Saturday, September 5th

Arcane, Alabama

Henderson stood still in thought out on the front porch of the old unkept house. Inside, investigators poured over the dead woman covered in flies. The writer breathed through her mouth because even outside the body was still able to permeate her nose with the rotting smell of death. It was a warm humid day in Arcane which made her present situation all the worse. The air around her hung heavy, holding fast to the scent of the bloated dead woman inside.

Henderson held her breath and walked down the few steps from the porch. As she gained some distance between her and the house she thought back to how she had first come upon the body earlier that morning.

After flying into Mobile, she had rented a vehicle and made her way to Arcane. The only place other than Valle Luna that Elizabeth Adams had been known to reside in. She had come not knowing what she expected to find, but she knew whatever information the small town held, it would be difficult to uncover. A few of her colleagues had ventured to Arcane themselves when Adams had first became a suspect in the serial killings. The trip had proven fruitless with the detectives only able to find a few old medical records along with some school records. It had seemed that Adams had been raised by a very close knit, almost hermitted kind of family. So much so, that when the detectives pushed the townsfolk for information, many of them claimed to have never heard of an Elizabeth Adams.

With very little information to start from, she had driven to the last known address attached to the Adams name. It was all she had to go on and she had accepted the fact that the old house may not be willing to cough up the bones of its past, thus turning her trip into a lengthy one. One in which she would have to dig further and deeper than anyone had ever done before. With her mind set with fierce determination, she had set her sights on the first resource available to her. It was the house of Adams grandfather, run down and nearly condemned, nestled back in the woods away from any and all civilization. She had thought about visiting the house that Adams had actually been raised in, but it was condemned and her colleagues had combed through it before, finding nothing.

She had slowed her vehicle down a bit as she had driven up to old house. She then got out to have a look around, anxious to explore a place that she knew Adams had once frequented.

As she thought back, she still remembered when she had first been assaulted by the smell. She had just walked up the steps to stand on the front porch when the scent caught her by surprise. She had known at once what it was. The smell of decaying flesh was one that was so powerful and so unique a person never forgot it.

She kicked at a muddy stone buried down in the thick green grass in front of the house. She had been glad she had worn her boots, having to have kicked in the front door to the house in order to get to the smell. The body had been easily found, sitting upright in the front room, propped up in an old worn recliner facing the front door. A sick and twisted greeting to whoever stumbled upon it. At first she couldn't tell if the body was male or female. Its state of decomposition so advanced, that the body appeared to be grotesquely bloated, blown up like a balloon from trapped gases. It wasn't until she had approached the body cautiously that she saw the woman's I.D. laying smugly open in her lap, as if she were on display.

Henderson had read the I.D. carefully and without touching it. The woman had once been Shea Wilson, a thirty five year old private investigator from Valle Luna, Arizona. Henderson had stumbled back a little then, at once recognizing the name as a former cop she knew, but not able to recognize the decaying bloated body that sat staring back at her with foggy glass like eyes. The realization that the body was that of someone she once knew, along with the overpowering smell, had sent her reeling backwards, nearly tumbling on to the front porch where she had quickly heaved the contents of her stomach over the side of the elevated porch.

She wiped her mouth now absently as she swallowed back the bitter taste that still remained. Turning, she looked back at the house busting at the seams with investigators. Some coming in, some walking quickly out. Even though she had found the body, this wasn't her scene, wasn't her jurisdiction even if she had still been on active duty. Her presence here had been noted and then dismissed as the local sheriff's office quickly began its investigation, swarming down on the house like a hungry hive of bees in their brown and tan uniforms.

Lucky for her, the cause of death had been pretty evident. A dime sized bullet hole pierced right through the center of the dead woman's forehead. Otherwise, she was sure she would still be out here alone, drawing her own conclusions as to what actually happened. The sheriff had yet to come back out to talk to her, too busy inside to pay the foreign girl any mind.

