Progressing Nicely
Rae and Jo had left the two men to play and had sat chatting about the prospect of a wedding the following week. At Rae's bidding Jo had put a call through to the minister that she had planned to marry them on Easter Saturday, and had been delighted to find that he was free on the Thursday. He had enquired about Steve's religious preferences and when Jo had admitted to not knowing had asked her to contact him before the service.
With a set day to plan for, Rae and Jo had disappeared into the family room and begun surfing the internet for all the things that they needed. They looked through some wedding dress sites, and found themselves either oohing and ahhing or collapsing into giggles at the wonderful and wacky dresses they found. One success was a beautiful softly falling bridesmaid dress that both Jo and Rae loved. They took a note of the address, and as it was also a bridal store were hopeful that they might find something for the bride as well.
It was just after ten when the security phone began to ring and, with a sigh, Rae pulled herself away from the pleasantries of the last hour or so and headed for the door. Two minutes later Cheryl was coming into the house, a laptop, and the other things that Joseph Logan had with him when he was killed, in her arms.
"Rae, Jo, how are you?" The two friends smiled, and from the brightness of their eyes, Cheryl could tell that they were both more than fine. "Now, what is going on here? You are both up to something."
Rae waited, not knowing whether or not the wedding was common knowledge, but with a smile Jo began to talk. "We have decided that we can't wait to get married, so next Thursday, as long as the groom can get the day off, we are gettin' hitched. I hope that you will be able to come."
"Next Thursday? Hey, I'm not scheduled to work that day, I would love to come." Cheryl looked thrilled to have been asked.
"You can bring a friend, you know that don't you? We won't expect you to come alone. There won't be many people it's just gonna be a small service, I will get an invitation to you by Wednesday."
"Thank you, Martin should be out of the hospital by then."
"Martin?" Jo's eyes began to glint even more. "Girl, you have been keepin' things from me. When did you an' he get together?"
"A couple of months ago. Just after Rae went to … jail … I needed someone to lean on, and he was there and he understood." Cheryl stopped speaking, and was pleased to feel Rae's hand on her arm. "We haven't told anybody yet, not officially, but Rae knew, and Steve. Jo, could you invite him separately? We can be together without being together, just in case the Captain or the Chief is there."
Both Rae and Cheryl could tell by the look of horror on Jo's face that she hadn't considered inviting Steve's superior officers. With a smile Rae began to speak. "I'll just go and get the guest list." Rae headed back into the living room and picked up the tablet they had been working on. She looked around and saw that Steve, Jesse and Eliana were now out in the back yard, and not wanting to intrude, but desperately wondering what they were talking about, she moved over towards the door to hear Steve speaking.
"…So, I told her. I didn't think I would ever be able to let somebody else know what happened, even Rae doesn't know, and the other things well, we'll cope, just like you and Rae have done."
Rae could hear the smile in her husband's voice as he began to speak. "Yeah, we have, haven't we? I'm trying to understand why she has to go to The Willows, she knows that now, and that I appreciate her wanting to go back to work with you, but you keep her safe, Steve, you watch her back."
Rae suddenly felt like an intruder, and she moved quietly away, and then began to call out so they knew she was there. "Jesse, Steve, Cheryl is here."
The two men turned with smiles on their faces, and Rae felt even worse. She moved over to Jesse and kissed him gently on the lips. "He always has watched my back, Jesse, and I watch his. I'm sorry, I was listening in."
"Ooh, I wish I'd known, I could have said all sorts of things." Jesse smiled as she stuck her tongue out at him and then laughed out loud at the look of horror on her face as their daughter, happy in her daddy's arms did the same thing to her mom.
By the time Cheryl and Steve had a cup of coffee and Rae an herbal tea it was almost half past ten, the three of them sat in the lounge, the laptop and Filofax on the table in front of them.
Quietly they went through the files of addresses, accounts and everything else they could find on Joseph's laptop, but all the addresses tied up with the name above them, and everybody that they called had no idea where George was. They were all getting very frustrated and annoyed by the time that they had got to the end of the names and Rae could tell that Steve was sorely tempted to throw the laptop across the room.
Cheryl had picked up the Filofax and was working her way through it, standing behind Rae so that she could check on any addresses that were duplicated. There were only four that weren't, and they had all proved to be non-starters too. Finally the three of them looked at each other.
"It must be at the house, you got a search warrant didn't you, Cheryl?" Rae looked up at her friend and colleague with a puzzled look.
