A Family Affair
Disclaimer: I don't own the Witchblade characters, but they've told me that they wish I did! ( Enjoy!
Chapter 13.
Behind the two-way mirror that looked into one of the 11th Precinct's interrogation rooms, Sara Pezzini secretly watched Jake McCartey and Frank Orlinsky question Joey Siri, Jr. in the presence of his parents and the Siri family's lawyer. She felt a swell of pride as the teenager calmly and collectedly told the two detectives about his confrontation with Paco Gutierrez and Amanda Lundquist two nights ago.
Guiltily, Sara noticed a look of surprise, followed swiftly by anger, cross Jake's handsome face after Joey admitted that he had hidden the drug dealer's confiscated weapon in the alley next to the precinct that same night, and then had given it to his aunt, Sara Pezzini, the following morning.
Last night, at Amanda Lundquist's Stuyvesant Town apartment, Sara had taken advantage of the rookie's naiveté and Orlinsky's laziness. Before the two men had arrived, Sara had instructed Amanda not to mention Sara's relationship with Joey when she gave her statement to them. Just as she had feared, both men had wanted to know how Sara had managed to find the girl so quickly. Her glib answer about having recognized her on the street from the description their captain had given her and her partner had sufficed for that stupid bastard Orlinsky, but Sara could tell that Jake suspected there was more to the story than she was letting on.
Sara then informed Jake and Orlinsky that Danny Woo had already visited the home of the girl's boyfriend, and that the kid's parents had agreed to bring him down to the station for questioning first thing in the morning. That seemed to satisfy them, and they hadn't pressed an obviously fragile Amanda Lundquist for specifics on Joey, much to Sara's vast relief.
A few minutes later the girl's parents had arrived, and the difficult task of explaining their daughter's predicament to them had been left to Sara, as Jake hastily busied himself with bagging Amanda's clothing and the drugs and drug money, while Orlinsky had suddenly become absorbed in writing something down in his notebook. Then the two men had taken the increasingly jittery girl to the 11th Precinct for processing, accompanied by her frantic parents, while Sara had headed out to Brooklyn and yet another emotionally draining confrontation, this time with Joey's parents. Once there, she had called the station and learned that Amanda had been remanded to a drug rehab facility until her hearing.
But the shit had hit the proverbial fan once Jake and Orlinsky took Joey's statement the next morning.
Sara could feel the rookie's accusing stare on her as she gave Joey a hug and greeted Robert and Paula Siri once the interview had concluded. She escorted the boy, his worried parents, and their attorney to the door of the station, and wasn't at all surprised to find Jake and Orlinsky waiting for her when she came back upstairs.
"You held out on us," Jake spat, blue eyes blazing.
"Figures," Orlinsky muttered, eyeing Sara distastefully. "Pezzini's a loner, kid. You were fooling yourself if you thought she'd be straight with you. That honor is strictly reserved for her partner and her friend the Medical Examiner, not some wet-behind-the-ears rookie."
"Shut the hell up, Orlinsky," Sara snapped. "As usual, you have no idea what you're talking about!"
But the damage had been done. Jake McCartey was unable to hide his hurt and disillusionment before he turned his back on her and walked away.
Sighing, Sara returned to her office to begin the wait for Mt. Dante to erupt.
"I take it the cat's out of the bag," Danny Woo said as she plopped down dejectedly at her desk.
"Yeah. I expect a certain Neapolitan a-hole to go apeshit any second now," Sara said, grimacing. "Jake is pretty miffed at me, too."
"What'd you expect? We left him and his partner out of the loop in a big way."
"Listen, Danny," Sara said earnestly, "this stink doesn't have to stick to you, too."
"I knew about the gun and Joey's part in this and still kept quiet," Danny pointed out. "I'd say I smell pretty bad right about now."
"Yeah, well, it's my call, and I say stay outta this!" she insisted, her tone harsher than she'd intended.
"Seems like you've been shutting me out a lot lately, Pez," Danny told her, his dark, almond-shaped eyes serious. "We're supposed to be partners."
"This is my family and my problem," Sara said stubbornly. "I can't let you take the blame for any of this."
"Can't or won't?" the slim Asian man said, bitterness coating his words. "You didn't seem so reluctant to involve Vicky."
"Come on, Danny! That's not fair and you know it!" she protested. "I gave that gun to Vic before I realized this was going to turn into a murder investigation."
"And that's another thing," Danny pounced. "Just how did you make the connection to Angel Medina? And I know neither Joey nor Amanda told you about him, so save your breath. I know how the rookie feels: you've been holding out on me, partner, and I don't like it."
'Great,' Sara thought unhappily. 'Now my best friend and partner is starting to question whether he can trust me.' She glanced reproachfully at the innocuous-looking bracelet on her right wrist. 'I oughtta drop you off at the nearest pawn shop.'
