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Matt sat outside the Glass Tiger, watching the traffic mill in and out of it. Happy Hour would be starting in a few minutes and last until closing time after midnight. The place had been located in a rather seedy district south of downtown L.A. and Matt witnessed a drug transaction taking place on the corner. Hoyt had told him some time ago that a new cartel had moved into the area, possibly Russian and that the department's special task teams had been doing a lot of surveillance. So all Matt knew about this bar was that a couple of vice teams had worked with narcotics to stake it out almost on a regular basis.
He finally got out of his car and walked inside to see a bartender selling drinks to several patrons dressed in motorcycle attire and a couple of pool tables in the back next to a jukebox machine.
The bartender cast him a disinterested look as he returned to talking with one tough looking guy with a worn jacket and a bandana on his head. Matt walked over to order a Scotch which he hoped would loosen the man's tongue.
"I haven't seen you before," the bartender said, handing him his drink, "You're not one of them are you?"
"One of who?"
"A narc…or vice or whatever unit is spying on us hoping for a bust any given week."
Matt sipped his drink.
"I don't work for any of the above," he said, pulling out a business card, "I'm a private investigator and I'm looking for a man."
The bartender looked at his car not all that impressed but he pocketed it.
"We don't kiss and tell here at this establishment," he said, "And we don't keep track of our customers and what they're doing. So if you're looking for a snitch…"
Matt pulled out his wallet and several hundred dollar bills.
"Will this help convince you otherwise?"
The man looked at him, eying him and the money.
"Who you looking for," he asked.
Matt pulled out the mug shot photo and he saw the man's eyes widened slightly.
"You know him don't you?"
The man looked at him cagedly.
"I might have seen him."
Matt replaced the photo back in his wallet.
"I head he won a wager here not too long ago," he said, "Won quite a bit of money then left."
The man sighed.
"Yeah I remember that," he said, "Drank a lot, surly guy and nobody hassled him."
"His name's Dallas, he escaped from a prison about a month ago," Matt said, "Quite a few agencies are looking for him."
The man looked at him.
"And why are you looking?"
Matt looked at his glass, for a moment.
"Because he broke into a house with another convict and raped a woman."
The bartender folded his arms.
"I can tell by looking at you, it wasn't just any woman."
"She's a close friend of mine," Matt said, "And I'm going to find this guy."
The man shook his head.
"If he doesn't want to be found, it's going to be tough," he said, "He didn't seem to talk very much about himself."
Matt sighed.
"He's going to turn up somewhere," he said, "And if he comes back here to your watering hole, give me a call."
The man just watched Matt as he walked out back to his car. Matt had figured that Dallas would have shown up in various haunts over the city but no one had noticed that he resembled the photo of an escaped convict that had been flashed on the news and posted online and in newspapers at least all over California.
But the type of people who frequented the places where Dallas had surfaced probably weren't people who trusted the police or had anything to do with them. He looked at his watch and decided to head back to the office to see if any messages had come in while he had been running around chasing leads.
C.J. sat under a tree while she watched the mare graze on some grass having put her on a long lead. The sun still felt warm on her skin and she looked around at the meadow which began where the pastures ended. A grove of trees ran along the edge of a small lake where ducks paddled about and swam.
She thought about how good it had been to come down here each day to work with the mare and how much brighter the horse's eyes looked and she had developed better muscle tone from her daily exercise. C.J.'s own body felt less achy where her ribs had been cracked and she had lost the wrap she had worn on her wrist.
Her mind had been filled with images, ever since she had met with the detectives at the police station where they had told her about the web site and what had been posted there. She hadn't wanted to look, it wouldn't make any difference anyway and the only thing she had felt like doing was coming here.
She had gone to meet with Miranda where she sat on a comfortable couch and sat, sharing what she had written to herself in her notebook.
"So how did it make you feel when they told you that?"
She looked over at the counselor.
"I don't know really…so many things at once," C.J. said, "I don't know why someone would do that…post pictures like that on the internet…for what reason? What did I do to this person…and if it's connected to what those men did…I don't know how to feel about that."
Miranda nodded.
"I've heard of cases like that," she said, "Where people have been harassed on line…stalked really…"
"What do you mean," C.J. asked, "Stalking is when someone comes after you in real life like happened to me a couple of years ago."
Miranda went to her massive bookshelf and pulled out a book handing it to C.J.
"It's called cyber stalking," she said, "and it's getting increasingly common as technological advances are made with computers and the internet."
"What do you mean?"
"There have been cases similar to yours," Miranda said, "Offensive or threatening emails or instant messages, starting web sites purposely to harass a person and in some cases, engaging in harassing, even criminal conduct offline."
"So it could be all related?"
Miranda nodded.
"It's possible," she said, "There have been cases where ads were placed about women on dating or relationship forums where they're soliciting sex without their knowledge."
C.J. digested that, wondering if that's what had been done in her case but Dallas' words came back to her again and she closed her eyes.
Then when she opened her eyes, she shook her head.
"No…that couldn't have been what happened with me…They came after me because of what happened back in Texas…they were angry about what they thought I had done."
Miranda listened to her thoughtfully.
"They told me…Dallas told me he had waited years to…and the way he had acted when he was my client…that's why I wanted to be taken off of it."
"How did you feel about having represented him in that case?"
C.J. thought about it, she had felt like she had been just doing her job, what she had been hired out of law school and paid to do. She knew that some of her clients were innocent of the charges, but many were guilty of some criminal offense if not always the one they had been charged with committing. But even though she wrestled with the seriousness of some of the crimes, she believed that the criminal justice system needed defense attorneys like her to function properly and in a way that embraced the ideals of the Bill of Rights. Still with Dallas…
"I had felt awful," C.J. said, "The crimes he committed against those two women…were awful and when I saw the photos of how they looked, their faces…I guess I took it home at night…and he got off on them, wasn't sorry at all and he was coming onto me in a disgusting way…trying to get under my skin I think."
