Rae was up and about by seven in the morning, her dreams had been… weird… she decided – but at least she hadn't woken up, she'd had a pleasant afternoon, and now had the opportunity to make plans for the future with Jesse, that was probably why she'd slept better. She headed for the shower, smiling over her shoulder at his sleeping form. She'd told him before that he looked like a twelve-year-old when he was asleep, and she was still of that opinion.
She looked at herself in the mirror as she entered the bathroom, she needed to find a hairdresser, she would check with Amanda while she was in the hospital this morning. As she let the water wash over her she began to think about the day ahead. She would see Dr. Dobson this morning, then she could go into the precinct and look over the information on Kelly Brown. A lot had happened since the last time she'd read that file. She got out of the shower and did a few stretching exercises before she went back into the bedroom to get dressed and do her hair. It definitely needs a cut if you have to think about getting it dry! Rae'd had her hair short for as long as she could remember, as long as she'd had children anyway. It was much easier to just shove the shower over it each morning than to have to faff about. Now she couldn't imagine ever having it long.
She looked at her clothes; she seemed to live in jeans and t-shirts these days. However, as she didn't really have any other type of clothes in her wardrobe, it was hardly surprising. She pulled out a clean pair of jeans, grabbed a red t-shirt from the shelf, and then wandered out towards the kitchen. Jesse was still fast asleep. He wasn't due at the hospital until one, and there was no reason why he need accompany her, so she quietly grabbed an apple and her yoghurt drink, picked up her car keys and headed for the door. Then she stopped, grabbed a piece of paper and wrote a note for Jesse.
"Hi sweetheart,
I've gone for my appointment with Dr. Dobson, I'll see you this evening, I'm going to go straight into work from the hospital.
I love you, Jess,
Rae
XXXXX
She climbed into her little car and headed out into the traffic. This time she seemed to be ahead of the worst of the jams, although she knew that she would probably catch them once her appointment was over. When she got to Community General she waved at the security guard and headed for the doctor's parking lot. She checked her watch, it was eight fifteen, she got into the elevator and headed up to the fifth floor.
As the doors opened she saw the nurse from the day before. "Good morning, Detective, Dr. Dobson is waiting for you, so if you're ready you can go in now." Rae smiled at her and headed for his private office.
"Detective Inspector Yeager, it's a pleasure to see you again." The doctor held out his hand and Rae smiled as she shook it.
"I hoped that I wouldn't need to come back. Nothing personal you understand, but somehow this feels a bit like a cop out – if you'll excuse the expression!" She smiled as she realised what she'd said.
"Maybe you'd better tell me why you feel that you need to be here then, Detective."
She could see that he had her notes out from the last time she'd seen him. That had been the Friday before she was due back to work, only five days previously, and they'd chatted pleasantly for the hour of her appointment about what had happened and how she thought she would cope in the future. She'd really thought, at the time, that once she'd got back to work her life would get back to some sort of normality. She knew that the crimes of Leticia Howard had been unusual, that they'd dealt with an evil woman who showed no remorse for what she'd done. She also knew the personal association she'd felt with the first victim had influenced how the case had been resolved.
"When I left you last week, I hoped I would be able to go back to work, and ease myself back into a case, any case. Let's face it nothing could be as bad as what I'd already been through, or so I thought."
"So, why are you here then?"
"Because, I may be ready to go back to work, but I'm not ready to say goodbye to you yet. I want to work, in fact, I need to work, but at the end of the day I still feel that there's a chance I may unravel!"
"OK, let's go over a few things shall we? You were very nearly killed by a woman who'd already strangled two young children, one of whom bore a startling resemblance to your own daughter. When you regained consciousness it took until the next morning for you to remember what had happened to you, and although you now know amnesia is a common side effect of this type of attack, I get the feeling that still worries you."
Rae nodded in agreement, she was beginning to realise that she was going to be feeling the effects of her injury a good deal longer than she'd imagined.
"I would think that by now you've looked up some of the possible side effects of strangulation, and will know that they include a propensity for restlessness and possibly violence. Do you feel this is so in your case, since you've been back at work?"
