Friday 11th June
The Dakota Building, Central Park West
Goren hadn't managed to annoy the hell out of Ross but her feet still felt like hell as Eames got in the driver's seat of the SUV over an hour later. Almost wishing she had the courage to let him drive and wondering if it would be better or worse to take her shoe off. He sat, as was often the case in a moment of contemplative silence.
"Eames?" he said as she put the key in the ignition. "Would The White Album be in your top ten list? And how would you rate it compared to say The Joshua Tree or Born In The USA?"
She couldn't help but laugh. "I think this might be another one of those times we talked about before Goren. You know the ones? The sort where it's better for your image in the long run if you keep some of your thoughts to yourself? Rather than sharing them?"
"Okay" he opened his folder as the engine fired. "So what do we make of Mrs Elizabeth Huntingdon? That's the New York and Newport Huntingdon's of course. Not the ones from Coney Island"
"I lost track of how she's connected to the Chief of Detectives. Somewhere around the nieces boyfriend and the tennis club" Eames eased the car into traffic ahead of a tour bus. "And call me old fashioned or narrow minded if you like, but I wouldn't tolerate any husband of mine having affairs so long as he was discrete about it"
"I'm sure you wouldn't Eames" Goren replied scanning his notes. "But whatever she might really think or feel that's what she's told us. And I doubt it's the fifty thousand dollars this apparent blackmailer wants to keep his latest indiscretion a secret concerns him or her. Loose change to people like the Huntingdon's. Though like you told her, pay once and you might as well wait in for the next call asking for more"
Eames halted the SUV in traffic building up early as it always did on Friday afternoons, especially in summer. "She seems convinced this is all tied up with that Riverside Mall business over in Long Island City and that would be a big contract for Ralph Huntingdon's company to lose. Assuming the City Council would drop them from the design short list on account of him being caught with his pants round his ankles"
"One of the things to follow up but anything is possible with that. The whole scheme has been dogged with controversy since day one. Anything that can get local retail associations and the Chamber of Commerce into an unlikely alliance with environmental groups and historic preservation societies is a bundle of trouble for our political masters. The last thing they need is more bad publicity and finger pointing on the Riverside project. Even if it just a private matter and nothing to do with the architectural and financial merits of any design they are considering"
"May just be a lot simpler Goren" Eames turned the car at the next corner. "Some former or even current employee with a grudge who is in a position to know enough about Ralph's professional and personal dealings. Nothing to do with rival architects and controversial redevelopment schemes. Don't understand why that didn't seem to have occurred to her"
Goren checked his notes. "According to her the man said something like 'if you know what's good for your business' so it's a reasonable assumption he meant in a commercial sense. And it's human nature. Not to assume the people who are or who have been close to you, suddenly would turn against you. As cops we find it easier to consider even the most unlikely people as suspects because we've seen it before. Though even we get fooled…I did anyway…lost sight of…"
"Don't Bobby" said Eames quietly. "That's over. It's done"
They were talking of course about her kidnapping by Jo Gage, the daughter of his one-time close friend and mentor. One of the many shells that had exploded into their lives. Leaving deep wounds and scars that had not fully healed for either of them.
"Have you really moved on Alex? As the well known cliché says?" Goren asked quietly.
"No. But I'm getting there. Same as you" she glanced over at him. "A little bit more every day. Now stop that and do what you do best and get going with one of your famous 'to do' lists. I fully intend to be in Roark's ten minutes after our shift ends"
"Not walking there in those shoes you won't be" he said with a little smile.
Major Case Squad Room
They constructed the list together on the way back to 1PP and divided up who would do what as initial follow up. Though with the end of the working week for many people fast approaching, they didn't hold out hope of making a lot of progress. Many of the people they would need to speak to would be keen to be away from their desks and it would probably be Monday before either of the Huntingdon's got back to them. Hopefully, with a more considered list of people with a personal grudge than the few names she was able to suggest with Ralph on a three day business trip to Buffalo when the mysterious call came into the luxury apartment.
Back at his desk Goren sat down, wriggled in his seat and then swivelled round. "Okay then? Which of you borrowed my chair for a visitor and let them mess with it?"
