Saturday, December 14th

When her cell phone rang Sara thought for a moment it was Sam. Did he find out her number? She changed it after she decided not to have any contact with her family anymore. It was seven in the morning, nobody else would call her at this time of the day. Morning. For some night. A look at the display showed her, it was her boss, who called her this early.

"Good morning George."

"Good morning Sara, how are you?"

"I'm fine. Will you change that?" There couldn't be a good reason why he called her, could it? Her shift started in an hour, they'd meet then. Why call her now unless something happened.

"Now, in fact I'm about to make your day better."

"How? Did the poacher confess?"

"I have no idea, it's not about them. It's about you. Why don't you stay at home today?"

"Today? I asked for Monday and Tuesday."

"And you get them, you can have today too. You worked the last days, the forecast for the day is bad, we don't expect many people. You can stay home today and Shane tomorrow. I was about to offer him today so you can have three days in a row, but he's already on his way. Are you at home?"

"Yes."

"You can't sleep in anymore after you're awake, but you can stay home."

"With a baby in the house you never sleep in. I take your offer and stay home, thank you."

"You're welcome. Does your wife stay home too?"

"No, she has to work, her days off are Monday and Tuesday too."

"Tell her to come home early, have a few hours with you."

"I'm sure if she can arrange that, she'll do it. Thanks George."

"Enjoy your day and I'm sorry I couldn't tell you sooner. The weather wasn't supposed to be this bad today."

"It's freezing down here in Silver Lake."

"Heavy snowfall on the mountains, heavy rain for the city and lower forest areas. A day to stay inside."

"I think I'll do exactly that. See you tomorrow."

"Yes, see you tomorrow."

Sara ended the call and smiled. A day off. What a nice surprise. So much for when somebody called you this early, it had to be something bad. She was wrong and in this case, she liked being wrong.

"Mommy looks happy." Sofia said to Susan. They had listened to the phone call while Sofia fed their daughter.

"Mommy can stay at home today. The weather is too bad. A whole day for her baby daughter. We can cuddle up on the couch, listen to Christmas songs and bake cookies."

"While the other mommy has to work."

"The only downside." Sara kissed her wife. "When you don't get a new case, let me know. Or when you get a case and see when you'll be in the lab for lunch. Susan and I come over, have lunch with you, we bring you something nice and freshly cooked."

"No, stay away from crime. You had enough of it at work this week and the lab isn't a good place to be for our daughter. Bad karma."

"Yes, the karma isn't the best. Neither is the environment."

"Who's karma is bad?" With sleepy eyes Steve came into the kitchen.

"The one of the lab. You look tired, son."

"I am."

"Did you and Lea stay awake too long?"

"No, we went to bad after she came here. Why does work start early in the morning?"

"Because you want the afternoon and evening off."

"Right."

"Your mother can stay at home today. Her boss called and told her due to the bad weather he doesn't need her help. Isn't she lucky? She'll stay on the couch, listen to Christmas songs, watch a movie, play with your sister, make some cookies."

"Or start the Christmas cleaning, work on the papers we ignored for a while, check if we need anything else for Christmas and take care of the dogs and the baby."

"The tax folder?" Sofia asked carefully.

"The tax folder. It does need some attention."

"I think work is better than that."

"Which doesn't change the fact, it has to be done. Don't worry, I leave something for you."

"Thank you very much." Sofia made a grimace. That was something her wife could do all by herself if she liked.

"You're welcome. When will you come home, Steve?"

"Around one, I think. Pick Tanya up before I come back, it's Spanish lesson time. Next week I've to write a test and she wants an 'A' as a Christmas gift. Why didn't she ask for something else?"

"Like what? A kiss?"

"For example."

"Her boyfriend does that. You're her student and as her student it's your job to bring home good marks. Your mothers want them too." Sofia grinned.

"Great, Don has the fun part." He checked his watch. "I wake Lea up. Bet, she's still dreaming of the concert."

"How often did you dream about dinner?"

"Not your business, mom." He stuck out his tongue and went back into his room.

