Searching

"It is still a challenge for my perceptions of people to not be influenced by how I was raised and how little I knew of different cultures and societal norms. So, rather than merely accepting my perceptions, whether they are eventually proven correct or not, I test them through observation and study."

He took a breath and asked, "Does the offer of some water still stand?"

Katie smiled and remained seated as she said, "There's bottled water in the refrigerator. Help yourself."

She knew that she was playing with his admitted tendency to study people when she deviated from what he might be expecting of her. By not playing the polite hostess and serving him, she knew that he would have to do some reassessment of the opinion he was forming of her. She watched him smile at her in recognition of her challenge before he rose and retrieved two bottles of water from the refrigerator and brought one back to her before sitting back on the couch.

"Thank you," she said.

"You're welcome. So, how do you know so much about behavioral science?"

"I have a cousin who teaches it at FLETC. We have discussed it extensively over family dinners." she teased. "Now, please continue."

Tyler was surprised at Katie's use of the acronym for the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center and realized immediately that he shouldn't have been. She was obviously knowledgeable in ways and about things that few people would ever suspect. He knew that he hadn't. Maybe he should test her for a change...

"Are you gay?" he asked as he settled back on the couch once more.

Katie didn't flinch or otherwise react. She just asked calmly, "That's pretty private, isn't it?"

"It's as private as you want it to be," said Tyler. "The reason I ask is that Taylor mentioned that she thought you were gay, and I have been trying not to let her perceptions influence mine. I haven't witnessed anything in your behavior that would confirm or deny the possibility. On the other hand, I have ascertained that you are either the most private person I have ever met, or you're hiding something that you don't want others to know. That could be the fact that you are gay and haven't 'come out of the closet' yet."

"Why would it matter to you?" she asked with genuine interest. That surprised her.

"It doesn't," admitted Tyler. "I told you of my observations only to help you understand why I have been paying so much attention to you and your behavior. It doesn't matter to me whether you're gay, straight, bisexual, or celibate. All that matters to me is learning from any mistaken perceptions I may have of a person so that I can adapt my experiences and try to be a better person."

Katie considered his response and said, "Well, I can confirm for you that I likely am the most private person that you have ever met, but it is not due to my sexual orientation, whatever that might be. I am not offended by your question or by your interest in my behavior, but I do hate seeing you waste your time by studying me. I will probably be the most frustrating subject you have encountered, if not the most challenging."

They sat watching each other for several minutes, alternating between studying each other's body language and trying to read what was in the other's eyes. The smiles that formed on their faces and which became evident in their eyes seemed contagious and neither seemed willing to break the connection. The sound of a text alert on Katie's phone was the distraction that they needed.

"That must be Taylor," she said as she removed her cell phone from her pocket and checked the display.

TAYLOR: Hi, this is Taylor. I am at the gate to the alley.

KATIE: I will send the code to open the gate. Park in the same place and I will meet you.

TAYLOR: Be right there.

She rose from her chair and asked, "Do you want to wait here or tag along to meet your sister?"

"She'll be surprised to see me in either case," he said as he rose along with her. "I'll tag along and get the surprise out of the way sooner rather than later."

"Okay then, let's cut through the back patio to save us all a few steps."

Katie unlocked the sliding glass door and led Tyler across her patio area to the back gate, which she also unlocked before opening it. The gate had just swung open when they saw Taylor parking her Amazon Mini Cooper convertible in the visitor spaces across the alley. Taylor didn't notice them walking towards her until she had swung her legs out of the car and stood to close the driver's door.

"Ty! I was wondering why you were ignoring my messages" she squealed as she smacked her flat palm against his chest. "How did you get here?" she asked, looking around for his car.

"I went to the car show with Haley. When she had to leave for a business meeting, Katie agreed to let me ride home with her so that you could give me a ride back to my place."

"You're such a brat that I should make you take an Uber back to your place. I still might so behave yourself while I meet with Katie to go over the paperwork for the rental."

"Yes ma'am," chuckled Tyler when he saw Katie grinning at the two sibling's playful bickering.

