Chapter 8

Pearl woke up the next morning to Gideon shaking her shoulder. When she bolted upright, he whispered, "Easy, easy, it's all right."

She looked around, half wild, and asked, "So what's going on?"

"It's eight o'clock already." He smiled. "I need to get to the office. I didn't want to just leave you alone and have you wake up to an empty house."

"Right." She groaned, collapsing onto the mattress to stare up at him, "I guess I wouldn't have appreciated that."

"I didn't think so," he said cheerfully. "If you want to come on down, we can get you a quick breakfast before we go."

"We?" she repeated, looking up at him, and then blinked. "Does that mean I can come to the office with you?"

"I don't think it's a bad idea, at least until we get some of this straightened out." He smiled again. "Get dressed, and I'll get the pancakes on."

The reminder of his pancakes sent a wave of homesickness through her. She nodded. "I'll be ready in just a minute."

He walked out, and she sat here on the bed for a long moment. Every Sunday they used to have pancakes, the two of them, just like they were all alone in the world. They spent the morning making love, and then they would get up on their own time, and he would always make pancakes. It was a memory she'd struggled with on Sundays for a very long time, until she'd finally managed to push it out of her mind and into the deep recesses of her history, where she would never go again. So to walk down there to his pancakes today would both be delicious and heartbreaking.

Determined to manage this emotional moment, she quickly dressed and walked downstairs, with a bright smile on her face. "You always did make the best pancakes."

"Ha, I don't know about the best, but they've always been a favorite food of mine."

She nodded at that, remembering that was why he made the pancakes. She was less of a pancake lover, but he made such great ones that she quickly became a fan. She sat down at the table, realizing it was already set and ready for her. "Any idea how long we'll be gone today?" she asked.

"Nope, I don't know, but the locks are getting changed at ten o'clock this morning," he shared, "and it will be done by somebody skilled." When she looked up at him, he nodded. "He's a former SEAL, but he's still around quite a bit."

"Is there such a thing as a former SEAL?"

Gideon smiled. "Let's just say, he's no longer active, but he's a good friend of Mason's, and he's hanging around, taking shifts on security when he can."

"I don't imagine there's any shortage of people wanting to help out with the security if a friend of theirs was shot."

"No, we don't have any problems with that," he agreed. "On the other hand, sometimes too many people just complicate things too." She winced, but just then a plate of pancakes landed in front of her. "Enjoy."

"Wow," she murmured.

"I figured it could help get us both off to a good start today."

"I hope so," she muttered, as she quickly spread butter on top, added maple syrup, and cut into the stack. Taking her first bite, she sat back and stared at him, almost with tears in her eyes. He raised his eyebrows at her reaction. She just shrugged. "It's nothing."

"Obviously it's something."

She shrugged. "It's the pancakes. Lots of memories."

"Yeah." He stared down at the pancakes. "It's one of the reasons I kept making them. It brought back memories I didn't want to lose."

She didn't say anything to that, but her heart swelled with happiness at the thought that maybe still something was here for the two of them.

By the time they finished cleaning up the kitchen, he was rushing her to get out, so he made it to work in time. "Oh, yeah, you're interviewing one of my bosses."

Once they arrived, he was all business. "I want you to sit over on that side." He pointed off to a small area with chairs in it. "I'll be back in about half an hour, forty-five minutes. If anybody comes to talk to you, just tell them flat-out that you're not allowed to talk to anybody. That's it. No explanations, no feeling guilty, nothing."

Not sure what he was talking about, she just nodded, and he quickly disappeared into one of the offices.

When raised voices could be heard not very much later, she winced, wondering what the hell was going on. It wasn't long before the door slammed open, and somebody stepped out, his gaze furious, as he searched the outer rooms. When his gaze landed on her, he sucked back his breath and glared. "You," he snarled.

She immediately recognized one of the bosses at her work. She stared at him, not sure what was going on or why he was angry at her, but nothing in his world ever seemed to matter except him. She just remembered Gideon's warning and stayed quiet.

Her boss marched over in front of her. "If you think you'll have a job at the end of this," he snapped, snarling and biting his lips, "you're wrong. No way in hell I'll have you back there."

