11

Matt groaned as the alarm went off and lay there for a minute. Why in the hell had he agreed to take the case? Right at the moment he couldn't think of a good enough reason. He looked down where CJ still lay with her arm across his belly looking up at him.

"Good morning." She gave him a kiss.

"Mmmhhh." He kissed her back, a little more intensely. "It's getting better."

"Go get a shower and I'll fix you some breakfast."

"Damn." He grinned as she swatted at him and then went to clear the cobwebs from his mind. So what did the day hold for him? He wanted to interview Shearer first thing. Hoyt had drafted Valdez to interview Muldoon and Duffer with the expected results. Neither appeared to have anything to do with the murder and both had alibis. Anastasia had caught a flight out of LAX immediately following her exit from Tracey Longview's place and was vouched for by security cameras at JFK as well. So she was out of the picture. When he emerged and was getting dressed, his phone began ringing: Reed Osborne. "Hey."

"Houston, have you seen the news this morning?" The fifty-something sure sounded a lot like Murray Chase when he was about to hyperventilate.

"Nope. Just got out of the shower. Bet they're having a field day, aren't they?" He punched the speaker button and set the device on the dresser as he found socks.

"With Tommy Luster and Chrissy Titlebaum dead of overdoses-"

"Unconfirmed yet, Reed. Gotta give the ME time to finish up."

"Whatever! There are even more people looking at Nick Sparks."

"Well, he's got verified alibis. No need to get your drawers in a knot."

"No need-! You do understand that there are possible Oscar nominations at stake here don't you?"

"Well, for starters it's a little early and I would appreciate it if you wouldn't yell at me. Secondly, I know that we've put together a pretty good bit of doubt that your boy did it. LAPD isn't really looking at him anymore. You need to calm down."

"You need to get this put to bed - right now!"

"Tell you what, Reed. How about I just send you a bill? And leave it at that? Or do you want me to finish the job? Because if you raise your voice to me one more time the bill will be on your desk before ten o'clock. I did this as a favor. I've got other things to be doing. Quite frankly, I'm tired of dealing with all the celebrity bullshit." CJ walked in as the last was said and her eyebrows arched into the air.

"I'm sorry. It's just that there's a lot at stake." The studio executive quieted his tone.

"And I'm fully aware. But you can't rush this stuff. There's a process." He rolled his eyes at CJ and sat down to get dressed.

"Well…" On the other end of the line Osborne took a sip of water and popped a pill. "Please keep me informed."

"I'll call you as soon as I have something ironclad to tell you." With that, the P.I. disconnected the call.

A while later...

Matt met up with Lee and Michael at the coffee pot outside of the lieutenant's office. "Howdy."

"I just brought Lee up to speed on what we got yesterday." Michael handed a cup to the P.I. and the three drifted into the office. "Gabby managed to track down Tracey Longview last night just as she was getting in at one in the morning."

"Sober?"

"Surprisingly enough - yes. And she was very cooperative. It seems that the deaths of Titlebaum and Luster put the fear in her. Longview told her that she's checking into a long-term rehab today. And she also shed a little light on what may have happened with the two of them."

"Oh?" Matt and Jennings plopped down on the couch.

"It seems that they were on again-off again for the last couple of years. Turns out Titlebaum dropped a bomb on Luster at the meeting Tuesday night: she was pregnant and planning on getting rid of it."

"And he was the father?"

"That's what she told him. There was a big fight between them and he said he would see to it that didn't happen."

"Okay…that's surprising given his reputation."

"Titlebaum called Longview an hour or so after leaving - we're working on the phone records- and told her that she couldn't deal with Luster and the possibility of a kid that might be messed up from all of the drugs. Seems Luster showed up while they were talking and she ended the call." The cop took a long swallow of coffee. "A few minutes later he calls Longview crying saying that she overdosed on purpose just as he got there."

"And she didn't call it in?" Matt looked incredulous.

"Nope. She didn't believe him. Said he had claimed that three times before and it was a lie. So she just hung up on him."

"So when Gabby showed up at his place yesterday he figured it was about Titlebaum instead of Molinski." Houston shook his head.

