He sighed and looked out across the ranch as the sun began to sink lower into the sky, until it was almost concealed by a row of dark trees off on the horizon. The reddish glow gradually turned to orange, then to pink, and eventually to purple before the night sky took over. Manny glanced down at his watch and couldn't believe he'd just stood here and watched a sunset in its entirety. There was so much work to be done…

But maybe simple things like that was what he'd been missing in his life. Maybe that's where that empty feeling came from. If it was that simple, then it wouldn't be a problem to fix. But Manny doubted it was that simple.

His thoughts kept drifting back to a few days before when he'd let Jillian kiss him out by the pool. He didn't know why he'd let it happen. It wasn't supposed to happen, not by any means. He'd seen her kiss Eric at the barbecue just a week ago. Manny wasn't sure what Jillian wanted. Was it Eric or was it him? He secretly hoped it was Eric.

“Son, we don't pay you to stand around gawking at sunsets…” came a voice from behind him.

Manny turned around, not at all thrilled to see J.R. “What do you want?”

“Since it's getting late, I'll cut straight to the chase. Today's your last day of work here at Southfork, since you can't seem to keep your hands off my daughter.”

“That wasn't my fault.”

JR chuckled. “I was twenty-something at one point…a long time ago. But it wasn't too long ago that I don't remember what I was like at that age. You sure as hell didn't try to stop. At any rate, I hope you got a good taste, 'cause a kiss is as far as this is going.”

Manny swallowed hard in an attempt to keep his temper from flaring up. “You don't own Southfork. You're not my employer. Mrs. Farlow is.”

“That's right…and that's who you're going to go to tomorrow when you turn in your resignation…and my name won't be mentioned when you do it.”

“I won't do this.”

JR grinned and turned to take in the last burning embers of the setting sun. The chill of an early fall night had settled across the ranch. “See now Manny…there was a time when I wouldn't have hesitated to have you locked up on drug charges, or statutory rape, or some other crime that you might not have committed…but I'm older now and a lot more mellow.”

“What are you getting at?”

“I know where your checks go each week. You're using them to take care of your mother back home.”

“How did you know that?” Manny asked.

“I know everything. At least when I need to. Now I'm not a harsh man, or at least I don't think I am. My daughter is a lot to resist…and you're just a boy. You could've done a lot worse than you have done. So run along and give my momma your resignation and I'll make sure your mother is taken care of until you find another job.”

Manny shifted uneasily to one side. “And if I don't?”

“Well, I wanted to focus on the positive side of this deal, but if you really want to discuss the negative consequences…”

“I'll talk to Mrs. Farlow tomorrow.” Manny said, without looking at him.

J.R. smiled and patted Manny on the shoulder. “You're a smart man.”

“Stephen. I wonder if you have some time for me?”

Dent laughed and looked Kaitlin up and down. She didn't look any worse for the wear since he had her jumped at the hospital. Didn't look too bad, really. He wondered if Wendell would ever marry her off to him.

“Hello Kaitlin. I wouldn't think you'd want to talk to me. I mean…I remember your telling us off outside of Wentworth's hospital room. It kind of seemed like you didn't like me very much.”

Kaitlin batted her eyes. “Oh no, Stephen, you're right. I dislike you immensely. I just want to know what's going on with Rex and my father.”

Dent laughed. “And why would I know? I'm just a simple board member. I served at the pleasure of Rex Wentworth, and now your father. How is your boyfriend, anyway?”

“Enough pleasantries.” Kaitlin said with no warmth or cordiality whatsoever. “I don't like or trust you. My father is trying to do something to Rex and I don't know what it is yet, but you can be damned sure that I'm going to figure it out.”

Dent's phone rang.

“Dent, Gregor. Can you talk?”

“Not really, Cindy. What's new?”

Gregor recognized the code, though it rankled him a little to be called Cindy. “I can't reach Mister Wendell, and he's given me instructions to call you if I can't ever get in contact with him.”

“Uh huh”, Dent said, smirking at Kaitlin's annoyed expression.

