CHAPTER SEVEN

Sorry for the delay in the update due to me and my son being ill for the last week.

Hope you are all still with me on this and enjoy this chapter.

Not long to wait now till the new season of Blue Bloods starts can't wait!

Please review if you read this chapter thanks…

As things got back to normal with Jackie and Danny, they still had to figure out how they could nail this case on Hudson. "So go through the forensics again," Jackie said, reading a note in the file. Danny reached for a piece of paper and read, "No prints, no fibres under Hudson's nails." Jackie swung around on her chair. "So he wore gloves, how do we make it stick then?" she asked Danny. "What about her cell phone, check to see if she has any texts or calls that might have been made asking for help," Danny said, rummaging through Jan Hudson's personal belongings to find her cell phone.

Danny starts to read through the messages but still finds nothing than can tie Hudson to her. He searches on the menu of the phone for the voicemail messages and still finds nothing. He checks the last number dialled on her phone which shows a timeline of 23.49 which would have been when the attack was taking place. Danny dials the number which belongs to someone called Cheryl. He remembers Linda said her friend was called Cheryl. The phone goes straight to voicemail and Danny leaves a message.

About twenty minutes later Jackie takes a call from Cheryl Groves returning Danny's call. She asks Jackie if she could come to the station as she needs to speak with an officer urgently. Cheryl is at the station within half an hour of the call being made and Jackie takes her straight to an interview room. Cheryl is visibly shaking and handed Jackie her cell phone without speaking a single word.

Jackie presses the voicemail button and stands in amazement listening to the contents of the message. Danny came into the interview room halfway through the message being played to hear a re-run of Hudson arguing with his wife. Screams are heard from Jan Hudson and her voice is heard begging her husband to stop hitting her. Children's voices in the background are heard screaming to leave their Mom alone before a deadly silence. Then Hudson is heard dialling 911 saying he has just found his wife lying on the floor of there apartment and she isn't breathing.

Danny and Jackie cannot believe they have in their possession the actual recording of the murder. Cheryl explains she had been away on a trip and left her phone at home as she was using a company phone while she was away.

When she got back the day after the murder she was that upset at finding her friend was dead she hadn't even thought to check her own phone. Then today as she was cleaning her apartment to try and take her mind off what had happened to her friend, she came across her phone and charged it up. It was only then she realized she had several missed calls and was playing them back and came across this one from her friend.

Danny was ecstatic at finding this evidence but he wanted to make sure that everything was in place before he arrested Hudson, knowing his lawyer was one of the top in the city. Danny wanted to make sure it was a watertight case before an arrest was made. While he was waiting for the paperwork to come back from Erin's office and warrants to be drawn up, Danny decides to take advantage of having a free half day and makes plans to take Linda for lunch.

Linda is delighted when she received a call from Danny telling her to meet at one of their favourite restaurants at 14.00 hours, as he wants to treat her to lunch and with the boys at soccer practice that night, it meant they had even longer to enjoy a few hours quality time together.

Linda arrives at the restaurant just before 14.00 hours and is not surprised that Danny hadn't arrived. She asks the waiter if a reservation had been made and the waiter shows her to a table over looking Central Park. Linda settles back and enjoys the view waiting for her husband to arrive. She orders a drink before ringing Danny to see how much longer he will be. When his phone goes straight to voicemail she leaves a message telling him she is at the restaurant and to hurry up. After ten minutes Linda starts to become concerned and after sending two further text messages and two further calls go unanswered, she starts to panic. As the waiter approaches to take Linda's order, she asks for the bill and decides to ring the precinct to see if Danny had been caught up with a case and couldn't get away to phone her.

Jackie answers and tells Linda Danny had left over an hour ago which makes Linda's stomach turn. Jackie's voice too shows sign of the worry she was now feeling as she knew Danny was looking forward to spending time with Linda, she also tries his mobile which again goes straight to answer phone.

Linda by this time was in total panic and a horrible feeling was rising from the pit of her stomach that something had happened to Danny. As she is leaving the restaurant she rings Franks mobile, not knowing what else to do and explains what has happened. Frank tells Linda he will get a trace put on Danny's phone and for her to make her way to the precinct. He tries to reassure his daughter in law Danny has just been caught up with something and there will be a perfectly reasonably explanation as to why Danny wasn't picking up but deep down he knew that Danny would never leave Linda waiting for him without contacting her to say he would be late.

As Frank reaches Danny's desk, Jackie is about to put her coat on and head out to look for her partner. Frank asks Jackie if she knows of anything that had happened over recent weeks with any cases that could shed any light as to why Danny was possibly missing. Jackie hesitated and looked away before answering which was enough to let Frank know Danny had upset somebody. "Jackie, if you know something, even if Danny has done something wrong, I need to know."

