Chapter 5

To all of my reviewers- Thanks! I only hope the story will continue to go well (in a literary sense of course!)…BwaHahaha!

The next morning, Robert Goren awoke to his alarm clock as usual. He dragged himself out of bed, clambered into the shower, and began to scrub. The case was going well, he reflected. He shampooed his hair. PK was definitely as good as he was supposed to be, but he was such an ass! Bobby rinsed. He was so…patronizing; no, that wasn't the word… He grabbed a bar of soap and a rag. And Alex- how dare he try to start something with her while they were working on a case! He rinsed again. Going to send out another e-mail today… He reached for the shaving cream. Alex is one tough cookie; she can handle under cover. He lathered it on his itchy face. PK had better not make this guy any promises- and he'd better not compromise Alex's safety. He picked up his razor off of the shower floor…

"You look nice and clean today," said Alex as Bobby sat down at his desk.

"Thanks," he said. He pulled out his notebook. "Has P.K stopped by yet?"

"Nope, but he called and said he'd be in some time after lunch."

"I pulled the case files last night before I left, there was a hair found at one of the earlier crime scenes, there's no match of the DNA in the system though," said Bobby. There was one glimmer of hope and they had nowhere for it to lead them to. Damn.

"There was nothing new at any of the other crime scenes then?" she asked, although she wasn't hopeful.

"Nothing- it still looks like baiting this guy is our only chance- even if it means having to use someone like P.K.," he added quietly.

As quiet as he had intended to be, Alex still caught it. "What's wrong with him? You said he was trustworthy."

"He's such an-agh! It's annoying."

"I have never known you to be annoyed like this before. Yah, you've been annoyed before, but never like this…" She paused. "It's personal, isn't it?" A grin began to spread across her face. "Why's he got you so worked up?" she asked, unable to contain her smile.

"Nothing- I can control it. We need to focus on the case." He buried his nose in the folder in an attempt to distract himself.

"Not happening, Bobby. Tell me what's up. You heard that damn doctor, 'check in with me'," she ended in a fat pompous voice.

Suddenly his eyes lit up and he sat up straight. "Do me a favor?" he asked.

"What's that?"

"Flirt with him- but just a bit. I want to see something. It may be nothing, but I'd like to see."

"Ignore no man," she with her right hand raised. "How shall I lay it on?"

"I don't think it really matters- if he's going to respond, he'll do so either way… Actually, go 'sweetie', just for me."

Alex smiled and leaned in close. "Alright, baby."

Bobby smiled- then didn't. He closely examined the look on her face. "Yah, that's good."

...1

About an hour or so after Bobby and Alex had returned from lunch, PK had come clambering in with his laptop bag. Alex bounded up to him to greet him.

"Hi, we got a reply from our scammer last night," she said brightly.

"Excellent, shall we set up and reply?" he asked.

"Yah, the conference rooms are all full. Interrogation ok?"

"Sure," he replied. He smiled a rather goofy looking smile. Alex leaned back and turned to Bobby with a 'this ok?' smile.

She led Peter K down the hallway towards the interrogation room, which she chose for its closeness. Bobby could stand in the corner and talk and watch while Alex did her thing.

"So, let's see this e-mail Sam sent back," he said rubbing his hands together as he sat down. Bobby assumed his position in the corner and Alex assumed hers across from Peter.

Alex opened up the yahoo account on P.K.'s computer and allowed him to read the e-mail. "What do you think?" he asked her.

"Well, it's obvious he's in a hurry. That or he's just doing it to keep character," she said sweetly. "Goren?"

"I agree," he replied simply with a continue gesture of the hand. In truth, he did not like being taught by this guy. He knew perfectly well why the killer would type that, and P.K. was starting to get on his nerves, but he knew that he would have to play it almost as sweet as Alex if he wanted to see for sure…

Peter sat there for a moment with what looked like a forced smile. "Alright, shall we get started? Alex?" he motioned to the chair next to him. She smiled, got up, and rounded the chair to the seat next to P.K.

He spoke aloud as he typed: "Dear Father Samuel, I will be able to meet with you this week. Unfortunately, I will only be able to donate-how much should we offer up?"

"Sarah had 9, let's go with 10," said Alex.

"Unfortunately I will only be able to donate $10,000 to your cause. I wish it were more, it sounds like such a wonderful thing you are doing-"

"Nice touch," interjected Alex. Bobby just stood in the corner, watching and listening.

"Thanks," smiled a blue eyed P.K. "When can we do this?" he asked looking up at Goren.

He opened his notebook and flipped through a planner- it had both his and Alex's schedule on it. "Saturday, at lunch," he said. Two days.

"I can meet you at a place that is convenient on Saturday some time around lunch. I do hope this works out, if you need to contact me my phone number is-" he looked up at Alex, who looked up at Bobby.

"I'll go get one of the Station pre-paids…" he said as he made for the door.

Bobby shut the door carefully behind him, walked over to Deakins' office to get a pre-paid cell phone, and then went to the room behind the mirror in the Interrogation room. He watched only briefly, but sure enough, P.K. was playing it up, and Alex was leading him on beautifully- she had to be leading him on… But what point was this all for. This just proved that P.K. was hitting on his partner- something he should very well know not to do.

After a moment more of watching Alex giggle and blush in the other room, Bobby went back into the room, pressed a few buttons on the cell phone with out a word, then gave P.K. the number.

He started typing again. "That is my cell phone number. If there is anything else I can do, please let me know. Looking forward to meeting you and helping your church, Lexy."

"That'll have to do," said Bobby. "Thanks for coming in. We'll call you when we get a reply."

"I look forward to it," replied P.K. "See ya, Lexy," he called out. Alex smiled and waved him onto the elevator.

The instant the door closed she rounded on Bobby. "My cheeks hurt," she said with a grimace.

"What did he say while I was out of the room?"

"He told me that you said I was single-the usual shit…"

"Slime ball," said Bobby.

"Tell me about it…and he sheds," said Alex as she pulled a stray blonde hair off of her shirt.

Bobby watched as she removed the stray hair… He seemed to zone out, his eyes glazed over. He then sparked back to life, looking slightly afraid, ran to his desk, and pulled out one of the files.

"Eames," he said as he pulled out an evidence bag. She looked at what was inside.

"Don't you think it's a bit rash? I think you're just angry at him- he's a total asshole, I'm pissed too," she said looking a little worried.

"You dropped that hair on the ground?"

"Yah- Bobby, no!" It was too late; Bobby threw the file on his desk and immediately began frantically searching the floor for the hair Alex had removed from her shirt.

"Bag," he said as if he were at a crime scene.She sighed, thenpulled one from her top drawer and Bobby inserted P.K.'s stray hair inside. "I'll be down in forensics," he said, and then left.