Sitting at the table, Rosie looked up at Scotty and Jeffries without the friendly smile from earlier. She looked decidedly uneasy. We caught her in a lie and she knows it, Scotty thought.

Jeffries folded his arms and looked at her intently. "Jack Monaghan went to your store to get the money the night Johnny was killed. You were there that night too."

"Then a few hours later, Johnny's get pulled out of the river with half the money, Monaghan and the other half disappear, and you're sittin' here alive and well." added Scotty. "How does that work? You make some sort of deal with Monaghan? He give you a cut of the money to help take care of Johnny?"

Rosie looked at him incredulously. "I'd never make a deal with him! That man was a monster."

"So did you do something to both of them, keep the money for yourself?" Jeffries said.

Rosie shook her head. "I didn't hurt Johnny, and I didn't care about the money. Not after what happened that night."

Scotty sat down next to her and leaned in closer. "What happened in the store that night?"

Rosie sighed and lowered her head, a pained look forming on her face. "I don't blame Johnny. I don't think he knew what he was getting into. But I still have nightmares about that night..."

Rosie looked over to see Johnny sweeping up, a sullen look on his face. Every few moments she would catch him glancing towards a locker in the back room and glaring at it. She walked over and put a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

"Hey, what's with you tonight?" She asked, smiling. "You've been lookin' like somebody took the wind out of your sails all night."

Johnny looked up at her just for a moment. "I'm fine."

Rosie cocked her head. "Uh-huh. Sure you are." She raised an eyebrow. "Trouble with the girlfriend?"

He looked up at her again and sighed. "All I wanted was to take care of her and my Gran. I thought I was doing something to help. Instead it's starting to look more and more like I did something really stupid."

She shrugged. "Well, you're not the first."

Johnny shook his head. "I don't deserve either one of them."

Rosie patted him on the arm. "Hey, don't beat yourself up." She looked up at the wall clock, which read 1:59, and grinned. "Well, it's closing time. That's always good news."

They both turned as the phone on the counter started ringing. Rosie started walking towards the front door.

"Can you get that? I'm gonna close the shutters outside, and remind me we still gotta get the phone in the back room fixed tomorrow."

Johnny nodded as he picked up the receiver. Before she could pull out her keys, a hulking figure forced his way through the door and grabbed Rosie by the collar. Rosie knew the neighborhood well enough to know who it was, which left her eyes wide open in fear.

"Where's the kid?" Monaghan hissed.

Rosie said nothing, unsure of what he was talking about. They both looked over to hear Johnny, his back turned to them, say "What? Who is this?" into the phone. Monaghan's eyes narrowed at the sight of Johnny and walked over to him, dragging Rosie along with him. She let out a pained scream which spun Johnny around.

In a startlingly quick motion, Monaghan pulled the phone from Johnny's grasp, ripped the cord free from the wall, and slammed the entire phone against the counter, shattering it.

Monaghan finally released his grip on Rosie, shoving her against Johnny. "So you're the little son of a b itch who took my money."

Rosie looked up at Johnny. "Johnny, what is he talking about?"

Johnny gave her a sad look. "You know before, when I said I did something stupid?"

"Damn right, you did." Monaghan said coldly, pulling a handgun from his jacket and aiming it at Rosie. "Now, where's my money? I know you got it here. Hand it over or I put a hole in your pretty little friend's head."

Rosie looked over at Johnny, terrified, and Johnny quickly raised his hands defensively. "All right! All right! I'll give it to you. Just don't hurt her!" He gestured towards the locker in the back room. "It's in the back. I'm gonna go get it."

"Slowly!" Monaghan barked, keeping his eyes on Johnny and gun on Rosie. "You try bein' stupid again, she's dead!"

"All right." Johnny said nervously, walking towards the back room, and opening the padlock on one of the lockers. A moment later, he emerged with the large brown tote bag, which he set down on the counter in front of Monaghan.

"It's all there." Johnny quickly said. "I didn't spend a penny of it."

Monaghan opened the bag to inspect its contents, not saying a word.

"Look, you got your money back." Johnny finally said, after several moments of silence, a desperate look on his face. "Please, just take it and go."

At this, Monaghan finally looked up at Johnny with a cruel smile. "Just take it and go? You steal my money and you think all I'm gonna do is just take it and go? Who the hell do you think you're dealing with?" He turned to Rosie, whose eyes widened, and raised his gun to her face. "You took something from me. Now I'm takin' something from you."

