The Joys of Phone Sex
"I've made up my mind,
Don't need to think it over,
If I'm wrong I am right
Don't need to look no further
This ain't lust, I know this is love
But if I tell the world, I'll never say enough
'Cause it was not said to you
And that's exactly what I need to do if I'd end up with you
Should I give up, or should I just keep chasing pavements
Even if it leads nowhere?
Or would it be a waste even if I knew my place
Should I leave it there?
Should I give up or should I just keep chasing pavements
Even if it leads nowhere?"
- Chasing Pavements, Adele
Just want to apologize for taking so long to update. Real life can be a real bitch sometimes. I've been consumed with physiotherapists and occupational therapists and speech therapists and all kinds of other special needs stuff. Thanks for being so patient. Hope I didn't loose any of you.
Big thanks to my Montana for the music and my 'twin' over in England for her support.
Stella felt as if life was passing her by. As she stood in her office, staring out that glass wall at Carmen and Speed being congratulated on their engagement by the ecstatic members of the team, her heart was just about ready to break. It wasn't that she wasn't happy for the two of them. She knew of Carmen's painful and difficult past with men, and how she'd fought so long to be able to trust and love again. No one deserved that kind of fulfillment as much as Carmen did. And she'd found herself a hell of a guy in Tim Speedle. Despite his quirks and his imperfections, he was phenomenally intelligent and compassionate and undeniably handsome.
Stella was happy for them. She really was. But she just couldn't bring herself to join in the jubilation. Her heart was aching. Seeing all these changes taking place in front of her while her own life seemed to be at a stand still was a little too much to take. First Samantha and Flack. Stella had never thought she'd see the day when Don Flack became a family man. As far as she was concerned, Flack was the consummate, life long bachelor. Hanging out with the guys, dabbling in short term, non committed relationships. Never taking anything seriously. Yet there he was, at the side of the woman who'd quickly and seemingly effortlessly captured the tough New York City cop's heart and transformed him into the man that they all knew he had the possibility of becoming. Who in three months would become his wife, and in just shy of five, the mother of his child. Stella had never seen Flack smile like that, or his blue eyes sparkle so brilliantly. Sam was a God send. Coming at a time in his life when he'd all but given up hope of having anything but meaningless relationships.
And then there was Danny and Erica. Danny had spent nearly three years back and forth with Lindsay. An often tumultuous time that had them all wondering just what in the hell he was thinking putting himself through such agony. It was tough seeing a friend on top of the world one moment and sinking to the depths of anguish the next. And to watch the woman he vowed he loved manipulate those feelings and have him running in circles and never getting any farther ahead was damn frustrating. Erica had saved Danny. Had made him happier than he ever thought possible, loved him completely and unconditionally and didn't put him through an emotional wringer. She didn't judge him by his past but on the future they could have together. A future they'd been seriously discussing lately and would be seeing Danny moving into her high class apartment within the next two months. Danny Messer was hopelessly, desperately in love and had never felt anything like it.
Stella turned away from the view of the happy group and retreated to her desk, needing to get her thoughts and feelings together, not to mention the courage she needed to go out there and congratulate the happy couple and seem sincere about it.
She took a seat in the leather chair behind her desk and sipped luke warm coffee from a stainless steel travel mug. Her eyes falling on a picture of her and Mac in a pewter frame on the desk top. To say that she loved the man was an understatement. She'd loved him long before she was a thought in his mind. Quietly biding her time, keeping her distance personally but wishing and hoping all the same that he'd eventually see her in the same way. Her heart shattered when he met Peyton. The thought of him being with any woman was unbearable, but the fact it was a woman that she saw at work every day, that she had to see in the hallways talking to and hanging off every word of the man she'd secretly loved for so long, was destroying her. And as much as she played the part of consoling, concerned friend when Peyton stayed in England and sent Mac that Dear John letter, inside she was the happiest she'd been in a long time. Because it meant there was another chance for her and him.
She wasn't sure how it had actually happened. How she and Mac had finally come clean about their feelings for each other. But an acceptance on her part for a coffee back at his place six months ago turned into something much more and she never set foot in her apartment for three days. And when she did go back it was only to get fresh changes of clothes and some personal items. She'd been a constant presence in his personal life since. Her apartment had been on the market for three months now. She'd been shocked when he'd admitted to loving her for just as long as she had carried a torch for him, and had accepted his reasoning that he was relucatant to pursue a relationship because he was worried about the reactions of the team, their productivity and that of the entire lab. And his ability to run it efficiently while having a relationship with someone inside of it.
What mattered was that they had both come clean and were better, more relaxed people for it. Their work relationship hadn't been affected at all. In fact, if anything, it seemed to be even stronger and they never thought that that was possible. They had developed an even bigger sense of respect and adoration for each other. Mind you, now they worried about each other incessantly and he was becoming increasingly overprotective.
But where was it all going? The l word passed their lips on a daily basis. Numerous times in fact in a twenty four hour period. And Stella had been ecstatically happy with the way things were going until Flack had run off and gotten himself engaged and gotten someone pregnant. That started the wheels in motion. If someone like Flack could give up on sowing his wild oats and settle down, what was taking someone as mature as Mac to take that next step. And now Carmen and Speed. Soon it would be Danny and Erica.
When is it my turn? Stella thought. I'm not getting any younger. Neither is Mac. I want the husband and the kids and the house in the suburbs. The happily ever after.
She scolded herself for being so selfish. She knew she should be happy for all of her friends. And that what she had with Mac was more than what some women got in a life time. After Frankie and Drew, her knight in shining armor had finally arrived. And she wouldn't give him up for anything in the world.
But part of her wanted more. Craved more. And she was worried that would never come.
