A/N: This title is a play on an old T.V. show called, "The Inspector Lynley Mysteries". kay: lol That reminded me of a line from "Charmed". I just can't remember which episode. I'm glad you liked Prissandra's revenge. :) money makes me smile: RJF is a huge "Mutant X" fan and she said in her review that, "Emma dies when the building explodes and it falls into the sub-zero water below, I think it's a mixture of the explosion and drowning. It's like the 'All Hell Breaks Loose' ending." The-Cheese-Dairy: There will be Pearl/Brandon VERY soon and there will definitely be more about the Paige/Glenn ordeal. RJF: Thanks for telling me how Emma dies. I'm still kicking myself for missing that. And yes, as I said in my review to your fic, the locket is a cosmic telephone. I really love the idea ofa Pamela & Persia friendship! I think it would be great if I could borrow her sometime in the later future, so yeah, I REALLY want them to stay in contact! ;) Prince Halliwell: That's okay, RJF told me in her review, but thanks for the offer! I'm so glad that you enjoyed Prissy's payback and I just thought that the title was so fitting for that chapter. lol Anyway, sorry again for the late reviews. :(

Every Halliwell Counts
Chapter 13: The Inspector Trudeau Mysteries

Dark blue vastness hovered above a winding down San Francisco. Stars glittered like thousands of diamonds and the moon hung high in the sky, like one huge lemon head candy. It's light shown down upon the city below, bouncing into one dark store in paticular. The window of the store glimmered as the moon's rays hit it, illuminating the dark room behind its clear glass. It was the serene quiet. Large wooden cates littered the room, some even stacked upon others. A very tables were located in corners, stacked to the brim with various artifacts. The ray of yellow light went directly down the center of the room, splitting it in two. Suddenly a dark shadow sliced through the glowing moonlight. It was a long, slender form. Although the owner's face was shrouded in darkness, two triangular points could be made out on the top of the shadow, presumably the head of the owner. Then a long, slender arm flicked out from the body of the mysterious figure and swiped at a crate, causing it to topple over in no time flat. A tinkling sound was heard and then a glittering object hit the ground and was instantly snatched up by the figure. Suddenly a blaring alarm sounded and lights began to flash. The figure turned towards the wall, keeping its identity from being uncovered, and slashed the stone wall twice with two swift motions. Then in a burst of supernatural agility, the figure was gone.

5:00 A.M.----

An irritating ringing awoke Andy from his bed. He rubbed his eyes as he flopped over and glanced at his cell phone holder on the nightstand. Pandora had chosen it for him, so naturally it was shaped as a miniature pink and purple chair. As he reached out for his cell phone, the ringing stopped, but a bright red light remained flashing. Signalling that he had missed a call. Andy grabbed the phone and flipped it open, seeing that the call had come from the San Francisco Police Department.

"Is everything alright?"

Andy turned his face, meeting Prue's concerned eyes. "I don't know. I just got a call from the SFPD."

Prue's brow furrowed.

"Just get back to bed." Andy kissed her cheek and stumbled from his bed. The shock of the cold air sent a wave of goosebumps over him. He was only wearing his dark blue boxers and it was 5:00 A.M. on his day off, or so he had thought. He grabbed his robe that had been tossed over a nearby chair the night before and slipped it on and then he headed into the hallway, closing the door behind him. Andy quickly pressed '1', the button on which the SFPD speed dial was on, and then pressed 'talk'. He waited a few moments, before Darryl's exhausted voice answered. "Darryl?" He paused, letting his partner speak. "Yeah..." He sighed. "Wonderful. I'll be there as soon as I can...Okay, bye." He flipped his phone shut and rubbed his head.

"Andy, what's wrong?" Prue asked, coming out of the bedroom.

"Another break in." Andy sighed.

Prue pulled her light blue robe a little tighter around herself. "And they want you to go in now?"

Andy nodded.

"But..."

"Prue, I have to. It's my job." Andy ran his fingers through his wife's hair. "You should know that line better than anyone."

