| "I can't believe this," Isabel ran her hands through her hair and stared at the night sky. "How can someone as stupid as Max actually be related to me?" Michel kicked at gravel, bits of stone and sand hitting metal of close cars. "Should I worry?" "About Maria?" Michael gave her the look from hell. "Yeah, Iz, about Maria." "I don't think so, I mean, if Max actually kidnapped her--God, you realize how utterly ridiculous that sounds? My brother kidnapping someone?" Isabel laughed bitterly. "He couldn't." "I think he did," Michael sighed. "Where would he take her? Okay, where would they take her? Should we try his apartment? Liz's mom's house?" "His apartment first," Isabel said and took a stance. The same stance that Michael fell into when he was hot for something. Determined. "But if he's as smart as he thinks he is, then they wouldn't go there." "But why would he think anyone's looking for her?" Michael narrowed his eyes and shifted them towards the hotel. "She doesn't have anyone in town who'd be looking for her, right?" "Except Michael the stalker." "I wasn't stalking her, I was�" He shook his head. "I was coming back to talk to her." "What the hell is going on with you two?" "We have a fondness for parking lots," he smiled and walked back towards Isabel's car leaving her with a confused but knowing smile on her lips. * * * "Fine, you want to try to plead your case to me?" Maria shrugged and let the dress straps slide down her arms. "Plead away. Then when you're done, I'm calling the cops and having you," she nodded at Max, "arrested for kidnapping and you," she cocked her head in Liz's direction, "taken back into custody." "Max�" Liz's tiny voice was dripping with fear. "I knew this was a bad idea�" "Liz." Max stood up and motioned for her to follow. Maria watched as her captors walked just out of sight and into the kitchen. In the silence of the apartment she could barely make out the hushed whispering of two people that clearly had no idea what they were doing. "We have to let her go, then I'll turn myself in." "No, you didn't do anything wrong, Liz!" Max pleaded in a harsh whisper. "That's why I'm helping you!" "I should have never asked you, I didn't know about your sister and friend." "They'll understand Liz, I'm sure of it." Maria rolled her eyes and wondered if Max had any clue that his sister and friend were not going to understand anything. She was confident they would back her on this. Maybe. She damned Michael again for making her lose touch with her professional side and for ending up here. For making her touch on something foreign, something filled with want and need. Human nature. "Maybe I should just go-" "And keep running from her?" Maria shrugged a little more until the tops of her full breasts were in view. The irritation swam over her that she had wasted a sexy dress on Max Evans. A sexy red dress that would have looked great around her ankles in a parking lot. "Are you ready Maria?" She snapped out of her Michael-stupor and looked up as Max took his place on the coffee table and Liz Parker sat next to her. "Sure, let's get this over with because these cuffs are killing me." "Should we take them off of her?" Liz asked Max in the same timid voice. He seemed to think about the question for a minute before answering. "I don't think so, not yet." Liz nodded and took a deep breath turning her attention back to Maria. "You know part of the story, the part that ends with me skipping out." "Right, the part where I got hired to bring your scrawny ass back." Maria nodded and crossed her legs. The toe of her shoe biting into Max's shin as she did. "Shouldn't sit do damn close." She shot at him before turning her attention back to Liz Parker. "Okay, I knew what was going on where I worked. I'd be an idiot not to know. Did I take the money? Yeah, I took it. I didn't mean to, but I did." "Felon." Maria quipped. Liz ignored her. "They were crooks, big crooks. They were stealing from their clients and they knew it'd catch up with them someday, so they needed a scapegoat." "Here we go," Maria rolled her eyes again. "I was that. They dumped money in accounts in my name. The only reason I found out about it is because I stumbled onto it one day. They dumped a lot of money in there. I was shocked, but then I figured it out. Of course, at about the same time I figured it out, so did some of their clients. That's what brought on the investigation." "You stole the money Liz, you're guilty." Maria raised her eyebrows at her expectantly. "Where are you going with this?" "I also stole all the data that connects them to the theft. Without me, there is no case and they go free. With me, they go to jail." "Right, that's why you were in protective custody. Going to turn State's evidence? Ring a bell?" "They would have gotten to me. I got threats and got scared so I ran." "So, what do you think I can do?" "Let me keep running until I can figure it out. Quit looking for me because I know you'll always find me." "It's my job. I hunt. I find." "Stop." "No." Maria spat at her. "I listened, now let me go." "What are you going to do?" Max leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees and asked in his smooth doctorate voice. "Exactly what I told you, calling the cops. Now un-fucking-cuff me right now!" Max stood and began to pace while Maria's irritation grew with every step he took. She didn't dare look at Liz next to her, she could hear the soft sniffling sounds coming from her and knew she was crying. Human nature. * * * Isabel Evans kept her eyes closed for most of the ride to her brother's apartment. She tried to remind herself why in the hell she had let Michael drive, but came up with nothing. She held on to the seatbelt across her chest with both hands and thanked God that her brother didn't live that far away. When she heard the blaring radio silence and felt the movement cease, she opened her eyes to face the uppity looking apartment complex where Max lived. A complex that housed Roswell's up-and-comer's within their sickly pink stucco walls, complete with a clubhouse and swimming pool. Michael looked across at his partner as a smile crept across his face. "You know I'm going to kill your brother, don't you?" "Not if I get to him first," she winked and got out of the car. The team of Evans and Guerin strode through the lot with purpose and into building 'B'. They took the elevator up to the fourth floor. Michael leaned into the door of Max's apartment and pressed his ear against it. He shook his head and dangled Isabel's keys. "You got a key on here?" She took the keys from him and grinned. "What good sister wouldn't have a key to her brother's apartment in case of an emergency?" She inserted the key into the lock and pushed the door open. TBC |