Mac was sitting on the patio feeling bored. It was early in the morning. He thought he would go into town today. He was tired of hanging around this house all the time with nothing to do. He got up and went back up to his room. Before he went in, Melinda came into the hall. "Morning," she said with one of her lustful looks.

"Morning," Mac replied. "I think I'm going into town today. I'm tired of being here around the house."

Melinda walked over to him. "You did a good job last night."

Mac went on into his room and Melinda followed him. She closed the door. "You know, Thomas is gone this morning," she said as she walked over to Mac. She ran her hands up under his shirt. "We could find some new territory to explore."

Mac frowned. "I thought you were his woman," he said. He could see the lust in her eyes and he thought he was about to feel a little lust himself. After all he was trapped here with her all the time.

"He'll never know it."

"I know how manipulative you are. You'll say that but then you'll try and pit us against each other again when you get bored."

"I'm bored now and I want to see what I've been missing."

Melinda kissed him and then continued to let her hands roam. "Don't you have needs?" she asked. "I guarantee I can satisfy every one of them."

Mac stared at her a moment. "So what will you do when he gets back?" he asked.

"How do you know he'll be coming back?"

"I think he will."

Melinda started to unbuckle his belt. Mac grabbed her hands and jerked her closer to him. She looked into his eyes. Mac thought there was something not right about this but he felt himself full of desire. He kissed her hungrily and gave in to his lust. He picked her up and carried her over to the bed. He practically threw her onto the bed and was on top of her before she could move. She had not expected him to give in so easily but she would take advantage of it now. Besides, she thought she would get a lot of pleasure out of it as she felt Mac pushing her dress up.

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Jo was studying everything she could about manipulation. She knew this would have to be something very powerful to cause Mac to do something like he had done. She had looked at hypnosis but no one could be hypnotized against their will unless there was a powerful drug used. Jo knew someone must have drugged Mac and manipulated him that way and she knew that Melinda Holmes had the ability to do that.

After an extended research, Jo found that a person could not be brainwashed by only one drug but a mixed cocktail could subject them to suggestions. She knew that was what had to happen to Mac. She got her evidence and went to the lab where Lindsey was now along with Danny. "Look at this," she said and gave them the paper. "It is possible to alter a person's mind but it takes a mixture of different drugs and Melinda Holmes has the ability to create something like that."

Danny and Lindsey stared at the paper. "How do we prove it?" Lindsey asked.

Jo slumped. "I don't know," she said feeling helpless.

"When are we going to tell the chief about this?" Danny asked.

"I don't know that either. If we tell him, it might leak out."

"There's no way we can keep this from being known," Lindsey said.

"We have to as long as we can. This is Mac we're talking about."

Danny folded his arms. "He shot two people, Jo. We can't just ignore that! He stole thirty million dollars worth of jewels! Do you really think the owner of these jewels is going to let this go?"

"No, I sure don't but I don't want Mac dragged through the media like he's a common criminal."

"He'll be considered a common criminal when people find out and we sure don't want it to look like we've been trying to cover it up. What do you think that would do? That would make him look more guilty. This is going to be bad for him anyway and we don't want to make it worse."

Jo knew he was right. She took the paper and went back to her office. She gathered up all the evidence into the folder on the case. Danny came in there. "Hey, I'm sorry," he said.

Jo looked at him. "I may not like it but you're absolutely right," she replied. "We might as well go up there and tell the chief now."

"You think he'll get us a warrant to search for Mac?"

Jo shrugged. "I don't know. Only one way to find out."

Jo headed for the elevator. Just before she got there, Don came out. "What are we doing?" he asked.

"We're going to tell the chief what we found," Jo replied.

Don put his hands in his pockets. "I've got a real problem with this."

"I have too but we can't keep it a secret."

Jo went on to the elevator and Don and Danny followed her. She was glad they were there to give her support because she did not think the chief was going to care one way or the other. "Maybe we should go to the Commissioner," Don said. "He's pretty understanding."

