Kelly stood at the tall window and looked out over the city. From her vantage point she could look down and watch the traffic as New Yorkers made their way to work. The sidewalks were buzzing with people, all intent on their morning journeys; not one of them imagining that some chance encounter, some unexpected event could throw them out of step with the world completely.
She sighed heavily and wrapped her arms tighter around herself She'd lost track of the amount of time she'd spent standing at the window, watching the world go by. A quick glance at the clock on the wall told her that the promised phone call from Charlie was only another fifteen minutes away. She'd watched the hands of the clock as they made their measured move around the face of the clock, wishing in some way that she could speed up their passage. Now that the time was actually drawing close, she began to get nervous. Doubts were entering her head. What if Sabrina hadn't been telling the truth? What if Charlie already knew what was going on? She pushed the thoughts from her mind as best as she could. There was nothing to be gained from pointless speculation. Soon she'd have the chance to find out some answers.
"You want a coffee?"
Kris' tired voice caused Kelly to turn her head. Kris was standing in the doorway to her room, her hair still un-brushed, one hand raised to stifle a yawn.
Kelly felt a pang of guilt. It had been her fault that the two of them had been awake until the early hours of the morning. She had persuaded her young friend to drive around the Lower East Side for a couple of hours while she scoured the streets for Sabrina. She'd known in her heart that the search was pointless, and she was grateful to her friend for wordlessly humouring her.
After two hours of driving, an emptying gas tank provided the reason for calling off the search. Feelings of guilt had gnawed away at Kelly. Kris had done her best to reassure her that she'd done everything she could, but it had taken a bottle of wine and a long talk before Kelly could finally put her demons to one side for a few hours and be persuaded to get some rest.
Kris pushed a hand through her hair as she made her way into the kitchen area. "Did you get any sleep?" she enquired as she lifted the old coffee pot from its stand and poured away the remains of the previous days brew.
Kelly nodded absently, forgetting that Kris couldn't see her.
"Kel?" Kris' voice floated out above the sounds of coffee-making and Kelly was spurred into a reply.
"I think I managed a couple of hours," she confessed. "I'm sorry for keeping you up so late."
Kris emerged into the living area of the hotel suite and waved away the comment. "What are friends for," she chided. "We'll see what Charlie has to say, and then we'll take things from there."
Her comments were met with a watery smile, and Kris wished that she could do something more to lift Kelly's spirits. The events of the previous night had knocked them both for six, but Kris knew that Kelly was doing her best to put a brave face on things. She was certain that something had happened in that meeting with Sabrina that was being kept from her, but she didn't want to push her friend.
She was prevented from saying anything further as Tiffany entered into the living area, yawning widely.
"Is that coffee I smell?" she asked hopefully as she took a place on the sofa. "I feel as though I need two cups just to get me as far as the shower." She glanced between her two friends, noticing for the first time the slight atmosphere of awkwardness in the air. "You were both back late last night. What happened?"
Kelly and Kris exchanged a look.
"I met up with Sabrina," Kelly admitted. "I'm sorry that I didn't tell you about it...It's just that I promised her I'd..."
"That doesn't matter," Tiffany broke across her friend's explanation, wanting to reassure her that she wasn't offended. "I'm guessing that it wasn't the smoothest of reunions."
Kelly shook her head. "I'm expecting a call from Charlie shortly. I'm hoping that will help me answer a few questions."
Tiffany raised an eyebrow and exchanged a quick look with Kris. "Charlie? I thought he was still out of the country for another day."
"He is," Kelly confirmed. "I told Bos that this just couldn't wait. He's making a long distance call."
Tiffany kept her thoughts to herself. She thought it best not to upset Kelly this early in the day. From what she'd seen so far, Kelly's former colleague wasn't exactly keen to be found. She was still undecided as to what she thought of the woman. Her experiences so far had done little to make her think kindly of her predecessor.
The shrill ring of the phone broke the silence, and all three girls turned to look at the offending machine.
Kelly felt her heart rate quicken. Suddenly she was no longer certain that contacting Charlie had been the sensible thing to do. There was always the chance that Charlie had news for her that she didn't want to hear; facts that she wouldn't want to listen to or acknowledge.
The phone continued its persistent shrill ring. It was Tiffany who finally spoke up. "You want me to get that?"
