Author's Notes: Otis is going to be split over two chapters, there's a lot happening and it wouldn't fit into one. The fortune cookie fortunes are real ones that I found that fit with the story. Reviews are very much appreciated and really do inspire me to update faster.

Part 31

Age: 34 Years 5 Months

Samantha looked out the window of the plane as Bailey phoned the police station in the town of Otis. Earlier George had discovered that Donald Lucas had managed to hack into a webserver and get online. Lucas had been sending e-mails for some time apparently to a small town in northern California near the Oregon border called Otis. After George detailed how Lucas had managed to escape detection with special glasses, Bailey asked if she had received any e-mails from the name Holy Devil, the handle Lucas was using.

"No, I would have told you if I had," Samantha dodged his question.

Looking out the window, Samantha thought of an e-mail she had received and kept silent about. A couple days before, she received and e-mail marked EEE-Mail, like Jack had once when he'd sent an e-mail of surveillance photos of the VCTF to her. When she'd opened it, it was from a free internet e-mail account under the name Jack and it had an ominous quote from an Edgar Allen Poe poem,

Is all that we see or seem,

But a dream within a dream?

Since Lucas had been arrested and the Trades case had been drug up in all it's glory in the press, Sam had received all sorts of odd letters and e-mails that were in poor taste, but harmless. There had been even two men who turned themselves in claiming to be the real Jack and investigation proved they had a history of mental illness and confessing to famous crimes. But, the e-mail with the Poe quote, stuck with her. It was the exact sort of literary reference Jack had favored in their game.

But what if things really are an illusion? Samantha thought. What if what we think we're seeing in Lucas is nothing more than another carefully crafted illusion by Jack? Maybe it's just wishful thinking. As long as Jack was alive and out there you could pretend your Jack wasn't dead. The idea that Lucas was the one who kissed you is disgusting and you're looking to find an alternative. Yet, she wondered, the differences in height and eye color and Lucas calling her Sam felt so off.

As the plane was touching down on the ground, Jack chewed on a piece of nicotine gum ferociously as he tried to control his frustration. Samantha would arrive any minute and he didn't have his false padding all on and in place. Forcing an appropriate expression on his face as he listened to Art's confession that he killed Ted Skowron, Jack picked up a couple chinese finger traps he kept in the sheriff's office for just such occasions. The two seconds it would take him to take them off, would be enough time to catch himself before doing something foolish like strangling the unfortunate inbreeder.

As the VCTF members came into the office, Jack's heart swelled as he looked at his wife. This was the closest he'd been to her for so long and he wished he had her alone, but that would happen eventually. The phone rang pulling Jack from the group and he put on his Sheriff Ed Boast voice as he spoke. Looking at the group as he talked on the phone, he noticed Samantha offered him a slight smile and his heart leapt to see her smiling at him.

Going out to the site where the body of Ted Skowron was found, Jack couldn't resist playing with the group a little bit.

When Samantha gasped over the rose, he commented in an innocent voice, "Nice bloom for this time of year."

The group went through a boring explanation about Lucas and Jack pretended to listen with great interest. Grant and Malone paid little attention to him having decided he was mentally lacking and before leaving for the crime scene, he had slipped a little padding under his shirt to complete his look. There was a tense moment as Samantha seemed to study his false midsection, but she got absorbed in the scene. Once George announced the e-mails had been traced to Phillip Menzies address, Jack was pleased when Samantha rode alone with him in his patrol car.

"It's very nice to meet you Dr. Waters, even if it is under such unfortunate circumstances," he told her affably.

"Oh, you can call me Sam, Sheriff."

"Only if you'll call me Ed, Samantha."

"Sure. So Ed, have you been the sheriff here for long?" Samantha asked as he drove them towards Menzies house, the other members of the VCTF trailing behind in another vehicle.

Offering Samantha a smile, he answered, "Whereas time flies in the presence of a lady as lovely as yourself, time usually seems to drag on forever here."

As the car stopped outside of Phillip Menzies, Jack got out and held Samantha's door. The polite gesture made her smile, usually men in law enforcement either ignored women or were patronizing. Ed's politeness was a nice change, Samantha decided. Shutting the door after helping her out, Jack's heart raced and he repeated over and over in his mind, keep being Ed Boast.

Stepping away from the car, Samantha's high heel stuck in the mud and she lost her balance. She would have fallen had Ed not caught her in his arms and held her steady. As she caught her breath, Samantha gazed into Ed's eyes and felt a small rush of electricity run through her. His face was handsome she decided as he held her and he was very nimble for an out of shape back woods sheriff. Actually, his stomach felt almost like foam padding, his chest was hard against hers and she felt her pulse quicken and her nipples harden as he held her. What the heck is wrong with me? Samantha wondered as the other car pulled up.

"What the hell is going on here?" Bailey demanded as he got out of the deputy's SUV.

"Dr. Water's shoe got stuck in the mud," Ed answered and lifted her up off the ground. Carrying Samantha past the mud, Jack sat her down reluctantly.

As he sat her down, Samantha found herself looking at his face again and trying to shake off, the odd feeling of attraction. This is crazy, Samantha thought. You're a city girl who has been married twice disastrously that has a handsome prosecutor to occasionally date. Sheriff Boast of Otis California isn't dating material and you can't sleep with him. Why not, her body argued traitorously. He's not a rocket scientist. Neither was Coop and Ed at least had manners. Samantha this will end as badly as every relationship you've ever had. Maybe, but would it hurt to kiss him just once before leaving town? When he pulled away to lead the charge into Menzies house, Samantha felt disappointed to be released from his arms.

