Married to my suspect

JONATHAN'S POV

I remained where I was, ignoring the temptation to go and grab the pen from her shaking fingers.

"What about the pen?" I asked with an indifferent tone.

She shrugged. "I've been looking for its kind for a long time, but I've been unable to find it. Can you tell me how you found it?"

I cocked my head. The last time we'd been in this office flitted into my mind. She had seemed curious about the pen then as well. "Someone gave it to me. I guess the design was discontinued. Did you have something similar?"

She nodded. "A long time ago." She whispered. She was looking paler and increasingly uncomfortable, so I went to where she was standing and pushed her softly so she sat on the chair I'd just vacated. "You look like you're about to faint." I told her when she stared at me confused.

She palmed the pen, running her hands down the body and eventually the feathery, detailed wooden barrel. Still staring at the pen, she flicked the barrel, and I saw a shudder run through her body at the action. She dropped the pen and sighed. "Can you tell me exactly who gave you and where they might have found it? I need to find the person that had this pen originally."

"Why? It's just a pen." Remembering her words when I'd collected the pen from her the first time, I frowned. "Is it because it's cute and unique?" The pen was unlike other pens with its glowing body that came from its ink and the clip held a feather that served as its barrel so rather than the barrel facing downward, it faced upward. But that couldn't explain her reaction to it. But one couldn't really tell with women.

She shook her head and looked at me with pleading eyes that were difficult to ignore. "Please, I need to know. It's really important to me."

I sighed and sat down on the other chair in the office. When I'd been given the pen by Ethan, he had told me to keep it securely and tell nobody about it. Apparently, he had found something and the pen was an important evidence. The way he had constantly been watching his back with his face filled with excitement had made me collect it with almost no question. Ethan almost always looked excited, but I just concluded it as something he had seen or read. Although looking backward, I didn't think I'd kept it as secret as he'd wanted, taking it to work when I'd practically lived at the office and also keeping it here, which was why Danielle had found it.

"I don't know much about it. My brother gave it to me and didn't tell me about it."

The way her face fell made me wish I had something more substantial to tell her. "Oh." She said dejectedly.

She seemed to be mulling on something. "What is it?" I asked and she looked me in the eyes. "I don't want to be insensitive, and I can't exactly reveal the details or why I came to know about the pen, but how long ago before he died before he gave it to you?" She asked and I narrowed my eyes.

What did him giving me the pen have to do with his death? "If I'm going to tell you that, you'll also have to give me something."

She nodded. "How exactly do you know about this pen?"

She sighed and was quiet for a while that I'd determined to also keep quiet before she spoke. "Remember I said my dad died when I was younger, I found this pen among his things so I've been curious about it." She said quietly.

That didn't sound so suspicious or gave any explanation to her reaction so it was very likely she was lying to me, but I decided not to call her out on it. Doing that will only make her withdraw inside. "He died about a month after he gave me the pen." I replied. I hadn't forgotten my suspicion about his death, but was this pen somehow connected to his death?

"But how sure are you that this pen was the same one? And did you lose it?" I asked her.

She picked up the pen and flicked the feathery barrel again. "I'm sure it's this one. I've seen it so many times. I can't ever forget." She rubbed her forehead. "I was so close." She finished quietly so I knew I wasn't supposed to hear that.

"I'm so sorry but did he, like… Tell you anything about the pen when he gave you? Was it a gift or something?" She asked, and I knew whatever secret this pen held, it was a good reason for more than half the reasons I'd been so suspicious of her, if not all. Was this what she had been looking for the day she had searched my office when I'd travelled and found my stack of gift Julia had left me?

"He gave me to keep it with me for a while, that he was going to get it back and tell me where he'd found it." I shrugged. "Of course I'd asked since it wasn't like others, but he had died before he was able to explain, so I'd just kept it with me." I lied.

She nodded and started picking at her fingers. "Right."

I nodded. "How about I help you search if I can find something that could explain the pen?" I asked her, and she looked up hopefully before the hope deflated from her face like a balloon.

"Don't worry. I'm sure it's not that important. I've just been looking for hints to find out more about my dad since he died before I fully knew him." She was staring straight at me as she said so. I nodded, my mind filing the lie.

"How did he die? Your dad?" I asked her, and her already tensed frame tensed even further.

"He was sick. That's what my mom said. Don't worry about it." She stood up and pushed my chair back into its place. She turned to me. "You should come back to the room… And I'm sorry for freaking out earlier. It was just unexpected. Can I…uh, think about what you said?" She asked.

I nodded, keeping my face devoid of any emotion. "Of course. There's no pressure. And if you still feel like the best option is to go our separate ways, just let me know."

She nodded and left the office, and I closed my eyes. I'd almost forgotten about what had happened, with the pen taking my full focus. I shook my head, I'll think about that and what the possibility of her response could be would be. It wasn't like I'd proposed and even if she responded in the negative which was what I should prepare for after her panic attack, I was sure I had enough charms to get her around.

I stood up and went to sit in front of my system, opening the folder I'd hidden so deep in the laptop titled "ETHAN"

I looked at the images of the things I'd found at the scene, as well as the images I'd taken of the police report when the cops hadn't been looking. Like I'd insisted from the beginning, It made no sense that Ethan had killed himself, and the fact that the case had closed so fast was my clue there had been rough play.

I picked up the pen and studied it. Could this pen be the piece of information I'd been searching for? And what did Danielle know that she was hiding so strongly. I flicked the cap and narrowed my eyes. Why had she reacted that strongly to it? Where had she seen the pen before? And what did Ethan know about it? Sure, it was a pretty unique looking pen, but was this why he had looked so excited? Was this pen connected to his death? What had he found, or what had he been looking into?