Carpenter, Chef, Chauffeur and a Cop
New Discoveries
"Hey, Sis. Do you miss me?"
"OMG, Sasha. What the hell were you thinking?" I asked referring to the meme she posted on Instagram.
"What? It was just a joke," my bratty little sister answered unapologetically.
I sighed because she was so damn annoying.
"You showed his photo to mom!" I stated incredulously.
"In my defence, I was in the den and I had my earphones on so I didn't hear her come into the room. She saw it from over my shoulders because she was sleuthing, she's so damn nosy. You know how she gets."
Unfortunately, I knew our mother could be a pain. She always wants to know what's going on in our lives. She meant well, but sometimes a person needed room to breathe too.
Our father, Morgan was more chill, he needed to be, because his beloved, our mother, was high maintenance. Her nose was everywhere and her hands were in everything. I love her dearly, but I could only take her in small doses.
"Anyway about the hottie," she continued, "how the hell was I supposed to know he was in hiding… like an FBI most wanted. Are you two… you know…"
"NO!"
"Oh, that was a little quick. Did I hit a nerve or is it the lack of a certain nerve being hit the reason why you are so antsy?"
"Fuck off, Sasha."
I didn't want to talk about Rick Grimes anymore than I have to. He was already pissed at me that his face was out there in cyberspace. He was right. I violated his trust just like someone else violated mine. I was wrong and for that, I apologize. An apology was a notion my little sister had no concept of being a surprise baby and the brat of the family, she grew up with a feeling of entitlement because our mother indulged her every whim.
We were back in Antigua in yet another suite. At first, I was reluctant about the idea, but two days before we arrived here, another girl disappeared in St. Lucia. She was the second girl to go missing from the island in six months. Rick said nothing that morning. He simply left the morning papers on the table along with my breakfast and went off across the road to speak with Shane in his new whorehouse. The guy was such a sleazeball, in the week he had been on the island he was with a different woman every night, a direct scoop from Eunice, the one we thought he was with the night we were so rudely awakened by him and his flavour of the night.
That day, the photo in the morning papers spooked me because this time the girl was not a tourist, she was local and she looked eerily familiar. At a glance, she could easily pass as my twin. Rick didn't have to say a word, I knew he was pissed. He was quieter than usual, his jaw was clenched and he frequently pinched the bridge of his nose as he paced outdoors while talking on the phone. He didn't want me knowing what they talked about but I wasn't blind nor dumb. I watched like I always did and whenever he was done, his usual calm blue eyes were ice cold and there was a rigidness to his walk. He was wound tight and ready to go off at the slightest thing. The man was a walking time bomb.
I was rattled, so when he suggested this trip I didn't argue. Plus, my appointment was only another two days away. In that sense, it was a practical trip, but being cooped up in a hotel suite with him has not been fun, especially after the night our sexless household changed its status thanks to Shane.
It had been a week since the unfortunate incident, and it's made sleeping more difficult for me because the man who annoyed the hell out me during the day now invaded my nights. In my dreams, however, his lack of talking works just fine for me. I like that he was a man of action and his grunting made me wetter. His chiselled features with sapphire eyes framed in a short stubble drove me crazy. The feel of his hot breath and soft pink lips caressing my skin ignited something deep inside of me. His urgent kisses caused my legs to turn to jelly. His talented tongue and hot mouth made me erupt as his calloused hands pressed my silky skin into the mattress as he feasts on my essence. There were moments when he was a tender lover and our bodies languidly moved together moaning our pleasure, and then there were the primal moments when he was just a brute and pistoned into me without mercy. The urgency of his hunger, the slapping of skin on skin punctuating my moans and his grunts as our bodies basked in both pleasure and pain eventually succumbing as one in shared bliss, then I awaken aching for my vivid dreams to become reality, so, yeah no… I most definitely didn't want to think about him at all. The man was a monk. He was immuned to me which just made it worse.
It was a different hotel, so no one knew us here, but he was on edge. I could tell from the way his jaw was set and he frequently pinched his nose whenever he was on the phone calls, which would end the moment I walked into the room. He didn't say much because he didn't have his fingers on the pulse on this one on account that he was stuck here with me. But he spent endless hours on the phone with someone, and that someone I presume was Shane.
"Chonne, are you still there?" My sister called out bringing me back to the present.
"Yeah."
"You know I'm right. As I was saying before you falsely accused me of ratting you out to mom, you should have seen the look on dad's face when Agent Walsh and Agent Ford showed up at the front door. I thought he was going to have a heart attack."
"Shane was at our house?"
"Which one is he exactly?"
"Walsh."
"Yeah, he's the bad boy who's out for a good time just not a long time. Personally, I think the giant has more stability to him."
I said a silent prayer thankful to hear that my sister saw through Shane and recognized him for what he was. However, I wasn't exactly sure Sasha should even be looking at either man given they were much older than her. After all, there were at least five years difference between Rick and me and another seven between my sister and me, so no, she most definitely should not be looking at them, but to voice, my concern was akin to giving her permission to do something about it so I said nothing.
"Sash, focus! What did they want?"
"Nothing much. Walsh wanted to know how I knew your 'Big Daddy' … erm, I meant your friend."
"Is that it?"
