What I meant is what are you really like. But I didn’t have the guts to ask.  A.D. Porter has a first name …Bette. There was something about her that made me feel alone in the world. Like the lights were out all over the world and the only light that existed was from her smile, which was wicked in nature. Something sneaky about her toward me. Like she knew what I was going to say before I said it.

“I meant is there some pathology to their behavior…is there some way that maybe they did something to the child?”

A.D Porter seemed insult by the question. Offended really. She turned from her desk leaving me feeling like I made a huge mistake.

“Agent let me explain something to you about these women. They are so alike and so unlikely that is borders on the absurd. They both lived in a man’s world. Shane and her gangland connections and Carmen being a Federal Agent. You know about this world you know the Bureau up until 1983 didn’t have female agents. So much was made of their lives how different yet the same. All the scarifies they made for each other, honor, duty, kinship….they broke all of those rules to be together……. The point I am trying to get across to you is that there is no way they could have done this. Their love for each other has survived murder attempts, buildings exploding, crazed stalkers, and hidden agenda’s, Carmen’s memory loss and a slew of other things. They love that child. The father of that child tried unsuccessfully to kill Carmen despite the fact that she was carrying his child. Yet she didn’t die, she refused……….Shane accepted this child as her own….there is no way……”

“You knew them very well I take it?”

“Well enough….. Now Agent Kennard you are smart and capable. I see no reason why you can’t find Marco and the person’s responsible for this crime…..”

A.D Porter had hot hands. Smooth hands. They touched my shoulder with firm reassurance. Her sweet perfume, the fullness of her lips. What was I doing? I was falling into her trap. Was there a trap at all; was it all in my head? These were the thoughts that swirled in my mind as I turned and left her office to meet my new partner and get on with my new case. I couldn’t get the Assistant Director out of my mind. I wanted to stay in that office dive into those eyes….the world might as well not have existed outside those doors.