"A Shift of Axis"
Copyright 2006 Penn O'Hara
M
Usual disclaimers apply.
Chapter Ten
Noting the caller ID on the display of her cell phone, Carolyn smiled slightly at her choice of labeling Logan's number, 'Mikey'. It was a misnomer. He didn't look like a 'Mikey'. Mikeys were cute and cuddly little boys who skinned their knees and came for sympathy with their bottom lips trembling. Mike Logan never wanted sympathy from anyone and there was more than skinned knees in his history, but Carolyn sensed a vulnerability about him which he would have been the first to deny. It was one of the things that drew her to him.
"Yo, Mike," she answered, pushing herself off the stone wall on which she'd been resting.
Carolyn was about a minute or two away from him, down the block from Alicia Mateus' house and around the corner, keeping herself out of sight, while she waited for developments from him. He had argued with her idea of sending him in alone, citing protocol first and then pointing out the personal risks second. Carolyn tried to dispute she was the jealous type, but Logan had looked at her with blatant disbelief.
"I know women," he countered, nodding his head sagely. "No matter what they say, they all have a streak of jealousy in them."
Carolyn smiled. He was probably right, remembering how Alicia greeted him during their first visit. Carolyn hadn't liked the way the other woman seemed to deliberately stake a prior claim. But she insisted he'd have a better chance of gaining information about Nicole Wallace and possibly Goren's and Eames' whereabouts if he played upon Alicia's affection for him.
Carolyn shifted her weight edgily. Despite it being Mike's caller ID, there was no acknowledgement from him on her phone and she frowned at the disconnected silence in her ear. Checking the cell display and seeing the 'call end' message, she felt her nerves tighten with alarm.
Mike never mentioned calling and hanging up without actually giving her instructions.
Not trusting anything that gave her pause, she stowed her cell and sprinted around the corner, passing their police vehicle and headed for the front steps of Alicia's house. Instinct, and her insistence on following it, was one of her strong points, and often earned her negative citations within the FBI for not following protocol. That hadn't stopped her then and it wasn't going to now.
Drawing abreast of the house, Carolyn crouched beneath window level, checking up and down the street. There were plenty of parked cars, and fewer passing traffic, but no pedestrians. Trying the front door handle, it was predictably locked and with her ear to the door, she heard nothing, but there was no way she was blazing in there without knowing what was going on first.
Vaulting the iron hand railing, she landed in the small well-tended garden beside it and hurried to the open window she guessed would look out from the den where Alicia had entertained them earlier. No voices nor sounds issued from there but it provided a quick entry. The window sill was just out of her reach, but bending low, Carolyn sprung for, and grabbed, the window box with her fingers. It held her weight easily and, with a grunt, she used her heels to shimmy up the wall to haul herself up and over the ledge, half-falling into the den.
Drawing her gun, she sped silently across the den to the door which led to the hallway. Pushing it open a crack, she peered into the hall and saw Mike's lifeless body sprawled on the carpet runner.
Carolyn swallowed her instinctive shout of shock, and checked for movement down the hall, before sliding out of the den and sprinting toward Mike. Hunched over his body, she checked his neck for a pulse, breathing again when she felt a strong one. He was unconscious but she frowned over the lack of outward signs of trauma.
Flipping open her phone, she thumbed the emergency code, impatiently counting the seconds until it was answered. "This is Detective Carolyn Barek, Major Case. Medics to 1511 Irving Place. Officer down, injury unknown. I want PD back-up as well."
"…can't move him. My friend has drunk too much, Gantry," Alicia's voice grew stronger as she rounded a corner and approached Carolyn from the back of the house. "Just help me put him in my car–"
Alicia broke off as she saw Carolyn standing, legs braced, both hands holding her service revolver trained on Alicia and the suited man behind her.
"What did you do to him?" Carolyn demanded.
Alicia gasped and put a hand to her throat. "Detective Barek! What are you doing here? I had no idea–"
"What…did…you…do…to…him?"
"Why, nothing! He… we were drinking and Mike didn't feel well and said he had to leave and then just collapsed in the hallway." She turned, wide-eyed, to the man behind her. "I was just asking my butler to help me take him home."
"Logan wasn't drinking and he wasn't unwell, so cut the crap," Carolyn gritted. "Last time I ask nicely. What did you do to him?"
