Chapter 107: Cornerstones
Despite having a rare weekend off, Gus' week was not off to a good start. First, Flack had let her sleep in, knowing she had been up for most of the night before, so she felt rushed to be on time.
Then, Gus realized that every single one of her pant suits were in the pile of dry-cleaning, forcing her to pull out a skirt, knowing full well she would receive more than few lewd comments from the homicide guys today.
She then managed to dump a full mug of coffee on her favorite silk shirt and was practically in tears trying to find the stack of bills that she had to get out in the mail today.
"Sunshine?" Flack asked, trying to not be overly amused by the sight of Gus flying around the apartment like a chicken with her head cut off.
"Don't talk to me, blue," Gus said, dumping out a basket full of odds and ends.
"Ya sure I can't help ya with anything?" Flack said, coming up behind her.
"Not unless you have super powers to get my dry cleaning done in five minutes and can find the stack of bills that I have to get in the mail today or face ridiculous late fees," Gus muttered, pawing through the random junk mail in the basket.
"Really?" Gus was incredulous.
"No big deal, it's right down the street and I believe some of the stuff in that mountain is mine. And Gus?" Flack looked at her with a smirk.
"You might want to think about putting on matching shoes, while I am sure most of the guys will get distracted with your legs, they are all pretty perceptive and all," Flack said gathering up the clothes from the bedroom.
Gus looked down at her one black one brown shoe and cursed, though to be fair, they were the same shoe just in different colors.
Gus was looking marginally better when Flack returned from the quick jaunt to the dry cleaners. She had managed to put on matching shoes and a new shirt while she tackled her hair into a bun and threw on some quick make-up.
Gus was scooping the files she had been working on all weekend into her tote when Flack spied the stack of bills.
"Are these your missing bills?" he asked with a smile.
"Yes, thank god!" Gus exclaimed.
"I never would have figured you for an old fashioned check and stamp kinda gal," Flack said, with a grin.
"Only because I stupidly decided to use the NYPD credit union and I think they are operating on equipment from 1943," Gus sighed, trying to wrangle the files back into her bag.
"Someone should have warned you." Flack smiled, "you about ready?"
"As I am going to be, I have a feeling it is going to be a long day," Gus hitched her bad onto her shoulder and adjusted her skirt.
"I probably shouldn't mention we are out of coffee?" Flack said holding up the empty pot.
"Really long day," Gus sighed.
Luckily, the morning was fairly quiet, everyone seeming somber from either working or partying all weekend. Gus was able to run out for coffee almost immediately and despite getting a run in her pantyhose as soon as she sat down at her desk and getting frustrated at the lack of access to files she needed for her complete profile, Gus still felt like she had a productive morning.
She was trying to count this as a win, despite being starving from having skipped breakfast, having hit her head on her desk trying to retrieve a dropped file and completely shredding her stockings in the process, and tearing a contact while trying to remove an errant eyelash resulting in her resorting to her backup glasses.
Not to mention Flack seemed to have disappeared, garnering her a lecture from Daddino about keeping track of her partner.
"Jesus Gus, I leave for thirty minutes and this is what happens to you?" Flack said walking in and taking in Gus' frazzled appearance.
"There better be food in that bag," Gus snapped, pointing at the paper bag Flack was holding.
"Roast beef on french, 'dressed' as you like to say," Flack said pulling out a sandwich.
"Thank god," Gus said, blowing hair out of her face and grabbing the food from him.
"Jesus, Flack, did you not feed her this weekend?" Parker asked as Gus tore into the sandwich.
"Damn it," Gus growled through her sandwich as her phone started ringing, "we got a call."
Flack and Gus walked up to the responding uniforms, who were busy trying to calm down a pack of hysterical teens.
Flack turned to Gus and quipped, "now you can say you have been to Coney Island."
"Yeah because this is exactly what I was thinking, a call to a DB in a garbage infested underpass. Why would I want a boardwalk, hot dogs, cotton candy and carnies that smell like cab-" Gus said sarcastically, cutting off as they got to the DB, "she's definitely had a worse day than me," Gus blanched at the body of what appeared to be a young woman wrapped in a moving blanket.
"You want the kids or the scene?"
"I'll take the kids," Gus replied, walking off to the group of male teens gathered off to the side.
They started to catcall as Gus tromped forward, and she once again cursed having worn a skirt, she hitched her jacket behind, showing her badge, causing the kids to start to scatter.
"Yo, hey, don't be running. I don't care why you were here, I just wanna know what y'all saw," Gus said, holding up her palm.
"She's cool" one of the kids at the front said, tipping his chin to her, "cop that hot can't be bad."
"Thanks there Romeo, now what did you see?"
"Nothing,'" one of them spoke up, challenge in his voice.
"Nothing, y'all saw nothing, but you still hanging around?" Gus challenged back.
"Just enjoying the view," another leered.
"Yeah, I got a nice view you can see through some bars, now come one, I've had a crap day, what happened?" Gus squared off.
"Alright, alright, we tight. My boy over there was ghost-riding, but the car hit hole, he flew off and damn, there she was!"
"Thanks for your help, gentlemen, now can you do me a favor and find somewhere else to go?" Gus smiled, and waggled her fingers at them as they dispersed.
She walked back over to where Flack had been joined by Stella, Mac and Sheldon. "Hey y'all," she said, walking over to where Stella was photographing the body.
"Gus," Mac said as Sheldon was pointing out lacerations and bruises on the woman's body.
"I'd put time of death between 2 and 5 this morning," Sheldon said.
"Judging by her dress, she could have been out partying," Flack said.
"Another reason to stay in," Gus quipped, trying to piece together the elements of the woman's death.
"There's a padlock around her neck," Stella said, pointing, "this girl went through hell."
"There's restraint bruising as well. You two check with missing persons, I'm going to talk to the kid who found her."
"Good luck with that," Gus dripped.
Flack walked off to phone in to the precinct, while Gus paced around the body. Something about the tape on the woman's face and amount of torture she had gone through was setting off alarm bells in Gus' head.
"This is an awful lot of brutality on a body to also depersonalize them," Gus said, leaning over Stella.
"You thinking serial?" Stella asked as a commotion was occurring over by the medics and Mac was calling for Sheldon as a man suddenly fell to the ground "What the-" Stella started.
