Unfortunately, the tapes appeared to be a dead end as the Rangers viewed the day's footage, noticing that the only people who entered and exited the room were the office help and Dr. Ehrlich himself. (Thankfully Sydney had disconnected the cameras before they'd entered and begun what otherwise could result in a very long and embarrassing explanation upon their return to Ranger headquarters.) Yet as they approached the end of the final tape, both Sydney and Gage suddenly spotted something that caused both to inhale sharply. Sydney clicked the pause button reflexively, freezing the image before them on the screen, then turned to Gage.

"Do you see what I see?" she asked, incredulous.

"Uh-huh," he didn't avert his eyes from the screen. "I don't get it, but I see it."

Sydney shook her head with disbelief and looked sideways at him. "Why is Mary Tyler in the file room?"

Gage turned to her and she knew that, despite the significant stride their investigation had just taken, he was about to take their conversation in a different direction. Dubious, she watched the Cheshire cat grin spread from one corner of his mouth to the other as he said in a very elementary tone, "Well, Syd, it's very possible that we're not the only ones who discovered another use for the file room. It's possible that we're about to witness something similar to our earlier activity, though I for one don't think that it will be nearly as interesting..."

Sydney frowned and cut him off, though her tone let him know she was willing to play along - for the moment anyway. "She's opening a file cabinet, Gage! I hardly think that she's waiting to seduce her husband in there."

Gage shrugged, his expression pure playful innocence. "You never know, Syd – some people go in for that sort of thing."

Amused horror slid over her face and she cried, "Gage!"

"What?" he wanted to know, chuckling. He knew it might count as competing with her, but the instant the comment came to him, he knew he couldn't resist adding it – as well as the next words that sprang to mind: "It worked for you, didn't it?"

Sydney must not have been surprised by his words because they were met with a characteristic roll of her dark eyes. She completely surprised him, however, when she met his challenge – and upped the ante – by lowering her tone and saying, "If you thought that was something, you should see what I can do in a closet."

Gage swallowed reflexively and felt his ears start to burn. Had those words just come from the lips of Sydney Cooke? Forget letting her win, the voice in his head intoned. She just kicked your butt, Francis. Retreat and regroup if you know what's good for you.

Trying not to sound as shocked and embarrassed as he felt, he said weakly, "Okay, then. Moving back to the tape here…"

Sydney's eyes narrowed and he could tell she was rather pleased with herself. She wouldn't rub it in the way he would have, he knew. Instead, she agreed with him. "Right. The tape."

Gage leaned back in his chair, his face contorted in thought as he regained his focus on the situation at hand. Thinking out loud, he said, "I don't get it. We swore up and down that it would have to be Dr. Ehrlich behind the whole thing – after all, he has more access to the couples who come through here."

Sydney nodded, all business herself now, and said, "Yes, but we don't know that she's acting alone. Just because she's in the room by herself doesn't mean that her husband isn't in on it with her – and it doesn't rule out the doctor either."

Gage nodded in agreement. "I'd better call Trivette and have him do a background check on the Tylers."

"Right," Sydney told him. "While you do that, I'll pull Ehrlich's file and see if I can find anything that connects them outside of Arroyo Grande."

Gage gave her a nod of agreement and began dialing. Trivette greeted him with a cheerful, "And how are you and the little wife doing?"

Gage gave a false laugh and said, "Never better – but if Syd ever hears you call her that, I hope you realize you're a dead man."

Sydney's ears perked up at this but she gave Gage only the barest glance up from scouring the files that she'd spread across the bed. He gave her a reassuring grin and a shake of his head to indicate that it was nothing to worry about, though she seemed more resigned to the running joke than worried about it.

"Yeah," Trivette agreed. "And I wouldn't just get it from Sydney – she'd tell Erika and I'd be sleeping on the couch for the next ten years or so."

"You're a wise man, Trivette," Gage told him gravely.

"So what can I do for you?" Trivette asked Gage companionably and Gage could picture him leaning back in his chair and propping his feet up on his desk.

"I need you to run a check on a couple who are here at the resort with us," Gage said. "Their names are Bob and Mary Tyler and they're supposedly from Houston."

"That's all you can give me?" Trivette sounded doubtful.

"Sorry, it's the best I can do," Gage replied apologetically. "I realize that there could be two hundred Bob and Mary Tyler's in Houston but that's all I have to go…"

He trailed off as Sydney signaled him from her position on the bed, waving a slip of paper at him. "Hold on a sec, Trivette."

