Something unexplainable
"Sooner or later it's over
passing you by and it's gone
there's not enough time to wonder
if you're where you belong."
-Run, Rex Goudie
Friday afternoon was as disgustingly hot as those before it. Not a cloud in the smog filled sky. Sun blazing down. So hot in fact, Adam had run to the market across the street, grabbed a carton of eggs and attempted to see if the old adage of it being hot enough to fry an egg on the sidewalk was true. It had almost worked. Sunny side up as opposed to fried.
There would be more deaths in New York from the suffocating heat than murder and accidents combined. Mostly elderly or the sick who couldn't afford an air conditioner and couldn't get down the flights of stairs and out to one of the many cooling centers the city had set up. Not to mention the number of cases of dehydration from those not smart enough to realize sweat is water and you sweat a lot in the heat and need to replace it. Or to listen to the chief medical officer's warning to stay indoors unless absolutely necessary.
Sam and Speed sat at a window booth at a small diner two blocks from the lab. A morning stabbing of a young woman at the Lexington street subway station during rush hour had forced them out into the heat. The situation made worse by the fact that after she was stabbed, the still at large suspect had pushed her onto the tracks and in front of an oncoming train, leaving them with a 'big fucking mess'. Speed's exact words when he and Sam had gotten down onto the track to see what waited them. Even he had a difficult time keeping the bile down while they collected various body fragments.
Now they grabbed a quick bite with crime scene photos and autopsy results spread out on the table top. The photos had caused the poor waitress to completely blanch when she saw the contents while re-filling their drinks.
"I'm telling you right now, Sam," Speed said, sipping at a coke. "This was not a random thing. If it was a random thing, you'd just push the person in front of the train and that's that. This is New York. You know how many poor bastards get pushed in front of a train by some wack job just for shits and giggles?"
She dipped a grilled cheese sandwich in a side of mustard and bit into it. "So you're thinking premeditated. Or at the least, personal."
"Think about it. Perp stabs her ten times in a crowded station. I mean, once or twice is enough if you do it right. Whoever did this, went nuts and couldn't stop once he started. What's that the calling card of?"
"Crime of passion." Sam concluded, digging into a side salad.
"Love makes people go fucking nuts. Especially unrequited love or a nasty break up. Trust me."
She grinned as she bit into a piece of cucumber drenched in ranch dressing. "Speak from experience, Tim?" she asked.
"Yeah." he replied. "Work experience. Saw this kind of thing tons of times in Miami."
"Sure you did. What happened? You went crazy over a girl? Or do you have some psycho ex just waiting to pounce? Maybe she's even watching us right now, thinking we're together."
"You have a vivid imagination." Speed informed her, pointing at her with a french fry.
"Oh come on, Tim." she sat back in her seat and sipped at a tumbler of ice tea. "You cant tell me you didn't have a girlfriend back in Miami. Or at least someone you were interested in. You're too cute to be single."
"I had no time for a girlfriend or to be interested in anyone." he said.
"Okay...so then who was the girl you were fighting with over the phone when we left the scene this morning?"
"What makes you think it was a girl?" he asked.
"Guys only get that hot under the collar when it's about a girl. And I'm a girl and I've gotten a lot of guys hot under the collar."
He grinned. "I bet."
"So..."
"It was not a girl." Speed insisted.
She stared at him skeptically.
"It was a woman." he said.
"Same damn thing!" she laughed and tossed a balled up napkin at him. "Ex girlfriend?"
"And ex co-worker."
"Bad break up?"
"She cheated on me with a homicide detective."
Sam sighed. "Something about them homicide detectives..."
He frowned.
"Sorry. I was commenting. Not condoning." she helped herself to one of his fries.
"Where to you put it?" he asked in amazement "You eat all that and you're still small enough to fit in someones pocket."
"Good genes." she reasoned. "So is that why you left Miami? Because of this woman?"
"That's part of it. The other part would be the twenty two I took to the chest."
"Were you together long?"
"Couple years. Had the ring bought and everything. Found out while I was in the hospital that she'd been doin' the guy for a few months. John Hagan. Heard not too long ago he killed himself. Now while I hate to sound bitter, it honestly couldn't have happened to a nicer guy."
"That's harsh. Her doing that do you, I mean. As for being bitter, we've all been in that boat at one time.Trust me. So what did she want?"
"She said she just wanted to see how I was doing. Personally, I think she's keeping tabs on me."
"Does she know?" Sam asked. "About you and Carmen?"
