Safe Place to Hide || Chenford / The Rookie

Epilogue

Lucy's alarm is the first to go off the next morning, and Tim groans, tightening his hold on her as she moves to get out of bed.

"Tim," Lucy mumbles, giving up her valiant effort in response to his resistance. "Come on... I've got a long drive..."

"Hmmph," is all he says, nuzzling his face into her neck from behind, his stubble tickling at her shoulder.

"Tim..." she tries again.

Groggily, he pulls her even closer, and Lucy squirms in his arms as she turns to face him, lifting a hand to his cheek, "Tim."

He finally opens his eyes to look at her and says tiredly, "I don't think you should go."

"I have to Tim... you know I do."

He frowns, "I just — I really don't like the idea of you going out there on your own. Are you sure you don't want me to go with you? Even just to wait in the car?"

Lucy smiles and presses a kiss to his forehead, "I love you so much, but no. I need to do this on my own."

He relaxes his hold on her and moves to sit up after she does, but Lucy presses a hand to his chest to push him back down. "You should sleep in. It's still so early, and it's your day off."

He arches an eyebrow at her, expression still grumpy, "You really think I'm going to be able to sleep while you're — no, I'm going to make you some breakfast and then take Kojo on a run."

Lucy sighs and slides her arms around him, burrowing into his warmth, "Now I don't want to go; why are you so amazing?"

Tim kisses to the top of her head, rubbing a hand up and down her arm, "You'll call me as soon as you're done?"

Lucy nods, pulling back to look at him. "I will. I promise. I love you, Tim," she says again.

He pulls her in for one last, sweet kiss. "I love you too, Lucy... almost as much as you love coffee..."

***

It's early afternoon by the time Lucy arrives at her destination, and it takes another thirty minutes for her to make it through screening and navigate through the prison complex to her cell.

"Lucy. So lovely to see you. I thought you might be popping in," her voice is syrupy sweet in that sociopathic kind of way.

Lucy narrows her eyes, "I'm sure you did."

Rosalind smiles sublimely, "What can I do for you, Officer Chen?"

"You can tell me how you got copies of confidential internal affairs files."

Rosalind cocks her head, feigning confusion, "Confidential police files? I'm sorry. I'm not sure I know what you're talking about."

Lucy lifts her hands to the metal cage separating them, her gaze steely and cold. "See. Here's the thing. I know you know exactly what I'm talking about. Because there was just this one thing I couldn't figure out; we went through everything Marissa must have done — stalking me, identifying Tamara as an easy target, transferring schools, befriending Tamara, even capitalizing on the opportunity Beyond Crystals and Jayce provided to avoid having to get her own hands dirty — but I just couldn't sort how Marissa got a copy of that IA file. I couldn't figure out how she would even think to look for something like that, because the file wasn't even about me. It was about Nolan.

"And that's when I realized that maybe that's exactly why someone had pulled the file. It took me a bit, I'll admit, to even remember you existed and recall your little fixation with him, but, in my defense, I didn't realize it had become a full-blown obsession."

Rosalind scoffs, "Hardly... I mean, yes, I'll admit — I may have had a fleeting interest in Officer Nolan at first — he intrigued me — no one can really be that good, can they? But, imagine my surprise when I discovered that the most interesting thing about real-life boy scout John Nolan was the lie he told IA, about you of all people." She lifts a hand to her heart and looks at Lucy wistfully, "The one that got away."

Lucy ignores her, "It was right there. In the visitation logs. Marissa came to see you six months ago, even before she'd set her plan into motion. I mean, trust me, I know you're a soulless monster, but even I was a little surprised that you would prey on a grieving teenager."

"Oh Lucy, sweetie. You can't honestly be that naive. This girl came to see a known serial killer for insight into her target after a Google search. She was coming for you no matter what. I just shared some relevant information... helped her make things a little more... interesting... convinced her that playing the long game would be more rewarding because things are just a lot more fun with a bit of a build, don't you think? I mean, goodness, what would your Caleb story be without the barrel?"

"It's only a matter of time before we find your source."

"Well, I guess I should probably pick up the pace on my reading then... Who do you think I should read up on next? Maybe that partner of yours, your fierce protector? Officer Bradford, was it? He's certainly easy on the eyes, isn't he? I'm sure there are some delicious dirty little secrets in his past..."

Lucy can feel her jaw tighten, but she says nothing, unwilling to let Rosalind see that her words have had an impact.

"You know, I don't know what it is, but I find cops like you so incredibly fascinating. So self-righteous and principled — the Nolans of the world, if you will — all the way up until you realize that circumstances dictate choices, and that sometimes principles have to be compromised... because sometimes good and bad, right and wrong... they are a little bit more gray than we'd like to admit, aren't they? Detective Armstrong understood that. And I think you do as well, don't you, Officer Chen?"

"I am nothing like Detective Armstrong."

"Take Marissa, for example, such a sweet girl, but find the right motivation and something that seemed downright unconscionable one day is suddenly less so the next."

"You manipulated her and took advantage of her grief."

"It's amazing, really, the mental gymnastics people will go through to justify their bad behaviors; it's so very human. I don't have that problem, but it sure is fascinating to me. And I'd love to hear your thoughts, Officer Chen — do you think arresting that poor girl's brother was the right thing to do? And that tiny lie to IA, did you feel justified in that little deception — do you think Kyle Montgomery would agree?"

Lucy swallows, "I'm not playing these games with you."

Rosalind sighs, "Well then, have it your way. As always, such a pleasure to see you, Lucy; your resilience is truly an inspiration. But what is it that they say? About the third time being the charm?"

Lucy stares back at her, unblinking, "You don't scare me, Rosalind."

"Hmm... well, I should. But maybe that'll be your first mistake. Truly, take care of yourself, Lucy — you can only be the one that got away until one day... you don't." She laughs giddily, "Have a good day, Officer Chen."

***
Well, that officially brings us to the end of this story (obviously couldn't resist a bit of a final cliffhanger there 😂). What'd you think? Did you have it all figured out, or were you surprised?

Regardless, I hope you enjoyed the journey. Thanks so much to those of you that took the time to vote and comment along the way; I'm new to sharing my work on Wattpad, and your kindness made me feel so welcome ❤️

If you enjoyed this, I hope you'll consider checking out my other work and following if you'd like to read more of my Chenford fic in the future.

Thanks for reading,
— Lana