Disclaimer: I don't own any of the people in this show. I use them solely for my own entertainment. I want to thank SWWoman and Maddsgirl75 for taking the time to read this thing.
Chapter 1 - Clues
The hustle and bustle of the police station didn't do much to help Carter as she began to battle an oncoming migraine. She had spent the better part of the day buried inside piles of reports and photographs, looking for any sort of information or clues that could point her to some real answers.
When she had received the news of Detective Szymanski's death, she couldn't help but be utterly shocked and devastated. She had done her best to try to clear the man's name earlier after he had been accused of bribery. After a ruthless bit of research, she managed to find the evidence she needed and got in contact with Bill's lawyer. After reviewing everything over the phone, the attorney had assured her that everything would be set straight and thanked her for her assistance.
Now after only a few hours, everything had changed. Not only was a good cop dead, but fellow officers had told her that Bill had attacked and attempted to assassinate Alonzo Quinn when he had been having dinner with him.
It just doesn't add up. She thought to herself as she sifted through more files of Bill's case littering her desk.
The first officers to arrive at the scene had managed to recover two weapons that had been found in the room and took Quinn to the hospital for an assessment of his injuries. Something uncomfortable was eating away at Joss and she couldn't help but continue looking for something that could support her belief in Bill's innocence. It was in her nature to ruffle quite a bit of feathers by digging deep into something that wasn't her place.
That was the mistake she had ended up making all those months ago. She had been investigating and building quite a case against the man known as Elias. She had been searching around New York trying to gather some answers. All of her snooping around only resulted in her getting a bull's-eye on her back.
She didn't care if the same scenario happened to her again because she knew in her heart that Szymanski wouldn't have done something so malicious and figured that someone had it out for him from the start. She thought that it was all connected to the fact that he was due to testify in court later that week against a pair of Russian brothers for their drug dealings.
Clearing Bill's name was essential after the accusations that had been made against him. His lawyer emphasized that his testimony was needed if they had any chance of having a case against the men. It was all linked somehow. The obvious plan would be to destroy any sort of testimony for these men, but what was their worth to this mysterious third party?
The first piece of the puzzle was of course back when Bill had been arrested earlier today. When the investigators from the neighboring precinct informed her that a local Narcotics cop had given them the tip, she had been highly suspicions that it had been Cal. It was just a gut feeling and she always trusted her gut as a cop. Even though they had tried to patch things up after the incident on the island, she was still weary of him after seeing how he reacted when she had upset him.
While she had been watching Bill's interrogation with Beecher, she had voiced her suspicions on who the informant was, figuring that if he was guilty he would admit to her that it was him. Needless to say that the approach worked; to her dismay and he confessed to it saying that it was one of his confidential informants that told him. Needing to deal with her anger later, she began to perform her own interrogation as she started asking for his CI's name.
He became evasive, giving her excuses before leaving the room without ever giving her an answer. She turned her attention back towards the two way glass while she got her thoughts together. She spent little time watching as Bill continued to defend himself before she sat down back at her desk and began to look around.
It was eating away at her core that there was something much larger at work here and maybe another storm was about to rock her life. Then again, only a few people seemed to act like they even gave a damn when they heard the news, including herself and Fusco. She promised herself that she would get Bill justice and clear his name. She gave her word to do it for his wife. The detective had been married for ten years and she had known his wife Lauren for about three. She was a spunky red head that was quite the daredevil; doing things spur of the moment.
Joss enjoyed their company, especially when Taylor would spend time with his friends. She knew that she would have to confront Lauren eventually and ask her for any possible clues or if anything happened before her husband left for dinner.
The TV in the precinct continued to broadcast the news of the incident, disgusting her each time she heard the details. To take her mind away from it, she continued her quest as she looked through more files, searching for the one thing to break this case wide open.
Meanwhile on the other side of town, Reese was making the familiar trip to the library. Carrying the usual cup of black coffee for himself and green tea for Finch, he made his way to the landing of the abandoned building.
He had made this trek so many times that it had become second nature to him.
Reaching the gated off area, he pulled the steel back, the sound announcing his arrival. Bear was the first to greet him of course, running up to him with that smile on his face and the fierce wag of his tail. This addition to the team always helped to brighten up things for not just him but for Finch, who had finally come to accept his company weeks ago.
Walking past his furry companion, he greeted Finch who had been hard at work on his computer. "So Finch, who is going to need saving today?" He couldn't help but notice that look of worry in his eyes again.
He had seen that same look before back during the case of the serial killer when they had received the numbers of the murder victims.
"I'm afraid that we may have a problem Mr. Reese." He stood up from his chair and limped over to the old glass bulletin board with something in his hand. This had become a routine as well for both of them so John knew that it would be their next number.
When Harold taped the photo up, he recognized the gentleman right away as Detective Szymanski. He remembered the man from a few months back when he had gotten him shot after giving up the safe house to Elias to save Leila. It looked like fate had a way of dealing its hand.
"So let me guess, he pissed off the wrong people and now they want him dead," he said jokingly. He figured that it was an open and shut case like it had been with Carter. Before his thoughts drifted to her, he continued to grill Finch for information.
"What's going to be first? Do you want me to jack his phone or try to get inside his house?"