She reached in her in back pocket and pulled out her cell phone as she relived her brief conversation with one of the deputies earlier that day who had rudely referred to her as a Yankee. Her presence here wasn't welcome and the deputy had made no bones about letting her know it. She shook her head with disbelief at her current situation as she dialed Sinclair.

"Sinclair." The detective answered confidently.

"Hi, it's Henderson."

"Hey you. Find anything down south?"

"You might say that." She confirmed, glancing back at the house.

"What is it?" Sinclair asked, sounding instantly intrigued.

"Well, I've got a dead private detective here." She said as she wiped some warm sweat from her brow.

"Shea Wilson?" Sinclair asked immediately, seemingly assuming the answer.

"How did you know?" Just how much information is the department keeping from me?

"Shit, so it is her." Sinclair sighed into the phone. "We had been tipped off about a week ago that Adams was using her."

"What for?"

"Best I can figure she was trying to find my source."

"You mean Reece." Henderson chided in quickly as she ran a frustrated hand through her hair.

"You know I can't say."

"So right away this points to Adams again?"

"Seems so."

"Why would Adams kill her own P.I.?"

"Maybe she found something or somebody that Adams didn't want her to."

Henderson looked up as the same rude deputy walked back over to her.

"Excuse me, ma'am?" He stood waiting, fingering his thin downy mustache as he eyed her.

"I'm on the phone." She said to him, wanting him to wait.

"Sheriff Bowman asked me to come…"

It was obvious that he wasn't going to wait and she quickly tilted the phone back up to her mouth. "Sinclair can I call you back?" She snapped the phone shut quickly and looked back at the deputy, waiting for him to continue. "Yes, deputy?"

"Well we was wondering if you seen anyone else since you've been here?"

"You mean here at the house?"

He shook his head.

"No." She said.

"Are you a friend of the Adams?"

"Not exactly."

"What were you doing here then?"

"Investigating. Same as you."

"But you ain't with any department." He stated as he looked her up and down.

"What are you getting at Deputy?"

"I own property just up over the hill there." He pointed but she didn't bother to look back. "And I know for a fact that Jay Adams dudn't appreciate people on this property snooping around."

Henderson shook her head as her frustration grew. "Well it's a good thing he's dead now isn't it."

"Who?"

"Jay Adams." She just assumed Jay Adams was the grandfather. She knew his name had been James.

"Shoot, Jay Adams ain't dead. I seen her just the other week."

"Excuse me? Her?"

The deputy looked at her like she was dumbest thing he had ever come across. "Yes, her."

"Who is Jay Adams exactly?"

He looked back toward the house, suddenly afraid that he had said something he shouldn't have in front of the foreign woman.

"Listen, I shouldn't a said nothing to you about it. I was just wondering what you was doin snooping around down here."

"Wait a minute." She said, insisting that he stay and listen. "When you say Jay Adams, do you mean Elizabeth Adams?" For a brief moment she thought that the two may very well be one in the same.

"No." He said sternly. "I hadn't seen Lizzie in years. I'm talking about Jay." Once again he turned around as if he were about to get scorned.

"And who is Jay?" She tried again a little softer. "You see," She reached out and touched his arm, trying to relax him. She even batted her eyes a little and readied herself to act stupid. "I only know Elizabeth. She's a good friend of mine and well, I'm just curious to know who Jay is. I would love to meet her while I'm here."

The deputy stood a little straighter and sucked in a big breath of air, filling his small chest up and out. "Well, I guess it won't do no harm. Jay is Lizzie's sister. But best I know it, she high tailed it outta here last week."

"Miller!" The big, brawny Sherriff Jimmy Bowman made his way over to where they were standing. "What's going on over here?"

"Nothing Sherriff. I was just telling this lady about Jay. She's a friend of Lizzies and…"

"Jay!" He snapped, his eyes growing wide.

"Yes sir."

"We don't know nobody named Jay."

"But sir, she's a friend of Lizzie's."

"Miller go help out inside."

The deputy looked quickly back to Henderson before he scrurried off like a scared rabbit.

"Your deputy just told me that Jay Adams is the sister of Elizabeth Adams. Why isn't there a record of her ever existing, Sheriff?"

