CHAPTER 10

Eventually Ray had to get to work so he took the other Ray back to Fraser and Helen's. They'd already left by the time the Rays got there, but Stella and Sarah were eating breakfast.

"Er, did they seem OK to you Stell?" asked Ray Kowalski.

"Helen and Fraser? Yes, why do you ask?" Stella sipped her coffee.

"No reason," shrugged Ray in response.

"They slept in a little late, I thought Fraser was always up at dawn," Stella continued.

"They were both awake in the night, that was my fault," admitted Sarah as she poured herself a glass of juice.

Ray smiled to himself. "Yeah, that was, er, that's probably it," he said. He was less worried about his friends now. So they 'slept in' did they? He thought to himself. Make up sex, I never thought ya had it in ya buddy. He exchanged a glance with Ray Vecchio, who was obviously thinking the same thing and nodded approvingly.

Just then Ray's phone rang. It was Maggie who was already at the RCMP station. Some legal paperwork had arrived for Sarah to look at and she suggested Stella might be able to help her with it. Stella was agreeable to that so they quickly finished their breakfast and Ray drove them and Ray into town on his way to the hospital.

xXx

"So I can use this money for school fees," Sarah was doing her best to understand all the documents. Fraser and Helen had been given temporary legal guardianship of her, but they agreed that Sarah was old enough to make her own decisions about her future, but of course they would try to guide her as best they could.

Sarah felt quite overwhelmed by all the adults that were suddenly caring for her. She'd grown up an only child with a single parent and her relationship with her mother had been strained at times, particularly recently, but now people were falling over themselves to help her, she couldn't quite believe it and she wasn't sure how to deal with it. She was just waiting for them to all show their true colours. They were only being nice to her because they felt sorry for her, because they'd been her mother's friends, she thought. She was scared when she thought about her future. She was used to spending time on her own, she'd spent a lot of her childhood that way, but now as she prepared to go out into the big wide world, she suddenly felt terribly alone.

Stella tried to explain her options to her. She reminded her that as a minor she had certain restrictions on her finances and her life choices until she reached eighteen. Sarah just wanted to leave Inuvik, she knew that much, she had to get away from this town. "Are there good school in Florida?" she asked out of the blue.

Stella glanced at Ray. "Well," she began, "there are a few, but I thought you wanted to go to New York. Of course you realise you may not get as much choice as you hope, the family courts will have the final say."

Sarah closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Why did her mother have to die and leave her in this mess? She was suddenly overcome with emotion, her mum was dead and she was still ruining her life, how was this fair. She leapt up from her chair.

"Hey, you OK?" asked Ray.

"I'm fine," lied Sarah, walking away from them.

"You sure about that?" Ray continued.

"I need to pee," snapped Sarah. "Or do you have a problem with that?"

"Sarah, we're trying to help you here," Stella snapped back, but Ray grabbed her arm and shook his head as the girl disappeared round the corner.

"Let her go," Ray urged. Then he grinned. "Hey, I bet you were just like that at her age."

Stella nodded. "I was exactly like that," she admitted, "it's like looking back at my past, it's slightly disturbing actually. I was angry with the world, angry with my parents, with my so called friends...and then I walked into a bank...and there was Ray."

Ray nodded. She hadn't really explained to him what had happened in the bank that day, but he knew it must have been something special for his fiancée to fall head over heels in love with Stanley Kowalski. "I wonder why she's thinking about Florida now?" Ray asked, shifting the subject away from Stella's ex-husband.

Stella looked at him incredulously. "Why do you think?" she rolled her eyes. "What are we meant to say to her?"

It suddenly dawned on Ray. "You mean she wants us to take her in? We can't do that? We can't be her parents?"

"I can't be anyone's mother Ray." Stella sighed.

"I'm not asking you to replace my mother!" Sarah's voice startled Ray and Stella, she'd heard everything they'd been saying.

"Sarah," Stella leapt up from her chair as Sarah ran out of the room. She reached out and grabbed the girl's arm, spinning her round to face her. "I'm sorry, but you can't expect me to..."

"I'm not expecting you to do anything," Sarah shook herself free and just looked at Stella with sad eyes.