Prue frowned. "Yeah, I know." She wrapped her arms around him. "I just love you, that's all."

"I love you too." Andy wriggled free of his wife and headed towards the bathroom. It had been a long week. So far there had been a break in to a major shop each night. But this was the earliest and on a Saturday.

9:00 A.M.----

Piper brushed her knife across the top of a rather large stack of buttermilk pancakes, leaving behind a large dollop of melting butter.

"Mmm..."

Piper whipped her head around to see her younger sister, Phoebe, staring hungrily at the stack. She quickly wagged her index finger at her sister. "No, no, no! You're going to wait for everyone to get here. We're eating breakfast as a family."

Phoebe pulled a face and slid into a chair at the table. "No fair."

"Oh Pheebs, no need to act like one of the children." Piper grabbed a large bottle of Mrs. Butterworth's syrup from the cupboard and took the stack of pancake with the other hand, before skillfully placing them both on the table. As she turned to walk away, she smacked Phoebe, causing Phoebe to retract her hand.

"How'd you know?"

"I have eyes in the back of my head."

"With our lives, I wouldn't be surprised." Phoebe crossed her arms, pouting.

"Smells good, what's cooking?" Glenn asked, as he entered the kitchen.

"Don't even try it, buddy. I've got first dibs."

Glenn cocked a brow. "Umm, what are you doing here anyway? Don't you have your own place?" He took a seat next to his sister-in-law.

Phoebe snorted. "It's Cole and his 'lawyer friends'. They just had to meet at The Villa this morning." Sarcasm was evident in the witch's voice.

"At nine in the morning? Why?"

Phoebe wrinkled her nose and flicked her wrists, rolling her eyes to top off everything. "It's some secret case. They can't talk publically about it."

"But you're his wife."

"I know." Phoebe frowned, while placing her elbows on the table and seating her head in her hands.

"Elbows off the table, missy! It's rude."

Phoebe slid her elbows off the table. "Did she get bossier, or is it just me?"

Glenn shrugged. "So, where's everyone else?"

"Kids are asleep."

"I meant the adults."

Piper glanced at the ceiling. "And apparently Andy had to go down town because of another robbery."

"Isn't that like the sixth robbery?"

"Mhmm. A week straight. The reporters are going crazy." Prue droaned into the kitchen, holding her sleepy Kindergartner.

"You look like you haven't slept in days."

"I haven't."

"And why's that?" Piper asked, as she slid some sizzling bacon onto a plate.

"I'm worried about Andy and the cats keep yowling."

"Oh, I know. They're very excited."

Prue glared at Phoebe. "Why?"

"I'm only the empath." Phoebe motioned to Pandora. "Try asking your daughter that one."

"She can't read the minds of animals, Phoebe."

"But it's weird, because everywhere I've gone lately, cats all over the city have been jumping with excitement."

Prue quirked a brow. "Magical?"

Phoebe shrugged. "Why would that be?"

"Well, cats can sense evil. Andy told me that the day Rodriguez attacked us, cat had hissed furiously at him."

"But they aren't scared or angry, Prue. They're...It's like they smoked some real good catnip or something."

"You would know, wouldn't you?"

"About smoking catnip?"

"About smoking real good in general."

Phoebe glared and flipped her head around. "Piper, is the food ready yet?"

"Almost. Is everyone down here yet?" Piper's second sentence was sarcastic.

"I could get them."

"If you must."

"Breakfast!" Phoebe hollard, causing Pandora to cup her ears and start crying from the sudden burst of noise.

"Phoebe!" Piper snapped, as the pan of sizzling oil exploded and sent boiling oil all over the place. Piper screeched as oil hit her hand, forming a white welt. Her fright caused the remaining oil to freeze in mid air.

"Oh oh!" Prue handed her daughter to Glenn and rushed over to her little sister and attempting to tend to the painful wound.

"A cat?" Andy asked. He shook his head. "Why would someone steal the miniature statue of a cat?"

"There are some strange ones in the world, Trudeau." A fellow officer, Howard Duvay, answered. He nudged Andy. "Sorta like them Halliwells."

