IX.

Lilly found it hard to believe that Danny was serious. "You don't mean…?"

"Yup, I do." He was fully alert now, nodding to fortify what he was saying.

"She did it again?" Still Lilly couldn't keep the disbelief from her voice.

"It worked once, so why not again? And Mrs Guerin and her looked a bit alike, just like Amy and her look alike. That's probably why she moved in next to the Guerins and stayed there. Until she got the chance." Danny was still nodding.

"Yeah, but… we spoke to Mrs Guerin! How come, we didn't recognise her the very moment we first saw her? After all, both of us knew what Dina looked like."

Danny shrugged and interrupted his nodding to shake his head. "I have no idea. Make-up, maybe. Or a new hair-do – can work wonders… – Or plastic surgery maybe?"

"That's impossible. Even if she had plastic surgery during the last for month, you guys should have recognised her when you spoke with her the first time. There is no way she could have had that done on the one weekend!"

"I still think I'm on the right track. See, it would also explain why the house was decorated completely differently. I noticed that yesterday: Amy moved in and had it all done in her own style. At first I put it down as being a sign of Mrs Guerin trying to get over her husband's death – but it just looked so unlike its former style."

"Maybe Mrs Guerin had always had the house decorated the way her husband wanted it", Lilly suggested half-heartedly. She was beginning to accept that fact that Danny had made his mind up and was not going to be convinced otherwise.

And she was right; still, Danny obviously couldn't resist the urge to tease a bit: "Please, since when do women ask their men how they would like their house to be decorated?"

"Since when do men have interest in that?" Lilly replied.

"See? That's what I think. I am telling you, the woman we spoke to yesterday was nobody else but the poor Dina Larstrom who was supposed to have killed herself more than ten years ago!"

"And how are we gonna prove that?" Still Lilly didn't feel infected with Danny's enthusiasm.

"Maybe…" he said, waggling his eyebrows, "…we need to find the real Mrs Guerin."

"Ugh", Lilly commented. This case was… queer. Having spoken to a woman that should have been dead for ten years… this didn't exactly please her. Added to that there were two murders, commit by that same person. She was like an evil ghost. It almost made Lilly shudder and she hurried to become objective again. "So, who gave you that photo of Amy? Was that Mrs Guerin, too? Or did you find it in Amy's house?"

"Dina, Detective. We're talking about Dina."

"You understood me quite right, Danny."

"However… Yeah, Mrs Guerin gave us the photo. I even remember thinking how she reminded me of Amy."

"Dina."

"Well, back then I thought it was Amy."

"She gave you a photo of herself and looked you straight in the eye saying she had no idea where she was? That's crazy!"

"This woman is crazy, Lilly."

Lilly liked the way he said her name. He hadn't ever called her Lilly before but it sounded nice. But not nice enough to distract her from the case: "Um… so you suggest what?"

"Let's get information on Mrs Guerin, especially everything we can find since Amy Bradfort was reported missing. Maybe we can figure out were Dina… uh… hid the body of the real Mrs Guerin. And how she managed to transform into her neighbour again."

………………

"Hey, Lilly, look at this!"

It was two hours later and Lilly's head was aching and her stomach was so empty it was almost hurting. They had been so busy they had forgotten all about having lunch and she knew she would need something to eat quickly before she would start to feel light-headed.

"What have you got?" she asked, rubbing her forehead lightly.

"The Guerins owned a boat which they used to keep in a boat-house down by the river which…" he made a short, dramatic pause, "…they also own. Maybe that is where we would find Mrs Guerin, the First."

"Ah boat-house? How cliché…"

Danny grinned. "You ever watched the 'The Client'?"

"As a matter of fact I did. So, shall we send somebody down to that shed to check it out?"

"Nah, we'll check it out ourselves."

Lilly couldn't have said why but somehow she had expected him to say that. It was as if she had known Danny for longer than just one day (and it was more or less exactly twenty-four hours now because it was five p.m. Oh – and she hadn't had lunch yet!)

"Never let anybody else do the work you can do better yourself", Danny told her, as if that would be a comfort.