She caught sight of Gideon coming up behind him. When he arrived, he asked Pearl, "Are you okay?"

She nodded but didn't say anything. The other man, she thought his name was Grant, though she wasn't sure of the last name, continued to snarl. "This woman has been nothing but trouble," he snapped. "She'll get her ass fired right now."

"You won't fire her right now," Jasper declared, coming out of the other office. "We currently have a full investigation underway, and, for the moment, your authority has been revoked."

"What do you mean, revoked? I hold a much higher rank than you guys ever will, looking at the way you are doing things here." He was as furious as a raging storm and raising complete hell. "Just wait until I get my hands on your files."

At that, an official stepped into the room that she didn't know, but it made her boss's face turn pale. He immediately stood and saluted in greeting. "Sir, I didn't see you there."

"No, you didn't see me," the uniformed man confirmed, with a clipped nod, "but I was sitting in on the interview, watching you."

Grant's eyebrows shot up. "Sir?" he asked, with a confused look on his face. The initial storm had subsided, and just confusion remained now.

"You see, the woman, Betty, whom you've been protecting this entire time, the one who's been harassing her coworker," he explained, with a head tilt toward Pearl, "doesn't make any sense to me."

"Sir, I believe nothing but empty accusations are there."

The officer continued. "Betty's crossed the line innumerable times and should have had her ass fired years ago, yet you've allowed it to continue. You've allowed her to continue this behavior to the point that now we're having to get a bottle of what is likely excrement tested that she left on Pearl's front doorstep," the stranger shared.

Her boss winced. "I don't know anything about that, sir."

"No, you don't know anything about that, or at least you didn't until the interview today," he declared, authority in his tone. "Yet you also didn't explain how any of these were acceptable behavior. Meanwhile, this innocent woman has been attacked verbally on numerous occasions, even physically at times, has had her reputation impeached to the point that several other people have quit, citing the horrific abuse in the office for fear of retribution, and yet that one woman, this Betty, is still there."

By now, Grant was turning all kinds of red and purple, and the vein on his forehead was bulging like a fish out of water. "Sir—"

"Do you want to explain your preferential treatment of Betty?"

"Sir?" Grant appeared to be at a loss for words.

"Especially now in front of the victim."

"Victim?" he asked, turning and glaring at Pearl.

At that, the commander, at least she thought he was a commander because of all the stars he wore, turned to face Grant. "Yes, right now, and in front of this victim who you have failed to protect."

Her boss immediately nodded. "I don't know anything about what Betty has done," he said, composing his face, "but Betty has always been a paragon of virtue, and she has always upheld the highest ideals of the office."

At that, Pearl's eyebrows shot up.

Jasper intervened, "Are you kidding? How could anybody possibly think that what Betty was doing was good for any office? The woman had been incredibly insulting and way the hell out of line."

The commander turned to look at Pearl. "You know more about this than any of us. What is your response to Grant's comment?"

"If Betty's treatment of me is what the lieutenant considers the paragon of virtue ," she began smoothly, "then I'll say that Grant's judgment and standards of conduct are seriously impaired. I have been harassed. I have been hit. I have been defamed. I have been verbally abused on a regular basis by Betty, and you're right, several other people in the office have left because of it," she added calmly, knowing anger would not get her anywhere. "I had a purpose for staying this long. Otherwise I would have left myself."

"You should have left," Grant said, with a snarl.

"Lieutenant," snapped the commander.

Immediately the lieutenant shifted, not liking the reprimand, but obviously something was going on here. She then looked over at the commander.

He asked her casually, "Do you have any idea why the lieutenant has such a very different viewpoint on this?"

She shrugged. "He's never in the main office where Betty works. I don't think he's ever seen any of the abuse Betty handed out. I don't know that he's even attempted to address or to correct Betty's behavior."

"And yet it's his department?"

She nodded. "But he doesn't visit the department. He's never there. He's never seen Betty on the floor of the department. I don't think he has any idea of the hostile atmosphere Betty creates at work. Obviously the lieutenant knows who she is, and I can only assume he is sleeping with her." She winced, as she failed to catch the words, then forged ahead. The cat was out of the bag, and no backing away from that now. "That's the only explanation our workforce has come up with since anyone else would have been sent down the road by now. Honestly, I don't know why the lieutenant is partial to Betty," she added hurriedly. Raising an eyebrow, she turned to look over at Grant, who stared at her in shock.

