Sitting in the interrogation room, Lexi waited for Nash to start talking. She wasn't sure what all he had uncovered. She figured he probably had a copy of her police record from L.A., but would he have had the nerve to dig farther? She shuddered at the thought of his finding her reports from Texas. He sat across the table from her and slid some files to the center of the table. Hers was on top; she saw the names Benson, Charles "Chip" and Carter, Steven on the others. She wasn't sure how to play this. Nash told her, "I said this morning that if there were anything we should know, we would find it."
"Looks like you did," she leaned back in the chair. "What more did you want?"
Nash glared at her, she was being so nonchalant about this. "Well, Miss Lee, you could've told me about your priors. That would've been a good place to start. Or your disputes with your husbands."
"Or your history of violence and abuse, and your counseling," Joe walked in and tossed more files onto the table. "Or your father, and how he died."
Lexi looked at the files, one had fallen open and there was a picture of what appeared to be a teenage Lexi, bruises covering her arms and back. The top of the printout had the State of Texas Children's Welfare Department logo on it. Closing her eyes, she looked away. The memory was enough to make her physically ill. She knew that photo wasn't of her; it was her little sister. Nash looked at Joe and picked up the new files. As Nash quickly scanned them, Lexi turned back to face them. Her face was full of anger as she glared at both Joe and Nash. "I thought I was the victim here," she snapped. "You remember? The one being stalked? Not the criminal. So, what do you think? Who is it? My dead father is threatening me? Or my crazy sister is plotting to kill me next? Oh wait, maybe my abusive ex-husband decided he hadn't had enough? So tell me, come on, which one is it?"
She was practically shouting. Nash was stunned by this turn-around of her personality. "I told you, Captain Bridges," she hissed, with more venom in her voice than Nash had ever heard from anyone before. "I told you that I didn't know why this psycho is doing this. It's happened before. This is the first time that someone has ever tried to blow me up. Even Russell didn't plant bombs, he just sliced and diced me for kicks. I can't even tell you if he really wanted me dead. This person does. Are you trying to tell me that because of my past indiscretions, a million people could want to kill me? I've done my homework, too, and tell me, Captain Saint and Lieutenant Courageous, how does that make me any different from the two of you? Yes, I did drugs. Yes, I got into fights. And yes, I got knocked around by my ex-husband and abused by my father. If that classifies me as a criminal, then the great state of California had better start building bigger prisons."
Nash was a little irritated by her comments: she was showing herself to be the little bitch he'd expected her to be. "Sister," he spat back. "Right now I've got a short amount of time, and an even shorter number of leads. If you don't like people poking around in your skeleton closet, then you shouldn't have gone into show business. Now I get the feeling that your psycho is planning something big, and like it or not, it now involves me. And if that means I have to check you all the way back to the hospital nursery to find the connection, then I'm gonna do it. And when I find out that I'm being kept in the dark, I don't like it. So if you've got any other shady history in your past, you better uncover it now. Because everything, and I mean everything, is under suspect. Do you understand me?"
As Lexi opened her mouth to say something else, she suddenly grew pale. Her gaze was focused behind Nash, and when he turned, he saw Antwon and Harvey walking in with Simon Russell. "Joe, take Lexi up top," Nash barked.
"Yes, sir," Joe mumbled, taking Lexi by the arm.
Luckily Russell didn't see Lexi. He was too busy complaining to Harvey and Antwon about how they were out of line and had no right to treat him like they were. "Well, well, well, Simon Russell. And do we know why he's in San Fran these days?" Nash greeted them, still seething at Lexi.
"Nope, he refused to talk. When we told him we were with the police and asked him about Miss Lee, he took off like a jackrabbit," Antwon replied, seating Russell into a chair.
"You have no right to have me here; I wasn't doing anything wrong. I'm going to file a complaint," Russell whined.
"You do that, Bubba," Nash told him. "Right after you answer my questions. Now Simon, how long have you been in our fair city?"
"I don't have to answer your questions," Russell complained.
