96: Nut Jobs
Finally getting back to homicide, Gus was greeted warmly for the most part, though she did take a few ribs here and there for being out.
"Princess, we missed you," Parker said, shoving his ever present donut box her way.
"Don't mind if I do," she said taking one, "even if it is playing into an unjust stereotype."
"Please tell me you aren't gonna be speaking all fancy since you have been around all them fancy pants lawyers," Parker joked, "was starting to worry you might abandon us for law school."
Flack, knowing Gus dislike of attorneys, even before this Muller debacle, couldn't help but mutter, "not damn likely."
"And let me tell you, Princess, this one," Parker hitched his thumb at Flack, "is a real joy to work with when you aren't around."
"You are too sweet, Parker," Gus said, giving him a light pat on the cheek, before heading over to her desk.
"Hey Parker, how come she gets to pat you on the cheek?" Gus heard someone call behind her. "I got another cheek for ya right here!" she heard Parker respond. She shook her head, same old homicide, though she was relieved to be back to some sense of normalcy.
Lieutenant Daddino stuck his head out of his office, "Broussard, I thought I heard you causing a stir in the pit! Caused one in court too, or so I heard..." her superior looked at her with something akin to a smirk, but she wasn't sure if he was upset or amused.
"Er, um," Gus felt herself turning beat red, "I don't know what you are talking about, sir," she croaked out, sounding like she had something caught in her throat.
"Either way, keep it up, kid and don't let 'em spook ya," he said, "and since you are back, next DB is all yours."
Like magic, the call came in from dispatch.
Gus took the call and hung up and said, "looks like I finally get to see the largest urban beach in the US. I love that this job really takes a girl places," Gus said striding to the door.
"Hey Encyclopedia Britannica, you mind telling me where we are headed?" Flack said, following after her.
"Rockaway Beach, gun shot vic."
"Great, just great," Flack said, thinking about the traffic between here and the outer reaches of the Island in rush hour traffic.
"Looks like a nice place," Gus quipped her voice heavy with sarcasm in front of the rundown, boarded up house.
Flack shook his head, ducking under the tape to talk to the uniforms first on scene. "What's the story?"
"White male, about 30, shot to the chest. DOA. Neighbor called it in. Tell your partner, we may need her shrink skills inside, this one looks like a nut job," the uniform gestured with his thumb inside.
Flack sighed, "she's not a shrink," he said, thinking Gus had facd more than her fair share of nut jobs with her stalker.
"Whatever, she'll want to check it out either way," the uniform grinned.
Flack walked back to Gus, who was talking to a heavyset man. "I'll get him, Broussard, uniforms say you may want to go look inside," Flack said.
"Sure thing, Flack. Well then, Mr. Macaluso, Detective Flack here will take you statement."
Gus walked under the tape, recognizing the uniform as someone she had counseled as staff psych.
"Hey Doc, glad you got called on this one. He might be a book deal for ya'."
Gus looked at the man strangely and walked up the front steps. Gus stopped in her tracks at first sight of the DB. A grizzled man shot in the chest, covered in money in a living room that had been decorated with a Sharpie. Gus avoided the body, not wanting to disturb and evidence and piss off Mac.
She was staring at the quotes on the wall having finally figured out where they were from when Mac came up beside her, "interesting case, huh Gus?" Mac said softly, his flashlight beam mingling with hers.
"Well, I was just thinking I didn't have enough religious fanaticism in my life," Gus quipped.
"You been to the backyard yet?"
"Can't say I have, what he got a giant cross in his backyard?"
Mac smirked, "not quite."
Gus rolled her eyes, "How come I always get these calls?" she said trotting off to the backyard.
"What the-" Gus said stopping in her tracks again, this time at the sight of what appeared to be a giant wooden ship in the backyard. She looked at the uniform that was gaping and said, "religious versus, bearded man named Noah and an ark? Jesus, I should have taken today off!"
"What can I say, told you I was glad you pulled this one."
"Er, Flack?" Gus called on her radio.
"What?" he answered, wondering why she sounded so hesitant and hoping she hadn't gotten hurt again.
"When you are done out there, you may want to come check out the backyard."
Curious as to what could be in the backyard, Flack hoofed it around the house, skidding to a stop beside Gus."Sunshine, is that-?"
"Yep, and Noah is inside the house" Gus said, twisting her face, "I need more coffee."
"There's a place on the corner, go, I'll catch up with Mac and fill Danny in when he gets here."
Gus came back balancing a tray full of coffees, walking directly to the backyard. She noticed the door down on the ark and dropped the tray of coffee in shock. "Waste of good coffee, Detective," another uniform said.
"What the hell?" Gus said, taking in the animals and humans coming off the ark and the confused looks on Flack, Danny and Mac's faces.
"Dunno, but glad I don't have to question them," the uniform said, disappearing.
Gus and Flack continued questioning the people on the ark while Mac and Danny went back inside to process the scene.
"So what does Doc Broussard think of this?" Flack asked, coming over to Gus as she was scribbling furiously in her memo book.
"Doc Broussard called in sick today, beginning to wish I had too," Gus said, looking downcast. She had been looking forward to getting back to normal, she just hadn't forgotten such a thing didn't exist in her life.
"Coffee didn't help?"
"Coffee got dumped upon seeing two by two marching out of the ark."
"So how about these nut jobs?"
"I don't know if I would call them nut jobs, Flack," Gus said shooting him an angry look.
"Sorry to offend. What is your official diagnosis then of people who plop down 100 G's to hole up in a ship waiting for the world to end?"
"Not making one, seeing as that isn't my job any more," Gus looked up at him, wondering why she was snapping, realizing she was still worried about the whole Muller thing and beyond exhausted.
Flack stared at her, not knowing how to respond, he cupped her face, his brow wrinkled. Gus fought the urge to kiss the furrow off his brow and cleared her throat saying, "let's just get them tested for GSR".
Frustrated at the lack of gun shot residue on the inhabitants of the ark, Gus continued questioning them to get back story on Noah while Flack went inside to catch up with Mac.
Gus ended up with only scant information and the urge to beat her head against the wood of the ark.
"What is it with not thinking these people are crazy?" Flack said, coming out back looking frustrated but stopping when he saw the frustration on Gus' face. "Sunshine?" he said softly, moving her around the side of the ark so they were hidden in the shadows.
"I can't believe I was missing this so badly. I got nothing, maybe they are just nuts," she sighed rubbing her head.
