The Porsche moved slowly through the majestic gray stone arch and continued along the curving paved road stretching out before it. He could see cars lining both sides of the road up ahead on the left and knew he had found the right place.

Pulling the sports car to the shoulder, he got out and closed the door softly. Pocketing the keys, he glanced up at the bright sunshine and adjusted his dark glasses. A small crowd of people were standing together just beyond the trees up ahead and he started unhurriedly across the thick well-groomed grass towards them.

Getting closer, he scanned the group, most of them with their backs to him, looking for a familiar face or a silhouette. It didn't take long to find.

Steve stopped beside a tall gravestone to wait.

A young blond woman wearing a black dress, gloves and veil stood and stepped forward from a row of folding chairs, dropping a single red rose into an open grave. Others followed. People, most of them arm in arm and a lot of them quietly weeping, began to disperse; Steve could see an older couple hovering nearby, the woman with a baby in her arms, the man holding the hand of a tiny girl.

As he watched, the young woman, obviously now a widow, approached a man who had been standing at the back of the crowd alone.

# # # # #

Her eyes were red from crying and her smile was unsteady but she approached Mike with confidence, lifting her veil before extending her right hand. "You must be Mr. Stone," she said sweetly.

He nodded, taking her hand gently.

Her smile got a little wider. "The nurses told me about you, about how you were with James when he…" She bit her bottom lip and he tightened his grip slightly.

"Yes, I was," he said softly, his eyes brightening as he smiled at her warmly. "I'm only sorry I didn't get to spend more time with him. He seemed to be a very special young man."

"Oh, he was," she chuckled slightly, shaking her head and grinning. "Did he tell you we were high school sweethearts?"

Mike nodded. "Yes, he did. He told me all about you and your two little ones." He swallowed heavily. "He loved you all very much."

She caught her breath, inhaling through her mouth, bringing her free hand up to cover her face. She nodded, looking up at him with tear-filled eyes. When she found her voice again, she squeezed his hand. "The nurses told me they could hear James laughing just before…" Her voice faltered and she looked down, collected herself then met his warm and friendly eyes again. "He had the most infectious laugh." She chuckled at the memory. "But he hadn't laughed much in the last little while because of… well, because of the aneurysm and everything… he was scared… But you made him laugh. I will always remember that, Mr. Stone, and I can't begin to thank you enough…"

Mike, his own eyes brimming, began to shake his head. "You don't need to thank me… I just wish I'd gotten to know him better… and that things had turned out a lot differently…"

She smiled at him affectionately. "So do I… so do I…" She glanced over her shoulder at her parents and children then turned back to Mike, squeezing his hand once more before letting it go. "Thank you, Mr. Stone, thank you for being with James when he really needed a friend… "

She leaned towards him and, on tiptoe, kissed his cheek then turned away and joined the rest of her family. Struggling to contain his own emotions, Mike looked down and closed his eyes. He took a deep breath, then felt a light touch on his arm. He opened his eyes and looked to his right. Steve was staring at him with a soft smile and he caught his breath in surprise.

"What are you doing here?"

Steve tilted his head with a slight facial shrug. "I thought you could use the company."

"How did you find me? I didn't tell anybody where I was going."

"I'm your partner, remember? When I couldn't get you on the phone, I thought about all the places you'd be and none of them made any sense. And then I remembered." He looked towards the open grave and raised his eyebrows.

Mike shook his head with an ironic smile. "I should have guessed."

"Listen, ah, how did you get here? Did you drive yourself?"

"Yeah. I was gonna take a cab but it's a hell of a long way and it would've cost me a fortune. But don't worry, I took my time and I was careful."

"How are you feeling?

"I'm fine, don't worry. Hey, listen, how did it go last night?"

Steve grinned. "We got him. But I'll explain all that back home." He nodded over his shoulder. "My car's back there. Look, ah, why don't I follow you home and we can grab some lunch – or in my case, breakfast," he chuckled, "and I'll tell you all about it."

With a warm and grateful smile, Mike nodded. "Yeah, I'd like that a lot." He looked at the open grave once more and the smile disappeared. As he turned away, he felt Steve's hand on his back and a comforting pat.

# # # # #

Steve bit into the grilled cheese sandwich and closed his eyes in ecstasy. "Oh my god, you've got to make these more often," he gushed after swallowing. "You've been holding out on me. These are amazing."

Mike chuckled as he put two mugs of coffee down on the table and turned back to the stove to finish browning his own sandwich in the cast iron skillet. "I always forget about these," he said with a chuckle. "I don't think I've made them since before Jeannie went away."

"Well, I'm gonna make sure you don't forget again, let me tell you," Steve chuckled as he took another big bite then washed it down with a gulp of coffee. He was actually starting to feel a little more human after getting less than four hours sleep.

