ONE
Jameson Rook awoke as the sun shined through the windows of his sky-rise Manhattan apartment. He searched around his room for his girlfriend, Nikki Heat. Almost instantly she appeared at his bedroom door wearing his white dress shirt from the night before and carrying two mugs filled with coffee.
"For a second I thought it was a dream." Rook confessed as she handed him the cup.
"A good dream, or a bad dream?" Heat inquired.
"The best dream I've had since the night I met you." Rook grinned, thrilled with his way of describing the day Nikki arrested him for questioning.
"So... You liked it?" Heat asked.
"Liked it?! It was...!" Rook replied.
"Yeah. Even the part..." Heat trailed off.
"Especially that part." Rook smiled.
The door of the penthouse apartment hovering over the city jolted open. Nikki and Jameson heard the door slam before Margaret's voice was magnified through the apartment.
"Jameson, I'm home!" she yelled.
Heat and Rook scrambled to their feet.
"You said she would be gone all week!" Heat whispered in a tone that made an Irish mobster sound like a little girl.
"You're so cute when your angry." Rook whispered back.
"This is all a joke to you isn't it!" Heat used the increasingly familiar tone.
"I'm just as serious about this as you are!"
"Jameson!" Margaret shouted.
"Hide in my closet!" Rook yelled.
"You want to hide me in your closet?!"
"Want to, no. Need to, yes. Could you imagine the kind of hell I," Rook paused, "We would go through if my mother knew we were together!"
Without giving it a second thought Nikki stepped into the closet and closed the door just as Margaret entered.
"Jameson!" Margaret exclaimed as she saw Rook covered in sheets.
"Yes, mother?" Rook asked.
"Is anyone else here? I thought I heard voices..." Margaret trailed off.
"Nope, only me."
Margaret looked around the room. "I'll be in my room getting a much needed rest after the performance of my life last night." Margaret enjoyed making her exits big and leaving the audience hanging.
Nikki stumbled out of Rook's closet, fully dressed. "Where did you learn to do that?" Rook asked.
"You think that's the first closet I've hidden in?" Nikki returned the question.
At the precinct Nikki was finishing up some details on the last case she worked with Rook; a robbery gone wrong. Jameson Rook is a journalist, and a good one, as much as Nikki hated to admit it. He was assigned to follow a member of the NYPD to research for a series of articles, and he chose Nikki. Their relationship, like any other, had its ups and downs; but at the end of the day Nikki was always glad he had her back.
"One of the advantages of not actually being a cop." Rook said. "Hey... Just wondering, but how many other closets have you hidden in..." Rook's voice slowly came to a halt as he waited for Nikki's response.
"You want to play this game now?" Nikki didn't stop to look up at him. Rook didn't respond, "Let me put it this way Mr. Rook, how many women have you hid from your mother?"
"Touché, Detective Heat."
Jameson was reminded of the Nikki he saw and spoke with this morning. She seemed at ease, before Margaret came home that is. Rook wondered if she had finally put her mother'sskyrise murder behind her; after all these years of hunting down the killer and nearly getting killed herself. Jameson knew that it was him who pulled her back in, he remembered how she told him once she got started she wouldn't stop. Something he did nearly brought their relationship to a screeching halt. Over the last four years he saw Nikki at her highest and lowest points. That's when he realized, without a doubt in his mind, that he loved her, and only a year ago, he watched her die. Everyday he remembers watching the life drain out of her. Never sure, and unwilling to find out, if this smile will be her last. Wondering if she will be able to escape the demons from her past that haunt her, watching her every move. Knowing that everyday Nikki will relive that grief she suffered at only nineteen when her mother was taken from her.
"Heat. We've got a fresh one." Detective Raley shouted across the nearly empty office portion of the precinct.
"Text me the address." Heat reached for her coat hanging off the back of her chair. "You coming?" she said to Rook still lost in his own world of thoughts.
