The next morning Gabriella woke up in bed next to Eliot who was still quietly sleeping. She couldn't remember coming to bed or falling asleep but she didn't hesitate to acknowledge that anytime she'd been in Troy's arms right before hand she'd slept through the night. No nightmares.
Getting up she quietly shuffled her way down the stairs and into the kitchen. She needed coffee. She could smell it and it smelled delicious.
"Well get a look at you," an older but familiar voice caught her off guard and Gabriella instantly stilled. "No wonder he's isn't working."
"Dad."
Gabriella turned and seen Troy suited up in his uniform, which was surreal after seeing him in nothing but jeans and t-shirt all day yesterday.
"What the hell is going on?" she finally spoke up running a hand through her hair.
"I have to go to work today," Troy put his cup in the sink, "My dad is going to watch you until I get back."
"Watch me?" Gabriella eyes widen as she jerked back in confusion, "I don't need to be watched."
Troy adjusted his hat and began making his way to the front door, "Yes you do. You need the protection and I need to work. I can't do both."
Gabriella followed him out into the hall by the front door, "Are you crazy?" she exclaimed, "I'd rather get eyeball surgery then stay here with that man."
Troy let out a sigh as he grabbed his keys, "Ella."
"No."
Troy turned around to face her place his hands on his hips in that universal cop stance. "Gabriella, you don't have a choice. I'm not giving you one. I'll swing by around lunch to check on you but till then make it work and be nice."
"I am nice."
Troy smirked, "Be nice." he repeated.
"You owe me," she muttered as she crossed her arms.
Troy let out a sigh as he made his way out shutting the door behind him.
Gabriella turned around and seen Mr. Bolton holding out a cup of coffee from the door way. "Coffee, Chicago?"
Gabriella narrowed her eyes at him as she placed her hand on her hip. "I don't need a babysitter."
"I'm sure you don't," he said with a knowing smile.
"And you will not traumatize my son with any dead stuffed animals," Gabriella said taking the coffee cup from him.
"Didn't bring any."
"Great," Gabriella sipped her coffee and then walked past him back up the stairs.
"You haven't changed one bit," Jack said over his shoulder as he listened to her climb the stairs.
"Yeah. Well, you look old," she shot back.
It was mid-afternoon before Troy could meet with Taylor and the Doc in his office for a preliminary report about the autopsy results, and an update from the investigative unit from his only detective on staff, Danforth.
"This is a strange one," Doc said.
"Define strange." Troy's frown deepened as he stood behind his desk.
"For one thing, the bodies were nude and had been washed down with bleach to remove forensic evidence. Most killers would not know to do unless he's watched a hell of a lot of CSI on television," the doctor said.
"She could have," Taylor interjected.
Troy raised a brow, "we don't know if the killer is a he or a she at this point."
"Don't we?" Taylor crossed her arms, "Philips was right in the room beside her, and Betty was her superior at work. She had opportunity to kill both."
"But not motive." Troy reminded the room sternly.
"Yeah, well killings in her blood if you ask me," Taylor huffed. "Let's not forget her who her father is."
"Well whoever it is went to extremes to destroy evidence that would lead us to them. My guess is that this is not the first violent crime for our killer. I'll bet they've even served time for a violent crime. They're clearly determined not to get caught again, and has taken measures to make sure that they aren't."
"Yeah, you may be right," Troy said as looked at the stack of papers on his desk.
"There's more," Danforth spoke up as he looked down at his notes. "There are no prints on the blue ribbon this guy uses around the body, or on the bow. Killer must have used gloves. I'm no profiler, but I'm guessing that ribbon and bow represents something to the killer. Maybe something he is trying to communicate. This might even be pretty sick, but is he saying that the dead body is a gift or something?"
Troy lifted his hand and brushed it through his hair, "According to the note he left behind for Mrs. Catania the bodies are a gift."
"She could have written that note herself," Taylor countered.
"Why?" Troy asked her, "How does that make sense, besides she was with me during the time Ryan was attacked. She isn't our guy."
"No, she could have a partner."
"And what's their motive?" Troy said a little more intrusive than he intended.
