Chapter 2
Set during and after "Anti-Thesis"
"You're almost there, Annie! C'mon, you can do it!"
Annie shifted her weight and reached for the next hold on the rock climbing wall. She climbed the last few feet to the top, where Alex waited for her. She caught her breath a moment before the two of them rappelled back down to the bottom.
"You know that I only do this when I come here with you, right?" Annie asked once her breathing had returned to normal.
Alex laughed at her. "You should do it more often, it's a great workout."
"Maybe for someone with upper body strength like yours," Annie said as she sadly compared her toned biceps to Alex's more muscular ones.
"And just how do you think I got that upper body strength? OK, OK, we're done. Let's hit the showers. Since you were such a good sport about the climbing wall, you get to choose where we go for dinner. Do I get three guesses what you'll choose?"
Annie laughed as she and Alex said in unison, "Tacos!"
Later they settled into a booth at Alejandro's with their drinks; a Vodka Margarita for Alex and a Virgin Margarita for Annie. Alex sipped her drink appreciatively.
"It probably won't be long before I have to give these up and join you with the non-alcoholic version," she said.
"So you're definitely going to do it?"
"Yeah, I am. Neither my sister nor I are getting any younger, and my biological clock is ticking just like hers. If I'm going to be a surrogate for her, I think it's now or never."
"Wow, this is big, Alex. It's huge! So when does all this take place?"
Alex sighed and dipped a chip in salsa. "We have an appointment at the fertility clinic next week. They'll do a bunch of tests. In the next month or two we'll start taking hormones to get us regulated on the same cycle. Then she'll take hormones to mature her eggs and I'll take hormones to convince my uterus to get ready for pregnancy. Hopefully within a few months, I'll be pregnant."
The waiter came and took their orders. During dinner they talked about Alex's decision to be a surrogate for her sister, her family, and their reactions to what she and her sister planned. Annie talked about her children and about work.
Alex asked, "Has Bobby talked to you about any cases lately?"
"Well, he mentioned going to a university literature class and discussing Moby Dick. That's right up his alley. So I'm guessing you two are investigating the murder of Dr. Winthrop at Hudson University. But of course, Detective Goren will neither confirm nor deny any of my speculations," Annie laughed. "Why do you ask?"
"Oh, no reason. I know he had….fun….in that class and wondered if he told you about it."
Annie considered pressing her husband's partner for details, but she knew that Alex would not say anything else. It wasn't like her to even ask about Bobby. If she was concerned enough to ask, then Annie was curious.
When Annie got home Bobby was just finishing his "tutoring session" with Phillip while Ally was putting her dolls to bed and Andrew was coloring a picture of a police officer and squad car. Together they completed the bed time routine of stories, prayers, good night kisses, and "just one more drink of water". Bobby told Annie he had some case studies he needed to look at and went down to his basement office. He seemed distracted and it occurred to Annie that he had been distracted for few days. That wasn't unusual for her dedicated detective when he was working on a difficult case. But with Alex's "innocent question" tonight, she decided she needed to do some investigation of her own.
Annie took a book and went down to Bobby's office. Bobby was sitting at the large oak desk that Annie had bought for him for their first Christmas in their new house. She had found it at an estate sale in her hometown in Connecticut that summer, and had kept it at her grandfather's home until Christmas. Bobby's friend Lewis had loaned her his truck and gone with her to transport it back to New York. It was large enough to allow Bobby to spread out paperwork, books, and his notes.
She went up behind him and kissed the back of his neck. He turned in his seat, smiled up at her, and tugged her nightshirt so that she would bend down to kiss him on the lips. She took her book and curled up on the leather couch. She tried to concentrate on her book, but she kept stealing glances at Bobby. He was flipping through the pages of several books, rifling through papers, and taking notes in his leather notebook. She was used to his intense concentration when he worked on a case at home, but tonight he seemed frustrated and anxious. Finally she went up behind him and wrapped her arms around his neck.
