Alexis froze, her spoon midway between her bowl of chili and her mouth, at the sound of Jax’s heavy Aussie accent. She had halfway expected to hear from him ever since the day before, when she had confronted Jessie, Lady Jane, and Bobbie at the bridal shop. No doubt, he’d be peeved with her. In fact, she was *counting* on his anger. She could deal with Jax’s hostility – the interview with Jerry the other day had proven that. But if he was sincere, or displayed *any* degree at all of regret for the way he had treated her – if she saw that old spark of heat in Jax’s eyes that had always turned her insides to the consistency of warm jello – well, she wasn’t sure she’d be able to keep a clear head.

"Hello? Earth to Alexis!! Are you having hearing problems, or are you just being *deliberately* obtuse?"

{You’re safe. Definitely ticked off. This you can handle.} After replaying the scene dozens of times in her head, she was ready for him.

"And a good afternoon to you, TOO, Counselor," she replied smoothly, but not before setting her spoon down and wiping her lips delicately with her napkin. "I see your social skills haven’t improved any in three years……."

"Oh, you’re a FINE one to talk about social skills!" Jax hissed. His shoulders shrugged beneath his trench coat while his arms rested at his sides, one hand holding a large briefcase. "First you have the nerve to HARASS my sister and mother, and then you choose to ignore me when I’m speaking to you……"

"Taking a statement from a material witness in an ongoing murder investigation is NOT harassment, Jax," Alexis shot back coldly.

"You accosted her in a public place, without warning, and you don’t call that HARASSMENT?"

"You mean, sort of like what you’re doing to me, right now?" Alexis arched an eyebrow at him with a "gotcha" look in her eye. She propped her elbows on the table at Kelly’s and intertwined her fingers, resting her chin there. "ACCOSTING me in a PUBLIC PLACE? WITHOUT WARNING?"

The unfortunate truth was that her interview with Jessica Jacks the previous day had ended just when things were getting interesting. Alexis hadn’t counted on Bobbie Jacks’s drunken outburst. In fact, she was embarrassed to admit to herself that her jaw had probably dropped at least six inches in stunned shock when her almost-sister-in-law revealed the fact that Chloe had demanded a large sum of money from her husband. Lady Jane realized what Alexis and Jessica did almost simultaneously – that Bobbie’s revelation gave Jerry a strong motive for killing Chloe.

Just as she was about to ask Bobbie for more details about the "blackmail," the four women heard voices out in the hall of the bridal shop. Alexis knew that Monsieur Maurice wouldn’t be pleased that she had intruded on his customers’ privacy. Being thrown out of his salon by his security guards wouldn’t make good press for the District Attorney’s office. Rather than face the diminutive Frenchman’s ire, she had retreated quickly from the dressing room, leaving the Jacks women in a state of shock and dismay.

Jax grimaced and looked around at the other luncheon patrons at Kelly’s guiltily before returning his attention to Alexis. "This is hardly a comparable situation, Alexis," he snarled, dropping into the chair opposite her to be less conspicuous. "My sister was supposed to be having a *private* fitting for her wedding gown……"

"And the last time I checked, I was supposed to be having a *private* lunch……" Alexis had walked a fine line of professional propriety at the bridal salon, sneakily questioning the unsuspecting Jacks women. She knew that – and Jax did, too – so she had to shift his attentions elsewhere, and fast. She gestured at the small table where she sat. "…….since obviously nobody’s joining me." She smiled at him sweetly. "And besides……..I knocked before I went into the fitting room. And your mother didn’t tell me to leave."

"My *mother* had no idea that you were going to put the screws to Jessie!"

"OK, OK…….." Alexis took her time to deliberately fold her napkin and place it next to her bowl. "I guess we’ll have to do this the hard way then." She took a pen, popped the cap off, and began to make notes on a small legal pad on the table. "I’ll just have Detective Taggert bring Jessie down to PCPD headquarters to take her statement instead."

Jax’s eyes widened and his chest heaved with indignation. "That’s RIDIC…….."

