Oh, in response to that one review. Bobby doesn't have a mental Eames for stability like Mike does for Barek. He's got a "condition" that allows him to predict the sarcastic wisdom she might impart… well, you'll see…
And I made a numbers mistake in the last chapter… I'm sure Bobby could easily type Alex a 3,000-word e-mail, but I can't, so the e-mail will be substantially shorter- like 500 words or so…
Chapter 8Bobby woke with a start. The overhead ding and the return of the overhead lights told him that the plane had landed and was taxiing on the runway at the Stuttgart Airport. Had it really been 12 hours already?
He wiped the sleep from his eyes and turned to see Barek staring at him almost as if she were in a trance. She certainly had not realized that he was awake and moving. "Barek?"
She snapped to life. "Wha- oh, sorry… fell asleep."
"Your eyes were open."
"They sometimes do that."
Bobby shook out his head before pulling his cell phone out of his pocket and turning it on. There were two messages waiting for him from "AEames".
He read the first text carefully: "The French violin belonging to Nicola Dominguez has turned up at auction in Manhattan. Buyer was a Carey Lawrence. Will e-mail details. Miss you."
The second read:" :-) Mike's getting antsy."
"Excellent," he whispered as he flipped his phone shut.
"What is it?" asked Carolyn. She wanted to lean over to see what was on his phone, but thought better.
"One of the violin's turned up at auction, so we can bypass the luthier in Paris and narrow our search at the auctions. Oh, and Mike says hi."
She was a little surprised. No, not that Mike had sent word to say hi (she had a feeling he would get bored). She just assumed that she was just a travel buddy. She had no real knowledge of the case, and Bobby seemed totally eager to communicate with Alex in whatever way he could to ensure they were still a functioning team, even if there was an ocean between them. She hadn't expected to be treated as an equal. She was surprised by how accommodating and nice he was. She kind of assumed that being known as the city's best pair of detectives might have gone to his head, or he would put up a fight for being separated from his partner for not wanting to mess with his system. But he didn't seem to have any of those traits. And he really wasn't that odd, now that she thought about it some more… and had looked over his features while he slept on the plane… "Sure, what would you like me to do?"
But before he could answer, the plane pulled into its gate and they began to empty the plane, starting with the first-class cabin that their seats were in (that the NYPD had surprisingly sprung for- "First class, eh? He could hear her say. I smell free booze."). He once again closed his notebook, grabbed Alex's laptop from under the seat in front of him, got up, and then made his way through the narrow isle after Barek, typing "you too" on his cell phone with one hand.
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That night Alex sat down at one of the spare computers in the squad room. She had already retrieved the violin from the auction house and was getting ready to send Bobby an update on her progress.
She had gotten there about 45 minutes after she had hung up the phone with the representative from the auction house. When she got there she was led to the room where the violin was being kept until the winning bidder came to pick it up ("And why did you flag it as one of the missing violins after you had sold it? Thought you could get some money out of this? Oh, wait, now you're going to have to hire a lawyer to sort this mess out, which will actually cost you money. So really, it was just sheer stupidity."). She took a good look at it, had CSU take lots of photos of it from all angles in an effort to anticipate either Bobby's needs or that of the luthier's so he could identify it, and then had the representative download and print all of the information on the winning bidder for her files.
So, here she was, on some old Window's 95 PC in the corner of Major Case, begging the machine to open Internet explorer so she could send Bobby an e-mail. Five minutes of begging, coaxing, screaming, and hitting-the-damn-thing later she had gotten the page to load and she was reading the novel Bobby had sent her:
"Eames- The airport was uneventful, though one of the officers tried to get frisky with Barek, but that was before she pulled her badge and the consequential attitude. It was most excellent."
Alex laughed. She could just imagine Barek's response.
"I think the security officer had a serious issue with being at his said post. It seems to me like he really hated his job, or resented others who had a higher rank than him. He tried to exude authority over Barek and got really territorial when we showed him our badges. My guess is that he's off the tail end of a broken marriage…"
"Move on, Bobby," she said with a smile before she continued reading.
"…Probably is having trouble paying child support with his incredibly unsatisfying job. Poor guy. But it's just speculation. No reason or need to look into it…"
Alex rolled her eyes.
"…Just a few things I forgot to mention and some of my notes. Have you finished the vic's families' interviews yet? I can look at those transcripts when I get back unless something important surfaces…"
Sarcastically: "Yah, I'll get right on typing those out, buddy."
"…Uhm, we should probably find the history of the victims as well, just in case someone resurfaces. The personal motive leads me to believe that this guy might have had some connection with the victims in the past tense. Or even the violins- yah, actually, we should get the violin history too. The violins were stolen, so the killer might have just as strong a connection to the violins as to the victims. Actually, now that I think about Barek's security guard, stealing the violins might have been a display of power, and since it wasn't the usual vulgar display of power over women, it was probably a musician, or, again someone who might have a connection to the victims or the violins. Could you overnight the orchestra interview tapes to the hotel in Paris? I would like to listen to those again…"
"Go figure." Alex rolled her eyes again.
"…Congratulations on getting the Dominguez violin. It's really reclusive of you to not let Logan help you (which is what I am assuming you are doing if he is starting to feel "antsy"), but I wouldn't expect any different from you…"
"Well, I never…"
"…I understand how you must feel about being left behind…"
"Oh, now you know all about my feelings, do you?"
"…IAB has always been a little insensitive when it came to those things…"
"Tell me about it."
"…It is rather annoying that I'm stuck here while you have to deal with all of the follow up proceedings on the Dominguez violin…"
She put the back of her hand to her forehead. "The guilt is unbearable!" she said with a melodramatic sigh.
"…Which is further reason why you should let Logan help you…"
"Yah, yah."
"…But I understand if you don't want him to. Barek and I were stuck in coach. There really isn't enough legroom. I think I'm going to ask for a fire-exit row on the way back…"
"Nice try, I know you were in first class."
"…Oh, and US customs won't let me bring cheese back- I checked…"
"Damn."
"…Please don't kill me…"
"I'll do my best," she said with a smile.
"…Thanks, talk to you later, Goren."
Alex smiled at the e-mail. Sure, she was totally worked up, but on the whole it had been a fairly nice e-mail, she was just… still trying to deal.
"How's the soap opera? Let me guess, the computer thinks that the monitor is carrying its child, but it's actually carrying the desk's. And the mouse is grappling with the fact that the mouse pad has been cheating on it with one of those little thumb-roller mouses and that's it was actually it's mother that…"
"Shut up," she said to Logan, who was standing behind her. "It was an e-mail from Bobby."
"Ooh, even better. Allow me rephrase: Bobby thinks that you're carrying his child but it's actually-"
But before he could say whose child Alex might have been carrying instead, she had lobbed a skittle at his forehead. It hit him with surprising force.