"Mac says they're not, something about faith and religion and some other stuff, I dunno, I kinda tuned out." Gus gave Flack the smallest of smiles. "I saw that, come here," Flack said, pulling Gus in for a hug. Too tired to resist, Gus let Flack pull her in and buried her face in his chest.
"I'm sorry I'm a wreck," she said into his shirt and tie.
"You don't have to be a rock all the time, how many times do I gotta tell ya that?" Flack said, kissing the top of her head.
"But I despise being a girly girl."
"You sure you were a therapist when I first met you? Because you sure do have a hard time accepting you can have, ya know, feelings," Flack said, pulling her off of him to look down at her.
She responded with a half-hearted punch to his shoulder. Flack tugged on her hair, "look, we may as well head out a catch some sleep. We ain't gonna know any more until after autopsy". Gus nodded, knowing he was right. "I'll go tell Mac we are headed out and meet you in the car," Flack said, heading back into the house.
"Who's place?" Flack asked once he got back to the car, happy Mac didn't give him any hassle about ducking out.
"I don't really know where the hell we are, so who ever is closer," Gus said, exhaustion taking over her. Flack glanced over at her, slumped against the window, knowing she hadn't been sleeping and hating the reason for it, wishing he could give her the peace she needed.
He drove back to Gus' place, Gus led the way inside, disarming the alarm and looking ready to drop. "Come on, sunshine, I'll tuck you in," he said, leading her to the bedroom, hating Muller for putting her through this.
"I feel like I could sleep for a week," Gus groaned when the alarm sounded too short a time later.
"You could stay here, take some lost time," Flack said, not wanting to move either.
"Nah, this case is bugging me."
"Of course it is, sunshine, you always love the weird ones" Flack said kissing her head.
"Explains a lot about you and me then, huh?" Gus said, slipping out of bed before Flack could land a playful smack on her.
They arrived at the precinct and immediately started pulling up information on Noah and the inhabitants of the ark. Word had already gotten around about the case and Gus felt like she was interrupted about a million times with people wanting her take on the 'Crazy'. Frustration mounting at not being able to get much done in the pit and figuring Mac was back from autopsy, she flounced off the lab, leaving Flack to fend for himself.
Mac was facing away from her at his desk, watching something on the computer when Gus walked in. "Any clues in autopsy?" she asked glancing at his screen.
"Had a pair of surgical scissors in his chest cavity, how are things at your end?" Mac didn't turn around, transfixed by the message the late Noah Hubler was currently preaching.
He didn't notice that Gus was staring wide-eyed at the screen, beginning to shake. When she didn't answer, Mac looked over his shoulder, seeing her glance he paused the video. "Gus, what is it?"
Gus blew her hair out of her face and righted herself, "nothing, nothing, it's just-" she cleared her throat, "his footage from New Orleans, it's..." she trailed off. She hated her reaction, but her nerves were already shot and it was more than she could handle.
Mac knew that look, knew what it meant, in some ways it was similar to what he felt every September 11th when inevitably someone showed those planes crashing into the towers and she was here, less than a year and a half out than whatever she had seen.
He clicked off the screen, "you find anything yet?"
Gus shrugged, "not really, Flack may be having a better time of it though, I just kept getting interrupted."
Mac looked at her face, searchingly, "maybe we can have dinner when this case is cleared up."
"Yeah, that's be nice" Gus said, still trying to loose the feelings that were washing over her mixing with bad memories.
"Keep me informed," Mac said, turning back to his computer.
"Sure thing, Mac," Gus said, walking back to the pit, still feeling shaken.
"Mac have anything?" Flack asked as Gus flopped down into her chair.
"Not much, some prophecy video from Noah. Lovely Armageddon style images of pestilence, war, hurricanes..." Gus flipped through her memo book trying to ignore the knot in her stomach.
"I got an id on the caller who left all those messages on Noah's machine," Flack said with a grin.
"That's good," Gus said, not returning his grin, feeling a bit foggy.
"You wanna help me grill her? She should be here soon"
"If you want me to," Gus said, focusing on not having a post-traumatic trip down memory lane.
"Sunshine, what all was on that video?" Flack said, trying to figure out why Gus looked a million miles away. Hurricanes, it hit him, not a million miles away, more like 1300.
"Just, crap, propaganda, nothing," Gus said, trying to figure out what about the video was bothering her. Maybe it was the fact that the footage didn't look like it had been from CNN, but more from a hand-held recorder, a little too real and authentic.
"I got nothing on background, just paperwork under a non-profit and wild animal licenses. It's like this guy just showed appeared a year ago and started building an ark."
"Sent from God, maybe?" Gus quipped, scrolling through information on her computer.
"Cute," Flack remarked, "anything?"
"Not yet, maybe prints will give us something. I'll go see."
Gus wasn't shocked to find that Noah had a separate identity flagged with his fingerprints, nor was she surprised that it involved criminal activity. She was intrigued to learn however that Noah, aka Patrick Dent, had been in New Orleans before and after the hurricane. "Explains the footage," Gus mumbled to herself. She made a couple of phone calls to the NOPD and feds listed on his record and wandered off for coffee while she waited to hear back.
Gus arrived back in time to observe Flack questioning Noah's caller.
Janice DeMartino appeared every bit a bitch on wheels and Gus wanted nothing more than to bust in and smack the woman's head against the table.
But Gus figured that may have more than a little to do with Mark Muller and PTSD. It didn't help that little Miss low-cut shirt, high-cut skirt was trying to flirt her way out of deep interrogation. True to form though, Flack wasn't having it and continued pressing the woman as to why her phone calls ended two hours before Noah turned up dead.
Lacking any evidence to the contrary, Flack had to cut the woman loose at her explanation of having fallen asleep with plans to start calling Noah again in the morning.
Flack exited the room, frustrated at getting nowhere.
Gus was on the phone, nodding and murmuring to an unknown speaker on the other end. She walked back towards the pit, motioning for Flack to follow. "FEMA. F'True? Because they really have a clue as to what is going on," she huffed into the phone.
"Oh really?!" Gus said, pacing around the pit, "well sugar you best be sending that my way. Already did? I knew I loved you to bits, Guillory," she drawled, "hold on one sec, dawlin'," Gus turned to Flack, "check the fax, should be something coming through."
Flack knitted his eyebrows together wondering who Guillory was and hoping it wasn't some other fiancée he didn't know about, he walked to the fax machine, which was spitting out a report from the NOPD.
