"Good morning, baby, I miss you," Lennie said in a voice made sexy by the early morning scratchiness of it.
"Mmm, I miss you too. I can't wait until I'm home tonight in your arms," Anita said.
Hearing her voice and the sentiment she voiced seemed to dispel most of what he'd been feeling so he shrugged off the bad mood. "Yeah baby, me too. I just wanted to kick start my day by hearing your voice, " he improvised.
"I'm glad you did. It makes my day better too," she said.
Lennie glanced at his watch. "Well baby, I better get going. I got to go pretend that I know how to do your job," he said, and Anita imagined she could she the grin on his face.
"OK, try to stay out of trouble and really don't do any thing I wouldn't do," she ordered.
"Yes ma'am. See you tonight baby," Lennie said.
"Love you," she added.
"Love you too," he added before hanging up, grabbing his gun and badge as he headed out the door.
Lennie had barely gotten in the door of the squad and begun reading the situation reports, when a call came in about a double homicide in a hotel in their jurisdiction. Dispatch had already sent a radio car and EMS to the scene although the first responders had suggested the EMS unit be changed to the ME and a CSU team was on its way. Lennie listened to the details he was given over the phone, although he wasn't given the victims names he was told that their Ids were found at the crime scene and indicated that they worked for one of the deputy mayors.
Lennie frowned as he looked at the notes Anita had left him, and then he swore. With Ed out on medical leave, his covering for her while she was in Santa Domingo, plus two detectives scheduled to testify in court today and several active investigations in crucial stages, he really didn't have much of a squad left to work with. Given that there were bound to be a number of Spanish speakers among the hotel workers he'd really need Ana with him on this one. He quickly gave the uniformed officers on the scene some very specific orders about controlling the scene. He told them he'd try to arrange for some more officers to be sent to the scene, he hoped it wasn't wishful thinking given how thin the NYPD was stretched these days.
Lennie then quickly opened Anita's laptop, hoping he remembered her password; he attempted to log on to the Internet. Once he got on he called up a page of the New York government information pages and sent a directory page to the printer upstairs.
Looking around the squad room quickly as he exited Anita's office, Lennie said, "Sweeney, Cordova you're with me," the two detectives scrambled to get their things together and get up from their respective desks.
"Dworkin cover the squad while we're gone, OK? Patterson, Mendoza you've both got trials today right?" Lennie asked as he began to stride out of the unit, not really giving either man enough time to do more than nod. Lennie grabbed his coat as he passed the coat rack.
"OK, be sure you're on time for the trials, when you're done there get back here, there may be work from this case to get onto so don't dilly dally over at the court house," Lennie said as he pulled his trench coat on. "Oh, and if any media call here, they meet a stone wall of silence got it?" Everyone left in the squad including Anita's PAA nodded, feeling powerless to do anything else in the face of this version of Lennie Briscoe.
"Ana, where's your partner?" Lennie asked, finally noticing Mark Johnson's absence.
"At the dentist, he apparently broke a tooth last night," Ana answered and Lennie scowled.
"Likely story," Sweeney remarked.
When the three detectives got out of earshot, Dworkin asked Patterson and Mendoza "Was that Clark Kent or should I ask who was that masked man?" The other two detectives started laughing.
Lennie stopped at the sergeant's desk to pick up the directory he'd printed out and to "request" more uniforms to meet them at the hotel. Lennie wanted plenty of bodies available to control the crime scene, especially the media.
When they got to the car, Lennie threw Sweeney the keys and opened the back passenger side door for Ana, explaining that he needed the leg room and hoped she wouldn't mind sitting in back.
"Mind if I ask why you're even coming along, Lennie? I mean, usually the Lieutenant just sends two detectives and she doesn't come along to hold our hands," Sweeney said.
"Yeah, well usually two members of a deputy mayor's staff don't get themselves shot," Lennie revealed the tidbit of information he'd been withholding from the other two detectives.
"Whoa, which deputy mayor?" Ana asked
"Economic Development and Rebuilding," Lennie answered.
"Oh boy, do we know any more than that?" Sweeney asked.
"Not much, the uniforms on the scene say it looks like a couple of staffers from the deputy mayor's office decided to have a little rendezvous and one of their significant others caught them in the act. We'll see if the scene really bears that out," Lennie answered skeptically.
"You think it might not?" Ana asked.
"You never know, it could be," Lennie said.
"But you wouldn't bet on it," Ana deduced.
"That's right," before Ana could get Lennie to elaborate they arrived at the hotel.
"Damn," Lennie swore under his breath.
"What?" Sweeney asked wondering what had Lennie so worked up.
"The vultures are already here," Lennie said and motioned his head toward a line of cars in the hotel's valet parking area that were marked with TV station call letters and with the names of the major newspapers of the Big Apple.
Lennie was pleased to see several more police cruisers pull up to the scene as he reached the front doors. He began barking out orders and the sergeant on the scene began to bristle at his authority being usurped. Lennie realized his mistake almost immediately and laid a hand on the other man's shoulder, speaking a soft apology in the man's ear for stepping on his toes, but explaining that this investigation could quickly become a nightmare because of the victims' political connections. The sergeant understood immediately and took Lennie's apology in the spirit it was offered. He then teased Lennie a bit as he reminded him that they'd known each other long enough to trust each other's judgment. The sergeant offered a few good suggestions about controlling the scene and Lennie felt confident about the situation.
Lennie took a couple of calls on his cell phone, getting more and more exasperated with each one while he watched until he was satisfied that the perimeter was about as secure as it could be made and that the hotel staff, guests and media were about as well insulated from one another as was possible, and then he went to find what if anything Cordova and Sweeney had gotten out of the hotel manager and front desk staff.
After Briscoe left the area a uniformed officer approached Sergeant Wozniak, "Who the hell does that gold shield think he is, Lt. Columbo or somebody?"
"You got a problem with him, Duffy?" asked the old sergeant.
"Well, he acted like it was his business to run everything," Duffy replied.
"Well, it sort of was, he's stepping in for Lt. Van Buren for the day. So he's acting commander of detectives for the 2-7. I know he came on a bit strong there, but cut the man some slack. He let me know this one may get dicey. The vics are politically connected so we're going to have the mayor's office breathing down our necks pretty soon, and if we screw up and let the press in it'll be bad," he said the last part with a knowing nod of his head.
"You know Lennie's not some talking hair-do or a Joe College, he walked the beat like the rest of us and he's been solving homicides since before this one was a glint in his father's eye, " he said motioning toward the rookie standing next to him. "Besides once he realized he was being a horse's ass he pulled me aside and apologized. Aren't too many men I know are big enough to do that," Wozniak continued his defense of Lennie Briscoe, simultaneously scanning the perimeter and making eye contact with his men.
"And on top of that," Wozniak added to the young rookie cop standing next to him, "he's Polish."
"Briscoe's Polish?" Jablonski, the young rookie cop asked incredulously.
"Yeah, Polish Catholic on his mom's side of the family," the sergeant answered.
"How do you know all this stuff about Briscoe?" Duffy asked as he too attended to his duties.
"One of my cousins grew up in the same working class neighborhood of Jews and Poles. Lennie's half and half that combined with his being such a brain is what lead to his being such a comedian," Wozniak claimed.
"That guy's a comedian?" Duffy asked in tone that indicated he didn't believe it, especially since he hadn't seen anything comical about his behavior this morning. Jablonski shot Duffy a look, even as a rookie he knew about Briscoe's infamous wit.
"Yeah, haven't you heard about his wisecracks at the scene of a crime or his classic joke telling?" Jablonski asked the older cop.
"Hey, give me a break, I just transferred here from the 9-3." Duffy said. "So Sarge, what were you saying about how Briscoe developed his sense of humor?" Duffy asked.
"According to my cousin, Lennie got skipped ahead in school a couple of times 'cause he's so smart. He was only something like 12 years old when he started high school. Lennie was this skinny little kid who used to get the crap beat out of him on a regular basis, so he learned that if he made folks laugh they tended not to hit him or at least not as hard," Wozniak replied with a laugh.
