Edwin put down the old laptop from Walus. He looked at the medical gloves on his fingers and moved his fingers gingerly. It felt strange with all the discomfort of new skin being made to speed up in healing. But he was no stranger to the process. He had gotten use to all the experience of the hospital, perhaps that is why unlike Walus who hated the place. It never bothered him about staying in the care of nurse bots. He would be sure to think of a personality to apply to them one day. His trails with Macy and Roger had given them more interesting chats. But to really push for self-realized bots would have to remain a pipe-dream. He had not gotten a full understanding of the methods of bot building. Edwin tended to find smaller droids and automated assistances easier to mess with.

He started at the restoration bar as he went through the corrupted data. It flowed at a rapid pace as Edwin watched it flash on by. He rubbed his arm was the disabler for his chip. He could easily go through with reprograming the thing. Just a bit of doing to get the chip and reserve it some and he could have access with the help of the old laptop here. Edwin paused as he thought of scanning the whole city for his beloved. He bit his lip he was a suspect. He needed to behave, if he wanted to keep himself out of Chief Vicky's sights. Edwin laid back in the bed.

It was not a hard guess to figure out what was going to happen next to him. Walus was on the case and was out there doing what he did best. Edwin moved his hands slowly as he would of course find the nurse bot coming in again. It might scold him again about the need for rest and the use of machines delaying his progress in healing. Then again the other police officers had not yet to bug him about the use of a laptop here. Walus's pull was most likely giving him the relieve he need to get his work done.

The bar had reached 90% on the screen. He would have about a half an hour left before his release from the medical care. He was not being charged yet or even informed of what he might be charged with. Edwin paused as he thought over the information that Breathless had given him. The false information about Kid and her location. The need to get away from the officers and to distrust the media. It was a pretty big issue there. Now, he didn't have all the updates from Walus. Nor all the further interviews.

But he knew he could only trust so much of the police force. His house had a threatening note in it. The office had been wrecked all but for Walus's desk. The person who got access to both places without setting off the alarms. Not to mention the fact they had gotten into Miss Caroline's line and got Yankee to follow them out to a trap. Edwin had pressed forward with saving Yankee, even if the bomb had gone off.

Edwin put his hand on his lap as he thought of Miss Caroline's behavior as well. She kept pressing for the cops, even if they ran a Plan C. The detective glanced outside to the nightlights of the city with the news running. Walus clearly knew more than he was letting on. Why else had he give him the laptop to work on? His brother was always a bit a head of him on cases every now and then. But here Walus came back seemly like a godsend even if he said he won't. He left his whole vacation behind.

Edwin thought it over to himself, Miss Caroline's behavior was off in how she responded to the threat of bombing. The video recording was off and simulated to be something else then the reality we faced. Miss Caroline is now missing. . . Our office and my house were broken, but they managed to get pass our safety measures. . . It means. . . The person who did it was from the inside. Now. . .

Edwin sighed at the two could be the villain. He reflected to himself, The people who can get into all of those places are Myself, Walus, and Miss Caroline. Now I clearly cannot have done it as I would be aware of my doing. Next would be Walus. . . It would not make sense for my brother to be so brutish in the method. He would not have the motivate to do all of that work without a finer hand. Plus, why would Walus seek to frame me? If he wanted to frame me he would have left the area and not return at all.

Edwin looked up at the ceiling and sighed. He restlessly got out of bed and went over to the window. He started at the far off newsreel as he peered passed the buildings. Edwin continued, Okay. So Walus has no clear motivation to do it. He won't gain anything for harming an heiress and kidnapping another one. The desk at the office. . . Walus's desk had been untouched. It was left alone. So why rough up Miss Caroline's desk and mine, but not Walus?

He put his hands behind his back, I was put in the center. . . I am a red herring from the reality of situation. The people so far interviewed for the case were Breathless and the person from the dorms. . . Walus has the rest. But the parts I dislike is about the bombing and the false information from Breathless. Miss Caroline, what have you been doing while we were away?

Edwin paced back and forth, She didn't want me to pass up the case. Walus declined it because he was tired. He told be not to bother him. We got in over our heads and we called upon Walus to return. But Miss Caroline had called upon the people to help us with what was a clearly a trap. I took a risk. . . The body of Yankee was only found by dental records.

Edwin stopped as he was the newsflash about mayoral candidate Rivera Marshal. She was a fine middle-aged woman with a teary face as the sub-note read about her missing daughter. Edwin calculated the whole time about Kid's disappearance. He felt his fingers twitch with the need to return to the laptop and research what was happening. He wanted to know if Miss Caroline was okay. He needed to find the girl. He needed to know what the missing cops had to do with everything. How did the whole puzzle fit together?

