Author's Note & Disclaimer: I do not own Blue Bloods or any of its characters. All rights belong to CBS.
Chapter 7
When Danny arrives to the precinct, he notices that there's more units parked around the block. As he's making his way to the entrance he runs into Lt Gee who was carrying a tote bag. Danny recognized the bag; it belongs to Maria.
"Boss, where is she?"
"Hello to you too Reagan. She's in my office, she asked for her tote bag. Said she had some things in here she needed to share with us." Danny follows behind Lt. Gee
"Boss, tell me the truth. How bad is it? Is she ok?"
"Honestly Danny, she hasn't said much since she got here. So, your guess is as good as mine. She scared the hell out of me though. I can't get over how scared she sounded over the phone."
"Jesus,….I knew something was up but she kept saying she was ok. She seemed a bit on edge earlier but she wouldn't say anything! I should've said something…"
"Danny, don't do that. Let's just focus on that fact that she's safe now and let's get this son of a bitch." They're now standing a few feet from Lt. Gee's.
"Yeah I suppose you're right about that." Danny makes a move to enter the office.
"Hold on Danny. I just want to give you a heads up. She looks like she's been beat up. The right side of her face looks a little swollen and it looks like she might have a busted lip. I've asked what happened but all I got out from her is that it was an 'unrelated' incident and that she's ok. So let's be careful how we approach her–" He doesn't even get to finish his statement before Danny storms in to Lt. Gee's office.
Maria is standing and facing the window, her back is turned towards them. She can feel his eyes on her.
"Who hurt you Maria?" He's pissed.
"That's not important right now, Danny." She says, trying her best to be calm and not break down.
"Bullshit! I think it's very important, who the hell did this to you?"
"Danny, please…."
"No! I need a name now!" Danny interrupts, his voice getting louder.
"It's not what you think. Seriously, it's unrelated to this –"
"Oh, come on! Don't use that line on me! How many times have we heard that line from the hundreds of victims we've interviewed?"
"I'm telling you the truth Danny…"
"Nope, let's try that again."
Frustrated with his constant interrupting, Maria quickly turns around to face him and stares right back at Danny. She notices how he takes in her appearance and sees how it only angers him more. He opens up his mouth to say something else but she holds her hand up, a signal for him to say silent.
"Enough…. that is enough, Danny! You will give me a chance to explain without interrupting. I am your partner, not just some random victim. I need your help so please let me explain. There is something I need to show you. Both of you," Maria says, gesturing to Danny and the Lieutenant.
A few tears are rolling down her face but she is quick to brush them off.
"I can see that neither of you believe me about my face 'situation,' but it's the truth. We can discuss the situation about my face another time, when I'm ready. So Danny, if you can't agree to that then I will have to ask you to leave. I don't want to do that but I will if you can't agree to the terms. So what do you say? Can we work together on this?"
Danny has his arms crossed and nods his head at Maria, silently agreeing to her terms. He's still upset but can hear the desperation and fear in her voice when she said that she needed his help.
"Boss, could you hand me my bag?" Maria asks, holding her hand out for her tote bag.
Lt. Gee hands over Maria's bag while glancing back and forth between Danny and his partner. He's seen Danny upset like this before, too many times when they worked together all those years ago. He was both surprised and impressed that Maria knew exactly what to say to get Danny to calm down and actually listen, instead of reacting. It left him wondering if perhaps there was more to their partnership than what they lead on.
Maria takes out a folder and small box from her bag. She tells them everything and shares them all the information she was able to get from Benny and McKenna. She then shows them the last letter she received, which Lt. Gee collects and puts in an evidence bag.
"So who's this Marco?" Danny is the first to ask after she's done explaining all the events over the past 24 hours.
Maria takes in a deep breath. "His name was Marco Ortiz and he was the love of my life. We met in the academy and dated for a short time. We worked at different precincts so naturally we didn't keep in touch often so we decided it was best to end things. At the time we broke up, he had just been promoted to detective. Anyways, a few years after I had been promoted to detective, I was working a case during my time in the Organized Crime division. It was a joint case with the FBI. We were looking into one of the high-ranking members of the Sanfino family. To my surprise Marco was on the case as well."
"Why did that surprise you?" Lt. Gee asked.