Gregor continued, “Well, I have reason to believe that Rex's company was the cause of the tanker that recently crashed and caused that spill. You see, the - -“

“Right, Cindy. Well, I'm kind of in an important meeting. Why don't you find out what you have to, and get back to me?”

Gregor didn't miss a beat. “Who is it, McKay? Bobby Ewing? Kaitlin?”

“Yeah, that third one. Okay, talk to you later, Cindy.”, Dent said as he killed the power on his phone.

“Sorry about that, Kaitlin. You know how secretaries can be. I keep telling her to hold it off, but she's always all over me with stupid questions. This time it was over pictures that I would like to have on my posters for the November Election.”

Kaitlin smirked and leaned forward. “Stephen, as I was saying, I don't like you. I never will. And you aren't being honest with me. So let me lay it on the line for you. Unless you tell my father to back off Rex, and you, yourself, keep from ticking me off, you aren't going to get elected dogcatcher, much less Senator.”

Dent leaned forward and returned the smirk. “Katie, your little connections mean nothing to me. I know enough people in the state that can back me up. More than a few of them know the big guy that's in the Oval Office right now. So get the hell away from my table and go try to scare someone else.”

Kaitlin smiled as she got up from the table and winked. “Put me down for a contribution, okay?”

Dent smiled and chuckled to himself about that a woman having so much style and so much going for her would concern herself with Wentworth. It was a shame that Gregor's information was probably going to be one of the many nails in Rex Wentworth's coffin.

Kaitlin went back to her car and opened a briefcase. She dropped the tape recorder hidden in her purse into it. One of these days, Dent was going to slip. Besides, he was a political animal. All she had to do is wait until Wendell's influence got him where he wanted to be, and he turned on her father. And then…well, she wouldn't be much of a woman if she didn't know how to spot a man who had the hots for her.

If Kaitlin had heard Dent's call, however…she would not have been so smug. At that moment, Gregor was uncovering something that could mean big trouble for Rex Wentworth.

Pam was busily packing suitcases, trying to find room for all of the things they'd bought on their trip. But Bobby's last question caught her attention. She sat on the bed and listened as Bobby ended his conversation with Miss Ellie.

“Don't worry Mama, we'll be safe… I promise, I'll check the plane for terrorists myself… Relax, your worrying too much… We'll be home before you know it… I love you too. Bye.”

Not that she needed Bobby there to take care of anything right now, things were mostly peaceful. But as she looked up to the window that was now Helen's she thought, it was still good he was coming home.

Bobby sat on the edge of the bed, enjoying teasing Pam with the juicy piece of news Miss Ellie had told him. “I don't know what you're talking about, I just told Mama when we'd be home. That's all. Oh, she said to tell you and the girls 'hello' and that she misses you.”

Pam knelt on the bed behind him and put an arm around his neck in a playful chokehold. “Mr. Ewing, you must tell me what you know, before I am compelled to use force on you.”

In one swift motion, Bobby easily reached up and grabbed her arm, pulling her around him so that she lay in his lap. “Now what was that about force?”

Pam reached up and pulled him into a long kiss. Then she whispered in his ear, “If you don't tell me, I'm going to start packing again.”

As he continued to kiss her neck, he whispered, “J.R. and Sue Ellen are engaged.”

“What?!” Pam immediately sat up and stared at him, momentarily speechless. “You're joking, right?”

Bobby frowned, slightly annoyed that she'd moved away. “No, I'm not. You got the information you wanted.”

Pam shook her head. “No I didn't! What in the world did he do to convince Sue Ellen to marry him again? She and I talked a while back and I know she's still in love with him, but he'll never be a good husband to her – she knows that.”

Bobby pulled her back down on the bed. But Pam couldn't get over her shock at the news. She continued, “He's failed her and broken her heart so many times. She knows she can't trust him, she told me so herself. He couldn't be faithful for five minutes, he's just not capable of it!”

Bobby shrugged his shoulders as he continued placing little kisses on her neck and shoulders.

Slightly irritated by his silence, Pam said, “Bobby! Haven't you been listening to anything I've been saying?”

