Chapter Six
In all her years as a pathologist, Holly had seen bodies of all sorts with all different causes of death. And in each one, Holly had been able to compartmentalize. Distance herself enough to keep her sanity and still do her job, while staying resolute that she would find justice for the people who ended up on her autopsy table. But this, this was different. She didn't know how she would be able to keep it together when she looked at the sheer butchery of what lay on her table. This person, this killer was cutting people open while they were still alive. It took a special type of person to cut into someone while their heat was still beating. To look down at a beating heart before cutting it out.
"You okay?" Victoria asked walking in from the neighboring autopsy room. Holly had been staring down at the heart resting in the chest cavity for several minutes. Imagining what it would be like to see it beating in someone's chest and cut through the connecting veins and arteries.
"Fine. How's it going over there?" Holly asked.
"Just finished with the initial autopsy. About to close. Do you need help in here?" Victoria asked taking a quick survey of how little Holly had gotten done. They weren't racing but Victoria knew that Holly had the perfect mixture of speed and accuracy that most pathologists strove for and few ever accomplished. But Holly was going slowly on purpose.
"No. Thanks I'm okay."
"You're not. You've been looking at that heart for a long time. Anything you want to talk about?" Victoria asked.
"I just, I don't understand how someone can look down into the chest of a living person and cut it out. And then watch as they bleed to death." Holly explained reaching into the chest and lifting up the heart, feeling its weight in her hands before she placed it on the scale.
"This person isn't healthy Holly. We can't understand why he does this because our brains don't work that way. That's a good thing." She was trying to be comforting, and in some ways it worked. But that didn't make it any easier.
"How many autopsies have you done?"
"I've lost count."
"Me too. I used to be able to hide this, not let it get to me like this."
"He made it personal. I get it."
"You ever let it get personal?" The look in Victoria's eyes told Holly the answer to her question. Victoria might understand the aspects of their job that no one else did. The way that they needed to dull their innate compassion as human beings. But she didn't know what it was like to have a serial killer call her out by name.
"We'll catch this guy Holly."
"Every time I hear that I believe it less and less." Holly mused. She wasn't normally one to allow doubt to creep in. She needed her positivity, she needed to think that bad people were brought to justice. It was the only time she ever got to sleep at night. But the longer this case went on the more and more she began to wonder if they would ever find out who was doing this.
Victoria wanted to continue to reassure Holly that everything was going to be alright. But there wouldn't be a way for her to do that, words wouldn't mean anything. So, she just went back to work. That was the only way that she could help.
Gail rounded the corner towards Holly's lab, nearly running smack into Victoria as the doctor left to go get coffee. She and Holly had been pouring over every detail of the bodies, praying that they found something this time. For a moment both women stood facing each other too stunned to move, until finally Victoria was the first to relax.
"Officer Peck." Victoria greeted. Holly had told her that she could call Gail by name but Victoria felt odd about it. Especially since she was pretty sure that Gail hated her.
"Dr. Silas. Is Holly around?"
"She's in the lab." Victoria said looking back behind her as if Gail didn't already know where Holly's lab was.
"Thanks." Moving around Victoria, Gail had taken a few steps before Victoria's voice rang out and stopped her. Turning slowly, Gail saw Victoria come to catch up with her.
"I wanted to talk to you about Holly." Gail's brow furrowed in confusion, she'd been texting Holly all day, the brunette had seemed normal when they'd spoken on the phone a few hours earlier.
"Is she okay?"
"She's fine. She's being Holly, and I think that's the problem."
"Who else is she supposed to be?"
"That's not what I mean. She's bottling everything up, she isn't letting herself deal with what this case is doing to her." Victoria saw Gail's defensiveness fade into a genuine look of worry.
"Holly's strong."
"She's also stubborn. She doesn't want to talk about it, she just shuts down." Victoria said.
"I can take care of Holly."
"I know you can. Gail, I'm not attacking you or your relationship with Holly. What I'm telling you, as someone that works in this profession where you have to pretend that you're not working on people who used to be alive. She needs an outlet or she's going to shut down. You can only do this job for so long before it starts to wear you down." Victoria explained before turning and going back down the hall.
For a minute Gail watched the other doctor go. She'd wanted to come to the morgue as soon as she found out about the note. But Holly had told her that she was fine and all she needed was for both of them to do their job. So Gail hadn't gone down to the morgue, now she was thinking that maybe she should have gone to the morgue.
Walking into the lab Gail's mind was still lingering on what she should have done earlier in that day. She was so lost in thought that she didn't even greet Holly until Holly came up to her.
"What's wrong?" Holly asked cupping Gail's face looking at her to see if there was any physical sign as to her girlfriend's strange mood.
"Sorry, was thinking. I came to see you." Gail replied with a small smile, though there was still an embarrassed flush across her face.
"I can see that. How was your shift?" Holly asked taking in Gail's street cloths.
"It was long and tedious. And I didn't get to arrest anyone. But, that's not important." Gail rested her hands on the curve of Holly's hip keeping her girlfriend close and enjoying the heat she felt from Holly's body.
"What is important?"
