Coming Back

by Tabitha J Arment

  The pleasant night that they had continued into a stress free morning as Natasha fought to keep things as light as possible. She only cracked when Ben and Veronica were finally ready to head out to the station.

  Before either of them could make it to the door, Natasha launched herself at Veronica. “You be careful.”

  She held onto her closest friend so tightly that Veronica had a hard time breathing. Remembering a particularly funny moment in Natasha’s favorite television show, Gilmore Girls, Veronica commandeered one of Rory’s lines. “...Ribs...breaking...lungs...crushing…”

  Natasha let go of her and attached herself to Ben. “You better take care of her.”

  Ben started laughing and pushed her off. “Oh, I see how it is...I don’t rank higher than a bodyguard?”

  This succeeded in making Natasha feel better. “You take care of yourself, too.” She started laughing and pushed them out of the door.

  They were both nervous as they approached the station. Between being stalked by a crazy killer and having their entire precinct find out about them, they were about the have a very long day. They sat in the SUV for at least five minutes without moving once they reached the parking lot. Leering coworkers and bad jokes were waiting for them inside. Eventually, they admitted defeat and got out of the car. When they got to the door of the station, they both hesitated.

  After a moment Ben turned to Veronica, “Are you ready for this?”

  Veronica shrugged, “Not much of a choice, I guess. Thanks to ‘our little friend’ everyone is gonna know about us.”

  Ben smiled and grabbed her hand, “Let’s get this over with.”

  Together, they pulled the door open and walked through it. They both cringed as they made their way fully into the building, but for some reason nobody reacted.

  The longer they were in the building, the more they expected someone to say something to them. As they made it closer and closer to Blake’s office, they realized that either everyone was playing it remarkably cool or nobody had seen the picture.

  Knowing their coworkers the way they did, they were well aware that most of them had no poker face. This was the kind of information that everyone would be jumping at the chance to gossip about and nobody was saying a word.

  When they finally made it to Blake’s office they were both full of questions. Before they could get any of those questions out, Blake cut them off.

  “Before you say anything, I have sworn everyone who saw the picture or your apartment to secrecy. Aside from them, nobody will know anything that you do not want them to know.”

  Ben and Veronica both sagged in relief with a nearly identical “Thank you, sir!”

  Blake nodded and continued, “Now that’s out of the way...what’s your plan for today?”

  Veronica perked up at this question. “Last night gave me an idea about that. I think we should give up on the theories about why he disappeared, at least for now. Its way to wide a net to cast for the moment. We can’t check every man in the city to see if he matches any of that criteria, which is what we would have to do for it to be effective. I think we should look into how this guy is getting into our homes. Mine, I almost get. Its an apartment building and they aren’t exactly known for being secure. Ben’s place, I don’t get at all. His house is more secure than Fort Knox. The only way he’s getting in there without leaving signs of a break-in is with a key. Where did he get the key come from?”

  Ben chimed in at that point. “I was thinking the same thing. It’s gonna be a lot easier to track down one key than its gonna be to check out all those theories thoroughly. To be honest, that would take years and we don’t have that kind of time or resources.”

  Blake looked back down at his work, “Sounds like you have this all under control. Check any names that you come up with against the names you already found in the past couple of days. Just in case.” With that, they were dismissed.

  When they left Blake’s office they looked around to find that nobody was paying much attention to them. Suddenly, their day was looking like it was going to be a lot better than they were expecting when they arrived. Thanks to their boss, they had not yet become fodder for the rumor mill at the precinct. They still had a crazy killer after them, but they were also closer than ever to finding him.

  There were only a few keys to Ben’s home in existence, all they had to do was track all of them to the people who had them and they would find him. When they made it into the detective’s office they greeted Mark and started working.

  He was still investigating the bombing at Nick and Veronica’s old home, and it appeared he was not getting far at the moment. Ben had been working with him for years and had never seen Mark look so frustrated. When they entered the office, Mark barely acknowledged their presence even when they were talking to him.

  At first, Veronica tried to ask him how things were going, but the monosyllabic responses and the annoyed glares soon had her retreating back to Ben’s desk. When she got there they shared a look and went back to working.

  Ben already knew where all of the keys that he had given out were, so they focussed on the ones that previous owners and realtors would have had.

  As they were working Veronica heard Ben mumble, “I knew I should have changed the locks when I moved in.”

  Veronica knew that Ben was already kicking himself enough, so she chose not to give him too much of a hard time about it.

  All day long, they kept hitting dead ends as they looked for the key that the killer somehow managed to get hold of. Across the room they could hear Mark typing furiously on his computer and knew that he was drawing a blank like they were.

  They spent most of the day tracking down every key that had ever been made for Ben’s house. They talked to realtors, former owners, and anyone else who ever could have had a key to the house. It took them hours, and by the end of it, they felt like smashing their heads against a wall.

