Many thanks to Grey Fox anon for your wonderful review, though I should correct you that Christy's investigation only lasted 1 year and 2 months, not a full 3 years.
21 October 2014
8.47 am
Keith and Christy's Apartment, VSSE Residential Wing
As Keith slowly awoke, he dimly heard the sound of someone typing rapidly. Even before he opened his eyes, he knew what he would see.
Sure enough, Christy was working at her desk, looking as though she had already been awake for hours.
"How much sleep did you get last night?" Keith asked as casually as he could manage.
If he hadn't been watching for it, he would have missed it, but Christy flinched almost imperceptibly as he spoke, as though she had been taken by surprise.
"Don't worry about it," she replied, smoothly shutting the lid of her laptop briefcase. "I just had some stuff to finish up."
An uncomfortable silence descended as they avoided looking at each other.
Over the past few months, Keith had been surprised to find that Christy no longer left VSSE HQ. But instead of things getting better between them, Christy had seemed even more harried and guarded than she had been before she'd returned home.
Despite Christy's initial claim that she was only back while waiting for her contact to get in touch, she had begun holing up in their room all day, typing furiously on her laptop long before Keith awoke in the morning and continuing to work late into the night.
Clearly, she was still working on her ongoing assignment, but the question of why she had suddenly chosen to do so back at HQ was a mystery that went unsolved.
Worse still was the unacknowledged yet steadily growing tension between her and Keith that seemed to deepen with each passing day.
Although Christy maintained that she trusted him, her actions and body language increasingly said otherwise.
Initially, Keith had convinced himself he was being unduly paranoid due to his worsening reputation within the VSSE. But he could no longer ignore the uncertainty that had begun to colour Christy's interactions with him.
It was subtle, but undeniable. Hesitating a moment too long when talking to him. A flicker of doubt in her eyes before she managed to conceal it.
Though Christy wouldn't openly admit it, Keith knew that even she was starting to doubt his innocence. Sometimes, during quiet moments, it almost felt as though she wanted to give voice to her suspicions and just directly ask Keith whether there was any truth to the rumours.
Instead, they continued to avoid the subject, maintaining the pretence that everything was fine even as their relationship slowly fell apart.
Looking at Christy, Keith's heart ached painfully. Suddenly, he was struck with a terrible desperation to just go back. Back to before all of this, when they were still bright and innocent. Before the rumours started plaguing Keith endlessly, chipping away at the trust between them.
If he were still the same person he'd been back at Neodyne, Keith would have put a stop to this entire charade by now and sat down to talk things out with Christy.
But Neodyne was a long time ago. The Keith who had existed back then was long gone. The man who replaced him was a failure, and a coward who would rather let the weight of distrust loom over him constantly than risk losing Christy entirely.
"Shouldn't you be getting ready?" Christy interrupted his train of thought.
Shaking off his melancholy, Keith shot her a grin that didn't reach his eyes. "It's just a routine surveillance assignment, no big deal. Besides, I've got another hour or so before we're supposed to report in."
"All the same, you probably shouldn't be late. You're already on thin ice; the last thing you need is another excuse to get into trouble." Christy gave him a pointed look, and his smile faded.
"Yeah, I guess you're right." With a sigh, Keith sat up, shoving aside the covers still tangled around him.
"Also, before I forget: I need to head out again," Christy suddenly said.
"…Oh." Keith wasn't sure of what else to say. "Your assignment again?"
"Unfortunately, yes. It's at a critical stage, so I probably won't be back for quite a while this time."
She wasn't looking at Keith, but he could see a faint flicker of regret in her expression nonetheless.
"Christy… I love you." Even as Keith said it, he knew the words sounded more like a plea than a declaration.
She hesitated slightly, then gave him an uncertain smile. "I know. I love you too."
Taking a seat beside Keith, she leaned over and kissed him; gently at first, then more desperately, as though she could bridge the gaping chasm between them by doing so.
Finally, she reluctantly pulled away. "Get moving before someone comes looking for you."
Hurriedly washing up, Keith glanced at the clock as he left.
Almost 9.15… I should probably hurry.
With one last lingering look at Christy, who had already gone back to work, Keith exited the apartment.
Even as he hoped otherwise, he wasn't quite able to shake the uneasy feeling that Christy had been giving him a final kiss goodbye.
As the door to their apartment swung shut, Christy pressed her lips together firmly, trying not to let her tears spill over.