"Poor guy, guess that explains the scar over the eyebrow, huh." Duffy speculated.
"Nah, I think he got that from some jealous husband who was giving Lennie the heave ho out of his wife's bed back in Lennie's drinking days. Oh, as you're new in the precinct, I'll give you a couple of warnings. Don't play poker or pool for money with Lennie and never bet a horse he recommends, you'll save yourself a lot of money that way," Wozniak advised.
"Thanks for the advice," Duffy said as he headed off answering a radio call from one of the units working inside the hotel.
As Jablonski wondered if he should tell Wozniak and Duffy what he'd heard from his girlfriend about Briscoe and Lt. Van Buren, the sergeant directed him to check on another new arrival to the ever-growing collection of vehicles from the media outlets.
The subject of the three uniforms discussion was returning his cell phone to his pocket after what felt to him like the umpteenth request for information from further up the food chain in the NYPD. If the powers that be would just get off his back for a few minutes he'd get enough information together to actually tell them something.
"Anything?" he barked at Cordova and Sweeney.
"The manager says the room was rented to a tall, dark haired, white man in his late fifties. There was an attractive, black woman in her early 40s with him," Ana said stopping for a second, nervously grinning at Lennie as she realized she'd just given a description that fit the man she was reporting to and their boss-his girlfriend, she shook her head slightly and he favored her with a small grin in return, partly because he realized he had just taken his frustration out on her. He knew that wasn't a great idea, as Ana didn't do that many field investigations yet. He nodded at her to get her to continue her report.
"They assumed she was his wife, but they didn't check her ID. His credit card said Michael Benson," Ana finished the information she'd managed to gather from the hotel manager and waited to see if Lennie wanted her to give him what she had from the front desk staff.
Lennie searched the print out for Benson's name. "Here he is, he's listed as a comptroller on a 9/11 reconstruction task force," Lennie said as he passed the printout to Sweeney.
"Did the front desk staff see anyone with them or did anyone ask about them?" Lennie asked.
"Nope, no one recalls there being anyone coming in with them or even just after them they said it was pretty quiet evening last night, and they didn't have any requests for information about them," Sweeney said speaking up before Ana had a chance, to her obvious disappointment. Lennie noticed what Sweeney was doing and knew he should probably stop it before it got out of hand, but wondered if he shouldn't just wait it out and see if Ana wouldn't handle it herself or if Sweeney wouldn't realize what he was doing and cut it out without Lennie needing to step in.
"Well, let's go up and see what the crime scene looks like and whether we've got any witnesses worth talking to up there. If we're lucky maybe CSU or the ME has something for us." Lennie said as he moved off towards the elevators
They rode the elevator up to the 7th floor, which was now cordoned off; a young uniformed officer let them into room 718. They could see the medical examiner working over the bodies of a nude white man and a black woman on the bed in the hotel room. It gave Lennie a strange feeling to see the dead couple whose physical descriptions matched his and Anita's. They didn't really look like them, it was just a vague superficial match, but still it disturbed him.
"Careful detective," Crime Scene Technician Julian Beck warned.
"What's the problem, Beck?" Lennie asked.
"Not you sir, the lovely lady detective. She was about to step on the actual scene of the crime," Beck explained as he shyly smiled at Ana. Lennie grinned; he'd have to let Ed know he might have some competition for Ana.
"We've got some blood splatter and powder residue over here," Beck said indicating an area of the suite far away from the bed. "It looks like the bed linens were placed here on the floor and the victims were shot on top of them and then moved back on to the bed," Beck further explained.
"OK, that makes more sense," Lennie said nodding.
"It does?" Ana said a bit bewildered.
Lennie laughed. "You think this crime scene looks natural?" He decide he'd better use this as a teachable moment for Cordova, especially since he was probably going to have to partner with her for a while until Ed's shoulder got better.
Sweeney hung back and watched. He knew what was wrong with the scene, but he wanted to watch the old man put the kid through her paces.
Ana looked around, "Well, now that I stop to think about it, the clothes look wrong," she answered hesitantly.
"Why?" Lennie asked, not telling her she was on the right track but trying to make her flesh the idea out.
"Well, if these two people are having an affair and they've taken this hotel room to have a night of passion in, well then what's with the piles of clothes? You'd expect the clothes to be a bit more haphazardly strewn about the room, just taken off as they were in the way. And usually all sort of wadded up," Ana concluded, and everyone laughed in agreement.
"OK, anything else?" Lennie asked. Ana stared at the bodies on the bed but didn't say anything.
Finally, Lennie encouraged her, "Go ahead Ana, I can see it in your eyes, you just don't want to believe you're correct, but you are," Lennie told her.
"The body positions are wrong, aren't they?" Ana asked, seeking confirmation of her theory.
"Yep, they are," Lennie said. "If he's on top and someone comes in to shoot them, he's going to hear the noise of that person opening the door, and turn to face the person. He's going to end up catching a bullet in the chest or face, not the back, and he ends up off to the side, maybe even on the floor," Lennie said with certainty born of twenty plus years of investigating homicides.
"And I can add to that," the ME said. "These two were manhandled a bit before they were killed. They've got bruising indicative of being shoved around and bruises on their knees indicating they were forced to kneel down before they were shot," the ME added.
"You got a time of death for us to work with?" Lennie asked the ME.
"Yeah, between 9 and 11PM, we'll nail it down better after the autopsy," the ME promised.
"Oh and since the shots were purposely fired through his body and into hers, the slugs should be recoverable from her body, from the size of the entry hole on his back I'm guessing 9mm bullets, we won't know until we get them out though whether the slugs will be in any sort of shape for ballistics. We're just about ready to roll him and work her," the ME said.
"Go ahead," Lennie told the ME then he turned to his two detectives.
"So what do we know so far?" Lennie asked, again playing schoolteacher.
"Michael Benson and Althea Watson of the Deputy Mayor's Office of Economic Development and Rebuilding were brought here," Sweeney said.
"Or lured here," Cordova suggested and Sweeney nodded.
"Or lured here, made to strip and kneel down on the bedclothes, facing each other and then a double tap to his back and into her body, then they were moved to the bed," Sweeney summarized what they had figured out.
"But why?" Ana asked.
"When we know that, we'll probably know who did it as well," Lennie said.
"Look, we need to get the staff and the guests from this floor interviewed and somebody's got to notify the next of kin, and then there's got to be some interviews done down at the deputy mayor's offices and I suppose I can't really put off the media much longer," Lennie said sort of thinking out loud.
Just then a young uniformed officer came to the door and said he had a message for the detectives from the sergeant.
"What is it, Jablonski?" Lennie said reading the rookie's nametag, once he, Cordova and Sweeney were out in the hallway.
"Sergeant Wozniak said I was to bring you downstairs ASAP, sir," the young officer said.
"Did he say why?" Lennie asked not certain whether to be concerned or annoyed.
"No sir, he just said I should bring you now, sir," the young officer said.
"OK, lets go see what Wozniak is all hot and bothered about," Lennie said.
When the three detectives arrived downstairs a couple of uniforms ushered them into a small room near the meeting area where the media was being held.
"You're gonna have to talk to them reporters soon Briscoe, but I figured maybe you should have something on your stomach first. So we sent over to Brooklyn for these," Wozniak said as he took a cloth napkin off a plate piled high with a Polish pastry called chruscikis or angel wings.
"Chruscikis!" Lennie exclaimed. "You sent over to Greenpoint for these?" Lennie asked, referring to a largely Polish neighborhood in Brooklyn.
"Yeah, turns out we got a uniform just transferred in from the 9-3, knew somebody was coming over this way anyhow and was willing to bring some over. And the guys not even a Pole; he's a Mick. I figured it's only a few days until you're Birthday, so what the heck, splurge a little. Besides I thought maybe the sugar would help you out, since you seem determined to work the whole damn case by yourself," he said and then a moment later added, "uh sir."
Before Lennie could figure out what to say to the outspoken sergeant, Ana Cordova interrupted him, "Uh, what are these?" she asked, picking up one of the pastries.