The team dispersed. Going their separate ways. Flack had gotten a call to a homicide over on Lafayette Street and it wouldn't be long until he was calling the crime lab for some CSIs. Mac hadn't made up a duty sheet for that day yet so they seperated themselves into duos and flipped a coin to see who got to go to the first scene of the day. Danny and Carmen called tails and won and went to get their gear ready while Speed and Hawkes headed off to busy themselves in trace and ballistics.
Sam was left to her own defenses to find something to do. Mac and Stella always told her to just help out where she was needed, and the last time she checked, that was helping Adam out in AV. First however, she had to hand in a report to Stella that she'd taken home on Friday to finish up. It hadn't been a necessity to get it done sooner, but she felt bad it had taken her three days nearly.
She knocked on the office door and poked her head in. "Stel? Can I come in?"
"Sure. What's up?"
Sam held up the report as she entered. "Sorry it took so long."
"It's okay. It wasn't that serious."
Sam laid the folder on the tidy desk and frowned at the sullen look on Stella's face. "Are you okay?" she asked with concern.
Stella managed a smile. "Why wouldn't I be?"
Sam shrugged. "You look upset."
"I need to ask you a question. A couple actually." Stella told her, then motioned for her to sit down.
"Sure." Sam said as she took a seat in front of the desk. "What's up?"
"I need to know you're secret." Stella told her.
"My secret?" Sam laughed. "What secret?"
"How in the hell did you manage to get someone like Flack to settle down so quickly?"
"No secret." Sam said. "I guess I just caught him at a time in his life when he was ready for all of that."
"You do not give yourself enough credit." Stella told her. "He wouldn't have just settled down with just anyone. Trust me. I've known him a long time and I have never seen him as happy as he is now. The way he loves you, it's written all over her face and in his eyes every time he so as much looks at you. I've never seen Flack look that way at anyone."
"I guess I just came along at a good time. And believe me, I waited a long time to find someone like Don. I didn't think I'd ever find anything like this. When I was with Zack, I was too scared to leave. I wanted to so many times. And he'd all but convinced me that no one else would ever want me and the more he said it, the more I believed it and fell into this hole I swore my entire like I'd never find myself in. Sometimes, I sit back and think about what it would be like if I never left Arizona and actually married Zack."
Stella shuddered at the thought. "By the grace of God you got out in time. You're a survivor Sam. Don't ever let anyone tell you anything different. I had my own issues with feeling like a victim after Frankie and then Drew. Until Mac made me realize that I was stronger and tougher than I gave myself credit for."
Sam smiled. "From what I've heard from some of the others, no one has ever seen you or Mac this happy either."
A broad smile crossed Stella's face and her curls bounced as she nodded. "We are happy. And we both deserve it."
"But." Sam said. "I sense a but coming on."
"You are very perceptive when it comes to things like that."
"Hey, it's what you guys pay me the not so big bucks for."
"I love Mac. And he loves me. I don't doubt that. It's just that with all that's been going on around here, first you and Flack getting married soon and starting a family and now Carmen and Speed and you just know that Danny's next, I just can't help but think about where my life is going. With Mac."
"Where would you like it to go?" Sam asked.
"Marriage. Kids. White picket fence." Stella replied without hesitation.
"Two out of three is good for me." Sam said. "I'm not the white picket fence type. Have you told Mac any of this?"
"Not in so many words. And I honestly don't know if Mac would ever get married again after Claire."
"You'll never know if you don't ask. It's what I did. What both Don and I did, actually. We just talked about what we wanted and things progressed from there. You should really talk to him."
Stella sighed. "I know."
"He could be feeling all of this too and maybe he's too scared to tell you because he doesn't think you're feeling it."
"Damn your good." Stella laughed. "You should have been a relationship counsellor."
Sam shook her head. "I need to start taking some of my own advice to be honest. It is not all sunshine and roses between Don and I. Trust me, But you should talk to Mac. I mean, what do you have to loose?"
"My pride? My heart? Just to name a couple."
"I was scared too." Sam told her. "Half the time I still am. I just close my eyes and and pray and hope for the best."
Stella's cell phone beeped noisily and she pulled it off he front pocket of her slacks to check the display. "I have a scene in Greenwich. I wish I could bring you with me. I miss working scenes with you."
"I miss that too. I hate being in the lab full time."
"I know." Stella sympathized with her as she got up from her chair. "But it's for the best."
Sam nodded and got up as well. "I better get to AV before Adam thinks I bailed on him."
"Hey, Sam." Stella called to the younger woman as she headed for the door.
She paused, one foot in the hall.
"Thanks." Stella said. "For everything you said. It really helped."
"Well, a lot of people have helped me since I've been here. I guess it's time I start spreading it around a bit."
"You're a good friend,Sam."
She smiled brightly. "I try my best." she said.
Flack felt awkward. Not that he was walking around making it apparent to anyone. He was usually confident to a fault. Cocky and arrogant were two words often used to describe him. He was good at putting up that front when in reality, inside he was often second guessing himself and the choices and decisions he made and berating himself for things that didn't go according to the best laid plans. And now, as he stood inside that small, cluttered one bedroom apartment on Lafayette Street, next to that very warehouse where Dean Truby was planning on selling the black cocaine stolen from the raid Flack was in charge of, and where he ultimately sealed his fate by killing an innocent Kym Tanaka.
Anything that brought Dean Truby's name up or that entire incident was a bitter pill to swallow for Flack. It was almost two years since Truby's arrest and it haunted Flack nearly every day. Gnawed at him deep inside. He knew, in his heart that he had done the right thing by giving Mac that log book. Things would have looked even worse for him had he not cooperated and made Mac subpoena him. But it had been near career suicide helping nail a fellow cop. He heard the whispers around the precinct afterwards, other guys calling him a rat and Mac Taylor's stool pigeon. Shit, sometimes he still heard it after all this time. And he'd lost a lot of peoples respect. Including the brass and his old man. Made even worse when he wouldn't turn on Mac over Clay Dobson.
