Kassie Tom Residence

Kassie Tom raced to the door as soon as he heard the bell. She swung the door open to greet the face of her mother, Darla Tom.

“Mom!” Kassie cried as she mother dragged a suitcase into her house.

“Kass!” Darla cried back. “It is so good to see you.”

Kassie smiled back. “It is so good to see you, too.” Quickly, “But there is something different about you. You must have gotten over dad’s death by now. You’re just glowing!”

Darla chuckled nervously. She better not figure out that I’m pregnant, Darla thought.

“So…” Darla spoke, trying to get off topic. “How was Switzerland?”

“Unproductive,” Kassie replied, looking frustrated. “They said that Drew’s body hadn’t been found. But while there I came into contact with some unfriendly people.”

“What happened?”

“My memory’s slightly fuzzy on what happened, but I am here, aren’t I?” Kassie smiled, but added, “Dad arranged a bodyguard for me and you, because there are men who want information that Drew had. They don’t realize it was destroyed on the plane.”

On that note, Patrick Donavon stepped into the hall. He was dressed in a pair of jeans and a tight undershirt.

Kassie turned to him, and smiled. “Morning.”

Patrick flashed a smiled back. “Morning to you, too. And this must be your mother.”

Darla also smiled, and stepped up to her daughter and whispered to her. “He’s very good looking, you know?”

Kassie remembered the night before when she had kissed Patrick. It was because she had been reminiscing about Jake, and she got caught in an old memory.

“Mom…” Kassie urged.

“Look at him,” Darla continued, pointing to him as he was stretching, flexing his muscles. “Makes me wish he was my bodyguard…”

“Mom!” Kassie squealed, and covered her mother’s mouth. “He is my bodyguard, but he is here to protect us both.”

Darla tilted her head slightly. “Did you remember Robert?”

“Robert?”

“He was them man at my house when you stopped by before your trip. Well, he has been helping me get over Drew’s death, and I would feel much safer if he stayed with us as well.”

Kassie nodded. “I remember. I have guest room upstairs that I was going to have you sleep in…”

Darla moved into the house, and spotted the open bed in the living room. “You were going to make Patrick sleep there?”

“You want him to take the guest room?” Kassie asked.

“I will take the guest room. You will take your room. I will have Robert sleep on the couch instead. And Patrick can sleep in your room, too.”

“My room?”

“You have a second bed in there, right? I remember when you and Jake bought a new bed you two we too lazy to bring the old one back down. He can use that.”

Kassie was unsure.

“C’mon!” Darla pushed. “He will be close to you. Doing his job better since he can protect you 24 hours a day. And you’ll be close to him. It’s win-win.”

Kassie agreed. “This better not be a mistake,” she warned.

Darla gave her daughter an encouraging pat on the shoulder, and carried her bags up the stairs.

Kassie was left staring a Patrick as he put away the pullout bed. He looked up at her, and gave her another reassuring smile.

Consuelos Residence

Mateo Consuelos awoke with a sore feeling on his neck. He rubbed the sore areas, trying to remember where he had gotten the injuries.

Dean. He remembered that his brother tried to choke him to death during the night. He remember the focused look on Dean’s face as he squeezed and squeezed. But Mateo overpowered him.

“I have a few questions…” Mateo whispered as he bolted out of bed, boxers only. He rushed into the living room to find Dean and Skye Lore together on the couch.

“Dean, what the hell were you trying to do to me last night?” Mateo asked.

Skye turned around and eyed Mateo. “Looking good,” she smiled. “But anger isn’t becoming for you. Try and work on that.”

Dean turned around as well, but said nothing. He wore a look of genuine confusion on his face. Then, “What are you talking about?”

Mateo scratched a patch of hair on his chest nervously. “You tried to choke me last night. I remember. And these scratch marks on my neck? You.”

“I’m sorry…” Dean continued. “I don’t remember doing anything of the sort.”

Skye turned to Dean. “Don’t worry. I’m sure Mateo’s just confused…”

“I am not confused. I know what happened. My brother was trying to kill me. I just need to know why.”

Skye shook her head. “What would he do that?” she cooed seductively. She got up from the couch and walked to Mateo. “You guys are brothers…”

“Brothers? Yeah, right. He has visited once in past five years. And you have accused him of killing a man. I am starting to believe you now. He has the strength to.”

Skye scooted up beside Mateo. “I think it is your mind playing tricks on you. You were hit by that frying pan a while ago.” She reached and pressed her finger on his chest. “I wouldn’t want a strong man like you to start seeing things… like me.”

Mateo tried to ignore her closeness. “It couldn’t have been…”

Skye stepped behind him, and brought her hands around. “Believe me. He fell asleep on the couch last night. He was very tired.” She fingered the fine hair on his chest.

“Um…” Mateo spoke, wondering why Skye was so close. “I… I don’t know how he…”

She leaned onto his neck. “Believe me.” She then reached low and…

“Ok, ok, ok…” Mateo muttered. “Maybe it was a dream. Maybe I gave myself these scratches. But there is something going on. And I think it’s time I get to the bottom of it.” With that, he turned and rushed to his room to get dressed.