"I think a nice Latina like you ought to call them angel wings because I don't think you'll learn to pronounce chruscikis," Lennie said, as he poured cups of coffee for himself and his detectives and then seated himself in front of the plate of pastries and encouraged everyone, including the young uniformed officer Jablonski to have one of the treats.
"Mmm, almost as good as my Mom's, of course hers would be fresh out of the oven," Lennie said with a grin.
"Your mom was a good cook?" Sweeney asked.
"My mom is a good cook. In fact, I suspect that even though she is insisting that my sister-in-law play hostess for my birthday party," Lennie said and rolled his eyes making Sweeney wonder what that was all about, "I'll just bet she does all the cooking, including a bunch of chruscikis," Lennie answered.
In between bites of pastry and sips of coffee Lennie placed a couple of phone calls, one to the squad, requesting most of the rest of the squad come down and help out on the interviews of the hotel staff and guests. He wanted Sweeney and Cordova to do the next of kin notifications; he'd handle the first press conference. He then placed a call to One Police Plaza informing the Media liaison officer that he'd bring her up to speed on the case and then she could handle the rest of the press briefings unless someone at 1PP had a different idea. Then he reported into the assistant to the Chief of Detectives to set up a time for a meeting with the chief as he'd been ordered to do a little while ago. That was a meeting he wasn't looking forward to, he and chief Dietz had a long and not very savory history. After a while Lennie pushed up from the table and said resolutely, "Well, each of us has duties we can't put off any longer. I'll hopefully see you back at the squad later this afternoon," and with that he straightened his shoulders more than he usually did and headed towards the conference room.
"Wait, a second," Ana said "the lieutenant will have my hide if I let you go in there looking like that!" Ana looked around. "Take off your tie, Sweeney," she ordered.
"What?" the other detective said sounding startled.
"Just do it," she said impatiently. "You too, Lennie, man if the lieutenant had been here today I bet you wouldn't have even gotten out of your apartment in that hideous thing," Ana added.
She had the two men switch ties, as Lennie protested that his was not that bad. Ana then brushed at Lennie's suit coat rather furiously. She took Lennie's chin firmly in her small left hand and moistened a napkin with her spit, and then scrubbed some powdered sugar from the corners of Lennie's mouth. Lennie was dumb-founded.
Finally, he burst out laughing, as did the rest of the cops in the room. "I haven't had my face cleaned like that since I was about ten years old. Maybe Anita should have left you in charge of the squad," he added.
"Sorry, but"- before Ana could get much further Lennie grabbed her face in his big hands and gave her a kiss on her forehead like a grandfather or favorite uncle would.
"Thanks kiddo, I needed a reminder not to take myself or the situation so seriously. Now you and Sweeney go get your tough jobs done and be sure to take a couple of radio cars with you to keep the press away from the victims' families," Lennie said, and then he headed into the room with the media.
As soon as he entered the room he was practically assaulted by the reporters. They were bombarding him with questions and several photojournalists were taking pictures.
"Oh, now I know why they used to use bright lights to get suspects to confess," Lennie said jokingly.
"Captain!" one of the reporters yelled at Lennie.
"No, not even close," he retorted as he made his way to the podium.
"Lieutenant?" another reporter tried.
"Naw, its just plain old detective," Lennie responded.
"Detective what, and from which precinct?" another reporter asked for a clarification.
"Leonard Briscoe from the 2-7," he clarified.
"Spell that please," another reporter requested.
"B-R-I-S-C-O-E," Lennie responded, growing irritated with the reporters
"I thought that Lieutenant Van Buren was the commander of Homicide in the 27th precinct," one of the reporters commented trying to show off.
"She is, she just happens to be out of town for the day and I'm covering for her. Now do you guys want to continue this little impromptu Q & A or should we get on with things," Lennie said by way of putting the press corps back in their places.
"All right, I appreciate your patience in this investigation, I'm hoping that you will understand that by not rushing to release information to the public we can both protect the integrity of the investigation itself and respect the privacy of the families of the victims.
At approximately 8:15 this morning, the housekeeping staff here found two apparent gunshot victims in a room on the seventh floor during their routine cleaning. They contacted 911. Police dispatch sent a radio patrol car to the scene and the responding officers immediately requested a Crime Scene Unit and Medical Examiner. The victims have been identified as a 58-year-old white male and a 43-year-old black female, their names are being withheld until the notification of their next of kin. Preliminary investigation place the time of death between 9 and 11 pm," Briscoe delivered the facts of the case very succinctly, and then pointed at the raised hand of a reporter in the front row.
"Was there evidence the victims were having an affair?" the reporter asked.
Lennie stopped for a moment to ponder how or whether to answer that question and finally decided it would be better not to say anything, "No comment"
"Do you have any suspects in the case or any known motive?" the reporter asked.
"Until we investigate the background of the victims, and determine why they were here last night, it's going to be very difficult to determine who might have wanted them dead or why, in fact at this point, we don't know whether both victims were targets or whether just one of the victims was a target and the other was simply there to throw us off track," Lennie reluctantly admitted the latter bit of information.
"Then why all the secrecy, why are you keeping the lid on so tight on this one?" one of the reporters asked.
"When we release the identity of the victims later on today I think you'll understand," Lennie said.
"Are they famous?" one of the reporters asked.
"No comment," Lennie answered.
"Now if you'll excuse me I have work to do to move the investigation forward and I'm sure you have reports to file," Lennie said as he strode out of the room.
Three very disgruntled reporters sat around a table at McGinty's. While the bar was mostly a cop hang out reporters who covered the crime beat also hung out there as well. There was Marty Daniels who wrote for a local newspaper, Stacy Graves the TV reporter who kept hoping the next big story would get her a chance at weekend anchor and Stewart Witte who reported for a radio station. Two of them were friends from high school; the other two had met while doing an internship at the newspaper during college.
"Well that old detective sure hamstrung us didn't he?" Marty said as he sipped his beer.
"Yeah, and my producer was plenty steamed about that," Stacy agreed.
"You know I was thinking, if this old cop Briscoe won't let us have a story, how about we make him the story?" Stewart proposed.
"What do you mean, Stew?" Marty asked his old buddy.
"Well, when I saw that old detective up there on the podium, I thought he looked familiar, but I didn't place him until Perez asked about whether the victims were lovers. He's the guy that crooked cop Flynn was trying to frame during the Hellman commission investigation back in '96," Witte said and waited to see if his friends remembered.
"Oh yeah, I remember," Daniels said with a bit of a laugh. "Flynn accused Briscoe of stealing drugs from the property room in the 1-16 to help get that drug dealer off, but Briscoe claimed he'd signed in on the duty roster then gone home to sleep because he was hung over from drinking the night before. He said no one could alibi him because he was home alone, but then this pretty blonde lady cop shows up the next day to testify that she'd been with him from the middle of the afternoon on through to the next morning," Daniels shook his head a bit.
"I remember thinking a guy would have to have some pair to put in for pay for an eight hour shift that he spent sleeping off a hangover and banging his married partner," Witte observed then added, "Sorry Stacy, I put that a bit crudely."
"No that's OK, I was just thinking that for an older guy he's got a certain something. I don't know what it is, but I can see the ladies succumbing to his charms," Stacy said. The guys each gave her a strange look wondering what exactly they were hearing from her.
"So what do you think? Can we make a story out of this guy?" Stew asked.
"That depends if there's anything more than just the Hellman story," Marty replied.
"Well I know a way we can find out," Stacy said as she pulled her laptop and cell phone out of the oversized bag she carried everywhere with her. She got connected to the Internet and started searching for articles on Lennie Briscoe, suddenly she sat back as though she was surprised.
"What'd you find?" Stew asked.
"Remember about two weeks ago that story about the NYPD pulling a sting on a pool playing hit man from Europe that the Russian mob had hired?" she asked.
"Yeah it was a weird story kind of a 'man with the golden gun' kind of thing where this hit man wanted to play against a pool hustler with a black girlfriend as an upfront bonus to his contract, and the NYPD supplied him with what he wanted, and then busted him before the hit went down. I guess they made him sing about the job he was going to do for the Russians here and then sent him off to Europe to settle up on a lot of crimes he committed over there, " Stew summarized what he knew of the case.
