In my copy of this story I typed the comments of Rae's 'admirer' in a different font. However, I can't seem to download that, so I have put the day in bold in front of each part of the story that refers to this or italics if it is speech or a letter.. I hope this is clear. If not feel free to e-mail me. Thanks.

1st Friday

Rae suddenly jolted up in bed. She grabbed the clock. Eight o'clock, already! She jumped out of bed. "Jesse, we've overslept, I need you to run me to the hospital, and I have to be there in thirty minutes!"

"No, you've overslept – I don't have to be there until one! He groaned, opened one eye, and then rolled over.

Rae shook him, "Please, Jess, I'm sorry, it's not my fault what happened to Tom."

"Oh, ok, give me a minute, we can't both use the bathroom at once."

"Well, we could, but not if we want to get out in thirty minutes." Rae smiled over at him, and headed for what she hoped would be an energising shower.

By the time they'd both washed, and Rae had grabbed her drink and apple it was eight fifteen. They got into Jesse's car, and Rae called ahead to let Helen know that she might be a little late.

Rae rushed out of the elevator, "Helen, I'm so sorry, no excuses, I overslept, I hope I haven't mucked up his day for him."

"No, Detective, it just gave me time for a second cup of coffee! Shall we go through?"

Rae sat in the now familiar chair, and looked across at the friendly face behind the desk. "I'm sorry that I had to cancel so late yesterday, but I was caught up in a case, and there was no way I was going to get here. In fact, it was a very long day, which was why I was late this morning."

"It's not a problem. Now, as I'm sure you recall, when you were here before we were discussing your reactions when Steve was attacked. When you were with Steve waiting for the ambulances to arrive, did you know that the other man was dead?"

Rae shook her head. There had been no preamble this morning; the doctor had wasted no time getting to the next difficult bit. "No, I called separate ambulances, and then when they had both arrived, I went with Steve. I was a bit shaken up, because I'd just shot somebody for the first time, but I would've been ok."

"Then what happened?"

"I was sitting waiting for Jesse to come and let me know how Steve was, when the second ambulance arrived. They wheeled the gurney in, and when Dr. Martin went over to it I heard one of the paramedics tell him not to bother because it was DOA." She took a breath, and waited. Dr. Dobson made no sound. "I couldn't believe it. Maybe I was being naïve, I did shoot the guy in the chest, but kill him?  I've been on the force for over fifteen years, I'd never shot anybody before." She shuddered.

"Then what happened?"

Rae described how she'd felt dizzy, and how she had, in fact, been sick, as well as sickened. She ran her fingers through her hair, and looked over at the doctor.

"I think that you've realised, since I last saw you, that what happened is part of your job, maybe more so here than in London, and that you're beginning to accept that it was, unfortunately, inevitable in the circumstances. I also know that it happened after a particularly difficult period in your life, so I'm not surprised that it affected you."

"I know, but it doesn't make me feel any better about it. I shouted at Steve, blasted another detective, because he spoke at the wrong moment, and the other night…" She stopped. This time the doctor did speak.

"Yes, Detective?"

"The other night, after... Jesse and I made love, I just had to get up, and leave the room, I couldn't look him in the eyes, have him touch me or deal with the compassion in his voice, but just a few minutes before that … well, it was wonderful put it that way. I don't understand, how could my mood change so completely, so quickly?"

"That's easy, you let your guard down. You opened yourself up to the feelings you share with Jesse, once you had, the other emotions under the surface were easily released as well. You may find that happens quite a lot when you're in that situation, explain it to him, and if it happens, let the feelings out."

"How will I know when I'm letting the feelings take over, when they're in control of me, instead of the other way around?"

"Do you have a week for me to explain that one, Detective? I think that one of the biggest fears in your life is not being in control, or not being thought to be in control.  You described your feelings when Steve was taken, as being helpless, that there was nothing you could do. Sometimes it's good to lose control for a while, as long as you aren't holding an axe or a .44 magnum at the time. When you feel that losing control is taking over that's when it's dangerous. If, by letting the feelings out, you feel that it's helping, then it probably is. But I wouldn't expect you to still be feeling that way in about ooh, say two or three months time."

