Again thank you for the reviews I've received. You all know by now how much I love getting them!

The biggest thank you goes out to Jess, my beta, and the ducks. I still love the ducks! I hope the ducks will return!

Other than that I just hope you'll enjoy this chapter… And maybe review as well…

Chapter Nine

Meeting the Governor

As the pair waited for someone to open the door, Catherine turned towards Sara.

"Should we have Veronica protected as well?"

"I don't know," Sara sighed. "It can't be the same guy. He got 25 to life and there's no way in hell he could be out on parole after just twelve years."

"But if Veronica was the one he wanted in the first place, shouldn't she be protected?" Catherine didn't want the petite doctor to be hurt. She liked her, and she liked how she could get Sara to show some feelings.

Before Sara had the chance to answer Catherine's question a young woman opened the door.

"May I help you?"

"Hello, I'm Catherine Willows with the Las Vegas Crime Lab and this is Sara Sidle. We're here to ask Mr. and Mrs. Rowan a couple of questions."

The maid showed them inside and took them to a big living room where the victim's parents were sat, surrounded by several people. The room was quiet; the silence only interrupted by sobs which they presumed were coming from the victim's mother. Sofia was sitting in a chair close to Mr. and Mrs. Rowan and stood up as they entered the room.

"Mr. and Mrs. Rowan, these are the people I was telling you about; Catherine Willows and Sara Sidle from the Crime Lab."

Catherine took the lead and shook Mr. Rowan's hand as he got up to greet them.

"Mr. Rowan, Mrs. Rowan. We're very sorry for your loss. I assure you that we're doing everything in our power to find the person who did this."

"Thank you, Mrs…"

"Miss Willows... Catherine." Catherine offered a small smile. "This is Sara Sidle." She gestured to her colleague.

"I'm very sorry for your loss." Sara said, shaking the man's hand.

"What can we do to help?" He asked. "I… We just don't understand how this could happen. Siobhan was such a well-liked girl; she didn't have an enemy in the world…she was only seventeen."

"Sir, I would like to see her room, if that's ok with you." Sara asked gently.

"And while she does that, I have some questions I'd like to ask you about your daughter." Catherine explained.

"Sure… sure, I'll just get someone to show you to her room." The distraught man looked around helplessly.

"I can show Miss Sidle to the room." A male voice offered.

Catherine looked back and panicked as she realized who had spoken.

"No!" She nearly shouted the one word.

Sofia looked at her questioningly; it was not like Catherine to act that desperate.

"I might need information from you as well, Governor." She added quickly to cover up. The last thing she wanted was that man and Sara alone together. She looked around at the other people in the room and was surprised when she saw the girl standing next to the Governor. She was just like a younger version of Veronica Christiansen. She glanced over at Sara, and saw that she was looking at the girl too.

Sara had frozen as she heard the Governor offering to show her the room. When Catherine dodged that bullet she sighed gratefully, and looked more carefully at the man who'd sent away his oldest child. He looked normal, he even looked nice. 'That just shows you that you can never judge a book by its cover.'

Her eyes fell on the girl standing next to the man and found herself looking at the woman she had loved more than anyone else thirteen years earlier. 'No, it's not her. The eyes are a bit further apart, the nose a little bigger, mouth not nearly as full, and the eyes…not nearly expressive enough to be her.'

Both women were shook out of their thoughts when Paul Rowan spoke again.

"May, could you show Miss Sidle to Siobhan's room, please?"

"Yes, Sir." The young woman who'd shown them in looked at Sara expectantly.

"Sofia, Catherine, could I speak to you for a second?" Sara asked the two blondes.

They went to the door leading out of the room.

"What the hell is going on here?" Sofia demanded in a whisper. "Catherine, you just offended the god damn Governor of Nevada!"

"Where's Shaw?" Sara asked in a hushed voice.

"She got a call from the wife and took off. Said it was important." Sofia answered. "Are you going to answer my question?"

"We've got a possible lead." Catherine took over. "We've found similarities to a thirteen year old case. I don't want Sara alone with the Governor, because… God, this is too long a story to tell here. Just follow my lead – trust me – and you'll get the full story when we get out of here." She looked towards the people in the room. "You need to place uniforms with two Lavisham girls; one of them might be the next victim if we don't protect them."

"What? I can't just do that! How the hell am I going to explain that to the Governor?"

"Just do it, Sofia." Sara told her. "Tell him that we need them protected until we've made sure that they're not in danger."

"As soon as we get out of here, I'm getting that explanation."

"I promise." Catherine promised. "Sara, go process the room. Sofia, call Brass and have him send the uniforms. I'll go talk to the parents. Ok?"

"Good luck." Sara mumbled and went for the stairs where the maid was waiting for her.

"Yeah, sure." Sofia got out her phone and called Brass.

"Good." Catherine sighed. She didn't need two sulky colleagues on a case like this. She put on her game face and went back into the room.

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As Sara came down the stairs a couple of hours later, Catherine exited the living room.

