"This evidence is circumstantial, and the credit card that was used doesn't exist! The police have no credit card number because the rental was paid for in cash," the public defender railed. "There is nothing to hold my client on."

"On the contrary," the D.A. interjected. "A custody suit was looming between your client and his wife. That provides a motive, and his signature was on the rental papers."

"My client's wife even said that he didn't do this."

"Is she here?" the judge asked interrupting the two arguing attorneys. Kenny turned back to look at her, and she looked as lost as he felt at that moment. "I would like to hear why she thinks that."

Max felt herself flush, as she stood shakily. "That would be me. Good morning your honor."

"Would you care to address the court? Could I have your name please?"

She felt Kenny's eyes on her, and she wanted nothing more then to get him out of this terrible mess. She nodded. "Maxine Lacos. There wasn't going to be a custody suit or a divorce. We were working out our differences, and I know my husband better then anyone. He isn't capable of this, and he loves me. He would never do something that would intentionally hurt me, or our family."

"That was spoken like a true abuse victim," the D.A. chimed in. "He has no alibi, and we have his signature on the rental papers. And a strong motive."

"The signature isn't confirmed, and the motive is apparently fabricated," the public defender argued. "This is a case of our district attorney trying to spin straw into gold. There is nothing to indict on!"

"Save it for discovery," the judge ordered. "Since the evidence is scarce, but there I'm going to release him on his own recognizance. Grand jury on Wednesday. Dismissed. Next."

Max let out a deep breath she didn't that she was holding. It's a start, she thought, wanting to throw herself into his arms and never let go. It'll get thrown out, it has too. Walking slowly and silently out the crowded courtroom, Kenny took her hand in his.

"Don't look," he hissed in her ear. "You're father and Barrington just walked in. Keep your head down."

"They were kind of pissed at me last night," Max replied. "Richard looks better then last time I saw him."

"Was is wrong of me to be happy when you did that?"

"It was one of the highlights of my week. Oh no. I think they spotted us," Max said quietly, as she saw them start to stride over. "Now what?"

"Keep walking," Kenny replied, squeezing her hand tightly and pulling her through the crowd. "No way are they getting near you again."

"Maxine! We need to talk to you," William called across the corridor. "Now."

"This isn't what he seems! You can't believe what he tells you," Richard chimed in. "The man is a killer!"

Kenny tightened his grip on her hand in an effort to not go over there and slug both of them. Looking down at Max, he saw how pale she had gotten, and it was hard to ignore the bruises he could see. We'll nail them for this, Honey, he promised silently, as Richard and William pushed through crowd toward them.

"Don't let them get to you," Kenny whispered in her ear. "This will work itself out."

"Will it? I'm positive that they both had something to do with this. The car that hit us looked exactly like Dad's company car. We thought it was at first," Max shot back. "Think you can control yourself?"

"Hey, I wasn't the one who kicked Barrington last night."

"What do you think that you're doing Maxine? You must know how this looks," William said shooting them both a death glare. "He tried to kill you, and probably killed your son. What do you think you're doing defending him?"

"Dad. Shut up," Max blurted out. "No matter how many times you say that I won't believe it."

"I thought all you wanted was to get away from this man," Richard noted. "You two look very cozy to me. Caroline told us some interesting things last night. I guess pain medication works well."

Max froze, and struggled to find her voice again. Shit. They know. Caro what did you do?

"Sure she did," Kenny said not missing a beat. "Like what? It seems like your entire family does nothing but hate each other. I wouldn't believe anything any of you said."

"Oh so you weren't in bed with my fiancé," Richard sneered. "She said she was so shocked that she had to leave. She couldn't believe that you would do that to me. How could you betray me like that?"

"Your fiance," Kenny repeated trying to keep a straight face, as he glanced down at Max. "Did you forget to tell me something here, Max? Last I checked we were still married."

She shook her head, dumbfounded. "When did you propose Richard? And when did I accept?"

