Sorry for the long delay! Enjoy! :)

I felt as though my head was spinning.

The entire ride to the hospital I had been imagining being given the worst news and when, upon arriving, I found Evelyn being treated by a nurse in the waiting area, I thought my worst fears had been realised. For a moment, no-one was able to give me an accurate description as to what had happened but, suffice to say, my heart rate had slowed slightly when a kind-faced nurse had reassured me that Kate had not been admitted and that Evelyn had fainted after making a phone call. Now, sat with her pressed against me, her face deathly pale and her hands shaking whilst holding a hot cup of coffee, my fear had turned to anger and the bored looking detective, ostensibly taking notes in front of us, was doing little to curb my feelings.

"So, you have no idea who would do this?" he asked, cracking his chewing gum and flipping through his notepad. "No idea who would make up a story like this?"

"No," I replied tightly.

"You're an ADA, right?" he looked at me and I fought down the urge to correct him. "You must have pissed a few people off in your time."

"Probably, but..."

"I mean, it can't be too hard to figure out you have a kid and where she goes to daycare. Maybe you pissed someone off in a plea bargain, or maybe somebody in prison is calling in a favour?"

"Nobody that I can think of right now," I replied, though I had to admit that my mind was working overtime like a Rolodex.

He cracked his gum again and looked at Evelyn. "What about you?"

"No," she replied quietly. "I can't think of anybody."

The detective sighed. "You're sure you heard right?"

"What do you mean?"

"Could you have been mistaken in what the caller said over the phone," he explained in a tone that suggested he was frustrated with the entire conversation. "Maybe you heard her wrong."

"I didn't hear her wrong," Evelyn replied. "She told me that Kate was sick, that they had called an ambulance and that they were on their way here. How do you think I could have got that wrong?!"

He shrugged, "You're a mother...you misinterpret what the caller said...?"

She leapt to her feet before I could stop her, coffee sloshing out onto the floor. "I did not misinterpret anything!" she exclaimed. "I know what they said!"

"Ok..." I got to my feet and stepped slightly between them, concerned that Evelyn might say or do something that she later regretted. "Detective...?"

"Bannerman."

"Detective Bannerman...perhaps we could have a word in private?"

He sighed heavily and inclined his head before moving away from the row of chairs towards the coffee machine. I waited until Evelyn sat back down again before following him out of her earshot, reminding myself that we needed help, not for either of us to be carted away in handcuffs. "I appreciate, Detective, that this is perhaps not much of a case as far as you are concerned..." he raised one shoulder half-heartedly. "...but someone saw fit to call my wife and tell her that our child was seriously ill and on her way to hospital. Now, I don't know about you, but I think that's something worth investigating."

"So where do you suggest we start?" he asked.

I shook my head wishing, not for the first time, that I had been able to call Lennie or even Mike, as far out of his jurisdiction as it would have been, rather than have to work with someone from the nearest precinct who clearly couldn't give a damn. "I would suggest that you check the local usage details from my wife's office and trace the call. It had to originate from somewhere. Then, maybe, you could interview the staff at the daycare. Maybe one of them saw or heard something suspicious."

Bannerman's eyes flickered across my shoulder to where Evelyn was sitting and then back again. "I read the papers, you know."

"Meaning what?"

"Meaning I know who you are...I know who your wife is." He shuffled his feet. "Word on the street for a time was that you got a witness killed by forcing her to testify in a mob trial."

A shiver ran through me at the memory of Ann Madsen. I thought about her often, too often to need reminding of her by others. "Are you suggesting this could be some sort of revenge for that?"

"Maybe..." he shrugged again. "On the other hand, your wife is a pretty public figure and, by all accounts, she hasn't had the best mental health over the years..."

Indignation flared through me. "There is nothing wrong with my wife's mental health!"

"Ok," Bannerman said, his gaze on mine. "If you say so."

"I do say so."

"She was the only one who heard what the caller said."

"Yes she was," I said, knowing that I had to bring the conversation to a close before I said or did something that I was going to regret. "And she's a credible witness, so why don't you do your job and find out who was behind this." I pulled a card out of my pocket. "You can reach me on these numbers. Now, if you're finished, I want to take my wife to get my daughter."

"Sure," Bannerman said, glancing at the card before slipping it into his pocket. "I'll call you."

"Can we go and get Kate now?" Evelyn asked, standing up as I made my way back over to her. "I want to see her. I need to know that she's alright."

"Yes, we can go now," I replied, thanking the nurse who was hovering nearby before sliding my arm around her waist and propelling her towards the main entrance. "Are you sure you're alright?"

"I'm fine," she replied firmly, though her voice still sounded shaky. "I'll be a lot better when I see her though." I managed to get a cab easily and as we made our way to Merry Hill, she turned to look at me, her eyes hollow in her face. "Who would do this?"

"I don't know," I shook my head. "But the police are going to find out."

"Are you sure? That detective didn't seem as though he gave a damn."

"Maybe not," I agreed. "But I'm an EADA. That has to carry some clout, right?"

She shivered slightly and pressed herself against me. "I hope so."

XXXX

"Bannerman?" Lennie pursed his lips. "How old would you say he was?"

"Late thirties...early forties."

"Can't be Jake Bannerman, he's older than me."

"Doesn't he have a son?" Lennie's partner, Rey Curtis, spoke up from where he was standing by the window. "He would be around that age."

"Carl? He's a beat cop, isn't he?"

"I'm pretty sure he made detective last year," Rey said. "And he works out of that precinct."

Lennie turned back to look at me. "What do you want us to do, Ben?"

