Hi guys, I know it's been a while but I finally found the time (and inspiration) to start writing again. To award your patience this chapter is nice long one ;) Enjoy!


Regina was driving her bike in the dark, she didn't really know where she was going but she had to keep riding to clear her head. She needed to get someone to help her. The FBI should be involved. She was still reeling by the discovery she had made. Learning that Mal had discovered her body but was more worried about what that would mean for her B&B than calling it in was difficult. She was so lost in thought she hadn't noticed the police car that was driving towards her. Right before the impact Regina pulled on her steering wheel and avoided the collision but the abrupt movement made her lose her balance and she crashed hard to the ground.

She was too dazed to get up before the figure from the car reached her and a very angry person roughly pulled her up by the collar. Bringing his face close to hers she noticed it was a very angry sheriff Nottingham. "You stupid bitch! You listen to me... There's nothing to tell alright, you heard nothing!"

Regina might be a little shocked and also in pain but she wasn't going to let him threaten her. "I heard enough! I will get someone to help me tell this to the FBI, she will NOT get away with this." Her voice raised the more words left her mouth, she was beyond livid.

Sheriff quickly pulled his gun from its holster and put the barrel against the side of her head, he growled "Do I have to shoot you? Because I will... You're already dead so nothing is stopping me! And I know I can hurt you, you want to find out if I can kill you again?"

Regina audibly swallowed; she didn't understand how any of this was working. Even though she was most definitely dead she still felt pain and she was sure that if he were to shoot her she would die all over again and if she didn't she would end up with a killer headache or worse... lose her wits.

He lowered his gun and loosened the grip on her collar and continued in an even voice, "Look, you don't know half of it. I understand that you're angry; I get that but if you keep that smart mouth of yours shut I'll give you a vital piece of information. What do you say about that?"

Regina contemplated this for a moment before nodding slightly; her curiosity got the better of her. Sheriff sure seemed to know what he was talking about yet Regina didn't have a clue. "I'll think about it."

"You ever wondered how the drugs got into your system?" Sheriff paused and watched Regina's expression closely, when he noticed her eyes widening he knew she would take the deal. "If you stay quiet I'll give you a name when the next full moon hits."

Regina accepted the deal as he had expected but he added for good measure, "If you break our deal I'll hunt you down and shut you up for good and don't think you'll ever find out who was responsible."

"I said we had a deal, so I won't break it. You just see you don't either." With that Regina turned around and walked back to her bike. Luckily for her it wasn't damaged too much so she got on it and drove away.

Moments later she was in Kathryn's bedroom getting her wound tended by her best friend. The lotion Kathryn was using stung a lot and Regina couldn't help but hiss when the wet cotton ball came into contact with her cuts and scrapes. True to her word Regina hadn't mentioned what had really happened to her friend or at least not all of it.

Kathryn gave her friend some directions and made her turn around so she could tend to a rather nasty cut on one of Regina's shoulder blades. During the cleaning Regina hissed again. "Maybe you shouldn't drive your bike when you have so much on your mind. Clearly you can get hurt."

The blonde brought the cotton ball down again and Regina said through clenched teeth, "Clearly! Well I was thinking about how the drugs got into my system because we both know I would never take them willingly. Certainly not with the championship going on."

At the mention of the word drugs Kathryn's hand faltered but fortunately for her Regina couldn't see this and as she was concentrating hard on biting the pain she was entirely oblivious to the changes in her friend. Kathryn waited a bit until she was sure she could control her voice enough to answer steadily, "I don't know the first thing about drugs or where to get them. Sorry I can't be more helpful."

