Day and Night Visits
Chapter 3
With his hand still gripping the knob of his opened front door, Daniel looked down with trepidation at the white envelope. From behind him a unfamiliar female voice called out from his front yard.
"Wait! Dr. Pierce! Don't go inside!"
Daniel turned and breathed a sigh of relief that it wasn't the red-haired woman. Instead, a young woman, probably late 20's with shoulder length blonde hair stood directly outside his front door. He had never seen this woman before, and wished he could just go in the safety of his residence but she had already seen him. He had no choice but to step out from the foyer and back outside, closing the door behind him, leaving the white envelope inside.
"Dr. Pierce, hello," the blonde hair woman gave him her friendliest smile, "I'm from next door and we haven't been formally introduced. My name is Jenny Clayton."
She stuck out her hand.
Daniel stared down at the outreached hand but did not take it. Instead he clutched his briefcase closer to his body. The young woman awkwardly brought her hand down, not quite understanding Daniel's behavior.
"I really should be going inside," he bluntly stated, anxious to take a look at the envelope and be away from a stranger.
"Wait!" Jenny urged him to stay, "Aren't you curious how I know your name? I'm the new teacher's assistant for Dr. Bennett. I believe he has his classroom next to yours."
"Oh yes... Dr. Bennett," Daniel vaguely acknowledged, and then strangely added, "but you're not from here."
Jenny looked confused, "Yes, I just told you that. I've recently moved here."
"No, that is not what I'm saying," Daniel continued, "I detect a slight accent. You are not from Chicago."
The woman looked flustered, not expecting that response from Daniel. But before she could answer, a burly male with square shoulders came up Daniel's pathway.
"Jenny!" he replied with a gruff voice, as she turned around, "What are you doing here?"
Jenny nervously placed a strand of hair behind her ear, "Oh, Tom, I was just saying hello to our neighbor, Dr. Pierce."
Daniel wanted more than ever to leave, but he had no choice as Jenny recovered from the awkwardness and introduced Daniel to her husband, Tom Clayton. Tom basically grunted his greeting.
Luckily for Daniel, his front door suddenly opened, revealing Lewicki.
"Hey, Jenny, Tom!" Lewicki greeted the couple, "I see you've met the Doc!"
"Hi Max," Jenny looked pleased to see Max.
"Come on, Jenny," Tom brusquely responded, ignoring Lewicki's friendliness, "It's best we go."
"But I just got here!" Jenny bit her lower lip, obviously reluctant to leave.
"Don't worry, Jenny," Lewicki tried to relieve the tension, "we'll be seeing you at the party on Saturday, anyway."
Daniel shot a "what?" look at Lewicki who didn't seem to notice.
"Oh yes!" Jenny seemed to perk up, "That's something to look forward to, isn't it? Okay I'll see both of you then! Good bye, Max, Dr. Pierce, " she waved. as Tom possessively led her back towards their house.
Max then stepped aside to allow Daniel in the foyer.
"You've invited them to my party?" Daniel immediately questioned Max, "I've just met them five minutes ago!"
"So, suddenly you've taken an interest in your party?" Lewicki asked sardonically.
"When unknown guests are involved, yes!" Daniel was adamant.
"Okay, Doc ...I'll be more than happy to use YOUR guest list…but, oh, wait…you don't have one!"
The sarcasm wasn't lost on Daniel.
"Okay, I get it; you're in charge of my party," he relented.
Lewicki started to close the front door but Daniel held on to it.
"Before you shut the door, Lewicki," Daniel leaned in and whispered, although there were just the two of them here, "is there anyone parked out there?"
Daniel knew not to trust his own eyes. Max covertly looked past Daniel's shoulders.
"You mean SedanLady" Yeah, she's still out there," Lewicki noted as Daniel walked in and he shut the door.
"So she's still real," Daniel confirmed, although he already knew the answer.
"Yeah, she's real alright, Doc," Lewicki then handed him the envelope, "And you've got another one of these."
Still standing in the foyer, Daniel immediately opened the flap of the envelope and took out the familiar white paper folded in thirds. He began to unfold it as Lewicki watched.
"What's it say this time, Doc?" Lewicki asked.
On the paper, the "H" was in shiny blue, cut from a glossy magazine page. Following it was an orange "Y". That was it. Nothing else.
Daniel scowled as he showed the paper to Max, "H.Y.?"