"Hell no, I'm not sleeping with her. Who would ever think such a thing? And why would you say something so horrific? Do you know how much trouble you're in now?"

"You mean, I'm in trouble because I told you what the office gossip is? Yet Betty's not in trouble when she's called me a bitch, a whore, accused me of sleeping with my patients, sleeping with other staff members, not to mention leaving God-only-knows what on my doorstep? You let her get away with all kinds of nastiness. Yet, whenever I say something, I'm in the wrong?"

He nodded. "She had always been highly regarded in that department, and she's been there forever."

"Nobody likes her, much less highly regards her. And why she's been there forever is worrisome," she noted, slowly rising and glaring at him. "I know very well the stunts she's pulled and how unprofessional her behavior is. It reflects terribly on your department, but you don't seem to care. That's the real question. Why don't you care, Lieutenant?"

"I care about my department."

"If you do, sir, the question isn't why you have allowed her to remain there, but why it is that you don't give a crap how she treats your department or how she's ruined your reputation?"

"She hasn't touched my reputation at all," he snapped. "That appears to be all you're doing."

When she stared at him, then turned to Gideon, wordless, he took over.

"Meaning that Betty told you all about Pearl's behavior and the things she has said?"

"Of course," he snapped. "Pearl is horrible, and you don't know her like I do. She's been in my department just under a year since returning to base, so I know exactly what shit she's been up to."

"If that's the case," the commander said, "why haven't you dealt with Pearl?"

He sputtered, "Because I have people to handle it."

"And yet they didn't," Pearl stated. "Why is that? Why am I still employed? Oh, pardon me, I've just been fired. I forgot. But why is it I've just now been fired if I've supposedly been doing these things for almost a year?"

"I will not tolerate liars in my department," the lieutenant said. "You cannot tell me that Betty did any of these things."

She pulled out her phone. "I can probably show you then." She scrolled through to find an audio file where she had been recording patient notes at one point in time, when Betty had walked in, spewing her hatred in front of another team member.

When she found the recording, she looked at the lieutenant. "Maybe you would like to listen to this. It starts with me going through some of my chart notes." It played for a few minutes, then immediately Betty interrupted Pearl's dictation, and the things that Betty said made everybody's eyebrows shoot up.

Grant glared at her. "Betty wouldn't have said those things. You've doctored that recording."

She handed her phone over to Gideon. "Perhaps you can have your technicians double-check to confirm this recording hasn't been doctored by anyone," she suggested.

"Not only will our techs take a look at that," the commander began, interrupting them both, "but you, Lieutenant Hollick, are relieved of your duties pending a full investigation. That you even allowed this harassment in your department, allowed Betty to speak to one of your own staff members the way she has clearly been doing so blatantly is absolutely unbelievable."

The commander was gearing up for a full-scale bawling out, so she looked over at Gideon and nodded toward the door. She picked up her purse, turned, ready to walk to another room.

Immediately the lieutenant turned to her and snapped, "Oh no, you don't get to walk away from me right now."

"I wasn't walking away from you, sir," she clarified, with a smile. "I was affording you and the commander some privacy. It's quite obvious you're about to get a good old-fashioned ass-chewing, and I will spare you the indignity of having me here to witness it. But, hey, if you insist, I'll be sure to sit right here and take notes."

As he started to splutter in fury, the commander laughed. "I like her," he said to Gideon.

Meanwhile Gideon drew Pearl to him and held her close.

Then the commander snorted at Grant. "I do not like you, and I certainly don't like anything about what I've heard today. So, you better have a damn good reason why you have defended and sheltered a woman who has appallingly abused a coworker," he ordered, "and I want that today, right now, before you leave this room."

The commander was calm, and yet the authority that he exuded was unmistakable. "An investigation into this matter has already started, and it may well end up being one of these men who do it. So, if you have anything to do with the bottle of urine that your employee personally delivered to Pearl as yet another form of abuse, you better hope we don't find anything worse in that little jar."

