Chris was sitting in an armchair a short distance from them, reading some kind of medical journal with the girls easily in his sights. And the girls themselves, Amy and Lacey both, were smiling and laughing. They had a collection of toy ponies set out in front of them, and as Laura watched, Amy cantered a black horse over towards Lacey’s collection of brown ones. Lacey screamed again, then emitted a high-pitched approximation of a neigh, making her ponies run away as a group.
Playing. They were just playing.
Laura looked at Chris again and realized he was watching her with a concerned look, about to drop his journal.
“I… I heard a scream,” she said, faintly, feeling a sense of shame wash over her. She’d suspected the worst, just like that. Even though Chris had taken every opportunity to prove to her that he was doing his best. That he wasn’t the bad guy. Even though he clearly doted on Amy, and even despite all the ways he’d already proven to her that he was different from his brother.
Chris’s face paled a little, and he flapped the pages of the journal to arrange it more neatly in his hands as if her words hadn’t affected him at all. “They’re alright,” he said, off-handedly, but she could hear the hint of strain in his voice. He was disappointed, maybe even hurt, that she’d thought anything could be wrong. “Are you taking Lacey home now?”
“Yes, I am,” she said, which made Lacey pout and shake her head crossly. “Sorry, sweetie. We’ve got to get you back to your dad’s, haven’t we?”
“But, Mommy,” Lacey started, holding up one of the ponies as if she was about to launch into a compelling argument.
“No, sorry,” Laura said, cutting her off. “It’s your dad’s rules, not mine. Come on, love. Let’s get your things together and get in the car, okay?”
Chris stood up, putting his journal to one side and standing awkwardly by as Laura helped Lacey on with her coat and made sure she had everything they’d come with. “I’ll, um. Still see you later in the week?”
“I hope so,” Laura said, but at the look on his face she felt she needed to be more assertive. He looked a little lost, like the ground had dropped from beneath him a bit. Like he needed shoring back up. “Yes. Yes, I’ll see you soon.”
And she hoped she wasn’t a liar, as she led Lacey down the path to the car, ready to load her back to Marcus’ place. She wanted to get in, solve this case, and get home. To deal with Nate, to see if things could work with Chris, to focus on her daughter.
In truth, she didn’t want to go at all. But duty called, and Laura had never been one to turn down her duty – not when it was something she believed in so strongly.
***
Laura settled into her seat, the familiar yet never quite comfortable shape of the airline chairs embracing her body. She wondered if she was going to have enough time to get a little more shuteye before they got in. It was a six-hour flight. More than enough time for rest.
“Should we go over the briefing notes?” Agent Won asked. Eagerly. Everything he did was eager. He’d greeted her in the airport lounge eagerly. Handed his ticket over to the check-in attendant eagerly. Boarded eagerly.
If he was going to be like this for the whole case, Laura didn’t think she would be able to take it.
“Sure,” Laura sighed, handing them over to him. “Have at it.”
“Oh,” he said, hesitating with the files still in his hand. “Shouldn’t we look at them together?”
Laura knew he was right, obviously. Considering they were working together, yes, they should be looking at the files as a team. But this was too much like going over things with Nate. It was practically a pre-case ritual for them. Settle into the plane and get out the notes for Laura to read out loud to him. Then discuss it before getting a bit of rest, mulling over what they’d read. By the time they hit the ground, they’d have a good idea of where they wanted to start with the investigation.
And this eager little puppy was not Nate. He was so not Nate that it was painfully obvious. And given that Nate’s absence was like an open wound for her at that moment, the thought of repeating the ritual with this new partner made Laura want to scream.
Anyway, she’d already glanced over them herself. Two young women, killed with cuts to the throat, left with candles in public places. There wasn’t anything in the notes yet that stood out to her as an obvious lead. They needed more information, which they could only get on the ground.
“Read them,” she said, waving a hand vaguely. “I’ll read them after. We can talk about it when we get there – I just want to get some extra sleep. I didn’t have enough time for a proper rest before I had to get to the airport.”
With that, she pillowed up the FBI-issue standard waterproof jacket she’d brought in her carry-on, put it down on the in-flight table in front of her, set her head down on top of it facing away from Agent Won, and pretended to sleep.
“I just wanted to say,” Agent Won began, which made Laura groan internally and open her eyes to look at him balefully. “People around the office were saying that you’re some kind of superstar agent, or something. Like, you have this almost supernatural ability to solve murder cases.”
“What?” Laura said, sitting up straight. Alarm shot through her veins. She knew people talked about her, obviously. But – supernatural? Wasn’t that a bit close to the bone?
“Yeah, like, you always get your man,” Agent Won said, shrugging. He was annoying her so much already. The informal way he spoke. It felt… untrained. It wasn’t that she and Nate were formal with each other, but they spoke in full sentences at least, and could go through a whole conversation without the use of the word ‘like’.
God, she sounded like an old woman, didn’t she? But she was so unsettled. Knowing Nate had asked for a transfer, having this rookie to babysit, not knowing what to think about her date with Chris, and, of course, having a murderer to catch… She could do without any additional hassle.
“It’s just experience,” she said, trying to sound bored. “You’ll get there one day.”
“Oh, I hope I’ll be an asset,” Agent Won replied. “Maybe I can even help you increase your success rate!”
Oh. So, he wasn’t trying to suck up to her. He was trying to brag about how great an agent he was, even though he was freshly baked. How fun.
“I’m going to get some sleep,” Laura said again, ignoring his last statement. If she didn’t, she would only have something rude to say. She closed her eyes, pillowed her head again, and continued to ignore him as he tried to clear his throat and even say her name, as if she was already so far asleep that she couldn’t hear him at all.
She either pretended to sleep, or did sleep, for the better part of six hours.