Tell Me Something I Don't Really Need to Know
Could you be a teenage idol? Could you be a movie star? When I turn on my TV will you smile and wave at me…
Toni's hand snaked out from under the blankets so that she could find her phone to turn off her alarm. Without any hesitation, she flipped the comforter off her head and sat up to stretch. She winced slightly at the pinching sensation that pulling her arms to and fro elicited from her stitched wounds. But all of that was forgotten when she heard a soft rumble of laughter coming for the right side of the room.
Before she opened her eyes, Toni good-naturedly retorted, "Do you have a problem with someone wanting to wake up on the right side of the bed to a catchy pop song?"
Just as Sam opened his mouth to reply, Toni opened her eyes and shot him a warning glare. Sam stopped then seemed to mentally retract whatever he was going to say and asked, "Have you ever watched 'The Big Bang Theory'? It's hilarious… I just downloaded a few episodes… You know if you wanted to watch them too."
Toni was now up and out of bed continuing her morning stretching routine and offered a head shake with a sarcastic "Uh huh" as a reply. Then she grabbed a few things out of her bags and went into the bathroom without any further commentary.
When she re-emerged in the room, Sam was still at his spot at the table reading, or rather 'watching', something on his laptop. Toni then continued to prepare for her day much in the same way that she always had while travelling alone. She had a routine that she had perfected in college that she continued to follow after starting her new vocation because she found that it helped her to retain some level of sanity so that she could stomach this job.
After she tied the laces on her running shoes, she stood and pulled her hair into a tight ponytail. She couldn't resist stretching a few more times and the sound of her shoulder popping loudly caused Sam to shift his attention away from the laptop towards her.
"So you still go for your morning runs?" Sam asked not sounding overly surprised.
As she strapped on her iPod, Toni nodded replying, "Yeah. Unless I've had a good cardio workout on the job… Although even then I usually just put if off for an hour or two."
"You can't get the Colonel out of your head, huh?" He inquired with a playful smile.
At the door she smiled and shook her head. Then she scrolled through her playlists, but stopped herself just before she exited the room. "Umm… I'll be back in about an hour?" She proposed somewhat hesitantly.
Sam didn't offer any protests so Toni hit the pavement before he could change his mind. When she returned to the room, Sam looked like he had showered, but he was once again stationed in front of his laptop. Toni was still on a bit of a high from her run, but the thoughtful scowl on Sam's face silenced her from extending any cheerful greetings towards him.
She carefully closed the door, attempting to make as little noise as possible then she moved as silently as she could towards her bags, not wanting to disturb Sam at all. When he cleared his throat somewhat dramatically, Toni jumped then froze in her place.
"I was thinking we should grab breakfast before heading over to the Gateway Estates, since we'll probably be spending the majority of the day there and all," Sam commented in a flat, even tone.
Toni had retrieved her change of clothes, so she turned and nodded saying, "Sure, that sounds good. I won't be too long."
"Take your time," Sam called over his shoulder as he got up and started to exit the room, dialing someone's number on his phone.
True to her word, Toni was able to dress and prepare for the day much more quickly today than she had the night before. Today her stitches didn't seem to hinder her movements as much and she hoped that that meant that they were healing without any complications or perhaps she was just getting used to them and was ignoring the discomfort they were causing. She threw her workout clothes into a laundry bag, making a mental note that once Jimmy was taken care of that laundry was going to be her new top priority. After a quick look around the room Toni noticed that Sam still hadn't returned, so she quickly grabbed her jacket and keys worried that she had actually taken longer than she thought and Sam was upset. Once outside Toni bee-lined a route towards her truck and felt a flood of relief when she saw Sam meandering towards the truck while tucking his phone in his pocket.
"So no attacks last night that anyone knows of," Sam informed her as they both fastened their seat belts.
"Okay… So is that a good thing?" Toni questioned, genuinely unsure if she should feel relieved or frustrated at the lack of action.
"For your sake, I'm going with good thing because that means you didn't get mauled," Sam answered with a humorous tone.
Toni slapped his arm with the back of her left hand, completely forgetting about the sizeable rock now on her finger. When Sam winced, she abandoned her witty retort and instead rubbed the spot softly while apologizing, "Oh gosh Sam I'm so sorry… Umm you don't bruise easily do you?"
Sam shook his head, smiling. "Let's hope I don't or everyone will know that my wife beats me."
