Monsters Stalking Their Prey
Rae sat at her desk the next morning just after eight. Steve was bringing over the coffee and her tea and she was trying to read the autopsy report through without loosing her cool. "How could somebody say that they were against suffering and then do this to another human being?"
"I thought the same thing. That woman suffered an unspeakable death. I don't ever want to have to tell somebody again what I told James Worthington yesterday." Steve sighed, and placed the cups down on Rae's desk. He picked up his notes from when they were with Amanda and started to compare them with the report. As he leant over Rae's desk he sneezed, twice.
"Bless you. You know, there is a possibility of going overboard on this. I know the Chief is involved, but we don't need two sets of autopsy notes. Amanda is more than thorough. Relax. He doesn't bite!" Rae smiled, but the smile disappeared as she heard her name being called.
"Detective Yeager, Chief wants you."
She stood up, smoothed down her shirt, picked up her drink and all the papers she had collected so far and headed for the door, then she stopped looked at her drink and put it back on her desk. "Can you get on with obtaining Mrs Worthington's financial and phone records, Steve? Just in case there is another reason for this. And also because I told the Chief we would." She smiled completely then and carried on walking.
Chief Masters was sitting rigidly at his desk when Rae entered. "Good morning, Detective. I see you have come prepared. Good, good. Sit down, please."
Rae sat and put the pile of folders down in front of her. "I wasn't sure what you already had, Sir, so I have brought everything we have so far. Lieutenant Sloan is on the phone to the bank at the moment, just in case…" She stopped as the Chief slightly raised his hand.
"Yes, yes, Detective. Now, I have a copy of the autopsy report here. Doctor Bentley sent me one over herself. How much of this does James Worthington know?"
"Steve…Lieutenant Sloan gave him some details. He told him how she was found, and some of what happened, but he hasn't seen any of the photos, and he doesn't, as far as I know, have any idea of what was written on the wall."
"Yes, I see. Detective, this shocks me, and I thought I was past being shocked. She was a lovely woman."
Rae thought for a second, then taking a breath began to speak. "Sir, I realise that this is an imposition, but could you tell me what she was like? We haven't asked Mr. Worthington, it's not always reliable to ask a grieving partner to comment." Rae stopped talking. Oh, way to go, Rae, that was lame. But to her surprise the Chief actually smiled.
"I have known James Worthington since we were in school together. He was always… always a middle aged man, if you understand my meaning." The Chief paused, and Rae looked at him. She wasn't sure if she should say anything so she stayed quiet. It was obviously the correct thing to do because slowly her boss continued. "When he first met Candi she was a secretary at the firm where he worked. He was a scientist; I was by then a homicide sergeant. She made him young. She was a quiet, well-educated young woman, but compared to James she was …" He paused again and this time Rae couldn't resist.
"Hyperactive?"
"Yes, quite possibly. They married when he started his own company, and that was it. They were happy. They never had any children; there was just the two of them and Mrs. Barraclough. I think that was all they ever needed."
Rae smiled at him. For the first time she felt she shared something with this man. She had an enormous respect for him, and she knew that he would put his life on the line for the department if necessary, but he also had the ability to make her feel about six years old. "I think that they were all very lucky then, Sir, if you don't mind me saying. It is a rare person who realises that they are happy and content with their lives. I hope that one day he will be able to look back with some pleasure."
"Well, we had better help him then hadn't we, Detective? I don't need to see your comments yet. I'm sure that if you have anything of note to show me you will keep me informed, and I will be keeping in contact with James anyway."
Rae knew that this was not said to worry her, but just as one friend who would be concerned about another. She smiled at her boss, and with her heart considerably lighter than when she came in she turned to go. She paused at the door, and taking a deep breath she looked back towards the Chief. "Sir, you have lost a very good friend, I hope you will accept my sympathies, the way that they are meant."
"Yes, thank you, Reagan. I do."
Rae turned again, she had no wish to embarrass him further so she left without another word and headed back to the squad room and the safe haven of her desk.