"What are they talking about? They don't have any proof of that. She never would have done that."

Immediately Gideon turned and called their attention to the big screen in front of them and started to play the security video, documenting Betty's arrival at Pearl's house.

Seeing the video himself, the commander exploded, "Shit." He turned and looked at Lieutenant Hollick. "What do you have to say about that, Lieutenant?"

He just stared at the screen, as the commander continued to rip into him. "If you tell me it's been doctored as well, I will have every rank you've ever thought you had coming to you permanently wiped from your record," he declared. At that moment, two MPs came in, and the commander nodded to them. "Take him away."

"What do you mean, take me away?" the lieutenant sputtered. "I've done nothing criminal."

"You have," the commander stated, with a calm and calculated tone, his fury held just under the surface. "I don't yet know how far your involvement in this goes," he admitted, as he pointed around the room, then to the screen, "but something is very wrong in this picture, and I still don't understand your motivation."

Pearl looked over at her boss and saw a thin film of sweat on his forehead. He was also fisting his hands, as he tried to stand at attention. She gasped, realized what was happening here. "She's blackmailing you," she blurted out immediately.

Grant stiffened, as he turned and glared at her. "What? So now you're eavesdropping too?" he snarled, looking at her in fury, then turned away.

"No," she countered, "but, if you're not her lover, she's got something on you." She turned and looked at Gideon. "He's furious, but, more than furious, he's afraid," she explained. "Look at the way he's standing and the way he's clenching and unclenching his fists. But more than that, the cords on the back of his neck are struggling to release anger, but the anger is hidden, and guess why?" she asked, her gaze going from one of them to the other.

Jasper nodded. "We're never angry for the reason we think we are," he noted. "In this case you're right. I think it's fear. Look at the sweat."

"Right," she murmured, "and the only thing that makes sense is that Betty's blackmailing him."

At that moment, her boss broke down.

*

Gideon led Pearl to a small office area, which was a whole lot more comfortable. "The commander says you can stay in here. This is about to get interesting, but, unfortunately for you, it will have to be without your presence."

"I get it," she said. "I already feel bad enough for him."

He turned and frowned. "Seriously? For that asshole lieutenant?" So much disbelief and so much compassion were evident on her face that Gideon wanted to give her a hard shake. "I get that you're one of those lovely angels in the world," he murmured, "but this guy is compromised and has not done his job to protect his employees and needs to be held accountable for it."

"Maybe, but he is terrified, and, as somebody who understands that and realizes what she's done wrong in her life and how terrified she was that she would never get it back again, I can sympathize. So go on. Go deal with your problems. I'll sit and have a coffee." A small coffee machine was here, and she looked at it and wondered.

"Yes, you can have a cup," he muttered, then quickly disappeared. As soon as he was outside the room, he took a moment to think about what she'd revealed.

Jasper called out to him and asked, "What's wrong?"

Gideon shook his head and told him a little bit about what Pearl had just shared with him. Jasper stared behind Gideon at the closed door and smiled. "You better not let her get away from you a second time."

Gideon snorted at that. "I didn't plan on letting her get away the first time," he muttered.

"Obviously something was wrong."

"And I still don't quite know what that was about. We've talked some, but we're not there yet."

"You'll get there," Jasper stated, with a smile. "She's got a hell of a perspective, not to mention an interesting view on life too."

"Particularly now that she's worried about this asshole. Understanding his fear, she's suddenly sympathetic to him."

"That makes her a good person."

"It does, but it can also make her a victim, and we don't want that."

"Speaking of which, did you ever get confirmation that the locks on your house were changed?"

"I don't know. I expect a confirmation call from Swede shortly."

"I still can't believe that he turned down another military job."

"I think he just wanted to go private."

"Maybe, but private after all those years?"

"Private allows him the freedom to work and the freedom to turn down jobs. Maybe that's why," Gideon suggested. "Swede's a good man. He's also been here a lot to help keep an eye on Mason."

"Mason would need to be sick for ten years in order to give everybody a chance to take a security watch," Jasper muttered.

"It's been a big help, and it does say a lot about the men."

