For years Rick had always tried to believe in and uphold the system but it was difficult because the system constantly and continuously let him down. Even when he had been the law to enforce the law in IAB he had found that department no more immune to corruption than any other. To serve and protect, it was a loose statement, there should have been a follow-up on the badge- 'to serve and protect the public' or 'the innocent', something to narrow it down for the cops who forgot and figured it was 'to serve and protect myself'. Rick wondered about the system and Henry Bracker as he walked up to Bill McCoy's house with Ryan, had the system served Henry fairly or was he a victim of it?
Rick swallowed down a sigh of frustration as he halted in Bill's porch. He could see the thread he was about to pull on and knew the terrible tangle he would start unweaving when he tugged. There had already been so many suspensions, firings and even arrests in the wake of the sentencing of Lieutenants Hines and Greene, to suggest something had gone wrong, intentionally or not, in the Bracker case might lead to more.
Ryan stood silently behind Rick, giving him his space and his chance to look authoritative as the front man. The CSI knew his real role today- peacekeeper and witness. Rick would do the questioning and Ryan would try and ensure there would be outbursts and no chance for false accusations. It wouldn't do for someone who nicknamed the lieutenant 'Shitstain' to make up a story of inappropriate conduct on Rick's part. Ryan didn't really know Bill McCoy and therefore had no idea if Bill was the type to lie or play honest but it didn't matter because an interview with only one interviewer would be inappropriate anyway. Really another detective should be present but Tobias and Jack were canvassing for witnesses concerned with their latest homicide, Frank was on another case, and Rick didn't want to bring anyone else into this.
Ryan was happy to be here, he'd been a uniform, he knew how it went and he had been on the other side too, the one being interviewed, suspected and questioned. His hazel eyes darted up to Rick's back, Rick had questioned him before, queried him over his gambling before unceremoniously firing him. Ryan tried not to think on it too often because the hot hatred he had felt for Rick in that moment was still a little too easy to reach and Ryan loathed that. Rick was his friend now, strange as it was, and he was out of IAB now and, much as Ryan hated to admit it, Rick had been in the right back then, Ryan had been compromised at work with his debts hanging over him.
Rick didn't want to be the one to start this investigation, he had suffered that role for too long now in IAB and he was starting to become weary of bearing the brunt of angry officers' hatred. The two chief CSIs on the Bracker case had been Tim Speedle and Eric Delko, with Speedle deceased that meant one of two things could happen if fault was found in the investigation- that Speedle was made a convenient scapegoat for the errors or Eric took all the blame because Speedle wasn't around to harass and question. Rick knew what the top brass would want- someone living to throw to what would be an outraged public whipped into a frenzy by a lawyer seeing an opportunity for his currently incarcerated client, Henry Bracker.
Sure, sure everything was hypothetical right now but Rick had been through this too many times in IAB, he knew all he had to do was tug the thread and it would become a reality. Rick reached up and pressed the button for McCoy's doorbell. Benjamin Bracker's blood on the scene twice now- Tara had confirmed that just twenty minutes ago- the inverted cross on their John Doe was not in his blood but Benjamin's. Rick hadn't even been surprised. Someone had something to say about the Bracker case and while Rick couldn't know what it was, he couldn't shake the feeling that it had something to do with Henry being convicted for it.
Bill McCoy answered the door with a dishevelled expression. He had uneven stubble about his chin and a thin sheen to his wan skin that suggested he hadn't washed properly in a while. He was on leave but Rick didn't know which box his boss had checked when filing out the paperwork- stress, trauma, PTSD, depression, simple grief? Bill probably fit the lot judging on his unkempt appearance.
The young detective's sullen brown stare rolled up to Rick wearily. "Have you found Quentin's head yet?" he quipped quietly.
Rick shook his head.
Bill punched the white frame of his door without warning, exclaiming the name of the saviour as he did.
Rick watched on impassively whilst Ryan flinched just once before summoning up his own mask of calm.
"Jesus, Jesus, Jesus," Bill blasphemed over and over, his voice growing quiet again as he clutched at the cracked frame and shook his head.
