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H elen could feel him watching her while they sat at the kitchen table eating a meal that had grown cold while it waited for the lovers to sate their appetites for each other before satiating their desires for food. Her attention now focused on the design of the dining table in a rich wood intricately meshed with a deep blue resin.

“This table is amazing,” she commented, not looking up at him.

“Thank you,” he offered.

“You made this? Oh wow, such remarkable craftsmanship. The resin is a nice touch. It is almost trooper blue,” she added. “What kind of wood is it?”

“Sequoia Redwood,” Mustang replied, watching her facial expression at the usage of the coveted, protected wood. “No, don’t even. The tree had fallen and they were cutting it up to be hauled off. I happened to be in the area and got several chunks of the trunk. One I made into this table, and another piece was used to craft my coffee and end tables.”

She rose, wearing the tee he’d discarded in haste to have her that he’d worn under his Trooper shirt. He said nothing as she bounced to the living room to admire the pieces he’d mentioned. Try as he might to reconcile the reality of her being in his home, he had questions and unless they were answered with a bit of clarity, the possible response would keep him up at night.

“Helen,” he said softly, moving to the living room where she camped out on the couch, her legs folded into a lotus position as she stared at the table. “I’m having difficulty wrapping my mind around you being in Oregon, in my home.”

“I had some free time, and I wanted to test out my tracking skills, so I thought I’d surprise you by using some of those free days with you, and here I am. I don’t know when I may have this much free time in the future so...this table is really cool. You have a shop nearby where you make furniture?”

“The shop is under the house, kind of like a basement,” he said, taking a seat on the floor to not appear as if he were lording himself and his alpha male power over the lady. “You mentioned tracking lessons with Mr. Yield... I mean, things were going badly with Apple?”

Helen ran her hand across the smooth wood, appreciating the care it took to shape and smooth the texture. The blue resin filled the cracks like foam, filling crevices in a broken structure. The natural raw edge of the tree had not been removed, which gave the piece character.

“Nine hours isn’t that far in relation to what was needed. It was par for the course,” she told him. “Apple’s role was only to assess me to determine my strengths.”

It was all rather fuzzy to Mustang. He needed more explanation, causing him to ask, “Why did he call in Yield?”

“A kid broke free from a Field of Flowers, and Pear brought the boy to Apple,” she told him. “Of course, Apple wanted to root out every Field and shoot up the place, but the kid needed care. Honestly, I didn’t think the boy would make it through the night, which is why I think he sent me with Yield to track down the warehouse, you know in case things went downhill with the boy, but I found all three warehouses in Milwaukee and shut them down.”

Mustang leaned forward. He heard everything she said, but he still could make the two ends meet in the middle. “You found the warehouse, not Yield?”

She smiled at him. “Men think and hunt like predators,” she said. “I think like a woman. Healthy kids need nutrition. The kids have to be healthy to be profitable. Therefore, I started from the perspective of a woman and how and where does the food come from to feed the kids? I went from there.”

She made eye contact with him as she spoke. “We found a bodega near the raided warehouse which stocked food the locals couldn’t or wouldn’t spend money on. High end fruits and veggies in glass jars with fancy labels that went through the pasteurization process. I went in the store, chatted up the girl behind the counter, and extracted the easy info from her wanting to brag. Her chatty nature gave us leads, and Yield and I found the warehouse.”

He couldn’t believe his ears. “The two of you took down a pedo ring?”

“No, I called in backup. Azrael rolled in cops and ambos with no lights. Yield and I popped smoke, threw in some tear gas, and watched the roaches scatter,” she said.

“Okay, that was one warehouse,” he stated, fully engaged in what she was saying.

“Well, the lady who answered the door at the first warehouse, I kind of shot her to get the addresses of the other two,” Helen said, still fixated on the coffee table. “She gave it up, then we reset twice and did it all over again, shutting down the Milwaukee Fields of Flowers.”

“And finding me?”

“I wanted to show off to impress you,” she confessed, finding herself blushing at the admission.

“I’m impressed,” he said softly. “So, can we go back to the assessment completed by The Bad Apple and what he determined?”

“Oh, that man doesn’t know what to make of me.”

“He’s not alone,” Mustang said.

Helen shrugged nonchalantly. “Hey, you guys are programmed to hunt, but I think like a woman...wait a minute,” she said, popping to her feet. “Those warehouses...had playgrounds in them next to catwalk runways...”

“Disturbing visual,” he commented under his breath.

