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Blue Mirror (Corsair and Xana)

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Claudia leaned back against the bedroom wall, and spread herself for Joe. “I could certainly go for… for… finishing…” It was too easy to fall back into sex with Joe. Or, maybe, she was too easy. But fuck, his fingers felt amazing, brushing against her clit as he stroked into her. One hand gripped his shoulder, nails digging in as pleasure built into a sweet tension.

“I… oh, fuck, I…” I’m close was on the tip of her tongue, a moan away from escaping, but something held her back. Some memory, or intuition, perhaps, catching his grin in sliver of moonlight. Despite how tempting it was to let her bliss consume her, Claudia resisted, using her grip on Joe’s shoulder to shove him back onto his bed. He certainly wasn’t expecting it, landing with a bounce and an “oof!”

“Nuh-uh, I know what you’re doing,” she growled, still leaning against the wall after having used it for leverage. “You’re trying to get me close, so you can stop and tease me. Make me beg.” He was sitting up now, but she shoved him down again, falling on top of him as she followed him down. Her mouth covered his, forcing her tongue between his lip, and her breasts smacked at his chest as she struggled to hold him down.

“Maybe…” she started, between heaving breaths and hungry kisses, “maybe I want you to beg. Beg me to fuck your thick cock.” Her cunt smeared her juices over his thigh before she found his cock, covering him in her scent as she strained against him. Any second, she knew, he might throw her off of him. Pin her down himself, and regain control. Either way, she wasn’t complaining. Not while her tongue filled his mouth.
 
The role reversal was unexpected. Claudia was certainly enthusiastic, but she was also usually willing to let him be the aggressor. She clearly liked the way he’d dominate her and fuck her rough and hard. But today, it seemed, she wanted something a little different.

“Damn right I’m...” he began, only to gasp out as her supple body moved to swallow his cock. Her hands gripped his wrists as she leaned into him. “You think I’m going to beg?” he demanded as she broke their kiss so she could breathe. “What makes you think…?”

Her response was to roll her hips, sinking herself deeper onto his shaft. His breath escaped with a gasp and he arched his back, offering her more. And fuck if he couldn’t see the pleasure in her eyes at the sight of him straining beneath her. “All right,” he growled, licking his lips. “You think you can make me beg you to fuck me?”

Grunting, he strained to lift one arm. Her group tightened on his wrist, and the thrill of it coursed through his veins. “Do your best,” he declared, locking her eyes with his. “Because if I get free, I’m going to wreck you.”
 
Oh fuck. Getting wrecked sounded fucking hot. A fact Claudia did not –could not– bother to hide, her entire body shuddering at his words. But damn, it would probably look bad if she called out of work in the morning with the excuse of “Sorry boss, got fucked way too hard, can’t come in today.” And it would be extremely bad if anyone in the department bothered to remember that she left with Joe that evening. Even the world’s worst detective could put all that together. She’d have to take him up on that, though, soon. Maybe this weekend, give her ass a whole day to recover from Joe’s fat fucking cock.

Still, she couldn’t help but tease him. “Try it,” she breathed, watching him watch her through her lashes, “try and get free, so you can wreck this tight cunt…” Fuck, she didn’t think she could get wetter, but she was fucking wrong. Joe’s hand came up off the bed again, and she had to drive her full weight down on him to pin it back in place. His full, thick cock, impaling her completely.

She clenched back against him, smooth muscles aching from their fucking, aching from her hunger for him. Her breasts smacked against his chest as she strained to hold him down, echoing the way her ass smacked against his strong thighs. Even the mattress croaked beneath them, their fucking a cacophony of lust and heat. “Are you even fucking trying?” she growled, pounding herself on his swollen shaft. Each stroke drew a harsh gasp form her, needing everything, especially the pain. “You’re just a hard dick to ride, to get off on. You don’t deserve to cum, not inside me.” Her hands slid down his arms now, bracing herself up for a better angle. Even deeper, and dragging against her clit with each thrust. “You aren’t man enough to make me take it.”
 
“Not man enough?” he echoed, playfully angrily. He rocked his entire body, forcing Claudia to struggle to maintain her position on top. “I can see you struggling to take all of it right now.” Jerking his hips up, he was rewarded with a gap as her eyes rolled back. “You think I’m not man enough to make you take all of this?”