“What was that all about?” Dean asked.

Skye knew that Dean wouldn’t have remembered being possessed last night. “I think he’s trying to make you look bad. Did you hear him? He’s suspicious of you.”

Dean nodded. “Yeah. He wants the truth, doesn’t he?”

“Will you give it to him? Are you just going to let your own brother take you down? After everything that you have given him, and all that you could lose?”

Dean shook his head. “No! Mateo can’t do that.”

“Then he needs to be rid of. Show him that you won’t be made a fool of.”

“I will! I… I will kill him if I have to.”

Perfect! Thought Skye as she turned her head, her eyes glowing red. Even though my powers are slowly disappearing, I can still finish this task. And it won’t be long till I’m done!

San Francisco: 42^nd Precinct

Officers Tina Herbst and Rick Grabowski were now hot on the trail of the killer.

“Have you found the connection?” Rick asked his partner.

Tina nodded. “The cell phone we called was traced all the way down to one Dean Consuelos. That would have been good enough, but he is obviously mobile right now.”

“So now what?” Rick asked.

“We called the number, remember? A man by the name of Mateo answered the cell phone. He was very hesitant about giving away anything, but we got his name and that he was brothers with the owner of the phone – Dean.”

“And now…”

Tina smiled. “A brother of Dean Consuelos is obviously one person… a Mateo Consuelos. This is all based on if this guy wasn’t smart enough to register the phone under a false name. We can only hope.”

“So we search for the address of Mateo Consuelos?” Rick asked eagerly.

“Done. It is in Presence, California. Not far from here.” Tina got up, and turned to Rick. “And we have to hope that this Dean is still there.”

Evans Residence

Gillian Evans woke up from her dreams. She remembered vividly the dream she had had involving Giovanni Pike. She was still hot from it.

It took only a matter of minutes before Gillian was dressed. She walked downstairs, and the sight of her mother working was the first thing she saw.

“Are you still working?” Gillian asked. “Have you been down here all night?”

Addy Evans nodded. “I have a small nap, but I have to have this done soon. I am expecting a package anything now.”

Gillian got an orange from the fruit bowl. “You’re going to work yourself to death, you know?”

“I’ll be fine,” Addy assured her daughter. “By the way, have you seen Giovanni recently?”

Gillian shook her head. “Nope.” But there was a dream!

“I am actually very stressed right now,” Addy wheezed, “and all I want is to be with Giovanni for one day. No work at all. Just be with him.”

Gillian exited the room, and was planning to go out for a while.

“Mom,” she said to herself. “You are so pathetic. You don’t stand a chance with Giovanni. Trying to get Iris to date him was a bad idea, so I’m going to do the next best thing…” She pointed to herself. “Me. And Mom, when it’s you against me, I know who will win...”

Torres Residence

The scent of bacon and eggs entered Iris Torres room as she woke up from a deep sleep. It was the best sleep she had had in a long time. Since she had been stabbed.

“Come and get it!” Wyle Torres called up to her.

Iris quickly put on her clothes and made her way downstairs. As she entered the kitchen, her brother was over the stove. There were sizzling sounds coming from a pan above the element.

“How’s everything this morning?” Iris asked, sitting down in front of a plate of warm food.

Wyle turned to his sister. “You mean Adam, don’t you?” He paused a second, and sat down across from Iris. “He safely… tied up right now. Literally.”

Iris smiled slightly. “I can’t believe I almost killed him. He wasn’t the killer…”

“Don’t beat yourself up,” Wyle crooned. “He was convicted of stabbing you, for God’s sake. You would be a little worried if he came after you during the night.” He got up quickly and switched off the stove. “And dad has been arrested.”

Bo Torres’s arrest had been all over the news last night.

“Was there really blood on his shirt?” Iris asked.

Wyle nodded. “I was there. It was dark, so I never got a good look at him, but the police had flashlights. And… well, mom and dad were having problems, too. Ever since…”

Iris dropped her fork on her plate. “You’re still bitter, aren’t you? About what happened.”

“You are responsible for what happened with Lily…” Wyle trailed off. “Mom and dad would have never had problems. Mom never believed what had happened, but dad wanted her to deal with it. They were constantly fighting.”

“I was so young…” Iris said quietly.

Wyle had a bitter tone in his voice. “But mom never fought when you were in the house. Only when you were gone. And when you went away for school, I was left alone.”

The sound of the radio could be hear through their voices.

“This just in,” came the male announcer’s voice, “Bo Torres is currently being charged for the murder of his wife, Vivian Torres. He was arrested late last night.”

Iris shook her head. “I can’t believe this is happening…”

“…meanwhile, on a more dangerous note,” interrupted the announcer, “Adam King, a convicted stabber, escape from a parole officer yesterday. Citizens should be on the look-out.”

Iris and Wyle looked at each other.

“He’s in the basement right now, if you’re wondering…” Wyle confirmed.

“Thanks,” Iris laughed. “I’ll be careful now when getting a can of creamed corn from the pantry.”

As the new changed to weather, the two siblings could only think of what they had to do next. They needed to question Adam. They had a lot to ask.