"No," Nash countered, "You are still on probation in California, and we are officers of the law. Therefore, you have to answer every question we ask you. Now, let's try this again. How long have you lived here?"
Russell looked around him, "Eight months."
"See, now you're getting it," Nash faked a smile. "Did you follow Lexi Lee to San Francisco?"
"What??" Russell was shocked, "I didn't. I swear I didn't. When I moved, I didn't even know she lived here."
"He didn't know she was here," Nash looked at Harvey. "Convenient though how he moved to the same city that the woman he stalked moved to, and just a couple months after she moved. Don't you think?"
"Very convenient," Harvey agreed.
"So, tell me why, Simon, in the whole great state of California, did you move here?" Nash leaned towards Russell. Russell thought for a moment before answering.
"My girlfriend," he finally admitted.
"Your girlfriend?" Nash repeated and waited a moment. "Care to elaborate on that statement?"
"No," Russell snapped.
"No? See, Simon, I wasn't exactly asking for your opinion. That was more of a suggestion that you continue with that answer. Now, elaborate."
"She wrote to me in prison; her name is Lana, Lana Michaels. She's from here, and when I got out, she asked me to move up here."
"But, Simon, and correct me if I'm wrong," Nash puzzled. "Weren't you released from prison over a year ago? So why did you wait six months to move here?"
"I was afraid," Russell mumbled.
"Excuse me?" Nash asked, "I didn't quite catch that."
"I said I was afraid," Russell snapped at him. "This was a possible actual relationship, and I was scared. We visited and spent weekends together. I decided to move up here when I felt like I was ready to move in with her. I swear, I didn't even know Lexi was living here until I saw the paper this morning, and when I learned she was, I thought about moving. But it's a big city, and I have a good job and a good woman so I didn't think it would be a problem. I wasn't planning on crossing paths with her again. Are you going to let me go now? You have nothing to hold me on."
"I decide that," Nash informed Russell. Motioning to Harvey, the officers stepped away from the table, keeping an eye on Russell. "Do you think he's telling the truth?" Harvey wondered.
"I don't know, but he's right. We really don't have anything to hold him on." Nash sighed, "of course, he doesn't know that. Put him in holding for a while and see if anything comes up. If not, let him go."
Upstairs, Lexi was leaning against the railing, looking at the water. Joe was pacing behind her. They were both silent for awhile. "You don't like me," Lexi finally spoke, "Do you?"
"I don't know what you mean," Joe was taken aback. "I don't even know you."
"So why were you so hell bent on getting a hold of my records and uncovering the sordid details of my past? And then so quick to run with it?"
"Procedure," Joe shrugged.
"Bullshit," Lexi turned to face him. "You don't like this case, and you don't like me. And you're trying to prove both as a sham."
Joe tried to speak, but Lexi kept going. "So I don't like the police. But tell me, how have they really helped me? I filed restraining orders, and the police couldn't enforce it. They didn't help me when I was a child. They didn't help my mother. They were outside my house when Simon Russell drugged me and dragged me out and almost killed me. So maybe I'm not perfect, and maybe I've been on the wrong side of the law more than once. I find it very amusing that I got hit in a sting during that black market bust. Do you believe it was a coincidence that it was I who got busted? And yes, I use my money and my prestige, and my contacts to keep my personal life just that, personal. But tell me, Lieutenant, if you were in my shoes, wouldn't you? Aren't you always looking to make extra money? I know about you, and your schemes, your get quick rich ideas."
Nash came up just then, and Lexi whirled on him, "And you. You." Nash froze at the top of the stairs as she came towards him, her finger pointing at him. "I trusted you. I told you more than I told anybody. But it wasn't enough, was it? You had to know everything. You could've asked me about anything, and I would've told you. But did you? No, you let me believe you had enough information, and then went and dug up records, that, frankly, Captain, I believe are irrelevant to this case. It makes me wonder if you are the professionals I've been led to believe you to be. Tell me, what is the going rate for tabloid exposes on celebrities these days? Especially for the info as juicy as you two have dug up. Enough to pay off Lt. Dominguez's BMW? Or enough to restore your earthquake damaged building Captain? Or were you just looking for a quick roll in the hay?"