"Pretty much, they made me send them a copy of the original photo and that was it. It was before I knew you two were hooking up."
"Sash, we're not hooking up!" I answered totally exasperated from the conversation we were having.
"By the way, mom and dad's anniversary is ten weeks away. Are you planning on coming home or am I going to have to plan it on my own?"
"Really, Sasha?"
"I did all the leg work it's simply a matter of you sending out the invitations."
"This is your baby, Chonne. You know I don't like this stuff.
"Why are you fretting? Everything's all set for the party. I confirmed everything with caterers and the florist. All you have to do is put the stamps on the invitations and put them in the mail. Olivia said they arrived from the printer a week ago. She showed them to me earlier, everything is good to go."
"Fine," she added sounding rather exasperated. "When are you coming home?"
But before I could answer the question, there was a knock at the door. What now? I wondered. "Sash, I got to, but we'll catch up later. Hey, don't post anything else on Instagram, okay?"
"Yeah...yeah."
….
Minutes later, I joined Rick in the living room area of the suite where he was seated in the spot I vacated.
Earlier, when Sasha called, I was in the process of transferring the photos from my camera to my laptop. He was hunched over my laptop trying to manipulate something.
I cleared my throat to announce my presence. However, he continued trying to get a better view of whatever it was that caught his interest. Who was crossing boundaries now? I wonder.
"Can I help you with something?" I offered.
Rick looked up as though hearing me for the first time. "Those photos at the bluff, when were they taken?"
"I don't know, maybe a week or two after I moved into your place. They're arranged by dates on the SD card. Why?"
"I think you may have stumbled onto something out there," he pointed to the screen. "Can you blow that up for me?"
I ignored the reference being that it was a digital image selected the shot and zoomed in. But I wasn't prepared for what was captured. It looked like a hand sticking out of the water. It was green from the algae and on it was a piece of tattered clothing. I tried manipulating the photo even more but that's all there was to be seen. I felt sick to my stomach.
After reviewing the other photos there was nothing else. I recalled the shot I was intrigued by the rock formation, it was like a mini Stonehenge with a bowl at its center so I took shots of the cluster. But had I noticed the added detail, I would have explored it further.
"Can you send them to me? I mean the original and the close-up version."
In a few clicks of the keys, I made a copy of the close-up and I did as was requested, but stated, "We had another tropical storm since I took those photos. Do you think it could still be there? "
"I don't know, but it's our first big lead in eighteen months," he added as he quickly forwards them to Shane and members of the task force.
"Michonne?"
The way he said my name with such concern sent shivers down my spine.
"Look I know you don't like this…" he gesticulates with his hands to encompass our surroundings, "being cooped up here, but it's for the best. I promised to keep you safe and I intend to keep that promise. Matter of fact, after your appointment, I was thinking it's probably best if you took a direct flight home. I know your folks will be happy to see you after four months away. But, if you stay, it'll be more of this."
He was being earnest. The concern in his eyes and voice caught me off guard. I said nothing immediately because I was still trying to process the photo of the local girl who could pass for me. He didn't say it, but I had not crossed paths with that many people. I had not yet been to St. Lucia, so The Hunter was most definitely close to my home away from home and it scared the hell out of me. The fact that someone else had been watching me was unnerving. I was on the dipshit's radar, so if I run in my compromised state, they would more than likely follow me home; a place where he was not yet on anyone's radar, so I would be there on my own.
To be honest, despite whatever personal crap that was going on or not going on between us, I felt the safest right where I was… at his side.
"I won't run. He wants me to run… to be away from here where he feels the dragnet is tightening. If I run I'd make it easier for him."
"So that means you're going to take this seriously. You'll do whatever I say. Agreed?"
"Agreed."
….
"What the fuck? There's something out there wedged between the rocks. The first responders are on the way. I'll call you when we know more." Shane reported and I breathe once more. Finally, we were catching a break.
"Thanks, Shane. Don't forget to talk to Zeke then stand down. He'll get you what you need now. You're still an active agent, so don't be a fuckin cowboy." I cautioned and end the call.
"Was the body still there?" Michonne asked as I joined her on the terrace.
"Yeah. Shane said the first responders were on their way there. They'll do their best but they don't have much daylight left. If they can't retrieve it before night falls, their next opportunity is at low tide tomorrow, so the area will be under surveillance."
"I feel like shit… had I transferred those photos sooner, maybe that poor girl wouldn't be missing now."
"You made this happen, Michonne. Before this we had nothing… those women just vanished into thin air. At least this one's folks will have closure."
She sat on the terrace with her arms folded around her body sliding her hands up and down as if trying to warm herself even though it was over eighty-five degrees outside.
I couldn't allow Michonne to blame herself because it served no purpose at all. Plus, without that one photo, we would still be chasing our own tails. I walked over to where she sat and offered my hand, she took it and I pulled her up and held her to me. I knew she felt vulnerable, but the last thing I wanted was for her to let that piece of shit get into her head. I haven't shared my theory with her as yet, but she was trained as a lawyer and she was starting to put the pieces together without any conjecture from me.
I was scared too, up until now, I've been focused on one person the whole time, that was long before Michonne showed up. But what if I'm wrong?
"You can't let him get into your head, Michonne. If you do, he wins."
"I won't let him."