ACT II
"I have to admit, I did not expect for you to come back, Stephen. At least no without an arrest warrant."
Andrea's hair was waving in the breeze, her high cheekbones accentuating the intelligent blue eyes that watched his every move.
With a smile, Steve finished the rest of his hot dog and discarded the wrapper in a nearby trash can, as they continued their slow stroll down 16th Avenue.
"All that talk about arrests lately. Don't you think we should build a case first before throwing the book at people?"
With a warm chuckle, she hooked her arm through Steve's, and grasped his elbow with her other hand, patting it affectionately.
"So gentle and courteous. What character it must have taken to turn your personal storms into such amicable peace and quietness."
"Let's not worry about my storms so much.", he cut her off, a bit too harsh, and Steve smiled to make up for the rudeness, "I need to know what else you saw when…when it comes to our case."
"I understand…", Andrea replied evenly, and wrapped her arm tighter around his, "I saw the ocean. Old shingles. A roof that needs repair. Gray shingled siding. Vast fields of grass. And seashells and rocks. Small rocks."
Noticing his raised eyebrows, she shrugged, as they turned the corner onto Carolina.
"I can sense that this place is nearby, and yet so vastly different from everything that makes up this city. There is no busyness, no stress. Just solitude and peace."
Steve drew in a deep breath, torn between the intimacy and trust her warm touch conveyed and the distinct doubt rising in the back of his mind that he was chasing down the wrong rabbit hole. As they continued their stroll for a few moments of silence, he could feel her knead the tight muscles in his arm, as if to help him relax enough to think clearly.
"And our victim used to go there? To find some inner peace perhaps?"
"I think so, yes. Interestingly enough, I also feel that this was only part of his journey. There was something else that drew him there. Maybe he met with somebody, or there was some sort of exchange. I am not sure unfortunately."
"Could it have been a female?"
Steve could tell his question startled her momentarily; throwing her off enough that she lost that wall of false professionalism and neutrality for a fleeting second, before the ever-present smile returned.
"I don't think so. None of the colors and emotions I sensed were female…did you get anywhere with the animals?"
Surprised that she brought up the question, he shrugged, trying to hide his disappointment with their current lack of progress.
"We met Jackson the Jack. But the nativity scene doesn't seem to be the place our victim visited before. There's some other place we're missing here."
"But you did find evidence that he was near animals?"
"We did, yes."
With an almost childlike giggle, she stopped abruptly and reached forward to caress his face with both of her hands.
"I knew you could do it, Stephen. I just knew!"
"I didn't do it. We have dedicated lab technicians that help us find those clues.", he tried to deflect, only to see Andrea shake her head vigorously.
"That's not what I meant, Stephen. You showed…faith…the slightest of attempts to believe in something that every last sense of yours told you to doubt. You opened your heart to the possibility to believe in things you can't see."
Covering the hands on his face with his own, before slowly pulling them down, Steve looked into those blue eyes, enthralled by the mystery exuding from Andrea's aura and strong personality. Then, as time slowed down to a complete standstill, he pulled her tightly into his space and reached forward to kiss her lips, feeling her hot breath against his cheek as he did so. His fingers brushing her hairline began to tremble, his heart leaping, as his senses became intoxicated with her sweet perfume.
They shared the careless act of mutual affection and passion despite several frowning faces passing them by, when finally, Andrea raised her hands to his chest and pushed him back, a sad smile playing on her lips.
"You shouldn't do that."
The stern comment caught him by surprise and he was about to ignore it and head for Act II, but her firm hands on his chest remained unyielding, keeping him at a safe distance.
"You know why you are doing this. It has nothing to do with me. It has nothing to do with love. You know it, and I know it, Stephen. And I refuse to be the bandaid for your heartache and stress this week, until you move on to the next distraction."
The gruff rejection flushed every last hormone out of his system and Steve glanced back up at Andrea, her blue eyes turning guarded again, matching his very reaction.
When the awkward silence between them became too overbearing, she crossed her arms over her chest, then motioned toward downtown.
"You should be with your partner. It is your presence he needs the most to help him through his…his battle."
With his jaws clenched in defiance, Steve nodded faintly and returned his hands into the warm pockets of his beige dress coat, recreating the professional distance he shouldn't have breached to begin with.
"What about you? How do I know you're not leading us onto a wild goose chase with your visions? You never told us where you got this…this talent from. What your background is."
It was childish, he knew it, but it would be one of those times Steve's pride got the better of him.
"You're already doing research into my past as we speak.", Andrea replied with a wily smile and turned around to walk away from him, "Good hunting, Detective."