Stella took a breath and forced herself to calm down. She wasn't exactly sure what she was feeling now. This wasn't the first time the idea of taking Sarah in had popped into her head. Last night when she was sitting with the girl while she slept, she'd felt the strangest thing, she'd felt protective towards her...maybe this was what it felt like to have maternal feelings? She wasn't sure. She'd forced herself to believe that it was simply because it was an emotional situation for all of them. She wasn't heartless, despite what some people thought of her she did actually care for people. She'd cared about her clients when she was prosecuting their violent boyfriends and husbands, she still cared about her ex-husband, even after everything that had happened between them and it was only natural that her heart would go out to a teenage girl who had suddenly found herself orphaned in such a terrible way. She smiled at Sarah. "Let's just go and sort out these documents," she said, taking her elbow and gently leading her back to Ray.

Sarah didn't know what to think. She felt like she'd made a fool of herself in front of Stella and that was absolutely that last thing she'd wanted to do.

xXx

"Is everything alright?" Maggie and Fraser walked into the hospital with their hats tucked under their arms. "You seem a little distant this morning?"

"Distant?" Fraser thought for a moment. He had so many things on his mind now. He knew he had to talk to Ray Vecchio and soon, but solving the murder of Sarah's mother, his friend, was his top priority now. He and Helen were fine, they'd made love and talked and made love some more and part of him couldn't help feeling that he didn't deserve her, but in his heart he knew they belonged together. She was going to help him tackle the demons from his past and he loved her more than he ever thought was possible. "I do apologise Maggie," he said. "A have a few things on my mind at this juncture."

"Anything I can assist you with?" asked Maggie, but before her brother had a chance to reply, Helen walked out of the lift.

"Hi," she smiled at Maggie and kissed Fraser, lingering on his lips slightly longer than Maggie would have usually expected in a public place.

"How is Mrs Chester this morning?" Fraser enquired as soon as his mouth was free, clearing his throat after he spoke.

"Much better," explained Helen. "I believe she could have some important information for you, I've been talking to her a little myself."

"Good morning Jackie, Ray will be here shortly," Maggie smiled at the security officer on the front desk as they passed.

"Please could you take care of Diefenbaker for me," Fraser asked Jackie, glancing down at his wolf. "He knows he shouldn't even be in the building, but you know how stubborn he can be." Dief growled. "Well yes, you continue to convince yourself of that and I'm sure we'll all be happy," Fraser replied, rolling his eyes.

Fraser and Maggie both felt hopeful that they could make some progress today as they followed Helen up to the woman's hospital room.

Carol-Ann was in a far better state than she was the day before and clearly in a lot less pain. She began to tell them about everything that had happened. She'd known she was pregnant for a few weeks and she was waiting for the right moment to tell her husband. She'd hoped the baby could bring them closer together. Fraser, Maggie and Helen had to stop themselves from commenting on that. They couldn't understand why she would want to be closer to the man who treated her that way, the man who beat her, humiliated her and who she was so scared of she'd hidden it from everyone for so many years. Carol-Ann became upset now and Helen was quick to comfort her. "I never thought I'd have a baby," she sobbed, "we gave up trying years ago and then suddenly this happened and I didn't know what to do, I didn't know what he'd say."

"We're terribly sorry for your loss," said Fraser seriously. "But what did your husband say?" he prompted gently.

"He said it couldn't be his baby," replied Carol-Ann, in a quiet voice. "Then he threw a chair at me and left. That was the night before this happened and he didn't come home."

"I'm sorry to have to ask you this," Maggie began, "but is there a possibility that he was correct and the baby wasn't his?"

Carol-Ann went quiet. She looked at Maggie, she wanted to speak, but she didn't know how to explain it.

"Mrs Chester, we appreciate this is a sensitive issue, however we have reason to believe that your husband is responsible for the death of Constable Alison Malling," Fraser kept his voice even and coated his lower lip with his tongue as he thought about how to phrase the next question. "Was your husband justified in his opinion that he was not the father of your unborn child?"

"I don't know," whispered Carol-Ann. "I wanted it to be his, I really did, but..."