"And he gave himself a big shot. And according to the medical examiner it was BIG. The security guy said that the bag that Giovanni found had been delivered about half an hour before she got there."

"He shot the whole thing?"

The answer was a nod.

"So he committed suicide like she did. Jesus." He drank down more of the coffee.

"Wisnewski found the needle underneath Titlebaum and the only prints on it were hers." Michael rubbed his eyes and yawned. "So, given what you turned up yesterday we need to direct our attention to Brooks Shearer. Hopefully this whole pile of crap can be cleared out today."

The phone on his desk rang. "Hoyt." A grumpy look crossed his face and then one of concern as he looked at Matt. He punched the mute button. "The chief is on the warpath. I haven't seen you today. Get out of here and get it tied up. Both of you." He punched the button again and returned to the call as the two younger men took off and hit the stairwell down to the garage.

"What the hell is that about do you reckon?" The P.I. pulled his keys out as they hit the ground floor.

Lee looked uncomfortable. "Let's take your truck. Nobody has seen it much yet." He slid into the passenger side as Matt cranked the engine.

"I say we go after Shearer."

The cop nodded.

"So what gives?"

"Apparently the chief got wind that you are in town and on the case. All the TV stations have been reporting it."

"So?"

"He's been cozying up to Tamara Placer and has been talking about getting your investigator's license revoked...and dropping you as a consultant."

"Uh huh." Fury boiled up inside of him. "Any idea what set that in motion?"

"You do know that she's…" He paused and looked nervously over at the man.

"I don't pay any attention to the bitch anymore."

"She claims that HCSO and your doctor were paid off to say that you're okay. She says that - well, that you're messed up."

"Uh huh." He took a deep breath.

"You know we don't believe that crap. The LT, me, Gabby...none of the squad believes it."

"I certainly appreciate that." Trying his best to keep his cool the only thing he could think of was calling CJ. He didn't want to do that with Lee in the truck.

"Man, I'm sorry."

"Not your fault he's a dumbass." Blowing out a breath he tried to think. "It will take more than his opinion to get my license revoked. God knows better men have tried and failed."

"Seems like I've heard that before." Lee tried for a laugh.

"I'm still working for a client right now. As far as I am concerned you're just along for the ride. I came to y'all out of professional courtesy...and because I was trying to get this over with ASAP." Stopping at a light he looked over at his passenger. "Screw both of them. I've got a job to do. And the two of them…" His voice dropped as he finished the thought. "The two of them have started something that they are going to regret."

Their arrival at the office of Brooks Shearer wasn't met with cordiality. It wasn't until Lee threatened to pull out his cuffs that the accountant let them enter. "Mr. Shearer, can you explain to us how your prints ended up on cases of liquor in a hidden room at the Dragon's Lair?"

"I have no idea."

Matt took a seat in one of the chairs, his patience wearing thin with the whole situation. "Are you in the habit of playing barback?" He now noticed that the man had a large bandage on his right hand.

"No." The older man had moved back around behind his desk and was fidgeting.

Lee's phone buzzed with a text from Hoyt: Cheryl matched Shearer's DNA from an old rape investigation to blood on the bottle that killed Molinski. We have a warrant for his computer and records. Bring him in. Tell Houston to go to his office and I will catch up with him. After acknowledging the information he gave Matt a nod and a satisfied smile. "Mr. Shearer, please stand." He started around behind the desk as the man suddenly jerked his hand up with a pistol in it, only to find himself staring down the barrel of the P.I.'s Glock.

"I'll blow a hole clear through your brainpan if you even start to pull that trigger. Drop it." The growl that came from Houston startled Lee even though he was used to hearing it. Somehow it seemed more menacing than usual. The fact that he hadn't seen either man pull a weapon now hit him and his heart pounded. Shearer dropped it like a hot potato. Lee locked the cuffs into place and began searching the suspect.

"The lieutenant says he'll catch up with you at your office." Pulling out his phone he called for a patrol car to come pick up himself and Shearer. He placed the pistol that had been pulled on him in his waistband. "And thanks. I owe you." Silently, the P.I. nodded and left the building, the door softly clicking behind him.

The first thing Matt did when he reached the truck was pull out his phone and call CJ, trying to sound calmer than the anger coursing through his body had him feeling. Damn Whitaker. He took a deep breath. "Whatcha doin'?"

