Guilty By Association

Chapter 27 - Something Very Not Right

Chapter 27 – Something Very Not Right

Kelsey? What could Kelsey possibly be doing here? Their last interaction hadn’t gone very well and Alex thought she was upset with him for infiltrating her date.

“Alex?” Kelsey’s voice sounded different, too. That was that. But then again, they hadn’t spoken to one another in a while but then again, Alex spends a lot of his time listening to the voices of people. But it still sounded like Kelsey, sort of.

Deciding that he needed to get another cup of coffee, he answered. “Yeah.” He told her. “Just wait. I’ll come down.”

“I know the way up.” Kelsey answered.

“I know.” Alex said. “Just wait.”

Without waiting for an answer, he hung up. When he looked back up, his team was looking at him with curious eyes. “Kelsey’s downstairs.” He said, answering their unspoken question.

“I thought she was hanging with Chris, today.” Dylan spoke up first. “She’s always with Chris these days. At least, that’s what Rona tells me.”

Alex didn’t like the Chris guy. He wanted to say it was because there was something about the guy that tingled his cop instincts, but that wasn’t true. It was because Chris was spending way too much time around Kelsey and Alex knew he didn’t like it.

Shay was a little more direct in her approach. “Why is she here?” She didn’t sound resentful, though. Just curious.

“I don’t know.” Alex responded, honestly. The same question was in his mind, too. “She didn’t tell me she was going to be coming here.”

“Well, why don’t you go get her, then?” Shay suggested. “Talk to her. Ask her why she’s here. Maybe she has something important to tell you. Besides,” She added with an almost snide tone. “This might be the longest you’ve avoided meeting her, otherwise, when she calls, you always go running.”

“That’s because she always gets herself into trouble. She has a bad habit of trusting people.” Alex answered. He couldn’t believe it. They were talking about Kelsey at work. Over the past week, she had become an almost taboo topic. Now, she was being mentioned so blatantly.

“Maybe she’s in trouble?” Erik suggested. “Maybe that’s why she’s here.”

“You’re right.” Alex agreed. “I should go see what she has to say. Besides, if she’s here, she’s safe for now. I’ll go see what she’s got to say.”

“Bring her up.” Shay said. “I need to talk to her, too.”

Hearing Shay’s words, Alex hesitated. He knew that Kelsey and Shay weren’t each other’s favorite people. But then again, he knew he could count on both off them to behave like mature adults, so he gave his associate a firm nod. “Okay.”

As Alex left the room, he suddenly felt apprehensive. Kelsey was here. After his behavior on Saturday, what could she possibly want to tell him? What if she wanted to tell him to stay away from her from now on?

He knew that she had loved coming to Dana’s wedding. It wasn’t an official date but it had definitely meant something to her. He also knew that Nina’s words had bothered her. They had bothered him, for sure, because Nina was right. He was evasive. But still, somehow, Kelsey had become important to him, and not just for the case.

She had made her way into his life. The shy, sensible girl had changed him, somehow. He felt the change, but he couldn’t identify it. He felt the same, yet different at the same time. He’d never felt the way he did when he’d seen her with Chris. He knew what it was: jealousy. He had been trying to deal with it, since. Coming to work diverted his mind from her, but every time he saw Kara’s face, Kelsey flashed into his mind.