KMAG YOYO

The man entered the house by the back door. No lights were turned on. Using a small focused beam flashlight he navigated across the kitchen and into the office.

"Shit" he exclaimed under his breath. The laptop was gone!

He moved back into the kitchen and made his way to the stairs. Flicking off the flashlight he climbed to the second floor and carefully searched for the bedroom. It wasn't hard to find. The debris glittered within the narrow beam of light as he turned the flashlight on again. He skirted the area where Madelyn had lain on the rug. He searched the nightstands and the bureau drawers, swearing fluently as he saw that whoever searched before him had been clumsy and obvious. He made a deep and thorough search of the entire room, of Madelyn's luggage, the bathroom, the toilet tank, and under all the furniture. Nothing! The information Madelyn had been carrying was gone. Either that or she had hidden it very, very well.

He made a complete search of the whole house. Again, he came up with nothing. That left two options. Either whoever killed Madelyn knew she had sensitive information and took it after he killed her, or the Gilmore woman had it on her somewhere. His bet was on the Gilmore woman and that damned laptop. He would have to find out who the police officer who had her in tow was, and muscle in on the case using an NSA smokescreen. This was supposed to be so simple, now it was about to become KMAG YOYO.

Tristan drove through the still semi deserted streets. Washingtonians didn't do snow apparently. The government would reopen tomorrow so people would have to come out. Until then, he would enjoy the empty streets and quiet.

"I used to think snow was magic" Rory said softly.

"Why?" Tristan asked as he turned onto a side street.

"Good things happened when it snowed." She said. Her voice sounded sad. "This isn't good."

"No. This isn't good." He pulled into a driveway and then, a garage. Rory looked around. This was a nice neighborhood. Tristan had land, off street parking, and a very nice house set back from the road.

"You have a very nice house." Rory murmured .

"It's home." He replied . There was exhaustion in his voice. Rory dropped her bag in the mudroom and toed off her boots. Tristan hung his coat up in a closet and did the same with hers. He sat down and untied his boots and then rose and picked up her bag.

"Do you want coffee or anything?" he asked as they entered a clean, efficient looking kitchen.

"Just water please." Rory replied as she looked around. He snagged a bottle from the fridge and said "I'll show you to the guest room." Rory followed him across the living room and climbed the stairs to the second floor. He led her to the room at the end of the hall and opened the door. It was a nicely decorated room with a queen sized bed. "The bathroom is in through that door on the left. There are towels in the closet. The lock works." He said as he stood to the side of the door

Rory whipped around and saw him grinning as he left the room, closing the door behind him. He chuckled when she flipped the lock with a decided click.

She swore she heard him whisper "Good night Mary." as he walked back down the hall.

Rory stood there for a minute, then shrugged and went into the bathroom. She took a quick hot shower, then climbed into the bed, It was warm and comfortable. The silence was soothing, and soon, Rory was deeply asleep.

Tristan lay in his bed, What was going to happen now? Rory Gilmore was here. She was not the victim. The tight sorrow he had felt when it appeared that she had been murdered faded away the minute she walked through the door and caused him to faint dead away. Faint! It's a good thing there wasn't anyone else in the house! He would never hear the end of it if word of this got around the precinct. So, why was Madelyn murdered? Was it a case of mistaken identity like he thought? Was Rory the intended victim? Who had gotten in and looked through everything in the house after he and Rory left? He was just drifting off when one last thought crossed his mind. "I really hope her mother doesn't have to kill me because I couldn't protect Rory." He chuckled briefly before he slid into blackness.

Outside, a car slowly rolled by the house then proceeded down the block.