Lapse chapters 3-4

Chapter 3
The Two Night Stand?

         As soon as Ally and Cam left the station for the night, Evan and I were alone for the first time since this morning. I glanced around making sure that no one else was in ear shot and I pulled up the mental list of questions I had been compiling.
         He spoke before I could get a word out. “It’s getting late. I think we should probably call it a night.” He put a stack of papers down. “I can’t think anymore.” He ran his hands through his short blond hair and looked at me patiently.
         “Before you leave, I really need to talk to you.” Now I felt rushed and worried that he would try to go without explaining himself.
         “Let me take you home.” His eyes looked so soft and welcoming that I really wanted say yes and forget about everything else. “We won’t really be able to talk here.” He added.
         “Ok, let’s go.” I was excited again. He wanted to answer my questions, and I really wanted to get home. I stood and started for the parking lot with him just a step behind me. After I kissed my ten year old silver Corolla goodnight I buckled myself into Evan’s brand new F-150
         “What happened yesterday?” I finally asked as he pulled onto the street.
         “You don’t remember anything?” he didn’t sound at all surprised.
         I went through the story again, ending with me waking up with him in my bed.
         “I’ll try to fill in a few of the gaps for you.” He smiled reassuringly “I got a call on Saturday night at about ten o’clock from your friend. She was really drunk but she said something about how you were desperately in love with me and for your birthday all you wanted was to see me.” He paused and smirked.
         “Oh,  fan-fucking-tastic, so now I get to kill Ally.” That was not exactly the tame version she had told me.
         He laughed and picked up with the story again. “I called back. I wanted to see if you were gonna pick up but I just got your voicemail. I always thought you were pretty so I figured I’d give it a shot.” He put his hand on mine.
I actually blushed, which is not something that happens to me often but there was something so familiar about his touch and the tone of his voice that I began to feel very comforted by his presence. “Keep going.”
“I’m sure you can figure what happened that night.” He said pulling into the drive way of my apartment building.
I was expecting he would continue the story, since he was now at the most important part, on the way to the door but he was quiet, his usual cheery self, but still quiet.
         At the door I turned to invite him in but before I could get the first word out, his lips were pressed roughly against mine. I was totally taken off guard but this was the moment I had been waiting for, dreaming of, since I first laid eyes on him. In that first second that he kissed me I forgot all about what I couldn’t remember –convoluted as that may sound. My left arm was slung up around his neck, unwilling to let him pull away; the other was fumbling with the door knob. He started kissing my neck and tightening his grip around my waist and my hand slipped from the knob just as the key turned. I wasn’t even sure if we had managed to get the door closed behind us before he was pulling my shirt over my head. The buttons on his shirt were proving to be a problem. He groaned in frustration, his arms unwound from me, and I heard the very distinct sound of tearing fabric. I spared a very quick glance down at the floor where his shirt lay in torn. His hands flashed to my hips and before I could protest my eighty dollar pants lay in a useless pile of silky fabric in my bedroom doorway.
It’s so hard to find pants that fit like that! The complete irrationality of the thought struck me as funny. I would pretty much let him torch every piece of clothing I owned for this.
I was half stumbling half being pushed backward. I knew that in a few steps we would make it to the bed but he was apparently too impatient to wait. His hands grabbed my waist and he tossed me effortlessly. I didn’t see it coming and so I had no time to protest. Before my brain even registered what was happening, I was sailing backward though the air. I landed on the mattress with a hard thud as the headboard crashed into the wall. In just seconds he was on me.

“Are you okay?” I detected a mix of pride and amusement in Evan’s voice.
All I could manage was a weak nod. I tried to pull myself back down to Earth before I started to look like a weirdo. “That was—” I couldn’t find an appropriate word.
“Good?” he suggested.
That wasn’t even close to the word I was looking for but I nodded anyway, hoping the sentiment got across.
Evan laughed quietly and pulled me close to him, wrapping one arm around me as I rested my head on his shoulder.
“How did we get here?” I whispered.
“You have got to be kidding me!” he looked shocked probably thinking that I had some 50 First Dates kind of memory loss.
“No, I remember how we got here.” I laughed, “I mean what brought us here. How did we get from being coworkers to this?”
