This chapter is dedicated to @RElizabethM for her lovely comments.. Do check out her works, they are really good. Some of my favorites are Movie Star Memories, Saving Us and Retribution.

Also, if you're a writer and would like some love for you book, there's a great club where you can do read for reads and get some positive comments on your story. Check out the account @comment_squad for more details on the Positivity Matters Book Club.

"I'm tired of being dragged down to the police station every time someone drops dead," Natasha said wearily, wiping away black marks from her tear stained face, as Michael led her to one of the interrogation rooms.

Nathan was walking beside her and he didn't know what to say to make her feel better so he held her hand and squeezed it comfortingly. Michael glanced back at them and turned back, frowning as they entered the room.

"Nathan, could you go check on the witness. You have a way of getting people to open up to you. I'll fill Natasha in, then join you," Michael said, sitting across Natasha. Both Nathan and Natasha gave him a questioning look but nevertheless, Nathan did as he asked, glancing briefly back at them on his way out.

"Is this the part where you start accusing me of stuff as usual?" Natasha asked once the door shut.

Michael shook his head and stared past her at the wall, gathering his thoughts. "When Nathan was transferred here, he was quiet, emotionally closed off and his only focus was getting the job done. He barely slept or talked to anyone here. I was considered the station's jerk-"

"Still are," Natasha mumbled and Michael glared at her but continued.

"I didn't like talking to people and Nathan seemed incapable of it, so Chief Langdon decided we would be perfect partners and despite our protests, he paired us up. We became friends eventually and made detective together. We had the highest closed cases in the state and because of that and his general ability to connect with people now, Nathan is first choice for interim Chief of Police now that Chief Langdon has gone AWOL," he said.

"Wow," Natasha said, surprised.

"But now that someone else died, in your house at that and you've already been connected to the other two murders; not only will he not be elected interim Chief Officer, he might lose his job too, because of his connection to you."

"What? But I had nothing to do with those murders and especially not this one. I was with Nathan the whole time!" she exclaimed.

"Exactly," Michael said gravely. "He's your alibi and if this goes to court, which it eventually will by the looks of things, he's going to testify to that and you know what they'll ask him?"

Her face fell as she considered Michael's words, realising he was right.

"Why was he with you? What were you doing in his apartment? How many times have you stayed with him in his apartment? Are you in a relationship? Is your relationship with him the reason you were released from police custody after being arrested for two different murders?" Michael counted off the questions on his fingers.

"And whether I hired a killer to murder someone while I was with Nathan so I could have a solid alibi and be cleared of all suspicion," Natasha added quietly, burying her head in her hands. "Oh God."

"This job is the one thing that has kept him sane and human after what happened to his family. If you care about him, you'll make sure he doesn't lose it," Michael said, tapping his fingers on the desk between them. "You have to stop ruining him."

"I can't lie and say I wasn't with him. That would get everyone in a lot of trouble," Natasha said, trying to ignore the sharp pain she felt in her chest from Michael's words.

"Why doesn't it surprise me that your first solution is something illegal?" Michael asked, eyebrow raised. "Solving this case is the only solution but as long as you're in the picture, Nathan will only focus on making sure you're safe, everything else be damned."

"That's not true!"

"I'm saying it the way I see it and I've known him way longer than you," Michael argued. "Don't get me wrong, I want to solve this case, but I would never compromise your safety either. Which is why, I'm going to suggest that we keep you in a safe house so that Nathan can focus, knowing that you're in good hands. He'll fight me on this but you have to convince him that this is for the best."

"And if he doesn't listen to me?"

"He will. He did when I suggested using you to trap Max..." he trailed off, seeing her expression change.

She nodded, fighting back tears and said, "Can I see Kelsey?"

"They're checking her hands and clothes for gunshot residue the Nathan's going to take her statement. You can see her after," Michael said standing.

"There's no way she shot Max," Natasha said defensively.

Michael shrugged. "All we know for now is that another Bandieer is dead and your friend was at the scene of the crime. Nathan's going to come here after we're done with Kelsey and before he does, I'm going to make that suggestion to him. It's up to you, whether he takes it or not."

***

"Don't I need to have a lawyer here if you're going to ask me questions?" Kelsey asked Nathan.

"You're not under arrest and you're not a suspect," Nathan replied. "If that proves to be otherwise, we will let you know. If you feel that what you're about to tell me may incriminate you then you are free to request a lawyer."

Kelsey still had her doubts about it. "Can I talk to Natasha first?"

"I would advise against that," Nathan said, slowly. "We need to get as much information as we can right away if we have any hope of catching the killer."

