Liette woke up in a cold sweat. After four hours of going over the new Carroll case in the briefing room Parker had shown up to tell her to go to the hotel and get some sleep. Liette had naturally offered to stay up and work overnight with some of the others but Parker was adamant about getting her out of there. Liette was too tired to really protest. Flying had always taken some energy out of her but seeing Joe today had completely wiped her out. The beds in the hotel were terrible but she was so exhausted that the moment she hit the pillow she fell asleep.
"Remind me again, what is your major?" Joe sat across from Liette at the small coffee table by the fireplace. The off campus cafe was a popular spot for students and professors alike. Liette felt a little odd at first sitting here with her professor but no one paid them any attention. This little corner of the world belonged to them right now and in all honesty that felt quite nice. Joe had ordered them both coffees before Liette had walked in. He had had wonderful timing because one she added milk and sugar the drink was at the perfect temperature.
"Psychology with a focus on criminology." she told him. Most of her other classes were seen as far more intense than the romantic literature course she was taking with Joe. She was learning about coping behaviors, prejudice, brain functions and personality. It was all rather fascinating to her. The science majors looked at psychology as a soft science but Liette saw otherwise. All science is fallible in some way just as all psychology is fallible. It ensures good research.
"Fascinating. You really don't strike me as the brain and behavior type." Joe shook his head at her.
"No offense but that's because you've only seen me in your classroom." Liette knew how to switch her attitude for different classes. You didn't go all literal in a literature class; that missed the point. The idea of studying literature was to pick it apart and analyze it beyond what was there. Looking past even the hidden functions of words but the true meanings behind them. You had to see the working parts that made the whole and you had to understand the whole as what it could be in many different ways. Literature happened to be much more flexible than psychology.
"And the library," Joe reminded her.
"And the library...and here now." she smiled.
They exchanged a soft look. It was a genuine moment that had been rarely felt by Liette. Her mother happened to be the only other person who seemed to look at her with understanding and yet even she was lost on Liette at times. People treated the girl differently because of her genius-like tendencies. "You still seem like an English student to me or at least the liberal arts," he shook his head, breaking the moment. "It's disappointing really...if I get tenure soon I'd be looking for a PhD student."
Was he really suggesting that he would have taken her in? He hardly knew her. She had been in seven weeks of his classes and seen him a few times outside of class but was that really enough to judge that she would be PhD worthy in a few years? It was flattering but at the same time Liette was a little bewildered by it. "I'm sure someone will come along," she shrugged, sipping on the coffee he had bought her.
"But gems like you are hard to find." he smiled, looking down at his own drink.
"Thank you professor." she blushed.
"Joe, Liette, please call me Joe."
Liette awoke in a cold sweat. It was not a nightmare but it may as well have been. Her memories of her time with Joe swirled in her brain and made her sick to her stomach. She stumbled out of the bed and into the bathroom. Her body turned to face the mirror and she jumped back immediately. Her hands flew to her eyes to feel what she was seeing. They were gaping holes. The touch of her hands and a few extra blinks caused her to snap out of it. She was seeing things in fear. It had all already begun.
It was four am but Liette knew she wouldn't be getting back to sleep. A quick hot shower and coffee on the drive over would give her enough energy to make it through the day. Parker likely wouldn't be pleased with her for only staying at the hotel for five hours but Liette didn't see the point of her being away so long. If other people were going to work than she needed to work to.
Liette walked into the briefing room to find Hardy and Parker sitting at a desk going over some new files. They both looked up as the click of Liette's oxford heels hit the floor close to them. Parker stiffed and her hands immediately began shuffling papers. Liette's eyes were caught by the movement and it took her only a moment to notice her face on one of the pictures. "Are you profiling me?"
"Liette..."
"Debrah, I told you I'm not one of them." betrayal burned in Liette's blood. This was why they had sent her back to the hotel. They couldn't have her stay and work the case when they were going to be looking into her life. Clearly she was a conflict of interest. Liette just saw this as a violation of privacy. There were some things the bureau just didn't need to get into with her. Her personal life was the one thing she kept sacred because it was small and very intimate. Liette cringed as she saw pictures of herself with her mother on graduation and then again with her in her full FBI garb. Her mom had always been there and was the only person who had any hint of what Liette's relationship with Carroll had really been like. Liette hated the idea of them dragging her into this. Her mother had moved to Florida three years ago with Liette's step father. The two were happy there and Liette didn't want anyone destroying that. "So, what cryptic message did I give Joe while I was helping find your sister Hardy?"
"Don't act smart with me kid," Ryan stood and confronted her. He was just like every other bully Liette had faced before. Bullies were generally not inherently bad but they had these asinine authoritarian tendencies that made them difficult to deal with. Men like Ryan Hardy clashed with women like Liette. He was a man of action while she was a woman of logic. They would make a good pair if the combination of their personalities wasn't so explosive. It had been many years since Liette had been a teenage girl getting picked on in the hallway of her high school; she had learnt to stand up for herself a little.
"In case you haven't heard, I don't act smart." she growled at him "I am smart." she was suddenly confrontational. Parker had only seen this side of Liette a few times. It came out when things got to personal. When people attacked she held dear she tended to lash out. Debrah was pretty sure she knew exactly what triggered it. Liette seemed to have this fear that her occupation was going to hurt her family in some way; specifically her mother. She knew crime could happen to anyone but she was simply scared that being an FBI agent would be cause for some psychopath to target her mom. In this case Parker assumed Liette was worried someone from the cult was going to travel to florida to find Ms. Arnaut and use her as a pawn on Joe's side but Parker saw very little chance of that happening. From the attitude Joe had shown with Liette he didn't seem like he was moving towards hurting her.
Then again with Joe Carroll you could never be sure.
"This is a very different attitude than what I saw with Joe, agent." Ryan was practically laughing at her. He was profiling her reactions but he was forgetting that profiling a profiler hardly ever goes unnoticed.
"In case everyone forgot it is called acting into the criminal's fantasy to get what we need." Liette felt as if she had not done anything out of the ordinary. They had found Emily Hardy and they had saved her from certain death. That was what her meeting with Joe was supposed to be about. That was what her goal had been. Why had it all turned around to slap her in the face?
"You're quite good at that then. Had me fooled." Ryan shook his head at her.
"It is my job to be good." she protested.
"Is it also your job to have sex with serial killers?" Ryan's voice raised a little in confrontation. It took all of Liette's self control not to slap him for that. He wouldn't have cared; he was simply waiting to gage her reaction.
"I never slept with him!" she screamed at him. Parker was up from her seat as Liette's voice drew in all the attention in the room. The last thing she needed right now was a full out spat between these two. Whether Liette was telling the truth or not had yet to be seen but they needed her on their side if they were going to utilize her against Carroll again.
"Weston." Debrah beckoned Mike away from his computer. Mike had already been starting to stand up anyway. "Take Arnaut for a walk." Parker ordered.
"So much for sticking up for your team Debrah," Liette shook her head, clearly disgruntled and upset. Mike reached out to her but she tore away and marched out the door before he could touch her shoulder. He gave a quick nod to Parker and Hardy before following Liette out.
