disclaimer: I don't own them, Dick Wolf does..I am jealous...
AN: This is a short story...just a small idea I had that needed to be written through. I apoligize for it not being longer!
Mike Logan walked up to his desk and fell into his chair. He couldn't believe it was already morning and time to be at work.
"Coffee?" A voice asked behind him. He swiveled around in his chair to face Alex Eames, whose desk was behind his.
"Give me a whole pot," he grumbled.
"Late night?" She asked. He nodded and she rolled her eyes.
Bobby Goren walked in the door and set a stack of files on his desk, across from Eames', and looked at his coworkers. "Good-morning."
"It's too early to be a good morning," Logan replied. He got up and followed Eames to the coffee pot. "Seen Barek yet this morning?"
"Nope."
"Wow, I'm here before her? That's a first."
"Tell me about it," Eames smiled and went to her desk with her coffee. Mike started back to his desk with his cup, but then went back and poured a second cup. He brought both to his desk and placed one on the desk across from his. As he sat down, Carolyn Barek walked in.
When she got to her desk she looked down at the cup of coffee waiting, then looked at her partner. "Where'd that come from?" Mike shrugged and looked away. "Watch it Logan, someone may think you're becoming considerate." He gave her a 'who me?' look, then grinned. Barek sat down in her chair and took a sip of her coffee. "Thank you."
"You're never late," he informed her.
"Sorry, I had things to do."
"Like what?" He leaned forward, ready for gossip.
"None of your business."
"You're no fun, Barek."
Her eyes sparkled as she gave him a small smile. "You don't know me very well." Then she got up and walked to one of the filing cabinets. Logan watched after her briefly, then leaned back in his chair. "Logan, Barek," a voice called. Logan looked up and saw Deakins standing in the doorway of his office. He got up and walked over to the Captain. Barek was close behind them. They were ushered into Deakins' office and the door was shut. Deakins leaned against his desk. "We've got a call. I want you two on it."
"What is it?" Carolyn asked.
"A couple was killed. Slain in their bed. Two of their children were also killed, the other two kids are MIA," Deakins said.
Mike sighed and shook his head. "Alright, we're on it."
Barek and Logan carefully stepped through the master bedroom, which was a mess. Clothes and belongings were strewn everywhere. A female body was laying on the floor in front of the bed, and the male body was on the bed. Both were covered in blood. The man had been stabbed, the woman had been shot.
"Dad's the only one that got stabbed," Mike said. "Mom and the two kids were both shot. What's that about?" He glanced over at Barek, who was bent to the mother's body examining it.
She stopped talking to herself long enough to look up at her partner. "Did we find either murder weapon?" Logan turned to one of the officers first on the scene and raised his eyebrows.
"None that we saw," the officer said.
Logan nodded then looked back at Barek. He was ready to say what no one else had in the thirty minutes they'd been there. "There was no sign of a break in, the front door was shut and locked. I say this was all in the family."
Barek bit her bottom lip as she thought. "Yea but who did it?"
"Let's find the missing kids and ask them."
"The neighbor says the missing kids are five year old Kelsey and sixteen year old Ryan," the same officer said.
"We need to get on that Amber Alert," Carolyn stated, standing up. She moved over the the father and looked down at him. With a gloved hand she poked at his fingers and lifted his hand just enough to see the bottom. "Should test his hand for gun-shot residue," she murmured.
"You think Daddy killed them?" Logan asked.
"If he did, someone stopped him."
"Then maybe grabbed the baby and ran?"
Logan and Barek were back in Deakins' office. "Anything from the Amber Alert?" Logan asked.
"Not yet," Deakins answered. "Did you talk to some of Ryan's friends? Other family?"
"His best friend says Ryan hated his home life, but he didn't know why. He said Ryan was very protective of his younger siblings and would often leave in the middle of a game to go check on the other kids," Barek said. "The only other family we could find in the city was the maternal grandmother. She had nothing nice to say about her son-in-law and she hasn't spoken to the family in over eighteen years."
"She said her son-in-law, this Ronnie Ericson, had been in jail before he met her daughter Alice," Logan jumped in. "We pulled his sheet. He was in for armed robbery and attempted murder. Before that he had a few minor charges of assault and such. Plus he's got a locked juvie record."
"Anything after he got married?"
"Nope."
"We're off to talk to his boss and co-workers, see what they say," Barek said.
"Good, good," Deakins nodded. "We've got everyone on the look out for Ryan and Kelsey, I'll let you know as soon as we hear something."
Logan and Barek stopped at their desks, then left th precinct again. As they walked to the car Logan said, "Those kids were just nine and eleven. It's not right."
"It never is."
Logan drove himself and his partner back to the 1PP a short time later. He looked over at her. "So you think anyone's gonna acknowledge Deakins' last day?"
"You want to stop and get him a cake and flowers?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.
"No. But everyone is acting like he's going to leave tonight and come back in tomorrow, and he's not."
"We're the new kids, Mike. It's easier for us to say he needs a send off. The others, like Goren and Eames, have been there with him for more than six years. Committing a Capitan to Major Case is like asking someone to be the only teacher to a class of forty five year olds. It's a hated job, and we all know it. It's gonna suck losing someone who's on our side."
"Exactly my point. Deakins gave me a chance of redemption when no one else did. He shouldn't just walk out the door tonight."
"Then how about before he leaves you say to him, 'Thank you for trusting in me and giving me another chance'."
"Because I'm a man." He pulled into a parking spot and got out of the car, leaving Barek to stare at him in disbelief. She got out and walked beside him as they went in the building.
"Why do you do that?"
"Do what?"
"Act like a human for five minutes and then kill it with some typical Logan remark."
"It's who I am," he shrugged and walked out of the elevator into the squad room. "Any word on the Amber Alert?" He asked no on in particular.
"A lot of nothing," Eames said from her desk. "Cap's had Bradley and Peterson running after all the calls and none of them seemed to clear."
"I think Bradley's got something," someone said from across the room.
Mike went over and took the phone. "What's up?" He said.
"Got a man here, says the two kids came into his market two hours ago for food," Detective Henry Bradley said over the phone. "We got the video going, it's definitely them."
"Any clue which way they went?"
"Looks like they went out and took a left. That's all we can tell. Peterson is outside talking to people, see what they saw."
"Call my cell when you hear something."
"Will do."
Mike ended the call and went to his desk to fill his partner in. "We need to talk to this kid," he said.
Carolyn nodded. "From what Dad's coworkers had to say, I'm thinking he finally snapped. Something set him off. They all say he had an anger problem."
"Think a pregnancy would set him off?" Deakins asked, handing them a folder. "M.E. says Mom was four months along."
"Why would that upset him?" Mike asked. "As many people said this guy was no good, they also said he loved his kids and would do anything for them."
"Maybe he was trying to protect his family from something," Barek mused. "Wouldn't be the first time."
"His secretary, Melanie, she said he left early today," Mike said. "He left after a call came in."
"Okay," Deakins nodded. "We'll get the LUDs, see who it was."
"Are we taking the right angle here?" Barek asked.
"Like I said, no sign of a break in and the door was locked from the inside. Someone in the house had to have done it," Logan argued.
"And what if there was someone in that house that we aren't accounting for?" She retorted.
"You heard the neighbors! The family rarely had visitors, and no one was seen going in or out of their apartment. The doorman said there was no one but the family."
"Fine, fine. Let's keep checking into the Dad. Hopefully Ryan will come fill us in."
