Disclaimer: I don't own CSI: NY.
Series: 'Kindred Spirits'.
Spoilers: Heart of Glass. Dialogue in bold was taken from the episode (sorry, I've been doing that a lot lately).
Heart of Glass
The first thing Jess noticed as she re-entered the apartment was that Mac and Peyton had turned up. The second was that Danny, who was fishing around in the now corpse-less bath, looked rather hurt, almost like a child who'd been told he had to do his homework before he could go to the park.
"Our canvas of the apartment didn't yield a single clue to the identity of our tenant." She told Mac, decided to tackle Danny later. "No mail, prescription bottles or even a phone. I rattled awake the property management company – the apartment is leased to a DJ Melvoy. We're trying to track him down now. I ran his name through the database to check for priors, got something even more interesting. He filed a restraining order."
"Let me guess." Mac smirked. "Against Diane Langston."
Jess nodded. "Six months ago."
"I'll get the details." Mac said. "See what else you can find out about her."
"It's as I expected." Peyton called over. "Difficult to estimate time of death. Her body temp is 97.2, but the water could've kept her warm. Blood in the water, but she didn't bleed out. The wound to her head is superficial; I wouldn't expect it to cause haematoma or death."
"But a bullet might." Danny held up part of a crumpled round. "Just pulled this fragment from the tub."
Peyton frowned. "There's no entry or exit wound."
"So how'd she die?" Danny asked.
"I have no idea." Peyton admitted.
Danny sighed, pulling his gloves off. "Well, there's nothing else in here."
Mac checked his phone as it beeped. "I've got another crime scene. You got this, Danny?"
"I'm good, Mac." Danny assured him.
"I'm gonna go talk to the neighbour who called it in." Jess decided. "You coming, Messer?"
"Yeah." Danny nodded. "See if they can shed any light on it." He followed her out of the apartment. "Hey, Angell? You know Mac and Peyton were together?"
"Uh … well, no one told me they were." Jess shrugged. "I just kinda took it as a given."
Danny pulled a face. "Flack knew?"
"Probably." Jess stifled a laugh at the renewed hurt on his face. "Talking about relationships, you heard from Lindsay?"
"Yeah, she called me last night." Danny sighed. "She doesn't sound too good, Angell."
"Did you tell her …?"
"We're all thinking of her." Danny finished with a nod. "Yeah, of course."
"Good." Jess smiled comfortingly. "She'll be alright, Danny. Your Montana'll be back before you know it."
"What makes you think she's 'my Montana'?" Danny asked.
Jess rolled her eyes as they reached the apartment in question and knocked on the door. "I don't 'think', Messer; I know. The whole damn city knows."
Colleen Ballard was a woman Jess's age, wrapped in a dressing gown, looking tired, who lived in the apartment above DJ Mevoy's. "It wasn't just a scream; she sounded … shocked. And then it was just silent. I called 911."
"We're trying to locate the tenant who lives in the apartment, DJ Melvoy?" Jess prompted.
"Don't know him." Colleen told her, taking a glass of water and an aspirin from her husband.
Russell Ballard explained that neither of them really knew their neighbours, but that wasn't surprising in New York City.
Jess herself only knew the name of one of her neighbours and that was the twelve-year-old who lived next door. He knew she was a cop and when he saw her coming home from work, he'd ask, "You catch the bad guys, Detective?" At which point, Jess would either laugh and said, "I always do, Sam" or shake her head and tell him it had been a quiet day in the city.
"You hear anything?" Danny asked. "An argument or a struggle, perhaps, before the scream? What about a gunshot?"
"I wasn't here." Russell admitted. "We own a nightclub and I left about … 10.15."
"10.15?" Colleen repeated. "When have you ever left for work at 10.15? It had to be closer to 10.45."
Russell chucked, but Jess noticed it was lacklustre. For all the appearances of a happily married couple, Colleen seemed to be the only one who wasn't acting.
"What about you?" Jess asked, deciding that whatever problems the Ballards were having, it was really none of her business.
"I'm a sound sleeper, but I bolted awake from the pain of a headache." Colleen grimaced. "Too much wine last night, I guess. It just won't go away. I got up for an aspirin and that's when I heard the scream."
Silently deciding that they weren't going to get anything more from the couple, Jess and Danny thanked them and turned their attention to the apartment opposite their crime scene.
The man who answered was also about Jess's age, but he came to the door wrapped in a towel.
He made no attempt to be subtle as his gaze ran over her once before settling on her badge and introducing himself as Elliott Bevins.
"This about the dead woman?" He asked.
"Yep." Jess replaced her badge on her belt. "You hear anything?"
Elliott nodded. "Pop. And then again – a lot quieter – pop. I didn't think anything of it, you know? I left and went to dinner with some friends. Missed all the excitement I guess, huh?"
"This pop, pop – you heard around 11 o'clock?" Danny guessed, calculating the very rough estimate of time of death from the temperature Peyton had given him.
Elliott thought for a minute. "More like 10.15, 10.30."
"Did it sound like it came from the apartment across the hall?" Jess asked.
"I assumed it didn't." Elliott shrugged.
"Why would you assume that?" Danny asked.
"Because I know my neighbour's out of town; he's in Boston." Elliott answered.
