Can't Get Ahead

The letters that Steve had been receiving in the Todd case had been discussed at a meeting between him, Captain Newman and the Chief. It had been decided that, in an effort to flush the killer out, an announcement would be added to the next police statement in the paper saying that he had been assigned to other cases.  It had also been decided however, that he and Rae had the most in-depth knowledge of the case and would carry on working it.

The article brought a result almost immediately. The Captain had sent out a report about the North Hollywood homicide division, and its recent successes, mentioning specifically Steve's part in the arrest of Sandra Breth who had been responsible for twelve deaths including two of his close colleagues. Then, almost as an afterthought, it went on to say how he had recently been pulled from another case involving a dismembered body, as the department began to get back to normal again.

The article was still in Steve's in tray ready to be filed away when he received a letter from his tormentor. Once Steve had carefully placed it in an evidence bag he began to read.

Steve,

Well, this is not good; I have all these body parts and no one to send them to. I would suggest that you talk with your captain, otherwise you may find parts from other bodies turning up, not just those of that whore and her lover.

I guess you are still waiting to hear from me with the next piece to the puzzle. All in good time my friend, all in good time. If I don't hear that you are back on the case, then I might have to find someone else to cut up, maybe you had better keep a close eye on your friends.

Ooh, that was strong, do I mean it? Who knows? Are you brave enough to call my bluff? I don't think so.

S. Todd

It was the first letter that had arrived without a body part, and Steve was very worried about the threats it contained. He had quite a large circle of friends these days, as well as a family of his own, but there was no way that he could capitulate and return to the case, at least officially, he had, after all, never actually been replaced.

Rae walked into the squad room and saw her partner sitting deep in thought. "Hey, Steve, are you all right?"

"Rae, I should be asking you that, how are you feeling?" Steve watched as she sat down at her desk and then turned to him.

"Fine, less concerned than I was about Eliana, and Jesse and Texas are with her all day, she'll be ok, and so will I." Alex had discharged Eliana that morning into her daddy's care and Rae knew that once again the fact that her husband was a doctor had meant their family was back together far sooner than normal. The little girl now had medicine that she had to take every day whether she sounded wheezy or not and, for a while at least, she would be required to take it morning and night. There was also oxygen at Jo's house, but they were all hoping she wouldn't need it. Rae had got permission to only work a half day so that she could make sure her daughter was settled in and happy before she left her on the Tuesday. Steve had worked the Monday, mainly on some of the departmental duties he had to undertake for the Captain, and he'd had to testify in the afternoon. Rae had spent the entire day at the hospital, and she had been able to see her daughter gradually improve enough that Alex knew Jesse would be fine with her at home

"What about your house?" Steve sounded concerned, he knew his dad felt it was only bricks and mortar, but he couldn't feel that way himself. If anything happened to either the beach house, or now, the home he shared with Jo, he would be devastated. Even though they had been together for a short while since the fire and that morning at breakfast Steve hadn't asked many questions, not wanting to upset her, but he could see that she was calm and back to normal now.

"We're going to go over there when I finish work, but I already know that we can't live in it without it being almost rebuilt, and … well, I don't think I want to live there any more." Rae sighed and then she seemed to pull herself together. "Right, I have to get a cup of tea, but then we can get down to it."

Twenty minutes later they were both standing in the Captain's office, and he was checking the letter that Steve had received, or at least a copy of it. The original, which once again had been clean of any identifying marks or fingerprints, was now stored carefully away.

"Well, Sloan, obviously we can't be seen to give into this type of pressure, but you need to watch your back and make sure that those around you are careful too. Detective," The Captain turned his attention to Rae, "As you seem to attract trouble like a magnet; I would suggest that you be on your guard too."

"Yes, Sir." Rae just nodded, she knew that Captain Newman was troubled by the regularity with which her private life seemed to intrude into her professional one, and she was determined not to let it happen any more.

"Ok, you were both on desk duty at the end of the week, but now things are back to normal and I suggest you get back out there."

The two officers left the room without a word, and returned to their desks. Rae hadn't been sitting down more than a couple of minutes when her phone began to ring. "Detective Yeager… Ok, where was it found…? Yeah, we're on it." She put the handset down and looked over at her partner. "Body found in North Hollywood Park, female, gunshot wound apparently."

Steve was on his feet and holstering his gun before Rae had finished speaking and they headed out of the room.

