A/N: Thank you all so much for the reviews and new alerts on the last chapter. There's a lot going on this chapter and it was getting rather long so I had to cut it a bit short but try to pay attention to the details. They're all important. btw, I'm so excited we're getting a Pride and LaSalle moment in the next episode, wish it were Brody and LaSalle but I'll definitely take Pride talking to LaSalle about his grief!
Pride, Percy and Brody all stood at the glass as JAG Lawyer, Commander Cadence Avery, began to question their colleague. Little was known about the reasoning for treating LaSalle like a suspect, other than his badge had been used in some sort of crime.
"Agent LaSalle, can you tell me where you were two nights ago?"
Chris looked at his agency appointed lawyer, waiting for the green light. "No ma'am, I can't."
The JAG Commander let out an exasperated sigh. "Can't or won't?"
"I don't remember."
Avery smiled tightly. "And why is that?"
Chris opened his mouth to speak, as the agency lawyer threw a hand up. "There's a history of bipolar disorder in the family. It's quite possible that Agent LaSalle was suffering from some sort of manic episode."
LaSalle shifted his eyes, but said nothing. Something had definitely happened to him to cause him to lose two whole days but bipolar disorder was not it or at least he hoped that wasn't the case.
Commander Avery opened a file, sliding a picture across the table. It was photograph of a young woman Caucasian woman, dressed in a Navy uniform with a porcelain complexion and long flowing red hair that was tied up in a bun. "Have you ever seen this woman?"
Chris studied the photo for a moment before pushing it away. "Can't say that I have."
Avery looked toward the two way window, displeased with LaSalle's answer. "She doesn't look like anyone you know?"
"What are ya getting' at?" Clearly, he had not missed the fact that the woman in question had several features that made her somewhat resemble the woman he most recently lost. The red hair and porcelain skin and green eyes had been hard to miss. In fact, they had pretty much driven a dagger through his chest and Commander Avery knew it.
Avery started to play coy, "How long has it been since your girlfriend was murdered, four, five months ago?"
"It'll be six months on Saturday," Chris started to rise to his feet. "Now, if you're finished discussing my personal life, I've got better things to do."
"Like partying on Bourbon Street until all hours?"
"I'm out of here."
"Sit down, Agent," The over confident commander ordered, "otherwise, I'll have you formally detained."
"On what grounds?" LaSalle challenged, "Last time I checked, drinkin' and having a good time wasn't a crime."
"Accessory to murder," Avery reached into a large manila envelope and pulled out an evidence bag. Inside was a shiny gold badge. "Second class petty officer, Alexandra Hale was found murdered last night with your badge pinned to her chest."
"Why weren't we in on this?" Percy hissed at Pride. A dead Navy Petty Officer, should have been their case.
Pride spoke calmly, never taking his eyes off LaSalle. "Director Vance decided to call in the team from Corpus Christie, in order to keep things clean."
"They think LaSalle did this?" Percy asked with an uneasy hitch to her usual snarky tone.
"Not to my knowledge." Pride answered in his calm stoic way. If he was worried about LaSalle, the man certainly wasn't showing it.
Chris steeled himself as he locked eyes with the tenacious commander. "Accessory?"
"You're lucky," Avery clipped. "Video has the two of you entering the Prince of Arms hotel the night before she was killed. You registered under the name of Ryan McClain, stayed in room 212 and didn't leave until-"
"This morning," Chris finished hoping he had somewhat of an alibi.
"You can relax agent, we're not charging you with anything… yet." Avery said smugly as she mentioned that other evidence pointed away from LaSalle. "We're just trying to put all of the pieces together, figure out where you fit into all this."
"Dang that boy has some issues," Percy quipped from where she stood on the opposite side of the glass.
Brody shook her head, "That's not like Chris." Yes, the man had his issues, but she doubted that he wasn't so far gone that he go out looking for women who resembled Savannah.
Percy crossed her arms over her chest, "How do you know? Ever since his mermaid died, the man's been bedding everything that's female with a pulse." It only seemed logical to the newbie that he might seek out a woman to replace his childhood crush.
Ignoring the comment, Brody pulled out her cell phone. "Sebastian, its Brody. I need the results from the blood sample that LaSalle and I brought by earlier."
"The initial screening came back clean, save for the blood alcohol level."
"But?"
"I did a second check for ruffies and it tested positive for a very high quantity of Methaqualone and Versed.
"Quaaludes?" Brody questioned, referencing the popular drug from the 70's and 80's. She had no idea that the antiquated drug was still out on the streets, much less prescribed by physicians.
"Originally, it was used by researchers and physicians as hypnotic type of sedative to treat insomnia. It became a very popular party drug in the late sixties and seventies due it to the fact that can also be used as a very powerful aphrodisiac. The effects of someone who was given such a high dosage as this sample could last as long as 90 hours."
"90?" Brody's eyes went wide. No wonder LaSalle was still looking like he was battling the hangover from hell, as for the aphrodisiac part, Brody refused to let her mind go there, with LaSalle's excessive partying and extensive knowledge of street drugs from his years with vice an unpleasant picture was forming in her head.
"Combined with Versed, whoever took this has virtually no chance of remembering the time span between the time the drugs were administered until several days afterwards. Other possible side effects, could include excessive drowsiness, headache, respiratory issues and-
"Dilation of the eyes," Brody finished as she looked back through the glass at Chris.
