Anna was at her desk, staring at an open file. A cold case—a person who'd gone missing years before, during Mac's tenure as police commissioner. She noted the date: March 1998. When the woman had disappeared, Anna was missing too, missing from her daughter's life and from her own life, from herself. She hadn't yet remembered who she was after the explosion on the boat. Anna stared at the woman's photo. "I came back," she thought to herself. "At least most of the way. I was lucky."

The phone rang. "Commissioner Devane? Duke Lavery to see you."

Anna continued looking at the picture. The woman looked back. "Send him in," she ordered, and hung up. In the photograph, which had faded and curled slightly, the missing woman was standing next to an attractive man. They were both smiling and laughing. The picture must have been taken on vacation. Anna quickly leafed through the pages of the file. The man was her common-law husband. He'd been cleared as a suspect. For some reason Anna was relieved. And for some still more inexplicable reason, she started to cry.

She shut the file and impatiently wiped the corners of her eyes with her hands. The office door opened.

"Anna." Duke smiled and strode over to her desk. She stood and kissed him quickly, again on the cheek. She noted her action and wondered at it. What on earth was going on?

He noticed it too and frowned. "You'll have to do better than that, Commissioner Devane, or I'll have to rethink my plan to invite you to lunch."

Anna smiled and kissed him again, this time on the lips and with more affection. "Sorry—busy and distracted. You know I love you."

Duke was satisfied. "Nicely saved. Feel like Vietnamese or Italian?"

Anna smiled apologetically. "Neither, I'm afraid. I had brunch with the family this morning—remember? I couldn't eat at thing." She put a hand to her stomach and dramatically rolled her eyes. "And I'm still suffering slightly from last night. All I really need for the rest of the day is coffee, aspirin, and water."

Duke frowned. "Yes, about last night—what exactly happened?"

Anna shook her head. "Mr. Lavery, I owe you no explanations. You're the one who stood me up, remember? If you don't want me hung-over in future, don't leave me vulnerable and alone." She laughed and sat back down at her desk. "If you're curious, you can ask anyone at the Port Charles Hotel lounge what transpired. Robert and I shared too much champagne and then danced for a bit. He walked me home. It was nice. You have nothing to be upset about—in fact you owe him. By offering himself as a distraction he prevented me from becoming very annoyed at you."

Duke forced a smile. "Good old Robert." He sighed. "So I can't convince you to take a break and keep me company for lunch?"

Anna shrugged and lifted her eyebrows apologetically. "Sorry. Another rain cheque I'm afraid. There's something here I really want to work on."

"You know, if you ever need a sounding board, I'm happy to help." Duke looked at her hopefully.

She shook her head. "No, it's nothing you can help me with." She hesitated, but then continued. "Duke, you are staying away from Julian, aren't you? I don't have to worry that you're involved in the mess that's brewing right now.

Duke smiled back at her. "Of course I'm out of it, Anna. I promised you. That's all over." He brightened. "In fact, I have good news: we've finalized a location for the club and have our business license. Things are progressing very nicely. Our contractor's ready to go; the space needs minimal renovation. We may even start hiring staff by the end of the month."

Anna wondered at the speed. Something seemed off. But she smiled anyway. "That's fabulous. I know you've felt a bit at loose ends lately. I'm glad this venture is working out for you so far."

He leaned across her desk and kissed her goodbye. "I'll see you at your place later?" he asked.

"Of course," she answered; "where else would I be? But I might be a bit late. I want to catch-up from the holidays."

Duke turned and left. Anna went back to the file.

Three hours later, returning to the office after a meeting, she found Robert seated in the corner sipping a Kelly's coffee. She saw another cup on her desk next to a small paper bag. "Who let you in, and how long have you been here?" she asked. Robert replied, "The desk sergeant remembers me, and no more than five minutes. The coffee should still be hot. And there's something in the bag for you. I figured you'd be hungry by now."

