*********
“Morning Jack!” Frank called out as he and Rachel entered the small cafe.
“Morning Frank.. Rach..”
“She absolutely insisted on coming,” Frank explained as they sat down.
“I bet she did,” Jack remarked dryly, casting a glance at her. She looked about to burst with energy. Determined energy. The desperation and bursting with grief period seemed to have passed, and he didn’t have to look far for the cause. The lovebite on her neck told volumes too. She had tried to hide it, but he wasn’t a cop for nothing. He decided not to comment on it though.
“Carl Anderson,” he instead said, “quite a guy who’s gotten around. Suspected for drug smuggling, bribing officers of the law, obstructing justice, murder.. you name it. But he’s gotten away every time. Thanks to his brilliant lawyer.”
“Jonathon,” she sighed, and he nodded, “he always was a smart lawyer.”
“And there’s more… look at this.”
They both leaned over to gaze at the paper he was holding.
“Accused of murder… but the lead witness ended up dead, shot in the chest twice!”
“Interesting. You think Jonathon knew?”
“That would be a safe bet,” she replied, grabbing the paper from Jack to look at it properly.
“Ya want anything?” Frank asked as the waitress approached their table.
“Just coffee, thanks,” she replied, obviously in deep thoughts.
“3 coffees, please,” Frank told the waitress, and she drifted off again.
“I remember.. David,” her voice only cracked slightly as she said his name, “telling me about ‘the angry man who screamed at dad till he turned blue in the face’. He wasn’t too specific, and I didn’t think too much of it at the time.”
“When was this?”
“The day before, I think. But Jonathon was an expert at making people angry with him.”
“I’ll say,” Jack remarked, a second before Frank was about to say the same thing. They gave each other a funny stare, the Frank got up.
“Nature calls,” he winked, “I’ll just be a tic.”
“Righto,” she replied, watching him as he walked off, sending him her “Don’t-pretend-to-not-know-what-you’re-doing-Francis” look.
An uncomfortable silence settled, neither knowing exactly what to say. Finally Jack broke the silence.
“So… how long have you and Frank.. ya know,” he asked, looking at his hands.
“Not too long,” she replied, “it just kinda happened.”
“Were you going to tell me? Not just letting me see it on a parking lot?”
“I’m sorry about that.. I was looking for the right moment.. Look, Jack, if it weren’t for Frank, maybe you and I could have…I dunno, but..”
“But he’s very much here,” Jack remarked.
“Yeah..”
“Well, as I said.. good luck… umm.. he’s not that bad, but don’t tell him I said that.”
She managed to hide a chuckle. Frank had expressed some of the same. A couple of weeks ago she wouldn’t have believed they would ever say even one nice thing about the other, but a couple of weeks ago she’d been a different person, in a different world. It felt like a lifetime ago now.
It had been another life.
“Thanks Jack,” she said honestly, and reached out to touch his hand. He gave her a slight smile in return. A second later Frank re-emerged from the toilets section. His timing was more than a little suspicious. She gave him a look as he sat down. He was smiling that innocent boyish Frank smile, but she didn’t buy it for one second. She knew him too well.
“How things at the station?” he asked Jack a second later, ignoring Rachel’s stare.
“Hawker’s not very happy,” Jack replied, “to say the least. Especially because of the way you two just marched out of his office. But he’s written it off as a leave of absence due to stress.”
“Good old Jeff,” Rachel remarked.
“Yeah, I had to spend two hours in his office picking up a message for you two.”
“A message?” Frank asked.
“Yes. Officially, you two are on a break, so if he finds out you’ve been doing any police business, you’re in deep shit. Unofficially, he told you two to be bloody careful.”
“He really said that?” Rachel asked disbelievingly.
“In essence, yes.”
“In essence?”
“Well, he did yell on for an hour about ‘that damn stubborn woman and her pigheaded partner’, but that’s the essence of what he said the next hour, after he had…” The clear ringing noise of a cell phone interrupted.
“Hang on, I better get that,” he said, picking it up, “yeah, Christey.”
While he was busy talking to the person on the other side of the line, Rachel turned to Frank.
“I know what you were doing,” she whispered, making sure Jack didn’t hear.
“Me? Didn’t do a thing,” he grinned.
“Sure.. but thanks anyway,” she replied, and the smile he sent her told her he had known what he was doing, but wasn’t going to admit it in a thousand years.
“That was Helen,” Jack exclaimed as he hung up, “turns out this Anderson guy owns a warehouse just down on the wharf.”
“A warehouse for what?”
“Storing clothes.”
“Storing clothes,” Rachel repeated, “now how likely does it seem that a cloth storer would need a lawyer like Jonathon?”
“Not bloody likely!” Frank replied.
“Might be worth a visit, I reckon,” Jack stated, and they all nodded. Determined.
*******
Water Police HQ
“Helen?”
“Yeah, Jeff?”
“You heard anything from Jack today?”
“Umm.. not really, no.”
“In other words, I shouldn’t ask.”
“Right.”
“When you do hear from him, tell him Webster and Adams are looking for him.”
“Any idea why?”
“They wanna ask about some guy named Carl Anderson.”
“Right, I’ll tell him.” Helen sighed as Jeff went up the stairs again. So five people were looking for Carl Anderson. If he truly was David’s killer, he deserved every horrible punishment she could think off.
“Be careful,” she though, “be careful, I couldn’t handle loosing any of ya.”
