I don't own "Chuck." And I'll post up all my relevant financial records to prove it.
On second thought, maybe not.
Chapter 11
Slightly concerned about a repeat of the previous night, Sarah walked into the bar to see if she could find Chuck. She sighed in relief when she didn't see his curly head anywhere in the room. About to head back outside, she stopped when she saw Mrs. Strassburg seated alone at a table.
Sarah had received some information regarding Strassburg's wife from the CIA earlier in the evening. Born Ingrid Huber in 1975, she had grown up in Austria. She had worked as a flight attendant when she had met Strassburg six years ago. They had become engaged after six weeks, married after six months.
The quick engagement and her frequent traveling sounded suspicious to Sarah, but she had to admit it seemed unlikely that Strassburg's own wife stole the flash drive. Still, in order to be thorough, she should at least talk to her. Perhaps she knew something about her husband's business.
As she approached, she saw the lines and heavy-lidded eyes on Ingrid Strassburg's face. Her grief appeared completely genuine. This wasn't something Sarah was used to deal with, and she wasn't exactly sure how to talk to her. After a brief moment, she realized she needed to think like someone more familiar with this type of a situation. Channeling her inner Ellie Bartowski, Sarah approached the table and sat down.
"Mrs. Strassburg?"
The woman looked up, a blank expression on her face.
"My name is Sarah Carmichael. I just wanted to let you know how sorry I am, and if there's anything I can do to help, please let me know."
The other woman nodded. "Thank you," she said in accented English. "You are very kind." She looked around at the room, empty other than Rogers sitting at the bar. "Everybody has been avoiding me here. They think I killed him."
"I'm sure that's not true."
"No," the woman nodded. "It's what people think. When a man is killed, it must be the wife." She sighed. "Are you married?"
"Yes. I'm staying here with my husband, Charles."
"Then you must know how silly such thoughts are. But I am younger than Klaus, so people look at me like I married him for his money."
Sarah wanted to say, "You didn't?" but figured that wasn't the Ellie approach. Instead, she waited till the other woman continued.
"I loved Klaus, he was a wonderful man. Somebody else must have done this to him."
"Do you have any idea who it could have been, then?"
"Your police asked me this too. I don't know."
"Maybe somebody he worked with or something?"
"I don't know much about Klaus's business. I suppose it's possible. He traveled a lot, and I didn't always go with him. I was a stewardess for years, and travel tends to bore me."
"So he didn't always talk to you about what he did?"
Ingrid looked at Sarah a bit more closely. "You ask many questions."
"I'm sorry."
"It's ok. I appreciate having someone to talk to. No, he didn't talk about business, and I wasn't that interested. Klaus and I found other ways to spend our time together."
"Oh." Sarah wondered if she was blushing from Ingrid's candor.
"Klaus loved me very much, no matter what these police say."
"What do you mean?"
"They say they found this love note that he had with him. But that means nothing. He was faithful to me. I know this as truth."
Sarah was a bit skeptical of Mrs. Strassburg's response. Chuck had said he'd seen the note mentioned in the police log. "I'm sure he was."
"Women, they see a rich man, maybe they approach him, follow him, send him notes. But that is all. He wouldn't touch them."
Sarah nodded, and watched Mrs. Strassburg stand up.
"Thank you for talking to me…"
"Sarah."
"Thank you Sarah."
After Ingrid left, Sarah walked out of the bar and into the hallway. She thought about Klaus Strassburg's questionable fidelity. In her experience, a man like him wasn't one to resist the temptations of women. And given his wealth, there would be a lot of women around him.
Sarah felt as if her thoughts were confirmed when she saw Nancy Lombard talking with the apparently wealthy man with her. After watching for a few moments, she headed back up to her room.
As Chuck headed up the stairs to his hotel room, he thought about what he had agreed to do. Sarah had been able to figure out how to get in Strassburg's room using a key card, so it was definitely possible. And he figured the necessary computer files would be easy enough to find. Still, he wasn't entirely comfortable with the idea, even if it would help with the investigation. At least with one of the investigations, and he wasn't really sure which one that would be.
He stuck his own card into his room door, and entered. He stopped when he saw Sarah standing there, arms enfolded. "Hey."
Sarah didn't respond.
"So, did you find anything suspicious?"
"You could say that."
"Oh, good. What did you find?"
Sarah turned around, and walked to the balcony. "You know, it's hard enough to keep our cover intact. It would help if we were both on the same side."
"Uh, Sarah, what do you mean?"
Sarah whirled around. "I saw you!"
"Saw me? Doing what?"
"You were…you were…eyebrowing her!"
"Um, Sarah, I'm not sure what that means."
