A/N: Thanks for all the messages and reviews for this story. Yeah, I've finally got my muse in gear again. She seems to have more fun writing about other characters these days, so I'm dreadfully sorry that you've all had to suffer from Dark Knight withdrawal.

The Dark Knight

Chapter Fifteen

The stars burst in the heavens, the world tilted on its axis, his arms tightened around me like steel bands and I passed out.

The smell of coffee pulled my sore body from sleep, and I slowly eased my eyes open to find Ric setting a couple of mugs down on the nightstand. He slid back into bed and offered me a cup.

I sat up gingerly, mindful of the aches in my limbs, and other more interesting places, before accepting the heavenly brew. "You are a god," I whispered as I took a sip of the heavily creamed and sugared caffeine fix.

He smirked. "I know, you told me enough times last night."

"Smartass," I muttered as I smacked him on the arm, "That's not what I meant."

Ric raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

"You are so incorrigible."

He shrugged. "If the shoe fits…"

I shook my head and sipped some more of my coffee. "So, what's the plan for today?"

"Toni and the boys are off back to Stark; she needs to fit some cameras and they need to carry on as normal – check in with our girls, contacts and stuff. Me, I'm gonna do a bit of intel gathering from here and then maybe swing by my offices later to remind the neighborhood that I exist. You want to hang out with Toni, see if you can get any information?"

"Sure. I need to check in with the office first and find out if I have any skips."

Ric frowned. "You sure that's a good idea?"

"I asked Connie to text me if anything came in, and don't worry, we've set up a code so if Black Hawk are monitoring her cell then they won't suspect a thing."

"They can trace your cell, you know."

I took a sip of coffee. "I know, that's why it's not switched on."

"I'll get Toni to set you up with a new one and forward all calls to it from your old one just to be on the safe side."

I rolled my eyes at him. "Is that really necessary?

Ric shrugged. "So I'm a touch paranoid in my line of work. Would it help if I said please?"

"Okay, if it will make you feel any better. I thought I was being sneaky enough by switching my cell off; I never thought to forward my calls to another one."

"You were sneaky, but not quite sneaky enough for my liking, babe. I know Tank, and if you've pissed him off, then he's going to be looking for you, and he's not going to give up until he finds you. The last thing we need right now is him sticking his nose in to our business," he replied as he took my hand in his and kissed my knuckles.

"Okay, so… what do you have that passes for breakfast around here?" I quizzed innocently.

Ric set his mug down on the night stand. "I have just the thing to set you up for the day, babe."

Toni parked the truck outside the rundown building on Stark where my trip down the rabbit hole had begun all those months ago. The guys climbed out of the F-450 and headed off to their run down headquarters. She waited until they were both safely inside and then drove us another couple of blocks down the road to an apartment building close to the one at the centre of last night's murder.

"Do you want to help me, or are you going snooping?" she asked as she put the vehicle in park.

"What are you doing exactly?" I asked.

Toni reached over to the back seat and pulled out a metal briefcase. "Fitting small cameras inside the smoke detectors in the entrance lobbies of the half a dozen buildings we have here. It shouldn't take me more than half an hour and then I can tag along with you if you like."

"I can hold the step ladder, but I think I'll leave the James Bond stuff to you," I laughed.

She nodded, "Sure, and then that way I can assist you in your enquiries when we're done. There is still a small element of scum around here and they're more likely to leave you alone if you've got a shadow. And you can spill the beans on what's going on with you and Ric too."

I couldn't stop the blush that crept across my face, but I still opted for the tactics of deny and evade. "I have no idea what you are talking about."

"Right… You're a shit liar, you know that?" Toni teased.

"Fine, okay, so we had sex, but that's all I'm going to say on the matter," I responded as I crossed my arms over my chest.

"Whoa! Chill a little, love," she said as she put her hand on my arm. "I'm only winding you up; it's damn bloody obvious that the two of you did the deed. Shit, you're glowing so much that I bet that NASA could pick you up on one of their satellites."

I flipped down the passenger-side sun visor and peered into the small mirror. "It's that bad?"

"He does tend to have that effect on women, not that there is that many of them, I hasten to add, but yeah, Ric seems to be a bit of a god between the sheets."

"Yeah, I think you got that about right," I murmured.

"Come on, let's get this job under way," Toni said as she slid from the truck. "The sooner we get done, the sooner we can go and see what intel we can turn up."

Over an hour later we were still busy. I dutifully held the stepladder for Toni as she fitted the last of the tiny cameras inside another smoke detector.

"And you're sure that these things work," I said again. They were so small that I was convinced that any images they did capture would be nigh on useless.

Toni looked down at me. "Sweetheart, I'm a trained spy, I think I know what I'm doing."

"Sorry," I muttered. "They're just so tiny."

"That's the whole point, Steph; technology is advancing at an alarming rate so I no longer need to use anything obvious. Hell, even this sort of stuff has gotten more refined in just the last few years. Right, this should be good to go," she said as she pulled out her cell and called up the mother ship to verify the camera's connection to their system.

