And I return after a nasty cliffhanger, sorry about the wait. Tony is mine, everyone else is not.
Ryo sat at his desk and watched the closed door. No one disturbed it.
What the hell? Was he supposed to just believe JJ? After everything-
After what? What had he ever done besides be overly affectionate with Dee that Ryo had proof of? What had Dee ever done that would make Ryo think he'd be unfaithful?
The phone call.
He chided himself. He was a detective, and he knew that was a weak defense. His nightmares and Tony's none-too-subtle hints about their past together were equally unsubstantiated. He just felt it, like a worm that had dug into the darkest part of his mind. He was so terrified that their affair was real, he was afraid not to believe it.
"Damn it!" Ryo cleared his desk of paperwork, a stack of filing trays, and his lamp in one furious swipe.
When he wasn't looking, the door opened. Drake didn't say anything when Ryo punched his desk and looked up at him.
Not able to think of anything else to do, he knocked on the open door.
"What?"
"Uh- sorry- Ryo, you're got a double homicide. Tony's riding since Dee-" He rubbed his neck nervously. "You want me to clean up while you're gone?"
Ryo walked past Drake. "Leave it." He stopped. None of this was Drake's fault. "Thanks, though. I'll...get it later." He tried to smile and Drake returned the gesture.
"No problem."
Ryo checked his watch as he walked. In twenty minutes, he'd have been off. Instead, he got to spend the next two hours with someone who was number three on his list of people to avoid. Lucky him.
"So, you're not really gay, are you?"
"Excuse me?" Ryo's siren blared as he maneuvered the squad car through New York City traffic on the way to the crime scene. If he had to guess, though, he'd say Tony's mouth was running faster than the vehicle was.
"I mean, you've been with women, right?"
"Uh- yeah."
"Yeah, I got this model now. She's all right, but she's needy, ya' know? I tell her, lady, I'm a cop, I got demands on my time. You can eat your meals alone, you know? I'm not at your beckon call." He laughed like this was some uproarious joke. Ryo eyed him sideways, trying to judge if he was supposed to react similarly.
"Ah, yeah, but I guess two cops would understand it. Their schedules would be hectic, though. I don't know how Dee and JJ lasted so long."
Ryo didn't have to respond to this. They were at the crime scene.
Drake had his facts right on the double homicide. The bodies were lying in an alley, probably fallen where they'd been shot, both numerous times, but none instantly fatal. They were probably left for dead and bled out before they were found.
"Some nasty love triangle, eh?" Tony whistled.
"How about we stick to what we know?" Ryo suggested, pulling on a pair of gloves. Male, thirtyish, female, mid-twenties, both in dress clothes, no purse or wallet- a violent robbery the night before? Very violent. Maybe too violent to be a robbery...
Someone asked for permission to move the bodies and he nodded. The female was on top, so they pulled her away first. Ryo stopped them before they moved the male.
There, in a pool of blood beneath where her hand had been, was a piece of blood-soaked paper. He picked it up gently. A picture.
The two smiling faces were their victims, though they looked a few years younger. She had her hands in his hair, and his were around her waist, and they were staring into each other's eyes like there was nothing and no one else in the world- complete love and trust.
Ryo looked down at their blood, mixed indistinguishably on the concrete, and just felt wrong. It should be safe to be as happy and in love as they'd been. Things like this shouldn't happen. If they'd known when they went out that it would be their last night together...
He spent another forty minutes going over the scene and talking to people who'd been in the area., then another half hour talking to the medical examiner about his preliminary evaluations, all the while having to deal with Tony's commentary, much of which could be somehow brought back to Dee or JJ.
By the time they were officially ready to part ways for the night, he'd had more than enough. Do when Tony gave him a snide warning to be careful who he let into his bed later, he snapped.
"Look, as informed as you think you are on what's going on, it's been made painfully clear that you have a few problems with relationships, so thanks for all the advice, but I think I can handle it from here." Tony reminded Ryo of a man scorned, and everything he had to say about anyone who looked happy was dripping with sarcasm and disdain. Whatever his issues were, he could deal with them on his own. Ryo had enough problems without him.
"Hey, man, I'm just trying to help you out."
"I'm not sure that's entirely true." Whatever his agenda was, it had done Ryo absolutely no good so far.
Tony smiled and shrugged, as if that would be the end of it. He even turned and started walking away. But he had one last word to get in.
"You'll regret it, Ryo."
Ryo didn't know exactly what he was going to regret, but he wasn't chasing Tony down the street to get him to explain his threat. He sighed, looked at the last swathes of color above the skyline, and got into his car to drive home with a troubled mind. He couldn't get the picture of the murdered couple out of his mind.
When the world isn't safe for lovers, who is it safe for? Maybe Ryo and Dee need to be careful...