"Depending on when the drugs were administered the person running around with all of this in their system is headed for a serious crash, but until then the arousal effect-"
"That's enough!" Brody clipped, her voice rising. The last thing she needed was an image of LaSalle with- "what about the DNA sample?"
"Had to send it outside the lab could be a couple of days." Not that it really mattered considering it now looked like the bite marks had most likely come from their dead petty officer.
"Thanks," She hung up the phone and looked at Pride. "LaSalle was drugged. He didn't show up for two days because he couldn't."
Pride sank his teeth into his bottom lip. Someone was using his agent, surrogate son and he didn't like it. Pride exited the room and re-entered through the courtyard entrance.
"I'm sorry Commander but that's enough for now, I've just come into some information regarding Agent LaSalle's health."
LaSalle did a double take, looking at Pride bewildered as the overzealous Commander began to protest.
"I'm not finished!"
"He'll answer all of your questions later, right now, he needs medical attention." Pride moved towards LaSalle, "Let's go, Christopher."
"King, what's going on?"
Pride quickly shuffled his agent outside, "just keep moving," he told Chris as they made their way to the parking structure. "Get in." They drove straight to the morgue where he knew Loretta would give them sanctuary.
Loretta let out a deep sigh as she looked around Pride to see LaSalle talking with Sebastian. "With the amount of drugs that were in that's boy's system, he could have easily gone into cardiac arrest or had a stroke. He's lucky to be alive, Dwanye."
"So somebody tried to kill him?"
"I'd say that's a good possibility. Most victims who come into contact with a hypnotic sedative usually ingest a very small amount, enough to make them lose anywhere from 3-6 hours, but this…"
Loretta was so disturbed she had to take in a breath, "His heart is still racing, his blood pressure is elevated, his white count is up, the sweating. Something is not right."
Pride placed a hand on her shoulder. "What do you need him to do?"
"Let me keep him here for the night, run some tests." Lord knew if anything the man needed to rest. Even though he 'd become a master at avoiding it eventually his body was going to shut down due to all of the abuse.
"Ok" Pride returned knowing his young sidekick. LaSalle wasn't going to want to stay, especially with all the new information surrounding his predicament. "But he may not be too happy about that."
"I can handle, Christopher. You just go do what you need to keep him safe, " Loretta replied with a warm smile.
"Why Quaaludes? If Chris' assailant already had Versed." It didn't make sense. Both drugs were essentially the same, though one was a bit outdated, recreationally speaking. Brody walked alongside Pride as they started to follow up with possible leads. A hunch lead them back to the family practice office where Chris had his blood drawn.
"Jennifer Coleman?" Brody flashed her badge. "Federal Agents, Brody and Pride. we'd like to speak with you about Agent, Christopher LaSalle."
The woman's voice quavered slightly. "I need to get someone to cover my patient."
"We'll wait here," Pride smiled as the pretty RN high tailed it to the back, hitting the backdoor hard.
Damn it. Brody and Pride exited the medical plaza out the front, each taking a different direction around the building. Brody heels hit the pavement, igniting a sharp, intense burning pain that reminded her she needed more sensible shoes. Never again was she going to make fun of Percy for wearing unstylish high top sneakers.
Racing around the side, she came face to face with 2011 Toyota Corolla, Nurse Jennifer at the driver's seat. Setting herself, she took aim as the car drew closer, praying she wouldn't have to fire. But the woman was not letting up. Brody committed to firing when Pride suddenly dove at her knocking them both into a set a trash cans that were sitting on the curb.
"I had her!" Brody snarled as the impact of the crash reminded her that she was on the hard concrete.
Pride, breathing hard, rolled over onto his back and looked heavenward as his aging body started to protest. "She had you." The sound of his cell phone pulled him back upright before he was ready, causing the agent some lightheadedness. "It's Loretta," he told Brody before answering. "Good Morning, Loretta. How's Christopher?"
"That's why I'm calling."
Pride felt a knot form in his stomach at the sound of her voice. "What is it?"
"I went home to check on Danny and TJ and when I got back, he was gone. Sebastian said something about Christopher receiving a text with a photograph."
Pride listened as she apologized profusely. "Don't worry, Loretta. Brody and I will find him."
"I'm trying his cell right now," Brody mouthed as Pride finished up with Loretta. "Nothing straight to voice mail."
Chris LaSalle stood in the middle of City Park feeling like his world was crashing down upon him. Again-. He held his phone in his hand, looking at the missed call from Brody. He knew the smart thing to do would be to call her back, but he wasn't thinking rationally at the moment. There was dead women that he had never seen before with his badge pinned to her chest, strange bite marks in his side from said dead woman, enough drugs in his system that supposedly when they wore off he was going to hibernate like a bear, and now a mysterious text with a familiar photograph from a blocked number.
The photograph was one of his favorite pictures of Savannah, her long flowing strawberry red hair, cascading down one shoulder and a bright smile that really brought out the green in her eyes. God, she was beautiful he swallowed, pushing down the lump in his throat as he thought about how much he'd let the images of her in his mind fade. For the last six months all he had tried to do was banish her memory from his thoughts and now suddenly her picture was staring at him right in the face, tearing open wounds that had not yet started to heal.