Dating Disaster Chapter 6
Author's Note:
Thanks to everyone for sticking with this story. I really enjoy writing it and am very pleased that I had some time during my vacation in September to advance it and reduce posting time between some chapters. We still have a few to go - I currently have 8 chapters drafted with the last one not being completed yet, so I can't say if that is the final one yet.
Grykon: Now for sweet desserts? Not just yet…
Franxine: yes, it has the potential to go quite dark - that's why I decided to let Paige get away before the worst could happen. I didn't want to go too dark.
ScorplinginTraining: Yes, no matter what. Walter will always be protective of Paige.
Not sure if it shows - but I used to watch all the CSI shows... I loved them when they first aired and still watch them when they are re-braodcasted now.
On to Chapter 6:
After breakfast, Paige was getting restless.
She abruptly got up, collected the empty dishes and carried them into the kitchen.
Instead of loading the dishwasher, she filled the sink with water and dish soap and started to clean the dishes by hand.
Toby plopped down in the spot Paige had just vacated and nudged Walter, then nodded towards the kitchen.
"I've watched you two, not only upstairs." He said softly, careful to not let his voice carry towards the kitchen. "She's remarkably physical with you considering what almost happened. You need to be careful. She subconsciously knows she only needs to say stop and you will back up. As she processes what happened, she might suddenly feel averse to touch, seemingly out of nowhere, even while you are in the middle of something. It can happen like turning a switch. When that happens, you need to comply instantly and stop whatever it is you are doing, otherwise it might damage the trust she has in you and that might not be good for your rekindled relationship."
"How did…"
"Come on, 197, Paige has been practically attached to your side. But don't worry. It wasn't Chad's attack that drove her back to you. That creep only sped things up. But perhaps you should head over there before she scrubs a hole into that plate."
Walter quickly rose and headed into he kitchen.
"We have a dishwasher, you know." He said softly.
"It's just a few dishes, no need to run the dish washer." Paige scrubbed the plate in her hands with more force than necessary.
Walter watched her for a second, then grabbed a towel and helped her.
Toby had been right earlier. Paige was busying herself to take her mind off of the pending statement to the LAPD officer they were expecting and probably more importantly being examined for trace evidence.
Walter knew that it was unavoidable to get the necessary evidence so Paige could press charges against Chad. If there was no camera footage that caught him dragging Paige into the alley, it was her word against his.
The thought of a Crime Scene Investigator prodding and probing Paige, taking photos of her bruises and collecting evidence from her body made Walter feel uneasy - he was sure Paige felt even worse. And she would have to recount the previous night's events again.
Once the dishes were done, Paige accompanied Walter out of the kitchen and was zoning in on her former desk, eyeing the stack of paper files that rested there with determination.
Before she could reach her desk, the garage door opened after a sharp knock and two women entered the garage.
One of them wore a dark blue west with a name tag, identifying her as C. Baker. She had her blonde hair tied in a pony tail and didn't look much older than Sylvester. She carried a black tool box in her left hand.
The middle aged woman accompanying her wore grey pants and a dark red shirt underneath a grey blazer matching her pants. She wore her light brown hair pulled back into a bun.
Combined with the appearance of her partner, it was obvious she was Cabe's friend from LAPD.
"Barbara!" Cabe stood as he greeted the middle aged woman with a hand shake.
"Cabe!" She nodded.
"This is Detective Barbara Krueger from LAPD." Cabe introduced her.
"Barbara, this is the group of geniuses I have told you about." The fatherly pride was thick in his voice.
"Nice to meet you!" Detective Krueger nodded towards the group. "I am from LAPD's Special Crimes Unit. This," she pointed to her companion, "is CSI Carol Baker. I understand you all know why we are here."
The group nodded and glances were thrown in Paige's direction.
Paige started to fidget nervously.
"This is Paige," Cabe spoke up again. "She is the reason I called you. She was attacked last night."
Detective Krueger nodded and smiled warmly at Paige. "Is there a place where we can talk with her undisturbed? Even if you all know what happened, it would be best if we could have some privacy."
