A/N: Hump day bonus chapter :)

Ross POV

For awhile, I firmly believed that Wednesday would never end.

The latter part of my morning and my entire afternoon was spent in the commissioner's office.

Apparently Tosco had called to complain about my so-called steamroller attitude.

"Danny, you can't just walk into another captain's house and start bossing him around."

"He's an incompetent jackass," I countered. "He wants the chief job so he's trying to impress you."

"Tosco wants to be chief?"

I laughed out loud at the commissioner's obliviousness. Tosco had likely gone through a case of chapstick in the past month, considering the amount of ass-kissing he'd been doing, and yet he'd barely made a blip on the boss man's radar.

"Did he tell you what happened?" I asked once I'd settled myself down.

"He told me that his cops made a solid arrest on charges of assault."

"He arrested the Gorens!"

"The former MCS detectives? Those Gorens?" he asked in disbelief.

Jeez, it hadn't even been a month. And how many other Gorens did he know?

"Yes," I said, biting back my smartass reply. "They were questioning a suspect in conjunction with the Rhonda Hagen case. The man started a fight. And he was armed, so they confiscated his weapon and that's when Tosco's boys showed up. His boys handcuffed everyone and put them all in the back of a squad car."

The commissioner sat back in his chair and sighed heavily.

I didn't envy his job. It seemed to be a time when lines were being drawn. There were good cops and bad cops, and for some reason the bad ones were all rearing their ugly heads.

Maybe because Moran wasn't around any more to cover things up.

"But he let them go."

"Yes. After I called him and threw my weight around."

"Which is why he's saying that you bullied him."

"He was wrong to do what he did," I said firmly. "You signed the damn papers yourself, sir. They are subcontracted employees of the NYPD and they were treated like common criminals."

"Of course he was wrong," he replied with a wave of his hand.

"And he was wrong last month when he stood behind those two thugs Taggart and Woody. You know that Taggart has committed additional crimes since he's been behind bars, right? He helped orchestrate the kidnapping of Carolyn Logan."

"What do you want me to do, Ross? Fire every bad captain in the precinct?"

He asked that like it was a bad thing.

"Absolutely."

"And replace them with whom? Tosco's not the only idiot we have working for us."

"You can teach a cop the job, sir. You can't teach a man how to be honorable and ethical. That has to be there to begin with. I'm sure there are plenty of qualified officers waiting for the opportunity."

"Okay. I want a list on my desk first thing in the morning."

"A list?"

"Of qualified officers. I'll have to look back over the files, but off the top of my head, I'd say that there are going to be three positions open, so give me at least a dozen names."

How did I get myself into these situations?

And since when was I the commissioner's right hand man?

Right.

When I'd helped get the chief put behind bars.

"What are my chances of getting the Gorens back?"

His random question had my mind reeling to play catch-up.

"Sir?"

"It's my understanding that the one, um…Alex Goren. She passed her lieutenant's exam, right?"

"Yes sir, but…"

"And I'm sure the other one could pass it as well. That would take care of two positions right there."

He wanted me to bring them back to the department so that he could make them both captains?

"Sir, I would be more than happy to make them the offer, but I can tell you right now that they won't be interested."

"Ross, I thought we had an understanding. I scratch your back, you scratch mine, right? I gave you Bernard. I gave you Lupo. I pulled Harker out of the rotation and his transfer to OCCB is pending. What more do I have to do to get you to play ball?"

"I appreciate the leeway that you've given me. And I'm not saying that I won't ask them. In fact, if you'd like, I'm sure I can arrange for them to meet with you and you can ask them yourself. I'm just warning you that their acceptance is unlikely. They're happy with what they're doing now. Of course, I'm sure they're open to continue working with the department on a case by case basis…"

And so it went from there.

Eventually I left his office feeling pretty good about myself.

Tosco along with two other equally incompetent captains were going to be given their walking papers.

The commissioner was going to look further into the cost-benefit analysis of subcontracting more cases, which would in turn boost the Logans' and Gorens' business.

