The Reagans had soon all but forgotten about Carter Burke and they all hoped he'd forgotten about Grace. However, one Tuesday afternoon, Connor Burke made his way into the office of St. Mary's and asked Mrs. Appleby if he could see his cousin, Grace.
"Can I have your name, please?"
"Connor Burke." Ever the cool cucumber, Mrs. Appleby pulled up Grace's file and told Connor that she regretted to inform him, but he wasn't on Grace's contact list so she couldn't grant him access. "But her dad's in the car…"
"Well, if he wants to come in and add you, I'll be glad to have you added to the list…"
Connor began to squirm. "It's ok. Will you just make sure that she gets this envelope? It's got my new cellphone number in it so we can catch up this weekend."
"Ok," Mrs. Appleby smiled. "Sorry about that." No sooner had Connor walked out the door, than Mrs. Appleby was quickly making her way to Mr. McCarthy's office. "Sir, we need to call Danny Reagan immediately. One of the members of the Burke family just showed up and wanted to see Grace."
"Who's that?"
"I have no idea, but Detective Reagan said if they ever requested access to Grace or the boys we needed to contact him immediately."
"Close the door," Mr. McCarthy directed as he turned on the speaker phone and dialed Danny's number.
"Reagan?"
"Danny. Hey. It's Dave."
"Are you kidding me?! What have they done now?!"
"No, Danny. It's not like that. Mrs. Appleby is here with me. Apparently a gentleman named Connor Burke just came by and requested to see Grace and she said it was urgent that we call you."
"Where is he now?"
"He just left."
"I'll be right there," Danny said as he did a complete 180 degree turn in his car and headed in the direction of St. Mary's.
Baez looked at him like he'd lost his mind as she held on for dear life. "Whoa! Reagan, what is it?"
"The Burkes are after Grace."
Danny pulled right up to the front door of St. Mary's and sprinted inside. "Hey Detective," Mrs. Appleby smiled. "He left this for Grace." Danny ripped open the envelope and read the letter.
"Does Grace know?"
"No. I told him that he wasn't on her contact list so I couldn't give him access. He said her 'dad' was out in the car and I just pretended I didn't know that wasn't you. I told him he could come in and add him to the list so that Connor could see him, but he backed down and just asked me to give her the envelope. That's when I called you."
"Good work."
"What's going on?" Mr. McCarthy asked. "Who are these guys?"
"I think we need to have a conversation," Danny sighed as Mr. McCarthy led he and Baez back into his office and poured them each a cup of coffee. Danny laid out the entire story from start to finish. Mr. McCarthy assured him that he would be extra vigilant and would make sure Grace didn't go off on her own. "I think I'll go ahead and get them for the day, if that's ok. I don't want them out in public without me there."
"I don't blame you," Mr. McCarthy said as he picked up the phone and buzzed Mrs. Appleby. "Hey, can you call the Reagan kids to come and check out, please?" Danny and Baez shook Mr. McCarthy's hand as they both stood to leave. "Let me know what else I can do for you, Danny."
"Thanks, Dave."
"Hey, what's going on?" Jack asked as he and Sean met Grace in the hallway and the three of them headed to the office.
"Beats me, but it can't be good."
"Hey!" Danny smiled as he put an arm around Grace and held her tightly.
"What's going on? What's wrong?" Jack asked.
"Nothing. I just thought I'd spring you guys early today."
Grace looked up at him skeptically. "No seriously. Who's hurt?"
"Nobody. Come on." He started to walk out, with Grace still not convinced.
"You know I was supposed to have a Latin test today…"
"Then don't look a gift horse in the mouth," Danny chuckled. "Let's go. I'm in the mood for hot chocolate and donuts. Say hello to Detective Baez."
"Hey guys," she smiled as all the kids greeted her on their way out the door.
As promised, Danny took the kids for hot chocolate and doughnuts after dropping Baez back at the precinct. Jack and Sean picked out their favorites and ran to find a booth while Danny and Grace got the hot chocolate. "Dad, straight up, you've never sprung me from school. What's up?"
"Can't we just enjoy an afternoon with your brothers?"
"Fine. Don't tell me. I'll figure it out eventually."
"I'm sure you will," Danny laughed.
Once they finished in the Doughnut Dive, Danny took the kids home. The boys immediately went upstairs for an afternoon of video games. Grace lingered, as she dropped her backpack at the door, and stood with arms crossed, awaiting an explanation.
"What?" Danny asked as he looked through the cupboard, trying to decide what he wanted to lay out for supper.
Grace squinted her eyes. "Can I borrow your phone for a minute. I need to ask Grandpa a question."
"He's working."
"It will just take a minute."
Danny returned the exact same squint as he handed his phone to Grace. She hit the speed dial for Frank and waited two rings before that familiar voice answered.
"Hello Detective."
"It's me, Grandpa."
"Oh. Hello Granddaughter. To what do I owe this pleasure?"
"What's the top three Reagan offenses? Hang on, let me put you on speaker first."
"What?"
"Top three Reagan offenses. Go."
