Jo: We didn't get a chance to tell you."
Henry: "Tell me what?"
Jo: "Adam's in custody ... They're bringin' 'im in as we speak."
vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv
The Lieutenant and the two detectives exit the viewing area and step into the hall to share the highly anticipated news of Adam's capture with Henry. But when they see how disturbed he is after the interview session with Barnes, they quietly step back into the viewing area and close the door in order to give Jo and Henry a moment's privacy. They wait in silence as Reece watches Barnes write out his statement in longhand on a legal pad. Hanson eyes Barnes, then Reece, then turns his back to both of them and takes a few steps towards the back wall, where he turns around and leans back against it.
Hanson watches Barnes for a second, then catches his boss' stony-faced reflection in the two-way mirror. "Uh, Lieu?" he asks uncertainly.
"Yes?" Her lips barely move, her eyes remain locked on Barnes.
Hanson sighs and steps closer to her, his hands flexing and unflexing nervously. "I get it about this Adam guy: creepy, devious, maybe bent on revenge against the Doc, but why is he being brought back here? He committed at least three crimes outside the city limits, right? And none of 'em homicides. In fact, if you want to look at it a certain way, he was a victim. Barnes and Caswell kidnapped him from Bellevue. Not his fault that he died while they had him and he ... he, uh, came back - geez, I don't know what I'm sayin' lately." He washed his hands down his face.
Reece cracks just the tiniest hint of a smile. She can definitely relate to the detective's frustration at having to expand his vocabulary to include supernatural references reserved for people and events heretofore found only in a magic book or a sci-fi movie. She answers him but keeps her voice even and her eyes trained on Barnes.
"More than just three crimes, Mike. He's been a busy little scoundrel since he 'woke up'. Don't forget that he carjacked Abe, too. Doesn't matter that the gun wasn't real or loaded. I doubt if either of them were even aware it was a fake. And Detectives Whitehall and Cochrane caught him redhanded in Barnes' laboratory." She chuckles humorlessly. "Oh, yes, he's been a very bad boy since he 'woke up'."
"Okay, well ... I guess ... I guess what I'm askin' is, why bring him back here for questioning? None of those are homicides."
"Remember the Raj Patel and Richard Smite murders?"
Hanson nods. "Ya make Adam for the perp on those?"
"We should be able to find out for sure once we question him. I'd be willing to bet my badge on it, though. And Henry did share that Adam had been his stalker. While he was, or posed as, Henry's psychologist, he had direct access to disturbed individuals. He may have tricked Clarke Walker into thinking he could attain immortality by either killing Henry or being killed by him."
Hanson sighs and nods again. "Yeah, the Doc was forced to kill Walker, thinking he was the stalker."
Reece nods. "Unfortunately, according to Henry, he found out afterwards that it was all a ruse by Adam to get him to kill someone." She shakes her head in disgust. A couple of other murder victims cross her mind, too. Julian Glausser, the bank vault employee who died of multiple cuts inflicted by someone with a straight razor. And Xander Thomas, who died a similar death after he'd had the misfortune of coming briefly into possession of a certain, ancient Roman dagger later associated with Adam's first death in 44 B.C. Henry had stopped short of naming Adam as the killer in these unsolved cases. However, she'd conducted her own separate investigations and had come to some startling conclusions that made no sense at the time. They made perfect sense now, though. She isn't ready to share her suspicions or her findings with Hanson or Jo just yet. And as much as it pains her, she knows that Henry will have to be involved in interviewing Adam. She hopes that his present emotional state isn't too fragile to allow him to face his old enemy. She hopes that she and the rest of her team can hold up, as well, under these extraordinary circumstances.
"He sounds like a prize." Hanson huffs out and glances at his watch. "Any idea of when they'll arrive with him? There's a steak dinner with my name on it right about now." He smirks and pats his stomach.
"Coffee and sandwiches are due any minute." She smiles, knowing full well he had his heart set on the heartier meal.
"Sandwiches, huh?" He scratches the top of his head and droops his shoulders down. "Okay, as long as one of 'em has a steak in it."
Barnes signs his statement, plunks the pencil down on the pad and pushes it away from him as if it were poison. He clasps his hands together and frowns at the pad that he's certain contains enough self-incrimination to poison the rest of his professional career, if not his life. He gravely studies his own reflection in the two-way mirror and then shifts his eyes slightly upward in an effort to meet the unseen eyes on the other side. The eyes of whomever else is now witness to his unfortunate change in circumstances. 'At least I look and feel 15 years younger than before, thanks to the serum I concocted from Ben's blood. The extra dose of stamina will be much needed while serving what will probably be a very long prison sentence.'
Reece and Hanson exchange looks and then exit the viewing area. Reece heads to her office, while Hanson sees to Barnes getting down to Booking and his statement getting transcribed.
Jo sits at her desk and Henry occupies the seat next to it. Reece walks into the bullpen and the two of them stand and meet her.
"Martinez, Doctor." she greets them. "Barnes gave a full statement. He's in Booking right now. Hanson will be along shortly."