Rae took a deep breath; she knew that she needed to talk to this man, because she trusted him to help her. But she'd never found it easy to talk about herself, she would much rather keep her feelings in. However, she knew that if she carried on doing that, these meetings would become compulsory.
"I wanted to go back to work, I did realise that I needed the two weeks off, but I thought that once I was back in the saddle…" she tailed off, she knew she was repeating herself, in an attempt to keep her problems at bay. She took a very deep breath, "I killed a man on Monday, I shot him. I'd never done that before."
"You have a very violent profession, Detective. Why did you kill this man, was he a threat to you?"
"Yes, to me and to Steve, sorry, my partner, Lieutenant Sloan." She looked over to the Doctor.
"I know who your partner is, Detective, please carry on."
"He had his weapon pointed at me. I was in his direct line of fire, and his associate had his gun held at Steve's neck."
Rae paused and looked over at Dr. Dobson, he knew that she wanted him to speak, but he had no intention of doing so. He watched her intently making careful mental note of her body language. She'd crossed her arms and was trying to hide her feelings behind them.
Rae took another deep breath, she'd talked about this to Jesse and Steve, but not in detail, all she'd done was go through the motions. She knew she wouldn't get away with that this time.
"I saw him aim his gun at me … I'd had training for this in London, and I'd gone through a serious refresher course before I came out here, but … I'd never been confronted in anger before … I knew that I had to shoot him… or be shot myself. I didn't think that I'd kill him … it didn't enter my head. He went down, and I tried to get the other assailant…"
The Doctor cut across her, "This is not a police report, Detective, it's how you felt. I don't need the jargonise. I need your own words."
"I tried to get the other man to drop his weapon, but I had no bargaining power," she saw Dr. Dobson shake his head at her, "Ok… I was helpless… I'd shot somebody and still Steve had a gun to the back of his head!" She felt the tears start to run down her face, and for once in her life she didn't try to stop them, "I felt vulnerable… he was my partner… and I could do nothing… for him." Her words were coming in gulps and gasps now, but she knew if she stopped she would be unable to start again. "Then he told me to drop my weapon… and I did. What is it they say on Star Trek…? Resistance is Futile! There was… nothing I could do… Nothing!" She ran her fingers roughly through her hair. The tears were coming strong and fast now, and she couldn't speak. She stood up and her chair fell backwards. She wanted to leave, to run away from this situation, she was helpless again. Suddenly she knew what part of the problem was, she wasn't in control of her situation, and she didn't like it. The realisation enabled her to pull herself together gradually until she was in control enough to carry on speaking, but she didn't sit down. Dr. Dobson came round to her, picked up the chair and gently eased her back into it.
"He… he made Steve walk down the hallway, and once they got in the elevator, I picked up my gun and headed for the ground. But there was still nothing I could do… and then I … I heard Steve cry out… his car screeched away… I tried to shoot out the tyres, but I was too slow. She started to sob again as she relived the moment when she'd thought that Steve was dead. She knew that it had taken her no time at all to get to him, but to her it had seemed like a lifetime. "Once I got to him I knew that he wasn't dead. I knew he hadn't been shot, but I guess I was so ... so scared I wasn't thinking straight. I got an ambulance for him and one for the guy upstairs." She stopped again. She was getting to the other difficult bit now, and she wanted to stop. To her immense relief Dr. Dobson got out of his chair once more and came towards her.
"Rae," she looked at him. He didn't usually call her by her Christian name, and she was surprised by it. She wiped at the tears on her face, but she couldn't stop them from falling. "I think that's enough for today. Look at me, and listen very carefully to what I am about to say." She nodded at him. "Do you want to go into work today? Now, right this moment, how do you feel when I ask you that?"
"Yes, doctor, I do want to go in." Rae knew what he meant, he had taught her before that she would know what she could and couldn't do. "I can do this, but ... I'm going to need your help. Please ... can I come back again ... soon?" She caught her breath, and started to get herself under control.