"Her ex-boyfriend was murdered in her room. I just want to make sure she's okay," Kelsey insisted, but there was a slight edge to her voice that made Nathan question her true intentions.

He rubbed his temples, letting out a sigh before making a call to Michael, who came in a few minutes later, with Natasha right behind him. She went straight for Kelsey and hugged her, but her friend only halfheartedly returned it. Natasha drew back, feeling the sting of rejection but Michael spoke before she could comment on it.

"You can talk for the next minute but my partner and I aren't leaving you alone. I'm sure you can understand why. You cannot discuss specifics of the statement you're about to give. If you do, we will charge and arrest you," he said pointedly. Kelsey didn't look pleased about this but she didn't object.

"Are you okay?" Natasha asked her, taking in the disheveled appearance of her friend.

"A little freaked out," Kelsey admitted, closing her eyes. "The whole thing keeps replaying in my head and I feel like crying or throwing up or both."

"I'm so sorry," Natasha said, hesitantly hugging her again. Kelsey didn't shrug her off but she didn't return it either.

"Where were you?" she asked, catching Natasha off-guard with the abrupt question.

"I was with Nathan at his apartment," Natasha replied slowly. "Why do you ask?"

"The whole time?" Kelsey asked again, with a tone of urgency in her voice.

Natasha nodded. "What's with the third degree Kelsey?"

"Nothing. I'm ready to make my statement now," Kelsey said, now addressing Nathan and Michael.

"And the lawyer?" Nathan asked.

"Don't need one," Kelsey replied, curtly.

Michael gave him a questioning look but he shrugged and turned to the video camera in preparation for Kelsey's statement. Kelsey asked if Natasha could stay and listen in so that she wouldn't have to repeat the story again and Michael agreed, on the condition that Natasha would listen in from outside, through the intercom. Much to Nathan's surprise, Natasha didn't argue and she and Michael left him in the room with Kelsey.

"Okay Miss Harris, I need you to tell me what happened. Everything you say will be recorded and referred to in the proceedings of this investigation. If at any point you feel that the statement is self-incriminating, you are allowed to stop and get a lawyer. Do you understand?" Nathan said.

Kelsey nodded and Nathan started recording. After stating their names and other details related to the case, Kelsey told her story.

"After Natasha left my house, I waited for my mum to get back home before I left. She came back around seven and we had supper, then I went out for a walk around eight thirty."

"Is that something you do often?" Nathan asked her.

"No. I wanted to clear my head and walking seemed like the best way to do that. I thought of going to talk to Natasha so I headed to her house."

"For the sake of clarity in the records, this is Natasha Evans?" Nathan asked.

"Yes," Kelsey replied.

"What's your relation to her?"

"She's my best friend."

"Okay, continue."

Kelsey took a deep breath. "When I was still a little way away, I heard loud music coming from the direction of her neighborhood. The song was You give love a bad name by Bon Jovi. Natasha and I kind of have a ritual after breakups where we play that song loudly like a million times. It's on an old c.d that belonged to her mum and we always play it on the home theater in the lounge. It's like the only thing we listen to on there, so the c.d is practically glued to the player and set to repeat. Anyway, I walked faster when I heard the song and bumped into one of Natasha's neighbors. She saw me heading for the door and yelled at me to tell her to turn the music down and that she'd called the cops, although I thought she was lying about that. I didn't bother knocking because I knew no one would hear me over the music so I tried the door and it opened. The lounge was a mess, which alarmed me because everyone in that house is a neat freak. My panic drowned out the loud music and I went into the kitchen first to check if Natasha was in there but it was empty, so I ran back through the lounge and up to Natasha's room. That's where I-" she paused, fighting against the memory of the image she had seen.

"Take your time," Nathan told her. Kelsey took a couple of deep breaths then continued.

"He was lying on the bed, clutching his stomach where he'd been shot and this...sound was coming from his lips. Like someone trying to talk underwater. He looked at me and tried to say something but it wasn't clear. While I was calling 911, I spotted the gun on the floor. The person I spoke to told me to get something to put on the wound to slow down the bleeding, so I got one of Natasha's towels and used that." She stopped again, took a deep breath and counted to ten in her head.

"There was so much blood," she paused and gulped. "It seeped through the towel and got all over my hands. Seeing all that blood made me feel lightheaded and when blood started coming out of his mouth, I felt like passing out. I wanted to call 911 again to tell them to hurry, but my battery died so I went downstairs to use the landline. The front door was open a bit, but I was sure that I left it closed so I went to look outside, then I thought maybe whoever had shot Max was back. I ran to the kitchen to get a knife or a saucepan or something and I saw someone run out the kitchen door."

"Can you describe what this person looked like?" Nathan asked, interest piqued.

