Chapter Two- Put Your Lights On
Getting the old case files was a task that was only simple when the idea was conceived. Surprisingly, for some unknown reason, one file was in the SIU's hands already; but that left the rest downtown. Rather than waiting on an intra-department courier to bring them by, which could result in their delivery being anywhere from this after noon to next week, Lissie headed down to collect them herself. She lugged the box out of the passenger seat of her Mustang and carried back inside to her desk. The surprise was evident on her face when she saw the bouquet of roses on her desk. There went keeping anyone here from knowing it was her birthday.
She dropped the box in her chair and gingerly removed the card stuck in the center of the display. Her mother and daughters. She couldn't decide whether is was a good or bad thing they weren't from Jerome. Inhaling their scent it was obvious her youngest, Meaghan, had had a hand in the choice, since the flowers were a light pink, and Meaghan was very into pink at the moment. Lissie set about moving things around on her desk, trying to make room for her flowers. She had just placed the vase on the corner of her desk when she heard someone clear their throat; looking up, she found her boss before her. Oh, goodie.
Nash nodded at the flowers as Lissie hauled the box of files off her chair and onto her desk. 'Nice flowers, any special reason?'
She could lie, she thought, hands resting atop the file box, but what would be the point? 'Its my birthday.' she admitted sheepishly, wanting to die as she felt a blush creep into her cheeks. Dammit. Although she didn't realize it, it would only get worse in a moment. She watched as Nash read the card she had replaced in the bouquet, then practically stared as she received a genuine smile from him.
'Well, happy birthday, Ms. Shaw.' and with that he turned and headed for the doors, his partner, Joe Dominguez, in step with him; leaving Lissie a bit out of sorts at her desk as she forced herself to sit down. She stared at the flowers, then at the file box. Before she could repeat her embarrassing moment with any of her fellow SIUers, she hefted the file box and head back to the fantail where she could spread them out and work in peace.
.-.-.-.
It was dusk by the time anyone bothered her, and she was glad for the interruption. Five hours of reading case files would do anyone's need for peace and quiet in. Ronnie informed her she had a call holding on line two, and then left her alone again. She grabbed the phone, taking off her reading glasses finally. A birthday and reading glasses, god, she felt old. 'Inspector Shaw.' she said into the phone, leaning back in her chair.
'Hey, girl, Happy Birthday.' came the smooth voice over the line. Lissie brightened instantly. Ah-ha! So he hadn't forgot, but he'd have some excuse. 'Sorry I didn't get you anything, but its just been meetings and airlines all day.'
Lissie smiled and rolled her eyes. 'That's okay, Jerome. The girls and mom sent me flowers.' She neglected to inform him that he too could have sent flowers, that they were only a phone call away. She was a little thankful he hadn't, that would've resulted in an even more interesting interaction with Captain Bridges.
'Doing anything special?' he asked.
'Take out and a bottle of champagne.' she responded. The girls weren't home, and she doubted her closest friends would do anything rash; Skye had symphony practice and Karma was off in Philly for the week. It'd be her and the dogs, which wasn't necessarily a bad thing.
'Exciting.'
'Where are you?' she suddenly had an urge to know. She highly doubted Jerome would show up unexpectedly, either.
A sigh, 'Atlanta. Had a meeting that finished up here just about an hour ago and I'm waiting on my connecting flight to Newark.'
'Oh.' Newark, that meant he was off to London again. Which meant he wouldn't be home for quite some time. Sometimes Lissie felt more like a layover mistress rather than a girlfriend. She half listened as he explained the same things he always did- he'd be home for maybe a week in just a few weeks, he missed her, but she had to understand this was the nature of his job, being a high-powered security consultant. 'I know, I know, and I do understand.' Lissie assured him. She knew, but she didn't always like it. She was about to say something when he cut in.
'They're paging my flight, Lissie. Gotta go. I'll call this weekend.' and just like that, he was gone.
