Lilly and Kat gave Kate a sympathetic look as they both sat down next to her bed. Her left arm in a sling, Kate barely moved as she looked back at them
"Kate, we know about the argument you and Milo had the day he died." Lilly said gently.
Kate shook her head. "I don't understand." she said in a tired, slightly raspy voice. Lilly couldn't make out an expression on her bruised face.
"We know you threatened to tell Devereaux what Milo was doing." Kat continued. "Look, if you were angry, we can understand that. I mean after putting so much time and effort into that case and then Milo doing something to screw it up--"
"Milo didn't screw anything up." Kate said, her voice suddenly showing more strength than Lilly and Kat would have expected from someone in her position. "We couldn't have made that case without him."
"But you did see him one last time in the alley that night" Lilly said.
Kate nodded slightly. "He called me and asked me to meet him there. I'm glad he did. We had a lot to talk about..."
Kate saw Milo turn to him and smile slightly as she approached him.
"I was starting to think you weren't gonna come." Milo said, chuckling nervously.
"You're my informant." Kate said evenly. "If you've got something to say, I'd better listen."
"Look, Kate, I'm sorry about earlier. I- I didn't mean what I said about forgetting what I saw."
"I know." Kate said, looking up at him. "You know I'd never really sell you out to Devereaux, right?"
Milo nodded. "And look, about Hector--"
Kate put a hand up. "We had a couple of guys watching Hector. He took his girl and left town a few hours ago, didn't talk to anyone. Looks like you were right about him." She smiled.
Milo rolled his eyes. "That's a relief. I don't think I could've lived with myself if I screwed up everything at this point."
Kate just looked at him for a moment before saying else.
"Can I ask you something?" she finally asked.
Milo nodded.
"You said before I wasn't the one you were doing this for. Who are you doing this for?"
Milo shrugged. "Jay."
"Jay?"
Milo sighed. "You should've met him before he started using. He was the smartest guy I knew, funny as hell too. Now he's lost his job, his apartment. I don't know if anything's gonna turn him around now. You know, I look at him and wonder how many other lives got ruined the same way, just so guys like Devereaux can line their pockets. I don't want that to happen to anyone else, not in my neighborhood."
Kate smiled and nodded. "That's pretty much the reason I became a cop. I think I lost sight of that at some point. It's good to have a little reminder now and then." She put a hand on his arm. "It takes a lot of guts to do what you're doing."
"Look, I know you thought I just did this to get you to like me, and maybe that did have a little to do with it at first, but I just wanted you to know it was about more than that."
Kate smiled slightly and cocked her head. "So you don't want me to like you?"
Milo gave an embarrassed laugh for a moment and looked at her. "Kate, I mean I..." He sighed and gave a wistful smile as he confessed. "I think you're amazing. And I know a guy like me could never--"
Milo suddenly found himself unable to say anything else as Kate had pulled herself up to him, placed her arms around him and cover his lips with her own. Even after she finally broke the kiss and pulled back, Milo still couldn't seem to find any words.
"Guess we had more to talk about then I thought." He finally said after a few moments, with a nervous smile.
Kate laughed for a moment before her look turned serious. "Look, you're probably going to have to testify at the trial and this could get complicated for a while. I need you to do something for me, all right?"
"Okay." Milo said, nodding.
"I want you to just lay low until the bust tomorrow." She put a hand on his cheek. "And then find me afterwards, okay? We'll talk then."
Milo nodded. "Okay, but what do you want me to--"
Kate silenced him by placing two fingers over his lips. "Just find me afterwards, okay?"
Milo nodded again with a slight smile. "Okay."
Kate stepped back, keeping her eyes on Milo as the two of them started off in opposite directions, each trying to hide the smile growing on their face...
"I don't know what happened to him after that." Kate blinked back tears but couldn't keep one from rolling down her face. "It's still hard to think about it. I hadn't been back to that alley since he was killed. I finally worked up the nerve to go back there and..." She gestured to the bruises on her face and the sling her arm was in.
Lilly simply nodded sympathetically.
Kat leaned forward. "Wait, you said Milo called you to go there?"
Kate nodded.
Kat turned to Lilly. "Greg said Milo got a page signaling him to come to the alley."