Anna was hungry. She walked over and sat down, pulled out a sandwich, and took a bite. "God bless you, Robert. It's been a strange day. I'm feeling out of sorts."

"The hangover?" he asked.

Anna chewed thoughtfully. "No. No, it's partly this Jerome business, and partly a cold case that's affected me for some reason." She put down her sandwich. "I'm feeling a bit paralyzed at the moment. I'm not sure what my next moves should be on either front."

Robert looked at her, serious. "This indecision doesn't have something to do with our handling of Faison, does it?"

Anna shook her head. "No. I don't think it does. I'm not second-guessing myself. Justice was served. I have absolutely no qualms about the action we took. It's more that I'm feeling vaguely haunted. Like someone's walking over my grave. Like I'm walking over my own grave. I don't know how else to explain it."

Robert stood and rolled his chair up to the desk. "Why are you working on a cold case? You don't have enough on your plate right now?"

Anna slumped her shoulders dramatically and sighed. "The cold case wasn't my idea. DA Baldwin handed a directive to the PCPD, part of his desperate attempt to rehabilitate his image after the A.J. Quartermaine murder trial debacle. He wants us to look again at every unsolved violent crime—or crime potentially involving violence—back to 1960. We've divvied up the fifteen cases we found."

"Okay," Robert replied. "But you're the police commissioner. Why did you take on one of the cases? Can't you assign it to someone else? I should think you're busy enough."

Anna narrowed her eyes. "I wanted to take it. For personal reasons."

Robert narrowed his in turn. "So what's the case? Can you share any details?"

Anna hesitated. "I could if I could bring you in on it in some kind of official capacity. What's your work status right now?"

Robert shrugged. "Inactive. I've been told in no uncertain terms that I won't be considered fit for field duty until I clear a medical in six months time. I'm pretty sure I'm free to contract out my services. I could come on as a consultant."

Anna smiled. "Then consider yourself hired." She turned the file around and slid it across the desk. "I'll speak to HR tomorrow. In the meantime, let me know what you think."

Robert read while Anna ate; when she was finished her sandwich, she sipped her coffee and stared at him as he continued poring over the file. When he finished, he looked up at her uncomfortably and cleared his throat.

"Well, I understand why you feel like a ghost is walking over your grave. There are certain similarities—certain characteristics of the case that seem familiar."

Anna was still. "Yes, I thought that as well."

"At first the police suspected the husband, but later they concluded that she'd vanished on her own—that she'd left him, that she probably had another lover." Robert and Anna looked at each other, acknowledging the moment. "But the husband protested. He insisted that they were happy and that she would never have done such a thing."

Anna spoke softly. "I'm inclined to believe his version of events. Aren't you?"

Robert closed the file. "I might be. But not for the right reasons. I'll try to reserve final judgement until I speak to him."

Robert's offer to help gave Anna the sense of peace she needed to leave the office at a decent hour. She knew she should call Duke and try to meet up with him; she needed to honour her promise. So she called, and he of course was delighted. They would meet at the Metro Court for their delayed New Year's drink. He would meet her at 8:00.

She got to the table first; he arrived only a few minutes later; drinks were ordered and appetizers were being considered when Duke's phone rang. Anna asked him not to answer but he did, and then excuses were made. He kissed her goodbye, asked if he could come by her suite later, once his business was finished, and she in irritation told him no, that she would be having an early night. He left, and Anna slumped over the table. Suddenly she felt very tired and wanted nothing more than her bed.

She hadn't noticed Shawn, Sonny's henchman, sitting up at the bar observing her and Duke at their table. She hadn't noticed him make a call minutes before Duke's cell phone rang. She didn't draw any logical connection between the two events. She should have.

While all of this was happening, Robert sat alone in his room at the Port Charles Hotel. He went through the cold case file over and over. Each time he reached the final page he took a shot of scotch from a bottle Luke had given him for Christmas. It was a kind of punctuation, a kind of line under. Then he would start all over again.