"Look I don't know who the hell you think you are. I called Valle Luna, they said you ain't no longer with them."

"I'm someone who's searching for the truth."

"Then you'll take my word as the law in these parts. I've known the Adams for a long time. Since back before you was even born I would suspect. I knew Lizzie's Uncle Jerry and Aunt Dayne well. Hell, I even remember the names of their dogs. And I'm telling you that there ain't no Jay Adams. Never was."

"What are you hiding Sheriff?"

"Not a thing. I'm just doing my best to keep the Adams name from getting torn to shreds from pretty little nosy things like you."

"If you aren't hiding anything then what's there to tear to shreds?"

"Looky here Ms. Henderson. We do things differently down here than you big city know it alls. Down here family and friends look out for one another. You ask your friend Lizzie, she'll tell you the same. She'll tell you the truth. She ain't got no sister."

Sheriff Jimmy Bowman nodded politely to her as he walked back towards the house. Henderson quickly opened up her cell phone to dial Sinclair.

"Sinclair. It's me again. You need to get your ass down here."

"What for?"

"If Shea's murder isn't enough of a reason then how about the fact that Adams has a long lost sister?"

"What?" She whispered excitedly.

"Get down here and start sniffing around. The sheriff here is crooked I can smell it. He won't even confirm the sister's existence, but I have a feeling his deputy will tell you what you need to know."

"Wait a minute…you're not staying are you?"

"No. I don't think this points to Adams. It's too obvious. Besides, I think I just found what it is that Mac and Adams have been hiding. And her name is Jay."

Sheriff Jimmy Bowman stood on the porch and watched the attractive westerner snap her cell phone shut just before she climbed in her vehicle to drive away. He didn't like visitors or strangers, never did. He prided himself on running a safe, quiet community where everyone looked out for one another and people allowed him to be the judge, jury and executioner no questions asked. That was the way things were meant to be. That was all he knew.

He glanced back in the house briefly, his eyes catching some of his boys scurrying around the dead body. He didn't know anything about the dead woman, only that she was a stranger to these parts. He could only hope that Jay Adams had nothing to do with her death. Even if she had, he would make sure no one knew. To him, Jay Adams didn't exist. She died years ago, on that summer day when she was eleven. The very day he and his brothers, along with his friend Jerry, caught and tortured the man that had raped her. He had watched the badly shaken little girl, stripped of her innocence hold up the heavy shotgun and blow the head off of her rapist. From that day forward, the girl hadn't been right. And from that day forward the innocent little tomboy who loved to play in the woods, ceased to exist.

………. ………… ……….. ………. ……….. ……….. ………….. ……….. ………

Valle Luna, Az.

There was a knock at her door and Erin approached it quietly, not yet sure if she was going to answer it. She leaned forward and placed her eye up to the peep hole, very careful to remain quiet. Since the night of the fire she had been bombarded with press along with angry accusations from Mark and his colleagues, questioning her motives in regards to her hidden homosexuality. It didn't matter that the security tapes proved her whereabouts. All that seemed to matter was that she was no longer just the woman scorned. Mark had left her for another woman, yes. But now it seemed that she had left him for one as well. Motive enough for hiring someone to set the fire. They thought she was after his money. They thought she wanted to have her cake and to eat it too. But they were wrong. She wanted absolutely nothing to do with Mark or his money. All she wanted was peace. And love.

The past couple of days had been a walking nightmare, one in which she wished she could escape at any costs. She eyed the man at her front door in the FedEx uniform. It was dark out and she was suddenly grateful for her bright porch light. Opening the door just a crack, she watched as he held up a large envelope.

"Erin MacKenzie?"

"Yes."

"Sign here please."

She signed for the envelope and then closed the door behind her, careful to lock it. As she sat down to open it she noticed that it was from the city of Valle Luna, her employer. She pulled the tab on the envelope and took out its contents. It was a certified business letter informing her that she had been released from duty…indefinitely. She reread the letter over and over convinced that it was a mistake. That her mind was once again playing cruel tricks on her. But there it was. The words remained.

