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Euphoria

Chapter 2: Curiosity

Wednesday

10:26 am

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Agent Jayden sat in his office reading through the case file which had been placed on his desk earlier that day, a mug of steaming coffee at his side. His eyes were slightly glazed over as he shifted in his chair: he wasn't a morning person.

He took another sip of the bland beverage and grimaced in distaste. At least it's warm. Returning to his file, he turned the page, enjoying its rough surface and the inexplicably reassuring scent of aged paper. He found a simple sort of pleasure in moments like this, when he could hold something concrete and substantial in his grasp. It reminded him of better times.

The room was lit by the soothing orange glow of morning sunlight. Time seemed lazy here. Dust particles floated upwards at leisure and the only sound was the muffled hum of administrative life that drifted in from beyond the office.

After an indeterminate amount of time there came a firm knocking at the door, shattering the stillness. Jayden lifted up his head.

"Come on in."

The sound of the door swinging open was accompanied by the squeak of leather shoes. Norman stood up to see his superior, Forrester, a greying man of few words and fewer pleasantries, followed by an unfamiliar woman. As soon as his eyes laid upon her, Norman felt an unsettling twinge in the pit of his stomach as if something terrible was going to happen and he had absolutely no way of stopping it.

"Jayden, this is Agent Donahue," drawled Forrester, gesturing vaguely with his hands whilst his eyes flickered back and forth between the pair. "She's been transferred to D.C. from Chicago. She'll be your partner for the duration of her stay here. I presume you have no objections."

Only two months after the OK case was filed away, and they're already back to keeping tabs on me.

The woman held out her hand to shake and Norman took it. She was tall, almost as tall as him, with a faint smile on her face and auburn hair and eyes that he couldn't quite tell the colour of, but it would be rude to stare. She was beautiful. Too beautiful for a grimy job like this. Her handshake was gently assertive.

"It's an honour to meet the man who found the Origami Killer." Soft and creamy with a strange edge, her voice was like a downy pillow weighted with gravel. She had a typical Midwestern accent.

"Thank you," replied Jayden. Yeah, it sure sucks that he had to murder so many kids first, but thanks anyways.

She appeared to notice the look on his face and her eyebrows furrowed. "I didn't mean -"

Norman cut her off. "No, it's fine." He withdrew his hand and placed it in his jacket pocket.

Forrester moved past them to survey the vacant office space. "I'll have another desk brought in here," he determined after a moment's thought. The elder man turned back to Donahue and nodded conclusively. "Well, I'll let you acquaint yourself with HQ. Agent Jayden can show you around." With that he took his leave, the door gaping in his wake.

The agents stood awkwardly for a second until Norman suggested a tour of the building, which Donahue politely accepted. They spent the next few minutes acting out the trite pantomime performance of two colleagues who would inevitably grow close given time but were, for now, nothing more than strangers. Jayden pointed out the washrooms, conference rooms, interrogation rooms, and any other rooms he could think of; Agent Donahue paid sufficient attention and smiled and nodded in all the right places.

Norman hadn't yet had an opportunity to properly evaluate his new associate, so he was mildly pleased when, as they passed the third office in a row, she spoke up.

"I hope I'm not too much of an inconvenience."

He shook his head, glancing to his right at the woman walking beside him. "I know how the Bureau can be, transferring agents any which way without a moment's warning. I guess it's not exactly ideal for you either." He stopped abruptly and motioned towards a large brightly-lit area past a set of double doors, which was filled with tables and busy with activity. "And here's the cafeteria. The food's terrible but the coffee is guaranteed to give you a kick straight into next week."

Donahue smiled. "Knowing where to get a caffeine fix: that's all the direction I need. I'm sure I'll be able to find my way around from here."

"Alright," Norman said. "I don't know if I could've taken another whitewashed corridor anyway." You're a real comedian, Norm.