It had been months since her investigation had begun focusing on Keith and his activities. Months of keeping tabs on Keith and combing through his old mission records, from his early days as a regular field agent to his missions as a Crisis Agent before his demotion, and finally his most recent missions.
At first, it had seemed as though she wouldn't find anything. But the relief she'd initially felt quickly faded as she began looking into the failed Zombie Drug mission in April 2012 that had led to Keith's demotion.
The VSSE's initial intel had deemed the drug retrieval mission to be a simple assignment; hence why Keith had been sent in alone without backup or mission control.
Certainly, there were times when the agency's intel was unfortunately incomplete, and this appeared to have been the case here as well. Keith had done his best under the circumstances, but it had been to no avail in the end.
It wasn't until Christy had reread the mission reports for the fourth or fifth time that she finally figured out what was bothering her.
Keith had claimed that he had no choice but to try to hold out against the seemingly endless enemy reinforcements, and that he had fallen to his exhaustion in the end, resulting in the drug being stolen.
But, if he had found himself alone in enemy territory with no way to call for backup, why hadn't he simply destroyed the drug?
The mission brief she'd retrieved from the Intelligence Officers' files indicated quite clearly that Keith had been instructed to stop the drug from falling into enemy hands at all costs.
Surely, once he realised that he was outnumbered and outgunned, Keith should have done the next best thing and destroyed the drug immediately, then focused on getting away and calling for help?
Why had he tried to withstand the enemy's onslaught instead, only attempting to destroy the drug once it was too late?
For all that Keith could be reckless at times, he had a strong sense of duty. He wouldn't have tried to tackle a challenge of this magnitude on his own out of hubris just to prove he could do so. What had made him hold back this time?
… Unless…
If Keith had been lying… If he'd fabricated the events in his mission report…
If he'd deliberately neglected to call for backup and had aided in the theft of the drug, then returned to Headquarters in "disgrace" and looking as though he'd been through hell…
Then, the failed mission suddenly painted a different picture entirely.
Either Keith had been incompetent…
Or he had deliberately sabotaged his own mission.
Neither option was particularly palatable, but Christy found herself wishing that Keith had simply been sloppy and messed up. It certainly didn't reflect well on him, but it was better than him being a traitor.
She tried to convince herself, but she couldn't ignore the gut feeling she had that some element of sabotage had been in play.
With a shake of the head, Christy forced herself to stop dwelling on her thoughts and focus on the work in front of her.
Months of watching Keith had yielded little direct intel, save for the obvious observation that he was increasingly distrusted by everyone. Even the other Crisis Agents seemed wary around him these days and wouldn't meet his eyes if they passed each other in the hallways of the Residential Wing.
What was more interesting was that the discrepancies in the VSSE's databases, while still occurring, had become increasingly subtle and less frequent… as though the mysterious saboteur within their ranks was aware that someone was looking into their activities and was being deliberately cautious as a result.
Coincidentally, Christy noticed that this change had begun happening shortly after she moved back into her apartment with Keith months ago.
(She didn't believe in coincidences any more than she believed that the traitor didn't exist.)
Her suspicions aside, she still needed tangible proof of sabotage during the leadup to the Terror Bite incident. Only then would she finally be able to confirm the identity of the traitor in their midst.
And she was just hours away from finally getting her hands on actual evidence.
It had taken months, but Christy had managed to call in several favours with a few of her contacts in exchange for valuable underworld intel. After some digging, one of them had finally unearthed rumours about a new partner that Wild Dog was rumoured to be working with…
Along with chatter about a powerful new drug that the megalomaniac had apparently gotten his hands on.
Even as she'd tried to tell herself that there was more than one illicit drug in the world, Christy knew that it had to be the stolen Zombie Drug.
Her contact had promised to get back to her with photographic proof today. Apparently, he had managed to gain access to surveillance footage which caught Wild Dog and his new partner on camera, just for a moment.
Once she had her proof, it was time for her to leave Headquarters again and hole up in her old safehouse as she compiled all her evidence and finalised her report.
She'd spent far too long having to control her emotions and pretend she wasn't breaking under the agony of suspecting that her boyfriend had betrayed them all. At least in the safehouse, she would be alone again, and free to finally let herself cry.
At that moment, a knock sounded at the door.
Surprised, Christy glanced up at the clock.
9.45… Can't be Keith; he wouldn't need to knock, and he should be gone by now anyway.
Cautiously, she slipped out of her seat and opened the door.
