Showtime
A/N Thank you for the reviews, favourites and follows :) makes me happy to know this is being enjoyed! :D
Chapter 4
"So" Jo asked as she entered the lab "What do we have?"
Adam looked at her "I have a caffeine hangover" he grumbled.
"Aw, poor baby!" Jo rubbed his arm in a motherly gesture.
"But, I do have something else" he accepted the sympathy. He liked Jo, she was warm, funny, and he enjoyed being mothered once in a while.
"Oh, now see?!" Jo's face lit up "It was all worth it in the end!"
"There were rubber marks on the bathroom floor carpet runner" he said "Also on the bedroom door and the front door, in the elevator and building entrance, very fresh. I analysed them and they are from the type of rubber typically used to make wheelchair tyres, which is the same type used to make mobile hoists"
"So someone took Lee's equipment from the apartment?" Jo looked puzzled "What about the knife?"
"No useable prints" Adam sighed "There's partial details, but not enough really, all I can say is that Lee Harley may have handled that knife, but someone with similar ridge detail also may have handled it"
"No DNA?" she asked.
"Only blood on the knife was Lee's" Adam replied "Nothing under the handle at all. And the other prints Hawkes lifted? No match in AFIS and no match to the DNA in CODIS either"
"OK" Jo stood deep in thought for a few moments "I'll get Don to start looking for the equipment, it's got to be somewhere. I can't believe that someone killed this guy and then took his stuff!"
"Burgalry/Homicide?!" Adam gave her a doubtful look.
"This is different Adam" she said "This is personal. Run him through every database you can think of, I need to know everything about him and his sister"
"Will do" Adam sighed, sitting back in his chair "I need coffee" he groaned.
…...
"Well" Danny folded his arms, looking at the man Kate and Lindsay had caught at the hotel "I'll ask you again, what is your name?"
"Michael" the man replied "Mouse"
"Ok Mr Mouse!" Danny slammed his hands onto the desk, making it shudder, he made a mental note not to do it again, the tables at the HOS task force building were a lot flimsier than the ones at the precinct "Just what were you doing in that room at the hotel?"
"Nothin'" the guy grunted.
"Nothin' huh?" Danny sat down "So why you run?"
The man shrugged "Dunno"
"Listen buddy" Danny leaned over "This is a big deal, OK? You were in a restricted area, takin' photo's, damn, you could land up at Gitmo for that!"
"No comment" the man replied, looking Danny square in the eye.
"Right" Danny sighed "No comment"
…...
"He say anything?" Lindsay asked as she sat at her makeshift desk.
"His name is Michael" Danny rolled his eyes "Michael 'No comment' Mouse!"
"Actually" Lindsay said with a smile "His name is Aaron Beckton and he's a media student at NYU"
"He's on record?!" Danny asked her, leaning down to look at the screen.
"For a public order offence" Lindsay said.
"Media student?" Danny mused "You thinkin' what I'm thinkin' babe?"
"Rarely" Lindsay laughed "But I am thinking that he was in there nosing about and that he was maybe looking for a way inside to get close to the action and sell some information"
"Possibly" Danny shrugged "But why not just say that?"
"Because he's probably been told to keep his mouth shut by whoever he's working for" Lindsay said "Papers don't like being exposed as using underhand tricks to get information"
"Underhand and illegal" Danny commented "So this kids a budding journo and he has been snooping around looking for stories on the people coming to the HOS conference?"
"Some sheik or prince caught in a sex scandal will sell lots of papers" Lindsay mused.
…...
"You're not that old" Kate said as she looked at the computer screen, her hands on Don's shoulders.
"They're for you" he quipped back "You're older than me, ya know wanna be prepared"
"Thanks" she said dryly.
"Any time" he replied in a flat tone.
"This case is bugging you isn't it?" she observed.
"I can't figure any of it out" he admitted "There's no evidence to speak of, and the only lead we got is that his equipment was taken from his apartment. His sister won't talk, and..." he sighed "I dunno, we just got a dead guy in a bath! I'm trawling through all these to try and find who sold them. I'm also trying to get some co-operation from the care company that supplied aides to him"
He pointed to the screen where he was scrolling through lists of companies that sold equipment.
