Rain was coming down hard when they pulled out of the driveway onto the Pacific Coast Highway. Tim decided to take the PCH and a longer route instead of going through the hills on the 101. He thought it would be easier to spot a tail on side roads instead of the highway with all this rain. Not that it mattered. He thought the plan to meet out at Wesley's mothers house was a pretty good one. She was out of the country for a few months, he was glad they didn't need to involve anyone else. They both would've been uncomfortable thinking of Wesley's mother becoming collateral damage in any way.

Caruso had requested Angela take the files from the police station and meet them there as well since Tim wanted her to look at the whole picture. Tim trusted her instincts, and thought she may catch something Malibu's finest hadn't. Granted they'd sent a file to the FBI for review as well, but Tim thought that had just been a one time courtesy from one former soldier to another.
Tim wasn't a detective, but he was still a cop. Between Lopez, Caruso, Lucy and him he thought they'd be able to come up with something. They'd be unlikely to pull Tim and Lucy out unless Lucy requested it. Right now it looked like there was a connection between these murders and potentially someone in that area. Somehow they'd gone months without connecting the dots.

Glancing quickly at Lucy, he could see she was lost in her thoughts. Staring out the window at the grey skies and dark blue Pacific, she absentmindedly played with her hair. Normally, at work, her hair was always up, but he'd noticed when it was down, she would twist the curls around her fingers without realizing she was doing it. Usually when something was on her mind.

"You alright Boot"? This had become almost a mantra for Tim. He lost count of how many times he'd asked her that since she became his boot.

Lucy turned and looked at him "I was just thinking about the missing family" she started "Did they figure out something was going on and just cut and run...or"... she didn't finish her sentence.

"Yea, I was thinking about that too" Tim reached up to run his hand over the stubble on his face, his tone grim, "it seems unlikely they'd want to, or even be able to cover their tracks and escape detection by cops".

"That's not good". Lucy stated the obvious.

They rode in silence for a while.

Wanting to lighten the mood a little, Lucy smiled "So how much of your house do you think Kojo destroyed without you there to keep him in line".

Tim scoffed "If they followed all my directions, none", he paused "But I've seen Angela's apartment, she's not what I'd call organized".

"I'm betting he ate at least a pair of each of their shoes". Lucy continued smiling, remembering Kojo's first day alone at her apartment. He'd basically tried to eat anything not tied down when he'd been left alone.

Winding down the PCH and cutting through the side streets of LA, Tim didn't notice anyone following them, but he wasn't counting it completely out. The rain made it hard to see too far. Knowing the kind of tech this guy seemed to be into, if they were followed, they'd need a way to jam anyone listening in on their convo today.

The GPS wound them up the hills towards Griffith Observatory. They passed many gates, and tree lined drives leading up to some of the great homes built by old Hollywood from the 20s into the 40s. Lots of clay tile roofs, ivy covered walls. Finally they arrived at a gate marked with the address. Tim pulled up to the intercom and pressed a button. He looked in his rearview mirror, and still didn't see anyone, but on these streets, you'd really need to hang back if you were following someone, otherwise you'd be seen easily coming around one of these sharp turns.

He saw Wesley pop up on the screen "Hey Tim, come on up". They heard the gate's mechanism start to pull it to the side. This gate wasn't just for appearance. Tim could tell it was strong, likely made to keep someone from ramming through it. When Angela started dating Wesley, they'd done a little background on him, just in case. Wesley's late father had been a pretty big deal defense attorney. That made the gate make sense. He had defended some notorious criminal cases in his day. The kind of thing that might make you the target of some very bad people.

There wasn't a lot of space up in these hills, so it was a pleasant surprise how winding and long the driveway was, Tim looked back in the mirror as they pulled under a sort of bridge by the front door and couldn't see the gate from here. The ivy covered bridge actually appeared to be connecting 2 parts of the house, and through the window in the bridge they could see a warm light illuminating a dark wood wall covered in books. It was an inviting scene, all the sudden a shape flew by that window, and Kojo's big head appeared. They could see him start barking and his body swaying back and forth from that strong tail wagging. Lucy laughed, and Tim shook his head, smiling. The space provided shelter so when they got out of the car, they wouldn't immediately be soaked with rain. The house was huge, made of ivy covered stone and a dark tile roof. They both exited the Land Rover and stood under the stones, debating when to make a run for the front door when out of nowhere seemingly, Wesley appeared. A door, hidden partially by the ivy was open right next to them.

