A/N: Hey all, thanks for reading. As always its appreciated. Feel free to review and PM. To the nice person who dropped me a message the other day asking for me to give them a little classic blue spine flashback, I am happy to oblige a little. I like going back to those now and again. And I agree. It keeps the characters grounded in their history a bit. Enjoy!

-5-

Chief Collig sat back in his chair. The massive mahogany desk before him was littered with stacks of papers and computer monitors. He ran a hand through his grey whiskers and looked across the desk at Frank. A weary expression covered his face. Neither of them had got much sleep.

"Frank…I don't have to remind you what's at stake here." Frank sat in silence. While the Hardys and the long time ranking officer of the Bayport Police had been close personal friends for years, he knew that all bets were off when it came to crimes of this magnitude. Collig leaned forward in his chair and took a deep breath. "It's absolutely unacceptable that we would have one abduction in our town. But this second one!"

"I know, chief." Frank said quietly. He knew the pressure on their small force was at its highest it had been in years. The press had not been kind when reporting the second abduction. They had done their best to plant the seeds of fear. Which translated into intense focus upon law enforcement to do something and quick! Collig was doing his best to show restraint in front of his chief detective.

"Frank, me lad…" Collig's thick Irish brogue echoed through his head. "I am happy you were able to determine why the young lady took her leave from the truck stop. It was good work to catch that cigarette pack and identify the spot where she was likely taken." Frank, again, gave a brief nod. He knew the other shoe was going to drop. Collig's nostrils flared as he drew another deep breath. "But, as you well know, it doesn't help us identify this kook. Emma Salinger can't become another Heather Norton." Frank closed his eyes briefly as he remembered the name of the last girl who was discovered dead not all that far down the seaboard in the woods. She had been tied to a tree and left to die in an area outside of Marlboro Virginia.

"I understand, chief." Frank said quietly. The frustration level was high. It started several weeks back with Bayport's first abduction. That kidnapping happened in similar fashion outside of a shopping mall. A 15-year-old named Katie Blynn. A young lady who was last seen while walking through the mall's parking garage after leaving her friends. Leads were nearly nonexistent. Her parents inconsolable. "These 2 abductions will get my full attention."

"I suggest you reconnect with the FBI and start drawing on any possible correlation to the other 6 missing girls. Go through the same routine we did with Blynn case. Even if we only get a suspected connection." Collig muttered with disgust. "Was a time when this kind of thing didn't happen. Now, we see it all too often." His eyes met Frank's. "Somethings got to give, me boy."


Edison Community Park. Bayport.

The glint of the sun reflected off of Callie's Wayfarer sunglasses. She tilted her head and watched the children playing on a nearby swing set. The late morning air blew through her golden locks. A distant smile painted on her lips. She sat on the bench, lost in thought for the moment. Callie had been doing her best to absorb everything. She had received a call from Maddie the night before asking, or perhaps advising her that she would be spending the night at the farm with her dad. This was of course something that was somewhat surprising to Callie, given recent months and Chet's lack of being able, to well, be there for his oldest daughter. By all accounts Cal should have felt happy and content that perhaps things were finally taking the right turn. That her estranged husband was finally getting his head together. But something was still gnawing at her. But since she couldn't really pinpoint it, she decided to not obsess over it all. As difficult as that could be.

A thin woman of about 24 was walking along the pathway towards the playground. She had her dark hair styled in a simple short pixie cut. She wore a light blue sun dress and sported dark sunglasses. She approached the bench and paused before Callie. She lowered her sunglasses slightly and flashed a smile.

"Hey, sweetie. Double tall frappe, extra sweet?" She offered and extended a cup with the familiar Starbucks logo. Callie broke from her trance and looked up to her. She removed her glasses and did a double take. Aimee had called her that morning and they arranged to meet at the park. She had a surprise for her. Callie now quite aware that the surprise was that Aimee had cut off most of her long hair in favor of something quite different. The new look was nothing short of striking to Callie.

"Wow! I know you said you had a surprise for me. But I never once dreamed of this." Callie said, her face painted with approval for the new look. Aimee smiled and sat down next to her. She looked at her friend nervously.

