Haley whistled a happy tune as she walked down the corridor of the mansion. It was a quiet day with a flight scheduled later that night. She wasn't sure if Lucas, Brooke and Peyton would be accompanying them on the away trip, but she was positive Dan would be going. That was a constant, the six foot two inch, smirking, intimidating permanent thorn in her side. As always she would keep her distance. She'd devised a plan that was coming along rather nicely. She was already growing closer to Nathan. The more he liked her, the more he thought he could trust her, the better. The Nathan she had come to know was a striking contrast to the surly, heartless man described in her files. She prayed for the chance to prove his innocence but deep down she knew something was not right with the family. Somewhere there was some level of truth to the accusations. And one day she would have to get close enough to Dan Scott to get to the bottom of it.

Making her rounds through the common areas and outside, Haley noticed that she was alone. Heading for the kitchen she stopped for a Dr. Pepper, cursing from the pain as she broke a nail when opening the can. Gulping down a large swallow of the dark carbonated beverage, she involuntarily let out a loud and rather scary belch as the soda burned traveling down her system. Then she heard what she thought were footsteps in the hallway. Squeezing her eyes shut, she prayed it wasn't Nathan. It was all business between them but the last thing she wanted was the humiliation of him hearing her burp.

"Hello," she called out, peeking into the hall. "Anybody there?"

There was a rustling sound and Haley sat the can on the counter as she stepped out to investigate. She saw the hint of a figure turn the corner headed towards the west end of the house and then she heard a thud. Quickening her steps, Haley followed the commotion until she came upon the heap on the floor.

"Haley," came the whisper.

Haley sighed as she knelt down. Not again.

"Deb, are you okay?"

The blonde dressed in black slacks and a pretty fuchsia sleeveless top was sprawled out face down on the carpet. Haley gently turned her over.

"Look at you…so pretty. Such a lovely girl."

Haley raised her to a sitting position.

"Deb, look at me. Talk to me. I need to know you're alright. Do you know where you are?"

"Cape…"

"Good. Yes, we're on the Cape. Listen to me. Did you take any pills?"

Deb laughed.

"Honey, I always take pills. It's what I do. I'm a junkie, didn't you know?"

It was one of the saddest things Haley had ever seen.

"No, sweetie. Don't talk like that. You're not a junkie, you just need to straighten up. You need some help, Deb."

"I don't want help," she spat defiantly.

"Come on," Haley helped her up. "Let's get you to bed."

She guided Deb and walked slowly as the older woman stumbled to her bedroom and finally collapsed on the bed.

"Don't ever get married," she mumbled almost incoherently into the pillow. "And don't get old either."

Haley immediately took note of an open half empty bottle on the nightstand. It was a prescription for Tramadol, a strong opiate painkiller, that she was sure Deb had no real need for except to feed her addiction.

"Dammitt," she muttered. "Deb, how many of these did you take?"

"Two or three or five or ten. Who knows? Who even keeps count anymore, dear?"

"You can't take these anymore."

"Try and stop me."

"Deb…"

"You don't understand. I get sick without them. I shake and I sweat and I can't sleep…I can't even breathe."

"Those are withdrawal symptoms from the narcotic, Deb. Look, you have a very serious problem. I don't want to be rude or overstep my bounds but someone has to tell you the truth. What you're doing is dangerous, you could die even. Do you understand that? Do you get how serious this is?"

Deb looked Haley right in the eye.

"I'm already dead," she whispered.

It was a statement eerie enough to chill Haley to the bone.

"What are you talking about?"

With heavy eyes and flushed cheeks, Deb Scott continued on with her rant.

"You don't know what it's like. Nobody knows…"

"Knows what?"

"I gave up my life for them."

"Who?"

"The Scotts. All, all I wanted was to be a good wife and a good mom. I tried so hard. I just wanted a family."

"You have a family, a beautiful family that loves you but if you don't stop with all these drugs, one day they're gonna lose you. I don't get it, Deb. Why? Talk to me. Why do you do this to yourself? Why?"