"Don't know, but you can expect my request for a search warrant. I want access to any computer she might have access to, the printer, the paper and anything else I think looks interesting. I also want a handwriting analysis."
"You're crazy."
"You're sleeping with her aren't you?"
Troy blinked and his face contorted, "I am not sleeping with her."
"You could lose your job for this," Taylor said placing her hands on her hips. "You might want to think twice about getting cozy with a suspect. Ethics and all."
"I am not doing anything of the sort, I am keeping her safe. That is all. We have a very good reason to believe that whoever is doing this is after her. Or are we just forgetting about the carjacking because its convent for your case?"
Taylor was silent as she crossed her arms and looked off to the side.
"Cause of death?" Troy asked looking back at the Doc.
"Definitely homicide. More specifically strangulation. The hyoid bone in her neck was broken. He strangled her with his hands. Also, there were small burns about 3.5 centimeters apart on her neck and back matching the prongs of a stun gun, same as what we found on the first victim."
Troy took some notes in his note pad, "It might be how he's controlling them or catching them," he said out loud.
"Time of death?" Danforth asked.
Doc let out a sigh as he adjusted his glasses, "Judging from the level of decomp and maggots, my guess is anywhere from three to four days."
Troy let out a breath, "Needless to say this case is our first priority. Also no information from the crime scene or the autopsy gets to the media. Is that understood? It's a small town, let's not cause panic and hysteria."
"People are showing up dead," Taylor huffed, "People are already on the panic."
"Then let's not give people a reason to think we don't have it under control," Troy said as he grabbed his hat and then his keys, "I have to go. Everyone stay on your toes and keep me updated."
Troy parked his trucked behind squat car parked in his own driveway. "Now what?" he murmured as he leapt from his truck and was about to slam the door when he heard gunshots coming from the back of the house. He turned around drove into the front seat and grabbed his gun from the glove box.
When he reached the back yard, he saw Gabriella pointing a pink glock at a round, black and white paper target mounted on a fence. Her arms were extended, feet spread, hands aiming the gun at the target. He watched as one of the deputies from the station moved behind her, smoothing his hands down her arms to adjust her aim. His jaw clenched. The sight of another man touching her made him want to rip his head off.
Gabriella shot at the target nearly hitting the bull's eye.
"Hey, not bad, Ella!"
She turned to say something to the deputy when she noticed Troy leaning against the side of the house. Even from the distance, she could see his expression was a perfect storm of jealousy, anger and testosterone. He beamed a take-no-prisoners glare at the deputy's back.
"Hi, Troy. Did you bring me my things?" That was the only excuse she could invent for him being there. Damn it. The last thing they needed was to be the focus of deputy gossip.
Just then the deputy turned around and waved. "Hey Sheriff," he watched as Troy headed towards them.
"Your Dad let me borrow your mom's gun and then Donny here offered to teach me to shoot." Gabriella explained keeping her tone friendly. She'd also borrowed some of his mother's clothes since she had none of her own just yet. Luckily they were close to the same size and even though Jack had pulled these out of the garage she still felt weird in his mother's clothes.
"I can see that." He accepted the deputy's offer to shake hands. Then gritted his teeth and put his hands on his hips.
"How are you doing?" he gazed down at Gabriella, looking very pissed. The way his eyes moved down her body told her, he wasn't just talking about her aim.
"Okay. No bull's eyes yet, but some close hits."
"Let's see you try it again," his voice soften as he watched her face the target with a wide stance, two-handed grip and steady aim. He moved in back of her as the deputy had done, but when he touched her, his hands possessively gripped her waist.
"Take a deep breath and fill your lungs with air. Hold it. Then shoot."
He ran his hands down her hips. Something very warm was shooting through her system. She nearly gasped when he tugged her against his hard body. "Are you ready?"
"What?" The heat of his body made it hard to focus. She tried to wiggle out of grip without calling attention to it. No luck.
"When you're ready to shoot, do it."
She shot and the target flipped wildly. The deputy ran over to the fence to get it. Held it up and called "bull's eye."
"Nice job Chicago."
