Welcome Home Skylar

by poeticpriscilla84

When Morgan's friend Cynthia turns up dead and in pieces sent to a Vegas rape victim from England it is up to the CSI team to help England solve the case. Things get worse when Cynthia's daughter Skylar is kidnapped by her killer. Will the team get to her in time? Also Morgan gains custody of Skylar and you'll never guess who the father is.

2. Chapter 2

06/14/2014

The train car at the tube station in London, England sped at lightening speed. Cynthia Delaney felt as though she were flying. She couldn't tell though if that light, flying feeling was because she was on a fast tube station car or if it was because she was meeting her long lost English pen pal Stephanie Whittingham and her brother Eliot for the first time in a long time. She had seen a heavy set jovial Stephanie on facebook talking about her new bar tending job at Yorkshire Man and willing Cynthia to come out for a LONG time but due to Warren recently being diagnosed with cancer as a result of being exposed to a dangerous chemical weapon that was set off and out into the world by Al Queda, while serving in Iraq as a medic for the US Marine Corps and motherhood with her very rambunctious and mischievous 3 and a half year old daughter Skylar and married life and running her very busy wedding business, she just never got the chance. Cynthia Delaney relaxed on the tube station car and allowed her mind to wander. Her mind wandered to Warren. Warren had been diagnosed with a rare liver cancer just after she had purchased the tickets for the trip to England. She had wanted to cancel but Warren willed her to go, as she had been planning the trip for a long time and deserved a break from her busy life. Morgan Brody, their next door neighbor would help warren care for Skylar while he was going through cancer treatment at the newly opened cancer treatment center at the VA in Las would be going through SO much! Chemotherapy, radiation, maybe even surgery… Cynthia stopped as she felt tears well up in her eyes and become dangerously close to falling like waterfalls out of her eyes. No! Stop! I can't think of warren! I can't, Cynthia thought as she struggled to think past Warren's long term suffering! Her thoughts wandered to Morgan Brody! The two of them had gone to Huntington Beach High School together and had had a lot of classes together and became good friends. Both had done key club together and had become the best of friends. But that was where the activities stopped. Cynthia had been on song team and as a senior was the song team captain and Morgan had been an active member in the science club and had participated on the girls basketball team. Yet despite having different activities the girls had remained friends, best friends. After they graduated high school both tried to stay friends but eventually after a year or so went their separate ways. Morgan became a CSI with Los Angeles and Cynthia Delaney went onto open her own wedding planning business. When Warren and Cynthia moved to Vegas for Warren's cancer treatment and they found out Morgan was their next-door neighbor due to transferring to the Vegas crime lab to work, as a CSI Cynthia had been ecstatic! And the girls got caught up on old times! And Morgan had been a super big help with Skylar when Warren was going through treatment! Sometimes she wished Morgan could be the adoptive parent. However, Morgan did not believe in raising children the way Cynthia did. Cynthia and Warren throughout Skylar's life had led a non vaccinating holistic life style, no well checks, and no conventional medicine used, and as a result had made a will where the parents who fit that life style description would be the guardians of Skylar once both of them had passed on. Their friends, Stacy and Joshua MacIntosh, who lived in Jupiter, Florida, fit the non-vaccinating and holistic, homeopathic lifestyle. They would take the children and that was final. Yet so far neither of them were dying today so that was not a worrisome concern! However, in her will she did have a 1,000 page plus practical manual of how she wanted Skylar raised.

"Yorkshire!" yelled the conductor, jolting Cynthia out of her thoughts.

The tube station car stopped abruptly and the doors opened. Cynthia tumbled out of the car to be greeted by an ecstatic and enthusiastic Stephanie.

"Hey Chick! Welcome to Yorkshire!"

Stephanie and Cynthia embraced in a long and warm and wonderful hug, just glad to be back together and catching up!

"How have you been?"

"I've been good! Married life treating me well. Warren is sick though with cancer of the liver so that's been hard on Skylar and me has been just as cheeky and mischievous as ever! Business is good though and I was able to expand the wedding business to Vegas this year. How are you?"

"I've been good! Still single! No bloke for me! Just having fun and living! I don't know if I'll ever marry! Anyway figured Skylar was still full of the bloody dickens! So sorry about Warren! Perhaps English New Castle beer will wipe away thoughts of Warren! Anyways, enough talk! Lets rock and roll and PARTY!"

Both girls whooped and cheered and hurried away to the Yorkshire man for a round of drinks!

The Yorkshire Man Pub was crowded and noisy and smelled of stale beer, old cheese, and sweat! It made Cynthia nauseous when first taking it in but eventually her senses adjusted. Two flat screen TV's were on either side of the bar and showed the world cup soccer game between Great Britain and Croatia. Great Britain scored a goal and every Englishman at the bar whooped and cheered. The bar was a wooden counter and had wooden chairs around it. There were small wooden round tables and wooden chairs around them. Saw dust covered the floor of the pub and behind the wooden counter was Elliot, Stephanie's younger brother serving lagers and pale ale in large frosted beer glasses. Lagers and pale ale were two popular alcoholic beverages at Yorkshire Man. Cynthia didn't care for beer so she got just a cherry soda, no alcohol. Stephanie guzzled her Pale ale down quickly and Cynthia and Stephanie approached the bar.

"Hey whose this lady?" Elliot asked teasingly.

"Hey stranger! It's me Cynthia! Look at you! Best guy in the room! Serving the drinks!" Cynthia gave Elliot a big hug.

"I know! How have you been?" Elliot asked

"I've been good! Except for now. Warren's sick with cancer and I'm just so worried about him. I ache just knowing he's going through so much!" Cynthia cried, and the tears started again as they had in the tube station car.

Elliot gently dried her eyes, a worried and pained look on his face and said, "Cynthia that's awful. I'm so sorry! All my prayers to you!"

"Thanks Elliot!" Cynthia said tearfully, with a watery smile.

"Cynthia stop blubbering! Really! No use in worrying about Warren! He wanted you to take this trip so you can forget your troubles and live! Elliot get her a New Castle to forget her troubles about Warren being sick with cancer!" Stephanie ordered, before Cynthia could say anything else.

"Steph! That's okay really!"

No! You need to relax and forget your problems and live for one night! You'll be glad you did!" Stephanie said. "And guzzle don't sip!"

Cynthia Delaney drank the new Castle beer down, guzzling it the way Stephanie said. Afterwards she felt sickened by the taste of the beer but free! Unbelievably free! She had another tall beer glass and another and another and once she was drowning in drunkenness there was no turning back! It was a party in the UK!

Detective Clive Wragg had just clocked in for his shift at the Yorkshire Police station.

"How's' the ruckus on the streets tonight?" Detective Wragg asked Detective Smythe.

"Quiet and calm, nothing to report," Detective Smyth said casually.

"Ah! Good night it's going to be then! Well, I'll be on my rounds. Cheerio!"

Back at the Yorkshire man however, a sleazy, grubby looking guy sauntered into the Yorkshire Man like he owned the joint. He had tousled dark hair, gruff facial hair, and worn jeans and a scruffy wife beater top stained with sweat. His eyes were evil and almost demonic as he walked in. Elliot sucked in his breath as he got a whiff of the guy, smelling like sewer.

He nudged to Patty O'Malley, his Irish friend from Belfast who had recently moved to Yorkshire, whispering, "This guys a real winner! Up to no good no doubt!"

"Agreed!" Patty whispered back as he poured a round of lagers.

Meanwhile Cynthia and Stephanie were falling down drunk dancing on table tops and making spectacles of themselves to the other guests.

" I want to order a drink for the lady over there!" the gruffy, sewer smelling man said, pointing to Cynthia.

"Sure." Patty said calmly, but as he poured the drinks he got an uneasy feeling about this guy. His eyes were piercing and scary and dark and evil, all rolled into one, like he was up to no good. He had an American accent, indicating he was foreign to them, like Cynthia herself.

"Hey I've been watching you," the gruff guy said. "You dance amazing! How about another drink!"

"No, I've quite had enough for tonight," Cynthia laughed while stumbling uncoordinatedly all over the place, nearly falling over.

"Aww come on it's just one drink! And then I'll even take you home."

"I said no!"

The gruff guy grabbed her butt and squeezed it then forced the drink into her hand.

Cynthia pushed away and said, angrily, " I told you I don't want it!"

At that point he started feeling up her breasts and kneeing her private playfully but Cynthia was not in the mood!

"I said no! What are you doing! Get away from me you creep!"

The gruff guy got rough and slammed Cynthia against a wall, wrenching her arms behind her, forcing her to drink.

"STOP IT! I SAID NO!" Cynthia yelled, starting to sob uncontrollably.

The gruff guy continued to push her against the wall and tried to take a swing at her face she ducked and his fist slammed into the wall. She hid under the table . Finally Patty and Elliot jumped over the bar counter, lunged at the man, ripped him up to his feet and threw him out.

"Are you okay?" Elliot asked.

"I think so!" Cynthia said shakily. "C-can I go home?"

"Sure, do you want patty or myself to go with you back to Stephanie's flat?" Elliot asked.

"No I'll be fine getting the cabby or the bus on my own," Cynthia said.

"Are you sure? You've had a lot to drink," Patty commented.

"I'll be okay, I just wanna throw up and leave," Cynthia replied.

After Cynthia had thrown up numerous times she bid everyone goodbye, telling Stephanie she'd see her at home in a few minutes, and headed for the waiting cabby out front. As she climbed in, though, Elliot couldn't help but feel that something awful was about to happen and that everything was definitely not right in their world tonight.

Clive Wragg walked about his beat, feeling bored and useless. Nothing to report so he went to his white and blue police car and started reading The Guardian to get caught up on the latest news. Night time passed, no crimes reported, and before Detective Wragg knew it, morning was upon him and the sun, acting as though it were a personal alarm clock rose to greet Detective Wragg, as if to say, "Good morning! Shift is all over! YAY! YAY! Time to go home hooray!"

Detective Wragg looked at his watch, "7 AM! Quitting time!"

When Detective Wragg got to the Yorkshire police station he made his way to the break room where the time clock was, he was almost to the break room to clock out, when a heavy set young woman with a white v-neck t-shirt that said Yorkshire Man across it, blue jeans, and sneakers, with short ginger hair and blue eyes ran into the police station looking distraught and distressed.

"I need to talk to the Detectives on Duty!" she said frantically. "I need help! My American friend is missing!"

"Miss when did she go missing?" Detective Smyth asked.

"Last night she said she'd see me at my flat and she never showed up!" the woman wailed.

"Alright, alright miss calm down. Unless she's missing 48 hours, there's very little the Yorkshire Police can do!"

At that point the woman went white with fury.

"Bleeding Christ! We're talking about my friend who has a husband dying of cancer and a 3 and a half year old daughter to raise, who may become an orphan if she isn't found right away and alive! Doesn't anyone hear me?" the woman screamed hysterically.

At that point, Detective Wragg, who had watched the whole scene unfold came forward and said, "I hear you miss. What's the problem?"

"My American friend is missing! She said she'd be at my flat in a few minutes and never showed! Something horrible has happened! I know it!"

"Well now that was only hours ago, why would you jump to those conclusions?" Detective Wragg asked.

"For two reasons. The first is that a sleezy guy came in and got rough with her and had to be thrown out. Second, this message came to me this morning on my phone."

The woman played the message and a frantic female voice with an American accent spoke, "Stephanie! Stephanie! I, I, I'm in trouble! Big trouble! I I got out of the cab and am running on foot to the flat! I, I'll call you when I reach there."

"She never called. That was hours ago!"

"Perhaps she just fell asleep and forgot to call."

"Detective my friend would never do that. She'd never leave her friends and family to wonder. I know she wouldn't. If she's in trouble she'd call! Something bad has happened! I know it!"

"Do you have a photo of your friend? What is her name?" Detective Wragg asked.

"Her name is Cynthia Delaney and this is a recent picture she sent me from America when they did their family portrait."

A young woman with long blond hair, blue eyes, and an innocent, delicate face stood in a beach background, smiling a white, sweet smile, wearing a navy blue and whit polka dot dress with a white collar that looked like it came from the 1950's with navy blue slickbacks. Next to her, was a man in casual blue pants, black short sleeved shirt and sandals. In front of them was a little girl in pigtails with blond hair and blue eyes just like her mother, smiling back, in a dress matching her moms'.

"I'll have Detectives look at the flat. What's your name?" Detective Wragg asked.

"Stephanie Whittingham," the woman replied, "I live with my grandmother, Emily Bennett Whittingham and my brother Elliot Whittingham."

"What's yours and any other persons numbers who witnessed what happened at the Yorkshire Man?"

After Stephanie gave Detective Wragg the phone numbers of her, Elliot, and Patty, the last people to see her alive and witnesses to the harassment from the scruffy guy at the bar, Detective Wragg replied, "what did the man who gave her trouble look like?"

Stephanie gave him the description while a sketch artist drew the description ever so carefully. When the artist was done, Detective wragg turned the picture to Stephanie and asked, "Is this what he looked like?"

Stephanie nodded yes and the picture went in the file along with Cynthia's picture.

"What was your friend wearing and what was she last carrying with her? A purse? Anything?"

"She was wearing a white and blue checkered dress above the knee. Her hair was in a blond ponytail and she had cute blue tennis shoes on."

The detective took all this down.

"How old is she?"

"She is thirty."

"I'll put out a notice on the news with her picture and the man who attacked her last night's picture and we'll talk to witnesses and see if we can't get to the bottom of this."

Emily Bennett Whittingham sat at home patiently crocheting, watching the BBC news, and looking at her photo albums of the days when she stayed at her American Host family, the McIntire's home back during the blitz in England in World War II, which had forced her to come to America. She looked carefully and longingly at Molly, one of the younger McIntire children. The two of them were dressed in matching blue skirts, white blouses, and blue sweaters, skating on one roller skate, and walking their imaginary dogs, without a care in the world. Another picture showed them at Molly's tenth birthday in matching white dresses. That year they had had an English tea party together. There they were, holding their real dogs they got for their birthdays, Yank and Bennett and smiling from ear to ear. Emily wondered how Molly was doing these days. Last she'd heard, Molly had retired from Nursing at the VA hospital in Jefferson, IL., and went onto do volunteer nursing at a medical clinic in Jefferson and even more recently had used her nursing skills to help with a PTSD case involving a sexual assault victim at a treatment facility in Las Vegas called Project Hope. It had been a severely brutal case and the female victim, Jessie Parker, was quite traumatized. To make matters worse the man who had done the assault had recently escaped from prison and was on the loose. Tragic really. Emily sighed. Well as tragic as it was it was going to keep Molly busy helping Jessie put her life back together, Emily thought disappointedly. Emily missed Molly and wished she could see her again. Perhaps she should call her again. Emily picked up her phone and was just about to dial Molly's number… when… a news flash on the BBC news caught her attention. It was a blurb concerning Cynthia's disappearance and the man at the bar.

Stephanie, who had gotten home a little bit ago from reporting Cynthia missing, noticed the BBC blurb about Cynthia missing.

"And if anyone has any information on the whereabouts of Cynthia Delaney or the man in the photo please call the Yorkshire police at 0800 555 111," the TV blared.

"What is it?" Stephanie asked, with rapt curiosity.

"I've seen a picture of that man before," Emily replied.

"WHAT?" Stephanie gasped.

Yorkshire detectives called around and interviewed witnesses and tracked down the cab that took Cynthia to the Whittingham's apartment. An interview of the cab driver that dropped Cynthia off indicated that Cynthia had been dropped off near an alley not far from the apartment she was staying at. In the alley where Cynthia was last seen one detective noticed a denim purse that had been ditched there and the contents inside revealed a small brush with hair on it for a DNA sample and a wallet with ID to indicate it was Cynthia Delaney's, which meant she definitely had been there.

"I've got blood over here," one detective motioned to the others working the case, indicating the drops of red behind a dumpster, and photographing them. Another investigator collected it and prepared to send it to the lab for DNA testing.

A couple investigators motioned for Clive to come over to street area outside the alley.

"We've got tire tracks of a car speeding away," an investigator replied, photographing the tire tracks.

The investigators continued to search the alley but other than spots of blood at the scene, Cynthia's denim purse, which was snagged, indicating a struggle, and the tire tracks the investigators were coming up empty. Back in the lab forensics lab techs processed the evidence.

"Sir," Shay, one of the criminalists said to Detective Wragg, "the DNA from the blood spatter found at the scene indicates that it is Cynthia Delaney's when compared with the hair sample from the brush in her purse. Also the spatter pattern in the photos indicates she was hit with a large object over the head."

"great find out what weapon was used to cause the blunt force trauma, good work," Detective Wragg replied.

Shay did as such and tested several objects: bat, tire iron, pipe, crow bar, and also rock to see which one was the weapon. Meanwhile Laura, another investigator looked through several photographs of tire marks, comparing them to the ones found at the scene. Finally, after almost giving up, she found a match. She then researched the tires and the cars they fitted until she came up with information to present to Detective Wragg.

"Clive!" She replied excitedly, "I found out which tires are the ones that match our tracks. They're 185/65 R15. These tires fit mainly Nissan note hatchbacks."

"Perfect. Find out if there have been any Nissan Note Hatchbacks with those tires have been reported stolen in the last 24 hours. Also check with any rental car places that rented a Nissan note hatch back in the last 24 hours. In either case show Jeremy's picture and see if they recognize him."

"Clive!" Shay said, "I found what murder weapon was used. It was a crow bar."

"Thank you Shay," Detective Wragg said and then addressed to the whole room, "Alright team, we're going to go back to the crime scene and see if we can't look again and locate the murder weapon. And any other piece of evidence."

"Detective Wragg," Detective Smyth replied, "There's a phone call for you."

"Detective Smyth we're going back to the crime scene to get more evidence, can't it wait?" Detective Wragg asked.

"Trusted me Clive, you're a dumb bloke if you don't take this call," Detective Smyth replied.

"Alright but this better be good," Detective Wragg replied, taking the phone. "Hello?"

"Hello, Detective Wragg, I'm Emily Whittingham, and I recognize the man in the photo that came in Yorkshire man harassing Cynthia that was seen in the news."

Detective Wragg was so surprised he almost dropped the phone. Seeing his surprised look Detective Smyth replied, "told you you wanted to take the call."

"Alright you have my attention Mrs. Whittingham," Clive replied.

" The bloke in the photo sketch in the news is an exact match to a rapist that my nurse friend Molly said was caught and put in prison for raping her patient with PTSD. He escaped from Prison a few weeks ago and hasn't been seen since."

Okay do you have a name for the person and a prison from which he escaped from?" Detective Wragg asked.

"Yes, the man that escaped from prison who raped my friend's patient, Jessica Parker, is named Jeremy Kline. He raped Jessica in Vegas and was put in Clark County correction center, which is where he escaped from."

"Thank you Ms. Whittingham, that's a big help," Detective Wragg replied.

Back at the crime scene forensic investigators worked vigorously to find the murder weapon but to no avail. Finally Detective Wragg urged his investigators to expand the search. The search continued on for several blocks outside the realm but to no avail. Finally about a couple miles out from the original crime scene an investigator found a crow bar. The crow bar was bagged and taken back to the lab for processing. The crow bar was dusted for prints and several partials and fulls were discovered. There was blood on the end of the crow bar which was swabbed for DNA and blood found on the end. The blood was processed and compared to Cynthia Delaney's and came up as a match.

"This is definitely the murder weapon," Shay replied. Shay ran the prints against all systems he could think of in the UK area and came up dry. "No match on the prints," he finally replied.

"That's because the suspect we're looking for is an American, he won't be in our system. His name is Jeremy Kline. He escaped from prison in the States two weeks ago for raping and torturing a Vegas show girl," Detective Wragg explained. "Run it against the American Data bases and see what you get. If this is our suspect we will need to call the Vegas crime lab immediately."

Shay ran the prints against the FBI databases and the Nevada database and came up with a positive match.

"Detective Wragg sir, these prints belong to a Jeremy Kline. It's exactly like you said."