About five minutes later Dr. Dobson looked over at where Rae was standing, looking out of the window. "Let's go out and check with my secretary to see when you can come in again." They walked out together, and Rae smiled over at the woman behind the desk. "What times do you have that we can book Detective Yeager in for, Helen?"
Rae put her hand in her pocket and took the piece of paper out that was serving as her diary. "Sorry about this, but my purse was in Steve's car when it was taken. I can only drive my car because the spare set of keys was at Jesse's. I'm starting at eleven today, in fact every day this week, and into next. I'm off all day next Tuesday – at the moment!"
It was arranged that Rae would come in at eight thirty for the rest of the week, and Monday, she would have a free day on the Tuesday, and then her shift pattern changed. They decided to deal with that on Monday. Rae realised that there may be other times when she might need to see him, and so she asked for, and got, a card with his weekend number on it. Rae resolved not to use it, but she put it in her pocket with her 'diary'.
She was surprised to see that it was almost ten already. She shook hands with the Doctor, and then, to her own surprise as well as his, she imagined, she put her hand on his arm and said, "Thank you, I think that with your help I may just get my life back together enough to enjoy it as I should."
She got back into the elevator, and headed for the parking lot. It was busy in the main reception area, and she felt someone jostle against her as she walked through. She turned and smiled, an apology on her lips, but she couldn't see who it had been. She shrugged, and carried on her way.
Wednesday I waited for her for ages in the hospital this morning. I got there at twenty past eight, but I must have missed her. When she came back down I managed to take a couple of pictures of her, and still get right close to her. She touched me as she passed, then she smiled at me, and walked on. She has a beautiful smile; I watched her walk out to her car. She parks in the doctor's lot, because of that boyfriend of hers I suppose. I waited for her to leave, and then I followed her to the station.
Rae arrived at the station house in plenty of time for her shift. She could see Steve's jacket on the back of his chair, so she knew he was about somewhere. She walked over to her desk, and went to sit down, then changed her mind, and headed for the Chief's office. She tapped on the door, and waited. "Come." She opened the door, and was waved inside. "Good morning, Detective, I saw you come in, how are you feeling this morning?"
"I've felt better, Sir, but I'm confident that I'll be able to do my job to the best of my ability. I just wanted to tell you that I've decided to go back and see Dr. Dobson again for a while. I felt that I should keep you informed."
"It isn't necessary, but I thank you anyway. Your report on the shooting incident on Monday evening was as I expected it to be. I can see no problems with it. I hope that you can put the episode behind you now, and carry on with your current assignment, using all those qualities we talked about yesterday. You are dismissed, Detective."
Rae went back out into the squad room, and this time she did sit at her desk. She got the note pad that she had been using on Monday out of the drawer, and skimmed what she'd written. Then she went to the filing cabinet, and got out the papers on Kelly Brown. She'd also been shot to death, but not in quite the same way as Ethan Norville, perhaps there was no link between them. The weapons used were different. Maybe they were two separate cases, coincidences did happen after all. She looked at the photograph of the young woman; she'd been twenty-four years old. She had her dark hair in lots and lots of small braids. In death her face had an innocence that Rae doubted, given her profession, had been there in life. She shook her head, what a waste.
So far, if the cases were linked, they had Kelly Brown, Ethan Norville, and Duncan Myer all somehow tied together. She had no doubt that if there was a connection they would find it. Rae realised that she was getting more relaxed as she worked. Once again she was able to concentrate and work in the way she was used to. She opened her drawer, and took out the magazine that she'd been about to look at the other day. She removed it from its plastic exhibit bag, and took a breath.
She wasn't a prude, or at least she didn't think she was, but she'd never felt the need to buy pornographic literature. She had a feeling that this magazine was different from the ones you could buy back home from the top shelf of the newsagents, so she took another breath, and prepared to be educated.
By the time she was on page four she needed a cup of tea. She put the magazine back in the drawer went over and poured herself a cup of boiling water. She put a tea bag into it, and returned to her desk. She opened the magazine again, and as she turned the page she came face-to-face, well, maybe not face to face, but she was definitely looking at Kelly Brown. She turned the page and found that Ms Brown was actually featured very heavily. She looked at the photographs closely, trying to see if there was the name of a photographer on them. She couldn't see one so she rummaged around in the drawer until she came upon a magnifying glass. Then she turned her attention to the pictures once more.
