Chapter 9

May 2004 Bullpen

"Fitzgerald, my office."

Martin rolled his eyes to heaven as they others shot him looks of sympathy and mild amusement. They were three words that they had all become used to hearing over the past year and a half.

The newest member of the team had proven himself as a good agent and a valuable member of the team but he still managed to get into all sorts of trouble.

He stood up, glad that his hands had stopped shaking. When he'd heard the news about Jameson only a couple of hours earlier his reaction had been more violent that even he himself had expected, but in true Fitzgerald form he'd pushed it to the back of his mind.

Now they had to find Annette Woodward. They had finally tracked down Professor Calbraith, her old college professor with whom it would appear Annette had some kind of relationship and he was being brought in for questioning.

Jack didn't look up at Martin as he walked into his office, closing the door behind him.

"Where were you, earlier" Jack's voice was clipped, but not angry as Martin had expected.

"Meeting my father, I told you." He shouldn't be so defensive, but something in Jack's tone puzzled the young agent.

"Well I don't like it when my agent is not available to me on my time." Still Jack didn't look up.

Martin didn't reply, he was getting angry, he knew he was, but he wasn't going to shoot his mouth off, not again.

"Sit down. Will you," Jack finally looked up from his paperwork. "You're making me nervous standing there." He waiting till Martin was sitting on the brown leather covered chair before continuing. "Look, you know that your father rang me, right?"

Martin simply nodded. He wasn't going to argue, he wasn't going to shoot his mouth off again. If Jack Malone didn't think he was good enough then fine, he'd leave. He wouldn't do it to please his father, but Martin Fitzgerald believed in Jack Malone, he knew that if that man said he wasn't good enough, that was the truth.

"I told him that I was capable of managing my own staff and that his assistance wasn't required." Jack couldn't help smiling at the look of relief that came over the younger agents face. But he wasn't going to let him go that easily.

"Don't get too comfortable, you've made some pretty big f&&k ups here, and a lot of departments would have thrown you out on your ass already." He paused before adding, "but it'll be me who does it, and not Victor Fitzgerald."

"Yeah, thanks." Martin stood up to leave.

"You look like shit by the way." Jack said to the retreating figure. "You catch some kind of a cold or something?"

Martin paused. Part of him was screaming to 'Tell Jack, tell him about Jameson, tell him you're scared, go on…tell him,' But the Fitzgerald in him invariably won over.

"Yeah, it's probably just a bug." he mumbled, closing the office door behind him.

Jack couldn't help shaking his head as he watched the door closed. Martin Fitzgerald had a lot to learn but his instincts told him that the young man was good, very good. He just needed the sharp edges smoothed a little.

"Calbraith's in interrogation." Samantha Spade looked up as Martin came out of Jack's office. She was the only member of the team to remain in the bullpen. "Danny and Viv are in with him now."

Martin nodded. He was still feeling slightly queasy and his legs were shaking ever so slightly. He nodded at the stack of papers in front of Sam, trying to shake off the heavy weight that had descended on him and was refusing to go away.

"What have you there?" He indicated the papers spread all across the conference table.

"I'm trying to find some kind of a pattern in Annette Hooper's cell phone records. She made over 300 calls in total to Dr Calbraith, most of them in the evening time, but there were also a couple of calls made early in the morning, usually about 5am, all made to a public phone box on 73rd Street.

"Karl Woodward."

Sam nodded. "Seems like it."

"Why would she be calling him there at 5 in the morning?" Martin mused.

"Maybe she was feeling frisky" Sam teased. Martin gave an almost involuntary laugh, and felt some of the tension that had being weighing down all morning lift. He liked Samantha, she was a little like him, a closed book. Maybe someday they would get to know each other a little better. Maybe.

"That looks cozy"…… Danny Taylor walked in to the bullpen and sat down at the conference table, grinning at Martin's reddening cheeks.

"So, what's the professor saying?" Sam asked, changing the subject.

"Quite a lot actually." Viv had come in behind Danny. "According to the professor, Annette and Karl were blackmailing him. He was her tutor as well as her professor, and they were having weekly meetings all related to her coursework. Apparently Annette's coursework which was usually brilliant was beginning to slacken and her papers were becoming more and more sloppy. She was skipping lectures and looked like she was going to flunk her exams."

Not quite the brilliant student and all round star that we had been led to believe she was" remarked Jack Malone, joining them.

"Its gets better." Danny interrupted. "Its seems that during one of their tutoring sessions about five months ago Annette made a pass at the good professor which he, being a hot-blooded male gave in to. Nothing much happened, but as he is married with three kids, naturally the professor was anxious to keep the whole thing quiet."

"Let me guess, she started blackmailing him." Sam walked over to Annette Hooper's picture hanging on the whiteboard. "It's always the quiet ones" she mused…

"Got it in one, the oldest trick in the book and he fell for it, or so he says. They've apparently been extracting sums of money from the professor ever since, up until a week ago that is."

"They?...being Annette and Karl I presume?" Martin asked.

Vivian nodded. "And according to the Professor Annette's work and her general appearance and attitude has continued on its downwards spiral."

"Drugs?" Sam asked

"Probably" Jack walked over to another desk and began rifling through some files. "If I remember correctly, Karl Woodward did a couple of months inside for dealing about eight years ago." He turned to Danny and Viv. "What do you think, is this guy telling the truth?"

"I think so." Vivian replied.

"Well in that case I guess we bring Mr. Woodward in and let the Professor go home. He turned to Martin who, although still pale looked slightly better than earlier. "Martin, you and Sam head over there now and bring him in" Sam nodded and headed for the door, Martin following. towards the door.

"Fitzgerald?" Jack called after them. "Get your ass to a doctor afterwards; I don't want you spreading germs around my team."

Martin nodded, and smiled slightly. Heading down to the lift and into the underground car park though, he couldn't help looking over his shoulder before getting into the passenger seat of Sam's car.

Going to the doctor wasn't going to solve this problem, that Martin Fitzgerald was sure of.