"Yeah, and unfortunately I have already searched it once. So I guess I know what I am doing for the rest of the day." Cheryl's words were accompanied by a groan, and she plonked herself down on the sofa with a sigh.
"What about his bank, did he have a safety deposit box? We struck gold with them one time, remember Steve?"
Her partner did, and he smiled at the memory. Just before Rae's world had gone bad, and Levington had taken Jesse, they had wound up a triple murder with the information they found in a safe and some safety deposit boxes.
"Remember all those diamonds? I wonder what happened to them; I actually got to run my fingers through diamonds." Rae smiled and then seemed to pull herself together. "Ok, I guess you are going to go search George's place again, Steve, what are you going to do?"
"Well, unlike some people I am working on more than one case right now, and I have to go and investigate the dust found in a bus station locker."
"Gee, you get all the good jobs don't you, Sloan?" Cheryl smiled. "Look, I'll search the house again and then go back to the precinct. If you come back there after you have done whatever it is you have to do to check your dust I can let you know what I've found, ok?"
"Yes, Ma'am." Steve smiled. It had been a long time since he had worked with Cheryl but they seemed to just slot back together like two pieces of a puzzle.
Five minutes later, both Steve and Cheryl had left and Rae was getting another drink before carrying on with the pleasant task of helping her best friend arrange her wedding when the security phone rang again. "Hello, Mrs. Travis… Um, yeah, just keep him talking for a minute will you, I need to … just get something out of the oven and then send him up… Hold on" Rae suddenly thought of something else. "When Lieutenant Sloan gets here, don't announce him, just let him through." Rae put the phone down and quickly moved over to the ordinary handset and dialled Steve's cell phone.
"Steve, it's me, you need to get back here right now… no, Jo's fine, but George just signed in at the gatehouse… Yeah, you can just drive straight in." Rae put the phone down without even saying goodbye and was dismayed to see that George was already outside. She opened the door knowing that he would be aware of her call from the guard.
"George, what are you doing here?" Rae held the door wide, and the man walked straight past her without a word, a copy of the daily paper in his hand, and seeing the living room in front of him went in there. "Well, just come right on in, why don't you?" Rae mumbled to herself as she turned, and then with a sigh and a grimace, as she flexed her fingers, she followed him. Rae knew what the headline said; they had a paper delivered themselves. Across the top were splashed the words, 'Drive By Shooter Strikes Again', and underneath was a smaller headline, 'police protection fails to prevent murder of latest victim.'
Jo and Jesse had taken Eliana into the nursery when Steve, Cheryl and Rae had engaged police mode, and after playing peek a boo for a while had returned to the stacking of blocks and the shape sorter. Eliana had no interest in using them properly, but she liked to watch everybody else play with them. As they sat they chatted about the forthcoming wedding, and a hundred other things that just flitted into their minds, both of them relaxed and happy, knowing that their partners were the same. Steve and Cheryl had come in and said their goodbyes, and after Jo had watched Steve leave she had smiled at Rae, but returned to the nursery, knowing that her friend would join them as soon as she could.
"Jo?"
"Mmm, yeah, Jesse, what is it?" Jo was trying to get Eliana to put a circular shape into the sorter, but wasn't having much luck.
"I don't want to embarrass you, or worry you, or anything like that, but if you would like me to give you a medical exam, you know, so that you can consider starting a family, well you only have to ask. I know that Mark is your doctor, but he isn't working right now, and unless you would prefer to have a stranger do it, I will be happy to do so." The sound of the security phone cut across his train of thought and Jesse stopped talking.
"Jesse, thank you, an' yes, I'll come in later in the week. I think it would put my mind at rest just a little to know that things are as they should be. I'm real scared about havin' a baby, but Steve an' Mark are right, I have loving friends around me now, an' …." Jo's words were cut off, as she and Jesse heard Rae scream out.
"No!"
Rae had sat down on Tony's chair, and watched as the obviously distraught man had roamed her living room. "George, sit down, we can't talk about this until you sit down."
To her amazement he had done exactly what she said, and then she looked into his eyes, and smiled a sad smile. "George I am so sorry about Joseph, but we need to find Sandra Breth, she will kill more innocent people, and she already has way too much blood on her hands as it is."
"I don't know where she is…" George's words seemed to disappear into the distance, and Rae knew that this man was grieving, just the same as she would for Jesse, or Steve would for Texas.
"George, do you know where and when you were gonna be getting married?"
"Yeah, I know that. I didn't when I spoke with you and Steve, but I remembered."
