Disclaimer: Dick Wolf, blah blah blah.

Title: Hurricane Katrina

Chapter 23 – Final Answer

Characters: Goren, Deakins

Rating: K+

One P.P., Major Case Squad Room

Goren and Katayeva met up in the elevator early the next morning.

"What's in the bag?" asked Goren.

"Breakfast. And, yes, I brought enough for you, too."

"So, what is it?" he grinned.

"A high protein breakfast."

"Oh, jeez… not one of those godforsaken soy bars or soy drinks….yuck."

"Never fear, I am not a fan of soy. It is cottage cheese with chopped walnuts, sliced fresh peaches, blueberries and strawberries."

"Hmmm…sounds OK."

When they reached their desks, Katayeva pulled out two plastic containers and handed one to her partner. Goren opened it, sniffed it.

"The peaches and strawberries smell good."

"Just eat," she replied, handing him a plastic spoon and a napkin.

"Hey, this is good," said Goren, between mouthfuls.

"Once again, Detective Goren is surprised that real food actually tastes good," chuckled Kat.

Goren had wolfed down his serving and was eyeing his partner's bowl. She noticed and produced another plastic container for him. He opened it. Sniffed it.

"Raisin bran cereal with fresh peaches?"

Katayeva nodded and tossed him a brick-pak milk for the cereal. It was still cold.

"You've thought of everything," he grinned.

"I'm a mom, it's my job to think of everything."

Goren had a momentary flashback. When he was a kid, he made breakfast for himself, his brother and his mother. His mom was in no shape to prepare meals. He never knew what it was like to have the mom who thought of everything.

As though reading his mind, "You were the one who made the breakfast when you were a kid?" asked his partner.

He nodded.

"So, maybe you can make a different life for your kids, Bobby," she said softly.

My kids? What is this woman… nuts? First she tells me Eames is in love with me and now she thinks I should be having kids. Like that will ever happen. Any of it.

"You need to get over the I-don't-deserve-to-have-a-normal-life syndrome, Goren."

He just sighed and finished off his cereal.

Katayeva pulled over Mrs. Martin's scrapbook. They paged through it together. Contained her baby pictures, black and white, from the 1950s, parents, grandparents, friends, relatives, pets, houses she had lived in, a couple grammar school report cards, diplomas, high school prom pix, college degrees, state librarian certificate, grad school transcript, library school acceptance letter and scholarship award, job offer letters, old library cards, I.D.s, ticket stubs, bus and train passes. The very last page in the scrapbook was a photo of her car's license plate, enlarged to 5x7 size. Caroline Martin's car had vanity plates, they read: NEXT. The inside of the back cover was inscribed in her handwriting, If love was enough, I'd still be here.

"Wow."

"When did she get the vanity plates?" asked Goren, as he logged into the DMV database from Kat's laptop, "She's had them for over a decade. So they're probably not a part of any suicide plan."

"She wasn't diagnosed until nineteen months ago," added Katayeva, flipping through medical papers.

"Nothing we are seeing in this scrapbook is not evidence of suicidal intent," said Goren.

"There's no mention of fan fiction anywhere in the scrapbook," noted Katayeva, "Were you able to confirm Captain Martin's whereabouts the day his wife died?"

"Uh…yeah. He was at meetings, arrived on time, every place has video cameras at all entrances and exits, so we know exactly when he came and went. Martin is accounted for and documented. He did not kill her. Also, I only heard good things about his marriage, his relationship with his wife."

"I spoke with a neighbor of mine who is a hospice nurse. She said that Mrs. Martin was most likely facing a painful, wasting, nasty death from her disease as it continued to spread. If this was a suicide, it was most likely an attempt to cut that process short. The patient would also view it as sparing the family from watching her slow deterioration."

Goren nodded.

"There was nothing exciting on the Martin's digital camera, video camera. The iPod™ had about fifty songs on it. A few were purchased via the iTunes™, but most were downloaded off of music CD's. Most recent music purchase was four months ago, Gloria Gaynor's I Will Survive. While I can't date the music downloads, one is within the last two months."

"How can you tell?"

"It's from a new show that premiered in June on cable, Psych. The song was composed by the show's creator, Steve Franks, and performed by his band, The Friendly Indians. No one had heard the song until the show was aired. And you can download it for free from the show's site."

"Got the lyrics?"

"Of course. Here, listen and read simultaneously," said Katayeva, as she handed him the earbuds.

In between the lines there's a lot of obscurity,

I'm not inclined to resign to maturity.

If it's all right,

Then you're all wrong.

Why bounce around to the same damn song?

You'd rather run when you can crawl.

I know you know that I'm not tellin' the truth.

I know you know they just don't have any proof.

Face the deception,

Learn how to bend,

Your worst inhibitions will psych you out in the end.

I know you know, I know you know,

I know you know, I know you know.

"Interesting, but certainly not an admission of a suicide," said Goren.

"Only the second stanza is used for the show. I know you know that I'm not tellin' the truth, I know you know they just don't have any proof. If this was a suicide, Goren, she is laughing at us from the other side."

"Or maybe she just liked the song. It is catchy, but not evidence of a suicide," sighed Bobby, "Any videos on her iPod™?"

"Just the trailers for Psych and the Lawful Order marathon that was on back in May," replied Katayeva, as she hit the controls to play them on the iPod™.

Goren listened, "Still no evidence of a suicide."

All of a sudden Captain Deakins materialized out of nowhere.

"Got an update for me, detectives, or are we just listening to the latest hits?"

Goren and Katayeva glanced at one another.

"We should uh…wrap this up later today, Captain."

"Halleleujah," replied Deakins, as he strolled away.

"How about we do lunch, Bobby?"

Goren nodded. They headed out to a local Japanese place.

"You just ordered grilled salmon? Something healthy? Without any threats from me?"

"I uh…liked your salmon when I tried it the other day."

"OK….what are we telling Deakins about the Martin case, Goren?"

"Give me your uh…final answer, Kat."

"I am 50 sure she committed suicide and did a brilliant job of disguising it. And 50 sure it was an accident. However, I will not say that to Deakins. We don't have any convincing evidence that Caroline Martin committed suicide. Accidental death is all he will hear from me. How about you, Bobby?"

Goren took a deep breath. Held it. Exhaled.

"We've examined this from every angle. I cannot in good conscience say it was a suicide. I still have my suspicions, the same as yours, but I doubt we could ever prove it. I am going with accidental death also. And that is what the M.E. is saying, too."

"Goren, that fan fiction story, Burn Out. There is no ending to it. The last chapter has the police investigating, just like we are. It was uploaded over a month ago. No one requires that you finish your story within any time frame. Or even that you finish is at all."

"Did uh…Milton Ira Crane author anything else?" asked Goren.

"No. I didn't find anything else under this pen name on any other fan fiction sites either, Lawful Order sites, nor any of the journaling sites. The fan fiction sites do not maintain records indicating the IP address from where each story is uploaded. They have hundreds of thousands of stories."

"Then we tell Deakins that our investigation points to accidental death. That's it," sighed Goren.

"The Captain will be glad to close the book on this," agreed Katayeva, "And so will I."

NOTE: The theme from Psych can be downloaded from usanetwork dot com.