"Is there anything you want to talk about Babe?"
He gently pushed her hands away and told her, "No, it's just this case. I'm fine."
She watched him for a moment, but he didn't look up at her. She moved around to the desk and slid up onto it, sitting on top of Bobby's paperwork and facing him with her legs dangling on either side of his. Bobby pushed his chair back slightly and looked up at her with an annoyed expression.
"Annie…" he warned.
Annie didn't say anything; she just folded her arms and looked at him steadily. He gave an exasperated sigh and rubbed his hand across the back of his neck. He stood up, put his hands on her waist, and gently lifted her off the desk, trying not to disturb the papers. He set her down and led her over to the couch where they sat facing one another. Bobby didn't say anything for a moment and Annie waited silently.
"It's this murder at Hudson University," he began.
"Dr. Winthrop?"
"Yes. A graduate student confessed to killing him a few days ago. He said that another professor had convinced him to do it. Unfortunately, before he could sign a confession implicating her, he went into anaphylactic shock and died. His gum had been spiked with peanut oil, which he was severely allergic to. The professor knew he would break and took care of him."
"Who was the professor?" Annie didn't expect an answer to her question because Bobby had always carefully guarded the confidentiality of his cases. She was shocked when he did answer.
"It was Professor Elizabeth Hitchens," he said. Annie watched his face for a moment, then understanding dawned.
"She was the professor you sparred with about Moby Dick," she guessed.
"Yes. We…Eames and I…well, w…we tricked the head of the department into firing her so that we could take her into custody for violating her work visa. We're letting her sit in holding tonight and we will interrogate her tomorrow. That's why I have to go in on a Saturday."
Annie wasn't sure what to say. This was more information than Bobby had ever shared with her about an open case. But he wasn't through.
"We believe that she isn't really Elizabeth Hitchens, that she killed the real Hitchens and assumed her identity. We believe that she is actually Nicole Wallace, an Australian woman who served eight years in a Thai prison as an accessory to the murders of eight men."
Annie took a deep breath as she tried to digest all the information he had given her.
"OK. So why are you so nervous about questioning her? This is what you do; you interrogate, you get into their heads, and you get a confession. Why would this be any different?"
He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "This woman….usually criminals have a weakness or they make a mistake, no matter how small, that we can utilize against them. But this woman….she doesn't make mistakes. I know what she did, but I have no evidence to trip her up with. And she is very, very smart."
"Too smart for Detective Robert O. Goren of the Major Case Squad? I think not!" Annie tried teasing him out of his mood, but she could see from the look he gave her that was not going to work.
"I'm sorry, Babe, I was trying to relieve the tension—unsuccessfully it seems. You'll get her. They always have a weakness and they always make a mistake. You just haven't found hers yet. But you will."
Bobby reached over and pulled her onto his lap and held her tightly for a few minutes. She had never seen him so unsure of himself in his work before. Usually this kind of insecurity only materialized when he was with his family. Even his doubts about his parenting skills a few months ago had only surfaced during a visit from his brother. But on the job he was confident and aggressive. Until now.
Bobby sighed and gave her a squeeze. He said, "You're right. I'm probably over thinking this. You should go to bed, Babe. I'll be up soon." When Annie started to protest he added, "I promise."
She looked at him for a moment and then kissed him goodnight. She was asleep when he came to bed. He snuggled against her back and wrapped his arms around her. She stirred for a moment then drifted back to sleep.
The next day Bobby was in her thoughts as she went through her day. She stayed busy with the children, taking them to the park, baking cookies in the afternoon.
He was quiet when he came home and did not say anything about Nicole Wallace during the evening. They watched "Toy Story" with the children after dinner. Phillip and Andrew fell asleep before the end of the movie. Annie carried Phillip and Bobby carried Andrew up to their bedroom and tucked them in, then went to make sure that Ally was in bed and to tuck her in. Without saying anything, Bobby went downstairs to his office. Annie went to their bedroom and got ready for bed.
