that is just to sweet.

Awwwwwwwwww!
That's pretty much all I'm able to say in this moment.

Wonderful post, Marlo.
Ornella

I do believe Jack has a series of plans he intends to implement one by one.... I don't know how Sue is still standing upright...that girl has nerves of steel.

kav

totally agree!

Wow how sweet.....


~laura michelle~

Can they go to the haystacks after the romantic sleigh ride?

Em

awww that was so sweet and jack wouldn't get them lost in the woods.
UPDATE Soon!!

This is so romantic!! A sleigh ride with Jack - it can't get any better than that - or can it???

Joy

Glad to see that you have started another story, Can't wait for more.

Dianna

That is so sweet It can't get much better than that unless they

Sue closed the door behind her and sighed in contentment. This had been her most romantic evening ever. Almost perfect, except ...

“You did ruin it, Levi”, chiding her dog who was sheepishly sitting at her feet.

She was ashamed to admit she dozed off in his car, remembering waking up against his shoulder when he parked in front of her building. He accompanied her up and took the keys from her hand to unlock her door. But instead of turning the knob, he reached for her, his arm encircling her waist. She nervously licked her lips in anticipation of whatever he had in mind when abruptly he pulled away. From her doorway, her next-door neighbour in her purple nightgown was yelling at them to be quiet. The click of the lock alerted Levi who was barking in the apartment, upsetting the tenants at two in the morning. Regretfully, Jack placed a chaste kiss on her cheek before leaving under the angry gaze of the neighbour who noisily slammed her door once Jack was out of sight.

“Were you trying to get back at me for leaving you alone?” looking at Levi who patted her leg in response. “Do you need to go out?” A loud bark answered her question.

She couldn’t blame her dog for his lack of timing. She came back much later than she predicted knowing all along Lucy would be spending the night at her grandmother. She smiled at the idea of skipping Lucy’s interrogation chair. “You’d better make it quick, Levi. I want to go to bed. I’m working tomorrow ... more like later this morning.” She chuckled while tying his leash to his collar before heading into the night with him.

Jack’s steps were bouncy as he walked to his car. That little bribe to get her to help him in the archives room had truly been an inspiration. The evening was enchanted, from the restaurant to the sleigh ride. Afraid of losing control of the horse if he let free rein to his passion, he simply enjoyed her company, limiting his mischief to innocent kisses in her hair. When she fell asleep against his shoulder in the car she looked like an angel ... his angel, and he easily imagined waking up to her bright smile and sleepy eyes every morning. Not the he would share those images with her on their first date, assuming she considered their evening a date. He very much wanted to tell her how he felt before kissing her goodnight, but fate decided otherwise. Her cheeks were still rosy from the cold, and his lips tingled when he pressed them against her skin. He realised he let the occasion slip by when maybe he could have convinced her to finish ... begin their conversation inside. But if the old adage saying a gesture was worth a thousand words was true, he gave a pretty eloquent speech tonight, or so he thought.

Jack went straight to bed when he arrived. And he entered dreamland with her picture on his mind and her name on his lips.

She was walking in Central Park with Levi. It was dark and rainy. The streetlamps were casting shadows among the trees. She unhooked Levi’s leash from his collar to let him roam freely. A black car with tinted glasses sped towards her, catching her unaware. The blades of grass were crushed under the tires, leaving two parallel trails in the wet grass. Without decelerating the driver lowered the window. His gun appeared in the gap. He fired repetitively. She collapsed near the fountain, her arm stretched ...

His phone rang on his night table.

“Hudson”, he answered, breathing heavily.

“Sorry to disturb you, agent Hudson, but I have information on Miss Thomas you may want to hear.”

Okay this was perfect until Levi barked and the phone rang

Well, that was a terrible way to end my day

Looking forward to more.

Oh no! What's going on??

Please post more soon Marlene!!

BLT

i was happily fuzzified until levi barked, jack had a dream and the phone rang

cath

whattttttttttttt was that i was in fuzzy heaven and then you write that well pffff you better make it right...you better make it ok.

You had to do that, didn't ya?!! What information?!? Who is calling? Where is sue!? Is she okay? So many unanswered questions you have to answers!! terror.gif

Can't wait for more!!

Marlo! What did you do?! When do you come back? I need the rest of the post!