"Good grief, Detective, surely you don't need a magnifying glass to look at them!" She looked up to see Martin Robertson smiling at her from the other side of the desk. He had a potted plant in his hand, which he shyly handed to her. "I grow these as a hobby. I thought, since you liked the flowers, you might like this, too."
"Why, thank you, Martin, how kind of you. Ah, you will still speak to me if I kill it, won't you?"
The young officer blushed, and nodded. "What are you looking for anyway?"
"The photographer's name. But I can't see it. Mind you, if I'd taken these, I'm not sure I'd want anybody to know."
"Try the front of the book, sometimes all the credits are listed there." Rae turned back to the editorial page, and saw a list on the left hand side of the page. She ran her finger down it until she got to photographers. There were six names.
"And you know this how?" Rae looked up and saw the young officer blush a deep shade of crimson. "Lighten up, Martin, it was a joke ok? Right, phone books, phone books." Martin directed her to where she had to go, and made a hurried exit from the room. She got up, went over to where they were stacked, and picked up the ones she needed.
She picked up the phone, and started to dial, she stopped, and put the phone back down again. Instead of dialing the numbers she began to take a note of the addresses of each one. She'd suddenly decided that it would be better to confront these people face to face. She looked up at the clock. It was five to eleven. As she drained the remainder of her cold tea, she saw Steve coming into the room.
He walked over to her, and perched on the side of her desk. He put his hand on her shoulder, and smiled down at her. Her heart leapt, why is this man still single? "Hey, partner, how're you this morning?"
She knew what he was actually asking, and smiled back up at him. "Better, Sir, I talked with Dr. Dobson this morning, I've made appointments for the next few days at eight thirty in the morning. I know that I need to still see him, and probably will do for quite a while." Putting her hand over his, she smiled up at him. "Thank you, Steve."
"So, I don't suppose you've done any work yet this morning, Detective?" He moved over towards the coffee machine as he spoke.
"Yes, I have! I've found the connection between Kelly Brown and Ethan Norville, so ner ner de ner ner!"
"I beg your pardon?" Steve's face was a picture. He couldn't believe what he'd just heard, but he was thrilled to hear her joke with him.
"Oh, sorry, I don't quite know what came over me then!" She cleared her throat "Let me start again. I've found the connection between Kelly Brown and Ethan Norville."
"Good work! So spill, what is it?" Rae held up the magazine, and Steve did a double take. "Man, she was a confident girl wasn't she?"
"Steve! I've taken a note of the six photographers who took the pictures in this edition, and I thought that we should go and see them, that's if you don't have anything else planned for this morning. I'm not sure about your obscenity laws, but this magazine would not be on general sale in the UK."
"Oh, trust me, you wouldn't be able to buy them here either. Well, obviously you can, but you shouldn't be able to. The way I understand it, you can own this magazine, so Ethan Norville wasn't doing anything wrong by having his own copies under the bed, but you can't distribute them."
"Right, I understand. Let's look at these addresses and work out our plan of attack."
Rae sat looking at a map of the area, trying to decide which was the best way to make out the list of photographers so that they didn't keep backtracking. All of the addresses were out of their area, but there was no way they were going to get another division involved. They would do this, just the two of them.
Steve was looking through the magazines, to see if Kelly Brown had appeared in any of the others. There had been twenty-nine of them, but issue three was missing, He looked over at Rae, "You know, she isn't in all of these magazines, but she gets at least a mention in eighteen of them so far. I wonder if there is any way to cut down on the number of photographers we have to visit. You know by a process of elimination of the names."
Rae looked at him and ran her fingers through her hair. "I was never very good at logic questions when something depended on it. Useless information, I've got a ton of it, but sometimes life's too short to be logical. Ok, let me think, find a magazine that she isn't in, and see if any of the six guys are missing from the list, that would help wouldn't it?"
