Married to my Suspect

DANIELLE'S POV

"Can you stop that, please?" The voice brought me out of my reverie. I turned to Lucas and shrugged in confusion.

"Stop what?" I asked distractedly.

"That. The pen." I looked down at the pen I'd probably been clicking for the past half hour and dropped it on the table.

"By the way, what's the deal with you? Why do you look like a zombie? He said from my desk, pointing at my eyes.

I was in my apartment and didn't need anyone to tell me I looked like trash. There were tons of papers strewn around my room, and different case files opened. Since I'd seen the pen in Jonathan's office, it hasn't stopped eating at me. Actually, that wasn't true. Since I'd experienced the murder, I hadn't been the same, and the presence of that pen had thrown me brutally head first, right into memories I would rather forget.

"Nothing." I stood up and went into my pantry, grabbing a bag of chips. I opened the bag, and Lucas grabbed it from me.

"Are you sure nothing is wrong? Is it your job? Your boss?" He asked pleadingly, but I simply shook my head and grabbed my snack back.

"Not really." There was nothing else I could say. This was my battle to fight, and I couldn't bear to involve him, even though he might be the only friend I had.

We'd met in college when I'd tutored him for some courses in his freshman year, and since then, he'd stuck to me like a glue. Something I would have preferred not to have happened. We had attended different colleges but our apartments had been close to each other and that was how he had gotten to know I was a tutor 

"Fine. Do you want to grab something to eat? A sandwich? A hamburger?"

I thought for a minute and shook my head.

"I'm not hungry." I responded, lifting the chips, and he nodded. 

"Fine, have it your way. You'd better appreciate me and my presence because I'm going to get married very soon, and you'll begin to miss what you never had." He jokingly commented, pointing between both of us, and suddenly, it was like a spark of a bulb in my mind.

"What did you say?" I asked excitedly, different ideas running through my head.

"I was joking." He deadpanned, but I could no longer hear him. Why hadn't I thought of that earlier? Everything I needed had been dropped right in my lap.

I stood up and started cleaning up my room. My room wasn't always a mess. Who was I explaining to anyway? 

Lucas watched as I cleaned up my apartment and shook his head, muttering something.

"What did you say?" I asked, not bothering to lift my head from the trash bag.

"Looks like you're fine now I'm off. I have a lot of things to do."

I watched him leave, feeling no regret. He'd seen me on my way home after work, and recognizing the look I'd had on my face, he'd followed me home to cheer me up and, thankfully, had given me exactly what I had needed.

THE NEXT DAY

I wiped my sweaty palm on my pants as I waited for my boss to come back. I'd given him the notice for the emergency meeting, and I knew he would be arriving soon. I'd gone through everything that could go wrong, starting with wrong timing and, God forbid, him coming back to his office with somebody else.

I heard footsteps approaching and internally apologized to Lucas, who I was about to use as my scapegoat. I dialed his number. I'd considered making it a fake and just talking to an empty phone, but the chances of the phone ringing while I was pretending were too risky to ignore, so I had dropped that option.

"Hello." Lucas greeted, and I winced. The footstep was coming closer.

"Oh my God. I don't know what to do." I wailed into the phone, and I could hear Lucas confusion and fear.

"What's going on? Talk to me." He sounded like he was walking.

"I'm sorry." I whispered. "My mom, you know how weak she is. She has promised to try to kill herself again if I don't get married. What if she does it this time? I don't really understand her psychology, but I'm really scared this time." I squeezed some tears out of my eyes and stood up as my boss just passed me without a word or expression and entered his office.

I melted into my seat; I'd awfully read my boss wrong. 

"Danielle. What the heck are you talking about? Your mom said what?" Lucas demanded, and I started feeling guilty, knowing I'd scared him.

"Sorry. I wanted to do something. It's not true."

"What exactly isn't true, and what exactly are you doing? Aren't you at work?" I could hear the panic in his voice, and the guilt continued rushing in.

"I can't explain right now. I'm fine, and my mom is fine. I'll explain later. I'm sorry." I apologized, whispering, and dropped the call as Jonathan came back out with a file.

He dropped the file on my table, and his eyes slid to my phone. I followed his gaze and flushed. "I'm so sorry for using my phone during work hours, sir." I apologized, and he simply stared at me.

"Uh, I swear, I don't use it normally." I continued talking when he didn't stop staring.

He shrugged. "You're fine. As long as it doesn't affect my work. Organize this file and send it to the planning team within thirty minutes. I need it as soon as possible."

I nodded, and he went back into his office, and I sighed, staring at his closed office door. I'd read him awfully wrong and assumed he would have said something. Any other person would have. With his behavior, though, it was pretty silly of me to assume he would have cared. I had given him the perfect opportunity to please his mother, and he had ignored it. Or had I overestimated myself as a catch? I sat down and opened the file. At least I still had my job, but now I needed another way.