"Yep, long day," Gus said with a shake of her head.
When Mac came back over, Gus was still deep in thought over the body. "Your wheels are turning," he said stoically.
"So are yours," she said with a small smile.
"What are you thinking?" he asked.
"Don't know yet, something about this tape, what is it covering up? Something isn't sitting right," Gus sighed.
Mac looked at her with a smirk, "one way to figure that out."
"You are sending me to autopsy aren't you?" Gus curled her lip.
"Sure am," Mac said with a nod and a pat on her back.
"Anything from missing persons?" Gus asked Flack back at the car.
"There are a couple of persons that could match our vic's description, will be easier to narrow down once we had a face."
Gus dropped down into the car,"yeah, well, I'm getting a first hand look, so I'll let you know."
"Autopsy huh?"
"Yep."
"Better you than me," Flack smirked. Gus arched an eyebrow, but didn't respond.
Gus pulled on a pair of disposable scrubs before heading into the autopsy room, figuring it would be the best course of action given her day. She crossed herself and said a silent prayer before peering into the room to find the body of the women.
Gus sighed with relief to see Sid standing beside the table, carefully removing the moving blanket. "You are a sight for sore eyes today, Sid," Gus said, walking up to him.
"Isn't that supposed to be my line, Augusta?" he volleyed back. She grinned, but it quickly faded from her ace as Sid started to catalog all the injured on the young woman's body.
She wavered slightly, which Sid noticed. "Do you need to sit down?"
"No, I'm fine, it's just whoever did this did a number on her," Gus shook her head.
"It's usually the men who faint anyhow, and that saying about the bigger they are is very true," Sid commented, cutting the chain and padlock off the woman's throat and telling an assistant to run it up to the lab.
"Stole some scrubs, I see," Sid chided as he finished swabbing down the body and was trying to decide how to best remove the tape.
"Dry cleaning day, was forced to wear a skirt," Gus shrugged, leaning toward the table.
Sid nodded, knowingly, causing Gus to crack another smile,"they suit you. Did you ever consider going to medical school? Severe shortage of psychiatrists you know."
"You sound like Mac, it's all I heard for all of undergrad, actually, I think he even mentioned it up until the day I got my doctoral hood."
"So what brings you down to my neck of the woods anyway, more paying of dues?" Sid asked, slowly and carefully cutting off the tape.
"Nope, just had a weird feeling about this vic, something wasn't setting right between the amount of violence and the covering of her face. That and the whole thing is seeming like a mixture of organized and disorganized," Gus shuddered.
"Well, I do believe you were correct in thinking something isn't right about this victim, Augusta," Sid gestured to the face of the woman as he gently set the mask of tape down.
Gus peered down and withdrew in horror, the woman's eyelids had been cut off. "Looks like a signature to me," she said, shivering, "I'm going to go look this up."
"I'll call Mac, don't be a stranger," Sid called after her.
"You don't exactly have the most hospitable office, Sid!" Gus called without turning around.
Gus stripped of her scrubs and headed back to the pit, shivering the whole way. Something about the woman on the table, staring vacantly sans eyelids was a little more than she was expecting to deal with that day.
Gus strode into the pit, hoping to get a hit on the signature and also hoping she could convince Flack to go on a coffee run. She slumped at her desk, bitter at the empty one facing her. "Any clue?" she asked Parker.
"No idea, and I'm about to head home. See ya."
"Have a good one, Park, you lucky bastard," Gus said, typing on her keyboard and banging the desk in frustration when the network timed out.
Drumming her hands against her desk, waiting to see if the technology gods were going to come back to her side or not, she dialed Flack's number. "Hey blue eyes, where y'at?"
"Some place I never want to be again" he sighed.
"What?"
"Stella and I got an id on the vic from a club, that's what the padlock was for, a lock and key party."
"A what?" Gus tried angrily again to access the network.
"Don't ask. Though apparently you would do better at them then I would, they were drooling all over Stella, practically didn't even notice me."
"You poor thing," Gus snorted.
"Anyway, I'm headed back, you got anything?"
"A cranky computer and an empty coffee cup," Gus sighed.
"Well I can fix one of those, see ya in five," Flack rang off.
Gus dialed another number on her phone after trying and failing to connect to the network once again.
"Taylor."
"Hey Mac, I can't get on the computer, but something isn't right about this vic, the eyelids seem to be a signature," Gus said.
"I know," came his curt reply.
Gus narrowed her eyes, "you know? Of course you know, you know everything," she sighed.
"I'm down with Sid now, I think I know who did this. Now we just need the evidence," Mac snapped.
"You gonna fill me in?" Gus asked.
Gus could hear the tension in Mac's voice as he said, "I just need to verify something first, but I think Clay Dobson might be active again."
"Clay Dobson, who is Clay Dobson?" Gus asked with growing frustration, but she quickly realized the line had gone dead.
"Dammit!" she exclaimed as she banged down her phone and failed with computer once again.
Flack coming into the pit carrying coffees, thought about turning around, but instead held the tray before him, "cease fire, Broussard, I got coffee," he joked.
"Thanks, my hero once again" Gus said, taking the cup, "can you get into the network?" she asked as Flack sat down.
He typed in his password, shaking his head, "Nope."
"Department is down," Montgomery called from behind her. "Called IT, they are 'aware and working on it' which probably means wanking it and laughing at us."
"Now you tell me," Gus huffed.
"Ya didn't ask," Montgomery shrugged.
Gus took a long swallow of coffee, "name Dobson ring any bells, because I think we got a serial but I haven't heard of him and I try to keep up on such things."
She noticed Flack's neck tense and his forehead start to throb, but he didn't say anything. "Blue eyes?" Gus whispered, and leaned over their desks.
Flack shook his head, "five years ago, Truby," was all he said before storming off in the direction of the lab.
"Craptastic", Gus said, taking another drink of her coffee and going to follow him.
Gus stood in the hallway of the lab outside Mac's office, observing the fireworks going on inside, catching snatches of conversation and hesitant to fill in the blanks.
"I don't know which one of them looks angrier," Lindsay said behind her, heading toward the canteen.
"Yeah, no kidding, why do you think I am out here?" Gus smirked, "heard you caught an interesting case."
