"Do you even care about your relationship with Lindsay?" Samantha asked, Jesse looked up from his laptop and stared at his sister. He had the day off and spent it at home, Samantha dropped by and he knew she would nag. Samantha was great at nagging and convincing, Jesse knew she should have become a politician.
"Lindsay and I-"
"Are on the rocks? You're hardly here, don't be surprised if she has a boyfriend just to keep her satified-"
"Satisfied? I can tell that Lindsay is pretty satisfied with what I'm giving her."
"She's miserable, Jesse. But I'll let you go on believing that she's in heaven and happy with you. Lindsay needs-"
"You're not Lindsay. If she had a problem she would address it. Now I need you to go home, because you're starting to get on my nerves." Samantha threw a pillow at his head but missed. "Tell mom and dad I said I love them."
"Whatever, jerk." Samantha left leaving Jesse alone, Sam's words still buzzed around in his mind. He wondered if Lindsay had become suspicious of his week long business trips or if she had went through his things yet. Jesse pulled out his phone and called her office.
"Can I speak to Lindsay Dwyer?"
"Sorry, Mr. Tyler. Lindsay isn't in the office right now, can I take a message?"
"Um, no. Thank you." It was still pretty early, Jesse was worried suddenly. Could Samantha had been right about her having a boyfriend? It wasn't that he wasn't doing his fair share of cheating but he hadn't expected her to be so bold. It was possible that she took an early lunch, he called her phone just to be sure. "Hello, honey."
"Hi, Jess. What's up?"
"Nothing, I was on my way to your job for lunch. Are you eating already or do you want to go out?"
"I'm uh… at the office… but I have a very important business meeting, can we do it when you get back from New York."
"Of course, see ya later." Jesse hung up the phone quickly. Lindsay had blatantly lied to him, she obviously wasn't at her job. Why did she lie? Who the hell was she with? Jesse paced back and forth trying to clear his mind of every thought. Who was the guy? How long had it been happening? He walked back into the living room and called his friend Kevin, "Hey Kev."
"What's up, Jess?"
"I need help tracking someone."
"Oh, cool. I've got a guy, you want his number?"
"Yes, thank you."
It had been three months. There were three months worth of letters. Normally he wrote her once a week and sometimes twice a week. He spoke about loneliness of prison and Lindsay couldn't help but want to go see him. He was always so kind and courteous and Sam told her multiple times that he wasn't crazy or violent. Lindsay was in her office when the idea struck her to leave. She just wanted to get up and go see him, the letters grew more and more personal and he felt much more like a friend. It had been ages since she had a real friend and she wanted to see him.
"Who are you here to see?" The guard asked, he was chubby with a rounded face and striking green eyes.
"Damon. Damon Larkin." The guard furrowed his brows for a moment, he look down the list, the color drained from his face before he smiled. "Is something wrong?"
"No, not at all. Right this way, Ms. Dwyer." The guard had her step through the metal detectors and follow her through a series of gated doors before walking a secluded area. She thought it was odd that she would meet him in a secluded room, this was a first time meeting and not a conjugal visit. Lindsay couldn't help but blush thinking about the idea of meeting him here for sex, the door buzzed open moments later.
"Lindsay?" Damon stepped inside and he looked confused, the door closed behind him and he walked over to her slowly.
"Yes, it's nice to finally see you. Is something wrong?"
"Um… no, of course not. I'm very excited to finally meet you but I can't help but wonder why you came here at all." Damon took a seat next to her. She noted that he hadn't been handcuffed and could move about freely if he wanted to.
"You talked about being lonely and barely having any visitors, so here I am." Damon walked over to the bench where she was sitting and he sat next to her, she looked at him and smiled. "Is everything fine?"
"Huh? Yeah. Everything is fine outside of … being in prison." They both laughed and she noticed how his fingernails bit into the bench, his knuckles were slightly bruised and there was swelling around his eye.
"You got in a fight?"
