While she drove to the police station with the basket of lunch for Matthew and his men, Jean thought over what had happened that morning and how to go forward with what she now knew. Her first instinct was to keep it all to herself. How could she convince anyone she wasn't losing her mind, that Lucien had really spoken to her? But if she was going to find him and bring him home, she would need help, that much was clear to her. She would have to trust that their friends would believe her, or at the very least go along with her. She could think of no one (besides Lucien himself, of course) she would rather have by her side in this endeavor than Matthew and Alice. And she also knew they were the ones who would do whatever it took to get Lucien back, that is if she could convince them it was really him visiting her.

She delivered the lunch to a horde of grateful policemen and while they were crowding around the food, she took the opportunity to ask Matthew if he had a problem with her speaking with Alice about all the questions she had regarding the autopsy report.

"That's fine," he said. "I used to have Lucien translate those things for me all the time."

"Well, then, I think I'll invite Alice for dinner," said Jean. "It will give us a chance to discuss the case."

Matthew nodded. "Right. You should do that. Thanks for bringing lunch, Jean, but I have to get back to it."

"Don't let me keep you," said Jean, gathering up the now-empty basket.

As soon as she got back home, she called Alice.

"You know how much I enjoy your cooking, so I'm always happy to accept an invitation to dinner," said Alice. "Besides, I find it interesting and informative to exchange ideas about a case with you and Matthew. I look forward to it."

"I'll see you later, then," said Jean. She paused. "Alice, please do me a favour and come with an open mind. There's something else I'd like to discuss afterwards."

"I always try to keep an open mind, Jean. It's a part of my medical training. Would you care to give me a hint what this is all about?"

"If you don't mind, I'd rather wait until this evening. We'll talk then."

"Very well, I'll see you later."

Jean set to work preparing dinner while also planning her next actions. Obviously she would need to head for Sydney as soon as possible. She would catch the first flight in the morning. She reflected that just a few years ago she never would have even thought of jumping on an airplane without days if not weeks of prior planning. But after her months-long honeymoon and all the flights she'd taken then, she had the confidence to make such a spontaneous decision.

"Thank you, Lucien," she said quietly.

"My absolute pleasure," she heard. She could practically feel his arms around her. She looked around to see a faint outline of him standing beside her.

"I'll come for you just as soon as I can," she promised him. "I could use some help with that, though, so I need to convince Matthew and Alice that you really are speaking with me. Any ideas?"

He seemed to think for a moment. "Tell Alice that the first time I met her, I called her 'sister' thinking she was a nurse," he admitted.

"Lucien, you didn't!"

"I'm afraid I did. I apologized, of course, as soon as I learned who she was."

"I should hope so," said Jean before she could remind herself this was her adored husband that she'd been missing so sorely for the last ten months. She thought that it said something about the strength of their relationship that even after all this time apart, they immediately fell back into their usual roles with each other.

"And what about Matthew? Anything no one else would know?" she asked.

"Many, many things," said Lucien.

"Not from when you were boys, something more recent," Jean prompted. "And preferably one that won't embarrass him too much."

"Well, just before our wedding he told me if I didn't treat you right he'd kick my arse." He paused. "I suppose this, what I've done to you, qualifies. You can tell him for me I probably deserve it."

Jean lifted a hand, wanting to caress his cheek to reassure him, but caught herself. She longed to touch him, to feel his strong, solid frame against her. That would have to wait, though, so she had better find him as quickly as possible.

They discussed the case over dinner. When Jean learned that the poison could have been administered several hours before the actual time of death, and that Halston had eaten at the new lunch counter in the department store, she suggested they question young Alan Cullen, who worked there as a busboy. It seemed that John Halston's father had beaten out old Mister Cullen in a questionable business deal a decade earlier, which had been seen as a factor in the elder Cullen's eventual suicide.

"Well, I can certainly see that as a motive," said Matthew. "Thank you, Jean. There's no way my men would have uncovered that. Now I understand exactly why Lucien valued your input so much."

Alice nodded her agreement.

Seeing her opportunity, Jean took a deep breath. "While we're speaking of Lucien, there's something I need to tell you. You're going to think I'm crazy, but just hear me out, please."

Matthew and Alice exchanged a look which Jean did her best to ignore.

"Lucien is alive. He's in a hospital somewhere, most likely in Sydney. I'm flying there in the morning."

They were both stunned. Alice recovered first, saying rather tentatively, "How do you know this? Did someone call from the hospital?"

Jean hesitated, but decided there was really no way to make it sound more reasonable. She probably wouldn't believe it herself if someone else had told her. No, she should just say it. "He told me."

"Jean!" Matthew said sharply.

"Who told you?" Alice asked more calmly.