"Did you have any other information?" Steve pulled out into Burbank Boulevard as he spoke, the traffic light and unlikely to hinder their short journey.

"No, someone reported hearing gunshots; a unit responded and found a body on the corner of Tujunga and Magnolia." The journey took a little over ten minutes, and Steve pulled into a space three cars down from where they could see a black and white parked.

The two officers who had responded to the call were easily spotted behind the yellow police tape, as was the familiar figure of Doctor Amanda Bentley as she crouched over her work. She turned as she heard footsteps and a smile appeared on her face. "Hey, Steve, Rae, how are you?"

"Fine, how are you and Ron?" Rae smiled at her friend, the glow that used to only be apparent when Ron Wagner was in town seemed to be a permanent fixture since he had relocated to LA.

"Oh, we're good, we're good." Amanda smiled too, but then began to talk about the victim and clicked back into professional mode immediately. "Ok, we have a Caucasian female, about five one or two I would imagine. She was shot, almost at point blank range, in the side of the head. I can already see powder residue around the entry wound, so I know that the perpetrator was real close and the exit wound isn't pretty."

"So, she could have known her killer. I don't know that you could get close enough to someone to leave powder burns with a gun in your hand unless you knew them." Rae was thinking out loud, but Amanda and Steve both nodded.

"How close do you have to be to leave powder burns?" Steve looked at his two friends, he knew Amanda would know, and he guessed that Rae probably had a good idea too. He himself knew roughly, but it was always nice to have it confirmed.

"Pretty near. If the powder burns are about 10 centimetres in diameter then the gun was approximately eighteen inches away from the head." Amanda looked down at the body once again. She would evaluate everything when she got back to Community General, but years of experience had taught her to have a pretty good eye when it came to measuring things, and the circular pattern looked, to her, to be no more than 10 centimetres.

"Do you have the bullet?" Steve looked down at where the splatter pattern of blood and brains had been highlighted on the ground.

"Yeah, one of the uniformed guys found it, I have bagged and tagged it already." Amanda pointed over to where her things were neatly located just behind her.

"Good, what about time of death?" Steve took a close look at the body for the first time. There was blood under the head, but not a lot of it, which meant that she had died instantly.

"Not long ago. She's still warm, there's no sign of rigor, so I would say ooh, about a half hour. Rigor can start as early as ten minutes after death, but she's in a humid place here, and that would slow it down some. But, as long as you don't quote me, about thirty minutes … give or take a couple of hours."

"She is so helpful isn't she?" Steve looked across at Rae and rolled his eyes.

"It's in their contract you know, it says never ever give anything away unless you absolutely have to!"

"Oh, ha ha, I see everything is peachy in homicide land today then. I can let you have a preliminary report in a couple of hours, toxicology will take a little longer, but if she was shot from close range she could have been drugged first. I took a couple of Polaroid's, do you want one, to help you with your investigation, Lieutenant? We, at the coroner's office are always willing to assist our law enforcement officers."

Both Rae and Steve had been making faces as she spoke, but Steve was serious as he began to speak. "That would be great, Amanda, thanks very much. We'll see you later." Steve took one of the photos and then moved over to begin his investigation of the scene and heard Amanda begin to speak again as he did so.

"Rae, I was so sorry to hear about your house, you know that you are welcome to come stay with us if you need to don't you?"

"I do, and thank you. We're staying with Texas and Steve right now, so we're ok for the time being."

"Rae, what about your dress for Saturday? Was it in your house?" Amanda could tell by the look on Rae's face that she hadn't given it a thought.

"Oh my. Jesse'll freak out; I paid a lot of money for that dress. I guess I'll just have to go and buy another one, and claim for the first one on the insurance. Jesse's tux as well, oh great."

"I'm sorry I said anything." Amanda felt guilty as she saw the concern in her friend's eyes.

"No, don't be, thank goodness you did, otherwise we might not have even thought about it until Saturday, and that would have been a disaster."

Amanda watched as the body was moved away and then turned to her friend once more. "I'll be happy to help you in any way I can, if you like you can always borrow one of my dresses. They only ever get worn once, and then sit in the closet for years, so I would be glad to share."

"Thank you, I'll bear it in mind, but I think they might be a bit long on me." Rae thought for a moment, and then returned to the matter at hand. "I guess I had better get on with finding out who killed … Amanda, do we have an identity on her, or a purse or anything?" Rae realised that the most obvious question had been left unasked.