Nash had had just about enough of this, "Listen, Sister..."
"Bubba, you are not my brother," she quickly cut him off. "And I would appreciate you not insulting his memory like that. My brother had more class than the two of you together could ever hope to have. You have the letters, you have my files, you had my co-operation, and now you have Simon Russell. I think you have more than enough to go on. I would prefer that from now on, you deal directly with my staff, and I would definitely feel safer in their custody. Thank you so much for all your help. Now answer my question, Captain Nash Bridges. Did you really do all of this out of duty, or just sick perversion, or to make a quick buck?"
Joe realized that as much as his partner had denied it, there was more than an Inspector-victim relationship between Lexi and Nash. Something had happened: Nash had crossed a line, but whether is was in his work or on a personal level, Joe was afraid to guess. Neither of them had even remembered he was still up there. The instant Lexi had turned on Nash, the rest of the world had vanished to them.
Nash didn't know what to say. He had known she would be upset, but he hadn't known that her past was as bad as it was. Why hadn't she told him the details? He had to admit, he hadn't pressed for them when she had offered him her version of her life story. He had backed her into a corner, and she came out swinging. Yes, she made hurtful accusations, but he'd already cut her to the core. Standing there, he tried to figure out how to work it: he could let her walk out, then deal with her security team. That would be the professional, and logical, thing to do, but he was too far gone for logic. If something were to happen to her, if this psycho did kill her, he would blame himself for the rest of his life. She had trusted him she said, and maybe that was true. Maybe he had gotten farther under her armor than most people, but now that she had realized he was able to uncover anything about her, would she pull away? Everything she had fought so hard to keep secret, he could expose. She didn't have to power and control, and it made her feel vulnerable and scared.
"Lexi," he spoke softly, trying to calm her down. "I did it because I had to. This person is watching you and getting inside information on you, and they have obviously been doing it for quite sometime. Unfortunately, we have nothing solid to go on as to when this person first entered your life, or you entered theirs. This grudge they hold could be from anything. It could be a friend of your father's, someone who knew your family, someone from your early career, or from one of your marriages. And since you don't have an all that spotless past, we could be dealing with anything from a pissed-off former drug connection to an angry family friend to a psycho fan."
Lexi had turned her back on him, and returned to the railing while he spoke. He had followed her, and when she said nothing to him, he continued his explanation. "I'm sorry," he admitted. "Maybe I did step out of line, but maybe you should have been more honest. I couldn't wait for your trust to build enough for you to give me all the details in your own time, because time is something we are running short on. I can see that you've been hurt a lot in your past, but I don't want to see you hurt anymore. I promise that as long as you stick with me, I will do my best to make sure nothing else bad happens to you. I'm not going to treat you like your father did, or your ex-husbands or ex-boyfriends or ex-managers did. I'm here to protect you, but if I have to do some things that you may not happen to like in order to do my job, then we're just going to have to deal with it."
Lexi and Joe were both wondering the same thing. Was Nash just talking about this case? Or did it go deeper than that? Lexi turned her head to look at Nash, and leaned towards him. "Apology not accepted," she told him. "But I will try to be more co-operative. I guess putting up with you for a little while is better than being dead." He smiled a knowing smile at her, and she added, "Though, it is a toss-up."
"Why, Miss Lee," Nash tried to lighten the mood. "Are you letting someone past that armor of yours?"
Lexi's features softened for a moment before she smiled slyly at him. "Not anymore." She pushed away from the railing and Nash and turned to look at Joe. "All right Lieutenant Dominguez, fire away."
Lexi remained completely emotionless as she told them her life story - her complete life story. She answered their questions in robotic fashion, trying to distance herself from the words she was needing to tell. She warned them that if anything got leaked to the press, she would make them her number one suspects. Nash hated that afternoon, he hated hearing about her life, and he hated that he had made her tell it. It wasn't fair to put all that on her, especially once he had heard the truth. When she was done being questioned, she had checked in with her office and with Kat, and by the time she was done, Simon Russell had been released, so Nash led her back downstairs.
