Chapter 26

"I thought you'd be a little smarter than that!" Mark said.

"You're the one that left them lying on the counter!" Amanda argued. She couldn't even remember how they started arguing. He had gotten home and she told him about Julie finding the picture. The next thing she knew they were arguing about the damn tape recorders.

"I can't take them to work with me! You should've taken them into the bedroom with you!"

"Well obviously she didn't stay out of the bedroom either!" Amanda stared at him, hands on her hips. He pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes.

"What are we doing?" He asked with a sigh.

"I have no idea, but I didn't start it!" Amanda said angrily. She crossed her arms and looked away from him. She felt like a little kid who didn't get her way at the toy store. John started crying.

"I'll get him." Mark said. He walked off to John's room and Amanda smacked herself in the head with the heal of her hand. She walked to the kitchen and picked up a knife. She pricked her finger again. The blood ran down her finger and pooled in her hand. She cut it more than usual.

"You need to stop that, Mandy." Someone said. Amanda screamed and whipped around, knife in her hand. Julie stood behind her, leaning against the opposite counter.

"How in the hell did you get in here?!" Amanda yelled at her. She was still trying to catch her breath from the scare.

"Manda? What's wrong?" Mark asked as he hurried into the kitchen. He saw Julie and immediately tensed at her relaxed expression.

"Chill out, tough guy, I just need to talk to Mandy." Julie said to Mark. Amanda glared at her. Mark looked at Amanda and she nodded to him. He sighed and walked out of the kitchen.

"What the hell do you want?" Amanda snapped.

"Chill, Mandy." Julie said. "I just have a simple question for you." She smiled. Not a sweet smile. A cocky smile. Amanda didn't like it. "What was-" Just then Julie's cell phone rang.

"Hello?" She answered. Amanda heard talking from the other end. She sighed. "No, I'm with Mandy." Julie said. "No, I was just gonna ask her- what? Another one? Before her?" Julie seemed confused.

"Well, yes he's here." Julie said. Amanda tensed a little. "But I can!" Julie complained. She groaned. "Fine! I'll be over soon!" Julie snapped. She closed her phone and sighed. "I gotta go." She said.

"What were you gonna ask me?"

"Huh? Oh, nothing. Nevermind." Julie waved as she walked to the door. "See ya, Mandy." she closed the door. Amanda sighed and washed the blood off her hand. She walked to the living room. Mark was on the sofa watching TV. Amanda sat down next to him and he wrapped his arm around her.

"Where'd the Linda clone go?" He asked with a joking tone.

"She's not a Linda clone. Linda was much more tolerable than her." Amanda said seriously. "And I still don't like her. I have a bad feeling around her."

"Manda, just let it go." Mark said. "You're still upset about Linda, and the fact that they're practically twins is hard. That's all." Amanda sighed.

"That's not it! I hate her! I don't want her here!" Amanda sat up and looked at him. Her face was hard. "She isn't a good person."

"Manda, you really feel so strongly about this?"

"Yes! You should've seen how she smiled at me! And why would she be snooping around our house? She's looking for something."

"Okay. Then what's her motivation?" Mark asked. There he went with his cop questions.

"I don't know!" She yelled. "Not everything needs motivation, Mark!" she stood up and stormed to the kitchen.

"Amanda, I'm just trying to figure this out!" Mark said, following her.

"So am I! She wants something from us!"

"Like what?"

"I don't know!" She closed her eyes and sighed. "When she was on the phone, she said something about another one before me. What is that suppose to mean?"

"I have no idea." Mark said. He thought for a moment.

"I don't want her here." Amanda said. Mark sighed.

"Alright. Well, what am I suppose to do?"

"Take me to work with you. I can help with the case!"

"No."

"Common! I know more about how the original Jigsaw thought better than anyone!"

"No."

"I can help you catch him!"

"No."

"Mark! Please!"

"No." Mark's anger grew slightly.

"Mark!"

"No!"

"Please!"

"No!"

"Mark, please?' She was using her pleading face again. The one he could never refuse. He sighed.

"Look, I'll call Erickson and see if that is gonna be a problem." He said. She clapped happily. "But what about John?"

"Mrs. Perkins, common, please!" Amanda begged. It was twenty minutes later and Erickson said Amanda could come along. Now Amanda had to convince Mrs. Perkins to watch John.

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Hoffman, but I can't. I-I have family, and, a dog to feed." Mrs. Perkins said.

Like a baby is gonna interfere with your damn dog! Amanda thought angrily. But she knew Mrs. Perkins was trying to think of any excuse possible. And it wasn't like their son was terrible to watch. He was actually a rather good kid. But Mrs. Perkins was old, and a baby would be pretty hard to take care of at her age.

"What if I give you fifty bucks?" Amanda asked.

"I'm sorry. I just can't do it." Mrs. Perkins said. Amanda sighed.

"Okay. What if I give you twenty buck for each day? And you watch him, just until I find someone else?" Amanda asked. Her voice was pleading. Mrs. Perkins sighed.

"Alright. Alright. Only a week. But I require twenty five dollars a day." Amanda hated it when people did that. Always raised the price just to be a pain in the ass.

"Okay, fine. Thank you, Mrs. Perkins." Amanda hung up and groaned. "I don't like her much either." Amanda said to Mark. He laughed.

"You don't like anyone."

"I like you."

"Oh, right. Poor me." Mark joked. Amanda playfully punched him in the arm. He laughed.

"But Mrs. Perkins is very nice to me." Mark said. Amanda smirked.

"Aww, does she have a crush on you?" She teased. He frowned at her. They hadn't joked with each other like that for a long time.

"She does not." Mark said. "Maybe she just doesn't like you. You can be a bitch when you want to be." She glared at him. "No offense." He quickly added.

"Saying no offense doesn't take the offense away, asshole." Amanda said, crossing her arms. Mark laughed.

"Okay. Okay. I'm sorry." Amanda seemed surprised.

"You never apologized that quickly before." Amanda said. "Normally you'd go for a little longer to piss me off."

"Times have changed, Mandy." He teased. Whenever he wanted to piss her off he called her Mandy. Amanda glared at him. He seemed satisfied that he succeeded in making her upset.

"Don't tempt me, Mark Hoffman." She threatened. He leaned closer to her.

"What are you gonna do, Mandy?" He asked. She smiled.

"Oh, trust me. I know how to get under your skin. I know all your weaknesses, and secrets." she threatened. "And if you call me Mandy one more time, you'll wish you never met me." He seemed slightly disturbed by her threat. She smiled and walked passed him and into the living room. She paused and replayed what just happened in her head. Then realizing how long it actually had been since they teased each other like that, it made her sad.