Black Tie Event

Chapter Nine

It was Wednesday by the time I realized that I, Detective Kim Hayden, had officially gotten in the swing of things at the Shaw Manor. I'd arrived four days prior, and already I'd figured some things out. I'd committed the schedule to memory, created a mental blueprint of the home, and even cooked on several occasions, successfully enough at least to fool the Shaws as well as Lucy and Cora into thinking I knew what I was doing.

"For the first time since the Clinton era," Beckett commented quietly after I'd executed a breakfast endeavor one morning. "Good work, Detective."

"Don't kiss ass, Beckett," I'd quipped.

In that four days, I probably saw Mr. Shaw himself all of three times. He worked all day, and came back late at night. Anneliese was also absent much of the time, though not nearly as much as Mr. Shaw. As I'd come to learn, she held a pretty demanding office job as well; she just wasn't the owner of a multimillion dollar conglomerate. After two searches of his personal files and four days of observing him - or the absence of him - I was convinced that Mr. Shaw at least worked for his money. What else could he have been doing? With a house like his, you'd think he'd be enjoying it every minute he could.

Wednesday morning, Allison approached me at the rare moment where we were alone in the hallway. "Hey," she said. "Lucy said someone needs to go grocery shopping today, so I volunteered the two of us. I figured we could use some time alone."

I smiled. "Can we please hold a gun just once, just for kicks?"

She shook her head and sighed, though smiling a little bit because I knew she shared my sentiments. 

"This fucking sucks," she admitted, leaning against the wall. "I don't like sitting around waiting for something that might happen. I'd rather be in uniform again than be here. At least there was action."

"I didn't know you felt that strongly about it," I mused.

"Well obviously," she said. "Don't you?"

"Yeah," I admitted. "I'd love to see my apartment again. But, it doesn't look like that's happening for a while, so, I don't really know."

"Well, never say never," she said. "We're getting tomorrow night off."

"What? Who said?"

"Mr. Shaw," she said casually. 

"You talked to Mr. Shaw?"

"Kim, I'm living in his house. We interact now and again."

"How do you know everything before I find out?"

"I don't know," she shrugged. "Maybe you just suck. Look, can we get going?"

"This early?"

She shook her head. "You won't think it's early once you see the list."

 ***

"So what are you going to do with your day off?" I asked absently, staring out the window. Beckett was driving because she was definitely the self-proclaimed alpha of our relationship, and otherwise was slow to entrust to me any divine latitudes such as the steering wheel. 

"Eh," she mused, shrugging slightly. "I think I'll sit in my apartment and remember what it's like to be able to look at three walls at the same time."

I laughed dryly. "I hear that."

"You?"

"I don't know," I pondered. "I guess I'll call up Grace, see if she feels like getting laid."

She rolled her eyes at me. "You're so virtuous, Hayden."

"Hey," I shrugged. "Booty calls."

"What is that?"