By the Book Chapter 9
Victorian Hotel, NYC
Arriving at the Victorian Hotel, Alex went to the floor where the late Nicole Wallace had once occupied a room. It was still morning, and the housekeeping staff was busy.
Alex walked up to a young woman gathering clean sheets, getting ready to enter another room.
"Miss?" Alex called. The woman stopped. "Can I speak to you for just a moment?" She held up her badge.
"Ma'am?" She looked nervous.
"I was just wondering. Were you working here the day that woman, Nicole Wallace, was killed?"
"Yes, ma'am," the woman replied. "But I swear I didn't say anything!"
"What do you mean, say anything? About what?"
"I never said a word to anyone, just like you said."
"I know," Alex said, playing along. "I've just been brought into this investigation. I'd appreciate it if you could help me out a little."
The woman was extremely relieved to find out she was not in trouble.
"Of course. Whatever I can do."
"Okay. First, what did you mean when you said you never said a word, like we said."
"Well, after they arrested that one man, I believe he's a cop…er, a policeman, other policemen questioned the whole staff on this floor."
"And?"
"Well, they said they had the goods on this guy, and that if we spoke to anyone about this, we could jeopardize the whole case. We weren't supposed to even mention that other man, because it would cast…doubt? Yeah, it would cast doubt on their case, and then any of us could be prosecuted."
Alex's heart did a little leap of joy.
"Well, then you all did good, I guess," she said, still playing the game. "Because no one ever heard a word about the other man."
The woman smiled, proud of herself.
Alex continued. "But we do need some information, for the record, you know. What can you tell me about this other man?"
The woman thought for a bit.
"Well, he was, well, younger than the cop, I think. And I know he was blond, very nice looking."
"Did you happen to catch a name?" Alex asked hopefully.
"No. Wait. Well, not a whole name, but I think I heard her call him 'Jake' once, when she was mad at him. But not a last name."
"Well, thank you very much, Miss,.?"
"Olgivey, Julie Olgivey."
"Well, thanks again, Miss Olgivey." Then, in a move reminiscent of Bobby Goren, she had one more question. "Oh, one more thing…"
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Alex Eames was furious. Arriving back in Joe's office, she'd just received the news that Bobby had fired Joe.
"He cannot fire you! I'm the one who hired you!"
"Well he did," Joe said. "Just got up, called for the guard and left."
"Well, we'll see about that," Alex said grimly. "He thinks I'm
tough little Alex now? He ain't seen nothing yet!"
She picked up the keys and started for the door.
"You going to be all right to drive?" Joe asked. "Want me to come along?"
"Come if you want. But I'm going to see him first, alone. After I'm done with him, then you can have what's left of him."
Rikers
"Goren! Get up!" the guard ordered him. Bobby had just lain down, after hours of pacing, his nerves frazzled. "You've got a visitor."
He figured it would be Alex. "Tell her to go home."
"Get up!" the guard ordered again. "The police want to question you again."
Fuck! That's the last thing he wanted to do now, but he had no choice. He sighed and got up off the cot and went to the door of his cell, where the guard waited outside to cuff him. For a fleeting second the thought occurred to him to try to overcome this guard. Just as quickly as it came, the thought vanished. There's no way it'd work; there was no escaping this place. They proceeded on down to the conference room.Entering the room he saw Alex.
"What, Alex? There's nothing--"
Immediately Alex lit into him, catching her big partner off guard and shoving him backwards (just barely avoiding his injured ribs), and before he knew it she unleashed a viciousslap to his face, practically knocking him into the wall, and wouldn't let up. He finally grabbed her hands to stop her from beating the crap out of him.
"What the hell?" He didn't like being hit in the face one bit. "Dammit, Eames!"
"Shut up," Alex said, tears stinging her eyes. She jerked her hands free. "Just shut the hell up!" She waited until she calmed down some, then continued.
"I can't believe you're giving up like this, Bobby! That is not you! Why! What the hell do you think you're doing?" She never gave him a chance to answer. "Do you think you're the only one affected by this, you bastard?"
He just looked at her. "No. But it's my life that's on the line."
"Well your life affects my life! It affects Deakins' life! It affects Lewis, it affects Carver, it affects—"
"I get your point."
"Do you Bobby? Do you really? Because for somebody so smart sometimes you can be pretty stupid!"
He winced a little at that, and after a moment sighed. "Seems like a lot of trouble to go through to try to keep me alive, only to have me convicted of a crime I didn't commit, so they can kill me legally. Not a great outlook." He looked miserable.
"That is not going to happen!" Alex said heatedly.