Gus was still talking in a lazy drawl, though Flack didn't quite understand half of what she was saying, she ended with, "Well honey, you tell yamamma'n'em I said hey and I'll be wanting some of Maw-maw's pralines the next time I am there!"
"What. Was. That?" Flack asked in bewilderment.
"Was what?"
"I think I need a Bayou to New Yorker dictionary, that's all."
"That was an old friend at the NOPD. And this is Patrick Dent, aka Noah Hubler," Gus tapped her pen on the paper.
"No way!" Flack said, staring at the two photographs.
"I know, huh? Anyhow it seems Patty boy was living it up in New Orleans after some scams in Florida and DC. He quickly ran through his funds, not that hard to do in the Big Sleazy and started scamming some old folks. He trips up somewhere along the line and gets noticed by the SEC and not the LSU kind. They start hunting him but Hurricane Katrina got New Orleans before they could get Mr. Dent. But big boy doesn't leave town and instead starts running scams with FEMA, the feds catch on to this and also make a connection to much worse crimes in New York. The DA's office, incompetent in the best of times, agrees to let him be extradited," Gus paused to take a drink of coffee. "But they lose him again when a fake detective, supposedly from NYPD come to collect him a day earlier than planned."
"So the NOPD messed up?" Flack said, flipping through the pages.
Gus growled, snatching the papers away from him, "the NOPD was a little overwhelmed at that point, you know, with a couple hundred officers deserting and trying to recover from a freaking hurricane!"
Flack was trying to figure out how to respond, knowing it was a sore subject with Gus when his phone rang. He answered it, spoke briefly and hung up. "Danny discovered the cash covering the body was counterfeit. We need to go talk to a guy up in Otisville."
"Have fun, I've got some stuff to check on here," Gus said, stomping off, more than a little ticked off Flack had kicked her dog.
Chapter 97: Family Affair
On the way back from the prison, Flack looked at Mac, unsure what to make of the information they had gotten from Jimmy Easmen. "Follow the money, I suppose," Mac said with a sigh.
"I'm on it," Flack said, typing on his phone.
Flack walked back into the pit, trying to track down information on the public auction where Easmen's belongings had been sold. Gus was at her desk, writing in the case file. "Sorry I kicked your dog," Flack said, sitting down.
Gus shrugged, "I was never NOPD," she said, trying to play it off. Flack stared her down, not letting her, "sunshine," he warned.
"I'm fine, or I should be fine. I don't know why I am so angry," Gus huffed, "I thought they were imbeciles when I lived there, but there are some good guys and...why is it such a touchy subject for me?" she asked, only slightly rhetorically.
"Because you are loyal. And part of them or not, those are your guys, your father was one of them. And it's been what, not even a year and a half? It's not something you just get over," Flack rubbed the back of his neck, "you aren't having a good couple of weeks are you?"
Gus snorted, "I would say not, blue eyes. But luckily, this week is almost over. Assuming we ever clear this case."
They sat working in silence until Gus' desk phone rang, "A-ha!" she exclaimed at the 504 area code, "come to mama," she said picking it up, "Detective Broussard!"
Flack snickered and waited for her to get off the phone.
"Well Officer Buckley deserves a little lagniappe," Gus said hanging up.
"Ya are doin' it again," Flack laughed.
"Sorry. Got some info on the fake cop and you are going to love this, it was none other than Tits McGhee."
"Who?" Flack was completely lost.
"DeMartino, matches the description, and she was stupid enough to make a call from the phone on the plane and not pay her credit card bill. Don't mess with Visa, they will hunt you down."
"I knew there was something about her," Flack said, slamming his palm against the desk.
"Even better, Buckley was observant enough to know the gun she was carrying."
"And?"
"Matches the caliber of the wound in our vic's chest."
"Mac is going to love this!" Flack said, excited for the break.
"I know, how about you go tell him, while I go get a warrant?" Gus said, pulling on her trench for the hike to the courthouse, even though it was the last place on the planet she wanted to be right now.
Gus hustled back, warrant at the ready, handing it off to uniforms. "Was Mac happy?" she asked swooping down at her desk across from Flack.
"I would say ecstatic, ya know, for Mac at least. Also turns out he had some blood something or other from the surgical tool left in his chest making him delusional. So I was right."
"Right, how?" Gus asked with confusion.
"He was a nut job," Flack replied with a dimpled smirk.
"Delusion doesn't necessarily mean 'nut job' there, Flack." Gus said, biting her lip to keep from smiling back.
"Fine, so we both were right."
"Well crap, I guess that means we go Dutch on dinner then, huh?" Gus said loosing the battle of not smiling.
"Guess so," Flack responded, using all his power to not hustle her off to the nearest supply closet. Gus didn't catch the desire in his eyes, too caught up in the case file.
Later, they stood side by side, watching as Mac tore into Janice DeMartino. The woman was still hell on wheels, even though she had been picked up on a warrant.
"She just doesn't give up," Flack said with a whistle, amazed that the woman was still claiming to be the victim, despite Mac's convincing argument of evidence otherwise.
"I can't believe she is so freaking cocky," Gus said.
Flack snickered as DeMartino's face fell, "and there we go," he snickered as Mac stated, "you are an expert at lying. Look at my face, does it look like I'm lying?"
"Here it comes, indeed," Gus said, knowing the woman was about to break.
Sure enough, within minutes the story came pouring out of her, how Janice thought she had been stabbed in the back, how she had never been caught but blamed Noah/Patrick for almost getting pinched. Gus shook her head as Mac relayed the news that Patrick had been the victim of a scam and hadn't been trying to double- cross Janice.
"Malice drinks one half of its own poison," she quoted.
"Seneca the Younger, sunshine?" Flack said.
Gus did a double take, "And surprises still from you, Don."
"Come on let's get out of here, before Mac heaps more paperwork on us."
"Right behind you, blue eyes," Gus replied, taking one last look at the crumpled looking woman before her uncle.
Gus tried her best to not be sullen as they left the precinct, but she still felt overwhelmed with a mixture of emotions. The one that shocked her the most was the sudden wave of something akin to homesickness that she was feeling over having reconnected with people from New Orleans over the past couple of weeks, especially with this case. But that wasn't her home, she knew that, New York was. Or so she hoped, Gus could feel low level depression clawing at the back of her brain and she was doing her best to shove it aside.
"You gotta stay outta there," Flack said tapping her head as she sat at her table sorting through mail.
"Ya you right," Gus said with a sigh, flicking through junk mail and bills.