*********
“Looks abandoned,” Frank remarked as they pulled up in front of the warehouse. Jack was right behind them, in his own car.
“Yeah,” she agreed, turning off the engine. A second later Jack did the same thing, and they all got out, looking at the huge building. It was almost falling apart, huge cracks in the roof, the windows and doors nailed shut.
“Doesn’t look like anyone has been here for ages,” Jack stated.
“The perfect cover,” Frank observed, “for more.. illegal activities.”
“Indeed. Shall we?”
“Yes, let’s,” Rachel replied.
All three approached the building carefully, scouting for any signs of life. It seemed totally abandoned. The entrance door had been nailed shut, but not very well, and it was easy pulling of the few planks that covered it.
Jack stepped in first, almost stepping in a huge pool of water just inside the door. The building seemed empty.
“So much for clothes,” Frank muttered, “there’s nothing here.”
“It could be..”
“Hush,” Rachel whispered, “listen.”
And they all heard it. Distant footsteps, who fast turned into running footsteps.
“Hold it, Sydney Water Police!” Jack cried out as he took up pursuit, Frank and Rachel right on his tail.
Far ahead he could see a fleeing shadow, a man it seemed, dressed in dark clothing. He couldn’t make out more than that.
“Hold it!” he cried again, and the figure did stop.. and fired a shot. It echoed throughout the empty warehouse to an overwhelming roar.
All three froze. Then Jack slowly keeled over, falling onto the floor with a thud.
“Jack!!” Rachel cried out, reaching her cell phone.
“Officer down! I repeat, officer down!”
Frank continued the pursuit, casting a glance at Jack as he passed, seeing that he was only hit in the shoulder. He would make it, it seemed. Rachel was by his side already, pressing a hand against his bleeding shoulder. Jack would be alright.
That didn’t stop Frank’s anger, and he used it now, to practically fly after the guy. He was going to get him, nail him to the concrete. Punch his lights out. Arrest him, and throw away the key.
Their footsteps echoed through the large building as they ran. He could see the guy in front of him only as a fleeing shadow, he had a big head start, but Frank was gaining.
Another shot was fired, but it wasn’t even close to hitting him. He heard Rachel call out something, but was too focused on the chase to hear what it was.
He almost tripped over the pipes scattered around, so did the guy he was pursuing. He could hear his target breath quite heavily now.
“Hold it!” he called out, of course to no avail.
The guy disappeared through one of the doors, and Frank followed him just a few seconds later. As soon as he stepped through the door, something hit him, and his world turned pit black.
********
“It’s okay Jack, you’re not badly hurt,” Rachel assured him, trying to see where the hell Frank went to. She couldn’t hear anything anymore, which rather worried her. Last thing she needed was another loss to cope with.
“Ouch!”
“Sorry!”
“Don’t press so hard, I’ve been shot!”
“It’s just a surface wound, no need to bitch around about it,” she remarked, scanning the building once again.
“Where the hell did he go?” she muttered.
“Frank can look after himself, he’ll..,” Jack assured her, “OUCH!”
“Stop being such a baby, Jack!”
“I am not, I have been shot! A little compassion would be nice.”
Finally she could hear the distant sirens, quickly coming closer. An ambulance pulled up on the parking lot, and several paramedics appeared from within it.
“Over here!” she called out to the paramedics, as soon as they can reached her and Jack, she got up, running in the direction she had seen Frank disappear.
“Frank!” she called out. There was no reply.
“FRAAANK!!”
“Over here!” came finally his voice, and ran so fast she almost tripped over some pipes. He was standing by a door out, clutching his head.
“Damn bastard knocked me down,” he remarked.
“Lemme look,” she insisted, and took his head in her hands.
“You’ll be a little bruised, but it doesn’t look too bad,” she reported a few seconds later. Then she thwarted him hard on the arm.
“Don’t scare me like that!!”
“Sorry!”
“Yeah, you better be!” she exclaimed, then gave him a quick kiss, leaving him all confused. Then she dragged him back to where the paramedics were.
“Check his head,” she ordered.
“Rach, I’m fine, I just..” She gave him a look, and he wisely decided to shut up. Better not to argue when she was in a mood like this, he knew from experience.
She wandered off while the paramedics were doing their job, walking over to the door where Frank had lost the guy. There was no sign of him, he was probably long gone by now.
He was still a fleeing shadow, but now she knew he was out there. And she was going to find him.
“You may have escaped for now,” she said aloud, “but I’ll get you. I’ll get you.”
*********
He chuckled as he saw the fuss outside the warehouse. They had tried to get him, but he had slipped away. Too bad he hadn’t shot the copper better, but nothing was perfect. Besides, that sill cop was not the target.
He had bigger fish to fry. And he would.
As the ambulance pulled off, he carefully followed it, making sure he stayed far enough away to not rot any suspicion. He was quite sure they hadn’t gotten a proper look at him, but it was best to be careful.
He had gotten this far by being careful.
And there was yet much to be done.
**********
“Heya mate,” Frank called as he entered Jack’s room, “looks like you got a bit of a beating.”
“Same to you mate,” Jack exclaimed, seeing Frank’s bruised forehead.
“That’s just a scratch.. But damnit, I nearly had him! I was *this* close.”
“You get a glimpse of him?”
“Nope, just his back head, and his shadow. Crap!” Frank cursed, “so close, and yet.. Damn. And guess what?”
