Nobody said a word as Abbie stomped her way back to her little office, only to pause in the doorway and stare. On her desk was a beautiful bouquet of pink alstroemeria, purple lisianthus, and white daisies in a glass vase. She blinked and rubbed her eyes, expecting the bouquet to be gone when she opened them again, but they remained. Still standing in the doorway, she called to the secretary.
"Madelyn?"
The blond-haired woman stopped typing to look at her. "Yes, Ms. Carmichael?"
"The flowers.." She gestured toward the office door. "Who sent them?"
Madelyn smiled. "I don't know..a nice delivery boy dropped them off about an hour ago." She continued, with only a little embarrassment. "I read the card, but it didn't say either."
"The card...thanks." She'd have to talk to Madelyn about being nosy at another time. Right now, she was focused on finding the little card. When she found it, the writing was unfamiliar, and very short.
"All I want is you..."
"Hmm, that's not creepy at all." Holding the card by the edges, she flipped it over, only to find it was blank. Madelyn appeared in the doorway, a grin on her face. "It looks like you've got a secret admirer, Ms. Carmichael. Isn't that wonderful?"
"Wonderful's not the word I'd choose to describe it." Abbie muttered under her breath.
"What?"
"I said..." Abbie sighed. "Never mind.." Before Madelyn could reply, Jack showed up, in his usual good humor.
"Abbie..what the hell happened with–" He stopped midsentence as the bouquet caught his attention. "What is this?"
"Her secret admirer..." Madelyn piped up. "Isn't that sweet, Mr. McCoy?" Jack raised an eyebrow as he turned his attention back to Abbie. "A secret admirer?"
Abbie nodded. "Yeah..and apparently, he's a man of few words." Crossing the floor, she showed Jack the card and watched his smile fade.
"I don't like this, Abbie."
"I don't either, but it's not the first time I've gotten weird messages."
Jack nodded in agreement. "That's true, though I don't think I've ever gotten flowers."
Abbie rolled her eyes. "You want them? You can have them." Then, she checked her watch and sighed. "I have to be in court in fifteen minutes, so I'll see you two later." Grabbing her briefcase from where she'd dropped it, it was back to court. The rest of the day was uneventful, and by the time she left for the day, she'd entirely forgotten about the delivery.
Abbie was almost to her car when strong arms grabbed her from behind and in one smooth motion, she was pressed against the cold concrete of the parking garage. Before one word could escape, her mouth was covered with an odd-smelling cloth and it became hard to think, let alone move.
"I always get what I want..." Then, the world went black.