When Jack returned to his office, Samantha and Vivian came in quickly. As soon as Jack saw Samantha, he shook his head and addressed her. "You should have told me. You should have told me what was going on Friday when we saw them in the waiting room, if not before. All of this could have been prevented, Sam."

"Danny asked me not to," she replied hesitantly as she looked from Vivian to Jack. "He assured me that it wasn't a big deal. I tried to tell him it was basically harassment, but he didn't see it that way."

"Well it wasn't up to him to see it any way. You should have told me, Sam," Jack said in a disappointed tone. "When did you first become aware of it?"

"I thought it was strange all along. She always wanted to talk to him. She wouldn't talk to anyone else. And then a little over a month ago, he told me that she asked him to meet her for a drink, and he told her no. Last week, I heard him on the phone with her. He told her in no uncertain terms that he wasn't her personal investigator, and she couldn't rely on him solely for her case. I thought she would leave him alone after that, but I guess it just pissed her off."

"I want you to document everything Danny told you and everything you heard and have a report to me by close of business today," Jack directed.

"I will and I'm sorry I didn't tell you," she said knowing that Jack was hurt because she hadn't trusted him.

"One more thing—have Martin get the security tapes at the Ritz. We have to see if we can see any of Danny's movements on Friday night."

"I'm on it," Samantha said as she turned to leave.

"How's he doing?" Viv asked.

"He's pissed. He's pissed at Mrs. Washington, Olczyk and me."

"You?"

"Apparently I wasn't supportive enough of him."

"You didn't defend him with Olczyk?"

"I tried, but Viv, he was in that bar with her. She ordered him a drink. Why didn't he leave? Why was he still in that bar after his girlfriend left? It doesn't make sense."

"You know he has enough of that with Olczyk. He doesn't need it from you, too. He needs your support, Jack."

"Viv, with my track record with my agents, I can't afford to not play this by the book. I can't cover for him - I can look for the truth and then help him, but I can't cover for him.

"I'm not talking about covering for him. I don't think he needs that. He needs your support. And your history with Sam has nothing to do with this. He shouldn't have to suffer because of your reputation," Vivian responded vehemently before walking out.

As Samantha filled Martin in on what they needed from the Ritz, Danny walked in and sat down at his desk. He rubbed his eyes and then picked up his phone. He wanted to call Anna to prepare her for what she was about to hear, but then he put the phone down. He couldn't afford to cloud what she would say.

After he put the phone down, Samantha and Martin walked over.

"I'm documenting everything you told me about Mrs. Washington. I'll give it to Jack as soon as I finish. It should help," Samantha said quietly as she looked at him with concern.

"And I'm headed over to the hotel right now. I'll run down the security tapes. With any luck, we'll be able to prove that you didn't go up to that hotel room."

"So you both know, and judging by the fact that no one has looked me in the eyes all morning, I guess I can assume that the whole office thinks I'm some kind of sexual predator."

"No one thinks that, Danny. This place is a gossip mill, but it will get cleared up. Don't worry. No one actually believes you are capable of that," Samantha reassured.

"It could happen to any of us. We all put ourselves in positions where people feel vulnerable to us. This isn't about you, Danny," Martin said.

Danny looked up at Martin and smirked. "This isn't about me? Give me a break, Martin. If this happened to you, people would literally line up to defend you. Your father, Jack, Olczyk and half of Washington would move heaven and earth to cover for you. Olczyk doesn't care if I get hung out to dry for this. He just doesn't want it to go public. And Jack? I'm not even sure if he believes me," Danny said as he rose from his desk. "I need to get some air."

They watched as Danny stalked out of the office. "He's right, you know. He's not getting the same kind of support you would get."

Martin gave Samantha an offended glance. "That's not my fault, Sam. I don't think Danny could have done what he is being accused of, but we've all seen him operate. Maybe Mrs. Washington misunderstood."

Samantha shook her head. "We all do it--just like you said. We all charm answers out of people. We all do what we have to do to console a grieving parent. Danny is especially good at it. He shouldn't be punished for that," she said as she walked back to her desk to complete her report to Jack.

Later that day, Anna met Jack in the lobby of the FBI building. "I was surprised to hear from you, Agent Malone. Is Danny okay?" she asked with concern.

"Yeah, he's okay. But something has come up—a delicate situation—and we need to ask you a few questions about it. We are going up to Agent Olczyk's office. He's my boss. Danny is in a bit of trouble, but we are hoping you can clear it up for us."

"Trouble? What kind of trouble? Where is he?" she asked in a worried tone.

"He's here. And he's fine. We asked him not to call you about it, so that we could get an untainted version of the events as you experienced them."

"Events? I'm completely confused."

They stepped off the elevator and headed into Olczyk's office. "This will become clear very soon," Jack said as he guided her into a chair across from Olczyk. "Anna Ridley, this is SAC Olczyk."

Olczyk shook her hand and then sat in his desk chair. Jack leaned against the wall opposite the desk.

Olczyk started. "Ms. Ridley, Danny has been accused of sexual misconduct with the mother of a missing girl."

Jack sighed at Olczyk's bluntness as he watched Anna's eyes widen.

"Sexual misconduct? What the hell are you talking about? Where is Danny?"

"Anna, let me explain. Danny's been dealing with a woman named Karen Washington for the last couple of years," Jack started. "Her daughter went missing and we haven't been able to locate her. She's probably a runaway. Apparently, during the last two years, this woman has developed some kind of attachment to Danny. We are just trying to find out what actually happened between them. Can you walk us through what happened Friday night?"