Rick wasn't sure what to say 'we're still looking' seemed obvious, 'we'll find it' was a promise he couldn't guarantee and 'I'm sorry' seemed like an admittance of blame that Rick wasn't prepared to make. Horatio had suggested grimly that they weren't going to find the head not until their killer wanted them to and Rick was starting to agree.
Ryan's hazel gaze shifted to Rick again. He admired Rick for many things but he appreciated that dealing with emotional people was not a skill Rick readily possessed. It still surprised Ryan to see how Rick doted on Annabelle and Marissa, showing a side most people didn't think he had. Ryan knew first hand that it hadn't always been that way, that Rick had struggled with his niece Marissa at first and that he was still learning to be less the cop and more the parent with her and Annabelle. However, what skills Rick was learning with his girls he did not seem capable of transferring to adults. Even Natalia wasn't much of an exception, still struggling to train Rick to say 'good morning' and 'good night' instead of a grumble of one syllable that advised of the time of day but not the quality of it.
"Invite us in Bill," Ryan suggested calmly. When the brown eyes looked to him with surprise and accusation, Ryan offered him a smile. "Let me in your kitchen, I make great coffee."
Bill offered a sneering grimace at this. "Is that a chat up line Wolfe?" he snapped.
Ryan's smile widened. "I don't know, I haven't tried it yet, if it gets me a date then yes."
Rick's narrowed dark gaze darted from Bill to Ryan in puzzlement before he looked back to Bill. Bill was looking straight back at him, his tired brown eyes now sharp with suspicion.
"Why are you here?" Bill demanded.
"I have a few questions," Rick retorted bluntly.
Rick was irate at being kept in the doorway although he knew it was Bill's right, this was at Bill's home so it was informal and Rick didn't want to have to make it formal just yet.
"About what?" Bill snapped, still suspicious.
"Relax Bill, Lieutenant Stetler is homicide now not IAB," Ryan tried to calm him.
Bill frowned as he kept his stare on Rick. "Well I wasn't there for Quentin's so whose homicide is it about?"
Rick suppressed another sigh though this one almost evaded him. "Let's talk about it inside," he suggested bluntly. "It does connect to Quentin McCoy's homicide," he added quietly.
Bill's pale face perked up slightly at the mention of his brother and he stepped back from the doorway at last.
"Sure, come in, the coffee better be five star."
"Well it really depends on what you've got," Ryan muttered as he followed after Rick.
"You shouldn't brag if you aren't confident," Rick chided him as he looked ahead to the corridor they walked through.
Bill's house was a little different than the last time Rick had called, daylight should have offered a more favourable appearance to it but the short spell of time that had passed had seen it drift to despair. There were leaflets gathering at the door, swept unevenly to the wall with the door's opening and closing, and the layer of dust gathering on scant surfaces was getting thicker. There was a gold cross hanging on the left wall, a lone suggestion of religion in the house.
Bill led through to a kitchen with soiled dishes gathering in the sink, it was the cliché of a bachelor and yet Rick didn't think Bill was ordinarily careless and lazy because the dishes suggested a few days recent gathering and the dust whilst getting thicker was not so thick as to imply more than a week's worth of neglect. The mess was only starting to gather, it was new not a pattern.
Ryan tensed slightly at the filth and was suddenly reluctant to occupy the slightly bedraggled covered stools Bill gestured to.
Rick sat out of politeness whilst Bill took up a position near the back door, putting his back to to the wall beside it as if needing to be near to an escape route.
Ryan glanced to the abandoned coffee pot with a thick sludge of forgotten coffee remnants in its base. He wondered if it even could be called coffee at this stage.
"Bill, there was blood found on the body of Kara Watkins, the girl found dead with your brother, Officer McCoy," Rick just got straight to the point as he looked to Bill calmly. "The blood was neither hers nor Officer McCoy's."
Bill raised his eyebrows slightly at this, intrigued and yet trusting Rick would provide an explanation.
"The blood belongs to a Benjamin Bracker."
