Picture at the Park

*******

I was sitting in the office I was given at Bronte's Gym with Thomas Conner; it was real strange seeing him in civilian clothes.

It was the only stipulation Martin Casson had, since Thomas had approached him with this then he wanted Thomas to be there when I was. It was a reflection of the man, he stood for no funny business at his gym and with Thomas there he expected Thomas to make sure that rule applied to me as well. The knock on the door came at nine thirty both Amanda and Toni came in wearing bathrobes, Amanda spotted Thomas first and smiled and then noticed me and frowned.

For the next twenty minutes I saw many faces of Amanda Browning.

"You're lying." She looked at Thomas as she pointed to me. "This is crap and you know it is. Why haven't you busted his ass and put him in jail?"

She only calmed down when I handed her a cell phone and asked her to call Otis Winters. That conversation lasted another ten minutes, when she ended the call to him she then phoned the office and told whoever answered that everyone in the office was given the weekend off. When that call ended the wind seemed to leave Amanda, the sad thing about all this was that she was in for a heck of a bigger ride yet.

Toni took Amanda back to the locker room and handed her a track suit, she bagged the rest of her clothes, even her underwear. The boyfriend was now in county lock-up for the weekend, he was down to see a judge at ten on Monday morning. Once that call came in it was green light time, Mac and his team went to Fashionet Magazine's office and took the place apart. We left security locking up the gym and I drove Amanda back to my office.

I would like to think she was being reflective on the drive to my office, I really suspected she was looking for someone to strike out at. Part of me understood and I really did want to cut her some slack, but not at the expense of me being the fall guy in all this. As updates came in I kept her real close.

Her necklace revealed one voice activated bug, the other sat firmly in her cell phone. That alone caused some drama when Mac took it to pieces to find out just how far the boyfriend had gone. The G.P.S was active; it also had a call list monitor giving him a list of every phone call she ever made. Add that to the necklace and he knew everything she did and who she talked to.

The magazine's offices made things worse, her office held its own nightmares. Three voice activated transmitters in total, one in her office as well and a key stroke logger on her computer, one under the desk of her secretary and one in the boardroom. When Mac asked Amanda straight out how the boyfriend got into the boardroom, she went bright red and Toni nudged her husband in the ribs when he was about to ask her again.

At one stage Mac pulled me to one side and said. "Boss I have to worry about the apartment, if this scumbag has done this much, I shudder to think what I'm going to find when we head over there."

I agreed with him and asked Amanda if she wanted to wait at my office. Everyone in that room respected her wish to go back to the apartment. After three hours we all believed she wished she hadn't.

Mac found surveillance equipment in every room and the bedroom had four cameras solely aimed at the bed. Amanda rushed into the bathroom as Mac pulled the last camera out of its hiding place, we all heard the result of her headlong rush seconds later. Toni followed her and stayed with her until she could get it all together. It took two of my guys another hour to find the boyfriends stash of DVD's, all dated and all with notes on the sleeve of every sexual act listed on the DVD.

We handed them over straight away, this wasn't what we came here for and I had to wonder at the sanity of Amanda Browning when all this was over. Mac scanned items of clothing in Amanda's wardrobe, he got halfway through her wardrobe, and it seemed his equipment beeped at about half the stuff he pulled out before she told him to burn it all. Mac looked at his wife and she nodded, he bagged it all and one of my guys took it all away.

"I can't stay here, this place isn't my home anymore. His made it all dirty." Her voice went up an octave as she screamed at the top of her lungs. "His made it all so fucking dirty."

Amanda's eyes scanned the whole room, clenching and unclenching her fists at the same time. Toni moved towards her and just held her as the pain of today's discoveries washed over her.

When I suggested a hotel, Toni all but threw herself at me. Through gritted teeth and a glare that I've never seen from her before, she said to Amanda.

"What my boss is trying to say in a real bad way is that you're welcome to stay with him for now, he only lives across the park from here in a big old apartment that he rattles around in, so he has plenty of space."

