Day 2

"Dammit Tom! Untie me!" Max yelled, to the empty room.

She screamed in frustration and anger, and tugged hopelessly against the restraints binding her to the bed.

"There isn't anyone to hear you scream," he said, appearing at the doorway, "This is for your, our, own good. Why can't you see that?"

"You kidnap me, and set up my best friend for our murder? Why the hell would I be happy about that?"

"Your best friend? Right. You had to have been blind not to realize that the man wanted to rip your clothes off."

"That's crap. Tom, please, if you let me go, I won't say a thing. I'll take my chances with the hitmen."

"You don't know what you're saying. I'll be back soon, darling."

Max screamed again, as he shut the door.

"I don't believe this," Jimmy said under his breath, as he examined the file in front of him. This can't be right, and it doesn't have to mean anything. There has to be, there will be, an explanation, "Kenny! My office. Now."

Kenny walked slowly into his boss and good friend's office, as he tried to fight the sorrow that was invading his heart. He hadn't slept the night before because he had been haunted by thoughts of Max.

"Can you explain this?" Jimmy asked, in llew of a greeting.

"What?" Kenny asked, as he took the file, "What the hell is this?"

"You tell me."

"Jimmy. I didn't buy all of this. Where did you get this?"

"It was delivered this morning."

"I wouldn't, couldn't. Jimmy, it wasn't me."

"There are photographs too. Who the hell are these people you are meeting with, and why were you buying explosives?"

"I don't know who they are!"

"There from the Millani family. Giorgio and Franco Millani."

"The mob?"

"And you."

"It has to be a mistake. I never met them, and I didn't buy any explosives. I could never do that to Max."

"What makes you think that it has anything to do with Max?"

Kenny shook his head, "Her apartment blew up yesterday! I don't know any mobsters!"

Jimmy sighed, "I want to believe you, Kenny."

"But?"

"We have a witness."

"I'm going to untie you," Tom said, as he loosened the restraints, "There isn't anywhere to go. No one else is on this island, but you and me. You should look at this as an opportunity. I have millions in Swiss bank accounts, a new life all set up for us, all you have to do is be patient. Let this all blow over. Think about it."

"Bite me."

He traced his finger down her jawbone, "There are two ways to do this, darling. I don't want to hurt you."

Max stood and walked toward the door, "I can go?"

Tom shrugged, "I wouldn't go far. There are animals in the jungle, sharks in the ocean, and it's getting dark."

"I'll take my chances," Max scoffed, hoping in vain that she would find someone else here. Or a gun. A helicopter. Anything to get out of this nightmare, "I hate you."

"I don't have a choice," Jimmy said, as he read Kenny his Miranda rights, "I'll call Wambaugh."

"I don't need a lawyer! Jimmy, this is nuts!"

Jimmy regarded his deputy carefully, "We'll figure this out."

Something inside Kenny snapped, as he shoved Jimmy to the ground and pulled his gun out, "Stay down!"

"Kenny."

"Sorry, Jimmy," Kenny said sadly, as he smacked him on the head with the butt of his gun, "I didn't kill Max, don't work for the mob, and I won't be able to figure this thing out if I'm locked up."

He looked down at the unconscious sheriff, and fled from the station.

"You're going to get sunburn," Tom said, as he walked up behind Max.

She looked down at the water lapping up around her bare feet before turning back to look at him, "You don't have any aloe in your island prison?"

"I'm sorry you're so upset, Maxine. You have to believe I did all this so that you wouldn't die. My own life, I wasted that. I couldn't live with myself if they killed me too."

"So you set my best friend up for my murder? The rest of this I could possibly understand. Kenny doesn't deserve this. I won't let him go to prison for this."

"There is more."

"There isn't anything else you can tell me that would make me hate you more then I do now."

"We made it look like he was part of the mob, so he could take the fall for some of the stuff that I was going to be accused of. To take the heat of me, so my family would forget about it. A cop in bed with the mob makes for a lot of news coverage."

