Chapter 33

The next day, Dean Price was shot. She survived, but it was a close call. Again, it was a 9 mm. Her husband said it was the playwright, Larry Forseca. He said he had a vendetta against her because she was an inclusionist. He pointed them to the theater building across the street from his wife's office.

There was evidence of another potato silencer, and cigarette butts. Lyons appeared and Alex asked if he'd had any luck.

"No. All I could get out of him was Larry left an hour ago. No one here is going to give us any more than that," he said.

Alex spared a look Bobby's way and saw how painfully tired he was. He was barely keeping his eyes open, and they were red-rimmed and raw. She wondered for a moment what had kept him up last night.

"They're closing ranks," Lyons explained.

Bobby spotted Malia milling around with the students, and the three went down to interview her again. Goren saw the way Eames and Lyons were talking with one another. They were no longer strangers, that was clear. He felt a pang, and told himself it was for the best. Alex was better off with someone else.

They found a lot of evidence, and it all seemed to point to Larry. They set to work trying to track him down. Alex briefed the Captain. Bobby was studying Forseca's plays, trying to get some insight into the man. It was possible that he killed Mallory to keep Malia from getting implants. But the Captain didn't think they had enough to put the attempted murder of Dean Price on him.

"There's a deaf social at the skating rink tonight," Alex said. "Peter thinks Larry might show."

The three detectives staked out the social, Bobby and Alex perched in the bleachers. Lyons was up and down the stairs. He knew most of the students, either from his recent work with them or from his own personal life. He bounded up the stairs and informed Eames and Goren that Larry was the only one who hadn't shown.

Goren kept his eyes on the kids skating as they spoke. Lyons pointed out Malia's boyfriend Tommy, just as the man waved an insult in his direction. "He called me a traitor," Peter explained and added how he was failing in his attempt to bridge both the deaf and the hearing world.

"They're fighting," Bobby pointed out. He asked Lyons to translate for him.

"I'm not comfortable eavesdropping," Peter said.

Bobby hid his lips behind his hand. He knew they could just as easily make out what he was saying. "They know that we're here. They have no reasonable expectation of privacy. Please." He spoke politely, but he could feel the anger bubbling up.

"It's a private event," Lyons protested.

"In a public place," Bobby snapped back. "Please! Eames," he said, shifting his eyes quickly to her. He always tried to get her to mediate these things.

She shook her head. "Don't put me in the middle," was all she said. Her phone chirped and she walked away, lifting it to her ear. She briefly hoped the two wouldn't start brawling.

Bobby was still pleading his case with the other detective. "Now the gestures are getting bigger. It's like they're shouting," he said. If they were speaking with voices instead of hands, everyone nearby would be able to hear them. "You've got to tell me what they're saying," he told Lyons as the man sat on the bleacher seat beside him.

Peter wasn't happy with it, but Goren was swaying him. Socially, it was a faux pas, but it was absolutely legal.

"I know he's talking about Larry," Bobby pointed out.

Finally, Peter glanced at the skaters. "Yeah."

"Yeah?"

"He's telling her to be careful of what she tells the police."

"Okay."

He told him the rest he could see. The students thought the police would try to frame Larry for the murder, even though he could never do such a thing.

"They know we're talking about them, so they're hiding their hands," Bobby said.

"They can read lips and body language, Detective," Peter said.

"Yeah, yeah. I know, I know," Bobby said. He hated that his ASL wasn't better. He hated that he had to rely on this guy to interpret for him.

"It's a public place," Lyons told him. "We have no reasonable expectation of privacy."

It was a good thing Alex showed up right then, or Bobby might have given in to his temper. She told them ballistics indicated it was the same gun in both shootings, and the DNA matched on all the cigarettes.

Bobby offered to call the DA, to make sure they knew they wanted to arrest Larry. He walked away, leaving Eames with Lyons. He glanced back once, and the two of them were so close together they looked like any other couple there.

Goren tried to stay focused on the case. He kept thinking back on the last few months with Alex, and he was having serious regrets. He rested his forehead on his right hand while he wrote out his notes with his left. He spared a glance at her empty chair and thought how unpleasant it would be if she weren't in his life.

They came in together, too. "Detective," Peter called. "Larry agreed to turn himself in."

Alex peeled her coat off. "He told Peter he didn't know we were looking for him."

Bobby heard their words, but he was preoccupied with the thought that she could pick up and partner with anybody. She didn't need him.

Mallory's fiancé showed up again. She watched in the observation room, quick to judge the deaf man as guilty. Bobby tried to reason with her, and so did Ross.

"What are they saying now?!" She demanded, seeing the man in interrogation waving hands furiously with his lawyer.

The interpreter didn't budge. He kept his back to the window. "I'm purposely turning away," he explained.

"You're what?!" She cried.

"He's talking to his lawyer," Detective Lyons said.

"In plain view, and could be confessing to murder!"