Fuck them, he thought, as he stood in the living room, taking notes in his log book, recording details of the scene. He wasn't doing himself any good standing there worrying about pissing people off. He'd pissed a lot of people off in his time and he'd piss of a lot more. It was just the nature of his personality. Only thing worrying about what other people thought about him or were saying about him would do for him was give him more grey hair or an ulcer. Or even both. What he needed to do was concentrate on the job in front of him.
Which was hard, considering the smell that was lingering in the air from the dead body sprawled on the tattered, old couch that was well on its way to full decomp. One of the uniforms, a rookie responding to his first DB ever, had all ready fled the room twice to dispose of his stomach contents. At least he'd left the scene. The next building super, who'd been alerted by a neighbour who'd gotten a whif of the smell through the slightly open apartment door, hadn't been so considerate of whoever would be called to work the scene, loosing his breakfast all over the place when he headed in to see what the problem was.
Old newspapers and junk that had been discarded all over the floor, crinkled and snapped under neath Flack's feet as he moved around the living room jotting down information. Behind him, out in the hall, a couple of his guys talked to the super and a couple of the neighbours. He could hear the muffled conversations.
"Man..." Danny complained as he and Carmen entered the messy, smelly apartment. "What's that smell? Who died?"
"That's cold, Messer." Flack said. "Even for you."
"When'd you become so sensitive?" Danny asked. "Getting married and having a kid turning you soft or something?"
"I'm not the one moving into a pent house apartment and driving my girlfriend's Bentley." Flack pointed out defensively. "If anyone's going soft, Messer, it's you. So don't start."
"Didn't get your coffee this morning, Flack?" Carmen teased him.
"Didn't get laid probably." Danny said.
"Unlike you, Messer, that is one problem I don't have. My girl puts out thank you very much."
"That's harsh, Flack." Danny complained. "You've been taking how to be mean lesssons from Brooklyn."
Flack ignored that comment and decided the best thing to do was just get done to business.
"Female vic." he said, gesturing to the body with his log book. "Super tentatively ID'd her as Danica O'Neil, the renter of the apartment. I say tentative 'cause as you see, sh's been here a while and we don't have much to go on. He says that he recognizes that ring on her finger. Something she wore all the time."
"The super found her?" Carmen asked, setting her kit down at the side of the couch and fighting back a wave of nausea that was brought on by being closer to the sight and the smell.
Flack nodded. "Next door neighbour was taking his dog out for a walk and saw the door to the apartment open slightly and got a whif of the stench. Called the super sayin' he was concerned. Super came in, found this. That was at..." Flack checked his watch. "Roughly quarter to ten."
"Does this belong to the super?" Danny asked, nodding at the puddles of vomit and beginning to take the overalls.
"All of them." Flack concurred. "My uniform had the right sense to leave before he was sick."
"What do we know about her?" Carmen asked, opening her kit and pulling out a pair of gloves and snapping them on.
"Super and the neighbours don't know a hell of a lot." Flack replied. "She just moved in a couple of months ago. Lives alone, kept to herself, didn't have a lot of people coming and going. I searched the place for an ID or purse or something, but I didn't find anything other than that busted up PDA there." He pointed to a smashed Blackberry on the floor in front of the couch.
Carmen gingerly picked it up an deposited it into a clear plastic evidence bag. "Take that to the lab and see if Sam or Adam can work their magic on it."
"I found some bills in the kitchen verifying the name of the vic," Flack said. "But I'm sure you guys will want to run tests to prove it's her so I'll hold off on contacting next of kin. She left an emergency contact number when she applied for the apartment. Mother over in Washington Heights. I did find a photo over on the kitchen table. Two girls. One brunette, the other blond and the super told me that the blond is our vic before she dyed her hair red sometime last week."
"Judging by the state of decomp, I'd put TOD at at least two days." Danny said, retreating to the table to bag the photo. "Hot as hell in here so that would speed things up. Anyone hear anything, see anything in the last few days?"
"In this neighbourhood and in this building, people are always fighting and having it out." Flack said. "But the super did tell me that our vic was a model tenant and no one ever complained about any noise coming out of here."
"This place got security tapes?" Danny asked.
"All ready have the super gettin' them ready for me." Flack replied. "You guys can take them and that PDA back when he brings them up."
"There's some prescription bottles here." Carmen said, nodding at the coffee table. "I count at least six and most are only half full. And a bottle of Benalyn cold syrup."
Danny snapped some more pictures and laid the camera down on the floor and went to the coffee table to examine the various pill bottles. "Got quite a mix here." he said, studying the labels. "Ambien, Zoloft, Celexa, Lorezpam, Tylenol three with codeine. Each one is in the vic's name, too."
"Regular pharmacy." Flack commented as Danny bagged all the bottles and the cough syrup.
"Take all these together and cough medicine and you're looking at lethal mix." Danny said. "Exactly what happened to Heath Ledger. Can't go around mixing all this shit and not expect something bad to happen."
"That an official COD?" Flack asked. "You an ME now too?"
"It's strictly speculation." Danny replied. "Don't you have some detective work you would be doing instead of just hanging around like this?"
"Would you two just stop?" Carmen asked, annoyed. "You guys are like an old married couple."
"He started it." they said in unison, each pointing at the other.
"Grow up." Carmen snapped. "Both of you. Before I separate you guys."