Steve was talking on the phone as she sat down, and so she quietly waited for him to finish. She put the folders back in the file tray and running her fingers through her hair looked about her. The squad room was quiet, but busy. It was now just coming up to ten past nine, and everybody in the room seemed to have something to do.
Rae was just going to make another drink for her and Steve when her phone rang. "Detective Yeager… Yes, that's right… Thank you very much. We will be over later to interview him… Ten o'clock would be fine…Lieutenant Steve Sloan and Detective Reagan Yeager." Rae put the phone down and hunted through the papers in her tray. She found what she was looking for and took a pencil and a piece of paper and began to draw.
Steve put the phone down and looked at the notes on his pad. James Worthington had phoned the bank and given his permission for all of his late wife's details to be given to either Rae or himself. He had arranged to go and view her safety deposit box after lunch, but the figures on his pad contained no surprises. He got up and walked over to Rae's desk and then looked in amazement at her pad.
Rae had drawn droplets of blood all over it. Then she had been putting letters or faces over the top.
"What are you doing?"
"Oh, don't do that!"
"What?" Steve looked bemused.
"Creep up on me! I am trying to see what the badge we saw would look like with other animals or even slogans across it."
"Oh!" Steve was none the wiser. "And I suppose there is a real good reason for this?"
"No, not really." Rae smiled sheepishly. "I was just waiting for you to come off the phone, and the badge was in my mind."
"Why was the badge in your mind?" Steve looked at her. "Good grief Rae, this is like pulling teeth. Tell me what is going on. Atishoo!"
"Bless you. I'm sorry. Neville Grump was just checked over by the doctor at the county jail, I think you call it. He has a tattoo on his chest."
They had contacted the warden and asked him to check Grump's belongings for the badge, or anything containing that symbol. Steve smiled, he was enlightened at last. "A drop of blood with a rabbit on the front of it?"
Rae nodded. "We are booked in to see him at ten. I doubt if we will get anything out of him, he can of course refuse to say a word, but you never know."
It was just over two hours later when Rae and Steve drove back from the prison. "You do realise that that was all your fault don't you?" Steve said, unable to keep the exasperation out of his voice.
"What was my fault? I didn't do anything." Rae had her eyes shut as she leant back on the headrest; she didn't open them as she spoke.
"You were the bright spark who said 'of course, he can refuse to speak to us' or something like that. And what happens? The guy doesn't open his mouth the whole time we are there. Great. What a waste of time."
Rae turned her head and stuck her tongue out at him. "I plead the fifth."
"Oh, God, not you too!" But Steve smiled. "Want some lunch before we go to the bank?"
Rae just nodded and Steve indicated left and headed towards the hospital. "Food, I want food, not hospital glop."
Steve said nothing, and twenty minutes later they got out of the car and headed towards the canteen. Steve sneezed three times as he got out of the car.
"Have you got a cold coming, Steve? Because if you have I don't want it." Rae handed him a tissue.
"No, I only sneeze when I'm near you!" He took the tissue and put it in his pocket.
"Well I'll keep away from you. I have new perfume on today, perhaps it's that."
They walked into the hospital, and Rae headed for the ER. Jesse was working in a trauma suite when she got there, so Rae headed for Amanda's lab. She tapped on the door and waited.
"Come in."
"Hi, Amanda, I just wanted to check that you were still able to come tonight?"
"Of course, I wouldn't miss it. How are you feeling today, relieved I would think?"
"You know I haven't had time to think about it at all yet. Jesse and I talked a little about it last night, but I think that our first reaction was exhaustion. We both went our separate ways, and I know I slept soundly all night, I hope he did too."
Amanda smiled at her and leant over. "You have a cat hair on you. Either that or you have been cuddling up against a ginger haired man!"
"No, it's cat. I have a kitten, six weeks old, and as cute as a button. I think I'm gonna call her Kira. I only got her yesterday."
"Oh, CJ and Dion will be so jealous. They have been on at me to get a pet ever since the rabbit died and went to bunny heaven." She rolled her eyes and laughed slightly. The pride shining in her face as she talked about her boys.
