Sotto copertura

Chapter Seven: Tradimento (Feelings That Were Once Sacred)

By LoveAnimeForever

"Mac, no."

"We promised you the background check, and here you go." The head CSI tossed the IAFIS printout onto the table in its folder. "We've delayed this for half a week, Danny. Even if this doesn't seem like much to you-"

Don folded his arms; a defensive growl on his partner's behalf. "But, there isn't another body, is there."

"Boys, we know you think these guys are innocent. And everyone in this lab would love it to be true. But if we're going to prove it, we need to ask some questions."

Stella placed a hand both their shoulders; if she had a third hand she would've clapped one on her partner's as well. A woman's touch always was more soothing, and then she was almost used to mediating between what could've been the three most stubborn men on the planet. Add to that the fact that they – all three – needed proper logic and a winning argument to back down… Thankfully, the two undercover agents had been defensive only because they knew Mac was right; they subsided, taking a moment to nurse their pride and resign themselves to his decision.

"Alright. Fine." Pause. If you wanna be that way, "Fine."

Danny glowered slightly, sighed. "What he said."

"Good. Now, we know that if he did it-"

"If."

"If," Mac acceded, "he did it, he would've been finishing up the job. So the question now is…"

"Why," Stella returned, obliging. "start in the first place?"

"So what, is that our job, now?"

"No. Ask one too many questions and you'll blow your cover. Pulled a few strings while we were waiting" – a reprimanding look – "and the parole office has a new appointment on Thursday."

"So we get field notes, and that's it?"

"For you, yes. Mac and I will be dropping by the parole office for a guest appearance."

A short pause as Don and Danny digested the plan.

"…You're not arresting him."

"No, we're not." A hint of a smile at the corner of Mac's mouth.

Don's shoulders slacked completely in relief. "Thanks, Mac."

Caught between anxiety – for both parties on Thursday – and relief that drastic action had been ruled out, the remainder of the week passed in the hazy blur of routine. On Sunday, Fletcher had been mild and Herring as hostile as usual; neither more nor less suspicious than they'd been in the first place. Then, Danny and Don had met up with the other CSIs on Monday night, though Mac had assigned the rest of the team to work on a new – thankfully, simpler – case, and so they hadn't been able to stay to witness the argument over the arrest-turned-parole-meeting. Wednesday night, they met up with their cell group at White's apartment, a simple affair that showed, perhaps a little too clearly, that White and his wife (they didn't have kids, as far as the background checks went) valued comfort over style. The parole meeting was brought up over dinner – just a passing mention – and the detectives caught a various signals from every member of the group; nothing too suspicious, but reactions nonetheless, varying from surprise to anxiety to slight disapproval, that were promptly memorized as best they could for Thursday night's meeting.

Thursday.

In the waiting room of the parole office, Mac and Stella sat on a cushioned bench, waiting for their target to enter. The door chime tinkled lightly, and two men stepped in, headed straight for registration. A quiet conversation between them and the receptionist, then one of them strode to a door – plaque that read Dr Nadine Conley – with the other just one step behind.

One hand on the doorknob, the first turned to face the second. His voice was quiet, yet low and it travelled easily to the two CSIs.

"Tim, I'd rather do this alone."

McLean nodded and backed off after clapping a reassuring hand on Hays' shoulder. "Have fun," he offered, in an attempt to lighten the atmosphere.

Hays nodded, a slight grimace on his face, and disappeared behind the door to the office.

As McLean sat himself on the bench a little away from Mac and Stella – worry all too obvious in his posture – the two detectives glanced at each other.

Well, there's our guy.

Let's go.

"Good afternoon, Randal. I'm sorry to call you in on such short notice."

"No, not at all."

An awkward pause; Hays hadn't been to the parole office for quite some time, so it was disorienting to be asked after by this now half-stranger, and then he'd never been the talkative type in the first place.

"…So, how have you been doing? Anything you'd like to tell me?"

A flash of guilt. "No."

Conley allowed herself to frown. "You know I don't like being lied to, so I'm going to be straight forward, and let's just hope you're telling the truth. I have… certain news… about a parole violation... Care to clear it up?"

Hays winced. "Such a negative way of putting things…" he offered a weak smile. "It won't sound good. Still want to hear it?"

She nodded. "However. Would you mind if I invited some officers in, as well?"

Guilt shifted to self-righteous anger, then resigned understanding. "Go ahead."

Conley nodded again, and left the room for a short while; she returned with Mac and Stella, and McLean ducked in a shot step behind them.

