September
"Earth to McCall," Hunter waving his hand in front of her nose.
"What?"
"Where are you."
"Oh just thinking about the past week," she said with a smile.
"Ah, a New York state of mind."
"Call it what you like."
The phone ringing interrupted the conversation,
"Homicide, McCall. Yes I know a Jim Gordon. He's where? I'm on my way." she hung up, opened the bottom drawer of her desk to take out her purse.
"What's up?" Hunter wanted to know.
"Remember that guy I told you about, the one I met on the plane."
"Yeah, Jim Gordon. I met him once too."
"He's been arrested on suspicion of fraud and used his one phone call to have someone call me. I'm going to there now to find out what's going on. Jim just isn't the kind of person to do such a thing."
"He didn't strike me as one that's for sure. I'm coming with you," Hunter got up and followed her to the elevator.
The guard unlocked the door to the room where Jim was waiting, Hunter and McCall sat down opposite of him.
"I didn't know who else to call, I still had your card," Jim started.
"I know you are with homicide but can you please help me."
"Tell me what happened Jim," McCall said.
"I came back from a trip to Atlanta yesterday and just as I wanted to leave for the office this morning the police was at my door telling me I was under arrest and took me to this place. The two officers that interviewed me told me I was arrested on suspicion of fraud. The company I work, or worked, for is accusing me of making deals behind their back and keep whatever money I make out of them."
"Did you?" Hunter asked.
"No, but there's someone who does and I threatened to expose him."
"This smells like a set up to me," Hunter looked at his partner who nodded in agreement.
"Can you help me?" Jim asked hopefully.
The two officers looked at each other,
"I think we can," McCall said and Jim let out a sigh of relief.
"Have you contacted your wife about this?" McCall asked him.
Jim's face turned sad, "She left me two weeks ago. She couldn't stand being alone all the time she said. I've only been home for six weeks the last four months. I just wanted us to have a little something later on."
"I'm sorry."
"Not as sorry as I am but it won't bring her back. And now this."
"Well first we're gonna get you out of here," Hunter pitched in.
"Do you have a place to stay?"
"Not really, I'm afraid to go home in case something happens to me when certain people find out I'm out of jail."
"In that case you can stay with us until this is sorted," Hunter offered.
"Thanks, I really appreciate what you are doing for me."
"Consider it helping out a friend."
While McCall was busy with the paperwork that needed to be done to get Jim released in their custody Hunter went over to Jim's house to pick up some clothes and other stuff. On the way back he payed a visit to the officers that interviewed Jim to see what evidence they had against him. He notified Charlie and asked him if he could arrange for them to take over the case.
The evidence contained several documents, contracts and correspondence that suggested Jim had made the deals they accused him of. They all looked pretty genuine.
A phone call from Charlie secured the take over of the case and Jim's release from prison in their custody.
Hunter hurried back to the prison to pick them up, so they could start on the case immediately.
"They sure made an effort to cover their tracks," McCall remarked as she was going through the documents.
For Jim this was the first time he was confronted with the evidence against him,
"If only there was something in here that could prove my innocence."
"Maybe there is," McCall sat up in her chair.
Hunter knew the look on her face, she had an idea,
"This signature," she pointed at one of the documents. "Is it yours?"
"It looks like mine but I never signed it."
"Exactly and there is a way to prove that."
"A handwriting expert," Hunter interrupted.
"Bingo!"
"But that's not enough, we can only prove Jim didn't sign the documents and not who did."
"How about a man on the inside to work on that."
"Sounds like a job for Brad, he makes a perfect salesman."
"He'll be thrilled. I'll run our plan by Charlie," McCall got up from behind her desk and went to Charlie's office.
"Do you think it will work?" Jim asked worried.
"I don't know, but I can't think of anything better right now." Hunter said honestly.
Twenty minutes later the door to Charlie's office opened, McCall came out giving Hunter a thumbs up as she walked towards Brad's desk. She asked to come with her and introduced him to Jim. They explained Jim's situation to him,
"And where do I fit into this?" Brad wanted to know.
"I was just coming to that. We thought you are the right man to go undercover as a salesman to find out who's responsible for those false documents."