"Hey guys" Wesley opened the door wider to let them in. They could hear Kojo's nails hit the floor from the stairs, then a loud bump and saw him at the end of the hall hit the wall and scramble back up, running full speed towards them. Kojo ran directly to Lucy, using her body to stop his full speed run, nearly knocking her over.

"Whoa"! she exclaimed "Did you miss me"? then immediately down on her knees letting him lick her face, his whining in sheer happiness he tried to get in her lap at the same time he covered her face with his tongue. Tim & Wesley shared a look of feigned disgust, then both smiling down at them. "I thought Kojo was your dog"? Wesley asked, eyebrows raised, wondering if maybe there was something to Angela's recent claims that something more was going on with these two.

"Long story". Tim didn't feel like going into the details, he looked down at the two of them shaking his head, Kojo clearly enjoying the attention and baby talk she was showering him with.

Hearing Tim's voice Kojo walked over to him, that big pittie grin as if to say "This is the best day ever". Tim, much more subdued, scratched his ears and told him he was a good boy. Lucy stood up, brushing herself off, ignoring the look Wesley was giving them.

Wesley led them down a somewhat dark hallway that opened up to a beautiful huge kitchen, with dark warm cherry wood cabinets, grey granite counters, tiffany style sconces dropped from the ceiling also bathing this room in the same warm light of the library room they'd seen. Before Tim or Lucy had a chance to say anything Wesley spoke again. "Thanks so much for coming, it's so great to see both of you"! His voice had the somewhat false tone someone overacting. Tim's eyes narrowed, and Lucy was about to ask a question when he continued.

"I've got the wines all set out for tasting down in the wine room". He looked at both of them nodding, and pointing to a door at the other end of the kitchen.
"This house is gorgeous" Lucy exclaimed, no false tone in her voice at all, she spoke the truth. Not only was it gorgeous but there were family photos and personal touches throughout the kitchen. Kojo walked ahead of them, disappearing through the door they were approaching.

"My mom kept the house after my dad passed away, but she couldn't handle living in it for a while, so she bought something else". There was a tinge of sadness to Wesley's statement. The house certainly didn't look like it had been closed up at all. Wesley continued as they walked through that door, which was a pantry, and through the back pantry wall that led to a stone spiral staircase, they could see Kojo's tail disappear as he padded down the stairs. "Recently, she's started coming back here more and more, I think she can remember the good times without feeling so sad now". They followed Wesley, Lucy turned back to mouth the word "WOW" to Tim, they were actually walking through a hidden passage, like in a movie. As they reached the bottom, Kojo sat in front of a large, closed wood door.

Wesley pulled the heavy door open, the same way a bank vault door would open, and they walked into a huge room. It reminded Lucy of a library she'd seen on a visit to Hearst Castle when she was a girl. Just as the window in the bridge showed, this room had many built in book shelves, except they extended up 2 stories, with a spiral staircase on both sides of the room that lead up to walkways reaching the higher shelves. A large fireplace crackled on one wall, a bar on another, tapestries covered the areas without bookcases, and there were several groups of chairs, sofas sat on beautiful thick rugs that had the look of some exotic country in Asia. In the middle of the room Angela Lopez and Mike Caruso stood at an impressive wood table just covered with papers. They stopped talking and looked up as the door opened. Wesley closed it behind them as Lucy and Angela hugged hello. Tim waited for Lucy to look back to him before rolling his eyes at the hug. She remembered his comment "I leave you for one day and you start hugging people" from the day she'd returned to work after Caleb.

Wesley motioned to the walls of the room "My dad had this room retrofitted to be a safe room, he'd bring clients in here because listening devices won't work, we could probably survive a nuclear attack in here.