"Robert?" Christy stared at the agent in surprise. At this hour, the other agents should either be out on assignment or working at the office, so she hadn't expected to find him standing outside her door.
"Christy. Is Keith around?" Robert asked quietly, an unreadable expression on his face.
She shook her head. "I'm afraid you just missed him. He won't be back for hours."
At this, Robert seemed to relax slightly. "Good. I need to speak to you in private."
Christy blinked at him in surprise. "I'm sorry?"
Robert sighed. "Look, I wouldn't be here right now if it weren't important. It's about Keith."
At this, her interest was piqued. "Keith? What about him?"
"On the last few missions where he worked with my men, he was acting strangely…" Robert glanced around furtively. "May I come in? I don't want to risk anyone overhearing this."
Christy hesitated for a moment, then opened the door wider to let Robert in. "Alright, make it quick."
As she shut the door behind them, Christy glanced around the apartment, checking to see if any of her work stuff was lying around.
Nothing seemed out of place except her laptop, which was still open.
As she leaned over to shut her laptop, she realised that her cup of coffee was completely empty.
"Let me just make myself a coffee first," she said, shutting the laptop lid. "Would you like one?"
"I'd appreciate that, thank you."
Stepping into the kitchen, Christy made two cups of coffee and brought them out to the living area, placing them on the coffee table.
"Hold on, I'll just be a minute," she said.
Hurrying back to her laptop, she reopened its lid and activated the laptop's data encryption protocol, ensuring that its contents would be completely secure until she unlocked it with her biometric signature.
Not that she had reason to suspect Robert of anything, but a bit of paranoia certainly wasn't unwarranted under the circumstances.
Robert was still waiting patiently where she'd left him, sipping at his coffee.
"What did you want to talk about?" Christy asked. Taking a sip of her own coffee, she winced at the flavour, which seemed more bitter than usual.
I hope my coffee powder hasn't gone bad.
Fortunately, Robert didn't seem to notice the added bitterness of the coffee; given that he took his coffee black as night, the bitter drink probably tasted normal to him.
"Yes, it's about Keith… But before that, are you alright?" Robert asked.
"What do you mean?" Christy blinked at him in surprise.
"You look exhausted, Christy. When's the last time you slept?"
Scrubbing a hand roughly across her face, Christy let out a laugh.
"If you're saying that, it must be really bad," she commented teasingly.
Robert's tendency to work himself to the brink of exhaustion was well–known amongst those who were familiar with him. She could still remember how she and Keith used to have to force him to stop and eat or sleep whenever he took on too much work at once.
Thinking about the rosy days of the past, her smile faded, and she took another gulp of her coffee. A nagging headache was beginning to pound through the base of her skull, and she was feeling slightly dizzy.
Maybe I do need to get some sleep… Hopefully the coffee will help for now.
"It must be hard on you," Robert suddenly said.
"Pardon?"
"Being with Keith, I mean," he explained. "What with all the rumours, and… Well, nobody would blame you if you chose to break things off with him."
As Robert's words sank in, Christy's temper flared.
"How dare you, Robert?!" She slammed her cup onto the coffee table, shaking with fury. "Are you seriously suggesting I'd break up with Keith just because people are gossiping about him? Do you really think I'm that shallow?"
She was angry now, not just at Robert but at the world at large.
How dare the universe grant her happiness with Keith and then force her to spy on her own boyfriend?
How could Keith have turned his back on all of them so easily? Did the ideals they fought for mean nothing to him?
Did she mean nothing to him?
"Easy, Christy. I wasn't accusing you of that," Robert said soothingly, raising his hands in a placating motion. "You're a good person, you know that? That's why I'm sorry you had to be caught up in all of this."
He was smiling, but something about Robert's expression seemed off to her.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
Instead of answering, he tilted his head slightly and looked at her half–drunk coffee.
"What's the matter? Coffee not to your liking?"
"What are you…" Christy trailed off as her brain finally caught up.
The bitter taste of her coffee… with an undertone of almonds that she'd only just noticed.
No…
Instinctively, she reached for her gun, only to remember she wasn't carrying one.
She opened her mouth to shout, to scream, something, but before she could even blink Robert had one hand clamped over her mouth as he restrained her with the other arm, stopping her from struggling.
"I'm sorry about this, Christy. But you've left me no choice."
Hearing the mocking, faux–apologetic tone to Robert's voice, Christy struggled harder, trying to bite Robert and get him to release her, but his grip was too strong.