Regina reassured her friend that she wasn't holding it against her, that she really appreciated everything she had done for her already.

~~~oOo~~~

DA Albert Spencer stepped into agents Lucas and French's little office, steam coming from his ears. He stomped his way to Ruby's desk and slammed an article clipping hard on it making Ruby jolt. She quickly glanced to the article's title and knew she was in trouble. It read: "FBI screw up or fabricating evidence?" and directly below it was a photograph of the wrecked hotel room wall. Her eyes scanned the rest of the article and sure enough her name was included in it. Her shoulders immediately slummed; this surely was the end of her first lead case.

"What the ..., Lucas!" he yelled at her. "What were you thinking? If you were thinking in the first place!" he closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose hard as if he was trying to pinch away the ragging headache he was feeling. "Never was I met with more incompetence... you do realize you have jeopardized this entire case, don't you? The DNA evidence is being held back because of this as well; do you have nothing to say for yourself?"

Agent Lucas looked up at him and was starting to apologize when she suddenly realized that yes she did screw up but at least she was trying to find clues. Since they had started working this case they had met wall after wall and were met with more incompetence that they had ever had to deal with. The DA himself wasn't without blame either and she wasn't going to let him feel superior because he had stumbled upon one mistake she had made.

She cleared her throat and calmly answered, "As a matter of fact I do have something to say." She stood up and walked over to the evidence board, DA Spencer followed her closely. He had expected some form of apology and was still hopeful it would come. The brunette pulled a couple of stills from the traffic cams from the board and handed it to him.

"Here, see for yourself." She said.

A frown formed on his face because he still wasn't really following what was going on, he wordlessly accepted and looked at them. The frown was quickly replaced by a much happier expression. "Is this..." but he didn't have to finish the question, he knew what he was looking at."So we finally have what looks like a solid lead?"

Both agents nodded and he told them to keep working this new angle and left without another word. Belle gave Ruby a sympathetic look and patted her shoulder gently, "That could have gone a lot worse." She said before winking and continuing the work she was doing.

~~~oOo~~~

Sarah and Keith were sitting at the breakfast table eating in silence. Keith was reading his morning newspaper and drinking his coffee. Suddenly he closed it and stood up, Sarah thought he was going to get a refill but noticed he was clearing his plate and getting ready to leave. He was still suspended from the case which he had forgotten to mention to Sarah. They both had the day off so Sarah was a little confused at why he was wearing his uniform which she only just noted.

"You're leaving?" she asked in surprise.

"Yes, I am... I was thinking of helping out the agents because we're still not any further in breaking the case." Keith said matter-of-factly with his back still turned to her.

Sarah slammed her cup to the table rather hard which made him look at her immediately. "Are you fucking serious?" she asked him.

"What's wrong now?" Keith was still oblivious to what the problem was.

"You honestly don't know?! Keith, we haven't spend one day together the entire month! I hardly see you between your work at the precinct and you helping out Mal and now you want to spend the only day off in a long time at work again?" Sarah was really pissed that he again chose his job over her. And when he wasn't at work, he chose Mal over her.

Keith got closer to her and placed a gentle kiss on top of her head, "I'm sorry, honey, I realize I have been a lousy husband lately but I promise you I'll make it up to you after this case. Okay?"

Sarah rolled her eyes and got up almost head-butting him and stormed out. Keith sighed and left the house.

A couple of minutes later he found himself back at the police station and was happy to see Officer Jones alone at his desk. He quickly walked up to him and casually asked him "Jonesie, any news for me?"

"Sheriff!" Jones looked as if Christmas had come early. He was so happy that his boss was back. In fact he was so pleased that he forgot that Sheriff was suspended from the investigation. "Have I ever! Agent Lucas has made a mess of things by destroying a hotel room without a warrant, which has put her under investigation so the processing of the DNA sample is being delayed. Oh and they found footage of Regina on the night of her murder!"

"Did they now?" Sheriff asked a little worried but Jones was oblivious to this as well.

Jones excitedly searched his desk until he found the still of the old-timer with Regina Mills in it. "Look at this beauty. It's a neo-classic luxury vehicle. A Panther De Ville I think and the garage I contacted confirmed it."

Sheriff took a closer look at the photograph and frowned, "Hmm..."

"What do you mean 'hmm'?" Jones asked.

"Are you sure it's a Panther De Ville? I think it's a 1985 Zimmer Gold Spirit, V8 engine, automatic transmission, Nardi tilt steering wheel, the hood ornament is a bird not a panther..."

