The Memory Agent & Fool Me Once (14 page)

The loud
alarms still blaring signal that cops and fire trucks will soon be arriving.

Bosovich
orders his men.
 
“Come on, let's
get out of here.
 
Now!”

*****

Moments later
Bosovich and his men are gone from the marina.

An unmarked
cruiser pulls up near the maritime museum.
 
Knox gets out of the car.
 
He looks around.

Jillian sees
him and calls out.
 
“Help!
 
Over here!”

Knox follows
the sound of Jillian's voice.
 
He
approaches a
boat loading
ladder on the dock that
Jillian is clinging to.

“Thank God
you're here.
 
Congressman Reynolds
is dead.
 
They killed him.”
 
She tells Knox as she climbs up the
ladder.

“And I'm the
fucking Easter bunny.”
 
Knox
retorts. He forcefully grabs her and slams her against a dock pylon.
 
He grabs her arms behind her and cuffs
her. “You have the right to remain silent, which I suggest you do, you lying
bitch.”

“Please,
you've got to believe me, the congressman has been murdered,
this
isn't a prank.”

“Shut the fuck
up.”
 
He yells at her.

The fire
trucks and a police car arrive.
 
Jillian looks relieved.
 
A few firemen and two cops approach.

Jillian,
scared and shivering, tries to plead her case to the cops who just
arrived.
 
“Please somebody listen,
Congressman Reynolds has been murdered, on his yacht over there, these guys
with guns chased me so I broke into the museum to set the alarms off.
 
This isn't a prank, as God as witness,
this
is not a prank
.”

“We've got to
check it out.”
 
One of the cops
tells Knox.

Knox, pissed
as hell, grabs Jillian.
 
“This is
nothing but a fucking prank!”

He brutally
shoves Jillian towards a bench on the side of the museum.
 
She stumbles and falls, the force from
his shove knocking her towards the bench where she whacks her cheekbone on the
edge.
 
The cop notices Knox's
abusive behavior.

Knox issues a
demand to the cop.
 
“Keep an eye on
the bitch.”

Knox heads for
the yacht with another cop, while the firemen check out the museum and turn off
the alarms.
  
Jillian, scared
and shivering
cold,
waits on the bench.
 
The cop looks sympathetically at her.

“This isn't a
prank.
 
I swear,” she pleads.

Derek's
cruiser pulls up and parks near the fire trucks and cop cars.
  
He gets out and heads for the
scene.
 
As soon as Jillian sees
him, she looks totally relieved. “Thank God you’re here, detective.”

As soon as
Derek sees her, assuming this all is a prank, he gives her a stern look before
conversing with the cop.
 
“What
happened?”

“She claims
that congressman Reynolds was murdered on his yacht.”

“It's true,
detective. This did start out as a prank, but I swear I saw them kill him.”

Derek looks at
Jillian.
 
He notices that she is
frightened and freaked.
 
He also
notices the red swelling mark on her cheek.
 
“Where did you get that?”

The cop
responds.
 
“Knox was pretty rough
with her.”

This
information clearly infuriates Derek.
 
“Knox?
 
What the hell is he
doing here
?!”

“He was first
on the scene.
 
Doesn't buy her
story.”

“He wouldn't
even let me tell it,” Jillian adds.

Derek takes a
seat on the bench next to Jillian.
 
He sees how cold she is.
 
He
takes off his jacket.
 
“Turn around
so I can
uncuff
you.”

As she turns
for him to reach her cuffed hands behind her back, Derek notices a burn hole in
the edge of one of Jillian’s sleeves.

“This looks
like it's from a gun shot,” Derek says as he motions to the cop.

The cop takes
a look at the burn hole.
 
“Yeah, it
does.”

“They shot at
me as I jumped out the museum window,” Jillian tells Derek.

“I want the
CSI team down here now,” Derek tells the cop.

The policeman
hurries to his cop car, leaving Derek alone with Jillian.

“We're going
to need to process your shirt,” Derek tells Jillian.

“Okay,” she
turns and takes off the black top.
 
Derek holds up his jacket and turns his head so she has some
privacy.
  
He does notice out
of the corner of his eye the sports bra clinging to her supple breasts.

Jillian hands
Derek her top. He helps her put his jacket on.
 
She pulls it tight around her, trying to get warm.
 
“Thank you.”

“Tell me
everything that happened.
 
Truthfully.”

I snuck on the
congressman's yacht to put a doll up his
flag pole
.
 
No one was around.
 
When I went to leave the yacht, the
congressman showed up, so I hid.
 
He looked really bothered about something and when he was getting
himself a drink I tried to sneak off the yacht.
 
That's when these four guys with guns showed up.
 
So I hid again.
 
One of the guys confronted the
congressman, something about side dealings.
 
The congressman was trying to explain that there was no
paper trail to this one guy, but the guy didn't buy it.”

Jillian takes
a breath and continues.
 
“That's
when he and the three other men shoved pills and vodka down the congressman's
throat and then shoved the congressman's face in the water.
 