'Bye.' she said dejectedly to the empty silence on the line. She plunked the receiver down and looked at the mess on the table before her. Time to go home, she decided. She'd pick up an extra container of chow mein for the dogs to fight over when she picked up dinner, she decided. It looked like they'd be the only ones celebrating with her. She set to work putting her files back in order, loading them back in their box, and schlepping them back to her desk. It looked like most of the inspectors around her were also calling it an early evening. Harv and Antown were already halfway to the door, and Cassidy, Nash's daughter, was shutting down her workstation. Lissie dropped the box on her desk and set about closing out the open windows on her computer. She grabbed her bag from a desk drawer as the computer went through its shut down procedures. After it assured her that it was indeed shut down with a final beep, she clicked off the desk lamp and grabbed her vase of flowers. A few moments later she herself was out the door. It was a pleasant night, and for the first time in a week held no promise of rain.
Lissie managed to get the keys out for her car, and the Mustang sat alone in a line of parking spaces. The lights flashed at her as she thumbed the unlock button on the key fob. She held the roses tight with one hand as she reached the car, stretching with the other to open the passenger door. It was god, in theory, but the vase shifted precariously, spilling water down her arm. She sighed and glared at nothing in particular, letting go of the door handle and preparing to place the vase atop the car. Someone behind her said 'Here.'
'You're suddenly being nice only because its my birthday.' she said as Nash opened the Mustang's door before she could put the flowers atop the car. He stepped out of the way as she bent to put them in the seat, fastening the seat belt around them.
'I'm generally a nice guy,' he told her as she straightened. She brushed a stray piece of hair behind her ear as she stood before him. 'You just seem intent on making that very difficult for me, Ms. Shaw.'
Lissie moved and slammed the door shut. 'You could try beginning by not calling me 'Ms. Shaw' all the time.'
Nash nodded, 'Okay, and you can start by not calling me 'Captain Bridges'. The name is Nash, Lissie.'
He smiled at her, and Lissie suddenly wondered if making amends with her boss was such a good idea after all. Up 'til now she could deal with him on a strictly professional basis, now... now she was going to have to be personable. It couldn't be all that bad, could it? It wasn't his fault she'd had bad experiences with supervisors in the past. 'Um, right, Nash. Got it.' she managed, the corners of her lips twisting up slightly. He didn't go away though, and she was surprised to find she hadn't moved yet either.
'Doing anything special for your birthday, tonight?'
'Take out and champagne, shared with the dogs. Well, not the champagne.'
'Could I offer you dinner, instead? We didn't have a chance to get you a cake since no one knew it was your birthday.'
No, no, no, no... 'Sure.' came out of Lissie's mouth. Reading glasses, a birthday, and sudden onset senility. Great. 'I was going to get some Chinese, if that's okay?' No, no, no, no, her mind repeated at her again.
'Sounds good, I know this great little place, if you want to follow me?' she nodded and watched as he strode off to his car. Trying brilliantly not to blush or curse she went around to the drivers side and got in. Now what was she going to do?
.-.-.-.
Dinner, Lissie had to admit while taking a bite of her chow mein, was actually pleasant. She'd relaxed a little and took her guard down, causing Nash to begin to realize she wasn't the hardass ice queen she'd acted like at work towards him. They sat out on a bench on one of the piers, looking out across the bay, watching the ferries and evening dinner cruises make their way across the darkening waters. She punctuated her commentary on her past work in Vice with her chopsticks. It surprised Lissie to see that Nash had relaxed as well, and provided colorful commentary of his own, and was a pretty decent guy. It was the 'decent guy' part that worried Lissie. Try as she might, she was fighting a losing battle against liking her boss. Just once, she told herself, she'd like to work with someone who was completely miserable who wouldn't garner her affections in any way. It would never happen. She was digging out some beef from her noodles when Nash brought up the topic she'd been dreading, bringing a sudden halt to the lightness of the evening.
'You said this guy killed your sister.'