"I'm off work now, and I have come to see if you would allow me to completely pamper you tonight." Gail offered. Holly's smirk was nothing short of sinful as she allowed the thoughts to distract her.
"Pamper huh?" Holly questioned seeing Gail nod slowly before her hands tightened their grip and pulling Holly forward until they were flush against one another.
"Mhm. What do you say?"
"I say, I'm off in a few hours."
"Excellent. Gives me time to prepare what I need."
"Just promise me you aren't going to cook anything." Holly pleaded, laughing at Gail's mock pout.
"Of course I'm not going to cook anything. I love you, which means that I don't want to kill you with my inedible food. So, I will pick you up when you are off work deal?"
"Deal." Holly couldn't resist leaning forward and bringing their lips together in a soft kiss. The kind of kiss that was meant to make everything that had ever been wrong in the world right again. A kiss that for the moment made Holly forget about everything else.
"Okay, keep kissing me like that and I'm taking you home right now and we'll skip the pampering." Gail murmured against Holly's lips, groaning as Holly's teeth caught her bottom lip.
"I'll see you later."
Gail leaned against Traci's desk watching her friend as she finished the last of her paperwork. It still surprised her that she was now willing to spend her off time with these people. She was one of them now. They were friends.
"So, Steve called me 12 times today." Traci said looking up at Gail. Gail wasn't surprised, Steve had screwed up epically. Leo was the most important thing in the world to Traci. To make it look like watching him wasn't his top priority was the worst mistake her could make.
"I take it that you didn't answer." Gail and Steve had always been a pair, they'd always had each other's back. Her first partner. But she couldn't agree with him on this.
"Leo and I come as a package deal. If Steve can't understand that then there's no point in wasting my time or his."
"Okay, I'm going to say this and please don't take this to mean that I'm on his side because I'm not. The way that Steve and I grew up, our parents would dump us with a stranger if it had to do with a case. It's not that they didn't care, it's just that they were ambitious. We were raised with those same values. He screwed up, and I bet you he does feel terrible for it. I'm not saying forgive him, but growing up with him with the paternal influence we had, at least I can understand." Gail offered. Sometimes Gail wondered if her childhood was so odd to other people.
"I get it Gail, I know that growing up with Superintendent Mom and Inspector Dad was tough. And it made you guy's great cops. But this is my son and I won't have him suffer through that. Leo comes first, and Steve screwed up. He's going to need to prove that he's serious about me and Leo."
"I get it." Gail said, receiving a thankful smile from Traci. It was tricky dating the brother of one of her closest friends. She wondered what would happen to her friendship with Gail if things with Steve went south.
"How's Holly doing?" Traci asked changing the subject.
"She's…I don't know. I know that she's being really hard on herself. She thinks that she's not doing enough in order to catch the guy. She'll work herself to the bone if we let her. I'm worried about her. And I don't know how to help her. I'm not used to this." Gail confessed. She was bad at this part of relationships, she was used to being the one that needed emotional support. She didn't know how to be there for Holly the way that Holly had always been there for her.
"You just have to listen. You'll find that it isn't anything that you'll say. You just have to let her speak and let her come to you."
"Just listen? I don't feel like that is enough."
"It does more than you think."
"Just listen. I can do that."
"Go get your girl."
"Thanks Trace." Gail pushed off of the desk and went to head to the morgue to pick Holly up. She was almost to the elevator when Luke called her name.
"Peck, you got a second?" Luke asked pulling her aside.
"What's up?" Gail asked antsy, eager to go and get Holly.
"I need you to do something for me. And you're not going to like it."
"With a lead in like that, I don't doubt it." Gail said shifting her weight from one foot to the other.
"I need to know about Holly's past." Luke said. Gail looked up at Luke incredulously. Wondering why he would even ask her about that.
"Why?" Gail asked defensively.
"She's not a suspect. But it's an angle that we're looking into. You know how it works Gail, we need to go to figure out why this killer called Holly out by name."
"So she's in danger?"
"No, it's just an angle that we have to look into. Just standard protocol. I'm asking you if you think that you can do this, we need to know if there is anyone in Holly's life that might want to hurt her, might be angry at her, might be trying to make her suffer." Gail couldn't describe the rage that filled her at the question, the thought that someone doing this intentionally to hurt Holly.
"There isn't anyone. Sounds cliché but she's perfect." Gail said softly.
"Then is there someone that she used to know? Someone that might have had a grudge with her?"
"I don't know."
"I need you to find out. I know this puts you in a sticky spot with you being involved with her but I think we can both agree that she would appreciate it coming from you than for someone else. Can you do it? Do your job, and treat this like a case and not your girlfriend?" Gail should have said no. she knew that she couldn't separate it.
"I can do it." Gail found herself saying though she wanted to kick herself afterwards. She tried to convince herself that she was agreeing to do it so that it wasn't someone else that would be digging into Holly's past.
"Good."
"So, how do you want to be pampered?" Gail asked playfully as they walked into Holly's townhouse. Holly laughed at the question, only Gail would ask that point blank.
