Part 5 - What's Going On?
Alison rolled over and felt for the warm form that should have been sleeping next to her but there was only cold sheets. She opened her eyes and looked at the empty space beside her. Steve had gone. She noticed the note on the pillow and read it. Poor Steve, getting dragged out in a storm like the one last night. She knew that he was dedicated to his career and admired him for that but sometimes it was so hard on him, getting called out at all hours and in all weathers, to say nothing of the danger.
She sighed as she thought about it. What was she thinking, getting herself involved with a cop, as a lawyer she knew better than most what sort of lifestyle they led. Then she smiled to herself she knew exactly what she was doing. Steve was everything she had ever looked for in a man. Apart from the tall, dark and handsome, which he undoubtedly was, he was also intelligent, caring, sensitive and loyal. In fact the only thing that Alison couldn't understand about him was why he hadn't been snapped up long ago.
She pulled off the sheets and moved to the bathroom to get ready for work. It hadn't been long but she already missed having Steve there to get ready with her. Still at least it would cut down on the time it took.
When she was ready she went upstairs to have breakfast with Mark. She was amazed at how comfortable she felt despite the fact that Steve was not there. Then again she would defy anyone to feel uncomfortable in Mark's presence. He was the most congenial person that she had ever met.
This morning was no exception, he greeted her with a huge smile and a cup of steaming coffee. "Good morning, Steve still getting ready is he?" Mark asked, noting that she had come up alone.
"No, he actually went out hours ago." She accepted the coffee and took a seat." He left a note at about 2am. Sent his love and said he'd see me later."
Mark grimaced, "In that storm? I'm glad I didn't know about it."
"Me too," she agreed. "I probably wouldn't have slept so well"
He moved over to the hob to carry on with the eggs he was cooking. He turned back to look at her. "You know it doesn't matter how old he gets I still can't stop worrying about him. Kinda sad isn't it?"
"No," Alison replied smiling. "I think its great and I know Steve appreciates the way you look out for him."
"You think? Mark asked.
Her smile broadened. "As I said I know he does," she confirmed.
Mark smiled back. Steve's chosen career often placed him in the firing line, and Mark always had that niggling fear, far too often justified, that something bad may happen to him. He tried not to let his fears show when talking to Steve but knew that he frequently failed. It was nice to have independent reassurance that Steve didn't mind. Mark knew that Steve wouldn't tell him even if he did. He returned to the table and placed a bowl of scrambled eggs down to go with the toast bacon and orange juice that were already there. "Are you in court today?" He asked to get the conversation started.
"Yes I've got a hearing at ten and I have some papers to prepare." She paused for a second and looked at her watch. "Doesn't give us much time then"
"For what?" Mark asked.
"To get to know each other better whilst Steve isn't here." She paused to take a sip of coffee. "So what do you want to know about me but were afraid to ask him."
Mark grinned. He liked this woman. He had good instincts about people and he had taken to Alison from the moment they met. Moreover the better he got to know her the more he liked what he found. He hoped that Steve had finally met someone that he could love in the same way that he had loved Steve's mother.
He thought about her question. What would he like to know about her?
Steve could not hide the hostile look that took over his features as he stared at the men who less than seven hours ago had threatened to kill him. "Introductions won't be necessary Captain," he said his voice dripping with sarcasm, "We've already had that pleasure."
"That's right," Dobbs said, stepping forward and attempting a smile. "Lieutenant Sloan nice to see you again." He offered his hand. Steve ignored it. Unperturbed Dobbs continued, "we," he indicated his partner, "were wondering if we might have a quiet word with you. We believe you may be able to help us with something."
Captain Newman watched the exchange with interest, noting the clear hostility bristling from his Lieutenant. Steve was not one who was quick to judge others so, to provoke such a strong emotion, these men must have done something to deserve it. It did not take years of skilled detective work to realise that the bruising evident on Steele's face and that on Steve's had probably been earned in the same fight, judging from the animosity now present, with the men on opposite sides. Whatever had happened between these three, it was clear that they did not want to involve him in it as Dobbs was doing his best to placate Steve. Not expecting a straight answer, he decided that he had to ask anyway. "Does one of you three gentlemen want to tell me just what the hell is going on?"