Lissie poked around some more in her noodles, finally setting the take out box on the ground below the bench and sighing. 'Yeah, I was eighteen, and she was sixteen.' another sigh. 'It was a long time ago.' She looked out across the bay, remembering, fighting the tears that always accompanied the pain. She felt Nash's hand on her arm.
'I'm sorry.' he said. She nodded, and wiped at her eyes. 'I'm only asking since its...'
'Relative to the case.' she said, cutting him off. 'I understand.' Nash watched as she took a deep breath and steadied herself. 'She always walked home from school. I had practice after school, and she didn't want to wait to get a ride from me. One day, she never got home. Mom went nuts and dad, well, he pulled all the strings he could to get the department to look for her, but, it didn't help much. Missing persons wasn't what it is today, and by the time they got a break it was too late. He killed her, left her body in a warehouse in the Tenderloin.' She was visibly crying at this point, and she didn't resist when Nash gently pulled her towards him, holding her gently. She slowly pulled away after a few minutes, reaching into her purse for a Kleenex and wiping at her tear stained face. They sat in silence, neither sure of what to say now. Nash was the one who finally broke the silence.
'I should pull you off this case, due to personal involvement.' The hard Lissie he'd known until today returned and he could see anger bloom in her eyes. 'I didn't say I was going to,' he assuaged her, 'I said I should, but I'm not. Personally, I think the more we know about a suspect, the better, even if that knowledge comes from personal involvement.' That calmed her, and she smiled weakly.
'Thanks, I think.' A breeze began to come up off the water, causing her to shiver. She bent and began to gather her leftovers and the rose from the bench. 'I should get home, the dogs are probably wondering what happened to me.' It sounded like a lousy excuse, even in her ears. Lissie knew herself well enough that she was vulnerable right now, and that vulnerability never landed her in a good position. Not tonight, besides, she had that bottle of champagne at home.
Nash nodded, gathering his trash and rising. 'Nick, my father, is probably also wondering where I've gotten off to.' Actually, Nick was off with his old buddies raising hell in a bingo hall, but, what the hell. 'He lives with me.' he added lamely. Since when did he revert into teenage akwardness?
Lissie smiled and nodded, leading the way down the dock, pausing to deposit her trash in a convenient trash can. Nash followed slowly, watching her in the streetlamps that illuminated the pier. She wated by their cars, deciding that tonight had been enjoyable to deserve a good bye. 'Thanks for dinner, Nash.' she smiled.
He smiled, too. 'My pleasure. So I take it we've come to an agreement not to antagonize each other any more?'
'Only if you deserve it.' she grinned. She was about to turn away and say her god bye when Nash caughter her hand. She stiffened a little as Nash stepped over and brushed his lips against her cheek, and whisperng 'Happy Birthday' in her ear.
'Thank you.' she said, and stared, dumbfounded, as he got in his car and started it. Lissie willed herself to move, to get her keys out of her purse, to get in the car. She stared at her hands on the steering wheel, waiting and watching in her mirrors as Nash backed his beloved 'Cuda out of the space next to her. IN the darkness she touched her cheek and rolled her eyes heavenward. Vulnerability, hell, she was in even deeper trouble now.
.-.-.-.
In a tired and dingy hotel room a man sat on the unmade bed, smoking a cigarette and watching the flickering television set a few feet away on the dresser. Sadly, for him, the news had no footage of the body coming out of the water, but the newscrew did get shots of the body bag coming up to street level and two plainclothes cops coming under the tape. He was recording all of this on a cheap VCR and when the news anchor smiled and cut to commercial he rewound the tape, then watched it all again. He paused it, leaning forward to get a good look at the woman. Well, well, well, he thought to himself, it was her, and he couldn't have asked for more by getting her on the case. The man, simply known to most as 'Jack' smiled and took a long drag on his cigarette. He stared at the glowing tip as the woman stood frozen on the TV screen. Time to up the ante, and have a little fun with her. Besides, it'd been too long since he'd gotten to play with her.
.-.-.-.