"It does, indeed," Jasper replied. "I happen to love Mason. I told him when he married Tesla that he had one job and that was to keep her happy. He promised me that he always would, so, when he wakes up, I'll rib him pretty good because she's not happy now."

"What did Tesla think about Pearl's theory as to the motivation for our sniper?"

"She's giving it some thought, but she can't think of any instance where she was involved in a case and somebody lost everything that was important to them."

"But we don't know that, do we?" Gideon stared at him. "We almost never have follow-ups on our cases like that."

"True. We may have taken somebody out who was with the intended target. Somebody may have died in the crossfire. Somebody who we thought would recover may have ended up dying afterward," he suggested. "We'll have to go through each case to see who could possibly fit that scenario."

"That will take a lot of manpower, though Tesla could narrow it down with her software magic. However, she hasn't come up with anything so far."

"Then give her access to Mason's files," Gideon urged. "She can do it way faster than the rest of us anyway. You know that. She has the skill, and she alone can do what she does the best."

"That's true. I'll talk to the commander."

Gideon snorted at that. "Seriously?"

"She's got higher clearance than we do." Jasper nodded. "When I learned that, it was quite a shock to me, and not in a good way either."

Gideon laughed. "That's okay. If somebody on our side has clearance at that level and is as great as Tesla, she's good people all around."

With that, they walked back into the interrogation room, where both the commander and the lieutenant sat. The lieutenant looked a whole lot calmer now. He looked up, frowned, then turned away his gaze.

Gideon pointed out, "Pearl's not in here, and she won't be coming in here."

The lieutenant's shoulders slumped, and he nodded.

"You've treated Pearl like shit in more ways than I can even possibly imagine," Gideon stated, "and, for that, it's not her you need to be worried about. It's me." The lieutenant stiffened, then turned and glared at Gideon, who just stared right back. "Don't ever doubt it. She's mine and always has been. And believe me when I say that I protect what is mine."

Grant stared at him, but the contest was already over before it began, and he nodded. "I didn't intend to hurt Pearl," he muttered, "but that Betty, she was poison right from the get-go."

"And in all this time you couldn't find a way to get rid of her? What about your ethics, Grant? What about manning up and confessing, ending the blackmail?"

He shook his head. "She kept giving me more and more reasons to, but, every time I tried, she threatened to expose every possible thing that she could find. She's got listening devices in my offices and even had them in my house somehow. Something is seriously wrong with her."

"What is it that she's got on you that you seem to think is so important that you kept it quiet?"

He didn't say anything.

At that, Jasper sighed and shook his head. "Seriously, you couldn't keep it in your pants?"

Grant glared at Jasper, and the commander groaned too. "Seriously?"

Grant shrugged and nodded. "It's a bit worse than that." His face flushed bright red as he glared at the other two men. "I would prefer that they don't know about it, sir."

"That's too damn bad," the commander barked. "You've clearly been compromised, and I don't even know to what extent. However, these are two of my best investigators, and, if you think that anything you say will be held in confidence and away from them, you're wrong. That time has come and gone."

As the lieutenant stared down at his hands, it didn't take Jasper long to make the leap. "It wasn't a woman, was it?"

The commander sucked in a breath, and he asked in exasperation, "Grant, is that true? Out with it."

He lifted his gaze, and nothing but shame filled his expression as he nodded. "Yes," he admitted, his face completely red. "I realized I was homosexual through my young adult years," he began, and his words were forced out of him in a whoosh . "Honestly, I didn't understand very much about it. I fell in love with this young man, and we were together for a long time, until he broke it off. I ended up in Europe, where I met my wife and fell in love with her," he said, with a shrug. "I didn't quite understand that either, but it didn't matter to me. I fell in love with the person. Then one day he came back into town, and he wanted to meet up." Grant went silent.

"So, if you can move the story along…" The commander gave an impatient wave of his hand.

After a deep breath Grant continued. "Yeah, so I was happy to see him. I was, but I didn't expect it to get out of control the way it did." He dropped his head in his hands. "We ended up in a hotel for the night."

"So, where did Betty come into this?"

