam. We have to find the one who sold those papers, then we have the one who murdered MacAllister. As we can't act inside the Embassy, we have to do something different. Cap doesn't want Scotland Yard getting involved, okay, we try to shut them out. But... wait a moment, we still have Diane Sumner in Palm Beach. There's our legal path in this case. You think she was involved, why not ask her?"

"You mean we can threaten her a little bit, be her silent shadow and look what's going on in... what was the name... Night Owls?"

"Oh, I like it when you do this!" Rita smiled at Chris. "You know, Sam, we have those two new detectives. Let's see if they are really as good as everyone is telling me."

"Oh, Sam, you're unbelievable. You really think... nah!" Chris shook his head though he very well knew was Rita was up to.

"Why not? I would do it myself but there is this very little, not to say tiny fact that I am pregnant which leaves our new Sgt. and her husband."

"Ex-husband, Sammy, ex-husband!" Chris objected.

"Okay, ex-husband. Let's see how they handle undercover work."

"Hmm, if I think it over, why shouldn't I do the undercover work by myself? Seems like fun." There was big grin on Chris' face. The kind of grin Rita loved but sometimes hated at the same time.

"Oh, yeah, then you'll have all the fun and I will have a boring time at home alone in the evenings. No way! Besides Diane Sumner knows you."

"Uhm, while we are talking about fun, I think we can finish this here for today and have some fun in Miami, what do you think?"

Chris got up and placed his arms around Rita's waist. He pulled her a little closer. Then he raised his eyebrows waiting for an answer.

"You... and me... alone in Miami?"

"Well, Cap said they'll be watching Chris over night, he's expecting us back tomorrow morning which leaves the whole night just for the two of us." Chris said and moved in to kiss his wife. They let the kiss linger for awhile. "I remember this very small motel down at the beach. What do you think? Is it worth a shot?"

Rita smiled and drew the cellular phone first out of Chris' back pocket, than her own phone out of her purse. In front of Chris' eyes she took the batteries out of the two phones and put everything in her purse. Then she smiled at Chris.

"Yeah, I think it's worth a shot."

Later that night Chris and Rita were lying in bed. Rita's head was resting on Chris' chest. He stroked her hair while he watched her breathing softly. He thought she had fallen asleep some time earlier, but Rita was still awake feeling Chris, feeling his warmth next to her. She began to stroke his chest.

"Sam, I thought you're sleeping." Chris said and kissed her on her head.

"I wasn't. I was thinking." Rita replied, while she stopped stroking his chest.

"About the case?"

"No, not about the case. About us... and the kids." Rita looked up at Chris to see his reaction. "Chris, do you have any regrets about what happened to us?"

"What do you mean?"

"We once were two hot shot cops, independent..."

"... and lonely." Chris finished the sentence for Rita. "No, I don't have any regrets. You're all that I every wanted. My whole life I waited for a woman like you. And then I got totally lost in it."

"Yeah, me too. I sometimes ask myself what life we would have now if we only crossed the line the other night and nothing more. I mean we talked about finishing our relationship at that time."

"Sshhhh..." Chris placed his index finger on her mouth. " ...that's past. What counts is here and now. Besides, if I remember right, you still would have Christopher, no matter if we'd have stopped or not."

"Yeah, Christopher..." Rita groaned. "Do... do you remember the night this all happened with the twins?"

"Oh dear, there were so many nights." Chris teased and smiled at Rita. "No, seriously, I remember that night. It was in the living room, on the floor because we fell off the couch. I remember you slept so peacefully in my arm and I didn't want to wake you up. I asked myself how I deserved being married to such a beautiful woman. In fact, this is something I am still asking myself."

"Actually, you don't deserve it, Mr. Lorenzo. Maybe this much." Rita teased and held her index finger and her thumb about an inch apart. Chris laughed a bit and kissed his wife. Then he moved his arm and placed it on Rita's belly. He felt one of the babies kicking inside.

"Rita, I am so thrilled. Never in my whole life I expected to be father of twins."

"Neither did I. As you said before, it will be quite a bit of work with 3 little kids, but I am 100% sure we can do it. I know we can. Together we can do everything, Sam."

"Remember, you said you wanna have a girl this time. So you want two girls now?"

"I don't know. Why not?" Rita shrugged her shoulders a little bit.

"I can see it, 2 girls as beautiful as you. The boys would go crazy in high school." Chris laughed. "They certainly will need their daddy to protect them."

"I can picture that clearly!" Rita laughed as well. "I wouldn't worry about that now. Wait a few years and we'll see what will happen then."

"Sammy, what do you think about choosing names for them? I mean we don't have to decide yet but we can talk about it."

"Hmmm, start telling me a name."

"Boy or girl?"

"Girl."

Chris frowned and rubbed the back of his head. He never had thought about a name before. He needed to come up with a good one.

"Samantha. Or Sam for that matter." he smiled.

"Sam? Just like you and me?" Chris saw surprise in Rita's face. "I don't think it's such a good idea. We already have the problem with Chris."

"May I remind you, you chose the name, Rita. Okay, how about Rose? After my grandma."

"Hmmm, I have to think about that. What about... Jennifer? You like that?"

"Jennifer? I had a girl-friend in high school called Jennifer." Chris realized he shouldn't have said that.

"Okay, not Jennifer. Katherine."

"Uh... uh... nah. Hannah. Hey, that's it. Hannah Rose."

"Hannah Rose Lorenzo?" Rita frowned, then nodded in agreement. "Yeah, doesn't sound that bad. But tell me one thing: how did you know my mother was called Hannah? I never told you."

"Uh, she was?" Rita just nodded. "I didn't know that, Rita. Really. Just came up in my mind. Then this name is perfect for our little girl. Let's think about a second name. Hmmm.... Jessica?"

"Nah, I never liked that name."

"Oh yeah, I remember you liked names like Albert and Alfred. So what do you think about Gertrude? Fits the image of Albert and Alfred." Chris said and had the big Lorenzo smile on his face.

"Gertrude? Well... matter of fact... no! I always liked Sarah."

"Sarah? Reminds me of this song 'Sarah, oh Sarah...'" Chris began to sing. He wasn't very talented, everybody knew. He played the sax a lot better.

"Sam, stop that, please! I can't stop laughing!" Rita laughed and looked up at Chris.

"All you want, Mrs. Lorenzo." Chris placed a quick kiss on her forehead. "Sam, what do you think about Sarah Lee Lorenzo?"

"Sarah Lee? Sam, do you know this commercial for pastry?" she burst out laughing. "Nobody doesn't like Sarah Lee!"

