Title: Friends with Benefits
Show: Women's Murder Club
Pairing:Cindy/Lindsay
Rating. T
Summary: With Cindy and Lindsay getting closer over the last few months, a murder of someone close to them and an attack on Cindy brings them even closer
Disclaimer: I own nothing. The characters belong to James Patterson, ABC and 20th Century Fox Television.
Chapter 1
Cindy Thomas opened the door of her small, yet duplex, stepped inside and let out a sigh of relief at being able to finally sit down and relax after another exhausting day. She sat down her purse, walked into the kitchen and grabbed a nice cold bottle of water and as she was about to turn and leave, she noticed a car in the back alley.
It wasn't moving, yet the engine was running and there were two people inside. She stepped to the side to get out of the way, but when she looked back the car was empty and she saw two men walking into her back yard. She rushed to the backdoor to make sure it was locked and then rushed back to the front door to make sure it was locked. Once she felt somewhat safe, she pulled out her cell phone and called Lindsay.
"Boxer here." Lindsay said as she finished up some last minute paperwork.
"Lindsay, I need you to get over here now." Cindy said as she peaked out her front window.
"Here is where?"
Ducking back down on the sofa, Cindy finally got around to answering Lindsay, "I'm at my house and there are two men outside. I don't think they are here to sell vacuums."
"Why would someone be after you Cindy? What did you do?" Lindsay asked, trying to muffle her laugh.
"Hey, what kind of question is that?" Cindy asked with a laugh, knowing Lindsay was probably right, "I'm here hiding in fear and you're acting like it's my fault?"
"Well Cindy, chances are you asked the wrong question of the wrong person and pissed someone off." Lindsay grabbed her coat and walked out to her car, "So, it would help to know who you pissed off this time."
Cindy gave her cell phone a dirty look, wishing Lindsay were able to see it, "Oh fine, let's just sit and chat about everyone I talked to in the last year and see if we can find out who wants me dead."
Smiling at Cindy's sarcasm, Lindsay couldn't help but smile back, "I think if you narrowed it down to the last 24 hours it would suffice."
Cindy heard a noise coming from her kitchen and began to panic, "They're inside. I know it. Where the hell are you?"
Lindsay's face turned white and she put her foot hard on the gas, "I'm a couple blocks away. If you think they're inside, get out of there now."
Two men stormed into the living room, grabbing Cindy before she could get out the front door and quickly covered her face with a blanket. They dragged her kicking and screaming through her house and out into her backyard.
Lindsay pulled up and saw Cindy's door wide open. She slammed on the breaks and ran towards her house. Moments later she heard Cindy screaming and ran towards the sounds. Gun out, she moved through the house, quickly following the screams outside, stopping at the back door as she spotted the two men dragging Cindy towards their car.
With very few options at her disposal, Lindsay ran into the back alley and pointed her gun at the two men, "Stop right there."
The two men turned to see a gun pointed at them. They pushed Cindy to the ground, got in their car and took off in a flash. Lindsay rushed over to Cindy and knelt down beside her, "Are you okay?"
Cindy smiled at the sight of Lindsay, "I'm doing a bit better now that you finally showed up."
"Well, I like to make an entrance." Lindsay smiled, helping Cindy to her feet, "So did you recognize the men?"
"No, my face was kind of covered up, but I did get the license plate number and heard one of the men call the other one Kev."
Lindsay nodded and put her arm around Cindy's waist, "Let's get you back inside."
Once inside Lindsay made a call to check on the plates and asked to be informed once they had a match. She then went about closing and securing all the windows and locking both doors before walking over and sitting down beside a still shaken Cindy, "Well, this is sure a dramatic way to get me to come over."
"Very funny." Cindy said, shaking her head at her pretty friend, "But, now that you're here I hope you'll stay. I just don't want to be alone tonight. You can sleep in the spare room if you want."
"First of all you don't have a spare room, "Lindsay smiled at the pretty redhead, "And no, I won't be staying here, because you're coming with me."
"What?" Cindy asked in a confused whisper.
Lindsay continued to look around, stopping momentarily to respond, "They know where you live. It's not safe here, so you can spend the night at my place."
Cindy smiled slightly, clearly surprised by Lindsay's invitation, "You don't have to do that. I'm pretty sure you scared them away."
"It wasn't a request." Lindsay said, staring down Cindy with her well practiced glare, "Get some things and let's get moving. But first, you need to tell me what the hell is going on here. This wasn't random and you know it."
"Fine, but you're not going to like it." Cindy said as she slipped down the hall to her bedroom.
Lindsay shook her head and smiled as she followed Cindy down the hall, stopping just outside her bedroom door, "Why am I not going to like it?"
Cindy couldn't help but smile at Lindsay's exasperated tone, "I was just trying to prove I belonged."
"You don't have to. You're part of the team." Lindsay said, as she leaned back against the wall, "We all respect you, so please just stop whatever it is you're doing before you get hurt, or worse."
"I think it's too late for that." Cindy replied softly, cringing at the response she was going to get.
