Angie, for her part was still in a state of having the wind knocked out of her and being so nauseated, that her head was swimming. What had she hired? She tried to think back to Tony on his interview, nothing but the most congenial and helpful person she had ever met. She remembered him helping her back up to her bed when she had developed the complications during the later part of pregnancy and then it hit her, he had been playing that song on the stereo; that terribly sad song! Had that been part of his scheme? Had he been working some sort of mental torture on her so slight that she hadn’t noticed?

After the baby was born and Rollie and she were trying to get back to some sort of daily routine, Tony had been doing everything and she realized up-surping Rollie’s role in just about everything. Instead of helping him with his blindness, he totally ignored and even went out of his way to push Rollie back into the dysfunctional role.

"Rollie, what are we going to do?" she said, her voice still shaky and breaking up.

"Do? Well, I already took care of one big factor- I changed the security code on the loft doors. I knew you had given him the code but after you went up here to bed last night, I changed it- well fumbled with it but it was done. Bluey was all for it!"

Angie smiled up at him, hearing the determination and protective edge to his voice. Rollie Tyler may not have been able to see but his family was his main concern and protect them, he would!

"Rol, how could I have been so stupid? Oh my God, Luce!" Angie exclaimed, standing up and pacing slightly as Rollie caught nothing but air on the first attempt and then caught her in his arms, bringing her back down beside him.

"Hey, it’s alright. Luce will be okay, she’s resilient and well, you have been through a lot here with me and Aidan and going to Germany…I’d say your mind was in some overload. She’ll forgive you; in fact I know she had when she left last night. You can make it up to her, sweetie. Feed her and tell her you love her and she will melt like butter," Rollie replied, chuckling.

"Interesting, you’ve tried this yourself?" Angie asked him, her hand coming up as she touched his lips with her fingers slightly.

"Nope, that was a Rick make-up tool, tried and true!" Rollie said, slightly exasperated that Angie continued this thought in her head about he and Luce, "am I never going to get a reprieve for something stupid I did a long time ago?"

"No, because I can’t help it. I watched you for too long, Rollie Tyler!" Angie warned him as he opened his mouth slightly and took a tender bite of her fingers resting on his lips.

He pushed her back on the bed then, playfully reaching for her hands and pinned them above her head as he lowered his head and kissed her passionately, her troubles disappearing for a moment as she was reminded of his love for her.

"Hope that satisfied you!" he told her, as he broke the kiss roughly, like a pillaging pirate and sat back up; "and now- we call out the national guard and get this guy out of our lives!"

Angie got up and shook her head. She marveled at his nature and his ability to spring back so quickly. It was his make-up, his life’s experiences that made him this incredibly sensitive but determined man. He would never be down for long and she knew that whatever they had tried to get from him while on Pollepel, Rollie Tyler had never cracked.

They went back downstairs, tape in hand, ready to call Mira about Tony when there was a knock on the door. Rolph had settled himself on the couch, reading a German medical forum and Angie looked up with a sinking feeling at the security monitor. It was Lucinda!

Rollie and Rolph sat in the living area as Angie took Luce to her office. Rollie smiled and began talking to Rolph about what he thought the next stage of possible sight would be.

"There is the possibility of seeing lights soon, images not really enhancing until after your retina begins transmitting the differences between light and dark images. Your brain is being retrained, you see. Like a computer, that has lost its hard drive, you are reformatting a new one. The material is all there but the programming is being replaced, yes?" Rolph explained as Rollie just wanted anxiously to see again.

"How soon?" Rollie interrupted.

"Cannot be determined, I have no idea. I don’t know how much strychnine was absorbed into the retina. A little over a day from when Brabon placed the implants, you have said before your friend Michael shut them down, is that correct?"

"Yes…but I have a big question here, Rolph. Why was I blind to begin with? I had no implants to begin with…what caused my blindness then?

"From what you described to Dr. Eckmiller, I would say you had constant white light blindness like, er- ‘snow blindness’. A temporary condition most of the time, due to constant white light exposure. What I have seen in the people who came to see Eckmiller with the implants in the past was a history of intermittent bursts of intense light torture. This is the worst type of situation. From what you describe, you had constant exposure. So, a little good comes from that, in the end."

"I can’t say how or why, but I think I was a source of puzzlement to them," Rollie said, shaking his head and rubbing his hands on his thighs.

"This aborigine thing- you called it the ‘dreaming’ ?" Rolph asked, thinking to himself and postulating a scientific explanation; "it is like a brain disrupter, it must release serotonin levels that ease and soothe you. You must have frequently called upon it while in captivity."

"Don’t know about ‘sarah toning’ levels, doc, but it always made me feel better, yeah!" Rollie replied, smiling, then added, "you hear anything coming from that direction?" He pointed to the direction of Angie’s office. It was very quiet down that way.

"Uh, no…" Rolph said, puzzled but a loud, almost shriek of a voice resounded then and Rollie laughed as Rolph raised his eyebrows in further confusion.

"Ah, good- they bloody well made up!" Rollie commented and heard Aidan began to cry, "and as usual, Lucinda’s squeals have waken the dead, sleeping babies and dogs."

