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Mick sat at his desk, drumming his fingers, and trying to think of any one that might have talked to Beth and given her the wrong idea. He picked up his phone and called Josef. After several rings, he finally answered.

"What?"

"Did you talk to Beth?"

"Why would I want to talk to Beth?" Josef was annoyed.

"Did you?"

"No, why?"

"She heard about last night from someone and now she's got the wrong idea…"

Josef burst into laughter on the other end of the line. "No, man, she didn't hear it from me," he laughed.

"Give me Simone's number." Mick demanded.

"She didn't talk to Beth either," suddenly humorless

"Give me her number."

"Look, I'm sorry you're in the doghouse, so I'll call her and make sure she didn't say anything to Beth."

"Your still with her, aren't you?"

"Damn you're a good P.I.!"

"Ok, yeah, whatever. Call me later." Mick hangs up.

Josef rolls over and puts his phone back on the night stand. Simone comes walking back into the room, bowl of ice cream in her hands.

"What are you going to talk to me about?"

"Mick's in trouble with Beth again."

"Hmm, that seems to happen a lot to him, and he's such a gentleman."

"Yeah, well he could save himself a lot of trouble if he just sat her down and explained a few things about vamps."

"I don't think he could have explained last night very easily to her." He nuzzled into her neck and the sex play began all over again.

Mick scrolled through his phone and dialed Oscar's number. On the second ring he answered.

"My shift is over." He declared

"Who did she talk to today?"

"Don't get me involved with your little affairs. Sort out your own mess." And he hung up. Fuck!

Mick wanted to throw the phone across the room, but instead he was back to drumming his fingers. It's 11:42pm, she's not going to call. He held his phone, silently willing it to ring.

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The next morning, Talbot knocked on Mick's office door. Nothing. He knocked again, and this time Mick answered. He stood there, arm on his door, regarding the early morning visitor.

"Hey." He said looking around the hall.

"Hey, Mick, I uh… Can we talk for a minute?"

Mick pulled his door open, allowing Talbot to enter his loft.

"Sorry for the early visit, but I was in the neighborhood…"

Beth's boss, be nice, he reminded himself.

"Not a problem, can I get you something?"

"Yeah, coffee, please, if you still have some… late night." Talbot looks around the open loft.

Mick gives him a sidelong glance, "Sure." He grabs the French press. "So… big case?" Mick asks.

"Beth didn't tell you about it?" Talbot pretends to look surprised.

"No," Mick replies, slamming the press down to brew the coffee. "Not yet."

"Surprising," Talbot responds.

Mick hands him a cup of black coffee.

"Cream?" Talbot asks before taking a sip.

"Sorry, I'm out."

"Not a problem." He takes a sip, gives a smile "That's good."

"So, are you going to tell me why your here? It can't be for the coffee." Mick turns around to place the press in the sink. Talbot delicately tips his cup, letting the dark brew dribble down the front of his tie.

"Damn," he says "Murphy's Law, always happens before work. Can I use your restroom?" Talbot's heart rate suddenly spikes.

"Sure, up the stairs and to the right. Door's open." Mick gives him a suspicious look.

Ben sets his cup down and heads up the stairs. He closes the door behind him and looks around. Mick's bathroom was as big as his office. He walked over to the sink, pulling off his tie and splashed some water on it. He pulled on the mirror above the sink, swinging it forward. Toothbrush, toothpaste, mouthwash, other than being almost empty, there was nothing extraordinary. He opened some drawers, same thing, normal stuff, soap, comb, nail clippers. Ben wasn't sure what he was looking for, maybe he just wanted to see that Mick was a normal guy.