"Think this place was tossed or has the maid been off sick for a while?" Danny asked.
"Definitely not a tossing. Or a robbery." Flack responded. "Every thing is still intact, knicks and such all in the right place, PC and lap top still here along with a stereo and HDTV. This place would have been cleaned out for sure."
"Why live in a place like this if you can afford stuff like that?" Danny wondered a loud.
"Live in a place like this and you afford shit like that." Flack reasoned. "Personally I prefer living somewhere where the rats and roaches aren't crawling all over place over owning stuff like that. But that's just me."
"Hey Flack!" one of the uniforms called from the doorway. "Super's got those tapes you wanted!"
"Be right out." he called back.
"One of the tenants also found some bloody clothes shoved in of the recycling bins out front. Might belong to your vic."
Danny and Carmen looked at each other.
"Don't even look at me, Messer. I've been the go to garbage girl since Sam's been out of commission. It's your turn."
"But..."
"No way." Carmen remained firm.
Danny sighed dramatically as he headed to the door.
"Don't even give me that pouty little boy shit." Carmen told him before he disappeared down the hall. "It's only fair you do it. It's not like you have to climb in an actual dumpster."
"I gotta go get those tapes and send them to the lab." Flack told her. "I'll get one of my guys to come in and keep an eye on you."
Carmen handed him the PDA to take as well. "I'm a big girl, Flack." She told him. "I don't need a babysitter."
"You know Mac's policy. Women are not left alone at crime scenes." he reminded her. "Too many things could go wrong."
"Things can go wrong no matter who is in the room." Carmen informed him.
"Yeah? Well after what happened to Sam, I am not taking any chances. Catch ya in a while."
"Try not to work too hard." she teased him. "You're already in a pissy enough mood."
"Trust me, Carmen. If you knew, you'd understand why."
Carmen watched him leave. Some days she just didn't understand a damn thing.
Starting with what the hell had happened in that apartment.
She sighed heavily and quickly surveyed the room before settling her eyes back on the vic.
Guess it's just you, me and the evidence, she thought, and set to work.
"I come bearing gifts." Sam announced an hour after the initial call, breezing into the AV room where Adam was at the bank of computers, tracking down information on a cell phone found at Stella's Greenwich crime scene.
"I don't want to hear it. It's barely noon hour." Adam complained.
"Noon hour?" Sam laughed as she dropped the bags containing the broken PDA and building security tapes that Flack had brought by on to an open desk in front of the bank of tv monitors and computers. "It's not even quarter after eleven."
"You just know the right things to say to ruin my good mood." Adam sighed.
"Guess that means you don't want this?" Sam inquired, holding an extra large take out beverage cup over her brother's shoulder.
Adam's eyes widened. "Please tell me that that's a triple espresso latte with a shot of hazelnut. My drug of choice."
"Would I ever deny you your addiction, peanut?" she asked, leaning over him to place the cup on the desk in front of him before taking a seat in one of the swivel chairs along side of him, setting down her own decaf tea.
"You know, I take back all those times I wanted mom and dad to send you to live somewhere else when we were younger." Adam declared, sipping the steaming, heavenly beverage.
"As much as I would like to take credit, I can't. Don bought it for you. He's bribing us to move his stuff to the top of the massive pile of crap we have to look at."
"Knock yourself out. I'm almost done with this and I can start the tapes and you can look at the PDA."
"I was hoping you'd look at the PDA. You're the gadget genuis. It's busted beyond belief and if anyone can get something off of it, it's you."
"Quit sweet talking me." Adam said.
"I could always give you my pouty lips and my big puppy dog eyes."
Adam motioned for her to pass over the PDA. "I have no will power when you do that." he said.
She tossed him the baggy with the PDA in it and then loaded the first of the tapes into the computer, settling back in her chair with her tea, preparing for the long haul.
Adam finished printing off the information for Stella's cell phone records and shoved a copy into her case folder and then grabbed a pair of latex gloves. Snapping them on before opening the baggy with the PDA in it.
"So." Sam said, sipping her tea, eyes glued on the computer monitor. "How'd your date go on Saturday?"
"My date went very nice." Adam replied, pushing his chair across the room to a filing cabinet and yanking open the middle drawer, beginning a search for the proper adapter and small parts tools to take the broken Blackberry apart.
"Just very nice?" Sam asked nosily.
"We had a great time. Lots of fun." Adam told her, grabbing the necessary parts and putting his feet up on the cabinet to push himself back across the room.
"What did you guys do? Other than bowling?" Sam inquired.
Adam shrugged and hunched over the desk as he began methodically taking the PDA apart.
"What does that mean?" Sam shrugged herself. "You guys must have done something else."
"It means that I'm not telling you, Sammie."
She grinned behind the rim of her take out cup. "In that case, it means you got lucky."
Adam didn't respond.
Sam glanced over and found her younger brother's ears turning bright red from embarrassment. "I always knew you had it in you, peanut. And I am so glad it was someone decent like Gus and not that nasty Barbie girl you were dating before."
"Gus is so far from Kendall." Adam declared. "She's incredible, Sammie."
Sam smiled at the tenderness in her brother's voice and on his face. "You guys seeing each other again I hope?"
He nodded and snapped the PDA open and took out the memory chip. "This Saturday we are going to see The Producers."
Sam arched an eyebrow. "Really? You? Broadway?"
"I am willing to try anything once." Adam told her and placed the memory chip into a slot on the computer in front of him. "And she was saying something about me and her and you and Flack going out sometime."
"She's a glutton for punishment wanting to go out with us. You tell her about my mood swings and how Don and I are always one step away from strangling each other?"
"She told me that it's about time he had a woman keep him in order." Adam said. "Okay...here we go...let's see what kind of nasty little information this girl may have been keeping on this thing."