Jones took the photo back from Sheriff and examined it closer, they talked car some more but in the end Sheriff had successfully convinced Jones that he was right. Pleased with himself he quickly left before anyone else noticed him.

~~~oOo~~~

The door of the police station opened and a haphazard looking Henry and a confused looking Regina walked in. Cora was already waiting in one of the empty chairs but when she saw them she stood up and walked towards them. "Do you know why we're here?" she asked Regina.

"No, I was going to ask you the same..." Regina was as clueless as her parents. She was visiting Zelena, who didn't really have time for her because she was too busy looking at a photo of Leo on her phone when her dad received a call from the police asking him to come in. She had tried to ask him what was going on but of course he hadn't noticed her so she had decided to accompany him to the police station.

All three of them returned to the empty chairs and sat in an awkward silence: Regina because she was only able to talk to one of her parents, Cora because she was at a loss for words and Henry was too preoccupied with the reason for them being there. Regina had chosen the chair in-between her parents, which was clear to Cora but Henry had frowned a little when Cora didn't choose the chair next to him.

After a couple of more awkward minutes Henry was becoming agitated and he sighed loudly, "Didn't they say we had to be here at eleven?" He looked around trying to spot the SA's but there was no one around.

"Yes, they did." Cora replied calmly.

The weird tension returned and Cora, in a desperate attempt to lighten the mood, said "Remember when we went camping."

Henry smiled, "Yeah."

"Regina was three years old."

"Four." Regina corrected her mother.

"Four." Cora repeated.

"On that raft..." Henry smiled again, memories of that vacation coming back to him. "Our little girl..."

Tears formed in his eyes and he solemnly added, "I still can't... you know. Sometimes it feels like she's still here."

"She is." Cora assured her ex-husband and Regina smiled at her mother.

Agent Lucas chose that moment to ask them to follow her. Regina was the first one on her feet and the three of them made it to an interrogation room where a laptop on a table was waiting for them. Agent Lucas played the footage and asked them if the girl in the car could be Regina. Henry immediately confirmed that it was indeed his daughter.

When Agent Lucas asked them if they recognized the vehicle or the driver Cora turned to Regina who only shrugged. She didn't even remember this. Both parents were clueless. Agent Lucas asked if she could use this footage for an APB.

Cora said, "If you think it would be helpful..."

Henry said, "How could she do this? She was supposed to go straight home." He sounded very disappointed.

Agent Lucas left to give them some space but Henry stood abruptly and demanded to be taken home. Cora stood as well and turned to Regina, "How could you do this? First the drugs, now this... getting in a vehicle with someone you don't know?!"

"I'm sorry, okay. I don't know why I did this... I just don't remember any of it..." Regina told her mother honestly.

Cora left Regina and followed Henry outside; he was already in his car waiting in the passenger seat. When Cora got in, Henry started to have doubts mostly because he was afraid that Cora was already intoxicated. He hadn't considered this when he got upset in the interrogation room. He voiced his doubts and the conversation quickly turned into a row. Cora blamed Henry for ending their marriage but he said it was her fault for never being there and when Cora didn't even remember Henry's new wife's name or even that he had remarried he was done with her. He angrily got out of his car, pulled Cora's bike from the trunk and after Cora got out of the car, he got in and drove away.

~~~oOo~~~

Later that day Cora was at home drinking vodka from a coffee mug, while making a scrapbook with pictures of Regina. The kitchen table was covered in old and new pictures of her daughter. Her phone started to ring but she didn't bother to pick it up, whoever it was could leave a message on her machine.

She was listening to the recording and cursed, it was Archie reminding her that she had to open the canteen of the BMX club. She really wasn't in the mood but with the many screw-ups she had done lately she had no choice. She got onto her bike and left.

All the way to the club she had been cursing and she was still on it when she opened the door of the cafeteria. The first thing she did was getting herself another drink, she walked towards the tracks and noticed Leo was already practicing, which was not surprising. Then Cora saw another figure on the tracks, she blinked a couple of times when she recognized Regina's racing gear and bike.

For a moment she thought it was really Regina until she saw Leo interact with the girl on the other bike and Cora realized it couldn't be Regina. Zelena she thought and ran onto the tracks angrily. She jumped in front of the BMX's and asked what they were doing.

"Zelena, have you no shame?! Do you think Regina would want this... you using her gear?!" Cora shouted at the redhead.

Zelena scoffed, "If you want to know maybe you should ask her." The girl replied indignantly then she added, "And maybe you should drink a little less!"

"No need to be rude, young lady." Cora said but Leo and Zelena turned around and drove away.

She was so enraged by the audacity of Karen's daughter that she drove straight to Henry's house wanting nothing more than to give Karen a piece of her mind! In no time she arrived at her destination, not even coming to a full stop she jumped from her bike letting it fall to the ground and she shouted, "Karen, why is your daughter using my daughter's racing gear! Have you no shame, woman?!"

Karen heard the ruckus and stepped outside. When Cora saw her the rage intensified and she ran - or rather stumbled - towards Karen and pushed her hard trying to get a reaction out of the other woman. In her drunken state she wasn't really pushing her hard and Karen easily deflected Cora's attempts to start a fight.

"Look, I don't really see what the problem is. The lessons were paid for and the gear fits Zelena perfectly. It's not that Regina has any use of it now, does she?" Karen's words were harsh and Cora saw red.

