https://youtu.be/sMPNjPpdjKU

"I know you're scared..." Bailey stopped as she watched Amanda shaking her head.

"This is more than fear, Bailey! I could get into serious trouble. Do you understand that? This has to be a felony."

"Asking questions is not a felony," Bailey said as she shoved some books into her book bag.

"What? Who's talking about asking questions? I'm talking about breaking into the police station. Yeah, you remember that thing you want to do tonight? That's what I'm talking about! You know, it doesn't even make sense that they aren't open twenty-four hours either."

"I've told you, Amanda, it's a small town where the Sheriff doesn't even keep his gun loaded. It's not Boston!"

"After what's happened in this town-"

"I know. They really need to consider it. Now, we can't talk about this anymore. I've got to get to school." Bailey quickly ran a brush through her hair before snapping it up into a messy ponytail.

Shifting the skirt of her uniform down and straightening her white tuxedo shirt she swung her backpack across her shoulders and marched to her bedroom door. Pausing, she waited for Amanda who remained glued to the spot on Bailey's bed, the place she'd collapsed when she'd come in that morning.

At 5 A.M.

After crying in Amanda's shoulders the night before Bailey had been roped into helping Amanda get her two bags of luggage from her rental car. What Bailey had originally thought to be the third floor guest room turned out to be Amanda's room, but Amanda knew nothing of traveling light. Heaving those bags up three flights of stairs was no picnic and Matt opted out, claiming they were too heavy for him.

The little booger.

Bailey knew better and while she would no longer fall for that crap, Gale and Amanda did. After that Bailey had gone to her room and had literally fallen asleep the minute her head hit the pillow, but at five o'clock in the morning was rudely awakened by Amanda.

Really it turned out for the best, because it had gotten Bailey's thinking gears into motion, hence, the whole breaking into the police station.

"Manda? Are you coming?" Bailey asked, her hand hovering over her door knob.

Amanda nodded slowly and stood up to follow.

Galloping heavily down the stairs, far ahead of Amanda, Bailey immediately followed the routine she'd had before Gwen had been taken, emphasizing every move, hoping to catch her mother's attention. It turned out the emphasis wasn't necessary because Gale's eyes never left Bailey.

"Sweetie, how are you feeling?"

Bailey turned to smile at her before shifting back around to pull out the carton of orange juice. "Better. I've realized how ridiculous I'm being."

Gale didn't say anything right away, but when Bailey reached to get Matt's box of cereal and a bowl she knew her actions had almost sealed the deal when Gale hugged her from behind.

"Don't let your brother catch you eating his cereal. He'll have a fit," Gale mumbled against Bailey's cheek before pulling away. "I don't expect a miracle, Bailey, so you can stop acting. It's the fact that you're trying to move on that will make me back off."

Bailey poured the milk into her bowl and managed to give her mother a sheepish look. "I am going to try," she offered, quickly taking a bite of her cereal.

"HEY! That's my cereal!" Matt cried on cue as he walked into the kitchen.

Bailey shrugged nonchalantly and took a seat on the stool.

"Not only do you stand me up, but you steal my cereal," he complained.

Gale latched onto the comment. "You guys didn't go running this morning?"

Bailey shook her head, "Needed the sleep."

The problem was she had needed the sleep, which is why when Amanda had woken her up at five in the morning she'd wanted to slaughter her. In the past few months she'd been used to waking so early that Bailey felt it would just help the story that she was going to stop.

It seemed everything was going to work out perfectly, until Amanda started motioning Bailey towards her, furiously waving her hand, her brown hair swaying with her movements. Frowning, Bailey walked towards her. They'd gone over the plan in heavy detail, but maybe she'd forgotten something.

"Bailey, you forgot something in your room. Come with me and I'll help you," Amanda spoke carefully as she turned towards the stairs.

"Amanda? Don't you look nice," Gale commented. "Why are you dressed up like that?"

Amanda tensed up and her eyes widened and Bailey wondered if she would be able to pull the questions she was going to ask off. Bailey intervened. "She's new to town, Mom. She wants to make a good impression on the hot guys here."

Amanda's cheeks flushed before she quickly went up the stairs.

Bailey was quick too, taking two stairs at a time to get there faster. "What's wrong?" Bailey asked when she shut the door.

"Where was Gwen taken out of the house? You didn't tell me."

Bailey pursed her lips, not grasping why this question was so important. "They said she was taken out the front door."

Amanda licked her bottom lip and folded her arms over her chest, her face forming a thinking scowl as she shifted her weight from foot to foot. "You think differently?"

Bailey nodded. "I tried to tell them, but nobody listened. There's a side door by the pool and a spiral staircase. I used the house key to sneak in while everyone was gone and did my own investigation. The drink spilled at the front door, they fought for dominance at the window, but there are no marks anywhere in the area after that, especially not at the front door. So I went, just for curiosity's sake, to the side door. There were fingernail imprints across the side of the door. They weren't there before."

"How do you know that?"

Bailey felt her cheeks flush slightly at the ordeal that had happened right by that door. "I...I-um," she cleared her throat. "Damien likes to swim laps in the morning before school."