"Crazy, huh? Danny went to talk to some guy in the Russian mob," Lindsay shivered.
"Sounds like nearly as much fun. Have you seen Stella?"
"She was questioning a guy about your case, they got a hit off of the lock," Lindsay supplied.
Gus nodded.
Lindsay patted her friend on the shoulder, "I'm going to head out, its been a long day. Don't forget to sleep, Gus."
"Yeah, yeah, will do. See you tomorrow, Linds," Gus said, watching her friend walk out and slumping against the wall in the hallway.
Flack came storming out of Mac's office. Gus caught her uncle's gaze through the windows. He caught her in a stare and waved her away. "Go home" he mouthed.
Gus sighed, feeling torn between the two main men in her life and walked slowly after Flack. "Is anyone going to fill me in on who Dobson is?" Gus said when she caught up to Flack heading out of the precinct.
Flack shook his head, angrily working his jaw sending a bolt of anger through Gus.
"What the hell?" Gus said, wrenching open the door to the car.
"Mac. Truby" was Flack's reply as he slammed his door.
They didn't speak on the way back to the apartment, other than for Flack to curse at traffic and the lack of parking near the building.
"What about Mac and Truby?" Gus asked getting out of the confinement of the car and following Flack around the block.
"Clay Dobson was put away five years ago for the murder of Lauren Henning. Her eyelids were cut off."
"So there is a copycat?"
Flack whirled around toward Gus, his jaw still clenched and shook his head, "No. Dobson was released. The officer of record was Truby and there was no evidence, the whole case was based on the confession to Truby."
"So we are back to your feud with Mac about Truby?" Gus crossed her arms over her chest and raised her eyebrows.
"If Mac hadn't put Truby away-" Flack started.
"Then Dobson wouldn't be out? Yeah, I get that but how is that helping anyone now, how does that help Emma Pierce?" Gus implored.
"I know that, but Mac seems to think I'm not responsible for this," Flack's eyes were cold.
Gus threw her hands up in disbelief, "because you're not, you didn't kill Emma or Lauren, you didn't let Dobson out. You didn't-"
Flack stepped towards her, his finger poking into his chest, "but I did, I gave up my book, I essentially put Truby away!"
"I feel like we have had this argument before," Gus said, pulling on Flack's arm, "and you still are not responsible for Truby choosing to be a dirty cop and Mac still would have gotten the information one way or another."
Flack ran his hand over his face, "yeah but Mac thinks I should just let it go and I don't know how to do that. He wants to take the hit which is easy for him to say."
Gus sighed and nodded, "because he gets to hide out in the lab and you have to deal with the guys in the pit."
Flack looked beat down, "pretty much. And I also get the impression that Mac thinks I put too much heart into my work."
"So what if you do? That is part of what makes you a good cop and not a robot. Of course sometimes letting the way you feel effect the way you do your job can be tricky," Gus chewed on her lip.
"Great, now you sound like him!" Flack protested.
"How, for suggesting that it can be bad for us to let our feelings cloud our judgment? It's the truth, you and I both know that if you get too much into a case it can take over and you can get lost. I think we've had that argument as well!" Gus shot back.
Flack looked like he was about to yell back, but stopped himself, he was taking out his anger at Mac and himself on her and that wasn't fair to either of them.
He shook his head and then placed a hand on each of her upper arms, "Can we just not talk about Truby or Mac or Dobson or work for a couple of hours?" he implored.
"Well crap Flack, what is left for us to talk about then?" Gus replied looking up at him, still reeling from being told that she sounded like Mac.
"Baseball?" Flack suggested with a grin.
Gus curled her lip, "When are you ever going to learn that I am not a baseball kind of girl, detective?"
"Stop being difficult, sunshine," Flack said, letting himself into the building.
Gus followed behind him, trying to shake off her bad mood, "but I do it so well."
Gus had poured them both a well needed stiff drink they were enjoying when her landline rang.
They both looked at each other as Gus went to go answer it, "Broussard."
"Did Flack tell you who Dobson is?" came Mac's voice.
"In so many words," Gus said, sitting down onto the couch.
"What do you think about the case?"
"This one?" Gus asked, "Or the Henning case?"
"This one," Mac said, flipping through the reports on his desk, knowing he should head home, but feeling like there had to be something he was missing.
"I don't know, I don't really have a feel for Dobson, but it seems like this could be a serial case. I was planning on looking into it more tomorrow, seeing as you sent me home, if you recall," Gus' voice went over the line like ice, even Flack winced pouring himself another drink.
Mac drew a sharp intake of breath but didn't respond.
"Anything else, Mac?" Gus asked as Mac remained silent.
"Not for tonight. I'll see you first thing" he finally said as he saw Peyton in the hallway outside his office.
"Sure thing, Mac," Gus said hanging up the phone.
"You don't have to be mad at him on my account," Flack said, sitting her refilled glass in front of her and looking down at her.
"Believe me, blue eyes, I can find plenty of reasons to be angry with Mac Taylor of my own accord. And I'm not mad, I'm frustrated," Gus said, slapping her hand against the coffee table.
"Well luckily I can take care of that," Flack responded, pulling her to her feet.
"Oh please," Gus admonished, catching the look in his eye, "I am not that easy."
Flack's dimpled smirk relayed that he clearly thought otherwise, the heated kiss he drew from Gus only furthered his argument.
Chapter 108: Thrown for a Loss
"Crap, this isn't good," Gus cursed over her computer on her desk first thing the next morning. "What, what isn't good?" Flack asked, deep into a case file.
"Dobson," she yelled over her shoulder running toward the lab. She was heading toward Mac's office when she literally ran into Sheldon and Danny.
"Yo Broussard, where's the fire and did you set it?" Danny smirked. "Very funny, have you seen Mac?"
"I don't know if he is in yet, but you wanna join us for a day trip, going to see your kind of people on Coney Island," Danny asked.
"My kind of people?" Gus questioned looking at Sheldon.
"Don't ask me, all I know is we got female DNA off of what we thought was beard hair and out vic was poisoned with ricin," Sheldon replied with a shrug.
"Ricin? Damn, I thought my case was weird, have fun," Gus said, waving them off.
Gus found Mac in his office talking with Stella. Standing outside in the hallway, bouncing on the balls of her feet, she impatiently waited for him to be done.