“What?”
“That warehouse.. they had a drug bust there, after an anomynious call.”
“No wonder it was deserted.”
“They didn’t find anything too much though, it seems the operation moved at the last possible second. Drat! We almost had him..”
“We’ll get him.”
“Not *we*, Christey, I and Rachel will get him. You need to stay at the hospital a bit.”
“Yeah.. You’ll take good acre of her while I’m in here, I assume.”
“The best,” Frank replied, with a small grin.
“You don’t know how lucky you are,” Jack said with a sigh.
“Actually, I do. Speaking of which, maybe you could give me some advice on something..”
*********
Rachel sighed. How long was Frank gonna be in there? How much did he and Jack have to talk about?
“They better not be talking about me,” she muttered. If they were, she would… think of something very mean to do to them both.
She paced, and paced, and paced. Hospitals were too quiet. You could actually hear yourself think, and that wasn’t necessarily a good thing.
For her thoughts were dominated by one thing, and she couldn’t afford crying any more. She had to focus on the goal. Stopping, she suddenly realized it was here, in this hospital, they had..
“No. We’re not going there now, or ever,” she firmly told her mind. For once, it seemed to listen.
She paced the hallway floor again. Frank still hadn’t appeared, it was beginning to really annoy her.
The cell phone rang. Annoyed, she picked it up, and answered it rather briskly.
“Goldstein.”
“Hey, it’s Vanessa.”
“Vanessa!”
“Yeah, I heard you wanted me to call.. I mean, I talked to Julia.. and I’m so sorry about David. I really am. If anyone had done that to my kid… I know I’d be crawling at the walls. So really, I’m so sorry.”
“I know…”
“So I digged up everything on that case, figured I owned it to you as well as David. And it looks like you’re onto something. Rumors were flying all over the place, about bribing.. and they were mainly directed at the judge in that case.”
“The judge..”
“Yeah. I were actually about to look into the matter myself when the mistrial happened.”
“Very convenient.”
“It looks like it, but I doubt I would have been able to prove anything.. Which makes me think someone got cold feet.”
“Jonathon,” she breathed.
“Yeah, I think your ex suddenly found himself too deep in something, and tried to clean up, to pull out..”
“But couldn’t,” Rachel finished.
“That would be my guess too. Listen Rach, I’ll look more into it and keep you posted, okay?”
“Yeah, great, thanks Vanessa, I gotta go.” She hung up a second before Frank joined her.
“Who was that?”
“Dad,” she lied. He looked at her for a second as if he saw right through her, then he seemed to shrug it off.
“Jack’s gonna be fine.. his shoulder will be sore for quite a while, but the bullet missed any arteries.”
“And you?” she said concerned, looking at his bruised forehead.
“It’s hardly even a scratch,” he remarked. She gave him a “don’t-be-so-macho” look and stroke his cheek affectionately. Their gazes locked.
“Listen Rach, I was gonna ask you…”
“Goldstein and Holloway,” came Hawker’s voice, and Frank cursed inside. What a bloody timing!
“Jeff,” they both greeted.
“I’m assuming you have a good explanation for this incident?”
“Ummm…”
“You were having breakfast with Jack, when you saw an suspicious exchange go down, and decided to pursue it. Interesting.”
“Huh? Actually..”
“Whereupon you came under hostile fire, and Jack was hurt. I see.”
“But..”
“That is a good explanation, yes.”
They both stared at him like he had apples growing on his head.
“I’ll remind you that you are on leave though, so leave police business to us.” And with that he left, leaving them staring surprised after him.
“Wow,” Frank finally said, “he’s all of a sudden become our best friend.”
“Yeah, I’ll say. I think he and Helen might have had a few talks. Listen, I’m gonna pop in and check on Jack, okay?”
“Sure, I’ll just wait out here.” She gave him a warm smile as she disappeared out of view. As soon as she had, he turned to the counter.
“May I use the phone?”
“Go ahead.”
“Thanks.” He waited patiently as it rang in the other end.
“Hey Vanessa, it’s Frank.. Yeah.. Hey, listen did you just talk to Rach.. Uh huh.. really? Yes, I know…Yeah, I see, thanks. C ya!”
He hung up with a frown. She had been lying. But why? Why was she hiding something from him? And just what more did she know that she didn’t share? She wasn’t thinking of going after the guy all alone?
He was still in deep thought when Rachel came back.
“Frank? Francis? Hello, the Earth to Francis James Holloway!”
“Huh?”
“You look like you have a million things on your mind.”
“Just a few,” he replied, trying to device a tactic to get her to open up. She gave him a look.
“What’s going on Holloway?” she asked as they began walking down the hallway towards the exit.
“Um.. I was just thinking about the prosecutor in the case that Jonathon dropped so suddenly. Ya know who it was?”
“I don’t think so,” she said with a straight poker face. He frowned again.
“I think it was Vanessa,” he remarked. She glanced up at him.
“Could be,” she replied. He shook his head.
“You have been talking to her!”
“Maybe I have, but so…?”
“Damnit Rach, I thought we were together on this!”
“I don’t want to drag you too far into this!!”
“I *am* already in it!!” he shot back as they reached the exit and came out in the sunlight. Neither noticed the car watching them.
“No one asked you and Jack to stick your nosy…”
“You did ask us!!! You’re way out of control, damnit!”
“You’re out of line!!”
They stared angrily at each other.