"And you think I make a good office appliances salesman?" Brad didn't know if he was supposed to take this seriously or not.
"Jim will give you some pointers but I think you can sell just about anything," Hunter said with a grin.
Brad raised his eyebrows,
"You look reliable, have a way with the ladies, you're a smooth talker, very persuasive without being rude, need I go on," McCall added.
"Well if you put it that way."
"Okay, that's settled. Let's get this show on the road. Jim, take this man to a conference room and fill him in on the ins and outs of being an office appliances salesman. Meanwhile McCall and I will make sure you have a jib to go to tomorrow."
It took some persuasion and female charm from McCall but they got Brad a job at Kensington Office Appliances, starting the next day.
Some hours later Brad and Jim emerged from the conference room, chatting away.
"Well do you think you can handle the job?" Hunter asked Brad.
"I won't say it's a piece of cake but after Jim's coaching I think I'll manage."
"Great. I think it's time we headed home, it's been a long day and tomorrow will be the same," Hunter gestured towards McCall who had a hard time keeping her eyes open.
He got up from his chair, walked over to her and sat down on the corner of her desk,
"Let's go home honey," and placed a gentle kiss on the top of her head.
"Yeah, I'm tired." she replied sleepy.
"Best suit and tie tomorrow," Hunter said to Brad as they were about to get into their cars.
"No problem," he replied.
The drive home was a quiet one, McCall was sound asleep in the passenger seat and Jim was staring quietly out the window in the back.
When they arrived Hunter opened the front door before lifting a still sleeping McCall out of the car and carrying her to the bedroom. Jim was outside enjoying the view over the ocean from the deck,
"Want something to drink?" Hunter asked him.
"Do you have a beer?"
"I think so, let me check."
A few minutes later he returned, "I still had one in the fridge, here you go." and handed the can to Jim.
"Thanks, cheers. Great place you have here."
"Yeah, it's the best one I had so far."
"I don't mean to pry but how are the wedding plans coming along?"
"Not so great, we still haven't set a date," Hunter replied between sips.
Jim looked at him in surprise, "You haven't, how come?"
"Life got in the way."
"Oh. It's a shame though, you make such a good couple."
Hunter looked straight ahead out over the ocean, taking another sip from his soda, "Yeah we do."
His thoughts were with his best friend and lover sound asleep in the house, how much he loved her.
Jim broke the silence, "I think I'm gonna turn in, like you said it's gonna be a busy day tomorrow. Goodnight."
"Goodnight."
After finishing his drink Hunter decided it was time to turn in as well.
McCall woke up before the alarm went off wondering why she was still dressed in some of the clothes she wore the previous day and how she got into bed.
Next to her Hunter was sleeping so she left the bed as quiet as she could and slipped into the bathroom.
A little later Hunter woke up from sounds coming from the bathroom, someone was taking a shower.
He got out of bed, walked to the bathroom door and knocked,
"McCall are you in there?"
"Yeah I am,"
This meant he could enter safely.
"Rick."
"Yes."
"Why was I in bed with my clothes on?"
"Because I put you there like that, I could have left you sleeping in the car."
A wet washcloth against his head was her reply.
"That's the thanks I get huh."
"You could have woken me so I could change."
"I tried, you were in your usual coma."
"Yeah I was pretty tired." she admitted and continued humming the tune she started earlier.
"Dee Dee."
"Don't be so impatient, I'll be done in a second."
"Let's set a date."
The humming stopped, "What!"
"Let's set a date," Hunter repeated.
She turned off the water, grabbed the towel she hung close by and wrapped it around her. In a flash she was standing in front of him,
"What brought this on?"
"It's been on my mind lately."
She sighed, " I would be lying if I said that it isn't on my mind."
"Then why not. At Mel and Dave's wedding I imagined us standing there, declaring our love to one another, becoming husband and wife."
McCall saw him become emotional.
"You know I love you and want nothing more than become your wife but we also decided to take things a step at the time."
"I know we did and we will. Can I use the shower now?"
"Be my guest. I'm gonna make us some coffee and see if Jim's awake yet."