She let the letter fall from her lap and onto the floor, floating featherlike all the way down. A slight squeak escaped her mouth and she raised a trembling hand up to cover it. The department had let her go. They no longer wanted her. The letter had said it was partly due to her medical condition, and partly because she had compromised an investigation. She stared straight ahead as her eyes welled up with tears. The sobs tried to come but she choked them back, hating the way her throat burned and tensed and at the hands of the department. The day she had been sworn in to the department had been one of the happiest of her life. And now that was gone. The department she had prided herself in being a part of had written her off. She was no longer good enough.

It wasn't right. There had to be something she could do. There had to be someone who would listen. Henderson. Yes Henderson. Henderson would understand. Wouldn't she? She glanced at her phone with the thought of calling her, of telling her everything. Her phone sat staring back at her, dead and cold. She had left it off the hook on purpose, tired of the harassing phone calls. And it had long since stopped its angry beeping at her. Now it just sat in silence. Just as she did.

Another knock came from her door, startling her. She jumped up angry, ready to scream at whoever it was. To tell them to fuck off and leave her alone. She yanked open the door and sucked in a big breath of air, holding it, aiming it at the person she was about to let have it.

"Hi." Adams said softly with a smile. "I tried to call but I kept getting a busy signal."

Erin nearly choked at the sight of her lover. The warm knowing look in her eyes, her god damned gorgeous face, framed by the midnight hair. It was truly amazing how a human being could look so incredible standing there in jeans and a thin gray tank top.

"What's wrong?" The dark woman asked as she studied the stricken face of her lover.

"I..uh…" Erin tried to fight the burning betrayal she felt rising up in her chest. She tried to fight back the stinging words from Mark, from the press. But as she looked into the face of the woman she loved, she caved. All of it came erupting up out of her, exploding like a powerful volcano, leaving her insides hollow and crushed.

"Oh, baby what is it?" Adams immediately walked in and embraced her lover, cradling the sobbing blonde in her arms as she kicked the door shut behind them. She walked Erin over to the couch and sat her down, stroking her tear streaked face. "Shhh. It's ok, tell me what's wrong."

Erin looked up and into the bright blue eyes. "It's…it's everything." She sobbed out, sucking in quick jerky breaths of air. "It's Mark, the press…"

Adams watched her, listening carefully. She knew that Mark had been bothering Erin. The man was furious and rightly so. He had nearly lost his life and his unborn child in the fire. But he was wrong about Erin. And if the man knew her at all, as he should having been married to her, he would know that she could never do such a thing. And as for the press, they were hungry vultures feeding off a scandalous story. She had made some calls to have it stopped and she felt good knowing that she at least still had some pull in this city. As she studied Erin and her drawn face, the far off look in her eyes, she mentally chided herself for staying away from her so much the past few days. Maybe she shouldn't have spent so much time at her house putting it back together again after the mess the cops made of it. Maybe she should've had Erin over. But she had been worried for her safety, knowing that for whatever reason someone was fucking with her and she didn't want Erin to be a target. She had thought that the blonde would be safer at her own place. At least for the time being.

"But that's not the worst of it." Erin declared as she began to hiccup.

"What is?" Adams asked, softly stroking her back.

"This!" Erin said, bending down and retrieving a business letter to which she plopped in her lovers lap.

Adams held up the letter and read it carefully, the heat rising to her cheeks as she finished.

"They can't do this." She proclaimed, looking at Erin. "They have no right. We'll sue!"

Erin collapsed against the dark woman, too drained to continue to cry. She leaned against the stronger woman's frame and inhaled the wonderful scent of her, wanting nothing more than to get lost in her.

"I don't know what I'm going to do." She said meekly.

"Don't you worry. We'll handle it." She cupped the blonde's face, wanting so badly to make everything alright. To take her away from all that plagued her. Some day very soon she would, but right now she needed to take care of her immediate needs. "You hungry?" She asked, searching her pain stricken eyes.

