So many options. None of them would work. There was no way out. And David knew it.

Apparently so did Guardsman Jack who walked with him to the office. David felt like he was escorted down Death Row, walking towards his own execution. He wasn't too far off though, he figured. Jack looked like he was here to make sure that David didn't try to run away. Also he was smiling all the time. "Looks like you're in trouble, Seargeant," he commented after a few corridors and checkpoints.

David snorted. Husbands who bring home the wrong catfood are in trouble, he thought bitterly. Me? I'm dead!

Although he had walked the same way today before, this time it felt like a thousand miles longer and still too short for David to consider his options. Take a run for it? Jack would prevent that, and it wouldn't solve the actual problem - just postpone it until both of them were home, and then it would be even worse. Denial? Play it out as a misunderstanding? Tell a lie? No. Lauren had known him for over ten years now, and beside the fact that she was a freakin' psychologist, it was pretty easy for her to tell whether David was lying or telling the truth.

No, the only way of getting through this was to tell the truth, see the error of his way and face the consequences like a man.

In the middle of that thought they arrived. Jack turned around to look at David, now obviously gloating. "Shall I get you something, sir? Coffee? Whiskey? Bulletproof vest?"

"Not funny," David grumbled. His heart was beating so hard that it almost burst out of his chest. However this would be going, it would be ugly. He took one last deep breath and then opened the door to step in.

Right as he entered, he felt it. The ice-cold gaze from Lauren's eyes hit him like a brick to the face. One look at her and David knew that she knew. Lying to her would be futile. She knew everything.

At least Booke was still present, which would make the conversation a bit more civilized. Or so he thought. Booke looked at both of them for several uncomfortable seconds, then stood up from the desk and said: "I'll just leave you two alone. I guess you have some things to discuss." And he hurrily left through the door, taking Jack with him. David was alone with his wife. No help from outside. No colleagues for moral support. No witnesses. He swallowed. Lauren stared at him in dead silence.

Until she spoke: "Tell me, Dave! Tell me that I'm wrong here."

Yeah, she knew. David didn't need any more proof of that. "Honey..."

"No, you don't 'honey' me now!" she snapped at him. "It's not like we haven't talked about this over and over again. I don't interfere with your police work, and you don't mess up my work as a psychologist. We agreed to this when we married."

Without being able to utter one word, David nodded coyly. But Lauren wasn't finished.

"So explain it to me, Seargeant Miller, cause I really need to understand: Are you suffering from some form of temporal amnesia? Did you get hit on the head and sustained brain damage?" Lauren's voice grew louder and sharper, and so did her sarcasm. "Or maybe you just thought: Oh, I can just make an exception once in a while, it won't hurt anybody. It's not like I'm cheating on my beloved wife here." The sound of the word "beloved" sounded like a sledgehammer coming down on him, breaking and pulverising his bones. He flinched.

"Listen..." he made another attempt, raising his hands to calm her down and pacify her. But Lauren was unstoppable at this point.

"And you know what? You'd be right. It isn't like cheating on your wife. Because cheating on your wife wouldn't kill her fucking career!"

In shock and terror David looked at her. Lauren hardly ever used swear words, even when she was upset. And never before had he heard her utter the f-word. He had once talked to her about it, and she had told him that her upbringing and education had made her better than that. He noticed that she was standing in front of a TV screen which showed the feed of a surveillance camera. In the middle of the screen was Simon, still chained to his chair, waiting for someone to let him out. At the moment he was looking at the pictures. But sometimes he looked up, his lips would move as if he was talking to someone. Just that the room was empty, besides him.

He quickly took his eyes off the screen, facing Lauren again. He didn't want to anger her any more by acting like he wasn't even listening to her. "May I..." But even the third attempt was cut short by Lauren's rant.

"How on Earth am I supposed to do my job now? As soon as he starts talking to the other inmates, everybody in here will think that I can't keep my mouth shut, and nobody is ever going to trust me again. I might even lose my license. And a lot of people that I could have helped are left alone now. Do you have any idea about what you've caused here? Any idea at all?"