"Thank you, Doctor. When do you think I should come back? I must admit the panic about making another appointment isn't here today."

"Well, we booked you in for Monday didn't we? Not Tuesday, then your shifts change. I think that we should carry on with Monday's appointment and then maybe meet up once a week or fortnight for a while after that. How does that sound?"

"Just fine, Doctor, thank you." They shook hands and Rae walked back out to where Jesse was waiting for her. He stood up, and kissed her softly.

"Are you finished, sweetie? Do you want me to drive you to work?" Rae nodded, and they got into the elevator. When they arrived on the ground floor Rae saw two officers she recognised from the station. She walked up to them, and showed her I.D.

"Are you two going back to the station any time soon?"

The taller of the two men turned to her, "In about five minutes, Detective."

Rae arranged to meet them in the parking lot, and headed back to Jesse. "I've got a lift, Jess, why don't you go back home to bed? I'll try and get Tom sorted out today, I promise."

"Ok, but I think I'll grab a few hours in the sleep room, that'll do me. I'll see you later." He kissed her warmly and walked off down the corridor, and Rae went back out to wait for her ride.

The two officers in the black and white, Officers Johansson, and Bryant, came out about three minutes after she did, and they were soon en route to the station. As they were driving past a row of shops they saw three boys throwing stones at the windows. Officer Bryant pulled the car over and all three of them got out.

"Hey, whaddya think you're doing?" Johansson called as they ran up to the shop, which now had a shattered pattern across it's front. Two of the boys ran, but the third just looked at Rae, and stopped dead in his tracks.

"Josh? Josh Marlow, whatever will your mum say, when she hears what you've been doing?"

Tears started to run down the boy's face, "Oh, please, Detective Yeager, don't tell her, I'm real sorry."

"Do you know this little thug then, Detective?" Officer Bryant had chased one of the boys, but he'd disappeared out of sight.

"He's not a thug, Officer, I think we'd better take him back to the station with us, then Lieutenant Sloan and I can decide what to do with him. What do you say, Josh, I think you'd better come with me, unless you want one of these guys to call your mum right now?"

Josh nodded, "Please, Rae, don't phone my mom!"

"Come on, you ride back with me, I'll sort something out." Josh got into the car and Rae signalled for the other officers to come over to her. "I'll vouch for him, ok? I know you don't know who he is, but I'm sure you heard about the case where two youngsters were murdered by their teacher?" Both men nodded. "Well his sister was one of the children. I think their family has enough to worry about right now."

"Ok, Detective, it's no problem, that was your case wasn't it? That's how you know the boy." Officer Johansson had given up his futile chase as well. Rae nodded and they got back into the car.

Rae sat next to Josh and squeezed his hand. He gave her a worried smile and sank back into the seat. He didn't say a word the whole journey.

When they got to the station Rae took Josh up to the squad room and sat him at her desk. It was half past ten and Steve was already in. "Hey, Josh, how you doin'?" he smiled over at the young man.

"We had a little problem didn't we, Josh?" Rae looked at him. He nodded his head. "We decided that his mum didn't really need to know that he was throwing stones at shop fronts, I thought that we could maybe take him home ourselves, and arrange for him to get an officer to come into school or to his scout group, what do you think, Josh?"

"Yeah, we get credit marks if we can arrange something like that, that would be cool." The boy's face had lit up.

"I tell you what, Josh, you write all the details down on this pad, I'll pass it along to the right person, they can phone your principal and arrange it, what do you say?"

"Thank you, Detective, Lieutenant, and you won't tell my mom right?"

"Right. Ah, Steve, if I could borrow your car I could take Josh home right now." Steve nodded and handed over the keys, "Or are you supposed to be at school today?"

"No, we're on break at the moment." Josh and Rae headed for the parking lot and got into Steve's car. "Hey, what happened to your red car, that was great?"

"Oh, it's in the, ah, shop, I think you call it, it got scratched."