"Follow me," Katie said as she led them back through the patio and into her condo.

Once inside, she accepted the file tablet that Taylor was offering to her and sat on one side of the dining table, anticipating that Taylor and Tyler would assume the same positions as they had previously. She was correct in her assumption. She opened the tablet and briefly perused the forms it contained.

"Everything looks complete," she told Taylor. "I'll submit the background and credit check forms tomorrow morning and should have an answer for you by tomorrow evening. If everything is approved, when would you want to take occupancy of the unit?"

Taylor glanced anxiously over to Tyler and then began practically bouncing in her seat when she responded to Katie's question, "As soon as possible. I don't need to move in until August, but if we had the keys by July, we would be able to start getting furniture ordered and delivered in plenty of time."

Katie smiled at the excitement that Taylor was trying so hard to contain and said, "That shouldn't be a problem, this is only June 9^th."

Tyler looked at Taylor and said, "Let me know as soon as you find out so that I can give thirty-day notice. I could move in with you before the thirty days are up, but it would allow me to avoid paying another month's rent."

Tyler's reminder that he was intending to live in the condo across from hers along with his sister gave Katie pause. Although she had to admit to herself that she had been enjoying his company for these past few hours, she also had to consider his admitted objective of learning more about her. Her 'knowledge versus intuition' quandary was presenting itself again in all its blazing glory.

Katie rose from her seat at the table, followed by Tyler and Taylor. Tyler came around the table first and extended his hand for Katie to shake.

"It's a pleasure doing business with you, Miss Brandt. Thanks again for the ride over."

Taylor stepped up beside him and shook Katie's hand as well, adding, "If you don't have plans for dinner, I would love to treat you and Tyler. Any place you would like to go is fine."

"Thank you both," Katie said, "But I'll need to take a rain check. I have a class in the morning that I need to prepare for."

"You're a student?" Taylor asked as she positioned the strap of her purse onto her shoulder.

Katie could have kicked herself for providing this opening with Tyler present. He pounced right onto it.

"She could be the teacher," he told Taylor.

Taylor looked at Katie with a questioning expression that she knew couldn't be ignored.

"I am in the doctoral program at UCI. I am in the final stages of obtaining my doctorate in molecular biology."

"Impressive," said Tyler as his sister nodded beside him.

Katie knew that she would impress them both more if she revealed that this would be her second doctorate. She already had her DVM from the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine. She was tempted to mention this but restrained herself at the last minute. Tyler would have to be dealt with on a 'need-to-know' basis.

"Thanks. Well, you two should probably be heading towards your dinners," Katie said as she slid open the patio door. "You can cut through my patio. It's a bit shorter for you that way."

Tyler recognized the dismissal for what it was and winked at Katie as he followed Taylor out onto the patio. He turned back towards her gate before climbing into the passenger seat of Taylor's car and saw Katie standing at the gate watching him. She had her arms crossed across her chest but raised one to return the wave that he gave her.

Katie remained at the gate, watching Taylor's car back out of its space and head toward the exit. She didn't close the gate and return to her condo until she saw them pass through the gate at the street.

Chapter Three

Katie was approaching her patio gate on her bike when she saw Taylor stomping around her garage and yelling at her car.

Taylor and her brother had moved into their condo on the first of August, and while Katie had been able to avoid Tyler due to his work schedule, Taylor was another story.

Stopping in front of the next-door garage, Katie stared at Taylor until her presence was noticed.

"Having problems with your car?" Katie asked.

"Ugh!" screamed Taylor in exasperation. "The battery is dead again. I just had it replaced yesterday because it kept going dead and now the new one is doing the same thing."

"Give me a second to put my bike away, and then I'll bring my truck over and jump your battery for you."

"Thanks, Katie that would be wonderful of you."

Taylor leaned against the trunk of her car and texted the friend that she was going to go shopping with to let her know that she would be delayed. She had time to check a few other messages before she heard Katie's garage door opening. Katie came out and walked over to Taylor's garage.