“Yeah, the actual visual was even worse. The rooms were set up for wankers to watch the kids play while they sat in chairs diddling themselves, but there was also a classroom, and the pantry was stocked with nutritious, balanced meals for the kids.”

Mustang was enjoying watching Helen’s mind work. He did not know where she was going with any of it, but he was appreciating the ride. Patiently, he sat, awaiting her deduction. “What are you thinking, Helen?”

“I’m thinking men are wasteful,” she said. “Sorry, but men will use up a rag dog, fuck the stuffing out of it, and set it on fire to cover their late evening dates with an inanimate object.”

“Harsh, but okay,” he said, “meaning what exactly?”

“Jay, there was a classroom set up, along with boys’ and girls’ bathrooms, colorful bedding, and child friendly graphics on the wall.”

“Designer focused pedophiles?”

“No, a man would not take the time or effort to make a home for the children like that,” she said. “A man would scoop up, use up, and then discard as many as possible versus training and mentoring. Those children worked on one side of the building but lived and learned on the other.”

Mustang’s mouth dropped open as Helen raced to the other room to find her phone. He watched her as she made the call to Azrael, who picked up after the third ring.

The husky voice answered, “State your need.”

“I think the Chrysalis are women,” Helen blurted into the line.

Azrael’s tone held no amusement, “How did you conclude that?”

“A man throws away his broken toys and gets new ones. A man wouldn’t concern himself with making sure the kids had exercise equipment in the form of a playground, a classroom, or nutritious food,” Helen stated. “A woman would, especially if she were grooming the kids to recruit other kids.”

“Okay, then what would be your next steps in locating these women leaders?” Azrael asked, intrigued by the deduction of the woman Apple had assessed as a sociopath.

“Madams have doctors and nurses on call to treat their toys when the tricks get too rough and pull-out Barbie’s hair. That Rochelle chick said she was in CNA school and worked on the broken toys. If she does it, then maybe other students do as well. We start by tracking that heifer’s movements over the past month. Also, not sure if this is the right train of thought, but maybe three to five women with new wealth in maybe the last ten years with assets that don’t match the bank statements. I don’t know how to find that kind of stuff.”

“Let me look into it. Are you close by?”

“Hell no- you gave me two weeks and I am far from the maddening crowds,” Helen said.

“Keep your phone close.”

“I’m taking my two weeks,” Helen said. “Hey, is this paid vacation time, and do I get medical?”

Azrael disconnected the call. Helen put the phone on the table. She had a twinkle in her eyes when she looked at Mustang. It was the same twinkle that had him sitting in his living room in his underwear, wondering how in the hell he’d come to this moment. She offered him a smile, which also made him smile.

“I’m growing on her, but Lord please forgive me, that is one unattractive woman. She looks like she’s laughing and crying concurrently while taking a sneeze that turned into a fart.”

Mustang burst into laughter. He really enjoyed being in her company. She was a breath of fresh air compared to the women who tried to be a part of his life.

“Helen, are we going to discuss you using company resources for personal gain?”

“Nope. Are you going to report yourself for benefitting from my ill usage of technician technology?”

“I don’t know,” he said solemnly. “In some ways, I’m flattered you want to spend the time with me, but on the other hand, I’m concerned about your reasons.”

Helen returned to the couch, folding her legs under her body. She considered what she wanted to say and how she wanted to say it.

“I didn’t want to go home and be alone,” she said softly. “I mean, technically, I wouldn’t have been alone. What I would have been was a fifth wheel on the pregnancy train, sitting on the sidelines with my cousin and your brother working entirely too hard to include me in their family events. I didn’t want that, so I guessed, or hoped, we could be lonely together.”

He smirked a little at her assumption. “You assume I’m lonely.”

“Jay, when I was at my lowest, scarred inside and out, I asked for help in guiding me back to the light,” she said. “I wasn’t healed, still aren't for that matter, and I was hurting and hating myself as this ugly, cut up, useless thing another man used and tossed aside. My self-esteem had been shattered into a million pieces. I asked you to make love to me to and make feel wanted and you did.”

He said nothing as he listened to her speak an unspoken truth about her life, but she wasn’t mentioning why it related to him. He’d been down this road one time too many with women who had planned a life with him, but didn’t plan for him to have a life outside of fathering the kids they wanted and putting a roof over their heads. That, he wouldn’t do for any woman, even for a spark like Helen. He still listened to what she was saying.

