(The following week....Piano Factory Apartment House)

The phone woke him up. He picked up the receiver and muttered a sleepy "Hello?"

"Did you do what I asked?" It was her again.

"Yeah, I took care of it last night."

"Just like I said to?"

"Yeah, I followed all of your instructions."

"Good, now there's no way they can trace it."

"Now what?" he wanted to know.

"Now you stay out of sight and be ready to move on phase 3 when I say to. You have your groceries ordered in and stay out of sight. If Cameron sees you, it will all be over."

"Fine," he said and hung up.

Things had been pretty quiet around the Cory house for the past week. Well, as quiet as it could be with Iris under the roof. Rachel had decided to allow her to stay for 1 month. She thought it only fair, Iris being Mac's daughter and all. She had as much right to live in this house as anyone else. For one month. Amanda, Matt, Paulina and Carl were not pleased to have her here, but they respected Rachel decision and Even understood it to some extent.

Cameron, Gary and Joe had all tried their hardest to find out about the letter. The only prints found on it were Amanda's and Cameron's. The paper that it had been developed on was a common photographic paper that many photo labs used. The handwriting led them no where as well. All in all, the letter brought more questions as it had answers.

It was an uneasy period for Amanda. She was nervous all the time and jumped at the littlest noise. Cameron tried to reassure her as best he could, but she was still on edge. They told nobody, because they didn't want anybody else worrying about it. Joe had assured Amanda that he had somebody watching Ali all the time, wherever she went. Cameron had also planted one of his "spy toys" on Ali. When she was sleeping the night that the letter came, Amanda had taken Ali's necklace off of her, her shamrock necklace that she wore all the time and Cameron had planted a tiny homing device on her. So between the homing device and the police body guards, Ali was blissfully unaware that she was being protected against an unknown enemy. No other threats had come in any shape or form. It seemed as if it was all over.

But Cameron and Amanda knew better. They knew that it was only the beginning. And that was the worst part, the waiting. The waiting for what would happen.

Cameron tried to take her mind off the situation that they were in. He tried to talk to her about how they would redecorate the Carriage House when Joe and Paulina moved out. It would work for a little while. She would talk of hard wood floors and bathrooms done in sea-foam green and then she would remember and her worry would come back. It always came back.

Amanda walked into her "office" at home. It wasn't really an office, but just a computer with a desk and some files. It was there just in case she had to work at home. She didn't really use it that much anymore, she was too busy since her marriage with Cameron and Ali. But she hadn't been into BRAVA that much lately and she needed to check her e-mail. Cameron was still sleeping. Amanda knew that she had kept him awake and on edge the past few nights, so today when she noticed he had dozed off for once in a long time, she let him sleep. She sat down at the computer and waited as she was allowed online at the BRAVA main computer. She had 4 new messages.

The first few were just basic business, problems with the photo shoot in New York, questions about the fall fashion and finally about the main article for the next issue. Amanda replied to all the business problems one at a time, and then opened up the final e-mail. She stared at the computer screen, not knowing what to do, frozen in disbielf and fear. The message that was staring back on her screen was even worse than the previous letter:

Amanda screamed when she was finished reading. The door to her office flew open and Cameron burst in. He had obviously been still sleeping and had been awoken by Amanda's screams. He was still in his boxer shorts and his hair was matted and sticking up in bunches. He rushed over to Amanda.

"Amanda, what is it? What's wrong?"

"Look at the computer," Amanda replied in a trembling voice.

Cameron looked over at the screen and read the message that was waiting for Amanda. He then looked back at his wife who stood next to him trembling. He got up and held her as she clung to him.

"Okay, okay. This is what we're going to do. I'm going to make a copy of this and then we're going to call Joe." Cameron said.

"Who is doing this? What do they want?" Amanda was almost shrieking from fright.

"I don't know. Look, just sit down here. I'm gonna print it out and save it to a disk." Cameron preceded to do that. He then got on the extension phone and dialed Joe's number.

"Hi, Paulina, it's Cameron. Is Joe around? I really need to talk to him?" Cameron listened for a minute. "Yeah, I know it's early, but can you wake him? It's really important." He listened to her reply and then turned to Amanda. "She's waking him up now." Cameron rubbed Amanda's shoulder as she sat in the chair next to him. She stared blankly at the computer screen as it held it's ominous message.