At this point David didn't even try to explain anymore. He knew that she wouldn't listen until she was finished and had vented off her fury. And it wasn't like she didn't have a good reason for it. He had wronged her. He had violated their agreement. And for what?

"You know, I should sue you for this. Better than that, I should have you put in one of those jail cells and throw the key in the river. The only reason I'm not doing this is because I don't want to go home and tell Angela about what happened to her father." She stomped with her foot, glaring at him, simmering with anger. "Don't just stand there, say something!"

"May I?" That last sentence did stir up anger in David himself, and he sounded a lot more aggressive than he intended to. "So you are finished with cutting me off and finally let me explain?"

"You don't get to use that tone on me, mister," Lauren shot back, her eyes flashing with rage.

David sighed and shook his head. "I don't have time for this." He turned around to leave.

And that made Lauren finally explode. "You son of a..."

"HEY!" he shouted. Enough was enough. "You're angry, I get it. I understand that. You're mad at me. And for good reason, I admit it. What I did was wrong. But still, I did have a good reason for doing it. And you should know by now that I don't do things just for shits and giggles, but because I think they're important." He made one cautious step forward, towards her. I a calmer tone he continued: "Now I didn't want to cause you any trouble with this. It's my fault, I didn't think it through. And I am truly sorry. But you losing your head now won't do any of us good. Not me, not you, not Angela. We just need to calm down now and think of something. I will do whatever I can to make things right again."

It managed to calm her down a bit. Not completely, but at least a bit. She stopped her rage, just looked at him, and tears came to her eyes. "You betrayed me," she whispered, her voice shaking.

Saddened David shook his head. The tears in Lauren's eyes broke his heart. "I didn't mean to," he replied regretfully. He reached out for her face to gently wipe away the tears, but she evaded his hand and just walked right past him. Without any further word she left the room, closing the door behind her.

The storm was over. And David didn't feel any better for it.

In the meantime Jack had entered the interrogation room with Simon. David could watch from the monitor as Simon was freed from the chains. Jack even let him grab the pictures from the table before they both left. Simon had taken them instantly, holding them like they had a hidden meaning for him. He didn't look up into the camera, but David could still see enough of his face to tell that the prisoner might have discovered something or at least had an idea. He would have to come back here at a more convenient time.

Booke came back after a while and accompanied David on his way back to the car. The deputy warden didn't say one word. On their way they passed the gallery from which David had spotted Simon for the first time. And he could see him now. The prisoner sat at the same spot on the bench as before, reading the same book. Nobody had touched it.

There were no new messages.

Technically it was David's day off, so none of his colleagues would bother him. Captain Faulkner didn't leave any messages either, which was a good thing. Maybe if the captain had known what David had been up to, he might have intervened and kept him from doing so. And Stella... It hadn't been her best idea, but on the other hand, neither had him being talking to her about all of this.

At least Lauren didn't know anything about him discussing those things with Stella. Yet.

He suddenly felt the urge to hit his head onto the steering wheel of his car, just for being so stupid and inconsiderate. What had he thought would have happened here? Of course it had been a bad idea! And it demonstrated perfectly why Lauren wasn't supposed to discuss her work at all. No, her being pissed off was completely legitimate. Her having him in jail and throwing away the key was a bit harsh, but understandable. He hoped with all his heart that he would be able to make it up to her somehow.

If they all managed to live through this. There were still those murders happening in the city. Maybe from one person, maybe from many. Three people dead, and the fact that Wilks had vanished without a trace might have something to do with it. Once he checked his messages, David tried to phone his lieutenant, like he had done the past two days. But he only reached the mailbox of Lt. Wilks. It answered instantly before the first ring. So the phone was probably turned off.

Had he gone undercover? Had he been working on a seperate case? Or was this related, and Wilks was in danger? Kidnapped, or maybe even dead himself? When he assigned David to lead the investigation, he must had known by then that something was going to happen. But if the case was the reason behind his disappearance, what else was going to happen? Who would be the next victim? Maybe someone he knew. Maybe someone he loved.

David started the car, put the gear into "Drive" mode and moved it down the road towards the city. He knew how he could make it up now. To both Lauren and Angela. He would protect them. At all costs.