He thought back to the men in black that were supposedly following Miss Caroline. It was then that his heart started to sink. Edwin sat down back on his hospital bed. He thought of his house and how Miss Caroline had been so kind in cleaning up his place. Her interest in his little project like his bee droid of his modifications of Roger. The fact he shared his blueprints with her and he showed her how to make a back-up copy of a chip. Edwin bite his lip as he remembered his apartment and how Roger let Miss Caroline in without much of a problem.

She could have so easily taken anything from his apartment. Miss Caroline knew exactly how the whole office was ran. She understood the filing and the access to his projects. He had even leant her blueprints for his projects so she could brush up on her skills. She never removed her gloves no matter the time or event. Edwin thought, Walus's desk was a distraction. The rest of the place had been flipped about.

Here Edwin went over the slow image of the office in the ruins. He exhaled as he came to another fact, The way the office was ruined by brute force didn't seem like how they treated Walus's desk. It had been purposely left alone as a distraction. But someone must have wanted to leave Walus a message.

Edwin turned back toward the front door. He could inform the guards his new hunch. Or he could go through his laptop and leave Walus a message. Traces would be usually had with the guards at the door. Or maybe not. Edwin peered down at the bandage hiding his back-up chip. He started to search about the hospital room to hook up the two. It was not as easy to unblock a Palm Planner and hook it up to an older laptop. Edwin turned to the heartrate monitor connected by the sensors on his chest. Those would work well of his purposes.

Edwin curled his stiff fingers and started to get to work. He thought to himself, Miss Caroline is on this plot with the men in black. Where does this leave Walus? I know he has been taking extra jobs on the side when we are not together. He has his own clients too. He claim to be working on his cases. But when Miss Caroline came along we had a spike in case. We started to travel the whole world. . . What did Miss Caroline do?

Edwin managed to removed on monitor without setting off the alarm. He carefully placed it over his blocked chip and again tinkered with it. He turned back to the heartrate motor and decided he need more to work on it. He resumed his thoughts, Where did I meet her? I meet her out on the street while I was off to get coffee. It was much harder then. I saw her and I loved her smile. I asked on a date then and there.

Edwin twisted open the heart monitor machine and peered at its comportments. He would have to make do with the crudeness of his next connection. It might even smart. But one had to make do. Edwin bit his lip as he pulled the wires from inside, What day was that? What do I know about Miss Caroline, other then I love her? Why do I love her? When did I meet her?

Edwin searched his memories for when he started to date Miss Caroline. He even tried to recall where she even lived. All he could say was that every time that Miss Caroline was with him it was clear that Walus disliked her. He paused as he faced a good couple blanks in his mind. He couldn't tell what had had happened there in the reason why he allowed Miss Caroline to be close with him to begin with. Edwin knew for a fact he didn't have a concussion. He had had one before. There was nothing wrong with his cognitive skills.

His fingers were zipped by the wiring. He had made the silent alarm go off without much of a fuss. Heck, his treatment would be finished in the next half hour. He would have about ten minutes before the nurse bot returned. Five minutes until the guards decided to take a peek on his work. But he needed to know the answer to his question now. It could not wait any further.

He would have to hurry along, if he wanted to complete unblocking his Palm Planner. Edwin too the modified device and placed it over his messed up chip. He flinched at the pain as the two synced up. He thought to himself, I am just checking for any tampering of myself or foreign programs. There is nothing wrong with wanting to be sure that I am in love with a person. Not just some where program. . .

He sucked in a deep breath as the Palm Planner came back online. He linked the cable from the laptop over to his device. The restoration program he made for Walus was still running in the background. Edwin would have to be quick in his scanning. He would have very little time to conduct it once the guards or anyone else for that matter found him out.

Edwin got to work with his program. It was not long until he found within his Palm Planner a virus. He frowned and searched deeper. He thought to himself, If there was such a program on my person it should have cleared once the first chip was gone. But the secondary was inflected. . . Only I and Miss Caroline know where it was-

The detective shook his head as he stared at the program. The data was broken up. It was like a whoever made it hadn't perfected the whole brainwashing, or rather power of suggestion on it. Edwin felt his heart sink into his stomach. The virus program wasn't even that tricky, half-baked true. But it acted as a suggestion to the mind. The data showed that Miss Caroline had been taking the space of other woman in his memories. He stared at it in disbelief and glanced at the clock. Not much time left! The guards were due to check on him.

Edwin hurried over to the heart monitor to make it look untouched. He quickly stored the laptop under his pillow and covered up his arm. The door clicked as Edwin got back under the covers and hid his arm. He smiled as one of the guards held open the door. He grimly nodded over to Edwin as he waved with his other hand. The guard called to him, "Detective Knight, do you need any water or anything?"

"No, no thank you! I am doing great here!" Edwin chuckled.

"You were making some odd sounds earlier. Are you in pain? I can call the nurse bot over here," The guard kindly offered.

