Chapter 1

In the police commissioner's office, city mayor James Cromwell stood up and held his hand out to Robert. Robert did the same. They shook hands.

"Thank you for this, Robert. I won't forget it."

"It's part of the job, James." Robert smiled. "I'll do my best to find out who the leak is."

"I would be just as happy to be told that it's a figment of my imagination."

"Where there's smoke, there's usually some kind of fire. I'll do my best to find out and snuff him or her out for you."

The mayor let himself out leaving Robert to ponder this new case. It was good timing, too. The city was quiet. There were no extraterrestrials, megalomaniacs or serial killers to corral. His right hand man Lewis had the department running like a well-oiled machine. He showed up at the office and read the paper. He was bored out of his mind.

With boredom came introspection. He hated that bit. He was a man of action and decisiveness not some brooding figure out of Bronte. He needed something to occupy his mind and keep it from endlessly ruminating over the ruin that was his personal life - no girl, an empty house, his own cooking, cold nights, nothing good on television, his friends all busy preparing for the upcoming holiday season.

Robert sighed. It was after four. He put on his coat.

"Might as well go see Robin. At least, she still has uses for dear old dad."

At the Devane Donely Detective Agency, Felicia put away her textbook and got ready to go home for the day. At both Sean and Anna's urgings, she had begun to seriously study investigative techniques. She planned to pursue an investigator's license as soon as she passed Sean's personal test.

She poked her head into Anna's office. "Anna, I'm heading out."

"Okay, see you tomorrow," said Anna absently as she rifled through a folder. Dressed in her usual uniform of elegant top and slim dark pants, Anna had her booted feet propped on her desk as she reclined in her chair. On her desk, lay several short stacks of file folders.

"How long are you staying tonight?" asked Felicia.

"Not long. I just have a few loose ends to tie up here." Anna said. "I thought business would be okay but not like this."

"Who knew there were so many suspicious spouses, wary employers and paranoid insurance investigators," said Felicia. "Don't stay as long as yesterday. I don't want to come in and find you asleep on your office couch."

"I don't think so. We're almost caught up." Anna put one folder down and picked up another. "That Casey business took up so much of my time."

"Thank god that's all over with. Frisco's back working and out of my hair."

Anna chuckled. "You managed to figure out his home organization scheme then?"

"No. I just put everything back the way they were. What else could I do? I couldn't find anything."

"Men with time on their hands, god forbid."

"Robert's next."

Anna looked up at Felicia. "What?"

"The next idle man. He's like Frisco who needs a purpose, some kind of action going on all the time," said Felicia. "With Katherine out of his life, oops, sorry, sore subject."

"Guilty subject you mean." Anna put her folder down on her deak. "I am never ever going to forget that I was the cause of their ... their non-wedding."

"It wasn't your idea to use their wedding as cover to get away with Duke and Robin. Their last break up wasn't your fault," observed Felicia.

"That may be but still. I feel so bad." Anna stood up and stretched. "I run to Robert for a lot of things I shouldn't. I'm going to stay far, far away when his next relationship comes around."

"This one seems to have hit him hard, Anna. He's so, well, down."

"They were together a long time. I thought she was right for him. She was good for him." Anna paced back and forth the length of her office.

"But he wasn't good for her?" asked Felicia.

"To be involved with Robert requires compromises mostly on the woman's part. He has a demanding job, a strong personality, a set of values set in concrete, a teenage daughter that he adores, an ex-wife that he doesn't and a ... a generally tough guy, hard-nosed, macho exterior that's hard to crack. What woman would want to deal with that handful?" asked Anna. "Yeah, he has his good points like he can make anyone laugh and fidelity would never be an issue but is that enough?"

"For some women, fidelity trumps everything else," said Felicia. "And what about you?"

Anna stopped her pacing. "Me?"

"When are you moving on from Duke?"

"I'm waiting for the next Mr. Right to come into my life. When that is, I don't know." Anna picked up some folders on her desk and began to file them away in the file cabinets. "My track record in that area isn't very spectacular. I'm going to concentrate on Robin. There are days I don't think I know that child anymore."

"Duke IS a hard act to follow."

"Robert and Duke both. It took me a long time to move on from Robert. Years in fact."

"Not so long with Duke?" asked a puzzled Felicia.

"Different circumstances," said Anna. "When I married Robert it was ... was the "and they lived happily ever after" ending I had in mind. We fell for each other so quickly, so easily. We just clicked with each other. With Duke, it was attraction and conflict from the start. I knew marriage wasn't going to be easy but we were both committed to it and each other. I thought that was the trick combination - love and commitment. It's not. With Robert, I wore rose-colored glasses. He was followed by Duke and I wore sunglasses with mirrored lens."

"And for the next Mr. Right?"

"Bifocals," said Anna.

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