DISCLAIMER: OK, I still don't own the characters from Law & Order: Criminal Intent. Wish I did. No 'intent' to harm or infringe...
This is part 2 of 3. It is the sequel to "A Major Case". Another many chaptered story, some are long, some are short and some are average. All chapters are written, so if you like the first chapter, you'll be able to read the story in full. Not strictly necessary to have read A Major Case before reading this one - the bare bones of events of that story are included within this part.
I hate to solicit for reviews, but I'm going to bite the bullet and hope it misses my foot - I am still very new at sharing my writing, and anxiously await to hear from others about whether I'm doing anything right and what I can do to improve... so PLEASE READ and if something strikes you as strong or weak, well done or poorly done, please let me know.
REPOSTED TO CORRECT MISSING CHAPTER 17 - OOPS... APOLOGIES FOR ANY CONFUSION...
CHAPTER 1
"Eames, Goren… don't go anywhere. I'm on my way up to the Chief of D's office for a briefing. He specifically mentioned that I'd want to see both of you when we're finished. So, like I said, don't go anywhere. Stay put until I get back." Deakins walked out of the bullpen and headed towards the elevators.
Alexandra Eames-Davenport sat down at her desk. She had been about to sneak out a little early for the day. Not so early, that it would invite comment from any of the other detectives in the office or more specifically from her partner, Bobby Goren, but still early, at least until now. With a sigh, she picked up her phone and dialed her husband's cell phone to tell him she wouldn't be home early after all.
Bobby Goren looked up from the files and papers scattered across his desk and merely shrugged. It wasn't going to interrupt any plans he had for the evening. He went back to reviewing everything they'd found and done during the investigation into the Walker case. They'd concluded the case of Paul David Walker was a murder for hire. Walker's business partner, William Janseen had hired a couple of guys to make the hit look like a car accident. ADA Ron Carver was taking the case to the grand jury and hoping to get an indictment for murder and conspiracy to commit. Goren was to be Carver's first witness early Monday morning. Bobby was reacquainting himself with everything in the file to make sure he was prepared when he met with Carver tomorrow to prep his testimony. "What's going on, have a hot date with Andy tonight, Eames?"
"I should be so lucky. We're still working on filling out loan applications. All he's interested in from me tonight is my last five years' tax returns." Andy Davenport was trying to expand his business, but filling out all the required forms and applications and finding all the documentation that had to be submitted with the forms and applications was a truly daunting task. The process was proving to be the first real test to the six-month old marriage.
"You'll survive. And maybe by the time you're finished with all the paperwork and expanded the business Andy might wind up giving 'The Donald' a reason to quake in his boots. If by some chance that happens, I hope you remember who your friends are. Most importantly, me."
"Well, we'd better, and it might just make this all worth it. This is turning out to be more stressful than planning the wedding."
"Well, I told you that wasn't worth it. Five minutes at city hall just down the street and you'd still be just as married and just as happy." Goren looked up from his reading, caught his partner's eye, and winked. The Goren-Eames partnership had so far lasted longer than the Eames-Westwick marriage, but Bobby was sure that both unions were going to go the distance.
"Very funny Bobby, you're such a funny, funny man." Alex got up and picked up her cell phone. She had decided to call Andy somewhere she would have a little privacy. Shaking her head as she walked away, she said, "…and such a romantic, Bobby. I really can't understand why someone hasn't snatched you up by now." Shaking her head, she walked off as she punched in the speed dial code for Andy. Alex had always called him Bobby. Even in their early days together as a team, she had called him Bobby and he never seemed to mind. He on the other hand very rarely called her anything other than Eames.
Looking slightly wounded, Bobby called after her, "You have no idea. Eames, no idea at all." Bobby could hear Logan laughing behind him.
"You tell her, Goren. Don't let her get away with that." Logan said, loud enough for Eames to hear.
"Oh, and you're so much better, Mike?" Megan Wheeler chided her partner. "It's a mystery how the two of you have managed to remain single for so very long." Applause, cheers, and catcalls sounded throughout the bullpen.
"Wheeler, is that any way to look out for your partner?" Mike asked, jokingly looking offended.
"I just call them like I see them, Mikey." Wheeler said as she went to get another cup of coffee. With a wink at Alex that Goren couldn't see, she added, "I really don't see what's so wrong with Goren though. He's kind of cute."
"I knew it. She likes me. She really likes me. She thinks I'm cute." Goren joked. Once again, the bullpen erupted in laughter. Three phone lines ringing at once broke up the joking atmosphere.
"Here we go again," said Logan as he reached for his ringing phone. "Logan…" After a few minutes silence and Logan scribbling on his note pad, Logan hung up and called out to Wheeler. "We've got a DB off of Washington Square Park. Let's hit it, Wheeler." Both Detectives quickly swallowed the rest of their coffees and pulled on their jackets.
Alex had kept walking but once inside the interview room she turned and looked back at her partner. Over the last few years, she had come to know a lot about Robert Goren, but she also knew there were still so many secrets. She was no less surprised at Goren's joking about this subject, than she was about everything she discovered about him. Most of what she'd learned about Bobby had been learned in the course of cases they'd investigated over the years.
