Without a price?

Chapter 6

As the clock rang to announce that it was two am in the morning, Sam was placing the now fed Eleanor back in her crib. Eleanor scrunched her face up in her attempt to get comfortable as Sam placed the pink blanket around her so that she was warm. Sam watched her do so until Eleanor was out like a log and sleeping peacefully.

Then she headed to her bedroom, thinking she was going to be fast asleep as well. She was not though, despite the fact that she was quite sleepy. She caught herself thinking back to Eleanor's birth mother. From what she heard, which was actually very little, she was a good woman who wanted the best for her child. One of her regrets must have been the fact that she could not give Eleanor a father or at least one that was reliable.

Sam couldn't either but was still confident she could be both but knew there was going to be one day a man's touch was needed. It was said that a father and daughter had a unique bond, one that couldn't be replaced easily. She could not actually vouch for that but did not doubt that. Why else would adoption agencies like couples more than single women and men?

Curiosity was said to kill the cat but Sam took the chance by bringing out Eleanor's paperwork. Finding Eleanor's birth certificate she found that there was only the mother's signature. There was no father at that point, at least. She went to the health records and found the father's incomplete information. It was apparent though that he was one tall guy who was partially color blind.

In his late 40's, Eleanor was his only child, at least on record. The list of health problems was limited to two things. One was his eye condition and the other was messily scribbled so Sam had to strain to see what it said. It seemed he was not exactly mentally stable as a result of his abusive childhood. It was just as well that Eleanor was with her then though she couldn't help but pity him for a second.

Shaking her head and letting it go, Sam climbed into bed, determined to get some rest before Eleanor decided she wanted to be the center of attention again. Taking care of an infant was exhausting but Sam loved every part of it nonetheless. She had said that she would take care of and protect her daughter and she would, even if her life was on the line.

Early at in the morning, Lucky stared for a couple seconds at his watch, watching as the minute and hour hand struck 8:05. Emily was five minutes late, which was quite unlike her. It was entirely possible that she slept longer than intended but he had seen her go on three hours of sleep easily. Of course, there was always the concern of traffic. The truth was though that something had not been right with Emily for a while now.

He had previously been too tied in his own problems to notice at first. Emily's opinion did help though as they had made serious leeway in the investigation. The number of files had decline considerably. As a result, he now noticed that something was off with Emily, had been since she got back from her vacation. It was as if somehow her life had turned for the worse again. She wouldn't talk about it, which meant that whatever it was Lucky did not know what it was either. Not even a clue, though Lucky did not have too much trouble accepting that. Even best friends had secrets; it was just that some were bigger than other's.

Deep in his thoughts, he did not see Emily arrive before she sat across from him. Lucky looked at her and opened his mouth to mention her tardiness when she did that herself. "I know, I'm late and no excuse will do to explain that fact."

"None that I would buy anyway," Lucky replied as he saw the beginnings of more shadows under her eyes. They said not to mix pleasure with business but- "I take it you did not get much sleep last night".

"No, I did not. Something came up, literally out of nowhere," Emily muttered the last part, which meant the lack of sleep was really getting to her. That fact was astounding actually; Emily always had things in control or was in the process of doing so at least.

"Yeah, you have had that happening a lot lately," Lucky observed dryly, which Emily took offense to but agreed anyway.

"Tell me about it," Emily said and reached for the first file that was on the stack of files she needed to look through. Lucky still watched her though, so annoyance filled her and she blurted out "What?"

"Nothing, you just seem…" Lucky paused, looking for a good word to describe the present Emily but ended up with "unordinary stressed out. I think that vacation did more harm than good."

"You know very well that so-called vacation was not much of a vacation," Emily reminded him. Lucky did know that, or rather sensed it, but still did not know the details which did not bother him previously. Now it did though, but there was no way Emily would tell him.

"I do know that and now I am asking for the details," Lucky pushed, trying not to do so too hard though.

Emily rubbed her eyes and considered how to deal with the situation. Sure she knew, somehow, that was a realistic possibility she had hoped it would not come down to this. "Lucky, this is not a good time to talk about this. I am only here for a limited amount of time to help you with this investigation and you want to get personal? Here and now?" Emily argued, not really believing Lucky was actually doing such a thing. Of all the people to pull something like this, she did not think it would be her childhood friend.