"Are you sure? I wasn't sure if I should have done it. But I was getting so tired of the brushing and upkeep. It was getting so long." Callie placed her free hand along Aimee's face and nodded affirmatively.

"Oh yes. I swore when I first saw you that Audrey Hepburn had stepped out of a time machine. I am truly shocked at how much you resemble her!" Aimee smiled back at her. A shade of red over her face.

"That is so kind of you, my love. I got that from one of the women at the salon. It is a pretty big compliment. Breakfast at Tiffanys has got to be one of my favorite films." Callie's face took on a thoughtful look at the statement. Aimee raised her eyebrows with a perplexed expression. "Did I say anything wrong?" Callie shook her head, the distant look still in her eyes.

"No. I just remember how her character loved to go to Tiffanys. How any time she was stressed or depressed, she would hop into a cab and go to Tiffanys. Going into the store calmed her right down. She said nothing bad ever happened there." Callie paused as a wry smile formed. "Kind of ironic how life imitates art, and then throws you one big curveball." Aimee knew that Callie was referring to the day many years ago when she and her estranged husband had returned a fortune in stolen jewels to Tiffany & Company. They received a reward of millions, and Chet gave her a diamond ring from Tiffanys that day. The day they were engaged. Aimee nudged closer to Callie and put an arm around her.

"I guess that would be a bit ironic at that. I hope I don't offer you some kind of sad reminder now." Callie shook her head and smiled.

"Not at all, girl. I still love the movie. I just found it kind of a funny reminder. I absolutely love your new look!" She said squeezing their embrace. "But if you do sing Moon River to me, I might still cry. Of course, I always cry when I watch that movie." She took a sip of her drink and sat back. Aimee looked over to Callie, who still seemed a bit distracted. She suspected it was something that had to do with Maddie.

"How is Maddie doing with her dad? Everything going…ok?" Callie gave a sideways glance to her lover. Aimee returned the glance and their eyes met.

"It shows that much, huh?" Aimee nodded slightly. Callie looked down and shook her head with disbelief.

"Well, I would offer the thought that maybe you were thinking that Maddie would call you yesterday. Complaining about how her dad was doing anything but what he should be and to come pick her up."

"You could say I was looking at my phone a lot last night and expecting it to ring at any moment." She sighed. Something about it all was displeasing. It made her almost feel bad, given that so far this seemed a positive. After all, Chet doing what he was supposed to be doing as a father was something she had been hoping would happen for months now. Aimee took a sip of her coffee and smiled a bit.

"Well, it's only been a day. He has plenty of time to revert back to how you expect him to be. Not that you would want that to happen…" she shot Callie a sideways glance. "of course." Callie nodded knowingly. She had walked right into it. She sighed deeply. Starring out into space, lost in the thoughts of what she said and thought. Had Maddie's dedication and affections for her mother over the last year essentially spoiled her? That possibly she didn't want to share the attention? Callie exhaled slowly and shook her head. She didn't want that to be the case. She didn't want to hinder any healing between her daughter and her dad. She certainly didn't want to feel it was a negative.

"It's kind of hard, ya know? I feel so much has been good for Maddie and I in the last year. She used to be so bratty and flat out unkind back when we all lived together. Not that we haven't had the occasional rift. But it has been so much better than the way it used to be. Still, I don't know. I feel a lot of guilt when I think about how I was literally sitting there watching the phone and waiting… no, hoping for it to ring!" Aimee looked up at her.

"You know, we are all just human. We don't always think logically. Our hearts usually govern our passions. How we act with one another. Don't be too hard on yourself. You have a lot of reasons to be skeptical about his reform." Callie shook her head again.

"I may have the reasons. But so does he. Sometimes I want to think that he was so much worse than me with it all. But I was flawed indeed. All I could think about were things that centered around me." She glanced fretfully at Aimee. "Maybe I still do." Guilt was easily read. Aimee placed her hand on Callie's knee. She looked in the distance, not wanting to face her. Often times the thought had crossed Aimee's mind. About how she helped create some perfect storm of discontent for Callie's family. How so many things happened as a result of her being in Callie's life. It could have been so easy to avoid it all.