Bobby again tried to convince her that Larry was only in this for the political platform. "He knows that we can see him. He's posturing for us."

"It's illegal for me to tell you that!" Lyons declared.

"Captain, we are allowed to read body language," Bobby said, looking for clarification.

"My detectives know that Major Case is not in the habit of violating attorney-client privilege," Ross declared, ending the debate.

She was furious, and threatened to make things difficult for them. "Counselor, a word," Ross said calmly, and escorted her from the room. Bobby went right to the window to see what 'body language' he might pick up on.

Lyons walked out, and Alex followed him. They headed to the cafeteria and grabbed some coffee. Peter was furious. "Your DA thinks she can bully deaf people… that they don't know their rights!"

Alex glanced around and said clearly, "She's not my DA… and her fiancé was killed."

"Then she shouldn't be in the room!"

Alex nodded. "What's going on?" She asked him. This wasn't the same man she'd had dinner with last night. "Are you upset with her? Or are you upset that the killer might be deaf?"

"Look, Alexandra," he said. "Most of what I do is outreach. I'm more comfortable interpreting for the community than interrogating it."

She was confused. "You helped us at the rink."

"There your partner was right. That's a public place. This is completely different."

"Shankly was out of line," Alex conceded. "But there is still a murderer out there, targeting people who educate and care for the deaf. Are you comfortable with that?" She asked him. She saw Captain Ross and stiffened suddenly. "Captain."

Ross updated them on things upstairs and asked Lyons to see what he could get from news footage of a deaf rights protest. Reluctantly, Lyons agreed. He hurried upstairs, leaving Ross with Eames.

Ross wasn't blind to Goren and Eames' relationship. Without knowing the extent of it, he knew that they were close. He knew that they had grown apart recently. As he was wont to do on occasion, he sat down with Alex and tried to connect with her on a personal level. He looked back at the door Lyons had just gone through. "He seems like a decent guy," he said to her.

"Yeah. He does," she agreed.

Ross left as quickly as he'd come. Alex got up, too. Better for them to all watch the video together, get the information in real time.

They ended up bringing Malia in once more. She was angry, crying out that Larry was going to be pissed.

Bobby started asking questions, and Alex was surprised to see how easily he began to sign what he spoke. She wondered again when he'd learned it. Malia alibied Larry, and said that Tommy had spent the day with his cousin. She didn't want them to talk to Tommy. This made her look guilty. She got scared, asked if she needed a lawyer. Bobby called a break in the interrogation.

Ross told them to lean on Tommy's cousin, which meant it was time to call it a night. After a few minutes of tidying up their desks, Bobby leaned forward to tell her something, but he was too late. Lyons was sitting on the edge of her desk, trying to apologize about something from earlier.

Goren turned aside. He didn't want to eavesdrop. He sighed heavily as Eames walked out with Lyons. He stared at her empty chair once again.

"You okay?" Her voice sent a short spark through him.

"Huh?" He asked in surprise, spinning around in his chair so he could look into her face.

"You seem… I don't know, preoccupied."

Bobby pressed his lips together. "I… well I guess I am."

She leaned her bottom against the edge of his desk. "You wanna talk about it?" she offered, fully expecting him to push her away again.

Bobby just stared. He stared into her eyes, and somehow she knew something was about to give. After what seemed an eternity, he cleared his throat and glanced away. "I… uh, maybe somewhere more… private?"

A slow grin crept across her face. "Sure, Bobby."

His place was as neat as a pin. She thought for a moment that he must spend all those sleepless hours sweeping up dust bunnies. Alex smiled to herself and sank into the cushion at one end of his couch.

Bobby stepped forward and sat down beside her, removing his tie at the same time.

"Well?" She asked him after they'd sat in silence a moment.

"You know, if you… if you and P-Peter have something going, well that's okay, you know I don't have any problem with that and you—"

She hadn't heard him babble like this since the night they went to the morgue thinking it was his brother. "Bobby," she said, stopping him with a touch of her hand to his elbow. "There's nothing between me and Peter. We had dinner once. That's all."

She could sense his relief. "Now, what's going on?" She asked him.

Bobby drew in a deep breath and let it go slowly. "I… I thought I… you know, I thought I was doing the right thing… by you."

"You mean pulling away?"

He nodded. "Now I'm not so sure."

"I'm sure," she offered, and scooted a little closer. Alex took his large hands into her small ones. "I told you a long time ago, this can be… whatever it needs to be. But I asked you to talk to me, and it seems like that's what you can't manage."

His chest rose faster with each breath. Unconsciously, he leaned in closer to her. "It's so hard to… to talk about it."

"I know."

"Alex, I don't want to lose you. Ever."

"Hey," she said and ducked her head down until she could look into his eyes in spite of his hanging head. "You haven't."

In an instant, he had his arms around her, and they were linked in an embrace. Alex didn't know how long they sat that way, but she knew something inside her felt complete.