“You really don’t remember anything?” Evan asked. It was really starting to bother me that he seemed to think I was lying.
         “I don’t remember. Seriously. What happened yesterday?”
         “Swear to God you don’t remember.” He demanded.
         “I swear.” I replied solemnly. Inside I was baffled beyond all reason. I wanted to smile at the level of secrecy he apparently felt was necessary, but I just wanted him to tell me the story; I had a feeling that if I burst out laughing he might think I was lying.
         “You made me swear not to tell you. You literally put my hand on a Bible and made me swear not to tell you.” Evan said pointing over to my dresser where an old very dusty Bible sat.
I honestly had not even noticed it was there until he pointed at it. It had resided in one of the drawers when I first leased this fully furnished apartment and I had never touched it– I guess until last night, that is.
         “I kinda thought that you were testing me, to see if I would break my promise.” He confessed.
         “Why would I make you swear not to tell me?” The funny thing was that I believed him and doubted my own sanity.
         “My immortal soul is resting on me keeping my mouth shut.” He was smiling brightly now.
I thought it would be just a matter of time before he cracked. I’m sure he’s already going to hell for something that I had nothing to do with. I reassured myself.
“I release you from your swear. Since I’m the one that made you swear it in the first place than I should be able to undo it.”
         “You said you’d say that and that it wouldn’t count.”
         My eyes widened and my mouth dropped opened. What could possibly have happened that would make me lock him into this kind of secrecy? I also realized that I really must be a lucid drunk if I could bind him in such a way. No wonder he thought I would remember.
         “Could I coax it out of you?” I asked gently running my finger up and down his inner thigh.
         “You should try to.” He said smiling.
         “I will get this from you.”
         “Did you stop to think that it might be something you don’t want to know?” Evan looked at me intently. It looked as though he was trying to pick up any sign of recognition on my face, like what he said should have sparked a memory. When he saw that there was nothing, he went on, “Is it going to drive you crazy not knowing or can you accept it?”
         “Can you tell me something small so that I can make a more informed decision?”
         “I can say this, we were together the whole day and I can honestly tell you that I’ve never met anyone like you before.” His voice was completely sincere.
         “Okay now I want to know more than ever.” I was scaring myself with how lightly I was taking this whole thing, like on some level I was expecting it. Some hazy part of my mind was telling me to trust my original assessment and stay out of the loop but even stronger than it telling me to trust myself, it was telling me to trust Evan. I thought for a second, allowing a brief and rare moment to explore my feelings. I did trust Evan. The majority of the reason I had managed to maintain my composure was because I deeply trusted Evan. That fact made me a little nervous and I search backward again, in vain of course, to remember why I felt that way about him.
He could see I was thinking so he gave me a roguish smirk, “Okay if you really want to know something . . . you did describe to me some rather detailed X-rated drea-”
“I don’t want to know! I take it back. I don’t want to know. I can just accept not knowing” My face was flushed and I couldn’t bear to look at him; I dramatically threw my hands over my face. “What the fuck is wrong with me! Why would I ever tell you that?” My voice was muffled by my palms. I peeked up at him through my slightly parted fingers. He was laughing very hard.
“You’re funny.” He finally managed to choke out after a moment.
I had to just accept it. I didn’t like it and I absolutely wasn’t used to taking a leap of faith but in this one instance I decided to. I would just try to enjoy the fact that whatever had happened had obviously gotten me this far and hope that whatever else I told him was not quite as humiliating as the dreams.
“What should we say tomorrow if people ask why we rode to work together?” Evan asked reaching across me for the remote.
It was a very simple action but it made me feel more comfortable with him. He was acting as though we had been close forever.
         “You can drop me off at the corner. I’ll tell everyone that my car broke down and I took the bus.” Going brazenly with the easy tone he set; I let my hand gently slide along his chest.          “If you’re going to go with the ‘my car broke down’ bit then we can just tell them that we left the station late and your car wouldn’t start so I drove you home and picked you up for work.” He left no room for me to argue and just clicked on the TV. It was an odd sensation as we watched ourselves walk by on the screen. The report of the day’s events at the crime scene, and what the reporters were calling The Bloodbath Murder—mildly clever only for its double meaning—seemed to be playing on every news channel. He sighed and turned the TV off.
