Uncovering Love

by Kacey Shea

  Kate reacted to the news with ecstatic joy, “Oh, yes! I knew it! I knew it! He is so hot and he totally noticed you the day we met him. Damn, girl, I didn’t think you had it in you!” Jon’s brow furrowed in anger.

  “What the hell, Evie? You’re supposed to train with him, not get his number. What do you think you’re doing? This could completely fuck up our first case. What are you thinking?” He was almost shouting at me.

  Kate replied before I could, “You don’t get to yell at our girl here, Mr. Army. I don’t care who the hell you are, so please talk to her with respect, or I’ll come over and rip your eyes out with my nails.” This was going very badly.

  “Enough!” I yelled to silence my friends and acquire their full attention before continuing in a calm voice. “I’m texting him because he wants to be friends.” Jon let out an audible huff, making his disbelief known as I continued. “We hung out after my first session yesterday, and before you get any ideas I made it perfectly clear that a friendship was the only thing I was interested in. I thought it would be an opportunity to learn more about his personal life.” As Jon rolled his eyes I turned my attention completely towards him and added, “Which is exactly what you asked me to do.” I took a deep breath of my own. “You both know me. I follow the rules. I’m keeping this relationship professional. It’s not like he’s my type, anyway.”

  Jon looked relieved at my reply and added in a serious tone. “Good. I’m sorry I jumped to the wrong conclusion about your intentions. I know you, Evie, and I trust your judgement. This guy is definitely not your type. Did he tell you he has two kids? Or that he has a wife, or maybe she’s a girlfriend?” I could not contain my shock or disappointment at Jon’s words. It shouldn’t matter to me, but I felt deceived.

  “What are you talking about?”

  “I told you I was going to start tailing Reynolds so we could get a move on this case. I followed him today to a neighborhood near the gym. He spent the afternoon with two boys that look just like him. He was very affectionate towards the children, just like a father would be, and then a woman came home before Reynolds headed back in to work. They kissed and she treated the kids as though they were hers.”

  Kate looked about as shocked as I felt. I tried to school my features and asked Jon, “So what does this mean? Are we done with the case?” He paused before speaking.

  “I don’t think so. I mean, I would assume he has a relationship with this woman and the children are theirs, but we don’t have confirmation. There could be another explanation for what I saw, though I doubt it.” He pinned me with a somber expression. “As much as I hate to say it, I think you need to ask Reynolds out.”

  “What? No! You just said you wanted me to keep things professional.” I was completely confused by Jon’s request.

  “I think it’s the only way to find out who this woman is to him. So far you’re our best bet at getting closer to Reynolds. Besides, he’s contacted you on your personal phone. Text him now and see if he wants to hang out tomorrow,” Jon instructed as if it was the most normal response in the world.

  I didn’t want to text Tate. The lines between genuinely enjoying his company and using our time as a way to learn more about him for the case were starting to blur. My heart suddenly felt heavy and I was saddened at my need to be deceitful with Tate. I took a deep breath and looked up at Jon who was watching me closely.

  “You can do this, QT. You won’t have to be his friend much longer. We just need to confirm those are his children or that he has a girlfriend and we’ll be done with the Stacey Mills-Sandoval job. Hell, not having to deal with her is motivation enough.” He smiled at me and I pushed my emotions down. He was right. I could do this. Suck it up and get it over with and I would be done with Tate for good. Now, if only that thought brought relief instead of sadness. I grabbed my phone and quickly sent the text before I lost my nerve.

  Evie: Do you maybe want to hang out tomorrow?

  He replied right away.

  Tate: Yeah, that’d be great. I actually have the day off. You have anything in mind?

  Evie: No, nothing in mind. Just nothing requiring picking up heavy shit or moving fast.

  Tate: So, no to paintball then?

  Evie: NO!

  Tate: Lol, okay then. I have something in mind.

  Evie: You want to tell me what it is?

  Tate: Not really. Text me your address and I’ll pick you up at 8?

  Evie: I’m surprised you didn’t steal that off my gym membership too.

  Tate: Lol no that would be taking things too far. I promise I’m not a stalker.

