Author's Note: Once again, thank you to everyone who has been reading and following this story. Thank you especially to everyone who has left reviews on the last chapter: EvergreenDreamweaver, max2013, and BMSH.

Chapter XVII

Fifteen years earlier

Carson met Kate at police headquarters. She was sitting up on a high stool, looking more sheepish than scared. That was a relief – it must not have been as bad as it had sounded on the phone when she had called him at the Hardy home with only a cryptic message that she had gotten into some trouble and was at the precinct.

"Are you all right?" Carson asked her.

Kate nodded. "Thanks to Officer Kelvin over there, anyway." She gestured to a woman in a police uniform who was standing off to the side.

"What exactly happened?" Carson looked from Kate to the officer.

Kate sighed. "All right. What happened was this. I decided I was jealous of you getting to work on this case, so I thought I'd try my hand at solving it myself." She grinned ruefully. "It didn't go the way I had hoped." She paused a moment, and then she went on, "You see, I thought with my newspaper connections, I could turn something up on these Moriare people. So I did some investigating and I found an old address of Cliff Moriare. At first, I had intended to turn over anything I found, but this was such a long shot. He wasn't supposed to live there anymore. So I went ahead and checked it out for myself."

"Then what happened?" Carson asked as she paused.

"Well, I'm not exactly sure how it all happened," Kate admitted. "It was a little, run-down apartment building in the city. I went to the landlady to see if she remembered anything about Cliff. She claimed she didn't, but you should have seen how scared she looked when I mentioned it. I was certain that she remembered more than she was willing to say.

"I pressed the issue, and the more questions I asked, the more nervous she got. She was really trying to get me to leave. All this time, we were in her own apartment, which is in the same building. After about ten minutes of not getting anywhere, I heard the main door into the building open. The landlady completely froze and her face went completely white.

"I was trying to decide what to do and whether I should ask her what the problem was when someone knocked on the door of her apartment. She flinched, and I finally did ask her if she was going to answer the door. She just stared at me. Then the man at the door knocked again and asked if anyone was home.

"The landlady finally collected herself enough to tell me that I needed to go into the back room and stay there. I did what she said, and she went and let the man in. I couldn't help but overhear their conversation, and I realized that this man was none other than Cliff Moriare, himself, and he still has an apartment in the building. I heard something about speeding up a timetable, too, but they both seemed to know what it was about, so he didn't explain.

"Then – then I don't know what happened. I was being completely still and I'm sure I didn't make a sound. The landlady must have given me away somehow. Anyway, the door burst open and there's Moriare, demanding to know who I was and why I was eavesdropping. I didn't say a word. Then the landlady, who looked like she was about to die, told him who I was and that I'd been asking about him. He lost it and came at me. I managed to get past him and run down to the street, where I was fortunate enough to run straight into Officer Kelvin."

"You weren't hurt at all?" Carson asked, just to be certain.

"No, not unless being scared to death counts as being hurt." Kate laughed.

Carson smiled in relief. "What happened to Moriare? Did you catch him, Officer?"

"No," Officer Kelvin admitted, her face betraying some disappointment. "He must have gone out the back while I was calling for backup."

Just then, Kelvin's radio crackled to life. Carson didn't understand entirely what was being said because of the police codes, but he did recognize Lieutenant Hardy's voice.

"Is something wrong?" he asked Kelvin, noting the urgency in Hardy's tone.

Kelvin frowned, but she only told the Drews to stay where they were and then left the room. Carson and Kate looked at each other in bewilderment, but it didn't appear that they would learn anything more just then.

NDNDNDNDND

As it turned out, Carson and Kate didn't learn what had happened until much later that day when Johnson had called to fill Carson in. After Jack Garnier had turned himself in, Hardy had called for extra backup to bring him and his companion – a frightened man named Kyle McDonald – into the police station. While they were waiting for them to come, Laura Hardy had driven Carson, along with her two boys, to the precinct where Carson could meet Kate and Laura, Frank, and Joe would be safe.

When the backup had arrived, the officers had escorted Garnier and McDonald to a police car. However, just as they reached it, they were ambushed by a sniper. As of now, Garnier had been killed and McDonald was in a coma in the hospital, not expected to survive. Two police officers had also been injured and one of them was in critical condition.

