AFTER I realised what Harper had on me, I went home immediately and began planning. It took me two days, one to make my plans the next to ruminate but it was done and I was certain I had covered all the angles. I was actually proud of myself. Building a solid plan to make some burnout degenerate disappear was cake compared to explaining away an ATF agent, with family, friends and, from what I could tell, a very active sex life. Even so, I was confident all the pieces would fall into place and so far they had.
The hours of the day waned on until the sun began to set over Biscayne Bay, washing downtown Miami in violets and reds, making everything look darker and malevolent. I glanced at the clock, ever mindful of the time and Harper. She worked contentedly in between friendly banter with Batista, who seemed too readily soak up her attentions. Masuka came to say goodbye to me and drop off a file, then came Deb, gleefully telling me she had a 'hot' date.
One by one the room emptied until there were only three of us remaining and LaGuerta was on her way out. The Lieutenant sauntered over to my desk with her usual seductive gaze, trying her best to entice me. I wish she'd stop this, but a normal red blooded man wouldn't dare shoo away the attentions of an attractive woman, so I nod in her direction, trying to look busy in the hopes she will pass soon but she doesn't. The curvy woman helps herself to a corner of my desk, clearing a space to lift her leg onto and sit.
"I'm on my way out Morgan, thinking about getting a cup of coffee. Want to join me?"
"Sorry, Lieutenant. I have a lot of work to do. I'll be here until late."
She gives me a smile and leans over the desk, "I know you're waiting for Harper."
I blink, pretending to be stunned and then shake my head with an incredulous smile, "Lieutenant, I really do have a lot of work to do the Lopez murders ar-"
"Save it," she sighs, slightly angry. "I've seen you looking at her all day. I hope it works out for you,"
So do I. Although I am a little disconcerted that I was caught watching, it seems to have worked to my advantage. LaGuerta abandons her efforts to bed me and turns to Harper, asking the woman her plans for the evening.
"Nothing really. The case is almost closed and once I finish up these notes, the only problem I'll have is getting them to my car."
"Don't worry, I'm sure Dexter won't mind helping you out." LaGuerta said nodding in my direction, with a wink.
I smile at Harper, sunny and light and she returns it. It unsettles me that she is just as fake as I am. She was so seemingly genuine in everything she did I would have never imagined she had the capacity to be.
"I won't be here too much later," Harper says still looking at me. "I just have to finish up this and I'll finally be heading home."
She said 'finally' like she knew I had been waiting for her. A tingle of anticipation makes me sit up. I know what I have planned for her, I wonder if she has something planned for me as well.
"Well the both of you, try not to work too hard."
LaGuerta nods good night to us and leaves. As she promised the Lieutenant, Harper spends another hour at her desk, furiously typing. Her last words no doubt, naming me as her killer. Fortunately I saw far enough ahead to redirect all her outgoing messages to a false account I set up. I would check to see if I was right afterward, because at the moment she was standing to leave.
I see her light switch off and I pocket my syringe of tranquiliser.
"Hey Dex, mind helping me with this?" she says lifting an office box of paper.
I nod and take it from her with a smile and move away. As I approach the elevators, I wonder if what I have planned is in harmony with Harry's Code. My knee jerk reaction is to say yes. I've planned so hard for this moment, taking every precaution, every detail into account so I want this to happen, I want the answer to be yes. But I know, deep down, he would be disappointed in me. Agent Harper happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, but surely Harry would see the necessity in killing her. I had to preserve my secrets as well as his, after all the first rule was and always would be, "Don't get caught."
Don't get caught…
The elevator sounds its arrival and I begin to worry. She's not there, still fiddling with something at her desk. I hope she won't tell me to go ahead without her. I can't kill her in the garage, there are cameras there just as there are here. It has to be in the elevator and then to the basement. And almost as if she knew my desire, I see her part the glass doors, running as much as her heels will allow to catch up to me. In a breeze of sweet but subtle perfume, she hops inside just in time. I see her pause profoundly as she looks to the panel of buttons, none of them lit.
She glances at me and I worry she's figured it out, knows my plan and would run screaming into the hall, but Harper was very still. A soft smile curls her red lips and I feel uneasy. It's almost as if she knew and expected this moment.
Carefully I ease the box down, preparing myself for a fight. My finger slides off the needle's cap into my pocket. Her voice makes me pause.
"I know what you do, Dexter," she began, casually pressing the garage level. "But I also know exactly who you do it to."
I am surprised, "And?"
"And if my silence buys you more time to do it, then you have it." She said turning her face to the doors again.
The syringe is out of my pocket now. Her steadily pulsing neck calling for its sharpened tip. I only trusted person since Harry with my secret and it ended badly. I made it a point not to trust anyone since but Harper dared me to. She already put so much faith in me.
She stood with her back to me, in this closed space, in these late hours. Both of us knew I could make her disappear in this instant, but she trusted I wouldn't. I was almost ashamed she thought so highly of me but then again, so did Harry. Harper saw what my father saw in me, a force of evil that in feeding its own need, did good. The door grumbled open and I lifted my head as she stepped through, too stunned and caught up in my own inner thoughts to stop her as she raised the box from my feet.
"Good night, Dex" she said, lifting her eyes.
I nod and wave out of habit, not because I will.
A/N: Thanks for the feedback longrun, you do not know how appreciated it was!