2 Get Her (Together)
Author: DelphieKat
Email and Website: please check my profile for those informations (Sue Thomas FBEye website still to come)
Rating: T
Classification: Drama / Angst
Spoilers: Nothing specific, but I hadn't seen anything past "Simon Says" when I wrote this story. So this takes place sometime after this episode
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters, they belong to PAX and PebbleHut Production. I just borrowed them for my own entertainment, and yours too, I hope.
Summary: Three women were found dead near the Hoover Building. How will the team deal with the clues the murderer left for them? And I almost forgot – Allie is back in Washington…
Author's Notes: This is my first Sue Thomas fiction. I haven't seen all the episodes yet, but I love the show. Please, let me know what you think. Feedback is always welcome!
Thank you to Jacynthe for her help and her feedback. She's done a wonderful job to beta read the story.
By the way, I decided to post it all at once, instead of one chapter every day. I hope you'll like it anyway...
- . - . - . Here goes the story - . - - . -
The bullpen was extremely agitated, but Sue Thomas had become an expert ignoring the uproar around her and her attention was fully focused on the file in her hand. The whole team was on edge. In the last two weeks, three women had been found dead in the park close to the Hoover building. Their bodies had clearly been moved, but no evidence could lead the investigators to the original crime scene, let alone the fact that they could have been killed in different locations. Their only clues were notes the murderer had placed in the victims' purse, and the number "2" he had painted on their forehead with their own lipstick. The M.O. was the same for all three victims: their feet and hands were tied, a silk gag was pushed into their mouth to prevent them from screaming, but their eyes were intentionally left open. No traces of alcohol or drugs in their bloodstream, and no fingerprints.
The first victim had been Felicia Ostrom: 24 years old, student at Harvard University in social sciences, she was in D.C. to visit her grand-mother, and she had no known boyfriend or fiancé. Her body had been found under a rosebush with the word "Lelex" on a business-card-sized note.
The second victim, Vicky Whitlow, had been 53 years old, a successful district attorney, and she had never remarried after her husband died of a heart-attack during a hockey game twelve years before. She had been found near a pond, and the words "On the road" were written on a card in her purse.
Finally, two days ago, the body of Diane Emmons was discovered under a decorative olive tree in the middle of the park. 41 years old, two kids, she was an engineer working for an important firm in Washington. Her card read the word "Nicator."
For the umpteenth time, Sue was trying to find a link between the victims. According to their relatives, they didn't know each other, and none of them had any enemies. She was so engrossed in her own thoughts that she was startled when Levi patted on her lap to get her attention. Jack Hudson had entered the office, brandishing a blue file in the air.
"Party's over. Metro P.D. just called. A new victim was found this morning, Peggy Edmonson. Barely 17, she was still in high school."
Seeing movement on her left, Sue turned her head to see Lucy sign "It's horrible."
Leaning onto Myles' desk, Bobby bent his head and sighed. "Same bastard?"
"Apparently yes. A jogger found her in a blind alley around five o'clock, and the word "Brihaspati" was found in her backpack. Tara, I want you to find what this means," Jack directed. "Bobby, Myles, check with the surveillance team – the park was patrolled by four agents all night, someone must have seen something. Sue, you and I have to meet a few of Peggy's friends. According to her parents, she wasn't dating anyone, but she was in touch with several male friends online."
- . - . - . Scene 2 - . - - . -
The night was warm, and a hazy fog was slowly enveloping Washington, matching the investigators' mood. Jack and Sue were walking side by side in the deserted street, and Levi was a few steps ahead of them. Both had been silent for a while, when Jack finally spoke. "Still trying to enter the killer's mind, Ms Thomas?"
Sue stopped walking and Levi came back to sit at her feet. She faced Jack and dug her hands deep in her pockets. "He wants to tell us something. He's playing with us. He wants the FBI to investigate, or he wouldn't have placed the bodies right in front of our building. All those women were successful where they were. He tied them up, he silenced them, but he wanted them to see him. He wants control."
Jack watched her with concern as she started pacing, talking to herself more than to him.
"The number two means something to him," she continued. "A pair, a couple, a second something… But I don't understand the clues he's left for us. He's been extremely careful to erase the slightest trace of a fingerprint, but he leaves us words that mean nothing."
Careful not to scare her, Jack placed a hand on her shoulder. "You should stop thinking about it. You've been working on this case almost nights and days for the last week, and it upsets you."