"PETZINI!" Captain Bruno Dante roared. "In my office. NOW!"
Surprisingly, Jake gave her a sympathetic look as he had passed her on his way out. Orlinsky just smirked nastily at her.
For the next 35 minutes, Sara stood rigidly erect in front of Dante's desk, stoically enduring the invective being barked at her. The captain barely let her get a word in edgewise, professing not to give a rat's ass about her reasons for her actions. The prick hadn't even bothered to close the door to his office before starting in on her, so by now practically the entire precinct knew Pez was getting called onto the carpet and exactly why.
The homicide division had remained strangely quiet, so most of the detectives pretended to busy themselves with paperwork while avidly listening to the high-decibel diatribe issuing from their captain's office.
Just as she sensed Dante was starting to run out of ways of insulting her intelligence, dedication to and performance of the job, personal grooming habits, and sex in general, Sara caught movement out of the corner of her eye. She glanced around to see the red-haired man Danny had once identified as being a good friend of his from their academy days entering the office she shared with her partner.
"I'd appreciate it if you gave me the respect of your complete attention, Petzini!" Dante snarled, as he noticed the direction of her gaze.
"Sorry, sir," she muttered, fixing her eyes back on a point somewhere above the captain's rapidly thinning head of hair.
An icy silence filled the small office, and she could feel Dante's malicious glare on her. Finally, he made a disgusted noise. "Why do I even bother? You're a disgrace to the badge, Petzini. If it were up to me, I'd bust your ass down to foot patrol. As it is, you're restricted to desk duty until further notice. Dismissed."
Sara stared at him, alarmed. "But, sir, my nephew is still in danger. Until we catch the real murderer -- "
"I SAID DISMISSED!" Dante bellowed.
Sara had no choice but to leave his office and return to her own, gently closing the door behind her instead of slamming it as she badly wanted to do.
"Desk duty until further notice," she muttered in response to Danny's inquiring look.
"Pez, I believe I told you about my buddy Mike who works in narcotics? Mike Morgan, my partner, Sara Pezzini," Danny introduced the man who had risen from the guest chair next to her partner's desk as she entered the office.
"It's nice to finally meet you, Detective," Sara said, shaking hands with him. "Danny has told me quite a few yarns about your academy days."
"Likewise, Detective. And please, call me Mike. Yeah, I knew Woo here before he started shaving. Wait a minute, he still hasn't started!" Mike said, punching Danny lightly in the shoulder and grinning.
"Now, Mike, you know my jaw is girlishly smooth by virtue of my superior Asian genes. Pez, remind me some time to tell you the story of how I found out that the basement matches the attic," Danny said wickedly, eyeing his friend's bright red hair.
"Ah, well, these days only the wife is privy to that info," the narcotics squad detective said with mock sadness. "I know you can relate, my brother."
"Word to the mother," Danny nodded sagely. "By the way, after she got through pussy whipping me last night, Lee told me to tell you she says 'hi' to Angie, otherwise known as your better half and the holder of your cojones."
Sara couldn't help but grin at their banter, but then she remembered what Dante had just told her and the circumstances that had prompted his grossly unfair action.
"So, did you just stop by to relive your wild and crazy and, apparently, at one time naked academy days, Mike, or do you got some info on this, um, situation involving a certain psychotic drug lord?"
The red-haired detective glanced over his shoulder toward Dante's office. Sara saw that once again Jake and Orlinsky were in there behind closed doors, no doubt commiserating with the captain about uppity, unscrupulous female detectives.
"He really reamed you out, hunh?" Mike said, his blue eyes sympathetic. Then he lowered his voice, even though the door to the office was closed. "This is completely off the record, 'cause I could lose my shield if it got out that I gave you a heads up, okay?"
Danny and Sara nodded in unison.
"We got a guy next to Medina who thinks a major shipment is due to arrive within 24 hours," the narcotics detective told them. "Angel is too paranoid to trust anybody but himself and his wackjob of a brother, Joaquin, with the pickup, so we haven't got a fix on the where and when yet."
"So nice when drug lords keep it all in the family, isn't it?" Sara commented wryly, prompting smiles from both men.
"However," Mike continued, "the DEA got a tip from a contact down by the docks that a Dominican freighter due in tomorrow night might be smuggling some real weight. We think that might be the shipment Medina is waiting for. If all goes well, the bust will go down tomorrow around midnight on the docks."
Sara heaved a sigh of relief. "That's the best news I've heard in what feels like weeks, Mike. Thanks for the heads up."
"Yeah, Danny told me that a real good kid was jammed up, and I wanted to help out," the narcotics cop told her. "People haven't forgotten Joe Siri, Sr., Sara. Or James Pezzini for that matter."
