Chapter 53: Phase One

Beth is at the door knocking before Mick finishes shutting and locking their office. Even with the floor secure, old habits are hard to shake. "It's just us again," she calls waving to the camera.

The door opens and Jerry motions for them to come in. "Robin is upstairs with Caden." He shuts and locks the door behind them, "I admit I get nervous when someone knocks on the door."

Mick smiles at him understanding his need to protect, "They are safe here. You have our word."

"We came back over to talk to Robin. We want to run the time line down once more. We have a better understanding of things now and just want to make sure we have everything lined up."

Jerry nods, "Of course I can go get her. I'll keep Caden upstairs so you can talk without interruption." He pauses not moving. "How are things looking?"

Beth smiles and touches his arm reassuringly, "Much better."

Nodding Jerry takes the news and heads upstairs. Mick and Beth take their seats on the couch and Beth pulls out her tablet where they compiled the data to run through the timeline.

Robin comes down the stairs quickly joining them. "Jerry said you needed to speak to me again. He seemed happy, does this mean you found something?"

"We believe so. But first we want you to go over it again. We believe we've pieced together a timeline for that night. But what we can say with certainty is that you didn't put a girl into a coma that night. The accident he tried to blame on you occurred while you were still at dinner."

"You're sure? There isn't another one?"

"Not that we could find any record of."

"Oh thank god." Robin collapses into the leather club chair. "You have no idea what a relief that is."

Beth and Mick let her soak in the good news for a moment. "Wait. If I didn't do anything then he has nothing over my head. He can't blackmail me."

"We don't believe so. But we want to make sure we put an end to him using his money and power again you as well."

"I'll do anything you need."

Beth runs over the time line with her once more trying to figure out more details. Nothing new really springs to life, so they discuss the after effects. What part of her car was damaged? Did she notice any workers in the yard the next day. Robin admits to being in a daze for a few days and not daring to go outside. Mick explains his theory to her and the joy in her eyes at having an explanation that didn't involve hurting anyone was clear. Before they can go further into things Mick's phone rings.

"It's Anthony. I can't avoid him any longer or he may grow suspicious." Raising a finger to his lips he answers, "St. John."

He listens for a moment then joins in, "Yes we have been making some progress. I can't go into too much detail over the phone. We also have some questions for you as well."

"You can be at our office in ten minutes," Robin looks panicked. "We'll be here."

Hanging up Mick looks over to Beth. "As you heard Anthony is on his way here. You're safe in here. We'll meet him at the office as he expects. Just don't open the door for any reason until we call you."

Robin nodes ad walks them to the door locking it behind them. Mick guides Beth across the hall and goes to his computer. "Pull up the information we have on the found car and hid what we were working on."

"I'll bring up the surveillance camera footage from the areas surrounding the car. Remember we requested it with that officer friend of Anthonys to keep things looking good."

"And to make sure he didn't get his hands on it and see us there with them."

A few moments later the office line rings and Mick tells the guard in the lobby to allow him up. Then Anthony is knocking on the office door. Mick greets him easily inviting him in.

"New security in the lobby?"

Beth smiles, "We have an apartment across the hall we keep but are letting a friend stay there while his home is having some remolding done. He's very private."

He seems to ignore all of that. "What do you have? Its been days since you mentioned your leads."

Mick hands him some photos, "As you may know we found the car she moved into. It was abandoned of course but we are looking through surveillance to try and find another vehicle."

"That's it?" Anthony's heart rate is through the roof clearly anxious.

"What's strange is we have followed her trail. She was far away, well outside of the area but she seems to have come back. That seems unusual for someone on the run."

From Behind Anthony Beth flashes her camera at Mick and sets it on their desk before hitting record. "As part of our investigation, trying to understand what was going on inside her head and in turn see where her next stop will be, did a complete background check on her. In that, we see no evidence that she lost custody of Caden."

Anthony looks around the room as he wrings his hands in front of him. "That's because she didn't. I know it wasn't the most legitimate thing to do but I convinced someone in the court to send her a notice saying she lost custody and put in officially that we dropped the case and worked it out on our own." He looks between them, "I know I lied to you but I could have won. I just didn't want to smear her name. Whatever happened in court would be documented forever."

"Why do you want to protect her reputation so much given everything she's putting you through?"

"Because I love her. I love Robin and Caden. I don't want either of them to have to deal with the mudslinging now or in the future. I admit I was an idiot. I handled it wrong. I never meant to push her so far to steal Caden away from me. I thought we could do it together, that she would see that things were better when we were a family. Together. I just want my wife and my son back."

Mick was observing him looking for any signs of deceit and finds none. In subtones he whispers, "He seems genuine about that."

"We mentioned before we found evidence she was being blackmailed. We believe she may have come back to LA because of the blackmailer. That's our leading theory at the moment based on the evidence. We have eyes and ears all over looking for her and we believe we'll hear something in a day or so."

Anthony's phone goes off and he checks it quickly. "I have to go, that's the office. Call me the second you have any information."

"We will," Beth assures.

Anthony leaves briskly and they wait n silence until they hear the elevator doors close and he is headed down. Mick waits for the call from downstairs to advise Anthony has left the building before leaning back on Beths desk.

Beth has stopped the camera and holds it up happily. "We got him admitting to bring court officials."

"He'll probably skate on that."

"You're right. But I have a feeling you have a plan."

"I do. How do you feel about a sting operation?"

Beth smirks, "You do know the way to a girls heart."

To Be Continued…

Evilous