Chapter 72

Alex set up the bulletin board while Bobby took a break. He didn't think he needed one, but the fact was, he didn't know what he needed. In Alex's opinion, he didn't need to be intimately studying every item on the case board.

Captain Ross got the name of their suspect before they called him in. He stood in his office, peering through the glass at the room he knew his detectives occupied. Goren was grieving, and though the Captain didn't doubt the man's personal ethics or his investigative skills, the very fact that his brother was the victim compromised his objectivity. Like anyone else, he was looking for closure.

And Eames, well, Ross had seen how devoted she was to Goren. Ever since Tates, he knew that sometimes she supported her partner regardless of whether it made any sense. Since the news of Frank's death, she'd seen how closely she was standing by Goren. She was the man's lifeline, and that was both good and bad.

With a deep breath, he joined them in the interview room. He directed his question to Bobby. "Nicole Wallace," Ross said. "I'm told she's your white whale?"

Alex frowned and turned her head. Bobby answered the Captain. "When she was a literature professor, she lectured on Melville." Bobby sat calmly at the table, his binder open, and his fingers nervously fiddling with his pencil.

"By the way, what makes you think she killed your brother?"

Alex was going to respond, but Bobby beat her to it. "That's what she does, Captain. She seduces, then kills, usually with poison."

"She killed Mark Bailey," Alex added, "A grad student, by spiking his gum. Larry Chapel, a health inspector, injected under his tongue with potassium chloride." As she spoke, she pointed to the photos of the victims on the board. "And Zach Thaler, the diamond thief? Succinylcholine injected in his side."

"And she used the same method on my brother. She knew that I would remember."

"But…the last time you saw her was… what? Two years ago?"

"Three years ago," Bobby replied. "I convinced her to give up the only person that she ever loved. It was a little sick girl named Gwen Chapel." Bobby paused and looked at his Captain, who cocked his head and waited to hear more. "Gwen was all that she had. She thinks that Frank is…" Bobby paused, pressed his lips together, then looked down at the tabletop. "…all I have."

"I'm not doubting you, detective," Ross told him. "But now that your brother's death has been ruled a murder, it doesn't matter if Nicole was involved." He looked over at Eames. "Neither of you can go near this."

"Then forget this case," Alex interjected. "Nicole jumped bail on a murder charge three years ago."

Ross looked up at the ceiling. The problem with working with people who were so smart was they always found the loopholes and worked them to get what they wanted.

"Okay," he said. "Try to track her down before the ME matches her DNA to your brother's room."

Goren was already in motion. He was out the door before Ross was finished uttering the sentence. Alex followed, and Ross called her back from the doorway.

"Eames?"

She turned back, and Ross stared her down. "This can't turn into another Tates."

She nodded. "It's not like that, Captain. He's much better this time."

As they continued to talk, Goren found a bouquet of flowers on his desk. He pulled the card from the bunch, and immediately looked for Eames. "What was that?" he asked as she joined him.

"The Captain wanted to make sure you weren't being paranoid," she told him honestly.

Bobby held out the card to her. "Show him that."

Alex saw the lip print and read the note. "Oh, this is the poison of deep grief?"

"Hamlet, the nephew," Bobby started to explain.

"Hey Goren," shouted one of the other detectives. "Belvedere Hospital called. Your listed as someone's next of kin. They wouldn't tell me who."

Bobby looked over at Alex. "Well, it's my nephew." He grabbed his coat. "That's Donny." The anger was in his face again. He turned back to Eames before he started for the elevators. "She found him," he said. Alex hurried after him.

She's going to take away my whole family. She's not gonna be satisfied until there's no one left. And there's not a damn thing I can do about it. I can't protect them. Not really. If she showed up here now, I couldn't even protect myself. Hell, even the flowers could have poisoned me. And Eames. Oh, God, Eames! Just by handing her that card I could have poisoned her!

Bobby rubbed his hand over his face, earning him a worried glance from his partner. She parked at the hospital and he was out the door before she could do anything but chase after him.

"Donny, Donny Carlson?" Bobby asked.

"I'm sorry," the woman at the desk said, "we don't have anyone by that name."

Bobby spelled his last name for her, and she typed it in again. "No patients with that name, sir."

Bobby looked back at Alex. "Well, somebody listed me as next of kin. I got a call." He told her his name and she looked it up.

"Yes, sir, uhm, Declan Gage, room 122."

Bobby spun around and looked at Alex. His eyes pleaded with her. He knew how she felt about Dec, but he needed her to stay. "Uh, she, she knows he's… like family to me… she could've…"

"Go ahead, Bobby. I'll be here for you."

He couldn't smile, but he ducked his head and gasped in relief before he stepped away from her. Bobby tried to push back the guilt that came from the relief that she hadn't gotten to Donny. He was concerned for Declan, too, but it was clear to him now that Declan wasn't family. As much as he admired and respected the man, his feelings didn't come close to the way he felt about his mother, or Frank, or even Donny.

