CHAPTER 15

Paul and Andrew made short work of finishing up the cleaning in the living room and naturally gravitated to the kitchen to help Monica with lunch. Paul was soon joking about lunch being the safest meal for her to prepare as it didn’t require a stove. Andrew was surprised by the remark and wasn’t sure how Monica would take it. She glared at the agent for a split-second before bursting into laughter and Andrew realized that Paul’s teasing was probably exactly what she needed.

Paul was treating her like a kid sister, not like someone who needed to be on high alert for incoming danger. Andrew shook his head as a tiny smile crossed his lips. All of those years of protecting people and trying to set them at ease were certainly serving Paul well. It took her mind off of the assignment, and off of the fact that she was feeling extremely vulnerable.

Even a knock at the door failed to cause the usual startled reaction, although she did take a slight step backwards and let Andrew answer it.

“Anyone gonna let an old angel inside?” Tess said, just as Andrew opened the door. She looked around and noticed the table set for lunch and Paul standing protectively behind Monica’s right shoulder. “Well, looks like you didn’t need me for company, Miss. Wings,” she said with a grin. “You’ve got a little party going on already.”

She was surprised when Monica didn’t say anything and instead hurried to her side and wrapped her arms around her. “Now everything feels just right,” the little angel murmured.

Tess gave her a loving hug, but raised questioning eyes to Andrew and Paul. “Don’t tell me something else happened,” she said, wondering why she was always the last to know.

“We had a couple of break-ins last night, Tess,” Andrew said. Monica had only told him not to tell her supervisor about David’s actions at the bar. She hadn’t said anything about not telling her about the ransacked apartment.

“A couple?” Tess drew back to look into Monica’s face. “What on earth happened?”

“No real damage, Tess,” Paul supplied. “Unfortunately it looks like my work followed Monica home as well as me.”

Monica lowered her eyes. “We don’t know that for sure,” she said. “Maybe David broke into your place first and then came here… he could have left the picture as a warning.”

Paul wasn’t sure if it was the right time to tell everyone about the fact that all of his notes and pertinent files had been taken. He still had work to do, and maybe it was better for them to think that the break-in had just been caused by an angry drunk rather than a murderous criminal.

“You think David’s responsible?” Tess asked. “I just stopped by his apartment and Kristin said he was ‘sleeping it off’, but she didn’t mention how late he’d been out, and why would he go after Paul?”

There was silence as Tess looked at each of them, waiting for an answer. Andrew and Paul’s faces each held well-practiced blank expressions, and Monica was concentrating on the floor, hands clasped behind her back.

“I believe I asked a question. That means I expect an answer.” The tone heard so often when Tess was talking to a particularly stubborn assignment was now turned on Monica and the others.

“Alright,” Paul said, stepping forward. “I’m just going to say it.” He looked at Monica apologetically. “I’m sorry, Monica, but she’s obviously not going to accept silence for an explanation.”

Tess looked at the man expectantly. He had made her furious less than forty-eight hours ago, but there was something there that brought a smile to her heart as well. Of course she wasn’t about to let that smile show at the moment.

“David grabbed her last night and I pulled him off of her,” Paul said, deciding that the shorter the story, the better. “I guess that would qualify as a reason to dislike me, and I think we all know he’s had it in for Monica since she started on this crazy assignment.” He knew it wasn’t his place to question their work, but he couldn’t resist letting that smidgen of bitterness slip out.

Tess opted to ignore it, instead concentrating on her still silent charge. “Monica? You weren’t going to tell me?”

“You already saw what he’s like,” Monica replied. “It wasn’t really any worse than that, and it doesn’t change anything. I’m going to get through to him… it just may take a while…” she trailed off as she turned back towards the kitchen. “We’re just about to eat… let me just make another sandwich for you.”

Monica still hadn’t met her gaze and Tess looked to Andrew instead, her face hardening at the troubled look he was giving her. “I’ll give you a hand,” she said, following the little angel into the kitchen.

She stepped next to Monica and took a plate down from the cupboard, wishing that things didn’t have to be so hard. “I’m sorry things aren’t going any better, baby,” she said gently, “but you don’t have to hide that fact from me.”

Monica shrugged. “I know. I…”

Tess stopped her mid-sentence as she suddenly grabbed her hand and stared down at her wrist. “Did that man do this to you?”

“Yes,” was Monica’s simple reply.

Tess had a bag full of things she wanted to say, but she squelched her racing emotions. She could plainly see that Monica wasn’t in any frame of mind to relive what had happened.

“Well he should be glad it was Paul that stopped him and not me,” she declared.

The statement was made so seriously and with such loving and protective overtones that Monica felt tears pricked the backs of her eyes. “Thank you, Tess,” was all she said, and a tiny grin flitted across her face.

Though reluctant, Paul had left Monica in Andrew and Tess’ capable hands once darkness had covered the city. He had a feeling that Tess had things she wanted to discuss with the Irish angel, though the matronly angel had carefully steered conversations away from David and anything else that might cause a flicker of pain to cross Monica’s face.