Tearing his wrists free of her grip, he twisted hard and rolled them over. Then he rose up ove her, dragging her ankles up over his shoulders. “Bitch please,” he laughed, slamming his thick shaft deep into her. “Unless you can stop me,” he taunted, one hat hand gripping her throat as he hammered into her, “there’s nothing you can do to stop me making you take it.”

His eyes locked with hers, and a smile curved his lips. “Think you can stop me?” he husked, making his headboard slam into the wall with each driving thrust into her slick cunt. “I thought you were making me beg?” Her body bounced on the mattress as he slammed into her. “How you gonna stop me from sing you like my personal cum dump?”
 
Fuck, everything Joe did in those moments was hot. Insanely hot, forcing her down onto the mattress, forcing her knees into her chest as he positioned to his liking. Forcing himself balls-deep inside her, claiming her with everything thick inch. He claimed her with a grip on her throat, just enough pressure to make her throb and ache in maddening need.

The hottest part of it all, however, was the smile on his face. That arrogant, hungry smirk that enjoyed the game they played together. It mirrored the one on her face, the one that assured him that this was exactly what she wanted. Her smirk smug and lustful until her lips parted. First in pleasure, then in desperate need to breathe, gasping and shuddering in breathless ecstasy.

“How you gonna stop me from sing you like my personal cum dump?”

“I can’t… I... I don’t want to… don’t want to stop…” Each plea escaped in her rasping breaths. Each plea echoed the needy movements of her body, chasing, clinging to her climax. “Use me… oh please… please! Use me, Joe, please!”
 
Joe stopped with an effort, bracing himself with knees and a hand on the mattress. His other hand squeezed slightly, making her face flush and the skin beneath his fingers turn white. “Show me,” he demanded, staring into her eyes. He shuddered with the effort of resisting the slick hunger f her cunt gripping him. “Show me how much you want to be used.”

Licking his lips he flexed a muscle, letting her feel his cock twitch in her depths. “Milk me,” he demanded. “Use that cunt of yours to get me off.” His eyes rolled a little as she tightened around him. “That’s it. Put those kegels to work. Milk my dick with that greedy cunt of yours.”

God, but the effort of holding still was agonizing. And the glazed look of lust in her green eyes made him want to just pound into her. But he held back, watching. “Do it,” he demanded, taking more weight in his knees so he could palm her breast. His fingers closed on her nipple, pinching the erect flesh tight.

“Get me off,” he repeated. “If you cum before I do, then I’ll pull out and jerk my cum all over your tits.” He squeezed the nipple again. “And you want this thick dick filling your cunt with cum, don’t you? Wouldn’t it be a waste, watching me jerk off until your tits are dripping with cum. Seeing them covered with pearly jizz, like you’re some porn slut?”
 
Dammit. She wanted to get fucked hard by Joe. The kind of hard fucking that makes the headboard thud and knocks pictures off the wall. But, well, after everything, maybe she owned him this. Maybe she deserved a bit of orgasm denial in response to her own denial.

Besides, it was hard to resist his demands. Especially when those demands echoed her own aching need. Her legs slid from his shoulders, and wrapped around his hips. Pulling him even deeper inside her, as deep as he could go. As deep as she could take him. His cock throbbed again, against hungry muscles, and she gasped and whimpered.

It was hard to fuck back against him with his hand locked around her throat, but Claudia persisted. Grinding and writhing and clenching tight against his thick shaft. “Cum… cum in me!” They may have been playing a game, but there was no play in her tone. No performance, just raw, ravenous desire.

Her legs loosened around his hip, just a bit. Just enough to swing her feet, smacking his ass with her heel. Again, harder this time, prodding him into action. Encouraging –begging!– him to fuck her back, to fuck her hard, to fuck his hot cum deep into her. “Please! Fuck, Joe, I’m close. I want your cum! I need it!”
 
Joe made a gutteral sound of inarticulate hunger as he released her throat and leaned forward to grip the headboard with both hands. Wood creaked as his biceps tightened, giving him extra leverage as he drove himself hard into Claudia. His dark eyes drank in the sight of her body bouncing on the mattress as he pounded into her, harder bd faster with each thrust. “Fuck,” he grunted, the word an explosive gasp as his tightening abs punched the air from his lungs. “Oh, oh fuck.”

