"A Shift of Axis"
Copyright 2006 Penn O'Hara
M
Usual disclaimers apply.
Chapter Eleven
"How is he?" Deakins demanded, before Carolyn was even through his office door.
Barek smiled and stood back. "Look for yourself."
Carolyn couldn't blame Deakins for looking astounded. An hour ago, Logan had been lying inert on a gurney as it was being rushed into the ER. Now, one foot placed carefully in front of the other, he walked into Deakins' office behind her, a lopsided grin on his face.
Deakins' eyebrows shot up. "You're supposed to be half-dead."
"So I'm told," Logan muttered self-consciously. "I'm still feeling a bit shaky, but nothing's gonna stop me havin' a piece of Alicia."
Deakins lifted his chin with interest. "What did the doctors say?"
"They're baffled and still doing tests on my blood. They took enough of the stuff. But it seems I was paralyzed in a matter of seconds, and came out of it in less than an hour. The paralysis was limited to the muscles in the extremities." He shrugged, swayed a little, and Carolyn discreetly held his elbow in support.
"Sounds hokey to me," Deakins said, shaking his head then looked at Barek. "You said on the phone that Nicole Wallace is involved?"
Carolyn nodded. "I've no proof, just a gut feeling. I also believe that Bobby and Alex are pursuing a lead pointing in her direction and Alicia Mateus appears to know more than she's saying."
"Well, I saved her for you," Deakins said, linking his fingers together on his desk and jerking his head toward the door. "You both might as well have a crack at her."
Logan's smile was predatory as he cocked a brow at Carolyn and flourished a hand toward the door. "After you."
Feeling his balance slip, Carolyn hung onto his arm more tightly. "Let's try it together instead."
oOo
Alicia was held in Interrogation Room Two, seated on one of the two chairs that had their backs to the observation window. Carolyn could have smiled at Alicia trying to gain an advantage by sitting in one of the interrogator's chairs, but she wasn't in the least feeling amused by, or charitable toward, this woman.
Carolyn forestalled Alicia's strategy by grabbing the chair facing the observation window and swinging it round so that Alicia would be hemmed in between Carolyn and Mike like the proverbial meat in a sandwich.
An elbow on the table, she supported her chin on her hand and fixed Alicia with a stare that informed her the gloves were off.
"I'm…I'm waiting for my lawyer," Alicia began, nervously. "He's on his–"
"Now, there ya go, makin' another wrong move," Logan said, taking the other seat and mirroring Barek's position. "You don't need a lawyer, Alicia, 'cos he's gonna tell you to keep your mouth shut, and I'm gonna take my very reasonable deal off the table."
"D…deal?"
"Yeah." Logan moved in closer. "Ya see, when we first wanted to bring you down here, we had no charges against you and you could have lawyered up and we couldn't touch you." He held out a hand toward her, palm upward. "Now, we've got assault with a deadly weapon and your lawyer's got no recourse to save your neck with. Not to mention having the whole of the NYPD on your case for pickin' on one of their own."
Carolyn admired Logan's restraint. He had to be furious with this woman, for not only drugging him but duping him with her pretense at innocence.
Alicia looked from one to the other, blustering. "Assault? Weapon? But I–"
"Yep, a syringe is most definitely a weapon–" Logan nodded, his eyes glittering with deadly intent.
"And partial paralysis is considered assault," Carolyn added. "So, you can start by telling us what you injected into my partner–"
"Lover, you mean–" Alicia's lip curled with dislike.
Logan's chair scraped and Carolyn's eyes flashed a warning to him.
"Partner, Ms Mateus," Carolyn clipped, "and we're making the accusations here, thank you. Now, if you want any leniency from us, tell us what you injected Detective Logan with?"
Alicia shrugged. "A naturally occurring poison in the Australian outback. The aborigines used it to tip their spears with to bring down the big buck kangaroos before making their kill. It's fast but the effects wear off quickly. That's all I know."
"You rattled that off like you got a crash-course in poisons," Logan jeered.
Alicia shrugged again, looking nervously between the two.
"So you admit you've been in contact with Nicole Wallace, a.k.a. Elizabeth Hitchens," Carolyn stated for the record.
Alicia shifted on the chair. "How do you–?" She bit her lip, thinking better of the obvious question. "Where do you think I got the poison?" she asked waspishly.
"This is our deal," Logan said, sitting back in his chair, looking at her with contempt. "You tell us where Nicole is and I drop the assault charge." His tight grin gave her a small measure of encouragement.
"I…I was taking you to her," she said. "Like I promised earlier."
"So Nicole's only… what?" Logan asked. "Within an hour radius away? That's all the time you had while I was incapacitated."
She nodded.
"No," Carolyn said firmly, watching the other woman closely. "She's lying." Carolyn's lips thinned, allowing anger to disguise the guilt she felt at risking Mike's life for a lead. "You were going to drug him again."
Alicia's eyes dropped.
"Alicia," Logan hissed, "don't protect Nicole at the expense of your own freedom." He came in close again, anger sparking in his eyes. "She's not worth it. This is the woman that tried to kill your brother."