"You gotta go pee or something?" Adam asked walking past.
"No, just waiting on Mac," Gus sighed, "come on, come on" she muttered.
"If it is that important, just go in," Adam suggested.
"Yeah, right," Gus said, knocking once on the glass before pulling open the door.
Mac looked up and Stella turned, "Gus," Mac said with a nod.
"He fits!" Gus exclaimed, her voice a combination of anxiety and excitement.
Stella's brow wrinkled, "who fits what?"
"Dobson," Gus gushed, "Organized, intelligent, well-educated, methodical, socially inadequate. Vics killed in one place, dumped in another, knowledge of forensic science. I would bet hedonistic and power/control mixed," she bounced a couple more times before settling back on her heels.
Mac and Stella shared a look. "Tell me you didn't come to this same conclusion," Gus visibly wilted, "could you at least act excited like I just took my first steps or something, be good lab parents."
"Lab parents?" Mac mouthed to Stella, amused.
Stella shrugged and faced Gus fully, "we found blood on Emma that matches another missing person, same age, same type. Katie Lawrence."
"Do you think she's dead?" Gus asked.
"Blood only transfers when it is wet, so I believe she might still be alive," Mac answered.
"I'm going to go talk to the mother, would you like to come?" Stella asked Gus.
Gus shook her head, "no, I want to learn more about Dobson, get in his head."
"I'll check back with you later, Mac. See you Gus," Stella said exiting Mac's office.
Gus stood in front of Mac's desk expectantly. Mac studied her, she looked like an excited puppy or a child who has just learned something new, he felt a flood of emotions take over.
"Good work, I agree with you. However Dobson might be trickier than I previously thought to catch. He said something about having an interest in serial killer books when I saw him this morning."
"When you saw him this morning. You went to talk to him?" Gus was taken back, "that's not exactly S.O.P., Mac"
"I know you are not about to lecture me on operating procedures, Gussie," Mac joked with a warning tone.
Gus sighed, "no, I'm not. But tell me more about Dobson and the Henning case," she said sliding into the chair in front of his desk.
Mac looked down at her, she obviously wasn't leaving his office until he obliged. He said, sliding the case files over to her, "happy reading" he said with a shake of his head.
A few hours later, Gus slammed the last file shut, a better and frightening picture of Clay Dobson worked out in the form of a profile.
Flack shot her a slightly bemused look, knowing she was like a dog with a bone on this one. "You shouldn't look so satisfied, sunshine," he joked.
"I'm not satisfied, Flack," she caught his eyes, "well not entirely" she added hastily, "it's just he looks so good for this."
"Yeah, well we still have to do our jobs," Flack replied.
"Yeah, I know" Gus sighed, "you follow up with that guy from the lock and key party?"
"Yeah, Justin Parker, alibi checks out thanks to a doorman and late night munchies." Flack drummed his fingers on his desk. "Waiting for trace from the lab to see if anything else comes up. Right now in all reality, we got squat."
Gus chewed on her lip, "well let's go see what the lab has for us, I need to get these files back to Mac anyway."
"You just want to steal some of their coffee," Flack joked, standing up and pulling his suit jacket back on. Gus stuck out her tongue before walking off in the direction of the lab.
Gus slid to a stop, Flack barely stopping before ramming into her, in the hallway of the lab. A noise caught in her throat, causing Flack to look up while simultaneously resting a hand on the small of her back.
"Gerard," she growled as Flack pulled her back around the corner where they could still hear but not be seen.
"A signature, one that expresses the killer's personality, it is something he has to do," they heard Mac say to Gerard.
Gerard's reply of "enough of this Quantico mumbo-jumbo," caused Gus' hackles to rise and Flack to hold her back.
"Sunshine, you don't want to mess with him right now," Flack said through clenched teeth.
"He seems fine with the mumbo-jumbo when it suits him!" Gus hissed back.
"Shh," Flack warned, straining to hear as the pair moved away.
"Result on the semen found on the mover's blanket," they heard Gerard say. Flack peered around the corner, watching Gerard hand Mac a file. "Don't mess this up, Mac," Gerard yelled before storming away.
"Great," Flack groaned, still holding onto Gus' arm.
"I guess the lab has something for you," Gus remarked, wryly.
"Joy. And now Mac's on the war path," he said, pointing as Mac stormed into the lab where Stella and Adam were.
"Someone's in trouble," Gus quipped as they observed Mac giving Adam a dressing down.
"How about that coffee?" Flack asked, pulling her towards the canteen.
"I should have gone with Danny and Sheldon," Gus said, pouring them both cups of coffee.
"Where were they going, though I think hell would have been a better trip than dealing with the Mac and Gerard show," Flack said, stirring absentmindedly.
"Coney Island, I think the sideshow if I caught Danny's implication," Gus took a swallow of her coffee and pouted slightly.
"I promise I will take you to Coney Island. And not even during a case," Flack winked at her. "Now you want Mac or the lab?"
"Neither," Gus said, taking another huge drink, "but I'll take one for the team and go calm Mac down" she said walking out of the canteen.
"Hey Mac, here are your files," Gus said nonchalantly, walking into his office.
"Thanks Gus. So what's your take?" Mac asked taking the files from her and trying to ignore the pounding in his head that came with playing the political game with Gerard.
"My theory is based entirely on 'Quantico mumbo-jumbo', so I don't know if the department really wants to hear it," Gus said with a small smile.
"You heard Gerard?" Mac asked, rubbing his neck.
"Would have to be deaf to not, but yeah. If it counts for anything, I think you are right, Mac, he fits it perfect."
"Yeah well, it is getting the evidence that is the issue here," Mac replied. "And getting Gerard off your case," Gus added.
"Not to mention not having test results shoved in my face from him as if he needs another excuse-" Mac broke off.
"To be a pompous ass? Yeah well, don't be one to the lab staff just because Gerard is one to you," Gus shot him a look.
"Don't tell me how to treat my staff," Mac snapped.
"Go ahead, write me up, oh wait you can't. Call Daddino, have him do it then!" Gus snapped, "I'll dial the number for you."
Mac took a deep breath, "Today is not the day, Gus."
"I know, but I am saying it isn't right to project your anger onto Adam or Stella or Flack or me or anyone other than Dobson or Gerard," Gus said, trying to sound calm.
