The Unexpected Visitor - Chapter Four
Sorry this took so long! Real life took over and then I got sick :(
On the mend again so here is chapter four! Well done to everyone who had guessed who Gillian's date was :D
Thanks to wallygreengiant for her usual job and ENJOY!
"So first up is..."
"The father." Gillian answered smiling at how flustered Cal was, shuffling papers between his hands and face reddening with every passing moment. Grabbing the papers from his hands she pushed him into his seat and handed him a glass of water.
"Calm down, Cal. You've got a lot of interviews to do today and we need you on top of your game." He gulped the water happily as Gillian began to tidy the files he had strewn over his desk.
"You know I'm supposed to be the one looking after you."
"We're a team Cal."
"Ya but given the current situation-" They were interrupted by a knock at the office door and Loker slowly sliding his head around, checking if the coast was clear. Since their relationship had become more personal, their staff had behaved more cautiously about approaching them together. Although they tried to keep their personal life at home, there had been moments when an eager Loker or questioning Loker had barged in on an intimate embrace.
"Hey boss, Ambassador Williams is all set up. His wife is sitting with Heidi in the break room, the others will arrive later."
"You and Torres can monitor while Foster and I question. That alright with you luv?" Gillian nodded her head in agreement, leading the way towards the cube. Cal took a moment to appreciate her as she walked, head tilted to watch her retreating form and the sashay of her hips.
Paul Williams sat with his arms resting in front of him on the table, his coffee cup sitting ignored to the side. Depending on who they were questioning, the furniture changed. Sometimes, like now, the aim was to make their subject feel comfortable and welcomed, which was why he had a cup of coffee, a comfy chair and a table. Other times they just had a chair and times when they really wanted their subject uncomfortable and on edge, they had no furniture at all.
Gillian smiled warmly as she sat down causing Williams to relax in his seat, while Cal flopped into the vacant chair opposite him. Silence reigned in the room for a few moments before Cal leaned back in his chair and nodded for her to begin, he would just be reading for a while.
Everything seemed to be what you would expect as Gillian questioned Williams; genuine fear and worry for his daughter. Only when his wife was mentioned did he show an unexpected emotion; anger.
"What was that?" Gillian's flow of questions ceased as she let Cal take over.
"What was what?"
"When Dr. Foster here mentioned your wife you displayed anger. Why?" Williams sat back in his seat, crossing his arms in front of him.
"I don't know what you mean. I have no anger towards my wife." Cal swung his head round to catch Gillian's eye, confirming that she had spotted the defensive posture also.
"Would you mind getting us some more tea, darling?" Cal rose with Gillian and as she made to leave the room gave her a chaste kiss of gratitude. His eyes never left Williams and once the door closed behind his partner, he was leaning into the Ambassador's personal space.
"Just then, you showed disgust. Anger at your wife, disgust at personal displays of affection, these all lead to one conclusion. You're hiding something." Williams looked down and to the side, his eyes misting over briefly before they cleared and he raised his head to stare defiantly at Cal.
"We were thinking about separating. She cheated on me. But this has nothing to do with my daughter's disappearance. Hayley is missing and bringing up my wife's infidelity isn't going to help find her."
"That's where you're wrong. I think that's exactly how we're going to find her."
X
"Ok so what do we have so far?" Gillian popped another dumpling into her mouth, absentmindedly twirling the chopsticks in her hand afterwards.
"The ambassador's missus cheated on him, something he's still very angry about. She said the relationship ended about 8 months ago and so far there have been no signs of a scorned lover, but a missing teenage daughter could be counted as a sign. We need to talk to the employees before we get a clear picture on this."
"One thing for sure, this isn't linked to who her dad is politically." Loker spoke up as he reached forward to take some food off Torres' plate. Everyone in the room nodded, sinking into deep contemplation over the case until Torres broke the silence.
"So, you guys getting excited? It's only another, what, two months until the big day?" Cal watched as Gillian's face transformed from 'deep in thought' to 'pure joy'. The solemn horizontal stretch of her mouth was replaced by an enormous grin and she twisted in her seat to face Ria fully. He was sure the same expression was mirrored on his face.