"We might actually get tomorrow off," Flack said, trying again to get her to lighten up.
Gus snorted in disbelief, "sure we will." She set down the pile of mail and pulled a face, "I'm being ridiculous, I'm sorry, I just need to snap out of it," Gus got up and poured them both a drink.
"Gus, you have had a lot going on the past couple of weeks, I don't expect you to be freaking sunny all the time," Flack said, knocking back his drink and ruffling her hair.
"Well thank god for that," Gus said ruefully and grimacing as her phone rang from her uncle. "What's up, Mac?"
"Nice disappearing act you and Flack pulled," Mac said, but not with much seriousness.
"Just ducking extra paperwork," Gus said rolling her eyes. Flack held back a chortle.
"Well then, maybe I won't treat you to dinner then."
"It isn't nice to hold food hostage with me, Mac, you should know better," Gus said jokingly.
Mac paused before speaking again, something in his niece's laughter was flat, he figured she wasn't doing the best with the combination of all of what had been going on lately. "Fine a deal then, come talk to the Stausses with me about the counterfeit money that they used and I'll take you to dinner."
"Now?" Gus said trying to keep a childish whine out of her voice.
"How about Sunday unless we get called in on a case tomorrow. Otherwise, enjoy your day off and say hello to Don," Mac said, with a knowing tone. Gus stuck her tongue out at the phone, realizing one day she should attempt a mature relationship with her uncle. "Enjoy your night, Gus," Mac laughed.
"You too, Mac," Gus said, sighing as she put down the phone.
"Stop smirking at me, Flack" Gus said, chewing on her cheek.
"Sorry, it's just good to see you having a somewhat normally dysfunctional relationship."
"I wasn't aware our relationship was that messed up, Don!"
"I wasn't talking about ours," Flack replied with a smile before moving in for a heated kiss that nearly knocked Gus over right there in the dining room, realizing how much he had missed her over the course of the trial, even without all the Muller drama.
The kiss floated them to the bedroom and apparently incinerated Gus' clothing on the spot. "How do you do that?!" Gus exclaimed as she found herself down to her skivvies on the bed.
Flack attempted an innocent look, but it turned into an evil grin as he led a trail of kisses down her body, "I will never reveal my sources," he said, between kisses. Gus let out a groan as her phone started buzzing. "Please. Tell. Me. You. Aren't. Answering. That." Flack said, capturing her bottom lip between his teeth and then nipping down her neck and collarbone.
"Can't speak anyhow," Gus breathed, trying to leverage up while Flack kept her pinned down with an endless stream of kisses.
Buoyed by an actual day off, including continued silence from Mark Muller, Gus happily joined Mac on Sunday to talk to the inhabitants of the ark and for dinner. She deflated slightly when she say he had his 'I want to talk' face on as soon as they sat down at the restaurant.
"What, please just spit it out and get it over with, Mac," Gus said, meeting his look head on.
Mac cleared his throat, "I don't want to tell you what to do."
"Like hell you don't," Gus snorted.
"I am concerned about you."
"What for now?" Gus asked, wishing she had ordered something harder than water.
"Between the trial and Muller and your reaction to the hurricane footage and this case-" he cut off, trying to formulate what he wanted to say. "I know I am the one that encouraged you to come here and supported you in joining the force in the field, but I worry you may be under too much stress in your current position."
"Are you saying I can't handle being a cop?" Gus questioned, more than a little irked.
Mac shook his head, "no, you are a good cop but maybe you need a break. Maybe you still have some loose ends you need to tie up."
"The trial and Muller were not my fault!" Gus protested, "and I am sorry I reacted to this case, but I would expect you to understand it is not something I can just forget happened. I mean, come on Mac!" Gus cried out.
The stared at each other in silence until Gus finally said, "if you think I am unfit for duty, just say it, better yet make it official".
"You aren't unfit for duty, Gus, I just think perhaps you could take some time off, get away and then evaluate as to whether you want to stay working in homicide."
"You mean with Flack, don't you?" Gus wondered why he couldn't seem to let this go.
"I just don't want you to have another Mr. Smith incident," Mac replied, thinking his niece looked like she was running on less than empty.
"Come off it, Mac! You don't get to be the only one sleeping with a colleague in the NYPD."
"My relationship with Peyton is not the issue here."
"Fine, but I am not really sure what the issue is here, so if you could clear that up for me, that would be great," Gus snapped, feeling blindsided.
"I just worry that you have not had the proper chance to process the past two years."
"It's not exactly a crime scene, Mac, they don't have a manual."
"I also am concerned with your history what your long term viability is in homicide."
"With my history? Jesus Mac, you make it sound like I grew up in Hotel Strap Me Down! I think my history has given me more than enough exposure to homicides. And why is this coming out now? A little late in the game, don't you think?" Gus was reaching her limit.
"Well, a lot has been happening lately and I was getting the impression that you and Flack were getting pretty serious and I didn't know how that was going to change things. I also wasn't sure how you were dealing with the stress of Muller."
Gus threw down her napkin, in complete disbelief that her uncle could think so little of her or her abilities. "I think I'll take a rain check on dinner. I seem to not be hungry anymore. Perhaps you can call Reed and nose around in his life instead make it a true family affair," Gus said, storming out of the restaurant and hailing a cab.
Mac sat there, feeling more than a little inadequate and not sure how to handle the situation. He was truly concerned for his niece and was well aware that he should have addressed most of this with her earlier, but he had been caught up in his own life and now it seemed too late.
Chapter 98: Abracadaver
The next few days were silent as far as cases went, a relief to Gus, as she was able to avoid Mac. Flack picked up that she was avoiding going to the crime lab right away, but didn't press her on it for a couple of shifts. "Sunshine, you develop some sort of allergy to the crime lab I should know about?" he asked, smirking over paperwork.
"Not the crime lab, just the man in charge," she quipped back. Flack gave her a look. "What?" she asked, flipping through cases.
"I didn't say anything," Flack replied.
"You didn't have to. It's not like he is always your favorite person anyway."
"Ah yes, but I am not related to him."
"Thank your stars for that one," Gus growled.
"What did he do?" Flack said, feeling like he was walking onto unstable ground.
"Decided to poke his nose in where it wasn't wanted. Too little too late."
"Is that why you have been lying low since Sunday?"
"I wasn't lying low, I have my own life you know." Flack made a noise but didn't say anything. "And just what is that suppose to mean?" Gus pressed him.