"Looks like you did," she leaned back in the chair. "What more did you want?"
Nash glared at her, she was being so nonchalant about this. "Well, Miss Lee, you could've told me about your priors. That would've been a good place to start. Or your disputes with your husbands."
"Or your history of violence and abuse, and your counseling," Joe walked in and tossed more files onto the table. "Or your father, and how he died."
Lexi looked at the files, one had fallen open and there was a picture of what appeared to be a teenage Lexi, bruises covering her arms and back. The top of the printout had the State of Texas Children's Welfare Department logo on it. Closing her eyes, she looked away. The memory was enough to make her physically ill. She knew that photo wasn't of her; it was her little sister. Nash looked at Joe and picked up the new files. As Nash quickly scanned them, Lexi turned back to face them. Her face was full of anger as she glared at both Joe and Nash. "I thought I was the victim here," she snapped. "You remember? The one being stalked? Not the criminal. So, what do you think? Who is it? My dead father is threatening me? Or my crazy sister is plotting to kill me next? Oh wait, maybe my abusive ex-husband decided he hadn't had enough? So tell me, come on, which one is it?"
She was practically shouting. Nash was stunned by this turn-around of her personality. "I told you, Captain Bridges," she hissed, with more venom in her voice than Nash had ever heard from anyone before. "I told you that I didn't know why this psycho is doing this. It's happened before. This is the first time that someone has ever tried to blow me up. Even Russell didn't plant bombs, he just sliced and diced me for kicks. I can't even tell you if he really wanted me dead. This person does. Are you trying to tell me that because of my past indiscretions, a million people could want to kill me? I've done my homework, too, and tell me, Captain Saint and Lieutenant Courageous, how does that make me any different from the two of you? Yes, I did drugs. Yes, I got into fights. And yes, I got knocked around by my ex-husband and abused by my father. If that classifies me as a criminal, then the great state of California had better start building bigger prisons."
Nash was a little irritated by her comments: she was showing herself to be the little bitch he'd expected her to be. "Sister," he spat back. "Right now I've got a short amount of time, and an even shorter number of leads. If you don't like people poking around in your skeleton closet, then you shouldn't have gone into show business. Now I get the feeling that your psycho is planning something big, and like it or not, it now involves me. And if that means I have to check you all the way back to the hospital nursery to find the connection, then I'm gonna do it. And when I find out that I'm being kept in the dark, I don't like it. So if you've got any other shady history in your past, you better uncover it now. Because everything, and I mean everything, is under suspect. Do you understand me?"
As Lexi opened her mouth to say something else, she suddenly grew pale. Her gaze was focused behind Nash, and when he turned, he saw Antwon and Harvey walking in with Simon Russell. "Joe, take Lexi up top," Nash barked.
"Yes, sir," Joe mumbled, taking Lexi by the arm.
Luckily Russell didn't see Lexi. He was too busy complaining to Harvey and Antwon about how they were out of line and had no right to treat him like they were. "Well, well, well, Simon Russell. And do we know why he's in San Fran these days?" Nash greeted them, still seething at Lexi.
"Nope, he refused to talk. When we told him we were with the police and asked him about Miss Lee, he took off like a jackrabbit," Antwon replied, seating Russell into a chair.
"You have no right to have me here; I wasn't doing anything wrong. I'm going to file a complaint," Russell whined.
"You do that, Bubba," Nash told him. "Right after you answer my questions. Now Simon, how long have you been in our fair city?"
"I don't have to answer your questions," Russell complained.
"No," Nash countered, "You are still on probation in California, and we are officers of the law. Therefore, you have to answer every question we ask you. Now, let's try this again. How long have you lived here?"
Russell looked around him, "Eight months."