When they had gotten back to the De Haro Street house, Mike had changed out of the black suit while Steve made the coffee. With Mike making the sandwiches, Steve sat at the table and started to fill him in on the events of the previous night.

When he finished, the lines in the older man's face were even deeper than usual. "Well, I'm glad things went so smoothly and nobody got hurt, but what you're telling me about this Mitchell character has me a little worried."

Steve picked up his coffee cup. "Why's that?"

Mike took a bite of his sandwich and Steve used the respite in the conversation to do the same. After he swallowed, Mike said, "Well, if what he told you is true, then we've got a leaker in the department."

It was Steve's turn to frown. "You think so?"

Mike tilted his head with a facial shrug. "Well, you said yourself that you guys were using walkie-talkies and nobody was using the police band to communicate anything about any of the raids or arrests, right?"

Chewing, the younger man nodded.

"Now Leist finding out about Russell and Young's arrests after the fact isn't news… and I'm sure he has someone at the station on his payroll, but that kinda stuff is small potatoes. But someone finding out about a raid and an arrest before it happens…" He chuckled dryly. "Well, that's something else altogether. That has me worried."

"So, what? You think Leist has someone that's supplying him with inside information as soon as we find out about it too?"

Taking a sip of coffee, Mike shook his head. "Not Leist. But this… Mitchell?" His partner nodded. "He was the one that was there last night before everything went down, right? So it goes without saying – but I'll say it anyway," he chuckled, "that he knew in advance what you were doing. He even told you that, in a roundabout way, didn't he?"

Steve paused with the remains of his sandwich halfway to his mouth. "Yeah, he did, and I wanted to get him to be more specific about it but that's when Sean called me on the talkie and Mitchell just strolled away. And legally I couldn't detain him –" Steve was beginning to sound a little more troubled by his actions, or lack thereof, the night before.

Mike put up a calming hand to stop the self-flagellation. "Relax, relax, there was no way you could force him to stay no matter what you did or what he said, so don't beat yourself up about it. But we know who he is, we know who he works for, we can get his address and we know where he hangs out, now don't we?"

Steve thought about it for a moment then nodded. "Yeah." He popped the rest of the sandwich in his mouth and grinned.

Chuckling, Mike shook his head. "Look, you're going to have your hands full with the Baker interview so why don't you let me look into Mitchell and the leaker." He took a sip of coffee, watching with anticipation as Steve chewed quickly so he could voice the objection he knew would be coming.

Steve didn't disappoint. "I thought you said you'd keep your promise to Dr. Raynis that you'd go home and stay there until he told you you could go back to work?"

"And I will," Mike agreed with a slow nod, taking another sip of coffee.

"Well, you've already broken it by going to the funeral this morning…"

"I know… but that couldn't be helped. Besides, how do you think I got the information about the time and the place anyway?"

Steve's eyebrows narrowed. "You didn't read the notice in the paper?"

Mike shook his head. "The nurses gave it to me, just before I left the hospital. So they knew where I was going…" He shrugged with a small smile.

"Yeah, but Dr. Raynis didn't, I bet."

Mike looked away briefly. "Well, no…" he conceded, "but I stayed in all day yesterday after I got home, so that has to count for something." He finished with an expectant smile and raised eyebrows.

Steve rolled his eyes and sighed. "I'm not going to win this, I just know it. All right, I'll take you through everything we did yesterday… well, everything I participated in and can remember… and if you promise to do all your digging from here… I'll keep my mouth shut about it, okay?"

Grinning and nodding, Mike picked up his empty coffee cup and plate and brought them to the counter then did the same with Steve's. He refilled both cups then returned them to the table along with the dishcloth and wiped the table. While Steve sipped his coffee and watched, Mike disappeared briefly into the living room, returning with a pad of paper and a pen. By the time the older man sat back down at the table, Steve knew that Mike Stone the detective and, more importantly, his partner was once more at his side.

The passion back in his eyes, Mike stared expectantly at the younger man, the pen in his right hand poised above the paper. "So take me through yesterday, minute by minute, from the moment you guys got back to the Hall with Russell and Young."

With a warm smile and a gentle chuckle, Steve leaned forward and put the coffee cup on the table. "Okay. So there were only five of us in on that arrest, like I said, Dan, Norm, the two uniforms and me…"

Mike began to take notes. They were only at it for about ten minutes when the kitchen phone rang. They both looked up at it then Mike got to his feet. Steve had called into the Hall when they'd gotten back to the De Haro house to let them know where he was.

"Hello?... Yeah, Sean, he's right here…" He held the receiver out and Steve got up and took it.

"Yeah, Sean, what's happening?… Okay, I'll be there as soon as I can." He hung up and looked at his partner. "Baker's lawyer'll have him ready for us in half an hour."

Mike grinned proudly. "Go get 'em, tiger," he chuckled.