Connor quickly filled Smecker in all on the details, pausing only to catch his breath and for Murphy to interject his own comments here and there. At the end of it Smecker leaned back and folded his arms.

"Okay, fine. But where does that leave us? Am I supposed to start covering for her now as well? I'm having enough trouble keeping you guys out of prison. Or have the two of you recruited her into the Saints so that you're a trio again?"

"Actually, I was hoping we could just close the case and leave it at that."

"Just close the case. On what grounds?"

"Well," Murphy looked at his hands. "We hadn't really thought that far ahead."

"She's going to stop. The case will go cold." Connor stood up and walked over to the window. "Wouldn't that be enough to close it?"

"Yes, if the case lay cold long enough that would make grounds to close it. But what makes you so certain she'll stop."

Connor turned back. "After talking to her I got the feeling that she didn't want to do it any more."

"Great. You want me to close the case based on a feeling you have about a young woman you barely know who has been killing the drunken abusers of Boston. Just great."

Both brothers refrained from reminding, Smecker that it was his drunken "feelings" that had led him into the church over a year ago and had resulted in his personal involvement.

"Still," Smecker continued. "I can tell from the looks on your faces that you have already made your decision and that nothing I say will convince you otherwise. So I'll drop it for now. But I at least want her name so that I can do some digging into her background. Alright?"

Connor grabbed a piece of paper and a pen off the desk and scribbled her name down. "Here."

Smecker snatched it out of his hand. "Thank you. Now get out of here. I've got enough fucking paperwork to keep me busy till hell freezes over."

They made their way to the door.

"Connor."

"Yeah?"

"You better be sure about this girl, other wise it will blow up in all our faces." Smecker reached into the bottom drawer of his desk and pulled out a sheet of paper. He balled it up and threw it so it landed by Connor's feet. "And deal with that as well while you're at it."

Connor reached down and picked up the paper, unfolding it as he did so. "Dante Giovanni?" He handed the paper over to Murphy. "Yeah, we'll take care of it.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

"Dante Giovanni, small time mafia boss with his hand in everything from drugs, prostitutes and money laundering." Murphy read aloud off of the paper as they walked along the street. "Accused of multiple ordered killings; never convicted. There's a fucking surprise."

"Keep it down would ya. Ya want all of Boston to know." Connor plucked the paper from his brother's fingers. "His address is listed on the bottom, but other than that there isn't much to go on. We'll have to track him for a couple of day till we can determine a good time to take care of him."

"Reconnaissance; won't that be fucking fun."

"Come one. Let's get back to the apartment already." Connor sped up his pace.

Murphy didn't say anything but he knew his brother wanted to get back to apartment to check on the girl. Still he was unable to keep back his annoyed sigh.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

"Shit." Connor stood in the doorway and stared into the apartment.

"What?" Murphy looked over his shoulder. "I don't see anything."

"Exactly. She's gone. Sara is fucking gone."

Murphy pushed past him into the apartment. "How can ya be sure? Her stuff is still here, she might just be in the bedroom or the bathroom."

"Her duffel is here but her backpack is gone."

"So?"

"Her backpack is where she kept her gun and other stuff."

Realization dawned of Murphy's face. "Fuck. Ya don't think she'd be dumb enough to try anything in broad daylight do ya?"

"I don't know but we've got to find her. And fast. If she makes another hit, I can't keep Smecker away. He's got her name for fucking sakes. Fuck!" Connor slammed his fist on the doorjamb. "Knew I shouldn't have left her here alone. Damn it." He turned around. "Come on."

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Sara walked down the street holding tightly to her three bags. They were just about overflowing with food and cleaning supplies. Enough to last at least a month; she hoped.

She felt one of the bags start to slip and shifted her arm and weight in order to get a better grip. At same time she turned the corner and slammed into someone coming from the opposite direction at a run.

The bags fell spilling their contents and she landed on her butt. "Ow." She rubbed her hip. "Why don't you look where you're going…?" Her voice trailed off as she looked up.

Murphy stood over her, glaring. "Where the fuck have ya been?"

Sara inwardly flinched at having the swearing directed at her. She decided it was better not to answer and getting to her knees began to collect her spilled purchases. But Murphy squatted down in front of her and roughly grabbed her forearm.

"I asked ya a question."

Sara gave him a look. "Shopping; where does it look like I've been?" She pulled her arm away. "Now if you wouldn't mind helping me pick this stuff up, you were the one who ran into me."

Murphy was fuming. Normally he trusted his brother's judgment and was perfectly fine with letting him make the important decisions. But in his mind this girl was turning out to be more trouble than she was worth. He had just spent the last hour running around the neighborhood trying to find her.

He stood up and paced back and forth a bit. "Ya know I'm tempted to leave ya right there."

"Fine, not like I need your help or anything." Sara made a face as she picked up the cartoon of eggs. Not one had survived.

"I'm still not a hundred percent sure why he even brought ya back. I can understand him feeling sorry for ya but getting involved. Fuck, what was he thinking?"

Sara leaned back on her feet. "Is that a rhetorical question? Or do you really expect me to answer that?" She picked up the refilled bags and stood.

Murphy stood in front of her with his arms crossed. "You should consider yer'self lucky. If it had been me coming across ya in that alley I would have shot first and asked questions later, if at all."

Sara gave him a sad look. "Then maybe you should have been the one to find me."