"Uh, junk food, sweats and a hoodie, cuddling with you on the couch and forgetting the outside world exists." Holly said dumping her bag, already on her way up the stairs to the bedroom to change.
"I offer you a night of pampering, where you could have a candlelit bubble bath, a massage, catering to your every whim and desire. And that is what you come up with?" Gail laughed following Holly up to their bedroom.
"Simple girl with simple tastes. Plus, I think that it's more fun if we do something we'll both enjoy." Holly said as she changed. She had a favorite hoodie from her university days, it was too big for her but it was the most comfortable thing that Holly owned.
"Fair enough. I'm going to take a quick shower. Why don't you get started on the relaxation and I'll be down in a few?"
"Okay."
When Gail descended the stairs she found Holly sitting on the couch, legs crossed underneath her and game controller in hand. Since buying the Xbox Holly had barely touched the thing. She let Gail have free reign of the device. But now Holly was playing one of Gail's games, killing zombies like a pro.
"When the Hell did you learn how to play?" Gail challenged as she sat down next to Holly.
"I watch you play all the time. It wasn't hard to figure out the basic controls. And then after that I'm just shooting the things that are trying to kill me." Holly didn't take her eyes off of the TV.
"How is it that you can make video games seem nerdy?" Gail asked picking up her own controller and joining Holly's game.
"Just talented I guess."
They spent hours playing together, Gail never thought she'd see Holly play a video game but it was a fun time. Something that they could both zone out to. They played until it was way past when they should be going to sleep. It was supposed to be both of their day off the following day but they both knew that they would be working. Holly would go into the lab and work solely on this case and Gail would see what she could do to help the detectives.
Gail fidgeted nervously at the table, twisting the straw wrapper between her fingers so much that it was about to fall apart. Checking her watch again Gail saw that not much time had passed since the last time she'd checked. When the door opened she turned to look, this time she saw the person she'd been waiting for.
"Officer Peck?" Gail stood in greeting and extended her hand. Thomas looked the woman over and then shook the outstretched hand. He'd been surprised to get her phone call, and even more surprised when she had requested that they meet without Holly.
"Uh thanks for coming." Gail said awkwardly sitting down across from Thomas.
"It was a little strange to get your phone call. I figured that when we met it would be at a restaurant or something with my sister." Thomas said cordially enough. He shared Holly's go with the flow attitude for the most part and was willing to hear Gail out.
"Yeah, sorry about that."
"You're not asking for my permission to marry my sister are you? Because, I gotta say that's a little speedy." Gail couldn't tell if Thomas was joking or not.
"I'm not. I mean, not that I won't ever. But not right now. I mean, we've only been dating for a few months." Gail rambled.
"Relax Gail, I'm kidding. I assumed that you wouldn't be calling me up randomly for that reason. And given that my sister isn't here I'm guessing that this isn't a social call. So, what can I do for you?" Thomas asked. He liked Gail already. It took a lot of nerve for someone to call the sibling of someone that they were dating and suggest a solo meeting. Gail was either very confident about her relationship with Holly, or she was nuts.
"It's professional, sort of. You know the case that we're working on?" Gail asked quietly.
"I'm familiar with it."
"There was a note left at one of the crime scenes and it was addressed to Holly. This bastard called her out, we're exploring options and different avenues but one of them is that this person has some sort of vendetta against Holly." Gail explained seeing in Thomas the same response that she'd had. The instant overprotectiveness that flared and she could see in the tensing of his shoulders and the clenching of his jaw.
"Why didn't she tell me?"
"She doesn't think that it has anything to do with her. But, they want to look into anyone that might have had a motive against her, now or in the past. And I know Holly now, I don't know about her past. So, I was hoping that you might be able to lend some insight."
"Why don't you just ask her?"
"I don't want to scare her. I know I should tell her, I should be asking her. But I guess I'm just trying to protect her you know? If we find something then I'll tell her." Thomas took a deep breath, this was a terrible idea and he knew it but because he wanted to protect Holly he found himself agreeing.
"What do you want to know?"
"Was there anyone that Holly had problems with when she was younger? Like in college? Someone that might still be holding a grudge?" Gail asked.
"Look, Holly was different when she was younger. You see her as the confident woman who owns and accepts who she is. The woman who is extroverted, makes friends easily and people like. She wasn't like that when she was in college. It took a lot of building to get to where she is today. Did she make enemies? None that I can think of. But she was painfully shy when she was younger, uncomfortable in her own skin, she couldn't barely hold a conversation with someone without wanting to hide in the shadows." Thomas confessed, laughing when he saw the shocked look cross over Gail's face. It was still amazing for him to see Holly grow into the woman that she was.
"How is that possible?"
"Growing up, Holly always knew she was gay. She didn't want to accept it but she knew. I think everyone did to some degree. At least in our family. But she'd heard enough horror stories that convinced her that if she ever told anyone she would be rejected, judged, hated. So she didn't tell anyone. When she went to college, she met someone. Sounds cliché but I've never seen Holly more alive. She was so happy you know?" Thomas beamed with the memory, remembering when he was cramming for his finals and Holly would call him up and just go on and on about this new facet of her life that she'd discovered.