"What's this?" he mouthed at her, dropping the bottom of the phone away from his mouth.

"Their address," she hissed, thrusting the paper into his hand.

"How?" he wanted to know.

"Later," she waved him off.

"Um, scratch that, Trivette," Gage spoke into the phone, sounding surprised by his partner's resourcefulness. "We're looking for Bob and Mary Tyler of 34332 Desert Glen Drive."

"Houston, right?" Trivette sounded as though he was writing it all down.

"Right," Gage confirmed.

"I'll run a check and have it for you by tonight," Trivette told the blond Ranger.

"Great," Gage told him. "I'll call you when we get back from our evening session."

"Evening session?" Trivette repeated. "Just out of curiosity, what is it that you do at an evening session?"

"We're at a couples' resort, Trivette," Gage told him haughtily. "We do couples things."

"You have no idea what happens at the evening session, do you?" Trivette asked after a moment's pause.

"Not a clue," Gage admitted.

"Talk to you later, buddy," Trivette hung up the phone, chuckling as he did so.

Gage clicked the hang-up button on the cell phone and turned to his partner. His eyes rested on her for a moment before she realized that he was staring and when she looked up, her dark eyes widened in surprise, then she frowned suspiciously and asked, "What?"

He pursed his lips, thoughtful, then told her in his best imitation of Ricky Ricardo, "Lucy, you got some 'splainin' ta do!"

Her eyes rolled back and she chuckled. "The Tylers' address was forced on me after our session this afternoon. Mary would 'luv' for us to stay in touch after we go home – you know, go to dinner with them and do 'couples' things."

Her smile grew a bit sarcastic as she finished and Gage shook his head at her, seizing another opportunity to play. "I don't think you're giving her a fair chance, Syd. I saw another side of Bob in the husbands' session today and I have to say I don't think he's all that bad. Who knows? We just might like spending time with them once…"

Sydney interrupted him sharply. "Gage, aren't you forgetting two significant details?"

"What's that?" he looked at her absent-mindedly, as though he'd lost himself in his last train of thought.

Sydney was careful to speak slowly and clearly: "For one thing, we're not actually married and for another, we may have just added them to our list of suspects."

Gage opened his mouth to say something when she suddenly leapt to her feet and cut him off mid-breath. All he managed to say was, "What is it?"

"Oh my gosh," she said the words half to herself, her gaze distracted and wandering. First she looked at the files in front of her, then at Gage, and then turned her focus to the wall, her eyes wide.

"What?" Gage asked more forcefully. He could see the wheels turning in her head and wanted to know what they were working on.

"That's it," she still was directing her words to her own ears, but they seemed to be coming to her lips faster now. She whirled to face her partner. "Gage, we've been focusing so much attention on Ehrlich that we've completely missed the point of the case."

"Which is…" he fought exasperation with only a little success. Only Sydney could make him so frustrated so fast and he moved closer to her as though to pull the words out of her mouth with the force of his will.

"Gage," her voice became high and excited, "the couples aren't attacked while they're here, are they? They're attacked afterwards – when they go home."

"And Mary Tyler gave you her address so you can contact each other once you get home," Gage finished her explanation in that unique way he had of always reading her mind.

Sydney nodded grimly. "Because if I contact her, there's a good chance I'll invite them to dinner – possibly even that we become friends – which eventually tells them where we live."

"And if they know where we live, they'll know right where to come when they need organs to sell on the black market," Gage nodded.

"Exactly," she agreed.

"Why didn't we see it before?" Gage wanted to know.

"I think a better question is this: why are they working together on this when they appear to hate each other?" Sydney put in. "Or even why attack people from couples' therapy in the first place?"

"Maybe if we weren't so busy fixing our couple problems we'd have time to ask them," Gage shrugged.

"You mean if we'd been doing our jobs," Sydney corrected him wryly.

"Basically," he agreed, then flashed her one of the twelve-year-old boy grins she had come to love so much.

"I suppose we have been just a little busy with our sessions and everything else," Sydney reminded him, glancing at her watch. "And speaking of busy, it's time for dinner."

"Great, I'm starving," he announced.

They started for the door and Gage opened his mouth to add something, only to have Sydney cut him off, pointing her finger at him and saying, "And please don't make any rude remarks about being busy in the file room – I'd just as soon move on from that."

Gage's jaw dropped in feigned innocence and clasped a hand to his chest. "Syd, I'm hurt."