When Rae drew up outside the Marlow home it was just as she remembered it. "How's your mum coping, Josh?" It had been only five weeks since their daughter had been killed; she knew that life would still be terrible for the Marlow's.

"She's trying real hard to get on with life, you know, but I don't think she will, not for a long time." He paused. "I don't think any of us will."

They walked up the path together and Rae rang the bell. Mrs. Marlow answered it, looked at Rae, then at Josh and her face became troubled. "Oh, Josh, what have you done? Please come in, Detective."

"Rae, please. It's ok, Mrs. Marlow, it was nothing terrible, I just had a quiet word with him, and he won't make the same mistake again. I was coming over this way so I just offered to give him a lift, besides I wanted to see you again to see how you were doing, and to thank you for the beautiful flowers you sent me while I was in the hospital."

"I'm glad that you liked them, thank you for doing what you said you would. We were so upset to hear that you were nearly killed yourself, are you better now?"

"Yes, thank you.  I've been on duty for the whole of this week; it's good to be back. We've arranged for Josh's class to get a visit from an officer at the station, they'll enjoy it and it'll do his credit score no end of good." She turned and winked at the young man. "You take care, Josh, your mum has my number if you ever need it." With that Rae shook his hand, smiled over at his mum, then she walked back to Steve's car and returned to the station.

Steve was on the phone when she got there, so she got on the phone herself, and put in a call to her insurance service company. She explained what had happened to her car, and they agreed to pay out, once she met her deductible amount. Then she phoned Dave, who she'd bought the car from, and he said he would send somebody for it within the hour. Once she had let the desk know about that she decided it would probably be a good idea if she actually did some of her work. She looked at her desk, stood up, got a cup of tea and tried to put her thoughts into some sort of order.

Steve put his phone down. He was smiling as he moved over to her desk. "Hey, Dad says hi! I've gotten the search warrants for Ethan Norville, Mario Santos and Kelly Brown's homes and bank details. So that should take up today easily. Oh, I mentioned to the Chief that you wanted Monday off instead of Tuesday and he has no problem with that. I don't know, can't you stand the pace of work out here, Detective?" He saw Rae stick her tongue out at him as he turned to head for the coffee machine, and then turned back. "Oh there's a package on your desk, it was there when I got here."

Rae looked in her tray and sure enough there was a brown padded envelope, which had her name in large letters on it 'Detective Inspector Reagan Yeager', something made her cautious, she put gloves on before she picked up her letter opener and slipped it along the top of the envelope, then she peered inside. There was a piece of paper and a photo inside. She slid them both out and looked at the letter first. Rae dropped it on the desk as if it had burnt her. "Steve!" He hurried over to her. Her face was ashen; he gently picked up the letter by the very corner and read it.

"What do you think you are doing parading yourself around like this? You know I don't like it. You look like a TRAMP! Things happen if you dress like this. And you shouldn't let anyone touch you like Steve is here, tell him to be careful. I'll be watching. Make sure you're careful too. Hope you enjoy the photo."

Then he pulled the photo over to him the same way and looked at it. He could see that it had been taken in the police parking lot. It was of him and Rae when they had finished their little trip around the photo stores. He had his hand on Rae's butt and he could just see that she was smiling at him. He didn't think either of them had realised that they were being watched, he certainly hadn't.

"I'll get forensics up here, don't touch it. Why don't you go and see if Bob knows when this was delivered?"

Rae went down to the front desk, haven't I done this before? She explained to the desk sergeant, who, for once, wasn't Bob, what had happened. He'd only been on duty for twenty-five minutes so wasn't of much help. He offered to phone Bob, and let her know what he said, but Rae decided to do it herself. "Oh, while I think of it, the garage is coming to take my car away to be re-painted. When they come, will you call me so that I can come and make sure it's all ok?"

The man nodded and Rae headed back upstairs with Bob's number on a piece of paper. As she entered the room her cell phone began to ring, without thinking about it she just answered it. "Detective Yeager."