His world contracted, consisting only of the feel of her long legs tight around his hips. Her slick alls tight around his dick. The building pressure in his hardening shaft and tightening balls. The little gasps she released it’s every hammer-like thrust he drove into her. “Fuck,” he grunted out, “Fuck… fuck…”

His whole body arched as her threw his head back, roaring with the force of his orgasm. His hips jerked uncontrollably, cock pulsing against her silken inner walls as the thick liquid heat of his pleasure flooded her. Words were lost, replaced by incoherent sounds gasped in time with the aching throb of his shaft.

Finally, spent, he braced himself with arms held rigid on the headboard. He stared down at her, gasping for breath. Sweat dripped from him, splashing on her pale skin. Then he let himself sprawl atop her, catching his weight with his bent arms. “Oh… fuck,” he whispered, kissing her gently. “God… I fucking love you.”
 
“Oh yeah? You sure you don’t just love fucking me?” Claudia teased. As close as they were now, his face hovering just above hers, left no where to escape his confession. No where to escape her own confession, throbbing against her pounding heart. Teasing Joe was the only way to put space between his words and her memories.

The last time someone had told her he loved her resembled this scene. Her first boyfriend, still buried in her after taking her virginity. He’d said it between heaving breaths, and she said it back without hesitation. Two hours later, he let his friends take turns fucking her.

She pulled Joe even closer, until her chin rested on his shoulder. “I...” The words wouldn’t come. She felt them, she knew it, but they stuck in her throat. The past gripped her, and she gripped Joe tighter, unwilling to let old emotions spring up in her. “I trust you,” she finally managed. “I trust you, and I need you.” It wasn’t what she was supposed to say, but it was as close as she could get, in those moments.

She’d said it to Quinn, and he’d taken advantage of her. She’d said it to Quinn, and he’d died just a week later, scared eyes staring at her as he fell down the stairs.
 
I trust you.

It felt like a slap in the face. It made sense, given what she’d said about her first boyfriend, but it still felt like a slap in the face. But, then again, he had been the one to propose. And they had been talking about getting a place together. Maybe… he could be a little understanding?

His arms slid beneath her, supporting his weight and embracing her at the same time. “I trust you too, babe,” he whispered. His arms tightened, until he was nearly crushing her against him. “Always.”

At some point, by mutual consent, they rolled into their sides. Claudia kept her leg wrapped around his thigh as they did, trying to keep him inside her a little longer. He had a distant memory of kissing her gently, and groping blindly to drag a blanket over them. And then ge fell asleep.

It was the sun that woke him, a needle of bright light stabbing through a gap in the blinds to hit him in the eye. He groped for his phone, remembered it was with his pants in the living room, and shifted awkwardly to check his watch over Claudia’s shoulder. She stirred, blinking awake as he saw the time.

“Role call’s in two hours,” he told her, snuggling into her bare back. “Wanna grab a shower and some breakfast?”
 
A night's sleep wasn't nearly long enough to put distance between herself and Joe's proposal. Despite his seeming acceptance of her indecision, his question still weighed heavy on her. This would be her life. Every morning, waking in his arms. Every night, sharing his bed. Those thoughts warmed Claudia even more than the heat of his bare chest pressed against her. That was almost worth a yes.

"Yeah, a shower sounds good." She rolled over onto her back, and leaned in closer to kiss Joe. Again her legs brushed against his, and then entwined with his, his body utterly intoxicating in the chill of the morning. It took an effort to pull away, to resist the urge to pull him on top of her, and wrap her thighs around his hips. "Why don't you, uh, get it started," she suggested, hoping for a heartbeat that he would interpret her meaning with a dirty mind. "I'll join you in a minute."

Claudia made no attempt to hide the way she watched him lurch naked from the bed to the bathroom, staring until the bright light in the bathroom made her squint. No, Joe wasn't the reason she hadn't said yes last night. She didn't have any doubts about Joe, or what kind of husband he'd be. No, the hesitation was on her. Because if they spent all their time together, he'd figure out she wasn't wife material. He'd figure out that she was just a filthy whore, good for nothing but a dirty fuck.

