EMMA'S POV:
Our Boss sent Lee and me to pick up the suspect. I let Lee drive the Dodge Charger, and we arrived in no time at all.
"You ready for this?" Lee asked me. "There's no telling what we might run in to."
I pulled my jacket back and showed him my holstered Glock. "I'm ready. Besides, I was the best shot on the range in FLETCE."
"I like a girl that knows how to aim straight," I teased her as we made our way up the walk.
We knocked on the front door of the small, run-down house and nobody came to the door. I knocked again, someone forcefully this time and, to my surprise, it swung open easily.
Lee nodded silently at me, and we both pulled our weapons. Out of habit, Lee ducked inside first, looking all around for anyone. I darted in after him and, while he searched the living room, I searched the dining room and then ducked into the kitchen. That's where the gruesome sight met me.
"Lee!" I called, holstering my weapon. "I found our suspect.
Our suspect, Stuart Hanson, was lying dead on the kitchen floor. His throat had been methodically cut from ear to ear, and he had bled out right there on the linoleum.
"Looks as if somebody got to him before we did, or else he committed suicide," Lee speculated, pulling out his phone to call McGee.
"Nope, it's not a suicide," I declared. "Look, the gash is deepest on the left side, so whoever killed him was right handed." I pointed to the spoon that was still tightly clasped in Hanson's left hand. "It wasn't suicide."
"Excellent work, Sherlock," Lee teased. "You'll make a first rate investigator. Mark my words!"
LEE'S POV:
Emma was right. Jimmy declared the death a homicide, and promptly loaded the body up onto the gurney.
"Good call, probie," I told her as we walked back outside.
An hour before it was time to leave work, I remembered my promise to take Emma out after we got off.
"So, Emma, where do you want to go tonight?" I asked her, running a search for known associates of the man we had found murdered earlier that day.
"Well, I don't know. I'm not familiar with this area. Where is somewhere good to get a bite to eat?"
"Well, I know a great little pub that serves the best hamburger in the city," I told her. "And they have a wide selection of beer."
"That sounds good," Emma agreed. "A hamburger and fries will hit the spot, I think."
Just before seven o'clock, Emma grabbed her backpack and headed to the bathroom. When she returned ten minutes later, she had changed her work-appropriate blouse to a form-fitting v-neck white top that fit her perfectly and highlighted her attractive figure. Her long blonde hair, which had been swept up in a ponytail all day had been let down and was framing her face beautifully.
"Wow," I thought to myself. "Is she trying to lure me in?"
We left promptly at seven after telling our boss goodnight. He never looked up from his computer, but he did nod and wave at us.
"So," I began as we stepped into the elevator. "Do you want to drive separately, or would you care to ride with me?"
"I can ride with you," Emma said. "If you don't mind bringing me by here afterwards to pick up my car."
"Not a problem."
EMMA'S POV:
Lee's car fit his personality perfectly—he drove a shiny black 2010 Camero with leather interior.
"How do you afford this car on our salary?" I wanted to know. "Oh, sorry. That wasn't very polite."
Lee laughed. "It's okay. Well, my grandfather bought this for me when I turned eighteen."
"Your dad's father or you mom's dad?"
"My mom's. Apparently, he and my mother don't have anything to do with, but he had this car shipped over on my birthday. It was quite a surprise."
"Isn't your grandfather with…"
"He's with Mossad," Lee finished quickly. "I've never even met him. What about you? Are you close to your grandparents?"
"Well, my mom's dad is dead, and Daddy never even knew his father. He grew up in foster homes, you know."
"Yeah. Dad says he only has an initial and a last name. Is that true?" Lee asked, pulling out of the parking deck
I nodded. "It is. But I think if we ever found out his real name, it would be the same as calling him G. I've wondered what it stands for. Greg? Gary? Gerald? Nothing seems to fid Daddy like G."
Fifteen minutes later, Lee pulled into the parking lot of Wayne's Bar and Grill. Besides Lee' s Camero, there were only about four other cars in the lot.
"This place has yet to be discovered," Lee told me, seeing the doubt in my face. "Trust me, though. It's really, really good."
We sat at a small table for two, and the waitress came up and took our order right away. Lee ordered a beer, but I opted for a sweet tea instead.
"I'd rather not drink on a school night," I told him. "Last night with Uncle J was the exception because beer is all the man has."
Dinner was the most natural thing I had ever done. Lee and I talked back and forth, the conversation never lagging once. We laughed over old times, and talked about the future.
"So, are you looking forward to your days as my partner?" he asked me, smiling flirtatiously.
"I don't know," I replied just as coyly. "Do I have good things to look forward to?"
"Always," Lee assured me. "Heck, my mom and dad were partners and look where they ended up!"
"They married!" I reminded him, not sure if he was entirely sober after two beers.
"I know," he replied seriously. "Do you think there is any chance that you and I might end up together?"
I swallowed hard. He was bold! "Well, I don't know," I said uncertainly. Then, I decided to tease him about it. "No, I don't think that it's even a remote possibility."
"Yeah, me neither," Lee agreed quickly.
That night, when I got back to my apartment, I closed the door behind me and let out a deep breath. What was happening here? I had been flirting with my partner, and he had been flirting with me! We shouldn't be doing that!
I needed to talk to someone, so I called the one of the few people that I could always count on. My mom.
"Hey, sweetheart, how are you?" Mama asked me, answering the call.
"I'm good. How about you? Is Daddy okay?"
"He's good. He tried to surf this afternoon, and it was a hoot! I wish you could have been here."
I felt a sharp stab of homesickness, and loneliness. I missed my family and my old home terribly. "I wish I could've seen it," I told her, tears filling my eyes.
"So, what is going on there? Do you like D.C.?" Mama wanted to know.
"Well, it's okay. But, I have a little bit of a problem."
"What is it?"
"Well, Lee DiNozzo is my partner on Agent McGee's team," I began.
"Really?" Mama exclaimed. "He's about the same age as you, right? Is he as handsome as his father?"
I sighed, melting inwardly at the thought of Lee's suave good looks. "Oh yes! But, that's the problem!"
Mama was quiet for a moment. "Emma, are you attracted to your partner?" she asked me finally.
"Yes," I admitted. "Very, very attracted to him."