Lewicki shrugged, "Maybe he's saying 'hi'."
Daniel stared at him "Is the sender of this letter three years old? How do you misspell the word 'hi'?"
"Hey, I'm not the one who's an expert in cracking puzzles, am I?" Lewicki asked.
Daniel stared at the sheet as he racked his brain, "H.Y…What could this mean? Is HY an abbreviation for a word like Hybrid? …or...for an acronym like 'Hey you?'" He pondered a different idea, "And even more mystifying that that is...who is sending these letters?"
Lewicki shrugged, "Maybe it's someone who harbored a grudge against one of the cases you've solved. You have solved quite a few of them, you know..."
"Thanks, Lewicki... "Daniel stated sardonially, "you've eased my worried mind sooo much."
Still holding onto the paper, Daniel took off his scarf and hung them on the rack next to the door. He then walked through the living room up to the front window. Pulling aside the curtain, he looked out. The green sedan was gone.
"Is SedanLady still out there, Doc?" Lewicki asked.
"No."
Daniel peered back down at the paper, still baffled by the two letters. Could it be the initials of a name? A location? He needed to find out.
"Max," he said, "After dinner, could you drive me over to FBI headquarters?"
.
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It was late in the evening at the FBI office. Most of the employees had gone home to their respective families. Sadly, Kate Moretti had no one to go home to.
Kate looked around her desk at work. She was bogged down with paperwork and it was late. It was the worst part of her job. She opened the file in front of her. Right on top was a newspaper article and she scanned the first paragraph:
An alleged Mexican drug cartel commander is the prime suspect in the murder of an FBI agent last Friday. The allegations have further strained the U.S-Mexico relations due to...
A familiar voice interrupted her thoughts.
"Kate. Hi."
Kate jerked up her head but then relaxed to see Daniel standing next to her desk. She was glad to see him although her cheeks reddened at him seeing the condition of her work-space. There was crumbled trash from tonight's fast food dinner spewed on her desk and tossed crumbled papers next to her wastepaper basket.
"Fast food again?" Daniel lectured, taking in all the emptied boxes, " You've really got to eat better; take better care of yourself, Kate."
With a singular movement of her arm, she quickly shoved all the boxes into the trash. The quick housekeeping gesture made Daniel half-grin.
"'I'll eat healthy when they invent salads that actually taste good," responded Kate. She was glad to see him. It was like he entered the room and brought some unexplained electrifying force with him. "Daniel. Please, sit," she invited him.
Daniel took a seat opposite hers. He pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, in a show of nervousness.
"Kate, I–know-it's-late-and-all…"
By his quick speech, it was obvious he was agitated.
"Daniel, is there something wrong?"
Daniel took out the folded white paper," I've received a second letter…"
"What? A second letter?" she looked concerned, "Let me see it..."Kate read the second paper with the two letters and looked at Daniel, concerned, "H.Y.?"
"…I just can't figure out what the two letters could mean." Daniel scowled.
He mentioned the theory of the initials of someone from one of their previous cases, or a location of some sort, so Kate pulled up their old case files on her computer, and looked at the results.
"I'm sorry, Daniel," Kate said, "so far, no connection to anything."
Daniel nodded, "So what do you make of this second letter then? I don't think the fraternity would pull the same two pranks in a row."
"You're right about that. This doesn't sound like some kind of fraternity prank..." Kate looked to be in deep thought. At last she stated, "You know, Daniel, it could be...and I'm not saying it is...but maybe you're right. Maybe you have a stalker on your hands. Is she still sitting in front of your house?
"Yes."
Kate watched him carefully for his reaction, "This Hilda Jones could very well be obsessed with you."
Daniel guffawed, "Someone obsessed with me? That'll be the day."
"I 've seen cases like this before, Daniel…" Kate picked her words carefully, "...a person can get fixated on someone and sometimes the reason why doesn't make sense."
"Sooo... you're saying it doesn't made sense if someone is fixated on me," he stated evenly.
Kate looked flustered, "You know what I mean!"
"Do you think Hilda Jones is the one sending these letters to me?"
Kate sighed, "Daniel, as much as I would love to speculate who sent these letter and what do they mean, I think it would be useless to pursue this right now. It's too early and we don't have much to go on here," she pointed to her file, "and I hate to say this, but I have this important federal case I'm working on…"
She didn't mean it to come off so harsh, but Daniel did come here unannounced, it was late and she was very tired. In face, she had developed a headache. She began rubbing her forehead, hoping it would not turn into a throbbing headache.