"It's all been planned," William added. "It's for the good of the family."

"Right," Max drawled nodding. "Kenny? Can we go? We still have a lot to talk about."

"Yeah. Let's get out of here," Kenny replied, squeezing her hand and pulling her in closer. "See ya."

"You get back here," William demanded, grabbing his daughter's free arm. "You're not going anywhere with this man! You are coming home where you belong, and he'll be in prison! You listen to me, Maxine! We have plans, big plans."

Max yanked free of his grasp, and spat back. "Really? You'll have to kill me before that happens Dad. But you're getting good at that, aren't you?"

141414141414

Caroline glanced around her empty bedroom, and heard faint noises in the distance. Michael, she thought, Michael what happened to us. A frightening thought entered her mind, Dad said he picked you for me . . . and all he seems to care about is money. Is that why you married me? For money? So that you could work for Dad. It's been 15 years together . . . and it's all been a lie.

"Mom? Are you awake?"

"Hi sweetie," Caroline said with a small smile. "I'm awake. Come in, and talk to me."

Fourteen year old Samantha entered cautiously. "Mom? Are you okay?"

"I'm a little sore, but I'll live," Caroline replied. "Are you okay? You look like you're going to cry.

Samantha shook her head. "And Aunt Maxie? She was with you?"

"She's okay too. Tell me what's wrong."

"I was scared Mom. I didn't think that you were coming back. Dad said someone tried to kill you."

"We had a car accident," Caroline said soothingly, wanting to throttle Michael for scaring her like that. "Don't worry, Sweetie, I'm not going anywhere."

141414141414

Kenny all but pulled Max out of the courthouse, as she glared back at her father and Richard the whole time. Wrapping her securely against him, he wasn't sure what she was going to do. We both can't be arraigned today, he thought wryly.

"You okay to walk? You gotta be sore," Kenny asked. "Max? Honey? It's fine, they're gone."

"It's not fine," she shot back, spinning around to face him. "Kenny! You could be indicted for attempted murder in three days! Not to mention the rest of this!"

"Max, it's not gonna happen," Kenny replied, trying to convince himself as well. "You're speech was great by the way. If it comes to that, we show the judge what we've been doing and why. Your family probably had something to do with the accident, and there is enough probable cause to show that."

She looked up to the sky for inspiration. "What happened to our life, Kenny? It was so perfect. Look at us! Me lying to my family to see if they had something to do with Josh's murder! And the arraignment this morning? Is this what you pictured our life like when we got married?"

"No. I pictured you wearing an apron, and making apple pies," he replied, trying to lighten the mood. "Honey, this is so close to being over. I promise you that I'm not going to prison."

Max sighed and shook her head. "I know . . . Just keeping all this inside for this long. I don't think I should be alone in a room with my Dad. I don't know what I would do. Hearing him yesterday . . . How could he do that?"

"Do what?"

Max stared at him for a long instance. "You don't know. Why would you? Caro and I, before the accident, went to our parents. She wanted to look at his computer, see if she could find anything."

"Did she?"

"Yeah. Our Dad paid a quarter million dollars to Jay Venndis and Vera Densh," Max replied. "We copied the file, but then Dad and Richard came home. We ducked into a closet, as they came into the office. Kenny . . . what they said. It made me sick."

"Hey, Honey, don't cry," he said softly, as they came to the hotel. "Just tell me okay? It can't be that bad?"

"You think? Dad told Richard that he should get me pregnant to replace the child that they killed."

141414141414

"No answer," Jimmy said hanging up the phone. "I tried the room, and both of their cell phones. I don't like this. Where the hell are your warrants Morell?"

"Here," he said fishing them out of his briefcase. "We'll arrest Stewart and Barrington in the morning, and get these charges against your deputy thrown out. No problem."

"Right," Jimmy agreed, not sure he believed that. "I'd feel better knowing where the hell they both are. And how the arraignment went."

