69th Precinct Parking Lot, Foster Street, Brooklyn

Instinctive loyalty and gut reaction took Goren as far as his car. What stopped him going any further was the sight of the baby seat in the back. If he went ahead and did what his emotions were telling him do, the chances were high he could destroy whatever career he might hope to have in NYPD. It was not something he had ever spent a lot of time or energy thinking about, in the past or now.

But in the past, he had only himself to think of. Before, if he brought everything crashing down around him and he knew came close to it once or twice, it was only himself he really had to think of and who would bear the consequences. Things were different now. He had a wife he was crazy about and who, for reasons he never understood, felt the same about him. And then there was Joel. That astonishing little manifestation of "normality" he often used to think had passed him by.

Goren put his keys back in his pocket and turned back to the building.

He'd just reached the door when his cell rang. He did not recognise the number.

"Goren"

"Hi" said the voice of Eames sounding a little distant.

"I've been trying to get hold of Munch. Has he gone to follow up those names on the Giambi case?"

"No Eames. Things have got more complicated since you left for 1PP"

There was a muffled mix of groan and expletive on the other end of the line.

"How long will you be only I should...um...I really need...to speak to you about something else which came up"

"Fifteen minutes with luck"

Interview Room 2, SVU, Brooklyn

With two detectives keen to speak with her on her return, Eames faced a choice. She picked her former partner for one simple reason. Those three words "I really need". Something she could hardly ever recall coming from Goren's mouth. At first she had taken his self-sufficiency to be a sign of arrogance and ambition, an indication he'd step all over her to get things done his way.

Later, as she came to know him better and to learn a little more of his background, she saw it differently. Realised this was a guy had been "on his own" in many ways since he was barely a child. Self reliance had to come when you had parents who, for very different reasons, were unpredictable and people like that often found it hard to trust others.

Eames knew she earned that trust with time and listened without comment as Goren described the critical points of the statement Murray had made formally before he left the building. Unconsciously using a couple of used paper cups on the table to illustrate the point. But she only understood what was clearly bothering him when she saw the logs from storage units C13 and 14.

They showed the name of someone Goren had known since High School. John Dwyer had been a classmate of the late Frank Goren, but had remained close to Bobby ever since. More a brother to him than his own sibling ever was, John was in his late twenties before he found or could no longer avoid, his true vocation and became a priest. Had even led part of Bobby and Caro's wedding ceremony.

"You don't seriously think John had anything to do with this do you?" she asked.

"Not for a moment. Know for a fact he's never been to Arizona and if John has...has a problem with his vows...or anything else it's nothing to do with children"

Eames looked at him a moment "I have to...you didn't try to...you haven't?"

"Almost" said Goren softly remembering the seat in the back of his car.

"It will not be a good idea for you..."

"I know" he cut her off "Bad idea all round. Did you eat yet?"

"No"

"I'll go get us something while you speak to Munch about Arizona"

Her own instincts were that there would be an explanation that would prove Dwyer innocent in any part of this mess. The way things were going it was probably asking too much for it to be a "simple" one but she hated to think what it would do to Goren if they were both wrong. He had once told her that John Dwyer was the about the only person left in his life who had known him since he was twelve years old. Compared to her list it was very short and also rather sad.

Glenwood Road, Brooklyn

"I thought you said you had been here before" muttered Munch as he stopped the Malibu and looked for somewhere to turn around.

"Twice, it was dark and Goren was driving both times" retorted Eames "And he is a better navigator than you any day"

Munch gave up and decided to go around the block.

"So let me get this right" he said "Dwyer lived with Goren while they were converting his place, the parish house, into a halfway joint for recovering addicts?"

"Not with. It was while Goren was away on sabbatical. You were at the party we gave him at Roark's and come to think of it probably met John Dwyer...he was there"

"Don't remember a priest"

"Doubt he had his collar on. Anyway once the work was done on what was to become his apartment, John moved back in, which will be why the hire of one of the storage units was shorter"

Interview Room 2, SVU, Brooklyn

"Yes sir...yes I do...and I hope you will understand why I need to ask for it. No sir I don't think it can wait on DNA confirmation...okay...thank you and I will try to..."

The line to Captain Chater of the Arizona State Police went dead and Goren took a deep breath before he spoke.

"Kramer. See how much longer it will be before the ME thinks she can get a profile to Phoenix"

"Yes sir"

"And" he called after him "Make sure you let Chater know. It won't help, but at least we did what we can"

As the door closed, Goren turned his attention to Richetti and the map of Arizona she was working on.

"Did you find Coyote yet?"

"Too small to be on this map sir but, I've worked it out close enough and when you look its obvious Andrew London didn't fit the pattern"

She pushed it across the table for him to see.

"Based on geography? Maybe" Goren observed mildly.

"But I guess there is a lot more to it than just that"

"Uhuh. Could you run a search on Andrew?"

"We've got a lot of material here sir"

"I know Richetti but as you will discover, sources like local papers often print background information...flavour and...um...texture if you like, that as cops we tend to ignore in our quest for the more tangible."

As she set to work, it occurred to Goren that had maybe sounded a little "Zen". And if he was worried about his choice of words, it was as nothing to the problems Captain Chater was having.

Nine years ago when the lab was sure that scrap of newsprint got stuck to the leg of a dead boy, Arizona was in the middle of a case already dubbed "The I17 Killer". Over the course of two years, five boys aged seven to nine years old vanished. Two bodies were discovered, two were still missing and one had been found in the possession of one Ralph Secombe. He had a previous for molesting boys and all three recovered had been sodomised as well as suffering other injuries during the time he held them captive. Assumed to be about three weeks, based on the disappearance and time of death of the fifth boy.

Captain Chater's problem was that the body of the third boy to vanish now seemed to have turned up in New York. And Secombe, convicted of five murders including that of Andrew "Randy" London, was dead. Been the recipient of "jailhouse justice" less than a year into his life sentences, without ever "co-operating" with the authorities to locate the bodies of the missing boys.

Goren did not envy him having to contact the Andrew's parents and could not say if having your son's body back to hold a proper funeral would "make up" for all those years and what looked very much like a miscarriage of justice. He did not want to think about it too hard and the only "good news" he had been able to tell Chater was that the dental records of the unaccounted for Kenny Walters, were not a fit to their second boy.

Good news for Chater but not for them.

To be continued...