"See, now you're getting it," Nash faked a smile. "Did you follow Lexi Lee to San Francisco?"
"What??" Russell was shocked, "I didn't. I swear I didn't. When I moved, I didn't even know she lived here."
"He didn't know she was here," Nash looked at Harvey. "Convenient though how he moved to the same city that the woman he stalked moved to, and just a couple months after she moved. Don't you think?"
"Very convenient," Harvey agreed.
"So, tell me why, Simon, in the whole great state of California, did you move here?" Nash leaned towards Russell. Russell thought for a moment before answering.
"My girlfriend," he finally admitted.
"Your girlfriend?" Nash repeated and waited a moment. "Care to elaborate on that statement?"
"No," Russell snapped.
"No? See, Simon, I wasn't exactly asking for your opinion. That was more of a suggestion that you continue with that answer. Now, elaborate."
"She wrote to me in prison; her name is Lana, Lana Michaels. She's from here, and when I got out, she asked me to move up here."
"But, Simon, and correct me if I'm wrong," Nash puzzled. "Weren't you released from prison over a year ago? So why did you wait six months to move here?"
"I was afraid," Russell mumbled.
"Excuse me?" Nash asked, "I didn't quite catch that."
"I said I was afraid," Russell snapped at him. "This was a possible actual relationship, and I was scared. We visited and spent weekends together. I decided to move up here when I felt like I was ready to move in with her. I swear, I didn't even know Lexi was living here until I saw the paper this morning, and when I learned she was, I thought about moving. But it's a big city, and I have a good job and a good woman so I didn't think it would be a problem. I wasn't planning on crossing paths with her again. Are you going to let me go now? You have nothing to hold me on."
"I decide that," Nash informed Russell. Motioning to Harvey, the officers stepped away from the table, keeping an eye on Russell. "Do you think he's telling the truth?" Harvey wondered.
"I don't know, but he's right. We really don't have anything to hold him on." Nash sighed, "of course, he doesn't know that. Put him in holding for a while and see if anything comes up. If not, let him go."
Upstairs, Lexi was leaning against the railing, looking at the water. Joe was pacing behind her. They were both silent for awhile. "You don't like me," Lexi finally spoke, "Do you?"
"I don't know what you mean," Joe was taken aback. "I don't even know you."
"So why were you so hell bent on getting a hold of my records and uncovering the sordid details of my past? And then so quick to run with it?"
"Procedure," Joe shrugged.
"Bullshit," Lexi turned to face him. "You don't like this case, and you don't like me. And you're trying to prove both as a sham."
Joe tried to speak, but Lexi kept going. "So I don't like the police. But tell me, how have they really helped me? I filed restraining orders, and the police couldn't enforce it. They didn't help me when I was a child. They didn't help my mother. They were outside my house when Simon Russell drugged me and dragged me out and almost killed me. So maybe I'm not perfect, and maybe I've been on the wrong side of the law more than once. I find it very amusing that I got hit in a sting during that black market bust. Do you believe it was a coincidence that it was I who got busted? And yes, I use my money and my prestige, and my contacts to keep my personal life just that, personal. But tell me, Lieutenant, if you were in my shoes, wouldn't you? Aren't you always looking to make extra money? I know about you, and your schemes, your get quick rich ideas."
Nash came up just then, and Lexi whirled on him, "And you. You." Nash froze at the top of the stairs as she came towards him, her finger pointing at him. "I trusted you. I told you more than I told anybody. But it wasn't enough, was it? You had to know everything. You could've asked me about anything, and I would've told you. But did you? No, you let me believe you had enough information, and then went and dug up records, that, frankly, Captain, I believe are irrelevant to this case. It makes me wonder if you are the professionals I've been led to believe you to be. Tell me, what is the going rate for tabloid exposes on celebrities these days? Especially for the info as juicy as you two have dug up. Enough to pay off Lt. Dominguez's BMW? Or enough to restore your earthquake damaged building Captain? Or were you just looking for a quick roll in the hay?"
Nash had had just about enough of this, "Listen, Sister..."