Morell shrugged. "I couldn't find that out yet. Try Max again. Maybe she can tell you."

141414141414

Kenny stared at her, and just tried to process her words. "Max? You're serious?"

Max nodded slowly, seeing the horror in his eyes. "It was the worst thing that I ever heard . . . Caro had to hold me back from jumping out of the closet."

"Bastards."

"I know," she agreed softly. "It's different knowing for sure."

Kenny just looked at her without saying anything right away. "Yeah it is."

"This thing won't stop ringing," Max said, fishing her phone out of her purse. Glad for the change of subject she decided to answer this time. "Hello?"

"I've been trying to call you for an hour," Jimmy stated. "Where have you been?"

"The courthouse," Max replied, mouthing Jimmy to Kenny. "What's going on?"

"Where are you? What happened at the arraignment?"

"Standing in front of the hotel. The arraignment? Released on his own recognizance with grand jury on Wednesday."

"Morell and I are in room 325. Come up because the four of us have a lot to talk about. Wambaugh's here too."

"Okay," Max agreed. "Give us five minutes."

"Jimmy's here?"

"And Morell and Wambaugh. Let's go on up I guess. Maybe this whole thing will finally be over."

"Max? What your father said about Josh . . . was it recorded?"

Max nodded slowly, as he hugged her tightly. "Yeah. We were in his office."

"That's something at least. C'mon."

141414141414

"Hi Mom, Dad," Caroline said, limping down the stairs of her townhouse. "Oh, Richard. Hi to you too."

"We need to talk to you Caroline about what you said at the hospital," William stated.

"I told you what I meant," Caroline replied weakly, wondering how Maxie had pulled this off for almost two weeks. "I figured if I knew that they were getting back together, you did too."

"So you thought I ran you off of the road? You think I'm capable of that?"

Caroline paused, and thought of the information that she had learned just yesterday. "No. Dad I had just been in a bad car accident, and I didn't know what I was saying."

"Really? You seemed to know what you were saying when you accused your father of killing Josh," Hannah whispered.

"What was that about? Or were you getting that from your sister?" William drawled. "Is that what Maxine thinks? Is that why she's here?"

"The kids are off with the nanny, Caroline," Michael said joining them."So why don't you tell us?"

141414141414

"Good work," Morell stated, "How are you feeling?"

Max shot him a dark look, aching physically and emotionally all over. "I've been better. Thanks."

"Have a seat," Jimmy added, his relief that they were both alive and well knew no bounds. "We've got some things to discuss. It's good to see you both in one piece."

"First off tomorrow morning we're going to get these charges against you thrown out," Morell said to Kenny. "We have video of Stewart and Barrington at the bank, so they weren't driving the car. They might of had someone hired to follow them, but we'll work on that. Secondly, the two of them are going to be arrested based on the evidence we found here. There is enough to hang them with."

Max glanced up at Kenny, as she fished the disk out of her purse. "This is what Caro got off of the computer. Those Swiss bank account numbers you were looking for were on there too."

"Can we be there?" Kenny asked, still processing it all. "When you bring them in?"

Morell and Jimmy exchanged a look that they didn't miss, as Jimmy finally said. "Is that the best idea? I know how rough this has been on the both of you."

"I think that we've earned it," Max countered. "We need to see this through to the end Jimmy. He murdered our son."

"Come," Morell finally said.

141414141414

"Please," Caroline begged. "I was upset and frustrated. I didn't like the thought of Maxie ending her marriage so quickly, and I was just thinking aloud."

"Liar," William hissed. "Try again."

"Why are you doing this? Please I'm your daughter," Caroline cried. "You don't want to hurt me!"

"There is a lot of money at stake here," Richard replied coldly. "And none of us are going to prison for this. We covered up our tracks to well. Tell us, Caroline."

William stuck his gun in her face. "You have ten seconds to start talking, or you might end up like the rest of them."

Maxie, I'm sorry, she thought, please forgive me. "Okay! Please I hate guns. Put it away. I'll tell you!"

