Arriving at work the following morning, I headed straight to my desk and sat down. I was half way through logging in when the phone rang and I picked up the phone.
"Detective Martinez speaking" I answered and smiled upon hearing who was on the other end of the line
"Jo I need to see you down in Autopsy" I said and Mike who had just checked his phone stood with his coffee mug and followed me toward the elevator.
"Good morning Detectives" Lucas said standing on the opposite side of the autopsy table to Henry, Henry looked up and smiled at both Mike and I before starting
"Our victim, Shirley Lewis was a barista at a local café. She was found outside the café early this morning by one of her colleagues who had gone out to put the trash in the bin. Apparently she was the last one to be in the café so no one was there during the time of her murder, which I am estimating to be around 0330 and 0500 this morning" he said filling us in on the victim and the time of death.
"I can confirm that cause of death was asphyxiation and it was done in a manner that means that this is murder. See that laceration here" he paused to show us the darkened red skin that was proof of the asphyxiation. "I would also like to point back that she had skin under her fingernails, which have already been sent to the lab to see if we can match it to someone in the system, suggesting that she fought back" he concluded. I looked at Henry and nodded
"Right thank you Dr Morgan" Mike said about to leave when Lucas cleared his throat and whispered
"The victim's sister is here to identify her" Henry who was fast acting moved the cover up to show her from her shoulders up enough to identify the body. As Henry and Lucas stood by watching to make sure that the body was being identified by the right person Mike and I were watching her as if she could be a possible suspect.
After Mike left to gather information on the victim I stayed with Henry to talk with the sister of the victim. Henry sat in his desk chair, the victim's sister on the other side of the table, but I was sitting behind Henry leaning against one of the many bookshelves in his office. When the sister left and Henry and I were sure that everything she had told us was true he asked if I wanted to go to lunch with him. It was getting near 12 o'clock and we needed to go out and go speak to the victim's colleagues so I agreed. Henry and I didn't make any contact until we were in the car and the first thing I did was grab his hand. His hand stayed in mine the whole time we were in the car, as soon as we had stopped, deciding to get lunch before going and talking to the colleagues of the victim. I was out of the car and at Henry's side before he even had a chance to help me out of my seat. I grabbed his hand again and finally looked at him a smile on my face
"God I missed you Henry" I said and he smiled back leaning down to kiss me, it was slow and passionate probably a little too much PDA for what we were both used to but it was damn hard keeping your hands of the man you loved.
"I missed you too Jo" he said a little breathlessly. Recovering from the kiss and taking each other's hand we made our way into the café, ordering to dine in instead of our usual take away just because it meant we got to spend more time together.
A little hesitant but knowing that this was probably the only chance the two of us would get for a lunch break we decided to order, even though this had been part of a crime scene less than four hours ago. Over lunch we discussed the case and re-discussed what he had found in the autopsy before we actually started talking about us. Henry who had started the conversation on the opposite side of the table had spent the conversation moving his chair closer toward me just so the he could hold my hand properly while we talked. Honestly it surprised me how much he allowed the contact and how much he wanted it. I wasn't even afraid of being caught by my co-workers just that I was having some time alone with the man that had captured my heart. After our lunch was done, we made our way up to the counter again and we were greeted by a different lady than before
"Excuse me we would like to talk with the manager please?" I asked and she looked at me raising an eyebrow
"NYPD" I said showing her my badge. When she saw this she freaked a little before nodding and taking us to the manager's office which was just off to the side of the kitchen.
"Christine get back to work, you have customers waiting" the manager scolded, rising from her desk as he watched the waitress obviously named Christine scamper out of the office.
"Kelvin Harmon, I am the manager of this establishment, and you are?" he asked rudely and I sent a quick glance toward Henry who gave me the same look before I said
"Detective Jo Martinez, NYPD and this is my partner Dr Henry Morgan" I introduced and he shrugged before making his way behind his desk sitting down with a rather loud harrumph
"Why are you here?" he asked and I looked at him, obviously he was either out this morning when CSU and a couple of detectives had been here to go through the crime scene or he was the least uncaring selfish employer ever to work the face of this planet.
"We are here investigating the murder of one of your employees, a barista by the name of Shirley Lewis, what can you tell me about her?" I asked, when he looked up at me shooting daggers at me I could feel the uneasiness in my stomach about him. I did my interview and then Henry and I got out of his office, talking to a couple of other employers about their co-worker and boss.
"So how did the interviews with the staff go?" Mike asked as soon as he got off the elevator at headquarters about two and a half hours after Henry and I returned.
"The interviews with the staff were quite productive, the employer/ manager not so much. He barely co-operated and I am 99% certain that he lied throughout the whole thing. What about you? Find anything interesting in their records?" I asked and he nodded
"Yeah get this, about a year ago Mr Harmon was an addict to cocaine and meth back in the Bronx when suddenly he inherits his parents business and tries to clean up his act. However instead of cleaning up his act he keeps a respectable joint afloat on the money that he doesn't spend on his drug addiction. He also has priors. When he was 19 years old he bet and tortured a 15 year old for refusing to have sex with him and instead rapped her, at the age of 23 he was arrested for position of cocaine and meth before he was imprisoned for betting and rapping a 19 year old girl, he got 15 years and that was shortened for good time, he was released a year ago" Hanson explained and I nodded
"Alright send someone to go out there and pick him up. Keep him in holding until morning and we'll talk to him in the morning" I said grabbing my coat before remembering
"Where were you before?" I asked and he looked at me raising an eyebrow and I scowled
"Mike, you know what I mean" I insisted and he nodded,
"I was down in the archives trying to find this mans juvie record, I found it but want to go through it and compare to what we have on him. We need to nail this SOB for killing an innocent women" he said and I nodded
"Your right we do" I said.
I entered the morgue and saw Henry in his office, so making my way in there I told him everything that Mike had told me.
"Wow he sounds like a real low life" Henry said and I nodded. We looked at each other and he grabbed my hand, looked around me to make sure that no one could see the movement or see that we were holding hands before he said
"So what are your plans for tonight Detective?" he asked a little teasing glint in his eye
"I don't really have any plans" I said and he nodded, a smile spreading across his face
"Would you like to come over for dinner?" he asked and I nodded
"Depends. What are we having for dinner?" I queried and he thought about it
"I think Abe mentioned something about a cottage pie" he said and I smiled, it sounded good and knowing how good a cook Abe was I nodded
"Alright, I'm in" I said and he chuckled
"Ok then detective but just so you know you wound me" he said and I giggled, before getting up to leave. I almost left without saying goodbye, but turned around and after making sure that no one was watching placed a quick kiss to his cheek before heading upstairs.
A/N: Hey guys I hope you like this update and I'm sorry it took so long to update, I've had work and course so those come first but I did find time to write and do an update. Please review and let me know what you think.
