Present - Rome, WI

"Zach," Jill started.

"Julia is who?" Littleton interjected, "You can't be serious?"

"You have got to be kidding, and it isn't funny," Joey added.

"No way," Laurie signed, "It isn't possible!"

"Things happen here, they really do," Wambaugh added.

"All these years, and you didn't say anything? How could you let the daughter of them in this house? After everything they put us through?" Zach yelled, "What they did to Matthew?"

"Zach, everyone," Jimmy said, as he wondered how Zach found out, "She, Julia . . . Kenny and Max didn't die in Mexico then. They needed to vanish, and they knew if they came back they would be killed or sent to prison. I couldn't do that to them, so I let them go."

"We mourned them," Littleton said quietly, "Despite what their actions caused, we mourned them."

"What about now?" Joey asked, "If Julia has been here for six years?"

"The mob finally caught up to them. She watched them die," Jill said quietly, "She was only 14, and she had to see that . . . and then traveled all the way here."

"She looks like Max, god she's she spitting image," Littleton added, "I see it now."

"Where did she come from?" Laurie asked, "Where were they?"

"They traveled around for a long time," Jimmy started, before sighing, "Tahiti. They lived in Tahiti, although Julia was born in Ireland . . . We read the articles about their death, the authorities never made the connection. Why would they? Max and Kenny had been dead for a long time before that."

"People had to realize that Julia was missing?" Littleton asked.

Jill shook her head, "They thought she was dead. There was a boat explosion too, and they assumed that she was on it."

"God," Littleton said, "How couldn't we have seen it? Just looking at her . . . What now?"

"She just got back from Tahiti," Zach snapped, "Why?"

"She wanted to say good bye," Jill said, "She hadn't been back since they died."

"What about the diamonds?" Wambaugh asked.

"She doesn't know," Jimmy said, "They didn't want her too."

"You can't tell anyone," Jill stressed, "She isn't responsible for her parent's actions."

Present - Berkeley, CA

"Why?" I said aloud, as I finally set down the pictures of my parents and me, "He hates me. Why did you guys do this to me?"

I picked up a picture again, "Mom, why did you push me out of the way? Why couldn't you have run with me? I don't know what to do!"

Rising shakily to my feet, I crossed the room to my computer. Opening the file I had been typing since my parents died, I let out a long sigh.

"What should I do with it?" I said aloud, as I read the beginning of what was my parent's story and now mine, "What would they want me to do?"

If I publish it, the mob will kill me. Or will they? The world will know our story, and they wouldn't take that chance. Or would they? What about the FBI?

"The diamonds."

8 Years Ago -Tahiti

"You told her?" Mom asked, "How could you do that?"

"Come on, Tamara. Don't get all worked up over this."

"We hid them for a reason, and she's a kid. She shouldn't have to deal with that too."

"Julia is wise beyond her years, you know that. It's not like she is going to put two and two together anyway. No one will. It only makes sense to us."

"I just want her to have a normal life, and not have to deal with any of this. She's a kid."

"Yeah, our kid. That should count for something. Maybe we should . . . I don't know. Prepare her for the worst."

"The worst? It's been almost 14 years, I think we're in the clear," Mom argued.

"You're not that naive," Dad countered, "We weren't prepared before."

Mom sighed, "I don't even want to think about this. I don't want her to have to either."

"You're smarter than that, Sweetheart."

"What would the worst be?"

Dad wrapped his arms around her, "We haven't talked about this in a long time. I don't even think about it very often."

"Me too. So much has happened, and . . . it doesn't seem real anymore."

"We can't ignore it. What if something happens to us? She needs to know. They're her insurance."

Mom nodded, "I know."

"Now?"

"Okay."

Present - Rome, WI

"If the mob knew who she was," Littleton trailed off, "What about the FBI? She could answer some questions about her parents."

"No," Jimmy said, "We're not doing that to her. We didn't six years ago, and we aren't going to now. This thing is over. It's done."

8 Years Ago - Tahiti

"What is this?" I asked, as Dad passed me the paper, "Why are you giving this to me? Is something happening?"

"No," Dad insisted, "It isn't, but . . . You're growing up on us, kiddo. You're the best thing that your Mom and me ever did, and you are a part of this now."

"I was afraid to ask you guys questions sometimes," I replied, "Like you didn't want to tell me anything. I know there is stuff that you haven't told me too. Stuff I probably don't want to know."

"Ask away," Mom replied.

"Did you guys ever . . . kill anyone? Like the people that we're trying to kill you?" I asked hesitantly, as it was a question that had haunted me since I was a kid, "Um, yeah."

"Leave it our kid to ask the hard questions," Dad said.

"You don't have to answer it," I blurted out, "I mean, you're my parents. I . . . did you?"

"We have," Mom said, as Dad wrapped his arm around her shoulders.

"Why?" I asked, "How?"

"They were going to kill us, kiddo," Dad interjected, as he filled me in on what happened, "And a lot of other people too."

"Mom?" I asked, shocked that she managed to blow up a boat and a car.

"Julia," she started, "It's not something that I'm proud of. It was a different life then."

"Dad?"

"We don't have a squeaky clean past. You know that. Everything that we did before, we can't change it. Our lives changed awfully quickly then, and we really didn't have a chance or a choice then."

I nodded slowly, "Mom? I can't picture you blowing something up."

She smiled, "You'd be surprised."

"Your mother is very capable of defending herself," Dad added.

"What if they come back? I know you said that they think that you're dead, but . . . is that why you gave me this?"

"It never hurts to be prepared," Mom said, "We learned that. We're safe here, but sometimes things don't always work out like we planned."

Present - Berkeley, CA

"No, they don't," I said, as I pulled out the slip of paper that my Dad handed me that day. Sighing I read down the list again.

If you bank it, you're in the water.

45728947920793 - Our Swiss bank account number.

8470 - Our safe deposit box number.

Present - Rome, WI

"So what are you planning on doing about this?" Zach demanded, "How do we know that her parents are really dead?"

"They are. There were a ton of articles about it, at least in the papers in Tahiti. That sort of thing just didn't happen out there, and the fact that Julia went missing. It was them, although the local authorities never made the connection."

"How do you know that she didn't kill them? She said that she killed the people that killed her parents! I bet she killed them, and ran!" Zach ranted.

"Julia killed mobsters?" Wambaugh asked.

"She just watched her parents die, and they were going to kill her," Jill said, "She was just a child, but her parents taught her how to defend herself."

"Is she safe?" Littleton asked, as some of the shock began to wear off, "No one knew who she was . . . It can't be that easy?"

"Why not? Her parents did it for almost 15 years," Joey said.

"Look where it got them. Dead," Littleton argued.

"If they really are dead! It could be one hell of a ruse!" Zach argued.

Present - Berkeley, CA

"Okay," I said aloud, "Okay. We're going to finish this."

Jumping slightly at the shrieking phone, I slumped back on the couch.

"Hello?"

"Julia? Zach told us what happened, are you okay?" Jill asked.

"I'm fine . . . Is he?"

"He's upset, which is understandable."

"He was more than upset when he left."

Jill sighed, "He and Matthew went through a lot then, and seeing his brother being tormented like that . . . it hurt him more than he ever let on."

"He won't have to worry about me anymore. Tell him that."

"Julia?"

"I'm going away for a while. To finish what my parents started."

"You can't do that! They wouldn't want you to."

"Tell Zach that I'm sorry. I have to go," I said flatly, as I hefted the pack onto my shoulders, "Thanks for everything, Jill."