She turned on him with a vehemence that was as unexpected as it seemed unwarranted. "You think I hold that against her, Mike? I hate Gavin. I've never forgiven him for breaking us up. When I heard–"
"What?" Carolyn prompted. "Heard Nicole organized an attempt on his life? And you wished she hadn't failed?" Her interest quickened at a new idea. "Or did she tell you what she was planning and you offered to help?" It sounded even more feasible when she voiced it out loud. "Which is it, Alicia?"
Her eyes flickered, the Alicia dropped her gaze. "The deal was I tell you where Nicole is, no more."
oOo
"It might be fun if you go down on Bobby this time, Alex."
Nicole laughed merrily as she and Rafiq exited the basement, locking the door and leaving behind them a weighted silence and a lunch spread out on the table for Alex' and Bobby's consumption. For a parting shot, Nicole's divulging her future plans for Bobby's continued humiliation was supreme.
Alex walked jerkily toward the table, as yet unable to face Bobby with this new unwanted knowledge. Her hand shook as she lifted the lid from a large platter of cold cuts – curling shavings of hams, sliced roasts, and quarters of chicken. A smaller platter was littered with blocks of cheese of varying shapes and flavors denoted by the deepness of their color and a frosted silver bowl contained freshly cut salads.
Not in the least hungry, she picked up a plate and put a small selection of meat and salad on it because she had to do something to cover the awkwardness that was almost a physical barrier between her and Bobby.
She would get past this, she knew she would, but right now, the thought of Nicole with Bobby in that way… She put down her plate, gripped the edge of the table and swung her head to the side as nausea overtook her.
From the corner of her eye she saw Bobby lower himself to the edge of the bed and scrub his face with his hands. He wasn't denying it, so her hope that it was merely a cruel cheap shot from Nicole withered when faced with the image of Bobby's anguish. Alex realized he needed her understanding and support, but her stomach was churning and she needed to find her own inner equilibrium before she could be of any use to him.
Taking a deep breath, she picked up another plate and heaped it with cold food, then placed it where Bobby had sat at breakfast. "Have some lunch, Bobby," she said shakily.
Not surprisingly, he didn't move.
Alex lifted her chin, eyes to the ceiling and steeled herself. She would show him nothing had changed. He was still a man above all others for her, his integrity and loyalty indisputable. What he had done, or allowed to be done, would not have been of his own free choice, but a product of his misguided need to protect her.
She walked over to the bed and stopped beside him. Pulling him gently by the shoulders, Alex bent down and nestled his head into her, crooning unintelligible words of support and love… yes, love. She loved him, undeniably, absolutely, and told him so, heedless of whether he returned her feelings, but needing him to know that she cared deeply and irreversibly for him.
Bobby pulled away slightly and looked up at her, eyes awash, wonder chasing away the despair. She read in his face his acceptance of her love, saw his joy at her words and she hoped it was more than wishful thinking that she saw affection reflected back at her.
"When Nicole comes back," Bobby whispered, "I'm not going to roll over and play her game any more, Alex. I want you to know that."
Alex nodded and smiled slightly, cupping his face with her hands.
"I want you to be prepared," he said more firmly. "For anything."
Alex bent slightly and lightly kissed him. "I will be. I understand."
oOo
Carolyn rushed into Deakins' office with Mike bringing up her rear more slowly. "We've got a location, Chief," she said, excitement lending urgency to her words.
"Nicole's staying on an estate owned by Alicia's late brother-in-law less than two hours out of Manhattan," Mike said, puffing slightly. "Barek has this hunch that Goren and Eames were on their way there this morning when Eames phoned in. If so, they should be well and truly there by now."
Deakins looked up from his desk. "You've tried contacting them?"
"We did this morning," Mike said. "Their cell phones rang out."
"How come this didn't come up in your initial search?"
"We were looking for properties owned by 'Mateus' and 'Haynes'," Carolyn explained. "She mentioned a first husband in our original interview but I didn't follow it through." She grimaced, annoyed with herself for making such a simple slip. "Her first husband, Sebastian Wendell, was brother to Arthur Wendell, one of the vics in the fire yesterday."
"That's the connection then?"
"Yep, it all fits," Carolyn nodded. "Alicia has never owned any property in her own name. It's always been her father's, her brother's, her husbands'. Nicole gave her a chance to actually own something in her own right."
"How so?"
"On Arthur Wendell's death," Mike chipped in, thrusting his hands in his pockets, eyes alight, "his estate goes to his next-of-kin. The only surviving next-of-kin is his late brother's wife!"
"Alicia Mateus."
Mike nodded. "Carolyn was on the right track. Alicia just confirmed it."
"So Nicole Wallace set fire to a building and killed seven people for Mateus' gain," Deakins said slowly, digesting the information. "Nicole doesn't do anything unless there's something in it for her."
"I think that, indirectly, there was," Carolyn frowned, thinking hard. "It was designed to get the attention of Bobby Goren. Well, more to the point, Alex and Bobby should have got the case, but Alex and Mike got it instead, thanks to our partner-swap exercise, but Nicole couldn't have foreseen that."