Walter nodded. "You can use my loft." He pointed towards the stairs.
"That should work." The LADP Detective nodded, then motioned for Paige to lead the way.
Paige nervously wiped her hands on her skirt as she started to walk towards the stairs.
As she passed Walter, she took his hand and pulled him with her wordlessly, her eyes wide as she looked at him with a silent plea to accompany her.
The two law enforcement officers noticed Paige's obvious need for emotional support and didn't comment on it.
If the victim chose that man for support, they were not going to deny her.
The followed the couple with Cabe trailing behind, giving the others a stern look.
"You stay down here and I better not find out anyone switched on the comm system." His eyes fixed on Toby for a second before he turned and followed the others upstairs.
The four geniuses left behind stood in silence. Neither of them felt like saying anything, aware that their friend was upstairs to be questioned and examined about the attempted sexual assault on her.
There were quips on Toby's tongue, but given the situation, they were stuck in his throat. Even he had topics he would not make fun of.
The team had had some close calls in the past, but sexual assault was a whole other thing and Toby could only hope the psychological backlash didn't do further damage.
He was well aware that many women had problems accepting being touched even by year long partners after such an assault.
Paige had been practically glued to Walter. They had found her snuggled up against the man in his bed. But that didn't mean that Paige was not going to have phases during which she would become averse to even Walter's touch. He hoped that Walter wouldn't mess up in such a moment.
Walter and Paige being a couple again was an important step to reuniting Scorpion - and reuniting Scorpion was the key to Toby's own family planning.
After Scorpion's implosion, Happy had put their freshly developed adoption plans on hold and with every day and every event that had put them further away from reuniting their cyclone, Happy's mood had decreased.
Toby was determined to be the perfectly supporting friend for Paige and Walter's relationship this time. And it would start with helping them nail the guy that hurt Paige to give her at least closure on that front.
He turned to the other with determination.
"Okay guys, time for some Scorpion magic!"
xxxXXXxxx
Upstairs, Paige and Walter led the two investigators to the couch.
Paige sat down and Walter took his seat next to her. She immediately leaned against him for support.
"Ms. Dineen, first, I will question you about what happened last night and then Carol will try to collect evidence from you. Are you okay with Cabe being present?" Detective Krueger asked.
Paige nodded her agreement.
Cabe was like a father figure to her, even though she had not seen him the past weeks. She could not blame him for sticking with Walter.
With her father figure and the love of her live by her side, she felt sure she would be able to get through this part.
"Good. Are these the clothes you wore last night?" Barbara asked.
"No, I still had this set of clothes stashed here. Walter gave me an unused bag for the clothes I wore last night because we figured you would need them. They are in the bedroom on Walter's desk."
"I'll get them!" Cabe offered in a low voice and silently moved around the loft space to retrieve the bag.
A moment later he handed the bag which Walter had taped closed to secure the contents from further contamination to CSI Baker.
The young CSI took the bag and nodded her approval. She added a label and logged the clothes as evidence, then initialed on the label before placing it in a box.
While Cabe had retrieved the bag, Paige had given Detective Krueger her personal information and had started to recount the events of the previous night.
The two investigators listened in silence as Paige spoke, Walter had his arm around her shoulder, his fingers stroking her arm softly.
Detective Krueger could see his jaw clench in anger as Paige recounted the attack.
The tension only left his features as Paige concluded her recount with kneeing Chad where it hurt most, followed by a swift punch and running out of the alley.
"And then you came straight here?" The Detective asked.
"Yes, I had ordered the taxi via the app while I was heading outside and the next available cab was only a few minutes out."
"Do I understand correctly that Mr. O'Brien is your partner? Then why were you on a date with another man last night."
Paige sighed deeply. "Walter and I broke up a few weeks ago. We had a stupid fight and I walked out. After what happened last night… I … I just… I needed Walter to hold me. He's always kept me safe. Despite all the crazy jobs we had for Homeland or private clients. Walter has always made sure I was safe. He would never let anything happen to me and I… I was so stupid to let something so stupid get between us…."
Detective Krueger placed her hand gently on Paige's knee.
