The Anatomy of Killer

Chapter 18 - Rousseau

     It had been a few days since Noah had started staying with me. My physical condition had improved just enough that I could go to back to work, but I had to be careful about standing or moving too fast, which meant no cases. 

     Everyone had also been keeping their distance from me. I understood why they thought they needed to. They thought that Lily's betrayal was weighing on me a lot more than it was. After all, I barely knew her.

     As I sat at my desk, filling out some reports or some other thing that was not in the job description of a detective, Rousseau came up to me.

     "Check out this great case," he said, waving the file under my nose.

     I gritted my teeth. He'd been doing this all week; flaunting the good cases he'd gotten simply because I was out of commission. However, I controlled my temper for the moment, not even looking up at him. "You do realize that the only reason you're getting the good cases is because I can't get them, right?" I said calmly.

     "You wish," Rousseau said. "You're only getting the good ones because you're fucking that FBI agent and he gets you in good with the chief."

     I slammed my fist down onto the table, causing some people to look up from their work. I didn't care. I stood up - too fast. My head spun and pounded. "Fuck," I muttered. I met Rousseau's eyes. They'd softened. "Don't...ever...accuse me of that." My stomach turned. I closed my eyes, concentrating on not throwing up.

     "Are - are you okay?" Rousseau asked.

     "What the hell?" I snapped. "You're unbelievable."

     Rousseau shrugged. "It's just what you're supposed to say."

     I shook my head. "Unbelievable," I repeated. "Get the fuck out."

     "Are you sure you're okay?" Rousseau asked.

     "What does it look like?" I snarled. "Just get out of here. Don't you have a case to solve?"

     "We have a case to solve. Cheif Redfern wants us to work together on this one."

     I sank down into my chair. "She must want to drive me to suicide. First Noah and now this?"

     "Oh come on, it's not that bad. At least you have a case. Besides, I've been told that I'm a breeze to work with." Rousseau gave me a crooked grin.

     I laughed in spite of myself. "So, what are we working with?" I asked.

     Rousseau looked surprised.

     "Don't look so surprised, Rousseau. I'm bored. I'll take a case anywhere that I can get one."

     Rousseau shrugged. "I'll take it." He sat down in the chair across my desk from me and opened the file. "So, we know where he was last seen - "

     "And where was that, exactly?" I interrupted, pulling a photograph towards me. It showed a young man entering the old warehouse that Noah and I had been in with Lily. "Oh.... That's the place that - "

    "I know. Cheif Redfern thought you might be interested in it."

     "Why are you being so nice to me?" I asked suddenly as the thought jumped into my mind. 

     "Excuse me?"

     "Well, you're always such a dick to me. What changed?" I asked.

     "I - I don't know. I've never really disliked you - "

     "Coulda fooled me," I muttered.

     "I don't know, I guess I was just jealous of you. Cheif always gave you the good cases. You always got the glory." Rousseau shrugged again. "I was - am - jealous."

     I couldn't help but smile. "That's what Lily used to say."

     Rousseau went white. "I-I'm so sorry, having to shoot your best friend must've been hell for you."

     Gabriel must've made the press think that I was the one to kill Lily, I realized. "Yeah, I guess it was. But she was doing terrible things and needed to be stopped."

     "I can't imagine. It's kind of like if Agent Marx had fallen in love with Anita DeSantos. That would have been crazy. Believe it or not, I read some theories on the Internet about how he did fall in love with her and it was like some crazy Romeo and Juli - Hey, are you okay?" 

     My feelings must've shown on my face. "I'll be right back." I headed in the direction of the bathrooms but instead went outside into the cold December air. There was still snow on the ground, but it was gross and muddy from the cars and people trampling it.

     What Rousseau had said about Noah and I had hit home. I hadn't really thought much about how hard it must've been for Noah to kill me, even though he wasn't in love with me, per se. I'd been so caught up in how angry I'd been with him for killing me that I hadn't even taken a second to consider whether or not the way he treated me was real. Guilt clawed at my chest. I was no better than him for lying about who I was. How could I have been angry at him for lying to me while I was doing the same thing to him? My throat closed up and I just let the tears flow. 

     "Ms. Muerto?" a woman's voice asked.

     I looked up and wiped my eyes, embarrassed. "Um, hi," I said. "Who are you?"

     "I'm Samantha Bell, I'm from the New York Times. I was coming here to see if I could get an interview with you."

     "Now's not a good time. In fact, it's a really fucking terrible time." I stood up - to quickly and collapsed into someone's arms behind me. 

     The last thing I remember seeing is Rousseau's concerned face before it all went black.

     Super cliché way to end a chapter, I know. Sorry :/ I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to get this chapter up today because I've just had no motivation to write this week. I am definitely switching to only Sundays for updating because school is about to get CRAZY this semester. My midterms are next week so that's going to be fun yikes. (I'm also sorry that it's short but last chapter was pretty long so that's how I'm making it okay for myself)

Questions, Questions

1) What do you think of Rousseau's change in character? Do you think it will be permanent?

2) Do you think that what Rousseau "read on the Internet" was fanfiction? (Wouldn't that be hilarious haha)

3) Do you think that Noah was actually in love with Anita?

4) How do you think that Noah should find out about Anita's identity? (Please help with this because I've written like three scenarios and I don't like any of them)

     Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, even though it's not my best work. Please vote, comment, follow, and add this story to your library so you don't miss an update. You could also share it with your friends if you like it enough.

xCelia