"What happened? I'm guessing that it didn't end well." Gail asked trying not to let jealousy cloud how she felt on the matter.
"They were together for two years I think. And no offense, but I would have thought, at the time anyway, that if there was a couple that had the potential to make it. It would have been them. They were all about each other. And as I'm sure you have experienced, when Holly loves she loves with everything that she is. Heart and soul she's just so open about it."
"I know, there's nothing like it in the world." Gail confessed. Holly's love was like Gail's own personal drug. So addictive and it always made Gail want to go back for more.
"As I said they had been together for two years when Holly found that Liz had been cheating on her."
"Jesus."
"It broke something in Holly. Shattered her completely. She withdrew, kinda spiraled a little, depression, threw herself into studies but still almost dropped out of school all together. And then, she somehow rallied. I don't know how but we were all damn close to staging an intervention but she pulled herself out of it. And became the Holly that we all know and love today." Thomas finished watching Gail take in what he'd just told her.
"It's hard to imagine Holly like that."
"I know, she didn't really open up after that. Not for a long time. Not until medical school when she met her two best friends. I'm guessing you haven't met them yet."
"Nope. I don't really play nice with others."
"No one plays nice with Lisa. Rachel can be okay, when you get her away from Lisa. But the three of them were thick as thieves in medical school. Gail, I'm telling you this because I don't want you to bring all this back up to Holly. It wasn't the best time for Holly and I know that she just wants to put it past her. There is no one that I can think of that would do this to Holly." Thomas promised.
"I don't want to bring all this back up for her. She never said anything."
"And she wouldn't. She's moved passed it. It is her past. And it should stay there Gail. I'm telling you now, Holly will not appreciate having this brought up."
"I love her." Gail didn't know what it was that made her feel the need to announce that to him. But she did. She needed him to know that she loved his sister, and that she was going to take care of Holly.
"I can see that. You know she speaks very highly of you. You're one of the only few girls that I've ever heard her mention." Gail was torn between feeling a great swell of love knowing that she meant that much to Holly to have been spoken about. But also, a sense of sadness that there was a pain in Holly's past that she didn't know about.
"Holly mentioned someone once, she said that there was a professor or something. Someone that convinced her to specialize in forensics." Gail commented.
"Dr. Franklin I think her name was."
"Would she be worth talking to?"
"Gail, this is a dangerous road you're going down. Take it from me, don't dig. If you have questions about Holly you should ask her."
"I will. Please don't tell Holly about this."
"I won't, unless she asks. Holly and I don't keep secrets." Thomas said thinking that it was only fair that he warn Gail that if Holly asked him point blank he would tell his sister that Gail had asked these questions.
"Fair enough. Thanks for meeting with me."
"Sure, next time let's do it under a more social situation. Maybe with my sister present?" Thomas asked playfully while standing. Gail followed his lead and stood.
"Deal."
Staring at the information on her screen Gail wanted to feel the jealousy fade but it only raged inside her stronger than before. The woman's photo she was looking at was beautiful, and unlike the usual searches she ran this woman didn't have a list of priors that would require her to be in the police database. She was in the police database because she was a teacher. And she was beautiful. Elizabeth Buchannan, resident of Vancouver Canada. Glancing at the clock at her desk Gail decided it was an acceptable time to call.
"Hi, am I speaking with Liz Buchannan? My name is Officer Peck with the Toronto Metropolitan Police Department and I was wondering if you had a few minutes to answer some questions about someone you went to college with…"
Gail knew that she was dancing down a very dangerous road when she pulled up to McMaster University. Thomas had warned her to drop it, but now that she had gotten a glimpse of who her girlfriend had been she needed to know more. She needed to discover more about this time in Holly's life that even Thomas didn't know. Dr. Sandra Franklin was easy enough to find, she was quite famous it seemed. Gail arrived just as the professor's class was ending and the room was packed full of students, every seat filled and people were even standing in the back scribbling down their notes.
When the class was dismissed and the students began to filter out of the room Gail pushed her way inside. Dr. Franklin was a small woman, shorter than Gail with short red hair. She wore a gray pant suit, and was put together in a way that would make most people envy because she made it look so effortless.
"Professor Franklin?" Gail asked approaching the older woman's desk.
"Office hours are from 4pm until 6pm." Came a curt reply without even looking up from the stack of exams that she had just collected.
"I'm not a student. I'm a police officer with 15th Division, Toronto Metropolitan Police." Gail announced watching as the other woman looked up slowly, suspicious even.
"Police?"
"Yes ma'am. If possible, I have a few questions about a former student of yours." Gail could see the curiosity in Dr. Franklin.
"I don't suppose you'll tell me why."
"I can't comment on an ongoing investigation. But, it's in regards to a former student of yours Holly Stewart." Gail said.
"Holly Stewart, that's a name I haven't thought about in a long time. She was a remarkable student, one of the only students I've ever had that received top marks on all of my exams. With bright students like that I try and recruit them as TA's. Holly was my TA for two years. Is she alright?" Curiosity went to concern as quick as lightning.
"She's fine. I was wondering if you could tell me a little about her as a student, if she had any enemies, rivals, anyone that might hold a grudge."