Lilly looked down, then back at Kat. "So someone else lured him back to the alley that night. Someone who knew about the meeting place, someone who knew the signal to send." Suddenly feeling uneasy, she turned to Kate. "Who else knew about it?"
Sergeant Dan McKinley turned from the two officers he'd been talking to and smiled as he saw Lilly and Stillman walking towards him from the other end of the hospital hallway.
McKinley extended his hand to Stillman. "I heard you caught the guy. I just wanted to say thanks."
Stillman didn't smile or take his hand. Instead he turned to the two officers. "Can you guys give us a minute?" Lilly and Stillman watch them walk off, then turned back to McKinley.
"Must've been hard." Lilly finally said, with just a trace of contempt. "Seeing her beaten and unconscious like that, knowing she was paying the price for something you did."
"What are you talking about?"
"We know somebody lured Milo to that alley." Stillman said, giving him a cold stare. "Somebody who knew the signal to get him there, somebody who'd be in the right position to make a ballistics report disappear."
"Wait, you think I had something to do with this?" McKinley asked with a look of disbelief.
"We've also heard you had a bit of a temper, especially with a couple of drinks in you." Lilly leaned closer. "You have a couple of drinks that night?"
"Watch it." McKinley snarled. "You're talking to a sergeant."
"And you're talking to a lieutenant!" Stillman snapped. "Now you practically owed that case to Milo and you paid him back with a bullet in his skull and I wanna know why!"
"I didn't owe him anything!" McKinley suddenly barked. "I worked for a year to bring Devereaux in! Me! You don't get to come in at the last minute and take the credit! That doesn't make you a hero! It doesn't mean you deserve a girl like her!" McKinley stopped himself on the last word but Lilly and Stillman both heard it anyway.
"Her?" Lilly asked as McKinley turned away.
"Kate?" Stillman asked after a moment. "This was all about Kate?"
McKinley looked up at Stillman, then closed his eyes and looked down again. "This... this job, it killed my marriage. I never thought I'd find someone who understood the things we have to see and do. Then I met Kate. I mean, yeah, she was good-looking, but it was more than that. She understood it." A slight smile appeared on his face and his gaze seemed to be on something far away. "I never knew anyone like her. I would've given anything to be with her."
"But you were her sergeant." Stillman said, solemnly. "You knew she'd never go for that."
"But she would go for Milo." added Lilly.
McKinley's look turned bitter. "Every once in a while, she'd bring him into the station. I'd have to listen to them telling these old high school stories, her laughin' at his stupid jokes. I thought I could just put up with him until we cleared the case. Then we'd be done with him and we could just pass him off to the D.A." He sighed. "Then, that night, she comes in after meeting him that last time, going on and on about him, like I wanted to hear any of it..."
Lilly nodded. "You figure maybe Milo's gonna be sticking around."
McKinley shook his head in disbelief. "I couldn't take it. I went to Jones', threw a couple back, and then I remembered I had the number for his pager." He looked at Stillman. "I didn't go there looking to hurt him, but when I got there..." McKinley closed his eyes as a pained look formed on his face. "He took everything from me. Without trying to, without even meaning to, he just took everything..."
The shots of whiskey he'd drank made it a bit harder than usual to walk straight, but McKinley kept his composure as he walked into the alley. The little patience he had was already ebbing away when Milo appeared from around the corner and rushed towards him, looking surprised to see him.
"Sergeant McKinley?" Milo asked, concern in his voice. "What's going on? Where's Kate? Is she all right?"
Just hearing Milo say her name seemed to make his blood boil, but he swallowed the feeling as best he could. "She's fine. She went home."
"Oh." Milo sighed in relief and smiling slightly. "Then what is it?"
"Look, we need to talk." McKinley said. "I know you and Kate have been getting kind of close lately."
"Yeah?" Milo answered, suddenly feeling uncomfortable.
"Look, she got a lot on her mind right now. She's not in any frame of mind to be making any decisions like that now, and she doesn't need anyone confusing her."
"She didn't seem confused to me." Milo said, giving McKinley a suspicious look.
"Hey!" McKinley barked, letting his words slur a bit. "You hear what I said? She doesn't need you filling her head with anything!"