Jo considered that. "What do you think he would do?" she asked. "And what do you think the chief would think if we went over his head?"

"Chief Sinclair knows Mac," Danny said. "There's no way that he would think that Mac did this."

"But Mac 'did' do it," Jo pointed out as they got into the elevator. "We have to remember that. Mac actually did do this. There's no denying it. This is not some petty case of officer neglect or accidental shooting…this is an actual crime that Mac committed."

Don folded his arms. "And you think he may have been drugged?" he asked.

"Of course," Jo replied. "That's the only way he could be made to do something like this. And Melinda Holmes would be able to come up with the right mixture to do this to him."

Don blew out a breath. "You better have all your facts straight because that woman has money to burn and it will be hard to get a case against her."

Jo knew all that. She knew how rich people ran things and could do what they wanted. However, this was grand theft and even assault which could turn out to be murder if the other guard died. Things had been looking pretty good for him though.

The elevator stopped at the floor where the chief's office was. Jo pressed the button to keep the doors closed. She looked at Don and Danny. "Do you think we should take our chances with the chief first?" she asked.

"I don't know," Don said. "This is your call."

Jo hated feeling like she was responsible for something like this. This was Mac's life they were talking about. She pressed the lobby button. "I'm going to talk to the Commissioner," she said. "You two keep this quiet as long as you can."

Jo got out of the elevator at the lobby and Don followed her. "I'm going with you," Don said.

Jo looked at Danny. "Keep it quiet," she said.

"I'll do my best," Danny assured her.

Jo and Don went out and got into the Avalanche. Jo let Don drive because she was too upset. "Have you ever seen anything like this happen?" Don asked.

Jo stared out the window. "I've seen a lot of things happen to a lot of people that I thought would never be capable of doing such a thing," she said.

Don knew what that meant. They would have to prove that Mac had been drugged and he wondered if that would be possible. Mac had been missing for over a week now and if he was doing something like that, he would have been drugged a while back. When they arrived at the Commissioner's office, Don was nervous. "You think he'll listen to us?" he asked.

"Of course he will," Jo replied. "What do you think he's there for?"

"I never really thought about it."

"Well, one thing is does it be a go-between for the police and the public and he makes sure things are going like they should."

Don hoped that was right. He had met the commissioner twice but he hardly ever had a reason to see the commissioner. They went up to the floor where the commissioner's office was after going through a security check. The secretary was at her desk when they came from the elevator. "I'm Detective Jo Danville and this is Detective Don Flack. We need to see the Commissioner," Jo said. "I know this is unannounced but we need to see him."

"I'll let him know you're here," the secretary said.

Jo and Don sat down in the waiting area. "I hate waiting like this," Don said. "It makes me more nervous when I have to wait like this."

"Don't worry," Jo replied. "He's just a man like anyone else."

"No he's not. He's the Commissioner. That's a lot different."

Jo knew what Don meant, but she did not want to think about that so much. Soon, the secretary told them they could go in and opened the door for them. Don and Jo went into the office. Commissioner Frank Reagan was standing behind his desk waiting. "Good morning," he said.

"Good morning, Commissioner," Jo replied.

Commissioner Reagan shook both their hands. "I don't believe I've had the pleasure of meeting you, Detective Danville." He looked at Don. "Detective Flack, nice to see you again."

Don swallowed. He hoped the Commissioner did not remember any trouble he had been in. "So what brings you here today?" Commissioner Reagan asked.

"Sir, we need to talk to you about something serious," Jo said. "It's about a case we're working on."

"The jewel heist?"

"Yes, sir."

"Have a seat."

They all sat down. "Do you have any leads yet?" the commissioner asked.

Jo looked at Don. "Yes, we do," she said.

Commissioner Reagan stared at them a moment. "I take it you're not happy about it?" he asked.

