Tilting Heads
Hello!
This is a story I've been working on called Tilting Heads. It's for Law and Order: LA which was a short one season show in the Law and Order series. I'm a huge Alfred Molina fan girl so I'm throwing one out there for Detective Ricardo Morales.
Morales here is about 10 years younger and instead of being partnered up with T.J., he is partnered up with someone else. This is a Morales/OC pairing. I'm not sure how many chapters I'm going to put in either.
Rated M for later chapters and for violence/content because, you know, it's a cop show.
I also apologize for any grammar and spelling, I do my best, but English is not my first language.
Thank you!
-Stipestripe
OOO
Seeing dead bodies was nothing new to Pierce. The only thing that did get to her with them was the blood. Small amounts, a stab wound, a puddle, that was all tolerable. A dead body in a bathtub with the water tinted red is a little over the top for her. She shut her nose and breathed lightly out of her mouth to avoid the smell of dirty pennies.
"Based on body temp and degree of rigor, our bathing beauty expired between midnight and 4 am this morning" the coroner stated looking at her clipboard. Pierce smirked at the wording she chose while staring down at the man submerged in the water. A bathing beauty. Gross.
"Scented candles, champagne, looks like he was in the mood for love" Her partner, Morales, said pointing out the objects around the bathtub. The candles sat on the lip of the luxury tub, sprayed with blood and water from the bath.
"Should have skipped the champagne" Pierce said holding up an evidence bag "Killer probably used the glass to cut his throat. Close weapon at hand"
"Yes" the coroner confirmed "right to left too… by a southpaw if I had to guess" she had a tired look on her face. Just another day for her, another dead body in L.A.
"Mr. Patrick's wallet is missing, along with his watch" Pierce said looking over the tub again. What a weird place to kill someone she thought to herself. She had only seen bodies in a tub in relation to suicide, this was a new one for her.
"Why am I not surprised?" Morales said looking over at her.
"Okay, guys, let's get him wrapped up" requested the coroner to a couple of her assistants that stood in the overly large bathroom. Morales turned to look at the mirror and sink next to Pierce. She watched him move and looked back at the coroner when she pipped up "Whoa" Morales turned around and both detectives looked down at the body that had just been removed from the tub and laid down on the body sheet.
"His watch isn't the only thing that's missing"
Pierces mouth dropped open a bit as she noticed what everyone else had in the room. She looked away at the damage and raised her brows at one of the coroner's assistants. He had a blank expression on his face.
"That's one for the books. Usually at weddings, it's the groom who surrenders the family jewels" Morales said looking to the coroner. She reflected the same disgusted face the Pierce had.
Pierce headed out of the bathroom into the little hall of the hotel room.
"Would you ever get married again?" Morales asked walking behind her.
"The day that happens would be the day after I win the lottery" Pierce said opening the hotel room's main door for him. Morales stopped in the doorway and looked over his shoulder at her quizzically.
"You don't play the lottery"
"Exactly" Pierce said with a grin on her face. Morales shook his head and walked across the hall to the next room. They called over the groom and stood side by side watching him sulk over. "Poor guy, one hell of a way to remember your wedding day by"
"No kidding" Morales said quietly as the man stopped by a bedroom door. He said something to the ladies that were inside and they closed the door as the detectives walked up to him. "So tell us about your beef with cousin George" The man took a deep breath and looked at the carpeted floor before looking up at them.
"Last night he was dancing with Abby. I thought he was hitting on her" he started with. His eyes darted to Pierce and back to Morales. Pierce took a mental note of jealousy maybe. "Come to find out, he told her that I was engaged once before and then I backed out. She got all upset because I never told her" Pierce raised her right eyebrow up.
"So you decided to thug it out with George in the men's room?" she asked tilting her head.
"That was just woofing" the groom quickly responded "Georgie's my blood-" Morales cut him off after giving him a displeasing look.
"Last night, where were you?" Pierce noted Morales's shift in his feet. His tall stature seemed to loom over the shorter man in front of him. He knew how to use it in these types of talk. Made them come with the answers a lot faster.
"In my room" the groom again answered quickly. He again looked to Pierce and back at Morales. He had a telltale look on his face that he was uncomfortable with them. Good. "Go ahead, check. I ordered room service, drinks and whatnot. I called my dad on the room phone." Pierce looked the man over.
"What time did you go to bed?" She asked him pulling out a pen and a small notebook.
"I couldn't sleep. My brother and my best man came up and sat with me" Glass shattering and a woman yelling caught everyone's attention as they looked at the door that the women had closed a few moments ago. "I got to take care of this"
"Yeah…" Pierce said closing her notebook.
