Thanks for all the lovely reviews here. You all are the BEST. To answer a few of the reviews/questions I've gotten on here...
1. Yes 'Laura' Christine was intentional. Little nod to Madame president. I couldn't resist.
2. Christine's dad can be whomever you want him to be. Because Mr. Raydor still hasn't appeared and thus isn't canon (but is SO close to being so... five weeks, loves, five weeks!) I want to write him as vaguely as possible for now. :-D If you want to read an amazing, amazing story that *does* feature the admiral as Mr. Raydor, head over to 'The Hiatus' by bugsfic. Its a beautiful story-I cannot recommend it enough.
3. I've never seen 'Monday Mornings', so that was totally coincidental... but I'm glad it fits! :D
Thanks to everyone for reading and reviewing. I love the details you keep pointing out in your reviews and I'm so glad you're all enjoying the ride!
Christine.
Christine lay against James on the couch, her feet tucked up under her as they finished watching The Devil's Muse. As the ending credits rolled on the screen, Christine sighed.
"That was a seriously twisted film, James," she mused, rubbing her eyes as he placed a hand on her back to rub it. He let out a quiet laugh and nodded.
"I know, but isn't it a great film? You know, they just found a body that looks like a Black Dahlia copy cat-and this year IS the 65th anniversary. Maybe the killer has seen this movie." There was a light tone to his voice; he was obviously joking, but Christine couldn't help but think it was odd.
Christine studied his face. He seemed to derive an awful lot of pleasure from talking about murderers. The only other person she'd met who was this fascinated with crime was her mother. It was odd when her mom got excited about it, if she was being honest, and it made her slightly uncomfortable that James did it too.
"There was a Black Dahlia case-here in LA?" Christine thought it was strange she hadn't seen anything about it on the news, and her Mom hadn't mentioned it the last few times they'd spoken.
"Oh, yea. They found a body the other day, out by the train tracks near Leimert Park. Not too far from where the real Black Dahlia's body was found." He sighed quietly, as if he thought the whole situation was unfortunate. As he caught her eye, he smiled at Christine as she watched him, tracing circles on her back with his fingers.
"That's really creepy. I'm shocked it hasn't been all over the news." She said quietly, feeling uncomfortable.
James nodded in agreement, "Yea it is a little strange that it hasn't made a bigger splash. I guess the LAPD got ahold of it pretty quickly, then. Poor cops. They're probably still stumped." He grinned, leaning back on the couch.
Christine glanced down at her watch. It was well after midnight and she'd told Rusty she'd be in earlier. It was a good excuse to go. "That is unfortunate for them…. It's really late. I think I should head out to my Mom's. Early start in the morning and all that." She said pleasantly, reaching for her shoes.
"You don't have to go if you don't want to. You could stay here," He smiled, pulling her back in to him. She kissed him on the cheek, then sat back up.
"No, I promised my little brother I'd be home tonight and I'm already three hours late." She stood up after she got her shoes on and grabbed for her purse. "Tonight was really fun," she smiled, reaching for his hand to help him stand up. James wrapped his arms around her and planted a kiss on her forehead.
"I had a good time, too, Chris. Call me in the morning, maybe we can grab a coffee on your break from court." Christine nestled her head in his chest. Even with his weird crime fascination, she liked him. After a moment she leaned her head back to look him in the eye, smiling.
"I will definitely do that." She kissed him gently and broke from the embrace, heading out the door before he had a chance to argue.
Christine pondered the LAPD case the whole way home. It had been really strange that her Mom hadn't brought it up to her at all. How could James know about it if it wasn't in the news yet? Maybe he had connections at the station. There were a metric ton of police officers employed for the LAPD and even if they didn't work for Sharon, they still usually had a good amount of knowledge about the major crimes cases. Should she bring it up to her Mom? Something about the whole situation made her uncomfortable, and made her not want to tell her Mom what James knew. What if it got him, or another police officer in trouble? She'd talk to her Mom in the morning, just to see if she'd say anything without too much of a prompt.
Sharon.
Christine stuck her key in the front door, sure to be extra quiet so she didn't wake Sharon or Rusty. She felt bad about being so late, but surely they would understand-especially because she wasn't meant to be in LA for three more days anyway.
As soon as Sharon heard the keys in the door, she breathed a deep sigh of relief. Rusty had fallen asleep with his feet in her lap so she couldn't get up without waking him. She would wait for Christine to come in. Surely Rusty would wake up then, anyway, but he was so worried she didn't mind interrupting his sleep to let him know Chris was home. Christine walked through the front door and set her purse down on the kitchen table. She was exhausted-she'd just sleep on the couch tonight. She moved through the dining room and spotted her Mom.
"Mom?" she whispered, touching her shoulder. Sharon turned her head as far as she could. Her eyes were puffy and her cheeks had tearstains running down them. Christine peered over the couch to see Rusty sleeping next to their Mom. Sharon glared at her daughter. As soon as she realized she was unharmed, anger began to set in. How dare she keep them both so worried?
