Relationship Matters by InSilva
Disclaimer: don't own things of an Ocean's nature
A/N: still sorry. Also sorry this has taken a while.
Chapter Thirty-seven: Grief
Pain. It could be many things. A dull ache, a sharp stab, a fierce stinging… Right now, as Rusty knelt on the floor, arms wrapped around mutilation and blood and death and emptiness, it was all-out agony, raging through him at full volume, blinding him and taking him away from his very self.
Time had lost meaning. Elastic seconds passed by. Life hung suspended.
A hand shook his shoulder roughly and he turned his head. Rick was there, saying something and Rusty frowned up at him, trying to make sense of the words. It was like listening through cotton wool. He saw exasperation on Rick's face and then out of nowhere, there was a crack and his cheek smarted and he blinked stupidly.
"Rusty! You with me?"
He let out a long shuddery sigh and then the practical took over. Danny.
"Ambulance. Call 911. Keep it short, make it urgent, no names, hang up."
Rick's phone was already in his hand: he nodded and punched numbers.
Carefully, oh, so carefully, Rusty laid Eduardo back down on the floor and scrabbled round to where Danny lay. Danny's eyes were closed and his breathing was fluttery and uneven. Gently, Rusty touched Danny's face, his fingers running lightly over Danny's temple. Danny's eyelashes flickered but his eyes stayed shut.
Overlaying Rick's conversation with the emergency services, there was an intermittent sobbing sound. Felicity was sitting next to Teresa, stroking Teresa's hair, tears running down her cheeks. Teresa…broken and bloody… What a fucking mess… For a moment, Rusty nearly lost it again: he had to force himself to concentrate. Details. Felicity couldn't be here. Felicity mustn't be here.
"They're on their way," Rick said tersely. "You hear that, Danny? You stay with us."
Rusty was on his feet and taking Rick to one side, ignoring the startled look and the argument ready to burst forward from the other man.
"Rick," Rusty began in a low voice, "we need to get Felicity out of here." A vision of Doug Quentin's cash swam in front of his eyes. "Felicity and the money. Too many questions. I'll get the car and-"
"No."
Fierce anger flashed through Rusty. Of all the times for Rick to challenge him.
"I'm not going anywhere, for fuck's sake!"
"It's not- I can-"
"You need to be with Danny!" Rusty hissed. "He's your partner!"
"Rusty, look at yourself," Rick hissed back and he did so.
Blood. Soaked into his clothes. Staining his hands. So much of it, so much blood… Eduardo's blood… Rusty made an involuntary noise of grief.
"Rusty, we don't have time!"
Focus. Focus. He nodded at Rick, threw him the keys to Bessie and crouched down next to Felicity.
"Listen to me, Felicity, we need to get you out of here. The police are going to get involved and there's going to be an investigation. Word gets out there's a witness…"
He didn't complete the sentence. If the men who had done this found out there was a witness, they'd come back. He reached out to take Felicity's hand and then saw the blood on his own fingers and thought better of it.
"You know nothing. You saw nothing. Rick is going to take you for a little drive."
Felicity looked down at the dark hair twining through her fingers.
"You can't help her," Rusty said firmly. "You need to listen to me. I need to keep you safe. Do you understand?"
She gave a trembling nod and her eyes travelled over to Danny.
"Look at me, Felicity." His eyes were clear and full of truth. "I'll stay with him. Now, please."
Still trembling, she got awkwardly to her feet. Rick took her elbow and between them, they walked her swiftly back towards the front door.
"Take her into town." The visions of shops and hotels and streets ran through Rusty's head. "The Imperial. You know the Imperial, Felicity?"
"Yes," she whispered. "It's a very nice hotel."
"Good," Rusty smiled reassuringly at her. "You're doing really well, Felicity, really well."
He switched his attention back to Rick.
"Get her booked in. Use cash. Text me the number of the room. Leave the car at the hotel and the keys with Felicity. Lose the case then get back here as soon as you can. We're friends of Danny's. You caught the bus into town and I went for a long walk. I came back first. I made the call. I called you."
