C.J. hated being interrogated more than just about anything…except being shot of course. For one thing, she was a Harvard trained lawyer and thus it was her job, her mission to do the interrogating of witnesses on the stand. Either coaxing her own witness through telling their story, leading them but not enough to get called on it or ripping their story apart sentence by sentence during cross-examination…either worked for her.

What didn't was sitting in a cramped conference room having two of LAPD's detective try to work her over with this good cop/bad cop crap. She had been running down one of the most notorious assassins in L.A.'s history, a man who had almost gotten away with the same crime just two years ago and his ass was supposed to be cooling a prison cell. It pissed her off a lot because the man's father had hijacked Matt's plane while the two of them were flying to a spa resort in the Bahamas. She'd had her own plans for how that business trip could become pleasurable and packed accordingly but then Duval, Sr. had to crash their party and whisk them off to his island compound lost somewhere in the Bermuda Triangle.

They'd escaped but it had been a nightmare. It'd forced her to examine her feelings about her best friend in ways that still reverberated even all this time later. Speaking of which, Matt was out drinking some bad coffee with his date Ginger who had insisted on coming along rather than calling the evening short. She'd been complaining about the décor of the waiting room when C.J. left them to go get grilled by the detectives. C.J. had told Matt just to continue his date but after the detectives finished with her at the scene and wanted her to come down to the station, he vetoed her suggestion leaving no room for argument. Elise wanted to give her a lift so she had wound up at the station too with the others. A few more people showing up and they could have a party.

She sat there sipping her water that they'd given her.

"I told you who this man was," she said, "He's Marcus Duval, Jr. You do have a file on him don't you?"

One detective, Pascal just stared at her not saying much; clearly the "bad" cop waiting to be unleashed from his cage. Dickerson the "good" cop had been oh so smooth with her, but she was on to him. He just clasped his hands and placed them on the table in front of him.

"So you say…but did you get a very good look at him? And you said he wore a wig?"

She nodded.

"He did that last time too," she said, "Clearly it's because both the FBI and Interpol and everyone else has his mug shot on blast so he's got to wear a disguise."

Dickerson nodded and C.J. hoped he was finally getting it.

"I see…."

Did he? C.J. didn't think so. She thought he was setting her up with Pascal waiting to deliver the punch line. Didn't they understand that Duval would only be in L.A. if he'd been given a target to hit? With his father still hopefully in prison, he could be working free lance at this point for just about everyone…including those formerly tied with Duval, Sr.

"I'm glad for you Det. Dickerson but what are you going to do about it?"

He just looked at her with a smile.

"That's why we're interviewing you Ms Parsons," he said, "so we can first of all determine whether this man you chased was any threat to anyone…"

"He shot at me."

"You shot back at him did you not?"

She nodded.

"In self defense," she said, "That's allowable under the law."

The two detectives looked at each other and then Pascal opened his mouth.

"That is, if it's really self defense," he said, "There's no proof of that. We did find some shell casings that appear to come from two different guns…but one of them could have been fired days…months earlier…"

She couldn't believe it. They were doubting that she'd been shot at by the assassin who was supposed to be back in Miami in maximum security.

"Wait a minute…did you even bother to check to see if Duval, Jr. was still locked up?"

Dickerson sighed and she guessed the news wasn't going to be good.

"He was released on a compassionate furlough," he said, "His father, Duval Sr. died in his cell of some undisclosed illness and well…they're still trying to locate him."

C.J. rolled her eyes.

"You mean he used the furlough to escape," she said, "and now no one can find him…so what part of him not being in L.A. do you not understand?"

Pascal snarled his lip appropriately.

"He's probably in South America," he said, "He'd probably skip out of the U.S. while he still had time."

C.J. doubted that. He might be looking for a job to earn some quick cash. Whatever money or assets his father had, they were still probably frozen by the feds. He'd be on his own because his father's terrorist cell had wound up sharing his father's fate spread out in facilities all around the country.

"He's in L.A. and he's here to kill someone," she said, "So if I were you, I wouldn't waste your time interrogating me and instead I'd go looking for him right now…before someone dies."

Dickerson sighed.

"It's not that easy Ms Parsons especially when people like you try to tell us how to do our jobs…"

"Someone has to…when you do something stupid."

