~*~*~* : Trusted Hearts CH: One: ~*~*~*~

Michelle O' Hara was working late at the Boston Herald were she was one of the editors. She had been working there for the last four years, before that she lived in New York and worked as a reporter for the Times. She ran away from her old life three yeas ago because of the mistake she made one night. That mistake cost her a lot.

" Hey Michelle, you're still here?" April asked as she stood outside Michelle's office. She wrote an advice column for the paper for the last five years.

" Yeah you know me." Michelle said as she fixed the stack of papers on her desk, she looked up. " Are you headed home?" She asked.

" Yeah. I want to catch the kids before they head to bed and maybe get some alone time with the husband." April said with a smile and causing Michelle to smile. " You get out of here as well, stop working so damn late." She said before she walked away.

Michelle's smile faded, no one understood why she worked so late and never went home, there was nothing at home. She went back looking down at the articles she needed to go over before it was printed. She loved her job because she was go at it and because it gave her hours of work.

Michelle placed her glasses down on her desk and sat back in her seat, closing her eyes. Hours of endless reading came with an endless headache. When she would close her eyes she would see his face, that painful look of betrayal. The images faded and her eyes shot open when she heard the piercing scream coming from what sounded like the parking lot.

She jumped from her seat and looked out the two story high window, she saw nothing but there wasn't much light, only a couple of overhead lights so the parking lot wasn't completely black. She didn't want to over react but she was beginning to get scared. Michelle grabbed her cell phone, just in case and headed down stairs. She pushed open the doors and looked out to the dark parking lot. The image of April saying she was headed home flooded her mind, she became scared for her and dialed 911.

Michelle prayed she was just hearing things and nothing was wrong. The operator told her that the cops were on their way. A couple of minutes she heard the sirens. But she also heard more noises, a car hauled ass out of the parking lot. The only sound left was a faint sob, Michelle thought about it for a second if it was wise to follow the sound. 'Get a grip!' She said to her self, making her legs move she began to follow the sound. Aprils car came into view, Michelle became more scared but the sirens were getting closer so that eased her mind a little, very little. She walked up to Aprils car where the sound was strongest.

" No!" Michelle screamed as she covered her mouth with her hands. Tears flooded her eyes as she shook her head in disbelief.

The police car lights flooded the parking lot. Michelle saw flash lights roaming the area. She heard a cop asking if anyone was around.

" Over here." Michelle called out as best she could through the sobs because of what she was looking at. Two uniform cops walked up to her, one looked down and quickly radio for back up explaining there was a homicide. The other cop walked up to Michelle and asked if she was ok, when she didn't answer the young cop pulled her away from the scene over to sit in one of the police cars till the Detectives on there way were ready to start asking some questions.

The two cops taped off the crime scene with yellow tape. Michelle finally took control of her emotions and stopped crying but still her hands trembled.

The parking lot came to life with the oversized lamps the cops that had just gotten there brought.

" Miss?" The young cop from before softly said to her. Michelle looked up and met his brown eyes.

" Yes?"

" This is Detective Graham, he's going to ask you some questions." He explained, Michelle nodded in acknowledgment of the taller older man standing in front of her. The younger cop walked back to where he would be needed.

" Clancy Graham." The older gentleman said holding out his hand.

" Michelle O' Hara." She softly said as she shook his hand.

" My partner should be here soon when he gets here we're going to ask questions of what happened, what you heard." He explained to her.

" Ok." Michelle said. She was appreciative to the older gentleman for going out of his way to be nice to her. Michelle lowered her head still having the killer headache just worse now, she stood outside the car because she couldn't handle sitting any longer. The cop turned away and called out to one of the other cops. " Where the hell is Malloy?"

Michelle's head quickly shot up. Malloy? It couldn't had been who she thought, he lived hours way, the last she knew. There had to be other homicide Detectives named Malloy, she prayed it was just a someone with the same last name. When Graham stopped talking to the uniform cop and turned toward her, Michelle couldn't help but ask.

" What's Detective Malloy's first name?" Michelle asked. She was still spooked but she had asked firmly, she voice stopped shaking. Graham looked at her oddly, the question seemed different.

" Jason Malloy." He simply said.

Michelle's heart started to race more then the last time she saw Jason, which she didn't believe was possible. Hoping that they had the same name but wasn't the same man seemed a little too far fetched.

" Finally." Graham said. Michelle felt tears sting her eyes not because of a friends murder, from seeing him after so long. He looked as too die for as the last time they saw each other, pale sky blue eyes. Tall frame, he was much taller then anyone else there at 6'4. A mix of dark and light blonde hair, a little longer then the last time Michelle saw him.

Graham said at they stood in front of her. " This is---"

Jason finally saw the woman's face. " Mike." He said with his voice as well as his eyes full of shock.

Michelle avoided his eyes. " Hi." She somewhere inside her managed to say.

Graham saw the intense look between the two. " Do you guys know each other?"

Michelle spoke first and fast. " Yeah but it's been a long time."

" Four years." Jason pointed out, his eyes never left her. Before anyone could say another word, the younger cop from before walked up to them saying. " Sir I think you better see this." Handing Graham a slip of paper.

Graham took the paper and read it out loud to his partner and who he realized this had a lot to do with when he scanned the note over.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Isabelle