Mind (the) Game

by Kelly Shade

  “That’s not good!” Blake said when they were far enough from Nick and Victoria.

  “Why?” Ryan shouted in Jane’s ear which made her jump a little. “Nick needed a girlfriend badly. I think they are cute together.”

  “I don’t know. I just have a bad feeling about them dating.” Blake explained and moved a step away from Ryan.

  “Wanna dance?” Gray asked when he heard a slow jazz.

  “No, I think I’m gonna go now. It’s late and I’m kinda drunk.” Blake said and headed to say bye to Ian and Alice but Ryan stopped her.

  “Come on, one dance and we split the taxi back. I have to go too…” Ryan lisped “I’m super drunk…”

  “Okay.” Jane agreed and left her purse on the table, drank the whiskey someone refiled in her glass and took Ryan’s hand.

  They danced until the song ended and at the moment it did, Jane moved away from Ryan. He didn’t realize that because at this point he was hardly managing to keep his balance.

  Blake went to Alice and Ian.

  “I gotta go.” Jane said and hugged Alice, then Ian “I’ll see you at work after your honey moon,” Blake turned to Ian, then she added to Alice “and you too. The coffee is on me!” she smiled and winked at Alice and the bride nodded with a smile.

  Blake liked her a lot. For the little time she spent with Alice, Jane noticed that the woman is down-to-earth kind of person, intelligent and funny. Alice also looked like she enjoyed Jane’s company and wanted her for a friend.

  Ryan was holding Jane’s shoulder for balance on the way to the taxi. Blake’s head was also dizzy of all the whiskey she had drank but she managed somehow to walk on the high heels in a straight line, or at least she thought she was walking straight.

  The cab was waiting for them. The driver didn’t look excited when he saw his customers were super drunk. He drove really slow to Jane’s address, glancing the back vision mirror every second. When Ryan got out with Jane, the driver looked relieved.

  Blake and Gray walked to Jane’s front door and stopped there.

  “See you tomorrow then.” Jane said and turned to unlock.

  “Wait.” Ryan whispered and leaned his back on the wall next to the door. Jane took out the key and looked at him questioningly. He continued with the soberest voice he could manage “I missed you. A lot. I thought I lost you, Jane, I – I…” he took a deep breath “When you were gone I realized how much you mean to me, how much I need you… I am… I mean…” Ryan took another deep breath, looked in Jane’s eyes and whispered “I love you, Jane!”

  Blake froze. She had no idea what to say or how to react. She was too drunk to think straight and after all she missed him too, she was thinking about Ryan when she was away, she must have feelings about him. Ryan was still staring in her eyes, expecting her to say something. Instead of talking, Jane decided to lean forward and kiss him but when she glanced to the side in the millisecond of hesitation, she saw a man and she stopped half way.

  “Ryan this is the same guy from the wedding.” Jane sobered instantly when she realized this was the staff member who was looking through the window.

  “And?” Ryan couldn’t understand.

  “He is following me.” Jane cleared the air.

  “You are imagining things, Jane.” Gray said irritably.

  “No, I’m not.” Blake snapped and pointed at the place she saw the man “Look.”

  Ryan looked at the direction where she pointed but nobody was there. It looked deserted.

  “Jane, I know a lot had happened to you in Chile and maybe that’s the reason you are panicking but no one is there.” Ryan also sobered up.

  “You think I’m crazy? You don’t believe me? Again!” Blake asked firmly and made a step back.

  “Well, no. I’m just saying that this Morse is like an obsession for you.” Ryan wanted to say it softly but it didn’t work at all. Jane narrowed her eyes and said with an icy voice “I think you should go now.”

  “Jane, please, I didn’t mean to!” Ryan tried to fix the mess he made, but he made it even worse when he said “If you did it not to kiss me, it’s the lamest excuse ever!”

  Jane already had unlocked and opened the door of her motel room. She turned to him, grabbed him, dragged him inside and shut the door.