"Good luck" Morales said eyeing him. The groom wandered through the door and Pierce turned to head back to George's room.
"We have grabs for dead mans phone, yeah?" Pierce said putting on some gloves she was handed from a CSI.
"Yes" Morales replied walking out of the room. Pierce found George's phone sitting on an end table next to a sitting chair and looked it over before picking it up. General iPhone. She opened it and started looking through the internet history, texts and call logs. Using her own phone in the other hand she looked up the different called numbers until one came up with a hit on the search engine. Pierce smirked as her own phone brought up the web page for the offending number. An escort service, also known as high-class prostitutes. She looked up a few of the numbers after and the following 2 were also escort services as well.
The few websites that Pierce saw had very alluring ladies on the them. Elegant dresses, nails well done, flawless. She wondered if she would be on their level at all to get that kind of gig if she had gone in that kind of direction instead of patrol and protect. Going out on dates to fancy restaurants and hanging on the arm of a well dressed man. That was only half of it, the other half was bedroom talk. The escorts of course would never admit that. Pierce's face had turned red as she thought about that and quietly laughed to herself while looking up another number. Another escort site.
"The brother and the best man confirm, they were in and out of Billy's room from 11 until 5 a.m." Morales said walking back in towards Pierce. She watched him look over to a CSI in the corner that was looking at some of the furniture. Morales was a tall man of Latin heritage. The dark hair and eyes, a sharp nose. Well built. A flash of a sultry image crossed her mind and she could feel her face flush. Pierce snapped back to reality when she noticed Morales waiting for a reply.
"Uh, yeah... Cousin George may have ordered a pay date last night. Calls from his cell to escort services just after 1. Fits with the rip-off M.O." She said as she set George's phone down gently into Morales hand and pocketed her own. She walked past him quickly taking her gloves off. "My dad always told me not to let strangers into my hotel room. That's why he met his hookers at the bar" she added light-heartily.
"There's one thing wrong with the escort theory. All of these calls are less than a minute. No time to set up a date. And there's no call from the escort agency to verify George was legit. They always call back"
"I'll take your word for it" Pierce said smirking while putting her notebook into her binder that sat on a table in the middle of the room. "So maybe the killer made the calls after the fact to cover his tracks" She turned back towards Morales.
"His… or hers" Morales replied. He looked his partner over, her face was slightly pink. "You alright? Your face is-"
"I'm good, thanks" Pierce said walking past him again embarrassed that he pointed it out. They headed downstairs and outside to the side of the hotel looking for the father of the Billy. They found him smoking a cigarette by himself off to the side near a railing. He looked disheveled and run down.
"Hello. I'm detective Morales and this is my partner, Detective Pierce. Could you answer a few questions?" Morales said as they approached him. Pierce opened her binder and flipped her notebook open. "You're the father of the groom, Billy, right? So George was your nephew?"
"Yes. When my brother was dying of cancer, I swore to him I would look after George"
"George needed looking after?" Morales asked moving his head away from the smoke. The father didn't seem to notice he didn't care for the smoking stick of chemicals.
"He was weak. He envied what other people had" Pierce noticed him put his other hand in his pocket "He couldn't even be happy for my son getting married"
"What did he do for a living?" Pierce chimed in.
"Floor manager at a Casino in Downey" the father replied. Morales did his customary arm cross and shifted feet.
"So what were his problem areas? Money? Drugs?" he asked while squinting his eyes from the sun.
"Money. Child support. Three kids. You imagine, on what he made?" Morales decided to peruse the relationship answer.
"Are there any girlfriends or friends we can talk to to?"
"There was this girl he was gonna bring to the wedding" the father replied looking down at his cigarette "A Liz something".
"Liz Bennett?" Pierce asked.
"Yeah. George was real excited about her. She didn't show" Pierce shook her head up and down in understanding that that would make anyone upset about a romantic partner not showing up to something as big as this. Pierce looked over to Morales.
"There was a call to an Elizabeth Bennett on his cell around midnight" Morales shook his head to Pierce and walked away. "Thank you for your time" she said to the father. He didn't reply but turned to the railing muttering to himself. Pierce followed after Morales. They headed for Pierce's undercover cruiser.
"Can you request Bennett's address?" he asked. Pierce looked up at the sky as she pulled out her phone. Another calm day in Los Angeles She dialed in the line for look up requests and pulled out her notepad. Trailing after Morales she jotted down the address and her number again. She rummaged through her pockets for her keys and unlocked the Charger. Morales climbed in and waited as she set the address into the maps app.
