Nash left Lexi at his apartment with Officer Olsen and Nick before returning to the SIU. "Tell me you got something, Harv," he called, motioning the team to follow him.
"I got something, boss," Harvey raised a file triumphantly.
"Hit me," Nash replied.
"Our girl is named Nicole Michaels. She hails from Farmer, South Dakota. History of mental illness, was released from state psychiatric two years ago, which is when she moved to San Francisco. Get this though, part of the reason she was put away was for publicly protesting the pop group Angel Dolls. Her demonstration consisted of burning a mannequin resembling the group member Lexi Lee."
Nash's curiosity was raised, "Hated the music?"
Harvey shook his head, "Hated the group. Lexi, in particular. Seems there was a mishap at a Sioux Falls concert; people rushed the stage; and five people were caught in the crush. Two died from injuries; one was named Vincent Michaels. Nicole Michaeë brother. Psychological report states Nicole had an obsession with avenging her brother's death and tried to lead a boycott on the group. She felt the group had tried to buy off her family with a 1.2 million dollar out- of- court settlement."
"What about Simon Russell?" Joe asked.
"I went to his place, but got no answer. His neighbor says he hasn't seen him since Friday morning. He figured Russell and his girlfriend went out of town for the weekend." Antwon reported.
"Nikko placed him at the theatre today," Joe threw out to the crowd.
Nash was looking down at Nicole's file. "So how can we tie Russell and Nicole?" Antwon asked.
"Lana Nicole Michaels," Nash read the name off of the file. "Lana Michaels..."
"Russell's girlfriend," Harvey looked stunned. "I didn't even catch that."
"So we've got motive and a witness. Get a warrant and search Russell's apartment." Nash ordered. "Put out an APB for him. And get me the results on that body from the fire, ASAP."
The team dispersed quickly, going about their jobs. Nash had just gotten the okay on the warrant and word that a black and white would meet him with it and was headed out the door when his phone rang. "Captain Bridges, SIU."
"I just wanted to apologize for earlier," Lexi spoke. "And thank you for basically saving me from life-threatening danger, again."
Nash couldn't help but grin when he heard her voice. "Well, you're welcome. It's all in a day's work."
"I know, but I didn't have to be so difficult with you," he could hear her smile. "And to show my gratitude, there will be a big crispy salad waiting for you tonight."
He laughed, "Sounds good. I'll see you then."
When he put the phone down, Joe was waiting for him. "You didn't tell her about Russell and Nicole, who was Michelle?" Joe asked as they walked off the barge.
"I'd rather tell her when we bring him in," Nash told him.
Nash banged on Russell's door three times with no response. He nodded to Harv and Joe who took up position on each side of the door, guns drawn. Retrieving his own from its holster, Nash kicked the door in and quickly stepped to the side. The four SIU agents and the two uniforms entered the apartment. "No one's in here," Antwon reported.
"Everybody take a section, look for anything Lexi related, or Michelle/Nicole related." Nash instructed, heading for the bedroom.
He found pictures of Russell and a girl who looked like an older version of the picture in Nicole's file. Figuring those were all over the house, he tore through the dresser and moved on to the closet. Harvey came in behind him and sighed, "Nashman, I hope you're having better luck in here. All we got are pictures of Russell and Nicole Michaels. Two psychos in love, but not enough to convict."
"I've got nothing in here, too," Nash's anger was building. "Dammit," he cursed as he slammed his palm against the wall. A thunk on the other side caught his attention.
Harvey had turned and opened the other closet door, the one Nash had already gone through. "Well, I'll be..." he exclaimed.
Nash looked in and saw a box that had fallen down, jewelry scattered about. But the more amazing thing was there were also pictures of Lexi, including the mug shot with the word "Murderer" scrawled across it. "Take it in, Harvey," Nash sighed. He knew who it was, now all he had to do was find Russell and bring him in.
As he was heading back to the SIU, the radio reported a 911 call with an officer down, giving Lexi's building as the address. "That's Lexi's building," Nash glanced at Joe. "Did we have patrol there?"