"We need to call the Vegas Crime lab immediately," Detective Wragg replied. "And get this on American news in addition to it already being on British news. We need everyone in both the United Kingdom and The United States on high alert."

"Morgan I want you to stay and play more tea party with me," Skylar replied. "Please!"

"Sky I have to go to work okay? But we'll play tea party when I get home! And I promise I'll wear my old prom dress and mommy's old prom queen crown so I can be a princess too and you can wear your Princess Sofia costume!"

"Awwwww! No fair! Want you to pway now!" Skylar said, pouting.

"Skylar let Morgan go. You've played with her enough," Warren replied weakly as he looked up from his bed. He felt nauseated and headachy and sore all over and groggy, with his hair coming out in droves and making him almost bald. The chemo was wearing him down and he had another round tommorow. He didn't know how he would survive it but he had to be strong for Skylar and his wife. They were the two loves of his life and he didn't want to let them down.

"Bye Warren. I'll see you tomorrow morning to bring you to your chemo appointment. Are you sure you're gonna be alright and able to handle Skylar?" Morgan asked.

"yea, yea I'll be fine, just go. I should be hearing from Cynthia any day now. I mean sheesh you'd think my wife would have the courtesy to call me but I guess she's having the time of her life and just forgot."

"I'm sure that's all it is. Well I'm going to work. I'll see you later," Morgan replied.

"Alright young lady time for bed," Warren said. He got up slowly and steadily and helped Skylar into her Princess Sofia nightgown. However, even though he was too weak from the cancer treatments to even go up the stairs he climbed them for Skylar, taking breaks every now and then when he got tired, so he could read her her princess sofia story and kiss her goodnight.

"Lets go dada, so we can read story and I can get kiss good night," Skylar said.

Eventually Warren was able to go up the stairs and he read Skylar her Princess Sofia book and kissed her goodnight. After he was sure she was asleep he descended down the stairs and back to his easy chair in the family room. The treatments were tough on him and worse off, they were only to prolong his life. The doctor told him there was very little else they could do for him. The cancer had spread too far to be operated on and that he only had a short time to live and had to get his affairs in order. He hadn't told Cynthia or anyone that he was terminal. Especially since Cynthia had purchased those tickets for London. He hadn't wanted to discourage her from going. This trip was a big deal and she had wanted to see Stephanie so bad! Speaking of which, what was up with his wife? Why hadn't she called him to let him know she had arrived in London safely? It was so odd and unlike her not to call. Oh well, Warren sighed, must have just forgotten. Warren turned on the TV and watched "I Love Lucy" on TV Land and tried to fall asleep but deep down inside he couldn't help feeling that something was very wrong concerning his wife.

When Morgan got to work she looked at her watch. Skylar had kept her playing a little longer than she anticipated. She quickly clocked in and took her seat next to Greg in the conference room. D.B. Russell, her boss, was already talking in detail about a big case and going over evidence. Although Morgan couldn't see what the evidence was, the case box marked Jessica Parker was out.

"What's going on? Why is Jessica's rape case box out?" Morgan asked Greg.

"Russell received a call this morning from, get this, Yorkshire, England police department. A suspect matching Jeremy Kline was found to be implicated in the disappearance of Cynthia Delaney."

"Wait, did you just say Cynthia Delaney?" Morgan asked

"Yea," Greg said. "Why?"

"Cynthia was on a trip to England. The girl he took is her," Morgan replied.

"You know her?" Greg asked.

"Yes. I went to high school with her. I'm helping take care of her little girl while she's away and helping Warren get to doctor's appointments at the VA Hospital in Las Vegas."

"Oh my God! I have to call Warren and tell him!" Morgan exclaimed. "Before he left he was worried because she hadn't called."

"Chances are he'll hear it on the news. Your dad, Sheriff Ecklie, is putting her picture and the sketch sent over via email from Yorkshire police on our local news to see if anyone knows her whereabouts or Jeremy's to contact them. Going back to the case, forensic investigators found a crow bar was used to hit Cynthia over the head based on blood spatter found at the scene and the prints they found on it they ran in our system due to a caller who said she recognized the suspect in the picture as being the rapist of the girl her friend was treating at project hope in Las Vegas, i.e. Jessica Parker, and the prints on the crow bar matched Jeremy's and the blood at the scene and on the crow bar matched Cynthia's when compared with a hair sample they ran against it found on a brush in a purse with her ID. Yorkshire Police called Russell and they compared evidence and our abduction MO evidence from Jessica was consistent with the abduction evidence found at their scene because Jeremy's signature was a blow to the head to knock unconscious and then abduct," Greg whispered.

Morgan's heart sank. What if they didn't find Cynthia alive? What if Skylar lost her mother? What if she lost both her parents because Warren's cancer got worse? No, no, Morgan, shake that from your head, Morgan told herself, we'll find her and we'll find her alive. Warren's cancer won't get worse. Just stop! Think positive.

"You okay?" Greg asked.

"Fine," Morgan said , shaking herself back to reality. "Do we have any leads on the case on either end as to finding Cynthia's body?"

"No not yet," Greg replied.

Morgan let out a disappointed sigh. She was hoping that there had been some shred of evidence that would link Jeremy to his whereabouts or at least lead them to Cynthia Delaney to know if she was alive or dead.

"Hey look, don't worry. We'll find her. Sometimes cases like this happen. Where we have all the evidence we just don't have that one lead yet that ties it all together," Greg said,"we'll find Cynthia. I promise."

"Alive or dead?" Morgan replied.

"Morgan, sometimes you need to think positive and hope that things turn out okay," Greg replied. "Now come on we have a liquor store robbery/homicide to go to. So lets try to get through that case and not focus on the one with Cynthia Delaney. After we're done we'll come back and we'll find out if there are any new evidence coming in or leads on the case. Okay?"

"Alright," Morgan replied as she grabbed her kit and headed for the liquor store crime scene.

Meanwhile back in England, Detective Wragg and his investigative team continued to work the case but kept coming empty. No new leads. Nothing. Then, all of a sudden, Detective Smyth came running into Detective Wragg's office excitedly.

"Detective Wragg," Detective Smyth replied, "I have a lead on that Nissan Note hatchback. A Yorkshire mother, Nicola Weston, reported a Nissan Note hatchback that got stolen from her at knife point a some hours before Cynthia Delaney's disappearance at the Yorkshire market parking lot. Her license plate is WYMUM122484 and is a 2000 grey colored four door Nissan note hatch back. Her address is at 145 Huckstable Blvd. West Yorkshire."

"Good work Detective Smyth. Lets go interview her and find out what happened and show her Jeremy and Cynthia's pictures. And also put out a bulletin to keep on the lookout for a gray four door 2000 Nissan Note Hatch Back with the license plate number WYMUM122484. "

"Will do sir!" Detective Smyth replied.

At Nicola's house Detective Smyth showed her the picture of Jeremy, "is this the man who car jacked you?"

"Yes sir."

"Tell me what happened," Detective Smyth said.

"I was shopping and buying groceries with my two year old son Addie at about 8 last night. I wasn't in there more than a hour and a half and then I came out with my wares and was walking to my car when someone, a male judging by the large, shadowy figure and his voice came up behind me and put his arm around my neck and held a knife to my throat. He told me to give him the keys to my car or he would slit my throat and he would proceed to kill my 2 year old poppet. I did what he said, because I didn't want trouble. However, I did look up to respond to him and I saw his face. Tis a face you don't forget. Looked exactly like the picture and I also remember him by his distinct smell."

"What was the smell like?" Detective Smyth asked.

" Like the nastiest bloody sewer rat I ever seen or smelled. Yes sir," Nicola said.

What happened after he took your keys and got in the car?" Detective Smyth questioned.

"He drove off heading due north I'd say."

"Thank you, Ms. Weston," Detective Smyth replied as he dialed Detective Wragg's number on his cell phone. The phone rang for several minutes before Detective Wragg answered.

"Hello," Detective Wragg replied.

"Clive, the man who car jacked Nicola is Jeremy Kline. She said that his face in the photo was what she saw and the she said he smelled like sewer, consistant with what Patty, the bar tender said Jeremy smelled like, back at Yorkshire man. Except Nicola said that he drove the car due north which is totally in the opposite direction of where Yorkshire man is."

"Perhaps where he drove to prior to coming to Yorkshire Man is the primary crime scene where he was going to take Cynthia after abducting her. After all it happened at 2 in the morning giving him plenty of time to get to prepare for what he was plotting, drive to Yorkshire man, harass Cynthia, and then follow her and abduct her in the dark alley and drive her back. Have officers search for the car going due north and perhaps we can find the missing car and the crime scene and Cynthia or at least one of the three."

Back at home Warren couldn't sleep. He kept thinking about Cynthia. Why hadn't she called him? Was she mad at him? Was she having such a good time she forgot? Or was something else wrong? He woke up after an hour of tossing and turning and turned on the TV. The channel 7 late night news was on and he watched it with mild interest. After several minutes he was just about to turn off the TV when a blurb went across the screen.

"If anyone has any information on the whereabouts of Jeremy Kline or the disappearance of Cynthia Delaney please contact the LVPD at this number at 702-555-7979," The newscaster announced, "LVPD is working hard with Yorkshire police in England to bring Cynthia Delaney home to her family. So if you have any information regarding this case please make the call."

Immediately Warren got up and called Stephanie.

"What is this about my wife disappearing?" Warren demanded. "Where is she? Why didn't you call me? What the hell were you thinking? What is running through your head? I've waited for her call to know she was okay and she went missing and you didn't even call me about it? Do you know how worried I've been waiting for my phone call from her? What the hell?" Warren yelled angrily.

"Warren I'm sorry," Stephanie sobbed. "It's just I thought with your cancer and all you didn't need to worry. I figured she'd be found right away and everything would be fine. I didn't think I needed to."

"Didn't need to? She's my wife Stephanie! I wanna know when something happens. Do you have any idea how upset I am right now?"

"Yes I do. I'm so so sorry! I don't know what I was thinking. I guess I just figured she'd be found and this would be over with fast. Or that she just wanted to get away! I feel awful! I should've had patty take her home. I should've done more when Jeremy was harassing her at the pub."

"Jeremy harassed her at the pub? And you didn't take her home? What the hell kind of friend are you?" Warren fumed.

"Warren again I'm sorry, I, I don't know what else to say other than I'm sorry," Stephanie cried.

"You should be sorry! I can't believe you! I just hope and pray she's at least found alive," Jeremy yelled worriedly into the phone.

"Me too, Warren, me too," Stephanie continued to sob. Warren fumed in silence for a few minutes more before he spoke again, giving himself a minute to calm down. He shouldn't have called Stephanie angry like this but he just didn't know what else to do other than panic. Then all of a sudden a thought occurred to him and he knew what to do.

"Look, I'll call you later," Warren replied, having calmed a bit after his melt down. "There's something I need to take care of. Bye Steph."

Warren picked up his phone and dialed a number. The phone rang a few minutes before a male voice on the other end answered.

"Hello," the male voice replied.

"Hey it's Warren. The news said that if there was any information on the case to call it in to LVPD. I need you to disclose the information you found for me alright. I know you and your wife are in town because your little girl is performing in a benefit performance for Project Hope. I'm too weak from chemo to go and I have to stay here with Skylar. If you could do this one thing I'd really appreciate it."

"Don't worry I will," the male voice said.

"Thanks," Warren said, "talk to you soon. Bye."

Morgan and Greg came in from the liquor store robbery/homicide they were working together and were just about to go process their evidence when they noticed a dark haired, blue eyed man in a gray suit waiting at the desk.

"Can we help you?" Morgan asked.

"I'm here to see D.B. Russell," the man replied in a New York accent. "I saw on the news about the Cynthia Delaney case that if somebody had any information to call in. Well Warren saw the blurb too and he called me and told me to come in and give you some information that I had collected."

"And who are you exactly?" Greg asked.

"Donald Flack Jr., Warren and Cynthia Delaney's private investigator. I have information that might be helpful to the case. So is Mr. Russell around?"

"Sure, I'll go get him," Morgan replied.

Morgan knocked on the door to D.B. Russell's office, a million questions running through her mind. Why had Cynthia Delaney called a private investigator? What happened to make Cynthia and Warren investigate information on something? Was Jeremy stalking Cynthia? How did this connect to her disappearance? What was going on?

"Hey kiddo what's up? Come on in," D.B. replied as he answered his office door, interrupting Morgan's thoughts.

"A man outside named Donald Flack wants to see you. He says he's a private investigator that the Delaney's hired and he has information on Cynthia Delaney's disappearance and possible whereabouts."

"Show him in Morgan," DB replied.

"Okay," Morgan said.

Morgan went back out to Mr. Flack and told him DB would see him. After showing him into Russell's office Morgan left to go work on the evidence processing with Greg from the liquor store robbery.

As Donald flack made himself comfortable in one of DB's cushy office chairs DB got right down to business.

"So I understand you have information on the Delaney disappearance and Jeremy Kline our escaped rapist," DB said.

"That's correct."

"Then why don't we start first with me asking you one thing."

"What's that?"

"Why would Cynthia and Warren Delaney hire a private investigator?"

"Let me start out by saying that before I was a private investigator I was a Detective with NYPD whom they couldn't afford anymore so they laid me off. When I was laid off my wife Cecilia and myself weren't making enough to pay our mortgage so I went into private investigation work. When Cynthia and Warren found out I was going into that line of work they immediately came to me for help, giving me my first job, which was quite a lump sum of money and enough to make my mortgage on my house in Bronxville for a few months."

"Sounds like they were desperate. What was the assignment they had for you?"

"Well for the last several days Cynthia was being harassed by a stalker from a mysterious number that she didn't recognize. She tried to ignore the calls but the stalker, an unknown male, just kept calling and leaving threatening messages. Finally, after the stalker's threats became unbearable she turned to me to try to find the perp and put a stop to it. I tried to trace the number that called on the cell phone but was unsuccessful. A corrections officer, Neil Salerno, and friend of mine, who transferred to Nevada state corrections in Clark County at the prison Jeremy Kline was at, from New York, who knew I was working the case, was able to trace the number. It was during a random cell inspection brought on by Jeremy Kline having a cell phone from a mysterious package that corrections had already confiscated. Needless to say, they reconfiscated the cell phone from Jeremy. Neil noticed the phone Jeremy was talking on was the phone I was trying to trace due to Cynthia Delaney's number coming up on the phone, leading me to the conclusion Jeremy was the stalker. However, there was another mysterious number on the phone as well. The package the phone came in had Jeremy's name and prison address on it, which led to Jeremy possibly expecting the package from someone on the outside. The package itself had no trace of who sent it, and it was untraceable due to no return address."

"That's ridiculous. How did the phone end up in Jeremy's cell if the package was confiscated?"

" Neil couldn't figure out how the phone ended up in Jeremy's cell. It wasn't until after the outbreak from prison when Jeremy escaped that Neil learned someone via computer was hacking into the prison system and manipulating the cell doors and systems, so that Jeremy could have easy access to confiscated package and possible escape routes."

"I remember about the prison computer and security system being hacked. I also know that when my team traced the hacker, the Wifi signal was from a public place and couldn't be traced to any one user.

Any idea what the conversations were about with the anonymous number on the phone?"

"Neil said there's so much activity going on in the prison he couldn't really catch much, if any, of the conversation between the two and about the only thing he really saw or noticed as suspicious was the fact that Jeremy was talking on the confiscated cell phone, which as I said, led to the random cell inspection and he didn't really notice it until several days after the stalking threats and problems had started. My guess is it was about escape routes and a plan to get out of the prison and actually meet Cynthia and have his way with her. Somebody was definitely helping on the outside, but who, or why, or how I couldn't begin to tell you."

"But how did Jeremy get to London? And how did he know Cynthia was going to London?"

"More than likely the caller told him Cynthia was going to London and where she was going to be and at what time. At first I thought it was someone she knew but then Cynthia and Warren said their facebook profile had been hacked just before she left for London and reported the claims of Jeremy watching her outside her house. When I investigated who was doing the hacking I found a public location where Wifi was being used but not able to trace it. Just like you guys weren't able to trace the hacker in the prison computer hacking crime due to usage of public wifi. And it was a different public Wifi place everytime."

"This doesn't make any sense. Why weren't the police notified about the stalking?"

"Warren and Cynthia did notify the police but they said it wasn't a crime to send messages or make phone calls and did nothing, which is why she came to me and had me investigate. When Neil and I told the police after we found Jeremy's phone from the prison cell search, that it was Jeremy that was stalking her the police did nothing because Jeremy was in prison and there was no way he could get out. Finally, hours after reporting Jeremy stalking on the phone Jeremy escaped from prison and after the escape of Jeremy the police said they would look into the case after several claims from Cynthia that she saw someone who looked freakishly like Jeremy outside her window watching her but it was one of those that conveniently fell between the cracks because there was no trace of Jeremy ever being at her or around her house or any trace that he was left in the area period to back up her claims and so it was written off as freakish paranoia."

"May I ask what was in those messages to Cynthia from Jeremy?" DB asked.

"Some of the messages were I wanna fuck you up. I know where you live and am gonna sneak in and make love you on the bathroom floor. I'm watching you. You can't run from me, I'll find you. I see what you're wearing. You look sexy. That sort of thing. However they got worse, encouraging her to leave Warren and how he could 'take care of' warren for her so he'd be out of the picture. How he was going to chain her up and have rough intercourse and make her suck his dick and she'd be his bitch. It got to the point where she was just consumed by it and couldn't eat or sleep because the messages were getting so scary. There were even messages that stated her address and the exact thing that she was wearing, encouraging her to dress a little sexier."

"How did he know the exact thing she was wearing."

" More than likely the same computer hacker that hacked the prison system and the facebook page hacked into her computer and jacked pics of her selfies that she sent on her cell phone to Warren because Warren mentioned the selfies pictures of her had been hacked too. The cell phone Jeremy got and that the anonymous caller had were disposable cell phones because only the numbers on the phone record were traced but not actual callers."

."What about the voice on the phone? You must have called that anonymous number to see who it was?"

"No I didn't because in Jeremy's escape he took the phone with him probably via last orders of anonymous caller before it was confiscated."

"So whoever is doing this is making it virtually impossible to figure out who they are."

"Exactly."

"Well lets just hope that Yorkshire England is having a better time with their evidence than we are," DB said. "and also I'm gonna need the anonymous number and Cynthia's number in case the police in Yorkshire find it in their search. I also wanna know how the anonymous caller knew Jeremy didn't get the package."

"Serious hacking technology is all I can say. Serious hacking technology," Flack replied as he got up and started to leave and, "Good luck." Before he left he did write the phone numbers down on a pad for DB.

Back in Yorkshire, England investigators sped quickly to the other side of Yorkshire due North as Nicola Weston, the woman with the stolen car had told them to. Just hours earlier their investigators had located Nicola Weston's car. Now they were headed towards it hoping it would lead them to the primary crime scene. When they got there Nicola's car was parked all by its lonesome in an alley way. The doors were opened and an investigation of the car revealed it was empty and devoid of any evidence or so they thought. When Detective Smyth looked down at the break pedal however, he was able to see some trace and collected it to bring back for processing.

"Detective Wragg, sir," Shay shouted to Clive when the evidence was processed, "the trace found on the break pedal is debris from the Stephenson and Bros old mill in Bradford West Yorkshire."

"That mill is only feet from where we found Nicola Weston's car. Lets go Detective Smyth. Bring investigators with us," Detective Wragg replied. "We've found our primary crime scene."

When they got to the mill in West Yorkshire police and investigators hurried through the debris. Investigators scattered all over the mill announcing their presence.

"Jeremy Kline Yorkshire police! Jeremy Kline! Police! Come out with your hands up!"

After several calls and still no response Detective Wragg kicked in an old door closest to where he was. What he saw next made him gasp! Large areas were covered in blood! Blood all over!

"In here! Here's where the crime took place! In here!" The investigators went into the room where Detective Wragg was and photographed the crime scene and swabbed all the blood at the scene and also looked for any other evidence they could find.

