A/N: okay, I promised you all it would get better, so here is a better chapter! I personally think it's a great chapter, and I think everything after this will be better then those first two chapters. so enjoy it and tell me in a review or hate it and tell me in a review. (am I being too subtle about wanting reviews?)
Enmity:
Chapter 3: Here's My Card
Daisy Clampett was one of the first in the precinct the next morning, followed by Captain Don Cragen. He was surprised by the unusual act and said, "You're here early."
"Couldn't sleep too well," Daisy told him.
Cragen sighed; this always happened to the rookies. "This case getting to ya?" he asked kindly.
"No sir, not this case," she answered him, trying to smile only to achieve a small saddened one.
"If you ever need to talk," Cragen started.
"I don't, sir."
He nodded, and headed into his office. Next came in Olivia and Elliot. Olivia greeted Daisy briefly, and then went to her desk. Elliot had something else on his mind, though.
"Hey Clampett, you mind checking to see if London has any cases matching this one?" he asked.
"Sure thing," Daisy answered.
"You think this is a repeat offender?" Olivia asked her partner.
"Probably," Elliot answered her. "He definitely knew how to clean up after his act."
After that Olivia was finishing up some paperwork while Elliot was talking with Cragen, when Munch walked in.
"Morning Munch, you're here a little late," Olivia greeted.
"Horrible night," Munch told her, "Kept having a nightmare about a Tennessee hick."
"That hick was the first one here," Cragen told him.
When Fin first came in the precinct, he head straight for the fax machine. He found Daisy there finishing up faxing something. He watched her for a little bit. She went on with her work, not noticing him. She was very diligent about it. As she turned to grab another piece of paper, she knocked over two folders.
The papers scattered all across the, intertwining with each other. She groaned and started to sort through them. Fin knelt down and helped.
"Thanks," Daisy said, as he handed her a piece of paper.
"I can't believe you're working this early in the morning," Fin said.
"Still getting used to the time difference," Daisy told him.
"Wouldn't that mean you're an hour behind?" he asked recalling fourth grade geography.
"I've always been a morning person," she told him quickly.
"Cool."
Fin picked up a cut out newspaper article and read the headline out loud. "Cop and Cop's Son Found Murdered."
Daisy snatched it out of his hand in a swift motion. She offered no explanation and Fin didn't ask for one.
"Do you need something?" she asked casually.
"I was just seeing if the report from that business card you found was in yet."
"It ain't." Her accent was thicker then ever.
He nodded and then she walked off. He stared after her confused and curious.
Fin walked into the squad room saying, "We got the business card back, and the lab is certain it came from the perp."
Daisy smirked mockingly at Munch, who's only response was to look away angrily.
"Can I see the copy of the card?" Daisy asked, as Fin handed over the folder.
She was quiet for a long time, while everyone watched her. She would occasionally grab a pen and jot something down. Finally, she got up and walked over to a white-board. She remained silent as she started drawing the business card word for word.
She turned to the four detectives who were staring at her blankly.
"This business is a cover," she said. Before Munch could get a remark in, she went on to show her explanation.
The card had said Riethan Publishing, From the local café to first book reading. 157 West, 129 South. She circled the part of "ethan" in the name of the company. The she squared off "the local café" and "book reading", and made an arrow connecting the two. She turned back to the detectives, and only Munch seemed to understand. She then quickly circled the address, made a pair of eyes and then an arrow to the squared off "local café."
"So?" Olivia asked.
Daisy sighed in frustration and pointed for Munch to take over.
Munch gladly did so. "All right, where do most writers start writing? Coffee shops. The 'first book reading' is a symbol for shattered dreams. He probably has an apartment where he can look out and see the coffee shop. And this coffee shop is more then likely located in a less then perfect area. Also, it is definitely a local café, not a chain like Starbucks, and it doesn't necessarily have to be open."
"So we're looking for an independent coffee shop in a bad neighborhood?" Olivia asked.
"That's right."
"Okay, who wants to try and find this café?" Elliot asked.
"I will," Daisy volunteered.
There was a long pause, waiting for someone else to volunteer. Finally, Fin volunteered too.
Fin and Daisy were walking down a cold New York street. They walked in complete silence. They were about to reach their sixth suspected café when Daisy spoke.
"Bet they all owe you one now."
"What?"
"For partnering up with the witch from Tennessee," Daisy said. "I know none of you like me, and I can't blame ya'll."
"I'm just trying to find this perp, and that means following any leads with anybody," Fin told her with a shrug.
They walked a little ways more, and Fin caught Daisy staring around at the condemned buildings, and the buildings that looked like they should have been torn down years ago.
"Got a part like this in Knoxville?" he asked.
"Every city does," she answered, after a moment of silence. "I remember coming to this part of the city when I was a teenager."
"You lived in the city?"
"No, suburbs," Daisy told him with a sigh. "I would go to the city when my mother had her..." She just stopped suddenly; she felt Fin didn't need to know about her family.
"This is it," Fin said, stopping in front of an old, falling apart building.