He sighed and sat up a bit, leaning over her, so he could look her straight in the eyes. “Okay, you want to know what I think about it?”

Pam nodded, “Yes, you know how J.R. is. This can't be good for Sue Ellen.”

“Well, however J.R. is, Sue Ellen obviously sees something in him.” Pam started to talk, but he quickly rested his finger on her lips, quieting her. “And, all of the things that you said may be true… but it's none of our business.” He lifted his finger from her lips.

She looked up at him with sincere concern in her eyes. “I just don't want to see Sue Ellen hurt again. She's been through so much already, Bobby.”

Bobby nodded in agreement. “But it's not your call, Pam. Think about it, how many people would have loved for us not to be married?” Her brow furrowed as she realized what he was saying. “It's a good thing we didn't listen to any of them. If you really want to be a friend to Sue Ellen, just be there for her when and if things go wrong.”

Pamela slowly nodded her head, she hated to admit it, but she knew he was right. She finally smiled up at him. “You're pretty wonderful, you know that?”

“Mhum, actually, I'm wonderful and trustworthy and faithful.”

Pam smiled playfully, “And modest. Do you think, maybe you deserve something for all of that?”

Bobby kissed her, “Absolutely, and isn't it convenient that everything I want is right here?”

Carter noticed an odd expression on her face.

Bizarre. Wonder what that was for, he thought as he opened the folded paper.

The front page of the Dallas Herald proclaimed in large letters, “Oil Baron involved in massive corruption, murder” and various pictures of him underscored the headline.

McKay felt blood slowly pound into his head as he read into the details. A file had been delivered to the papers and to the Dallas police. It covered all of the information that Stephen Dent had recited when he blackmailed McKay out of his remaining West Star stock.

Strong proof linking him to murder in order to silence whistleblowers and union leaders was covered in the file. His involvement with Johnny Dancer, proof of bribes, blackmail, and the wiretapping of JR's office in 1991; it was all there.

McKay felt his heart sink as he read about how a motion for Grand Jury indictment was being requested as of the printing, and of how he was almost guaranteed a long stay in prison due to the severity of the evidence.

The large man noticed his servants all slowly backing away from him as his color grew redder and redder.

“I'M GONNA KILL WHOEVER CAME UP WITH THIS!” he roared at the top of his lungs to the ceiling. McKay threw his table over, splattering his cereal and juices to the ground. “DEAD! ALL OF THEM!”

Victor, the McKay Manor Butler, slowly neared the raging McKay.

“Pardon me…sir?”

“What? What in the hell do you want, Victor? Can't you see someone is trying to crush me?” McKay roared and threw the paper at his servant.

“Uhm…sir. There are some people with the Police Department that are asking to see you.”

McKay looked over Victor's shoulder and into the foyer where two large uniformed policemen stood along with three cops in plainclothes.

Hope Miller crossed the foyer and flashed a badge.

“Mister McKay, I'm going to need you to stop beating up on your help and come with us downtown. You have a lot to answer for.”

The two uniformed cops walked up to McKay to make sure there was no problem, and Hope snapped the cuffs on his wrists.

“I hope you know who you're messing with, little girl!”, McKay said venomously.

“I sure do, sir. Someone who's probably going to do some time.”

“Boo!”

JR grinned and turned around to see his once and future wife. He got out of the chair, wrapped his hands around her waist and kissed her.

“Hey darlin'. Just reading about our old friend McKay here”, he said with a nod to the paper he'd left lying on the table. “Oh, that was awful. Who knew Mac was capable of that kind of thing?”

JR kissed her again and broke their embrace with a chuckle.

“Sue Ellen, that man is one of the reasons that I lost West Star and Ewing Oil a few years back. And that was after a few years of dealin' with him in the big chair at West Star. Hell, couldn't have happened to a nicer guy, far as I'm concerned.”

Sue Ellen folded her arms and cocked her head at JR.

“JR Ewing! That's an awful thing to say. You should use some influence to help him out.”

JR gave her his most disarming grin. “Maybe. Anyway, I was thinking we could talk a little business?”

Sue Ellen sighed. “We aren't even at the office yet!”