I sighed and shook my head. Back in the warmth of our apartment, Kate sleeping in her mother's arms, I couldn't help but worry that it was all something and nothing and that I had been hasty in calling Lennie and asking him to come over. "Nothing, I guess. I know you can't interfere in another investigation, but I suppose I just wanted to run it by you and see if you thought Evelyn and I were crazy for wanting this followed up."

"Of course you're not crazy," Lennie said. "I can't imagine anything worse than getting a phone-call like that and then to find out it was a hoax..." he shook his head.

"Whoever it was on the phone was very convincing," Evelyn spoke up from her position on the couch. "It's only now that I think back on it that I realise that I didn't recognise the voice. It could have been anyone."

"Well it was someone who knew Kate's name, where she goes to daycare, where you work..." Rey said. "Sounds like this person knows you even if you don't know them."

"Tell you what," Lennie said, getting to his feet. "We'll have a word with Bannerman, make sure he realises that this is a top priority investigation and, if we hear anything, we'll let you know."

"I appreciate that, thank you," I said, standing and shaking both their hands before showing them out. Once they had gone, I double locked the door, even though I wasn't entirely sure why. It was highly unlikely we were going to be invaded, despite what had happened. When I turned back to Evelyn, she had put her head back against the couch and closed her eyes. "Are you ok?"

"As much as I can be after this," she replied, opening her eyes. "Why has this happened, Ben?"

"I don't know," I sat down beside her and gently stroked Kate's foot. "But I promise you that it's not going to happen again." When we had collected Kate from daycare that afternoon, I had had a lengthy conversation with the owner and we had agreed a rigorous system of checks and passwords to be used in any communication to do with Kate going forwards. To some it might have seemed like overkill, but I knew that I never wanted to experience what we had gone through that day again.

"It scares me that someone out there hates us enough to..." she broke off as tears filled her eyes and I slid my arm around her shoulders. "I thought that all of this was behind us...I thought that we didn't have to worry about this kind of thing anymore. People are in jail and..."

"Evelyn, this has got nothing to do with that," I said, knowing where her mind was going. "It has nothing to do with Edward or the Lucchese family or anyone connected to them. It's probably just someone's idea of a sick joke."

"How do you know that?" she looked at me. "You can't know that, not for sure."

"I can know that and I do," I replied with slightly more confidence than I felt. "You're right, people are in jail. It's been over two years and if there was going to be any fallout from that, it would have happened long before now."

She looked back down at Kate and touched her cheek, "I wish I felt as sure about that as you do."

I opened my mouth to respond, but Pamela chose that moment to come out of her room and round the back of the couch. "Have the cops gone?"

"Yes," I replied. "You didn't have to stay in your room the whole time."

She shrugged, "I figured I should stay out of the way. I could take Kate if you want..."

"No!" Evelyn replied sharply and I felt her grip on Kate tighten. "I mean...no, that's ok Pam, thank you. I just want to sit and hold her if you don't mind."

"Sure," Pamela's face reddened slightly and she turned towards the kitchen instead.

I waited a fraction of a second before following her and found her standing staring into the fridge. "Evelyn's just a little upset right now," I said. "She had a terrible fright earlier, we both did, and she just wants to hang on to Kate."

"I get it, it's fine."

"Pam..."

"I said, it's fine." She grabbed a carton of milk and slammed the door closed before rooting in the cupboard for a glass.

I weighed up my options. Our relationship had been bad enough lately without adding fuel to the fire so, I elected to let her attitude go in light of everything that had happened. "Did you finish your homework?" I asked, in what I hoped was a pleasant tone of voice.

"Almost. I've got a test tomorrow so I need to study."

"Ok, well, I was thinking of ordering some takeout," I said, aware that neither Evelyn nor I felt much like cooking. "Any preference?"

"Pizza?" she glanced at me.

"Sure, pizza sounds good. I'll call you when we're deciding what to order ok?"

"Ok," she lifted the glass and made her way out of the kitchen and back towards her room.

"Pam voted for pizza," I said, rejoining Evelyn on the couch. "Is that ok with you?"

"Order whatever you two want. I'm not hungry."

"You need to eat something."

"Fine order it and, if I'm hungry when it gets here, I will."

"Ok."

She shifted slightly under Kate's weight. "She actually spoke to you then."

"Yeah, it surprised me too," I replied, "but I think she's been pretty shaken up about what happened today too." A cold feeling started to creep up my spine and I fought down the somewhat irrational fear of something else happening. "Maybe I should keep her off school tomorrow and I should probably call Peter."

Evelyn's head flew up, "You think someone might try to target them?"

"I doubt it," I said rationally, wanting to maintain the air of calm that I knew she needed right at that moment, "but the cops might have made some progress by Monday. They might even have caught the person behind it and then we can all just go back to normality."

"Pam won't thank you for extending her house arrest."

"Maybe if I let her invite Andrew over this weekend it might sweeten the deal a little."

Evelyn frowned, "I thought you wanted to call the cops on him not welcome him into the family."

"I did...I do..." I shook my head. "I really don't know right now. Maybe you were right about things happening under our own roof being better than imagining where else they might be happening. Not..." I added firmly, "that I'm going to be allowing any sleepovers."

Evelyn looked back down at Kate, "I can't imagine letting her out of my sight right now."

"Then a day in the house with her tomorrow might do you some good too and, like I said, maybe this will all have been solved by Monday."

"What about you? Are you going to stay with us?"

"No, I'm going to go in and speak to Adam tomorrow, see what strings he might be able to pull. There's got to be some advantage in working at the DA's office." I leaned over and kissed her cheek. "Everything's going to be absolutely fine. I promise."