Hello my lovelys! For those of you who don't know, the reason I didn't update yesterday was due to some family emergencies. I do feel really bad about not being able to update. So I do apologise for that. But here's an update now and hopefully it shall make up for not being able to post yesterday.

This isn't my best chapter. It's not the longest and I'm still a bit… out of it because of yesterday's little emergency. So, I'm sorry if this doesn't live up to your expectations. But, please enjoy!

Reviews are always very much loved and appreciated. So please, do review! Any will do! Good, bad, corrections (for example, spelling Los Angeles wrong this whole time… my bad… I'm an idiot…). So please do review!

Present Day

Carlton Lassiter

I finally drove up to Erica Hayworth's last known address. Sure, it's a risk. How likely is it that she will actually still live here? Not very likely. But, it's worth a shot. An yet, despite all my doubts, there she is. That woman was still there. Why had she not fled the country yet? She's obviously guilty.

I knocked on her door and was surprised to hear such a happy voice answering "in a minute!". No one should sound that happy. Ever. Even on the best of days.

She opened the door with a smile on her face. It quickly faded as she recognised the badge that I was holding up. Finally, some realistic emotion.

"Can… can I help you?"

"Yes, you can. I'm here about Carl Jackson-"

"Oh dear God, what has that idiot done now?"

"Well, not much. You know, being dead and all."

"…He's what?"

"Don't give me that act. You know he's dead." Erica started to collapse and only just caught herself.

"If you excuse me, detective… I have to… I have… to…" Erica started to walk into her own house but started to collapse again. I ran in and caught her. I then lead her to her couch where she finally collapsed and started to sob hysterically.

Maybe she actually didn't know… which means she's innocent. Which means I'm wrong. Dammit. I'm never going to hear the end of this.

"Look, Miss Hayworth-"

"Miss Hayworth? Oh, God. That's right. Now I'm a widow. Oh, God!" and then she started sobbing again. Wait… what? A widow?

"I'm sorry, I was under the impression that you and Jackson had divorced way back in '96."

"That was 16 years ago. That was before I realised my priorities. Carl and I remarried again six years ago."

"So it was more than an old friendship that earned you that promotion, huh?"

"We needed that promotion. Carl wasn't exactly going to turn it down."

"So… wait, if you two were married, why are you living apart?"

"Because Carl didn't want to endanger me or Matt. When he heard he was being relocated again, I told him I would come as well. He didn't want me in dangers way so we made a compromise. We would live close to each other. He visits every day, takes care of Matt and goes to his games and all that. It's just that in terms of living, I'm somewhere safe. And so is Matt." She shook her head and started to cry again.

"I'm really sorry, Miss Hay- Erica. I realise that this is a very difficult time for you but we believe that Jackson was murdered and we're just trying to investigate into this more. If there is anything you could tell us…" Hayworth just shook her head.

"There's nothing I can think of. I can't think of anything really. Not right now."

Then, the front door opened. We both heard foot steps walking into the house followed by a male voice calling out "I'm home!" Erica started to sob again.

"He's going to take it so hard. They were so close…"

Then a young boy walked into the living room. He was around 17 and I can only assume that this was the famous Matt.

"Mom?" he asked and then ran up to Erica. "Mom, what's wrong?" I should leave. I should leave right now before this gets too emotional. I need to leave right now. I can't handle dealing with a woman crying. I've never had to deal with a young boy crying, but I'm assuming I won't like that any more than the first option.

"I'll give you two some privacy" I said and stood up. I then handed Erica my card. "If you should remember anything, or hear anything… just give me a call." She didn't even look at me. I held my hand out, still holding the card. I didn't really know what to do. So I just placed the card down on the table and headed out the door.

I walked to my car and sat inside. I stared at the road ahead of me, still not quite sure why I wasn't speeding down. I should be running away from this. Then I heard the front door open followed by little Matt running towards me.