"Officer, this is medical school. Rivalries are expected. But if you're asking if there were any out of the ordinary hostilities I can't recall any. She's alright though yes? If the police are involved…"
"I promise she's fine. We're just tracking down some information. Thank you for your time." Gail said with a professional smile.
"This is about those murders. The ones that have been all over the papers and the news." It wasn't a question, and Gail wasn't surprised that it was a statement. The media really had taken the story and run with it.
"As I said, I can't comment on ongoing investigations."
"You don't have to comment, you're lack of commenting is validation enough. Don't worry though officer, you haven't technically commented on the investigation except for ask me about a former student." Gail looked at the professor, her mind effectively blown with the weird way that she'd been able to get Gail to admit information.
"Thank you again for your time. If you can think of anything, here's my card. Please don't hesitate to call." Holding the card out Gail watched as Dr. Franklin reached out slowly, her hand shaking almost as if she were nervous but she wasn't. She took the card and realized Gail's close scrutiny over her hands and quickly withdrew them.
"You haven't really asked me anything for which I need to think about. Officer…sorry you never did tell me your name."
"Peck, Gail Peck."
"Officer Peck, I used to work for the city as a medical examiner. I understand the need for discretion, but I can't exactly help you if you don't tell me what it is you're looking for. You want to know about Holly's time as a student why don't you ask her? I'm sure she would be far more qualified than I am to tell you about it."
"We're trying to get objective views, talk to as many people as we can get as clear a picture as possible."
"I understand. I suppose the most I can tell you about Holly was that she was an excellent student, always studying always trying to absorb information. I remember she used to read ahead from the lessons in class and I would need to give her the assignments in advance otherwise she would grow bored." Dr. Franklin said lost in a nostalgic moment.
"Sounds like Holly."
"Ah, so you've met her."
"We're acquainted."
"But you won't ask her about her life as a student? Is she under investigation for something?"
"Nice try Professor." Dr. Franklin laughed softly at being caught trying to pry.
"Do let me know if there is anything I can do to help. I remember Holly well officer Peck. She was one of my favorites."
"Yeah, I hear we have you to thank for her being the best forensic pathologist around."
"Is that right?"
"She credits you to being the reason why she chose forensic pathology." Gail explained. Dr. Franklin's smile grew at the compliment.
"I just gave her a gentle nudge. She did the rest on her own."
"Please call if you can think of anything."
"I don't know how much help I'll be but I will."
Gail returned to her car, getting in she pulled her phone from her pocket. She'd felt it buzz while she was talking with Dr. Franklin but didn't look. It was a text from Holly.
Holly Stewart 1:12pm: We found some foreign DNA on one of the bodies. We're running it now.
Gail Peck 1:36pm: On my way back now. Keep me posted?
Gail didn't get a response back from her text, but she wasn't expecting one. She was filled with an overwhelming sense of excitement. The killer had never left any sort of evidence before and to be stupid enough to leave DNA evidence on the body might be enough to figure out who was doing it.
When she arrived at 15 she made a beeline for Traci. It seemed like everyone got a similar call that she did. The detectives office was full of people all waiting around hoping for good news.
"Think that might be our big break?" Dov asked excitedly.
"Let's not get too excited." Traci cautioned.
"It's something. The killer has never left anything before."
If Gail thought that meeting with Thomas had been nerve wracking then this was nerve destroying. Walking off of the elevator at the hospital, walking down along the hallway on the cosmetic surgery floor. Gail hated hospitals, but she needed to talk to Lisa and that was where the admissions desk said that she was. Stopping at the nurses station Gail asked the nurse where she could find Lisa, only to have the brunette woman be waved over.
"Can I help you?" Lisa asked looking Gail up and down. It didn't take long for her discover who Gail was. She'd heard Holly talk about Gail enough to remember what her last name was.
"Do you have somewhere we can talk for a minute or two?" Gail asked.
"What's this about?"
"Holly." Gail answered quickly. It was clear that Lisa didn't want to talk to Gail. Gail could feel the judgment from Lisa and they had only just met. They were both in uniform, Gail with the protection of her vest and the security of her gun belt. But Lisa's uniform somehow made her more important, her scrubs with her white lab coat like Holly's.
"We can talk in my office. This way." Lisa said turning and leading Gail to the large corner office.
"Lots of money in the plastic surgery." Gail commented as she walked into the office.
"What about Holly?" Lisa asked.
"When's the last time you talked to her?" Turning her attention to Lisa, Gail switched to her professional persona.
"It's been a while. She's been busy with work. But probably about a month ago. Before you started occupying all of her time." The biting accusation did not go unnoticed.
"Excuse me?"
"Since the two of you have started this relationship she hasn't really made time for her friends." Lisa explained sitting down at her desk.
"If you're implying that I'm forbidding her from seeing you-."
"I wouldn't. Holly's too independent to let someone tell her who she can and can't see. But still, Holly used to make time for her friends even when she was busy with work. So, why don't you tell me why you're here and what this has to do with Holly?" Lisa's patience was wearing thin.
