They met up at a coffee shop in between the District Attorney's Office and the building she worked out of. It was one of those random hole-in-the-wall places; both of them had been there before, though, and had decided that it was a neutral enough place. So they met.
"No paperwork to organize?" Anna asked, as she walked in, and Jack looked up, from the file he'd been going over.
"Other than this, no," he said, getting to his feet and remaining there until she sat. "How've you been?"
This was going to be awkward. Suddenly she wondered if agreeing to meet up with him had really been such a good idea.
"I've been…well, things could always be better, couldn't they?" she asked, dryly, in an attempt to lighten this strange mood they were in. "And you?"
Jack shrugged. "Same as always, though I suppose you're right that things could be better," he said. "Suppose you've already been let in on everything?"
"Kaye told me," Anna replied. "Apparently, the rumors aren't only going around the DA's office."
Jack sighed. "Figures," he said. "I wouldn't blame you if you wanted to get up and leave right now, y'know."
Anna shook her head. "I'm not going anywhere," she said. "I told you that we were going to talk, and we're going to."
"Assuming there's still something to talk about."
"You wanted to know why I ran, didn't you?"
And then there was silence. This was definitely awkward. It was a question he wanted an answer to, and one she didn't want to answer, and both of them were definitely going to have to reach some point of agreement, or whatever, or this wasn't going to work.
"Yeah," he said, finally. "I do." And before he could stop himself, he went on. "Am I really that awful to be around?"
"What?" Anna gave him a startled look, and shook her head. "No! No, it's not…it wasn't…well, it was, but…oh, hell, Jack, you're not awful to be around. I just…"
She trailed off, unsure of where she was going to go with this; he gave her an amused look.
"Suppose you were worried that someone would see us, then?" he asked, and her face went red as she looked away.
"I'd rather not go there," she said. "People talk ,you know that. Why else d'you think these latest rumors are going around?"
Jack rolled his eyes. "Rumors are just that," he said. "Rumors. Until someone confirms or denies them, but the only person who can do that is the person who's involved."
"Unless it involves a murder, because then only an investigation can confirm or deny it," Anna pointed out. "Can't you just take my word for it that it wasn't you?"
"No, because I think it was, and I might point out that I wasn't the only one involved, as I'm sure you're aware of," came the reply. "Anna, if I did something to upset you, I'd like to know about it."
"You didn't do anything," said Anna, "It was me, all right? It was just…it was me."
More silence. Jack gave her a startled look. "You?" he asked. "I don't…I'm probably going to get hell for this later, but, Anna, I don't get it. How was it you?"
"Because I'm an idiot," Anna replied dryly. "I won't say I regret it, because I don't, but at the same time…I just…I don't know."
It was rare for her to be at a loss for words, and both of them knew it, so silence came again. Anna picked up the coffee mug in front of her and sipped from it, slowly, watching the people walk by through the window they were sitting in front of.
"Actually, I do," she said, finally, quietly enough that he had to lean forward to hear her. "I don't…want to ruin anything. And I…feel almost guilty because I was friends with Claire, but she's been gone for so long that I'm starting to lose track, and it's just…weird."
Well. That was definitely something. Leaning back, he looked at her for a long moment, and then shook his head.
"Guilty, huh?" he asked, and she gave him a look.
"It's not funny," she insisted. "You think I like this? Why do you think I took off?"
"I never said it was funny," Jack replied, slowly, and then, "It's been almost eleven years, Anna."
"I know that," Anna retorted, annoyed with herself and hating it. "And I know I shouldn't have just taken off, but…oh, for heaven's sake, quit smirking at me!"
"You have got to be one of the most complicated people I've ever met," Jack replied, and she rolled her eyes at him.
"I'll take that as a compliment, coming from you," she said dryly, and then, "What exactly d'you think we're going to do about this?"
"I don't know," came the reply, "You tell me."
They showed up in the office late that night. CSU techs were everywhere, and there was crime scene tape and a medical examiner.
"What happened here?" Nina asked, though she didn't really have to. It was already pretty obvious.
"Blunt force trauma," said the medical examiner, "Someone beat the hell out of her. There was no one else here, otherwise someone might've heard her."
"There any cameras in this place?" Ed asked, and one of the uniforms standing nearby nodded.
"Yeah," he said. "In all the hallways, near all the entrances, but not in the offices."
"Great. So even if we do see this guy on camera, we're probably not going to see his face." said Nina. "He'll probably have been smart enough to wear sunglasses and a hat or something."
"You're still assuming we're dealing with a man. Last time I looked, women were just as capable of this kind of rage," said Ed.
There was no need for them to ask for an ID. Both detectives already knew who she was, though her face was nearly unrecognizable. The fourth victim in their case was none other than another defense attorney by the name of Kaye Henshall.
"We're definitely gonna need to look at the cameras…not just anyone would've had access…" Nina walked over to where the medical examiner was and shook her head. "That clue that led us to Natalie Grant threw us off."
"You think?" Ed asked dryly. "We're gonna have to interview everyone who worked with her…get to her case files…we're gonna need a court order to do that…"
"Gives us an excuse to talk to McCoy." Nina pulled on a pair of gloves and picked up a tissue near the trash can. There was blood all over it. She stuck it in a plastic evidence bad and handed it to one of the CSU techs.
"We're definitely going to have to ask him for an alibi now," Ed remarked, reluctantly. "Ms. Henshall just got his last case thrown out. Something Roberts screwed up on."
"Nice," Nina said, sarcastically. "This is just what we need right now. Didn't he say he was meeting Anna Flynn sometime today?"
"That was during lunch; why d'you think he was trying to get us to leave his office?" Ed replied, and turned to one of the uniforms. "No security guards or anything?"
"They must've gone on their break," the uniform replied, "We didn't see anyone when we got here. No one at the front entrance, or the back."
"Are they there, now?" Nina asked, and the uniform nodded.
"They came back when my partner and I went back to see if anyone had come in or out again."
"So, if no one was here, then how'd you know to show up here, in this particular office?" asked Ed.
"Dispatch. We were the closest ones to the scene. Someone called in and reported it."
Ed and Nina exchanged glances. That definitely sounded familiar.
"Anything in particular that might've been mentioned about the caller?" Nina asked, slowly. "Anything about his voice, noises in the background?"
The uniform shook his head. "Nothing like that. We were given an address, we came, no one was around, so we looked around and found her."
The two detectives looked at each other again, and then towards the medical examiner, who was already packing up to go and taking the body along with her.
"I'll be able to tell you more once I get the autopsy done. Probably by tomorrow afternoon, if I can manage it," she said. Both detectives nodded, and then the medical examiner was gone. CSU remained, as did the uniform, whose partner had reappeared.
"You two, stay here," said Nina, "My partner and I will go to interview the security guards and get the videos and such."
And they did. Ed glanced at Nina as they headed down to the main floor, and sighed.
"What do you think is going to turn up?" he asked. She shrugged, looking slightly worried.
"I don't know," she said. "I don't think I want to know, either. It's possible to plant fingerprints, blood…this person's already got people thinking it could be McCoy…"
"But you're keeping your fingers crossed that it isn't."
"Of course I am. The guy might be a pain in the ass sometimes, but even I wouldn't wish something like this on him."
"Let's hope whoever did wish this on him slips up."