"I'm sorry, Callie. I can think of so many reasons why this… why this shouldn't have evolved. It would have been so much better for you if maybe we never met. Or at least just…." Callie held her hand up in strong protest. Her eyes connected with Aimee's. Callie shook her head firmly, as if to state without reservation that Aimee shouldn't even think about going there! Callie relaxed her stern expression to one more reflective. She leaned back and gazed up to the blue sky.

"You must learn to govern your passions, Cal." She mused aloud. "They will be your undoing." She lowered her eyes back upon Aimee, whose expression suggested remaining doubt. Though Aimee seemed fairly certain that Callie's statement was not entirely meant to address their relationship. In spite of it all, she managed a comical smile.

"A little ambiguous. But I suppose a good catch all phrase to address everything that has been running through your mind."

"That much is true enough, precious. But you do need to know that there has never been a time when I wish we had never met." She offered her a genuine smile and held her hand. "Please understand that. I feel we have taken things nice and slow. As a result, we have still maintained this feeling. I won't pretend to know what my feelings always mean. It gets complicated. Hell, I am complicated. I suppose if anyone should have any regrets about us meeting up, you would have more valid reason to be displeased."

Aimee understood where Callie was coming from. To have indulged their relationship without always knowing what it meant. It wasn't the stigma of them presenting as a same sex couple. She knew Callie didn't give a damn about what people thought. Most people that is. Society, now, more than ever offered them the comfort of being able to keep their relationship in the open. Aimee was perhaps a little put off in that she knew Callie never exactly told her parents about them. The few times she met Cal's mom she did understand why there may be hesitancy. Mary Catherine Shaw was a pretty firm woman. A firm Catholic woman. No amount of acceptance from a progressive society would offer her the ability to condone her daughter's actions. Cal had tried to explain it once, though not to any great depth. She merely said her parents were old school Catholics and she had quite the rift with her father when she became pregnant out of wedlock.

Aimee understood. For all the reservations that Callie had regarding being open about her relationship with Aimee towards her parents, she was the complete opposite with anyone else. Aimee doubted Callie would be sitting in the middle of a public park, holding her hand if she had any true aversion to them being together or with same sex relationships in general.

Any issues at hand were more along the lines of how complicated life could be when a woman was in love with more than one person. The dynamics of having one of those persons being of the same sex could lend difficulty for some, perhaps. But Callie's dilemma had nothing to do with that. She was doing her best to not only do what was right for herself. But for her children as well. Something which she couldn't always lay claim to doing. Still, Aimee knew that in some way there was a conscious effort to downplay things in terms of what she presented to her parents. Her mother had made several inquiries over the months about Callie's marital status. Which was probably better than if her father had been making direct inquires. No doubt Callie's father was using her mother to try to figure out just why his daughter was no longer living with her husband and why they had not reconciled. For all that she had gone through, and it was a lot, Callie still worried about her feelings.

"Don't you worry about me, angel. I couldn't be more pleased with you. I have no regrets. I do love you no matter what ends up happening." Callie was close to tears. She knew that Aimee meant a lot to her. That was something she was always aware of without any hesitation. She wanted the strength… the wisdom… to do what was right. She placed her hand along Aimee's cheek.

"I love you too, Precious."


"Dad?!" Maddie said incredulously as she looked wide eyed across the kitchen table at her father. Chet looked up, a slightly self-conscious look painted on his face. He had just finished a fourth slice of lemon pie which had sat on the table in the Hardy kitchen.

"What?" Chet asked with some fear as he looked beyond his daughter towards the kitchen door. Maddie looked over her shoulder towards the door which led to the living room.

"Your dad is scared." Joe said breezily as he reclined back in a chair that sat next to Chet's. Maddie blinked repeatedly, attempting to make some sense of things. She had known her dad to have seconds of dessert at home, but she had never seen him casually walk into someone's house and take a seat at the kitchen table and help himself to four large slices of fresh pie. Her eyes shifted to her uncle.

"What is dad scared of?" She asked quizzically. Before he could speak, a voice boomed from the doorway.