"He is cheeky, very cheeky. No Christmas present for him." Sofia decided. "Santa sees everything and remembers everything."

"Santa should remember it's time to go to work." Sara took Susan in her arms. "Mommy has to catch bad guys and we stay home. A lot of work waits for us here."

"Mama."

"Exactly. Mama goes to work."

"Mama."

"And your other mother stays with you. Steve goes to work too."

"Mama."

"I think Steve has to wait a little longer until she says his name."

"When he continues to call her stink bomb he might call him mean brother or meany."

"Meany should be easy to be said." Sofia kissed her wife and daughter. Like Sara mentioned, it was time for her to go to work. Hopefully she could come back home on time and spend some hours with her family.

The tax folder was one point of her agenda. When Susan went back to sleep, Sara gave their paperwork an hour of her time, knowing it took more than that to finish the folder. For some things she needed Sofia and her files, so it made more sense to wait until the blonde was here and they could work on it together. The basic was done, the things she could fill out were filled out and there was more work waiting for her. A day off could be a day full of pleasure, a day for yourself, she didn't have crossed the couch off her list, there were only a few things between her and the couch. The dogs were off her list, Tony removed them when he took them out for a run. He needed to get in shape for Christmas. Whatever that meant. Since when did he worry about his shape anyway? Well, it saved her time, time she could use on other projects in her mind. Cleaning. Having already the second load of laundry in the washing machine, she took Susan downstairs with her and started cleaning the kitchen. Once a month they washed out the fridge and freezer, she also mopped the floor, washed the fronts of the cabinets and cleaned the windows. When she finished the oven and got herself a coffee for a break, Susan woke up.

"Clever girl, you slept the whole time I cleaned." With her daughter in her arms she sat on the couch. "Now mommy cleaned the kitchen and can spend some time with you, right? Let me have some coffee and we play on the carpet. A few minutes, then I continue with the living room. I wonder if your grandparents use the free day to clean their house too. Or if they come over later because they're bored without you. Say nana."

"Nana."

"You are such a smart baby. How about some walking? Do you want to walk around?" She got up and placed Susan with her feet on the ground. Immediately the girl started walking, being hold by the hands of her mother. Together they walked through the living room and back, Sara always holding Susan up, when her daughter's feet didn't do what they were supposed to do.

"How about you do some jumping exercise?" She sat Susan in her chair. With joy the little girl started jumping up and down, squeaking happily.

"You do this and I clean a little bit more." When she left the living room to get her cleaning utensils Susan started crying. "Honey, I'm right here, no need to cry." Sara came back and Susan stopped crying. "Even when you can't see me, it doesn't mean you're alone. Somebody is always around."

"What happened to you?" Sally came down the stairs. "Why aren't you at work?"

"My boss called this morning, gave me the day off."

"Nice boss. Don't you have better things to do than clean the house?"

"A lot of things, I gave our tax folder an hour, which is not much better than cleaning and at one point I have to clean anyway. Why not get it out of my way in the morning? Do you want to help me?"

"No, sorry I've got an appointment with three nice people, coffee and a lot of breakfast." Sally gave Susan a stuffed bunny. "Jump with Roger, mommy has to work. I'm sure later she has time for you."

"Of course. Thanks to Tony, who took the dogs out for a walk, I have a few more minutes."

"Will your in-laws pick Susan up later?"

"No, I gave them the day off. Susan and I go over to Jules to see Louise later. When we're done here."

"Baby meeting. Next year there might be another baby around. From zero to three children within three years."

"Yeah…you don't mind them, do you?" Sara asked carefully. It was Sofia's house, they had their own area upstairs, but Sally and Tony had to live with the children. They heard them, they saw them and when Susan cried very loud, Sara was sure, Sally could hear it downstairs.

"No, if I didn't like children, I would have left when Susan was born. They're perfect to practice for my own children later."

"Good."

"Susan is crazy when you put her in this thing. She jumps and runs like somebody is after her." Sally shook her head in amusement, watching the little girl squeaking and jumping.

