Chapter 19

Brent burned his tongue on his coffee the next morning when Reid came in later than ever. He assumed his partner was already downstairs. He watched Reid saunter over to the coffee in that long stride of his. When his partner patted him on the back and said “morning”, Brent was sure his jaw must have dropped. Smirking, he watched him make his coffee. Was he humming under his breath? Reid? He cleared his throat. “I don’t know who you are, but I have a gun and will find out what you’ve done with that miserable cuss of a partner of mine.”

Reid laughed then took a sip of his coffee. “I can assure you I’m still your miserable cuss of a partner.” He shook his head, walking away still grinning.

Brent stood there and watched him greet a few other people before he headed down the stairs. “The hell you are,” he said quietly to himself, then followed him down.

Reid sat behind his desk with his feet up on the corner, looking over a report sheet as he sipped his coffee.

Brent leaned in the doorway and watched him. “So, how was Jac doing yesterday?”

He didn’t glance up from the report. “She was just fine when I got there, the doc stayed with her.”

Brent took another sip of his coffee. “And how was she doing this morning?” He grinned.

Reid glanced at him over the top of the papers and grinned. “Just fine.”

“Uh-huh, I knew it was either her or you’d taken up drinking.”

Reid laughed. “You’re a great detective.” He looked at the clock. “What time is his lawyer due to be here?”

“About now.”

Reid dropped his feet to the floor and stood up. “Let’s go have a chat with them.”

Brent watched him saunter out of the office and shook his head, grinning as he followed him. About time some woman put a smile on his grouchy face.

***

Jac opened the office door, trying not to drop the bags she carried. Bumping it closed with her hip, she set the bags on the table and shrugged out of her jacket. Her whole body ached but in a completely delicious way. She caught her reflection in the window and grinned. “Don’t you look like a happy one today?” The phone rang. Still grinning, she answered. “Jacinda Brown.”

“I have this bed I need you to check out, Jacinda Brown.”

She grinned at Reid’s playful tone. “Oh really? Is it old?”

“Not very.”

“Hmm, does it have a lot of history?” She tried to sound serious.

“None at all.”

She smiled. “I don’t understand what I can do for you then, sir.”

Reid cleared his throat. “Help me make some history in it after dinner.”

She laughed. “I would love to help you, that is.” She perched on the edge of her desk. “Aren’t you supposed to be working, detective?”

He sighed, “Just waiting for his lawyer to come out, so we can go in.”

“Ah.” She pushed the hair from her face.

“My cell number come up on your phone?”

She glanced down. “Yes.”

“Put it in yours and let me know later what time we’ll meet for dinner.”

She smiled again. “Okay. Now, go do your mean cop thing.”

“Who says I’m the mean one?”

She laughed. “Just a lucky guess.”

He laughed. “I didn’t want to leave this morning.”

She blushed. “I didn’t want you to.”

“Then why aren’t we still there?”

She laughed again. “Work, the real world, and all that.”

“Right. Okay, beautiful, I’ll talk to you later.” He paused. “Oh, Brent needs to speak to you later he says, something about you replacing his miserable cuss of a partner with some happy guy.”

She blushed. “You can just tell him I’ll talk to him later so he can thank me.”

“Will do. Bye.”

“Bye.” She hung up the phone, still laughing. She never would have guessed he had a silly side. It was a pleasant surprise.

Sighing, Jac surveyed the office. “Okay, time to get you sorted out and cleaned up, then maybe I will try to be here more.” Picking up the hair clip on her desk, she quickly twisted her hair up out of the way.

Grinning, she pulled her phone out of her purse and quickly entered Reid’s number. She’d have to make sure she gave herself enough time to go home and get cleaned up before their dinner.

Setting the phone down, she glared at the windows. Clean windows would make a good start. Reaching into the bags, she began pulling out the cleaning products.

Jac gave the desk one final push and then huffed out a breath. Shoving the stray hairs back off her face, she went over and got a bottle of water from the small fridge.

Taking a few cooling mouths full as she looked around the room, she smiled. “I think I might be winning.”

The whole room had been re-arranged. She could now sit at her desk and look out her clean windows to see the world. Okay, the world stopped at the corner, but that was good too.

Sitting down, she looked at the clock. Picking up her cell phone, she grinned. She was anxious for the day to end. She’d be able to find out the details from Reid tonight and that she was seeing Reid tonight.

Opening his number to send him a text, she chewed her lip. How long would he be at the station? Was six too early?

