Carlos hesitated at the door of the hospital. This was not a place he wanted to be. He had sworn that it would be a long time before he would be back and yet here he was. At least he could console himself with the fact that this time he was a visitor. The previous night, when he and Trent had dropped off Sue, he had used the excuse that he had to stay with the car. Now, he had to go in and meet Trent. He took a deep breath and headed in the door.

"Hi, Carlos!" The voice caught him by surprise. He turned to see the face of a nurse who had worked on the ward he had been on. He smiled.

"Hi Carole. How's it going?"

"Great. I didn't think I would see you for awhile." Her expression grew concerned. "You're okay, aren't you?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just here to visit."

"That's good. Well, you take care." She turned to go and Carlos continued on his way. He had to admit, the care he had gotten and the people who had worked with him were the best. He said a silent thank you to them all.

"Hey, Carlos. You okay?" As Carlos approached, Trent took a step towards him.

"Yeah. Just didn't think I would be here so soon." His eyes showed the depth of his discomfort.

"I know what you mean." The deep sadness returned to Trent's eyes as he looked down the hall towards the ICU where his life had changed. Neither heard Walker approach. They both jumped at the sound of his voice.

" Hi Guys. How is she?"

"She's with Jessie now. We were waiting for you before we went in," Trent told him as he came back to reality.

The three entered the room to see Jessie standing at the head of the bed, holding Gina's hand and speaking softly to her. "Gina, a Texas Ranger is here to talk to you. His name is Walker and...." Jessie was cut off by Gina's screams. Her eyes had become wide and she was trying to crawl away from the three men at the foot of the bed. She had quickly become hysterical.

Trent and Jessie came to the conclusion simultaneously. As Jessie said, "Carlos..." Trent had already started to push him towards the door.

Out in the hall, Carlos finally realized what was happening. "I guess that seems to make the case for our guy, doesn't it?"

"Sorry, buddy, but it does seem like he looks like you. I never even thought about it. I just hope Jess can calm her down again before she hurts herself."

"We have to catch this bastard, Trent. I don't like the idea of him being out there, looking like me."

**

"The defense would like to call Mr. Trent Malloy to the stand." Trent got up and approached the bench. After being sworn in, he took a seat. He was not looking forward to this and had promised himself he would do everything he could to protect Sam.

"Mr. Malloy, tell us about your wife. Things like what she did for a living, where she was from things like that."

"Samantha was from Canada. She moved down here and was working as a massage therapist."

"A massage therapist. So she spent her days, massaging men?" His tone was dripping with insinuation.

"Actually, she worked mostly as an instructor. And she massaged both men and women." Trent tried to keep his voice even.

"So she taught others how to rub men?"

"She was licensed by the State of Texas as a health care professional to help to relieve peoples' pain and ...." Trent was cut off.

"I'm sure she did. Did she ever massage you, Mr. Malloy?"

"Yes."

"Did it ever lead to intercourse?"

"WHAT?!?!" As Trent was about to lose his temper, Alex stood up.

"OBJECTION!"

"Both of you approach the bench," the judge told the lawyers.

"Your Honour," Alex said. "They were married. What they did or did not do in private is not for the court to hear."

"Your Honour, I am trying to establish a pattern of a lifestyle," the defender told the judge.

"Mr. Robinson, you will not pursue this line of questioning. If you try, I will find you in contempt of this court. Do you understand?!"

"Yes, Your Honour." Humbled, the lawyer went back to the table. Alex smiled at Trent, offering encouragement. "Mr. Malloy, your wife was a teacher, you said?"

"Yes." Trent had regained most of his composure.

"Is it true that she was involved in helping a student who was heavily into drugs?"

"Yes."

"So why shouldn't we believe it was one of those drug dealers who had her killed, instead of my client?"

"Because your client told me he had her killed as payment for my putting his father on death row."

"And why would he confess this to you?"

"Because he thought he was about to kill me." Trent's voice was hard and even.

"But you are still here."

"I stopped him."

"Tell us what you do for a living, Mr. Malloy."

"I'm a private investigator and a karate instructor."

"Did your wife ever help you with your cases?"

"Sometimes. She would help out in the office."

"Isn't it true, that when she was helping you with a case, she became a suspect in a murder investigation?" A small smile played across Robinson's face.

"Someone else was found guilty and convicted of that murder."

"But she was a suspect for awhile, wasn't she?"

"Yes," Trent said, quietly.

"And what about you, Mr. Malloy? As a private investigator, haven't you made more than a few enemies? In fact, the case I just mentioned you were put in the hospital because you were poisoned, weren't you?"

"Yes."

The questioning continued for most of the afternoon. The defense brought up everything they possibly could about Sam, Trent and Carlos. By the time it was over, Trent felt like he had been through an all day torture session.

"Don't worry, Trent," Alex told him. "Tomorrow, we fight back with the cross examination. They didn't win any major victories today."

Trent just nodded. Excusing himself, he headed over to Uppercuts to meet Carlos.

**

"Hey manno. You look beat." Carlos motioned to Butch to bring over a beer. He considered it a major victory that Trent was here, rather than punching the bag at Thunder Karate.

"Yeah," was all Trent said as he reached for the beer.

"Jess is on her way over. She said something about having a line on our guy," Carlos said, changing the subject.

"Really? Carlos, I don't want her involved. I don't want her getting hurt."

"That's why I am here, telling you this." The two looked up to see Jess standing in front of them. She pulled out a chair and sat down. "I went over Gina's attendance list for her tutorial. He used the name Gary Stevens. I checked with the registrar and there is no such person. However, there were a few Steven Gary's." She pulled out a piece of paper. "Here are the addresses."

"Do you really think he would use a name that easy to trace?" Trent asked.

"Well, the psychological profile fits. This guy wants to be caught. He thinks he is smarter than everyone around here. He wants the publicity and it's very possible he would use a name close to his own."

"Okay, we'll start checking this out tomorrow," Carlos said.

"You will. I'll be back in court tomorrow."

"How is it going?" Jess asked hesitantly.

"Alex seems to think it's going okay. I just can't believe they are trying to make Sam appear like she did something to deserve this." Trent took a long swallow of beer, as Carlos put a hand on his shoulder. No words were needed to say what he was thinking.

**

Carlos knocked at the door of the apartment. This was the third Steven Gary he had been to see and he was beginning to doubt Jess' theory. A voice came from in the apartment.

"Yes?"

"Mr. Gary? I'm from maintenance on behalf of the building and we're checking for signs of roaches. Would you mind if I just came in to check your walls?" Carlos waited for an answer. He heard the latch being pulled back.

"I guess," the voice said, as the door opened. Standing in front of Carlos was a man about his height with dark curly brown hair.

"Thanks," Carlos said with a smile. "You know how these roaches are. If you don't catch them early, they spread like wildfire." Carlos started looking around all the rooms in the apartment, pretending to check out the baseboards. He was looking for any signs of the murdered girls but found none. Gary stayed almost on top of him. A door towards the back of the apartment was locked. "Can I check in there? " Carlos asked.

"No. That's my darkroom. There is nothing in there." Carlos thought about arguing but checked himself. "Okay. Everything looks clear. If you have any questions or if you see anything, just call the super. Thanks for your cooperation." Carlos headed for the door and out to his car. His gut told him this was the man.

**