Rick fell silent, watching Bill carefully for his reaction. Through a lot of effort, they had managed to withhold this information from the press but it wasn't easy, as Kara Watkins was a senator's daughter and her death had been so bizarre with the flourishing of an angel costume and a beheaded cop beside her, she was still very much trending in the news and the press were all too confident that the police were holding back something about it. Now with another body, this one decorated as a demon, the press would salivate for every titbit they could until they turned into a rabid frenzy, fighting amongst themselves for the goriest revelation. Someone would leak out about Benjamin Bracker's blood, some lab worker or cop with debts to cover who needed the handout from the press or someone who owed a favour to a journalist or was hoping to gain a favour to be owed. No matter how hard the powers that be in law enforcement tried to clamp down on the media leaks they always happened.
Bill pushed himself from the wall as shock flashed across his face before he shook it angrily. "No, what the hell, is this a joke?" He pushed both his hands through his messy hair before shaking his head again. "What?" He gaped at Rick in disbelief.
Rick nodded calmly. "It was tested a few times but it is definitely a match for Benjamin Bracker and I am guessing from your reaction that you know which Benjamin Bracker."
Ryan winced slightly at Rick's choice of words and wasn't surprised by the anger that flooded into Bill's face.
"What are you getting at Stetler?" Bill snapped, forgoing Rick's title purposely. He took a step towards the man, suddenly angry for his presence in his house. "Is that why you're here then? Nothing to do with Quentin!"
"On the contrary Bill," Rick retorted, firm but still calm, "given the blood was on a body found with Officer McCoy's, it is to do with him."
Bill scowled back at Rick and pointed at him accusingly. "Homicide on the outside but still IAB at heart aren't you? Shitstain," he snapped. "Why can't you speak straight for once? You're here because I was on the Bracker case, just say it damn it! Don't treat me like one of your god damn suspects!"
Ryan moved to stand between them but Rick stood up before Ryan could get there.
"Bill, you are the only connection right now tentative as it is, you were on the Bracker case. Look I'm not here to accuse, I'm here to find out everything I can about this case." Rick decided to play a hand and let Bill in on the latest development. "We found another body today," Rick admitted, "a John Doe trussed up as a demon with blood on him, Benjamin Bracker's blood again. Someone has a point to make about this case and I would rather find out what that is before the body count gets any higher."
Bill bristled slightly and turned away from Rick. He pushed his hands up through his hair again and groaned out angrily, "what do I care? Quentin's already dead."
"So you don't want justice for him?" Rick chided.
"I'll make some coffee," Ryan interrupted quickly. He shot Rick a look of disapproval. "And we can try this conversation a little more politely," he added, flashing a grin as he saw Rick scowl.
Ryan stepped over to the coffee pot and grimaced. "This might take a while."
Bill folded his arms and glowered over at Rick hatefully. "You don't care about Quentin," he accused, "he's just another body to you, another case number."
Rick let out the sigh this time and his right hand rose to the knot of his ugly orange, red and yellow tie. The tie might have looked a bit better if he hadn't donned it over a powder blue shirt which only made the orange of the tie stand out violently.
"Of course I care," he chided, "I'm not a bloody robot." Rick lowered his hand again and gave Bill a cross look. "Look I get it," he said as he waved his hand down, "you want to keep hating me because of our history then that's fine but don't assign a role to me, I've always cared about the welfare of other cops whether you want to believe it or not and I will never forget Officer Quentin McCoy, not now and not when it's done and I have his killer rotting behind bars, Officer Quentin McCoy is staying with me always just like Detective Jason Ferris and Detective Thomas Menedez, and many others."
Bill looked surprised for a moment before he slowly nodded and glanced over to Ryan if only so he didn't have to look at Rick.
"You aren't salvaging that Wolfe," Bill grumbled.
"The conversation or the coffee?" Ryan quipped cheerfully.
Rick shook his head at the comment.
Bill's sunken gaze darted back to the lieutenant. "Is he the only one who would come with you?"
"Something like that," Rick murmured.
"Everyone else is put off by his fashion sense," Ryan joked.
"I can see why," Bill murmured as he looked to the tie pointedly.
Rick continued to frown. "Well thankfully I'm judged on my work not my style."