He opened up the cabinet, towels and sunscreen. Lots of sunscreen, about 12 bottles, all SPF 80. Skin problems? Ben stared at the bottles, all various brands. He opened the mirror again, then the drawers. Something was wrong. Something was missing. He began to do a mental check list of his own bathroom, when it hit him. Medicine. No bottles of Tylenol, Tums, old prescriptions, nothing. The guy didn't even have band aids. Nobody is that healthy. He dried his tie, loosely putting it back on and headed back downstairs. Mick was nowhere to be seen. Ben walked back to the kitchen, grabbing his coffee and taking another sip. Still no Mick. He walked over to the refrigerator and peeked through the glass door. Apples, soda, and some kind of take out food container. He opened the nearest cupboard and began to peek inside…

"Need something?" Mick asked from behind him.

Talbot's heart rate shoots through the roof. Mick smiles.

"Hey, there you are." Talbot tried to calm himself. He took a few slow steps away from Mick.

"Look, I know you're Beth's boyfriend and you're good at your job. The Department doesn't mind P.I.'s helping with cold cases, but when it comes to an ongoing investigation, we just can't risk it. I appreciate your help in the past, and if we need you, we'll call you. You're top of the list, promise." He took one last sip of his coffee, "And about last night," Mick stiffened at the memory, "don't ever bring your relationship issues into my office again. I'll see myself out."

Talbot turned and walked out of the loft. Mick stood rooted to the spot. His chest was constricting, painful spasm with every breath, Did Beth tell him? Mick growled at the thought of Talbot giving solace to Beth, last night, …in his office, …alone. Fucking Oscar, why was he so tight lipped? He tried her cell phone, straight to voicemail, Damn it!

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"Thank you, Miss Goldstein, for meeting with me." Beth smiled at the elderly woman who sat at her desk.

"Not a problem, deary, I couldn't believe it when I heard the news last night. Cyndi came over to my house and told me all about it. Was she found in the nude? Anyway, I thought the least I could do is come down here and talk to y'all… what a way to end a vacation." Miss Goldstein rambled on. Beth sipped her coffee and took notes.

"Well, Actually we wanted to know if Mrs. Ingles had any strange visitors, problems, anyone that might want to cause her some harm?" She inquired.

"Well, she wasn't exactly the socialite of the neighborhood, but I can't see why anyone would want to kill her."

"You said 'Mrs.', was she married?"

"Oh, darling, that was years ago, she was a late bride, and an only child too, I believe, but she married Bruce, and he had plenty of family to fill her heart."

"Married? We didn't hear about that from any of the other neighbors."

"Well, like I said, she wasn't exactly the social butterfly of the block. But she and I did become friends. I'll miss her, but that's what happens when you get as old as me I guess, everyone you love goes away."

The comment struck a chord with Beth, she gazed at the old woman's tired eyes, her age close to that of Mick's. Even immortality didn't protect you from loss and Beth wondered what the difference would be; living forever, or living to old age, you still lost in the end.

"Is there any family from her late husband's side that you know? Someone we could contact?"

"Well, after Bruce died, they stopped coming around," she looked down for a moment and fiddled with her purse, "but there was Gregg."

"Who is Gregg?"

"Gregg is, well, I guess her step-nephew, he would come by every now and then. I didn't like him much, but he would come over and spend time with her. She would dote over him. I found out she was giving him money, so I told her he was young enough to go out and get a job and to stop giving him money. She did and he stopped coming by."

"How long ago was this?" Beth put her pen down.

"About three months ago, I think."

"Do you know his last name?"

"It's Bruce's brother's son, so I assume the last name was Ingles, but nowadays you never can tell."

"Thank you, Miss Goldstein, here's my card. Please give me call if there's anything else you can think of."

Miss Goldstein gathered her purse, smiling at Beth and walked out of the office.

"Ben!" Beth rushed into his office,

"Get this, Vida had a nephew! I looked him up and I think the detectives should go and check him out."

"Ok, I put it on their docket" He threw the file down on his desk and turned back to his computer. Beth shifted her stance and crossed her arms.

"Um, are they going to get to it anytime soon?"

"They're busy right now. In fact, all of our homicide detectives are being stretched thin, it seems there have been a rash of murders lately." He leaned back in his chair and gave her a challenging look.