"If it helps, this is nothing personal. I would have liked to keep you out of this, if only you hadn't gotten involved."
As Christy's struggles grew weaker, Robert released her, letting her fall to the ground. Through her dimming vision, she saw him beginning to turn away.
"Robert… Why?" She rasped.
The footsteps stopped for a moment.
"Because this is something that nobody else has the courage to do. Goodbye, Christy."
As darkness swam at the edges of her vision, Christy felt a small measure of relief knowing that Robert had no way of knowing about the photo her contact was going to send over.
As soon as the VSSE saw it, the real traitor would be exposed. And with her data encryption program active, Robert wouldn't be able to tamper with the evidence or delete it. Everybody would know the truth.
It still didn't make up for the hatred she bore towards her former friend… and herself, for abandoning Keith just like everyone else had and leaving him to suffer alone.
Keith… I'm so sorry. I wish I'd trusted you.
That last thought clung to her as she sank into the dark void of oblivion.
As Christy's body went slack, Robert palmed her eyes shut in a gesture of respect.
Despite his initial intentions, he'd found himself unable to watch as Christy succumbed to the cyanide he'd slipped into her coffee. And so, he'd turned away, refusing to look.
Sorry Christy… I know you won't believe me, but I honestly didn't want it to come to this.
Pulling out a pair of gloves from his jacket, Robert put them on and began his sweep of the apartment, wiping down everything he'd touched to ensure that his fingerprints wouldn't be found anywhere in the room.
He had been fortunate enough to have caught Christy before she left Headquarters again. Disposing of her at a VSSE safehouse would have been much more difficult, and it would have been harder to frame Keith for the deed as well.
Robert had swapped out the Residential Wing's security camera footage beforehand, ensuring there was no trace of him having visited Christy this morning, but the loop showing an empty hallway would only last for another 15 minutes — just enough time for him to finish cleaning the apartment and make his exit.
Doing a final sweep of the room, Robert glanced over at Christy's work laptop, wondering whether he should risk tampering with it.
Cautiously opening the lid with his gloved hands, he found that the laptop's encryption program was active, preventing him from prying into its contents.
Clever girl.
In spite of his slight irritation, he had to admit a grudging respect for Christy's sense of caution.
It should be fine. Christy was still investigating Keith, so whatever she has in that laptop will point to him.
As Robert turned to leave, a buzzing sound caught his attention.
It took him a moment to realise the noise was coming from within the drawer of Christy's work desk.
Pulling the drawer open, he scooped up the burner phone sitting in the drawer and flipped it open…
Only to be greeted by a message that nearly made his heart stop:
Photographic evidence sent.
Just three words, but it was enough to set off alarm bells in Robert's mind. The message had obviously been sent by one of Christy's contacts. And if they were telling the truth about having photographic evidence…
Scrolling through the phone's message history, Robert hurriedly read through Christy's earlier messages from the same number.
Photographic proof of my meeting with Wild Dog… Damn it!
Robert glanced from the phone to the clock, and then to Christy's laptop.
The rest of Christy's investigation data was harmless; there was no direct proof of his involvement, one way or the other.
A photo, on the other hand… As soon as someone saw that photo, he was as good as dead.
He had less than 5 minutes left to make his exit, and there was no way he would be able to crack the laptop's encryption program in time.
Guess I have no choice…
Cursing under his breath, Robert placed the burner phone back where he'd found it and slid the drawer shut.
Actually…
Thinking for a moment, he pulled the phone out and shoved it into the drawer of Keith's bedside table instead, deliberately leaving the drawer half–open.
Then, he scooped up Christy's laptop and exited the room, shutting the door behind him with a firm click.
Slipping into his own apartment next door, Robert quickly scanned the room until he found what he was looking for.
Not the most elegant plan, but this will have to do.
Grabbing an empty box, he placed the briefcase inside, then piled in old files and paper junk until the briefcase was hidden from view.
Pulling out his burner phone, Robert fired off a message before picking up the box and exiting the Residential Wing.
Behind him, the blinking lights of the security cameras switched back on as the swapped surveillance footage ended and the cameras began transmitting again.
Fortunately for Robert, he managed to avoid most of the other VSSE personnel as he slipped through the halls of Headquarters. The few people who saw him didn't give him a second glance, and he was able to make his way outside without attracting undue attention.