"No, I can't eat."

"You sure? I can go get us something….feed you in bed, just like I did the other night." She lifted her chin a little, trying to get to her smile.

Erin looked up at her, knowing she was trying but too weak to lighten up. She gave the dark woman a tired quick smile and rose up off the couch.

"I'm sorry honey, I just don't feel like eating." She held out her hand. "Come lay with me?"

Adams took her warm hand and walked with her back into the bedroom. They laid down side by side in their clothes on top of the bed. Adams reached down and pulled up a light blanket to cover her defeated lover. In no time at all, they fell fast asleep snuggled comfortably into one another.

……. ………. ……….. ………. ……….. ……….. ……….. ……….. …….. …

Henderson drove in complete silence, searching for the address in the darkness. As she drove, she thought. She had done nothing but think the entire flight back home from Alabama. While it was obvious to her that Adams and Mac had been hiding something, and that something was most likely Jay, she couldn't help but replay certain things over and over again in her mind.

Images and words kept coming at her one right after the other, plaguing her with thoughts of Mac's involvement.

Erin straddling her in Ruiz's office. Kissing her so passionately. So easily seducing her.

The rookie detective's fierce determination to stay on the case, insisting that she be the one to go after Adams.

She shook her head as another image came through.

Erin and Adams on the Harley outside La Femme. Adams leaning forward, kissing the blonde so gently, so tenderly.

She gripped the steering wheel tighter as another memory invaded.

Erin opening the door after her first night at La Femme, already on the phone with Elizabeth Adams.

More memories.

Adams inviting Erin to her house for dinner when she had never been known to do it before.

Madness, too many of them.

Erin's refusal to wear the sound wire the last night she went in undercover.

No…it was too much. She couldn't take anymore. She slammed on her brakes as she located the address. It was late but she didn't care. She had to talk to Erin.

Erin awoke in her lover's embrace. Darkness was all around, blanketing her surroundings. She eased herself up, careful not to wake her lover, able to tell that she was asleep by her breathing. She rubbed at her eyes and focused on her bedside clock. It was after eleven.

She yawned and climbed down off of the bed to head into the kitchen. Sleepiness had given way to thirst and she padded to the fridge for some cold water. Grabbing a cold bottle of water, she turned and shut the fridge, but not before its light spilled out into the living room. Blue eyes stared at her from a shadowed face and she yelped and dropped the bottle of water.

"Gosh, honey you scared me." She said, grabbing her chest, feeling the fool. "I thought you were still asleep." She bent down and retrieved the bottle. Standing back up, she watched the figure and waited for a response. When it didn't come, fear shot through her and she nearly dropped the bottle again. "Honey?"

The figure stepped closer and Erin at once knew it wasn't her lover. The woman stood shorter than Liz and she could smell her…she smelled foul.

The silent woman raised an arm at her and Erin stood completely frozen to the ground.

"What's going on?" Adams asked as she flipped on the kitchen light. She walked towards Erin and then stopped, noticing her unwavering stare. She turned her head as she approached, blinking her eyes profusely in the bright light.

"Hello, Lizzie." Jay remarked as her arm remained, holding the hand gun pointed right at Erin.

"Jay." Adams breathed out in shock. "What are you doing! Put the gun down!" She went towards her sister but Jay swung the gun around at her.

"Don't do it, Lizzie! Or I'll shoot you dead where you stand." When Adams stopped her advance, Jay continued. "You don't seem happy to see me sister. Yaw'll really should lock the door if you don't want company so late."

Adams stood still, her mind flying. She cringed as she realized that she hadn't locked the door behind them earlier, too worried about Erin at the time to remember to do it. She stared at her sister with wide eyes, trying to think of a way to reason with her own flesh and blood.

"Why Jay?" She asked, truly hurt and stricken by her sister's actions. She had to try to get her to talk, to stall her before she did anything rash.

"She's bad for you." Jay remarked, wiping her nose with her free hand. She stood wearing the same filthy overalls Adams had seen her in over a week before. She still hadn't bathed, Adams could smell her stench. "I set that fire so she would have to go to jail."

