Wednesday Morning
Major Crimes Bullpen

Two very weary detectives exited the elevator and walked across the hall into the Major Crimes bullpen.

Blair picked up their coffee cups and headed for the break room while Jim gathered their notes on the robberies. They met at the door to Simon's office and entered at their Captain's invitation.

"So, how did it go yesterday?" Simon asked, once they had settled into chairs at his desk.

"We didn't really find a lot." Jim told him. "His sister told us that he hung out with a Marcus Wilson and some other guys from the mall. But there wasn't anything in his room to connect him with the robberies."

"Right now, the only connection we have," Blair continued, "is that his friend, Wilson, works at the electronics store at the mall that was robbed. So it's possible that if Sean was somehow involved, that maybe Wilson is too."

A knock on the door interrupted them. At Simon's invitation, the door opened and Joel Taggart stepped in. "Excuse me, Captain. Jim? There's a young lady out here that says she needs to talk to you and Blair. Her name is Shelly Milner. She says it's very important."

"What?" Jim turned to look out the window to see a young woman sitting at his desk. She accepted a cup of coffee from Rafe and continued staring at nothing.

Blair moved to stand beside him. "That's, Shelly Milner all right."

"Let's go see what she wants to tell us." Jim led the way out of Simon's office to his desk. "Miss Milner?"

Shelly Milner looked up with red eyes that clearly showed a lack of sleep. She took another sip of coffee before setting the cup down on Jim's desk. "Detective Ellison. Is there somewhere we can talk? I've been thinking about our conversation yesterday, about who would want to hurt Sean, and I think I've remembered something."

Jim nodded. "Of course. Let's go down here to an empty interview room, it'll be quieter. You remember my partner, Detective Sandburg?"

She nodded and shook Blair's hand. "Yes. Hello Detective."

Blair placed a hand on Shelly's arm and gently led her to the interview room. "Do you need anything else to drink? More coffee, or some tea?"

"Thanks, I'm fine." She shook her head. "You asked me yesterday about Sean's friends and if I knew of anyone that would want to hurt my brother. At the time, I didn't. But last night I got to thinking about it and remembered someone he had an argument with."

Glancing at Blair to make sure he was taking notes, Jim prompted. "Why don't you start at the beginning and tell us what you remember."

"Sean spent a lot of time hanging around with his best friend from high school, Marcus Wilson. They got along fine. They argued, but as friends. But then Marcus brought someone new over. His name was Evans. There was something odd about him. Menacing. I didn't trust him and made it a point to not be around when he was there."

"What was he like? How was he menacing?" Jim asked.

"He was older than both Marcus and Sean. He never smiled and he never stayed long when he was there. He'd come in, hand them a large envelope, talk for a bit and leave."

"Do you know what they talked about?"

"No. I only saw them. I was never close enough to hear what was being said. I'm sorry."

Blair patted her arm. "That's okay, Shelly. What you're telling us is a big help. Go on."

"Well, Monday night I heard Sean come in, then about twenty minutes later, Marcus arrived. They went to the garage and I couldn't hear what they were saying. Then a while later I went to the kitchen and heard voices in the garage. Angry voices. I looked out the window and Evans was there, arguing with Sean. Sean didn't look happy and Evans just looked very angry."

"What was Marcus doing?"

"Now that I think about it, Marcus wasn't there. He must have left before Evans got there. If he was there, he was quiet and I couldn't see him. I only heard Evans and Sean."

"What happened next?"

Shelly stared at the table. "I don't know." She whispered. "I went back upstairs, not wanting to get involved in Sean's business. I'm only older by a year and we don't get involved in each other's business. Maybe if I had..." her voice trailed off.

Blair moved to sit beside her and placed his arm around her shoulders. "No, don't think like that. There's nothing you could have done. If Evans is the man who killed your brother, then interrupting could have gotten you killed as well. You've done the right thing, by not interrupting and coming to us with what you know."

Jim gave her a few moments to collect her thoughts before continuing. "Is there anything else? You didn't happen to see what he was driving? Could you give us a description of Evans?"

"I'm not sure what he was driving that night, but one time I saw a van in the driveway. A dark green van. As for what he looks like, I only met him up close one time." She paused, trying to remember, shaking her head. "I'm sorry. Not enough to really describe. He looked older than Sean or Marcus, which seemed odd to me. At first I thought he might be someone they worked with."

Wednesday Afternoon
Simon's office, Major Crimes

"So what do we have?" Simon asked the group of people sitting at the table in his office.

"According to what Shelly told us, we can connect Evans to Sean. They were seen together arguing. But we don't have a motive, or even a clear indication that Evans would be a suspect." Megan read from her notes.

"Other than they were seen arguing the night that Milner was killed." Jim reminded the Inspector. "That makes Evans our top suspect at this point. Him and Marcus."

"The green van. Shelly saw Evan's driving a green van when he was at their house. Any bets that it's the same green van that Jim saw at Westlake Mall on Monday night?" Blair added.