"I have no idea how it happened, but immediately Betty had already heard about it and was blackmailing me, threatening me that my secret would lose me my wife, my job, everything," he said, holding back tears. "The more outrageous Betty got, the more I tried to push back, but she just pulled out more and more proof. I just couldn't do that, not to my wife or to myself," he whispered, as he looked away, his face flushed hot and red. "My wife will get hurt the most."

Gideon suggested, "Maybe it's time to just tell her the truth."

He raised his gaze and glared at Gideon. "What? You think that's just something I can tell her?"

"Yeah, do you think she didn't know about your previous partner? If your previous boyfriend came into town, it's like any other relationship," Gideon pointed out. "There must be trust. She trusted you, but you didn't trust her."

"Of course I trust her," Grant stated in astonishment, "I didn't even think I had to worry about trusting myself, but things got out of hand, and it just happened."

"You didn't trust her enough to tell her the truth, and that's a fact. You didn't tell her that you would see him. You didn't tell her what happened afterward," Gideon guessed. "That is proof that you don't trust your wife to have your back, which is sad. Now you'll face the consequences of whatever she wants to do about it now."

"I don't want to lose her," he said, staring at him, "I can't lose her to this. Plus, I have two sons. I don't want them to know."

"Why?" Jasper asked. "It might help them to understand who their father is, particularly if you're some hard-ass at home."

"Also," Gideon added, "when you're always fighting a certain part of yourself, I can imagine that conflict is constantly present—at home and at work."

"You're wrong," Grant argued, looking from one man to the next. "That's hardly a conflict now, since I'm happily married, and I want to stay that way. I don't know what the hell that fling was about—old time's sake maybe. I just don't know."

"So, how did Betty know?"

"I think she heard me talking on the phone at work, setting up a meet with my friend. She must have followed us to the hotel afterward. We also walked around a park, though it was quite a distance from here. It was in the next county, not close to here at all. I certainly didn't expect to be followed, but she caught us in the park, as she has pictures. We weren't having sex, but it was enough," he muttered, with a wave of his hand, "and that was it. My life was over."

"Did you ever tell your boyfriend?"

"No, of course not," he said in horror. "That would make it ten times worse."

Gideon sat back and stared at him. "You don't trust anybody with your secrets, do you?"

"No." He gave a clipped nod. "I've learned the hard way that some secrets can never be revealed. People aren't… Let's just say a lot of assholes are out there, and I couldn't afford to risk losing everything."

"And yet right now, here you are, in danger of losing everything," the commander declared. "How is it that you think you won't?"

"I was hoping you could find some leniency."

"You want leniency, even after you not only allowed yourself to be victimized and abused but worse, you turned around and allowed other people to be abused as well?" the commander asked, with a hard tone. "Where are the ethics and morals we stand for in that?" He looked over at the two investigators. "Gentlemen, if you'll excuse us, I need to have a much deeper talk with Grant."

Gideon and Jasper both stood up, and, as they walked to the door, the commander called back, "Gideon, do you trust me?"

He stiffened, then turned and looked at the commander and nodded. "Yes, sir."

"And yet I detect a distinct note of resignation in your tone."

"I trust that you will do whatever you think is best, sir," he stated, "but I'm acutely aware that doesn't mean it will be at all in alignment with what I see as a fit punishment."

The commander stared at him for a moment, and then, with a beaming smile, he nodded. "You are so right about that. However, hold on to that trust a little bit longer."

And, with that, the two men stepped out of the room. Gideon looked at Jasper and asked, "He'll let him off the hook, won't he?"

"Oh, I don't think he'll let him completely off the hook. I suspect he has something in mind, although we might never know. It could be about setting a trap for Betty because, if she's blackmailing him, it's a much bigger issue than Betty's ongoing harassment and delivering a bottle of urine to torment Pearl. Still, we need to know why Betty singled out Pearl."

Pearl interjected from behind them, her tone soft, "I think I may know why, but you'll think I'm crazy." When they turned, she shrugged. "I think it may have to do with you."

Gideon stared at her in shock, and she nodded. "She knew we dated before. She knew me, anyway, and knew about you, and she got infatuated with you."

"I don't even know her," Gideon said in astonishment.

"She had a picture of you in her purse. At least she used to. I don't think she necessarily knows anything about you," she explained. "She's built you up as being Prince Charming in her head, and, because she's never met you, it's easy to keep you there on a pedestal of perfection."