"You will be if you bring it up," she raised her eyebrows pointedly. "Besides, you'll get over it - I hear they're serving prime rib for dinner tonight."

She opened the door and stepped through, Gage on her heels, seeming to have forgotten his earlier ideas of mischief as he asked, "So do you think it's all you can eat?"

*

True to his word, Trivette had information for the Rangers when they returned from dinner. The pair was supposed to be at their evening session in five minutes, but had hurried back to contact headquarters in their eagerness to crack the case, using the excuse that Sydney, aka Elena, wanted to grab a sweatshirt. They were due in the Serenity Room shortly.

Gage pulled a notepad over within reach and began making notes as he listened to his coworker.

"Bob and Mary Tyler are not actually Bob and Mary Tyler," Trivette informed Gage, adding, "but then you probably have figured that out by now."

"We were beginning to get that suspicion," Gage agreed. "So who are they really?"

"Loretta and Frank Timmerson," Trivette replied. "And let me warn you that you're treading on dangerous territory with these two, Gage. Frank Timmerson was a respected physician in Philadelphia before they're only child died of some sort of inherited heart defect four years ago. She could have been saved with a transplant but she was gone before her turn on the list came up – or so they were told. It came out later that her name had actually never made it to the list because the doctor who was supposed to put it on forgot."

"You're kidding," Gage breathed.

"Nope," Trivette replied grimly. "And that very doctor turned up dead three weeks later – missing all of his major organs."

"What?" Gage gasped. His tone steadied and he asked dubiously, "Trivette, have you been watching too many episodes of The X-Files?"

"Believe me, this story's too crazy not to be real," Trivette assured him, his own tone revealing a grave degree of disbelief. "They found the body in the dumpster of his very own hospital."

"Were the Tylers – er, the Timmersons – ever charged with anything?" Gage asked.

"There was an investigation, but there wasn't enough evidence to make an arrest," Trivette replied. "Two months later, the Timmersons disappeared."

"And showed up in Houston," Gage finished for him. His voice revealed his slight confusion as he added, "So let me get this straight: their daughter died because of a doctor's negligence and now they're stealing organs from other people to sell on the black market. Are we dealing with a Robin Hood sort of thing here?"

"Most likely," Trivette agreed. "It's a stretch, but it's the only thing that really makes sense when you look at the facts. I'm e-mailing Sydney pictures of the Timmersons so you can confirm it."

"Thanks," Gage said.

"Once you get things confirmed," Trivette told him, "give Walker a call so we can start setting up Phase 2 of this assignment."

"Will do," Gage nodded, hanging up the phone and restoring it to its hiding place in an unmarked box situated behind the Bible in the drawer of the bedside table.

"Trivette said he just e-mailed you pictures of the Timmersons, whom he believes to be the Tylers," he told his partner who was seated at the laptop.

"I just got it," she nodded.

She clicked the mouse a few times and Gage waited a moment before asking, "Well?"

She looked up and locked her dark eyes on his. "It's them all right."

Gage nodded. "Well, now we know where to start on this investigation."

"Yes we do," she pursed her lips in the way that she did whenever she was thoughtful and rested her chin on her hand, looking at him. Neither spoke. Perhaps it was the shock of suddenly realizing just what the case was all about that rendered them silent and pensive, or maybe it was something else. Though they would probably lie under oath if asked, the true root of their brief, yet almost wistful, moment seemed to be better attributed to the fact that as soon as they finished at Arroyo Grande, they would leave its isolation for Dallas. During their short stay, the problems that had plagued them at home had not been as noticeable and both clearly suspected that their differences were only in hiding and would reappear all too soon.

*

Phase 2 of the Rangers' undercover operation would entail catching the culprits in the act of committing a crime. For that to happen, Sydney and Gage both knew full well that they needed to get away from Arroyo Grande and establish housekeeping in a Dallas suburb using their pseudonyms. Now that they knew with reasonable certainty that the Tylers were the suspects they were seeking, it would be the Rangers' task to lure the couple into a trap – which meant seeking out the Tylers' at the evening session instead of hiding from them.

Sydney hesitated as they approached group of seats in the Serenity Room where the Tylers sat, observing that Mrs. Tyler was chatting a mile a minute and seemed to be in excellent form. Mr. Tyler was staring off into the distance, apparently eager for Dr. Ehrlich to come in and interrupt Mary's tirade, but appeared to be nodding in all of the right places to appease his spouse.