"Who knows? Maybe she’ll get a kick out of riding in the black and white!" Alexis’s expression was falsely, vindictively bright. She gaily waved her pen in a circle in the air. "I can always tell Marcus to turn on the lights and the siren……that oughtta give her a REAL thrill!"

"YOU’RE BLOODY NUTS!!!" Jax exploded. When silence fell in the room at his outburst, he looked around self-consciously again and lowered his voice. His eyes shot chilly daggers at her. "You never got over what happened between us!" he growled, pointing a finger at her. "And you don’t give a d*mn who you hurt in the process, as long as you get your precious revenge!"

"Yeah, that’s right, Jax!" Alexis retorted, her eyes ablaze with fury as she slammed the pen down on the table. "After THREE LONG YEARS, I was still so torn up because you dumped me that I told my dearest friend in the whole world to go out and get herself KILLED, just so I could blame it on your brother!!" She shook her head and sat back in her chair, folding her arms across her chest. "This has to do with finding Chloe’s murderer. It has NOTHING to do with what happened between US!"

"Fine!" Jax shrugged off his coat as the verbal sparring and the lunchtime crowd at Kelly’s raised his temperature several degrees above boiling. "Go ahead and investigate Chloe’s murder all you want!" He leaned forward and dropped his voice to an outraged whisper. "But you have NO reason to be questioning Jerry or any other members of my family about the night she was killed!"

"Didn’t you read the copy of the coroner’s report I sent you, Jax?" Alexis shook her head firmly when a young waitress tried to refill her glass of iced tea. She waited until the petite brunette confirmed that Jax didn’t want to order and disappeared before speaking again. "Chloe Morgan was carrying your brother’s child when she died."

"The only thing that the coroner’s report confirmed was that Chloe was pregnant," Jax replied glibly. "It doesn’t prove that Jerry was the father." Hypocrisy made for a bitter taste in his mouth. There was no doubt in his mind that the child was Jerry’s – based on his brother’s own admissions and the way he had reacted in Alexis’s office two days before. Yet Jax also believed beyond a shadow of a doubt that his brother hadn’t killed Chloe. So he was faced with a defense attorney’s nightmare – to deny certain apparent "truths" of a case in order to get to the correct bottom line verdict.

"So you’re going to play hard ball with me on this one, huh?" Alexis shook her head and clucked her tongue. "You’re going to make me go through all the trouble of getting a DNA test to confirm what we both already know?" She leaned forward, her brown eyes locked in fierce combat with Jax’s blue ones. "ESPECIALLY after the way your brother fell apart in my office – when I told him that Chloe and the baby were dead?"

They sat in heated silence for a few seconds, staring intently at each other, until Jax’s face softened. He shook his head as tiny laugh lines deepened at the corners of his eyes. "God, this brings back memories," he sighed, a warm, wistful huskiness in his voice. The way he was looking at her – the same way smitten sixteen-year-old pubescent boys looked at posters of Brittany Spears – made her stomach turn upside down. "Like when you and I used to come here to Kelly’s. You’d play devil’s advocate for the cases I was working on, and we’d share a bowl of Ruby’s chili," he smiled, sitting back in his chair. "You’ve still got an eye like a hawk when it comes to people." His aquamarine eyes glittered with heat that had nothing to do with anger. "You haven’t changed a bit, have you, Lexie?"

Alexis took a shuddering breath. She prayed that Jax wouldn’t be able to see the way his trip down memory lane was affecting her. "Oh, I’ve changed," she finally replied, trying desperately to keep her expression cold and aloof. "We’ve *both* changed, Jax." She pushed some loose hair back off her forehead. "I don’t believe in happily ever after fairy tales any more, and you…….." The words caught in her throat. She swallowed hard, looked down to compose herself, and then back up at him again. "Did you ever find her?"

"Brenda?" Alexis vaguely noticed that a cold harshness crept into his voice. His jaw firmed and a muscle in the side of his neck jerked involuntarily. "No." Jax folded his hands on the table in front of him and stared at them as he spoke. "It turned out that the woman dad’s investigator found in Paris bore a strong resemblance to Brenda, but it wasn’t her." He shrugged his shoulders and circled his thumbs nervously. "So, when I finally decided to quit chasing rainbows, I came back to the States."