JR gave her a look of mock surprise. “Well, so we aren't. I think we should still talk a little business.”

JR offered his arm, and they walked towards the barn. It was a beautiful morning without a cloud in the sky.

“So what did you have in mind? Do you think that document can help us cripple West Star?”

“Well, I have people working around the clock on that one. It may take some time, but maybe soon…we can get into the particulars of that little piece of work. But…I have something a little simpler in mind.

“Well, 'darlin'…continue, then.”

“I want us to go into Project Guinea with guns blazing! That's why I've been thinking, we should look into acquiring some smaller firms.”

Sue Ellen smiled. “That's a great idea. Now is the time to do it, especially with what's going on in the Middle East. Oil could hit 40 a barrel like it did during Desert Storm, and no one would sell to us then.”

JR gave his famous laugh. “I love that you've been doing your homework, my dear. That's right, oil could hit record highs again. I think we could strengthen Ewing Oil by doing it, too. Right now, we need all the reserves we can get.”

“Well, great, JR! I like it that you're talking with me before going ahead on this one.”

JR gave her a mock wounded look. “When have I ever?”

Sue Ellen rolled her eyes and smiled. “Knock it off. Who did you have in mind?”

“Well…I'm interested in April Oil, Stackhouse, Deep Sands, Jerrickson, and Jade Exploration. Stackhouse is with us in Guinea, so it might be a problem to convince them to sell. Deep Sands and Jade Exploration are kind of weak. April Oil is kind of up in the air since the Foster boy died…and then there's Jerrickson.”

Sue Ellen nodded. “Jerrickson. I know that name. They're not Texas based, are they?”

JR shook his head. “No. They were bought about…I dunno, two or three years back, and the buyer just hired someone to run the company in exchange for a profit. Problem is, there's a real lack of capital. He's just one rich boy without a company or credit line behind him. Shame too, because they have a lot of underdeveloped fields.”

Sue Ellen was amazed at how much JR knew about this. “So that seems like a real gem. I like that it's out of Texas, too…it could help us in the out of state market. And you think we could get a good price?”

JR smiled and wrapped his arm around her. “I know we can. It's just a question of how soon we can convince him to sell.”

Sue Ellen smiled and kissed him. “You sure know a lot about this owner. How do you know he's going to sell to us?”

Just then, John Ross Ewing III walked out of the main house and to his car. He smiled and waved to his parents.

“Because, Sue Ellen. John Ross is going to sell to his parents before anyone else.”

JR grinned at a stunned Sue Ellen.

“What?!”

“That's right, darlin'. John Ross has owned it for a while now. I sent him to go buy it, and when he found out what I was up to with Gary's business, he decided not to sell to me. And he's had it…all this time.”

“JR, I will not let you cheat our only son.” Sue Ellen said with a look that could kill.

“Hey, who wants to cheat him? I think I have a plan that will not only help Ewing Oil…but it will help my boy get more concerned with the family business. And in the end…isn't that what my daddy always wanted?”

JR grinned as he walked Sue Ellen back to the patio and laid out his idea.

The door opened and Wendell came in. “Vaughn. Always nice to see you.”

“Seems like this could be a big day for both of us!” Vaughn laughed as they shook hands. “You ready?”

“Always, old friend.” Wendell patted Vaughn on the shoulder and they walked to the adjoining conference room where three West Star lawyers and three Morningstar lawyers were on either side of the table.

The men exchanged pleasantries with the attorneys, and Vaughn took a sip of water before he nodded to his team.

“Well, Jeremy…here it is. The big agreement.”

A short man with reddish hair and glasses placed a piece of paper in front of each man.

“Your team there can tell you that this is a simple deal. Morningstar Investments will fund a West Star greenmail of Rex Wentworth. This means that almost half the company will be absorbed into West Star, so the shares will split for any and all stockholders.”

Wendell nodded to the attorney on his right.

“However Vaughn, we find fault in your request to name yourself and other directors to the Board in this matter. We feel that one in itself is sufficient.”

