Here we are!

Glad you seem to appreciate the interaction between them, even though it's not what they would like it to be yet. But that was more a moment for comfort than anything else.

Tori: i like the idea of a side story, it actually does make sense because there are indeed two things moving along at the same time

Fridmame: thank you, this last part of the chapter is one of my favourite, I really wanted to them to have a meaningful moment.

Now, we go to the day after. Our trio is back on the case, there is still one child to find after all.

None of them expected to get a good night of sleep, but they were in for a surprise.

Emily woke up in the middle of the night, too hot under the covers for her, and she realised the reason was that she was fully dressed. Then she vaguely remembered her dad whispering something to her, the feeling of being so light and his very distinctive smell and figured out the rest. Smiling, the smile she used to have when she was a little girl, Emily changed into her pyjamas and went back to bed flooded by childhood memories.

The worst part of going to bed for Gillian had been untangling herself from the non-hold of Cal, to leave that hoovering cocoon of love and protection he had created around her. When he had slowly pulled away, regret and longing all over his face, she had slowly hopped down the banister and gone inside, all the way to her room without looking back once, knowing he would understand. Alone in her room, alone in the bed, she had grabbed hold of the spare pillow and sunk her face in it, holding onto it like she had wanted to hold Cal out there in the porch, and was lulled into a peaceful sleep by the sheer power of that ghost sensation.

Cal stayed outside for a while longer, not trusting himself that he wasn't going to run after Gillian and grab her before she could go too far. If he had, however, he knew he still wouldn't have kissed her: he really just wanted to hold her, to talk about things they had never talked about. As good - amazing really - as sex was between them, it was the talking part of their relationship he was getting addicted to faster. Like that night, when they had been able to touch on a big tabu subject and still come away from it stronger, closer. When he went to sleep, lying on his back and staring up at the ceiling, his wandering eyes seemed to find two pieces of truth in the wooden patterns of the surface above him. He was falling for her harder and faster than what he had imagined, and he was absolutely ok with it.

In the end, they all slept outrageously well and if it hadn't been for Gillian remembering to set up the alarm they may have actually slept in altogether.

After breakfast they packed up the car and drove off to the Sheriff's office, which was buzzing with three times the crowd they had seen the day before. Most of the people there respectfully moved out of the way when they arrived, and Cal felt a touch of silly pride when he realised a lot of them were looking and pointing at Gillian, whispering to each other. He was stupidly proud not because he thought they were sharing appreciation for his girlfriend, although she did have the numbers to stop a room upon entering: he was proud because he knew they were acknowledging that it had been her intuition on Trepkos which had blown the case wide open and lead to the rescue operation.

That's right! Cal said to himself with a smirk, giving Gillian a small nod as she glanced at him to shy away from the others' looks, knowing exactly what they were about. You showed them all up, love.

When they went inside the atmosphere was even crazier. Sedley was not used to a case of the magnitude of five missing kids, and to be hit with the events of the day before was like being swept away by a tsunami. Sheriff Talbot was on the phone in her office and waved them to come in through the glass door, and they had to squeeze in with the bags of equipment hanging all over the place. Then they waited for the call to end, feeling sympathy for the Sheriff when she finally hung up and sighed.

"That was Mr Connor," she shared. "He's already working on Trepkos' case, and he would like to know just exactly what he can charge him with."

"Let's find out then," Cal quipped. "Where is he?"

"In the interrogation room?"

"Already?"

"Well, we had to move him there during the night. We only have two holdings and they were both occupied." She stopped and glanced at Emily, then broke out in an absent cough. "It was best to keep him separate from the others, for his own safety."

Gillian nodded knowingly, thinking that she didn't condon that kind of scenario, but wasn't entirely surprised nor bothered by Cal's expression of disgust. She might have not liked the idea of militante justice, but in certain extreme cases she could see how someone could take that route. As they followed the Sheriff to the interrogation room she informed them that Trepkos had lawyered up, and still maintained he had nothing to do with the Reeds boy. When they got there, Trepkos was sitting on a camp bed that had been arranged for him and sipping coffee his lawyer had brought, all in all looking rested and well treated, and Cal suspected that wasn't just a show for the lawyer but pretty much how all 'criminals' were treated around there.