“Slow said you come home to Kentucky twice a year, and once a year they come to you; however, outside of those three instances, you’re walking this path alone. I’m here to let you know you have a friend in me, and I want to see this life you’ve built and how you live. I came so you can show me your world, Jay.”

He was on his feet and held out his arms. Helen rose from the couch, walking into the embrace.

“That is quite possibly the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me to get my dick,” he said laughing.

“Well, a chick did fly to the other side of the country to get it. I mean, I have to lay it on thick so you can continue to put out. You know, like you’re doing me a favor for coming so far,” she said, leaning back to look directly him in the eyes. The twinkle was back in the way she looked at him, making his body react.

“You are kind of unsettling; has anyone ever told you that? Your mind works like a mad machine in one of those weirdo science labs, and I am here for it.”

“And I’m here for you,” she said. “Can I ask you something?”

“Sure...”

“When you saw me at the traffic stop, I saw your mind toying with the idea of me being here for two weeks. May I ask what immediately came to mind for you to teach or show me first from the world of The Mustang?”

“Canoeing,” he said, without hesitating. “Then I want us to make you some simple nightstands for your bedroom where I can put my phones and charge up my watch and place my cup of ice water at night.”

“So, you’re planning to come home to Kentucky and stay with me? I hear you and I like the idea of those projects we can do together,” she said. “Just so you know, I can now use a power drill and a leveler, so I can help make those items.”

“Good to know,” he said, yawning. “Tomorrow, I have an early shift, but I finish at two.”

“Good, I want to sleep in tomorrow, maybe do some laundry, read a book, paint my toenails, and then find those bitches who are making sex romper rooms for perverts,” she said, squeezing him about the waist.

“You are very disquieting, but I dig it. The man in me responds and comes alive to everything about you,” he said. “Let’s call it a night.”

“Nice to know because the woman in me was given two weeks of freedom, and the only place I could think to spend it was with you,” she said. “I’m tired as well. Dishes, then bed?”

“Yeah,” he said, yawning as if it were a pattern they did every night. She was wearing on him, and he liked the tread. He liked it a hell of a lot.

MUSTANG ROSE FROM THE bed, peeling Helen from around him. She slept coiled under him like a little puppy not wanting to lose its Mommy’s warmth. Normally, he didn’t go for such things, but she had a calming effect on him, which he did go for. Lately, he’d been feeling unsettled himself, to the point of almost being uncomfortable with the job, as if he could feel this ominous thing coming to upchuck his existence. His instincts kept him on high alert, and the stop he had made on the side of the road with Helen behind the wheel had the hairs standing up on the back of his neck.

He might bring it up and run a few ideas by her to see what she thought, but right now, he needed to get to work. Mustang showered and removed the last clean uniform from the closet that held his work items. He took his boots, socks, and underpants into the other room to dress, frowning at having to alter his morning routine. Altering the routine would mean forgetting something, and he couldn’t afford to do that, not at this point.

In the kitchen, he arrived with clothes in hand to find Helen. She must have gotten up when he went into the bathroom. He didn’t even notice the bed was empty when he came out of the shower since the room was dark, and he’d assumed she was still sleeping. On the table, she had Canadian bacon, eggs, and well toasted English muffins.

“Good morning,” he said, “and what is all of this?”

“Breakfast to start your day the right way,” she said, grabbing the first mug in the dish drainer, which she assumed he used each morning. Helen poured him a cup of coffee, but not one for herself.

He watched her reach for the lunch pail he’d brought in the door with him yesterday coming in from work. Last night, when they washed dishes, Helen had paid attention to the remnants inside of it. She poured the freshly brewed coffee into the thermos, sealed it, and placed it in the curved lid of the lunch pail. What little coffee remained ? she poured into her own mug.

Mustang ate the breakfast she had prepared as Helen made two sandwiches, both with mayonnaise, and a bit of the spicy mustard from the nearly empty jar she spotted in the fridge, and wrapped each sandwich individually. She grabbed an apple, quartered it, and covered it as a whole apple in plastic wrap. From the pantry, she grabbed a bag of nuts and a bottle of water, adding both to the lunch pail.

“I don’t know what time you have lunch even though it is an early day,” she said, closing the pail. She pushed the lunch box toward him, leaned down, and provided a slight kiss to his lips. Helen leaned against the kitchen counter, finishing the sip of coffee. “Have an amazing day, and I will see you back here after two.”

“Just like that, you’re going back to bed?”