Carson hung up the phone, biting his lip in thought. When he told Kate the news, she too listened seriously. Both were quiet for several minutes afterwards, trying to think through how to deal with the current situation.

"These people aren't playing around," Kate said finally. "I was lucky I got away from Cliff Moriare, I guess."

Carson nodded solemnly. "You certainly were. What bothers me is that he would recognize you if he saw you again. Did you tell the landlady your name?"

"Yeah," Kate admitted haltingly. "I probably should have given a fake name. I'm sure she told Moriare who I am. But Moriare couldn't have been behind killing Garnier. I mean, there wasn't that much time, and me turning up at his apartment was bound to have thrown him off. I doubt he could have been murdering people fifteen minutes later."

"There's his brother, Dan," Carson reminded her. "He could have done the actual killing. Or they could have hired someone else entirely to do it. Either way, I'm sure Cliff is involved in this and I don't like the idea of him thinking that you can provide evidence against him. You said he was talking about a timetable. He wouldn't have any way of knowing that you don't know what timetable he was talking about."

"Well, what are we going to do about it?" Kate asked. "What happened, happened. We can't change it now."

"Maybe not," Carson agreed. "But we can do something about what could happen now. You'd be a lot safer if you went ahead and went back to River Heights with Nancy."

"Now?" Kate stared at him in surprise. "I can't just go like that. I still have to work for another week. What if the place we rented isn't available yet?"

"I'll find out if it is," Carson told her. "I think it would be for the best if you left. I'll come as soon as this is cleared up. It's bound to be solved pretty soon, and if it's not, I'll come as soon as there's nothing more for me to do."

Kate sighed. "I don't want to go, but I guess I see your point. It is dangerous. If it was just you and me, I wouldn't go, but – it's not just us. I've got to think of Nancy and our other son or daughter."

NDNDNDNDND

"Are you coming, Daddy?" Nancy asked as she waited with Carson while Kate picked up the tickets for herself and her daughter.

"No. I already told you I can't," Carson told her, picking her up so that she could be on eye-level. "It will just be another two weeks, at the most. Then I'll meet you and Mommy in River Heights."

"I don't want to go." Nancy wrapped her arms around his neck. "I want to stay with you."

"Nancy, it's okay." Kate approached her husband and daughter, tickets in hand. "Daddy will come in no time, and then it will be the three of us again – for a while, at any rate."

"Are you sure you have everything you need?" Carson asked Kate.

"I'm positive," Kate told him. "I've been checking and rechecking mine and Nancy's bags ever since the day before yesterday. I don't see how I could have possibly forgotten anything. And if I somehow did, you can bring it with you when you come with the car. It's not like it's going to be that long."

"Yeah." Now that it had come to it, Carson was having a much harder time parting with Kate and Nancy than he had thought. He knew it would be only a matter of weeks, but being away from them for even that long would be difficult.

Judging from Kate's expression, she was thinking the same thing. She had tried to convince Carson to let her stay several more times in the last few days, but they both knew that this was best for their children. Now Kate decided to try a different tactic.

"Couldn't you come with us?" she asked. "Do the police really need you? They should have enough people to handle this investigation on their own."

For a moment, Carson was tempted to agree. After all, what stake did he have in this case anyway? Besides that, it had already proven to be a dangerous case. Several people had already been killed or injured. Was it really worth the risk?

The question answered itself in Carson's mind. Of course, he had to do whatever he could to stop the murders from continuing. So far, everyone who had been killed had been heavily involved in the Irish Mob, but there was nothing stopping the next victim from being someone more innocent. If Carson could do anything to help, he would have to do it.

"No, Kate," he said finally. "I can't come until I'm finished here."

Kate smiled ruefully. "I guess I didn't expect you to answer any differently. Well, I'll expect a phone call every night when you get home to make sure you're okay. And you'd better have this case solved as soon as you can. If it goes on too long, I'll think you're staying away from me on purpose."

"I would never do that," Carson promised.

He and Kate kissed, and they stood there together with Nancy for several minutes, none of them wanting to be separated even for a short time. Finally, Kate grudgingly said that it was time to go. She took Nancy by the hand, and the two of them went through the airport security. Carson remained behind to watch them. Just before they went out of sight, Kate turned around and she and Nancy waved to him. She managed to give him a bright smile, and Carson waved back, trying to return the smile.

It will only be a little longer, he told himself. Then it will be the three of us again.