"Hey," Colby said as he walked into Only You. He grinned at the astonishment that crossed Hannah's face.
"Playing hooky?" Hannah asked, with interest, as she locked up the display cases. She was in the middle of closing up the store.
Laughing, Colby explained why he was out so early. "Come on, already. I actually have a chance to take you out to dinner."
"Where are we going?" Hannah was amused. He was like a kid at Christmas, all excited at having the evening off.
"Mariasol, at the end of Santa Monica pier. We'll walk along the Third Street Promenade first, and then take a walk down the pier. Got any sandals with you? We can walk on the beach if you do."
Hannah shrugged, she wasn't too enthusiastic about getting sand in everything. Then she eyed his grin with suspicion. "You're not planning a 'From Here to Eternity' scenario, are you? I hate it when sand gets everywhere."
Colby burst into laughter. "Well, I hadn't really thought about it, but now that you mention it. No, there'll be too many people at the Pier, unless that's the point..." he teased gently.
She laughed and thumped him on his arm. She'd always wondered if he felt her punch at all, she was so wimpy and he had such a muscular arm.
He looped that arm around her and pulled her close for a kiss and a hug. "Mmmmm... I missed you," he murmured.
She laughed, "You saw me last night, silly."
"I still missed you. It was tough inventorying all that currency. I could use a back rub later."
Hannah looped her arms around his neck and kissed him, "Poor baby, had a tough day sitting around," she razzed him gently.
He grinned, then tugged at her, "Come on! I want to get there before it gets dark."
-----
Hannah enjoyed the carnival atmosphere on Third Street Promenade. She was more interested in the street performers than in the stores that lined the street. Since Third Street was closed to automobile traffic, people spilled off the sidewalks into the middle of the street, mingling with the street performers. She paused to watch the jugglers in open-mouthed amazement. Colby thought that was adorable, and slid his arm around her to pull her close. She smiled and leaned into him, but her eyes were glued to the jugglers. Nearby, competing for attention was a group of comedians, and there were musicians of all types up and down the street. They walked down the promenade when the jugglers were done, then Hannah exclaimed in excitement. "Psychic cats!"
Colby rolled his eyes as she dragged him over to check it out. He'd had enough of people claiming to be psychic, psychic cats were just too much to swallow. But he was amused at how fascinated Hannah was by it all. "You know he's just picking up cues from the woman, don't you?" He whispered in Hannah's ear.
She grinned, "I know. But it's still fun to watch." Then she sobered a little, "I'd be more convinced if he could tell me if Don was cheating on Robin."
Startled, Colby jerked his head around to stare at her. "What? What are you talking about?"
Hannah looked embarrassed, she hadn't meant to betray that particular confidence. "Just.. something that Robin was worried about," she said hurriedly. "Come on, I'm hungry, let's get to the pier."
"You're not getting off that easy, you know that, don't you?"
She sighed. That investigator side of Colby could be really annoying.
Still, dinner turned out pretty well. Mariasol was surprisingly inexpensive, considering that it was at the end of the pier, a particular tourist trap. They managed to get a table with a view of the beach, and the mountains in the background. The food turned out pretty good too, and so did the margarita that showed up in a quart sized margarita glass. Hannah was giggling at everything by the time she got through that margarita. "Good thing you're not driving, lightweight," Colby laughed at her. "You'd be doing good just to make it back to the car."
It amused Colby a little when she started telling him about Robin's suspicions. The margarita had apparently loosened Hannah's inhibitions. But he sobered up as he thought about Robin's observations, comparing them to the inconsistencies he'd noticed lately. Don's personal life wasn't any of his business, but he'd keep any eye out for anything that might affect the case.
They walked along the beach on their way back to the car, with Hannah leaning into Colby. By the time they got to Hannah's apartment she was in the soft, drowsy state that always made Colby want to wrap his arms around her to protect her from all the cares in the world.
He carried her up to her apartment, she was still buzzed and giggling. "Want that back rub now?" Hannah murmured into his ear, then dissolved into a fit of giggles.
"No, I think that can wait." Then he laughed, when he realized she'd fallen asleep in his arms.
-----
"David, have you seen Don yet? I need his sign off to have the currency transported to our office," Colby was looking a little stressed out by that particular piece of paperwork. Don usually made it in before they did. But he had apparently not made it in yet that morning.
"No, I haven't seen him yet. I asked Megan just a minute ago, because I want to go over the contents of the CDs, but she hasn't seen him either. I wanted to make sure he was included." David paused, and looked at Colby. He lowered his voice even though they were the only people in the command center, "Olivia mentioned something to me last night."
Colby looked up, "Not about Don and Robin."
"Yeah. Did Hannah say something to you?"
"That Robin thought Don was cheating on her."
"What do you think?"
"Way I figure it, it's none of my business. I just don't want it to affect the case."
"Olivia thinks we should do something about it." David looked worried.
"There's nothing to do. We don't know whether he's really cheating on her. Innocent until proven guilty, right?" Colby was worried too, but he didn't want to overstep his bounds.
