Star of New York
Chapter 6
"Well?" Kate asked.
"It's only been a minute" Don replied "Give it time"
"Uh" she muttered "You sure you're looking at it right?"
"I'm not a complete idiot" he grumbled "And if you don't trust me to do it right, then you look"
"I don't want to" she replied sulkily.
"Then shut up" he snapped, they lapsed into silence. Don staring at the little white stick, Kate staring at him.
"Nothing" he frowned.
"I told you you weren't looking at it right!" Kate said darkly "If there's nothing then it hasn't worked"
"I meant" he said with exaggerated patience "One line, not two, nothing, not pregnant"
"Oh" Kate replied, her face blank.
"Oh good or oh bad?" he asked quietly.
"I don't know" she answered "I need to sleep"
"Me too" he sighed, picking up his phone "Or not" he sighed as his cell rang, he gave her a sad smile, which she returned.
"Hey Mac" he sighed.
…...
"An' I thought I was short" Danny quipped as they entered the changing room at the racecourse.
"You're not short" Greenwood replied, a lollypop hanging from his lip "Just vertically challenged"
"You need ta shut up" Danny told him "Hey!" he addressed the room "Detective Danny Messer, this is Detective Greenwood, we need to talk to you all about Carl Royle's death"
"Guy got trampled by his horse" someone said "What's to talk about?"
"He was murdered" Danny said "I can always do this over the the precinct"
"Officers" a man in a suit faced them "These gentlemen are preparing for the next race, they need to concentrate"
"Well my victim is preparing for the next life" Danny replied "I need them to concentrate on that. You are?"
"Gary Okaro" the man supplied "A valet"
"These guys got it all huh?" Greenwood said "Whad'you know about Carl Royle?"
"Guy was a legend in the makin'" Okaro replied "A conceited and racist son of a bitch but him and that horse were for the big time"
"See I'm hearin' motive right there" Danny observed "You ever have a run in with him?"
"Several times" Okaro said "But I didn't kill him"
"If you're a valet" Danny said "You'd have had access to his clothes, do these guys spray anything on their clothes? Something to help them or the horse?"
"It has been known" Okaro replied "Usually a prank, it's an old wives tale, doesn't work"
"I guess the whole room's got a motive" Greenwood jumped in "If he was as good as you say"
Danny didn't speak, someone at he back of the room had caught his eye, he watched with practised patience.
"Oh he was good" a jockey piped up "And he knew it, never failed to let everyone else know it either"
"So he have a lot of enemies you'd say?" Greenwood asked.
"Yeah I'd say he did" the man replied.
"I'm gonna need everyone's names" Greenwood said "And a statement"
"Hey!" Danny shouted through the dressing room "NYPD! Stop right there! Freeze!"
The figure he'd been watching darted through a rear door.
Danny started to run "Trust Flack to throw in some personal time when there's runnin' to be done!" he huffed, glancing a look at Greenwood who didn't move.
"Hey Buddy" Greenwood oozed smug "We all wear the same badge, off you go"
Danny took off, darting around jockeys and valets to the rear exit, catching sight of his target melting into the stable area.
"I said stop!" he shouted, running, one hand on his holster.
Following into the gloom of the stables, Danny strained to hear over the foot stomping and snorting of the horses, suddenly one shied to the front of the stable, head raised and eyes wild, following the direction the horse had come from he noticed a pair of feet disappearing into the rafters.
"Easy boy" Danny whispered as he climbed the stable front, the horse whirled, unsure which direction to head for, snorting.
"Nice horsey, don't make me shoot you"
He crawled precariously along the top of the wall that separated the stables, through the narrow ridge he was on, he could feel the pounding of the horses feet through vibrations.
"I hate you Flack" he hissed.
Reaching the gap his mark had crawled through, Danny struggled a little, he was wider than the person he was chasing and he had to ease his shoulders through one at a time, gun poised, as he looked along the roof space. Catching sight of a figure slumped in the gloom he switched on his flashlight.
"Come on" he said "Ain't nowhere to go but down"
…...
"Well Tommi" Danny folded his arms across his chest "You certainly saved us some trouble, we were coming to talk to you when you decided to run for it at the track"
"Oh really?" Tommi Dane replied with sarcasm.
"Yes really" Greenwood said "You see your fingerprints showed up on a bottle of testosterone we found where you work"
"So?" she replied "They would be, I work there, I handle stuff like that all the time"
"They were also on the spray bottle we found" Danny pointed out "And we know you got motive to kill Carl"
"You have no idea what you are talking about!" She suddenly exploded.
Danny sat down "Then enlighten me" he said.
"No!" she yelled "You can do what you like!"
Danny looked at Greenwood, thinking that right now, he'd quite like to give Flack a piece of his mind for leaving him with this useless jerk when they broke the case, the two way 'Good Cop Bad Cop' between him and Don was old and practised and it worked for the most part. Danny didn't feel Greenwood had his back, he didn't feel comfortable playing either role. He wanted Mac.
"Then we'll leave you to have a think about it" Danny stood, looking at Tommi "Maybe a few hours in a cell will loosen your tongue"
…...
"You seen Mac?" Danny stuck his head into the lab.
"No" Lindsay frowned back "I tried to call and update him but he's not answering his cell"
"Hawkes?" he asked, anyone was better than Greenwood, and Lindsay was swamped.
"Same" she said "What d'you thinks going on Danny?" she asked him.
"What?" he asked, distracted.
"First Flack goes on personal, I mean Flack" she said, warming to her theme "Then Mac keeps disappearing and not being contactable, and now they tell me Hawkes got a call and shot out the building. With Jo on vacation leave, that leaves me, you and Adam to run the investigation!"
"Don't forget the ever charming Detective Greenwood" Danny grimaced.
"Humph!" Lindsay replied "You think we should call Jo?"
"No-oo" Danny replied "She's on vacation, spending time with her kids, none of us do that enough, and anyway, we're both level III CSI's, we can deal"
"If you say so" she didn't look convinced "But if I don't hear from Mac by the end of the day, I'm calling Jo"
"It'll all be good" Danny told her, again, distracted "I promise babe"
"Hmmmm"Lindsay replied speculatively at his departing back.
…...
"Er Hi" Kate looked awkwardly at the man sitting at her husbands desk "Who are you?"
"Oh Hi" he smiled back "Al Greenwood, Detective Al Greenwood, how can I help you?"
"I'm looking for Flack" she replied, slightly amused that this guy obviously thought the word detective would impress her "He's usually sitting right there" she pointed to Greenwood, comfortable in Don's chair.
"Oh, he's taken the day off" Greenwood schmoozed "Maybe I can help?"
"Day off?" she frowned "He didn't tell me"
"I'm sorry" Greenwood said "I didn't catch your name"
"Flack" she said, looking him square in the eye "Sergeant Kate Flack, his wife"
"Oh, sorry" Greenwood sat straighter "I didn't recognise you"
Kate was wrong footed for a moment "Why would you?" she asked "We've never met"
"I just assumed that the woman with the badge was you" he replied with a shrug.
"What woman?" she asked, a slight edge to her voice.
"In the picture" he replied "Never mind, my bad"
…...
A/n – Updates may be more sporadic now I'm back at the grindstone! Hope you continue to enjoy :) And as usual, this story appears to be taking on a life of it's own...