"As far as watch, no," Joe replied. "We'd focused more on Lexi herself than her apartment."
"Get Harv on the phone," Nash made a U-turn. "We're taking a detour."
The 'Cuda arrived at the same time the ambulance did. He saw Geoffrey and went over to him. "What's going on here?" he asked.
"Miss Lee is in her penthouse," the doorman was trying to be calm. "The officer went up to check on her, and he....he was....he was shot. I saw it on the security monitor and I called 911."
"Who's with her up there?" Nash asked.
Geoffrey shook his head. "No one, she went in alone. I haven't let anyone in since she left last week."
Joe heard the last comment as he came over to Nash. "It's Officer Renwick who's down. In the chest, EMT didn't sound promising." He paused, hating to ask what he was about to. "Does Lexi own a gun?"
Nash closed his eyes, his head felt like it was spinning. He had been waiting for Geoffrey to mention a maintenance man or someone entering the building with her. Now Joe asks that. What it implied was more than he wanted to deal with.
"You don't think Miss Lexi..." Geoffrey trailed off. Nash had to turn away, just the thought made him sick.
Upstairs, Lexi had walked into her apartment to pick up a few "essentials" to help her prepare her apology dinner for Nash. She really did want to make it up to Nash and she'd sweet talked Officer Renwick into taking her over to her place "for just a minute." And now Officer Renwick lay bleeding in the hallway, or hopefully by now, downstairs. From where she was bound and gagged on the patio, she had heard the sirens below.
Her attacker had knocked her out from behind while Lexi was going through her dresser drawer. She had been waking up, in the chair where she still was when she heard Renwick on the intercom, and then the gunshot.
"I suppose you want me to untie you," her attacker snarled at her. "Or at least remove your gag."
Lexi nodded, tears welling up in her eyes. She was still in shock over who her attacker was. Lexi tried to talk through her mouth gag, calling her assailant by name, trying to bring sanity to what was obviously insane. "What did you say?" the stalker grabbed her hair. Lexi sobbed, letting the tears flow as this psycho yanked the gag out of her mouth. "What did you say, songbird?" the stalker demanded.
"I said why," Lexi sobbed. "Why are you doing this?"
"Why?" she whispered, getting into Lexi's face. "Vengeance, Lexi, Vengeance."
Downstairs, Joe was taking over while Nash collected himself. "Nash," Harvey walked up, "I know it might be a bad time, but I just got a call from Ronnie. CSI ID'ed the body. It was Simon Russell."
"That means Nicole's alive," Nash concluded.
"And she's probably upstairs," Harvey responded. "She had her own pass key from the garage; she wouldn't have had to go past Geoffrey."
"And she's armed," Nash said.
"Don't play dumb with me," Nicole lightly ran a knife blade around Lexi's throat, not trying to break the skin. "Even though you are too selfish to remember, your captain must know by now. He must have told you."
"Michelle, he said you were dead. Is that why you're doing this? You thought we were leaving you to die?"
"And what else did he tell you?"
"Nothing," Lexi cried, "What are you talking about?"
"So you mean to tell me," Nicole whispered into Lexi's ear, "that all he did was whisper sweet nothings into your ear." She stood up straight, holding the knife out towards Lexi. "You make me sick. You think money and your body can get you everything. Police captain won't take a monetary bribe, but tell me, princess, did he realize all your little foreplay acts were really just bribes? That you use sex as freely as you use your money?"
"Why are you saying that Michelle?" Lexi continued to cry.
"Stop your fucking whining!" Nicole shouted at her. "Because it's the truth! I've been watching you for a long time now, and you're not going to sweet talk your way out of this one."
"Michelle?" Lexi whispered.
"Stop calling me Michelle. My name is Nicole. You don't even remember me. Figures. You can remember a massage, but you can't remember one little person that you killed."
Lexi was shaking her head, "killed?"
"I guess God gave you talent and looks, be too much to have gotten brains as well. Nicole Michaels. Vincent Michaels. You tried to console me when my brother died, yet you don't recognize me later. I know, I know, you're soooo busy. You meet soooo many people, how can you possibly remember any, especially the ones whose lives you ruined."