"You'll want to get there fast then," Deakins stated. "I'll get a chopper onto the roof."
"We're gonna need to take Alicia," Mike added.
Deakins shook his head. "You don't take witnesses on showdowns–"
"I have to back Mike up on this one, Chief," Carolyn said. "It's a big estate. We're going to need someone who not only knows the lay of the land but the security codes as well, both external and internal, if we want to take Nicole by surprise. Until we know who's up there with her, we don't want to go in with a blaze of glory."
His eyes narrowing on both of them, Deakins thought it through. "Okay, but I'm contacting the local authorities and getting them to meet you."
"Tell 'em not to make a move 'til we get there," Carolyn warned. "We don't know how Nicole will react to a barrage of uniforms."
"I'll warn them." Deakins picked up his phone receiver and punched in reception's number. "I do know how Wallace will react and it won't be pretty. I want the both of you to take care too."
"Oh, and…" Carolyn turned round before leaving his office. "I think we might have another accessory to Gavin Haynes' attempted murder."
"But we only had Ella and a faulty elevator…" Deakins began, confused.
"But who let Gavin know there was a parcel waiting for him in the building with said elevator?"
oOo
The anger that coursed through Goren's veins was a physical presence that threatened to tip his sanity. His nerves grabbed the base of his neck and his fingers itched to wrap themselves around Nicole's neck.
Since Nicole and Rafiq rejoined Goren and Alex nearly an hour after dropping her latest bombshell, Rafiq had hovered close by Nicole as if ordered to do so. Goren didn't care, only wishing he could take him on too when he was finished with Nicole.
Tut-tutting again over the untouched lunch she had prepared, Nicole eyed Goren and Alex as they stood their ground in the middle of their 'prison'. "I went to great lengths to provide you both with sustenance to keep you full of energy and this is how you repay me."
Nicole's lips curved into a suggestive bow. "But then again, you'll soon be taking a different form of sustenance, won't you, Alex? Are you looking forward to drinking Bobby's–?"
"That's enough!" Goren bellowed, and Nicole looked genuinely shocked.
Aware that Alex was looking at Nicole as if she didn't believe she was serious, Goren had no doubt the madwoman fully expected them to go through with this new ignominy. He allowed the red haze of his anger to cloud his vision, hatred for Nicole consuming him, banking it only to gently take Alex' hand to lead her to the sofa, before pulling her down beside him.
Goren leaned back, making a show of nonchalance and unconcern, while he let his fury energize him and ready his body for action. Resting an outstretched arm across the sofa back, he pulled Alex into the crook of his arm, deliberately fixing Nicole with a practiced look of disdain.
"You've gone too far, Nicole," he said, masking his temper in a measured tone that was his only warning to her. "If you're looking for my limit, you've found it. We stop the nonsense now. You can have us jumping all manner of hoops and we'll probably end up dead anyway. I can't speak for Alex, but I think death by bullet might be preferable to continue being your source of entertainment indefinitely."
"You don't mean that, Bobby," Nicole said confidently.
"Maybe not, but you don't know for sure." Goren's lips thinned into a savage grin as he pulled Alex more closely to him. His body was vibrating with rage and Alex must have picked up on it, because she pulled away slightly, but Goren gave her a warning squeeze.
"Shoot Alex," he said, spitting the words through his teeth, "and I'll throw myself in front of her and you'll probably take us both down. End of amusement. Sick Rafiq onto her, and it'll take a bullet to stop me from killing him. Same result. Whatever you do, you've had the last of our dancing to your tune." He held his arms wide. "Take your best shot."
Goren was a mass of coiled energy. He'd never bluffed with such superior odds before, but if it failed, he was willing to fight to the death as promised.
Nicole walked up to him and sat on the sofa armrest, leaning against Goren's shoulder and pulling his outstretched arm around her, her head resting atop his. She rubbed her cheek against his hair, making plaintive little noises in her throat.
"Oh, I intend to, Daddy," she said, her voice high-pitched and excited. "In fact, I'm quite chuffed that you agree it's necessary. Rafiq?"
Rafiq walked in front of the sofa and Goren watched him raise an arm and put a hand inside his coat. In the instant Rafiq withdrew his hand, Goren threw himself sideways in front of Alex. To his horror, Goren's peripheral vision caught Nicole's movement as she withdrew the Glock from her own jacket, and aimed it at Alex' head. Goren tried in desperation to both reverse his impetus and strike out for Nicole, but it wasn't enough.
The distinctive phut! of a bullet ejected through a silencer shocked his brain, a black wave of terror enveloping him as he realized he couldn't save Alex after all.
oOo
TBC…
A/N: Still tweaking the conclusion. Thanks for your patience and persistence in staying with this story and reviewing. BTW, if anyone wants to help me out here…can you let me know what questions you want answered? I've written the conclusion, but I may have missed some plot holes? It's not too late to tweak it. Speak now or forever hold your peace!