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The Life of Valor (Grave x Kat)

Jessica rode up the elevator with Scott then sat down at her computer, logging in she looked through the cases and replied. "Looks like... the case from Jefferson's Realtor Company."
 
Scott nodded.
"Ah, right, that case."
Jefferson's Realtor Company had sent a representative to his firm in order to hire him to investigate real estate fraud. Specifically, they wanted him to find evidence of 'chunking', which is when multiple properties or mortgage loans using a single buyer's personal information are used to obtain loans or purchase property. The fraudulent part of the deal is that the agent will submit the personal information to several different lenders and for several different properties, not just for the loan or property the buyer knows about. The agent would also be the seller of all of the properties, known and unknown to the buyer, and would pocket all of the proceeds after the closings, leaving the innocent buyer with all of the trouble left in their wake.

One such scammer had posed as a real estate agent for Jefferson's, conning a neighbor into providing her personal information to be used in the 'chunking' scheme. The scheme was uncovered and the scammer had fled the state, but Jefferson's did not know exactly how many fraudulent properties had been taken out in the buyer's name. Thus, they had sent over a list of suspected properties, and Scott would need to go over them and find out. Once he had cleared the list, he was to send it back to Jefferson's so that it could then be turned over to the courts as part of the case against the scammer.
"Looks like we have a scammer to help put away," Scott said as he headed into his office.
Logging in to his computer, he found the list and began poring over their financial records, looking for the buyer's name, 'Wendy Johnson'.

With exactly one hundred suspected properties, this was not going to be a small feat. Making a copy of the original file, he would leave a green check mark next to the property that was purchased fraudulently, and red x next to the property not purchased in Wendy Johnson's name. He would also include an attachment of the exact page her name was listed on to make it easy for the D.A.'s office. After going over fifty of the names, Scott's eyes were starting to hurt a bit from all of the small print and he felt a bit tired, having been engrossed in his work for over two hours.
"Jessica, may I please have some coffee?" he called from his office.
Leaning back in his chair and stretching, he was starting to feel really bad for Wendy since he had discovered twenty-five fraudulent properties purchased in her name in addition to the ten that were already known and not on the list.
 
Jessica had been sorting through new cases when she heard Scott's request then called back. "Sure thing." She got up and went to make him a coffee just the way he liked it and brought it back to his desk, setting it down as he kissed the top of his head. "Take a break if you need to, the last thing you need is eye issues from staring at a computer so long."
 
Scott smiled as Jessica came in with the coffee, knowing it would be just the way he liked it. He picked it up after she had set it down and looked up at her after she had kissed the top of his head.
"I will. Thanks, babe."
He let her head back to her desk and leaned back in his chair, closing his eyes to rest them as he sipped his coffee. After twenty minutes of this quiet relaxation, he set the half-empty coffee cup down and got back to work.

After another two hours spent poring over the work, he finished the list and discovered only five more fraudulently purchased properties, which made for a total of forty fraudulent properties purchased in Wendy's name. With his work finally complete, he emailed his completed copy of the list to Jefferson's for them to pass on to the DA. Scott leaned back in his chair and rested his eyes once more, finishing the cup of coffee and enjoying another twenty minutes of quiet relaxation. Afterwards, he got up and headed to Jessica's desk.
"So, what's the next case on our itinerary?"
Scott hoped that this one would have less paperwork attached to it.
 
Jessica smiled up at him before opening a file on her computer and skimmed through it. "Looks like a stakeout. A Mr. Joshua Morden thinks his wife is back to her gambling addiction and is using their savings to do it. She denies it and he wants us to find out if she's really going gambling on her 'girls night out's."
 
Scott nodded.
"Ah, I see. Hopefully Mrs. Morden has been on her best behavior, but if not, we'll find out."
He got his keys out of his office and was headed toward the elevator.
"Are you coming along? Or did you want to hold down the fort at the office?"
 
Scott nodded and walked with her back to the elevator. After taking it down, they got into Scott's SUV and drove about fifteen minutes to the Morden residence. Both cars were there, so they would be able to see if Mrs. Morden went anywhere. Tonight was supposed to be a 'Girls' Night Out' for her, so the truth would soon be revealed. Scott knew that gambling could be an incredible addiction, but he hoped she had overcome it. He never liked to give his clients bad news, even if he had had to do it on a regular basis.
 
Jessica climbed in the car with him and rode along to the house. After about half an hour a woman stepped out of the house, waving to the person inside before climbing in the smaller car and pulling out, driving off into town.
 
Scott followed the woman into town and saw her pull into a night club. There, she met up with some friends in the parking lot and went inside.
"Well, this night club doesn't have a casino and there are no casinos around, so it looks like she's legit right now. But, we'll just have to see."
He leaned back and kept an eye on the front.
"Jessica, could you go around back and make sure they aren't leaving through a back door?"
 