When they were finished eating breakfast, Toni slipped into the Ladies' Room in order to reapply her make-up and ensure that she not only looked the part of a newlywed, but was also mentally prepared for it as well. She had used the ring set before to pretend that she was married because (for some reason) people seemed to feel more comfortable talking with a confident, strong-willed woman if she was attached to a man. She didn't like that this was the way that the world worked, but she was willing to play the game in order to get the job done. That being said, having the other half of the charade couple with her on the job was making her feel strangely uneasy. But being the professional that she was, Toni shook those feelings off to ensure that she could complete this job without interference.
On their approach to the balloon lined entrance to the gated community, Toni held her hand over her mouth as she snorted through a laugh.
"Are you okay over there 'Mrs. Archer'?" Sam questioned while trying to find a suitable parking spot on the busy street.
"Sorry but if I recall correctly, this place is kind of like a wet dream for you, isn't it?" Toni countered as she visibly shivered. "God these places give me the creeps."
Sam allowed himself to share in her amusement before he clarified in a flat tone, "Nah, that dream died with Jess."
Toni stole a quick glance at Sam, but she noticed that his eyes remained fixed out the windshield, so she kept any further commentary to herself.
After a few minutes of uncomfortable silence, Toni pointed out the window barely whispering, "There's a spot just up ahead there."
After Sam had the truck parked, he stopped Toni from unfastening her seatbelt. "Okay, so let me open your door for you, it'll look better that way. I'll leave details like the song for our first dance and all that up to you. Our main objective today will be to find out if or how Jimmy is connected to the Grad student and the high school teacher. Any questions?"
Toni unlatched her safety belt, slid over and placed a soft his on Sam's cheek then whispered in his ear, "We have an audience… My only question is, are we ready to this job done?"
She was about to slide back to her side of the truck when Sam reached up and held her face just a few inches from his. She swallowed hard as he stared deep into her eyes as she started to feel like this was going to lead up to something more. Toni searched Sam's eyes for any sign of what was to come next so that she could quell the nervous sensation in her stomach. Toni was always guarded with her emotions, but she had a seemingly innate ability to read what was on other people's minds (when she was paying attention), but right now she couldn't gauge what Sam might be thinking and suddenly Toni started to feel incredibly uncomfortable, but she resisted the urge to struggle out of his hold.
Sam then slowly lifted his right hand to her left eye and very carefully plucked an eyelash from her eye as he answered, "I'm more than ready." Then he leaned down and placed a soft kiss on her lips and while she was frozen in a euphoric state with her eyes closed, Sam slipped out and appeared at her now open door.
They walked hand in hand to one of the houses up for sale that was being used for the open house tours because they had already been informed, in a not so subtle, polite Southern-charm kind of way that any non-resident of the complex was expected to endure the sale's pitch before being permitted to enjoy the festivities.
Toni and Sam had bonded at Stanford over their similar upbringings where neither of them had had one place that they remembered as their 'home' or 'foundation' because they had move from town to town so frequently. Much like Sam's experience of moving from motel to motel that yielded no individuality, the homes that Toni had lived in had all been cookie cutter replicas of each other and she never stayed in once place long enough to have ever made it feel like it was 'hers'. The only time she ever felt like she had had a space of her own was in her dorm room, but that was short lived, so Toni didn't put much stock in those memories.
As they moved from room to room, the other couples took their time asking insightful questions about the different attributes of the house and its yard slowing the tour down considerably. Toni had to stifle her uncomfortable laughter on more than one occasion when she overheard the strangers whispering to each other about which room would work best as a nursery or so on. Sam helped to keep her in check by squeezing her hand or by quietly whispering her name as a caution in her ear to bring out Toni's game face. Once the tour was finally over, they were given a 'Buyer's Package' that Sam was able to conveniently 'forget' on a table before entering the Bar-B-Que area.
"So… A home like this… It's not really your cup of tea, huh?" Sam asked with full knowledge of how Toni would reply.
"Sam, you know it's not," she confirmed with slight exasperation as she picked up a bottle of beer out of a cooler for each of them. "This isn't reality… This is just an illusion that people allow themselves to believe is real."
"Wow and I thought that I was cynical," Sam joked drinking the beer and moving deeper into the party.
