"I'm thinking about getting a drink tonight. Want to join?"
Bill took his reading glasses off and sighed before looking up at Holden poking into his office. Ever since Nancy had finally had enough and divorced him, his partner had taken to inviting Bill out. It was an attempt at being nice, and Bill certainly appreciated the rare sight of Holden without his head up his own ass, but the last thing he wanted was to visit a bar with the young man.
"Thank you, but I'll pass," Bill replied, leaning back in his desk chair. "I'm going to stay a bit longer and look over the Ada Jeffries case."
"I still don't think we're ready to help them out in the way that they need us to," Holden told him.
Bill slid his glasses back on his face and looked back down at the file on his desk without another word. He could feel his partner's presence in the doorway for a few more seconds, but then heard him mumble something under his breath before leaving.
Holden was right. But Bill didn't feel like making up a million more excuses. He stared down at the pictures of the woman and her poor son, both of whom had been raped and killed in Iowa.
Within the hour, Bill had gotten out of his chair, put his coat on, and turned off all the lights in their basement workspace. He was the last to leave, just as he usually was now that he didn't have a family to come home to. All he had was his work, his cigarettes, and his single bedroom apartment.
Tomorrow, though, he'd have to leave before it got dark. Nancy had called him the night before to remind him for the umpteenth time that they had a conference with Brian's teacher. Nancy had been kind enough to schedule theirs at a later time for Bill's convenience, but a huge part of him hoped that he and Holden would be whisked away to consult on another case.
Fuck no, Bill didn't want to go to the conference, but Nancy insisted. How many more times could he be told about his adopted son's antisocial behavior? He hadn't bitten anyone since he was finally kicked out of his former private school, but he still wouldn't speak. He still refused to hug Bill whenever he saw him.
Shaking his head to himself, Bill approached his car and got in. He lit up a cigarette and inhaled deeply before putting his key in the ignition and driving away from headquarters.
Unfortunately for Bill, he and Holden had not been whisked away to consult on another case before the conference. He left the basement with hardly more than a grunt to his partner, Wendy, and Agent Smith, his coat draped over his arm as he made his way to the elevator.
He drove all the way to Brian's new school, arriving in the parking lot at dusk. He found Nancy's sedan and parked next to it. He took one last drag from his cigarette and crushed the butt on the ground as he was getting out of his car.
He walked past a few parents on his way inside the school. He almost flagged someone down to tell him where the second-grade classrooms were when he saw his now ex-wife. Nancy was sitting on a bench outside of a classroom down the first hall Bill peered down.
Bill heaved a great sigh and strode towards her. Her honey blonde curls bounced when she turned to watch him approach her. She gave him a tight-lipped smile and fidgeted with the pocketbook sitting on her lap.
"Hello, Nancy," he nodded to her, passing another set of parents waiting outside of a different classroom.
"I wasn't sure if you were coming," she said softly.
Bill chose not to reply. He merely leaned against a patch of wall that wasn't covered in children's artwork.
"She seems nice," Nancy said after a long moment of awkward silence.
"Hmm?" Bill grunted.
"Brian's teacher, Miss Cooper. I met her at the beginning of the school year," Nancy explained, not making eye contact with him. "She's new. She told me she just moved here over the summer."
Bill nodded. He checked his watch, hoping they wouldn't be waiting for too much longer.
"Brian likes her. At least, I think he does. He's never been so…eager to do his homework. I think she's been a good influence on him," Nancy continued.
"That's good," Bill murmured.
Finally, the door to the classroom they were sitting outside of opened. Two parents walked out into the hallway, talking over their shoulders to the young woman holding the door for them.
She was beautiful, Bill couldn't help but notice. Suddenly he didn't mind having to wait as much. She certainly didn't look like any teachers he had had as a child. She wore her long wavy brown hair down, tying two strands of it behind her head. She was dressed in a dark blue blouse that she had tucked into a black pencil skirt with sensible heels on her feet.
"Have a great night," the father said, giving her a cheery wave.
"You as well," called the woman. She took a half-step out of the doorway and smiled down at Nancy. "Mrs. Tench?"
"Yes," Nancy stood, throwing the strap of her pocketbook over her shoulder. "This is my…ex-husband, Bill." She gestured to him as he got off the wall and walked closer to the door.
"Oh, Adrienne Cooper, nice to meet you," the woman introduced, reaching out to him to shake his hand. She glanced down at the badge hanging out of his breast pocket. "You really do work for the FBI."
"I do," he smiled at her as he shook her hand. "Special Agent Bill Tench. Nice to meet you as well."
Bill could sense something in Miss Cooper's blue eyes as she continued to glance down at the badge. He could also sense Nancy staring at him, but he chose to focus on the teacher instead. He saw her gulp before she made eye contact with him again, smiling wider.
"Please, come in," she said, still holding the door open with her slender body.
Bill and Nancy both stepped into her classroom. The room was bright and organized. Her walls and shelves were decorated by projects made by her students. Bill wondered if Brian had made any of them.
"I'm so sorry for the wait," Miss Cooper said, shepherding them to her desk.
"Oh, it's no worry at all," Nancy assured her as they sat in the student's chairs that had been pushed up to the desk. "It gave Bill time to show up."
Another passive-aggressive dig, Bill noted. He had to stop himself from rolling his eyes.
"I'm glad that the both of you could find the time to meet with me," Miss Cooper said. She had certainly noticed the dig as well, but had enough grace not to make a big deal out of it. She pulled open one of her desk drawers and pulled out a folder.