Bluey had barked in alarm, Aidan was startled and going into a fit and Rollie Tyler was smiling. The world for the moment was back to normal at Tyler F/X.

Tony Alvarez sat in a chair, inside the F/X trailer on the set of Derni Magic. There was not a single soul around as he knew the filming was being done on location with no gag work being scheduled today. He was incensed and his strategy was left in tattered remnants as he tried to control his rage. He had not been satisfied with his work only a day ago…it wasn’t the same, he knew that. He must possess Angie Tyler and take her from that bastard who came back into their lives, destroying his link to her, his bond.

He looked around at Rollie Tyler’s handiwork. He would destroy all of this, he would possess her- take her and release his anger- letting the beast inside be fed and it was- oh so hungry now!

He calmed down and began to think of a way as he left the set and traveled home on foot. He reached the Dakota and smiled as the doorman/security waved at him, letting him in.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Lamont," the doorman greeted him.

"Yeah, same to you, Eddie," he responded as he passed him and went to the elevator. By the time he reached his floor, he prepared himself. He walked slowly toward the door to the apartment and put the key into the lock.

"Gregory? Is that you? What are you doing home in the middle of the day?" called out a shrill, voice from the interior of the massive apartment.

"I have some work at home to do, mother. Don’t worry, business is booming. By the way, you should sell those Dyntek shares today. I don’t think the market is going to hold on them," he replied in answer as he followed the trail of her voice and found her in the conservatory. She was drinking tea and looked up over her reading glasses to appraise him as usual.

"Well, I shall call Elwood immediately and dump the whole thing, dear. After all, you are my Wall Street genius!" she commented as she took his hand and rested it on her abdomen, "what would I have done without you! Do you know what a horrible time I had giving birth to you! And your father- always away as usual! I can remember it like it was yesterday. Oh the pain! and then that neo-riche bastard just leaving us like that- only three weeks after I had you. It’s a good thing my money wasn’t touched! Imagine if I had allowed that to happen! Your mother knows best, always, Gregory!"

Gregory nodded his head, his mind being shut off from the endless tirade of his birth and his mother’s hardships. Her nagging, whine of her pain went straight to that dark, hidden area of his mind. She went on for an hour as usual as he sat, she holding his hand on her abdomen and rubbing it around and around its enlarged shape. The doctors had said it was ‘psuedociesis’ or false pregnancy and she had been this way for over twenty years. She never left the apartment.

She fell asleep after exhausting herself and he released himself from her, pulling his hand from her grasp as he walked out and went to his bedroom. There was no way he was going to wait much longer. He threw himself on his bed, planning his release in earnest.

"So, here we are," Lucinda told Angie updating her on her progress of her detective work with Marvin Vanduran, "and, I’m having dinner with him tonight!"

Angie smiled at Luce. How could she have ever thought what she had last night! She had apologized profusely to her but Luce had forgiven her long ago just as Rollie had told her.

"You really like Captain Vanduran?" Angie asked, making a face.

"What’s not to like?" responded Luce, laughing, "he’s a very warm, friendly and kinda cute guy, don’t you think?"

"Uh, well- sure," Angie replied, nodding her head and inside her mind, wanting to laugh out loud.

"You two are going to tail Tony or whatever his name is, right?"

"Yep, Marvin said tomorrow morning we start! But hey, you go to the set tomorrow, right? Aren’t you going to be scared to be alone with him?" Luce asked, worried.

"No, going to have Rollie and Aidan there. I don’t think he will try anything stupid. So far, he just has been nice to me. I think we are going to fire him at the set."

"Oh, well- I think Marvin wanted you to wait on that…I think he wants to follow him and find out what he is all about first."

"I don’t want to know anymore. I just want him out of my life, period!" Angie replied, firmly as they walked back into the main loft.

Rolph Mer stood as Angie introduced Lucinda to him. Rollie could detect a change in his voice and grinned from his sitting position on the couch. Angie could also see that Rolph was quite taken with their Luce as well. Oh well, she thought, she had a spell over every man in the room as she watched Luce calm Aidan down with just her voice as she rocked him in her arms and continued to chat with Rolph.

"You notice that Rolph talks like a normal college kind of guy with Luce," Angie said, whispering to Rollie as she leaned into his shoulder.

"Yeah, no Ph.D. kinda stuff, I can actually understand him now," Rollie replied, grinning as he kissed Angie quickly and made a gesture of hunger.

"Would anyone else like something to eat?" Angie asked, knowing the answer already. She had a load of food to prepare now and she went got up, taking Rollie in tow.

"Here, you are assembly worker, start stacking," Angie told him as she handed him the bread, the mayonnaise and the deli meats.

"Hey, I’m just a hair disabled," Rollie protested.

"Oh, I hire the handicapped, Rol. I believe in equal opportunity," she replied as she handed him a spreading knife.