The Sheriff made the introductions and explained to Trepkos' lawyer what they were there to do. Gillian expected the defender to put up some resistance and announce that his client had no intention of talking to them, which would have prompted Cal to share his usual clip that it didn't make much of a difference for them. But that didn't happen: Trepkos knew he was done for it already, but apparently he was really keen in proving he had nothing to do with the last missing child.

With that squared off, Emily set up the camera under the scrutiny of her father; not because he wanted to make sure she did correctly, he already knew she would, but because he was impressed by her focus and determination. He knew she had talked to Gillian the day before, and he suspected whatever they had discussed besides Sophie had worked a lot better than anything he might have said to her.

Once they were ready, Gillian started with the interrogation while Cal watched. She had already dealt with him the day before and even though it had been brief, improvised and fast paced, she had gathered enough from him to be able to move along a little faster. As stomach-turning as it was, he didn't hide anything about the scheme he had set up: the money, the bribing, kidnapping some of the children and the rest. He showed sincere disgust when asked if he had done anything to the kids, which was when Cal and Gillian finally relaxed a bit and accepted they might have been facing a scumbag but not a monster.

"How about Toby Reed?"

Cal asked then, feeling it was time to change the pace and crank up the heat. Trepkos glanced up at him but even quicker looked away, a clear sign that it was a touchy subject. There was something there, maybe not what they thought but something nevertheless.

"He wasn't at your house with the others," Gillian stated, trying to sound as if that was a good thing.

"So?" The man muttered with a shrug, the short counter question and gesture indicating he was trying to dismiss something he didn't want to talk about.

"My client already told you that he has nothing to do with this," the lawyer tried to remind them, half annoyed and half bored about a process he didn't understand.

"Well then he won't mind answering some questions, would he?" Gillian retorted, and Cal grinned inwardly thinking she looked great when she played bad cop. Then she turned to Trepkos and went on. "Toby Reed, why wasn't he there?"

The man tried, successfully, to hold her gaze. But then he seemed to remember what those strange people from Washington did, claimed to be able to do at least, and figured it could play to his advantage. So he straightened up, puffed up his chest even, and looked right at her and Cal as he spoke.

"I didn't take him."

It was a common misconception they often had to disprove, that people who lie can't look you in the face and actually a liar would try harder to make eye contact. But that wasn't the case, Trepkos was telling the truth about that and the smug grin on his face wasn't duper delight but simply the show of a man who knew he was in the clear. Still, Cal glanced down at Gillian and she gave a small nod in response. She was seeing the same thing as he was, that Trepkos had certainly not taken Toby but that his defiance in sharing the information was not due to his own innocence.

Then, when they were still looking at each other, Cal's face suddenly contorted in a strange expression of surprise and excitement to which Gillian once again nodded in agreement.

"He should have been tough, right?" He asked with a low hiss, and Trepkos immediately deflated his stance. "He could have been."

The accused didn't respond, one of those silent reactions that told them more than actual words could. For normal people that kind of reaction was usually a dead end, but for Cal and Gillian it was just an invitation to push forward.

"Did you try to take him too?" Gillian pressed on. "To kidnap him, to buy him from the Reeds? Or to have him assigned to you-"

"Ok, enough." The lawyer stepped in, literally, standing between Gillian and his client blocking her view and the one of the cameras. "We're done here. My client won't answer any more questions, or non answer." He quickly added, motioning to Emily behind the camera. "Turn that off. You're not even part of the sheriff's office and I've indulged this thing enough already."

Cal and Gillian knew better when not to push, and he nodded at Emily to switch off the camera. There was no point in arguing there; most suspects and lawyers didn't believe enough in what they could do to be reasonably afraid of submitting to the science, but they could always tell when things weren't going their way. Fortunately, by the time they realised that they had usually gotten enough out of them they already had enough to move the investigation along, and they had the recording for good measures. Much like in that case, the best thing they could do was step back and let the opposition think they had the upper hand, while they could regroup and go through their findings to plan the next move.

Instructed by his attorney, Trepkos kept his mouth shut and his head down while they broke down the equipment, then the Lightman Group's representatives left the room while the lawyer talked to the Sheriff about his client's imminent transfer to the nearest county jail. Gillian knew better not to push their luck and moved the three of them away from the room and back to the Sheriff office, where they gathered around Emily's laptop and waited for her to pull up the fresh recording.

