Steve parked Shane's car in front of the house, leaned back against the seat, and reviewed the events of the day. After a short and fitful nap, he had given up trying to get any sleep and had headed back out to continue his search for any clue that would lead him to Kim and Kayla.

Instead of roaming aimlessly around the streets of Salem, Steve had concentrated on his old stomping grounds of the riverfront. There were numerous abandoned and semi-abandoned buildings in the old warehouse district that could serve as hiding places.

Unfortunately, hours of searching had turned up little more than rats and homeless people looking to escape the chilly weather.

When searching buildings had proved fruitless, Steve had turned to his next best asset - the people of the riverfront area, itself. He knew those people well; many were still friends of his. They were generally suspicious of anything related to law enforcement, and would be unlikely to voluntary report any information to the cops. But they would tell him.

So Steve had spent a lot of time talking to the regulars at the Cheating Heart and the people working on the loading docks. He passed around pictures of Kim and Kayla and the latest picture of Cal that Roman had been able to get his hands on.

Jimmy had agreed to post the pictures at the Heart and ask anybody coming in if they had seen the people pictured. Several people had promised to keep their eyes and ears open, and would call Steve or Jimmy with any information they had.

Steve knew that if somebody was looking for a person to do something for money without any questions asked, the riverfront was the place to find them. Hopefully, if Cal was looking for any kind of help, the people of the riverfront would hear about it and somebody would contact him.

Too exhausted to move just yet, Steve thought guiltily about Stephanie. He had not seen her since Kayla had left for work the previous morning. He knew he should stop by Shawn and Caroline's. But, he could not make himself go. He did not know how to look at his little girl without losing it, and that was something he could not afford to do right now.

Sighing, Steve forced himself to get out of the car and go back into the house. Maybe Roman had come up with some new information, although Steve was sure that if it was anything important Roman would have called him on Shane's car phone.

Walking in the door, he went straight to the library and found Shane sitting at the desk.

"Looks like sleeping beauty finally woke up," Steve said without humor as he walked to the coffee pot.

Shane's eyes narrowed at Steve's jibe, but he remained silent. Steve poured a cup of coffee and then nearly choked when he took a drink of the cold, dark sludge.

"Oh yeah," Shane said without looking up. "Should have had that replaced. Roman said something about cold coffee, and making a fresh pot in the kitchen. Though that was a few hours ago."

"Gee, thanks." Steve replied sarcastically. "So where's Roman now?"

"He went to the station to check some things out."

Steve glanced about the room. "Did Roman come up with any new information?"

"Nothing that gives us any clue where Kim and Kayla might be." Shane ran his hand through his hair. "They found the car that he used to run them off the road out in the middle of nowhere several miles from Route 6, but Cal obviously had a second car stashed and waiting."

"I'm guessing the car was clean?" Steve asked, knowing the answer.

Shane nodded. "The lab's working on it, but there's nothing noteworthy thus far, I guess. At least nobody has called with any information." He looked at Steve. "How about you? Did you find anything?"

Steve shook his head. "I pounded the pavement down by the riverfront and put the word out with a bunch of people down there. If they hear anything, they'll be in contact."

"Weren't those guys who wanted to 'teach me a lesson' not that long ago from the riverfront?" Shane asked with a doubtful look. "What makes you think they'll help you now?"

Steve felt his anger rise in the face of Shane's obvious doubts. "Because I know those people down there," he snapped as he walked towards Shane. "I didn't spend all day down there for my health. They're my friends and if they can help find Kim and Kayla, they will."

"All right," Shane said, holding up his hands. "Let's just hope somebody calls with a lead. I don't like that we haven't heard a damn thing."

"Yeah, let's hope." Steve's anger was still burning and he could not resist another shot. "Of course, we wouldn't need leads if somebody had been keeping track of Cal Winters in the first place."

"So you've told me already," Shane replied coldly. "But, then again, I'd have a lot better chance of finding him now if I still had my ISA contacts and access to the ISA database - which, thanks to you, I don't."