  When they had left Blake’s office, they had been filled with confidence that they would catch the guy today. At least, they thought they would be a hell of a lot closer. Instead, it looked like they were going to finish the day with even more questions than they had when they started. They had accounted for all the keys to Ben’s house and come up with nothing.

  About two hours before they were set to leave the station, Ben angrily slammed the phone back into its receiver. “This is hopeless!”

  Veronica looked out of their glass wall to find half of the squad room watching Ben as he continued to fume. Even Blake had noticed the shift in attention, and he was watching them from his office as well.

  She knew that Ben’s increasingly bad mood and outbursts were going to cause people to begin to question whether or not he was fit to continue investigating. If Ben were to be removed from the case, it would only be a matter of time before she was removed as well. After all, a patrol officer can only work with the detectives for so long. Especially when the detective that had arranged this assignment was no longer permitted to work the case.

  With this thought in mind Veronica stood and pulled on Ben’s arm until he came with her. “You need to take a break.”

  She brooked no argument as she hauled him out of the office and along the side of the squad room until she reached another hallway. She continued to pull him behind her as she made her way down this hallway and into an observation room. It was small, with little in it but a table, a few chairs, and equipment to record everything happening on the other side of the two way mirror. But watching an interview was not Ben and Veronica’s object today so the mirror was ignored as she pushed Ben to sit down at the table.

  Ben growled frustratedly as he was shoved down into a chair. “What the hell are we doing here?”

  Veronica felt her temper flare up at the gruffness in his voice. She knew that none of it was directed at her, so she did her best to contain her anger before it boiled over. Moving around to the other side of the table, she sat in the chair across from him.

  “You need t
o calm down. We already have enough focus on us because of this guy breaking into our homes and leaving ‘presents’ for us. We cannot afford to be drawing any more attention; especially negative attention. If Blake starts to think that we can’t handle working this, he won’t give us a chance to prove him wrong. You have to know that the only reason we are being allowed to work this case is because you, Nick, and Blake were best buddies in the Academy. If you weren’t friends we would have been barred from this investigation a long time ago.”

  Ben glared at her from across the table.

  She could see the anger and frustration seething out of him and heard it in the way his voice rose in strength and volume.

  “It doesn’t matter if we get kicked off the case, does it? The guy is a fucking ghost! Every time we think that we are going to get even a little bit closer to finding him...it turns into a dead end!”

  Veronica delivered one swift kick to Ben’s leg as a warning before he let his frustration get the best of him. Her voice cut across his in a threatening tone before he had a chance to complain.

  “I think we’ve already established that it’s not a good idea for you to take your anger out on me.”

  For a moment, it felt like time stood still.

  Then a wide grin spread across Ben’s face. “I don’t know about that...I seem to recall some interesting results after last time I yelled at you. Maybe I should yell more often.”

  He leered at her and it was like all of the tension left the room.

  Veronica wanted to be mad at him, but she could not stop herself from laughing. She kicked him again, but this time was more playful than the last. “It’s not funny! I don’t want you to think you can kiss me every time you piss me off and it will all be good. That was a one time deal. From now on...you piss me off...I expect grovelling.”

  Ben let out one of those explosive laughs that seemed to shake the walls. “Okay, I’ll keep that in mind. I haven’t pissed you off yet, have I?”

  Veronica leaned back in her chair, crossed her arms over her chest, and leveled him with an even stare. “Not yet...but watch yourself.”

  The grin on Ben’s face widened as he stood up and stalked over to her chair. When he stopped in front of her Ben leaned over and and spoke a few inches from her face. “Will do…” He closed the distance between them and placed a soft and sweet kiss on her cheek.

  Veronica had closed her eyes as his face got closer to hers and was disappointed when she felt the kiss to her cheek. As he pulled back she opened her eyes, “Tease.”

  Ben chuckled and walked back out into the hallway.

  While Ben and Veronica crossed the squad room to get back to their office, everyone noticed Ben’s change in mood. When Veronica had pulled him out of the room he had been brooding and tense. When he walked back, he was grinning from ear to ear and all the tension appeared to have left his body. Everyone was wondering exactly what Veronica had done to calm him down, but for the first time ever they had enough tact not to ask. They did not, however, have enough tact to stop making bets about who would catch them kissing first.

  Everyone who had seen the photo yesterday diligently kept their mouths shut with a slightly worried glance in the direction of Blake’s office. He was not a man to be trifled with, so when he gave a direct order nobody in their right mind questioned whether or not to follow it. That did not stop them from smirking as they listened to the conversations happening around them. They enjoyed the fact that they knew something before any of their friends did. They looked forward to the day when they got to rub it in everyone else’s faces. Until then, they would have to content themselves with quietly laughing and coming up with ways that they could mess with Ben and Veronica once everything was out in the open.

  When they reentered their office, they found Mark. He was clearly feeling better than he had been earlier in the day. He too was far more relaxed and was being less harsh as he typed.

  In spite of their lack of results, Veronica could feel the knots in her shoulders start to loosen when there was a commotion outside of their office. She could hear the chatter pick up in volume and glanced up to see what the cause was. When she looked out, she found half of the precinct staring at their computers and the other half staring at her.

