Disclaimer: Moonlight and characters don't belong to me; I'm simply a fan having fun with the characters.

"Thank you," Beth said gratefully, reaching up to accept the steaming mug of tea.

Anna seated herself on an adjacent loveseat, body angled so that she was facing Beth. "You said you wanted to talk about the case?"

Beth lowered the mug from her lips and held it in both hands. "I don't know what Mick has told you but you may have heard that there was another theft yesterday."

Anna nodded. "I started watching your reports after Mick told me there might be a connection and that he would be working with you."

"We did some investigating, followed any trail we could find… we think we know who took Gilly."

"A suspicion? Or do you know for sure?" She looked at Beth with wide eyes, hands folded together lightly, body leaned forward.

"We don't have any real proof… but based on everything that's happened, we're certain."

"Who?" Anna asked without hesitation, her voice almost a whisper.

Beth held the mug tighter. "Shane."

"Shane?" Anna sat back slowly, eyes furrowed. "No… it can't be. Shane loved Gilly; he wouldn't do this to her. And the police… they told me he was dead…"

"But they never found a body," Beth reminded her quietly. "All they knew was that there was no trace of him anywhere so they could only assume he was dead. There was no body, no official cause of death to back them up."

Anna pressed her folded hands together, knuckles whitening. "But you have to understand… Shane, he's not that kind of guy. He wouldn't walk out like that… not without a good reason."

"Are you sure?" Beth asked cautiously. "Aside from what you and Mick have told me, I don't know anything about Shane and I won't pretend that I do but… people can hide who they are… even from those they care about." Take Mick, for instance…

"I know, I know," Anna sighed. "But not Shane. I know how that must sound but we've been married six years, Beth. It doesn't sound that long, I know, but I've seen him at his best and his worst and he's not that kind of guy."

"So you didn't notice anything strange about Shane before he disappeared?"

"Well…" Anna twisted her hands nervously. "To be honest, we were having trouble right up to when he disappeared."

"What kind of trouble?"

"It was about three months after we found out that I was pregnant… everything just exploded. We had been talking about the baby thing for months, discussing the things that would change, if we were ready but that didn't prepare us for the real thing. We began to fight about the things we discussed and things that we hadn't discussed. Then on top of that, we got the call that his parents had had an accident—his father bled out and died on the scene and his mother was in intensive care. We caught the next flight out but in those few hours, her condition had worsened considerably; when we arrived, we could see that her chances of making it were slim… she died two days later."

"I'm sorry," Beth said softly. "I know this is hard but I really think this could help us find Gilly. But if you'd rather finish another time…"

"No, no," Anna protested with a weak smile. She inhaled deeply. "I'm fine; this is fine. It's good that I'm finally talking about it."

Beth took another sip of the now warm tea and smiled encouragingly. "Okay, then. If you're sure."

"I knew how close he had been to his parents—his father especially—so I tried to be there for him without suffocating him. Gave him some space, stopped talking about the baby. It worked for awhile. Things calmed down, neighbors stopped complaining about our screams. But I couldn't stop him from turning to alcohol… he had had problems with drinking before so I was worried for him. Then, one night, he didn't come home."

Anna paused, eyes darkening at the memory. "I was frantic; I called, left messages, but nothing… I don't know how I fell asleep that night but I did and the next morning, I woke up to the sound of glass breaking. It was Shane stumbling through the front door, so drunk he somehow knocked one of the heavy porcelain vases in the foyer off its table."

"I let him sleep it off, didn't question him. When he was sober again, I confronted him. He didn't even try to lie about where he had been, what he had been doing…" Her eyes glistened with tears, but they quivered on her eyelids without falling. "He had run into an old girlfriend, someone he had dated on and off through high school and college. They spent the night talking and doing god knows what. He didn't give me the details and I didn't ask. We never talked about it, nor did he try to bring it up, but afterwards, he continued to meet with her. The drinking got better but he continued his relationship with her."

"What was her name?"

"Her name? God, I don't know…" Anna closed her eyes. "It was… it was… Charlotte. Charlotte Thompson."

Beth nodded. "Thank you." She would have to search up the name later, see if this Charlotte Thompson had "disappeared" as well. "So they were still seeing each other when he disappeared?"

"No, actually. About a month before Gilly was born, he told me he was sorry, that he would break things off with Charlotte." Anna shook her head. "I don't know what happened or what he was thinking… everything just went back to the way it was. I know that sounds odd but that's what happened. It was as if the last five months hadn't happened… When Gilly was born, he was… perfect. Didn't complain about changing her, feeding her, or even about waking up in the middle of the night. I couldn't believe it."

"And then he disappeared?"

"And then he disappeared," Anna agreed.

"He didn't say or do anything to indicate that he knew he was going and never returning?"

"No, nothing. He just went out to the store and never came back."

Beth set the mug on the oblong polished wood table beside her and wrapped her hand around Anna's folded ones. "Thank you, Anna. I don't know how yet, but what you've told me will help. Mick is the best; he'll make sure Gilly comes back to you, unharmed."

"Thank you, Beth. I know competition out there is fierce and you could easily be in this just for the story… I thought you were when Mick told me about you, but I can see you care."

Beth smiled sadly. "Let's just say I know how Gilly must feel…"