"Yep, two months as of Tuesday." Their lunch was filled with excited chatter of the 'upcoming event', as they called it, and the tough details of the case were forgotten momentarily. The two employees left their bosses, who were still talking animatedly, shortly after finishing lunch, to set up the cube for the afternoon's set of interviews.
"Do you ever stop and think about how weird everything is now that everything has changed?" Loker asked as his hands glided over the keyboard efficiently. Torres stopped shuffling the papers in her hand and turned to look at him.
"From an outsiders perspective everything's changed, but the day to day dynamics are pretty much the same here."
"That's the weird thing." Both began to laugh but just as soon as Torres started giggling, she stopped. Thoughts of Alec Foster and how his involvement in this case could ruin everything that their bosses had been through in the last year flooded her mind.
"What? What was that thought you just had there?" Loker leaned into her, a move he had most definitely learned from Lightman."
"I know something about this case but I told Lightman I wouldn't tell anyone."
"Ria..."
"Ok, ok but please don't say anything to Lightman and especially not Foster." Loker frowned but nodded anyway, eager to hear the secret Torres so eagerly wanted to spill.
"Alec Foster is the State Department liaison on this case."
"WHAT?" Torres was sure Loker's scream could be heard by her bosses so she wrapped an arm around his head, covering his mouth with her hand to try and keep him quiet. When Loker finally stilled she released him slowly, making sure she had quick access to block any further bursts of outrage being heard. Looking at her with wide surprised eyes he mouthed, What, at her again.
"Ya, Lightman has managed to keep it from Foster so far so all we need to do is find that girl as soon as possible and we'll never have to deal with her ex-husband again. Not a word to either of them, promise me Eli!" Loker crossed a finger over his heart, the shock of Torres' revelations still rendering speechless.
"But...but..." Words slowly made their way back into Eli's vocabulary. "Foster is gonna freak if she finds out. What will happen if she does! Ria, in two months they're-"
"I know! I've had this same argument with Lightman, but he's protecting her. It's always about him protecting her. No unnecessary risks when it comes to Foster, remember? Lightman will figure this out." Eli nodded as they both silently re-emerged themselves in their work.
X
The two people of interest in the Williams family employment were the nanny and the bodyguard. They were the only two people with the knowledge of Hayley's schedule and with the opportunity to take her, now all Lightman needed to figure out, was the motive.
Denise Ferguson, the Williams nanny was first up. She cared for the twins, Fergus and Sasha, who were 8 years old.
"They adored their older sister. I never spent much time with her, the family had a different nanny when she was growing up and by the time I joined the family she was already a teenager and according to her 'had no need for a babysitter'."
The young woman finished her story looking to the side with a sad smile on her face, obviously remembering a fond memory of the missing girl. Throughout the interview she had only displayed concern for Hayley, meaning that Cal was very eager to begin the next interview with Jeff Carlson; the bodyguard.
Carlson was a big man, covered in muscles he was the type of man you would see outside a nightclub with an earpiece and a general aura of 'I'm better than you' about him. He sat staring Cal down, almost challenging him to start something. Compensating for something, Cal thought, bringing a smile to his face.
"Tell me about you relationship with Hayley Williams." Carlson shuffled in his seat, obviously uncomfortable with the tone in Cal's voice. So nothing inappropriate there then, Cal mentally began to check things off his list, cataloguing Carlson's reactions to everybody in the family.
"And Mrs. Williams?" There. Pupils dilated, arousal. So Carlson had a thing for his boss, eh? He shrugged one of his massive shoulders before answering.
"Much the same really."
"Nah, that's lie that is. When I mentioned the ambassador's lovely wife you showed arousal. You got a thing for her have ya?" Carlson's curled his hand into a fist at his side. This, not going unnoticed by Cal, made him push harder trying to get the big man to break.
"Ya you wanted her, didn't you? You wanted the boss? What is it, got a thing for women in power do ya? You wanted her because of that?"
"I LOVED HER!" The fist that had been clenched at his side came down hard and fast on the table in front of them. Gillian gave a little jump but relaxed when she felt Cal's hand resting on her knee in an attempt to reassure her.
