A/N… Thanks again for the reviews!
Some flashbacks in this. I think it'll make sense as you read it. It's the bold-italicized part. Just kind of felt like doing that style of writing to keep it 'interesting.' ;)
*Sits down and bounces nervously.*
Alex's POV
"How are you feeling?" Mike asked, as we stepped into the garage. He looked all around until he spotted his car and then we headed in that direction.
"Like hell," I replied tersely.
He'd glance at me periodically as we walked, and I knew he was examining some of the bruises. "Not surprised. Heard you had quite a night on Friday," he commented.
"Save it," I snapped. I really wasn't in the mood for small talk, and while I didn't mean to take it out on him, I needed answers. After the past few days, I couldn't take much more anticipation. All I had were assumptions and anxiety.
The knot in my stomach tightened with every step. Finally, I reached out and grabbed his arm, forcing him to stop, turn, and face me.
"What in the hell is going on?"
He eyed our surroundings before he spoke. "It'd be better if I didn't tell you here." Then he turned and continued on toward the car.
x x x x x
Moments later, we pulled up outside of his apartment. He took the keys out of the ignition and reached for the door handle. "Come on. I thought we'd talk inside."
Not quite sure why the location had to matter. "Dammit, just tell me!"
Rather than respond, Logan gazed tired-eyed at a point about half a block away where a man in a brown uniform stood unloading boxes from the back of a UPS truck onto a cart.
"I heard you found the papers," he began quietly. "I'm sure you've figured out that the account belongs to Joe."
"That's right," I admitted.
He kept his focus in the general direction of the UPS delivery in progress for another minute or two. Looked like he was either lost in thought, or else buying himself some time.
"Then we're on the same page," he added, gripping the door handle once more. I heard a pop, which meant that the door was now open.
I shook my head in frustration. "We're on the same page? What in the hell does that mean?"
"Let's do this inside; I have some things to show you." He was out of the car with the door closed before I could say anything further.
I posed another burning question as I got out of the car and followed him toward his apartment. "You wouldn't happen to know where Bobby is, would you?"
"Can't say that I do." He replied with a shrug.
"How much of this story does he already know?" I asked when we reached his front door.
He pulled the key out of his pocket and shoved it into the lock. "He figured out that Joe had an account with Bressle, I pulled the bank records and after that, Ross thought he was too close, so he handed it all off to me."
I nodded slowly. "So Bobby doesn't know what you're about to tell me?"
"No, not as far as I know."
We went inside and he closed the door behind me. "All I have to offer is coffee and Jack Daniels."
"Pass on both," I replied.
"I figured."
I remained standing in his front entrance way while he stood there seeming lost for a moment. His eyes panned around his living room.
My patience was gone. "Logan…?"
He walked toward his kitchen table, grabbed a manila folder off of it, and then turned back toward me. "I spent most of the morning talking to Kevin Quinn."
"Kevin? What in the hell does Kevin have to do with this?"
"It's a long story." He gestured toward the couch. "Have a seat."
x x x x x x
Almost two hours later, we sat in silence on Logan's couch.
I didn't want to believe what he just told me, but I had given him enough grief just for being the messenger.
I had yelled at him, fought with him, accused him of making this up and almost stormed out a few times before he had the chance to finish telling me everything.
But I had no reason not to trust Logan, either.
He had been very patient and supportive, and he cared enough to bring me the truth, despite the fact that he'd also been instructed by our captain not to tell me anything.
Not until the NYPD had Bressle's killer in custody anyway.
I wiped a few tears from my eyes. "Could you do me a favor?"
"Name it," he replied.
"Take me to the hospital. I need to see my husband."
x x x x x x
Twenty minutes later, we arrived at Mount Sinai Hospital.
"Take as much time as you need," he said quietly as we pulled up.
"Thanks."
"You okay?" he asked concerned, giving my upper arm a gentle rub.
I nodded. Not that I was too convinced of that myself. "Does that offer for Jack Daniels still stand?"
He smiled. "Always."
Moments later, I was escorted by one of the nurses to Joe's hospital room.
The nurse told me that he was a little disoriented when he first woke up, but he was doing well. No sign of memory loss as a result of the head injury, but he had complained of some blurriness in his left eye. He also told them that it seemed to be improving.
"Lexi! So good to see you," Joe greeted me as I entered. His knee was now in a cast and they had his leg elevated slightly.
I smiled back and remained by the foot of his bed until the medical assistant attending to his charts had left to give us some privacy.
The door closed. It was just us.
He slowly sat up in his bed, and that's when he discovered my bruises, swollen spots and other evidence of the incident from two nights ago. I guess it was a little hard to miss.
"Oh my God," he gasped. "What the hell happened?"
I shook my head. "Rough couple of days."
"Rough…days? Was this some perp? Who did this to you, baby?" he pressed, angrily.
"I don't want talk about that right now, Joe."
He nodded that he understood, but still looked concerned. "Okay, we'll talk about that later." His smile resurfaced. "Come on, get over here," he coaxed, opening his arms up for me to hug him.