"Well guess who the NYPD's pool shark is, gang?" Stacy asked.
"Briscoe?" Marty asked as though not able to believe it.
"Yep, the story never got much ink or airtime since he gave no direct comment, the NYPD PR office didn't give much more than a perfunctory statement, and Schmidt, the hit man in the cases was extradited to Europe," Stacy said.
"Hem, there are a couple more things here. In 1996, he and his partner Rey Curtis caught Mickey Scott who was the first person executed by lethal injection after the death penalty was reinstated. Barely 24 hours after witnessing the execution, Detective Briscoe survived a car accident in which ADA Claire Kincaid received injuries that proved fatal when the car she was driving was slammed into by a drunk driver," Stacy read from an article she found. She then skipped over to another article.
"Mar 4, 1998 Brooklyn nurse Cathy Briscoe, daughter of Detective Leonard W. Briscoe, was found murdered, the apparent motive for her murder was her having given testimony against alleged drug dealer Danny Jones. Jones was free on bail at the time of her death after a mistrial was declared when a jury could not reach a verdict on charges against him for his drug dealing, before Jones could be brought to trial for murdering Cathy Briscoe he was found dead of a drug overdose," Stacy read.
"Wow, I guess there's enough there to write a story about," Marty said.
"Yeah, but should we?" Stew wondered aloud.
"Lets, do a little more digging and let our editors and producers decide," Marty said.
Stacy and Stew nodded. Their editors and producers ate up the ideas and soon they and several assistants were working on stories that would run in the papers or on broadcasts as companion pieces to the murder story.
Lennie heaved a deep sigh and then went ahead and opened the door to the Chief of Detectives' office.
"Hello Briscoe, come on in," the chief called.
"Chief," Lennie said and sat down in the chair the chief motioned him to sit in.
"Well, you caught a big one this morning and you've handled it well so far," Chief Dietz said.
"You don't need to sound so surprised, Dietz" Lennie said.
"God Lennie, can we just let bygone be bygones?" Dietz asked.
"You really want to?" Lennie asked surprised.
"Look Lennie, I'll admit it, when we were both green rookies and you kept getting all the commendations and press it burned me up. It seemed like you were so humble that it came off as arrogant. When you were scooped up from walking a beat to a radio car before any of the rest of us, it really made me mad. Then your cousin Gus greased the way for you to get your gold shield quicker than any of the rest of us did by attaching you to the SIU, and I really thought that stunk. So yeah, when they took it all away from you and booted you out, I was leading the cheers. I was amongst the ones that didn't think they should have let you back in, but over the years I've watched you work your way back up. I've watched you slip and fall and pick yourself up, and keep coming no matter what. I've watched lots of other cops stumble from grace, but not Lennie Briscoe. And eventually I sort of forgot what the hell I was so worked up about in the first place. So if you don't mind, I'd like to try to forget what an envious son of a bitch I was, when I was that young man that I haven't been in so many years. So what do you say, Lennie? Can we let the past go?" Chief Dietz asked.
Lennie quirked a strange grin, and shook his head, "What the hell, I haven't been a young guy in a long time either, " he said and slid forward in the chair he was sitting in and offered the other man his hand. The two grizzled old cops shook hands and grinned, and then the chief laughed.
"OK, what have you got?" he asked.
"Well, you knew it wasn't gonna be what it looked like right?" Lennie asked rhetorically.
"Yeah of course, that would be too easy, so what are you thinking?" the other man asked.
"Well, something the mayor's office is gonna hate, but I suspect Benson found something somebody didn't want him to find. When a comptroller our age buys it, he's found something in the books that's not right. Add in to the picture that the woman killed was a bookkeeper who worked for him and it makes it sound like together they'd found some abnormality in the 9/11 projects they were overseeing, and someone didn't want them reporting what they'd found. So they killed them and tried to make it look like they'd been fooling around and got caught by a jealous spouse," Lennie explained.
"Well, you know what they say, most people who have affairs do have them with their coworkers," the chief said with a wink at Lennie.
Lennie wasn't sure if the chief was teasing him about his past indiscretions or his current one.
"Lennie?" Dietz asked when he noticed Lennie's distraction
"Uh, what?" Lennie asked a bit incoherently.
"You want to tell me why you're so distracted all of a sudden?" the chief asked looking amused and perplexed all at once
"Uh, was that question meant to say I have the option of not telling you?" Lennie asked.
"Well that's an interesting answer and you know what the Chinese say," the chief said.
"Don't they have a curse that's something about living in interesting times?" Lennie asked.
"Exactly, well if you don't want to answer the question," he paused to see if Lennie would, but Lennie gave no sign of volunteering "then go see the media officer, and then get back to work and see if you're right about that bookkeeping angle," the chief said.
The chief got up and walked Lennie out, being sure to shake hands with him and let him know once again that he meant what he said about bygones being bygones.
Lennie briefed the media officer, had a quick bite to eat for lunch and then spent the afternoon back at the 2-7 working with the detectives on the information they'd gleaned from the interviews at the mayor's office and with the guest and staff of the hotel. They still didn't have a suspect but they felt they were getting closer on a motive. Lennie felt pretty sure that a look at the accounts the two victims were working on and the phone records would probably turn up something. He requested some help from a forensic accountant. Finally, about 7pm Lennie decided to call it a day. Anita had called before boarding her plane to say she'd be at the airport about 10:30, so he decided he'd head to a little diner near the apartment and get some supper, and then he'd go relax for a while before he headed out to pick her up at the airport.
The waitress was just leaving two young ladies in a booth, having taken their orders, when Lennie walked in, so she seated him behind them, and said she'd get his diet coke and come back with a menu unless he knew what he wanted already. Lennie said he'd just take the special and then slid wearily into the booth behind the two young women. He thought he recognized one of them as the young woman who had moved in downstairs from him about two months ago, just before Labor Day if he remembered correctly. Lennie had brought a newspaper to keep him busy but he couldn't help but over hear the conversation of the two young ladies sitting in the next booth.
"So how's your research going, Sarah?"
"Oh Judy, I don't know if I'm every going to get anything done, what with Lennie and Baby reenacting the best soap opera I've ever heard every night right above my head," Lennie worked hard on not whipping his head around when he heard the young woman use his name and his favorite nickname for Anita.
"What do you mean, Sarah?" Judy asked not noticing Lennie's reaction.
"Well, when I moved into my apartment the landlord told me not to worry about noise, that my upstairs neighbor was this older cop, and that although the guy did OK with the ladies, he was a gentleman. He didn't too often bring his lady friends home and he was right about that until 2 weeks ago. Now every night this guy and Baby go at it like teenagers," Sarah replied sounding put out about it.
"Baby?" Judy asked with a hint of humor in her voice.
"Her name's Anita, but he hardly ever calls her that, except, well you know," Sarah trailed off.
"Oh yeah, it's good form for a guy to use your name then," Judy said with a laugh.
Lennie was caught between feeling incredibly embarrassed and angry, yet he wasn't sure he had a right to be angry. He had to think this through before he confronted his nosy neighbor.
"The worse part is this middle aged couple have a better sex life than I do!" Sarah said with a self-deprecating laugh.
"So you're turning into a voyeur, are you?" Judy asked. Sarah shook her head, rolling her eyes at her friend and huffing at her.
"You know the thing is, after listening to them talk to each other, I'm really starting to care about these two, especially Lennie. I mean this guy's had the hell kicked out of him throughout his life, and now he's got a chance with a really special lady. I'm kind of rooting for them," Sarah told her friend.
"Ah, you, you've always been a sucker for a sob story and of course since he's a cop, you're even more partial to him, right?" Judy suggested.
"I guess, yeah maybe. I wish that, if I knew something about my Dad that he'd be like Lennie," Sarah shrugged.
Lennie finally decided to introduce himself to his neighbor. He stood up and walked to the young ladies' table and cleared his throat.
"Hi, I'm Lennie Briscoe, you're upstairs neighbor," he said.
