The first thing to happen the next day was getting another phone call, again from Commissioner Simmons. They first asked for Bob, still asking if he had the slightest thing to do with it. It was one of those rare times when he really didn't have a clue about it. Next, was it one of his boys? No. But wait, didn't the Don have that pretty little niece of his over for the week? Bob said for two. Simmons said maybe it was best that she come down to the station around midday, even if just to clue her up a little about the wackjob. Bob thought it was good idea, for once. Bob loved his angel very much, and there wasn't any way on Earth that she was going to become another name in Spider's file.

She got there early, thanks to Bob going all Field Marshall on her to get ready, then hand delivering her to the station himself. Simmons, on the other hand, was late, and by about half an hour. Something about a big drugs bust in the Downtown. Regine sat in the waiting room for nearly an hour. She'd flicked through her book that she'd taken with her, got bored, sat vacantly, and start to get paranoid that maybe this had all been a set-up, and she was really here for the Jack thing. She calmed herself down with remembering that if that was the case, then her 'delivery' to the station would have involved handcuffs and probably being manhandled into a police car.

'Ms. Addams?'

She looked up. They were ready for her.

She started the long walk down the hallway. She still knew vaguely where Simmons' office was, thanks to Bob's 'friendly' rendezvous' with him when she was a kid. She could see through the windows of other offices, and just about every person inside each one looked at her, with some of them having the indecency to stare. She didn't like it; she felt like she was some kind of criminal. Let's face it; she wasn't exactly the type to spend her weekends at police stations.

But then again, this was Lisa she was thinking about. Not Regine.

...Heck, maybe they were just noticing how stunning she looked (and not because of the fact that she was the most influential mafia dons of the county's niece...)

She knocked on Simmons' door.

'Come in' he called.

She went in. He was sitting behind his desk, giving her a once-over;

'My my, how you've grown. I still remember when you used to come in here, holding your uncle's hand... sitting over there and playing with your Barbie dolls...'

She gave him a funny look.

He shed some light;

'I know how things work around here, Regine; either you're bribed by someone to keep shtum, or you aren't. It's okay, me and your uncle are old friends'

She still wasn't convinced.

'I heard all about your little... 'spat' with that Rippner guy. Nasty piece of work, him, if I do say so myself...' he told her. 'I'm the guy on the other side of the glass, there to keep the rest of the police force off your uncle's tail'

She smiled, relieved.

'Come sit' he told her, gesturing to one of the chairs on the opposite side of the desk.

She sat down.

'Coffee?' he asked.

'I'm good, thanks'

Simmons nodded, getting up to pour himself some from the ready-boiling coffee pot. As he did so, she decided to take a subtle look around the place. He had more filing cabinets than she did (which was saying something), more files in the 'IN' box than she had, less empty coffee cups, and... more glass ornaments than she had (actually, she didn't have any in her office...). Papers were either in neat piles, or scattered about his desk wherever.

'Busy, then?' she chuckled.

'Just a little' he told her, sitting back down. He put the cup down and picked up a supposedly random pile of papers, tossing them Regine's way. 'And you know what they're all about?'

'The mafia?'

'Normally, yes' he admitted, sighing. 'No, if been assigned something else, a little more urgent, I'd say...'

Ah. There had to have been a reason why she had to come down here;

'Right..., the Jack thing...' she sighed, feeling her heart sink. Shit, what now? She'd become Regine for a reason, and Simmons was now the guy to unravel that reason...

'No, not Jack...'

Oh. Okay.

'To be perfectly honest with you, Miss, I couldn't give a rat's ass about the little prick. He was just another scumbag under your uncle's pay... Speaking of which, I also heard about the stuff that he did to you...'

She looked at him, half wanting him to stop right there, and half wanting this meeting to end altogether.

'Don't worry' he said. 'Your uncle's a good guy, all in all; rest assured that he knew nothing about it until you told him'

That made her feel a bit better.

'But no, back on the subject; any other ideas what case I'm working on?'

She thought. Nothing really came to mind at first, but then she remembered what Bob had made her come to the station for in the first place;

'The Spider thing!'

'Right! Besides himself, I know more about this thing than anyone. Your uncle agrees with me about clueing you up a little, even if just for your safety...'

'But then, wouldn't that mean you'd have to clue everyone around here up about it?'