A hard slap landed sharply on Karen's cheek, Henry chose that moment to show up and quickly got in between the two women. He pushed Cora back and accused her of being drunk and not knowing what she was doing and asked her to go home and leave them alone. Cora tried to explain why she was there but Henry wasn't having any of it, he was sick and tired of his drunken ex-wife.

"But she gave Regina's gear to Zelena. Regina's gear, Henry!" Cora tried one last time and her voice broke.

Henry turned towards Karen with a questioning look and Karen confirmed that it was true. The news didn't sit well with Henry and he got mad at Karen.

"She can't make decisions about our daughter, our daughter, Henry!" Cora shouted from behind him.

"Your daughter, Cora, really? You were never there, at least I was!" Karen wasn't backing down.

Cora replied with another slap in Karen's face, "You! You stole my daughter from me! You weren't happy with the children you already had, no you had to have everything! My husband AND MY daughter!" Cora tried to slap her again but this time Karen fought back.

Henry tried to intervene but it wasn't easy, both women were really invested in hurting each other. But it was an unfair fight; Cora was too inebriated and quickly lost her balance. Karen gave her a hard shove and Cora landed on her backside. Henry stepped in front of Karen, successfully holding her back and pleaded with Cora again to leave them alone. Embarrassed Cora picked herself up from the ground, got onto her bike and drove back to the club.

~~~oOo~~~

Sheriff walked up to the lab where DNA samples were being processed, he was on the phone with a distressed Mal and he assured her she had nothing to worry about, he would take care of everything. He ended the call right before entering the building and walked up to the front desk. He tried to get in with some lame excuse about there being a conference but the man behind the desk informed him that there were no conferences today.

However there was one in two days time, he asked for Keith's name and badge number and looked at his list. Keith's name wasn't on it. Sheriff Nottingham knew his name wasn't going to be on the list but this gave him the opportunity to see which of his colleagues were and when he spotted a familiar name he was pleased. He told the man he would get the mix-up sorted and return in a few days.

Realizing he had done everything he could do for today he returned home. Sarah was in the living room; a couple of cardboard boxes were on the dining room table in front of her and she was putting something wrapped in newspaper into one of them. Sheriff looked around and noticed Sarah was packing up all the porcelain figurines that had belonged to his mother before she had died.

Sarah was obviously still mad because when Keith made a comment about it, she only said they weren't her style and she was in the mood for some changes. She picked up one of the boxes and left the living room, probably to put it in the garage. Regina, who was sat in the sofa, snickered and Keith only now realized she had been sitting there the entire time.

He was already embarrassed enough he didn't really need this, he scoffed and turned to leave the room trying to ignore her. Regina, however, was tired of waiting around and said, "I want that name and don't give me that full moon crap! I want the name before I leave or I call out to Emma and tell her everything."

Keith rolled his eyes and shrugged, not really expecting Regina to have the guts to go through with her little plan. Unfortunately for him Regina had decided that she needed to know what had happened to her, the confrontation with the footage of her and a stranger on the night of her murder had her a little on edge.

"Emma! Eeeemmmmaaa!" she shouted at the top of her lungs.

Sheriff rushed over to where she was sitting and clasped a hand over her mouth, effectively silencing her. "Okay, okay... you win!" He hissed and added, "But not here, meet me outside."

A couple of moments later they were both sat in Keith's car. Sheriff pulled out his laptop and pressed play. A feed from a surveillance camera started playing; it showed the same neoclassic car with the flamboyant driver and Regina. They stopped at a gas station and while the driver was getting gas, Regina got out patted their shoulder and walked out of view.

A deep frown formed on Regina's face; again she had no knowledge of this. She had never seen the car or the driver, and she didn't remember stopping at a gas station either. "What is this?" she asked in a small voice.

"We had a deal, hadn't we... a name for your silence."

Regina nodded curtly.

"Cruella De Vil."

"What?" Regina grew even more confused.

"The name I promised you... Cruella De Vil." Sheriff repeated unfazed. "Importer of party items, if you get my drift. Not such a nice person, so I wouldn't bother her if I were you."

"Is this a joke? Do you honestly want me to believe the name I want is Cruella De Vil? Is she the driver?" Regina let out a loud laugh, startling Keith. "De Vil is driving a Panther De Ville? You've got to be kidding me?"

"You recognize the make of the car?"

"Of course I do. Neoclassic cars are kind of my thing, next to BMX." Regina answered matter-of-factly.

"Doesn't matter, you've got the name of your killer now leave me alone."

"Leave you alone?! If you know who did it, why aren't you doing something about it? You are sabotaging this case, MY case. And I will find out what you're hiding." Regina yelled at Sheriff before getting out of the car, a little disappointed.

She didn't know if he was pulling her leg or not, either way she had never heard of a Cruella De Vil before. Regina had no idea what to do with this new piece of information. She put it in her notebook. Suddenly she felt lonely, really lonely and wanted nothing more than to be with Emma. She had expected to meet her in the house but Emma wasn't there. Regina contemplated her options and decided to visit the trailer; chances were Emma would be there.