"And you’ve been back here for eighteen months?"

Jax licked his lips self-consciously. This conversation was going in an *entirely* unacceptable direction. "I guess. I really didn’t keep track of the time."

"And you didn’t think I might be wondering what happened?" Alexis asked gently. "You couldn’t pick up a phone and tell me you were back?"

"Things………" Jax squirmed uneasily on the chair. "Things were……….complicated………"

Jax HAD to change the subject, for EXACTLY the reasons he had outlined just a few seconds earlier. There was no way Alexis would let things go once Pandora’s box was opened, even just a crack. She wouldn’t rest until he told her *everything* -- the truth about the dirty secrets in her family that John Jacks had revealed to him the night he had returned from Paris. He shook his head to clear it. "You know, we REALLY can’t afford to get into all that right now."

"Of course not." Alexis felt her heart sink. Just when she thought that maybe there WAS a chance for them, Jax shut her out in the cold. The same place she had been for the past three years. She reached for her legal pad and pen again. "So, since I assume you won’t stipulate to Chloe carrying Jerry’s child at the time of her death……."

"H*ll, no."

"…….so I’ll be forced to get a court order for the DNA tests……"

"……which I’ll block, of course……."

"ATTEMPT to block, Counselor," Alexis corrected, looking down her nose at her former fiancé. She let out a long breath. "D*mnit, Jax, why are you fighting me so hard on this? You KNOW the baby was Jerry’s!"

"Because he’s my BROTHER, Alexis!" Jax shot in rebuttal. He sat up taller and leaned closer to Alexis, lowering his voice to a confidential level. "And even if the baby *was* Jerry’s, it *still* doesn’t give him a motive for killing her! PARTICULARLY after that little item in the coroner’s report that indicated that the murderer apparently roughed her up before he sent her car off the road!"

Alexis raised an eyebrow at Jax critically. "You don’t think Jerry is capable of beating a woman?"

"The question isn’t whether he’s *capable* of it," Jax replied. "The question is WHY he would do it, particularly to a woman that he supposedly loved. A woman who was carrying his child – assuming that you’re correct about the baby, of course," he added diplomatically.

"How about the fact that Jerry was tired of Chloe blackmailing him?" Alexis asked, shrugging her shoulders innocently. "Couldn’t THAT have pushed him over the edge?"

"Blackmail? Chloe?" Jax laughed sarcastically. "Whatever gave you the idea that Chloe was blackmailing my brother?"

"Not WHAT, Counselor………WHO," Alexis retorted, leaning back casually in her chair. "And the answer is – your sister-in-law."

When the color drained from his face, Alexis knew Jax had been totally clueless about Bobbie’s accusation. He swallowed his indignation and cleared his throat. "My sis…….."

"Bobbie – Jerry’s wife." Alexis picked up her pen again and capped it before clipping it to the legal pad. "She told me several of the sordid details yesterday afternoon at the bridal shop."

Jax’s internal thermometer rose to just millimeters below boiling over. He had held several closed-door consultations with both Jerry and Bobbie after returning from Alexis’s office that morning, going over the details of the night of Chloe’s murder with a fine-toothed comb. He couldn’t believe that his sister-in-law had allowed herself to run off at the mouth and possibly put her own husband behind bars for the rest of his life.

"And you’re going to believe what Bobbie told you?" He attempted a careless laugh, but he knew that Alexis could feel his tension. "Knowing the way she acts – particularly after a few glasses of champagne?"

"I admit I was skeptical at first." Alexis toyed with the edge of her napkin, her mouth turning down in a grimace. "It was pretty hard to believe that a sweet girl like Chloe would resort to blackmail – especially when she was so excited about having Jerry’s baby and said that they were so in love……."

Jax’s chest muscles visibly relaxed. "Well, there you have it…….."