Rae waited but it was clear that there was nothing more coming. "George, I said I was sorry about Joseph, and I tried to push him out of the way, but you shouldn't have left, it wouldn't have happened if you had stayed." Rae knew that she had said the wrong thing as his eyes began to flame, and then he stood and in one quick movement he was coming for her, his hands outstretched as he aimed for her throat.
"No! George, no!"
"Bannister, hold it right there."
Rae had never been so glad to hear Steve's voice in her life. She continued to back away, but turned as she did so, and could see that her partner had his gun trained on George Bannister, who had stopped as soon as he heard Steve speak. Gradually the man turned in on himself in front of them, his legs gently gave way under him and as he collapsed to the floor they could all hear him calling for his lost lover.
Jesse and Jo had rushed from the nursery as they heard Rae's cry, but Steve had been there just before them, and they had let him do his job first. Now though, Jesse ran straight over to his wife, who was standing, looking shaken and a little lost.
"Rae, Honey, are you all right?"
"What? Oh, Jess, he … he was gonna …" Rae couldn't say it, the tears came up in her eyes, and she knew that however brave she wanted to be, she couldn't stop them from falling. Jesse gently cradled her in his arms, and felt the tears escape her. After a couple of minutes he knew that she was calming down and so he turned to his friends.
"Jo, could you take Rae into the other room, just for a while, I need to check him over." Jesse looked down at the fallen man. He hadn't moved in all the time that Jesse had been with Rae, and the doctor in him came to the surface, and he knew he had to treat him.
"Sure, come on, Honey, let's go an' sit in the family room for a little minute."
With a grateful smile Rae took her friend's hand in hers, and already feeling much better, she turned. "See, I told you he watched my back." Then with a soft kiss on her husband's cheek Rae left Jesse and Steve to finish up what she had started.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
By the time Jesse had checked George Bannister over, and Steve had placed him under arrest, Jo had called for an ambulance to take him to Community General. Jesse could see that he was suffering from shock, and he also had a feeling that he hadn't eaten or drunk very much in the last twenty four hours. Rae had told Jo that George knew the name of the church and the wedding date, and Steve had managed to get them out of him before he was driven away. Once Jesse had left the house as well, and he had called through to Cheryl, Steve checked in on Rae and Jo who had gone back to her friend in the family room, and was pleased to see that Rae was fast asleep, and Jo was looking through wedding dress designs on the internet.
"Are you gonna stay here with Rae and Eliana?" Steve came over and stood behind his fiancée. "Good grief, you wouldn't actually wear that would you?"
"Steve! Now I'll have to choose another one, you know it's bad luck for the groom to see the gown." Jo smiled, she would get married in her bathrobe, rather than wear the dress on the screen, but she knew Steve wouldn't realise that.
"You're kidding, right? Jo, Honey, it's … well it's, God, Jo, it's awful" Steve looked at the dress in front of him. It was long, brides always wore long, he knew that, but they didn't usually have black in their dresses did they? It looked like the top was velvet, black velvet, and the skirt was white, with a black edge all the way round.
Jo couldn't keep her giggles in any longer, and when Steve saw her shoulders begin to shake, he knew that he'd been had.
"It is awful isn't it? The only thing I can think of is that you would wear it if you were in mournin' but I'm not so you needn't worry, I won't be comin' out of the beach house in that little number." Jo paused for a minute and then smiled up at him. "I knew you would come check on us, so I looked it up an' minimized it. Then when you came in I just called it up, an' presto, I gotcha!"
Steve kissed her gently on the top of her head, and was just leaning over to kiss her properly when she stood up and kissed him tenderly on the lips. As Steve's fingers began to move in her hair that he loved so much they heard a sound.
"Oh, for goodness sake, at least wait until you are newly weds to start behaving like them!" Rae was laying on the sofa a sleepy smile on her face. Jo pulled away from Steve immediately and moved across, crouching down beside her friend.
"Honey, are you all right? Jesse told me I was to take your pulse an' your temperature, an' I wasn't to let you move off this sofa if you felt at all ill."
Rae smiled, she was a little more alert now and slowly she moved herself into a sitting position. "Ow!" She couldn't help but let out a small cry of pain, but once she was upright she was fine once again.
"Rae, what happened?" It was Steve who asked the question. Although he had the information on the church which he was about to go and sort out, he had no idea why he had heard her shout out as he pushed the front door, that Rae had left open for him.
