AN: Being a writer is such a dangerous job. And thankless to boot.

Slainté

-Shazzy

-Panic-

Murphy had convinced Connor that spending the night at their hideout, at Blaise's place, was a bad idea. Cops would be crawling all over the house, looking for clues, waiting by the phone, whatever it was that cops did when they were investigating something bad. He'd had to drag his brother away from the scene, especially after their chat with Duffy on the cell phone.

Connor was unhappy. More than unhappy. He muttered quietly to himself, plotting all the ways he'd get revenge if anything happened to Blaise as he stared out the window. His knuckles were white as he gripped the chipped ceramic diner coffee mug in his hands, ignoring the burn of the overly hot coffee emanating through the mug.

The brothers had gone to a coffee shop and were sitting quietly in the farthest back booth, waiting for Duffy to show up. The detective had every reason to meet with the brothers, he knew that Blaise was an accomplice, and he knew exactly how much she meant to the brothers, especially Connor. And hell, Duffy was a friend of Blaise's, as much as he was a friend of the brothers, if not more.

"Connor, she's fine." Murphy said flatly, snapping his brother out of his miserable introspection.

Connor turned his blue eyes away from the grimy window to stare at Murphy across the table. "You can't know that."

Murphy gave his brother an unimpressed glare. "Do you want me to make you feel better or not?"

"Not." Connor muttered, staring sullenly into his coffee. "I want to be angry. I want to hate myself for lettin' this happen. I want to find th' bastards responsible and rain hell down on their heads."

Murphy waited in the silence that followed Connor's rant. There was something else that he seemed hesitant to say.

Connor shook his head and returned to staring out the window.

"We'll get her back, Conn." Murphy said quietly.

"This is our fault." Connor replied.

"I don't see how that's possible." Murphy pressed. "She's not known to be an accomplice of ours. There's no one who knows about us, except Duffy. An' it's no' like he's runnin' off to tell the bad guys where we're hiding."

Connor looked back at his brother, disbelief evident on his face. "You're sittin' here an' telling me tha' this is a coincidence?" He asked.

Murphy nodded, desperate to believe it himself.

Connor snorted and shook his head. "Why?"

"Connor!" Murphy snapped. "She works with th' cops as a consultant. She's a famous crime writer. She has a knack for puttin' together court cases for the FBI that actually get things t' stick." Murphy continued on, passionately. "She's actually on th' path ta' puttin' us out of a job. If she stopped writin' for a year, she could put more'n half a' the Yakavetta empire behind bars for life! Or the Russians. Or whoever th' hell else is runnin' around in our city. She's a prime target in her own right. This has nothin' ta' do with us."

Connor frowned, narrowing his eyes as he considered his brother's words. It was true. All of it was true. Blaise was far smarter than anyone else when it came to putting criminals behind bars. She knew exactly where to dig, where to press and which weaknesses to exploit. She'd had a hand in the last ten crime trials the police had been able to bring up against the mob. She'd put at least five mobsters behind bars for life, and the last case she had a hand in was still in court. The rumour was that the death penalty was on the table for that one, and that a plea bargain was out of the question.

She was an avenging angel who used words and logic as weapons, instead of guns, and worked with the laws of Man.

"Stop thinkin' with yer cock, Connor." Murphy chided, grinning cheekily. "You're being blinded by yer love fer the writer, young padawan."

"Can it, Obi Wan." Connor growled in return, his mood vastly improving. "So this was what? Yakavetta?"

"Don't think so." Duffy sighed, sliding into the booth next to Connor, choosing to sit where he could see the entire restaurant. "Hey Murph."

Murphy smiled at the grey-haired detective. "You look like shit."

"Don't feel much better." Duffy agreed as the waitress brought coffee.

"You got a lead yet?" Connor asked, desperation creeping in at the edge of his words as the waitress refilled Murphy's coffee mug and left.

Duffy shook his head, sipping on the overly hot coffee. "Not really." He admitted. "You guys piss anyone off lately?"

"This has nothin' ta' do with us." Murphy said evenly, shooting a glance at Connor. "Who's in court 'cause of Blaise right now?"

Duffy groaned. "Fuck." He said, shaking his head. "I'll bet no one's thought of that yet."

"It's because no one makes a big deal over it." Murphy pressed on before Connor could fly off the handle again. "She's nameless when it comes to these cases. Only people on the inside of these cases would know she's been preparing things for the cops and the FBI."

"You sayin' someone might be dirty?" Duffy asked, his voice cool.

Murphy shook his head. "Just sayin' ta' check all yer angles."

Duffy sighed. He knew Murphy was right, someone was feeding information to someone that they shouldn't be. He just hated the thought of someone he worked with every day being dirty.

"There's three Yakavetta cases pending, one against the Russians and she's started on a Triad case." Duffy listed. "That's all I know. She doesn't share a lot when it comes to preparing court cases, she needs the secrecy."

"It's a start." Connor said slowly. "So we look at them first?" He asked, more rhetorically than anything.

"I'll go make the call." Duffy agreed. He moved to get up from the table but stopped. "Where are you guys staying tonight?"

Murphy shrugged. "We'll figure that out when we get there." He admitted. "Sleep is a long way off, for us."

Connor smirked. "Yeah, and you an' Dolly an' Greenly are gonna have another mess ta' clean up."

Duffy couldn't help but smile. "Bastards, the both of you." He said as he got up. "I'll go call the others, get 'em lookin' at anyone involved with the cases Blaise has been working on. And I'll letcha know what's what as soon as I know anything, okay?"

"Thanks, Duffy." Murphy said.

Connor watched Duffy's retreating back and took a hesitant sip of his now-tepid coffee. "You got a plan, Murph?"

Murphy nodded. "Yeah, let's go get our own information."

Connor took another gulp of his coffee, fished a few dollar bills out of his pocket and dropped them on the table. "Lead the way, my dear brother."