"South," Lexi was remembering, "South Dakota. Stage rush, he died from internal injuries."
"Aww, you remember your press answers. How precious. Too bad."
"So you want to kill me, because you blame me for Vincent's death?"
"Ding ding ding, we have a winner. You know, it's really easy to ruin your life, once I got inside. Best security team in the world. All I had to do was screw your chief of security and he believed everything I told him. Don't worry, precious Lex, he did me six ways to Sunday before he was satisfied with the results. But you just used him, too. Got a new play toy, a little older, a little smarter maybe, a lot cuter. So tell me, did you arrange a Porno shoot yet for this guy?"
"Shut up," Lexi snapped.
Nicole backhanded her across the cheek, "You don't get to tell me what to do anymore. I get to tell you. Remind me Michelle, tell me Michelle, do this, do that, Michelle. I just have one order for you and you're going to follow it." Nicole leaned in, hatred in her words. "Die, Bitch."
The tears flowed down Lexi's cheeks, as she sobbed, fear in her heart. "Why are you crying, little Lexi? Shouldn't you be happy? You'll get to be reunited with your darling Andrew. Your hero, your rock, your everything. People thought my relationship with my brother was crazy; yours was just twisted. But then again, you can always blame daddy. Is that what your new obsession with older men is? Trying to find a father figure, one who'll do you right this time. I was going to wait until September 19th, so you could die on the same day Andrew did. It could be like your parents. Didn't your wacko little sister pulverize daddy on January 29th? The same date he attacked and killed your mommy in ë85? Poetic justice, I thought. But no, you had to get involved with the cops. Someone ruin Andrew's memorial concert, how dare they?"
Nicole stepped back, laughing. "You didn't do a memorial concert for Vincent. But that's okay. We could be even. You killed my brother. I helped you kill yours."
Lexi's eyes went wide with shock. "That's right, superstar. I tipped off the cops. You would have succeeded and saved your brother by killing someone else. But you don't care about anyone but yourself. You only wanted to save your brother so you wouldn't feel so alone in this world."
"Sounds to me like we're the same then," Lexi was trying to regain her composure. "Maybe Vincent was meant to die that night. Maybe it was nobody's fault. Maybe it was God's will."
"God's will? GOD'S WILL!?!" Nicole shrieked. "WHAT THE HELL DO YOU KNOW ABOUT GOD?"
"Enough," Lexi whispered.
"I'm tired of playing your games," Nicole dropped the knife and pulled a gun out of the back of her waistband. She aimed it at Lexi, who stared at her. When the shot rang out, Lexi flinched. She opened her eyes and felt no pain. Nicole was lying on the ground, bleeding from the wound to her back.
Nash stepped out of the shadows, gun still drawn, as he leaned down to check for a pulse. He pulled a radio out of his pocket and spoke into it, "Harv, Nicole Michaels has been detained: you should get a stretcher and medic up here. Miss Lee has been found."
Lexi was bent over as far as her restraints would allow, crying uncontrollably.
After the EMT checked her over, Lexi had convinced him she was okay. She rode back to the SIU barge with Nash and Joe to make her statement about the evening's happenings. She'd lied at the end and said that Nash had tried to reason with Nicole, but she wouldn't co-operate, that she was turning to fire at Lexi when Nash shot her. It protected Nash so he wouldn't be investigated by the MCD for shooting a suspect in the back without justifiable cause.
She was standing at the back of the barge with Nash, realizing that they no longer had a case to keep them together, and the hidden meanings behind their actions. Kat was waiting to take her to a hotel, their apartment still marked a crime scene, and her free to return to normal life.
"So," Lexi looked at Nash, as they leaned against the railing.
"So," Nash replied, looking at the water.
"The case is solved, all over but the paperwork," Lexi looked out at the water.
"Guess so," Nash replied as he looked over at her.
"Well," Lexi pushed herself back from the railing, "It's been a pleasure working with you, Captain Bridges."
Nash let her get about two steps away before he turned and grabbed her by the hand. Pulling her to him, he looked deep into her eyes and told her, "The pleasure was all mine." Then he kissed her.