Max backed away from him slowly, "You are an unimaginable bastard."

Kenny drove out of town faster than he ever thought possible, as his thoughts raced a million miles a minute.

"Shit," he said aloud, "Max, what the hell is going on?"

Pulling his truck off the side of the road, he tugged his uniform shirt off. Grabbing an old gym shirt from his bag, he quickly changed his clothes. Tucking his gun and wallet into it, he stuck his Chicago Cubs hat on, and knew he had to ditch his truck and get out of town.

"An innocent man wouldn't run," Jimmy said sadly, as he pressed the ice pack on his head, "Listen up everyone!"

The melancholy mood settled over the office, as the news sunk in.

"It could just be a mistake," Skeeter said, "I mean the mob and Kenny? That is a bit of a stretch. The photographs aren't ever verified as legit yet."

"He ran."

"What if we bring in the Millanis? If they had anything to do with Max and Tom being blown up, why would they?"

"What do we really know about Tom?" Littleton asked, "He's a lawyer, worked for Varitek, what else?"

"What if the blast was just meant to target him?" Skeeter asked.

"Why blow up Max's place then? What was wrong with his?"

"Maybe he told her something that no one else was supposed to know," Jimmy added.

"Why would Kenny be part of it? Besides the fact he hates every guy that Max dates. Dated. He wouldn't kill them though. I even thought that he and Max, never mind," Skeeter trailed off, "He wouldn't have hurt her Jimmy."

Jimmy shook his head, "There is more. Kenny owed a ton in gambling debts, to Giorgio Millani. He came to collect, and we have a witness. A Sophia Campenella, a woman that Kenny was having an affair with."

"What did she have to say?" Skeeter asked.

"That Kenny was in deep with the gambling debts, and that this was his way of paying them back. That there was no other way, and that she was terrified that he would kill her too."

"This is insane," Skeeter said, as he let the news sink in.

"I have an APB out," Jimmy said, "We'll get him."

"Would you just talk to me?" Tom asked, as Max sat stoically, "It's going to be awfully boring here if we don't talk."

Max just glared at him, as she looked around the house, "You didn't put much entertainment in your bunker?"

"Come on Maxine. We used to have fun together."

"Used to. Before you kidnaped me, fake our deaths, and are trying to send my friend to prison."

"I explained all of that!"

"I'm going to lie down."

Kenny slumped against the vinyl seat, as the bus pulled away from the station. I'm going to figure this out, he promised, for Max. I didn't kill her, or that asshole Tom. The Millanis. That's the first step. Lets say that they killed . . . Max. Why? Why pin it on me? Max. She wouldn't have anything to do with them. Tom. Tom Miller. Tom Millani? That bears some thought.

I need to get to a computer, and do some research.

"Kenny's truck was found on the side of the road, right outside town," Skeeter said a few hours later, "About halfway between the train and bus stations. I betting he skipped town."

Jimmy sighed, not wanting to believe any of this, "Carlson and Neederman are bringing Franco and Giorgio in."

Skeeter fell silent, "What do you think that they're going to say?"

"I don't know, but we need answers. I don't want to believe that Kenny played any part in this, but the evidence is very damning."

"I could see him wanting to hurt Tom because, well you know there was always some chemistry between him and Max. He couldn't kill them though, not matter how in debt he was. He just couldn't."

Kenny settled in behind the desk at the Greenbay library, and pulled his cap lower on his brow. They'll be looking for me, he thought, I can't let them catch me until I can prove that I'm innocent. Whoever killed Max won't get away with it. They'll pay.

"What if?" he wondered aloud, "What if it was some mistake? Maybe she isn't dead?"

She wouldn't fake her death, he argued with himself, she wouldn't let everyone think she was either. That isn't Max. Focus on Tom, what he was involved in. Punching Tom's name into the computer, he waited.

"We've got to go," Tom snapped, pulling Max up from the bed, "Do you hear that?"

