You're his girlfriend?" Was Danny's incredulous reply. He had stood up with an expression caught in between outrage and disbelief.
"I can see it." Flack commented and Danny looked sharply at Flack. Danny, being much more familiar with Adam, gave way to a more personal reaction.
Flack had less knowledge of the young lab rat and gave Danny a quirk of the eyebrow to his incensed reaction.
"You honestly believe this girl? Adam wouldn't date this-," He paused searching for the correct words.
"Worthless, Drug addict whore?" Brenda cut in with a wry smile.
"Brenda!" Her mother exclaimed.
She raised her hands in a surrendering gesture, "Lighten up, Mom. We know it's true. I don't know what Adam sees in me. He's a great guy, you know. I can hardly believe it myself."
"You're not too hard on the eyes." Flack commiserated. Danny continued to sputter indignantly. He could not believe this conversation was happening.
"Thanks." Brenda blushed. It wasn't everyday a woman got complimented by a handsome detective.
"How long have you been seeing Adam?" Flack pursued on. Danny scoffed in disgust and stormed out of the room. He had enough of this ridiculous conversation. There was no way Adam was dating her.
"Uh." She stammered hesitantly as she watched Danny leave. Flack waved him off.
"Forget about him. Just answer the questions"
"Well we met about 2 months ago but we've been officially together for about a month." She replied with a faraway smile on her face.
"Have you noticed any strange behavior about Adam? Any strange people around his apartment?"
"Adam was a little jumpy the past few days." She paused and gave him a dry smile, "Well more jumpy than usual. I asked him what was wrong but he wouldn't tell me. And strange people – have you seen his apartment complex?"
Flack nodded with an understanding expression, "Yeah – there's quite a few unsavory characters. Did you know if any of them had a grudge with Adam?"
She shook her head, "Not that I know of." Then her eyes lit up, "Oh there's a convenience store owner across the street. We stopped by there once to get some-," She blushed and gestured vaguely, "Well anyways, the guy seemed pissed with Adam. Said he owed him some money and that he better make good on it or something might happen."
Flack leaned forward, "What did Adam say?"
"Adam looked scared but he told him he'll pay him back next week. That was like two weeks ago. I didn't think much of it." She shrugged.
"Did Adam mention any money problems?" Flack mentally hesitated on this question feeling this might pass personal boundaries.
She laughed incredulously, "Of course, in this economy, who hasn't? I mean, Adam just got the 15% pay cut a couple months ago in replacement of losing his job altogether. He's just trying to make ends meet."
She attempted to refrain from giving Flack an accusing stare. She was aware they worked in some vicinity but that didn't mean he had any effect on Adam's pay.
Flack regretted asking the question. He felt that he was intruding on his coworker's personal life. He stood up quickly and snapped his notepad closed.
He attempted to step forward and stumbled. He looked down and frowned to see his shoelaces tied in a knot. The culprit, stood across the room, and giggled.
"Matthew!" Brenda exclaimed, "I'm very sorry, sir. He's a bit of a devil."
Flack bent down and started untying the laces, "It's alright. I got a few nieces and nephews that can give that kid a run for his money
Stella started to hear the annoying ring of her alarm sounding off over and over. She slapped her hand across it and fumbled to turn it off. When she finally got it to turn off, she slid out of her bed and walked out to the kitchen to start coffee.
She nearly jumped when she saw Adam sitting patiently at the dining room table. She placed her hand on her heart, "Jesus! You startled me." Adam cocked his head to the side.
"Am I scary?"
Stella gave him a warm smile, "No I just didn't expect you to be there."
"Oh." He hopped off the chair and followed her to watch her pour some coffee.
"Can I have some?" He asked, Stella looked at the translucent figure. She knew he would not be able to drink coffee much less hold a cup.