Weaving through alleys and backstreets, Robert reached the rendezvous point where he'd arranged to meet his contact. Removing the briefcase, he ditched the box in a nearby dumpster and waited.
The man showed up a few minutes later. Looking around to make sure nobody was watching, Robert handed him the briefcase.
"Tell your boss I'll be contacting him to retrieve it once the coast is clear. Until then, lay low with it and keep it safe."
With a nod, the man vanished into the shadows of the alley.
Robert waited a few minutes, then exited the alley and made his way back to Headquarters.
There was one last thing he needed to do.
Heading to the Crisis Agent office, Robert seated himself at his desk, booting up his computer.
His fingers flew rapidly across the keyboard as he accessed the backdoor he'd opened into the VSSE's database.
With a few quick taps of the keyboard, Robert erased the VSSE's records on the Zombie Drug incident before exiting the database, wiping any traces of his tampering.
5.34 pm
Keith let out a sigh of relief as he entered the Residential Wing, rubbing his eyes tiredly.
What should have been a simple surveillance assignment had turned out to be more complicated than expected. Though the agents initially thought they would be done by early afternoon, evening had fallen by the time Keith was able to return to Headquarters.
Pushing open the door to his apartment, Keith stepped inside.
Moments later, a bloodcurdling scream echoed through the Residential Wing.
7.15 pm
VSSE Briefing Room
The meeting room was silent as the Crisis Agents sat around the table, looking uncomfortably at each other.
Upon hearing Keith scream, the other agents had burst into the room to find Keith cradling Christy's lifeless body, weeping violently.
Robert had gently pulled Keith away from Christy as Richard ran off to alert someone.
Soon after, there had been a flurry of activity. Keith had vehemently refused to set foot inside his apartment after Christy's body was taken away. Instead, he retreated to the office, sitting numbly at his desk as his tears continued to flow. The other Crisis Agents had soon joined him as the Residential Wing was cordoned off for investigation.
Keith barely seemed to notice their presence. He looked devastated and broken, like he'd just lost everything.
Even though the other Crisis Agents had been uneasy around Keith since the rumours started circulating, they quietly sat with the grieving agent, watching over him.
At some point, there had been an announcement over the PA system, ordering the Crisis Agents to report to the briefing room immediately.
Keith hadn't reacted to the announcement either, and Robert ended up taking him by the hand and leading him to the briefing room as the other agents made their way there.
Even now, he sat at one end of the table by himself, not paying any attention to his surroundings.
The door swung open at that moment and the Director walked in, taking a seat opposite the agents.
All the agents immediately turned their attention to him, aside from Keith.
The Director looked over at Keith. "Agent Martin."
Keith remained motionless for a long moment before slowly looking up. Though his tears had dried up, his eyes were dull and lifeless.
"What's going on?" He rasped hoarsely.
The Director's voice was colder than it had ever been, and the temperature in the room seemed to drop as he spoke.
"Officer Ryan was investigating a possible traitor within the VSSE. Her briefcase, along with all the data she collected, is missing. Is there something you want to tell us?" (1)
At this, Keith seemed to come out of his stupor, staring at the Director in shock. "Excuse me?"
The Director said nothing, merely fixing Keith with an icy glare.
"And you… You think I'm the traitor?" Keith's eyes were wide with disbelief.
The other agents remained silent, looking away uncomfortably.
"How could you even… Christy was my girlfriend! I loved her. Do you really think I would have killed my own girlfriend?"
"Your girlfriend, who had been looking into your past missions and activities for several months." The Director raised an eyebrow at Keith.
Keith went very still. "…What?"
"Officer Ryan had been giving me periodic updates on the progress of her investigation. Considering the allegations about your misconduct, it was natural that you became one of her top suspects."
"I'm not leaving you to deal with this alone."
"Of course I trust you."
"I love you too."
Keith swallowed bitterly, clenching his fists tightly.
He'd assumed Christy had recently begun to doubt him. He had been hoping to find a way to reassure her, to prove she could trust him.
She'd been covertly investigating him for months.
I thought that as long as Christy was by my side, I could ignore the rumours. But I'd already lost her a long time ago.
"Regardless…" His voice broke, and he tried again. "Regardless of what Christy was doing, I wouldn't kill her. It wasn't me!"
"The autopsy places her time of death between 9 and 10 am. Surveillance footage for the Residential Wing reveals that you were the last person to leave the apartment at 9.15 am, when you left on your assignment. Who else do you think might have done it?" The Director answered coldly.
