"So, what do you think happened?" Rachel asked as Lauren drove them both in the Versa. She wished she'd brought the Highlander now, but she'd left it at home in case there was an emergency and Al had to drive the kids somewhere, and she'd never predicted she would need to drive Joe anywhere; he'd met them at Century House and driven his Dodge Ram, so if they were able to bail him out tonight, it would be a tight drive back to Century House to pick up his truck.

Lauren shook her head in befuddlement. "Some random loony decides to hijack the debate for her own purposes? Or maybe she was there for the debate but something about the May Day portion triggered her to impotent rage?"

"No, I mean, why didn't Naira show?"

Lauren shrugged. "Like Sunny said, we don't know for sure it was Naira."

"Oh, come on. We both saw that text exchange. It has to be her."

"Maybe she was there but got spooked by the fight?"

"But why be in the audience at all?" Rachel asked. "Why would she expose herself like that if she's been in hiding up to now?"

"True. Or maybe she checked out the room from outside, saw a few people in the audience she didn't like, namely Joe, decided he looked like a goon, and hightailed it out of there."

Rachel burst out laughing. "He lived up to that image tonight, didn't he."

"He was just trying to calm things down!" Lauren protested. "If that guy didn't take a swing at him--"

"I know, I know. But now he's in trouble with the cops again, first after punching your guy in the night club, and then, well, killing McTeague, for lack of a better word."

It was something Lauren tried not to think about. Joe had killed a woman. It hadn't been intentional. He'd tackled her from behind while she'd held a gun on Rachel, but he'd been going so fast, and he was so large, that the impact had been catastrophic. It had been the right thing to do, obviously; Lauren would rather Joe save Rachel's life than watch her get shot, and the police had cleared him. Still, it was something that would hang over the whole group forever, this cloud of guilt and trauma, and indicative of how destructive Joe could be if he wasn't careful, and any time he found himself in a violent situation, Lauren and the others would have to be there to mitigate the damage.

"Can you try calling Mandeep Randhawa again?" Lauren asked. Rachel had tried calling once already using Lauren's phone. 

"Voicemail again," she said this time, and this time she left a message, who they were, how they knew Sunny, and why they needed him. When she hung up, she said, "At least Al's not the one who needs to be bailed out this time. Poor guy, he missed all the fun."

"Fun it was not. If we didn't come to see Naira, I wouldn't have minded missing it. That was some pretty hateful shit."

"Still, Sunny held his own, and he didn't cuss back at her."

Lauren glanced sideways at her. "You didn't grow a conscience and tell Al what we did, did you?"

"No. He never came clean to me about the last time you two did it, did he? Anyway, he didn't have to, since the pregnancy counts as his confession." She chuckled. "I'm actually surprised you confessed first."

"Why, because I'm the deceptive one?"

"Yup."

"Bitch."

"Slut. Luring your own husband away from his lover."

Lauren burst out laughing. "I kind of did, didn't I. With your help. So, you never called Al out about what he did?"

"What's the point? Now we're all guilty. Where did you actually do it, if not at the house? I couldn't help wondering."

"You're not going to believe this."

"Try me."

Lauren squirmed. "At Al's work, after I signed the security contracts. There's a large wheelchair accessible bathroom with a locking door and its own shower stall."

"What?!" Rachel squawked. "Didn't you worry about getting caught?"

"A little, but that also made it exciting."

"And of course it had to be shower sex. That's what made it worth it for Al, I bet; it's his favourite."

"Well, we needed the locked door, and what else would be behind a locked door in a library staff area? There aren't any bedrooms. But, yeah, that was an added benefit."

"You both could have been fired, you know. Inappropriate conduct, and all that." Rachel sighed in exasperation. "I can't believe Al was such a dumbass to risk his job like that. We need both incomes to afford the new place!"

"It's my fault as much as his," Lauren said, feeling like a heel. "I think we were both in withdrawal, because we were trying so hard to be good. We were desperate."

"God, now I wish I just let you do it at home and not let on to Joe about it."

"I don't know, with all the kids around, it would have been impossible."

"Whatever."

"And you? I know you didn't expect to yesterday, but the way you pounced on Joe, that felt like it was a long time coming."

"After yesterday, that was twice we've been with each other. We have a long way to go before we match your and Al's record, and I'm not interested in playing catch up either."

Lauren drove the rest of the way in embarrassed silence. On Columbia Street outside the police station, she parked the car and fed the meter. They walked up the stairs into the police station. Once inside, they approached the Desk Sergeant. 

"Joe DiTomaso is in custody here, apparently?" Lauren asked.