"Since your battery is in the front of your car, let's push it out into the alley so that I can get to it easier. You jump into the driver's seat, then put the car in neutral and release the parking brake. I'll push you out while you steer."

"Okay," Taylor said as she quickly placed her cell phone into her purse and climbed behind the wheel of her car.

The car was small and light, so Katie had no difficulty getting it rolling, using very little effort in her push. She directed Taylor to stop her car as soon as the front of the hood had cleared the garage.

"Do you know where the hood release is inside the car?" Katie asked.

She heard the release of the hood as Taylor's response and found the catch that would allow her to release and raise the hood completely. Placing the support arm for the hood into place, Katie did a quick inspection of the engine compartment to locate the battery before walking over to where Taylor still sat in the driver's seat.

"Okay, hang tight and I'll get my truck into position to jump you."

Katie returned to her garage and started the engine on her truck. All she had to do was put the vehicle into neutral and release the parking brake for the slight incline of her garage to allow the truck to start rolling on its own. Once she saw that the tailgate had cleared the garage, she stopped and turned the truck off.

Climbing out of the truck, Katie returned to her garage and came out with a set of jumper cables. She opened the tailgate of the truck, followed by the lid to the engine compartment. Taylor couldn't see what Katie was doing, but she recognized that Katie appeared to be quite confident in her actions. After only a few seconds, Taylor saw Katie pulling one side of the jumper cables towards her car and preparing to attach them to her battery.

"I'll start the truck first," Katie instructed. "Once you hear it running, give it just a few seconds, and then try starting yours."

Taylor simply nodded and waited for Katie. When she heard the truck engine start, she counted to five and then tried starting her car. The engine started immediately, so Taylor sat and let it idle while Katie jumped out of her truck and came back to remove the jumper cables.

"Let it run for a few minutes while I put my truck away," Katie told her. "Then we'll see if we can find out why it keeps going dead on you."

Taylor nodded in response but wasn't sure what Katie meant. Taylor assumed that she was going to have to take her car into the dealership this afternoon to have them identify the short circuit or whatever was causing the problem. What could Katie do about her problem that she hadn't already done by getting the car started? She waited patiently for Katie to return so that she could find out.

When Katie returned, Taylor noticed that she had removed the button-up shirt that she had been wearing and now just wore a tank top tucked into her denim shorts. Her exposed upper arms and shoulders were muscular but feminine and the tightness of the tucked-in tank top made her firm abdomen obvious as she slid into the passenger seat.

"Okay," Katie said, "you said that you just replaced the battery, and I checked the cables when I connected the jumper cables. They were tight and in good shape, so there must be something in the car that is draining the battery. Have you had any work done on it lately or installed any new accessories?"

Taylor thought for only a second before responding, "I haven't had any work done on it since the last oil change a couple of months ago. The only new thing is that dashcam that Tyler installed for me last weekend."

Katie examined the dash camera mounted under the rearview mirror and inspected the cable from it that was routed along the top of the windshield, down the passenger side molding, and disappeared under the dash. She slid out of the seat, kneeling on the concrete outside the car so that she could angle her head to see under the dash. She ran her left hand along the cable from the dashcam to follow its path until she located its connecting point.

Pulling her cell phone out of a pocket of her shorts, Katie used the flashlight app to illuminate the underside of the dash and where the cable was connected.

"Ah," she said. "There's your problem..."

"What?" asked Taylor.

"The dash camera's power line is connected to an always-hot line in your car instead of one of the accessory power lines."

"What's that mean?" asked Taylor.

"It means that the camera draws power from the battery even when the car is turned off. It should be connected to a line that supplies power only when the car is on and running" Katie explained as she returned to sit in the seat beside Taylor.

"Have you ever turned on your headlights when the car was not running? They should come on because the switch is connected to an always live power line. However, if you turn on your radio when the car is off it won't come on because it is connected to an accessory power line that requires the car to be on for it to get power. The camera is connected wrong, which is why it keeps draining your battery."