"No. Until I get her back to the lab she's a Jane Doe. She might have something on her to show who she is."

"Like a name in her knickers?" Rae laughed as she said it.

"What?"

"We had a case in London once; we didn't get as many murders so I guess it stuck in my mind. We had a joke that most people must be called St Michael because that was the name in their underwear." Rae could see that Amanda was a little bemused. "It's the brand name for Marks and Spencer which sell the most popular undies in the UK, well, this girl had nothing with her, like our Jane Doe here. She was a prostitute, her purse had been taken, and she had no ID or anything to show who she was, but there, in pen, on the label of her knickers was a name, Mona Humphreys, I've never forgotten it."

"I'll remember to check."

"Rae, come on, we need to get going." Steve called out from the other side of the group of trees that had contained the body; Rae rolled her eyes, and then walked over to her partner.

"See you, Amanda." The two women smiled at each other and Rae carried on walking. "Sorry, Steve, but I don't get to see her very often, and it's nice to have a chat when we do meet up."

"I know, but I think it's gonna rain, and I would like to be back in the car before it starts."

"Wimp." Rae batted him on the arm. "You don't know what rain is. Besides, the weather forecast only gave a twenty percent chance of rain today, and none at all for the rest of the week."

The two officers who had taken the call came over and told Steve and Rae what they had found, and a half hour later, Steve's car drew away from the park on its way back to the precinct. "Twenty percent chance, huh?" The windshield wipers went back and forth as the sudden squally shower hammered down on the car.

"Well, we're dry in here, so it's not a problem. D'you think our Jane Doe was a prostitute?"

"What makes you say that?" Steve had been thinking about their victim himself.

"It was the way she was dressed. How she looked. She had bleached blonde hair, there wasn't a lot of what she actually had on was there? And her nails were bright red and how she walked in those shoes, well. Now, I know that is a bit of stereotyping, she may have been a lawyer with a thing for showing her butt, but at first glance, I would have said she was on the game."

"I tell you what, I'll start writing this up, you go down to vice and have a word with Martin, see if he can help you." Steve looked across at Rae and saw a look of concern cross her features.

"Ah, I'll type it up if you go to vice. I've already been charged with murder once, I would rather it didn't happen again."

"Neil Crosier?" Steve had a feeling he didn't have to say anything else.

"Yeah, Neil Crosier, the slimeball. If I never see him again it will be too soon."

"You know, I don't remember seeing him lately, but then before he came up to see you that day I didn't see him hardly at all anyway, which suits me just fine. Ok, you have a deal, I'll go see Martin, and you start typing this up."

With that sorted out they drove the rest of the way in companionable silence. Rae missed the rain, and when there was actually a shower or two in Los Angeles she loved to just watch the drops as they ran down the window, and listen to the sound of it as it pit pattered.

Before they could return to the squad room Rae and Steve got called to a hold up in a department store down town. Thinking of their previous diversion to a siege situation they both took a deep breath before heading off in the opposite direction to the precinct.

The circumstances hadn't been anywhere near as volatile as the one at the girls' school, and Steve and Rae had joined about ten other cops as they tried to talk a disgruntled employee out of holding the personnel department at gunpoint. It had taken over four hours, but finally the emergency had ended and the distraught man had been taken off to the station for questioning.

It was past the end of their shift when they returned to the squad room, and instead of concentrating on the Jane Doe they typed up their part of the siege report, and logged the details on the park murder, then with an agreement to come in together a little earlier in the morning the two of them headed for home.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Jesse was waiting for Rae when she arrived at Jo's house in Tom. She had left him parked on the road so that Jesse could get his car out of the driveway the night of the fire, and to her delight he had survived unscathed, although he had been covered in soot.

Jesse moved out into the garden at the front of the house and kissed her as she climbed out. "Hey, how was your day?"

"Short, but busy. How about you? Did you have fun with Eliana and Anneya?"

"Yeah, and I went into the new part of Jo's house that she is opening up. It is just wonderful… Steve has a bar that comes out of the wall!" Jesse's voice became wistful and Rae kissed him as she heard the slight longing in his voice.

"We will get sorted out, and who knows maybe we could buy our own place." Rae smiled at him.

"I guess we better go and look at the old place first hadn't we?"

"Ok, is Texas all right to have the girls?"

"Well, just come in and see her, say hello and then we'll go." Jesse moved back towards the house.