Steve just looked at her. "Now you've started to explain it to me, I've lost my thread. Let's just go out and see what happens – I'll drive by the way, I have a new car!"
"Did they find your old one yet? Only I left my life under the front seat!" She saw Steve shake his head, so she picked up the sheet of paper off her desk and Steve put the magazines back into a neat pile.
"I'll take these down to the evidence locker and meet you in the parking lot." Rae raised her hand in acknowledgement and headed for the door.
The evidence locker was extremely busy when Steve got there, he paged a message through to Rae to tell her he would be about five minutes, then found himself a bench to sit on, and shut his eyes for a moment.
Rae heard her pager bleeping, and checked the message. She didn't mind, the sun was warm on her body. She could do with five minutes to just soak up the rays, and work out what questions she was going to ask the photographers, that is if they'd any intention of talking. She had a feeling that if she took those type of photos she wouldn't want to talk to the cops. Slowly she smiled; an idea was forming in her mind.
After more like about ten minutes, Steve came out and joined her by his new blue car. He was hoping that he wouldn't have to give it back when the silver one was found, if it ever is, it was much nicer than that one'd been. He looked over at his partner; she was almost bouncing up and down on the spot. "OK, Detective, give, you've obviously got something to say, you can't keep still."
"I'll tell you when we're moving, but I've had a great idea." Steve was so pleased to see her animated, and enjoying her job again after their blow up yesterday that he leant over, and kissed her gently on the cheek, before getting into the car. Neither of them realised that they were being watched.
Wednesday Rae stood out in the parking lot this afternoon, next to a blue car. She had a secret smile on her face. I still had my little camera, and I got a few more shots of her. I think she was enjoying the sun, then her partner came out. She seemed real pleased to see him, and he was obviously pleased to see her, because he kissed her. She sure has a lot of admirers, but I guess that's understandable.
"Ok, Rae, what's this brilliant idea?" He looked over at her as she started to explain the idea she'd had. Slowly he started to smile, he understood her reasoning, and knew they needed this sort of plan, besides, it would be kind of fun to do. They arrived at their first port of call, Fantasy Fotos about thirty minutes later. Rae had done a little bit of shopping on the way over. She was now dressed in a very skimpy off the shoulder t-shirt, and a pair of jeans that she had a feeling she would have to cut herself out of. Her 'hair' was tumbling down her back in strawberry blonde curls, and the shoes she was wearing meant that she could only walk with little steps, but it seemed to add to the picture of bimbo.
"Ok, partner, let's do it." Steve smiled at her, and put his hand on her butt. She stuck her tongue out at him and put a piece of gum in her mouth.
"Right, sugar let's ride!"
The photographers could, at best, be described as seedy. As they entered they could see photos of girls, in various states of undress, all over the walls. There was nothing on show that could get the owner into trouble, but Steve had no doubt that there were other types of picture readily available. There was a large gold coloured bell on the counter, he brought the palm of his hand down on it, and called out, "Hey, is anybody here?"
A small, dark haired man with an extremely thin cigarette hanging out of his mouth came out of the back room, Steve saw his eyes run up and down Rae's now clearly defined figure. "Yep!"
Steve leant on the counter, "I hear you take real good pictures. My lady friend here wants her picture taken for her birthday, ain't that right, Sheree?"
Rae giggled, and wiggled her way closer to the counter. "He's so good to me, last week he bought me this bracelet, 'cause it was my friend's birthday." Rae held up a gold bracelet draped arm well a gold coloured bracelet draped arm!
"Go sit down, honey, I need to talk to the man." Rae turned away from him, and felt Steve slap her backside as she wobbled away. He leant conspiratorially across the counter. "I heard that you do all sorts of photos here, for a price. Girl I used to know, before Sheree, Kelly, said you took some artistic pictures of her, if you know what I mean!"
The man behind the counter opened the doorway through to the back room. "Maybe we should talk about this somewhere more private."