         “You need cable.” He said letting the remote fall gently to the floor.
         “Why? You gonna be here to enjoy it often?” I tried to disguise it as a joke but it was really just pure hope.
         “Yep.”
         I wanted to start asking questions again but I restrained the urge. I must have told him things that my sober self would never have allowed and now I just had to resign myself to the fact that although I might never remember what happened in those hours, it had gotten me here with Evan and that seemed to be all I truly wanted.
 
Chapter 4
On the Hunt

         When I woke up that morning my head was filled with so many questions that would now probably never be answered. The detective in me was furious that I had decided to leave this unsolved. I truly wanted to know more. I wanted to grill everyone that had been at my apparently disastrous party. Just as I was about to begin making a mental list of the girls I would have to call, I realized Evan had woken up. I glanced over at him and my jaw dropped in awe as I watched every muscle in his chest and arms flex while he stretched and yawned. The list disappeared. Just accept it. I knew it was likely that Evan had been right yesterday when he said that I had made him swear because it was something I did not want to remember and not just because it was outrageously embarrassing. The phrase ignorance is bliss had to have come from somewhere. I knew the insanity that was waiting for me when I got to work that day and I was counting on it to distract me from the madness that had become my own life.
         “How’d you sleep?” Evan asked pulling up onto his elbow.
         “A few more hours probably wouldn’t have killed me. Being up at four thirty in the morning is kind of a nightmare.” I wiped the sleep from my eyes.
         “Lucky for you, I’m a morning person.” He slipped out of the bed.
         Watching him go had perked me up enough to wander to the kitchen for some much needed caffeine. My parents had owned an Italian bakery in North Miami Beach and when I’d had to sell it in 2004, in order to not go into collections trying to pay for my father’s chemo, I’d discovered a treasure while clearing out the stockroom. I opened my pantry, grabbed a bottle, and hopped up onto the countertop. I thought Evan was in the bathroom but he had been watching me over the breakfast bar from the couch in the living room.
         “What’s that?” He asked squinting against the lowest setting on my dimmer switch.
“Nothing,” I said jumping to my feet and slamming the pantry shut as I moved to stand in front of it.
“What’re you hiding?” He gently moved me aside and slid open the door. “That is a lot of soda.” He sounded truly awed. Before him was my most hidden treasure, floor to ceiling Pepsi Blue. I didn’t like to show people because I didn’t want to share. “What are you doing with all this?”
I gave him the quick explanation. “I’d never had it before but when I tried it, I realized I loved it,” I smiled and drank a huge gulp, “and then I found out it was discontinued so I decided to keep the whole pallet.”
Without any prompting Evan reached in, opened a bottle, and tried the blue liquid, immediately making a face. “How can you drink this crap first thing in the morning?”
I snatched the bottle away from him, “It’s the best soda I’ve ever had.” I said defensively. “You know if Pepsi never brings it back this is all I have to last the rest of my life.” I put the bottle Evan had in the fridge for later, I didn’t dare waste any, I only had two hundred left to last the next seventy or so years. I knew it was a little crazy but it was ridiculously delicious and I didn’t ever really let myself be such a nutcase but in this one situation I gave myself a pass.
Evan’s face said that he was straining not to start laughing hysterically. He took the bottle I still had and looked at the label with a little shudder. “This stuff is probably dying your insides blue.” He said matter-of-factly. Then his face got thoughtful and he looked at the bottle and then at me, then back at the bottle and at me again, “It’s the exact color of your eyes.” He said the words like an explanation; like that fact excused my hoard somehow. He placed the bottle back in my hands and his face turned pleading. “Will you please just make coffee?”
“I have Red Bull.” I said hoping that would suffice.
“Coffee?” He asked again.
“I thought you were a morning person.” I said doubtfully.
“I am. I’m not one of those people that fiends for it but it’s not like we got a whole lot of sleep and we have a long day ahead of us.” His pleading voice was inexhaustibly adorable.