  “If I didn’t want to kiss you, I would have told you.” She said angrily and tossed her purse on the side. “I saw what I saw. But if that’s what you want, okay.” Jane looked at Ryan who was scared to move, went closer, put her hands around his neck, their lips inches apart, and continued speaking “If you want to make out, okay, if you want we can fuck, I don’t mind. But just so you know, this is not love. You are not in love, you just want to…”

  “Stop!” yelled Ryan and pushed her away “I don’t want that from you!” Ryan took a step back and added “At least, I don’t want just that.”

  Jane lifted her eyebrow, which normally meant disbelieve. Ryan knew that look very well and hurried to talk before her.

  “I said that I love you and I stand by those words. And if you say there was somebody watching you, I believe you.” Gray lied and Jane knew he lied but she let him continue “You are the smartest person I know and I believe your judgement, okay!?”

  “Okay then.” Jane said calmly.

  “I will go now.” Ryan said and headed to the door, but he changed his mind halfway, turned, grabbed Jane around her waist, kissed her and whispered “I do love you!”

  Blake knew it was a mistake; she knew she would regret letting him that close to her. She knew now it wasn’t the time for them to be together but she wanted it as bad as Ryan did. She didn’t refuse the kiss, even though she knew she had to, she didn’t stop him when he held her in his arms, even though she knew if she didn’t stop now she wouldn’t stop at all… she didn’t stop him when he gently took her to the bed… even though she knew it would be the end of their friendship.

  Chapter 6

  Payback time

  The next morning Jane woke up with a severe headache. Her eyes were puffy, she hardly could open them, and when she was finally able to lift her eyelids, the sunlight which filled the room burned her irises, and she was forced to close them again. The second time around was much better, Jane was prepared this time, she put her hand over her eyes and slowly lifted it so she could get used to the light. She stretched, yawned and when she reached for her phone to check the time, she realized, with horror, - she wasn’t alone. While carefully turning her head to the person on her right, she saw Ryan.

  “Fuck!” she whispered and stood up trying not to wake him up.

  Jane went to the kitchen to prepare a coffee. She hesitated for a moment but she took two mugs, made one more coffee for Ryan and sat on the chair. With head in her hands and her eyes closed, Jane tried to remember what exactly happened last night. The memories from the night before started coming back to her.

  “No, no, no, no!” Jane whispered with her head still buried in her palms and eyes tightly closed. She didn’t hear when Ryan woke up and went behind her. Jane felt his touch on her shoulders and gentle kiss on her head but she did not move.

  “I’m guessing,” Ryan said, took his coffee from the kitchen and joined her at the table, “that the ‘no, no, no, no’ was about what happened last night.”

  Blake lifted her head and looked at him. He was sitting there, extremely calm, half naked, with wide smile on his face and super red eyes.

  “I, umm, we…” Jane wanted to say something but she had no idea what.

  “Come on, Jane, we knew this moment will come. We both know that we were more than friends at the moment we met.” Gray said casually and reached for her hand but she pulled it away “The question is, are we going to tell the team now or…?”

  “The team has nothing to do with my sex life!” Jane snapped.

  “Well, our sex life, hun!” Ryan joked.

  “No, this is not happening.” Jane sighted “Look, it was a big mistake. We are not saying a thing to the team
or to anyone at all. There is nothing special going on between us, there is no us, no ours or whatever. We were drunk and that’s it!” Blake was avoiding Ryan’s gaze when she said this but for the last sentence she looked at him firmly and added “Don’t call me ‘hun’, okay?”

  “Yeah, okay, Jane.” Ryan’s smile was gone “I know you don’t care about my opinion, but I’m gonna say it anyway. There is us, and there is something very special happening between us and I think you know it.” He took a deep breath and continued “But you are afraid to admit it to yourself, you have trust issues, fear of abandonment and you think I’m going to hurt you. You don’t want to commit to a relationship with me because you know it will be a serious one, not playing around.” Ryan took a sip, leaned towards Jane and said softly “I love you, Jane Blake, and I know you love me too. I will be here when you are ready to admit it to yourself. Okay?” and he kissed her forehead.