Sam glanced over. "You are a damn genius, Adam."
"It is hard being smarter than everyone else." he said. "Did Flack give you a positive ID on his vic?"
"It's pending. Decomposition prevented the building super from giving a firm yes or no. But he did get a name..." Sam flipped open the case folder in front of her. "Danica O'Neil."
"I can confirm that she owned this PDA and that she was alive three days ago. There's a check mark beside pick up dry cleaning and that was Friday. I also have her last known whereabouts. Some place called TCS Tele-communications. Never heard of it. Telemarketing maybe? Says here that it's her place of employment."
"Got a number for it?" Sam asked, pulling out her cell phone. "I'll find out what it is."
"1-900-555-7675."
Sam dialled, a frown on her face. "A one nine hundred number? That's odd."
Adam shrugged. "I've seen odder. Heard odder." he leaned back in his chair, watching her and enjoying his latte.
Sam listened intently to the voice on the other line. Her face dead serious at first, then her eyes widening, a smirk slowly crossing her face. "Get outta town." she said and hung up.
"What? What was it?" Adam asked.
"You would not believe it if I told you. It was a phone sex place."
"Come on. Get real. You serious?"
Sam nodded. "It was an automated message promising to deliver me to my ultimate fantasy."
"Should have taken them up on it."
"I'm pregnant, Adam. I'd say enough of my fantasies have been fulfilled."
"What are you going to do now?"
Sam dialled another number. "Call Carmen. They may just want to check this out. See who the last person was to see their vic alive."
"Might want to tell her to go alone so Flack doesn't get any perverted ideas being there."
"He has enough of his own, trust me." Sam said.
"You know, some things I don't want to hear. It's why I avoid talking sex with my sister. The thought of you doing stuff like that..." Adam shuddered at the thought.
"Don't worry. Gus will school you just like I schooled Don."
"Something tells me that was the other way around." Adam told her. "And that you torture the poor guy."
A broad smile crossed his sister's face. "And he loves every minute of it." she declared.
Carmen met Flack outside of the looming thirty storey glass and metal structure a block from the financial district. She had headed straight there after receiving the phone call from Sam about the victim's place of employment. This particular building mostly housed legal and brokerage firms and a couple of advertising agencies. Carmen just could not see it also housing a haven for phone sex as Sam had so eloquently put it.
She'd called Flack, who had been on his way to re-question the superintendent and some of the neighbours, while Danny worked feverishly at the lab processing prints and waiting for tox and autopsy results.
"What's goin' on, Devine?" Flack asked, as he stepped up onto the curb beside his unmarked Buick squad car. "I just got the weirdest call from my wife. Something about phone sex and keeping my mind out of the gutter."
"Apparently our vic worked as a phone sex operator." Carmen told him, as they fell in step side by side and headed for the front entrace. "She tracked the phone number to this address. And here we are."
"This can't be the right place. There is no way this place can have a phone sex operation running out of it. No way."
"Hey, I only took the message. Sam said this is the place and that Adam confirmed it through tri-angulation."
"I'll see it when I believe it." Flack said and pulled open the door, motioning for her to go first.
"You and Danny kiss and make up yet?" Carmen asked as they headed to the elevator and hit the up button.
"We're boys again. He knows why I was all stressed this morning and he respects that."
"And why were you stressed this morning? You and Sam get into it or something?"
"For once, Sam and I are fine. No problems. This is a me problem. Something that happened a long time ago that still burns my ass to this day. You ever hear the name Dean Truby?"
"I've heard the story." Carmen said.
"It's been two years nearly since Truby. And that building we were at today, that warehouse beside it was the warehouse he was gonna sell the drugs and he ended up killing that innocent kid. So I kinda got weirded out being there today."
Carmen nodded in understanding and stepped onto the elevator as the doors opened and pressed the button for the twentieth floor. "You know," she said. "Despite all the talk that goes around that place, I respect you, Flack. It wasn't an easy decision you made and I for one, think you did the right thing. And I wish more people had the courage to do the right thing once in a while."
"Sometimes I wonder if it was the right thing to do." He said with a sigh.
"Of course it was. You know that."
Flack nodded.
"You need to stop beating yourself up over it and get on with your life all ready."
He gave a small laugh. "I already have Sam as a therapist. I don't need you, too."
"She loves you and worries about you and you need to cut her some slack." Carmen said. "She knows you did the right thing and she respects you and stands behind you no matter what. And I hope to God if she ever needs you to do the same thing, that you will."
"Without a doubt. Anything for her. You know that. There's nothing I wouldn't do for her, Carmen. She tell you about the near panic attack I had in Toys R Us yesterday?"
"Actually, she told me that you guys picked out a beautiful crib and that she was tremendously proud of for dealing with things like you did."
He smiled. "She said that?"
Carmen nodded. "And that you called her father and told him what's what."
Flack shrugged it off. "This crap with her dad was eating her up and I couldn't just sit back and watch that happen to her. She doesn't deserve that. So I gave him a call and let him know where I stood and my intentions and feelings for his daughter and that if he couldn't accept that then he had to get used to the idea of never seeing her or his grand kid. 'Cause there was no way in hell anyone was taking her away from me."
"It was a brave thing to do." Carmen said.
"I didn't have anything to lose. I just spoke the truth and that was that. One thing about me, Carmen. I don't bullshit and I don't put up with bullshit. And I get very defensive and possessive when it comes to Sam."
"I know. And that's nice to see. To know you love her that much."
"No one will ever know how much I love her." he said. "Not even her. 'Cause there's no words to describe it."
