HYSTCS solved at last

Chapter 15

Tom and Jenny Clayton were remanded to jail under a variety of charges, including the theft of the knife, possession and assault of a deadly weapon and the suspicion of murder in the Hilda Jones case.

The FBI also took charge of the case, headed up by none other than Kate. Daniel spent a good part of the night and much of the next day giving a detailed report of what had occurred at his house, including Jenny's confession of the murder.

Kate was also able to get Jenny to formally admit that she had stabbed Hilda to death. Jenny's defense was that Hilda's stalking had put Jenny in a state of panic and possibly a breakdown.

As for Tom Clayton, he had no knowledge that his wife had killed Hilda Jones. Therefore, he would once again be moved to another location under the Witness Protection Program. But all of this was no longer Daniel or Kate's problem. The court system would deal with them now.

At last, Daniel was done with his answering all questions and Kate volunteered to take him home. As they drove towards his house, Daniel seemed in deep thought.

"I suppose the first thing you'd want to do is to sleep," Kate stated, "You've been through a lot."

"No, what I want to do when I get home is to try and figure out this HYSTICS mystery," Daniel said, still running the letters once more through his mind.

"I thought the letters had stopped coming," Kate said.

"They did, but it doesn't mean it's over," Daniel said, as Kate made a left at the signal.

"But the case is solved," Kate pointed out, "you didn't even need the letters to solve it."

"Kate, that's not the point," he told her, "even if it didn't help solve the case, I need to know the significance of the letters!"

Kate had turned into Daniel's driveway.

"My suggestion to you is that you take those letters and toss them out or burn them," Kate suggested, "the case is solved, you don't need them."

Daniel looked at Kate questionably, as they sat in the car, "You know, that's the second time you've mentioned the case being solved. And earlier, Lewicki had made a point of mentioning the case being solved, too."

"Oh really?" Kate said, looking wide-eyed innocent, "What an odd coincidence!" she exclaimed.

Daniel pondered her unusual behavior as they both got out of the car and proceeded up the driveway.

"Hmmm...Case solved," Daniel pondered as he repeated the words half to himself. Then his head snapped over to look at Kate, "HYSTICS...the ending two letters are CS...as in CASE SOLVED ...that's it, isn't it? CS means 'CASE SOLVED!'"

"How would I know?" Kate responded, "Daniel, you need to let go of the obsession with the letters! Otherwise, you're soon going to give yourself a headache thinking about them!"

As she said this, she looked down on her watch. By now they had approached the front door. Why did Kate look nervously down at her watch? Was there an appointment she had to keep? wondered Daniel, as they stood on the front porch.

"Kate, tell me something" said Daniel, sounding quite desperate, "Is there something you know that I don't?"

"I know a lot of things you don't, Daniel," she said solemnly.

"You know what I mean!" Daniel rebounded.

"Daniel, open this door, soon, please!" Kate insisted, "We can't stand here forever! My patience is wearing thin and soon, I'm going to explode!"

"Okay, you just used the word soon twice," Daniel watched her carefully, "that was significant wasn't it?"

Kate shrugged, "I hadn't even notice!. Anyway, I just as soon stop this nonsense and get in the house!"

"There it is again!" Daniel pointedly said, "You've used soon again! You're trying to tell me I got it wrong, aren't you? The CS in HYSTICS didn't stand for CASE SOLVED, it stood for CASE SOON!"

"Oh, Daniel, just...are we going in or not?"

"Not until you tell me what the rest of HYSTICS means," Daniel said, standing there, waiting, "because you DO know what the letters stand for, don't you?"

She made an agitated sound.

"I was hoping you would figure out it on your own," Kate said, "after all, you're the one who loves solving puzzles."

The more he listened to her, the better he seemed to be processing everything.

"Wait... that was another clue, wasn't it?" Daniel's mind was clicking again.

"Why is everything I say a clue to you, Daniel?" she asked innocently, but she was blinking too fast.

"You''ve said 'I was hoping you would figure it out on your own,'" Daniel quoted her.

"That's because I do," she said casually.

"Yes...but it's the way you said it," Daniel looked contemplative, "You had emphasized Hoping followed by the word you..HY...coincidentally the first two letters of the mystery letters...Is that what HY stands for?"

"Anything is a possibility," she stated opaquely.

Daniel rested his elbow on his other bent arm as he rubbed his chin and stared at her intently..."Okay, okay...so now I've got: HOPING YOU something-something-something-CASE SOON."

Kate smiled, "That's an interesting take on the letters. Very interesting."

"Interesting..." Daniel's eyes lit as he repeated the word," interesting ..."like the letter I in HYSTICS. If I'm right, I've got: HOPING YOU...S.T...INTERESTING CASE SOON!"

His mind was working overtime now. Then something came to him. It was a memory. He recalled the breakfast he had with Lewicki when Max had first brought up the idea of a birthday party and also the mystery of the first two letters:

.

"If you're wanting to be on a case so badly, why not consider this One-Letter-Mystery thing your own little case to solve? Lewicki suggested.

Daniel paused, but didn't look up, "Maybe."

Lewicki looked pleased, "Good! Here's to hoping you solve this interesting case soon!"