"I understand that we'll soon have another ... person of interest to question?" Henry asks cautiously, an eyebrow raised.
Reece nods.
"Might I ask why?"
Reece frowns.
He sighs. "He's committed no homicides in his little crime spree."
"You're right, Doctor, not in this crime spree." She lowers her head but keeps her eyes locked on his. "And you know what I'm referring to ... don't you?"
His eyes widen as he slowly gets the drift of her meaning. He opens his mouth to answer but closes it into a thin line of resignation and regret. Jo stands up slowly, her face a mass of confusion. Henry's sigh is mixed with both exasperation and relief. Another section of his carefully-crafted wall of lies has fallen. It's evident to him that Reece is fully aware of Adam's possible involvements in some recently unsolved murders. There's no longer any need for him to remain silent about Adam's possible involvement in them. It's both a relief to finally come clean but he dreads being in the presence of the evil, vengeful man once again. It's not just his own safety and wellbeing he's concerned with, it's for that of his colleagues, as well.
"When can we expect him?"
"Little more than a couple of hours. Normally, I'd have him held in the holding pen til morning, but we don't want to waste anymore time with the likes of him. I ordered coffee and sandwiches." She steps closer to Henry and lowers her voice. "Hate to be the bearer of unpleasant news, but ... I'm afraid I'll have to alert Homeland Security on this one."
Henry stares plaintively at her and after a second or two, nods and lowers his head.
"We've got a long night ahead of us, Doctor." She pats him gently on the arm, nods to Jo, then walks into her office and closes the door.
"What was all that about, Henry?"
He inhales deeply and lets it out in a rush. "Let's ... talk in my office, shall we?" He takes her elbow and guides her to the elevators.
"Another long story, Henry?" she groans.
"Ummm ... no, just another interesting facet of it." he grimaces.
vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv
Back at the shop...
Abe rings up the sale of three of their most expensive and intricately-crafted chandeliers that once graced a Manhattan ballroom in the 1930's. He smiles as a small crew of workers carefully cart the lighting fixtures out of the shop and pack them into the back of a 1970's station wagon. They cheerily wave to him as they drive off.
Ben watches with amusement from another part of the shop, making sure to keep out of the workers' way, and that he doesn't break anything. You break it, you buy it, he laughs dryly to himself. As the workers wave and drive off, Abe waves back. He then locks the front door of the shop and flips the Open sign to Closed. Still smiling, he then turns to Ben.
"Let's head upstairs. Bet you're beat after today."
Ben follows behind with one long step to each of Abe's two shuffled ones, although the two men are roughly the same height. "Yeah, yeah, I am." He only now realizes it and yawns loudly. "Oh, sorry." he laughs.
"Don't apologize. Been a long day for everyone." Abe says dismissively. "Could you ever imagine?" He throws up one of his arms and drops it to his side.
Ben shakes his head and grins. He follows Abe into the sitting room and plops down on the couch. He groans at the comfort of finally being off his feet and involuntarily releases another loud yawn and they both laugh.
"I don't know, you might not make it to the bedroom in the shape you're in. Couch is pretty comfortable, though." Abe's voice becomes a bit distant as he turns towards the kitchen. "I'm gonna rustle up some grub. Ya hungry, Ben?"
"Oh, oh, no, Abe, after what you've been through, you don't have to - "
Abe cuts him off. "I'm famished! And I'm gonna feed. my. face. You're welcome to join me."
"Well, when you put it that way, yeah." Ben jumps up off of the couch and scoots into the kitchen. "But you gotta let me help." He rolls up and tucks in his long sleeves and looks around. "Now, where can I help?"
Abe eyes him questioningly. "I'm usually a solo act, but ... if you can keep up ... start by chopping the vegetables."
"Keep up? Keep UP? Listen, kid, you're lookin' at an ex-Navy man. WW2, Korean War, er, Police Action, they called it; Vietnam, another Police Action, AND Desert Storm. I wasn't just a galley Chef, I was a galley Maestro!" He makes a "ta-daaa" motion with his arms.
"Vietnam here, too." Abe points to himself as he places the carrots, onions, peppers, and tomatoes onto the cutting board. "Army, '62-'65." he announces proudly.
The two men prepare their meal amidst lively chatter. But both are careful to share only the lighter memories of their days in uniform. The conversation moves on to other aspects of their lives detailing many shared experiences. And some completely foreign to the other. As they enjoy their meal, they find themselves bonding, much in the same way that Ben had bonded earlier with Henry because of their unnaturally elongated lifespans and the ups and downs that go with that. For Ben, even though Abe appears to be older than he, they are barely a generation apart in age, and therefore, share more similar life experiences and knowledge of popular American culture. It's as though each has found a confidante of the sibling type (big brother Ben, kid brother Abe). They also find it quite freeing to be able to converse and sprinkle in terms relating to immortality, death, reawakening, and lightning speed self-healing. Of special interest to both are the startling events of the day and the past week that pertains to them and the rest of the team. Team. Huh. Lucas had referred to them as a team. They share another laugh as they fondly recall how Lucas is determined to come up with an appropriate moniker for their group. They throw out their own ridiculous possible names for their group and stick out their chests with their hands on their hips ala some misguided, wannabe superhero. Eventually, they clear the dishes, bid each other goodnight and retire. Abe, to his own bedroom, and Ben, to the guest room at the far end of the hall.