He snorted at that, and she smiled. "She knew that you and I were together back then, and that's why she hates me so much, and there is no going back from that level of revulsion. At least that's been my private theory. I had to come up with some reason for her having pictures of you, plus her harassment of me. It's as if, in her mind, I defiled something she considers perfect," she explained, with an eye roll. "Now that we are both in town again, that alone may explain the urine delivery at my doorstep."

Never in his wildest imagination could Gideon have ever thought this Betty conversation would turn back around to him. He stared at Pearl and shook his head repeatedly. "Are you serious?"

"Kind of." She nodded. "She had a picture, a picture of us."

"Us?" he asked, staring at her in shock.

She nodded. "I didn't have any way to tell you or to let you know at the time. This was awhile ago, but I told her that you were long gone and had left town. There were times when, out of nowhere, she would just look at me and laugh. Then it happened again yesterday.

"I didn't quite understand, but now I realize that maybe she knew you were here, and I didn't," she theorized, looking from one man to the other. "It never occurred to me that anybody would get so fixated on a person from afar, but she has been fixated on you, at least in the past."

"What picture?" he asked, still staring at her.

She smiled. "The one we took at the beach. Remember when we stopped and asked a stranger to take it for us?" she asked. "I was wearing a white T-shirt, and my hair was blowing behind me, and you had your arms wrapped around me. You are facing the camera straight-on, and my eyes were half closed against the wind. I never liked the picture that much, but you loved it."

"The picture we took on Coronado Beach?" he asked in shock. "Oh, crap."

She nodded. "What?"

"I used to carry that picture in my wallet."

She nodded. "I didn't know that you still carried it. I just figured you threw it away at some point, since we're not together anymore."

He stared at her in shock.

Jasper nudged him hard. "What are you thinking?"

"My wallet. I lost it at one point in time, and a woman called me and said she found it. I think I gave her a gift card and said thank you, and that was it."

Pearl tilted her head. "Have you ever met Betty?"

"No, I don't think so. I saw her in your home security video is all, but that was from a distance."

"Maybe you should take a look and see just who she is," Jasper suggested. "Maybe she is the person who returned your wallet."

"Was that photo still there, when you got your wallet back?" Pearl asked.

"No, it wasn't, and a few other things were missing as well," he said. "So I just assumed somebody had gone through it and then tossed it, before she found it. I was still happy to get it back but, no, that photo wasn't there." Gideon stared at her in shock.

Pearl murmured, "Betty's gotten a little bit weirder over the years, but she did seem to have this hang-up on you years ago."

"How long ago did you lose the wallet?" Jasper asked.

Gideon thought about it. "A few years ago, but not four or five. It was after we broke up, after you left."

"I wonder if she recognized me from the photo," Pearl said. "The way she just smirks at me every time she sees me is like she's got some secret."

"Maybe you're right, and the secret was that I was here in town again, and you didn't know yet. Because if Betty's the one who returned my wallet, and she's been stalking me over the last decade, whether in person or online, she would have known that I was somewhat local. She may have known each time I was back in town too. Getting my wallet back, I did spend a few minutes talking with her," he shared, "but not long, not overly friendly. Just small talk. I was there to pick up the wallet and to carry on," he explained, with a shake of his head. "People don't get obsessed over things like that."

"Whether it was an obsession with you," Pearl said apologetically, "or with hating me, I don't know. And who even knows if it made any difference in her mind. She didn't have anything to blackmail me with or for, like the lieutenant, but I think Betty's fixation with you, Gideon, became this delusional relationship in her mind."

Gideon looked over at Jasper, not understanding how any of this could have come about. "So, all her attacks against you," he asked, turning back to look at her, "are mostly because of me?"

She laughed. "That is a kind of justice, isn't it?"

Jasper held up his phone. "I just found this photo of her off the website."

Gideon looked at it carefully and slowly nodded. "It could be her. It was a few years ago, and I certainly didn't take much notice," he muttered. He looked back at Pearl. "Did she ever mention me?"

"Oh, yes," she replied. "She told me what a fool I was for losing you, but now I deserved everything I got."