"Thanks." Daniel seemed more amendable as he read another essay...

.

Meanwhile, Kate was inserting Daniel's house key into the lock.

"That's it, isn't it?" Daniel was brought back to the present as he looked at Kate, "It was right in front of me all the time...Lewicki had even said the entire phrase to me and I never realized it until now!...HYSTICS...Hoping you solve this interesting case soon!"

A satisfied look crossed his face. He'd solved it!

Kate opened the door.

"SURPRISE!"

Inside was a small group of people gathered in the living room. Daniel looked stunned. There was Paul, Max, Roger Probert, and Director Reardon.

"What is this?"Daniel asked, turning to Kate.

"Go in and see, Daniel," Kate responded with a wry smile.

Paul enthusiastically waved him in, "Come in, Daniel! Come be with your friends!"

A cheer went up as he stepped inside his living room. Standing in front of everyone was Director Reardon.

"Congratulations, Dr. Pierce," she announced, "we wanted to congratulate you on a job well done."

"A job well done?" Daniel looked stunned.

Kate leaned in, "Daniel, you've solved Hilda Jones's murder!" she urged him forward by taking his arm, "Come on! There's plenty of desserts with coffee and tea, too."

"I'm not sure I understand..." Daniel looked utterly confused as he looked at the festive balloons and streamers.

Lewicki now stepped forward, "Remember, Doc, you were all grumpy about not having a case? So I thought I'd send you these mystery letters so at least you'd have something to think about."

Daniel stared at his assistant, "So you were the one who did that?"

"I thought it would inspire you," Lewicki said, "And it worked. At least you weren't grumpy any longer."

Daniel turned to Kate, "Were you in on this all along?"

"Only since yesterday, along with everyone else" Kate admitted, "but it was nice when you stopped being grumpy!"

It was hard for Daniel to absorb everything that had just occurred. He felt a mixture of emotions.

"I really don't know if I should be happy, upset or mad," he bluntly said.

The cheers had died down and the smiles disappeared as everyone now looked questionably at one another regarding Daniel's reaction.

Daniel looked into their puzzled faces.

"I've had sleepless nights over trying to solve this puzzle," Daniel explained to them, "I continually worried I was missing something important...that...that someone's life was in peril-and that life could have been mine!"

People were now shuffling uncomfortably about, unable to look at Daniel. Kate reached out and lightly touched his arm. But he didn't acknowledge it and wondered how to get out of this awkward situation.

Roger Probert then came up and spoke in a low tone, "Hey, it's really rather funny when you think about it, Pierce...at least it got your mind working, right?"

"I'm sorry, Doc," Lewicki apologized "I just wanted to give you a puzzle to think about."

"And you did solve it, Dr. Pierce," Director Reardon added, "in addition to a murder case. I think it actually helped you in keeping your mind sharp."

Paul chimed in, "Daniel, there was a challenge in front of you, and you came up, met that challenge and solved it. Well done, my friend!"

"I think I'll go upstairs" Daniel told them, as disappointment showed on their faces, "I need to be alone."

He headed for the staircase.

"Daniel, wait!" Kate called out to him, "We didn't mean for you to be upset! You had seemed so restless and Max was just thinking of you. We were all thinking of you. Take it in the spirit it was given! I think it's really nice that you have so many friends who care this much about you!"

He felt someone touching his arm on the other side. He turned to see who it was.

"Daniel," Natalie spoke out as she looked at him tenderly, "Three years ago most of these people weren't even in your life. Back then, you had hit bottom. But you've bounced back; you've come a long ways. And it's because you have friends now. REAL friends."

Daniel paused. He turned to Lewicki, who looked so crestfallen with his head down. Daniel went over and comfortingly placed his hand on Max's shoulder. Lewicki looked up.

"Max listen," Daniel said gently, "I have to admit, you had me going there for awhile. But, you know what? You were right. A puzzle WAS what I needed! And I guess the lesson learned was that I need to listen to you better!"

Lewicki seemed to perk up as a wide smile appeared on his face.

"You'll listen to me, better? I know that will never happen, Doc," Lewicki said as everyone laughed, "but you know what? That's okay by me!"

Kate stepped forward.

"We're here to celebrate your special day, Daniel," Kate said gently, handing Daniel a flute of club soda.

People gave relieved smiles when Daniel accepted the drink.

It was the Director who raised her glass first, "I would like to make a toast to Dr. Daniel Pierce," she announced, raising her glass, "May you always have cases to solve for the FBI!"

"... and friends to celebrate your success afterwards!" inserted Kate, also raising her glass.

"To Daniel!" everyone cheered, as glasses came up.

Daniel smiled sincerely. It seemed as if the director at last was accepting him as part of the FBI team. He looked lovingly at Kate.

Friends, puzzles, and, of course, Kate. What more could he ask for? As he lifted his glass in celebration, he looked around at the well-wishers.

"..to my good friends!" he declared happily as everyone clinked glasses.

And it was the second time in Daniel's life that he enjoyed a party held in his honor.

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(A/N: Lewicki and Daniel had that exact conversation regarding HYSTICS back in Chapter 2! Did you recall it?)

The last chapter coming up!

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