"I found the murder weapon over here," Detective Smyth replied, photographing and then bagging a hand saw drenched in blood.

"With all the blood here I doubt whoever was killed, which is more than likely Cynthia Delaney is still alive. Get back to the lab and process this. If the blood is Cynthia Delaney's call Las Vegas Police in the states and tell them we are looking for a body and not Cynthia alive."

"Yes sir," Detective Smyth said.

"Sir! Sir! Over here I found Jeremy Kline!" an investigator called. "He's not alive though. He's dead. Shot in the heart. The weapon used is here in his hand. Possibly murder suicide."

"Bag it and bring it back to the lab," Detective Wragg replied.

Investigators continued to work at the scene and collected and photographed packing tape and storage boxes that looked as though they had not been there the entire time at the abandoned mill. A cell phone found in Jeremy Kline's pocket was photographed and bagged and taken to the lab for processing.

Back at the lab, Laura processed the blood and the murder weapon, and lifted prints off it, which revealed, as Detective Wragg suspected, that the blood at the scene and on the saw was Cynthia Delaney's, but when the prints were compared to Jeremy's they weren't a match. Jeremy Kline's body was autopsied and his clothes processed and it was revealed that a shot to the heart had killed him, however, no bullet was used. The clothes when processed only had Cynthia Delaney's blood on them as suspected. The murder weapon for Jeremy was dusted for prints and the prints were lifted and put through the American system, only to be found not a match to Jeremy's and Jeremy's prints not found at all on the murder weapon. Shay checked all the data bases for finger prints in America and the United kingdom but came up empty. Shay then compared the prints on the saw to the prints on the gun and they came up a match. Meanwhile Laura continued to process blood from the scene and a few drops revealed that the DNA was of an unknown female and not Cynthia. The packing tape and boxes were also processed and prints lifted and ran through all databases and came up dry, but were a match to the prints on the gun and on the saw that killed Cynthia Delaney.

"That's strange," Detective Wragg replied to Laura regarding the DNA. "perhaps another victim. Run it through data bases of missing persons. See what you come up with."

Laura did so but came up with nothing.

Meanwhile Shay had interesting information on the murder weapon and the packing tape and boxes.

"The murder weapon I ran through all gun databases worldwide, in the UK, the EU and the United States only to come up with nothing. A closer look at the weapon reveals that it is homemade gun from some sort of pipe. The boxes had prints on them that matched the prints on the murder weapon and on the saw that killed Cynthia but no hits in any system. The prints on the gun and packing boxes and also the saw that killed Cynthia were not a match to Jeremy's."

"Process that cell phone and see what you come up with and can get a trace on it," Detective Wragg replied.

"Yes sir," Shay said. Shay processed the cell phone Jeremy Kline had. He dusted for prints and lifted them. The prints on the cell phone all were Jeremy's. The numbers on the phone were to one anonymous number and another was to Cynthia Delaney's cell phone, as discovered when he called both numbers. The anonymous one, the number was no longer in service. Both numbers had calls made over the last several days. Shay tried to trace the phones but lead to a dead end when he discovered Jeremy's and possibly anonymous caller's were disposable.

"Untraceable and undetectable," Detective Wragg sighed in defeat. "Call Vegas Police and reveal what we've found."

"Package for Miss Jessica Parker," Nurse Molly McIntire said, smiling at Jessie, as she came into Jessie's room at Project Hope

carrying afternoon psych medications in a cup and a rather heavy package.

"A package for me? Wow, wonder what's in it? It certainly is heavy." Jessica exclaimed as Nurse Molly McIntire handed her the box and she took it and placed it on her bed.

"Well open it and find out," Molly laughed, "just make sure you take your meds first, since your psychotherapy this morning put you behind schedule."

"Any idea who it's from Nurse Molly?" Jessie inquired.

"Interestingly enough, no," Molly said, "strange but they didn't put a return address on it or a name."

"Hmm, weird. Wonder how it got past security," Jessie mused.

"More than likely they assumed you knew the person. I'm curious. Open it," Nurse Molly encouraged.

Jessie took her meds and then opened the package. Inside were several wrapped packages with maggots crawling all over them and a stench that was so bad it made both Molly and Jessie cough and almost throw up. There was a typed note inside, which said, Keep quiet or this could be you. Chills ran all through Jessie. Her stomach sank and a horrible gut feeling struck her. Whatever this package was it wasn't anything good.

"Mmmmolly I think this is from Jeremy," Jessie said in a frightened voice. "Look at the note. I don't wanna even open it. You open it."

Molly opened the first wrapped parcel and gasped at what she saw. Inside the wrapped paper was the severed arm of a woman with a naval wedding ring on her finger.

"Don't open the rest of the package Jessie. I'm calling the police."

"Alright, if there's any new leads on the case on this end, I'll call you. Glad I could help by telling you about the cell phones and the computer hacker that hacked the Delaney's information. Take care," DB Russell replied as he hung up with Yorkshire police.

"What's going on?" Julie Finlay, DB's assistant supervisor said.

"Yorkshire police just called me. They found a car had been hijacked from a local resident and they traced it and found it abandoned just feet away from the primary crime scene. Trace found inside the car lead them to the primary crime scene, which was an old mill in Bradford West Yorkshire, Stephenson and Bros mill. They found blood mainly belonging to Cynthia all over the scene. They also found some unknown female blood in small drops at the scene as well. The unknown female DNA they ran through all criminal and missing persons databases but no matches were found. Jeremy Kline had Cynthia's blood on his shirt and there was blood on the saw that killed Cynthia but the prints on the murder weapon that killed Cynthia weren't a match to Jeremy's and weren't in any criminal database. However, the prints on the saw were a match to the homemade gun that killed Jeremy, which by the way also had no trace of his prints on it. Investigators came to the conclusion that Jeremy was redressed quickly and then whoever killed both of them fled the scene to avoid detection. There were several packing boxes and tape found at the scene revealing that the prints on them were the same as on the murder weapons that killed Cynthia and Jeremy. They feel that whoever killed Jeremy Kline and Cynthia is also the one that that was making the anonymous calls to Jeremy and hacking Cynthia Delaney's profile because in their investigation they found a cell phone and when I told Detective Wragg the numbers of anonymous and Cynthia's cell phone number they were a match to what numbers were on the phone Jeremy had. The prints on the phone no surprise were Jeremy's but when they called the anonymous number they got a recorded message that said no longer in service, which means whoever belongs to the phone discontinued use and trashed it. No cell phone other than Jeremy's was found at the scene. Yorkshire police are looking for the cell phone but it's gonna be like finding a needle in a hay stack."

"Wow. Russell, what are we looking at here with this case? The female DNA and unknown prints, another victim? An accomplice? I mean nothing in this case makes any sense. The anonymous caller. The computer hacker who hacked the Delaney's facebook and self pics and the prison system. I mean nothing is connecting together. Who are we chasing?"

"I don't know Jules. What I do know from all the evidence gathered on our side and England's is that Cynthia Delaney was an intended victim, whom whoever this person is wanted Cynthia dead."

"Yea but why? What was the motive? How did they know Jeremy? And most importantly, how did Jeremy get so well funded that he was able to go all the way to England undetected? It's like, we have all the evidence here we just can't link it to anything or anyone."

"Not all the evidence Jules. We still don't have a body yet…..

"Boss! Boss!" Greg yelled, interrupting DB, "A nurse at Project Hope named Molly McIntire just called and said a package with no return address, addressed to Jessica Parker showed up and inside was a typed note saying, 'keep quiet or this could be you.' Inside the box were body parts gift wrapped in tissue paper."

"That's consistent with a box that was sent to Jeremy Kline at the prison. There was no name or return address and inside a cell phone was also gift wrapped in tissue paper," DB replied.

"You think it's the same person?" Julie asked.

"I do. Greg, you and Morgan grab your kits, and head over to Project hope to examine the evidence and tell Nurse McIntire not to touch anymore of the evidence," DB replied.

When Greg and Morgan got to project Hope they immediately started processing the scene and collecting and photographing the evidence.

As Morgan was photographing she noticed something on the victim's finger. "you wanna know what the worst part about this is Greg? This is definitely Cynthia Delaney's arm, see the naval wedding ring? Same as in the photo Stephanie gave Yorkshire police when she reported her missing."

"I have her head here," Greg said, photographing it, "definitely her. Although it's hard to tell at first because of the decomposition. Visible decomposition says that she's been dead about a week at least, easily."

"Greg what am I gonna tell her husband? And her daughter, what am I gonna tell her? What's she gonna think? And what am I gonna do? She was my best friend in high school when I moved to California after my parents divorce. She became like second family. A sister to me. I just, I just can't believe she's gone!" Morgan cried, tears stinging her eyes. "She was going to be the maid of honor in my wedding just like I was hers. I just ca-"

Morgan stopped in the middle of her words and broke down, falling into Greg's arms and just allowing herself to cry, tears flowing down her cheeks like hot, burny waterfalls. She clung to Greg for dear life, as if he was her only safe haven in this time of tragedy. Greg held her tight, rubbing her back.

"It's okay. It's okay," Greg said soothingly.

Morgan continued to cry with wild abandon for several more moments while Greg held her close, continuing to rub her back and comfort her. Finally Morgan composed herself, dried her eyes, and said, "Come on Greg, lets get this evidence to Doc Robbins."

"Do you want me to tell Warren? You've been through a lot seeing your friend's body brutally murdered." Greg asked.

"No I can do it."

"Are you sure? Telling the victim's family is hard enough but when it's someone you know….."

"Greg, I'm sure. I just, it's just something I have to do."

Back at the lab, Doc Robbins examined the body parts and came to his conclusions.

"Death was by exsanguination due to being dismembered," Doc Robbins concluded to Greg, "Also DNA confirms these are Cynthia Delaney's body parts. Take a look at where the chop marks are here and at the flesh where she was cut up."

"There's evidence of blood flow, circulation," Greg said, "she was dismembered alive."

"Exactly, which is why cause of death is exsanguination," Doc Robbins explained.

"That's horrific."

"Horrific is putting it mildly."

Greg compared marks on the bone where Cynthia was cut up to various marks on imitation bones tested by various cutting devices. In the end the marks on Cynthia's bones where she was cut up were consistent with the hand saw that Yorkshire police found at the scene, as was expected. Greg told DB his findings.

"Look at the work of the killer and how she was cut up," DB replied after Greg told him his findings.

"What about it?" Greg asked.

"The cuts are sloppy, hurried, definitely not the work of a pro. A pro would have used a more efficient weapon such as a chain saw that would have made it easier rather than laborious. Which means they worked hard and the harder they work means that they sweat and DNA from the sweat falls on the bones as a result. Swab the bones for DNA and see what you get."

Greg swabbed the bones for DNA and processed it. The profile result he got was shocking.

"Russell! Russell! The DNA Profile I got from the sweat found on her bones is female. The killer is female!" Greg exclaimed.

"Compare it to the DNA profile sent over from Yorkshire police on that unknown DNA sample" DB said.

Greg did so and the female profile Greg found was a match to the female DNA profile from the unknown female DNA found at the scene from the Yorkshire police.

"The killer's female," Greg said.

"Where's Morgan?" DB asked.

"She's breaking the news to Warren, Cynthia's husband," Greg replied.

"Call her and see if she can find out if there were any females whom Cynthia had a beef with who would want her dead," DB said. "And also process the box and see if you can get prints off it. We still have the box from the prison outbreak that the cell phone was sent to Jeremy in."

Greg processed both boxes and dusting for prints and trace. However, no trace was found and the prints found on the box were ran but had no matches in the system.

Compare them to the prints Yorkshire police found," DB said.

Greg did and found the prints were a match to the unknown prints Yorkshire police found on the hand made gun, the hand saw, and the boxes and packing tape. After processing the prints he proceeded to call Morgan.

Morgan rang the doorbell to Warren's Green Valley townhouse. As she stood outside the door, she tried to compose herself. Warren would be so devastated. She couldn't even imagine the half of what he would be thinking. She tried to picture what it would be like to find out that someone you loved and married and was special in your life had been murdered. She couldn't. As she stood outside she grew impatient waiting for Warren to answer, shifting her weight from one standing leg to the other. Her stomach did flip flops and heart felt like a lead weight. She just wanted to get this over with and move on. Why wasn't Warren answering? she thought. She knew his chemotherapy made him slow but sheesh….

"Morgan! Hey come on in! If you're here to see Skylar she's napping right now, so no tea parties," Warren said jokingly, smiling, as he answered the door. His face turned serious when he saw Morgan's distraught face with tears welling on the edges of her eyes.

"Hey, you okay? What's wrong?" Warren asked.

Morgan stood there, swallowing hard, trying to hold back the tears.

"I'm actually not here about that. I'm here for you."

"For me? Morgan, what's wrong?" He asked again, "Did they find my wife? Is she coming home? If she is I'll make something special."

Morgan took a deep breath before she replied shakily, "Warren, Cynthia's not coming home. At least, not alive."

"What? What do you mean not alive," Warren said in a shaky voice. "She's okay isn't she? Please tell me she's okay! Morgan!"

"Warren I can't do that, I can't say she's okay. Warren, I am so sorry…" Morgan's voice trailed off as she started to cry.

"No! Oh my God no! Noooooo! Please no!" Warren started sobbing, falling into Morgan's arms. Morgan hugged him tight and they both just stood there crying for a few moments, unwilling to let go of each other.

"We found her body this morning. It was here in Vegas. I'm so sorry for your loss," Morgan sniffled.

"I know you are. It's just, it's just Skylar. What am I going to tell her?"

"I don't know Warren," Morgan said helplessly, "Maybe when she wakes up we can both tell her."

"I'd like that," Warren said.

Morgan held out her hand for Warren to take and he received it and she squeezed his hand hard and he squeezed back. Together they shared a moment and each other's sorrow, taking a moment of silence to remember Cynthia. All of a sudden Morgan's phone rang, startling them both.

"Hello," Morgan said as she answered her phone.

"Morgan, it's Greg. Cynthia was dismembered alive. Doc Robbins confirmed the cause of death was exsanguination due to being dismembered alive. Because they used a hand saw to kill her and worked DNA from the sweat of the killer was found on Cynthia's bones and get this, the DNA isn't Jeremy Klines."

"It's not?" Morgan asked, "Whose is it?"

"it's an unknown female profile which was a match to DNA found at the original crime scene in Yorkshire England."

"Female killer? How is that even possible?" Morgan asked.

"Russell and I aren't sure. That's why I called, DB wanted me to tell you to ask Warren if he knew of any women that she had a beef with who would want her dead."

"Okay I'll ask. He's a little shaken up right now, I just told him about his wife."

"Okay, make sure you ask."

"I will. Bye Greg, see you back at the lab."

"Bye."

"Morgan are you sure it's really Cynthia. I mean maybe it's someone else or-,"

"Warren, it's Cynthia. DNA tests confirmed it and the naval wedding ring you placed on her finger when you got married in Pearl Harbor was on her finger."

"Maybe the DNA test was wrong or, or-."

"Warren the DNA test most of the time is spot on accurate. I'm really sorry. I miss her too. She was like a sister to me. She was my best friend in high school. We did everything together."

Morgan started to sob again but only for a few minutes, then she was able to compose herself.

"Warren the DNA of the killer's is female. Not Jeremy Kline's like we thought. Is there anyone who is female who would want to hurt Cynthia? Anyone who would want her dead?"

"NO!" Warren said defensively, "not a soul. She was loved by everyone who knew her. She touched more lives than she hurt."

"Warren I know deep down that she didn't have anyone who would want to hurt her and that these questions are difficult but I have to ask them, it's part of the investigation," Morgan said gently. "Are you sure there isn't anyone? Anyone at all?"

"I'm sure. She was a gentle soul with a kind heart. Everyone who knew her loved her."

"If you think of anyone call me okay," Morgan replied, handing Warren her card.

"I will, promise," Warren said.

"Morgan!" a little voice squeaked excitedly from the bottom of the stairs. Skylar stood there, awake from her nap, a big smile on her face in her princess sofia nightgown. The minute Morgan saw Skylar her heart and stomach sank. That poor kid, Morgan thought she has no idea her mother isn't coming home. How horrible to have to find this out about her mommy.

"Hi sky!" Morgan said smiling back.

"Can you stay and play princess tea party with me? Please!" Skylar begged.

"Awwww sweetie I can't. I'm on the job right now. I just came to talk to daddy about mommy and then I have to leave okay?"

"What about mommy? Is she coming home? Is she? Is she?" Skylar asked excitedly.

"You know what Skylar why don't you play with your bitty baby doll for a bit, read dolly a book and pretend to be mommy in training. How about that? And then we'll talk," Warren suggested.

"Okay," Skylar replied, as she hurried off to the playroom, but before disappearing into the playroom, she blew her dad and Morgan a kiss, and said affectionately, "Daddy I love you and Mommy and Morgan."

"We love you too sweetie. All of us," Warren replied.

"I love her so much. She's so sweet," Morgan replied.

"I know. She's a little miracle. My wife had a condition where having children was dangerous. She had problems with her fallopian tubes. Skylar's birth via C-section was nothing short of a miracle. We just prayed Skylar into this world and God gave me a healthy wife and baby. She's so beautiful and she's so smart. She knows something's wrong deep down I just know it. What am I gonna do?" Warren sobbed. "How am I gonna tell her? I'm sorry too, I didn't know she would wake up so early."

"It's okay," Morgan said soothingly, "Like I promised you before, we'll tell her together. I promise."

"I know I shouldn't be asking you this but, what did the doctor say my wife died of?" Warren asked.

"Warren, are you sure you wanna go there," Morgan cautioned.

"Morgan, I wanna know, what happened to my wife," Warren asked.

Morgan took a deep breath and let it out before telling Warren, slowly and carefully, "her cause of death was exsanguination, which means she bled to death."

"How? How did my wife bleed to death? What did they do to her?" Warren demanded.

"Warren, please, I really don't think you want to go there," Morgan begged.

"Morgan, I wanna know what happened to her. I have a right to know, I'm her husband," Warren demanded.

Morgan took another deep breath and a moment of silence before responding with, "Doc Robbins, the medical examiner, noticed evidence of circulation in the tissues surrounding her bones, meaning she was chopped up alive. The body parts were then hand wrapped and delivered to one of Jeremy's rape victims, Jessica Parker, at Project Hope to frame Jeremy for the murder this person did when in reality Jeremy had already been shot to death and his body left in Yorkshire."

"Oh my God! Who would do something like this to my wife? This is my wife! Who would hate her this much? Who would be this cruel?" Warren wailed.

"We don't know. All we have is an unknown female DNA profile with no leads. Are you sure there was no one female who would want Cynthia dead?" Morgan asked again, trying to hold herself together.

"I'm sure," Warren said confidently between sobs.

Morgan sat quietly while Warren cried, squeezing his hand tightly. She wished she could just get up and run away, but she promised she'd help him tell Skylar. She wished she could do more but squeezing his hand was all she could think of to do. For a few moments Morgan once again felt her eyes tear up and she shared a cry for a minute or two herself. The two of them continued to sit in silence, not knowing what else to do. Finally the pitter patter of Skylar's sparkly pink bedroom slippers that looked like ballet slippers, came padding into the room. Seeing Warren and Morgan in tears, she stopped abruptly.

"Daddy, Morgan, why are you crying? What's going on?" Skylar asked, worried.

"Well Sweetie," Warren replied, "Morgan and I need to talk to you."

"About what?" Skylar asked.

"It's about your mommy. Now you know that some bad people took mommy right?" Morgan asked.

Skylar nodded.

"And you know that the police have been looking for mommy for a while right?" Morgan asked.

Skylar nodded again.

"Well a little while ago the police found mommy," Warren replied.

"Is she coming home? Is she?" Skylar asked excitedly.

Morgan and Warren looked at each other for a moment.

Skylar frowned as she asked, "What's going on? Tell me please."

"The people who took your mom hurt her really bad," Morgan explained.

"Why?" Skylar asked, horrified.