All three men turned to look at him. "Captain…" Steve began but he was interrupted.
"It's just a little misunderstanding Captain," Dobbs said in a tone which oozed insincerity, "A jurisdiction thing which I'm sure we can clear up if we could just talk for a few minutes alone with the lieutenant here." He turned to look at Steve watching his reactions. "I don't think we need to bother you with it. Although if we have any problems we'll be sure to get back to you."
The Captain considered the request. He looked at Steve. 'Sloan?" He asked, giving him the opportunity to contradict what the agent was saying.
Steve looked at the two agents and then back at his Captain. He did not want to involve his superior in what was going on at least not until he had a better idea himself. "Like he says we just need a few minutes to talk and sort a few things out."
The Captain sighed. He was clearly not going to get information out of any of them. "I don't suppose you want to tell me which case this is connected with?"
Silence.
"I thought not," he continued, admitting defeat for the time being. "OK interview room two is free."
"Thank you Captain." Dobbs said and the three men headed for the door.
Just as they reached it Captain Newman spoke "Oh and Sloan"
Steve turned, "Yes Captain."
"Come and see me when you've finished"
"Yes sir."
Amanda Bentley pulled her car into the curb behind the growing line of official vehicles outside the beachfront house. The drive was only big enough to take four vehicles and two of the spaces were already taken up with cars that she presumed belonged to the victim or his family. A marked and unmarked police car took up the other two spots. Then there was the coroner's wagon, two forensic team vehicles, another patrol car and her own vehicle.
Two uniformed officers were taping off the area, whilst two more were keeping the curious bystanders and press under control. Amanda put on the standard blue jacket that identified her as a pathologist, picked up her bag and headed in to the building. There she was greeted by a similar scene of activity as officers dusted for fingerprints, scoured for forensic evidence and photographed every conceivable aspect of the house. All of this activity because one man had met a violent end.
She spotted a familiar face and walked up to him smiling. "Nathan," She said.
Detective Nathan Turner turned at the sound of her greeting and broke into a similar smile. "Amanda, I didn't know they'd assigned you to this one." He was happy to see her. They had worked together on several cases now but it had been almost a month since their assignments had last brought them together.
"Nor I you. I was beginning to think that the powers that be had decided to keep us apart."
"Well we make such a good team. We were probably making everyone else look bad," Nathan joked.
Amanda laughed. "Let's justify that statement then. What have we got."
Nathan became professional again. He spoke as he led Amanda into a room at the back of the house. "We have a male caucasion, age 52. From what we can tell he's the owner of the house an Englishman named Richard Fielding. He appears to have died from multiple stab wounds but I'll leave you to confirm that one." By this time they had reached the body and it was a fairly gruesome sight. It lay in a large pool of blood that had come from several visible gash marks.
Amanda moved over to do her initial exam. When she had finished she gave the coroner's assistants permission to move the body. "Well you were almost right detective. The knife wounds were responsible for his death but I'd say the actual cause was loss of blood. None of the knife wounds in themselves was fatal. That's why he bled so much. Do we have any idea what the murder weapon was?"
"Follow me," Nathan said and he led Amanda through to the kitchen.
In the centre of the kitchen was a large wooden table and sticking out of the middle of it, as though it had been thrown there, was a large knife. Closer inspection of the blade showed the copper brown stains of dried blood.
Steve led the way to interrogation room two and held the door open for the two NSA agents to enter. He had barely got into the room and allowed the door to close before Dobbs started. "Where is she Sloan?"
Steve had had chance to get over the initial shock that these men were actually supposed to be law enforcement officers of sorts, although he was finding that difficult to reconcile with the behaviour he had seen last night. These men hadn't fought in self defense they had been openly aggresive. Emma was terrified of them and that emotion seemed to be entirely justified. Whatever Emma had done or was involved in she could not deserve the treatment he had seen. Steve was not going to willingly turn her over to these two men. NSA agents or not.
He had had a couple of minutes to prepare what he was going to say. "I don't know." He watched the two agents bristle at his reply but pressed on, knowing that they did not believe him. "Look why don't we sit down and you can tell me what this is all about maybe I can help you." It was his turn to be insincere.
