Rodgers POV

I walked through the squad room, keeping an eye out for Detective Eames, but I didn't see her so I went into Danny's office.

"Liz! What are you doing here?" he asked. He came around the desk and gave me a kiss on the cheek. It wasn't his normal behavior in the office, but it was pretty late. There weren't many people around and his blinds were closed.

"I was looking for Detective Eames. Is she still around?"

"I think she and her partner are still interrogating our suspects we arrested this evening. She should be done soon. Is it something I can pass on to her?"

"I got her lab results back. I'll just wait if you don't mind."

"Of course not."

I sat down in one of his visitor's chairs and looked around the office. I didn't come in here very often, so I enjoyed the opportunity to take it all in. I noticed a handgun lying out on his desk.

"You leave your gun on your desk?"

"It's not mine," he replied. "It's Goren's."

"Why?"

"He killed a suspect tonight. IAB will investigate. It's the second one he's killed in a couple of months."

"I know. You told me. You also told me you were there and that he had no choice. And it was videotaped. There's still going to be an IAB investigation?"

"It's standard procedure," he told me, still using his police captain voice. I wasn't buying it.

"Isn't it also standard procedure for a captain's word to be good enough in a situation like this? There were half a dozen witnesses and video surveillance. Detective Eames was almost killed for God's sake."

"Liz. Stay out of this," he said calmly.

"Normally, I would. But you can't seem to remain professional when it comes to Detective Goren," I accused.

Goren had been the root of many of our fights over the past several days. Hell, the past few weeks. But Danny was wrong, and I was going to keep at it until he admitted it.

He didn't take my bait though. Instead, he opened up a file on his desk and started doing paper work. I sighed and got up, moving closer to his desk and nudging my hip up to sit along the edge.

"What is it, Danny?"

"What is what?"

"You know what I'm talking about. And you need to get if off your chest. You're going to lose your best detectives if you can't get over this. If you run him away, Eames will go, too. You know that."

He sat back in his chair and threw his pen on his desk.

"Why are you pushing this?"

"Because I like him. And you're not treating him fairly. And that's not like you."

"It's just…he's just…he's arrogant."

"So are you."

"He thinks he's smarter than everyone else."

"So do you."

"He thinks rules don't apply to him."

"I'm sensing a pattern here."

"Liz, I'm serious."

"So am I. You don't like him because he's too much like you. Two alpha dogs in the pack. You need to get over it. You're the boss."

"That's right. And he has no respect for that."

"Maybe because you've never given him any cause."

"Why are you taking up for him?"

"Why aren't you?"

He opened his mouth to reply, but then nothing came out. I had him. He knew I was right. He might not like it, but he knew it. I backed off a little.

"You're a good captain, a good man." He sighed again and looked up at me.

"It's just that…Moran..."

"Moran? He's a pompous ass-kisser who isn't qualified to make coffee. How does he play into this?"

"Liz, he's my boss."

"Okay. That doesn't mean he's not a jackass. It just means he's a schmoozing jackass who screwed over the right people. Now tell me."

"Moran told me that Goren slept with Nancy."

"What? Your ex?"

"Yeah. Before she was my ex."

"Detective Goren would never do that."

"That's exactly what Mike Logan said."

"You told Logan?"

"Just a little while ago. He cornered me, too. Apparently everyone thinks I treat him badly."

"You do."

He narrowed his eyes and gave me a hard stare, but I wasn't about to back down. I was getting to the heart of the matter now.

"I can understand that you believed Moran at the time. You didn't know Goren, and you needed someone to be the focus of your anger and frustration. It was easier to blame him than blame Nancy since you still have to deal with her. But it's wrong, Danny."

"I had a feeling…" he admitted, putting his head down in his hands. I waited.

"When Goren was on suspension and the chief wanted him to go undercover. It was dangerous and the chief wouldn't let him tell Eames about it. I thought maybe at the time that he hoped Goren might get killed. Or that he would turn bad. At the very least, he wanted Eames to request a new partner."

"And it didn't occur to you then that maybe Moran is the one with the vendetta against Goren? Hell, maybe Moran slept with Nancy."

"Liz!"

"I'm just saying…Moran is the one gunning for him. And he's pulled you into it. He's using you to do his dirty work, to try to get him out of here."

"What am I supposed to do about this now?"

"You need to fix this. And you need to fix it soon, or you're going to find yourself short two Major Case detectives. Because if he goes, she goes."

"Well, yeah. There's that, too," he said. And I knew where he was going. "They're together. You know it. I know it. And I can't ignore it."

"Yes you can."

"I'm supposed to pretend that they're not breaking the rules."

"You feel more loyalty to Moran than you do them? He lied to you and let you act like an ass to Goren for all these years. They've done nothing but make this department look good."

"You really want me to look the other way?"

"Yes. Until someone flat out tells you about it, then yes."

Bobby POV

It was Jocelyn Moser. Maybe. With the way this case was going, I wasn't going to say anything with any certainty.

But another search had turned up that she volunteered at a veterinary clinic twice a week. She would've had access to the ketamine. Sherman would've wanted to protect her.