She thought back to those first rocky days of their partnership and was so thankful she'd decided to go back to Captain Deakins and take back her request for a new partner. Bobby worked differently than most officers she had known and it took her awhile to discover just how good a cop Bobby was. She knew he'd been the lead officer in several successful undercover drug ops before coming over to Major Case. She knew what he had a perfect record in Narcotics, 30 arrests and 30 convictions, but Major Case was very different. It had taken her awhile to see that he was one of the most dedicated and effective police officers she had ever met. She knew now that they made a formidable team. They worked very well together. As Bobby said, they had complementary skills. She and Bobby worked their cases with a dogged determination, and diligence in their pursuit of the guilty.
However, after working with Goren for the last five years at a breakneck pace, the experience was taking a toll on her. In addition, there had been some significant changes in her personal life as well. She had met and within a year married entrepreneur Andrew Davenport. Her future was looking great. Alex wanted to be able to take time to enjoy it. She wished she had as much hope for Bobby's future.
No one would confuse Goren with a flighty romantic, but Alex knew that Bobby had a great need to find his future. He was so consumed by his professional life that he didn't leave him much time to seek out a personal life. He had made one valiant attempt in the time that she had known him. About two years ago, he'd met a woman named Sarah Stevens. Things had started out quickly and had flourished for a while. It had been a steady and balanced time in his life, probably one of the few periods in his life. But as with many things in Goren's life, things went tragically wrong. It hadn't been his fault, it had been out of his hands. Even Sarah hadn't been able to do anything to keep it from going wrong.
Anyone who met Bobby Goren would naturally assume he had driven the poor girl away with his behavior and intensity. As he often said, "he was an acquired taste." With Sarah, it hadn't seemed to take long or much effort to acquire that taste. Sarah had been made of stronger stuff than to allow a few of his quirky mannerisms to scare her. Of course, Sarah never realized how strong she was. It had stared out so promising.
But Sarah had a history too. Sarah had been able to end a relationship with an abusive boyfriend named Michael DeVry. Over a period of a couple of years, she began to rebuild her life and learn to trust people again. It was only after the fact did people find out how sick Michael he had truly been. Shortly after Sarah ended their three-year relationship Michael committed an armed robbery at a local liquor store and assaulted the clerk. The Brown University graduate had netted a grand total of 315.00 dollars and five years in the Connecticut State Prison system.
After five years, five years he had spent planning how to avenge himself on the one person he held responsible for all his problems - Sarah Stevens - DeVry served out his sentence and left Connecticut. He'd set out to find her in New York City. Sarah had moved back to New York after graduating from college and had been living and working as a novelist, of a popular crime fiction series. In the years Michael had been in prison, Sarah had written three novels that had done well, critically and financially. It hadn't taken him long to find her. He'd spent several weeks following her and had discovered how to strike back at her. By taking away the people in her life who she thought of as family, he assured his revenge. He killed five of those people, people that had been invaluable in Sarah's efforts to rebuild her life after ending her relationship with DeVry - her agents, Amanda Cartwright and Kelly Bishop. Her lifelong friend, Angela Thompson had been next on his list. Angela was the one person other than Sarah who had known Michael, and what Sarah been through. He had also killed Angela's husband David and their six-month old son, Sean. He'd also tried to kill Bobby, while holding Sarah hostage and using her as a shield.
However, Michael had been the one to die. He had been the only one to fire a weapon that day. His had been ruled a suicide. After shooting Bobby, he turned the gun on himself and had put one bullet from the .45-caliber sig sauer automatic he carried through the roof of his mouth. Bobby had shouted out to the officers to stop him, but it had happened too fast.
After that, it didn't take long for the relationship between Bobby and Sarah to implode. On the outside looking in, Alex and Andy had watched the two step back from each other, trying to give the other space, until that was all they had between them - space. They hadn't been able to pull things back together after that.
Then, an opportunity to write the screenplay for her second novel appeared. Shortly before her agent's death, Amanda Cartwright had optioned the book to Monogram Pictures in California. The offer had proved to be a way out for her. Bobby encouraged her to take it and not really having any reason to say no, she accepted the job. Since then, Sarah had lived in California. In the beginning they had stayed in touch with phone calls and emails, there had even been talk about Bobby taking some personal days and going out for a few day, but it never happened. It wasn't long before Bobby stopped telling Eames that Sarah said to say "hi", so she assumed the phone calls weren't happening anymore. Bobby never mentioned anything and Alex didn't want to ask.
From the corner of her eye she noticed Bobby stand up and walk around his desk. Alex turned her head to follow his gaze and saw that Captain Deakins was coming down the hall and into the squad room. "Eames, Goren…my office." She still hadn't called Andy yet. Now she wasn't going to have the chance.
Alex walked out of the interview room and joined Bobby in the Captain's office. Under her breath, Alex whispered, "What have you done now, Bobby?"
Bobby threw his hands up in surrender, "It's not me, Eames. I haven't done anything. I was going to ask you what you had done to bring us to the attention of the chief of D's. I haven't done anything," silently Bobby added, "at least I don't think so."
The look on Alex's face told Bobby she didn't quite believe him.
However, she should have.