Titania Falling
Chapter 7
- Speech like a tangled chain; nothing impaired, but all disordered

"Apparently the unicorn blotter is the trademark of a dealer calling himself 'Picasso'."

"Let me guess - he's a sensitive artiste." Stella rolled her eyes as she spoke.

"I don't know about that, but Danny mentioned that he and Angell have dealt with him on another case."

"Do we know where to find him?"

"I did some checking, and he's recently switched to a new area, but Narcotics is pretty sure he's set up shop at Beach 16th." Lindsay handed her the information about Picasso. "They're bringing him in on something else, but Detective Carver said we could talk to him when they're done."

"Good. It's about time we found someone who is connected to that party."

Detective Carver was nearly finished with Picasso when they arrived at interview room three. He stepped into the observation room with them after leaving the interrogation. "You think he's your murderer?"

"Evidence of his drugs were found on her body," Stella explained, glancing over at the dealer - kid, really, she thought to herself - through the window. "But for all we know, someone else bought his product and took it with them."

"The ME only found evidence of one blotter in her mouth, so unless he's selling bad drugs or has expanded into something else, he most likely isn't responsible himself," Lindsay continued.

"Nah, we tested his stuff we confiscated. There's no way anyone would overdose on just one of his blotters." Carver shook his head.

"Did he have any other drugs on him?"

"Nah." He leaned back against the wall. "Just the blotters, and not many of them - just enough to get him for possession, not distribution. 'Sides, Picasso, he's not the type to go killing his customers. He's actually smart enough to realize that just leads to fewer customers."

"He doesn't have the stomach for it?"

"Upchucked his cookies like an 11-year-old girl when we showed him a picture of another dealer who'd been hit last year. Picasso'd been slowly moving into another dealer's turf and 'boom', the other guy's dead. Figured it had to be him. Turned out the dealer's partner decided he was sick of splitting the profits." He looked them over, gauging them somehow. "Here's the deal. We wouldn't have got the guy if Picasso hadn't helped. He's been listed as our CI since then."

"Still selling?"

"He couldn't get us what we need if he wasn't." Carver tipped his chin at the window. "He's been a good boy, keeping the amount of the shit he's putting on the streets low, but where he's cut back others have picked up the slack."

"Do you think he'll be straight with us?"

"He knows there are a couple of distribution charges that could come back on him if he isn't." He opened the observation room door for them. "He also knows that whatever deal we had is off if he gets caught up in any funny business. So if you do connect him to that girl's death, let us know. We can conveniently ignore his little dabblings in selling because it keeps his ear to the ground; we're not overlooking murder."

"We'll keep that in mind," Stella said, letting herself and Lindsay into the interview room.

"Hello, Picasso." She said, sitting across from him. "I was expecting someone more... oh, I don't know, cubist."

Lindsay snorted softly beside her, while Picasso rolled his eyes. "You have any questions, or are you just here to show off your bad jokes?"

"Do you know her?" Lindsay asked, sliding the picture of Titania across the table to him.

He paled, reaching across the table to tap the picture. "Yeah, I've seen her around."

"Last night? At a fairy tale party in Central Park?"

He nodded slowly. "It was her birthday. I gave her a blotter, since it was, you know, a holiday and all."

"Do you know her name?"

"Air? Maybe? I didn't know anyone from that scene. Some guy grabbed me on my way to Prowl and said there was a party I had to go to." He shrugged, leaning back in his chair. "I didn't get it, but they were all, you know, dressed up like one of those reenactment groups. My unicorns were a big hit with that crowd."

"Did you give her anything else?"

"Nah." He looked at the picture again. "She's dead, isn't she?"

"She is."

"She seemed..." he wiped his hand across his forehead. "She seemed really nice. Some of the others in her crowd weren't so much, you know. I was just there because they wanted some drugs and nothing more. It was like I was the help. But she, she was a nice person. Even to people she hadn't ever seen before."

"What happened, Picasso?"

"I-I don't know. One minute I'm chatting up this chick who is in one of those old style dresses. The next everyone's running. I thought the party was getting busted, so I just ran, too."

"Did you see her?"

"Yeah, she was shaking. Not like she was scared, but like really hard. I just thought she was really scared." He looked up at Stella, his eyes wide. "I know it sounded lame, but it wasn't like she was sick when we were talking." Picasso looked at them, thinking, "You think that's how- Oh man."

"What?" Lindsay asked gently.

"I was worried, when I saw her. I gave her drugs, and if something happened to her with my drugs on her, I knew my little arrangement here was a bust. I was gonna go get her, but Kimmy? Kelly? The girl I was chatting up, she grabbed my hand and pulled me along. And I saw these guys near her-" He gestured to the picture. "-so I figured they were going to help her out. I know someone mentioned her boyfriend was at the party. I just thought he was one of them. So I... I just ran."

"Do you know Kimmy or Kelly's last name?"

"Nah, we split up at the lake. I headed back over to Prowl to finish the night."

"Do you know the name of anyone at that party?"

"Not really. I mean, the guy who invited me, I know his name is Sam, but last names haven't really been all that important. You know?"

"Why didn't you call 911?" Lindsay asked.

"I thought the police were busting up the party and those guys were taking care of her. I- I didn't want to get caught if there was trouble."