"Oh God," Sarah said blushing crimson and wishing the floor would open up and swallow her. Judy was made of sterner stuff and besides she'd only heard things second hand. She blushed a bit but managed to keep her wits about her enough to ask Lennie to sit with them.
Having Lennie seated helped some, as he wasn't looming over them. Just then the waitress came out with the girl's salads and asked if Lennie would be joining them. The three of them were a bit uncertain but agreed yes and so the waitress put Lennie's drink in front of him and moved his place setting. She said she'd get his salad ASAP and bring his entrée out with theirs. The girls managed to introduce themselves as Sarah Wilkerson and Judy Myers.
"Look, I know this is uncomfortable for both of us, but when I overheard you talking to your friend here, I felt I had to come talk to you. At first I went back and forth between being embarrassed and being angry. But as I thought about it, I realized you had a perfect right to be in your apartment whenever you wanted to be, and a right to tell your friend about your annoying neighbors; though I wish you hadn't chosen to do it in such a public place," Lennie said, and then took a sip of his diet coke.
"I'm sorry Mr. Briscoe," Sarah began.
"Please, call me Lennie, after all anyone who knows as much about my personal life shouldn't have to stand on formalities," Lennie said with a wry smile.
"Please, don't make me feel worse about this than I already do," Sarah pleaded.
"Sorry, not everyone appreciates my sense of humor," he said.
"You know I have a suggestion that might make life more livable for you two, well I guess actually you three, counting your girlfriend," Judy said.
"What?" Lennie asked anxiously.
"Why don't you just put on some headphones when you hear them starting to get frisky?" Judy asked Sarah.
"Headphones, what a great idea!" Sarah exclaimed.
Lennie shook his head and then started to laugh.
"What's so funny?" Sarah asked.
"I don't know, it just struck me as funny. I mean it seems like your generation always has headphones on. You're either listening to CDs or your cell phone or whatever, but you couldn't have had headphones on any of the times me and Anita were together?" Lennie asked with a laugh.
"Just your luck I guess," Sarah said with a smile.
Yeah, I guess," Lennie answered.
The two young women and Lennie relaxed into a conversation over their dinner, talking about Sarah and Judy's graduate work, which was a relief for Lennie as he could stop worrying about the myriad of other stresses that had been pressing on him of late and just listen to the two young women prattle on about their lives. Sarah it turned out was a psychology student working towards a PhD with a doctoral thesis about psychological stresses on those working in the criminal justice system and Judy was a graduate student in bioinformatics. When Lennie started to ask what Judy's research was about Sarah laughed.
"Don't get her started. Next thing you know she'll be explaining about how computers can make three-dimensional models of biomolecules, and she'll start throwing around words you and I have never heard of," she said with an affection grin towards her friend.
"OK, so I'll ask you questions. Why are you focusing on cops? Haven't there been enough studies done on what a messed up species we are?" Lennie asked.
"Well, you would think there had been, but actually there've been a number of limited studies that have happened primarily after critical incidents. I want to try and look at all of those studies, pull them together, see what common threads there are," Sarah said in a very serious almost academic manner.
"You didn't really answer my question," Lennie observed.
"My father was a police officer and my mom was a social worker, so I guess I saw a lot of the Criminal Justice system and a lot of how the workers in it get stressed out," she finally answered.
"You said your dad was a cop, did he retire?" Lennie asked.
"I don't know. I lost contact with my Dad when I was about twelve. My parents divorced when I was 7 and my mom moved to Chicago where all of her family lived. That made it a lot easier on her as a single mother. At first, I kept in touch with my Dad through phone calls and letters, and occasionally I'd get to fly out here or he'd come to Chicago, but eventually he remarried, and then my mom remarried too, and well he just stopped calling and writing. I never knew exactly what happened. I asked my Mom, but she was kind of vague. I wasn't sure if she was trying to protect me from something or trying to get me to except my step-dad or what, but I sort of let it drop. Now I really wish I hadn't," Sarah said sadly.
"What do you mean?" Lennie asked.
"My Mom and step-dad were killed in a car accident when I was in college and so now I'll never know what my Mom knew about my Dad," Sarah said forlornly.
Lennie wondered if he should offer to help, considering all he had on his plate right now and the fact that the news about her father might not be good news. He knew that whether he should or not, he would, because he was such a sucker for young women, and it didn't help matters that Sarah looked a bit like his Cathy.
"Sarah, did your dad work for the NYPD?" Lennie asked.
"Yeah I think so, somewhere in Brooklyn I think," Sarah answered.
"Look, give me as much information as you can about your dad and I'll have a friend in the PBA see if he can't figure out where your dad is now a days," Lennie promised as he handed her his pen and pulled out his notebook and slid it across to Sarah with a blank page flipped open.
"Oh Mr. Briscoe," at the sight of Lennie's uplifted eyebrow she remembered, "I mean Lennie, Thank You!"
"Well, I'm a real believer that fathers and their daughters shouldn't be kept apart," he replied. Lennie then added, "Look, I need to be honest with you. I may find out your Dad is somewhere here in the city and anxious to see you or I may find out something bad. You've got to be OK with that or I can't start this process," he told her firmly.
"I understand what your saying. It doesn't matter what you find out, if he's dead or is in jail or if he just doesn't want anything to do with me, fine, at least I'll know," Sarah replied resolutely, and then added. "I certainly won't hold the results against you. I'll simply be grateful that you were willing to help me."
Deciding to switch topics, Sarah suddenly asked, "Lennie can I ask you something?"
"Sure, what?" Lennie answered.
"Why do you so often call Anita baby?" Sarah asked.
"Well, partly because she lets me and mostly because its such a contrary name for her," he answered simply but Sarah could sense there was a lot more to his answer.
"What do you mean?" Sarah asked hoping to get Lennie to expand on his answer.
"Well a baby is helpless and needs others to take care of it. Anita is anything but helpless; she takes care of everyone else. Anita is one of the most intelligent and competent women I've ever known. I've watched her deal compassionately with the family of homicide victims, then calm a nervous witness so we could get useful information about a crime, and then trick a suspect into confessing to a crime. I've watched her handle hostage situations and I've worked a stakeout with her where she took down a drug dealer with her bear hands. She deals with the obnoxious administrative details and keeps the upper administration off our necks so we can solve cases. She's been successful in what used to be considered a man's world only. Yes, the bastards at One Police Plaza have thrown a glass ceiling up above her and I wish I could punch through it for her, but she doesn't let that keep her from doing the best job she can.
"With all that said, even before we were together, she wasn't one of those women who minded if I held open a door for her or helped her into her coat. She didn't lecture me about being a male chauvinist pig because I offered to carry something for her or because I occasionally picked up the tab for her lunch. I was a bit worried the first time I called her baby, thought maybe she wouldn't like it, but she didn't mind, and after a while it just got to be what my heart wanted to call her, because for all that she can take care of herself, I like it that she's willing to sometimes let me take care of her instead," Lennie finally finished his tribute to his lady love, and then almost shyly looked down at his hands as if he suddenly realized how much he'd revealed about his feelings for Anita to this two young women who were virtually strangers to him.
Both Sarah and Judy had heard the adoration in Lennie's voice. It was obvious how much he loved Anita and how proud he was of her.
"Lennie, I'm confused. It sounds like the way you're talking about her that Anita is your boss," Judy said.
"Yeah, she is," Lennie confirmed.
"Well, aren't there rules against the two of you being together?" Judy asked.
"Yeah," Lennie reluctantly admitted. "but"-
"Judy," Sarah interrupted, "weren't you listening? Lennie and Anita are like, I don't know, like Tony and Maria in West Side Story. They are too much in love to be kept part by some stupid rules," Sarah gushed.
Lennie shook his head. He liked that Sarah had chosen West Side Story to compare his and Anita's love story to. even if they were way too old to be compared to the two youngsters, at least they were New Yorkers, heck if he recalled correctly Tony was even suppose to have been Polish. Then he remembered West Side story didn't end so well.
"Uh, well let's hope we're luckier than Tony and Maria. There are regulations against us being together, but we've talked to some Internal Affairs officers who happen to be violating those same regulations themselves, and they say as long as no one files a complaint against us we're OK," he explained.
