Chapter Five

In Motion

    Evan sat at the desk in his office tapping his fingers against it. It might sound annoying to anyone else had they been there in the office with him. However it helped him to think more clearly. It had been a few weeks since he had been introduced to Sheridan’s friend. In that few weeks’ time he had found himself thinking of her quite often. Not in any romantic sense, but it bugged him that she had gotten under his skin.

    He pulled his notepad closer to him and started jotting things down as they came to him. Sometimes he would do this and come up with a good idea for one of the drugs he would eventually have to try and sell. When these moods struck he didn’t ignore it, but went along with the flow. After about ten minutes of writing he abruptly stopped.

    As Evan read over what he had written he smiled. A plan was forming right in front of him and he hadn’t even known he was thinking about it.

                                ******************

    Blake sat across the table from Sam at Mike’s, one of the local cop hangouts. They had come there after their shift had ended. They had a few cases they were still working on, but they weren’t overburdened like many of the other departments were. So that meant they could actually enjoy a little bit of free time. Plus it was their day off the next day so they were going to enjoy this night.

    Blake had breezed through his burger and fries and was now on his second bottle of beer. Sam still had a few fries left, but had joined Blake on his second bottle. They enjoyed a companionable silence for a while, but soon a commotion at the door got their attention. Commotion at Mike’s being a new arrival being greeted by his or her fellow law enforcement brethren. Once the sea of people parted they were able to discern a figure and saw that it was heading their way. Once the figure reached their table both Fitz and Blaylock nodded for him to join them.

    Everett Snow had come to join their party.

    “You mean they let you go?” Sam asked, conversationally.

    Everett looked at him and gave him a dark look, which was belied by his smile. “Well you know we can’t all laze on our asses.” he said, pointedly.

    Blake chuckled. “Hey it’s not our fault you picked the wrong department.” Sam nodded his head in agreement. “Seriously, what brings you here? I figured you’d be working late on account of Richard Daniels case finally starting.”

    This time Everett’s dark look was all too real. His mouth tightened into a thin line as his eyes narrowed in anger. “There won’t be a trial.”

    “What?” Blake and Sam exclaimed at the same time. Blake then elaborated on that question. “What do you mean there won’t be a trial?”

    “Richard Daniels was found dead in his cell two hours ago.” Snow answered.

    “Son-of-a-bitch!” Sam exclaimed.

    “What do you think…”

    Everett didn’t even let Blake finish his question. “I think he did it himself. However I think he had help procuring the instrument.”

    “The dirty-rotten-stinking coward.” Sam grumbled.

    “Why do you call him a coward? Maybe he couldn’t live with what he had done anymore.” Everett said.

    Sam snorted. “The bastard killed his own daughter and played us for fools. If he couldn’t stand anything it was the fact that he’d be stuck in that place the rest of his life. That’s what he couldn’t bear.”

    Blake looked at his partner. Sometimes he was amazed by the insight Sam had into people. Blake totally agreed with his assessment. He also thought Daniels had taken his own life rather than have someone else run it. However Blake was a little surprised he hadn’t taken a chance on the trial and tried to work the jury over to his side. One never really knew what someone else was thinking, no matter how much you might think you did.

    “You know you are always such a bearer of glad tidings.” Sam commented.

    “Hey it’s not my fault you chose the wrong department. I can’t help you aren’t always the first to know. At least I keep your *** updated.” Everett pointed out.

    Blake watched the two of them banter back and forth for a while. He would have joined in on any other night, but Snow’s news brought back memories Blake didn’t want to deal with. However if he didn’t deal with them they’d just haunt him till they were dealt with.

    These were memories better dealt with alone.

                              ************************

    Kaelin sat bolt upright in bed. Her heart pounded furiously as her breathing came in ragged gasps. She took deep breaths until she had calmed down some and looked at the clock on her nightstand. It read twenty minutes after three.

    Kaelin threw the covers to the side of the bed. She walked into the bathroom and splashed cold water on her face; she then looked in the mirror. A startled looking Kaelin stared back at her.

    She didn’t remember what she had been dreaming, but she was pretty sure she knew what it was about. She had probably dreamed of her parents. Every time she dreamed about her parents she always woke the same way, whether it was good or bad. Funny why it happened that way, but now that she thought about it, maybe they were all bad dreams. It was just that what she remembered was the good part of the dream.