"Bubba, you are not my brother," she quickly cut him off. "And I would appreciate you not insulting his memory like that. My brother had more class than the two of you together could ever hope to have. You have the letters, you have my files, you had my co-operation, and now you have Simon Russell. I think you have more than enough to go on. I would prefer that from now on, you deal directly with my staff, and I would definitely feel safer in their custody. Thank you so much for all your help. Now answer my question, Captain Nash Bridges. Did you really do all of this out of duty, or just sick perversion, or to make a quick buck?"
Joe realized that as much as his partner had denied it, there was more than an Inspector-victim relationship between Lexi and Nash. Something had happened: Nash had crossed a line, but whether is was in his work or on a personal level, Joe was afraid to guess. Neither of them had even remembered he was still up there. The instant Lexi had turned on Nash, the rest of the world had vanished to them.
Nash didn't know what to say. He had known she would be upset, but he hadn't known that her past was as bad as it was. Why hadn't she told him the details? He had to admit, he hadn't pressed for them when she had offered him her version of her life story. He had backed her into a corner, and she came out swinging. Yes, she made hurtful accusations, but he'd already cut her to the core. Standing there, he tried to figure out how to work it: he could let her walk out, then deal with her security team. That would be the professional, and logical, thing to do, but he was too far gone for logic. If something were to happen to her, if this psycho did kill her, he would blame himself for the rest of his life. She had trusted him she said, and maybe that was true. Maybe he had gotten farther under her armor than most people, but now that she had realized he was able to uncover anything about her, would she pull away? Everything she had fought so hard to keep secret, he could expose. She didn't have to power and control, and it made her feel vulnerable and scared.
"Lexi," he spoke softly, trying to calm her down. "I did it because I had to. This person is watching you and getting inside information on you, and they have obviously been doing it for quite sometime. Unfortunately, we have nothing solid to go on as to when this person first entered your life, or you entered theirs. This grudge they hold could be from anything. It could be a friend of your father's, someone who knew your family, someone from your early career, or from one of your marriages. And since you don't have an all that spotless past, we could be dealing with anything from a pissed-off former drug connection to an angry family friend to a psycho fan."
Lexi had turned her back on him, and returned to the railing while he spoke. He had followed her, and when she said nothing to him, he continued his explanation. "I'm sorry," he admitted. "Maybe I did step out of line, but maybe you should have been more honest. I couldn't wait for your trust to build enough for you to give me all the details in your own time, because time is something we are running short on. I can see that you've been hurt a lot in your past, but I don't want to see you hurt anymore. I promise that as long as you stick with me, I will do my best to make sure nothing else bad happens to you. I'm not going to treat you like your father did, or your ex-husbands or ex-boyfriends or ex-managers did. I'm here to protect you, but if I have to do some things that you may not happen to like in order to do my job, then we're just going to have to deal with it."
Lexi and Joe were both wondering the same thing. Was Nash just talking about this case? Or did it go deeper than that? Lexi turned her head to look at Nash, and leaned towards him. "Apology not accepted," she told him. "But I will try to be more co-operative. I guess putting up with you for a little while is better than being dead." He smiled a knowing smile at her, and she added, "Though, it is a toss-up."
"Why, Miss Lee," Nash tried to lighten the mood. "Are you letting someone past that armor of yours?"
Lexi's features softened for a moment before she smiled slyly at him. "Not anymore." She pushed away from the railing and Nash and turned to look at Joe. "All right Lieutenant Dominguez, fire away."
Lexi remained completely emotionless as she told them her life story - her complete life story. She answered their questions in robotic fashion, trying to distance herself from the words she was needing to tell. She warned them that if anything got leaked to the press, she would make them her number one suspects. Nash hated that afternoon, he hated hearing about her life, and he hated that he had made her tell it. It wasn't fair to put all that on her, especially once he had heard the truth. When she was done being questioned, she had checked in with her office and with Kat, and by the time she was done, Simon Russell had been released, so Nash led her back downstairs.