Thirty

 

     Jo entered the chief’s office and stopped dead.  “Ben?” she said quietly, he smiled and motioned for her to close the door.

“What’s going on?  Who are all those people?”

“My team”

“What? I don’t understand”

“Jo I’m with the FBI, I wanted to tell you I was undercover but I couldn’t”

“Oh!  So how come you were here?”

“I’m with the Civil right’s division”

“What?”

He indicated for her to sit down, then sat himself down on the edge of the desk, “We got a number of complaints from people, complaints that all originated from this precinct”

“So you had to come and investigate?”

“Yeah”

“Tell me, was I under investigation?”

“Everyone was Jo, but I established very quickly that you were cleaner than clean, that’s why I assigned myself to you”

She smiled, “Is that why you called me in here?”

“No, I’ve got a job for you, I want you to go home and change into casual clothes, after which I want you to head over to FBI headquarters, ask for Gerry Welsh and ask him to give you everything he has on the Ingebrigtsen case”

“What?  You’ve been investigating it all along?”

“Yeah, well that among other things”

“Okay”

“Oh and Jo”

She turned round to face him.

“Good job by the way”

She grinned and almost skipped out of the office.

 

     Mark studied all the Ingebrigtsen case notes, he had to admit that the transcript of the trial didn’t make very pretty reading and from where he sat it did look as though Ingebrigtsen was as guilty as sin, Hollie entered the office carrying a mug of coffee.  “Here, I thought you could use some” she said, he sat back on the black leather swivel chair, then smiled as he took the mug.  “You getting anywhere?” she inquired, he slowly shook his head.  “Maybe I should have let my father get one of the others to cover this” he fretted, Hollie placed her arm casually around his shoulders and stared down at all the paper work, “You’ll get through it” she said positively, he looked up to where she stood.  “I wish I had as much faith” she bent down and kissed his cheek, “You can do this Mark, you just got to believe in yourself”, that to Mark, was easier said than done.

 

      Jo, entered FBI headquarters about half an hour later, dressed casual in black slacks and white sweater, her hair tied back in a pleat. “May I help you madam?” she glanced at the young woman then smiled.  “Ad…err” she wasn’t sure how to address him, “Agent Adams?” the woman queried, Jo smiled then nodded, “Yeah, he sent me over, I’ve to go talk to…” the girl nodded, “Agent Welsh, yeah I know, here put this on” Jo took the identity badge and pinned it to her jacket, then followed the woman’s directions.

 

      Gerry turned towards her “Hey Jo is it?” she nodded as she closed the door.

 “Yeah, my partner said you would be coming over today”

Jo’s heart sank.  It hadn’t occurred to her that Ben could have another partner. 

“Put this on and let’s get down to work huh?” she caught the white coat and quickly pulled it on. 

“So, Ben said you’re very good at your job” Gerry continued talking.

 Jo looked surprised.  “He did?” she answered,

Gerry nodded “Yup and a compliment like that coming from him, ain’t to be taking lightly, pass me that slide would you hon?” she looked around then obeyed.

 “So, what we got then?” he glanced down to where she stood and grinned. 

“Well I’m just trying to match those hair samples but it’s kinda difficult with nothing to go on”. 

Jo looked at the case notes, an idea springing to life.  She glanced at him, “Agent Welsh, d’you really need me?” he stared at her,

 “Why?”

 She took a few steps backward, “Coz there’s somewhere else I really gotta be”

“Okay, Oh hey, you ain’t gonna go off and do something completely stupid are you?  Ben said you’re apt to do that sometimes.”

“No, there’s just someone I gotta see, that’s all”

“Fine, go on then”

 

      Jo left FBI headquarters, got into her car and headed off towards the freeway, her soul intention was to talk to Shelby Geddes and possibly get a hair sample.  Even if that meant she had to pull it out of her Goddamn head.

 

      Shelby felt her heart race.  “What the hell are we gonna do now?” she panicked, “Get some rope” she was instructed, she stood there.  Rooted to the spot, watching Christian’s lifeless body lying on the floor.

“Are you listening to me bitch, I said get some rope”

 “Why?”

“What?”

“Why are we doing this, surely we should just call the cops?”

Christian began to come round.

“Get some rope, now quickly before he wakes up”

She dashed into the nearest closet, not quite coherent enough to know what she was doing.

“What the he…” Christian said as he tired to sit up.

A booted foot pressed against his chest, restraining him once more, and another blow to the head and he was out again.

 

     Just as Shelby returned with the rope, someone rung the bell, she hesitated for a second, “Leave it!” she was instructed, she stared down to where Christian lay, “Well don’t just stand there, help me” she tucked a few strands of hair behind her ear then crouched down and watched Christian being tied up.

 

     The bell rang once again, “They ain’t going” she said, her companion drew out a gun then sneaked behind the door and indicated for her to open it.  “Hello Shelby, may I come in?” Shelby shook her head but the young woman was persisted and before she could stop her, she had entered.  The door closed behind her and an arm came around her neck, a gun now pointed straight at her head, “Shoulda stayed at the precinct Logan!” the voice growled in her ear as he let go, she turned swiftly. “You?” she staggered backwards and fell over Christian.

“I don’t understand”

“What’s there to understand?”

“What the hell are you doing?”

“What does it look like?”

“You’ll never get away with it”

“I did once”

“I knew this was a stupid idea” Shelby interrupted.

“Shut the hell up”

 

      Jo flinched as she felt the rope tighten around her wrists.  She’d really out done herself this time. 

“What are you gonna do?” she asked

“Oh what d’you think Logan, I can’t possibly have you running back to the precinct now can I?”

“Why make it any harder for yourself?”

“Shut up”

“You won’t get away with killing us”

“Wont I?  We’ll see about that, go bring the car round?” Shelby was instructed; she shook her head and received a slap for her trouble.

“People will come looking for me” Jo continued.

“Well they won’t find you”

“You haven’t thought this through”

“Cut the crap, let’s go”

 

      Shelby helped load Christian into the transit van then hurried round to the passenger side.  She had thought of making a run for it but knew it would be useless.  She’d only be caught and probably killed, how she’d gotten herself into this mess she didn’t know.  Well that wasn’t strictly true, she did know and now she was regretting it and regretting it big time.