Someone knocked on the door. Placing the person to be his wife, Eddie ran to the door and got it opened. Gabby exclaimed, "Daddy!" and ran into his arms. Eddie carried her and stepped on the porch.

"Hello, Eddie," Shelby said with a warm smile.

Trying to hide his confusion, he said, smiling, "Hello."

"Come inside."

Eddie led Shelby into the house. When they got inside the living room, Gabby prattled, "Aunt Shelby said we'd be coming home to Mommy and you. But I don't see Mommy. I wanna hug her. Mommy and I talked in the morning and I told her about my new friend Audrey."

She was toying with Eddie's button while he looked confusedly at her. A lot had surely happened in his absence. Eddie wanted answers. The last time he saw Gabby, she was in a federal car and now she was talking about Aunt Shelby, speaking with Terry, and even making a new friend. Where had she been all this while? And most importantly where was his wife?

Eddie faked a smile and pretended he was comprehending all that she'd told him. "That's nice, darling. I'd love to see your new friend Audrey." He stroked her hair.

Gabby smiled at him, then looked around the big house. "Where's Mommy?"

The child's imploring request to see her Mommy hit Shelby hard. When the agent she had instructed to take Gabby from the safe house brought the girl to her house, Gabby had refused to talk to anyone, insisting that she'd only speak to her Mommy. Shelby had painstakingly cajoled her before she calmed down and opened up to her. She had guessed her favorite food correctly and when she said she was hungry, she wasted no time getting it done for her.

She had fallen in love with Terry's child each second she spent with her. Her mother's death would devastate her for sure. Shelby looked at Eddie and when he said, "Darling, go to your room. There's a parcel on your bed. I'll be right there with you," she knew he had gotten her message to talk to him alone.

He put Gabby down and she broke into a run upstairs. Then he faced Shelby with all the seriousness in the world. She knew he had questions. Many of them.

"My name's Shelby Willet, Director of U.S. Marshals Service." She showed him a badge. He didn't seem to care.

"My wife," he said, "we arrived from Virginia yesterday and she took off abruptly. She said she was meeting a friend and never came back. Do you know where she is?"

Shelby's lips quivered. Once she had been a field agent and she had mostly taken care of breaking the sad news to the victims' families. Along the line, she had acquired the prudence that came with the job on her own. She remembered being assigned to tell a family whose daughter had been brutally assaulted by a drunk about the death. She had been a rookie then and wasn't seasoned like she was now.

Immediately after she delivered the news, two family members collapsed, and a third lunged at her, unleashing the anger that should have been directed toward the drunk on her. It took her partner to subdue the violent man.

"Maybe you should sit down, Mr. Terry."

Eddie felt a chill run down his spine. "Did something happen to my wife?"

She had known Eddie was a smart guy based on everything Gabby had told her. "I'm sorry, but your wife. . .she-she. . .passed away."

Eddie just stared at her like she was a statue. For two minutes, he said nothing. "How?" he managed.

"There was an explosion. She got caught in it and hit her head." She wanted to save him the details of the event to prevent further distress.

Tactfully she said, "Is there anybody I should call to come and stay here with you? A friend? A family member?"

Ignoring her question, Eddie walked past her to a couch. He fell heavily into it and in a matter of seconds, she saw tears glide down his face. Shelby figured out he needed some me time to grieve. She took out her contact card and placed it under the flower vase.

"My card is here. In case you need anything. In the meantime, I will send two agents down here. And try not to watch the news. It's better off that way."

She waited for a while, thinking that he'd say something to her. When he didn't, she walked to the door and left the house.

#. #. #

The house felt empty without Ronnie in it. Yesterday, she'd hoped to see her son running to hug her but instead, Ethan had arrived with bad news. They couldn't get Ronnie and Terry was killed in a blast.

Thinking about how rude she had been to Terry drew tears. She was willing to sacrifice herself for her son, and all she had done was lashed out at her for trying to help mitigate her sorrow. Anna felt sorry. Sorry for herself for not doing the right thing from the beginning. She blamed herself for her son's kidnap and for Terry's death too. If she hadn't allowed Clinton into her life, perhaps Ronnie would be watching TV this morning and Terry would still be alive.

Her sleep had been short. She wasn't able to sleep in her comfortable bed for the first time, so she spent the night on the couch, holding Ronnie's favorite toy to her bosom and praying to God that by the end of the day, a miracle should happen.

She had cried herself to bed yesterday. Immediately she was yanked awake by a nightmare this morning, she continued crying. When Alex had arrived late yesterday, she was sure he'd seen her lying on the couch. That would explain why there was a blanket covering her.

She heard rustles in the kitchen and minutes later, Alex was sitting beside her, holding a mug of tea to her lips and forcing her to drink. When she didn't take a sip, he worriedly said, "You should eat."

"I'm not hungry."

