After finishing breakfast Lindsay, Jill and Claire headed to work and left Cindy safely locked in the apartment. Lindsay went so far as to threatened the use of handcuffs until Cindy swore that she would not leave, not to even take Martha out. She actually took the time to warn the dog that she wouldn't get treats for a month if she tried to use her puppy dog eyes on Cindy.
Once at the Hall Lindsay made her way into Tom's office and found Jacobi already there.
"We've got this covered if you want to take some time." Tom suggested.
Lindsay stepped in and closed the door behind her. "Cindy wasn't the one in the car," she told them.
"What? Who was it then?" her partner asked.
"Intern from the paper."
"Why didn't Thomas come forward yesterday?" Tom asked.
Lindsay glared at him, "someone tried to blow her up Tom. She was a little freaked out."
Properly scolded he held up his hands in surrender. "I didn't mean anything by that."
"I know. I'm sorry," Lindsay apologized. "Just kinda been on an emotional roller coaster."
"So we thinking Mills bombed the car?" Jacobi interjected.
"Yeah," Lindsay said as she sank into a chair next to him. "Now, how to prove it."
"On that note" Tom began as he handed her a file. "Jacobi was here all night digging into Reynolds' Nevada record. He went over every fire that Reynolds was suspected of starting."
"That's my partner." Lindsay complimented him as she opened the file.
"Yeah well, the coward pissed me off," Jacobi stated. He watched as Lindsay smiled gratefully, although she didn't look up at him. "One of the Nevada buildings was owned by a former partner of Charles Martin." He informed her.
Lindsay's head snapped up, "Seriously? Can it be this easy?" she looked at Tom.
"We can loosely tie Reynolds to Martin but how do we tie Mills into them?"
"Mills investigated the fires," Lindsay said matter-of-factly. "Martin must've paid him off."
"Then who killed Reynolds?" Jacobi asked.
"My money would be on Mills," Lindsay said. "The only other possibility is that Martin hired someone."
"Before you got here Jacobi and I decided the best course of action was to get into Martin's books," Tom began. "If we can find a money trail then we can tie all the loose ends together."
"Do you think this is enough for a warrant?" Lindsay asked as she held up the file.
"Do you think you could find a highly motivated DDA to ask?" Tom teased.
"I'll get Jill right on it, I know she has a few judges that will sign anything you put in front of them."
"That takes care of Martin. What about Mills?" Jacobi asked.
"I'll set up a meeting with him. Let him know we found the connection between Reynolds and Martin but I'll try to assure him that he's in the clear."
"You think he'll buy it?"
"I don't see why not. So far I haven't sent anyone after him, so I would think that he still trusts me." Lindsay reasoned. "I'll wear a wire and see what I can get him to say."
Tom nodded. "Okay. Set it up."
Lindsay jumped when her front door opened before she even got the key into the lock. "Where do you think you are going?" she growled at the guilty looking redhead who stood inside the apartment with a leashed Martha by her side.
"Um, we heard you coming?" she attempted to say it as a statement but failed miserably.
Lindsay narrowed her eyes, "right? I thought we had an agreement."
"Why don't we just agree, now, that you have perfect timing and leave it at that." Cindy suggested as she held out the end of the leash.
Lindsay took the leash and led Martha outside as Cindy closed herself safely back inside. The Inspector decided that she couldn't be too angry with her girlfriend. Yes, someone tried to kill her. Yes, it would be best to stay out of sight until the guilty parties were behind bars. But deep down she knew that Cindy was too stubborn to do what was best for herself and too damn caring to put her own personal safety above a defenseless animal's need to pee. "I meant what I said," Lindsay looked down at her dog. "But I think a week with no treats will be enough to teach you a lesson."
Once back inside Lindsay unleashed the dog and made her way into the other room where she found Cindy awaiting her scolding. "Don't worry. I'm not mad." Lindsay informed her.
"Really?" she asked in disbelief.
"Let's just be glad I have perfect timing," the Inspector quipped.
"Deal." Cindy agreed. She stood staring hesitantly for a moment and Lindsay just waited her out. "Listen, I did something else today that might upset you."
"Did you call the paper?" Lindsay snapped.
"No. Nothing that would draw attention to me," she assured her. "I got kinda bored, so I kinda finished cleaning your attic."
Lindsay's failure to acknowledge her confession made Cindy decided it was a good time to ramble.
"I had no idea what you meant when you said you had a lot of junk up there. I mean, you never said anything about that stuff. Once I got up there and saw it all and the half empty boxes, it just looked like you were having a hard time getting rid of it. It's been months since the end of the case so I thought I would help. It wasn't until I finished that I wondered if maybe I shouldn't have. I can understand if doing it yourself was cathartic for you or something. I really was just trying to help." Cindy prayed that Lindsay would say, not yell, something because she was actually running out of things to say.
"It's okay really," Lindsay answered as she moved across the room. "Thank you," she said as she put her arms around the redhead and gave her an appreciative hug.
"Are you sure?" Cindy asked tentatively.
"Positive," Lindsay insisted. "It was a lot harder to take down than I expected. Thank you," she reiterated.
"You're welcome," Cindy said with relief. "So what are you doing home?"
"For some silly reason I thought I should come check on you," she said teasingly, although Cindy picked up a bit of irritation in her voice.
"Anything happening on the case?" Cindy asked, trying to keep Lindsay's mind of yelling at her.
"We think we found a connection between Martin and Reynolds. Tom and Jacobi are going through Martin's business as we speak." Lindsay told her as she sank onto the couch. "And I'm meeting with Mills later tonight."
"Why?" Cindy asked concerned.
"We still don't know who killed Reynolds."
"And you think he's just going to tell you?" Cindy didn't like the idea of Lindsay going up against Mills, especially if he was the one that tried to kill her.
"Don't worry. I'll be fine," Lindsay picked up on the unease in her girlfriend's voice. "I do have a few hours before Mills is available to meet. If you have any ideas to pass the time."
"I think we could think of something," Cindy smirked as she moved to join Lindsay on the couch.
Inspector Mills walked into the bullpen looking for Lindsay. He scanned around the room and when he didn't spot her he approached officer Cho. "Excuse me. I'm looking for Inspector Boxer."
"She's out for a few hours." Cho glanced around the precinct. "Her partner seems to have stepped out. Would you like to wait for someone?"
"No thanks. I'm Inspector Mills from Northern. Boxer and I have been working on a case and I had some new information to share with her."
"She and Inspector Jacobi are working Cindy's death, the reporter that died in front of the Register this morning."
"Cindy?" Mills questioned. "You knew her?"
"Yeah, she was around a lot. I'm a little surprised that Inspector Boxer is working it, they were pretty close."
"Really?" Mills asked, tying to keep the surprise off his face.
"Rumor has it, very close." Cho said with a wink then immediately looked around to see if anyone overheard. "Sorry, I shouldn't have said that," he said shaking his head. "I don't think the Inspector would like that kind of information shared, true or not. Especially now."
"Now?"
Cho just looked at him for a second, "with Cindy killed the way she was."
"Right. That must be hard to lose someone that way." Mills tried to look sympathetic. "Listen, don't bother telling Boxer that I was here, sounds like she's got a lot to deal with. I'll just catch up to her some other time."