At that moment Jesse put his head round the door. "Hey, I thought I saw you come in. Are you here for lunch?"
Rae nodded. "Are you free?"
"You didn't ask me that!" Amanda tried to look hurt.
"Oh, Amanda, I'm so sorry, you're welcome to join us."
"What and be a gooseberry to you two lovebirds, no way. I have far too much work anyway. I'll see you both at Bob's at eight." She smiled then and waved them away. "Now, go, shoo, shoo. Before I get you working."
Rae and Jesse looked at each other and then they both turned stuck their tongues out at her and left hurriedly.
They headed for the doctor's lounge, which was empty and went in together. "So, beautiful, did you sleep well last night? I sure did, relief I guess." Jesse looked happy and relaxed, and Rae realised just how much he had been pinning his hopes on a long jail term for Levington.
"Jesse, I owe you an apology."
"For what?" He looked puzzled and took her hands in his.
"For not realising until right now just how much all the business with Levington, what he did to you and all the stress and strain of the trial, had effected you. Honey, I am so sorry."
"Rae, he hurt you too. We talked about it. There was no point in going over and over it. You know I don't think I knew either until you told me yesterday that he had been jailed." He paused and pulled her towards him. "I have never been so scared in my life, Rae, I don't ever want to have to face losing you again."
"I'm not planning to go anywhere, well not for six months anyway. I love you, Jess." Rae ran her finger down his cheek and smiled as he moved closer to her. He began to kiss her and they sank down onto the sofa together. Alex opened the door to the lounge, took one look and left. The grin on his face spread from ear to ear.
Steve met up with Rae in the parking lot at the end of their lunch break and they headed towards Candi Worthington's bank. As they drove along Steve filled Rae in on what he had found out that morning. "She had a pretty normal bank account for the wife of a wealthy man. I don't think she had any private means. She was just a secretary when she met James."
"Hey, I was just a secretary before I joined the force."
"Oh, so that's why you make such a good cup of coffee."
"Watch it, Sloan!" She smiled over at her partner. She felt incredible. As if she could open the window and float right out of it.
"Rae, are you ok?"
"Oh, yeah, I'm more than ok." She shook herself. "Sorry. I'm fine, I think it's just reaction to yesterday. I feel like I'm soaring above the clouds at the moment. It's a wonderful feeling. I know it won't last, but right now it feels good."
"I'm so pleased for you, Rae. But we can concentrate on that later. The bank is only two blocks away, and I haven't finished talking to you yet."
"Sorry, Steve. I'm listening, honest."
"Right, as I was saying she was a secretary before she married James. From what I have seen in her finances there was money coming in from stocks and shares, and other investments. She had the interest from her savings accounts paid into it each month. I went back over six months worth of accounts and she didn't go overdrawn once."
"Did she have credit cards?" Rae wasn't taking notes; she knew it wasn't necessary; Steve was like a cat on a hot tin roof about the Chief's involvement in this case.
"Yep, two, both used regularly. Didn't look like she cleared the balance every month, but it never got too bad before she wiped it out and started again."
Steve had parked the car in the parking lot behind the bank and as they finished talking they got out and walked towards the bank. Steve held the door open and Rae walked in. She looked around and saw the customer service desk. As they walked towards it Rae was aware of the female eyes following her partner across the floor.
"Do you bank here, Steve?"
"No, why?"
"Because every woman in the place just made you." She looked at him and laughed as she saw a blush spread up his face. Then with a wink she took his hand and they walked the rest of the way together. The clerk on the customer service desk averted her eyes as they approached. With a great deal of enjoyment Rae got out her ID. "Hi, I'm Detective Yeager, we have an appointment with…" she looked at Steve.
"Mr. Martinez at 2.00pm. We are a little early."
"If you would take a seat, Sir, Madam, I will inform you when he is free." Her eyes travelled over Steve and she turned to the door behind her.
"Well, I think if you needed a loan this would be the place to come. Is there anything else you need to tell me before we go in there?"
