Fear

29- New Haven

It had been three weeks since Mira had left Annabelle's house. After the kiss, she'd asked the rest of the team to pick up on the letters and possible intrusion. Since then, she had actively avoided being anywhere near the professor.

Miller was waiting outside the Holiday Inn for Taylor to come down. They were heading to the women's center today, and the detective didn't want to go on her own. Especially since they were due to be there all day, they were going over all of the files and records again to see if they had missed anything.

Andersson appeared from the hotel, immaculate as always, carrying her briefcase. Mira wondered how the FBI agent managed to always look so cool, like ninety percent of the time she wore a mask that said I can master and work out everything and you had to be close to her to see it slip.

Today, as she stepped into the car, Mira noticed that perhaps Taylor wasn't wearing the mask. Her clothes were perfect, as always, but there was something in the dark shadows of her eyes that was telling a different story.

"Everything okay?"

"Yeah. Any reason it shouldn't be?"

"Look, just asking, I thought you'd have a spring in your step after a weekend at home with Abby."

"Yeah, well. Let's just say spending the weekend fighting it's not what I signed up for."

"Right." Mira started the car and waited. She knew Andersson well enough to know to leave the space, and she would fill it if she wanted to.

"I mean we just went over the same stuff. She's just not listening; she says she's lonely and that she has no friends, but she doesn't actually go out and try anything. You know she likes painting so I suggested classes, no. I said to her about going back to Danvers where she knows people again. It's a no. I just can't seem to get a win, you know it's like how she is feeling is my fault." Taylor shook her head. "I even suggested she went to Florida for a week or two to hang out with my sister and our niece and nephew. Another no. I don't know what I can do, and it's like all we talk about, and I feel useless, and then we go to bed in a mood and wake up and have the same conversation again and again."

"Right and that is another reason I don't want a relationship, I don't know many folks who work in law enforcement who have a happy marriage," Mira said as she stared out through the windshield.

"Thanks," Anderson replied dryly, "that's not actually helping. I know we might not be getting on at the moment, but I really don't know what I'd do without her, I think that's what makes me feel so useless. I can't find a way to help and make her feel better. I hate arguing. Yeah..." The FBI agent sighed. "Anyway how are you feeling about seeing Annabelle, you've been pretty good at avoiding her since the house invasion, oh, and the kiss."

"Yeah, whatever." Mira blew her cheeks out, "I'm not looking forward to it. Maybe I'll be in luck, and she won't come today."

"You know she'll be there. She won't be able to resist."

"Fuck off."

"Oh I didn't mean you, I just meant her need to be involved and know everything. You know what she is like."

Mira sighed again, she knew Andersson was right.

——-

The women's center was busier than they were expecting. Apparently lots of women had volunteered to help. There were files in different piles across the tables in the small library section. There were also files in the back. Those which Annabelle and Freya had determined to hold information not for the public domain. The task in theory was simple, to find the names of all of the victims in the files, everytime they appeared and then look for any other names which always appeared. However, it was not going to be an easy task. Looking at the files for the last three years only confounded the law women's fears that this was going to be days if not weeks of work.