Chapter 2

"How's Goren?" Ross asked Alex as he passed by her desk.

She was quiet at first, then she simply said. "He'll be here soon. You can ask him."

Ross thought it odd, but then decided there was no reason to pressure her about it. Obviously Goren didn't want her talking about him. "Send him in when he gets here," he said, and walked the rest of the way to his office.

Twenty minutes later, Bobby was standing by his desk.

"You okay?" she asked him quietly.

His nod was almost imperceptible. "Better," he said.

"Ross wants to see you."

His head snapped up, eyes locked with hers. Just as quickly, he looked away. He trusted her. "Okay, thanks," Bobby told her. He walked to the Captain's office.

"Goren, come in," Ross said.

Bobby entered and shut the door gently.

"How are you feeling?"

"Better, sir."

"I guess it wasn't a heart attack."

"No, sir, it doesn't look like it."

"Well?"

Bobby shrugged. "The doctor ordered some tests. I won't know for a few days."

"You know I've heard that GERD…"

"It's not that, sir. We ruled that out."

"Oh. Good."

"Is that all, Captain?"

Ross offered him a small smile. "Uh, yeah. Take it easy, Goren. If you don't feel well, take some time."

"Thank you, sir." Bobby turned and walked back out to his desk, where he sat down.

"How'd that go?" Alex asked.

"Fine." He rooted through the files and papers on his desk. "Where's the report from yesterday?"

"I already took care of it," she said.

His hands dropped and were still. "When?"

Alex shrugged, blowing him off. "Last night." She saw his frown. "Look, I didn't want it hanging over our heads, okay?" She signed a couple of forms and dropped her pen back into the metal cup that sat by her computer. Forms in hand, she stood. "When's your appointment?"

"Tomorrow." She gave him a nod of approval and walked down to the mail room.

"Goren, are you all right?" Logan asked, with Wheeler at his side.

"Yeah, I am. Thanks," he said, irritation in his voice.

"Heart attack's a pretty scary thing—"

"It wasn't a heart attack," Goren snapped. He ran a hand through his hair, which did nothing but make it stand up wilder and taller. "Uh, we, uh, ruled that out."

Mike gave him a smile but said nothing until he made eye contact. "Good." The two partners went back to their own corner of the squad room, and Bobby was relieved. He hoped this wouldn't continue all day. He half felt like picking up a radio and announcing the status of his health once and for all. Keep the dogs at bay…

"New case," Ross said, dropping a file on his desk and snapping him out of his head. "Sex, drugs, and hockey. Can't beat that."

Goren leaned forward in his chair and opened the file. By the time Alex returned, he was ready to go. "We got a scene," he announced. "Let's go."

She smiled and plucked her keys from her desk drawer. "All right," she said.

It was a nice apartment, two bedroom with a standing room only kitchen but a nice dining area shooting off the side that spilled into a roomy family room. The detectives donned their gloves and stepped carefully through the scene, avoiding the CSU team and listening to the briefing being delivered by the local detective who was handing over the case.

"Mack Thornton. You heard of him?" Bobby nodded, Alex didn't. "Plays for the Rangers, new this season. They just bumped him up from the Whales."

"Yeah, isn't he a…forward? Got a good slapshot, if I remember."

"Yeah, that's him. His first game would have been in a couple of weeks. We've already gotten a call from the Ranger's PR team. They want to know what they can announce to the fans about this."

The man lay on the floor next to his bed, naked. Bobby squatted down beside the body and gave him a visual inspection. "Lots of old scarring, probably from the game. This bruise here looks fresh," he said, pointing to the man's upper arm. "Got a COD?" Bobby asked.

"Looks like a heart attack."

The Detective couldn't have known, but Bobby's head snapped in his direction and his ugly mood returned. He clamped his mouth shut and stared at the body again. "Pretty rare for an athlete to die of a heart attack. Possible, but rare. Find any needle marks?"

"Nah, but we didn't move him. Might be on the other side."

"Photos done?"

"Yeah," called the photographer from behind him.

Bobby turned the body carefully, revealing the man's front side to the room. He touched him gently with a gloved finger, here, there, moving hair out of the way, checking a bruise. "Nothing. We'll have to wait for the ME's report."

"Detective Laney, Rangers on the phone again," one of the other officers said, holding a phone in the air.

"I'll take care of it," Alex said. She walked over with her hand in the air and accepted the phone from her fellow officer.

"Signs of recent sex," Bobby muttered. "Get anything from the sheets?"

"Lots. Hair, fibers, fluid, you name it."

"All right, Laney, we'll take it from here. Good work."

They'd given the place a thorough scouring before they left. A divorced but devoted Dad, the second bedroom had belonged to his 7 year old daughter. The next stop for the detectives was the ex-wife.

"Hello, Mrs. Thornton. I'm Alex Eames, this is my partner Robert Goren. We're detectives with NYPD."

"Oh God, oh, God, is this about Mack?"

"Can we come in?" Alex asked. The women stepped aside and the detectives walked in.

Little Danielle bopped into the room as Bobby shut the door. "Mama, who are they?"

"They're police, Dani. They came to talk to me."

A quick exchange of glances between Bobby and Alex, and Bobby was being led to the little girl's room for an introduction to her stuffed animals.

"Is it Mack?" The woman asked again, once her daughter was out of earshot.

Alex nodded sadly. "I'm sorry to inform you that he was found dead last night in his apartment."

She raised a hand to her mouth and sobbed quietly.

"Mrs. Thornton, did Mack have a heart problem?"

"Heart problem? No, he played hockey for a living. He was as strong as an ox."

"Did he have any enemies?"

"Oh my God, you think he was killed?"

"We just have to be very thorough. We don't think anything, yet."