Jeff swallowed hard as he studied the picture. Reaching out, he took it from Goren's hand. Goren let him, shifting his eyes to meet his partner's. Cressmoor did not take his eyes from his son. "Jeffrey? Answer the man."

Jeff's hand was shaking as he nodded. "I know him. Is he the one who hurt my sister?"

Eames started to reply, but fell silent at a signal from Goren. Quietly, he said, "We aren't sure, but our police artist made this sketch from a description Kelly gave him. Who is he, Jeff?"

Goren wasn't sure if it was shock or anger driving Jeff's reaction, but he needed to be certain before he let the boy leave with his father. When Jeff's hands tightened into fists, crumpling the picture, he had his answer. Cressmoor nudged his son's shoulder. "Answer the detective, Jeffrey. Who is he?"

"His name is Matthew Schroeder. He dated Gloria for a couple of months. After she broke up with him, he continued to harass her, so my buddy Rod and I went to see him, to tell him to leave her alone. I thought he had."

"Where does he live?"

"In the Bronx."

"Do you know the address?"

"No. Gloria said he had an apartment in Kingsbridge, but we went to see him at his job. He's a plumber's assistant at Gelman and Son." He took a few deep breaths. "I met him. He seemed like a decent guy, even after they broke up. He wasn't scaring her or anything. Just annoying her."

"Did you say or do anything to threaten him?"

"No. We just told him to leave her alone and left it at that. He didn't argue with us."

Cressmoor leaned over his son's shoulder. "Are you sure, Jeff? You didn't threaten him?"

"No, Dad. I swear." Jeff's face hardened into a deep frown. "If he is the one who hurt Kelly..."

"You will let these detectives handle it. That's their job. Period. Do you understand me?"

Jeff was trembling by now with the effort to control his rage. Goren leaned forward. "Jeff, look at me." When he had the boy's full attention, he continued, his voice calm, reassuring. "If he is the one who hurt your sister, Detective Eames and I will bring him in. But if you interfere, there is not going to be any justice for Kelly and you'll find yourself in trouble, too. So you need to listen to your dad. Calm down, go home and let us do our job. That's the best thing for you to do. You have helped us a great deal tonight. Now let us follow up on it."

"You'll let us know?"

"I promised your father that. Now can you promise me you'll go home and stay there?"

Jeff took a few more deep breaths before he finally nodded. Cressmoor took the crumpled paper from his son's hands and gave it back to Goren. "He'll behave. Let's go, Jeff." The boy got to his feet and preceded his father to the door. Cressmoor looked Goren directly in the eye. "You let me know, detective."

Goren nodded. "We will, major."

Cressmoor opened the door, followed his son from the room and pulled the door closed behind him. Goren rubbed his forehead and looked at Eames, who said, "Nice job. Now what?"

"Now, we find out where Mr. Schroeder lives and see if he's home."

"Want to take bets?"

He smiled as she got up and he followed her from the room.

The door splintered and popped open under the force of the ram. Vested, weapons drawn, Goren and Eames entered the apartment and moved from room to room, calling "Clear!" as each room proved empty. They met in the living room and holstered their weapons. "Okay, now what?" Eames asked.

"We put out the word that we're looking for him." He turned to one of the officers who had accompanied them on the raid. "I want a car on this place. If he shows up, take him into custody and bring him down to Major Case."

"Yes, sir."

They took the time to go through the apartment, searching for any sign that Gloria had been there or that anything fishy had taken place. The apartment was clean. As they headed for the Explorer, he said, "First thing tomorrow, we'll pay a visit to Gelman and Son. Maybe we'll catch him at work."

"Do you think Gloria is still alive?"

He was quiet as he mulled over the question in his mind. They got into the car and he finally shrugged. "I don't have a good handle on this guy yet. A lot of things don't make sense. If he grabbed her from the hospital, why didn't anyone see it? It was the middle of the day."

"Suppose she left on her own? She's running scared because she lied to us."

"Then where is he?"

"Running scared because he assaulted Gloria and Kelly."

He shook his head. "It's not adding up, Eames. Two and two are not adding up to four. Something's not right."

She started the car. "Let me know when you start getting four. Now where to?"

He shrugged again. "Home. There's not much else to do until tomorrow."

"Except read over the case all night."

"Unless you can come up with something better to do."

"Is that a challenge, Goren?"

"Take it as you will, Eames," he said with a smile.

She headed the vehicle down the street. "I need to stop at my place for some clothes. I think we should go back to your place to review our files."

"All right. Why my place?"

She suppressed a smile. "I like your bed."

He turned toward the window, falling into silence. He liked that answer, but he still could not fully chase away his uncertainty. He was struggling to find his footing in this changed relationship with his partner, and he didn't want to screw anything up. Let her set the pace, he told himself. And go from there.

She glanced at him, not certain why he was withdrawing. She used to think she knew him, but now she was seeing a whole new side of him that upset her perception of what she did know about him. She hated uncertainty, but she didn't want to do anything that would send him scurrying for cover again. Tread lightly, she told herself. And see what happens.

As they left her apartment and headed for his, he realized that his fears of overstepping their boundaries were unfounded. Those boundaries had been self-imposed and she had not shared them. Now, he had no clue where the boundaries were and he was going to leave it to her to reestablish them. He would follow her lead...no matter where she went...

His silence was beginning to make her nervous and she was starting to worry that he was overthinking things again. When he put too much effort into thinking about things, he generally overreacted to circumstances. Well, she was just going to have to watch for that, and if he showed any signs of overreacting, she would have to nip it in the bud and reel him back in. Nip and reel... she smiled to herself. Actually, that could be fun...

As they approached his apartment door, he pulled out his keys and unlocked it, pushing the door open for her. Following her through the door, he locked it and dropped the keys onto the table beside the television. When he turned toward her, she was standing right there, waiting for him. He met her eyes and froze. He couldn't explain why it surprised him to see passion burning in her eyes, but it did and he momentarily drew a blank.

She reached forward and gently played with the waistband of his pants; he closed his eyes and shuddered. Reaching up, she undid his tie and slid it free of his collar, then pushed his jacket from his shoulders. Her fingers unbuttoned his shirt, button by button, with agonizing slowness. By this time, he had recovered sufficiently to participate in kind with the buttons on her shirt, struggling with himself to also move slowly. He leaned closer and claimed her mouth with his, gently guiding her backwards down the hall toward the bedroom.

A trail of clothes led from the living room down the hall and the sweet tension built up during the day crested and ebbed in the darkness of the bedroom and the soft comfort of his bed.

With a soft groan, Goren rolled over toward the ringing phone. He grabbed it from its cradle. "Goren," he muttered into it, listening as the sleep sloughed from his brain. "Okay...no...I'll call her...right..."

He hung up the phone and turned over in the bed. "We have to go," he whispered into her ear, softly caressing the gentle curve of her hip. "They found Matthew."