"I got something, boss," Harvey raised a file triumphantly.
"Hit me," Nash replied.
"Our girl is named Nicole Michaels. She hails from Farmer, South Dakota. History of mental illness, was released from state psychiatric two years ago, which is when she moved to San Francisco. Get this though, part of the reason she was put away was for publicly protesting the pop group Angel Dolls. Her demonstration consisted of burning a mannequin resembling the group member Lexi Lee."
Nash's curiosity was raised, "Hated the music?"
Harvey shook his head, "Hated the group. Lexi, in particular. Seems there was a mishap at a Sioux Falls concert; people rushed the stage; and five people were caught in the crush. Two died from injuries; one was named Vincent Michaels. Nicole Michaeë brother. Psychological report states Nicole had an obsession with avenging her brother's death and tried to lead a boycott on the group. She felt the group had tried to buy off her family with a 1.2 million dollar out- of- court settlement."
"What about Simon Russell?" Joe asked.
"I went to his place, but got no answer. His neighbor says he hasn't seen him since Friday morning. He figured Russell and his girlfriend went out of town for the weekend." Antwon reported.
"Nikko placed him at the theatre today," Joe threw out to the crowd.
Nash was looking down at Nicole's file. "So how can we tie Russell and Nicole?" Antwon asked.
"Lana Nicole Michaels," Nash read the name off of the file. "Lana Michaels..."
"Russell's girlfriend," Harvey looked stunned. "I didn't even catch that."
"So we've got motive and a witness. Get a warrant and search Russell's apartment." Nash ordered. "Put out an APB for him. And get me the results on that body from the fire, ASAP."
The team dispersed quickly, going about their jobs. Nash had just gotten the okay on the warrant and word that a black and white would meet him with it and was headed out the door when his phone rang. "Captain Bridges, SIU."
"I just wanted to apologize for earlier," Lexi spoke. "And thank you for basically saving me from life-threatening danger, again."
Nash couldn't help but grin when he heard her voice. "Well, you're welcome. It's all in a day's work."
"I know, but I didn't have to be so difficult with you," he could hear her smile. "And to show my gratitude, there will be a big crispy salad waiting for you tonight."
He laughed, "Sounds good. I'll see you then."
When he put the phone down, Joe was waiting for him. "You didn't tell her about Russell and Nicole, who was Michelle?" Joe asked as they walked off the barge.
"I'd rather tell her when we bring him in," Nash told him.
Nash banged on Russell's door three times with no response. He nodded to Harv and Joe who took up position on each side of the door, guns drawn. Retrieving his own from its holster, Nash kicked the door in and quickly stepped to the side. The four SIU agents and the two uniforms entered the apartment. "No one's in here," Antwon reported.
"Everybody take a section, look for anything Lexi related, or Michelle/Nicole related." Nash instructed, heading for the bedroom.
He found pictures of Russell and a girl who looked like an older version of the picture in Nicole's file. Figuring those were all over the house, he tore through the dresser and moved on to the closet. Harvey came in behind him and sighed, "Nashman, I hope you're having better luck in here. All we got are pictures of Russell and Nicole Michaels. Two psychos in love, but not enough to convict."
"I've got nothing in here, too," Nash's anger was building. "Dammit," he cursed as he slammed his palm against the wall. A thunk on the other side caught his attention.
Harvey had turned and opened the other closet door, the one Nash had already gone through. "Well, I'll be..." he exclaimed.
Nash looked in and saw a box that had fallen down, jewelry scattered about. But the more amazing thing was there were also pictures of Lexi, including the mug shot with the word "Murderer" scrawled across it. "Take it in, Harvey," Nash sighed. He knew who it was, now all he had to do was find Russell and bring him in.
As he was heading back to the SIU, the radio reported a 911 call with an officer down, giving Lexi's building as the address. "That's Lexi's building," Nash glanced at Joe. "Did we have patrol there?"
"As far as watch, no," Joe replied. "We'd focused more on Lexi herself than her apartment."