Kelsey's eyes flitted nervously up to the one way mirror behind Nathan. She couldn't see Natasha on the other side, but she knew she was standing there and watching her.

"Miss Harris?" Nathan prompted.

"I was still feeling dizzy from all the blood so my vision was a bit blurry," Kelsey began. "I mostly saw a flash of golden hair and at first I thought it was Natasha, but now that I know she wasn't anywhere near there..." she trailed off. "I think it might have been her mum."

***

"Do you think it could have been Judge Evans?" Michael asked Nathan when they were back in their office after dismissing Kelsey.

"Natasha and her mother have a lot of similarities, like their height, so you could mistake one for the other," Nathan said, staring at their suspects' board. "With that in mind, what do you think are the chances the optogram from Henry Bandieer's murder would match Lily Evans?"

"Are you suggesting..." Michael trailed off, wide eyed. Nathan went to his desk and did a google search for Lily, printing out the most recent picture of her he could find. He asked Michael for the file containing head shots of the girls that were brought in during the line-up that Natasha had been a part of. He took out a picture of Natasha and one of another girl, Keira Chapman.

"Natasha wasn't a match for that image because of discrepancies in hair and eye colour. Keira had hair lighter than Natasha's but also didn't match," he said putting the two pictures up on the board, leaving some space in between them. He stuck Lily's picture in the empty space and stepped back to look at all three. "Lily's hair color is somewhere between that of these two and her eye color is different from Natasha's."

"That's not a lot to go on," Michael said skeptically.

"True," Nathan mused, "But you have to admit, things aren't adding up in her favor. Her whereabouts are unknown from the time of Mac's murder and her alibi for Henry's murder is that she was home, sick and asleep with Natasha. If she doesn't have a solid alibi, it could really be possible that she killed these two and Henry."

"Whoa. Hold the handcuffs," Michael said, thinking. "We have to find a way to figure out where she was, once we get a time of death on Max. Last time you said she was in the Capital?"

"According to the message she left for Natasha, yes. I never got confirmation of that since Natasha and I had that disagreement right after," Nathan replied.

"You should have seen her face when Kelsey said Max's killer might have been her mother. I saw her make a call, maybe she was finding out where her mother is," Michael remarked.

"I don't know if she'll tell us the truth straight up if we ask her about her mother. Do you know anyone we could call at the high court to see if Judge Evans is there?" Nathan asked.

Michael shook his head. "They aren't sharing anything especially after what happened there. They didn't even put it on the news."

"What happened?" Nathan asked again.

"Haven't you read the memo sent over from the Capital" Michael questioned, eyebrow raised. "Remember that case that's been making waves about the man who was shot to death along with his two kids and all the evidence pointed to the wife, Desiree Wright?"

Nathan nodded. "She claimed her husband was in a drug ring and the drug lord killed him and tried to frame her by using her boyfriend's gun."

"Well, some evidence and witnesses were brought forward to back up her allegations, but they started dying mysterious deaths one by one and there's been a crazy amount of security around the remaining ones, as well as the jury," Michael went on. "The presiding judge, Judge Matthews actually sequestered the jury for the duration of the trial to prevent them from being influenced by threats and all. Anyway, apparently someone, suspected to be working for the drug lord, found out the safe house where the judge and jury were being kept and went and shot up the place. Judge Matthews was hit as well as a few jury members. They're in critical condition."

"Whoa. When did that happen?"

"Same night Max escaped. We had a lot on our hands and I forgot to mention it. Anyway, security has been a lot more intense since then. They won't share any information about anything."

"But there's a homicide involved," Nathan pointed out.

"There isn't any actual evidence that we can use to talk them into giving us information, especially on a high profile judge like Lily Evans," Michael argued.

Nathan groaned in frustration.

"Let's talk to Natasha. I know she hated Max, but even she understands the seriousness of this," Michael suggested.

Nathan agreed and they went back to the interrogation room where they'd left Natasha. Kelsey was in a separate room with her mother.

As soon as they entered the room where Natasha was pacing, she stopped.

"I know what you're going to ask me and there's no way my mum killed Max," she said, voice shaky.

"We're not saying she did," Nathan said calmly. "But if you know where she is, it could help us clear her name."

"Her name doesn't need clearing!" Natasha yelled, hands balled into fists.

"Jury's still out on that one," Michael said in a cool voice, a total contrast to Natasha's yells.

Natasha glared furiously at Michael until Nathan signaled for him to give them the room. Michael subtly signaled to Natasha, reminding her of the conversation they had earlier. Once they were alone, Nathan went closer to Natasha, even though she looked like she wanted to melt his face off with her gaze.