Pascal growled, crushing a Styrofoam coffee cup in his bare hand.

"You want to wind up in jail yourself…now just answer the damn questions…"


Matt paced after drinking a couple cups of truly awful coffee and waited for his uncle to call him back. He had gone out to dinner and a date at the Music Center downtown and likely had turned his phone off during the performance. But he needed some quick intelligence on Duval, Jr. and he couldn't do it here.

Ginger moaned from her hard chair by the soft drink machine.

"Oh god…could these seats be any less comfortable…Matt how much longer?"

He sighed.

"I don't know…if you like, I could pay for a taxi to take you home."

She shook her head.

"No…no I can wait," she said, "I don't want our date to end just yet."

He rubbed the back of his neck looking at the clock on the wall again.

"Ginger…this might take all night and besides when we get C.J. out of here, we're heading back to the office."

She didn't like the sound of that judging from the pout on her lips.

"Oh Matt…really is that necessary? I'm sure this will all get straightened out…"

"Not if they don't realize that a professional hit man is loose in their city and is here to kill someone and they don't even know who."

Ginger shrugged.

"Most anyone worth killing has got enough bucks to surround themselves with security," she said, "so it'll be all right."

Elise just shot her a pithy look.

"Where'd you dig her up," she said, "No I shouldn't ask…that Rolodex of yours of course."

Ginger stood up putting her hands on her hips.

"How dare you speak to me like that," she said, "Matt make her stop."

He felt caught between both women and all he could think about was C.J. sitting in the conference room being ganged up on by two detectives. Not that she couldn't handle herself but really he should be in there with her.

All he could do was wait outside.

Elise just tossed her hair back.

"Like I said, you picked yourself a live one but then I've never gotten your taste in women," she said, "I've got to return a phone call…listen if you need help busting C.J. out…I'm totally in."

Cinder shook her head.

"And get Matt arrested….we're still on our date."

Matt put his hand up.

"Look I'm staying until C.J.'s ready to leave and then we're going to start looking for Duval, Jr. before he kills someone."

Elise nodded.

"Yeah you got to do what you got to do," she said, "and some people are just going to have to deal…"

Cinder didn't look too excited about that but she calmed down, taking a small mirror out of her purse and checking her makeup.

The door opened and Hoyt walked in looking harried. He popped more of those Tums he always carried in his shirt pocket and then looked at Matt.

"She'll be out pretty soon," he said, "The detectives are trying to nail a few details down."

Matt got up and stepped closer to the lieutenant.

"You need to start looking for Duval," he said, "It sounds like they're more interested in C.J. than in him."

"She fired some shots, you know that means an automatic review but they're not recommending charges on that."

Matt didn't like where this was going.

"Good that they managed to put their heads together and figure that out," he said, "but are they listening to her?"

Hoyt pulled him aside away from the women. Ginger looked a bit perturbed.

"God…why is he always defending her," she said, "C.J. is nothing but an attention grabbing troublemaker."

Elise narrowed her eyes.

"And you're not? Though we could add social climbing gold digger on your list of accomplishments…"

Ginger looked ready to bear her claws. Then remembered she'd just spent over two hundred bucks on her manicure.

"She wants him and she can't have him because she's not his type…"

Elise sighed.

"She's not after him," she said, "She's got her own social circle and she's never wanted for a date to anything."

Ginger sniffed.

"I'm not surprised…but she'll never hold onto a man…"

"I can't believe that you're giving lectures on how to keep a man Ginger," Elise said, "You've been married three times haven't you?"

That shut up the socialite and she just glowered at her. But Elise guessed that C.J. did have a thing for her best friend but had kept it under wraps believing that he didn't return her feelings. It had come out over three margaritas one night and Elise had just told her there were plenty of fish in the sea or something so trite. But she wondered often if C.J. had been right about Matt watching him at times like now.

Maybe it was just a matter of nudging him towards figuring it out on his own. Guys could be thickheaded sometimes and Matt was no exception. He could certainly do much better than Ginger here. Maybe it was time to start planning.

Yes, they had to focus their attention on tracking down and nailing this Duval, character but that still left them time to do other things didn't it?