"There you have it! Everybody will like her when we name her Sarah Lee..." Chris laughed back.

"Okay, then we have Hannah Rose and Sarah Lee for two girls. More..." she exclaimed with a mischievous smile on her face. She knew Chris had problems with this. This was more than obvious.

"Uhhhh... Stephanie Rose."

"What about Kirsten? Or Julie?"

"Julie... yeah, isn't that bad, Sam."

"But how will we name two boys, hmmmm?"

Chris suddenly began to laugh without having said anything. Rita looked at him with an expression of 'what?' on her face.

"Just thought about a thing. Lance Lorenzo. Oooohhhh!"

"Don't you dare, Sam!" Rita laughed.

"That sounds... uagh! I would prefer a name like... Samuel!"

"Chris, you can't be serious, can you?"

"Okay, seriously. Kevin, Nicolas, uh... Patrick, Marc, no, that was this doctor you once dated, we can't take that one... Brian, Matthew, David, Shawn..."

"... Jonathan, Lucas... Jason, Timothy, Zachary..."

"Nah!" they said in unison.

"Which leaves only the girls' names." Chris concluded and yawned.

"You're tired, Sam?"

"A little."

"You want me to sing one of the lullabies for you I normally sing for our son?"

"Oh, I think I wouldn't be able to sleep if you did, Sammy."

"Chris likes it."

"Matter of fact he has this very strange taste of what he likes about food, music and all that stuff."

"You..." Rita smiled and tickled Chris.

The next morning Chris and Rita arrived at the police headquarters in Palm Beach at about 8:30 a.m. Cap. Lipshitz already was waiting at the parking lot for them. On his arm a babbling Christopher was waiting as well.

"I won't ask where you were." Cap. Lipshitz said as he handed Christopher to his mother.

"You can ask, Cap." Chris nodded. "Rita and I were in Miami. You said we should go there."

"Uh, uh, uh, Lorenzo, I didn't mean you should stay the whole night there having fun."

"We weren't having fun, no, not in a million years. Did we have fun in Miami, Sam?" Chris glanced at Rita, with a mischievous smile on his face.

"Not that I can remember, Sam." Rita replied grinning.

"Okay, you two, I want every detail about what happened down there, did you hear that? 10 minutes, in my office!"

"Really every detail? Oh, Cap, I don't think you really wanna hear that." Chris teased with his big Lorenzo smile on his face.

"Uh, uh, Lorenzo, you just made a big mistake, a BIG mistake." Cap. Lipshitz gave him one of his famous looks while he looked over the edge of his glasses.

"Huh?"

"The trip to Miami was work related. Don't ever think about trying to get the money back for the motel room down there."

"How...?" Chris frowned and rubbed the back of his head. Rita just laughed and shook her head.

"Lorenzo, I once was young as well."

Without saying anything further Cap. Lipshitz walked up the stairs and entered the headquarters. Rita approached Chris' side and laughed.

"This was a 10 point shot for Cap, Chris."

"As he said, we are still young. But it bugs me I can't ask for the money I paid for the motel room, damn."

"At least we had some time just for us. Without being interrupted by anyone. It was worth it, wasn't it?"

"Sure was it worth it. Now let's see if our two new detectives are already there."

While on their way to their office they met George Donovan who obviously was looking for them. He was waving a file in his hand and grinning.

"Chris, Rita, there you are, I was looking for the two of you." He handed a file to Chris.

"What is this?" Chris asked and opened the file.

"About your case, the agent of Scotland Yard. I got this from a friend which means you won't show this to anyone, is that clear?"

"You have connections to Sottland Yard, George? I am really surprised." Rita said and shifted Christopher on her other hip. The little boy struggled and kicked. He wanted to be placed down on the ground to explore his new surroundings.

"Chris, okay, down on the ground." Rita sat Christopher down on the ground while Chris was still absorbed in the file.

"Sammy, read that, just what we found out. Scotland Yard was accusing someone in the Embassy of selling British immigration papers to people from Cuba. His main suspect was a man called Peter MacDonald. Does this sound familiar?"

"His secretary." Rita exclaimed, after Chris handed the file to her.

"You know you have no power on British territory, don't you?" George inquired, though he knew they were aware of that.

"Yes, we know George. This makes this case so complicated. Rita and I were at the Embassy yesterday and they were really more than friendly to us. They greeted us with open arms." Chris replied sarcastically. For a moment Rita looked up from the file to look after her son, but she couldn't spot him anywhere.

"Sam, where's Chris?"

"I don't know . He was here a second ago." Chris looked around in hopes to spot Christopher somewhere, but there were wasn't even a trace of the young boy.

"Oh, oh, I don't wanna know where he is now. Come on, let's go and find him before he can get into trouble."

Meanwhile Sgt. Tom Ryan and Sgt. Cassandra St. John were waiting in the office for Chris and Rita. Tom was sitting in Rita's chair, his feet on the desk while Cassy leaned against the desk.

"Thomas, it's not your chair you're sitting in and this isn't your desk. Don't you think you should put at least your feet down?"

"Cassy, dear, you have to learn a lot about police work in homicide. People are always sitting at their desks like this. See?" Tom answered and smirked.

"Really? So why is everyone looking at you?" Tom looked around and saw that everybody was looking really at him. So he put his feet down and got up. Suddenly he realized someone was punching his leg.

"What the hell..."

He looked down and saw Christopher standing next to him. The boy smiled at him and extended his arms.

"Oh, who do we have here?"

Tom lifted Christopher on his arm and smiled at him. Christopher looked at him, his eyes wide open.

"Dada!" Christopher giggled and raised his arms high in the air.

"Thomas, is there something you would like to tell me?" Cassy laughed.

"Wow, wow, he isn't mine if that's what you're thinking. After what happened to Elvis I decided better not to have kids, Cass."

"Thomas Ryan, it wasn't my fault what happened to the dog."

"Oh, really?"

Christopher, who was looking over Tom's shoulder, saw his mother entering the office through the palm tree doors. She looked around until she spotted her son on Tom's arm.

"MAMA!" Christopher yelled and reached his arms out. Rita walked over to Tom and Cassy. Without saying anything Tom handed her the boy.

"Hello, there you are, you little runaway." Rita smiled and stroked her son's dark hair. "Uhm, I am sorry if he bothered you." she said to Tom and Cassy.

"Actually, no, no problem." Tom said and smiled at Cassy who rolled her eyes. Rita sat Christopher on her desk and gave him an empty sheet of paper to play with.

"Can I help you in some way?"

