Chapter 2
It took Mary a few moments to get her bearings when she awoke early the next morning. She registered that she was at home and then that she'd fallen asleep on the couch, waiting for her family to return home, feeling guilty. The couch was not designed for sleeping, her neck was stiff and she suspected there would be a bruise on her hip from where the wooden bar that supported the middle of the cushions was digging into her flesh. She rose to a sitting position and stretched both arms above her head. Her spine crackled as the muscles, bones and cartilage settled into their normal places.
She yawned. It had not been a restful night. Though the details of her dreams were already seeping away into the morning sunlight, the unsettling feeling of guilt and loss remained along with a vague idea of chasing someone who was always a few steps out of reach.
She made her way slowly, groggily down the hall and stepped into her bedroom. Raph was sleeping soundly, snoring a little, on the right side of the bed. She jumped a little and took an involuntary step backwards. Once again she had forgotten that he lived here now. She wondered when it would become normal to have a man in her bed in the morning, she hoped it was soon. She didn't like change or surprises and until she got used to this she would have to live with both. She considered very briefly the idea of going to work in her sweats and t-shirt, even with the drool stain on the shoulder, but dismissed this notion as insanity and cowardess.
By the time she'd showered, blown her long blonde locks dry and changed into something more befitting a US Marshal Raph was awake. "Good morning." He rumbled, running a hand through his short, sleep-mussed brown hair and giving her a half smile.
"Good morning." She dropped a quick kiss on his upturned face. "If you can get ready quickly I might let you make me breakfast."
In a matter of seconds Raphael was out of bed and slipping into a clean t-shirt. "Flapjacks?"
She grinned. "Isn't that what you're here for?"
"Apparently," he said, stopping in the doorway to kiss her again. His lips were soft, familiar and sweet, she fought off a memory from her dream - of other lips, hard and unforgiving pressed passionately against hers.
Her phone chirped and she pulled away from Raph with an apologetic smile.
"You get that, I'll be in the kitchen."
She nodded absently, the phone already pressed to her ear. "Hi Stan."
"Morning Mary. Just got off the phone with the DOJ, they want Kathy Fraser in Chicago tomorrow afternoon to do a line up. I need you in the office as soon as possible."
"Jesus Stan! She just got here yesterday!"
"Doesn't matter. DOJ wants this taken care of as quickly as possible, guess they don't have enough evidence to hold him without her ID."
"They had the man's address, what does she need to do a line up for?"
"No idea. Maybe he had an accomplice. Either way, you and Marshall are taking her tonight."
Mary sighed, "Yep. Alright. I'll call Marshall. Be there in half an hour."
"See you then."
She hung up the phone and glared at it for a second before hitting speed dial one.
"Did you know that today is the seventieth anniversary of the Nazi-Soviet Non-aggression Pact?"
"You have got to stop watching the History channel." She grumbled.
"Actually that was on my calendar this morning."
She shook her head, fighting an urge to laugh. "Listen, Stan just called. JOD wants Kathy Fraser in Chicago tomorrow for a line up—"
"A line up? I thought the guy was her ex-boyfriend."
"I know, Stan thinks it might be something to do with an accomplice."
"Let me guess, Red-eye tonight, be here as soon as possible."
"You got it."
"See you in 20."
"30. Raph is making flapjacks so unless ten minutes is going to get my witness killed I'm eating breakfast."
"OK."
Mary paused, waiting for the flippant remark about her eating habits. It never came and she felt ripped off. "Bye," she said, a bit of a bite to her tone, and disconnected the call.
Raph looked up expectantly when she entered the kitchen. The griddle was out and he was mixing the batter. He took in her serious expression and the smile died on his lips, "Let me guess: work emergency, can't talk about it but save you some breakfast because you'll be back as soon as possible."
Mary clenched her jaw in irritation, "No actually. I was going to say I have twenty minutes what can I do to help, but if you'd like I can go now."
"No, Mary…" Raph set down the bowl and took both of her hands in his, "I'm sorry. It's just... you're never here. I thought it would be better once I moved in but I think I've seen less of you in the last three days than I did before we were engaged."