"I'm not upset." He simply smirked and closed one eye for a brief second before she continued. "Okay, maybe I am. We have to catch him, Jack."
"We will." Suddenly aware that his hand was still on her shoulder, he rapidly removed it, his fingers closing into a fist along the way. "It's getting late, I'd better go," he said, quite unconvincingly.
"I guess you're right," she replied, but made no attempt to move.
They stared at each other for a few minutes, and realising none of them was going to do anything, Jack just sighed and turned away. This was the story of their lives.
- . - . - . Scene 3 - . - - . -
Lost in her thoughts, Sue almost collided with Lucy when she exited the elevator the next morning. Her friend didn't give her time to apologise and immediately handed her a file.
"Another victim. Adrienne Malone. An agent found her an hour ago…"
The rest of her explanation was lost when Sue caught sight of something behind Lucy's shoulder. Jack was standing at the end of the hall, discussing cheerfully with Allie. His hand was resting comfortably on the small of her back, and she leaned in to kiss him. Sue tried to look away, but she felt hypnotised. He was definitively kissing her back. Unconsciously, she bit her lower lip, as she remembered his lips on hers when Janice had caught them in her boss' office. She wanted to take her eyes off of them, but she couldn't. With enormous effort, she turned her attention to Lucy who soon returned to her desk, unaware of what had just happened behind her back.
Unable to move, Sue stayed in the hall, her feet rooted to the floor. Allie was gone, and Jack was now discussing with Bobby, who had a goofy smile on his face. Before he turned his back to her, she was able to read on his lips. "So Jack, you're back with your sheila?"
Jack shifted on his feet and shrugged. From where she was, Sue was unable to understand what Bobby was saying, but she couldn't miss a word from Jack's side of the conversation. There was a long pause, and the shorter agent stared at his feet. "You know I do love her."
Bobby made an exasperated move, and Jack gazed away. "It's not that easy. I cannot just stop by Sue's apartment and tell her that."
Levi leaned his head on her tight and whimpered. She looked at her faithful dog, scratched his ear distractedly, but she was painfully attracted by the conversation at the other end of the hall.
"I finally realised that last night. It's never going to work out between the two of us," Jack concluded, and Bobby patted him on the shoulder, a sympathetic smile on his face.
That was enough. She couldn't stand it anymore. Pulling on Levi's leash, she headed back to her desk, with the intention to bury her mind into this case and find time later to ask Garrett for some much needed vacation away from Washington D.C.
- . - . - . Scene 4 - . - - . -
On his way to the coffee machine, Jack rapped his knuckles on Tara's desk. "Found anything yet?"
"Nothing conclusive. 'Brihaspati' was a lord of prayer in Hindu mythology, 'Lelex' is a small town in France, close to Geneva, Switzerland, and 'Nicator' is associated to Seleucid's ancient history. 'On the road' could mean just anything."
Jack scratched his head and leaned on her desk with both hands. "Any ideas for the number 'two' he's traced on their foreheads?"
"Unfortunately not, but I'll keep looking," she offered, typing furiously on her keyboard.
Dimitrius entered the bullpen, a green file in his hand, and everyone stopped what they'd been doing. "As you know, another victim was found this morning. This time, two words were written on her card. 'Conn Smythe.' This sounds familiar to anyone?"
Jack immediately got up. "It's the trophy awarded to the most valuable player during playoffs in NHL hockey." Pivoting towards his desk, he grabbed another file and snapped his fingers. "This could be useful if we use it with the number 'two'. Only four players received this trophy twice: Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, Bernie Parent and Bobby Orr."
Dimitrius turned to Bobby nonchalantly. "So, you Aussie share a name with a famous hockey player?" and Bobby simply shrugged, not sure if he really liked the idea.
Tara raised her hand and caught D's attention. "According to mythology, I read here that Brihaspati's second wife was named 'Tara'."
Myles leaned on his desk, his chin resting on his entwined fingers. "Wasn't 'On the road' the second book written by Jack Kerouac?"
Everyone stared at him, and he held a hand up in defence. "Hey, this is literature. I did spend some time in the library at Harvard, just so you know."
"Harvard…" Lucy started. "Wasn't one of the victims from this university?"
"Yes, she was," Tara supplied, "and I just discovered that, according to Greek mythology, the king Lelex 2 had a son named Myles."