"Wouldn't hurt to try and be good at both, nothing wrong with a man who can solve murders and wear a decent tie," Ryan continued to mock.
Bill kept his stare on Rick although he was still fixated on the tie, taking in the tiny squares of red dotted along the orange which, when tilted a certain way in the light had unsettling streaks of yellow through it. It was the colour of fire, rage and anger, and Bill wondered if that was the point and Rick was using ties like a Rorschach test and picking the ones he found meaning in. He then wondered grimly if maybe it wasn't Rick who had saw anger in the tie but Bill himself.
"It's just a tie and I didn't pick it," Rick murmured dryly as he noticed Bill's sudden fixation with it.
"You didn't choose to wear it with that shirt?" Bill queried dryly as he tried to focus on Rick's face this time and stop wondering about the rage the tie invoked in him.
"Alright, I did but let's not dwell on that," Rick dismissed the question angrily. "Let's get back to the matter at hand, the Bracker case."
Bill shrugged. "What do you expect me to tell you that isn't already logged somewhere? It was five years ago, one of my first and worst cases in homicide, a God damn massacre. The responding officers found Henry Bracker the lone survivor, covered in blood and fucking crazed, if you're suggesting he didn't do it I'd find that odder. I mean I saw him, took a while to get him outta that house, I was there and there wasn't any questioning him at the time. Man had lost it, laughing and shaking and crying and babbling about something or someone wrapped in darkness. I was a little surprised they didn't find any drugs in his system, would've added some sense to it. Guess he doped the others but not himself."
Rick nodded along even as he wondered what he thought Bill could or would tell him about the case that wasn't already documented.
"So open and shut then?" Rick queried.
"Until now I suppose," Bill responded wearily. He pushed his right hand through his scalp. "I did find it strange we didn't locate Benjamin." He tensed up suddenly and fixed a narrow, angry stare upon Rick. "Is that what's happening here? We didn't find Benjamin so this asshole takes Quentin's head. What kind of sick joke is that?"
Rick looked intrigued at this suggestion but shook his head. "There is no reason to suppose that."
He considered Horatio's comment about the headless man being damned to wander until he found his head and considered the idiom of not losing one's head, it could mean losing one's nerves but it could also suggest confusion or a loss of control or emotions when concerned with a situation. Was that the implication that they were confused and without control?
Benjamin was coming back to them blood droplet by blood droplet, would Quentin's head suddenly materialise with Benjamin's body?
"What did you think about Benjamin being missing?"
"The bodies were all in different places, figured he'd turn up one way or another. When he didn't we just assumed we hadn't found him but that he was as dead as the others. There was nothing to suggest otherwise and Henry never mentioned it. He was asked about Benjamin a few times, just kept talking about someone wrapped in darkness, man didn't really seem to register that Benjamin wasn't with the bodies, Henry just talked about them all being dead, collectively."
Bill gave Rick a cool stare. "Look, I don't know why someone wants this case looked at again. It was horrid and a little strange but I don't think we got it wrong, I think Henry did it. The family was like any other family with that kind of cash, shady and keeping secrets behind closed doors but we never found anything there that suggested a killer other than Henry."
"What do you mean secrets?" Rick demanded. "Something that might suggest other culprits?"
Bill frowned and pointed at Rick accusingly again. "Haven't you read the notes on this? Course we had to consider other suspects, that's protocol, Hunter Bracker had enemies, man with that kind of money always does, but we ruled them out. Do you think we didn't do our job right, that it? IAB coming out of you again Shitstain."
Ryan winced at the insult. "Just when things were going so well," he murmured softly. "Bill, he's just doing his job," he chided a little more loudly. "Benjamin Bracker was ruled dead, a victim of a multi-homicide five years ago but now his blood has turned up on two bodies, we have to consider all possibilities with this."
"Well I'm telling you we were thorough and did everything right," Bill retorted defensively as he glowered at Ryan.
Bill returned his glare back to Rick, his hostility firmly back in place. "When am I getting my brother's body back? He needs buried." He reached into his jeans pocket and tugged out a small silver medallion on a chain. He fondled the round disc between his thumb and finger.
Rick nodded sympathetically. "I'll make inquiries."
