performance

r | no warnings apply

She fits the profile.

(She always fits the profile.)

So she sips coffee and tries to look casual, but not too casual, because she's supposed to look just a little unsettled. She's supposed to send off 'daddy might have touched me' vibes. She tucks hair behind her ear, touches her lips as if there was something there. Re-applies her lipstick. Slumps back.

Danny never looks casual, but Webb keeps putting him on surveillance anyway. He doesn't even sip his coffee. He looks at his newspaper, but he's not reading it, not really.

(If she can tell, he can tell.)

Too many men, looking at her, hitting on her. (Men like the damaged vibe.) She picks and chooses, sits there for hours, dismisses all her choices.

Paul always looks worried. Which is why he's in the van. Which is why he's listening. There's something that unsettles her about the fact that he can hear everything that's going on because of the microphone buried between her breasts.

(Finally, a promising prospect.)

She flirts, but not too much, like someone who doesn't know what she's doing. She doesn't focus on his hands, on what they might have done. She exists only in the moment. She lets bra strap fall down, slip out from under her tank top. Watches, as his eyes locate it. Widen slightly.

(And she knows.)

After seven cups of crappy coffee, she gets up, acts flattered, surprised. (Why would anyone be interested in me?) Lets him lead her away. His car is safe, Mel is behind him, there's a tracker in her purse. Danny is en route, according to the plug in her ear.

(And he's scared.)

Surprise, and a bit of fear, as he pulls off the road. It's not hard to pretend. She knows Danny is close, Mel is closer, Paul and Webb are listening to all of this, knows that his hands won't land anywhere that he intends. She will break them, first. She will kill him, first. They will kill him, first.

She waits, until she sees the bodies, his collection, before she screams, lets them know. His blow misses. (So does hers.) But it's okay, because when she loses balance, she takes him with her. Paul pulls her off first, and then Danny has his hands on her. It's like a tug-of-war, and she ends up on the ground again.

(Webb disapproves.)

Paul, as usual, is berating the suspect. He will move on to Webb next. Danny is yanking a handkerchief out of his pocket after he helps her up, puts it over his mouth. (The bodies smell.) Mel is making a sarcastic comment. Webb watches everything, including how Danny doesn't quite let your hand go fast enough.

(He wouldn't let go last night, either.)

Webb smiles, knows, expected this. Maybe even planned this.

(She always fits the profile.)

(fin.)