"I think," Adam began.
He was in the break room, together with Danny and Flack. Danny was slouched over the table, using his left hand to prop his head up. He looked tired, as if he did not sleep well the night before. Flack sipped his coffee slowly, taking care not to spill any of it on his expensive silk tie. Both of them were looking at Adam in anticipation.
Adam waved his half-eaten muffin as he illustrated his theory. "I think that Tim Higgins quarreled with Nick Bloom over the profits and threatened to squeal unless he gets a bigger share. So Nick decided to finish off Tim. He bribed Johnny Dobrev to steal the key to Tim's apartment when he went to work on the plumbing. Then Nick sneaked into Tim's apartment and beat him up. After he killed Tim, he killed Johnny so that no one will incriminate him."
"I don't know, Adam," Flack shook his head. "I still like my theory better."
"What? The one where Nick injected Tim with an untraceable poison? That's something out of a storybook," Adam said.
"Poison is more plausible than your Nick-beats-Tim-up theory. If you have seen Nick, you would know there's no way he would have won Tim in a fight." Flack replied.
"For all you know, Nick Bloom could be a secret kung fu master." Adam waved his hands wildly in a chopping motion. He suddenly grabbed Danny's finger. "Heeeeeeeeeeyyaaa! Beware the Wuxi Finger Hold!"
Flack burst into laughter at the astonished look on Danny's face.
"When you two kids have finished clowning around, maybe you would like to listen to my theory," Danny said huffily.
"Sorry, but the look on your face..." Flack couldn't continue and doubled over with laughter.
Looking over at Adam, Danny could see that he wasn't in any better condition than Flack. The lab tech was laughing so hard that tears were streaming down his face. Mad, they have all gone mad, Danny decided as he stared at the two men. He sighed resignedly.
When Flack and Adam finally stopped laughing and settled down, Danny explained his theory. "Here's what I think. Tim and Nick are part of a drug syndicate. Then one day, Johnny goes to fix a leaky tap in Tim's house and found a hidden stash of the drugs. So Johnny does the natural thing, he stole it. When Tim finds out the drugs are missing, he tells their boss. It must have pissed the big man off. And Boom! Tim is killed for losing the drugs and Johnny for stealing them."
"Danny!" Lindsay walked into the room. "I thought I've told you not to say that anymore?"
"Say what?" Danny asked.
"Boom," Lindsay glared at Danny. "What if Lucy hears you?"
"Lucy isn't here," Danny pointed out.
"That's not the point. You promised me not to say it. You should have kept your promise. Do you want 'Boom' to be the first word Lucy says?" Lindsay argued.
"Okay, okay, I'm sorry. It was a slip of the tongue. It won't happen again," Danny promised. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed that Flack and Adam standing uncomfortably against the wall, making themselves as inconspicuous as possible. They were pretending hard not to take any notice of the conversation between Lindsay and him.
"I hope not. You've got to be more careful of what you say, Danny. I can't always be around to remind you," Lindsay answered.
"Yes, I know. I'll watch what I say," Danny replied, hoping to get Lindsay off his back.
Fortunately for him, Stella came looking for Lindsay to discuss a case. After reminding Danny again not to say the forbidden word, Lindsay left the room. Danny sighed loudly.
"Trouble in paradise?" Flack asked.
"The usual," Danny replied irritably.
"You know, marriage is give and take," Adam said. When Danny and Flack turned to look at him, Adam became nervous and stammered, "That's what I've heard people say."
"Adam's right. Marriage is a lot give and take," Flack told Danny.
"Well, lately it seems that she has been the one doing all the giving. Giving orders, that is." Danny got up and walked towards the door. He threw his half-eaten energy bar forcefully into the dustbin. He had lost his appetite. The energy bar landed in the dustbin with a satisfying thud sound as it hit the bottom.
Danny walked back to the lab and continued to work on identifying Nick Bloom's mysterious acquaintance at the coffee shop. Adam had tried his best with the grainy footage from the security cameras but the quality just was not good enough. The tape had been reused too many times. Nonetheless, they were able to tell the height of the man. Using the height of the tables in Starbucks as a guide, Adam managed to estimate the height of the unknown man as five feet and eight inches. It wasn't much but it was a start.