"Okay, so this killer knows who we are," Jack stated. "He's placed the victims right in front of us, and he's made sure we'd recognise ourselves in them. Victim one was meant for Myles. In addition to the note, the heart-attack and the hockey reference clearly indicate the second victim was for me."
Dimitrius continued in this line of thoughts. "Victim four was a computer geek, so here goes the relation with Tara, and we now know that the last victim was for Bobby, but what about the third?"
"I think I've found something." Tara showed her computer screen. "In Seleucid's history, only one king reigned twice: Demetrius Nicator."
Surveying the whole bullpen, Jack suddenly realised something was wrong. "Luce, where's Sue?"
"She left an hour ago. She said Howie contacted her. Apparently, a friend of his had valuable information for our case. They are supposed to meet in a coffee shop, a few blocks away."
"You wouldn't happen to have the name of the coffee shop, would you?" he asked, hopeful.
"She jotted it down on her pad, maybe we could still read it on the page underneath."
Jack grabbed his jacket. "Crash, Dimitrius, we're going to pay our friend Howie a little visit…"
- . - . - . Scene 5 - . - - . -
"Wow, that's what I call good service," the waitress babbled when Bobby, D and Jack entered the coffee shop. "I phoned your office fifteen minutes ago; I never thought they would send three agents. This dog must be very important."
Bobby and Dimitrius stared at each other, and Jack shook his head. "What do you mean?"
"The golden retriever. He was barking down the street. My manager wanted to kick him away, but that's when he noticed the badge. First time I see a dog with a badge," she continued, musing.
"Levi!" Immediately, Sue's dog appeared from the back store, and Jack crouched to pet his ears as he placed his head on the agent's lap. "Tell me, Buddy, what happened to her?"
Dimitrius already had his cell to his ear. "Tara, Sue's missing. Must've been a trap. Jack and I are going to locate Howie, see if he has anything to do with this. Bobby's on his way back. Try to locate her with her pager."
- . - . - . Scene 6 - . - - . -
Jack entered the bullpen and headed straight for his desk. He was agitated and restless and couldn't even sit down on his chair. He grabbed the first sheet on his legal pad, shaped it as a ball and threw it at the communication board in anger. "I can't believe she's done that again! How many times did I tell her not to go see an informer by herself?"
"Jack, she said she was meeting Howie, nothing really unusual with that," Lucy offered, rather unconvincingly.
"But our dear Howie swears he never called her today. Says he was out of town for the last few days, and hadn't heard of the murders yet," Dimitrius explained. "Knowing Howie, he's probably telling the truth."
"So, someone knew she was in contact with Howie and also that she would only read his call, so it could have been anyone, because he didn't have to modify his voice," Myles insinuated.
"Jack!" Tara called the other agent, taking her headset off one of her ears. "Bobby's found something. He just called the medics."
- . - . - . Scene 7 - . - - . -
Jack didn't even wait for the car to come to a full halt before he jumped on the street. He ran in Bobby's direction, ignoring the pounding in his chest when he saw the paramedics carrying a gurney covered with a black sheet. His friend stopped him before he could get closer.
"It's not her, Jack," he informed him, staring into the other agent's eyes. "That's him. He was dragging her body when I spotted him. He threatened me with his gun when he heard me coming. Didn't waste more than a bullet for this scumbag. He had painted the number 'one' on her forehead, and we found the word 'FBI' on the note in her purse."
Jack swayed on his feet and Bobby supported him with a hand in his back. "Whoa, mate, come here." He guided him to the nearest tree and Jack leaned his back on it, his head tilted back, eyes closed, his arms limp and cold.
"Doctor says she's gonna make it," Bobby continued and Jack immediately returned his full attention to his friend. "Her hands and feet were tied, and she was gagged, but she was just unconscious. He probably drugged her, in order to finish his task here, right in our face – this monster was clearly after us. I stayed with her till the medics took good care of her. They brought her to the hospital ten minutes ago."
The other agents had finally joined them, relieved to know their friend would be okay. Unnoticed to the others, Jack slowly distanced himself from the group and headed back to the gurney the medics were finally loading into their vehicle. Determined to find out who the killer was, he lifted the sheet, only to discover with disgust that he wouldn't need to run his fingerprints through the database to identify the murderer.
