A/N: Thanks for the reviews!

"Where could she be?" Aiden asked Shep, having had no luck finding Vera since Billy had called him.

"I remember hearing bits of a conversation about a health club she belonged to. Maybe she still does and she went there?"

"A health club?" Aiden asked, his eyebrow raised skeptically. "No way."

Shep chuckled slightly. "That's what I heard. It's a rather posh place. Maybe Kenny remembers the name."

Aiden rolled his eyes. "You ask him."

Shaking her head, Shep called Kenny and quickly asked him if he remembered the name of the health club. Getting what she wanted without telling him why she was asking, she ended the call and looked at Aiden. "I've got it. Let's go."

Rushing out after her, Aiden hoped that they found Vera at the health club.

Of course, running into her as she rushed in and they rushed out…well, that worked just fine.

"Aiden! What the bloody…" Vera started then scowled up at the pair as both of them reached out to steady her and keep her from plummeting down the stairs.

"Ma'am." Shep sighed. "We were worried."

Vera rolled her eyes. "I'm a few bloody minutes late. It isn't the first time."

"Have you not see the telly at all this morning?" Shep asked as they followed her down the hall.

"No. I've been busy. What could possibly have been on the telly that had you worried about me?"

"Ma'am," Aiden started then looked at Shep.

"Well, out with it!"

"The news, Ma'am." Shep said, pointing to the TV they were passing.

Vera stopped and stared. "How did they," she started then rubbed the bridge of her nose. "That's bloody wonderful!"

"Billy's worried you're in danger." Aiden told her.

"He worries too much."

"But Ma'am." Shep protested. "You look like the woman our killer was obviously," she started then stopped.

Aiden frowned. "What? What haven't you told us?" he demanded as he stepped in front of Vera.

Vera scrubbed a hand over her face. "Bloody hell, Shep."

"Sorry, Ma'am, but maybe he needs to know now."

"The woman had the word mine carved into her back."

Aiden huffed, "And you didn't think we needed to know that?!"

"No! I didn't!" Vera scowled up at him. "No move out of the way, DS Healy."

Shep took a step back. She'd heard Vera shout before, but this tone was a new one. Jerking her head when Aiden glanced at her, she hoped the man just let it drop.

"No." Aiden stood his ground. "I'm your damn sergeant. I've let it go that we haven't seen pictures of the bodies because I understood why you didn't want us to. But this! Damn it all, Ma'am! How are we supposed to investigate without all the facts?"

"You have the facts! What does it matter that our killer carved mine into the poor woman's back? You've done as much without that knowledge as you would have with it. And, you forget…Shep and I had that knowledge. Now I'm done defending myself. Move!"

Aiden had the good sense to let it drop this time and stepped out of the way. Turning he scowled at Shep. "You should have told me!"

"No," she shook her head. "I shouldn't have. She is my boss and as such I do what she tells me to do. She told me to keep what I saw in that room under my hat."

"But you pushed her to tell me just now."

"Yes, I did, but you were wrong to push her after she told you." Shep sighed and rubbed her neck. "This case is bothering her, Aiden. Surely you've seen how haggard she looks. She isn't sleeping. Can you imagine what it would be like to have looked down at a dead body and find your face staring back at you?"

"But she's in danger now, Shep." Aiden argued.

"She might be, but we can't force her to do anything. Neither of us are Joe. Let me talk to Billy. He's the only one that can push and possibly get results."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Joe could get away with pushing her into doing things. She probably hasn't told you, but she has Angina. It was Joe's nudging that finally got her to start trying to do what she'd been told to do by her doctors. Joe was the one she talked to when something was wrong."

"But she's confided in you. She let you see the bodies on scene."

Shep nodded. "She did but only because I'm a woman. She tried to call you, Aiden, but you didn't pick up. I don't know if she'd have let you see if you'd been the one on scene, or not, but I do know you'd know a lot more if you had been than you do now."

Aiden watched Shep walk away and frowned. What had she meant? Vera hadn't called him. Even if she had, he'd have seen that he had a missed call and there hadn't been, not from her or anyone else. He'd have noticed it the minute he picked up his phone and checked for messages.

VS

"Billy!" Vera shouted as she stormed into the morgue. "What the bloody hell do you think you're doing?!"

Billy frowned, no need asking her what she was talking about. He knew she would be angry at him, and he'd had a call from Shep just a few moments ago. "I'm looking out for a friend who seems hell bent on not taking care of herself!"