Sara was stunned to feel tears prick her eyelids. "Like I said, thanks for looking out, Mike. The Siri family owes you one. I owe you one. Um, I'm gonna go on a coffee run. You guys want some?" she said, surreptitiously wiping the moisture from her eyes as she turned to grab her jacket.
"Thanks, partner. You know how I likes it," Danny said softly.
"Thanks, but I don't think it's a good idea for me to stick around here for much longer," Mike Morgan said. "Bruno Dante is thick as a brick, but eventually even he might make the connection between me and our cases. I'll be in touch with updates whenever I can, though."
"Later then," Sara said, liking the red-haired man more by the second.
"Later."
When she reached the street in front of the 11th Precinct, Sara took a deep, cleansing breath of the markedly cooler air.
The temperature had been dropping steadily since midnight, and the forecasters' predictions for a major snowstorm by the end of the week had grown direr. Sara sincerely hoped they were wrong because winter weather and her only means of transportation did not mix. She hated being forced to take mass transit to get wherever she needed to go; on her salary, cabs were a luxury. Plus, she tended to go a little stir crazy whenever she was deprived for extended an period of time of the adrenaline junky fix that riding her Buell provided.
But right now, Sara's spirits had gotten a major lift courtesy of Danny's buddy from narcotics. She wouldn't truly relax until Angel Medina was behind bars and the undercover detective had testified that the drug lord was the one responsible for Paco Gutierrez's death. Knowing that the end of Joey's quandary appeared to be in sight did wonders for her mood.
Then Sara felt the Witchblade swirl warmly on her wrist, and some of her newfound good humor dissipated. Sure enough, when she glanced into the alley that ran alongside the 11th Precinct, she spotted the black-clad man who shadowed her every move lurking there.
"Hey, Nottingham," she said, walking up to him for absolutely no good reason at all.
"'Mine eyes and heart are at a mortal war, how to divide the conquest of thy sight,'" he said softly, without looking at her. His long hair was loose, the dark waves effectively concealing his expression.
"Uh, okay," Sara said, bristling just a little. "Are we back to being Mr. Cryptic? 'Cause I gotta tell ya, the straight-talking thing was really working for you."
"Earlier this morning, I saw young Joseph leave the station with his parents and a gentleman I presume is his lawyer. I was glad to see that he had not been taken into custody on suspicion of murder," Nottingham said, ignoring her sarcasm.
"No, and if all goes well, he won't be. Vicky's going to hold off on presenting her complete findings until tomorrow, but the gun, drugs, money, and the clothing both Joey and Amanda were wearing that night have been entered into evidence," Sara told him. "And Amanda corroborated Joey's story."
"Has a suspect in the murder been apprehended?" the assassin asked. He still hadn't made eye contact with her, appearing to be fascinated with the toes of his boots.
"Not yet, but Danny's contact in narcotics says a major drug bust may go down tomorrow night. They're looking to grab up a guy by the name of Angel Medina, who's the supplier for the Alphabet City territory," Sara said, and then wondered why she was trusting the assassin with this highly sensitive information. Although her scant night's sleep had been far from restful, she could no longer blame her honesty on her emotionally wrung-out state of exhaustion, which is what she had done last night immediately after her otherwise inexplicably amicable encounter with this unsettlingly enigmatic man.
"I take it he is the one the Witchblade's vision identified as Paco's killer."
"Yeah," she said, fidgeting nervously with the bracelet. Sara got the distinct impression that the dark-haired man was simply getting confirmation for something he'd already figured out. She was slowly beginning to realize that there was a lot more to Ian Nottingham than simply being Kenneth Irons' bodyguard and henchman.
"Was your captain very angry with you, Sara?" he surprised her by asking.
"That's putting it lightly. He really tore into my hide," she said, and thought she saw Nottingham grimace slightly at her words. "I'm on desk duty until further notice."
"If there is anything I can do to help ensure this Angel Medina gets put behind bars where he belongs, you need only ask, my Lady," Nottingham told her, looking up for the first time.
Sara's first thought was that his eyes were darker than normal, their usual brilliance slightly dulled, perhaps by weariness. But he looked down at his feet again so quickly, that brief impression was all she got.
She started to ask him if he was all right, then caught herself. What did she care? This was her stalker, for Christ's sake! Still, she couldn't shake the feeling that something wasn't right with the assassin -- aside from him being a cold-blooded, possibly psychotic hired killer that was.
"Thanks, but I think narcotics and the DEA have got it covered. Well, I'm off to get coffee and then to ride my desk until Dante gets over himself. So, I guess you're free to do . . . errands, or whatever, for Irons. I won't be going anywhere today."
"I have my orders, and they are to stay close to you, my Lady," Nottingham said quietly.
