“Have you called the police yet?”Walter Attwood asked from his office at Whitney Universty.

Ray Peterson shook his head as he glanced at Tate,”No,not yet. I figured it would be best to alert you to the situation first.”

“And Ed has no idea where Sloan is?”

“No,he came here about seven to pick her up for work and found the place trashed.”

Attwood slowly took his glasses off as he rubbed the bridge of his nose tiredly,”Let the police know what’s going on. Tell them its a missing person case that could possibly be a homicide.Nothing more.”

“Right.”Ray replied as he ended the conversation.

Peterson hit a familiar number to one of the few friends he still had left in the department. With a few terse sentantces Ray explained what had occured at Sloan’s and hung up before his contact could ask too many questions.

Ray turned his attention to Ed who was leaning his back against the small kitchen counter,head down. “The cops are on their way.”Peterson reported softly as he pocketed the phone.

Ed barely nodded,”You think she’s dead,don’t you?”He asked in a whisper.

Ray shook his head sadly,”I’m not sure,Ed.I don't want to belive that,but this looks bad,real bad.”

Tate raised his head and Ray could see the cold anger resting just beneath the surface,”If we’ve lost Sloan,Daniels is a dead man.”

Peterson turned to face him,”What makes you so sure that Tom is behind this? He’s no Randall Lynch,Ed......”

Tate finally met his friend’s gaze,”Sloan had something to tell him.”

Ray nodded,”You mentioned that earlier.What exactly did she have to tell him? Do you know what it was?”

Ed looked at the pile of debris that had once been his friend’s living room. A mound of brown fur caught his attention and Ed saw that it was connected to a small teddy bear lying near one of the over turned bookcases. “Sloan is pregnant.”

Lewis had sufficently killed any notion of Tom falling back to sleep. With a sigh Tom rose and showered and changed. Might as well go under the pretenses of tracking Ed down.

Maybe if he staked out Tate’s apartment for a few days Lewis would get off his back and allow him some breathing room. And perhaps a chance to see Sloan again.

That thought brought a smile to Tom’s face as he grabbed his car keys and left the small room.