Kelly shook her head as she snapped back to the present. "I'll get it." She pushed herself out of her seat and paced towards the phone, feeling the level of nerves increase with every step.
She paused momentarily as she reached the phone, and then picked up the receiver in one fluid motion and placed it into the cradle for the squawk box.
"Good Morning Angel," Charlie's voice filled the hotel suite. "I got your message. Is there something wrong?"
"I should say there was," Kelly replied, not bothering to acknowledge the greeting. "I spoke with Sabrina last night."
There was a long silence from the squawk box on the table.
"You heard what I just said?" Kelly queried, exchanging a glance with the others. "I spoke with..."
"I heard you Angel; I'm just not sure what to say."
"You could start with the truth about why she's here in New York," Kelly told him hotly, ignoring the looks that Kris was giving her; trying to warn her to calm down.
"New York?" There was a long pause on the line before Charlie continued. "What did she tell you?"
"That she was working for you. She implied that she has been working for you since she left the agency." Kelly paced impatiently across the room. "When the hell were you going to tell us about all this?"
"I'm sorry angel; I had no idea that Sabrina was still in New York."
"But you knew that she had been here?" Kelly picked up on Charlie's words. "She was here working for you?"
"Kelly," Kris' voice was quiet, warning her friend to keep her temper under control.
"I'm sorry that I didn't level with you angels," Charlie apologised. "But this is something of a private matter."
"Private matter!" Kelly exclaimed. "When I first saw her, I couldn't believe it. She was living in some rundown apartment, and looking as though she barely had enough to get by on. I don't care what you think this is Charlie; the one thing it isn't now is private."
Tiffany exchanged a nervous glance with Kris. She'd never seen Kelly look so angry before, and wondered just how Charlie was going to respond to the outburst.
"I need you to tell me everything you know," Charlie replied, his tone not changing from its usual calm manner.
"What I know is that two thugs turned up at her apartment last night, and they weren't looking for friendly conversation. If Bri hadn't already bailed, I don't think she'd be alive right now."
There was no response from the squawk box on the table.
"Did you hear what I said?' Kelly demanded to know.
"I heard you angel," Charlie replied quietly. "Do you know where Sabrina is now?"
"No, she was gone by the time we got back there. I don't know where she is now," Kelly admitted "When I spoke with her, one of the only things she said was that she had been working for you. Is that true?"
Kelly shrugged off the restraining hand that Kris placed on her shoulder and stared impatiently at the speaker.
"Sabrina was working on a case for me in New York," Charlie admitted quietly. "But that finished months ago."
Kelly's eyes narrowed. "So you admit that you lied to us? All those updates you gave us on Sabrina's life; they were all lies?"
"Now Charlie, you've got to understand that this is something of a shock for us," Kris entered into the conversation.
Kelly glared at her.
"You don't need to apologise for me Kris. In fact if anyone around here should be apologising, it should be Charlie." She swung back to stare at the speaker. "How could you lie to us?" she demanded to know. "Why didn't you tell us what was really going on? Why spin the story about a wedding and a child?"
"Because I knew how you'd react," Charlie answered simply. "This was a highly sensitive case and I needed to make sure that no-one could break Sabrina's cover."
"We're her friends," Kelly countered.
"And I knew that if I told you that she was working for me, you'd all want to help her," Charlie attempted to explain. "This was a matter that needed complete secrecy."
"What was she doing for you Charlie?" Tiffany asked, trying to get the conversation back on an even footing.
There was another long pause, as Charlie deliberated over what to tell the angels.
"A good friend of mine lost his daughter to a drugs overdose two years ago," he finally spoke up. "He wanted the man responsible for selling the drugs that killed her off of the street. I agreed to help."
"Why just ask Sabrina?" It was Kris' turn to demand answers. "Why not the rest of us."
"Sabrina knew the deceased girl," Charlie explained. "They spent some time on the same Army base growing up. It was Sabrina who came to me asking if there was anything she could do."
Kelly was momentarily silenced by the news. She'd not thought about the fact that Sabrina might have gone looking for the assignment.
"What can you tell us about the case?" Kris flipped open the notepad that sat on the desk, and clicked on the end of her pen, wanting to move the conversation along.
"There's nothing I can..." Charlie began to protest, but Kris cut him short.
"Charlie, you've got to understand that we're not leaving this city until we're certain that Sabrina's ok,"
"But she may not even be working on the same case,' Charlie argued.
