A/N - Chapter 9 posted: 8/13/08
Chapter 10 posted: 8/16/08

Lex Talionis – Chapter 10

It has to be Goren.

Who else would be calling her hotel room in the middle of the night?

If he's calling to say he's changed his mind … I'll kill him. After tossing and turning on this bed for the last three hours, my hair is sure to be all tangled and sticking straight up somewhere. And then of course, I probably (breath in cupped hand) … yes, need to brush my teeth again.

Ring number three. All right!

"Hello."

"Eames … I remembered something."

That's it? You remembered something? Did you remember that you left me sitting on the couch after a mind-blowing, body-numbing kiss? She choked down that snark in favor of, "Animal, vegetable or mineral?"

A breath, then two. "Umm … ani- … What?"

Alex swore she could hear his gears spinning and couldn't help but grin at the phone. "You call me at three in the morning to tell me you remembered something. Is it animal, vegetable, or mineral? You have to give me a hint."

"You're joking, right?"

Alex sighed. "I must be getting pretty bad at it, if you can't tell anymore." She closed her eyes and flopped back on her pillows. "What's up?"

"I need to see our notes and the information we got from that summer camp."

"Camp Lohikan? Where Lisa was attacked?" Alex sat up, immediately interested to know what Bobby stumbled upon. "I've got my laptop here, the files should be all up-to-date," she offered, knowing she could use the VPN access to get into NYPD systems. "Wha-…"

"Great … I'll be right there." He hung up before she had a chance to protest.

Shit! Where's my hairbrush?

xxx

Bobby had to force himself to stop admiring how cute she looked sitting Indian-style in the middle of the bed wearing sweat pants, an oversized hoodie and a sloppy ponytail. Eames was focused on getting her laptop started and linked to the VPN, and Bobby hoped she didn't notice.

"We're in," she announced. "What am I looking for?"

He pushed himself out of the chair and began slowly pacing the small room. "Find the files we got from the camp ... the employee roster."

"Anyone in particular?"

"You'll know it when you see it." He didn't miss the annoyed look she gave him, but smiled inwardly. She was going to like this. And Bobby knew the moment she spotted it.

Eames paused then looked at him in wide-eyed wonder. "Is it really him?"

Bobby sat at the edge of the bed so he could read the computer screen. Camp Counselors. Michael B. George. Charles S. Granger. Robin A. Harrington. "How much do you want to bet the A is for Andrew?"

"Drew Harrington," Eames sounded stunned. "Nicole's husband was a camp counselor at the same camp Tony Pirelli attended … at the same time Lisa claimed she was attacked." She shook her head at the computer screen as her disbelief changed to confusion. "How did you… ?"

"It came to me in a dream," Bobby vaguely waved a hand in the air.

"Uh huh." Eames looked skeptical and he didn't really feel the need to argue with her. "We don't know for sure it's him," she countered. "I don't remember seeing anything in his file about his name being Robin A."

"He could have had it legally changed, or gone by Drew for so long that it's on all his identifying documents." Bobby stood and walked over to the windows, pulling the curtain aside to peek outside. Damn, it gets dark in the mountains!

"I can backtrack him," Eames was frowning at her laptop. "But it would go faster if I do this back at the office."

"Yeah," he let the curtains fall back into place. "It can wait 'till tomorrow … or … later today," Bobby again began a slow pace of the room. Ideas were swirling and he wanted to talk them through. "What if … he was involved in the attack on Lisa?"

"Or … what if she went to him for help and he did nothing?"

Bobby nodded. Good point. There were so many 'what ifs,' but he wanted to work this out while his dream was still kicking around in his head. "Okay … let's go with that." He stopped and turned to her. "She went to him for help … told him what happened. But once the police got there, he didn't stand up for her … didn't back her story."

"Young girl like that, trusting an older man who then betrays her. That could throw her off for the rest of her life," Eames speculated quietly.

Bobby looked to the floor. Her words brought back to him Alex's own experience of betrayal by an older man, and he again felt a spark of anger and sickness that someone would hurt her that way.

"So she starts going to Drew Harrington's apartment …," Eames continued. "But, according to the doorman she went there to visit Nicole. That's what the video tape showed," her brow furrowed in question.

"His apartment building only keeps one week's worth of video at a time. Who knows how long she'd been visiting him."

"It couldn't have been too long … the doorman remembered her visits starting about three months before Harrington's suicide. She must have only recently located him."

And then it clicked into place for him along his mental timeline of these two cases. "His wedding announcement. She would have been in New York during the time of the two Central Park hangings. That was about the time Harrington and Nicole were married."

Eames nodded, and gave him that tiny little smile that told him she was impressed with his leap. He loved that tiny little smile.

"We can double-check those dates." She placed her hands flat behind her on the bed and leaned away from the laptop. "Do we think she had something to do with Harrington's death?"

"Maybe only in so much as she drove him to suicide. The guy had a history of depression. Could have been brought on by guilt."

"But, why would she continue to see Nicole after his death?"

"Exactly."

A/N – Well, pull my toes and color me surprised! Another (short) update :-) And, if anyone notices any big, ugly problems with this plot, please let me know.