David nodded, then turned back to his work as Rilla came into the command center.
"Morning," Colby greeted Rilla. He liked the older woman. "Do anything exciting last night?" He grinned wickedly as he teased her. He knew by now that she worked late at the office, went back to the hotel and worked some more while she had dinner alone in the hotel room.
She laughed, "Oh, God, yeah! Wild partying at Chippendale's." Then she said in surprise, "Oh, my word, Granger! I love that tie pin and those cuff links. Now who would've thought a Neanderthal like you would have such good taste?" She softened the comment with a smile, and touched him gently on his arm.
But David cracked up at that, and Colby sent her a long-suffering look. "Hannah made these," Colby showed off his cuff links proudly.
"And while he takes the rest of the morning bragging about Hannah, I'm actually going to get some work done," David razzed Colby as he headed out the door.
Rilla reached out and touched the tie pin, marvelling at the intricate yet masculine design. It was Granger to the bone. "Does she do commissions?" Rilla said softly, her mind on getting her husband, Jared, a set of his own.
"Does she ever! Here's one of her cards. I'll wear my other set tomorrow and you can ooh and aah over that set too." Colby was pleased at Rilla's obvious delight over Hannah's work. She was running a finger over the design on his tie pin, and pulling his wrist up so that she could look at the cuff link as well.
Robin came down the hallway at that moment and was appalled to see Colby and Rilla in what looked like an intimate embrace. She was choking on her anger as she stalked into the command center, just as Rilla was pulling away and laughing up at Colby.
"Don't you have to get the currency transported here?" She snapped at Colby, who looked at her in surprise.
"Yes, I just need Don's signature on this form. He isn't here yet."
"I'll sign it. We don't have time for you to be standing around, doing nothing."
Colby was getting annoyed, but held it in check. He went on his way, after Robin signed the paperwork.
"Robin, what's wrong?" Rilla asked gently. She was startled at the venom on the other woman's face when she looked up.
"Nothing," was Robin's short reply. "I'm going to look for Megan." And she stalked away, leaving a bewildered Rilla in the command center.
-----
Jenn was leaned over her desk, underwear pooled around her ankles. She gasped and jerked in response to the light smack on her bare bottom. "Quiet now," he said softly in his raspy voice, leaning over to caress her breasts. She could feel his hard on as he pressed against her. She moaned at the intense pleasure as his fingers squeezed her nipples through her clothing. And just managed to choke back a scream of pure pleasure as he thrust into her. Slowly, to tease her, then speeding up, then slowly again just to tantalize her.
"Need a cigarette?" Katie said wryly, as she tapped Jenn on the shoulder. She laughed at the mortified look on Jenn's face, as she struggled away from the daydream she was having about Agent Granger.
"Now, why in the heck would you say a thing like that?" Jenn tried to bluff her way out of it.
"Because. I've been having the same problem."
Jenn stared at Katie, then both women burst into laughter, amused that they could have such a wild reaction to a man they hardly knew.
"He's here with several other agents. They're going to transport the currency back to the FBI office. It'll probably be our last chance to see him." Katie paused and the two women looked at each other. Katie grinned, "Maybe we could have our picture taken with him and get his autograph or something."
Jenn laughed, "Yeah, right. We'll never live that down."
They handed over the currency and sent Colby on his way.
-----
"We haven't gone over all the CDs yet, but the first few we looked at had images of claim forms on them. Raina looked at the coding on the list, and we looked at the CDs that had similar codes next to them. About 6 of the CDs had the same code on the list, they all contain claims images. I thought we could hand a set to Rilla and have her look at them."
David was telling Don what he'd found out thus far from the CDs. Megan, Colby, Robin and Rilla were also listening in.
"8 of the other CDs had mp3 audio tracks on them. Those will take a little while to review. I thought Colby and I could listen to those tracks and see what we get out of them."
Don nodded his approval.
"Raina can't quite identify what kind of data is on the other 6 CDs. She's having to do some research. She thinks they're encrypted in some way. I'm going to send copies of those over to Charlie. Maybe he can figure out the encryption key."
"Okay, that sounds good. What about the off-shore accounts, did we get anywhere on those?" Don wanted to know.
"They all belong to Ellery Hague," Megan replied. "There's no information on where the money was coming from. But there's about $20 million in those off-shore accounts. I'm still working on getting as much information from the banks as I can."
"What about the claim forms, Rilla?"
"They've been pre-filled with all the proper diagnosis and procedure codes. All that's left to do is to fill in the patient's information, and they're ready to be sent in to Medicare or an insurance company. It's like a blank check, in a sense. There's a mix of types of services, some are dialysis services, some are durable medical equipment claims, and others are injectibles. They're all claims for high dollar items."
"Alright, let's get to it. I need to head back out on the road for something. Call me if anyone needs anything." Don was already out the door before anyone could say another word.
Robin looked frustrated, but let it go, this time oblivious to the sympathetic glances the others sent her.
-----