"Yeah, she loves it. The best way to walk and jump without ending on her diapers."

"A few more weeks and she can do all these thing without help."

"Yes, we keep her in the chair anyway, it's handy for us, she can't get out."

"A modern baby prison."

"For a prisoner she looks very happy." The doorbell rang. "I take it. Can you have an eye on Susan?"

"Sure, I might even share my breakfast cookie with her."

"Breakfast cookie?"

"Sure, it's almost Christmas. My advents calendar is a cookie every morning."

"She'll be addicted to sweets before she has all her teeth." Sara had to get Tanya to make her daughter understand, it was important to brush her teeth frequently and to eat a lot of fruits and vegetables. Sweets were poison for the teeth…then again, she had mother, who was a chocoholic. How was their poor Susan supposed to love only healthy food?

"William said you could need a hand." Sofia left her car. Her boss sent her to the north area of Hollywood, Beachwood Canyon. From here she had a great view over the city and on the Hollywood Sign. An expensive area, most times they were called for robberies and burglary. Homicides were seldom.

"Yes, the area is big."

"So it the chaos." The blonde took a look around, the garden in front of the villa was as big as her entire property. Various palm trees were plant, roses and fruit trees. The heads of the roses were scattered all over the garden, leaves of the palm trees were on the ground, one tree was half out of the ground and no fruits were left on the trees.

"It continues inside."

"Where are the owner?"

"New Zealand. Escaping the weather."

"Sweet. Looks like somebody knew they weren't at home."

"Yes, when they come home, they won't recognize it anymore. Go ahead, start inside. Wherever you want."

"Okay." Slowly she made her way to the entrance door. Without closer looking there was no sign of forced entry, the door looked like it came freshly from a catalog. The perfect picture changed once she opened the door. To the right was a staircase. The banister wasn't white anymore, it was reddish with green from spray paint, a few poles were missing or broken. On the floor was soil, broken glass, china, paper and other things. It looked the burglars were not only after valuables but also wanted to trash the place.

"They even ripped wallpaper off, I don't believe it." She mumbled.

"Reminds you of the last party you threw as a teenager?" Kyle stepped into the hallway.

"No, if I had had a party like this, mom had grounded me for the rest of my life. And made sure I can sit on my ass for months. This is…vandalism."

"It is. Get what you want and trash the place. Make the work for the police more difficult, shock the owners more. The perfect party for some teenagers."

"How much did they take?"

"I count five bright spots on walls, missing paintings, the jewelry box was empty, a hidden safe was discovered and emptied. I have no idea what was here, the owners are informed, are on their way back home, until they are here, we have no real idea, what is missing. They contact their insurance company, with their list we can start."

"Point of entry? The front door looked like new."

"Back door, a glass door."

"What about security?"

"They jammed the alarm system, used the right pin code. Whoever did this knows a few things about alarm systems and computer."

"And has a temper. This is rage, all the things that were destroyed stood for something or somebody else."

"Rage about the wealth of these people? Something personal? Hire a gang, pay them and tell them to destroy as much as possible. Oh and they can also help themselves to whatever they like and see."

"Ordered by somebody, who knows the security code? No computer genius needed in this case. Definitely an angle you should work, detective."

"I will. Where will you start?"

"Does upstairs look the same?"

"The whole house looks like this. The backyard is better. Except for the pool. They added something to the water, it's blue. Like a lot of ink."

"Nice, blue water. Blue like the ocean. I start upstairs, when Greg continues downstairs we can meet in the middle. Or in the backyard."

"Doesn't your rich movie star friend live in this area?"

"He does. I'm sure if I call him, he sends me lunch over. Or even delivers it himself."

"I'm not sure if Sara likes this."

"My wife got a phone call from her boss this morning, he gave her the day off. Soon she'll have forgotten about me and have fun with another woman." Unless Jules had no time to meet Sara. Which wasn't likely. With three little children the only thing you could plan was look after your kids and this was something, they could do together.