~~~oOo~~~

Cora was sitting at the bar of the now empty cafeteria; she was drinking coffee hoping to sober up some more. Her fight with Karen was still replaying in her mind. The more she thought about it the stupider she felt, Cora still loved Henry and still felt bad about their divorce but getting into a fight with his new wife was not the way to show him. She took another sip of her lukewarm coffee and stared at the trophy case with the missing trophy.

She cleaned up, got on her bike and drove straight to Jeffery's house. That little piece of shit was not getting away with stealing that trophy. Cora would do whatever she could to get it back. When she was almost at the house she slowed down and tried to be as quiet as possible, the house seemed dark enough and Cora was careful not to draw attention upon herself. She needed to be as stealthily as possible if she wanted to pull this off.

When she was just outside the house she noticed that the windows were covered with yellowed newspapers, which was odd. Cora looked through a small cut in one of the newspapers and saw Jeffery, his two idiot friends and Kathryn gathered at a table that was covered with pills in large plastic bags.

"Goddammit, Kathryn!" Cora cursed under her breath and decided to leave the place. There was no way she was getting the trophy today.

Inside Jeffery was explaining how they would package the pills. "We have to repackage all of these. We'll put two pills in each of the smaller bags."

"Why two?" Kathryn asked.

"To double the profit of course. Buy one, get one for free. That way our product will get known a lot faster and we will earn double the money we spent." Jeffery reassured her, but Kathryn was still a little doubtful about her nephew's sales technique. "Well, get to work, guys! These pills don't pack themselves."

"Shouldn't we like wash our hands first?" Kathryn remarked.