"So you're just going to try to keep your relationship a secret?" Judy asked.
"Well, not completely, as it stands now all the detectives in the squad know about us and my former partners and of course our immediate families know about us too," Lennie explained.
Just then the waitress brought by their checks and Lennie grabbed boyh checks.
"Here let me get these. I know college students are always scrambling for money," he said.
"And cops aren't?" Judy said.
"Well actually, since one of my ex-wives remarried, and I don't have to pay her alimony anymore, it seems like I always have extra money every month," Lennie said with a laugh.
"Just wait, if Anita is pregnant you'll need that extra money for diapers and baby formula," Sarah teased.
"What?" Judy exclaimed.
"Sarah, do you have to broadcast all of my secrets?" Lennie said with a smile.
"Are you going to be a father, at your age?" Judy asked incredulous.
"Good God, I'm not that old and Anita is much younger than me. Besides we don't know for sure yet. Though to be honest I'm hoping she is. I know it's foolish at our age, but in my heart of hearts its what I want," Lennie sighed then looked at his watch. "Ladies, it's been nice chatting with you, but I need to get home and get ready to go pick my lady up out at the airport, so if you will excuse me," Lennie said and got up and went off to pay their bill.
"Good night Lennie, say hi to Anita for us," Sarah said.
"And thank her for letting us borrow you for a dinner companion," Judy added.
Lennie waved at the two young women as he headed out of the diner.
Lennie headed back to his apartment where he showered, shaved and redressed in his white silk shirt and black dress pants. He put on aftershave and threaded the alligator leather belt through the loops of his pants, and then put on his black slip on shoes and the leather jacket, he didn't bother with his holster. He took a look in the mirror. Not bad for an old guy, but where was his comb? And should he where a tie? No. The open necked shirt was sexier.
Lennie drove towards the airport singing songs from the Broadway musical West Side Story. He remembered seeing the musical with his Mom at the Alvin Theatre when he was fourteen. His Mom still loves musicals but his Dad loathed them, so either he or Bernie would go with their Mom about once a year, maybe for her birthday or just before Christmas. That year it had been the closing week for the musical. Over the years Lennie found that like his mother he enjoyed the musicals and so he looked forward to their annual sojourn to Broadway, he hoped perhaps Anita would enjoy going to musicals too. Lennie was so preoccupied with his memories and his thoughts about Anita that he didn't notice the car tailing him.
Lennie found a parking space in the short-term parking and then headed into the terminal, double-checking on the monitors to see where her plane would be landing and whether it was on time. He found the gate and shortly after he did he saw her emerge, as the first class passengers were the first off the plane. He immediately engulfed her in a bear hug, picking her up off the ground and turning around with her in his arms.
"Lennie, put me down you'll make me dizzy!" Anita said and pushed at his arms as he held her firmly to his chest. He let her slide down him enough to catch her full lips in a kiss.
"Mmm, you taste good to me," he said.
"All those tropical fruits they've been serving in first class. Come on make yourself useful and carry my bag," She said as she slung her carry-on over his shoulder.
"Yes ma'am, right this way. Your carriage awaits," Lennie said as he bowed and motioned the way for her.
Unnoticed by the lovebirds the photojournalist for The Post had a roll of pictures of them, but by the time he could get them back to the office and developed it would be very late and the editor would decide not to run them in the morning edition.
Lennie and Anita talked as he drove her home. He told her about the double homicide and his theories of the crime. She was almost in tears laughing about Ana Cordova's spit polishing Lennie's face before letting him go before the cameras. He asked her to remind him to return Sweeney's tie on Monday. Then he told her about his dinner with the downstairs neighbor.
"Oh no, you mean this young woman has been listening to us make love?" Anita asked sounding mortified.
"Among other things," Lennie answered.
"Oh God," Anita said burying her face in her hands.
"It's OK baby. I had a long conversation with her and her friend and she's got a plan now. Earphones," Lennie said.
Anita peaked out from behind her fingers and then said, "huh?"
"Look Baby, she's no more thrilled about listening to us than we are being eavesdropped on. The idea that we've got a much better love life than she does upsets her," Lennie added with a laugh.
"Lennie, this isn't funny!" Anita complained to him, just as they got to the apartment building.
"Oh Baby, come on don't take things so seriously, Sarah and her friend Judy are nice young ladies and they don't mean us any harm. Really they were very sweet. Sarah compared us to Tony and Maria in West Side Story," Lennie told her.
"Really?" Anita asked.
"Really," Lennie answered as he maneuvered Anita into the elevator of the building. Usually they took the stairs but it was late and he was tired. He wanted to work on improving her mood on the way up to the apartment. He punched the button for their floor and leaned her into the wall of the elevator and began singing to her in a surprisingly beautiful baritone.
There's a place for us,
A time and place for us.
Hold my hand and we're halfway there.
Then Anita surprised him by taking over and singing the next part of the lyrics.
Hold my hand and I'll take you there
Somehow,
Some day,
As the elevator opened he joined his voice with hers and they finished the lyric.
Somewhere!
Lennie fumbled with his keys to get into the apartment quickly before the old biddy that lived next door came out to find out who was singing at the top of their lungs in the hallway. When they finally got in Anita started laughing and Lennie couldn't help but join her.
"That's what's always so stupid about musicals. I mean, who suddenly breaks out in song in the middle of, of whatever," Lennie said as he hauled Anita down onto his lap on the couch and sighed.
Lennie kissed Anita gently and then he deepened the kiss, running his hands down her back, suddenly he realized how much he wanted her, needed her. She was really all he needed. Why was it he ever loss track of that? He began undressing her and she stopped him.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
"Let's move to the bedroom?" she suggested.
He smiled and nodded, letting her tug at his hand, hauling him up off the couch and into their bedroom.
The phone rang, rousing Lennie from sleep. He reached out his left hand for the phone, trying not to dislodge Anita from her favorite pillow, his right shoulder.
"Briscoe," Lennie said in a groggy-sounding voice. "Rey?"
Lenny tipped his hand to check his watch; it was only 6:30. Considering that he and Anita hadn't gotten home from the airport until about midnight, and then they'd made love until the wee hours, he was working on maybe four or five hours sleep at the most.
"What's up?" Lennie asked. As he tried to concentrate on what Rey was saying, Anita began to stir and as she did she made it very difficult for him to track what Rey was trying to tell him. First she put tiny kisses on his chest, licking his nipple, and then she let her right hand slide under the covers heading purposely for what she referred to as "her toys".
"Just a second, Rey," Lennie said in a slightly strained voice. He placed the receiver against the left side of his chest and used his right hand to stop the journey of Anita's hand.
"Baby, you got to stop that, I'm trying to listen to what Rey is saying and you're being a little distracting," Lennie told her.
"Just a little distracting?" Anita asked with the sound of a pout in her voice.
"Oh God woman, you're being evil," Lennie said with a laugh. He sat up on the edge of the bed so he could try to ignore her seductive ministrations.
"OK, Rey what were you saying?" Lennie said after he removed the receiver from his chest. He then tried to listen for a while but Anita began licking up his spine. He squirmed and reached behind him grabbing her by her wrists and pulling her to sit next to him.
"No, Anita's flight got in late, so we hadn't gotten up yet," he replied in a strained voice.
"Thanks for the heads up Rey, I'll check on the article in the paper we get delivered and then go get the others at the news stand. I suspect I'll be getting a call from Dietz pretty soon," Lennie said.
Anita was finally awake enough to realize that something serious was going on and she needed to put aside her erotic playfulness and be her lover's helpmate.
"Lennie what's wrong?" she asked with concern, rearranging herself on the bed now that Lennie had let go of her wrists.
Lennie turned and saw that in the chill of the early fall morning and with her nudity, she was cold, so he wrapped his arms around her, not in passion but just to warm her and to gather her close to him.
"Well, it looks like I may have screwed up in handling that case yesterday after all," he said sounding dejected.
"How so?" Anita asked, as he pulled the blanket around her to try to warm her up some more.
