She shifted on the desk, watching him through the darkness. "Hello, Bobby."
"Where is she, Nicole?"
"Where is who?"
"My partner, that's who!"
"We're a little testy today, aren't we? I haven't harmed her, if that's what you're wondering." She studied him, smiling a wicked, feral smile. "Oh, put your gun away. I'm unarmed. I just want to talk to you."
"You aren't usually this forthcoming with your threats. Why go after my partner?"
"Because she's so much a part of you. If I strike at you, I don't have much of an impact. If I strike at someone you love, well, you're here, aren't you?"
Someone he loved…He let it go. But she'd seen him tense, and she laughed. "If there is a thin line between faith and insanity, then the line between love and hate is ever so much thinner, isn't it? Maybe even indistinguishable."
"Not in my book."
"Oh? And what book is that?"
"I have no problem discerning between love and hate."
"Then you are lying to yourself. The world is not so black and white as you make it out to be. You love your mother, right?"
"Yes."
"But don't you hate her…for what she did to you…for driving Daddy away. And Daddy…you loved him but hated him for leaving…for his brutality…for dying. The ultimate departure. Where's big brother, Bobby?"
"I…I don't know."
She laughed, a cold, mirthless sound. "Has anyone ever stayed? In one way or another, everyone has left you. Face it, you live alone in a lonely world. How can you love anyone if no one has ever loved you?"
He had crossed the room, but he had not put his gun away. "You don't know what you're talking about."
"Don't I?" She moved closer, so that her face was inches from his. "Love, hate…how do you know what you really feel? Do you hate me, Bobby," she taunted. "Or do you love me?"
"No!" He stepped away. "You…you couldn't even love your little girl! What is there to love in you, Nicole? You only hate. You hate others; you hate yourself, what you have become."
"And what about you?"
"What about me?"
"Your hatred, Bobby…your hatred of yourself…"
"No…no…I am not like you. I…I am not a lost cause."
"Ah, yes…your savior. She has saved you from yourself, hasn't she? Do you think she loves you?"
"It doesn't matter. She is the one who didn't leave."
"But she will."
"That's entirely her call. If she decides to leave, I won't stop her."
"How alone will you be then, Bobby? Everyone you love goes away…But I won't go away…"
"No. You won't. But what's to love in you? You're an empty shell of humanity with a heart of stone that feels nothing."
"I can love! If I want to…"
He shook his head, his gun arm at his side. "No, I really don't think you can. No more than the devil can."
She swung to hit him, but he caught her hand, looking into her cold, hard eyes as he said, "Love…hate…What's the difference? Nicole Wallace, you are under arrest. Again."
He slid his gun into its holster and pulled out his cuffs. But as he moved to put them on her, she spun toward him. "Never lower your guard with me, Bobby," she hissed, as she buried the knife in her hand into his abdomen. She smiled at him. "Ah, yes. I said I was unarmed." She moved her face close to his. "I lied." She studied him. "I wonder if I actually do love you, Bobby." Unexpectedly, she kissed him. "Good-bye."
He doubled over, fire burning through his gut. As he collapsed onto the floor, blood spilling over his hands, he swore that the last thing he saw in his life was not going to be Nicole Wallace.