Alex POV


I stayed quiet while I drove us to Red Hook because Bobby took a nap.

A sure sign that he truly felt bad because I couldn't remember another time when he'd fallen asleep in the car.

Especially not when we were in the middle of a case, a case that involved my sister and nephew, and at a time when we thought they might be in grave danger.

Except that was the thing.

I didn't think that they were in grave danger, and clearly he didn't either.

My phone rang when I was almost to the parking lot and I answered it quickly without looking so as not to let it wake Bobby.

"Goren."

"Alex?"

"Dad?"

"Yeah, you…um…you threw me answering your phone like that."

"With my name? That's how I always answer it."

"Yeah. I guess…I guess I'm still thinking Eames."

I felt a flash of annoyance, but since he didn't say it with any real heat, I decided to let it go.

"What's up, Dad?"

"What's going on with you and Sean?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Alex. Don't lie to me. I still have friends in the department. Word has it that Sean got approval to put out an APB for a vehicle that wasn't involved in anything he was officially working on. He said it was for something that you were working on, and since your business seems to be in bed with the department…"

I turned the corner and saw several black and whites in the middle of the parking lot. Crime scene tape spanned the perimeter surrounding the black Mazda.

I really needed to get my dad off of the phone.

"Was there a question in there somewhere?"

"Why did you ask Sean to help you when you've got Ross wrapped around your little finger?"

"Because Ross has his hands full right now."

"More of that IAB inquiry?"

"Something like that."

"So what you're doing…it involves Cathy, doesn't it? I haven't heard from her since Sunday."

"Dad, I really have to go."

"Is your sister in trouble? Because I can help. But I can't do anything if you kids keep me in the dark."

"We've got it under control."

"Alex…"

"Dad, I need to go. I'll call you tonight."

"And you'll tell me everything."

"Yes," I nearly shouted. The man was relentless. I parked the car and glanced at Bobby, who was waking up either from my voice or from the lack of motion of the car.

"Okay, sweetheart. Be careful."

And just like that, he endeared himself to me again. The man was annoying and obstinate and rude, but he was also sweet and there was no denying the fact that he loved me.

"I will. I promise."

I hung up and then ran my hand along the side of Bobby's face. It was slightly cooler than it had been before, so I hoped that my diagnosis was correct and that the medicine was working.

"Your dad?" he asked me as he sat up straight in the seat and attempted to clear the cob webs.

"Yeah. He caught wind of the APB and wanted to know why me and Sean were working together."

"He's not stupid."

"No. He's not. But if I tell him what Cathy's done…"

"You're trying to protect her," he stated.

"I am. She's made enough mistakes that Dad won't easily forget. If he hears about this one, then she'll never hear the end of it."

"You're a good big sister," he told me as he smiled at me.

"I'm sure Cathy would argue with you on that."

"Cathy would argue with me on just about everything. But it wouldn't make it any less true."

"Come on. Let's go take a look."

Sean was already on-scene, so we were quickly allowed access to the vehicle.

I went to the driver's side while Bobby circled around to the passenger side and together we looked over the car.

After a few minutes, I caught his eye and we silently agreed.

It was just as we thought.

And I felt a sense of relief because after my initial panic, after I'd taken a moment to analyze Sean's news, it occurred to me that things were not as they seemed.

It just wasn't plausible.

So I'd maintained a level head until I could examine the scene for myself.

I'd been much more casual than I would've been otherwise.

Because, I mean, this was my sister.

If I'd been wrong…if I truly thought that Cathy had been carjacked with little Nate in the car…I didn't even want to think about that.

But I was pretty sure that wasn't what had happened.

Which meant that now I was really pissed off.

"What do you think, Alex?" Sean asked me when I stepped back.

"It's been staged," I said. Bobby came back around the car and nodded his head.

"Uh huh," he agreed. "The blood has been smeared onto the seat for affect."

"Are you sure?"

"Look," I said, pointing onto the driver's seat. "It's directly on the seat. If she was sitting in the seat, and someone had hurt her, the blood would be on the passenger seat, or the console, not directly beneath her."

"And it's not enough," Bobby added. "There's no spattering or droplets. It's just a thin covering."

"Take a sample," I told Sean. "My money says it's not even human blood."

"So now what?"

"I'll call you. We have another stop to make."

"And you might want to avoid any phone calls from your dad," Bobby told him.

We left Sean and went back to the car.

I tried to ease my temper as I drove from Red Hook to Sheepshead Bay, but then I decided against it.

If I was right, and I was pretty sure that I was, then he deserved my full wrath.

"Don't kill him," Bobby said when the car screeched to a stop outside of the used car lot.

"Didn't you tell me last night that you wanted to hit him?" I reminded him as we walked up to the office.