Daniel had been watching her, "Kate, do you have a headache?"
Kate feigned a smile, "Only slightly. Nothing to worry about."
Daniel wordlessly got up and stood behind her.
"I can help relieve some of the tension," Daniel volunteered, "but I need to touch your neck. You don't mind, do you?"
Kate looked slightly alarmed at the word 'touch', "What? Why?"
"Remember, I'm an expert on how the brain works," Daniel stated, "and that makes me an expert on how to relax it, too. Just sit still. You'll feel better in 10 minutes."
"Um...I'm not sure..."
But Daniel would not be dissuaded. He took a deep breath in. Tentatively at first, he slid his fingers beneath her neck and began rubbing. The area between her nape and the base of her skull was so tight that he could feel the hard, contracted bands of muscle. Using the fingertips of both his hands, he started to massage the knotted muscles with extreme gentleness.
Kate closed her eyes at Daniel's touch. He started out gently, but as he went on, the kneading became more firm. He skillfully used strong finger pressure in a rhythmic sequence on her neck. Then once it began to loosen he began to knowledgeably hold each point on the acupuncture meridians of Kate's neck for two to eight seconds in order to allow the energy to flow throughout her body.
"Does this help, Kate?" he asked.
"Mmmmmmm," was her response as she felt her mind and body becoming balanced again. Daniel closed his eyes as he heard her moaning, trying to block off his own sensations. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea.
"Perhaps I should stop," he stated, as he felt some of Kate's tension ease, but his own senses had become more aroused.
"No," she let out a quivering breath, "don't stop."
And with her encouragement, he continued his gentle but effective motions. Kate felt her entire body loosening.
"Let me know if it's too much pressure," he said, "I don't want to torture you. That would be an extra charge."
Kate smiled at his joking.
Then she once again was lost in a world of relaxation as Daniel continued massaging. No more words were spoken. As he continued in silence, her breathing deepened and lengthened, causing Daniel to feel desires within himself. As soon as he felt her entire neck area had loosened, he stopped. It was all too tempting. He went and sat back across from her.
A grateful smile passed her lips, "Thank you, Daniel. That felt wonderful. My headache is gone. "
"Just be glad I use my powers for good, not evil," he quipped.
She laughed her first real laugh of the day.
As hard as he tried, Daniel could not take his eyes off of Kate. He had never seen a woman more vibrantly lovely. All his usual anxiousness had melted, like a chunk of ice thrown into a raging fire. But he needed to stop these poetic daydreams about her. After all, he could see that she had real work to do.
"You're staying late at work tonight, aren't' you?" he asked.
She nodded, "Just until I get this federal case closed. It's been a pain, let me tell you."
Daniel was embarrassed he was bothering her over two silly alphabetical letters and a woman who sits in a car, when Kate had real FBI work to do.
"I shouldn't have come and bothered you," Daniel stated, embarrassed, "I don't know why I'm here."
But Daniel knew exactly why he came. He hadn't seen her much, he missed her, so he didn't regret coming here. Slowly he got up from his chair. Kate felt bad she had brushed him aside, but she really needed to get her work done.
"Daniel, thank you, I feel so very wonderful... I'm glad you came here tonight," Kate looked at him with all sincerity, "I really am."
Her brown eyes were lit with a peculiar warm glow, giving Daniel a moment of pure pleasure.
"You're welcome Kate."
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The next morning Daniel came down the stairs in quite a happy mood. Seeing Kate always did that for him. He had called out for Lewicki, but there was no reply. Now going in the kitchen, he saw a note had been left on the refrigerator:
Doc,
Had to rush to the store to pick up some soy milk. Yes, I actually shop for food, it doesn't magically appear every time you open the refrigerator door. In the future, please do not put empty cartons back in the refrigerator.
-Max
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So I guess I have to fend for myself, Daniel thought internally. He suppose he could do that for an hour. Walking out to the foyer, he went to get the morning paper. He stopped just before he reached the door.
In the middle of the foyer floor was another white envelope.
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(Oh, and thank you Perception writers for the D/K moments on episode 3.Also, thank you reviewers, people who put me on alerts/faves. It makes me so happy!)
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