"Jesus Jay." Adams couldn't believe her own flesh and blood was doing such things. "What you did was wrong, you know that right?"

"I did it for you."

"For me? You almost killed two innocent people, one of them pregnant. Not to mention the fact that the cops found evidence pointing to me as the culprit."

"You?" The older sister asked. "No, it was supposed to look like she did it."

Adams looked at Erin, both of them confused. She looked back to sister; sure she had completely lost her mind.

"Then why did you put the gasoline and the boots in my truck?"

Jay shook her head and started to speak but she couldn't. Instead she waved the gun harder at Erin.

"No…no, it was her. It was supposed to look like it was her. She's bad for you. She's bad!" She screamed.

"No Jay." Adams said calmly. "She's good for me. I love her."

Jay shook her head and then grabbed at it, clutching her own hair. "No…no you don't mean that!"

"And I love her too." Erin said, stepping up to stand by her lover's side.

"No…no…" Jay was shaking her head and taking wild unsteady steps first towards them and then back, pointing the gun at them as if it were an accusatory finger.

"I mean it Jay. I love her. You wouldn't hurt someone I love, would you?" Adams could tell her words were getting to the disturbed woman. Almost as if they were penetrating her disillusioned shell, forcing her to see reality. She stood watching her sister, holding her breath, feeling Erin's hand slip into her own. They stood still, watching and waiting, a united front against anything and everything that threatened their relationship. Just as they had done days earlier when the police had come calling after the fire. Just as they would do for all eternity.

"I would." A voice sounded from behind Jay. Adams stood staring, completely stunned as Kristen Reece stepped in from the darkness of the hallway.

"Kris." Adams looked at both women in complete shock. Jay filthy and mentally unstable, Kris looking very healthy and well kept. "You mean…"

"That's right, it's been me all along."

"You? I was going to say…you're alive." Words weren't coming easy to her. The situation before her was overwhelming and she was trying desperately to make sense of it all.

"Alive and well. I look good for someone who was burned beyond recognition in a car crash don't I?" She looked down at herself and straightened her shirt as if it mattered.

"If it wasn't you, then who?" Erin asked softly as she thought of the remains found at the site of the wreckage. The remains that never had been proven to be those of Kristen Reece.

"No one anyone will miss, rest assured."

"I can't believe this." Adams breathed out, rubbing her forehead with her free hand. Words from the past rang in her ears. Kris telling her that she wanted out. That she would make everything ok and then disappear. And now it all made sense to her.

"Miss me? I missed you darling." Kristen laughed a high pitched, ear piercing laugh.

"But why?" She couldn't understand why Kris would do it. All along she had thought that Jay had been responsible for the killings. That Kris knew and was trying to help her stop Jay.

"Why? Why! I did it all for you sweetie. Like some pathetic, lame ass fool who thought if I did…that you would love me. But no…you only wanted to fuck me. And boy did you do that well." She paused, eyeing Erin, sizing her up. "But that was ok because I had all but convinced myself that you couldn't love." She looked back to Adams. "That maybe you just weren't capable. But then this little bitch came along and proved my theory wrong. And now, I'm so fucking fed up with you and your new found love that I'm ready to kill you both. Her first of course, so you have to watch her die."

"No, Jay…you can't." Adams said, looking to her sister, pleading with her.

"Oh you're right. She can't. She's weak. Crazy and weak. But she has been good for most things. Setting that fire, helping me kill those bastards…"

"Jay, don't listen to her. Why did you ever listen to her."

"She told me those people were bad." Jay looked back forth between Kristen and her sister. "That they were hurting you."

Kristen laughed wickedly and walked over to stand next to Jay. "You see. My perfect little puppet. She'll do anything I ask and all for you little sis." She stroked Jay's face, looking back to Adams. "And now it's time to end this little game. It's time for me to say farewell to all this. To kill both of you, to pin all of it on you Liz, and then I'm off to retire in the tropics." She grinned at the two women.