Seeing the situation simple he answered with an equally uncomplicated reply "Yeah".

When Emily heard that the only thing she wanted to do was lay her head on the table, fully knowing that would not be good for her career. "Yeah, well, I don't want to talk about it then," if Lucky could be stubborn she could be equally as stubborn.

As Emily opened the file she previously took from the pile, Lucky objected, or started to. "That usually means that something needs to be said-Emily are you hearing a word I'm saying?" Emily was unusually absorbed in a particular file.

Bluntly, Emily agreed with his assessment "No, look at this", finishing with a demand.

Slightly annoyed, Lucky took the rather thick file and skimmed it through. "It certainly seems he fits the description." Lucky noted, and glanced at the prison record. "They have also recently got out of jail for…" Lucky paused in the middle of the sentence, looking for the legal offense.

"Murdering a cop," Lucky finished, amazed at Emily's ability and forgetting about the previous subject of conversation; which was exactly what Emily wanted to happen. Lucky got easily distracted, and started searching through the file, wanting to get everything in mind before he showed the file to his boss. He did not want to be missing anything and give false hope.

While that seemed to be a good lead, they needed to go through the other files anyway, just in case the prime subject was innocent. It was another late night for both of them, but the job was finished and the number of suspects was limited. Emily was also done for her duty there, and would not be reporting there tomorrow.

When they parted, Lucky completely forgotten about their argument, caught up in the accomplishment of finishing his task for the last week. Despite how tired Emily was though, she had one more thing to do. She took a U-turn and headed to the nearest motel, where someone she knew was staying-temporarily she hoped.

Knocking firmly on the door, she waited for an answer, which she got as they slowly opened the door. Emily rolled her eyes, at the suspicious nature and assumption and waited patiently. Eventually though they did open the door and let her in, closing the door behind her quickly.

"You know I'm beginning to think you don't trust me," Emily commented, as she took in the motel room. All considering, the room was decent enough but definitely not even close to a good one. It was cramped and too small, making the person feel as if the walls were trying to corner the occupant. Which was the exact opposite of the purpose, but then again business was business.

"I feared that you changed and started following the law," the person who Emily had come to visit replied.

"You never did know me that well," Emily did not mean the response to sting or hurt her companion; it was just a matter of fact. They came out of nowhere, asked for help, and left just out of the blue as they had entered. The arrangement has been going along for a long time and yet she always took steps to help out. Neither could she explain why she stood for such behavior. It was not very appealing.

"No," the room's official occupant agreed but did not seem to feel any signs of guilt over that statement. She did not know why she expected them to.

"Anyway, I'm just here to see if you need anything from the store. I figure having some food will help you when you leave. Less stops to make," Emily reckoned, going straight to business because she really did not want to get personal anymore. Getting some sleep sounded nice too.

"Actually, I have some business to take care of here. I am not going to be leaving immediately." This surprised Emily, feeling something up was there. It was completely out of her family friend's personality to do something like that.

"Oh, really? What is this 'business' you have?" Emily hoped it was not illegal, at least too far illegally for her. She did not have many qualms about breaking the law, as many know, and may not have a strong sense of right and wrong like others but even she had her limits.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," the person dismissed the situation and Emily wanted to leave it at that but was curious enough to want the answer anyway. She only hoped the curiosity did not kill the cat, as it was said.

"Try me," Emily dared him, knowing right after she said it, in the deep of her stomach that she was probably going to regret it and couldn't really seem to care about that at the moment.

"I…well…." They stammered trying to find the words to describe what seemed to be the impossible.

"Well? I don't have all day," Emily complained her patience unusually thin.

"I have a daughter."

Author's note: I realize that the National Guard helping with a police murder investigation is unlikely; it was just that I needed to have Lucky and Emily spend some time together and talk. This was just the situation I created, though that death of Officer Murphy will mean something later in the story. For now though, I really need to get back to my homework, my concentration span is limited as it is.