“I’m sorry. I don’t have a coffeemaker. I don’t drink it. Have a Red Bull its good and it’ll do a much better job than coffee.” I promised. I crawled up on the counter again and opened a top cabinet to get a can. If I didn’t know Evan at all I could tell just by looking at him that he cared a lot about staying in shape. If I had to guess I would say that he didn’t ever drink stuff like this but it was this or nothing and as he said it wasn’t going to be easy to go a whole twelve hour shift on three hours of sleep. I wished for the sake of his heart that I had the eight ounce cans but I only drank the twelve ounce ones and so that was all I kept around the house.
After minimal convincing he drank it and I got to meet for the first time Super Amped Evan.
He was practically bouncing when we got to the car. “You were right, I feel great!”
I screamed as he grabbed me and spun me around in the predawn darkened driveway. He pressed me against the side of his truck and kissed me hungrily. I felt like I knew what he was thinking; like we had to get all that out now so that we wouldn’t give anything away at work. He was a ball of energy and chatter the whole way to the station. I wondered amusedly what he would be like in a few hours when the caffeine crash came.
I struggled to ignore the look of bliss on Ally’s face as Evan and I walked into the station together. She had called me all night, thinking I’d be alone, curious and concerned about what I had gotten from Evan.
There was no time for me to tell her anything, not that I had found out anything to tell her, today was all about the business. Almost the moment we walked through the doors someone gave Evan a stack of paper held together with a binder clip. I peered around his shoulder at it. The first page was a table of contents numbered one through fifty of names that had matched the hair, kind of like a checklist to make sure we got to everyone. Each page after that was a personal profile for everyone that had matched. As I looked I realized that there were names in two counties and many different cities and I knew that Watson must have worked some jurisdictional magic to make sure that we weren’t going to offend any other department by picking up people in their areas.
I never could have imagined that we would have had so much to do so quickly. I could feel the exasperation coming off of Evan and I took a step back.
         “You okay?” I asked quietly.
         “This is just what they’ve managed to match over night. Imagine how this list will look in a few days.” He rolled his eyes. I knew he was wishing that we had more people on the team. Personally, as adverse as I was to the idea of working so hard, I was glad the list was so long because the longer the list, the longer we could work together, and I really liked working with him.
         Ally and Cam walked up beside him; I saw the flash of frustration in them as well, as they eyed the list.
“We better get started.” Cam scowled. For just a second I saw a bit of the usual Cam, the aggravation at the amount of work ahead of us, the look of almost painful desire to be doing something more interesting. It lasted for a just moment before he got his game face on.
The four of us sat down with the list, “Me and Lexi can take twenty-five.” Ally said. It was not like her to offer to be paired with anyone but Cam so I knew that she must really want to be filled in.
“OK, just be careful. Don’t bring back more than one at a time.” Evan unclipped the stack and handed me the back half. His face really was not nearly as composed as I think he hoped it would be.
Ally pulled me up by my elbow and I tried to throw a comforting glance in Evan’s direction but I was sure he didn’t see it. As Ally pulled me toward the parking lot, I flipped out the text pad on my phone.
Dont wry, u kno I’ve done this a millx B4, kinda part of the job. I texted to him in a flash.
Only a few seconds passed before I got back, I kno, plz just don’t get hurt!
Once I was seated and belted into our squad car for the day, she hit the locks and I waited for her to berate me with questions. I gave the list to Ally; the first name on it had a last known address somewhere in Overtown. I didn’t really pay too much attention but Ally took off toward I-95. I sucked in a deep breath and prepared a suitable lie.
“So what did you find out?” Ally asked eagerly.
“He told me he doesn’t remember much either and when I got home yesterday I realized two bottles of vodka I had were gone which I guess explains everything.” I lied very convincingly even ending it with a silly-me laugh. I knew there was no way she would understand the agreement Evan and I had reached and I didn’t want to argue about it, so this seemed like the easier option.
“That’s like binging, Lexi. You should cut that shit out. When you start missing whole days of memory ‘cause you were lying around your apartment with some guy guzzling vodka, that’s kind of a bad sign.”
“Thank you Madame Morals, I’ll keep that in mind next time I have to hold your hair back in the bathroom at Hard Rock ‘cause you had eight rum and Cokes.” I chided in mock cheer.
