"Thank you for seeing me Father." Nicole sat down on a leather chair in the priest's office.
"Now Agent Scott, you know whatever I am told in confidence is protected by law."
"Of course. Father, what was the general reaction in the church to Constantine's book?"
"The general consensus was outrage. Not only did most people find it to be blasphemous and explicit but also exploitative of a pigeonholed minority group."
"So people took offense to homosexuality within the Greek as well as the Catholic Orthodox context."
"Exactly."
"Were some parishioners more zealous than others?"
"I was aware that a few of my congregation led a protest outside the local radio station WBTB after the initial success of his book."
"How were his relationships with people in the church, when he used to come regularly?"
"When he was married, Constantine was very active in the church; he even established the youth service with Eliud Seitaridis when the numbers were falling."
"Were they close?"
"They were brothers in Christ, yes."
"Thank you Father." Nicole stood up.
"Agent Scott, Constantine is a conflicted man. I pray that he finds his way, or at least has a chance to do so."
"We'll do our best."
"Eliud Seitaridis, I'm Special Agent Mastriani, F.B.I." She expected him to run, which is why she had so much fun taking him down. "Now I would ask why you ran but I'd prefer to have something to look forward to. Assume the position."
Antonio swivelled his chair from the computer to the printer which was chewing up paper. He hit it in frustration, only making the paper jam worse. Nicole strolled in with Chinese food and theories.
"What've you got?" She asked, while he helped himself to the spring rolls.
"So I ran the bank records and found no strange activity in the last six months, but going back two years; Constantine transferred four instalments of $25000 to Eliud Seitaridis' bank account. I'm thinking hush money."
"So do I. Can you get me a warrant for the publishers'?"
"Give me a few hours."
Jess took the seat beside Nicole and helped herself to the steamed dumplings. "Lying is contagious. Eliud claims not to know where Constantine is, but he ran. All I got from his interview was inconsistent information."
"Then let him go." Nicole replied casually.
"And follow him?"
"No. Put a BOLO out on the car, he's concerned so he'll go to the people most likely to be involved, adding to or confirming our list of suspects. When he arrives, the news that Constantine is missing will make people act, and it's on their actions that we'll find him."
"But if he has Constantine then he'll know we're looking for him and move him."
"He doesn't. They had an affair three years ago; Eliud ended it for the church and was paid $100000 to keep it quiet when Constantine made it big. The money is still in the account, untouched. He has no motive to hurt him. If Eliud signed a contract with the publishing company, of course he won't tell you the truth."
"Right." Jess got a text that turned her cheeks red.
"While I'd love know what that says, any sign of a vision?"
"Not yet." Jess said, holding back laughter. "I'll leave you two alone." She blushed in response and left.
"What was that about?" Antonio asked.
"I guess Jack showed her an alternative meaning of Happy Halloween."
"Yeah like the time you…"
"Office." She uttered the code word that got on his nerves; for a reason he couldn't fathom Nicole needed some kind of acceptance from Pollock to get married in the first place and as a consequence they had agreed to remain professional on the job. That agreement had come back to haunt him as he sometimes questionned where her loyalties really lied, and if she had had to choose, whether or not they would have married at all. The fact was he didn't need reminding, he just hoped she would forget about it and humour him a little.
"Fine." He replied, backing off like a typical retreating crab.
"Don't be that way." She was used to his Cancerian moodiness. "When this is done; we'll invent our own holiday."
Jess' surveillance led them to the culprit, the following day; the previous owner of the publishing company. Nicole secretly wished for the case to stretch past Raquel's lecture at Howard University and for once, resented their team's efficiency. When she got home, he was already gone.
Raquel was quick to spot him.
"I'm glad you came."
"I wouldn't miss it."
"I guess it wouldn't be very apropos to discuss what happened would it?"
"Let's not."
"Do you ever wonder what …?"
"Could have been?"
"It's okay to say it."
"I have. What happened didn't mean anything."
"Then why are we here?" She leaned towards his ear. "False hope?" The mayor tapped her on the shoulder and she went into a long-winded conversation with him. Antonio's attention was stolen by someone who wasn't supposed to be there but was, sort of like he was. Someone who wouldn't show they felt out of place and overcame themselves to be there.
