Logan POV

"What are you working on?"

I'd just spent the past twenty minutes on the phone with my brother and when I went in search of Carolyn, I found her sitting at the kitchen table, working feverishly on her laptop.

"Carl," she answered vaguely.

She probably figured that researching Carl might be something she could be successful at as opposed to trying to figure out the details of what Jack had up his sleeve.

But catching one crook was as good as another, so I wasn't going to knock it.

She glanced up at me and asked, "What did John have to say?"

"He's going to be in town for awhile. I told him that maybe we could get together tomorrow night. I know Alex and Bobby wanted to do something, just the four of us, but she only suggested that because she's worried that I'm upset about them reading that file."

We were actually supposed to have gotten together tonight, but our little covert operation on Jack had caused us to postpone.

"And you're not?" she questioned. I walked around the table and stood behind her chair, settling my hands on her shoulders.

"I'm fine with it. Like you said, it won't change what they think of me."

She tilted her head back so that she could look up at me and then reached backwards to wrap her arms around my waist.

"You've grown in leaps and bounds today, Mike. Are you sure you're not just glossing it over?"

"I was overdue for a little maturity," I said with a shrug. Then I nodded in the direction of her chest and smiled at her as I said, "Although I'm not too mature to look down your blouse."

She laughed and sat back up in the chair.

"You're still in a good mood," she said in disbelief. "Even with everything going on."

I walked around beside her chair and motioned for her to stand up. She raised her eyebrow at me, but got up from her chair, so then I sat down and pulled her onto my lap.

"I've decided to take a different approach," I told her as I pushed a piece of hair back behind her ear.

"And what's that?" she asked teasingly. "Complete denial?"

"I'm going to be grateful for what I have. I worry so much about what might go wrong in the future that I think maybe I'm not taking the time to enjoy the present."

"So that's your new motto? Live in the now?"

"I think it's a good one," I answered. And then I reached up and began unbuttoning her blouse. "And right now, I'm curious as to what you have on under here."

"You just looked a minute ago," she replied coyly.

"Okay, so maybe I'm interested in taking a closer inspection."

I finished with the buttons and so I pushed the fabric apart and down her arms, letting it fall onto the floor.

"Do I pass?" she asked me as I looked at her appreciatively.

"Always. I remember the first time you asked me that."

"When was that?"

"When you tracked me down at Lou's. I followed you to a booth, and you caught me checking out your ass."

She smiled fully and put her hand on my cheek.

"I didn't catch you," she countered. "I just hoped that you were, so I figured I'd throw out the question and gauge your response."

"Well, you definitely busted me. But can you blame me? I mean, have you seen your ass?"

I ran my hands over her bare back and then down to the current topic of our discussion.

But I didn't have enough room to maneuver in the chair, so I grabbed on tight and stood up, taking her with me into the living room. I set her down on the couch and then unfastened her slacks and pulled them off of her.

"I was working," she argued lightly.

"We'll work together," I offered as I stepped out of my shoes and then pulled my shirt over my head. "Later. Right now, my brain is on other things."

"I don't think your brain factors into your intentions at all," she teased. "Unless your brain is in your…"

She trailed off her sentence and instead reached out and unzipped my pants.

"Is that what you think of me?" I asked, closing my eyes as she slid one hand inside for a moment before grabbing onto my jeans with both hands and tugging them downward.

"You know what I think of you," she said in a sultry voice as she stood up and wrapped her arms around me.

My plan had been to take my time, to draw things out, but I was instantly swamped with need when she molded her body against mine, so that plan went out the window.

Instead, I picked her up and turned us around so that her back was to the wall and then I pushed into her with unceremonious vigor.

We were against the staircase wall, so she reached over her head and grabbed onto the bannister spindles, which changed the angle and gave her better leverage.

I've got to say that I love her ingenuity.

I put my hands over hers where they gripped the spindles and then settled into an intense rhythm.

Somewhere along the line, the image of her and Jack popped into my brain.

I probably should've expected that to happen, since this was our first time together since I looked at the picture, but with everything else that had happened since, I'd almost forgotten about it.

It's importance had lessened considerably.

And even more so now, because even though the image crossed my mind, I was able to dismiss it.

Mostly.

Maybe I did push into her a little harder.

And maybe I left an extra mark or two on her neck.

But the fact was that Jack was yesterday's news.

And nothing she'd ever had with him could come close to comparing to what the two of us had together.

I'm happy to say that I didn't waste more than a minute or two of time thinking about that.

And then I refocused all of my energy on making Carolyn's face flush and her eyes go unfocused.

It didn't take long.

"I lost you somewhere in the middle," she said after we'd peeled our fingers from the bannister and together we'd flopped onto the couch.

"But did I make up for it at the end?" I asked, trying to play it off.

"We're okay?" she questioned seriously, keeping her arms wrapped tightly around me.

This was probably what she'd feared. That after seeing her with Jack, it would make me look at her differently, and she'd obviously picked up on the fact that my mind had briefly wandered while we were making love.

"We're perfect," I assured her.

"But you thought about him for a minute. Didn't you?"

"Sweetheart, as long as you didn't think about him…"

"Mike."

"I did," I admitted. "But just for a minute. And he just seems so…insignificant."

"Well, he is," she agreed.

She relaxed her hold on me and settled more comfortably against me now that I'd apparently eased her mind.

I almost wanted to point out that we should've gone through this last Friday when he first called, but I wasn't going to give her hell about that.

She'd come clean soon enough.

And who knows how I might have responded if the situation was reversed?

"Hey, you know what John called the two of us?"

"Um…no," she said cautiously.

"He said we have the textbook marriage. He said that if someone looked up the word marriage in the dictionary, our picture would be next to it."

"You think he's right?"