"But Bobbie also said that Jerry had given Chloe over twenty thousand dollars, just in the past week," Alexis was quick to add. She lifted one eyebrow, staring at Jax like a lion about to devour its prey. "I can have a court order and access to both Chloe’s and Jerry’s records by tomorrow morning. Then we would know for sure."

Jax stared down at the floor in utter misery. Now that Alexis had a potential motive, it wouldn’t take much to get a judge to issue a warrant for Jerry’s arrest. Jessie was counting on her wedding being the most wonderful, perfect day in her life. Needless to say, having her big brother arrested and carted out of the ceremony in handcuffs would certainly put a damper on things. Not to mention the effect it would have on Lady Jane.

"I’m sorry, Jax……" He was surprised when Alexis covered his hand with hers, genuine concern in her voice. "I remember…….." Color suddenly painted her cheeks and she looked down at the table before continuing. "I mean, I know how hard it is for you, making sure that nothing bad ever happens to anyone in your family……….always taking care of things for everybody……."

Her breath caught in her chest when Jax suddenly gripped her hand tightly. "Then help me, Alexis," he whispered. The depth of feeling in his eyes made her heart skip a beat.

"Help you…….how, Jax?" She shook her head in disbelief, glancing around to make sure nobody overheard their conversation. "Surely you’re not asking me to just overlook the facts and let Jerry get away with murdering my best friend, are you?"

"No!" When Jax sensually rubbed his thumb over the back of Alexis’s hand, she abruptly jerked it away -- to his chagrin. "Alexis, you KNOW I would never ask you to do anything unethical!" he hissed. He frowned and licked his lips before going on. "I just……..well………" Suddenly, he pulled his chair closer to Alexis’s. "I’ll make you a deal."

Alexis’s gaze dropped to the proximity of Jax’s chair, then returned to meet his pleading stare. "I’m listening."

He took a deep breath. "Don’t approach *any* of my family members about Chloe’s murder until after Jessie’s wedding." When Alexis’s eyes widened, he held up a hand to indicate he wasn’t finished. "And that *includes* not bringing Jerry in for any more questions, or examining his bank records – or arresting him. JUST until after Jessie leaves on her honeymoon."

Alexis chewed on her lower lip thoughtfully, her brain doing somersaults at the implications of his request. Jax obviously hadn’t been prepared for Bobbie providing her husband with a very convenient and convincing motive for murder. Her former fiancé was one of the top defense attorneys in the state. "Humble" and "willing to compromise" were generally *not* used in the same breath as "Jasper Jacks." She sat back a moment and traced a drop of water that ran down the side of her glass of iced tea with a long, graceful finger. "And what do *I* get out of it?"

Jax’s shoulders shuddered with uncharacteristic discomfort. "Name your price."

Vindication flashed in her brown eyes. "Jerry sits down and answers my questions – one on one, no tapdancing around the facts…….." She narrowed one eye at Jax. "Just the two of us."

"Without legal representation?" Jax snorted. "Do I LOOK like I’ve lost my mind?"

"Alright – you can be there," Alexis allowed. "After all, I wouldn’t want any of Jerry’s admissions to be thrown out of court later." She pressed her lips together in thought. "And I want the lead investigator on the case there, too……"

"Lieutenant Taggert?" Jax snorted sarcastically. "No way." He shook his head firmly. "This is getting out of hand. It has to be a private meeting. And *strictly* off the record."

"Private? Off the record?" Alexis coughed in disbelief. "Did you forget, Counselor, that YOU’RE the one asking for the favor here?" She shook her head grimly and crossed her arms. "Frankly, so far I can’t see what’s in it for *me* if I agree to this deal!"

"You get to sit down with Jerry and ask him all the questions you want," Jax pressed, his face set as he battled for his brother’s future – and his family’s peace of mind. "All those little details that are nagging away at you – the things that would take a court order and an extra week to prove when my brother can give you an answer in thirty minutes. STRAIGHT answers," he added emphatically. "The TRUTH."