A partial smile lingered on the woman's face, as did her eyes upon Jayden. "How about we grab something to drink before getting to work? You know, give us a chance to have some heartfelt bonding before we try out the whole 'partners' thing."

Jayden crossed his arms. Right. Partners. "Sure."

"But let's find somewhere a little more quiet," Donahue remarked as she peered through the doors to the communal eatery.

Norman recommended a nearby café which overlooked Pershing Park. After a ten minute walk they'd procured their cappuccinos and then found a quiet little spot secluded from the rest of the frantic world by a shield of tawny foliage. It was winter in Washington and the park was filled with decay that was morbidly captivating: bare trees covered in frost and the last desperate signs of greenery. They sat at a picnic table. As Donahue seated herself, Jayden caught a glimpse of the alabaster flesh of her thigh underneath her trench coat. It stirred something primal and urgent within him, reminding him of the previous night and a mewling girl with black hair spread across silken sheets, but he quickly suppressed the emotion. Don't make things complicated, Norman.

There was a bitter breeze, and the sky was painted with hues of steely grey, the remains of the storm which had been so brutal only hours before. But through the clouds the sun offered its warmth, hiding just out of sight, lighting the day with a startling brilliance that seemed to be intensified by the overcast heavens.

All in all it was a glorious weather, thought Jayden; not glorious in the traditional sense but sharp and bright and brisk and filled with anticipation.

Agent Donahue sat across from him, slender fingers wrapped around the coffee cup that was resting against her lips. Out in the light of the sun there was something about her appearance that almost appeared to radiate. Why do the most beautiful of women always insist upon the worst career choices? The wind swept her hair against milky skin. Her eyes, staring past him towards the centre of the park, simmered with something that had not been present before, and yet still he could not quite pinpoint their colour. They seemed like tumultuous lagoons.

Teasing her mouth was the shadow of a smile. To the young man it seemed filled with melancholy.

After a moment the women noticed that he was scrutinizing her and calmly met his gaze. Norman dropped his eyes and cleared his throat before looking up once again. "What's your name?"

A slight grin. "You've forgotten already?"

"Yeah, I forgot already. I meant your name name."

"It's Melissa. Melissa Donahue."

Melissa means… honey bee, from the Greek word for honey. "That's pretty. Not a very suitable name for a tough FBI agent."

She took a sip of her coffee, pensive, and then smirked. "Like Norman Jayden is any better."

"Hey now, no need to be cruel." He rested his elbows upon the wooden surface of the picnic table and templed his fingers. "So, why exactly did you get sent off from scenic Chicago to grace Washington, Melissa?"

"Using my first name to put me at ease and to add a sense of sincerity to your words." She was pretending to be impressed. "That's very nice. Good going."

"Thanks, I try."

Donahue chuckled to herself, and her laughter was like molten sugar in Norman's ear. "I wish I knew why they transferred me. They told me I'd be assisting you and to pack up my bags, and a day later I was on the flight over. Maybe they thought you needed a little help."

"I'd take that as an insult, but you're probably right. I had a chance to look over my latest case this morning - well, our latest case."

The woman leaned forward expectantly.

Jayden licked his lips and searched for the right words. "About a week ago, the police intercepted a shipment of drugs stashed on a tanker coming all the way from China. There's a furious dealer out there somewhere losing a load of money, but so far our leads to him are few and far between. We'll have our work cut out for us."

Melissa caught his gaze. "I'm sure we'll find him. After all, you're one of the FBI's finest."

Norman closed his eyes abruptly. Shit, I'm so far from it… if you only knew. Almost without realising, he began to snake his hand into his suit pocket, where his fingers brushed against a small tube that was frosty and revitalizing to the touch. He opened his eyes again and the park was filled with a leafy green forest basking in autumn light. When he blinked rapidly, apprehensively, it was gradually returned to dying trees and icicles.

"Why are you doing that?" Melissa stared at him with intensity written over her face. "Why do you keep reaching your hand into your pocket? You did it before."