"Well think about it," Toni reasoned quietly. "All of our dealings with the supernatural aside, what you see here so isn't what you get. Like… I bet he's (she nodded towards a dad manning a grill) banging his secretary and she's (she tilted her head towards a mom that was cleaning her son's face after a messy meal) doing the pool boy. The 'American Dream' is just that… A dream. Sorry, but I'm more than happy to live in the fucked up real world."
"I didn't realize you felt so strongly about this. I mean, when we were together, you didn't say much about this at all. Or at least I don't remember you being so adamantly against living a normal life," Sam observed as he surveyed the crowd for the Medina's.
"Well… You said that you wanted this and I didn't want to criticize you for that. Just because this isn't the life for me doesn't mean that no one should live it if they want to," Toni admitted while blushing slightly.
Sam could see the reason behind Toni's explanation, but before he had a chance to say anything more about the topic, they each felt an arm wrap around their waist. When they turned to check who was hugging them, they were greeted with the smiling face of Michelle Medina as she stood in between them.
"So you made it through the Open House alive. What did you think?" Michelle questioned eagerly as she moved to stand in front of them.
"Well…" Toni started uneasily.
"It's a beautiful house," Sam took over with more confidence. "But we need to see about securing a job in town before we can decide on anything permanent."
"Oh! Yeah, of course you do! Well I'm sure that they'll love you both and scoop you up right away," Michelle exclaimed with a little too much enthusiasm for Toni's comfort level. "I've been talking you two up to all the neighbors and everyone is so excited to meet you. Now… Would you mind if I steal your wife away from you Sam?"
Sam shook his head laughing as he replied, "No that's no problem."
He scooped Toni into his arms, kissed her softly then whispered, "Call if you need back up." After he released her, Sam added, "Have fun you two."
Michelle then took Toni by the hand and swiftly led her in the direction of a group of women at the other end of the block. Sam did another quick check of the large crowd for Michelle's husband, but when he still couldn't find him, he opted to try Plan B instead.
He was able to easily slip away from the party to find the Medina's, hopefully, empty house. He picked the lock to the back door without any complications and entered their kitchen before anyone could take notice of him. As he moved from room to room looking for any clues that could connect Jimmy Medina to the two latest werewolf victims, he found little of interest.
Then he found a locked door on the main floor close to the front door. While picking the lock, his phone started to vibrate. Not wanting to get caught in the Medina's house, Sam completed his task then slunk into the room. Before fumbling around to find a light, he pulled out his phone to check whose call he had missed. Instead of a name and number with an awaiting voicemail, he found two text messages from Toni.
"JM called into wrk" and "Got the 411 on vics Save me from suburbia hell NOW! :P"
Sam laughed as he placed his phone in his pocket then quickly found a light switch and flipped it on. Although he was confident that Toni had obtained some useful information that they would need, he wanted to be thorough. Sam figured that Toni wouldn't get upset with him for that because she had always been a stickler for minute details when studying, so he knew that she would appreciate the extra effort. As he surveyed the room, he could immediately tell that he was in what would best describe as Jimmy's home office.
There was a locked file cabinet beside a large oak roller top desk, which also appeared to be secured shut and locked, that Sam decided would be his first avenue of investigation. The lock popped open without much effort and Sam found neat rows of perfectly labeled file folders containing maps and diagrams of various vacant lots. The only one that Sam found of interest was one that contained notes from their Graduate student in regards to the environmental impact that any further development would have on the lake where the Medinas had their summer home.
Huh… Guess that explains how he knew her, Sam thought to himself.
Inside that same folder, he found a map of the lake that he folded up and pocketed for eventual future use.
There wasn't much by way of paperwork on the desk after he unlocked the roller top, so Sam made himself comfortable in Jimmy's seat and got ready to hack into Jimmy's computer to see what else he could find out. He was just about to turn on the computer when his phone started to vibrate again. This time he pulled it out without hesitation.
As he started to read the first text message, he received two more within a minute.
"R U at the grill?"
"No CRAP!"
"Where the fuck are you?"
Sam was ready to just laugh off Toni's messages, but after another minute or so his phone came to life with a message that read: "I'M GONNA KILL U IN UR SLEEP!"
Not wanting to incur the full wrath of Toni's fury, Sam decided that it would be best for him to find her as quickly as possible. He made sure to return everything in the office back to the state he had found it in and then he slipped out the back door en route to reconnect with Toni.