"He knows something, right?" The girl asked, a little thrill in her voice. "About Toby."

"Yeah, he does," Cal agreed. "You spoke with him yesterday Foster, noticed any big difference? What's the baseline here?"

"Well, yesterday he immediately panicked. The moment I addressed him he was already nervous, dead giveaway." She explained. "Today he was much calmer, mostly because he wasn't lying about anything. He had already confessed yesterday to the Sheriff, today it was just more of the same. But when we asked about Toby-"

"He started sweating bullets again."

Gillian nodded at his interjection, like him watching the recording playing on.

"Was he lying when he said he didn't take him?" Emily asked. "He looked so smug."

"He did, but no Em, he wasn't lying. But see- There." Cal put his hand on his daughter's shoulder and she froze the image. "See, when I asked him if he could have been among the others?"

Emily went back a couple of frames then forward, seeing the man's eyebrows pull down together and his lips pressed.

"I know this one," she muttered, still thinking a second to think about it. "Rage, right?"

"That's my girl!" Cal sweetly grumbled as he ruffled the hair on the top of her head. "Yep, that's it."

"So if he was angry when you mentioned Toby it means that he did try to get to him and failed?"

"Looks like it," Gillian agreed, then sighed and leaned back on the chair. "But we need to talk to him again to be sure. If he did try and failed…even if he did nothing to Toby he might still have more information for us."

"Let's give it some time, let him talk to his lawyer." Cal was suggesting a slow approach and that was new for him, but it may have been the most sensible thing to do at that moment. "Maybe we can get another crack at him later."

Gillian nodded in agreement but Cal could tell that wasn't enough for her. One of the many things he loved about her, even before there was actual love between them: she didn't like to leave things unfinished and was always looking for a way around.

Right on cue! He thought then when he saw a quick frown on her face, then she leaned forward and scooted closer to Emily.

"Emily, can you play to the end please?" The girl nodded and did as instructed, however there wasn't much left to watch because the lawyer stepped in. "Alright, go back a little. Not too much."

"What is it, love?" Cal asked, curious and eager to see what she was.

"I'm not sure, it's…I saw something but- Ok, stop there and back again, please?" Cal leaned down to have a better view and immediately understood the frustration mounting up in her, since she was basically trying to get something out of a flash that lasted almost less than a single frame. "There's something there, the way he reacted when I asked if he tried to take Toby."

"Recognition, you were right."

"Yeah but there's something else, I-" She bit at her bottom lip, frustrated with herself now. "I made a mistake. I asked too many things too quickly and I didn't let him respond. He reacted to one of the options I mentioned but I don't know which one." She looked up at Cal, a new light of determination all over her face. "We need to talk to the Reeds."

"Why?" Emily asked, curious and somewhat infected by her sudden enthusiasm.

"I asked him three things. If he wanted to kidnap the boy, if he tried to buy off the Reeds or to get to Toby through the foster system directly." She summarised, standing up and pacing back and forth as she explained further. "The Sheriff told us that CPS is not keen on commenting and sharing information unless the DA presents a warrant. They don't come out of this in a good light and are trying to protect themselves, it would be hard to get through to them. I don't think his lawyer will let us talk to him again, not soon enough. But if we talk to the Reeds we can either confirm that he tried some moves with them or rule out that option to begin with."

"One down, two to go," Cal grinned, not even trying to hide how impressed he was at how she had so quickly analysed the situation and made a plan. "Let's talk to the Sheriff, she might want to come with you on this one. She knows the Reeds, she can help things along."

"Yes, good idea." she agreed, then had a pause and frowned. "Wait, you're not coming with me?"

"I want to stay here and see if I can talk to Trepkos again, I think he's willing to give us more."

"He might, but his lawyer is not a fan of you three at the moment." The Sheriff announced as she stepped inside the room, looking like she had gone one round too many with the attorney. "And we're on a deadline, his transfer is scheduled for 1pm today."

Cal nodded, thinking about all the moving parts of that situation that had to fit together in some way. Trepkos' transfer wasn't the only time related issues, it wasn't ideal but they could probably still get to him whenever they were going to move him; the real problem was that they didn't know how much time Toby Reed had, if any.