Rick nodded and picked up the case of money that he'd dropped when he came in.
"Rusty…" Rick's face was troubled.
"I'll look after him," he promised. "Now, go. Felicity, I'll come and find you."
The door shut behind them and Rusty returned to Danny's side, sitting down on the floor beside him, reaching out and pressing his hand gently against Danny's face. Danny didn't stir.
"You're not alone," he said and saying it felt ridiculous but important all at the same time. "I'm here and I'm with you. Felicity is safe. Rick and I are keeping her safe."
There was still no response from Danny but Rusty hoped he'd heard it all. Hearing was supposed to be the sense that stayed with you long after the others faded.
His peripheral vision picked up Ed and Teresa and now that the immediate was dealt with, the sea of emotion washed over him again. Ed and the blood and his mouth and he'd lived through so much agony…
A tiny touch of wetness brushed up against his fingers and he looked down through blurry vision at the tear track from Danny's eye.
Oh, Danny…
It was enough to bring him back and Rusty forced himself to think ahead. However much he disliked the fact, he couldn't handle this on his own. He pulled his own phone free and blindly dialled the number.
"Carter? I need your help."
Subliminal images – blood/violation/bones - flashed in front of Rick's eyes as he drove at speed and in silence and in shock, only half aware of Felicity at his side.
The absolute horror at Danny's house. Teresa and the kid dead, Danny as good as. Please God let Danny survive. Please God, please God. And he'd had to leave Danny with Rusty – had to – had to trust his partner to-
He swerved and narrowly avoided a parked car and then slammed his brakes on at the lights. The adrenaline was pumping through him. If he could get his hands on whoever… He thumped his fist into the steering wheel and Felicity jumped.
Felicity.
"What did you see?" he demanded. "What did they look like?"
Felicity's mouth opened and closed like a fish struggling for breath.
"I didn't see anyone," she faltered eventually. "Danny pushed me in the cupboard…"
She gulped hard and tailed off into little tearless sobs of breath. Rick thumped the wheel again. Someone behind them sounded its horn and Rick snarled and threw the car into gear, pulling away.
By the time they'd reached the Imperial, Rick had got his cool back. Dump Felicity, hide the case and get back to Danny. He looked at Felicity, white-faced beside him.
"Come on. Let's get you inside."
The nice girl on reception had handed her a room key and Rick had near enough grabbed her hand, looked at the number on the key and then left her without a word.
Felicity understood why, of course.
…get back here as soon as you can...
And Rick would want to. Whatever else Rick was, he was Danny's friend.
She'd walked in a dream to the room and now she was sat on the bed, staring at the closed door and trying to push away the sounds, trying to push away the screams. She wondered if she'd ever manage it.
Doug Quentin's money was hidden and the cab he was sitting in was going far too slowly for his liking. He needed to get back to Danny's house. To the blood and the bodies…
Teresa. Arms that had wrapped round him, lips that he'd kissed, that had kissed him… Rick bit back on a moan. Teresa was gone and he'd never hold her again.
The kid was gone too and he supposed that at least their little secret had died with him. Danny wouldn't be finding out that little nugget of information.
Danny…in all the time he'd known him, in the handful of times Danny had been at the wrong end of fists and feet, Rick couldn't ever remember seeing Danny so close to death, hanging on to life with his very fingertips…
"Can't you go any faster?" he demanded harshly and the cab driver put his foot down.
Rusty's memory was sharp and keen. He remembered faces and facts and conversations and comments: sounds and sights and smells and tastes and touch. Even so, the next hour was a blur. Blue flashing lights had arrived and paramedics had moved him out of the way and started working on Danny.
"What's his name?"
"Danny. Danny Ocean."
"Pulse is weak, John."
"OK, Danny? Danny, can you hear me? My name is John and I'm here to help you."
Rick had walked back through the door, fake shock was mixed with the very real pain.
