I Thought It Was You - 17?

Summary: The night of the diner fryer murder, John calls Natalie back into the station for questioning. He is still overcome with emotion and admits his feelings for her. She passes out, but not in shock. She's been poisoned and it happened at Llanfair that night. If John hadn't called her in, she probably would have died in her bed and not been found until morning. Easy walks into the hospital and overhears John declaring his love for Natalie to Michael and they break up - after which she breaks the pearls off her neck and all over the hospital floor. Vicki is relieved when John invites Natalie to stay with him so he can keep an eye on her. They make love and plan to embark on a future together when the KC case is over. They still haven't had a real date yet. Back at work, Easy's mother rushes in to report her "Cookie" missing. Last seen, Natalie took her copy of the KC book out of her desk drawer.

>>>>>>>>

"Where's Natalie?" John asked Bo as he closed the Commissioner's office door behind him.

"I think she went to the lobby to pick up our lunch order? She'll be fine in the police station." Bo was staring at the case board they had put up behind his desk. On it were pictures of the Killing Club victims, attempted victims and possible victims. Under each photo were notes of clues and connections they had made.

"We found Evangeline."

"Really? Where?" Bo turned around.

"She's in Harrisburg working on an appeal she has next week before the State Supreme Court. She was surprised to find out that her mother came to town to declare her missing."

"Her mother set it up?"

"I think she was testing me."

"We're going to have to pick her up for filing a false report and wasting police resources."

"Do we have to, Bo?" John asked.

"Yes. We can't let angry mothers make false reports because their daughters got dumped. Nora will cut her a deal and she'll get a slap on the wrist. A fine to cover some of our costs. Her daughter can defend her."

John shrugged and looked out the window blinds to see if Natalie was back at her desk yet.

"Why don't you just go down and make sure she's all right," Bo waved John out of his office.

"I'll be right back."

Bo shook his head, but he was smiling and went back to studying the board. The poisoning of Natalie just didn't fit the rest of the profile.

>>>>>>>

John got down to the lobby, but Natalie was nowhere in sight. He went up to the security desk and asked if anyone had seen her.

"She was right here a few minutes ago. She stopped over and said hello. Said she was waiting for lunch. Then we had to check a group in. Haven't seen her since."

"Was there anyone else around?" John asked.

"No. I figured she was going to go sit over there and wait. She had a book in her hand."

"A book?" John asked.

"A hard cover, had a lot of post-its stuck in it like she was studying something," the guard told John.

"Thanks." John walked over to the lobby chairs. With a frustrated sigh he pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and pressed Natalie's cell number. It kept ringing and then went to voice mail. Frustrated, he left her a terse message and paced around a few steps. The sound of crackling paper caught his attention and he looked down and saw a post-it note stuck to his shoe.

He bent over and picked it up.

"Arrow in Buchanan Preserve?"

"Damn it, Natalie." John swore to himself.

He took out his phone and called another number.

"Where's your sister?"

"What do you mean? I left her at the police station not even fifteen minutes ago! Did you lose her already?" Rex yelled at him.

"You were conspiring with her at the station and now she's gone. What the hell are you two planning?"

"She just asked me to look around for Evangeline. I figured she's holed up in some hotel to make you crazy. If anything's happened to my sister, man!"

"We found Evangeline, she's fine. Natalie took her Killing Club book and left."

"Dammit. I'll be right there." Rex cut the call off before John could tell him not to bother.

John went back to the guards and had them use the monitors to try and spot her. He grabbed the phone and called up to to the station. Then he called Bo.

"She's gone. I found a note of hers about the next murder in the book. It has a possible location, the Buchanan Preserve."

>>>>>>>>>

Natalie sat up with a start. Her heart was pounding and there was a metallic taste in her mouth. She looked around and saw that she was in the woods.

"What the hell?" she whispered. She stood up and tried to remember how she got there. The last thing she remembered was talking to Sam and Burrell in the lobby while she was waiting for Charlie to bring the lunch order.

She spun around as she heard a noise to her right. Before she could process what she saw she was being tackled to the ground. She hit her head on a rock and had the wind knocked out of her. As she gasped she felt the body move off and run in the direction she had heard the noise.

She pushed herself to her knees and struggled to catch her breath.

"Natty!" Rex knelt down and grabbed Natalie in a hug.

She let him pull her up and put her arms around him.

"What the hell happened?" she asked.

"That."

She turned and looked at where Rex was pointing. She shuddered as she saw the arrow sticking out of the tree, right where her head was moments ago.

"The next killing in the book."

"I thought McBain and I both told you to stay at the police station," Rex said.

Before Natalie could answer John came stalking back and spun Natalie around to face him. He gripped her arms and shook her.

"I know I did. How the hell could you be so stupid and reckless! You can't do this to me! I can't lose someone else I love. Do you understand?" He knew he was shouting, but he didn't care.

"I didn't. You're hurting me."

"Sorry." John let go and turned sideways and ran his fingers through his hair. Then he put his hands on his hips and struggled to rein in his temper.

"John."

"Not right now, Natalie. Not right now. I'm so angry with you right now for this stunt."

"John, I didn't do anything. I don't know how I got here!"

"What?" John turned around.

"The last thing I remember was talking in the lobby with Burrell and Sam. Then I woke up here and then you tackled me."

"You didn't come here on your own?" He pulled the post-it out of his pocket and handed it to her.

"This is from my book, I had it in the lobby with me. And my wallet. I don't know what happened."

"Damn it." John waved over a uniformed officer and asked for an evidence bag.
"You're bleeding."

He pushed her hair back and inspected the cut on her forehead. "We need to get you to the hospital to have that looked at. Do you have a headache?"

"No. It's fine."

"What's wrong?" John leaned down.

Natalie looked up at him, the fear darkening her blue eyes.

John sighed and put his arms around her and pulled her trembling body against him. He closed his eyes and rubbed her back.