Heat and Rook stepped out of either side of Nikki's cruiser and made their way past the buildings doorman. As they walked into the building Heat's colleagues Raley and Ochoa joined them. Heat could tell he coworkers knew something was going on between her and Rook, but she didn't want them to know what wanderedit is out of fear that they would tell the new precinct captain who didn't have much of a soft spot for Nikki being the only female homicide detective in her co workers. Finally, Rook broke the silence.
"I'm having a poker night tomorrow, you guys should come."
"I'll be there. Jenny is visiting family in Boston so I'm on my own for the rest of the week." Raley said.
"Can I bring Lauren?" Ochoa asked.
"I wouldn't have it any other way." Rook said. Nikki prayed for the elevators speed to increase so she wouldn't have time to answer the upcoming question she could feel lingering in the air. "And you Detective Heat? I'm sure the rest of us wouldn't mind making the game more interesting for your sake, right guys?" Raley and Ochoa both nodded.
"Sorry Rook, I'm not interested in strip poker." When they finally reached the fiftieth floor all four of them stepped into one of New York's most expensive apartments. The walls were glass, immaculately clean, white couches, red pillows and chairs. It look like an apartment out of New York Spaces, even if the place was thrashed. Nikki, Raley, Ochoa, and Rook wandered into the living room where there was a body draped over the white couch that was stained with blood. Lauren Perry, the Medical Examiner, was standing over a woman's corpse. "Who is she?" Nikki asked.
"The man who owns this apartment, Derek Thomas - her fiancée, called it in and identified her as Olivia Jacobson. Just a guess, but COD appears to be two in the back of the head." Lauren finished.
"Hola chica," Ochoa greeted Lauren. "Rook is having poker night tomorrow at his place, you up for it?" He asked.
"Sure," Lauren replied. "I'm up for anything." Nikki looked at her as if she couldn't have picked a worse time to declare she's up for anything. "You need to lighten up," Lauren said to Nikki. "I'm around the dead all day long, and on occasion you're no better company than them."
"Call me when you get the results." Nikki said coldly, migrating to the living room where the victims fiancée was left to grieve.
"Mr. Thomas?" Heat called.
"Yes?" He asked.
"My name is Detective Nikki Heat. I'm sorry for your loss and I assure you the NYPD will do everything in our power to bring you fiancées killer to justice." Heat recited this like she practiced it in the mirror every morning.
"I'm sure you say that to all the families." Derek replied.
"I can assure you, I'm not a fan of making promises I can't keep." Heat regained his attention, "Unfortunately, this process begins with me asking you for an alibi."
"Yes, of course. A few nights ago Olivia and I had a fight, nothing huge, she was worried that we weren't compatible enough. I assured her she was wrong and that our families backgrounds would have no effect on our relationship. She told me she wanted some space so I moved into one of the other properties my parents own. Last night I was drinking at a small bar on 5th St. You can talk to the manager I was there until closing." When Derek Thomas finished, Rook suddenly remembered where he had heard the name.
"Your parents are William and Meredith Thomas?" Rook asked.
"Yes, they are."
"No kidding! I haven't talked to your father in at least two years. How's he doing? And Mrs. Thomas lovely as ever I assume."
"Dad is well, corporate value has never been higher so he's never been richer. Mom is doing nicely as well. Her nonprofit launched last year."
"Remind me to donate. Tell Will I'm still thrilled I invested." Nikki nudged Rook.
"Mr. Thomas-" Nikki said.
"Please call me Derek." Derek replied.
"Alright, Derek, I know this is hard but do you know of anyone who would want to hurt Olivia?"
"You're kidding? Olivia stepped on toes to get what she wanted, that was how she operated."
"If you don't mind me asking, how did you meet Olivia?" Rook asked.
"Through a party my parents hosted. About half way through the night I caught her out back lying down on the grass looking up at the sky. We talked for hours. And a few months later we were planning the wedding."
"Thank you. We'll let you know when we have a suspect in our custody."
"I appreciate it Detective Heat."
On their way out of the penthouse Nikki turned to Rook, "His alibi seems pretty orchestrated to me."
"He's your number one suspect?" Rook asked.
"As of late,"
"You didn't think I would forget, did you?" Rook asked. "I need your RSVP for my poker party."