Audrey Parker
There are two men and two women waiting for them at the front desk. The men are both tall, dark and handsome, although one has black hair and more classically handsome features while the other has brown hair and a more quirky, crooked cast to his features. Still ruggedly handsome, though, Audrey admits before turning to consider the women, both of whom are beautiful brunettes who exude confidence and competence behind their coolly assessing gazes. The black-haired man is dressed in a dark suit and tie, with a belt buckle that's discreetly ostentatious while the brown-haired man is much more business casual.
They all seem vaguely familiar but Audrey can't quite place them.
Nathan steps forward, his hand outstretched. "I'm Nathan Wuornos, Acting Chief of Police. This is my partner, Detective Audrey Parker."
The black-haired man shakes first Nathan's hand then Audrey's. "Special Agent Seeley Booth, FBI, and my partner, Dr. Temperance Brennan." He turns to the other two, and says, "This is Detective Kate Beckett of the New York Twelfth Precinct, and her partner, Richard Castle."
Bells are going off in Audrey's head but she can't say why.
"What can we do for you?" she says.
For a moment, something like confusion crosses over their visitors' faces then Castle says, "Have you received a missing persons report?"
Nathan and Audrey exchange a glance.
"Any person in particular?" Nathan asks, his voice dry.
Three of the four people in front of them all look at an almost-sheepish Castle. Then he sets his jaw, looks at Audrey and Nathan, and says, "A woman. Late teens, early twenties. She's being held captive in a rustic cabin. The man is between thirty and forty-five. Smooth, clammy hands. Wet, glistening lips. Likes to take lots of pictures. Booth thinks he snores. The man, not Booth." He stops and shifts uncomfortably. "We're here to help you find her."
Nathan and Audrey exchange another glance filled with dawning suspicion.
"And how do you know all this?" Audrey asks.
Castle looks even more hunted as his companions continue to glare at him again.
"We...had a vision?" Castle says with a raised eyebrow and a semi-hopeful air.
"Speak for yourself," Beckett mutters beneath her breath.
Nathan and Audrey stare at them for long, silent moments before Nathan turns to Officer Rafferty, the cop who pulled them out of their conversation with Kirk, Spock and McCoy. "Rafferty, take our guests to one of the interrogation rooms." He turns back to their visitors. "Give us a minute to go through the reports that have come in."
Brennan frowns. "Wait. We only brought Castle here to humor him. Are you saying you believe him?"
Audrey's smile is coolly professional. "Let's just say we're intrigued."
Castle's face lights up with a wide, lop-sided grin before he turns to the others and says, "I told you this was important!"
Beckett rolls her eyes. "It's insane is what it is."
Booth says, "I did hear something..."
Brennan says, "Mass hallucinations are very real, Booth." She turns to Castle. "I still say you need a doctor more than the police."
"Well, it so happens we have a doctor in the boardroom if one is needed," Audrey says briskly. "Officer Rafferty?"
Their four visitors follow after her, still bickering.
Nathan waits until they're out of sight before he turns to Audrey and leans a little closer. Audrey, as always, softens a little.
"A memory-wiping Trouble?" he mutters. "Along with whatever the hell Trouble caused our other guests to appear in Haven?" He scowls. "Could there be two Troubles at work here?"
Audrey shrugs as she shakes her head. "Too soon to tell," she murmurs. "Let me run a couple of background checks on these guys while you humor them by pretending to go through the missing persons reports."
*/*/*/*/*
Audrey finishes checking the databases she needs and sits back in her chair with a sigh.
"No FBI agents by those names," she says, "or New York cops."
Nathan gives her an absent nod and says, "But those names are out there in the world."
Audrey frowns. "What do you mean?"
Nathan looks up at her. "They're characters in two television shows. Crime dramas. Unrelated TV shows, for the record, but remarkably similar."
"What?"
Nathan gestures for her to come over to his desk and she does, leaning over his shoulder to read what's on the screen. Her frown deepens as she scans the short descriptions of the shows. Both are crime procedurals, albeit highly fictionalized. One is about a best-selling author who teams up with a New York detective, and the second is an FBI agent who teams up with a forensic anthropologist...who is also a best-selling author. Both series are touted as black comedies with a strong will-they-or-won't-they component. She shakes her head when she gets a look at the actors portraying the main characters.
"Huh," she says, straightening. "Looks like they both decided on 'will they'."
Nathan gives her a heated look that rocks her back before he quickly looks away and says, "In a way, I'm relieved. We're still only dealing with one Troubleā¦and the last thing we need is the real FBI and the NYPD investigating a case in Haven."
Audrey pushes her hormones back where they belong and says, "Hey! I thought I was FBI when we first met!"
"That was bad enough."
She laughs.
Nathan grins then sobers. "So definitely a Trouble that manifests fictional characters into reality?"
"Must be," she says, "or we have an entire group of people trolling the Haven PD."
Nathan shrugs. "Not outside the realm of possibility either. Have you talked to Duke yet today?"
Audrey chuckles. "Only thing is: they're all here claiming to have even more details about our missing girl, even though none of them seem to know her name."
"Or know how she was abducted."
"Or where, exactly, she is."
"So what good are they?"
"Well, these four seem to have more details, including a description of the man who's holding Fenley. Let's see if we can do anything with what they can tell us."
"And if we can't?"
Audrey's smile is slow and slightly wicked. "They're all great detectives, fictional or otherwise. We may as well use them while they're here."
*/*/*/*/*