“I’m in your space, disturbing your morning routine,” she said. “I can either be a help or a hindrance by yapping at you and making you forget something important. You have a dangerous job. I don’t need to distract you. See you when you get home.”

She blew a kiss and toddled off to the bedroom.

“Shit, I think I might be falling in love with her crazy ass,” Mustang said, looking toward the bedroom where he wanted to take at least fifteen more minutes to really start his day right.

Helen called from the other room, “I heard that!”

He simply smiled and prepared himself for work, easing out the door to the garage. Mustang made it to the office, a smile still on his face, as his boss called a meeting on a case coming up for court in the next few weeks. He’d been going over his notes in the file at his house, and the file he needed was still at his house on his desk.

“Damn it,” he said, realizing he didn’t have time to go back and get it. “Aw man...bear balls.”

Reluctantly, he took out his phone. He dialed Helen, not wanting to ask, but he needed her help. She answered the phone, not sounding sleepy, but awake.

“Missing me already?”

“Always, but I need an assist,” he said. “In my office on the corner of my desk is a file labeled Murtaugh. I forgot it this morning and need it in about twenty minutes.”

“Say less; be there in ten,” she replied, ending the call.

Helen was already dressed. She hadn’t gone back to bed since her body was still on it's normal time zone. After locating the file folder and disarming the system, she pulled up the GPS and pressed the pre-programmed address for his station house.

“See, being prepared pays off,” she said, pulling out of the drive and heading to the Trooper station.

Helen entered the front door carrying the folder. A woman with too much attitude sat behind the desk giving Helen a curious stare. She spotted the folder, and her entire body language changed.

She asked, “Can I help you?”

“I have an item for Trooper Neary,” Helen said.

“You can leave it with me,” the woman told her.

“Or you can call back to the bullpen, let him know Helen has arrived, and he can come and retrieve it himself,” she told the lady.

“Or you can leave it with me, like I said,” the woman repeated with more attitude than necessary.

Helen wasn’t in the mood to get into a discourse with the woman. She pulled out her phone and called Mustang. In the line, she simply said, “Lobby.”

A couple of minutes passed before he came around the corner, the smile on his face wide as she passed the folder to him. Helen was dressed as he had hoped. She wore an adorable pair of cropped jeans and cute sandals which showed off her newly painted toenails, and she carried a mini designer bag to match the shoes. Her hair sat high on her head in a messy bun and her earrings matched the yellow blouse over a white tank. She looked absolutely perfect to him. There was no garish red lipstick, stupid fake eyelashes, or fillers in her face. The smile, warm and natural with no veneers or blue tinges from over treatment with whitening techniques, nearly made his stomach flutter when she spoke.

Helen said as she passed the folder to him, “I didn’t know if it had sensitive information, so I didn’t want to leave it on the counter.”

“Thanks love,” he said, leaning down, his lips puckered. Helen kissed him, not wrapping her arms around his neck to make a show about it.

“See you at home,” she said, noticing the crowd gathered behind the reception area to take a peek at who’d come to the office for Neary.

A loud chorus of “ohs” and “ahhs,” followed, making Helen turn around to see the Troopers all watching. She provided a playful wave to them all, leaving as silently as she’d arrived. Mustang shook his head, knowing he wouldn’t hear the end for the rest of the day. His chest stuck out a bit with pride as his co-workers watched her leave.

The woman behind the counter made a snide remark, “I didn’t know you had a girlfriend.”

“I don’t. She’s a woman,” Mustang said, joining the Troopers to get the meeting started.

He sat distracted during the meeting and most of the day. He didn’t pull anyone over when he went on patrol but simply patrolled his stretch of highway and realized he was sick and tired of sitting in the car. The nervous feeling returned and he leaned into it, returning earlier than expected to the station house. He’d used the last two hours to catch up on paperwork, then he’d head home to her. Maybe he was lonelier than he believed, and having someone to go home to for a change was a pleasant experience.

The closer it got to two o’clock the more his spirits improved. At 1:45, he sat grinning like an idiot, thinking of her being at the house waiting for him. A warm, gushy feeling hit his gut, and he knew then, he was in trouble.

“Damn, she must be amazing,” Littlefield, a Trooper he’d trained, said to him. “Jacobs wants to see you before you go.”

“Roger that,” Mustang replied, closing out his computer for the weekend. He cleared his desk, then made way to his boss’ office. Tapping on the frame, he said, “You wanted to see me?”

“Yeah Neary, come on inside,” Jacobs said. “Close the door and take a seat.”

