***And so we come to the end. Thanks for reading everyone. I have appreciated all the kind comments. Thanks once again to Bujyo for beta reading and for her suggestions***
Chapter 9 – You Are My Sunshine
Meckler returned with several large files and two cans of soda. Spreading out the files on the table, he looked up at the two marshals.
"Let me formally offer you my apologies on behalf of the FBI for what you have been put through, Marshal Shannon. You will be free to go shortly. In the meantime, I have the files here for O'Connor and Gies. We were already aware of a connection between O'Connor and Hauptner. They had worked a bust together a couple years ago. There is nothing unusual about that. Then several weeks ago Hauptner contacted O'Connor regarding a prisoner transfer. We can only surmise the content of the discussion at this point, but I think it's safe to say he recommended you be assigned the transfer as some sort of personal payback. His run-ins with you are legendary around here. Hauptner's intent was to spring Malone, but somebody had to take the fall for that. We have done some digging and learned Hauptner was in hock to him for $50,000."
He pulled the Gies file out and handed it to Mary. "Imagine my surprise when viewing the security tape to see Agent Gies participating in a manner that had little resemblance to his official report of the incident. We have only just started looking at Gies, but we have already learned that he knew Hauptner prior to coming to work for the FBI. He was one of the guys that pulled up in the second vehicle."
Stan was thoughtful a moment, then offered an opinion. "You may want to take a discreet look at your ADA also. He was quite adamant about Mary coming up here, and apparently got on to my bosses at the Marshal Service to make sure it happened."
Meckler nodded and said distastefully, "It just keeps getting better and better."
He sat back in his chair and fixed his gaze on Mary. "Hauptner's in the wind. I'll need specifics of where you saw the men pursuing you, how you think they tracked you, and where you went after the last sighting. I think it's reasonable to assume Hauptner may know you have been brought in, but he may not. There hasn't been any contact from him since yesterday morning."
Mary gave him a detailed itinerary of their movements over the last few days. "We caught a ride to Nashville with some college students, so I don't think we could have been easily followed, but those men did seem ingenious at tracking us." She tapped the screen of the laptop. "It was the tall, dark guy and the blond, husky one that came after us. Either of them belong to you?"
Meckler shook his head, pointed out Gies on the screen, Mr. Nondescript. "He's ours. We're working on identifying the others."
They reviewed the files, looking for any connection between Gies and O'Connor. Stan put in a call to Marshall, requesting he fly up to Newark so Agent Meckler could take his statement. After assuring him that Mary was OK, he snapped his phone shut.
"Marshall will be here in the morning," he said, smiling at the obvious relief on Mary's face.
"Now I just need to get sprung from here and it will be a satisfying end to the day," she muttered.
************
Mary waited impatiently for Marshall to arrive. She was a bit unnerved by how much she missed his calm and familiar presence. She had to restrain herself from jumping up and running over to him when he was shown into the interrogation room. Marshall grinned broadly and crossed over to her, taking her hand and squeezing it.
"Are you OK?" She nodded and squeezed back. Meckler gestured him to a chair and they all sat down.
Marshall drew out a file from his briefcase and his face sobered. He lifted the file up and held Meckler's gaze.
"Our office administrator, Eleanor, she's pretty amazing. She has all kinds of contacts within the FBI, Marshal Service, ATF, hell, probably the CIA. She's a whiz on the computer. She has been able to find some pretty interesting information and put this file together for us." He glanced down at the sheets in the file.
Meckler eyed him uneasily. Marshall brought his gaze up to meet Meckler's. "I'm pretty sure none of this is going to make you happy."
Meckler waved him on. Marshall tossed a smile towards Mary, took a deep breath and started in.
"OK, who shall I start with? Let's just go chronologically. Agent Hauptner we know has a gambling problem. He owed money to the subject of your prisoner transfer, Malone, to the tune of $50,000. Malone had already sent one of his 'employees' to see Hauptner regarding his debt. Malone's impending imprisonment wasn't going to make the debt disappear. Fearing for his personal safety, he came to an arrangement with Malone. In exchange for forgiveness of the debt, Hauptner would see to it Malone got sprung, Hauptner has a history with O'Connor, predating his tenure with the Marshal Service." Marshall glanced up and saw he had the full attention of everyone in the room. He returned to his notes.
"Hauptner contacted O'Connor looking for help. O'Connor was able to get Hauptner assigned to the transfer. How, you may ask? Seems that Agent Gies, who is a friend of O'Connor's, had come into possession of some sensitive information regarding your ADA, Jerry Sellers. A well placed comment to Sellers resulted in Hauptner's assignment to the transfer. The plan was put in place but a fall guy, or gal, was needed. O'Connor's well known hatred for Mary lent itself wonderfully to the plan. Sellers was more than happy to lend his weight to the pressure to get Mary up here." Marshall paused as he considered his next words carefully.
"There is no evidence that Sellers knew there was going to be an escape facilitated, but we do know he was eager to avoid any word getting out regarding his marital infidelity with an underage girl." Meckler groaned. "Jerry Sellers put the pressure on Stan's superiors to get Mary assigned to the transfer. He may have simply not asked any questions when asked for a favor by Gies."
Meckler held his hand out for the file. "We know Hauptner's motivation and O'Connor's, the question mark is Gies."
Mary tilted her head back, brow furrowed in thought. "Hauptner needed to pay off his debt to Malone, O'Connor was just looking for some payback. Gies, he was the one that had the goods on Sellers. I'd like to know how he came by that. Maybe there was some kind of payoff involved. Could have been simply a crime of opportunity. He had something to hold over Sellers, who knows when that could come in handy, plus O'Connor would owe him."