"I told her I was with someone and that I was very happy. And that's when she freaked out. She wants me to come back to Miami. Try again. I told her no way in hell. I'm the happiest here than I ever have been in my life. Well, except for all these screwed up cases. Flack still on nights?"
"He just finished his last one. Last time we talked, he was heading off to get some sleep. Which he doesn't get enough of it seems."
"'Cause you're always raping him." Speed concluded.
"This may be difficult believe, but we haven't had any since Monday."
"You poor deprived people. Carmen and I have a day up on you."
Sam sighed and rubbed her full stomach. She checked her watch. "I think we should get back. We've gone over our hour."
"Didn't the medical adviser say to stay indoors?" Speed asked."Well, we're indoors."
"Nice try." Sam said and finished her ice tea.
"I gotta get started on the trace off what's left of the vic's clothes." Speed sighed as he slid out of the booth.
"AV is where I'm heading." Sam said, slipping out as well and gathering up her purse. "Check out the tunnel security tapes seeing our guy is on the lam." she opened her purse to take out her wallet.
"What are ya doin'?" Speed asked when she took out her cash. "Put that away. Guys always treat."
"On dates maybe." Sam pointed out.
"Then we'll consider it a date." he said and tossed some bills on the table top and gathered up the files.
"It is way too hot out here." Sam complained, stepping out of the diner and slipping a pair of stylish, over sized Paris Hilton style sunglasses on her face. She fanned herself with her hand and thanked God she'd had the good sense to cut all her hair off.
"It's not the heat," Speed reminded her as they began their walk to the car. "It's the humidity."
"So what is it in Miami?" she asked "A dry heat?"
"Pretty much. And far more bearable. But you know what, come February when we've got snow up to our ass and we're falling on said ass because of all the ice, we'll be wishing it was summer all over again."
"True." she agreed.
A middle aged man with slightly thinning hair and thick glasses and dressed in a wrinkled suit, suddenly stepped directly in their path, preventing them from going any further.
"Got a problem, buddy?" Speed asked.
"Detective Samantha Ross?" he asked, ignoring Speed.
"Well it obviously isn't me." Speed said.
"Who are you?" Sam asked.
"You've been served." the man said in response and shoved a folded piece of white writing paper in her hand.
"You people are fucking vultures." Speed declared.
The process server glared at him and stalked away.
"Yeah..." Speed called after him. "Thanks. You have a nice day, too."
"What the hell is this." Sam wondered aloud and opened the paper.
"Work related?" Speed asked curiously.
Her eyes blazed and her grip on the paper tightened. "That son of a fucking bitch." she said.
"What's wrong?"
"Zack. He's taking me to court!" she waved the paper angrily.
"For what?"
"Defamation of character. And he's suing me for emotional pain and suffering."
"What? Come on. Let me get this straight. He plans on kidnapping you and doing who knows what to you and he's taking you to court? What the fuck is that? Let me see." he motioned for her to pass over the paper.
She handed it over. Their fingers touched. He noticed her hand was trembling with anger and furious tears sparkled in her eyes.
"Take it easy, Samantha." he said gently and closed his hand over hers. "This is what he wants. Don't give him that. It's a bunch of crap and you know it."
She looked down at his hand on hers, stared at it for a few moments and then pulled her hand away. She was unnerved by the thought of how his hand was felt so strong and so warm. And so right.
Speed looked down at the papers and read silently for a couple of minutes. "You ask me, this is fucking nuts." he commented. "I wouldn't worry too much about this. Good department lawyer will get this tossed out in a heart beat."
"I'll have to go to Phoenix to testify." she said, voice trembling.
"Won't come to that." he said.
"How do you know?"
"I've seen shit like this before and it almost always amounts to nothing. Don't worry, Samantha. This..." he held up the paper. "is nothing but a big bunch of bull shit and I'm surprised any lawyer would take Zack up on this. Worry more about going there to testify against him in three weeks at the pre-lim. Okay?"
She nodded.
"Trust me. You've got nothing to worry about." he handed her the paper. "Don't let him fuck you up when you're just getting it together. It's not worth it. Okay?"
He ran a hand over the back of her hair, resting it softly on her neck. "Trust me." he said.
She nodded and shifted sideways a step in order to move away from his hand.
They continued on to the truck parked a block away. Truth was, despite what Speed said, she was worried about Zack. He had proven he was capable of just about anything.
Speed watched her from the corner of his eye. As a friend, he was concerned about her. He'd witness first hand what Zack was prepared to do to get back at her, and something inside told Speed there was a lot more waiting to come out.
