Here is the next chapter. Hope you like. Since I forgot to mention this earlier I'll say it now. I don't own LOCI and if the names of characters actually match real people please note that it was not intentional.

Fire Safety

Home of Angela Brown

"I'm in a book?" Ms Angela Brown asked as two Detectives, Logan and Wheeler, were sat opposite her in her small living room at her flat in Brooklyn. Brown was petite woman with dusty blonde hair and big green eyes. She was wearing bright clothes and the two detectives looked very dark in her brightly decorated room.

"Yes. Do you remember meeting a Chris Webber?" Wheeler asked her politely, sipping on the lemonade they had been given when they had first sat down to discuss this with her.

Brown looked at her glass and quickly looked at Logan, "No." Her tone, her response told them the opposite to no was the truth.

"Ms Brown, uh, we know that you did meet him. We can tell that you do remember him." Logan pushed, gently and quietly, knowing that he had to get her to trust them if they were going to get the truth. Women generally don't like to talk about one night stands with strange men - that was his experience anyway.

"It's okay, Ms Brown, the evidence is in the book we found that you're in." Wheeler explained, and then tried again. "Do you remember meeting Chris Webber?"

Brown nodded. "It was a few months ago. I - uh - I was having a night out with some friends." she spoke quietly, shyly about it. She was clearly embarrassed and she was trying, unsuccessfully, to hide that from them. Brown took a deep sigh.

"Do you remember what he was like with you? His attitude?" Wheeler asked, realising that Brown was avoiding eye contact with her partner, she decided to ask the questions.

"Yes, he was gentle at first. Kind and sweet. I'd had a few too many... like that's an excuse."

"You gave him your number?" Logan had to ask, despite the fact he could tell this wasn't a conversation he really wanted to be in.

"Yes, he called me almost instantly. He wanted to meet up." she explained. "I wasn't thinking straight. If I had I would've seen what he was really like." Brown looked down at her glass and refused to give either of them eye contact. Her embarrassment grew tenfold and she suddenly wished she was in the drink and not in this particular conversation. She had dreaded bringing this up again.

"He hurt you?" Wheeler asked, noting how she had commented on him being different to way she had first seen.

"No... well, no, not physically. I wanted it, I guess, otherwise I wouldn't have gone back to his place but..."

"He had attitude?" Logan wasn't really asking, he figured it was true, they'd all met him. He'd seen the way he was with Eames.

Brown nodded. "He was telling me what to do." Brown looked at Wheeler and then she explained, seeing that the woman didn't really understand. "He would tell me what piece of clothing to take off." She mock laughed at it, but mostly herself. "I did what he said but it wasn't enough for him. He even told me where to lie on the bed." Wheeler was a little embarrassed, Logan raised his eyebrows at that little fact. Brown sighed. "I left and never looked back."

"Ms Brown, we need to know if he was ever forceful with you? Violent even?" Logan asked, wanting to cut the tension that was filling the room like a black cloud fills the sky.

"Not violent, but he was - I guess you could call it pushy. He was very demanding, he wanted it his way." She explained, gaining confidence as she spoke to them. She was actually finding it very therapeutic to talk about it with strangers.

"Thank you for helping us." Wheeler gave her gratitude and they stood up to leave.

"We're very sorry for taking your time up, ma'am." Logan said as they reached the door. Brown shook her head to say it didn't matter and he nodded back at her and they left her alone. She was thankful they had been there, she realised that what had happened was over and that she could move on - now she had spoken all about it she felt better for it.

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Home of Jessica Marshall

(the woman from chapter one)

Jessica Marshall was holding her cell phone in her hand and looking squarely at the Goren and Eames, as they stood in her barely decorated open plan apartment. It looked like a room out of a designer magazine with matching colours and simple ornaments and decorations of bizarre shapes, such as a square lamp shade that was red with a cream circular sofa. "Do you ever remember meeting a Chris Webber?" Eames asked her, as her partner began walking around the room, finding the room very different and unusual.

"Yes. What about it?" she asked, evasively but not denying the truth.

"Well, we found a folder with your name in it and it seems he called you and you have called him several times since." Eames explained to her without mentioning the exact contents of the book, she figured no one would want to know what had been left behind.

