Chapter Twenty Five:

They arrived at the loft a little after eight. Rick had stopped by the pizza shop near his apartment and brought home a pie for dinner. Once inside, they both seemed to crumple in exhaustion and sat on the living room sofa rather than heading to the kitchen. It had been an extremely taxing day, both physically and emotionally. They knew that Martha and the kids were in Orlando by now, but that was only their first stop in their journey. It was up to Martha to now use the fake IDs to get the children and herself on to LA.

Rick pushes himself to his feet and extends his hand to Kate. He takes her hand in his and tugs her to her feet, pulling her into the kitchen. She goes to the cabinets to extract plates and napkins while Rick opens a bottle of wine and pours them a glass. The two sat at the breakfast bar and quietly ate what little they could of their meal. Both were keenly aware of the risk they were taking, but felt that they really had no choice once Raglan decided to try and clear his conscience.

Beckett finishes the bit of food she was chewing and quietly inquires. "Do you think we can do this?"

"Honestly I don't know Kate. If whomever's in charge is tying up loose ends, there's a pretty good chance that we're already in their crosshairs. Our only shot is to expose them before they can get to us." Rick replies flatly, as he places his slice of pizza on his plate, his appetite now gone. He reaches across the counter and takes her hand into his, gently stroking it. "But I've got an extraordinary partner that makes me believe that we can do anything."

The look of sincerity in his eyes as he spoke was her undoing. She nearly sprints around the breakfast bar and wraps her arms around him, burying her face in her neck. "I love you Richard Rodgers. Do you know that?"

"Not as much as I love you Katherine Beckett." He replies as he holds her to his body. The kisses started off tender and gentle at first, but quickly grew into something desperate. All of the pent up desire for each other seemed to reach a critical mass at this moment.

"Take me to your bed." Kate manages to get out in small gasps as their heated make out session continues. Never breaking from his assault on her neck by his lips, the two stagger into his bedroom, stopping when the back of her legs make contact with the bed.

He stops his attack on her neck and looks into her eyes. "Are you sure that you're okay with this? I love you too much to risk what we have if you're not ready."

"I've never wanted anything more in my life Rick." She replies with a look of love, lust and shyness in her eyes. "It's been a long time Rick... The last time I was with a man was Nate's father."

Rick looks into her beautiful eyes and can see her fear that she may not meet his expectations somehow and smiles as he places a soft kiss on her lips. "Don't worry, we'll take things as slow as you need. I love you."

X-X-X-X

The blaring of Rick's alarm startles Kate awake from what had been a restful, yet entirely too short sleep. She quickly calms, realizing where she is and whose chest she was using as a pillow at this moment and can't help but smile. Kate can feel the rumble in his chest and groans at the offending sound as he tries to swat at the alarm with his free hand. Beckett has to suppress a giggle as she can sense that he was performing the same situation assessment that she had only seconds earlier.

"Good morning beautiful." Rick murmurs into the top of her head as he places a kiss there. Kate lifts her head from his chest and arches her neck to give him a kiss on her own on his lips. "How did you sleep?"

"I slept wonderfully... what little sleep I got." Kate replies with a sultry smile. The had made love three times and Kate had lost count of the number of orgasms as they all seemed to blend into one. One thing that they were both certain of was they had never experienced anything like it before and they wanted to make sure that it happened again... and again. They both knew that what made this special was the deep feelings that they had for each other beyond the obvious physical attraction that they felt.

"I could get used to waking up with you in my arms every morning." Rick responds, his words coming out more as a spoken wish and ending with another kiss on her lips. He was certain that he had found his one and done and if they somehow survived this, he would make his hope into reality. He just hoped that Kate felt the same.

She did.

After a shared shower where they both fought the urge to go for a round four, the two enjoyed a latte from the espresso machine in the kitchen. Kate watches as Rick presents her latte with a heart created in the foam for her. A simple thing that meant so much more than words. They finished their coffees and were out the door in a couple of minutes. Rick still stopped at his usual places to pick up the coffees and pastries as he normally would. The last thing they wanted to do was draw any suspicions by a change in their routines.