And you don't marry dirty.

Steam wafted from the bathroom, her cue to get out of bed. Joe was already under the stream when she entered, hard muscles dripping with sultry water, and a similar slick heat built between her thighs. Hot water pelted her hair to her scalp as she joined Joe, and dropped to her knees. How long would it take for Joe to realize marrying her would be a mistake? How long could she lie to herself, that she actually deserved to be this happy, everyday?
 
“Get it started. Right.”

Joe yawned and stretched as he regretfully disentangled himself from Claudia. She made the idea of contracting Blue Flu and staying in bed all day awfully inviting. Although it might be just a little suspicious if both of them called in. They did work with a bunch of detectives, after all.

Yawning again, he made his way into the bathroom and turned the shower on, cranking it up until steam wafted out of the stall. Then he stepped in, hissing as needles of heat pelted his skin. “Ah, yeah. That’s good.”

Eying the bathroom door through the transparent glass shower door, Joe smirked a little as he wrapped his hand around his stiffening shaft. He pumped it lightly, back against the tile, until Claudia joined him. “You wanted me to get it ready, right?”

She didn’t say a word. Instead, she molded herself to his body and slowly slid to her knees. He gasped as she pressed her tits around his meat, then groaned as she took his head between her lips. “Oh… oh fuck…” he gasped, wide-eyed and twitching when her tongue teased the opening of his head. “Oh… God, baby. That, that’s good.”
 
Joe was still getting hard when she first wrapped her lips around his cock. By the second time she bobbed down his length, he was rock hard, and his head stretched her throat when she swallowed him.

She didn't deserve his words of praise, or gentle fingers brushing through wet hair. She deserved to be fucked in her face, to have her head slammed back into the tile from the force of his thrusts. She wasn't a fiancée; she was barely a girlfriend. No, she was a whore who let a dozen guys use her in a board room. A whore who let some random guy fuck her in a motel room over lunch break. A whore who got off reliving the violent rapes of other women.

Claudia moved faster, deeper down his length, saliva drooling down her chin and dripping onto her tits. Choking herself on his cock, if he wouldn't do it. And the harder she struggled to breathe, the wetter she got. Would Joe fuck her unconscious body, if she passed out blowing him? Nah, not Joe. Joe was decent guy.

Which was why she didn't deserve him.
 
“Oh, oh fuck, baby,” Joe groaned, running his fingers through the dark red hair plastered to her scalp. “So… so fucking… good…”. He considered gripping fistfuls of that hair, wrapping the length around his hands so he could fuck her throat hard. But she was making a sweet, sexy sound in the back of her throat that told him she was enjoying what she was doing.

Her lips pressed against his skin as she took his entire length into her throat, and his grip tightened involuntary. “God, baby,” he moaned, feeling his hips jerk involuntarily. Feeling his head gripped tight by her esophagus. “Oh, oh fuck, I wanna… I’m gonna…”

He came hard, wordlessly gasping out his pleasure as he pumped his cum into her mouth. Into ear throat, which he felt massaging his length as she swallowed. For a moment he forgot to breathe, forgot anything but the overwhelming sensation of his release. And then he was spent, his cock still thick but softening as she sucked him clean.

“Come here,” he gasped, tugging at her hand. “Come up here.” Half helping, half dragging, he got her to her feet. He could taste himself on her lips and in her mouth as he kissed her - no, as he fucked her mouth with his tongue, trapping her sleek, slick body between his chest and the fiberglass of the shower wall.

“God damn,” he breathed, working a hand between them. Down and between her thighs. “God I love you, and god I want you. Right now.” His fingers stroked between her thighs, exploring her lips. “Fuck you’re wet.” One thick finger pushed in, and he groaned as she clenched around him. “I want to see you cum,” he husked, stroking the finger in and out. A second finger joined in, opening her more. “I want to feel you cum on me.”
 
As much as Claudia just wanted to bask in the afterglow of a blow job well done, Joe pulled her to her feet and into a kiss. She hardly had a chance to catch her breath before he took it away, trembling on shaky legs. "Joe…"

"God I love you, and god I want you. Right now."