Both Troy and Gabriella spun around to see Jack standing by the back door. "Thank you Jack," Gabriella said looking at the pink Glock in her hands. "Could you tell Mrs. B, I said thanks."
"Since when do you call my father, Jack?" Troy eyed her questioningly.
"I can clean that gun for you Ella," The deputy said as he came back towards them.
"And since when does he call you Ella?" Troy murmured in a lower voice.
"You call me that all the time."
"I'm different."
"How?" Gabriella said handing the Glock to the deputy "Thanks Donny."
"Yeah, thanks Donny," Troy chimed as he placed a hand on the small of her back and led her back towards the house.
"You're being ridiculous," Gabriella said shrugging away from him and walked ahead.
Troy came up the back porch behind her stopping in front of his father. "Why is she out here shooting moms gun?"
"She said she'd never shot one before."
"So naturally, we arm her and give her lessons," Troy said placing his hands on his hips.
Jack crossed his arms, "She has a right to defend herself and her child."
"And she can do that by staying put right here in this house behind the locked door away from the windows," Troy countered as he caught on to a smell coming from inside. "Is that mom's pot roast?"
"I don't see what the big deal is, she was perfectly safe out here in the yard with an armed deputy. She needs to learn how to defend herself so I made a suggestion and she took me up on my offer."
Troy lips pulled into a tight pressed line. "Is mom here?"
"Of course your mothers here?" Jack huffed, "What was I supposed to do? Lave her at home by herself all day with some killer at large?"
"Dad," Troy reached up and pinched the bridge of his nose as he headed inside. Unfortunately he was too late all his kitchen cabinets were empty and the contents currently all over the kitchen table.
"Mom?"
"Troy," Lucile chimed with excitement, "Oh let me look at you, and you look so handsome in your uniform. Have you seen Ella, she walking around in my skinny jeans from before I even had you. Can you believe it?" she playfully swatted at him with a wooden spoon she was cleaning. "That girl has amazing hips for someone who's already given birth. She could probably do it at least three more times before there any repercussions."
"What?"
"Troy," Eliot came running into the kitchen from the living room in one of Troy old basketball jerseys and shorts. "Can you teach me how to play basketball?"
Troy let out a breath and before he could answer his mother spoke again.
"Isn't he just darling, Eliot, are you hungry? I've made peanut butter sandwiches there in the fridge for you." Turning back to Troy she frowned, "By the way I cleaned out the fridge, it was disgusting in there. Not suitable for company."
Troy let out a breath as he brought hand up and removed his hat so he could shift his hand through his hair, "Sorry ma,"
"Nice to see Highland Meadows hasn't made you soft son." Jack said coming into the kitchen.
Troy rolled his eyes as he turned around and made his way out of the kitchen, and into the living room where Gabriella was currently going through a box.
"What is that?"
"A box of your old clothes," she said quietly, "your dad brought it over for Eliot."
"You guys seem to be getting along better than I remember."
"Yeah well," Gabriella picked up a blue t-shirt and folded it in her lap, "We're running out of people on our side."
"You can't say things like that."
"Easy for you to say. You're not wearing a psycho-killer's target on your back."
"Ella."
Gabriella eyes shot up at him as she moved the shirt off to the side and stood up, "What was that about anyway?"
"What was what about?"
"Outside with Donny?"
Troy narrowed his eyes, "He had his hands on you."
"So did you. First chance you got, may I remind you."
Troy opened his mouth to speak and she cut him off.
"I'm married. I don't belong to you and I'm not jumping in bed with Donny any sooner than I'd be jumping into bed with you."
"Excuse me," Troy said with a small smirk, "I think you'd jump into bed with me a little sooner than you would with Donny."
"Troy."
Troy let out a breath and shifted his weight, "How are you holding up?"
"We're doing fine. Do you know anything new about Betty's killer?"
"Ella, I can't comment about an ongoing investigation."
"Bullshit. He's targeting me. I need to know what you know." She glared at him her anger threating to boil over.
"I can't talk to you or anyone else about an ongoing investigation." With the addition of the note to the investigation, she was now more than a witness who found the body. She played an integral role in the investigation. "I'm sorry."
"Screw you," Gabriella walked past him back into the kitchen.
