Marcus

Chapter Four

"Are you sure?" Nate asked in a skeptical tone.

"Of course I'm fucking sure. You think I'd drive all the way over here in the middle of the night if I wasn't sure?" Marcus bit out in a raised voice that put a scowl on Nate's face.

"Okay, okay. Lower your damn voice - Claire's sleeping. Let's take this conversation out on the deck."

"Sorry." Marcus offered in a hushed voice, forgetting Nate's wife, Claire, was only a few feet away from them.

Before they could settle into their seats on the back deck, the kitchen light flickered on and revealed a very sleepy Claire, wearing one of Nate's shirts that was so oversized it looked like a dress that covered the shorts she was wearing, or at least the shorts Marcus hoped she was wearing.

"Marcus? What's wrong? Oh God what happened?" Claire's tired eyes went wide with panic, but before either one could answer her she studied Marcus' face and posture and came to her own conclusion.

"Wait, is this about Caroline? About the pictures Nate showed you today?" Claire asked, taking a seat between them.

Marcus lowered his chin and gave Nate a look, but Nate wasn't apologetic in the least.

"We're married dude, we don't keep secrets."

Nate shrugged his shoulders, but he wasn't really apologizing for telling Claire and to be honest Marcus really didn't mind that she knew. He'd accept all the help that he could get at this point because he needed it - because he was desperate.

"So what are you trying to get at Marcus? What does the color of Caroline's nails prove?" Nate asked.

"I think the photos from the morgue aren't Caroline. The nails on those hands were painted and Red never painted her nails."

Nate dropped his head slightly and let his shoulders slump at Marcus' words before bringing his head up to meet Marcus' eyes.

"I know how badly you want that to be true, but..."

"I'm not crazy Nate, I know her, she didn't paint her nails and the nails in the morgue pictures were painted." The desperation of Marcus' voice made it almost unrecognizable.

"It was such a long time ago Marcus...what if..."

"Listen to me!" Marcus roared, slamming a fist onto the table.

The impact of his fist on the table coupled with the loud boom of his voice caused Claire to jump and Marcus hated himself for it.

"Shit I'm sorry Claire..." Marcus said in a calm voice as he placed his hand over hers and gave it a squeeze.

He knew better than to raise his voice like that around women. His size alone was enough to be intimidating and increasing the volume of his deep booming voice was less than comforting. The last thing he wanted was for any of his teammates women to be scared of him and he immediately regretted not being more aware of his audience.

I'm not a monster Claire, I'm just all fucked up in the head at the moment. You know I didn't mean it.

Marcus squeezed Claire's hand, feeling her wrap her fingers around his in a reassuring response before looking over at Nate with desperate eyes.

"It's not Caroline, Nate. I can feel it."

Picking up on the utter despair in Marcus' tone, Nate relented and held his hands up in a surrender pose, nodding his head in agreement that he heard what Marcus was saying.

"I hear you brother, okay? I am listening. I'm just trying to figure this shit out for you and to do that, I need all the pieces and I'm going to have to ask you questions without you taking it personally." Nate said calmly.