"Nice thinking, Goldilocks! That's why you are the brains of this operation." Then he addressed his friends, "You see why we need her..." They all followed Kathryn towards the kitchen to wash their hands.

~~~oOo~~~

Regina and Emma were sitting in the trailer; the television was on in the background. When the APB was on Regina signaled to Emma and she turned up the sound. "The police are looking for an important witness in the Regina Mills case. The driver of this car was seen a couple of hours before Regina Mills was murdered and has probably vital information pertaining this case. If you know this person, or if you've seen this vehicle please contact the FBI..."

"What's wrong?" Emma asked in a concerned voice, Regina suddenly had this look about her features.

"I think that driver has something to do with how the drugs got into my system." Regina explained without breaking the promise she'd made Sheriff. She didn't want to get Emma into trouble, because she was sure that if Sheriff wasn't able to hurt her, he would definitely hurt Emma.

Emma, however, found it curious that Regina was making this connection. "Huh? What do you mean?"

"Well, I heard the name of this notorious importer of drugs when I was at the station." Regina replied.

Emma only sighed so Regina continued, "Look, I have to know who's supplying the local drug dealers because no one around here has the equipment or the knowledge to fabricate drugs."

"If you want coke or pills you need to attend these student parties down at the docks." Emma said matter-of-factly.

Regina scoffed, "Why is this news to me?"

Emma gave her small smile, "Well, if you're not into these things you don't notice them." She looked at Regina who had a questionable expression on her face. "What? You want to go to one of those parties, don't you?"

When Regina and Emma walked up to the entrance the loud thumping music greeted them even before they opened the door. A couple was outside, hiding in a dark corner kissing passionately. Emma opened the door for Regina and both women got in, the music was deafening. Students were dancing wildly to the music and Regina chose a perfect spot at the bar to examine the crowd.

Emma noticed and chuckled at how obvious Regina was, it was very clear she wasn't there to enjoy the party. She looked more like an undercover cop than a student in the mood for a party. Emma got a little closer to Regina and told her. "You should relax more, you're too obvious. A drink?"

Regina shook her head; she was here for business not pleasure. And she doubted that anyone except Emma was able to see her, this made her smile a little though because it was sweet how Emma always forgot that she wasn't really there. At least she wasn't for other people...

"What?" Emma asked when she saw the change in Regina, whose smile just grew wider. "What?"

"Nothing." Regina lied and Emma narrowed her eyes playfully at Regina. "It's just cute how you always forget that you're the only that sees me."

Emma rolled her eyes and teasingly shoved Regina when suddenly a hand grabbed her shoulder. "Hi, what are you doing here? They finally let you out?"

"Yeah, they did." Emma said.

"So how's life been... busy banging students?" he asked Emma and waggled his eyebrows suggestively.

Emma wanted to hit him in the face until she remembered that this encounter could be used to her advantage. "Something like that, you know me. Just looking for a little something to party, you know where I can get some?"

He looked around hastily before showing Emma a small plastic bag with two blue pills in it. "Blue ghosts. And they're having a discount today." He looked around the crowd and pointed straight at Jeffery, "And there is where you can get them."

"Thanks, man." Emma patted him on the shoulder and walked in the direction he had shown her.

Jeffery was dancing, he had no choice he had taken one of his pills to show a client they were safe and now the XTC was running through his veins making it impossible to stand still. Emma walked up to him and asked if he could hook her up but he told her she needed to wait until he was done dancing. When he was done, he asked her how much she needed and Emma bought just one bag.

Emma was feeling adventurous and asked, "I was looking for someone to provide larger amounts... like Neville, or De Vil... an important supplier."

"Never heard of." Jeffery lied. Emma thanked him and went back to Regina. She told her she hadn't been successful in anything other than buying two pills. Regina was not really surprised but at least she knew some of the local drug dealers. One of them she had seen a couple of years ago in the BMX club but she couldn't remember his name.

After a couple more hours in the loud music they exited the party, Regina shoved Emma jokingly. "You don't know the first thing about dancing."

"I don't," Emma feigned shock. "I consider dancing more..."

But she was unable to finish that sentence, a fist connected hard with her jaw and she fell to the ground. When she was down on the ground she felt a foot connect with her head and it took her a moment to realize what was going on. Regina screamed for them to stop it but of course no one paid attention to her.

Jeffery bent down over Emma and grasped her face with his hand; he pulled her close and growled, "If you ever mention De Vil again, I will kill you myself! Do you understand me?"

Emma nodded vigorously and said she did. He let go of her and he and his friends started to walk away. Regina watched them more closely before bending down and checking Emma's injuries. She had a split lip that was bleeding and a gash above her eye which was also bleeding. "Are you okay?"

Emma only nodded and pressed her sleeve against her lip to stop the bleeding. Regina sitting close to her, touching her gently was helping a lot. It had all happened so fast she didn't really feel any pain. They were both watching the trio get into a car parked only a couple of feet away from them.

"I'm so sorry." Regina said suddenly before getting up and following the guys, leaving behind a dazed and hurt Emma.

Regina was sitting in the back seat next to one of them, their leader was in the passenger seat and the third one was the driver. They were discussing what had happened. The one in the back, next to Regina, thought Emma was just trying to impress them and they shouldn't pay too much attention to her.

"I'm not taking any chances..." Jeffery said, "You think Goldilocks mentioned De Vil?"

Regina had no idea who this Goldilocks was, obviously it was a nickname but she had never heard it before. The one in the back didn't know, but the driver was pretty sure this Goldilocks would never talk about De Vil.

"Maybe she heard something at the BMX club?" Jeffery wondered.

"Fuck it! I should have beaten her more! Shut her up for good!" the one in the back was getting more and more agitated.

"Calm down, Gio! She won't talk, believe me." Jeffery tried to calm his friend.

While they were discussing De Vil and whether they should tell her what had happened, Regina had taken the phone no one was paying attention to. She was scrolling through the contacts hoping she would find something. She found no De Vil, but she did find a CDV it could be anything but Regina decided to write the number attached to this name on her hand. She just hoped Emma would understand why she had left her.

~~~oOo~~~

The next morning Sarah walked into Emma's bedroom to wake her and ask her what she wanted for breakfast. Sarah pulled open the curtains and Emma sat up, when she turned back to Emma she noticed for the first time the bruises on her face. Sarah kneeled down next to the young blonde and immediately started checking the wounds. It was very clear that Sarah was worried about what had happened.

Emma didn't like to be fuzzed over and gently pushed Sarah's hands away reassuring her concerned foster mom that she was alright. "It's nothing, just some jerk that got jealous because I was hitting on his girlfriend."

"Shall I bring an icepack from the store?" Sarah asked, but Emma shook her head, "Well, I put some dinner for you in the fridge because I'm not here this evening. Chicken breast, good?" Emma nodded and Sarah continued, "It's for you, okay, not for your father."

Sarah got up to leave and released a long breath, then stopped at the door and turned back to Emma. "And you didn't know she was already seeing someone?"