  Jane felt awful after these words. She knew he was right about everything but she had to finish what she had started. Having a relationship with Ryan would just distract her. Besides, Ryan would be in even more danger if they were together.

  Blake drank her coffee, put the mug in the sink and looked around for her clothes.

  “We have to go to work.” She said coldly and threw Ryan’s shirt at him and added. “You may wanna go home and dress up. I’ll see you at the Station.”

  Ryan made a grimace showing he wasn’t happy about how the things went but he put his shirt on, took his phone and jacket off the ground and reached for the door.

  “I mean every word I said.” He said and went out.

  Jane looked at the closed door for a few seconds then went to take a shower. What was going to happen now? How was she supposed to look Ryan in the eyes? How were they going to work together? Jane really wished she didn’t hear him saying ‘I love you’, she wished last night was just a dream. And the most awful part was that Jane had feelings for Ryan, she was thinking of him when she thought she was going to die. Was that love? She had no idea what love felt like, at least not that kind of love.

  Jane got in her car and drove to the Station. She had no idea how she got there, the whole time she was driving automatically, without looking where she was, without thinking, as if there was an autopilot. Parking and going up to the office felt the same way. When she finally sat in her office chair and Victoria Evans put a mug of coffee in her hands, Jane came back to her senses.

  Ryan was already there, quietly interrogating Nick about him and Victoria. Ian was missing, he had a week off in Hawaii for his honey moon. And Evans, after giving everyone coffee, sat on her desk, avoiding Nick’s gaze. It was obvious that not just Jane and Ryan had nice time after the wedding.

  The phone rang and Victoria picked it up.

  “There’s been a murder downtown, guys.” Said Evans after hanging up.

  “Hunt put me in charge until Valdez is back.” Nick announced.

  “Can I come this time?” asked Victoria who was too new to go on the field with the team.

  “Go ask Hunt for permission, if he says so, you can come with us.” Nick smiled at her awkwardly.

  Victoria jumped excitedly and hurried to Hunt’s office. Ryan, Nick and Jane drank their coffees and waited for her in front of the office. Two minutes later Evans came back with a broad smile indicating Hunt let her go on the field for the first time.

  “I’ll take my car. Evans, where is the crime scene?” Jane asked coldly and Victoria gave her the piece of paper with the address.

  “Why don’t we all go? I’ll let you drive!” Nick offered.

  “Yeah, I’ll skip.” Jane said and when she was already next to her car she added “I’ll wait ya there!”

  “Or we will wait you there!” Ryan took the keys off of Nick’s hand and sat on the driver’s seat.

  “You wish!” Blake laughed.

  Jane arrived a minute before the rest of the team. The crime scene was at a law firm, which was obviously one of the best in LA. At least that was what Hunt said when he called to inform Nick, that the victim was a high profile lawyer and the case was a priority.

  “Of course, the first case I’m in charge and it’s a fricking big-shot lawyer. Just my luck!” Nick complained while they were walking towards the fancy reception. “Jane, help!” he added in a whisper.

  “Don’t worry!” Blake said and turned to the receptionist who showed them the way to the crime scene.

  They went into an office on the second floor. The victim was leaning back in his office chair with his hands spread over the armrests, there was no sign of struggle. He was killed by a single gunshot in the forehead with a low caliber gun.

  “Close range, clean shot.” Jane murmured at the moment she saw the body.

  She went closer and examined the huge mahogany desk. There was a small name tag ‘Silvester Nelson’, a computer which wasn’t even on, and several files of clients.

  “I can see Silvester Nelson just came to work?” After Jane saw the untouched hot cup of tea on the desk she asked the receptionist who was standing at the door with closed eyes.

  “Yes. He always came early.” Sobbed the woman.

  “Did you found him?” Nick asked.