"Were you having an affair with Mrs. Williams?" Carlson nodded, tears gathering in his eyes.
"Yes. We were in love. Or at least I thought we were."
"When did this relationship end?"
"About 8 or 9 months ago. She said her husband had found out and we needed to end things. I thought she was going to leave him."
"Did you kidnap Hayley Williams?" Carlson raised his head in shock, tears staining his cheeks.
"No. No, God no!" No signs of deception. Another dead end. Cal nodded and waited for Gillian to stand before exiting the room and allowing the man some privacy to compose himself.
X
"So the parents, the nanny and the bodyguard seem clear." The four of them sat in Cal's office again, trying to come up with answers from their day of interviews. Gillian sat twirling slightly in Cal's desk chair as she summed up what they had gathered.
"Right, Torres and Loker, I want you to go over those videos again for tomorrow. I'll bring them over to the State Department in the afternoon. Foster can review what you've got in the morning."
The two employees rushed off to begin their tasks as Cal rounded the desk to pull Gillian up from the chair. As she stood he snaked an arm around her waist, pulling her close to him to steal a kiss.
"You have Emily tonight?"
"Yep and apparently she's making us dinner, although why she wants to poison us is beyond me." Gillian chuckled as she ran a hand through his hair.
"It's a mystery why she wants to poison me; you on the other hand..." She trailed off, her giggles growing louder at the look on Cal's face.
"You've just hurt my feelings."
"Oh dear Cal, would a kiss make it better?" He barely let her finish before dragging her back to him and captured her lips once more. Their kisses were gentle and sweet and Cal's knees almost buckled as she deepened the kiss with a tender moan.
They were too wrapped up in each other, literally and figuratively, to hear the approaching steps. This time Alec Foster didn't have the courtesy to knock before barging into the office. The sound of something clattering to the floor broke the two from their embrace.
"Alec?" Alec's eyes were busy darting between Cal and Gillian before slowly lowering from Gillian's face to fix on her swollen stomach. Instinctively Cal stepped between them but it was too late.
"You're pregnant?"
Ok, some people guessed about the last surprise there, damn my sneakiness never works!
Please review! :D
On the mend again so here is chapter four! Well done to everyone who had guessed who Gillian's date was :D
Thanks to wallygreengiant for her usual job and ENJOY!
"So first up is..."
"The father." Gillian answered smiling at how flustered Cal was, shuffling papers between his hands and face reddening with every passing moment. Grabbing the papers from his hands she pushed him into his seat and handed him a glass of water.
"Calm down, Cal. You've got a lot of interviews to do today and we need you on top of your game." He gulped the water happily as Gillian began to tidy the files he had strewn over his desk.
"You know I'm supposed to be the one looking after you."
"We're a team Cal."
"Ya but given the current situation-" They were interrupted by a knock at the office door and Loker slowly sliding his head around, checking if the coast was clear. Since their relationship had become more personal, their staff had behaved more cautiously about approaching them together. Although they tried to keep their personal life at home, there had been moments when an eager Loker or questioning Loker had barged in on an intimate embrace.
"Hey boss, Ambassador Williams is all set up. His wife is sitting with Heidi in the break room, the others will arrive later."
"You and Torres can monitor while Foster and I question. That alright with you luv?" Gillian nodded her head in agreement, leading the way towards the cube. Cal took a moment to appreciate her as she walked, head tilted to watch her retreating form and the sashay of her hips.
Paul Williams sat with his arms resting in front of him on the table, his coffee cup sitting ignored to the side. Depending on who they were questioning, the furniture changed. Sometimes, like now, the aim was to make their subject feel comfortable and welcomed, which was why he had a cup of coffee, a comfy chair and a table. Other times they just had a chair and times when they really wanted their subject uncomfortable and on edge, they had no furniture at all.
Gillian smiled warmly as she sat down causing Williams to relax in his seat, while Cal flopped into the vacant chair opposite him. Silence reigned in the room for a few moments before Cal leaned back in his chair and nodded for her to begin, he would just be reading for a while.
Everything seemed to be what you would expect as Gillian questioned Williams; genuine fear and worry for his daughter. Only when his wife was mentioned did he show an unexpected emotion; anger.