Darryl shook his head at the new, young cop who'd just transferred to San Francisco from L.A. He knew that the young cop had recently read over the unsolved cases, all involving the infamous Halliwell family, but what he didn't know was that Andy was married to the eldest Halliwell.

Andy grabbed Howard's collar, bringing him within inches of his face. "You got a problem with the Halliwells, Duvay?"

Howard shook his head, waving his hands frantically. "N-n-n-no man!"

Andy relased the man's collar and stepped back.

Howard stumbled back, shaking his head and regaining a bit of his confidence. "What's it to you anyway?"

Darryl, being the mediator, jumped in. "Man, if Andy was ratting on your wife's family, would you want to take that crap?"

"What?"

"You heard me."

"He's married to one 'em Halliwells?"

Darryl narrowed his brown eyes. "Her name's Prue."

Howard threw up his hands, defensively. "Sorry man, I didn't know."

"Maybe you should read up on your partners, before you go shootin' your mouth off again." Andy spat. He was about to add to that, when another officer approached.

"We've found the signature."

"Lead the way." Darryl motioned his arm.

"It's over here." The man led Andy, Darryl and Howard over to one of the walls and pointed to the series of eight slashes.

"Four one way, four the opposite." Andy noted. "Just like the others."

"Like four x's or something." Howard added.

"We got that." Darryl added, irritated with the obnoxious cop.

"And we found this..." The officer held up a small clear plastic bag, containing a small diamond earring. "We've already checked the logs. It doesn't belong to the auction house."

Andy took the bag from the officer and examined the diamond. "It's expensive."

"Yeah. Maybe from another theft?"

"Possibly," Andy noted. He handed the bag back to the officer. "Keep that safe. I'll want to examine it later."

"Right, Inspector." The officer slipped the plastic bag into a larger brown bag and sealed it with red tape, before writing something on the front with a black Sharpie, and then headed off.

"So what now?" Howard looked eagerly from Andy to Darryl.

"Now," Andy glowered, "you go back to the station. Darryl and I can take it from here."

"So we're on a first name basis now?" Howard asked.

"Don't push him, Duvay," Darryl warned.

Howard merely nodded and headed off.

"So what're you thinking?" Darryl asked, once Howard was out of earshot.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean," Darryl began, "do you think it's part of the whole...witchy thing?"

Andy rubbed his head. "Darryl, it's just come fancy cat burglar." He turned back to the mark on the stone wall. "Not every crime has magical involvement."

"Well excuse me for asking," Darryl snorted. "But I do believe I have a right to be suspicious."

The golden glow from Pearl's hands faded as Piper's greasy wound faded away.

"Thanks, Pearl." Piper rubbed her hand. "That really hurt."

"No problem," Pearl responded. "But you know, you could make it up to me by letting me have extra whip cream on my pancakes."

"Sure thing, kid."

"No fair!" Phoebe whined. "She's got an advantage. She can heal and the rest of us can't!"

"That may be true," Piper smirked. "But you were the one who caused this in the first place. You're lucky I'm letting you have any whip cream at all."

Phoebe rolled her eyes and flopped back in her seat. "Whatever."

Everyone gathered at the table, minus Paige who was sleeping in, and Piper quickly dispersed the meal. The whip cream bottle went around the table, starting with Pearl and ending with Phoebe. Unfortunately when Phoebe went to press the can, a whizzing noise sounded and a burst of air hit Phoebe's pancakes. The remainder of the table laughed and Phoebe leaned back in her chair, whining loudly.

"You got your just reward."

Up in the attic, an aging Kit was sprawled out long the wooden floor, letting the soft rays of sunlight wash over her through the staind glass windows. She was purring softly and her fur was being spread out in a rythmatic motion, as if she were being petted. However, nobody was there. Suddenly the Book of Shadows flew open and the pages began to flip wildly. Kit's tail began to twitch and sne closed her large blue eyes and her purring intensified.

TO BE CONTINUED...