Alexis tried to keep her excitement from showing on her face. She was sure Jax would spend hours coaching Jerry before their little "face to face." The "truth" that he promised her would probably come out of the Congressman’s mouth as well-rehearsed platitudes. Yet, the bottom line was that Jax was right – it *would* take hours or even days to muddle through the paperwork required for investigating Jerry’s and Chloe’s bank records. Probably even longer for all the motions and counter-motions before DNA testing could begin to prove the paternity of Chloe’s baby. And the more time that went by, the longer SOMEBODY – in all likelihood, Jerry Jacks – was getting away with murder.

"OK." She licked her lips and slid her legal pad back into her briefcase. "You’ve got yourself a deal, Counse……." Alexis froze and then gave him a half-smile as she extended her hand to seal the agreement. "….Jax," she finished, not at all pleased with herself as his name came out sounding entirely too breathy and needful.

"Good. You won’t regret this, Alexis." Jax felt the weight of the world lighten a little on his shoulders as he folded his hand around Alexis’s. He suddenly remembered how he used to tease her about her hands – long, slender, graceful fingers that were more well-suited to a ballet dancer than a district attorney. He gripped her hand a little longer than necessary, looking deeply into her eyes until she suddenly cleared her throat and pulled away from him.

"Somehow," she sighed, "I think I already do." She reached into her briefcase to pull out her day-planner. "I don’t think that the Capshaw hearing should take longer than an hour tomorrow, so I’ll be free all afternoon……."

"No – not tomorrow. Definitely not tomorrow." Jax wanted at least 24 hours to drill Jerry on appropriate answers to questions that Alexis might be asking him. It wouldn’t hurt to include Bobbie in the sessions, either – in the event she should run into Alexis in the future and feel the urge to spill any more little "insights" that could land Jerry in the slammer for the rest of his life. He peered over the top of the small leather-bound book that Alexis held. "How about the day after?"

Agony flitted across Alexis’s face. "I can’t. Chloe’s funeral is that morning."

"What about the afternoon?" Jax hated to take advantage of her grief, but he wasn’t about to hang Jerry out as a sacrificial lamb either. NO wedding was THAT important. At least if Alexis was distracted by thoughts of laying Chloe to rest, she might not be at the top of her prosecutorial game.

"I don’t know…….." Alexis wrinkled her nose and pressed her lips together in distaste. "I don’t have anything on my calendar, but it just doesn’t seem respectful to go straight back to work from the funeral so soon……"

"Chloe didn’t have that much family. I doubt there’ll be a reception afterwards," Jax shrugged. "And besides – wouldn’t it be poetic justice for you, getting a chance to nail the man you believe killed Chloe on the day you say goodbye to her?"

Resolve sizzled in Alexis’s eyes. "You’re right." She made quick notes in her day-planner. "I assume The Grille would be neutral enough territory for you……." she added, naming the restaurant at the Port Charles Hotel.

"You assume wrong." Jax glanced over his shoulder as he slipped his overcoat back on. "I said the meeting had to be private. Everyone knows that the Grille is the favorite watering hole for half the staff of the Port Charles Herald." Jax rose from his chair and picked up his briefcase. "Our little "private face-to-face" would be splashed all over the front page of the next day’s morning edition." He shook his head and frowned. "No – it has to be someplace more discreet – more out of the way……." His eyes lit with inspiration. "Like the Cheshire."

"That’s the one." Jax’s heart sank. Although he realized that the Inn’s location "off the beaten path" would better suit their purposes, he couldn’t help but wonder if it would be as hard for Alexis to go there as it would be for him. How could he glimpse that piano bar without remembering all the times they met there for a secluded drink after work? Could she really pull into the parking lot without thinking of the weekends she had spent there with him, hiding away from family and responsibilities? Could they face each other in the dimly lit pub without remembering how they toasted each other with dark lager and shared forbidden fantasies? "I……uh……." He gripped the handle of his briefcase tightly, fighting for control. "I’ll get us a table there for around 2:30."

"Sounds good." She licked her lips, then nodded quickly. "So I guess I’ll see you and Jerry then."