"But what kinda lowlife" he continued "Kills a disabled guy and stages a suicide to steal his stuff?! It's not like he could have stopped them! I emailed every company that sells these things in the tri state area to find out where he got them from in the first place, nothing"
Kate slid her hands around his chest, resting her cheek against his.
"Take a break baby?" she tried.
"I can't" he huffed "This is all we got, I came home to do it so at least we can be in the same area code tonight!"
"You gotta eat" she told him.
"Later" he said, starting to scroll again.
"No" she pulled the of the chair away from the computer "Now"
"OK!" he stood up "You're quite persuasive when you wanna be"
"I know" she grinned at him "And I cooked" she caught his look of surprise "Yeah that's right, cooked. I can you know"
"I know you can" he answered, following her through to the kitchen "You just don't very often"
She shrugged, handing him a plate "Maybe I just wanna look after you"
He put his head on one side "What do you want?" he asked.
"Nothing!" she replied, returning his half smile.
He laughed, pointing at the food with his fork "This is good"
"Thanks" she replied.
"So?" he met her eyes "Wha'd'ya want then Krazy?"
She looked uncomfortable, looking down from his eye contact, taking a forkful of food before flicking her gaze in his direction again, he hadn't let up, he was still looking at her.
"I just wanted half an hour, just to ya know, do something normal, eat dinner together" she admitted "I've missed you, we both been so busy..."
His fork paused half way to is mouth and he put it down again, giving her a look she couldn't read.
"I'm not complaining" she started "Well I suppose I am" she gave a small laugh, still not able to look at him "But not at you, like I'm not starting anything or trying to have a fight, I don't wanna... Oh GOD!" she said in frustration "Why am I so bad at this?!"
He laughed then "I love the way you get it all wrong" he said "Just say it"
"Don't take the piss!" she said hotly "I'm trying to be serious, trying to... Oh shit I dunno. Just forget I said anything"
He ate another mouthful, looking at her thoughtfully "I'm sorry" he said "I wasn't taking the piss, I didn't mean to upset you"
"I'm not upset" she said, her face closed.
"Yeah you are" he replied "You got somethin' on your mind Kate"
"We're never gonna have a normal life are we?" she sighed "One of us is always gonna be answering a phone, or facing the barrel of a gun"
"It's who we are" he said "It's what we do"
"I know" she sighed "It's just I don't like it when it's like this!"
"Then retire" he gave her a teasing grin, he felt the same, like the past few weeks they were room mates, rather than getting married in a couple of months time.
"Oh shush" she grumbled.
"You could be a kept woman" he raised an eyebrow at her suggestively "Just not a well kept one, on one salary" he laughed.
"Oh Yeah that sounds like me!" she shot back with a half grin "And what, having a kid every couple of years?!"
"Couple of years?" he frowned "If you're gonna retire, you're gonna earn it, every year"
"Cheeky bastard!" she threw a cushion at him laughing "What am I? A brood mare?!"
He shrugged, putting his plate down and sitting on the sofa next to her, taking her empty plate and putting it on the coffee table before laying his head in her lap, looking at her.
"So all this rambling" he grinned up at her "What you're actually trying to say is that I've been ignoring you and you want more attention?"
"No" she said coyly "Well kinda" she laughed along with him "It's not just you though is it? It's me too. Both of us are really busy"
"I don't like it either" he said "I miss you, I miss talking to you, well listening to you jabber on anyway" he held up a hand as she picked up another cushion threateningly "One of us falls into bed exhausted just as the other one gets up, but it's only for now right? You're working better hours this next couple a weeks and there'll be something come through in this case soon"
"You promise?!" she asked.
"Cross my heart" he said back, heading back to the computer in the spare room.
"I'll kick your ass if you're wrong Flack" she warned.
"I have no doubt" he replied.
…...