"Sheree, darlin', go wait in the car, I'll be out in a minute, honey!" Rae got to her feet, and made her way back outside. When she passed him, Steve grabbed her by the arm, and kissed her on the lips. As she went through the door, she looked back over her shoulder to see Steve and the owner of the shop talking and laughing together. She shivered, she knew this was an act, but she still felt used and dirty. She got back in the car, took the shoes off, undid the button on her jeans, and waited.
"Right, Rae, let's go." Steve got back in the car, and put a piece of paper in her lap. He, too, had been shopping before they started this. Gone was the turtleneck sweater he'd been wearing. He now had on a blue shirt, which was undone, halfway down his chest. He had a large, heavy looking gold chain around his neck, and an identity bracelet on his left wrist, just so I don't forget my name! Rae picked up the piece of paper and looked at it.
"Good grief, it's not cheap to be photographed looking cheap, is it!" The piece of paper was plain, so she wrote Fantasy Fotos on a post it note and stuck it to the top, then she put it into the bag that lived behind her seat. "So, did he know Kelly Brown?"
Steve shook his head, "Nope, sorry, sugar, but we're going to have to do this again!" Rae shuddered.
Two hours later, they had visited four of the six photo shops. Rae had gotten used to the way Steve was treating her, but she couldn't believe how the owners of these shops had decided that she was easy prey, just because of the way she looked. She'd been pinched, slapped, and undressed with the sleazeball's eyes in each place they'd been. She was beginning to go off this brilliant idea she'd had.
"Ok, here's Perfect Pics, are you ready to rock?"
"No, not really, but at least there's only one more left after this. So I guess it's almost over. I tell you, I really need a shower!" She slipped her white shoes back on, and did up her trousers. She couldn't actually sit in the car with them done up, they cut off the circulation, and made her feel extremely sick.
As they opened the door to Perfect Pics a bell went off above them. Rae looked around the room, and knew that she would only be doing this one last time. There on the wall was a very large photo of Kelly. Steve spotted it, and went towards the counter.
"Can I help you?" For the first time, the person behind the counter was a woman. About forty, she had long blonde hair, which was pulled high on her head and then cascaded, down her back. This time it was Steve who was undressed with the eyes of the owner, he smiled at her, and began to talk.
"I sure hope so, darlin', my baby here wants to have her photo took, and I would like you to do that little thing for me!" He leant over, and put his hand over hers, hoping it wouldn't result in a black eye. She pulled her hand away, and called out.
"Lloyd, person out here wants some pictures taken." The way she said person made it sound like an insult. Steve hoped he hadn't blown it.
A man came into the store. He was a little taller than Steve, and had his hair in the same type of braids as Kelly in the picture Rae had seen in her file. He looked at Steve, and then he, too, looked Rae up and down. "What kind of pictures?"
Rae wiggled, and moved towards the counter. "He's so sweet, he said he would have some real nice pictures taken of me for my birthday, ones I could send to my mama back home, didn't you, sugar?"
"Go sit down, darlin', let me talk to the man." Once again Steve put his hand on Rae's backside, and gave her a gentle push. Then he turned, winked at the man, and leant in towards him. "Now, Lloyd, another lady friend of mine, Kelly, said that you took some very tasteful pictures of her, if you know what I mean. I see that one up there on your wall, but she said that you took some that, well, let's just say that my Sheree wouldn't be able to send them to her mama!"
Lloyd looked over at Rae. He walked out from behind the counter, and Steve could see that he was armed. Rae looked at him, and smiled. She stood up, and walked over to him, "D'you like what you see, darlin'?" She shuddered inwardly, she couldn't believe that she was talking like this; my mama would curl up and die. She sidled up to him, and then walked very slowly over to Steve. She put her arms around him, and looked back at the other man.
"Get rid of your girl, and we'll talk!" Lloyd walked back around the counter, and called out, "Marlene, get me something to drink up here now!" Steve untangled himself from Rae's arms, kissed her again, and sent her on her way, with another smack on the butt. She smiled in what she hoped was a provocative way, and headed, once again, back to the safety of the car.
