Two days later

When Jack arrived at the office at half past seven he was surprised to find Danny Taylor already there, sitting at the conference table. It was his first day back after suffering a head-injury during his first case, two days earlier.

Danny didn't notice his boss approaching him as he was absorbed in reading the morning paper.

"Good morning", Jack said, making Danny jump. "Oh, sorry. I didn't mean to startle you…"

Giving him a lop-sided grin Danny replied. "No problem, Sir. Have you been here long?"

"No, I just arrived. And drop the Sir, I'm Jack." Trying to get a look at the page Danny was reading Jack asked: "Anything interesting?"

"I was looking for an article on our case."

"I wouldn't do that. It's over, and you have to learn to let it go."

Danny just nodded but he noticed that Jack's eyes were still resting on him and he put the paper away. "Any news about the other girls, yet?"

Jack sighed. He had expected the question and although he didn't feel comfortable with it he knew he would have to tell Danny: "Yes, their bodies were found in the woods. Not far from the house. Apparently, Donald killed them when he was fed up with them."

For a moment Danny looked as if he couldn't believe what he was hearing then, as what Jack was telling him sank in, he looked sick to his stomach. He lowered his head staring at his hands, then he looked up at Jack, his composure regained. "What the hell could have happened for them to be taken in by that… pervert?"

Jack shrugged. He didn't know what to tell Danny. There were things he would never understand himself. One of them was the teenage girls' naivety. "Maybe, they were just desperate for love. And Donald promised to help them get what they wanted. Remember what we found out about Laura; she was in love with a boy from her class who liked to make fun of her. Her mother didn't understand her feelings… her best friend had just got together with her first boyfriend. And Laura felt left out. – I don't know what made her trust the man, though. – But some things will always remain a mystery. Get used to that."

"Yes, I think I'll have to do that."

Suddenly the young man looked very tired and Jack began to wonder if he had slept at all since the night they had found Laura McFadden in Gregory Donald's house. "Are you okay?" he asked, sympathetically.

"I will be."

"The head?"

"Fine."

"Good." Jack turned to go but then, remembering his conversation with Samantha Spade two nights ago, he stopped. Looking around he noticed that the office was pretty much empty. It was still early and nobody was around to overhear their conversation. "Danny, there's something… I need to ask you."

Looking up at his boss Danny raised his eyebrows, curiously. "What?"

"Look, it might have meant nothing… but… When I talked to Spade the other night, we somehow… well, we talked about you." Jack paused, unsure how to handle this. "Remember when you came for the interview and I asked you if you thought you were the right one for this demanding job?"

Looking less confident now Danny knitted his brows. "Yeah… I do. Why?"

"Because I'm wondering if you might have kept something from me. Something I should know. Maybe something that could have made me think that you are not the right one?"

The expression on Danny's face expression was almost ashamed, showing Jack that he was on the right track.

He continued in a serious tone: "You need to tell me. As long as it can affect your work you have to tell me."

"You'll fire me."

"I won't."

But Danny looked doubtful.

Jack sighed. "Look, I need to know that I can rely on you. And if there's any sign that there's something wrong with you I need to be able to figure out what. I won't fire you now, because you've shown me you're capable of doing this. But I have to know I can trust you, and you have to trust me."

When Danny still didn't seem convinced Jack sighed again. "Okay, let's say you had a drinking problem…"

"I did."

The answer surprised Jack and he stared at the younger man for a moment, speechless.

Danny continued quickly. "It's under control; I've been sober for over a year, and I will stay sober. I just thought that…"

"… you wouldn't have got the chance if you had told me right away?"

"Yes."

After thinking for a moment Jack admitted: "You're right. But I've made the decision to hire you now. I think it was a good decision, and I won't go back on it." He turned to go again but stopped once more to add: "I hope you're going to prove me right."

"I will." Danny said, unable to suppress a relieved smile.

Jack walked back to his office, happy with the outcome of his conversation with Danny; he saw Vivian walking towards him.

"Morning!" She was in a good mood.

Jack smiled. "Morning."

"Danny back today?"

"Yes", Jack said and grinned. "Where does the sudden interest come from? Two days ago you pulled a face every time his name was mentioned."

Viv shrugged. "He's good, Jack. Better than I thought."

Jack laughed and gave her his best who's-been-right?-look. Vivian ignored it and walked past him.

"Viv?"

She sighed. "Yeah?"

"Can you do me a favour?"

"What?"

"Keep an eye on him today, will ya?"

"Oh no. No more babysitting", Vivian said, shaking her head and looking very unhappy.

Jack just grinned, broadly.

The End

Author's notes: Yeah, I finally finished it!

(Only took me about half a year… ;-)

But this story wasn't easy to write, especially since after a few chapters it seemed to develop a will of it's own and I couldn't seem to make the story go the way I wanted it to.

However, according to all the kind reviews I've received you must have liked it, and it's always nice to know that!

So leave another review on the whole story now and you'll make me very happy!

If you noticed an improvement in my English – that's all thanks to Marialisa who has kindly taken the time to correct all the mistakes I used to make! So thanks again for that, Maria!