The Mistakes and Memories of Edward Townsend

Part III: Joe

1

Nothing really goes back to normal after Abby's gone. Edward tries to work hard, not get distracted, since it's his duty to be the world's foremost authority on Circle of Cavan activity and not a lovelorn fool, but it's hard to forget her, especially after the second revelation on London Bridge.

He loves Abby.

Abby is a continent away.

Despite that ocean barrier, he can't stop thinking about her.

But a new case pops up fortunately, and he's able to wrench his mind off of Abby to focus on the task at hand. Apparently, a teacher at Abby's former school, the Gallagher Academy, is uncovered to be a Circle operative.

The name: Joseph Solomon.

Edward's job: Chasing him.

What Edward's going to do to catch him: Whatever it takes.

2

The girl looks like Abby. With her hair pulled back and her porcelain complexion and bone structure, she looks an awful lot like her aunt, painfully reminding Edward of what could have been.

But obviously, if she's anything like her aunt, she'll resist helping him in every possible way.

"Are you just going to continue staring at Cameron?" Agent Abe Baxter appears next to Edward with his hands in the pockets of his winter jacket. They are outside the interrogation room, in front of a one-way window showing the girl sitting there restlessly. "Because you've been standing here for at least thirty minutes and you haven't gone in yet. It's getting ridiculous." He leans against the soundproof glass. "You know what we know. We know nothing. She might know something. So you need to go ask her what she knows. It's that simple."

Even though Abe Baxter is about ten years his superior, Edward does not like being told what to do. "Don't you have an incident to cover up?" he asks acidly.

"Don't you have someone you're supposed to be interrogating?"

"I'm pretty sure that the mayhem caused at London Bridge today is your clean up job."

"I'm pretty sure that the girl who was in the middle of it is yours."

Baxter's not budging.

His voice lowers significantly as he whispers, "Townsend, I know you miss Abby."

Wait, people know about that?

Bloody hell.

"But staring at her niece isn't going to bring her back," Baxter continues. "Frankly, Grace and I miss Abby too, but we aren't moping around her niece because of it. Just go in there so that we can get Cameron back to school on time."

Edward mutters an annoyed "Fine," downs the last sip of his coffee, grabs a manila folder, and yanks the door to the interrogation room open.

She sits up, her backbone like steel, when he enters the interrogation room and lets the metal door slam behind him. "Is my mother here?" she asks immediately, and to that she receives an immediate answer: "No."

Edward calls back his interrogation training and decides to take the soft approach. She is, after all, a teenage girl without a clue what's going on. Be polite, his subconscious tells him. "How are you, Cammie?" he asks, but doesn't listen to her quiet "Fine." He's got questions to get through and not enough time. "Is there anything you need? Water? Something to-"

"What happened on the bridge?" Cammie cuts in, and Edward pauses to chuckle to himself. The problem is that no one knows what happened on the bridge. "Well, I was hoping you could tell me." He drops a file on the metal table and sits opposite the girl.