"Oh, my God! Danny? Danny! Look, I'm Rick Goodman and that's my very best friend! Is he going to be OK?"
The blue flashing lights had taken Danny and Rick away. More blue flashing lights had arrived and there had been photos – many photos – and they had removed Ed and Teresa. Uniforms and detectives had stayed and asked questions. Lots of questions.
"Ed and I met ran into Rick and Danny in New York. Danny invited Ed and me back here for a couple of days."
"Ed…?"
"Eduardo di Costa." Grief twisting his face. Ed…
Thoughtful blue eyes looking at him. "And your relationship with Mr di Costa?"
There were no words for a moment and then they fell from his lips.
"My partner."
He saw the detective – Callahan – drawing his own conclusions.
"You know any reason why someone would do something like this?"
"No."
His story was simple and unchanging. Eventually, the interrogation stopped even as the crime scene investigation went on. They'd let him clean himself up and change his clothes.
"Is there somewhere you can stay, sir? Is there someone you want to call?"
"I'll find somewhere in town. Think Danny mentioned the Imperial was a nice place."
"I'll have one of our men drop you off."
"Thanks."
Callahan held his gaze. "We will want to talk to you again. Don't leave town just yet, Mr Ryan."
"Don't intend to."
He'd walked out of the house in a haze and had been taken to the Imperial, climbing out of the cop car and booking himself in. He checked the text that was waiting on his phone and walked straight to Felicity's room where Felicity let him in with a watery smile.
"You OK?" he asked automatically putting a comforting hand on her shoulder and she nodded with forced brightness.
"Danny?" she asked weakly.
"They've taken him to hospital. Rick's gone with him. They've taken Teresa and Ed…"
A vision of Ed lying on a mortuary slab swam in front of Rusty's eyes and the hand on Felicity's shoulder became less about comfort and more about support.
"Come and sit down," Felicity suggested and he found himself in an easy chair with a miniature whisky from the mini-bar pressed into his hand.
"Thanks," he said softly and she smiled.
"You were busy taking care of everyone back there. You need someone to take care of you."
His face twisted into pain before he could help himself and then just as quickly, the pain was pushed away. Emotion was not helping. Emotion never helped.
"Felicity, this isn't going to be an easy thing to ask-"
"You want to know what happened," she interrupted and the gratitude at her understanding flashed into his eyes.
"It's important," he said gently. "Please can you tell me everything you remember."
Rick sat beside Danny in the back of the ambulance, willing him to hang on to life, willing him to stay whole. He needed Danny whole. He needed Danny's mind, sharp and focused and brilliant. He wanted Danny, charming and charismatic at his side, full of clever cons and comments.
For a little over two and a half years, Danny had been missing. Rick had visited, Rick had been at the other end of a phone, Rick had kept in touch even as he'd worked (nothing special, nothing lucrative), even as he'd looked after Teresa (in every sense). Danny had been missing but it was a temporary state of affairs.
He didn't want to lose Danny.
The story fell out of Felicity in little pieces and unthinking, Rusty reached over and held her hand as she spoke, her voice full of tremble that she was doing her best to master.
Teresa upstairs and changing, Danny answering the phone (his call to Danny…all the time they'd been waiting for Doug Quentin, all the time he'd been humouring Doug and telling him the story…), Danny pulling her upright and hiding her and saving her…
"There were five or six of them, I think," Felicity said. "Tony was the man in charge. He sat down in front of the cupboard. A man named Nelson took Teresa…" she swallowed and he squeezed her hand. "Took Teresa upstairs. And there was a man called Lloyd…"
They were looking for Danny and Rick. Something that had happened recently. Something involving someone called Alisha…
"Alisha." Rusty's throat was dry. "You're sure?"
Felicity nodded.
The men had held and hurt Danny and then Eduardo had arrived and they'd wondered if he was Rick.
"Tony told them Perry Grafham…Perry Grafham?" He nodded confirmation. "Perry said that Rick was blond. Tony told them to tie Eduardo up in the kitchen but he…he insisted he was Rick." She frowned at Rusty. "I don't understand. Why would he try to protect Rick?"