  Evie: Lol okay. See you tomorrow.

  Evie: Wait, what should I wear?

  Tate: Something comfortable. See you tomorrow!

  I lifted my eyes from my phone to find Jon and Kate finishing up the dinner dishes and cleaning up the kitchen. I sent Tate our address as Jon put the last dish away. He grabbed the Advil from the cupboard. “Here, take two of these and let’s move this party to the couch. Did you get it set up?” I nodded and gulped down my pills.

  “All set. He’s picking me up at eight o’clock.” Kate grinned.

  “Oh, a late night date. You sure you didn’t set up a booty call?” She was joking but her words brought a scowl back to Jon’s face.

  “Eight in the morning, not at night, you naughty girl. Get your head out of the gutter.” She chuckled and helped me walk over to the couch to sit. I was already starting to feel a little better.

  Jon came over and handed me a shaker filled with some kind of brown liquid that smelled really gross. I scrunched up my nose. “What’s this?” His lips turned up at the edges. “It’s a protein shake. It’s got BCAAs in it too.” I sniffed at it and felt the blood drain from my face.

  “BC whattas?” He nodded to the cup.

  “BCAA’s. Branched-chain amino acid. It helps with recovery.” I must have not looked convinced. He added in a frustrated voice, “Just suck it up and drink. It’s chocolate flavored.”

  “Next time lead with that.” I tried the drink cautiously with a small sip and was pleasantly surprised. It wasn’t half bad. I continued to sip the drink as we settled into work. Jon pulled out my laptop and handed it to me.

  “Okay, we have our next move with Reynolds all set. Let’s get started on the Ortega case.” Jon grabbed the file folder with all of Veronica’s completed paperwork and started reading over it. “His name is Anthony Scott; he goes by Tony Scott. Oh great. Never trust a guy with two first names,” Jon muttered as he continued reading. Kate laughed.

  “What do you mean?” Jon looked up.

  “I mean, if a guy has a last name that can also be a first name—Tony Scott, Jason Hunter, Wilson Wilson—he can’t be trusted. I’ve never met a guy with two first names that isn’t a d-bag.” Kate and I giggled at Jon’s reasoning.

  “That’s so scientific of you, Jon.” I couldn’t help but tease. Kate agreed with me.

  “Yeah, I’m not sure that’s a reliable way to judge someone’s character.”

  “Well, it might not be right, but I’ve never met a guy with two first names that I liked. Prove me wrong and I’ll reevaluate my position.”

  “Jon, I’m pretty sure you don’t trust most people you meet, regardless of their last name.” I answered.

  “You’re probably correct about that,” he conceded and returned his attention to the case file. I opened the internet browser, simultaneously sliding my finger across the screen of my phone to unlock its screen.

  “Watch and learn, suckers.” I smiled mischievously as I pulled up my fake Facebook profile on the laptop and Instagram account on the phone. Kate leaned over to see what I was doing and started laughing.

  “Oh god, you’re going to scandalize Jon with your evil system.” Jon looked up from the file to study what I was doing with curiosity.

  “What does she mean, QT?”

  “Well, I have this rather sneaky system for weeding out losers. It’s why I never date, as most guys don’
t pass the test.” I searched and easily found Veronica’s fiancé, Anthony Scott, on Facebook, thanks to her detailed paperwork. He was a realtor at Eagle View Realty and his profile listed his place of work. I clicked friend request and sent him a private message:

  Hey there, love the pics, u r hot. Wanna chat? I’m on Instagram Hotandspicy666

  I talked Jon through my process. “So, first you can see I set up this fake Facebook profile. I post things here every five to seven days so it looks legit. I friend request everyone I can so I look pretty popular. Most are a bunch of freaks just trying to up their friend count. I mean, who accepts a friend request from someone they don’t even know? Anyway, I share things like the sexy articles from Men’s Health and I post lots of selfies.” I showed him my pictures and he laughed.

  “Evie, that’s not even you. Who is that person?”

  “Oh she’s a friend from college. She’s a fitness model and told me I could borrow any of her pics from Tumblr. Don’t worry, I have permission.” He shook his head.