"But she didn't explain anything about what you did?"

"No, she sure didn't," Pearl noted cheerfully, "but then I had as little to do with her as possible. I was also wrapped up in my own reasons for coming back and a little confused as to how I felt about it and what the outcome might be," she shared, with a smile. "So I didn't spend very much time with her at all. Our jobs are very different, so we don't always cross paths. She isn't in the office all the time either, and, when she is, she causes me nothing but headaches. Thus I avoid her as much as possible."

"That's so weird," Gideon replied, as he shook his head in annoyance.

"I have made formal complaints and informal complaints, but nothing has helped, which is why I was looking at completely changing jobs again," Pearl admitted, "but it's not the easiest thing to do."

"No, of course not," Jasper agreed, "and, for shit like this, you shouldn't have to."

"Maybe, but after hearing how she's been torturing the lieutenant, I'm beginning to wonder if something is seriously wrong with her."

Gideon paced around the room. "People always say that mental illness is something to be watched for and how we should look out for it and help people. Betty is certainly irrational when it comes to her obsession with me and her harassment of Pearl. It would be easy to label her in layman's terms as mentally ill. Is that what we're saying?"

Pearl sighed. "I hadn't even thought of that obsession part of Betty for ages. She seemed so focused on making my life impossible, I just assumed it was all about her hating me," she said, as she looked over at Gideon. "You never had any other contact with her?"

He shook his head. "No, no way. I don't know anything about this woman, except that she returned my wallet."

"Any chance she's the one who stole it?"

He shrugged. "As soon as I say no,… we'll turn up something that means yes. Still, I don't have any reason to suspect her. She did give it back, minus the photo, but that now has me concerned. If she took that photo—and I don't know where else she would have gotten that photo except from my wallet—then that's where the obsession would have started, or gotten worse anyway," he suggested. "To think that she's been taking it out on you since you came back, that's just crazy."

"It certainly makes for a more interesting explanation," she noted, with a laugh, "and not exactly how I thought my days would be, when I decided to return." She looked around the room they were in and added, "Not that I expected to be here either."

"It's all good though," Gideon said comfortably. "It's a convoluted way to meet up again, so at least we're here."

They didn't say anything for a moment, both lost in their thoughts. Then she looked over at Jasper. "So, what's the plan? Will she get picked up?"

"She already has been, but no one has talked with her yet. I'm looking forward to it now," Jasper stated, with an odd smile.

"It would be nice to get that photo back if she's got it on her," Pearl noted. "It could be in her purse. The one time I saw it, she pulled it out of the lining, like a secret hiding spot." When the guys frowned at her, she shrugged. "One day she pulled it out, then looked at me and laughed, so I knew she recognized me from it. Absolutely nothing with this woman makes sense though," Pearl stated, shaking her head. "So keep that in mind. I don't want to say that she's not all there, but…"

"But she's not all there," Gideon finished for her.

Pearl winced and nodded. "At this point, I would say that definitely something is amiss."

"Ya think?" Gideon quipped, as he looked over at Jasper. "I do want to talk to her."

"Yes, and so do I," Jasper said, "particularly now that we have another interesting angle here. We also have to remember where this is all coming from."

Gideon nodded. "Not only that but we must see if this is connected to Mason somehow. So far it doesn't appear to be, except these strangers were in both of our houses." He looked back over at Pearl. "I can't have you in the interview with Betty."

"That's fine with me," Pearl agreed. "I've had to deal with that woman enough already to last me a lifetime."

"Not anymore," Jasper promised.

She smiled and nodded. "You say that, but I haven't exactly had any support for the rest of the time I've been slogging through this mess on my own. So don't mind me if I withhold judgment on that."

Gideon nodded. "Don't worry. We'll get to the bottom of it pretty quickly now, and she may well be heading to jail instead of anywhere else. I need you to stay here for a bit, but I'll be back," Gideon vowed, and she watched as he gave her a gentle smile. "You've done well so far."

She rolled her eyes. "That's like saying, Just keep it up, and, with any luck, you won't screw everything else up ."

He snorted. "Quit worrying about it. Just hold tight. We'll be back soon."

And, with that, Gideon and Jasper walked out.