She heard her office door open. You forgot to lock the door, ninny, she silently chastised. Turning her head, she pasted a smile on her face. “Sorry, we’re not…” She dropped the phone on the desk and sat there staring at the man as he closed the door and leaned against it. It was Alan Howard.

“I can tell by the look on your face that you’re making the same mistake as everyone else.” He stood there with his hands tucked into his jacket pockets. “I’m Edward Lawson. Al is my cousin.” He smirked. “I usually wear ugly eyeglasses to make us look different.”

Her heart felt like it was in her throat. “Oh.” She put a hand on her chest, trying to will herself to calm down. “What can I do for you?” He stood there smiling at her. Every nerve in her body was going off at the same time, something wasn’t right. Why didn’t he explain why he was here? He took two steps towards her, she glanced at the door as she slowly stood up, hoping she’d make it if she tried.

“I’d like to know how you did it.”

She watched, waiting for him to move away from the door. “Did-did what?” When he smiled at her again, a strange look appeared in his eyes.

“How did you do it?” He stepped closer, still blocking the door. “How did you trace it back to us?” He lifted his hands out of his pockets.

Her throat began to hurt when she saw the knife in his hand. “Who?” She croaked.

Anger appeared in his eyes. “No one knows computer trails like Alan. He was working on figuring out how you did it while I got the money and closed the bank account. I was supposed to open another account; we knew not to use them for too long.”

Pieces flew together inside her mind suddenly. “Who told you I knew anything?”

He gave her a disgusted look. “Mrs. Oster bought your story hook, line, and sinker.” He snarled. “Stupid bitch should have told us who we were meeting yesterday, and we would have disappeared forever instead of being there.”

She had to do something to distract him then maybe she could get closer to the door. “Your plan was nearly flawless.” She said it quietly, trying to hide the fear in her voice.

He studied her silently for a moment, then grinned. “Yeah, it was. Where did we trip up?”

She tried to focus on keeping her breathing steady. “Ms. Thomas.”

He frowned. “Al was right.”

He paced a few feet to the left; she almost had a clear shot at the door.

“I wasn’t supposed to kill her. Al was pissed. I was just supposed to drug her enough to get her flown somewhere out of the way.”

Jac licked her dry lips. “Why did you?” He waved his hand around as he talked; she tried not to look at the knife flashing in the light as he did.

“Mrs. Oster confided in Dawn about your little disease tale, and she was getting bitchy.” He frowned. “She was all for it until she thought we might get caught, then she wouldn’t shut up about it.” He shrugged. “So, I killed her. We could have done more and been living on some nice tropical island by now.” He snarled at her. “If it hadn’t been for you sticking your nose in.”

He took a few steps towards her, and she felt her knees begin to quake.

“Do you have any idea how many selfish women I had to pretend to care about? Each one took weeks of chatting and stupid coffee dates…”

She willed her mind to find something to keep him talking. “I never—I didn’t figure out how you …”

He grinned again. “Oh, you wouldn’t find our profiles or us on any list contacting other members. Al was really good at making us vanish in between.” He bowed in a sarcastic manner. “In my profile, I’m Eddie Black. Al was Albert White.” He moved another step closer. “We used older pictures even if you had been looking when our profiles were visible; I doubt you would have recognized us.” He smirked.

She took a small step backward and found her legs against the other desk, having forgotten she’d moved it earlier. “How-how did you talk them into giving you money?” Her heart was now pounding in her ears so loudly that she wasn’t sure she was going to be able to stay calm much longer.

He gave a strangled laugh. “Stupid bitches fell for the whole thing.” He stepped closer, looking down at her, and sneered. “Their greed and they wanted to be the one to help the computer genius, whose grant money had run out, finish his project and be a part of the new generation of computers.” He laughed again. “I spent hours using lines Al had written down for me to impress them, still have no clue what I was actually saying in English.” He stopped and studied her.

She could feel the sweat running down the back of her neck, she took a few short breaths trying to find something else to ask him. “So-so Alan killed them all…”

He laughed. “Al killed the first one, then couldn’t do the rest.” He sneered at her. “He was there when I did it each time to help get them changed and get rid of any prints, but he really didn’t have the stomach for the dirty parts.”

He’d moved closer again, and she studied his face. His anger was growing. “Oh. Oh, well, you definitely kept the police w-wondering.” She tried to swallow, but her throat was too dry. As he moved closer, she leaned back to rest her hands on the desk; her knees were threatening to give out at any moment. He stopped inches from her and then stood there looking at her. She couldn’t define the expression in his eyes. Her hands were starting to shake, and she silently prayed he wouldn’t touch her.