"Well, then if you don't mind, I'll just look into it myself." She grabbed the file and headed out of his office. Ben jumped to his feet and caught her.

"Beth, wait! Don't go by yourself," Beth looked down at his hand holding on to her forearm, he released her. "I mean, take one of the uniforms with you."

"I'll see you later," and with that she walked out of the office.

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He had to get out of the loft, even if it was just for an hour. Walking down the familiar green corridors of the morgue was a small escape and seeing friends might do him some good. He pushed open the door to Guillermo's exam room and greeted his friend. He could smell her in the room, amongst all the blood and chemical, Beth's smell was still strong there.

"Was Beth here today?"

"Uh, …no, yesterday. She came in to see a body and get a report." Guillermo suddenly found himself extremely busy.

"Really?" Mick followed him to another table, "So, did you guys talk?"

"Talk? Of course we talked, we talked about the body, we talked took about the report. Did we talk? Really, Mick, you sound paranoid." Guillermo pulled out a bag of blood. "Want a drink? Blood Alcohol Content is 2.5"

"No, thank you." Guillermo didn't like the tone of Mick's voice or the way he was looking at him either.

Guillermo was just about to make a break for the door when Terrance walked in, whistling, the poor bastard. Terrance took one look at Mick, scented the anger in the air and started to run for it. Mick chased him down the halls and pinned him on a gurney.

"Why you running, Terrance?" He snarled.

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Beth rode in the cruiser with Officer Daniels, looking in the mirror she could see Oscar following behind. She felt silly asking an officer to take her to a suspect's house knowing that Oscar could dismantle any person that posed a threat to her. Her second guardian. That's when her phone rang, it was Mick again. Daniels looked over at her as she turned her phone off.

"Avoiding someone?"

"More like still cooling off." Beth took a deep sigh.

"Yeah," he chuckled, "My wife does the same thing to me when she's mad. Hey, go easy on him, he probably doesn't even know what he did."

Beth chuckled then rolled her eyes "he knows alright!" she thought. But she wasn't about to let Officer Dildo into her personal life.

They walked up the steps to the apartment, loud music playing inside and a sweet smell lingered. She looked back and saw Oscar leaned against her car across the street.

Officer Daniels knocked on the door, a shuffle of movement was heard. He knocked again with more force. A sleepy blonde answered the door, shielding her eyes from the sun. Beth wondered momentarily if she was vamp, then thought better of it when she saw the track lines on her arms.

"What the fuck do you want!" she barked.

"We're with the District Attorney's office, is Gregg Ingles here?" The Officer asked.

She slinked away from the door, "He's on the couch," leaving the door open she walked down the hall and out of sight. Beth and the officer exchanged looks.

"You're the civilian. Take a look."

Beth peeked inside the apartment. It was dark and smoky; trash littered the floor and every available surface. Dirty laundry was laying around, old dried food stuck to dishes piled in the sink and along the counter. But in the living room, the source of all the loud music, was a brand new stereo system. Squinting her eyes she could see iPods and a large pile of heroine sacks next to the largest bong she had ever seen. Cozy.

"I think you might want to take a look at this." She called to the officer. He peeked in the door, and nodded to her.

Stepping back outside, he called into his radio for backup.

Beth waited outside the apartment until the backup units arrived. The occupants were all arrested on drug charges and Gregg was being taken in for questioning. As Beth started to make her way back to the office, Oscar sat next to her.

"You've been in a foul mood." She chided him. It was a game she began to play due to his lack of conversation. "I at least expect you to nod or smile or do something besides…nothing."

He turned his head and gave her a great big fake smile and held it until it began to make her uncomfortable.

"Ok, you can stop now! You're much prettier when you do nothing."

Oscar smiled inwardly

"You don't like humans do you?" she asked.

"Oh, I like humans."

The remainder of the ride back to the office was in silence.