"Is this true, Mrs. Connelly?" the judge asked.
"It is, Your Honor. She is indeed my daughter. I don't need the money and my husband doesn't deserve it."
"Very well, this case is dismissed." The judge pounded his gavel, stood up, and left the room.
In shock, Georgia turned to Austin, "Is that it?"
"That's it. As soon as the will is probated, everything is yours."
She lowered her eyes. "I would rather have my grandfather back."
"So would I," said Austin.
By the time Georgia stood up to leave, Laura's attorney was gone, but Laura was still standing next to the counsel table waiting for her.
"Georgia, can we meet somewhere and talk?" Laura asked.
She looked in her mother's sincere eyes for a moment and then looked away. "Someday, if…"
"If what?"
"If you check into a rehab."
Laura smiled. "Consider it done." When her daughter didn't rush away, Laura opened her arms. "Just once? I have waited twenty-two years to hold you."
Georgia nodded, hugged her tearful mother for a long moment, and then walked out of the courtroom. Tears were in her eyes too, but she quickly brushed them away. "What do I do now?" she asked as soon as Austin caught up.
"Now, I am going to take you home."
*
Cruising at an altitude of 28,000 feet, Michael sat in the copilot's seat in the Learjet and asked, "So why was that little girl in the back of the pickup truck so mad?"
Carl made sure the plane was on autopilot, glanced at his instrument panel and then leaned back to enjoy the flight. "Are you sure we never told you that story?"
"I'm positive."
From their office in the body of the jet, Jackie stuck her head through the doorway. "I have decided on our next case. It is a little boy, age three, taken from his stroller in a shopping mall."
"How long ago?" Michael asked.
"Six years. He is…"
"I thought we were going on vacation?" Carl interrupted.
"We don't need a vacation. Finding Georgia only took two weeks," Jackie said.
"And even then, we didn't find her," Carl put in.
"I hope our next case is that easy," Jackie muttered, as she went back to her seat. She glanced at the photograph on the wall of her own missing baby boy for a moment, and then went to work on their new case.
*
Austin sat beside Georgia in the backseat of the white limo and again kept his distance. He didn't say anything, and she didn't ask any questions.
It was such an awkward silence, that she thought of several things to say, but decided against all of them. She watched out the window as they left the city, passed through a pleasant suburb with nice houses, and soon the houses became estates. Finally, she could bear the silence no more. "Shall I always be riding in a limo?"