Rusty didn't answer because he could picture Ed walking through the door and he could see the sequence flashfiring through Ed. They were looking for Rick…Rick was blond…so was Rusty…
He must have lost himself for a moment, overwhelmed by the realisation, because Felicity was grasping his hand tightly and whispering words of reassurance.
"I'm OK," he gasped and downed the whisky. "I'm OK," he said again and his voice was stronger and the lie was firmer.
His phone rang and brought him back to himself.
"It's Rick." His voice was empty and hollow. "Just to let you know Danny's in surgery. They say it's going to be a while."
Rick sounded as if he was only just holding it together. Rusty empathised.
"I'm with Felicity. I'll be with you shortly."
"We will be with you," Felicity corrected as he hung up and the gleam in her eye told him he was not to correct her.
"Felicity, I'm trying to keep you out of this-"
"Tell them you bumped into me and told me-"
"The police will be watching the hospital-"
"I want to come," she said defiantly and then her face crumpled. "Please. I don't want to be on my own."
Bessie took them to the hospital and to Rick, tense and angry and pacing in the friends and relatives' room.
"How's he doing?" Rusty asked.
"They rushed him in." Rick's tone was unsurprisingly strained and he looked fit to explode. "They haven't told me a fucking thing-" Rick broke off as a harried man in a white coat arrived.
"Mr Goodman?" he asked, scanning his clipboard. "You're Mr Ocean's next of kin?"
"No. Mr Ocean's next of kin is unable to be here right now owing to the fact that she's fucking dead!"
Man in White Coat took a step back and Rusty stepped in quickly, moving in between them.
"Please excuse Mr Goodman, we've been through a great deal today. Mr Ocean is a very close friend. Please let us know how he is."
Words floated through the air. Internal injuries and bleeding inflicted by heavy blows and kicks, both legs stamped on broken, right arm stamped on and broken, jaw broken…
"They're clean breaks," said Man in White Coat. "It'll help healing."
Emergency operations, plaster casts, pins and wires and reconstruction… Six weeks minimum for bones to set and knit…
The man finished and there was a silence.
"He's fighting," the man said brightly as if it helped. "That's a good sign."
"Sir?"
Callahan was looking at the bag of teeth that had been picked up from the front step. Sadistic bastards whoever had done this. From the look of the two bodies, they'd used fists and feet and knives and enjoyed it. Straightforward, vicious and fatal. More than one sadistic bastard, that was obvious enough.
"Sir?"
"What is it, Holt?"
The man held up a coffee cup in his gloved fingers.
"This was in the cupboard under the stairs."
Callahan looked at the cup, half-full of liquid, fresh enough to have been made today.
"Well, unless Mr or Mrs Ocean serves drinks in unusual places, we might just be looking for a witness."
It was evening and Danny had been in surgery for a couple of hours now. Felicity had curled up awkwardly on the couch and had fallen into a light doze, traumatic exhaustion running over her face. Rusty glanced over at her and then at Rick.
"I'm going to make a call about Ed," he said in a low voice and saw Rick's dull lack of interest.
Callahan was still on duty.
"Mr di Costa is still with our forensic team, Mr Ryan."
He'd expected that. Really, he'd expected that. He knew how these things worked.
"Can you- can you tell me anything yet about what happened to him?"
There was a silence at the other end of the phone.
"Maybe we should meet up. Can you swing by the station?"
Leaving the hospital was hard. He didn't want to leave Felicity unprotected but he told himself she was with Rick at least. He didn't want to leave without news on Danny but he got Rick to promise to phone him if there was any.
Callahan led him into a little interview room and Rusty reminded himself that he wasn't there as a suspect. At least… Callahan smiled at him and there was genuine sympathy and genuine wariness and genuine suspicion. Rusty supposed the latter was to be expected.
"Mr di Costa died from a stab wound to the heart. Before he died, he suffered several serious injuries."