Alex put the mug away and pushed closer to her. On her way to Dan's house yesterday, she'd told him about Clinton and how he was related to Ronnie's kidnap. He had wanted to drop everything he was doing at the moment and be with her, but she refused and told him Ronnie would be back in no time, thinking that Clinton was a man of his word, and once he had what he wanted from Ethan, he'd release the child. But it had been more than twenty-four hours and her child was still with that psychopath. Worse, a judge had died trying to get back her son.

"I don't think he's going to hurt Ronnie. He's just eight."

That would mean nothing to Clinton.

"You don't know him. He's a psychopath."

He sighed, then stroked her bedhead and said, "In any way, you still have to eat something. I'm sure you skipped dinner yesterday and today too you're skipping breakfast. Ronnie wouldn't want you to be sick."

He was right, but she felt she'd throw up if she even drank water.

"I can't eat. As long as my son isn't with me."

Although Ronnie wasn't his biological son, Alex loved the boy like his own. His kidnap had disheartened him too. She clutched her and started brushing her back.

"Everything will be all right."

Tears falling, she murmured, "I hope so."

The telephone in the kitchen rang. Anna broke free of his clutch, surged to her feet, and ran into the kitchen. Swiftly she got to the table and picked the telephone.

"Hello, who's this? Do you have news of my son?"

"Yes, I do."

She let the voice sink in, then she said, "Clinton?"

Alex was standing on the threshold, peering at her.

"That's correct."

"What do you want?"

"Same thing that you want."

"I doubt it."

"We both want Ronnie home safe and sound."

If he was standing right in front of her, she'd have stabbed him with a knife. The thoughts were murderous. She pushed them aside and tried to suppress her anger. Alex walked to her side and stood close to her, patting her shoulder.

She scoffed between sobs. "If you wanted that for him you wouldn't have kidnapped an innocent child from his mother and exploited him so viciously. Why didn't you just hand him over at the park?"

"Because I never intended to trade him for the evidence."

For the first time, he was forthright with her. She gulped hard. "What did you have in store?"

"To hand him personally to you, Anna. I don't have any intention of harming that child. He's too precious."

"How do I know you haven't hurt him already?"

Alex was caressing her face and stroking her hair to lessen the tension and she greatly appreciated the company. She felt she needed that. The line went silent and then Ronnie's voice came through. "Mommy!"

At the sound of his voice, she broke down into tears. She cried, then sniffled and wiped the tears away. "Honey, I miss you so much. How are you?"

"I'm fine, Mommy. Why are you crying?"

She and Alex exchanged a look. She said, "Because I'm sad." She tried to control the tears.

"But grownups don't cry like children."

"Yes. Sometimes we cry when we're not happy."

"You're not happy because you've missed me?"

"Yes, darling. Daddy Alex is here. He misses you too. Want to say hi?"

He happily shouted, "Yes."

She passed the phone to him and he talked with him. While she listened, she felt her heart was about to stop beating. Then she wondered why Clinton had called. Surely, he hadn't phoned her to let her reunite virtually with her son. It occurred to her Clinton had something else up his sleeve. They were done saying their goodbyes and Alex gave her back the phone.

Clinton was on the line now. She'd wanted to talk for a while with Ronnie.

"His nanny," she said, "is she-"

He cut her off. "She isn't."

She sighed, glad that Dorine was still alive.

"The evidence was destroyed. Why are you still holding my son hostage?"

"Because of Ethan. He's still alive."

Anna couldn't believe her thoughts. Clinton never intended to go along with the trade. It was a trap to destroy Ethan and the evidence and unfortunately, Terry had suffered a fate devised for Ethan.

"An innocent woman died in that blast. Damn it, Clinton! Why are you so heartless?"

Terry's death still hurt him and the pains were there. He hadn't shown his face to her widower and their daughter. Anna wouldn't believe him if he said he was truly sorry Terry had died instead of Ethan, so he wouldn't tell her that. As a matter of fact, no one would ever believe he was remorseful for inadvertently killing Terry Lindsay.

"May her soul rest in peace. She was a good woman."

"And you killed her."

"Yes. A lethal mistake. Now back to why I called."

"Why did you call?"

"To make you a proposition?"

She retorted, "What proposition?"

"Kill Ethan and I'll have your son delivered right to your door in the next twenty minutes."

She didn't even consider it and said, "You're crazy if you think I'd do that."

"You don't have a choice."

She backfired, "I do. I can go to the cops and file a report against you for conspiring murder. My husband heard everything. He's my witness."

Clinton laughed. "I'm the Attorney General. It'd be your words against mine and trust me, you wouldn't go anywhere with that."

"Go to hell, Clinton." She didn't think about the consequences and hung up on him, replaced the phone, and turned to Alex in tears.

"You did the right thing. We'll figure out another way to get Ronnie back."

She stared into his eyes and nodded like a child.