"Susie Gain," the tall, silver haired anchor said as he walked the detectives quickly through the upper level of the newsroom to his office. "Fine reporter, that woman. Her interview was riveting. I just came back from it now."
"Yes, but we're not here to ask you about Susie," Jade said right on his heels. "We're here about Monica Winters."
"Does she know Susie?" the anchor asked, feigning ignorance.
"No, but you do, according to a couple of witnesses you saw you with her at the restaurant, Il Postre Vecchio."
The anchor said nothing to the detectives. He bent his head at his stylist, already in the office. "Can you do something with this?"
"Mr. Gates," Jade said, becoming impatient.
The man sighed. "Yes."
"Do you?"
"Do I what?"
"Do you know Monica Winters?"
The man sat in his chair. "Does anyone ever really know anybody?"
"Don't get philosophical with us. You're just a teleprompter jockey and we're just a couple of cops."
"I haven't seen her in over a month," he said after a while.
"Where were you Monday night at eight?" Tori asked.
"I was with my wife and some colleagues having dinner. There's a maitre d and several waitresses who saw me there." He proceeded to write the address of the restaurant down on a piece of stationary. "I trust that you'll be able to confirm this without calling her."
Jade took the paper and looked at him. "Yeah."
"So where do we go from here?" Tori asked when they got out of the studio.
"Back to the restaurant lists."
"Are you going home?"
Jade looked at her. She said nothing and hailed a cab. She didn't get in, but held the door open for Tori. "I am."
"Yeah I saw her," a bald and obviously gay waiter at the Black Pearl told the detectives. "A couple of weeks ago. She was having drinks with that gorgeous anchor man. What's his name? Garry? Gates? Whatever."
"Andrew Gates," Tori offered.
"Him." The waiter placed the drinks he was holding on a couple's table and turned back to the detectives. "She ain't look too happy, though."
"Yeah, now why's that?" Jade asked.
The man jerked his head back in a diva-ish way. "Women. Who knows? Definitely not me, honey. No, offense."
"Did it seem personal?" Tori asked.
"Well, she was all over him, crying and he looked like a rock, all still and looking around. I seen this scene way too many times."
"So you know what was happening?" Jade asked.
"Yeah."
There was a beat of silence.
"You mind sharing that with us?"
"You don't know?" He looked suspiciously at her. "He was gone, finito, done with her."
Tori giggled and Jade glared.
When they left Tori brought it back up.
"You've never read that body language before?"
"I'm glad you had a little laugh, and no."
"Come on, Jade. You're a cop. We read people for a living."
"Well, I try not to read too much into things," she said pointedly and Tori remembered the hotdog. "Just because you think something means one thing doesn't always mean that that's the way it is."
She walked ahead of her partner again and Tori sighed. Just when she thought she was getting somewhere with Jade, she got kicked two steps back.
They two went back to the office of Andrew Gates and he let them in.
"Yes, I was with her Monday night," he said, immediately. "When you told me she was dead, I was shocked."
Jade coughed. "Oh, really. You have a funny way of showing it."
"I'm at work, Detective. I very well can't show concern for my 'mistress', now can I? I have to keep up appearances. I was being discreet."
"Being discreet and lying to the police are two completely different things." Tori said.
"I was good to her. Before me she'd been with a bunch of lying psychos."
"Any of those psychos have a name?"
"Her therapist, for one."
Tori raised her eyebrows. Jade rolled her eyes.
"Why would she tell you about that?"
"Like I said, I was good to her."
"Yeah, when you wanna get into somebody's pants."
"Make anymore remarks like that, Detective and I'll be calling my lawyer and this interview will be over."
"I have a better idea. Why don't I call your lawyer and tell him you killed Monica Winters?"
"And just why would I have done that?"
"To keep her from telling your wife you were sleeping with her."
"I think you've said enough."
"I don't."
"Excuse me, for one second," Jade interrupted and grabbed Tori by the arm, leading her outside of the office. "We'll be back later, Mr. Gates. You take care, now."
"Take care?" Tori asked once they were out.