Inside Menzies house, Samantha felt like hitting Bailey. The entire time Bailey took a patronizing tone with Ed and scolded him like a small child. This was exactly why local law enforcement didn't like to cooperate with the FBI. Perfectly competent men who had done just fine in their jobs before the VCTF arrived were embarrassed and snapped at. Well, Ed wasn't necessarily entirely competent. The Otis sheriff was an enigma to Samantha. One moment he seemed completely clueless and had an almost innocent quality. The next moment he would surprise her with a sudden display of intelligence like when he deftly managed Phillip Menzies when he'd insulted her. Before she had to defend herself, Ed had placed himself physically between them and distracted the hateful suspect.

At lunch, Samantha found herself disappointed that Ed hadn't joined them, but in light of Bailey's behavior and the none to softly mouthed insults offered by Grant, she wasn't surprised. She'd been about ready to suggest that she pick up something to take to Ed for lunch when they found out George was missing. During the search for George another body was found near where Ted Skowron was found, again the body had a rose on it. Looking at the rose on top of the corpse, Samantha found herself thinking of the mysterious e-mail.

Grace had arrived with tools in hand around lunch and was now performing an autopsy on Norm Abbott in a section of the meat packing plant that employed half the citizens of Otis. Listening to Grace tell her about her findings on Norm Abbott, Samantha stifled a yawn, the hour was getting awfully late. Her feet hurt, she was tired, she was hungry and the walk to the motel seemed very far away. If she was lucky there would be something in a vending machine at the motel she could eat before crashing for the night.

Walking out of the meat packing plant, Samantha was surprised to hear Ed call out, "Evening Samantha."

"Ed. Hi," she replied and moved towards him.

Leaning against the patrol car door, Jack offered, "Could I give you a lift to the motel? I figured as late as it was you must be getting tired and wish to get off your feet."

"I'd love it," Samantha accepted gratefully. Bailey and John had already gone to dinner and were in their rooms, abandoning Grace and Samantha for the evening. Although she was busy, Grace had taken a dinner break and hadn't been on her feet all day, so Sam didn't feel too guilty leaving her and with George missing, she suspected Grace wouldn't be able to sleep. She suspected there might be some feelings between those two.

As Ed opened the door for her, Samantha slid in and noticed the most wonderful scent coming from the back seat. Ed smiled and told her, "Figured you wouldn't get a chance to stop for supper, so I popped over to Rosedale, that's the next town over and picked up some Chinese."

When they pulled up in front of the motel, Samantha was a little disappointed when Ed started to hand her the large bag filled with take-out cartons. Before she could think about it, the words fell from her mouth, "Would you like to join me? I mean it looks like there's plenty for two."

Jack smiled and carried the bag to Samantha's room. The motel room was quite small, there was a bed with end tables framing it and a dresser in the room that held the television, but no chairs or tables. For a moment Samantha felt awkward setting up the bed picnic for herself and the man she'd only met earlier that day. There was no silverware, only a couple sets of chopsticks, Samantha had been ready to suggest they try and find some silverware when to her surprise, Ed adeptly scooped up a bite of moo goo gai pan and fed it to her.

The picnic reminded her a little of a similar picnic she'd had with Jack in the attic at the orphanage. Actually the menu had been the same, she realized with surprise, surely just coincidence. Ed Boast would hardly know anything of her brief time at the Cincinnati orphanage and her marriage to Jack. As they ate, she found herself enjoying his company and felt drawn to him. His dark eyes sparkled with mischievous air that intrigued her. When they had finished and cleared away the dinner, they sat facing one another. Samantha could tell he was getting ready to take his leave and found she didn't want him to go.

"Oh, we have to read our fortunes!" Samantha exclaimed thrilled to think of a reason to keep him there a little longer. "Now do you read in bed?"

"Excuse me?" Jack asked her. Surely he'd misheard her. While he'd realized Samantha was attracted to him disguised as the town sheriff, surely she wouldn't ask something like that. Would she?

Blushing, Samantha clarified, "Your fortune. Some people read their fortune with the phrase in bed. Like if it says that you'll have good luck, you say you'll have good luck in bed. Do you read your fortunes that way?"

"Fortune has never exactly been very kind to me Samantha," Jack responded wryly. Then remembering the fun they had reading their fortunes that way in their attic, he added, "But I would be happy to try it. Shall we?"

"You first," Samantha told him.

Jack cracked open one of the cookies and opened the small slip of paper. Forcing himself to remember his Ed Boast voice, he read, "The heart is wiser than the intellect- in bed."

"Oh that's a good one," Samantha grinned. God she wanted to kiss him. Why was she so attracted to him? Shaking her lustful thoughts away, she cracked open her fortune cookie. Glancing at the paper, she read, "A brown-eyed stranger will be-"

"Will be-"

Blushing, Samantha finished, "will be instrumental to your success in bed."

"They gave us three, why don't you take the last one," he suggested amused at her blushing looks.

"Let's share the last one."

"Okay. How?"

"Sit beside me," Samantha commanded. Ed moved from sitting across from her to sitting beside her. "Now, we break it open together and whatever it says, we share the fortune."

"In bed," Jack added before he could stop himself. The remark was very out of character for Ed, but luckily Samantha hadn't noticed it didn't fit the small town sheriff.

As they broke the cookie, two pieces of paper fluttered out. Samantha picked them up and read the first one, "The best prophet of the future is the past, in bed."

Silently Jack agreed whole heartedly. Ah Samantha, indeed your future is from your past and once Lucas is gone I will make you see that. Aloud, he said, "Well shall we read the other one?"

"There is a true and sincere friendship between you both-" Samantha trailed off and turned towards Ed.

For a moment they froze and stared into one another's eyes. Together they whispered in union, "In bed."

Their breathing quickened and their lips met...