Chapter 34 edited

itsmeocean@hotmail.com

Homecoming

"Do you have AIDS, syphilis, gonorrhea, Hep B, other STDs, flu, cold, cough or asthma?"

"Huh? No… not that I know of."

"Sign here."

"What?"

"If you want to kiss me, sign this little paper that says you are free of life-threatening viruses and won't die of asthma when things get too exciting. I don't advocate pre-martial sex so don't get your hopes too high up as well."

"So, Elle, what happens when I sign here?"

"Well, if you sign here and after we fool around a little and I catch something from you, I can find ways to sue your pants off for fraud." She smiled sweetly at him, pushing the paper in front of him while passing him a pen. Simon arched a brow but did so anyway. He signed on the dotted line after going through the long lists of disease, half of which he used to think were some unpronounceable French cuisine. Elle was satisfied and she kept the paper in the hotel room's safe.

"Now, are you repelled by me?" She sat down an inch closer to him than before. He was overwhelmed, not repelled. She was different and not afraid to pretend to be normal. In fact, though she was so eccentric, he found her one of the most genuine person he had ever met since she didn't pretend to be anyone she was not. "I have mild OCB and can be fastidious with a capital F. If you leave pizza crumbs on the carpet, you have to go vacuum them up."

"I got it."

"Good. Anything about you that I should know about before we move on to dinner? Any relatives in jail, suicidal thoughts, health problems or credit crisis you'll like me to know about?"

"Ah… hmm… well… I really like you and just want to take things slow."

She smiled, blushing a little now. He leaned over and pecked her on the cheek, catching her by surprise and clearly distressed her for she took out a pack of pocket, antiseptic wipes from her pocket but, to his pleasant surprise, she put it aside after some thought.

"Is your mouth bleeding?"

"No… Elle… why not I go for a medical check-up right now so you can be reassured?"

Her eyes narrowed and he realized she was seriously contemplating the option he offered in frivolity.

"Ok. If we decide to take things further, you have to do that. I'll do it too, for your safety considerations as well."

Simon didn't know why but he started chuckling, more impressed by the girl than ever. She laughed along with him as well and sat close enough to him such that the sides of their hips pressed against each other. He draped an arm across her shoulders and…

And then his phone rang.

Simon Lee sighed- his very brief and pleasant recollection of the evening's start was over. Anyway, Elle had already left for her own room, citing beauty rest as a reason even though they were having a blast. Still sprawled on his bed, his head against the cushioned backboard while his eyes stared mindlessly at the television showing reruns of Rocky, Simon reached for the phone and mumbled a quick hello.

"Lee! Hey… we got the results of the message board you want to check out…"

Immediately, the skinny FBI agent sat up straighter, turning down the volume of the tube so he would not miss a single thing.

"And? Did you find anything that could be link to Richard Thompson?"

"Yes, and quite interesting. We found some messages written to a Little B- the same signature as those letters the psycho wrote to his dead mother. Anyway, someone was telling Little B. about a few months ago, that he or she had obtained an inland taipan for him. Interested in where we traced the IP address of the mystery person to?"

Simon rolled his eyes. His partner, Lance Yoke, loved asking the obvious.

"What do you think? Of course! Spit it out! Now!"

***

"… So I got Simon Lee to check out the message board for us and there was a message to Little B. Simon's FBI partner traced the IP address of the other person to a server in UCLA."

"UCLA?" Joe repeated- his voice came on soft and shellshock over the line.

"Yes…that's what Simon Lee told me just about fifteen minutes ago." Frank Hardy made a split second decision and ran the red light on the deserted road.

"Is this why you asked me where I am the moment you called?"

"Yes. And that's why I called your cell instead of the house."

"Crap."

Frank heard his brother plopped down onto the bed, exhaling heavily. "Are you coming over now, bro?"

"I'm actually quite near our house. In the meantime, Joe, do some checks. I got Simon to join us and decide on the next course of action."

"What about Ness?"

Frank Hardy pulled his lips into a thin, grim line. "Don't worry. I explained to Con Riley and he's now patrolling Ness' area."

"All right. See you in the porch soon…"

"Joe… wait…"

"Yah?"

"I'm sorry about not discussing this with you sooner… I wasn't sure of my own postulation…"

He could almost hear the resigned smile on the other side when his brother clucked his tongue once before replying. "I'll beat you up and shoot you with my Super Soaker later. Right now, I just want to know if the creep is involved and if he is, I want him to pay."

***

Joe stealthily crept into Hallie's room which was converted from the guest room into a space fit for a little princess. If what they deduced was true, then Joe wondered how he could ever forgive himself for allowing his daughter and ex-wife fall into the hands of a passionless killer.

Very gently, he gazed upon his daughter's face and frowned a little. Hallie was six-years old but he noticed that she was shorter than her peers which shouldn't be as he was six-feet and Vanessa was almost as tall as him. He read somewhere that children who had undergone some trauma or were in depression could be stunted in their growth. Hallie deserved the best and she deserved to be happy. What kind of parent was he if he couldn't give Hallie what she needed?

Could he still give her what she needed? Vanessa and him were over- that was for sure. The 'happy family' part was out of his grip. Tentative fingers brushed the soft strands of gold away from the sleeping child's innocent face and the child stirred.

His child opened her wide blue eyes sleepily.

"Daddy?"

"Hey, angel," Joe smiled, planting a quick kiss on Hallie's forehead, "Go back to sleep."

"Ok. You sleep too, daddy. Or Grandma will scold you." Hallie warned him blearily before closing her eyes, slipping back into her dreams again. Joe kissed her one last time on the cheek before he left her room, not before he stole another glance at her by the door. The moment he tore his gaze away from her, he missed her already.

But there was something more important to do. Creeping down the stairs silently, Joe tiptoed into the living room, trying to remember where Greg sat when he came over with Vanessa to witness the Richard Thompson's call to him. Kneeling down onto the floor, Joe looked under the two-seater the couple occupied and illuminated the darkened space with his penlight, giving all nooks and crannies their fifteen seconds of fame.

The penlight caught something latched onto the bottom of the sofa on the far left. Joe remembered that was the place that Greg sat on the couch. Joe tried to take a cautious look but he did not dare to make too much noise, knowing that commercially available bugs were so sophisticated nowadays that they could pick up soft sounds like foot falls on carpeted floor with relative ease.

He left it there, not wanting to do anything to the bug before he and his brother could come up with a plan to keep Hallie and Vanessa safe. A car pulled up then into their driveway. Joe struggled up onto his feet and peered out of the window in time to see the Lexus headlights extinguished.

Seeing his brother stepped out of the car with his usual, assured gait, Joe was ever so glad he wasn't doing this alone.

Because he knew when Greg was brought to justice, the real trial would be the aftermath.