When he was dead they kicked his body
into the harbor.
 
When they weren't
looking I tried to sneak off the yacht, but there were other guys with gun
waiting down the dock and they saw me.
 

Jillian’s
voice is now getting shaky. “They started chasing me from both directions so
the only thing I could think to do was to break into the museum and set off the
alarms.
 
A couple of the guys followed
me in so I smashed the window and jumped in the water.”

“What can you
tell me about the men?”

“They all
looked like
Eurotrash
thugs from late night TV
movies.”

“What did the
main guy look like?”

“He was white,
middle-aged, polished, dark hair, clean shaven, average size.”

Knox shows
up.
 
“What the fuck are you doing
here Winton, this is my case.”

Derek stands
up and shoves Knox against the museum’s exterior wall.

“What the fuck
man?”
 
Knox hisses.

Derek gets in
Knox’s face.
 
“If you ever rough
handle a witness again, I'll kill you.”

“I can handle
this case how I chose because it is my fucking case!”

“I processed
her last year and left the case open, since this started with a prank by my
perp
, this is my case,” Derek informs Knox.

“No fucking
way.”

Captain Harris
approaches.
 
He has heard the
exchange between Knox and Derek. “Yes "fucking" way, Knox.
 
The case of Jillian March was left open
by detective Winton, it's his case.”

Captain Harris
joins Derek and Knox as he continues, “and if she decides to file a formal
complaint against you, I support her.
 
You are now officially off duty so go home, Knox.”

Knox takes one
step when Derek stands in his way, getting in his face, glaring his intention.

Knox snarls, “
fuck
you, Winton.”
 
And then he storms away, passing the arriving CSI investigators as he
leaves.

Derek hands
Jillian's shirt to one of the investigators.
 
“Here, this needs to be processed.”
 
Derek shows the burn hole to the
investigator.
 
“There's what
appears to be a bullet burn on the upper right hand sleeve.”

As the
investigator bags the shirt Derek issues orders to the CSI team.
 
“Check the museum for
fingerprints.
 
Check the dock and
pylons for bullet fragments.
 
See
if there are any security cameras in a one mile radius and secure the footage for
the last three hours.”

A fireman near
the yacht hollers out.
 
“We've got
a floater!”

Captain Harris
and Derek hurry over arriving just as a couple of firemen pull the
congressman's dead body out of the water.

From the bench
by the maritime museum, Jillian can see the congressman's body being pulled
from the water.
 
At this moment,
the enormity of the situation and how she handled it hits her, tears stream
down her cheeks.

Derek returns
to her.
 
“Come on, let's get you
down to the station.”
 
He gently
takes her elbow and helps her up from the bench noticing the tears on her
cheek.
 

She tries to
soldier up and hide her emotion.
 
“I'll pay for all the damages to the museum.”

“We're not
worried about that now, and don’t you worry about anything,” he tenderly
replies.
 

Derek escorts
her to his car and opens the back door for her.
 
He makes a quip, trying to make her feel better.
 
“I don't get a ‘bless you, detective’
this time?”

Jillian stops
short from getting into the car and stands by the open door just inches away
from Derek.
 
Her eyes widen.
 
“You remembered I said that
?!”

“I remember a
number of things you said,” he replies as he gives her a warm smile.
 
She blushes, her eyes widening even
more but now with hope.
 
He notices
the flush growing on her cheeks and can hear her heart quickening.
 
At this very moment he realizes that
he, for some unknown reason, has made an impact on her, more than just flirting
and
pranking
, which throws him for a loop. What could
she possibly see in an older, loner detective like him?

She hops in
the
car,
Derek closes the door and gets in the
driver’s side.
 
He starts the car
and drives away from the marina.
 

As he drives
along Derek looks in his rearview mirror at Jillian in the backseat. He notices
that the hopeful look has faded and has been replaced with a vulnerable and
troubled look. “'You okay?”
 
He
asks.

It's too hard
of a question for Jillian to answer without letting some emotion out. “I didn't
do anything to help him, detective.”
 
She says her voice quivering. “I hid like a coward while the congressman
was brutally killed.”

Derek tries to
reassure Jillian.
 
“Four guys with
guns?
 
More on
the docks?
 
There was
nothing you could have done.
 
If
you tried, you would have been killed, too.”

Derek gives
Jillian a warm, reassuring smile through the rearview mirror.
 
The smile alone makes her feel better
and she smiles back.
 
Again, just
like last year in the car, their eyes lock for a moment longer than
cordial.
 
Way
longer than cordial.

*****

Inside the
police station Derek leads Jillian to his desk.
 
She takes a seat, same as last year.

“
Deja
Vu all over again, huh?” Derek tries to tease.

“Not so
light-hearted this time,” she answers softly.

“I'll be right
back.”
 
Derek walks away.

Jillian
notices the flag toothpicks and her donut note on his desk.

Derek returns,
holding a BPD sweatshirt, BPD sweatpants and white socks.
 
Derek notices Jillian looking at the
note and toothpicks.
 
“Thanks for
the donuts.”