"What are you talking--" Milo suddenly recoiled and placed a hand over his mouth and nose as he got a whiff of McKinley's breath. "Wow! You're uhhh... you're really drunk."
"You just stay the hell away from her, all right!?" McKinley's voice was rising noticeably in pitch. "You can't have her!"
"What?" Milo just looked at him, unable to think of anything else to say.
"You think you deserve her cause you turned up with a few tips on your boss? Huh?" Without warning, he gave Milo a hard shove, though Milo managed to stay on his feet. "You think that makes you a hero? It doesn't! That's just dumb luck!"
Milo steeled himself and looked straight at McKinley. "I wasn't doing all this to be a hero, or to get her. That's not what this was about."
McKinley gave him a condescending nod. "Oh, okay, smart guy, what's it about then?"
Milo just shook his head. "You wouldn't understand."
McKinley didn't even try to hide the anger growing on his face.
"Go home." Milo said in a soft but serious tone. "Sleep this off." Before McKinley could think of something to say in response, Milo had already turned away and was walking off.
"Don't you walk away from me!" McKinley yelled to Milo, who didn't stop or respond. "Don't you walk away from me!" He yelled louder.
"Don't you--" McKinley trailed off, suddenly looking down and pulling out his gun. The drinks didn't seem to affect his aim as he pointed his weapon at Milo and fired off a round. The shot hit Milo in the spine, pitching him forward and landing face-first on to the pavement.
McKinley simply stood there, gun still in his extended hand, and watched. Milo, a blood stain on his back growing larger almost by the second, was feebly attempting to crawl away in the direction he'd been walking. His legs didn't seem to be moving. Whether this was from being paralyzed or simply from pain, McKinley wasn't sure. Milo didn't say anything, his labored breathing and occasional wince of pain being the only sounds he made.
When McKinley finally found himself able to move again, he lowed his gun and walked over to Milo, knowing he had no choice. Milo didn't look up at him, much to his relief, but instead kept trying to crawl to safely.
McKinley took several deep breaths and squared his jaw as he raised the gun again. His face had a pained look as he aimed the gun at the back of Milo's head and squeezed the trigger...
("Somewhere Out There" - Our Lady Peace)
In the lobby of the police building, Kate, still bruised and bandaged, stepped inside and watched from a distance as Scotty and Vera walked the handcuffed Greg towards the doors. His head down, ignoring glares from the other cops staring at him, Greg didn't appear to see Kate as he passed her by. Kate's look stayed neutral as she watched him leave, not sure what she was supposed to feel.
Turning her head back, Kate watched Stillman and Jeffries following the same path, escorting McKinley, also in handcuffs. Her neutral look melted into one of hurt and betrayal as McKinley looked up at her. He looked back at her in shame for a few moments, before lowering his head. Kate didn't take her eyes off of him until passed through the doors...
Tyrone smiled as he ran down the street, faster and harder than usual. He wasn't sure if the events of the past few days were what had given him this new energy or not, but he knew that marathon couldn't come soon enough...
Sitting on the couch in his dingy apartment, Jay had a pained look on his face as he wrapped the rubber tube around his arm. The look got worse as he pulled the last vial from his hiding place, as if a part of him seemed aware of what he was doing. As Jay injected the needle into his arm, he only hoped that feeling would go away...
Getting off the teacup ride at the carnival, Hector picked up his young daughter and carried her over to a bench where the girl's mother was waiting. Hector smiled and placed a hand on his wife's belly just in time to feel a kick. Holding both his wife and daughter's hands with his own, Hector walked off, content as ever...
From her car, Lilly sat, staring intently at the hospital's emergency entrance. Finally turning away after a few moments, she forced her gaze forward, started the car, and drove off...
Pulling out a black marker, Stillman wrote the word CLOSED on the lid of the box. He stacked it in with the others and looked at it for just a moment, before walking off...
Walking into the alley with Kat and Scotty watching closely, Kate crouched down as much as her injuries would allow and placed the flowers on the pavement. She looked up to see the tall, thin young man walking by from several feet away, hands in his pockets, giving her a warm smile.
Standing up and feeling uninjured just for a moment, Kate smiled back at Milo and watched as he continued walking away, until he faded away completely.
THE END