Jackie proceeded to tell Frank about Danny attacking Alan Hudson as Frank sits holding his head. "Damn it, why do you have to be so headstrong Danny?" he says, thumping Danny's desk. Before Jackie can answer the commissioner, the phone rings. The data is ready which has checked Danny's phone, the last location was near the dockland before the signal was lost.

As Linda arrives at the station Frank decides it would be best if Linda wasn't around the station now they had a lead on Danny, so he swiftly got an officer to take Linda home telling her she needed to wait in case Danny tried to contact home.

Frank then proceeds to ring Jamie to get him to head back to the station with Runenzo and Jackie grabs her old friend Detective Grant, who had worked with both her and Danny in the past and could be trusted to join this operation.

Linda is sitting at home waiting for news of Danny when her father calls her mobile. Wanting to keep the line free for news from Danny she tells her father the situation and the need to keep the phone lines free. Within twenty minutes of the call her father is at her door wanting to offer her comfort as she waits for news of her beloved Danny.

Frank rang Linda as he made his way to the dockland to keep her updated with the latest development. Linda is shocked to hear Danny had been involved with the arrest of Hudson. She had no idea Danny had been to see him and felt such guilt that her telling Danny about Hudson had lead him to use such violence and now placed him in such danger.

John was shocked to know Alan the boy he had known all his life, was capable of such violence. He told Linda that Alan's mother had never forgiven her son for not marrying Linda and had cut him out of her will when Linda dumped him. Alan's mother had been determined to get onto the local council and Linda's mother had offered to be her sponsor in gaining a place during the election, in return for Alan becoming Linda's husband. When Linda dumped Alan her mother had dropped her support for Mrs Hudson to get onto the council and that left her political career over before it had even begun. She never forgave Alan for this and cut him out of her will leaving Alan with no inheritance and on a slippery slope to self destruction.

Linda was appalled that both families would act so ruthlessly with their children's lives but she was even more concerned for Danny's wellbeing, now she knew the motive Hudson had for inflicting injury on her Danny. Linda's father told her Hudson had a lock up on the dock, he used to store an old boat that belonged to his father. It was the only thing he got when his parents had died.

Danny was getting the same information Linda had just received from her father but his was first hand from Hudson as he was bound and gagged and handcuffed to a post. Each time Hudson finished a sentence, he struck Danny with a belt across his back or kicked him in the stomach. By the end of the one way conversation Danny was bleeding from his head and mouth and had lost consciousness, around the part of the story were Linda's Mom dropped the campaign.

Seeing Danny was unconscious, Hudson kicked him hard in the face causing Danny's head to fall backwards like a rag doll. As Hudson continued to kick Danny like a football, Jackie and Jamie appeared at the window of the warehouse and could see Danny was in serious trouble.

Jackie lined a shot up through a small crack in a window and without waiting for Frank to give the command she took it, knowing waiting would leave Danny in further peril.

Jackie's shot was always good and caught Hudson in the back causing him to fall to the ground. Jamie, not wanting to take any chance took a further two shots at him and Jackie ran through the warehouse to get to Danny as Hudson lay in a pool of blood on the floor, his lifeless body slumped against the lifeless body of Danny.

Jackie raced to her partner, trying to fumble for her keys to un-cuff him, as Jamie removed the ties from his hands and mouth. Danny slumped forward as Jackie screamed at Jamie to dial 911, as she started to give her beloved partner CPR.

"Come on Reagan stay with me," she almost pleaded with her partner, as she searched

for a pulse. Danny's eyes flickered briefly but he still didn't move.

Frank was over to them in seconds and held his sons hand willing him to wake up. After what seemed like an eternity the paramedics arrived and placed an oxygen mask over Danny's blood stained face. His eyes were closed over due to the swelling and his jaw was misshaped causing his face to look like it didn't belong to his handsome son.

The paramedic's lifted Danny into the back of the ambulance and closed the door behind them. "We will let you know if you can travel with him to the hospital once we try to stabilize his condition," the paramedic told Frank, as they were moving Danny. Fear gripped him as he heard the words 'trying to stabilize' fearing that it could be too late and nothing could be done for Danny.

After about five minutes the door opened and Frank and Jamie rushed over. "We're taking him to the Downtown Hospital, you can sit with him if you want. He has concussion but he has come round, his jaw is broken so he won't be able to talk but he should be fine.

Frank lifts his head to the sky to thank God that his eldest son is safe and holds Jamie by the shoulder before climbing into the back of the ambulance. He had instructed Jamie to get Linda and take her to the hospital and Jackie had informed Frank she would stay at the scene and wait for somebody to come and collect Hudson's body.

Before the ambulance pulled away to take Danny to the hospital Jackie steps inside to make sure for herself that her partner really was ok. Unable to speak and obviously in pain Danny lifts his thumb in acknowledgement to Jackie for saving his life and that was all she needed to let her know he would be fine and she could wrap things up here, knowing apart from a few broken bones her partner was going to be fine.