A/N Vanishing Act

Chapter 64

He was more shaken by the events of the day than he wanted to admit. Alex didn't confront him about it, but she did take him home, and she invited herself in.

As he tossed down his binder, he did something to his hand. Bobby shook the pain away. Alex caught his hand in hers and looked at it. "You've been favoring it all evening," she explained. "You've got a bruise. You should have had it checked."

When Marla had smacked his hand away with the barrel of the gun, it had bruised the middle knuckle on his ring finger. He yanked his hand away from Eames in frustration. He stared at his hand, flexing his fingers slowly, then his eyes went back to Alex. There was nothing but concern on her face. Remorsefully, he raised the hand and gave it back to her. "It's… I'm, I'm fine… Eames."

She nodded and let him go. He walked over to the couch and sat down, dropping his head into his hands. She eased up beside him and tried to massage his shoulders.

His hands dropped away and he turned to look at her, but he didn't stop her.

"You're nothing but knots," she told him, and continued working her hands against the muscles close to his neck.

Bobby took a deep breath and closed his eyes, trying to let go of the tension. It didn't do any good.

"Slide down here," she told him, giving him a gentle nudge toward the floor. He did as she asked, and with a better angle, she was able to work some of the stress away.

Bobby closed his eyes and let his head fall slowly, to stare at his lap. He took another deep breath, and started to feel a little bit better. He reached up his hands and stopped hers, then he leaned the back of his head against the couch and stared at the darkened television in front of him. "I… I never meant to… to jump in and take over like that," he told her.

"That's bothering you?" She asked. "It's okay, you did great."

"I just… don't want you to think that I—"

"Bobby, it's okay. You had her pegged. You knew how to get through to her."

He scoffed and turned his head halfway so he could see her face. "I didn't…know… anything," he said.

Alex slid down to the floor beside him. "You knew enough. Look… profiling is your strength. It's not about who takes the lead, it's about using our strengths. I know you've been hanging back a lot lately, and I appreciate it. But honestly? It's starting to feel like I'm a kid playing some game and you're letting me win."

"I don't want you to ever feel like you're second to me."

She was thoughtful a moment. "I'll tell you what. If I ever start feeling that way again, I'll pull rank. Okay?"

He nodded and reached forward to straighten his sock. Then he pushed himself up off the floor. "You want a… a glass of water or something?"

Alex smiled at him. "Yeah, Bobby. I'd like that."

In her bed that night, Alex replayed the events of the day in her mind. It had been horrible, watching him try to talk that woman down. She'd seen him swipe at the gun and miss. She'd barely been able to breathe when that happened. Marla could have killed him so easily, so many times…

And when he'd called out "clear," she ran. She ran full on, and all her anxiety turned to anger. Honestly, Alex didn't know how she'd managed to cuff her without hurting her. And it wasn't just for Bobby. Those kids, and their parents… what a horrible scene.

Alex flipped over and tried to think about the end of the day, instead. He'd let her in, and she could remember precisely the moment when he'd finally relaxed.

He'd kissed her cheek as she was leaving, and she couldn't help herself. She'd turned into his kiss, and tasted his lips.

He'd allowed himself a few more, before pulling back to catch his breath. His eyes were smoky as he panted out, "Good night… Alex."

That had been the best of all. He hadn't called her by her first name in quite a while, and hearing it tonight had sent a thrill through her. She thought about that moment again, the kissing and hearing her name, and finally, Alex Eames fell asleep.

Alex picked up Bobby and noticed right away he was actually eager for this call out. "Miles Stone," she told him.

"Y-y-yah he was going to emerge from the grave tonight, right? I saw it on the news."

"He turned up dead in another magician's act. The Great Carmine."

"Never heard of him."

They parked the car and walked into the little theater, and the local detective gave them a briefing. Miles Stone was dead in the box. Swords had pierced him in several places.

"This is a, uh, a-a blade box. It's a-it's a, a classic you know old school magicians, they all have this in their repertoire, my Uncle used to take me to Tannen's magic shop."