"Yes, I've been wanting to talk to him."

"Did you manage to talk to him?" Goren asked as she watched the woman standing stoicly, straight and not showing any emotion at all. Somehow that didn't seem normal. The woman stared at him. "No? Is that because he doesn't want to talk to you since...?" he let his sentence fade implying about what had happened.

"He's very busy." She offered as explanation.

"I'll say." Eames responded with a quite mock laugh. Marshall didn't appreciate the tone she used or the implication but her comment.

"I'm sure he'll call as soon as he can." She continued, choosing ignore Eames all together and look at Goren, who was pretending to agree with her.

"Yes, I'll bet he'll make the time for you." Goren said and Marshall could tell he was feigning agreement and she didn't like that at all.

"What are you doing here, Detectives?" She was becoming angry at their presence.

"We're investigating the murder of a young police officer and your name came up in connection." Eames explained.

"About Chris?" She asked and Eames nodded. "If this is about Chris and my name then you found his little... collection." Eames and Goren quickly looked at each other and back at Marshall. "Yes, I know all about that."

"You found it." Goren rationalised. "Whilst you were there and he was asleep?" Marshall nodded.

"Are you suspecting him of murder?" She asked, incredulously.

"We can't reveal that at this time." Eames replied, trying not to give her too much information. Marshall mouthed the word 'oh', just taking her answer as 'yes'.

"What do you want to know?" She asked and Goren walked over to her a little and held his hands behind his back, clasping them together he looked at her and then replied.

"What happened with you two? Why do you keep calling him? Any information you can give us would be very useful." Eames thought for a moment he was trying to flirt with her but she instantly shook that thought out of her head.

"Well as you know we slept together." Marshall was being confident, her head high up as she spoke. This wasn't embarrassing for her, Goren could tell that she had liked being with Webber. "I've been trying to get him to call me ever since." As if she wanted him to make some kind of commitment to her.

"What happened when you were with him?" Eames asked, hoping that she didn't have to say 'aside from the obvious' and thankfully she didn't.

"He was in charge but I pushed back." She replied and Goren looked at Eames, who had a look of amusement on her face. Goren looked back at her and looked a little happy about the fact she pushed back.

"Ooooh, how did he react to that?" Goren was pretending that this was a informal, friendly coversation like they were two 'girlfriends' sharing light hearted gossip about ones encounters with the opposite sex.

"He didn't like it." Marshall replied, "But it didn't stop us from having a good time." She had a suggestive smile on her face and Eames looked at Goren to suggest that they should leave before they end up hearing every small detail of it.

"One more thing - you don't mind being in his - what did you call it? His collection?" Goren asked, as Eames started to walk to the door.

"No, everybody does strange things."

"You'd be okay if he carried that on even if he was with you?" Goren asked but she didn't reply she just looked at him and he looked at her for a moment before giving her a small nod and leaving the apartment. Eames shook her head and looked at her partner who was inside himself, thinking again.

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Home of Jeff Hall

Father of Chris Webber

Clutter was the word describe the home of this very messy middle-aged man that greeted Logan and Wheeler as they walked into his kitchen and through his back door out into the also cluttered back yard. The man was covered in grease, with hair that was dyed a dark brown colour but the grey roots were growing back. "So, yeah, I heard you people arrested my son. What's that all about?" The man grabbed a drilling tool and walked over to some wood he had been shaping into what looked like a door.

"He assualted a cop during a murder investigation." Wheeler replied, watching him as he just carried on with his work, he didn't seem that bothered that two detectives were here to talk about his son.

"You know some colleagues of ours visited his mother." Logan told him, getting his attention. "She told them that you weren't a good father." Earlier that morning, before they had all set off to do their list of interviews, the four detectives had had breakfast together to talk about the interviews they had conducted the day before.

"Yeah?" He asked, looking at him and then his drill before shaking his head. "You shouldn't believe anything she tells ya."

"Why is that?" Wheeler asked, as he put the drill back down on the floor and took his gloves off.

"Because she ain't right upstairs." He pointed to his temple with his index finger. "If ya get what I'm saying." Logan looked at Wheeler.