He gave the men a half smile avoiding using the muscles in his damaged cheek and took a chair himself. Steve had felt not a small amount of satisfaction that Steele seemed to be in almost as much pain as he was, his jaw swelling nicely. He wasn't sure if Dobbs was doing all of the talking because he was in charge or because Steele's jaw hurt too much for him to speak.
Dobbs scowled at Steve but none the less took the offered seat. Steele moved back and leaned against the wall. Steve recognised the interrogation tactic. One in close, friendly, personal, to gain your trust whilst the other maintained a more detatched and threatening presence, standing instead of sitting to give a psychological superiority. "You have no idea what you are getting yourself involved in. Just tell us where the woman is and we'll get out of your hair."
"You're right," Steve replied. "I don't know what I'm getting involved in but I do know that woman was terrified of you last night. Why Dobbs? I thought you were on the side of the law?"
"Well law breakers quite often fear those assigned to protect it. Where is she?"
"No," Steve shook his head, "there's more to it than that and I've already told you I don't know where she is."
"You and she left together last night and you'd like me to believe that only a few hours later you have no idea where she went."
"Well it may have escaped your notice," Steve said not hiding the bitterness, "but I wasn't exactly conscious when we left so I'm not sure what happened," he paused and sat back in the chair, "by the time I came round I was alone in my truck. She had long gone." Steve was surprised at how remarkably easy he found it to lie to these men. Normally scrupulously honest, he knew he should feel guilty about what he was doing but his instincts about them and about what would happen to Emma if he let them find her, told him he was doing the right thing.
"I don't believe you." Dobbs said anger replacing his falsely pleasant demeanor
"And I don't care what you believe," Steve countered also dropping all pretense of friendliness. The atmosphere in the room already tense and strained moved to another level. The anger becoming almost tangible as all three men allowed their real emotions to show.
Steele moved away from the wall ready to make his presence felt. Dobbs waved him back they did not need a fight in a police station. "OK Sloan I've tried to do this the nice way but I could have you up on charges for your behavior last night." He counted each of the accusations off on his fingers as he listed them. "Interfering with an agent in the performance of their duty, aiding and abetting a criminal after the fact, aiding and abetting a criminal in an escape… Need I go on?" Dobbs stared at him. His new tactic was clearly an attempt to intimidate.
Steve was not intimidated. "Go ahead," he replied the fire in his eyes backing up the challenge. "as I've already said I was unconscious at the time that Emma 'escaped.' I think you'd have difficulty proving that I aided and abetted anything. As for interfering with agents. At no time do I recall you identifying yourself as such. As far as I'm concerned you could have been a couple of muggers ambushing us on the road. So go ahead tell my Captain." He paused. "I don't think you'll get very far." Steve continued to stare Dobbs down. He leaned forward. "In fact I've got some interesting charges of my own. I don't know about the NSA but here at the LAPD they take a very dim view of anyone holding a gun to the head of one of their officers and threatening to blow their brains out." his voice dropped to a low but deadly tone. "So go ahead report me"
Dobbs realised that intimidation was another tactic that was not going to work. He decided to make one last try at the 'fellow law enforcement officer helping each other out' angle. "Lieuenant Sloan, don't tell me you actually thought we were going to do that? No we were only bluffing. We needed information quickly and it seemed like the best way to get Mrs Fielding to talk." The false smile returned. "We're agents for the government. We wouldn't have actually shot you." He attempted a more friendly tone once again only succeeding in sounding insincere. "We're all on the same side here. We need your help in finding Mrs Fielding and getting the information. If you don't know where she is then help us to find her."
Steve couldn't believe how quickly the man switched from friend to enemy and back again, and he was supposed to buy this routine? He used the good cop, bad cop approach himself on occasion but he usually only played one role at a time. He looked over at Steele his earlier assessment must have been right. If he was having trouble speaking it would explain why Dobbs was doing all the work.
Steve gave his half smile again. "Yes I'll help you," he said, pausing long enough to make Dobbs think that he might be genuine. "On the same day that hell freezes over. Now if you'll excuse me I believe my Captain wanted to see me." He stood up. "I don't think we have anything more to say to each other." He turned and started to leave the room.
Dobbs stood too."You'll regret this Sloan. You're in way over your head," he said to his retreating back. "Way over your head," he repeated as the door closed.