Marvin Vanduran was nervous. He hadn’t been out on a date in over six months. And he really wanted this one to succeed! Lucinda Scott! He just couldn’t get over it. He was on a date with a movie star, him! He must have gone through ten changes of clothes and alternating casual with suits and then finally, he settled on what Lucinda had told him to wear from the beginning. It was a casual thing, come in jeans- she had said. He fumbled with his shirt buttons and then finally, took a deep breath. The only thing that bothered him now, was that she had changed the place to pick her up, from the hotel to Rollie Tyler’s loft! Of all places, he knew the scrutiny would not go without a rash of gossip in the bullpen the next day. Somehow, it would get back.

Arriving at the loft, he knocked softly and then a bit harder as the door finally opened and Angie Tyler stood there, looking at him, her eyes widening as she realized that it was him. Was he that different?

"Come in Captain," she said, in a high voice as she showed him inside.

Outside, Gregory Lamont, alias Tony Alvarez sat in his car at the end of the Brewery Lane. He watched as his Angie opened the door for yet another stranger to him, another man. There was no way he could do this in her home although that was part of it, it had to be that way! He gripped the steering wheel tightly and waited. Would it be tonight? He was beginning to doubt it. He had never called her that day as to why he hadn’t shown up. He would make amends with her in the morning. For now, he would just wait. His mind was a jumble, jagged wreck of emotions and he wanted for all the world just to be with her, alone, and take her now.

Angie couldn’t believe her eyes. Vanduran in jeans and a regular old shirt. He looked vulnerable and well, sorta cute, just like Lucinda had said. Luce herself, greeted him with a slight hug as he immediately blushed. He met Rolph Mer and shook Rollie’s hand, asking how he was doing.

Rollie could detect his nervousness and smiled, leaning over and telling him in a whisper; "She won’t bite, mate. She loves to eat so give her plenty there!"

Vanduran looked at him confused but Lucinda had wrapped her arm in his, pulling him toward the door.

"Come on, Marvin…I am starved!" she told him as everyone in the loft laughed. She had already consumed two sandwiches at lunchtime and a bag of chips plus talked their ears off with her latest movie getting ready to shoot in little over a month’s time.

Mira Sanchez looked at her watch. It was nine-thirty at night and she still hadn’t got back the report of fingerprint matching from the scene of the Davenport murder. She was going back over the crime scene in her mind and looked over to see Francis, his head drooping as he sat in his chair, falling asleep.

"Hey, Gatti- get outta here!" she told him, throwing a crumpled ball of paper at him, hitting him on the forehead.

He stirred slightly and smiled; "Yeah, okay. Don’t need to say that again. Sorry about the report not getting here on time. I think it’s great that they lifted that print from the victim’s skin. Modern science, quite an improvement, huh? Just ten years ago, we wouldn’t have had this edge."

"Yeah, now what? If this print doesn’t match, we are just holding on to a print and that’s it," she replied, cupping her hair back and then snapping her pencil against her desk; "jeez, go home! I’m going down to the lab. Thulman hates it when I come down there but I can’t help it! He’s probably watching some baseball on that little TV set he keeps squirreled under the counter in the lab!"

Francis smiled at her and got up, grabbing his suit jacket; "See you tomorrow, Mira. We are going to get this guy."

"Yeah," she replied, thinking back to what Lucinda had said to her that morning and she suddenly had a thought.

She passed Francis as she left the almost deserted squad room, taking the stairs two at a time as she raced toward the lab. Thulman was doing exactly what she had told Francis he was doing, watching baseball on his little TV set.

"Hey Thulman!"

The overweight, six-foot fingerprint expert jumped in his seat, releasing his bite of pizza as he put down the wedge and gave Detective Sanchez a dirty look.

"I told ya don’t do that!" Thulman replied, picking up the lost bite from his chest ledge and eating it with a frown on his face.

"You got that print finalized yet, on the Davenport victim?" Mira asked, his threat not even phasing her.

"Yeah, it’s done. And it doesn’t have any match so that’s why I didn’t call you. Isn’t that the protocol, Detective, that I set up with you guys? Why is it that no one listens to me!"

"Oh, I don’t know, Thulman, maybe because we think you are more interested in eating and watching TV then, say- doing police business and helping us solve a case!" Mira retorted, hands on hips, her face as hard as granite.

"I want you to do something, right now!" Mira barked out as he rolled his eyes and turned off the TV.

"What?"

"There’s a print that Vanduran was working on- I think the file name is Alvarez, Tony…I want you to put that fingerprint up on your screen and see if you get a match to this one from the crime scene, okay?"

Thulman stood up, slamming his chair back as it hit the table behind him. He walked over to the file cabinet and retrieved the Alvarez case. Pulling out the disk with the print image scan, he loaded it and pulled up the Davenport print. He then ran the analysis software and ran a comparison field search.

"Hey, this may take awhile- come back in an hour…" he told Mira, folding his arms across his large chest.

"You mean, after the game is over, don’t you?" Mira said, jumping up and crossing over the barrier desk between the hallway and his closed in office. Normally, he would have to buzz her entrance in through the door but she had clearly decided that scaling his counter and jumping into the lab was the quicker method and by far more threatening.

"Uh, well- no!" Thulman replied and before he could protest her continued pressure on him, there was a alarm that beeped from the computer.

They both looked down, Thulman in shock that the program had worked so quickly and Mira, who now knew that the man that had killed the Davenport woman was also the man working for Angie Tyler!