Colby was the first FBI agent to arrive at the scene, but it was already crawling with LAPD and criminalists. The county coroner was the only one not yet at the scene. He moved over to join a plainclothes homicide detective, and flashed his badge. The detective acknowledged him with a nod, and finished up what he was doing.
"Tab Hunter," he introduced himself. Then smiled wryly at Colby's look of disbelief. "My mother was a fan," he said dryly. Colby nodded, amused. It was obviously not the first time Det. Hunter had to explain his name. Colby introduced himself, then asked, "What prompted the call to the FBI?"
"We found death threats to the victim that had been mailed from another state, which makes it your jurisdiction. Two bullets to the head, execution style, with a 22 caliber pistol. Personally, I think it's a hit," Hunter replied, weariness evident in every word.
Colby sighed. "Alright, we'll take the lead on this."
He was already looking around inside the house when David Sinclair arrived. Colby had given David the victim's name when he'd made his calls to the rest of the team.
"Ellery Hague, the deceased is a material witness on a major insurance fraud crackdown, headed by none other than Assistant District Attorney Robin Brooks," David told Colby, who cracked a smile at that.
"Well, that should be interesting," was Colby's only response to that piece of information.
David grinned at Colby. Don Eppes, the lead agent on their team, had been seeing ADA Brooks for a few months. It was going to be interesting to see how well they worked together now.
"Alright, I guess we should go through all the papers in a little more detail here," was David's only comment.
The two agents went in different directions in the house, and started gathering papers that looked like they might have some bearing to the investigation. Colby thought the papers in the house looked innocuous enough. He figured anything incriminating would be hidden away. He started looking for hidden safes or other hiding places.
"Any luck?" David looked in where Colby was still searching. They'd been at it for several hours.
"No, not really." Colby was a little disappointed, but it was early in the investigation yet. They were still doing a general sweep. "I figure anything he had would be hidden. But I haven't found any hiding places yet."
"We'll sift through the papers in the morning and see what we can come up with. We'll also get a financial profile, maybe that will tell us enough for a new focus." David sighed. "I hated having to cut short my evening with Olivia. She doesn't complain, but she gets this look. I don't think she likes it much. And these calls seem to be coming in more often."
"Yeah, I know what you mean," Colby said in empathy. "Hannah hasn't said anything yet, but I worry that it's just a matter of time before it becomes a problem. Maybe we should just do the best we can and let the rest take care of itself. Come on, let's call it a night here, and see if we can salvage the rest of the evening. You head on back to Olivia, and I'll take care of dropping these off at the office before I head back to Hannah's. Alright?"
David nodded in agreement, and they went their own way.
-----
It was quiet this time, when Colby let himself into Hannah's apartment. The lights were still on, so he knew she was still awake. "Hannah?"
"Hmm? Oh! In here." Hannah was engrossed in her sketches.
Colby grinned. "A new commission?"
"Mmm, yeah." Hannah stretched and turned around to look at him. "Was it bad?" she asked, noting the weariness in his eyes.
He shrugged. "It's going to be another long one."
She nodded, not expecting any more information. He was good at letting her know whether or not to expect him. Whenever he could, anyway. And she appreciated it all the more, knowing as she did how difficult and demanding his job was on him.
"I like that," Colby mused, looking at the design she was working on.
She grinned, "That's good. There's a possibility you'll be looking at it a lot." She laughed at the surprise on his face. "Dr. Fleinhardt stopped by the store a few days ago. He commissioned this design for Megan's birthday."
Colby laughed. "Oh, that should be interesting!" He knew that the five women had become friends in the last few months. Hannah and Olivia were particularly close, but Amita, Robin and Megan had also been getting together with them. To shop, have lunch, whatever it was that women did when they got together. Colby never asked. He wasn't sure he wanted to know. "How are the designs for the jewelry show coming along?"
She beamed at him, pleased that he had been paying attention to what was happening in her life, even though he was always busy with some case or other. "I'm finished with the designs, and Amita's excited about modeling them at the jewelry show. I also had some done for Olivia to model. Robin and Megan didn't think it would be appropriate for them to do any modeling. Oh, I thought I would donate part of the proceeds to the community center. What do you think?"
He smiled, "Anything you can do to make David's life a little easier would be greatly appreciated."
She eyed him for a moment, then nodded. She knew Olivia fairly well by now and thought she knew what was going on. Then she slid her arms around Colby, "Trying to save the world, Super Agent Man?"
Colby grinned down at her, "Hardly super, and just trying to do the best I can for a friend."
"Well, I think you're super. But you look like you need a back rub and then some sleep."
"I'll take a rain check on the back rub. How about we just cuddle tonight?" He said softly into her hair.
She looked surprised, but nodded, then giggled, as he swept her up into his arms and carried her into the bedroom.