Something about Amanda changed as she watched me, more so when I shrugged my shoulders and told her she would be welcome, although part of my mind still wondered at the reason I said it. She walked into the bathroom and came out again with a toothbrush in her hand. I heard her say "let's go." As she passed me, heading for the door.

It took all of twenty minutes to show her around, even drawing her attention to the lock on the inside of the spare room door. I rummaged around and put together something resembling nightwear, it near on broke my heart when I heard her crying in the shower as I put her change of clothes on the bed. Leaving her too it, wasn't me taking the coward's way out, she needed to get this out and my hope was that this was a start.

When she came out of her room we struck a deal, I made us something light to eat and if she could find anything worth watching from my DVD collection then we would watch it. I even pasted a smile on my face when she found the one and only chick flick in my collection, a remnant of past girlfriend days.

I was almost sure Amanda was running on nothing more than adrenalin, her eyes may have been open while we watched the chick flick, but her mind was still in her apartment across the park, and Fashionet magazine's office. I tossed a cushion past her, it landed against the arm of the couch. It must have taken her a good minute to notice the cushion there before she turned to look at me, a part of her brain seeking a reason why I did that.

"Since you refuse to sleep, why not just rest your head while we watch what's left of this movie."

It took a moment for what I said to sink in, Amanda's open hand brushed against the material of the cushion before she seemed to nod her head and lay down. At first she curled up into a ball, but after an hour I could hear regular breathing and her body had opened up to such an extent that her feet were resting on my lap.

After the day she has had she desperately needed the rest so instead of turning the movie off I let it run again so I didn't disturb her. She was a beautiful woman when the weight of the world wasn't pulling her down, it was as I thought about that that my hand slid down the side of the couch and pulled a spare sketch pad from the little table beside me.

By the time I had finished and was happy with what I had done, the movie was starting once again. This time I placed the sketch pad on the coffee table and lifted her into my arms, she mumbled some but instinct overrode her and she seemed to curl into me as I kicked her door open and laid her on the bed. When I backed away she curled into a ball once again, I smiled and thought it cute before closing her door and heading to bed myself.

*******

I woke with the distinct feeling I wasn't alone, when I looked behind me she was again curled into a ball, only this time we were back to back in my bed. When I moved to turn around so did Amanda, I made sure I kept my hands to myself.

"Sometime in the night I woke in the spare room and couldn't get back to sleep, when I found the drawing you did of me, I cried because it was so beautiful."

Part of me didn't want to burst her bubble, but we still had so much to do. Toni buzzed the door while we were having breakfast, I let her in and all she did was stare at Amanda in makeshift pajama's.

"This day I plan to mark down in my diary." My hand made that exaggerated sweep in front of me as I said. "On this very day Toni was speechless."

Toni glared at me before saying. "You're my boss but you can be such a pig at times."

She spent the rest of her time in my apartment ignoring me as she waited for Amanda to dress so they could go shopping, as they both left Toni did finally turn to look at me, the door to my apartment still in her hand.

"You need to make room in your walk-in for her, I'd bet a dime to any dollar that she's not ever going back to that apartment of hers. Oh and Mac says he's going back to the magazine's office with his boys and girls to do a deep and final sweep of the place before he hands it back later this afternoon."

I nodded but didn't think to ask about why I'm moving stuff in my walk-in wardrobe before Toni closed the door and both were gone. She had the whole wardrobe section in the spare room to hang stuff, I spent ten minutes moving some stuff anyway, figuring she would have some dresses that would need hanging and also mentally agreeing with Toni about Amanda's apartment.

Once all my own chores were done I joined Mac at Fashionet Magazine's office, all but one of his team were already in the process of packing up their toys. The office was now clean, two of the computers had been put aside for further inspection back at Mac's lab.

"They can come back tomorrow boss. I'm just taking these two and plan to purge them of all the stuff he's put on them; they will be back in here before the staff gets back."

