Waves

Part 29

The sliver of hope Eve felt leaving the restaurant was soon replaced with overwhelming dread when she arrived at her apartment with Vicki. It was still very much a crime scene with a dozen analysts still scanning various parts of her home. Her body involuntarily twitched a bit as she took in the sight, and sensing the anxiety radiating off the younger woman's body, Vicki gently reached for Eve's arm.

"Is there somewhere else you could go for a little bit? Maybe Joe's?" she suggested. Eve closed her eyes for a minute, realizing that while he'd be home since it was his late practice day, she hadn't told Joe what was going on. He's going to lose his shit, she thought to herself. Still, she had no other good options and the reassuring presence of Joe would probably help soothe her rattled nerves.

"Yeah, I can go to Joe's until they're done. I might just stay there for a night or two. Let me find wherever the cat has hidden and grab a change of clothes," Eve mumbled, grabbing Flossy's food bag and shaking it to locate him. Within seconds, he made his location known and crawled out from the linen closet in the hallway, scaring the two technicians that were disassembling the furnace.

"Well, you're going back to the palace Flossy. Hop into your carrier so we can go." Latching the cat inside his travel bag, Eve quickly shoved her toiletries and some clothes in a small duffle, ignoring the disarray of her bedroom in the process.

Vicki was talking to Tom again when Eve returned to the living room, both of them clamming up when they spotted Eve. "I'm going to stick around until they're done. I'll let you know once everything is wrapped up," Vicki offered, pulling Eve into a maternal hug. "Thanks Vicki. I really appreciate it." Nodding a goodbye to Tom, Eve grabbed her purse and left for Joe's, her head starting to throb from sleep deprivation.

Thankfully she still had the housekeeper's code for the front door at Joe's house; punching it in before letting an agitated Flossy jump out of his carrier to explore the basement. Padding up to Joe's room, Eve smiled at the soft snores she was greeted with from the hall. He was still fast asleep, arms outstretched like a starfish, and he didn't stir once as she stripped off her clothes to toss on a shirt of his thrown over a chair. Not wanting to startle him, she climbed into bed and gingerly kissed his forehead, her body instantly relaxing being near him.

"Evie?" Joe groggily asked, his eyes struggling to adjust to the darkness of his room. "Go back to sleep baby. It's still early," Eve replied, curling into his side as he wrapped his arms instinctively around her. Mercifully, Joe was too out of it to ask any further questions and he obliged; sleepily kissing Eve before knocking out again.

The exhaustion that riddled Eve's body only allowed her to sleep for a few hours before she was wide awake. Tossing and turning for a few minutes, Eve decided to head downstairs and get some work done instead. Setting up her laptop in the kitchen, she poured over her notes and edited her cross examination questions. They were due to resume the trial in 6 days and regardless of whatever was happening in her life, she had to get her head in the game.

The state maintained that Rooks was guilty of Bridget Pope's murder; one of their main arguments was that the gap in security footage was the result of an erroneous time stamp and not a larger conspiracy. Their first witness next week would be the original analyst who had reviewed the tape, and Eve knew their testimony would be about the poor quality of the camera model used inside the convenience store.

Eve was deep in thought when Joe padded into the kitchen, Flossy in his arms. "I knew it was a good idea to keep the tower and litter box setup in the basement. Told you he should just live here," Joe joked, pulling her into a long kiss. "I'm willing to discuss joint custody. That's about it," Eve retorted.