"…Let me get this straight. You think I killed Christy, stole her briefcase… Then left on my assignment, and returned to Headquarters afterwards. Why the hell would I do that?" Keith snapped.
In response, the Director silently placed a burner phone on the briefing room's table.
"…What's that?" Keith looked at it warily.
"This is a burner phone Officer Ryan was using during her investigation. We found it earlier in your bedside table drawer. Why was it there?" The Director gave him a level stare.
"I already said I don't know! It wasn't me!" Keith was almost shouting in frustration now.
"Fortunately for you, I have a theory," the Director responded.
"You found Christy's phone and read through her messages. Discovering that she was about to obtain photographic proof that you're the traitor, you killed her to cover your tracks. Officer Ryan had informed me she was planning to leave Headquarters again today, so once you disposed of her body, nobody would have realised she was dead for weeks."
"But Officer Ryan was meticulous about her work. She wouldn't have left her data lying around for you to pry into. You needed time to not only dispose of her body but also hack into her laptop and destroy the evidence; time which you didn't have, because you were expected to report in for your assignment."
"If you were late, someone would have come looking for you, and you'd have been discovered instantly. You had no choice but to hide the briefcase and act normal, hoping you could clean up afterwards and vanish."
"Except your assignment ran late. By the time you got back to Headquarters, it was already evening. There were too many people around the Residential Wing. You had no way of smuggling anything out without someone spotting you."
"So you feigned ignorance, pretending you'd just discovered Christy's body. What better way to throw off suspicion than to play the grieving boyfriend?" The Director folded his arms across his chest.
Keith gaped at him. "Sir, please… You can't… You can't actually believe I'd do that, right? Please…"
The Director's silence was the only answer he received.
Feeling a wave of panic well up in his chest, Keith desperately looked at his former partner.
"Robert… You believe me, don't you? You know I wouldn't do something like this!"
Robert's eyes were cold and unforgiving.
"If you really are the traitor, then I can't trust anything I thought I knew about you. Partner." He spat the last word venomously, turning away from Keith.
None of the other agents said anything, though a couple of them looked away uncomfortably.
The other agents started avoiding me when the rumours began spreading. Christy lost faith in me months ago. And even Robert… I thought he would believe me, despite our falling out. But he thinks I'm guilty too.
"Where's Christy's briefcase, Agent Martin?" The Director asked coldly.
None of them trust me.
After that bitter realisation, everything went hazy.
21 October 2014
It seems that Keith has a stronger will to survive than I initially thought. Somehow, he managed to slip his guard and flee Headquarters before he could be taken away for interrogation.
Until he is recaptured, it is imperative that I get rid of that photo as soon as possible. Nonetheless, I will need to be patient for a while longer. At the moment, the VSSE is on high alert because of what has happened. Once the agency's scrutiny lets up, I must arrange to retrieve the briefcase from Wild Dog and destroy that shred of proof before it destroys me.
Notes:
1. Regarding the scene where Keith is accused of murdering Christy: Yes, we've seen a watered–down version of this during Keith's flashback dream sequence back in Chapter 2. You might notice this is somewhat different from the version that appears in Keith's dream. For one, there was no indication that Keith had been tainted with rumours before Christy's death, or that he and Christy were having relationship issues.
On a meta level, it's because I hadn't fully planned the mechanics of Christy's murder yet at the time, so it ended up being quite different from the way I'd been imagining it when writing Chapter 2.
In–universe, you can see it as a case of selective memory. Considering that Christy was murdered, it's probably easier for Keith's mind to latch onto the good memories he had with her. Keith would probably prefer to romanticise Christy as his lost love than dwell on the painful reality that she had already been growing distant from him before her death.
This also applies to Keith's thoughts about Robert in the flashback to their fight in the same chapter. As we've seen, Robert had already become rather twisted even before the events of TC5. But Keith still prefers to remember Robert as the cantankerous but protective partner he used to be before his fall.
Not to mention, at the point Keith is dreaming this, he's trying to cope with the revelation of Robert's betrayal. His mind is thus more likely to fixate on Robert in his memories than anyone else.
You might also remember that the Christy in Keith's nightmare had been strangled, not poisoned. Again, I wasn't sure how Christy was going to die yet at the time. Just take it as another way that Keith's subconscious was torturing him; strangulation marks are a more obvious and horrifying sight than death by poison, which often looks more subtle.