Chapter 7.

'So, this is your brother's home.' Kris said stepping over the magazines and books that lay across the floor. The home was a tip, papers flung across the furniture and tables, empty food cartons and beer cans on top of them. 'You sure he hasn't been burgled?' She said looking over every inch of the main room to the small house.

'I'm sure. This is just the way he lives, like he's still a student or something. I think he uses the excuse that he's never home long enough to care to tidy this place, he's always on the road.' Cate explained, Kris looked at her a look of disbelief in her eyes. 'I know Kris; I know but then that's just the way Bobby is. There seems to be no changing him and mom always seems to either be here once or twice a month cleaning it out for him or having some kind of cleaning service out here.

'Wow, ok then. Where do you think he keeps his paperwork?'

'Well either under one of these piles or in his desk which is in one of the smaller bedrooms I think. He made one of the rooms in to an office, the one at the end of the hall I think.'

'You don't visit here much then?' Kris asked making her way down to the end room ahead of Cate.

'Nope, Bobby and I just haven't gotten a long that well for the last few years, it all changed after Dad died really.'

'Really, you would have thought it would have brought you both closer together.' Kris said as she opened the door to Bobby's small office room, which was the tidiest room of the house. 'How does he find anything in here?' Kris joked. Laughing Cate moved over to the desk, sat down in the desk chair and began looking through the papers stacked neatly to both sides of the desk. Kris began to search the drawers.

'This looks like his past couple of months travels but I can't seem to find his more recent documents which is strange, it's the one thing he normally keeps straightened and in order.' Cate said confused as she re-checked each pile of papers.

'Can't seem to find in here either just older travel papers, nothing much else.' Kris said shutting the desk drawer. 'Well at least we can note down the dates of his travels and cross check them with what Kelly and Sabrina get from Charlie.' As Kris finished what she was saying both Angels turned to the sound of the front door opening and slamming shut. Kris and Cate moved slowly in to the hall way not wanting to disturb who ever it was who had come in to the house. They listened as papers and boxes were being kicked around in the main room. Kris motioned to Cate for the pair of them to split up, Kris entering from one side of the room, Cate the other. As they both turned in to the room they discovered Bobby tearing through the mess of papers and boxes not even noticing them enter.

'Bobby.' Kris said out loud to get his attention. Startled Bobby jumped back knocking straight into Cate who fell backwards over a pile of stacked newspapers and books. The pain that had surpassed earlier in Cate's sides from her bruises came back with painful force.

'Damn it Cate!' Bobby scolded not even attempting to help her back to her feet. Cate slowly with a look of anger mixed with pain got to her feet.

'Gee, sorry Bobby did I get in your way.'

'What are you two doing here anyway?' Bobby asked turning his attention back to his coffee table trying to find something beneath the mess of papers.

'We're trying to save your hide or have you forgotten that I took mom and Danny to the airport today to get them out of harms way?' Cate asked gently rubbing her side, which, now aggravated, would take time to settle.

'No not forgotten, just had some things to do myself.'

'Like what?' Kris asked moving forward slowly in to the main room, looking at Cate making sure she was ok, Cate returned the look with a small nod as she waited for Bobby's answer.

'Like finding my road maps and work papers.'

'Why do you need those Bobby? You can't work for Calum anymore obviously.' Cate said looking from under her eyebrows at her brother who turned to look at her surprised at what she had just said.

'Calum, you've met Calum.' He said

'Yeah, I've met him. I met him about twelve years ago as well he hasn't changed much, unlike some people.' Cate said a disappointed look crossing her face.

'You can't run out on us Bobby we need you here to help stop Calum and his crime ring. You running away won't stop them; people like Calum don't forget they just chase after you or your family. They take back what they believe is theirs one way or another.' Kris finished crossing her arms across her chest, she was becoming more and more annoyed by Bobby's lack of responsibility in this mess he had caused.

'Is that really what you want Bobby for Calum and his men to come after the family? He's not a stable man Bobby, he'll kill, Bobby, to get what he wants, he'll kill. I don't know about you but I don't want to run the risk of leaving Rebecca without any parents.' Cate said slowly standing matching her brother's height.

'He wouldn't kill them.' Bobby quietly said looking at his sister

'Trust me, he would.' She replied. Tears began to form in Bobby's eyes as he slowly slid down to his knees. Moving forward on his knees Bobby wrapped his arms around Cate's waist sobbing.

'Help me Cate, please, help me.' Stunned by her brother's action Cate wasn't sure how to act straight away. Placing her hands on his shoulders she comforted him as best she could, she'd never seen him act this way around her before. Kris stood watching over the scene as surprised as Cate was to Bobby's turn around.

Meanwhile Sabrina and Kelly were still at the family home going through what they knew so far which they admitted was not a lot.

