Dark Paradise – Chapter 2
It was Dani's mother who took her to see him, in his orange jumpsuit at County.
Tidwell would have objected. He would have freaked out and railed against it. He knew, even without her saying, that something indefinable has changed between them. It was there, in the subtle, but noticeable way he'd been less than complimentary of Crews ever since the incident with Roman. She knew he respected her partner's physicality and strength, but she'd never noticed the jealousy until now.
She noticed Crews immediately. He was a head taller and far paler than the mostly Hispanic and black population of the yard. His shock of red hair blazed in the sun. She didn't wave or signal, but watched as he noticed her. Just his eyes moved as he stood with his back to a concrete wall and arms folded. Men lifted weights and played basketball around him, but prison did not touch him. He was somewhere else.
She went inside, signed in and asked her mother to wait in the car.
When they brought him, it was to a room with a small table and two chairs. He was handcuffed with his hands in front of him. "Take those off him," she demanded angrily.
"Sorry, lady. No can do," the guard said. "This one? He's dangerous," the guard sat Charlie in the chair. "Killed a man up at Pelican Bay with his bare hands."
She began to object. Crews knew he could still kill handcuffed. They underestimated his lethality and he knew it, but he spoke softly and calmly, just to her. "It's okay," he said simply. "Just breathe."
She nodded almost imperceptibly, and eased as the guard explained the buzzer and asked if she wanted him chained to the table. Her expression of disgust said all she wanted to but couldn't and then finally the two partners were left alone.
Crews joked with her, "alone at last." His smile didn't reach his eyes.
"How…how are you?" she stammered fidgeting with her hands atop the table.
He was dark and his mood dour, "back where I belong I guess." Prison had seeped in and blotted out the sunshine in his soul. "But shouldn't I be the one asking? How are you….Reese?" He wanted to use her given name but didn't at the last minute. Better not to want something, they'd just take it away.
She fell into what was familiar, comfortable, known. She told him about the case, all the details that Tidwell brought home each night and shared with her. She eased as she talked about the job, but her hands remained restless.
"Does that help? Knowing?" she finished telling him the facts she'd learned.
"You know what I'd like to know?" he ventured leaning forward slightly.
"What?" she was genuinely curious.
"How Dani Reese is?" This smile was genuine and his eyes shone brightly. She smiled in return, but said nothing. "So how are you?" He inquired. "How are you really?"
She stared at him, closed her eyes and exhaled. When she opened her eyes, he was just looking at her, but his gaze was deep, penetrating and unnerving.
"Did you really kill a man with your bare hands?"
"More than one," he said quietly. He watched her as he admitted it. "Does that frighten you?"
She shook her head no, but he sensed something else remained unsaid.
"No?" he wondered. "Honey, it should. I'm here because this," he gestured to his cuffed hands, "this is where I belong."
"You belong with me," she countered without a moment's hesitation.
Her strength was his undoing. He thought that if he scared her, she'd leave. Then she would be safe, away from him and the dangers that followed him like malevolent shadows glued to his soul.
"Dani…" he warned and there it was – his guard slipping. The look on her face was something akin to victory. It was a victory that made her uncomfortable, but one she counted nonetheless. Crews cared. His Zen shield didn't slip in countless hours with IAD, but five minutes with her and he'd revealed himself.
He was caught and he knew it. No since pretending any longer. "Remind me never to let you interrogate me," he joked as he sighed and looked skyward for relief. But it wasn't there, the sun; just a high ceiling with a single fixture and peeling white latex paint. Then he placed both of his hands flat on the table and wished he was somewhere else. He known this day would come from the minute they booked him into County. LAPD would make it stick this time. This time, he actually had killed someone. He'd practiced what he'd say to her over and over again and then in one word he'd blown it. He'd used her first name. In the three years, he'd known her he'd never called her anything other than "Reese" but she was "Reese" no more. In his heart she was now, Dani.
He felt her restless hands cover his. "Crews," she demanded. "Look at me."
He did and he knew in that instant that he was powerless. His hands left the table and held hers. "I don't want you here. I mean…I want you here…but it's not safe for you. I'm not safe for you. You need to forget about me." His words said go away, but his fingers wound through hers holding her close. He wasn't strong at all, not like he thought, not when it came to her.
"I'm not leaving you, not in here, not ever…" she vowed. "You are my…" emotion made it hard to finish. Her what? she wondered. "You're mine Crews," she settled on. "Now, stop wallowing in this self-pity crap and help me figure out how to get you out."
He smiled and there were tears in his eyes. She was the toughest person he'd ever known. "Bake me a cake with a file in it?" he joked. She did not find it amusing and her dark glare told him so. He realized he's missed it all - the scowls, frowns, heavy sighs, the scoldings and occasional attempts at reforming him.
She continued undeterred. "Do you have a lawyer?"
"Connie…." He stammered. "I had Connie."
"Constance Griffiths, the Assistant DA?" she scoffed. "Uh, no…not anymore. First thing we do is find you a really good lawyer and get bail set," she was a woman on a mission. "Crews - don't do anything stupid," she warned. "Don't get hurt, don't hurt anyone else, don't color outside the lines…nothing they can use against you."
He nodded because words would not come. A bell rang somewhere in the distance and he knew their time was up. "Thanks for coming," he whispered.
Her look was quizzical, but as the door opened she understood. "Charlie?" she drew his attention back to her with her deliberate use of his given name. "Don't give up. Don't let go."
"You want me to be un-Zen?" he joked softly as he guards stood him up.
"I want you to be as un-Zen as possible," she smiled and bit back her tears. It would not help him to see her upset.
They began ushering him out and back to his cell.
"Oh…and I'm fine. My eyes are finally open. It only took me 28 years, but I woke up."
"Overachiever," he threw back over his shoulder. There was a cheeky tone to his voice, one she'd missed, "took me almost 35." The guard punched him in the kidney for speaking, but he didn't even flinch. She heard the soft grunt as she whispered, "hang in there partner," but he was gone by then.
Her mother was waiting in the car. She could tell the change in Dani before her daughter reached the car, something about her walk and the set of her jaw foretold change. "Is he…well?" she asked.
"He's in a cage, like an animal," she growled.
"Is he an animal Dani?" her mother asked. It was a fair question.
Dani thought about the question and then gave the only true and sensible answer for what she was about to do. "Yes, maybe sometimes… but he's my animal."
"Are you ready for what comes next?" her mother asked.
It was so much like something Crews would say, Dani had to wonder if her mother had suddenly taken up Zen.
