Open Case File [COMPLETED]

The Past

This is a chapter you asked for but it isn't the chapter you wanted. With that  cryptic message, onward we go!

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"Are the fries good? They look good. You should save me some. But wait, are fries really good if they aren't hot anymore? Maybe you shouldn't save me some fries. Wait, no save me some fries they look really good. Yeah, save me some fries."

Carter said nothing to Mason's tirade about fries since she sat alone at the restaurant bar and it would look strange for her to talk to thin air. It was the worst part about not having Donovan on a mission with her, she couldn't tell Mason to shut up and have it look like she talked to Donovan. Instead, she had to bear through Mason's inane thoughts, which he constantly felt like voicing. Directly into her ear.

"You know what, forget it. I'll just order something from the hotel once we're done."

That was it, Carter was going to strangle Mason. She might have thought this before but this time she was going to. He wouldn't shut. Up!

Finally, Mason quieted and Carter let out a breath, trying to release her irritation with him in the one action. Without Mason's chatter in her ear, the murmurs of conversations and low jazzy music filtered back in. The restaurant catered to a high-end clientele and the atmosphere was crowded with self-importance.

Among the finely dressed men and women, Carter looked out of place in her boots, jeans, leather jacket, and glasses. She looked like a biker turned librarian. But surrounded by New Yorkers, no one paid her any notice. Especially not the well-dressed man she glanced at from time to time.

"How are the appetizers?" Mason asked like he expected Carter to reply.

Before Carter could find a way to hide her lips and tell Mason to stuff it, the door to the restaurant opened. A family of three, husband and wife with a daughter, walked in and the hostess greeted them before guiding them to a table. Carter spared them a glance as they sat then started to look away but stopped.

She swallowed but it felt like the air in her throat had turned to concrete.

The woman at the table laughed and tucked a strand of hair out of her daughter's face. The girl shook her head but not in a way that said she was annoyed with the action. But more she was embarrassed by the easy affection.

Carter stared and couldn't stop staring. Everything in the restaurant faded from view, everything except the mother. It was her mother. Carter's mother...and her new family.

In the three years since Carter had seen her, she didn't look all that different. Except she looked truly happy. Her eyes glinted with a teasing light as she looked at her daughter.

Not daughter, stepdaughter. It was the only plausible explanation. The girl was thirteen at the most and was the spitting image of the father.

Carter's mother had a stepdaughter. A stepdaughter that she smiled at. Showed affection to. She had a daughter.

A twisting pain like a knife to the chest stabbed Carter. Her mother had a new daughter.

It felt impossible to process this, yet the information was right there. The family chatted back and forth, trying to decide what to eat like it was all normal like they'd done this very thing thousands of times. And they must have.

"Carter!"

Mason nearly blew Carter's eardrum out with his yelling, snapping Carter back into the present.

"What?" she snapped, drawing a curious gaze from the barman.

"Your target got the note from the waiter and is leaving, follow him!"