Lilly sighed, loud enough even to drown out the rumbling of her hungry stomach. "Okay then, but it'll have to wait a few minutes so I can get myself a chocolate bar from that vending machines you said you had in this building somewhere…"

"Basement. Go ahead, I'll get the car. Meet you outside in five."

"You want anything?"

"Yeah."

"What?"

"Don't know. Just get me something."

Lilly nodded and they hurried each their own way.

Of course it took Lilly more than five minutes to get all the way down to the basement and then outsmart the stupid vending machines that did not seem willing to accept her money. When she finally got into the car next to Danny he had already been awaiting her impatiently.

"What took you so long?"

"Sorry…"

Danny drove fast and since there wasn't much to say Lilly leaned back in the passenger seat closing her eyes for a moment. She hoped that this case was going to be over soon and she would be able to get back to Philadelphia. This visit to New York hadn't exactly improved her opinion on the city. And the case made her feel uncomfortable.

She missed her home with her own bed – the one night at the motel had been to most uncomfortable she had had in a while – but even more than that she missed her cats and she really hoped her neighbour had taken good care of them. Oh, come on, Lil, she told herself. Just one night, and they're only cats!

Nonetheless she missed them.

Opening her eyes again she shot a glance over to Danny who, of course, noticed it and smiled. "You alright?" he asked in a sympathetic voice.

"Yes. Sure. Just not feeling like searching a dirty old shed."

"Who would?"

"Yeah…"

"Let's get over with this"; Danny said, turned right and drove down a street that Lily noticed was leading towards the river. They found a place where there were a few smaller private boat-sheds and after checking the numbers that were pinned to the doors they quickly found the right one. Much to their surprise the door was closed but unlocked. Even if there was no dead body hidden in there, Lilly would have expected the shed to be locked. Looking over at Danny she could see from his face that he was thinking the same.

He had put his index finger across his lips and they both listened closely but there was no noise inside. Still, they drew their guns, ready to storm inside. Danny kicked the door open and Lilly listened to his compulsory "Freeze! FBI!"

It seemed needless a moment later, when they saw the shed was empty. But somebody had been there. In fact, what she saw suddenly did remind Lilly of the movie Danny had mentioned earlier; 'The Client' a film where an in her opinion extraordinarily stupid Mafioso (alias Anthony LaPaglia, as far as she could recall), murdered a man and hid the body in his lawyers boat-shed. She had never liked the movie.

But the scene in front of her eyes did indeed look as if somebody had hidden something in this shed, too. And had decided to remove it. Only… he or most likely she must have been interrupted… The wooden floor had been partly torn off and a small hole had been dug.

Oh God, what if she is still around?

A strange feeling overcame Lilly. As if they weren't alone in the shed.

She hadn't even finished the thought, when she saw the shadow above her head. Then everything happened very quickly. A body jumped towards her from somewhere and the next moment she felt the knock on her head then everything went black.

………………

If he would have had the time Danny would have cursed himself for his stupidity. He had scanned through the shed but hadn't checked inside the boat which was on the hanger. He only noticed the other man when he left his shelter and started his sudden flight.

In his surprise Danny was frozen for a split second watching then man knock Lilly over. He even managed to hit Danny hard enough to kick the gun out of his hand. Then the guy ran off the moment Danny's senses came back to life.

It was pure instinct that made him go after the man without bothering to pick up his gun. If he would have had the time to think it through probably he would have acted differently but in this moment he just ran.

Still, there was a good chance he would catch the guy. He was fast and also he was quite sure his opponent was unarmed. If the man would have had a weapon he would have surely used it. Instead he was running down the street by the river – with no chance to escape, though. He hadn't gotten very far when Danny had come close enough to try to tackle him.

Unfortunately the man was stronger than Danny had expected and not willing to give up easily. Instead he fought at his best to get out of Danny's grip causing the two men roll over the ground like scuffling boys.

In the end, though, Danny managed to hand-cuff him – only, in his attempted to fight back the guy had managed to get them close enough to the riverside to fall over the edge into the water – and pull Danny along with him.

………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Author's notes: Couldn't resist that Anthony LaPaglia anecdote… But it's the truth. Have you seen the movie? If not, you really should! You won't recognise our good old Jack… ;-)