Troy murmured a slur under his breath and made his way for the front door. He needed to get out of this nut house. His life was spiraling out of control. Just as he was closing the door Donny was coming up the steps. "Deputy."
"Sheriff."
Troy stood here for a moment before realizing that Donny was on his way inside. "Right then." He said gritted his teeth and stepping aside so Donny could pass. He made his way to his truck and got in. Hopefully when got home later tonight the craziness would have resided.
Gabriella stood by the kitchen window watching as Troy got into his truck. She wondered what he thought of about her. How he really felt about her? There had been one drama after the other since they met. Most men hated drama in relationships. He was probably sick of it, and she didn't blame him.
And here she was in love with him. Like a fool she was pinning away for him, melting at the knees like some teenager whenever he was around and constantly checking out his ass in that uniform. He'd driven all the way home in the middle of his work day to check on her. To protect her. No one had ever done anything even close to that for her-ever.
In her few years of foster care, no one really cared if she complained. If she felt uncomfortable, if older men who should have known better gave her attention she didn't want. During her community college years before she met Michael she might as well have been invisible. Nothing but damaged goods and an attitude problem.
Michael had fooled her. Michael had held the wool over her eyes for a while before she realized that the love between them wasn't real. That she was just a possession to be owned. Watching Troy's truck pull out of the drive way a small part of herself sadden at the idea of it happening to her again.
She knew that he cared for her and was attracted to her; but she needed to know he was in love with her. A man could care about a woman and want to protect her but that didn't mean he was in love with her. Some men were hard-wired to protect a woman, even if he wasn't emotionally involved with her. Was Troy one of those men?
"If he catches you by a window he'll kick my ass," Jack's voice sliced through her thoughts and Gabriella turned around to find him watching her with a faint smile.
Gabriella's smile softened as she crossed her arms, "Jack, are you afraid of the Sheriff?"
"He has one hell of a temper," Jack cautioned as he came over to the window just in time to see Troy drive off.
"I'm used to a lot worst," Gabriella muttered under her breath as she tucked her hair behind her ears.
"Look," Jack said quietly placing a small hand on her elbow and making sure they weren't overheard. "You're a strong woman, you know that don't you?"
"Don't go soft on me now Jack," Gabriella said quietly.
"Listen here, Chicago," he said sternly. "This case is gonna get ugly fast before it's over. When the time comes you might have to make a hard choice. Are you prepared for that?"
"Prepared for what?"
"You'll know."
Gabriella suddenly felt her stomach drop open and her eyes darted up towards Jack, "are you saying-"
"I'm saying you have a God given right to protect that boy of yours. Now, I know what the laws are, my son knows what the laws are. But, I don't think I have to tell you that sometimes the law can be bullshit. Don't let him win." Jack reached behind him in the back of his waistband and took out the pink Glock, "You didn't get this from me."
Gabriella nodded as she took the gun.
Jack nodded as he looked back out the window, "Come on, let's eat some lunch."
"Jack?" Gabriella said quietly catching his attention. Before Jack could utter a word Gabriella's arms wrapped around him and she held onto him tightly. "Thank you."
"No problem."
"Also I need to tell you something."
"What's that Chicago?" he said pulling away from her.
"I had a gun a before, when the carjacking happened it turned up missing."
Jack was quiet for a moment, "Where did you get it?"
"I brought right outside of New York, I thought I was being followed and I was scared. I didn't know what else to do."
"Smart girl," Jack nodded, "Can they trace it back to you?"
"Not from the purchase, but I mean I touched a few times. So my prints might be on it."
"And you're sure it wasn't in the car?"
"Positive, and Troy hasn't said a word."
Jack nodded. "Let me worry about that, you keep a good eye on that one and put it somewhere safe. But do not leave this house without it. I mean it, don't even check the mail box without it. I put a bottle of pepper spray in your purse. We can't be everywhere but you can be prepared."
"Understood."
Hours later, Troy lightly knocked on the hospital door to the room looking inside and watching as a very tired looking Kelsi shifted from her seat. Her hand held onto Ryan's as he lay there motionless in a quiet slumber. "Can I come in?"