Scott smiled at the kiss on his cheek before watching her go around back. Once she had disappeared from sight, he kept an eye on the front door to make sure that Mrs. Morden was not leaving. There were several people coming and going, so he had memorized her clothing and the way she walked to make sure she did not get lost in the shuffle. After ten minutes of watching, he saw no one leaving and decided to call Jessica and see if she had seen anything at the back door.
"Hey, babe. Have you seen Mrs. Morden exit the club?"
 
Jessica heard her phone ringing but was unable to answer, she was in the midst of fighting a group of men who had been attempting to rape a woman in the back alley, doning her armor on her arms she began the fight, taking the man who'd been holding the woman down by the back of his shirt and flinging into the wall. The other's turned on her, shocked but quickly began their attack.
 
Scott chuckled a bit as he realized he had been talking to his wife's voicemail. Hanging up, he called again but there was still no answer. He frowned a bit, thinking it was odd that Jessica wouldn't answer the phone while they were on the job. This made him think that something must have happened, so he slipped his phone into his pocket and stepped out of the vehicle. Even though Jessica could more than take care of herself, he would always be concerned about her due to how much he loved her. He speed walked to the back of the night club and was shocked at first to see Jessica fighting a group of men.

With no time to ask questions, Scott jumped into the fray and dealt with half of the group while Jessica dealt with the other half. Once all of the men were on the ground and no longer fighting back, Scott looked around and saw a woman huddled against the back alley wall, her clothes torn from the attempted rape. After giving a disgusted look to the men, his face softened as he turned to Jessica.
"We'll have to forget the stakeout on Mrs. Morden and friends for tonight. Something this serious has to be reported to the police."
Scott dialed the police on his cell phone, reporting the attempted rape but keeping quiet about details on himself until the police arrived so as not to reveal that he was a private investigator.

Before the police showed up, Scott encouraged Jessica to dissipate the armor on her arms to avoid drawing attention, as well as helped her comfort the attempted rape victim. Five minutes later the police arrived and arrested the men for the crime, taking them away. The attempted rape victim was also taken down to the station for an official statement. One officer tried to take their statement, but Scott told him that they needed to speak away from the crowd. Once they had moved a block down the street, Scott took out his PI license and had Jessica show hers too.
"We're private investigators who were conducting surveillance for a client when the attempted rape occurred."

The officer verified their ID's and took out his memo pad.
"All right, Mr. and Mrs. Young. Can you tell me exactly what happened here tonight?"
"Jessica was there when the crime began. She could tell you more about it than I can."
The officer turned to Jessica, his pen poised to take her statement.
 
Jessica, though perfectly capable of handling the men herself, was grateful for Scott's appearance as they took out the men and Jessica tied them up with some zip ties she'd started carrying in her purse when she started working for Scott, in case something like this would happen. She nodded to Scott and dissipated her armor before sitting beside the woman but not too close and gently talking with her, making sure she was ok with reporting the rape before allowing Scott to call the police, seeing as some women preferred to not report right away, but never the less encouraging her to go to the hospital if she didn't to check over any injuries. The woman nodded her consent to reporting the attempted rape and Jessica continued to sit with her while they waited for the police.

When the police arrived Jessica smiled gently at the woman as she was loaded into the police car and told her to be honest with the police and tell them if she needed anything. She then followed the officer and Scott down the road and showed her PI license as well and then nodded as Scott directed the question to her.

"I was moving around to the back of the building to watch the back door, in case the subject of our surveillance decided to leave that way, when I came across the attempted rape. Two of the men where holding her down and a third was holding a knife to her throat while the fourth was in the middle of undressing her. I wasted no time in getting Scott to come over and together we apprehended them." She said, only bending the truth slightly so she didn't have to mention her armor or taking on all four of them at once and holding her own.
 
The police officer wrote down everything Jessica said.
"What happened when you came on the scene, Mr. Young?"
"After I couldn't get Jessica on the phone, I went around to the back of the nightclub and saw her fighting with the attempted rapists. I jumped in to help subdue them and then saw the attempted rape victim near the dumpsters. After my wife helped calm her down and we placed her attackers under citizen's arrest, we called the police."
The police officer finished writing and flipped his notebook closed.

"Thank you, Mr. and Mrs. Young. Is there a number we can reach you if we need anything else?"
Scott took out his business card and handed it to the officer.
"That has the business phone number and my cell phone number on there."
"We'll be in touch if we need anything," the officer said with a nod as he took the business card and headed back to his patrol car.
Scott looked over and saw Mrs. Morden saying goodbye to her friends and heading back to her vehicle.