"Did you like the photo, my love? I hope you've got the message now, I don't like it when you look like a tramp, you need to make sure you're smart and well turned out for me, just like I do for you. I wouldn't want to have to hurt you to make you realise."

The phone went dead; Rae sat in Steve's chair. My God, I've got a stalker! The discovery was chilling. She put her head on the desk and tried to think what to do.

"Detective, are you, ok?" She looked up to see Martin Robertson looking at her, with a very concerned look on his face.

"Yeah, Martin, I've just got a lot on my mind right now. What are you doing up here? Can I help you?" Rae was suddenly suspicious of the whole world.

"The desk sergeant asked me to tell you that the garage guy is here for your car."

"Oh, thanks, I'm on my way." Rae got up, as she went down the stairs she tried to collect her thoughts. She knew that the department would have somebody to speak to about stalkers and she needed to let them know. She also needed to talk to Jesse, Steve, Mark and Amanda. Rae stopped before she reached the main desk and got out her phone. She put a call through to Mark and then went down to meet the mechanic.  However, it was Dave in reception, he smiled as he saw her.

"Let's go outside, Dave, I think I need to explain a bit about what has happened to my car." They headed round to the back of the station together. Dave let out a gasp when he saw her car.

"Wow, you got somebody rattled didn't you? I can probably have it ready by tomorrow night. Is that ok?"

"Yeah, Dave, listen this may sound strange, but don't let anybody but me pick this car up, ok? If anybody asks you anything about it, please don't give out any information."

Dave looked puzzled, but he nodded his head. "I guess you've got a problem, huh?"

"Yeah, you could say that. Thanks, Dave, I'll ring you before I come over tomorrow."

Rae looked at her watch, it was one thirty, she picked up her phone and called Jesse, "Hi, Jess, are you busy?"

"No, but it's the lull before the storm, we just got word that the driver of a bus taking retirees on an outing had to jam on the brakes, so we'll soon have the E.R. full of fluttery old ladies and gents with whiplash."

"That is very ageist, doctor! I'm surprised at you. Listen, I really need to talk to you, what time do you finish tonight?"

"I can probably get away about ten thirty will that do you?" Jesse could hear the tension in her voice. "If I can get free any earlier I'll head straight home, ok?"

"Yeah, look I gotta go, I'll see you tonight… I love you, Jesse." She put the phone back in her pocket and went upstairs. Martin was on his way down,

"I'm on my way to get some lunch, can I get you anything?"

"Ooh, yeah, a couple of bagels with salad in them would be nice." She rummaged around in her pocket and pulled out some change. She looked at it, then shrugged, and poured it all into Martin's hand. "Thanks, Martin, I owe you one."

The forensic team had long since left Rae's desk and so she sat back down at it. She saw Steve across the room, and signalled to him. He walked over, and she stood up. "I need to talk to you, privately. They moved over to a quiet corner, as they did so Mark came into the squad room. Rae called him over to her.

"Rae, what is it sweetie? Are you ok? You sounded real shook up on the phone." Mark had his hand on her shoulder and a concerned look on his face.

Rae shook her head. "No, Mark, I'm not ok, in fact I'm a long way from ok. I think I have a stalker!"

"What! Rae, are you sure?" Steve's voice was raised and she saw a couple of people look towards them, Oh great, they probably think I'm arguing with both Sloans this time.  She nodded.

I've been trying to get my brain around it, but I really need to write it down. She pulled a pad towards her that was resting on a nearby table. "Ok, first of all I just got hang up calls on my phone, then I got flowers. Today I got the photo, the letter, and a not very nice phone call. He said that I had to be careful because he would hate to have to hurt me to make me careful and, of course, there was Tom. I bet that was done just after the photo was taken." Rae shuddered. "You know it's a good job that I know that there are people like you here in L.A., because I seem to be getting involved with all the creeps and weirdoes!

"Why did you want to speak to us over here, Rae?" Mark looked over at her.