"Ummm, not right now sweetie, you're too young for coffee." She trailed off in her lie. Suddenly there was a loud rap on her door and she jumped. Adam looked up to her,
"Don't worry, I got scared too, this time." He said, looking triumphant. Stella couldn't help but give a smothered laugh and headed to the door.
"I'm coming, I'm coming."
The door was on its third series of knocks when she finally got to unlocking and opening it.
In the doorway, she saw Mac there, holding a bag of bagels.
"You come bearing gifts, to what do I owe this pleasure." Stella asked, knowing full well what it was about.
"I'm here for Adam, you texted me last night that he was here."
"Still is." She corrected. Mac peaked in to see the boy half hiding behind the couch. He appeared to be frightened by the new presence.
They both walked in and Stella crouched down by the couch, "Come on, Adam, you know Mac – and He remembers you."
"He does?" A higher pitched version of Adam's voice echoed through the apartment. Mac gently placed the bag on the counter and waited for the boy to come out. It wasn't long for Adam to come out and stare apprehensively at the head of the New York crime lab.
"Hi, Sir." The boy toed the ground, and looked for approval from Stella. Stella gave him an encouraging smile.
"Hey Adam, Do you want to sit down with Stella and I for a moment." He ignored the pointed stare from Stella. He didn't have time to play games with Adam, they needed this information quickly.
Adam nodded slowly with large eyes, "We can sit over there." He said pointing to the couch. Mac moved over to the couch and sat down in agreement. Adam walked much slower, and sat at the edge of the cushion.
"Relax, you're not in trouble." Mac said in what he hopes was a soothing tone. Adam continued to glance at Stella for reassurance but gave a nod to Mac, without relaxing.
"I have a few questions about the night you got hurt." Mac stumbled over his words feeling as if he should have thought more about what he would say before conducting an interview with an apparition.
"I don't wanna talk about that." Adam said in a quiet voice looking down, he twisted his finger nervously. He sensed Stella draw closer.
"Sweetie, we really need something, any information would help." Stella tried to catch his eye but the boy refused to look up.
"I c-cant." His voice cracked, Stella looked at Mac and shook her head. Mac retained his emotionless face
"How about not that night, Flack told me that you owed some money to a local store owner?"
Adam look up, "I um, broke – well the window got broke." Mac knew he was lying – but he couldn't figure about what.
"Are you sure that's what happened, I think it didn't really go that way." Mac said, his eyes were narrowed looking straight at the lab tech. He purposefully avoided Stella's gaze, knowing full well that she didn't like his prodding.
Adam took a deep breath, "I didn't break the window. The guys were angry bout sumth'n and they broke the window."
"Do you know who they were, sweetie." Stella beat Mac to the question.
There was a hesitant pause, "No." He replied.
Was he always this bad at lying? Mac thought quietly to himself.
"It's really important that you be honest here." Mac's voice was much sterner than before and a flash of fear crossed Adam's eyes.
"I-I, think they might be some people who live nearby. I don't really fit in there." He squirmed a little.
"Was it someone in your apartment?" Mac inquired.
"I really shouldn't be talking about this!" Adam exclaimed looking frantic. He disappeared within seconds of saying that. Stella groaned in frustration.
"Mac! You shouldn't have pushed so hard."
"I needed answers." Mac muttered in self defense.
"Yes, now we'll have to wait for him to decide to show up again before we can get any more."
Mac shrugged and pulled his phone out, "Hey Flack, interview the convenience store owner. Looks like Adam had a bad visit and someone broke the store window."
It took 20 minutes for Flack to get a text back from Mac about the state of affairs with Adam. He put his phone back in his pocket, and finished up the last of the paperwork in his car. He wrote all the details of the interesting interview with Brenda. He left out the part about Danny, it wasn't relevant.
Speaking of Danny, he was currently leant against a brick wall looking angry. He was smoking a cigarette that he bummed off of someone.
Danny hadn't smoked in ages; Lindsay would kill him if she saw this. The stress was taking a toll on his friend. Flack stuck his paperwork in a neatly organized glove box, exited the car and walked over to Danny.