Oh good fuck, she's already profiling me. Jayden tried to direct his vision towards her but seemed unable to focus, and she appeared as a indistinct, hazy form circled by a halo of sunlight. "Look, maybe it's none of your business, alright?" he snapped, his voice tinged with a hint of desperation. Norman pinched the bridge of his nose. When he glanced up his eyesight had returned. It's okay, everything's okay. He hoped it was the biting wind that was causing him to tremble.

Donahue was watching him warily, tracing circles into the side of her coffee cup.

"I'm sorry… I didn't mean that," the agent muttered. "I'm just tired." He fished into his jacket and retrieved a pair of black sunglasses, which he placed in the centre of the table. "This is what I was I was checking my pocket for." Norman was unsure as to whether he was lying or telling the truth. "They're expensive and rather vital, so you'll forgive me if I'm sometimes a little obsessive about keeping an eye on them."

The glasses shone invitingly. The woman glanced at him as if she was asking permission. Norman nodded, so she picked them up delicately, rotating them in her grasp and watching the light bounce off their opaque surface with deep interest. Along the side of the frame, she picked out the letters ARI with her fingertips. "Ah, Added Reality Interface. I've heard rumours about these prototypes."

"Really?" Jayden raised his eyebrows. "What kinds of rumours?"

"I've heard they can help an agent catch twice as many criminals in half the time… so this is the secret to your success, Agent Jayden."

Norman was unsure how to respond. He held out his palm to take the lenses back from her and hastily deposited them into his pocket. A particular feeling of relief washed over him, a feeling he knew was foolish and uncalled for. You need to get a hold of yourself.

The breeze whipped up momentarily and Donahue drew her trench coat tighter around herself. "We should probably get back to Headquarters soon, take a look at that case," she said. Unexpectedly, something to her left caught her eye, and she turned her head to look out across the park. Two children, a boy and a younger girl, had arrived and were playing an energetic game of tag amongst the bushes and tree trunks. The boy caught his sister around the waist and her gleeful laughter rang out clearly.

Jayden noted that a genuine smile had spread across Melissa's lips. He could see now, so plainly that he wondered how he'd missed it before, her eyes shining a deep lustrous ochre reminiscent of amber.

Some way from them, a man caught up with the frolicking children. He ruffled the boy's hair and then proceeded to hoist up the giggling girl. His mouth was moving animatedly but Jayden couldn't make out what he was saying. His daughter shrieked and laughed in excitement, bouncing up and down as she was placed upon his shoulders. The man smiled and continued on with his children, until all three had disappeared from sight behind the hedgerow.

When Norman returned his gaze to the woman sitting opposite him, she was staring vacantly into her coffee. The glimmer had left her eyes.

"Melissa?"

She looked up. Before he had a chance to speak, she had was sliding out from under the table and getting to her feet. "I'm going back to HQ. I'll see you there." Her voice was like the impassive drone of cars in the distance. "Thank you, Jayden," she added before turning and walking briskly in the other direction, out of the park. Norman was left sitting alone, surrounded by barren trees.

He exhaled deeply and clasped his hands. What the hell was that? Running a hand through his hair, he considered what he'd been able to ascertain so far. Melissa Donahue was, by all appearances, a perfectly competent agent who now also happened to be his new partner. A partner was somebody you needed to trust unconditionally. She seemed nice enough, if a little fragile, but Norman knew he had a lot to learn before he would be able to form an accurate impression. There's always more under the surface.

But she really was beautiful, in a strange fragile way. He could picture the curved dip of her throat and her pale lips. A flash of skin… That particular thought caused Jayden to moan and rub his eyes with the palms of his hands. No, she's not another one of those girls. This is not a woman to start lusting after.

Once he had regained his composure, the young man shook his sleeve and glanced at his wristwatch. It read 11:45. He checked his pockets and then thought about getting back to the office.

The sun remained benevolent in the heavens, warming him, unseen behind a mask of dismal clouds.