Slowing her steps so that Gage was practically walking on top of her, Sydney whispered, "I don't know if I can do this."

"Relax, Shorty," he kept his voice low.

"Ever heard the term 'sugar shock?'" she retorted.

"You're not diabetic," he reminded her.

"After this I might be," she told him. She pasted a fake smile on as she stepped up to the couple and said brightly, "Hi! Can we join you?"

"Please do!" Mary Tyler exclaimed, patting the seat next to her.

"Glad to have you," Bob Tyler gave a relieved smile.

"We're sorry to be late," Gage put in, "but Elena couldn't decide which sweatshirt to wear."

"And John was no help whatsoever," Sydney added, taking the seat Mary had gestured to.

"You look good in everything," Gage told her, his tone even and his blue eyes locking on her face with a gaze that suggested more sincerity than their mock argument implied.

Sydney felt her face flush slightly and was about to reply when she heard Bob Tyler give a disgusted snort beside her. Deciding that a change in topic might be best, she asked brightly, "So what's tonight's topic?"

"We haven't heard yet," Mary replied. "But I'd say we're about to."

She pointed to Dr. Ehrlich, now entering the room with a clipboard in his hand. Sydney grimaced, then quickly remembered herself and said, "Great."

"Last night we took quizzes to see how well we knew our spouses," Mary informed her in a whisper.

"Oh?" Sydney feigned interest. "How did you and Bob do?"

"One hundred percent correct," Mary replied.

"Really?" Sydney didn't have to pretend to be surprised.

"Oh yes," Mary told her sincerely.

There was no time for more conversation then because Dr. Ehrlich clapped his hands to gain everyone's attention.

"Good evening, everyone," he boomed, revealing his trademark smile. "And how were your sessions today?"

A scattering of calls of "Great" and "Just fine" echoed across the room. Sydney and Gage remained silent.

"I bet you're all wondering what this evening's session will entail," Ehrlich continued. "Well don't worry – I won't keep you in suspense. Tonight's session is going to be very simple for you, I hope. We've been talking about our relationships all day. We've been analyzing the way we relate to our spouses and talking things to death."

"Amen," Gage muttered beside Sydney, who elbowed him in the ribs, though gently to show her own agreement.

Ehrlich was still talking. "Tonight, then, I want all of you to work on one part of your relationships that of late may have been neglected. I don't want to go into explicit detail, but I think you all have a very clear idea of what I'm getting at. Therefore, you are all released to your rooms. I'll see you tomorrow."

His face had become slightly pink as he concluded his speech but no one in the room really seemed to notice, as chuckles had begun to erupt from all corners. The only people not laughing were the two Rangers, whose faces were not the embarrassed pink of the doctor, but rather the mortified red of two people who had more than a clear idea of what Ehrlich was getting at.

Couples began filing out of the room, passing by Dr. Ehrlich, who had positioned himself in the doorway and was saying goodnight to everyone individually. Sydney and Gage stood slowly and did not make eye contact with each other. Gage stared at the floor and anyone looking at Sydney would have thought she was fascinated with the wall.

Mary Tyler stood and said, "Well this is certainly a surprise."

Sydney, glad for the distraction, agreed wholeheartedly. "A real shocker."

"He's brilliant, don't you think?" Mary went on.

"Who?" Sydney asked.

"Dr. Ehrlich," the woman replied.

"Oh," Sydney mused. "Um, sure."

"He really understands marriage, don't you think?" Mary continued.

"Better than I do," Sydney flashed what she hoped was a non-threatening smile.

"Well, we'd better go," Mary seemed oblivious to Sydney's discomfort. "See you in the morning."

"Right," Sydney told her.

She watched the Tylers make their way to the door, then realized that she and Gage were the only ones left in the room. It wouldn't do for them to stand around all night.

She turned to face her partner. "We should go."

Gage's ears were the red of a fire engine and it took him a moment to bring his eyes up to meet hers. "Um, yeah."

"Come on," Sydney kept her tone business-like and grabbed his hand, dragging him behind her to the door. Their appearance was more of a mother dragging a reluctant child to the dentist than a husband and wife who had been granted a second honeymoon of sorts.

Dr. Ehrlich's eyebrows raised when he saw them coming. "I just want you to know that you two were the inspiration for this session."

"And we're so glad," Sydney told him in a pained tone, pulling Gage through the door and down the hall.