"So next time we have a missile warning, this is the place to be" Angela stated as Tim walked up to the table. Files were strewn all over, in typical unorganized Lopez fashion. Or what would appear as unorganized to the rest of the world, but makes perfect sense to her.

Tim shook hands with Caruso "Mike". he said, nodding.

Caruso pulled a file off the table and handed it to Tim. Lucy moved over to Tim's side. Angela and Wesley shared a quick glance at how close they were. No space between them, it showed a level of intimacy that should not be shared between a TO and his rookie. Angela's look to Wesley was one of 'I told you'. Wesley raised his eyebrows and stuck out his chin a bit, as if to say maybe she was right. Neither Tim or Lucy noticed. They were engrossed in reading the first page.

Mike Caruso somberly spoke up "This was just updated yesterday when the DNA tests came back" Tim pulled a photo out of the file, a shot of a shallow grave with crime scene tape around it. He continued "Remains were confirmed to be the Walker family that went missing last year" he paused "minus Anne Walker".

"Her body wasn't with theirs"? The shock in Lucy's voice evident as she looked up at Detective Caruso.
"No, we still haven't found any remains matching hers, she was the daughter, home from college when they all went missing" he reminded them.

"What exactly are we looking at here"? asked Tim as he moved some of the files on the table around. This was a much darker narrative than what they'd been led to believe just the week before.

Angela spoke up this time "I've been doing some research on all three cases, and there is a connection they didn't really make mention of". She reached over and set 3 photos in front of Tim and Lucy one by one. All 3 women had similar characteristics. Young, pretty, dark hair & eyes. "See the similarities"? Angela asked "These are the three women from Malibu, but that's not all".
She set down five more photos of women who looked just like them.

"This morning I went through all the missing persons reports for all of LA County in the past 24 months under similar circumstances, and all these women also match". This is why Tim wanted her to take a look. They thought it had something to do with real estate, but he knew she'd dig into it. Angela spoke very matter of fact.

Caruso spoke up "I've asked Captain Grey to allow Angela to come work with my team and review the notes from all those other missing person cases".

Lucy stood, she'd been scratching Kojo, who was comfortably lying on her feet, belly up. "You think these women were the actual targets, the rest of the families were just..."

Tim pushed the photos around so he could see each woman's face, and Angela looked at Caruso.

"Collateral damage? We do now". he said. They all looked at the photos, and then at Lucy.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me". Lucy half spoke half whispered it. She recognized that all of these women could be a cousin, or sister, she looked just like them.

Tim looked at Caruso shaking his head no.

"She's prepared for this, in a way none of these women were". Caruso gestured to the photos. "If we're right about this, we've got a serial, who's gone undetected for God knows how long, and we might actually be able to catch him before he hurts anyone else. Do you have any idea how rare that is?" Caruso pleaded.

Tim reached behind his neck, massaging it, lost in thought for a few seconds.

"Well, we have to help". Lucy starts. "It's not like we have a choice, we've gotta do it".

"Now hold on" Tim turned towards Lucy. "We absolutely have a choice. Lucy and Tim Caswell can move out of there tomorrow and never be heard from again".

"Tim". Angela shushes him, but she looks to Lucy. "Ultimately it has to be your choice Lucy". She steps toward her "You've been through a lot this year, and after Rosalind and Caleb no one would blame you for taking a beat here".

All three of them anxiously waited for Lucy to respond. She turned to Tim, who was clearly in protector mode, as he was when he pulled her out of that barrel. It was just in his nature to protect those he cared about. Lucy knew this. She also knew if they dropped out now, who knows if or when they'd ever get another shot at catching this guy.

Kojo, sensing the tension in the room, whined and stood at Lucy's feet nudging her hand.

"We can't stop now Tim. If we're right, this guy has potentially picked his next target, but he has no idea we're on to him".

Realizing she'd already made up her mind, Tim knows if he objects and Lucy is still willing, they'll just replace him with someone else, and there's no way he's trusting anyone else to watch her back.

"The only way this is happening, is with a lot more back up, including at the house". If she insists on putting a target on her back, Tim wants to make sure there's no way this predator would be able to grab her. He can't live with that again.