"You'll never get away with it." Erin declared with disgust.

"Oh, but I will. You see, no one knows the truth other than our little circle here." She looked to Adams. "Your little private eye found me though."

Adams shook her head. "No." She whispered as she realized she hadn't heard from Shea in days. Too long.

"Oh yes. She was so easily seduced. All I had to do was let her fuck me and she told me all I needed to know about you two."

"Where is she?" Adams asked, already fearing the worst.

"She's fine. In fact, I left her sitting in your grandfather's old chair. All nice and comfy." Her wickedness escaped her again in shrill laughter.

"You bitch!" Adams shouted at her with rage as she took hurried steps towards the evil woman with Erin tugging on her, trying to hold her back.

"Yes, I suppose I am." Kristen said with another evil grin. She raised her hand up and fired a shot at Adams as the dark woman rushed at her, tearing a hole through her arm as the bullet passed through to imbed into the fridge.

"Fuck!" Adams screamed out, immediately staggering back, gripping her arm.

Erin clamored to her in a rushed panic, shielding her lover from further bullets as they both sank to the floor. It was all too much. The nightly ambush, the gunfire, the shrill laughter. All of it so reminiscent of the other horrible night that she had lived through not so long ago.

"Did that hurt? Oh I'm sorry. I must've missed. But this one won't." She raised her arm again to fire. Erin tugged on her lover and they both crawled quickly further into the kitchen, trying to hurry before more shots were fired.

"No!" Jay shouted as she tackled Kristen's arm just as the shot was fired. She had heard everything the woman had said and she now knew that Kristen wasn't trying to help Lizzie. She was trying to hurt her. And she would be damned before she would let anyone hurt her sister.

Kristen wrestled with Jay, unable to get a shot off. She freed the hand with the gun and cold cocked the shorter dark woman with the butt of the gun.

Jay fell to the floor in a painful daze, trying to gain the strength to stand back up and fight the evil woman.

"Shit." Kristen said, eyeing the fallen woman before her. "God damn little hillbilly!" She yelled as she kicked the crawling woman in the gut and then watched with pleasure as she doubled over.

Jay coughed and wheezed as her lungs screamed. She scurried away from the evil woman as best she could, unable to handle another assault.

Erin sat shielding her lover in the corner of the kitchen, trying to stop the rapid loss of blood. Adams was trembling, her face ashen. Erin had managed to grab a large knife from the kitchen counter while Kristen was busy with Jay. She stood now, rising up from her lover, to face off with Kristen Reece. She squared her shoulders and waited, careful to place her body between the evil woman and her lover. She wasn't about to leave Adams to save herself. She was going to try to fight for them both, or die trying.

"Now I'm going to have to kill all of you." Anger shook Kristen's voice as she watched Jay scamper away from her. She cocked her head in thought and then continued in a lighter tone of voice, looking towards Adams. "Actually, that works out better for me. Detective Sinclair knows I'm alive and this way I can wipe my hands clean of it all. Blame it all on you and your crazy sister. Make it look like Jay killed you and then herself." She finished her thought with a smile.

She laughed again as she saw Erin approach her with the knife. "I suppose you're going to tell me to drop the gun and fight you fairly?"

"You don't have the guts to do so." Erin responded through clenched teeth. She heard Liz groan from behind, heard her moving, but she wasn't about to peel her eyes away from the evil woman.

"You're right, she doesn't." Adams whispered as she staggered to stand beside her lover, a knife of her own hidden behind her back.

"Such harsh words." Kristen let out and then laughed as she clenched her chest. "You're breaking my heart."

"I'm sure we are." Erin replied, her green eyes fierce and boring daggers into Reece. "Because she doesn't want you. She doesn't love you."

"Shut up you little bitch!"

Erin had stricken a nerve and she kept on, taking a step closer as she spoke.

"She loves me not you."

"Fucking whore." Kristen seethed.

"How could she love you, Kristen? You're evil. You killed all those people and then tried to frame Liz. How could she love you?"

Kristen glared at her. "That's right I did. And I'm going to get away with to."

