Chapter 2



"Another body?" Sara asked.

Danny nodded his head. "Same M.O."

"Any clues?"

He shook his head this time. "Not yet. checking into the two girls' backgrounds to see if there was anything in common."

Sara glanced up at the clock on the wall. "I've gotta go, Danny. Promised Darvi I'd watch Corina for them."

"But, Pez, we're not done here yet."

Sara seemed to be thinking for a moment. "I'll bring her back here. She'll probably be sleeping the whole time anyway."

"All right."

She returned a half hour later with the sleeping baby. "Got a call while you were out," Danny informed her.

"From who?"

He shrugged. "Anonymous."

"Well, what did he say?"

Danny shook his head. "Not really sure."

"What do you mean you're 'not really sure.'"

"It was cryptic. Like he was speaking in riddles. He said, 'To stop the killings, you must find the killer. To find the killer, you must stop searching."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

I don't know, Pez. I really don't."

Captain Dante walked into the room as she was contemplating on this new information. He instantly saw Corina. "Petzeni, since when do you have a kid?" He sneered at her.

Sara rolled her eyes before turning to face her boss. "She's not mine, captain. I'm watching her for a friend."

"We're not a daycare center here, Petzeni."

"I know that, captain. But I promised my friend I'd watch her for them today."

"Well, make sure it doesn't become a habit. And she'd better not keep you from your work."

"She won't, captain."

He dropped some files on the desk. "Your background checks on the two victims came in."

"Thanks, cap," Danny said as Dante turned to leave their office.

Sara opened the first file and said, "Well, let's see what we can find out."

*******

"Why is he crying?"

"He's hungry, needs to be changed, or maybe it's that he's a baby, and that's what they do," Renee snapped at her dad as she went to pick up her son. She lifted him out of the baby carrier and nodded. "He needs to be changed."

Dakota followed Renee. "Maybe you should take it easy on him."

"On who?"

"You know who I'm talking about, Renee. Your dad. You haven't even given him a chance."

"I've given him several chances the last several years. He never took them."

"But you're not giving him a chance now."

"I'm sorry, Dakota. It's just so hard to forget how he treated us like we were only important some of the time."

"Maybe he's changed. Why don't you give yourself a chance to find out."

Renee sighed. "You're right as usual, Dakota. I'll do my best."

When they returned to the dining room, Gabriel was sitting across from Renee's father. "What exactly is it that you do, Gabriel?"

"I'm a businessman," he answered vaguely.

"What business are you in?" Michael was not to be put off that easily.

"I run a website dealing in unique artifacts and talismans."

"You deal in the occult?"

"Yeah, you could say that."

"And you make money in this?"

"Yeah."

"How did you meet my daughter?" He asked.

"She came to my shop looking for information on something."

"And you jumped in bed with her right then?" There was a sneer on the older man's face. Neither of them had noticed her yet.

"No," Gabriel said, his face set in anger. "You obviously don't know your daughter very well."

"I know her better than you. I've known her longer."

"Yeah, but I've probably been around her more in the last two years than you were in the last twenty." His voice was getting louder.

Michael glared at Gabriel, then his voice took on a different tone. "It won't last. She'll leave you soon."

"I doubt that. She's a lot stronger than you think."

Michael let out a snort of derisive amusement. "No, she's not. She'll change her mind about you before long."

"I must repeat myself it seems. You obviously don't know your daughter very well. She is very stubborn and cares very much about those around her. She doesn't move into a relationship very quickly. And that's your fault."

Gabriel saw the hand move across the table, but before he had time to react, it made contact with his cheek. "Don't say that. I have never done anything to her."

"Or for her," Gabriel replied, working the pain out of his jaw. "She's my daughter. I've given her everything. I provided everything she needed."

"Do you remember when she first walked? Her first word? When she first rode a bike? Her first day of school? Her graduation?"

"I taught her to ride a bike."

"What? One of the few times you were actually around? She needed more from you than money. She wanted you to be there. What about the other things? I know you don't remember her graduation. Either of them."

"How do you know that?"

"She told me. Said you were too busy to come. She didn't act surprised either."

As Renee listened, her eyes clouded up with love and anger. She remembered another time he'd been too busy to come to something that was important to her.



"Where's Dad?" The six-year-old asked, running to her mother and itching where the sequins from her costume came in contact with her skin. "I looked, but didn't see him."

"I don't know, Renee. Maybe he's waiting for you out in the hallway." Her mother looked at her older daughter who shook her head. She hadn't seen him either.

They followed Renee into the lobby where the little girl was searching frantically for her father. When her family caught up to her, she slumped her shoulders and said, "He didn't come. He pwomised he'd come, and he didn't." Tears were collecting in the corners of her eyes."

"Hey," her mom said, kneeling in front of her and wiping away the tears. "You looked beautiful up there. He missed out. Do you want to go get some ice cream?"

The young Renee shook her head. "I wanna go home."

"All right. We'll go home then."

When they arrived back at the house, there was a message on the answering machine. "Celia, I'm sorry. I can't make it to Renee's dance recital. I have to be out of town tonight. Tell her I'm sorry."

Renee hung her head and walked to her room, flopping onto her bed. A few minutes later she felt someone sit on the bed beside her. Fingers ran through her hair, and her sister's voice tried to soothe her.



Renee was jerked out of the memory when Aidan started fussing again. "I'm sorry, honey. Let's go get you some food."

Michael wouldn't look at his daughter as she walked past him, but he could still feel her heated glare. Gabriel followed her into the kitchen. While she was making up two bottles for the twins, he asked, "Did you hear any of that?"

She nodded her head. "Since he asked you what you did?" She reached out and touched his cheek gently. "You okay?"

He nodded. "How about you?"

"I'm fine," she replied, but her voice caught in her throat.

They were interrupted when Meghan ran into the kitchen. "What's wrong?" Gabriel asked, noticing the upset look on her face.

"Amie's crying."

Renee hurried back into the dining room to see what was wrong with her daughter. Amie was sitting in the high chair, and Michael was sitting in front of her, saying something. It wasn't the words, which Renee couldn't hear, and Amie probably didn't understand but the tone in his voice. She grabbed her daughter and said, "Why don't you stop? Can't you see she's upset? Why are you acting like this? I always just thought it was ignorance on your part, but I guess I was wrong. You act this way on purpose."

It hit Michael then. All he was doing was driving his daughter further away from him. He had no idea why he was doing this. He knew he had to try to fix things. "I'm sorry, Renee. I don't know what gets into me sometimes."

"Forget it, Dad. I'm sick of hearing your apologies and promises. It was a mistake coming here."

Gabriel walked into the room with the twins' bottles. The room was silent while the twins fed. When the bottles were empty, Gabriel asked, "Would you like to go into town? You could show me around a bit." He knew she needed to get away from her dad for a while.

"What about the kids?"

"Dakota can watch them. They'll be fine with her. You know that."

Renee nodded her head and gave him an appreciative smile. "All right. Let me get ready."