"I don't know," Morgan replied.

"Well where is she? Is she at the hospital since she's hurt?"

"No sweetie, she isn't," Morgan responded.

"Well where is she? Maybe I can use my Doc McStuffins doctor's kit to make her feel better," Skylar said hopeful.

"Sweetie you can't do that," Morgan said.

"Why? She's okay isn't she?"

"No she's not," Morgan said as she started to cry.

"WHAT? WHAT HAPPENED?" Skylar screamed.

"Mommy is laying with Jesus in heaven sweet heart. She's with God now," Warren finished for Morgan.

Skylar let out a huge wail and sobbed uncontrollably, holding her father tightly. Warren returned the embrace, holding her so tightly it would have taken the jaws of life to tear either one away from the other. Morgan sat there, uncomfortably for a moment while Warren comforted his daughter.

"It's okay sweetie. It's alright," Warren said, as he held her tightly, "we'll get through this together, okay?"

"I just need to know one thing," Skylar sobbed, "did mommy hurt when she died?"

"Skylar," Morgan started, "your mom was-"

"Yes Skyler, mommy died peacefully," Warren interrupted, not wanting his daughter to know the truth, giving Morgan a nudge, "What Morgan was trying to say is your mommy was taken up by a beautiful angel and carried away before she could feel any pain."

"Promise?" Skylar asked.

"I promise kiddo," Warren said, gathering her in his arms for another hug. Skylar hugged her dad tightly, not wanting to let him go.

"Did God need mommy more than we did?" Skylar asked.

"Yea because you know what? Heaven needed another angel. God gave you mommy for just the right amount of time. Then mommy had to go be someone else's angel. Okay?"

"Will I still be able to see her and be with her?" Skylar asked.

"Yea, she's in here," Warren said, putting skylar's hand to her heart. "She's always watching you from up there and she'll be with you in spirit. She'll be with you your whole life in your heart and in your dreams. She'll always be watching over you and you know what, she loves you. Very much. She always will."

"I know she does," Skylar said sadly, "I just miss her."

"I miss her too,"Warren said tearfully. "I miss her too."

"Hold on," Skylar said, "I want to give mommy a final kiss goodbye."

Skylar got a plain pink balloon from upstairs. She blew a kiss into it, so did Warren and Morgan. Then Warren and Morgan helped Skylar blow up the balloon, tie it off, and then, after they had gone outside to the front of the town home, sent it far up into the sky, where the kiss would eventually reach her mother.

"I love you mommy," Skylar sobbed as she watched the balloon disappear into the sky.

"Today we are gathered here to celebrate and remember the life of Cynthia Lillian Delaney," the preacher said from the pulpit of the Canyon Ridge Christian Church of south Las Vegas. "Cynthia will always be remembered for being a wonderful mother, daughter, sister, wife, but most of all as a friend and person, who touched the life of every person she met. I'm sure if we all think about it we can remember at least one time when we felt Cynthia Delaney's love and kindness. We also can remember when we were in a bad mood and Cynthia's contagious laugh and bright smile put our mood right again. Her smile could light up a whole room. In the words of her husband Warren, Cynthia's smile and her giving and loving spirit for all people and walks of life were the two best features about her. However another great feature of Cynthia, was her impeccable mothering skills and her preparedness for any situation. For instance, if someone couldn't do the carpool Cynthia was right there front and center, to do it. If a room mother forgot snacks at Skylar's preschool Cynthia would seem to magically have fresh cut vegetables, home made dip from scratch, and homemade fruit and vegetable juice drinks of assorted kinds homemade from the juicer ready to give out for energy, preservative free. And many often called Cynthia Dr. Mom because she knew how to treat any ailment from a skinned knee to a reaction to medication or vaccines Cynthia knew what to do and it would work. She also knew how to make the ouchies go away when Skylar took a tumble off the jungle gym doing something she wasn't supposed to or when Skylar felt sick and bed ridden. She was everything that defined mother and more. She was known for the healthy way she fed and cared for her daughter, making sure to avoid processed junk food, fast food, and soda completely as well as pesticides, GMOS, chemical cleaning products, and anything toxic that could harm her daughter. Skylar and Warren were above and beyond the most important people in her life and she let everyone know it, from her kisses goodbye that were long, wet and wonderful and hugs portraying the inability to let go when Warren was getting deployed here, there, and everywhere in the navy as a naval medic to her lullaby songs, singing with the voice of an angel, attachment parenting, and making bedtime stories both read and made up come alive to Skylar, she was the ideal wife and mother. Her beauty was radiant and she often posed as a pin up model to raise money for various veterans organizations. She was the pinnacle of perfection, the light of everyone who knew hers' life, which makes today so hard and as we sit here with Warren and Skylar, we wonder, why would anyone want to hurt such a beautiful human being inside and out? We ask this question through our prayers, in hopes that God will answer, through His judgement, that justice will be served… Now let us take a moment and reflect and remember our own love and memories of Cynthia."

For a moment the church was silent. No one moved from their seats. The room was so quiet the slightest pin drop could be heard in the room. Warren, Morgan, and Skylar had tears come down their faces as they sobbed silently to themselves, remembering Cynthia. Morgan felt someone squeeze her hand, and opened her eyes from silent prayer long enough to see Greg squeeze her hand tight. Morgan squeezed back, hoping it would make it easier on herself. She went back to her moment of silence, remembering her high school days and the first time she'd ran into Cynthia Delaney, who was Cynthia Williamson back then. It was the first day of high school at Huntington Beach High school and the song team captain, Jessica Parker, had already seen to it that she have no social life or friends. She was sitting there all by herself and eating her lunch that her mother had packed, when Cynthia, in her song team uniform came up to her.

"Hi, I'm Cynthia Williamson. What's your name?" Cynthia asked.

"I'm Morgan Brody," Morgan replied.

"having a rough day?" Cynthia asked.

"A little. I don't really think I'm going to have any friends here," Morgan replied.

"Why do you think that?" Cynthia asked.

"Because the song team captain and some of the other girls on the song team, when gym class was over set off the fire alarm and then took my clothes, so that I ran out naked, and all the kids were laughing and pointing and I just wanna hide."

"Awwwww! That's horrible!"

"Although I didn't see you there doing that. What? You don't believe in picking on the new girl?" Morgan asked.

"No I don't. That was mean what they did. I don't agree with Jessie on some things and that's one of them. I'm not going to let her pick on you. You can be my friend. I won't let anyone treat you that way I promise."

And true to her word, the next day at school, when Cynthia and morgan were at the lunch table with the song team, she did exactly that.

"What are you doing with that geek?" Jessie asked.

"Jessie, she's not a geek. She's a nice person and she's really smart. She also is a super good basketball player and science whiz. What is it that you have against her? What did she ever do to you?" Cynthia demanded.

"She took my boyfriend. Duh!" Jessie replied. "And she's always in my way!"

"Firstly she didn't steal your boyfriend and secondly she's only in your way when it comes to Bailey and admit it, that's what this is really about," Cynthia said defensively.

"SO?"Jessie scowled, "What's it to ya?"

"She's my friend and I am not going to tolerate you picking on her. Leave her alone," Cynthia fired back.

"Ya sure I'll leave her alone," Jessie laughed cruelly as her and the rest of the song team got up from the table, "When pigs fly! Have fun eating alone! And the whole school knowing about how you're so stupid you can't read and write!"

"I'm sure I'll have a lot more fun eating alone than with you," Cynthia yelled back. Then her eyes filled with tears on the last comment and she started to sob.

"What's wrong?" Morgan asked.

"I have dyslexia. It's embarrassing. School's next to impossible for me. The last thing I want is for it to be broadcast to everyone and Jessie knows it."

Morgan smiled at Cynthia and gave her a hug, grateful for her help and concerned about her disability.

"Thanks,"Morgan replied. "And don't worry about school. I'll tutor you if you want."

"Think nothing of it," Cynthia said, "that's what friends are for right? And, really? You'd help tutor me?"

"Of course. Like you said, that's what friends are for right?"

"Right."

Morgan's thoughts turned to Jessie's boyfriend, who was sitting beside Jessie at the memorial service. Jessie's boyfriend, Bailey Davenport, was the star quarterback of Huntington High's football team and former Las Vegas crime lab supervisors Gil Grissom and Catherine Willow's god son and the love of Jessie's life. They had grown up together and Jessie always said they were destined to be soul mates. Bailey had also spent summers in Las Vegas with his god parents when Morgan was a little girl and her mom and dad, Sheriff Conrad Ecklie, were together. They had played good together and Morgan and Bailey had each thought of the other as a good friend. When Jessie was gone training at the Abbie Lee Dance Academy in Pittsburgh, it was the loneliest time ever and Morgan and Bailey had gotten to be even closer friends. When she moved to California and saw Bailey he had been ecstatic to see her. She could remember it like it was yesterday, plain as day.

"Bailey!" Morgan had squeaked the first day of school excitedly.

"Morgan!" Bailey said surprised but excited, "What are you doing here?"

"My parents divorced and my mom moved us all out to California," morgan replied.

Bailey smiled and was about to say something else but then Jessie showed up.

"Jess, what are you doing here. I thought you were going to continue at Abby Lee," Bailey replied.

"I was but I wanted to enjoy high school silly!" Jessie smiled, her smile white and perfect enough for a toothpaste ad and her raven black hair swept up in a curly ponytail that bounced when she walked. She was also wearing her song team uniform with not only her name on the front and back but also the words team captain on her uniform underneath her name.

"Wow I didn't expect you here," Bailey said, surprised.

"Well surprise!" Jessie said excitedly, "whose this?"

"this is Morgan she's a good friend of mine."

"Hi!" Morgan replied, smiling, trying to make her smile look as nice as Jessie's.

However, Jessie was less than thrilled and flashed her a dirty look in return. Then shared a long tongue kiss with Bailey right in front of Morgan. For a few moments there was an awkward silence. Then the bell rang.

"Well time for my first class, English with Mrs. Moorehouse. Yeck, not fun!" bailey grinned, clueless to the tension between Jessie and her. "Well I'll see my two best girls at lunch." Bailey winked at both Morgan and Jessie, flashed a smile that made Morgan's heart melt sometimes, and walked away, with an athlete's strut.

When she was sure he had gone, Jessie turned on Morgan before she could say anything else, pushed Morgan so hard her back slammed into the locker, and got nose to nose with her as he said, "You stay away from Bailey. Got that? You and me. We're not friends, never will be. Watch your back. Stay away from him or else."

Then she opened the locker, pushed Morgan in, slammed the door shut, and locked her in. Morgan waited three hours slamming on the door, yelling, before the janitor came and let her out. When Morgan got out, she realized she had had to go to the bathroom and that her pants were wet, which caused the entire student body to roar with laughter. Then that same day, the fire alarm incident happened. From that point on, she was ridiculed all through high school, cussing Ecklie in las vegas for not fighting for her and hating California. However, what kept her afloat, was Cynthia. Cynthia always stood up for her and never backed down from the peer pressure. She stayed by her as her friend till High school was done and beyond. Morgan was sure she would have never gotten through high school if it wasn't for Cynthia. Cynthia was the best friend she ever had. Her only friend in high school. She always would be and now she was gone. Morgan hiccupped to hold back a loud sob that was trying to escape as Cynthia's memorial video spanning over her whole life was being played to Elton John's candle in the wind. She looked over at Jessie parker, the girl who had given her so much misery in high school and also Jeremy Kline's rape victim. Tears were streaming down her face, mixing her mascara in them, creating little black streaks down her cheeks and making her look like marilyn manson. Jessie stared back. When she saw Morgan she smiled a genuine smile at her for the first time ever and mouthed the words "I'm sorry." Morgan Mouthed back "I forgive you" and through the tragedy, she had the feeling Jessie and her would be on better terms.

She turned away from Jessie back to the memorial video. A picture on the screen of her and Cynthia doing a science project for the science fair their sophomore year of high school appeared on the screen. She remembered how she had tutored Cynthia all through high school and how hard school was for Cynthia. Cynthia had a learning disability called dyslexia and school was next to impossible for her. However, with Morgan's help she was able to get at least a B average on everything and graduate. Later on after high school she found out that Cynthia had gotten compensation from the Vaccine Adverse Reaction Reporting system due to a court case proving her disability was caused due to neurological damage from the DPT shot. That must have been why she was against vaccines, Morgan thought sadly as she continued to watch the end of the memorial video. She didn't want her problems to become her daughter's. It also explained the avoidance of chemicals, pesticides, GMO's and all things poisonous. Morgan let out another sigh as sobbed for a few minutes. She glanced over at Stacia, Skylar's adoption mom who would continue that lifestyle with Skylar that Cynthia did. Was it her imagination or was Stacia shifting very uncomfortably in her seat? Morgan shook her head and blinked her eyes. Weird she thought. Maybe she was just upset over Cynthia's passing and that's all that it was…. Maybe… but then why the guilty look? Could she be Cynthia's killer? Nah, Morgan thought immediately shaking the thought from her head, couldn't be. Or could it?

After the memorial service a large party took place at the Delaney's town home for Cynthia. As Morgan was getting a club sandwich and spinach, tomato pesto, and mozzarella salad, she got an uncomfortable feeling in her stomach. She looked up from the food she was dishing on her plate, only to find Stacia MacIntosh next to her. As Stacia grabbed a vegan wrap from a plate near Morgan Morgan noticed a bad cut on her finger.

"How did you get that?" Morgan asked, glancing at her finger, "pretty nasty wound there."

"I, I don't know what you mean," Stacia replied nervously.

"The cut on your finger, how did you get it?" Morgan asked.

"Oh, that," Stacia laughed nervously, "I, I cut it, chopping up vege-, vege-, vegetables."

"Oh," Morgan replied.

"Why do you ask? Are you trying to interrogate me?" Stacia asked defensively.

"No, not at all, just general conversation that's all," Morgan replied calmly.

"Well I don't have to justify myself to you," Stacia demanded, "my friend just died! Stop accusing me of stuff!"

"Stacia, I didn't accuse you of anything," Morgan replied. "Sorry, I, I'll go over and talk to my friend that I came with. Excuse me."

Morgan quickly scurried away and made her way over to Greg. As the two of them ate their food Morgan expressed her concerns to Greg.

"Greg, there's something weird about Stacia," Morgan replied.

"What do you mean?" Greg asked as he put a forkful of antipesto salad in his mouth.

"It's just she's acting kind of weird. During the service she was shifting uncomfortably in her seat, and had this look on her face, like she was guilty of something."

"So?" Greg replied, "It could have been regrets about not saying what she wanted to say before Cynthia died.

Morgan put a bite of club sandwich in her mouth, chewed, swallowed, and then replied, "I don't think so. Just now, when I was getting food, I noticed a cut on her hand."

"So?" Greg replied, before putting another forkful of antipesto salad in his mouth, "that cut could have come from any accident she had."

"Yea I know, but when I asked her about it she got defensive and told me to stop accusing her of stuff and I didn't even say anything. All I asked was how she got the cut on her finger and she flipped out. I mean don't you think that's weird?"

"Yes, in a way," Greg replied, "but I mean maybe she's just stressed because Cynthia's gone and they were really close and we have no leads yet on the case, even though it's been two months."

"Maybe," Morgan replied, "But honestly Greg I think she has something to hide. We should get a warrant on her."

"Morgan," Greg replied, "You know as well as I do, you don't have the probable cause for a warrant and you need that to search her house. Look, you have no proof that Stacia is guilty of anything."

"Really Greg?" Morgan said. "That guilty look and cut finger to me is proof enough for DNA. I'm taking a cup she drank out of and sending it to Henry in DNA because I have a bad feeling about her."

"And what?" Greg asked. "Have the case thrown out on her if she is the killer of Cynthia? Because that's what'll happen due to the DNA sample being obtained illegally. Remember Finn when Russell had to fire her because of something similar? Do you really want that to happen and to not have justice for Cynthia?"

"No," Morgan replied sinking back in her seat. "It's just so frustrating. It's like I sense the killer is in this room and it's her, I just can't do anything about it."

"I know it is," Greg replied, "but we have to cross our T's and dot our I's on everything, okay?"

"okay," Morgan replied. "I just wish some sort or miracle could happen so that Cynthia's killer could be brought to justice and the case could be closed."

"Well maybe the killer will confess their sins to God and God will bring them to justice and bring closure for us all, who knows?" Greg joked.

"Maybe,"Morgan smiled back.

Little did Greg and Morgan both know, God was about to show up….

It was a hot July in Fallujah Iraq. Warren and the men in the navy and marine corps had just celebrated independence day. They were huddled in their barracks on base, standing guard waiting for action. Warren was writing a letter back home to Cynthia and Skylar. He reread for the zillionth time what he had just wrote.

Dear Cynthia and Skylar,

How are you both? I miss you to the moon and back. I know you are missing me too. I loved the picture you sent me Cynthia of Skylar wearing my big naval academy football Jersey, cosleeping with you on our bed at home. The best present you could have ever sent me. She's getting to be a little beauty just like you. It won't be long and I'll be home. My deployment isn't too much longer, just six more months. I hope to be home to celebrate our fourth wedding anniversary and Skylar's third birthday. Every evening as the sun sets I look at your picture and while the sun sinks I hold it's heat in and embrace your photo so I can keep the warmth of you and the sun close to my heart….

All of a sudden Warren looked up. AN air raid siren sounded so loud it made Warren's heart jump out of his chest.

"We're being bombed! Everybody abandon barracks now! This is no drill! We're being bombed!" Warren's commanding officer yelled.

Warren quickly jumped to his feet, grabbing the picture of his wife and daughter and putting it in the pocket of his uniform bailed with the rest of his platoon, minus Joshua MacIntosh, who was luckily home with a debilitating back injury he got from a fall off the ladder getting paint supplies down from the storage closet to paint a room Stacia and he were redoing in their home. Some people have all the luck Warren thought. He looked back as he was about to hit the ground and cover his head. The bomb hit the barracks and they exploded. His entire platoon had escaped just in time. His platoon waited with uncertainty. Then Warren heard another air raid siren.

"Incoming!" yelled the commanding officer. "Dirty chemical weapon bomb! Run! To the trench! To the trench! Warren hurry now!"

Warren ran with the men to the trench. He ran hard and he ran fast. Too fast. A medium sized rock on the ground blocked his path and Warren didn't see it. He tripped over it and went flying, face first, onto the ground. He lay there, too stunned to get up. The rest of his platoon didn't notice and kept running forward, charging towards the trench. The platoon reached the trench and jumped in. The bomb fell directly in the trench and exploded, killing everyone inside. The sound shook the earth and the boom was deafening. Warren looked up as thick, black, smoky fallout from the bomb covered the air. Warren tried to breath in the fallout but coughed and gagged. His lungs weezed for air through the fallout of the chemical weapon. He kept coughing and gagging as he searched through the smoke for a safe haven. There was none. He wandered like a ship with no lights and no stars trying to find its way through the fog. Finally he stumbled into the trench where the bomb had exploded and onto the top of a pile of corpses. The corpses of his fallen brothers. Devastated Warren took each of the dog tags off of them and collected them. He put them in his pocket. As he climbed from the trench he felt himself losing strength. He continued to wander, until he found a building, where he collapsed under it, surrendering to the fallout that had gotten inside of him and passing out. When he woke up, a bright light fell across the naval hospital room and his wife, as a glowing angel from heaven stood over him…

"Warren," Cynthia replied.

"Cynthia what are you doing here?" Warren asked through weezes.

"You need to know answers to your fallen brothers deaths and mine."

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm coming here to save our daughter. To save you…"

"To save me. You can't save me. I'm dying Cynthia. Tell God I'm sorry I lied to you about how sick I was. The cancer was terminal and I'm dying. The weapon did me in like my fallen brothers but it did me in later. I'm so sorry Cynthia."

"It's alright Warren. I'm sorry too. I should have never ran off to England like that. I should have never abandoned you. I might still be alive."

"I don't understand why you have come back though. What do you mean I need to know the answers to my fallen brother's deaths and yours. You speak as though they are connected."

