Dick Hendrix looked at Matt as they sat in the Zen Tea Garden over a menu of sushi which Matt picked at and some green tea. Roy decided that he would just sit there and listen…have Matt do all the talking.

"Yeah I ran into him…he was at the bar section of the eatery that I stopped in for some refueling after a marathon meeting with a client."

Matt sipped his tea delicately.

"So Dallas and Clyde were there?"

Dick frowned.

"I only saw one guy," he said, "He did drop his name as being Dallas…shot a mean game of pool but I'm not into that. Talked a lot of trash when he got sauced up…"

That didn't surprise Matt. He already knew that the man ran his mouth off with each ounce of booze that had passed his lips.

"What did he talk about?"

Dick looked directly at him.

"You know I don't usually go to establishments like that…"

Matt sighed.

"No one's going to know you were there unless it's absolutely necessary for your testimony…"

The man put up two hands to ward him off.

"Now hold on a minute…I never said anything about going to the cops with this…"

Matt tilted his face at him.

"This man broke into a woman's house and raped her," he said, "terrorized her until she shot and killed the other guy."

Dick's eyes widened.

"Damn….really. In her own house…that's terrible…but then this city's not what it used to be."

Matt just stared at him.

"She was a friend of yours…a girlfriend?"

Matt leaned forward.

"What can you tell me about what Dallas said in the bar?"

The man looked around the room as if worried that someone would know he was in a sushi establishment and Matt wondered what his problem was…but then decided he really didn't want to know. He just wanted information that would link Dallas to Robert and to Abigail so that they would pay for what they did to C.J. Matt thought he would never open his mouth and say anything and then the man took a deep breath.

"Yeah he did mention some dude named Robert…sounded like that guy wasn't around…like he was locked up somewhere yet somehow still calling the shots."

"So what did he say about Robert?"

"Only that he was paying him a shitload of cash to do a job for him," Dick said, "He didn't say exactly what it was…oh except he had to pay an old friend a call."

Matt digested that wanting to squeeze the life out of Dallas…if he'd only been there…if he'd only known but he hadn't even been in town. No, he'd been running away after not dying in the plane crash with Elizabeth.

"He had plans on how he was going to spend the money…once he collected the rest of it after doing his job."

"Yeah so…what else did he say?"

Dick stroked his jaw with a finger in deep thought.

"Oh…yeah he was talking about Abigail only he called her a bitch a few times," he said, "Didn't seem to like her very much…especially the more he drank."

"What else did he say?"

Dick appeared to think about it.

"He was pretty drunk later on and he mentioned having to meet up with her," he said, "It was supposed to be later that evening but he was too sauced at that point to do anything…he left not long after that."

"Know where he went?"

Dick raised his brow as he sipped his tea.

"Do I look like the man's keeper? He was one angry, mean dude."

Matt didn't doubt that but the tie between him and Abigail seemed particularly tenuous so far and he wanted to nail the conspirators, the ones who dangled money in front of Dallas and pulled his strings. But so far…

"He did say that this Abby chick had promised him more money than she delivered…and he was going to collect."

Matt nodded.

"But she didn't want to pay him too much for doing something he'd told her he'd do for free," Dick said, "to get back at the bitch who put him away."

Matt's hands clenched and if Dallas hadn't been safely locked up in a jail cell awaiting his fate…but he had to check his emotions out of this to get all of them. But that hadn't ever been an easy thing for him to do when people went after his friends or family especially….he reached for his tea, he hated the stuff but it helped him take the focus off of how much he wanted to knock some heads together.

Roy just sat there and shot him a look telling him he understood.

C.J. checked into the office at work and saw Chris sitting there with her stack of paperwork in front of her and she knew that Murray had already arrived.

"Where is he?"

Chris grimaced and started sorting through her files.

"He's already gone to that meeting across town."

C.J. went to pour herself some coffee.

"Damn I promised to have those contracts signed."

Chris shrugged.

"Don't worry about it, he never even mentioned them," she said, "He's focused on the upcoming acquisition of the electronics firm."

C.J. remembered having reviewed that deal that Murray had dropped on her and Matt several months ago…before…she sucked in her breath and pushed a smile on her face.

"Oh yeah, we met on that before Elizabeth came back to town."

Chris shook her head.

"Yeah…seems like yesterday sometimes but at others…"

"It seems like forever ago," C.J. finished for her, "yeah I feel the same way."

Chris grew silent a long moment and C.J. knew she felt uncomfortable but then her friend cleared her throat.

"Yeah well since the guys are gone," she said, "We can get some lunch at the Red Onion."

C.J. smiled and nodded.

"Okay…but where's Houston?"

Chris paused.

"Oh he's at some meeting but he didn't say what it was about."

C.J. knew what it was about and she sighed. She knew what he was doing to help her build her case but she wanted him to be careful…and to stay out of jail.

"I guess he'll be back later then…did anyone call?"

Chris sifted through her message pad.

"Just a couple clients whose cases are being closed out," she said, "and someone from the DA's office saying the grand jury's still deliberating."

C.J.'s body tightened and she knew that the longer they deliberated…well all she could do was hope that they returned with indictments. She didn't know what would happen if they decided not to charge Robert with conspiracy. But did they have enough to get him…she didn't know that and they weren't close on Abigail if she were really involved. It seemed like she resented C.J. for killing her brother even in self defense enough to do something about it?

But she didn't want to think about that right now. She didn't want to think about the grand jury deliberating downtown that held her future in their hands. She needed them to make the right decision so she could move closer to putting this all behind her. She looked up at Chris.

"Come on, let's get some lunch and leave this for a while."

Chris nodded and reached for her purse.

Matt and Roy walked back to his Porsche.

"That worked out pretty well."

Matt looked over at his uncle.

"It's a start but it mostly nails Robert and that's been left up to the grand jury."

Roy sighed.

"They could be deliberating for hours or days," he said, "I'd hoped we'd hear something soon."

Matt ran a hand through his hair.

"I just wanted this to be over for her, but it's getting more and more complicated."

They reached the convertible and slipped inside of it.

"Matlock…you have to be patient and let the system work…"

He turned to look at his uncle.

"That system wanted to stop when it arrested Dallas."

Roy nodded.

"We're going to get the other two Matlock," he said, "This isn't over…"

Matt focused his attention on his driving as they headed back to the office.

"No it's not…"

He knew that C.J. had decided to come to the office and do some paperwork and that she needed some space to do that from everyone. To prove to herself that she could handle returning to work but they'd made dinner plans for that evening at their favorite barbecue spot.

"And if Robert gets indicted by the grand jury and they go through with prosecuting him, he's going to give everyone up like the coward he is…"

Matt knew that would be likely. Robert's bravado was just that bravado and not backed up with any action. After all, when they had exposed him as a murderer at the seedy motel, he'd taken off like a scared rabbit until Matt pushed him in the water at the nearby marina. But then again, he was already in prison, what more could they do to him?

"I hope so Uncle Roy…I don't want him to get away with it even if he's already in prison."

"Well we'll know more when the grand jury releases its decision."

Matt drove back in silence thinking about that, not wanting to imagine it any other way than in indictments against Robert and then if that happened….Abigail would be the last domino to fall.

C.J. sat with Chris eating at the Red Onion talking about whether or not Chris should dress up for her concert date that night when her phone buzzed. She looked at the Caller ID and saw that it was the DA's office.

Damn, that must mean…she looked at Chris who'd stopped eating and then clicked on her phone.

"Hello this is C.J."

The prosecutor was on the other end of the line and C.J. knew what the words would be before they were spoken.

"The grand jury has reached a verdict…."