Once she was locked inside it, she breathed a sigh of relief. She hoped that Steve would be all right in there; she too had seen the piece the man was carrying. She had her gun, now that she was back in the car, but in this outfit there had been no place to fit a bullet, let alone the means to use it. This time Steve was inside for a long time. They'd arranged that if he was gone longer than twenty minutes she was to go back in to get him. So, as the clock ticked round to that amount of time, she pulled herself back into her part, and teetered back into the shop.
"Marcus, honey, where are you? I'm gettin' real lonely by myself out in the car," She was extremely relieved that she could see Steve through the glass of a door that said 'Private' on it. He got up, and came back out.
"Sheree, I thought I told you to wait in the car. You know you don't come in when I'm doing business, now scoot!" She could see that he was still in control of the situation so she pouted at him, and made her journey in reverse. It was another fifteen minutes before Steve got back in the car. "Once we get round the corner, you're going to have to drive." Steve looked over at her.
"Fine, no problem, but why?"
"Dear old Lloyd was handing out the whiskey, got all upset about the terrible waste that Kelly's death was. It was disgusting, almost as disgusting as his cheap drink." They had pulled into the kerb now, and as Rae had slipped her shoes off, she walked, barefoot, round the car, and swapped places with Steve.
"So, we now know that Kelly Brown was photographed by Lloyd. I guess it was him who sent the photos in to the magazine; maybe we can find that out later. You know I'm beginning to be delighted that my picture was only in the daily paper."
Rae took a quick glance at her watch; it was just coming up to five o'clock. As they had about another three or four hours on their shifts, she headed back towards the precinct, and wondered how they were going to put today's labours into their reports.
She picked up her normal clothes from the trunk of the car, and walked into the precinct. Steve put his hand on her rear one last time, and she turned round with a grin on her face and winked at him. Rae was tired, and not thinking very straight, or she would have realised what result her appearance could have on the male dominated area she was about to enter.
"Wow, Detective, I didn't recognise you with you clothes nearly on!" Bob was out from behind his desk as soon as she entered reception. She looked at him, and grimaced, before she carried on upstairs.
"Hey, Sloan, you never got Cheryl to do that for you!"
"Whooee, come to papa, baby, you need a real man to show you a good time!"
The catcalls were good natured, and continued for a few minutes. She sat exhausted behind her desk, and ran her fingers through her hair. Only of course, it wasn't her hair at all, and as she did so, it came off in her hands. She looked at it, and began to laugh. Steve looked over at her, he laughed too. Rae sighed, today had been a much better day, she had gotten over feeling dirty, and by the end of the exercise she had been enjoying herself. Today life wasn't so bad.
Wednesday I couldn't believe what I saw when she got back to the station. She was dressed like a tramp. She even had a wig on. I saw Steve touching her. No one should touch her like that; nobody should touch her where he did. He'll pay for that, for what he's done to her, and so will she. How could she let herself be like that?
"Ah, Sir, before we start on these reports, I'm going to have to go and get out of these clothes, I feel like I have a girdle on!" She walked across the room, barefoot once again. As she headed towards the lady's room Martin Robertson was coming up the stairs. He saw her, and turned a bright shade of red. He seemed really uncomfortable. "Hi, Martin, what do you think of the new me?" She laughed, but then saw how awkward he looked, and realised that she had now embarrassed him twice in one day.
"Ah, I guess I'd better go change." She moved away from him, and he continued into the squad room. Five minutes later she was back in her normal jeans, and red t-shirt. "Ooh, it feels great to be able to breath again. Right, Sir, I guess we'd better do the last place first, then work our way back?"
Steve nodded, "Oh, before we start, this was on your desk for you." He held up a large brown envelope. Rae opened it and slid a photo out of it. It was a proper print of the one that had been in the paper. She held it up.
"Nice, you could send that one to your mama!"
"You know, I think I will, it's a mother sort of picture, isn't it!" She sat down, and they started to talk about what they were going to write in their reports. Two hours later they were still at it. They had been through three cups of tea or coffee each, and they both felt as if they were going to fall asleep any minute.
Steve got up, and stretched. "I think it's time to call it a day. You were good, Rae. I know this is serious, let's face it all our work is, but it was fun out there with you today."
"You mean it isn't normally?"