"Hey! You! Detective! Wait!" I rolled down the window to look at him. His eyes were blood shot red and he was clearly holding back a river of tears.

"Yes?" I asked him.

"Look, I loved my dad. But he was doing some shady stuff in his apartment. I went to visit him one day and saw him on his computer. I didn't see much… he quickly turned off the monitor. But it looked like he was hacking into some system. I don't know if that'd be useful or not…"

I found myself nodding in approval at this young boy. Quite a good eye. Could make a good cop… maybe. Poor kid. This is the second time he lost his dad now.

"Thanks" I said to him. "I left my number inside. If you find anything else, just call. And… umm… I'm sorry for your loss…" he just nodded, tears finally spilling over. Then I drove away. I then started to drive away.

I don't know what came over me. What the hell am I doing here? I need a warrant to search this place again. So why am I? this is illegal. I shouldn't be here. It is a crime scene that needs to be re-investigated . Why am I doing this?

Fine.

I ducked under the tape and looked around the apartment. It was a mess. Not quite what I remembered it looked like. Then I remembered what Guster told me. He and Shawn had been here. And they were chased. This was probably the end results of all that.

I remembered where the computer was. So I decided to begin my search there. I turned on the computer and saw that immediately, programmes starting running. And pretty soon, despite my protests and against my will, the computer started to hack into the LAPD system files. I didn't know what to do. So I just shut down the computer again.

Jackson really was up to some shady things in here.

Then I remembered something else Guster said. As soon as they had checked the computer, they were attacked. I have to get out of here.

I ran out the door and down the stairs. I didn't stop there. I kept running until I was in my car and a good mile away from Jackson's house. There were no chase scenes… no shootings, no yelling. Nothing. And though I'm glad that I'm not being tracked with a gun, I can't help but wonder. If he's not here, tracking me… where is he? Is he with his next victim?

I finally arrived at the police station. The sweet, sweet building that is the Santa Barbara Police Station. I walked in to see that O'Hara was already there, smiling away. Why was she so happy? What the hell is with her and her stupid mood swings?! One second she's crying, the next second she's yelling profanities and now she's smiling! What the hell is going on?!

"O'Hara" I called out to her. She turned to me and smiled even bigger.

"Carlton. Hey!"

"Why the hell are you smiling?"

"I don't know."

"How did your questioning go?" I asked, choosing to ignore her unusual giddiness.

"Um… well, Adam Smith doesn't really have an alibi. In fact, it's kind of worrying how every crime that was committed had a motive for him. Also, he could have easily done all the crimes. He was nearby every crime scene when it happened. So, of course, we brought him in. He's in one of the interrogation rooms now."

"You think it's him?"

"I don't know. There's something about him…" I just nodded, not quite sure how to respond to that. "How did yours go?" she asked me. I just looked down.

"Um... right... um... she might be..." she raised her eyebrows at me. "Innocent" I grumbled at last. She just smiled at me.

"Told you so." I just rolled my eyes at her. Then, I looked towards the interrogation room to see Adam Clovers still here.

"What the hell is Clovers still doing here?" I asked, annoyed. O'Hara just shrugged. How useful. I turned to McNabb. "Hey! McNabb! Why is Clovers still here?!"

"His lawyer hasn't turned up yet, detective" he answered. I just stared at him. Then, with a groan, I pulled out my phone and dialled his lawyer myself. This is ridiculous. You can't just leave your client in the interrogation room! Especially not when they're innocent!

The phone didn't even ring. It just went straight to voicemail. 'Hello, you've reached Ethan Stuart. I'm sorry, I can't get to my pho-'

"Stupid lawyer. Thinks he's too good for this damn case."

"Carlton, come on. He's probably just away because he thought he lost the case or something."

"O'Hara, this is his client. He should have his phone on at all times! It's just irresponsible to-"

BANG

We all ducked out of the way as we heard the gun shot echo around the station. We looked up and stared at the origin of this sound: the interrogation rooms.