The icky feeling was back. Mustang didn’t like it, but he held his tongue, waiting to see what the man had to say. At the end of the conversation, Mustang was left speechless. The conversation was a game changer.

“Go home, talk it over with the little woman that no one knew you had, and get back to me on Monday,” he told Mustang.

“Okay,” Mustang said, feeling out of sorts. The feeling continued as he drove, making it to the house and entered his home, carrying the empty lunch pail, not knowing what to expect.

The afternoon had grown cool, and the air was crisp with a hint of cold in it. Someone who lived in the South would find the weather bone chilling. It also explained the gas fireplace being on when he walked into the house. The house felt like a sauna. However, a smell of red sauce cooking and the bottle of red on the table meant Italian for supper, and for the damnedest reason, all of it felt right. Helen coming around the corner in fuzzy pink slippers, her hair in a messy bun, and smeared pasta sauce on her blouse also felt...right.

“Hey, how was your day?” she asked.

“Weird,” he said.

“I hope the guys didn’t give you too much flack about me,” she said, greeting him with a spoonful of pasta sauce for him to taste, then a kiss to welcome the man home.

“No, but we need to talk, and the sauce needs salt, basil and oregano,” he said, the weight of his words hitting her in the face. Her entire body language shifted, and she offered a weak smile. “No, not like that, Helen. I don’t want you to leave. I’m happy you’re here. No, you didn’t embarrass me, and I don’t want you to go. My boss called me in with a job offer.”

“A what?” she asked, looking down at the sauce on her top. “Oh poo. I am an absolute mess. What do you mean by a job offer? You have a job. As a matter of record, you have two.”

“A teaching position has become available, and a request was put in for me to take it,” he said.

“Are you thinking about it?”

“Hell yeah, but before I can answer, I wanted to talk to you about it,” he said. “I know, weird, but all of this has been peculiar. The odd feelings that have been circling me as of late are coming more frequently, almost like an omen. I can’t even start to tell you how hard I was thinking about you and then you popped up on the side of the road in fucking Oregon, and now this.”

“Okay, Stallion, let me tug on the reins. Please explain to me what the “this” is?”

He exhaled slowly, “I have been offered a teaching position at the Trooper Academy in Plainfield, Indiana,” he said.

Her eyes grew wide, her lips formed an O, and she yelled at him, “Shut up! How?”

“The work I did finding you, helping Cherry, and then staying on to help track that madman put eyes on me,” he said. “They want me to come teach tracking at the Academy in Indiana. It will also mean a promotion to Master Trooper.”

“Do you want it? I mean, you’d have to leave all of this,” she said. “All of this is pretty nice.”

“I dunno. I had been considering coming back, being closer to home, to family,” he paused, “I can’t believe I’m saying this...to you.”

“Indiana is my state,” she said with the twinkle in her eye again.

“Helen, you know what I’m asking,” he said. “You’re sharp enough to add it together.”

“I hear it all, but I can’t give you kids,” she told him. “I never thought about getting married or a long-term relationship with a fella. I don’t know. What are you asking, for us to be permanent? Already? So soon.”

“I guess it is too soon,” he said, “but we feel...right. I like us together, and it is too soon, but fate is telling us it is time for us both to stop being alone.”

She sat for a minute. Her eyes raked his body. Then the twinkle was back in her eyes. “I get to have that dick all the time?”

“Yes, and I get to smear my mustache with that vagina all the time,” he said.

“Leave it to you, Jay,” she said. “Your family would be happy, but then I would have to move to Plainfield.”

“Yep, but when we come for a visit to Kentucky, we will have a place to stay,” he said.

“Jay, I still have a shit ton of training ahead of me,” she told him. “My training is supposed to be for a year. I don’t know if I will get breaks like this. I have poisons with Lemon, accidents with Passion Fruit, and Cyber tracking with Sour Grapes. You sure?”

“I have to sell this house, move all my stuff, find another house, buy it and close,” he said. “There is a lot to do if we want this and if we want us. Do you want to try?”

“Yes, but I don’t want to try. I’ve had enough trying in my life. I want to do,” she said. “I want us to do this.”

“Good, we have two weeks to figure it out,” he said. “You’re here for a reason, Helen. You came to me for a reason, and now we know. This is going to work out for us.”

“I know it will because we want it to work,” she said, feeling better about the decision to come to Oregon and see her guy. "Okay, basil, salt, oregano...just a pinch of sugar. Shut up. I like it like that."