Ally ignored my sarcasm and went on with the interrogation. “So you drove in with Evan, is that why you didn’t pick up my calls last night?”
I wasn’t sure at first if I should lie about that too. I loved Ally but she sometimes had a difficult time keeping secrets. On the other hand, she already knew we were together once. “Yeah.” I said simply
Ally let out a joyous shriek and I could see that vision of hers again.
“Take it easy. It’s not like we’re running down the aisle or anything we’ve only spent two nights together.” Since my mother was dead Ally had taken her place as the person in my life who was constantly pressuring me to get married. It was really very strange because she hadn’t had a relationship longer than five months since I’d known her. Actually that’s not totally true, there was Max. If I was allowed one freebie assassination in my life it would be him. I had no idea what Ally saw in that I guy. Personally I thought he was gross, not that he was ugly, he was just creepy and he constantly cheated on her but for some reason she kept finding her way back to him. I will say proudly that I slashed all four of his tires and smashed both the back and front windshields of his car once when Ally told me he’d cheated again. I never told her it was me and I had no idea if she suspected me, but the personal satisfaction I got was wonderful whether or not anyone knew.
I could see that she wanted to ask more questions but we had arrived at our first destination; a tiny fuchsia house on 2nd st.
“I hate this area!” Ally muttered looking down at the old news papers, McDonald’s wrappers, and ages worth of decaying leaves. The sun had just barely peeked over the horizon and odds were that if our suspect still lived at this address he would be home sleeping. I, too wished that I could be asleep but definitely not at this house. Ally and I walked carefully up the shattered, neglected sidewalk and I knocked forcefully on the door. For a long moment the house was completely silent but we eventually heard some shuffling.
“Do you think they’re gonna run?” Ally asked looking suddenly tired.
“Lord in heaven, I hope not. It’s the first one of the day and we still have twenty four left to get through. If they all run we’re going to be doing this all night.” I groaned.
Even though the sun was still low, it felt like it was already a hundred degrees out, and with the humidity it was almost unbearable and the worst of it was that it seemed to only be getting hotter. Stupid Florida!
“Oh my God, I’m going to become a puddle of water in a few minutes.”
I knocked again, harder this time. I heard the shuffle come closer to the door and my hand lined up with my gun, ready for whatever was coming. A young black man came to the door in gym shorts.
“Marcus Brown?” I asked putting on my professional voice.
“Take me away.” He said holding his hands out in front of him. “I’ve seen a fuck of a lot of cops and they don’t usually look like the two of you.”
“We’re detectives.” Ally sounded very annoyed.
I rolled my eyes and wished Evan was here to shut him up. “Are you Marcus Brown?” I asked again patiently.
“Yeah, but I’ve been here all night.”
“It’s just some questions.” Ally said trying to stop the flood of inevitable excuses.
“Can I get some clothes on?”
I nodded, “Leave the door open. We can’t have you trying to make a break for it.”
“No one’s going to run from you.” He winked suggestively and went inside.
The ride back was mostly silent aside from egregiously perverted comments from the back seat and they didn’t really subside once we got him to the station.
“Where were you yesterday at about four in the morning?” Ally asked calmly.
“Sleeping.” Marcus answered as if that should be obvious.
“Is there anyone that can confirm that?” I asked trying to sound non-accusatory. It was just questioning after all.
“No.”
“Have you been to 8th and Buchanan in the past few days?”
He shook his head, “Why?”
“We found some of your hair at a crime scene in that neighborhood.”
“That’s a mistake! I’m being set up!” For the first time he was not so nonchalant.
“What barber do you go to?” I asked trying to keep him calm. We were going to get that response a lot today.
“What the fuck! How does that even matter?”
“Just know that we are investigating and that you’re not necessarily a suspect just a possible witness. Is there anyone that may have been able to get a hold of your hair?”
“I like the way you bitches investigate. You make me feel innocent.” He looked nervous, “Not that I’m not innocent.” He added quickly.
“If you call me a bitch one more time I’m—”
I had to cut Ally off. “Please just answer the questions; we don’t want to keep you from getting back to your day.”
“I go to a place, I think, it just says ‘Barber’ outside, it’s a block from my house.”
“Anyone else?”
