“Somebody turned it off,” Nicole said.
Abbott nodded. “Yes.”
“Might’ve been your PI that did it,” Bridge said. “Like I said, he might be busy and into something and didn’t want to blow off what he was doing.”
“I don’t think that’s it. I think it’s something more serious.”
“Listen, if this guy is missing, you should call the police so they can start looking for him. Maybe call the FBI too.”
“They won’t help. I know they won’t.”
Bridge sighed and flicked his lips together, feeling like he wasn’t getting through to him. “Listen, I’d like to help you. I really would. But we have another case coming up that’s gonna take us out of the country.”
“We do?” Nicole asked. The surprised tone of her voice should have given away that it was a lie.
“We do,” Bridge replied sternly.
“I know you’re not cheap, but I can afford to pay you extra,” Abbott said.
“It’s not about the money.”
“Even if you could just look into it for a couple of days before you leave. I would really appreciate it.”
“I just don’t think we have enough—”
“We can look into it for a couple days,” Nicole blurted out.
Bridge’s eyes widened, and his face became a mixture of shock and anger as he stared down his girlfriend.
Nicole wasn’t really concerned with his stare, though. She knew he’d get over it in a few minutes, and she wasn’t worried about him falling in line. He always did after his initial objections. “We can give it three days.”
A look of relief swept across Abbott’s face. “Oh, thank you so much. I really appreciate it.”
“You’ll have to give us everything you know about your brother and the PI who was working on it. What he was doing, where he was going, people he knew, everything you can think of. It doesn’t matter how small or insignificant you think it is. Write it down. We’ll judge whether it matters or not.”
Abbott smiled and nodded. “No problem.”
Nicole went over to the kitchen counter and grabbed a legal pad and a pen, bringing them back to the living room and handing it to their guest. As Abbott began writing, Nicole sat down and leaned back, looking at Bridge, who was still staring her down. She tilted her head and plastered on a fake smile, trying to look as pretty and innocent as possible. Bridge squinted his eyes as he continued staring.
“Love you,” Nicole mouthed silently.
Bridge put his thumb in the air and motioned for her to meet him in the bedroom. He then got up. “I have to check something,” he said to Abbott.
Nicole waited a few seconds for him to disappear before she got up as well. “Would you excuse me for a second? You just keep on writing, OK? We’ll be back in a second.”
“Sure,” Abbott replied. He was too focused on writing and his situation to really know or care what they were doing anyway.
Bridge was waiting in the bedroom with his arms crossed as Nicole came in. She closed the door behind her.
“What do you think you’re doing?”
Nicole shrugged, playing the innocent card. “Just trying to help someone who needs it.”
“Oh no, don’t do that.”
“Do what?” She batted her eyelashes at him.
“That! That. That right there. Don’t play that I’m-so-innocent thing you do sometimes to pull yourself out of trouble.”
“Am I in trouble?”
“You know you are. I specifically said we couldn’t help with this case, and what do you do? Offer to help. You know damn well I didn’t want to take on this case.”
“What’s the harm in looking at it for a few days? We don’t have anything else scheduled. At best, we find something and can help him get closure. At worst, we find nothing, and maybe he’ll finally accept that there’s nothing else that can be done, and he’ll move on. Then you won’t have to deal with him again.”
“That’s not the point. The point is, you specifically went against what I said. You undermined me.”
Nicole moved in closer to him with a sorrowful expression and threw her arms around him. She then playfully kissed his lips a few times. “I’m sorry.”
“I know what you’re doing. It’s not gonna work.”
She then started kissing his neck. “What am I doing?”
“You’re trying to use your womanly ways to get me to calm down and come to your side.”
She continued kissing him. “I would never do that.”
“Uh huh.”
They locked lips for the next few seconds, with Bridge finally beginning to lose the steam coming from his ears.
“If you really don’t want to take the case, then fine. I mean, if you don’t want to help someone who’s hurting, who’s in pain, who’s looking for answers, then fine. Just go out and tell him we’ve changed our mind.”
“Me?!”
Nicole continued kissing his lips. “Well, you’re the one who’s not interested.”
As Nicole moved to other parts of his body, Bridge started thinking about it, though it was hard to concentrate. He knew this was Nicole’s intention. She always did this to him to get what she wanted. He hated how he was an easy mark for her.
“You know, sometimes I really hate how our relationship has evolved.”
Nicole kissed him some more, stopping for a second. “You want to go back to the way it used to be?”
“No. No. But it was easier to say no to you before.”
Nicole grinned. “I’m sure it was.” She then kissed both sides of his face. She knew she basically had won him over. Bridge sighed. “I’m sorry. Should I stop?”
“Huh? No, not that. That you can keep doing.”
“Then what?” She kissed his lips again.
“Fine.”
“Fine, what?”
“Fine, we’ll take the case.”
Nicole stopped kissing him for a second, then planted another big one on his lips. “Awe, thank you, sweety. Thank you for doing this for me.”
“Did I have a choice?”
“Not really.”
“I didn’t think so.”
She put her hand on the side of his face and kissed him again. “You won’t regret it.”
Bridge watched her walk out of