  An uncomfortable feeling started to creep into her system when she heard Mark clear his throat from his desk.

  “Um…I, uh...you guys might want to take a look at this…”

  As uncomfortable as Veronica felt, Mark looked ten times more awkward.

  Ben and Veronica straightened up, and with one last look through the glass stood up and walked over to Mark’s computer. When they got there, they both stiffened and fearfully looked in the direction of Blake’s office.

  “This will not end well.”

  Veronica nodded and then shrugged her shoulders. “It could have been worse.”

  That was true, but this was bad enough. Filling up Mark’s computer screen, and most likely everyone else’s, was a photo of Ben and Veronica from yesterday. The two of them were blissfully walking hand in hand with smiles on their faces. A disembodied voice that had obviously been electronically altered emanated out of the speakers, “I thought you ought to know.”

  Everyone in the building visibly flinched away from their computers.

  Moments later, both Ben and Veronica’s phones beeped simultaneously. They cautiously walked back over to Ben’s desk and picked them up. When they checked their messages, they both found a text reading, “Secret’s out. You’re welcome.”

  Veronica’s head dropped to her chest as she closed her eyes and wished that she was dreaming.

  For a moment, they silently debated what they should do next then they quickly left the office. While they crossed the squad room, they did their best to avoid making eye contact with anyone.

  Jack crossed in front of them.

  If you had asked him, he would have said that he chuckled at their panicked expressions. The truth was that the only word to describe the noise that he made was giggle. The grown man giggled and then he spun around and faced the rest of the room.

  His booming voice filled the squad room, “In the immortal words of my friend here...Pay up bitches!”

  There was an uproar of laughter as almost everyone in the room lined up to place bills in Jack’s hand.

  He glanced over at Ben, “Everyone was making bets on when you two would get together. I was the only one who bet that you already were.”

  The only people in the room who had conspicuously remained seated were the officers who had seen the picture and Veronica’s bedroom yesterday.

  Before Ben could reply to his good friend, the door to Blake’s office burst open. “Everyone get back to work. I think you’ll find you have control over your computers again. You two, with me.”

  The joviality of moments before leached out of the room as people somberly moved back to their desks. However, there were still people pulling out their phones to update their friends who were currently out on patrol, or not on duty.

  Ben and Veronica slinked their way over to Blake’s office whilst trying to avoid touching each other in any way. When they got inside, they moved over to their usual seats as Blake closed the door and crossed over to sit behind his desk.

  “I’m probably going to be getting a call soon from my boss, rightfully asking me why you two are still partnered up. I know this wasn’t your fault, but I don’t think there is anything else I can do to keep this between us. It’s Friday, and the day is almost over. I’m going to send you two home early because you’ve both been working overtime this week. When you get back...we’ll see. I’m going to do everything that I can, but I can’t make any promises. I’ll try to keep you on the case, but they might not give me a choice.”

  Veronica stared at him blankly for a moment, then nodded. “I understand.” With that she stood up and went to leave the office.

  Before she got to the door, Blake stopped her. “Where are you going?”

 
; She turned with a defeated look on her face. “I’m gonna go change out of my uniform and then head home. You said we were supposed to leave for the day, right?”

  The guilt was evident on Blake’s face, “Yeah, okay. I’ll see both of you on Monday.” He dismissed them and they left to go get their stuff together.

  Everyone could read their faces as they crossed the squad room again, so this time there were no jokes make.

  After Veronica had changed back into her own clothes, she and Ben made their way out of the building.

  Once they reached the parking lot, Ben grabbed her hand and squeezed it reassuringly.

  “We’ll still get him.”

  The defeated look from before disappeared as she nodded. “Oh, I know. And I don’t care what Blake says, I’m gonna be there when we take him down.”

  Ben was glad to see her looking more determined again, he was beginning to think that her actions in Blake’s office had been a performance to make Blake feel bad so he would fight harder for her.

  Veronica unlocked her car and hopped into the front seat.

  Ben chuckled and climbed into the passenger seat. “That was an excellent manipulation in there. He’s not usually that susceptible to guilting.”

  Veronica grinned as she put the SUV in gear and started driving to Natasha’s house so that they could once again pick up their pets and move back to Ben’s place. Now that the locks were changed, it felt like the safest place they could be.

  When they had retrieved Ace and Charlotte and loaded them into the SUV Veronica commented, “We have done this way too many times.”

  Ben was holding onto Charlotte, trying to soothe her because she was never a fan of being in cars. “I totally agree.”

  They stopped momentarily at the locksmith’s office to collect the new keys and then went straight to Ben’s place. This time Ben wanted to control exactly how many keys were floating around in the world and exactly who had them, so he only had three keys made. He kept one for himself obviously, the other two were going to Veronica and his mother. There were about a thousand people at the station who used to have keys to his house, but until this psycho was behind bars he was going to wait to give them new ones.