"The fraud, kidnapping, intimidation…" He mumbled then, the words coming out slowly as the thoughts formed in his mind. "All that stuff, you got him dead to rights on that?"

"He signed a confession, his lawyer was there and didn't make a peep. I suspect he's thinking about pleading guilty but I think the DA might want to make an example of this case. You know, elections coming up and all that."

"Well, if he confessed that's a conviction in the bag, plus we got all the kids back and then some." Cal paused, nodding to himself pleased with the direction his train of thoughts was going. "Do you think someone in CPS might go down for it too?"

"I heard something about internal investigations in the local offices. Why?"

"Call Connor," Gillian jumped in, taking the silent cue from Cal's nod to go on. "Ask him if we could work out some kind of deal."

"What deal?"

"Whatever Trepkos tells us about Toby won't matter for his case. Can't really charge him for something he didn't do, right? But if he does tell us what he knows and helps expose the issues with CPS Connor might be interested in a deal."

"Like a guilty plea?"

"It makes me sick to my stomach, Sheriff, I'm gonna be honest," Cal sighed and shook his head. "But we have to look at the bigger picture here. Someone has Toby Reed, and this someone might start thinking that with all the fuss from yesterday keeping the boy might not be such a good idea anymore."

The implication of his words descended into the room in the form of a heavy silence that nearly cut out all the other noises of the precinct, the reality of the scenario coming up to everybody's mind.

"Alright," Sheriff Talbot sighed, moving towards the phone on her desk. "Let me make that call."

Cal nodded at her then motioned to Gillian and Emily that they'd best leave the room and let the Sheriff plead their case. Once outside, they found a quiet corner by the watercooler and gathered around, with Cal trying to square things off as they waited.

"Regardless of how that goes," he waved at the Sheriff's office, "I think Gill's right. We have to talk to the Reeds."

"Do you still want to stay here?" Emily asked, and he nodded.

"If Connor opens up about the deal I want to be able to get right to it. And if he doesn't I still want to try to smooth things over with the lawyer."

"How?"

"He can be the one suggesting his client to bring CPS into this, for one." Cal smirked, satisfied that they both nodded at his scheming proposal. "Or maybe I can just persuade him to let me talk to Trepkos off the record, no camera and no taping."

"That might work."

"Emily, you should go with Gillian," he said then. "She's going to need help with the equipment, and if she's speaking with both parents at the same time she could use an extra pair of eyes."

"Dad, I-"

"Just in case you see something, ok? No pressure…but you've done such a good job so far, and I think you might be able to pick on something if Gillian is too busy."

Emily didn't quite know what to say, split between a sense of pride for her father's compliments and fear that she might not be able to measure up to them. Then she looked at Gillian, who was smiling and nodding encouragingly, and she decided that they wouldn't lie to her about something like that. After all, they've had reservations in letting her come along but hadn't fought back once she had come on board, and they had been very clear when she was taking it too seriously and had to slow down. And considering the events of the day before she figured there wasn't much they would hide from her about the case anymore. The day before, when her Dad had kept her doing research all day, she knew he had been trying to shield her from something, anything really; but now she liked to think that he was sending her off on the field because he thought she could help.

"Ok," she nodded then, firmly. "Should we go then?"

Cal nodded back and told her to gather up her stuff, then watched her leave and go back to where their equipment had been parked. He was still watching, his smile faltering a little, when Gillian stood so close to him that the wave of her scent nearly blinded him.

"Are you sure about this?" she asked softly.

"Well I forgot to mention that Deputy Larry will come along," he huffed, knowing she was smiling at him getting the name right even without looking at her. "Yeah, I'm sure." He whispered back, then glanced at her for a moment. "I don't know what you told her yesterday but she seemed much happier hanging out with you."

Gillian didn't have time to react, not with Emily coming over from one side and the Sheriff approaching from the other. She didn't have time to show her surprised face, shocked nearly, and Cal would have missed it anyway. But she kept thinking about his words, so similar to what Emily had told her a couple of years before, until they left the precinct and got in the car.

Any thoughts? Will they find poor Toby and solve the final part of the case?

Heads-up y'all, I will post again tomorrow so stay up to speed.