It was still early when Julian put the top down and took his car for a drive around the lake. The early morning chill was dissipating, making way for its replacement—a scorching late August day. It was early enough that there were few cars on the road, and Julian enjoyed going a little too fast on some of the hills and turns he knew well. He really wanted to take the car out to some farmland and open her up on a straightaway. But that would require a few hours and he was due to check in with Alexis and Sam for another pow-wow. Alexis was excited that she had some news to report. That was a good thing, because Julian was coming up empty.

They'd had zero luck with the video and he couldn't track down any of the boaters whose presence initially offered them hope. On top of that, he'd had another Skype session with his boss. Richter had been terse, but not angry on the video call. They'd discussed a couple of potential procurement and distribution problems, but Julian had them well in hand. In fact, the entirety of their session was business logistics. He hadn't been asked to do anything additional in the war against Sonny. Julian knew he should have felt relieved: these sessions usually involved a request that if ignored would endanger his family and if carried out would pull him further from Alexis. But he had no tough choices today. That rattled him.

This new, unfamiliar edge was driven by Julian's inability to read his boss. Did Richter's failure to engage Julian mean that he was happy with the direction of things? That didn't seem possible. But if he went to all this trouble to frame Sam for blackmail, why wasn't he making any demands? Was it just a psychological game now? Was "Luke" content merely to toy with Julian before making him suffer? His boss was psychotic enough to do it.

The sun started to rise over the trees and Julian could feel his forehead start to burn. He'd forgotten a hat and suntan lotion. For a moment he remembered the scarf in the glove compartment and smiled at the thought of driving his very masculine sportscar with his head ensconced in a pink floral scarf that a baboushka would reject as too frivolous. Well, at least one baboushka. Alexis hated the scarf she had bought at a rest stop gift shop, but kept forgetting to replace it with something more stylish. Now it was a moot point, but he refused to toss the scarf. In his heart he needed to believe she'd be back, even if his head lacked that level of confidence.

As he headed back to the city he let out a heavy sigh, his standard accompaniment to all Alexis-related thoughts of late: how he lied to her, how she moved on top of him, how he made her sob, how she made him ache. Julian wanted her back, but he knew that he couldn't pursue her. Not until Sam was exonerated. But when his daughter was free and clear, he would corner Alexis until she relented. He smiled ruefully at the memory of telling her he would wait as long as it took: Julian had lied to her again.

-"So who wants to go first," Sam asked before taking a sip from the Kelly's coffee Julian brought with him. As she felt the caffeine electrify her bloodstream, she mentally added another plus in the "Dads are good things" column.

-"Where are we with the safe? Anything that could help us figure out who took the gun?" Alexis sipped Julian's bribe as she looked directly at her daughter.

Sam shook her head. "The only ones who had the combination were me, Jason and Spinelli. I checked with Spinelli, and he swears he never gave it to anyone. He's also never written it down—he's got it memorized."

-"Dammit," Alexis muttered.

-"Do you want me to look for evidence it's been broken into?"

Alexis mulled it over. "Can he do it without physically touching the safe? Not leave a trace he was there?"

-"I'm not sure. It'd be much easier if he had the freedom to dust it for prints, look for evidence of tampering in the lock itself."

-"I know," Alexis admitted. "But here's the thing. If we're going to do something to the safe, we need to be clear that the cops are done with it. Otherwise if they find anything *after* we've done our exam, they can always say we sabotaged the safe to make it look like a robbery."

-"So what? We don't look at all?" Sam's exasperation was evident in her tone.

-"No, I'm not saying that…" Alexis trailed off. "I'm just…Sam, are you *sure* Jason never shared it with anyone? Could he have written it down anywhere? Was it something easy that someone could extrapolate if they new anything about Jason?"

-"He did come up with the combination, Mom. But they were random numbers. They didn't mean anything to him or me or Spinelli."

-"Look. Here's what I'm afraid of. If someone knew the combination, he or she wouldn't need to tamper with it."

Julian jumped in, "And if we tell the cops we're checking to see if it was tampered with and it *wasn't*, we've helped them strengthen their case." His look avoided Sam, but she felt him lightly touch her knee. This was the rationale the two were using to withhold the surveillance footage from Alexis.

-"OK. That makes sense, Mom. Let me check if there's a way he can eyeball it to see if there's any evidence of tampering before we move forward."