"Chester Morton!" with the drop of his fork, a wide-eyed Chet looked up apprehensively. As he had feared, the older, but hardly frail stern looking figure of Gertrude Hardy stood there. he looked at Maddie with a smile and gestured to his aunt.

The sister of Fenton Hardy looked at the scene at the kitchen table as she walked in. She cast a firm look upon the table and the half-consumed pie, then looked up to Chet.

"Up to your old tricks again, eh?" She crackled. Chet sat up straight and cleared his throat.

"Uh, uhm, what tricks might those be?" he asked with a weak expression of innocence.

"Why, sneaking in the side door and helping yourself to my kitchen labors." She said mock disapproval. She walked past the table and opened up a bakery cooling cabinet. She opened the door where several more pies were cooling. She took one out and turned around and carried it back to the table. She placed it down and looked down at Chet over her spectacles. "Fortunately, Joe told me you were back in town and I prepared for this little eventuality." She said tartly. Chet audibly gulped and forced a weak smile.

"Well, that was nice of Joe." He said, tugging at his collar as his friend shot him a sideways glance of feigned disapproval and shook his head. Maddie began to giggle as the whole scene played out.

Gertrude Hardy then looked down at Maddie. Her eyes grew wide as she studied the youth.

"Land sakes! If I didn't know better, I swore I would have walked into this kitchen twenty years earlier and saw your mother! You are the spitting image of your momma, young lady!" Maddie reddened slightly with a smile and looked down.

"Thank you, ma'am." She said. Gertrude looked down at her and then to the pie.

"Have you had any of that fine pie yet, Miss. Madeleine?" Maddie shook her head.

"No, Ma'am. I thought it might be a good idea to ask first." Gertrude Hardy smiled in approval, then looked back over her specs at Chet.

"Well, I see you get your manners from your mother. She always asked, too." Her eyes met Chet's as she clucked with exaggerated disdain. Gertrude cut a large slab of pie and placed it on a plate before her. "There you go, my dear." Maddie looked up with a smile and nodded.

"Thank you again, ma'am." Gertrude managed a smile and looked back down at the youth.

"My, my, it is just uncanny how much she looks like Callie. Wouldn't you agree, Joseph?" Joe Hardy smiled at his niece and nodded.

"Without a doubt, Aunty." Gertrude studied the young lady one last time before nodding to herself and leaving the kitchen. Maddie looked down and the pie and started eating with relish.

"Wow, dad. This is amazing. Now I can see why you just ate four pieces in like ten minutes." She paused as her dad looked over to her with a grin. "But, you should have asked first." Joe began to laugh out loud. He nodded.

"I agree, but your dad is kind of grandfathered in to taking this liberty without question. He has been sneaking in the side kitchen door and sneaking pie from aunt Gertrude for more years than I can remember." He gestured over towards the pie cabinet and the second pie sitting on the table in front of them. "and as you can see, aunty was prepared for this little eventuality." Joe slapped a hand on Chet's back. "Yep, ole Chet could be driving past the house in his convertible and could stop on a dime if he even thought he smelled one of aunt Gertrude's pies baking. He has a sixth sense you might say." Chet, who had already lifted his fork back up and scooped out another slice for himself waved off Joe's comments.

"Aww, give it a rest, Joe." He said as he tore into his fifth piece. "I am making up for lost time. One thing I know I missed about living in Bayport is your aunt's cooking!" Joe patted Chet again and nodded affirmatively.

"Can't argue with you there, pal." Maddie laughed at the exchange. It had been very nice to see her dad and uncle being so close, and nice to each other. She had remembered a few times when she was growing up when they still lived together. Some of those times had presented a bit of conflict between the two.

A moment later, aunt Gertrude popped her head back into the kitchen.

"Miss. Madeleine, if you have finished that piece of pie, and are interested, I would love to show you some photos I have hanging on the wall in the hallway." Maddie's eyebrows raised. She looked at her dad.

"Can I?" She asked. Chet smiled back at her and nodded.

"Sure, baby." He said. Maddie jumped up from her seat and turned and followed aunt Gertrude. Joe looked over at Chet.