Sam stepped off the curb and prepared to cross the street to head to their vehicle. So lost in thought that she didn't even see the bicycle courier barrelling down right on top of her. In fact, she wasn't even aware she was in any danger until someone yanked her out of the path of the oncoming threat and she caught her foot on the curb and fell right into someone.
Right into Tim Speedle's chest, his arms going around her waist instinctively. She could feel his heart pounding against her. His breath on the top of her head. She could smell him. And felt a warmth flutter in her belly and a tingle travel from head to toe.
This is not good, was her first and only thought.
She looked up at him. "Thanks." she said simply.
"You okay?" he asked.
"Thanks to you."
They stared into one another's eyes. He didn't release his tight hold on her slender body. He could smell her faint, floral perfume, felt his heart hammering in his chest. His dark eyes searching golden ones. Shocked to his very core at the sudden powerful urge to kiss her.
"We... uh..." she stammered. "we should get going."
"Samantha..."
"We have to go Tim." she said firmly and wriggled out of his grasp.
He watched her as she hurried across the street to the truck and slipped into the passenger seat. She sat with a trembling hand to her forehead, covering her eyes.
What the hell is wrong with me? he thought.
Sam was in the AV lab, sitting in front of a bank of monitors, a pair of glasses on her face an a bottle of water and her journal and a pen sitting within arms reach. The computer mouse in one hand, and a pen in the other as she jotted down detailed notes on a yellow pad of paper. She'd been finding it hard to concentrate all afternoon. She had a wicked head ache that wouldn't dissipate despite the three Tylenol she'd already taken. All she could think about was the incident with Speed on the sidewalk after lunch.
How can I even be thinking about these things? she wondered, feeling disgusted with herself. My best friend's guy? Another co-worker? When I'm all ready despretly and madly in love with someone else? On top of that, the Zack issue . When she'd reached the lab, she'd gone straight to Mac and he put in a call to a department lawyer and the Phenoix PD to ask what the hell was going on.
Her cell phone, sitting on top of the monitor directly in front of her, rang noisily and she reached for it. Pressing talk without even looking at the call display.
"Detective Ross." she answered.
"Hey, baby." Flack said in a weary voice. "I just got up and got your message. What's up?"
"You should be still sleeping." she scolded him.
"I did sleep. About four hours. Think I'm going through some form of insomnia or something."
"You just need something to help you sleep." she said. "A little TLC. Or in the case of your dirty mind, a little T and A."
He laughed. "That would help." he agreed. "What's going on?"
"I'm in AV going through some tapes. A girl got pushed off the Lexington and seventy eight subway platform this morning. After she was stabbed repeatedly. So far, I have no usable shot of the perp. All I know is that it's a guy. At least that's what witnesses told Angell."
"How goes it with the wicked witch of the west?" Flack asked.
"It goes. You sound exhausted. You should try getting some more sleep."
"I should." he agreed. "What's up? You sounded upset on your message."
"I got served today." she told him.
"Case related?"
"Zack related."
"What does that motherfucker want?"
"He's suing me." she said bitterly.
"For what?"
"Defamation of character and emotional pain and suffering."
A litany of profanity escaped from Flack's mouth. Some words she'd never even heard before.
"Tell me how you really feel." she said when he finished.
"What is that guy's major malfunction? After what he did to you and what he was planning on doing? Give me a fucking break. And where would he find a lawyer that would agree to that?"
"Probably one of his dirt bag friends." Sam sighed.
"You okay?"
"I had my little melt down. I'm okay now. I wrote in my journal and took some of my happy pills. I am all good."
He sighed. "I'm worried about you." he said.
"What else is new? That could be your new full time job. Where do you have time to do police work when you're always babysitting me?" her tone was far more miserable than she'd wanted it to be.
"Samantha..."
"You know I hate it when you get like that." she said. "All big brother protective, treat me like a little kid."
"Would you rather I didn't give a shit?" he asked.
"No. I just would rather you didn't treat me like a baby all the time."
"Oh I'm sorry." he snapped. "Guess I just love you enough to want you to be okay. My mistake. From now on, I won't bother."
"Don, I didn't want this to turn into a fight." she said. "I just wish you'd stop babying me."
"Maybe you need it. Fucked up shit seems to follow you around."
"My mother always did say I was an asshole magnet." she reasoned.
"Thanks. So now I'm an overprotective asshole."
"That is not what I meant." she argued.
"How about you call me when you're not such a bitch." he suggested. "I'm gonna go back to sleep."
She sighed. "Don..."
"I'm turning the ringer on the phone off so don't bother calling me back."
