"Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep"
By: Kasey 
(c) 1999/2000
You'd better be prepared to run if you steal this.

Chapter 9

	Howie wandered around the house, looking out the
windows occasionally. He wasn't able to sleep,
something that only ever happened when he was tense.
Kasey had finally managed to sleep, spread out on the
bed, and for that Howie was glad. She needed the rest.
The last phone call had taken it out of her, listening
to what he would do to her. His words has scared her
but it wasn't until he had hung up that she had let
that fear show. But she had grown in strength, just in
a matter of moments. And to him, that was important. 
	Howie stood by the front windows, staring out at the
street. Headlights slashed through the semi-darkness
as a car pulled up outside the house. His body tensed,
his mind ready, he analysed the vehicle and the two
occupants and almsot sighed in relief. Almost, but
didn't, because it was Brooks and Linus. Howie glanced
at the clock in the louung room and wondered why they
were here so late. They walked up the path to the
porch and knocked on the door. Howie doublechecked
before letting them inside.
	" Where is she?" Linus asked, looking around the
room.
	"Asleep. What happened?" immediately Howie suspected
the worst.
	" Nothing. We just want to ask her a few questions,"
Brooks said, shrugging out of his jacket. Howie eyed
him warily.
	" You dont believe her, remember? You think she's
just a whore making this all up," he said
sarcastically, but sighed," Cant this wait? She needs
sleep."
	" No this cant wait. We need to get this guy. See
Dorough, the MO of this latest murder, well its the
same as ten others across the country. Five more have
similar MOs with just one or two tiny differences.
Theres rapes and assaults with MOs like this as well.
For all we know, Kasey may be the only witness alive
that can identify him," Linus said.
	" Since when did you start believing her anyway?"
Howie asked.
	" We did a background check on her."
	" You did what?"
	" Hell, you know its something we do. We wanted to
check out her story," Brooks said but he was lying
through his teeth.
	" Sure you did. You bastard. You were going to check
her out and throw her in jail at the slightest
infringement. You weren't checking her out for any
truth reasons, you just want to see her in jail!"
Howie said angrily.
	" So what if I did! She's clean, has nothing at all
either on her Australian record or her American
record. Not even a parking fine. The womans cleaner
than a saint! Even her family are clean," Brooks said,
taking out his notepad and flipping it open to some
written words.
	" You had her family investigated as well?" Howie was
incredulous. Having Kasey checked out was part of the
routine if they suspected anything was awry but to
have her family done as well? That was going way
beyond the call of duty.
	" Its routine!"
	" Bullshit it is. So did you find out anything
substantial?" 
	" Have you slept with her?" Linus asked, glancing
towards the room. Howie glared at him.
	" Thats none of your business."
	" You have. Doing it again hey Dorough, getting in
deep with a witness. But does she know about Valerie?
Does she know that Valerie was killed because you fell
in love with her?" Brooks asked snidely and Howie just
barely resisted slamming his fist down the mans
throat.
	" Kasey knows everything. And whether we slept
together or not is of no concern to this case."
	" It is when we want the witness alive."
	" She will be."
	" She better be. Because internal affairs would not
be happy if they found out you were involved with
another witness," Brooks said.
	" You told them last time?"
	" Damn straight I did. A police officer, getting
involved with a drug addicted crackhead and getting
her killed. Can you imagine what that would do for
police image? So IA busted you down to traffic cop,
even though you weren't injured. And every now and
then, when it looked like you would be going back to
your other duties, I had a little word in the ear of
some IA members and kept you where you belong. On the
streets, with the rest of the filth," Brooks said.
	" You son of a bitch," Howie snarled and Brooks
laughed dryly.
	" Come on Howie. You're only playing at being a cop.
You never wanted to be in the force, never even cared
about what you did. Its all a game to you, a way to
pick up the women," Brooks said.
	" How can I be playing at this? I take my job as
seriously as anyone else on the force. Why do you hate
me so much?"
	" Because you joined up because of boredom. You
aren't here because it was all you have ever wanted to
do, all you have ever wanted to be. You're here
because you got bored."
	" Damn it. No I'm not. If I was here for anything
else but the pure love of this job, then I'd be hating
myself. And as for that picking up women line, I could
have had a hell of a lot more women in my other job. I
did, in fact do that, and hated it all. I'm not here
to make enemies, I'm not here to pick up women and I'm
certainly not here because of boredom. I'm here
because this is what I want to do," Howie said angrily
but Brooks and Linus just shrugged and turned their
attentions to their notepads. It wasn't any use. These
two men would hate him, simply because of what he had
been," I'll go and see if Kasey is awake."	
	" You do that, then leave the real detective work up
to us," Brooks called out as Howie entered the
bedroom. Kasey was sitting up in bed, glancing warily
at him when he saw her.
	" Brooks and Linus are here," he said and she smiled.
	" I gathered that from the raised voices. Is
everything okay?" she asked softly, placing a hand on
his arm.
	" It will be. They want to talk to you, ask you some
questions," he said and she sighed.
	" I thought they didn't believe me."
	" They had you checked out," he said flatly.
	" Well. Okay. So they found out I'm clean, right?
Nothing in my background to suggest that I'm making
this up, that I'm trying to stay out of jail?" Kasey
asked and he nodded, as she got to her feet.
	" They believe you now," he said quietly and she
glanced at him in concern. The fight she had heard had
affected him badly. 
	" Are you sure you'll be okay?" she asked softly,
stopping just inside the bedroom door and facing him.
	" I will be," he said and wrapped his arms around her
waist. She rested her head on his chest for a brief
moment, listening to his heart beat. And thought of
how much her life had changed, all within twenty-four
hours.