"Uh huh," he agreed. "And I didn't say don't hit him. I just said don't kill him."

"Alex!" Ted called out when we entered the building.

I noticed that he'd been looking at the Hustler magazine, but he quickly covered it up and came around the counter, extending his hand for me to shake.

No way in hell was I touching that hand because I had a pretty good idea of where it had been.

"Twice in two days," he continued. "I need to go play the lottery or something because I am on an amazing streak of good luck."

I didn't hesitate or waste time with pleasantries.

Instead, I did a quick glance around the room to make sure that he was alone in the office, and then I pulled my gun on him.

"Whoa, hey, what the hell?"

"Where is she, Ted?"

"Where is who?"

"You gave us that whole bullshit story last night, and then you tipped her off. I bet you set up the jacking, didn't you? You stripped the car, smeared a little bit of blood on the seat, because you knew that we'd have that APB out. You knew the cops would find it."

Ted's eyes danced nervously from me to Bobby, who was standing watch near the door.

"Hey, man, can you tell her to put the gun away?"

"He's not going to help you," I told him. "In fact, he told me that he'd love to take a swing at you. I'm going to give you ten seconds to make the decision to help us, and then I'll let him take a go at you."

Bobby wasn't in much of a condition to take a go at anyone right now, but Ted didn't know that.

"No wait," I amended. I smirked at Bobby and added, "On second thought, I'm going to give you nine seconds to decide."

"Alex, I can't…I can't tell you."

"But it happened like I said, right? You screwed me over."

"It's what I do."

"You screw people over? That's what you do?" Bobby asked him as he stepped closer to us.

"No, I didn't mean that! I mean, I help abuse victims and if that means that I have to lie to people who are looking for them, then I lie."

"Do you think that I would hurt my own sister?"

"What? No!"

"Then why the hell did you lie to me? I'm not trying to take her back to a bad situation. I'm trying to help her out of a bad situation."

"I'm just…I'm trying to do the right thing here."

"Then do the right thing. Because at the moment, you're aiding and abetting a kidnapper. So listen to what I'm telling you. She is not running from an abusive husband, and her son is not in danger. She panicked. That's it. And you're helping her, so unless you decide to start helping me, then my next call is to the police."

"You're not the police?"

"No," I told him as I pulled the slide back on my .45 and held it closer to his head. "Now tell us how you helped her. Where is she?"

And okay, so I didn't have the clip in the gun.

But he didn't know that, either.

And he was apparently too freaked out to notice.

"She's at a safe house in Yonkers."

"A safe house?"

"Yeah, the feds use it. I know a guy who works at the Bureau, and sometimes, if we need additional help and if their place is empty, he'll let me send someone up there."

"For how long?"

"What?"

"How long is she going to be at the safe house?" I said slowly, enunciating each word.

"She's waiting for me. I was planning to go back up there tonight to get her."

"You'd better not be lying to me."

"I'm…I'm not. I swear. I'll give you the address."

"Yes you will," I agreed.

"Can I…can I go get it?" he stammered.

"You don't need to go anywhere to get it," Bobby spoke up. "You have it memorized. Just say it."

And so he did.

He gave us the address for a federal safe house in Yonkers.

He was going to be in more trouble than he realized because I was going to call Agent Weiss and rat him out.

He was going to end up getting a federal witness killed if he was willing to cough up that kind of information. I hadn't even had to rough him up. Just the sight of the gun had him spilling his guts.

And I hated that I might be messing up Helen's chain, but he was a weak link.

I'd just have to call and explain that to her.

Aside from that, he was just sleazy.

And I was really annoyed with myself for having carnal knowledge of the man.

"If you make a phone call, or tip her off somehow, and I have to come back here," I warned as I put my gun back in its holster. "It's going to get ugly."

"I won't," he assured me.

Bobby and I turned to leave, and apparently that was when Ted found his nerve.

"Hey," he called out to Bobby. "I hope for your sake that she's gotten better over the years. Man, when I had her, I nearly fell asleep."

In surprisingly quick fashion, Bobby crossed the room and punched him square on the jaw.

Ted went down to the floor and Bobby stood over him. He reached down and grabbed him by the shirt, lifting him halfway off of the floor.

"Was there something else that you wanted to say about my wife?" he asked menacingly.

"Uh…no…" he replied dazedly.

"Come on, Bobby," I said gently. "Let's go so he can get back to…whatever it was that he was doing."

Bobby let go of him and Ted thudded gracelessly back to the tile.

"Feel better?" I asked him once we were outside. "You got to hit him."

"He deserved more than that for what he said."

"Maybe," I agreed. "But we already wasted enough time on him. Now we've got the address. Let's go to Yonkers."

TBC...