"Because I'm suspicious of everybody right now. Whoever it is, has got my cell phone number, he can get flowers and photos into the squad room, seemingly with no problem – and I've absolutely no idea who he is." She shuddered and stood up. "Right this is not going to disrupt the case, I'll just have to be real careful. Oh, and, Steve, please, you be careful, too."

"I will, Rae, I always am you know, and I'll keep my hand off your butt! Ok, then, if you really are ready, we need to go get the bank records for Ethan Norville, Kelly Brown and Duncan Myer. Then, when we have them, I want us to go and check out their homes. We can go over the bank records this weekend, we just need to make sure that if they have safety deposit boxes that we have them before the banks close tonight."

As Rae, Mark and Steve moved back into the room and headed for the stairs Steve heard his name being called. "Hey, Steve, we just got a call to say that your car was found at a wreckers yard this morning, it's probably been there a while because it's about one foot square!"

"Oh, great! Thanks."

Rae saw her lunch where Martin had left it on her desk and picked it up as she passed. "Ah, Steve, do you think you could look after my phone for a while? Just in case it rings." Steve took it off her and put it in his jacket.

As she handed over the phone a thought struck her. She looked down at her lunch. Suddenly she couldn't eat it. She tried to repress a shudder. She couldn't trust anybody any more. As she dropped it in the nearest trash can and carried on walking, Martin Robertson watched her from the hallway. They went over to Steve's new car. I guess I get to keep this one then.  

"Mark, are you going to come with us today?" Rae looked at him and he nodded his agreement. She let him get in the front of the car, and she sat in the back. "Steve, I need to get some lunch. Martin got me some, but I just couldn't bring myself to eat it."

Steve looked at her. "Oh, Rae, I'm so sorry this is happening to you."

"I know, thanks" Suddenly she thought of something else. "Hey, Steve, what happened to the flowers?"

"They now live in a dumpster by Mario's office. Right, two of the victims bank with Provident and the other one with First National; we'll do Provident first, and then move on to National. Once we've taken it all back to the precinct we can head for their homes. It's what two now? I reckon we'll be lucky to be back at the station again after that before our shift ends tonight. Is that ok with you, Rae, do you know when you'll get your car back?"

"Yeah, tomorrow afternoon, thank goodness. Can we see what time we finish, and then maybe you could either drop me at the hospital or at Jesse's again?" They chatted about nothing in particular on their way to the first bank. Once there the manager took them to an empty room, and gave them access to Kelly Brown and Ethan Norville's bank details. They both had safety deposit boxes, so Rae went off with a clerk to collect them. When they had all the information Steve gave the manager a receipt for each item, and they headed to the next bank.

Mark stayed in the car to guard the boxes, and Steve and Rae met with their third manager in two days. Duncan Myer had six different accounts and a safety deposit box. Soon they were on their way back to the station to make sure that all the items were safely locked away.

Kelly Brown had lived nearest to the station. Her apartment had been visited when she'd been killed, but from the report they'd found nothing. As she'd been found on the street, though, not a great deal of effort had been used searching her place. Rae opened the door with the key that she had taken from Kelly's personal effects and let out a low whistle. The apartment was breathtaking.

The door opened onto a large living area, which was all painted in an off white. There were large works of art on the walls, and two enormous cream leather sofas in front of a huge mock fireplace. The rest of the furniture was regency in style, and also cream. The only colour in the room apart from the paintings was in the curtains, which were a deep burgundy. Rae made her way over to the desk by the French doors. She looked outside, it may be a beautiful home, but the view was just of other homes. Still she probably didn't use it for the view, well, not that one anyway. Rae sat down, and started to look through some papers. Steve went into the bedroom, and Mark opened a large double cupboard in the corner of the living area. They worked quietly, occasionally one or other of them would show the others something, or make a comment about what they'd found. After about three quarters of an hour Rae heard her phone ring in Steve's jacket. She got up, and walked towards the bedroom.

"Detective Yeager's phone… hello, look buddy … beat it, ok … just leave her alone!" Then Steve hung up. "I think you can guess who that was. Right, come on, we're not going to dwell on him today, let's get on."