"Um, yeah, I checked the joint account too. You know it is so much easier when we have permission to do all this stuff. Always in credit, same bills paid out of it each month. No surprises. The account matches the man, if you know what I mean."
"I do. Did you know that he and the Chief were at school together?"
"Jeez, I can't imagine the Chief as a schoolboy. What a terrifying thought… I wonder what he did at lunchtimes?" Steve looked around to see Rae looking at him with a puzzled look. "I'll explain later. Remind me tonight and I'll fill you in." He stood as he saw the clerk coming towards them.
"Mr. Martinez is free now, if you would like to follow me."
Rae got up and they went down the corridor and were shown into a large, airy office. The furniture was modern and a pale ash colour. The man was tall, thin and must have been seventy years old.
"Detective Yeager, Lieutenant Sloan, please come in. Thank you, Elise." The clerk left the room and Mr. Martinez sat behind his desk. "Now, what can I do for you?"
"We are investigating the death of one of your customers, a Mrs Candi Worthington. Candi was short for Candice. We have permission from her husband to view her safety deposit box." Steve took the signed letter from his pocket that had been sent over by courier earlier that day.
Mr. Martinez took the envelope, opened it and read the contents very carefully. Then he picked up his phone. "Elise, could you please get me the safety deposit box for Candice Worthington, account #. 3498186 and bring it in to me. Thank you."
"I have the financial records of Mrs. Worthington's accounts up until close of business last Wednesday. Could you please let me have the details of all transactions after that date, Sir?" Steve smiled slightly as he spoke. He was pulling on a pair of latex gloves and could see from the way the bank manager was sitting and acting that he found this and the questioning very worrying.
"Did you know Mrs Worthington, Mr. Martinez?" Rae could see that the man was upset as well. "Only we appear to be distressing you, that isn't our intention."
"I knew her slightly. She had been a customer here for many years, as has Mr. Worthington. She had been in just last week to put some things in her safety deposit box. I lost my wife a couple of months ago, I guess I just sympathise with her husband."
There was a discreet knock at the door and Elise came in with the safety deposit box. Mr. Martinez asked her to obtain the records that Steve had asked for and then she left the room.
"Would you like me to leave while you look through this, Lieutenant?"
"No, Sir, that's fine. We have no reason to suspect Mrs. Worthington of any wrongdoing, or her husband either. We just need to look to eliminate possible scenarios from our investigation." Steve was unlocking the box as he spoke. He slid the lid back and began to remove the contents.
The first item was an envelope, which was sealed with last Wednesday's date written across the flap. A clear plastic wallet with stock certificates in it. There was a jeweller's box, which contained a pair of beautiful ruby earrings and a matching necklace. There was also an envelope with James Worthington written on it. Steve lay that to one side. He wouldn't open that until he was in the presence of her husband.
Rae had pulled on her gloves and she leant over and picked up the first envelope. It was a large size and was quite full. "Do you have a letter opener, Mr Martinez?"
The manager just nodded and passed the opener to Rae. She slit the top of the package and slid the contents onto the desk. As she saw what the envelope contained she let out a gasp, but managed to contain the rest of her emotions. In front of her was a pile of hate mail.
"Oh, my." Mr. Martinez looked shocked.
Rae collected the letters back up and returned them to their envelope. "I think we will look at these back at the station."
While Rae was writing out a receipt for the envelopes Steve took out his pad and made a note of all the contents. Then he returned everything except the two envelopes and closed the box. "Thank you Mr. Martinez, I am sure that you realise that what transpired here today is confidential."
"Of course, Lieutenant. My position in this bank means that I am privy to many confidential matters, you have my word that I will not disclose anything that has happened."
Steve and Rae stood up and shook hands with Mr. Martinez. Then they headed back out to Steve's car, picking up the requested transaction details from Elise as they passed her desk.
"We should be finishing about now, but I think that we need to go back to the station and look at these letters." Rae turned to her partner. "You know I don't think that James knew about this, do you?"