Guilt welled up at his words, his confession of love. She didn't deserve this. And Joe deserved better.

"We don't… we don't have time…" she murmured, squirming against his touch. Pinned beneath his weight, she couldn't escape, and she couldn't protest through her gasps as the heel of his palm pressed into her clit. He would stop, if she really wanted him to, but they both knew she didn't want him to stop. Not with her body begging for more, slick walls clinging desperately to his fingers

Instead of fighting him, Claudia grabbed Joe's hand, his free hand, and moved it up her body. Over her stomach, lingering for a moment when he cupped her breast. "Fuck…" she managed, anticipation coiling between her thighs. Her nipple throbbed, nearly painfully erect between the pads of his fingers, and it took even more effort to urge his hand away. But her reward was feeling those strong, thick fingers wrapping around her throat.

"Harder," she breathed, deliberately not specifying what she wanted harder. Trusting him to know she meant both. "Please…"
 
Ah. She was in that mood. Joe grinned at the realization, then tightened his hand on her throat. Her skin whitened beneath his fingers, and reddened around them, and he heard her breath catch and rasp. Her eyes went wide for a moment, then glazed as he pushed a third finger into her and buried them to the third knuckle.

“Maybe I should have fucked you like this,” he growled, plunging his fingers in and out. “Choked you while I pounded your cunt, pumped my cum into you while you tried to breathe.”

She gasped, and clenched around his fingers. “Luke that?” he laughed. “You like me fucking you like a cheap white, don’t you? Just like you liked trying to turn tricks undercover, and then fucking me in the back of my car?”

Carefully, he rolled his hand and just managed to get a fourth finger into her. She groaned, and winced a little, and he felt her muscles straining to take it all. “Some nights,” he whispered, “I’m going to make love to you. But others?” His teeth scraped her ear. “Other nights, I’m going to pound you like a whore I picked up downtown, and I’m going to get my money’s worth out of you.”

He stroked his fingers into her, feeling her juices drench his hand. “Cum on my fingers,” he husked, tightening his hand a little more on her throat. “Show me how much you like getting manhandled and used like a cheap whore.”
 
Four fingers made her ache, but Claudia didn't care. Joe kept her on the edge of agony, pain and pleasure a delightful, confusing mélange. Each breathy moan melted into a whimper, inaudible under the stream of the shower and Joe's filthy words.

"Some nights," he whispered, "I'm going to make love to you. But others?" His teeth scraped her ear. "Other nights, I'm going to pound you like a whore I picked up downtown, and I'm going to get my money's worth out of you."

Fuck, she wanted that. The rough sex was always incredible, sending to her to new heights of nirvana again and again. But the gentle stuff? The way he held her last night, confessing his need for her in time with his deep strokes? Utter euphoria. And when he'd fucked her in the precinct bathroom, so desperate for her he risked both of their jobs?

Climax took her captive, gripping her mind as tightly as she gripped his fingers. His gaze didn't leave hers as bliss passed through her, his intense stare commanding her pleasure. She strained against his grip for breath, deliriously lightheaded and certain she would pass out any moment now.

And it would have been worth it.

Joe released her throat at the peak of her release, leaving her to stumble on jelly weak legs and slippery tile floor. She leaned heavily into him, the weight of her orgasm overwhelming in the immediate aftermath. She couldn't deny her feelings anymore, couldn't deny what had grown between them. She was in love with Joe.

She didn't say it in words. But she clung to him, head on his chest and dark hair plastered to his skin. Unwilling to let him go. Unable to let him go. She didn't remember ever wanting anything so badly in her life, and that terrified her.

"Joe…" A heaving breath got in the way of her confession, but she gripped him tighter. "Thanks. I really needed that. You. I really need you."
 
“God,” he breathed as she finished her statement, “you sound fucking hot saying that.” He kissed her forehead and then her lips, ignoring the twitching in his cock. “And I need you, too.” He held her for a moment, then grabbed the soap. “Now let’s make sure we make it to work on time.”