Daisy stared at it and asked, "Are you sure?"
He nodded, and Daisy started looking around at the buildings. She looked intently at all of the buildings, and Fin wasn't sure for what. Her eyes scanned over the windows, and found what she was looking for.
She pointed to a condemned building and said, "Second floor, third window from the left."
"What?"
"It's been opened recently and new curtains," she said, as she crossed the street.
She walked up to the threshold and inspected the door along with the lock. The door had a note of condemnation but she ignored that.
"The lock has been changed," Daisy called. "Someone has definitely been using this as a hideout."
"We can't go in there until we have consent from New York City," Fin said.
"But it's been condemned by the city," Daisy objected.
"I'll call Novak and see what she can do. Until then, all we can do is wait," Fin told her.
"Fine," Daisy sighed, aggravated and leaned against the wall.
After what seemed like hours, Fin nodded to Daisy. "Novak got a warrant."
"Any limits?"
"None."
"Great, let's go."
Daisy and Fin broke down the door, and headed up to the second floor. The floors creaked loudly under the pressure of their bodies, and the stairs would probably have completely collapsed if they had weighed a few pounds more.
Fin had gone first, and it was lucky he had. When Daisy started was just on step away from the second floor, half of it rotted away from under her. Her leg went completely through while Fin grabbed her flailing arm and help pull her out.
"Thanks," she said breathlessly.
"You okay?"
"Fine, I think it's that one," she said, getting up and heading over to the door.
Fin followed her and tried to open the door. It was locked. He kicked open the door, and checked the stability of the floor and quickly inspected to see if anyone was living there.
"It's clear," he called to Daisy.
The two slowly entered the apartment. It looked like no one had set foot in that apartment since it had been condemned. There was a layer of dirt, grim and dust blanketing the entire apartment. Fin headed off in one direction, while Daisy started in the other. As Daisy began inspecting what looked like to be a bedroom, a movement caught her eye. What looked like a pile of rags started moving, causing Daisy to draw her gun. She moved closer and saw the pile of rags was a male homeless person.
She put her gun back and said, "Sir, we're the police. We have a few questions for you."
The man grunted in response and made a dash for the door, trying to knock Daisy down on his way.
"Hey Sir, come back here!" Daisy yelled and ran after him.
Fin saw Daisy dash out the door, leaving the bedroom unchecked. He didn't think she have any trouble catching a homeless person, so he checked the bedroom.
"Holy-"
"Stop!" Daisy yelled at the man.
He stopped in front of the stairs, his back facing Daisy. She walked up to the man cautiously, saying, "Sir, I just want to ask you about what you were doing there."
As Daisy took one step closer to him, he turned on her. He grabbed her arms and tried to force her on the ground. Daisy fought back, trying to push the man off of her, but keep him away from the stairs. When the man tried to bite her, Daisy's focused turned to avoiding his teeth instead of keeping her balance. That's when he pushed her down the stairs.
Daisy felt the sensation of weightlessness as she hovered right above the stairs, but only for a second. The next thing she felt was wood jabbing into her side and her wrist forcefully hitting something. As she tumbled down the stairs, her head and side banged into a couple more steps, until finally she hit the floor, landing on her wrist.
Fin ran out of the room when he heard a strange sound of someone falling down a flight of stairs. He looked down and saw Daisy lying on the floor, not moving. He moved down the stairs, avoiding the stair with the hole in it. He reached Daisy and rolled her over.
"Clampett, you okay?" he asked, as he saw her eyes flicker open.
She opened her mouth to say something, but the words got stuck in her throat. Fin pulled out his walkie-talkie and said, "This is Detective Tutuola, requesting a bus at-"
Daisy put a hand over his mouth and said, barely audible, "No bus, I'm fine."
"You're not fine," Fin told her, seeing a cut around her hairline and a split lip.
"If you call for a bus, you'll be the one needing it," Daisy threatened.
It wasn't much of a threat. It looked like she couldn't even make a fist, but Fin sighed and nodded.
"This is Detective Tutuola canceling the bus," he said and pulled out his cell phone. "I'm going to call Munch and have him bring a first aid kit, okay?"
She nodded briefly, and Fin made the call for Munch, Elliot, and Olivia to come by.
"Can you stand?" Fin asked.
She nodded as Fin helped her up.
"Anything broken?"
"I don't think so," she answered quietly as she clutched her left wrist.
"Let me see that," Fin said, caressing her left wrist. She winced at his touch, but let him lightly trace her wrist. Nothing felt out of place. There were neither abnormal bumps nor dips. He gently placed her wrist at her side and said, "I don't think anything is broken."
She nodded, and wanted to say something, but couldn't. Her side hurt too much. Each time she inhaled it felt like sharps knives jabbing into her left side.
"Can you walk?" Fin asked. She nodded even though she felt like she was going to faint. "Good, you need to see something."
Fin helped her up the stairs quickly, fearing that it was going to collapse. He led her into the bedroom. She stared at what Fin showed her and after the moment of shock had passed, she muttered, "Oh God."