"I told him that I was sorry that I hadn't been able to save Joseph, and then I said that if he hadn't left he would probably still be alive. I guess it wasn't a very clever thing to say because he leapt to his feet, and …" Rae swallowed hard, and then continued. "He came at me, his hands were out in front of him and I just knew he was aiming for … my throat, and I called out… and then you were there, thank you, Steve."
"No problem. Now I am going to Saint Kevin's church."
"Saint Kevin, oh, there can't be a Saint Kevin surely." Jo laughed as she spoke, "What did he do?"
"I have no idea, but I'm sure I'll find out. Rae, I agree with Jesse, you take care today."
"I will, don't worry, Texas and I were going shopping, but I think we have a little more planning and organising to do before we get to that stage." Rae stood up, and Steve could see that she seemed fine, not at all wobbly, or dizzy. He leant over and kissed her tenderly on the cheek.
"You be careful, I need you back, ah, listen, can we talk about body parts maybe tomorrow? You could come over for dinner, and then we could go through what I have?"
"Yeah, ok, I haven't looked at it all yet, but I'll get on it tonight, and then I will be up to speed tomorrow… Great, homework, just what I need." Rae returned the kiss and then she and Jo moved out to the front door, this time Rae said nothing when the happy couple kissed each other goodbye, but she did grin at them when they stopped. With a final wave Steve got into his car, and headed off to, he hoped, sort out the drive by shootings once and for all.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Father Gerald was a small, rotund little man, and had been the priest of Saint Kevin's for just over ten years. He'd received a telephone call, and was now waiting in the front vestibule for a Los Angeles police detective.
"Father Gerald?"
Although he had been expecting his visitor, the voice surprised him, and he turned to see a tall, well built man standing in front of him, his arm outstretched in greeting and smiled.
"Lieutenant Sloan? I'm pleased to meet you. Won't you come through into the house?" Steve nodded and followed the priest through a carefully tended garden into a small, but meticulously tidy home. "Please take a seat, Lieutenant, can I get you anything? A cup of coffee or tea perhaps?"
Steve smiled; he could tell that the Father was very nervous. "No, I'm fine, thank you. I need to ask you about a parishioner of yours, she may not still attend, but at one time you were going to arrange her wedding. Her name is Sandra Breth." If Steve had hoped for instant recognition he was disappointed, there was no trace of anything on the face of the man sitting opposite from him.
For a moment Father Gerald was silent, his eyes resting on Steve's belt. In an almost reflex action Steve moved his hand, and felt the butt of his gun. "I'm sorry, Lieutenant, but I'm not used to having someone sit in my house with a loaded gun on their person."
Steve moved his jacket slightly so that the gun was no longer visible, and the priest seemed to relax a little. "Thank you. Now, you said you needed to look at my records, and I have them here. How long ago was it that you needed to check?"
"Do you keep a record of weddings that are arranged and then cancelled? Because, if you don't, then we can save ourselves the trouble of wading through all these books."
"I keep a record of everything, Lieutenant; these are the books with information on weddings going back to the week I joined this diocese. Do you know when exactly this wedding was supposed to be?"
"I do, but I don't know when it was planned." Steve could have kicked himself, he hadn't asked George any more than the two most pressing questions, but then he probably wouldn't have been able to answer him anyway.
Once they had removed all the books that were obviously too recent, or too far back into the past they had three books left to go through.
"Sandra Breth you say, do you know the name of her intended?" The priest had put a small pair of round glasses on his nose and was opening up the book he had balanced on his knees.
"Bannister, George Bannister." There was still no recognition, and Steve opened his book with a sigh, and then held his breath. Things like this didn't happen to him, but there, the first entry in the book was Sandra Breth and George Bannister. "I don't believe this, I've found it." Steve held the book up for Father Gerald to see. The date was set for Saturday March first at eleven." That agreed with what George had said, and then a thought lodged itself in the front of Steve's brain and he checked his watch, "and this Saturday is the 1st of March again."
"There is an address here, Lieutenant, Miss Breth lives or lived quite a way from here."
"Why did she want to be married here then, Father?"
"Let me see." There was silence as the priest moved closer to look at the records, and then thought a little. Finally he smiled. "There is a little 'f' in the margin, which means a member of her family had been married here, probably her parents, and she wished to do the same."
"Oh, right." Steve could understand that, he was looking forward to being married at the house he had shared with his mom and dad."
The Priest's voice came from behind Steve's shoulder, and he looked back down at the book. George's address was the one where he still lived, and there, next to it was an address for Ms S. Breth, and he was right, it was an address on the outskirts of Los Angeles, it appeared that she worked for a Mr. Stuart Mitchell. Suddenly Steve spotted something else.
