David put his hand over his eyes. “Okay, I’ll admit it. My partner’s crazy.”
Cliff shook his head.
Ben just chuckled. “She’s been right so often this week, I think I’ll wait ‘til she gets back to say she’s crazy.”
It was a moment more, and then they could hear Alex’s running footsteps coming back down the corridor. She appeared in the doorway, out of breath, and grinning like a lunatic.
“I —”
“Alex, get your breath back, then tell us what you knocked Jodi down for.”
Alex raised a folder in her hands and pointed to the photograph on the screen. She dropped back into her chair, and began looking at the programs listed on the computer menu. Finding the one she wanted, she started it, and opened the enlarged photo again. First she outlined the two men, then had the computer create a three dimensional image from it. After that, she turned it around so that the two men would have been facing her. It was impossible to make out any detail on the faces, but the general image of two men shaking hands was obvious.
Cliff was beginning to lose patience. Even Ben had his eyebrows raised at Alex’s behavior. David sat shaking his head, while Rudy sat and watched with a puzzled look.
Alex turned to the men, still grinning.
“It’s the same picture.”
No one spoke.
Finally Cliff said, “Okay, I’ll bite. Same as what picture, Alex?”
Alex reached into the folder and brought out a photograph. She held it next to the computer screen.
“Same as this one, Cliff.”
She was right. The men in the screen, though indistinct, were in the exact same position as the men in the photograph Alex held. A silver cup was held in the left hand of one of the men in the photo. The computer image showed a similar silver item. The feet were the same width apart, and the heads were tilted at the same angle.
“Well, I’ll be goddamned.” Ben’s exclamation finally broke the silence.
Rudy came over and looked at the two images. “Yep, I think you’re right, it’s the same picture.” He waited a moment. “So what?”
Alex and Ben turned to stare at Rudy, while Cliff and David still focused on the screen.
“Rudy, don’t you recognize one of the men in this photo?”
“No. Should I?”
Cliff finally blinked. “Not necessarily.”
“So who is it?”
Alex pointed at the man holding the silver cup. “I have no idea who he is.” She pointed to the other man. “But that’s Derek White.”
Rudy’s eyes went wide, and he looked from the screen to the picture and back. “Well, Cliff, I think we found a connection.”
Cliff had to find a chair before he sat down. “Yeah, Rudy. I think we have.”
David could only shake his head.
*******************************************************
Alex had just closed and locked her file drawer when David stepped into her doorway.
“Hey, partner. You going home?”
“Yeah. Cliff told me if he caught me staying past six tonight he’d ground me for another day. I have four minutes to make it out of the building.”
He nodded, and handed her jacket to her. “Alex, I just spoke to Miri, to let her know I was on my way. She told me she wanted me to pick up a few things.”
“Yeah?” She slipped her jacket on. “And that’s important because?”
“Well, you’re one of those things.”
Alex smiled. “That’s sweet of her, David. But I’m really okay, and I can go home by myself like a big girl.”
David looked uncomfortable. “I know, I know, but she said it had been a long time, and she wanted to see you.”
“Well, maybe this weekend we can get together.”
“Damn it, Alex, she said if I didn’t have you with me, I wasn’t to come home tonight.”
Alex had to laugh. David looked like a little boy about to lose his best friend. She couldn’t resist.
“Well, it looks like I’ll just have to go home with you then. Don’t worry, Davie, I’ll protect you from that big meanie.”
David brightened. “You will?”
“Sure.”
“Good. Will you protect me from the little meanie as well?”
“David, are you calling your daughter mean?”
“Me? No, no, never.” He paused. “But you will protect me, right?”
Alex pushed him out door.
*******************************************************
It had started to snow by the time they left the downtown area. The light frosting looked beautiful as it lay across the lawns near the capitol and monuments, but it had already turned to ice on the roads. What normally was a twenty minute drive turned into forty minutes. Both were glad to to see David’s house as they turned into the drive.
Miri heard them come in the garage door. “David? Did you bring Alex home with you?”
“Yes, Miri, he did. I’m here.”
“Good. Now he doesn’t have to sleep in the garage.”
Miri came out of the kitchen, and pulled Alex into an embrace. Alex hugged her back, glad she’d decided to accept the offer from her partner and his wife. It had been quite a while since she’d spent an evening with the two of them, and their infant daughter.
“It’s good to see you, Alex.”
“Same here.” Alex pulled back and looked at the shorter woman. “You look good, Miri.”
“Thank you.” She paused and met Alex’s eyes. “But you look tired.”
“Yeah, I have been. But I made it an early night last night, and I’m doing much better today.”
“Good. Tonight, you’ll have a good dinner, you’ll play with Arlea, and if I hear you and David talking about anything to do with the office or the case, I’ll beat you both with a wet noodle.”
Alex laughed. “You’re on, Miri. Not a word about work.” She watched as David gave his wife a kiss. “Speaking of Arlea, where is the munchkin?”
“Oh, she’s in the playpen in the living room.” Miri lead the way into the kitchen.
“Cool. I promised to protect David from her tonight.” Alex punched David lightly on the arm, grinning.
“You’re laughing about it, but that’s not far from the truth.”
“What?”
“When he comes home in the evening she won’t leave him alone. She climbs on his lap, and pulls on his nose. The other night she grabbed his ear and wouldn’t let it go for five minutes.”
“Oh, I see.”
“Yeah, Alex, I told you I needed protection.”
“Fine, I’ll protect you, David. But I’m reminding both of you, I don’t do diapers.”
Miri laughed. “I remember. I remember you bringing her into our room, holding her at arms length, on Christmas morning, telling us we needed to wake up and deal with our daughter.” Alex’s face went red.“David said he thought you were going to watch her, and you said watch, yes, change, no.”
David and Miri laughed at the expression on Alex’s face.
“Yeah, well, you two just laugh, I’m gonna go find my pal. Looks like I’m the one that needs protecting.”
She turned towards the living room, and heard David call, “Just don’t let her near your ears, Alex.”
“Yeah, yeah.”
Alex loved playing with Arlea, who likewise loved her blond playmate. During the holidays David and Miri, along with Sarah and Maggie, had gotten Alex to split Christmas eve and Christmas day between the two households. They had been determined she wouldn’t spend it alone in her apartment like she had Thanksgiving. Alex had immediately decided that, if they were insisting she be there, she would enjoy herself her way. At David’s, she had immediately abducted her hosts’ daughter, and together they had played with every toy the one year old had. Christmas morning, after Miri had changed her daughter’s diaper, Alex had helped Arlea tear into the pile of presents. Arlea, like most children her age, paid more attention to the paper than the presents. Alex had joined her, covering her self in left over wrappings so Arlea could unbury her. Then, it would be Arlea’s turn to get wrapped up, and Alex would hunt through the paper to find the giggling child.
In short, David thought, his daughter brought out the kid in Alex. He knew that his mostly serious partner needed the release that playing with Arlea often gave her. Alex, the youngest member of the task force, was young for the position she held. She was just twenty-eight, and had seen more in her time with the Bureau than most people did in their entire lives. Each case had taken away a little more of Alex’s natural spirit, and David knew that if she didn’t find something to ground, and soon, Alex would slowly become dead inside. He’d seen it with other agents, like Ben Cleves, who no longer felt sadness or sorrow at the deaths they investigated. They could be concerned for the living, especially their partners and fellow agents. But they could also stand over a corpse and discuss how death had occurred, without even remembering that the body had once been a living person. David hoped desperately that he never saw Alex’s eyes become as dead as those in the faces of other long time agents.