His face darkened and even he had to take a deep breath before he could continue.

"Her apartment is a different matter. The guys a fucking pervert boss, I've got two of my best girls going over the place because they know where to look. His spent a shit load of money wiring the place for sound and pictures."

He looked around but all his people were out of ear shot, even then he still lowered his voice.

"They found a second stash of DVD's and going by what happened to Miss. Browning when Andy handed her that first shoebox, I've got both girls going over this stash, just itemizing everything at the moment. He must have noticed the uneasy feeling I had, giving Amanda this box would tip her right over the edge. When I asked if the boyfriend had labeled these the same way he had the first shoebox, I got Mac nodding his head back at me.

For my part I just agreed with everything he had done so far but even I had to ask. "Any drugs?"

Mac shook his head. "No, he kept her place clean of drugs other than blue pills and something that took me a while to figure out. It's a Chinese herbal aphrodisiac, so best guess is when Miss. Browning wasn't in the mood he fed her that in a drink, and added to the blue pills for him. It's no wonder he has such an extensive archive of film on her and doing some real gross stuff as well."

He looked at me for a moment and preempted my next question.

"Toni spent most of the night fast forwarding over what they did together and what he did to her when she passed out. She left here a very angry woman boss and I mean more angry than usual, even for her."

At least now I had an answer as to why Toni went all bitch on me earlier. I left Mac to it and went back to my own office. I was still looking out the office window thinking about all this when Toni came in and sat across from me. I was so engrossed with the view it took me a while to even register she was there.

"I'm sorry, just admiring the view and trying to figure out what to tell Otis Winters when I call him, because if I don't do that soon chances are he will call me."

Toni nodded and stayed silent for a moment longer.

"I talked her out of moving the office. I know it's safe now because Mac says it is, but wild horses won't get her back into that apartment ever again. Mac plans to release her apartment late Sunday or early Monday morning. She plans to get goodwill in there to clean the place out on Tuesday and it goes up for sale once the cleaners have gone through it some time next week."

In all the years I've known Toni and even taken her with me on some of my cases as husband and wife cover, I had never asked the one question I was about to ask her, simply because she was Toni, and nothing fazed her. But this case had.

"Talk to me. Something about this case has you rattled and that's foreign for you."

She was caught in a bear trap and she knew it.

"Boss. I've seen what that sick fuck has done to her when she has passed out either through exhaustion of whatever his added to the aphrodisiac he'd given her. He's good, in as much as his never marked her body which is why his got away with it for so long."

This case was affecting a lot of my team and while I was doing my best to remain professional, even I was having a hard time of it. If anything, this case reinforced my need to keep away from civilian cases in future. But that was the future and this was now. I had to address the point Toni was making, but nothing prepared me for what came from her next.

"Her confidence has taken a heck of a knock; let her stay with you while she sorts her life out. For some reason she likes you and since you live the life of a monk it's not as if you're going to be climbing all over her. So she's going to have the space she needs to rebuild both the magazine and her life."

She was relying on our past when she said that. She had to be, not even Toni knew she could get away with that otherwise. I took on board what she said and nodded, I detected at least half a smile when she nodded back and left my office. The conversation I had with Otis was just as difficult, the silence from the other end of the phone left me in no doubt that man was simmering, when I tried to at least gloss over some of the stuff coming out of the apartment he wanted to do damage to a certain individual.

*******

Amanda spent a couple more hours putting stuff away, I just watched from the safety of the open kitchen as she wandered between my room and the spare. When dinner was ready she stopped, sat and ate before going back to work and leaving me with the dishes. Otis phoned her later that evening and she took that call with her into the spare room.

Something about her demeanor had changed since her conversation with her uncle and despite giving her more than a few chances to tell me, it became clear she wasn't inclined. Mac phoned later that evening to let me know that the Magazine's office was now clean and the last two remaining computers were back in place. He also added that everything that could be done at Amanda's apartment had been done, although I barely got an acknowledgment from her when I told her that part.