Lindsay couldn't stand still any longer and turned and walked into Cindy's bedroom. She began to speak, but as she saw Cindy standing in her bra and panties she quickly turned around and stood silent.
"Well, maybe I'll just wear this all night and you'll forget about giving me another lecture." Cindy said with a smile, reaching out and grabbing a pair of jeans from her bed.
"Oh no, you aren't getting out of this one." Lindsay said, turning around in time to see Cindy zipping up her jeans, "Now, what have you been investigating?"
Cindy took her sweet time searching for a top, finally stopping to reply, "I told you I was trying to prove myself. You three have so much experience with all this. I just wanted to show you that I could bring down someone big."
"Bring down?" Lindsay asked, her face contorting as she tried to comprehend Cindy's choice of words, "You aren't a cop. You can't BRING down anyone. You can get yourself killed though by digging up something you shouldn't."
"Look, it was all going just fine until this morning." Cindy said, her ever present smile fading as she remembered the rather bizarre conversation she'd witnessed, "Could you please promise not to yell?"
Lindsay gritted her teeth at being asked such a thing, "I don't yell."
Cindy's smile quickly returned, "Oh yes you do."
"Fine, I won't yell." Lindsay agreed, somehow never being able to stay mad at the cute redhead who constantly tested her patience.
"Thank you." Cindy said with a big grin, finally slipping on a blue t-shirt, "Okay, I've been trying to get information on a well known mobster in the area and I wasn't having much luck, so I decided to get a little closer to the people around him."
"You did what?" Lindsay asked, her voice rising to a very high decibel.
Staring back at Lindsay with a disapproving glare, Cindy shook her head at the tall slender detective, "You promised."
Taking a deep breath, Lindsay smiled and began again, "Who are you talking about?"
A long pause followed as Cindy paced back in forth in front of Lindsay, "I looked at the FBI most wanted list and well, the only name on the list that was remotely tied to San Francisco was Andrei Shemkenov, he's only number 23 by the way. Anyway, he's a purported mob boss of the SF chapter of the Tambov Gang, which in turn is connected to a notorious crime organization based in St. Petersburg, Russia."
Lindsay didn't take near the long pause to respond, "You have got to be kidding me?" she asked, tossing her arms in the air, "Do you have any idea what will happen to you if he ever finds out you've been snooping around his business?" Lindsay asked, but as soon as she saw Cindy's lips about to move, she put her finger up against her soft lips, "Don't answer that."
Cindy stood silent, staring at Lindsay's long finger still pressed against her lips. After a couple questioning glances, Lindsay removed her finger, "Thank you."
"I'm not done yet." Lindsay said, taking Cindy by the hand and sitting her down on the bed, "Okay, what I'm about to say is coming from your friend, not the cop. I want you to stop this right now. I don't want to see anything happen to you. I don't think you understand what you might've gotten yourself into. I've grown very fond of you over the last few months and the thought of you ending up in the morgue scares me and I don't like being scared."
Clearly surprised by Lindsay's reaction, Cindy looked back into Lindsay's eyes, squeezed Lindsay's hands and smiled, "Okay, I get it. I went a little too far. I never meant for it to get this out of hand." Getting up from the bed, Cindy walked over to her dresser and stared into the mirror with a somber frown, "I found out something about someone you know and it's not good. I don't know what to do about it."
Curious as to what Cindy was referring to, Lindsay got up and stood behind her, "Just tell me the truth. Whatever it is we'll deal with it."
Turning to face the tall brunette, Cindy let out a deep sigh, "It's Luke Bowen. I'm pretty sure he's an informant for Shemkenov."
Lindsay's eyes grew big and her head instinctively began shaking no, "That has to be a mistake. I've ran a background check on him and he came up clean."
Cindy felt guilty even mentioning what she saw, "I'm sorry, but this morning I was having a meeting outside Shemkenov's mansion with this guy who's a grunt in his organization, just casually trying to pump him for information when Luke came up to the main gate."
"That doesn't mean anything." Lindsay said, hoping so much that she was right.
"There's a speakerphone attached to the gate and obviously Luke didn't care or didn't realize anyone else was around, but he was having one hell of an argument with someone on the other end." Cindy said, hating the look of disappointment she'd brought to Lindsay's face, "Anyway, I couldn't hear it all, but I heard enough. Luke wanted to be done with Jill for cheating on him and I guess the person on the other end was telling him to go back and do his job and to take his stupid pride and shove it. I heard Luke yelling not to use his family against him, but in the end he seemed to have no choice and he drove off."
"I can't believe this." Lindsay said, countless emotions racing through her head as she thought about everything she'd just heard, "Okay, there's so many things I want to say right now, but first things first. You are done going to this mobster's house, home, mansion or anywhere he might be. Your investigation is now over. I'll deal with Luke. If what you just told me is true, then chances are his connection to Jill isn't just a coincidence."
Cindy walked over to her night stand, opened the drawer and pulled out a large folder, walked back over and handed it to Lindsay, "This is everything I've uncovered about Shemkenov as well as Luke's involvement. You'll see that it is more than likely related to the death of one of his long time associates, Evgeni Dmitriev."