Danny turned and put his hands on his hips. "Lying, disobedience, and disrespect."
"Thank you, Grandpa. That's all. Love you." Grace ended the call and tossed it back to Danny.
"What was that?"
"You heard Grandpa. Reagan Rule #1, Dad. No lying. Now tell me why you sprung me and the boys from school and you brought us home and then you didn't go back to work. It had to be something big for all three of those things to happen because let's face it, that has NEVER happened."
Danny took a deep breath. "Ok. Have a seat. Let's talk." Grace took a seat at the kitchen table opposite her dad. "Connor Burke came to school this morning to see you."
"Connor? Who's that?"
"Carter's nephew. We were told Carter was in the parking lot. Connor came in asking to speak with you."
"What'd he want?"
"He wanted to see you, but thankfully, Mrs. Appleby didn't grant access. He left a note with contact information."
"So, let's call him."
"What?"
"Let's call him. I'm not hiding out forever. Let's meet and get this over with."
"Absolutely not."
"But Dad, I.."
"No." Danny got up. "End of discussion."
"But…"
"Grace. I'm not kidding. This is serious. Don't you dare get anywhere near this." Grace dropped it for the moment. She was already working a plan in her head but would definitely need help, so she did an about face and went to find Jack. "Grace Reagan! Don't do anything stupid!"
"Seany, I need Jackers for a few minutes."
"Take him. He's beating me anyway."
Jack got up and followed Grace across the hall to her room. "What's up?"
"I need you to call Uncle Jamie and ask a few questions."
"Why don't you call?"
"Because he'll tell Dad and Dad will flip."
"What's the question?"
"I need to know exactly what Carter Burke would have to do to violate his parole and get him put back in prison."
"So you want me to ask him that?"
"No. Just nose around a bit. Tell him you have a buddy whose brother got arrested on spring break and he got bailed out and you want to know how that works. Then ask about parole. Then ask what somebody who committed murder would have to do to violate their parole."
"Do I even want to know why you need to know all this?"
"Nah. Just find out for me."
"Ok," Jack shrugged.
It took a couple of days, but he did eventually manage to corner Jamie when he stopped by one evening to talk shop with Danny. Linda had convinced him to stay for dinner, so of course each one of the kids needed their little bit of Uncle Jamie time. Sean was up first and wanted nothing more than one game of Army Attacks on his gaming system. Shortly after dinner, Jack managed to steal Jamie away for some help on his homework, which in reality was the spy work that Grace had given him. "What about you, Grace? Any special requests before I go home?" he asked as he made his way out of Jack's room.
"Nope. I'm good," Grace smiled as she walked him downstairs. "Unless of course you want to spring me from school tomorrow so we can go get tickets to the Pink concert in March?"
"Sorry. I'll be patrolling the mean streets of the city with Eddie tomorrow."
"She can come too. And I'll bring Parker. And it will be the best looking double date that's ever hit the Garden."
"You are insane," Jamie laughed. "Goodnight."
As soon as Grace had him out the door, she sprinted back upstairs to Jack's room. "What'd you find out?" she asked, without even a knock on the door. She just burst right through and plopped herself onto his bed. Jack stopped typing on his laptop and turned around to face her.
"How about… hey Jack, you know you are the best, smartest brother I have and I'm forever in your debt for doing my dirty work?"
Grace took a breath and glared at him. "Hey Jack, want me to sell you out to Mom and Dad before I get caught or after?"
He chuckled. "Ok, ok. Truce. Here's what I know…"
Jack relayed all his findings to Grace. He could tell she was planning the entire time he was talking. When he finished, he was expecting her to fill him in and tell him what great work he'd done. Instead, Grace got up and jetted to her own room to finalize her plans with Millie, Hailey, and Taylor.
The following evening while the Reagans were having dinner, Grace brought up her request. "Hey, can I got to Hailey's house this weekend? We want to go to Stilton's."
"I don't see why not," Linda said.
"Is it just the girls or will there be boys there?" Danny asked without even looking up from his plate.
"Just us, Dad. No need to call in backup. It's just me, Millie, Taylor, and Hales... unless of course you prefer we take the boys for protection and in that case, I'm sure Parker and his friends will be glad to join us." Danny looked less than amused. "Just us. Can I go? Please?"
"Sure. But I want a text when you get there and when you get home."
The girls successfully managed to get out of Hailey's house without too many questions from her mom. "So where's this club?" Taylor asked as they girls hopped on the subway and headed into the city.
"Right in the middle of town."
"Have you heard from Connor?"
"Yeah... he said they were there already."
"Nervous?" Millie asked.
"Sorta. What about you guys?"
"We got this," Taylor assured them. "We have a plan. We go in together. We get the picture. We get out of there."
Grace contemplated aborting the mission all the way there. In the back of her mind, all she could think of was her Dad, Grandpa, Pop, and Uncle Jamie going ballastic when they found out she'd put herself in danger. When they finally made it to their stop, they all got off and walked toward the club. With one last reassuring glance at her buddies, Grace took a deep breath and waved at Connor who was standing outside the front door waiting on them. "Ok. Let's do this."