Mac looked at her for a long beat, "I know" he paused, "you want to come question Martin Boggs with me?"
"Sure, but who is Martin Boggs?"
"His semen was found on the moving blanket," Mac replied.
"Gotcha, call me when he gets here," Gus said walking out of Mac's office.
A while later, Gus stood behind Mac in a questioning room as Martin Boggs was brought in. He gave her a leer and a head nod.
Gus sneered at him and placed her hand on her gun.
Mac laid a picture of Emma Pierce on the table in front of him. "What do you know about the young lady in this picture Mr. Boggs?" Mac asked, his voice grave.
Boggs picked up the photograph and paled, "this is some sick stuff."
"Found her with her head wrapped in packing tape and her body rolled up in a mover's blanket" Mac added.
Boggs became defensive, "I ain't got nothing to do with this stuff."
Mac shot Gus a look, she nodded. "Martin, your semen was found all over the blanket. You have worked for Maybrook movers for six months and you have access to tape and blankets don't you?" Mac leaned over the table towards Boggs, who looked panicked.
His face turned cocky as he slouched on the table towards Mac, "wait, I got an idea what coulda happened here."
"I'm listening," Mac said, standing up slightly but still leaning on the table.
"I move a lot of single females, sometimes at the end of the day, I get lucky," Boggs shot Gus another leer, she responded with an eye roll.
"Where were you last night between 1 and 5 am?" Mac asked, unimpressed.
"In bed," Boggs responded immediately.
"Anyone that can vouch for that?" Mac pressed on.
"Yeah," Boggs replied, nonchalant, "my wife."
"Of course," Gus snarked from the corner. Mac shot her a look, she merely raised her eyebrows.
Mac turned back to Boggs, "I want a list of every building you have been in since you started this job."
Mac walked out while Gus dropped a pad of paper and a pen on the table, "now, and try to keep it in your pants while you make this list."
"Sure thing hot stuff," Boggs winked.
"Can I taser him, please?" Gus grumbled to Mac outside the room.
"No you may not. Wait for the list and bring it to me in the lab, I have an idea," Mac said before walking off.
"Great, but you didn't say I couldn't mace him," Gus said, rapping on the glass. "Start writing," she called into Boggs.
Gus walked back to the lab, list in hand, having let a uniform deal with Martin Boggs. "Boggs has been a busy boy," Gus said, shoving the pad at Mac with distaste.
He handed it off to a tech, "I need this data entered, immediately," he commanded. The tech scurried off and Gus looked at Mac. "What? I wasn't doing anything wrong there," Mac protested.
"Didn't say you were, but tell me, how much do you enjoy the fact that every lab rat fears you?" Gus smirked.
"Don't let them hear you call them rats," Mac volleyed back.
"So a lot, huh?" Gus teased.
"Go get some coffee or something," Mac ordered.
Gus walked over to the canteen, where Stella was playing with a teabag. "Stella?" she said looking at her friend staring into space. Stella looked up at Gus and broke into a grin. "Did you? Are you?" Gus stammered.
Stella stood and nodded, "negative, Adam just gave me the results."
Gus rushed to give Stella a huge hug, "Stel, that's great, no, it's fabulous!" The women did a bouncing hug and sat down to talk.
Amidst their talk that turned into laughter and happy tears, Flack walked in and almost walked back out. "You two need a minute?" he said as Stella and Gus were wiping their faces.
"Nope, we're all good Flack, better than all good, perfect, I believe," Stella said, running her hands through her curls.
"Just checking," Flack dimpled at them, "Mac was looking for you, Stel."
"Thanks, Don. We should all get together later, huh?" Stella called over her shoulder.
"Sure thing, Stella," Gus replied.
"Haven't seen her that happy in a while," Flack said stoically.
"She has reason to be," Gus replied.
"Did she find out?" Flack stammered out.
"Yep, negative," Gus smiled again for her friend.
"That's great! But you know, I never understood why negative was a good thing in medical terms," Flack looked thoughtful.
"One of life's great mysteries, Flack" Gus said, "now what does Mac have up his sleeve?"
"Who knows with Mac, could be anything," Flack sighed.
"How have things been in the pit, have you taken much heat over Dobson?" Gus asked, leaning against his shoulder as they sat at the table.
"No more crap than I take on a daily basis, I guess. Everyone seems to have better things to focus on for now. I am certain we'll hear about it later," Flack pressed back with his shoulder.
"We'll?" Gus said, trying to not fall out of the chair.
"Well you know, there are some disadvantages with partnership," Flack dimpled, letting up on her.
"Other than spending 24/7 with your mug?" Gus joked.
Flack poked at her, "hey you were the one who had me move-"
"A-hem" Mac said clearing his throat, "we got a lead, we need to get over to the Weddington building." He shot them both a look and stalked off.
"You heard the man," Flack said, pulling Gus to her feet. "Indeed," Gus said, hurrying to the car.
Gus followed Flack into the building, Stella and Mac close behind. A few uniforms trailed behind, Mac calling out instructions to them. "There are over 400 apartments in the building, Mac!" Flack pointed out.
"Emma Pierce had mold under her nails, let's start with the basement," Mac replied.
"Freight elevator is this way," Flack said.
"You have some uncanny ability to suss out freight elevators, Flack?" Gus said looking at him.
"Nah, I've been here before," Flack said casually.
Gus looked at him, her eyes widening in realization, "Oh, OH, gotcha," she said, stepping onto the elevator.
"There's a blanket missing," Stella pointed out. Flack scraped at the tape residue on the wall.
"Could be the one he rolled her up in," Mac stated.
They all stepped out into the basement, flashlights out. Gus shook at hers, cursing as a dim beam flickered out, "dammit."
Flack snickered at her, "You're kidding me right, sunshine? Tell me you at least got a clip in your gun."
"You want me to try it out?" Gus retorted, "they are new batteries, or so I thought."
"Stay with the uniforms," Flack cracked at her, "and try to not injure yourself."
"Funny as always," Gus said separating from him and following after Stella and the uniforms.
"Hey guys, I think I may have found where he kept her," Stella said, pointing at a bloodstained mattress on the floor.
