Notes: I hope this doesn't get confusing. The events leading up the stand against Goren to connect it back and her thoughts at the time. It's a bit choppy and I'm not the happiest with it so I may revisit and re-edit to smooth it out but I felt Eames deserved her own little chapter.
One Police Plaza
Eames stared out in front of her. She had be doing this for more than she'd care to admit, eyeing the empty seat at the accompanied desk. The seat that her partner used to occupy. Now, it stared back as a glaring reminder of his absence. I miss you, Bobby.
"Morning, I hope you had your coffee." Captain Ross shook her of her reverie stepping in front of Goren's desk.
She huffed a big exhausted exhale before quickly shuffling some items into her bag. "I am just finishing up. I'm about to go see my family." I want to get out of here.
Everything reminded her of him and the lack of him. She had been hoping to put that aside and see her nephew and maybe she could if she could just escape before the captain began to speak again. Anything coming out of his mouth other than a holiday greeting could not be good news.
"There's been a shooting in Red Hook. Drug Dealer. Two English tourists.
And there it is. They had talked before her taking on a case with a new partner. She just didn't expect said case to come so fast.
"Anybody out of the picture?" I guess my plans are cancelled. Ugh I'm not feeling up to doing this right now, especially without Bobby.
"All three. You can call your family on the way."
Duty calls. The wonderful benefits package that comes with the being a cop.
Red Hook Crime Scene
The on scene NYPD pointed to the identified drug dealer, "ID on him is Wilson Crawford, 23. Anonymous call of shots fired came in at 11 pm." What a waste! So young and yet how many of these cases came in on the regular. Still, she never got used to it.
"No witnesses?" Eames took a quick glance around, mentally taking notes and considering the varying motives in her head trying each one as a puzzle piece. She thought of the tourists. What did you get yourselves into?
"You mean besides the tourists." She pointed to them identifying them, "A Jerry and Victoria Bennett."
She shook her head. Of course, they must have witnessed something they weren't supposed to and needed to be quieted. Wrong place. Wrong time. "The apple is not supposed to bite back."
"What was that?"
"These tourists probably thought they were going to have a nice time taking in the city but these guys got to them first. What a shame." She shook off her lamenting and directed her focus back to the officer and CSU on the scene. "Do a canvas of the block and the adjoining alleys. I want to know if any of these places were still open at the time of the shooting." She nodded to the officer.
There was a part of her that was secretly glad to get out from doing paperwork. It had been a stubborn protest for her but it had been boring her to tears. She had been itching to get back to part of the work that she loved but she also didn't want them to think she was giving in. Optics mattered especially as a female officer.
if this had happened earlier, she might have been able to enjoy it more. Of course it was never going to be ideal. There's a shorthand with partners and she wasn't going to have that. It made work go excruciatingly slow without it. And well today, she just wanted to be anywhere but here. She still had their fight in the back of her mind and not having Goren personally and professionally was a double blow that she just didn't want to deal with.
"Eames. I'm guessing you find yourself in Red Hook because of the tourists and not the drug dealer." Detective Daniels smiled and extended his hand. At least she was able to work with a familiar face.
"Happy Easter." She commiserated that at least someone else understood her frustration at a lack of attending to holiday plans.
"Where's your partner?"
"Still jumping through NYPD hoops." I guess no one is going to let me forget the lack of Goren's presence but maybe the case can help distract me.
She focused her attention on the third body bloodied and left sprawled out on the pavement, the body previously identified as Wilson Crawford. "Looks like a user."
"And a dealer. 10 grams of coke in his pocket."
That piece of information, she already had but even so that was only part of the puzzle. "Drug deal gone bad?"
He tilted his head slightly dismissing the claim. "Then, why leave the coke on him?"
It didn't fit. I should have came to that conclusion quickly but I can't seem to focus. This is not where I want to be. She hated that things were still so unsettled with Bobby. My attention is split and that isn't fair to the victims.
Goren's approach to beginning a case was a tender and respectful inquisition of the victims. He had been helpful in redirecting her attention to see the person and not just a case. She liked his approach. Often, when working a case, they reminded themselves of the victims and the reason they were investigating the case. She found it especially helpful when the hours were long and each case bled into the next. It was easy to get lost in the grind of it all.
"More likely fighting over territory."
Ah yes simple answer and she didn't need Goren to see that. Let me just get through the day.
"Tourist are collateral damage?"
"Looks that way."
"They never even made it to Manhattan." She huffed out a halfhearted, "Welcome to New York."
Later that day, Cafeteria
"Your partner has been on suspension for 5 months? I didn't think they could keep you out that long," Daniels Spoke with disbelief.
"They can't but they have." she stirred her coffee feeling a bit of anger gnaw at her jaw. On the outside, she just remained matter of fact.
"What the hell did he-" He stopped when he caught her look at him and then reworded his mind's question, "A couple guys upstairs told me he snapped."