His cell phone beeped noisily and he snatched it off his belt buckle to answer it. "Flack...yeah...what you got for us, Adam?...that's it?...are you sure?... how many times did she check it?...okay...thanks anyway...bye..." he sighed heavily and hung up. "You want good news or bad news first?" he asked Carmen.
"Hit me with the bad."
"Surveillance tapes were a bust. Sam saw nothing out of the ordinary on the date we estimated for TOD and there are no tapes for days before that. Building system records three days then re-records over the old footage."
"Good news?"
"Danny got a hit off the prints lifted off the prescription bottles. They match the prints lifted off our vic, giving us an ID. But get this, she was in AFIS all ready."
"For?"
"Solicitation of an undercover police officer and prostitution."
"Possible attack by a john?"
"Won't know anything until autopsy comes back. So for now..."
"We go for a little phone sex." Carmen concluded.
"Exactly. Not that I know anything about stuff like that."
Carmen smirked. "Sure, Flack. Sure."
"I've got Sam. She could put these people to shame with the stuff that comes out of her mouth, trust me."
The elevator reached the twentieth floor and Carmen stepped out first. To the right were glass doors with the name of an advertising firm, to the left was TCS Tele-communications. She led the way.
"Promise me you'll behave yourself." she said to Flack as he went to open the door.
"Don't I always?" he asked, yanking the door open for her.
She snorted in response and stepped inside.
It was the last time that Samantha was going to do anyone any favours. With Carmen out in the field with Flack and Danny busy giving the bad news to Danica O'Neil's mother downstairs, there was no one around to head into the basement to pick up the autopsy report from Sid. And seeing as they needed that report to go any further ahead with the investigation and she had finished up with the surveillance tapes, Mac sent her down into the dungeon as a liaison person.
Normally, that wouldn't have been a problem. She could handle mutilated bodies and those in full decomp and not be bothered by the sight or the smell. Her first ever crime scene had been a body left in a trunk of a car for nearly two weeks and it had almost liquidfied from the heat. It was the one and only time she'd ever been sick to her stomach. After that she'd forced herself to toughen up. And learned how to properly breathe through her mouth to avoid inhaling anything too foul.
But today was a different story. The smell seemed more overwhelming the usual. It was burning her eyes and curdling her stomach and no matter how hard she tried, she just couldn't block out that scent. Instead she diverted her eyes from the body on the table before her and tried to concentrate on the computer images Sid was about to show her.
"You haven't been down here in a while." Sid commented. "They keeping you locked away up in the lab?"
Sam nodded. "I'm not allowed out in the field any more so I don't get a chance to work this part of the cases. But both Carmen and Danny are busy so Mac asked me to come down and grab the report for them."
"I missed seeing you down here." Sid told her. "You were always so friendly and pleasant. You never let anything get you discouraged. And you never got snappy when things didn't turn out certain ways like some of the others do."
"What's the point of getting that way? You only do the autopsy. You can't help your findings."
"Exactly." Sid enthused. "At least someone understands the bane of an ME. We can't change the way things happened to our victims. It's not like we killed them or anything. Mind you, being in this job, one could probably be able to pull off the perfect murder. We know what toxins are untraceable after a certain length of time, things to do to the body that no one ever finds all the pieces needed for a proper autopsy or identification. And I bet that..."
"Sid..." Sam interrupted him gently. "Can we skip to the findings, please?"
"Of course. I'm sorry. I just get distracted when chatting to someone who at least understands my position with things. It's nice to..." he paused and frowned at the sight of her grimacing face. "Are you okay?" he asked in concern.
"No." she admitted "Can we continue, please? Before I'm sick all over the place."
"Of course. Now, the official COD could have been one of two things. According to the tox screen, Miss O'Neil had a startling amount of prescription meds in her system at time of death. Mixed in with the cold medication also found, the levels were lethal. However, upon further examining of the body, I discovered this..." Sid turned to the computer screen behind him and hit one of the button. "A massive subdural hemorrhage caused by blunt force trauma to the head. More specifically, the frontal lobe of the brain..."
Sid turned to his left and picked up a specimen jar holding the victim's brain.
Sam had to force herself not to throw up when Sid turned to her with that brain in his hands.
"As you can see..." the ME continued his assessment. "The large area of damage to the lobe, which is the anterior portion of the cerebral cortex, which controls such things as motor skills and memory just to name a couple. Now, there was no significant trauma to the skull itself. Nothing to suggest a weapon was used. I did however, find this..." Sid set the jar down and moved to the body, pushing hair off the forehead of the dead girl to reveal a large gash that spread from one side of the head to the other.
"Is it possible that she was delirious from being on so many meds and just passed out and hit her head?" Sam asked.
"Anything is possible." Sid told her. "And that many potent drugs could render someone unconscious and they could fall and hit their head. According to the state of organs and internal body temperature, COD is approximately forty eight to sixty hours ago. I'd love to nail it down closer, but with the high temperatures in the apartment, it sped up the decaying process."
"What about the rape kit?"
"Negative. Signs of recent sexual activity but nothing that suggests assault. And no defensive wounds or trace under the fingernails. Only thing I found was this..." Sid picked up a petri dish and held it out to her.
"One lonesome little pubic hair on the inside of her thighs." he said. "As you already know, fingerprints ID'd her."
Sam nodded. "Danny is talking to next of kin right now. Her mother."
Sid sighed. "I don't envy you people at all having to deliver news like that."
"It's not pleasant." Sam agreed. "So that's it?"
He handed her a case report. "That's it. It was nice seeing you down here again."
"I'd say likewise, but my stomach reveals I'd be lying. Thanks, Sid."
"Take good care of yourself. Get lots of rest and good food to eat."
"Thanks. I will." she said as she left the morgue.
