A/N: Thanksto Jinubean, Orlando-crazy and jtbwriterfor reviewing chapter two! Jinubean - you hit the nail right on the head, a game is exactly what this is to Ayres. A bitof a sick game, but a game nonetheless. One he is confident of winning, whatever the outcome. Okay - for all of you who were wondering about the summary, its all cleared up in here. (Tell me if these are too dialogue-y I haven't been putting long winding intrpspective paragraphs in it, but next chapter may have some! I aim to please!lol)

Chapter 3: Good Reason

"No glitches yet, Dr. M," Bug reported over the phone connection. "Five identified. I could do with some help, though."

"I'll send Nigel then," Garret said reluctantly. "Although…"

"You can't spare anyone, I know."

"No, its okay, it doesn't matter. Jordan is so fired, though."

Bug laughed. "Yeah. You keep telling yourself that. Well I better get back to it," he said, and they hung up.

"Got any more for me?" Lily asked, pushing the door open. She had just forwarded on a list of the identified decedents to the BPD so they could notify the families.

"Just one," Bug said and rattled off the name of the woman he was working on. "I'm working under the philosophy 'identify now, autopsy later'."

"Good call."

"Macy's sending Nigel up. No sign of Jordan."

"Where could she be?"

"I have no idea."

"I'm worried – what if she's deathly ill in her apartment?"

"And couldn't pick up a phone?" Bug asked. "Anyway, since when is Jordan sick?"

"I don't mean having a cold sick. Maybe I should go check it out. Can you spare me?"

"For ten minutes, sure. To tell the truth I'm concerned too, it's not like her just to not show up."

"I know," she said, and turned to walk out. "I'll be as quick as I can."

She was quick. When she returned she recounted to Bug how she had banged on the door until she was sure that bruises would begin to show, called out her name and banged some more, but no one was there.

"I can't shake the feeling that she might be in there. I can almost see her lying on the ground trying to call out…" she shuddered. "But that's probably just my overactive imagination."

"Probably," said Bug distractedly. The run on the dental records he had just entered into the computer was just about to come back.

"Hey Bug, your saviour has arrived!" a voice called from the door. Bug looked up at Nigel, who was grinning and staring around.

"Forgive me for not leaping for joy, back problems you know," Bug said. "You can start over there."

Nigel's face did a mock 'fall', for Lily's benefit, and he grumbled something incoherent before making for the charred body Bug had pointed to."

"This the last of them?" he asked, as Lily walked out.

"You wish," Bug scoffed. "This is just the first lot. Dr. Macy's sending another lot."

"Oh joy," Nigel said.

They both heard the computer beep, but Nigel ignored it. Bug called Lily.

"More ID's for me?" she asked, pen in hand.

"Yep." He squinted at the screen. "Joseph Barron, 37. Amanda Jones, 25. Jo-"

He stopped abruptly and went completely white.

"What?" Lily said immediately, worried. "What is it?"

Nigel's head had lifted and he was watching from over the mould he was making.

"Oh God," Bug said, backing away from the computer. His hands were shaking as he pulled the phone out of his pockets, hampering his dialling ability. It was as if he had forgotten there was anyone else in the room. He left abruptly, and Lily quickly navigated her way to read from the screen. Nigel was frowning and stood to join her. "What? What the hell…oh Jesus."

Lily turned her tear-filled eyes to Nigel, asking him tell her it was a mistake, it had to be a mistake. But his pinched and paler than normal face spoke for itself.

"Oh my god," he whispered, and they both stood, roots to the spot, staring at the name on the screen.

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"Well I guess that's good to hear," she said slowly, trying to assess the situation.

"Hey don't get too cocky, I'm not saying you wont suffer. You know what I want them to feel?"

"What's that?"

"Grief. Absolute, unending, heart rending grief. Death won't do that."

"So kill me," she said, severely pissed off at this point.

"Oh don't worry," he said. "I already have."

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Bug, even in his shock and disbelief was smart enough not to tell Macy the reason for his frantic call. No doubt the ME would speed and likely get himself killed.

"We need you here. Now," was all he said.

His throat had then closed up, he added another urgent 'now', before hanging up. Garret was intuitive to realise when his employees were not fooling around, and new it had to be something damn big for Bug to demand his presence. He left Sidney in charge of the operation, maybe a little risky he knew, but he reasoned he would be back. He drove carefully, unconsciously not wanting to add to the days fatality rate. As he stepped out of the elevator, Bug met him, pale as anything, wringing his hands and hopping from one foot to the other in his agitation.