"Well, it would either be us or Bobby and Alex," I said with a smile.

"Wait, what made him start talking about marriage?"

"I don't know."

"You don't think…I mean, they've only known each other for a few months."

"Well, she did move halfway across the country for him."

"Not for him," she corrected. "For work."

"Uh huh. I'm sure there weren't any openings in California," I said skeptically. "So what were you looking up about Carl?"

"I just wanted to see if I could find some hint as to where he might hide. We do have some experience trying to track people who use multiple identities."

"Did you find anything?"

"Maybe," she said, and then she smiled at me and added, "But then I got distracted."

"Well, let's go take a look at it and see what we can come up with."

Liz POV

We trolled the campus for hours, but never spotted Jeremy.

"Maybe it's someone he knows from off-campus," I suggested.

"Why didn't he just tell us?" Danny said, shaking his head in frustration.

"Because he wants to handle it on his own."

"He wants to confront a killer?" he fired back at me. "He's supposed to be a smart kid, and yet he's out here somewhere trying to play John Wayne."

"Maybe he's trying to play Danny Ross," I countered.

My remark caused him to stop and stare at me for a moment and then he let out a heavy sigh and sat down on a bench near the tennis courts on the south side of campus.

I sat down next to him and took hold of his hand.

"We're not going to find him until he wants to be found, are we?" he asked tiredly.

"No."

By this point, it was nearly eleven o'clock at night.

We'd gotten the call hours ago to let us know that Connie was safe, even though her stalker was still on the loose.

And a little later, Alex had sent a text to let us know that they'd closed their case.

So did Mike and Carolyn.

It was a relief to know that, at least for tonight, things in New York were quiet.

Because Baltimore certainly wasn't.

I didn't want Danny to see how worried I was about Jeremy, but on the inside, I was really afraid for the boy.

And I know. He's not a boy anymore.

But still…how would the killer react to being confronted?

Most likely, not well at all.

And what did he hope to gain from the confrontation?

Was he looking for an explanation? Or an apology?

Or maybe he was thinking like his father and he hoped to get a confession.

At this point, I had no idea what he'd try to do.

Most likely a little bit of all three.

But would he also try to get payback?

I'd never seen Jeremy get physical with anyone, but if he knew that this person he was after had killed the woman he loved, it was hard to say how he'd respond.

I mean, I had no doubt whatsoever that Danny would've wanted to kill Pebo if I hadn't taken care of him myself.

I tried to force the excessive worry from my mind. It was more important that I be supportive for Danny than to harbor my own doubts.

We sat quietly for several minutes and then I felt Danny's phone buzz. He quickly pulled it out.

"It's Jeremy," he said excitedly as he pushed the button to answer the call. "Where are you?"

I watched his face expectantly and was relieved to see that he relaxed after hearing whatever Jeremy had to say.

"So are we. We're next to the tennis courts. We'll wait for you."

He hung up and put his phone away before hugging me to him.

"He's headed this way."

"What happened?"

"I'm not sure. He just said that things didn't work out like he planned. Tomorrow, we'll all go to the precinct and he can make a statement pertaining to what he remembers."

"Good. So he didn't say who?"

"One of the kids that Alex and Bobby put on the top of their suspect list," he answered with a nod.

Big surprise there.

As far as I was concerned, judges should issue arrest warrants based on the Gorens' hunches.

"Kenny Cossman," Danny continued.

"The boy that had a crush on Kelly?"

"Yeah. I know. It doesn't make much sense, does it? I'm anxious to hear what he has to say."

Ten minutes later, Jeremy walked out of the shadows and approached us where we sat on the bench.

He looked sheepish and tired and…I don't know. Something else.

Danny immediately got up and hugged him.

I stayed on the bench and let them have their moment, but then I heard Danny's phone buzzing again, so I got up and pulled it from his pocket.

"I'll take care of it," I told him, and then I answered the call. "Chief Ross' phone."

"This is Detective Rainey with the Baltimore Police Department. Is the chief available?"

Now, normally I would've said yes.

But not right now.

Not when Danny and Jeremy were engaged in conversation.

They needed this.

And it was Baltimore PD, not New York, so the call wasn't professional.

"No, he isn't. This is his wife. Can I take a message?"

"Maybe you can help me, Mrs. Ross. I'm trying to pin down the whereabouts of Jeremy Ross over the course of the last six hours."

"For the purpose of what?" I asked.

My radar was up and I began to study Jeremy's face.

Had he done something?

Had he found Kenny?

"You're aware that he's a suspect in an ongoing investigation," the detective stated.

"Of course," I replied sharply, and now my protectiveness was up, in addition to my radar.

My tone caused Danny and Jeremy to pause in their conversation and they both looked at me questioningly, but I continued to listen to the detective.

"And it's my understanding that Jeremy was in Baltimore today."

"That's right. To attend the funeral of his girlfriend."

"And is he currently back in New York?"

"No, he's still in Baltimore. All three of us are. Now tell me what this is about."

"Have you been with your son all evening?"

I didn't bother to correct his misconception that Jeremy was mine.

Considering the way Nancy treated him, I wished he was my son, but that was irrelevant at this point.

"Detective, this is harassment. There are no formal charges against…"

"Kenny Cossman was found dead about an hour ago," he interrupted.

"What?" I shouted in surprise.

"Yes, ma'am," he stated firmly. "His body was discovered in Druid Hill Park. I'm sure you're aware that he was also a person of interest in the investigation."

"So you think Jeremy did it?"

"I'm asking you if you know where your son was this evening. It's a simple yes or no question."

I stared hard at Jeremy, taking in his innocent blue eyes and his open, honest face.

And then I did something that I absolutely never do.

"Then my answer is yes, Detective. Jeremy hasn't left my sight since we arrived in Baltimore."

TBC...