"I thought Gwen picked you up for school."

Bailey rubbed the back of her neck. "Not that day."

Amanda raised an eyebrow knowingly. "I thought you'd sworn off men after what Dad did."

Bailey shrugged. Damien was different, or so she'd thought. Now she could care less, because he wasn't important, at least not right now.

"Have you talked to him?" Amanda prodded.

"Damien?" Bailey nodded, shifting her book bag on her shoulders. "Not since I gave him a concussion."

Amanda shook her head. "No, Bails, have you talked to Dad? He's worried about you. Mom and Mattie keep him up to date, you know."

Anger welled in Bailey's chest and for a moment she almost thought she saw red clouding her vision. She really didn't want to talk about this and not only because of her frantic worrying over Gwen. Her father had made the biggest mistake he was ever going to make with her. Why couldn't people realize that?

Bailey held up her hand, stopping Amanda's response. "Just forget it, he's not important either. Finding Gwen...and Samantha, that's important."

"Samantha? Samantha Levy? You don't think she's alive too, do you?"

Bailey didn't answer. Bailey had told Amanda about her vision, but she hadn't gone into detail. If Bailey told Amanda that she knew Samantha and Gwen were both alive they'd possibly commit her... or accuse her of being the murderer.

Amanda bowed her head and scrunched her nose like she had an itch. "Fine, but when this is over, you need to call Dad. That's my payment for helping you."

Gritting her teeth Bailey motioned Amanda to follow as she started back down the stairs again. "I don't think so."

She ignored Amanda's defeated sigh.

--

Amanda took a deep breath as she paced back and forth on the steps of the police station. Her heart was going a mile a minute and she felt light headed every time she touched the door handle. Shielding her eyes, she glanced up at the large oak tree that loomed over the building.

The golden sun peeking through the gaps in the leaves had the effect she hoped as she slowly felt her nerves start to calm. She closed her eyes, inhaled deeply, and reached for the door handle once again.

"Maam, is there something I can help you with?"

Amanda let out a squeal and turned around so quickly she lost her footing. The officer darted for her, catching her just before the stair slipped beneath her feet. She crashed into the hard body of the officer, and he let out a grunt at the weight she put on him.

"I'm so sorry," she cried out with embarrassment frantically jerking away from him.

She patted her hair and straightened her short black skirt before darting her green eyes up and focusing on the man in front of her. He looked like the gorgeous all American type. Brown hair with tints of honey most likely due to the sun, green eyes, arms that frequently visited the weight lifting room...saying this man looked good in a uniform was an understatement.

"Not a problem," he nodded at her. "Did you need help with something?"

She cleared her throat. "Yes, Officer..." she paused.

"Wilson," he supplied.

She smiled happily at him. She could do this; there was no stopping her now. "Officer Wilson, I'm doing a paper on...can you believe it...law enforcement and troubled teens. I'm sure you're aware of who my sister is."

He sighed, his shoulders slumping with the deep release of air. "Everyone knows Bailey and if they didn't before they are all now incredibly aware of whom she is."

Amanda bit her lip, giving him an apologetic look. "I'm sorry about that. She's..."

"...dedicated and very loyal. She'll make a great cop one day," he smiled fondly.

Amanda was surprised at how proud he sounded of a girl that had, from what she'd heard, been hounding the police station and every officer in it. "That's not really what I expected you to say."

His lips twitched, but remained clamped. "Oh, she's a menace, that's for sure, but I love that commitment in someone. It really lets you know the type of person she is. I've commented to Seth on multiple occasions that he should change his type to her."

"Seth?"

"My younger brother," he informed her and then suddenly started walking forwards. He swung the door open and gestured for her to enter. "Seth says she's already with someone else and that she's a little too closed off to people. Personally, I don't see that."

Amanda snorted and walked through the door before turning to look at him. "She can be a hard girl to get to know. I'm sure it's just for show. She was trying to make Damien Atherton jealous, I'm guessing."

Officer Wilson wasn't skilled enough to keep the sad expression from crossing his face. As the frown lingered, Amanda found herself almost sorry for bringing it Damien.

"That poor family," he mumbled and started walking forward on again. "My desk is this way."

There were a couple of people sitting on desks, the legs crossed in a relaxed stance, holding tan folders of information. Some officers were actually sitting on the seat. The fluttering papers and the occasional phone ring let Amanda know it wasn't overly busy, but there was a defeated feeling over the precinct. No one was overly happy; they could barely offer her a smile. It was clear the case she would be questioning about had hit too close to home. It probably frustrated them all that they'd encountered a brick wall.

"Yeah, okay."

"So I guess Seth doesn't have a chance," he raised an eyebrow, waiting for her response as he stopped and gestured towards the metal chair in front of a slightly cluttered desk.

Amanda shrugged and took the seat. "Maybe he does, when she gets over Damien."

"She'd be good for him," he paused and thanked the woman that had just walked by as she offered him a mug of steaming coffee. "What questions would you like to ask?"

Amanda fiddled with the buttons on her black pea coat and rolled her shoulders preparing herself. "For starters my choice of topic is serial killers and since you've had two kidnaps, potentially linked to a serial killer, I'd like to start there. If it's okay?" she paused and licked her bottom lip at the stony expression on his face.