Getting dressed the conversation they just had played in her head again, the disappointed look in his eyes said enough. He was ready for this commitment, she wasn't and was afraid to tell him.
When she was done McCall went down to make the coffee. When she looked out of the kitchen window she saw Jim standing on the deck making all kind of weird movements.
"Good morning," she said as she stepped out onto the deck.
"Good morning," Jim said after he had finished his movement.
"What are you doing?"
"Tai-chi, It's a great stress relief. Want me to teach you?"
"No thanks, I'll unwind another way if you don't mind. Want some coffee?"
"I usually don't drink coffee in the morning but I'd like some now."
"One coffee coming up."
Just as McCall poured them both a mug Hunter came down,
"Want some too?"
"Yeah nice. Jim awake yet?"
"He's outside doing some gymnastics. He does that everyday apparently."
Hunter looked at her in surprise as she handed him his mug. Being curious he looked out the kitchen window, Jim was just finishing his exercises.
"Oh, he's into Tai-chi. I've heard it's a great stress relief."
Now it was McCall's turn to look surprised, "How did you know?"
"Read about it in one of your Cosmo's."
"You read my Cosmo's," she raised her eyebrows at him.
"Yeah sometimes. Amazing articles in there."
A look at the clock told them they didn't have much time before leaving for the precinct. After a quick breakfast they left.
Brad was already waiting for them in Charlie's office, dressed in his best suit, looking sharp.
"Nice suit Brad. You look handsome," McCall said with a teasing smile.
"Thanks."
Charlie interrupted, "As I was telling Brad earlier he should try to contact us at least twice a day. Personal contact should be kept to a minimum. Hunter and McCall will provide you with all the info you need. Any questions? No, good luck."
They stepped out of the office and Brad left for his new jib while Hunter and McCall walked towards their desks where Jim was waiting.
"What about him," Hunter asked.
"He's gonna be in the way eventually."
"It was your idea to have him released in our custody." McCall reminded him.
"We could find him some work here though," she suggested.
"Hmm, I'll ask Max down in the mail room. He owes me one." Hunter said and grabbed the phone.
Later that day Jim was helping out with the mail and Hunter was talking to Brad on the phone.
"Okay, we'll look into that. Anything else? Hmm, that's interesting, real interesting. Thanks Brad."
McCall was waiting in anticipation, "What did he find out."
"He wants some background info on Ben James. Jim named him as one of the people that might have set him up cause of the threatening exposure. He got a handwriting sample of this guy and will put it in my mailbox tonight so we can send it to the expert. The most interesting is that Jim's wife is now working as a secretary for Mr.James. According to Brad their relationship goes way further than just business."
"Do you think we should tell Jim?"
"I think we should, he's gonna find out sooner or later."
Jim wasn't really surprised when they told him,
"I kinda suspected her having an affair, now I know who with."
"We're sorry, we just thought you should hear it from us." McCall explained.
"But if she's Ben's secretary it means he made a promotion. He's now the boss of the salesmen for this company in this state."
"Wow, that's a big promotion."
"Exactly and I wonder how he got it."
By the end of the day Hunter and McCall hadn't found much on Ben James,
"This guy is cleaner than my laundry, the only thing he ever did was one parking ticket," McCall remarked.
"You know what," Hunter suggested. "Let's go home and see what Brad brought us."
As promised Brad had left Ben James's handwriting and more. He also got a sample of Jim's former boss and some other colleagues including his wife.
"I don't know how he does it but I'm glad he did." Hunter remarked showing the samples.
The next morning they dropped them off at the office of the expert,
"It's gonna take me at least two days to analyze them all," he told them.
"That's the best you can do?"
"Sorry, but if I do it any quicker I might make crucial mistakes."
Two days is a long time waiting for something important. Brad had told them he was actually enjoying his new job more than he expected. He dropped some hints here and there about making easy money in this business but no one took the bait so far. His feeling was a small group of people was involved in this fraud without the people 'upstairs' didn't know about it.
Like the expert promised the report was on Hunters desk in two days. When he read it his reaction was one of disbelief,
"What is it?" McCall looked up from her work.