    Kaelin headed out to the kitchen and turned on the light. She might as well get something accomplished since she knew she wasn’t going to be getting any more sleep this night.

                             ***************************

    Evan held the phone to his ear as he waited for the person on the other end to pick up. Once they finally did he spoke. “Sheridan, how are you?”

    “Fine, Evan, how are you?” she asked in return.

    “Just great. This Friday is Benton and my Friday isn’t it?”

    “Yes it is. Is something wrong?”

    “No, not at all. I was just wondering if you would invite your friend Kaelin.” The silence on the other end told him he had surprised Sheridan.

    “You want me to invite Kaelin?” she asked.

    “Only if you want to.”

    “Is there a reason you want me to?” she questioned him.

    “She’s your friend so you might enjoy spending time with her. I’ll admit I enjoyed talking with her. I wouldn’t mind talking with her again.” he told Sheridan.

    “Okay. I’ll ask her to come, but that’s not going to say she will. She might already have plans.” she pointed out.

    “That is true, but it doesn’t hurt to ask. Thanks, Sheridan. I’ll see you Friday then.” He said then hung up.

    Evan pulled the sheet of notebook paper toward him and crossed off one of the ideas from his list. His plan may not go exactly how it was written out, but at least he had started it in motion.

                              ***********************

    Jack sat on the bench beside Kaelin. He actually sat so that he was facing her, straddling the bench. He had woken up early and saw that her kitchen light was on. Since he only went to his own kitchen to get a drink he didn’t really pay it any mind. However when he had gotten up a few hours later and saw that it was still on he became a little curious. It wasn’t like Kaelin to leave her lights on all night. Once he had done his morning ritual he had gone next door to see what was the matter. So here they sat, each with an untouched mug of coffee before them.

    Jack had noticed the sleepless look of Kaelin’s eyes as soon as she had answered the door; however he hadn’t pushed her for an explanation. He wanted her to tell him what was wrong. She turned her head in his direction and gazed at him with sad eyes.

    “I see your look of concern, Jack. You don’t need to worry.”

    “I can’t help it, Kaelin. Excuse my rudeness but you look like hell.” he told her. She gave him a small smile. “What’s wrong?”

    “I had a bad dream last night, or rather early this morning.” she told him, softly.

    “And that kept you up the rest of the night?”

    “How do you know I...”

    Jack interrupted her by reaching up and gently tracing his fingertips across the dark circles under her eyes. “These tell me, and if that hadn’t, your kitchen light being on when I got a drink and still being on when I got out of bed this morning would have what was it about?” he asked, gently.

    “I don’t remember.” she said.

    “Don’t remember or don’t want to tell me?” he asked, hurt.

    Kaelin closed her eyes. She really didn’t remember what it was about; she only knew who had to have been in it because of how she had woken up. She hadn’t lied to Jack and she wasn’t about to start now. “I honestly don’t know what it was about, I didn’t see anything. I just know it was a bad dream because of how I woke up.”

    “So you’ve had this kind of dream before?” Her silence told him the answer. “How long has this been happening?”

    “Too long, Jack. Please, I don’t want to talk about it anymore.” she whispered as tears started streaming down her cheeks.

    “I’m sorry, Kaelin. I didn’t want to make you cry. Forgive me.” he whispered. He then took Kaelin into his arms and held her while she cried.

    Once she was done crying she wiped the tears as best she could. “I must look a mess.” she said trying to lighten the mood.

    “You look like Kaelin to me.” Jack said. He gave her one last squeeze before he let her go. “We need to actually watch the sunrise next time you know.” He sighed. “Unfortunately that’ll have to wait till Saturday. I’ll be gone till Friday afternoon.”

    “Well thank you for letting me know that. See you Friday night then maybe?”

    “Sure, I’ll give you a holler then okay?” he asked.

    “Sounds like a plan to me.” She responded.

    Things didn’t always go according to plan.

                            *********************

    Kaelin sat in the kitchen with Becky and Sheridan. Becky was going to a friend’s sleepover, but before she left she wanted to spend a little time with Kaelin. Kaelin had given her some cookies and cake to take along to the sleepover. She had however taken them out of the Wooden Spoon Foods packaging. She wasn’t about to use Becky as an advertisement. When the parents of Becky’s friend finally arrived to pick her up she kissed her mom on the cheek then gave Kaelin a big hug before heading out. Both women watched her departing figure with fond eyes.

