Chapter 3

"Hey," Mike said quietly from his favorite spot on the couch.

She fell into his lap and hugged him. She followed it with a kiss. Carolyn groaned. "Long, long day," she said. "Where's Andy?"

"In his room, doing homework."

"Kind of late," Carolyn said, checking her watch.

"He was swamped with it. He took a break for dinner, and he called some girl about an hour ago, a friend of Katie's."

Carolyn raised her eyebrow at him.

"Prom," he said, and smiled. "You hungry?"

"I'm starving."

Mike kissed her cheek and got up. "Steaks, 5 minutes," he said.

"I love your steak!" She said. Carolyn was tired, but she went upstairs to say hello to her son before she settled in for the evening.

They'd discussed it all on the two hour drive back to the city. Once the Gorens got home, they quickly got ready for bed. They both had to report early to work the next morning.

Alex curled into his arms and took some comfort there. "I hated to scare her like that," she whispered.

He hated it, too. He tightened his embrace and said a quiet prayer for his baby girl.

Francine was already on the phone, tracking down even the tiniest lead. She thought him tossing out a name yesterday was ridiculous, but then she did some checking. She found out Robert Goren was the best profiler the department had ever had, and that Nicole Wallace had been his nemesis, the only one that got away. She also found out Nicole was believed to have been dead for the past 20 years, but after hearing what he had to say and reading the reports from Bobby's days in Major Case, she was convinced. The woman was alive, she was back in the city, and she was killing again.

"Good morning," Bobby said, and waited for her to get off the phone.

She hung up. "Morning, Mr. Goren," she said. She handed him a paper. "CSU report from yesterday. It came in just after you left. They pulled a partial off the victim's ID badge. I told them to run it against Wallace."

He looked up at her.

"It's a match."

Again, Bobby felt that squeeze against his heart. "I need to see the crime scene," he said quietly.

"Sure," she said, getting up and grabbing her jacket. It had been warm enough lately, but it was starting to rain periodically, and Lichter didn't want to be caught out in the rain.

The boys walked together across the front lawn of the high school and down the sidewalk towards the subway. "She said she wants to meet me," Andy was saying. "You got plans tonight?"

Darren shook his head. "Please, tell me we're going to Yale!"

"If I can get a car," Andy said.

"Yes!" Darren literally jumped for joy. "I can't wait!"

"Hey, dipshit, I don't have a car yet. I'll ask when I get home."

"I'm going with you," Darren said. "I'll give them puppy dog eyes. You know your Mom can never say no to my puppy dog eyes."

"Yeah, well, my Dad can. And New Haven is a long drive on the freeway. I don't know what they'll say."

"Yeah, but they loooove Katie!"

"Don't remind them of that or we'll be riding in the backseat like when we were in 4th grade."

"Oh."

"Just let me handle it, Darren."

"Step into him," Captain Alex Eames said, borrowing her favorite line from her former Captain Deakins. Her detectives nodded and hurried out of her office, eager to break the case.

She checked her phone, but she already knew Bobby hadn't called. She'd been checking it off and on all morning, hoping he would catch a lead and they'd bring Nicole in, once and for all.

She settled in to write her weekly report for the Chief when the phone finally rang, startling her. "Alex Eames," she said.

"They got a partial, confirmed it's her," Bobby reported.

"So what's next?"

"I just came out of the crime scene. She hasn't changed much, at least not her taste in partners."

"Rich, desperate, useful," Alex said.

"Exactly. The last victim was head over heels for her. The super in the building said he never saw the guy so in love." Bobby was pacing while he spoke. Alex could hear the quickness of his breath, the sounds of the city in the background. "He gave her what she wanted, and she killed him."

"What did he give her, Bobby?" Alex could tell he was upset and holding back.

"He worked for DMV. He gave her our plate numbers."

Alex, stunned, raised her hand to massage her temples. "She's stalking us, then?"

"I'd bet on it."

"Since?"

Bobby hesitated. "Last Tuesday, possibly."

"Oh my God." Alex tried to reason that no stalker would want to follow someone on a two hour drive to Connecticut, that Nicole Wallace didn't know where to find her daughter.

"You okay?" Bobby asked.

She sighed. Of course not, that's what she wanted to say to him. "Yeah."

"Watch your back, Eames."

"You too, Goren."