Despite what I was feeling right then, part of me wanted to. Seemed like it had been more than just a few days since I'd last seen him. When he was still listed as critical, I had been scared to death of losing him.
But I didn't move. My gaze remained somewhere near the foot of the bed.
...
x x x x x
"Bressle was a brilliant investor," Logan began, after we had sat down. "But he was also a thief."
"How so?"
"He liked stocks, high stakes gaming, horse races, sports—you name it. He acquired a few shady clients but that just meant more money to him. He was very careful with his books, knew the loopholes and knew taxes backwards and forwards, so no one questioned him."
Mike continued. "For his clients wanting to remain anonymous, he set up private bank accounts under false names, social security numbers, etc., so they couldn't be tracked. He filtered the money through his own account before he wired it to theirs. Sounds like everything was business as usual until he'd make a bad decision. He'd steal from a client and try to cover his losses. Guess not everyone followed their stocks or bets too carefully, otherwise they'd know they hadn't lost money that day. Anyway, we found two of the five anonymous accounts that he was steadily stealing from. One was Joe's. He lost quite a lot at first. He let Bressle continue investing or placing bets, and then he'd pull his money the second it went into his account."
I nodded. "You know who killed Bressle."
"Yes."
"Are you planning to tell me that it's Joe?"
"No," he replied. "It's not that simple…"
x x x x x
...
When I didn't step forward, Joe looked a bit disappointed.
Guess that made two of us.
"Lexi…?"
"I've got some questions."
"Questions?"
I nodded without looking up.
"Okay, but can't you ask them over here?" he asked warmly, still urging me closer.
I kept my focus toward the floor. The tears were starting.
"What's wrong?"
I wiped the tears away and took a deep breath to maintain composure. My eyes drifted up and met his. "Why were you on the roof of the Ehrlstrom building in East Harlem, three nights ago?"
He hesitated for a minute, biting his lower lip as he thought about it. "Captain had me following a lead."
"Could it have been Lars Sangridge?"
"Um, Yeah. That's right. Sangridge."
I shook my head. "No, see… According to Kevin, your cover was blown about two weeks before that night. Your captain pulled you off of that assignment."
He lowered his head, guiltily. "Yeah, that was a bad night. Sorry, I didn't want to mention it because I knew you'd worry. You were already worried enough."
I folded my arms. "So why were you up there?"
"Just stubborn, I guess. But you knew that about me already. Narcotics has a hard-on for that sonofabitch. Why else would I be up there?"
"Maybe to kill Rick Ippelin?"
"What? Why would you think something like that, Alex?" he argued defensively. He watched me wearily for a few seconds, and then continued on. "Ippelin's a junky with a bunch of possession charges. Why would I even care enough to kill him?"
I started to pace near the foot of his bed to collect my thoughts, then I turned back toward Joe. "Oh, I don't know… Maybe because you wanted to stop him from giving up the name of Bressle's real killer to the ADA?"
"What in the hell are you saying? I have no idea who killed your vic!"
"You DO know! And that had better be your last lie!"
...
x x x x x
"You remember that about three years ago, Kevin left to have back surgery, right?"
I nodded. "He was out for a long time."
"Joe got a temporary partner."
"Right," I agreed. "Briggs. When Kevin returned, Briggs transferred to computer crimes..."
x x x x x
...
I took a few steps closer and folded my arms. "So tell me about her."
"About who?"
"Colleen Briggs."
"She filled in for Kevin—you remember that."
I nodded.
"I haven't seen her in…," he thought for a second, "I don't know, months."
Another lie.
Joe continued. "I thought she went to—," he shook his head like he couldn't remember, "umm computer crimes? Something like that," he added. "Why? Did something happen to her?"
"Why? Are you worried about her?" I fired back.
Joe eyed me suspiciously. "No. But I'm starting to worry about you, though. What in the hell is going on, Alex?"
"Ippelin gave Briggs the murder weapon, which she then used to kill Bressle. You had planned to set Ippelin up for the murder, but that didn't work. When you couldn't make his recent possessions charge disappear, Ippelin thought he could use this information about Briggs to clear himself. You knew he planned to tell his lawyer, so you thought you'd try to stop him. You figured, no one would miss him, anyway—he's just another junky and you could probably pin his murder on Sangridge. You tailed Sangridge, then realized he was meeting Ippelin, so there was your chance. But because Major Case was about to set a trap for Sangridge, we sent someone undercover. You shot Simmons from Brooklyn homicide—not Rick Ippelin."
"You're nuts! I told you I was following a lead! I didn't fire at anyone that night!"
"Yes, you did! Bullets came from your gun, sweetheart. And that's when my partner showed up. He saw you shoot Simmons, so he ordered you to drop your weapon. You realized your clip was empty and started to take off, but he didn't know it was empty. He asked you a second time to drop your weapon and when you raised your gun to Bobby, he shot you."
Joe looked appalled. "You're defending your whack-job of a partner for shooting me?"
"My partner did his job! You broke the law!"
He shook his head.
"Just tell me why you'd go to such lengths to protect your temporary partner."