No shit. Ed, suffering so much...trying to keep him safe – him safe – and living a lie as he died. He wondered if Danny had realised why Ed had lied. Whether Danny thought it was to protect Rick. He thought about the bastards who had done this and whether they were off for a beer and a pizza, joking about Ed and Teresa and Danny...all in a day's work...
Too late, he felt the cool blue gaze on him again and he wondered how much he'd given away.
Callahan wasn't sure what to make of Ryan. He'd asked for sheets to be pulled on all four men and Ocean was the only one with a record. Drugs record at that. Callahan's nose had wrinkled. He despised the men who dealt in white powder and pills.
Ryan was clean. So were the other two. And Ryan seemed truly distraught about his boyfriend. Still…Ryan was the first on the scene. Ryan was the man who'd made the call to 911. Ryan could have been hiding in the cupboard all along. Maybe he knew more than he was saying. Maybe he knew a lot more. There was just something about him…
"We'll need to keep Mr di Costa and Mrs Ocean a while longer before we can release them, I'm afraid."
Ryan nodded and again, Callahan could see the disjoint between the stiffness in his face and the wildness in his eyes. And that could be grief, could be sorrow. It hit people in different ways. But there was just something slightly off. Like Ryan was playing a part. He didn't think Ryan was directly responsible for the deaths. The three victims hadn't been tied up or restrained and Callahan couldn't think that they'd sit quietly and let Ryan attack them, even if Ryan looked halfway capable of the physical injuries involved. But people died more often than you'd think at the hands of someone they knew. Ryan could have been part of it. He'd certainly got enough blood on him when they'd found him.
In his mind's eye, Callahan imagined brutish men carrying out Ryan's instructions as Ryan looked on dispassionately. Possible, possible... He smiled again pleasantly. A good cop.
"You mind going over the sequence of events again for me, Mr Ryan? While it's all still fresh?"
The questioning was soft and gentle and relentless. Like a tap dripping and Rusty was finding himself worn down in spite of himself. Fuck it, hadn't he been through enough today? Hadn't he been through joy and heartache within hours of each other? He forced himself to concentrate. He couldn't misstep. Not when there was Felicity's safety at stake.
"I walked back through the door-"
"This was after your walk along the beach?"
"Yes. I'd taken a walk along the beach and then I came back to the house. I trod on something." Crunchy, horrific… "When I opened the door, there was so much blood." Blood everywhere, it had seemed.
"And you went into the living area?"
"Yes. I saw Danny first. And then I saw Teresa and Ed…" He tailed off and swallowed hard.
Another cop came in and handed Callahan a piece of paper and Rusty saw Callahan's eyebrows rise. The man would be useless at poker. Except that maybe he meant Rusty to see that and think that. In which case, he'd be excellent.
"Do go on, Mr Ryan."
"I... I've said all this before, Detective. I held Ed. I checked on Danny. I called 911."
"Mmm. What did you say?"
Fuck. The 911 call. They weren't interested in what he said. What he said wasn't important. What was important was... He took a deep breath.
"I don't really remember what I said. Told them to send an ambulance. Told them to hurry, I guess. Weird thing was, I couldn't find my phone. I mean it was in my pocket but I couldn't find it."
Callahan's gaze was gimlet-sharp and Rusty knew he was right.
"What did you do?"
"Rick had left his phone on the side. I used that."
"You have Rick's phone with you?"
"No, I gave it back to him at the hospital."
Callahan stared at him hard and then the damn smile was back in place. Not a sinister smile, not a vicious smile, just a professional good cop smile that spoke of tenacity and tracking down a lie.
"Well, I'm sure Mr Goodman can verify that."
Mr Goodman could. If Mr Goodman knew what he had to verify. Rusty sighed inside. Stupid, stupid, stupid error to make. To be caught out in. Why hadn't he used his own phone? And what if Rick hadn't deleted the text with Felicity's room number? Callahan looked like he might just be able to work that one out. Fuck. He kept his expression tired and drained. It wasn't hard.