“What the hell is the matter with ya?!!” he cried out.
“What the hell is the matter with *you*!” she shot back.
“I know you’re grieving, but you’re not the only one, ya know! Bloody hell, you..”
“I don’t need your pity Frank!” she interrupted.
“It’s not bloody pity, Goldstein,” he replied angrily, “it’s love. There, I’ve said it. Love! You’re so damn scared of that, you’re willing to do anything to avoid it!”
“I learned my lesson with Jonathon, with Knocker…” she began
“I’m not THEM, damnit!!”
“I didn’t ask for you to go bloody falling in love with me! I didn’t ask for it!!” she screamed at him.
“Well, you have it now! So what are you going to do, walk away??!!”
She stared at him for another second, then she turned from him and started walking. She forced herself not to imagine the look of hurt on his face, for that would make her run back to him. She just walked on, then almost ran away.
How dared he? How DARED he? She thought she had finally worked out the thing she and Frank had and now he threw love in her face. Damn him!!
She froze at the sound of an engine. That roar of a car starting. She spun around, and saw the gray Peugeot heading straight for Frank with ramming speed.
“Frank!!! Behind you!!!” she screamed, and he turned around to find himself in the headlights of the approaching car. In her mind an image of the car hitting him, throwing him over the hood appeared, and she saw it so clearly she thought it would happen.
“I cannot loose him too!” her mind screamed over and over.
For a moment her vision seemed to come true, then he reacted, jumping out of the way, the car missing him by mere centimeters. It was heading for her now, but she quickly stepped out of the way.
The car passed her close enough to allow her to read the license, and get a glimpse of a reddened face, dark hair and an excited smile.
“He’s enjoying it,” her mind registered.
Then all her senses returned to Frank, who was lying in a pile of debris, head down.
“Frank!! Frank, are you alright?”
“Bloody hell,” she heard his curse, popping up his head, and that was a sure sign that he was alright.
“I’m okay,” he said as she ran to his side, then suddenly found himself in a powerful hug.
She was whispering something too, something he couldn’t quite make out.
“What?”
“I love you,” she muttered, “I love you.”
He had to have a hearing problem. But he could swear his ears worked perfectly.. On the other side, she couldn’t just have said… No, not Rachel, she hadn’t even touched a drop of alcohol this day.
“Rach?” he asked, and she released him from the hug, looking a little embarrassed. Maybe he hadn’t heard so wrong after all! And maybe that meant this was the time too…
“Frank! Rachel!” came Helen’s voice, and he could barely hold back a curse. That bloody timing AGAIN!
“We’re okay Helen,” Rachel assured her, “the car tried to hit Frank, but missed. It was Peugeot, gray I think, license read DH 70719.”
“I’ll check it out,” Helen promised as Frank got up from the ground. He locked gazes with Rachel, communicating a “I’m-sorry-let’s-not-fight” as well as he could.
She sent him a “I’m-sorry-too” in return, and his features softened. In fact, he looked almost boyish.
Helen was staring at them, as if she could see what was going on. The woman wasn’t dumb after all. Maybe it was time to take it somewhere more private..
“Come on Frank, I’ll take you home and get ya cleaned up. Call as soon as you find something?” she asked Helen.
“Sure. Take care of that big head of his, okay?”
“Will do, Helen,” she called out, almost dragging Frank to the car.
Helen looked after them, grinning a bit. She knew it would happen sooner or later, and she was pretty confident it now had. It would be fun observing *that* relationship.
“Rachel…”
“Hush, not know Francis. I don’t want to argue just now.”
*******
We can fall apart
Or we can fall together
Baby we can fall apart
Or we can fall together
It's a long way down
We can make a new start
Never say never
We can fall apart
Or we can fall together
Fall together
Fall together
Fall together, right now
You and me
*******
She indeed hadn’t, Frank noted an hour later. She had definitely had other things on her mind than arguing. It was like she suddenly had a need to be close to him. He didn’t really mind.
He stretched out on the couch a bit, making Rachel shift position on top of him. He held her rearrange the blanket so it covered both of them.. their clothes was all over the place.. literally.
She didn’t seem very willing to talk, and he didn’t push her. Whatever it was that was going through her head, it was her business. He hoped she would make it his business too.. but he knew better than to push her into opening up.
They hadn’t said a word since coming home, the argument was far from resolved, it was rather put temporarily aside.
He let his hand slowly caress her neck, telling her he was there if she needed to talk. She snuggled up closer to him,wishing they could stay like that forever.
The phone interrupted their peace. Sighing, he shifted position so he could reach the phone and answer it.
“Holloway.”
“It’s Helen. Listen, I checked the car.. It belongs to Carl Anderson. I told the cars to keep an eye out for him.”
“Great. Thanks Helen.”
Rachel looked at him questionably as he hung up.
“It was his car,” he confirmed, “Carl Anderson.”
She nodded slowly, tracing circles on his chest.
“Frank?”
“Yeah?”
“How far will you follow?”
“All the way,” he promised, “all the way.”
********
Carl Anderson eyed his target. There it was. The man was saying something, he couldn’t quite make out the words. It didn’t matter anyway.
He had his target clear in sight, and nothing could stop him.
He took out the weapon and rang the doorbell.
********
“Frank, someone’s at the door.”
“Yeah.. hmmm…” He looked around him to see if any of his clothes were nearby, and finally located his pants under the table.
He quickly got them on, then went to the door and opened.