A knock on the door interrupted them. Mac opened it and looked at them before beckoning Stella and Lindsay into the hallway. "Flack is on his way back. He has a name."

"Air something?"

Mac smiled as they headed back up to the labs. "Ariana Hawthorne."

"And last night was her birthday."

"Flack didn't say, but that could explain the decorations."

"Wait- that Ariana Hawthorne?"

Mac nodded grimly. "Both the Mayor and the Chief are going to be keeping close tab on this. We need to have everything - all of the evidence - in order."

"Speaking of which," Lindsay said as the elevator doors opened, "I only got part of the results from Trace. Chad said he'd need more time on the metal chip from the first doll."

"I'm going with her," Stella told Mac. That metal trace had been bothering Lindsay all day. It was time to find out what it was.

"Chad," Lindsay said to the tech as she stepped into the Trace lab, Stella not far behind her, "please tell me you've got something on that metal I sent up."

"That metal isn't exactly metal," he said as he rolled his chair over to the printer where he grabbed a printout. "Well, not just a metal."

"Okay Chad, you're losing me," she said as she took the page he offered and started reading.

"It is actually a glass and metal combination: a platelet of calcium sodium borosilicate that was encapsulated in titanium dioxide."

"Most often used in cosmetic applications," Lindsay read from the paper, frowning. There was something, just out of reach, but this was connected to something that she just couldn't quite remember.

"This is the stuff they use to add sparkle to eye shadow," Stella said, looking over her shoulder to read the paper as well.

"Yeah..." She trailed off, reaching into her lab coat for another paper Chad had sent to her office earlier. "Lotion."

"Lotion?"

"I swabbed the doll that the metallic speck was found on, and it came back as PEG-3 stearate, myristic acid, and a bunch of other moisturizers, all common ingredients in lotion. Add in the borosilicate and titanium dioxide and you have sparkling lotion. I've seen it at some of the high-end cosmetic counters."

"I've seen it, too, even tried it at Macy's. It is supposed to add a 'slight sheen and subtle sparkles to your skin, while making it silky smooth'," she quoted the saleswoman's pitch.

"Did it work?"

They both turned and looked at Chad, who blushed slightly. "My girlfriend. Her birthday is coming up."

"I liked it," Stella said, glancing back down at the page. "And, when you think about it, it'd fit right in with the theme of the party." She fluttered her fingers for effect as she continued, "Sparkly."

"But," Lindsay said with a sigh as they left the trace lab, "other than the fact a bottle of it is at least twice the price of normal lotion, there isn't anything special or exclusive about it. Any number of the women at the party could have been wearing it."

"True. But whoever was wearing it had to have put it on just before touching that doll. It's less likely the fleck would have transferred once the lotion soaked into her skin."

"When you also consider the placement, it suggests that one of the people who decorated the arbor used the lotion. But Flack already got that list from the victim's roommate; this doesn't add or rule out any suspects."

"Hopefully something else will."

::

"Anything?" Danny asked as Hawkes walked into the office he shared with Lindsay.

"Possibly." He replied, pulling the extra chair over and sitting. He had the report from the GC-MS in his hand and held it out to Danny. "That particular fiber is widely used. However, it was most popular in carpets in cars."

"It's better than what I've got." Danny looked over the readout. "So it could be anything, but it's most likely that he picked it up in one of these cars." He whistled as he looked at the list. "That's a lot of cars."

"Yeah. It isn't going to be easy to narrow down that list."

"Then I may have something that will help," Angell said, looking quite pleased with herself as she entered the office. "We have a name for our vic."

"Really? Missing persons worked out? Who is he?"

"Andrew Landon." She sank into Monroe's chair, pulling out the background report she'd pulled up on the vic. "The interesting thing is that he was reported missing two days ago."

"Two days ago? But he died last night."

"Exactly." She leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees. "He was reported as missing by his super who 'saw him leaving in a car with guys he didn't recognize'. And since he cared so much - or more likely because the guy was two weeks late on the rent - he called and made the report when Landon never came home that night. So the question is, what happened and where has he been for the past two days?"

"Somewhere he picked up that grey fiber and got into a fight with someone." Hawkes supplied, standing. "I'll check with Dr. Parsons and see what came back on the blood and skin Sid sent to DNA."

"Yeah, and I'll-" Danny paused as Lindsay entered the office. Looking down at his watch, he groaned. "It can't be that late."

"Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt," she said, "I can come back-"

"Nah." Angell stood, rolling her shoulders and stretching. "It's late. We aren't getting any where on this tonight. Let's regroup in the morning. Maybe fresh eyes will help us spot something we've missed."

"Good idea," Hawkes agreed. "Even if they were able to extract any DNA, we won't get any search results back quickly. Best to leave it for the morning."

"Yeah, I'll see you guys in the morning." Danny waved them away as they left the office. "Hey, how're you doing?"

"Not quite as bad as your case, from the sound of it," She said, leaning against him as he pulled her close. They kept the embrace brief, however, and she pulled away to start unbuttoning her lab coat. "I didn't mean to chase everyone out."

"You didn't. Angell was right - we've been staring at this for too long today. We need some rest and to take a new look at it in the morning." He grabbed the jacket thrown over the back of his chair, one that he'd grabbed that morning only out of habit despite the heat. "How do you feel about getting take-out tonight?"

"Sounds wonderful."