Rick let Kate out of the cruiser a block from the precinct so that she could arrive alone as he would. Her arriving in his car would be noticed by someone. They were seated at their desks looking at a cold case that another team had from a few months earlier. This was common practice on those days where there was no active case to work. The idea that a fresh set of eyes looking at a case made perfect sense to Rodgers. He'd managed to close a couple over the last year or so by taking a completely different approach to the evidence gathered.

It was a few minutes before noon when Rick receives the text message from the burner phone he had purchased for Martha telling him that they had arrived at their destination exhausted and would call once they had a decent nap. Moments later, Kate receives a similar text from Jim. Relieved that their families were safe, Rodgers starts to plan how they would approach the captain with the evidence that they had.

As it was now lunch time, Rick decides to take his team to Remys. The group piles into Espo's cruiser for the ten minute ride to the eatery. The four discussed the cold case they had been given, exchanging theories, but finding nothing revealing in their examination.

They were nearly back to the precinct when Rick received the call of a body drop. While Ryan and Espo were excited to not have to continue with the cold case, both Rick and Kate quietly groaned, knowing that their confrontation with Montgomery would have to wait.

They stopped back at the twelfth so that Rick could pickup his car and he and Kate rode to the scene together. By the time they arrived at the scene it had been cordoned off by the CSI team and Perlmutter was hunched over the body as the two arrived.

He looks up just as the two arrive and can't help but acknowledge their arrival with a comment. "Ah, detective Beckett... always a pleasure." He then looks at Rick and frowns. "And house seats... Still living with your mommy?"

Rodgers simply smiles and responds. "Dr Peanutbutter... Were all the competent MEs busy and they had to send someone?"

Perlmutter's face turns red and Kate has to stifle a giggle, as Rick continues. "But enough about you and your shortcomings, what have we got here?"

"Vic is a white female. I'd guess early forties. Cause of death looks to be a single GSW to the base of her skull, execution style." Perlmutter pauses, pleased the he has their attention and then continues. "Our vic appears to have been tortured first." The ME holds up one of the woman's hands, showing three badly dislocated fingers.

"Somebody tortured her for something... they must have promised her a quick death if she gave them what they wanted. Obviously, they got what they wanted." Rick replies flatly and Kate nods in agreement.

"Well I'll leave you detectives to do your job while I take the victim back to the morgue to do mine." Perlmutter comments without looking up from the body, effectively dismissing the two.

Rodgers and Beckett examine the apartment where the body was discovered looking for information on the vic. They both knew that this was the work of a pro and no trace evidence would be found. While they were searching the room, Espo approaches. "Vic's name is Mary Ellen Robbins, forty-four years old. A personal assistant for a small brokerage firm downtown. Canvassed the neighbors, said that she'd lived here for about four years, quiet, kept to herself with only an occasional visitor."

"Anybody see her or her visitor?" Kate inquires. Espo responds with a shake of his head.

"You and Ryan head back to the twelfth and Beckett and I will finish up here." Rodgers comments and Esposito nods in response, taking off in search of his partner.

The two scanned the apartment looking for anything out of place. Other than where the body was found, the apartment looked untouched. "I'm betting that Ms Robbins had something hidden here that they tortured and killed her to get. The question is what was it and where was it hidden." Rick remarks as he starts looking under the furniture in the living room. Finding nothing, he walks into the bedroom and looks under the bed.

Kate starts pulling out the drawers in the dresser examining each one for any possible hiding place. Rick sees what she's doing and comes over to help. Instead of looking in the drawers, he starts feeling inside the tops of the drawers and inside the dresser. After several attempts they come to one of the bottom drawers and Rodgers smiles as he feels under it.

"You find something?" Kate asks as she continues to examine the contents inside the drawer.

"No, but I found where it was hidden." He replies as he pulls the drawer out completely and empties the contents onto the bed. They examine the bottom of the drawer and see the tape residue from whatever was attached there.

"Looks like an envelope was attached there." Kate remarks as she points to the spot. "Looks like whoever took it was in a hurry. Do you think that there may be prints?"

"All we can do is hope." Rick responds. He carries the empty drawer with him to where the CSI team was still examining the crime scene and asks one of the techs to check it for prints and let him know if they find anything.

