Alex POV

I was so infuriated by the allegation against Bobby that for a moment, I couldn't speak. And that was probably a good thing, because if I had opened my mouth there was just no telling what would've come out of it.

Bobby doing drugs? It was ridiculous.

The man had worked Narcotics for four years and had stayed perfectly clean. And if doing undercover work in that department didn't cause a person to start doing drugs, then nothing would. It was often tough to sell a cover, and when you're trying to lure in drug dealers, then sealing the deal often meant doing a line.

Smart cops knew how to get around it. Bobby was a smart cop. During his entire four years in Narcotics, no one had ever accused him of doing drugs.

And now someone was going to accuse him? Anonymously?

My mind immediately flashed to Moran. Of course, he would be pissed that Bobby was leaving. Okay, not mad that he was leaving, but mad that it was on his own terms and not due to some grand power play by Moran himself.

But would the chief of D's stoop so low as to file false charges against a detective?

Anyone else and the answer would be no.

But Moran lost all sense of morality when it came to Bobby. Well, whatever little bit of morality he had anyway. And I just couldn't understand that, either. I mean, I understood now why Ross felt the way he did. It was stupid and cowardly of Ross to act the way he did, but I understood it. As far as he had known, there was a valid reason.

But Moran? What had Bobby ever done to him?

I stood in the hallway and waited not-so-patiently while Bobby went to the bathroom with Horsley so that he could pee in a cup. Campbell stood in the hall with me, a smug smile firmly in place. They seemed to think they'd caught Bobby red-handed. They were freakin' idiots.

"Who made the claim?" I asked Campbell. I knew he wasn't going to tell me, but I was curious to see if he would inadvertently give something away.

"It was anonymous."

"So anyone can just file an anonymous report, and you immediately take action. You didn't investigate at all to see if there was any merit to the claim."

"We're following procedure."

"So I can file a report. Like say, against you. Yeah, I think I saw you wiping excess blow off your nose just a minute ago."

"Detective," he sighed.

"No, I'm serious. Anyone can file a report about anything, and you guys come in and pull a good detective out of his own squad room and make him go in there and pee in a cup for you."

"The report came from a reliable source."

"Reliable. Because there are so many people around here who know Detective Goren. It didn't come from me. And it didn't come from Captain Ross. I would say anyone else is unqualified."

And yeah, I was being generous to include Captain Ross in that statement, but I thought it would help to prove my point. Campbell ignored me, and before I could take another shot at him, Bobby came out of the bathroom followed closely by Horsley.

"Thank you, Detective, for your cooperation," Horsley said. Bobby didn't say anything, but instead took me by the elbow and guided me toward the elevator.

"Let's get the hell out of here," he said to me.

Once outside, Bobby turned to me with worried eyes.

"Something's going on here, Alex."

He started pacing back and forth along the sidewalk. I knew he was upset. Hell, I was upset and I wasn't the one who'd had to suffer the indignity of being observed while producing a specimen.

And then it hit me what he was talking about.

"Last night," I said. "You think this has something to do with it?"

"It has to, don't you think? Someone breaks in last night, but doesn't take anything? And then today I get accused of this?"

"But that's crazy. This is all going to blow over in another hour as soon as your test comes back negative."

"All that test will show is that I haven't done cocaine in the past couple of days. And that's what the allegation was, by the way. Is that I have a cocaine habit," he told me. He stopped walking and roughly ran his fingers through his hair.

"Let's go see Liz," he said suddenly. "I'll get her to take a hair sample and run the screen on that. It'll backtrack ninety days, and it won't hurt to have that report in our arsenal when they come back for another visit. Because you know that they will."

We hurried to the morgue. I called Mike along the way and filled him in. He told us they would meet us for drinks afterward.

"Detectives, how's the married life?" Liz asked cheerily when we entered the autopsy suite.

"Being married is great," I replied. "It's everything else that's going to hell."

"What is it?" she asked, immediately serious. I let Bobby tell her what had happened.

"Who would want to set you up?" she asked, motioning Bobby into a chair so that she could reach the top of his head.

"That's the million dollar question," I replied. I watched as she carefully obtained a couple of hairs and placed them into an evidence bag.

"I'm glad I haven't had the time for a haircut lately," he joked. I knew he was struggling to maintain a good disposition and I appreciated his effort.

"You've got enough here," Liz confirmed. "An inch and a half is a good sample. If you want, I'll run a test on a leg hair, too. The growth rate is slower, and while it won't show recent usage, it does provide accurate results back as far as twelve months."

Bobby promptly pulled up his pant leg to give her access to his leg hair. She took a sample of that as well and then stepped back.

"I'll have the results for you tomorrow," she told us.

We thanked her profusely and then left to meet up with Carolyn and Mike.

Logan POV----

"What the hell have you guys gotten yourselves into now?" I asked Alex and Bobby as they sat down at the table. I had already ordered drinks for them, and Bobby quickly knocked back half of his.

"Somebody's gunning for me. I just haven't figured out who."

"But why?" Carolyn asked. "You're leaving the department. What's the point?"

"Moran?" I asked. It was an obvious choice, and yet it was kind of beneath him. A trumped up drug charge that he knew would never stick…I just didn't buy it.

Although I had to admit to being somewhat obsessed with the man. Even if he wasn't involved with this latest fiasco, he was the primary cause for Goren's troubles with the department for so many years. Moran was an incompetent jackass and it was time somebody brought a little reality down on him. And I would love to be the one to do it.

Because as far as I was concerned, it was a first-class travesty that someone of Moran's caliber be allowed to remain in such a position of authority. And I knew that if I didn't do something about it, I wouldn't be able to sleep at night.