Hays glanced around him – at McLean, beside him, and at Conley, along with two officers he'd never seen before in his life, opposite him across the desk, and at the tape recorder on the desk. He sighed. "Am I in any particular trouble?"

The male officer shook his head. "No. Our department would simply like your cooperation in our investigation."

"And, conveniently, Dr Conley just randomly decided to shift Ran's appointment up? To a day when you would coincidentally be here?" McLean bristled, his words surprisingly sharp against his usual tone.

A dry smile from the officer. "Yes," was the tight reply, "now, if we can get on to business, I am Detective Mac Taylor, and this is Detective Stella Bonasera."

"Randal Hays, and Timothy McLean," he returned, keeping his voice as cordial as possible, "You already know Dr Conley."

"Thank you, Hays." Stella offered a smile.

He nodded. "So, this is about Jon, isn't it? Jon and Logan."

Mac raised an eyebrow. "How do you know that's what we're here about?"

A shrug. "It was the most obvious possibility."

"Alright, so what can you tell us?"

"That I didn't kill them."

"Yes, but, you see, we want to know about the fight you had, as well."

McLean glowered at Stella on his boyfriend's behalf, but she – and Mac – ignored him in favor of listening to Hays' account.

"…We were fighting over theology. Whether it was right or wrong, to be… gay." A pause, and rising agitation. "He refused to believe it could be alright. I punched him, wanted knocked some sense into him."

"A… punch," Mac echoed skeptically, "over the Bible, which says 'Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these'?"

Hays got up, started pacing. "That's precisely it. Love is the greatest commandment, first to God, and then to fellow man. And our love" – he glanced at McLean – "is no different than that. In fact, compared to the shit normal couples come up with, don't you think we might even be better off? But he was just. Just wallowing in guilt, and he was making Logan suffer, and those two – hell, everyone in our cell group – are family to us! I couldn't just watch him destroy what he and Logan had; I've been there before, when I got charged for assault and Tim had to be alone for all those years-" He let out a soft roar of frustration and sat back down, burying his face in his hands.

Stunned silence.

"But I didn't do it," Hays murmured finally, "I didn't do it."

McLean placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. Softly, gently, so that even the detectives and counselor just a desk away could barely hear, "Ran, why didn't you tell me?"

"I didn't want you to get in trouble. I'm sorry."

Conley, silent up till now, felt more than a little awkward between the two couples. Her charge and his boyfriend were sitting opposite her, both of them taking the time to calm down and sort things out between them; and the detectives beside her were having a silent exchange. As a psychologist, she prided herself on being able to read most people's real emotions – the ones they hid under everything – and it pleased her immensely (it was a maternal sort of satisfaction) to see two such healthy relationships, despite the unfortunate meeting circumstances.

Meanwhile, Mac and Stella had arrived at a conclusion.

He's telling the truth…?

He's telling the truth.

Mac and Stella shook Hays' and McLean's hands.

"Thank you for your cooperation."

"…And, we're sorry about Howard and Gray."

The couple accepted the greetings steadily, then Hays looked up, resignation in his eyes. "I doubt you have an answer for me, so I'm not going to waste my breath, but, whoever told you about my fight with Jon…"

"We'll look into it."

And the two detectives left the room, the parole officer ducking out as well for cordialities.

"Thank you, Dr Conley. We realize this probably wasn't what you had in mind."

Conley shook her head. "I would've heard about it eventually, anyway, I should think. Will Randal…?"

"We'll be keeping them on-file, but, for now, they're off the suspect list."

Relief. "And might I tell them this?"

"Yes," Stella returned, "please tell them. They looked like they'll need it."

The two CSIs showed themselves out and Conley returned to her office.

Down the street and back to the unmarked car. The air around them felt heavier than usual, as it always tended to when they let their guard down and allowed themselves to get involved in their suspects' stories. Times like this, they remembered all-too-clearly that the justice system in New York – across the world – wasn't only of the black-and-white of the legal documents. And then, as investigators, even as detectives who prided themselves on the integrity of their experimental data and evidence, they weren't purely in the white zone, either.

"He's not actually off the suspect list, is he?"

Mac had a contemplative look on his face; most of the lab knew by now that this meant he was attending to two different thought process, one just beneath the surface of his mind and the other only a skeleton crew of societal norms for delivering his curt – often monosyllabic – conclusions. It was this expression that usually indicated he was about to disappear on a solo hunt for a highly-dangerous criminal to prevent his team from getting hurt. Thankfully, for now, he was only processing what he'd heard earlier, and deciding…

"He'd have to be a very good actor," he said, finally, half-smile-half-grimace on his lips," but no, not just yet."