Sabrina paced back and forth up and down the dining room as Kelly wrote down the names and the leads they were gaining. After speaking with Charlie on the phone he would get the information they had asked for out to them but it would take at least a day before it would arrive.

'Ok, so now we have the name of the boss Calum McKee.' Sabrina said

'Right and we know his connection to Cate through Bobby.'

'But we also know that, that wasn't his grand plan.'

'Are we so sure of that Bri? He could have found out about Caitlin earlier than we believed and have started this entire game.' Kelly said obviously still upset by what had happened between Cate and Calum earlier in the day.

'He could have Kel but I agree with Cate from what we know so far he doesn't seem smart enough to pull something like that together. He's a nasty thug who is more about theft and violence than long thought out agendas. The real question should be is he even smart enough to do what he's doing to Bobby and the family?' Sabrina said pausing in movement and thought as she did.

'What do you mean Bri?'

'I'm not sure yet, but something is bugging me about the whole situation.' Kelly looked at Sabrina confused, slowly shaking her head trying to get on the same page as her friend. Sabrina sat in the arm chair to the side of Kelly as she began to explain her thoughts. 'I'm working on guesses and theories here but little things keep niggling at me like the fact that for someone who's life is in some danger Bobby seems happy to carry on moving around the area freely without even a glance over his shoulder, he seems to show no remorse for the attack on his family home the other night even when he argued with Cate about it he seemed angrier with her rather than being scared or upset. Remember we weren't holding him back from rushing into the house to check on Kris and Cate just Danny and Scotty, he hung back in the background of all the commotion.' Sabrina explained slapping her hands lightly on to the arms of the armchair as she spoke.

'He could have just been in shock Bri, scared to move, maybe to his mind he blames himself, couldn't bring himself forward to help.' Kelly suggested as an opposing theory to Bobby's actions the night of the drive by shooting.

'I know Kel, like I said it's just thoughts theories but then Calum coming after Cate the very moment after she's dropped the family at the airport. I don't know but something doesn't feel right and I just can't put my finger on what it is and it really is bugging the hell out of me.'

'I can tell.' Kelly said smiling as she wrote down some of Sabrina's thoughts just as Kris and Cate walked through the front door with Bobby not far behind them. Kelly placed her notes she and Sabrina had been making into a folder away from Bobby's sight she didn't want him getting the wrong idea from them or to cause another argument between the siblings.

'Hey, how'd you get on?' Sabrina asked as the three came through in to the family room dropping their jackets in the front room on their way through.

'Well we have Bobby with us so things are looking up there. What did Charlie have to say?' Kris asked as she took a seat next to Kelly.

'Not a great deal, he hasn't come across Calum McKee before but he'll have whatever files he can find sent out to us for tomorrow morning. He did tell us that on the few dates we had already from Bobby for when he had been on the road, picking up and making deliveries there had been some large warehouse robberies. Items taken included TV's, alcohol, cigarettes the usual kind of things from large warehouses, the local police of each place hadn't been able to figure out how the thefts were occurring right under their noses but I think we do now.' Sabrina said looking towards Kelly who continued.

'Right, from what we can tell the reasons the thefts went unnoticed straight away was because of the transporting Bobby was doing. All the items were loaded into his truck and driven out right in front of the very business they were being stolen from. No one suspected the trucks as the cargo loaded matched what was on the order sheets, they never checked the contents believing was written on the outer sheets.'

'They didn't even notice when money was taken out from them also. One of the places robbed being an auction house warehouse. Hundreds to thousands of dollars worth of items like jewellery taken and no one the wiser until their next auction date or stock take.' Sabrina finished.

'Pretty well organised.' Kris said looking over the notes Kelly had been writing out.

Cate turned her attentions to Bobby when she heard him moving around the house, she eventually found him in their fathers study closing one of the desk drawers as she walked in.

'Hey, what you looking for?' She asked raising her eyebrow at him as she did.

'Nothing, I thought I might have left some of my paper work here when I used to work out of here before I got my place.' Bobby explained sitting back in the desk chair. Cate nodded understanding.

'Did you find any?' she asked

'No, none I must have thrown it out or just stored it all somewhere at my place. It's pretty old though doubt it'll be of any use a lot of it was from before Calum came in to the picture.'

'Right, well we've all kind of skipped lunch today so we're ordering in an early dinner, Chinese, you want in?'

'Yeah, sounds good. I'm starved myself.'

'Kris has the menu so you better go point out what you want. We're ordering what seems like half the menu so make sure some of it's to your liking.'

Smiling Bobby got up from behind the desk and headed out of the study. Cate watched her brother as he slipped past her out of the room just as the phone began to ring. Picking up the receiver Cate took the call.

'Hello?'

'Hey there biker girl' A familiar bubbly voice replied.

'Jill! Hey, what you doing calling here, is everything ok? Do you need to talk to Kris?'