“You?”
*********
Carl Anderson waited patiently for the man to open the door. Finally he heard footsteps, and readied the shotgun.
“You?” Jonathon exclaimed as he opened the door, then his eyes fell on the shotgun.
“Hello, Mr. Goldstein,” Carl smirked, “we’re taking a drive. We have much to discuss.”
“I don’t think…”
“Oh yes, you do. This gun says so.”
*********
“You?” Frank exclaimed, staring at Webster and Adams.
“Hello again,” Webster said, obviously making an effort to be polite, “may we come in?”
“Just a sec.. umm..”
He shut the door in their face, knowing it would look mighty strange.
“Rach, we got guests! Webster and Adams are here!”
“Crap!” she called out, “Shit! Okay..Hell, where’s my..”
“Try under the couch,” he suggested.
“Found them,” she called out a second later, entering the hallway. She had managed to get on more clothes than him, but not by much. This would certainly spark the rumors about him and Rachel, Frank figured as he reopened the door.
Neither Detective Adams or Webster seemed even slightly surprised to find her there as well, only half dressed.
“Come in,” Frank offered.
“Thank you. You know, you two are damn lucky we don’t stay angry,” Adams smiled. Both him and Webster seemed to ooze with that bitter contentment you only have when you know you’ve cracked the case.
“Carl Anderson,” Webster exclaimed, tossing a picture on the living room table. Rachel cast one glance at it.
“It’s the guy who tried to ram us,” she said confidently.
“We figured. Our friend here was born in Sweden, but he had one Aussie parent and moved here at the age of 7. Started his.. ‘career’ at the age of 16, stealing cars. We’ve been after this guy for ages, but he always seems to slip away, Much thanks to your ex.”
“Nothing new there,” Rachel remarked.
“Anyway,” Webster continued, “last year he moved up a league, getting involved in the drug smuggling business. We trapped up our investigation at that point, and managed to make a bust. That gave us plenty of evidence against him and some of his partners, even though they managed to move the operation from that warehouse at the last possible moment. We still had a case. Then, mysteriously, the evidence began disappearing on us. He had to have some well connected people in his corner to pull that off.”
“And you’re thinking Jonathon was somehow involved?”
“We’re not sure as to what degree, but yes. Everything points to that, and besides, my gut feeling tells me he’s far from innocent, and my gut feeling hasn’t failed me yet.”
“But a month ago something happened,” Rachel more stated than asked.
“Yes. We think your ex discovered just how deep he had gotten himself pulled in, and decided to get out of it. We suspect he confronted the judge with some evidence, and made him declare a mistrial.”
“And that pissed Carl off.”
“That’s a good bet. He thought he was getting off.. now the case is open. And what’s more, I think he got nervous about the amount of information Jonathon had.. and decided to give him a warning.”
“David,” she breathed. Both nodded, and she felt Frank’s hand supportive on her arm.
“Yes. And now he seems to have taken an interest in you two as well.”
“Enough to try to ram us anyway,” Frank stated.
“Yep. We’ll have plenty to charge him with. Listen, I’m sorry about..” Adams began, but she waved him off.
“It’s okay. If you two had touched a case of mine.. I would have treated you two far worse.”
“So now what?” Frank asked.
“We’re looking for Carl. He won’t get away. We have enough to build a case against him, a strong case, and I ain’t getting a mistrial this time. Anyways.. we better get going. We just wanted you two to know,” Webster said, both he and Adams getting up. Frank walked them to the door.
Just as they left, Adams leaned over to whispered in Frank’s ear.
“Your partner’s bra is hanging from one of the lamps, mate,” he said with a wink, then waved as he left.
Frank stared at him for a second, realizing he had to rethink a few things about those detectives, then closed the door.
Rachel was still sitting on the couch. She felt drained.. tired.. and relived. David hadn’t been killed because of her. She knew that now for sure, and it was as if a stone had been lifted of her heart.
“I.. can make some food.. umm..” Frank tried to think of something to say.
“Carl Anderson,” she said slowly. Hate had a face now. And a name. Without a shadow of a doubt she knew he was the guy who had killed her son.
“They’ll get him, Rachel.”
“I’ll get him,” she replied in a voice that sent a chill down his spine.
“It’s over,” he said slowly, “it’s over. We don’t have to do anything more. They know who did it, and they will get him, and lock the bastard away.”
She didn’t look convinced.
“That kind of brings me to…”
She finally looked up at him.
“Not tonight,” she said, “I’m tired. Can we talk about it tomorrow.”
“Of course.”
“Thanks..” she closed her eyes, and nearly fell over. She was tired indeed.
“Come on, let’s go to bed,” he offered, “to sleep this time.” She let out a sigh, then nodded in agreement and followed him upstairs. She was silent as they crawled into bed, silent as he wrapped her in his arms, silent as he fell asleep.
Her mind was wide awake though, processing all the information it had been handed.
There was something they had overlooked. If David’s death indeed had been a warning, Jonathon had surely ignored it. So maybe Carl’s interest in her and Frank had been merely to distract them, to move their attention from the real target.
Jonathon.
This wasn’t over yet. And she had a fair idea where she had to go.
Frank was peacefully asleep, and she looked down at him, stroked his cheek slowly.
“I love you,” she wispered, “please forgive me.”
She didn’t know if he would though. She had promied him they would do it together.. but this she had to do on her own.
*******
“What do you want?” Jonathon asked.