Vaughn laughed jovially, and suddenly started to have racking coughs. He fell from his chair and onto the ground. Immediately, the short lawyer helped him back into his chair. None of the West Star legal team or their CEO moved towards Leland.

Vaughn patted himself off as he settled back into the chair. “You'll have to excuse me! Must have a bit of a bug or something. Now then…I feel that this deal is a fair one. West Star will rid itself of Rex Wentworth, whose stock ownership will forever be a problem to the company, and to your own leadership, Jeremy. How in the hell do you ignore a man with over 40% of the stock?”

Jeremy nodded. “You're right, Vaughn. It is something of a nuisance, but really, naming people to our board?”

Vaughn gave his oiliest grin. Jeremy, I think it's time that we pumped some new blood into the board, don't you? I'd be happy to side with you and convince my people to side with you all the way. I mean…my company and you yourself are the two biggest stockholders…how much can we disagree? It's such a good deal, I've already signed!”

Wendell smiled. He had everything checked out. With Wentworth gone, he could make whatever decisions were necessary. Vaughn and his people might bear watching…but it would take a lot for them to stop him. And in the end, wouldn't it be better to just have someone to keep an eye on rather than dealing with Eurotrash imbeciles trying to run West Star?

“All right, you have me, Vaughn. I agree to the deal.”, Jeremy smiled as he signed his name and initialed on his copy and on Vaughn's. The two men rose and shook hands.

“So, I can assume the money has hit the West Star account?”, Wendell asked. One of his lawyers checked on his phone with the Swiss bank the company used. A grin and nod later, Wendell knew it had.

“So, Jeremy my friend…. when do you want to announce to the shareholders that you don't have anymore Wentworth to deal with?”

“Soon, old friend…soon.”

At that same time, JR Ewing had watched the entire exchange on the hidden camera in the meeting room in his Ewing Oil office. He grinned and looked to the skyline and thought about how well things were going lately.

A buzz snapped him back to awareness.

“JR, I have a package out here that you may want to see…”, Sly said over the intercom. “It's about Mister Farlow.”

Lucy smiled as she climbed out of bed. Today she would be making breakfast and for the first time in months, the mood would be different. She thought back to the conversation she'd had with Neil the night before…

“I know the doctors say the chances of me making a recovery are slim, but I want to try Lucy…I have too much to live for to just give up and die right now,” Neil whispered as he watched Tiffany sleep next to them. “And you and Tiffany are the two biggest reasons I'm doing this.”

Lucy knew she shouldn't let herself be so hopeful, but she couldn't help it. She'd gone from knowing that Neil was going to die, to having a small glimmer of hope that the treatment would reverse his disease. She opened the refrigerator and pulled out a carton of milk.

She had never been the praying type…except for the few times that she'd prayed J.R. would drop dead from a heart attack, but that was different. Now she knew she would pray for all she was worth, if that's what it took. A miracle was what she…was what Neil needed right now.

Lucy grabbed four eggs from the refrigerator and shut the door. She knew there was one thing in her life that she didn't need right now—April Oil. She felt bad anytime she thought about giving up what Todd had left her, but Lucy knew she needed to be here for Neil and there was no way she could do that and run an oil company too. It was something that had been weighing on her mind for too long.

She stopped what she was doing and walked over to her purse, where she pulled out a phone number and then she went to the phone and dialed. After a few seconds, the voice of Hal Huprich, Todd's attorney, came across the phone. “Mrs. Ewing, it's good to finally hear from you…I have some papers for you to sign at your earliest possible convenience.”

“There won't be any use for that Hal, I don't want April Oil.”

“Mrs. Ewing, it was Mr. Foster's wish that you take over his oil company…”

“I know, but Todd's gone and there's nothing I can do to change that. I'll always regret not spending more time with him and I'm not going to do the same thing with my husband. I'm afraid that running an oil company would put too much on my plate right now.”

“You're sure about this?”

“Absolutely positive.”

“If that's what you want, then I'm sure Todd wouldn't mind at all.”

Lucy found herself smiling, thinking about Todd. “No, I don't think he would have. Anyway, thanks for your help Hal.”