She wanted desperately to ask him about his interrogation of Nicole Wallace, but knew that he would not talk about it until he was ready. She thought that it must not have gone very well because Bobby seemed distracted. As she knelt by the side of her bed to pray, she heard him come into the room. She continued to pray silently as she heard him moving around the room and the bathroom, preparing for bed. She ended her prayer and smiled as she felt him kneel behind her and then lean against her and kiss her neck. He frequently did this and yet he never interrupted her, always waiting until she was finished before kneeling down to embrace her. She asked him once how he could know that she was done since she was praying silently. He just smiled and told her that after years of watching her, he could read her body language so well that he just knew.
With the side of her face lying against the bed, Bobby covered her hands with his and laced his fingers through hers as he continued to kiss the back of her neck, her ear, and the side of her face. Usually this progressed to making love, but tonight he stopped kissing her and rested his head against hers. He held her like that for several long minutes until Annie's back and knees began to protest and she squirmed slightly.
"I'm sorry," he said and got up. He helped Annie up and they climbed into bed. He reached for her and pulled her into his arms. Again, he made no move to make love. He just held her tightly against him. She lay in the dark with her head on his chest, listening to the familiar soft thud of his heart. She waited for him to start talking about what had happened today, but still he was silent.
Finally she kissed his chest through his tee shirt and asked, "Do you want to talk about it? How did it go today?"
He sighed. "Not well. I couldn't get her to confess. The head of the department figured out how we tricked her so she hired a lawyer and rehired 'Elizabeth Hitchens'. The lawyer showed up and got her released. Something she said before she left made me look into Hitchens background and we found out that Hitchens was being investigated for embezzling money from a foundation she chaired. Wallace killed Hitchens and stole her identity without realizing that she was a thief. That's why she came to the US and was trying to get her citizenship—so that she couldn't be deported back to Australia for the embezzlement. We went to her apartment to arrest her, but she was gone. Eames alerted the airports, but I don't think we'll find her. She's smart, really smart. She probably had something in place already in case she had to leave quickly. She could be anywhere in the US or any other country by now."
"I'm sorry Babe." She waited, but he didn't go on. "Bobby….is there something else? This isn't the first time that you've lost a suspect, and it's not the first time you've been unable to get a confession. So what's bothering you about this one?"
He kissed the top of her head. "Wallace had information about me."
"What kind of information?"
"She had my birth date and my Social Security number."
Annie sat up and looked at him. "How could she have gotten that?"
"I don't know. Maybe on the internet. But she told me that having those numbers allowed her to find out all kinds of information; my home address, my next of kin, my mother's maiden name. Annie, she knew about Carmel Ridge."
"Carmel Ridge? So she knows where your mother lives and she knows where we live? Bobby….the kids…." She was beginning to feel panicked.
Bobby sat up and took her hand. "I don't think we need to be afraid. Really I don't. She didn't threaten me or you or the kids. In fact she didn't even mention you and the kids, although she must she must know about you."
She knew that her fear was written all over her face. Bobby put his hand on her face, then reached to pull her into his arms. Bobby had always taken pains to keep his personal information from falling into the hands of criminals. Their phone was unlisted, he didn't wear a wedding ring unless he and Alex were going undercover as a married couple, and he kept pictures of Annie and the kids in his locker but not on his desk. Annie had kept her maiden name simply because she felt it was who she was and Bobby had readily agreed with her decision. Once he went into Narcotics, he was thankful that her name was one less link to him. These were realities they had lived with since he joined the NYPD. But Annie had never been afraid or concerned about retribution from any of the criminals that Bobby had dealt with—until now.
"Annie," Bobby said softly, trying to soothe her. "Nicole didn't seem to be looking for revenge. She wanted information on me so that she could play with my head. She didn't talk about you or the kids, she talked about my mother. She thought that was where I was vulnerable. She was playing a game, so I played along with her. I told her that I would tell her something true about me if she told me something true about herself."