"Mom, have you been waiting up for me?" She asked quietly, moving to sit in the chair closest to Sharon. Sharon rested her hands on Rusty's feet and picked at one of her nails.
"Yes, Christine, I have been waiting up for you. Rusty has been beside himself all evening. Why on earth would you tell him you were going to be home at a certain time and then not show up? Are you okay? Are you hurt? Where the hell were you?" Sharon couldn't keep the anger out of her voice. Her tone was biting as she chided Christine.
"I'm fine, Mom. I'm so sorry I didn't call Rusty. I went out for a quick dinner with James and we went back to his place." Christine understood her mother's worry, but treating her like a sixteen year old who had missed curfew was a little over the top. She crossed her arms and rested her head against the chair, exhausted.
"You've been on one date with this man prior to this evening and you 'went back to his place'. Seriously, Christine? I thought I taught you better than that." Sharon crossed her arms and met her daughter's resentful glare. Rusty had been abandoned. Why didn't Christine understand that she had to be on time with him? More than anything, Sharon was angry Christine had disappointed and hurt Rusty, now that she knew she was all right.
"I am a grown woman. We went to his house and watched a movie, if it's any of your business. I will talk to Rusty in the morning, okay?" Christine pouted. Even given her 30th birthday approaching, sometimes she could look twelve years old. Sharon shook her head, knowing there was no point in arguing with her daughter this evening. She was home and that is what mattered; she'd get the details tomorrow.
"Fine. I'm going to get Rusty settled in bed and then head there myself. You can pull some blankets out of the cabinet and make up the couch." Sharon's tone had changed. There was no anger, but frightening finality instead-Christine knew the conversation was over whether she'd wanted it to be or not. She'd always hated that tone of voice growing up. It infuriated Christine the same way it infuriated her father when they were young and all still living in one house. Christine let out a long sigh and walked to the back of the house to get ready for bed.
Sharon shook Rusty's shoulder gently and ran her hand through his hair to wake him up. As soon as his eyes were open he was on his phone, checking it. "Did she come home?" he asked quietly, looking up at Sharon hopefully when he didn't have any texts. Sharon bent down and kissed his forehead. She knew he was too old for it, but he was so sweet to be worried about Christine and she couldn't help it. "Yes, she came home a few minutes ago. She is sorry and she wants to talk to you tomorrow."
Rusty nodded as he sat up, then rubbed his eyes. "Well, I'm glad she's home," he said quietly, still clearly hurt that Christine had blown him off. Sharon rested her hand on his shoulder and pursed her lips. She knew there would be challenges when it came to integrating Rusty-but how could she get it across to him that Christine was the irresponsible one and he'd done nothing wrong? She sat next to him and ran a hand through her hair. "You know, Rusty… sometimes Christine gets very wrapped up in what she's doing any forgets about everything else. She got it from me, and it's a terrible quality. You didn't do anything wrong to make her blow you off, and its not alright that she did it."
"I know, Sharon," he muttered, "I just feel stupid for being excited to hang out with her, and I feel stupid for being worried now that I know absolutely nothing was wrong tonight, she just had somewhere better to be." Sharon found it at once endearing and sad that Rusty was so sensitive, but happy he trusted her enough to at least talk about his feelings now.
"Well, she's your sister. She's going to upset you and make you mad and make you want to pull her hair out more than once. I am not going to make excuses for her. She made plans with you, she was irresponsible for not telling you she couldn't keep them, and she was completely thoughtless and rude for not letting us know she was okay all night. She was wrong. But we will let her think about it tonight and she will talk to you tomorrow, and we will all still love each other after it." She did her best to be honest with him. She didn't want to patronize him or talk to down to him in an effort to make him feel better. He was a smart kid and she promised she'd be honest with him. She was doing the best she could.
Rusty nodded, then moved to hug Sharon. He wrapped his arms clumsily around her shoulders, beyond thrilled that she'd called Christine his sister. It was still a foreign feeling to belong, and he loved it when Sharon reassured him. Sharon hugged him back then patted his head. "Family will disappoint you sometimes, Rusty, but at the end of every disappointment we will still be standing there, sorry for our behavior, wanting you to know we love you."
"I know. Lets go to bed. I'm tired." Rusty fiddled with his phone as he spoke, ready for the mushy part of conversation to be over.
Sharon smiled and nodded and followed Rusty to the back of the house. She stopped at her bedroom door and watched him go in to his room, then went in to her own. Thank goodness she'd already washed her face. She was exhausted and wanting nothing more than to just fall in to bed and sleep. She climbed in to her bed and cuddled in to her pillows, trying not to think too much so she could sleep. She lay there for a few moments, going over the case, Christine's behavior, and her date with Andy. She settled on Andy's face and closed her eyes, happy to concentrate on him. Their dinner had been fantastic. She knew the point of dinner was not to have a good time but to help Andy with Abigail. Still, they'd managed to have a wonderful evening together despite the sad subject. She hugged her pillow, wishing it were him.