"Nope, I am just peachy. I am sure if there are any problems the nurse bot will be able to fix me right up once it comes on over."

"Alright," the guard nodded, "Your brother in on his way to pick you up."

"Aren't I still a suspect?" Edwin leaned forward in the bed.

"Chief's orders are to let you go with him."

"But I . . .Not even a person of interest? What about the bombing and everything else?" Edwin raised his eyebrows.

"Chief said to let you with him. We will be leaving shortly. The new guards are on their way," He shrugged as he closed the door.

New guards? Edwin frozen. Outside of the door window he saw a group of men dressed up in black suits. He had watched them walk the hallways. The detective felt even worse with the new discovery of men in black waiting outside of his room. Was he doomed to some weird fate? What were they planning on doing to him?

Edwin held out his corrupted Palm Planner under the sheet. The men in black were not entering. They just lingered outside of his door waiting and not doing anything. The old guards were off and away from the window. Edwin felt some heat from his rigged-up device. It was starting to smoke. He pulled it off and his Palm Planner hissed and shorted out. The detective darted his eyes around the room.

Are those the same men from the campus? Are they here now for me? Will they do me in like Yankee? What about the fact they said Walus was coming for me? And about the chief just letting me go? No, no. This has all gone more then sideways. I was way over in my head! Edwin scrambled out his bed to pull the curtain around the hospital bed. He didn't know how much time he had. He could use his brother's laptop and figure a way out of the room. He had taken to studying the vent system. He would be able to climb it and then-

Knock, knock. Edwin became like a deer in the headlights of an oncoming vehicle. It was Walus with a tired voice, "Edwin, you up? I saw the file is done. I sent it ahead over to Chief Vicky. She is letting you come with me."

Edwin relaxed with a deep exhale. He rubbed his arm as he nervously answered his brother, "Oh good your back. Why don't you come in closer and tell me what you found on the case? Did you find Miss Caroline? I did have discovered something about her that isn't right."

"Oh Edwin," Miss Caroline pulled the curtain a sided as Walus came in. Miss Caroline was in a deep purple jacket, which was still soaked from the rain. She had on her lime coat just like in the morning. But Edwin shuttered with the thought of what he learned. He was not sure if he would be able to tell Walus about his new information. Miss Caroline rushed over to Edwin and hugged him, "Oh darling Eddie! I was so scared! You would never believe what your brother did to find me! Those men in black came along and pushing me out of the way of harm! Oh Eddie! I am so glad you are safe! I nearly fell to pieces when those government men won't say anything to me! They kept on being silent until Walus here showed up to take me!"

Edwin tried not to worm away from Miss Caroline. There was an air of in fakeness to her. All the signs of the bombing were gone. She no longer had any ash or anything to even make her seem like she had been accompanying him this morning. Not even the smallest mark on her. Edwin flinched as Miss Caroline pulled back and covered her face. She quietly said, "Poor Yankee. . . Walus told me he didn't . . . I . . . Oh Eddie!"

Edwin tried to think of something to say. But then he saw Walus. His brother loomed in the back ground with a perplexed expression. Just by looking at Edwin, it was like his brother gained a great insight in a few moments. He turned his eyes aside and frowned. Walus had changed back to his weird outfit from this morning. But his coat in his arm was black, too. Edwin pointed to Walus as he struggled to get pass Miss Caroline. He said to his brother, "Tell me, what is happening Walus? And Miss Caroline give me some space, please."

"Of course, darling. I will give you space! So much has happened today!" Miss Caroline nodded and backed up, "Hey Edwin, do you smell smoke?"

"Shoot!" Edwin patted his arm and threw his rigged enabler. It sparked here and there as Walus stepped on it.

Walus coolly said, "I see you have been busy and going though your paces as I could expect from one like you. Edwin, I am sure we have a solid lead to our suspect and the location of the girl. We will be going to go and capture the person."

"You got all of that in just one day?" Edwin said forgetting about the most pressing matter.

"Yes, we managed to get it all in one day," Walus stated plainly as he closed his eyes and took a hold of Miss Caroline's shoulder. He sternly said, "Miss Caroline, how about you go and get your darling Edwin something to drink? He has had a very long day. I think he could use a nice coffee. Right brother of mine?"

"Sure. . ." Edwin answered as he sank into his bed. His arm hurting from the malfunction of his device. Edwin watched as Miss Caroline tightened her smile and simply kissed Edwin's head. She quickly left out of the room and back out to the hallway.

Walus sat down on the edge of the bed. The rainy skies were getting dark with the setting sun. Walus turned his eyes back to the skyline as he coolly spoke to Edwin, "What do you know? What do you want to know?"

"You know where the girl is being held?"

"We will have her location shortly. We know where she is being transferred. Her kidnapper was moving her from an unknown location. We will be able to get her back from their keep then. We are still trying to track her current location."

