A/N Spoilers for Self-made in the next couple of chapters. Also, I didn't know where exactly Jo Gage might be... locked up and under psychiatric care. So I was very vague about that. Sorry! In other news, I now have a working laptop! Sorry for the delays!

Chapter 53

"Mind telling me why Major Case is slumming?" The local detective asked. He was put off by the presence of Goren and Eames, as if someone didn't think him capable of solving the crime.

"Victim worked for Arianna Cipher of Cipher Press."

There was a lot of information to be gleaned from the crime scene. Kira Danforth appeared to be selling pot, until they talked to one of her coworkers. The same coworker told them about a friend, who just happened to wear the same kind of clothing they'd just found in her apartment.

They finally caught up to him after he was hospitalized. He said it was payback for lifting someone's stash. He told them he saw Kira with a balding white man the night she died.

They spoke with her coworkers and found out she was close friends with TJ Hawkins, an up and coming writer. They attended Lionel Schyll's writing salon together regularly.

When they caught up to Hawkins at a book signing, he made a big show of being brought in, for the benefit of anyone nearby with a camera phone. He kept up his delinquent attitude in interrogation, and they ended up having to cut him loose.

Schyll led them to an agent named Gareth Sage. He was an all around ass, but he didn't bristle when Bobby tried to provoke him.

Bobby called it a night, saying he was going to read the works of these newfound authors. Alex did some research on Sage, and was starting to wonder if he might have killed Kira simply because he hated women. Ross told her to try and talk to some of the women Sage had harassed, and Alex found herself alone for the night.

It seemed like Bobby was getting a little more reckless with every new case they took on. She knew he was still grieving his mother, and she knew he was battling depression, but she worried that, like Leslie LeZard had said, he might go too far.

Her efforts to get closer to him again were failing, too. He was drawing away from her, and really from himself, as he tried to work out everything life had thrown his way. With a sigh, Alex reminded herself that it was only temporary. It was because he was grieving, and she would stand by him until he came through it. She owed him that much, after all he'd done for her.

He hovered outside the main entrance of the psych ward, a small bouquet of daisies in his hand. He'd always had a kind of affection for the girl. Declan had kept him busy in CID, but Bobby had always tried to give Jo a little of his attention. She had been such a cute kid, and he knew Declan's work took up most of his time.

Jo had told him one time that daisies were her favorite. She said it was something she'd shared with her mother, their favorite flower, and that daisies really looked like a flower should look, like they were in all the coloring books.

The wind was picking up, and he was starting to get a little cold. Bobby had more than a few second thoughts about going to see her. She was a murderer. She'd nearly killed Alex. He couldn't forget that.

Then again, Jo was a victim, too, in her own way. What was that she had said about him? He could have gone either way.

And now, with the knowledge of who his true father was, Bobby was doing everything he could to make sure he went the right way. He would be everything Brady was not. He would ruthlessly pursue killers, and he didn't care if they knew how he felt about them. He would protect the victims, advocate for them, and in a case like Jo's, he would forgive her for her insanity.

Bobby cleared his throat and went inside.

"Hey, Eames, I thought I saw Goren over at the Pen. Your case take you over there?"

Alex looked at her colleague, perplexed. "The Pen?"

"Yeah, over by Psych. I said hello, but he didn't hear me." The man's phone rang. "I gotta take this," he said, and gave her a wave as he walked quickly away.

Still perplexed, Alex shrugged it off and headed for her desk.

She asked him about it in the car. "Lehman said he saw you over at the Pen last night."

He didn't deny it. He cleared his throat and nodded uncomfortably. "Uh, yeah."

"Something with our case?" She asked, and made an easy left turn.

"Uh... No."

He was quiet then, which forced her to ask the question. "Visiting someone?"

"Yeah." He looked away, squirmed, then looked back and held her gaze. Very, very softly, he said, "Jo Gage."

Alex's jaw clenched, and her fingers whitened on the steering wheel.