"Yeah Joe, it's Cameron. Sorry to wake you. Yeah you can say something's wrong. We got a new message. No, this time it's e-mail. And at the end, theirs a direct threat to Ali. Yeah, come on over as soon as you can." Cameron listened for a few minutes then said good-bye and hung up. He turned once again to Amanda. "He's coming over. He wants us to wait right here for him. He'll be over in about 10 minutes." Cameron looked at Amanda who showed no signs that she heard him. Cameron put his hand over his eyes and rubbed the sleep out of them. Amanda continued to stare blankly into space. He was just about to try to talk to her again when she bolted out of the chair and looked over at him with a look of pure panic.

"Where's Ali?" she asked him.

"I don't know, but I'm sure...Amanda?"

But Amanda didn't wait to here what he had to say. She bolted out of the room down the hall towards her daughter's bedroom. She threw open the door and was confronted by and empty room, a bed with rumpled sheets, but no Ali. She ran to the bed and started searching around in the sheets, as if she would find Ali under a pillow or something.

"Amanda, Amanda, stop it." Cameron had come into the room and was trying to get a hold of Amanda, to stop her from tearing up Ali's room.

"I HAVE TO FIND HER!! ALI! ALI! WHERE ARE YOU? CAMERON DO YOU SEE HER? DO YOU KNOW WHERE SHE IS?" Amanda continued throwing aside the covers as he tried to grab her by the arms. "I HAVE TO FIND HER! ALI, WHERE ARE YOU?!?!?" Amanda ran to the closet and threw open the door. She didn't have time to search the closet as Ali suddenly appeared in the doorway.

"Mom, I'm right here. What are you yelling about?" Ali asked, puzzled by the sight and disarray in her room.

Amanda let out a laugh of relief and started to cross the floor to her daughter, but she was a little less than half there when she collapsed to the floor. Cameron rushed forward and picked her up as Ali stood there, not really knowing what to do.

"Ali, go find you Grandma." He said as he cradled Amanda in his arms.

"But..but," Ali sputtered.

"Just go!" Cameron shouted. "Bring her to our bedroom." Ali ran off and Cameron carried Amanda to their room. He laid her down on the bed and began patting, slapping her cheek softly. "Amanda, wake up! Come on Amanda, talk to me." He reached over to his night stand and picked up his glass of water. He splashed a little on her face. She turned her face and her eyes fluttered open. It was at that moment Ali rushed in followed by Rachel, Joe and Paulina. Rachel rushed to her daughter's side and held her hand.

"Cameron, what happened?" Rachel asked.

Cameron looked up and saw Ali and Paulina hovering near by. He made eye contact with Joe and Joe immeaditly understood. Cameron didn't want Paulina and Ali in here when he explained what happened. Joe turned around to his wife.

"Hey, Blue, why don't you and Ali go check in on the twins or something?

Okay?" Joe said. Paulina started to protest as did Ali, but Joe cut her off again. "I promise, it will only be a little bit longer." Finally a grumbling Paulina and Ali turned and walked toward the door. Ali went out first when Paulina turned around when Cameron called out her name.

"Don't leave Ali alone, okay? Not even for a second." Cameron said.

Paulina understood that what ever going on was serious and she nodded and then hurried up to catch up to Ali.

"Amanda, are you all right?" Cameron sat down on the bed next to his wife. She was still disoriented.

"Ali, Caiman. Where is she?" Amanda tried to sit up but Cameron gently pushed her down by the shoulders.

"Ali is fine. She's with Paulina. Okay? She's fine." Cameron said.

"Will someone please tell me what's going on?" Rachel asked, not liking the fact that she was being kept in the dark. Cameron looked over at Joe and shrugged his shoulders. Rachel would have to be told, there was no other way around it.

"We've been getting some disturbing messages, Rachel." Cameron said.

"Messages, what kind of messages?" Rachel was instantly on the alert, knowing that this was s serious situation.

"About a week ago, Amanda received a picture of the 2 of us that was taken in the park. Through a zoom lens, with out us knowing. On the bottom of the picture was the word "soon" written in big, black ink."

"And this happened a week ago? And nobody told me?" Rachel asked not liking that she had not been informed at all.

"We didn't tell anyone. Only Joe and Gary. But now there's a new message."

"Yeah Cameron, that's what I need to see." Joe piped in. He handed a glass of water that he had gotten from the bathroom to Amanda. She took it and sipped a little and lay back down. She was feeling drained.

"Yeah, it's... oh I left it in the office when I chased Amanda to Ali's room. Here, wait with her while I get it.' Cameron suddenly realized that he was in his boxer shorts, he grabbed a pair of sweat pants and pulled them on. He kissed Amanda on the cheek. "I'm going to go get the message and I'll be right back. Okay?" He kissed her again and she nodded, still not fully attentive. He stood up and turned to Joe. "You do not leave her alone." Cameron said it in such a way, with such a tone, that if it would have been anyone else, Joe would have been offended and shot back something. But Cameron was only trying to protect his wife and besides, Joe liked the fact that he was protective of his sister-in-law.