They smiled at each other, and began to tidy up their desks. Once that was done they headed off together towards the door. "Oh, Rae, aren't you going to take your new clothes home with you?" Steve winked at her.
"Actually, I will. You never know, Sheree might have to make another appearance before this case is over." She went back, picked up the clothes, and then they carried on out to the parking lot.
As Rae walked over to Tom, she could see that something wasn't quite right. As she got there, she let out a gasp. "Steve!" She couldn't believe what she was seeing. Down the side of her beautiful car somebody had scratched the word TRAMP! Her whole day came crashing down, all the fun forgotten; somebody must really hate me. Steve came running across the lot. He looked at the car, and put his arm around Rae's shoulders. How much more is she expected to take?
"Stay here, I'll go get a SCU, and see what they can get from this. Rae, I'm so sorry that this has happened to you." She looked up at him.
"I know," she said quietly. He wasn't gone more than a couple of minutes, they waited in silence until the two officers arrived to take photos, and dust down her car. Once that was done, they went back into the station together, and Rae gave a statement about what she had found. The officer assigned was Martin Robertson. Rae was glad that it was somebody she was friendly with, and would treat her seriously.
It was another hour before Rae and Steve were free to try to leave the station again. Tom had been taken round the back, where he would stay for the next few days, just in case they caught the person responsible quickly. Steve ran Rae home in his car, and walked her to Jesse's door, just to make sure that she was ok. He kissed her lightly on the cheek, and then he turned to go home himself.
Rae locked the door; she put the water on for a cup of tea, then went and had a shower. She put on a pair of shorts and a crop top, picked her book up off the nightstand, went back into the living area, and sat in the chair thinking about what could have made somebody do that to her car. She had been so proud of it. Suddenly she squared her shoulders; there was no way that this person was going to make her give up Tom. He was just what she'd always wanted; she would get him re-painted, and carry on driving. Once she'd made her drink she curled up on the sofa, and began to read her book. About an hour later she realised that she was hungry, and got herself some of the lasagne from the night before. Comfort food, no doubt about it.
Jesse came quietly into the apartment just after eleven thirty expecting to find Rae fast asleep in bed, and the place in darkness, instead he saw her snuggled up on the sofa, a blanket over her, reading her book. She looked up, and smiled.
"Hey, there, I thought I'd wait up for you, as I hadn't actually spoken to you properly today." Jesse smiled, sat down next to her on the sofa, and pulled the blanket over himself as well. "And I have something to tell you. I don't want you to worry, but I need to tell you it." The smiled was gone.
"Are you, ok? What did Dr. Dobson say to you?" Jesse's mind started to work overtime, as he wondered what could have happened.
Rae put her hand up, "Whoa, just hold on a minute, I'm fine, well a little shaken up, but fine. My car was vandalised today. Somebody scratched TRAMP! down the side of Tom while I was in the precinct."
"What? Do you have any idea why somebody would want to do that?" Jesse was worried now. That was vindictive behaviour.
"No, the only reason I can think of, is that Steve and I were trying to find out who took some obscene pictures today, so I wasn't wearing as much as normal! But we didn't use my car, so I don't see how it could be that."
"Unless it's somebody who knows you, and what car you normally drive!" Jesse felt Rae shiver beside him, and he pulled her into the safety of his arms. "You did tell Steve about this right?"
"He was there. Oh, Jess, my lovely car," she shivered again, "Right, I'm not going to think about it any more tonight. I've told you, and now I'm going to bed!" She stood up, "Tomorrow I'll find out about getting it collected from the station, and taken to be re-painted."
"You're going to carry on using it?"
"You bet, I couldn't believe it when I saw Tom at the used car showroom. There's no way that I'm going to let some nutcase do me out of my car!"
"Rae, let's face it, you are kinda visible in your little tomato. Couldn't you trade it in for something in dark blue?"
"No way. Absolutely not; anyway I wasn't talking about it any more remember?"
She got up off the sofa and made her way out of the room. Jesse stood up as well, grabbed the blanket and followed her, a little shell shocked, into the bedroom.
