“Right.” David nodded. “Uh, Alex, don’t you think we need some sleep?”

“Sleep? David, have you forgotten that we have a phone conference scheduled with our boss for 8:30 this morning? Cliff probably already knows that Dabir is dead, and he’s gonna want answers. So far, we don’t have any. It’s now,” Alex looked at her watch, then scratched off the dried blood so she could see the numbers, “ten minutes after midnight. That gives us eight hours and twenty minutes to come up with something. I personally don’t want to sit there and tell Cliff that we don’t know how the assassin got in, we don’t know who the assassin was, and we don’t know why, despite everything we did, Reginald Dabir is dead.” Alex turned and started walking down the corridor, David trailing after her. “I have a feeling we’re going to get our butts chewed no matter what information we have, but I’d kind of like to leave that conference with at least a little bit of flesh on my sorry carcass. If that means a night without sleep, so be it.” She stopped and took David’s arm so he would look at her. “I was the lead agent, David. I have to tell him something.”

David sighed. “You’re right. You’re right. So, it’s back to work.” The two of them started off down the corridor. “Tell me we can at least get some food, and more caffeine before we sit down to look at any papers. Otherwise I’m gonna fall asleep on Cliff, and then he’ll really be pissed.”

“Agreed. We’ll get showers now, then meet near the ballroom. If you want, you can see if the hotel will keep the kitchen open for us.”

“If they don’t, I’ll just sic you on them.”

“Ha, and ha, ha.”

David just chuckled as they left the building.

************************************************************************

As the water from the shower pounded against her back, Alex tried to let it massage the anger out of her. In her mind she tried to picture the frustration seeping from her pores, mixing with the water, and sliding away down the drain. It was a mental calming technique Sarah had been urging her to use, saying that it would help the agent rid herself of negative energy.

She hated to prove Sarah wrong, but it just wasn’t working. In fact, the only picture she could really see was one of her banging her own head against a not so proverbial wall.

Alex reached out to turn off the faucet, shaking her head. Mentally calm she wasn’t, but she knew how to let her mind divide her emotions from the list of what needed to be done. The former would be pushed away, trapped inside her own mental closet, and the latter would be handled in a thoroughly professional and detached manner.

Stepping out of the shower stall, Alex grabbed a towel and vigorously dried her hair. She stood in front of the mirror, staring into the half-fogged glass in front of her. Her image stared back, with its short blond hair spiking out in every direction. As she lifted a hand to smooth her wayward locks, her glance landed on her own green eyes. With a heavy sigh, Alex had to admit, if only to herself, that she was tired.

This wasn’t the first case where someone had been killed. Hell, Dabir wasn’t even the first person to literally leave their blood on her hands. She’d had worse experiences. The serial killer she and David had chased down the year before had left a string of bodies, including a thirteen year old girl, who had all been violated beyond normal human comprehension. Alex had taken the case in stride, never having to worry about her emotions getting in the way. She’d cried for the victims when she was off duty, and spent her on duty time trying to mete out justice. She’d never had a problem separating the two.

Now, though, with this case, it seemed her emotions were always waiting to leap out at her. She’d been frustrated on cases, but never like this. She’d been angry over a person’s senseless death, but never to the point of wanting to punch someone or something. But this case …

At the hospital, when Alex had spoken to Lieutenant Wister and Captain Davies, the arrogance of the Captain made her fists clench. It wasn’t the first time local law enforcement had been angry at the “interference” of the federal agents, but it was the first time it had been insinuated that she didn’t know her job, didn’t belong with the Bureau, and that she had been responsible for someone’s death. When the Captain finally finished his tirade and walked away with a smug look on his face, Alex had been trembling with the force of her anger. It had been the first time she ever wanted to actually harm another human being.

Somehow, she’d told the Lieutenant what she needed from him, and that she would wait for her partner to pick her up. The Lieutenant, who had remained silent during his Captain’s comments, had simply agreed. He’d been about to turn away when he stopped.

“Agent Reis, it’s not my place to say anything, but in my opinion, you’re a good cop. What happened tonight wasn’t your fault.” Then he’d placed a hand on her shoulder, and walked away.

Alex had simply stood in the hallway, staring at nothing. She didn’t know whether she wanted to vomit or punch something. She’d settled for crushing the plastic coffee mug she held in one hand, squeezing it so hard that the flexible plastic had cracked and splintered, coffee splashing to the floor in front of her. She’d apologized to the nurses, who had solemnly nodded and told her they’d take care of it. Then she headed for the corridor to wait for David.

So, here she was, in her hotel room, staring into the mirror, trying to find the energy to get dressed and go meet David. She sighed deeply, noting that it was quickly becoming a habit. She leaned forward, examining her eyes more closely.

“Damn. If this keeps up, I’ll have bags over my eyes. It’ll make my nose look like a pack horse.”

She watched as the corners of her mouth went up in a quick grin. Amazed that she could still make jokes, she reached for her toothbrush.

************************************************************************

Feeling much more awake, and a thousand times cleaner, Alex approached the entrance to the ball room. She showed her identification to the uniformed police officer. He looked at it carefully, then let her through the door. Alex smiled at him as she passed, realizing it was the rookie she’d yelled at before the banquet began. She’d seen him allow an officer into the area after only seeing his badge. Protocol insisted that everyone, officers included, had to show personal identification. For his mistake, Stein had endured a five minute lecture on following procedure.

“Haven’t they let you go home yet, Stein?”

He gave a tired smile back to her. “Not yet, Agent Reis. I’ve been on door and checklist duty for a couple hours now, but they’ve promised me breakfast and all the coffee I want. Speaking of checklist,” the young man held out a clipboard, “would you sign in please?”

Alex quickly signed the roster of people allowed into the crime scene, noting the time as 1:35. Glancing over the list she noted with satisfaction that Lieutenant Wister and Captain Davies were both still there as well. If their officers were going to be up all night, it was only fitting that their superiors suffered with them.

She handed the clipboard back. “So, Stein, where were you when the shooting happened?”

“The parking lot, ma’am. Too far away to join the chase, though.”

“I thought you had checkpoint duty.”

Officer Stein grimaced. “I originally did, ma’am, but after you scolded me so effectively the Lieutenant decided he didn’t want to take the chance I’d screw up again. He needed someone to help with parking, so he sent me out there to help the Sarge.”

The FBI agent winced. “Sorry, Stein, didn’t mean to come down on you quite so hard.”

“No problem, Agent Reis. Sometimes a guy needs his butt kicked just to keep him thinking, you know?”