Bill continued to frown. "You believe in God Stetler?"
"No."
"Why am I not surprised? You almost die twice but still no faith." He shook his head. "Trust you to spit in the face of that gift. Well I do," he added vehemently as he clapped a hand to his chest, "as did Quentin and I want him buried so he can be with God properly, at peace so make it happen."
Rick nodded again. He looked to Ryan. "We'll go now."
Rick's dark brown gaze returned to Bill. "You think of anything else about the Bracker case then give me a call."
Bill nodded but it was clear in his hostile stare that he wouldn't.
"I'll bring the coffee next time," Ryan offered with an apologetic smile.
Bill ignored Ryan's comment as he ushered them back down the hall and to the door.
They stepped back outside to a beautiful, sunny day and Rick reached for his phone to dial Horatio. He knew the next port of call had to be with Senator Watkins to ask him if he knew the Bracker family.
Horatio sat in the break room of the lab facing Eric Delko knowing that Eric felt the same awkwardness he did. Their plans for coffee had become a little complex when the lab had advised that the blood on their John Doe was a match to Benjamin Bracker. It had meant a day to spend in the lab scrutinising this John Doe as Eric had also determined that the oily substance on him was the same as the substance on Kara Watkins. So instead of going out for coffee they were attempting a quick break at work.
"Eric I have some news for you," Horatio addressed him quietly. This wasn't really how he wanted to tell Eric but time was of the essence here as the break room was public to all personnel and they could be intruded upon at any time. Sure Horatio could try and reschedule but that was just another means of putting it off and he knew it.
Eric looked back at his boss calmly, knowing he wasn't going to like the news based upon Horatio's restrained manner.
"Sure H, what is it?"
"I'm engaged."
Horatio studied Eric quietly, watching for the emotions to give away his reaction. He saw a mild surprise bud in his brown stare and a slight clenching of his jaw betraying anger as his shoulders tensed up slightly before he attempted to relax. Eric's eyebrows rose just a little before he brought up his blank cop face, the poker face most good cops mastered by their third or fourth year in service, half the time it wasn't even a trick, it was a jadedness that came from having seen most of the worst of humanity by then.
"Congratulations."
Even Eric heard the sullenness of his voice and he felt bad for it. He cleared his throat slightly, looked to the cardboard coffee cup on the table and then back to Horatio. He wanted to add something, an assurance that he meant it but he didn't and he couldn't lie to Horatio, his boss deserved honesty and would detect the lie anyhow.
"When did it happen?" Eric queried.
He stared to the left this time, aware that it sounded like he was asking about a tragedy and not something wonderful.
"A few nights ago."
Horatio did not say it was the night that Kara and Quentin McCoy had been murdered, he was definitely not going to allow his engagement to be associated with a tragedy.
Eric nodded again, numb as he realised he didn't want the details, he didn't care. All Eric could see was Marisol, his sweet sister who had just survived cancer only to be robbed of life anyway as if the Grim Reaper had determined he was owed her soul irregardless. Marisol Caine, a name she had had longer in death than in life, it wasn't fair. If she had to have that name she should be the only one.
"Will Cassandra change her name?" Eric pried as his purposely calm stare darted back to Horatio.
Horatio was a little surprised by the question. "I don't know," he admitted, "we haven't talked about that."
Eric considered that given the dark ties Cassandra had with the Silverstone name she would probably be glad to be rid of it. He would in her situation even if her scarred face ensured that there was no escaping who she was no matter how many times she changed her name.
"Eric I realise this is difficult for you," Horatio attempted sympathy, "and I don't expect you to be overjoyed at it but please understand, Cassandra is no replacement for Marisol nor is she meant to be. They are two very different people."
The tension returned to Eric's shoulders with Horatio's words and he bit back a snarled response. Cassandra had been an ex-dancer at a nightclub, hell she was a convicted criminal, rogue, wild and reckless. Eric got the appeal to her but he didn't think she was a woman you married, one to date and screw with sure, she'd make you feel alive but the kind of woman to bring home to mom and dad and have kids with? Definitely not. Marisol had been that woman, sweet natured, gentle, caring, soft and full of smiles. Perhaps that was the point, Horatio had found the woman to have a family with and she had been taken from him so he wasn't looking again but then why bother marrying Cassandra if that was the case?