"Let go of me. I'm not going anywhere else with you."

"Someone is here. Come on!"

"I hope it's the F.B.I."

"We have to hide! I have a bunker in the woods, no one will find us there. We'll be safe!"

Max listened as she heard the approaching footsteps, before turning back to Tom, "You're insane."

"They're going to kill us!"

"I'll take my chances," she said under her breath, before screaming.

Kenny added Millani to his computer search, and nearly leapt out of his chair at the search display.

"Thomas Millani," he said under his breath, "Youngest son of Carla and Giorgio Millani. Funny thing is that he looks a lot like Tom Miller. Dammit Max, what the hell did you get yourself into?"

Hitting the print button, he leaned back in his chair. It still doesn't prove anything, except that Max's boyfriend was looking to get away from his mob ties? Maybe his family found him, and this is their payback? Why set me up? To throw suspicion off of themselves? Max, I'll figure this out for you.

"Ah, where did you get these pictures?" Giorgio asked, "They don't prove anything."

"We know that you're involved in organized crime," Jimmy stated, "And that is my deputy. What is your relationship with him?"

"I've never seen that man in my entire life. These pictures are obviously doctored."

"You're not going anywhere until you answer me!"

"Unless you're planning on arresting us, we're leaving now."

"Are you crazy!" Tom yelled, clamping his hand over Max's mouth, "Shut up!"

Max bit him, and jerked her head away, "Help! Tom Miller, Millani, kidnaped me! Please! Over here!"

"Shut up!" Tom hissed, as he pulled his own gun from his pocket, "Get down!"

He tossed her down, as a shower of bullets shattered the windows around them. Max ducked her head in an attempt to avoid the glass, and looked up in horror as she watched Tom collapse in a bloody heap on the floor.

"Oh shit," she whispered, as she felt for a pulse on his neck, "Tom?"

Shakily, she took the gun from his hand, and tucked it into the waistband of her shorts. Staying low, she listened for sounds outside, and sucked in her breath as she heard footsteps moving across the living room. Clicking the safety off, she listened more carefully and made out a second, then a third set of footsteps. I've got to get out of her, her mind screamed, as she heard the footsteps pause outside the bedroom door. Moving as quickly and silently as possible, Max slipped into the adjoining bathroom, and locked the door behind her. No windows, she thought, how can there not be windows? Ceiling vent it is, she decided, pushing the cover off. Shimming up, she recovered it the best she could, and squeezed her way through the vent.

Kenny clutched his printouts in his hand, and was unsure what to do next. He was a lawyer at Varitek, he had to of had some files there. They have to know something. Or his apartment, a computer. It has to be crawling with cops by now. I can't get in.

"Dammit," Jimmy said under his breath, as he watched the Millanis leave.

"They could have been telling the truth," Skeeter said, "Maybe they didn't know Kenny, and none of them had anything to do with this."

"They're mobsters."

"Yeah," Skeeter said, "Jimmy? These came through on the fax. Tom Miller? He's actually Tom Millani. The youngest son. I spoke to the CEO at Varitek too, and it's something that they recently found out too, and they fired Tom. Funny thing happened though, the company president turned up dead soon after."

"You're just telling me this now? Where did the fax come in from?"

"Greenbay. I think someone was doing some research."

"Kenny."

Max slipped into the woods, and ran blindly into the night. These people had to come from somewhere, a boat, plane, something. Even if they're trying to kill me, maybe I could steal their boat?

"Or not," she whispered, looking at the contingent of people gathered around the helicopter sitting on the beach, "Shit."

Tom what have you gotten me into? Slinking back into the shadows, she stifled a scream as someone grabbed her around the neck.

"Going somewhere little girl?"

"Tom thought he could get away," Franco sighed, "I talked to Marco. He took care of Tom, and they got the girl."

"It didn't have to turn out this way. Tom did go to a lot of trouble though."

"He should have just come back to the family. It would have been that simple.

The two men fell silent, as the sun went down.