Every Second Counts

I watched as Davis and Parker walked back through the doors of the crime lab, neither one of them carrying a smile. I knew they hadn’t found anything during the search at my apartment, but I still felt compelled to ask. “Anything?” I asked, and Parker shook his head.

“No,” Davis answered. “Whoever did this was good,” he began, and Fiona turned her chair around from the desk that was covered in evidence from one of the cases.

“Who do you think it is?” Fiona asked what I had been thinking. We both knew from Davis’s expression that he had someone in mind.

“I don’t know who it is,” he began.

“What name is going through your mind right now?” I questioned, and Davis looked over at me curiously. “I know you don’t actually know who broke into my apartment. But, I also know that you have someone in mind right now as to who you think it is. I’m not asking you as a CSI right now. I’m asking you as a friend. Who do you think it is?”

He stared at me for a moment, no words coming out of his mouth, and I was beginning to think he wasn’t going to answer me. “Montenegro,” he spoke the one word quietly. I didn’t really know what to say to that. That was exactly who I was thinking it was at this point, but I also knew that as a CSI, I couldn’t jump to any conclusions.

“So, what do we do?” I asked, already knowing the answer but hoping Davis would reply with something different.

“There’s nothing we can do until the person strikes again,” Davis said, and I sighed, knowing that was exactly the response I was going to receive from him. “In the meantime, it’s up to you whether you want to stay there or not.”

“Where else am I going to go?” I asked offhandedly.

“Um, your boyfriend’s?” Parker suggested, not having been there to hear my conversation with Fiona. I shook my head, and Parker just stared at me. “Why not?” he questioned. “We both know he’s not going to object, and you’ve been staying with him since you’ve gotten out of the hospital anyways. What’s the big deal? You shouldn’t be staying by yourself right now,” he said, his big brother role taking over. It had been even worse since I had gotten out of the hospital, and I knew he still felt responsible for me being put in the hospital in the first place, even though I had told him on countless occasions that it was in no way his fault.

“Parker, I’m not going to tell Kris right now,” I began, and his eyes went wide. “There’s no sense in worrying him if it’s nothing. And, none of us know if it is anything at this moment,” I tried explaining, knowing this wasn’t going to fly with Parker.

“Then stay with me and Fi,” he interrupted.

“Because that won’t set off a red flag with Kris,” I spoke sarcastically. “Parker, I know you’re just looking out for me, but I’m a big girl. I can handle myself just fine,” I assured him. “I promise that if there is another break-in, then I won’t stay there any longer. But, until we know that someone’s specifically going after me and it’s not some prank, then I’m keeping my life the same.”

Parker sighed, knowing he wasn’t going to win this argument. “Fine,” he told me. “But, if anything happens, anything at all,” he began.

“Then I’ll call you or Davis or Fi, and I’ll get out of my apartment immediately,” I finished for him.

“Okay,” he agreed, nodding his head.

“Parker, I’ll be fine,” I assured him with a small smile. “I appreciate you looking out for me, though,” I added as he pulled me into a hug.

“I just don’t want to see anything happen to you,” he told me.

“I know,” I said, looking up at him. “I’d be the same way if this was happening to you or Fi.”

I tried concentrating on work for the rest of my shift, but I found my thoughts drifting towards my apartment and who could be the culprit instead. What if it wasn’t Montenegro? Could it be someone else? There was always that possibility, but who would do that? And, why would they not take anything or even disturb anything in the slightest bit?

By the time my shift was coming to an end, Logan had had enough of me dazing off, and he finally told me just to go home. “I still have a half an hour,” I told him, looking up at the clock.

“Yes, but you haven’t been looking at evidence for the last forty-five minutes,” he pointed out, and I looked down at the desk to see all the evidence in front of me, and I knew he was right.

I sighed before looking up at him once again. “I’m sorry,” I apologized.

