10

C.J. woke up much later than she had anticipated. Staying up the night before combined with the stress of worrying about Matt had taken its toll on her. She got up and grabbed a bite to eat after looking around in the little fridge behind the bar. She found her leftover deli sandwich from a day before when they were moving her stuff. Then she planned to head right over to the hospital, but the phone rang before she got in the elevator.

She debated with herself as to whether or not to actually take the call, but then decided it really could be something important so she answered.

Walter asked, "Is this Chris?"

C.J. answered, "No, its C.J. Parsons-Houston. Chris left already. She'll be back in the morning about..."

Walter interrupted, "Oh, Ms. Houston. I'm Walter Aleman and I spoke with Mr. Houston about my daughter and..."

C.J. interrupted here more or less to speed this up so he wouldn't have to explain to another person and so she could get to Matt. "I know, my husband and I have been working on the case, but so far we haven't found anything yet. When we do..."

He interrupted again, "They found her..." C.J. caught her breath, hoping he was about to tell her she was fine and just hadn't been able to call, but his sobs didn't sound like tears of joy. "We just got a call from a man who said he works for the Mexican government and her...body..." he broke down and C.J. just closed her eyes. This was what she had feared but had known was a definite possibility. "They said the boat was just floating off shore just north of their border. I guess...I guess there is nothing Mr. Houston can do for us now...I'm sorry." He hung up.

C.J. almost dropped the receiver. She put the phone back on the hook and got in the elevator. She broke down crying once the doors closed. Five hours of sleep and half a deli sandwich hadn't been enough and the stress, well...she didn't exactly know what to do now.

Should she tell Matt the case just took an ugly turn? He needed to focus on recovering from this wound, not out running around trying to track down a killer. What if whoever shot him came back? The elevator dinged and she stood up and got out. She walked past Barney the security guard who asked her if she was sure she was ok and she replied, "I'm fine, but thanks for asking."

Once she was in her car she got on the phone to Hoyt to see what he knew. She explained what Walter had told her and he seemed surprised.

Hoyt sighed, shaking his head as he sat down at his desk, "I was afraid this story wouldn't have a happy ending. Did he say which branch of the Mexican government actually discovered the boat?"

C.J. had backed up the car and started driving, "No, he didn't. I don't think its a good idea right now to try to ask him either. He sounded really broken when he talked to me, barely getting the information out. I didn't tell him about Matt getting shot either."

Hoyt nodded his head and moved around a couple of files on his desk and said, "Well I'll see what I can do to get information on what happened. First thing we need to know is the cause of death, whether or not they think it was an accident or not. Worst case scenario is we ask Mr. Aleman to let us take custody of the body to perform our own autopsy."

C.J. closed her eyes for a second and when she looked up realized she was about to run a red light. She dropped the phone and slammed on the brakes. Taking a deep breath she looked around and picked the phone back up to hear Hoyt, "C.J.? Are you ok? What happened?"

She took another deep breath, "Nothing, I just almost ran a light. I'm fine, really."

Hoyt asked, "Are you sure you should be driving? I could send a cruiser to you and they could give you a lift."

C.J. shook her head, "No, Hoyt I'm fine really. Its just the idea of asking Mr. Aleman something like that...I just think all this is already too much for him. Let me see if I can't get a hold of my friend in the Marshal's office and see if he can't pull a couple of strings for us."

Hoyt remembered back a few months ago to that case that almost cost C.J. her life, "You mean Marshal Parks or Parkside or..."

She finished it for him, "Parkdale, Seth Parkdale. We dated in college and after what happened a few months ago, he kinda owes me. I'll call him and see if he can't get us information on the boat and Gaby from the Mexican government. I'll let you know when I hear anything." The next issue she needed to address was Matt and how she felt he needed to focus on his recovery, not on this case. "Listen Hoyt, Matt is going to need a lot of time to recover from being shot."

Hoyt thought he knew where this was going...great, where are those antacids? He knew C.J. could be just as overprotective of Matt as he was of her, but she really, no both of them really needed to let the police handle this case now. What made her think that the shooter who targeted Matt wouldn't come after her too? The monkey wrench thrown into this was the fact that he knew how difficult it would be for him to get information from the police of another country. No, she had the contact he didn't and that gave her leverage for now.

"C.J., I know he is and I think you should be there making sure he stays out of trouble. You know you are the only one he will really listen to." He hoped that he could sway her by using her power over Matt as the primary reason she should stay off this case. But he needed to go further, "You know if anyone came after you on this case, he would jump right out of that hospital bed and check himself out early to go after them." That should seal it. It made it sound like if she was really worried about his recovery she would let the police handle everything. He actually smiled a little to himself as he waited for her response.

She took a deep breath, "I know how to handle Matt and I also know when he finds out the missing daughter was discovered dead, he's going to try to jump out of that bed anyway. I don't want him worrying about this case and I really don't like lying to him, but if I keep working on it while he thinks I'm resting, keeping my end of the bargain sort of, he will rest. Then hopefully, I can bring this case to some sort of conclusion by the time he gets released and he can focus on fully recovering."

Hoyt's smile quickly turned to a frown, "Listen C.J., this is now official police business. I appreciate your contacts in the federal office, but its still dangerous. You just stood by Matt's bedside all night long in the ICU. He doesn't want you joining him there." He said sounding just a little exasperated now.

C.J. came back with, "I don't plan to join him there Hoyt. But I know how to investigate a case and I can keep it going. We owe Mr. Aleman an explanation as to what happened to his only daughter. He feels like he lost everything and he was relying on us to help him not have to face a parent's worst nightmare." She relented a little and said, "Look, I'll tell him about them finding them, I just won't give all the details."

Hoyt closed his eyes for a second as he thought back to just over a year ago when he was facing that same nightmare. Cathy, his daughter, had gone missing and if it weren't for Matt and C.J...well...he had a sense of how Walter Aleman felt. He thought that maybe he should open up to C.J. here. That might finally convince her to back off for now.

"Look, C.J. I remember...I remember Cathy disappearing...the not knowing...the fear. If it weren't for you and Matt, I just don't know. This case is personal for me and I plan to do everything in my power to bring some kind of peace to this family especially since it happened so close. One hundred miles off the coast of Long Beach is almost in my jurisdiction and I am already appointing Det. Warren as lead behind me. C.J. if you go off and get yourself hurt, how do you think Houston is going to handle that, huh?"