Fiction Friday: Naked Came the Jayhawk, Chapter Three

Veronica emerged from the office, gently closing the door behind her. She was not looking forward to what the next couple of weeks held for her. But first, she needed to take her erstwhile partner home.

She was thinking more about the question that Marshall asked. She said she trusted Michael, but did she really? Could she count on him if her life was in danger? Did he really have her back?

She found her partner over by the elevator. He was tapping away on his smartphone, nestling the still full envelope in the crook of his left arm.

“Where’s the file?” Veronica asked.

“Inside the front pocket of my suitcase,” Michael said, not looking up from his phone.

“Tell me you’re not trying to set up a playdate for tonight?”

“Why do you always assume the worst of me?” Michael said as he turned around and pressed the button. “I was actually checking in to see if there were any major events happening in Las Vegas over the next couple of weeks. There has to be something attracting Jayhawk there. If we had an idea of what to look out for, then we might have a bead on him.”

The elevator arrived and they got on. Veronica punched the button for the garage. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have assumed the worst of you.”

They got back to Veronica’s car. Michael tossed his bag in the trunk again and climbed back in the passenger seat.

“You never answered my question from earlier, though. Why didn’t you call me when you got into Key West last night?”

“Would you have stopped what you were doing if I had?” Veronica asked as she backed out of the spot and started to head out of the parking deck towards A1A.

“It depends. What time did you get down there?”

She shook her head. “And that’s why I didn’t call.”

“So you thought it was better to just knock on my door at seven in the morning?”

Instead of answering, Veronica pulled up the GPS on her center console. “I don’t remember your exact address. Enter it here so I can take you home.”

“Fine,” Michael said as he sighed and quickly typed in his address. The turn by turn navigation kicked in and the partners rode the rest of the way in silence. Veronica was mainly focused on the road, but she stole little glances at her partner as she drove through the light midday traffic. He was buried in his phone, alternating between quick bursts of typing and longer time periods of just scrolling and reading.

Michael lived in a condo in Miami Beach, steps away from the ocean off of A1A. The GPS alerted the duo to the fact that they had arrived at the destination as Veronica eased in front of the building. She shifted into park and popped the trunk.

“Well, thanks for the ride,” Michael said as he opened the door. “See you tomorrow at the airport.”

“Mm-hm.”

Michael lingered for just a second, hoping that she would say something else, but all he got was a frosty silence. Seeing that the conversation was over for now, he climbed out of the car, grabbed his suitcase out of the trunk and slammed it shut.

Veronica was staring at him through the rearview mirror, her face a blank mask, sunglasses covering her eyes. She watched as he stood on the corner and checked his watch.

A silver Mercedes convertible turned the corner and pulled over next to him. A curvy redhead got out of the car, ran over as fast as she could while wearing high heels, and threw her arms around him, thrusting her ample chest into his.

“Cabron!” Veronica said through gritted teeth. She started the car and peeled out as Michael bent over to kiss the woman.