"Oh, I am sure you can." Tom smiled. "We are looking for Lt. Lorenzo."

"Ah, you must be the two new detectives. I am Lt. Rita Lorenzo. We talked on the phone yesterday." she said and nodded towards Cassy.

"Sgt. Cassandra St. John. My partner Sgt. Thomas Ryan." Cassy pointed towards Tom.

"I know. My husband told me. He will be here any minute. He's still looking for our son."

The conversation was interrupted by Christopher who dropped Rita's pencils on the floor, one after another.

"Chris! Uh uh!"

Christopher looked up at Rita who gave him her 'please stop that' look and dropped another pencil. Then he smiled at Rita.

"Chris, stop that!"

Rita took the pencils out of her son's hands and placed them on her desk. Christopher immediately reached for them again and dropped them on the floor.

"Christopher Lorenzo, I said stop that!"

Tom picked the pencils up from the floor and placed them on Rita's desk where Christopher couldn't reach them.

"Thank you." Rita said, while she lifted Christopher back on her hip.

"You're welcome, Lt. Lorenzo."

"Oh, not Lt. It's Rita, okay?"

"Okay, Rita. But then it's Tom, too."

"And Cassy for me."

"Okay."

The palm tree doors opened and a confused Chris shuffled through. He ran his fingers through his hair and looked around. He spotted Rita and his son next to Tom and Cassy.

"Ah, there he is!" he said and walked over to them.

Christopher smiled at his father and giggled. He had this 'I am innocent' look on his face, as well as the same puppy look Chris used to give Rita.

"Oh, I know that face, mister. You are in trouble. Not to say in big trouble."

"Uhm, Sam, before you start debriefing Chris, these are Tom and Cassy, the new detectives. Tom, Cassy, my husband Chris Lorenzo."

"Nice to meet you in person after all those calls." Cassy said and shook Chris' hand.

"The pleasure is all mine, Sgt. St. John. Or shall I say Cassy? For me it's Chris."

"It's Cassy."

"And Tom for me. Nice to meet you, Chris. We heard a lot about you. Can't all be true."

"Depends on what you heard." Chris replied and placed Christopher on his shoulders. The boy giggled and enjoyed the view he had from up there.

"Your wife was the youngest woman to get a gold shield and to be promoted Chief of Detectives, you two have solved all your cases, not even one is unsolved..."

"All true so far." Rita smiled.

"It will be a great pleasure for us to work with you, won't it, Thomas?"

Cassy gave Tom a bump with her elbow.

"Oh, yes, certainly, Cassandra!"

Chris and Rita looked at each other. They didn't know what they should think about those two. It certainly was going to be a lot of fun working with them.

"Let's introduce you to our Captain and then discuss the new case we want you to work on."

"A case? Right now? I mean today? I thought we could get a few more days to get to know everything and all that things before starting to work..."

"Thomas!" Cassy exclaimed and rolled her eyes.

About half an hour later they all were still in Cap. Lipshitz office's discussing the case. Christopher was sitting on the couch playing with two toy trucks while Chris, Rita, Tom, Cassy and Cap. Lipshitz gathered around Cap. Lipshitz desk. Four different file folders lay open on the desk. Two were files from Scotland Yard, one was the result of the opening and the last one was a folder about Night Owls.

"Cap, Rita and I thought we could arrange a little undercover work for Tom and Cassy at Night Owls. It's our only legal way in this case."

"What did you think about, Lorenzo?"

"Uhm, Rita came up with the idea that Cassy could go undercover as a girl working for Night Owls. Tom can make out an appointment with Diane Sumner. Cassy will get some information from inside, Tom from outside." Chris suggested and looked for the different reactions.

"Wow, this already sounds like fun!" Tom stated.

"Fun, Tom? Is it possible that you are thinking with something different than the head you normally should have on your shoulders?" Cassy crossed her arms and gave him one of her famous looks.

"Cass, babe, wow, I am ALWAYS thinking with my head."

"Who believes..."

Chris, Rita and Cap. Lipshitz tried to hide their laughter but they weren't very successful.

"There you have it, Tom Ryan. People already think we are jokers."

"Cass, this is only your fault. You are questioning my abilities here."

"I am doing what?!? No, no, no, first it was my fault what happened to Elvis, then it was my fault our marriage ended in a divorce and now this is my fault as well. And you are 100% perfect, aren't you?"

"Elvis? Did she mean Elvis Presley?" Chris burst out laughing. He couldn't hide it any longer.

"Elvis, our dog." Cassy answered

"MY dog, babe, MY dog. The dog you killed."

"Oh, yeah, before he died he was our dog and now he was your dog. And I didn't kill him!"

"Uhm..." Cap. Lipshitz cleared his throat. "Are the two of you finished for today? We have some work to do."

"Sorry, Captain, it was all her..." Tom pointed at Cassy but was interrupted by his Captain immediately.

"Tom, I don't care whose fault this was or whatever. There's your case. And now back to work or my headache will be getting even worse than it already is."

"And that's nothing to joke about." Chris added matter-of-factly and nodded in agreement.

"OUT OF HERE NOW!"

"On our way, Cap!"

Rita plucked Christopher up from the couch and followed Chris, Cassy and Tom outside the office. Chris threw the folders on Rita's desk and grabbed one of the pencils and a piece of paper.

"Okay, let's get this straight. Tom, I will make an appointment for you at Night Owls for tonight. We can discuss details in my office. Sam, will you explain Cassy what she has to do?"

"Sure."

"See you then for lunch."

Chris and Tom headed off for Chris' office. Rita sat Christopher on her desk. He immediately reached for the pencils again.

"Uh, uh, uh, what did I say before?"

Christopher looked at his mama and dropped the pencils back to where they were lying before.

"Okay. That's better. Uhm... this isn't a good place to discuss all this stuff AND watch Chris. Would you mind going somewhere different?" Rita asked Cassy.

"No, I wouldn't mind."

"Good. Chris, get the trucks and we're out of here."

Some time later Rita and Cassy were at the beach just near the headquarters. Christopher was playing in the sand with his trucks while the two women were sitting in the sand discussing work.

"Do you often discuss your work here at the beach, Rita?" Cassy asked and looked at the waves.

"No. If Cap knew we are here, oh, I won't think about that!" Rita laughed. She could imagine the expression on her Captain's face. At first he certainly would give her his look over the glasses and then he would start shouting.

"I think he woouldn't be too happy "

"Certainly not! Cassy, you ever done undercover work before?"

Cassy nodded and reached for a small shell some inches away.

