Hector eyed Kat and Scotty nervously as the two of them sat down across the table.

"Heard you had a real beef with Milo." Kat said, leaning back in her chair. "Especially after you found out he was an informant."

Hector looked at her, confused. "Who told you that?"

"Cut the crap, Hector!" Scotty snapped. "We got an eyewitness that puts you in Milo's apartment leading him out at gunpoint, a couple of hours before he was killed."

Hector gave Scotty a stunned look and shook his head. "No! It wasn't like that!"

"Is that right?" Scotty asked skeptically.

Hector sighed. "Look, most of the guys who worked for Devereaux were bad-ass dudes, kind who'd slit your throat if you look at 'em the wrong way, scared the hell outta me. I was just trying to look as tough as I could back then."

"So maybe you turn the rat over to Devereuax, show him how tough you are." Kat said.

"No, I got out of that life!" Hector said. "I'm a family man now, and I got Milo to thank for that."

"What did Milo do for you?" Scotty asked.

"Milo was a stand-up guy." Hector said. "Gave me a real solid when he didn't have to..."


("It's Been Awhile" - Staind)

Hector slammed the door to Milo's apartment and the two of them walked a few feet before Milo stopped.

"Look, you got something to say, you can say it here." Milo said, steeling himself.

Hector glared at him. "I know you ain't no cop but I know you're workin' with them. Admit it."

Milo took a deep breath and sighed. "All right, fine. You're right. I'm working with them. They're gonna take down Devereaux. Nothing you do to me is gonna change that."

Hector gave a pained look and put a hand to his head. "That great! That's just great! I finally get a chance to make some real money and it's about to go down the toilet!"

Milo stepped closer. "Look, Hector, you're not like the other guys. You're not a bad guy."

Hector stepped back and forced a tough look on his face. "Oh yeah? What's makes you think that?"

"Cause you're trying to be all tough but it's just an act. You're trying not to let them see how scared you are. I feel the same way." Milo gestured at the gun under Hector's belt. "Also I know for a fact there's no bullets in that gun."

Hector's eyes widened at this for a moment before he gave an embarrassed laugh. "I was too scared I'd shoot myself in the foot or something."

Milo smiled at this. "Yeah, that'd suck."

"So why'd you come out with me then?"

Milo gestured back at the door. "Cause Jay's okay guy, but he can't keep his mouth shut. How'd you get mixed up with these guys anyway?"

Hector sighed and shrugged. "I needed the money. My girl's pregnant and she don't want me around unless I can provide for the baby."

"You're not gonna be able to provide for anyone if you're in jail. They're gonna be closing in on Devereaux soon. They're gonna get him when his shipment comes in tomorrow."

Hector's jaw went slack. "Tomorrow!?"

Milo gave him a serious nod. "Yeah. Now, unless you wanna go down with them, you've gotta back out now. Just get out of town for a few days until things die down."

"Okay." Hector nodded nervously.

Milo nodded back. "Good. Listen I gotta stop off at work for a bit, talk to somebody before things go down. Can you give me a lift?"

"Sure." Hector said. "And thanks, man. You're a good guy."

Milo smiled slightly. "You too, man."


Hector nodded sadly. "I'd probably be in jail right now if it wasn't for Milo, instead of marrying my wife and raising my baby girl." He looked up at the detectives. "She's pregnant again, you know. If this one's a boy, I'm gonna name him Milo."

"So you and Milo ended up being pretty tight." Scotty said. "Must've been rough when you heard he got killed."

Hector lowered his head. "Yeah."

"So you know anything about that officer that was attacked in the same spot where Milo was killed? Cause we hear that was supposed to be payback for his death."

Hector suddenly looked up at Scotty with disbelief. "So if I didn't like Milo, then I musta killed him, and if I did like him, then I attacked that cop, is that it?"

"Where were you yesterday afternoon?" Kat said, flatly.

"I was at the carnival with my little girl." Hector said evenly. "She loves riding the little teacups. I'm sure the guy who ran the ride's gonna remember. We went on it like six times." He gave the detectives an annoyed look. "You know, it's not like I was the only friend he ever had."

"Who else was there?" Kat asked.

Hector shrugged. "What about that guy who ran the warehouse?"

"Greg Nathanson? Milo's boss?"

"Yeah. Milo talked about him on the ride over. The guy was like a father to Milo."

Scotty leaned back in his chair and looked away, considering this.


Greg shifted uneasily in his chair as Scotty gave him an icy stare from the other end of the table. As much as Scotty wanted to give him a taste of his own medicine, his boss had been clear. ADA Thomas had wanted a clean case on this one. It was going to have to be by the numbers.

"I don't what else I can tell you guys." Greg said warily.

"We just need to clear up some inconsistencies in your story." Scotty said calmly.

"What kind of inconsistencies?" Greg asked.


"That's him." Tyrone said on the other side of the glass.

"Are you sure?" Stillman asked.

Tyrone nodded, never taking his eyes off Greg. "I'd know that voice anywhere."

Stillman nodded to Jeffries, who walked out of the room.


"What kind of inconsistencies?" Greg repeated.

Scotty gave a slight smile. "Well, for one thing, you said you told Officer Wyler about that little confrontation between Milo and Jay. Now I know that's not true. I guess what with her bein' in a coma, she couldn't contradict your story."

Jeffries walked in and nodded to Scotty. That was all he needed.

Scotty continued, raising his voice slightly. "Also, you said you and Milo weren't too close, but now we're hearin' how you were like a father to him."

"No, no..." Greg started, looking more nervous. "Look, you guys think I hurt that lady cop?"