"I was going to, I didn't plan to leave straight away, I want to see them myself you know." Rae could hear Eliana chattering away and, although a lot of it was only of interest to her alone, more and more of it was gradually making sense. The little girl coughed a few times as she spoke, and her voice was husky. Rae was still very concerned about her, and not just because of the fire, but she kept remembering that not only had her daughter been born too early, but she had survived a few emergencies since then, if it took her a little longer to be able to do things then that was just fine.  There were words that they understood, 'peeze' for please, 'aii' for hi and 'Yana' for Eliana that she said incorrectly all the time, but everybody liked the way she pronounced them, and Rae knew she would miss when her daughter could say them properly.  As they got closer they heard Anneya begin to cry, and with a look of concern on their faces they entered the morning room.

"Eliana, that is naughty, your sister was playin' with that, now you have to give it back." Jo was talking to the little girl, a stern look on her face.

"No!" the elder girl turned away, a soft rattle in her hands. "Mine."

Anneya was sobbing now, and so Jo took the rattle out of her goddaughter's hand moved back over and gave it to the child in the bouncy chair. Her tears stopped immediately, just in time to be replaced by Eliana's. She had looked at Jo as she took the toy, and then watched her give it back to her sister. The final bit was what did it; as soon as Anneya had it in her hand Eliana plonked herself on the mat and howled.

Rae came into the room, moved over to her eldest daughter and sat on the floor beside her. "Hey, hey, come on, it's just a rattle."

"Momma…" Eliana hiccupped the one word out and then flung herself at her mother coughing and crying as she did so. With a smile that showed both Jesse and Jo that she was not fooled for a moment, Rae carefully extricated herself from the little girl's arms.

"Shhh, listen, ok. Stop crying and listen." Rae was then silent, and gradually the tears began to stop, and finally when all that was left were two large ones rolling down her cheeks Rae began to speak again. "That is Anneya's toy. You have lots of toys, you can't take hers." Rae closed her eyes for a moment as she realised that her daughter no longer had lots of toys, and her soft dolly and soggy giraffe were lost forever.

Eliana's chin began to wobble again. She didn't know exactly what her momma was saying but she knew she was in trouble.

Rae moved over to her other little girl and pointed to the cause of the problem. "This is Anneya's." Rae crouched down next to the small toy box that was in the room too, and rummaged around in it until she found another soft rattle. "This is Eliana's. You are lucky that Aunty Jo kept some toys here for you."

The tears had vanished completely now, the little girl stood up and, on chunky legs, she headed straight for her mother again, her hands out for the toy, but Rae held it just out of reach. "What do you say?"

"Peeze."

"No, you have to say sorry first for making Anneya cry."

Eliana looked at her mom, and concentrated "sowee."

Rae crouched back down again and waited. "And now, please."

"Peeze." Eliana was rewarded by finally getting the rattle. "Ta." Then she dropped it on the floor and headed off to play with the other toys in the box.

It took another hour before Rae and Jesse were on their way to the gated community where they had been living since just before they got married. The guard on the gate waved them straight through and they were soon parked outside what was left of their house.

"Oh, Jesse." Rae's voice was full of emotion, but her husband didn't answer, he just sat in speechless horror looking at the shell of their home.

"My God, Rae, you could have all died in there, look at it, there's nothing left!"

Jesse was right; the house was now four blackened walls and a mud patch for a front lawn. The two of them got out of the car and moved up to the front door. Jesse had an appointment with the assessor from the company they rented the house from first thing in the morning, but they had wanted to see it for themselves before that.

"Do you think we can go in?" Rae looked at her husband and was alarmed to see he was very pale and shaky. "Jess, Honey, are you ok?" She felt that way herself, but surprisingly was keeping herself under control.

"Yeah, it's just a shock, when they said there was a fire at the house I thought it was really bad, but then you were all safe and I figured it couldn't be as terrible as I thought, but this, this is just awful."

"Yes it is, but like you said we are all safe, I don't know why the smoke alarm didn't go off, but we were lucky and we were saved." Rae moved closer and put her arms around him. "Sweetheart, let's go back to Texas and Steve, we aren't getting anywhere standing here, this should be treated like we would a crime scene, you can talk with Mr. Caruthers, or whatever his name is, tomorrow."

Jesse just nodded and let himself be led back to the car. Rae guided him round to the passenger seat and then she got in the driver's side and started the engine. "It's a good job we came tonight, I doubt whether the assessor would have given you a hug and driven you home."