Jean held up her hands. "I know exactly how it sounds, but this morning as I was trying to make sense of the autopsy report, Lucien appeared when I asked for help."

"What? As a ghost?" asked Matthew, frowning deeply to show his disbelief.

"That's what I thought at first, a ghost or an angel, but he told me he was pretty sure he was still alive, and from what he could tell by the sounds around him, he thought he was in a hospital."

"Well, I suppose he'd know a hospital," Matthew muttered, looking no more convinced.

Alice took a more practical approach, wanting additional information. "Couldn't he just look around to see where he was?"

"He said he couldn't seem to move his body at all."

"But he could come to visit you? Jean..."

She cut him off. "Yes, I know. It sounds crazy, even to me, but it happened. I told him I needed to convince the two of you so I asked him to tell me something only you and he would know. Matthew, he said just before our wedding you told him you'd kick his, well, his backside if he didn't treat me right. He also said he probably deserves it now."

Matthew's eyes widened at that, and he just stared at Jean.

"And Alice, he said when the two of you met, he mistook you for a nurse, said he called you 'sister'."

"Yes, he did," Alice said slowly.

"And he said he apologized for the error."

She nodded, and she too gazed at Jean before looking around. "Is Lucien here now?"

"Yes, can we see him? Ask him something for ourselves?" asked Matthew.

"I don't know if you'd be able to see him. He isn't here right now, but I'll see if I can contact him."

Jean closed her eyes to concentrate, then said softly, "Lucien, we need you. Can you help us out, please?" She kept her eyes shut and willed him to come back. After a few moments she could feel his presence, and she opened her eyes. "Lucien," she said with a smile. His form was still quite unsubstantial, but he was standing in front of her.

Alice and Matthew exchanged a look, then Alice squinted as she stared at the spot where Jean was looking. "There's something there," she said softly.

"Not you, too," Matthew grumbled, annoyed.

"Well, there is. Look closely," Alice insisted.

Doubtfully, Matthew stood up and moved near Jean. "I still don't..." he began, but he stopped when a very familiar voice said, "Matthew, remember when we were in the cemetery and we dug up that grave in the middle of the night? We decided if there was only one body in the casket, we'd cover the grave back up, but we found Andrew Morgan inside."

"Damn it, Blake," said Matthew before he could catch himself.

"Convinced now?" asked Jean, with just a trace of a smirk on her face.

With her usual single-minded focus, Alice ignored the byplay and concentrated on the matter at hand. "Lucien, it's good to see you, or almost see you anyway. Jean said you can't open your eyes to see where you are. Do you know what's wrong with you? Are you blind?"

"No, I don't think so," Lucien said slowly. He seemed to be putting pieces together in his mind, something they were all familiar with watching. "From what I can tell, I'm comatose. Trauma from the fall and an extended stay in the water, most likely."

"Um, do you think you might have brain damage?" asked Alice hesitantly.

"Higher functions don't seem to be affected," said Lucien. "Memory is certainly intact."

"No, higher functions seem fine, from what I can determine," Alice agreed.

"I don't seem to have issues with autonomic functions, as far as I can tell, no intubation tube."

"Then I agree that you're probably comatose. You need some type of trigger to pull you out of it," said Alice.

"Like a kiss from my beautiful wife?" Lucien suggested as Jean felt herself blush.

"What are you, Sleeping Beauty?" Matthew asked acerbically.

"Very funny," said Lucien.

Jean wanted to steer them back to the topic at hand. "Now, how do we go about locating you so you can come home?"

"Any idea what hospital you're in?" asked Matthew.

"Not a clue. To the best of my recall I've never been in any Sydney hospital before, so I have no way of identifying it."

"Then I'll search all of them, if I have to," Jean said firmly.

"We'll search them," said Alice. "I'm coming with you. Hopefully my medical degree will ease the way at least a bit."

"With this Halston murder investigation ongoing I'm afraid I can't leave just now," said Matthew. "What I can do is call the chief superintendent in Sydney and ask him to grease the wheels for you, maybe send one of his men to accompany you."

"Thank you, Matthew, and you too, Alice," said Jean. "Lucien, we'll find you."

"Yes, we will," Alice echoed.

As Jean smiled teary-eyed at his image, she could see the tears welling up in his eyes, too. Was it possible that she'd soon see him in person? She prayed it was.

It was time to clock out. Marian Bloom made a final round to check on her patients, make sure all was well with them before she left for the night.

The last one was the comatose John Doe. She did a quick check of his vitals, but as she loosened the blood pressure cuff from around his upper arm, she glanced at his face. A single tear ran down each of his cheeks.

"You poor man," she said softly. "Are you in pain now? I may need to help you out after all. I'll see what I can do for you tomorrow. Good night, John."