"Mrs. Morden is probably heading home, but it can't hurt to follow her and make sure."
Scott got into his vehicle with Jessica and started it up, watching as Mrs. Morden pulled out of the nightclub parking lot and made a turn. After letting her get ahead a bit, he followed her out and kept a safe distance. After a little while of driving, he saw her turn onto her street and pull into her driveway.
"I figured she would probably be shaken up by the incident and head home, and I'm glad I was right. We should head home, too, and resume surveillance tomorrow."

Scott pulled into a driveway and then backed out to do a U-turn, heading in the direction of home. He wasn't sure if Mrs. Morden would risk trying to sneak gambling, if that's what she was doing, on a night that wasn't a Girls' Night Out, but they would have to check on her and make sure. When they got home, Scott parked the car and the two headed inside. He went to the bedroom and changed from his work attire into more comfortable long gray sweatpants and a white short-sleeved shirt.
"I am glad we kept a young woman from being raped tonight," Scott said as he grabbed a broom, "and hopefully the next time that young woman goes out for a night of fun, there won't be scum like them hanging around."
While Jessica got started on their dinner, Scott swept up the living room, which had gotten slightly dusty the last few days.
 
Jessica followed Scott to the car and rode along as they watched Mrs. Morden go home and she went to the bedroom to change out of her work attire and her under armor as well. She nodded in agreement to Scott's words about the scum. "Yes, I'm so glad I found them, poor woman..." She murmured before starting a dinner of cheesy chicken and rice, a personal favorite her dad made her while growing up.
 
Scott swept the dust from the living room into the kitchen and then into the dust pan. When he was finished, he picked up the dust pan and dumped it into the trash before returning it and the broom back to where they were. As Jessica began cooking the cheesy chicken and rice, Scott smiled at the delicious aroma coming from the pot.
"That smells good already," Scott said as he hugged her from behind and kissed her cheek.
He watched for a moment as she continued the preparations.
"Want any help?" he asked.
 
Jessica smiled a little. "I hope you like it, it's one of my favorites, dad used to make it for me whenever I was sick or upset or just needed a pick-me-up." She then smiled and turned her head to kiss his cheek. "It's pretty simple to make." She replied to his offer and finished putting everything in the pan and sticking it in the oven.
 
Scott smiled.
"Your cooking is always fantastic. I'm sure I'll love it."
He gave her a short peck on the lips shortly after she kissed his cheek and unwrapped his arms from around her so that she could put it in the oven.
"Okay, but if you ever want any help, let me know."
Scott sat down at the table so that he would be ready when dinner was done.

As he sat there, he was thinking over their current case.
"I hope that when we are able to learn the truth about Mrs. Morden, we prove that she's not gambling. Her husband told me that her gambling addiction almost destroyed their marriage before she got help, and I'm afraid her marriage might not survive a relapse."
Scott got the feeling that Mr. Morden truly loved his wife, since he would have to in order to stay with her after she bankrupted them. Mrs. Morden had spent six months in rehab after this, and everything was going fine until now. He would have to give him the truth regardless of what it was, but he hoped that he could give him good news and keep that family on the smooth sailing they had been on.
 
Jessica smiled at him lovingly at his words about her food and his offer to help then leaned on the counter, waiting for the food. Something in her eyes shifted slightly, they way they did when she was talking with Grace in her head, then she opened her mouth and Grace's voice said. "Mrs. Morden isn't gambling. She can tell her husband doesn't trust her and it upsets her, which is why she's been going out more, but she hasn't been gambling."
 
Scott was surprised when he heard a totally different voice coming from Jessica's mouth. It was soft, lyrical, and had that slight trace of a British accent that all Voltari had when speaking English. This had to be Grace, and he smiled after the surprise had worn off.
"How do you know that, Grace? Were you able to read her mind?"
He hoped that she was right, but he wondered how she could say so with such certainty.
 
Grace had Jessica nod and replied. "In a way, just as Valor is able to sense motives and surrounding dangers, I have extreme empathetic abilities. I am able to feel someone else's emotions and sense what is causing them. I wasn't able to say so with certainty until tonight because when you were outside when she was walking to the car, I had a clear line to sense her emotions without the hindrance of a car or a wall between us."
 
Scott nodded in understanding.
"I see. Well, that's a relief that I won't have to give her husband bad news. I'll do a little more video recording of her and then we'll talk to the client to clear her name."
Grace's empathy was something he had not thought of tapping into, but it was very useful to their team dynamic. Now it was just a matter of getting the solid evidence to prove the truth.
 
Grace gave Scott a very gentle, motherly smile, very unlike the smiles Jessica gave him before her eyes shifted back to normal and Jessica looked over at Scott and gave him her usual smile. "I'm glad Mrs. Morden is innocent, now we just need to prove it."
 
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