The drive back to the precinct was spent in silence for the most part. They would each offer a theory on the murder while the other would critique it for obvious flaws. They had grown to work together this way and took no offense when their partner pointed out the flaw in their theories. No idea, no matter how outrageous was immediately dismissed and sometimes it helped them to look at things from a new perspective. This time, none of their theories would synch up with evidence already found.

Upon arrival at the twelfth, the two made their way to the bullpen while looking to see if Montgomery was in his office. They could see that he was on the phone with someone and judging by how he was reacting, was having an argument. They sat down at their desks and began the process of documenting what they had discovered about the crime scene for their report. Rick starts to prepare the whiteboard for the timeline, filling in what pieces that he could.

Ryan approaches the two and begins to speak. "Looks like our victim used to be a personal assistant in the DA's office up until her boss resigned to go into politics."

"So who did she work for?" Kate inquires.

"Senator William H Bracken." Ryan replies. "She was with him nearly a decade, but quit the same day he left the job to run for office." He adds.

"Did you talk to anyone in the DAs office about them?" Rick asks.

"Not yet, but I've got a few contacts over there." Ryan answers.

Rick and Kate return their attention to the murder board, not noticing the approach of a grim faced Roy Montgomery. "Detectives, what have you got?"

"Victim was Mary Ellen Robbins, forty four years old. Cause of death was a single gun shot wound to the base of her skull, execution style. It appears that she had been tortured before she was killed as several of her fingers had been dislocated." Kate replies flatly.

Rick had been looking at their captain as Beckett relayed the facts to him. The way he reacted to the victim's name indicated that he knew her although his facial expression quickly returned to that of calm indifference. "It appears that the victim used to work in the DA's office for William Bracken. Do you know him? He was gone before I joined the force." Rodgers comments.

"Yeah, I knew of him." Roy replies. "He was an up and comer, had his sights set on politics. If you get anything else, let me know."

"Will do captain." Beckett replies as Montgomery quickly turns and walks back to his office. The stoic look that he tried to give the two as he spoke did nothing to mask the fear that was apparent in his eyes.

"Want to bet that Ms Robbins' death is somehow tied to Raglan and McCallister's?" Rick offers his opinion out loud.

"I think you're right. ". Kate replies with a sigh. "It looks like someone is tying up loose ends to anyone involved with Bob Arman's murder. I understand Raglan and McCallister as they were both dirty, but why Robbins?"

"That's what we have to find out."

The rest of their shift was spent checking into the background of the victim. Ryan and Espo returned from their visit to the DA's office and relayed what they learned. It appeared that Ms Robbins was a model employee and had spent her entire tenure working for Bracken. There was nothing to indicate that she had anything other than a professional relationship with the senator, but no one knew anything about her private life and she made no real friends there.

Both Rodgers and Beckett kept a surreptitious eye on Montgomery's office as they worked. He had kept his door closed the entire afternoon, an unspoken way of saying that he didn't want to be disturbed. That was a sure sign that something was amiss as he made a point of always being available. Those that did try to speak to him that afternoon were dealt with quickly and sent on their way.

Without saying anything to the other, both began to wonder just how big a target had been painted on them by Raglan's meeting with them. They could only hope that they could get this wrapped up as quickly as possible, yet neither felt as confident at that moment.

Kate glances at the picture on her desk of Nathan and smiles. She reverently picks up the picture and puts it inside her desk drawer, feeling that other than her partners, she wasn't sure who she could trust. She looks at the elephant family statue sitting on her desk, a reminder of the happy family that she was once a part of. Her mother's favorite memento which she had kept on her desk in her office.

Beckett picks up the sculpture and strokes it with her fingers, examining the intricate details. She notices evidence that the figurine had been broken and glued back together. It was such a good repair that she had never noticed before. She considers hiding it away in her drawer also as her phone rings, startling her. She releases the statue and it falls back to her desk, her face aghast, sure that it would break. Kate releases a sigh of relief as the figurine bounces on the desk, still intact. Kate did hear something rattle inside as it hit the desktop. She picks it up and shakes it by her ear listening closely. Sure enough, there was something loose inside.