"That's a stretch, Chief."

"I know. But Sean was found with jewelry from Monday night's robbery in his pocket. What if it was put there after he was killed, to connect him to the robberies."

"Why do that? If not for the jewelry, there wouldn't be any reason to connect Milner's death to the mall robberies. More than likely, if the two are connected, the killer didn't know the jewelry was there," Jim pointed out.

Wednesday late night
Westlake Mall

"You can't be serious." Marcus stared in shock at the older man driving the van. "You want us to pull tonight's job? Without Sean?"

Evans shrugged. "I'm just following my orders. As you should. Mr. Anders wants us to continue with tonight's plans."

"Uh-huh. Not without Sean. We need four people to pull this off." Kevin added his objections to those made by Marcus.

"We've gone over how to handle it. There isn't time to get someone else. Now get your gear and get ready to go in." Evans stopped the van near the loading dock entrance.

Marcus, Kevin and Andy gave each other uneasy looks. Each was hoping that one of the others would be able to say something to stop the game.

"Well?" Evans' voice broke the silence. "Get going. We're on a schedule here."

Silently the three young men gathered their gear and climbed out of the van. Marcus checked around for anyone nearby. When he didn't see anyone, he pulled a copy of the master key from his pocket and led the way into the mall. A small voice in the back of his mind told him that maybe Sean had been right in wanting to quit, but he pushed the thought aside and slipped into the darkened mall.

"Anything?" Blair whispered his voice barely audible to compensate for Jim's hearing.

"Other than a television that was left on in Sears and a radio playing in the back of the bookstore, nothing." His partner murmured, "oh and the clocks in 'It's About Time."

"Don't focus on that. The last thing you need is to be listening to the clock store when all those clocks start chiming at the same time."

"Good point."

The two kept moving silently, stopping to peer into each store, looking for any signs that the security gates had been tampered with or that the thieves were in the mall. Simon had units standing by, but they had yet to move in so as not to spook the thieves and give away that the detectives were inside the mall.

Several minutes later Jim stopped, stretching out with his hearing. "There," he murmured, trying to follow the faint sounds with his sight but unable to because of the bends and turns in the hallways. "They're here and it sounds like they are somewhere at the opposite end of the mall. I can't tell what store because I can't see that far with the walls."

With Blair close behind him, Jim quickly led them to the upper level of the mall. As they entered the wing, Jim stopped again to pinpoint the sounds of drawers opening and items being put into cloth bags. "This way, Chief. They're split up between the three stores at the far end."

Blair looked around for possible escape routes to be covered. "Can you tell if they are ready to come out? Or who is going to come out first?"

Jim concentrated, letting his hearing guide his eyesight. He led his partner silently down the hallway until they had stopped in the shadows almost directly across from the three stores in question. The detective in him noted that the suspects were good; anyone else would never have spotted the intruders. But the Sentinel could pick out the dark shapes as bags were filled with merchandise.

He leaned close to his partner. "There. The Candle Factory. He's nearest the door, as though he's getting ready to come out."

The two detectives moved to stand against the wall, out of sight of the glass window that made up the front of the store. Jim heard the door open smoothly and as the thief stepped out, Jim grabbed his arm.

"Hold it right there. Cascade PD. You're under arrest for robbery."

The young man yelped and attempted to pull free from Jim's grasp, only to find himself pushed up against the window. "Let go of me, man. Guys!"

Jim quickly cuffed the suspect and barely managed to dodge out of the way as another person came at him from behind, swinging a black cloth bag. He reached for his assailant only to miss and land on the floor. Behind him he heard scuffling as Blair struggled with the third member of the group. Jim's suspect was running down the hallway for the center of the mall.

"Chief! Call Simon, tell him to move everyone in now!" Jim yelled as he ran after Marcus, thinking Blair was behind him. The sound of a slamming door told him otherwise. He focused his sight just in time to see Blair running down the hallway to close in on the third suspect who had pulled away from the detective.

Trusting his partner to handle himself, and after making sure that the captured suspect wouldn't escape, Jim took off after his own fleeing suspect, whose slim, dark shape had already reached the mall atrium.

The Sentinel chased the figure around the balcony overlooking the center of the mall and wasn't surprised when the man ran for the escalator at the far side. Realizing there wasn't a faster way down, Jim followed, and jumped the final uneven steps at the bottom of the escalator. He looked around quickly, hearing rather than seeing his suspect run towards a construction platform in the atrium's center, next to the elevator.

He focused on the suspect just in time to see the length of metal piping that the suspect scooped up and swung towards the detective. Jim dodged easily, jumping back out of the way. But with the force of the swing, the smaller figure couldn't stop the metal pipe from sliding out of his hands. Before either could move, the heavy pipe had flown from the suspect's hands into the glass casing of the elevator with devastating effects.

The all-glass elevator that was the centerpiece of Westlake Mall came crashing down around the two men. Jim turned away to avoid being hit by the flying glass. As the lower panes shattered, the upper panes of glass began to break away and succumb to the pull of gravity, bringing more glass down. Glass was still falling as Jim spun, looking for the suspect, mentally cursing if he'd gotten away.