"Will this take much longer, Detective Callahan?"
"No, Mr Ryan. If we can just go over things one more time..."
"I'm really tired. And I'd like to check on Danny."
"It'll only take a moment."
The moment took forever and his head started to hurt. No, he hadn't met Danny before New York. No, he hadn't had an argument with Eduardo. Yes, he had walked along the beach. Why? He liked walking along beaches.
"Your partner's lying dead, Mr Ryan. I need all the cooperation I can get from you to find out why."
"Detective-"
"Don't you want to find out who did this? Don't you want them to face justice?"
Yes and yes. Actually, he wanted them to face a very slow and painful death and even then, that wouldn't be enough.
"Tell me again about the 911 call. You couldn't find your phone-"
The door burst open suddenly and Callahan straightened up, real surprise on his face.
"Sir?"
"Let him go, Callahan."
"Sir, with all due respect-"
"I said let him go."
Callahan didn't want to; that much was obvious.
"I feel I need to ask a few more questions, sir-"
"Something wrong with your hearing, Callahan?"
"No." Resigned. "No. Nothing."
"Good. Mr Ryan, this gentleman here will see you out."
Callahan's commanding officer stepped aside and Rusty saw a man in a suit with authority written all over him. Conflicting emotions ran through him. On the one hand, he was glad to be on the move. On the other, this man looked like he was another level up from Callahan. In every regard. The man was looking at him with an unblinking gaze.
"My men are in charge now, Mr Ryan." The man's voice was soft and yet terrifyingly in charge. "If you care to step this way, I'll just take a few details."
Damn it, Rusty hated being right. He felt like glaring at Callahan and yelling at him for...for something. He was tired. Instead, he gave a little shrug and got to his feet and followed the man out.
"Sir, I have to protest. This is my case and there's something about the 911 call and Ryan is-"
"Ryan is not our concern, Callahan. Neither is the case. Feds have caught it."
"But-"
"Look. Some guy that deals in drugs is gonna get whacked at some point. Over territory, over payment, who knows? I don't much care about villains that want to fight amongst themselves. I'm sorry for the kid and I'm sorry for the girl. Typical, isn't it, that the guy who deserves it all is the one who survives."
Callahan ran a hand over his mouth. If he could just make his boss see...
"There was a witness. Holt found a coffee cup in the cupboard under the stairs. Someone was in there and heard the whole thing. I think it might be Ryan."
"You sure? You looked like you were giving him your version of the third degree."
"Well, it's possible he's caught up in it somehow. If he's not giving the orders then I really think he might have been in that cupboard. Sir, he knows something, I'm sure of it."
There was a pause and Callahan watched his boss chewing over his words.
"I'll tell the Feds. In the meantime, you let this go. We got more important things to worry about than making things right for a lousy drug dealer like Ocean. If there was any justice in the world, he wouldn't make it through to morning."
The silence lasted till the elevator. The corridor around them was empty and the car arrived and it was empty and Mr Imposing stepped inside and suddenly accompanying him didn't seem such a good plan to Rusty. He stayed where he was.
"I prefer the stairs."
His finger jammed on the button that held the doors open, Mr Imposing gave him a searching look.
"You're Saul Bloom's kid."
What?
"Yeah..."
"Get in the goddamned elevator."
He did as he was told. The doors closed and he stared at Mr Imposing.
"Bobby Caldwell. Friend of Carter's."
Oh, the world made so much more sense.
"Carter...is he...?"
"He sends his best. He's on his way and he should be here soon. You caught him away from home." The man's face softened. "I'm sorry I couldn't get you out of there any quicker. Took me a while to sort things out."
"The police..." Rusty said. "They're-"
"They're not interested anymore. Case is handed over to my team."
"Your team?" He frowned.
Bobby flashed him a brief smile that said it wasn't the first time he'd had to explain and it wouldn't be the last.
"My team. I really am FBI."
Wow. Rusty blinked.
"Yeah," Bobby smiled again and the smile was warmer. "I get that a lot."