"Then you know you have to be careful. It's not like a trip to the beach or something like that."

"I know."

"This afternoon we will arrange a meeting with Dale. He's the owner of Night Owls. Only thing you have to do is be as natural as you can, I mean don't pretend to be someone you are not. I tried that a lot of times when I was working vice and I always got in trouble. You'll get a new identity, that's all. Change your name and remain who you are. You think you can do that?"

"Sure. This is my first homicide case here. I don't want to mess things up."

"Good. We know Dale has a crush for blond woman, which is an advantage for you. Once you are inside try to get to know as much as you can about Diane Sumner and her last client, Liam MacAllister. But don't ask too much as they certainly will become suspicious then."

"Rita, I did undercover work before. I know what to do." Cassy assured her.

"Okay, I trust you. But please be careful."

Rita looked down the beach to where Christopher was playing in the sand. He was covered with sand all over his trousers.

"Oh, Chris, look at you!"

She got up and walked to Christopher. The little boy was sitting in the sand, still covered all over with sand. Rita wiped the sand away and lifted him on her hip. She walked back to where Cassy was still sitting and sat down, Christopher on her lap.

"He's a handful, isn't he?" Cassy asked and brushed Christopher's hair.

"Oh, he certainly is. You know he has reached this age when kids are curious about everything. He really is into everything, especially those things he's too small for to reach."

Christopher smiled at Cassy. Normally he was a bit shy, but he already seemed to have made friends with the two new detectives. Cassy pulled a face and Christopher began to giggle.

"How old is he?" she asked while pulling another face for Christopher.

"16 months." Rita answered and grinned. Christopher looked up at Cassy and handed her one of his trucks.

"Tuck." he said and smiled.

"Yeah, that's a truck. Your truck."

Cassy placed the truck in the sand and Christopher immediately reached for it.

"Do you have kids, Cassy?" Rita tried to get hold of Christopher who was trying to crawl down the beach.

"No, Tom and I had the dog and that was it. We never wanted to have kids. Besides, our marriage only lasted for a few months. I mean, we re both cops. Work and kids, that somehow doesn't fit. At least not for me. And you? I mean you are cops as well. It certainly isn't easy with a baby then."

"We have great support. While we are at work, Chris normally spends the day with Frannie, Cap. Lipshitz's wife. She's all over her godson."

"Tom told me Chris and you once were partners."

"That's true. We were partners for 5 and a half years before we did what everyone warned us about not to do. We always were best friends, so I think it just was matter of time until we realized what we meant to each other. I mean Chris was something special to me from the first time on we met. We couldn't admit our love for each other because there was this very little rule - nothing physical between partners." Rita sighed.

"Oh, yeah, this little rule. Sounds very familiar to me."

"Hum?"

"Tom and I once were partners as well - before we got married. This all ended the minute we got married. Now we are divorced and they partnered us again."

"This really sounds very familiar - except the divorce. Chris and I are happy with what we have now. We appreciate every day we are allowed to spend with each other. I think this is something that lasts forever."

"Well, Tom and I thought the same. We had a great time together and then the divorce. It's not that we separated in anger. We both knew it would be a lot better for us. Tom still means a lot to me, but we are more like friends nowadays. Good friends."

"That's very obvious." Rita kind of laughed at Cassy.

"Oh, don't take his remarks for real. He's always been like that and I think he'll always be. That's Thomas Ryan."

They both laughed while Christopher climbed around on both Rita's and Cassy's lap. Once again he looked up at Cassy and studied her face. He looked at his mother, than back at Cassy. He reached his arm out and pointed at Cassy.

"That's Cassy, sweety. Cassy."

"Sassy." Christopher repeated what Rita had told him.

"Cassy, Christopher, my name is Cassy." Cassy laughed.

"Sassy." Christopher repeated and smiled at both Rita and Cassy. Then he crawled back to Rita and pointed at Rita's belly. "Baby!"

"Uh huh, there's Chris' little brother or sister in it." Rita said and stroked her son's hair.

"May I ask you how pregnant you are?" Cassy asked and let some sand run through her fingers.

"Sure. 6 months. The baby will be born first week of January. Christopher was born a week too early. Chris is always teasing we may have a Christmas baby. But I don't think so."

"Do you already know if it's a boy or a girl?"

"No, we don't wanna know."

Rita suddenly realized Christopher had his mouth full of sand. He was about to put another hand full of sand into his mouth.

"CHRISTOPHER! That's nothing to eat! Spit it out. Come one, spit it out!"

Christopher spat the sand out and looked at his mother. Again, he had this 'I am innocent' look on his face and gave her a his puppy face.

"That's enough for today, mister. Now it's your daddy's turn to look after you."

Later that day everything was prepared for Cassy to meet Dale at Night Owls. Tom already had his date with Diane Sumner the same night. Chris, Tom and Rita were waiting in a blue van a block down from where Night Owls was while Cassy was in there. She wore a wire hidden under her dress just that Chris and Rita could be sure she's handling everything quite good. Chris turned the loudspeaker on so that everyone could hear what was going on there. Cassy's voice was heard very clearly.

"Mr..." Cassy began to speak.

"Not Mr. Every girl here calls me Dale."

"Okay, Dale, I am Cassandra Ryan."

"WHAT?"

Tom jumped up in the van and knocked his head against the roof.

"Oh, oh, I'll kill her. She never used that name before. I'll kill her!"

"Tom, slow down! Well, that's what I call crazy about a woman." Chris teased and smiled.

"I'll really kill her." Tom mumbled and rubbed his head.

The conversation in Dale's office continued, and the three in the van listened.

"Dale, I was told you are looking for a girl for Night Owls."

"You know what kind of work Night Owls offers?"

"Yes, I do. I did a lot of this kind of work before."

"Hmmm, you're good looking, charming, just what I am looking for."

"You mean I got the job?"

"Yeah. I now want you to do some shopping and buy you some sweet dresses for work. Night Owls will pay for all of it. I then expect you back in about an hour for your first client."

"An hour for shopping?"

"Okay, two hours. Your first client will be one of our new clients. He asked for a woman that fits your imagine. His name is Jack Sergeant."

In the van Rita looked at Chris astonished.

"Sam, you really did it again, didn't you?"

"What? She needs a good introduction at Night Owls. I think I'll give her a good reputation after this night."

"Sam!"

"No, no, Sammy, this is work..." Chris objected and shook his head.

"... which means you, my friend, will have the fun tonight and I will have a boring night alone at home with the baby."

"Not what I thought about, Sam!"

"Oh, you're bad... you're bad!"

