Author's Note: I apologise for such the long delay. Things have been piling up and a few stories had to be shifted to the back burner, so to say. But... I have caught up with several other stories that were taking up most of my time and efforts, and I was finally able to shift focus for the moment. This story is nearly at the end of its run. I am sad to see it go, but don't fret... there are possibly two more chapters to go for this story before it ends. I may start another one, but with the heartache of hearing that this show was cancelled, it may take some time before I write another one. I do have a few ideas running about, but as I just said, it will take some time to get it figured out properly. So, without further ado... here's the chapter!

Oliver looked about the parade room as he watched Dov and Chloe enter the room. As he cleared his throat, he glanced down at the paperwork in front of him. "Is this everyone?"

Chloe looked around the room, as did everyone else, and frowned, "I don't see Chris. He should be here, right? I mean, this meeting is for everyone who was part of yesterday's case, right? So he should be here, but then again, he wasn't here at all last night and he should have been, right?"

Shaw frowned as he glanced back up at everyone. Great, Superintendent Peck will be here any second and Diaz hasn't shown up. I remember telling everyone to be here this morning. "Epstein..." Dov looked up with a questioning gaze. "Try getting Diaz on the line and tell him to hurry it up. We need to get out of the parade room before the morning shift needs to use it."

"Okay," Dov said as he reached for his phone and hit a couple of buttons.

"Maybe he's still asleep? I know I would be if we weren't asked to come in," Gail said as she reached for a coffee cup that Holly had placed in front of her. "Who wakes up at this ungodly hour anyway?"

"Well, most of us were already here the whole night, so it is only you who had to wake up at this 'ungodly hour', Gail," Elaine Peck said as she strolled through the door. She raised an eyebrow as she looked over at her daughter who preceded to lower her head to the table as she muttered, 'Please kill me now.' She stopped in the middle of the room as she addressed Oliver. "Is this everyone? I know everyone is ready to call it a night, but I want my daughter and Doctor Stewart, here, caught up with our recent findings; since, after all, they were the ones who were trapped within the room nearly all day yesterday."

"We are waiting on one more person to show up," he said with a frown. "Dov?"
"He's not answering his phone, sir."

"Who's not answering their phone? And why weren't they here with the rest of you? I only told Gail and Doctor Stewart to go home and rest." Elaine stared at the younger man until he glanced at the table and swallowed hard.

"Chris Diaz, Superintendent," Oliver covered for Epstein as the young officer tried to collect himself from the cool gaze of the Peck matriarch.

"Hmm, he always seemed a bit troubled," Elaine murmured as she shook her head. "It doesn't matter. We must start this meeting now. He was not here last night to help, so therefore this matter no longer pertains to him." She cast her gaze towards Oliver. "If he does decide to grace us with his presence, inform me. I would like to know, personally, why he decided that he did not have to continue helping with the rest of this case." She walked from the middle of the room to stand beside the Staff Sergeant. "Detective Nash?"

"Ma'am?"

"What do you have for us?"

Tracy stood up from her seat in the back of the room and walked towards the board up front. "Well, we know our victim is Doctor Patricia O'Neal. Originally from Nashville, Tennessee, she worked with USAMRIID at Fort Deitrick, in Fredrick, Maryland." She placed a picture of the deceased woman on the board for the room to see. "Her husband, Colonel Jason O'Neal had worked there as well. Both worked in the level four suites, until January twenty-fourth of 2008. That was when Colonel O'Neal died."

Holly scrunched her nose as her hand came up to adjust her glasses. "What did he die of?"

"A suit malfunction was all the coroner's report said. Since, it is U.S. Army, we could not receive all the details."

"Care to enlighten the group on what is studied in a level four suite, Doctor?" Superintendent Peck asked as she smiled at Holly.

The forensic pathologist cleared her throat, "The USAMRIID is an acronym for U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, there they research different diseases to ascertain cures. They have several levels within their facilities. Each level caters to different degrees of contagious diseases. Level one being diseases that are contagious, but are not life-threatening. The number of level increases along with the severity of the particular disease. Since there are only four levels, you can probably guess what the fourth level houses. Diseases like Ebola are only researched in this suite. If the coroner stated that his death was due to suit malfunction, that can mean his suit ripped or the suit's ventilation system stopped working."

"That can kill someone?" Andy asked from the back of the room. "I mean, that seems a little shaky of a statement if you ask me."

Gail rolled her eyes at the dark-haired officer but was cut off from making a biting remark by Holly. "A virus, like Ebola, can infect and kill someone within a week. It is a dangerous virus that scientists do not understand fully. The only thing that virologists know is that it comes from around Mount Elgon in the Rift Valley near Kenya. They believe that it may come from the Kitum Cave, but have not been able to pinpoint an exact location, nor the exact species that it originally comes from. They do know, however, that it had jumped species and that..."

"What species did it jump from?" Chloe asked as her eyes widened at prospect of a disease jumping from another animal to humans.

"It was first noticed in monkeys," Holly stated as she adjusted her glasses. "The theory of how it jumped species is not exact but most scientists theorise that because many of the tribes in the area ate bush meat, or simply put, monkey meat, they had been able to contract the virus that way.

