Another week had passed without the bad news of the Carver of Miami finding another victim for himself. Christian asked himself if there was any truth in the saying "time heals everything" as he thought less and less about the late Abby. Apparently though, the proverb wasn't working in relation to all his other troubles. Because the more he tried to forget about Kimber, the less he could turn his thoughts away from her. He got disheartened every time when he woke up from a dream and found himself alone in bed.

Christian left the shower and reached for his bathrobe hanging on a hook. He went straight into the living room and grabbed for the remote control to switch the television on when he heard a loud noise coming from the entrance door's direction. It was only seven o'clock in the morning. The time of the day when he would normally not get any visitors. He went through the hall scrunching his forehead and opened the door. He lifted his eyebrows in surprise. A young woman stood before him, busy with making a fallen over suitcase stand up again. She lifted her head and looked at him self-consciously as she noticed that the door had opened.

"I'm sorry. I hope I didn't wake you? I wanted to bring you this back," she handed him the suitcase.

Christian was too taken aback for a second to react right away. He stared at the young woman scrunching his forehead.

"You are Dr. Troy, right? Dr. Christian Troy?" She asked in doubt because of his hesitant reaction.

Christian nodded.

"Alicia Garner," she smiled, "I'm a friend of Kimber. She asked me to bring you the suitcase back."

Christian slowly found his voice, "how is she?"

"Fine," Alicia answered curtly.

Christian exhaled relieved. At least Quentin didn't pay her any visits yet.

"Why doesn't she come herself?" Christian asked. He knew that the question was more rhetoric than anything, because he knew well why Kimber avoided all contact with him.

Alicia shrugged, "you have to ask her that. She didn't tell me much about your relationship. And frankly, I don't care about it all that much," she turned to go.

"Don't you wanna come in for a second?" Christian asked quickly.

Alicia shook her head, "I don't think it's such a good idea."

Christian tried to feverishly think of something that could convince Alicia to stay. She was his only chance to find out something more about Kimber. He will have to make use of all his charm, "you can't just leave like that," he said smiling, "I haven't even had the chance to thank you for bringing me my suitcase back."

Alicia hesitated for a second, "fine," she gave in finally, "but only for a minute."

She threw back her dark brown hair that reached her shoulders and stepped in past Christian. She looked around complaisantly. Undoubtedly the apartment of a bachelor, the thought crossed her mind.

"I'll get dressed right away," Christian said, only just realising he was still in his bathrobe, "please have a seat in the living room till then. I'll be back soon."

Alicia nodded. She let her eyes wonder all over the room. A photo in a frame on the unit awakened her curiosity. She went towards it and lifted it contemplatively. It was a photograph of Kimber and Christian. Apparently the picture spoke of happier times, because they had their arms around each other and looked at each other in such a way only lovers can. Alicia sighed.

"Can I get you anything? Tea, coffee, a drink?" Christian had stepped behind her without her noticing.

Alicia whirled around startled. The photo fell out of her hands to the floor. They could hear a clanking sound as the glass frame disintegrated into thousand pieces on the hard surface.

"Oh no..." Alicia leaned down instinctively, but Christian took her hand and pulled her back up, "leave it. It's too late anyway..."

Alicia looked at him. She understood the double meaning of his remark and his sad expression, "I'm sorry!" She said candidly.

Christian nodded, "it's okay. I'll swipe it up at a later time," he said on a monotonous voice. He turned around without looking to the splinters on the floor once more and went over to the sofa, "Kimber told me the last time we met that she stayed with a friend. Are you this friend?" He asked.

Alicia nodded, "Kimber and I have met about eighteen month ago at a modelling competition," Alicia gave the information willingly, "although we are completely different, we understood each other right away. But our paths parted again. She became a famous o producer, I tried to conquer those planks that mean the world."

"Are you an actress as well?" Christian asked interested.

Alicia nodded, "yes, I try to be," she said sighing, "but it's a hard trade. I sometimes wish I listened to my mother and learnt a more secure profession."

"Where do you live?" Christian suddenly changed the subject. On second thought he wished he wasn't running into the wall head first when he saw how Alicia's face took on a blank expression all of a sudden. Unreserved she was talking about her private life, cagey she became when they touched this other topic. Christian realised that he stepped into dangerous grounds.

"Listen, Dr. Troy..."

"Christian. Call me Christian..." he interrupted her.

"Well okay...Christian...I had to promise Kimber that I will not tell you where she is. She went though a lot. She is in the middle of putting her life together. And she doesn't ever want to see you again."

Christian swallowed. He hung his head remorsefully. He knew it wasn't going to be that easy to re-establish contact with her, but that she never ever wanted to see him again was a hard blow for him.

"Would you give her a message from me?" He asked slowly.

Alicia nodded.

Christian inhaled deeply, "tell her that..." He stopped. What should he say? I love you, come back to me...Abby is dead...Quentin is back...your life is probably in danger...? These were some things he wanted to tell her in person, "...I wish her all the best and I hope she will be happy."

Alicia scrunched her forehead. She couldn't shake the feeling that he would've wanted to say something entirely different, "I'll tell her," she stood up, "I'm sorry about the photo," she said.

Christian nodded. He accompanied her to the door silently.

"I wish we met under different circumstances," Alicia said smiling. She opened the door and left the apartment.

Christian looked pensively after her before going back into the living room and grabbing the telephone book. It was only a slight chance, but at least there was a little chance. He turned the pages quickly till he came to the letter G. He traced the lines with his finger till he finally found Garner. He drove his hand through his hair groaning. There were twenty-one entries with this name in Miami-from A. Garner to Alicia Garner. And what if she didn't even stay in Miami, it suddenly crossed his mind. Then the chance to find her was as small as finding a needle in a stack of hay. Sighing Christian reached for the telephone and began to tap in the first number.