"Ms, Dineen, it's alright. I am not judging you. I am only trying to clarify the facts. And you are not stupid. Your emotions are valid! Whatever happened between you two that made you break up, your emotions back then were valid just as you two reconsidering and getting back together now is valid now. Also no matter your past or present relationship status with Mr. O'Brien, this man had no right to assault you."
Paige gave her a sad smile. "Thank you. I realise I should have called the police right away…"
The Detective smiled, "Don't worry. A lot of women do not come forward about being sexually assaulted right away, or at all. Even with a night in between, you would be surprised the amount of evidence a good CSI can still collect. Though of course the fresher and less compromised the better."
She had a few more questions for her, which Paige answered with increasing calmness.
Barbara Krueger's gentle questioning put her at ease, aided by the presence of Walter at her side and the knowledge that Cabe would step in and put an end to the questioning if it got too much for her.
Finally the investigator was satisfied and nodded towards her colleague. "CSI Baker will now take pictures of your bruises and process you for evidence."
The young woman smiled as she took a thin wooden stick and a tiny brown envelope from her tool box.
"I am starting with collecting under your fingernails." She explained as she sat on a small stool opposite of Paige. "As you tried to fight him off, there might still be skin cells under your nails."
Paige's eyes grew wide. "I washed my face earlier! I hadn't considered that I might destroy evidence if I just washed my face where he didn't touch me, but I forgot to think about anything under my nails."
Next to her she felt Walter stiffen - after all he had encouraged her to wash her face and not thought about the possible evidence under her fingernails as well. She was sure he was already mentally flogging himself for it.
"It's not ideal, but as long as you didn't specifically scrub under your fingernails, we might still be able to find traces." CSI Baker reassured her.
She gently scratched under each of Paige's fingernails, holding the envelope underneath each finger as she worked on it. Before she closed the envelope, she added the small stick into it.
She quickly labeled the envelope and added it to her box.
"Now I would like to take photos of the bruises on your neck." The CSI lifted a camera out of her box. "I have a special filter that will augment the bruises so we can properly photograph and examine them."
Paige opened the collar of her blouse so Carol could get the bruises fully onto the pictures.
The young CSI snapped several pictures from different angles before setting down her digital camera.
Next she unpacked a clear strip of thick tape.
"You have been assaulted several hours ago, therefore it is not very likely that we will be able to lift prints from your neck or breast, but we have had luck with even smaller chances in the past, so I would like to at least try. Since you said he didn't wear gloves, we can still work with any DNA traces he has left on you."
She smiled sympathetically as she saw Paige's face. She had yet to be long enough on the job to be able to emotionally disconnect from such cases. She was still not sure if that was good or bad. Some of her colleagues thought it was best to remain emotionally disconnected from the victims, while others thought the moment she stopped sympathising was the moment she should quit.
She assumed the truth lay somewhere in the middle.
Paige sighed deeply and started to unbutton her blouse to expose her breasts. The mere thought of Chad's DNA on her skin made the spots he had touched crawl. She would take the longest shower of her life once this was over.
Cabe politely turned his back to them, while Walter remained more or less motionless.
Once Paige had finished with her blouse, her hand instinctively sought Walter's hands and their fingers interlaced.
Both investigators could see the man's fingers flex hesitantly before his thumb softly started to stroke Paige's hand where it rested.
Walter was looking into Paige's eyes as she turned her head towards him to give the CSI better access to the biggest part of the bruise on her neck.
Paige's boyfriend seemed to be socially awkward, but he was engaging with Paige in his own way and Paige was responding well to it. She fixed her eyes on his and they held each other's gaze as Paige avoided watching the woman in front of her do her thing.
She had seen it often enough in other victims. They already had to feel her touch them where they had been hurt, they didn't need to watch her do it.
It didn't matter that Paige had managed to fend off her attacker and get away before the worst had happened. The fact remained that if she had lost consciousness before she had managed to free herself, she could have been raped and injured - or even worse, killed.
CSI Baker was determined to do her best to ensure the bastard was caught and punished - preferably before he attacked the next woman.