"As I said before, Ebola is a very dangerous virus. The researchers who study diseases in the level four suite take every precaution necessary to make sure they are well protected from any contamination... and they have every reason to take these precautions. I won't go into the very graphic description of what happens to a person that is infected, but let's just say that even a tiny hole in the glove of a virologist who is working with this virus can become a large problem." She took a deep breath and pushed a strand of hair behind her ear. "And that is just one of the many viruses that are studied in the hot labs."

"Since everyone now has a brief idea of what goes in a hot lab, we can now catch Gail and Doctor Stewart up with the rest of the room," Elaine said as she glanced around at the haggard group in front of her. "Care to continue you with your findings, Detective?"

Detective Nash cleared her throat before speaking. "As I said before, Doctor Patricia O'Neal worked with USAMRIID at Fort Deitrick, in Fredrick, Maryland as did her husband Colonel Jason O'Neal until January twenty-fourth of 2008, when he died. They had no children nor did they have any relative living anywhere near Toronto." She leaned against the table behind her. "I went back to her house with a few officers to see if we could notice if anything looked completely out of place, but the only area that was really ransacked was the panic room, or I should say, bedroom."

"She used that as a bedroom?" Gail asked as she turned her attention to Traci.

"From what we could tell, yes. When we went upstairs to the master bedroom, we could not find a single thing that would suggest anyone even stepped foot in the room. Sure, it had a bed and dressers, but the bed looked as if it was never slept in and the dressers were empty."

"Maybe whoever did this to her had taken everything from in there before the next door neighbour had called 911." Gail suggested as she leaned back in her chair.

Steve shook his head. "There was a layer of dust on all the dressers and it wasn't disturbed. It was weird... the whole house seemed to be in a similar state. Not dusty like the bedroom, but unlived in. The only room that seemed lived in was the panic room... or whatever that room was."

"She may have suffered from PTSD," Holly mused aloud as she glanced at Superintendent Peck.

"That is an interesting observation, Doctor," Elaine remarked as she glanced back to the board in front of the room. "It makes sense. A woman, living alone in such a large house, but only, technically, residing in the lower portion of the house... more specifically, one room in the house."

"She went into early retirement because of the unfortunate death of her husband and moved up here, away from the U.S. Military and away from any reminders of her old life..." Holly ventured as she picked up where Elaine left off. "Except her fear of pathogens kept her from really continuing her life. It bogged her down until she was living a shell of a life in a negative-pressured room. Until..."

"Until someone killed her," Gail finished as she finally looked up at her mother. "Do we have any suspects? A motive?"

"First suspect is Gregory Schlenz. He is in custody now," Traci said as she placed a picture on the board. "He tried to evade questioning last night and was apprehended by Dov and Chloe. He is in holding now awaiting further questioning. As for his wife..." Traci placed another photo, taken from the Schlenz's home, on the board. "She has fled. We have put out a BOLO on her to all the other precincts in the area. Once brought in, she will be charged for impeding an investigation and fraud. No motive yet. Neither Gregory or his wife have any connections to the late Doctor O'Neal. Maybe we can get more information from Gregory later on today, but right now, he isn't talking."

"Now that you two are caught up, do you have any questions?" Elaine asked her daughter and Holly as she stared at them intently. Both women shook their heads 'no' as everyone around them starting grabbing their things waiting to be dismissed. "Allright... if no one has anything else, then I will be the first to say go home and get some rest. I want everyone to be well-rested when you all come back in tonight."

Chairs scuff the tile floor as everyone, except for one person, got up and started to head towards the door. Dov waited in his chair until only he, Oliver, and Elaine were alone in the parade room. "Oliver..." Epstein started as he grabbed his phone from its holster. "Something's not right. This isn't like Chris. Sure, he seems to be slacking lately, but he has always returned my calls and he has never missed parade. I think something's wrong."

Before Oliver could say anything, Elaine turned around from collecting her files and stared at Epstein. "So, you believe something has happened to Officer Diaz?" She asked as she tapped the files on the desk to even them out. "And you are basing this on the fact that, in the past, he has been prompt with his responses?"

"Well... yes ma'am," Dov said as he rubbed the back of his neck. "He has always been a stand-up guy and this just doesn't seem like him. And I was wondering if I could use the computers here to see if I can track his phone. I just know something is wrong."

Elaine squared her shoulders and stared intently at the young officer in front of her. "Allright, see if you can track him down." She turned toward the door in the back of the room and walked down the aisle toward it. She stopped halfway across the room and turned to face Dov. "If this is some bullshit or another that Diaz is pulling, he is off the force and you will have to reimburse the station for your time spent chasing this idle fancy. Do you understand, officer?"

"Yes, ma'am," Dov responded as he watched the Peck matriarch walk through the door and down the hallway of the precinct.

Oliver walked closer to Epstein and placed a hand on the officers shoulder. "I hope for his sake and yours, that this isn't some kind of joke or something that he is pulling," Shaw whispered as he squeezed Dov's shoulder and walked out the door.

Dov swallowed hard as he looked about the empty parade room. "I hope so too."