"What is that little star by George's name, Sir?"
"What? Oh, that." Father Gerald peered through his glasses. "That means that the groom wasn't a Catholic. I'm not aware of your religious persuasion, Lieutenant, but if a Catholic is marrying a non-Catholic then there are certain procedures that have to be carried out."
"What? Oh yeah, I know that, Father, but it would take longer to get the wedding arranged in that case wouldn't it?"
"Oh yes, it takes at least four months to arrange a Catholic wedding, and normally a lot longer than that. In fact I am marrying a couple on Saturday; they have been planning for over two years. Two years, and every Friday at three the bride's mother has been calling with her questions and queries. I can't tell you how much I am looking forward to Saturday, Lieutenant."
"I'm afraid that you won't be able to undertake that wedding on Saturday, unless I have apprehended Ms Breth before then. I'm sorry, Sir." Steve felt compelled to apologise as he saw the look of horror that passed across the Priest's face.
"I don't have a free Saturday for over six months, Lieutenant; I cannot have that woman calling me for the next six months." The Priest looked up to the heavens as if asking for forgiveness, and then let out an extremely heavy sigh.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Steve had been formulating plans all the way to the address given in Father Gerald's book, but unless Sandra Breth was still a resident there, none of them were workable. He'd put a call through to Cheryl while he was still at St Kevin's, and now as he drew up to the entry control point at the main gates, he showed his ID to the man on duty.
"I would like to speak with Mr. Mitchell, please." Steve waited as the security guard checked his details and thought how young he looked.
"Are you expected, Sir?"
"No, no, I'm not, but I need to speak with him on a matter of some urgency." Steve smiled to himself, he sounded like a training video.
As the man went back into his security office Steve could see that he wore a jacket with Mitchell Security emblazoned across the back and watched as he began talking on the phone. A few moments later the young man was back. "If you would like to drive up to the main house you will be met on your arrival. You will be required to wear this visitor's badge for the entirety of your visit, Sir."
Steve signalled his understanding with a wave of the hand, and then followed the basic instructions he had been given. Sure enough about three minutes later he was drawing up outside a large, almost white house that made Jo's home look like a potting shed. Steve parked his truck, and then walked towards the front door. He made sure that the plastic badge with Visitor written on it was clearly visible, and then rang the bell.
"Yes, Sir, can I help you?" The door was opened by a very tall distinguished looking butler, not at all like the friendly welcoming version he had at home.
"Lieutenant Steve Sloan, LAPD." Steve held up his ID.
"Oh, yes, Sir, Mr. Mitchell is waiting for you, please follow me." The man stood back and let Steve enter the house. The hallway was huge, with beautiful soft grey marble on the floor and up in columns at regular intervals around it. "If you would like to come this way you are expected in the morning room."
Steve smiled, there must be something about morning rooms, it was Jo's room of preference too. Steve shook all thoughts of home from his mind, he wasn't here to compare drapes, he was on official business. He had himself back in line by the time the butler stopped walking and opened an extremely ornate door.
"Lieutenant Sloan, LAPD, Sir."
"Thank you, please send him in, Jonathon, and then we will partake of tea." Steve was unable to see the object of his visit yet, but the voice was deep and obviously used to being completely in control of every situation.
"Very good, Sir." The door was opened a little wider and Steve went into the room, and heard the door shut behind him. Although he had pushed the comparisons of home out of his mind this room was, even to his eyes, spectacular, and in complete contrast to the simplicity Jo preferred. It was definitely a man's taste. Everything in the room was either black or white, from the floor to the ceiling. Thankfully the furniture was either black framed chairs, or white sofa's. Steve was sure he would sink into a deep depression if he had to carry out his interview whilst sitting on a black couch, especially as the one indicated seemed to swallow him up.
"Lieutenant, what can I do for you?"
"Sir, I am investigating a series of drive by shootings, and we have reason to believe that one of our main suspects is resident at this address. I need to find out if this is the case, and whether she is still here. If she is I need to speak with her, and check her … living quarters."
"I see, and you have a search warrant for that do you, Lieutenant?" Mr. Mitchell was a little younger than Steve, but he had steel grey hair, and a pampered look to him.
"No, Sir, but I have a colleague getting one as we speak. I only found out that she lives or lived here a little while ago, I decided to come here first in the hope that we could work together."
"I see, and the name of this person?"