He handed her the report, "No one matched, that's impossible."
"We're back to square one," Hunter sighed.
"Maybe not. Jim told me about a guy that left just before he went to Atlanta. He was a very good friend of Ben James. He might be worth looking into."
"Well, I'll inform Brad. I'm meeting him for lunch later."
Meanwhile at the airport a plane from a sunny destination touched down, carrying two people on a surprise mission.
It was around lunch time when a cab pulled up in front of the LAPD building, one person got out.
Inside she asked for Sgt. McCall, the desk sergeant placed a call upstairs,
"Sgt. McCall you have a visitor waiting here." and hung up. "She'll be down in a minute."
The elevator doors opened, she stepped off and saw a familiar face,
"Mel what are you doing here? I thought you were still on honeymoon."
"I am but Dave and I decided we had enough of the beach and visit our new friends and spend some time in LA."
"It's so good to see you."
A big hug followed.
"Where's Dave anyway?"
"He's at the hotel. He wasn't feeling so good, we had kind of a bumpy flight."
"You know what, let's go out for lunch. It's break time anyway. Hunter's out, meeting someone we have undercover working on a case with us."
"Good idea, we can do some catching up."
McCall got her purse from upstairs and a short time later they were at Sid's enjoying their lunch.
"So how is married life treating you." McCall wanted to know.
"No complaints here but nothing changed really. We still do everything we did before. Although referring to Dave as my husband feels pretty special."
McCall just smiled thinking about this mornings conversation with Hunter.
"How about you two, have you set a date yet?"
"No, not yet."
"What's the hold up?"
"Me. Rick asked me about it this morning, he really wants to set a date but I keep making up excuses not to," she looked down at her plate.
"Why Dee Dee, is it because of what happened in New York?"
"No and it's not Rick, I really love him and want to be his wife. I'm just scared the same thing that happened to my first husband will happen to him, being killed in the line of duty. At Steve's grave I swore never to get that close to a cop again and look where it got me."
"You haven't talked to Rick about your reservations."
"No, I don't know if he'll understand."
"C'mon Dee Dee, give him a little more credit. He waited for you when you decided to stay in New York, he excepted your explanation, respected your decision. He's the most understanding guy I know."
"You're right but it's hard for me to talk about this with him. I told Kitty, one of my colleagues and best friends."
"Talk to him. It's the only way to deal with it. Dave and I did, I had some doubts and it turned out he had some reservations too but we worked it out. It's give and take."
"You know Kitty told me the same thing."
Mel reached for McCall's hand, "You're gonna be okay, believe me."
When they got back to the car after lunch Hunter was calling for her on the radio,
"L57, go ahead."
"Hey, where have you gotten to."
"Always checking up on me," McCall said to Mel before answering.
"Lunch Dear. An old friend dropped by and we got a bite to eat."
"Anyone I know?"
"Nosy too,"
Mel was trying to keep from laughing.
"Oh, I don't' know but we're on our way back so you can meet her."
"Okay, see you soon. L56 out."
"Is he always like this?" Mel wanted to know.
"Only when I forget to leave a note," McCall joked.
Hunter was surprised to see Mel step off the elevator with McCall and greeted her with a hug,
"What are you doing here? Those islands not sunny enough for you?" he joked.
"That and the boredom got to us. We need a busy city so we decided to leave and check out LA."
"Good choice. Where's that husband of yours anyway?"
"He stayed at the hotel, wasn't feeling so good after the bumpy flight we had."
"I would have offered you the spare room at my place but it's taken. Long story."
"That's okay, we want to hang onto that holiday feeling for a bit longer."
"You are joining us for dinner tonight right?" McCall pitched in.
"Can't say no to that."
"Great, that's settled," McCall wrote down the address and some directions.
"I'll let you get back to work and see what my husband is up to. See you tonight."
"You will talk to him," Mel said to McCall as she walked her to the elevator.
"Yeah I will."
"How did your meeting with Brad go?" McCall asked Hunter as she had returned to her desk.
