Tea rolls over and feels emptiness next to her. She sleepily opens her eyes, a slow smile spreading across her face at the memory of the night before with Todd. She stretches out, and decides to get up. She throws on Todd's shirt, which is laying on the floor. The sight she is greeted with when she walks into the living room of the cabin is a familiar one. Todd is pacing the room like a caged animal, obviously cooking something up in that brain of his. He looks up and sees her.
"Good , you're up...listen ..I've been thinking.."
Tea cuts him off. "Todd, can you give me a minute to wake up first?" she grins, rubbing her eyes.
Todd grins. "Okay." He walks into the kitchen, and when he reappears he is holding a steaming mug of coffee. "Here."
"Thanks."
He continues pacing, glancing at her periodically.
"Awake yet?"
Tea laughs. "Okay, what?"
"Okay...I started thinking about this while you were sleeping, and it's starting to make a lot of sense."
"What?"
"Well, you know how the statements were tampered with...and you know you're going to talk to Sykes about it?"
"Yeah."
"What if Sykes is the one responsible?"
Tea stares at him. "That's a pretty major accusation. What makes you think that?"
He stops pacing and sits down next to her. "When Viki was here, we were talking and she mentioned something about how there had been talk that Sykes had been involved in a cover up in Drew's murder, do you remember that?"
Tea nods, looking at him intently.
"Okay, well Viki also said that all that talk suddenly stopped, around the time that I was arrested."
Tea thinks for a minute. "Okay, yeah, that sounds about right."
"Maybe Sykes made a deal, he makes sure I get shipped out of town, and he doesn't get implicated in a cover up."
Tea looks at him. "He would have had to make a deal with someone pretty powerful."
"Someone like Asa Buchanan?" Todd asks.
Tea grins, "You may be onto something. I mean, Sykes certainly has no love lost for you...and he would probably do anything to save his reputation and job if he was in danger of losing it."
"And he's got the hots for you, probably wanted me out of town so he could make his move."
Tea rolls her eyes. "Todd, you are unbelievable," she laughs. "Okay, we know why Sykes would do it, but why would Asa...I mean Sykes would have been responsible for covering up the murder of his grandson."
"I thought about that. But the way I see it, the murderers were ultimately punished, Asa would have the new commissioner in his back pocket, and he would get me out of town."
"Sounds good to me, except we have no proof, I mean all we have is your word and Minnie's that the statements were tampered with."
"Not anymore, Sam called. He tracked down the cop that took the statements. He said it wasn't easy, apparently the cop was transferred to the middle of nowhere. Anyway, the cop says it's not his signature on the statements and he would be willing to testify."
Tea smiles, "Well, aren't you the bearer of good news this morning!"
Todd smiles back. "We're close Delgado, I can feel it."
Tea stands up, "I'm gonna go get ready and then head out to talk to Sykes."
"No! Wait! I don't think you should talk to him about this at the police station....we don't want to tip him off."
"So what do you suggest?"
"Get him here."
Tea's eyes widen. "Then he'll know you're back. What if we're wrong? You could be in a lot of trouble...we could both be."
"Then we'll leave....but we won't have to....Delgado...we're not wrong."
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Llanview police station....
Tea walks into the police station, formulating her plan. Todd had wanted her to get Sykes to the cabin, but wasn't thrilled that she would have to flirt to do it.
"Just don't let him touch you," he had said, grinning.
She had stopped on the way in to pick up a small tape recorder for later, just in case. Todd's theory certainly made sense, she just hoped that they could get the proof they needed. She stopped at the door to Sykes' office, and knocked.
"Come in."
"Hello, John," Tea said sweetly.
Sykes looked up, and smiled at Tea. God she is beautiful, he thought.
"Tea, this is a nice surprise, haven't seen you around lately."
Tea walks over to the desk, flashing a brilliant smile. "Well, I've been pretty busy."
"So, what can I do for you?"
"Actually, I've been thinking....all those times you asked me to dinner, and I never said yes. I mean, we're friends, we can have dinner, right?"
John smiled, taken in by her beauty, not believing what he was hearing. "Sure, friends have dinner all the time. When did you have in mind?"
"Tonight."
John felt his heart beat faster as he looked at her. He couldn't believe his luck, was she finally getting over Manning?
"Sure, tonight sounds good, how about the Palace?"
"Well, actually, do you like Spanish food?"
"Yeah."
"See, I've been staying out at Viki's cabin, sort of getting away from it all. Why don't you come there and I'll make you dinner?" she says, seductively.
That was it, John was a goner. "That sounds great."
She hands him a slip of paper. "Here are the directions. Around 7, okay?"
"Okay," John says, watching her leave. Finally, he thinks, finally I get my chance. He grins smugly at the thought.
In the hallway of the police station, Tea stops and leans against the wall. He certainly seemed to buy her act....
Tea grins, thinking of Todd. Boy, will Sykes be surprised....
To be continued.....
