Schism

Chapter 19 part 1

Chapter 19

There was another one outside her doorstep, a giraffe this time.

Bryan frowned down at the stuffed animal.  Trying to find distinctive fibers or residue on a stuffed animal was far from easy and the department didn't have unlimited funds or time for extensive lab work on such a small clue for what they thought was such a small case.  And, if it was from William, he had better ways of finding the man than tracking down tiny clues on a plush toy.

Still, it was there.  It was evidence.  He knocked on the door.

She opened the door, stood there, a smile spreading on her lips.

"Gonna need another baggie," he said.

"Hello to you, too."

Bryan couldn't help but chuckle.  "Hi.  How are you?"

She opened the door fully.  "I'm well.  How are you?  You said something about a baggie?"  She turned and Bryan couldn't help watching her walk away into the kitchen.  She was wearing jeans, and not the ridiculous low rise style.  The regular ones, not too tight, just enough to show how well she was shaped while still looking comfortable.

He couldn't remember how long it had been since he had thought about how a woman looked in jeans.  Should he be thinking it now?  Especially since this was William's fiancée, or ex-fiancée.  Reluctantly, he turned his eyes back to the stuffed animal.

She returned and presented the bag.  He scooped up the giraffe and zipped it up.  "Giraffe this time."

Her smile disappeared for a moment.  "I don't get it."

Bryan stood in the doorway.  "The animals?"

"He was never an animal kind of person.  Stuffed or otherwise."

"Yeah.  Doesn't feel like him."  Bryan still felt foolish about his cat comment to William the night before.  And, aside from having the decency to feed a stray cat from a sandwich that wasn't his, William might not have liked animals at all.  Bryan didn't really know.  “Think it could be from somebody else?”

She frowned for a moment as she ushered him into the apartment.

“What?” he asked.

She shook her head.  “Nothing.  Really.  I just…I may have an admirer.”

He smiled, then chuckled so she could hear his reaction.  “Oh?”

“No, seriously.”  She shut the door.  “How’s the search for William?”

Bryan held back several responses.  He knew he couldn't tell her anything.  Not how he'd found William, or talked to him, or what William had made him see.  It would only worry her more, as Bryan was starting to worry about what it all meant.  "Some research, been re-reading his file.  No huge leads yet."

She nodded, a gesture that he realized was for him.  "You haven't eaten, have you?"

He paused before answering and lost his chance. 

"Good.  I always make too much."  She turned back to the kitchen and waved him after.

"I don't want to interrupt."  He shut the door behind him.

"Stop.  Stop.  I'll make more if you keep talking that way.  You don't want to get my Jewish mother gene going.  Have a seat."

Bryan pulled out a stool at the breakfast counter.  "Okay.  It smells good."