  “Damn, Evie, that’s so deceitful of you. I don’t even know you right now.” I grinned.

  “Oh, you know me. I’ll do anything to get out of a blind date. That’s really the catalyst behind the ingenuity of this system.”

  Within two minutes I had a new message and request to follow on my fake Instagram account. Now, that one I had blocked. I only used it for my system and made sure to post weekly “progress pictures.” Photos that showed all kinds of ass and cleavage and hardly any face. If anyone cared to look closely enough, they would notice these pictures weren’t even of the same person. I just pulled random pictures off Google each week. If Anthony Scott was capable of cheating on his fiancé, this was a surefire way to catch him.

  Jon and Kate watched on as I opened the request pending approval.

  Tony858: Hi how r u?

  Hotandspicy666: Good, how r u big guy?

  Tony858: Good. U r hot. What’s ur name?

  Nice, he couldn’t even take the time to sound intelligent. I had a feeling Veronica’s instincts about her fiancé were correct. I wasn’t the least bit sorry about nailing his ass. She was a beautiful and intelligent woman, and she deserved better.

  Hotandspicy666: I’m Candy. I like your pics. Ur a hot realtor.

  Tony858: Thx. Send me a pic?

  Jon shook his head in disgust. “What a loser. Please tell me all men aren’t like this?” I looked over to Jon.

  “More than you’d imagine.” He responded with irritation in his voice.

  “That just pisses me off. Gives our gender a bad rap.”

  Kate nodded, “Yeah, but only Evie here goes through the effort to find these things out before a date. What does that say about our gender?” I smiled at them both.

  “Now for the closer.”

  Hotandspicy666 sent Tony 858 a pic showing lots of breast with a little nipple peeking over her lacey bra.

  Hotandspicy666: Do u like?

  Tony858: U r beautiful.

  Tony858: I’d like to suck those big titties in my mouth.

  Hotandspicy666: Oh yeah. Send me a pic?

  Tony858 sent Hotandspicy666 a picture of what most likely wasn’t his real penis due to the enormous size. The three of us couldn’t help but start laughing.

  Kate snorted, “Yeah right big guy. You wish.”

  Hotandspicy666: U r nice and big. I want 2 suck that in my mouth.

  Tony858: Where do you live? Want 2 meet up?

  Boo-ya. First case solved and complete. I felt satisfaction in keeping Veronica from making a huge mistake by being tied to this jerk for the rest of her life. I was also a little sad in having to deliver such bad news to her. I went to close out of the conversation but Jon grabbed my phone.

  “May I?” he asked and I nodded.

  Hotandspicy666: Phoenix, AZ how bout u?

  Tony858: Same. I need to c u.

  Hotandspicy666: 1804 W. Roosevelt—10 2night? I’ll wear red. Meet at the bar?

  Tony858: Can’t wait.

  Hotandspicy666: Send me a pic of ur face so I can find u?

  Tony858 responded by sending a picture from his Facebook account. It was one in which he was wearing an Eagle View Realty polo shirt. Jon took screen shots of the entire conversation before closing out the app on my phone. “Email those to me?” He asked and he pulled out his own phone. “I’ll set a meeting with Ortega for tomorrow morning, if that’s okay with you? You’ll be with Tate.”

  I considered his words. “I guess that’s fine. I mean, I don’t really need to be there, but I feel like a woman’s presence would be helpful in delivering the news. No offense Jon, but the whole ex-military vibe you carry around with you can be kind of intimidating, and I think she’s going to take this news pretty hard. I would if I were in her shoes.”

  “I’ll go!” Kate volunteered a little too enthusiastically. “I don’t have to be into work until ten tomorrow. That way you can still keep your date with Tate and I can make sure Jon doesn’t make your client cry.”

  “That’s actually a good idea. You okay with that, Jon?”

  “Yeah, I guess that will be fine.”

  “Hey, what address did you give Anthony Scott? And why would you ask him to meet you? We aren’t supposed to get that involved. Veronica only wanted to know if he was unfaithful, not confront him on the matter.” I was concerned, but a pleased smile played across Jon’s face.