"Oh . . . so all of this is my fault now?" Steve took a step towards Shane.

"Well, your bloody big mouth certainly didn't help anything did it?" Shane stood up and leaned over the desk. "Maybe if I hadn't been busy dealing with being arrested and dismissed from the ISA, I might have had a chance to discover that Cal had escaped."

"And maybe if you'd have just taken a day to go check on the psycho yourself, Kim and Kayla would be home and Andrew wouldn't have nearly died," Steve yelled back. "Maybe then Kayla would be in the hands of a maniac, hurt, and God knows what else."

Shane stepped around the desk and Steve readied himself for the coming blow. But before Shane could take a swing, a voice called out from behind the doorway.

"Whoa! Looks like I arrived at a bad time." Jack stared at the two men. "Or maybe just in time."

"What the hell are you doing here, Jack?" Shane's voice was still cold. "And how did you get in?"

"Your butler let me in," Jack said carefully. "I told him I needed to talk to Steve."

"What do you want, Jack?" Steve asked tiredly. He was in no mood to deal with Jack right now.

"I needed to ask you something . . ." Jack hesitated. "Actually, I guess I need to ask both of you. See . . . um . . . the thing is . . ." he stopped.

"Spit it out, Jack," Shane snapped.

"Okay, okay." Jack took another step into the room. "I just thought you might want to know that the wires are all going nuts with this kidnapping story right now. It's huge national news" Jack paused again as if picking his words. "It seems that . . . well, some of the commentators, including our mutual friend, Rachel Knight, are suggesting that - maybe - the whole thing has been staged to create sympathy for the alleged traitor facing espionage charges."

"What?" Steve could not believe his ears. "Somebody out there honestly thinks we've staged this whole thing?"

"No," Shane replied dryly. "Somebody out there thinks that it makes a better story to promote that speculation."

"So . . . ." Jack raised an eyebrow. "I take it that you two are denying that speculation?"

"Jack!" Steve growled.

"Sorry," Jack said, taking a step back. "I just needed an official denial for my rebuttal story. Now I've got one."

Shane was glaring at Jack, but before he could say a word, the telephone rang. He grabbed it quickly. "Roman? Oh . . . Mickey. . . ."

Steve saw Jack's eyes widen slightly, but then Jack caught Steve's look and quickly looked away, clearly trying to hide his interest in Shane's conversation.

"No, it's okay," Shane said. "There isn't really a good time right now. I'm just . . . not alone. Let me move to the other phone and we can discuss matters." He set the phone down on the desk. "I'm going to go take care of this in the study. Can you hang up in a minute?" Even as he said that to Steve, Shane was eying Jack.

Steve nodded. "Yeah. Go on."

As Shane walked out, Jack continued to act like he was not interested in the phone. "Don't even think about it, Jackson," Steve muttered, shaking his head as he picked up the receiver. A moment later, he heard a click and Shane's voice. "Okay," Steve said. "I'm hanging up."

After he hung up the phone, he turned around toward Jack. "So what else do you want, Jack?"

"Nothing but to tell you what I said." Jack shrugged. "Sorry if I interrupted anything."

Steve gave a harsh chuckle. "Just another fight between Shane and me. It seems to be all we do lately."

"I take it you don't have any leads?" Jack asked.

Steve eyed his brother carefully. "Are you asking as my brother or as a reporter? Because if you are here as a reporter, you can go down to the police station and get whatever information they will give you."

Jack looked hurt at first, but then just sighed. "I'm asking as your brother. Everything is off the record."

"I wish I was sure I could believe that," Steve replied. "But I guess it doesn't really matter because I can only give you the same answer the PD would give you. We don't know anything yet."

Jack nodded. "I was afraid of that." He checked his watch. "I need to get back so that I can get this rebuttal article out for the evening deadlines." He turned and walked to the door and stopped. "I know you're going to find them, Steve." He smiled softly. "That's what you do."