“That could have gotten my hair? Not that I can think of…”
“When’s the last time you went to the barber?”
“Last week. . . I think.”
“OK, thank you for your cooperation.” I said leading him out of interrogation room two. Just as I walked through the door Evan and Cam were walking into room three. He threw me a quick smile before closing the door.
Ally shot a playfully jealous glare at me. “That took forty five minutes.” She said looking scornfully at her watch. “We have to step it up.”
We weren’t supposed to but we used the sirens for the next trip. “Fort Lauderdale? Really, Overtown to Fort Lauderdale?”
“Can’t be the barber then can it?” We picked up Greg Halston at his condo on Fort Lauderdale beach, Jonathan Ruiz at a house in Hollywood, and thirteen others all over Dade and Broward counties. Again I had to marvel at how the lines of jurisdiction had been blurred. Getting that worked out with so many other departments would have taken months normally, that was a testament to the magnitude of the case. Legislators must have stepped in to smooth things over and make them move faster. The idea that my career was resting on this hadn’t struck me until just then. My thoughts were interrupted by growling, which I quickly realized was coming from my stomach. I looked at my watch; we still hadn’t gotten food and it was passed six at night.
“I wonder if Evan and Cam had more luck than us.” I said with a hopeful shrug.
“Call me crazy but I’m going to guess not.” Ally said bitterly, “Please, I’m hungry, I wanted breakfast and you said wait, I wanted lunch and you said wait, I want dinner and if you tell me to wait I’m going to have to knock you unconscious and put you in the trunk ‘til I’m done.”
“Wanna meet up?” I didn’t wait for a response from Ally, I just took out my phone to text Evan.
“If they are not ready to eat by the time we get there, you are in huge trouble!” She looked very serious, like she might really try to eat me if I didn’t get her food soon.
“Evan said him and Cam’ll be ready by the time we get there. So you’ll be happy; chicken wings in hand in ten minutes, I promise.” I sped off toward our favorite wing place. Evan met up with us just a few minutes after we got there.
“Did you pick up anyone interesting?” Evan asked cheerfully, for the shitty day we’d had. He sat down across from me and looked wide-eyed at the stack of wings I had. “Hungry, huh?”
I nodded; my mouth too full for words. I looked over at Ally and her graveyard of fallen chickens. Her mouth was glowing orange but she still didn’t look happy. Her eyes were on Cam who was beginning to steal wings from her plate; too hungry to wait for his own order to arrive. I sighed, feeling suddenly unsatisfied. Ally and I were used to being single together. There had been guys but never anything that lasted and if what Evan said about the cable had been true then he was planning to stick around and I couldn’t watch her suffer. As much pain as it caused me, I let go of a wing and used a wet nap.
“I forgot my phone in the car.”
“Why do you need it?” Evan asked looking at me with suspicion.
“I always have it. I’m lost without it. Cam you have that little laser light on your keys, can you help me.” I waited to make sure he was getting up.
Ally looked panicked. “I’ll come with you.”
“No, eat. You said you were starving.” Just then the food arrived for Evan and Cam.
“Hurry up!” Cam said grabbing his keys and glancing longingly back at the table.
“You are a moron!” I said as soon as we were clear of the restaurant.
“And you’re charming.” He said with a playful sneer. “Look, can we hurry, I’m starving.”
He thought I was joking. “No seriously, you’re a moron. I kept my mouth shut for a year but it’s getting kind of ridiculous now.”
“You’re not gonna confess your undying love for me or anything, right? Honestly I thought you and Flynn . . .”
I tried to overlook that, I really thought we were being careful to not let anyone notice. “No, don’t be retarded. Ally is in love with you.” I tried not to feel bad for ratting her out, after all she had done the same to me with Evan and that had worked out miraculously well. I closed my eyes and hoped for a positive response.
“You fuckin’ lie.” He dismissed me and started back toward the doors.
“Who would know; her best friend or her oblivious crush?” With that I left him with his thoughts and returned to my dinner.
“Did you find your phone?” Evan asked through glowing orange lips.
I couldn’t help but laugh a little; I had never seen him so discomposed, “No I must have just missed it when I was looking through my purse.”
“Where’s Cam?” Ally looked genuinely worried.