As he sat in the back of the taxi, he had to smile. Just as something in Monica reminded him of Lauren, something in Tess reminded him of himself. It was possibly her protective nature and her “no nonsense” tone of voice when she was seeking answers, but he also knew that beneath the tough exterior was a heart of pure gold and that despite their tumultuous discussion a few nights ago, Paul knew that he had a friend and ally in Tess.

As the taxi stopped in front of the FBI building, Paul paid the driver and muttered his thanks as he got out of the car and walked purposefully into the building, showing his badge to the security guard that was on duty inside the doors. He elected to take the stairs as to not risk running into someone in the elevator and he climbed them briskly up to the fourth floor before he quietly opened the door and glanced down the hall to make certain that no one was around.

He walked as lightly as he could, his sneakers making little noise this time as he struggled to make himself as unnoticeable as possible as he approached Mike’s office. By looking just under the door, he could tell that his friend’s office was dark and he turned the knob and pushed open the door, being careful to close it quietly behind him. Taking the tiny flashlight from his jacket pocket, he moved to the desk and opened the third drawer down. Reaching to the back of the drawer, he moved the keys to the file cabinet from their hiding place.

He and Mike had been friends for a long time, since the early days of Paul’s career with the agency and though he had many times seen Mike put those keys away, the younger agent had never considered that one day he would use that information to deceive someone he had always considered a friend. The problem was that Paul was quickly getting the feeling that turnabout was fair play.

He quickly opened the filing cabinet and fingered through the files until he found the names of the witnesses he needed, but in paging through the files, everything seemed to be in order with nothing out of the ordinary. He sighed impatiently as he returned the files to their rightful places and thumbed through the other files in the cabinet, looking for anything that his instincts might tell him was out of place, but he was coming up empty.

Closing the first drawer, he opened the second one and repeated his process, hesitating briefly when he came across a file marked “Financial/Personal” and he removed it from the cabinet. Holding the flashlight precariously between his teeth, he paged through the file that seemed to be laden with mortgage and car information. He was about to return it when he came across a bank statement and as his eyes skimmed the document, his brow furrowed.

Mike seemed to be taking in large deposits that were more than his paychecks, which were direct deposited and marked accordingly. The other sums were rather hefty, and appeared to be sporadic as he paged through several of the bank statements. Taking a small notepad out of his pocket, he jotted down the dates and the amounts in question, the process taking him several minutes, before he closed up the file and returned it to the drawer.

Satisfied that he at least now had something to pursue, he turned off his flashlight and put it back in his jacket, making a mental note to call Janice in the morning to see if she had gotten the flowers and if she would consider making him more copies of the files to see if the dates of these deposits corresponded with anything in them.

As he exited the office, Paul could only hope that the information would help him figure out who had broken into his hotel room and more importantly, Monica’s apartment.

He cursed softly under his breath as he watched Paul vanish into the stairwell, now knowing beyond the shadow of a doubt that the young agent was in over his head. It was a shame really. He liked Paul and he was a damn good agent, but now it was either Paul or him, and there was no way he was going to be the one to lose.

Monica yawned sleepily as she rested up against Andrew’s shoulder, struggling to keep her eyes open and to keep up with the conversation that had been going back and forth between him and Tess. She felt her friend gently wrap his arm around her shoulders and a moment later, her eyes had slid shut as her head drooped to rest against his chest.

The blond angel smiled as he moved to stroke her hair tenderly as he looked over at Tess, “She’s wiped out, Tess. This entire ordeal has been exhausting for her.”

“I’m sure it has been, Angel Boy. Not that I’m questioning the Father’s plan, but I would certainly like to have a word or two with her assignment about her wrist…” Tess all but grumbled, as her eyes remained focused on the sleeping angel. The darkness beneath her eyes had yet to vanish from her days hiding from Douglas McArthur, and though she had been quicker to smile tonight, she had still been more on the quiet side then Tess felt was normal.

“Whatever you said to her in the kitchen this afternoon seemed to have put her more at ease,” He remarked with a small smile, having the feeling that Tess had been a bit more sympathetic and supportive of late. He knew that she had never meant to not be, but Monica had been feeling more than intimidated lately by feeling as if Tess didn’t think she was doing enough and he was glad that seemed to be resolved.

“I hope I was able to make her feel at least a little better,” Tess said, mouth turning slightly downwards. “Unfortunately I think it could be a little while before she’s completely comfortable with me again.” She shook her head sadly. “You were right about me pushing her too hard, and I guess our talk yesterday wasn’t enough to keep her from being afraid of me.”

“Tess, she’s not afraid of you,” Andrew disagreed, “she just doesn’t want to keep disappointing you.”

“Well from where I’m sitting it feels the same to me. I gave her a reason to stop coming to me with her problems, and I’m going to have to do a little extra work to get that back.”

Andrew looked from Tess’ determined expression to Monica’s sleeping form. “What makes me angry, is knowing that two months ago your pushing wouldn’t have bothered her at all. Sometimes it seems as if she’ll never be that confident, head-strong angel again. I know she’ll never be exactly the same… and neither will I… but the toll on her seems so much greater.”

Tess reached over and grasped Andrew’s hand tightly. “No, she won’t be the same… but we’ll all adjust, and in the end the Father will make her even more perfect in His sight.”

