chapter word count: 598

noir heart: ninety-five

Jack's lips twist into an ugly combination of a wry smirk and a wince - pretty sure that knife-tip might have drawn blood. "Getting to the point so soon, Elsa? Usually people say 'hi'."

Her eyes narrow. "Is your death wish so strong, you would steal from who you believe to be a sociopath?"

Relaxing, despite the pricking pain, he chuckles darkly. "Well, this is the guy who tried to eat a bullet forty times, so...seemed like a good idea at the time, I guess."

The pressure against his stomach increases ever so slightly. She's skilled with a knife, apparently. "Why?" she says slowly, loudly enough to be heard over the rushing wind.

Jack's smirk falls, and he twists slightly so as to offer his entire torso to her, but also to extend his left hand further out of her reach. Her eyes rapidly snap to the chain dangling from his hand, and back to his, and her jaw visibly tenses.

"I know you put the ring on his body, just so you could laugh at a piece of evidence passing right through our hands. I know you need this thing. It's your compulsion. Your trophy. I did it to punish you," he says, his eyes not leaving hers even once.

Her eyes crinkle, and her lips curl into a dark grin as she laughs. Mockingly. Leaning forward, body shifting slightly to the right, she taunts him. "Punish me? Shall I list the ways you failed? One; just because my late husband was never seen wearing it, does not prove that I put it on his body."

She leans forward a little more. Jack's breathing deepens; he doesn't know why, but there's an electricity in the thin distance between them, quickening his already thumping heart. "Two; even if you had the key, I did not grant permission for you to enter my home. Unlawful entry. Not only that," she raises her eyebrows, as though she's nearing some kind of victory, "you stole the so-called evidence, therefore rendering it inadmissible. Not to mention that there's no investigation against me, and three?"

She closes even further. Even with the slight haze of adrenaline flowing through his body, the prominent thought in Jack's mind is that she's close enough to kiss. Tilting her head, her lips curl into a half-smirk. "Even if you somehow managed to bring this to court, all I would need to do is to break down in front of the jury while I list the catalogue of abuse I suffered at my late husband's hands, and the ravings of an obsessed detective. The jury would acquit me, and your career would be in even more shambles than it already is."

Jack chuckles lightly. "You're right, Elsa. You're too clever for me. I can't beat you within the law."

Her eyes flash, and the point twists half an inch. "Flattering a supposed malignant narcissist? How facetious of you."

Jack's hand flexes slightly, and the chain drops an inch. Elsa's entire body tenses, and she jerks a micron toward it. Her eyes linger a little too long on it's glimmering form. "But this isn't for any case, this is for me. That's why-"

Her eyes return to his, and widen. She knows what he's about to do. "Don't!"

"-sometimes I ignore the law."

Before she can react, he draws back his left hand as best he can...and throws the chain off the rooftop.

OMG JACK Y U DO DAT. U R DOIN ME A FRIGHTEN.

special thanks to: doomstone, anastasia, vrupd.1992, stefalove, hornedgoddess, utruk, edgarallansnow, ghost angel14 and jpbake for the reviews!