Chapter 37: The Other Side of the Looking Glass
They arrived back at the precinct a few minutes after Hawkes and Jason, a few minutes before Mike and Joey, just as Don had planned. There were formalities to go through, introductions to be made, people to contact for meetings. Danny took Lindsay to their office while all that was done; he could see by the bruises under her eyes that she was almost finished, and the day was not nearly over yet.
He said, "Lindsay, why don't you curl up on the couch and try to sleep a few minutes?"
"Are you crazy?" She refused almost angrily.
He started to step back, but suddenly she turned to him and buried her head in his chest, holding onto him so tightly he could hardly breathe. In relief, he wrapped his arms around her and held on, murmuring meaningless reassurances and loving words in her ear. He coaxed her over to the couch, and sat down, pulling her into his lap and holding her until her breathing steadied. He didn't think she was crying; perhaps she had no tears left. But whatever comfort he could offer was hers for the taking, and at that moment, just holding her seemed to be enough.
When Stella came to get them, Danny shook Lindsay gently, kissing her on the top of her head. "Hey," he said quietly, "You ready to go?"
"I'd rather stay here," she admitted under her breath.
"So would I; well, actually, at home in our bed would be better. But as Flack said, Montana, let's finish this. I want our life back." He kissed her again, on the lips this time, and felt the heat that always simmered between them warming up the surface. "I want our life back."
She swung herself off his lap and smiled a little uncertainly at Stella. "How are you doing? Long day? Did Mac go home?"
Stella shook her head. "He slept in the break room. He knew he'd just get called back in. I guess he heard from Captain Johnston again; your brothers are AWOL. Johnston's not too happy."
Lindsay stopped in surprise. Going absent without leave was not the way the Grays usually did things. Respect for authority was drummed into all of them growing up, and all the boys had seemed to inherit that respect without analyzing it. To leave the job without permission was unusual; to leave the state on any kind of investigation without official sanction was unheard of.
Danny put his hand on her back, urging her forward. It didn't take an expert in Gray family history to know that the boys had broken pattern by showing up here. He was as anxious as Lindsay to find out what was going on. Obviously, the story was not finished yet.
Stella took them to a conference room instead of to Mac's office; the group was getting too large. The Grays, Don, and Hawkes were already there, filling in an incident board with dates, pictures, and details. Lindsay sat down when she saw the centre picture of Rod Strangways: his official photo in captain's uniform, then his mug shot, then a photo taken on the street, obviously after he was released. He had that recognizable jail-house pallor, scruffy, dirty brown hair, and a little unhealthy weight gain.
Mac looked at Danny, who nodded in confirmation. "As far as I can tell without seeing him move, that's the guy who was following Montana."
The brothers shared broad grins at the nickname. Lindsay glared at them, but refrained from saying anything. Mike spoke up, taking charge as naturally as Mac usually did.
"This, as I gather you know, is Rod Strangways, former Captain of the Montana State Crime Lab. Just over three years ago, he was convicted of corruption; the complete files have been sent to you. As you all know by now, the chief investigating and arresting officer was Detective Lindsay Gray, now Messer."
Lindsay looked up sharply. Was that pride she heard in Mike's voice?
He continued, "Through a solid investigation, Detective Gray apprehended or assisted in the apprehension of fifteen officers of the Montana State Police force who were involved in prostitution rings, drug trafficking, you name it, while using their office and badges to evade the law. It was a spectacular piece of work, and naturally, it left the police force in complete disarray. The captain of the Crime Lab went down. So did several key players including our oldest brother. Basically, the leadership was in a mess. It took forever to get things under control: hundreds of current investigations were compromised; months – no – years of work had to be re-done by officers and technicians who were in the clear." Mike stopped a minute, shaking his head at the memory.
Jason spoke up, "In other words, it was a complete shit pile, and Dad and Mike were under it digging out."
Don grinned a little at the description. Thanks to Mac, he'd spent some time under a very similar pile of fecal matter. Sometimes, he could still smell it sticking to him.
