She rubbed at the moisture still on her face. Marshall was standing nearby, and watched as the woman stared out the window, and struggled to compose herself. She looked around and caught Marshall's eyes and smiled sheepishly.
He grinned and sat down in the chair next to her desk. "I didn't get a chance earlier to offer my condolensces on the loss of your partner."
She shook her head. "I never imagined…In my wildest dreams, I never imagined…"
"Yeah, well life is like that."
"People don't understand the whole death of a partner thing, ya' know, especially outside the department."
He nodded.
"Your partner mentioned that you'd had a close call recently."
He raised an eyebrow. "She did? Well, it wasn't much. All in the past now."
"It was pretty gutsy of her to come and talk to me after our little…altercation."
Marshall grinned broadly. "I gotta' say that you really held your own there. She's a wildcat. She had quite a bit of size on you. I got a piece of that tape. Spent quite a bit of time analyzing it too."
She blushed and looked away. "I was really hot…especially after I heard the tape of her phone call to Eps."
Something in Marshall froze for a moment. "Yeah, well that was…really something."
"I imagine she could get bounced for that indiscretion."
He swallowed. "Could I correctly assume that the contents of this tape are common knowledge around the room?"
She shrugged. "I don't know. We didn't treat it like a secret. I really thought he did and she was in on it. I mean, she said she only slept with him once, but…it was pretty damning there for a bit."
Marshall was on his feet. "Ah, listen…again, I am sorry for your loss. You think Dershowitz is in his office?"
She shrugged.
"You take care, okay?"
"Thanks," she said, drifting back to that place of sadness he'd found her in earlier.
Marshall headed for Dershowitz's office, sailing in without warning, and shutting the door behind him. Dershowitz looked up, startled. "What's up, Man?"
Marshall cocked his head. "Yeah, do you mean man like the gender or Mann like my last name? 'Cause I'm both. I got the same problem with my first name. It really sucks."
Dershowitz scowled. "What do you want…Dude?"
"Right. Give me a minute." Marshall sat down and looked at the floor. Then he took a deep breath and looked up. "You have a tape."
Dershowitz sighed. "She sent you for it."
"Don't worry about who sent whom. I need to know what you're planning to do with that tape."
"It was evidence."
Marshall shook his head. "It has no relevance. You were barking up the wrong damn tree. We know that now. I saw my boss drop an injunction on your desk."
"And it doesn't cover information already found."
"You don't need that tape."
"I don't need a lot of things; this conversation being high on that list."
Marshall leaned back. "I don't see you wanting to hurt her."
Dershowitz nodded. "The truth is that I kind of like the girl."
"So it stands to reason that that tape isn't doing anyone any favors sitting in your evidence room."
"I don't disappear evidence, even for a looker like your partner. I intend to have a very long career with the department."
Marshall shook his head. "I wouldn't want you to do anything illegal or unethical."
Dershowitz sat back and thought for a moment. "If the Feds heard about that tape, and showed up here looking for it, and it had disappeared; well, that wouldn't look good for me."
"You would need deniability."
Dershowitz frowned. "So the tape disappear, and my deniability…is that I inadvertently left you alone in the Evidence room for a few minutes."
"You're quick, Bobby D. There's no doubt about it."
"She doesn't know you're here, does she?"
"She doesn't need to know."
"You'd really do this for her?"
Marshall shrugged. "It's how we roll."
Dershowitz pointed a finger. "You better get square with this 'cause if the Feds show up, they're only getting one story out of me."
"We go to the Evidence room, I give you your deniability, and you give me the tape."
Dershowitz shook his head. "You're either nuts or in love. Not sure I want to know which it is."
……………………………………………………………………
Marshall sipped on the raw whiskey, savoring the burn sliding down his throat. Around him, hefty men with barely a high school diploma between them howled at the action on the T.V. Periodically, he peered at the athletes fighting their way from one end of the court to the other, but mostly his energy was focused on forgetting the last six hours. His cell rang and he peered at it. He winced. It was her again. If he didn't answer soon, she'd probably put out an all points bulletin on him. He flipped it open. "Yup."
"Where are you?!"
"At home."
"What's all that noise?"
"I'm watching the Spurs and the Suns."
"I mean the yelling."
"Sportscasters." Marshall took another long draw on his drink.
"I'm coming over."
"Naw, I'm going to bed."
"Marshall, I need to talk. This day really sucked for me. And then I get home and find out that Rafe…well, suffice it to say that relationship went from critical care to Code Blue."
"Sorry to hear it, Mar. We'll talk tomorrow."
"I'm going crazy here. Let me come over."
"Call Eps. I bet he's available."
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?!"
Marshall winced. "Sorry. I guess I'm having a bad day too."
"Are you really going to bed?"
Marshall sighed. "Meet me at Gootchee's in twenty minutes. We'll have a drink, watch the game. You can tell me all about your love life."
"I'm there."
Marshall closed the phone and waved his hand for another. Two grizzled barflies grinned at him. One of them winkcd. "She got you whipped, Marshall."
"Yeah, Marshall, you're her bitch."
"Shut up. And don't tell her I was already here."
One grinned a mouth full of gums. "That's gonna' cost you, Boy."
Marshall narrowed his eyes. "I've done enough bending over for one day, Sven. If you want to sit next to the pretty lady with the blonde hair, you'll shut up. Otherwise, I get on the phone and direct her over to Sweeney's."
"Aw geez, Marshall. We was only joking. We won't say anything."
Marshall took another whiskey from the barkeep, and leaned over the bar. She would come, and he would feel that thing in his gut he couldn't seem to control. Then he would sit with her, and listen to tell him all sorts of things he didn't want to know. It was who they were, and he would accept it if that's all he could have.
The End