Abe pauses before he gets under the covers. He realizes it's been a long time since he's been able to enjoy a real conversation with someone other than his father and not have to hide anything. Not have to tell the soft and sometimes blatant lies necessary for keeping his father's secret. He'd even had to tiptoe around the subject of family and Henry when he was married to Maureen - twice. Even with Adam in the mix, he's truly grateful that his father's circle of friends has recently been expanded. And there was someone else who needs to know. Fawn. His precious Fawn. She means the world to him even though they've only recently reconnected with each other. But she was and is the "one". When all this is over, he promises himself, I've gotta tell her. Of course, he'd discuss it with his father first, but he definitely intends to make room for her in the small circle of confidants. He finally gets into bed and turns off the light.
Down the hall, Ben has his own conversation with himself. He thinks about how empty his life has been since his wife, Marcie, passed away in 2001, in a plane crash. All 232 aboard were killed. How ironic that neither of them had been involved in the 9/11 tragedies and just one short month later, a different plane crash took her from him. Forever. She'd known about his strangely long lifespan but chose to stick with him anyway. He smiles and can still hear her voice urge him to just get out there, make friends, live your life in any way you can. He had resisted because he felt that the fewer people who knew of his secret, the safer the both of them were. It's been a while, he admits, but he thinks he's finally found some real friends that he can trust.
"Good night, Mrs. Marcie Duncan hyphen Larson." He wipes a tear away as he remembers how insistent she was on hyphenating her last name like the first lady had. He finally climbs into bed and pulls the covers up. He turns off the light and falls into a slumber of dreams filled with a smiling Marcie reaching back for him, running on the beach with their terrier, Woody, and the two of them laughing and tumbling into the sea's foam as it laps against the shore.
vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv
Jo and Henry enter the morgue together and exchange greetings with Lucas as he steps out of the cooler.
"Caswell's all prepped for tomorrow, Doc." He circles around the autopsy tables and seats himself once again at his small work station. Henry whispers to Jo and sweeps an arm towards his office. She nods, walks in, and sits in one of the small chairs. Henry frowns and pauses next to Lucas' work station as if struggling with a decision. Lucas tenses up, thinking he's about to be reprimanded. He's not sure what he may have done, but it's been his experience that people always seem to find something to blame him for.
"Lucas."
Lucas nearly jumps out of his skin.
"Sorry, sorry." Henry apologizes. "I didn't mean to startle you, I just wanted to ask you to pull that report on the..." he pauses to nervously inhale, "...the DNA report associated with the Julian Glausser murder case."
Lucas can't understand why his boss looks so nervous. 'Lot goin' on for the big guy. Everything's startin' to get to him.'
"Lucas."
"Oh, yeah, sorry. Right. Report. I'll get that to you right away." He quickly rises and walks around Henry to go retrieve the report, then stops and spins around to face him again. "That's the one with the 2000-year-old antibodies in it." he says in awe.
"Yes, I need you to retrieve it and bring it into my office, please."
"Right away." He turns and runs off.
Henry walks into his office and takes his seat behind his desk. Jo follows him with her eyes.
"Okay, Henry. What's up?"
"There are some things I need to share with you before Adam arrives."
"What ... sort of things?"
"Suspicions I've had about him regarding his possible involvement in the murder of Julian Glausser ... and ... possibly Xander Thomas." He looks obliquely at Jo.
She stares poker-faced at him for a few seconds, then her expression relaxes. "Okay, okay, I get it that you were still 'cloaked' at that time." She tilts her head to the side and sighs. "How long have you had these suspicions, Henry?"
"From," Henry clears his throat, "from the beginning. I, uh, sent Lucas to bring us the DNA analysis taken from the bit of skin that was trapped in Glausser's ring. He had fought back at his attacker."
She remembers and nods. "Okay. But since Adam comes back like you do, without a scratch on his body, there's no chance he'll have a healed wound. Except ... for the ... you know."
"Yes. But that report should perfectly match Adam and the one in his hospital records. There simply has to be something we can do with those to get him on the road to crime and punishment, as it were." he insists.
Lucas knocks on the door with the report in hand, and Henry motions for him to enter. He instructs Lucas to hand it to Jo and she studies it intently. At the same time, Henry motions for Lucas to sit next to Jo and he retrieves a copy of Adam's hospital records that contain a second report, from his desk drawer and hands it to her. Lucas peers at both reports along with her.
The three discuss both reports that could possibly help cement a case against Adam for at least this one murder. Neither of them are even aware when Hanson joins them, but they thankfully partake of the sandwiches and coffee he brings.
As Lucas examines the fake gun that Vic Caswell stole from Amy Mitchell, the same gun which Adam later used to carjack Abe with, Henry's phone rings and it's Reece. After a short conversation, he hangs up, stands, and delivers the grim news.
"Adam's arrived."