He checked his computer and nodded. "A brouhaha at Century House? How does that happen?"

"It was self-defence!" Lauren said. "The other guy threw the first punch."

"Well, we still need to work that out."

"We're trying to contact a lawyer."

"Until then, he's not going anywhere."

"I better call Al and let him know we won't be home for a while," Rachel said.

As she walked away with her phone, Lauren sat and waited. 

After a few minutes, the door beyond the front desk opened, and to Lauren's astonishment, out stepped Birinder Sandhu, followed by Mandeep Randhawa, who turned back to say something to Tracey, who emerged after them.

They all stopped when they saw her. 

"I know you, don't I?" Birinder said. "We've met before."

"Uh..." Lauren said.

He spotted Rachel and said, "She was looking at the house in Connaught Heights."

"Yeah, that's right. Huh. Fancy meeting you here."

"Yeah..." he said, voice trailing off.

"We've met too," Mandeep said. 

"Mr. Randhawa, we've actually been trying to call you."

"My apologies, my phone was off while I was back there." He turned to Birinder and said, "I'll call you tomorrow."

Birinder nodded to Lauren, and then to Rachel as he passed her on the way out. 

"Ms. Hasegawa," Tracey said. "What brings you and Mrs. Mackenzie by tonight?"

Lauren suspected he would have used their first names if Mandeep wasn't around. "Detective Tracey," she said, "Don't you ever go home?"

"No, I just camp out in my office," he said with that boyish smile of his, the diastema prominent. "What's going on? You need Mr. Randhawa here?"

"I'm afraid so. My husband is in your lock up."

"Really? What happened?"

"A fight broke out at the debate at Century House tonight. Joe hit someone but it was in self-defence."

"Say no more, Ms. Hasegawa," Mandeep said. He turned to Tracey and asked, "May I see my client?"

"Come on, I'll take you back there." Tracey looked back at Lauren and gave her a wave before leading Mandeep back inside.

Rachel returned once she'd hung up and said, "What the hell is going on? Was that Birinder?"

Lauren nodded. "Sunny did say the police had interviewed him. So, what, now he's at the station with a lawyer?"

"I wonder what that means. Are they seriously looking at him for Jordan's disappearance?"

"I don't know. I wonder if they found something." 

"If they did, Birinder probably wouldn't be walking out."

"Yeah..." Lauren sat back down, Rachel sat beside her, and the two of them waited.

"So, I talked to Al," Rachel said. "He's actually happy he didn't come tonight. He hates conflict, he says, even though he does things to put himself in the crosshairs of conflict."

"Angry friends are one thing, apparently," Lauren said. "Angry strangers are another."

"If he thinks facing Joe is less terrifying than facing an unhinged woman, he's delusional. Unless he thinks Joe would pull his punch because they're ostensibly friends."

"Luckily we've never had to test that theory. If he was there yesterday, we might have had to." Lauren rubbed her belly, wondering when she would start to feel it. Aside from the initial symptoms, she hadn't felt anything else. No morning sickness. That was a relief, at least.

Rachel saw what she was doing and reached out a hand to put over hers. Lauren looked at her and was embarrassed to feel tears in her eyes. "Are you sure you're okay with this?" she asked.

Rachel shook her head. "I don't know. But it's not for me to be okay with it or not. This is your choice, babe."

Lauren sighed. "Yeah."

They were silent a minute. Then Rachel said, "You know, when Allison was pregnant, and she showed me her belly, I thought it was disgusting, how I could see it moving underneath the skin. Looking back, though, I think what I was feeling wasn't disgust, but jealousy and suspicion, because I had a feeling it was Mason's, and I was already gearing up to hate that child."

"Oh," Lauren breathed, and took Rachel's hand in hers.

"But now I love Apple, because I know her existence wasn't her fault. How can anyone hate a child?" Now Rachel was tearing up too, and Lauren was afraid she would start blubbering herself soon, here in the police department. 

"So, even though it's not me carrying Al's child," Rachel went on, "it's still you carrying it, and I love you, and I love Al, even though he was a dumbass." 

Lauren laugh-cried at this. 

"And I know I'm going to love this baby just as much as if he, or she, or they, were my own," Rachel declared.

Lauren threw her arms around her and sobbed into her neck. "I love you so fucking much," she said.

"I love you too!"

Suddenly the door to the back opened, and they flew apart, wiping their eyes. 

Joe stood there, frowning at them. "It's not the end of the world," he said. "I have a court appearance, that's all. We'll get it all settled. I know the police know it was self-defence."