-*-

Breakfast was drive-through McDonalds, because the Chick-Fil-A line would have taken two or three days to navigate. Even with the marginally shorter wait time, the need to swing past Claudia’s apartment so they came in from the right direction to look like they were carpooling cut into their narrow window, and both of them hit the morning briefing just as it was starting. “Nassir. Ross. Good of you to join us," the Lieutenant deadpanned as Joe navigated between a small cluster of uniforms to grab a seat.

"Any time," Joe responded with a grin. He saluted with his coffee, and sat down with a huge grin. "Now that we're here, you're welcome to get started."

"Oh. May I?" The two men locked eyes for a moment, and Joe grinned as he sipped his coffee. Then the Lieutenant uttered an annoyed sigh and got on to the morning briefing. There'd been several muggings, and some idiot exposing himself to old women and running away laughing before they could do anything more than sputter indignantly. And the host of still open cases.

"That include the Porno Slasher?" a uniform asked.

"The what?" replied the Lieutenant.

"The Porno Slasher," the uniform repeated. "That's what the papers are calling him. Our serial rapist. That still an open case."

"Fuck me," Joe groaned. "They're giving him a name now."

"Yeah." The Lieutenant fixed Joe and Claudia with a hard stare "Is it an open case? Please tell me that the goddamn newly christened "Porno Slasher' is not still an open case."

"Still is," Joe sighed. "But! We've got a strong lead, and we're pretty sure we're about to close it."

"Right." The Lieutenant considered that. "In my office after the briefing. I want to hear what you've got on this... this motherfucking Porno Slasher."
 
The ride to work was filled with a pleasant silence. An intimate silence, the kind that didn't need to be interrupted with needless small talk. Claudia was comfortable just being with Joe. Even something as mundane as commuting to work was improved by his presence. She had to remind herself to wipe the stupid dreamy smile off her face before she got out of the car. No point in getting them caught now. So she put on the resting bitch face, and by the time they got to the briefing, it was no longer an act.

There was just enough time to drop her jacket off at her desk, before following Joe back to the lieutenant's office. He was already sitting at his desk, glancing up with a furrowed brow as they entered. "What's the latest on the… Porno Slasher?"

"We have a suspect." Claudia didn't take a seat, just crossed her arms over her chest. "Just gathering more evidence before we bring him in."

"Alright, let me hear it."

Claudia shot a sidelong glance at Joe, before answering with a sigh, "Matthew Kelly."

"Matthew Kelly? Well, clearly you two are building a bullet proof case, because I know you aren't going to try and arrest a pillar of the community on a hunch."

"We have an accomplice who is willing to testify, and will deliver evidence enough to get an arrest warrant. Once Kelly is in custody, DNA should seal the deal."

"You have an accomplice?" The lieutenant cocked his head. "Is his DNA on the victims, too? Fuck it, just bring him in."

"But he's not the killer, Kelly is."

"And how do you know that for certain? Both men are going to point fingers at the other, might as well collar the one we can prove."

"I just… know it." Claudia let out a frustrated sigh, holding back just how she knew about the killer. "This doesn't end, until we bring in Kelly."

"Pick your battles. Let's close this case before national news picks it up."

Claudia couldn't help raising her voice, "How's it going to look if we close the case, and another victim shows up a week or two later?"

The lieutenant shook his head. "You arrest this guy, and his accomplices are going to lay low."

"If we arrest the wrong guy, and Kelly goes free, he's going to be emboldened to continue. He's going to mock us, and more women are going to die."
 
After a moment, the lieutenant leaned back and massaged the bridge of his nose. “Fuck me,” he breathed, staring up at the ceiling. “Right. And you’re sure you have the evidence you’ll need?”

“No,” Joe said. “But we have enough to get the rest, once the accomplice rolls over.”

Heaving a deep sigh, the lieutenant leaned forward. “All right. But once you have the evidence, before you make a fucking move on Matthew Kelly, you and the captain and the DA are going to be sitting down and going over it to make sure it’s air tight.” He looked from one cop to the other. “Because if it’s not, Kelly will fuck your careers sideways.”

Joe nodded at that. “Understood.”

“Good.” The lieutenant waved at the door. “Get out.”