"Friday night? Something happened on Friday night?" Anna asked as she looked from Olczyk to Jack.

"According to Mrs. Washington, she and Danny had an encounter at the Ritz Carlton last Friday night," Olczyk continued.

Anna's memory flashed to that night. She thought of their fight in the bar and then not being able to find Danny. She remembered waking up to find him coming out of the shower. A chill went down her spine. He'd done the same thing when he'd cheated on her in college. He'd always sneak out at night and then come back and shower before getting in bed with her.

"What time did Danny meet you at the bar?" Jack asked.

Anna hesitated for a moment. Feeling sick to her stomach, she wanted to run from the room. But she answered. "7:30."

"What happened when he got there?" Jack asked.

"Um...I told him that my dad asked us to meet him at a restaurant across the street. He said he wasn't in the mood to go."

"Did you argue?" Olczyk asked.

Anna looked up at Olczyk and shrugged. She didn't like the way Olczyk was asking her questions, so she didn't want to give him any satisfaction. "I wouldn't say it was an argument. I wanted to go and he didn't want to. So I went without him."

"Did you meet your father for dinner?" Jack asked.

"Um…I spent a few minutes with them at the restaurant, but then I didn't feel like staying so I excused myself."

"Did you go home?" Jack asked.

"No, I took a walk. Eventually, I ended up at Danny's apartment."

"Was he there?" Jack asked hopefully.

Anna bit her lip. She wished she could say that he'd been there. "No. He wasn't there."

"Did he ever return home that night?" Olczyk asked skeptically.

"Yes, he got there sometime after midnight," she answered in an annoyed tone.

"Did you ask him where he was?" Olczyk continued.

"Um…yes…he said he just needed some time to clear his head. He took a walk, too."

"How did he seem when he got to his apartment?" Olczyk asked.

"He seemed fine."

"Did you argue? Were you upset that he ditched you that night?" Olczyk asked.

Anna rolled her eyes as she felt more and more agitated by his questions. "I wasn't upset. He apologized for not coming with me, and that was that."

"So he didn't say anything? Did anything seem strange to you? Did you get any kind of vibe that he'd been with someone else?"

"Alex," Jack interjected. "That's enough."

"No, its okay, Agent Malone. What do you want know? You want know if I smelled perfume or found lipstick on a collar? No. I didn't. I don't really understand how this is any of your business. I mean why do you care if Danny slept with this woman? Is she a suspect or something?"

Jacked sighed and then answered. "She's saying he coerced her. She's saying that he told her that he would find her daughter if she slept with him. That's the issue here."

Anna almost laughed and shook her head. "Do you even know Danny at all? He's not capable of doing that. He wouldn't do anything to intentionally hurt someone else like that, and he definitely wouldn't use his job to coerce someone into sex. That's insane."

"I know," Jack replied quietly.

"Well I don't know," Olczyk countered. "How can you be so sure? It seems pretty strange. And he was with Mrs. Washington in that hotel bar. He's already admitted to that, Ms. Ridley. Where was he all that time? Didn't you wonder? What did you two talk about when he returned?"

"We didn't talk a whole lot," Anna said as she became angrier after each of Olczyk's questions.

"You weren't curious? You've got to be the only woman in the world who wouldn't be suspicious. What happened after he returned to his apartment?"

"It's none of your business," she replied as she looked at Olczyk squarely in the eyes. "I don't understand why I am even here."

"It is our business if it becomes a federal OPR investigation. You'll be asked to give a formal statement. If you know something that proves he did what Mrs. Washington says he did, then we will compel you to tell us," Olczyk said in an irritated tone.

Anna was fuming at this point. She hated the way Olczyk was talking about Danny. Tears welled in her eyes as she finally answered him. "You'll compel me? You'll compel me to tell you what happened that night? We didn't talk. He didn't confess anything to me. We had sex…twice, as a matter of fact. Is that what you want to know? Do you need to know details?"

Jack dropped his head as Olczyk interrupted. "Ms. Ridley…"

"No…you wanted to know, right?" Anna asked as she stood up from the chair. "Danny's not capable of doing what you said he did, and then coming home to me. He would never do that…not ever. I'm not saying anything more to you. If you want more information, you can contact my attorney." She stormed out of the office as Jack followed her out.

"Anna…Anna…wait…."

Anna turned around quickly when she heard Jack's voice. "How could you let him talk about Danny like that? Danny could never…"

"I know that. But the accusation is still there, and we have to investigate. I'm sorry we had to drag you into this."

"Who is this woman, Agent Malone? Why would she do this to him?"

"I'm not sure, but I'm trying to find that out. I have to ask you one more thing, Anna."

"What?" she asked as she continued to cry.

"The Danny I know isn't capable of doing this, but I don't know what he would do if he was drinking. Would he lie? Would he deceive us? Is it possible he was drinking that night?"

She put her hands to her face to try and stop herself from completely losing her composure. "Danny's not drinking. He's not--"

"How can you be so sure? According to Mrs. Washington, she ordered him a drink at the bar."

She shook her head as she rubbed her eyes. "Oh god…I can't…I can't deal with this right now. I have to go," she said as she backed away from Jack toward the elevator.

Jack didn't stop her. Before she got on the elevator, he said, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry we had to involve you in this."

She didn't respond she just looked down as the doors closed.