Island 13

Chapter Six : Tara

I had found myself a nice little nook in between the boxes of casefiles. I'd spread out pages and pages of victim profiles and plopped myself down on the old rug in front of his battered couch. It was comfortable to lean against. But I wished chase would get here soon. He did leave the precinct before me in his fancy fast car too.

I couldn't tell exactly what it was but a strong feeling in my gut kept bringing me back to the same conclusion, the very same revelation that had struck me outside the precinct. I was getting bored of leafing through the monotonously extensive notes. I'd put the kettle on and was anxiously listening, waiting for the kettle to whistle, but what I heard was the jingle of keys at the front door. I wasn't complaining.

"Come on in, the door's open.", I called out. I thought I heard an almost imperceptible sigh. Then the door opened and chase walked in. He pretended not to notice that I'd made myself comfortable on his rug. He hung up his jacket and put away his keys before he turned to me.

"Took you long enough", I said. I was feeling snarky.

" You do realize that this is breaking and entering, right? And I am a police detective.", he said.

I shrugged, " you got suspended.".

He almost winced. " how did you even get here before me? I left the precinct first. And you were on foot. I was in my car.", he was saying dubiously, like he didn't quite believe that I teleported myself to his house, although that's clearly how it seemed to him.

" Exactly. I've lived here long enough chase. I get around. I know the woods around here like the back of my hand.", I was almost bordering on boastful. He didn't seem to care. If he found it odd that I knew my way around the thick groves of woods around here so well, he didn't let it show.

"I suppose there's no point in asking you how you know where I live either" he said shaking his head in disbelief. I just smiled back. No.

"How did you break in?" , he inquired next.

"Its not exactly breaking in if I found your keys.", I told him.

" You found my keys?" He asked incredulously.

" It doesn't take a genius to look under the potted plants, Chase."

He shoots me an annoyed look, just as the kettle finally whistles.

Finally he acknowledges my mess.

" looks like you've made yourself comfortable. I assume you put the kettle on too.", he asked, jerking his head towards the kitchen.

" you're welcome. Now if you don't mind," I nod towards the kitchen, "we can get started with this", I point at the mess of case files around me.

Chase actually headed into the kitchen and came back with two mugs. He settled down next to me, in my mess and handed me a mug.

" Tea, Watson?", he said.

" No shit, Sherlock. " I smiled as I took the mug. I just really couldn't help myself. Even chase smirked back.

"So, care to fill the rest of us dumb folk from the police force in on your discovery?" He gestured, inserting air quotes around the last part with one hand while sipping his tea. I ignored the air quotes and the unmistakable sarcasm.

"Okay, it's really more of a hunch, but let me tell you what I don't buy first. Where I think you guys first took the bait. It's too much of a coincidence that all the victims had lost their jobs and just got their new ones, that too in the same field ", I said.

"It's not a coincidence Watson, its why the backstabber chose them as his victims.", he said. " This was your big eureka moment? Really?" He continued, looking unimpressed.

" No.", I said. " that's not it. Call it a hunch. But I've leafed through all this profiling from the feds. And it doesn't make sense that the backstabber chose his victims from a lucky draw of names from the newspaper. I just don't buy it. Everything about the backstabber is meticulous and planned. Preplanned. It suggests that he is not impulsive. He is far from impulsive. It would kill him to even improvise. All this was planned. catered specifically to these people. He could have easily picked headstong women in good positions. But no. He didn't. That tells me, It had to be Laura Keyes. It had to be Cindy McAllister, it had to be Jess Windsor." I left Audrey unsaid. Hanging. I couldn't bring myself to say her name. I couldn't add it to the list. I guess I still believed she'd be okay. Chase could sense me tense up. I could tell. He put his mug down beside me. He opened his mouth like he was about to say something, but I cut him off.

"It wouldn't surprise me if the backstabber was the reason behind these women's new jobs.", I finished.

Chase looked like he didn't want to believe me. " so you're saying that you think everything was rigged, that these women were chosen for their jobs, the jobs that brought them to fame before the interviews with their respective employers by the backstabber?"

"Yes. It had to be something like that.", I said.

" How could the backstabber possibly influence all these different employers? Laura was the editor in cheif of the Denata daily. Cindy was the managing director of the Photoworld Gallery. Jess Windsor was a Professor at the University of Arts, Denata. Sooner or later, they had all lost their jobs and had new ones. It makes no sense, unless the backstabber wasn't one person. But every thing else suggests he worked alone. How did he influence such a wide pool of employers into hiring who he favored?", Chase wondered aloud.

" I don't have all the answers chase, we're obviously missing something. There has to be a connection between these women, the hiring processes, something. But if Bryan is innocent, and I think he is, this is the only other angle we have.", I said quietly. I was done with my tea, and was stretching myself around chase to put the mug back on his coffee table.

" Then there's Audrey-", chase was saying, but was interrupted. The door bell sounded. I was glad for the interruption. The doorbell sounded again. I didn't want him to say Audrey's name. I wanted him to shut up. It took a lot of effort to not put my palm over his mouth. The doorbell rang out again, more urgently now. I realised I was still stretching to put the mug away.

"Michael? Michael!", a voice called from the front door, while trying the front door now. I placed the mug on the coffee table and began to pull back, when I heard the door open.

************
Author's note:

Hey there guys?! It's been so long since we uploaded. Apologies from the cookie eaters team. Basically we've been swallowed completely by school and Uni and its just been really hectic.
Today's questions: Do you like Tara's character and her attitude or do you think she's being really cocky? What do you think Chase thinks about Tara?
Are the clues leading to Norson's innocence? Or is it taking us for a completely different bumpy ride?
What is up with these jobs? Are they somehow related or is it throwing them off track?