Rae looked around the bedroom. It was another beautiful room. It was painted in a very pale peach and the bed was a four-poster. The furniture matched the style of the other room. The whole effect was very tasteful, peaceful, and expensive. Rae left Steve to it and went back to the desk. She slid her hand up under the top drawer wondering if she would strike gold twice. She didn't. Soon Rae had two piles on the desk, one was stuff to take, and the other was stuff to leave. So far there was only one thing in the pile to take with them, and that was an address book. Rae checked the final drawer. It was full of correspondence, letters written to Kelly from, by the look of it, about three or four different people. Rae bundled the letters together, and added them to the address book. Then she stood up and stretched.

"Do you want me to check the kitchen, Steve?"

He put his head around the bedroom door. "Actually, Rae, could you come and help me in here, I'm on to her clothes now!"

"I'll do the kitchen then, son, there was nothing in this cabinet, except bills and receipts. I have separated them out and kept the ones from when the magazine started to be printed, plus the previous month, I think they'll make interesting viewing later." Mark headed towards the kitchen, and Rae the bedroom.

Steve was standing by a large fitted wardrobe, inside it were rails containing day wear, evening wear and outerwear, all separated and colour coded. The light colours started on the left, and things got darker as they went across. There were some beautiful evening dresses, which glittered and sparkled in the late afternoon sun. "This has got to be the most organised closet I have ever been in."

"You make a habit of rummaging around in women's closets do you? Her desk was very organised too." Rae smiled over at her partner. She pulled out a black dress, which had a starburst of diamante going out from the waist. "Oh, aren't they beautiful, somebody had great taste, and a lot of money, this is hardly Marks and Sparks."

"Who?"

"It's a what, Marks, not Mark. Marks and Sparks? Marks and Spencer's, you must have heard of them, big stores, sell clothes, food, nice things."

"No, sorry, not my type of place, and I've never been to London!"

"You haven't lived. Marks and Sparks is where most British women buy their undies!"

Steve just looked at her, "Thank you, Detective, that is way too much information! However, I will file it away for later."

"Sorry," Rae put the dress back in the closet, and said, "Ok, what are we looking for?"

"I have no idea, but remembering when we were looking at Hana Marlow's room, I thought you could start in her... undies drawer!" Rae smiled at him. She went over to the dressing table and opened the top right drawer; it was full of frothy, lacy panties, all either white or black, and none of them cheap.

"Nope, these aren't Marks and Sparks either. This woman spent a lot of money on herself, no doubt about that. I know in her line of work she had to, but she really did like fancy things."

It was another hour before they had finished searching the apartment. They had found almost nothing. Just some letters, an address book and a pile of bills and receipts. They packed them all into a box that they found in the kitchen and headed to the next apartment.

Duncan Myer had lived in a ranch style house in Burbank. So far the only victim who had been married was Mario Santos. Mr. Myer's home was a typical man's house. It was painted white and it was obviously just somewhere to live. There was mail on the mat when they entered. Steve picked it up and bagged it. Then they walked into the main room. There was an answer phone machine flashing in the corner. Rae went over and pressed the button with a pencil. "Hi, Dunc, listen man, I can't get hold of Ethan, so I'll pick you up as normal and we'll head over there. We have to talk to him. He won't get away with what he's doing to us. We need to let him know this is his only warning." Then the line went dead. Mario, for it must have been him, had talked for too long and the machine had cut him off. They carried on listening. "Duncan, hi baby, don't forget. I really need to see you tonight. I'll be waiting in our usual place." They listened to the sound of kissing down the phone line, and then that message, too, went dead. "D, hey I didn't get my delivery, if you know what I mean. I have customers, man, and they want their stuff. Ring me, or I'll have to find you. I want my money back if you can't deliver."

Steve looked over at his dad and his partner, "Did Kelly have an answering machine?"

Rae nodded. "Yeah. The tape must be at the station, it was empty, I checked." Rae took a breath. She had ended this man's life. With one action everything that had been him was gone. It was him or you, remember that.