"Oh, so you know DJ Melvoy?" Danny said.
Elliott shook his head. "No."
"But you just said you knew he was in Boston." Jess pointed out.
"No, I said my neighbour's in Boston." Elliott corrected.
"Yeah, DJ Melvoy." Danny nodded.
"No." Elliott repeated.
"Whoa, who's on first here, huh?" Danny asked; Jess chuckled. "What's the name of the guy who lives across the hall from you? What's his name?"
"Justin McKinney." Elliott answered.
"Justin McKinney." Danny repeated thoughtfully.
"Yeah."
Jess nodded. "Well, thanks for your help, Mr. Bevins."
"No problem." Elliott grinned. "Hey, can I get you number in case I remember anything else?"
"Sure." Jess agreed. "9521. Just give it to the operator and they'll make sure the info gets back to me."
Somehow, she managed to keep the smirk off her face until the door closed.
"That wasn't the number he meant." Danny told her.
Jess rolled her eyes. "I know."
It wasn't unusual for Don to end up at her apartment after a case. In fact, it was unusual for him not to.
So when Jess found Don sitting outside her front door when she got home, her only question was, "Chinese or pizza?"
"Pizza." Don checked his watch. "Three more minutes and we get it free."
Jess glanced over her shoulder. "Tough luck."
"Dammit." Don got to his feet and paid the delivery boy, taking the pizza from him as she unlocked the door.
"When are you gonna learn, Flack?" Jess asked. "They always get it there in 30 minutes. Otherwise, they wouldn't make the guarantee, would they?"
"Good point." Don conceded. "How was your case?"
Jess groaned. "Weird beyond belief."
"I'll take your weird and raise you." Don offered. "Our vic's sister was in a car accident six months ago and was suffering from a psychological disorder that made her mistake her reflection for other people. She thought there was an intruder, broke a mirror and managed to cut up her brother's hand so badly that he bled out. Then she threw a chair through the one-way mirror in interrogation."
"You're right." Jess admitted. "That's pretty weird. But this is unbelievable. A man tried to kill his wife. The first shot went through the floor and lodged in the fan-light of the bathroom downstairs, causing the light to flicker. When our vic stood up in the bath to touch the grid, she was electrocuted. The intended victim heard the scream because a headache had woken her up – a headache that was caused by the second bullet."
"Wait, she was shot in the head and never realised?" Don asked.
Jess nodded. "I thought Danny was crazy when he suggested it. But Peyton found the bullet still embedded in the back of her head."
Don shook his head. "You definitely got the weirder case this time."
"Told you so." Jess handed him a beer and grabbed some paper towels from the side. "You wanna tell me what's bothering you?"
"What makes you think there's anything bothering me?" Don asked, taking a slice of pizza.
Jess shrugged. "I know you. You usually wait for me to get home before coming over. I'm a woman and I know these things. Take your pick."
Don chuckled. "It's nothing." He cleared his throat. "Danny said you met an admirer today."
"More like last night." Jess corrected. "And did he?"
"Yeah. Said you gave him your number." Don added casually.
"Yeah, my badge number." Jess rolled her eyes, making a note to get back at Danny at some point.
"Danny said he answered the door in the towel and you looked pretty interested." Don teased, but there was no laughter in his eyes, just badly-hidden curiosity.
"He was pretty good-looking." Jess admitted, keeping a straight face. "Almost had a chance until he opened his mouth."
"Did he use the 'angels falling from heaven' line?" Don guessed.
"No, he used the 'can I get your number in case I think of anything else' line." Jess rolled her eyes again. "I'd rather a guy just tell me straight up that he's interested."
"So if he'd just asked for your number, you'd have given it to him?" Don asked.
Jess shrugged. "Probably. Why?" She smirked. "Jealous?"
Don laughed. "Not really. Just … how'd he look in a towel?"
Jess raised an eyebrow. "Didn't know you swung that way, Don."
"I don't …" Don sighed. "Never mind."
Jess noticed that his free hand had moved almost subconsciously to the left side of his abdomen, where she knew his constant reminder of his near-death lay, hidden by his shirt. "Is this about the scar?"
It was blunt, she knew, and probably callous, but there no other way that she could approach it.
Don paused, a slice of pizza halfway to his mouth. "Why would you think that?"
"Well, if you're not interested, then you're asking how he looked in a towel to see how he compares with you." Jess theorised. "And since you're not jealous, there's only one other reason I can think of." She smiled. "And you've got nothing to worry about?"
Don grinned back, but she could see the doubt in his eyes. "You think."
Jess nodded, grabbing another slice. "Trust me, Flack; I've seen you shirtless before. He ain't got nothing on you."
Don looked mildly smug and changed the subject and neither of them mentioned Elliott Bevins again.
And even though Jess was sure the scarring had been the reason behind Don's last query, she was also sure she hadn't detective the hint of jealousy in his eyes when he'd first broached the subject.
And that made her a lot more satisfied than it should have done.
AN: According to the internet, that his actually Jess's badge number. I also found out that her birthday's September. But, seeing as in my stories Pay Up happened in November anyway, I'm putting her birthday in January. Not that this has anything to do with this story at all. Oh well. Review please! And I need ideas for 'The Ride-In' please!