"Breth, Sandra Breth, we believe her to be responsible for over ten deaths in the last few months, we also believe that she will strike again on Saturday, and we want to prevent any further bloodshed." Steve found that he couldn't keep the passion and emotion out of his voice. He owed it to his dead colleagues to close this case. He guessed he shouldn't have give out so much information, but somehow he felt he would need to say more than normal to get what he wanted.
"And you're sure that you have the right person, Lieutenant?" Stuart Mitchell's voice had become hard and Steve wondered why.
"Yes, Sir, we are sure, why?"
"Because Miss Breth has been my secretary, companion … and friend … for the last four years, not all of them at once, in fact she has only been my secretary for the last eighteen months or so, but she has lived here for, as I said, four years, and I have no intention of letting you see her unless you are one hundred per cent sure of your facts.
Steve sat for a moment and just stared at the man in front of him, then with a sinking heart he asked a question he didn't really want the answer to. "How much of a friend, Sir?"
"That, Lieutenant, is none of your business."
The door to the morning room opened and Jonathon came back into the room, a tray containing a silver tea set in his hands. He extended the legs underneath the tray and placed it on the table. He then looked over to Steve. "How do you take your tea, Sir? Milk and sugar?"
"No, just milk, thank you." Steve looked at the little delicate tea cups and wished that Rae was with him. She would have been served first, and he could have followed her lead. He cast his eyes over his hands and they seemed too big to cope with the small handles on the beautiful crockery. Steve carefully took hold of the saucer as his beverage was offered to him. "Thank you, Jonathon."
"Thank you, Sir." The man smiled, and then handed the second cup to his master, and silently left the room.
"Well, well, someone who knows how to speak to a butler, I am impressed, Lieutenant."
Steve inclined his head slightly; he had no intention of letting on that he had a far superior version waiting at home. "I need to know how friendly you are with Miss Breth, Sir, and also when I can speak with her, and search her quarters. I am presuming that you knew she was engaged to be married four years ago?"
"Yes, Lieutenant, it was I who helped her get over her grief when that … that fiancée of hers left her." The way the man spat out the words made Steve worry a little about his facts. He was, as the man had put it, one hundred percent sure, but he had a feeling that even that wouldn't sway this guardian of Sandra Breth's rights.
"Mr. Mitchell, I don't have to give you any information, other than the fact that I wish to speak with one of your employees." Steve finished his tea and with a sigh of relief stood up and placed the cup back on the tea tray. "If you would let me know where she is I will undertake my duties. As I said my colleague is on her way with a warrant. Once that arrives she will start the search of Miss Breth's rooms."
"I am not sure if she is here at the moment. She asked for, and got, extended leave. She had time owing to her, but she requested three weeks unpaid vacation too. There was no reason not to grant it, apart from the fact that my office does not run as efficiently without her. She will be back at work on Monday morning."
Steve was just about to begin speaking again when the phone by the side of Mr. Mitchell's chair began to ring. "Yes? … I see, well they can wait outside in the hallway, but please direct them up to the house as you did Lieutenant Sloan … Thank you." He put the phone down and then turned to Steve. "Your colleague, Detective Banks, has just arrived, with two extra officers; I imagine that is what you would call back up. Would she have your search warrant, Lieutenant?"
"Yes, Sir, she would." The two men sat in silence until there was, a few minutes or so later, a knock on the door.
"Come."
Jonathon opened the door, "Detective Banks, Sir."
"Thank you Jonathon, please send her in." Both men stood as she moved into the room and Steve could see the warrant in her hand.
"Mr. Mitchell, Lieutenant." Cheryl looked at the two men in front of her and smiled.
"I have your warrant, Sir."
"Thank you, Detective." Steve moved over and took the document from his temporary partner. He was relieved that she had brought some extra men with her, and although not surprised he was disappointed that they had to remain outside the room.
"Detective Banks, won't you please take a seat?" Mr. Mitchell indicated to another vacant chair, and Cheryl sat down. "Would you like some tea?"
"No, Sir, thank you, I'm fine." Cheryl smiled over at the man sitting opposite her, and somehow the atmosphere in the room softened a little. Steve quickly filled her in on what he had found out so far, and five minutes later they were following Mr. Mitchell up a gently curving staircase towards the rooms of Sandra Breth.
Steve and Cheryl both drew their guns, ignoring the 'is that really necessary?' enquiry from their now unwilling host. "Open up, Police." Steve found that he was holding his breath, and willing the apartment to give up its occupant, but there was no sound, and Steve knew that no one was home. He gave a sign to Cheryl and they lowered their weapons. Mr. Mitchell moved forward and unlocked the door with the security passkey he had requested from Jonathon before they had begun their ascent.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
George Bannister had been checked over by Jesse, and he had decided to admit him overnight. Jesse had then gone down to Lauren's office to see if she could make plans for a counsellor to visit with him in the morning before he was discharged. Jesse was pleased to know that it could be arranged, but he seemed to be reluctant to leave.