-*-

“That went better than I thought it would,” Joe observed as they left the office. “I mean, I thought for sure he’d shit himself when we told him who our suspect was. Which reminds me…”. He made a show of checking his watch. “Sanal’s deadline’s coming up. Let’s go rattle his cage a little, make sure he’s coming through.” Cracking his knuckles, he gave his partner a cruel grin. “If it’s good, we’ll drag him to the DA with us.”
 
Traffic around the office building was hectic, due to construction occurring on the next block. They'd gotten stuck in the left turn lane for two light cycles so far.

"Wait," Claudia called, reaching over to tug on Joe's sleeve. She pointed towards a man hailing a taxi, "Isn't that Sanal?" She couldn't say for certain, before a cab blocked her view, but she tugged on Joe's sleeve again anyway. "Follow that cab. I'm sure it was him."

Angry cars honked to protest their sudden lane change, but Joe managed to get behind the can with only a single car between them. They followed him for a couple blocks and a left turn, to an upscale restaurant. When he exited the cab, Claudia was sure it was him. "Pull over. I am going to follow him in."

The restaurant wasn't crowded –still too early for the lunch rush. Sanal took a seat at a table at the center of the room, across from a large man in an impeccable suit. Recognition took Claudia a second, before she slunk back behind the bar, in hopes he didn't recognize her in return. Perched on a barstool, she sent a message to Joe.

He's meeting with Kelly now. What should we do?
 
“Shit!” Joe swore, punching his steering wheel in frustration. “Shit shit shitshitshit shit!”

Drawing a deep breath, he let it out slow. Think. Think. Pawing at the phone, he sent a message back. Has he seen you? Then he settled in to wait, trying not to hold his breath.

-*-

“Good… good morning, Mr. Kelly.” Jeremy swallowed, trying to keep the nerves out of his voice as he eyed the man sitting across the table. “What can I do for you?” Kelly ignored the question, choosing simply to return his gaze impassively. Swallowing again, Jeremy continued. “I, uhm, I had a look at…”

“I had a most interesting visit,” Kelly said, interrupting.

“A… you did?” Jeremy blinked. “Who?

“A police officer,” Kelly answered. “He had questions. Apparently, he believed I had some knowledge of a series of crimes in this city.”

Trying to ignore the heartbeat thundering in his ears, Jeremy nodded. “I… see. And what…”

“Why, I assured him he was incorrect.” He locked eyes with Jeremy. “It was what any competent person would have done.”

“I…” Jeremy swallowed.

“What any competent person would have done,” Kelly repeated, and Jeremy flinched as the man’s eyes became pools of liquid darkness for a second. “What you should have done.”

Fighting the urge to loosen his tie, Jeremy drew a shuddering breath. “What, I mean, that is…”

“We could have made whatever evidence these police officers have simply go away,” Kelly continued. “But you panicked, and now they believe they can make a case.” He sighed. “I’m so very disappointed in you.”

As Jeremy struggled to breathe, Kelly reached into his breast pocket and withdrew a playing card. “You may, however, make amends,” he said mildly, sliding it across the table. Then he rose. “Adieu.”

Jeremy stared at the card, and then at the departing figure of Matthew Kelly. “Amends,” he echoed, voice hollow. “Yes. Of course.”
 
The message beep nearly made Claudia jump. Still, she managed to stay silent as Joe's text flashed across the screen. Has he seen you?

Hiding halfway behind her phone, she tapped a message back. I don't think so. But I might need backup anyways.

She couldn't hear what they were saying, but she couldn't risk getting closer. Kelly handed something to Sanal, something small, before standing. Then Claudia scrambled to dial Joe, holding her phone to her head to hopefully cover her face enough to avoid notice. As soon as Joe answered, she right into a fake conservation, hopefully alerting him without giving herself away.

"Yeah, I got a room on the north side, overlooking 5th​ Avenue. But we'll have to meet up later, because I am just about to step out." Using the reflection of her phone's screen, she watched Kelly leave the building, confident Joe would watch him from here. Which left her to approach Sanal.

Except his table was now empty. Shit, had he left too? Looking across the nearly empty restaurant, she caught sight of him in the Hotel lobby just beyond the dining room. He pressed the button on the elevator and waited with impatient fidget. Long, measured strides drew her closer to Sanal, controlled, as to not draw attention to herself, but she was still 20 feet away when the doors opened, and Sanal entered by himself. He didn't see her before the doors closed again, leaving her to tap the elevator button with increasing urgency. Helpless, she watched the numbers ascend, the pit in her stomach tightening with each higher number.