Alison rolled over and felt for the warm form that should have been sleeping next to her but there was only cold sheets. She opened her eyes and looked at the empty space beside her. Steve had gone. She noticed the note on the pillow and read it. Poor Steve, getting dragged out in a storm like the one last night. She knew that he was dedicated to his career and admired him for that but sometimes it was so hard on him, getting called out at all hours and in all weathers, to say nothing of the danger.
She sighed as she thought about it. What was she thinking, getting herself involved with a cop, as a lawyer she knew better than most what sort of lifestyle they led. Then she smiled to herself she knew exactly what she was doing. Steve was everything she had ever looked for in a man. Apart from the tall, dark and handsome, which he undoubtedly was, he was also intelligent, caring, sensitive and loyal. In fact the only thing that Alison couldn't understand about him was why he hadn't been snapped up long ago.
She pulled off the sheets and moved to the bathroom to get ready for work. It hadn't been long but she already missed having Steve there to get ready with her. Still at least it would cut down on the time it took.
When she was ready she went upstairs to have breakfast with Mark. She was amazed at how comfortable she felt despite the fact that Steve was not there. Then again she would defy anyone to feel uncomfortable in Mark's presence. He was the most congenial person that she had ever met.
This morning was no exception, he greeted her with a huge smile and a cup of steaming coffee. "Good morning, Steve still getting ready is he?" Mark asked, noting that she had come up alone.
"No, he actually went out hours ago." She accepted the coffee and took a seat." He left a note at about 2am. Sent his love and said he'd see me later."
Mark grimaced, "In that storm? I'm glad I didn't know about it."
"Me too," she agreed. "I probably wouldn't have slept so well"
He moved over to the hob to carry on with the eggs he was cooking. He turned back to look at her. "You know it doesn't matter how old he gets I still can't stop worrying about him. Kinda sad isn't it?"
"No," Alison replied smiling. "I think its great and I know Steve appreciates the way you look out for him."
"You think? Mark asked.
Her smile broadened. "As I said I know he does," she confirmed.
Mark smiled back. Steve's chosen career often placed him in the firing line, and Mark always had that niggling fear, far too often justified, that something bad may happen to him. He tried not to let his fears show when talking to Steve but knew that he frequently failed. It was nice to have independent reassurance that Steve didn't mind. Mark knew that Steve wouldn't tell him even if he did. He returned to the table and placed a bowl of scrambled eggs down to go with the toast bacon and orange juice that were already there. "Are you in court today?" He asked to get the conversation started.
"Yes I've got a hearing at ten and I have some papers to prepare." She paused for a second and looked at her watch. "Doesn't give us much time then"
"For what?" Mark asked.
"To get to know each other better whilst Steve isn't here." She paused to take a sip of coffee. "So what do you want to know about me but were afraid to ask him."
Mark grinned. He liked this woman. He had good instincts about people and he had taken to Alison from the moment they met. Moreover the better he got to know her the more he liked what he found. He hoped that Steve had finally met someone that he could love in the same way that he had loved Steve's mother.
He thought about her question. What would he like to know about her?
Steve could not hide the hostile look that took over his features as he stared at the men who less than seven hours ago had threatened to kill him. "Introductions won't be necessary Captain," he said his voice dripping with sarcasm, "We've already had that pleasure."
"That's right," Dobbs said, stepping forward and attempting a smile. "Lieutenant Sloan nice to see you again." He offered his hand. Steve ignored it. Unperturbed Dobbs continued, "we," he indicated his partner, "were wondering if we might have a quiet word with you. We believe you may be able to help us with something."
Captain Newman watched the exchange with interest, noting the clear hostility bristling from his Lieutenant. Steve was not one who was quick to judge others so, to provoke such a strong emotion, these men must have done something to deserve it. It did not take years of skilled detective work to realise that the bruising evident on Steele's face and that on Steve's had probably been earned in the same fight, judging from the animosity now present, with the men on opposite sides. Whatever had happened between these three, it was clear that they did not want to involve him in it as Dobbs was doing his best to placate Steve. Not expecting a straight answer, he decided that he had to ask anyway. "Does one of you three gentlemen want to tell me just what the hell is going on?"
