Two days passed since Josephine’s departure, but to Tim, they felt like an eternity. He would not leave the house: he hardly ate or slept; and stayed up all night, reminiscing about their few, happy moments together. His argument with Caitlin was followed by many more. He accused her of being unable to understand him, while she maintained that he could not see beyond his pain.

Tim was so devastated that he would not think about anything else, other than Josephine’s act of betrayal. His plan to meet with Maddox and his quest to find Paul Jitter’s killer fled his mind. After all, the idea of doing those things for someone who had abandoned him felt nonsensical.

The night of the burglary kept replaying in his mind. Tim even hid away his sports bag, in an attempt to forget everything about it, to no avail. Everything was still very fresh and, one of the things that hurt him the most was Jon’s words:

“I hope you don’t regret it.”

It annoyed him that his friend could consider that possibility, while he was simply unable to. Blinded by despair and his feelings for her, he had made a decision that could well get him into trouble. But there was something else that broke his heart, even more than that: Up until he met Josephine, he had never been in a serious relationship. They had all lasted a few days and did not end well. He was hoping that a relationship with a woman unlike any other in his life would last much longer, but, once again, he was bitterly disappointed.

“Yeah, you were different. But the outcome is even worse. I believed in what he had…” He thought to himself, gazing outside Caitlin’s living room window.

“Tim, there’s someone here to see you.” His sister’s voice snapped him out of his thoughts. “She said her name was Laura.”

“What?” He exclaimed, turning to her. “You didn’t buzz her in, did you?”

“Actually, I did,” she replied, a hint of regret in her voice. “Listen, I’m going out. I’ll see you later.”

“Damn it…” Tim hummed, as Caitlin made her way out of her apartment. He didn’t even have time to prepare himself for a meeting with the woman who had shut down Josephine’s research. Only seconds later, she was standing under the doorframe, with a blissful smile on her face.

“Tim!” She chirped. “It’s good to see you again.”

“What are you doing here, Laura?” He murmured, gazing down at the floor.

“Tell me I didn’t see that.” Laura’s voice dropped down an octave, as she took a few, confident steps towards him. “The big, macho burglar who grabbed me by the throat can’t even look me in the eye? How the mighty have fallen…”

“How did you find me?” He asked, still unwilling to face her.

“That was easy,” She smirked. “You had put your sister down as an emergency contact. What’s going on? I don’t see her anywhere. Where is she?”

He would not dignify her question with an answer. Tim bit his lower lip, rolling his gaze up to meet hers. However, his prolonged silence gave him away.

“She left you.” Laura concluded in a firm voice as she looked deep into his eyes. “I can’t say I’m surprised. Trust me; if you found out about the things she’s done, you’d never want to see her again.”

“Talking trash about her? Again?” His voice was dripping with sarcasm. “I thought you’d already told me everything you knew about her.”

“I thought so as well.” She maintained. “But, I ran into a case of a mysterious death in the facility yesterday. I wasn’t here; I was in Italy at the time. I asked my father about it. He wouldn’t tell me, but I insisted. It happened about ten months ago. It turns out your precious doctor was the one who was responsible.”

“Why do you say that?” Tim put a little force in his voice.

“Well…” Laura gave a short laugh of derision. “The official story is that the poor guy got electrocuted by accident. But, the truth is far more disturbing. You see, your sweetheart left a cage door open on purpose. The freed chimp set free the rest of the chimps. When that guy walked through that door, he pulled a gun on them, but he didn’t get a chance to shoot. Three of them jumped him. They carried him all the way to the bathroom and put him in a bathtub full of water. The fourth put a hairdryer in the bathtub; the guy got fried. Now, you may wonder just how the hell could those chimps recognize a gun and know the effects of electricity. The answer’s quite simple.”

At that moment, she pulled her cell phone and a small pack of pictures out of her coat pocket. Josephine’s shaking voice filled his ears.

“I’m so sorry; I felt like I had no choice; we needed some results. I and my team agreed to use gene therapies to increase brain mass. Larger brain means more protein. As a side effect, the chimpanzees became smarter…”

“Here.” She added, handing the pictures over to him. Shivers went down his spine, as he laid his eyes on the first one. It depicted a man in a security uniform, lying in a bathtub, with multiple, deep lacerations on his wrists and his shoulders.

“The guy’s name was Jackson Davis. He didn’t have any family. This helped my father cover it up. The bad publicity could destroy us.” Laura sighed. “He allowed her to continue running her research lab, on one condition: that those chimps be put down; they were too dangerous. So, she poisoned them.”

The realization that he had fallen in love with someone as ruthless as her, hit him like a battering ram. He finally understood what she meant on the night of their date, when she said: “I’ve done things I’m not proud of.” Once more, she had not been completely honest with him. More than that, she was not the angel that he believed her to be. Instead, Josephine Taylor was just another woman who would do anything to achieve her ultimate goal.

“Anyway, I didn’t come here to talk about her.” Laura stated, reaching out her hand to touch his. “You still owe me a date.”

“We’ve been over this.” Tim finally uttered.

“I’m not your boss anymore.” She lowered her voice to a low, husky whisper, running her thumb across his wrist. “I’m just a girl, who wants to go out with a boy. What do you say?”

He couldn’t deny it to himself that she had a point. Certainly, he hadn’t forgotten about her, mischievous actions, but, for the third time in a matter of a few days, the air around him had become too thick to breathe. Tim was so distraught that he would have agreed to anything, just to get out of the house.

“Ok.” He said with a nod. “Let me grab my coat.”