"No, he would have mentioned it. Ok. Let's go and have a look through them. Then we can leave the rest of it until tomorrow." Steve drove the car back towards the precinct and Rae put her head back and shut her eyes. The next thing she knew she was being touched gently on the shoulder. "Rae, wake up, we've stopped."
She opened her eyes and smiled sleepily up at her partner as he leant in her side of the car. "What?"
"We're back. We need to look at these letters."
"What, oh, I must have dropped off, sorry, Steve." Rae could feel herself blushing as she got out of the car. Roll on Friday; I could do with a day off.
They walked into the station together and headed for Rae's desk, as it was the clearer of the two. Once they had put on gloves she slid the contents of the envelope out onto the table before her. First of all she counted them. There were nine letters, each one written either in red paint or blood. Rae shuddered. "Wow, and I thought my letters were bad."
Steve spread them out in front of him. All of the letters contained profanities and threats. They weren't dated but as they read them it became apparent that the threats had got worse and worse. Rae turned one over and saw that a date had been written on the back in a different hand. She checked the others and sorted them once again into order. They had only got one wrong. The letter that they had correctly assumed to be the last one gave details of how Mrs. Worthington would meet her death.
Rae ran her fingers through her hair. "I'm gonna go get the Chief. He needs to see this." She left the room, her thoughts rushing around her head. She knocked on the door and waited.
"Come."
"Sir, we have obtained some evidence that we think you should see. It is on my desk at present, would it be convenient for you to come and see it, or would you prefer that we come to you."
"I would rather see it here, Detective." Rae nodded, she realised rather belatedly that it would be insensitive to expect the Chief to view the letters in a public place. "I'm sorry, Sir, I'll get Lieutenant Sloan and we'll bring them to you." With that Rae backed out of the room and returned to her partner.
"We need to take these to the Chief, Steve. It was wrong of me to expect him to come here. James and Candi were his friends." She watched as he gathered up the letters and then they headed back towards their boss' office.
"Lieutenant, Detective, please come straight in." The Chief was waiting in the doorway as they arrived. He watched as Steve spread out the letters. The expression on his face didn't falter, but Rae could see that he had his fists clenched.
"Yes, I see. Very well. I don't think that we need to trouble Mr. Worthington with these at present. Can either of you remember whether the writing on these letters is in any way similar to that on the wall of the murder scene?"
"No, Sir, but I can get the photo, if you could wait a minute." Rae moved out of the office and headed back to where they had placed the Worthington files. She took out the photo that she needed and was back in with her superiors within two minutes.
They put the photo next to one of the letters and looked. To their trained eyes they looked the same. "I will get these to the lab. They are more expert than we are at this. We should have a result by the morning." Steve put the picture with the letters and turned to the Chief. "We found these in Mrs. Worthington's safety deposit box, Sir. There wasn't anything else of relevance in there, except an envelope addressed to Mr. Worthington, which we plan to give to him when we visit tomorrow. We left everything else at the bank."
"Yes, thank you, Lieutenant. I think you can go now." They both left the room. Steve was shocked at how much feeling had been in that simple sentence.
Rae turned as she shut the door and smiled at the Chief. He looked straight through her, but she had a feeling that he relaxed slightly.
Steve sat at his desk. Rae walked over to him. "There isn't any more we can do today, Steve, it's after four. Tomorrow we can get those four activists in here, check their handwriting, and carry on from there. But now we need to call it a day. Come on, partner." Rae put her hand on his arm.
"I don't like this, Rae. I knew it was premeditated; it had to be, but that poor woman, she knew what was coming days before. It was … Dammit, Rae these monsters were stalking their prey." He slammed his fist down on the desk, making Rae jump back in surprise. "Why didn't she tell her husband, or the Chief? We could have given her protection." He stood up and his chair fell back. Rae knew that he was feeling furious and helpless.
"Steve, if she felt anything like I did when Levington had me at his beck and call, she would have been too frightened to think straight. If I hadn't been a cop, I don't think I would have told anybody what was happening to me. You can't blame her for any of this. Yes, we could have helped her, but she had to want that help…
"Do you think she didn't want help?" Steve sounded shocked.