'Slow down, firstly I was calling to check in with everyone and Bosley gave me the number when I couldn't reach y'all back in L.A. and everything is fine, just checking in is all, I spoke with Charlie the other night and he was telling me about your case.' The penny began to drop for Cate. Charlie was concerned and who better to have call than Jill.

'Jill, everything's fine.'

'Right. Of course it is.'

'It is!'

'Uh, huh, OK I'm not even in the room with you Cate and I know you're rubbing the back of your neck wondering what the next move should be.' Cate quickly removed her hand from where it was rubbing the back of her neck.

'That's kind of freaky you know that?'

'What's on your mind kid?'

'I don't know but something that I can't quite put my finger on, I've got a horrible sinking feeling and I hope I'm wrong.'

'What is it?'

'Jill, can you do something for me? Check in to something via Charlie? Just between the three of us for now.'

'Of course what is it?' Cate carried on talking to Jill before going to fetch Kris so the sisters could catch up. Cate sat with Kelly, Sabrina and Bobby at the dining table as the Chinese food had arrived.

'Jill doing ok?' Sabrina asked as she laid plates out for everyone.

'Yeah, she's fine. Just wanting to check in is all, nothing to worry about.' Cate said taking spoonfuls of rice from the food boxes indicating to Bobby for the duck.

The evening passed without incident Bobby sat in front of the television all night as the Angel's cleaned up their dinner and continued their investigation whilst sat around the dining room table.

'This all still doesn't seem right you know.' Sabrina said rubbing the back of her neck whilst looking back over her notes. The other Angels turned from their own notes and paperwork to look at Sabrina. 'We have Calum a bad guy, no doubt, demanding money also likely to be in control of the thefts from around the country at large warehouses and we have Bobby caught up in it all owing a lot of money.'

'Right Bri, so what is it that's missing?' Kris asked.

'There's a larger piece of the puzzle missing.' Cate said getting up from her seat moving towards the family room where Bobby was watching television looking out for him. 'Something we're not being told or..'

'Or it's right in front of us and we just can't see it.' Kelly finished.

'Exactly.' Cate said as she moved to stand behind her sister, leaning against the back of Kelly's chair.

'What you got?' Sabrina asked Cate knowing now the look Cate got when she was on to something figuring it out.

'Nothing as far as I know, just something is niggling at the back of my mind.'

'Like the rest of us then.' Kris said sitting back in her chair folding her arms across her chest.

'Yeah well how about we all call it a night and look at it all again with fresh eyes tomorrow.' Kelly said shuffling all of her papers together in to a neat pile.

'Good idea.' Sabrina said gathering her notes as she got up from her seat. 'See you all in the morning.' She said waving her hand as she went on upstairs to bed. The other Angels responded with their goodnights. Cate went through to the family room where Bobby was sleeping for the night.

'Everything ok in here?' She asked her older brother.

'Yeah of course, fine. You all turning in for the night?' Bobby asked motioning towards the staircase.

'Yeah, we're all pretty beat.'

'Some more than others.' Kris quipped as she went upstairs waving her goodnights.

'She's kind of weird.' Bobby said still staring where Kris had been standing.

'A little sometimes, she's great though, they all are.' Cate smiled as she turned to look towards the staircase noticing Kelly quietly slip away upstairs. Lowering her head and sighing Cate turned back to her brother smiling slightly. 'Well, I'm gonna head up to bed as well. I'll see you in the morning.' Cate said squeezing Bobby's shoulder as she went.

'See you in the morning and Cate,' Cate stopped and turned back to face him 'thanks, for everything.' Smiling and nodding Cate turned on her heel and went upstairs to her room. On her way Cate paused outside Kelly's room, leaning against the doorframe she raised her hand to lightly knock on the bedroom door but stopped her before it touched it. Lowering her hand to rest on her hip she looked at the door then continued on to her own room. Entering and closing the door behind her Cate was surprised to see Kelly sat on the foot of her bed.

'Kelly!'

'Did I scare you?' Kelly asked a slight smile curling at the corner of her mouth.

'You certainly made my heart skip a beat or three. Everything ok?' Cate said as she moved to sit at the top of her bed resting her back against her headrest a welcome comfort to her soar back and sides from the attack earlier that day.

'Actually that's what I was going to ask you. It's been a pretty long day thought we could catch up.' Kelly moved across the end of the bed turning to face her sister. 'How are you feeling, you look exhausted.'

'Thanks, I feel it. I won't lie, I hurt all over, didn't help much that Bobby knocked me on my butt when we were at his place earlier.' Kelly looked at Cate concerned. 'He didn't mean to knock me over, we startled him and I fell back over a stack of magazines or whatever it is he has stacked there when he fell into me.' Kelly got up off the bed heading into the bathroom that adjoined to Cate's room, opening the bathroom cabinet she removed the small bottle of painkillers taking the glass from the side of the sink she half filled it with water. Walking back to Cate she handed her the glass and began to open the pill bottle.

