"Here in your official capacity, Mr. Drew?"

Carson nodded. Chief McGinnis gave them both a tired smile, which Nancy returned, tugging at the hem of her shirt. She'd scoured the scant wardrobe she still had left at her father's house, but still felt underdressed in her jeans.

"Nancy?"

"Good to see you," Nancy replied, smiling. "Celia in the interrogation room?"

McGinnis made a sweeping gesture. "All yours."

Celia sat at the other side of the scarred butcher-block table, raking her hair back from her face, her makeup smeared on her cheeks. Across the table, his back to them, sat Officer Kelly, his forearms on the table between them, leaning forward to stare down Celia. When she saw Nancy and Mr. Drew, Celia pushed her chair back, relieved. "Thank God you're here."

"Has Miss Quaid been formally charged?" Carson asked Officer Kelly.

Kelly glanced between Celia and Carson. "She is under arrest," he confirmed.

"There's no way there's been a bail hearing yet," Carson continued.

"You're right," McGinnis said, from the doorway. "And I'm sure you want a chance to confer with your client. She's ROR, in your care, if you'll have her back by dinner."

"How very kind of you," Carson returned, not without humor. "Miss Quaid?"

Celia looked from the Chief to Carson. "I can go?"

"With us," Nancy confirmed. "For a little while."

"My parents?"

"We can go see them too," Carson said, "while we're out. But we don't have much time..."

An hour later, Carson latchkeyed into his office and ushered the two girls inside. Nancy looked around, solemn in the unfamiliar stillness. The overachieving paralegals had already gone home for the day, and Nancy had never seen the office so quiet.

"Nancy, in order for privilege to cover you, you need to be in my employment in regards to this case," Carson said, and Nancy was already nodding before he had even finished. "Celia? If you could, start at the beginning."

Celia sat down on the couch in Carson's office, shrinking into the corner. "I was at my apartment this morning," she said, her voice barely audible. "The cops came and told me that my exboyfriend was dead, and asked me where I was last night."

"And where were you," Carson asked.

Celia raked her hair back again. "I saw him last night," she admitted. "We used to live together. I came by to pick up a few things, he was there... we had an argument, I left, and that was it."

"And he was alive when you left."

Celia sighed, rolling her eyes. "Yes, of course he was alive."

"You said you had an argument. Did you fight, get physical?"

Celia shook her head. "Just yelling. And the walls in that apartment house are so thin that I'm sure other people heard us."

"And after you left, where did you go?"

Celia started picking at a hangnail. "Back to my apartment. Dressed to go out, went to a club..."

"With friends?" Nancy put in.

Celia nodded. "I got back to the apartment around one o'clock this morning."

"Were you with your friends the entire time?"

Celia shook her head. "We... we all started out in the same place, but it's a big club. I had a few drinks. I took a taxi back to my apartment when I saw that my roommate had already left."

"So they can prove that you had motive and opportunity to do this."

"Motive?" Celia snorted. "Maybe we fought, but it's not like I wanted him dead."

"Is there anyone else you can think of, any enemies your exboyfriend had?" Carson prompted. "Because as it stands right now, you look pretty..."

"Defenseless?" Celia gave them a sarcastic smile. "Someone else did this. All we need is reasonable doubt, right?"

Carson nodded. "We need a viable alternate theory to the crime, some way to convince the jury that the prosecution is wrong. But, in order for me to do that... did he have any other exgirlfriends? Was he involved in anything... legally suspect?"

Celia shrugged. "He was seeing another girl. I don't know her name. As for anything else..."

Nancy had been studying Celia closely. "How long were you with him?"

"Two years," Celia answered. "We lived together for about eight months."

"And you moved out when you found out he was cheating on you?"

"Yeah," Celia said softly, and looked away.

"When was that?"

"Two weeks ago."

Carson gazed at his daughter for a long moment, and she returned his gaze briefly before continuing. "Did you two fight a lot, enough to have the cops called on you?"

Celia shook her head. "Nothing like that," she answered.

"What did you and..."

"Jack," Celia supplied, when Nancy trailed off. "His name is... was Jack."

"What did you and Jack fight about last night?"

Celia shrugged. "Just... you know how it is, we just fought."

Nancy nodded, and when she glanced over at her father again, he picked up on her cue. "Maybe we should take you to your parents now."

Celia stood and brushed her pants with the palms of her hands. "That would be great," she admitted.

Nancy stood. "One last thing," she said. "Can I get the address of Jack's apartment?"

--

"And then what?"

Nancy sat back on the couch. "I drove by," she admitted. "But the apartment is in a kind of rough part of town, so I thought that maybe..."

"Maybe you could use an escort?"

Nancy laughed at the look on Ned's face. "Something like that," she said. "I know it's already getting pretty late, but I was thinking tomorrow around lunch..."

"I'm in."

Nancy gazed at him for a long moment, until he ducked his head. "I just want to spend time with you," he admitted. "And if this is what you want to do..."

She tilted her head, and then the expression in her eyes changed, so subtly that he almost didn't catch it. "Oh God," she whispered.

"What?"

She closed her eyes and shook her head, gently. "I've been your girlfriend for twenty-four hours, and this... look," she said, laying her hand on his cheek. "I know you said next time there would be pancakes and breakfast in bed, but after this, I swear I'm going to make it up to you."

"Like... make up how?" Ned asked, sliding closer to her on the couch. The two of them had stopped paying attention to the movie half an hour ago.

Nancy slid her fingers up his cheek, through his hair. "The way Frank never quite managed to make it up to me," she murmured, then smiled. "Any suggestions?"

"Well, maybe, something like this," he whispered, then leaned forward and brushed his lips softly against hers, lighter and slower than a kiss. She felt his breath on her cheek and turned toward it, letting her mouth drop open slightly as she returned with a brush against his. He kissed her hard, then, rough, demanding, his arm sliding around her waist, and then she heard him groan when they pulled apart, gasping for breath.

"What is it," Nancy managed, panting. Then she grinned. "Is this the part where we'd usually adjourn to the bedroom?"

"'Adjourn'?" Ned repeated, chuckling. "You really are a lawyer's daughter, aren't you."

She nodded, then pushed herself up on her knees. He tilted his head back to hold her gaze, the tips of her hair brushing his cheeks. "This is the worst timing ever," she groaned. "You're going to think I'm the most terrible girlfriend..."

Ned tightened the arm around her waist, until she fell off balance and into his lap, giggling. "That is not true," he said solemnly. "Because I've already had the worst girlfriend ever, and her name is Belinda Morrison. No matter what you do, you could never be as bad as she was."

She put her hand behind his head and drew it down to hers for a long, slow kiss, and when he pulled back she whispered against his mouth, "I think I could. Because this... is way too important to me, to mess up."

"Then don't," he whispered, his fingertips sliding over the back of her neck. "Look, I know you have your life, I understand that. Just keep me in the loop, and whenever you can, let me help you."

She smiled. "You think I won't?" she replied. "Baby, you are going to be so far in the loop that you wish you could get out."

Ned chuckled something under his breath, then leaned forward again, and for a long moment Nancy couldn't think of anything else. "That is right where I want to be, Drew," he murmured, when they were still breathless, and her eyes were just fluttering open again.

She smiled. "Finally."