"Well, it's getting kind of cold out here, so try to stay warm," Sara told him, and then blinked in bafflement.
'Where the hell did that come from?' she asked herself disgustedly, giving her head a little shake. 'What am I, his freakin' mother?'
"Your concern, while touching, is unfounded, Sara," the black-clad man said, a tad too smugly for her liking. "I have endured much harsher conditions than these. I will be fine."
"Whatever. See ya, wouldn't wanna be ya." She turned and stalked away, telling herself that she would not look back, especially after that extremely lame comeback.
But she couldn't resist sneaking a quick peek over her shoulder as she reached the mouth of the alleyway. She frowned to see that Nottingham still stood there in the lengthening shadows, motionless, head down, and she felt a flash of irritation as concern for her stalker crept into her consciousness before she could banish it to whatever bizarre corner of her mind it had come from.
****
The rest of the day crawled by owing to the fact that all Sara had to keep her occupied was paperwork. Just about the only good thing about being restricted to desk duty was that she was making considerable headway on a stack that had begun to resemble a small skyscraper.
Jake McCartey stopped by to visit her shortly after she finished eating her lunch, bringing with him a peace offering of Starbucks coffee.
"Double espresso, black, no sugar, right?" Jake said handing her a cup.
"Yeah. Thanks, Jake," Sara said, surprised at the gesture because she had expected the rookie to still be angry with her.
"Look, Sara, I'm sorry I was such a prick earlier," Jake said sincerely. "When I stopped by her office to submit Joey's clothes into evidence, Vicky told me how bad you felt about having to lie about your relationship with Joey and about the gun until you could talk to his parents. She said there was no way you could have known the John Doe she was autopsying was Paco Gutierrez until after she called to tell you his fingerprints matched those on the gun. I realize now that you were just trying to protect Joey. I just want you to know there's no hard feelings."
'Thank you, Vicky Po!' Sara thought gratefully. 'I owe you big time.'
"I should have been up front with you about Joey, Jake," she conceded, "but all I could think about was damage control. I had no idea that the gun was connected to your case when I gave it to Vicky, or that this whole thing was going to snowball the way it did. Although, frankly, if you're stupid enough to deal drugs like Paco did, chances are your case is going to cross our desks sooner or later."
"Amen to that," Jake agreed, his ready grin making a welcome reappearance.
"So, we straight?"
"Yeah. But, boy, Dante really tore you a new one, hunh?" he said ruefully, shaking his always disheveled blond head. "The minute I heard Joey say he'd come to you for help on the sly, I knew Cap was going to go ballistic."
"Not that this is any justification for him being such a gaping asshole, but I don't think Dante was thrilled to learn that the kid I stepped up to bat for is his predecessor's namesake. Guaranteed, he's going to spin it to Joe Siri, Sr. that he refrained from busting my ass down to neighborhood watch as a favor to him, instead of earning points by quietly looking out for a former Brother in Blue's grandson," Sara confided to him, shaking her head in disgust.
"Yeah, there's no love lost between those two -- or between you and Dante, for that matter -- that's for damn sure," Jake acknowledged quietly. "I haven't been here that long and all, but even I figured that out."
"Hey, don't sell yourself short, Rookie," Sara said truthfully. "I know Orlinsky is a waste of gray matter, but last night you were pretty damn quick to pick up on the fact that something wasn't quite right with my story about how I found the girl so fast. You have all the right instincts to one day be really good at this often lousy job."
The young native Californian's fair skin actually flushed with pleasure at her compliment, which elicited a gentle smile of amusement from Sara.
"Coming from you, Detective Pezzini," Jake said sincerely, "that's real praise."
"Awww, a love fest," Danny Woo said from the door to their office. "Toadying up to your superiors again, Rookie? And where the hell's my Starbucks?"
"Just checking to see if your partner had any hide left after that flaying Dante laid on her," Jake said, and for some reason, his words made Sara think of Ian Nottingham and their stranger-than-normal encounter in the alley earlier.
The rookie detective's suddenly serious blue eyes met Danny's dark- brown ones. "Funny, I don't seem to recall seeing you in Dante's office owning up to your part in this little charade," he said coolly.
"Not my call, dude," Danny said instantly, glancing meaningfully at Sara, "not my call."
"Oh, ho! So, that's who wears the pants in this partnership! I knew it!" Jake chortled evilly.
Sara cackled appreciatively at his jibe, raising her hand to the younger man for a high five. Their palms met with a resounding smack.
"Awww, man, that was a low blow," Danny Woo moaned.
And just like that the tension in the small office vanished as if it had never existed.
More to come. Please, keep supplying that feedback. It really stokes my ego, uh, I mean, inspires me to greatness. Thanks!
P.S. Ian's first words to Sara are from a Shakespeare sonnet, in case anybody was wondering.
