Alrighty! First off, just let me say thank you for all the reviews/favs/follows. You all are awesome, as always. :D
Also, Elaine Weasley, your review cracked me up. =P I was trying to come up with a name for Joe's supervisor and that was the first one that popped into my mind. And now he's a muppet. Hahaha, love it! :D
And a special thank you to Knowing Grace, who gave me the officer's name: Lydia Gonsalves. Thanks so much!
Disclaimer: I do not own Blue Bloods.
Complaints of violins
Become my only friends.
~ Paperthin Hymn.
Danny headed over to Jackie, a troubled expression on his face.
Jackie pushed aside the crime scene photos she was perusing and gave him her full attention. "Why the long face, Reagan?"
"I don't think Henderson's the one we need to focus on."
"Why am I not surprised? After all, he wasn't the one who kept his own brother under wraps. Did you find something suspicious on Riordan?"
He shook his head. "Not…necessarily. Nothing that's turning up in his personal affairs, so to speak, but there were several strange occurrences in the weeks before his death. Pranks gone sour – which I could overlook – but someone cut the brakes on his car last week."
Jackie's eyebrows rose. "Really? So someone definitely had it out for the kid. Do you have a likely suspect?"
"That's the troubling part. Joe didn't want to bring any attention to his misfortunes – his lieutenant said that Joe knew who was giving him a hard time and that he could put a stop to it. Why would he do that?"
Jackie shrugged. "Oldest reason in the book – he obviously had an overprotective streak when it came to Jamie. He didn't want any of this to fall back on the kid, so he kept quiet and tried to take care of it himself."
"Or…" Danny paused, his idea souring his mood, "he was up against someone in the department."
"A dirty cop?" Jackie asked in disbelief.
"It's not out of the realm of possibility, no matter how much we wish it otherwise."
"Any candidates?"
"None so far, but I haven't had a chance to look at the files that Gerswhin gave me." He put Henderson's and Riordan's files on her desk as he spoke.
She took them and put them in her drawer. "And you're not going to look at them until you've gone home, spent some time with your family, and had some rest."
Danny gave her a tired smile. "Not even going to argue with you this time. You make sure you get some shut eye too."
"You got it. I just need to finish up these reports and I'll be on my way." She gestured to the mess of paperwork on the side of her desk.
"Alright, I'll see you tomorrow." He shrugged on his jacket and headed out the door.
"Daddy!" Jack and Sean tackled him before he'd even made it halfway through the door.
He stumbled back, catching his shoulder on the door and slamming it shut as he tried to get his arms around both boys at once. "Hey there, kiddos! How's everyone doing?"
Linda came around the corner, hands on her hips, but a small smile on her face. "Other than the boys trying to disassemble their lamp for parts for a science experiment, everyone's doing well."
Danny grabbed his boys' hair and tilted their heads back so he could give them a stern look. "I told you I'd take you shopping for parts this weekend. Now what are you doing wreaking havoc on our house?"
"We just wanted to see what it would do! The experiment looks so cool!" Jack grinned up at him, utterly unrepentant.
"Well then, the wait will make it just that much cooler." He released them with a quick ruffle of their hair and moved past them to give Linda a kiss. "Hey baby."
"Hey," she smiled. "You're home later than I expected. Is the case going alright?"
"Yeah, it's just tough to weed out what's important from what's not. I can't decide if Joe Riordan was a good kid or not. All signs indicate he was, but even so, he was definitely mixed up in something shady."
Linda frowned as she helped him take off his coat and hung it up for him. "And what about Jamie? How's he doing?"
"As far as I know, he's doing alright, but I haven't seen him since his social worker took him off of my hands. He's going to have to talk to me though – it's the only way some of these pieces are going to fit." Danny pushed his boys further into the house. They took the hint and scampered off. "We also need to set up the funeral arrangements with him."
She winced. "Poor boy. I can't imagine having to do that at his age."
"From the look of him, I'd say he's had to do a lot of things most kids his age would never experience. I'm gonna track him down tomorrow and, if he really wants to help his brother, he's gonna have to talk."
"Just…be gentle, okay?" Linda requested.
"Gentle? That kid's a live coal, how am I supposed to treat him gently?!"
"Please, Danny?"
He never could resist those blue eyes. "Alright, alright, I'll try."
Jamie could hardly concentrate in school the next day as he thought about his next move. There was no way he would talk to Danny about the Blue Templar. The man would want to know why and he'd never be able to continue in his current investigation if the detective knew what he was up to.
That left Lydia Gonsalves. And that wasn't really a problem except he had no idea what she looked like or how to get in contact with her without drawing attention to himself. Something told him that the whole police bar routine wouldn't work this time.
And that something was Vinny.
Vinny!
Jamie jerked upright in his chair, knocking a couple of pencils off of his desk, as an idea came to him.