"Jim!" Blair's voice cut through the sound of crunching glass. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine. Where's..." Jim looked for his partner, staring at what he found.

Blair walked towards Jim, carefully stepping over broken glass, to check on the older detective. Sitting on the floor away from the major damage was an unhappy looking young man, handcuffed to the railing at the base of the elevator. Jim looked at his partner, "What did I miss?"

"Not much." Blair told him. "I caught my guy as he came off the stairs. By the time I could reach you, he," Blair motioned towards the subdued suspect, "had already swung and glass was going everywhere. He tried running, but not only did he not see me, he slipped on broken glass. He literally fell at my feet."

Jim shook his head in amazement as he heard Simon entering the mall with their backup.

"Ellison! What the hell happened here?" Simon nearly bellowed. "And are you alright?"

"I'm fine, Captain." Jim continued to shake bits of glass from his hair and clothes. "We've got three suspects. The one here, there's one upstairs at the far end." He stopped, looking at his partner.

"The third is back that way at the base of the circular staircase." Blair waited as Simon sent the patrolmen to pick up the suspects to transport them to the station. "That's all that were in here. How about outside?"

Captain Banks sighed. "Not quite as successful. There was a green van that we assume may have been part of this, but it got away from the patrol car. We did get a tag number this time and it was not surprising that it was registered to Evans."

"So we can definitely connect him to the robberies, but we still don't have solid proof to connect him to Milner's murder."

"He did it." All three turned at the mumbled voice from behind them.

"What? Do you know that for sure?" Blair asked, as he moved to crouch beside their suspect.

"I was at Sean's house after he said he wanted to quit. Evans came and threatened Sean. Said he wouldn't allow any of us to quit, that it would ruin the game. We didn't really think he'd go that far. But then Sean ends up dead." Marcus's voice trailed off as the officers came to help him stand up.

Blair stood as the officers led Marcus and the other two young men away. "Game? Someone thought this was all a game?"

"Perhaps to whoever is in charge. Either Evans or someone higher up." Banks looked over his two detectives. "Sandburg, get your partner home and cleaned up. The reports can wait a few more hours till morning."

Jim looked at his watch. "Captain, it is morning. As in 3:00am."

"That's what I meant. The reports can wait a few hours till the two of you can get in and write them." He smiled as he ushered his detectives out. "Unless you want to stay here and help sweep up glass."

"That was not my fault, Captain." Jim protested. "I just dodged the pipe. The suspect was the one that threw it and it hit the glass." He looked around. "But I'm still not staying to sweep it up." He followed his chuckling partner outside.

Early Thursday Morning
Warehouse, unknown location

"Mr. Evans. So nice to see you this morning."

Evans wasn't really surprised to hear the sarcastic voice of his employer when he pulled the van into the warehouse and stepped out of the van. Anders was sitting in his customary spot at the table in the empty warehouse. He had papers and charts spread out across the table as if he had been there for most of the evening. Only Evans knew the man had not been there when he picked up the van for the night's job.

"Good evening, Sir." Evans pocketed the van keys and moved to stand in front of the desk. He stood, waiting, until he thought the man at the desk had forgotten his presence. Then Anders spoke, his voice low and full of anger, for the first time since Evans had known him.

"Mr. Evans, would you care to explain just what the hell happened tonight?"

Evans shifted nervously. "Honestly, Sir, I don't know. There was no sign of the police when we arrived. Everything went as planned and on schedule until the detectives inside caught Kevin. By then it was too late so I went to the escape plan and got out. Had to avoid some cop cars, but I know I wasn't followed here. I do know my job."

Anders studied the man he had hand picked for the job. "I wonder about that now. At any rate, it doesn't matter. Circumstances have made it impossible to continue my game here. It's time to move to another city. I was getting bored here anyway."

"But... but what about the boys the police took into custody? They can identify me and they may be able to identify you. Granted they only met you the one time, but that could be enough." Evans watched as Anders calmly began stacking paper and putting it away in his briefcase. "Mr. Anders?"

"Yes, Evans. Oh, the young men will not be a problem. Even as we speak, they are being informed by someone in my employ that they never saw me, have never heard of me and they will not live to regret it if they say otherwise. The only person they will admit to knowing is you.

"Me?" Evans' voice almost squeaked in shock.

"Yes, you. You see, I really don't like it when someone messes up my games. So few things challenge me these days, except for their planning and execution. My entertainment is now ruined, and that is inexcusable." Anders casually straightened the papers in his briefcase, before he reached to pick up his coat. "And in my game, mistakes are not tolerated."

Evans opened his mouth to apologize, his eyes going wide as he watched Anders reach into the case to pull out a gun. He heard the shot but was dead before he realized he was hit.

Anders shrugged and placed the gun back in the briefcase. He put on his coat and strolled out of the warehouse to his car parked in the shadows. Within moments he was gone.