“You thought you could just walk away??! Oh no Goldstein, taking down your son was just the start!”
“David???! You killed David??!!”
“Didn’t see that coming, now did you Mr. I’m-so-smart-lawyer. Well, here’s another tidbit for ya. No body knows where you are. You’re completly in my hands. And we’re gonna have a long chat about that case you know.. and how you betrayed me.”
“I had no idea you were into..”
“Oh come on, where did you think the money was coming from??”
“I…”
“You’re so smart, you had to know. And you even helped me.. All those witnesses you found out stuff about.. I used that to threathen them.”
“Oh my God..”
“But you got cold feet, ya blood coward!! You went to that judge and got a mistrial. We were winning! I would have been a free man.. And don’t think I didn’t know that call to the police that caused that drug bust weren’t from you! I was lucky I was able to move it, so they didn’t find too much. So ya see.. I have plenty of reason to be angry with ya!”
“Then why.. Why David?”
“Why not? You were going to take my freedom away, so I took away something importent from you as well. I was gonna do your ex too.. but then I realized you hate her, and she was in love with some other guy. I felt a bit bad about killing her son.. but it was your fault. You made me do it!!”
“You can’t possibly think you’ll get away with this!”
“No? I think I will. There’s enough smart lawyers out there.. and money has never been a problem”
For the first time in his life, Jonathon Goldstein found that he was scared. Really scared.
*******
At first, he had no idea why he woke up. It was in the middle of the night, the whole house was silent, there was no reason he should wake up.
The he realized he could only hear his own breathing.
“Rachel?” he called out, “Rachel??!!”
There was no reply.
“Damnit!” He knew what she was doing. She had gone after the guy alone. He stumbled downstairs, getting on clothes as he went. He noticed the note on the kitchen counter at once.
“Frank.
I’m sorry, but I have to do this. I do love you.
Rachel.”
His heart stopped. She wouldn’t be leaving a note like that unless.. unless..
He could loose her yet.
“Damnit, think Holloway, think!” he told himself. Where would she go?
The phone rang, and he jumped at the sound as if it had been a gunshot.
“Yeah!”
“It’s Jeff. Jonathon’s gone missing.”
“So has Rach, I think she has gone after the guy.”
“Where?”
“I dunno..” he paused. Of course he knew.
“The warehouse.”
As he gave Jeff the adress, he tried to send her a message.
“Please, please, don’t do this, don’t make me loose you.”
*******
Here I am
And within the reach of my hands
She's sound asleep and she's sweeter now
Than the wildest dream could have seen her
And I Watch her slipping away
Though' I know I'll be hunting high and low
High
There's no end to the lengths I'll go to
Hunting high and low
High
There's no end to lengths I'll go
To find her again
*******
She didn’t know exactly what made her look to the warehouse. Maybe just a gut feeling.
But as soon as she pulled up, and saw the Peugeot, she knew. She had been right. Pure determination filled her. She was going to end it. Right here, right now.
And then it would be over.
She parked the a bit away from the building, slowly getting out, pulling up her gun. As she approached the building, she heard angry voices from within. She couldn’t quite make out what they were arguing about, but she knew one of the voices to be Jonathons.
It was very dark, but she could see their sillhouettes. Not knowing who was who made her not dare to take a shot though. Instead she went inside, as quietly as she could. They were arguing so loudly she doubted they would have heard her even if she had made a loud entrence.
“You bastard!” came Jonathon’s voice
“I was only doing what I had too!”
“No one forced you to kill my son!!”
She could see him now. See Carl Anderson. The man who had killer her David. Her mind cried out in one voice:
“Kill him!! KILL HIM!!”
She found herself breathing hard, battling an innder war. She wanted so badly to pull the trigger, just now, to see Carl Anderson drop to the ground and bleed.
Bleed like David had.
But another part of her won.
“This is the Sydney Water Police, freeze!” she called out.
Both men froze. She had clear aim of Carl, but still couldn’t pull the trigger. He was staring at her.
“This wasn’t suppossed to happen..” he whispered.
“You killed my son, you bastard!” she cried out.
“I.. I was punishing him!” he explained, pointing at Jonathon.
“He was my son too!”
“And mine,” came Jonathon’s voice, and he jumped on Carl, going for the gun. They rolled on the floor, she ran towards them, but Carl mamanged to get a swing at Jonathon, knocking him to the floor. And the he ran.
She ran after, her feet being wings.
The hunt had began.
********
Frank had never driven so fast in his life, he nearly crashed at least 10 times, but he didn’t dare slowing down. Finally, he was at the building, and he jumped out of the car, not bothering to shut the car door. Fear gave him wings, and he ran inside.
Jonathon was lying on the floor, twisting in pain.
“Where are they??”
“I..”
“WHERE ARE THEY??!!”
“That way,” Jonathon pointed, and Frank ran.
He could see them now.
********
She finally caught up to him, knocking him onto the floor. Hatred gave her strenght, and knocked him hard, very hard. He slided across the floor, then tried to get up, but she had clear aim now.
“Stop!!” she cried out, “I have you in my aim and I’ll shoot!!”
He turned around slowly. Here he was, the source of her pain. It was him. She knew it. Every fiber of her body was telling her that was the guy. It was Carl Anderson. Her son’s killer.
They were both breathing hard. She locked gazes with him, saw the fear in his eyes.