"No, mom, but it's okay... really."

Regina chose this moment to walk up the stairs and announce that she was in the possession of Cruella De Vil's number. She passed Sarah and walked into Emma's bedroom.

"Wow, congratulations. Let me know when I have to get myself knocked down again." Emma replied, sarcasm dripping from every word.

"Sorry." Regina said in a small voice.

"Sorry?"

Regina watched Emma but a smile slowly formed on her face, it was clear Emma was just enjoying a little payback and when she started laughing Emma joined her. The blonde hissed and said, "Don't make me laugh, it hurts." But there was no malice in her tone; she was enjoying this just as much as the brunette was.

Regina suggested that they should call De Vil, via Skype because than De Vil wouldn't know who was calling. Emma suddenly grew serious, "Regina, we shouldn't mess around with these people."

"I didn't come this close just to quit now." Regina said and pulled Emma's laptop on her lap.

"I'm serious, we're talking about a huge drug dealer..."

"But..."

Emma cut Regina off. "No, Regina, it's easy for you. But for me these people are very dangerous." And she tried to pull the laptop away from Regina.

"Easy?" Regina asked incredulously. "Yeah, for me it's easy. I just walk around here pointlessly." She got more and more angry and got to her feet. She threw the laptop to Emma and added, "Finding my killer is ... what, a hobby?"

Regina started to walk away but she turned back and shouted, "And if you must know... I got that name from your father!" then she got out of Emma's room and slammed the door.

Regina was right Emma knew. This might be more dangerous for her than for Regina but not less important. She swallowed and pushed the dial button. The number was formed and a female voice with an accent said, "Hello?"

Emma didn't know what to say and tried to deepen her voice and impersonate one of the drug dealers she had met at the party. Of course her plan backfired and the line was disconnected immediately.

~~~oOo~~~

Zelena and Leo had spent the last couple of days on the tracks; he had been coaching her and was surprised that she really had some talent for this. He thought she was just using this as an excuse to get closer to him. He really liked her but a relationship with her was just impossible. Of course he wasn't blind and had noticed they were bonding over practices and yesterday they somehow wound up in each other's arms and almost kissed.

At the last possible moment he had held back and not closed the distance. Nothing had been said about it and he thought Zelena was feeling relieved but today she was having a lot of trouble with some basic movements. He tried to convince her that she was getting there but suddenly she got off the bike, put it down gently and pulled of her helmet. She stomped away and Leo cut her off right before she left the track.

"What's wrong?" he asked her in a gentle tone.

"You're a real idiot, you know!" Zelena replied and tried to bypass him but he didn't let her so she asked, "Why didn't you just kiss me yesterday?"

Leo was at a loss for words and just shrugged.

"Is it because of Regina?"

"That too... but it's more because of our parents..."

Zelena frowned, "What about our parents?"

Leo looked her up and down; wanting to make sure she wasn't joking around. But judging from the look on Zelena's face he was sure she wasn't, "You really don't know, do you?"

"Know what?" Zelena was becoming more and more impatient; she didn't like to be in the dark.

"Nothing. Never mind." Leo said and shook his head a little; he started pulling on his helmet again. Zelena tried to get him to spill the beans but he wouldn't, he told her it wasn't his place to tell her and drove away. A confused looking Zelena stayed behind.

~~~oOo~~~

Regina was sitting at a computer in the police station; if Emma wouldn't help her she was going to solve her case alone. She had opened a program and typed in the number she had found and was waiting for the computer to pull up some audio files or anything other useful.

Agent Lucas meanwhile was on the phone, when she got off she addressed agent French, "That car... it was a Panther De Ville, not a '85 Zimmer Gold Spirit."

Agent French scoffed, "How dense is this officer Jones?"

When the computer indicated it had found some files Regina pulled on some headphones to drown out the background noises. She listened to a recording of Cruella De Vil and someone she called 'darling'. They were talking about a party and taking care of appliances; fire pits or something. Regina jotted down the things she thought were important and Googled them. Happy to have an address she went home and switched her bike for a motor bike and decided to check out the place.