"Gantry." Alicia stepped back, and folded her arms. "Please show Detective Barek the door. She's being quite rude and I won't–"
"Forget it, Gantry," Carolyn counter-ordered, switching her gun to one hand but not lowering her aim. "Instead, get your employer's coat. She's going for a little trip to the Precinct." Watching both closely, she hunkered back down beside Mike and checked his pulse again. Still strong, his breathing even and regular. Whatever was wrong with him wasn't life-threatening.
"You deliberately incapacitated him," Carolyn accused. "Why? Where were you taking him?"
"Home, of course! I told you–"
"I'm not interested in what you told me. I want the truth. I'm going to get it, either here or back at the station."
"I'll call my lawyer–" Alicia said, turning toward the den.
"You won't move!" Carolyn lifted her aim, her gun backing up her order and Alicia froze. "When we get you to the station, you can have your phone call."
Already Carolyn could hear the sirens and screech of tires outside. Straightening, she backed up to unlock the front door behind her. Two NYPD officers were first through it, obviously having been close by when the call came through.
Carolyn identified herself then pointed to Alicia and her butler. "Take both of them to One PP and get 'em comfortable in a couple of interrogation rooms. I'm going in the ambulance."
"How is he?" One of the officers nodded toward Logan's inert body.
"I don't know yet. Tell Captain Deakins I'll be back to question them myself. No one starts without me." She watched the two uniforms cuff Alicia and Gantry and read them their rights, then stepped back to let them through the front door.
Crouching beside Mike again, Carolyn lifted his lifeless hand and held his fingers. "I'm sorry," she whispered, regretting she had insisted when he was against her plan from the start. Her gaze searched his still face, missing the flash of devilry in his eyes already.
"What did she do to you?" The raw emotion in her voice surprised her, giving her fair warning of how important he was becoming to her.
She jumped, feeling a hand on her shoulder.
"We'll take him from here."
Carolyn's heart thumped, caught out at being unprofessional, reluctantly moving out of the medic's way. She hadn't even been aware the ambulance had arrived.
Checking Logan over, the medic looked at his partner. "Vital signs okay. No ocular response. No sign of trauma." He zeroed in on Carolyn. "What happened?"
"I've no idea," she insisted. "That's how I found him. I've taken the perp into custody, but she's not talking."
"We'll take him to Bellevue," the medic said, he and his partner loading Logan onto a stretcher, before unfolding the undercarriage and wheeling him to the door.
Carolyn stepped up. "I'm coming too."
"There's no need. He's not critical."
"Detective Logan is my partner," Carolyn said firmly, preventing further argument. "I'm coming too."
She shadowed the stretcher as they carried Logan down the steps and into the waiting ambulance. Watching over him as they moved through the Manhattan traffic, she fought the urge to hold his hand, despite being convinced she gave away her involvement with the worry that had to be showing on her face.
"Why aren't you using the siren?" she asked, annoyed with herself and taking it out on them.
The medic was unimpressed by her sharpness. "He's not critical, Detective," he repeated patiently. "Surely I don't need to remind you about taking unnecessary risks on the road."Carolyn bit her lip on her angry reply. Maybe, but if anything happens to Mike…
The trip to the hospital seemed interminable, but when they finally pulled into the ER, Carolyn felt even more superfluous as interns and nurses crowded her out. She lost sight of the gurney but was able to follow the tide of medical staff as they whisked Logan away.
I'll roast her for you, Mike, she thought as she hurried to catch up.
oOo
Being able to hold Alex in his arms like this was still new territory for Goren. It felt incredible, to cradle her against his body, kiss the breath from her and to have his passion returned. He hadn't realized Alex had such a core of ardor. She was always so calm in the face of his turbulence, and so self-deprecating of her forays into the dating game where her spare time revolved around fruitless searches for someone with which to share her life.
He never guessed she might have been marking time, waiting for him.
Dare he hope that she would want him? As a lover and soul mate as well as partner and friend? Goren felt himself slipping from reality where they could ill afford indulging themselves but powerless to deny himself the opportunity.
Alex broke their embrace first and Goren was both sorry and glad. Glad that one of them was thinking straight and sorry that he couldn't coax her to the bed and relive the wonder of being with her again.
"Bobby… I… Should we be–?"
"No, you're right." He took a hasty step backward, holding up his hands, feeling awkward again. "We should be finding a way out of here." Goren tried to sound optimistic for Alex' sake, but knew it was a futile exercise. He'd already confirmed the dumb waiter was secured with a padlock and knew, before he tried it, that the door to the level above was still dead-bolted.