Jesse looked at her, his eyes seemed less haunted now that they were on their way back to Beverley Hills, and to her relief he stuck his tongue out at her.

The shock they had both felt when they saw their shell of a home had come out in the form of tears once they had gone to bed. Rae had tried to relax and go to sleep, but she was sure she could smell smoke, and in the end she'd had to go out into the hallway and look round to convince herself that all was well.

Jesse hadn't the actual memories to deal with; just the fact that his family had nearly been lost to him and that was, in many ways, worse. In the past he had been scared for Rae, scared that her job would claim her life and take her from him, but this, this was something that could happen to anyone, and there was no way he could have prevented it. They had smoke detectors, extinguishers in the kitchen and the family room, and still they had almost died.

Rae came back into the room and climbed into bed. Jesse made himself comfortable and opened his arms to her and she snuggled up to him, her face leaning on his shoulder and gradually he felt her tears as they splashed onto his chest.

"Everything has gone, Jess. Everything we worked for, and did, all of it, gone."

"No, Rae, it isn't, everything we worked for is safe in this house, you, Eliana, Anneya, and nothing else matters, not as much as that." He had kissed her gently on the hair then, and felt his own tears threaten him. Although his family was safe he knew what Rae meant, and for a while they cried together for what they had lost.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

The next morning the two detectives arrived at the station together. Steve left Rae in the squad room and headed down to the Vice department. He had worked there himself for a while, and had been more than delighted to leave. It was a place that hardened your heart to the niceties of life, and he hoped that Martin would emerge unscathed.

"Hey, Steve." Martin saw him right away and stood up to greet his friend. "How are you doing, and what brings you down here?"

"I'm fine, and a Jane Doe brings me down here." Steve looked around. There were four other cops working, and a couple of empty desks. He couldn't see Neil Crosier and was glad. He had a feeling that the man wouldn't have been able to resist further wisecracks and jokes about Rae.

"Oh, right, do you want me to see if we have anybody listed as missing? We pretty much know who is where, when. If you see what I mean."

"Yeah I do, and this is her picture." Steve passed the Polaroid over and then waited.

"Well, I can't say that I know her, but then I haven't been here that long. Hold on a minute. Don, do you recognise her?" Martin moved to the desk closest to his own and dropped the picture on it. The large black man sitting there picked it up and the photo looked like a postage stamp in his huge hand.

"Yeah, that's Wanda. I always knew she'd die on her back… What happened?"

"She was shot, point blank in North Hollywood Park, yesterday." Steve looked at the man, who, he realised, could probably break him in half without thinking, and wondered what would have happened if Rae had come up against him.

"That was her patch; she worked for a pimp called Denny Harris. Sycophantic little weasel, but then that's understandable, he used to know Crosier." Don's voice sounded as it if had to travel all the way up from his boots to his mouth.

"I know him; he's called me a couple of times, worried about 'his girls' now that 'my pal Neil' has gone." Martin's face showed just what he felt about the phone calls he had been receiving.

"Crosier's gone, gone where?" Steve looked around again, and realised that, unless things had changed since he had been down here last, Martin was using his desk.

"Yeah, that's why I was moved here instead of somewhere really nice, like sanitation."

"Serves him right, I told him he'd get caught one day, but would he listen? Would he, hell." Don's face showed just what he thought about Crosier too.

"Sounds like he was loved and revered by all who knew him then." Said Steve, and something clicked inside his mind. "When did he leave?"

"He didn't leave, at least not that any of us knew about, he just didn't turn up one day about a year ago, and nobody has seen him since. Not that any of us cared enough to go see if he was sick or anything. Captain Newman got … someone, I have no idea who, to go check on him, and we asked about, but in the end we just figured he got into more trouble than he could handle and took off running. But I tell you, the amount of birds he was screwing around with; I reckon he's attached to a lump of concrete somewhere."

"You got his address?" Steve didn't really want to know, but he had a feeling that he needed it. "Oh, and one for Wanda … what was her surname?"

"Harris. Wanda Harris… Yeah, she was married to Denny, and she worked for him. I told you he was filth… Here you go. This one is Wanda's; she lived in Bakman Avenue, which is about a block from the park. Wanda didn't like to walk too far in her heels."

"And Crosier?"

"Why do you need that? Don't tell me you're gonna take him some flowers and chicken soup. From what I heard about how he treated your partner I wouldn't think you would miss him." Don had a piece of paper in front of him and he was writing on it. "He lived in Van Nuys, 387 Murietta Avenue. Are you gonna go visit him?"