That said, I found it hard to believe that Moran would resort to something like this. He could've denied his retirement request. He could've insisted on giving him a new partner for his last thirty days. There were many other ways to have struck out at Goren that would've hit harder.

So now it seemed as though someone else was after him. Go figure. It seemed the man walked around with a bulls-eye on his back. It hadn't been that damn long since he was being set up for his own brother's murder.

"I don't think so," Alex said in reply to my suggestion of Moran. "He was my first thought, too, but this has been an inconvenience designed to humiliate. There's no real threat."

"But combine that with the break-in," Carolyn added. And she was right. The timing was impeccable. "It makes me wonder what's going to happen next."

"Something," Goren said thoughtfully. And since he was so often right, I had to agree.

"Did you find anything interesting at the apartment?" Alex asked us. I looked to Carolyn and gave her a little nod. She'd found it, so she could tell it.

"Yeah, actually we did. I'm a little disappointed in your CSU guys for not finding it," Carolyn said. "A red hair. It was on the edge of the bathroom cabinet."

"On the door frame of the cabinet," I elaborated, pulling the evidence bag out of my pocket and handing it to Goren. He looked it over closely.

"It's pretty short. Probably a man, but Rodgers will tell us for sure."

"Like someone stuck their head in the cabinet and then hit it on the way out?" Alex asked quizzically, still pondering the location of the procured hair.

"Exactly like that," Carolyn said. "Someone was doing some serious snooping."

"In our bathroom cabinet?" Goren asked, although it was more to himself. I knew those wheels were turning. "We just have towels in there. And toilet paper."

"Did you sweep the place?" Alex asked. She doesn't miss much, and she didn't disappoint this time either.

"Yeah," I told her. "Especially considering where we found the hair. No bugs."

Goren's cell phone rang and he pulled it out.

"Ross," he said to us in annoyance before punching the button.

"Yeah Captain?" he answered.

We all watched as he listened. He closed his eyes and ran his hand over his face.

"Of course. I'll be right there."

"We've got to go," he said, his eyes still closed.

"Bobby, what is it? Another body?" Alex asked him, although I could tell from her tone of voice that she knew it wasn't.

"The drug screen came back positive."

"What?" I asked loudly. "That's crazy! Ross has to know that."

"He does. He wants me to meet him at the lab. They're going to do another test, and he's going to watch while they do it."

"What about the hair test?" I asked.

"It'll be back tomorrow. But it takes awhile for drugs to get into your system, so even though that shows the history of usage, it wouldn't show anything I'd done in the past week."

"But you haven't done anything," Alex said in annoyance. She was getting worked up again, but at least Ross was going to bat for him this time.

"Call Rodgers and have her meet you there, too. She'll make sure the test is run properly," Carolyn suggested. Alex pulled out her phone and made the call.

"Is there any chance someone slipped you something?" I asked Goren. It was the only other answer.

"I don't know. I haven't felt any different."

"Did you eat anything from home today?" Carolyn asked, and then I realized where she was going. The break-in.

"No. We picked up coffee on the way to work, and we had lunch from the deli down the street from 1PP."

So much for that idea. But still…

"Maybe they should run a test on Alex," I said. "If they got it into something you have at home, she should test positive for it, too."

"That's what Liz said," Alex said as she hung up. "Looks like we both get to pee in a cup this time."

We left the restaurant and headed for the lab. Carolyn and I decided to tag along.

But after waiting for the test results, tossing around ideas as to what was happening, both tests came back negative.

"So no drugs in either of their systems," Ross confirmed.

"That's right, Captain," the tech replied. I looked at Horsley and Campbell.

"What the hell, guys?" I asked hotly. "He's positive a couple of hours ago and now there's no trace?"

"Logan, I'll handle this," Ross said. He turned to the IAB guys and crossed his arms in front of his chest, waiting for their response.

"I don't know what to tell you, Captain. We brought the first sample here and it tested positive. Obviously it was a mistake."

"Not my mistake," the tech spoke up.

"I can't explain it," Campbell said, and he had the nerve to look disappointed.

"You have our apologies," Horsley told Goren. "We'll report our findings and close the investigation."

"Investigation. This wasn't a damn investigation. It was a witch hunt," Alex mumbled.

"Detective," Horsley began, but Ross interrupted.

"She's right. The next time someone says something about one of my detectives, you need to come to me first. And have a little more to back it up than just here-say."

I was surprised that Ross was being so supportive. I mean, he owed them. He owed them ten times more than just standing behind them on a false drug charge. But I was still surprised that he had followed through.

Confused and yet relieved by this latest turn of events, the four of us went to the Gorens' place. Bobby stopped and picked up his mail on the way in the building, and then we went up to the apartment.

Carolyn and I made ourselves at home, grabbing drinks from the fridge before heading to the living room.

Alex turned on a few lights and then disappeared down the hall for a minute.

"So what was all of this about?" I called out, since Bobby and Alex were in other rooms.

"I have no idea," Alex admitted as she came back into the living room. "But I can't stop thinking about it. I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop."

"Oh you have got to be fucking kidding me," Bobby said loudly from the kitchen.

It was an Alex-phrase and if it hadn't been said in such alarm I would've laughed at the fact that he'd used it. But his voice held distress. The three of us hurried into the other room to see what was going on.

And then there was a pounding on the front door.

"Police! Open up!" came from outside the door.

"What the fuck?" I asked, looking from the front door to where Bobby stood in the kitchen.

And then I saw what Bobby had in his hand. A box. That had come in the mail. He had opened it and inside there looked to be about three pounds of cocaine.

"There goes that other shoe."

TBC...