"I must ask, how have you been enjoying Virginia?" Nancy asked.
"I like it," Miss Cooper nodded. "It's a lot different from Massachusetts, but I like it."
"What brings you to Virginia?" Bill piped up.
"Oh, um…" Miss Cooper became noticeably uncomfortable, but was clearly trying to hide it. She peered out the window over her shoulder before forcing herself to smile at him. "Change of scenery, change of pace."
Bill knew there was something else there, something underneath it all. But this wasn't the time for profiling. Instead, he sat back in his chair and watched her shaky hands grab the manila folder. He mostly tuned her out as she went over Brian's grades, but he kept his eyes on her pale face as she talked.
"…clearly a troubled kid, but I've been doing my best to get on Brian's level and let him know that I am here for him," she said. "I understand that you adopted him when he was very young, but you don't know what he went through before you got him?"
"That's right," Nancy bobbed her head. "I was just telling Bill that you've been a good influence on Brian. He seems to be slowly coming out of his shell, bit by bit. How has he been in the classroom?"
"Well, I can tell Brian is an intelligent child," Miss Cooper told her. "He doesn't talk to anyone, but we've been working on making eye contact."
"Has he been doing it?" Nancy asked excitedly.
"Not exactly," Miss Cooper gave her a bitter smile. "But he's not just hanging his head low at all times. He'll lift his head a bit when I ask him a question."
"I've noticed that at home too," Nancy smiled. "Now, how is he…?"
Bill tuned out the conversation again. He found himself staring at Miss Cooper's hands folded on top of Brian's folder. Her left was over her right and he could see that she didn't have any rings on her fingers.
He suspected that she noticed where he was staring because she lifted her left hand up and pretended to scratch an itch on her collarbone. Bill sat up and looked over his shoulder at Annie Greene's poster on the water cycle by the chalkboard.
"…want the best for Brian, I really do," Miss Cooper said when Bill tuned back in. "Over the past few months he's become very near and dear to my heart."
"You can't even begin to understand how happy that makes me," Nancy said, her eyes shining.
"I wouldn't say it if I didn't mean it," Miss Cooper beamed at her. Then she looked over at Bill. "On the first day of school I asked all of my students to write about themselves—whatever they wanted; what they did over the summer, what their favorite things are, what their families are like. And you know what Brian wrote?"
Bill felt compelled to answer since she was gazing right at him with her cerulean blue eyes. "No, what?"
"He wrote about you," she told him.
"Really?" Bill raised his eyebrows.
"He wrote about how you work for the FBI and save people," Miss Cooper continued. "That's, um, why I said something when I saw…" she nodded at the badge hanging over his pocket.
"Did you not believe him?" Bill smirked.
"Well, kids exaggerate sometimes," she chuckled guiltily. "I don't know why I doubted him, living so close to Quantico now."
"It's an honest mistake," Bill cocked his head to the side.
Nancy looked at him, but didn't say anything.
"Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that Brian has made some progress over these past few months. I'm very proud of him," Miss Cooper said.
"We are too," Nancy nodded, looking at Bill once more.
"We are," Bill echoed.
"Well, thank you. It's been lovely to see you again, Mrs. Tench," Miss Cooper stood up and shook Nancy's hand once she had as well. "And I'm glad to have finally met you, Agent Tench."
"Likewise," Bill shook her hand, feeling how soft her skin was against his.
"I'll walk you to the door," Miss Cooper offered, glancing out the dark window over her shoulder once more.
"Thank you," Nancy said sweetly.
Bill could sense again that the teacher was uncomfortable with something and trying to hide it. There was anxiety behind her smile as she held the door open for them.
"Have a good night," Nancy told her, waiting out in the empty hallway for Bill.
"You too," Miss Cooper bowed her head.
Bill gave her a quick nod of the head as he passed her through the doorway. He started walking alongside Nancy, but remained silent.
"What do you think?" she whispered. "I know you had some reservations about Brian going to public school, but she's very nice. And she really cares about him. You can tell."
"Yeah," Bill shrugged his shoulders. "She's nice."
Nancy sighed. "Were you even listening to a word she said the entire time?"
"I was listening," Bill half-lied.
"You didn't want to be there at all."
"Nancy, can we please not do this right now?"
His ex-wife looked down at the tiled floor. "She's very…pretty."
Bill was silent again. He knew it wasn't going to be good no matter how he answered.
"Unmarried too. How old do you think she is? She can't be more than, I don't know, thirty?" Nancy guessed.
"Um, Agent Tench?"
Both Bill and Nancy turned around and saw Miss Cooper in the hallway, her hand gripping the doorframe.
"Yes?" Bill responded.
"Could I have a word?" she asked nervously.
Nancy gave Bill a look, but he didn't acknowledge her.
"Is this about Brian?" Bill sighed.
"No," Miss Cooper shook her head. "This is more about your job than mine, I assure you."
I'm not sure if this will get any traction, but I seriously love Mindhunter and I can't believe how little content there is for it on here. I don't know how consistent updates will be or if maybe I just need to write a bunch of this to get it out of my system/exercise my creativity while I suffer through my latest bout of writer's block with another story. Does this even make any sense? I don't know anymore.
I own nothing except my own shit, obviously. Thank you to David Fincher for creating this awesome show. And thank you to Holt McCallany for portraying Bill Tench.
Oh, also, trigger warnings for crime stuff and all that jazz.