"Yeah, I think I have to. Should I send him your love?" Steve laughed as he saw the reaction of the two men in front of him, and then he turned and left the room.

Rae was still working on the report when he got back to homicide. He saw her pick up her phone and speak into it. She took down a couple of notes and then, as soon as she had finished her call, she began to write something else down on the pad. Rae had no idea she was being watched and for a few minutes Steve was transported back to when she had first arrived in Los Angeles. His way of working had been alien to her, and she had struggled for a while, only really shining when she was able to do things in the way she was used to. Now, she was happy to work the same way he did, but if she could write page after page of notes about something, she was still far more content.

"Hey, I have a name and address on our Jane Doe." Steve broke her concentration with regret, but he knew they needed to get to the apartment before anybody else did. "You were right she was a prostitute, and, get this; she was married to her pimp."

"Oh, he sounds like a nice guy! Where does … sorry, did she live, near here?" Rae was pulling her jacket on as she spoke, and then she began to put her pad and pencils away.

"No, she lives about a block away from where she was found. Are you ready to go?" Steve could see that Rae was just jotting something else down.

"Yeah, I'm good. Let's do it."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

It took them just a little over an hour to find a judge and another ninety minutes to get their search warrants. Once that was done they got back into Steve's car and headed for Bakman Avenue. The journey took a little longer than the day before as there was now the lunch hour traffic to contend with. As they sat in a stationary line of cars Steve turned to Rae.

"Did you have fun with Jo last night?" His wife and his partner had spent about two hours in the new part of the house going through Jo's office.

"Oh, yeah, it's a lovely place isn't it? She has it almost like she wants it. You know I think that Michael was just itching to get his hands on all that dust, but we beat him to it. There is something very therapeutic about cleaning up something that dirty."

"You know she wants us in there before David and Debbie arrive."

"She did say. Steve, I know that you won't want us to do it, but we'll move into a hotel while David is here… No, my mind's made up, Texas doesn't get to see her brother very often, and you don't want the four of us there too. We'll be fine, and Sally will be back at the end of the week for the girls."

"You know there is another solution." Steve eased the car forward about a hundred yards and then they stopped again.

"What?" All Rae could think of was Amanda's offer, and she knew that Steve wouldn't presume to suggest that.

"The house two doors down belongs to Jo. Her tenant just moved out. There is no one living there right now, it's furnished you could just move right in."

"No, Steve, I couldn't live there, it's huge." Rae could picture the house, if she was honest she thought it was beautiful, but she didn't think that it was quite her style. "I liked my little house, I'm not sure that Jesse and I are the right type of people to live in Beverley Hills."

For a few seconds Steve was silent, as a frown deepened the lines on his brow but then it passed and he turned to her. "Ok, I don't think you are trying to insult me, so I'll let that go. There are 'types' of people, but they're just the same as you and me."

"Oh, no, they're not. Steve, forgive me, because this might hurt, but if you hadn't married into money you would be living with your dad in Malibu. If your wife and my best friend wasn't a millionaire you wouldn't be offering me the chance to live in a mansion. The 'type' of people are filthy rich. You and Texas are fine, but I met the lady, who lived in that house, and she was a snob, pure and simple, and I'm not." Rae didn't know why she felt that she had to explain herself, but she did and she knew that she sounded as if she was on the defensive.

Steve was saved from having to reply by the traffic beginning to move again. He indicated to turn off Tajunga Avenue and into Bakman Avenue. As he drew into the kerb he turned to Rae. "Rae, look at it, ok, that's all I ask, go and have a look round, if you still don't want to move in I won't mention it again." Rae smiled and nodded. She checked her weapon and then together they headed towards Wanda Harris's house.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"Jesse, could you give me a hand a minute?" Jo's voice floated down the stairs, a little muffled and with a smile he stood up and headed towards her. Eliana and Anneya had both fallen asleep at roughly the same time; if he was lucky he had about two hours before they stirred again. Eliana had an alarm under her mattress, just in case her breathing became laboured, and Michael had the baby monitor in the kitchen with him. Jesse was grateful to the butler for helping him ease the load, and now he was able to go when Jo called. He didn't need to ask where his friend was, she spent every moment she could in her new office and bedroom.

Jo was perched on a small ladder and even though Jesse couldn't actually see anything of her but her feet, he guessed she was trying to take the heavy brocade curtains down.