    Sheridan took a sip of her tea then looked at Kaelin. “Evan is going to be here tonight.” she blurted.

    Kaelin just stared at her a moment, a little dumbfounded as to what to say. “And you are telling me this why?”

    “I just thought you should know.”

    “Did you plan it like this and forget to tell me again?” Kaelin asked.

    Sheridan gave her a hurt look. “No. Must you always accuse me of things I don’t do?”

    Kaelin gave her friend a stricken look. She really had hurt Sheridan’s feelings and she hadn’t meant to. Kaelin reached over and covered Sheridan’s hand. “I’m sorry, Sheridan. I wasn’t accusing you, really I wasn’t.”

    “If you must know Evan actually is the one who suggested I invite you. He said we could spend some time together and you and he could talk a little more.” Sheridan admitted.

    Kaelin’s eyebrows shot up in astonishment. “He wants to talk to me?”

    “Why do you find that so hard to believe?”

    “Well it’s not like we were having a deep philosophical conversation.” Kaelin pointed out.

    Sheridan smiled. “You don’t always have to have deep discussions for someone to like talking to you.” She pointed out in return.

    On that note they heard the doorbell ring. Soon male voices could be heard near the kitchen. They were going to be eating in the kitchen this time around since there was only the four of them. Kaelin watched Benton and Evan walk to the table. Evan gave his sister-in-law a kiss on the cheek then turned and gave Kaelin a charming smile. Kaelin gave him a not-so-generous one in return.

    The meal was a very companionable one, Benton and Evan keeping it lively by sparring jokingly back and forth. Kaelin couldn’t help but smile at their antics. It was nice to see two brothers who had remained close.

    Once the meal was done and the dishes put in the dishwasher they headed into the living room. Sheridan once again sat next to her husband which forced Kaelin and Evan to sit together. For the first half hour or so everyone took part in the conversation, but soon Evan seemed to turn his attention to Kaelin.

    “You fibbed when you said you liked to bake. Sheridan told me you’ve started your own little bakery so to speak.” he commented.

    “Yes I have. It’s not doing too badly, so far at least.” she responded.

    “That’s very gutsy.”

    “Thank you. It’s something I enjoy.”

    “So why not make money at it?” he asked.

    “Sheridan told me you suggested she ask me to come and that you enjoyed talking to me. Well she didn’t exactly put it in those terms.”

    Evan shook his head in mock chagrin. “Sometimes Sheridan is a bad secret keeper isn’t she?”

    Kaelin chuckled. “Yes I suppose she is, but she makes up for it by being such a good friend.” she told him honestly.

    “You really do care about her don’t you?” he asked, sounding a bit surprised.

    “Is that so hard to believe?”

    “No. I’m sorry about how that sounded. I didn’t mean anything by it.”

    Kaelin watched him closely; he wasn’t smiling which meant he could have been lying. “No worries.”

    “So tell me…”

    Surprisingly to Kaelin their conversation lasted longer than she thought it would have.

                                  *********************

    Evan looked over at the woman walking next to him. The moonlight played off her auburn hair, it was a striking image. That was if you were into that romantic nonsense. He had gazed over at her to see if she was looking at him.

    He had seen the surprise on both Kaelin and Sheridan’s faces when he had asked if he could walk Kaelin home. She had protested that it was only across the street, that she had done it plenty of times before. However in the end she had accepted his offer.

    As they reached the driveway Evan looked around. All of the neighbors were inside, most likely trying to stay cool. It wasn’t as hot as it had been earlier in the day, but it was still very humid. As they got closer to her trailer he saw Kaelin’s gaze flicker to the one behind hers, a look of disappointment quickly flickering across her features. When Kaelin stopped walking he also stopped too.

    “Here you are safe and sound.” he almost whispered.

    “Yes. Thank you, Evan.” she responded.

    “Not a problem at all. Have a good night’s rest.” he said. Evan watched Kaelin turn and start heading away from him. Though she couldn’t see it he smacked himself on the head as if to say what an idiot. He quickly followed her and took her shoulder in his hand. “I forgot something.” he said.

    He smiled at her look of surprise as he turned her to face him.

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