"I dunno, these magazine are five years old," Flack pointed out crouching beside the mattress. "Lauren Henning," Mac said. A thud sounded off to the side, all of them going on high alert.
"You hear that?" Stella asked. The rest nodded, unholstering their weapons.
Mac took off first, the thudding now punctuated by crying. Stella and Gus turned at the same time toward pipes running the length of one wall.
"Crap!" Gus scrambled through a narrow passageway with Stella screaming, "over here, she's over here."
A young and bloodied woman was handcuffed to the pipes, thrashing about, obviously terrified. Stella and Gus tried to approach as she kicked out violently. "No please, no!" she cried.
"Katie Lawrence?" Flack asked. At the sound of a man's voice, the girl became even more distressed,
"Who are you?" she screamed.
"We're the police, you're safe now," Flack said.
Stella moved closer, ducking the woman's flailing limbs, "let's get these shackles off her" she said.
Gus moved behind the woman, "shh now, calm down, keep breathing" she said.
"No, he said he was coming back," Katie was in a full panic, making it difficult to free her.
Gus managed to get one arms freed as Flack asked, "who, who is coming back?"
"Clay, Clay is coming back," Katie responded, realizing one of her arms was free and punching upward, catching Gus in the chin.
Gus' chin snapped back and her head smacked against the concrete wall behind her, shaking it off and grimacing at the taste of blood from biting her tongue.
A uniform moved in to remove the other shackle, but at the touch of a man on her arm, Katie started screaming, "get off, get off me. He's going to kill me."
Gus gestured the uniform off and finished freeing Katie, as Stella said, "you are safe now, Katie, you are going to be fine."
"Blanket, get her a blanket, and a female medic," Gus barked, aware that Mac had disappeared at Flack was rushing away. "Dammit!" she yelled, "Flack!" But Flack had already disappeared. "Mac's gone" she said to Stella who was trying to get Katie to calm down.
"Medic now," she yelled into her phone and pointed at a uniform, "you, I need a ride."
The uniform nodded and they rushed out. "Follow that unmarked," Gus said, throwing her seatbelt across her as the uniform sped off.
Switching on the radio she heard Flack's voice calling for backup, "I need back up at 434 Union."
"Dobson's work, dammit Mac!" Gus muttered, "keep up will ya?" she snapped at the uniform who gave her a look. "Sorry, I just..." she trailed off.
"You're that shrink turned copper huh?" the man asked.
"In a manner of speaking. Detective Broussard," Gus responded, feeling it surreal to be exchanging such pleasantries while Mac was out half cocked against Dobson.
"Paul Lacey," the uniform said.
"Er, nice to meet you Paul," Gus said and then cursed at the garbage truck that cut them off, "like he can't see the lights or hear the damn siren?"
"Are you jokin', no one pays attention to cops in this city. Might as well put us in regular cars for all it's worth" Paul said, swerving around and onto the sidewalk.
Gus heard Flack call out over the radio again, "where the hell is my back-up? All units, all units 10-13, officer in pursuit."
Time seemed to slow down and speed up simultaneously as they raced toward Union. They screeched around the corner alongside three other marked units. Flack was standing there, looking furiously at them, "you two cover the alley, the rest of you seal this place off"! he yelled. He shot Gus a look.
"What? I didn't know you two had run off, Katie Lawrence wasn't doing so hot in case you hadn't noticed," Gus yelled at him.
"I didn't say anything about that, in fact I am surprise you left her," Flack said, barking a few more things into his radio.
"Of course I left her, you left and we-" Gus was cut off by Flack shoving her out of the way as something came flying off the roof and landed with a huge crash onto the cruiser in front of them.
The something turned out to be someone as the grouping of police officer's realized it was Clay Dobson face down on the cruiser. "Oh crap, he's cuffed!" one of them remarked.
Gus stared at the body on the roof of the cruiser in disbelief, surely Mac didn't, couldn't have...she shook her head, willing the handcuffs around the man's wrists to suddenly disappear. They didn't.
Flack was staring up at the roof where Mac was standing looking down. "We gotta get up there," he barked at her and the uniforms.
Gus had little clue how she made it up to the roof other than going on autopilot. All she knew is she found herself on the roof of the building why Flack was yelling at Mac and she was standing with two uniforms who were waiting to be told what to do.
"What the hell happened?" Flack screamed.
Mac just shook his head and rubbed his face, finally saying, "he jumped."
"Cuffed?" Flack screamed.
"Should we call the brass in?" one of the uniforms asked.
"Probably, I don't know," Gus mumbled.
"Don't need to, they are already on the way," the other uniform said, getting off his radio.
"Crap," Gus sighed.
"Let's keep the scene secured" Flack said, instructing one uniform to guard the roof access and the other to head back down to street level. Mac, Gus and Flack stood on the roof, the wind whipping up their jackets and tousling their hair.
"What exactly happened?" Flack asked through clenched teeth. Gus didn't hear Mac's response over the approaching sirens. "Get down there," Flack ordered her, she complied without process, knowing that this was about to get ugly.
Gus watched as the brass emerged from their cars, including her Lieutenant. "Broussard!" he barked seeing her standing in the alley looking dazed. "What the hell happened?" he yelled, echoing Flack's words.
"I am not really sure, sir," Gus said, shaking her head, "we found Katie Lawrence," she babbled.
"Yeah, I heard," he stared at her, "look, kid, things are about to heat up for your uncle. I think you need to get out of here quick. Where's Flack?"
Gus pointed up to the roof, but didn't say anything. Daddino whipped out his cell and ordered Flack downstairs. When Flack came down, Daddino barked at him, "get her home, you'll need to give statements first thing tomorrow morning, my office."
"Sure thing, Loo" Flack said, seeming a little shaken himself.
The Lieutenant walked off and Flack gave Gus a long look. "You alright?" he asked gently.
"I could have come up with better ways to end this day," she gulped.
"You get hurt?" he asked moving in and wiping at the spot of blood on chin.
"Katie packed a good punch. Bit my tongue," Gus said batting his hand away.
"You hungry?"
"Flack!" Gus protested.
"What? I need food." Flack shrugged.
"You always need food," Gus sighed.
"How about take-out, you don't look like you are fit to be out in public," Flack suggested.
"Yeah, sounds great," Gus said, falling into the car.
