Both Jamie and Eddie had no problem waking up as soon as their alarm went off at 3:45. They quickly and mostly silently got ready, Eddie taking a little more time with hair and makeup than she normally would for work and certainly more time than she did for a normal morning run. Eddie was trying not to think too hard about her last decoy assignment that very nearly ended with her getting seriously hurt. For his part, Jamie was a little preoccupied and so he was surprised to see her looking like a sorority girl with heavy makeup and a high ponytail that reminded him of a cheerleader on game day.
"Too much?" She worried aloud to him.
"Not at all. Seems like exactly his type based on the other victims. Lily whatever it's called looks really nice on you - but don't let my wife hear that. She's the jealous type."
Eddie punched him in the arm and they headed out to meet up with the others.
Jamie did not miss the look Tuna had on his face when she arrived at the coffee shop. Abe seemed to be having difficulty with making direct eye contact. "That's my girl" he almost said out loud to break the ice. After the group walked together over to the 6-3, they were quickly moving in opposite directions. Tuna and Abe headed to the location at the park almost immediately to get in place. Eddie was heading over in Jamie's car while Jamie would be arriving with Detective Triano in the surveillance unit. It was to be parked a safe distance away, monitoring the situation through their body cameras and microphones.
By 4:40, each team had arrived separately at their designated locations and were in place.
Eddie driving up in Jamie's Mustang only accentuated the image she was presenting. The next two hours would be the window the perpetrator had been striking in. She got out of the car, taking her time locking the vehicle then walking over to the running trails. It was decided that they would have her follow the most challenging route since that seemed to be his preferred target. Eddie ran daily but she was pretty sure she'd need a hot bath with Epson salt when today was over. She wasn't used to the gravel trails and even though the park was in the city there were some decent inclines. She felt a prolonged once over from several corporate types as she stretched out. She made it a point to be dismissive both to instigate any would be attacker and to amuse Jamie. If he had to watch her body camera all morning, the least she could do was make it interesting.
After receiving the signal, to start off. As she started running, her mind wandered away from the op. Jamie had seemed slightly off for the past few days, but she couldn't figure out why. Ironically it didn't seem to be her undercover work that was bothering him. He was rarely insecure about them, especially once the specter of the wedding and his complicated history had passed. It was as if the moment she started down the aisle she could see how relieved he was. Now, he was acting strangely again and she might have to drag it out of him soon. If he needed a little positive reinforcement or encouragement, then maybe she'd have to skip her puppy TLC sessions at the shelter for a couple weeks and concentrate on the needs of her husband.
After 45 minutes of one of the toughest runs she'd had in some time, their first attempt to draw the perp out was half over. By the time she'd run 3 miles, her calves were screaming and she was discouraged. Suddenly the earpiece she had hidden under her cute headband crackled to life. "Looks like Team 2 grabbed somebody. Let's give it 15 minutes more then wrap it up for today." With all the media coverage there was a strong possibility that at least a couple of the twelve attacks were not related or that there was more than one person preying on women in Brooklyn. There was no need to pull out immediately just because the other team picked someone up.
When the group reconvened back at the 6-3, they got some discouraging news. The attacker the team had nabbed knew his victim. He turned out to be a very jealous ex who couldn't understand why she had left him. Thanks to the decoy team, his attempt to teach her a lesson wasn't successful, but the criminal going after random joggers was still on the loose.
Eddie was sore and tired when they got back home. Jamie had some paperwork to do, so he got down to it while Eddie had her date with the bathtub and some epsom salts. When she finally emerged from the bathroom after dozing off for a while, Jamie was nowhere to be seen. She found a post it note on his laptop screen that said, "Picking up our dry cleaning and something for dinner. Love - J"
Eddie decided to catch up with her partner and see how her shift had gone. As feared, Rachel was paired up with a guy who would have much preferred a male partner to serve as his wing man while he made sure every eligible female in the vicinity of the 2-9 knew he was happy to be of assistance. Not that he was a bad officer, he was just a bit of a macho jerk and spending the day with Rachel would cramp his style. At first he hadn't minded riding with Eddie for a few shifts, because he knew she'd always had a male partner. One sexist comment too many though and she had threatened to have his academy photo printed up and passed out to every woman she encountered on the beat. He had graduated the academy with her when he was about 30 pounds skinnier and before investing in Invisalign braces. Combine that with the hours he had logged in the gym and his transformation was rather remarkable. Eddie made sure that Rachel had plenty of information to keep Mr. Smooth on his own side of the car and behaving like less of a Neanderthal than usual.
Jamie walked into their apartment with his arms completely filled with dry cleaning and take out Mexican. He was just in time to hear the end of their conversation.
"Don't worry about Thursday, if need be we can arrange for you to spend some time with my sweet Frankie. Bye chika, see you tomorrow."
Jamie nearly dropped everything and turned on his heels for a couple hours. What the hell? Instead he coolly had her grab the food and announced somewhat gruffly that he was going to take care of the dry cleaning.
Jamie went into their bedroom and sat down on the side of the bed. He placed his head in his hands. He knew he was being ridiculous. Clearly Frankie was no big secret, she'd brought the name up several times, plus if Rachel knew about it... then it hit him. What was really bothering him was jealousy. He was jealous of Rachel Whitten.