Skeletons in the Closet (Sue Thomas FBEye)

Chapter Two

Sue and Jack turned their attention towards Tara, the email incident momentarily forgotten.

"I take this new profile is more to your liking, Agent Williams?" Jack teased her.

"It's an improvement over the other one," Tara admitted, not quite able to contain her laughter. "Charles Nowen, owner of an import/export company, arrested for fraud, forgery and extortion."

"I think Charles fits our case way better than Arnie," Sue agreed. "Even his name is more sophisticated."

"It is, isn't it?" Tara replied merrily. "According to the Boston Police, he is on bail waiting indictment."

"What else?"

"Patience is a virtue, Jack," Tara scolded, her fingers intricately moving over her keyboard. "Give me... strange...," she said, talking to herself. "His fingerprints were deleted. I cannot make a positive match."

"But he looks just like the man we have in the morgue," Sue argued.

"And he probably is," Jack said. "I'm calling Boston to get them to send us a copy of Nowen's fingerprints. Good job, Tara. Try to get us more on Nowen, would you, please?"

"Of course." She grinned widely.

Sue returned to her desk as Jack called one of his contacts in Boston. She noticed she had mail, and her eyes widened in surprise when she realised it was from Jack. She looked in his direction, but he was caught in what seemed like a very animated discussion with someone named Clarkson. She shrugged, clicking on the message, which instantly appeared. Her hand froze in mid-air as she came to reach for her coffee, the words overloading her synaptic connections.

Sue,

With your hair spread over your pillow and a soft smile illuminating your sleepy face, you looked like an angel. Gently undressing you had been such a sweet torture. Your skin was so soft, and you were... you are so beautiful. I was very tempted to wrap you in my arms and stay with you till morning. But I knew the night we spent had been exhausting, and letting you sleep was the reasonable thing to do, so I left like a thief in the night.

I would very much like to take you out tonight to a nice meal in a warm and cozy atmosphere.

We have much to talk about.

Yours forever

Jac

Sue wasn't certain how long she stared at her screen, or how many times she read Jack's email, but her dead arm abruptly falling on the side of her desk painfully brought her back to reality. She fanned herself with her sore hand, diffusing the sharp pain in her wrist more efficiently than she could prevent the heat from rising inside her body. Never in her life had she felt that giddy. She forced herself to calm down, getting only limited results. How could she feel fear and exhilaration at the same time? Not that she cared much at that moment, her hands moving over her keyboard of their own accord, impulsively typing her response.

She quickly pressed send before she regained her senses. As she leaned down in her chair, rubbing her wrist, her mind slowly processed the events of the last few minutes. What on earth possessed Jack to send her such an intimate email at work? She never imagined his romantic strand would be so... so... Unless she misunderstood the entire message, the thought sobering her faster than a cold shower. Then her reply would be totally... She didn't really write what she wrote, did she?

Clarkson thought highly of himself, Jack realised quickly, but he was providing the information Jack needed. The flashing icon on his computer got Jack to strike a key to open his mail while listening to officer. He grinned widely at his screen.