"Well, tell me?! How did it go?" Asked Warren somewhat excitedly when Terry walked in the front door. His crooked smile at her red lipstick and quick glance at her lips, didn't go unnoticed.

"The captain put me back on duty, starting tomorrow." Terry responded. Her face wasn't exactly matching her response. He was expecting her to be happy about it but she seemed almost perturbed.

"Its good news, isn't it?" he searched her face for some sign of answer. None was forthcoming. She just continued walking until she was back in her office and sorting paperwork.

"Look, Warren. I know getting back to work is great. But it comes with problems and issues. Now I won't have as much freedom to work on these files. Hayes is pissed at me for going to the captain and not waiting out my suspension. Hayes never reported me to Jensen. I don't know if that's good or bad. I just know that now that I have gone above him, he is going to watch every little move I make from now on." Terry stared straight into Warrens eyes with that point. She was never one to shy away from anything, but that much focus from her is equivalent to full emotion from anyone else. Warren knew this.

"What about the missing persons and the connections? What did he say about that?" he inquired.

"I never got to that. As soon as he found out I was on suspension he wanted to get to the bottom of it. I could hear him and Hayes in the office and he wasn't happy. After that all I could do was exit and get here." With that she let out a big sigh.

"Ok Ok Ok...little wrinkle. We can work around this. I still have a week until I have to get back to SJPD. This is actually good. You can get at the files in the precinct and I can go out into the field and question some of the people you didn't get around to. That way we can attack this thing from both sides. We, at least have an idea what the guy looks like. If all of these are connected like we think they are. I can use that to see if anyone recognizes the picture. I will use the computer and try to clean it up a bit."

Warrens quick mind was formulating a plan. Now he needed Terry to agree.

"You have no jurisdiction here, Warren. And I can't have you risking your badge in San Jose to work on cases here in Bozeman. We have to find another way. You already found a commonality in these files once. Maybe as I bring more evidence back here, you will find more. Lets' focus on that for now and go from there." Terry was being practical again.

Warren intended to follow her advice, except in his own way. He was still going to poke around town, but just not as a police officer, just as a citizen. That way he wasn't going to risk anything and he would be extra careful not to involve Terry in any way.

The next morning, Terry arrived at the precinct, on time and ready to work. She went straight to her desk. In the centre of her desk was a note, written in red lipstick, 'welcome back.' When she opened her desk drawer, inside were several tubes of the same shade of lipstick. She grabbed as many as she could and dumped them inside her garbage can, along with the note.

A few minutes later, Anderson walked up to her.

"Welcome back, Smythe." His knowing half smile only served to anger Terry.

But of course, she kept it inside, and looked up at him saying, "Morning Anderson. I see the color of your nose hasn't changed from its usual shade of brown. Perhaps I can recommend some concealer for you?"

Anderson was never very quick and he stumbled on his words for a moment, "Uhm yea ok, look. I don't want any animosity between us. Let's just let bygones be bygones and try to work together. Hayes asked me to take you out on more crime scenes. He said to let you do your best."

"Sure, of course Anderson." Terry replied knowing damn well nothing was going to change.

That day they went out on a couple of break ins. One residential and one business. Terry did do her best and was able to find pertinent evidence that otherwise would not have been found.

When back at the precinct, she started to work on her reports. She was going to make sure everything was perfect. Not any I undotted or any T uncrossed. She put the completed reports on Hayes desk and took note of the time she did so. Turns out, her first day back was a long one. Terry thought about checking the missing person files again to see if any new evidence had come in. There was one cell phone report due to come back on the Strabynski file. Maybe it was in there by this time.

While still at her desk, central dispatch had patched a phone call into the pit, and there being no one else to take the call at that moment she grabbed the line.

"Bozeman PD, Detective Smythe speaking." She had her pen and note pad at the ready.

"Good evening, Detective this is Lieutenant Leven of West Yellowstone Police, is there a Sargeant Hayes available?"

"He's gone for the day; can I assist you?" Terry answered. Gut instincts were the best, and the timing was perfect.

"Perhaps, I am following up on a possible poaching case from Big Sky Canyon and I noticed that you have had a few missing persons cases. It might not seem related but we aren't sure if the vehicle had an animal or a person in it. So, we thought we would check out any possible leads. Do you have anyone working on the group of missing persons?" Came the question from the Lieutenant on the other end of the phone.

Terry's heart skipped a beat. How would she handle this, and without causing any more riffs at BPD.

"As a matter of fact, I have been working those cases. What can you tell me?" Terry answered in a rare state of excitement.

"Did you have anyone go missing last week that's not yet public knowledge?" Leven wasn't going to give his whole case away in one phone call.

The outer door to the pit was being buzzed at that moment and Terry didn't want to lose this lead, or let it get to Hayes.

"Listen, Lieutenant Leven, I'd love to discuss this further. Can I come out to you and we can compare notes?" Terry asked in a calm voice that belied the incredible energy coursing through her.

"I'm not sure that is necessary at this point, can you just pass my message on to Sergeant Hayes?" His authority was quite obvious in his voice.

"Absolutely, what is the best number to get a hold of you?" Terry answered just as 2 street cops entered the room with Hayes on their heels.

Terry took down his number and the moment Leven hung up, she said to the room, "I'm sure it's just a cat that knocked over your garbage ma'am. But I'd be happy to come out and take a look."

Hayes, overhearing that last comment, waited for Terry to hang up and said, "Now get out there Smythe and show off all your excellent detective skills. And if you get a picture of fluffy, we will be sure to post it on our most wanted wall."

The two beat cops chuckled at that comment. Terry, responded with, "Yes sir, will do. I will post it right next to your receipt for 10 tubes of cherry red lipstick." She stared him down as she exited the building with chuckles of laughter behind her.

She headed home immediately. She was looking forward to sharing her news with Warren.
Warren, she was getting quite used to having around. She was actually starting to like having someone in the house. Starting didn't mean ready to share her life, but starting to. Warren had a way of understanding her in ways no one else in her life had ever had. No one. That was a rare thing and the more time she was spending with him the more she was liking him. And that could be a dangerous thing.

"Well, how was the first day back on the job?" Warren asked with his bright crooked smile.

"Better than I thought." Replied the satisfied Terry. She shared about the lipstick in her drawer, the note and her retort to Hayes on her way out the door. Warren almost splits a gut hearing the story. He definitely appreciated her sense of humour, especially at the expense of Hayes, it made the joke twice as funny.

"The most interesting thing happened in the last few minutes there. I took a call from a Lieutenant Leven from West Yellowstone, a small cop station in the park a couple hours south of here. He has a lead I think may connect to our missing persons files. I'm going out there to talk to him in person. Maybe it's nothing and then again maybe it's the break we need."

After a brief discussion, it was decided Warren was going to come along. They were going to handle the entire situation with honesty. Maybe Leven would appreciate it and understand why they were working the case alone, and why someone from SJPD was involved at all. Tomorrow was going to be the day, so they packed up all their files and notes for the next morning, just in case they would be needed.

Hope was inside Terry, she just needed to solve these cases before anyone else went missing.