Pretending
"What have we got?" Danny asked as he approached Baez at the scene.
"Two more vics. Paul and Susan Davenport, 42 and 38." She told him reading from her notebook.
"Same MO?" He asked bobbing down to look at the bodies.
"Yup, last seen having drinks at Hollow Bar, husband stabbed multiple times in the abdomen, wife had her throat slit probably while trying to help her dying husband." Baez confirmed looking down at Danny.
"Dammit!" He swore as he stood.
"Third couple in six weeks." Baez noted understanding his frustration.
"You know what that means." He said more of a statement that a question.
"We have a serial killer." She answered anyway. He nodded and they turned to leave.
"What do you want to do?" She asked as they ducked under the crime scene tape.
"Uni's already canvassing?" He said as they climbed in the car.
"Yup." She affirmed.
"Let's go notify the families."
"No, thank you." Danny spat sarcastically as he slammed the phone into the receiver.
"No luck." Baez asked looking up from her work.
"That was our last lead and it went nowhere." He sighed leaning back in his chair and running his hands through his hair.
"We'll think of something." She smiled sympathetically.
"Reagan, Baez, my office." Commanded their captain as she passed by their desks. They shared a look then both immediately got up and followed her into her office. She gestured and they each took a seat.
"Have you gotten any further on this guy that's killing married couples?" She asked.
"No Captain, we followed up on a lead this morning but it didn't pan out." Baez answered her.
"Ok, well I've had a thought. This guy has killed every second Saturday for the last six weeks, if the pattern holds, he's going to strike again tonight." She began.
"We know." Danny grumbled, garnering a glare from his captain.
"Given we know when he's going to strike and we know he kills couples who go to Hollow bar, we have an opportunity here." She explained.
"Send in two cops pretending to be a married couple." Baez guessed.
"Yes, exactly. Tonight, I want you two at Hollow Bar, pretending to be a very in love married couple. Hopefully he'll be there, choose you two as his next victims and when he comes after you, you can take him down."
"Us?" Asked Danny.
"Is that going to be a problem Reagan?" His captain asked.
"No boss." Baez quickly answered.
"Good. You'll need to sort out back up and surveillance, so you'd better get going."
"Yes boss." Danny confirmed as he and Baez stood to leave.
"Oh, and Baez." She said as they reached the door of her office.
"Yes?" Baez asked turning back to her boss.
"You're going to need a wedding ring."
A silence had fallen between them as they finished their drinks. Baez watched as Danny took his last sip and placed his glass on the table. He looked at her drink and saw it was empty.
"Would you like another?" He asked.
"No thanks, let's just go home." She smiled at him. He nodded and stood, he grabbed her jacket off the back of her chair and held it out to her. She stood and turned her back to him. She slid her arms in the arm holes and he lifted the jacked up on to her shoulders. She turned around and he put on his own jacket. He got out his wallet and left a few bills on the table. They headed to the door, when they reached it he opened it and held it open for her. They stepped out on to the street and she took his arm. They walked slowly down the street for awhile until he stopped. He took her arm and gently turned her to face him, wrapping his arms around her.
"Is he following us." He whispered as she rested her arms on his shoulders.
"Yes." Baez confirmed using their hug to cover her actions.
"What is it?" he asked as her saw her expression change.
"I'm not sure he's buying it, he looks unsure about us." She said pulling back to look at him.
"We have to do something, he can't get away." Danny whispered concerned.
They stared at each other for a moment trying to think of their next move. Danny saw Baez have an idea, she carefully angled them to give the suspect the best view of what she was about to do. Danny felt one of her arms move from his shoulder. He stared at her as he felt her place her hand on his jaw, seconds later his eyes fluttered closed as her lips touched his. He reacted almost instinctively, pulling her firmly against him and kissing her back. His heart raced as his body reacted to her, the softness of her lips, way she tasted like alcohol. He almost shivered as she ran her hands through the hair at the top of his neck. They stood there, in the street, kissing, finally pulling apart when they could no longer ignore the need to breathe.
