Titania Falling
Chapter 12 - And the night's swift dragons cut the fog full fast
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Flack drove straight from the Kline and Associates offices to the high-rise where Vivienne Harlow lived. He pulled into an open space just behind the lab's Avalanche, Mac and Monroe joining him on the sidewalk. "Has the warrant come yet?"
"Stella went to pick it up. She said she'll meet us here," Mac said as he opened the back and pulled out kits for him and Lindsay. Flack felt a brief sense of déjà vu as Stella's SUV slid into a slightly illegal spot across the street - the placard on her dashboard allowed her to park wherever she wanted as long as it wasn't in front of a hydrant - and she quickly joined them, warrant in hand.
"You're lucky the DA was able to find a sympathetic judge. We don't have much to go on here," She said as they convened on the sidewalk.
"She had the most to gain, lives with the victim, and was at - and organized - the party in the park. What more did they want? A hand-signed confession? Cause we don't usually get those until after we have the evidence you're going in there to look for," Flack retorted angrily, shaking his head in frustration.
"Thankfully the judge agreed," Mac intervened, heading for the entrance.
"I think it may have more to do with everyone being under pressure to get this case closed," Stella said, walking alongside Mac. "Apparently Mr. Hawthorne's people have already been to the mayor twice since Ariana was ID'd. He wants to know what happened to his daughter."
"I don't blame him. But we're not going to get this case closed until we have the evidence we need. No amount of pressure is going to change that."
"Try telling that to her father," Lindsay muttered under her breath.
Flack knew she'd dealt with her share of grieving parents, probably more than she'd ever needed to, and understood exactly where Hawthorne was coming from. The only difference between this case and any other grieving father was that Ralph Hawthorne golfed with the mayor once a month. He had the connections to make their lives miserable until this case was closed, if need be. Flack was just surprised that he hadn't yet.
It didn't take nearly as long to get to Vivienne Harlow's door this time, without meandering through the building to talk to other potential witnesses. She seemed quite surprised when she answered it, opening it quickly when she saw who stood on the other side. "Detective Flack. May I help you?"
"Miss Harlow, we need to take a look around. At both your things and Ariana's." He handed her the search warrant that Stella had passed to him in the elevator. "And I am going to need to ask you a few more questions."
Vivienne read through the entire warrant before she let them in. She had a visitor who was sitting in the living room. He stood and approached her, sliding an arm around her back. "What do you need? Can't you see this is difficult for her?"
"I understand, sir," Flack said diplomatically as he and the others entered the apartment, "however there are some things we need to know. Miss Harlow," he continued, turning to address her, "we can either do the questions here or downtown."
"Am I going to need my lawyer?" she asked carefully, eyes still on the page as if she was rereading the document. When she finished, she handed it to her guest for him to read.
"That is entirely up to you."
"She'll wait," The other man - her boyfriend Mark Coleman, Flack guessed - said. "Why don't you sit down, sweetheart? I'll call the lawyer."
She nodded silently as she took a seat on the sofa where Flack had interviewed her earlier. The three CSIs split up to search and process the apartment, looking for anything that could have been used in the course of the murder, but especially the St. John's Wort and the Paxil. Lindsay headed into the kitchen, searching through the cabinets to see what she might find.
Stella headed into the bedroom on the right - Vivienne had explained hers was to the right and Ariana's to the left of the living room. Both bedrooms had en suite bathrooms, and she decided to start there. Mac had headed in the other direction to Ariana's bedroom and bath. He carefully went through Ariana's belongings, looking for anything that could be of use.
Flack remained in the living room with Vivienne and her guest, whom she had introduced as Mark Coleman. Mr. Coleman had only glared at him before stepping into the entryway to contact their lawyer. While he waited, Flack looked around the room. It wasn't nearly as plush as he had expected, considering who had lived here. There was an HDTV, but it wasn't huge, and it wasn't the focal point of the room, either. A number of pictures were on the walls, and he'd only glanced at them the last time he'd been here, but now, he stopped to look. Most were prints by artists he'd never heard of, but there were also a few black-and-white photos of Vivienne and Ariana
"Those were taken last year," Vivienne said softly from where she sat. "At Thanksgiving. Her family was out of the country, and I couldn't go visit mine, so we had our own Thanksgiving dinner here. Derek took that picture of us. It was one of her favorites-"
"Darling, that's enough." Coleman returned from the entry and sat next to her on the sofa. "It's best if you don't say anything until James gets here." He gave Flack a challenging look. "I don't have to say anything until then, either."
Frowning, Flack was about to ask what they meant when Stella returned from Vivienne's room.
"You have a prescription for Paxil, Miss Harlow?" she asked, holding up an evidence bag that she'd just placed a prescription bottle in.
"Yes, my doctor put me on it. Um, for anxiety." She looked confused by the questions. "W-why?"
"It's part of the drug cocktail that was used to kill Ariana Hawthorne."
"What!" Vivienne shot up, surprised at the news. "You don't think I'd- I'd never do something to hurt--"
"Vivi, darling, be quiet until the lawyer gets here," Coleman cut in, reaching up to grab her arm.
"But, I-" She stopped protesting, her mouth shut tight in a grim line, shaking slightly with frustration. Finally, with a small noise, she sat back down next to her boyfriend.
By then Lindsay had returned from the kitchen, ruefully shaking her head even though she carried a large number of evidence bags. She hadn't found anything that would immediately implicate Harlow. Perhaps once it was back to the lab and tested, they would find what they were looking for. Mac wasn't empty handed, either, holding a similar prescription bottle as he returned from Arianna's room.
"I've found her Zoloft, it appears to be in order."
"Was that also-" Vivienne stopped herself before she finished her question. She took a deep, shuddering breath and wrapped her arms around herself. "Are you done now?"
"Depends. Do you prefer to talk here or at the precinct?"
"I've already asked our lawyer to meet us at your precinct," Coleman bit out angrily, leveling another glare at the detectives.
"Fine. Miss Harlow, you are welcome to ride with one of us if you'd like."
He wasn't surprised when Coleman stood angrily, though Vivienne's hand on his arm held him back. "I'll let Mark drive me."