- . - . - . Scene 8 - . - - . -
Sue almost jumped out of her skin when she felt two strong paws landing on her forearm, while she was lying half-asleep in her hospital bed. Despite the drug-induced haze, she recognised her dear Levi, but was surprised to find him wandering all by himself in her hospital room in the middle of the night.
The next thing she realised was that someone was sitting in a chair by her bed, but the absence of light made it impossible for her to see who it was. "Lucy?" she called out, tentatively.
The visitor finally stirred and turned on the lights. It was Jack. His sleeves were rolled up to his elbows, his tie was resting of the back of his chair and his jacket was acting like a blanket over his torso. His tousled hair gave him an irresistible look, but Sue immediately pushed that thought away, remembering the conversation she had seen the other day.
"What are you doing here?" she asked, as coldly as she could.
"Checking up on you," he answered, leaning forward and placing his elbows on his knees. "The guy who attacked you was Ron Jeremy. He used to work for the bureau, but his request to transfer on our team was rejected two years ago. Apparently, he swore he'd take revenge, but his coworkers didn't take his threats very seriously. He was fired last month because of administrative issues, and well, I don't really need to say much more right now. How are you doing?" he asked, tentatively placing his hand on hers, but she pulled away.
"Alive is more than I was hoping for when this guy planted a needle in my arm." She faced Levi and signed for him to place his front paws on the bed, so she could scratch his ears and neck affectionately. This was also a very efficient way not to see what Jack could reply. "You'd better go home. I'm sure Allie is waiting for you."
Sue closed her eyes so tears wouldn't come; she had fought them way too often to show up in front of this man. But she wanted to be alone, away from Jack, away from the image of Allie and him kissing in the hall. Unfortunately, Jack had no way of knowing what she really wanted.
A hand placed on her shoulder forced her to open her eyes. Jack was standing next to her bed, concern showing on his face. "What do you mean? Allie's in New York."
"I saw you yesterday morning," she began, staring at her feet. "I didn't mean to, but I also saw when you told Bobby you loved her. I'm quite certain she would be upset knowing you spent the night with another woman… even if it's in a hospital room," she added, suddenly aware of what she had said.
Jack captured her hand between both of his, effectively getting her attention. "You should exercise your reading and investigative skills, Ms Thomas," he said, deadpan, earning a reproachful glare from Sue. Taking his time, he brought the chair closer to the bed, never letting go of her hand, and sat down. "Allie was waiting for me at my apartment the other night. We've had a long talk, and we realised things would never work out between the two of us. The part about loving someone is true, though."
This time, it was Jack's turn to look away. In the dim light, Sue couldn't read the expression on his face, and had to wait until he spoke, which took a few minutes. "There's this special woman I met a few years ago. She's always been there for me, but I failed her. I yelled at her when all I wanted was to hold her in my arms and never let her go. So many times, I turned away when all I wanted was to kiss her goodnight. I stopped counting the cover-ops I wanted to be real instead of just being pretences. This time, I know what I want, but I don't know how to do it. Have any suggestions?" he asked with a half-smile, his eyes betraying his internal turmoil.
Sue gasped at his admission. Suddenly, she realised that his thumb was tenderly brushing her knuckles, probably absent-mindedly, and her other hand had automatically covered their entwined fingers. Uncertain about what to say, she turned to her dog. "What do you think, Levi?" The golden retriever barked three times, and a smile spread on her face. "You're right, my boy," she replied, using her almost-free hand to pat his head.
Pivoting to face a very nervous Jack, she wiggled her fingers in his hand and grinned. "Levi says he agrees. I'm not in any condition for more than that right now, however, the goodnight kiss sounds very attractive, but not as much as the man who offers it…" she finally answered.
With a goofy smile on his face, Jack willingly obliged to her suggestion, capturing her lips in a kiss a hundred times sweeter than the tender moment they had shared months ago. Much to her chagrin, the kiss was interrupted by a yawn she couldn't repress and she sighed. Seeing his still smiling face, she moved her fist over her chest and mouthed: "sorry."
"You should sleep, now," he suggested, tenderly pushing her hair behind her ear. Straightening the blankets, he tucked her in and placed a feather-light kiss on her forehead. Finally, Jack turned off the lights, covered himself once again with his jacket, and entwined his fingers with Sue's. He was finally where he'd always wanted to be – together with the woman he really loved.
FIN