When he got back to where he and Toni had separated, Sam had anticipated that finding her would be easy, but she was nowhere to be found. He weaved his way through the crowd, asking random people if they had seen a woman matching Toni's or Michelle's description. Most of the people knew who Michelle was, but the answer remained the same, no one was certain where they were right then (but they could point out the spot where they were about ten minutes ago).
Sam was just pulling out his phone to call Toni when she spotted him from a few houses down the block. She had already explained to Michelle that once she found Sam, she would have to leave because they both needed to prepare for their job interviews. She figured that that would mean that she could get away easily.
"Oh gosh, sorry Michelle, there's Sam right over there. I better go and catch up with him," Toni explained with fake regret in her tone as she passed the nine month old she was holding back to Michelle. "Thanks again for showing me around."
"No problem. But we'll talk soon, right? Maybe get coffee or something?" Michelle called after her as Toni nearly sprinted towards Sam.
"Sure sounds good!" Toni answered over her shoulder.
Once she caught up with Sam, Toni gave him a quick hug and greeted him with her best faux enthusiasm that she could muster right now, "Honey I've missed you! We better get going or we're going to be late for our appointment."
Seeing Toni narrow her eyes in a silent caution not to protest, Sam smiled, took her hand and replied, "Sorry, I lost track of the time."
As they walked back to the truck, they were stopped a few times by different women that Toni had been introduced to by Michelle. They all wanted to extend a warm salutation to her husband and they all tried to get Toni to agree to 'catching up' in the near future. Once they were finally away from the crowd, Toni promptly threw Sam's hand to his side and quickened her pace to reach her truck.
By the time Sam caught up to her, Toni was standing beside the truck, clenching and unclenching his fists, looking like she was ready for a fight. As he unlocked her door he commented with mock sympathy, "Aww come on, it couldn't have been that bad. The ladies all seemed to really like you."
Sam had opened Toni's door for her, so she slammed it shut to ensure that she had his full attention before she nearly shouted in an incensed rage, "BABIES SAM! They made me hold fucking babies!" She moved her hair off her shoulder to show him a spot on his jacket. "And that's not from a fucking bird! So can we just get the fuck out of here now? Please?"
Sam was still laughing as he crawled behind the wheel, but Toni resisted the urge to punch him by staring out the window and crossing her arms over her chest.
"Oh come on. It's couldn't have actually been THAT bad."
"YES it could and it WAS. Seriously, can we just go now? I'd rather not have a street full of witnesses when I strangle your last breath out of you," Toni answered without the slightest hint of humor. "God… They wouldn't stop asking me when we are going to start our family because… And I quote, 'You two would have the most beautiful babies'. Where the fuck were you?"
"I was at the Medina's house. I found Jimmy's home office. Did you know that the Grad student…" Sam started somewhat smugly.
"That she was doing the environmental impact survey of the lake for Jimmy's firm?" Toni interrupted heatedly. "Yeah, I knew that. Did you know that the teacher was a neighbor of the Medina's at the lake who was winterizing her cabin when she was killed?"
"No, I didn't know that," Sam admitted quietly.
"Yeah… Well… Like my first text said, I got all of the info we needed on the last two victims," Toni added not trying in the slightest to hide her anger. "And Jimmy's at work, which means he's probably going to be at the lake house at some point today. Did I miss anything?"
"Do you know how to get to the lake or where their place is there?" Sam questioned with a slight tone of self-righteous indignation.
Toni shrunk back and replied (more to herself than to Sam) with a sneer, "No… Do you Smartass?"
To answer her question, Sam handed her the map that he had found in Jimmy's office. Toni took it from him, looked it over and then stared at him as a huge grin spread across his face.
"Fine… You do," she conceded more pleasantly. "But couldn't you have come and got me to help you?" She finished with a slight whine.
When her question elicited only soft laughter as a response, Toni's kinder demeanor became clouded by anger again as she retorted, "Fine… Whatever… I just wish that you would have warned me that we weren't going into this job as equal partners."
They had made it back to the motel by this point and after Sam parked the pickup he reached out and grabbed Toni's hand. She stared at his hand as he took a firm hold of her wrist, refusing to make eye contact with him as he said, "It's not like that Toni…"
"Yes it is," she interrupted quietly with calm certainty. "Please let go of my wrist, I have to wash my jacket before the stain sets."
Hearing the raw sorrow in Toni's tone caught Sam off guard, so he released Toni's arm immediately. She calmly exited the vehicle and Sam stayed in his seat as he watched her walk briskly back to the room with her eyes fixed on her feet.