"You know, this!" Sarah started wiggling her eyebrows feverishly. To Chuck, it looked like she was either trying to pop a contact lens out of was in the midst of a seizure. "To her! That Florence Nightmare of a nurse!"
It took a few moments before Chuck figured out what she meant. "You mean Nancy? We were just talking."
"No, no. You don't do your little eyebrow thing when you're just talking. What are people going to think?"
"What would people think? It isn't going to mean anything to them."
"Ha!"
"Ha? Really? Ha?" Chuck found himself getting a bit heated as well. "You know, Sarah? If I didn't know better, I'd have to say you're jealous!"
"Oh please, Chuck. I'm not jealous. This is about maintaining our cover. That's it. What are people going to think when they see you cheating on me?"
"Cheating? On you?" Chuck's eyes narrowed. "Do you mean Charles Carmichael cheating on Sarah Carmichael? Or do you mean me cheating on you?"
"Chuck, you know what I mean."
"No, I don't think I do know what you mean. Are you worried that the fake Charles Carmichael is breaking his fake marriage vows with his fake wife? Because you heard what Marston said. Couples fight here all the time. It's probably more suspicious that we keep making up every other meal. Or maybe that's not it, and you're worried that I'm cheating on my nonexistent relationship with you? Well, I'm not doing the first, and as for the second? So what, because you don't get to care if I was!"
"Chuck, you're confusing me."
"And you're confusing me!"
Sarah sighed, and seemed to relax. "Ok. Fine. I believe you. But what were you doing then. Still investigating her?"
Chuck debated for a moment, before decided that it would be best if he told the truth, at least in part. "We're working together."
"What?"
"We're working together to try and figure out who killed Strassburg."
Sarah calm demeanor left as quickly as it had arrived. "Chuck. Do I have to tell you how stupid that is?"
"It's ok. Why would she want to investigate Strassburg's murder if she actually did it?"
"Chuck. How many times do I have to tell you that you can't trust anybody? You should know that! How am I supposed to protect you when you keep going off on your own like this?"
"Hey, maybe I could actually protect myself for once."
"Chuck. I've been your handler for a year-and-a-half now. You and I both know you can't protect yourself."
Chuck felt wounded, though he knew she was probably right. "I've protected myself plenty of times. There was that one time... I've protected myself plenty of times! And it's not my fault that you don't care about who killed Strassburg. And I am still looking for the flash drive."
Sarah struggled to regain her composure again. "I understand you wanting to bring a killer to justice. But my priority is to protect you."
"Yeah, the helpless little kitten that I am."
"Oh, quit being melodramatic." Sarah paused before continuing. "Chuck, think about the kind of person that Strassburg was. Why is it so important that the person who killed him be caught?"
"Because it is. It doesn't matter who he was."
Sarah sighed. "Look. Somebody like him wouldn't hesitate a second to hurt you, or anybody else for that matter. What if he was threatening somebody, like Emily or your little friend Nancy?"
"But we don't know what happened. We can't assume. And if he was killed in cold blood it wouldn't matter who he was. The person who did it would just be a…killer." Chuck didn't realize what he had said until he heard her sharp intake of breath.
"You really believe that?" Sarah said coldly.
"Sarah, I…"
Chuck couldn't finish before Sarah stalked out of the room.
Chuck waited for Sarah to return, but finally gave up and went to bed. He wished he could take his words back. He hadn't meant to bring up Mauser, but it had slipped out in the heat of the argument. He knew why Sarah had killed him, and he had come to understand it as well. Still, deep inside, he felt that justice was justice, and Strassburg's killer getting away didn't seem right to him. Besides, it didn't seem like what had happened to Strassburg was the same as what happened with Mauser. If he was overdosed, that seemed like his murder was premeditated, and he knew Sarah hadn't planned to kill Mauser.
Finally, after a couple of hours, he heard the door open. After a few minutes, he heard soft footsteps coming toward the bed. Sarah quietly slipped under the covers at the opposite end. Chuck thought about trying to talk to her, but Sarah was lying so far on the edge of the bed that any movement would probably cause her to fall to the floor. Finally, after a few tense minutes, he fell asleep.
For the second time in two days, Chuck woke to the sound of knocking. He turned to see that Sarah had already crawled out of bed, and was heading to the door. "Emily?" he heard her say.
"Guys! Come quick!"
"What is it?" Chuck said as he stood up and headed to the door.
Emily was waving her arm frantically. "Come on! Hurry up! There's been another murder!"
I was going to change the 2nd genre of this story from angst to humor, but angst has been made a comeback in the last two chapters. Still, don't count out humor yet. And adventure and suspense can always be counted on in the home stretch. And as always, there's western, bringing up the rear.
So everybody, place your bets! Then place your reviews.