At 8 p.m. Chris picked Cassy up in front of Night Owls. He was driving a red Mustang. Cassy had spent the last hour at Night Owls talking to the girls and trying to make friends with Diane Sumner, but she had no luck. Diane instead concentrated on her 8:30 p.m. meeting with Tom.

"Oh, I think I know this car." Cassy said, while she opened the door to the co-driver seat.

"It's a nice one, isn't it?" Chris smiled. He knew very well that she knew this car. Indeed, it was her car. He thought it would be better to use this car than his family coach - what he used to call his car.

"Who gave you the keys, Chris?" Cassy frowned. She was sure she was the only one who had keys for the car.

"Jack! And Tom did. This really is a great car, you know that? I always wanted to have such a great car as well, but now with the baby, that's nothing."

"Ugh, this car is an awful lot of metal, that's all."

"An awful lot of metal? Oh, I see you have to learn a lot about cars. Let's go, there's a hotel room waiting for us!"

Chris flashed his Lorenzo grin and turned on the engine.

About half an hour later Tom was waiting in front of Night Owls as well. He was leaning against his car as Diane Sumner walked over to him.

"Thomas Benedict?" she asked and studied Tom.

"Please, call me Tom. You must be Diane."

Tom opened the car door for her. He gestured her to sit down. Then he walked around the car and got in as well.

"I planned a small private dinner tonight at my hotel." he said and smiled at Diane while he turned on the engine.

"It will be a pleasure for me."

Tom drove Diane to the same hotel where Chris and Cassy were already waiting. Chris and Cassy were in room 402, Tom had room 403. Room 403 had wires all over and a hidden video camera attached next to the cooling system. On the screen Chris and Cassy saw Tom and Diane entering the room.

"There we are. A small and private dinner." Tom said and pointed towards the table standing in the middle of the room.

"A small and private dinner, I can see."

Diane sat down on a chair. Tom lifted the lid that was over the plate in front of Diane.

"I hope you like escargots."

"Escargots? Tom never liked Escargots!" Cassy exclaimed.

The same moment there was a knock on the door. Chris went to the door and looked through the small whole. It was Rita standing outside. He opened the door for her.

"Sam, what are you doing here?"

"You thought you'll have the fun all by yourself, didn't you?" Rita smirked and entered the room. Chris closed the door and shook his head.

"And where's your other half?"

"My other half? Ah, you mean Chris! With Cap and Frannie."

"Hmmm, this leaves the whole night for us then."

"I had to promise Cap we would pick him up around midnight as he didn't want to be woken up again at 6 a.m. tomorrow."

"Uhh, Sam..."

Around 11:30 p.m. Diane Sumner left Tom after they had talked the whole time. So Tom went next door to where Chris, Rita and Cassy were still waiting.

"This was just a waste of time." Tom groaned and threw himself on the bed. "Nothing that will help us in our case."

"Oh, poor Thomas. At least you had the fun - and the escargots!" Cassy smiled sarcastically.

"Uhm, you two get the stuff down in the car and bring it back to the headquarters. Rita and I will have a little talk with Ms. Sumner."

Tom and Cassy nodded before Chris and Rita left the room. Down in the lobby they caught up with Diane Sumner.

"Ms. Sumner, wait a second." Chris said and held her back.

"Oh, police. Still working this late?"

"We have some more questions to ask you. We can either do it here or downtown. What do you prefer?"

Diane looked around and saw people staring at them.

"I prefer downtown."

"Okay, let's go."

It was 11:45 p.m. when they entered the headquarters. In interrogation room 2 they talked to Diane Sumner.

"We know you lied to us." Chris said and sat down on the table.

"About what?"

"You knew Liam MacAllister, the man you found dead at Ocean Park Hotel."

"Now, that's not true!"

"How comes he is listed on your client list 7 times the last two weeks? He's also listed the night of his death." Chris inquired and threw a file on the table.

"I... I won't say anything without my lawyer." Diane Sumner leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms in front of her.

"We know you also know Peter MacDonald. He was MacAllister's secretary. Did he pay you to seduce MacAllister?" Chris continued his interrogation. He knew he was using circumstantial evidence here, but as soon as she would confess she knew Peter MacDonald their suspicion would be proved.

"I said I won't say anything without my lawyer."

"You'll get about 25 years for this, you know that?" Chris continued.

"Look, we only wanna help you. If you help us, we will help you. That's the deal." Rita suggested. "You'll help us?"

"What's in it for me?"

"A plea down to let's say, 10 years."

"I talk and I walk. That's that."

"We'll try everything we can." Chris assured her.

"Okay, I talk. Mr. MacAllister called Night Owls some weeks ago. He only wanted to go out with me. Some days later I got a call from Mr. MacDonald. He said he would pay me $15,000 if I went out with Mr. MacAllister for dinner again. I didn't know what he really was up to. I needed the money. One night he suddenly was standing in the hotel room I was in with Mr. MacAllister. He slapped me and I fell on the floor. The next thing I can remember was that I was alone in the room. I had to leave immediately. And then I found Mr. MacAllister dead in front of the hotel. Peter said he would kill me if I told anyone. I was so scared. I didn't know what to do. I thought no one will suspect me if I call the police. I really didn't have anything to do with this murder, you have to believe me! I just was in the wrong place at the wrong time."

"You saw how MacDonald strangled him?" Rita inquired.

"No, not really. Before he slapped me he drew a metallic chain out of his pocket. I think he must have strangled him with that. Does it match?"

"Yes, it would match." Chris leaned over the table. "Let's get this straight. We need MacDonald's confession to arrest him for murder. You'll help us?"

"I would do really everything to end this."

"Would you wear a wire?"

"Uh uh, no wire. If he finds it, I will be dead!" Diane exclaimed. "You don't know him! He's able to do anything!"

"When's your next meeting with MacDonald?"

"Tomorrow, I don't know when. He will call Dale some minutes before he arrives. He always does."

"Where will you go?"

"Hey, I don't know! I ain't a fortune teller!"

"Okay, we will let you go. Tomorrow morning someone will contact you and tell you what to do. You'll stay in town, is that clear?"

"Yes, Lt."

The next morning around 8:30 a.m. at the headquarters, Chris was already working in his office, Rita, Tom and Cassy were at their desks. Suddenly the palm tree doors were pushed open and Cap. Lipshitz rushed into the office. He passed the desks as fast as he could in hopes nobody would see what he was carrying in his hands.

"Lorenzos, INTO MY OFFICE NOW!" he yelled and entered his office.

"Oh, that doesn't sound very friendly." Tom remarked.