"C'mon, you don't need that." Flack reassured. Danny sighed and threw it to the ground and snubbed it with his foot.
"Not really sure what I need, this isn't going how it should. Adam, and all his, his girl." He pulled a face.
Flack shook his head, "You know that isn't what's really bothering you." Danny looked up, squinting his eyes without answering.
"What's next?"
Flack hesitated at the quick change of subject but decided to go with it, "Mac wants us to go to the convenience store. Interview the owner."
"More than a broken window?" Danny half questioned, knowing the answer.
Flack just nodded and they crossed the street.
They both entered the convenience store and Flack pulled back a little by the derelict conditions. The floors were scuffed and sticky with dirt. There were fly buzzing around the place, the shelves in a relative disarray. It seemed as if the place was ransacked but the man at the counter did not appear all too concerned.
As they approached him he eyed them with suspicion, recognizing that they were police officers. Danny hung his thumbs on his belt, brazenly showing his badge, and Flack move to full height which can be very intimidating.
"We have a few questions for you, mister," He paused glancing at his hurried scrawl in his notebook, "Jackson." He finished looking up the heavy set slob.
The man's eyes seemed to be small and beady as he struggled to stand, "Yeah, well – I'm getting real tired of answerin' questions. I mean, it's just a stupid kid that died or something, right? I got nothin' to do with that."
"He isn't dead." Danny ground out. His shoulders were tense and veins in his neck were throbbing. Flack hoped that Danny wouldn't react on that anger. He had been very volatile lately.
The man smacked his lips a couple times, digesting the information, "Well, kid owes me money. Pass that on, will ya?"
Danny stepped forward but Flack's hand shot out and steadied his partner, "That's what we were coming down here for. We wanted to know why he owed you money."
"Broke my window, got nothing to do with him being roughed up and all." The man replied.
Flack exhaled sharply, "Yes, but did you see him break your window?"
"No, but he admitted to it." He shrugged, his large shoulders rolled slowly. Danny looked at him as if he was one of the flies languishing on the counter.
"We received some information that there were a few men that beat him up and then broke the window, do you remember anyone else there?"
"Look here, I got my answer on who broke my window, I don't go sticking my nose into other stuff. That's dangerous in this neighborhood." The man was rather vehement, spit flung out of his mouth. Flack scrunched up his nose, disgusted.
"You've got a camera, you must've seen the security tape." Flack asked impatiently.
"No, that stuff isn't mine."
"What d'ya mean?" Danny questioned.
"Here I'll give you one piece of information, and y'all leave me alone. These parts are run by some nasty fellows. Got a lot of people under their control, by money or other things." He trailed off a bit, "They keep watch on a lot of them with that camera out there, they leave me alone because I let them put it there. I don't go asking questions, and I don't go runnin' to the cops. So you guys should do me a favor and leave."
Danny looked ready to ask another question but Flack snapped his notebook shut, "Thank you for your cooperation Mr. Jackson." With that they both left the store.
"Danny, I know what you're going to say but I don't think there's anything else left to ask him."
"I know, I still wanna take him down a few pegs." Danny grumbled, looking like he really need a bad guy to roughly arrest and accidentally slam against a door as he threw them in the back of a police car.
Flack chuckled, "We'll get someone who deserves that, but we got some good information. Those videos recordings are run by that Mike Trager guy. Looks like they might give us a few answers, I wonder how far Hawkes is on those videos."
"And maybe we can take Mike in?" Danny said perking up at the thought of taking in someone.
Flack laughed and entered the car and they drove off to the labs.
AN: Eh, yeah – I know not my best. I had an outline and everything for this but I got a little bit tired of the story and now I feel like I can get back with it, it doesn't feel like a chore to write and I think it will be exciting to get back into it again. Thank you for reading. Please review, reviews always help me want to write more.