Chp. 2 - Burning

Mike Logan reluctantly answered the question, not because of the query itself or the person asking it. No, he was certain that, regardless of which answer was given, a 'lecture' was going to follow. "I plead the fifth," he said making his way to the door before Lennie Briscoe could say anything.

"Mike." Lennie rose, along with his voice, "Mike!"

He turned, not wanting to argue with his friend before going to work to argue with his partner or supervisor. "Look, Lennie-."

"Don't 'look' me, Mike." Lennie pointed a finger Mike's way. "For the record, I wasn't going to give you a lecture. Lectures are McCoy's department, got it? Seriously, are you ready? I mean, this is something you want, right?"

Mike leaned against the door, conceding to his friend's question. "I don't know, Lennie. I honestly don't know." With that, and a nod of sorts from his friend, Mike left just as his cell phone began to ring.

------

Ed Green turned to see his partner joining him at last. "You're not going to believe this," Ed said. They walked over to the remains of a car, a make and model almost indiscernible. "We've a taxi driver who didn't get a chance to hit the panic button in his cab. One of the other officers checked. Nothing."

"Robber got lucky," Logan said squinting against the smoke still coming from the scene.

Green shook his head. "This early in the morning? Doubt that."

"Do we have an I.D. on the victim?" Logan asked.

"Might be a Terrance Dahashi," Green said. "One of the officers called and gave the medallion number."

Logan shook his head. "Our turn to play with the fire cases, eh?" he said. "So, think he even made it home before this?"

Ed looked over his shoulder to see one of the other officers at the scene tapping him to follow and look at something. "Don't know," he said, following the other man. "What do you got?"

Mike took in the entire scene before him. Nothing struck him outside of the ordinary besides the smoldering car. No immediate damage nearby such as dented poles or smashed garbage cans. The car looked perfectly parked. Somehow, he doubted this was Mr. Dahashi's home address.

He made his way over to the owner of the house, an older woman who had possibly been in the middle of getting ready for work, who knew.

"Excuse me, miss? Hi. I was wondering if you could tell me who might have called for a cab. Did you happen to see if anyone around here might have…?"

The woman shook her head. "I called as soon as I saw the flames. I didn't hear anything. I'm sorry." She shook her head again. "It's my fault. Terry, he always comes by to make certain I'm…safe. And the one time he needs me…"

Mike put a hand on the woman's shoulder. "This isn't your fault." He thought about what she said. "He comes by here every morning then?"

"Not every morning, but…" She wiped her face. "He comes by to check on me most Tuesdays and Thursdays. Wednesdays, too if I have to work more hours." Off of Mike's look, the witness said, "I work nights and Terry makes certain I'm home. Some drunks that drop by try to follow me home."

Mike frowned at that. "Next time any creep tries that again," he handed the woman one of his cards, "you call me and I'll see that you get home personally, Ms….?"

"Mrs. Webster. I'm a widow. Terry told me I remind him of his mother and so, we sorta adopted each other."

Mike listened to her a while long, then joined his partner who was now looking at something by a garbage can.

"What do you have?"

"Possibly confirmation," Green said. "Wallet's definitely Mr. Dahashi's, complete with ID, a few family pictures…" Ed muttered a curse under his breath. "Man, I don't know how we're going to break it to them."

Mike looked over Green's shoulder and saw several pictures of young children – some school photos, some casual, and one group shot. That was when he noticed the absence of a Mrs. Dahashi. "Maybe they're divorced," he suggested.

"Maybe." Either way, Green didn't want to go to this house and tell these children that their father was dead.

------

Elizabeth Rodgers removed her gloves as she looked her visitors in the eye. "He was stabbed in the chest several times."

"So," Logan said, "it wasn't the fire that killed him?"

She shook her head. "Nope. No signs of smoke inhalation. His hands were pinned behind his back too, so there was no way he could even lay in on the horn to call attention to the situation." Rodgers gestured to the chest. "To stab someone a couple of times is one thing. But, more than nine times? This was personal."

Green gestured to the body on the table, "And this was definitely Terrence Dahashi?"

Rodgers nodded. "Sad to say." She handed Green a folder, "Dental records confirmed it."

"Was there a wedding ring, by chance?" Logan asked. Rodgers answered 'no.'

"Well, then maybe your theory was right," Green said.

Rodgers waited for an explanation. Logan obliged. "Given the photos found in his wallet, we figured no wife…"

She shook her head. "There's also that possibility that she's camera shy. I wish you guys luck on this one."