Disclaimer: I don't own the Witchblade characters, but they've told me that they wish I did! ( Enjoy!
Chapter 13.
Behind the two-way mirror that looked into one of the 11th Precinct's interrogation rooms, Sara Pezzini secretly watched Jake McCartey and Frank Orlinsky question Joey Siri, Jr. in the presence of his parents and the Siri family's lawyer. She felt a swell of pride as the teenager calmly and collectedly told the two detectives about his confrontation with Paco Gutierrez and Amanda Lundquist two nights ago.
Guiltily, Sara noticed a look of surprise, followed swiftly by anger, cross Jake's handsome face after Joey admitted that he had hidden the drug dealer's confiscated weapon in the alley next to the precinct that same night, and then had given it to his aunt, Sara Pezzini, the following morning.
Last night, at Amanda Lundquist's Stuyvesant Town apartment, Sara had taken advantage of the rookie's naiveté and Orlinsky's laziness. Before the two men had arrived, Sara had instructed Amanda not to mention Sara's relationship with Joey when she gave her statement to them. Just as she had feared, both men had wanted to know how Sara had managed to find the girl so quickly. Her glib answer about having recognized her on the street from the description their captain had given her and her partner had sufficed for that stupid bastard Orlinsky, but Sara could tell that Jake suspected there was more to the story than she was letting on.
Sara then informed Jake and Orlinsky that Danny Woo had already visited the home of the girl's boyfriend, and that the kid's parents had agreed to bring him down to the station for questioning first thing in the morning. That seemed to satisfy them, and they hadn't pressed an obviously fragile Amanda Lundquist for specifics on Joey, much to Sara's vast relief.
A few minutes later the girl's parents had arrived, and the difficult task of explaining their daughter's predicament to them had been left to Sara, as Jake hastily busied himself with bagging Amanda's clothing and the drugs and drug money, while Orlinsky had suddenly become absorbed in writing something down in his notebook. Then the two men had taken the increasingly jittery girl to the 11th Precinct for processing, accompanied by her frantic parents, while Sara had headed out to Brooklyn and yet another emotionally draining confrontation, this time with Joey's parents. Once there, she had called the station and learned that Amanda had been remanded to a drug rehab facility until her hearing.
But the shit had hit the proverbial fan once Jake and Orlinsky took Joey's statement the next morning.
Sara could feel the rookie's accusing stare on her as she gave Joey a hug and greeted Robert and Paula Siri once the interview had concluded. She escorted the boy, his worried parents, and their attorney to the door of the station, and wasn't at all surprised to find Jake and Orlinsky waiting for her when she came back upstairs.
"You held out on us," Jake spat, blue eyes blazing.
"Figures," Orlinsky muttered, eyeing Sara distastefully. "Pezzini's a loner, kid. You were fooling yourself if you thought she'd be straight with you. That honor is strictly reserved for her partner and her friend the Medical Examiner, not some wet-behind-the-ears rookie."
"Shut the hell up, Orlinsky," Sara snapped. "As usual, you have no idea what you're talking about!"
But the damage had been done. Jake McCartey was unable to hide his hurt and disillusionment before he turned his back on her and walked away.
Sighing, Sara returned to her office to begin the wait for Mt. Dante to erupt.
"I take it the cat's out of the bag," Danny Woo said as she plopped down dejectedly at her desk.
"Yeah. I expect a certain Neapolitan a-hole to go apeshit any second now," Sara said, grimacing. "Jake is pretty miffed at me, too."
"What'd you expect? We left him and his partner out of the loop in a big way."
"Listen, Danny," Sara said earnestly, "this stink doesn't have to stick to you, too."
"I knew about the gun and Joey's part in this and still kept quiet," Danny pointed out. "I'd say I smell pretty bad right about now."
"Yeah, well, it's my call, and I say stay outta this!" she insisted, her tone harsher than she'd intended.
"Seems like you've been shutting me out a lot lately, Pez," Danny told her, his dark, almond-shaped eyes serious. "We're supposed to be partners."
"This is my family and my problem," Sara said stubbornly. "I can't let you take the blame for any of this."
"Can't or won't?" the slim Asian man said, bitterness coating his words. "You didn't seem so reluctant to involve Vicky."
"Come on, Danny! That's not fair and you know it!" she protested. "I gave that gun to Vic before I realized this was going to turn into a murder investigation."
"And that's another thing," Danny pounced. "Just how did you make the connection to Angel Medina? And I know neither Joey nor Amanda told you about him, so save your breath. I know how the rookie feels: you've been holding out on me, partner, and I don't like it."
'Great,' Sara thought unhappily. 'Now my best friend and partner is starting to question whether he can trust me.' She glanced reproachfully at the innocuous-looking bracelet on her right wrist. 'I oughtta drop you off at the nearest pawn shop.'