Flack disappeared into their Lieutenant's office first thing the next morning, leaving Gus to fend for herself in the pit. Questions were thrown at her from every direction, most of them with a hint of disbelief and viciousness underneath the surface.
Finally she stood up and cleared her throat, "look, all y'all, I don't know what the hell happened, alright and I don't want to frigging talk about it anymore. You want to know, ask Taylor himself!"
She sat back down going back to her paperwork. Flack came walking back into the pit, noticing the tension in the air.
"Good luck with them," Gus said before walking into Daddino's office.
"Broussard," Daddino said by way of greeting, file open on his desk, pen poised.
"Loo," Gus replied, sitting in the chair in front of his desk.
"Okay kid, I just want you to tell me what you saw in as few words as possible so I can fit it on this tiny incident report. You'll sign in and then we can get on with our day, that good by you?"
Gus nodded and briefed Daddino on finding Katie Lawrence at the Weddington building, Katie's traumatic reaction and getting a ride to Dobson's building with a uniform.
"I barely got there when Dobson fell onto the car, I didn't see anything, I didn't even know it was Dobson until after, Flack had shoved me out of the way."
Daddino nodded, writing, "so you didn't see anything of what was happening on the roof?"
"I didn't even know they were on the roof until I saw Mac looking down and Dobson was on the cruiser. Flack thought I was staying with Katie."
"Ah so your non-verbal communications finally failed the two of you?" Daddino joked, though it fell flat. "Yeah I guess so," Gus moped.
"Don't look so glum about it, kid, bound to happen sometime," he slid the file over to her, "just sign here and date it. Hey, Broussard?"
Gus raised her eyebrows at him, not liking his tone, "yeah, Loo?"
"You still got your license up to date?"
Gus wrinkled her brow, "My psych license? Yeah, but I don't know if my malpractice insurance is. Why?" Gus prepared for a blow.
"They are shorthanded this week, apparently all the shrinks went out to eat and got food poisoning, your presence has been requested," Daddino said with a laugh.
"Great, for how long?" Gus wanted to argue, but given the treatment she had been given in the pit, she wouldn't be shocked if Daddino wasn't just trying to get her out of his hair until the Dobson matter simmered down.
"Just a few days, Broussard, calm down. Now go see Celia, she's hanging on by a thread from the sounds of it," Daddino said, waving Gus off.
Gus spent the next week trapped in an office, stuck behind a desk trying to remember that it was like listening to people talk all day. The only thing she got out of it was that she could never go back to being a psychotherapist full-time, lest she claw her own eyes out in a matter of weeks.
She also felt extremely isolated from the team, who were busy with cases and preparing for court and working opposite schedules from her.
She barely saw Flack, as he had caught a particularly bad case of a young woman murdered in her apartment with little evidence to be found. It was the night before she was supposed to head back to the pit before she even found herself at home with Flack at the same time.
"Hey, stranger," she remarked, happily finding Flack reading and bed and rushing to join him.
"Hey yourself, I was beginning to forget what you looked like," Flack said, moving her into his arms.
"Rough case, huh?" Gus asked, snuggling up to him.
"Yeah, something feels off about it, but the ME finally ruled it accidental," Flack sighed heavily, "ya know I missed you this past week."
"Tell me about it, I realized I have been converted to cop through and through. I lost count of the number of times I wanted to tell people to quit their bitching and get back to work and start acting like cops," Gus bemoaned.
"That's my Gus, full of empathy," Flack smirked.
"Shut it, mister."
"That's Detective to you," Flack said with a kiss, "back to the regular grind tomorrow?" he asked hopefully.
"Thankfully," she said looking at the clock and groaning, "I mean today, in 4 hours to be precise."
"Great, guess that means we should get some sleep then, huh?" Flack said, slightly downtrodden.
"Yep, guess we should," Gus replied turning over before he made any additional romantic overtures. Flack sighed and flopped back to his side of the bed.
"I did miss you, Don, a lot," Gus said quietly a few minutes later.
Flack smiled to himself, and curled himself around her, "yeah, I know. Night, sunshine."
Chapter 109: Angels and Demons
Gus practically skipped back into the pit, ecstatic to be back in homicide. "Beginning to think you had ditched us, Princess," Parker said.
"We should be so lucky," Lafferty muttered.
"You ain't getting rid of me that easy, Laff," Gus said, refusing to allow her mood be sunk.
"Well maybe you should go hang out on the roof with your uncle then," Lafferty dug in.
"You know I love your originality Lafferty, it is always this breath of fresh air," Gus dripped, settling in at her desk and shooting Flack a look at the pile of paperwork sitting there.
"What, you are far better at it than I am," Flack said dimpling.
"You used to manage to do all your paperwork without me, blue eyes," Gus teased.
"Doesn't mean I was good at it," he replied.
"You lie," Gus retorted.
"So you manage to get the department sorted out there, Doc?" Parker asked coming by with an offering of donuts.
"There is no hope for any of you boys, Parker, you should know that," Gus winked, grabbing a chocolate with sprinkles.
"You are going to have to eat that one on the run, sunshine," Flack said, standing back up, "we got a call, no rest for the weary as usual."
"I hate church calls," Flack said after they entered the church.
Gus stared down the aisle in wide-eyed shock but didn't say anything other than to stammer, "you are kidding me right?"
"No such luck, kids found him practicing for Communion, they are with the priest right now, all three of them are pretty shook up," the uniform who was first on scene told them, "priest called it in."
"Thanks, how is the canvass coming?" Flack asked, jotting notes down in his memo book.
"Just getting started," the uniform replied.
"Keep us posted," Flack said, with another shake of his head in disbelief.
"Ya know, I don't think normal people would believe us if we tried to tell them about our day," Gus said, walking up to the body of the vic, careful to not disrupt evidence.
"Sure wouldn't. Mac's on his way, he is going to get a kick out of this one," Flack replied.
"I can only imagine. And I sense you have some fabulous one-liners waiting for him?" Gus smirked.
"Of course," Flack dimpled.
"I'll take the kids and the priest, I know talking to them makes you all jittery."
"Are you saying I am scared of priests, sunshine?"
"Not in the least, if you want, I can brief Mac and you can save those one-liners for later," Gus trailed off with an evil smile.