"This better be good," Garret growled, partly nervous, Bug would not be this agitated without good reason.

"You better come see for yourself," he said, voice trembling. Garret followed the man into the room they'd set up to identify the bodies from the train wreck. Nigel was furiously searching through the moulds Bug had made, Lily watching on, eyes red rimmed. It was at that point that Garret felt real fear, and as soon as Lily met his eyes, he knew something was terribly wrong. He slowly, lethargically made his way to the computer that Bug had wearily pointed too, and stared at the name on the screen.

"No way," he said immediately. "There must be some mistake."

"Exactly," Nigel said, still searching. "It can't be, we just got our records mixed up somehow, you made some sort of mistake."

"I didn't make a mistake," Bug said in a low voice.

"You must have!" Garret roared, making Lily rear back in shock, Bug bow his head and Nigel stop his frantic search. "She can't be dead!"

For it was indeed the name of their friend and colleague that was now flashing on the screen, the only person who hadn't shown up, the one person who should have.

"Jordan can not be dead," he said forcefully, and whisked out of the room, leaving Bug. Nigel and Lily staring sadly after him.

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"I do have a dilemma, however," he told her. "I don't know whether to wait until after your funeral to tell them you're still alive."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

Ayres laughed. "You haven't worked it out yet? My my, you are slow today. Here's me thinking you were mildly intelligent." A dark look slammed onto the man's face and he stared at her. "Although, seeing as you missed my daughter's killer, maybe you're not as smart as you think you are."

"Not as demented as you, in any case," she said. "Look. Just let me go now and I won't call the cops. Deal?"

Ayres laughed. "Oh sure. You're free to go." He laughed again. "Its really quite clever, you know, my evil criminal plan." He chuckled again at the irony. "Someone committing a criminal act because they weren't a criminal in the first place. Tell me, Dr. Cavanaugh, why it's okay for the state to murder people, but I can't."

"Because the state normally murders criminals," she said.

"Ah. But my wife did kill her. So wouldn't it be fair for me to have killed her?"

"No."

"Of course, we would have needed a full trial. Costing the state thousands of dollars. And she would not have suffered. She'd still have life; she'd still have herself. My daughter has nothing but the worms eating her cold flesh!" His voice had raised. "So I made her suffer."

"You murdered someone."

"Fine, if you want to continue to look at the world in black and white."

"Better than looking at it in red, like you."

He stared at her, and then forced a laugh to cover up his discomfort. "Always want the last word, don't you?"

"Damn straight," she said quietly. "So what are we doing here?"

"Waiting."

"For what?"

"For grief to take its natural course. Who knows, your pals may do themselves in before I have to dirty my hands with their blood. We could get lucky."

"You're sick," she said.

"So?" he asked. "So is 80 of the population, what's your point?"

"Maybe if we just go back to the morgue, we can get the old case files out and prove she killed your daughter."

"I still go away," he said uncertainly.

She had nothing to say to that so closed her mouth.

"So do you want to fill me in on this little game you seem to be running?"

He looked at her. "I want to know what you know."

"I don't know anything," she said.

He fingered his gun. "I think you've guessed," he said. "Say it aloud. Tell me what you have put together, from everything I've said. Because it all has a reason, every single thing that has been said."

Because he stressed the last sentence, it all slammed into place in her mind, from the radio to the phone to the little hints he had let drop.

"Now," he commanded, still stroking his gun.

She breathed deeply. "Dr. Macy, Detective Hoyt and I helped convict you for the murder of your wife and child. You say you didn't kill you daughter, that your wife did. You're angry. You want revenge on the three of us. For doing our jobs." She couldn't help herself, she had to add her own little smart-alec comments. "You have somehow faked my death," she said slowly. "I'm thinking it had something to do with the train wreck from this morning." Ayres was grinning happily so she continued. "But your joy wont last long, dental records don't lie. Whatever you've put of mine on that train wont hold up."

"I think you'll find that in this case, the dental records have broken their honest streak."

She frowned at him but he motioned to her to continue.

"You are going to let them think I'm dead, until they have just accepted it. You're going to keep me here, then you're going to tell them I'm still alive."

"Not quite, but you're getting there," he said, for the second time that day. "Most of it is spot on though, you really should have been a cop. Then, you probably wouldn't even be here. Go figure."