"Damn it all, Billy! I'm a big girl, I've been taking care of meself all me life!"

"Hang it all, Vera! Just because your blasted father didn't bother to take care of you, doesn't mean the rest of us that care about you are going to do the same!" Billy knew he'd more than likely crossed a line with that remark, but how else was he to get through to his stubborn friend? Damn ginger!

Vera stared at her friend. That had hurt, and not because it was a lie, but because it was the truth. Feeling her eyes tear up, she turned away and started to leave, stopping when Billy's fingers wrapped around her wrist.

"I'm sorry, Vera. I know I hurt you with that. I don't mean to hurt you. I only," he sighed. "I'm worried about my friend." Billy tugged at her hand to get her to look at him. "He's still out there, Vera. He knows that you look like Hellen. I'm afraid that he'll come after you. Won't you at least take one of the team home with you? Let them sleep on the couch? Or me? I'll sleep on the couch. We can drink ourselves to sleep," he teased, though his eyes held no mirth only worry lurked in the hazel depths.

Vera squeezed the hand that held hers. "Always a worrier," she whispered. "I'll be fine, Billy. He might know that I look like her, but he doesn't know where I live. Besides, this old girl has a few tricks up her sleeve around that old house."

Billy sighed and shook his head. "You aren't going to ask anyone for a bit of protection, are you?"

"No, Billy. I'll be fine." Squeezing his hand one more time, Vera let go and left, Billy's sigh following her down the hall.

VS

"Boss." Aiden knocked on the open door as he stepped inside Vera's office.

"Yes?"

"Shep said that you called me the other day before you called her."

"I did but you didn't pick up and I got the voice mail."

"But my phone didn't show a missed call." Aiden frowned as he sat down. "Are you sure you called me?"

Vera huffed as she pulled out her phone and went into her call log. "There," she held the phone up for him to see. "Your number. I did call you."

"Why didn't you call me out when you saw me here later?"

"No reason to."

Aiden narrowed his eyes. "That's not like you. You normally would have had my head for not picking up. You didn't call me out because you were actually glad I didn't pick up. You were glad it was Shep. What are you hiding?"

"I'm not hiding a bloody thing, damn it. There are just things a person's team shouldn't see, that's all."

"That makes no sense! We always see everything! How many times since I transferred here have you drug me to the morgue with you? This case? None. You won't let me anywhere near there. Me or anyone else, well Shep, but she's the only one."

"DS Healy, stop pushing the issue. We've discussed this all before. You know what I want you to know, what you need to know. I don't need you to know everything when I already do." Vera glared across at him. "I could do this damn job on me own if it wouldn't take so long."

Aiden stood up and threw up his hands. "I give up!" he growled as he stormed out.

"Finally!" Vera shouted after him, scowling at Kenny when he looked up from his desk and gave her a questioning glance.

Kenny quickly turned back to what he was doing. Vera was in rare form and no amount of warning the kid seemed to stop him from continually poking the bear.

"Damn and blast the woman anyway." Aiden grumbled as he plopped down at his desk. He'd worked with some macho, crazy, people before but none of them topped Vera.

"She'll hear you." Kenny whispered, hoping Vera was distracted enough not to hear him.

Aiden rolled his eyes and grumbled under his breath. "Have anything new, Kenny?" he finally asked.

"No. I went back and managed to talk to a couple of people that weren't home when I covered the neighbors, but they told me the same thing. Red truck, that's all. There's still one neighbor that's not been home. I've been told he'll be back tomorrow, I'll talk to him then. His house faces their drive so maybe he'll have more information."

Aiden nodded. "Let's hope."

Shep came in, a smile on her face. "I might have a lead," she said as she headed to Vera's office.

"Eh? What?" Vera asked as she looked up from the papers on her desk.

"The manager of the club here. Martin fired him and had him beat up."

Vera raised her eyebrows. "Oh. That's good, Shep. Name?"

"Leon Gregory. Shady character. He was running a bit on the side from the club. From what the new manager told me, some of the girls were having sex for money with some of the punters in the VIP rooms. Martin wasn't too happy about that because that sort of thing could get him shut down."

"Bring him in."

"On it, Boss." Shep told Vera as she turned and headed back out of the room.

Kenny made a face at her back and Aiden felt himself snickering. Shep seemed to always show them up, especially where this case was concerned. Then he scowled. Of course she did! She, unlike himself, had all of the facts.