"Will you talk to me, dammit? Giving me the silent treatment won't do you any good, Wolfe." Keats tried to use his last name against him, suggesting that their relationship was taking a giant step backward. What relationship? A kiss doesn't mean anything to a guy like Ryan. How stupid am I?
Keats sighed and left Ryan in the Lab while she went in search of Eric Delko. Horatio had already given her the third degree on why she shouldn't go into the field alone, so she decided to take along the cute Cuban for company.
"Delko? You up for a wild goose chase?" Keats asked him, grabbing her keys from her locker. She had caught him as he was returning from his lunch hour, hounding on him as soon as he'd clocked back in.
"Wolfe can't make it?" Delko asked, puzzled. Keats shook her head.
"I didn't ask Wolfe. I asked you. Now do you wanna go?"
They sped down the highway in Keats' Corsica, feeling every bump on the road magnified by ten-fold. Delko's face had changed color and took on a rather greenish hue. He grabbed the dash with one hand and clutched his stomach with the other.
"Do you think I'm a bad driver?" Keats asked with a wounded look on her face. Eric Delko pinched his lips together and rolled down the passenger side window, sticking his head out.
They arrived at Maria's mansion twenty minutes later, passing a swarm of cops as they went and more than a mile of caution tape. Delko excused himself from Keats, running toward the gas station bathroom down the road from the mansion. Keats gazed after him fondly, thinking him ever-so-kind not to criticize her driving.
As she stared in the direction of the gas station, she noticed a bright green payphone next to the full-serve pumps. Eric, you're a genius! She followed him and took out a tiny notepad, jotting down the address of the service station.
She began using her brush to take fingerprints from the phone, working carefully through dozens of different prints. After awhile, Delko joined her, looking nauseated and impatient.
"Did we find what we were looking for?" Delko said in a soft, strained voice. Keats nodded emphatically. She handed him her findings and they shared a blissful moment that only accomplishment could afford.
Keats began hacking away at her computer with the collection of fingerprints and came up with a productive list of suspects. She entered them in the database and went through them one by one.
"Peter Sullivan, hotel manager from New York, two speeding tickets in the last twenty-three years, aged forty. Nah…too young," Keats murmured, continuing on down the list, "Charles Burton, unemployed, arrested once for marijuana possession, married five times, aged seventy-six…too old."
"Douglas Fitzhugh, bartender at Club Ace, convicted of running a tattoo parlor without a license, aged fifty-three…deaf-mute…" Keats slapped her forehead in frustration as she eliminated nearly every single name from the list.
"Maybe our mystery man had someone else dial for him." Calleigh said, sitting beside her. She had volunteered to assist Keats as she learned the ropes of database deduction.
"That would be just my luck, too." Keats muttered. She glanced at a few more potential people until the next to last one caught her eye.
"Wait a sec…take a look at this one," Keats gestured to the screen excitedly, "Dennis Harrison Haney, bouncer at Club Ace, aged fifty-two, arrested for unruly conduct on twelve different occasions, arrested for carrying a concealed weapon twice, charged three times with attempted assault, battery and rape…the list goes on and on." Keats snapped her fingers.
"This is our guy. I'm positive." Keats said, ready to confront the man who had threatened her life. Calleigh gave her a pert nod and a pat on the shoulder.
"Just make sure you have the right person before you do anything rash or impulsive, Junie. I'd hate for anything to happen to you." Calleigh's blue eyes twinkled with compassion. Keats nodded solemnly.
"Don't worry, Calleigh, I'll behave…I'll take Cooper to the club with me!"
Friday night and time for Cooper's date with Keats. She had sought after him before then, asking him to take her to Club Ace. Cooper agreed and he went home early to get ready. Ryan watched him leave, more than well-aware of his plans for the evening. In one way, he was glad that Cooper was taking Keats off his hands. She was trouble incarnate. But she was also the feisty little punk that had caught his attention and had kept it.
"Something on your mind, Ryan?" Natalia Boa Vista leaned over the table and gazed into his tense face. Ryan shook his head, caught quite off-guard by the simple question.
"Good. We need to go to Club Ace and question a few people. Calleigh didn't want K.J. to do it, so I told her that we could. Is that all right with you?" Boa Vista placed a beautiful bronzed hand on her shapely hip. Ryan shrugged and his face became difficult to read.
Keats met Dan Cooper outside of the club dressed in a tight leopard print dress and shoes, her shimmering red hair a perfect compliment to her outfit. Dan sucked in his breath and stood staring at her with the eyes of a man who's just seen an oasis in the desert.
"Thanks." Keats blushed a bit and took Cooper's arm. They entered the club and were immediately assaulted by the smoky atmosphere and blaring techno music. Keats led him to the bar and she ordered a jello shot. The man, who was fifty-ish, spoke in harsh English and asked for I.D.
Keats formed her fingers into words and signed to the man, hoping he was Douglas Fitzhugh.
The man signed back furiously, telling her he wouldn't reveal anything under any circumstances.
"If I had known you were gonna lure me here to work I would've stayed home and watched football." Dan said with a frown. Keats immediately felt remorse for tricking Cooper. He certainly doesn't deserve this crap.
Keats let her eyes apologize for her, giving him her best apologetic glance. She leaned in closer to him and gave him a sweet kiss.
"Don't be mad, Cooper. I'm just addicted to my job, that's all. I have to find the guy who did this to me." Keats held her arm up for Cooper to see the thick scar that wove around her veins like a river. Dan Cooper nodded in understanding and placed his hand on her back comfortingly.
"Guess who's come to wreck the party?" Natalia mumbled, glancing sideways at the form of K.J. Remington. Ryan craned his neck beyond the man in front of him and squinted when he recognized Keats. She was on the arm of Dan Cooper, in an obvious ploy to make Ryan jealous. Or so he thought until he realized that Keats had no knowledge that Ryan would even be at Club Ace.
"Glad to see ya, Little Red." D.H. Haney popped a cigarette in his mouth and sat beside Keats when Cooper had toddled off to the bathroom.
"D.H…we finally meet in the light. Forgive my ambitions, but I plan to make sure you're grungy tail is tossed in the pound."