"Well then, you can give us somewhere to start," Tiffany countered. "If you can tell us what sort of life she was living, we can hopefully tie it in to the life she's living now."
"From what I've seen she's still working on the case," Kelly pointed out, finding her voice again. "Please Charlie; just tell us what you know."
"Very well. The city's drug problem is no secret," Charlie explained. "It's the handful of people who control the supply that are the real problem. The police arrest the small time dealers over and over again, but they are powerless to stop the real players."
"I'm guessing that you had a handle on who one of these real players was?" Kelly's words were still clipped, undecided as yet as to whether she fully forgave Charlie for abandoning Sabrina so easily.
"Helena Peterson, the daughter of a friend of mine, had been working for a man by the name of Warren Rickard."
Kris exchanged glances with the other girls, picking up on the tone in Charlie's voice.
"What happened to her Charlie?"
"Her body was found in a disused building in the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Coroner's report stated that cause of death was a massive heroin overdose."
Kris chewed her lip for a few seconds, trying to work out the best way to phrase the next sentence.
Kelly beat her to an answer. "And her father was convinced that his daughter's death was as a result of foul play?"
"Right you are," Charlie replied solemnly. "He approached me, asking if I could put together a team who could investigate Warren Rickard, and find out just what he was up to. In the weeks leading up to her death, Helena told her father that she was under increasing pressure at work; that she was being pressured into doing something that she didn't want to do. She never spelt out what that something was, but her father is certain that Helena would never have willingly touched drugs."
Kelly pulled a face. "But isn't it always the case where the parents are the last to know, or accept what their children are really up to?"
"I understand your caution angel, but in this case I think her father has the right to be suspicious of Rickard. Investigations into him bring up details of a respectable businessman – the sort who puts funds into charitable organisations, and goes out of his way to appear in the newspapers pressing flesh with the great and the good..." Charlie tailed off.
"But this is all smokescreen, right?" Tiffany guessed.
"Right angel. Rickard's income far outstrips the money he could legitimately make from the work that he does. He has another, highly profitable, source of income."
"And you know this for certain?" Kelly's tone was still confrontational.
"This is all gained from the information that Sabrina supplied. She set up a cover in the city and, working with a partner, set about infiltrating Rickard's world."
"Why did you think she'd stopped the investigation?" Kelly was quick to remind Charlie of his earlier comment. "What happened?"
There was a pause on the other end of the line before Charlie answered. "After a year they were still making little progress, and I was worried about the toll that the case was taking on them. I told them both to get out of there, and to end it."
Kris pulled a face. "I can imagine that that didn't go down well." She caught the expression of annoyance that flashed across Kelly's face. "C'mon Kel, you know as well as I do that Bri only ever argues to win. There's a competitive streak in her a mile wide. I can't imagine that she'd willingly walk away from something that she thought she could win."
Kelly smiled thinly. "You have a point." She turned back to the phone. "Did you check that she really had left the case alone?"
"There wasn't much I could do," Charlie admitted. "If I sent someone in there asking questions after Sabrina, I would only have put her in jeopardy. She told me that she was going to step away from it. I believed her."
"And have you had any contact with her since?"
"No Kelly. She didn't take my decision well. There were things going on at the time that meant that I left the situation alone. What you've told me has led me to think that I may have made an error of judgement."
"I want to stay here and look for her," Kelly declared.
"It's too dangerous," Charlie countered. "Let me use my contacts to look into this first. If Sabrina is still tangled up with Rickard then you could be putting her life in danger by going straight in without understanding the bigger picture."
"You can't just expect us to sit around and twiddle our thumbs!"
"I expect you to listen to what I say, and to realise that your actions in this city – however well intentioned – could potentially lead to one or more deaths. Keep out of this Kelly; keep out of this until I can find out more."
Kelly was momentarily taken back by the tone in Charlie's voice. She'd not heard him so determined before.
"OK Charlie, we'll wait to see what your sources come up with."
"I'll be in touch." Without further comment, the phone connection ended and the three angels exchanged glances.
"Why do I get the feeling that Charlie was only giving us part of the story?" Kris voiced the thought that was nagging away at the back of her mind.
"He's certainly keeping something from us," Kelly agreed. "I say we continue looking for Bri. We keep it low key – searching the streets that we've seen her on before; keeping an eye out for anyone following us..."