"I can't talk about it. We can't talk about it. Even the walls have ears."

"You can tell me. It's just us. It's okay."

Her eyes wandered around the room aimlessly.

"He never loved me. Dan always wanted her. It was always about Karen."

"Lucas' mom?"

She nodded sadly.

"I did everything for him. I tried to give him a home but it was never enough. Nothing is ever enough for Dan. It was all about basketball and winning and after long that wasn't good enough anymore. He's a cold blooded man."

Haley took a nervous breath looking down at Deb, the wire tap pressed to her flesh.

"How so?"

"I knew. I always knew but I could never prove it."

"Prove what?" she prodded gently.

Deb gave a sarcastic chuckle.

"Shady characters, even shadier business dealings. The wrong kind of money quickly changing hands from the wrong kind of people. Dan got hooked up with a bad element. He got in over his head. At first it was little stuff, like shaving points off a game, then it got much worse. It hurt me so bad. How many times did I beg him to stop? Haley, how many times did I tell my husband to just walk away? He never did. After a while, he couldn't. I'd cry and scream and threaten him with any and everything under the sun but it never did a bit of good. He just fell deeper and deeper in."

Haley was left speechless and stunned as the words continued to pour out from her troubled lips.

"Deb…"

"I dealt with it, I dealt with it the best way I could. I blocked it out. I started drinking and taking pills to numb the pain."

"Because of him?"

"Because of everything."

"Why didn't you just leave?"

"I wasn't strong enough. I stayed because a part of me still loved my bastard of a husband. I stayed to protect my child. But I failed," she began to whimper. "You hear that, Haley? I failed! I failed at everything! My marriage, my child! They took Nathan!"

Her voice rose several octaves as her tears stained her pretty face and she struggled to move.

"Who took Nathan?"

"Them."

"Who is them?"

She looked right at Haley, a haunted expression on her face.

"He's one of them now."

Haley sat quietly trying to take it all in. Deb was babbling and at times incoherent. It was painfully obvious she was under the influence of a substance. But Haley couldn't shake the conversation. Something told her it was the window she needed to peer into the very core of the Scott dynasty. From the beginning she had suspected Dan. Her initial clues pointed to strong suspicion of wrongdoing on Nathan's part but her time spent with him, she begged to believe otherwise. Now the gibberish confessions of a depressed, intoxicated addict had pointed the finger right back towards the NBA superstar.

"What do you mean, one of them?"

"The very thing I despise, the very thing I tried to keep him away from…now it has his soul. Daunte…Daunte Johnston"

Haley felt her heart began to race. Deb had uttered the name, for the first time solidly linking her family to the deceased informant. Her FBI skills kicking in, Haley leaned in closer and began to whisper.

"You can trust me, Deb. What is it? What happened? Who is this Daunte person? Tell me about him and Nathan."

"Our life is one big lie. I'm scared, Haley, so scared. I love my son but I am ashamed of the things he has done. I can't do it, I can't face the world anymore…I am so scared to face the truth. I feel so guilty and there's nothing I can do about it. I'm a Scott. The only thing harder to heal than a wounded conscience is a wounded heart."

"If you're worried that Nathan has done something bad or is in some kind of trouble, you could help him."

"No one can help him, not now. You don't understand. Too much has happened. He can't even help himself."

With that, her head slumped forward and she passed out in Haley's arms on the bed. Still shaken, Haley made sure she was okay and tucked her in, her mind reeling from the newly disclosed information.

"Daunte Johnston," she repeated softly to herself.

And then she saw it. Standing at the door against the wall was a fuming Dan Scott. His eyes bore a hole into her and for a moment it was as if all the air, all the life had been sucked out of her. And then he was gone. It had been a startling revelation, pertinent to her case but in the meantime she knew she would have bigger fish to fry. Dan had obviously heard the majority of their conversation and from the looks of things, he wasn't a happy man.