"Get Harv on the phone," Nash made a U-turn. "We're taking a detour."
The 'Cuda arrived at the same time the ambulance did. He saw Geoffrey and went over to him. "What's going on here?" he asked.
"Miss Lee is in her penthouse," the doorman was trying to be calm. "The officer went up to check on her, and he....he was....he was shot. I saw it on the security monitor and I called 911."
"Who's with her up there?" Nash asked.
Geoffrey shook his head. "No one, she went in alone. I haven't let anyone in since she left last week."
Joe heard the last comment as he came over to Nash. "It's Officer Renwick who's down. In the chest, EMT didn't sound promising." He paused, hating to ask what he was about to. "Does Lexi own a gun?"
Nash closed his eyes, his head felt like it was spinning. He had been waiting for Geoffrey to mention a maintenance man or someone entering the building with her. Now Joe asks that. What it implied was more than he wanted to deal with.
"You don't think Miss Lexi..." Geoffrey trailed off. Nash had to turn away, just the thought made him sick.
Upstairs, Lexi had walked into her apartment to pick up a few "essentials" to help her prepare her apology dinner for Nash. She really did want to make it up to Nash and she'd sweet talked Officer Renwick into taking her over to her place "for just a minute." And now Officer Renwick lay bleeding in the hallway, or hopefully by now, downstairs. From where she was bound and gagged on the patio, she had heard the sirens below.
Her attacker had knocked her out from behind while Lexi was going through her dresser drawer. She had been waking up, in the chair where she still was when she heard Renwick on the intercom, and then the gunshot.
"I suppose you want me to untie you," her attacker snarled at her. "Or at least remove your gag."
Lexi nodded, tears welling up in her eyes. She was still in shock over who her attacker was. Lexi tried to talk through her mouth gag, calling her assailant by name, trying to bring sanity to what was obviously insane. "What did you say?" the stalker grabbed her hair. Lexi sobbed, letting the tears flow as this psycho yanked the gag out of her mouth. "What did you say, songbird?" the stalker demanded.
"I said why," Lexi sobbed. "Why are you doing this?"
"Why?" she whispered, getting into Lexi's face. "Vengeance, Lexi, Vengeance."
Downstairs, Joe was taking over while Nash collected himself. "Nash," Harvey walked up, "I know it might be a bad time, but I just got a call from Ronnie. CSI ID'ed the body. It was Simon Russell."
"That means Nicole's alive," Nash concluded.
"And she's probably upstairs," Harvey responded. "She had her own pass key from the garage; she wouldn't have had to go past Geoffrey."
"And she's armed," Nash said.
"Don't play dumb with me," Nicole lightly ran a knife blade around Lexi's throat, not trying to break the skin. "Even though you are too selfish to remember, your captain must know by now. He must have told you."
"Michelle, he said you were dead. Is that why you're doing this? You thought we were leaving you to die?"
"And what else did he tell you?"
"Nothing," Lexi cried, "What are you talking about?"
"So you mean to tell me," Nicole whispered into Lexi's ear, "that all he did was whisper sweet nothings into your ear." She stood up straight, holding the knife out towards Lexi. "You make me sick. You think money and your body can get you everything. Police captain won't take a monetary bribe, but tell me, princess, did he realize all your little foreplay acts were really just bribes? That you use sex as freely as you use your money?"
"Why are you saying that Michelle?" Lexi continued to cry.
"Stop your fucking whining!" Nicole shouted at her. "Because it's the truth! I've been watching you for a long time now, and you're not going to sweet talk your way out of this one."
"Michelle?" Lexi whispered.
"Stop calling me Michelle. My name is Nicole. You don't even remember me. Figures. You can remember a massage, but you can't remember one little person that you killed."
Lexi was shaking her head, "killed?"
"I guess God gave you talent and looks, be too much to have gotten brains as well. Nicole Michaels. Vincent Michaels. You tried to console me when my brother died, yet you don't recognize me later. I know, I know, you're soooo busy. You meet soooo many people, how can you possibly remember any, especially the ones whose lives you ruined."