“I think he’s just locking up.” I said sitting down, doing my absolute best to not let on what had happened. Seconds later Cam wandered in; he sat and picked mindlessly at the big basket of fries on the table.
Ally looked at me concerned.
I just shrugged.
“How many did you get through on the list” Evan asked; he wasn’t looking at me or Ally just intently down at his plate.
“Sixteen.” I said, “Would have been more if we didn’t have to drive all over the world to pick them up.”
“We only did twelve; we had some runners.” Evan said with an aggravated little sigh. He looked over at Cam for support. Cam just looked lost as he munched on a fry.
         I was beginning to worry that I had just done something truly horrible. Cam was still silent, certainly not his normal lively self. “What the hell’s wrong with you?”
         “I’m not feeling so good.” He said quietly.
         “Ok, we’re almost done here.” I was trying to hide my shock. I had to insure that Ally would never know that I had been the one to ruin her friendship with Cam. The rest of dinner was very rushed. After only a few minutes I was tossing the tip on the table and heading back out to the parking lot.
         “We just have to go back for a few minutes to have the group meeting. Are you gonna be alright to sit through it?” Ally asked Cam. Her face was white with worry. He just nodded at her and walked with Evan across the lot.
         Once they were out of earshot Ally turned to me and I could tell immediately that Dr. Jekyll was gone. So we meet again Mr. Hyde. The thought almost made me giggle but I managed to keep it in.
“What did you do?” Her voice was calm but it did not match the expression on her face.
         “Nothing?” It came out as more of a question then a lie. Guilt was churning my stomach. I had no idea what to do to make this better.
         “Why would you do this to me? You’re my best friend; you’re supposed to actually keep your mouth shut when I tell you to keep your fucking mouth shut!” She was losing it. I could see the tears welling in her eyes and the rage emerged in her voice. 
         I didn’t know what else to do, I reached out my hand and put it on her shoulder. All I could do was hope that she would not take this opportunity to attempt to test out her new Krav Maga classes on me. To my surprise, she gripped me in tight hug and rasped out a long sob.
         “Why did you tell him?” She sniffled.
         “It worked when you told Evan. I just hoped it would be that easy for you two also. It’s okay, try not to worry about it. He’s probably just gay . . . he’s gotta be gay. Look at yourself, how could any straight man not want that?” It was highly unlikely that Cam was actually gay but I hoped it would make her feel better. She didn’t look convinced. “Do you think you can pull it together so we can get to this meeting?” I didn’t want to sound insensitive but if we were late there was no telling what kind of punishment Watson might dole out . . . possibly 6 a.m. shifts every day until we closed the case. I shuddered at the thought.
         It took Ally a few minutes to regain her composure and on the drive back she reapplied her makeup, doing her best to look unaffected, but she didn’t say another word to me. A horrible wave of worry washed over me as I considered the idea that things might not be the same between us anymore. When I pulled into the parking lot, I barely had a chance to put the car in park before Ally threw open the door and marched toward the station. I sighed and followed slowly behind her. It made me feel a little better to see Evan and I tried to just look at him and not look passed him to Cam.
         “What the hell did you do to him?” Evan asked in a confused whisper. “I couldn’t shut him up all day and now he spends thirty seconds with you and he gets all broody and dark.”
         “I didn’t do anything to him.” I said with a scowl.
         Evan raised a skeptical eyebrow at me, “Sure you didn’t.”
         All around us the members of each team were beginning to settle in for the meeting. Cam stood with his back to the wall; far enough away to show that he was uncomfortable yet still close enough for it to be plain to see that he was a member of our group. Ally put Evan between us and stared off vacantly until Watson called everyone’s attention. I prayed that this new horrible awkwardness would wear off, it would be impossible to work with them like this.
         “You’ve all had a full twenty four hours with this case now. I hope that you’ve had some progress.” She looked over at Owens with a prompting nod, indicating that it was time for her to share the information she and her team had acquired.
         Jessica Owens was short and petite and about forty-five, her squeaky voice and short stature aside she was one of the shrewdest women I had ever met. “Very little of the blood that was tested had a match. Most of the blood came back amalgamated and it was difficult for forensics to separate them enough to get a solid ID. We did get two matches so far. The two people lived in two separate counties and they both had solid alibis for the crime.”
