Law & Order CI: Redemption Song Part Eight.

A/N: You all know who you are, thanks to everyone for their kind reviews. I'm glad everyone loves this story and I'm terribly sorry if you have all been waiting for me to update impatiently. For the fans of 'Goren Withdrawals', another instalment is in the works, but to make it easier for me, I'd be interested in e-mails about the withdrawals and fanatical behaviour experienced by some of you!

Anyway, without further ado, I present chapter eight of Redemption Song. This is the exciting chapter!

The LOCI characters are owned by NBC and Dick Wolf. I own the rest. Redemption Song is owned by Stevie Wonder. Can't wait for Guy Sebastian's gospel album...

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Eames faltered and lowered her gun slightly.

'You? How can it be you?' she asked desperately. Goren held steady, his gun perfectly level. Strickland grinned psychotically.

'Ask your partner here,' he said quietly. Eames looked at Goren.

'Please, fill me in. I think I've lost the plot a little bit here,' she asked. Goren narrowed his eyes, gun still aimed at Strickland.

'It should have been obvious from the start. It really should have. But I was blind, I didn't see...'

'BOBBY! Please, a straight answer would be nice!'

'Strickland is not gay. He never was. He simply used being a socio-introvert to his advantage. He was at church with Rogers, along with the Delafontaine kids. Strickland's parents are racist, so kept away from the Delafontaines. When Rogers was accused of child molestation and changed denominations, Strickland went with him but never told his parents. Strickland knew that Rogers was gay and became friends with him. Rogers set him up with Delafontaine.'

'But why would Rogers set him up with Sarah?' Eames asked. Goren shook his head.

'Strickland was meant to be set up with Sarah, but he never wanted anything from her. It wasn't Sarah he was after at all. But Sarah ended up with him. Poor girl,' Goren said, cocking the gun at Strickland, who was still smiling.

'I bet she didn't even know how you set her up.'

'No, she never did. She thought that I was stealing the money from my parent's account to go with her to Australia. She never guessed,' Strickland replied calmly, his gun still pointed at the weeping priest's head.

'But you did. I wonder how you did it?'

'I'll tell you. We went to Angel today, asked her a few questions. It was the last thing that she said that told me that we were barking up the wrong tree.'

'And what was that?'

'She said "I knew him well enough to know that he wasn't good for my sister". That's when I realised that it wasn't you who murdered her. You were only embezzling money from your parents' account. Angel murdered Sarah, didn't she?'

'Very perceptive, Detective Goren. Yes, dear Angel did murder her sister. Again, I... persuaded her to do it. Angel and I have been friends for years, against the better judgement of my parents. When I started seeing Sarah, it was then that we decided that we couldn't be just friends. Of course, my parents were furious that I was seeing Sarah, let alone being friends with her sister. So I staged the break-up. When Sarah realised that I had done it to be with her sister, she threatened to tell my parents. Well, I couldn't let them find out. They would have checked their accounts, realised that I had been stealing a considerable sum each week and have taken me to court. So I told Angel and agreed with her that it would be for the best if Sarah died.

After a choir rehearsal one night, Angel staged a fight with her sister and murdered her. Unfortunately, Father Rogers here walked in and witnessed the murder. However, he is morally and legally bound to his confidentiality agreement. He swore never to tell, but just in case,' Strickland trailed off and looked down at the frail man.

'Please, Robby, you don't have to do this,' Rogers pleaded with him. Robby shook his head.

'I'm afraid I do, Father. After I kill you, I'm going to kill these two detectives and then I'm going to kill Angel.'

'But why?'

'Angel was plain and simply a means to an end. She was an excellent front to my plan. If found out, I could simply say that we were planning to run away and get married overseas. But now that I have the money and my plane ticket, I no longer need a front, so now, dear Father, I believe it is time for you to meet your maker,' Strickland said politely and cocked the gun. Rogers wept and murmured a prayer.

'STOP!'

The shout came from the rear of the church. Strickland looked up as Bobby looked past his shoulder. Angel stood squarely under the archway to the doors.

'Just a front?' Angel sobbed incredulously. Strickland grinned and raised the gun.

'Just a front,' he said and fired it. Angel dropped to the floor as the gunshot echoed around the church. Goren sprang towards Robby.

'YOU'RE UNDER ARREST!' he roared, but Robby was faster. With lightning reflexes, he aimed under his left arm (the arm locked around Rogers' neck) and fired a second shot.

It was a moment before Bobby realised that he wasn't breathing. He crashed to the polished floor with a colossal thud and felt the excruciating pain ricocheting through his chest and out into his limbs. His glock went spinning out of his hand and across the floor. The room flickered in and out of his vision.

'Eames...' he struggled to say, as someone dashed past him. The room went dark.

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Alexandra Eames watched in horror as her partner fell haphazardly to the floor, his gun slipping out of his reach. She raised her gun and...

A third gunshot. Eames looked at her gun. Strickland fell to the floor, a bullet between his eyes. Rogers scrambled out of reach. She turned slowly, breathing steadily.

Maria stood behind her, glock raised and barrel smoking.

'That was for my boyfriend, you sorry bastard,' she growled, lowering her gun. Eames whipped out her cell and dialled 911 as Maria dashed around to Bobby's neck and felt for a pulse. He groaned, struggling to say a name but falling short. Maria looked up, terrified.

'If they don't get here soon, we're going to lose him,' Maria said quietly. Eames felt the warmth drain from her face as she clutched the phone.