"They are Warren," Cynthia replied. "She goes to the cemetery and asks God for answers to finish her destruction so she can claim what she's always wanted. The answers are right under your nose."

"What do you mean the answers are right under my nose? Whose she? What's going on?"

"Goodbye Warren I love you very much. Be sure to give Skylar a hug and visit my grave with roses. Your time is running out."

"NO! Please wait! Cynthia!" Warren yelled but she was gone in a flash of light.

"Cynthia! Cynthia!" Warren yelled.

"Warren! Warren!" someone yelled.

Warren jerked awake. Morgan stood over him, shaking him.

A sigh of relief went over him as he looked around. It was just a dream. Just a horrible awful dream.

"You were having a bad dream. Want to tell me what it was about?"

"The bombings in Fallujah. I'm in Iraq and I'm writing a letter to Cynthia and Skylar and then all of a sudden this siren goes off and I'm running to get out of the barracks before it blows up and the next thing I know I'm on the ground. Another bomb comes and everyone runs to the trench. I trip and the trench blows up from the bomb and I'm alive. I breath in the fallout trying to escape. Then the next thing I know. I'm in the naval hospital. I've had flashbacks to those bombings before and been in the naval hospital in the dream but since my wife's body was found the naval hospital part of the dream is different."

"Different how?"

"My wife appears in the dreams before with Skylar and they're visiting me. In the newer dreams my wife appears as an angel and is telling me that the answers to her death and my fallen brothers are at her grave site. Like her spirit is tormented. She's trying to warn me and save me. I don't understand. The light surrounding her is so bright I can't even see her face. Then she disappears and I'm calling her name but I'm just calling it into a black space. Then I wake up."

"Have you told anyone about this?"

"I told my psychologist and the Chaplain at the VA about this and they think that I need to visit her for closure. That, that I'm not over her and that visiting her grave will help me to heal."

"What do you think?"

"I think they're right. It's just so hard….. I'm in so much pain….from the chemo treatments and also emotionally…"

"I know it is. I miss her too…"

Warren sobbed a few minutes with Morgan and then both shook back to reality.

"What are you doing here?" Warren asked, trying to be strong.

"It's morning. I'm here to take you to your chemotherapy treatment at the VA. Greg, my friend is going to come over and play with Skylar."

"Oh gosh I forgot all about that," Warren replied weakly. "Sanders is going to play with Skylar?"

"Yea. Don't worry he's good with kids," Morgan said, reassuringly.

"You two have a thing going on?"

"none of your business warren. Now come on, lets get you to your chemo appointment," Morgan said playfully.

"Hold on, before we go, can we visit my wife's grave, I, after this dream and my wife's light being brighter than ever in it and talking to you, something's telling me this is the morning. Please. I need to do this."

"I understand. And I'll take you as soon as Greg gets here."

At a quarter past nine, Greg got to the Delaney town home.

"Ready to play tea party and dress up with a very girly girl?" Morgan asked teasingly.

"Ready as I'll ever be," Greg replied, smiling. He was going to enjoy playing with Skylar. He loved kids and couldn't wait to have some of his own someday. So this would be a pleasure.

"There's some vegetarian breakfast burrito in the fridge," Warren replied. "I made it for her last night. I'm the resident cook. My wife couldn't cook worth a damn when she was alive."

Morgan and Warren both laughed. She remembered Warren telling her that shortly after Cynthia had gone to England, before her death… Morgan felt tears form in her eyes. No, no, Morgan thought I have to be strong for Warren and Skylar. She shook her head to clear it.

"And make sure she takes her Shaklee incredivites and smart choice DHA chews so she can stay healthy and grow big and strong," Warren reminded Greg.

"I know, I know. I'll be fine Warren, just relax," Greg replied. Greg had been watching Skylar the last couple of days while Warren went for Chemo treatments. Skylar had been quite the active toddler and Greg had almost found it impossible to keep up with her but he managed. However Warren made sure Skylar got settled with her breakfast burrito and Shaklee vitamin nutrients before he left.

"Bye Daddy! Greggy fun! He'll take care of me! Can I wear my princess crown at breakfast? Please!" Skylar begged.

"Okay, princess in training you can wear your crown!" Warren laughed. "But first hug and kiss for me sweetie okay?"

"Okay daddy!" Skylar swooped in and gave her dad a big hug and a super wet kiss.

"You kiss like mommy!" Warren laughed.

Skylar put the crown on her head, regally waved goodbye to her dad, in princess Sofia dress up night gown and all, and replied, "of course I do! Mommy princess and so am I!"

Everyone laughed and as Warren was going out the door he heard Skylar say, "Love you daddy," and blow him a kiss that he couldn't see.

When Morgan and Warren got to the cemetery where his wife's grave was, Warren took a deep breath, held it, let it out, and tried to relax his grip on the pale pink roses he'd been clutching so tightly to put at Cynthia's grave. He had to be strong. He had to do this he just had to. A feeling deep in his gut was telling him if he didn't he'd regret it. It's just so hard, Warren thought. NO! You have to do this Warren, he told himself, you have to.

"Are you sure you're okay to do this? Do you want me to go with you?" Morgan replied.

"No I'll be okay," Warren said. "I have to do this alone. I don't know why I just have to. I need some personal time alone with my wife and with God but thank you for offering."

Warren took another deep breath before opening the door to the 1940's woody wagon that Cynthia and he owned and walking from the parking lot out onto the big open cemetery grass area. Well, this is it, Warren thought, no turning back now. No chickening out. Here he was to make his peace with God and his wife and for closure of her death for one last time. Warren walked slowly toward the place where Cynthia had been laid to rest. As he approached a tree near where her grave was, he was just about to go to where Cynthia was laid to rest and put the flowers there and speak to her spirit and pray to God openly when he stopped short. A woman was already standing at her grave. The woman was petite, in a light pink and blue flowered sun dress, and dark brown hair. Jessie, he thought, Jessie is the one involved in the death of my platoon and wife? How could that be? He wanted to go over the grave but something told him to stay back, hidden behind the enormous oak tree that eliminated all hope of sunlight getting through it with its thick branches and leaves. He stayed hidden and watched. The woman started to lift her arms up toward the sky to pray and then the woman started to speak. As she started to speak Warren couldn't believe it! The woman speaking wasn't Jessie Parker it was Stacia MacIntosh and as she spoke, Warren couldn't believe the words of the confession that spouted from her mouth and the betrayal he felt with each word she prayed and spoke!

"God! I know you can hear me! Your voice was in my head this morning and you spoke to me, clear and plain as day. You praised me for carrying out your mission! I can sense today your presence more so than any other day. I know that Cynthia was going away from your path on raising Skylar. She was going to poison Skylar with those shots knowing full well what they did to her. She was evil and needed to be eliminated God. She wasn't doing your will. I did as you asked. I kept hearing the million voices of you in my head God and I knew I had no choice. Your spirit possessed my body and took over me. As I was cutting Cynthia up and tearing her limb to limb as I killed her and watched her bleed to death and squeal like a pig lead to slaughter, a warm happiness overtook me God and I delighted in seeing her blood soak that abandoned factory in England, God, it made up for missing Warren, my other target, who encouraged Cynthia to get those poisonous shots because of a job offer at the VA in Las Vegas God, which they had to move to anyway when he got cancer and long suffering, which he rightfully deserved…"

Warren's jaw dropped open. He felt like Stacia had physically hit him! He hadn't encouraged anything! Cynthia and him had both agreed that he deserved a better, less dangerous position just before the bombing in Fallujah and being a medic at the VA seemed fitting! He happened to get the job offer at the Las vegas VA! What the heck? Their views for not vaccinating had been philosophical and not religious and the doctor they had deemed they didn't qualify for medical despite his wife's vaccine injury because there wasn't enough proof! They couldn't claim exemption! Nobody had conspired anything! He couldn't believe his ears! How could Stacia do this? Warren thought, he trusted her. He believed in her! Both her and Josh! He turned away from watching her, but crouched lower against the other side of the oak tree, taking in what this all meant. After a few moments, he listened in more carefully than ever. His wife had said in his dream that the answer to her death and his platoon of marine's deaths were at her grave. Well I found the answers to her death Warren thought. I don't like the answers I found, but I have them, now all I need to know is what happened to my brothers in combat. Then I'll have closure. He listened carefully as Stacia went on speaking.

"I should have been able to get Warren killed God. I spoke to Muhammed Shariff, lead terror cell of Al Queda and he said that the bomb wouldn't fail and my mission to your duty, Allah's duty would be carried out. How could I have failed you God? What went so wrong? I sent countless M Payments, untraceable, on different disposable cell phones, from my secret bank accounts in the Cayman islands. I did all that you asked. Yet cancer was all you could give me God? Why? Why did he survive? I purchased all the right material and hazardous waste to make a bomb that wouldn't fail and sent it to Al Queda head quarters. How could this happen? How? Tell me how. Do you have another plan for me? How do you want me to finish off Warren? Tell me how God? Tell me now. Give me a sign God. I need to know. Give me a sign…."

Warren turned away, he felt chills run up and down his spine. Stacia had lied to him about her religion, lied to him about a lot of things. And now, she's going to kill me Warren thought, but how? What do I watch out for? How do I keep myself alive until that happens? And better yet, how do I prevent it from happening? And what is she trying to claim that she feels is rightfully hers? Fear gripped him like never before, overtaking his throat and staying there, preventing him from speaking. I'm next, Warren thought, horrified. Warren's mind raced a million miles a minute. I have to change my will, Warren thought, that must have been what Cynthia meant about saving our daughter and me. She was warning me not to trust Stacia! I have to change my will. I have to tell the police. The pentagon. I have to. I have to find adoption parents. So many things. First I have to turn back to this craziness and find out what is going to happen to me! Warren felt as though his fate rested in Stacia's psychotic hands. He crouched behind the oak tree, quiet as could be, waiting, waiting for what Stacia would say next.

For a few terrifying moments of silence, Stacia didn't speak. Nothing but pain staking silence. Finally Stacia spoke again.

"Today, it has to happen God. Death by lethal injection. That should do it. You're right God. Your voice in my head speaks words of wisdom deep and menacing. Then Skylar will be mine. As it should be! I had the tragic pregnancy! I had to hold my dead baby and go through labor only to have my baby born dead! Skylar is mine! I deserve to have her be mine! I'm her rightful mother! She may have been born to Cynthia and Warren but she ruined the priveledge when she crossed the line and wanted to get shots! Now Skylar is going to her rightful mother! Her biologically rightful mother! ME and she'll be MINE forever! When I rigged the ladder and caused Josh to hurt his back it was the perfect ploy! I had him redecorate our daughter's room! It will now look beautiful! She's mine! All mine….."

Warren turned away. He couldn't believe it! That's why Josh had a back injury! That's why his platoon was killed and that's why Stacia thought Skylar was hers! He was disgusted and sick to his stomach. He couldn't believe he had trusted this disgrace of a human being to be her adoption mother or Josh, disgraceful human being number two, as her adoption father. How could he have been so blind? How could he have not seen it? Josh had warned him not to invite them to her third birthday because his wife wasn't well and that it wasn't a good idea. He hadn't listened. Now he realized that had been a big mistake. He wanted to get out of there but his feet stayed planted in the ground waiting, wondering what to do next. What was Stacia planning? What lethal injection was she going to give him to kill him? He waited. Nothing happened. He waited a few moments more. Stacia said no other words but walked away from the grave and to the other parking lot on the opposite side of the cemetery. He waited, making sure Stacia wouldn't come back. Then, when he was sure she was gone, he made his way over to Cynthia's grave and gently and lovingly placed and arranged the flowers there. He tried to say a prayer but he couldn't find the right words to say.

Finally, he just said, "Thank you God, Cynthia, for our daughter. For closure. For everything, amen. Rest in peace Cynthia, my lovely wife for your spirit is no longer tormented and can go home now, I have closure."

He walked quickly back to the car. There was so much he needed to do before his chemo appointment. First, he needed to call Don Flack, his private investigator, and tell him all he had heard and call Leon Schwartz, his lawyer, to change the will and also the police about Stacia's confession he couldn't forget that. He'd change the will at the VA hospital while he was doing chemo treatment. Then he needed to call the VA to tell them he'd be late for treatment. There was something he needed to do with Morgan first.

Don Flack heard his phone ring the emergency ring on his phone. He picked it up to a terrified Warren on the other end.

"Don! Don! Stacia's the killer! She killed Cynthia and she's going to kill me! She's crazy! She thinks Skylar is hers! I have to change my will! I have to have you investigate her! I need you to come to the police with me and have her arrested!" Warren yelled rapidly into the phone in a panicky voice.

"Wow, wow, Warren slow down," Don said, "Just relax and slow down. Start again."

"Don, Stacia MacIntosh, my daughter's adoptive mother is the one who killed my wife and caused the bombings in Fallujah. She's the one who is going to kill me. She said so just now at the grave," Warren said more slowly.

"Warren, Warren are you sure you heard right?" Don said.

" Yes I heard her with my own words. She said it was going to happen today by lethal injection. She also said she enjoyed killing my wife knowing that she carried out God's mission and that Skylar was rightfully hers because she lost her child and can't have anymore and deserves her. She said God told her to kill her. She hears the voices of God in her head. She pushed Josh off the ladder and hurt his back so he wouldn't die during the bombing and she had him decorate a room for my daughter because she knew that Skylar was going with them. She sent M Payments that were untraceable to terrorist organizations. She confessed everything right in front of me."

"Why do you need me?"

"I want you to investigate her and find out everything you can about her and Josh. I want all the information I can when I go to the police and confirm what I heard. I just want confirmation to know that what I heard was true and not a psychotic rant. I just don't want to believe this yet in my gut. I know it's true. That's why I'm changing the will," Warren replied sadly.

"And that's why you need to go to the police with this information. Warren, she's a danger to Skylar, to you, and to herself and Josh. I'll do what I can to investigate and help close the case but you have to tell the cops. You have to."

"I know, I know and I'll do that. I just have to call the VA and tell them I'm going to be late for my chemo appointment because Morgan and I have to go shopping. She doesn't know this yet Don, but she's going to be my child's adoptive mother."

"That's great Warren. I've seen her with Skylar. She'll make an excellent mother. Good Choice."

"I know it is. Anyway, do what you can to investigate Stacia and Josh and I'll wrap up things here, will change, breaking the news to Morgan and telling the cops. Talk to you soon Don."

"I'll let you know what I found as soon as I find it. Talk to you later."

When Warren got back to the car he had a devastated look on his face that Morgan couldn't read.

"Is something wrong? You okay?" Morgan asked, concerned.

"I need to talk to you. Let's go shopping. I have something important to tell you. But first I have to call the VA and tell them I'm going to be late for my chemo appointment and I have to call my lawyer."

"Call your lawyer? Late for chemo appointment? Take me shopping? Warren, you're starting to scare me. What's going on?"

"Just drive us to the Kohls in Las Vegas while I call the VA and my lawyer. I'll tell you everything when we're shopping."

While Morgan drove the woody wagon to the kohls Warren did just that, he called the VA to tell them he'd be late and then he called his lawyer.

"Hey Leon, it's Warren. I need to make some changes to my will."

"What kind of changes?" Leon asked.

"I can't talk about it now. Just meet me at the hospital in about an hour while I'm at my chemo appointment. We'll sort it out there."

"Alright. And remember to bring all your legal documents concerning the changes you want to make."

"I will Leon I have the will papers in a safe deposit box at home. I'll just go get them after Morgan and I are done shopping."

"Done shopping? Why would you go shopping before a chemo appointment?"

"Look Leon just meet me with the original will at the hospital and I'll bring the copy. We'll sort it out while I'm getting treatment."

"While you're getting treatment? Warren, I understand the urgency but shouldn't you rest while you're getting chemo treatment instead of changing your will around?"

"Look I can't rest at a time like this."

"At a time like what? Warren what the hell is going on?"

"Ill explain it all at the hospital just go and get the original will papers together. I'll meet you there in an hour."

"Alright Warren. Talk to you soon."

When Morgan and Warren got to Kohls Warren grabbed a shopping cart and the two of them headed up to the second floor of the department store in an elevator.

"Warren, what's going on? Why are you taking me shopping to the kids area?" Morgan asked.

"Just need to get a few things for Skylar that's all."

"Why now? Why do you even need me with you?"

"I figured you'd wanna help shop for Skylar and I need a woman's opinion and I figured it would be a good moment for us to talk."

"Talk about what? Warren what is going on? Why did you take me here to get clothes for Skylar?"

"The future is what I wanna talk about. Just come over here," Warren replied directing her to a rack of toddler dress sets for fall. "Wouldn't this be cute for when she starts school?" Warren held up a red and black Scottie dog and heart jumper with long sleeved white turtleneck.

Morgan looked at it for a brief minute before replying, "it would be really cute for school. Except I think you should also add something that she might like too that is princess sofia themed."

"Good point," Warren replied as he went over to the Disney clothes rack where a slew of toddler princess sofia clothes was hanging up. He pulled a long sleeved sweatshirt with princess Sofia on it that had a tiered purple tulle skirt attached to it.

"Ta da!"Warren replied.

"Perfect," Morgan responded, still keeping quiet. She still didn't understand the point of why they were there. So she waited quietly to see what would happen next.

Warren put a long sleeved white turtle neck and brown and orange turkey appliqué jumper in the cart and replied, "This will be for thanksgiving." Morgan just nodded.

"And this will be for Halloween," he continued, as he put two more outfits in the cart, the first being a top with long sleeved zebra arms underneath a short sleeved black shirt that had a cat peeking out of a jackolantern and an attached orange tulle tutu underneath an attached layered zebra tutu, paired with black leggings. The second was an actual Halloween costume, a purple princess sofia the first costume. Morgan didn't say anything, just watched as he put the costume in the cart, still confused by it all. They shopped for a little while more and picked out a few more outfits and some bed clothes, but it wasn't until they started picking out birthday dresses for each year and clothes in bigger sizes, that Morgan figured out what was going on. However, she waited patiently for Warren to tell her himself. Unfortunately, Warren didn't tell her outright, he went on with the different birthday outfits. Finally when he got to the sixth birthday outfit, a sleeveless dress with fuschia ruffles layered on top and an attached fuscha layered tulle skirt with black glitter bow attached to the side, did she come out and finally ask.

"Alright Warren, what's going on?" Morgan asked.

"Isn't it obvious?" Warren asked. "I'm picking out all these clothes for the different birthdays and for different holidays because I want you to be Skylar's mother. You're her adoptive mother Morgan. I'm changing my will and I want you to be her mother not Stacia."

"Warren, I don't know what to say," Morgan replied.

"Say yes."

"Warren I don't know if I can I mean I don't know the first thing about being a mother. I don't know how to care for a toddler or what she'll need. I don't know what school you prefer. I don't know what she likes to eat…"

"Morgan, it'll be fine she'll tell you what she needs."

"I mean what if she doesn't listen to me."

"She will I promise."

"I don't know about this. I'm scared. I don't know if I can do this."

"You can. I know you can."

"What about a father Warren? Didn't you and Cynthia say you always wanted the family unit?"

"We did. And I figured that out too. I will leave a spot for a name in the will and you can put down whatever person you want for Skylar's father."

"Warren I don't know. What if she doesn't like me as her mother."

"She will. I know she will. I've seen you with her. You're wonderful with her. You'd make a wonderful mother. I feel it in my bones."

"But Warren….. What about church? I'm not even religious and you want someone with Christian values who believes in God."

" You can take her to church when she requests it and learn to be in Christ yourself, you and whomever you choose as her father. Morgan please! Please take her. If you don't say yes I don't know what I'm going to do. I don't want her in foster care and a ward of the state. I know what happens to those kinds of kids," Warren begged, "Please, please do this for me, please!"

"Give me one reason why," Morgan replied.

"I'm dying Morgan. The cancer's terminal and I'm dying."

"What? How long have you known?"

"The whole time."

"And you never told your wife or anyone?"