The conversation she had with Ric was like the other seven – short and to the point. I watched with ever growing boredom as she fiddled with the camera some more while talking to him, and when they both seemed satisfied, she hung up.

"We done now?" I quizzed. I was itching to hit the streets and talk to people.

Her cell rang again. "Hold that thought."

I shook my head and began putting the scattered equipment back into the case in an effort to expedite our exit.

"Where are you?" Toni said into the phone. "We'll be over in a few."

I tried to raise an eyebrow, but gave up and settled for raising both of them instead.

"That was Lester; one of his girls has some information from us," she told me.

"Steph, this is Kayleigh," Lester said as I stepped into the tiny apartment.

The young woman in front of me was in her early twenties, had lank blonde hair, sunken features, and was clad in a ratty robe and tired looking fluffy slippers. She offered me a tight smile as she eyed me with suspicion.

I held out my hand. "Thanks for talking to us today, Kayleigh."

She shrugged and shuffled over to the couch, before she sank down on the shabby cushions and lit a cigarette. "I'm only talking to you 'cos it ain't right what's goin' on down here, you know."

I moved to stand in front of her, and then perched cautiously on the edge of the cluttered coffee table. "I understand. So, can you tell me what you saw last night?"

Kayleigh took a long drag on her cig and frowned. "She got into a flatbed pickup around nine P.M. last night."

"Do you remember the model or the color, or anything strange about it?" I pressed.

"Maroon, red maybe. Don't know about the model, but it was a big fucking thing, you know with them bull bars at the front, and lots of spot lights. It didn't look like the guy used it on the building site or anything, as it was in too good a condition."

I nodded, "I know what you mean. Can you remember anything else about it?"

"It had," she said as she reached past me and picked up the ash tray, "a vanity plate, but I don't remember what it was, I'm sorry."

"That's great, Kayleigh," I assured her as I patted her awkwardly on the knee. "What about the driver, did you see him?"

She shook her head. "No, the truck had tinted windows and Hannah was just down the block from me in her usual spot, so when he wound the window down her ass was in the way. You might want to try Tameka; she was working the same corner as her."

I looked to Lester and Bobby, who were hovering by the door. "Tameka, do you know her?"

Lester nodded. "Yeah, but I doubt we'll get much out of her; she's usually as high as a fucking kite."

"We can try anyway," Toni chipped in from her spot by the window.

I stood up and held out my hand to Kayleigh. "Thank you for your help. If you think of anything else then please get in touch with the guys here and they can pass information on to me."

Kayleigh stubbed out her cigarette and lit another one, then shook my hand half-heartedly. "Sure, I'll give them a call, but I told you everything."

The sound of someone banging on her door made us all jump, and Lester, Bobby and Toni had their hands on their guns.

"You expecting anyone?" Bobby asked in a whisper.

Kayleigh shook her head.

The guys exchanged looks and Toni stepped up to her. "Ask who it is, love."

"Who is it?" Kayleigh called out.

"Trenton P.D, ma'am. We'd like to have a quick word with you about last night's incident."

"Now ain't a good time," she replied anxiously.

"Too fucking right," Lester muttered.

"I really do need to speak to you, Ms. Shaw," the voice stated in that no nonsense tone that cops use.

"Bloody hell," Toni gritted out as she glanced out of the windows. "We'd have to pick an apartment with no fire escape to climb down."

"We could hide," I suggested.

She shook her head. "Not a good idea. These buildings have flat roofs, right Les?"

Lester eyed her warily. "Yeah, what are you thinking?"

Toni slid the sash up and stuck her head out of the lounge window. "Drainpipe. Up and onto the roof, and then down the fire escape, cut across a couple of alleys and leg it to the truck."

The officer banged on the door again. "Ms. Shaw! Open the door please."

I shook my head adamantly. "There is no way on this earth that I'm getting out of a fourth floor window and climbing up a drainpipe!"

Toni rolled her eyes. "Fine, stay here then."

Bobby climbed out onto the window ledge and tugged on the drainpipe. "Looks solid."

"Go for it," Lester urged.

Bobby nodded and vanished from sight and Lester stuck his head out of the window. When he seemed satisfied that his friend was not about to fall to his death, he too made his escape.

"You sure you're not coming?" Toni asked me.

I nodded. "I'll just say I was looking for information on a skip, right Kayleigh."

"Sure, whatever," she responded.

"Okay, I'll park up in the alley behind the pawnshop about half a mile away. Meet us there when you can," Toni stated as she slipped out of the window and disappeared.

The banging started up again. "Ms. Shaw!"

"I should answer that," Kayleigh said.

"Go ahead," I replied as I shut the window.

She tumbled the locks and pulled the door open an inch. "Gonna need to see some I.D."

Two badges appeared in the gap, she nodded and slid the chain off and opened the door.

The plain clothes detectives stepped into the room and glanced around. I did my best to look nonchalant and picked at my nails, but in the end, I just couldn't help myself. "Office Morelli, what a surprise."