-"Thanks, sweetheart." She turned ninety degrees. "Julian, you're up next."

Julian relayed where they stood on the alibi. He and Sam detailed their efforts to find any of the boaters who could have seen her on the lake that afternoon. They brainstormed a bit, deciding to give up on the water skiers and focus on the fishermen. Sam and Julian looked at each other as they realized they were in for another day of searching bait and tackle shops while Alexis called current and former homeowners along the lake to see if anyone knew the identity of the two men who spent years fishing the same spot.

Alexis reported on her lack of success with Rosalie, but was excited to share her conversation with Ava.

-"So, Sam. I had a little chat with your Auntie Ava yesterday. She told me quite a bit about Nina's family."

Julian sat silently, but was listening eagerly. He couldn't explain why his heart raced a little bit faster at the thought of his sister meeting Alexis. He had yet to hear Ava's view, but he was inexplicably desperate to know the views of the woman sitting on his left.

Sam merely proceeded like nothing momentous had happened, oblivious to the emotions manifesting themselves as sweat coating her father's palms. "That must have been fun."

-"Ava is…interesting." Alexis smiled. "But more importantly, she pointed out that Madeleine had more of a motive for this murder than you did."

Julian sat a little straighter, "What do you mean?"

-"Money. Madeleine didn't have any. But now that Silas and Nina are dead, she has it all."

-"But wait…isn't she in jail? Sam, didn't you catch her in that sting?" Julian asked.

-"Yeah, Mom. I'm not sure how she could do it from a prison cell."

-"I admit that a less clever criminal would struggle. But isn't she related to Dr. Obrecht? That family's twists and turns give mine a run for their money. And what about while Nina was in a coma? Wasn't she controlling the money? She managed to hold on to a fortune and keep Silas away for 20 years."

-"It does sound like a good motive. But why would she kill them if she didn't know if she'd even get to enjoy the money? Why put herself out on a limb like that?" Sam asked.

-"She knew she was getting out. And she had to take care of them now before she did." Alexis practically beamed as she added, "Because jail is her alibi."

Sam asked excitedly, "Wow. Does this mean I can start digging?" She shifted to an exaggerated whine as she begged her mother, "Please, Mom. Pretty please. Pleeeaassseee."

-"OK, OK," laughed Alexis. "Yes, dear. You can dig into Madame Westbourne."

Julian looked at the two of them. "I still don't see how this helps us. Especially if she ends up in jail."

-"Ahhh. Because she won't." Alexis then noted the legal team that Madeleine retained. The name was familiar to Julian, as those in his line of work usually leveraged their services to help with difficult witness statements, inconvenient pieces of evidence and weak alibis.

-"This makes perfect sense, Mom. But, I thought you didn't want me to investigate this yet."

-"I think we need to parallel process, sweetheart. We're not having as much luck with the alibi as we thought, so I think we should selectively go on the offensive. And Madeleine is perfect. Even if we can't find evidence she hired someone—which is my dream, by the way—we can certainly find enough to provide reasonable doubt. Maybe even point the cops in her direction before we even get to a trial."

Sam was quiet. "You think I'm going to trial, don't you?"

-"I don't know, Sam." Alexis flirted with the idea of offering false comfort to her daughter, but rejected it. "Look. This is how my brain works. I think of the worst-case scenario for all my clients because every client is in a hole, Sam. My job is to investigate all ways out of that hole and get them out. Right now, you're my client—a client who happens to be a PI. If you weren't an investigator, I'd be doing all of this anyway, just behind your back. But you want to work and you need to stay busy. If it's too much for you—"

-"No. Of course not. It's not too much for me, Mom. I'm just…" Sam trailed off, her face contorted as she found the words to articulate what she was feeling. "Ugh. I'm frustrated but I'm scared. I move between hopeful and angry and hopeless. And then I feel guilty. Because I'm only thinking about me, but the man I loved is dead. I shouldn't feel bad about what I may lose because Silas lost it all. And maybe if I had been a better partner, maybe if I gave him a chance to explain himself we wouldn't be here."

-"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Julian put his hand on his daughter's back. "Sam. You're not responsible for what happened to Silas."