And despite the ascetic curtains in front of the basement windows, each sill was reinforced with horizontal and vertical grills. Goren strode toward them now, tossed the curtains aside, grabbed a bar and tugged on it with all his strength.
"That's not what I–" Alex shook her head, standing in the middle of the room looking confused and indecisive.
"We could overpower Rafiq–"
She shook her head. "He's a professional. He's got a cool head on him and the lack of emotion of a pro."
Goren reluctantly agreed. "Nicole would hardly be fool enough to visit us unattended."
Swinging his head round the room again, Goren's gaze came back to the carpet square beneath his feet. It was about ten foot square and appeared an odd covering over the already carpeted floor. Striding to its edge, he flipped up the corner, signaling for Alex to move back. Lifting the whole square revealed a two by four trapdoor in the floor. An inlaid hoop doubled as both a catch and handle. Testing it, Goren blew air through his lips in frustration.
"Another deadbolt," he reported, shoulders rounded, optimism dying.
'I'm sor–" he began.
"Don't!" Alex moved swiftly to him, hugging him to her, her warmth and fragrance and his own physical awareness of her consuming his guilt. "This isn't your fault!" She was angry at him now. He could hear it in her voice, and feel it in the tremors of her body against his.
The scrape of a key in the lock had them both spinning round to face the door. Goren vowed if, by some miracle, Nicole arrived without the ever-present gun, he would take on both Nicole and Rafiq and release Alex from this nightmare.
"Sorry we took so long." Nicole sauntered into the room, wearing a change of clothes – an expensive-looking cream pantsuit that gave Goren hope she was on her way out. Rafiq joined her more slowly, standing off to the side in his role as bodyguard and jailer.
"Rafiq was most accommodating," Nicole sighed. "I didn't have the inclination to wind him up." She shivered and hugged her arms about her. "He's so delicious, it's scary."
Strolling over to the dumb waiter, she pulled a key out her pocket, unlocked the outer door, and hit the button. It clanged into action and a whir of machinery brought the platform back down to their level. With a happy grin, Nicole turned round to Goren and Alex as they stood united beside the bookshelf. "Lunch anyone? Sorry it's so late but I've already explained Rafiq and I were–"
'You don't have any scones by any cha–?" Alex sneered, but Goren stopped her with a touch to her hand.
"Rudeness will get you nowhere," Nicole said smugly. "Bobby knows better, don't you?" She tucked in her chin and looked at him through her lashes. "No, Alex, I'm sorry I don't have any scones." She pronounced the word, scŏns, ridiculing Alex' mispronunciation. "So, now that I've broken the ice for you, are you two going to stay a hot item? It's so obvious to an outsider you've both been harboring the most erotic thoughts about each other, I'm surprised you didn't do anything about it before. I hope you appreciate me for it."
"You expect us to thank you?" Goren asked in disbelief.
"Well, someone had to get you into gear, Bobby! You really are a slow pedal when it comes to personal relationships. You've had… how many in the last year?" Nicole placed a covered dish on the table and held up a hand and pretended to count off her fingers. Without counting any, she shrugged and dropped her hands, then turned and headed back to the dumb waiter.
"How would you know–?" Goren began, then bit his tongue, annoyed he had risen to her bait.
Nicole tossed a look over her shoulder, arching a brow. "I know everything about you, Bobby. Have no doubt about that." She picked up a small stack of plates and cutlery.
"And after lunch…?" Nicole mused. "Well, another show would be nice. It might be fun if you go down on Bobby this time, Alex."
Goren couldn't prevent his gasp of protest, but his impetus forward designed to do serious damage to Nicole was stopped by Alex' grip on his arm.
Nicole merely turned to look at Eames, her eyes wide with false innocence. "Would you like that, Alex? I know Bobby would."
oOo
TBC …
P.S. Does that answer your question of what went down when Bobby was alone with Nicole in the bathroom? Or am I still being too obtuse:-D
Okay, I'm back from camping, rested and sunburnt. Well, I was rested until yahoo froze my hotkeyau account and I can't get to all the goss on the new season. Damn. I'm now on pennohara at yahoo dot com dot au. What did I miss? Heaps of new CI episodes, I bet. sigh. Three more chapters ready, but I still have to tweak the last two.
Ciao!