John followed Patrick down the stairs and sat next to him when he went to the couch and dropped tiredly.

"Are you, okay?"

Patrick looked at him and smiled. He could see the genuine concern for him in John's eyes and it made his heart swell to know his son cared for him again. "I'm fine, Johnny, thank you."

"Patrick, I want to take you, Robert and Jessie to a safe-house until we can catch whoever it is doing this. I want to leave as soon as possible..tomorrow...after Jessie has time to recuperate." Bailey sat down on the chair across from him. "They're gonna try to kill all of you...I'm sure of it."

Patrick nodded. "I'll go wherever you want me to go but not tomorrow or the next day either. I'm going to Susan's wake and funeral...no one will keep me from that."

"But they could be anticipating that...they could be waiting for you there."

"They could be, John...but I shared my life with Susan for the past two years...and she was killed because of me. I'm going. I'm going so I can tell her that I loved her, that I will miss her terribly, and that...that I'm sorry she had to die because of me."

Sam sat down on the other side of him. "Her death...wasn't your fault, Patrick. None of them were. You didn't kill anyone."

"All those people died because I was associated with them in one way or another...it is my fault."

"Hey," George said walking in from Patrick's office. "I've got three guys here that worked for Patrick that are unaccounted for." He handed three pieces of paper to Bailey. "I can't find a trace of them anywhere."

"Roy Langston?" Bailey said looking at the first profile.

Patrick's shook his head in disgust. "Langston never worked for me...he worked for my father. After my father died, I assumed he went to work for another family."

"None of your father's men came to work for you?"

"My father and I worked very differently...especially after my second marriage...his men were unnecessarily cruel and I didn't like their strong-arm tactics."

"Christoper McAffee?" Bailey moved on to the next one.

"Bangor, Maine," Robert told them. "He moved back there last year. His mother was very sick and he went home to take care of her."

"You ever have any trouble with him?"

"No, not at all. He was young...he was one of my drivers...he mostly ran errands."

"Maybe he was angry that he couldn't do more..."

Patrick shook his head with a smile. "The kid didn't have it in him to do anything else...and he knew it. He was happy to drive and run errands. He became good friends with Jessie...he looked out for her."

"Okay, but we'll look into him anyway...see if he's still in Bangor." Bailey looked at the last profile. "Steven Lewis?"

"Lewis?" Patrick's voice had an edge of anger in it. "Lewis was ignorant and a coward...he didn't work for me very long. I let him go and he went to work for my father. I don't know where he went after my father died...everyone knew his reputation, I don't think any of the other families in Boston would give him the time of day."

"Why'd your father hire him after you had let him go?"

"To spite me of course." Patrick smiled. "My father paid for it in spades though, having to constantly clean up Lewis' screw-ups."

"Maybe Grandfather had him killed?"

"No, he was definitely alive when your Grandfather died," Patrick told John. "He came to the hospital when I was recovering from the car accident...he wanted to ask me if he could work for me again."

"What happened?"

"He never got in to see Patrick. Sal threw him out." Robert smiled at the memory. "Sal never told me exactly what he said to him but I never saw Lewis move so fast in all the time I had known him."

"I'm sure Sal scared the hell out of him...although it wouldn't have taken much." Patrick sighed. "He should be here...Sal should be here." He wiped at his eyes before tears could fall.

"The safe-house." Bailey brought it up again.

"Look, I meant what I said...I'm going to say goodbye to Susan. Take Jessie and Robert tomorrow, get them safe, I'll join them after the funeral."

"You're not going alone, Pat," Robert stated matter-of-factly. "I'm not going to let you go through that by yourself."

Patrick knew Robert was just as stubborn as he was so, he wasn't going to try and change his mind. He smiled at his friend. "Thank you, Bobby."

Bailey put his head in his hands for a minute frustrated. He knew he couldn't make Patrick do anything he didn't want to do and that Robert was going to go right along with him, but he did understand. "Okay," He said after a deep breath. "This is what's going to happen...Nathan and I will go with the two of you to Ms. Grey's services. The rest of you will take Jessie and go to the safe-house and set up camp-"

"But shouldn't I-" John started to say but a glaring look from Bailey cut him off.

"Jessie will no doubt want to stay with you," Bailey looked back at Patrick. "But you need to convince her...no, you need to tell her that she can't. Right after the funeral service we are leaving for the safe-house. No ifs, ands or buts."

Patrick nodded. "Understood...I'll explain everything to Jessie."

"What about Sal? Won't he have services also?" John asked him.

Bailey's shoulder's slumped. 'Here we go again.' He thought.

"We were his only family," Robert explained, knowing Patrick couldn't. "He wanted to be cremated and his ashes spread on the lake by Patrick's country home. As soon as your done with...with his body, I'll make the arrangements for the cremation. We could carry out his wishes...after everything's over...when you catch the bastards that killed him."

"It shouldn't be more than a day or two," Grace told him. "We processed most of the evidence already."

"You can make the arrangements for the cremation before we go to the safe-house," Bailey told him.

"That'll be fine."

"You okay?" John noticed as Patrick put his head in his hands.

"No," Patrick didn't look up. "Susan...and now Sal. I should've done something."

"What could you have done?" Sam asked putting her hand on his shoulder.

Patrick turned towards her, grateful for her comfort, and half-smiled. "I don't know."

"Excuse me," Bailey said as his cell phone rang and he answered it. After a few moments, he ended the call. "That was Nathan, he's sending over some evidence and photos from the crime scene. He'll be by later tonight after they get the security tapes on discs."

"Pat, why don't we send one of the boys out to get some dinner? It's gonna be a long couple of days and we all need to keep our strength up." Robert said 'all' but it was Patrick he was worried about. He knew the stress of everything that was happening was going to take it's toll if he didn't take care of himself. They weren't young men anymore.

"Yeah, okay. Send Joey."

"What do you all feel like eating?"

"We're FBI we eat anything." Bailey grinned.

"Pizza good?"

No one objected.

"Any preferences?"

"Anything but anchovies." John grimaced. "How people can put fish on pizza is beyond me."

Everyone laughed.

"Okay, I'll call Joey and put the order in." Robert went to Patrick's office to order the pizza and have him pick up some soda and beer.

As Patrick came out of the office there was a knock at the door. Bailey got up to answer it with John close behind him. He looked through the peephole and took his hand off his gun.

"It's the CSU tech with the crime scene evidence," Bailey told John and they both relaxed.


Tbc...

Everything okay so far? It's hard to tell for myself but I enjoy the writing. Hope you do too. :o)