"I'm afraid that will be unnecessary Mr. Reese."
The next photo that Finch put up was that of a crime scene. One of the bodies in the scene was easily identified. The male corpse was of Detective Szymanski while the other, a woman in her mid forties, was a still a mystery to them.
"As you can see, the situation has taken a turn for the worst. On the news broadcast, it is reported that the good detective attacked the mayor's political adviser and was stopped by his personal security. Unfortunately the results are as you see."
John's mind was staggered by this new information. There was something not right about it and it was eating away at the back of his mind the second he saw the colorful scene.
"I can see from the distressed look on your face that you are as disturbed by the circumstances of the deaths as I am."
"No Finch. I'm disturbed by the fact that the machine didn't give us his number in time so that we could protect him. Once again, another person is dead when we had the chance to save him." He couldn't stop the anger from spilling into his words. This was supposed to be his job, but how was he suppose to do it when their source seemed to have a cold.
"Mr. Reese…"
"No Finch," his voice raised in anger. "We got into this together to protect good people and now your machine is losing its touch because of this virus that Kara spread; which we still don't know how to stop."
"Well maybe his number coming up can still be a benefit to us in some way."
"How so?"
"Well it may be that the machine sees something fishy with this case as do we and the local authorities may have missed something."
John took a closer look at the picture and did notice something out of place. "It doesn't seem like there was any sort of struggle. From the position of Szymanski's body, you can see, thanks to some help from the nearby light that his hands appear to be clean."
During his time with the military and the CIA, John had studied ways to identify certain weapons by the type of gunpowder residue that was left behind. In this case, it was clearly absent from his hands. It was quite apparent on the obvious gunshot wound to the heart.
"Finch, do you have any photos of the woman?"
Finch went back to the desk to look through the database. Once he found what he was looking for, he printed it out. "Yes, it appears that the young woman was a lawyer of Szymanski's."
He posted the photo of the scene from a different angle that defined the woman more.
"Why would Detective Szymanski be meeting with a political advisor along with his lawyer?" John noted that everything was clean with her as well except for the gunshot to the heart. The conclusion was obvious.
"It looks like they were just talking with the man and having a friendly dinner. From what these photos tell me, Szymanski was quite calm along with his lawyer while they were speaking with him about something. It's clear that they were both ambushed and someone else arranged the scene differently."
"It was reported that the Mayor's aide was also injured. He was taken to the hospital and it seems like he'll pull through. How do you account for that?"
"Finch, Szymanski was set up to be the shooter. Someone else was there and they took the shot, being sure to make it look bad but allow him to live. The wounds on Szymanski and the woman both appear to be close range. If the Mayor had been shot in the same distance, he would not have survived depending on the position."
"Well after hacking into the hospital database, it appears that he only went through minor surgery where they pulled out a single 9mm slug from his shoulder that they traced back to a gun found on Szymanski." Finch rustled through some more documents that could support the theory. "Well the slugs pulled from the Detective and his lawyer match a 45 caliber that Mr. Quinn currently owns. His statement was of course self defense, explaining that it was an attempted assassination because of his position of power as the right hand for the mayor."
"If that's the case, then how could it be that Detective Szymanski could sit down with Quinn for as long as he did before taking the shot, only to hit the shoulder which would just injure him not kill him?"
"Maybe there is more to the scene than the pictures are telling us."
"Looks like I'm going to have to pay the place a visit. What's the address?"
"It's in the Northern part of the city. It's near the Mayor's office. No doubt the scene will still be quarantined."
"Well, good thing I'm a part of the department," he said. He held up the badge that he stole from Detective Stills.
"Be that as it may Mr. Reese, it would be wise to contact Detective Carter since we know she was a close associate to the victim."
"You get right on that Finch, I'm going to head down to the scene." He turned away, intending to end the subject like he always had.
"Mr. Reese…" This caused him to stop, but not turn around. "You need to speak to her eventually. I have noticed that I have been the only one communicating with her since the incident with you and Kara Stanton and it is clear that you are avoiding her. I will not be able to solve this enigma if my employees and assets aren't able to communicate with each other anymore.
"It's not that easy Finch," he said simply then headed out.
Finch was of course right. He had been avoiding her since the incident with the bomb vest. He couldn't bring himself to see her again, not after what happened in that hallway when he thought that he would never see her again. Something unspoken had happened and since then, he couldn't get muster up the courage to see her. Instead, he just found himself making excuses to avoid her.
Whenever they needed information, he would have Finch call her. He would busy himself with Fusco since he couldn't face her. Back on the island, when she had tried to contact him through the radio, he wanted to respond to her so badly. It had been so long since he'd heard her voice. He missed her cocky attitude and refreshing presence. She was someone that wouldn't stand down to him and that was one of the things that he found so attractive about her.
He hoped that this wouldn't be the case that would force him to finally confront her.
A/N: First of all, I want to once again thank SWWoman and Maddsgirl75. This is my first big thing for this show and I needed all the help I can get. Please if you guys who check this out can, leave a review and tell me how it's going as I progress. I've seen that I had some pretty bad habits, especially with this because of how long it turned out. I would appreciate it immensely. Enjoy the first chapter and I hope that you are recuperating well Madds^^