"It certainly is something very unimportant. He tends to make things more important than they are. As time passes you'll see."

Rita got up and walked over to Chris' office. She opened the door and found Chris sitting at his desk scribbling something down on a piece of paper.

"Sam, Cap wants to see us."

"Uhh, what did we do now?"

Rita shrugged her shoulders. While upon entering Cap. Lipshitz's office they saw him placing a gift on his desk.

"Ah ha, there you are. Here!"

Cap. Lipshitz pushed the gift on the other side of his desk and smiled at Chris and Rita.

"What, Cap? Did we miss something here? Ugh, it's neither my birthday nor Chris'."

"Come one, don't tell me you forgot."

Chris and Rita both shrugged their shoulders.

"Sorry, Cap, we don't remember."

"So why do I remember this better than you? 2 years ago two hot shot cops were sitting in my office telling me they had fallen in love and wanted to quit the force. Does this ring a bell?"

Chris and Rita looked each other. They never expected their Captain to remember the exact date. As a matter of fact, they had forgotten it.

"Oh, Cap, you really remember the date?"

"Open the gift, come on."

Rita ripped the paper open and had a photo album in her hand. She opened it. On the first page something was written down:

To Chris and Rita, the best homicide team I ever worked with

Rita smiled at Cap. Lipshitz and turned the page where she found a lot of old photos of Chris and her.

"Not that you think it was easy to get those." Cap said and indicated the photos.

"Chris, is that really you?" Rita laughed and pointed at a photo of a young man in a blue police uniform.

"Oh my gosh! Cap, where did you get that from?"

"My secret."

"Cap, this is really great. Thanks a lot."

Rita hugged Cap. Lipshitz and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"Yeah, thank you, Cap."

"And now back to work, you two."

Chris and Rita left the office and went over to Chris' office. There they opened the photo album again and began to revel in old memories.

"Sam, you remember when this photo was taken? We just made the first place at the beach volleyball championship. 'And on place 1, our two well-known homicide cops, Lance and Lorenzo, the dynamic duo'." Chris exclaimed and laughed.

"Mmm, I remember. The dynamic duo, huh?"

"The dynamic duo, that's what we once were."

"We were?" Rita raised her eyebrows.

"Yeah, at the moment we are a dynamic trio. And soon we will be a dynamic quintet."

Rita laughed and closed the album. Then she saw the small piece of paper lying on Chris' desk. She grabbed it and read what was written on it.

"Sarah Lee, Hannah Rose, Stephanie Rose... Sam, what's this? A list of all your former girlfriends?!" she teased, knowing very well that those very the names the'd chosen from two of to name their daughters.

"Very funny. I thought I'd write them down before they slip out of my mind."

"We still have some time to decide how we will name them."

"We can't start early enough. Besides..." Chris kissed his wife "... I like the first two names."

"Come on, let's go back to work. We have a trip to Miami to make today, remember?"

"Uhm, I changed the schedule a little bit." Chris sat down in his chair and leaned back. He waited for Rita's reaction which he expected wasn't satisfaction at all.

"Hmmm? May I ask what you changed?"

"Tom and I will drive to Miami to shadow Peter MacDonald, if we find him."

"And what do you expect me to do today? Paper work? Nah, Sam, nothing for me." Rita waved her hand and shook her head. She hated paper work and Chris knew it.

"I thought you could be Cassy's little shadow. She will contact Diane this morning. Wherever she goes, you'll be there."

"Cassy's shadow? Oh, come on, Sam. It was our work in Miami."

"Right, it WAS. We have a killer there. I don't want to put you in danger."

Rita knew Chris was concerned about her and the twins she was expecting, but she was a cop. It was her work. She was sure she wasn't risking anything as long as Chris was there to back her up.

"I can look after myself pretty well. I am a cop, hell!"

"Don't start swearing. I made a decision here. Look, Sam, you mean everything to me. And the twins. I just think it's too risky down there. This is a big case. I think Tom and I will come along pretty well. I know, this was our case, uhm, your case at the beginning. I don't want to shut you out."

"So why are you doing it, then?"

"I am not shutting you out. I just want you to stay here in Palm Beach and keep an eye on everything that is going on while we are out."

"I am not going to be Cassy's shadow. She can handle everything by herself. Maybe..."

"Oh, oh, oh, I don't wanna hear what you are just thinking about. No, definitely not."

"... I can shadow Diane and maybe look a little around in her apartment."

"No, Sam, no!"

"Okay, we forget about the apartment."

"I say no again!"

"I'll do it and you can't say anything about it. This is OUR investigation, right?"

"Okay, do it, but don't expect me to understand. Don't even try to explain to me why you're doing this. I don't wanna shut you out, it's your case as well as it is mine, but as I said, don't expect me to understand."

Rita got up and left the office. The door slammed in its angles behind her. She walked over to her desk and sat down. She sighed. Then she looked at the photo album she was still holding in her hand. She placed it on her desk. Tom and Cassy looked at each other curious what was going on there.

"It started the same way in our marriage and ended in a divorce." Tom whispered.

"What? What are you talking about? They had words, and? Every married couple has words from time to time. Besides, Thomas, it's none of your business. I have to leave now. See you later."

Chris and Tom spent the whole day down in Miami, Cassy was at Night Owls trying to contact Diane. But every time she got close, something happened. For the last three hours Rita was sitting in her car outside of Night Owls waiting for Diane Sumner. A black car stopped in front of Night Owls and a dark haired man got out. He was about the same height asChris except he was at least 10 years older. The man entered Night Owls. Then Rita saw a second car stopping a few hundred yards down the alley. She knew this car. It was Chris' car. A second later her phone was ringing. She answered it immediately.

"Lt. Lorenzo here."

"Sam, I can see your car. I really don't wanna know what you're doing there." she heard Chris' voice saying on the line.

"Christopher, what a surprise! I can see your car as well. What are you doing here?"

"Our suspect, Peter MacDonald, just entered Night Owls."

"The dark haired guy? This is Peter MacDonald?"

They all saw Peter MacDonald leaving Night Owls again. Diane Sumner was following him. MacDonald pushed her inside the car.

"Sam, I tell you, if I see your car following them..."

"Bye, Chris."

Rita hung up and started the engine. Just when she wanted to turn the car she saw Chris driving up to her. He stopped the car next to her and opened the window. Rita opened her window as well.

"Rita, we are not going to discuss this here and now but I want you to stay out of there."

"No, I certainly won't stay out."

"Okay, then I have to shut you out. Finito."

