"I was a bit worried yesterday when you didn't show up. I thought I scared you off or something." Sam tried to make it sound like she was joking.

Ryan looked bad. Deep circles under her eyes were visible even under her make-up, and her body language wasn't as relaxed as usual.

"I just couldn't make it yesterday, sorry." Ryan sighed and signalled the waitress to bring her coffee.

In truth she had debated with herself is she should go back to the café.

"Glad you could make it today! I just, you know, was wondering." She smiled, and for the first time since Ryan arrived, her mood lightened up and she smiled back.

"It was kind of rough at work." The brunette rubbed her temple, and thanked Elise kindly when she brought her coffee right away.

"You look like you need it." She winked.

"You don't know how right you are there." Ryan had just taken her first sip when her cell-phone rang.

Excusing herself, Ryan checked the caller ID and went to the back of the café when she recognized Calvin's office number.

"What?" she answered with a slightly nervous tone.

"It's me, Calvin." He started, and continued before the brunette could fire something at him. "I just got a very strange email. You should take a look, I'll forward it to you right now." The tech hit a few keys and Ryan could feel her cell vibrate.

"It looks like someone knows where Adrian is and wants to get paid for his service."

"I'll check it out and call you back." Ryan knew her time off was over.

Meanwhile, Sam glanced her way now and then with a worried expression while Ryan read the mail on her cell and frowned.

Rubbing the bridge of her nose, the brunette closed the device and walked back to their table.

"I'm very sorry, but we have kind of an emergency at work. I need to hurry." Ryan took another sip of her coffee and fished for money in her coat pockets, but Sam laid a gentle hand on her arm.

"I'll get it." She smiled and let her hand rest a moment longer.

They looked at each other for a moment and then Ryan nodded. "Thanks, I’ll make it up." She waved at Elise and disappeared out the door.

+++

Empty factory building

Adrian moved around in his darkroom, pulling his latest work from the rinse and hanging it up to dry. Waiting a moment, Adrian turned on the regular light and looked at his newest trophies with an evil grin on his face. He was really enjoying himself.

There were photographs of Nevill and Saunders pinned to the wall. Their faces were crossed out.

The newly developed pictures were of Ryan. Some were taken in front of her apartment complex; one showed her passing the security guard at the entry of the Facility. Another one was taken that same afternoon from outside the café.

Caressing Ryan's face on the photograph he pulled his hand back as if he had burned his finger.

"First things first." Adrian glanced at the pictures on the wall of another woman and a man. Their faces weren't crossed out yet.

Donning his jacket and grabbing his car keys, Adrian left the factory.

+++

Police Headquarters, two hours later

"Sam, we have another possible murder." Tony stood in the doorway to her temporary office and held up a piece of paper. "Security at the college reported one of the professors missing. They said she never missed a day without calling in sick. Officers are already on the way."

"Why do they think it has something to do with our case?" Sam looked up from her file. The file she’s been trying to read for the last forty minutes or so. But all she could think about was the woman she had met at the café. She liked her right away and it didn’t hurt that she was gorgeous either. Just when she wondered if she should invite her for dinner or something, Tony interrupted her.

"Because, she's Mr. Saunders mother-in-law."

"When do we leave?" Sam closed the file she'd been studying.

"Right now." Tony put on the jacket he'd been holding, and Sam grabbed her cell and her purse, and told Jerry to be a good dog and wait for them. Jerry only blinked one eye open and closed it as soon as they had left the office.

+++

Street in front of Mrs. Chester's house, 15 min later

From her car, Ryan had called Calvin and had told him to meet up with her at the location that was given in the mail.

Twenty minutes later she pulled up at a suburban street and parked around the corner. Spotting Calvin in another parked car she got out and walked over and knocked on the window. Startled, Calvin grabbed his chest above his heart and got out.

"Jesus!" he locked his car, and they walked up to the house with the number 1509. It looked just like the forty other houses on the street with the same white front door and the rusty fence around the front yard.

"This doesn't look right." Ryan mumbled when she noticed the front door ajar. Pulling her gun from the holster in the small of her back Ryan signalled Calvin to be quiet.

Entering the house, they walked down the long hallway on a thick red carpet. Glancing in the kitchen to the right, and walking past the office, Ryan pushed open the living room door at the end of the hallway with her leather gloved fingers. Securing the rest of the room, she walked over to the elderly woman in an old rocking chair. Her eyes were closed and the fire in the fireplace had burned down a while ago, but the embers had yet to go out completely.

Calvin stayed one step behind her and looked around nervously. "Is she…?" he trailed off. “Damn,” he though, “my job description didn’t say one word about stuff like this.”

Shaking the woman's shoulder and took her glove off to check for pulse. Ryan shook her head. When she looked around, she noticed the empty bottle of Vodka and an empty bottle of pills.

Meanwhile Calvin wandered around the living room, observing. When he looked out the window he flinched.

"Cops!" he shouted, and Ryan joined him at the window.

The police cars were coming down the road with flashing lights.

Pulling a startled Calvin with her out the backdoor, they both climbed the small fence and disappeared through the gardens.

Trying to be as uninteresting as possible, they both walked to the side alley where their cars were parked and decided to meet up at the office later.

In the rear-view mirror Ryan caught a glimpser of Sam exciting one of the cars. Speeding off, Ryan cursed and wondered why her life always had to get more and more complicated.

+++

The Facility, late afternoon

Ryan had gotten a call from her uncle's secretary to meet up with him in the conference room. So after sending Calvin to track down the origin of the email with the tip, she took the elevator to the fifth floor.

Opening the double doors, she was surprised to find not only her uncle there, but also Simon Yousif from the supervisory board.

"Ryan!" her uncle greeted her a little too enthusiastically, as Mr. Yousif merely nodded her way.

"Uncle Melcome, Mr. Yousif. What can I do for you?" Ryan always hated the conference room. It was huge and over filled with a massive conference table and dozens of chairs. The walls were cherry wood wainscoted and the carpet was of a rich blue grey colour.

"Please take a seat." Mr. Yousif, a man of Arabian heritage pulled out a chair and waited until the Ryan's did the same.

"We'd like to discuss Adrian's case with you, dear." Melcome Ryan started the conversation that wouldn't last longer than ten minutes.

Afterwards Ryan stomped out of the room and down to her office.

She had just been informed, that her cousin, Melcome's son, was assigned to help her find Adrian because the supervisory board didn't think she could do it alone. He had already been sent to take a few bullies and bring in Dr. Newman.

The board wanted results and they wanted them fast. They didn't care on what cost. It wasn't even the trail of blood Adrian left behind; they were just trying to save their butts.