"Don..."
"I'll pick you up at eight. I'm hanging up."
"Don!!"
The line went dead. He'd hung up. She stared at the phone in her hand, flabbergasted, then chucked it across the room. It hit the far wall and immediately shattered. She struggled to compose herself, the got up to retrieve the pieces.
Speed stepped in. Watched her scrambling on the floor for a couple of minutes before clearing his throat.
She looked over. "What?" she snapped.
He held his hands up in self defense. "Easy... I just came to see how things were going. Obviously not too good."
"I broke my phone." she said and tossed the largest piece at him.
"That's coming out of your pocket." he told her. "What happened?"
"A man. Always a man!"
"You and Flack get into it?"
She plopped back down in her seat. "Just... I'd rather not talk about with you. Okay?"
"Okay. I just came down to tell you about the less than stellar trace I found. The impact of the subway practically obliterated everything." he pulled a chair up beside her and said down. "I managed to find two hair samples on a piece of the vic's clothing that are down in DNA. A small fibre sample that to me resembles a green army jacket that may have come from the perp. I've got it in GC/MS now. "I also found a residue of white powder in the vic's purse. I did a narco kit and it was negative. Also in GC/MS as we speak. How about you?"
"There is no usable image of the perp on the platform camera." she sighed. "But it did give me a shot of him fleeing down the tunnel. I haven't gone through the other tapes yet."
"Wanna take a break? Go grab a coffee?" Speed asked.
"I don't think that's a good idea." she replied.
"It's just coffee. No biggie."
"I just think that you and I need to avoid being alone together." she said.
"We're alone right now." he pointed out.
She sighed and sipped her water. "Tim...'
"We're working a case." he reminded her. "We can avoid each other."
"Tim, I don't know what happened earlier..."
"You fell into me." he said. "I saved your ass from being creamed by a bike courier."
"You know what I'm talking about." she nearly snapped.
"I think that whatever you may have felt or whatever I may have felt, is just better left unsaid. For everyone involved."
She stared at him. "I felt nothing." she told him.
He stared back. A smirk on his face.
"Did you?" she asked.
"If I did feel something, what would that change?" he retorted.
"What do you want me to say?"
"Nothing. I just wanted you to know that I know you're lying."
"So then you're lying too?" she shot back at him.
"I wouldn't call it lying." he said. "It's more pretending it didn't happen for the greater good of our relationship and the relationships we're in."
"I think you should go back to trace now." she suggested and went back to her tapes.
"You're gonna have to deal with this at some point." he told her. "We're working this case. Your best friend is my girlfriend. We can't avoid each other forever."
"I am not avoiding you." she informed him. "I am avoiding me."
He frowned. "That does not make any sense."
"I'm avoiding what's going on in my head and that's the way I need it to be." she told him.
"If you don't face it now, then when we all go out, one of them will pick up on it and before you know it, we'll both be single again. And I don't know about you, but I kind of like sleeping beside someone every night."
"What do you want me to say, Tim?" she asked. "You want some confession? What do you want? It's not like you're being totally honest with me."
"We're attracted to one another but we're in love with other people." he told her. "That's normal and people deal with it. You need to deal with it before you start freaking out and causing major problems that affect our relationships. People are gonna notice if you start avoiding each other and then they'll start asking questions."
"You know what!" she snapped. "Enough! Just get the hell out of here!"
"You need to deal with this." Speed said.
"I am not having this conversation with you, Tim! Please just leave me alone for a while."
"Sam, I just don't want Carmen thinking I have a thing for you and I don't want Flack breaking me in half for thinking the same thing.'
"You're in more denial than I am." she snorted. "So you take that denial and get the hell out of my AV lab."
"Fine. When you feel like growing up, let me know." he pushed the chair away from the desk and stood up.
"Don't hold your breath." she said.
"Don't intend to." he retorted.
"Grow up, Tim. What do you want me to say? Let's go rent a room and get it out of our systems?"
"I don't know what to do." he admitted
"Fine. I'll help you out. Just for you, I will pretend as if none of this ever happened."
"Good. 'Cause nothing did happen."
Her face clouded over. "Just leave me alone." she said, voice wavering. "You have no idea how much that hurt."
"What did I do or say to hurt you?" he asked.
"All I want you to do is admit it!"
"What do you want, Sam!" he wanted to grab her and shake her. "You want me to say it was something? Fine. There was something. I felt something. But I don't want to act upon it. I just wanna pretend that it didn't happen so I can go home and look Carmen in the eye and mean it when I tell her she's the only one."