Lindsay took the folder and sat down and began reading. After glancing at page after page of information regarding Andrei Shemkenov's organization, she flipped through a section on Luke Bowen and shook her head as she came to the end, "How long have you known that he was involved with Shemkenov?"
"Don't be mad, but I didn't have any facts before. I didn't even know what his connection was until this morning." Cindy added, her gaze moving from the carpet to Lindsay and back again, as she tried to get everything out in the open, "Once I began to dig into his background I learned about his mother's health problems and that's when Shemkenov stepped up, offering him some financial help in return for a favor down the line. Once I found out Jill was involved, I simply began searching for any connection between Jill and Shemkenov and presto, that's when Evgeni's name came up."
Lindsay paused at the mention of Evgeni's name before finally making the connection, "I vaguely recall her prosecuting him. This was 5 or 6 years ago. She was new on the job and she was determined to put him away. It turns out he was innocent, but he died in prison before we was exonerated."
Cindy nodded, "Yes, that's more than enough motive for a man like Shemkenov."
"Yes, but why wait so long?" Lindsay asked rhetorically, getting up and pacing back and forth in front of Cindy, "I think something else is going on here and we need to find out what it is.'
"Great, where do you want to start?" Cindy asked, more than a little pumped at the idea of working with Lindsay.
"Sit your cute little butt back down." Lindsay said, quickly deterring her excited friend, "This is a police matter now. I'm not happy with how you came about all this information, but if it helps Jill out I'll be grateful, but your part is over. Now get your things together and I'll meet you at the car."
"Lindsay." Cindy yelled as she watched Lindsay walk out of her bedroom. Knowing she wasn't going to get anywhere by screaming, Cindy packed a few things and followed Lindsay out to her car, still smiling that Lindsay mentioned her butt was cute.
San Francisco
Police Department.
Jill Bernhardt's office.
Jill Bernhardt sat at her desk, looking over a motion she was going to be filing tomorrow in court. She looked at the clock on the desk, let out an audible moan as she saw it was close to midnight and she was still working away.
As she put the finishing touches on her motion, she got up, stretched her legs and began to get ready to head home.
Before she even got her coat on her boss walked in looking less than happy, which normally wouldn't be a surprise, but this time it wasn't anger showing on her face, it was sadness.
Instantly Jill knew something was wrong, "What is it?"
Denise stepped inside Jill's office, closed the door behind her and walked up to Jill, "There's been an accident."
"Oh god. Who?" Jill asked, closing her eyes hoping she'd wake up and it would all be dream.
Waiting for Jill to open her eyes, Denise continued on in a slow solemn voice. "It's Luke Bowen. His car went over a cliff near Devil's Slide and he died instantly upon impact."
Jill's face went white with shock and disbelief, stumbling backwards, her desk the only thing keeping her from hitting the floor.
Moving quickly towards Jill, Denise helped steady the distraught DA, "I'm sorry. I know how much you cared about him."
After taking some long deep breaths, Jill opened her eyes, "Are you sure it's him?"
"Yes, I'm afraid it is. They verified it at the scene." Denise added quickly, pausing just enough to make Jill uneasy.
"What was that?" Jill asked as she stepped back and glared at Denise, "You hesitated. Is there something you're not telling me?"
Shaking her head and letting out a sigh, Denise nodded her head, "There's one other thing, but we're still investigating it."
"Just tell me. I deserve to know."
"From the initial reports I've got, it appears there were two witnesses at the scene." Denise added, pacing slowly in front of Jill, "They say they saw two men leaving the scene just after the car went off the cliff. Now the problem is the two witnesses were drunk out of their mind and even if they could identify the two men, they'd be horrible witnesses at any trial."
"I don't care." Jill yelled, turning away from Denise, looking out the window, before turning back again, "I want them brought in and I want to talk to them personally."
"I can't do that." Denise said shaking her head, "You're too close to this case. Let me handle this, okay? I promise I will do everything in my power to find out if this was more than just an accident."
Knowing she had no real choice, Jill reluctantly shook her head in agreement, "I still want to be part of this investigation. Let me watch you interview the witnesses, let me in on any evidence you might have and I'll happily let you handle this."
"Okay, I'll keep you informed, but you need to stay in the background." Denise said calmly, but firmly, "Listen, let me take you home. You're in no condition to be driving."
"I'll be fine. I promise." Jill said with the best smile she could manage.
"Maybe I should I call Lindsay."
"No, it's too late; she's been working 12 hour shifts for so long." Jill said, still more concerned about her friend than her own well being, "Tonight is the first night she went home at a decent hour. There's nothing she can do right now. I'll call her in the morning."
Denise smiled, "Well, you could use some sleep as well." She turned to walk out of Jill's office, but stopped and walked back and stood in front of Jill, "I just don't feel right letting you go home alone, I insist on driving you. Please don't make me get out the cuffs."
Jill had another reluctant smile, "Okay, I know you're right, so lead on boss."
End of Chapter 1