"He didn't snap," She corrected. Ah the Rumor Mill alive and well. Why does everyone have to push the agenda that he's crazy?
Then she reminded herself, Goren pushed people. Cops and detectives didn't like being pushed so they found his weak point, his mother. Goren didn't bring her up much but people talked. Clique mentality didn't end at high school and neither did the gossip. It only took one person to bring it up when he felt slighted to ignite everyone's excuse to use it against him.
She took a sip of her coffee and then let it rest between her hands. "He was undercover in a prison psych ward." There. Hopefully, that would be enough to end the conversation. Although all her instincts told her there would be more. Goren was popular to gossip about.
"Rikers?"
Here we go. "No, Tates Corrections."
"Tates that's upstate, how did he jurisdiction for that?"
"He didn't." She smiled and pressed her lips together, "He went in on his own. He had his reasons." She didn't like that he did it that way but in the end she did respect his choice. Donnie was family and she would support her partner.
Content to not talk about her partner anymore, they ate the rest of their lunch with small talk about their plans for the holiday. Plans they would have carried through had they not been working this case.
The Captain required an update. Daniels and Eames brough up a map of the projects in Red Hook, where the three victims were found.
Daniels pointed to an industrial area that was once mob controlled. "Six months ago the Feds arrested several members of the mob"
"Since then, it's been open season. Murder rates way up. Four dealers shot in the past six weeks," Eames continued.
"Lock up the career criminals and you start a turf war," Ross remarked. "Crawford, how's his rap sheet?"
Eames began to fill him in, "Low level drug dealer. Pleads down every time but looks like the last three arrests were with the same partner, Keyshawn Powell who up until two weeks ago was in Rikers."
"Paroled," Ross states happily that they had a lead to work on.
"And we're in luck. He has to see Dr. Lane, his court appointed shrink, twice a week," Eames supplies.
Eames and Daniels set out to catch up with Keyshawn in hopes that he can illuminate what Crawford may have been up to at the time of the shooting. Eames approached the door. She placed her ear close and after hearing what she identified as screams, she nods to her new partner to proceed gun drawn in hand. Upon opening the door, and much to their bewilderment, find the counselor sitting straddling on top of her client gyrating and moving while screaming joyfully, that is until she noticed they were now being watched by two confused NYPD.
This has got to be a joke. One great cosmic joke.
"Did we catch you at a bad time?" She motioned to them to put on their clothes while escorting them to the precinct for questioning. She had no qualms about interrupting their unethical romp in the office.
One Police Plaza, Interrogation Room
"My life's good on parole, Now."
"Apparently," Eames quipped.
"Dr. Lane has been helping me."
Helping you? Yeah, I bet. He must have thought he hit the jackpot. "My guess is she's gonna be taken off your case."
"That's on her. I was seduced. Make sure that goes in the file."
"Your partner Wilson Crawford was executed last night," Eames attempted to steer the case back onto the task at hand. She had enough talk about his blossoming sex life.
Daniels slides over a picture of his corpse for Keyshawn to see to further illustrate the point. This wasn't a laughing matter, and he needed to see that.
"Don't do that. I heard what happened to him."
"What gang was working for?
"Gang? Wilson nah. You work for a gang, you have to work. Wilson just dealt enough to keep himself supplied.
"This is your friend who was murdered." Why was he being so cavalier about this, wouldn't he want his killer to be caught?
"Like you care about Wilson. This is about them tourists, right."
She was knocked back. He was right. If the tourists weren't killed, Crawford wouldn't be a blip on our radar. "Anything you can give us…"
"I don't know what he was doing in Red Hook. Wilson was a ghetto bird. That dude was never more than a shout from his apartment."
The therapist swore up and down that this was the first time she broke ethical guidelines and that Keyshawn was special. She swore that her assessment of Keyshawn was that he was improving and making great strides at rehabilitation. Eames read between the lines that she was embarrassed and trying to save face now that her husband was brought in.
"They make a swell couple." Eames remarked ready to tie up this case and just have a break for herself. She had been holding a lot together ever since Goren received his suspension and hadn't had time to process it all and carve out some time of her own which is partly why they had their recent fight.
Ross informs of a recent statement from Dr. Lane's husband. "Her husband's not too thrilled but she does alibi Keyshawn the night of the murder. It turns out they had a six hour emergency session that night."
She scoffs in disbelief. Great remind me of all the sex I'm not having. Six hours. Sheesh, I'm tired just thinking of it.
"Thank you." She turned to retrieve the ballistic report. "Ballistics. Turns out the nine mill that was used to kill Crawford is a match for a gun that's supposed to be in NYPD evidence."
Ross tightened his hands grasped on the 2 way mirror. Great, like I needed more to worry about.
Eames detected a bit of anxiety pass through his eyes for a second. Cops. We never want to be looking into our own. We got to be thorough yet walk on eggshells. It's a delicate balance. She loathed it but this job meant a lot to her and she did it with valor.