She turned back to the monitors. "I think you should go." she said.
"Fine. I'll go. You wanna be like that. Fine." he stalked across the room and threw the door open, the glass shuttering as he slammed it behind him.
Sam sighed and watched him pass by the window in front of her. Sighing heavily, she reached for the pen and the journal, flipping it open to a new page. She wrote the time and the date. Then the initials TS and a question mark. She sat and thought for several minutes before she wrote again.
Tim Speedle: where do I start?
Stella caught up to Sam in the hallway outside of Mac's office as Sam was leaving for the weekend. Stella was surprised to find the younger woman in a black sundress adorned with bright yellow and blue swirls that tied around her neck, little black heels and make up adorning her all ready stunning face.
As he came out of the locker room twenty yards away and saw them there, Speed just stood and watched the exchange.
"Whoa..." Stella said. "Check you out. Hot date?"
"Don and I are going to dinner with Danny and Erica."
"Well you look amazing." Stella praised.
"Thanks. Don will be shocked. I think he thinks I don't even own a dress."
"Danny seems to be the happiest I've ever seen him." Stella commented. "Good for him. Knew all he needed was a good woman. And great work on that case today. The jealous exes always seem to find you. You and Speed did a great job."
"Thanks."
Stella held out a new cell phone. "No charge. I convinced Mac that you just dropped it at the scene and it broke. Next time, can you throw something that's not breakable?"
"I will."
"Enjoy your weekend off, kiddo. Have a good night."
"You too, Stel."
The older woman smiled and squeezed her arm lightly and headed down the hall.
"'night Speed." Stella said as she passed him.
"'night." he said in return.
Sam turned to head for the elevator.
"Sam! Wait up!" he called, hurrying to catch up with her.
"I have to go." she told him.
"I know. I just wanted to tell you that I'm sorry for what happened all day today. You know, the personal stuff. It got way out of hand and I didn't mean to upset you or hurt you in any way. I want us to be friends. Can we do that? Forget about how we feel and just go on with our lives?"
"As far as I'm concerned," she said and hiked a small black purse onto her shoulder. "it never happened. We can be friends, Tim. That's it."
He shook his head. "I'm sorry." he said.
"So am I."
He held out his hand. "Friends?"
She was reluctant to shake his hand. Scared to feel something, anything for him. In the end she shook it. "I have to go, Tim." she said.
"Have fun." he said and pressed the down button on the elevator for her.
They stood in silence for a long time. Finally there was a loud ding as the elevator arrived. It was empty.
She stepped on and pressed lobby. "Who knows," she said, holding the door open. "another place, another time, maybe... never mind. See you tomorrow night."
"You keep thinking like that, you'll give yourself another issue." he said.
"One more won't kill me." she laughed and removed her hand from the door. "Good night."
"Good night." he said. "Don't get too drunk."
"That's tomorrow night." she informed him.
After she cooked him dinner, Carmen and Speed went up onto the roof of her apartment building. He managed to get access by flashing his badge at the super. They brought along a blanket and sat together on the ground. She was between his legs, resting back against his chest, his arms tightly around her. They stared up at the stars. Talked about nonsense. Just held each other.
"I need to tell you something." Speed said after a long , comfortable silence.
"Uh-oh." was Carmen's response.
"Nothing like that." he assured her. "I just need to tell you..." he sighed heavily. "that I'm falling in love with you.'
She didn't respond.
"Does that scare you?" he asked.
"A little." she admitted. "Does it scare you when I tell you that I'm falling in love with you?"
"A little." he said.
She untangled herself from his strong arms and got to her knees and turned to face him. She held his face in her hands and gently kissed his forehead, his eyes, his nose,his chin. Then his lips.
"How about we both be scared a little together?" she suggested.
He smiled and she kissed him. Long and deep. His hands slid from their stop on her slender hips to her ass, squeezing it gently and pulling her tightly into him.
"How about we go back downstairs." he said.
"Actually... I was thinking. It's very romantic up here."
She yanked her top off and tossed it to the ground. She reached around to her back for the clasp on her bra, but he beat her to it. He unhooked it effortlessly and tossed it to the side. She closed her eyes and sighed and buried her hands in his thick hair as he leaned into her to suckle at her breasts.
"I like your way of thinking." Speed said and lay back with her on top of him.
She kissed him until they were both breathless.
"Make love to me, Tim." she said quietly.
Tim Speedle didn't need to be told twice.
Thanks to all of you who are reading and reviewing. Keep it up please! It's nice to know my hard work and staying up 'til 2 a.m is being appreciated!