“Mar, I know you’ve got other stuff on your mind, and I’m not expecting you to just forget about it. We don’t know who was in your apartment,” he said, having been updated by Davis when he had gotten to the crime lab earlier. “And, that’s got to be scary for you. So, I’m going to cut you some slack today, and just let you go. I’m not even going to tell Davis about it,” he said with a small smile.

“Thank you,” I told him appreciatively, knowing that if he told Davis that I was getting preoccupied at work, Davis would suggest that I take a few days off, which was something that I was absolutely against. I had just gotten back to work, and I wasn’t about to take some more time off.

“Now, go home or to your boyfriend’s or wherever. Just get your mind off of this, at least for a little bit,” he said, and I nodded my head, scooting my chair back.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Logan,” I told him. “Call me if you need anything,” I added as I began walking towards the door.

“Will do,” he called after me, and I walked to the locker room, grabbing my coat and purse before heading to my car.

By the time I had reached my apartment, I had had plenty of time to dwell on the situation once again. What was I going to do if someone had broken in again? Should I tell Kris? Should I just go stay in a hotel for a little while?

The thoughts kept running through my mind as I stepped out of my SUV and walked towards the main entrance of the building. I waved to the security guard, and another thought ran through my mind. How had this person, whoever it was, gotten into my apartment? There was always a security guard on duty, and my apartment was on the tenth floor. It wasn’t like the person could simply go through my window, and I had no patio or balcony that he could have climbed onto.

“Hey, Jerry,” I said, looping back around and stopping in front of the security guard.

“Mara, how are you doing?” the older man asked, smiling back at me. He was always friendly with me. Jerry was in his late fifties with graying hair, and he seemed to always have a smile on his face.

“I’m doing good,” I replied. “I have a quick question, though,” I said, and he nodded, waiting on me to continue. “Who has been on duty for about the past week or so? Has it been you or someone else?” I inquired.

“Actually, it was some new kid. I went on vacation with my wife and our granddaughter to Florida,” he smiled at the thought. “Why?” he asked, suddenly becoming serious. “Is something wrong?”

“No,” I shook my head, deciding to involve as few of people as possible in this. “I was just wondering.”

“Well, like I said, it’s been some new kid at night. Dylan, I think his name is. And, then Marie has still been working days,” he said, referring to the woman in her forties who has been the security guard at this building for the last twenty years.

“Okay, thanks,” I smiled at him. “I’ll see you later,” I told him, making a mental note to myself to later find out more on this Dylan guy. I walked towards the elevator, smiling when it immediately opened up for me, and I got inside, pressing the button for the tenth floor.

As the doors opened, I put my hand on my gun, just in case I would need it, as I made my way towards my door. I hated the fact that I was so suspicious now, but I felt it was necessary, as I wasn’t going to take any chances at this point.

“Mara,” I heard my name called out, and I spun around to see Kris standing there. “Whoa, there,” he said, putting his hands up as he eyed my gun that I had pulled halfway out of its holster.

“Sorry,” I immediately apologized, letting out a deep sigh as I put my gun back in its rightful place.

“Everything okay?” he asked me, looking into my eyes.

“Fine,” I lied as I forced a smile on my face. “So, what are you doing down here on this floor?” I asked him as I inched closer to my door, quickly checking to see if it was unlocked or not, which thankfully it was still locked.

“I wanted to talk to you,” he told me as I put my key into my lock and opened my door up, waiting on Kris to walk in behind me before I shut the door, putting my keys, along with my gun, on the table next to the door.

“What about?” I asked as I took off my coat and threw it onto the back of the couch.

“My mom’s coming back in town next week, and I wanted all of us to have dinner together,” he told me, and I spun my head around to look at him to see if he was being serious or not. His mother and I hadn’t talked to each other since the first time I had met her, though Kris had tried to tell me on countless occasions that she was fine with the two of us being together. I, however, believed she only told him this, while she wasn’t actually happy for the two of us. “Is that okay?” he asked me when I hadn’t responded.

“Of course,” I said with a fake smile, while all I could think in my head was Could my life get any worse?.