Fractured Mirth
part 4
"Look, all I'm saying, is that you may want to inform him that it's going to take more than a little magic to solve this case," Rachel Burke stated plainly, running a hand quickly through her red hair, as she adjusted her remaining fingers briefly upon her elbow. "I can't work with someone who's that stubborn. And quite frankly-"
"So you're going to hold him until you get an answer that isn't there?" Phoebe Halliwell countered, her gaze cold and hard, as she frowned at the profiler, hands across her chest. "Do you have any idea how much time you'll be wasting? Any at all?"
"I'm only doing my job," Rachel told her, her eyes narrowing slightly, as she retrieved a stack of folders upon Darryl's desk, collecting them carefully into her grasp. "I now have reason to believe Mr. Turner could prove invaluable. And in order to do that, you have to talk to him."
"Talk to him?" she returned, confused. "About what? He's already proved himself by not knowing anything about this Robertson guy."
"Yeah, well, I still have a feeling he's not saying everything that's on his mind at the moment. Far be it for me to pass up any information I can get."
"You're going to have to pass it up this time," Phoebe challenged her.
"Actually, I might have an even better proposition for you," Rachel insisted, ingoring her completely, as she began to skim through a file folder, hesitating for a split second to raise an eyebrow in the witch's direction.
"Not interested," she said simply, shrugging.
"But you haven't even-"
"I don't have to, okay? I put myself in more danger everyday than you've probably been subjected to in your entire lifetime."
"I highly doubt that."
"Oh, I'm not lying. You wanted a fact, and now you've got one."
She studied her, absentmindedly biting her lower lip, as she slapped the paperwork back down upon the desk, bringing herself just a bit closer, lowering her voice to a whisper. "Then you most likely share his secret. And like it or not, Miss Halliwell, I'm going to find out what it is."
"Then you'll come up empty-handed."
"He slipped out of his own handcuffs," she hissed. "That's not exactly possible, no matter how much of a pro you claim to be."
"So that's where the magic part comes in, does it?"
"I currently don't have any other explantion to fall back on."
"And you're going to turn us in?"
"For what?" Rachel demanded, her expression entirely unreadable. "What don't I know here?"
"You get pictures in your head, right? Visions of how your suspects commit their crimes?"
She nodded in agreement to the assumption, still unclear on where her opponent intended to go with it. "Most of the time a part of their upbringing will trigger it for me. For example- Duane Robertson most likely had a traumatic childhood that left him with traces of abuse from a parent or both parents. It's a common deduction when you put his own crimes into perspective."
"Yeah, well, I get them too," she sided softly, pointing a slender finger to her head. "Only thing is, I don't know when they're going to come to me. It's kind of like a special gift."
"A gift?" Rachel taunted. "How can something like that be considered a gift, when you can't even control it?"
"I do just fine, thank you very much. I've been able to save people too."
"Oh really?"
"You can believe it, or you can choose to-"
"I want Cole to go undercover," she concluded, as she followed her outside into the night air, a faint breeze suddenly springing itself upon them, the trees wavering slightly from the impact.
"Are you out of your mind?"
"He knows the tricks of the trade, and he could easily pull it off."
"Okay, a minute ago you were literally undermining his intelligence, and you suddenly want to hire him to work for you? What part of the picture am I not getting here?"
"I saw him back there, Phoebe. He's good. Even if Robertson had some guys on him, he could find a way to make an escape route with little to no trouble at all. He's a fast thinker, he keeps on his toes, and that's exactly what we need on this. Someone who knows the ropes."
"Like hell."
"The added bonus is purely to our advantage, and I think you already know what that is."
"There's a bonus?" she quipped sarcastically.
"He looks like John," she mused. "What better way to fight the system, than to have him go in as John Grant? It's not like these guys would even know the difference. They haven't been around John long enough to find out."
"Wait. Are you talking about the guys in the allyway?" Phoebe murmured.
"It's damn worth a shot, isn't it?"
"Well, yeah. The only thing is, you have no idea what you're getting into here- let alone...where we might be able to pick up on a location. These guys are best left out of our reach for the time being."
"And I could go with him. It would be-"
"He's not alone?"
"Well, if he insisted on covering the premises on his own, we could obtain a surveillance team to track him. He'd be under our watch at all times."
"This is crazy," she whispered. "You know that? In case you haven't guessed it by now, I'm not exactly fond of the love of my life putting his life on constant hold...not to mention right in the line of fire."
"He'll be safe," she pleaded. "And with all due respect, I know I am not the most popular person in all of this right now, and believe me, I get that. I just...I have to find a way to solve this before our time runs out. We weren't even supposed to be here this long, and Cole's unwillingness to say pretty much anything, leaves me a pretty big dead end."
"You know why he's doing it, don't you?"
"What?"
"Cole's always shut himself out. He's so afraid to reveal one single shred of evidence, because it almost always makes him the bad guy in stuff like this. He's gone through a lot, and he's pretty much put up a big wall that hardly anyone has managed to break through."
"But you did," Rachel pointed out. "He trusts you."
"Yeah, and believe me, I've earned it."
"So you're saying I haven't?"
"Not yet."
"I'm going to release him," she said quietly. "I don't know if it'll become beneficial to me in any way, but I'm not about to keep toying with Robertson, when we could have already had him in for interrogation by now."
"I thought you said you aren't convinced."
"I'm not. But like I just told you, we need someone else on our side who can work his way around the bugs."
"And that man is Cole."
She nodded. "I think so. He matches the description of our agent exactly, and it shouldn't-"
"Then tell them."
"Miss Halliwell?"
"Call it in right now. I want him out of there. It's doing him no good to sit in a damn cell all night, is it? I mean, with killers on the loose...Robertson still running around...."