“You're welcome Mrs. Ewing. Call me if there's anything else I can do for you.”

“Will do. Bye.” Lucy hung up the phone and leaned against the wall, confident that she'd made the right decision. Right now she needed to focus all of her energy on helping Neil get through his treatments.

In a way though, he was relieved. At least now he could be away from the pressure of constantly fending off Jillian's advances. But, worry again invaded his mind as he thought about the prospect of finding another job. He knew that J.R. had said he'd take care of his mother until he found another one, but Manny wasn't entirely sure he could trust J.R. to do that. He'd feel better as soon as he had another check to send her himself.

Manny wondered where he would sleep later on tonight. He had almost no money saved up and hadn't needed to worry about finding a place to stay before, because the bunkhouse was one of the fringe benefits that came with working for the Ewings. Now that he was no longer employed by them, that left him with no place to stay—and with nothing to drive. He had just realized he didn't even have a way to leave the ranch. He'd always had use of one of the trucks before and now that was gone too.

Manny threw his duffel bag over his shoulder and began the long walk down the drive of Southfork. He turned back and looked toward the house and the stables…and to the bunkhouse that he used to call home. After several minutes of walking, he found himself on the main road. He heard the sound of a car coming from behind him and he stepped off into the grass and turned around, hoping the person would stop and offer him a ride, though he seriously doubted they would. Everyone was so leery of hitchhikers these days.

To his surprise, the car did stop and he was even more surprised when he saw that Margaret Krebbs was behind the wheel.

“Manny? What the heck are you doing? Running away from home?” she said with a nervous laugh. “Get in…do you need a ride?”

“I guess you could say that. I was kinda forced to quit working at Southfork,” Manny said as he climbed into the passenger's seat.

“Forced?”

“Or if you want to use a nice word, then persuaded.”

“Let me guess…dear uncle J.R. had something to do with this, didn't he?” Margaret asked. She'd never really had a run in with him, but she'd overheard Ray talking about what a snake he was on many different occasions.

“You guessed it.”

“Well, do you have a place to stay? You were staying in the bunkhouse…”

“Nope.”

“Then come stay with us. Mom and Dad won't mind a bit.”

Manny shook his head. “I couldn't just barge into your house like that. I'll find some place to stay…I'll be okay.”

“No way. You can at least stay for a few days until you can get back on your feet. Trust me…Mom and Dad would be glad for you to stay.”

Manny had to admit, the offer was tempting. He knew he'd be sleeping somewhere he didn't want to tonight if he didn't take the offer. “Are you sure?”

Margaret smiled. “Positive.”

The man's cell phone rang. “Hello. Yes, of course I haven't lost them…” He began to pace the room. “No… I'll get you a report, but you're not going to like it…. Well that's not my problem, is it?”

The man on the other end of the phone took out a pistol and began shooting at a target on the opposite wall of his office. “It is if I say it is. Got that?”

“Look, Dante' I know you have some pretty stupid flunkies working for you, but I'm not one of them. I don't belong to anyone, so if you're trying to intimidate me with your little pistol, you can save yourself the money for bullets and put it away.”

“Really? I suppose that's easy to say when you are half way around the world. We'll see how brave you are when you get back here.”

“You seem to forget that I'm doing this as a favor, Dante'. Just settling the score. After this, my brother owes you nothing and I'm still a free agent.”

The line was silent for a moment. “Of course you are right, my friend. I spoke out of turn. I have been dealing with idiots all day. The stress is getting to me. Just get me that report and finish up the job. Your brother, Ace is quite safe here, as long as you do what we agreed.”

“Fine.”

The phone went dead in Dante's ear – he hated that. He turned to the two men standing in his office awaiting orders. “Jose', I need you to make a run from Cuba. Find Nico, he'll be going with you. He has all the details.”

“Yes sir.” The man quickly turned and left the room.

Dante' turned to the other man and yelled, “Well, what are you doing just standing there, don't you see those bullet holes in my wall?”

The man nodded.

“Well get them fixed! NOW!”

Dante's flunky hurriedly fled the room looking for dry wall and plaster.