"No one's accusing your mother of anything," he said slowly. "Kelsey's not sure what she saw but in order to rule out your mother, I need you to tell me the truth about where she is. Last time, I went down this road the wrong way and I lost you for a while..." He paused, realising the unguarded confession he'd made. Natasha stared at him, wide-eyed but saying nothing.

He took a breath, gathering his thoughts, "I just need your help to prove your mother didn't kill Max."

"She didn't," Natasha immediately defended, tugging on the bottom of the over sized sweater she'd borrowed from Nathan. "She's been in the Capital for a while now."

"Why hasn't she come home?" Nathan asked, eyes straying to her fist clenched around the sweater. "You were arrested and she didn't even bother to come check on you."

"She couldn't," Natasha said defensively. "She's on a sensitive case, jury sequestration and everything."

Something about that statement jumped out at him but he momentarily brushed it off. "When did you last speak to her?"

"Today," she fiddled with her hands.

Nathan frowned, crossing his arms over his chest and looking at her in silence. Natasha avoided eye contact with him and it made Nathan sure she was hiding something. He fished through the pocket of the leather jacket he'd thrown on when they left his apartment and placed his badge on the desk between them.

Natasha looked at it in silence, taking a step back away from it.

"I thought we didn't lie to each other anymore," Nathan said accusingly.

"What makes you think I'm lying?"

"You fiddle with your clothes and your hands whenever you're nervous or lying," Nathan pointed out. She immediately let go of the sweater and folded her arms over her chest.

Nathan sighed and went around the table to stand closer to her. "All I've ever wanted to do since this whole mess began is help you because I believe you're innocent. When you lie to me, I start to question that." He reached out to brush away a lock of her hair but she turned away and stepped back from him before his fingers could touch her. The action surprised him, especially how much it bothered him that she was backing away from him.

"I don't understand why you're covering for her. You came to me with your suspicions that she might have been involved in Henry's murder," Nathan said, drawing his hand away.

Natasha covered her face with her hands then pushed her hair back. "She's my mother, Nathan. I mean, it's one thing to think she's shady, but killing someone in her daughter's room...that's just sick."

He felt relieved that she was finally showing some emotion towards the whole situation. "You don't know that she did that, but you're the only one who can find out for sure."

"I tried to call her, she's not picking up," Natasha sighed, bringing her phone out of her pocket. Her face brightened when she saw a missed call from her mother and called her back right away. This time, Lily picked up.

"I've been trying to call you for days now Natasha. Why was your phone off?" Lily asked.

"It's a long story," Natasha brushed her question off, putting the phone on speaker as per Nathan's silent request. "Why didn't you pick up when I called?"

"I've been busy with the case," Lily replied. "Are you okay? Where are you staying?"

Nathan mouthed, 'Ask her what case she's working on.'

Natasha nodded. "I'm okay. I've been staying at Kelsey's. When will the trial be over? I need you, Mum."

"I'll be back soon, I promise. It's just a complicated one."

"What case is it?" Natasha asked.

"People versus Desiree Wright," Lily answered, without hesitation. "I haven't been able to come back home for the past few days and I'm not sure when I can. I just need you to stay safe, okay?"

Before Natasha could respond, Michael burst into the room and exclaimed, "You won't believe what I just found out!"

"Who's that?" Lily's voice came through the speaker, halting Michael's advance.

"Uhh, it's Kelsey's boyfriend. I've got to go Mum. Love you!" Natasha said, hastily hanging up.

"Was that Judge Evans?" Michael asked.

"Yes," Natasha said, triumphantly. "See she's been working in the capital this whole time, so there's no way she killed Max."

Nathan looked gravely, first at her then at Michael. "I'm sorry, Natasha. Your mother just lied to you."

"What?"

"The case she said she's working on...Michael told me about it before I came to speak to you and the judge trying that case is in critical condition at the hospital right now."

"What are you saying?" Natasha asked, heart sinking.

"I don't think your mother is in the Capital. The fact that she just lied about it right now makes her look extremely guilty," Nathan replied. Natasha stared, dumbfounded at him.

"And I thought my news would be big," Michael cut into the silence. Nathan shook his head at him as Natasha struggled with the cold, hard truth in front of her.

"I'm sorry but this can't wait," Michael apologised. "I just got the ballistics report and the gun found at the scene of the crime is a matching model of the gun Natasha reported missing."

***

Kelsey is alive after all, lol. I'm going to add a few more chapters because the remaining stuff is a lot and I don't like to make really long chapters. I'm already posting chapters that are three times the length of my first chapters and it's kind of exhausting haha. At most, there'll be 40 chapters but I'm hoping to cut down a little more from that. 

Thank you for your patience!