"PETZINI!" Captain Bruno Dante roared. "In my office. NOW!"
Surprisingly, Jake gave her a sympathetic look as he had passed her on his way out. Orlinsky just smirked nastily at her.
For the next 35 minutes, Sara stood rigidly erect in front of Dante's desk, stoically enduring the invective being barked at her. The captain barely let her get a word in edgewise, professing not to give a rat's ass about her reasons for her actions. The prick hadn't even bothered to close the door to his office before starting in on her, so by now practically the entire precinct knew Pez was getting called onto the carpet and exactly why.
The homicide division had remained strangely quiet, so most of the detectives pretended to busy themselves with paperwork while avidly listening to the high-decibel diatribe issuing from their captain's office.
Just as she sensed Dante was starting to run out of ways of insulting her intelligence, dedication to and performance of the job, personal grooming habits, and sex in general, Sara caught movement out of the corner of her eye. She glanced around to see the red-haired man Danny had once identified as being a good friend of his from their academy days entering the office she shared with her partner.
"I'd appreciate it if you gave me the respect of your complete attention, Petzini!" Dante snarled, as he noticed the direction of her gaze.
"Sorry, sir," she muttered, fixing her eyes back on a point somewhere above the captain's rapidly thinning head of hair.
An icy silence filled the small office, and she could feel Dante's malicious glare on her. Finally, he made a disgusted noise. "Why do I even bother? You're a disgrace to the badge, Petzini. If it were up to me, I'd bust your ass down to foot patrol. As it is, you're restricted to desk duty until further notice. Dismissed."
Sara stared at him, alarmed. "But, sir, my nephew is still in danger. Until we catch the real murderer -- "
"I SAID DISMISSED!" Dante bellowed.
Sara had no choice but to leave his office and return to her own, gently closing the door behind her instead of slamming it as she badly wanted to do.
"Desk duty until further notice," she muttered in response to Danny's inquiring look.
"Pez, I believe I told you about my buddy Mike who works in narcotics? Mike Morgan, my partner, Sara Pezzini," Danny introduced the man who had risen from the guest chair next to her partner's desk as she entered the office.
"It's nice to finally meet you, Detective," Sara said, shaking hands with him. "Danny has told me quite a few yarns about your academy days."
"Likewise, Detective. And please, call me Mike. Yeah, I knew Woo here before he started shaving. Wait a minute, he still hasn't started!" Mike said, punching Danny lightly in the shoulder and grinning.
"Now, Mike, you know my jaw is girlishly smooth by virtue of my superior Asian genes. Pez, remind me some time to tell you the story of how I found out that the basement matches the attic," Danny said wickedly, eyeing his friend's bright red hair.
"Ah, well, these days only the wife is privy to that info," the narcotics squad detective said with mock sadness. "I know you can relate, my brother."
"Word to the mother," Danny nodded sagely. "By the way, after she got through pussy whipping me last night, Lee told me to tell you she says 'hi' to Angie, otherwise known as your better half and the holder of your cojones."
Sara couldn't help but grin at their banter, but then she remembered what Dante had just told her and the circumstances that had prompted his grossly unfair action.
"So, did you just stop by to relive your wild and crazy and, apparently, at one time naked academy days, Mike, or do you got some info on this, um, situation involving a certain psychotic drug lord?"
The red-haired detective glanced over his shoulder toward Dante's office. Sara saw that once again Jake and Orlinsky were in there behind closed doors, no doubt commiserating with the captain about uppity, unscrupulous female detectives.
"He really reamed you out, hunh?" Mike said, his blue eyes sympathetic. Then he lowered his voice, even though the door to the office was closed. "This is completely off the record, 'cause I could lose my shield if it got out that I gave you a heads up, okay?"
Danny and Sara nodded in unison.
"We got a guy next to Medina who thinks a major shipment is due to arrive within 24 hours," the narcotics detective told them. "Angel is too paranoid to trust anybody but himself and his wackjob of a brother, Joaquin, with the pickup, so we haven't got a fix on the where and when yet."
"So nice when drug lords keep it all in the family, isn't it?" Sara commented wryly, prompting smiles from both men.
"However," Mike continued, "the DEA got a tip from a contact down by the docks that a Dominican freighter due in tomorrow night might be smuggling some real weight. We think that might be the shipment Medina is waiting for. If all goes well, the bust will go down tomorrow around midnight on the docks."
Sara heaved a sigh of relief. "That's the best news I've heard in what feels like weeks, Mike. Thanks for the heads up."
"Yeah, Danny told me that a real good kid was jammed up, and I wanted to help out," the narcotics cop told her. "People haven't forgotten Joe Siri, Sr., Sara. Or James Pezzini for that matter."