"Does she have any enemies that you know of? Any rivals?"
"Why?"
"It's an avenue that we are exploring that the suspect in a case that we're working on might be in some way be connected to Holly."
"Why would you think that? Like he's targeting her? What are you doing to keep her safe?" Lisa demanded her eyes burning into Gail.
"We're doing everything to keep her safe. And it might not have anything to do with Holly but it's something that we have to look into. So, please answer the question."
"Medicine is a competitive field. Holly graduated top of our class in medical school. She could have had any specialty she wanted, there were a dozen or so programs that wanted her. But instead she decided to poke at dead people. It didn't piss anyone off if that's what you are wondering. Just confused and disappointed a lot of people. So now a psycho is targeting Holly?" Gail felt her temper begin to run thin as she listened to Lisa belittling Holly's chosen career.
"Not everyone finds gratification in serving the vanity of the over privileged. Holly isn't being targeted but we're trying to figure out if maybe it's someone that Holly's met before. Someone who might be trying to make a point to her." Gail explained. She hoped that she could get Lisa to cooperate just out of caring for Holly.
"There isn't anyone I can think of."
"Thank you for your time."
"You know you aren't good enough for her right?" Lisa asked before Gail could leave.
"What?"
"Holly is successful, she's smart, and she's beautiful. Why would she want to settle for a beat cop when she could date people of her own social class? What kind of salary do you bring in? You think that you can support her and make her happy forever?" Lisa's questions cut away the confidence that Gail was beginning to have in her relationship with Holly. It played on the insecurities that she'd been trying to ignore that had been nagging at her mind anyway.
"You don't know anything about me."
"I know that Holly deserves the best. And I don't know if you can give that to her. Not to say that you won't try I'm sure."
"Thank you for your time. I'll be going now." Gail growled opening the door and walking out.
Gail returned to 15 practically fuming, Lisa's words replying over and over in her mind cutting more painfully at her confidence each time. What if Lisa was right? What would happen when Holly woke up one morning and realized that she was settling into a relationship with Gail but she deserved so much better? Gail didn't think that she could handle losing Holly.
"Hey Gail…whoa you okay?" Dov asked seeing the look on his friends face.
"Fine."
"You're not. I know that look, that's someone did something to severely piss you off. Usually that's me. But as far as I know I didn't do anything. So, what happened?" Dov insisted following Gail into the abandoned locker room.
"Don't worry about it."
"Come on Gail. I wanna help if I can."
"I just had a rude awakening."
"About?"
"Holly, and how I'm nowhere near good enough for her." Gail confessed leaning against her locker, feeling the cool metal send a shiver down her spine.
"That's not true. You know that right?" Dov offered putting his hand on Gail's shoulder. Their past may have been complicated, he had started out hating her like most of them. But Gail had proved to be one of the best friends Dov could have hoped for. She may be mean, and snarky most of the time but she was also the greatest source he had for support. And it always came when he least expected it.
"Isn't it? She's a doctor, and I'm what? A beat cop."
"Holly doesn't care about what you do. She's not dating you because you're a part of the Peck dynasty. She's with you because she loves you." Dov said.
"I want to believe that."
"Don't do that to yourself Gail. You deserve the greatest happiness."
"Please."
"Come on Gail, I've seen you with Chris and with Nick and each time I've seen you hurt. They didn't love you like you deserved to be. But Holly does. So really, I know that you're tempted to do that Gail Peck thing where you shut everyone out. But Holly is the best thing that I've seen happen to you since I've known you." Dov could see that she was at least starting to believe him.
"Thanks." Dov bit back the instinct to tease her, this wasn't the time to do that.
"Who'd you meet that told you all that crap anyway? I mean, anyone that would tell a Peck that she wasn't good enough must be crazy."
"Doctors apparently don't travel in the same circles as cops. My last name didn't do me any favors."
"Well, if whoever it was is a friend of Holly then I'm sure that they just need to spend more time with you. You don't always give off the friendliest vibe when you first meet someone." Dov cautioned.
"I don't really want to spend any more time with Lisa than I have to." Gail grumbled. The two of them walked out of the locker room.
Holly was just packing up her stuff for the night when her phone rang. She wasn't surprised she was supposed to pick up Gail and go to the Penny with some of the rookies and Gail always liked to call to see when Holly would show. She didn't even look at her phone before answering it.
"Hey." Holly greeted.
"Holly?" Holly's blood ran cold when she heard the voice she hadn't thought about in years.
"Liz?"
"Hi, I know it's super random me calling you after so many years. But I wanted to see if you were alright." Holly hesitated, it was strange to hear from Liz even if the length of time wasn't strange enough the manner in which they ended things was enough to ensure that they probably shouldn't have ever spoken again.
"What do you mean?" For a moment there was hesitation on the other line and Holly needed to check her phone to make sure that they hadn't lost the connection.
"I got a call this morning from an Officer Peck with the Toronto Police. She was asking me a lot of questions about you and about us when we were in school. She only told me that she had to ask these questions because of an investigation but she wouldn't tell me anymore. I was worried." Liz explained her laugh came through the other end of the phone and Holly felt some of the confusion fog lift. Gail had called Liz? How would Gail even know about Liz? Why?