"Not too bad, his hint dropping paid off, sort of. Ben James called him into his office and explained that a former employee of theirs was now facing fraud charges because he wanted to make fast money. But if he was willing to take that chance he had to come to the office tomorrow night at eight."
"Great, the net is closing slowly. He is going right?"
"He'll be there, with a wire. And we'll be there watching across the road."
McCall's eyes started to sparkle, "This could be it."
A smile played Hunter's lips, he knew exactly what she meant. "Yeah, this could be it."
"Did you tell him about the guy Jim told me about?"
"He'll look into that."
That evening Jim made them an extraordinary dinner. He had offered to leave for the evening but both Hunter and McCall wouldn't hear of it, so he offered to cook.
"Where did you learn how to cook like this?" McCall asked him after she had a little taste.
"The comfort of my own kitchen. Everyone must have a hobby to wind down sometimes and cooking did that for me. It's fun to try out the things you pick up on your travels."
"Well I've never seen the fun in cooking," she admitted.
"Ah, that explains the take out regime here," Jim joked.
McCall rolled her eyes and left him to it.
It was close to midnight, Mel and Dave had gone back to their hotel, Jim had turned in and Hunter and McCall were enjoying a last glass of wine after cleaning up.
The night was warm so they sat outside on the bench, snuggled close.
"I need to tell you something," McCall started.
"Okay," Hunter replied hesitantly knowing her tone of voice, something serious was on her mind.
"It's about the wedding. I'm afraid Rick, afraid to commit myself to someone that I can lose the same way I've lost Steve. I'm not gonna ask you to quit your job for me, I know how much being a cop means to you. I'm also not gonna say I won't marry you cause a big part of me wants to. But the other part that's holding me back is the fear of losing you. Do I make sense?"
Her words hit him like a ton of bricks but at the same time knew she was making sense and he knew exactly what she meant.
"Say something Rick, please." she pleaded.
He drew in a sharp breath, "I'm not Steve, Dee Dee."
The words coming from his mouth sounded hard.
"But I know what you mean, it's been on my mind too. Knowing that every day I can lose you. It has a whole new meaning now that we are a couple. I'm glad you told me and I'm not gonna push you anymore. Just let me know when you're ready to do this."
"What did I do to deserve you," she sighed and rested her head against his shoulder.
He wrapped his arm around her tightly, he had to be patient.
Neither of them got a lot of sleep that night, both kept awake by their thoughts. By the time McCall finally fell asleep it was almost time to get up again.
Standing under the falling water in the shower she made a mental note of what she had decided earlier that morning.
Preparations for what was to come that evening were in full swing later that day. Brad was supposed to come to the precinct after his work to get wired up. They had to check the equipment, pick out the right location for the Van and arrange backup.
"What time did Brad say he'd be here?" McCall asked Hunter.
"About five thirty."
"He's late." was her short answer.
Hunter looked at the clock, it said five thirty five, "He'll be here soon."
Another five minutes later Brad walked in, "Sorry I'm late. I've got some bad news, the meeting's off."
Everyone preparing for this night stopped with whatever they were doing.
"What!" McCall's already short fuse was about to cause an explosion.
Hunter walked up to her and placed his hands on her shoulders, slowly she calmed down.
"I'm sorry guys," Brad continued. "Something came up is all they told us. They rescheduled for the day after tomorrow."
"That gives us time to double check every move, every little detail before getting this show on the road," Hunter told everyone in the room.
In the early hours of the morning Hunter woke up. The spot next to him, where McCall was supposed to be, was empty.
He got out and went downstairs to get a glass of water, that's when he saw her sitting on the beach.
As he approached he noticed she was crying. He draped the blanket he had brought over her shoulders followed by his embrace,
"What's wrong honey" he whispered.
"I'm two weeks late Rick," she said softly.
"Two weeks late? Dee Dee that's great. Have you taken a test yet?"
"No."
"Want me to get one for you tomorrow?"
She turned her head and looked at him, eyes red from crying, "I'm scared. What if it goes wrong again."
"Hey, that wasn't your fault remember, you were shot."
"But still.."
"We could go see Beth in the morning to have checked out."
"You have a solution for everything these days huh," she smiled through her tears.
"Almost everything."