'Please,' she croaked to the operator,

'Please let them get here soon.

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When Deakins arrived on site, ten minutes after Maria had called the precinct to let him know that Bobby had been shot by Strickland, he found both Eames senior and junior huddled in a corner as Angel Delafontaine was lifted into the rear of the ambulance. The captain of the MCS made his way carefully over to the family.

'I know it's hard, but can you two explain what happened here?' he asked. Maria rubbed her Aunt's back.

'Just tell him slowly,' she whispered. Eames choked on her words. Slowly, she recited to Deakins the detail of what had just happened.

'... then Maria showed up and shot Strickland just after he shot... he shot...' Eames choked, angrily brushing away the tears that were falling thick and fast. Maria held her aunt tightly as Eames cried. Deakins nodded and stood up.

'I can only... pray that Goren makes it through this,' he said quietly, looking around the church then back at his detectives. Maria looked up; her eyes puffy, red but with cold-steel determination set behind them. Deakins swallowed.

'For all our sakes,' he finished gravely.

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'What I don't understand,' Eames said as Maria drove her to the hospital that, six months earlier, Maria herself had lain injured in, 'is who murdered the second girl?'

'That's the easy part,' Maria said as they pulled into the car park.

'From what you told me, it was Angel.'

'How did you work that one out?'

'Aunty, I didn't study Bobby's methods at university for no particular reason. Angel killed her sister for Robby, but deep down she had this smouldering hate for everyone who overlooked her. When Darla was made lead after Sarah's death, Angel vented her rage on Darla, who made an excellent substitute for her recently deceased sister.'

Eames shrugged. It made perfect sense now, but she still didn't see the logic and reasoning behind it.

'You have no idea how much you are like Bobby,' she murmured. As they got out of Maria's holden and made their way up the steps to the local hospital, Eames recognised a familiar face.

'Daniel!' she exclaimed. Daniel smiled wearily.

'I heard on the news that your partner had been shot,' he said, as Alex threw her arms around him.

'I'm sorry, Alex. I wish there was something I could do.'

Maria moved silently passed her aunt and into the hospital. It hadn't changed since she had last been there; the same cold, grey walls, the same receptionist. Maria leant over the counter.

'Excuse me, could you please tell me where Robert Goren has been taken?' Maria asked quietly. The girl behind the desk shrugged.

'Close family only. Detective Goren's being prepped for surgery. He came in through Emergency, so I can't promise you he's going to be okay. Are you close family?'

'I'm his fiance.'

The girl raised her eyebrows and sighed.

'I'm not sure if I can let you through, ma'am. It's supposed to be his close family only,' she replied in a nasal voice. Maria slammed her hand down on the desk.

'BUT BOBBY HAS NO CLOSE FAMILY! DON'T YOU GET IT? MY AUNT AND I ARE ALL HE HAS!' she shouted. The girl sat up straight.

'Umm, okay, well, Detective Robert O. Goren is in ICU, room three, under careful surveillance, not to be disturbed...' the receptionist read quickly from the file she had snatched up. Maria turned as Alex walked in with Daniel.

'ICU, room three,' Maria said, before dashing up the stairs. Eames looked at Daniel and sighed tiredly.

'Here we go again,' she whispered and leant against him for support.

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Maria stood outside the room, deep in thought with her arms crossed tightly over her vest-clad chest. She hadn't bothered to take it off when Strickland had dropped to the floor. She had overheard at the church that she had shot him dead. The young detective felt a grim smile creep across her face then disappear just as quickly. It would serve the bastard right for shooting her Bobby...

Maria looked through the thick glass at Bobby's silhouette. Her hubby-to-be was connected to several machines... life support systems, she thought, fighting back the tears that rose to her eyes. Six months ago she herself had been wired up to the computers that were currently keeping Bobby alive. Six months ago, it had been him, standing where she was standing now, watching the person he loved dying slowly from a bullet wound. Now six months later, he was in the position she had been and it was all her fault. It was everything she could do to fight back the incredible, painful sadness that washed over her time and time again.

If only I had got there sooner... Maria thought to herself. If only I had shot Strickland before Bobby had begun running towards him...

'It's not your fault,' came the soft voice from beside her. Maria looked up. Captain Deakins stood quietly beside her, arms folded in a similar position and eyes firmly locked on Bobby's reclining form. Maria quickly wiped at her eyes, trying to appear professional.

'Captain... I didn't hear you come up, sir, I...'

'I daresay you didn't, Eames. But it wasn't your fault.'

'Sir, I...'

Deakins looked down at her softly yet firmly.

'You blame yourself. In time, you might even blame your aunt for not having the reflexes to shoot Strickland before you did. But I'm telling you, in that situation, it was incredible that you didn't hit Rogers,' he said. Maria looked back at Bobby. The doctors began to shift the equipment to take him into emergency surgery.

'Above all things, Goren wouldn't and doesn't blame you or your aunt for what happened today,' Deakins said quietly, as the medical team wheeled Detective Robert Goren through the doors of surgery.

'I don't want to lose him,' Maria whispered. This time, she didn't fight the tears that fell swiftly down her cheeks. Deakins put an arm around her shoulders, allowing Maria Eames to cry as Alex and Daniel arrived quietly. The captain of MCS looked into Alex's crest-fallen face, saw her clutching at her boyfriend's shirt and sighed.

'None of us do, Maria,' he said, stroking her hair.

'None of us do.'