"Agreed." Kris turned her attention to Tiffany, who had still yet to say anything. "Tiffany?"
Tiffany looked between her two friends. "I understand your desire to catch up with Sabrina again, but what if Charlie is correct. What if we end up putting Sabrina in danger with our investigations? She seems pretty determined to keep away from us; maybe we ought to respect that."
Kelly shook her head. "You've not seen where she was living," she argued. "You've not seen the bruises on her face. She needs to get out of that situation."
"Charlie didn't even give us a name to work with." She looked at the expressions on the faces of her colleagues. "I'm guessing that he didn't send her in there without first setting up a rock solid cover."
"We've seen her on 42nd on more than one occasion. I say we look for her there, as well as down on the Lower East Side," Kelly countered. She looked levelly at Tiffany. "I get the feeling that you're not with us on this?"
"I'm just worried that you're too close to this for objectivity. If she's still working then I think Charlie has a valid point, you could do more harm than good."
"And if she's not still working…." Kelly found that she couldn't let the matter lie.
"I think you need to take a step back," Tiffany told her honestly. "You've been the one saying that we have to find Sabrina. You've said pretty much nothing else since you saw her." She held up a hand as she saw that Kelly was about to disagree with her. "Charlie has told us to leave well alone; and Sabrina herself seems to be doing everything in her power to keep out of our way. I know that you're angry with yourself because you lost touch with your friend without realising it, but don't let that anger control you and lead you to making a bad decision."
Kelly's eyes narrowed. "You think that's what I'm doing? You think that I'm only worried about my friend because I'm feeling guilty!"
Tiffany shook her head and tried to keep her voice even. "You're concerned about your friend, that's obvious. I'm just worried that you're letting your emotions override your common sense. You lost touch with Sabrina, and then you find that she's here, that Charlie knew about it, and that you are the only one who was kept out of things. In your position I'd be angry too. They're both trying to keep us at arm's length. There has to be a valid reason for that. If you want to help her, then I think you should respect her wishes."
"You didn't see where she was living..." Kelly protested.
"No I didn't, but I don't think that I would have been as affected by it. Where she is now is not your fault. She has chosen to be where she is."
"You don't know that..."
"What did she say to you? She is working on a case..."
"She claims she is working on a case," Kelly corrected.
"Something that Charlie appeared to back up."
"But Charlie didn't know that she was still there."
Tiffany let out a sigh as she struggled to get Kelly to see what she was trying to get at.
"Why are you so angry about where Sabrina was staying?"
Kelly folded her arms. "I thought I'd made that perfectly clear. The place was a dump. She's been living on the poverty line and I didn't ..." she tailed off.
Tiffany sought to make eye contact with her. "You didn't what?"
Kelly rubbed at her tired eyes. "I didn't know anything about it." Tears pricked at the corner of her eyes and she tried to blink them away. "Am I such a bad friend?"
"Of course not," Tiffany was quick to try and reassure her.
"But how did I let this happen? How did it get to the point where I lost complete contact with one of my closest friends? I saw her on the street and one of my first thoughts was to wonder what I'd done. I didn't think about what had happened to Bri, I thought about what I hadn't done. I thought about my failings."
"This was a situation that you had no control over. Sabrina's disappearance from your life and from Kris' was carefully planned. You have nothing to feel guilty about. If Charlie tells us that we have to sit back, then I think we should listen to him. We don't go looking directly for Sabrina ... but there's nothing to say that we can't look into the sort of life that she's been living."
Kelly looked up at her. "What do you mean?"
Tiffany held up her hands at the tone in her friend's voice. "I'm not saying that she has necessarily done anything wrong. But if she's taken up a deep cover; there's a chance that she's not acting like the person you know. It's probably best to find out exactly what she's been up to."
"Tiffany has a point," Kris backed her up. "That apartment we saw wasn't the sort of place that the Bri we know would stay in by choice. Let's try and find out about the sort of character she's taken on. She's had no back up, no-one to offer her support."
"What about the 'partner' that Charlie mentioned?" Kelly wanted answers. "Where the hell are they?"
Kris shrugged her shoulders. 'Maybe they got out of there when they were told to," she suggested.
"I'm guessing there was no chance that they were sharing that apartment with her?" Tiffany asked the question, trying to look at the situation from a neutral angle.