It led her to a tire company just out of state. There was nothing important going on, just a guy loading up a truck. Regina decided to follow him on a hunch. He stopped at a mansion where a lot of cars were parked some of them had plates from her state, others didn't. Then she noticed the Panther De Ville she had been in and she knew she had arrived at the right place. Now all she had to do was find out what was going on.

~~~oOo~~~

Sheriff and Emma were sitting at the kitchen table; they were eating lunch and drinking coffee. They were both silent not really enjoying each other's company, just barely tolerating it. Keith asked, "Have you seen young Mills around?"

"Nope, haven't seen her anymore." Emma lied.

She wasn't sure if Keith believed her or not but she didn't care, he put down his cup and left the kitchen without saying a word. He was dressed in his uniform but Emma was sure he was going to see Leo instead of going to work. Apart from the Mills case there was barely anything to do. She didn't care where he went as long as he wasn't home, ever since Regina had mentioned getting the name from him she trusted him even less than before. And by asking her about Regina he had unknowingly confirmed her suspicion.

She finished eating, quickly cleaned the table and went to the garage. She tried not to roll her eyes when she passed Keith's trophy case, filled with trophies he won back in the day in BMX racing. She went to his desk and started looking for something that shouldn't be there. She wasn't entirely sure what it was until she found a thumb drive inside a small fake trophy.

In the meantime Keith had arrived at Mal's and noticed Leo was getting ready for a run, he called out to him and was pleased to see his focus was back. He gave the young man some last minute advice and went inside. Mal had been watching Leo from behind a window and voiced her concern the moment she heard Keith, "What will become of him when I go to jail?"

"I won't let that happen, don't worry about it."

With a solemn expression she turned towards him and he placed a loving kiss on her forehead.

"Will you stay with me tonight?" Mal asked him and he nodded his consent.

~~~oOo~~~

The sun had just went done when Sarah and her hiking group were around the corner from Mal's B&B. Her friends all loved a little gossip and the B&B brought up some interesting topics. First they discussed the murder and how it could have been anyone because they were sure it was just some random act of violence but quickly the subject switched to its owner, Mal Nottingham.

Sarah said something nice about Mal shocking the other women, "Wow, Sarah, I think that's the first time you said something nice about her."

"Well..." Sarah shrugged; she tolerated Mal because she knew she had to. Keith would never give up on her.

"Nadia, did you hear?" One of them called to one of the women in the back.

"You know we tried to make a list of every man who Mal bedded once..." started Ashley.

"Yeah," continued Amber, "we had to stop because our evening wasn't long enough to compose that list." Both women started laughing and Sarah couldn't help but join in.

"Huh, a police car..." Ashley said suddenly when they got a little closer to the B&B.

Amber quickly turned back to Sarah, "You keep a close eye on that man of yours..."

Sarah was as surprised as the other women about why Keith's car was outside Mal's B&B but she tried to play it cool and informed the women that Keith was there to train Leo. "Actually, since he's here I'm going to go over there and get myself a ride home." She swiftly said goodbye to her friends and walked to the B&B. She entered as quietly as possible and was horrified by the scene in front of her: Keith and Mal were snuggled up on the couch. Both of them fast asleep.

~~~oOo~~~

Officer Jones had his gun pulled out and was anxiously awaiting orders, his heart was beating fast and he was sweating profusely. A fellow officer asked if they shouldn't wait for the FBI or Sheriff Nottingham but Killian informed her there wasn't time, not if they wanted to catch the perps red-handed.

They rang the doorbell when all cops were ready to storm the house. Someone came to answer the door but was immediately pushed against the wall and Mirandized. The other cops all stormed in as well, not knowing how many dealers were inside.

Half an hour later, Jeffery and his friends were cuffed and put in the back of a police van while Officer Jones was escorting a cuffed Kathryn to the back of his own squad car. He gently put her inside and returned to the front.

~~~oOo~~~

Regina was standing in the middle of a wedding party. Everyone was dressed in white and people were dancing, laughing, and having a good time. Regina was used of not being noticed and scanned the crowd for anyone that might look familiar. She was unsuccessful; there were just too many people.

She was about to leave when she spotted an extravagantly dressed woman, she was the only one who wasn't dressed all in white. She had a clear preference for black. It was obvious she had been drinking because her movements were a bit off and Regina stared at her. Was she the woman from the footage?

The woman turned in her direction and locked eyes with Regina. The sensation was so weird Regina immediately realized this person was able to see her. Rooted to the spot she noticed the strange lady approached her. She didn't know what was going to happen, maybe this person was just drunk and hallucinating, maybe she was making eye contact with someone behind Regina, maybe... She could think of 100 more maybe's that wouldn't change the fact that the woman was standing right in front of her.

"What are you doing here, darling?" she asked in a heavy British accent.

"De Vil?" it was more a statement than a question and the only thing a shocked Regina was able to utter.


Thoughts about who the killer is are still welcome :-).