"Oh.. yeah." He hadn't expect her to reach up and touch his face, but when he saw the pained expression on her face he knew that she didn't have any qualms. "A small fight…"
"Your knuckles are bruised, are they broken?" Lindsay asked, she picked up his hand and looked at his knuckles noticing he had even scraped his hand a bit.
"No, it's fine." He closed his eyes allowing himself to be touched by this strange young woman. They had only talked through letters and he never expected her to show up, and she was so deeply concerned with him. It was disconcerting and somehow calming. "How's Jesse?"
"Um… he's fine, I guess. He just called actually."
"Does he always call you in the middle of the day?" Damon asked, he remembered from the letters that she talked about her fiance, from the way she wrote about him he got the feeling she wasn't happy with him. Also it was pretty obvious that he wasn't being faithful or he was up to something more sinister.
"No not normally."
"Does he know you're visiting me?"
"Well… no… It never came up."
"Oh." Damon held her hand and looked up at her, "Tell me more about you."
"I think my fiance is cheating on me."
"What makes you think that?" Jesse met the man at the bakery across town. He called himself Charlie but he got the feeling that wasn't his real name. Fortunately his name was of no consequence to Jesse, all he needed was for the man to see what Lindsay is up to.
"She lied about where she was."
"Alright, five hundred for the first time. Seven hundred if you want me to kill her."
"No! I don't want you to kill her!" Jesse exclaimed, his phone rang and he sighed. "Just do it." Jesse handed him the money and a map of her schedule and where she should be then left just as quickly as he came. Charlie picked up the picture and smiled.
"She's cute…" He said before grabbing the information and his jelly donut and leaving.
The door buzzed open and Damon was shuffled down the hall for the second time. He thought maybe Lindsay had come back and she wanted to ask him something. He was surprised to find one of his old partners there.
"You. Are. A. Dog."
"Thanks, Carter." Damon said and watched as the security left them alone. "What the hell do you want? I should ring your fucking neck for showing up here."
"Don't kill the messenger, I just thought it funny, Command's golden boy being pimped out as a escort to a lonely almost-housewife." Damon went and sat across from Charlie and did his best to quell his anger. Charlie abandoned him during a mission and had been M.I.A. ever since which is why Damon was forced to take these pitiful cases.
"I don't know what you think-"
"Tell me, what's Jesse Tyler up to?"
"That's classified." Damon said while looking past him.
"How classified?"
"Very classified."
"Oh, well then I have a little bit more to add to that classified file, buddy. Jesse just hired me to follow that girl that keeps coming up here to visit you. I mean, she's pretty, has a nice little wiggle in her walk. You guys spend approximately forty eight minutes together, is that enough time to get your rocks off?" Charlie asked,
"Fuck. You."
"No, spin. Fuck you. Whatever the case is… you're making direct contact. I know you'll run and tell Command you saw me so I'll be gone before the hour is out, but be careful getting mixed up with this girl. Whatever Jesse's up to, he probably has no qualms about dragging her down with him. If you're falling for this girl…" Charlie smiled and it was enough to drive Damon mad, he jumped up and grabbed him by the throat and bashed his head against the wall.
"I spent six months in the damn hole because of you! Fuck you, and if I choose to break that girl apart it's my business and my job. You're not worried, you're interested. Is life boring on the outside? You have an investment in this case too, don't you?" Charlie's eyes darted away from a split second and it was all Damon needed. "Stay away from her."
"You have a crush or something?" Charlie said once Damon released him. "No worries, the girl is the last of my worries. Here is a keepsake, how damning would these have looked if I gave them to him?"
Charlie pulled out a beige envelope and Damon sifted through the pictures. Damon looked up in the corner of the room and saw the security feed and cursed, there were pictures of them touching, holding hands and even laughing. No, it wouldn't do good for anyone to see these at all.
"I'm sure I'll see you around, buddy." Charlie said while leaving. As soon as he was gone Damon ripped the pictures to bits and pulled out his cellphone. "... Yeah, I need a favor."