"Well, I was so concerned about not letting the story leak out to the press too soon, that I kept the lid on too tightly, so the press decided to make me the story. Now next to this skimpy little story about the double homicide of Michael Benson and Althea Watson from the deputy mayor's office, is an in-depth story about Detective Lennie Briscoe of the NYPD," he explained sounding annoyed.
"How in-depth?" Anita asked sounding worried.
"Guess we won't know that until we go read the morning paper, " Lennie said as he stood up and started towards the bathroom.
"I'm gonna take a shower first though, as I seem to be a sweaty sticky mess," Lennie said as he looked back at Anita with a wolfish smile.
She grinned and then promised, "I'll make you some breakfast."
Anita rummaged through the dresser drawers trying to find something warm to wear; she ended up wearing some of Lennie's tube socks, his sweatpants and sweatshirt. She then went out to the kitchen and started some coffee for Lennie. She put some water in a cup into the microwave to make some tea for herself. Anita started some toast in Lennie's very cantankerous toaster and then started frying some bacon, which started making her stomach feel queasy, when she started with his eggs she had a real problem. She started looking for where Lennie kept his crackers and when the microwave dinged, she realized the sugar bowl was empty too, so she also started looking for his sugar. Just then Lennie came into the kitchen, wearing his boxers and a t-shirt.
"Where the hell do you keep your crackers and your sugar?" Anita said in a strained voice.
"Up here," Lennie said, leaning past her to open a small cabinet in the upper most corner of the kitchen.
"Who the hell puts a cabinet up so high, let alone stores anything in it?" Anita said grumpily.
"Well, just let me get what you need. God, you're suddenly so cranky, what's wrong with you?" Lennie asked.
"Nothing. Just get out of the way before your eggs burn," she said, just as she got to the stove, she felt her stomach rebel again. She covered her mouth and started to run for the bathroom but Lennie was in her way and she had to push past him.
"Baby, Anita"- Lennie said a bit confused. He turned to the stove flipped his eggs over, turned the heat off, and then went to check on her.
He found the bathroom door locked which shocked him a bit.
"Anita, are you OK?" Lennie asked as he stood at the door very concerned.
"Yeah, I'm fine just give me a minute," she answered weakly.
She came out looking a bit wobbly. Lennie immediately wrapped his arms around her and walked her to the bed.
"So, does this bout with morning sickness mean my baby is having my baby?" Lennie asked.
"Who said anything about morning sickness? I ate a bunch of rich food in Santa Domingo and my gall bladder is rebelling," Anita told Lennie.
"Uh huh, and if I buy that are you gonna sell me the Brooklyn Bridge too?" Lennie asked with a grin.
"Don't you own that already?" she asked, before he could think of a good come back the phone rang again.
"Hope this isn't Dietz," he said.
"Briscoe," Lennie said almost defensively. Anita saw a smile cover his face as he identified the voice on the other end of the telephone line as someone he trusted, she relaxed against him and listened to his side of the conversation.
"Yeah, I haven't seen the articles yet, but Rey called to give me a heads up about it. Hey Mike, you want to do your old partner a favor?" Lennie asked then paused to give Mike a chance to answer.
"Well, I'm thinking the reporters might have my apartment staked out. I was thinking maybe you could stop by a newsstand and pick up the morning papers, and then swing by my place. I'll even make you breakfast," Lennie promised.
"Uh, well she's not feeling so hot this morning. She says she thinks the food in Santa Domingo was too rich for her," Lennie said but without much conviction.
"Yeah, that's what I think too," Lennie said with a big grin.
"Yeah, there is that," Lennie agreed with something Mike was saying.
"OK, see ya in about twenty then," Lennie said as he hung up the phone.
"Is Mike going to be here in twenty minutes? Anita asked sounding a bit panicked.
"Yeah, why?" Lennie asked.
"Good grief, I've got to get cleaned up and dressed!" she exclaimed, and then began quickly moving around the bedroom picking out clothes to wear and then headed off to the bathroom to shower.
Lennie stared at the bathroom door for a few moments and then shook his head and laughed. If this morning was any indication, Anita's pregnancy was going to be a roller coaster ride of emotions. She'd been through about a half dozen moods in the last hour and it was still very early in the pregnancy. Well, he'd just hold on to the fact that he loved her very much, and hopefully that would get him through it all.
He took the time she was showering to go out to the kitchen and eat his breakfast. It was a bit cold, but he wasn't going to complain, he wanted it gone before Anita came out and the sight of it made her sick all over again. He made sure her tea was brewed and kept hot and that she had her choice of crackers or dry toast. He'd have to figure something to offer Mike that wouldn't make Anita sick.
Just as Anita emerged from the bedroom looking lovely in a casual jogging suit like one might expect to see on Oprah Winfrey, Mike Logan knocked on the apartment door.
"Hey, there's a photojournalist got the front of your place staked out, but I checked and the back's clear," Mike reported as Lennie let him in and helped relieve him of some of his armful of newspapers.
"Hey Lieu wow, you know what?" Mike asked casually.
"What," Anita responded to his question.
"Being knocked up looks pretty good on you," Logan said earnestly and smiled that big handsome smile of his.
"Mike, for Pete's sakes is that a thing to say?" Lennie scolded his ex-partner.
Anita shook her head. "I think maybe I better put something in that big mouth of his, besides it was just a little gall bladder attack" she said and started puttering around the kitchen getting ready to make Mike some breakfast.
"Uh, wait should you be doing that?" Mike asked sounding concerned.
"Oh I'm fine now. How do you like your eggs?" she asked and Mike shot Lennie a worried look. And Lennie just shrugged.
"Uh, scrambled is fine," Mike said handing Lennie one of the morning papers.
"Baby, I can do that," Lennie offered.
"No, I'm fine now, just get Mike some coffee or juice and make that stupid toaster work right, and then read the newspaper articles," Anita ordered.
"You heard the lieutenant," Mike said enjoying teasing Lennie.
"So, are you buying this gall bladder attack explanation of the morning sickness?" Mike asked softly.
"Sure and I've just bought some ocean front property in Arizona for us to retire to," Lennie said.
"That's what I thought," Mike said.
As Anita put down a plate of scrambled eggs for herself and Mike, Lennie put a glass of orange juice down for Mike and a glass of milk down for Anita.
"I don't like milk, Lennie. You know that," she said testily.
"Yes, but you need to drink three glasses a day now," he said and very meaningfully let his eyes drift down toward her belly. She rolled her eyes at him.
Lennie groaned, got up, taking the glass of milk with him and went to the small very high cabinet in the corner of the kitchen. He opened it and took out a container of Ovaltine, added several spoonfuls of it to the milk and stirred it. He started to put the jar of Ovaltine back in the cabinet but he heard Anita's intake of breath signifying an imminent protest, so he left it out on the counter top. He brought the now chocolate milk back to Anita with a multivitamin.
"Better?" he asked.
She smiled. "Much!" she said. She took the multivitamin with a big gulp of the chocolate milk.
"So does he hover over you like this all the time?" Mike asked, remembering Lennie's stories about his over-protectiveness when it came to his daughters.
"Unfortunately yes, at least since we realized I might be pregnant," she said.
"Alright that's it, focus, read the damn papers," Anita ordered and each of them bent their heads to read an article. She and Mike each alternated between reading and shoveling eggs into their mouths or drinking their beverages. At one point Lennie couldn't resist kissing Anita and licking away her chocolate milk mustache.
"Ooh stop, it's like watching your parents make out." Mike said.
"Hey, my apartment, my girlfriend. I'll do what I want," Lennie said.
"Excuse me," Anita said.
Mike laughed so hard at Lennie that he nearly fell over backwards because he was leaning back in the kitchen chair he was sitting in.
"As I said before, read!" Anita grumbled as she stabilized Mike's chair.
"Yes ma'am," Mike said, Lennie just buried his head in the papers.
After a while Lennie passed his paper to Anita and she traded with Mike. Mike then traded with Lennie. Lennie noticed that Anita seemed disturbed by something she'd read or maybe it was just Mike's presence. Anita and Mike hadn't always gotten along all that well.
