The work wasn't as hard as he imagined, he had enough information to issue a suspect alert and move on with other cases. Norman was advised not to actively participate in all cases and leave the police in charge of the rest; he would only act in situations where just creating a profile of the criminal would not be enough to arrest someone. In a way, that made him frustrated. Although he almost lost his life on the last mission having the feeling of being able to accomplish such an important task brought him back to life, he felt with a greater purpose than anything else. He had good cases in Washington but nothing excited him or left him wanting to do beyond what was assigned to him. Norman wanted to be the best version of himself every day, he wanted to keep a promise that was made years ago for an old friend who had passed away.
Of course, promises are sometimes broken easily but not with him.
"Is it already lunch? "He looked at his wristwatch and stood up, taking his coat and leaving the room.
The department was not so crowded and busy, and without the presence of Carter Blake things flowed better. He did not expect his partner to be involved in the case (and not in the best way), without even suspecting a hair from that head. Blake was not the best partner he had ever worked with but at least he did the minimum to get information and now he was in jail with Leighton Perry. Norman still did not accept the idea that Ethan Mars was accused of being the killer simply because he had blackouts and did not remember where he was, it was an insult to the knowledge he had and everything. On the other hand, he was happy to prove to the media and to himself that his intuition and his efforts were not in vain... An innocent man was almost arrested.
He walked to a nearby restaurant and sat at a table near the window, the view of the snow being perfect for him to think and eat in peace. There were two men sitting at the counter, watching the news and commenting on the day. On the other side, there was a girl with long, dark hair, having coffee and talking on the cell phone.
"Nothing out of the ordinary in this city... Just fine" he thought to himself.
The waitress came over, holding paper and a pen.
"The famous hero Norman Jayden, uh? " She smiled, extremely friendly.
"An orange juice, please. Er... Are you serving pasta yet?"
"Of course, we are! Do you want a vegetarian accompaniment?"
"No, thank you."
The waitress nodded and retired to deliver the order in the kitchen as he leaned on the window and sighed. The glass seemed to be made of ice and soon he pushed his face away, removing the gloves. Some other people came in, but Norman didn't want to pay attention to it besides his lunch and did it so until he emptied the plate.
The girl returned with the bill and handed a torn paper along.
"I think this is yours, isn't it?" He said handing over the money and returning the paper.
"Oh no, someone left it with the money, it's written on the back that it was to be given to you."
Norman lowered his arm holding the paper, raising an eyebrow, and thanking the waitress before getting up and rushing into the street to read. A few steps near the corner he opened the paper and read the following words:
"Are you going to have the courage to face it all again, Norman?"
He raised his face, looking around and then at the message again without understanding what he just read.
Who could have written this for him?
How did they know he had lunch there every day since he moved?
Suddenly his heart sped up and everything seemed dark, still holding the sheet of paper in his hands he desperately searched his pockets for ARI, or his drugs, but again he fell into the reality that there was nothing else to calm him down there and without thinking twice he ran back to his room in the police department in complete shock.