He shook his head;

'That'd just be wasting our financial resources; you know how much it would cost to get the message out to everyone? Venues, posters, radio jingles...'

She nodded.

'But you, you're the most precious thing in the world to Bob, and I know how he gets if something doesn't go his way... Plus, I hear that you were with Mrs. Constantine the night she disappeared...'

'Yeah'

'Could you tell me a bit about what you remember?'

Regine shuffled in her seat, clearly being made uncomfortable with the subject. Candy had been a good friend to her, even if they'd known each other barely two weeks. Still, wouldn't it be better to tell him what had happened? If not, it wouldn't avenge Candy's death, and she'd be forgotten just like everyone does when they bite the dust.

She took a deep breath;

'I was out, as usual. Because the party was getting boring... I figured I'd meet up with some friends...'

'Friends?' he asked, cutting her off. It was then that she noticed that he was writing this all down.

'Yeah, Nikki, or Mick, or Tommy, Vince... Stuff like that?'

'I don't suppose you could give me their last names, could you? Single names aren't really that good to go on...'

She smiled;

'Believe me, if I knew, I'd tell you, but I don't. They said something about saints, though...'

'Saints?' he asked, standing on that thin line between confusion and thinking he knew what she was talking about.

'Yeah, some kind of cult, I think. Obsessed with the word 'Balance'...'

Now he realised what she was getting at;

'You mean the Saints of New Jersey?'

'That's it!'

'Yeah, I know 'em... A real pain in the ass though, I gotta say... Like the police's kid brother, thinking they can clear the city of its scum, always in the way, always up here for something petty...'

To this, she had to laugh. Yeah, that was them. She just didn't have the heart to tell him how they'd helped her with Jack...

'Okay' he said, straightening up. 'What else?'

'I went to this bar I normally go to, and... ...'

She hesitated. Boy, this was one memory that she could really do without...

'Go on...' he told her.

'I saw my... boyfriend...' she continued, giving Steven that title, for lack of a better word. '... He was with this blond, flirting...'

'Never a good thing...' he added.

'...They went out of the bar, I followed, then realised that C... Juliet... had followed me. She said everyone was looking for me, and that I needed to go back. I decided that I'd catch the boyfriend out, so she followed... They were in some alley, and I couldn't take it any more... so... I yelled at him, the blond ran off, I got in a fight with him, and Juliet watched from behind the wall...'

'And that was when she went missing?'

'No, it was after the fight... me and my boyfriend made up, and I invited him back to the party. She made it about halfway back home with us, then said she wanted to go find some of her friends. I said okay, then she went off...'

'Did she say who with, or where?'

'No, I just assumed that she going back to the bar to find Nikki...'

Simmons nodded;

'Yeah, I heard about her and the Saints... Those guys have really got to start treating women with more respect... This one time...'

He stopped when he realise that Regine really wasn't interested; whatever he was going to say, it would have most probably come up in her mind somewhere along the line.

'The main point is, I don't think that they would have done it to her' Simmons told her. 'They love life too much, they respect people right to live... I seriously doubt that they would have killed you friend...'

She nodded. She'd said all that she had to, and now, she just wanted to go home;

'So, about clueing me up on the Spider?'

He blinked, preparing himself;

'Well, I'm sure that your uncle will have told you the facts; eight legs, one body, silk, spider...'

'One body?' she asked, confused as to where he was going with this.

'Thanks to one of his many letters here, a bit like Jack the Ripper, he thinks that he's go to collect eight legs, and then sew them onto some poor girl's body, giving him a Black Widow... Kinda romantic when you think about it...'

'Right...'

'If I were you, I wouldn't go out after dark anymore; just stick to daylight, and hopefully you won't be next...'

She nodded again;

'Anything else to go by?'

'Not a smidgen...'

'Right...'

Then there was silence.

She shuffled in her seat again.

'Coffee?' he asked, once again.

'I'm fine, no; I've really got to get back soon...'

He nodded;

'In that case then, I bid you adieu, and if you need anything else, just come straight back here...'

'Will do' she smiled, getting up from her chair.

She shook his hand, walked out the door, and went back the same way she came in. Overhead, Alice Cooper blasted through the radio speakers. A calming tune, but oh-so unnerving;

'Along came a Spider
Crept up beside her
Spun his web deep inside her
My darkness will guide her.'