"I know this isn't easy for you," Helen spoke sympathetically. Just then there was a beeping sound. "Excuse me, that's my pager," said Helen, glancing at the small device attached to her belt. She frowned. "It's the security desk?" she explained, "I need to use the telephone, I won't be a moment." Helen smiled at Fraser as she left the room.

The two Mounties listened as Carol-Ann spoke again. "It was just one night," Carol-Ann's voice was barely audible. "Just one night, I didn't even think about getting pregnant? It didn't cross my mind."

"Carol-Ann, did you engage in sexual activity with a man other than your husband?" asked Maggie, trying not to get frustrated with the woman. Carol-Ann had suffered a terrible trauma and was finding it so hard to talk about all of this, but they needed the information if they were ever to bring Alison's killer to justice. Carol-Ann responded with a nod. "Who?" Maggie pushed her, realising this could be important. If Derek Chester knew his wife had cheated on him, how would he react? What would that level of anger make him capable of?

"Steve," replied Carol-Ann, "Steve Bagshaw."

"Your husband's former business partner?" questioned Fraser and Carol-Ann nodded. "Do you have any reason to believe that your husband is aware of that particular liaison?" Fraser continued. Carol-Ann could only shrug. Her husband accused her of things all the time, usually they weren't true, but this time he'd been right. Whether he knew he was right or not, she couldn't say.

Then Helen came running back in. "That was Jackie," she announced, panic in her voice, "she said Derek Chester just walked in the front door! Ray's gone after him."

Everyone was shocked. "Go!" Maggie said to Fraser urgently, "I'll stay here."

Fraser didn't need telling twice and ran out of the room, racing down the stairs to the main entrance. Dief immediately joined him and they ran outside, only to find a rather dejected Ray walking towards them. "Lost him," sighed Ray, panting for breath. He angrily snatched a handful of leaves from an evergreen he as he walked past and threw them on the ground.

"Ray there's no need to attack innocent foliage," Fraser noted. He knew that would annoy Ray, but he'd just said it while he fought his real anger down, maintaining his composure now was vital if he was to concentrate on finding the fugitive.

Ray sneered, but he wasn't in the mood for fighting with his buddy now, there were far more important things to worry about. "It took me a second to realise who it was," he shook head, angry with himself for the delay. Maybe if he'd been quicker off the mark then Chester wouldn't have got away?

"He simply walked through the door?" Fraser enquired, tugging at his earlobe as he thought about it. Ray nodded. "We certainly weren't expecting that." He was just as frustrated as Ray and he couldn't understand what Derek Chester had been thinking.

"Yeah," Ray nodded as they headed back inside. "Did ya get anythin' from the wife?"

"Yes, a possible motive," replied Fraser.

"Greatness," Ray grabbed a plastic cup of water from the cooler by the front door and gulped it down in one go. He didn't get to do quite so much running around as he had done back in Chicago and he was still out of breath. Occasionally, when he was unofficially liaising with Fraser on something...and that idea still gave him a buzz...they would have reason to chase a suspect and it was just like old times, but clearly he needed to work out more.

"I should get back upstairs to Mrs Chester," said Fraser.

"I'll come with ya buddy," added Ray, "I'm gonna watch her door with Collins, if that creep tries to get to her he'll, er, he'll have to get past two of us." He picked up a radio and strapped it onto his belt. "Jackie, if ya see anythin'..." he tapped the radio unit and Jackie nodded in agreement.

As they reached Carol-Ann's room Maggie was just coming out. "Did you get him?" she asked urgently.

"No, I'm sorry, he evaded capture," replied Fraser.

Maggie sighed and glanced back towards the door of Carol-Ann's room. "She was very upset," she explained, "Helen's trying to calm her down. She did talk some more though."

They stood to one side, out of the earshot of Ray's colleague and Maggie explained that Carol-Ann had called Alison that afternoon after coming to a big decision. She'd decided to leave her husband. She'd packed a bag and she was going to leave, but she was scared and she'd called Alison for some support. The Mountie had been such a good friend to her in recent months. Carol-Ann had told them that Alison was the only one who knew all about the way her husband treated her and she'd been so patient with her, she never forced her to do or say anything she didn't want to, not until she was ready. So now she'd reached this life changing decision and she wanted Alison to come and help her, she was scared in case her husband came home before she'd had a chance to leave. She wanted Alison to drive her to the airport and book a ticket, she'd never done anything like that before and she was terrified. She didn't care where she went, anywhere that was away from Derek.

