When Perfect Meets Crazy

24 - Burnt blackened toast

"My dad is a cop. The sheriff at that. I've been on the receiving end of that gaze a lot over the years. Sometimes, when I stop at the station, there's a criminal in cuffs looking like he'd love to get me alone in a dark alley. I recognize that gaze. I know it. I'd recognize it anywhere. You deserve credit though." I laughed. It was bitter and self mocking. "You had me fooled for a minute there."

The look of utter confusion on his face had me faltering for a second. His eyes were wide and guileless in a way that one just couldn't fake without being a multiple Oscar winner.

I frowned.

The main reason I let him stalk me up close and personal -other than the fact that letting him do it from afar wasn't a better option- was because he wore his emotions on his face. The trait led me to believe that he wasn't truly a rotten criminal.

The creepy gaze, however, was malicious in a way that would put even an ex marine on guard. No rookie criminal could pull that off. It was malicious in a way that screamed hardened trigger-happy criminal. In a way that the eyes staring back at me at the moment just did not seem capable of.

"It wasn't you," I whispered. "It wasn't you."

The words were out of my mouth before my brain even finished processing the thought but the way he instantly averted his gaze, clenching then unclenching his fist made it clear I was spot on.

Oh, thank God.

Relief engulfed me like sinking into a warm bath. I could breath again.

"How could I have missed this?" I mused aloud, my eyes widening as the pieces all came together.

I could smack myself. I deserved to be smacked. How had I missed it? How had I not even considered it at all? It had been staring me in the face the whole time for fuck's sake.

"It all makes sense now. Taking a day or two out of the week to catch up on all your real life stuff?" I shook my head. "Given your intellectual capacity, it doesn't make sense. It's not even plausible. You're an idiot. You can't possibly fit all that work into two days. You are not smart enough to be that efficient."

"Seriously?" he cut in, a disgruntled frown on his face.

"Challenged. Whatever. You know what I mean," I amended offhandedly.

It wasn't him but judging from his reaction, it was clearly someone he knew.

Someone he knew well enough to know which days said person was watching me.

"A partner!" I exclaimed, slapping a hand across my forehead. "You have a partner. Of course!"

It was all coming together.

"Whoever he is, he's the brain behind this operation." I nodded vigorously. "It makes sense. You couldn't have possibly figured all this out on your own. You're an idiot. He's the smart one and he's... not fond of the fact that I know about you."

The last part didn't come out as smoothly as I intended but admitting someone somewhere wanted to do bodily harm to your person wasn't exactly easy when the threat was very much real. This partner could be an actual murderer for all I knew.

Masked Idiot wore a disgruntled scowl.

"You don't have to be condescending," he muttered.

I frowned, mentally going over my last statement to figure out what he was referring to.

"Aaah. You mean about your inferior cognitive capacity?"

He pursed his lips, unimpressed.

"I don't have to," I agreed. "I just want to. It's fun."