"No!" Johnny screamed, picking up the bag. He hurled it at Monaghan's arm, causing the shot to go wide, the bullet hitting the wall close to the floor.

Monaghan turned towards Johnny, a murderous look in his eyes. He grabbed Johnny by the collar, and threw him to the floor. Rosie grabbed Monaghan by the arm, trying to pull him away, but one back-handed slap sent her to the floor as well. Turning back to Johnny, he began brutally hitting him in the face with his gun, occasionally stopping to kick him in the stomach and ribs.

Rosie shook herself awake and saw Monaghan continuing to beat Johnny, who let out a few pained cries before going silent. As she stood up, she grabbed a two-by-four laying nearby. Rushing up to Monaghan, she brought the board down as hard as she could on his back between his shoulders. Monaghan felt to the floor, dropping his gun, before he stood up again, turning around to face her.

"All right." He said, advancing menacingly and breathing heavily. "Now I'm really pissed."

He threw her to the floor, then knelt down over her, straddling her. He wrapped his hands around her throat, her own hands grabbing his wrists in a vain attempt to pull them off. Her eyes widened as he began to squeeze.

Neither of them noticed as Johnny's eyes fluttered open several feet away. Hearing Rosie gasping for air as Monaghan continued to strangle her, a sadistic look on his face, Johnny's eyes came to rest on the gun Monaghan had dropped.

Struggling to sit up was difficult from the number of times Monaghan had kicked his ribs. Still, Johnny managed to grip the gun and aim it at Monaghan's back. He hesitated for a moment, seeing Rosie's eyes start to glaze over as she struggled to breathe. Finally, Johnny gritted his teeth and squeezed the trigger.

The gunshot was deafening as it echoed through the store. Monaghan immediately released his grip on Rosie as his hands moved to the bloody wound that had suddenly appeared on his chest. Stunned, he turned his head to face Johnny, but didn't make it there before he slumped to the floor.

Rosie coughed and inhaled heavily as she found herself able to breathe again. This gave her enough strength to push Monaghan's body off of hers and quickly crawl over to the counter away from him.

Blinking back tears and running her hands over her sore neck, she looked over at Johnny, beaten and bloody, who finally lowered the gun. He looked at the body with a sad look in his eyes, before looking down at the bag of money. Rosie saw the sad look turn to one of disgust as he stared at the bag, not saying a word...

"He just sat there looking at that bag." Rosie said, shaking her head sadly.

"What happened after that?" Jeffries asked softly.

"When Johnny finally started talking again, I told him we needed to tell the cops what happened." She looked up at Scotty and Jeffries before continuing. "The phone in the back room wasn't working and Monaghan smashed the one up front, so we couldn't call from the store. Johnny said he wanted to take the money and go straight to the cops, tell them everything that happened. He said he wanted to get rid of the money right away before anyone else got hurt. I told him I'd stay there with the body until he came back."

"But he never did." Scotty said.

"No, he didn't." Rosie closed her eyes for a moment and swallowed hard. "I waited there for hours. I thought maybe one of Monaghan's people had got a hold of him. I started thinking what they'd do to me if they found out what happened and I panicked. I borrowed a friend's van, wrapped the body in plastic, and buried it in the woods just outside the city. The next morning, I heard about them pulling Johnny out of the river with the money."

Rosie looked up at the detectives and sighed. "I'm sorry I didn't say anything. Johnny made a mistake, but he was trying to make it right. He didn't deserve what happened."

From the other side of the mirror, Lilly and Stillman looked in on the interview room. Stillman frowned in thought for a moment before turning to Lilly.

"The nearest precinct was sixteen blocks away." He said. "So how was Johnny gonna get the money over there at two in the morning with no car?"

Lilly paused for a second before the answer came to her. She sighed in disappointment when she realized what it meant.

"We know Jack Monaghan showed up at the store looking for the money the night Johnny died." Lilly said, circling the person sitting at the table in the interview room. "He nearly killed Johnny and Rosie before Johnny shot him in self-defense."

"Johnny had to kill a man," Scotty added. "But he finally got it in his head that money was trouble. He was gonna take it to the police. Turn it in."

"He never made it there though." Lilly continued. "Something happened to him on the way."

The person sitting at the table said nothing.

Scotty folded his arms. "But you already knew that, didn't you, Rachel?"

Rachel looked up at her and opened her mouth, as if to say something, but still didn't make a sound.

"You knew because you were the one Johnny got to drive him to the police after he left the store." Lilly continued grimly. "You said it yourself; he pretty much relied on you to drive him anywhere he couldn't walk to."