Mandeep moved around him and reached up to pat him on the shoulder. "I'll see you at your arraignment. Now I really must get home to my family."

"Thanks so much, Mr. Randhawa," Lauren said, offering her hand to him after making sure it was dry. As he shook it, she said, "What do we owe you for your services?"

Mandeep squirmed a little, as if the topic of money were distasteful. "You'll receive an invoice after the arraignment, I have your information on file."  

"Thanks again," Joe said, offering his own paw to shake.

After Mandeep left, Tracey emerged from the door, looking harried. When he saw them he stopped and said, "He got you out, huh? Good stuff."

"For now, anyway, until I see a judge," Joe said.

"If it was self-defence, it should all be fine. Look, I have to go."

"Everything all right?" Rachel asked him.

If it were anyone else who asked, Tracey might have brushed them off, because he looked ready to spring, but Lauren knew he had a soft spot for Rachel after she'd risked her own life to save Logan during the Battle of Barnet. "Actually, no," he said, rubbing the back of his neck. "We just got a report of a body in Glenbrook Ravine."

"A body?" Lauren breathed. "You don't think it's..."

"The coroner hasn't identified the victim yet. I need to get out there."

"Where's Maria?" Rachel asked.

"Detective Goncalves has the night off." Tracey seemed to intuit Rachel's disdain for the other woman, and his use of her title was an unconscious defence of his partner.

"Do you want company?" Lauren asked excitedly. "Let's roll!"

"Lauren!" Joe said. "Come on, this isn't your turf, and we all need to get home."

Tracey smiled regretfully and said, "As much as I enjoy all your company, in this case you'd just be getting in the way. IHIT will be on the scene anyway, so I won't be alone. I know you want to know if this is Jordan, but you need to let us do our jobs. If it is him, though, you can be sure you'll be getting another visit from us for more questions."

"Surely you wouldn't suspect us, would you, Detective Tracey?" Rachel asked, a little flirtatiously in Lauren's opinion. Tracey's esteem for her made her bloom like a flower in water whenever she was around him, and Lauren surmised that if Al weren't around, the two of them might have gotten together.

Tracey gave her that boyish grin of his, equally charmed, and said, "I have to follow the evidence wherever it leads, Rachel."

"Good thing we're innocent, then."

"What about Birinder?" Lauren asked. "If it is Jordan, does his being here tonight indicate he's a suspect?"

"You know I can't comment on that, Lauren," he said with a hint of irritation.

"Well, we shouldn't hold you here any longer," Joe said, looking pointedly at Lauren and Rachel. "Good luck, Detective. You'll be in our thoughts."

Tracey nodded at them all and left. Lauren looked at her husband and sighed. "I'm afraid we'll have to drive you back to Century House in the Versa."

He groaned and said, "Maybe if you put the back seats down, I can lay in the fetal position under the hatch."

They all burst out laughing, and Lauren held her arms up to him, and he lifted her to him for a kiss, which made the night a whole lot better.

"I'm so glad we could get you out tonight," she said. "I know I'm not supposed to say this, but I'm glad you laid out that racist fuck."

"The woman was the racist, I don't know about the husband," Joe said. "I punched him before I could learn if he shared his wife's views."

"Poor Sunny, though," Rachel said. "He didn't get to finish off the debate, and who knows how the media will describe the night. We could have tanked his campaign unintentionally with that skirmish."

"Shit, you're right," Joe said. "I need to call Sunny and apologize."

"Do it tomorrow," Lauren said, still in his arms. She kissed his neck and said. "Want to come home with us?"

He breathed heavily, probably remembering yesterday, and said, "As much as I'd like to, it's probably not a good idea. Not because of Joanie, who's probably wondering where the hell I am; it's just late, and turning up at home, with everybody there... it's still a little tight, and I don't want to excite the kids unnecessarily."

"Go home to Joanie tonight," Rachel said. "She'll be missing you soon enough anyway."

Joe called Joanie while they walked out to the car, and told her about what had happened tonight, assuring her he was fine. They didn't end up having to lower the backseats, but Rachel sat behind Lauren while Joe put the front passenger seat all the way back, head hunched against the ceiling. Lauren smiled tenderly at her big bear of a husband and touched his face. He took her hand and kissed it, and she knew, now, without a shadow of a doubt, that he was hers again.

Thanks for reading this far! Things are starting to heat up with the investigation. If you liked what you just read, hit the "Vote" button and send this title up the ranks. If anything doesn't ring true about the arrest and bail process, leave a comment; I strive for authenticity.

To see whom Sunny encounters in the red Corolla, click on "Continue reading."