"Thanks for worrying about me. I'm fine. I'm sorry that you were called, it must have been some sort of mistake." Holly rambled.
"Are you sure? She sounded pretty concerned about you. You know, if you're in some kind of trouble you could always come back to Vancouver for a while. I know we didn't leave things on the best of circumstances but…" Liz trailed off, realizing how stupid what she was saying was. She was inviting her ex-girlfriend out to Vancouver while she was still dating the man that she cheated on Holly with.
"Thank you for the offer but I'm really okay."
"Okay. I'm sorry again Holly, for everything."
"It's forgiven Liz. Have a good night."
Holly looked down at her phone for a few long minutes, processing what just happened. How could that have just happened? Gail had called Liz, the only way she could have known about Liz was if someone told her. Grabbing her stuff Holly left her lab, brushing past Zach and ignoring his question of if she was alright while she walked to her car. She needed to sort this out.
The officer manning the desk at 15 didn't even as Holly for her credentials anymore, she was there so often they knew who she was even if it had nothing to do with Gail. But as she walked into the station and saw everyone as they went about their day working, she didn't see her girlfriend. She had trained herself to always seek Gail out, she didn't even think about it now. Whether it be at a crime scene or at the Penny, Holly would always scan the crowd until she spotted her girlfriend.
"Hey Holly, how's it going?" Andy greeted with a friendly smile.
"Have you seen Gail?"
"She's around somewhere." Andy answered not realizing at all the storm that was slowly brewing under Holly's calm exterior. Holly wanted to yell, and she didn't ever yell. It wasn't in her character to yell and vent her anger, she was more of a talker. But today she'd make an exception.
"Andy can I ask you a question? Kind of an off the record kind of question." Holly asked lowering her voice.
"Sure."
"Am I under investigation for something?" Holly asked. Her question must have taken Andy off guard because the brunette officer's eyes widened.
"Why would you think you were under investigation?" Andy asked her voice louder than it needed to be.
"Just a hunch. I need to talk to Traci. Do me another favor, if you see Gail will you send to Traci's desk for me?"
"Sure thing."
Traci looked up when she saw Holly approach. Unlike Andy though, Traci could see the look of fury that blazed just behind Holly's usually compassion filled eyes.
"Uh oh, what'd Gail do now?" Traci asked. Probably the only other person qualified to understand what dating a Peck was like. And they were an infuriating bunch.
"Gail called my ex-girlfriend from college and asked her a bunch of questions about my past." Holly said.
"She did what?" Traci nearly screeched.
"Yeah I just got off the phone with my ex. What's going on Traci? Am I under investigation or something?" Holly demanded.
"No, absolutely not Holly. I don't know what Gail was thinking but we did not ask her to look into your past." Traci promised.
"I might have." Luke chimed in having overheard Holly.
"You might have?" Traci demanded turning to her fellow detective.
"We needed to know if anyone might have a grudge against you, someone who might be thinking of this as sort of a revenge thing. Calling you out at a crime scene." Luke explained shifting uncomfortably at the pure, raw rage that was being directed towards him.
"How about just asking me instead of having Gail snoop around behind my back?" Holly asked arms crossed.
"I just told her we needed to know these things. I didn't tell her how she needed to get the information. I figured she would talk to you." Luke defended. Holly glared at the man and then looked away, she wasn't angry at him. He was just doing his job. And so was Gail to an extent but this, this was a violation of privacy. She needed to know how Gail found out about Liz in the first place.
"Holly, I know you're angry-."
"I'm not angry I am pissed off." Holly fired back.
"Gail was just doing her job." Traci offered. "Albeit she did it in probably the most idiotic ways possible. What is with those two, Steve and Gail? It's like they don't operate under the same rules the rest of us do. They don't expect us to be upset when they do stuff like this." Traci ranted.
Holly saw the flash of her girlfriend's blonde hair walking into the precinct talking to Dov about something. She was smiling, she was happy. Something that was happening more and more recently and Holly would normally have taken comfort in that and been warmed by the thought that her girlfriend was having a good day. But this time, she was too angry.
"Holly, please don't make a scene. That won't do anyone any good." Traci warned she could see Holly's intentions and she didn't know if she should be legitimately concerned for her friend. Traci would have thought Holly was well within her rights to slap Gail for what she did.
"I won't make a scene Traci. As tempting as it is." Holly replied. Andy found Gail and delivered Holly's message to her and as quickly as she saw Holly she knew that Holly knew what she'd been up to that day. She thought for a moment about running, she could probably get away with it too. But if she ran she'd never be welcomed back into Holly's life again, she knew that running was a coward's way of handling the situation. Running was her first response when things got rough but she wanted to show Holly that she was getting better. Maybe it would buy her some good grace when it came to the lashing she was about to take.
Walking up the few steps to the detectives desks Gail walking towards Traci's desk afraid to meet Holly's eyes.
"Hey." Gail greeted quietly as close to tail between her legs as anyone had ever seen Gail Peck.
"How did you find out about Liz?" Holly demanded.