Ornella

I was forming into a very nice little puddle, until the last part of your post!! Was that a dream Jack was having when Sue got shot?? And who is on the phone???

Joy

I know the gunshot was a dream - but I'm hoping it wasn't a premonition....

keep playing catch up but this is terrific but whos on the
phone and what is it about sue jack should know more soon please pretty please Lin

You couldn't manage to make it be Jack dreaming that he woke from a dream about Sue being shot, could you????

Jill

I just want to say in regard to Kav's comment about not being able to stand, technically she was sitting at the time!!!

Amazing po;sts Marlo, so magical until that shocker!!

Jen

Shoot, Marlo, why did you have to go and do that?!

...I like the dream idea... go with it!

ugh, I just realized my bad choice of words... "shoot" just seems... ugh. I don't know. Wrong?

What ... or should I ask WHO exactly do you want me to shoot, Lizzy???

Ring? I thought the last post would make you forget about the ring ... now I really have to come up with an inscription, don't I?

+++++

Jack pushed the nightmare out of his mind. Whatever triggered it would have to wait. Dale didn’t call him at 4am for no good reason, especially when the lab tech himself should have been off duty by now.

Jack appreciated Dale’s efficiency as much as his discretion, which was why he specifically addressed Dale when he first dropped the pictures and the hair and blood samples. When he returned an hour later with Sue and the ring, Dale was already working on the DNA analysis. They discussed the case with the technician after he inquired about the context of the shooting. And now it seemed Dale had valuable information.

“Shouldn’t you be home with your wife?” Jack asked as a greeting.

“My mother-in-law is visiting, so please, keep the work coming”, he implored with a mischievous smile. “I’m sorry if I woke you up, agent Hudson. In all honesty, the results could have waited, but not my eagerness to share them.”

“Okay, you roused my curiosity”, thinking he should have grabbed a coffee somewhere. “What did you find?”

“I ran the facial recognition program”, tilting the screen of his computer so Jack could follow. “On the left, Miss Thomas’ employment picture. On the right, the picture you gave me.”

“It’s a match?” stunned by the results. Who and why place Sue’s picture in ...

“No, it’s not, though the tiny differences are within our acceptable margin of error.”

“I ... I’m lost”, staring at the lab tech.

“I tested the paper and ink, and the picture is genuine. It was taken in the nineteen forties. That woman was Miss Thomas’ maternal grandmother ... or an identical twin of her grandmother.”

“A what?” the revelation shocking him.

“DNA supports that theory. I ran an aging software program”, keying a new code. “This is what her grandmother would have looked like now.”

Jack smiled at the image of the sweet old lady filling up the screen. The eyes were still Sue’s, and the smile, and ...

“Now the crime scene”, interrupting Jack’s musing. “With the details you gave me about the victims I was able to make educated guesses. This is your mobster”, a red circle appearing around the body lying on the lawn. “Notice the gun a few inches from his hand?” as Dale made a close-up.

“Huxley probably drew it as a reflex when he heard the first gun shot”, knowing he would have reacted the same way.

“Here’s the grandmother who died with her grandson”, the toddler toppled over her body. “That’s the teenage boy.”

Jack squinted. The body lay face down, unrecognisable.

“Clothes and body size, agent Hudson. Pants and t-shirt, small frame.”

Jack nodded.

“This is your unidentified elderly gentleman still holding the leash of his dog, and here”, circling a body near the fountain, “is your mystery woman.”

Jack gasped. She was lying like Sue was in his dream after she was shot. Subconsciously he must have noticed her in the picture. Her hair partially covered her face. She was wearing a light colour dress with a huge stain over her chest, which he realised was blood. He was grateful the picture was black and white.

“See her left arm stretched over her head?” zooming in on her hand. “I know it’s blurry but you can make out a ring on her baby finger. I’m extrapolating here when I say it’s probably the one you found in the evidence bag.”

Would that rule out a wedding ring, Jack pondered, or was the ring too small?

“Did you have a look at the ring, Dale?”

“Yes. Miss Thomas has a keen vision to have seen the markings.” Dale produced a printed copy of the inscription. Anna – Carl 1944. “The inscription barely scratches the metal.”

Jack held the ring. Was she Anna? Sue’s grandmother?

“If you can give her a name, you may just have identified a sixty-year old murder victim, agent Hudson”, Dale observed.