"It was worth it then." Raquel said in an indefinable tone, while watching the newly-arrived Nicole talk to one of her sorors from college. He couldn't tell she was referring to his choosing Nicole over her and aborting the growth of their relationship. He was her what if and if kissing him had revived any notions of what could have been; the way he looked at Nicole was enough to stomp on them, leaving footprints of disappointment. When Nicole did find them, the brief tête-à-tête that ensued was sharp with a tinge of bitchy energy that was refined to illusory politeness.
He brushed the (spaghetti) straps of her dress from her shoulders and for all she cared, the expensive dress could have fallen to the floor without her noticing. Something about her kiss said how much she wanted to be with him and become lost in the ensnaring connection that satisfied their base selves and fed them an ethereal, temporary high. She wanted him so much that she couldn't go without painting fantasies and etching visions of making love in her mind. If he only knew that when she took possession of his senses and attention and became a reciprocal source of pleasure, she was really saying, "I love you Antonio Cortez and no-one in the world can take that from me." But he wasn't a mind-reader and all he knew for sure was he was where he wanted and needed to be, and as for his what if; she was lying right there. Beside, over or under him; the recipient of his long love letter. He was sorry about a minor act that could be interpreted a thousand ways but to him only one mattered, that it didn't.
Jack was confronted with a box of his stuff and immediately made fun of what she meant.
"So you want me to take this home for how long?"
"Until Mom and Doug have gone back to Indiana."
He placed it on the couch. "What do you think this will achieve?"
"I don't want her thinking that you live here."
"Jess, I'm sure she knows you're not a virgin. Besides, I don't live here."
"You're here all the time."
"Then maybe that's a talk we should have. Do I need her blessing for that or just to marry you?"
"I'm serious. D.C. has already corrupted me more than I can account for."
"You were always bad Jess; it's just now the world knows." She wasn't amused. "Fine, fine. Am I banned from here too?"
"Only overnight and…I never told her about my decision so,"
"I won't mention it. Why didn't you?"
"It's complicated. I guess there are sides of myself I don't want them to see." He pulled her closer and turned an innocent supportive hug into a display that he wanted to stay but she fought herself enough to show him the door. Only when he was gone did she realise he wanted to move in but since she was too late to respond, she decided to write it off as a tease.
"He wasn't kidding." Nicole confirmed, while getting dressed in the changing room. Jess held her breath so as not to inhale the D&G Sicily that Nicole sprayed with enthusiasm. "Men usually flee from commitment so if he said that then he meant it. So you can either pretend you didn't hear it, or discuss it further when your folks have left."
"Why then?"
"Because family is a litmus test; they show you parts of him you've never seen and they'll tell you the same."
"So you've met him then?" Jess asked, referring to Nina's boyfriend.
"No." Nicole went on to tell her where she went instead and Jess' eyebrows rose. "No, there was no hair pulling Jess."
"I'm impressed, after he kissed her,"
"Excuse me?"
Jess wished she could bite her tongue right off. "I thought you knew. Y-you said,"
"Forget what I said, that Freudian slip takes precedence now. When?"
"Nicole, don't do this."
"Fine. Where?" Jess refused to answer and when Nicole realised she couldn't make her; she turned her attention back where it should have been in the first place. She couldn't describe the feeling which was embarrassment fused with irritation coated in confusion, swimming in suspicion. It just felt like a gut-punch.
"Nicole, if Antonio said nothing happened then I believe him."
"If I didn't believe that I'd be looking for a new apartment as we speak."
"Then what's the problem, besides the obvious?"
"I thought Antonio and I were getting along because we can, not because he was overcompensating for his guilt."
"So, why don't you tell him what this is really about? This isn't about Antonio or Raquel; this is about your fear of trusting someone other than yourself and you can."
"Jess, if I can't believe in him then I've got nothing. No reason to stay or to love him, just nothing. Then she comes on the scene and I'm trying not to be so insecure but I can't. Now you're telling me I actually have a reason to."