"Well from what I remember, Marco worked in the Narcotics division. When I asked what Narcotics wanted with our perp, all we were told was that Narcotics had a guy undercover and that was all we needed to know. The case went on for months, almost a year."
"So you and this Marco guy got close again?" Danny asks. He's leaning against one of filing cabinets with his arms crossed.
"Yes we did. Not right away but we did eventually get close after a couple of weeks. However, this time it was different. It was real…it was everything. I had never been in love like this and it terrified me at first. But he was always so kind and good to me. He really did love me and I loved him" Maria has to stop and take in a deep breath, tears are streaming down her face again. Lt Gee hands her some tissues. "Thank you. So about six months after we got back together, he asked me to marry him and I said yes. I moved in with him shortly after that and we spent the next three months just so happy with each other, planning out the rest of our lives together."
Maria then takes out several items from the box she'd kept in her closet. She had several old photos of both her and Marco. She then takes out an envelope that had engagement photos. "We had just taken these photos and were close to agreeing on a wedding date. We still had not even told our partners yet. We were going to wait until we were done with the Sanfino case. The joint case was coming to an end and soon, at least that is what our superiors were telling us."
"So then what happened?" Danny asks, looking over at his partner.
He can see her sadness and heartbreak as she's staring at the engagement pictures. He had to admit, they were a good looking couple and she looked so happy, glowing even. Whatever happened next must have been so traumatizing that she never had the courage to talk about it, much less tell him about it.
"One night, September 30th 2010 to be exact, I was on a stake-out with my partner at the time. We had received a tip from our undercover that something big would be going down at some night club in Hell's Kitchen. Marco, his partner and a couple of agents would be acting as decoys from within the club. The night was calm, too calm. The club had been open for several hours and no one from the Sanfino family had shown up yet. Several of us were already convinced that we had been stood-up by our informant. Just as we were waiting for some of our guys to safely make it out the club we heard gunshots coming from within the club."
"It was set up?" Danny asks.
"Yes. It was so chaotic. By the time we got inside several of our guys were hit, some were already dead. I was searching around for Marco when one of the agents told me he saw him running towards the back. So my partner and I went to search the back of the club. As we approached, the back door to the club was wide open. I heard voices, they were shouting and one of the voices sounded like Marco's. We were finally able to make our way outside and I went to hide behind one of the big trash bins. That's when I saw Marco and his partner Carl being held up at gun point. I couldn't tell who any of them were, they were all wearing ski masks. My partner and I then start yelling at the gunmen to freeze and to put the guns down. As soon as we said that, they started shooting at us. By that point Carl was shot and Marco is fighting with one of the masked gunmen. I guess he was trying to take back the gun. I was able to pull Carl back to where I was but by time, he was dead. When I looked back to where I last saw Marco, he was being forced into a car with three other masked persons. I could hear him scream for me, I still do in my dreams," Maria cries.
"He was missing for three days. We searched almost every warehouse we could think of for him, for anything really. I couldn't go home. I tried to but I'd always end up back at the precinct making calls or going out on patrol in search of him. Then on the morning of October 4th we got a call of a body found on the upper east side that fit Marco's description. My CO and I went to the scene and the body was so badly disfigured; we couldn't positively identify him. So, we had to wait on DNA test to confirm."
"Was it a match?"
"Yes it was. It should be on the report." Maria then goes to retrieve another envelope from her memoir box. "It's what his mother used to get his death certificate. She gave me a copy of it after all funeral arrangements were done."
Lt. Gee and Danny both look at the documents. Suddenly there's a knock at the door. It was one of the officers. "Excuse me, Sir. The Captain is waiting for you in his office."
"Tell him I'm on my way. Excuse me, detectives. I'll be back soon. In the meantime, Baez, I need you to stay put. Reagan, be on your best behavior."
Both Maria and Danny nod at Lt. Gee. For a moment there's an awkward silence between them, and Danny starts to fidget with the pictures and letters that are scattered on the table. He glances at the memoir box Maria had and notices that there's another envelope in there.
"So what's in that envelope?" Danny asks, drawing Maria's attention to the box again.
"Oh that. That's something that I've never told anyone about. I guess you'll be the first one I tell."
To be continued…