Annie swallowed and tried to calm her racing heart. "W…what did you tell her?"
"She wanted to know how often I visit my mother. Then she wanted to know how old I was when I realized she was sick, and how I felt about it. I told her the truth about those things. I promise, Babe, she never asked about you or the kids and she never threatened anyone."
"So what did she tell you? You said she didn't confess."
"No, she didn't confess, and she didn't admit to being Nicole Wallace. But she did tell me she met 'Nicole' and that 'Nicole' told her how she felt about killing people. I was trying to get her to admit that she had been molested by her father when the lawyer showed up and whisked her away."
"She was molested by her father? How do you know that?"
"It was an educated guess, based on what I know about her dealings with men—and women. The way she uses sex to manipulate people, her lack of conscience. She denied it, but from her reaction I know I hit a nerve. I think it must have started when she was very young and I'm sure it was her father. She has a lot of rage towards men, and towards women, too, probably because her mother didn't protect her for whatever reason."
Annie interrupted him abruptly. "Does she know where the kids go to school?"
As he talked about Nicole being molested she could hear the change in his voice, could hear the empathy he had for a frightened little girl whose father was doing horrible things to her. It annoyed her because she was still scared. Her husband had just told her that a serial killer had information about their family and where they lived, yet here he was feeling sorry for that same serial killer. One of the things she had always admired and loved about her husband was his empathy. It was that empathy that helped him get into the minds of the criminals he profiled; helped him to understand what they felt and thought. While that made him an excellent profiler, at the moment his empathy for Nicole Wallace was making her angry.
"Probably. If she knows our address, it wouldn't be too hard to find out where the kids go to school."
She sat up again. "We have to move. Put the kids in private school."
"If she found this information once, don't you think she could find it again?"
"So there's nothing we can do?" Annie hated the panic that she could hear in her voice, but couldn't seem to stop it. She pulled away and got out of bed. She went to Ally's room and stood for a moment in the doorway watching her sleep, and then she went to the twins' room and checked on them. She closed and latched the windows in both rooms, making a mental note to get locks for them tomorrow. She padded downstairs in her bare feet and checked all of the doors. They were locked, of course. Bobby never forgot to lock them. She stood for a moment in the middle of the dark kitchen, listening for any sounds that shouldn't be there. She didn't hear anything, but her heart was racing all the same.
She went back upstairs to the bedroom, but she didn't close the door. She wanted to be able to hear the children. Bobby was still sitting on the bed in the dark. She stood and looked at him for a moment without saying anything.
"Everything OK? Are all the doors and windows locked?" he asked. She didn't answer, so he went on. "Aren't you glad now that I made you learn how to use a gun?"
Bobby's gun had been a source of contention between them since he joined the NYPD. Annie had a fear of guns and was not happy that there would be a gun in the house, although it would be locked up with the bullets locked in another place. He had insisted that she needed to learn how to use the gun and early in their marriage there had been many loud and passionate disagreements. She absolutely refused to have anything to do with guns, but he was just as insistent that she needed to know how to use it. They rarely fought because both were usually so eager to please the other; it was extremely unusual for either of them to dig in their heels and insist on their own way. She told him that a gun in her hands was more dangerous to herself than to anyone else because she didn't believe she could ever bring herself to shoot another human being no matter the provocation. But in this instance Bobby was unrelenting. He said that her safety was more important to him than anything. She finally gave in and went with him to a shooting range, but she was angry. She listened as he explained each part of the gun and how it worked; she learned to clean the gun, to load it, and to shoot it. As much as she hated doing it, once she agreed she did her best to learn everything he taught her. She would never be offered a job as a sniper, but she learned to shoot fairly accurately. He took her to the range once a month just to make sure she maintained the skills she had learned.
