C.J. closed and locked the door before looking back at Matt. "What brings you over this late at night? Where's Elizabeth?"
Matt closed his eyes for a second. During that entire conversation, he hadn't thought of Elizabeth once. "She's not with me, she left."
"Left where? She's at the beach house?" C.J. asked not thinking he meant anything more than for the night.
Matt looked down, "No, I mean she and I are not getting married anymore. That's one of the reasons I came over tonight." He looked up again at her. She walked right over to him and held him in her arms.
"I am so sorry Houston" she said patting his back, trying to find exactly the right words to say to him. "You know this doesn't mean you won't get married someday and have the family you always wanted" as she broke their embrace. Her eyes didn't leave his as she said "You will have all that and more someday, I know it."
She always could read him like a book he thought, but it wasn't as simple as she was making it out to be. Right now, though, a bigger threat existed, and that threat would allow him to take his mind off his own problems and focus on her. Her safety was paramount to him, but it wasn't just her physical safety he was concerned about.
"What about you? I know Robert said some horrible things to you when he was sentenced. How do you feel about his being released, you can tell me if you're scared, you know." Matt inquired softly.
At that point, C.J. turned toward the living room and walked over to the couch. There was a lot more to story than Matt knew, but she wasn't ready to tell him, not just yet. Matt still thought Robert wanted to marry her out of love, but C.J. knew the truth. Her expression and body language changed, and Matt noticed.
"I don't want to think about that right now, I'm tired. I know what he said and I know he threatened me. Hoyt will keep those two babysitters out there all night, you don't have to stay Houston." She said, hoping he would get the hint.
Matt did get the hint, the problem was he didn't want to leave. But he knew C.J. and he knew she needed some space. He could trust her to tell him in her own time, but he did have to admit that he was more than a little concerned for her. He walked over to her and put his hands on her arms. "Maybe I should send a couple of security guys over too, just in case he comes calling, ok, please?" he asked as nicely as he could.
"Fine, if it will make you feel better, fine. But I'm a big girl Houston and I can take care of myself. Just remember that ok" she replied because she knew he loved her as his best friend and didn't want anything bad to happen to her, but she also needed to make it clear that she wasn't some damsel in distress here either.
"It will make me feel better, thank you", he cupped her chin in his hand and gave her a sweet little kiss on the mouth, "Goodnight", and with that he left.
He didn't go back home though, he went to the precinct. Officer Cummings was easy enough to get information out of and Matt knew his weakness, Texas chilli. All he had to do was promise a big bowl and Cummings would spill exactly where Robert was and whatever information C.J. and Hoyt were keeping from him.
"Now come on Mike, I am promising you a piping hot bowl of real Texas chili. I don't mean the kind you get in a can or that stuff you get at that taco stand in the morning…I mean the real deal here made by a real Texan." Matt pleaded his case in that Texas drawl to a clearly weakening Evidence Officer Mike Cummings, "made out on a real working ranch?"
"I want a tub, not a bowl" Cummings said as his resolve completely broke down.
"I tell you what, I'll give you two tubs, one for now and one to freeze for later" Matt said as he sealed the deal. He had plenty at home as Bo and Lamar had just sent it three days ago from his Texas ranch.
"Give me a minute" Cummings looked out past Matt to make sure no one saw anything and then walked back to find the box with the information he was looking for. After rummaging around for a few minutes he came back file folder. He held on to it as he slipped it under the window to Matt. "No one knows where you got this information, right?"
"My lips are sealed" Matt said as he took it from him, stuffing it under his suit jacket. He headed straight out to his car so Hoyt wouldn't see him and took off for the beach house.
C.J. slept on and off all night. Her thoughts alternating between Robert and Matt. Robert, that scum, she should have known he'd find a way to get out. If he wanted to come after her, so be it. She was ready for him and still mad but in the last few weeks she had also gotten a little depressed. Matt's engagement left her raw. She was jealous of Elizabeth and she had to watch Matt fuss over her and not keep his hands off her all day long whenever they were together. She tried to tell him, her one last chance to, and he had just told her that what they had would always be. He said it would only get better, yeah for him, not her. Now Robert was out and bent on revenge. Part of her didn't care, what if he did get to her, what if something did happen. What if he killed her. What would that mean? She had been thinking she could see how this would all play out with Matt. He would marry Elizabeth, then back away from investigating at her request, they would have kids and his family will circle around them leaving her out. Then she would truly be alone. Perhaps Carl was the only hope of true love she would ever know, Matt certainly didn't seem interested that way. Maybe it was best if she were gone, but what would that do to Matt? Of course he would mourn, but he could move on after that. Maybe he could then truly find someone to marry and start that family with, since she wouldn't be there for women to think they were competing with her. She would always be a sweet memory to him and that could be enough. No, she knew it would hurt him more than that and maybe she would find someone someday that she would love like Matt, but she doubted it.
Matt barely slept, between Elizabeth leaving and C.J.'s life in jeopardy again, his mind was running wild. The folder he got out of Cummings left more questions than answers. There was a notation about his new apartment, not far from their office in fact. Matt definitely didn't like that, it might make getting a Temporary Restraining Order against him more difficult and it already gave Robert more access to C.J. than Matt was comfortable with. He could see her drive in and out if nothing else. But the rest was just confusing. What did they mean by conspiracy to commit murder and reasonable expectation of an immediate lawless action, or probable cause to investigate an intention to commit the act of rape. It wasn't that it was gibberish to him. His uncle actually called the language of the law as legalese, gibberish written by lawyers at $200 an hour. Matt understood the legal words, but he didn't get the context. What were they talking about? Where were the notations on the kidnapping? Why didn't any of these notations reference what he had been convicted of? They all seemed to point to something suspected from Robert in the future. Matt ran his hand through his hair as he sat up in bed. The future. Just the thought of what the future holds almost brought tears to his eyes again. He could still smell Elizabeth's perfume on the pillow she slept on. He held it tight and drifted back off to sleep.
The morning came all too quickly for one Robert Tyler. His new apartment was comfortable enough, although not by the beach as he would have preferred. This one provided its own view though. He could see straight into that blasted penthouse where the two of them masterminded their plot against him. He had binoculars to see every movement, every flinch, down to every facial expression that woman made. She wasn't really all that special, it just made such a good storyline. College sweethearts that meet up again and fall in love, only it had that tragic ending that made it such a good drama. It had been perfectly planned out until her and that stupid, spoiled cowboy messed everything up. He was a rising star, could have had New York at his fingertips. They would have welcomed him and the whole world before he retired would have known his name. Maybe a Pulitzer prize would have been in the cards, but no, he spent the last 8 months and 15 days in a prison cell.
He threw his coffee cup against the wall and it shattered. All sorts of words came to his mind as he thought about her. He couldn't have done himself what he had planned all those months ago, but now he could, and he relished the thought of it. He would just have to be patient, his newfound friend in prison taught him. Just wait and bide your time. The lawyers this friend hired had not only gotten him out, but promised to put him in the headlines again with the civil rights suit. Before it was over, he might even be bigger than he could have imagined before, a martyr for the First and Fourth Amendments. He just needed to be patient and wait, and then when that cowboy wasn't looking, her death would make the story of the century.