"That's pretty good of you, Chet." He paused and looked towards the living room door. "Given you know as well as I do that aunty still has photos of Frank and Callie hanging in there." Chet set down his fork and wiped his mouth. He shrugged as he walked over to the fridge. After grabbing a half gallon bottle of chocolate milk, he walked back and took his seat.

"Well, Joe. I figure it's no big thing. Maddie gets a chance to see what Cal looked like back when she was the same age. It really doesn't matter who she is standing next to. That chapter has already been written." Joe nodded.

"True… But I do wonder how the book turns out." Chet paused as he twisted the bottle cap off. He gave Joe a sideways glance and raised his eyebrows with uncertainty.

"There's still at least one more chapter to go. But I will try to let you know how it's going to end. But as that book is a group effort, it's hard to say how it will end." He said with an air of introspection. Chet began drinking straight from the bottle. Joe looked at him with an amused expression.

"Some old habits never die." Chet ignored the gibe. Joe, still amused, shook his head. "If aunt Gertrude catches you doing that you better be prepared to run quick!" Chet choked slightly upon hearing her name and immediately set the bottle down and wiped it off with his shirt. He cleared his throat, then sat back hoping to change the subject of both his estranged wife and the possibility of Gertrude Hardy taking a rolling pin to his chops.

"So, what is that brother of yours up to?" Joe took Chet's cue and looked down.

"Well, he is working on another abduction. Happened yesterday at the big truck stop out on 81. Iola was riding with him when the call came in. The chief pulled him off his vacation. Chet looked concerned.

You mean another girl from Bayport got taken?" Joe held out a hand suggesting he wasn't privy to all the details.

"Well, what I understand she is from a town just north of here. 16 years old and apparently got snatched when she ducked out of lunch with her family at the restaurant. Seemed she had a smoking habit that drew her outside. Perp snatched her while she was on her little smoking break." Chet shook his head in sadness.

"That has to be Hell on the family." Joe nodded soberly.

"Hell, on over twelve families as I understand it. They suspect there is a connection to a series of girls being taken. Aged 10 and up to 18 maybe. Someone has been working the seaboard interstate. What is even more disturbing is that there are now eight still missing. And the three that were, uhm, recovered." He looked down thoughtfully. Chet, was not one to often focus on the news if it wasn't on the financial page, so he had been unaware. He looked over to Joe.

"Three dead?" Chet asked flatly. Joe looked up and gave a grim nod.

"Yeah. Three of the victims were recovered tied to trees in various wooded areas of Virginia."

"Tied to trees? Dead?" Joe shook his head.

"All the coroner reports came back confirming detective's suspicions. He apparently ties them to the trees alive and leaves it to mother nature." Chet looked down with disgust.

"Any known suspects or motives? Joe shrugged.

"I'm not working the case, bro. Just what Frank and Iola have shared. Iola was just along for the ride yesterday is why I know this much. Frank keeps things tight to the vest. Doesn't tell the family much about any case he may be working." Chet nodded knowingly.

"Kind of like your dad that way."

"True. But it doesn't take much to figure out their motives. And that much was confirmed in these cases. All victims were criminally assaulted. Chet gulped and then shook his head.

"Sick son of a bitch." He muttered.


Aunt Gertrude stood next to Maddie as she studied a series of photos hanging on the wall. It was a series of photos from when Frank and Joe were teens. A few of the photos had Frank's then girlfriend, Callie Shaw in them.

Maddie looked wide eyed at the photos.

"Oh my…" She said. The resemblance to her mother was almost like looking in the mirror. Aunt Gertrude nodded when she saw how the photos were affecting the youth.

"Yes, young lady. You are almost an identical twin to your mother." She said looking up and down at Maddie. "Though I believe you are developing even faster than she was at this age." Maddie reddened a bit and nodded.

"I've been told that." She said with uncertainty. "I never really realized how much I've grown in the last year until a few people told me. Grandma especially." Gertrude nodded her understanding.

"Well, young lady. Just don't make your top too low or your skirt too high and you'll be fine." Maddie nodded looking slightly embarrassed.

"I'll do my best, ma'am." She said.