"You all done?" Catherine asked.

"Yes. Nothing much there, really. The only thing that might give us something is a diary; but I need a warrant for that."

"No need. Mr. Rowan signed a release form giving us permission to take whatever we need to solve the case."

"Great. Good thinking."

"Thanks, you did good too." Catherine smiled.

"Thanks."

This was new; they never gave each other compliments. There was a short awkward silence.

"So, is Sofia all done?" Sara said, breaking it.

"Eh… Yes, I think so. The uniforms have been posted, so I think we can get out of here."

"Great…" Sara sighed.

"You ok?"

"Yeah, it's just…" Sara looked around.

"Just what?" Catherine prodded.

"I always knew that Veronica was made of money, but I just never… realized it I guess." She looked around again. "I mean, look at this place!"

"It's impressive alright, and this is just the Chief of Staff's house. Just imagine what the Governor's house looks like."

"Catherine? Sara?" Sofia joined them. "Are we done here?"

"Yes, I don't think we'll get anything useful from them right now." Catherine answered her. "We should question Bridget Lavisham some time tomorrow, I think. She was best friends with the vic, so she might know something the parents don't."

"Why not do that now?" Sofia inquired.

"We have another witness to question tonight." Sara told her.

"There's a witness? Who?"

"Ver…"

"Excuse me Miss Willows," Governor Lavisham interrupted. "I need to know what you've got so far on this case."

"You what?" Sara asked incredulously.

"Sara." Catherine placed a hand on the other woman's arm to calm her down. "Take the evidence to the car and wait for me there." When the brunette didn't seem to have heard her she continued, "Now, Sara! I'll meet you out there."

"Sure." Sara spat out. She threw one more evil look at the man standing in front of them and left.

"I'm sorry, Governor, but we can't give out that kind of information at this point." Catherine addressed the man.

"I am the Governor of Nevada; I think you can tell me what you are doing to solve the murder of my Goddaughter!"

"I cannot break the chain of evidence." Catherine explained. "If I tell you the things we've discovered so far, we could risk that the case is thrown out of court because of a technicality. Neither of us wants that." There was a reason that Catherine was the people person of the group.

"I see…Can you tell me if you've got anything solid to go on?" The Governor had calmed down a little.

"I can't tell you much, sir. I can tell you that we have leads to follow up on, and we're taking this very seriously. What you need to do is make sure that your daughters are safe. You need to have people look after them and make sure that they are not alone at any time."

"You think this happened because of me and my position?" He asked brokenheartedly.

"No." Catherine said. "Not because of you. But it might have some relation to your family. That's all I can give you right now. We have police officers looking after them." She gestured towards the living room. "But if you need additional protection that will be ok with us, as long as they are safe. I have to get back to the lab now, but if you or the Rowans have any questions you can call this number." She handed him a card with her number on it.

"Thank you, Miss Willows."

She turned to leave but the Governor's voice called her back.

"Miss Willows… I…" He paused. "I have another person who will need police protection."

"Another person?" Catherine asked. "Who?"

"Her name is Veronica Lavisham, she's our oldest daughter." He looked away from Catherine's face. "If the person responsible for Siobhan's death is after my family then she needs protection as well."

"I see." Catherine didn't know how to respond to this information. She knew that Veronica was his daughter, but he didn't know that she did. She hadn't expected him to ask her to protect Veronica; she hadn't expected him to tell her that he had another daughter.

"We… I made a mistake years ago concerning Veronica, so we have no contact with her. I don't know how to get in contact with her, but I'll get some people on it right away and let you know…"

"I… Eh… My colleague who just stormed out of here knows Veronica." Catherine said, deciding that honesty was best in this situation. If this had – God forbid – been Lindsey, she would want to know that her baby was safe. "I'll see if she wants protection."

"You need to do more than that! You have to insist that she is protected. Please." He begged. "I need for her to be safe!"

"I'll try." Was all Catherine could offer.

"Thank you, Miss Willows." He said gratefully. "Will you tell her… that I'm sorry?"

"I can't do that. I'm not the one who needs to apologize." She looked him in the eyes one last time before turning to leave.

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Cath met a fuming Sara at the car.

"What did you tell him?" She demanded when Catherine reached her.

"Nothing about the case. God, Sara, what do you think of me?" Catherine shot back.

"Well, how the hell should I know? You dismissed me in there like I was a rookie!"

"You acted like one!" Catherine all but yelled back. "What the hell were you thinking? That is the Governor in there! He could have you fired for this!"

"Who cares! I don't need this job if it means I have to bow down to people like him!"

This was turning into a full-blown fight, and this was definitely not the time for that. Catherine took a deep calming breath before continuing.

"He asked me to protect her, Sara." She told the agitated woman in front of her.

"What?"

"He asked me to protect Veronica and to tell her that he's sorry." Catherine took the keys out of Sara's hand and got in the car. "Get in the car, Sidle. This is not the place to do this. Sofia will meet us at the lab."

"But…"

"Get in the car!"