"Jesse, is there a problem?" Lauren had looked at the doctor standing before her. She hadn't spoken with him privately for a long while, and she could see the worry behind his eyes.
"Yeah, do you have an appointment that I could take?" Jesse had begun hesitantly, but he knew that Rae wanted him to see Lauren, and if he was honest he knew that he needed to see her too.
"Well, I'm free now, if you have the time. I have a lady who always uses this slot, but she won a holiday to the Caribbean and won't be here this week." Lauren had smiled as she spoke, and was relieved to see Jesse nod, shut the door and sit in the chair opposite her.
"So, what can I do for you?"
Jesse found that the question led so easily in to what he wanted to say that it was no longer difficult. "I want you to tell me how to let Rae go to The Willows."
"Why is that difficult for you, to let her go, I mean?" Lauren knew that Jesse had felt inclined to smother Rae since her terrible ordeal just before Christmas, but he needed to be the one doing the talking.
"Because I won't know what she's doing, whether she's ok. I let her down before, and I can't help thinking that something might be happening that I won't know anything about." Jesse realised that he was really scared to let her go.
"Jesse, I spoke with The Willows, because I needed to send through some of Rae's files, and she won't be able to go for about another six to eight weeks. I think that before that happens, you and Rae should take the opportunity to drive up there and look round."
"And what about at home? She won't let me put any extra security systems in, and she goes off for a walk on her own with Eliana, and can't understand why I get cross, she nearly died and she was in a safe place and she nearly died. And now she wants to go off on her own and I know that she wants to go back to work and she is gonna have another baby and she doesn't seem to see anything wrong in any of it." Jesse had been speaking faster and faster, and in the end he just ran out of breath.
"Jesse, you have to let her go. We talked about this just after she was released from the hospital, and cleared of all charges. It was understandable then that you wanted to keep her safe, but she's a grown woman, she's a cop who knows how to defend herself, and when she isn't being targeted by those who feel they have a score to settle, she is more than capable of keeping herself safe."
"How can you say that? She has been strangled, stalked, she was attacked at a funeral, then she was kidnapped, raped, she was arrested, attacked and seriously injured, twice. It seems to me that keeping herself safe is way at the bottom of her list of priorities." Jesse felt his voice shaking as he spoke.
"Do you think that any of that was her fault? Jesse, I have read the files that Brian kept on her, she was strangled because she was doing her job, and, maybe foolishly, she confronted the woman responsible for the deaths of two children. All she did to get Phillip Levington to notice her was have her photo taken for a newspaper article, and speak nicely to him. He got out of jail and targeted her again, and then, because he was killed his girlfriend took over and began to systematically destroy her. None of those things really have anything to do with keeping yourself safe, or anything to do with the way she lives her life. She was attacked when she was on duty at a funeral which resulted in a serious head injury, but she couldn't have prevented that either."
Lauren paused for a moment, whatever way you looked at it Rae had been in trouble almost constantly since her arrival in Los Angeles, and it would be easy to blame her for some, if not all, of it, but she knew that none of it had been her fault. "Jesse, the circumstances may seem stacked against her, but all of these things are over and done with. They aren't going to happen again." Lauren looked at him. She had been talking for a long time, and wasn't sure that Jesse was still with her.
"That makes it worse, don't you see? She could get taken out any time, any place, and I just can't prevent it …. And I should be able to. I'm her husband it's my responsibility to keep her safe." Jesse ran his hand through his hair, he was talking round and round and he wished he hadn't sat down.
"Jesse, do you love your wife?" Lauren threw the question at him as if it was no more important than what he wanted for lunch.
"What? Of course I do … I … I love her." Jesse had no idea what else to say.
"And if the position was reversed, and all these things had happened to you, and you had a chance to maybe make things better for yourself, would you want Rae to keep you home?"
"That's different …"
"How is it different, Jesse?" Lauren looked across at the man before her, and she could see him beginning to open up a little.