  “Oh, I’m just fucking with him for being such an asshole. We aren’t going to meet him tonight, but he’s going to get quite the surprise when he ends up waiting for Candy in a popular transvestite bar.” We all burst out laughing.

  “I hope he gets hit on by some really attractive men tonight.”

  “Yeah, me too, but for all we know the sick bastard is probably into that kind of thing as well.”

  The three of us stayed up talking for another hour or so until the day’s activities came crashing down on me. My eyelids started to feel heavy and I was unsuccessfully holding back my yawns. Kate noticed and decided to head home for the night. Jon walked her to her car so they could make a plan for the morning. I grabbed my phone and stumbled my way into bed. Before I plugged it in to charge for the night, I checked my messages to find one waiting for me. I smiled to see Tate had sent me one last text message.

  Tate: Can’t wait for tomorrow. Goodnight beautiful.

  Those simple words shouldn’t have warmed my heart the way they did. I fell asleep with thoughts of Tate running through my mind and a smile on my face.

  “OH MY GOD, I LOVE this song! Turn it up!”

  I was in hell. Okay, maybe not hell, but having Kate tag along for my meeting with Veronica Ortega this morning was beginning to seem more a hardship than helpful. Kate bounced up and down in the passenger seat of my truck, singing along loudly with the girl on the radio, something about living for applause. This was not my idea of music. Give me loud rocking guitars and angry lyrics and I’m a happy man. Sometimes, when no one was around I’d enjoy a little country, not that I’d ever admit that, though.

  I tried to focus on the traffic but it was really distracting having a good-looking woman next to me constantly shimmying around to the music. My current attraction to Kate just annoyed the hell out of me. I mean, the way she jumped from man to man was disgusting. She was nothing like the sweet girl I crushed on in high school. Of course, back then I was too young and stupid to do anything about that crush. I was what you would call a late bloomer. With two girls as my best friends I fantasized about QT and Kate a lot back then. Both individually and together, because hell, I was like every other horny high school boy and they had all the established girl parts.

  However, now that I was a grown man I found I wanted more than a quick fuck to pacify my needs. I dreamed of finding a woman who would be a true partner in life, sharing more than just my bed. I hoped that maybe one day that woman would be Evie. And though she rarely showed any signs of returning my emerging feelings, I still held to that hope.

&nb
sp; Meanwhile, Kate just pissed me off because she was Kate. She was outrageous half of the time and infuriating the other half. And although my head knew she was a horrible idea, my dick didn’t always get that message.

  I met Kate this morning in front of the studio where she worked to pick her up. I had contacted Veronica Ortega last night to arrange another meeting as soon as possible and she suggested we meet back up at Cartel Coffee Lab this morning. I couldn’t believe how quickly and effectively QT had busted Veronica’s fiancé. What would have taken me weeks had been completed within the span of an hour. I was insanely proud of Evie and I was glad we had busted the dumbass. If he was so quick to get with someone who messaged him on the internet, I could only imagine the number of indiscretions he had during his relationship with Veronica.

  I was probably a little too excited to give our proof to Veronica. I was glad she would be dumping his ass, and he earned it. She was a talented, smart woman, and she deserved so much better than a liar and a cheat. It was a good idea to have Kate with me to soften the news. At least, I hoped so. Kate could be unpredictable and usually said whatever she thought. As we pulled into the parking lot at Cartel I cut the engine and turned to face her.

  “Kate, I need you to follow my lead. This isn’t one of your usual meetings where you can just talk about whatever you’re feeling. Veronica is going to be very upset about this news and she needs a sympathetic feminine presence to keep her under control. You get what I’m saying?” I tried to explain the best I could but her face twisted in outrage while I spoke.

  “What? You think just because she’s a woman she’s going to be all boo-hoo crying on my shoulder? And you’re basically telling me you brought me here to shut up and just look sympathetic? Hell no! Do you even understand how difficult it is to be stereotyped by your gender? I know you weren’t born in the 1950s Jon so why are you acting like such a chauvinistic pig? Women in today’s world are tough because we have to go through the same shit men do. We don’t need people like you walking around treating us like a princess up on a pedestal.”