Sara was stunned to feel tears prick her eyelids. "Like I said, thanks for looking out, Mike. The Siri family owes you one. I owe you one. Um, I'm gonna go on a coffee run. You guys want some?" she said, surreptitiously wiping the moisture from her eyes as she turned to grab her jacket.
"Thanks, partner. You know how I likes it," Danny said softly.
"Thanks, but I don't think it's a good idea for me to stick around here for much longer," Mike Morgan said. "Bruno Dante is thick as a brick, but eventually even he might make the connection between me and our cases. I'll be in touch with updates whenever I can, though."
"Later then," Sara said, liking the red-haired man more by the second.
"Later."
When she reached the street in front of the 11th Precinct, Sara took a deep, cleansing breath of the markedly cooler air.
The temperature had been dropping steadily since midnight, and the forecasters' predictions for a major snowstorm by the end of the week had grown direr. Sara sincerely hoped they were wrong because winter weather and her only means of transportation did not mix. She hated being forced to take mass transit to get wherever she needed to go; on her salary, cabs were a luxury. Plus, she tended to go a little stir crazy whenever she was deprived for extended an period of time of the adrenaline junky fix that riding her Buell provided.
But right now, Sara's spirits had gotten a major lift courtesy of Danny's buddy from narcotics. She wouldn't truly relax until Angel Medina was behind bars and the undercover detective had testified that the drug lord was the one responsible for Paco Gutierrez's death. Knowing that the end of Joey's quandary appeared to be in sight did wonders for her mood.
Then Sara felt the Witchblade swirl warmly on her wrist, and some of her newfound good humor dissipated. Sure enough, when she glanced into the alley that ran alongside the 11th Precinct, she spotted the black-clad man who shadowed her every move lurking there.
"Hey, Nottingham," she said, walking up to him for absolutely no good reason at all.
"'Mine eyes and heart are at a mortal war, how to divide the conquest of thy sight,'" he said softly, without looking at her. His long hair was loose, the dark waves effectively concealing his expression.
"Uh, okay," Sara said, bristling just a little. "Are we back to being Mr. Cryptic? 'Cause I gotta tell ya, the straight-talking thing was really working for you."
"Earlier this morning, I saw young Joseph leave the station with his parents and a gentleman I presume is his lawyer. I was glad to see that he had not been taken into custody on suspicion of murder," Nottingham said, ignoring her sarcasm.
"No, and if all goes well, he won't be. Vicky's going to hold off on presenting her complete findings until tomorrow, but the gun, drugs, money, and the clothing both Joey and Amanda were wearing that night have been entered into evidence," Sara told him. "And Amanda corroborated Joey's story."
"Has a suspect in the murder been apprehended?" the assassin asked. He still hadn't made eye contact with her, appearing to be fascinated with the toes of his boots.
"Not yet, but Danny's contact in narcotics says a major drug bust may go down tomorrow night. They're looking to grab up a guy by the name of Angel Medina, who's the supplier for the Alphabet City territory," Sara said, and then wondered why she was trusting the assassin with this highly sensitive information. Although her scant night's sleep had been far from restful, she could no longer blame her honesty on her emotionally wrung-out state of exhaustion, which is what she had done last night immediately after her otherwise inexplicably amicable encounter with this unsettlingly enigmatic man.
"I take it he is the one the Witchblade's vision identified as Paco's killer."
"Yeah," she said, fidgeting nervously with the bracelet. Sara got the distinct impression that the dark-haired man was simply getting confirmation for something he'd already figured out. She was slowly beginning to realize that there was a lot more to Ian Nottingham than simply being Kenneth Irons' bodyguard and henchman.
"Was your captain very angry with you, Sara?" he surprised her by asking.
"That's putting it lightly. He really tore into my hide," she said, and thought she saw Nottingham grimace slightly at her words. "I'm on desk duty until further notice."
"If there is anything I can do to help ensure this Angel Medina gets put behind bars where he belongs, you need only ask, my Lady," Nottingham told her, looking up for the first time.
Sara's first thought was that his eyes were darker than normal, their usual brilliance slightly dulled, perhaps by weariness. But he looked down at his feet again so quickly, that brief impression was all she got.
She started to ask him if he was all right, then caught herself. What did she care? This was her stalker, for Christ's sake! Still, she couldn't shake the feeling that something wasn't right with the assassin -- aside from him being a cold-blooded, possibly psychotic hired killer that was.
"Thanks, but I think narcotics and the DEA have got it covered. Well, I'm off to get coffee and then to ride my desk until Dante gets over himself. So, I guess you're free to do . . . errands, or whatever, for Irons. I won't be going anywhere today."
"I have my orders, and they are to stay close to you, my Lady," Nottingham said quietly.