Once again, they attended to their tasks. Once upon a time, Rae had felt like an interloper as she pried into people's lives, looked at their secrets, and invaded their sanctuaries. Now she just did what she had to, and hoped that nobody would ever do it to her. They'd been working for about twenty minutes, when Mark called them into the kitchen. Underneath a set of drawers in the fitted kitchen was a black tin box. When Mark shook it, it rattled, and sounded as if it was full of coins. It was locked so they put it on the table ready to be taken with them when they left.

Rae collected up all the bills, invoices, and receipts that she could find, then checked the desk, and the rest of the furniture in what could only be described as a den. There was a computer in the corner, which would be taken complete.

In the bedroom Steve found another black box under the chest of drawers, Duncan Myer was obviously a man of very little imagination. Just to complete the set Rae found a third one under the video cabinet. Apart from that there was nothing else of interest, and at just about seven they headed back to the car, and on to Ethan Norville's home.

As Steve and Rae had already checked this apartment themselves, they let Mark have a wander round while they watched him. He tried all the common places to hide things, from the drawers by the bed to the waste pipe in the kitchen. He found nothing. Then they all had another look. While Steve and Mark were checking the cupboards in the kitchen area, Rae went out to the door, and looked back into the apartment. When they had arrived the last time, Duncan Myer had been in the main area, but Mario Santos had been in the bathroom. She went in there, and looked around. Had he just gone in there to grab Steve, or had he been looking for something? Rae knew that the flat had been cordoned off since Monday, so nobody without a good reason could have got in.

She checked under the washbasin, and around the back of the toilet, nothing. Then she looked at the bath. It had wooden panelling along the front. It was called tongue and groove boarding in London. I have no idea what it is here. She ran her hand along it tapping each plank. When she got three quarters of the way along she found a loose board. She pried it off, and gasped. "Steve, Mark, could you bring a flashlight into the bathroom, please?

Steve pointed the beam under the bath. They must have been looking at hundreds of thousands of dollars! Steve got his phone out, and called for some backup to take it back to the station. Then they all put gloves on, and began to count their haul.

It took them two hours, by which time Martin Robertson and his partner, who had been entrusted to take it back to the station, had joined them. Steve got them to count it again as they put it into some steel carrying boxes. In the end they had counted $258,395.00, twice!

Rae looked at her gloves they were filthy. "They won't have to dust all that money will they?"

"Do you know, I have no idea, and to be honest, right now, I don't really care!" Steve smiled over at her. "Give me a credit card any day." They gathered up some bills and receipts that they had found, locked up the apartment once again and headed for Steve's car. Rae looked at her watch, by the time she got to Community General it would probably be about ten, she could grab a bite to eat, and wait for Jesse.

She told Steve of her plan, and then sat back in the car thinking about what they had found. She couldn't quite get over the sight of all that money just lying under the bath. Whatever would have happened if he'd sprung a leak!

Steve pulled into the lot at Community General. Rae leant into the front and gave both men a kiss on the cheek. Then she got out of the car. As she was turning to go, Steve called her back.

"Rae, take care of yourself, and watch your back, ok?" She nodded. She had felt remarkably safe this afternoon with them both, but she hadn't forgotten her situation. She looked around her, and then headed for the main doors. She didn't think she was being watched, but she had to admit that in a wide-open space like the hospital parking lot, she couldn't really be sure.

Jesse was waiting in the ER by the reception desk and smiled at her as she got out of the elevator. He walked across and kissed her on the lips. She smiled at him. "What time are you starting in the morning, handsome?"

"Not till one again, same Sunday and then I've taken Monday off instead of Tuesday, so we can spend it together." Rae smiled again.

"That sounds wonderful. She looked around, how long until you're finished here?"

"About ten minutes, I have to go cash up at BBQ Bob's, then we can go home, how does that sound?"

"Great, but could we grab something to eat at Bob's, I'm starving, and I don't think I can cope with soup or breakfast cereal again!"

Fifteen minutes later they were on their way. No last minute patients had come in, Jesse had signed out happily and walked hand in hand with Rae out to his car.  She decided that she wouldn't tell him anything about what had happened until the morning. They could discuss things then.