-"Dad, I know that someone else pulled the trigger. But what if I agreed to stay and listen? Would he have been with Nina when she died? Would he have been home when someone came to kill him?" Sam took a moment and took a deep breath to calm herself. "I understand that this is all hypothetical and it doesn't change anything. But I can't believe that this is how it ends. That we were figuring stuff out and it's over because someone shot him."

Julian stroked his daughter's hair. "I know it's unfair."

-"When Jason died, I never got closure. We'd finally gotten Danny back. I moved back in here. We were back on track. And then he disappeared just a few hours later. But I could *do* something, you know? I could dive by the pier and try to find him. And I did. I wouldn't give up."

Alexis wiped away the tear that was rolling down her own cheek. She reached across the table to grab Sam's hand. "I know, baby."

Sam interrupted her, "I feel terrible because I don't miss Silas the way I missed—the way I still miss—Jason. Mom, I miss him but not the way I should. That's why I feel guilty."

Alexis grabbed Sam's other hand. "It's different because each story is unique. You loved Silas. You don't have to love him the way you loved Jason. That just wasn't your story with Silas. Hell, that wasn't even your story with Lucky. It doesn't diminish Silas because you didn't love him like you loved Jason. You need to let go of that, baby. Mourn what he was and what you were together. Not what you think you should have been."

Sam gave her mother a slight smile. "I don't know…"

Julian stroked her back, "Sam you don't need to know."

-"Wow. You guys. Take a step back with the advice," Sam started laughing as she sniffled through the last of her tears. "You need to let me finish. What I was going to say was I don't know what I'd do right now if I didn't have the two of you here. I'd probably be in jail right now wondering how Danny was doing living at the Q mansion with Grandma Monica." She added quietly, "I wouldn't be here without you."

Julian loitered in the dining area with Sam while Alexis washed the lunch dishes. When she returned to her seat, Alexis found him alone.

-"Where's Sam?"

-"She went upstairs. Wanted to take a little nap before your dinner tonight."

-"Oh."

-"I need to talk to you, Alexis. About this Madeleine thing."

-"Sure. What is it?"

-"I mean, I get that she could serve as an alternate theory of the crime should this ever go to trial. But why are you having Sam investigate this now? What if she actually did it?"

Alexis interrupted him, "Wait, wait, wait. Are you saying you don't think your boss did this?"

-"You made a very convincing case, Alexis. And he's…"

She sat up straighter. "He's what? What has he asked of you?"

Julian looked into her eyes and tried to reassure her. "Nothing, Alexis. He's asked for nothing."

-"So that means you don't think he did it?"

-"I didn't say that. I'm just wondering if it's possible he didn't."

-"It could be, possible, Julian. But if someone's framing Sam—someone like a Madeleine—we'd have the gun with Sam's prints on it. The key to making someone a patsy is to do it quickly, so no one has time to stop and think. So new circumstances can screw up your carefully laid plans." She paused. "As you well know."

-"Nice."

-"It's true, isn't it?" she snapped.

-"You know what, Alexis? Let it out. Yell at me, scream at me. Be as mean to me as you want. I deserve it. So I'll take it—all the passive-aggressive bullshit. Push me away as much as you like." He pulled his chair closer to hers. "But let me tell you what it's going to be like when this nightmare with Sam is over. I'm going to start pushing back, Alexis. I'm not going to give you room to breathe. Because it doesn't matter what you say to me or even what you do. This story? This is the only one in my life that's mattered. And I'm not letting it go."

Alexis sat immobile, her eyes furious. "And what if I do? What if I decide I'm done with this story, Julian?"

-"You won't."

-"You don't get to make that decision for me," she spat.

-"I'm not, Alexis. You won't because you *can't.*" Julian smirked. "I know how you feel about me. I see it in the way you look at me. I hear it in the words you say and the sounds you make. I feel it when I'm within 100 miles of you." He moved her bangs out of her eyes with his fingertips. "We're connected. There isn't a version of me that exists anymore that doesn't include you, Alexis. There hasn't been for a while." He looked at her. She tried so hard to be impassive, but her eyes gave her away. They did it every time.

-"But what if I really want out, Julian. What if you're wrong? What if I can walk away?"

-"I love you, Alexis. If you're out…if you're really *really* out…"

-"What? What do you do then?"

-"I let you go. When you're with me, when you're truly with me it's because your heart doesn't let you leave. It will never be because I forced you to stay."

Alexis wiped a tear away as she whispered, "Thank you."