"Right." Jax almost put his hand out to shake hers again but then decided against it. Touching the soft spot on the inside of her wrist where her pulse throbbed had almost robbed him of his sanity and self-control once that afternoon. He smiled grimly and nodded towards the bowl of chili in front of her. "Enjoy your lunch."

The half-smile didn’t fade from Alexis’s lips until she heard the soft tinkle of the bell over the door of Kelly’s. She lifted a spoonful of chili, paused, touched it to her mouth, and then let it droop listlessly back into the bowl with a disgusted sigh. She pushed her chair back and stared at a spot in a far corner of the diner as tears twinkled in her eyes. Her lunch, like her life, had gone cold.

*~*~*~*

"It was about money."

Alexis looked up, letting her tortoise shell glasses slip down her nose as she stared the reprimand at Taggert. "Don’t you ever just say hello?"

He was already halfway to the small coffeemaker in the corner of Alexis’s office when he acknowledged her remark. "Takes too much time and effort when I’ve got important stuff to tell you." Taggert frowned when he found the machine cold to the touch. "You run out of coffee?" he asked, lifting the empty pot.

"I’ve been operating on a caffeine high now for three days straight," Alexis replied grimly, pushing her glasses back up. "If I don’t cut back, I’ll never sleep again."

"D*mn." Taggert snorted in disgust and then replaced the pot. "And here I thought after the news I had for you on the Morgan case, the *least* you would do is rescue me from that sludge Mac makes."

"Yeah, well it turns out I’ve got some news for you, too." Alexis closed the file in front of her and took her glasses off, folding them carefully as she placed them to the side of her desk blotter. "I ran into Bobbie Jacks yesterday…….."

"I know." Taggert shook his head and arched an eyebrow at Alexis. "Old man Jacks came down to the station and raised holy h*ll with Mac for at least an hour about not intimidating his family." A slow smile spread across his face. "It’s a good thing I was someplace else, finding out something that’s going to break the Morgan case wide open."

"OK, OK……." Alexis pursed her lips and waved a hand indulgently. "Since you look like the cat that swallowed the canary, you go first."

Taggert swaggered over to the chair in front of Alexis’s desk and took a seat. "How much do you know about Chloe’s uncle?"

"Herbert Morgan?" Alexis’s eyebrows drew together in a frown. "Not much. I think Chloe said he was technically CEO of Chloe Morgan Designs, even though she provided all the fashion input." Her face grew wistful as she thought for a moment while Taggert pulled his notebook out of his back pocket. "Chloe could whip up a cocktail dress to knock ‘em dead in two minutes flat, but she couldn’t balance her checkbook to save her life."

"Interesting you put it that way." Taggert pointed a finger at Alexis. "According to some digging I did into CMD’s books, Herbert Morgan has been doing some creative investing with their working capital lately."

"What *kind* of creative investing?" Alexis sat forward, arching an eyebrow in curiosity.

"Turns out old Uncle Herb recently got a computer and discovered the wonders of trading stocks on the Internet." Taggert glanced briefly back at his notebook. "He invested the money from CMD, got lucky, and made a bundle on some technology stocks about three months ago."

"I remember now…….." Alexis propped her elbow on her desk and rested her knuckle against her lips. "Chloe was telling me that she was even thinking of opening a retail shop here in Port Charles because of an unexpected windfall."

"Yeah, well – easy come, easy go." Taggert grimaced. "Uncle Herbert got a little too sure of himself. He took some bigger risks that didn’t quite pan out and ended up losing most of CMD’s operating capital." He shook his head. "So, like most compulsive gamblers, he tried to make up the loss by investing more."

Realization began to dawn. "He ran Chloe into the red?"

"Apparently Herbert was too embarrassed to admit to Chloe that he had bankrupted her company, so he tried to pay her back using his own money."

"Buuuuuut……..that didn’t work either?"

"Nope. He just ended up losing more." Taggert picked up a pencil off Alexis’s desk and pointed it at her. "Except this time, Herbert *really* went out on a limb. He put up his marker with some shady traders and then couldn’t pay them back when it was due."