"15 minute drive, Fairfax, Spaulding Avenue" she told him as she settled into her seat. The drive was quiet for the most part. Pierce wasn't much of a small talker. She took a glance over at Morales who in return was looking her over. "What?"
"What was up in the hotel room? You seem off today" he replied looking back out his window. Pierce turned the car to head West on Santa Monica Boulevard. "Not off-off today, I guess. Just up there" Pierce bit her cheek and kind of laughed.
"Nothing, just something stupid I saw on the phone" she said keeping her eyes on the road. Mostly to avoid eye contact and turning red.
"Anything to share with the class, young lady?" Morales said with a teacher like tone. Pierce smirked. She was 35, not to much of a young lady these days. Blows and falls chasing crooks took more of a toll on her now then when she was working in New York walking the beat in her 20's. She traded the gray skies of cold wind-blown winters for calm warmer winters in L.A.
"Just the escort sites. They were a bit… rowdy for me, that's all" Morales had now put his readers on and was looking over her notes from her binder. Not that there was a lot in there since this was just the start of this case.
"Makes sense, you're not that type of woman at all" he said.
"Hey, now!" she said faking offense "I bet if I lowered my standards about myself and wanted more money I could do that". Pierce glanced at the GPS.
"Looks, sure, but that's not you at all. Even if you wanted to, you wouldn't last one day. You'd probably walk out as soon as they set a hand on your thigh" Pierced blushed as she thought about Morales being a customer and setting his hand on her leg. She laughed and shook her head. Wow, where did all this even come from. "I'm serious" he said looking up at her over his glasses at her. Pierce had nothing to reply. They sat in silence the rest of the ride. It wasn't awkward, just nothing to talk about at the time. His comment rolled in her head over and over though. "Looks, sure…"
OOO
"God, I feel terrible" Liz said standing in front of the detectives "he called to beg me to go with him, but I didn't want to send the wrong message"
"George wasn't killed because of what you did or didn't do, Ms. Bennett" Pierce said to make her feel better. And it was true.
"Still. We'd gone on a couple of dates. We had a nice time but he was just too intense"
"Like after 2 dates he invites you to a family wedding?"
"Yes, exactly"
"Did you notice any other warning signs?" Morales asked, again, arms crossed "You know, things that didn't seem right?"
"I wasn't crazy about his job" she replied looking to him "all those sketchy people. Said he was having problems with these pawn brokers in the casino" Pierce's eyebrow went up.
"Pawnbrokers?" She asked tilting her head.
"Yes. Chinese pawnbrokers. He said they would make loans right there on the betting tables. I mean a nosebleed is as exciting as it gets for me. George lived in a very different world" Pierce shook her head in agreement. This was true. A regular blue collar worker is what she was. Shopping on a Sunday, work Monday thru Friday and gardening on Saturday. Hell, she even seemed the type to take her mother to church some weekends. And as she had seen in the hotel room on his phone, he lived more of the Vegas type. A few dates would be enough to see that their lifestyles weren't compatible.
Pierce thanked her for her time and she and Morales made their way to George's place of work, a casino named the Wrangler Casino in Downey.
OOO
Morales and Pierce walked through the front doors and were greeted by a man named John. He was one of the floor supervisors for the casino that George worked under.
"They buy earrings, bracelets, jewelry right from the customers. We tried throwing them out, but the customers complained. So as long as the customers are happy…" John said as he lead them through the lobby.
"And they keep gambling" Morales added.
"Well, nobody's here for their health" they headed down a short flight of stairs onto the ugly floor of the casino. Tables were all over the place. Workers dressed in the usual vest and ties serving cards and customers sitting around the tables with drinks.
"Mrs. Yu?" John asked for her attention as they approached an Asian lady in her late 40's to early 50's "These detectives want to ask you about George Patrick" Pierce held up her badge for her to see as she eyed them suspiciously.
"It's very sad. He was a good guy"
"His girlfriend said he had a problem with you" Morales said. Mrs. Yu didn't say anything but looked at John. He just walked off and left the detectives, not wanting to get involved when Morales said that. Morales took his place next to Pierce and held his hands behind his back.
"George was borrowing from me. $10,000, $20,000. He said I have to keep lending or else he's going to throw me out of here" Pierce tilted her head at this new information. Morales took a glance at her, her wheels were spinning in her head. He knew from experience since he was partnered with her that this means her brain was making every single scenario possible with new information. It was quite amazing just how many she could put out on the table while they talked over lunch or dinner.