"Nah, I'm good. This has got to be one for the books though, a fallen angel in a church?"
"No kidding," Gus said, slapping her memo book against her palm and walking to where the priest and two young boys were standing.
"Father, guys," Gus nodded walking over to the priest and two young alter servers, badge in hand.
"Detective," the priest replied, "I'm Father Brooks, this is Miles and Brian."
"Hey guys, I'm Detective Broussard, but you can call me Gus."
Miles' eyes widened, "We didn't mean to, it's all our fault!" Gus caught sight of Brian elbowing his friend.
"Why don't we not worry about whose fault it is and you guys just tell me what happened, alright?" Gus asked, crouching down to their level.
Both boys looked up at the priest who nodded and gave Gus a smile.
"We were practicing for Communion," Brian said, shooting Miles a 'be quiet' look, and we had to go upstairs for something and that's when we saw the light coming in from the broken window, so we looked down and the guy, the angel was just lying there."
"But Brian, the wine," Miles pleaded. Brian gave Miles lasers eyes and looked from him to Gus to Father Brooks.
"Father, I hate to bother you, but I really could use a glass of water," Gus said to the priest.
"Certainly, pardon me, boys you stay put your parents are on their way," the priest said walking off to the Presbytery.
"Miles, Brian why don't you just tell me about the wine and get it over with, I probably won't have to tell anyone about it," Gus said as soon as the priest was out of ear shot.
"I know where Father Brooks keeps the wine, so we were going to get it," Brian said begrudgingly.
"And since we weren't supposed to up there, that's why the angel crashed and died!" Miles wailed.
"Don't be a baby," Brian snapped.
"Stop both of you, you didn't cause this and I highly doubt it is even an angel, just some guy dressed as one. Now how about we sit right here and wait for your parents?" Gus gestured to a padded pew.
The boys complied with no argument.
Gus got them settled in and shot a look over to Mac and Flack, who must be using some of his jokes on Mac, judging by the wry smile on Mac's face. Flack caught her gaze and gave her a nod. She sat with the boys asking them about school and alter serving and various young boy things like sports and music until their parents finally arrived to scoop them up.
Both of Brian's parents showed up, his mother swooping in for an embarrassing hug. Miles' father came, impatiently tapping his foot saying he needed to get back at work.
"I understand, sir," Gus drawled, flashing Miles' father a huge syrupy Southern smile, "here's my card, we will need them both to sign a statement and I might suggest a session on two with the school counselor."
Miles' father took the card, flirted briefly with Gus and then hurried out of the side of the church, dragging his son along.
After the boys and their parents were gone, Gus collected a full statement from Father Brooks and relayed his request for a prayer over the body to Flack.
"I checked with air traffic control and permitting, there were no special events scheduled in the area last night," Flack informed her.
"Missing person's is going to get back to me," Gus sighed.
"This is just weird," Flack shook his head.
"I know. Can you go see how Mac is doing? I think the priest feels the need to do something," Gus said, gesturing from the antsy priest to the body of the vic.
"I'm on it," Flack said walking off.
Gus wandered around the church, at a loss for what to do until they had more information on the victim and the COD. She took in the stained glass, lit a candle and waited for Mac to release the scene.
Finally, after Father Brooks said a prayer, the vic was loaded up in the ME's van. Quite a feat, considering the wing span took up most of the width of the van. Gus stood outside the church still in disbelief.
"Mac found a cord, looks like it had been sabotaged, cut through," Flack said, coming up behind her.
"Which explains how, but not who or why," Gus said chewing on her lip nervously.
"Whatcha thinking about?" Flack asked, seeing her brow furrow.
"Last time we were standing outside a church together," Gus said softly.
"Yeah, well don't worry, I'm not about to propose again," Flack smirked.
Gus raised an eyebrow, unsure of how to react, "good to know."
They stood in awkward silence for a moment until Flack cleared his throat, "I'm going to go check in with the canvas and then let's see if we can get an id."
"Yeah sure thing," Gus said, watching as the ME assistants tried to wedge the body in the van.
Gus and Flack spent most of the rest of the day trying to run an id on the vic, finally getting an id from prints pulled at autopsy from a drunk driving charge, but since it was a juvenile record from out of state and the ME's office was backed up, it was late in the day before it came.
"Toby Finch," Gus said, hanging up the phone. They worked the phones and databases for a time.
"University student here in the city," Flack said a while minutes later, "but of course I can't get in touch with any of the administrators until tomorrow morning."
"Joy. You wanna grab dinner?" Gus asked.
"And I thought I was the one who was always thinking about food," Flack teased.
"I know, but I feel like just getting this far was a feat in itself and all I've had today was that donut," Gus replied.
"You don't have to ask me twice, the diner fine with you?" Gus nodded picking up her tote.
It was in the diner around the corner that Gus dropped her 1⁄2 a sandwich into her soup upon catching sight of the press conference taking place on TV. "Betty, can you turn that up?" she asked the waitress at the counter in front of them.
"Sure thing, but I don't know why you want to hear whatever those suits are yakking about," she said fingering the remote with a long acrylic nail.
"Because, sadly, those suits are our bosses," Flack said, straining to hear, while Gus wiped soup off of her.
Gus and Flack watched as Inspector Gerard and Chief Sinclair spun damage control regarding Mac. They quickly informed the press that Mac didn't have a vendetta against Clay Dobson just a passion for justice. Sinclair reported that the DA did not have enough evidence to move forward with a criminal case.
"That doesn't mean this over, though," Gus said wearily.
"No, but it seems like they are defending him," Flack responded.
"What they seem to be doing and what they actually do remains to be seen. You believe them?" Gus asked.
Flack shook his head, "not really. Seem too slick and this isn't going to get brushed under the rug. Especially, as that one reporter just pointed out, it's the 3rd police caused death in six months. Public is going to be chomping at the bit on this one. Mac's going to have a bumpy ride either way."
"Can't wait," Gus said, wiping her mouth, "I think I've had all I can stomach, Betty," she said pushing her plate away.
Turning to Flack, Gus scratched her head, "I think I'm going to check in with Mac."
Flack looked at her a long beat and then nodded, "sure thing, I'm going to see what else I can pull up on Toby before heading home. See ya there?" Gus nodded and walked out of the diner.