"Shut up. What the hell were you doing in there! If he stops cooperating we're nowhere!"
"We're always nowhere! Every lead we get goes cold! He's being a frustrating bastard!"
Jade grabbed Tori's face and looked into her eyes. "Listen to me. We don't have any leads, he's our last chance and I don't want you fucking this up. Sometimes you gotta play nice and keep your cool, understand?"
Tori nodded, terrified.
"Good." She let go of her partner, her face softening. "Now, I know he's an ass and you know he's an ass, but for the purposes of this investigation, he's the sweetest peach in the world."
"Okay," Tori said, quietly, rubbing her cheeks. "I'll wait outside. Maybe you should do this one without me."
"No, you need to have experiences like this in order to learn. I'm staying outside. You get back in there and get as much info as you can on from that guy."
"What?"
"Yes, Vega!"
"No, Jade-I mean Detective West, I can't do this."
"Of course you can," her partner said. She looked away from Tori and at the ground. "I, uh, I believe in you."
Tori raised an eyebrow skeptically.
"I'm not saying it again, so go!"
"Okay, okay!"
Tori held her breath and walked back into the room.
"Where's your partner," Andrew asked when he saw her alone. "The sensible one."
"I'm sorry for giving you a hard tine, Mr. Gates." She said, urging herself not to roll her eyes. "Your cooperation is very important to us and I was being difficult."
"It's fine," the man said, easing up. "I know how women can get. Especially around that time of the month."
Tori's eye twitched. Was this guy for real? "Yes, well, we're still looking for anything that might direct us to Monica's killer. You left off with the therapist?"
"Yeah... She told me that at first it was exhilarating, you know with him knowing all of her darkest secrets and whatever. I told her the whole thing was creepy and that she should sue."
"You wouldn't mind saying all of this in front of a grand jury, would you?"
"No, no, no, this whole interview is off the record."
"With all due respect, sir, this isn't a 60 minutes interview. It's a homicide investigation."
"Well, I guess it'll just be your word against mine and mine is trusted across the nation."
"What about at home, Andrew?" Tori could tell she struck a nerve. "How much is your word worth at home?"
"Well, Gates' alibi seems pretty good," Jade told Captain Sikowitz when they were back in the precinct. "He's a sleaze, but I don't think he's lying."
"We have the shrink's finger prints at the apartment," the captain said, sipping on some coconut milk. "I don't see why this guy isn't in custody yet. I'll get a DNA order on him, if I have to. But that body, though..."
"Still nobody?" Tori asked.
"You're telling me."
"Well, there is a sister in Denver, but all we know is her name."
"Why don't you take a look at all of her stuff and find out if she has anything that might be able to get us to her."
Hours later, the two were still surrounded by all of Monica's stuff.
"Penis quote's," Jade said, holding up a file. "'There's a tiny catfish feared more than the piranha. It's called a..."
"Candiru," Cat fills in.
"A what?" Robbie asked.
"It's a tiny catfish from the Amazon," Cat explains.
Jade continued. "The candiru's fearsome and gruesome reputation, however, stems from its reputed habit of following the scent of urine and entering the urethra of an unsuspecting human victim. After entering the penis or vagina, the candiru heads "upstream" then secures itself in place with clusters of hook-like spines situated on its head. As the candiru feeds, its body expands causing excruciating pain. Surgery or amputation (for male victims) is required to remove the fish."
"What?" Robbie asked, clearly disturbed. "Is that real?!'
"Yeah, it happened to my-"
"Brother?" Jade asked.
"No, my brother's friend."
"I've got something," Tori said. "A poetry book that's been overdue for twenty years from Hollywood Arts High. I went there!"
"And now you're a cop," Jade smiled. Tori couldn't tell whether it was a friendly, teasing smile, or just a plain old teasing smile. Either way, she felt a little disappointed that things didn't go as planned."
"Oh, don't pout. Look on the bright side: you get to be stuck with me." She grabbed her jacket. "Come on, Vega. We'll take a trip down memory lane.