His history teacher, Mr. Ramsey, paused in his lecture at the sudden noise. "Is there a problem, Mr. Riordan?"
He flushed and hunkered down in his chair once more. "No sir, sorry."
"Then do try to control yourself."
"Yes sir," he scowled. Mr. Ramsey always seemed to have it out for him no matter how well he did in his class. It was as if the man pegged him as a troublemaker from day one and nothing Jamie did could change his mind.
Suddenly, the door to the classroom opened and a woman came over to Mr. Ramsey and whispered something to him. The history teacher turned disapproving eyes on Jamie once more. "Mr. Riordan, it seems as though you have a visitor. Please follow Miss Gordan outside…and you might as well take your things with you since we only have fifteen minutes left in the class."
"Yes sir." He slipped his notebook and pencils into his bag and worked his way through the maze of desks until he came alongside Miss Gordan. She led him outside and down the hall to the right.
He sighed when he saw who was waiting for him at the end of the hall. "You just can't leave me alone, can you?"
"Jamie!" Miss Gordan scolded.
"It's alright," Danny waved a dismissive hand. "Thank you for your help, miss. I can take it from here."
She took the hint and left, heels clicking loudly down the hall.
"Did you have to pull me out of class?" Jamie asked as soon as she was far enough away.
"Well, I knew I could find you here. The rest of time it seems like you're quite busy not staying at home."
"What's it to you? I don't have anything that can help you anyway."
"Somehow I don't think that's true. Besides, I have another matter that needs your attention."
Jamie frowned. "And what's that?"
"The department is scheduling Joe's funeral. We need you to sign off on a couple of things."
Funeral. The word hit Jamie like a sucker punch. He turned from the detective to hide the sudden swell of grief. The image of his brother lying on that cold table in the medical examiner's office floated to the forefront of his mind. The thought of never seeing Joe's face again sat heavy on his chest and made it difficult to breathe.
"Hey," Danny's voice took on a softer tone and his hand came up to grasp Jamie's shoulder. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have sprung this on you so suddenly. If you want, we can talk about it later, at the station."
Jamie inhaled sharply, forcing down the grief with single-minded determination. It didn't quite work, but his voice managed to come out steady when he spoke. "No, it's fine. What do I need to do?"
Danny led him over to a nearby bench. "Here, just sit down for a minute. There's no need to rush."
Jamie bristled. "Don't baby me. Just tell me what I need to do and then leave me alone."
"Hey! Listen, I'm trying to help you here. You want to help Joe? You want to help yourself? Then you gotta stop pushing me away and talk to me."
He studied the detective suspiciously. The man seemed sincere enough, but what Jamie was starting to uncover wasn't looking good for the police department. Whatever Joe had been involved in was somehow linked to the police and if Danny already knew about the Blue Templar, he could be a part of the whole thing.
His heart sank as another idea occurred to him. What if that was the reason Danny was working on Joe's case? To make it that much easier to cover up whatever was going on?
Jamie stiffened. "Please just tell me what I need to do for the funeral."
Danny sighed and sat back, looking disappointed. Nevertheless, he produced some paperwork from the department and handed it over. "The funeral's slotted for Sunday at 2 at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. Commissioner Reagan will be giving the address, but you can say a few words if you'd like."
"No." The very thought of getting up and speaking in front of dozens of people he didn't know was enough to send shudders down his spine.
"Okay, well, if you're sure, then just sign on this page – that'll release the body to us – and then this document will give us permission to conduct the funeral and burial."
Jamie took the proffered pen and glanced down at the documents. Turning his brother over to the department who had gotten him killed turned his stomach, but there was no way he'd be able to afford a funeral on his own. Joe deserved at least that much.
He signed the papers and handed them back. "Can I go now?"
"Not yet."
Jamie scowled at the floor. "Why did I have a feeling that would be the case?"
"I need to know where Joe went the two years before he took custody of you."
"I don't know," Jamie stood up, belatedly realizing that made him look suspicious.
"I think we both know that's not true," Danny stood up as well. His cool gaze promised he was done playing games and would get the answers he was looking for.
"Why do you need to know, anyway? That was years ago."
"It could still lend light to the case. Plus, I have a feeling it would explain a lot about the two of you – including how your face got to be the way it is."
Jamie touched his scars self-consciously. "That's none of your business. Besides, I don't know anything."
Danny put his hands on his hips. "I'll give you a break today 'cause I know the funeral plans came as something of a shock to you, but I'll be back and you'd better have some answers for me. Otherwise, I'll have to arrest you for hindering a police investigation."
Jamie's eyes widened and, as he watched the detective walk away, he remembered something Danny said earlier.
Commissioner Reagan will be giving the address.
Commissioner Reagan.
Danny Reagan.
He was in so much trouble.
