Kiss Me Goodbye

Chapter 23

"Well?"

"Well what?"

"Well what happened?" Matt asks impatiently on the other side of the line.

"It worked." Christiana announces and he sighs in relief.

"So... tell me the details." He orders impatiently but not too harshly avoiding startling her.

"I did what you asked and I started to cry as soon as you left." She explains, "and at first he stood there like he didn't know what to do, so I sobbed a little harder and he tried to console me finally." She narrates laughing slightly at Dean's plight.

"Then?" Matt asks interested when she stops to take her breath imploring her to go on.

"Then I kept the act. I cried and trashed you of course. I told him that you were always horrible to me but that I didn't have anyone else now that my parents were dead and that I had enough of your disrespect and meanness. And I cried some more because now I was all alone in this world." Matt laughs and Christiana joins in, except they were laughing for two very different reasons.

Matt was laughing at the scene she painted, the plan they had devised earlier that day in an effort to trick detective Mc Rivers. But Christiana was laughing at her ingenuity in creating so plausible a lie that Matt fell for it so easily.

She really was an important asset in this investigation. She was like the middle man between the police and the mobsters. Except she made the plans and gave the illusion that she was going along with theirs. It was like playing with fire and she feared, now that she thought of it, getting burned.

"Go on." Matt prods when his laughter dies, "what happened next."

"He felt sorry for me after a while and said that he'll drive me home and I kept on crying of course," She explains, "So when we got here I asked him to come in and have a drink, he did." Christiana had explained her plans to Dean when he had come in and Dean had approved this phone call, But she wasn't going to tell that to Matt of course, neither was she going to tell him that she knew Garcia had followed and reported what he saw.

"He stayed a bit until I calmed down," she giggles devilishly, "and then he stood to leave, that's when Roberta invited him to come again maybe for lunch tomorrow?" She asks as if doubtful. She knew that if he cared for her even a little he would have been revolted by the idea that his fiancé was going to spend a little tête-à-tête with another man not to mention try and seduce him during that time. But her suspicions were confirmed instantaneously.

"And did he accept?" He asks excitedly. Yep he didn't care. Not a bit. Suspicions confirmed, way to go Tia trying to measure your worth by the standards of a mobster.

"He accepted reluctantly when I started to tear up." She begins to explain but he interrupts her.

"Great," he announces approvingly.

"Yeah I know." She says excitedly. "And I was thinking that maybe when he comes tomorrow you'd help me convince him faster by coming to my house and starting a fight and I think he will come to my defense and maybe that way we could speed things up further?" She asks. "He said that he was going to check my alibi today and I think that will help our case what do you think?" She asks as if she doesn't know he would approve. She was playing him like a puppet and he was clueless.

"I think that's a great idea." He announces. After a few seconds of silence he realizes that they had nothing more to discuss and he speaks. "So that is all that happened?"

"Yeah pretty much." She affirms nonchalantly and sighs.

"What's wrong?" He asks.

"It's just that I can't wait for this to be over," she explains truthfully, but then she lies, "I mean I can't stand him I just want this to end to be with you again." She's getting so good at this she might actually start a course and call it "lie to live: five steps to success."