"What was that?" Gillian's flow of questions ceased as she let Cal take over.
"What was what?"
"When Dr. Foster here mentioned your wife you displayed anger. Why?" Williams sat back in his seat, crossing his arms in front of him.
"I don't know what you mean. I have no anger towards my wife." Cal swung his head round to catch Gillian's eye, confirming that she had spotted the defensive posture also.
"Would you mind getting us some more tea, darling?" Cal rose with Gillian and as she made to leave the room gave her a chaste kiss of gratitude. His eyes never left Williams and once the door closed behind his partner, he was leaning into the Ambassador's personal space.
"Just then, you showed disgust. Anger at your wife, disgust at personal displays of affection, these all lead to one conclusion. You're hiding something." Williams looked down and to the side, his eyes misting over briefly before they cleared and he raised his head to stare defiantly at Cal.
"We were thinking about separating. She cheated on me. But this has nothing to do with my daughter's disappearance. Hayley is missing and bringing up my wife's infidelity isn't going to help find her."
"That's where you're wrong. I think that's exactly how we're going to find her."
X
"Ok so what do we have so far?" Gillian popped another dumpling into her mouth, absentmindedly twirling the chopsticks in her hand afterwards.
"The ambassador's missus cheated on him, something he's still very angry about. She said the relationship ended about 8 months ago and so far there have been no signs of a scorned lover, but a missing teenage daughter could be counted as a sign. We need to talk to the employees before we get a clear picture on this."
"One thing for sure, this isn't linked to who her dad is politically." Loker spoke up as he reached forward to take some food off Torres' plate. Everyone in the room nodded, sinking into deep contemplation over the case until Torres broke the silence.
"So, you guys getting excited? It's only another, what, two months until the big day?" Cal watched as Gillian's face transformed from 'deep in thought' to 'pure joy'. The solemn horizontal stretch of her mouth was replaced by an enormous grin and she twisted in her seat to face Ria fully. He was sure the same expression was mirrored on his face.
"Yep, two months as of Tuesday." Their lunch was filled with excited chatter of the 'upcoming event', as they called it, and the tough details of the case were forgotten momentarily. The two employees left their bosses, who were still talking animatedly, shortly after finishing lunch, to set up the cube for the afternoon's set of interviews.
"Do you ever stop and think about how weird everything is now that everything has changed?" Loker asked as his hands glided over the keyboard efficiently. Torres stopped shuffling the papers in her hand and turned to look at him.
"From an outsiders perspective everything's changed, but the day to day dynamics are pretty much the same here."
"That's the weird thing." Both began to laugh but just as soon as Torres started giggling, she stopped. Thoughts of Alec Foster and how his involvement in this case could ruin everything that their bosses had been through in the last year flooded her mind.
"What? What was that thought you just had there?" Loker leaned into her, a move he had most definitely learned from Lightman."
"I know something about this case but I told Lightman I wouldn't tell anyone."
"Ria..."
"Ok, ok but please don't say anything to Lightman and especially not Foster." Loker frowned but nodded anyway, eager to hear the secret Torres so eagerly wanted to spill.
"Alec Foster is the State Department liaison on this case."
"WHAT?" Torres was sure Loker's scream could be heard by her bosses so she wrapped an arm around his head, covering his mouth with her hand to try and keep him quiet. When Loker finally stilled she released him slowly, making sure she had quick access to block any further bursts of outrage being heard. Looking at her with wide surprised eyes he mouthed, What, at her again.
"Ya, Lightman has managed to keep it from Foster so far so all we need to do is find that girl as soon as possible and we'll never have to deal with her ex-husband again. Not a word to either of them, promise me Eli!" Loker crossed a finger over his heart, the shock of Torres' revelations still rendering speechless.
"But...but..." Words slowly made their way back into Eli's vocabulary. "Foster is gonna freak if she finds out. What will happen if she does! Ria, in two months they're-"
"I know! I've had this same argument with Lightman, but he's protecting her. It's always about him protecting her. No unnecessary risks when it comes to Foster, remember? Lightman will figure this out." Eli nodded as they both silently re-emerged themselves in their work.