All three men turned to look at him. "Captain…" Steve began but he was interrupted.
"It's just a little misunderstanding Captain," Dobbs said in a tone which oozed insincerity, "A jurisdiction thing which I'm sure we can clear up if we could just talk for a few minutes alone with the lieutenant here." He turned to look at Steve watching his reactions. "I don't think we need to bother you with it. Although if we have any problems we'll be sure to get back to you."
The Captain considered the request. He looked at Steve. 'Sloan?" He asked, giving him the opportunity to contradict what the agent was saying.
Steve looked at the two agents and then back at his Captain. He did not want to involve his superior in what was going on at least not until he had a better idea himself. "Like he says we just need a few minutes to talk and sort a few things out."
The Captain sighed. He was clearly not going to get information out of any of them. "I don't suppose you want to tell me which case this is connected with?"
Silence.
"I thought not," he continued, admitting defeat for the time being. "OK interview room two is free."
"Thank you Captain." Dobbs said and the three men headed for the door.
Just as they reached it Captain Newman spoke "Oh and Sloan"
Steve turned, "Yes Captain."
"Come and see me when you've finished"
"Yes sir."
Amanda Bentley pulled her car into the curb behind the growing line of official vehicles outside the beachfront house. The drive was only big enough to take four vehicles and two of the spaces were already taken up with cars that she presumed belonged to the victim or his family. A marked and unmarked police car took up the other two spots. Then there was the coroner's wagon, two forensic team vehicles, another patrol car and her own vehicle.
Two uniformed officers were taping off the area, whilst two more were keeping the curious bystanders and press under control. Amanda put on the standard blue jacket that identified her as a pathologist, picked up her bag and headed in to the building. There she was greeted by a similar scene of activity as officers dusted for fingerprints, scoured for forensic evidence and photographed every conceivable aspect of the house. All of this activity because one man had met a violent end.
She spotted a familiar face and walked up to him smiling. "Nathan," She said.
Detective Nathan Turner turned at the sound of her greeting and broke into a similar smile. "Amanda, I didn't know they'd assigned you to this one." He was happy to see her. They had worked together on several cases now but it had been almost a month since their assignments had last brought them together.
"Nor I you. I was beginning to think that the powers that be had decided to keep us apart."
"Well we make such a good team. We were probably making everyone else look bad," Nathan joked.
Amanda laughed. "Let's justify that statement then. What have we got."
Nathan became professional again. He spoke as he led Amanda into a room at the back of the house. "We have a male caucasion, age 52. From what we can tell he's the owner of the house an Englishman named Richard Fielding. He appears to have died from multiple stab wounds but I'll leave you to confirm that one." By this time they had reached the body and it was a fairly gruesome sight. It lay in a large pool of blood that had come from several visible gash marks.
Amanda moved over to do her initial exam. When she had finished she gave the coroner's assistants permission to move the body. "Well you were almost right detective. The knife wounds were responsible for his death but I'd say the actual cause was loss of blood. None of the knife wounds in themselves was fatal. That's why he bled so much. Do we have any idea what the murder weapon was?"
"Follow me," Nathan said and he led Amanda through to the kitchen.
In the centre of the kitchen was a large wooden table and sticking out of the middle of it, as though it had been thrown there, was a large knife. Closer inspection of the blade showed the copper brown stains of dried blood.
Steve led the way to interrogation room two and held the door open for the two NSA agents to enter. He had barely got into the room and allowed the door to close before Dobbs started. "Where is she Sloan?"
Steve had had chance to get over the initial shock that these men were actually supposed to be law enforcement officers of sorts, although he was finding that difficult to reconcile with the behaviour he had seen last night. These men hadn't fought in self defense they had been openly aggresive. Emma was terrified of them and that emotion seemed to be entirely justified. Whatever Emma had done or was involved in she could not deserve the treatment he had seen. Steve was not going to willingly turn her over to these two men. NSA agents or not.
He had had a couple of minutes to prepare what he was going to say. "I don't know." He watched the two agents bristle at his reply but pressed on, knowing that they did not believe him. "Look why don't we sit down and you can tell me what this is all about maybe I can help you." It was his turn to be insincere.
