Chapter 3
John McBain sits in his office waiting for 12:30 to come around. To pass the time John starts working on some of the paper work for the Killing Club Murders and some of the other cases that he has caught in the past few months.
Knock, knock, "Hey McBain can I come in?" Antonio asked from the other side of John’s door
"Yeah, Antonio, come on in. Have a seat. What can I do for you man?"
"Listen Jessica is still getting these letters and they have really escalated. I was hoping you could run some analysis on them and se what you come up with?" Antonio replied pulling out some of the letters that Jessica had been receiving from her "stalker". He had several letters with him and handed all of them to John for him to look at.
As John flipped through the letters he said, "Does she have any ideas why this is happening, or who is doing it? I need any details you can give me Antonio."
"Well they have been coming for about 4 months now, and at first it was just every couple of weeks and now they seem to come almost every week at least once a week. They are always about how Jessica should not be with me, and things of that nature."
"Is this all of them?" John asked standing from his desk and moving to stand against a file cabinet. "So besides these letters, how are things with Jess?"
"They are going good. I think we are getting closer. She has really stuck by me with this whole custody issue. Enough about me and Jessica, how are things going with you and Evangeline?" He said trying to divert attention away from the subject of Jessica. Antonio didn’t feel like talk about Jessica and her strange behavior lately. He could handle Jessica and her behavior, but this stalker thing was getting out of control.
"Fine, thanks for asking." John said cutting Antonio off quickly.
"Oh, oh I get it you can ask me about my relationships, but I can’t ask you about yours?"
"Fine, things are going really good. We are in a great place right now, even though we have not seen each other for a few days. We are good actually we are having lunch later." He said with a smile on his face. He had noticed lately that whenever he thought about Evangeline and their relationship a smile would cross his face. She had done that to him and he liked it.
"Tell her I said hey would you."
"Of course and I will look into these letters for you."
"Great thanks again John, I really appreciate this." Antonio said as he gathered up his things and head towards the door, leaving John to go back to his mound of work.
John heads back to his desk and dives into reports about some of the cases the other officers under him are handling. He looks over a file and notices a lot of mistakes in one. Names left out, short hand not changed over, important documents missing all together from the paperwork. He yells for the officer responsible for this disaster of a file.
"Hey, Officer Fitzgerald get in her. What the hell is this? You call this a report, um no! Do it over man, come on and get it right this time."
As John walks out of his office he bumps in to the women he saw earlier at Angel Square diner. She had caught his eye earlier and did the same again. There was something about her that made he pause and stare. What was it about this woman that looked so familiar, he felt like he knew her and everything that she was about. He walked with his head down as to not appear to be looking directly at her and what she was doing. As they come closer to one another she bumps into him.
"I am so sorry; I should look where I am going." The woman was silently crying as she said this to John. She was reaching for a tissue when she bumped in to John. The tears were still strolling down her face, and she was sniffling a little.
"It is okay, I was not paying too much attention myself." He replies handing her a tissue to wipe her eyes and nose. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah I guess so. Are you a police officer by chance?" She asked him coyly looking up into his piercing blue eyes.
"Actually I am there something I can help you with?"
"I was walking near that angel statue and some guy came up and stole my suitcase. I just got into town and this shit happens. I can’t believe it. I had some really important documents in there and I was hoping to use the phone and call a friend to send me a copy of them and also to file a police report." She said getting really pissed off as she talked more and more to the cop about what happened to her earlier.
"Well have a seat and let me get a description of your bag and what exactly happened." John stated showing the woman to a desk in the police room.
He took her statement about the events that happened in Angel Square; He tried to reassure her that he would do anything he could to help her find her suitcase. He then offered her a ride to where ever she was staying.
"My name is Lieutenant John McBain by the way, I don’t remember if I introduced myself." He said extending a hand to the young dark caramel skinned woman with deep brown eyes and full lips.
"Alexandria Prince." She replied accepting his hand and shaking it with a slight grip. He had rough hands on the inside but the back of his hands were soft and tender. She looked deep into his eyes as she shook his hand. She could totally get lost in those blue eyes she thought to herself.
John ushered Alexandria to his car. She stated that she had a job interview at the Palace and had no idea where it was, since the directions to the hotel were in her suitcase along with her clothes and other things. They walked to the car in complete silence. John opened the passenger side door for Alexandria and waited until she was in the car to close the door and move to the driver’s side.
"So what brings you to Llanview, business or pleasure?" John said breaking the silence that had held them for a while.
"A little bit of both. I am a pastry chef and I have a job interview at the Palace for their new chef position." She said was a shy smile coming across her face.
John had a confused look on his face and said, "What exactly does a pastry chef do?"
"Well all those fancy desserts you eat, I make them. As well as wedding and birthday cakes." She said with a small giggle.
"That sounds interesting." As she smiles John continues to think about how he could possible know her. She seems very familiar but he doesn’t know how. "So what is the pleasure side of your trip?"
"What is it like to be a cop?" she retorted trying to avoid his question. She was the type of person that doesn’t like to talk about her personal life, feelings or family wise. Especially not with a cop whom she just met.
"Oh, I get it you don’t want to talk about your personal life. That is fine; tell me more about being a pastry chef." He got the hint quickly; personal life was off the list of conversation topics with Alexandria.
"Well I went to culinary school in New York and decided I like making desserts and pastries more than regular meals. I went to Pastry school while working at a restaurant in New York. Got this great job opportunity so I came here."
"That is quite impressive. Do you have family here in town?"
"Nope, not that I know of, came here all on my own." Wow, she had just lied to the police, or at least she thinks she just lied to the police.
They pull up to the parking lot of the Palace hotel. John gets out and walks around and opens the door for her. She says thank you with a nod of her head.
"Thank you a lot Lieutenant McBain. I really appreciate this." She replied extending her hand out of graciousness. He was her knight and shining armor.
"It was no problem Ms. Prince, have a good day and good luck on your job interview. If you get the job let me know I will bring my girlfriend by for a taste." He said shaking her hand and smiling at her.
"Thanks again." She replied.
As John got into his car he got a call from the station house letting him know there was a bad car accident on Woodrow and Spicer. John headed to the accident scene. He hoped it would not take long to process. He was looking forward to lunch with Evangeline and nothing was going to stop him from being with her this afternoon.