Meckler sighed. "O'Connor has clammed up. I didn't get squat out of him this morning. The internal investigation is official now. Hauptner is MIA. And Gies didn't show up to work this morning. On a positive note, we have good information on Malone's whereabouts. We expect to have him back in custody by the end of the day. If he talks, a lot of this will be cleared up."
After Marshall gave his statement, he and Mary were cleared to leave. Meckler promised to keep them apprised of all new developments.
***************
Marshall went back to the hotel with Mary, after agreeing to meet Stan at the airport for their flight back to Albuquerque that evening. She unlocked the door, staggered into the room and collapsed onto the bed, feeling weary down to her bones. There were too many emotions swirling through her – anger, fear, relief. She didn't know what to feel. The bed dipped as Marshall laid down beside her and lightly took her hand. He was silent but supportive, as always. She added another emotion to the maelstrom inside her - gratitude. Gratitude to the man beside her. She turned her head to look at him. Affection and love. She felt those things for him too.
She rolled onto her side and wrapped an arm around his waist. Marshall smoothed his hand through her hair and kissed her forehead.
"I'm glad you're here," she mumbled into his chest. "I tried really hard not to piss anyone off ...for you." She knew he was smiling without looking at him. He pressed another kiss on top of her head.
"That's my girl."
He sighed into her ear, the moist warmth sending a tingle down Mary' spine.
"I missed you last night. My arms were empty." He tightened his fingers around hers and ran his other hand down her side, coming to rest on her hip.
Mary tilted her head back to look up at him and gave him a tight smile. "I'm not looking forward to tonight. When we get back, I have to break off my engagement to Raph." She dropped her eyes and chewed on her bottom lip, dreading the scene to come. Marshall lifted her chin with one long finger and rubbed his thumb whisper light over her lip, so she would stop worrying it. His eyes met hers and she shivered at the spark she saw in their depths.
Marshall leaned in, resting his forehead against hers, inhaling her breath as she exhaled. His hand tightened on her hip and he closed his eyes. He captured her lips with his, softly exploring. Mary responded in kind, both of them knowing it wasn't going to go much farther than this, at least not for now.
Mary broke the kiss and ran her hand up Marshall's cheek. She loved the way he let her explore him, without demand, without rushing her. Her fingers traced his jaw, feathered over his cheek. That spark was still in his eye and Mary got a mischievous gleam in her own eyes. She rolled onto her back and raised her arms above her head, clasping her hands together behind her head. The movement thrust her breasts up prominently, straining against the form fitting top she wore. She smiled provocatively. Marshall had stopped breathing.
"Preview of coming attractions," she whispered. A wicked grin split his face as he bent down to nuzzle her neck.
"I'd like an advance ticket please," he murmured, cupping her breast with a feather light touch. Stroking his thumb over the soft swell of bare flesh spilling out above her low cut top, Marshall had to remind himself to keep it under control. She didn't belong to him yet, but soon...
Mary smiled in response to the smile that flitted across his face. She wasn't used to playing any kind of passive role in lovemaking, but this was very nice, just reveling in the feel of his hands on her. Marshall ever so slowly lowered his head until Mary felt the moist heat of his mouth pressing a gentle kiss on her breast. A shudder passed through her and she pulled his head up to kiss him again, then pushed him back regretfully.
"Unfortunately, there is no advance screening for tonight." They looked at each other, before breaking out in laughter, both cognizant of the promise to come. Marshall swung his lanky frame up from the bed and extended his hand out to her.
"Come on Sunshine, we need to get to the airport." Mary felt that warmth that was becoming familiar. No one besides Marshall would consider her as a ray of sunshine. But she brought joy to his life. I have never done that before, made someone happy just by being me.
They met Stan at the airport and had an uneventful journey back to Albuquerque. After a brief stop at the office, where Eleanor handed Marshall four messages from George with a lift of an eyebrow, Marshall steered Mary out to his GMC. They rode in companionable silence back to Mary's house. Mary kept glancing over at Marshall, the sharp planes of his face bringing a smile to hers.
Marshall pulled up in front of her house and ventured a quick look at her. So much had changed since the last time she was here. Mary sat quietly, eying the house with distaste. She didn't want to deal with the unpleasantness to come, but she needed to break it off with Raph and quickly. It was necessary so she could move forward, so we can move forward. Marshall was worth some discomfort.
She rubbed her bare ring finger. Mary didn't know how to explain to Raph she had lost his ring. She closed her eyes. What could she possibly say? Marshall watched her sympathetically. He knew how much she was dreading facing Raph. He couldn't help her with that, just offer his silent support. He felt for Raph, knowing the man truly loved Mary, but at the end of the day, Mary wasn't going to be turning to Raph. He felt a warmth at that thought.
"I have to go in and give back the ring that I don't have." She dropped her head in her hands with a groan.
He watched her screw up her resolve and laid a gentle hand on her arm as he reached into his jacket pocket and drew out a handkerchief. He silently handed it to her. Mary's eyebrow shot up as she considered the knotted linen. Marshall must be the only man under sixty who carries an actual handkerchief. It was rather endearing. It appeared to be clean, so she loosened the knot and opened the handkerchief to find her engagement ring nestled inside.
She looked up in amazement. "How?" she asked, clutching the ring. "I thought I lost it."
Marshall smiled. "You left it on the nightstand in Nashville. I thought you might want it." Mary nodded, relief flooding through her.
"Thank you Marshall. I need to give this back to Raph. I didn't know how I was going to tell him I lost it." She turned a brilliant smile on him.
He considered her a moment, his breath taken away by her beauty and leaned over to drop a kiss on her cheek.
"I hope the next time I hand you a ring you smile as big as you are right now," he spoke close to her ear in a low voice. Mary placed her hand on his cheek and chuckled, a wave of happiness rolling through her.
"Oh, you ain't seen nothing yet."
The End