"Which explains why Chloe desperately needed money…….." An immense feeling of relief washed over her. Even though Bobbie Jacks had been adamant about Chloe blackmailing Jerry, it was hard for Alexis to accept that her friend had stooped to something illegal. She couldn’t imagine why Chloe would have wanted a large amount of cash – not when her designing business was doing so well. But she knew how much Chloe loved her Uncle Herbert, and if she had found out that he was in trouble about paying back a debt, no doubt she would have asked Jerry for the money.

"You knew about the money?" Taggert looked like a child who had just heard the bad news about Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny.

"A very informative "little birdie" told me about it yesterday," Alexis replied cryptically. "That’s what I was trying to tell you."

Taggert nodded and flipped his notebook closed, putting it back in his pocket. "So I figure once we bring that Von Alden guy in for questioning, we should have all the answers about who killed Chloe……"

"WAIT a minute………." Alexis sat forward again, her eyes wide. "You just lost me. Who’s Von Alden?"

Taggert was nonplussed. "The loan shark."

"WHAT loan shark?"

"I thought you said you already knew all this stuff!" Taggert frowned. "Chloe went to a local loan shark named Von Alden and borrowed the money to pay back Uncle Herbert’s marker."

"No………" The air left Alexis’s lungs in a long sigh. "I didn’t know about him……."

"I didn’t really connect the two until I talked to a snitch I use down on the docks – the one that gave me the big lead in the Mobley case last year," Taggert explained. "He told me that a good looking blonde that fit Chloe’s description had been down on the docks looking to borrow money two weeks ago. One of Von Alden’s men set up a meeting and she got the cash from him to pay off Herbert’s debts."

Alexis swallowed hard. "How much cash?"

"Twenty thousand." Taggert rose and held his hands out, palms up. "Which gives us our explanation of who murdered Chloe."

Ruby’s chili swirled uneasily in Alexis’s stomach. "So now you think this Von Alden guy killed Chloe?"

"Fits perfect with his MO, according to my sources," Taggert replied grimly. "He’s not exactly a patient man, if you know what I mean. I figure he went to Chloe’s apartment looking for his money and when she didn’t come up with it, he roughed her up." He shrugged his shoulders. "Maybe things got a little more *intense* than he planned, and then when he realized what had happened, he sent her car off the road to make it look like an accident."

"But…….." This *couldn’t* be true. Jerry Jacks had killed Chloe – Alexis was sure of it. Not some greedy, run-of-the-mill slime loan shark. She felt her second wind when a thought occurred to her. "But what if Chloe HAD gotten the money to repay Von Alden?!" After all, Jerry Jacks’ twenty thousand dollars had to have gone somewhere. "Then he would have been satisfied and your theory is dead in the water!"

Taggert shook his head and whistled softly as he turned to stroll towards Alexis’s door. "According to my snitch, Von Alden would have upped the ante to at least thirty thousand by the night Chloe was killed." He stared at her grimly. "He didn’t exactly use the normal formulas for compound interest, if you know what I mean."

"So even if Chloe had had twenty thousand that night, it wouldn’t have been enough to satisfy Von Alden……." Alexis’s words trailed off into silence.

"Nope." He pointed a finger at Alexis as he opened the door to her outer office. "I’m going to bring Von Alden in for questioning. In the meantime, I’m going to have them run his fingerprints through the computers to see if they match any that we found in Chloe’s apartment." He paused, his hand on the doorjamb. "You want to be there when I talk to him?"

"Yeah." Alexis nodded absently. Even though she pressed her fingertips against lips, she couldn’t stop them from quivering. "I do."

"OK." Taggert winked at her and smiled. "So I figure, by the end of the week, we’ll talk to Chloe’s murderer and wrap this up."

The red notation in her dayplanner caught Alexis’s eye.

2:30 PM – Cheshire Inn. Jerry Jacks

"Yeah………" Renewed determination surged as Alexis stiffened her spine and nodded at Taggert. It couldn’t be as simple as Taggert thought it was. Jerry Jacks HAD to be involved in this somehow. "That we will."

To be continued……..