"How many people do you know in New York that aren't you aren't related to or aren't part of the NYPD?" Gus started to speak but Flack cut her off, "my family doesn't count either."
Gus slumped, "does my dry cleaner count?" Flack merely laughed. "Like you have so many friends out in civilian land yourself."
"I didn't say I did, I was merely countering your statement and since I haven't been avoiding the crime lab, I have seen everybody and hadn't seen much of you."
"Glad to hear you are keeping your detective skills sharp," Gus said with a roll of her eyes. "Hey, you don't think we are going to get called to do street duty on this Luke Blade thing, do you?"
"Nah, it's been quiet enough that the uniforms should be able to cover it. You weren't paying attention in the staff meeting again were you?"
"I still got you around, don't I? I was trying to figure out if I should refinance my place or not, math took all my concentration. But I'm glad, I'm not a big fan of magicians, like anyone is really gonna believe you have sawed someone in half."
Flack made a face at her, "I'm going to get some coffee, you want anything?" Gus just looked at him. "What am I saying? I forgot who I was talking to, she who bleeds caffeine."
Standing in an abandoned theater hours late the next night, Gus stood over the two halves of the latest DB in New York City and said, "I guess I should have kept my mouth shut, huh?"
"Ya think?" Flack said, trying to avoid looking at the otherwise attractive woman who was now in two pieces on the stage.
"I'm going to go talk to the night watchman again, see if he can talk yet."
"I'll wait on Stella and Mac, they should be here soon."
"My hero," Gus said.
"You can't avoid Mac forever".
"I'm not avoiding him as much as I am avoiding another altercation," Gus said over her shoulder.
Gus went out to the medics, who were trying to calm a very shaken elderly man. Gus attempt to get more information from him when she saw Danny walk pass yawning. "You alright, Messer? You look like something the gator dragged in."
"Back to backs, ya know how it gets," Danny said.
"Well be careful and don't swallow your face."
"I will, Broussard," Danny said walking off.
"Hey Danny?"
"What?" he said, looking annoyed.
"Um, I think Lindsay is missing you," Gus said.
This perked him up a bit, "Montana? And how do you know that?"
"Just a girl hunch. And I talked to her yesterday. She has to testify soon." Gus smiled at Danny. He just nodded and walked inside.
"Any revelations from the watchman?" Flack said joining her and waving to Danny.
"He has a pacemaker and I remind him of his granddaughter."
"Any useful revelations?"
"Not a damn one, blue eyes. It's back to the precinct with us."
"Breakfast first and you can tell me what precisely Mac did to tick you off."
"Only if you are buying," Gus said smacking him on the back.
Gus relayed her dinner that didn't happen over waffles and bacon while flickers of annoyance played over Flack's face.
"Long term viability? What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Flack sneered, slapping his hand on the table.
"You're guess is as good as mine. I don't know what his hidden message was, I wasn't about to stay long enough to hear it."
"Well you might get the chance now, seems we have to meet Mac at a magic shop."
"In that case can we make this conversation disappear, because I know you and Mac have had enough differences the past few months without me being a cause of new ones?" Gus asked earnestly, laying her hand over Flack's.
Flack looked into her eyes, wrestling with his gut reaction to tell Mac off and knowing that Gus was right, things had been strained with Mac enough recently. "Fine, abracadabra, it's gone," he said, patting her on the cheek.
Mac merely nodded at the two of them before they walked in the store. They were greeted by Rupert Lanigan and an apparently dead fly. The trio stood as the man waved his hand over the fly and brought it back to life. "Fake fly?" Flack asked. Gus shrugged.
"Sodium Chloride," Mac replied and explained how the allusion worked.
"Science wins again," Gus said with a smile.
"I liked the fake fly theory better," Flack said.
"What are you, the magic police?" Rupert asked.
Gus held up her badge, "see, no, we are the real police".
"That one was easy to explain," Mac said, taking a picture of the DB out of his pocket, "this is a little trickier".
Rupert took the picture and looked at it, paling. "Is that Vienna, has something happened to her?"
Gus leaned in and said, "she was murdered last night" and Flack added, "You think you could wave your hand over her and bring her back to life?"
Gus bit back a chuckle as Mac sternly looked at them and said to Rupert, "your fingerprint was found on the wooden box".
"We sell those here, I might have handled that one."
"Tell me about Vienna," Mac said pulling the photograph back.
"I loved Vienna."
"It's always love isn't it?" Gus said shaking her head.
Anger at Gus' stalker filled Flack's voice as he snapped, "And nothing says I love you back like an order of protection." Gus chewed on her lip as Flack's hand pressed into her lower back.
Rupert kept protesting, "She used to come into the store a lot, did Luke Blade's shopping. She was a big flirt."
"Oh well, in that case, that makes it alright, we can go then, right boys?" Gus huffed.
"I might have taken it the wrong way and went a little too far." Gus gave Rupert a 'ya think' look.
Flack was loaded for bear now, "No no no, you went John Hinkley on her Rupert. Come on, three arrests in two months?"
Mac remained calculated, "why was she shopping for Luke Blade?"
"She was his assistant."
"Where were you last night between 8 and 10?" Flack asked.
"I was in hours 15 and 16 of my anger management class, listening to some bloke blame his dead ma for punching a meter maid in the face as part of my probation, check it out if you like."
"Obviously your classes have been real effective," Gus said, shaking her head and turning on her heel.
"Now anything else?" Rupert asked.
Mac threw a dvd on the counter, "we'll take this."
Mac and Flack joined Gus on the street. Flack asked, "you think Luke Blade was involved?"
"He's connected to the victim and time of death doesn't rule him out. When mind, body and spirit come together anything is possible, even murder," Mac said, studying the mark on the box and then the pair of detectives. He wondered how much the Muller incidents was going to effect their work and if the matter was resolved like Gus said it was.
Gus was catching a catnap on her paperwork at her desk when Flack roused her, "don't drool on those forms, sunshine, that won't look good to QA".
"Har," Gus said sitting up and blinking."What's up?"
"Stella and Danny matched a footprint at the scene to Luke's engineer," Flack consulted his memo book, "Austin Cannon. Used to date the vic as well, but dumped her when he found out she was doing the horizontal tango with Luke too".
"And that was worth you interrupting my nap?"
"It is because we are about to all go get a front row seat at Luke Blade's current trick."
Gus' cocked her head, "he's set himself on fire, hasn't he?"