Bob's was quite empty for a Friday night, but it was almost closing time. As Rae sat at the bar drinking a mineral water she heard the door open and looked around. "Hey, partner, fancy seeing you here!" Rae got up and moved over to stand next to Steve.

Jesse put his head round the door from the kitchen, smiled at his best friend and came out into the restaurant. "Hi, Steve, I thought it was my night to cash up."

"It is, but I needed something to eat, and I couldn't be bothered to cook." Steve looked at Rae "Course, sugar, you could always come and do it for me!"

She stuck her tongue out at him. "Honey, my mama taught me how to really look after my man!" Rae used her Sheree wiggle as she went over to pick up another mineral water, and a beer for Steve. "There you go, darlin', don't drink it all at once, now!" She laughed as she felt Steve slap her butt, and she drank some of her own drink.

Jesse watched in confusion as they joked together. He had no idea what they were talking about. He didn't like the way he was feeling. He was about to try to find out what was going on when he heard the door.

Rae looked round again. "Hey, Phil, what are you doing here?"

Jesse checked his watch, Rae's order would be ready in the kitchen, he looked again at his best friend, sitting with Rae. What are you thinking? They work together - she loves you, but get jealous and you'll lose her. Get over it!

"Detective Yeager," the young photographer came over to where she was sitting. "I have been trying to get here all week. I heard your boyfriend tell Sarah that he owned the best BBQ restaurant in town, and I just love BBQ, so here I am."

"Well, we'll be closing in about half an hour, but you're welcome to join me, I've got some ribs coming out. I don't go for the hot and spicy ones, but they're really nice. Jesse walked out at that moment with a plate of ribs and some salad. He smiled across at the young man and shook his hand.

"At least we got one new customer out of Rae's article even if your journalist friend didn't give us a mention!"

The four of them sat together, talked and ate. By the time the final rib had been consumed they were the last ones in the place. Phil wiped his mouth on the napkin and smiled. "Well, I don't think I want anybody else to know about this place. I would like to keep it a secret just for me! That was delicious." He stood up and took his wallet out of his pocket.

"No, Phil, that's ok, it's my treat this time. Next time we're both here, you can pay."  Rae smiled at him as he put his wallet away.

Phil shook hands with Steve, Jesse and Rae, and then he headed off.

Steve and Rae took the plates back through into the kitchen. Jesse could hear them laughing and wandered over to the hatch.

"Honey, my mama told me life's too short to wash up! I need a dishy man who can do my dishes!"

"Darlin', I'd wash up for you any time. I sure wouldn't want you getting dishpan hands!" Rae fluttered her eyelashes at him, blew him a kiss and, practicing her walk again, went across the room, finished loading the dishwasher and switched it on.

"Hey, guys, I'm starting to feel left out.  What's the joke?"

"What?" Rae looked round. "Oh, you probably wouldn't understand, it's just something to do with the case we're working on." Rae smiled at him and Jesse, feeling a little deflated, turned away and began cashing up, fifteen minutes later Bob's was locked down tight for the night.

Steve, Jesse and Rae headed off in different directions across the parking lot. Jesse's car was parked under a light and they stood together in the glow. Jesse ran his finger down her face and kissed her on her lips. He felt the familiar stirrings within him and probed deep into Rae's mouth with his tongue. "Oh, Rae, I've missed you this week, we only seem to be together when we're asleep. Let's go home, honey." Rae kissed him once more and then they moved apart. A few minutes later Jesse's car drew away, into the night.

Friday I spent all day today chasing her around town. She was with Steve Sloan and his dad, and she obviously isn't listening to me because I saw her kissing them again! I sent her the picture to let her know what I thought of her when she was dressed like that, and I spoke to her on the phone. She needs to know how much I care for her and she will. She'll realise that by doing all the things I tell her to her life will be so much better. I phoned her again, but he had her phone. I'll soon be teaching him a lesson. How dare he take her things when everything she is and everything she has are mine and mine alone?