Mike nodded, "After most of the immediate mess was cleared up, Dad was called in to supervise the lab. The investigation had completely cleared him, even though both his son and his best friend, Ralph Stroschein, were involved and eventually convicted. Management felt it would give people some confidence if Evan Gray was put in charge – show that everyone trusted the process and knew the right people had been stopped."
Hawkes interrupted this time. "I guess the right of management to mis-manage is an inalienable one, eh?"
Mike nodded again, acknowledging of Hawkes' understanding. "Exactly. It was a complete and utter balls-up. First of all, Dad is a great cop, don't get me wrong, but he has no idea about forensics or how to run a lab. Second, lots of people didn't trust him, and having management tell them to was hardly the vote of confidence he needed."
"Third," Joey jumped in, "Dad can be a stiff-necked prick when he likes. The lab was hurting; they needed some time. He did worse than not give it to them; he blamed them for not seeing the problem earlier."
"It took about six months for management to recognize and fix the error." Mike carried on. "Dad was moved to another department, and I was promoted to head the Montana Crime Lab."
Lindsay smiled widely at that. "I knew you could do it."
"Congratulations, Lieutenant Gray. That doesn't explain what you are doing here, though, and without your captain's permission, I might add." Mac's voice was calm, as always, but there was no mistaking the command underneath it.
"Sir, once I had access to the Crime Lab files and the appropriate security clearance, I went digging for information on Lindsay's case. Some of what I am telling you now, we didn't know until a few months ago."
Jason jumped in, "Mike called us in when he started to find information about threats to Lindsay. I contacted Anna Monroe; that was the first we knew about Lindsay changing her name, or moving to New York."
Joey added, "We knew you'd left the state, Lindsay; Dad was told that much. But none of us knew even what state you were in until the wedding invitation came."
Danny looked away from Lindsay for the first time since Mike had started talking, "Yeah. What about that? How come none of you contacted her then?"
Mike grinned at Lindsay, "If you want people to answer, honey, you should put your return address on the envelope."
Lindsay dropped her face into her hands, while everyone in the room chuckled, breaking the tension a little.
"Besides, the invite went to Dad, and it was weeks before he told any of us about it. In fact if Jody hadn't found it in a pile of unpaid bills, we still wouldn't know about it." Jason sighed; his wife had taken to going over to Evan Gray's house about once a week and checking to make sure things were kept up. With no kids left at home, Evan was losing his grip a little on the day-to-day stuff.
"So we were left with a little mystery of our own. Once we knew what name Lindsay was going under, it was easier to find out something about where she was. But we were still being discouraged from contacting her. Mac," Mike turned to the New York detective, "What did you think of Captain Johnston?"
"He was … unhelpful," Mac said cautiously.
"Yeah, that's what we found too. No matter what we thought we were looking for, he would re-direct us. It was clear from the files that I was reading that he had all this information. But he refused to share it with us."
"Even Dad couldn't get a hold of it, Lindsay. The files weren't sent over until Mike had been in the office for nearly a month. They had been 'lost'." Joey made 'rabbit ears' with his fingers around the word lost, indicating how dubious he found that.
Mike turned to his sister, "Lindsay, we never really knew what had happened to you. We were told not to contact you during the trial at all; we didn't even know for sure where you were. We were just told that you were safe, and that trying to find you might put you in danger. Afterwards, no one would tell us any more."
"Johnston told me you had all refused to see me." Lindsay's voice was so quiet she could hardly be heard.
Joey looked at her with a confused mixture of love and hurt, reaching across the table for her hand. "How could you believe that, Linds?"
"How could I not? I took down Uncle Ralph, Joey. It's my fault Tim went to prison. Bethany wouldn't have been hurt if I'd just stayed out of it. I didn't really blame any of you." Lindsay kept telling herself she would not cry.
"It's not your fault, Lindsay." The voice was Don's; he refused to look at Mac or Danny, keeping his eyes on Lindsay. "If they were dirty, it was their responsibility, not yours. Their actions. Their choices."