"Um yeah, but do me a favor and stand back, you don't have the best track record with fires and I would like to keep you around," Flack winked at her.
"You do know how to make a girl feel the love, don't ya?" Gus said pulling on her coat.
"Ya gotta little..." Flack remarked, wiping mascara off her cheek.
Standing so close in the darkened and quiet homicide pit, the pair almost leaned in for a kiss, catching themselves as Parker came through whistling. "And that's why you can't lie low on me, sunshine" Flack said, walking out ahead of her.
Gus and Flack joined up with Mac, Stella and Danny and headed down to 44th and 6th. They wove through an excited crowd, badges out, in order to get close to the flame engulfed figure of Luke Blade.
All five stood in open mouth shock as the flames were put out, and as the smoke cleared Luke vanished and reappeared as the one who put out the fire. The crowd went nuts as they all exchanged glances and Gus shook her head, "that's crazy even for me". There phones started a symphony of ringing, Gus pulled hers out and grimaced at the call.
"Crispy critter in an alley," Flack said with a grimace.
Stella hightailed it back to the lab to look at video footage while Danny and Mac worked on processing the body. Flack and Gus attempted to find witnesses, but everyone around seemed to have been at the Luke Blade event. "I don't get the draw of this guy," Flack said, slapping his pen against his palm.
"It's easy," Gus said, wandering back over towards Mac and Danny, "everyone likes to escape reality and believe you can cheat death. Luke Blade just figured out how to market it the best."
"Whoa, is that Austin Cannon?" Flack said over the charred figure.
"Indeed," Mac said, "any witnesses?" Gus and Flack shook their heads. "Why don't you both head back to the precinct then, I want a full work up on Vienna, Austin and Luke. Gus can you start a profile on Luke?"
Gus nodded, "no problem," happy that he felt she was still competent in one area.
Flack and Gus sat at their desks, attempting to pull up as much information as they could. Flack yawned saying, "I wonder how long we are going to be up on this one. Seeing as it had already been, what 33 hours?"
"Better than Danny, he's been up about 50. Speaking of which, I am going to offer to bribe him with coffee to see what info he may have gleaned from the evidence."
"Not everyone can be bribed with coffee, sunshine," Flack smiled.
"Yes, but if that doesn't work, I'll offer him information about Lindsay," Gus winked and walked off, leaving Flack to once again wonder what all his partner knew about his best friend's love life that he didn't.
Gus slipped into the crime lab, happy to notice Mac was nowhere to be found. She stood off behind Danny's work area, not wanting to contaminate evidence, but not seeing any extra lab coats around.
"Stop lurking behind me, Broussard, it's creepy," Danny said, dusting a gas canister and studying what appeared to be a print.
"Sorry, I was going to see if you got anything and bribe you with coffee."
"Not yet," he said, taking pictures of the print, "maybe something here though. I don't need anymore coffee, I'll get the shakes."
"Yeah, you seem a little wired, what's up with that?" Gus asked nonchalantly.
"No laughing, and no tellin' anyone and that includes Don," Danny said, dropping his voice. "I'm worried about Montana. Stella said she sounded a little off and she won't return my calls, again and I know she is supposed to testify..." he trailed off.
Gus took a breath, "I wouldn't laugh Danny. And Stella is right, she isn't doing so hot. She called me this afternoon," Gus studied his face, saddened by the wounded look he now had, "she wanted therapist Gus, she broke down on the stand, they called a recess. Don't read too much into her not calling you, please!" Gus pleaded.
"Whatever," Danny said, extracting evidence from a fake magician's wand.
"Don't whatever me, Daniel Messer!" Gus snapped, louder than she wanted to. Luckily none of the lab techs paid them any attention, used to cops storming in and yelling all the time.
Gus lowered her voice, "look I know you keep getting pushed away, and I know that can be tiring and cause you to loose hope; but coming from a practiced pusher, sometimes the more one pushes, the more one really wants to be pulling the other person in instead."
"Ya know, you keep giving me these cheerleading speeches, but they ain't really getting me anywhere," Danny sniffed.
"Maybe because you are here and she is there? Distance could have a lot to do with it."
"Maybe," Danny said, disbelieving and leaning in while he ran the fingerprint through AFIS.
Gus studied him and the computer running through prints, taken aback as he suddenly stared out the window and gave a lab tech walking by a flirtatious smile. "Tell me I did not just see that," Gus said, cocking a hand on her hip, anger filling her face, "I know I did not just see you flirting with that tech after all the moaning and groaning you have been doing for the past forever!"
"I, what?" Danny said looking up and shaking his head, "I'm loosing my mind, BB I swear I just saw Montana."
"Sleep deprivation can cause hallucinations, Danny but I don't think that is the only cause of it."
"Well what is it then?" Danny said, shaking his head at the computer that came up with no match.
"Plain old fashioned love sickness."
Danny grunted, "so what's the cure for that, a lobotomy?"
Gus chewed on her lip to hide a grin, "look, I know you spend all your money on your toys, but I am sure you got an emergency credit card. Use it."
"Use it for what?" Danny looked at her searchingly.
"Get your ass on the next plane to Montana, literally, Messer before you drive yourself over the edge".
"Ya gotta be kidding me, you think I should just hop on a plane in the middle of a case and just show up in a courtroom in freakin' Montana? Oh yeah, Mac will have no problem with that one" Danny snorted.
"You are about to hit your cap anyway, Mac's gonna have to send you home, so what if you make a little detour along the way?"
"I hardly think that is a little detour, besides why would she want me there and not you or Stella?"
"Stop arguing Danny and just think about it," Gus said leaving the lab with a smile, as she could see the wheels turning in her friend's head.
Gus wandered back to the pit, chuckling to herself. "Well that must mean you got something," Flack remarked, slipping his coat on.
"Nope, not really" Gus said, looking at him quizzically, "are we headed somewhere?"
"Back to the magic shop, Hawkes wants to check out magic kits," Flack replied.
"He decide he wants to take up magic as well? Are you supposed to be his assistant, 'cause I am not sure how you would look in a sequined dress," Gus joked.
Flack mocked guffawed, "funny, need to question Rupert again as well, you coming or gonna stay here and work on your stand-up routine?"
"Coming, coming, geesh," Gus said, pulling on her own coat.
Rupert was not in sight as they entered the magic shop, so they started looking through kits on their own. "So Shel, what's your take on magic?" Gus asked, crouching beside him to study the contents of a kit.