"Well, it's getting kind of cold out here, so try to stay warm," Sara told him, and then blinked in bafflement.
'Where the hell did that come from?' she asked herself disgustedly, giving her head a little shake. 'What am I, his freakin' mother?'
"Your concern, while touching, is unfounded, Sara," the black-clad man said, a tad too smugly for her liking. "I have endured much harsher conditions than these. I will be fine."
"Whatever. See ya, wouldn't wanna be ya." She turned and stalked away, telling herself that she would not look back, especially after that extremely lame comeback.
But she couldn't resist sneaking a quick peek over her shoulder as she reached the mouth of the alleyway. She frowned to see that Nottingham still stood there in the lengthening shadows, motionless, head down, and she felt a flash of irritation as concern for her stalker crept into her consciousness before she could banish it to whatever bizarre corner of her mind it had come from.
****
The rest of the day crawled by owing to the fact that all Sara had to keep her occupied was paperwork. Just about the only good thing about being restricted to desk duty was that she was making considerable headway on a stack that had begun to resemble a small skyscraper.
Jake McCartey stopped by to visit her shortly after she finished eating her lunch, bringing with him a peace offering of Starbucks coffee.
"Double espresso, black, no sugar, right?" Jake said handing her a cup.
"Yeah. Thanks, Jake," Sara said, surprised at the gesture because she had expected the rookie to still be angry with her.
"Look, Sara, I'm sorry I was such a prick earlier," Jake said sincerely. "When I stopped by her office to submit Joey's clothes into evidence, Vicky told me how bad you felt about having to lie about your relationship with Joey and about the gun until you could talk to his parents. She said there was no way you could have known the John Doe she was autopsying was Paco Gutierrez until after she called to tell you his fingerprints matched those on the gun. I realize now that you were just trying to protect Joey. I just want you to know there's no hard feelings."
'Thank you, Vicky Po!' Sara thought gratefully. 'I owe you big time.'
"I should have been up front with you about Joey, Jake," she conceded, "but all I could think about was damage control. I had no idea that the gun was connected to your case when I gave it to Vicky, or that this whole thing was going to snowball the way it did. Although, frankly, if you're stupid enough to deal drugs like Paco did, chances are your case is going to cross our desks sooner or later."
"Amen to that," Jake agreed, his ready grin making a welcome reappearance.
"So, we straight?"
"Yeah. But, boy, Dante really tore you a new one, hunh?" he said ruefully, shaking his always disheveled blond head. "The minute I heard Joey say he'd come to you for help on the sly, I knew Cap was going to go ballistic."
"Not that this is any justification for him being such a gaping asshole, but I don't think Dante was thrilled to learn that the kid I stepped up to bat for is his predecessor's namesake. Guaranteed, he's going to spin it to Joe Siri, Sr. that he refrained from busting my ass down to neighborhood watch as a favor to him, instead of earning points by quietly looking out for a former Brother in Blue's grandson," Sara confided to him, shaking her head in disgust.
"Yeah, there's no love lost between those two -- or between you and Dante, for that matter -- that's for damn sure," Jake acknowledged quietly. "I haven't been here that long and all, but even I figured that out."
"Hey, don't sell yourself short, Rookie," Sara said truthfully. "I know Orlinsky is a waste of gray matter, but last night you were pretty damn quick to pick up on the fact that something wasn't quite right with my story about how I found the girl so fast. You have all the right instincts to one day be really good at this often lousy job."
The young native Californian's fair skin actually flushed with pleasure at her compliment, which elicited a gentle smile of amusement from Sara.
"Coming from you, Detective Pezzini," Jake said sincerely, "that's real praise."
"Awww, a love fest," Danny Woo said from the door to their office. "Toadying up to your superiors again, Rookie? And where the hell's my Starbucks?"
"Just checking to see if your partner had any hide left after that flaying Dante laid on her," Jake said, and for some reason, his words made Sara think of Ian Nottingham and their stranger-than-normal encounter in the alley earlier.
The rookie detective's suddenly serious blue eyes met Danny's dark- brown ones. "Funny, I don't seem to recall seeing you in Dante's office owning up to your part in this little charade," he said coolly.
"Not my call, dude," Danny said instantly, glancing meaningfully at Sara, "not my call."
"Oh, ho! So, that's who wears the pants in this partnership! I knew it!" Jake chortled evilly.
Sara cackled appreciatively at his jibe, raising her hand to the younger man for a high five. Their palms met with a resounding smack.
"Awww, man, that was a low blow," Danny Woo moaned.
And just like that the tension in the small office vanished as if it had never existed.
More to come. Please, keep supplying that feedback. It really stokes my ego, uh, I mean, inspires me to greatness. Thanks!
P.S. Ian's first words to Sara are from a Shakespeare sonnet, in case anybody was wondering.