"No, we're not," Jo replied. "You know that Mac Taylor has been missing."

"Yes. Do you have any leads in that?"

"I'm afraid we do."

"So tell me."

Jo opened the folder she brought with her. "We have a photo of the thief from the jewel heist," she said.

"Well, that's good, isn't it?" Commissioner Reagan asked.

Jo gave the picture to him. The Commissioner looked at the picture, then at Jo. "Is this what I think it is?" he asked.

Jo gave him the results from the facial recognition software. "Sir, we know that Mac had to be manipulated into doing something like that," she said.

"And why are you telling me this?"

"We want some time to find Mac and see what is going on."

"And you want this kept out of the press."

"Sir, we know that this woman was in the garage the night Mac disappeared," Jo said and showed him a picture of Melinda Holmes. "She is a rich woman and besides that, she is a doctor of science in Chemistry."

Commissioner Reagan looked at the picture and the report. Then he looked at Jo. "You think she drugged him and manipulated his mind," he said.

"Yes, that's what we think."

The Commissioner thought a moment. "What do you plan to do?" he asked.

"If we can get a warrant to search her place," Jo said. "We might be able to find out what happened to Mac and find the jewels too."

"On what grounds? You have to admit that's an incredible story."

"She admits she was there in the building," Flack said. "She wouldn't tell us who she supposedly had business with and we couldn't find anyone in the building who knew her."

Commissioner Reagan thought a moment. "If he did this job and got away with it, he may try another one," he said. "If you could trap him somehow, you might prove your theory and find the jewels at the same time."

"Are you saying that we should set him up?" Jo asked.

"Well, according to this report here, Melinda Holmes loves jewelry. I'll just bet if there were some expensive jewelry or diamonds, she would send her knew recruit after them."

Jo and Don looked at each other. "It could work," Don said.

"Jewel thieves usually can't pass up something like that," Reagan said.

"So how do we go about doing this?" Jo asked.

"I'll get back to you."

Jo and Don stood up. "Thank you, sir," Jo said.

"Just keep this quiet."

"We will."

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Mac was standing at the window in his room staring outside. He wanted out of this house for a while. He had been here too long. He knew that now. He turned around toward his bed where Melinda was still lying. "Was it as good for you as it was for me?" she asked.

Mac rolled his eyes. "There was nothing good about it," he said and went over to his closet. He put a t-shirt on and some jeans.

Melinda came over to him. "Are you telling me you didn't enjoy that?" she asked.

Mac looked at her. "It wasn't right," he said. "It was nothing but sex. That may be enough for you but there's more to life than that."

"You certainly have endurance. I don't think I've ever done it that long."

"You won't do it again." Mac put on his shoes. "Get out of my room. You belong to someone else."

Melinda put her hands on her hips. "Oh come now. Must you be so hostile about it?"

"You seduced me."

"You gave in."

"And I shouldn't have."

"Where are you going?" Melinda asked.

"I'm going out!" Mac opened the door. "Like I said, get out of my room." He slammed the door and went down to the garage. He was angry at himself…he was not sure why. Had he not done that before? Not with her but with others? Mac felt a little dizzy again. He rubbed his forehead and shook his head. He had to get out of here. He put on the motorcycle helmet and got on the motorcycle. Just as he was about to crank it, Melinda came out.

"Where are you going?" she asked.

"I told you, I'm going out," Mac said. "You can't keep me here like a prisoner."

Melinda walked over to him and started to touch his face but Mac pulled away from her. "I thought this would be the start of something?" she said.

"You thought wrong. You think you can manipulate everyone into doing what you want. I know you don't want any kind of stable relationship. You would dump me when some other guy came along that you thought was better or younger or could do more for you. I'm not that kind of man."

"And just what kind of man are you?" Melinda asked.

Mac frowned. "I don't know anymore."

Mac flipped the visor down on the helmet and road away. Melinda frowned. "You'll find out what kind of man you are, Honey," she said.