thnx for the feedback :)

Part 17:
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Shan laid in bed reading through her stack of new magazines she'd bought
that morning to keep her occupied, sighing with boredom she tossed it
aside and turned to Brian's empty side of the bed. Even if he was busy
during the day they could still be together at night, she reasoned with
herself. She bit her lip in thought, finally deciding to go surprise her
husband.


Nick finished his explanation, leaving only a few things out. "So if you
think I cheated once in those eight years Lis go ahead and think it but I
don't think...no let me rephrase it I KNOW its not possible."

She sat there silently for a minute, running things over in her mind, "But
those pictures Nick..."

He ran a hand through his hair, "It has to be a set up..." he lifted her
chin up to make her look at him. "Is any of this getting through to you?"

Lis stared into his eyes and slowly nodded, "Yeah..."

"Good because I want my wife back." he whispered, pulling her closer to
him and kissing her softly.


Kevin opened the envelope and laid the contents out on the bed, he looked
at the picture of the little boy and shook his head. The break up with
Taylor had been bad in the first place, she had taken off in the middle of
the night and he had no clue where she had gone.


E sat in David's office, she had worked with him before freelancing. "What
do you think?"

He rubbed the sore muscles in the back of his neck as he paced his office.
On the desk was Nick's envelope and AJ's, Nick had dropped it off a couple
hours before. "He's really after them. I mean he's hellbent on destroying
them not only professionally but personally."

She nodded, "He didn't take too well to them leaving him that's for sure.
In fact he was still making money off them so this is just pure ego."

David nodded and sat back down. "Guess we start with Nick's huh?"

"We should."

"First we find the photographer and hopefully he'll lead us to the girl.
Either one should lead us back to Lou or whoever he has working with him."

"Should I take the lists and do the background checks?"

"Would you?" he asked with a small smile. "Gonna be a lot of work when
Nick gives us those names."

"Two hundred people? Piece of cake."


~Next Day~

Shan listened as Lis' machine picked up, "Hey Lis where exactly are you
huh? Its eight in the morning you should be there. Anyways I'm going out
of town for a couple days. You probably know exactly where I'm
heading...I'll probably call you and let ya know when I land. All right
talk to you later."


Brian stretched as he crawled out of bed, today he was going to start
doing a little investigating on his own. His eyes fell on the cell phone
on the nightstand and he was tempted to call Shan but decided against it,
she was probably still asleep and besides he'd have to lie to her again.


Ty came downstairs to find Howie making pancakes in the kitchen. "Sit, its
almost ready." he said as she wrapped her arms around his waist.

"Okay. What time did you get up?"

"Seven? Somewhere around there."

She nodded and sat down, a minute later Howie put the plate in front of
her and took a seat across the table. "Have you seen a doctor yet?" he
asked.

"Not yet, I've got an appointment in a couple days."

"I want to go with...I mean if you want me there."

"You left Puerto Rico to come with me to doctor's appointments? D you
feeling okay?" she teased.

"I all ready told you I couldn't concentrate down there, so Paul was nice
enough to give me all the paperwork I'd need and send me on the next
flight home."

"Nice of him."

D nodded, "Yeah Paul's a good guy." He stopped with his fork in mid air,
realizing he'd been sent home with a rather large amount of papers. "Ty
would you mind if I went over and saw J today?"

"No that's cool."

"Thanks sweetheart."


Jenn answered the door, shocked to see Howie standing on the other side.
"Howie?"

He smiled, "Hey Jenn, we've went through this once before. J around?"

"Course, he's outside in the pool. What's with the briefcase?" she asked.

"Brought a little business back, thought J may like to help me with some
things."

"Well go on out back, sure he'd be happy to see. Think he was trying to
get a hold of you a while ago."


AJ looked up from his laps when he saw Howie walk out the patio door. "D?"

"Hey J. Busy?" he asked, taking a seat on one of the pool chairs.

"No, just hanging out today. Trying to relax." he climbed out of the pool
and started to towel himself off. "Whats with the briefcase?"

"I brought some papers back with me...wondered if you'd want to help me
look through them?"

"Course. I'll change and we can barricade ourselves in the office."

"Why go inside? Its a nice day out, not windy."

"Ya sure D? I mean Jenn might overhear something."

"I know but maybe its getting time we let the wives in on some of it."

AJ's eyes widened "Okay. Whatever you say."


He stood on the Littrell doorstep and rang the bell for a fourth time. He
gave it a minute and pulled his cell out, "Boss I don't think the wife's
home."

"Her name's on the envelope right?"

"Right. All nicely typed."

"Put it in the mailbox. She'll get it."

"All right. Should I deliver the other one?"

"Drive by and see if she's home first, then call me back. I need to think
a bit on that one."