Danny started going through the call records of Tim Higgins and Nick Bloom, cross referencing them to see if there were any common numbers. After a few hours, Danny discovered what could be a lead. He checked and double checked to make sure he was correct before bringing his findings to Mac.
"Mac, I found something," Danny said as he stepped into Mac's office. He showed Mac the cellphone records and pointed out a common cellphone that communicated with both Tim and Nick. "The number belonged to a Ricky Garcia, arrested twice for possession of illegal substances. Over the past three months, he had communicated several times with both Tim and Nick. Nick also called Ricky an hour before Nick and his acquaintance were seen at Starbucks."
"That's not all," Danny continued. "Ricky is five foot eight, which matches with the man who met Nick at Starbucks as well as witness reports of the man who entered Tim's apartment on the day of the murder."
Mac looked over Danny's findings. He nodded. "Let's bring him in for questioning."
As a rule, Mac did not allow suspects to be interviewed at the crime lab. This was to prevent outsiders from tampering with the evidence but it meant that Danny needed to make a trip down to the police station to question Ricky Garcia. As he passed by the reception counter near the main entrance, he spotted a familiar figure.
"Hey," he greeted Jacqueline as he walked over to stand beside her. He waved to the receptionist to let her know that he will handle this.
"Hi," Jacqueline smiled nervously at him.
"I didn't know you were here," he said.
"The police called me up and said I could collect Johnny's personal belongings."
It explains her nervousness, Danny thought. "I'll bring you to the collection counter where you can pick up Johnny's stuff," he told Jacqueline as he led her down the corridor. When the two of them were alone inside the elevator, Danny reached out and gently held her hand.
"How are you holding up?" he asked, while stroking the back of her hand with his thumb.
"I'm fine," Jacqueline replied and quickly removed her hand.
Danny was a little hurt and puzzled by Jacqueline's action. But he said nothing, putting it down to the emotional trauma from Johnny's death. They didn't say a single word until Jacqueline had collected Johnny's belongings and they had left the crime lab.
"Here, let me send you home," Danny said, trying to wave down a cab.
Jacqueline hung back. "No."
"No?"
In reply, Jacqueline took a brown envelope from her handbag and passed it to him.
"What's this?" Danny wondered. He opened the envelope and tilted it. A gold ring fell into his palm. Danny looked down and was shocked when he recognized that it as his wedding ring. He stared at it in disbelief. A multitude of images flashed through his head like waves crashing on the rocks.
He was back in Jacqueline's bedroom again. He saw himself took out the mobile from his pants pocket. There was a brief flash of gold as something fell out together with his mobile. But he didn't notice, didn't register at that moment the significance. It was Mac calling him and he hurriedly left the room to take the call. There was no time to search and he had forgotten about it when he returned to the bedroom.
"I don't think we should see each other again," Jacqueline said, breaking his train of thoughts. The tears in her voice tugged at Danny's heart.
He looked at her and the expression on her face broke his heart. He whispered her name, "Jacqueline..."
"I... I found this on the bedroom floor while I was tidying up Johnny's stuff. You must have dropped it. I thought... I thought I should return it to you." Jacqueline refused to look at him.
"Jacqueline," Danny tried to speak. "Jacqueline, please, don't leave me."
"How can I?" Jacqueline stared at him, her eyes showing all the pain she felt in her heart. She repeated softly, "How can I? How can we? You're married, Danny."
"Jacqueline." Danny tried to reach for her, but when he saw the way she backed away from him, he let his hand dropped. "Yes, I'm married but I meant what I've said. My feelings for you are true. I love you and I want to be with you."
She shook her head. "We shouldn't see each other again." She turned her head away and looked with unseeing eyes at the passing traffic. "Johnny had women outside. I've known about it for a long time." She blinked away the tears that suddenly gathered in her eyes. Even after all these years, it still hurt when she thought about it.
She continued, "I know what it feels like when your husband is with another woman. I can't do this to your wife. I can't let her suffer the same fate as me." She looked at Danny sadly and a tear rolled down her cheek. "Goodbye."
"Jacqueline," Danny said but she was already gone, lost in the crowd.
Danny remained standing at the same spot for a long time, staring at the ring on in his palm. Finally he closed his fingers over it and stuffed his fist into his pocket. He was about to go after her when Flack called. It reminded him that he still had a job to do.