It took McCall most of the day to track the warehouse ownership through several shell corporations to a man known as Gabriel, and to track down several of his real estate holdings in New York City. She had requested a record search for the surrounding area, but would have to wait for those results to come back.

Of Gabriel's holdings, in the city, besides the warehouse, there was an office building, a busy shopping mall, and an apartment complex. The shopping mall and the apartment building seemed to busy for Chandler to be held there without someone noticing, but one of Gabriel's holding companies held offices occupying the top two floors of the office building.

She called over to the task force where Hunter was assigned, and made plans to meet him by the office building in upper Manhattan.


Hunter pulled his car into the space behind where McCall's car was parked on the street. He shut off his car, got out, and walked forward to McCall's car. It was empty. He looked around, then headed for the building lobby.

The building directory in the lobby listed a financial services company called Destiny Fidelity Investments on the top 2 floors. He was just about to head up when he saw a balding heavyset man Hunter recognized as Manhattan District Attorney John Moreno stepped out of one of the elevators and crossed the lobby for the exit doors. He seemed troubled and lost in his own world, not looking around at all, and certainly not in Hunter's direction.

Just as Moreno stepped out onto the street, McCall emerged from another elevator.

"Oh, good, Love Muffin, you're here," she said, raising to her tip toes and kissing him on the cheek. "I was just telling Bob here that there must be some mistake," she said, gesturing to a man who had followed her out of the elevator. He was almost as tall as Hunter and wearing a business suit, but the way he carried himself said bodyguard to Hunter. "You see, I told him we had an appointment to go over our finances at Destiny Fidelity, but they didn't know anything about it. You told me we had an appointment," she pouted.

Hunter decided to play along, trying to think quickly on his feet.

"Pookie," Hunter said, "I told you to wait for me. We don't, exactly, have an appointment, you see. I told you that," he said turning to the other man. "She gets confused, you see. John Moreno said Destiny Fidelity could help us out, you see. We found this little black book in the apartment we just moved into, and Mr. Moreno said there might be a reward for it. He wanted us to give it to him, but Pookie wanted us to bring it down ourselves. Women," Hunter asked the other man conspiratorially, "what can you do?"

Bob narrowed his eyes, and gestured to the two cops to follow him to the elevator. The trio rode the elevator up to the top floor. He whispered something to the receptionist as they got out of the elevator. The receptionist disappeared into a hallway behind her desk, and returned a couple minutes later, nodding to Bob. He gestured, and Hunter and McCall followed him back.


Catherine Chandler stared out the window, and cupped her abdomen. She was starting to show, more quickly than she would've thought, and wondered how Vincent would react when he found out. The last time she had seen him, talked to him, his mental state had been so fragile. How was he doing now, she wondered.

She cocked her head, thinking she heard footsteps. Holding her breath, she heard them again. They weren't familiar footsteps; she'd gotten to know the footsteps of her captors, and there weren't many strangers that visited. She moved to the door, and the footsteps sounded like they were moving away.

This might be her chance. She took a deep breath, and yelled, "Help! I'm in here." She pounded and kicked on the door. "Help me!"

Catherine heard the footsteps approaching again, and heard a male voice demand the door be opened. The familiar voice of one of her guards refused.

"Stand back from the door," Catherine heard the stranger yell, and she moved back from the door.

The door exploded inward to reveal a tall, skinny man with light brown hair and a prominent widow's peak. A brunette woman about her height stood behind him, holding the guard at bay with a pistol.

"Catherine Chandler?" the man asked.

She nodded.

The brunette handcuffed the guard, and had him kneel against the wall with his feet crossed.

"McCall, you'd better take him in on your side," the tall man said. "You'd never believe who I saw leaving the building."

"Moreno? Yeah, I thought I recognized him going in, but I wasn't sure. We need a safe place to stash her, though," McCall said, gesturing to Catherine.

"What do you say we call Dr Alcott, get a message to Vincent?"

McCall nodded. "You do that, Hunter. I'll book this guy into federal custody."