"They said Wyler was hit with a long metal object." Jeffries said, glaring at him. "Kind of like a golf club."

"Why would I do that?" Greg asked. "I didn't even care!"

"So you're saying you didn't care about Milo?" Scotty asked.

"No, I mean, I did, but I..." He trailed off, looking up at Jeffries, then back at Scotty, and closed his eyes with a sigh.

"What happened, Greg?" Scotty asked with a softer tone.

"My ex took our kids down to Florida to be with her new husband." He started, bitterness evident in his voice. "I barely ever see them. Then Milo started working for me. Bright kid, same age as my son, could've done anything he wanted with his life. I thought maybe we could be partners running the business someday."

"But then Wyler recruited him as an informant." Jeffries said.

"She didn't care about him." Greg said coldly. "All she cared about was her precious drug bust. The whole time he was working with her, he'd go on and on to me about how great she was, how smart she was, how pretty she was. Had him fooled completely. Had me fooled for a while too."

"For a while?" Jeffries said.

"I heard them talking the day Milo got killed." Greg said, shaking his head. "Turns out she was no better then the guys she was trying to take down..."


("Are You Happy Now?" - Michelle Branch)

Greg had said hello when Milo came in, though Milo had to tell him he didn't have time to talk. Greg had simply nodded and let him go. He knew Milo wasn't there that day to work.

Greg walked back to his office, where he could see Milo in his usual spot on the monitor. The intercom was still on, though Greg had turned the volume down to an inaudible level since that first meeting of Milo's. He figured it wasn't any business of his.

Today though, Milo had seemed more anxious than usual when he came in. Greg wondered if something had gone wrong with the investigation or if maybe it was simply coming to an end.

His curiosity simply got the better of him, and he found himself turning up the volume dial on the intercom just as Kate Wyler walked into view.

"Hey." Kate said, hurrying up to Milo, looking concerned. "I heard Hector Ortiz was looking for you. What happened?"

Milo sighed. "Hector figured out I was working with you."

Kate's eyes widened at this. "What? How?"

Milo shook his head. "It doesn't matter. He's not gonna say anything."

"How do you know?"

Milo shifted uneasily, clearly knowing she wouldn't like what he was about to say. "Cause I told him to skip town until after you guys bust Devereaux."

Kate's face went slack. "You what!?"

"Look, he's not gonna say anything, all right? I talked to him."

"You don't know that!" Kate hissed. "This is the guy just a few days ago you said doesn't trust you. Now we're supposed to just hope that he won't give Devereaux or his guys a heads up? What the hell were you thinking?"

"Look, Hector is not a bad guy, all right? He's like me. He just wants a way out of this."

Kate put her hands to head, which she shook in disbelief. "You don't even realize how bad you've screwed things up!" She turned back to Milo with a glare. "Do you have any idea how much I've invested in this? I was the one who brought you in. I was the one who talked my boss into using you. How am I gonna look if you blow everything now? This is my job, we're talking about!"

Milo recoiled slightly at this. "I thought this was about taking down a drug dealer."

"Don't you dare get self-righteous with me!" Kate snapped. "Did you think doing all this would get you into my pants? Wake up, Milo!"

"You're not the one I'm doing this for." Milo said simply. "You don't know anything about me."

"I know you're gonna regret it if you blow this case for me." Kate said in a dull but menacing voice. "Now you'd better get your act together if you know what's good for you, and pray you haven't ruined everything for me already."

"You know what?" Milo said, narrowing his eyes. "Then maybe I don't remember as much about Devereaux's operation as I thought."

She stepped closer to Milo. "Then maybe I'll go have a talk with Devereaux." She said with the same dull menace. "Tell him what his newest employee's been doing in his spare time."

Milo just stared at her in disbelief for a moment. Without a word, he turned around and walked away. Kate simply watched him leave, shaking her head with a look of disapproval.

From in front of the monitor, Greg leaned back, with his jaw dropped slightly. He kept his eyes focused on Kate until she too, turned around and walked off...


"She was just using him." Greg said, shaking his head. "And the second he stopped being useful..."

"So you think she got Milo killed?" Jeffries said with more than a hint of skepticism.

Greg looked at Jeffries. "The warehouse wasn't the only meeting place they had. Milo said there was one other. An alley about six blocks from that drug dealer's place."

"The alley where Milo was killed." Jeffries said.

Greg nodded. "Milo had a pager she'd call. Depending on what number she used, that was the signal to meet her at either spot. I saw him a half an hour before he was killed." The bitterness returned to his voice. "She paged him and signaled him to meet her in that alley."

The two detectives were silent for a moment at this, giving each other a glance.

"So why the hell didn't you say anything about this back then?" Scotty snapped.

"To who? You guys aren't gonna arrest one of your own." Greg shook his head. "I had to live with this for four years, knowing nobody else gave a damn. I'd drive by the alley there where he died every once in the while, just trying to pay my respects. Then yesterday, I'm coming back from the course and I see her there. She's got the nerve to be there after what she did to him. Before I knew what was happening, I pulled out my six iron, got out of the car and..." He trailed off and sighed.

The two detectives were silent again for a moment, before Scotty slapped the pad and pen down in front of Greg.

"Write it." Scotty said. "Every word."


Kat walked up to Lilly, Scotty, Jeffries, and Stillman as the exited the interview room.

"He went for it?" Kat asked.

Scotty nodded.

"Well I got some more good news." Kat said. "Kate Wyler just regained consciousness."

Scotty shook his head. "I was almost hopin' she didn't wake up now."

"Why?" Kat asked, confused.

Lilly nodded solemnly. "Cause now we've got to look at her for murder."