He gave the men a half smile avoiding using the muscles in his damaged cheek and took a chair himself. Steve had felt not a small amount of satisfaction that Steele seemed to be in almost as much pain as he was, his jaw swelling nicely. He wasn't sure if Dobbs was doing all of the talking because he was in charge or because Steele's jaw hurt too much for him to speak.
Dobbs scowled at Steve but none the less took the offered seat. Steele moved back and leaned against the wall. Steve recognised the interrogation tactic. One in close, friendly, personal, to gain your trust whilst the other maintained a more detatched and threatening presence, standing instead of sitting to give a psychological superiority. "You have no idea what you are getting yourself involved in. Just tell us where the woman is and we'll get out of your hair."
"You're right," Steve replied. "I don't know what I'm getting involved in but I do know that woman was terrified of you last night. Why Dobbs? I thought you were on the side of the law?"
"Well law breakers quite often fear those assigned to protect it. Where is she?"
"No," Steve shook his head, "there's more to it than that and I've already told you I don't know where she is."
"You and she left together last night and you'd like me to believe that only a few hours later you have no idea where she went."
"Well it may have escaped your notice," Steve said not hiding the bitterness, "but I wasn't exactly conscious when we left so I'm not sure what happened," he paused and sat back in the chair, "by the time I came round I was alone in my truck. She had long gone." Steve was surprised at how remarkably easy he found it to lie to these men. Normally scrupulously honest, he knew he should feel guilty about what he was doing but his instincts about them and about what would happen to Emma if he let them find her, told him he was doing the right thing.
"I don't believe you." Dobbs said anger replacing his falsely pleasant demeanor
"And I don't care what you believe," Steve countered also dropping all pretense of friendliness. The atmosphere in the room already tense and strained moved to another level. The anger becoming almost tangible as all three men allowed their real emotions to show.
Steele moved away from the wall ready to make his presence felt. Dobbs waved him back they did not need a fight in a police station. "OK Sloan I've tried to do this the nice way but I could have you up on charges for your behavior last night." He counted each of the accusations off on his fingers as he listed them. "Interfering with an agent in the performance of their duty, aiding and abetting a criminal after the fact, aiding and abetting a criminal in an escape… Need I go on?" Dobbs stared at him. His new tactic was clearly an attempt to intimidate.
Steve was not intimidated. "Go ahead," he replied the fire in his eyes backing up the challenge. "as I've already said I was unconscious at the time that Emma 'escaped.' I think you'd have difficulty proving that I aided and abetted anything. As for interfering with agents. At no time do I recall you identifying yourself as such. As far as I'm concerned you could have been a couple of muggers ambushing us on the road. So go ahead tell my Captain." He paused. "I don't think you'll get very far." Steve continued to stare Dobbs down. He leaned forward. "In fact I've got some interesting charges of my own. I don't know about the NSA but here at the LAPD they take a very dim view of anyone holding a gun to the head of one of their officers and threatening to blow their brains out." his voice dropped to a low but deadly tone. "So go ahead report me"
Dobbs realised that intimidation was another tactic that was not going to work. He decided to make one last try at the 'fellow law enforcement officer helping each other out' angle. "Lieuenant Sloan, don't tell me you actually thought we were going to do that? No we were only bluffing. We needed information quickly and it seemed like the best way to get Mrs Fielding to talk." The false smile returned. "We're agents for the government. We wouldn't have actually shot you." He attempted a more friendly tone once again only succeeding in sounding insincere. "We're all on the same side here. We need your help in finding Mrs Fielding and getting the information. If you don't know where she is then help us to find her."
Steve couldn't believe how quickly the man switched from friend to enemy and back again, and he was supposed to buy this routine? He used the good cop, bad cop approach himself on occasion but he usually only played one role at a time. He looked over at Steele his earlier assessment must have been right. If he was having trouble speaking it would explain why Dobbs was doing all the work.
Steve gave his half smile again. "Yes I'll help you," he said, pausing long enough to make Dobbs think that he might be genuine. "On the same day that hell freezes over. Now if you'll excuse me I believe my Captain wanted to see me." He stood up. "I don't think we have anything more to say to each other." He turned and started to leave the room.
Dobbs stood too."You'll regret this Sloan. You're in way over your head," he said to his retreating back. "Way over your head," he repeated as the door closed.