And I managed to still have most of my ass intact, although he had chewed on it somewhat for the back-dated report along with my use of department funds for an unofficial case. However, since it ultimately all tied into the Rhonda Hagen case, I was exonerated of any kind of official reprimand.

So all in all, it could've gone much worse.

It was kind of nice to have a boss who could at least vaguely see the big picture after having to deal with the likes of Moran.

I checked my phone when I got out into the hall.

It was after six o'clock and I was anxious to see how the meeting had gone between Logan and Rhonda. I'd passed on Lupo's number to Logan just before stepping into the commissioner's office this morning, but other than that, I was painfully behind the curve.

I had two missed calls from Liz and one from Bernard.

I figured that I'd better check with Bernard first.

If something was seriously wrong, Liz would've called more than twice.

In fact, she knew where I was. If it was urgent, she would've just stormed the commissioner's office and pulled me out of the meeting.

I dialed Bernard's number as I walked outside.

"Captain," he answered. "I wanted you to have a heads-up that I'm on my way to Trenton."

"What's going on?"

"How much do you know?"

"Next to nothing. I've been in with the boss all day. Give me the bullet points."

"Okay…um…the meeting with Logan and Hagen went smoothly. She's hooked. The Gorens left around one for AC to meet with Strathmore. The Logans headed down there, too, but they just left a little bit ago. Mike called Rhonda from the road to let her know that he couldn't meet her tonight because a lead on a case was taking him out of town."

"She bought that?"

"She's buying whatever he's selling."

"So what's going on in Trenton?"

"Before Logan made the call, Lupes went over to sit on Rhonda's crib. He wanted to see what she would do when she found out that her rendezvous was postponed."

"And?"

"And it looks like she's making a run to the old homestead. Lupo called me when she hit the turnpike. I'm going to head that direction and meet up with him."

"Nice work, Detective. Keep me in the loop."

"You got it, Cap. Oh, and Harker is…"

"Harker's benched. He'll be in OCCB before you get back from the Garden State. You're off babysitting duty."

"Thank you, sir," he answered enthusiastically.

I hung up with him and started to call Liz, but then I decided to head for the morgue instead.

I wasn't going back to the office tonight, and I wasn't going to let her sit around her office all night either.

Not alone, anyway.

Lupo POV

It had been a hunch that Rhonda would blow town after getting her brush-off call from Logan.

But it had turned out to be a good one.

And I didn't know exactly where she was going. She could be planning to hit a bar to let off some steam. She could be skipping town because she smelled a set-up. Or she could be working, laying down more foundation for her scam.

When she blew through Newark and kept heading south on the turnpike, I had a pretty good idea that she was going to Trenton.

Or more specifically, White Horse. I knew that she had a house there.

Alex had mentioned her creepy stash. I wasn't sure why she was heading there now unless she was going to start covering her tracks.

Did she have plans to take Logan there?

She'd bought the place because it held meaning for her. In her twisted little mind it probably made her feel closer to Logan, considering his mother had been born there.

When I felt sure of her destination, I gave Bernard a call. I didn't mind working alone, but this was officially Bernard's case. More or less.

I guess it was actually the Gorens' case. And the Logans.

Hell, there were six detectives, a captain, and an ME working this damn thing and we were still having to bust our asses to catch her.

But it was only a matter of time now. We were closing in on her.

I hadn't even asked how the Gorens had managed to copy the suspect's computer files.

Some things were better left unsaid. It was called plausible deniability.

That was a phrase we used a lot when I worked in Intelligence. With that department, the book was merely a rough guideline as opposed to strict instructions.

I sometimes had trouble with following the rules now that I was a homicide detective. Cutter had ridden my ass on more than one occasion for my attempts to skirt around the letter of the law.

I was of the opinion that the end justified the means, but that wasn't always the case when it came to the courtroom.

Of course, now I wasn't just a homicide detective.

Now I was an MCS detective.

