Chapter 73

The girl did have cancer, and Nicole not only had sent her flowers, she'd sent a get-well card. In the card, she left a note for Bobby and asked Gwen not to tell her Aunt Susan about it.

They said kind goodbyes to the sick child, and walked out into the midday sun. Bobby paused on the sidewalk, lifting his face with closed eyes, soaking in the warmth.

"Flight back's not until 3," Alex said. He turned to look at her, and she gestured to the small envelope in his hand. "You gonna look at that?"

Obediently, he opened it. He felt a pain when he saw Donny's picture. Then he turned it over and read Nicole's words. Silently, he handed it to Alex.

"Tit for Tat, Blood for blood? How did Nicole find Donny?" She asked him urgently.

He took the picture back and tucked it back into the envelope. As they started walking, he simply said, "She didn't. Nicole doesn't have Donny."

Alex wondered if Bobby was just in denial, refusing to give Nicole the last of his family.

He continued to explain. "If she did, she would have just sent a…a new picture of him."

Alex's phone vibrated in her pocket and she checked it. "DNA from the hair. It's Nicole's." She looked over at Bobby, satisfied that he'd been right again.

"Of course," he said. "You know, she left… one strand of hair there on purpose."

"This is just a game to her!"

"It's World Cup," he said.

It struck Alex that not only was it important as the World Cup, this case was Bobby's whole world. She stormed over to the driver's side of the car. Just before she got in, he called out to her.

"This letter is postmarked Pittsfield, Massachusetts." He paused and looked over the top of the car at her. "Nicole's sending us on a scavenger hunt."

"What's in Pittsfield?"

"A white whale. That's where Melville wrote Moby Dick," Bobby explained, pulling on the handle of the car door.

As they drove, Alex planned out their next moves. "We'll get the tickets changed, fly to Mass. We'd better do it fast, before Ross calls us off. With the hair, Nicole is linked to your brother now. It's not just speculation."

"Yeah," Bobby said quietly. He looked down at the envelope in his hand and scoffed. "This picture… it's… it's Frank's picture of Donny." He pulled it out once more and studied it again. "Wrinkled, creased. He carried it in his wallet, you know." After another silence, he spoke again. "It was my introduction to my nephew, this picture…"

"Well, you're right, Bobby. If she had Donny, she wouldn't have sent that picture. Donny's still on the lamb. He's okay."

The flight got delayed twice, and they ended up crashing that night at a hotel in Albany. When Alex's phone rang, she read the display. "Ross," she told Bobby. "Eames," she said, answering.

"It's Wallace. You have to back off it, now."

"Well, sir, would it be possible to just follow up on one more thing before heading back? We're upstate, ready to head to Massachusetts."

"You're where? I thought you went to Phoenix."

"We did. And the next clue led us here." She told him about the postmark on the card. "Bobby thinks it's a scavenger hunt. He doesn't think we're going to find Nicole. The department's already paid for our travel," she reminded him.

Finally, Ross acquiesced. Follow this last lead, and then come back to hand it over to someone else. Alex ended the call with a grin for her partner. "We can stay to chase this down, then we have to go back."

Bobby nodded, and she thought she saw a touch of a smile on his lips.

They headed to Melville's house, Arrowhead, the next morning. It was now a museum. Bobby stood on the porch and looked down the street. They could see two inns from where they stood, and one was painted the same yellow as Melville's house.

Bobby suggested they hit that one first. A woman was watering the flowers on the porch as they approached. "Welcome to our inn," she said cheerfully.

"I'm Detective Eames," Alex said, displaying her badge.

"I'm Detective Goren," Bobby echoed behind her.

The woman almost jumped for joy. "Oh! Mr. Goren! Wonderful. We have the honeymoon suite ready for you." She put down the watering can and stripped off her gloves. "And, your package arrived." She opened the front door for them. "I left it in the room."

She led them down the hall to the largest room in the inn. As she opened the door, she explained, "We were expecting you earlier, but no worries. You're just in time for wine and cheese." There was a box sitting on the center of the four-poster bed. Bobby stood near the wall, Alex a step in front of him, and they stared at it. She looked back at her partner, who rubbed his beard in nervous thought.

Bobby turned to the innkeeper. "Could you, uh… excuse us for a minute?" he asked. She ducked out and Bobby shut the door. He dropped his binder on the chair and gave Alex a look. His face was full of aggravation.

Stepping closer, Bobby put his hands on his hips. He looked at the box. "It's addressed to me from Donny," he announced. Goren reached out and touched the corners of the box, sliding it closer to him.

Alex stepped closer, and Bobby pulled out his switchblade, snapping it open. He started to reach for the box, and Alex jolted. "Uh, why don't we wait to…" she suggested, but it was too late. He'd already cut it open.

Inside the box was a Styrofoam cooler with a red handle on top. Bobby took the handle in his fingertips, already dreading what might be inside. He removed the lid.

"Oh, my God," Alex exclaimed, stepping away quickly with her hand to her mouth.

Bobby stared at the contents, a human heart. His breathing became heavy. When Alex turned back to him, his face was filled with rage.

"It's D-Donny," he growled. "She did have him. It's Donny."

Bobby stepped one way and then the other. He didn't know what to do with himself.

Alex took him by the arm. "Go get some air. I'll call the local PD, and Captain Ross."

Bobby glanced back at the box, and then at Alex. He dropped the Styrofoam lid onto the bed and nodded at her before walking quickly out the door.

It took hours, but by the time evening rolled around, they were back in Albany. The next morning they were on a flight back to the city. The heart had been shipped to Rodgers for DNA analysis, and Captain Ross put Goren on bereavement leave.

It was okay. There was nothing for them to do now, anyway. It would take time for the DNA results, and Bobby still had to take care of Frank.

Alex took a day, too, and she was with him when they buried Frank. Lewis met her there, and Mike Logan. The Captain made an appearance, but headed back, promising to oversee the case.

They all took a turn trying to comfort him, but Bobby just sat quietly in front of the fresh grave. The workers were ready to pack up the chairs and clear the area, but they couldn't so long as Goren sat there, grieving.

Bobby's three closest friends stood at the back of the arrangement of chairs and spoke in low tones. "He's really angry," Lewis noted.

Alex nodded sadly. "This is a mess," she told them both.

"And it's Wallace?" Logan asked her, remembering all he'd heard about the woman while at Major Case.

She nodded again. "We're off it, now... now that they've got proof she was with Frank." She glanced over at Bobby. "He's taken that well, but you know it's hard for him."

"Hard for him to lose Frank, too," Lewis said. He was the only one in the group with first-hand knowledge of the good side of Frank Goren.

Logan checked his watch. "Look, I, uh, I gotta…"

Alex smiled at him. "Thanks for coming, Mike."

"You-?" he asked, pointing a finger in Bobby's direction.

She gave him a nod. "I'll make sure he gets home." She gave Logan a quick hug and then turned to Lewis.

"You want me to try again?" Lewis asked.

Alex remembered the night Bobby's mother died. She shook her head. "I'll stay with him, until he's ready."

Lewis nodded, scuffed his foot against the ground, and then looked over at his best friend. "I'll just go and say goodbye," he told her.

She watched Lewis sit by Bobby, talking quietly. She watched him put a hand on Goren's shoulder and give it a squeeze. She smiled a little as she saw Bobby break out of it long enough to accept a hug from his old friend. Alex waved to Lewis as he walked back to his car, then went and sat beside Bobby.

They didn't speak a word, but Bobby knew she was with him.