Alex smiled a moment to see his inner little boy coming out. No wonder he was excited about this case. Then she turned and asked the other detective about Carmine and his assistant.

"He's in his dressing room," she said. "Miranda, no last name, fled the scene." Bobby examined the body while Alex asked about the audience.

"Rigor is just setting in," Bobby said. "This guy's emaciated."

"Well, he's been on a diet, locked in a casket for a month," Alex replied.

"Even so," Bobby said, "seven stab wounds… there'd be more… more blood." He turned back to the box a minute. "Uh, this isn't a typical blade box. It's a, uh, modified mummy cabinet." Bobby reached over the victim's head and tugged at a wooden panel, then let go. "See, there should be a mummy where Stone is now. The assistant closes the door," Goren grabbed the door and swung it back and forth, then walked around to the back, "and that, in- inside there's a spinning cabinet here to trade places with the mummy." Bobby smiled at her as he flipped the corpse halfway by pushing on the panel in the back of the box." He grew serious again. "And she should show up in the back of the house."

"So this explains how Stone got out and how she got in, or how someone put him in. And where'd the assistant go?"

"Well, backstage there's a fire exit."

"Well, you're ruining the illusion," Eames teased him.

The Great Carmine was still drunk. He told them the box was supposed to be empty. He really thought he had killed Miles. He didn't seem to harbor any animosity towards the dead man, even though Stone had insulted the old school of magic.

Bobby watched the man fall asleep in front of him. In all his years as a detective, that had never happened before. He looked over at Eames, who'd just taken a call. They had to go examine the gravesite where Miles' empty coffin had been raised.

"Onion, huh?" She asked Bobby in the car.

"An old trick of my, uh… my Dad's…"

"Oh," she said, and nodded.

They met with a detective on the scene of the gravesite. The people there had thought the vanishing act was part of the show, and had filled in the grave before the police got to it. "By the time we got here," the man said, "the casket was already loaded into the hearse."

Bobby was already fiddling with it, pulling the cushions out. He pushed and tugged on the sides of it, testing for a hidden latch. "Doesn't smell like anyone's been living in this thing for a month," he commented. "Got to be a trap door somewhere."

Alex just watched with a smile as he continued to manhandle the sides of the casket, pounding on it with the palms of his hands. She scratched her head and turned back to the other detective. "When my partner's done playing, send this over to the trap specialist at the garage." The man nodded and then introduced her to the man in charge of Stone's big event, Jacob Green.

Bobby was getting obsessive in his efforts to find the magic in the box. Finally, Alex gave him a nudge and he stood up straight. He nodded at her. "Okay, yeah, uh, okay." He left the casket to the SVU guys to haul away and walked over with Alex to talk to Green.

They played "good cop, bad cop." Alex was abrasive, and Bobby was compassionate. He stated that Green was trying to protect Stone's secrets. "I respect that," he said, "but this is a murder investigation."

Green said he only knew what everyone else knows, that he was buried and when it was dug up he was gone.

"What about the red alert?" Alex asked. "The vital signs crashing, that big rush to pry him out?"

"That was preplanned for the finale," he admitted. "Miles liked drama."

"How did he keep track of time underground?" Bobby asked.

"Pure mind over matter," the man replied, and Bobby suppressed a smile. "He was superman."

They went back to the AV room and watched the video of the final minutes of Stone's act, over and over again.

Ross stood by them. "Magicians are like doctors and priests, now? Jacob Green thinks he can claim some kind of magician's privilege?"

Bobby nodded with a shrug. "That's their code, you know? You can't tell anyone how a trick works."

Ross asked about Carmine, and Bobby said the trick was too sophisticated for an old drunk. He asked about the missing assistant, and Eames filled him in. Bobby was quiet, and Ross looked at him. "You have a… theory, Detective?"

"I'd tell you, but… you know," he said with a tiny smile.

Ross smiled back. "The code." He waved them off.