Beauty & The Beast (Book 1)

73. Judge and Jury

JT and Evan paced the small area around the machine.
"How long's it been?" JT asks.

"It'll ding when it's ready." Something makes a noise and JT looks around. "Those are buzzes, not a ding," Evan says and walks over to his cellphone.

"Is that uh...?" JT makes an M with his fingers, having seen Evan frown at thd message.

"No." Evan shakes his head and smiles.

"Speaking of, they'd be pretty angry if one of those bodies isn't...it, won't they?"

"It's not who I'm worried about."

"It's not? So then - "

"Remember that woman I told you about?"

JT nods. "Uh, yeah, Katie...?" JT trails off.

"Catherine. Who walked in before...
She just texted me for the results. She's actually the one that broke the case, remember?" He smiles again.

JT stares at him. "Wait..." JT tilts his head. "You have a thing for her."

Evan blushes and shakes his head, laughing. "What?"

"I mean, I knew you joined the evil arches for her but I didn't realize it's  because - " I was right. I guessed it so right, and this man is insane to think he has a shot... I saw you drooling earlier...

"Because she was in danger."

"Oh dude, you should...so not go there," JT closes his eyes and shakes his head. "You work together."

Evan scoffs. "I'm not going anywhere." He walks to the machine. "Since when have you been concerned about my love life?"

Since my best friend will rip you apart if he finds out and I kinda like you?
"I'm not," JT shrugs. "I'm concerned about your life life." Evan laughs. "You know, now that you're in ths grips of M," he makes the M again.
Evan stops smiling. "But just curious, what happens is she doesn't reciprocate?"

"There's nothing to reciprocate."

"It's just you've...done all this for her. I don't want you goin' all postal."

There is a ding behind JT and both turn to look at it.

It's a match... JT looks at Evan.

"Oh my God," Evan gasps and JT nods.

*****

Cat stares at the photos of her and Tess in uniform, at parties, girl's nights...She smiles. She hasn't burned them. Yet. There was hope.
She and Gabe were in Tess's apartment still.

"There's no trace of her," Gabe says behind Cat just as Tess's phone rings.
She looks at it and it stops ringing.
"What are you doing with Tess's phone?"

"Oh, I found it here," Cat looks at him. He opens the fridge.

"You've been doing this long enough to know if you find a missing person's cell - " Gabe looks inside.

"She's not a missing person."

"You think foul play." He closes the fridge again. "You tell your partner you have a lead..."

"Oh, I didn't realise you were my partner," Cat quips dryly.

"I'm not," Gabe shrugs. "But I am starting to think that you're hiding something."

"And I'm starting to think the same thing." Cat walks up to him with narrowed eyes. "An ADA going on a ride along? That's uniform cop stuff. Why are you so focused on Vargas? What's your agenda?"