I hoped Ross didn't expect me to change my style. Although, he'd probably been broken in pretty good by the Gorens and Mike Logan, and they seemed to still enjoy working together so that was a good sign.

And the step up to the elite group was a nice pat on the back.

After I called Bernard and arranged for him to head to Jersey, I called Connie.

Cutter answered. I hung up.

What the hell?

I knew that she didn't have my name listed in her contacts, but instead just the number, so he wouldn't know that it was me calling, but still…why was he answering her cell phone?

I stewed about that as I followed Rhonda's car further south. She wasn't using any evasive measures and she wasn't speeding.

She wasn't remotely concerned that Logan was setting her up.

God, I love narcissists, I thought derisively.

A couple of miles later, my phone rang.

I couldn't decide whether or not to answer it. It was Connie's phone, but was it Cutter calling back to see who'd hung up on him?

Cutter…talk about your narcissists…

I let it go to voice mail, and then I checked the message.

"Lupo, it's me. Call me back."

I tamped down my jealousy and called her. I didn't like to let my temper get the best of me, and usually if I made a conscious effort to control it, I was okay.

"Why the hell was he answering your phone?" I asked when she answered.

And yeah, okay, so my conscious effort didn't work this time.

"I was in chambers," she answered calmly. "I had a draft of a brief on my Blackberry, so he was reading over it while I talked with Judge Wilson."

And just like that, I felt like an ass. What was it about that guy that got me so riled up?

"I'm sorry," I said. "I just…"

"I know. He answered and you assumed the worst."

"It's not that. I just…he's got a thing for you, you know."

"So?"

"So…he's a lawyer. He's…got money. He's…"

"He's not you," she said. "Lupo, I don't play games. If I wanted him, I wouldn't be stringing you along."

"I know," I said again.

"Good. Now, where are you and how soon can I get you naked?"

She had me laughing, and I realized once again why I loved spending time with her.

She made me feel good. And happy.

I told her my plans, and that I didn't know when I'd be home, but she promised to take Otto out and that she'd be at my place whenever I got there.

I almost blurted out the L-word, but I sucked it back in just in time and instead just said good-bye.

An hour later, I was sitting outside of Rhonda's house in White Horse. I'd sent the Trenton PD on their way, telling them that they could have the night off. They seemed thrilled and didn't even think about arguing with me. They said no one else had come near the house in two days.

Rhonda had left most of the lights off, and it was killing me to find out what she was doing in there, but I forced myself to wait for Bernard. Lucky for me, he showed up twenty minutes later.

"What took you so long?" I asked him with a grin.

He rolled his eyes at me, and the two of us walked through the darkness, approaching the back side of her house.

"What's she been doing?" he asked me.

"I have no idea, but she's doing it in the dark."

"That woman is bad enough in the daylight," he said with a smirk. "I sure as hell don't want to know what she's doing in the dark."

Goren had mentioned that the good stuff was in the basement, and from the back of the house, there were two tiny windows at ground level which likely looked into that room.

So we got down on the ground and cautiously looked through the window.

"What the hell…" Bernard mumbled.

And I was right there with him.

We could see her across the room working on a laptop. I couldn't see what she had on the screen, but the corkboard behind her was something out of a Thomas Harris novel.

"What is she looking at?"

Before I could decipher it, she'd sent something to a printer and closed the laptop.

We waited, collectively holding our breath, as she held her hand near the output tray of the printer in anticipation of her document.

"You think she needed another picture of Logan?" Bernard whispered.

"Yeah, because two thousand just isn't quite enough," I muttered back.

But when the item finished printing, and she placed it on the corkboard, I was dumbfounded to see that it was a picture of Goren.

Bobby Goren.

It looked like it was from a newspaper article or a department photo of some sort.

"She wants him now, too?"

But then she picked up a marker and drew a circle around his face and then a line through it.

"Um…yeah," I replied. "I think she wants him dead."

TBC...

A/N: Oh, are you guys waiting for the meeting? Tomorrow :)