PART 10:

Goodwin sat in a booth at the far end of the restaurant. It was quiet, the lunch rush was over, and he was grateful for that. He didn't want anyone overhearing what was about to go down. He saw the gentleman he was meeting walk in and he smiled.

Jonathan Gaines began looking around. Once he spotted Goodwin, he made his way to the back. Arriving at the table, he quickly sat down opposite from him.

Gaines looked around once more before setting his eyes on Goodwin. "What do you want from me?"

"I need a favor?"

"What kind of favor?" Gaines asked suspiciously.

"I need you to find out where they're holding Lieutenant Steve Sloan."

"I can't do that."

"Look, you told me that if I made it worth your while, you would give me information that I need to know," Goodwin reminded him. "I'm ready to offer you a large sum of money for this information."

"I could lose my badge for this," Gaines protested nervously.

"With the money I'm offering you," Goodwin said," you'll be able to retire and not have to worry about losing your badge."

"How much?"

"A hundred thousand now," Goodwin said. "And a lot more when you deliver the information."

Gaines rubbed his face with his hand. "How much more?"

"You can name your price once you deliver the information. And my client will pay you."

"Okay, I'll see what I can find out. It probably won't be easy, but give me until the end of the day."

Goodwin handed Gaines one of his business cards and a piece of paper. "Here's my cell phone number. Call me as soon as you find out anything."

"And what's this?" Gaines asked holding up the piece of paper.

"Those are names of two doctors you can watch," Goodwin explained. "If you can't find out anything through the police station."

Gaines looked at the paper.

Goodwin stood up. "You're making the right choice here," he said. "You're going to be a rich man." Goodwin walked away from the table.

Gaines looked around the restaurant and rubbed his face once again. He couldn't believe what he had just agreed to do, but the thought of all that money made him smile.

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Mark stepped quietly into the room that held his son. The only light that came into the room was from the open doorway where he stood. As he grew accustomed to the darkness, his eyes caught the sight of his son's sleeping form. He walked slowly over to the bed and looked down at Steve. Even in his sleep, Steve's body still shook. Mark grabbed the quilt from the bottom of the bed and placed it over his son, but he still continued to shake. Mark sat down on the edge of the bed and watched Steve and felt overwhelmed with pain and sadness. He reached over to brush some stray hairs away from his son's forehead; his hand was covered in sweat when he pulled it away.

Tears formed in Mark's eyes as he continued to watch his son sleep.

"Why did they do this to you, Steve?" he asked in a whisper. "You'll get through this, I know you will. Just let us help you. Don't push us away."

Steve suddenly jerked in his sleep and moaned, but remained asleep. His body seemed to shake even more after that. Mark pulled up the quilt to his son's chin.

"It's all right, Steve," he whispered, putting his hand against the sweaty forehead. "You're going to be all right."

I'll kill those bastards if I get the chance, Mark thought to himself as he continued to watch his son. I'll kill them.

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Gaines walked into the squad room, his eyes searching for Cheryl. He spotted her in Newman's office. He made his way over to her desk to wait for her to come out. No sooner did he reach her desk, than Cheryl walked out of Newman's office and over to where Gaines stood.

"Lieutenant Banks," he began. "My name is Jonathan Gaines. Officer Jonathan Gaines."

Sitting down at her desk, she didn't look at him. "How can I help you, Officer Gaines?"

"I've heard about Lieutenant Sloan's disappearance," he answered. "And I was just wondering if there is any news on whether he has been found or not."

Cheryl looked up at him, her eyes narrowing. "Why are you so interested in this?"

"Well, not only is Lieutenant Sloan a fellow officer," Gaines replied, "but I also met him at the Academy when he gave that lecture on homicide investigations."

"Oh, I see," Cheryl said.

"So, I just wanted to know if he was found or not."

"Let's just say he's safe."

"Oh thank God," Gaines said. "What hospital is he in? I would like to send him some flowers or something."

"You sure ask a lot of questions," Cheryl said, looking at him suspiciously.

"Guess that's the cop in me," Gaines said with a smile. "Some day I hope to make it to detective."

"Well, it's good to have goals," Cheryl said and stood up from her desk. "But until this case is over, no one finds out where Lieutenant Sloan is." She picked up some things on her desk, and walked away from him.

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Goodwin sat in front of the desk in the judge's chambers nervously looking at his watch. Judge Robinson walked in and over to his desk. He sat down and looked at Goodwin.

"Where is Assistant District Attorney Ellison?" he asked.

"I don't know. I called his office and they told me she would be right down, "Goodwin said.

"Well then, we should wait," Robinson said.

"Look, Judge Robinson," Goodwin started. "Ellison went behind my back to Judge Thompson and got him to postpone this trail for seventy-two hours."

"It's my understanding that Judge Thompson has come down with the flu."

"It's very convenient that he, all of sudden, came down with the flu, isn't it, when you consider the fact that my client was supposed to be released from jail two days ago when Ellison's witness didn't show up to testify."

"Are you implying that Judge Thompson is faking his illness to keep your client in jail?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying, Your Honor. I want my client out of jail now as he was promised and I'm asking you to let him out."

"This isn't my case."

Goodwin opened up his brief case and took out an envelope. He slipped it across the Judge's desk toward him. "Would this help you reconsider taking this case for today?"

Robinson looked at Goodwin for a moment, then reached across his desk, took the envelope, and looked inside.

"Very well, Mr. Goodwin," he said, taking the envelope and putting it in his jacket pocket. "I see your point. I agree that your client should have been released after the witness failed to show up to testify."

"Thank you, Your Honor," Goodwin said with a smile.

Robinson took a piece of paper from his desk and signed it, handing it to Goodwin. "Here you go. You know what to do with that."

Taking the paper from the judge, Goodwin smiled. "I do, Your Honor, and again, thank you," he said, getting up from his chair and walking out.

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Jesse walked out from the back bedroom into the living room. He heard a knock at the door and walked over, looking through the peep whole, he smiled and unlocked the door and opened it. Amanda walked into the house and turned to look at Jesse.

"How's Steve doing?"

"Still sleeping."

"What's wrong? Something happen while I wasn't here? Where's Mark?"

"No, nothing important happened," Jesse replied rubbing his neck. "I just checked on Steve and Mark is there with him…"

"And?"

"Amanda, there has to be more that we can do for him than just sit here and watch him suffer through these terrible withdrawals."

"As long as Steve knows that we're here for him, to help him through this, everything is going to be all right."

"You didn't see him after you left," Jesse told her. "He wants the damn drug, not us."

"Give it time, Jess, he'll get through this. And so will we."

"Yeah, I suppose you're right," he said with a smile. "But it's not going to be easy."

"Nobody said it would be."

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Newman saw Cheryl walk back into the squad room. Walking over to his door, he opened it.

"Banks," he yelled. "I need you in my office now."

Cheryl walked into the office. "What's going on Captain?"

"Ellison just called me," he said. "I have some bad news."

"Oh no," Cheryl said, reading the look on his face. "Don't tell me that Torres has been let out of jail. Don't tell me."

"I'm sorry, Cheryl," Newman began. "But from what Ellison told me, Goodwin went behind her back and got another judge to release Torres."

Cheryl couldn't believe what was happening. Now that Torres was out of jail she knew that he would be after Steve as soon as he hit the streets.