"South," Lexi was remembering, "South Dakota. Stage rush, he died from internal injuries."
"Aww, you remember your press answers. How precious. Too bad."
"So you want to kill me, because you blame me for Vincent's death?"
"Ding ding ding, we have a winner. You know, it's really easy to ruin your life, once I got inside. Best security team in the world. All I had to do was screw your chief of security and he believed everything I told him. Don't worry, precious Lex, he did me six ways to Sunday before he was satisfied with the results. But you just used him, too. Got a new play toy, a little older, a little smarter maybe, a lot cuter. So tell me, did you arrange a Porno shoot yet for this guy?"
"Shut up," Lexi snapped.
Nicole backhanded her across the cheek, "You don't get to tell me what to do anymore. I get to tell you. Remind me Michelle, tell me Michelle, do this, do that, Michelle. I just have one order for you and you're going to follow it." Nicole leaned in, hatred in her words. "Die, Bitch."
The tears flowed down Lexi's cheeks, as she sobbed, fear in her heart. "Why are you crying, little Lexi? Shouldn't you be happy? You'll get to be reunited with your darling Andrew. Your hero, your rock, your everything. People thought my relationship with my brother was crazy; yours was just twisted. But then again, you can always blame daddy. Is that what your new obsession with older men is? Trying to find a father figure, one who'll do you right this time. I was going to wait until September 19th, so you could die on the same day Andrew did. It could be like your parents. Didn't your wacko little sister pulverize daddy on January 29th? The same date he attacked and killed your mommy in ë85? Poetic justice, I thought. But no, you had to get involved with the cops. Someone ruin Andrew's memorial concert, how dare they?"
Nicole stepped back, laughing. "You didn't do a memorial concert for Vincent. But that's okay. We could be even. You killed my brother. I helped you kill yours."
Lexi's eyes went wide with shock. "That's right, superstar. I tipped off the cops. You would have succeeded and saved your brother by killing someone else. But you don't care about anyone but yourself. You only wanted to save your brother so you wouldn't feel so alone in this world."
"Sounds to me like we're the same then," Lexi was trying to regain her composure. "Maybe Vincent was meant to die that night. Maybe it was nobody's fault. Maybe it was God's will."
"God's will? GOD'S WILL!?!" Nicole shrieked. "WHAT THE HELL DO YOU KNOW ABOUT GOD?"
"Enough," Lexi whispered.
"I'm tired of playing your games," Nicole dropped the knife and pulled a gun out of the back of her waistband. She aimed it at Lexi, who stared at her. When the shot rang out, Lexi flinched. She opened her eyes and felt no pain. Nicole was lying on the ground, bleeding from the wound to her back.
Nash stepped out of the shadows, gun still drawn, as he leaned down to check for a pulse. He pulled a radio out of his pocket and spoke into it, "Harv, Nicole Michaels has been detained: you should get a stretcher and medic up here. Miss Lee has been found."
Lexi was bent over as far as her restraints would allow, crying uncontrollably.
After the EMT checked her over, Lexi had convinced him she was okay. She rode back to the SIU barge with Nash and Joe to make her statement about the evening's happenings. She'd lied at the end and said that Nash had tried to reason with Nicole, but she wouldn't co-operate, that she was turning to fire at Lexi when Nash shot her. It protected Nash so he wouldn't be investigated by the MCD for shooting a suspect in the back without justifiable cause.
She was standing at the back of the barge with Nash, realizing that they no longer had a case to keep them together, and the hidden meanings behind their actions. Kat was waiting to take her to a hotel, their apartment still marked a crime scene, and her free to return to normal life.
"So," Lexi looked at Nash, as they leaned against the railing.
"So," Nash replied, looking at the water.
"The case is solved, all over but the paperwork," Lexi looked out at the water.
"Guess so," Nash replied as he looked over at her.
"Well," Lexi pushed herself back from the railing, "It's been a pleasure working with you, Captain Bridges."
Nash let her get about two steps away before he turned and grabbed her by the hand. Pulling her to him, he looked deep into her eyes and told her, "The pleasure was all mine." Then he kissed her.