Chris closed the window and sped down the road. Rita saw Cassy rushing out of Night Owls. Rita turned the car and opened the passenger door. Cassy got in immediately.

"I couldn't contact her. She has no idea what to do with MacDonald." she said breathlessly and faced Rita.

"Damn!" Rita bashed against the steering wheel. "Chris and Tom are already on them. Call them."

Cassy took the phone and dialed while Rita started the car. Chris answered immediately.

"Lorenzo."

"Chris, this is Cassy. I couldn't contact Diane. She's out there without knowing what to do."

"Oh shit!"

"Where are you now?"

"West Beverly corner of Land View Drive. They're heading south on Land View Drive towards the beach."

"Okay, we will join you there."

Rita drove the car down to Land View Drive. A few hundred yards in front of her she saw Chris' car driving slowly. She couldn't see MacDonald's car but she knew he was driving some yards in front of Chris. Then she saw Chris stopping the car in front of a huge villa. She stopped her car some yards away and she and Cassy walked over to Chris and Tom.

"MacDonald drove his car up the alley to the villa." Chris said and reached for the gun in his holster.

"What are we waiting for?" Cassy asked and reached for her gun as well.

"Wow, just a second. You two will wait here - outside. Tom and I will go in. Call for back-up, that's all at the moment."

"I beg your pardon, Lt. Lorenzo?" Rita said and gave him a look.

"We are not going to discuss this. I shut you out of the case, that's that. And I need Cassy to keep an eye on you. Bye."

Tom and Chris walked up the alley towards the villa, well hidden by the undergrowth. They disappeared some yards away.

"Men. They always think they are the only perfect people in the whole world. Ask them what a woman is good for and they will either say sex or doing the housework." Cassy stated and leaned against the car.

"Is that really what you think about men, Cassy?"

"Well, this imange fits most of the men that I know. I am not saying all, there are always exceptions, but most of the men I got to know had this opinion about women."

"So you think we should do what they want us to do?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean waiting here for back-up instead of going into the lion's den."

"Your decision, Lt." Cassy said and smiled at Rita.

"Come on, let's go."

While Rita and Cassy walked up the alley they heard a shot near the villa. They began to run to where they thought the shot had come from. They saw Chris and Tom standing on the porch of the villa. Tom was holding his arm. He had been shot. Then they saw Peter MacDonald. He was in the garden holding Diane Sumner in front of him as shield and aiming his gun at Chris and Tom. Tom already had dropped his gun, Chris was about to drop his.

"Cassy, go around to the other side. Make sure MacDonald doesn't recognize you." Rita whispered. Cassy nodded and headed off towards the other side of the undergrowth. Chris and Tom were still standing on the porch. MacDonald stumbled some steps backwards towards the undergrowth. At that moment Rita and Cassy both came out of hiding and pointed their guns at MacDonald.

"FREEZE, POLICE!" Rita yelled.

MacDonald turned around and aimed his gun at Rita. He pulled the trigger and a shot was heard. But it wasn't MacDonald who fired his gun. It was Cassy. She had hit MacDonald in the back. He let Diane go and fell on the floor. Cassy and Rita both ran over to him. While Cassy checked on MacDonald, Rita checked on Diane.

"Are you okay?" she asked the young woman, who shuddered for a moment.

"Yeah, I think. Just a little bit shaken, but I am okay." she replied and tried to smile. Chris and Tom came running down from the porch to the garden.

"Sam, are you okay?" Chris asked and hugged Rita.

"Sure I am okay."

"What... what are you doing here? I told you to stay out of here."

"What if we'd done what you told us, Chris? I don't wanna think about that. I saved your butt again, Mr. Lorenzo."

Rita looked over to Tom. There was a huge red spot on his right sleeve right above his elbow.

"Hey, what happened to you?"

"Let's say MacDonald had a very nervous trigger." Tom replied and tried to smile while Cassy came over to them.

"He's dead." she stated and looked at her ex-husband. "Thomas, I thought I teached you how to stay out of trouble like that." She indicated at the wound on his arm.

"Here I am half dead and you are making fun of me?! Cassandra, that's definitely not nice, uh uh."

Chris, Rita and Cassy began to laugh. Chris put his arms around Rita's shoulders while they heard two police cars and an ambulance driving up the alley to the villa.

"Come on, Tom, let's get you to the ambulance before your wife here starts making more fun of you." Chris laughed.

"Ex-wife!" Tom exclaimed and shook his head. "Ex-wife, ex-wife and ex-wife again."

"That's enough, Tom Ryan, go!"

Cassy gave him a bump and pushed him forward to the ambulance.

Tom only had a slight scratch on his upper arm. He was being checked by the ambulance men and was wearing his arm in a sling. As they were entering the office through the palm tree doors, Chris, Rita, Tom and Cassy already saw Cap. Lipshitz waiting for them. He was standing in the middle of the office with a cup of coffee in his hand.

"The fab four! I already heard what happened. Well done, you four."

"Thanks, Cap." Chris said and smiled.

"And Ryan, next time try not to stand in the line of fire again. That's Lorenzo's job here."

Cap. Lipshitz patted Chris' shoulder.

"I will remember that, Captain."

"Okay, it's 5:30 p.m. Work finished for today. There's a little boy waiting for you..." Cap. Lipshitz nodded towards Chris and Rita, "... and as for the two of you, I don't want to see you here again today, is that clear?"

"Absolutely. Bye, Cap."

The four left the office and walked to the parking lot.

"Dinner is on us tonight." Chris said to Tom and Cassy before they separated. "7 p.m. at our place?"

"Why that?" Tom asked.

"Thomas, don't ask or you'll never get a meal for free..." Cassy replied.

Chris and Rita began to laugh. Cassy had an answer to everything. She seemed likely to have the last word every time.

"Your first job here and you both did a very good job. Not to mention, you saved Rita's life, Cassy."

"Okay, see ya at 7 at your apartment."

After dinner the four were sitting on the couch talking a little about work, private life and - cars! Actually it was Tom and Chris who talked about cars. Rita and Cassy were sitting aside and listening. Christopher sat on his mother's lap, his head resting on her shoulder. He was sucking his dummy and desperately trying to keep his eyes open.

"Oh, Cassy's red Mustang is a really great car. I think she doesn't know what a great car this is. You know, Tom, she calls it an awful lot of metal." Chris said, while he filled his glass with wine.

"Yeah, I know. Let me tell you this. After the divorce we had to change cars which means I am now driving her old blue Volkswagen that REALLY is an awful lot of metal and she is driving MY Mustang. It once used to be blue, but she had to paint it candy apple red. Do you believe that?"