She nodded, a tiny sniffle escaping her as she used a crumpled tissue in her free hand to dab at her nose. "Have you found anything?"
"No," Troy frowned as he looked at all the machines monitoring Ryan progress. "How is he?"
The room was quiet, "He lost a lot of blood," Kelsi paused as she looked down at her lap. "This happened because we took her into our house didn't it?"
Troy brought up a hand and rubbed at the back of his neck. "I need to ask you some questions."
Kelsi eyes narrowed, "You knew how bad this situation was and you put her in our home." She let out a huff as she lurched forward her eyes tearing up and watching Ryan, "I thought she just need a place to stay."
"She did. I didn't know this would happen. None of us did."
"Bullshit," Kelsi said through gritted teeth, "People have been dying since she came here. Philips, my grandmother…" her voice broke. "We took her in."
"Kelsi," Troy came over to her his hand resting on her shoulder. "I am so sorry for all the pain you're going through right now. Your grandmother was a treasure to this town and she's going to be miss so much. And I promise you I will find the person who did this, but you have to understand." He said lifting her chin to catch her attention. "The person who is doing this, he wants to hurt Ella. He's going to do that by hurting everyone she cares about. This isn't something she can control. This is happening to her just as much as it's happening to all of us."
"I realize you are doing your job," Kelsi said taking a deep breath, "and I appreciate that. I'd really like to help you catch the guy. But you can understand how hard it is to take anything you say seriously when you're fucking the lead suspect in the case." The last part came out in harsh whisper and it made Troy jerk back.
"Kelsi?"
"Don't," she spat out. "Taylor was already here, and if you don't get out I'm not going to answer any more questions going further and I won't be nice. And I really like being nice. But I'm running out of nice. You understand?"
"Okay," Troy held up both hands in surrender. "I'm leaving."
Troy was standing in the hallway quietly calculating his next move and taking a moment to recover. When a familiar voice called to him and made him look up.
"Hey," Sharpay greeted as she crossed her arms. She was wearing her scrubs, which meant she was here on duty. Quickly he wondered if she too had turned on him.
"Hey,"
"You look like you've had better days," she said with frown.
"It's been a long one."
Sharpay smiled weakly, "What on earth is going on out there?"
Troy raised a brow as he motioned to the room behind him, "you haven't talked to your brother's wife yet."
Sharpay's face soften as she shrugged, "Troy I've talked to everyone, and this is a small town. Gossip spreads faster than the chicken pocks." Leaning forward she linked her arm with his and started leading him down at the hall. "You look like you could use a friend."
"Aren't you on duty?"
Sharpay shook her head, "My shift ended hours ago, but I can't go home. Not when Ryan's here. I've just been wondering around and doing busy work."
Troy frowned, "I'm so sorry about Ryan."
"It's not your fault. Just do me a solid and catch the asshole who slit his throat." She let out laugh, "Guess there's no chance you'd leave me alone with the guy for five minutes."
Troy let out huff, "Not a chance." They walked down the hall past people going about their day. "I have a really bad feeling about this case."
"Why is that?"
Troy shook his head not entirely sure how to explain it, "Just do."
"Well what about Ella?"
Troy sent her a sideways glance, "What about her?"
"Is it true?" Sharpay smirked, "are you really sleeping with the lead suspect? Do you really suspect her? Or is it just a cop thing to suspect everyone until proven otherwise?"
"Ella isn't committing these crimes."
"God it's been so long since I've heard you call her Ella," Sharpay leaned her head on Troy's shoulder. "You two are right off the pages of great novel you know that?"
"We're not anything." Troy said sternly. "She's married. She has a kid. I'm a sheriff. People are being murdered and it's my job to find the bad guy."
Sharpay let out a grunt, "Geez, you say that like she's happily married, and you'll never catch this guy." They came to a stop by the front doors of the hospital and Sharpay looked up at Troy with a sober expression. "Look the current situation… it blows. You're risking your job. Your reputation and the case's creditability in court. I won't sugar coat the facts for you. But you've loved this girl a long time. Doesn't that mean something?"
"I'm afraid it doesn't," he said quietly.