HOMESTAY 003

"Here are the reports." Mariah Sullivan dropped a huge stack of papers on Shawn Kinner's desk, rounded the table and sat opposite him.

"What do we have?" He eyed her

"Reports" she said sharply "reports, Shawn, for closed cases" she crossed her legs and sipped from her cup of coffee looking as straight as ever.

Kinner yawned and glanced at the small clock on his table.

"This is almost eleven Sullivan, let's do this tomorrow"

"No. I have pushed forth my vacation for too long and I am doing that again. I leave for Long Beach tomorrow"

"Long Beach? I thought it was Paris..." Kinner croaked "wait, don't tell me you are still on that Willard case" the fog of tiredness cleared off his eyes

"Mariah, this was meant to be your vacation not some hidden-creepy-investigation"

"I got it covered Shawn" she sipped lightly from her cup

"Does the captain know?"

"Dave doesn't have to know shit. I told you I got it covered"

"You would be breaking rules Sullivan, have you thought of that?"

"Enough Shawn, if I need lectures on not-breaking-rules, I sure know where to get them from. And that is definitely not from you" She set her cup on the table "I can handle Dave's scolding, I don't need this from you" she paused, steadied her voice and sighed "I got it covered Shawn"

"The Willard's case is closed"

"Shawn, a whole family disappeared on a family vacation and it got buried. I don't think you understand that something is not right somewhere" Sullivan picks her cup again and sipped from it.

"We were also on that case Sullivan, we found nothing"

"Maybe we didn't look hard enough... Or maybe we searched the wrong places" Sullivan leaned forward "look Shawn, I believe we can find something, anything!"

"We? You are crazy Sullivan and don't try to make me an accomplice. The captain will get furious once he finds out"

"Who says Dave has to know. I already made contacts. Remember Tucci Derek? The guy from Long Beach intelligence..." Kinner nodded "he is my back up. He is giving me access" Shawn pauses, exhaled deeply, his gaze fell on the stack of paper in front of him and back at Mariah Sullivan.

"This is a bad idea Mariah. The FBI asked us to stay off this one" Kinner groaned

"Why?" Sullivan raised a brow "We are the FBI" she sighed "it is high time we stood up to this one"

Kinner ran a hand through his hair, exasperated. Mariah Sullivan was the second most stubborn headed woman he had ever met in his life. First was his wife; now that he did a re-evaluation of his life, it seemed he had a soft spot for die-hard women. "Mariah!" He groaned

"Come on Shawn but let me make it clear that I would do it, with or without you help. Got it?"

"Promise me you'd back off if preliminaries prove abortive. If the basics are baseless" he said in muffled exasperation.

"So you coming?" She raised a brow

"I'd be crazy to let you wander off on your own. Besides, we are partners. Dave might start asking questions about stuffs... I just want to see where you are going with this."

"Fine" Sullivan said brightly "I promise." She grinned and retrieved her phone from her pocket. "Sullivan" she said pressing it to her ears "he is in" she said, smiling at Shawn and then pressed the off button. "So, let's buckle up partner and finish Dave's paper work".

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