Catching the Storm

35. How to Fix a Conman

Agent 34 will be updated soon.

I also haven't been updating as much because, ya know, life. I still have turtle tanks to clean, a dress to alter for my Grandma, I've been painting again (since I didn't have time to while my college classes were going on), I have to fix my dog's couch (yes, he has his own couch), and I have a million other things to do since I now have the time. Still been working on writing though, since that's fun to me and I do have time.

I intend to have Catching the Storm finished before my classes start back up, and I hope to at least be at Chapter 20 of Agent 34 before my classes start back up as well. But we'll see how that goes.

Anyway, Enjoy!

Crystal's POV

I don't know how long I stood on the deck, staring into the doorway that Jackson had been standing in.

There were absolutely no words to describe what I was feeling. Seeing Jackson-a man who was usually so collected, so confident, so carefree, so . . . strong and reckless-look so absolutely broken wasn't anything I ever dreamed I'd see.

I was even more curious than I had been before and yet, I didn't feel like seeking him out to ask further questions. I wanted to. I so desperately wanted to but . . . seeing him like that. Seeing the pain on his face as I drug up memories of someone who meant so much to him made me stop in my tracks.

True, he'd already hurt me. Time and time again. So I had every reason to want to get back at him, but something about this seemed different. When I asked that question, I never dreamed of the answer I'd get.

Jackson Storm, the conniving, flirtatious, and charismatic bastard of a conman that he was, had been married. And she wasn't around anymore, that much had been abundantly clear. But what exactly had happened to her?

I had a guess. Actually, I had a few, but I wasn't sure exactly which one was right.

When I finally managed to gather my thoughts, I walked back up to the room, still in shock over what I had just learned. I stepped into the room, only to see that Julie and Damien had left and only Noah was left in the room.

I looked at Noah as he typed away on the computer on his lap, not even bothering to look up at me.

"The name on the hospital records was Jane Johnson," Noah said, his eyes still on the screen. "Not very helpful," He continued. "and in trying to cross-check where else that name is used I discovered what a very common name it is. So no luck there."

I just nodded absentmindedly, not actually paying any attention to a word he was saying. "Did Jackson come back up to the room?"

"No," Noah replied without looking at me, fingers flying across his keyboard. "I was able to find something interesting, but I don't think it's actually very helpful-"

"Does the name Ella mean anything to you?" I interrupted.

Noah froze, his hands hovering over his keyboard before he slowly looked up from the screen to me instead. "What?" He questioned.

"Ella," I repeated. Although I could judge by his reaction that he knew the name.

He looked away from me and scratched at the back of his neck. "Where-where did you-uh, hear that-that name?"

"Jackson," I replied. "You know you stutter when you're afraid and when you know something, right?"

"I don't-I don't . . ." He cleared his throat and shook his head. "I don't know anything. Ella could be . . . any number of people Jackson knows-I mean-not that he actually knows anyone by that name-he watches a lot of movies-why don't you just . . . ask him?"