Once she was finished, Paige visibly relaxed further.
CSI Baker packed away the last evidence bag she had just closed, then took out a small tube.
"Ms. Dineen, I am finished with you." She smiled at her softly again, then turned to Walter. "Mr. O'Brien, I need a sample of your DNA so we can dismiss the traces that came from you."
xxxXXXxxx
Four sets of eyes looked at them as they descended the stairs.
First the two investigators, followed by Paige and Walter and then Cabe.
Once the stairs were cleared, Walter breezed past the two women, concern on his face.
"Sylvester, have you checked Lombardi's surroundings for footage of Paige and this 'Chad'? Detective Krueger called LAPD to have him picked up, but it turns out there is no Chad Cunningham registered anywhere in the Los Angeles area. He told Paige he had been living in LA for a couple of years."
As he spoke, Paige caught up with him and stood close to him, seeking his proximity.
"A fake name then." Sylvester frowned. "Of course we already checked, but there are no proper camera angles that point towards Lombardi's," Sylvester hit a few keys on his laptop, then looked at them all. "Is everyone familiar with the Show Mystery Diners that ran until 2016?"
Walter frowned, but before he could say something he would later regret, Sylvester continued to talk.
"The Show is being revived and we are lucky, they were shooting at Lombardi's this week. When we couldn't find any decent camera angles, Ralph suggested calling Lombardi's if they by any chance have closed circuit cameras inside the restaurant and the owner told me about the hidden cameras they had installed for the show."
Sylvester turned his laptop around. "They sent the footage to us and they will also send a copy directly to LAPD, Detective Krueger, if you give us an email address to provide the footage to." His eyes flitted to Cabe and Walter. "I hope it's okay that I claimed to still work for Scorpion and that this is a Homeland case."
Cabe nodded. "I have no problem with it."
"We will send an official inquiry to Lombardi's for the footage." Detective Krueger said. "We would have questioned the staff at Lombardi's anyway and would have received knowledge of the footage that way." She smiled at Sylvester. "I am not disapproving, I am just explaining the official protocol that has to be followed. We don't want that dirtbag to get off on a technicality, do we, Alderman Dodd?"
Sylvester looked at her with wide eyes. "You know who I am?"
Barbara chuckled. "I voted for you. I have lived in West Altadena for the past twenty years."
Sylvester nodded. "Thank you. And I understand. I'm a lawyer."
Ralph spoke up. "One of the cameras inside the restaurant is aimed at the table Mom and this… man… sat at. So we not only have a picture of his face, we also have the whole date on camera."
Paige blushed furiously. She sneaked a short glance at Walter and winced as she saw his jaw tightened while his eyes fixed on 'Chad's' face.
She quickly slid her hand in his again and squeezed until he tore his eyes off of the screen.
The moment he looked at her face, the frown disappeared and he smiled lovingly at her. Paige squeezed his hand reassuringly again.
She would have liked to kiss him right now, to remind him that she was his and he was hers again, but it felt inappropriate to kiss in front of everyone while staring at the restaurant footage of the man who had attacked her the previous night.
"I have run a facial recognition software on the picture I took from the footage and we now know who he is." Ralph stated without emotion, earning him a quizzical look from Detective Krueger. He found the boy oddly detached the way he was talking about the man who had attacked his mother.
"His name is Edward Dillinger and he just moved to Pasadena."
"Pasadena!?" Paige frowned. "He told me he lives just a couple of blocks down from the grocery store."
"Fake name, fake address…" Detective Krueger murmured. "That doesn't sound like someone who snapped because his date didn't go as he hoped."
Her eyes hardened as she turned to look at Paige.
"That scumbag targeted you." Her jaw tightened. "And it sounds quite familiar."
She pulled out a small tablet and started to tap on it for a moment.
Then she exhaled sharply. "It looks like you just helped me identify a serial killer."
Authors note:
I am so sorry, the story just took a turn of it's own… I initially truly intended to have Walter and Sylvester re-bond over making Chad's life hell like putting him on the IRS's crap list or other niceties they could bestow upon him with their computer skills - but the story decided it wanted to add another element…