"What exactly do you want me to do? I'm not much good at high jobs. We had all the shelves lowered at home." Jesse was silent as he remembered the site he had seen the night before, and how the assessor that morning had taken one look and declared it uninhabitable. Jesse knew that there was more to it than that one proclamation, but he also knew that they wouldn't be returning to their gated community.

"Jesse, Honey, are you all right?" Jo had extricated herself from the curtains and come down the ladder.

"What, oh yeah, sorry. I was just thinking about the house. Jo, Rae and I talked last night, we'll move into a hotel while your brother is here. You don't get to see him very often, and I'll be back at work next week anyway."

"Oh, no, you don't, I won't hear of it, an' I know Steve won't want that to happen either."

"And Rae said that I wasn't to take no for an answer." Jesse smiled a little ruefully, he didn't really want to go to a hotel, he liked living in this house, it was a way of life he could very easily get used to.

Jo thought for a moment, about what she had planned to mention a little later, and then a smile, which turned into a grin, appeared. "Come with me." She grabbed Jesse by the arm and he had to run to keep up with her. She was laughing and although he had no idea what she was up to he began to laugh with her.

Jo put her head round the door to the kitchen, "I'm just goin' to Oak Place. I won't be long, ok?"

"Of course, Madam. I will continue to keep my ears open for the two young ladies, Sir."

"Thank you, Michael." Jesse smiled and then as his arm was tugged again he followed Jo out of the house.

They walked down the sidewalk, past a huge mock Tudor house and then Jo turned in at the gate to a large red brick two-storey house with a stone balcony above the front door, and beautiful lead worked windows. She put the key in the door and it swung open at her touch.

"So, what do you think?" Jo looked expectantly at Jesse.

"About what?" Jesse was even more confused now than he had been when he was pulled down the stairs at Jo's house.

"About this house, do you want it?" Jo sounded a little exasperated.

"Want it, this house?" Jesse stood open mouthed and looked at Jo as if she were mad.

"Yes, this house, it's mine, an' it is vacant right now. I was gonna put it on the market, but I would much rather let you an' Rae live in it."

Jesse looked around him. The hallway that they were in had a black and white tiled floor and a huge sweeping staircase that went up to a veranda type landing all around the first level. The stairs had deep red carpet going up the middle of them, and the landing had mahogany balustrades, similar to the colour of the floors in the new part of Jo's house. "There is no way in the world we could afford to live here."

"Jesse." Jo looked at him. "Rent isn't a problem. I would let you have it for nothin', except I know that neither of you would accept it that way, but you will be able to afford to live here, trust me."

That was all Jesse needed to hear, with his heart pounding in excitement he leapt right in. "Ok, then, yes, I would love to have this house, we'll take it."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

The Harris apartment was in a large, expensive looking block. Steve and Rae got the key from the janitor and headed up to the third floor.  Steve banged on the door, and called out.

"Harris, open up, this is the police." But there was no sound and so Rae carefully unlocked the door and then moved back taking her gun out of its holster as she did so. Still there was no sound and Steve moved his hand over and opened the door. Finally about five minutes after they arrived they entered the apartment.

"Wow." Rae looked around. The downstairs lobby had been light and airy with large sofas and coffee tables for residents to relax by. Through the doors which went out to the back of the apartments they had seen a large outdoor swimming pool. The Harris apartment reflected that airy and comfortable feel; at least it would if someone hadn't trashed the place.

"Ok, I'm gonna get the scene of crime boys down here, I know I don't have to say anything, but don't touch."

"If you don't have to say anything why did you do that?"

"Do what?" Steve had a glint in his eye and Rae stuck her tongue out at him.

She moved towards the bedroom and pushed the door open with her toe. "Steve, in here."

Steve moved across and looked into the room. There was a king sized bed in the middle of the carpet, and draped across it was the body of Denny Harris. His throat had been cut and the linen was completely soaked with blood.

"Ok, I'll call this in, Rae; see if you can spot a murder weapon, but …"

"I know, don't touch anything." Once again Rae stuck her tongue out before heading further into the bedroom, holstering her gun and pulling on gloves as she went. She had a feeling that it was going to be a very long afternoon.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Amanda gave the estimate on time of death at about an hour before Steve and Rae had arrived at the apartment. If they hadn't stopped for the search warrant they might have been able to prevent it.