Adams raised her good arm back over her shoulder just as Kristen finished the words. She then flung the knife quickly, and yelled out for Erin to get down.

Erin flung herself to the floor as Adams yelled, unsure as to what was going on, but seeing the knife turn end over end as it flew through the air with rocket like speed. She then covered her head, not looking to see if the knife hit its mark.

A shot rang out. One then two. Erin flinched, waiting to feel the pain, but none came. She opened her clenched eyes slowly and looked around. Kristen lay in a twisted heap on the floor. The knife wavered from it's penetration in her chest as blood ran out from two other holes by its side. Erin looked back to her lover, unsure where the other two holes had come from. Adams stood bracing herself against the kitchen counter, holding her arm. She looked to Erin and nodded that she was ok. Erin pushed herself up as someone moved beyond Kristen. The blonde stood still in a crouch, ready to react if she needed to. She watched the kitchen floor intently as someone stepped into view.

"You two ok?"

Erin looked up and nearly collapsed with relief as her eyes settled in on Henderson's face. The writer nudged a lifeless Kristen with her boot and then lowered her gun.

Erin went to her lover to make sure she was alright. Adams stood trembling, but ok. Erin then turned to Henderson.

"We need an ambulance."

Henderson nodded and flipped open her phone to dial 911.

"I need to go check on Jay." Adams said softly, moving past her lover. Erin nodded and watched her wounded lover walk unsteadily over to her sister.

"Jay?" Adams whispered, reaching out to touch her arm. Jay stood suddenly, almost as if she were afraid. She looked around wildly and touched her head. A large knot had already formed where Kristen had hit her.

"Jay?" Adams said again, needed her to focus.

Jay looked at her sister and saw the blood oozing down her arm.

"I'm sorry Lizzie, I'm so sorry." She let out, nearly weeping with guilt and defeat.

"Shh. Nevermind." Adams said quickly. She looked back to Erin and Henderson and then dug in her pocket. "Here." She said, shoving a large folded stack of bills in her sister's hand. She then took her sister by the hand and led her into the bedroom where she snatched up her satellite phone from the night table. "Take it." She said handing it to her sister. "Take it and go." She whispered hurriedly.

"What?" Jay said, shaking her head in confusion.

"Go Jay. Get out of here now."

"But…"

"No!" Adams said a little louder. "Get out of here. Go to Mexico. I'll call you on the satellite phone to make sure you have what you need."

"But after what I done…"

"It doesn't matter. You did what you thought was right." She looked back towards the kitchen and saw Henderson and Erin bent over Kristen. "The police won't understand that, Jay." She met and held her eyes. "They'll lock you away forever."

Jay looked at her sister in silence.

"Just promise me you won't hurt anyone else."

Jay looked down and nodded.

"I'm going to get you some help, but not here. You'll never get it here. Now go."

She motioned for Jay to go out the patio door from the master bedroom. Jay took a step, then hesitated.

"I love you, Lizzie." She choked out.

"I love you too, Jay." Adams whispered as she watched her sister slip out the door and into the night.

Erin removed her hand from Kristen neck. She had been checking for a pulse, needing to know for sure that the woman was dead.

"No pulse." She confirmed as she and Henderson then stood. She looked to the writer who looked as visibly shaken as she herself felt. "Please tell me you heard." She said, needing for the whole thing to finally be over.

Henderson looked up at her and nodded. "I heard enough."

Erin sighed and nearly sobbed with relief. "What were you doing here?" She asked, grateful beyond words that she had been.

"I needed to talk to you about Jay. But your phone was off the hook and I got worried."

Erin started to voice her profound thanks but she stopped short when she saw Adams stagger back in from the bedroom.

"Oh my God." Erin let out, running to her. "Lay down." She insisted as she helped her weak lover ease down to the floor. "Just relax. They're almost here." She encouraged softly.

Adams looked up into the face of the woman she loved. She felt cold and weak and she couldn't quite focus on Erin. "I love you." She whispered just before her vision tunneled into blackness.

part 11

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