But first I need to find somewhere to throw up, she thought.
"This is so not what I expected." Flack commented, as he and Carmen stood at the reception desk of TCS Tele-communications, waiting for the boss to arrive after being summoned by the young man answering the business phone in a high pitched, feminine voice.
He was young, no older than twenty, with the slender body of a twelve year old boy on display in skin tight black vinyl pants, even tighter black semi-transparent t-shirt and a Pete Wentz inspired hair do and enough black eyeliner and mascara on to rival any Las Vegas show girl.
And he was making no attempt at hiding the fact he was checking Flack out. In between answering the phone and flipping through a magazine, he was blatantly eyeing Flack from head to toe, concentrating his sights on certain specific areas.
Carmen actually heard the kid sigh dreamily when Flack turned around to look at something and the kid got a look at his ass. And even Carmen, as much as she loved Speed, could not deny that Flack had an amazing ass. Some days she could barely stop looking at it herself.
"Put your eyes back in honey." Carmen said. "He's married."
"Guy or a girl?" he asked.
"Girl." Flack answered quickly. "A very hot girl, in fact. A very hot, pregnant girl in fact. So check out some other guy's package would ya. I like women."
"That's a shame." the young man declared, a disappointed pout on his face. "What a waste."
"She doesn't seem to think so." Flack said.
"You know..." the young man chewed on the eraser of his pencil before suggestively tracing his upper lip with it. "I wouldn't mind finding out if those cuffs are real."
"They are." Flack told him. "And they're not for personal used."
Carmen snorted. "Right...I think you use yours more for personal stuff than you do for work."
"Shhh." Flack said. "Don't encourage it."
"Why? I think it's sweet you have an admirer. In a way, he's kinda cute."
"You're just as freaky as the rest of these people." Flack told her. "Look at this place. Is this what you expected to find at a phone sex place? Cubicles and shit? And the people that answer the phones.Did you really think they'd look like this?"
"What did you think they'd look like?" Carmen asked.
"I expected all these amazingly hot women to be walking around. Look at these people, Devine. How plain and boring they are."
"You are so goddamn gullible Flack. Did you honestly think the women on the other end of the line when you call these places are all Gisele Bundchen and Tyra Banks hot? Get real. Some of them are even guys pretending to be girls. Remember that the next time you pick up the phone and dial."
"I have never and would never, call a place like this." he informed her.
"Oh please! Don't expect me to buy that crap. I bet when you were a teenager or all that time you spent alone between girlfriends when got older..."
"Never." Flack insisted. "Ever. I'd rather do it myself then rely on something like this to do it for me. And with Sam around, I have no cause to do that or this. Half the time I can't even keep up with her."
"What's it gonna be like when she's not allowed to have sex anymore further in the pregnancy? How will you ever survive?"
"We have the internet. Lots on the internet to..."
"Enough." Carmen said, shaking her head. "I do not need to hear about you and your love for porn, okay? I am sorry I brought it up."
"Just joking. Like I said, with Sam, I don't need anything else."
"And you wonder how she got pregnant."
"She got pregnant 'cause she can't say no and doesn't know how to take the pill properly." Flack said.
"And because you can't keep it in your pants."
"You jealous, Devine? Is Speed not putting out enough for you? Not doing the right things? Need me to give him some lessons?" Flack teased.
"What? You are seriously disturbed. You really are. I have no complaints."
"Does he?"
"Flack, enough. Okay? This is why you of all people should not have come here."
"And why's that?" he asked, as a tall, slinky blond in a skin tight mini skirt that barely covered her ass and a halter top that barely contained her gigantic, hideous looking breasts came sauntering towards them, teetering on her impossibly high stilettos.
She gave Flack a flirty smile as she passed by him.
He smirked, his head turning to the side as he watched her go.
Carmen couldn't resist smacking him hard upside the head.
"What?" he asked, rubbing his head. "What did I do?"
"What do you think you did?" Carmen asked in disgust.
"I just looked. There's nothing wrong with that."
"There is when you're wife is pregnant and all ready has shit self esteem."
"I'm not going to touch, Carmen. And you can't tell me that Sam doesn't check out other guys. She's human just like I am."
"Don't get all bent out of shape over her David Beckham fantasy. She'll never meet the guy."
"Normal guys, I mean. Out on the street."
"Not when I'm with her. She's a good girl."
Flack snorted. "Yeah, right. Good is not the first word that comes to mind when describing Sam."
"Hey, she comes home to you and gives you more sex than most guys get in a lifetime. I'd say she's very, very good. To you at least."
He smiled. "She is. I have absolutely no complaints. Well, maybe one. The biting thing. She's abusive. I mean, I like the biting thing. It's a turn on. But sometimes she get a little carried away. If I could show my left shoulder right now, you'd be shocked."
"Flack, enough with the kinky sex talk, okay?"
"Like I said, I could give him lessons."
Carmen laughed and shook her head. "Enough. Okay?"
"You are so jealous." Flack said.
"Please. I get enough..."
She was interrupted by a tall, heavy set man with a rapidly balding head and thick grey beard, wearing too short pants and a plaid shirt covered in sweat stains coming towards them.
"These are the detectives I was telling you about." the receptionist spoke first.
"Thanks, Marco. Detectives, I'm Bill Palmer. The manager here at TCS-Telecommunications." he offered each of them his hand.
"Mr Palmer, I'm Detective Flack and this is Detective Devine from the crime lab." Flack did the introductions. "We were wondering if we could ask you a few questions."
"About?"
"Danica O'Neil." Carmen said. "She was an employee or yours?"
"She still is. Why?"
"Perhaps we could talk somewhere in private." Flack suggested.