"I … I, oh God, I married one of the most self reliant women I have ever met, she was happy, confident, independent when I met her, I loved that, I didn't want someone who was content to stay home." This time it was Jesse who paused for a moment as he remembered Rae as she was when he first met her. As he did so he began to see a few similarities with his past. "My mom always worked, too much sometimes, and Dad, well he just up and left, so I was pretty much independent myself much younger than I should have been, but I didn't want to marry a … a housewife, and she was, is career oriented, but then everything went wrong." Jesse stopped talking again. Whatever part of their life together he went back to Rae was in danger. "I just never thought that these things would happen, or I would feel so helpless, so useless. I should be able to protect her, and I can't, and Eliana, I let that woman know about her, and she was taken, and she nearly died. Now we have another baby on the way, maybe we shouldn't have tried for babies, what right do we have to place them in such danger?"
"Ok, now you are playing God, and that is way out of my league. Jesse, I think that the only way you are ever going to be able to stop worrying about Rae is if you leave her." Lauren paused as she saw, what she hoped to see, a look of horror on her client's face. "I am guessing by your expression that you don't see that as an option."
"No, no of course not! I love her, I told you that." Jesse shook his head, but he had an idea what she meant.
"So, if you can't leave her, the only alternative is to live together in a way that makes for as worry free an existence as is possible in your circumstances. I would suggest that you make some security adjustments to your home if that will put your mind at ease, but I would also suggest that you take your daughter out and about, let her play in the park, go to the beach, visit Disneyland. As she gets older, if she is anything like her mom and dad, she is going to be a sociable, friendly, intelligent child. She will not want to be shut up at home. Each time you go out, as a family, or alone and nothing happens your confidence will rise, but you have to loosen the grip on Rae and Eliana, or you may well drive them away."
Jesse nodded his head, he didn't really know what else to say, he had run out of excuses, and reasons to keep Rae at home, and he knew that he had to face the possibility of losing her in the line of duty, or he would lose her all together.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Steve and Cheryl fanned out as much as they could into the apartment of Sandra Breth and it was obvious straight away that no one was hiding anywhere in the living room or small hallway. The apartment, for that was what it was, seemed to be almost a self contained unit within the main house. There was no kitchen, but apart from that Sandra could have carried out her reign of terror without anyone being any the wiser. Cheryl moved over towards a large bookshelf, picking up photographs and putting them back down again, trying to see if there was anything visible that might give them an idea where she was.
Steve, his gun preceding him, made his way towards the bedroom, as he went in through the door an arm moved out and he felt a gun being jammed into the back of his skull. "Drop your weapons, and that includes you." Steve felt the gun as it was pressed harder into his head. "Anybody moves and I'll blow his brains out." Sandra Breth waited until the two guns had been put onto the floor and then pulling his left arm up behind him, she moved Steve back into the living room. "I want both of you to move back against the window, and then out onto the balcony, or I will kill him."
Cheryl looked over at Mr. Mitchell and nodded her head, then slowly the two of them walked over towards the patio doors, their hands out in front of them so that it was clear they were unarmed. "Sandra." Stuart felt compelled to speak with her. "What are you doing? Let him go, we can work this out. You know that I can provide you with any help you need. Now, please, let him go."
"Stuart, you are a fool, rich, powerful, kind and considerate, but you are a fool! I have no intention of sacrificing myself on George Bannister's altar, so do as I say, oh, and before you do, get on that intercom and make sure Jonathon stays in his pantry."
Once Mr. Mitchell had done what he was told, he and Cheryl had gone out onto the small balcony and shut the door, Steve felt the muzzle of the gun as it was jabbed into the back of his head once more and he began to move gradually across the room and over towards the front door.
"If I hear any movement in here you will find him dead in the hallway. You…" Sandy jerked Steve's arm, and laughed as a look of pain crossed his face. "Car keys, out of your pocket, nice and slowly, now."
"Arghh." Steve couldn't keep from crying out as once again his arm was pulled and it felt as if it would pop from its socket at any moment. He put his right hand into his pants pocket and took out the keys to his truck. Sandra Breth snatched them off him and then began to talk again.
"Keep moving, cop, everybody else, stay exactly where you are." Another jab with the gun muzzle and Steve began walking once more; they exited the apartment, Sandra making sure to leave the door open so that any noise would travel immediately to her.
As soon as she disappeared through the door Cheryl moved silently over and carefully pulled the patio door open, not making any noise in the process. She then picked up her weapon, and she and an extremely shocked Mr. Mitchell ran out into the hallway, back the way they came, and then down the stairs. As they reached the bottom they saw Steve, lying unconscious on the floor, a pool of blood growing around him on the light-coloured carpet that finished just below his shoulders. As they reached him the blood seeped onto the marble and began to pool there also.