A few minutes after Sharon nestled in to her pillows and got lost in thinking about Andy, she heard her bedroom door open. All of her children were adults or at least nearly so. Why did they still bother her in the middle of the night? Part of her was annoyed, part of her found it sweet. She felt Christine's form settle in to the bed next to her, then felt Christine's head rest against her shoulder blades. She'd always slept like that. Not the most comfortable thing in the world for Sharon, but she loved it nonetheless. "You all right, Chris?" she whispered, reaching her hand behind her back to rest it on Christine's ribcage. Instinct. She'd done that since Chris was a baby, too.
"I don't know… I know you're mad at me, but I had a really weird night." Christine cuddled further in to her Mom's back, wanting to be close to her to feel safe.
Sharon could kiss sleep goodbye. Even with as tired as she was, and as early as work would start tomorrow, there was no way she'd let that go without being discussed. "What happened?" she asked quietly, giving her daughter a reassuring pat.
"Have you had any…out of the norm cases these past couple weeks? I heard something tonight that kind of freaked me out."
Sharon sighed. She hated bringing work in to her kid's lives if she could help it. Her life at work was gruesome. It was ugly, it was scary. Despite her nice outfits and her high heels and the fun she had with her team, Sharon had a tough career. She didn't want to expose any of her children to the hate and the fear and the ugliness she saw on a day-to-day basis. "Well, why don't you tell me what you heard and we'll go from there."
Christine wrapped her arm around her Mom's waist. "Well, tonight someone mentioned a murder the LAPD caught hold of. I don't know which department has it, but it was apparently really similar to the Black Dahlia murder. Some kind of copycat. I just thought it was weird that these people were discussing it and I hadn't heard it on the news or heard anything from you. Something about the whole situation was just…off. You know?"
Sharon tensed. They'd kept it out of the news on purpose. For once the LAPD had gotten it right and they finally weren't suffering a storm of media coverage before they had any answers and the city officials were as concerned with keeping this under wraps as the department itself was. How could anyone have found out? It shouldn't be general knowledge yet. "What did they say about it?"
"Well, they said that the LAPD found a body, cut up like the Black Dahlia, near Leimert Park. They made a joke about it being the 65th anniversary…and just said the poor police were probably still stumped. I didn't say anything, except that I thought it was weird it wasn't on the news yet."
Sharon sat up and grabbed her phone off the nightstand. This was the biggest lead they had yet and she wasn't going to let it slip through her fingers, even if it was nearly two o'clock in the morning. She sighed a little-now she could really kiss sleep goodbye. She searched through her phone for Andy's number and began typing furiously on her small iPhone screen. "Got a lead. Meet me at the office in 30. xox-S"
"Honey, what's James' last name?" she asked, turning back to her daughter.
"Reynolds, why?" Christine asked, sitting up to match her Mom.
Sharon shook her head and climbed out of bed, reaching for the jean's she'd thrown over her vanity chair earlier. "Nothing," she muttered, quickly changing her pants. She moved to her closet and grabbed a tank top and her old police hoodie.
"I need to go to the station. Stay IN the house, keep the doors locked, and I will be in touch in the morning, okay? Keep Rusty home from school. I'll call them later when they're open."
Christine moved to get out of bed, but Sharon shook her head. "Don't argue with me. I will explain later. I just need you to listen to me right now, okay Christine?"
Sharon grabbed her brush and ran it through her hair, then moved in to the bathroom to put her make up on. Her hair might not have been done and she might have been dressed like a bum but she was NOT going to see Andy with no make up on.
Christine sighed and tried to ignore the knot in her stomach. She knew from the moment James took her home that something was wrong, but she wanted to ignore it. She'd wanted him to be perfect, to be 'the one', and here her mother was, getting ready to investigate him. Sometimes she seriously hated Los Angeles.
Sharon appeared from the bathroom a few moments later, her make up minimal but there. She looked pretty despite the time of morning and her more than casual clothes. She moved to Christine's side of the bed and kissed her forehead. "Please, please, PLEASE listen to what I've told you, okay Christine? I need you to keep yourself and Rusty safe-you got that? I'm calling your father, too. I need someone around while I'm at work the next few days."
Christine nodded. "Okay Mom. I'm going to sleep in here tonight. What time does Rusty get up for school?"
"Six thirty. Get some sleep. Don't order take out, don't do anything. Do not open that front door unless I've called you ahead of time and told you it was all right. Got it?"
"Yes, ma'am." Christine stared up at her Mom. This wasn't the first time she'd locked her and her siblings in the house for their own safety. Usually it was a gross exaggeration, but Christine couldn't help but feel maybe her mom was right this time.
Sharon leaned down and kissed her head again, then headed out. Maybe they'd catch this killer yet.