Lucy takes his hand in hers in appreciation, squeezing it. He squeezes it back, for just a second, but Angela's one raised eyebrow causes him to drop Lucy's hand immediately.

They spend the next hours formulating new plans. Wesley playing the gracious host, bringing them hot coffee, and keeping Kojo occupied. It's not lost on Angela how great he is with dogs, and kids. She's seen him with her nieces and nephews. She takes a moment to watch him letting Kojo up on the sofa with him, a move she's sure his mother would not approve of, and soon Kojo has his head in Wesley's lap, eyes closed.

Finally they had an agreed upon plan going forward. Caruso was on his phone in a chair, Angela walked over to Wesley, who'd fallen asleep sitting on the sofa. She sat on the opposite side from where Kojo was resting. Welsey stirred and lifted his arm for her to sit back against him.

Lucy watched them, smiling, and Tim walked around to block her view.

"Are you sure about this". It was more of a statement than a question. He already knew the answer. "Angela's right, no one would blame you for wanting to go back to patrol to finish training, let them get someone else in here". He lowered his voice, so no one but Lucy would hear him. "If something happened to you"...Tim can't bring himself to finish that sentence. This was somewhat different from when she was taken, he felt guilty about that, sure, but he hadn't come to terms with the feelings he had for her yet. Now, he knew what he wanted. If he lost it before he ever had a chance to have it, he didn't think he'd recover.

Lucy glanced at the others, realizing no one was paying attention, she put her hand on his forearm. Tim looked over at Caruso, who was lost in his conversation and put his hand on top of Lucy's.

"I promise nothing's going to happen to me Tim". She began to close the gap between them, pulling him towards her. Then she noticed Angela noticing them and stopped, pushing him back to where he was, squeezed his arm and pulled her hand away.

Angela whispered to Wesley "Oh yea, there's definitely something going on there". She smiled conspiratorially. Wesley shakes his head but she kept going. "Tim would never cross a line while she's still his rookie, but mark my words, the second she graduates..." she trailed off.

"Maybe he's just worried about her" Wesley suggested half heartedly. They looked at each other, and back at Tim & Lucy. Angela spoke up "No way".

They'd all noticed a change in Tim that definitely began when he took Lucy on as a rookie. He was softer somehow. Definitely happier than he'd been in a long time. At first Angela thought maybe it was Rachel, the girl Lucy had set Tim up with, or maybe just the fact that he'd found a partner in Lucy at work that he hadn't had in a long time. But now, seeing them together, no, it was for sure more than that. She made a mental note to tell Jackson he was right. He'd been the one to verbalize it, even though no one agreed with him at the time. He lived with Lucy, he'd apparently known things they didn't. Both Angela and Nolan told him he was crazy for suggesting it.

By the time they opened the room up, heading up the stairs, it was starting to get dark out. The rain had slowed to a drizzle.
Tim and Lucy were to head back to the house. Caruso was going to have a couple detectives at the house first thing in the morning posing as private security to live with them full time. It was an easy enough rouse since the house had been broken into the night before.

They also planned to have more UCs in a nearby house that was up for rent. They needed people close by just in case. Angela would coordinate with Ben Ford to have the FBI come up with a more detailed profile, and be able to check outside the state level. What they were really hoping, is that this guy would try to take Lucy, and without realizing he'd fallen into their trap, they'd be able to catch him easily. Lucy shared her feelings on Lucas Andersson, and that he was her first choice as the creeper.

Out at the car, Lucy got Kojo into the backseat before turning and hugging both Wesley and Angela. Caruso was back down in the safe room on his phone trying to coordinate everything. Tim was already in the drivers seat. Angela walked over to his side of the car. She could see he was lost in thought, but he rolled his window down when he saw her walk up.

Angela just looked at him, then to Lucy, who was getting Kojo's harness into the seatbelt.

"We got your back". she said to Tim. "I know you do". He didn't doubt it, he just hoped it would be enough.

Lucy hopped in the front seat, and Angela tapped the door twice, walking back to the house with Wesley as they backed up then pulled forward down the drive.