"Who do you theorize is the kidnapping right now?"

"We have come to the conclusion that there are two people were can pin the case on. We believe that Mr. Parallax and Rivera Marshal are the suspects at hand."

"Mr. Parallax is the patron of Breathless," Edwin nodded as he felt something urgent fading from his mind. He snapped his fingers, "But her own mother?"

"I will explain more about it in the car. Thanks for sending over all the data about the case. It was very helpful in getting Chief Vicky in letting you go. Edwin, I feel there are a few more details I want to go over the case with you about. But there is a subject we need to discuss first about Miss Caroline. . ." Walus pointed to Edwin's arm, "And do you care to explain what you were up to while I was away?"

"I . . . I was trying to unlock my Palm Planner. Your laptop is out of date and to make it work I needed it to connect to my chip. It could have allowed for me to do a full scan of my own internal nano-techonolgy. I thought something was wrong as I was restoring the information I was giving you. It doesn't seem right that the information about the office break-in wasn't adding up," Edwin pulled up the laptop and revealed the program he had been running. But the scene was blanking out and turning black. Edwin raised an eyebrow. It was then he caught the same look in Walus's eye.

His brother started slowly, "Edwin. . . I have a feeling I understand what you are trying to tell me. Yes, I can tell my laptop has a virus. We have to get that looked at back at the office."

Edwin held his arm as he peered over at the flickering screen. He nodded as he came to a conclusion of what Walus got in understanding him. Edwin said, "It could ruin the memories-I mean memory of your computer. It hopefully hasn't gotten in there too far."

"I can safely assume that you have a way to deal with it. You have been good at backing things up before viruses can ruin things," Walus said as he was studying Edwin's arm.

"Yes. . ."

"Good, I would hate for false information to somehow end up on my computer. You must be very tired from such a long day. I would hate for you come along with me on the last bit of the case. I have the police working with me so I would be able to make it without you. I think you and Miss Caroline will be able to rest some."

"About Miss Caroline, I have been thinking since she and I are dating that she should not be working in the office, especially after the whole bombing. I think it would be better if she were to seek employment else where instead of at our agency."

". . . Hmm. . ."

"Walus?"

"We will get back to that Edwin. I have been thinking that I will have to go to the opera house with the chief or Detective Scott. There is no way I will bring Louis with me. I think some other of the officers will be able to pull off an undercover job."

Edwin sat up on his bed, "I could this help you. I will be clear for action soon. Plus your arm is still broken."

"Brother, you were nearly killed in a bombing. You lost a fine friend today. I think you ought to take it easy here. You can go home and work on your laptop. Or even better yet go over to my house with Louis. He can help you. You know it might do you some good."

"I guess you are right, Walus," Edwin said as he nodded his head. He catch the implied meaning and rubbed his arm slowly.

"I am going to have to cover any tinkering damaged you have done here."

"I know . . . "

"I think you should be careful when you work with that laptop. It could still have more to it."

"Yea," Edwin peered over Walus's shoulder. He could spot the guards in black now lingering outside of his room. Edwin started, "They are part of-"

"Hmm. . ." Walus nodded.

"And you know about-"

"I do."

"So you are part-"

"I suppose you could say that."

"Miss Caroline is-"

Walus held up his finger to his lips. He rolled his shoulders as the nurse bot came into the room. He promptly got up and smiled at Edwin. He gestured outside, "Miss Caroline will be back here in a moment with your coffee. Plus I will let the nurse bot do its thing. You know how I feel about them."

"I do know, Walus," Edwin nodded as his brother hurried out of the room. Edwin watched as the nurse bot rolled into the room to take his vital signs.

Shortly after the nurse bot finished with him. He had his coffee awkwardly with Miss Caroline in his room. He would be released in recorded time and then he stood outside of the room. There we was shoulder to shoulder with the men in black. Together they were headed downstairs to a hover car that was clearly not Walus's.

The men in black got in the front seat while Walus, Miss Caroline, and Edwin sat in the back. Edwin nervously fiddled with his hands as they pulled up to Walus's building. Louis was waiting outside for them. He happily waved to them as the hover car came down. Walus opened the door and let Miss Caroline and Edwin out. Walus said to them as the mist of rain came down, "You guys can stay over for the night. Louis, honey, get Edwin over to my study. My computer is down and he needs to fix it."

"I will do!" Louis nodded.

"Miss Caroline, you may stay in our guest bedroom, while Edwin is busy. I know you told me how tired you are. I will let you guys know how things go over at the opera. If anything comes up please call me. I will answer you as soon as I can," Walus grinned at them as he closed the door and waved good-bye. Edwin peered up at the misty sky. Things couldn't resolve that easy. Why else had Walus sent Miss Caroline over to his house? What else could go on?