"And what about 'we'll look into it'?"

"We will."

A drive back through town and they were once more within the walls of the lab they'd come to regard as sanctuary. Everything was in full-gear, with Lindsay and Sheldon covering rather promising leads on their new case – it seemed like it would be coming to a close quite soon – and Adam was just done with the translation work. Reviews, thankfully short, came in from all sides as the two senior-most detectives parsed their data into the lab computer.

"Alright, Mac, so I got it done…at last… Uhm. Here." He passed a single-page printout to them.

CRUCIFIXION CASE TRANSLATION REPORT

(See facing side for original transcript.)

-Main Translation-

Yuusuke-

As a kyuudoka, I will not let my resolution waver. You taught me this.

And because you are kyuudoka, we shouldn't be doing this!

But what about Randal?

What about him? You want to protect him? There's no saying if they'll find out about us as well!

-Additional Transcript And Notes-

kyuudoka: Student of archery-type Japanese martial art.

ki: Spirit; life energy.

sore ni mo kakawarazu: Regardless.

iisugita yo: You've said too much!

"A week, for this?"

"Hey, man, you have no idea how hard it was. Don and Danny have absolutely no ear for Japanese, we had to decode the transcript-"

Raised eyebrows. "Sorry. Mac. Stella. Right. I'll be going now."

"Hold on, Adam. Your job's not over yet."

A flash of apprehension.

Stella offered the flustered lab technician a smile. "It won't be that bad."

"Yamamoto and Kawasaki. I want you to track down everything about them. Do whatever you have to, even if it means flying down to Japan."

Adam winced. His suspicions had just been confirmed – another highly-tedious job, with quite the dose of near-impossibility. "Got it."

He retreated from the room and hurried down the corridor; closely missed Sheldon, who was heading in the opposite direction to consult Stella and Mac.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were bullying him on purpose, Mac."
Quiet laughter. Adam was simply too jittery on- or off-job to not be the butt of some jokes, but they all knew he was quite the invaluable part of the CSI team.

"So, do you want to start, or?" There was a clear anticipation in the pathologist's eyes.

Stella grinned. "Since you want to know so badly… Why don't you start? We'll brief everyone together, when Don and Danny get here."

A disappointed non-reply and a near-pout.

It was obvious he wanted to hear of Mac and Stella's progress; in fact, the whole lab had gained a sort of morbid fascination with what they'd dubbed "The Crucifixion Case". Unfortunately, it was still a few hours before the two undercover detectives could make their way over to the CSI building.

"I see you enjoy keeping us in suspense," Sid commented dryly.

The CSIs had once again gathered in a meeting room, and, with Don and Danny finally around, it was time to reveal the mystery verdict – mystery, at least, to the undercover agents and the rest of the detectives who'd taken individual interests in the case. To Mac and Stella, who'd been running through McLean and Hays' story, trying to work out any possible kinks they could set Adam on after he was done with Yamamoto and Kawasaki. Stella had tried her best to help, drawing on her Catholic background, and experience with the theological arguments in St Basil's. But in the end…

"Hays," Mac finally started, "is off the hook-"

You could just see the relief flooding Don and Danny as both men relaxed back into their chairs.

"-for now," Stella finished for her partner, amused smile on her face.

The guys tensed a little, and the rest of the lab shook their heads at their seniors' antics – as close to antics as they got, anyway.

"The same goes for McLean; but based on the kind of profiles you've" – he nodded to Don and Danny – "given us, the behavior we saw was more than a little off."

Stella picked up, "On the other hand, after quite the delay-"

Danny rounded jokingly on the lab tech, "Thought you said you had it under control, Adam?"

Adam winced. "I thought I did…"

A pause for the CSIs to watch the lab tech drown in his mortification, no hard feelings, and then Stella passed the translation script around.

"This is what Adam turned up, and I, for one, am just hoping the next search will take a little less time."

Don looked up from the translation document. "…You're going after them, now?"

"Rest assured, we'll be taking a look at Herring, as well."

"How many suspects does that make, Mac?"

"Six, for now. If he's not careful, White's going to be on the list, too. But even if we did need personnel, Hawkes, you know there's only you and Lindsay left of the lab."

"Which probably means we'll be stuck with the normal jobs?"

Stella grinned. "Sadly, yes."