"I didn't want to worry or upset my wife. I figured when the time was right I would tell her but then she went to England and was murdered and that all changed. And then this thing with Stacia changed things too…"

"What thing with Stacia?" Morgan asked. Warren was silent for a long moment and dared not speak.

"Warren, what thing with Stacia?" Morgan asked again. Warren stood silent for an even longer moment than the first. His face had gone totally pale and he covered his mouth in shock as if he had said a dirty word. He hadn't meant for any inkling of the confession he'd heard to get spat out to Morgan. He had wanted to wait until they got to the police but that all had changed.

"Warren! Warren! Look at me," Morgan yelled.

Warren looked at her in the eye.

"What thing with Stacia? What happened?"

"When I was at my wife's grave I heard Stacia confess to murdering Cynthia. I heard her say how she enjoyed killing her at the abandoned warehouse in England. How she was upset that she had missed killing me and how she was going to kill me by lethal injection today. She also mentioned how she had used untraceable M payments to buy bomb materials and help Al Queda bomb my platoon in Fallujah and how the bomb was meant for me and why wasn't I dead. She also claims that she hears the voices of God in her head and that those voices drove her to kill my wife and me because she lost a child and felt entitled to Skylar and how she was Skylar's rightful mother. How we had veered away from God's plan for Skylar and were going to poison her by giving her immunizations. I mean she was CRAZY!"

"What? So that's why you wanted the will done today and everything in order. Oh my God Warren you have to tell the police. We need to tell Detective Brass right now or somebody."

"I know and I was going to. I wanted my Private investigator to investigate just to make sure that it was a legit confession and to get enough information to get a sure fire DNA warrant."

"No Warren you need to tell someone now."

"Look could I just wait until my PI calls me back I really wanna take care of the will first to make sure Skylar's taken care of."

"Then you promise you'll tell my boss or somebody?" Morgan asked concerned.

"I promise," Warren reassured her. "Oh I almost forgot before we check out, I know that you are going to vaccinate so there's something else I want to buy here too."

Warren and Morgan went downstairs to the register where the Kohl's cares books and toys were. He picked up a plush toy bear and a Kohl's cares matching game.

"have her hold this bear and play a matching game. She loves that type of stuff and bears. The bear will comfort her and the matching game will distract her. She won't fight you as much if you use both of these," Warren informed her.

"Thanks for the tip," Morgan replied.

After they had checked out all the clothes and the stuffed animal and matching game, the two of them headed to the Delaney home for the papers. Greg had left a note at the house saying he had taken Skylar to play at the park.

Seeing the note, Warren raised his eyebrows at Morgan.

"What?" Morgan asked.

"You know Sanders and you would make the perfect parents and the two of you do look very cute together," Warren replied.

"Don't even think about it," Morgan responded.

"What?" Warren said, smiling and chuckling, as he grabbed all his legal documents from the house.

After Warren had grabbed the necessary documents for the will Morgan and he headed to the VA hospital for Warren's cancer treatment. When they got to the hospital Leon, Warren's lawyer was there waiting for him. As Warren was having his treatment and changing the will with Leon Morgan sat outside in the waiting room and let her thoughts run rampant. She thought about all the potential fathers who would be a good match for Skylar, Nick, Hodges, Greg, and Bailey. Yet everytime her thoughts seemed to wander back to Greg. Seeing Greg over the last few days play with Skylar, take care of her, take her to the park, put her to bed, bath her…. She saw him as the perfect father material but she wondered. Would Greg be up to the challenge of being a full time parent? Would he even want to? Would he or does he love Skylar enough to take on such a challenge? And how would this effect the relationship between the two of them? Would they become good friends and co workers and have a stronger partnership in that regards or would their partnership translate into romantic feelings? SO many unanswered questions. When Warren teased her about Greg and her dating and possibly having a relationship it made Morgan uncomfortable; partly because her feelings toward Greg were partly intimate and a part of her did want to be more than friends with Greg but was torn because she knew it wasn't allowed for them to do so because of their jobs. Skylar could jeopardize that if she made Greg the legal fathering guardian. As for Nick and Hodges, they were nice but they didn't have that certain fathering factor that Greg did. There was just something about Greg that made Morgan's whole inner self jump up and scream, "YES! This is who should be Skylar's adoptive dad!" Although making Nick or hodges the fathering guardian of Skylar might be better because she didn't have the romantic feelings for them that she did for Greg and even though they worked with her them being fathering figures wouldn't put their jobs in jeopardy due to that fact. Even Bailey would be good because she didn't have romantic feelings for him but then again Bailey was most certainly out of the question being that he was engaged to Jessie and Jessie would definitely object out of jealousy. Then that left the question, should she make Nick or Hodges the fathering guardian? Morgan sighed as her thoughts shifted yet again to her romantic feelings towards Greg. She would love to settle down and hope someday that it was with Greg. She so wished she could tell Greg how she felt but the restrictions placed on any possible relationship she could have with Greg due to their jobs as CSIs always kept her silent and the fact that she wasn't comfortable opening up and sharing those feelings with him, not just yet anyway. Morgan sometimes wondered if she would ever be. She also wondered if maybe them being parents would secretly be a good test to see if they were really meant to be together without having to share their feelings for each other and risk their jobs. So many unanswered questions… Morgan thought and thought about the unanswered questions, turning them over in her head and trying to put the answers to the questions together, as if they were missing pieces of a puzzle. She puzzled and puzzled some more….. little did she realize however that some of her questions would be answered sooner than she thought.

"There you go Warren. The changes to the will have been made, leaving Morgan as the adoptive mother and an adoptive father named only and solely by Morgan at the time of death or thereafter," Leon said.

"Thanks Leon, I owe you," Warren replied.

"Think nothing of it. Good luck Warren, with everything," Leon said as he left the cancer treatment center at the VA hospital.

"Thanks," Warren said.

"Treatments all done Warren," Dr. Finegold, Warren's oncologist replied.

Warren waited while the nurse took the IV's out. Shortly after Warren finished his cancer treatment, the phone rang.

"Hello," Warren replied, as he walked to the waiting room to meet Morgan, stopping every now and then from weakness from the chemo treatments. He'd have to have the naturopathic doctor administer homeopathic remedies as he'd done times before to ease the effects.

"Hey it's Don," Don flack replied.

"Hey Don what's up?" Warren asked.

"I found a whole ton of information on Stacia and Joshua and everything you heard is legit. All I can say is I hope you're sitting down for this because it's worse than you could have ever imagined."

Warren took a seat at a nearby chair in the hospital hallway and waited to hear what Don Flack was about to tell him.

"So tell me Don, what exactly did you find?" Warren said, puzzled.

"Checked the background on this woman and she is all sorts of crazy," Don replied. "As well as the background on Joshua and he's no prince either."

"What do you mean Don?" Warren asked worriedly.

"Well for starters she didn't start out being all sorts of crazy she was sane. Then she got pregnant. She has the same fallopian tube condition as your wife had. So pregnancy had to be monitored quite a bit. During the last term of pregnancy Stacia got a flu shot and a TDap vaccine in the same day. A few days later she started having unusual bleeding from the uterine area and sharp pains and was going into early labor. So Joshua took her to the hospital due to her contractions being closer together. AN emergency C-section was performed shortly thereafter. However due to the whole ordeal Stacia lost a lot of blood and went unconscious and was deprived oxygen to her brain for a full minute. Then the doctors revived her and she was conscious again and when she regained consciousness her baby, a boy they were going to name Jackson, was dead in her arms and as a result of the oxygen deprivation to her brain and the emotional trauma of holding a dead baby in her arms it changed her whole personality after that and she was never the same. She claimed she heard voices in her head and the voice of God. She tried to kill herself multiple times after the incident and was in and out of psychiatric facilities and was medicated with numerous medications as well as receiving excessive amounts of electric shock treatment. She stopped taking medications when out of the hospital multiple times and always ended up going crazy talking about how God was telling her that she deserved a child and needed to take action and do whatever it took to get Skylar and that God was telling her He gave her a plan to do it. Joshua tried to stop her but she just kept getting more and more depressed and many more times borderline violent to the point where he would be afraid of her."

"Didn't they try adopting?" Warren asked.

"They did but they said due to Stacia's psychological state they didn't feel stability wise it would be good for a child to be put through having a mother like that. The voice of God really got strong and told her to kill Skylar's parents when she discovered that not only could she not adopt but she would never ever be able to conceive another child again. After that, she really went bats and demanded that the plan to kill her parents, Cynthia and you, be carried out. Joshua refused but then she took a knife to his throat and threatened to slit his throat if he didn't do it. SO he agreed. He told her everything he knew about M payments and terror organizations and how they are funded and he also had receipts that listed materials bought which were the same materials for the chemical weaponry to give to Al Queda and he is more than likely the one responsible for all the hacking due to the fact that he worked briefly in intelligence services dealing with cyber terror for the pentagon. Those two had secret funds in a private account in the Cayman Islands that they used to lease a private car and jet more than likely to help Jeremy Kline escape and ultimately lure him to England and end up killing him based on previous bank transactions the bank gave me. As far as the bombing in Fallujah went Joshua must have told Al Queda the position of his platoon and everything considering he was a part of your platoon at the time and would have been the only one to know that information. As for the lethal injection, Stacia used to work for a company which sold synthetic cosmetic snake venom and I have reason to believe she is going to use that to kill you."

"Why didn't Joshua get her help damn it in a long term facility? And what about the cell phones. Do you have receipts of those purchases?"

"Look I don't have receipts of cell phone purchases but if everything else I heard was right then they did purchase cell phones. I know they did. We just need a warrant for Miami Dade PD to search their home in Florida and with the information I have I'm sure we can get one. We definitely have more than enough for our DNA warrant that's for sure. As for getting psychiatric help for Stacia, Joshua tried but when a long term facility was suggested he couldn't handle it and refused to do it and decided to just care for her at home. I did find out why they were anti vaccination though. They believed that the flu shot and TDap were what caused the problems with Stacia and the early labor and what killed their baby and they've been trying to earn compensation from the Vaccine injury courts ever since but the case hasn't been proven. Also I think that the chemical weaponry and bomb material used in Fallujah was the same material that was used in a bomb a while back to bomb a house in Afghanistan where a whole family was killed. They thought it was another bombing from Al Queda but I also think for some reason Joshua was involved."

"I remember. The pentagon couldn't determine who masterminded it and it went unsolved. Al Queda had claimed it wasn't them."

"If that's the case we may be calling NCIS in on this," Don replied. "But for right now lets just go to the police. Your chemo appointment done?"

"It is. I'll be there as soon as I can. See you at Las Vegas Police station," Warren replied. "Thanks Don, for everything."

"You're welcome. Oh and there is just one more thing about Joshua that you should know."

"What's that?" Warren asked.

"I think the guy might be a pedophile."

"Why do you say that?"

"I found evidence of child pornography on his computer and pics of the two girls from that family that was killed in Afghanistan naked with scared looks on their faces, the kind of looks that I see when girls have just been raped. I don't know if he took them or if that may be reason he'd be involved in the bombing but it's something to look into for sure. Either way we need to get to the police right away."

"Agreed. I'll be there as soon as I can. And Don, how did you find all this out?"

"Lets just say when Joshua is spoken to in the right way, and gets drunk he tells a lot and combined with a tape recorder, it's a powerful combination. Anyways, I'll be waiting for ya."

When he got out to the waiting room, he paused for a few moments to try to steady himself as he felt dizzy and nauseated from the chemo. He stayed for a brief moment holding his hand to his forehead.

"You okay?" Morgan asked.

"Fine, just weak from the chemotherapy. That's all," Warren replied. "It passed. Look we have to go to the police. I'm meeting my private investigator there. We're gonna give our information to them. This is it. IF we get a DNA warrant it's all over."

"Then what are we waiting for," Morgan replied, "lets go."

When they were going to the Las Vegas Police station, Morgan called her boss, DB Russell and told him to meet them at his office. When the got to the crime lab and met DB both Don and Warren told him every single piece of information they knew, holding back nothing and leaving nothing unsaid.

"Stacia and Josh Las Vegas Police," Detective Brass replied as he knocked on the door. Detective brass and the two officers with him waited a few minutes. Then, Detective Brass knocked again.

"Las Vegas police," Detective Brass responded again. After a few minutes, a man answered the door.

"Are you Joshua?" Detective Brass asked.

"Yes I am. Why?"

"You're under arrest for helping your wife in the murder of Cynthia delaney and terrorist acts of chemical weaponry in Fallujah against the United States and its military and treason for conspiring with terrorists. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say or do can and will be used against you in the court of law. You have the right to an attorney, if you can not afford one, one will be appointed to you…."

"Search the other areas of the hotel for the wife," one of the officers replied. The officers searched the hotel room and bathroom and found Stacia in the bathroom washing her hands. Stacia was arrested as well and read her rights. At the police station finger prints and DNA swabs were taken from both Stacia and Josh as well as mug shots of them. Then the CSI's processed the DNA and fingerprints.

"The fingerprints and DNA are exactly as suspected, Russell, they're a match to Stacia," Henry, the DNA tech replied.

"So it's over, we got her."

"Yea."

"I'll call Yorkshire Police and have Stacia sent there to stand trial in Queen Elizabeth's courts."

"Russell, Horatio Caine of Miami PD called and they searched the house of Stacia and Josh and found bomb making materials consistent with the chemical weapon bombs used in Fallujah and Kandahar Afghanistan, disposable cell phones with the numbers matching the Phone numbers found in Yorkshire England. They also found additional disposable phones with numbers and accounting information to different banks consistent with the funding that funneled to Al Queda that the Pentagon found," Julie Finlay replied. "Also Miami Dade PD found something else interesting. There were pictures of Skylar up all over. Stacia and Josh were obsessed with her. Josh kept a photo album of various photos of skylar naked in her bath tub, photos in her bathing suit, photos of her washing off from the beach with the hose naked, and various other private photos that exposed her body with little to no clothing on, either bathing, or at the beach in a swimsuit. There were also some portrait pictures of her in dresses in Josh's album that Cynthia and Warren must have sent to him and Stacia. Her room was all set in their Florida house, decorated princess Sophia and everything. And get this, Stacia had princess Sophia pajamas and several Carter's and jumping beans outfits bought at Kohls that Warren had told Morgan went missing during Skylar's third birthday party, which proves that Stacia and Josh had premeditated this killing and used Jeremy Kline to get there. Also a search in the house revealed that Josh had several sex toys that were disguised as something a CHILD might want to play with and he had pictures of two naked little girls which were the exact little girls that were killed in the bombing in Afghanistan, and two bracelets that he had confiscated from the girls, almost like trophies."

"Sick bastard. Unbelievable! Put both of them in the cage I want em out of my sight!" DB replied. "I'm just glad we caught them before they could do to Skylar what they did to those other little girls in Afghanistan. Did Miami PD contact NCIS and the pentagon and FBI?"

"Yes they did and Brass contacted Detective Wragg at Yorkshire PD and two officials from Buckingham Palace will escort Stacia back to England to be tried. As for josh he will be tried in a military tribunal on Gitmo as a terrorist. What I don't get, is why kill Jeremy?" Finlay asked.

"Easy. Jeremy Kline served his purpose. When Stacia was done, she killed him, in cold blood and then butchered Cynthia alive. The husband did those bombings and helped kill his best friend and then allow Stacia to almost poison Warren, it shows a lack of remorse, which means they have no problem killing. And the worst part is if Stacia senses she needs to commit murder suicide to avoid capture she will, which is doubtful she wouldn't hurt Skylar. Thankfully though they're in custody, so the nightmare is over," DB replied.

"Cheers to that," Finlay replied.

Little did both of them realize, this nightmare was far from over.

Morgan and Warren reached home shortly after 3 PM to find Skylar on the couch coloring in her Princess Sophia coloring book and Greg sound asleep passed out next to her.

"Skylar! What are you doing up?" Warren asked.

"Shhhhhh! Daddy! Greggie sleeping!" Sklyar whispered.

"And how come the Princess in training isn't sleeping?" Warren whispered back.

"I not tie tie!" Skylar replied.

"Well daddy needs to rest Skylar, he's sick, so why don't I go put you down for nap anyway and read you a story and we may even act it out together before I go," Morgan replied. "What do you say?"

"Okay," Skylar replied glumly as she took Morgan's and her father's hand and headed up the stairs, stopping every now and again for Warren to rest a bit before continuing up the stairs. When they got upstairs Warren went to bed while Morgan and Skylar curled up together and read Skylar's favorite book, "Angelina and the Princess" from the Angelina Ballerina book series. Together they had fun acting out the story, with Morgan and Skylar mimicking the characters perfectly. Then Morgan sang Skylar a lullaby that her mother sung to her younger, "All through the Night," about angels watching over the baby as she slept. Morgan didn't know why she chose that one, it just felt calming. And she was proved right.. About half way through the lullaby Skylar fell asleep in Morgan's arms. For a few minutes Morgan watched the little girl sleep. She couldn't believe that she was going to be this kid's mother. It seemed almost unreal. Yet as she watched Skylar sleep, she was excited and happy to be the chosen one to raise Skylar. Her heart in that moment felt such joy and happiness and peace and love toward Skylar, as she slept calmly and peacefully in her arms, her breathing even and steady, that she could just bust and spread peace and joy and happiness all over. And at that moment she realized just how deep and how much she actually loved Skylar and had gotten attached to her in the past weeks and months. So much so, that the more she watched Skylar sleep the harder it was to let her go, yet she knew she had to. She had to go to work soon as did Greg. Speaking of which, holy cow, Morgan thought as she looked at the clock in Skylar's room, she had to get Greg up. It was almost time for her and him to start their shift at work. Morgan gently placed Skylar in her bed, allowing the child's blond hair to flow all around her, kissed her forehead, shut her blinds and quietly left the room. As she walked to Warren's room, she realized beyond a reasonable doubt who she wanted the father to be. Although he would need a serious talking to about raising kids…. Oh well that could wait until she got to work. As she approached Warren's room, a smile went across her face at the thoughts of the new family she had created and she had never been so happy in all her life.

"Bye Warren. I'm going to work now. Are you sure you're going to be alright by yourself?" Morgan asked.

"I'm positive," Warren said. "I just need a little rest and Dr. Green, my homeopathic doctor will be over in a little bit to give me my alternative medicine to ease the side effects of the chemo."

"Are you sure?" Morgan asked.

"Look Morgan with Stacia and Josh in custody who would harm me?" Warren asked.

"True. Well," Morgan sighed, "I guess I will see you later and check on SKylar and you when I get home from work."

"Bye Morgan," Warren said weakly.

"Bye Warren. Oh shoot I have to get Greg up," Morgan replied as she hurried downstairs, Warren chuckling behind her.

"Greg! Greg! Wake up! We have to go to work!" Morgan said as she shook him.

Greg woke up still a little groggy and looked at her, half asleep.

"What happened? How did you get home?" Greg asked, groggily.

"You fell asleep watching Skylar. You're lucky she didn't set the house on fire! Or get hurt or, or, Greg what were you thinking?" Morgan said, a little harshly.

"Oh my gosh! Tell Warren I'm sorry! I didn't mean to it's just she's so…. So…."

"Fast," Morgan finished for him.

"Yes exactly! I didn't, I mean I just, I really screwed up," Greg sighed.

"You sure did," Morgan said angrily, "And you and I are going to have a serious talk about it when we get to work. I mean Greg how could you be so irresponsible!"

"I made a mistake okay?" Greg replied, upset.

"You can't make mistakes like that. Not with toddlers and children."

"Look it was a mistake. I'll do better the next time okay?"

"What if there isn't a next time and she gets out and gets killed being hit by a car or kidnapped?" Morgan replied, clearly shaken up.

"Look I get the point okay, why are you making such a big deal out of this?" Greg asked defensively.

"Nothing, nothing, lets just, lets just go to work okay?" Morgan said, frustrated.