"How much did he owe you?" she asked Mrs. Yu.
"$100,000. But he kept saying he's going to pay it all back at one time. I tell him I'm tired of waiting. I tell him I report him to his bosses. He promised he'd pay back soon"
"Thank you for your time, Mrs. Yu" Pierce replied and the detectives walked off. "Ten percent of a million dollars. That's enough to get lights around your name with sharks" Pierce said as they made their way up the stairs. "This guy makes me feel better about my finances" she added as they headed for the double doors of the casino entrance.
A young guy pushing a cart in front of him cut them off as he dashed in a hurry. Pierce stopped in her tracks to avoid her feet getting run over and felt Morales run into her. She exhaled a sigh. At the same time she felt his front against her and she pulled forward quickly to reduce the time of the awkward embrace. Her face flushed from the contact. Had she turned around she would of seen Morales smirking. He watched her lower half as they closed in on the entrance. Rather her than an ugly stranger he thought, her butt against him was a nice touch.
OOO
They had arrived at George Patrick's house and were riffling through his belongings. Pierce had found his stack of bills in his office while Morales looked over another room.
"He's maxed out on all his credit cards. $25,000 behind on his mortgage payments."
"But he just got his first passport. And he put a down payment on a little house and a boat in Costa Rica."
"He's pulling a Jimmy Buffett" Pierce said setting aside a paper from the top of the ridiculous amount of bills in her hand.
"And maybe paying for it with a casino heist. If he had an accomplice, they might have decided that a two-way split was better than three" Morales said entering the office.
"George's schedule at the casino… They said the day shift Tuesday through Saturday, right? This is a check written on a Wednesday three weeks ago. $1,500 to a medical supply company. It's his signature, but the rest is somebody else's writing." Morales looked over her shoulder past her long auburn hair.
"Maybe he sent one of his accomplices to run errands?" He asked quietly. She smelled of a sugary spice, maybe from her shampoo or perfume. It was hard to tell from where he was. Pierced looked over her shoulder at him.
"Maybe." her silhouette from the front windows showed a slight slope in her small nose and her thick eyelashes. Her lips plump with a light shine. Morales cleared his throat and wandered off. The house looked like a generic bachelor pad. Some trash, mostly cleaned. No woman's touch to any of the rooms. His mind wandered back to Pierce as he looked at her through the doorway. She was crouched down rummaging through a lower shelf on the bottom of George's desk. As she stood up glancing at more papers he noticed her actual form. She was above average height for a woman, about 5'8" and maybe around 160 lbs, healthy weight with her muscular tone.
Morales could tell she took care of her body. He'd seen her in just a t-shirt before a few times at her apartment when he came by, usually she showed up to work in a quarter length button down colored blouse and a neutral colored business jacket and matching pants. Always the same black or gray work and walking boots. In the t-shirt and joggers she wore at home you could tell she had toned arms and strong legs. Average bust and hips, but a thin waist and her front was flat. Maybe she even had abs. Pierce was a discussion among some of the men on their floor at LAPD. Morales did his job as a work partner to try to shut them up and have them remember that she was more than a piece of meat. The irony of the situation hit him and he tore his eyes from her and rolled them as he scolded himself for staring. Being a single male with an attractive female partner was taking its toll. Hell, she wouldn't be interested anyways. 45 and looks well aged from the stress of being a detective and a lawyer previously. He's seen some shit.
"I'm beat, we started early and skipped lunch. You want to grab something at Mitchell's? We're not too far" Pierce asked leaning against the door frame of the office.
"Uh, I think I'll head home. I have some left overs I want to get rid of" Morales said turning to her.
"Oh… well… I don't know how far you're going to get considering I've been driving all day and I picked you up. C'mon, I'll drive you home to your leftovers" she said heading to the front door. She said goodbye to the LAPD officer standing out front and hoped into the car. Morales dragged his feet giving the house one last look over. Satisfied, he also headed out.
Again the drive was quiet and soon enough they pulled up to Morales's house. That night the leftovers found their way to the trash and he ended up ordering out. He finished his meal half-way and thought that maybe Mitchell's and some company would have been a better choice. He had a hard time falling asleep as a certain woman engulfed his brain. They've been working together for the past year since her partner was killed and many cases. Sure, she was attractive, but Morales just wondered why it was now that he was noticing and wondering more about her in a way that was more than just a work partner. Sleep that night was fitful and he woke up once with a stirring in his loins that he swore at. The dreams didn't help either.