  “No, the cleaner Sharna Jerome found him.” Answered the receptionist.

  “Where is she now?” asked Victoria.

  “In the staff room. She is in shock.”

  “Tell her to come to us and you go back to the reception.” Jane ordered the woman and after she went out Blake turned to the team “Evans, Gray go get the surveillance records and look over them while me and Nick talk to Sharna Jerome.”

  “I though Nick was in charge.” Ryan lifted his eyebrows in surprise of Jane’s bossy tone.

  “I am, and I order you all to listen to Blake. We need to close this one, guys!” Lee said in a low voice.

  Ryan and Victoria headed to the exit together, Ryan murmuring something under his breath.

  Several minutes later a plump middle aged woman walked in, still sobbing and avoiding to look at the dead man on the chair.

  “Hello.” She cried.

  “Mrs. Jerome?” asked Nick.

  The woman nodded nervously.

  “We need to ask you a few questions.” Said Jane and pointed at the couch next to the door, offering the lady to sit down.

  “I’ll tell you everything but, please, let’s go somewhere else. I can’t look at…” said Sharna Jerome and turned her back.

  “Yes, we can go somewhere else.” Nick said and turned to Jane “I’ll call the CSU now. Do you think we saw enough from that office?”

  “Yep, make the call. Whoever killed this man was there just to make the shot. I believe the killer didn’t leave any evidence behind.” Jane answered after looking around for one last time and added “Just tell them to send all of his client files to us, okay?”

  Lee took out his phone and Blake let Mrs. Jerome lead the way to the nearest waiting area which was equipped with yellow sofas and coffee tables. The three of them sat down and Nick hung up and started talking.

  “When did you find Mr. Nelson?”

  “I come to work at six and,” Sharna started nervously “as always I expected Mr. Nelson to be in his office so I went there first and I – I saw him. At the beginning I thought he was sleeping because the lamp was off and when I turned on the light I saw his head and I…” the woman started crying “I’m sorry I’ve never seen…”

  “It’s okay, Sharna, it’s perfectly normal to be in shock.” Nick said kindly and stroked her on the back. “What did you do next?”

  “I ran down and called the police from reception.” Answered Sharna.

  “Did you see anyone else in the office or in the building at all?” Jane asked.

  “No. It was just me and him.” Sharna exhaled slowly trying to prevent her body from shaking.

  “Okay, Mrs. Jerome, I want you to go home now, drink some mint tea and try to relax.” Blake said casually while looking around for Ryan
and Victoria.

  Sharna nodded, stood up and slowly headed to the elevator.

  “Jane!” hissed Nick.

  “What?” Blake looked at him with surprise.

  “I wanted to ask more questions! And as far as I know she may be the killer!” whispered Lee.

  “She is not. She was genially horrified by the dead body; this woman is not capable of a murder.” Jane explained calmly. “Why do you think I offered her to sit on the couch in front of the victim?”

  “Oooh!” sighted Nick and pointed at something behind Jane “Gray and Evans are coming. I hope they have something.”

  But they didn’t. Ryan and Victoria explained that they saw Mr. Nelson coming to work at five thirty, then couple of minutes later a man dressed in black and with a hat went in and out of the victim’s office, and then out through the front door. He kept his face hidden the whole time. No one else was in the building. Sharna Jerome went in at six oh one and as she said, she called the police several minutes later.

  “So we are dealing with a pro?” Nick rubbed his forehead nervously. “Of course, it has to be a pro… on my fricking first day as a lead. Shit!”

  “Man up, Lee! We’ll figure it out!” Blake said with irritation. “Did someone looked at the file of Silvester Nelson? Is he married? Children?”

  Gray checked the file at the moment Jane asked.

  “Yes, he is married to a, wow, much much younger lady.” Ryan said with a smile but when he saw Jane’s expression he turned serious again and added “No kids.”

  “Call the bimbo.” Blake ordered when she saw the photo of the mid-twenties blonde “She has to inherit everything, right?”