On the way to work though Morgan remained silent, giving Greg the cold shoulder the whole way. Greg couldn't understand why Morgan was making such a big deal of this incident. He fell asleep, he was tired. Yes it had been irresponsible but Skylar was quite a handful to take care of and she tired him out. However, he shouldn't have let himself slip up like that. Skylar had been his responsibility. However it was a mistake and it happens. Yet why again was Morgan so mad? I mean he could see her a little upset but this much? What was going on with her? It's not like they were going to be Skylar's parents or anything. Right?

At work they were called to a high school for the murder of the school's starring quarterback. As they photographed and collected evidence Morgan continued to ignore Greg. For several minutes they worked in silence gathering and photographing the evidence in the case. Every now and again Morgan would heave heavy sighs under her breath and shake her head in disappointment at him. Finally, Greg couldn't take it anymore and had to come out and ask what was going on.

"Come on Morgan, how long are you going to be mad at me for falling asleep when watching Skylar?" Greg asked playfully.

"Oh so that's what this is about? Me being mad at you for not watching Skylar carefully?" Morgan asked bitterly.

"Well did I do something else to make you mad?" Greg replied.

"No you didn't and I'm not solely mad at you. I'm frustrated. I thought you would have handled Skylar better than that."

"Look she's active and a handful at times. I made a mistake. I'm only human."

"Would you stop acting like that. Your attitude about the whole thing is atrotious," Morgan replied, anger rising in her voice.

"My attitude? Look it was a mistake."

"But it calls everything I thought I knew about you and your parenting skills into question and my decision into question about whether I made the right decision."

"My parenting skills? What you knew about me? Why would you care about that? What decision? What are you talking about? I just don't understand why this is so personal to you."

"Because I'm gonna be Skylar's mother! And I chose you to be Skylar's father. Warren put me in charge because Stacia's a crazy killer who murdered his wife as you've probably already heard. Look I'm sorry! I'm sorry I'm getting so emotional."

"You were gonna make me Skylar's dad?" Greg asked, in shock. Really?"

"Yes!"

"When were you going to tell me this?"

"I was hoping that at work when the moment was right I could but it just kinda slipped out I guess. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to spring this on you, I guess I can choose someone else."

"No, no I, I want to be Skylar's father," Greg replied, "I know I've only watched her a few days but I've grown just as attached to her as you have and I would be honored to be her father."

"Really?" Morgan asked, a smile across her face.

"Really. If I were in your shoes and was chosen as an adoptive parent, and I got to pick who the other parent would be, I'd pick you. But if you think I'm irresponsible then maybe you should choose someone else to be her dad."

"No, Greg, I tried to put someone else in mind to be Skylar's father and all I could think of was you. Stay. Lets make a family with Skylar. Please Greg, stay."

"Okay, I'll stay."

"Are you sure?"

"The surest."

For a few brief moments Greg and morgan shared a moment of silence, embracing in each other's arms. Greg was happy to be Morgan's choice for Skylar's father and even though he felt a little elated and a little frightened he knew deep down that everything would be alright and they would make a wonderful family. He could feel it and as he hugged Morgan the feelings of certainty about being Skylar's father grew stronger and stronger. He loved Skylar. He loved Morgan. That's all there was to it. What else could be more perfect? The killers of Cynthia were in custody and Morgan and greg could spend Warren's last days alive with Skylar so she could get used to them. Everything was perfect. Nothing to worry about. Nothing to stand in theirs or Warren's way… or so they thought…..

"DB Russell, Detective Clive Wragg from the Yorkshire Police department in England. He's here to extradite Stacia back to England to stand trial. The Queen couldn't think of anyone better to send to bring Stacia back to England," Sheriff Conrad Ecklie announced as the portly, balding English detective stepped forward.

"Nice to meet you Detective Wragg," DB said, shaking his hand, "nice to be able to finally put a face to the name."

"Likewise. Queen Elizabeth sends her utmost congratulations and royal honors and accolades to a job well done by your team," Detective wragg replied.

"Tell the queen thank you. I appreciate the compliments," DB said.

"Now getting to the point of my visit. Take me to the cell where the prisoner is being housed," Detective Wragg requested.

"Right this way," Sheriff Ecklie responded back.

Sheriff Ecklie and DB Russell lead Detective Wragg to the jail house at the police station where Stacia was being held. When they got to her cell though, the three made a shocking discovery, Stacia and Josh were gone! For a moment DB and Ecklie were so stunned they couldn't speak. DB and Ecklie exchanged horrified looks. Then Ecklie spoke into his radio, breaking the silence.

"This is Sheriff Ecklie, I have a jail break at the Las Vegas Jail house. Two murder suspects escaped and are on the loose. Get every patrol on this out looking for the two of them. Names are Stacia and Josh MacIntosh, suspected murderers and terrorists. Suspects are considered to be extremely dangerous," Ecklie called over his radio. "I'll have sketch out of the suspects right away."

"What the? How does this even happen?" DB Russell demanded.

"I don't know, the jail is supposed to watching them so you tell me?" Ecklie questioned in anger.

"How do the two of you solve a case and lose the bloody prisoner?" Clive Wragg asked.

"Look Detective Wragg we're really sorry about this but we're going to get to the bottom of how they got out," DB said reassuringly.

"Well I'm here why don't the three of us and your team put our heads together and solve this," Detective Wragg replied.

Greg and Morgan processed the evidence from the quarterback's death at the high school. They worked diligently and in silence. However, every now and again the two exchanged intimate glances with each other and smiled. At one point processing the evidence they got close. Their hands touched the same piece of evidence and they smiled playfully at each other and exchanged nervous giggles hoping no one would notice how intimate they had become. Having a child was certainly going to change both their lives and neither one felt they could contain the happiness that they felt rising up inside them. For a few moments they stopped processing the evidence and just gazed lovingly into each other's eyes..

Finally they snapped back to reality and finished processing the evidence from the murder. They were just about done when Julie Finlay ran into the room, interrupting them, and dropping a bomb shell.

"Morgan, Greg, Russell needs all of us at the jail house to process Stacia and Josh's cell," Finlay called to them urgently.

"Why what happened?" Morgan asked, worriedly.

"Stacia and Josh escaped and Russell wants us to figure out how," Finlay replied.

"What?" Morgan gasped. "Oh my gosh! Is Warren okay? Is Skylar okay? What's happening?"

"I don't know answers to any of those questions. That's why Russell wants us to investigate and find out. So grab your kits, put a hold on the quarterback case, and come on. We need to find Stacia and Josh before they find Warren and kill him and/or take Skylar," Finlay urged.

"What if they already have?" Morgan asked, worriedly.

"Morgan, don't go there. We just need to think positive and hope for the best," Greg said. "that we'll find them, safe and sound."

"But what if we don't," Morgan sobbed.

"Morgan, please stay positive that it'll be okay," Greg said. He took Morgan's hand and held it tight and squeezed it. Morgan squeezed back.

"It'll be okay Morgan, I promise," Greg said lovingly. "I'm sure Ecklie is sending a patrol over to Warren's home to check on them."

"Really?" Morgan asked, still worried.

"Really. The best thing we can do for Warren and Skylar is our jobs right now. Okay?" Greg said, holding her hand still ever so tightly and squeezing it affectionately.

"Okay," Morgan sighed. She knew Greg was right. She sighed again, picked up her kit, and headed to the Las Vegas Jailhouse.

At the jailhouse Greg and Morgan and the rest of the team photographed and processed the scene. Morgan noticed a portly, balding man with an English accent helping process the scene.

"DB whose that?" Morgan asked as she searched for evidence of how Stacia and josh escaped in the cell.

"That's Detective Clive Wragg of Yorkshire police in England. He came to take Stacia back to England and then when we went to the cell, Stacia and Josh were gone. He's gonna help us solve how they escaped,"DB replied.

As Morgan continued to process the scene she saw her dad talking on his cell phone to someone and wondered if Greg was right and he had sent a patrol over to the Delaney house to make sure Warren and Skylar were okay. She tried to concentrate on the task at hand and stay focused on the job but the worry over warren and Skylar overtook her and finally she had no choice but to go up to her dad and ask.

"Dad, did you send over a patrol to Warren and Skylar's house to check on them?" Morgan asked.

"Yes I did Morgan. Don't worry I'm gonna make sure Stacia and Josh are found and that Warren and skylar are alright. It'll be okay, I promise," Conrad Ecklie told his daughter. He hugged her close, "I know how much you love Skylar, I'm gonna do everything in my power to make sure they're okay. Alright?"

"Promise dad?" Morgan asked anxiously.

"Promise," Ecklie said. He kissed his daughter's forehead and held her close in an embrace for a few minutes before allowing her to return to work.

Morgan noticed something about the vent in the corner of the cell that she hadn't before. The vent cover in the wall had been removed. Morgan looked and noticed a rod from the bed had been taken apart and used to pick the screws of the vent and unscrew the cover. Morgan photographed what she saw and collected the rod as evidence.

"Found out where the MacIntoshes escaped," Morgan replied to Detective Wragg. "See how the vent cover was removed? They took this sharp pointe rod, detached from the bed, and unscrewed the vent with it. Then they crawled through. There's another rod with a sharp point that was taken from the bed as well, see this void right here, there's another piece to the bed. Which means they used another rod from the bed to open the other end of the vent."

"Good work CSI Brody," Detective Wragg replied. "Now all we need to find out is where the vent leads to. "Sheriff Ecklie do you have a blue print of the jailhouse so we can see where this vent leads to?"

"I do," Ecklie said.

"Well, judging by the blue print of the jailhouse this particular vent should lead out to the back entrance where my guess is, they escaped on foot since they didn't have a car or they stole one of the police cars and high tailed it with that."

The CSI team went to the back entrance and sure enough the other vent cover was removed and another abandoned rod was found at the edge.

The team photographed the evidence and collected it.

"there's two sets of shoe prints here," Greg replied as he photographed them. "One male one female leading away from the vent. Definitely theirs."

The team followed the shoe prints to see where they led. They led to a parking lot of patrol cars where a parked car had once been.

"How did they bloody get a car if they're in jail?" Detective Wragg asked.

"I don't know. Lets go ask witnesses who was parked in that spot and see if we can't get some answers," DB replied.

Warren slept peaceably in his bed. He heard a noise in coming from outside but thought he was dreaming so he went back to sleep. He snored loudly, the snoring blocking out all sounds around him. Meanwhile Skylar slept in her fold away bed in her room, dreaming of the ballerinas that Morgan and her had just read about meeting Princess Sofia and Princess Amber and having a tea party together, with Skylar herself there, laughing and chatting, not a care in the world. Skylar and Sofia in her dream, along with Amber and Angelina ballerina danced together in their own fairytale waltz. In the background Skylar thought she heard a rustling through the trees of Sofia's palace in Enchancia, but when she and Sofia turned around it was just Sofia's little rabbit Clover. Nothing to be scared of. However unbeknownst to Warren and Skylar who dreamed away in their beds, two dark figures were lurking just outside their home. A patrol car stopped in front of the house of Warren and Skylar. An officer got out and went up to the house. The dark figures lie in wait in the bush behind the house, waiting for the patrol car to leave and their opportunity to strike. The patrol officer knocked five times before a sleepy headed and heavily chemo drugged and nauseated Warren answered the door.

"Can I help you officer?" Warren asked.

"Sorry to bother you Mr. Delaney but just a little bit ago Stacia and Josh escaped custody a little while ago. We were concerned about yours and your daughter's safety as you can imagine. Sheriff Ecklie called me over here just to make sure everything is alright and the two of you are safe."

"What the? How did Stacia and Josh escape?" Warren asked, panicked.

"It's just something that happens," The officer replied.

"Just happens? Easy for you to say I have a death sentence on me? Can't you people just be a little bit responsible?" Warren asked worriedly.

"Mr. Delaney I understand that you and your daughter are in danger. I understand but we are doing everything we can to make sure you're safe, okay. Now I'm going to ask you again are you and your daughter okay?"

"yes we're fine," Warren replied.

"Would you like me to stay with you until Stacia and Josh are back in custody?" the officer asked.

"For the sake of my daughter, even though I'm scared shitless, I don't want to alarm her, so no thank you. She's gone through enough," Warren replied.

"Are you sure?" The officer replied.

"Yes I'm sure."

"Okay. Call me if you have any issues, okay?" the officer said, handing Warren his card.

"Thank you," Warren replied as he took the card.

The officer got back in his car and drove off and Warren struggled weakly to get up the stairs to his room, the officer, Officer Gibson's card, tucked in his robe pocket. When he got upstairs, Warren made his way to his daughter's room and checked on her. Skylar was sound asleep. Warren pulled the covers up around her and snuggled her in her bed like a little bug in a rug and kissed her forehead before returning to his own room to try and go back to sleep. However sleep, try as he might didn't come. Warren lay there tossing and turning, wondering if what he had done hadn't been a grave mistake, if protecting Skylar by not alarming her with a police officer in the house had been the right thing to do…..

Meanwhile the two dark figures in the backyard behind the bushes watched as the patrol car Sheriff Ecklie had sent over drove off.

"He didn't have the officer stay," the female voice answered.

"So we're good to go?" the male voice answered.

"Absolutely," The woman's voice responded back reassuringly.

The woman and man went around to the front of the house. Using a copied key that they had had made they let themselves into the house. Warren lay in bed, listening as he heard a door open and two people entering the house. The door shut behind them. Warren stood frozen, trying to listen, to see if they would speak. No voices were heard. Was it his naturopath? No, it couldn't be Dr. Green. He knows the situation and would of presented himself. Also Dr. Green wouldn't just let himself in he would knock. Also Dr. Green wouldn't have somebody else with him, just himself. Who is this in his house then? Fear gripped Warren's heart and crawled up to his neck, gripping in his throat and at his neck as if it were fingers trying to strangle him. He lay there frozen like a statue. Could it be his wife's killers? Could it be Stacia and Josh? Warren waited in silence, his heart thumping louder and louder. The fear tightening its hold around his throat. Warren wanted to get up and run but the fear taking over and possessing his body, coupled with the strength of the chemo treatments kept him pinned down in his bed, held there as an awful force. He wished Dr. Green would come and administer his treatment now! Please come now! Warren thought. No one came. Warren continued to lay there in silence. The footsteps went into the kitchen. Warren listened as the drawer opened and silver ware clanged together as the strangers grabbed something out of the drawer. Warren heard the drawer close. Then her heard the footsteps walking up the stairs. The footsteps grew louder and closer until they were at the top of the stairs in the hallway. Warren continued to listen. The footsteps silenced, paused in the hallway, and then continued down the hall. He heard a door open, it sounded like it was at the other side of the room. Skylar! Warren thought, terrified. He remembered what Don Flack had said about how Josh might be a pedophile due to pictures of those little girls from Afghanistan. Please don't hurt her! Warren thought. He tried unsuccessfully to get up out of bed, but fear and weakness held him, and he didn't move a muscle. He listened carefully to see what would happen next.

The woman and the man approached Skylar's room, opened the door, and went inside. The man stroked her hair.

"She is a little beauty," he replied. "And soon that little beauty is going to be ours."

"I know! I can't wait. At last we're going to have a little one to call our own," the woman gushed excitedly. She kissed her forehead.

The man gently kissed Skylar's cheek and attempted to unbutton her nightgown, but the woman stopped him.

"Later, you'll get to love Skylar in your way but now we need to do the job we came to do," the woman responded.

"Right," The man answered.

For a few minutes they watched as Skylar continued to sleep. Then they carefully and quietly left the room and closed the door behind them. They went towards Warren's room. Warren lay there and listened as the footsteps came closer, feeling powerless to stop them. They soon were right outside his door. Warren listened, his heart pumping so fast it felt like it was going to come out of his chest! The door to the room opened and the two figures came in. They came closer and closer, until they approached the bed. When they approached, Warren saw who they were, Stacia and Josh MacIntosh. Finally Warren got up the courage and spoke.

"You two are supposed to be in prison, what are you doing here?" Warren asked.

"You don't know? We want Skylar. We love that little girl and we want her back. She's ours," Stacia replied.

"She was never yours. She belongs to Cynthia and myself and you know it. We're her biological parents, you two were just adoptive parents in a will, with a claim only if Cynthia and I died."

"You don't deserve her as parents. You were going to poison her with shots and medicines. That's not what good parents do," Stacia replied.

"That's not true! We weren't with religious beliefs and we didn't have medical reasons for her that were concrete we had to. I love Skylar with all my heart! I'm her father! I would never hurt her!" Warren begged. "Stacia you and Josh are good people. Please think about what you're doing! Please don't do this! Please! The cancer's terminal! I'm dying anyway! Let Skylar say goodbye to me! Please!"

"You will never deserve that! Nor do you deserve to see her again! You don't deserve her at all! You don't love her! A good parent doesn't poison their child with vaccines!"

Stacia came closer, in her hand she had a sharp knife she had grabbed from the kitchen. She held it up, drawing it closer to his heart.

"Stacia please! I'm begging you! Don't do this! My daughter's sleeping in the next room! Please! She'll wake up and she'll hear you! Please!"

"Shut up! You have to die! You have to! It's God's destined plan that Skylar be with us! It's God's plan that I kill you! Don't you get it? You are not in charge of your daughter's fate. We are." Stacia said.

Warren took out Officer Gibson's card and got his cell phone and started dialing. Stacia grabbed the phone and threw it at the wall and tore up officer Gibson's card.

"Too late for that!" Stacia screamed at him as Josh duck taped Warren's mouth and tied barbed wire around his wrists and ankles. Warren struggled, Josh held him down. Warren's eyes widened in fear. Please God! Don't do this! Warren thought. Please! However as he pleaded with God he felt himself physically weaken and exhaust. Whether it was from the chemo treatments or the state of fear he was in, he felt himself weakening, the fight slowly going out of him, reducing him to a state of nothingness.

"There's no use in fighting me Warren! I always win! Always!" Stacia said as she cackled cruelly.

Warren tried to fight but Josh held him fast. Weakness from the chemo and fear held him fast. It was no use. He got weaker and weaker. The fight slowly went out of him. His fate was sealed. Death was upon him.

He heard little footsteps in the hallway pitter pattering down the hall. Skylar! Warren thought. He struggled with his binds around him and making noise through his duck tape. Skylar can't see this, Warren thought, no! Please God no!

"Shut up! Shut up!" Stacia screamed at him. "Shut up!"

At that point Skylar ran faster towards the door. Her footsteps got closer and closer and were more hurried now. Skylar was right at the door. Stacia raised her knife up to kill Warren. Then, at that moment, Skylar burst through the door.

"Daddy! Daddy I had a bad dream!" Skylar cried but stopped short.

"Stacia what are you doing? Why is daddy tied up? Why do you have a knife?" Skylar asked, scared.

"Daddy was going to hurt you! I'm protecting you! I'm doing the right thing. Your daddy's a bad person!" Stacia said.

Warren shook his head and made more noise through the tape. He looked at Skylar with deeply saddened and desperate eyes, as if to say that's not true! Please don't believe her! She's twisting it all around! I'm your father I would never do that! He struggled through his bonds, Josh held him fast. Tears stung Warren's eyes and streamed down his face. His face was begging and pleading with Skylar to believe him. Please believe me baby, Warren thought, please! Skylar stared briefly at Warren for a few minutes. She looked into his eyes. She saw his desperation. She knew, she knew his eyes were full of truth and in a flash realized what was going on.

"You're lying! Daddy loves me!"

"No he doesn't! He's going to hurt you!" Stacia screamed. "He said he wants to poison you!"

More shaking of the head from Warren.

"LIAR!" Skylar screamed, "You're lying. You're the bad person. You mean one."

"No he is you little brat and he's going to die!" Stacia screeched. Stacia raised the knife and then brutally plunged the knife into Warren's heart, proceeding to stab him multiple times while Josh held him down.

"NO! Leave my daddy alone!" Skylar screamed as she jumped on the bed, throwing herself over her dad.

"Get up you little shit!" Stacia said impatiently. "You're ruining everything!"

"NO! I not get up! Leave Daddy alone!" Skylar screamed.

"Stop it! Let go! Let go of daddy or you're going to be punished!" Stacia yelled at Skylar.