"Well what do you think?" Mike asked.
"Well they're all accurate enough so I can't sue them for libel," Lennie said trying to be light hearted about things.
"Only the Post seems to have anything about your seeing someone in the department," Anita noted.
"Yeah, but you can bet the others will pick up on it right away," Mike added.
Just then the phone rang.
"Bet that's finally Dietz," Lennie said.
"Briscoe," Lennie answered his phone.
"Have you seen the morning papers, Lennie?" Dietz asked him in a sharp voice.
"Yeah, guess I really screwed up by keeping the lid on so tight on that double homicide," Lennie admitted, deciding that if he just accepted responsibility upfront that might make things easier.
"Well media relations didn't help anything either by dragging their feet," Dietz added.
"Well, maybe they'll decide I'm not that exciting a story and let it drop," Lennie suggested.
"Are you kidding? My girlfriend's teenage daughter thinks your cute, and she and her mom both want to know who it is your breaking department regulations over. As a matter of fact, I want know which of my officers you're screwing.
"Are you giving me a direct order to tell you who I'm involved with, sir?" Lennie asked coldly.
"If you're going to make me go that route. Yes I am, detective," Dietz replied equally as frostily.
"I respectfully decline to answer sir, and you may initiate whatever disciplinary action you see fit," Lennie responded hotly. Mike and Anita both sat up listening to Lennie's side of the conversation very concerned.
"You're trying to protect her aren't you?" Dietz asked.
"Of course I am, I love her!" Lennie yelled.
"Look I'm not trying to punish you two. I'm not going to turn you over to IAB. I'd like to help," Dietz said.
"Sure you would," Lennie said clearly not believing the Chief.
"Damn it, you're not the only cop to ever fall for someone he worked with, you know. And I really did mean it when I said I wanted to let bygones be bygones. So tell me who I'm trying to protect here and I will try to help!" Dietz said.
Lennie paused and looked at Anita. "Just a second," Lennie said then he cradled the receiver against his chest.
"He says he wants to help us, not punish us, but he wants to know who he's dealing with," Lennie explained.
"Here give me that phone," Anita said, Lennie's eyes grew large but he handed over the phone.
"Chief Dietz, this is Anita Van Buren," she said.
"Lieutenant, uh," Dietz gave a nervous little chuckle. " I don't know quite what I was expecting, but I'm pretty sure hearing your voice wasn't it," he finally managed.
"Well, how do you think you can help us?" she asked.
"I'll see what I can do with the newspapers, see if I can get them to layoff with the stories. In the mean time the two of you try not to be too blatant about your relationship. Last thing we need is photos of the lovebird cops getting splashed across the front page. How many people know about the two of you any way?" Dietz asked.
"The detectives in the squad plus my PAA know, a couple of Lennie's ex-partners, the IAB officers who interviewed him after the Schmidt case and Phil Cerreta who was there as Lennie's PBA rep and of course our children and my ex-husband, " Anita answered succinctly. Then with Lennie's gesturing at the floor she thought to add, "oh yeah, and the downstairs neighbor and a friend of hers, Lennie knows their names," the last tidbit of information made Mike's eyebrows climb his forehead.
"Let me talk to him again for a minute," Dietz requested.
Lennie got back on the phone and gave Dietz more information while Mike tried to get more information out of Anita about the downstairs neighbor but she wasn't in a mood to tell him about it. Mike wasn't sure if it was him, the articles in the paper, dealing with Dietz or maybe just hormones but Anita seemed out of sorts. He thought it would be a good idea for him to clear out as soon as Lennie got off the phone.
When Lennie hung up Mike stood and came over to him, "Hey Lennie, I better get out of here, let you and Anita have some time alone," he said and Lennie nodded.
"Yeah, thanks Mike, you been a real pal coming over like you did," Lennie said.
"Hey, no problem. See you, LT," Mike added.
"See you Mike," Anita said with a weak smile.
Once Mike was gone Lennie turned to Anita and began scrutinizing her.
"Baby, what's wrong?" he asked.
"What's wrong? What isn't wrong? The newspapers are running stories about you. At least one of those papers knows your having a relationship with someone in the department. The Chief of Detectives knows about us. Your downstairs neighbor knows about us. We've got to go face my mother this evening and then we've got to move to my house tomorrow, so pretty soon my neighbors will know about us too," Anita made a list of her worries and somehow Lennie sensed that something else was bothering her.
"Come on, come with me," he said and took her hands leading her towards the bedroom.
"Where are we going?"
"Back to bed," he answered simply.
"What?" she asked sounding a bit confused.
"I think you just need to lie down and let me hold you for a little while. For just a few minutes we can pretend the world outside our bedroom doesn't exist. OK?" he asked as he kicked off his shoes and pulled her down on the bed with him.
"OK," she replied, as she cuddled into his arms.
He pushed a few strands of her hair away from her forehead and traced his fingertips across her eyebrows and down her cheeks. He placed small kisses on her face. He wasn't making love to her, he was just loving her. Trying to show her how much she meant to him, how much he wanted her to feel safe and loved.
Suddenly Anita turned away from him and began crying. She said something but Lennie couldn't understand her words through her tears. He gently turned her to face him again.
"What did you say, baby?"
"I stole you from her," she answered a bit more clearly.
"Stole me from who?" Lennie said totally confused.
"From Betty," she clarified.
"Betty Abrams?" he asked looking for further clarification and Anita nodded her head.
"How could you steal me from Betty Abrams?" Lennie asked even more confused than ever.
Anita finally calmed down enough to explain, "Betty and I went to the academy together. We became close friends. When she started working with you at the 1-16 she called and talked to me about this detective she was working with. It was obvious from the first day that she was attracted to you. She couldn't stop talking about you. After a while I realized what she wanted was for me to tell her it was OK for her to become involved with you, only I wouldn't do that. I also wouldn't tell her not to get involved with you, I told her it was her life; she should make her own decision. After a while she started talking about problems, your gambling but mostly your drinking. I told her she should stop seeing you and try to save her marriage, that she should think about her her boys. At first she was really angry with me for telling her that, I thought I was going to lose one of my best friends, but after a while she said I was right and she did break it off with you. She came over after she did and stayed with me that evening, all she did was cry," Anita finished softly.
Lennie had always wondered if Betty had been as affected by their break-up as he had been, and now he knew.
"When I came to work at the 2-7 and finally met the man my good friend had been so in love with, I had to admit to myself how hard it had to have been for her to give you up. This morning as I read those articles and remembered how brave Betty had been to come forward at the Hellman Commission, I felt so guilty," she added.
"Don't, don't feel guilty, baby," Lennie pleaded with her. "Look, Betty was very important to me, but I don't know that I can say I was in love with her. I was drinking so heavily back then, I'm not sure I was capable of love in those days. I do know that losing her was one of the last little pushes I needed to hit bottom, and that's what a drunk has to do if he's ever going to recover. If I hadn't hit bottom then I'd never have gone to AA, and at the rate I was going I'd have been dead in a couple of years. So really your telling Betty to dump me saved my life and eventually let us be together. So don't feel guilty about it, OK?" Lennie asked
"But what about Betty? She really loved you, Lennie. And," she couldn't finsihe her thought
"And what?" he prompted.
"And I haven't even told her about us," Anita admitted.
"You two are really that close?" Lennie asked almost afraid to hear the answer.
"Yes, we've stayed close all these years, our boys are the same ages and we talk to each other about everything. She's one of the few people who knew the true state of my marriage to Don. The only thing she doesn't know about is you and me. I just couldn't imagine how I was going to call her up and say, 'Oh Betty, I know I told you Lennie was no good for you, but I'm living with him and I just might be pregnant with his baby,' just don't think that would go over too well," Anita said sarcastically. Lennie didn't say anything for a while.
"Well, would you rather I do it?" Lennie finally offered, secretly hoping she'd say no.
Anita looked up at Lennie and shook her head.
"No, I'll do it, but not just now. For right now, I'd like to do exactly what you suggested. I'd like to lie down in your arms and pretend the rest of the world doesn't exist."