Australian Christmas Greetings

Law & Order: Criminal Intent

by RoadrunnerGER

Disclaimer: No, still don't own them. Who said so? They're not mine. :((

7

Let the game begin

"Something wrong?" Mike asked when Bobby returned. His colleague's worried expression alarmed him.

"Nicole," Bobby simply said.

Surprised Ross noticed that Mike seemed to know exactly who and what Bobby was talking about, when he replied,

"My dream girl's back? Maybe I'll get to know her this time."

The broad yet bitter grin Mike and Bobby exchanged made Ross uneasy, but he decided not to ask right away. And then he remembered. He read about that woman in Bobby's personal record. She had tried to set him up with the murder of Dan Croyden. And, in the last year Ross also had learned some things and one was to give Bobby some space, especially if Alex was not around.

"Be careful what you're wishing for," Bobby said. "She's not to be underestimated. She already has killed just for fun or to prove a point."

"Yeah, as I said back then, beauty, brains and a complete psycho."

Now Ross really was curious to learn more about Nicole Wallace.

"Okay…" Bobby muttered, more to himself than to the others, rummaging in the cotton bag he had brought. "Where is it?"

From the depths of the bag he got out a jar and held it up for Mike and Ross to see.

"What's that?" Mike asked.

Inside of the glass was a rubber animal, sitting in an artificial bromeliad. It was a brightly colored frog, black in the ground color and with dots and blots of different shades of blue and yellow.

"That's a model of a poison dart frog," Bobby declared grumpily. "So, what do you think?"

"You got that from Wallace?" Mike was stunned.

"Yep. In a St. Nick's boot."

Mike raised his eyebrows at him, grinning lopsidedly. "She's sending you gifts?"

"Yes, she does. And I have a feeling that this one won't be the last." Bobby got out another item. "And the moment she wants to talk with me personally, can't be too far away."

"Goren, I don't think that you should link the recent events to Miss Wallace," Ross tried to stop him. "That she tried to play you during earlier investigations is no reason to assume…"

"That she's going to try and play me again," Bobby finished the sentence. "But this card is."

And with that he fished the condolence card he received out of his jacket pocket. Ross took it and read the short lines. Dear, Bobby. I'm sorry for your loss. It's always hard when we lose someone we truly love. I had this experience with my daughter who was ripped from me by the ocean. I would love to make it all more bearable for you. Maybe I can divert your thoughts a bit. Yours faithfully, Nicole. Ross frowned.

"Don't tell me that she murdered Tolliver just to get you on the case, detective!"

"I wouldn't exclude it... and maybe that's the only reason she did it."

He answered the question, but his attention was drawn to the empty chair on the desk opposite his own. A game to distract me from my loss… A shiver ran down his back and he reached for his phone to call Alex. Several times he let it ring, but she did not answer. Then he tried her cell phone. No. No! If you've done what I think you've done you stepped far over the line, Nicole!

"What's that?" Ross wanted to know, gesturing at what Bobby held in hand.

"A key," he replied, opening the small case. "For a locker or something. That also was in the boot I got. Along with that."

What he pulled out of the bag now was a picture of himself, taken right after the funeral of his mother. He stood beside the grave, alone, head bowed. Bobby could not look at it. At once it tore open the fresh wound of her parting.

"So, do you have any idea of what Wallace wants to tell you with these clues?"

"Not yet," Bobby admitted. His voice was slightly shaking as the foreboding slowly settled in his mind. Once again he had to look at Alex's still empty place.

"Goren?" a uniformed officer entering the bullpen asked. When Bobby looked around at him he approached him to give him an envelope. "This was handed in for you."

"Thank you."

Only reluctantly Bobby took the envelope. He only opened it when the other cop had left again. When he turned it something slid into his open palm. It was a dark leather pad and when he flipped it his whole world turned upside down.

In his hand lay the gold detective's shield of his partner, Alex Eames.

Shit! Ross thought. That will tear him apart again!

tbc…