Clearly, it wouldn't be easy getting him to spew information out.

"I thought you said it was troubled teens?"

She started speaking again, but then balked when she realized that's what she'd told him at the front doors. "That's a-well, it's a sub topic. You know how papers are. I know it's very recent so if it's too sore of a topic to discuss we can..."

She paused as he held up his hand. "It's fine, but if the questions are too involved I'll have to say no comment."

"Understood," Amanda nodded and timidly smiled. "Are there any leads on whether or not these two girls are linked to grave digging serial killer?"

He shrugged nonchalantly and Amanda found herself wondering if he was a little more skilled with his expressions than she'd previously thought. "No physical evidence."

"Could you elaborate?" she thought to herself.

"The serial killer is good; in fact he's getting better as time progresses, which is unusual. When the kidnappings happened, we looked into the other files, and even the very first one had hardly any evidence. He doesn't have a signature that indicates he's been there, he does not follow patterns. He goes for blondes, brunettes, thin; thick...the list goes on. We have noticed one small pattern though, when we were still investigating anyway."

"And that is?" she asked timidly.

The hard gleam in Officer Wilson's eyes as he focused on Amanda's hair made her heart leap in her chest. "He seems to like brunettes best."

"O-oh," she stumbled over her words.

Was that all they'd figured out? As uncomfortable as that was, considering she was a brunette, it seemed miniscule. Hardly any evidence and now nothing, how does a killer go from that to perfect? "What did they find on that very first scene?"

"A contract," he supplied, leaning back in his chair.

Amanda's eyes widened, "A what? Like a signed contract? Can you explain? What was in the contract?"

His eyes hardened and he shifted his weight in the chair, clearly uncomfortable with the questions. He scratched his chin and let his gaze wonder over Amanda's face. "No comment. You aren't by any chance a reporter are you? I was under the impression you were a college student."

Amanda cocked her head to the side, ignoring his questions as he was clearly trying to change the topic. "Officer Wilson, was there a contract at the scene? Why couldn't you get fingerprints off it? If it was a contract, wasn't there some sort of signature?"

He chuckled, his green eyes twinkling with amusement. "Mrs. Roberts..." he paused, searching her face. "If you keep on this particular subject I'm afraid we'll have to cut the interview short."

"Miss Roberts," she corrected automatically and when the relieved expression crossed his face at the correction she quickly bit her lip trying to contain a slightly forced smile.

So he into her. She liked Officer Wilson, he seemed like a good guy, he even said good things about her sister, but that wasn't why she was here. Of course, she could use his attraction to her for her benefit. Maybe she could rephrase the question but how.

"Would you like to have dinner with me?"

Startled out of her thoughts, she shifted her widened eyes to his. "I beg your pardon?"

He stood up now. His hands rested in the middle of his desk as he leaned over it and towards her. He nodded his head up, like he was trying to nudge a response from her. "I want to take you to dinner."

She didn't answer right away as she observed him tugging at his earlobe boyishly, but she knew she would say yes. She had to say yes, but a part of her knew it wasn't because of her or Bailey's questions either. She really, honestly liked him.

"Why Officer Wilson, you barely know me. Do you even know my name?" she teased.

His head tilted to the side and the corner of his mouth lifted. "Amanda."

The certainty in his voice startled her and she found herself jolting in her seat, her hand smacking against her chest.

Noticing her reaction, he shrugged sheepishly. "When Sherriff Lambert had to arrest your sister I looked up some information about her family."

She released the breath of air she'd been holding. Really it shouldn't have surprised her so much either. After all, he did know her family. "Of course, right," she felt the heat in her face rising.

He took a deep breath and gave her the biggest sunshine happy smile she'd ever seen. He reminded her of a little boy who'd just gotten the best gift ever. "I have to do a double shift tonight, but how about tomorrow at seven? So, what do you say?"

"Officer Wilson, I would love to go to dinner with you. Maybe you can even tell me your first name when the time comes."

He let out a very masculine chuckle before responding. "Maybe."

"May I ask one more question?" She had more, a list more of questions Bailey wanted her to ask, but it didn't seem like Officer Wilson was going to be to helpful, even if he was attracted to her. He had a job to do after all. She'd ask this last question, give him a break, and hound him at dinner. It would definitely work.

He pursed his lips, hesitating for only a second before nodding.

"Have you stopped looking for Gwen?"

He rubbed the back of his neck and bowed his head. "Officially, yes. We had to. Not enough evidence to indicate she's alive, not enough resources to keep looking."

Amanda slowly stood up, feeling her heartbeat quicken. "Unofficially?"

"After Seth and I got caught doing searches off the book Sherriff Lambert decided to send out officers, only those who volunteered of course, twice every week in the guise of a walking group. He's not happy it happened on his 'turf' if you know what I mean and he felt bad when his deputy had continued searching when he hadn't. I think he feels he needs to make up for it. Plus, he liked Gwen. She was a good, strong girl."

Amanda felt herself warming up to Officer Wilson even more as he continued to tell her the schedules officers volunteered to take.