"That's my life Raph. I can't always be home when I want to be."
"Right." His tone told her he didn't understand, not at all.
She fought the urge to scream. "Forget it," she snarled, "I'd better get going."
"What happened to 'I have 20 minutes'?"
"I don't want to fight about this." She said wearily.
"We wouldn't have to fight about this if you could just be honest with me."
Mary's eyes widened in hurt and shock. "Do you have any idea what I risked just by telling you what I do?"
"You gave me your job title, that's not a matter of national security."
"People's lives depend on my identity, my job, being a complete secret. You are the only person I have ever told what I do. It violates about a dozen different regulations, but I didn't want to lie to you." She was trembling with suppressed frustration.
They stared at each other for several moments. When it was clear that Raphael wouldn't speak Mary glanced over at the clock, it's been five minutes since she'd spoken to Marshall. She had to go.
"Look, I have to go. I'll be gone for the next couple of days. Not sure exactly how long for, but I should be home by Wednesday. We can talk then, ok?"
Raph 's eyes narrowed. "Where are you going?"
"You know I can't tell you that." She did her best to keep the irritation out of her voice, but failed.
"Fine. Whatever. See you Wednesday."
Fighting the urge to simultaneously shoot her fiancé and burst into tears Mary settled for slamming the door on her way out and aggressively tailgating her way to work. She never noticed the missing engagement ring.
***
Marshall was surprised to see Mary's Probe when he pulled his truck into the parking lot 15 minutes after he'd hung up the phone. The stormy expression on his face when he entered the office kept him from asking questions.
"Thanks for coming in." Stan said, emerging from his office with an armload of paperwork. "I tried to convince the DOJ to wait one more day so I we could all enjoy our day off."
Mary shrugged and shot Marshall an inquiring look, since when did anyone in the USMS expect to actually get their days off when scheduled? Wits and their pursuers had a funny habit of getting into trouble at the most inconvenient times possible.
"Here are your aliases and travel arrangements. The security detail will escort you to the airport and another will meet you on the ground. We're not sending a detail with you on the flights."
Mary nodded, taking the paperwork, "Shouldn't be a problem. I'll do a threat assessment, but I got the impression that it was just one guy after her – if he's in custody this should be easy."
Marshall shook his head, "FBI obviously thought this guy and any associates he had were enough of a threat to put her in WitSec."
Mary glared at him and tossed the heavy folder Stan had given her onto her desk.
"How about I run the risk assessment while you go let Kathy know she's just won herself an all expense paid trip to the Windy City?" Marshall asked, swiping the file and settling at his own desk.
"Thanks." She returned sarcastically. She couldn't imagine this conversation going well and the mood she was in she really did not have the patience to handle a witness freak-out.
"No problem." He answered, ignoring or oblivious to the sarcasm, she wasn't sure which.
She plucked the travel papers out of the folder and settled down to review them. No point in waking her witness up before nine on a Sunday, especially before she knew the details of their itinerary. It turned out to be amazingly straightforward for WitSec. Albuquerque to Houston to Denver and then on to Chicago. Three different private planes and less than half an hour between landing and departure at each stop. It was convoluted enough that no one was likely to guess that Kathy's original location as Albuquerque, while straight forward enough that they could get her to Chicago PD in under twelve hours. She'd seen worse, but she was still grateful that neither she nor Marshall were prone to airsickness.
By nine-thirty she had finished reading through the travel arrangements and briefed the security detail on the plan for that evening. It was time to go fill in her witness. Marshall waved a sassy goodbye as she grabbed her keys and headed for the door. He was on the phone with Chicago, so she settled for sticking out her tongue at his back when she really wanted to cuff him of the back of the head.
Kathy was awake when Mary knocked at her door. Judging from her haggard appearance and the rumpled blue suit Mary recognized from the day before she wouldn't have been surprised if Kathy hadn't slept at all.
"Inspector Sheppard."
"Morning Kathy. Can I come in?"
"Yes, of course." Kathy allowed the inspector to enter and led the way to the small living room with its sparse furnishings.