"Holly…"
"How?!" Holly growled.
"Thomas told me."
"My brother? You asked my brother about my past?" Traci winced realizing that things just got a whole lot worse. She had no idea if she was about to witness the destruction of one of the best relationships she'd ever seen.
"I was doing my job." Gail winced at her words, she knew that was the worst thing she could possibly say. She needed to be groveling, she needed to be begging for forgiveness right now. Not getting defensive and definitely not trying to make it seem like she had a right to do what she'd done.
"Your job required you to dig into my past? To ask people questions about me? People who I have tried for years to forget. And now they call me up because they're worried about me because a police officer is calling them asking them if I have any enemies or people who might want to hurt me?" Holly's self-control was beginning to fade and she was getting very close to yelling.
"I'm sorry. I should have talked to you first."
"You're damn right you should have talked to me first! How could you think that this was okay?"
"Can we go somewhere more private to talk about this Holly? Please." Gail pleaded. She didn't want other people to see this. In that moment she was convinced that Holly was about to break up with her and she didn't want there to be any witnesses to that.
"Who else did you talk to? I need to know Gail."
"I talked to Thomas, Liz, Dr. Franklin, and Lisa." Gail watched as each name she listed seemed to be like a physical slap across Holly's face.
"Find out what you were looking for?" Holly asked, her chance to yell approached and she found she didn't. Her anger was powerful, palpable, and short lived replaced instead by the much more potent pain of feeling betrayed.
"Holly-."
Holly reached down to Traci's desk, grabbing a pen and a blank notepad she found there and started scribbling. No one said anything while she wrote, until finally she stopped and tossed the notepad back down onto the desk. It was filled with Holly's writing.
"Those are the names of everyone I can think of that you might want to talk to about my past." Holly said before walking past Gail without another word. Traci didn't know if she should tear into Gail for what she had done or if Gail was doing a fine enough job of that as it was.
"Did my relationship just end?" Gail asked finally, looking at Traci like she was about to crumble apart. Sure, she'd done this to herself but Traci had only seen Gail look like this right after Jerry died.
"I hope not."
Holly was on her second box of tissues when she heard a knock on her door. She looked at it, assuming that it was Gail and determined to ignore it. Her phone had been ringing almost non-stop with Gail's attempts to contact her. When the knocking continued Holly forced herself up and walked to the door, if it was Gail then Holly would just send her away. But when she looked through the view port she was surprised at who she saw there.
Pulling the door open Holly saw Sandy Franklin standing at her door. It had been years since Holly had seen her old professor.
"Dr. Franklin." Holly greeted wordlessly inviting the elder woman inside once she recovered from her shock.
"Please, Holly. I think we know each other well enough to call each other by our first names." Sandy said playfully.
"I'd ask what you were doing here but I have a pretty good idea. You didn't have to come all this way."
"It's hardly a long way Holly. Besides, it's not every day that a police officer asks me if there is someone with a vendetta against one of my former students. I had to come and see with my own two eyes that you were alright."
"Alright? I'm not sure I know what that feels like anymore." Holly confessed.
"Why don't you pour me a mug of tea and tell me all about it."
Their talk went into the early hours of the morning, they talked about everything from Gail and the recent developments of their relationships to the case that had been stumping her. When she was in school, towards the end of her schooling actually, Sandy used to give Holly old cases that had already been solved and she would ask Holly to figure out who did it based on the evidence. Sometimes Holly would get it quickly, other times Holly would sit in Sandy's office going over every bit of evidence that didn't make sense.
"Are you staying in town?" Holly asked as their night drew to a close.
"I will be for a while. Finals just finished up and I had some down time. Besides it's been a while since I've had a good mystery to focus my attention on."
"I welcome the help."
"Try and get some sleep. I'll call you tomorrow." Holly walked Sandy to the door and bid farewell to the woman she hadn't realized she'd missed so much.
"Lunchbox." Holly heard Gail's voice calling out to her before she could close the door. Gail had driven over to Holly's as soon as she was able, she'd still been working up the courage to knock on the door when she'd seen Holly walk Sandy out.
"I'm not talking to you Gail. I'm too angry, and I'm going to say things I might regret. You should just go home." Holly warned.
"I want to talk about this."
"Now you want to talk? Now? Instead of when you were sneaking around behind my back about my past. You don't get to decide when we do or don't talk about things Gail. I'm angry, and I'm hurt."
"I'm not going anywhere. I'll stay out here all night if I have to. I screwed up. I let my job take priority when I should have just talked to you about it. Please, Lunchbox. Let me fix this." Gail pleaded. If she thought it'd help she would have gotten down on her knees to beg for forgiveness but she didn't think that it would help.
Holly stared Gail down, she had no doubt that if Gail said she was going to stay then she was going to stay. For how angry she was at Gail she couldn't make her girlfriend stay outside in her car all night. It was cold. But God, she was still so angry.
"You can sleep in the guest room or on the couch I don't care which." Holly said turning on her heel and walking inside allowing Gail to follow her.
A/N: I dunno, is Holly over reacting? Do you think she'll forgive Gail?