"Look, Alex, I don't excuse what she did. There is no excuse for that-"

"Damn right there's not."

"Look, I..." He scraped his fingers through his hair and sighed heavily. "I don't expect you to understand. It was just something... Something I needed to do."

Alex found herself practicing the deep breathing exercises Olivet had taught her to help her ward off anxiety. She loosened her grip a little, but she couldn't hide the quiet anger in her voice. "You're right, I don't understand."

After a few minutes of silence, she said, "Look, Bobby, I know you're working through a lot right now, but..."

"You still think I'm depressed. You think I'm taking myself through some kind of self-prescribed therapy rather than going to a doctor about it. Well, it's all right, Eames. I'm all right. Maybe I don't share all this with you because... Because of this. You don't understand, you can't understand, and all it will do is hurt you to know about it." He pressed his lips together and chewed on the inside of his cheek before he continued. "And I don't want to hurt you, okay?"

Her brow furrowed, and with effort, she just kept on breathing.

They got a search warrant and found enough evidence in Sage's car to bring him in. Sage's lawyer offered proof that he was home by 10:30, so he was off the hook. The agent, however, turned them back in the direction of Lionel Schyll.

Bobby suspected that Schyll was plagiarizing Kira's work. Unfortunately, they didn't have a copy of her manuscript yet. He asked if Eames would check the victim's work computer and he went back out to talk to her boyfriend. D Tour told him enough to confirm his suspicions.

When they hooked up again that afternoon, Alex handed him a thick printout of Kira's work. The two argued as they walked, their paper cups of coffee warming their fingers.

"I spoke to D Tour and Schyll stole her voice," Bobby said.

"Kira's last phone calls were to Schyll."

"Yeah, but he might have snapped 'cause she told him that Sage was interested in her novel," Bobby argued.

"I don't know if I see Schyll leaving his West Village townhouse to shoot his protoge in a Brooklyn ghetto."

"Yeah, but the guy is desperate for a comeback! If Kira exposed him for what he is... can't see that guy surviving humiliation like that." They'd stopped walking now, and Bobby was facing her. He wanted desperately to convince Alex to go along with him. "I know guys like this."

"I know you do," she said firmly. "I've met your mentor." It was a low blow, but his visit to Jo Gage had been gnawing away at her.

"Well, it's not about that," Bobby countered. He reminded himself of his mission, the new man he was creating for himself. "It's about finding the truth. We gotta bring this guy in, now."

He hadn't lashed out at her, and she felt a little guilty for what she'd said. "Let's talk to Schyll on his own turf," Alex conceded.

Bobby flat out told Schyll he knew he was a plagiarist. Then he proved it by having him read a passage from his own book and following it with the same part from Kira's novel. Schyll raised his voice to Bobby, and Goren cut him off by shouting, "I'm not done!"

Alex turned her head at this. Again, Bobby was going farther and farther off course with every investigation they pursued. She tried to give him a look of warning. Tone it down, Bobby.

Goren demanded that the old man admit he was a fraud. When he hesitated, Bobby grasped his hand and twisted it until the man felt the pain. He sat Schyll down in a chair before he let go. Bobby sat on the coffee table in front of him, and again asked him to admit what he'd done. Schyll looked into Bobby's darkened, angry eyes and admitted that he'd taken her words, but insisted he didn't take her life.

When Bobby was finally finished with Schyll, he looked up at Alex to guage her thoughts. All he saw there was an angry look of disapproval and yet another shake of her head. Bobby got up, and Schyll scrawled out Phillip's phone number, to alibi him. Goren snatched it from his hand and marched out, filled with anger.

"If I didn't know better, I'd swear this was personal," Schyll said to Alex just before she followed her partner out. You don't know the half of it, she thought.

He waited by the car door, hands in his pockets and studying the cracks in the sidewalk. A jittery glance verified it was Eames who stood before him. She didn't speak a word, just held that stony expression on her face. "J-j-j-just drop me at the subway," he muttered, before spinning around, pulling the door, and dropping in the seat.