"I have some news," Mary began, watching her witness closely for any signs that she was going to react badly. To her surprise Kathy appeared stunned rather than angry. She did not speak until Mary finished outlining the basic plan for the next two days.
"So soon?"
"I'm afraid so. I know you haven't even had a chance to settle in yet, but the Department of Justice prefers to move quickly when they can, especially with protected witnesses."
"Yes, yes. Of course." Kathy looked down at the clenched hands in her lap for a moment. "I-I understand, I'm just… shocked. Th-they told me it would be months, maybe years before they had enough evidence." She shrugged. "I guess this is good?"
Mary shrugged. "Could be. " She lied smoothly. More than likely it would still be months before they had enough evidence to try Marvin. If they had the evidence they wouldn't need Kathy's statement to hold him. "Pack for three days, we'll be by to pick you up at two. Any questions before I go?"
"Will he be able to see me?"
Mary smiled compassionately, "No. We'll make sure of that."
"Ok." For the first time in days Kathy smiled. "See you later."
***
Marshall didn't look up when Mary reentered the office, a small bag with clothing and toiletries for the trip looped over her left arm, a drive-through tray with four cups of coffee in her right hand. "half caf, triple cap, heavy foam." She announced, setting one of the cups smack in the center of the paper work Mashall was reading so intently.
"Uuh.. Thanks." He said distractedly, moving the cup out of his line of vision.
Mary narrowed her eyes suspiciously, shrugged and proceeded to Stan's office where she deposited a triple macchiato for Stan and a London Fog for Eleanor.
"Really?" Eleanor asked, raising an eyebrow.
"It's your day off too," Mary replied with a shrug. She turned to leave, calling back over her shoulder, "Three fifty each."
"Pure Evil." Eleanor replied even as Stan fumbled in his wallet and pulled out a stack of ones.
At her desk Mary spent a full ten minutes sipping a piping hot Americano and watching Marshall. He didn't look in her direction once. He did, however, polish off the coffee she'd brought before it had a chance to cool off, and placed three fifty on top of the empty cup. When she could bear the silence no longer, Mary spoke.
"Anything in the threat evaluation we need to be worried about tonight?"
"Nope."
"Any reason you won't look at me?"
He raised his head slowly, blue eyes locking into green, and raised one eyebrow. There was something different, she couldn't place her finger on it, but it was definitely not a good different. She was briefly glad they would be spending the next couple of days escorting a witness halfway across the country. It would force him to talk to her and with a low maintenance witness like Kathy there would be plenty of time for conversation. There were enough changes going on in her personal life, she couldn't handle the strangeness with her best friend on top of it all.
Marshall was trying to keep his expression neutral. He was doing his level best to be happy for her, to act normal. It was easy to do on the phone, when he could forget the little tell tale indented strip of lighter than normal skin where an engagement ring rested, but in person it was proving to be almost more than he could bear. The thought of spending the next to three days escorting her witness to and from Chicago made him nauseous. He'd said 'I love you' and watched her eyes become cautious and afraid, he'd wished for her happiness and watched the light in her eyes fade just a little, and then he'd gone home and drank an entire bottle of 23 year old, single malt Benriach and slept on the floor in a pathetic puddle.
The next morning he'd come into work only to find Mary already there, at least an hour earlier than normal, with an apology and larger than normal chip on her shoulder. Thankfully the new intake had taken most of the day, but he'd still felt a near physical pain whenever he looked her way. He wished he hadn't noticed the tan line, sure if he hadn't she would never have told him of the engagement, and just as certain that this was one fact he would gladly unlearn.
He wondered idly how her fiancé took the news of their upcoming trip. There were reasons that few marshals had long term relationships and most of them had to do with the secrecy required by the USMS. There were few people trusting enough to stay in a relationship with a person who could disappear for days at a time and not be able to account for their whereabouts when they returned. For Mary's sake he hoped Raphael was one of the few, though selfishly he would be ok if the secrecy drove a wedge between them. It wasn't an admission he was proud of, but he'd learned years ago that lying to himself was frustrating and ultimately useless.
"Well?" Mary had, in typical Mary fashion, grown impatient with the silence. She never had been able to handle stillness.