"What happened, Rachel?" Scotty asked. "Was givin' up all that money harder than you thought?"

A tear rolled down her cheek. "I used to dream that I'd go back to school, become a teacher. Johnny would find some great job. We'd buy some beautiful house, get married and start a family." She turned to Lilly with a pleading look on her face. "Am I a bad person for wanting those things?"

"No." Lilly said simply, sitting down next to her..

"All this time though," Scotty said. "You never spent any of the money."

"I couldn't." Rachel said. "Gran didn't have anyone else, so I made a deal with myself. I'd take care of her for as long as she lived, which meant I couldn't spend the money."

Scotty nodded. "Cause then she'd know how you got it."

A sad smile appeared just for a moment on her face. "I never touched it, no matter how hard things got. I thought I could just wait it out, but..." she paused and sobbed as more tears flowed down her face. "I miss her. I miss them both. Now I can't even bring myself to look at that bag."

"Then let it go." Lilly said, leaning in closer.

Rachel recoiled slightly at this, a part of her still unwilling to give it up.

"This money's hurt enough people." Lilly said gently but firmly. "Just let it go."

Rachel let out a slight laugh between sobs. "That's what Johnny tried to tell me."

The two detectives looked at her intently, waiting for her to continue.

"It's in a storage locker in the basement of my building. I thought with that money, Johnny and I could have anything." She closed her eyes as more tears flowed. "Instead, it cost me everything..."

Rachel was jolted awake by the intercom buzz and immediately looked at the clock beside her bed, wondering who would be calling this late.

Tying her housecoat, she stepped out of her bedroom to the front hallway and pressed the button next to the door. "Who is it?"

"It's Johnny." The tired voice on the other end said. "I need to come up."

Puzzled, she buzzed him in and waited a few moments before opening the door. When she finally saw him, she gasped.

"Johnny!" She whispered, looking at his swollen eye along with the cuts and bruises covering his face and body. "Oh my God!"

"Something's happened." He said, the pain evident in his voice. "I need you to drive me to the police station."

Rachel just stood there looking at him in the doorway, horrified. "Johnny, what happened to you?"

Johnny closed his eyes and sighed. "Rachel, please just get dressed. I'll tell you on the way."

She nodded and looked down, noticing for the first time the brown tote bag in his hand...

The car cruised down the streets, no other cars in sight. Rachel kept her eyes on the road, turning away occasionally to glance at the open bag sitting on the seat between her and Johnny. She barely reacted as Johnny told her what had happened at the store.

"I thought when I found this, I could take care of you and Gran." He said, sounding exhausted. "You were right though. I was only thinking of myself." He reached over and placed his hand on hers. "I'm so sorry."

She squeezed his hand, nodding as she glanced over to him. "It's all right." She said simply. Turning back, her eyes fell on the bag again, and she swallowed hard.

They felt a slight bump as the car passed over the bridge. At the end was an intersection with a set of lights. There were still no other cars around, but Rachel still slowed to a stop as the light turned from yellow to red.

She turned to Johnny with a slight smile. "Look, Johnny, I've been thinking. I know what I said before but maybe you were right." She gestured to the bag. "I mean this could really make a difference in our lives. Maybe we shouldn't be so quick to get rid of it."

Johnny chuckled and shook his head. "No. We're doing the right thing. Trust me."

"But maybe we could just--"

"Rachel." He said, simply. "Trust me on this. It's not worth the trouble."

The smile faded as she turned back towards the road and watched as the light changed to green.

The car didn't move.

Johnny looked at the light, then at Rachel, with an awkward smile. "Uhhh... the light's green."

Rachel didn't move or say a word. She just stared straight ahead for moment, before she put the car in park, grabbed the bag, and hurried out of the car.

"Rach?" Johnny called after her. "Rach, what are you doing?" Slowly he stepped out of the car as well and followed her over to the side of bridge, where she was leaning, staring at the bag and shaking her head. "What are you doing?" He repeated.

"I can't do this, Johnny." She said, not looking at him. "This is crazy. We don't need to give up the money. There's got to be another way."

Johnny looked at her, confused. "What are you talking about? A few hours ago you were mad at me for taking this."

"Because you put us in danger!" She said, finally looking at him. "But we're not anymore."

"You don't know that. Somebody else probably knows about the money and they'll come after us too."

"Then let's just leave." Rachel continued, with a desperate smile on her face. "We could start over somewhere."