"C'mon, Alex, at least be honest with me about this. They've got everything they need to get me convicted. Fingerprints, motive—and me all over her fucking body! And as if that wasn't enough, they've got somebody out there pulling some pretty powerful strings to lay this on me. Again, not a great outlook."
Alex understood why Bobby felt this way, and she did empathize; he was in an extremely tight situation. But she wasn't about to let up on him.
"So that's it?" she said, crossing her arms over her chest.
"What?" he said, confused.
"So that's it? It's over? What are you planning to do now, Bobby? Kill yourself? Cause if that's what you want—"
"It's not what I want," he said softly, lowering himself into a chair, running his hands through his hair. Then he lowered his forehead into his hands. "I just…I don't…I don't know what to think anymore. I don't know what to feel anymore!"
He looked up at her with big puppy dog eyes. "They got everything, Alex. My life. My freedom. My pride. Even my girlfriend. I've brought so much shame down on myself, on you as my partner, and the whole department. I can't even face you. I've got nothing left, Alex."
"So you're just giving up? Are you giving up on me, too, Bobby? On our partnership?"
He looked at her sharply. "No. Of course not!"
She walked over to him and gently took his face in her hands, looking into his eyes.
"Do you remember a while back, when you said you were lucky I withdrew the letter I wrote years ago asking for a new partner?"
He nodded.
"Well, Bobby, the truth of the matter is that I'm the lucky one. I partnered up with the smartest, most caring man I've ever known, and that was the smartest thing I ever did. I've learned an incredible amount from you, and together we have the highest solve rate of anyone in Major Case, and probably the whole NYPD. I want you to know that I am proud to be your partner, and I will always be proud of you. There's nothing you could do to cause me to lose that pride in you."
He lowered his eyes, a little embarrassed, a little shy, but still very flattered.
Alex smiled a little. "You may be a little unorthodox in your ways, but you're the best thing to happen to the NYPD in a hundred years. We're both a little strange, you, well, because you're you, and me for sticking it out with you in spite of it—or maybe because of it—"
"Wait," Bobby said, with just a slight hint of humor, "if this is your idea of a pep talk…"
Alex was just happy to hear even a small amount of humor coming from him.
But Bobby was all serious again. "I appreciate all you're saying, but it's just not that simple. It's not you, Alex, and it's not our partnership. I love all that. It's… what's happening to me now. I'm…sorry. I just can't see any light at the end of the tunnel."
He definitely had a point. As much as she wanted to fix everything for him, she realized that, as nice as they were, it was going to take a lot more than words to do it. It was going to require action.
"Bobby, we have a lead."
He looked up. "What?"
"There's a lead," she repeated. "I went to the Victorian Hotel today, and I spoke with some of the staff, Bobby. There was another man there."
He already knew that much. He knew he didn't kill her, so it had to be someone else. The question was "who."
"Go on," Bobby said.
"I only got a first name. But they said they might be able to identify him if they saw him again. And Latent's already working on lifting prints from the places he hung out at in the hotel."
"What do you think?" Bobby asked.
Alex shrugged helplessly. "I don't know, Bobby. It just depends. But it's a start."
Bobby stood up, pacing a little. It was a lead. If it panned out, a damn good one. But if it didn't…
He stood in the corner, thinking, and Alex took advantage of it.
"Bobby, this is our first real lead. I think maybe a good one. And that is light at the end of that tunnel. So I'm asking you to just hang on a little longer…to have faith in me and our partnership. I promised you once before Bobby, and I'll say it again. I will get you cleared of this. And that is a promise. Will you do that for me?"
Bobby still had serious doubts about the case. But not in Alex. She was giving it her all, so he would give her this.
"Okay, Alex," he said. "On one condition."
"And what's that?"
"That you don't hit me again." He rubbed a hand over his face. "Damn, Eames, you hit me harder than Connie ever did!"
Alex grinned at him. "You bet your sweet ass I did!" Then she left to work more with Joe, who technically still was her lawyer.
Lying on his cot that night, Bobby thought about the events of the day. He still wasn't convinced at all that he'd be cleared, or that somehow the inmates or guards wouldn't get to him. He'd have these worries until the day he was released, and he had serious doubts of that ever happening. Nothing had changed physically. He was still miserable being incarcerated, and still taking crap and verbal abuse from the guards. But Alex had accomplished something. She'd made him promise to hang on, and he would not break his promise to her. And there was just that very tiny light…
tbc
A/N This was a difficult chapter to write. I wanted to start Bobby on his way back, but slowly, just a small chink in his armor. Special thanks to TriStatecopFan for her helpful comments.