He grasped her shoulder and squeezed it. “We did,” he said quietly. “Until you came along.” He snarled. “How the hell did you get brought in?”

His anger radiated into her system. She gripped the desk harder, trying to focus on staying above the vile emotions flooding into her. “Elaine, I…” She tried to swallow again. “I knew Elaine.”

He released her shoulder and smiled. “Elaine had brains.” He frowned. “I almost liked her.” He stood there quietly for a moment. “She asked questions, thought she was going with me to see my working prototype…” He shook his head and studied her again.

Jac felt the bottle by her hand, hoping it was the window cleaner. If she could just get to the door… The phone rang, making her jump. She stared at it as it continued to ring. He didn’t look at it once, just continued to stand there and leer at her. He moved suddenly, grabbing her wrist, and pulling her hand away from the bottle.

“Don’t be stupid,” he said, his face only an inch from hers.

She bit her lip, hoping the pain would help her focus as she tried not to collapse on the floor. His bare hand touching her wrist filled her head with images. If he was feeling anything but hate, she couldn’t find it. Looking up into his face, still a breath away from hers, she grasped the desk with her other hand and leaned back from him. He lifted the hand with the knife in it right in front of her face. Her stomach lurched from the disturbing images he projected inside her.

“Now, what to do with you.” He mused quietly.

His voice faded when he spoke as she fought to stay conscious. She had to be alert and fight this. She could hear her cell phone vibrating across the desk and hoped it was someone on the other end that would somehow know she was in trouble.

“You ruined everything…” The phone on the desk started ringing again. He pushed her towards the desk. “Answer it so I can think.”

She rested both hands on her desk, breathing, trying to focus on the phone. He moved to stand right behind her.

“Not a word. Don’t be stupid.” He hissed into her ear.

She grabbed the phone twice before she was able to pick it up.

“Jac? Where were you?”

Sandy’s voice echoed in her ear. “I was,” she took a deep breath. It was hard to speak with him so close to her. The hand with the knife came around her head to hover right in front of her face. “Moving desk,” she gasped out.

Sandy laughed. “Sounds more like you were trying to bench press it. Sit down and catch your breath.”

His mouth touched her other ear. “Get rid of them.”

“Have to,” she stared at the knife moving closer, “finish.” She whispered.

“Hmm, I was looking for details, woman. How was your night after I left?”

She swallowed again. “I—Brent was amazing.” She said it quickly as the knife rested against the mouthpiece of the phone. “Have to go.” Quickly she hung up. She stood there, unable to make her body move. He grasped her wrist and spun her around to face him. She felt the edge of the desk against her hip but wasn’t able to focus on anything other than his emotions.

“Good girl.”

His voice sounded hollow. She had to focus. Had to stay awake until someone came. She started to feel cold and knew the shaking would start soon.

“You need to calm down.”

His image was a blur when she tried to look at him, making her feel even more lightheaded. He pushed her arm behind her back and leaned into her. She could feel his breath on her face, and it made her head spin. The pain flooded into her stomach, and she twitched, trying to bend forward to ease it.

“What the hell is wrong with you? Are you having some sort of seizure or something?” He pulled her upright and grasped her face. “Don’t make me have to carry you out of here.”

She couldn’t make out any of the words he was saying. She could barely focus enough to identify the cool steel of the blade touching her cheek as he held her chin. She tried breathing in through her nose to climb out away from the unconsciousness that was looming towards her. She focused on opening her eyes but couldn’t. Reid …

She didn’t know where she was. She knew she was horizontal but felt like she was floating somewhere. She could hear footsteps and shuffling. She could smell something awful, and it made her stomach heave. The pain wouldn’t last much longer, she thought, almost relieved. Just breathe. She thought she felt someone moving her but couldn’t hear anything now. Just rest her mind told her. Rest.

***

Reid glanced again in the mirror at the doctor. “Has she moved at all?” She shook her head. “Are you sure we should take her home?”

Sandy nodded again. “I am not taking her to a hospital. Do you have any idea what they’d do to her if they knew or even if they knew and didn’t believe her?” She shook her head again and reached out to stroke a hand down Jac’s cheek. “Jacinda? Jac? Just open your eyes and let me know you’re in there.” She glanced at him in the mirror again. “I’ve never been unable to get her to surface, even a little.”

He looked in the mirror and then quickly back to the road. He didn’t like the sound of that. “We’re almost there, we’ll get her inside and see if we can rouse her at all, if not, I’m calling someone for help.”

Sandy looked down at her friend and then back to the mirror. She nodded.