Johnny paused for a moment, then shook his head. "No. Besides, that's not the only reason I'm doing this." He shrugged. "I don't want to be sneaking around, and lying, and looking over my shoulder for the rest of my life. And I don't want this money to hurt anyone else. I mean look what happened to Trevor and Rosie." He gestured to his bruised and swollen face. "Look what happened to me."

"You're gonna be okay, Johnny" Rachel said reassuringly.

"Rach, I killed a guy tonight!"

"You didn't have a choice!"

"Of course I had a choice!" he said, putting his hand to his head in frustration. "I could've told the cops what happened after Trevor got beat up. I could've not taken that bag in the first place!" He sighed. "Rachel, just trust me, it's not worth it."

Her eyes narrowed. "So what? We're supposed to just give it up and go back to the way things were, huh? Neither of us making enough to do anything with our lives?"

"It's not always gonna be like this." He said softly. "Things are gonna get better. You said so yourself."

"You know what?" Rachel said through gritted teeth. "I am tired of being the strong one! I am tired of being the one who always says 'hang in there, things are gonna get better'!"

"Then let me be the strong one for once." He said, gesturing to the bag. "Let me just take this money, and get rid of it, and we can get on with our lives."

She didn't move as he continued. "I know what you're thinking, that this money's gonna solve all our problems. I thought the same thing. But it won't." He tried to put his hand on her arm but she pulled away. "Rachel, you want to be a teacher, and for us to have a life together, a family? You can have all of that. I promise, you can have everything you wanted, but you gotta let go of the bag."

He put his hands on the side of bag, but Rachel gripped the straps tighter.

"Just let it go." He said softly, trying to pull the bag away.

"No." She said angrily, holding her grip.

"Just let it go!" He pleaded, pulling harder.

"No!" She repeated louder.

"Rachel, please! Just let it go!"

"No!" She screamed through her teeth as she swung her arm at him. The back of her hand struck his face, knocking him back. The strap she was holding broke, with the momentum sending Johnny over the railing. Rachel's eyes widened and she reached forward to grab him.

Her hands could only reach the bag though.

Stacks of bills fell from the bag before Rachel pulled it back and they followed Johnny down the long drop to the river below.

"Johnny!" She screamed down to him as he fell, though her voice was drowned out by Johnny's own scream. It was the most horrible sound she'd ever heard.

Johnny hit the water head-first, his neck breaking on impact. His body disappeared below the surface for a moment, stacks of money hitting the water above him, before coming floating up the surface again.

"Johnny!" Rachel screamed to the body floating face-down below. She sobbed when there was no answer. "Johnny!" She called out again...

("Another Day In Paradise" - Phil Collins - without the strange intro)

Rachel didn't say a word as Lilly and Scotty escorted her on the long walk to her cell. She just looked straight ahead and didn't resist as they placed her inside. Wrapping her hands around the bars, she finally gave Lilly a sad, resigned look as Scotty shut the gate. Lilly looked back at her with a hint of sympathy before she and Scotty walked off, leaving Rachel alone with her thoughts...

As Jeffries opened the storage locker, Kat stepped inside and looked around. Lodged between some boxes was a large brown tote bag with a broken strap. Kat crouched down and opened it up, examining the contents. She looked up at Jeffries for a moment, before the two looked down grimly at the bag of money, shaking their heads...

In the woods, Stillman folded his arms and watched as the workers pulled Monaghan's long-buried body from the location Rosie had given them...

In his cell, Carl leaned back on his bed as he started reading the book, entitled Ethical Investments. He wasn't sure what had prompted him to take it out of the library, but found himself reading it intently...

As Sammy opened the door to his house, two small children, a boy and a girl, rushed over to hug their father. A moment later, his wife walked over to kiss him on the cheek. Sammy looked on at his family and smiled...

Vera lifted the case box, now with the word CLOSED written in marker on the lid, and stacked it in among the other boxes, giving the box a slight punch before walking off...

Alma's funeral was a small outdoor event with only a few people present at the cemetary. Lilly looked on at the board standing next to the casket, which was covered with pictures taken throughout her life. At the center, she could see the picture taken of Alma and Johnny at his birthday.

As Dr. Cheng, Trevor, and Rosie each took turns to step towards the casket and pay their respects, Lilly looked up to see Johnny looking on from several feet away. A moment later, Johnny turned to see Alma walk towards him. Johnny embraced his grandmother in a long-overdue hug before they turned back to Lilly.

Reunited at last, they both gave Lilly a grateful smile before they faded away.

THE END