"What can I do for you, officer?" asked Parker. She shook the hand that he had offered and wondered why he looked so unhappy.
"Good morning, Ms. King." Logan Sully held his hand out after his greeting and waited for the tennis player to take it. He figured after he told her what he came to say, she would have him tossed out.
"Please call me Parker. Do you have more questions? If you do, I'm not sure how much more I can help you but maybe refer you to my girlfriend. She lived with Gail for a number of years, so I guess that makes her more of an expert on the nut than I am."
"I came by to tell you that Ms. Ingles made bail and was released this morning." It was as if a storm cloud had passed over her face when the news sunk in and Logan almost shivered.
"How much?" asked Parker.
"How much, what?"
"How much was her bail, detective?"
Logan took a seat next to her on the bench and watched Natasha and Gary walking into the facility. "That's an interesting question, I believe it was $150,000. Why do you ask?"
"I'm figuring when Emily gets home and tries to kill Gail it's nice to know that it'll only cost me eighteen grand to get her out of jail. It's only twelve percent of the total right?"
The seasoned police officer laughed at her reasoning and was looking forward to working with the player to catch whoever else was trying to kill her. "That's right, Parker. What I wanted to ask you though is, do you think it was Gail outside the restaurant when you first got into town?"
"Detective Sully, this's my coach Gary and my practice partner Natasha." Parker waved to the two that had come to stand before them staying silent as to not interrupt. "To answer your question, no I don't. I hadn't seen Emily in two months at the time and the fact we're together is why she supposedly stabbed me, it wouldn't have been a motive then."
"Any idea who the first assailant might have been?"
"No clue. All we have are the letters the bozo keeps sending talking about God and sin. Me and my lifestyle being the sin part of the equation, thus the getting rid of me becomes important to achieve the perfect balance. Then again it could've been a crime of opportunity. Crazy person with knife and ski mask whose hobby it is to hang around nice restaurants on the off chance lesbian tennis players have dinner reservations."
Logan shook his head and laughed along with Gary and Natasha. "Good theory but I'm thinking no. I want to concentrate on that crime since we already know who committed the second attack. And please call me Logan. I agree with your coach in that there's someone out there that wants to hurt you for no other reason than how you choose to live your life, Parker. I'm going to do everything in my power to see that doesn't happen." He handed her a card with his information on it and was trying to find a reason to stay and watch a little bit of her practice session.
"Thanks, it'll be nice having someone watch my back aside from Gary and everyone else that loves me. I don't like having to put them in danger as well. Do you play?" Parker asked handing the card to Gary and picking up a racket.
"Just enough to know how bad I am at it."
"Stick around then and see if we can show you some new tricks," offered Parker.
Gary took her place on the bench and put the officer's card in his shirt pocket. The thought of having Gail out of jail and having Emily on the cover of the paper that morning made him nervous. One good thing about the whole situation was that all the danger was not affecting Parker's play. Her shots were clean and smooth, free of the stress that was spilling over in every other aspect of her life.
"I first saw Parker play in the French Open a couple of years ago and I've been a fan ever since. You look at her like this and wonder why anyone would want to hurt her. All of us would love to be as good at something in life as she is at tennis," said Logan to Gary.
"Some people are only good at hate, Logan, and that's why I always have to look over her shoulder for her. Because she sure as hell isn't going to alter anything about herself for someone who disagrees on who shares her bed at night. Thank you for helping out, anything you need from us just call." Gary offered his own card before getting up to tweak a couple of Parker's strokes.
************************************************************************
"Ladies and gentleman, if you would please pick up your trays and bring your seats into their full and upright positions we will be on the ground shortly. The temperature in New York is a balmy eighty-six degrees and the local time is nine fifteen. Any of the personnel picking up drinks will be happy to help you with any connecting flight information. On behalf of myself and the crew we want to thank you for flying Virgin and we hope to serve you with all your future flying needs." Emily turned off the microphone and concentrated on the landing lights that would lead them back into JFK.
"Good job, guys, I'm glad this day's finally over." Emily checked her position again and made some minor adjustments for their final approach. The layover in Dallas had been extended by forty-five minutes because of a stupid passenger that tried to get on with a loaded gun and had made it through the first security checkpoint. That and the newspaper cover were running a close race to trample on her last nerve.
"Anytime, Em. Any chance we'll get to meet Kong at the airport? We heard we missed out a couple of days ago," her navigator kidded her ignoring the quick glare she shot his way.
Emily stood at the door with the rest of the crew to bid farewell to at least the last couple of passengers. If she hurried she might be able to get home before eleven and Parker wouldn't be sleeping. When the crew slowed in front of her, Emily wondered why the waiting area was still crowed with people considering the hour and the fact they were in the domestic corridor of the airport. The sight was a confirmation that if Parker was the person she was going to spend the rest of her life with, that time would never be boring or lack in practical jokes.
Parker was signing autographs for some laughing fans wearing an animal tag from her ear and a leash around her neck. It wasn't until she turned and faced the crew that they could read the t-shirt that answered the question Emily's had possessed. The 'Bagged and Tagged' caption had all of them wiping tears from their eyes and Emily shaking her head.
"Yep, definitely not boring, thought Emily as Parker handed her the leash when she got close enough. "And don't you forget it, King. I have witnesses," said Emily as she puckered up for a kiss hello which Parker readily delivered. "What are you doing here? You're supposed to be at home resting for tomorrow."
"I have good news and not so good news. And we can talk about that later. Why don't you introduce me to all these good looking uniformed people milling around behind you?"
Emily turned around in Parker's arms and introduced her crew to Parker, feeling the bicep resting against her shoulder flex every time Parker shook hands with someone new. Their captain was thinking of giving more than one of them bathroom cleaning duty if they threw any more flirtatious looks at Parker.