The body was ferried back to Community General and Steve and Rae promised to head that way first thing the following morning. They climbed back into the car and Rae checked her map. "Ok, it isn't actually very far to Crosier's place. I reckon about fifteen, twenty minutes tops."

Steve drew out into the light traffic on Bakman Avenue, and then headed towards Burbank Boulevard. As he did so Rae turned to him.

"It's not that I'm not grateful, but I just don't think that it's for me, I hope you understand." Rae placed her hand on Steve's arm, just for a moment before carrying on talking. "We will find somewhere, and a hotel won't be a problem, just for a while."

"Oh." Steve was enlightened, and as he joined the Hollywood Freeway and the slightly busier traffic he considered how to reply. "Rae, you said earlier that you didn't want to hurt me, and you didn't, and I feel the same right now, but have you considered Jesse in this?"

"Jesse?" Rae was puzzled and she sounded it.

"Yeah, Jesse. Rae, I've known him a lot longer than you, and sometimes when he has been at our place I've seen the look in his eyes. He would love to live somewhere like the house on offer, you need to think of him too."

"I guess I do … thank you, Steve." The rest of the journey was made in silence, and lasted just over ten minutes.

Steve parked and then looked at his partner and was relieved when she smiled at him. "Come on then, let's go, I have a husband to go home and speak with." Rae got out of the car, the smile still on her face, but she knew that there would be sparks flying when she did discuss Steve's idea with Jesse, and she was tempted to just not mention it at all.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

The search warrant for Crosier's place had been harder to get than the one for the Harris's. All Steve had was a missing detective and a vague idea that he needed to check something out. In the end it was his reputation that saved him. The judge had dealt with Lieutenant Sloan before, and knew him to be an honest and conscientious cop who wouldn't knowingly waste the court's time.

Rae searched around in the front garden in the hope that there was a key hidden, but to no avail.

"He's a cop, Rae, why would he hide a key in his garden?"

"Because he is also a lizard, and a stupid one at that." Rae checked another couple of stones in the gravel and pebble filled walkway. The third one she picked up was different to the others, it felt strange. Rae shook it, and it rattled. With a smile she turned it over and undid a large screw-like shape in the middle of its underside. Then she let the contents fall into her palm. The smile was still firmly in place when Rae unlocked the door with the key that had been hidden in the fake rock. "See, I told you stup… Oh, God."

The smell of rotting and decaying food hit them straight away, and both detectives covered their mouth and noses with their hand. Crosier's home was a double fronted, ranch style house, and as they walked down the central hallway Steve checked the doors on the left and Rae the ones on the right.

"Bedroom, bed made, laundry on the floor." Rae's voice was muffled underneath her hand.

"This is the living room; looks lived in, but nothing unusual. Computer in the corner, TV, stereo, video, all the trappings of a normal life."

The bathroom and a dining room were also innocuous, and they moved into the kitchen at the far end of the house, knowing that the smell would get worse as soon as they entered.

Steve, his hands encased in his gloves, pushed open the door, and Rae let out a shriek as a rat ran across the floor and out through a cat flap.

"Sorry, I hate rats… Ugh, look at this." Rae didn't need to say any more. There were flies everywhere, and maggots on what was probably once food. Rae felt her stomach as it rolled.

"We don't have to stay, I just need to know that he isn't here, and by the look of it he hasn't been here for a very long time."

"Ok." Rae began to absent mindedly open the kitchen cabinets, and check under the sink. As she opened the refrigerator she saw Steve unlock the back door and look out into the back yard.

There were about four cats staring at him as Steve stepped out onto a patio overgrown with weeds creeping through the brickwork. There was a garage over to his left, and a outhouse at the bottom of the garden.  He was just about to turn back to go inside when he heard Rae call out.

"No! Oh, God, no." and the next second she was pushing her way into the yard, and he heard her being very sick beside him.

Steve waited until Rae had calmed down a little and then he gently placed his arm around her and helped her to stand back up. As she looked at him he was surprised to see that his partner had absolutely no colour at all. "Rae, Honey, are you all right?"

"No … Oh, God, Steve." For a moment she closed her eyes, and then he saw her pull herself back into as close to police mode as she could manage.  "You need to see this." Together they moved back into the house, and Rae led the way to the freezer compartment at the top of the fridge. Carefully she pulled the door back open and heard Steve gasp as he too came face to face with the head of Neil Crosier, as it looked out of its icy grave, in a grotesque, one eyed stare.