“I have come to kill you,” her eyes told him. He dried to swallow, but his mouth had turned dry. He was scared. Dying was not an option he had considered. But now it was staring him in the eye. She was Death.
She was Death. She was going to kill this miserable excuse of a man, she was going to kill him with two shots. Just like he had killed David.
She could hear noises behind her, and she instinctively knew it to be Frank.
“Go away Frank!” she warned.
“I can’t let you do this, no matter how much I’d like to see this bastard drop dead,” he said gently, approaching her from the side.
“He killed David!” she spat, and took clearer aim. Right in the chest.
“Don’t do it Rachael.. don’t let him turn you into a killer! You will hate yourself afterwards. Don’t let him take more from you than he already has.”
“He killed David,” she whispered hatefully, “he took him from me.”
“I know, but this won’t bring him back. Please don’t Rach.. Don’t.” She looked at him, saw the plea in his eyes. Then she closed her eyes.. and fired.
Carl Anderson staggered, froze in shock, in anticipation of the pain, then realized he hadn’t been hit. The shot had went over his head. He stared widely at Rachel, then reached for something inside his jacket.
He never got that far. Frank’s shot hit him squarely in the heart, knocking him to the floor. His gun hit the floor a second later.
“You… shot me!” the guy exclaimed, then his face twisted in pain, and his head fell lifeless down.
And above his lifeless body Rachel and Frank’s gazes met, and he walked up to her and embraced her.
It was over.
*******
The police cars came shortly after, sirens howling, lights flashing. And he told them what had happened. A dangerous criminal had been shot in self-defense. That was what the report would say, he knew.
Webster and Adams came pretty fast, and the way they looked at him, he knew it was over. They wouldn’t press the fact that Rachel had gone after the guy. They knew, and understood.
After all questions had been answered, he approached Rachel, who stood looking after the ambulance who had drive away. He knew what was bothering her.
She was watching the sun slowly crawl up the horizon. It was morning, the sky had begun to get back it’s blue color, and the stars had dropped from view.
“Hey,” he said.
“Hey..”
“You okay?” She shifted a bit.
“I’m sorry..”
“Hush, it’s okay. I understand, ya know.”
“I wanted to kill him,” she said slowly.
“Ya missed that shot deliberately,” he replied. She glanced up at him.
“Did I?”
“Ya missed deliberately,” he insisted.
“I dunno Frank…”
“But I do. I know ya Rach… I know ya. You missed deliberately.” She nodded slightly, accepting it, then let him hold her. Across the parking lot he could see Jonathon staring at all the police cars.
“I’ll be right back,” he said to Rachel, and she nodded, still a bit numb from all the emotions. He squeezed her shoulder lightly, then crossed the parking lot to where Jonathon stood, still staring.
“Detective Holloway,” Jonathon said, “you took him out?”
“Yes,” Frank replied, and let that info sink in before he continued.
“I may never be able to prove it,” he began, “but I know ya were involved in that smuggling business. And because of that your son died, and a wonderful woman lost her son.”
Jonathon said nothing, just stared down at the pavement.
“And living with that knowledge may be the biggest punishment anyone can give you,” Frank continued, “but if you blink the wrong way again, I’ll lock you up and throw away the key. And one more thing.. You don’t know what you let go. You truely don’t know.”
And with that he looked at Rachel, then back at Jonathon again.
“You don’t know how much you have lost,” he concluded, and walked away. From a broken man, he knew, but Rachel had made it from hell stil walking.
He knew David would have been proud of his mom right now.
“Come on,” he said, slipping an arm around her waist when he reached her, “let’s get out of here. Want me to follow you anywhere?”
“Home,” she whispered, “follow me home.”
“To your house?” he asked surprised. She shook her head.
“Your house,” she said, with the faintest smile.
*******
So he took her home.
As they reached the door, he was tempted to lift her up and carry her over the threshold, but he figured that was going a bit too far. She wasn’t much of a romantic, anyway.
“Our home,” he thought. She had called it home.
“Stop grinning so silly, Francis,” she remarked as she dropped down on his couch.
“Sorry…” he muttered, still standing.
“I don’t bite,” she said when he made no signs towards joining her on the couch.
“Actually…” he began, “you did…”
“Sit down!” she commanded, and he finally did, only to get up a second later.
“What’s going on?” she asked.
“Do you want to go back? To the Station I mean.” he asked seriously.
“I don’t know,” she replied, getting up as well, “I don’t think I can.”
“Okay…” They both grew silent for a while, him pacing, her just staring out the window at the quiet sea.
“Now what?” she asked, throwing a glance in his direction. He just shrugged his shoulders.
“We take it as it comes,” he offered.
“I can’t go back,” she insisted.
“I know. Not now anyway. And no one’s forcing us to.”
“’Us’?”
“Yeah…” He gave her a sly smile.
“I can live with an us,” she smiled back, “but…”
“Hush,” he said with a with a silence gesture, “no but’s. Let’s just do it.”
“We’re not on the life in general subject anymore, are we?” she asked, and he frowned slightly, trying to think of a way to bring up his next thought.
“I sorta have a question,” he said after a while.
“What?”
“Okay, let’s say hypothetically… if I were thinking about asking this woman to marry me.. hypothetically.”
She drew in a sharp breath, but kept her cool, playing along.
“Yeah? Anyone I know?”
“Kinda,” he replied with half a smile.
“Ya like her then?” she asked with only the slightest tremor in her voice.