"Steve, I'm sure that she did want help, but if she couldn't ask for it, there's nothing we could have done." Rae tried to keep her voice low and restrained, hoping that it would calm her partner some.
"I know, Rae, but… oh, let's drop it. I'm gonna go home, grab a shower and a bite to eat. I'll see you at Bob's at eight, ok?"
Rae just nodded. Then she took a breath and spoke, "If you don't want to come, Steve, I'll understand, I'd be sad, but I would accept it."
"No, Rae, I'll be there, maybe it's just what we need. Come on, partner, this is your night. You just got your life back, I'm not gonna miss tonight." He forced a smile and they collected up all their paperwork. After they had locked it away for the day they headed out to the parking lot together.
Rae arrived home just after five thirty, having sat in traffic for most of the way home. She was tired and gritty. Jesse's car was parked in his normal spot and she pulled in next to him.
Rae knocked on Jesse's door and waited for him to answer. As he opened the door she could see that he had just got out of the shower, and was only wearing jeans. "Oh, boy, you could get arrested for looking that good. Come here." She pulled him to her and began to kiss him, running her hands down his back as she did so.
"Mmm, Rae." Gently he moved back from her a smile on his face. "Hi, that was quite a welcome."
"Want some more, or do you wanna come and meet my new family member?"
"Oh, yeah, ok, just let me get a shirt."
"Only if you promise to take it off again when we get next door!" She grinned at him and waited as he disappeared back into his apartment.
They walked hand in hand towards her door and Rae unlocked it. She walked over to the travel cage. She had set up a little corner of her apartment for the kitten. The door to the travel cage had been left open, the kitty litter tray was just over to the left of the cage and the food was just over to the right. Rae looked around, there was one damp patch on the carpet, but the tray had been used for what her children so charmingly called number two's. She got a plastic bag from the kitchen, picked it up in the bag and then flushed it down the lavatory, put the bag in the bin, washed her hands and headed back to the living area.
When she walked through the door Jesse was down on his hands and knees peering into the cage. In the back of it he could see a small ginger ball of fluff. He made a few noises that sounded like kisses and smiled as the head rose and he was studied by this little creature.
He stood up and then he and Rae sat on the sofa together and watched as slowly the kitten came out into the room. "Oh, you big softie. He's so tiny. What are you gonna call him?"
"I know I'm a softie, but I get lonely here when you're working late shifts and I'm not. She won't be tiny for long; she'll be growing before your eyes. What was the other question?"
"What are you gonna call him?"
"It's a she. Not all gingers are male. Most of them are, but not all. I thought I'd call her Kira."
"Nice. I like her." Jesse turned to Rae and put his hand up to her face and brought her gently towards him.
As Rae began to respond she smiled. "Now weren't you going to get rid of that shirt?" She undid the buttons and slipped it off his shoulders, and felt Jesse begin to do the same to her top. As they began to kiss each other, they heard a little purr and suddenly Kira was up on the sofa with them, pushing her head against Jesse's chest and purring louder and louder.
"Ok, sweetie, this is where you become an onlooker only." He picked her up with one hand and placed her gently back in her cage, shutting the door behind her. "Now, where were we?" He felt Rae pull him to his feet and they walked together into the bedroom. Soon they were lying naked on the bed, and as they kissed and touched each other Jesse felt the passion rise in him. "Rae, honey, I need you, now."
Rae put her finger on his lips, "Shhh, you'll be fine." She ran her hands over his muscular chest once more, and kissed him slowly and deeply then she opened herself up for him and he entered her. As the rhythm got stronger and stronger he watched her face as she let all her feelings flow. She didn't say a word, but Jesse knew that they were about to dive off the edge of the world together.
"Rae, oh, God, Rae," he couldn't contain himself any more. Rae had her fingers entwined through his and their grip became tighter and then suddenly relaxed. He fell in a heap on top of her and raised himself up slightly so that he could still see her face.