Finally, Dante' turned to Ace, who had been brought in and was sitting in one of the chairs in front of his desk. “If your brother is half as good as he thinks he is, we'll have this all cleaned up and behind us very soon.”

Ace smiled. “Oh, he's good, all right. He'll take care of everything… so why don't we talk about where I'm going from here? Are you still considering opening up an operation in Chicago?”

Dante' suddenly pointed the pistol at Ace. “Don't be too aggressive, my friend. Your brother isn't successful yet. When the woman is dead, then we'll talk about placing you again.” Dante' began to play with the gun, twirling it around. “Until then, you are my little insurance policy.”

Dante' looked him straight in the eyes and Ace shuddered. He really hated Dante' and he regretted ever getting into this mess. Most of all, he hated the heroin that had cost him his wife and his freedom. He wasn't sorry for the impending death of Pamela Ewing, though. After all, that was her husband's fault, not his. Ewing had broken their agreement and shown the blackmail photos to Trisha. And for that, Ace wanted revenge.

Thorne, McKay's lawyer laid the facts out for him in a backroom of the Police Department.

“Look, Carter…it's great that you remembered to call me. But here it is. Whoever put all of that information together… it was thorough. And it was detailed enough for the cops to put together what they need. They can link you to almost all of the things in that file that everyone received.”

McKay was sweating profusely and fighting back acid tears. “They can arrest me?”

Thorne nodded slowly. “It looks that way. I don't think they can get you on the alleged conspiracy to commit murder charges…but I don't think they're going to need to. You could spend decades in prison.”

“What? Some random nutball sends a damn file and everyone believes it? Don't give me that crap, Thorne!”

The slender attorney took off his glasses and leaned closer to his client.

“Mac. It doesn't matter. You didn't cover your tracks well enough. This sort of thing could have happened years ago. Someone just hired a great PI to look into your past and they connected all the dots. What was unsolved and the statute of limitations hasn't run out on…they have enough to connect you to.”

There was a silence.

“Thorne…what if I can prove that it was one of my enemies who sent it? I bet that damned JR could cook something like this up over a weekend!”

Annoyed, Thorne rose. “No, Mac, it doesn't matter. Whoever sent that file…they knew it would crucify you. And the state attorney won't care who it came from as long as they can prove the stuff in it.”

There was a knock on the door. An older looking cop in a light brown suit poked his head through the door.

“You got friends in high places, Mr. McKay. You can go anytime you want. Just don't leave town,” he said. The door closed.

“Okay, Mac,” Thorne said, “We've been at this all day. I'm going to look up plea bargains and see what I can do to cut down whatever sentence you're looking toward. Meanwhile…you go home, get some rest, and we'll meet early in the morning and plan strategy, okay?”

McKay grabbed his coat and walked toward the door. Thorne patted him on the shoulder with a smile and gave a little laugh.

“You never know, Mac, we may beat this thing yet!”

But they both knew that wasn't going to happen. McKay was alone with his gloomy thoughts as he saw most of the Police Precinct shoot him scowls and glares. He cast his head down a little and waited until he hit the steps to look up. As he did he saw a large black limo. A door opened and a familiar face poked out. He didn't even need to look to know who it was.

“My, my! So the rumors are true!” Jeremy Wendell chuckled as McKay got closer and closer.

“Jeremy.”

“Mac, I heard about your little problem, and I talked to the DA's office and the Chief. Guess you owe your freedom…temporary as it may be…to me.”

“Right. I'm calling a cab.”

Wendell gave a little chuckle. “Why don't you hop in here with me? It just so happens your little chateau is on the way.”

McKay sized up Wendell. He probably had some kind of scheme up his sleeve. But it may pay off to see what it was. McKay nodded and walked over to the other side of the limo.

“Well, Mac, you've sure got a lot to deal with. I mean, bribery, wiretapping…murder? My goodness, that must be enough to have you worried sick.”

“I have seen some better days, yes.”

Wendell looked out the window, and as the stretch of Dallas buildings died down, he turned to McKay.

“I want you to know something, Mac.”

McKay turned to Wendell before he