“Yeah, I like her a lot,” he said, still with the silly half-smile.
“And ya reckon she likes you too?”
“Yeah, I reckon,” he said, confidently.
“Ya thinking she’s the one?” She mentally shook herself for being unable to keep the tremor out of her voice.
“Get a grip, Goldstein,” she firmly told herself.
“Yeah,” he replied, “so what do ya think she’ll say?”
“Oh I reckon she’ll say yes.”
“Really?” he asked with a broad smile.
“Really. You’re then irresistible charmer, right?”
“She resisted it for quite some time,” he remarked, then grew serious as he took a step closer.
“You know it’s you, right?”
“Yeah,” she grinned, and he took another step closer.
“So…”
“Yes. I’m crazy for saying this, but yes!”
The spark in his eyes was unmistakingly there now, and she saw it light up, a light that seemed to fill her up. He stared at her for two more seconds, then swept her into a powerful hug, squeezing the air out of her.
“Okay…I … Can’t… Breathe!” she gasped, and he immediately released her.
“Sorry,” he muttered, the stared at her once again. “You really…”
“Yes, yes, YES!!” she cried out, laughing, and he soon joined in.
They laughed and laughed, until they both collapsed in fits of hysteria. Finally they were out of breath, and she rolled over to lay on top of him and gaze into his eyes.
“Thank you,” she said earnestly, “for everything.”
“I love you,” he replied, and managed to sneak in a kiss before she could reply.
“You little bastard! I can’t believe you won me over.”
“Took a lot of hard effort,” he teased. She rolled her eyes, then got up.
“Rachel?” he asked worried.
“There’s one more thing I need, Frank…”
“Name it,” he said, getting up beside her.
“I need a lift.. to the cemetery.” He nodded, and offered her a hand. With a slight smile she took it, and he squeezed it lightly.
“Let’s go,” he offered.
She let him drive, looking out the window all the time, watching the cars drive by. As they approached the cemetery, she felt her resolve begin to falter. It was the finality of it that scared her. And a part of her wanted so desperately to hold on.. but it was time.
It was time.
And there they were. The cold, empty, silent cemetery. He pulled up, turned off the engine and turned to look at her, obviously concerned.
“Are ya sure?”
“I hafta do this, Frank…”
“I know…”
She pushed the door open, gathering all her strength, and walked out. Taking a deep breath, she marched up to the gravestone. It looked the same. A part of her wanted to run this time too.. but the part of her insisting she had to do it had grown stronger. Flowers covered the grave. The single red rose she had placed there, had long since died, and she picked it up. Tears fell silently down on the grass.
"David..." she whispered. Frank's hand rested comfortingly on her shoulder, and she silently thanked him.
"I miss you..." she began, feeling her voice crack. She bit her bottom lip.
"I found who did it," she added after a while, and reached out a hand to touch the stone. It felt cold under her fingers. So very cold. As her heart had been.
"You'll always be in my heart.. I love you..." she closed her eyes, then withdrew her hand.
"Goodbye."
She got up, threw one last look at the stone, at David's name, then turned around. A sense of terrible loss, yet peace filled her. There would always be a gaping hole in her life. But life went on. Life, for better or worse, always went on.
Frank stood by the gravestone a little longer. There was something he needed to say.
"Your mom.. Is not a murder," he said quietly. Somehow, he thought it was important for David to know that. Then he followed Rachel to the car.
She was leaning on it, wiping away tears.
"I thought it would be easier...."
"And it wasn't," he stated.
"No.. But I can live with it. It's not smoldering me anymore, it's..." She waved a hand helplessly, not knowing how to explain it. He looked like her understood though. He too had carried many a loss.
He looked at her intently, then shifted a bit.
"Look Rach.. what I said about having a baby and such.. I meant it."
"Not only do ya wanna marry me, ya wanna have kids too," she joked
"I'm serious," he insisted, "We can do the whole thing, ya know."
"One thing at a time, Frank."
"Wedding first then," he concluded. She shook her head a bit.
"Are you sure ya want to do this?"
"I want you to have it all Rach.. Ya deserve it all. I want to do it right." She reached out to touch his cheek.
"You have given me so much already. You don't hafta marry me."
"I want to, " he insisted, "Besides, I like the name Rachel Holloway."
"Who said anything about changing my last name?" she said with a raised eyebrow.
"I assumed..."
"Don't assume," she grinned.
"Okay, no assuming. Anything else I should know?"
"Yeah.. I'm driving!" He tossed her the car keys with a small chuckle, and she caught them in midair, giving him a challenging smile. Throwing one last look at the stone, she gave it a silent promise.
"I'm letting you go... but not from my heart," she promised. The tears would keep coming, and the pain would never go away, but time would make her stronger and allow her to carry it easier. And maybe time would let her and Frank work it out too. Stranger things had happened. Well, stranger things could happen. Besides, David would approve, she was sure. And maybe she and Frank could raise a little army of Holloway's and Goldstein's. Maybe they would go back to work, maybe they wouldn't. The beauty of it all though was, it would be together, no matter what they did.
Together.
**********
With the dark, I see so very clearly now
All my fears are drifting by me so slowly now
Fading away I can say
The night is long but you are there
Close at hand I'm better for the smile you give
And while I live
I will follow you will you follow me
All the days and nights that we know will be
I will stay with you will you stay with me
Just one single tear in each passing year there will be
**********