Across the street Erin, Linda and Nicky walked out of the cinema.
"That movie was brilliant.' Erin commented as they all wrapped their arms around themselves.
"Yeah, I loved that scene where…" Linda froze mid sentence. Her mouth dropped open in shock. Erin and Nicky immediately followed her gaze to where she was looking. They looked across the street to see Danny and Baez kissing.
"Oh my god!" Nicky exclaimed. Erin didn't speak, she simply began to walk over. Before she had taken two steps she felt Linda's hand on her arm.
"Don't. Leave it." She instructed as tears began to fall.
It was after 2am when Danny finally got home. He very quietly came in and locked the door behind him. He was tip toeing to the stairs when a light came on. He turned to see Linda sitting on the couch.
"Hey, sorry I'm late." He said as he made his way over.
"Is that all you're sorry for?" She asked moving away from him as he joined her on the couch.
"What?" He asked completely confused.
"So you're only sorry you're late? You're not sorry you're cheating on me?" She asked as tears began rolling down her cheeks.
"What are you talking about?" He asked shocked, he went to get close to her but she moved away.
"I saw you Danny. Erin, Nicky and I were coming out of the movies and I saw you. I saw you kissing Baez in the middle of the street." Linda cried raising her voice.
"That wasn't what it looked like." Danny replied realising with horror what she had seen.
"Are you kidding me? It wasn't what it looked like? I saw you kissing her Danny!" Linda yelled.
"I know, I was but we were undercover." He tried to explain.
"Undercover, oh come on." She replied disbelieving.
"I swear. You've heard about the guy going around killing married couples right?" He asked and she nodded.
"Well, we were pretty sure he was going to kill again tonight so our captain ordered me and Baez to go undercover in the hopes he would go after us and we could take him down. It worked, he followed us out of the bar but he seemed unsure, like he wasn't buying our cover so we had to make sure he did. Anyway after we kissed we headed around the corned and waited. Sure enough he followed, knife out ready but we were waiting for him and we took him down. He's sitting in a cell in the precinct right now. You can call my captain. I swear to god it's the truth." Danny told her as he got his cell phone out of his pocket and began scrolling to his captains number. Linda looked at him, she saw how horrified he was at her thinking he was cheating. She put her hand on the hand with the phone in it.
"Okay." She said.
"I'm calling her right…" He began then looked up at Linda.
"What?" He asked.
"I believe you."
"You do?" He was stunned.
"Yes, but you lied to me. Why didn't you tell me you were going undercover?" She asked still hurt.
"I…I didn't want you to worry. I know you worry about me every time I step out the door but it's been harder for you since you got shot. I knew it would be even worse if you knew I was out there trying to lure a serial killer." He confessed.
"Danny, I'm your wife, it's my prerogative to worry. How do you think I'm going to feel now, not knowing whether your just going to work like normal or doing something extra dangerous and lying to me about it." She replied with some anger in her voice.
"Linda I'm so sorry, I should never have kept this from you. I promise I'll never do it again."
"Ok, I forgive you. I don't know if I'll ever be able to get the image of you and Baez kissing out of my head but I forgive you." She gave him a small smile.
"I love you." He told her wrapping his arms around her and holding her tight. She hugged him back and rested her head on his chest.
"I love you too Danny."
An hour later, he lay in the dark staring at the ceiling, unable to quiet his mind. The memory of the night kept playing over and over in his head. His brain recalled every detail, the faint smell of her perfume, the warmth of her body as he held her to him, the softness of her lips as they pressed against his and the way she tasted like sugar and alcohol. He shook his head as if he could shake the memory away. He sighed and glanced over at Linda sleeping peacefully beside him. He knows how lucky he is, she is a wonderful wife and mother. She had believed him almost immediately, and was already on the way to forgiving him for keeping his undercover assignment from her. That night though, he couldn't stop thinking about whatever it was that had stirred inside him when Baez kissed him. He let out another quiet sigh and rolled over to his side hoping to finally get some sleep. As soon as he closed his eyes, the memory of earlier that night once again began to play in his head.