Chapter 5 – Gamesmanship

A small CSU team had already photographed the entire conference room, dusted everything for prints and gone through the room with a fine-tooth comb.

Goren was setting up the monitor and VCR in the captain's office while Deakins and Eames were studying the photo encased in its plastic 'Evidence' bag. Not surprisingly, no fingerprints were found on the photo.

"It looks like it was taken at a party … on someone's rooftop patio," Deakins commented. "Look … the Towers are in the background. It was taken before 9/11."

Finished setting up the equipment, Bobby glanced at Alex and was immediately struck by the tight lines of worry painting her face and the tension he saw in her body. He walked behind her to peer over her shoulder.

"Before 9/11 … it may have been while you were still working vice," Bobby lightly squeezed her shoulder. "Nothing about this looks familiar?"

She shook her head. "I … I really don't remember this," Alex sounded totally baffled. "Although, judging by the position of the Towers, it looks like somewhere in Soho … or maybe The Village. That's the area I worked in vice."

"Well, if this is the extent of Nicole's threat," the captain spoke up, "she's really overestimating the value of an old photo."

Where the hell were those security tapes? Bobby started pacing the office. "No … no, this is just her opening move."

"Finally," Deakins impatiently waved in the young kid carrying the security tapes.

Goren snatched the tapes and started sorting through them. "Let's start with … uh … the eleventh floor … then the lobby."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Useless!" Three full viewings later, Deakins got up from his chair in frustration and headed out to find some coffee.

"Whoever she was, she knew where the cameras were," Alex said quietly.

Bobby punched the rewind button one more time and backed up the tape of the lobby. They had a copy of the log-in sheets from the previous night and had compared it to the people coming in and out. There was one woman on tape who wasn't logged in. Bobby watched again as she walked in the front door, spoke with the officer working the security desk, and seemed to show him something that made him smile. He nodded for her to go on ahead to the elevators. Whatever it was she showed the officer, she kept it close to her body and no matter how many times he replayed it, it wasn't caught on tape.

"Eames, what do you think she could have shown him that he would just … let her in like that?"

"A naked photo of herself?"

The corner of his mouth quirked in amusement. Wisecracks were her way of easing tension. "I'm thinking ID … badge."

Her eyebrows shot up in surprise. "You're thinking a cop?" She looked back at the monitor, studying the still-frame where Bobby had paused the tape. "Maybe it was someone pretending to be a cop."

"I doubt that … even with ID he wouldn't have just let someone in like that unless … unless he knew them," he mused. "We need to talk to that officer."

Popping the lobby tape, Bobby loaded the eleventh floor tape back into the VCR. They'd already determined the elevator tape was useless – other than pushing the button, she didn't move the entire ride up to eleven and had kept her head bowed the whole time. Even the fact that it clearly showed her long, brown hair was useless – it could easily have been a wig.

Whoever it was, she knew exactly when to turn her head, or put her hand up to shield her face. He was beginning to get just as frustrated as Deakins. "It had to be someone who's been here before … knew the layout."

"Nicole's been here before."

Gesturing with the remote control, Bobby pointed at the monitor screen. "This woman looks too tall to be Nicole … certainly more slender." The camera lost her when she walked into the conference room. According to the timer, she was in the room a total of 84 seconds before she emerged and headed back toward the elevators – more time than was needed to tack a picture to the bulletin board. Bobby wondered what else she had been doing in there.

He rewound the tape once more to the point where she exited the conference room and hit slow motion replay. Then, finally, something caught his eye. Pause. Rewind. Replay.

"Eames. Do you see that? The way she does that little tilt to her head?"

"Uh-huh … a nervous tick?"

"More like a … a way to release tension. Cracking her neck and … stretching the muscles …" his voice trailed off as his memory caught up with his instincts.

"Bobby?"

He hesitated before murmuring, "Bishop used to do that."

"Bish-… Lynn Bishop?" Alex stood up from her chair and pointed at the monitor. "You think that's Lynn Bishop? Bobby, that's nuts. Why would she do something like this?"

"Well … she wasn't happy a-about leaving Major Case." He thought back to her last day as his temporary partner. She'd put in for a transfer, wanting to stay with the squad, but Deakins denied the request for two reasons. One, they didn't really need another detective at the time – Eames was due back the following Monday. Two, Deakins had told Bishop he didn't think she was quite ready yet .. she needed a few more years seasoning before working with the squad permanently.

"Even so … that was two years ago," Alex was arguing against his theory. "Do you really think she'd wait two years for some kind of … of what? Payback for me … for being your partner?"

"It may not be about payback. Remember … this is Nicole's game."

"Exactly. Why would Bishop do anything for Nicole?"

"Why do any of Nicole's women do things for her?" Bobby brought his fist up to his mouth and rubbed his bottom lip with his knuckles.

Alex looked dumbfounded. "Bobby, I'm having a hard time buying this."

He nodded, accepting the absurdity of the whole thing. But now that his mind had started down that path, he couldn't just stop and make a U-turn. "What was your impression of her?" he turned to look at Alex.

"Bishop?" She met his eyes and gave some thought to his question before answering. "Ambitious. Intelligent. Driven. She definitely didn't want to be in your shadow. What about you?"

"Umm … the same. But I also saw … I think she resented you while you were still here on desk duty. She was definitely much happier once you were on maternity leave. And I …" Goren shook his head, changing his mind about what he was going to say. "I think my impressions of her were tainted by the fact that she wasn't you … wasn't my partner."

"I still can't believe this would be her."

"We really need to talk to the officer on duty last night."

TBC …