Chapter 31 – Whisk

Danny walked into the coffee shop, searching for someone. When he finally spot her, he approached and sat in front of the woman.

'So whaddya wanted to see me for?'

'Congratulations,' Lily gave him an envelope.

'What is it?' he opened it to find a gift card to furnish a baby's room. 'Thanks.'

'No prob,' she smiled.

'This must've cost a fortune, you sure ya can afford it?' he sounded skeptic.

'Being a criminal lawyer in a firm that has many prestigious clients comes in handy; you can always cash a favor,' she winked.

'You sure?'

'The owner was very grateful, said anytime you needed something you should swing by and mention my name.'

'Okay, thanks.'

'Whenever you need a favor, remember I've got contacts. So, what's new, besides the baby?'

'Nothin', that's really it. Big news!' he grinned. 'You?'

'Same ol', same ol'. Working too much, living too little but there's nothing new about that.'

'You heard what happened to Flack?'

'No,' she stiffened.

'A kid died while Flack interrogated him and IAB accused him of murder.'

'Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. Has he been cleared already?' her voice was strained.

'No, not yet.'

'Oh.'

'He's not goin' through a good time, maybe you could talk to him?'

'No. I mean, what for?'

'You don't think he did it, do ya?'

'No, of course not, that's appalling! He has a perfect record and he's too good a cop,' she shook her head vigorously. 'Not to mention he's a good guy.'

'Then I think you should pay him a visit, distract him,' Danny encouraged her.

'That's Angell's job now.'

'Oh, c'mon! You're his friend.'

'Not anymore, Danny.'

'But still, you know each other ever since you were kids, you've been through a lot together, he respects you and I'm sure a visit from you would make 'im feel better.'

'Oh, please! He cheated on me, for Christ's sake! He doesn't care what I think.'

'Your opinion still matters to him.'

'Well, I'm sorry but no,' she was adamant.

'Why not?'

'Because it's gonna be awkward and weird and I don't want to bring more trouble on him.'

'You're not trouble,' he smiled.

'I just ... it's better to leave well enough alone. If things get worse, though, I know a lawyer who could help him. I assume he has a union rep now.'

'Yeah. I don't think it's gonna get that bad, we're workin' the case and we'll clear him in no time,' Danny spoke confidently.

'Good.'

'Look, Lily, he's at his desk pushin' papers. I'm sure a visit from you would cheer him up,' he insisted.

'I can't. I'm sorry but I just can't. It's too soon, Danny,' she said with a pained expression.

'Okay.'

'I mean, he humilliated me, right?'

'I don't think he did, it was just a kiss ...'

'Yeah but he initiated it. It hurts, y'know? 'Cause it means he just didn't care about me anymore. Why would he care about me now? It'd be totally pointless to go,' she tried to convince herself.

'Hey, it was just a suggestion. If you're not ready it's okay. But I think you could help.'

'I'm sure Angell can do a better job,' she said icily. 'When he kissed her he kissed my support goodbye.'

'Well, I gotta go,' he'd received a text message two seconds before.'Thanks for the gift.'

'Sure,' she couldn't stop the next words that escaped her lips. 'Figure it our quickly, will ya?'

Danny nodded before leaving as Lily sunk in her seat. Yes, Flack had hurt her but she didn't want him to lose his career for something that he hadn't done. She really wished the best for him. But she wasn't going to pay him a visit, that was asking too much. She was still trying to make sense of what had happened and trying to figure out what she wanted to do with her life. It wasn't something easy to do and seeing him would only make things more difficult.

Well, it is nice to know that more than a decade on the department with a perfect record doesn't count at all. That at the first sign of trouble my work throughout the years doesn't mean squat. It was really comforting to Flack. It's good to know that I can lose my job and go to jail for something that I didn't do. It's just great.

Besides, all those colleagues who respected and liked him suddenly seemed to disappear; no one had anything nice to say to him. Not one comforting word, not one word of support. He guessed it was true what they said: "it took a lifetime to gain a reputation and only one second to destroy it". Apparently everyone around him thought he was capable of such a thing and that was the worst part. Don Flack Jr. would never, under any circumstance kill someone he was interrogating. And especially not a kid. It hurt that people thought he was capable of doing that. He just wanted someone to believe in him. And the one person he thought would support him was too busy trying to figure how IAB knew about their relationship.

It's just what I need. Like I care what people say about me. They can say whatever they want. And it's not like they have actual proof 'cause we're really careful. It's all gossip. I've got bigger things to worry about than gossip. Like going to jail. I mean, I get why she's all worked up about it but I could lose my life, is it too much to ask for a little support? I'm not feelin' the love right now ... When gossip comes first than my future, that's not a very nice sign. She did apologize, though. I shouldn't be so harsh on Jess. She was just trying to do the right thing. This case is messing everything up. I'm not used to being on the receiving end of suspicions. Okay, that probably didn't make much sense; the point is that I'm a detective and I suspect of other people. My actions are never questioned, not like this. One thing is when your colleagues think you betrayed them when you were doing what was right and another thing is believing you could kill somebody. I know that everyone's capable of murder but not like this. It'd never happen this way. I'm not that kind of person. And I hope they realize that soon.

I'm so, so sorry for the delay but my computer was dead for a whole month. This chapter is unbeta-ed in order to get it to you faster and I apologize for any mistake. Please review and let me know what you think. Again, I'm really really sorry.