"Mom."

"Morgan! Hi, sweetheart. How is Conrad? Recovering after being shot? I swear to god, that man is insane."

"Mom."

"And you should be taking care of him, are you taking care of him?" I sigh and let her rattle on while trying not to barf of fear. I stare at the picture in my hand and let my mother continue to talk. "And that's why I'm thinking you should become a vegan."

"Mom." "You father and I have been doing it, I feel so good!"

"Mom."

"And I'm actually losing weight! A little exercise, no dairy, I've never been..."

"Mom, Ash is here." The line goes silent.

"What?"

"Sara was working a case and they found her in the closet."

"Is she hurt?" Her voice is filled with arising panic. "My god...she isn't..."

"No, she's fine." She lets out a sigh of relief. "But everyone in the foster home is dead. They've found her, Mom, and I don't know what to do. California is no longer safe, Vegas is even worse."

"Well, Conrad has relatives out in the East Coast."

"So what do we tell him? Surprise! You have a granddaughter! Mom, I'm terrified. This is all my fault. I shouldn't have given her up."

"Morgan Elizabeth Brody, you stop that right now. You did what you thought was best for your daughter. So where is she now?"

"Apparently, Greg is taking her for the night. I don't have custody anymore, so I can't stop him."

"Well, it's only a night."

"You've met Greg. If he gets attached to her...we need a plan, Mom." She sighs.

"Right now, the best thing you can do is keep at arms length. Alert Brass and the L.A. team, but not anyone from Vegas. Sara's working the case, right?"

"Yeah."

"Have her fly down here and work the case with the L.A. team. We need to keep the press out of this along with the Vegas team."

"So what? I'm just supposed to stay here and watch my daughter from afar?" My voice is rising.

"Shhh...hey, it's going to be okay, baby."

"I know it was the right thing, but god. And now she's here. How does a woman stay away from her own daughter?"

"Sweetie, you got a serial killer after your daughter. You need to stay strong. And more important, you need to tell Conrad." And with that, she hangs up.