But unearthed an even greater mystery, Jack thought.

Oh gosh

Wow ~ One interesting twist after another!!!

I'm glad the shooting was Jack's dream!! You had me worried there for a minute, Marlo!!!

This is getting curiouser and curiouser (I don't think this is a word)!!!

Joy

Jack you had better get to Sue's house and ask her... It's 4 in the morning do you know where your grandma is?

oh goody oh goody a mysterie.....i love mysteries from marlene. i think maybe they should talk with sue's mom or dad. maybe they know more about this.

i'm loving this

wow

cath

Oh my!

Kim

What a rollar coaster ride you have going here Marlene!

I can't wait for more!

BLT

I love a good Christmas mystery.
thanks,
Terie

Hey! ** taps on monitor anxiously** Are you in there?

**once again wishes for a face smooshed up against a window smilie...**

Hurry back!

WOW! I'm hooked! Now I begin to understand the title... I think...

Post more soon.
Ornella

And I'm still concerned about your choice of titles. Oh, gee, Marlo, I have an idea here, but I'm not going to tell you for fear of giving you ideas.

I just hope one of the old mobsters don't recognize Sue as her grandmother or.... Oops. I did it anyway.

this is great but is it sues granny this is really a big mystery
im loving it more soon please
Lin

I'm so intrigued! Please come back with more!!!

Em

Phew. Now that we have that cleared up.......or do we????


Interesting plot. You never cease to amaze me!

Jill

5am. Too late to go back to bed, too early to start his day. Coffee. Real coffee. Strong coffee. And a shower. A hot shower. Perfect combination to counteract less than two hours of sleep punctuated by the disturbing nightmare his brain refused to erase.

In a way it made sense he subliminally recreated the shooting, but why in Central Park? The mystery woman was killed in Kentucky, not New York. Except Sue was offered a transfer to the Big Apple that she accepted before changing her mind.

He didn’t sleep much the night preceding her scheduled departure. He paced his apartment in search of the words that would make her stay in DC, only coming up with three ... afraid they wouldn’t be enough.

He pushed that painful memory away, concentrating instead on the increasingly heavy commuting traffic. The overnight snow accumulation was rendering the streets treacherous. When the cars in front of him slowed down to a crawl, Jack turned right at the next intersection to circumvent the congestion. Random driving led him to her apartment.

He knocked softly hoping Levi would only wake Sue and not Lucy or the entire floor. The thought that Sue could be mad at him for interrupting her short night didn’t occur to him until the door opened. She stood, barely awake, staring at him through dark narrow slits.

“Hi, angel”, stepping inside and closing the door behind him.

“Jack?” so surprised to see him that the endearing term he used didn’t register.

“I needed to see you”, he blurted out.

“Why? This is way too early for you, Jack”, her voice was soft and melodious, and he could almost make out a smile on her lips.

“Why did you turn down New York?” the words out of his mouth before he could recall them.

The unexpected question lifted the remaining sleep from her brain. She looked into his eyes, unable to decipher the shadow that loomed over them. He waited, his hands in his coat pockets, finally recognising his nightmare for what it really was ... his fear of losing her.

“I couldn’t leave ...” her voice dropped but not before he heard a faint you.

He held her gaze. His smile broadened, spreading to the corners of his eyes. He removed his coat and boots before taking a step towards her.

“I’m glad”, he simply observed, wrapping her in his arms, “because I was so scared of losing you forever.”

“You took your sweet time to tell me”, she teased him, her hand cupping his coarse chin. He didn’t shave, she realised, nor was he dressed for work.

“I’m so sorry for wasting three years”, his head leaning into her hand.

“You didn’t, Jack. We built a wonderful friendship.”

“Well, if you’re willing, I would love to add a ... romantic facet to our ... relationship.”

“And when would you like to begin construction?” she coyly asked.

“Now sounds good.”

Be still my heart!! I love the part about starting construction!!!

Joy

oh be still my heart

Now sounds really good!!!!!!

Wow! Dreams can have a powerful effect on people. If it turns Jack from turtle boy to speeding bullet...dream more Jack!

Kim

Looking forward to more, this story is very intriguing!

I love Marlo stories!!!

Now is good. Really, really, really good.

I just hope Lucy doesn't interrupt now...