The response from the nearby officers was either to ignore it, mutter obscenities or in Logan's case ball some paper, toss it and say "If that's your biggest problem right now Bobby, I want your job"
"You want me Mike. Badly. You know you do" Eames called over to him. "Now behave you two. School's not out for another hour"
After some adjustments Goren settled down and opened his folder. Very much suspecting that when Ross called Eames to brief him on what Elizabeth Huntingdon had to say and their initial plan of action, there was something else on his agenda too. Checking out with her something the Captain had not had chance to do earlier. Her opinion of how well he'd really handled being on the stand in the Day trial, when amongst other things the defence had gone for him, his methods and to some extent his personal credibility.
Jack McCoy had warned them to expect it and it wouldn't be the first time in Goren's career with NYPD and especially since joining Major Case. But those times were 'before'. Before all the smelly stuff life had thrown at him. Before Jo Gage, before his Mom dying and before Mark Brady. And 'after' everyone around him had become very concerned just how well he really was handling not just work, but his whole life. The answer was very simple. He was well on his way to hell in a hand basket.
So he understood why Ross would be asking and knew Eames would feel uncomfortable about it. Talking behind his back and yet knowing at the same time she had no choice. Not when your partner has been skating on ice as professionally and personally thin as he had been. It would be the same if their positions were reversed. He would hate it but still do it too. Goren's only hope that he would have had the same capacity for patience and tolerance with Eames as she had shown him. And which had worn, understandably, very thin at times.
An hour later, those finishing their shift were starting to drift off, many being Friday to Roark's, which served as the local "cop bar". When Eames looked up from her screen Goren had gone from his desk. Nothing unusual in that, but two glances told her two things. The Kersey file was missing from his desk and he was in one of the side rooms in a familiar pose. Chin in hand as he flipped the pages.
It bugged her almost as much as it did Goren that Doug Kersey's murder remained unsolved. Ross was also right when he said on Monday the time had come not to give up, but to give it the status of a "cold case". One they were not to schedule into their work programme but set aside hoping some new lead would come to light. Except her partner had let this one get under his skin and not just for reasons of personal frustration.
It was one of the cases they were assigned when Goren was fast getting into a mess and most everyone around him could see it. When he was still in denial to her, to other colleagues and most of all himself that he was on a slippery slope. When he was frequently turning up late, looking like hell and at times impossible to work with. Short tempered which was not like him, withdrawn even more than had always been his private nature and making mistakes.
Nothing major or catastrophically bad, but things not followed through thoroughly, basic questions not asked that should have been and once or twice matters simply forgotten. Eames not always sure whether it was just exhaustion since it was obvious Goren wasn't sleeping well, if at all. Certain there were times he was more hung-over in the morning than just suffering the effects of insomnia and fearful as to what else he might be using in addition to alcohol and a renewed dependence on nicotine.
She found herself more often than Goren probably realised, playing backstop to his increasingly wayward behaviour. Having to call the play more when he seemed to be paralysed with indecision, blocking some of his wilder pitches and keeping his professional balls out of the dirt with Ross. Eames was sure they had not made any mistakes or missed anything with the Kersey case and so was the Captain. Convincing Goren was a different story.
When he finally seemed to recognise and halt the slide, he'd focussed on the Kersey case like a dog with a bone. It was almost as if he saw that as the manifestation of his problems, their failure to find Doug's killer a direct consequence of him almost dropping the ball and for a time Eames, had indulged some of his renewed focus on the case. Just relieved he seemed to be turning around.
The trouble now, was the case was still unsolved and Eames feared her partner was in danger of fixating. Seeing it as a personal burden he had to keep on carrying, as either penance or perhaps hoping its solution would prove to him he was back and almost firing on all cylinders. The very term she had used when she spoke with Ross earlier, confirmed Goren had been great in court and tried to persuade him that there was no longer real need for them all to worry.
So there was no way she was going to let the Kersey case undo the progress Goren had made in recent weeks and drag him back down again. Which meant she wasn't about to leave him in there, alone and with that file.
"Goren?" she said at the door. "Roark's. I'm buying"
"Huh?" he looked up with a puzzled frown.
"Roark's? Beer? The amber liquid comes in a glass this high and tastes good?"
"No thanks. Not tonight"
"I'm not leaving you here with that file again"
He closed it and stood up. "You're not Eames. And I'm not coming to Roark's because I have an appointment uptown with my shrink in…oh shit…fifteen minutes"
Goren was out of the door before Eames was and her feet still hurt.
To be continued….