"Well, you don't seem that interested right now, Mr Hall." Wheeler told him.

"Nothing I can do about it." He said, shrugging it off. "My son knows what to do. I taught him well."

"Oh yeah? Like what? You taught him to hit a cop?" Logan asked, as he felt the first drop of rain hit him directly on his forehead, he wiped it off and looked at Hall.

"No, not cops." He defended himself quickly, shaking his head. "I taught him how to survive. My boy was bullied at school. His mother didn't do a damned thing about it."

"You saved him from that." Wheeler concluded from what Hall was saying, as it really did start to rain, she looked at Hall and then towards the door.

"I taught him how to be a man." He ignored the fact that they clearly wanted to go inside but he noticed that Logan didn't seem to be too bothered by the rain.

"How did you do that?" Logan asked. "By teaching him how to behave with women?"

"He was bullied by girls. What kind of boy is afraid of girls? That ain't a way a man should be. A man should know where he stands and fight for it." He explained, his hands were making shaking movements by his side as he spoke, which Wheeler found annoying and fascinating.

"That's your definition of a man?" Wheeler asked, "Where does a man stand in your definition?"

"Above, sweetheart. Above." He winked at her and she looked at Logan - her face showing how much this man was starting to grate on her nerves.

Logan chuckled, "You, uh, you like to put women in their place?" He reasoned but he needed to hear him say it.

"Yeah. I taught him to do that." The man looked smug and pleased with himself and he looked like he expected that Logan does the same. Wheeler was not impressed and she stared at Logan in annoyance but turned back to the source that, Jeff Hall. "You see, women like to think that they're in charge, but they aren't. We are. Once you put them back down, they remember where they should be. This girl power crap is the reason my son is the way he is." He eyed Wheeler up and down, this made her begin to feel uncomfortable, which Logan noticed so he tried to get Hall's attention.

"How did you teach him to be a man?" Logan asked, not really expecting an answer.

"Oh, yeah, I just told him all he needed to know about the opposite sex. Ya know..." He told Logan, Wheeler was thankful for once that they were ignoring her.

"You taught him about safe sex?" Logan asked, pretending to be interested in this strange line of questioning but somehow that question seemed important and he knew that if hadn't asked, Wheeler was going to instead.

"Well, there ain't no point in getting women pregnant." He answered and then explained. "Once they are they want ya to stay, that's what happened with me and Mandy." He was referring to Webber's mother, Amanda. Wheeler couldn't help but also realise that Chris had his mothers last name and not his fathers although she shouldn't have been surprised. "Ya got a woman, Detective?" Hall asked Logan, expecting an answer, although Logan didn't really give him one, he just looked at him, waiting for the other ball. "Take that as a yes. I can tell you're the kind of man who's puts her in her place."

Logan looked at Wheeler, who raised her eyebrows, wondering if he really did do that but she'd not seen any evidence of that. "You don't have any other children, Mr Hall?" Wheeler asked, wanting to steer the coversation away from downgrading women.

"No, I learnt my lesson the first time. Didn't need to be told twice." He started walking around the house, leading them away from his back yard. He obviously wanted them to leave and if Wheeler and Logan were honest with themselves, they definitely wanted to leave.

As they neared the front of the house, Logan turned to Hall and held out his hand indicating that he was going to say something more. "Oh, Mr Hall... by the way. My girlfriend? She's not the kind of woman you put into place and nor would I try." Hall was taken back by what Logan said, it was a complete twist on the impression he'd gotton from the Detective. Logan didn't wait for a response he just walked over to his car and sat in the drivers seat, knowing full well his partner was only a few steps behind. Hall watched them pull off in his dark red car and he shook it off, heading back into his house.

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Interview Room

Major Case Squad, One Police Plaza

Captain Ross and the four Detectives Goren, Eames, Logan and Wheeler were sat around the table eating pizza and drinking coffee. There were interview notes flying towards each other as they were discussing what each had discovered during yesterdays interviews with Jeff Hall, and the women they had managed to find in the book. "So out of all the women we interviewed there was one thing in common - he was demanding, pushy, commanding and didn't call them back afterwards." Goren said, not looking up from reading his notes.