"Need you ask, Gus, you should know I am a scientist at heart," he smiled at her.
"Oh come on, even you can admit that not everything can be explained by microscopes and experiments. And even Flack is afraid of ghosts."
"When are people going to let that go?" Flack replied from the other side of the display.
"Well everything in this case is going to get explained with science and that is all I care about right now," Sheldon said, standing up as Rupert came out of the back.
"You boys are no fun," Gus said with a small pout.
"Oh well, if it isn't the great debunker. What can I do for you this time Detective?" Rupert asked upon seeing Flack.
Gus barely hid her snort, as Flack replied, "I'm looking for a way to make my caseload disappear, Rupert. You got that in your bag of tricks?"
Rupert replied indignantly, "they aren't tricks they are allusions."
"Whatever," Flack smirked turning back around. Gus felt like she should start taking score, but Sheldon always the diplomat, calmly came forward and explained about the kit they were looking for. Rupert's eyes lit up at the description, informing them the kit was probably manufactured thirty years ago, and disappeared in the back to look for one.
Flack suddenly quipped, "do you think Houdini knew the impact he would have on mafia lingo?"
Gus wrinkled her brow at him wondering where the hell that had come from as Sheldon said, "I'm sorry?"
"Well when they whack someone, they say they made him do a Houdini, think that would make him proud?"
Gus couldn't contain her laughter this time, especially with the earnest look on Flack's face and Sheldon's comeback of, "are we actually having this conversation?"
She buried her head in her hands, trying to maintain some semblance of professionalism as Flack snarked, "oh I'm sorry. Can you explain the difference between DNA and RNA? Is that better, because that is scintillating conversation right there".
Sheldon volleyed right back, "It would be if you knew the intricacies-" Gus elbowed an interruption as Rupert came from the back, with a box in hand.
"This is what you were looking for it has all three items. You better return this though, it is a collectors item. I don't want to find out you pulled a Houdini on me."
Gus started silently laughing yet again as Flack pulled a face toward Sheldon of smug satisfaction and led the way out of the shop with Sheldon muttering, "Houdini."
"I don't see what you find so funny," Sheldon said outside to Gus, "seeing as you know the difference between RNA and DNA".
"I'm sorry, Doc, did your feelings get hurt?" Gus said, still grinning.
"You don't get to play dumb just because you are playing for the other team now!" Sheldon quipped, looking wounded.
"Who you callin' dumb?" Flack interjected.
"I'm a cop, not a lesbian, Sheldon, and I am not playing dumb. Would buying you dinner make up for my laughing?" Gus said, patting Sheldon on the back.
"Maybe," Sheldon replied with a grin.
"What about me?" Flack asked, playfully sullen, following after them.
After a quick bite from a cart, with Sheldon making fun of her treat of "dinner" Gus walked over to the lab to appraise Mac of her lack of information on Luke Blade.
"I am hitting walls, because it is obvious an alias, but but there is no paper trail. And least not that I have found yet. It doesn't help that the records office is closed".
"Well keep trying," Mac said, smearing something that looked like vaseline all over him.
"Mac, what are you doing?"
"About to set myself on fire."
"And you question how well I am handling things?" Gus joked as an exhausted Danny came in.
Gus stood as Danny and Mac discussed the substance a gas can and had a slight altercation about Mac's knowing everything and backing up evidence with science. Gus cleared her throat gently, hoping to diffuse the situation and Mac looked at Danny and said, "when we are done here, you go home, take the day."
Gus shot Danny a look reminding him of their earlier conversation while Danny said, "fine with you, I'm too tired, that sounds great."
Mac looked at Gus, shook his head and handed Danny a lighter, "you want to do the honors? What other job would you get to set your boss on fire?"
"If you go up in flames, I get your office" Danny said, setting the lighter to Mac's arm, which went up like dry kindling.
"So why are you doing this?" Gus asked.
"Because Luke Blade is using his tricks as his alibi, claiming to blur the lines between reality and illusion, but his guilt is becoming very clear," Mac said, reaching over to submerge his arm in a tank of water.
Unfortunately, Gus was standing too close and before she could jerk out of the way, a flame danced across her hair. "Crap! Crap!" she cried, clapping it out. Mac groaned, he should have known better than to let her in the lab with an open flame. Danny tried to contain his laughter, but his tiredness got the better of him and he broke down.
"You go home," Mac ordered to Danny and turned to Gus, "and you go get that taken care of before the whole lab smells like burning hair." Gus grunted and took off.
A shower did nothing to help the fact that a portion of her hair had been singed off. Gus pulled it up into a messy bun and trudged home, vowing to find the earliest opening salon in New York first thing.
She arrived in homicide the next day straight from an overpriced, pretentious salon that tried to convince her that she should be more trendy. Gus growled her way through the hair cut, though she did have to admit it looked nice, all professionally blown out. But she also knew it wouldn't last and she didn't like having less hair, but thank god she could still pull it back.
"Tell me, you didn't blow me off last night so you could get your hair done!" Flack said as she swished in.
"I take it the news wagon didn't stop in here last night then, huh?"
"Nope," Flack said, flipping through a file.
"I caught myself on fire on Mac's arm," Gus said.
Flack looked at her incredulous, only she would be able to do such a thing and then tell about it like it was a normal everyday occurrence.
"Does that count as injuring yourself, Princess?" Parker asked from beside her.
"Why?" Gus asked, narrowing her eyes at him.
"Because I need to know if we are resetting the pool, and if it does then Lafferty won this one".
"In that case it didn't hurt one bit," Gus said, shaking her head in disbelief, these guys would bet on anything.
"Do you have any idea where Messer is?" Flack asked a short time later, coming back from the lab, "I had something for him."
"Mac sent him home last night after, ya know" Gus gestured to her hair, "and told him to take the day".
"Well he must be in a coma, because he ain't answering his phone," Flack said, sitting back down.
"Oh really?" Gus said, with a triumphant smile crossing her face.
"Oh really, what?" Flack studied her, "Sunshine? What do you know?"
"Nothing, nothing at all" Gus singsonged. Flack raised his eyebrows. "Fine, maybe Danny wised up, that's all," Gus said, drumming her fingers on her desk.
"Ya gonna elaborate?"
Gus shrugged, "he might not be able to answer his phone if he happens to, I don't know, be on a plane to Montana," she whispered.
"Montana, he's going to-" Flack hissed quietly, "for Lindsay?".
Gus gave a little hug, "I dunno, we may have talked about it yesterday."