This evening was almost a carbon copy of the last although I got to choose the film this time, when she fell asleep on the couch I put a blanket over her and left her there. She was asleep with me in my room when I woke but gone by the time I had my shower, Amanda came in sweating from her jog around the park, her smile matched her eyes so I asked if she had a good time.

"As I jogged past the bench you sit on I couldn't help but wonder if it all really did start from there."

I could see her point, if I hadn't been wearing that watch then, I would never have known. We shared breakfast before she told me that she was going back to the office to get that kick started, she was also holding an emergency meeting with all the staff and bringing them all up to speed on what's been going on. I offered to come with her but she said she had that covered.

Mac called later that afternoon to talk and he told me that Toni had gone in with Amanda. He also brought me up to date with everything else, all the discs of Amanda and her boyfriend's bedroom activities were now destroyed and all the surveillance devices at the apartment were gone. The phone call I had later that afternoon confused me though, Otis Winters phoned to thank me and my people for all their help. I then waited for the other shoe to drop, and drop it did.

He told me that as far as he was concerned we had done everything I had set out to do and my fee was already paid into the company account. I knew a brush off when I saw one and when Amanda came back later that evening she confirmed everything else. The Magazine was going to retain us too advise on cyber security and to randomly sweep the office so they never had a repeat of this weekend.

The only loose end still out there was the boyfriend, it seems two high priced lawyers turned up at court to represent him and got him off on a technicality. I watched from a safe distance on the courthouse steps as they both escorted the boyfriend into a darkened windowed sedan, let him get in and then closed the door behind him before walking off in another direction. I ran the sedans plate when I got back to the office but I got no surprises when it come up as one of Otis Winters companies.

It may have been a coincidence, but not even Mac found any trace of him after that day. As for me, I didn't lose any sleep over him and I know that if I sent any of my people out in the field to track him down, they wouldn't look very hard. This whole case was felt to some extent by each of my people. The man was a con artist through and through.

Planting listening devices in Fashionet Magazine's office, with the sole intention of stealing scoops and any other information that came his way, and then selling them to the highest bidder. Mac had managed to track down two bank accounts he used but Mac had suspected he had more. Thinking about her mental state, none of us wanted to let Amanda know that there were in fact two shoe boxes of bedroom activities. Whatever Toni saw when she went through that final box would remain her own private nightmare.

Amanda Browning's case was considered closed, by Otis Winters and myself.

*******

The sale of Amanda's apartment went very quickly, helped by Amanda telling the realtor to price at a value to get it sold. The location alone would have done that but when she said she wanted the place sold she pulled out all the stops to do just that.

I said nothing the first week, I even kept my mouth shut the second week but with the train wreck on the horizon I sat Amanda down by the third week, and told her that twelve and fourteen hour days at the office should now be a thing of memory, not still living it. Just looking at her told me she was torn between telling me to mind my own business and agreeing with me.

"It's time to rebuild your life, you've mourned the old one and while you were doing that, you got the magazine back on track. Draw a line under the past."

"Are you trying to get rid of me?"

"If I was your skinny ass would have been out the door by now."

She still walked around the apartment in a t-shirt and shorts like it was her own private uniform. Her hand went to the arm of the couch and she leaned down, when she came back up her hand held my sketch pad.

"Draw me, this time don't wait for me to fall asleep, draw me now."

Amanda sure sounded like she had a point to make, damned if I knew what it was, so I shrugged my shoulders and pointed at the couch, her smile didn't go amiss so she was clearly up to something.

She sat with her back against the arm of the couch, crossed her legs and placed her arms between her knees, interlocking her fingers, a clear sign she didn't want to fidget while I took pencil to paper. Amanda had been around me drawing long enough to know that she didn't have to remain perfectly still and of course took total advantage of that fact.

From way off left field Amanda said. "I want to ask you out for the evening."