He froze. "I— "
"So she wouldn't end up in jail?" I answered for him. "Or was there another reason you wanted to protect her? I mean, after all, she tried to protect you and your money. She wanted revenge against the man who was stealing from you, so she killed him."
"That's not—"
"That's not….what? Not true? Bullshit! She had a guard at Chase cover for her."
"Why are you saying this?"
"Do you love her?"
"No!"
"But there is something going on between you two."
He lowered his head and sighed. "You and I have hit some pretty rough patches in our marriage. There was a lot going on with us back then. And a lot going on with her."
"I'm so glad she's got someone on her side," I said sarcastically. "But I don't think she needed quite so much help from you. Unless you just wanted to give her everything. She rarely has to ask for what she wants, now does she?"
"Don't blame her. It's me you're mad at."
"No. I've got other reasons to blame her..."
...
x x x x x
"'Th' hell, do you want?"
"Shut up, Eames," came their harsh reply in a low, hushed voice.
Who the hell was this?
Who had I pissed off?
x x x
Detective Tutuola had found Colleen's gun in the gutter on the night I was attacked.
According to Kevin, she wasn't ready to give up on Joe.
I couldn't really confirm or deny that it was Colleen who attacked me, because I didn't get a good look at the person. But the height and stature are close. Colleen is tall, strong and is built rather solid for a woman. The shooter who came after me was well disguised and I wasn't very alert that night.
But there were no prints on the gun and the perp had not yet been identified. They'd still have to confirm Colleen's alibi for that night.
x x x x x
...
He looked at me quizzically. "Are you trying to tell me that she caused that?" He gestured toward my face and bruises. "She couldn't have!"
"And you're sure of this? How?"
He sighed heavily, but didn't reply. We were quiet for a while.
"I've got another question," I began tearfully. "What did she give you that I couldn't?"
He shook his head. "No, it was nothing like—. We just— Look, I'm sorry! It was a mistake!"
"A mistake? My God, Joe! Please tell me you're in love with her—something! I need to believe that you'd do all of this—risk your badge, your marriage and hell, jail time for something other than a mistake!"
"I never meant for any of that to happen! Please, just—I'm sorry!"
"You gave her most of your inheritance! You gambled, you invested, you did everything you could to make money for someone who…didn't matter to you?" I shook my head. "Why?"
"It's complicated."
...
x x x x x
"Colleen left computer crimes briefly, to have her baby," Logan said.
I nodded. "Right. I remember hearing something about that. She had a boy."
"Christopher Mason Briggs. He's almost 2 years old now…"
x x x x x
...
Tears were streaming down my face. "It's complicated? You got her pregnant!"
"It was one time!"
"One time is all it takes!"
"We weren't—," he shook his head. "I didn't know he was mine until she came to me wanting money for his care!"
"But you still couldn't stay away, could you? You couldn't stop going to her, couldn't tell her, 'sorry, it was a mistake. I'm married'—nothing like that. So yes, I guess it IS complicated!" I started toward the door.
Joe's eyes pleaded with me. "Please, Alex. She means nothing to me!"
"What about your son?"
"I don't know."
My hand reached for the door knob.
"Don't leave like this! I love you!"
I held his gaze as I pulled the door open. "I love you too, Joe," I replied tearfully. It was true. Because despite everything, I still did.
I walked out of the room and gestured toward Logan and a uniformed officer.
They had been waiting in the hallway, but stood up when they saw me.
I couldn't stay to watch this.
Joe was about to be arrested.
x x x x x
The state later charged my husband with one count of aggravated assault of Detective Simmons, and one count of accessory to the murder of Edward Bressle.
I was officially off the rest of case. I heard from Logan that they had picked up Briggs and arrested her for the murder of Edward Bressle.
I took a cab back to 1PP and when I found Captain Ross, he told me to take some time off. We both knew that was easier said than done.
I didn't know where to go from there. I couldn't go home, and I didn't want to try and explain this mess to my family just yet. Really didn't want to see anyone.
I walked to a nearby Duane Reade and got a bottle of water so I could take some pain medication. From there, I went back to the SUV in the parking garage, took the pill and sat there feeling numb for a while.
I assumed I'd figure out what to do, just as soon as I could wrap my head around everything.
As usual, the medication wiped me out. I had dozed off and woke up a couple of hours later.
My phone was off, but when I turned it back on there were two new text messages.
...
x x x x x
Just heard about Joe. I'm home. Please call or stop by.—Goren.
x
Where are you? I'm worried! Please call.—Goren.
x x x x x
...
I read both of his messages several times before I put the phone down.
Even though I was still upset with him for dodging my calls, just seeing his name was a relief.
I did want to see him, so I put the SUV in gear and drove out to Brooklyn.
I arrived at his door, knocked and waited.
He opened the door rather quickly. "Eames!"
And maybe it was the sight of my closest friend, whose eyes were so full of relief and concern at the sight of me.
Maybe it was the past few days of hell and the pain I was in.
But I chose just that moment—to completely fall apart.
"Bobby…" I began tearfully. "I didn't know where else to go."
TBC…
A/N…MUCH more to come. Don't worry if you're scratching your head, there is still a little more to be revealed. Stories only about half way done. Stay tuned!
