Chapter 13

Logan walked slowly into the bullpen. Most of his colleagues at least gave him a wave or a pat on the back. His closest friends were in the interrogation rooms, setting up the line-ups.

Alex came out and gave him a quick hug. "Good to see you. You ready?"

He smiled. "Sure."

"First one's in A, second in B," Alex said, keeping step with him down the hall. They entered the observation room adjacent to interrogation A.

Ross was present. He said hello to Logan, then was all business. "You all set?"

"Yeah." The opened the blinds, revealing a lineup of 8 men, all similar in features.

"Take your time," Ross said.

"Number 4. I remember that tattoo on his arm." As Captain Ross tapped the glass 4 times, number 4's lawyer scurried out of the room.

Now they turned around and faced the window for interrogation B. Same drill, but these guys were all darker-skinned.

It didn't take Mike that long, but he waited a few minutes before announcing his choice. He didn't want to give the lawyer anything to work with. "Number 1. I remember the black gauges in his ears, that scar on his jawbone."

Ross tapped the glass, the lawyer left. The ADA shook Mike's hand. "I wish it were always this easy," he said before leaving the detectives alone.

"That's all you got so far?" Mike said.

Alex nodded. "We'll see if we can get them to rat each other out."

"Nice attention to detail, Detective," Ross said.

"Well, Captain, you really shouldn't have picked guys from downstairs," Mike said quietly. "Edgars from motorpool, and Delgado from the coroner's office?"

"I didn't realize you had so many friends," Ross said.

Mike smiled at him as he left the room. "Thanks, Alex."

"Mike, this is my new partner, Andy."

"How you doin'?" Mike said. Andy shook his hand pleasantly. Alex walked out with him, heading him toward his empty desk.

"Go on," she said. "Check it."

Mike sank down in the chair and pulled open his bottom right desk drawer. It was filled with small bags of pretzels, all varieties.

"I wouldn't want you to miss your afternoon snack," Alex said, winking.

"You on duty?" Bobby asked, excited to see Mike in the office. He was getting tired of playing third wheel in everyone else's investigation.

"No. Just visiting."

"Oh, yeah, the line up. How'd it go?"

"Two down, at least 3 more to go."

Mike pulled out a bag of pretzels and tossed it to Bobby. "Have a snack."

"Alex showed you. She's no good at surprises."

Mike ripped open his own bag, and munched on one as he looked around the room. "God, I miss it… but, I'm out another week, at least."

"I'll keep your seat warm, don't worry," Bobby said.

Carolyn showered at work, before heading to Mike's place. It had been a particularly nasty day in the CSU lab, and she really just wanted to scrub the day away.

She found the pile of clean clothes on the couch, and noticed the unfinished ones in the machines. She took the clean ones out, moved the wet ones, and started folding the others. Mike had left her a voice mail saying he'd been called in for a lineup. She hoped he was getting some closure.

He came in slower than usual, his ribs beginning to ache again. When he saw her, he smiled.

She tossed down the shirt in her hands and took him in her arms. "Hi," she whispered, kissing him on the lips.

"Hi," he grinned.

"You were busy today," she said, resuming her folding.

"Too busy, I think," he said.

She realized he was hurting. "What can I do?"

"Some of that Naproxin, in the kitchen," he said. She scurried off to get the medicine and he sank into the recliner and eased himself back.

"Mike," she said. She helped him sit up far enough to drink the water to wash the pills down, and then helped him lie down again. He closed his eyes, but he asked, "How was your day?"

She went back to folding clothes. "I don't wanna talk about it."

"That good, huh?"

"Really, Mike. It was messy. That's all I want to say about it."

He told her about the stash of pretzels in his desk, and picking two of the goons who beat him out of the lineup. By the time Carolyn finished folding, he'd drifted off to sleep.

Bobby handed Alex a bag from the pharmacy. She was going to be working late again, and he wanted to do whatever he could to make things easier for her. She opened it, and found two different kinds of ginger candy inside.

"It's supposed to help with… morning sickness…" he explained. "I read about it."

"Thanks, Bobby." She kissed his cheek. "Go home, get some rest," she said. "I'll be fine."

He hesitated, then came closer and kissed her before turning to leave.

This would be their first real interrogation together. Alex and Andy discussed everything before entering the room. Alex described what she and Bobby usually did, what her role was; Andy described what she was accustomed to. They came up with a plan of attack.

Alex went in first, alone. "Hello, Mr. Acosta. I'm Detective Eames."

He glared at her, remembering her clearly from the night she and Bobby went to the bar.

"I see you remember me. Good. I'm hoping you'll remember some things from last Monday, the fourth." Alex shuffled some papers in front of her. "You were out on-"

As Alex pulled up the details of the night in question, Andy primped in the observation room. Ross came in and gave her an encouraging smile. He wanted to see his new team in action. Andy grabbed her ledger and her finest pen and entered the interrogation room.

"All right, we need to get this moving," she announced. "This room is booked for 6:30 p.m. If we don't get something solid by then…" she looked back at Alex. "We'll just have to… fill in the blanks."

"What does that mean?" He asked.

"What do you think it means," Andy fired back.

"I think it means you're gonna set my ass up," he said.

Andy shrugged and looked at her watch.

Alex leaned in. "Look, Mr. Acosta, there's no need to worry about that. We just need to know who you were with. We already have all the names. You're not ratting anybody out. We'll bring them all in, or only the ones who were with you. You'll be helping the guys by telling us. Remember what we did last night? If you don't talk, we'll have to do that again."

Andy looked at her watch. "Can I see your watch? I think maybe mine is slow."

"Okay, look. I was with Dirk, Pablo, DeWees, and Evan. That's all I'm saying. Now you can have your stupid room."

"Who made the call to jump him?" Alex asked, as nice a good cop as there could ever be.

Acosta squirmed in his seat. He glanced around. "Dirk."

Alex smiled. "Thank you, Mr. Acosta."

Andy remained in character as she left the room, bitching about the time. When the two women walked into the observation room, Ross was there to congratulate them. Then he barked some orders and asked Eames about the case with the college kid, just to get her goat.

After he left, Andy turned to Alex. "He always like that?"

"Yeah, pretty much," she said. "I find that staying quiet and nodding is usually the best course to take with Captain Ross."

"I'll keep that in mind," Andy laughed.