"Huh," Flack said leaning back.
"Huh. What does huh mean, Flack?"
"Just didn't think Messer was the fly across the country for a girl type that's all."
"And who, pray tell, is that type?" Gus sneered.
"I dunno, Adam maybe or Sheldon, but not guys like Danny."
"Or you?" Gus questioned, trying to keep playful, but curious.
Flack leaned in again, giving her a smoldering look, "why would I have to that, you're right here." Gus whimpered and jumped up to go check with court records.
"Ah ha!" she exclaimed after leaving the courthouse and rushing back to Mac's office to inform him of her discovery of Luke Blade's identity and background.
Gus skidded to a halt inside the door of the office and Stella was explaining much the same things she had just discovered on how Luke's mother died in childbirth, his father was a drunk and Luke had been given up for adoption only to be given back after the adoptive parents got pregnant and where afraid of Luke's surfacing fetal alcohol syndrome.
"He must be harboring some serious abandonment issues," Stella ended with, before shaking her head of curls and leaving.
"I see I have been made redundant," Gus moaned, tapping her own file.
"No you haven't, I still want a profile" Mac said and caught her look. Realization sparked between them.
"Luke called his crew his family," Mac said.
"He's targeting those who betrayed him and violated his trust," Gus filled in.
"Which means?" Mac questioned, though he knew the answer.
"His adoptive mother is the biggest and final target," Gus replied.
"Get on it with Flack, find her," Mac said, picking up his phone.
Gus rushed back into the pit, adrenaline pumping, "got something to run with, Flack. Sylvia Walker. We need to find her!" Flack nodded, pulling up the records program.
"I'm going to pin down Luke," Gus said after filling Flack in on what she and Mac had concluded. Gus quickly discovered Luke had vanished like the magician he was. "Dammit!" she said storming through the pit, "none of his people know where he is".
"Or Sylvia Walker," Flack said, slamming his phone down, "and I am working every angle I know." His phone started ringing, he picked it up with annoyance, "No Stella, we don't have anything. I'll let you know. See what Mac thinks. Bye," he hung up looking downcast.
"I'm going to run through my profile with Mac," Gus said, running off.
Gus rushed back up to Mac's office, joining him and Stella on their discussion of the effects of fetal alcohol syndrome.
"So he is blurring fantasy and reality, inability to reason from cause to effect?" Stella said.
"Yeah and he came to a breaking point," Gus replied, "when he perceived that his crew family was pulling away from him."
"So he was hiding behind the illusions in order to commit the murders," Stella said.
"But he canceled his final trick so he doesn't have anything to hide behind," Mac said.
"He is unstable enough at this point to not care, he has completely broken with reality and is now in a world, illusion if you will, of his own making. One where he is finally in control and can enact revenge. He's playing god," Gus said with a frown.
"We gotta move," Flack said, running in, "one of Luke's people reported their truck missing. We tracked the signal to 23rd and 11th, next the warehouse where Luck stores his stuff."
"Show time," Mac said, as they all readied for action.
They flew across town, Gus silently praying that they would make it to the woman on time. Flack squeezed her hand while executing a high speed turn.
"Two hands," she growled. He smirked, but went back to '10 & 2'.
The rushed into the warehouse with Stella and Mac, guns drawn through the side entrance of a stage. They spotted the straitjacketed woman submerged headfirst in a tank of water at the same time, but Mac reacted first, piercing the tank with a carefully placed round.
Luke Blade's scream filled the air, as he rushed up the stairs of the stage. Flack and Stella covered him quickly, Flack wresting Luke to the ground with a quick knee to the back. Mac and Gus slid across the water and glass on stage to assist the near drowned Sylvia Walker.
Gus winced as glass cut into her palms and she dove for the duct tape covering the woman's mouth, but she was too relieved to care. Mac lifted Sylvia's body up to help her expunge the water that had trapped in her lungs, glad they had made it there in time.
Later after the medics had taken Sylvia away and a squad car had driven Luke to lockup, Mac studied Gus as she was picking glass out of her palms. "How bad?" he asked carefully.
"Nothing much, I'll be fine, I just wanted to get that tape off of her as quickly as possible," she sucked out one last piece and spit it to the ground.
"Good work on the profile."
"I should have had it yesterday, we could have avoided this" Gus grumbled.
"Don't play what ifs, you did good work. You always do," he looked at her for a long beat, "about last Sunday-" he started.
Gus held up a slightly bloody palm, Mac cringed but let her speak,"you had something to say and you said it, we disagreed, not the first time, won't be the last".
"Gus, I know you think this is about me being suddenly overprotective, but you are part of the team and I worry about you just as much as I worry about everybody and how they are handling things from the past and how it will effect their future work. This is as much about me being your supervisor as being your uncle," Mac stepped in and squeezed her shoulder.
Gus moved back and said, "Mac, I have another boss, you know in homicide, the division I am actually part of.."
Mac sighed, looking slightly defeated, "things are different in homicide, they let more things go".
"And is that why you don't want me to stay in homicide? Because they let things pass easier then you and your precious crime lab? You guys aren't perfect either! And on top of that, if I moved to another division, you couldn't keep tabs on me as easy, so then what would you do?" Gus was on a full rant now, but aware that they were starting to garner attention from the others.
"It isn't about keep tabs, Gus, I just want to make sure you are safe and happy, something I haven't really been able to do much in the past fourteen years!"
"Is this some Mac Taylor 2.0 version since you have been seeing Peyton, because I am not so sure I like her British charms rubbing off on you," Gus huffed, but lowered her voice.
Mac's eyes went cold, "please don't bring Peyton into this. It is as much about finding Reed and moving on as it is anything."
Gus could feel herself quickly running out of energy, "Mac, it's great that you want to look out for me, but I have learned to look out for myself. And I finally feel like I am somewhere where I sort of belong, so let me just have that. And if Daddino suddenly thinks I stop being a good homicide detective, we can all sit down and discuss my future with the NYPD. I will give you that a lot has been going on in my life lately, but when has it not? And Jesus, Mac, I've spent enough years of my own on a therapist's couch to know where my breaking point is."
Mac shook his head, "I just hope you know enough to do something to stop yourself before you get there." Gus looked like she was about to protest, but Mac cut her off, "let's just get back to the precinct. Get showered and changed, you are still soaked," Mac gestured.
She hadn't noticed it, but sure enough, thanks to her dive across the stage, Gus was covered in bits of glass and was soaked to the skin.