"And I'm sorry. But you have to know that my interest in him was for a good cause, and- truth be told, I'm doing this for John. Because I want justice just as much as he does. You have to understand that."
"Letting a murderer go free never sat well with anyone," a deep voice quipped, as Cole suddenly shimmered into sight before their frame of vision, scraping his hands together, as he gently clasped them tightly behind his back, rocking back on the balls of his feet with a newfound enthusiasm. "Isn't that right, Miss Burke?"
She stared at him, unable to believe it, as he shot her a playful smile. She carefully took a step back, her gaze transfixed upon his profile, as she continued to look him over with a strange fascination, her hand settling protectively over her weapon, tucked away safely near her belt loop. "I didn't call to have you removed from the facility, Mr. Turner."
"No. But I took it upon myself to remove myself, if that...makes the slightest bit of sense. I can't just sit around here waiting for trouble to come to me, but then again- I know you're already well aware of that."
"And who said there was going to be trouble?" she put forth, amused.
"It usually follows me wherever I go with a capital T," he managed, shrugging.
"Look, for your sake and mine- I don't know what you just did, and to be honest, I don't really want to. No human being could attempt that without acquiring a decent amount of-"
"It's called shimmering, and it's a travel tool," he explained. "Perfectly harmless, and on the record- it's not something you could ever book me for...this saying you even had it in mind in the first place."
"And I need to know what the hell you are, if I'm going to continue this-"
"Judging from your reaction, I can see that's going to take quite a bit of time," he sided.
"Good. Because I've got all night."
"Does...this mean I'm under arrest again?"
"No," she offered, calmly shaking her head. "It means I could use a nice restaurant to stop by, until I receive word on John and any improvements. I'll buy." She eyed him up suspiciously again for a beat, then found her visage softening. "But no more secrets."
"Does this mean you're-" Phoebe started.
"It means I'll put up with the two of you, as long as you can provide me with steady progress that complies to the case. Understood?"
"I'll go find Paige and Piper then," she agreed.
"Your...."
"Irritating sisters," Cole spoke up, laughing softly to himself.
Phoebe nonchalently jabbed him lightly in the ribs, as she began to head off, gingerly meeting her lips with his, as she regarded him with a slow smile. "I'll see you in a little bit, okay? Try not to get into another fight while I'm gone."
"I don't fight," he argued, reluctantly pulling away from her, as he placed a hand upon his chest, turning back to the profiler who lingered across from him, standing her ground.
"I'll be the judge of that," she quipped. "I'm just going to make a quick call to Bailey, and then we can discuss the operation."
"I'm sorry?"
"I've got a job for you, Mr. Turner, and it strangely enough...doesn't involve too much thought on the surface."
"I'm speechless, really."
"I imagine you're going to be," she told him with a smile of her own. "Because in the meantime, you're John Grant, fully employed with the VCTF until further notice."
"Okay, I'm what?"
"You heard me."
"Did Phoebe talk you into this?"
"Not at all. I'm acting on my decision alone. You can obviously get yourself out of some pretty tough situations, and you're exactly what we need."
"Did I put out a bulletin, and forget to tell myself?"
"Robertson's fate is going to remain solely in your hands. So you should probably know this is entirely serious."
"Of course."
"That's funny," she murmured, pulling the tiny cell phone away from her ear, glancing once again at the number she had punched in, shaking her head. "No answer."
"Maybe he turned it off," Cole suggested.
"But he knows enough to leave it on. I told him I'd-"
"Speaking of which- do you ever find time to just loosen up? I mean, speaking from a non government capacitiy and everything, it's kind of hard for me to envision you otherwise."
"I'm going to just assume that was a smart alec comment on your behalf," she told him, frowning, "and you'll be apologizing for it later."
"Later...."
"You don't even know me, Mr. Turner. So I hardly think it's logical for you to throw things like that in my face."
"And speaking from one professional to another-"
"You're not a professional."
"From a lawyer-"
"Former lawyer," she corrected, still not missing a beat.
"From a former lawyer to an FBI agent working for the VCTF, what do you think is really going on here?"
"In terms of?"
"Robertson, John's accident. Do you think there are more than one party working together who are going to be held responsible?"
"I have my theories, but I guess it remains to be seen."
"I'd love to hear them sometime."
"Hear?"
"Those theories? I'll bet you're pretty close."
"Why do you say that?"
"You just strike me as the type that's intensely focused. When you want something, you get it done."
"Is that a problem for you?" she countered lightly, raising an eyebrow in his direction.
"Should it be?"
"It's only a question, Mr. Turner."
"Then no. Because I'm sure you'll find I'm just as focused in my own line of work."
"And here we go again, wasting precious minutes in those circles you talked about earlier." She took a deep breath. "Typical."
"I think it keeps slipping your mind that I wasn't the one who slapped handcuffs on you, and forcefully dragged you into a police station in the middle of the night."
"Does it?"
"Either way, you know I can't even be held on bail."
She scoffed. "So I noticed."
"And it's also not everyday that I'm introduced to someone so stubborn."
"I beg your pardon?"
"It's not the most attractive habit on the planet."
"Oh, and I suppose you're nowhere near it?"
"Of course not."
"Right," she mumbled, rolling her eyes.
"Ready to suspend your beliefs for a few hours?" he noted casually.
"That depends- are you going to be shimmering in and out of the conversation?"
"Hey, that's a good one. But you just better hope you can survive long enough to see this case taken to completion. I suspect it's going to be a very bumpy ride."
"Meaning?"
"You may just witness some things you never even knew existed."
"And how's that, exactly?"
He regarded her with a half smile, as he placed a firm hand atop her shoulder rather gently. "Because you can't be frightened by the unexpected." And with that, he surprisingly pulled her into his shimmer, much to her annoyed dismay.