Kelly shook her head. "There was barely anything in that place when I saw Bri – certainly not enough belongings for two people. Whoever it was she was working with is not there now." She paused and thought back to the conversation with Charlie. "He didn't elaborate on that at all, did he?" she remarked. "He made mention of the fact that she was working with a partner, but then said nothing more."
Kris placed a hand on her friend's arm. "I think you're looking for mysteries that aren't there," she told her gently. "Next time Charlie calls in we'll make enquiries."
Tiffany nodded. "Agreed. In the meantime I'm going to head down to the local precinct house. If Sabrina's been mixing with the wrong crowd then she may have earned herself a rap sheet."
Kelly shook her head. "As you said we don't even know what name she's living under. Asking vague questions is just going to arouse suspicion."
Tiffany mulled over the problem for a few moments. "So I'm a reporter from a magazine in Boston; I'm looking into the drug problem in the city – trying to understand what drives people to get into these sorts of situations. I'm sure that I can make a couple of phone calls back home and set that up. If nothing else, it would help to give us a better picture of the sort of circles that she's been moving in."
Kelly still looked unconvinced. "You don't have to do this Tiff; you don't even know Sabrina."
"She worked for Charlie ... she's one of us. That's all I need to know."
Kelly smiled at her friend, appreciating the gesture. "Thank you." She moved slowly across the room, taking up her place at the window again. "I know she's out there somewhere, I just want to be able to do something to help her."
The diner was buzzing with life. Early morning office workers were jostling for space at the counter alongside late finishing nightshift workers, who wanted nothing more than a bite to eat before they boarded the bus or subway and returned home.
From her place at the back of the diner, Sabrina watched them as they expertly worked their way around one another, all looking to gain what they considered to be the optimum spot to catch the attention of the over-worked and slightly stressed-out waitress.
Sighing heavily, Sabrina turned away from the scene that was playing out in front of her and returned her attention to the cup of coffee that was slowly cooling on the table.
She stared at the contents of the cup, not certain if another shot of caffeine at this hour of the day was a good thing or not. She'd been in the diner ever since bailing out of her apartment the previous night. She was fairly certain that Gage's men were on her tail. With the trouble that had been brewing in the last few weeks, she figured that Gage had now moved onto the offensive. If he didn't know exactly where she lived, then he was at least aware of the neighbourhood.
The safest thing was to pack up and leave. It was a routine that was so well-rehearsed now that it didn't take her more than five minutes to gather together all her belongings and make her way down the fire-escape.
She felt a brief pang of guilt. Kelly would return to her old apartment, of that she was certain. For all her bravado, at the end of the day, Kelly was the one who would keep them together. She would be the one to offer out the olive branch and insist that an argument be solved before the day ended.
She was reminded of the advice her father had given her one night, not long after her marriage. He'd impressed on her the importance of not ending a day with an argument still active. Things had to be talked through, he'd told her; the air had to be cleared. She'd smiled and assured him that it wouldn't be a problem. How naïve she'd been to assume that such a situation would never arrive, would never happen between her and Bill. She'd ignored her father's advice then and she'd ignored it again last night.
Stubborn … that was the problem. Too damned stubborn. She'd always been the one who could let a silence last an eternity – would sit there aware of the awkwardness of the situation, determined not to be the one to break first.
A wave of tiredness washed over her and, with bleary eyes, she glanced up at the clock on the wall. Another ten minutes or so and she could start the hunt for new accommodation. The landlords would be up, and she had just enough money in her pocket to make the rent. All she had to do this time was find a landlord who was less on the sleazy side and not interested in anything more than getting some cash from her at the start of the week.
Things had been so much easier when she'd first reached the city. She'd had help then; someone to share the worry and the workload with. Michael had been great at persuading persistent landlords that it was in their best interests to back off. She allowed herself a slight smile at the memory. There were times when she missed him so much; and this was definitely one of those times. She was over-tired and feeling the pressure of having to permanently try and stay one step ahead of Gage and Rickard. She clasped her hands behind her head and blinked back the tears of frustration that sprang to her eyes. Now was not the time to fall apart. There was too much to do, too much at stake. She took a few steadying breaths, not caring if she was attracting any attention from the other diners. They could think what the hell they wanted. Dropping a few coins down onto the table to pay for the coffee, she climbed out from the booth and gathered her meagre possessions together. There was only one way to even the score for Helena and Michael, and that was to nail Rickard to the wall. One way or another, she was going to see that happen.