He cursed the idiot lying on the ground with a bike lying on top of him. Mickey would have followed Laurie out there without thinking, just so he could get a piece of her brother himself, but he managed to stop in time.

Laurie wasn’t thinking about him, in that moment. She was more concerned about going out to clean up the new problem her brother had created. She didn’t even seem to realize she was leaving a near stranger in her house.

Mickey took the opportunity. He had the little idiot to thank for it, and while they were both distracted, he pulled out a few things from his pocket. He went around the room and then ran silently upstairs, placing several listening devices around the house. He would have considered video surveillance if he'd been expressly told to, but he was glad he didn’t have to. Mostly because it needed time to set up even just one camera. Really, he was glad that he didn’t need to.

He made sure to put two inside Karl's junked-up room, sneering at the mess on his way out. He couldn’t understand why Laurie put up with it. But then, he'd never had siblings he felt indebted to, and maybe that was why she did it? She couldn’t possibly be putting up with him because she wanted to.

Frankly, he was more than ready to get rid of him for her, if only she'd ask. Hell, if the spoiled brat hadn't been living with his sister, Mickey would have scooped him up for questioning. The only good thing that came out of this, was that he got to meet Laurie.

Earlier, when the punk had come home, thankfully it had been a short visit because he'd managed to anger his sister enough to have her send him out for a while. It had been hours since, but even though he had needed some way to get in to place the equipment, he just wished the boy had stayed away longer.

Although, the commotion he'd caused had been a big help in more ways than one. Mickey had pretty much forgotten himself, and the real reason why he'd left his house to come over to Laurie's instead of waiting for her. He was lucky that she was showing interest in him, but at the same time, it left him troubled. It left her distracted, but it also gave him chances to manipulate her.

This kind of confliction wasn’t allowed on the job. He had to focus. He and Laurie couldn’t be anything, not while the investigation was still going on, and he wasn’t even sure if there could be a possibility for after. Because however things ended, there were going to be consequences all around, and he couldn’t guess how Laurie would feel then.

He needed to hurry up this job and get it done quickly. It would be the best for Laurie, and maybe, if she didn't mind, he would try to see her after it was done. But because of that fear, of exactly what could happen between now and then, he didn’t want to finish too quickly, because it meant he'd have to leave her sooner.

To put it simply, he was getting way too involved with this woman. It would have been fine if it was just attraction, he could handle that just fine. But to be emotionally compromised… was unacceptable. His own standards would never let him fall to such a low. It could compromise his ethics, his job… even though they'd only just started, he needed to take a step back and focus on what he was supposed to be doing. But how many times had he told himself exactly that already?

Giving his head a hard shake after his internal pep talk, he then went back into the front room to eavesdrop on the less than quiet argument going on, right on the front porch and Laurie had even left the door a little open so he could catch the words clearly.

"I'm just saying I want you to be more careful," Laurie was trying to tell her brother.

But of course, he was being a big baby about it, complaining. Mickey wasn’t there, and even he could tell she was more worried than mad. The kid somehow got lucky, but his recklessness could have left him bleeding or dead on his sister's front lawn. How did the kid not realize this?

"Would you just fucking get over yourself?" he shouted at her. "Dad liked you better because he gave you a house, but that doesn’t mean you get to boss me around!"

Mickey tightened his lips. That was untrue. There was nothing about it in the files. If anything, the general had wasted most of his cash on his useless son. There was no way he would have bought her a house when she'd had to rely entirely on scholarships to get to college at all, and her brother got a trust fund for his college education, that went unused even though he was now twenty-one.

"Uh, that never happened," Laurie said, voice sarcastic and so bitter that Mickey was tempted to feel sorry for her again. "Remember that I bought my house with my half of our inheritance from grandmother. Dad didn’t lift a hand to help me. If anything, you were the favorite for being born a boy. You simply pissed your own half away on drugs and partying."

That answered a few questions. Mickey would have to remember to add that to the next report he sent back. It would only help him in proving Laurie's innocence. Specifically, to answer the question that Mickey's superiors had raised about how a graduate student could own a house.

He knew she had something like a job at her university, he wasn’t sure if it was teacher's assistant or lab technician, he hadn't deemed it necessary at the time unless he was required to check up on her college life. But it didn’t pay nearly enough, and she'd initially bought the house when she was still an undergrad.

Knowing his superiors, it still wouldn’t be enough to absolve her, but it was certainly a step in the right direction. Now, if only her brother would be a cooperative idiot, he would have all he needed to end this before it went too far. Something tightened in his chest at the thought, but he ignored it.

The case needed to be over. For Laurie's sake.

He repeated the words to himself a few times.

Mickey edged a little closer to the slight opening of the door so he could peek outside. The two of them were so absorbed in each other that they didn’t realize they were being watched from someone so close by. He noted how Karl was pretty obviously high on some stimulant, as well as pot, stuff he must have gotten from his friend. No wonder he'd been unstable enough to nearly get himself killed. Also, Mickey could tell the drugs were getting to his head and making him a little more confrontational, aggressive. It gave Mickey a bad feeling.

A second later, it came to fruition.

Karl actually wound up to hit Laurie. Only to have Mickey burst through the door and grab him by the wrist before he could stop himself.

Because the brat was a little high, he just looked up at Mickey, looking dazed and confused, his mind not working on all cylinders so he just stood there dumbly.

Mickey didn’t dare look in Laurie's direction, though. He was a little scared to.