And Tommy…well, maybe she was letting failed drug tests slip through the cracks some times. Maybe he was indebted to her somehow. It was iffy, but it was possible.

But the bottom line was that we had to get to her house. If it was her, and she realized that the rest of her gang had been picked up, then she was likely cleaning up shop and getting the hell out. And the fact that she'd moved the money made it a safe bet that she knew.

I knew Ross wasn't going to be happy about this latest turn of events. I was still feeling over-protective of Alex after her ordeal this evening, so I volunteered my own head for the chopping block.

"Captain," I said, walking into Ross' office with uncharacteristic disregard for knocking. I just wanted to get the ass-chewing over with.

Rodgers was sitting on his desk and they were deep in conversation. Well, at least it was only conversation I was interrupting. And I would no longer have fantasies about doing anything else on Ross' desk.

"I'm sorry to interrupt," I said quickly, nodding at Liz. "It's Jocelyn Moser. Sherman's wife. We think maybe she's involved. We've got to get out there and talk to her."

"She's in on this?"

"We think so. It fits. Eames and I are going out there now."

"With Logan and Barek?"

"They're going to take Luka Milofksy back to Brooklyn and keep an eye on him. He's saying that cops from the 6-9 are harassing him and stealing his stash."

"You can't bump that to the local precinct?"

"Not when we don't know for sure who all is involved. They'll just watch. No guns, no arrests, just recon."

"Okay," he agreed. I bit back the rest of my convincing argument. He agreed already?

"Go, go. And here," he added, holding out my gun to me. "You're cleared. Take it."

I was in complete shock at his gesture. He wasn't going to argue with me about Logan and Barek. He wasn't going to jump on me for missing the possible connection of Jocelyn Moser. And he was going to make a statement on my behalf to quash the IAB investigation?

"Goren, take your weapon and go. Call if you need back-up."

I took my gun and holstered it and then looked at Liz. She had a medical report in her hand.

"Eames?" I asked, waving my hand in the direction of the report. She nodded and handed it to me.

"Can you give it to her?"

"Yeah, sure. Thank you," I said, keeping her eye for a second. She had to be the reason for all of this. Ross just didn't want to look like a dick in front of his wife.

I hustled out of Ross' office. I caught Logan's eye from across the room and gave him a thumbs-up. He and Carolyn headed off to holding to get Luka. I rounded the corner to the elevators where Eames was waiting, pushing the down button repeatedly.

"Ross is good?" Alex asked me.

"Yeah. He…uh…he gave me my weapon back. And he called me by name."

"Well it's about damn time," she muttered.

"Here's your lab results," I told her, handing her the piece of paper. "Rodgers was in with Ross." I watched as Alex scanned the report quickly and then a smile went across her face. The elevator arrived and we got in.

"It's all good?"

"All good." The elevator doors closed and we were alone. With no cameras. I grabbed her quickly and held on tight for all eleven floors.

Once in the parking garage, Alex held out her hand for the keys.

"Didn't Logan say something about a twenty-four hour rule?"

"Bobby. Give me the damn keys," she said, but her smirk gave her away. I was glad to see she was back in full feisty mode, so I held them out to her and she grabbed them up.

We drove quickly out to Long Island. If Jocelyn was involved, and she was able to escape, we may never find her. She had money stashed all over the world. So we were relieved when we got to the house and there were lights on. And a car idling in the driveway. And the front door was open.

"Not a minute too soon," Alex said softly as we got out of the car. She drew her weapon, and so did I. We had no idea what to expect here.

We got to the open front door, and called out.

"Jocelyn Moser! It's the NYPD!"

Silence.

"Door's open, but there's no answer. She could be our suspect or a victim. I think that means we get to go in," Alex said.

"Let's call for back-up and then check it out."

She nodded at me and placed the call. Then I pushed the door all the way open and we stepped inside.

The foyer was large with a cathedral ceiling. A chandelier sparkled from high overhead. A staircase was on the right and there were rooms to the left.

"I'll go up," she said quietly as she approached the stairs. She eased up the stairs and I made my way through the rooms on the main floor. We were still in complete silence, but the closer I got to the back of the house I began to smell an odor. It was sweet and the source was escaping me.

I went around a corner and ran into Jocelyn Moser. Or rather, she ran into me. With a baseball bat.

She caught me in the leg with a homerun swing by a Louisville Slugger, and then followed it up with a check-swing to the face. I staggered backwards from the force of the blows and slammed into the wall.

"You're too late," Jocelyn said. "This place is going up."

Believe it or not, while all of this was happening, my mind was still playing guessing games with the unidentified smell.

"Ethyl chloride," I muttered, my brain finally locking on the answer. I was amazed I could think anything at all.

But as I said it, Jocelyn clicked open a lighter and tossed it into the kitchen. They room was instantly alight. Jocelyn raced for the patio doors, but I couldn't run after her. My leg was refusing to cooperate.

"Eames!" I shouted. The kitchen was in full blaze now, and I was close enough to it to feel the heat.

"Goren!" It was Eames, and I could hear her thundering down the stairs as I stumbled closer to the front of the house.

"She went out the side! Go get her!"

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine! Go! Go!"

She paused only a millisecond before heading out the patio doors.

TBC...