“Alex, hey. ‘Bout time you showed up.”

“Well, Cliff told me to get some rest, and hit the gym this morning, so I did.”

David stopped and looked into her eyes. “You look better. The color in your eyes is strong again.”

“I feel better.” She perched on his desk. “What do you mean about my eyes?”

“When you get really tense, the color dims, like it’s been watered down. Normally they’re a real strong green. The past few days they’ve been pale, like somebody mixed white paint in them .”

“Oh.” She quirked an eyebrow. “I didn’t know that.”

“Yeah. That’s how I know when you need a break. It’s also why I called Sarah last night.”

“Aha. So, it was you that sicced her on me.”

He shrugged. “I didn’t know what else to do. Normally, if you’re eyes are pale at night, the next morning they’re fine. But this time …”

She nodded. “Yeah. I needed a break. An evening to myself. And I got it.”

“Good. You slept well, I take it?”

“Yeah. Didn’t even clean things up after dinner. Just ate on the couch, and fell asleep there.”

“I’ve had to spend the night on your couch — that’s not really comfortable, Alex.”

“It was only for a couple hours. Then I switched to the bed.”

“So, you didn’t go anywhere after you got home?”

“No. Why?”

“Sarah called me back. She said she’d phoned your place and got the machine. She was kind of worried. I’m supposed to tell you to call her.”

“Do you know what time she called?”

“About 7:30, I think.”

“Damn, I must have slept right through it. I heard the phone once, but it was a hang-up, and that was at nine o’clock.”

“You must have really been zonked.”

“Yeah.” She looked at the floor, then up at her partner. “Where are you off to?”

“Oh, yeah. Ben and I are going to talk to people at Wilford’s former jobs. First we’ve got an interview with a Karen Larsen. She used to work with Darryl Wilford, and she dated him for a while. When I called this morning, she was busy, but agreed to meet us on her lunch hour. Should be interesting. It sounded like she knew him pretty well.”

“Well, good. Glad you guys are getting somewhere. Don’t forget to ask her if he ever talked about white power or anything like that.”

“Don’t worry, I think I know what to ask. Ben and I set up a list of questions, including the basics, and every harebrained thing we thought you’d ask.”

“Hey!” She punched him lightly on the arm as he grinned at her.

There was a rap from the doorway of the cubicle.

“Hi, Ben.” Alex had always liked Ben Cleves. He was the oldest agent on the team, and was less than a year from his pension. Ben hailed from south of the Mason-Dixon line, and his accent, like his dark hair, had never faded. He was taller than Alex by a couple of inches, and had always reminded her of her father. She wasn’t sure why, after all, they looked nothing alike.

“Hey, Alex.”

She rose from her seat on the desk. “I understand you and my partner are going off for some interrogations. Did you pack the rubber hoses?”

“Yep. And I got the spotlight in the car already.”

“Bamboo needles for the fingernails?”

“Eh, doesn’t sound like we need to go that far with these ones.” He grinned at Alex, then put an arm around her shoulder. “It looks like you’re feelin’ better.”

“Yeah, I am. Does everyone know that Cliff sent me home last night?”

“Nope. I didn’t even know ‘til you just told me.”

Alex covered her face with her hand. “Great.”

Ben jerked his head at Dave, motioning him to leave the cubicle. Once he had, Ben put his hands on Alex’s shoulders and waited for her to look up at him.

“Look, it don’t matter. I think everyone knew he’d probably give you the evenin’. You’ve been runnin’ on pure cussedness since you got back from Philly, and the engine sputtered a little. So, you know what you do? You find a way to refill the gas tank, and you keep drivin’. All of us need a refill from time to time, and I ain’t goin’ to begrudge you yours. Got me?”

“Thanks, Ben.”

“Alex, Dave told us that he chased after the guy while you tried to help the victim. He said you rode in the ambulance, and the guy was DOA. It don’t take much to figure out that, of all of us workin’ on this fuckin’ case, you’re the only one to have seen a victim get hit, up close and personal like. That’s why it hit you like it did.”

Alex leaned forward, and gave him a hug. “Thanks, Ben.”

He hugged her back, then stood and straightened his tie. He looked around to make sure no one had seen what happened.

“You tell anyone I hugged you, I’ll deny it.”

“Not a word.”

Ben nodded at her, and then walked towards the door.

“Ben?” He looked back at her. “I wouldn’t let Dave drive.”

Ben snorted. “Alex, I may be slow, but I ain’t stupid.”

Alex laughed. She stood there for a moment after Ben left, and just let her thoughts drift over their conversation. It didn’t surprise her that Ben had known what she was feeling. He was nearing twenty years as an agent, and had probably been through the same thing. The only thing that did surprise her was how he accepted her reaction. She thought that her lack of control in the meeting, and her inability to function without emotion, would lower her stature in the eyes of her fellow agents. Obviously, that hadn’t happened with Ben. She’d have to just wait and see how everyone else took it.

With that she headed for her office.

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

“Hi, you’ve reached the home of Sarah Mahoney and Maggie Copeland. Neither of us are available right now, but if you leave a message, we’ll get back to you as soon as we can. Thanks.” Beep.

“Sarah. It’s Alex. I’m okay. Yeah, it’s been a little tough the last few days, but I’m fine.” Alex paused. “I’m gonna have to do something about you and David ganging up on me. It’s not fair, you know. I have to listen to him all day long, about how I’m not taking care of myself, and I should get some more rest. Then I get home and find your messages saying the same thing. Sometimes I feel like I’m back home with my parents. Yeesh!” She paused a moment longer, and then softened her voice.

“But, I gotta say, it’s nice to know somebody cares. I love you, too. Give Maggie a hug for me, and tell her I love her. I’ll see the two of you soon, I promise. Love you. Bye.”

Alex hung up, breathing a sigh of relief. She had called Sarah, and let her know she was fine. However, she had called at a time when she knew Sarah and Maggie would both be out of the house. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to talk to her friends, she did. But they’d ask again how she was doing, and she wasn’t prepared to tell them about her crying spell last night.

She wasn’t ready to tell anyone about that, yet.

Instead, she stared at the stacks of paper in front of her. They represented all of the paperwork that needed to be done by agents involved in the investigation. Cliff had grimly guided her into the control center and pointed her to them.

“I thought you wanted me to do research, Cliff.”

“We have a research department, Alex. You’re not part of it anymore. Now, you’re a full-fledged agent, and you get to do the same job everyone else has to do. It’s called ‘paperwork.’.”

“Yeah, but —”

“No buts. Just do it.” He turned away, then turned back and grinned at her. “Besides, I can read your writing. Ever tried to decipher Mark’s, or Steve’s, or Louis’?”

“No, but —”

“Nope. No buts.”

And he’d left her alone in the forest of paper.

Part of what she was trying to do now, was organize the case notes from all the members of the team. Since all the events of the previous weekend, no one had tried to assemble the latest case notes, and that had to be done before they could be given to one of the secretaries for typing into the computer. The had to be in chronological order, and readable.