         I felt more comforted then I should have to know that her day had been just as ineffectual as mine.
         Watson looked at Carpenter. He and his team looked very relaxed. They should look relaxed they had the easiest job of us all.
         Greg Carpenter stood; he looked a lot like a basketball player . . . maybe a younger Michael Jordan, “We tracked down thirty of the eighty people from the licenses. Most of them reported a stolen wallet or purse within the last month. Some of the licenses are old and have been expired for years. We’re still workin’ on finding those people.” He sat back down.
         Evan stood without any prompting; his work professionalism was devastatingly sexy. He explained that out of the fifty matches we had tracked down a total of twenty eight. None of them seemed to have anything in common they lived far apart, they went to different barbers, and most of them had fully cooperated. Evan explained that during the course of the day they had three runners. The runners, so far, were our only suspects, Robert Taylor had a warrant for distribution of cocaine, Lianna Lowe was a prostitute who ran because she thought Evan was there to arrest her, and Jack Hanna—not the Jack Hanna—had a warrant for a bar fight he started in which he sent two men to ER and then fled the scene. None of them had any discernable motive but the fact that they ran gave us cause for further investigation.
         Gabe Garcia, a small, middle aged, Puerto Rico native, stood last. “Forensics confirmed that the semen from the crime scene came from seventeen people. So far none of it has matched any DNA from our databases.” He looked upset that he didn’t have more information to give.
         “You’re doing good.” Watson said looking around at the sixteen of us, everyone looked as bleary eyed and sleep deprived as I felt. Looking at the group made me yawn. “Keep it up.” She stood to walk from the room but paused at the door and looked back at us, “I’ll see you tomorrow at normal time.”
         The sigh of relief was unanimous. It took only seconds for the majority of us to file out of the room. As I looked around I realized that Ally was already gone and Cam was moving slowly toward the door. I wanted to go talk to him but I wasn’t sure what I could say to improve the situation. I couldn’t think of a reason for his reaction. There was no explanation for him not liking Ally. They got along so well; Ally was probably Cam’s best friend. I decided to avoid the migraine that was sure to come if I continued to stress about this and I began to look around for Evan. I saw him laughing and talking to Carpenter and his usual group. Rather than give us away by doing something cutesy, I just nodded appropriately in his direction on my way toward the door. He held up a finger for me to wait. I saw him fist bump a few of the guys before walking over to me; a few of them eyed me suspiciously when Evan’s back was to them. I swallowed nervously and tried to ignore them.
         “What’s going on with them?” I whispered when we were out of ear shot.
         “I didn’t tell them anything. I swear.” He assured.
         I tried to just let it go and sound natural, “I am so ready to go home.” At risk of seeming desperate I took a deep breath and added, “Should I be expecting you?”
         “Actually, not tonight.”
         My heart sank and it must have been very clear on my face.
         Evan laughed, “Don’t be sad. I’m not coming to your place tonight but I do want you to come to mine.”
         “Really? Why? Was it the no cable?” I suddenly realized I was being a moron but before I had time to say anything redeeming he interrupted my thoughts.
         “I just need clean clothes . . . and I miss my dog.” He stepped closer to me. I could see that he wanted to be reassuring but it was hard without any physical contact
         “I didn’t know you had a dog.”
         “You’ll get to know me better tonight. Go home and pack. I’ll meet you at my house in an hour or so.”
         “It won’t take me that long to pack. Do you live close?” I was very excited but I tried to sound mellow.
         “I don’t live in Miami.” He wrinkled his nose with obvious distaste.
         “Well, fantastic for you! I’m so happy that you can afford to live in the splendor that is north of the county line.”
         “I’m not trying to be an ass.” He said with a chuckle as we walked out toward our cars. “I’m just not fond of this place.” He spread his arms out over his head, gesturing toward the sky. “When you’re finished packing, text me and I’ll give you the directions.” He leaned forward like he was going to kiss me but then he realized where we were. Evan cleared his throat and then loudly announced “I’ll see you tomorrow Mason. It was nice working with you.” He then got in his car.
I smiled as I watched him drive out of sight.