A/N: Glad people are still enjoying my Jolie stories--I'm still enjoying writing them. This chapter was going to be longer but I split it in two--the next chapter should be coming out soon--within a day or two. Everyone enjoy! Until next time--PCGirl.
Natalie got out of her car and hit the lock button twice before looking ahead and seeing Sam and his older brother standing by the door to the Center, "Hey guys—what's going on?"
"My brother told me about the blade you got from him yesterday. I wanted to say I'm sorry about what he did."
"Well, thanks for the apology," she said as she began to walk towards the door.
"So can I get it back?"
"Will—I cannot and will not give you the switchblade back. It was found on Center property, and you all know that if something illegal is confiscated on property we have to turn it over to authorities. You should be glad there's an anonymity clause in that and if nobody was injured we don't have to report you."
"But I use it for defense on the streets—I thought you would understand that."
"I do, and I'm sorry you lost your defense, but I already turned it in this morning to John. Now I need to get inside," she said as she unlocked the door and then locked it back up behind her. She peeked her head inside of the game room to see someone working on repairing the felt before she dropped off her purse and went to Adrienne's office, "Good morning."
"Hey—what did you think of the resumes last night?" she said as Natalie was silent, "Please tell me you looked at them," she laughed.
"I did—there was one though," she said as she shuffled through them and handed it to Adrienne, "She gave us nothing about her life before six years ago. Did you find that odd?"
"Yeah, but I called her previous employer—he was really nice and said she was a great asset to them and he was sad to see her have to move away. Did John say we should do an all out background check?" she laughed.
"No, I didn't even tell him about it."
"Alright, well I'll do the first interview and then you do the second."
"Sounds like a plan," said Natalie as she turned and went to make herself a morning cup of coffee.
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"Listen, we know all about this case—yes, she was a friend but she was more than that. Ok, fine—but if you don't give us details soon I'm sending someone out to California," sighed Bo as he hung up the phone and in walked Antonio and Daniel, "What do you two have?"
"I called Riley—he told Jenn he'd pick her up when he got done at the studio—he's lying and telling her he has this romantic night set up," said Daniel as he leaned against the filing cabinet and looked at Antonio.
"Jessica knows something is up—she could tell I was lying on the phone. What did they say in California?"
"Nothing. They won't believe me about all last year and there's too much in the case file to just fax it."
"I'll go—I'll call Jess back, tell her I have to do a quick fly out to California—transferring some evidence in a case."
"Ok, so who gets to call John?" smirked Daniel as the door opened to Bo's office and in walked Nora.
"Wow—you three and John on a case—sounds like old times. Is this a guy only thing or can a lady join?" laughed Nora as she walked in and realized they weren't laughing at her comment, "Ok—spill it."
Bo leaned back in his chair, his eyes deadlocked on Nora's, "Rae Cummings was found dead in her office yesterday afternoon—she was strangled with a red leotard."
"Hold on—did I just hear you right?" asked Nora.
"All we know is what John Sykes called and told me very late last night. He told the police about the whole Haver incident last year and they finally thought it might be worth looking into and called me about two hours ago."
"So Bo has been trying to explain to them everything, and Antonio and I have been making sure possible victims of his are not alone at the moment."
"But this might still be a copycat right? I mean we have no proof--," she stopped as they all gave her an odd look. She sighed as sat down on the couch, "Oh great—who calls John?"
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Natalie walked down the hallway from seeing the previous interviewee out and to her car and stopped in her office doorway. The next interviewee's back was to her as she stood at Natalie's desk holding something. Natalie knew immediately it was the picture of her and John's wedding. She gave out a cough to let the woman know she was there, "Hi—can I help you?"
"Oh, I'm sorry," said the woman as she put down the photograph and Natalie almost could read her eyes—there was something in them that spoke volumes, but it was gone in a flash, "My name is Cairyn," she said shaking Natalie's hand and taking a seat.
"Well, it's nice to meet you Cairyn," she said as she pulled out Cairyn's resume from the stack, again taking note on the unique spelling. The woman across from her had short blonde hair—though it seemed she was a bottle blonde and her natural hair color—somewhere between auburn and chestnut—was coming through. Leave it to years of working with Roxy for Natalie to first notice if someone had a bad dye job. Natalie kept thinking she'd seen her somewhere before—maybe her sister worked nearby. She shook off what John had now called her detective intuition and continued the interview, "It seems in the past six years you've had a lot of experience—what about prior to that time?"
"Oh, I didn't do much then—I kind of hopped from job to job trying to figure out what my direction in life should be."
"I know the feeling," she laughed as she took a second to look over the rest of her questions before continuing the interview.
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"Ok, I'll be right there," said John as he hung up his office phone and grabbed his coat. He was two steps to the door when the phone began ringing again. He gave a loud sigh and answered, "McBain."
"John."
"Antonio—listen, can I call you back? They need me at a crime scene."
"Yeah, that's fine—listen, I'm going to California—transferring some evidence from an old case."
John sighed, he knew Antonio wouldn't be heading out to California two days before they left for vacation, "How old of a case?"
Antonio again wondered how he had been stuck with calling John, "Rae Cummings was found dead in her office yesterday afternoon—the only thing we know was she was strangled with a red leotard."
A shiver went over John as he listened to the little extra information that Antonio was able to give him, "Ok—listen, tomorrow we'll be in Llanview."
"You're coming home, Chief?"
"You bet I'm coming home, and don't call me Chief," laughed John as he realized the joke calmed his nerves down just a tad. "See you when you get home—and if I think of anymore questions you should ask them I'll let you know."
"I always knew I could count on you."
"Glad I could be of service," he said as he hung up and went off to help with the crime scene he'd been called on and then it would be time to make an unexpected lunch stop at the Center to check on Natalie.