"NO! Love Daddy! No let go! You stop it! I hate you!" Skylar screamed tears streaming down her face, holding her still faintly breathing but barely alive father tight. Warren hugged her back with what little strength he had.

"Josh! Do something!" Stacia screeched angrily.

Josh tried to yank Skylar from her father's arms but the little girl held fast. Blood soaked through Skylar's nightgown. Josh tried again and again to pull Skylar from her father but the child would not budge. Finally both Stacia and Josh, with Skylar screaming and kicking and yelling NO were able to detach the little girl from her father. Josh then duck taped Skylar's mouth, and used what was left of the barbed wire to tie her little wrists and ankles together to a chair. Skylar sobbed through the duck tape, tears streaming down her face, as she watched helplessly, her father get stabbed, over and over and over again, with Stacia not stopping until Warren was dead. As she stabbed Warren Stacia had red hot hatred and fire in her eyes. She watched blood spatter all over and her dad go limp. Dead. Her father was dead.

After Warren was dead Josh went to Warren's medical bag. He found a syringe with a needle attached. He got Xanex from Warren's night stand and filled up the syringe. Stacia went to the cabinet and got alcohol and cotton swabs while all the while Skylar wiggled in her chair screaming and crying for her father to come back while all the while knowing he never would.

"This will keep you quiet!" Stacia replied cruelly as she dabbed Skylar's arm with alcohol and Josh injected Skylar with the Xanex. Within minutes, the child's muscles started to relax, her eyes fluttered closed, and she fell into a deep sleep. Stacia and josh untied her wrists and ankles, carried her downstairs, carried her across the lawn, put her in the waiting car they stole at the jail, and drove off. As they sped off, a neighbor who heard the screams and saw Skylar being put in the car, called 911.

"911 what's your emergency," The dispatcher answered.

"I heard screams coming from my neighbor's house at 611 henley ln. in Green Valley, Henderson, NV. I saw a man and a woman carry a little girl out she was unconscious and had blood on her nightgown. I think she might be dead. The man and woman had brown hair and brown eyes. The woman had blood all over her. The man was medium build and the woman was petite. Early thirties I would say. Please help."

"I interviewed witnesses and they said the car parked there was unlocked at the time. It belonged to a Nicholas McDurmont. He was going in to report his lost dog and when he came out his car was gone. He left it unlocked because he wasn't going to be in there long," DB said, "and he thought it would be safe."

"Too bad for him but good news for us," Finley replied.

"Very good news," DB responded.

"Does his car have GPS," Finley asked.

"Yes it does. That's the good news," DB said. "Mr. McDurmont also gave us his license plate information."

"that should help us," Finlay said.

"Hey guys, dispatch just called and said they received a 911 call about a little girl next door at Warren's address being carried out. She was unconscious and had blood on her nightgown. The man and the woman they described looked exactly like Stacia and Josh," Sarah Sidle replied.

"Did they get a good description of the license plate?" DB asked.

"The Caller didn't but the car described is a gray Nissan Ultima four door sedan, the same car that Mr. McDurmont reported missing," Sarah said.

"So they have Skylar?" DB asked.

"Yea and the caller thinks she might be hurt or dead and either need medical attention or have to be bagged and tagged," Sarah said.

"Oh no they didn't," DB said worried.

DB went into Ecklie's office a stricken look on his face.

"What is it?" Ecklie asked.

"Stacia and Josh have Skylar. A 911 call just came in and reported Skylar being taken out of the house and a man and a woman that look like Stacia and Josh driving off with her. Those killers/terrorists have Skylar."

"What about Warren?" Ecklie asked.

"No word on Warren. Just Skylar was all the neighbor heard."

"Patrol, this is Sheriff Ecklie get a car over to the Delaney house immediately," Ecklie said. To DB he said, "Grab your kits and get your team over to the Delaney house to find out what happened so that we can return Skylar home."

"Conrad, do you want me to work it as a homicide?" DB asked.

"No for right now just as a missing person's case," Ecklie said, "we don't know officially what happened yet."

DB summoned his team and Detective Wragg and together they went to the Delaney house.

Stacia and Josh reached an old abandoned warehouse. The got Skylar out of the car. She was a little groggy from the Xanex they had given her earlier. They carried a half awake Skylar into the warehouse. They placed her on a dirty old mattress and removed her princess sofia nightgown that she was wearing and her underwear. The child sat naked, looking at them in fear, not knowing what was going to happen to her.

"It's okay sweet heart, this will all be over soon," Josh said calmly but not soothingly, as he mechanically stroked her hair.

Skylar flinched when he came near her, her little body shivering from being naked. Her big blue eyes were wide and frightened.

"Am I getting a bath?" Skylar asked, frightened.

"No," Josh replied.

"Wh, why am I no clothes?" Skylar asked.

"You'll see," Josh replied.

"I'm scared!" Skylar squealed. "Want clothes!"

"You don't need clothes for what I'm going to do to you," Josh said, calm and emotionless, continuing to stroke the child's hair.

"What are you going to do to me?" Skylar squeaked, frightened.

"It's okay, we'll start with a little kissing," Josh said, getting closer to Skylar.

"NO! Don't want to! Don't like this! Stop it! No kisses!"

Stacia held out some round objects to Skylar.

"What are those?" Skylar asked.

"Just some vitamins," Stacia replied.

"Liar! No they not! Don't like you! Don't want to!" Skylar replied.

"Listen you're going to be good girl and cooperate or we're going to inflict some pain on you. Understood?" Josh replied, growing angry and impatient.

"No you not!" Skylar replied. Skylar got up and tried to run but Josh caught her and held her down. Stacia burned a cigarette into her little body in several places, over and over again. Skylar screamed and screamed and screamed as the abuse was inflicted.

"That's for being a bad girl! Now behave!" Stacia yelled sharply, "or I'll do it again!"

Skylar cried, tears running down her face as her mouth was yanked open and the round objects shoved down her throat. Minutes later, her little body felt funny. She felt excited and aroused in such a way that she had never felt before. She felt an urge she had never felt before. It took her by surprise and frightened her.

"What's happening to me?" Skylar screamed in fear. Her little body continued to feel aroused and excited. Josh advanced in on her and put himself on top of her. He kissed her. Skylar's body was too shocked to do anything. She lay there as he kissed her all over her body. As he put his fingers in her vagina. Skylar's little vagina contracted. Josh then proceeded to rape her repeatedly with his fingers and various other innate objects in her little vagina. He then raped her several more times and stuck his penis in her. He continued, while all the while Skylar's little body responded accordingly to the sex, doing things her little body wasn't maturely aware of nor capable that it could do. All the while Skylar cried and cried, tears streaming down her face. Josh raped her until she bled and then he raped her some more.

At the Delaney house Morgan and Greg processed the scene. They collected a knife, a hypodermic syringe with needle, and Xanex. They collected duct tape and barbed wire and photographed the scene. They photographed Warren's body. They also collected hair from the scene that was on Warren and the chair where the barbed wire and duct tape was. They collected blood samples from the scene and anything with DNA on it. They bagged each piece of evidence in silence, too stunned to speak, or believe this was actually happening. Morgan looked at the dead Warren that was there, too devastated to speak. She sobbed softly to herself as she finished her job at the Delaney house. Greg looked at Morgan like he was sorry for what happened. He had no words to say. As their eyes met, Greg went over to Morgan and held her tight, letting her cry until she had no more tears left to cry. As they headed back to the lab to process the evidence in their minds they were thinking only one thing, please let skylar be okay. Back at the lab, Warren was autopsied.

"Death was exsanguination due to being stabbed multiple times," Doc Robbins said, stating the obvious to DB, "although judging by the damaged organs where the cancer had spread he didn't have much longer to live anyway, a couple weeks at most. His cancer was very advanced. I'm surprised he held on this long."

"Will power is a powerful thing. He held on long enough for his little girl. Brave soldier, tough and strong to the end," DB said. "What about the tox screen. Greg and Morgan said they found a syringe at the scene and Xanex."

"Well tox screen only revealed chemo drugs in Warren's system. Xanex wasn't detected," Doc Robbins replied.

"So the sick animals poisoned Skylar," DB replied.

"It appears so," Doc Robbins said. DB walked away shaking his head, heading back towards the lab to see how his team was getting along processing the evidence.

"How's the evidence coming?" DB asked Greg and Morgan.

"Well the hair we found at the scene was long and blonde which means it belonged to Skylar. The DNA from the duct tape came back to Warren and the DNA from the other duct tape came back to a contributor with 13 alleles in common with Warren, which we can conclude is Skylar," Greg said.

"The blood on the knife is Warren's and the prints on the knife match Stacia's," Morgan said. "The prints on the syringe match Josh's."

"What about the barbed wire? Where did that come from?" DB asked.

"Well a search of the house indicated that the barbed wire came from the Delaney house as did the duct tape," Morgan said. "As did the murder weapon. Straight from the Delaney kitchen, meat cutting knife."

"What about the entry into the house. There was no sign of forced entry," DB said.

"The Macintosh's made a copy of the Delaney's key. My best bet is when the memorial for Cynthia Delaney happened Stacia took the original key, had a copy made, and then came back and returned the house key and put the copied key behind the house for later when they would come back to murder Warren," Morgan said. "The reason I say that is because a pile of bricks at the side of the Delaney house looked like it had been moved and Warren and Cynthia weren't the type to hide a spare key outside on the porch and definitely not in the backyard underneath a bunch of bricks. Also at the memorial service Cynthia was acting very suspicious. So I think my theory stands correct."

"Good work you two, I'm going to see how Nick is doing on the GPS tracking of Nicholas McDermont's car. We're gonna find Skylar," DB told Morgan and Greg reassuringly.

"Alive?" Morgan asked, worried.

"Alive," DB answered reassuringly.

DB smiled at Morgan reassuringly and Morgan smiled back. However, as she watched DB leave the room she got an awful feeling in her stomach, that that might not be the case.

Back at the warehouse Stacia and Josh bound Skylar's little wrists to two bed posts and her ankles to two other bed posts so that her naked body was laying there fully exposed to do what they wanted. Skylar's mouth was duct taped shut and her body had been stretched and stayed stretched inflicting excruciating pain on her that she had never felt before. She felt as though her whole body was being ripped apart. Josh took the tape off her mouth. Skylar tried to scream but no sound came out. Tears welled up in her eyes and streamed down her face. Josh took out a pocket knife and lacerated her body several times again and again. The pain from the cuts ran deep as he cut her, again and again. It felt as though she had fallen onto shards of glass again and again, the pain sharp and searing. Skylar winced as she tried to block out what was happening to her but she couldn't. The pain was too great. Skylar watched helplessly as the blood streamed from her cuts and ran down her body like little red rivers flowing down the embankment. Skylar wanted to cry out as the pain was great but fear held her, like it held her father when he was murdered and she stayed frozen as a statue in her spot.

"There you little whore! Now when I say suck my weenie you suck my weenie!" Josh yelled at her, kicking her and kneeing her again and again in her vaginal area. Skylar wanted to double over, instead for a minute she passed out, the pain from where Josh kicked her excruciating, making her see white light. She came to when Josh smacked her in the face, causing her little lip to bleed, the pain making her cringe. Stacia got a napkin and wiped her mouth, then held the napkin there and applied pressure to clot the bleeding. Skylar continued to cry, tears streaming down her face.

"No crying!" Josh screamed at her. "You hear me! No crying! No tears! That's more pain!" Josh took another cigarette, lit it, and stuck it inside her vagina. For several minutes Skylar hollered in pain and only cried harder as her private parts got singed.

"I said no crying and no tears!" Josh yelled. Josh hit her in the head with a wrench and Skylar passed out. When she came to Josh was on top of her, touching her in all the most private places of her body. She wanted to tell him to stop but she couldn't make the words come out. Her fear had gotten so great, it had silenced her.

"Now suck my dick! I wanna feel satisfied from a little beauty like you," Josh replied, removing his pants and underwear and exposing his penis to her. "Open your mouth!"

As Josh was ordering Skylar to open her mouth Stacia fed her some yogurt, which Skylar ate readily because she was starving from not having been fed for several hours, just given sips of water. Instantly Skylar could feel her muscles relax and her little body caving into Josh's desires. She opened her mouth and Josh stuck his penis in and she sucked. Subconsciously she knew what she was doing was wrong, but something in the food Stacia fed her, made her surrender completely and her little body mechanically did exactly what Josh beckoned it to do, from that moment on, her innocence lost completely. It would go on like that as such, for what would feel like an eternity before she would ever be rescued.

Back at the lab Nick typed in the license plate information of Nicholas McDurmont's car and was able to tap into the GPS tracking of the car. He traced the last place the car had been to which was just outside of Las Vegas in the most desolate area of the desert terrain. He looked to see if the car had moved in the last 24 hours, it hadn't.

"Nick, how's the GPS tracking coming?" DB asked as he came into the computer lab.

"Found the area where Mr. McDurmont's car is located. I traced it to a desert terrain just outside of Las Vegas."

"Any idea what's over there?"

"Well to my knowledge just a few old warehouses," Nick said.

"Mark down the coordinates from the GPS and we'll try to find the exact warehouse Skylar is located in in the GPS in our vehicles," DB said, "and hurry, we need to find this kid."

"Look Russell we will," Nick said.

"Nick I want to find her alive," DB said, "I told Morgan I would and I would like to hold to that."

"Russell we'll find her. You just gotta trust me okay?" Nick said. "We're gonna get them, I promise."

"Okay," DB said. "Let me know when you're ready to go."

"I will," Nick said.

A short while later Nick and DB along with Brass and the rest of the team were headed to where the GPS showed them the spot was.

Getting out of the car Brass and other patrol officers started kicking in the doors to the various warehouses and yelling, "Stacia and Josh Las Vegas police! Come out with your hands up! You're surrounded!"

However as the minutes ticked by each warehouse came up more empty than the next!

"She's not here!" Morgan sobbed!

"Don't worry Morgan," Greg said reassuringly. "we'll find her."

" I wanna find her alive" Morgan replied, urgently.

"We will," Greg reassured her.

Precious minutes ticked by as Detective Brass and the team went from warehouse to warehouse, calling Stacia and Josh's name but with no success. Finally, just when the team had given up all hope, Morgan found a small warehouse, in the far back area, apart from the other warehouses, and approached it carefully with Greg.

"You think she's in there?" Greg asked.

"Only one way to find out," Morgan replied.

Greg and Morgan both timidly and carefully entered the warehouse, not even waiting for the rest of the team to get there. As they shined their flashlights and looked around carefully, covering every corner of the warehouse, they came up empty, however just as they were about to leave, Morgan noticed a small door she hadn't before, opened ajar.

"Greg look at this," she pointed to him. "It's a door leading to another room."

"You think Skylar's in there?" Greg asked.

"Only one way to find out," Morgan replied.

Meanwhile Josh continued to rape Skylar, who was broken to the point of just letting him do what he wanted to her. He was so busy pleasuring himself with her, and Stacia so busy making sure that Skylar cooperated, using whatever psychological and physical torture she could, including withholding food from her, that they hardly noticed Greg and Morgan approaching. Seeing Josh and Stacia, Morgan and Greg hid behind some boxes and formulated a plan.

"She's surrounded by them Greg. What do we do?" Morgan asked.

"You approach from one side and me from the other. I'll distract them and you help Skylar," Greg replied.

"Shouldn't we wait until the team gets here," Morgan said.

"There isn't time," Greg replied. "We have to act now."

"Got it."

As Greg went around one side of the McIntoshs Morgan went round the other and motioned to Skylar that she was going to set her free. When Skylar spotted Morgan her eyes lit up. Morgan motioned for her to be quiet. Both Greg and Morgan slowly approached the MacIntoshs from behind on either side until soon they were almost inches from where they were. Just as about Morgan and Greg were ready to close in on them to free Skylar, Detective Brass and the rest of the team announced themselves.

"Stacia and Josh MacIntosh Las Vegas police! Come out with your hands up!"

Startled, Stacia and Josh turned around to find themselves surrounded now not only by Greg and Morgan but by the entire CSI team, Detective Brass and several patrol officers, as well as Detective Wragg, guns drawn. Stacia and Josh were surrounded. No where to run. No where to hide. The jig was up. Then, just as Morgan was coming forward to free Skylar, Stacia untied the little girl and held her naked and badly physically and sexually abused body to her, and put a gun to her head.

"Nobody move! Or she gets it!"

"Stacia we know that's not true," DB said. "We know that you would never in a million years kill Skylar. I know that somewhere in your heart you want to help that little girl. Right now, she's hurt, she needs medical care, she needs to go to the hospital. Right now I need you to hand over Skylar so we can take her to the hospital and so that we can help you. I know what happened. I know about the loss of your baby. I know that you wanted Skylar because you couldn't have your own. I know that's what happened and if you give us Skylar we can help you. We know what happened wasn't fair."

"No it wasn't! I lost my baby! Cynthia got hers! It's not fair! It's not! And now she's mine! All mine!"

"But she's not yours! She needs parents who can help her and care for her." DB responded. "Don't you want that for her?"

"I'm that mother!" Stacia screeched. "I'm her parent! So is my husband! No!"

"You're not her mother Stacia," DB continued. "You never will be. Now it's time to let her go!"

"NO!" Stacia screamed.

She held the gun and just as she was getting ready to pull the trigger, Morgan grabbed Detective Brass' gun and shot Stacia point blank in the forehead, killing her. Josh was just about to shoot Morgan when another gun shot went off, hitting Josh in the forehead and killing him also. It was Sheriff Ecklie.

"Don't even think about it," Ecklie replied, as he shot Josh, killing him.

"Skylar!" Morgan screeched. She ran to Skylar's aid, who was badly injured, and had a weak pulse, and was succumbing to her injuries.

"Patrol, I need a medic here and fast," Detective Brass radioed. "I have an injured child here with serious injuries, whose in and out of consciousness. Please hurry."

Morgan cuddled Skylar in her arms, and held her tight. Wrapping her in a blanket, she swaddled her close. Skylar went in and out of consciousness in her arms.

"It's okay, it's okay," Morgan replied, rocking her and holding her tight. "Nobody's gonna hurt you anymore. It's okay. Everything's gonna be okay. I'm right here. It's okay." Morgan continued to hold her in arms, swaddled and rocking her, until the paramedics got there. When they did they immediately started working on Skylar. Morgan watched as the paramedics worked on her, administering medications via IV in her arm and hooking her up to monitors and giving her oxygen, bagging her. Morgan looked at Skylar, tears in her eyes, wanting nothing more than to hold her and make her pain go away.

"Do you wanna ride with her to the hospital?" Greg asked.

"I do," Morgan replied tears in her eyes.

"Let me know how she is when you get there," Greg replied.

"I will," Morgan promised as she climbed in the ambulance. Morgan held Skylar's hand all the way to the hospital and stroked her hair. She loved her so much. All she wanted was for her to be okay. When the ambulance arrived at the hospital she watched as Skylar was wheeled away to the emergency room, helplessly looking on.

Shortly thereafter the rest of the team got to the hospital.

"How is she?" Greg asked.

"I'm still waiting," Morgan replied.

After what seemed like an eternity, the doctor finally came out.

"Skylar is heavily sedated. We had to do surgery on her pelvic area to repair damage from the sexual abuse. She's resting comfortably and can have visitors now. Although I am recommending just family for right now. She's in stable condition," the doctor, Dr. Singh replied. "Which is surprising, considering what she has been through."

"Greg and I are her adopted parents," Morgan replied. "We'll go see her. Thank you doctor."

"You're welcome."

Skylar was sleeping peacefully when Morgan and Greg came in her room. Her monitors bleeped as she slept, the only sound in the room. Morgan held one of Skylar's hands and Greg the other. Together they squeezed her hand, stroked her hair, and just watched as she slept, in disbelief that this beautiful little girl was actually theirs. They were a family now. Officially. Nothing was going to change that. Everything would be alright. Absolutely everything. Skylar was no longer lost. She was home. She was home with them forever.