"Good," William agreed. "Talk."

Caroline took a deep breath. "Maxie thinks that you killed Josh, Dad, and that you hired those two people from the mental institution to do it. Then they killed that couple in Michigan when they figured out who they were. They called you, and you told them to kill Josh because your first attempt to get rid of him didn't work."

"And why would I do this?"

Caroline smiled, hating them all. "As you said there is a lot of money at stake here."

"You think that I would kill my grandson for money?"

"I know it, and so does she. I think you both confirmed it when you told Richard to knock her up to replace the child that you killed."

141414141414

"I told you it would work out," Kenny said later, as the two of them settled back into his room. "You were great by the way. At the station last night and today."

Max shot him an amused look, as she let herself relax some. "Last night? I don't even think I knew what I was doing. I just ran out of the ER into that rain. I needed to go find you."

Kenny grinned at remembering the way she threw herself at him. "You looked like a drowned dog. But a cute one."

"You always think I'm cute," Max replied flippantly, as he pulled her into his arms. "Hmm."

"You okay?"

"Except for the bruised ribs," Max trailed off. "And . . . I think I'm going to puke."

Wrenching free of his grasp she dove into the bathroom just in time. Gagging a little, she slumped back against the wall.

"Max?"

"I'm fine," she said, glancing up as more bile rose. "No."

Kenny just stood and watched her as she choked some more out. "Uh, Honey?"

"What's wrong with me?," she groaned. "Is this what I get for running four blocks in a rainstorm with a concussion?"

Kenny knelt down, and put his palm on her head. "You're not warm. Can you get up?"

She stood shakily. "Thanks. I don't know what that was."

"Ssh, lean on me."

141414141414

"I don't know anything else," Caroline cried. "Maxie just wanted to see if you would let anything slip!"

"And we did," Richard answered slowly. "Now what do we do?"

William tossed the phone over to Caroline. "Call her, and do exactly what I tell you to."

"We don't want to have to hurt yo,u Caroline," Michael added. "Do what he says."

"Did you ever love me Michael? Or was it just about the money? These past 15 years . . . were they all a lie?"

"I provided you with everything you could have wanted," he replied. "And now you go and screw it up. Is this what you wanted? I don't want the kids to grow up without a mother, but that is starting to look like a viable option. Do what he says."

She nodded again. "Okay."

141414141414

"Hmm that feels nice," Max whimpered, as Kenny massaged her shoulders. "I love it when you touch me."'

"I like it too," he whispered, kissing her neck, as the phone rang. "Think we should answer that?"

"Probably," she answered, as he pulled her tightly against his chest.

"Hello? Hey, how are you feeling?"

Max glanced up at him, curious about who he was talking to. Settling her head on his shoulder, she wanted the whole world to disappear. Just for an hour, she thought, that should be enough.

"Yeah, she's here. I know she was worried about you. Hold on," he continued, passing the phone down. "It's Caroline. She wants to talk to you."

She sat up a bit to take it. "I meant to call her earlier."

"You had a lot going on," he replied. "She sounds upset."

"Caro?" Max asked, as Kenny continued to hold her close. "How are you feeling? I was worried about you for awhile."

"Dad said you went running out of the hospital after you found out Kenny was arrested for running us off of the road," Caroline replied softly. "So I was worried about you too."

"I'm okay," Max replied softly. "Everything else is going to be too. I promise you that."

"I need to talk to you, Maxie. Today, and not on the phone," Caroline said, trying to hide the tremble in her voice. "Could we get together?"

Max bit her lip, not liking the fear she was hearing in her sister's voice. "Caro? Is everything okay?"

"Yes," Caroline cried. "It is. Please, I just need to talk to you about what's been going on, and I'm afraid to do it on the phone. I'm scared for me, the kids, and I don't know what Dad is going to do. Could you come to the house?"