Instead of waiting to see if her fears would be confirmed, Claudia bolted to the stairwell, racing the flights with adrenaline-laced dread. Again, she called Joe, reaching him by the second ring and the fifth floor. "Do you still have sight of Kelly? Sanal got into an elevator, and he's headed up. I am trying to cut him off by the stairs. I may need your help if I have to drag him back downstairs in handcuffs."

She got to the top floor to find the elevator closed. Had she beat him here? No, the stairwell door opened and closed at the end of the hall, and she sprinted towards it, finding some new well of energy to fight against her burning lungs and aching thighs. Throwing the door open, and throwing herself through it, she found Sanal on the ledge. He looked back at her, making eye contact for 2 heartbeats. Before she could say anything, he turned, and stepped off the ledge. She bolted to edge, but he already hit the ground by the time she looked over. Screams of shock and horror rung out from the ground, leaving no doubt of Sanal's fate.
 
Joe flinched as the body smashed into the ground, spraying his car with a mist of gore. Then he looked away, swallowing hard several times to keep the bile down. He'd managed, in his career, to kill exactly zero people. The way he'd been trained, if you shot a suspect then you were doing it entirely wrong. And while he'd seen a lot of dead bodies working in homicide, he'd never really seen anyone die right in front of him. And particularly not like that.

"No," he finally managed to respond, gagging just a little as he did. "I've got eyes on Sanal, but... wait. Hang on. I see him."

Matthew Kelly was standing next to an expensive black car (a Cobra, the cop part of his mind filled in, '68 or '69), watching. Watching him, which made no fucking sense. A man had just water-ballooned off the roof of a mid-level high rise. Everyone else on the street was watching the aftermath of the apparent suicide, pointing or recording or gagging and puking. But Kelly was focused on him and his car, damn well nearly staring him right in the eyes. And then, with a small wave and a mocking smile, the bastard climbed into the car and drove away.

"I've got eyes," he repeated. "But I can't really follow him. Not with a car that looks like a slaughterhouse. And I don't even know what I'd be able to do with him if I caught him."
 
"What happened?" The lieutenant was on his feet, behind his desk. "You told me this morning you were on the verge of closing this case. Now your informant is a stain on the concrete on Fifth-fucking-Avenue. What the fuck happened?"

Claudia steadied herself with a deep breath. "We trailed Sanal from his office to the hotel on Fifth and Jefferson Parkway. He entered the in-house restaurant, and met with our main suspect, Matthew Kelly. They spoke briefly, and Kelly left. Sanal then proceeded to take the elevator to the roof. I followed, but was not able to reach him before he… before he jumped off." Dicey as the case had gotten, and as far as they'd gone to investigate, they hadn't caused Sanal's death. Looking down, Claudia shook her head. "I couldn't stop him."

The lieutenant let her story hang in the air for a time, heartbeats stretching the tension until it broke. "It's going to take 24 hours to get the blood work done. If his DNA matches our victims, we're closing this case."

"But he's not the killer, Kelly is!" It was Claudia's turn to stand now, before everything slipped from her grasp. "Kelly must have said something to him, something to make him kill himself.

""I don't care!" The lieutenant slammed his fists down on his desk, hard enough to make Claudia flinch. "It sounds to me that your boy got scared. Sounds like he made promises to you he couldn't keep, and realized he was on hook for each murder. So he took the easy way out, before the world could hear about his crimes."

From the outside, it made sense. He was the one they had closed in on, and the only one they had solid evidence against. Even with his cooperation, he was likely looking down a prison sentence. Serial rapists and murder accomplices didn't get sweetheart deals. But she knew that Kelly had killed the women, knew in a way that couldn't help them now. And now he'd get away with everything.

"Get all your evidence together, and finalize your report. I expect it on my desk by 9 AM." With a gesture, he motioned them out. "Dismissed."

Claudia didn't make it far out the office, leaning against the hallway and covering her face. "What the fuck are we going to do, Joe?"
 
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