In the beginning Annie had cried every time they came home from the shooting range. Although it was a paper target, the image of the human body that she was shooting at disturbed her. She would hold it together the entire time they were at the range, but once home she would break down and cry. Sometimes she would beg him not to make her do this anymore. Although her tears had always moved his soft heart, in this he was not moved. He would hold her and whisper soothing words to her, but still he took her to the shooting range once a month. In time the tears and complaining stopped and she became resigned to this unpleasant duty every month. Bobby would take her out for tacos afterwards to try to make it up to her.
As he asked her about the shooting practice she could hear the laughter in his voice. Now her fear was turning to anger. She looked at him through narrowed eyes and put her hands on her hips.
"I'm so glad that you are finding this funny, Detective Goren. I'm glad you find it humorous that a serial killer knows where your children live and go to school. Forgive me if I can't joke about it. I seem to have lost my sense of humor. And now I think I'll sleep downstairs since I will only interfere with your comedy routine."
She turned, intending to stomp out of the room. But Bobby was out of the bed and reached the door first. He closed the door and leaned against it. He pulled her to him and wrapped his arms around her. She tried to pull away, but he tightened his grip.
"Annie stop, please. I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." He let her pull back, but he held onto her arms. "Listen to me. If I thought there was any danger, I would get you and the kids out of town. I would send you all to your grandfather's in Connecticut, or we would move to California, or go into the Witness Protection Program. I would do whatever it took to keep all of you safe."
She looked up at him. Her anger evaporated as she looked into those brown eyes that she loved so much. She had always felt safe with him, and she realized that had not changed. She lowered her head and leaned against his chest. This time his arms around her felt comforting. He kissed the top of her head.
"Nicole doesn't seem to kill for revenge. Each one of her victims had something she needed—like the men she robbed and then watched her boyfriend kill, or Elizabeth Hitchens' identity. Or they were a direct threat to her—Mark Bayley could testify against her, Winthrop was killed to set up another professor and get him out of the way because he wouldn't have extended her work visa. And all of her victims that I know of have been adults. Harming my family just doesn't make sense. It would make more sense if she was to try to kill me, but even that wouldn't stop Eames or Deakins or Carver. She has nothing to gain by hurting me or my family. She just wanted to find a weakness that she could exploit to keep me from asking questions she didn't want to answer."
Bobby turned Annie around and led her back to bed. They got in and she settled in with her head on his chest.
"Are we OK?" he whispered against her hair.
"We're OK," she answered. She looked up at him. "I trust you Bobby."
He smiled down at her and kissed her. She laid her head back on his chest and relaxed. She was unable to sleep for a long time, thinking about Nicole Wallace. She was telling the truth, she did trust Bobby. She trusted him to put his family's safety first. But she was bothered by this fascination he seemed to have with Nicole; his empathy for her abuse and what seemed to be almost admiration for her intellect and cunning. None of this was new, really. He always enjoyed matching wits with intelligent and creative criminals; he always empathized with sad childhoods or whatever circumstances that drove them to commit their crimes, even as he took advantage of their weakness to get a confession from them.
Something was different with Nicole, though. She didn't know what it was, but the way he talked about her was definitely different from any other criminal he had talked about with Annie. She tried to pinpoint what it was, but without success. She didn't think it was sexual attraction. He hadn't mentioned whether or not Nicole was attractive, but she had never known her husband to be swayed by a pretty face. Maybe he was disturbed that she had been able to reach a vulnerable area that no other criminal had. Was he afraid of her because he had revealed so much of himself?
Annie sighed and snuggled closer. She was concerned about Bobby, but right now his feelings about Nicole were a mystery that she couldn't unravel. She just had to take comfort in the knowledge that she was gone and he would probably never cross paths with her again. Surely she wouldn't be foolish enough to show up in New York again, with the NYPD looking for her. She may have had her fun tormenting Bobby, but she wouldn't risk contacting him again. Nicole Wallace was long gone and would never return. Bobby was safe, their children were safe. Their lives would continue as before. Annie closed her eyes and finally drifted off to sleep, wrapped in her husband's strong arms.
End Chapter 2