He brushed a stray tear off her cheek and then he lay down beside her. "I love you, Rae, I… I don't know what I'm going to do when you go home."
"Shhh, tonight isn't the night to talk about that. Tonight is for celebration. We're free, Jess, free to live and love together without anybody watching us, or judging us. We'll talk about our future, but another time, ok?"
He just nodded. He had an idea in his head, a way she could stay, but it would take a while before he could tell her about it. He had to be sure if it was the right thing to do.
They lay together for a few minutes, neither of them speaking, then a plaintive cry rose up from the other room, and they both began to laugh. "I think we're needed." Rae got up and slipped into her bathrobe and Jesse pulled his jeans on and lay back on the bed. She padded out into the living area and took Kira out of her cage. Then she went back into the other room and placed the kitten gently on Jesse's chest. "I'm just gonna have a shower, honey, you can baby sit until I get back."
Jesse looked at the little face that was staring at him. She had the biggest eyes he had ever seen. "Hey, I'm a hard nosed, crime fighting doctor, cat. Don't mess with me! Ow, ow, put your claws away. Ow, ow!"
Rae put her head round the door of the shower room. "Oh, for goodness sake, Jesse, she's six weeks old, she doesn't even have proper claws yet!"
"Hey, I'm delicate." He pouted at her, sat up and sent the kitten skittering across the bed, and she disappeared off the side into a mewing heap on the floor. "Oh, sweetie, I'm sorry," he followed her over the side and picked her up. "Well life is gonna be much more interesting with you here." Rae smiled at him and disappeared back into the shower room and he could hear her singing as she washed. "That is something you will have to learn to live with. Your mama can't sing! Rae, do you want me to feed her?"
"Yes please. The tin is in the refrigerator. Just a little bit, two spoonfuls is more than enough."
By the time they had both showered, and Rae had put on her only dress, it was half past seven and they were ready to leave. They walked down to Tom together and headed for the restaurant. It had become an unwritten rule that when they went out together, Rae drove. She didn't drink so there was never a problem with her driving home.
As they walked towards the restaurant Jesse let go of her hand and let her walk in front of him for a couple of steps. She was wearing a short deep blue velvet dress that shimmered when she walked. "You know you should wear that more often, you look lovely."
"Thank you, kind sir. I kinda liked the outfit you had on when I got home from work!" She smiled and Jesse smiled back.
They had reached the door by now and were surprised to see the closed sign up on it. Jesse tried the knob and was relieved when it opened. The restaurant was in darkness so he felt for the switch and flooded the place with light. As he did so a cheer went up and they walked in to a different Bob's. There was a banner up, which said Congratulations. There were streamers; balloons and each guest had a party hat on. Rae and Jesse looked at each other and headed towards their friends.
Rae hugged Mark and kissed him on the cheek. "Thank you, Mark, what a lovely surprise. But this was supposed to be my treat."
"Sweetie, you and Jesse went through so much, this is just our way of saying how proud we are of how you coped and how glad we are it's all over for you."
Rae could feel the tears pricking the back of her eyes as she hugged Amanda and then Jan. She turned and saw Steve looking over at her. "Oh, Steve." She moved closer to him and felt herself being enveloped in his strong arms. "Thank you." She didn't need to say anything else, she stayed there for a moment and then she looked around, she could see Alex talking with Jesse, and Amanda and Jan chatting animatedly together. She moved towards Jess and put her hand on his shoulder.
"Alex, Jesse wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you. Thank you." She reached up and kissed him on the cheek. "I am so lucky to have found such a wonderful group of people." She slipped her arm around Jesse and leant into his shoulder. "Did you know anything about this?"
"Nope, I thought we were just coming for a meal." They moved over towards Steve together. "Hey, buddy, can we afford to shut for the night?"
"Of course, it's coming out of your profits, not mine!"
Rae smiled, as she realised that this was how it was supposed to be. Their work was serious, for all of them, but until now she hadn't been able to relax and enjoy their company. There had always been something hanging over them, or over her. Now it was different, that chapter had ended. She liked this new one a whole lot better.