"I wasn't avoiding you, I was – am – trying to complete a risk assessment for your witness." Years as a US Marshal in the WitSec program had made him good at seeing through liars, it also made it easy to lie to others. Or it did when that other person wasn't Mary Shannon.
The flicker of hurt in her eyes lasted less than a second but it felt like a kick to the chest. "Well then, I'm sorry I interrupted." She turned her chair so she was facing her computer head on, her long blond hair blocking her face from his view.
He wished he could walk over to her desk, force her to meet his eyes and tell her everything, but he couldn't. He'd said 'I Love You' and she'd spent the next morning apologizing for not sharing her happy news earlier. It was time to face facts, Mary Shannon did not love him. To her they would never be more than friends. It didn't matter if she loved Raph, not really, because whoever she chose to be with, it would never be him. Another painful truth he couldn't avoid. So he turned his full attention to the paperwork spread out before him, at least with this he knew what to do.
***
The final plane touched down on Chicago a little before noon Monday morning. The security detail met them on the tarmac as planned and they whisked Kathy to their hotel to have a quick shower and breakfast in front of the morning news before she had to be at the Chicago PD office for the line-up. Everything went according to plan until the SUV rolled to a stop outside the Chicago office.
"No." Kathy shook her head and shrank back into her seat, refusing to even look out the door. "I won't go in there. H-he'll kill me."
Mary took her witness by the shoulders and forced Kathy to meet her eyes. "Listen to me. In the history of Witsec, no one who has followed the rules has ever been killed. If you testify Marvin will likely spend the rest of his life in jail. If you don't then he will walk and you will no longer be under the protection of the Us Marshall service, and in all likelihood he will kill you."
Kathy was visibly trembling by the time Mary finished. "I c-c-can't. N-not today." She buried her head in her hands, and whimpered, "please Mary.. please don't make me."
Marshall reached through the open SUV door to place a restraining hand on Mary's arm. "I'll go talk to them," he said softly, "take her around the block or something."
Mary nodded. They'd had witnesses melt down at the thought of facing criminals before, and they would again, sometimes the best thing you could do was give them a little time and space.
Marshall stood on the curb until the SUV disappeared around the corner, turned and navigated his way through the unfamiliar police station to the office of Chicago PD Detective Marston.
Detective Marston was a short man, slim and wiry – one of those men criminals underestimated. The awards lining the walls of his small, crowded office attested to the fact that this was usually the last mistake they made. He stood when Marshall entered. "Good afternoon Marshal. We're all ready for you downstairs."
Marshall smiled and shook the detective's hand. "It's a pleasure, Detective. I'm afraid it won't be possible for Ms Fraser to appear today."
The detective's eyes narrowed and he sank back into his chair. "That is not what I was told by the DOJ this morning."
"I understand that. Just as I am sure you appreciate the difficulty the DOJ will have using the testimony of a woman who has been found to be incompetent due to Post Traumatic Stress."
"Was the witness found to be incompetent due to Post Traumatic Stress?" The detective did not look amused.
Marshall hesitated for a split second, "No," he admitted, "but we have reason to believe the DOJ would prefer for this to be confirmed by a certified mental health professional before basing their entire case on her testimony."
Detective Marston muttered something under his breath, and glared at Marshall for several seconds. "Fine. Do you think you can manage to do that before I have to let the man walk due to insufficient evidence."
"We'll do our best."
The detective grunted his disbelief and gestured for Marshall to leave.
Marshall smiled to himself as he bowed out of the office and shut the door gently behind him. He was rather proud of how he'd handled the detective. He hadn't lied, not once and he'd managed to buy them at least a day to convince Kathy to stick with the program. He was thankful that this job didn't lie with him. Mary was much better than he was at convincing people to do the exact opposite of what they wanted to.
For the thousandth time Marshall had applied every ounce of his wits bending the rules to get his partner exactly what she needed. And for the thousandth time he knew he hadn't done it for her because she was his partner, or because it was what was best for their witness. For the thousandth time he'd done it for her. Like a pathetic puppy dog, leaping to please its master without even thinking about why until it was over. He couldn't hate her, but sometimes he really hated himself.
***