"So, in other words, Tyler broke my car?"

Katie laughed and said, "That's one way of putting it, but it's an honest mistake and I'm sure he didn't do it on purpose. Let me get some wire cutters and electrical tape out of my garage. I'll fix it for you in just a few minutes."

"Do you want me to turn the car off?"

"That won't be necessary," Katie assured her. "Best to leave it run for a while to get the battery recharged. I'll be right back."

Katie slid out of the car and returned to her garage. She was only gone a few minutes when she returned carrying a lantern-style flashlight. She set the flashlight on the passenger side floorboard of Taylor's car, then removed a set of wire cutters and a roll of electrical tape from the pockets of her shorts and set these onto the passenger seat.

"How do you like this little car?" Katie asked as she knelt on the concrete beside the car once more.

"It's okay," Taylor said as she watched Katie begin to trace the cable under the dash. "It's not as much fun as I thought it would be when I talked my dad into buying it for me, and it can be pretty scary driving it around all the SUVs and trucks, especially on the freeway. I wanted a convertible, but I wish now that I had gotten something larger."

Katie had her head under the dash when she replied, "I can understand that. I know that it would make me feel uncomfortable to drive around in something this small."

She raised her head from under the dash and said, "There you go. It's all fixed. You shouldn't have any more problems with your battery."

"That fast?" Taylor asked in amazement.

"Sure, it was an easy fix once I found the problem," Katie told her.

She picked up the flashlight and turned it off as she stood. The wire cutters and tape were placed into her pockets again, and then she closed the passenger door.

"You're good to go, but let me know if you have any further problems with it."

"Thank you so much, Katie," Taylor said. "Will you be home later?"

"I should be home the rest of the day," Katie told her. "But you shouldn't have any more problems..."

Taylor nodded and backed her car out far enough to close the garage door. Once it had finished closing, she waved to Katie and drove away. Katie smiled at the tiny back end of her neighbor's car and then walked into her own garage and closed the door from the inside.

~~~

"The man wants us all on a video conference call immediately. Do you want to join from your own computer or join Claire and me at the huddle table?"

Tyler looked up at his colleague Dennis Stevens and asked, "What's it about? I haven't received any invites from the AG."

Dennis had turned to walk away but paused to answer Tyler's question, "All I know is that he sent me a text a minute ago saying that he wants to speak to our team as soon as we can get the video conference connected. I assume he has something that he wants us all to hear."

"What about Clement or Troung?" asked Tyler, referring to the Director for the Department of Law Enforcement, Michael Clement and their regional supervisor, Morris Troung.

"Come on, you know that Alfaro doesn't respect a chain of command, especially one that he is at the top of," said Dennis.

Tyler locked his computer before standing and said, "Okay, I'll listen in with you and Claire. Let's go."

Dennis Stevens and Claire Maxwell were the two other agents working out of the Santa Ana office for the Department of Law Enforcement. It wasn't a dedicated office, but merely a few cubicles and a circular table that they could use for collaboration, situated in the division office for the California Highway Patrol. Tyler had requested to work out of this office instead of his previous one in Los Angeles once he and Taylor had rented the condo in Irvine.

When Dennis and Tyler reached the small round table, Claire already had her laptop sitting on it and was preparing to connect with the Attorney General for the State of California in his Sacramento offices. She pushed the laptop as far across the table as it would go so that the camera on it would hopefully capture the images of all three agents as they clustered together in front of it. The face of the AG appeared and as was his custom, he wasted no time on pleasantries.

"You're all familiar with the Shoreline Mall case, right?" the AG asked.

He was a handsome Latino politician that made no secret of his ambitions to run for governor in the 2030 election. Julio Cortez-Alfaro had been brought to the United States as a child by his illegal immigrant parents. While his parents held a constant fear of deportation if discovered by U.S. Immigration officials, Julio was safe under the "Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals" program enacted by President Obama in 2012. Leveraging the benefits afforded him under the DACA protection, Julio received a free college education and preferential admission to the University of California Berkley School of Law.