'Take a couple of aspirin, hopefully that will ease the pain a little. We should have taken you to get checked over by a doctor.' Kelly said as she poured two pills from the bottle and handed them to her sister.

'I'll be OK Kelly, really, just these and a good nights sleep and I'll be fine.' Cate said shaking the pills in her hand. Swallowing the pills Cate looked at Kelly's expression on her face one she wasn't sure of. 'What is it Kel, you want to say something, you've been wanting to all day, what is it?' Cate asked placing her glass on the bedside cabinet.

'I'm worried about you, not even that I'm scared for you.' Kelly said looking down at the pill bottle concentrating on its label so she wouldn't get upset again.

'What ever for? I'm fine.'

'But you're not! ' Kelly said raising her voice slightly, anger seeping through. 'You've not stopped since we got here, looking after everyone but yourself. When are gone just stop and take care of yourself for just a minute, just to consider things before you move.'

'This is about Calum isn't it?' Cate asked a dark scowl crossing her eyes.

'It's not just him though, it's everything the shooting, going alone to take your family to the airport, not stopping after Calum's attack moving straight on to the next task at hand.'

'Now hold on just a minute it's not like half of that is in my control.'

'No, I know that but why can't you just stop and let me help you? You're not undercover any more Cate we're here to help, I'm here to help.'

'I know that!'

'Then let us in.'

'I do! Kelly, I don't understand what this is all about. You're upset about the shooting, we all are, you're upset because I took my family to the airport alone when there wasn't any need for someone else to be with me and even if one of you were with me has it occurred to you how differently things may have turned out with Calum and his men?'

'It may have been that you wouldn't be in the condition you're in now.'

'True but then one of you may have been or worse!' Kelly turned and got up from the bed in one irritated fluid movement heading towards the window she stood looking out into the night sky and the street below. 'Kelly, I can't just stop when something happens to me, it's not who I am or at all in my nature, you know that.' Cate said moving forward towards Kelly on her bed.

'And it's the one thing I hate because I know it will get you killed one day.' Kelly said in her low quiet voice her eyes still fixed on the street outside. Lowering her head and turning away from her sister Cate looked to the other side of her room seeing her leather biker jacket hanging on the back of the door. Getting up Cate opened her bedroom door taking her jacket down as she did.

'I can't change who I am Kelly and it's not fair of you to ask me to.' Walking out of her room and closing the door behind her Cate headed for the stairs passing Kris on them as she did who was carrying a glass of water from the kitchen.

'Hey, what's going?' Kris asked as Cate rushed passed her nearly knocking the glass out of her hand as she did.

'Nothing I just need some air.' Cate said as she moved. Grabbing her boots from the entrance hall and pushing her feet in to them Cate threw her jacket on grabbing her keys as she went passed them and headed straight in to the garage. Opening the main garage door moonlight poured in lighting the open space. To one side of the garage a large grey tarp covered over something, removing it Cate revealed an old friend, her pride and joy that she always kept at the family home. A beautiful black and chrome Triumph motorcycle, Bette hated it but Cate had always loved bikes, this one in particular Cate loved. It was the last thing she had bought and worked on with her father. Taking the helmet from off its seat Cate swung her leg over the saddle and sat on her bike remembering how they spent so long bringing the bike back to life after its previous owner had all but written it off he had ridden pretty much to death without much consideration for the bike. Cate started up the bike, it started first time, smiling Cate put on her crash helmet put the bike in to gear, pulled back on the throttle and quickly and controlled rode out on to the street and in to the night.

Kelly watched still at the bedroom window as her little sister rode away from her. A voice spoke from behind her.

'She'll be back, she just needs time to cool off.' Kris said standing in the doorway of the room. 'The amount of times Jill and I have fought and taken off to our corners to take a breather. Always helped to get everything out in the open though.' Kris continued looking at Kelly one of her dearest friends still standing with her back to her, not responding. 'Anyway, I'll see you in the morning Kel; try to get some sleep ok? Cate'll be back by the time you're up and awake.' Kris looked at Kelly a little longer hoping for some kind of response but got none, she turned and went back to her own room gently closing the door behind her. Kelly continued to watch the space out side where Cate had just driven off, turning she looked to Cate's bedside table seeing a telephone, moving to pick it up she carried it back to where she was standing by the window, placing the phone on the window seal she picked up the receiver and started dialling, the phone rang for what seemed like forever to Kelly, then the ringing stopped as the connection was made.

'Hi it's Kelly, I'm sorry I'm calling so late I just really needed to talk.' Kelly said as she then paused listening to the recipient's voice. 'No, everything's not ok, oh Jill, everything just seems to be falling apart.' Kelly sobbed into the phone raising her free hand to cover her eyes that were now spilling with tears.