CJ clicked off the TV. She didn't know what to say to her husband. It was being reported that Chief Whitaker was revoking his status as a consultant and naturally, Tamara Placer had the scoop and was broadcasting live from the man's office in an exclusive interview where it was announced that because of his "ongoing mental problems" he had been deemed too much of a risk to be associated with the police force. How was she supposed to tell that to her husband who had spent years helping the department only to have them turn on him and basically call him a lunatic? "Well, unfortunately I've had the TV on. Hon-..."

"Whitaker is dropping me as a consultant."

"Yeah. And he's being very public about it."

"As in Placer is all up in it."

"Yeah." She listened as silence filled the line between them. "I'm sorry, baby."

"Not your fault." There was anger there, but she also sensed the hurt that she knew he was feeling. "The warrant came through for Shearer and his records. I guess they must have found something else to tie him to it. When I left Hoyt's office with Lee to talk to him the chief was screaming through the phone. Guess that's when he told Michael."

"How did you find out?"

"Lee told me that it was being talked about." He passed along what Lee had told him of the text that their friend had sent. "So…" There was a definite sadness there.

"Baby, I don't know what to say."

"I'm guess I'm going to meet up with Michael at the office. I'll call you in a little while. Love you."

"Love you." She listened as he disconnected the call, tears immediately springing to her eyes. Tamara Placer was going to pay for it - if it was the last thing she ever did, CJ would see to that.

At the penthouse offices of Houston Investigations Matt was out on the patio, his boots propped up on the wall and looking out over the skyline of the city that he had adopted. As he sat he thought back to when he and CJ had first come to the spot where the Houston building now stood. They had accomplished a lot there. When he had opened up shop it was with the dream of helping people that the cops couldn't help. That thought had been going through his mind a lot the last couple of years. He had hardly taken any private cases. Most of his workload in LA had been helping Michael, Rich, or a handful of federal agents from the ATF, DEA, FBI, and Homeland Security. And then there was his work with HCSO. He had questioned himself time and again: had he gone too far from his roots?

His working relationship with LAPD had started with Vince Novelli and then after his medical retirement from the force - and more than a little reluctantly - Hoyt. A chuckle escaped him as he thought back to the times that he and the newly transferred black lieutenant had battled. And then he flashed to the look on Michael's face that morning. The cop's first instinct had been to protect him. It now hit him and he once again thought about how far they had come in their friendship. The brotherhood that he now enjoyed with both Vince and Michael meant more to him than he imagined the two men could ever fully understand. If nothing else had been accomplished during his time helping the force he had that. And then he thought about his other friends that wore the badge: Larry Carlisle immediately sprang to mind, then the now-deceased Bob Peterson, and more recently Lee Jennings and Gabby Giovanni, both of whom had worked tirelessly to help him with the hit that was out on him. It occurred to him that it was rare for him to go to a crime scene where at least a dozen cops didn't stop to shake his hand, call out his name, wave - give some sort of recognition to him. Just because Whitaker was being an ass didn't mean that those men and women felt any different toward Matt. That very morning Lee had told him that no one in the squad believed the crap that Placer was spewing.

The elevator chimed and he knew without a doubt that it was CJ; he had used the lockout option and only her and Chris were able to get past it. In under a minute her hand was on his shoulder and then she was leaning over, her arms encircling his neck hugging him tightly. He could feel her throat constrict as she held him close and he reached up and patted her arm. "It's alright, Babe." He patted on his leg and she sat down in his lap, her arms still around his neck as she lay her head on his chest. They sat like that for several minutes as he stroked her hair.

"I need you to call Ricardo's and make a reservation for two tonight - for Lee and Bridget." He looked down at the surprise in her eyes. It took her a few seconds to respond and then she gave him a smile and nodded.

"She called me crying when I was on my way over here. She saw the report."

"Best not for her to be getting all upset right now." His voice was calm.

"Are…" She searched his eyes. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yeah. Because I know that even if this is the end of my time helping LAPD I've got something that Whitaker will never have: friends on the force." He gave her a smile and then answered his phone. "Hey, Michael…"