Palmer frowned. "Is Danica in some kind of trouble? Has she been seeing clients on the side and gotten into some trouble with one of them?"
"In private." Flack insisted.
Palmer nodded. Nodded down the hallway behind him. "I'll take you to my office."
"Good idea." Carmen said, and followed the man.
"Excuse me, detective?" Marco hurried around his desk to catch up with Flack. "Just in case things don't work out for you and the girl." he said and tucked a piece of paper into the left pocket of Flack's suit jacket, a sly smile on his face. "I know what a man like you needs."
Flack shook his head. "What the hell is wrong with people." he muttered as he walked away.
"Brooklyn! Danny called as he stepped off the elevator on the thirty-fifth floor in time to see Sam walking past, case folders in hands.
She stopped at the sound of his voice, waited in the middle of the hall for him to catch up. "How'd it go with Danica's mother?" she asked as they fell in step alongside of each other.
"It was pretty rough." Danny replied with a sigh. "They were really close up until her arrest couple years back. She told me that her daughter had always been a good girl up 'til then. Honour roll student, tons of friends. Then he dad passed away and the family fell onto hard times and couldn't keep the place they had and they ended up moving into tenement housing in Washington Heights."
"I have none to pleasant recollections of tenement housing." Sam sighed.
"Guess that's when things just fell to shit for our girl. She had to switch schools, she fell in with the wrong crowd and started drinking, doin' drugs, her grades went down the toilet. You know the story."
"Peer pressure." Sam said with a nod. "We've all been through it."
"For sure" Danny agreed. "Her mother ID the necklace and ring as Danica's and I got a hit in AFIS off the prints Sid took. So now all we have to do is figure out what the hell happened. What's the deal with autopsy?"
Sam handed him the folder. "COD was a massive subdural hemorrhage to the front lobe of the brain caused by blunt force trauma to the front of the front of the head. Sid also found there be near lethal levels of the prescription drugs you found at the scene, along with a mix of the cough syrup. She ingested all of the meds before the head injury."
Danny flipped open the folder, reading as they walked. "Rape kit negative, no defensive wounds. Possible OD? She passed out, hit her head?"
"There's also nothing to suggest there was another person in the apartment at the time she died." Sam added. "Sid estimated TOD at forty eight to sixty hours ago. He said he couldn't be more accurate because the heat in the apartment sped everything up."
"Nothing on the tapes?"
Sam shook her head. "A big nothing. And nothing on the PDA to suggest she was seeing anyone. Did you ask the mother?"
"I did. As far as she knew, no boyfriend. And Speed and I found no trace evidence at there was anyone else in that apartment at the time this happened. No other DNA sample either. So unless we missed something..."
"Highly unlikely." Sam said.
"Exactly. So we're looking at an accident. She took too many meds, passed out, hit her head and BOOM."
"Looks that way." Sam agreed.
"You and the monster hungry, Brooklyn? Wanna come with and grab some lunch?"
"Sure. Where we going to go?"
"Let's go to TGIFs around the corner. My treat."
"You're in a generous mood."
"Gotta kiss up so you'll make me the godfather."
"Danny, you all ready know you are. Don will ask eventually. Trust me."
"You know, the case today really bothered Flack." Danny said seriously.
"Did it? Why?"
"Well, you know the Dean Truby story, right?"
Sam nodded.
"Been almost two years since that all went down. And it still eats at him."
Sam sighed. "He did the right thing, Danny. I tell him that over and over again."
"I've told him tons of times myself. Flack wouldn't have been able to live with himself knowing what Truby had done and not doing anything about it. He's a good guy, Sam. He's got a big heart. We both know that."
"Well I wish other people would see it too." she said.
"Bu this scene today, it was right next door to the warehouse where Truby was gonna sell those drugs from Flack's raid and where he killed that innocent kid. And that was the exact apartment building where we found the other injured paintballer, Cyrus Manlow, who'd been with Kym Tanaka at the time, being held in some crazy lady's bathtub 'cause she thought he was an alien."
"An alien? What the hell is that about?"
"Long story. The important thing is the Truby issue and how the scene today brought it back up to the surface for Flack again. Worries me when he gets like that. He's my best friend. I hate when he beats himself up over stuff."
"Are you trying to suggest something, Danny? Like maybe I should talk to him?"
"Don't think it would hurt. Just casually bring it up."
"I will talk to him. But you know how closed off he can be."
"So give him a little somethin' somethin' to get him into talking."
Sam laughed. "Look at me, Danny. I think he's been getting a little too much somethin' somethin'."
They passed by the reception desk, on their way to the labs to drop off their reports and then head for lunch.
"Samantha?" a voice spoke from behind them. "Samantha Ross?"
Sam turned at the sound of the familiar soft, melodic voice.
A tall, willowy woman in her mid twenties stood before her. Shoulder length light brown hair and light green eyes. Dressed conservatively in a pair of dark grey slacks and black leather high heel boots and a black suede jacket over a simple white blouse.
"What are you doing here?" Sam asked in surprise. A cautious, skeptical surprise.
"I needed to come and see you. Talk to you. I hope it's okay that I came here."
"Of course it is. It's just a surprise is all. We haven't seen each other since..."
"It's been a while." the young woman said regretfully."
"Amelia, this is Detective Danny Messer." Sam said. "A colleague and friend of mine."
"A pleasure." Amelia said and offered her hand.
"You too." Danny said with a smile, shaking her hand warmly.
"Danny, this is Amelia Tanner." Sam told him.
Danny arched an eyebrow. "Tanner? As in..."
"Zack's sister." Sam finished.
Thanks to all of you that are still reading and reviewing. I appreciate every single one of you and continue to write this as entertainment for all of you. Please keep it up and so will I.