14 Then fucking investigate.

"Oh, making bad decisions,

Oh, making bad decisions,

Making bad decisions for you."

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-MARK-

"I actually grew up in New York"

I should've connected the dots.

"It's all fake"

I knew it wasn't.

"Must be nice to have someone there for you."

She ran away, alone.

"There was this guy, but I never really wanted to be with him,"

Bradly Henderson.

"I haven't seen a lot of the town yet."

She only got here a couple weeks ago.

"You'd be surprise what a small investment in a place like this can do."

I should've known. I should've fucking known. I saw it in her eyes, in her smile in her everything. But I ignored it, I told myself I was being paranoid. That her lies and excuses were perfectly possible. I blinded myself from the truth that was standing right in front of me, staring ]me blankly in the face.

Alice McAllen was right under my fucking nose and I ignored it.

I'm snapped out of my thoughts by my ringing alarm. I've been awake the whole night thinking about her. About my idiocity.

~~~

"Alright everybody, Buddy got back to me with her number plate." I take a deep breath "last night when I was out, I saw the car and I now know where and who Alice is."

The team starts clapping their hands worsening my headache.

"All of you shut the fuck up." The room falls silent, "We have orders straight from boss to keep watch over her as they continue investigating her mother." I hand out a few files "She goes under the name Elizabeth James now. All of you are to keep an eye on her as discreetly as possible, do not raise any suspicion and go unnoticed at all times. In those files you have all your instructions in detail. Now get to work."

They all pick up the files and start shuffling out of the room.

"Frank!" I stop him from leaving, "Stay."

"What's up man? You look you haven't slept in forever." he chuckles and i ignore his commet.

"I need your help."

"Okay what's up?"

"And I need you to be my serious best friend not my stupid one."

"Yeah, yeah. What's going on?"

I take a seat on the couch "Remember the girl I told you about?"

He takes a seat next to me "Yeah?"

"The on I went on a date with?"

"Yes, I remember."

"That's her" I point at the screen with Liza- I mean, Alice's picture on it.

"What!" he springs up from his seat.

"Don't yell I have a headache."

"You've known where Alice was this whole time?" he whisper-shouts.

"Of course not, my whole promotion is counting on this case. I wouldn't do anything to jeopardize it and you fucking know that."

He lets out a breath and slumps back into the chair, "Then explain."

"I knew her as Elizabeth. I swear to you I had no idea who she really was in the beginning. Last night, when Buddy gave me the plate, I recognized it on Liza's car."

"Wait, but maybe they're two different people and Alice just sold her car to Elizabeth."

I shake my head, "It's definitely her, I can feel it. I can see it."

He sighs and slumps further into the couch "Shit Mark."

I slump back as well, "What do I do?"

"Tell boss."

I turn to face him, "What if he doesn't believe me and takes away my promotion?"

"He won't, but tell him now. Don't let shit escalate."

I nod. He's right, I need to tell him before he finds out for himself.

Sighing, I get up from the couch and leave the apartment while dialing his number.

"Mark." He says on the receiving end.

"Boss, I need to tell you something."

"Shoot."

"We found Alice."

"Great!" he pauses, "why do I sense a 'but' coming on."

I sigh, "Boss, I've been having romantic relations with her. But I swear to you boss, I had zero idea she was Alice, I knew her as Elizabeth until I discovered the truth last night."

"Did she tell you herself?"

"No, I figured it out on my own."

"Good, continue to date her."

"What?"

"But do not tell her you're FBI. Continue to act like you've been acting. Do not tell her anything and get every drop of information you can out of her."

"Boss are you asking me to lie to her?"

"I'm asking you to be a fucking agent. Be happy I believe you and I'm still giving you this promotion. "

I nod as if he can see me.

"I don't give a flying fuck if you fall in love with her, but I need you to get anything and everything you can from her. As much as possible for our investigation. We need to prove her mother had motive."

"Sir-"

"Do you still want this promotion Reynolds?"

I sigh, "I do."

"Then fucking investigate." With that he cuts the call.

"Fuck!" I yell and throw my phone across the street.

Yeah, Liza- Alice or whoever the fuck she is, lied to me. But she had a good reason to, I don't. I'll be lying to her for what? A promotion. That's shallow as fuck.

I run my hand through my hair when I hear Frank call my name.

"What?" I ask coldly.

"Let me guess, he asked you to investigate her."

"Yup. Now leave me the fuck alone."

He walks closer to me and taps my shoulder "I know you're stressed and we all know what your capable of doing when people fuck with you while you're stressed."

"Then why are you still here?"

"Let me fucking finish." He says sternly and I listen, because he somehow always knows the right thing to say.

I sigh, "Okay."

"I say, you do what boss tells you to do. That way you get the girl and the promotion."

"She's gonna hate me when she finds out."

"She might, but she may also be understanding in the end. Don't get me wrong though, I don't know the future so whatever happens later is not my fault. All I'm saying is try. Don't be a coward and end up losing your promotion. You've been talking about being boss since we were trainees, don't put all your dreams away."

I hate to admit it, but he's right. This may not end that badly in the end, right?

"Now come inside, we have a lot to prepare for this week."

I nod at him.

Life is about risks; this may be the biggest one I've taken, but I don't want lose her and I don't want to lose the promotion so...I'm going to do whatever boss tells me to.

Hopefully, she understands in the end.

++++++

Song: Bad decisions by The Strokes.

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