"I guess her bastard of a husband did come home," sighed Ray.

"Did Carol-Ann see the gunman?" asked Fraser.

Maggie sighed. "That's just it Benton, she didn't. We're assuming it was Derek, but there's no evidence. It could have been anyone. At least she's finally admitting to his abuse," she noted.

"Yeah, funny how someone shootin' ya can really turn ya against 'em," Ray pointed out, raising his eyebrows with a sneer. The radio on his belt crackled into life. "Jackie," he held it close to his mouth and spoke, listening to the response. "What!" he exclaimed, "you've gotta be kidddin' me, has he got a, er, a death wish or somethin'? OK, we're on it. I want people on every exit and, er, be careful, he could be armed."

Fraser and Maggie looked alarmed.

"Chester, he's back," explained Ray, reattaching his radio to his belt. "Jackie saw him on the feed from the back stairwell." The two Mounties couldn't believe the nerve of the man. Ray spoke to his subordinate. "OK, Collins, stay here, we're gonna try to intercept him, but if he gets through then he's all yours." Ray took a firm physical stance as he gave his orders.

"Maggie, perhaps you should stay and provide back up for Mr Collins?" suggested Fraser. Maggie nodded her agreement. They had every faith in Ray's colleague, but he was armed only with a taser. Derek Chester had already killed one Police officer apparently, so they would all feel better with an armed Mountie there too.

"Greatness," nodded Ray. He knew Maggie was perfectly capable of handling herself and of using her weapon if necessary, but it still unnerved him slightly to think that she could come face to face with a cop killer at any moment. "Come on, pitter patter," he said to Fraser. Ray had returned to his usual agitated demeanour and he ran off along the corridor with his buddy close behind.

They reached the fire door that lead to the back stairs. Ray got back on his radio, speaking in a low voice. "Jackie, do ya still see him? What floor? We're on two." He listened to the reply and clicked off the radio. "He's on his way up," he told Fraser. His heart was pounding with anticipation, he wanted to nail this guy so badly now. Fraser pressed his ear to the door and signalled to Ray to move back and get down. Ray returned a hand signal of agreement and he couldn't help grinning to himself. Just like the old days, he thought.

Fraser took up a position on the opposite side of the corridor. His hand hovered over his gun holster, he really didn't want to draw his weapon, not in the hospital and he hoped he wouldn't have to. They waited, it seemed like forever before the door opened and a rather dishevelled looking man staggered out and looked around, seemingly disorientated. Fraser stepped into view. "Derek Chester?" he called out and the man spun round to look at him. "RCMP," Fraser announced, although Chester had already figured that much out from the bright red uniform. His first instinct was to launch at Fraser, trying to punch him in the face and although the Mountie was easily able to avoid any contact with the man's fist it was enough of a delaying tactic and Chester was on the run again. Ray ran after him and Fraser followed as soon as he'd regained his balance.

Chester leapt athletically over a trolley before spinning it round and sending it hurtling towards his pursuers. It caught Ray's foot, causing him to stumble slightly, but Fraser leapt over the scene and continued the chase. "Police! Please stop immediately!" Fraser shouted after him, but Chester ignored him. They rounded a corner, narrowly avoiding two nurses who were walking along carrying trays of medical equipment, before it was Chester's turn to stumble. Fraser took his chance and tackled the man to the ground. He struggled hard and Fraser was grateful when Ray caught up seconds later.

"Get off me!" yelled the man, kicking out at his captors. "I want to see my wife! Carol-Ann!" he screamed and squirmed but Fraser and Ray held him down tightly.

"I suggest you refrain from this current course of action," Fraser was fighting to keep his own self control. He could so easily have laid into this man, he wanted to see him pay for what he'd done.

Chester squirmed and yelled some more before finally he submitted and Ray dragged him to his knees with his hands pulled tightly behind his back as Fraser pulled the handcuffs from the pouch on his belt. They could both smell the overpowering scent of alcohol on the man's breath and Ray pulled a face. "Derek Chester," Fraser snapped the handcuffs around the man's wrists. "You are under arrest."