"I won't leave until you get back." Joe promised. Cameron rushed out and down to the office. He gathered up the disk that he had saved the e-mail and the print-out. He turned off the computer monitor just so no one could read the message and locked to door to the office. He rushed back down to the room and came in just as Amanda was getting out of bed. He rushed back to her side after he handed the note to Joe.

Joe took it and read it. He then handed it to Rachel to read. She did and gasped with the implications. Amanda just sat there. Joe took back the note and put it along with the disk in his pocket. He turned over to Amanda.

"Amanda, do you have anymore ideas about who is doing this to you?'

Just a head shake from Amanda.

"What about Iris? Did you give any thought to that?"

"Iris," exclaimed Rachel.

"How does she feel about Amanda, do you know Rachel?" Joe asked.

"Well she doesn't like any of us. We were never good enough for her. But I don't think..." Rachel trailed of and Cameron picked up.

"You don't think she's dangerous? Well she tried to kill Carl. Maybe she's out to take back Cory. Let me tell you, I don't think that she's giving us the straight arrow. She knew about my past. And if she's coming straight from jail, how did she know that. Unless she researched me first." Cameron was getting angry just thinking about Iris being responsible for Amanda's suffering and her in the same house.

"Rachel, what do you think about Iris?" Joe asked. "What do you think she's after?"

"The only thing that she cares about. Money and Cory Publishing."

"And that's all? How far do you think she would go to get it?' Cameron wanted to know.

"She wanted it so bad before that she tried to take it from her father and it almost killed him."

"You think she's after it again?"

"Yes, that's why she's here. So I can keep an eye on her. You know the old saying, keep your friends close and your enemies closer."

"You consider Iris an enemy to this family?" Joe asked.

"Oh yes, most defiantly," Rachel replied.

Joe looked over at Cameron and nodded. He picked up Cameron's gray T-shirt and threw it to him. "Well, Rachel, if you will be so kind as to sit and stay with Amanda, Cameron and I will go and find out just what Iris is doing back in Bay City. Come on Cam." The two men walked out of the room and down the hall to the staircase. Iris's room was on the third floor. They climbed up and paused just outside of her door.

"How do you want to play this?" asked Joe. "Do you want to tell her about the letters?"

"No. Let's just ask her a few questions. I don't think we should mention the letters yet. Just find out why she's here and what she wants." Cameron said and raised his hand to bang on the door.

No answer.

Cameron banged again on the door.

No answer.

Joe and Cameron looked at each other and Cameron shrugged. He turned the knob and opened the door. Iris was not in her bed, in fact she was no where in her room. The bed was messed as if someone had recently slept in it and the too was slightly messy. Clothes were every where. Cameron and Joe walked in. They looked around a little bit, careful not to disturb anything.

"Well, she's obviously not here now." Joe said.

"Yeah," Cameron agreed. He opened up the drawers while Joe searched a little in the closet. Still nothing incriminating showed up.

"God, what a pig," Joe said as the two walked back to the door.

"Yeah, defiantly. I was kind of hoping that something would turn up."

"Don't worry, when she gets back, I'll take her down to the station and question her."

"I'd like to be there Joe, if that's possible," said Cameron.

"Not wearing that, you won't," Joe said smiling.

"What are you talking about?" asked Cameron. Joe just kept smiling and pointed to Cameron's leg. One of Iris's silk blouses was clinging to his sweat pants. Cameron just plucked it off and gave Joe a dirty look for laughing. He balled it up and threw it. It hit a painting on the side of the wall. Cameron and Joe watched as the blouse fell to the floor, and a file from behind the painting slid down. They looked at each other and raced to get the fallen file.

"She must have taped up whatever it is behind the picture to make sure no one found it," said Cameron.

"What is it?" Joe asked as the 2 sat on the edge of the bed and looked into the document.

"It's all about Cory. And the family. It's everything that the company and the family went through since she's been gone. Look, here's stuff on Amanda, Ali, me, you, everybody's in here." Cameron and Joe thumbed through the thick file. It held reports on the finical state of BRAVA, newspaper clippings on Jasmine's kidnapping, articles on Joe's dismissal as police captain and an investigative report on Cameron. Among many other things.

"Do you two want to tell me what you think you are doing going through my room?" an irate voice behind them asked.

Cameron and Joe turned around to confront a very angry Iris. Joe stepped forward and said, "Iris, I'd like to take you down to the station to ask you some questions, if you don't mind."

continue"