X
The two people of interest in the Williams family employment were the nanny and the bodyguard. They were the only two people with the knowledge of Hayley's schedule and with the opportunity to take her, now all Lightman needed to figure out, was the motive.
Denise Ferguson, the Williams nanny was first up. She cared for the twins, Fergus and Sasha, who were 8 years old.
"They adored their older sister. I never spent much time with her, the family had a different nanny when she was growing up and by the time I joined the family she was already a teenager and according to her 'had no need for a babysitter'."
The young woman finished her story looking to the side with a sad smile on her face, obviously remembering a fond memory of the missing girl. Throughout the interview she had only displayed concern for Hayley, meaning that Cal was very eager to begin the next interview with Jeff Carlson; the bodyguard.
Carlson was a big man, covered in muscles he was the type of man you would see outside a nightclub with an earpiece and a general aura of 'I'm better than you' about him. He sat staring Cal down, almost challenging him to start something. Compensating for something, Cal thought, bringing a smile to his face.
"Tell me about you relationship with Hayley Williams." Carlson shuffled in his seat, obviously uncomfortable with the tone in Cal's voice. So nothing inappropriate there then, Cal mentally began to check things off his list, cataloguing Carlson's reactions to everybody in the family.
"And Mrs. Williams?" There. Pupils dilated, arousal. So Carlson had a thing for his boss, eh? He shrugged one of his massive shoulders before answering.
"Much the same really."
"Nah, that's lie that is. When I mentioned the ambassador's lovely wife you showed arousal. You got a thing for her have ya?" Carlson's curled his hand into a fist at his side. This, not going unnoticed by Cal, made him push harder trying to get the big man to break.
"Ya you wanted her, didn't you? You wanted the boss? What is it, got a thing for women in power do ya? You wanted her because of that?"
"I LOVED HER!" The fist that had been clenched at his side came down hard and fast on the table in front of them. Gillian gave a little jump but relaxed when she felt Cal's hand resting on her knee in an attempt to reassure her.
"Were you having an affair with Mrs. Williams?" Carlson nodded, tears gathering in his eyes.
"Yes. We were in love. Or at least I thought we were."
"When did this relationship end?"
"About 8 or 9 months ago. She said her husband had found out and we needed to end things. I thought she was going to leave him."
"Did you kidnap Hayley Williams?" Carlson raised his head in shock, tears staining his cheeks.
"No. No, God no!" No signs of deception. Another dead end. Cal nodded and waited for Gillian to stand before exiting the room and allowing the man some privacy to compose himself.
X
"So the parents, the nanny and the bodyguard seem clear." The four of them sat in Cal's office again, trying to come up with answers from their day of interviews. Gillian sat twirling slightly in Cal's desk chair as she summed up what they had gathered.
"Right, Torres and Loker, I want you to go over those videos again for tomorrow. I'll bring them over to the State Department in the afternoon. Foster can review what you've got in the morning."
The two employees rushed off to begin their tasks as Cal rounded the desk to pull Gillian up from the chair. As she stood he snaked an arm around her waist, pulling her close to him to steal a kiss.
"You have Emily tonight?"
"Yep and apparently she's making us dinner, although why she wants to poison us is beyond me." Gillian chuckled as she ran a hand through his hair.
"It's a mystery why she wants to poison me; you on the other hand..." She trailed off, her giggles growing louder at the look on Cal's face.
"You've just hurt my feelings."
"Oh dear Cal, would a kiss make it better?" He barely let her finish before dragging her back to him and captured her lips once more. Their kisses were gentle and sweet and Cal's knees almost buckled as she deepened the kiss with a tender moan.
They were too wrapped up in each other, literally and figuratively, to hear the approaching steps. This time Alec Foster didn't have the courtesy to knock before barging into the office. The sound of something clattering to the floor broke the two from their embrace.
"Alec?" Alec's eyes were busy darting between Cal and Gillian before slowly lowering from Gillian's face to fix on her swollen stomach. Instinctively Cal stepped between them but it was too late.
"You're pregnant?"
Ok, some people guessed about the last surprise there, damn my sneakiness never works!
Please review! :D