"There was only one woman who really seemed desperate to get an answer." Eames said, referring to Jessica Marshall. "She still believes he's going to call her."

"You know, I can't imagine calling up a guy for a whole month without getting an answer. I'd have given after the first call." Wheeler commented and Eames nodded in agreement, she also couldn't imagine being that desperate for any man.

"Really?" Logan asked, liking the little tidbit he was being given about his partner and then looked at Eames.

"Well, women don't like to show that they are desperate even if they are." Goren offered in explanation. Logan looked at Eames as Goren continued. "They would rather give up on - on a guy than appear to be desperately seeking his attention."

"Ha, yes, even you Romeo." Eames told him when she noticed his bemused expression. His response to her was the infamous Logan grin. Ross picked up a piece of paper and looked at Wheeler.

"What did you get from the father?" He asked her but his question was also directed towards Logan.

"He taught Chris how to treat women in that lovely way that he does." Logan sarcastically answered before allowing his partner continue.

"He was the one who helped him overcome the bullying he had received at school from girls. I got the impression that he wouldn't have gone easy on Chris with that, he seemed ashamed that his son was even bullied let alone by girls." Wheeler explained and Goren was taking it all in, liking the detail that was being brought to the table.

"So, we've got a guy who was picked on by girls and a father who taught him to get them back." Ross summarised. "But would he kill Brooks in a fire?" Ross didn't sound like he believed the answer to that question could be yes. Eames didn't seem to be sure either way and when Ross looked at the others he noticed that neither did they for that matter. "Right, well, then there must be something we have missed." He looked at Goren and Eames, "Webber got bail this morning, why don't you two go pay him a visit." Goren looked at Eames, ready to say that she shouldn't go when Ross held up his hand. "I don't think he's stupid enough to hit a cop again any time soon but be careful nevertheless."

Goren and Eames stood up to leave, they nodded their goodbyes to their colleagues. Eames smiled at Logan and then at Wheeler and they left. As they were walking through the coridoor, Eames was putting her coat on when Goren's mind was wandering with his thoughts. "He doesn't say 'I love you'." His comment was quiet and thoughtful. Eames seemed surprise by the comment, although it didn't seem to make any sense.

They reached the elevator and waited for one to arrive. "Webber? Why would he say that? He has no reason to love them." Eames commented, after she thought about what he had said but when she looked at Goren he seemed confused by her response. She found that strange.

He shook his head at her as the doors opened and they walked inside the elevator. "N-no. I - I meant Logan." The doors closed as Eames was taken back by what he was saying to her.

"You're not making sense." She said, as she pressed the button for ground floor and the elevator began moving in the direction that they wanted to go.

"Logan - he didn't say 'I love you' to - to you when we left the room." Goren was becoming even more uncomfortable and once again regretting the fact that his mind let out comments before he thought about them. he hadn't even realised he had said that out aloud.

Eames, being used to his direct and unusual approach and knowing that he was just being her friend in his own way just shook her head at him. "Why would he? I'm not that insecure and it's not his way." She was going to add that Captain Ross also happened to be in the room and that they had to remain professional but she didn't feel it was necessary. She hoped that what she had said would appease his mind enough and let him concentrate on the case at hand the way he needed to. Goren was about to respond when Eames' phone began ringing. She pulled it out of her trouser pocket and flipped it open. "Eames... Yes... Alright, we'll be there." She closed the phone and looked at her partner. "You are not going to believe this."

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Home of Chris Webber

Fire engines and police cars were at the scene of Chris Webbers home when the detectives and Captain Ross arrived after Eames received the phone call and alerted the others to what had happened. Neither could believe that once again the so called suspect was now the victim and it seemed this one was related.

Goren could see that Chris Webber was being attended to by EMS and he was looking very angry and upset. Mortified that his house had almost been burnt down to the ground and him along with it. Goren couldn't blame him but was it an accident? Either way this changed the direction of the case and possibly alters any basis for an arrest they may have been able to get for Webber.

Goren looked at his partner and then at the others, they watched as Webber spotted them and began making a bee line towards them. He looked pissed and they all began to prepare themselves for the blow that was coming to them and to their case.

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TBC Please leave a review and let me know if any of you guys are reading this.