"So you dropped the case," Miranda said, "Your supervisors were fine with it?"
C.J. nodded.
"I made it clear that I didn't even want to be in the same room with him, let alone representing him…Another attorney took the case all the way to trial, he was convicted of raping the two victims and he went to prison."
"And what happened after that," Miranda asked.
C.J. just looked at her hands.
"He tried to get some inmates who were leaving prison to come by and visit me."
C.J. thought about that conversation when she sat watching the mare enjoy being outdoors and nibbling on the grass around the trees. She looked up and saw him walking towards her dressed in his jeans and checkered long sleeved shirt.
"Can I join you?"
She looked up at him and smiled.
"Sure…I've been bringing her out here at the end of the day after her aqua therapy and exercise," C.J. said, "I think she enjoys it…she spent months being cooped up in her stall."
"No sign of founder or any other complications."
She nodded.
"Her legs are doing nicely and her circulation's good," she said, "She might be able to handle a rider soon."
"Are you up to it," Matt said, "How you feeling?"
She stretched her arms.
"My ribs are doing a lot better and my wrist is mended," she said, "and the walking with her has helped me."
Matt knew that C.J. looked forward to the day when she could ride the mare again even after everything that happened. He sat down next to her under the tree and she glanced over at him.
"So I should be able to handle myself with her just fine."
"C.J. you're a greater rider and have always had a way with horses," Matt said, "I think she'll do good with you."
They sat together in companionable silence for a moment. She gazed at him sideways, he looked comfortable sitting there, enjoying the time spent outdoors.
"Houston…"
He looked over at her.
"What?"
She bit her lip as she tried to find the words she wanted to stay.
"I don't want you to do it…I don't want you to confront him."
His brows rose.
"C.J. he's running around out there somewhere," Matt said, "He's got to be caught and sent back to prison."
He heard her sigh heavily.
"Don't you think I know that," she said, "I thought I wasn't going to make it that night…they talked about the different ways they would kill me to stop me from talking…I was lying there listening to that…trying to think about how to live."
"C.J…"
She put up her hand.
"No…you weren't there…you don't know what that man could do. I wasn't even sure I wanted to live…until I thought I was going to die…without, without seeing the people I love…without seeing you again."
He sighed.
"I can't rest until he's caught and I don't know if the police are going to find him," Matt said, "They seem more intent on giving you a hard time."
She couldn't deny that she had often felt that way especially when having to deal with Perkins but he couldn't just go out and look for a man who would kill him without blinking an eye.
"I just can't face losing you Houston," she admitted, "and I know if anything happened to you, if he did anything, I don't know if I could ever get through it…I'm struggling now to get through each day…just to have to do it all over again."
He heard the anguish in her voice, even though her words were soft.
"I'm not going anywhere," he said, "I'm not leaving you anytime soon I promise."
"You can't make that kind of promise," she said, "If you go after him."
"Hoyt called me earlier," Matt said, "He said that you met with the detectives."
C.J. just shrugged.
"They just wanted to pass along the information that they found some web site that someone made about me."
"Do they know who did it," he asked.
She shook her head.
"There were pictures…private pictures…I don't know when they were taken or by who or how they wound up there…but who would do something like that?"
She struggled to keep calm, to keep her heart from pounding, her breath from getting away from her. Matt wanted to reach out with his arm and embrace her but he knew she didn't want that.
So he sat quietly with her instead.
Roy looked up to see C.J. walk towards him in the kitchen. He had been working on a new fajita recipe and had grilled some onions and bell peppers, a couple different varieties and smiled at her.
"It smells great," she said, "You've been very busy."
He added some more onions to the mixture, and they sizzled in the pan.
"I finished with my meetings early today and headed back," Roy said, "I see that Matt was very busy investigating leads downtown."
C.J. went to pour herself some juice.
"He must have been in every bar and nightclub down there," she said, "He did get some leads on Dallas but I told him to just let it go, let the police handle it."
Roy sliced up some tomatoes and she went to go help keep an eye on the pieces of steak that would serve as the meat.
"You know him C.J.," he said, "We both do and it's going to be very difficult for him to let this go because of how much he cares about you and how much he hates it when his friends get hurt."
She sipped her juice.
"I know…but if anything happened to him…I don't know what I'd do…and Dallas doesn't fight fair..if he has a chance, he'll take him out."
Roy looked over at her.
"Matt could do the same to him and that's what worries me more."
C.J. sighed because she didn't want him to wind up arrested and charged with Dallas' murder. That scumbag wasn't worth the loss of Matt's freedom or his life.
"I know…but I told him how I felt and he just said he'd be careful…I guess that's just going to have to be enough."
Matt had also sat with her and watched the mare happily enjoy her time away from the stall and they didn't talk much but then they never had to do that. It felt nice just to have him there with her, just his nearness made her feel better. When the sun started to set and the air to cool, they took the mare back to her stall and fed and watered her before they headed back to their separate cars to head back to Roy's.
"I need him too…I don't know if I can do this by myself…I just need my friends…and I know I don't always show it."
"You've been through something terrible," Roy said, "It's only natural that it's affected you so profoundly."
"I just don't want it to affect how I react to him," she said, "and I think it has and I don't know what to do."
Roy scooped the vegetables so they'd cook evenly, sending an aroma into the area that was delicious.
"You just have to give yourself some time and some space," he said, "and don't be too hard on yourself and you'll find your way back to where you want to be."
Matt walked in then, having heard the conversation and she looked up at him, searching for understanding and finding it.