Rodgers had been sneaking glances at his partner the entire time and knew exactly what she was feeling at the moment. He smiled as he watched her look at her son's picture and knew that she felt the same way about him that he did for Alexis. Rick knew that the elephant family statue belonged to her mother, but had no idea of its significance to her. The sound of her phone must have startled her from her thoughts and he watches as the figurine falls to the desk, helpless to intervene. He shares her sigh of relief as he sees that it didn't break, but is puzzled by her lifting the sculpture to hear ear and shaking it.

"Something wrong?" Rick inquires as Kate continues to inspect the figurine in her hand.

"Sounds like I knocked something loose inside it when I dropped it." Kate replies as she traces her fingernail over the before unnoticed repair mark. "It sounds like something fairly large."

"Maybe it's just some part of the internal structure that broke loose." Rodgers offers.

"Maybe." Beckett replies as she carefully places the elephant family statue back on her desk.

The team of detectives worked the Robbins case past their normal shift change, frustrated that they could find nothing in the victim's past that would have brought her to the end that she met. Everything they discovered about the victim pointed to her being a model citizen; no criminal record, no debts, no unusual financial activity, nothing. Yet whatever she had hidden in her dresser was reason enough for her torture and murder.

Rick decides that they've done all they could for the day and send Ryan and Espo home for the evening. Rodgers had kept an eye on Montgomery's office since he left them hours earlier, distressed by the identity of the victim. Rick had a gut feeling that Robbins murder was somehow tied to deaths of Roy's former partners, Raglan and McCallister. Taking on last look at the murder board, he pushes himself up from his seat and looks at Beckett. "Thought I'd give Roy an update on where we're at with the case. Want to come with me?"

Kate gets up from her chair and follows Rick to Montgomery's office and waits as he knocks on the door. Roy looks up from whatever he was reading and gestures for the two to enter. The two enter his office and Rick closes the door behind him. "Thought I'd give you an heads up that we're leaving for the day." Rodgers flatly states, looking to the captain.

"Where are you at with the case?" Roy questions, never making eye contact.

"Perlmutter confirmed the COD was a single GSW and that she had been tortured before she was shot. Nothing in her financial or personal history to indicate why she would have been killed like this." Rick answers emotionlessly as he tries to read his boss' body language. Not seeing any real reaction, he decides to press on. "When Beckett and I went back to her apartment, we went through it again... found something interesting..."

This piques the interest of Montgomery and now he looks directly at Rick. "What did you find?"

"Nothing. But we did find where it was hidden. It looked like a standard sized envelope had been taped to the bottom of a drawer in her dresser. We sent what we found to the lab to see if there were any fingerprints." Rodgers replies as Beckett watches her partner and the captain closely.

Montgomery frowns at the news and comments as he returns his attention to whatever he was looking at before they entered his office. "Let me know as soon as you find anything." He responds, effectively dismissing the two.

Kate starts for the door and Rick follows, but stops and turns to face his captain. "I have a crazy theory that Ms Robbins death is somehow tied to the deaths of Raglan and McCallister... Like someone is cleaning house... tying up loose ends. Do you have any idea what could have tied all three together? You knew all three of them."

"I really didn't know any of them that well. Keep me posted if you find out anything new. Goodnight detectives."

"Goodnight sir." Kate replies as both she and Rick leave his office. The two walk back to their desks and gather up their personal belongings before leaving the precinct. They remain silent until they are inside the cruiser.

"He's lying. And he's scared." Beckett offers, breaking the silence. "Your old partner confirmed that Roy worked with those two a lot longer than what he admitted to."

"Somehow, everything seems to tie back to Bob Arman's murder. We need to access the records for that case." Rick replies.

"How are we going to do that without painting an ever larger bullseye on us?" Kate counters.

"I know a guy in Internal Affairs that may be willing to help." Rodgers answers somewhat reluctantly, knowing how mistrustful most cops were of IA. He knew that more evidence than what he had at this moment was needed before confronting his boss.

Beckett gives her partner an apprehensive look and then nods in agreement. She just hoped that his guy could be trusted.