"No." Chris shook his head and laughed. "A blue Mustang, boy, the car of my dreams... but with a family... and small kids..."

Chris looked over to Rita. She stroked her son's hair while shaking her head and laughing. Then she got up.

"Uhm, will you please excuse me for a moment? I think this little man here needs to go to bed."

Christopher heard the word 'bed' and opened his eyes wide. He then shook his head and tried to keep his eyes open, but sleep was more powerful.

"You mind me joining you? I can't stand men talking about cars." Cassy inquired and got up as well.

"I know what you mean. I don't mind."

Christopher already was asleep when Rita lay him down in his crib. She covered him with the blanket and placed his teddy next to him. Then she kissed him on the forehead.

"Nice dreams, sweetheart." she whispered.

For awhile Rita and Cassy were standing next to the bed watching the baby sleep. Christopher looked so peaceful, like a little angel.

"He's just adorable." Cassy whispered.

"Yeah, he is. A child is very special. When you are a homicide cop you have to deal with dead bodies and killers. But when I look at my little boy I see we don't only have to deal with taking lives away. Chris and I created this life, a new life. That's something really special."

"That's something my sister said as well, after she gave birth to her little daughter."

"Is she a cop as well?"

"Jesus, no! My mother doesn't like me being a cop. That's just her. How about your family?"

"Chris and Christopher are the only family I have. My parents died when I was real little, I was raised in a foster home and my foster parents died a few years ago in a car accident, even before I became a cop. So you have a sister?"

"2... 2 sisters. Claudia and Christina. Seems my mother had a crush for names starting with 'C'!" Cassy laughed. Suddenly Christopher stirred in his sleep. He reached his arm out for his teddy and wrapped it around it. For a moment Rita thought he would wake up again, but then the little one turned his head and drifted back to sleep.

"We better leave him alone now."

Rita and Cassy went back down. Chris and Tom were still talking about cars, to be more precise, about Chris' old cars.

"... this car was absolutely fabulous. It was more than a car, it was like my left arm."

"Oh, Sam, you are talking about your old cars?" Rita sat down on the couch. "Which one? The one you couldn't open the doors and had to climb through the windows to get in or the one with the engine that was even louder than a starting jumbo jet?"

"Like I said, Tom, women don't know even one thing about cars."

"Excuse me, Mr. Lorenzo, for me a car only needs to take me from one point to another. And it should do this a lot faster than going by foot. As I remember you always asked me to use my car because your car either was 'out of order' again or you just broke up with one of your girlfriends and you didn't have a car."

"This sounds like Thomas and his Mustang in some ways. Strange..."

"Okay, kapish, we should stop talking about cars. I shut my mouth. You won't hear me talking about cars again - at least not tonight." Chris smiled.

"Thank you very much."

Tom got up and held his arm that was still in a sling. He nodded at his ex-wife.

"Uhm, I think it's getting a little late. I better leave now. Cass, you comin'?"

"Moi? Leaving with you? Maybe in your dreams, Thomas. But I think I better go as well." Cassy agreed and got up as well.

"Oh, come on, it's not even 9:30p.m." Chris stated, after he'd glanced at his watch.

"No, we better leave."

"We? I beg your pardon? You can leave either a short time before I'll leave or after I've left. Choose, Thomas."

"Okay, okay. I will leave now. Jesus, I can't remember why I married you..." Tom grabbed his jacket and walked towards the door. "By the way, next time dinner is on my bill."

He opened the door and left. Cassy was standing next to the door.

"Well, this time he really could have said our bill." Cassy smiled. "It was really nice to be here tonight. I didn't expect to make friends that fast at the department."

"You're welcome. We'll see you tomorrow at work."

"Yeah, see ya tomorrow, Cassy."

Cassy left as well. As they were alone Rita placed her feet on the table that was standing in front of the couch and made it herself a little more comfortable. Chris seated himself next to her and put his arm around her shoulders. Rita laid her head down on his shoulder.

"It was a hard day, wasn't it, Sam?" Chris asked and brushed her hair.

"Especially hard. The heat... being pregnant..."

"Let me massage your feet."

Chris began to massage Rita's feet.

"Mmmmm, that feels good. Very good." Rita paused for a minute before she continued. "Chris, I was thinking."

"About what?"

"About what happened this morning. It scared me. I mean we... you know... we never had words before. I know we sometimes had our differences, but today it was different."

Chris stopped massaging Rita's feet and looked at her. She could see a little concern on his face.

"It scared me as well, Rita. You know you and the kids mean everything to me. I was that close to lose you once and I never wanna go through that again. You know what it is like. Rita, I love you more than anything else in the world. I... I just wanna know you are safe, that you don't risk anything."

"Chris, I love you, too, but you know I am a cop like you. That's what I am, that's part of my life. You also know I can take care of myself pretty well because everytime I need you, you are there to watch my back."

Chris moved back to where he was sitting before. He gazed into Rita's deep green eyes and shook his head.

"What if I can't watch your back?"

"Shhh..." Rita placed her index finger on his mouth. "You can, Sam, better than anyone else or why do you think I didn't want to have another partner? No one can watch my back like you. Every minute we are out there our lives are in each others hands..."

"No, this is not only about us." he interrupted her. "This is also about the kids, about their future. Just look at our childhood, Sam. You were raised by foster parents, I practically had no home as well. We both agreed we wanted the kids to have a happy childhood."

"So what do you think we should do? Stop being cops? What should we do then? Somebody once told me that children would be happy when their parents were happy. We are happy with what we have, with being cops and everything... you wanna stop all that?"

"No, I don't. It's just... heck, what I am talking about? We are cops, right. We are happy, also right. So why risking that with choosing a new life? We already have our new life."

Rita smiled a warm-hearted smile at Chris and stroked his cheek.

"It started the minute you came back to Christopher and me. We aren't the same persons we were before all that happened, Sam, we are more grown-up now. You know I will call it quits maybe in a month or so. Until then you have to get on with me a little, okay?"

What could he say against it? He loved her and he would do everything to make sure she's happy.

"I know. Christopher can be happy to have a mother like you."

"He can also be happy to have a father like you."

"And we can be happy to have a son like Christopher."

Chris smiled and kissed Rita.

The end

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Standard Disclaimer: The characters of Christopher Lorenzo, Rita Lee Lance, Harry and Frannie Lipschitz, George Donovan, Thomas Ryan and Cassandra St. John belong to Stephen J. Cannell and USA Network. No infringement intended.

Thanks to Karen for proofreading the story.

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