Justice by InSilva
Disclaimer: oh, I own no one. Except half share in a Staffie.
Chapter Sixteen: Downtime
Laden with groceries, Danny pushed open the door to Rusty's suite, Turk close behind him, arms also full. They deposited the bags on top of the table and looked over with something approaching hunter/gatherer satisfaction at Saul and Rusty.
Am I glad to see you.
Hard time?
Rusty got carefully to his feet and walked slowly over to the table, leaning on it for support. Danny was pleased to see him moving with a little more confidence, a little more ease.
"Tell me you picked up something beginning with "H"."
"Healthy? Yeah." Danny fished into one of the bags and brought out a tuna salad sandwich that he tossed in Saul's direction.
"Finally," muttered Saul, tearing the packaging off.
"And?" Rusty's eyes were on the rest of the shopping.
"Turk's going to make us all some chilli."
"Oh. Thanks, Turk." The words were polite but dismissive: Rusty was back with the groceries. "And?"
"Picked up some beer and some whisky for tonight and some movies for you for tomorrow. And some things for breakfast."
"Uh-huh. And?" The conjunction was now devoid of patience.
Wordlessly, Danny held up the chocolate and the three packets of Oreos.
"Finally. You shouldn't mess with someone who's ill, you know."
"Shut up and start in on the sweet stuff."
Turk's chilli was slightly hampered by the lack of proper kitchen utensils and even more so by the lack of crockery.
"Do you never have more than one person around?" Turk frowned as he came to serve up.
"Don't have time for a social life," Rusty said and smiled as Turk's eyebrows shot up. Damn, but his reputation was good. Loose, but good.
They ended up round the table laid with a bowl of chilli, plate of chunky bread and beers; Saul and Danny with plates and Turk and Rusty (as chef and ostensible host) with cereal bowls. The chilli was excellent.
"Turk, I may just propose." Rusty wiped a piece of bread around the cereal bowl, wishing there was more chilli to mop up.
"You'd have to get in line," Danny remarked.
"You're already married," Rusty pointed out.
"Great chilli is a citable reason for divorce."
"My boy, it is worth the aggravation the ulcers are going to give me," Saul assured Turk.
Turk beamed.
"Family recipe," he said casually. "Mom taught Virgil and I-"
Face clouding, he broke off and took a swig of beer. "Mom taught us," he amended shortly.
Rusty's eyes were on Danny's in an instant. So were Saul's. Later, Danny told both of them.
"Anna-Mae's definitely hiding something and she's definitely shaken up," he said. "And Turk did well. She was quite taken with him."
"Aw, Danny…" But Turk looked pleased.
"She's got Turk's number and I'm hoping she'll phone."
"And if she does?" This from Saul.
"We need to get her to the defence lawyer. She's going to need to call her back as a witness. What?"
Rusty had pulled a face. "I'm not so convinced by the defence. I'm not sure she's trying too hard."
"You think Vincente's got to her?"
"Wouldn't surprise me. He's controlling every other aspect of this case."
Turk frowned. "Can't we just tell this Vincente that he's after the wrong guy?"
Danny smiled. "I don't think it's quite as simple as that. Vincente's after a quick result. That's what matters to the people that matter to him." He stopped as an idea occurred to him and looked over at Rusty. "You think Vincente's the one who's paying Gino?"
"Ahhh…" Rusty nodded. "Of course, he is. He's been told to find an answer and Gino's it. That's why he's pushing so hard for conviction."
"He doesn't care about the truth."
"No…" And something in Rusty was almost disappointed at Vincente.
"If he's behind Gino…" Saul began.
"…he's also the one who's convinced Anna-Mae to stretch the truth," Danny agreed grimly.
And Rusty was glad they'd all eaten because looking round the table, everyone was suddenly a lot less cheerful.
They'd piled up the dishes and played a few hands of cards – Saul warning Rusty and Danny that if they started cheating, they'd have him to answer to – and they'd spent most of the evening trying not to talk about the case and trying not to wait for Anna-Mae to ring. She didn't.
Rusty had whispered something to Danny at one point and he'd disappeared briefly and come back clutching bed linen.
"We're sleeping here?" Turk looked round the room.
"Not taking any chances, Turk." Rusty sounded apologetic.
"Sure…just…where?"
Danny threw him some sheets and a pillow. "You're on the couch, Saul's in my bed-" he caught Rusty's eye and realised how wrong that sounded. "In the guest bed," he corrected.
"And where are- oh! Sure. Right." Turk was suddenly very busy making up his bed on the couch.
And you say I play too much.
You do. And I wasn't. I was just being practical.
Rusty perched on the edge of his bed and watched Danny make up Saul's bed clean.
"Could get you a job here, you know."
"You as a boss?"
"Well, there has to be a perk."
"The pay would have to be extraordinary."
"Can't promise that," Rusty grinned. "But it'd be fun."
Danny stood and looked down at him. "How are you feeling?"
"Ache. Not as bad as I did. Don't need any more pain-killers."
"You sure?"
"Yeah. Need my wits about me when I'm sharing a bed with you."
Danny's comeback was interrupted by Saul, who emerged from the bathroom and nodded approval at the clean sheets.
"Nice to see you can do practical when it's required," he said. "Life's not one long piece of blue sky, you know."
Danny thought back to the previous evening and waiting for Rusty and things not getting any better when Rusty arrived. "Yeah, I know."
"Night," Turk's voice floated through.
"Night, Turk," the three of them chorused and Danny saw Rusty's smile.
Waltons moment?
Oh, yeah.
Saul made his way over to the pair of them.
"What's with Turk?" he whispered.
"Virgil's found himself a girl," Danny whispered back. "It's getting serious and Turk's-"
"Yeah," Rusty said quietly with slightly more feeling than Danny would have wished.
Saul nodded. "Doubtless you will both want to make it better. And doubtless you will," he whispered. "I am off to bed. Don't either of you dare keep me awake."
Rusty and Danny lay side by side, talking in low tones and listening to Turk snore loudly in the other room and Saul snore quietly in the next bed.
"This is…"
"It is."
"I feel like-"
"-me, too. Weird."
"Completely." There was a pause. "Rus…?"
"You want me to talk to him."
"He's lost and he's hurting."
"Uh-huh. You forgot the anger."
Danny looked over at him in the half-light but his eyes were fixed on the ceiling. Danny sighed.
"And he's angry. He just needs some reassurance."
Rusty's gaze moved to meet Danny's and he smiled. "Tell him things are never going to be the same again but that nothing will change? I can do that."
"I called Tess," Danny whispered.
"Did she remember who you were?"
"Yeah…"
"Is she cool?"
"Yeah…"
"What?"
"It's gonna be a while, isn't it?"
"Yes, it is."
"You know where you're headed?"
"Canada. Mexico. Greenland. Haven't decided."
"Greenland?"
"Want to see if it's really green."
Danny smiled and then his face grew serious and he stared at Rusty as if he was never going to see him again. The emotion was thick in his voice. "You keep in-"
"-I will."
"And you be-"
"-as mice."
Danny nodded. You'd better be.