Max swallowed, and didn't like the gnawing feeling in her gut. "Your house? It might take awhile for me to get out there. How about if we meet downtown? Sort of half way in between?"

Caroline swallowed, as she glanced at the people watching her. "I kind of hurt, Maxie. Could you come? Please? I really need you now."

"Okay," Max sighed, shooting Kenny a concerned look. "I'll come. How about around four?"

"I'll see you then," Caroline replied hanging up.

"Where do you think you're going?" Kenny asked, as she hung up. "You're puking all over the place, and you were in a car wreck yesterday."

"I only threw up twice," Max argued weakly. "Something is wrong, Kenny. She didn't sound like herself . . . What did Richard say? About pain medication making people talk?"

"You don't think," Kenny trailed off. "Would she do that?"

"If they threatened her or the kids, I know she would," Max replied quietly. "Shit. If she told them everything . . . Do you think that Em is safe?"

"We can check," Kenny said, tossing her the phone. "Call Skeeter. I'm gonna go get Morell and Jimmy. They might get their arrests sooner then they planned."

141414141414

"She's coming," Caroline whimpered. "What are you going to do? Please, please don't hurt me. Or Maxie. She's been through so much that I don't think she knows what she's doing anymore. She would never hurt her family."

"That's what we're here to make sure of," William replied coldly. "I want to know exactly what she knows, and who she told. Then we'll take care of all of them."

Caroline swallowed. "Why did you kill Josh, Dad? What purpose did it solve?"

"I think I'll wait for your sister before I answer that."

141414141414

Max looked up, as the three men came back. Kenny looked at her expectantly, and she nodded at him.

"You're not going anywhere," Jimmy said in way of greeting. "Especially near your family."

"I can't just leave Caro in there," Max argued. "My Dad's gone crazy or something, and we don't know what he'll do to her."

"Are you sure she was in some sort of danger?" Morell asked.

"She's a bad liar, she always has been," Max replied. "Something is wrong. I could tell by listening to her. I don't know what she told him, but it can't be good."

"We'll assume it's everything," Morell sighed, giving Max a shrewd look. "You're not going in there alone. Or unarmed."

"She's not going at all," Kenny cut in. "She was in a car wreck yesterday, and she's been throwing up this afternoon. Max is in no shape for some confrontation!"

"I agree," Jimmy added. "We've been lucky so far. No need for Max to stick her neck out anymore then has been."

"That's my sister in there," Max interjected, hating that fact that they were talking about her like she wasn't in the room. "We can take all of the safety precautions you want, but don't ask me to just ignore her. I can't."

"I'll have my people surround the house," Morell added. "They won't be able to do anything to her."

Kenny looked at Max dubiously, as he took her hand in hers. Ignoring the other occupants in the room. "It's been a rough few days, Honey, and I don't want you going into something where you can hurt."

"I know," she agreed softly. "I can't just leave her Kenny. You understand that, I know you do."

He saw the determination set on her face, and knew he was losing the battle. "Be careful."

141414141414

"Four pm," Richard declared, peering out the window. "So where is she?"

"You didn't somehow tip her off?" William demanded. "Caroline?"

Caroline shook her head, wishing that she did. He's going to kill us both, I know that he is. Maxie, I'm sorry. So, so, so, sorry for this. "I didn't. She said that she would come, and she meant it."

"There," Richard pointed to the car. "Go answer the door, Caroline. We'll wait here."

She stood shakily, and moved to the front door. Glancing at the rental car in the drive, Caroline gauged their chances of making a run for it. We'd be dead before we made it she realized, they'd shoot us from the living room. What the hell do we do now? Throwing open the door before she had a chance to knock. "Hi, I've been waiting."

"Sorry, city traffic," Max replied slowly, taking in her sister's stricken expression. "Are you okay?"

Caroline shook her head. "I'm so sorry, Maxie. They said that they would kill me."

Max nodded, not surprised when he father loomed in front of them. "Why don't you tell us what you've been up to, Maxine?"