Monica looked around, shaking her head and trying to blink the sleep from her eyes. She had been sound asleep, but something had woken her up. She looked around and saw the pale light stretching across the sky, the edges of dawn just starting to overtake the night. Andrew and Tess were gone she realized. She was tucked in her bed.

There it was again, a sound that Monica now recognized as frantic knocking. Without thinking about who it might be, she stumbled from her bed, pulling most of the bedding along, and causing Lucy to voice her irritation.

“I’m coming!” she called out, turning on lights as she made her way to the door. She was about to just throw back the locks and swing the door open but her sleepy mind cleared and a sense of fear clutched at her heart. “Who is it?” she asked, small body braced against the door as if to keep out any unwanted visitors.

“It’s Kristin. Please let me in, Monica.” The woman’s voice sounded scared and Monica’s eyes widened.

“Kristin, what happened?” she asked as soon as she had the door open. She held open her arms and pulled the woman inside, one arm around her waist as she led her to the sofa. “Are you alright? Is it the baby?”

Kristin was still dressed in a nightgown and robe and it was obvious she hadn’t wasted any time in leaving. She shook her head. “No… the baby’s fine. I just needed to get away.” The tears in her eyes and the paleness of her face struck Monica hard and she didn’t need to ask why Kristin needed to get out of her apartment.

“Did he hurt you?” she asked, staring into the woman’s face, knowing that she would be able to tell if she lied to her.

“No… he’s never done anything like that.”

“But he scared you.”

She nodded her head. “He just woke up and he was mad… I don’t know… maybe it was because he couldn’t drink yesterday… we didn’t have anything in the house and no place sells it on Sunday. I asked him if he was going down to the unemployment office. Tess said she’d be there and would try to help him,” she explained. “He just exploded. He started throwing things and saying he was sick of people trying to change him. I’d never seen him like that… I just couldn’t stay…”

Monica had a pretty good idea of how David had been acting. “You were right to leave,” she said reassuringly.

“But I love him,” Kristin insisted, tears threatening, “I love him and I don’t know how to help him.”

“Kristin, right now you have to just concentrate on making sure that you’re safe.” She took a deep breath, wondering how she could continue when she hardly believed what she was about to say. “David will come around, but you can’t help him if he doesn’t want to be helped. It may be hard, but I believe that God has a plan, and we just have to wait to see what it is.” She realized that she was almost repeating what Andrew had told her about being patient, and thought about how much easier it was to give that advice than to take it.

“But what do I do now? I know he’ll calm down… I just know it… and I know he would never hurt me,” Kristin was twisting her hands and her words tumbled out so quickly they were almost impossible to make sense of. “I can’t just stay up here forever. I’ll need to go back, and then what do I say?”

“If he’s as angry as you say, then I don’t think you should go back right now. He’ll leave and you can go back then. Maybe it will all just blow over by the time he comes back tonight,” Monica said hopefully.

“Right… right, of course. Yes… he never stays mad for very long…”

Monica picked up Kristin’s hands and stopped their nervous motion. “But Kristin… if he scares you again, you have to promise me you won’t stay down there. You come up here to my place, or down to Andrew’s… he’s in the manager’s apartment on the first floor.”

Kristin nodded, swallowing hard to contain her tears. Monica felt like crying herself, but at the same time she was at least thankful that she could be some help. Kristin pulled back one hand and rubbed it over her swollen belly.

“I never imagined that this was what my life was going to be like,” she whispered. “I keep holding onto a vision of the three of us in the park, sitting on a blanket in the sunshine and laughing.”

“That can still happen… don’t stop believing that,” Monica said gently. “I’m going to go make some coffee and toast. You just stay right where you are and relax.”

“Thank you, Monica… you’re such an angel.”

She could help but grin at that comment as she made her way into the kitchen, but an instant later it vanished.

“Kristin! Kristin, you open up this door! I know you’re in there with that damn wench from the bar!” The pounding that accompanied David’s shouts shook the door and rattled the pictures on the walls.

Monica ran back into the living room, grateful that she had locked the door again after letting Kristin inside. The pregnant woman was looking up at her, clearly terrified, her eyes asking her what she should do.

“Get in the bedroom,” she mouthed as she approached the door, trying to control her own trembling steps. “Father,” she whispered under her breath, “please forgive me for this lie.”

“Kristin!” The door shook again and Monica took a step back.

“She’s not here!” she shouted back. “Go away! She isn’t in here.”

“You think I believe that?” David’s voice was now low and dangerous. “You’d better open up before I break down this damn door. Or do you have your collection of boyfriends in there to protect you now?”

“I’m telling you, she’s not here, David. Please, just go home!”

The door knob rattled and then the door shook as David threw his weight against it. “Well if that’s true you don’t have anything to hide then, do you? Because if you’re lying then last night will look like a picnic compared to what I’ll do to you.”

The threat sent a chill through her and she jumped back as he slammed his weight against the door once again and she winced as the hinges began to pull away from the door frame. There was no question in her mind that he was going to get into the apartment, the only question unanswered was what was she going to do when he did?