"But you do love her just the same," Eric murmured.
"Not the same," Horatio corrected. He gave a small smile as he thought of the blonde, wild, complicated and troubled, carrying as much baggage through life as he did and yet still able to ease his load for a while, banishing his woes with a smile and a prediction that life would get better before kissing him on the nose and giggling because there hadn't her prediction come true and life was better?
"I love Cassandra and I fear losing her but more than that I fear losing her without having lived with her as fully as I can. I proposed because I don't want to wait to live anymore, we don't have that guaranteed Eric."
Eric nodded solemnly, understanding Horatio's words even though he didn't like them. The man had a point sure and Eric knew it was unfair to expect Horatio to remain a widower forever but still, of all the people to have fallen in love with.
"I''ll be honest H I just never figured it would be with Cassandra. You dating her was baffling enough to me but..." Eric hesitated as he considered the meanness of his confession before reminding himself that his boss did deserve honestly. "I thought she was a novelty, a fling, however you want to say it." He spread his hands across the table as he held Horatio's tranquil blue stare. "That it became complicated because of everything that happened to her and you had to be loyal because that's how you are H, you wouldn't leave a woman in peril."
Eric sighed, loathing himself for his pettiness. "I'm sorry H that's just how it seemed."
Horatio nodded even as his gaze became brittle as his calm lost its sincerity as he gave Eric a face purposely void of true emotion.
"Well that's not how it is."
"I know that H but she's chaotic and she's Stetler's sister."
Horatio's small smile returned as they finally got to the heart of the matter. "Eric, Cassandra is the light I have when the job gets too dark, I can and have gotten every day for work and work keeps me going and living but Cassandra is the meaning, she's the difference in my days and she stops the monotony and the silence. Yes, she is Rick's sister, I'm more aware of that than anyone but Rick isn't who he was. You don't have to like him or Cassandra, I won't ever ask that for you but will you try and give them both a chance, a real chance?"
Eric stiffened in his seat, frowned and looked away again. There it was, Horatio finally crossing the line of co-workers into friendship or family, taking advantage of that tie between them that he barely alluded to. It was unspoken but Eric knew Horatio wouldn't ask him to give Cassandra and Rick a chance if he just thought of Eric as a co-worker, no, he still considered Eric family even if they never talked about it.
Eric sighed, now he felt like a brother rather than a brother-in-law or ex-brother-in-law as it were, shouldered into Raymond Caine's role suddenly and without warning, the plea of please get along with my in-laws because they'll be your family too. A bitter smirk slipped out of Eric before he could help it as he thought of he and Rick as brother-in-laws and wasn't that what it would be in a weird way? Both of them brother-in-laws to Horatio rather than each other, a tie still close enough to make Eric's stomach churn with revulsion.
Eric heard Calleigh's voice telling him that he was too hard on himself and Horatio and that the only reason he wanted Horatio to stay single was because he feared the tie between them of two men mourning for the same woman would be broken. Calleigh had smiled as she usually did in that manner that brightened her entire face and somehow soothed Eric's temper and promised him that he had many ties to Horatio and theirs was not a relationship to be undone purely because Horatio had found love again. It was easy to say and hear but harder for Eric to believe.
"I'll try H," Eric gave in.
Horatio's smile widened and he nodded gratefully. "Thank you Eric."
Horatio felt his phone vibrate against his thigh before he heard it ring. He tugged it out and saw it was Rick. He answered as he stood up from the table.
"Good afternoon Rick."
Eric rolled his eyes, unsurprised that it was Rick intruding upon their coffee break.
Horatio advised Rick that he had gotten the same news that the blood on their John Doe was Benjamin Bracker's and listened as Rick suggested they meet with Senator Watkins sooner rather than later to discuss the Brackers as it would probably soon seep out to the press and it was better coming from them rather than the headlines. Horatio glanced at his watch even as he agreed, knowing dinner with Kyle tonight was probably going to end up delayed as a result.