The old man had cut his long hair very short. He was asleep, on oxygen and his vitals were being monitored. Bobby stood by, examining him, then turned to stare at the window blinds while he tried to sort out how he would track Nicole Wallace down.

"Bobby?" Declan's voice was weak behind him. "Oh, my old friend!"

Goren turned and the old man tried to get out of bed. Bobby put his arm over the man's wiry body and guided him back to a prone position. "Easy, easy, easy, easy," Bobby said.

Bobby held Dec's hands gently down and looked into his mentor's eyes. "You'll forgive me," Declan said. "I didn't know who else to put down," he explained. Bobby's hand went to the man's shoulder, and then rested on the edge of the mattress. "Someone, uhm… bumped me." Declan's eyes were heavy, and though he tried to stay awake, he fell back into sleep.

Bobby stared at the old man a while, wondering at the changes in him. Time had certainly taken its toll. Twenty years ago, Declan would never have been anyone's victim. He was simply too alert for that. The man noticed everything. Now, Goren could see he wasn't the same man he was then. Physically, he was thinner, not as strong. And mentally?

Bobby sighed, turned, and walked down the hall, where he found Eames and a detective from the 3-2. "He's out," he told them.

"Declan was at John Jay. He'd just finished a presentation on serial killers," Alex told him.

The other detective spoke up. "His colleagues found him collapsed in the stairwell." Bobby took the small evidence bag from the man's hand. "A witness saw a blonde woman leaving the scene, that was beside him," he said, gesturing to the syringe in the bag.

"Okay, we're going to need a round-the-clock guard on him," Alex said. The detective nodded and walked away. The doctor started past, and Alex directed her words to him. "When will we be able to talk to him?" She asked.

The man saw her badge, and looked down into Declan's file. "We need to flush the poison out of his system first," he said. He recognized Bobby as Declan's next of kin, then noticed he now had a badge on his pocket.

"Some kind of paralytic?" Bobby asked quietly.

"Yes. He was found quickly, but… given his age and his poor health…"

"His health was bad?" Bobby asked.

"He never fully recovered from those stomach parasites he picked up last winter." The man gave Goren a crooked smile. "I'm sorry, I thought next of kin, you knew about it?"

Bobby shook his head. "No."

"Never eat month-old Christmas goose," the doctor warned. His pager beckoned, and he excused himself and hurried off.

Bobby turned to his partner. He held out the evidence bag to her. "This syringe, it's only half compressed."

She took the bag in her hands and stared at it. "Nicole was interrupted. She couldn't give him the full dose."

Bobby turned his head and saw an aide about to deliver an arrangement of flowers that looked suspiciously like the one he'd received at 1PP. He stepped over and stood in the woman's way. "May I?" he asked her, reaching for the card.

The woman saw his badge and smiled. She let Goren have the flowers and walked away.

"Who else knows Declan's here?" Alex asked.

Bobby showed her the card. "This one, she signed," he said. The card read: Wishing you the speediest of recoveries. Nicole.

"Okay, well, we gotta find her."

Bobby looked back toward Declan's room.

"Or, I could go… you could stay here."

Bobby's head snapped up in alarm. "No!" he blurted. He couldn't take the chance that Nicole would get to Alex. If Nicole was truly targeting everyone important in his life, she had to be waiting for her chance to get to Alex. Maybe that was why she didn't kill Dec. Maybe she did it on purpose to split them up.

Alex's concern was written on her face again. Bobby looked away and took a breath. His voice was calm when he spoke again. "The, uh, the f-f-flower shop." He made eye contact again and nodded at her.

Alex nodded, too, and they kept in step with each other as they went back to the car.

Once they were on their way, Alex asked him, "You've been talking to him? Declan?"

Bobby looked at her and then away again. She saw the tiny nod he gave. "Yeah. S-sometimes. He, uh…" Bobby coughed and cleared his throat. "He did a lot for me."

She tried very hard not to be angry. Bobby was going through enough without having to worry about her personal feelings. Instead, all she did was nod her head and say, "A long time ago."

"Yeah," he agreed, and looked out at the sidewalk again.

"And Jo?" When Bobby's head dipped into a bow, she had her answer. She took a deep breath and held it. Alex didn't say anything.

"Only a couple times. He asked me to."

Alex nodded quietly and let the whole thing drop. They found out from the guy at the flower shop that Nicole had bought two sympathy bouquets: one for Bobby and one she sent to Phoenix. Then she'd ordered the one for Declan from the internet.

"Phoenix," Bobby said. "That's where Nicole took Gwen Chapel. The girl was at high risk for cancer. Gwen Chapel… the only person that she ever loved. If she's dying, that might be what set Nicole off."

As they got back into the car, Alex studied Bobby again. He didn't seem to be blaming himself for this, which was good. He was a little moody, a little jumpy, but wouldn't anybody be in his situation?

At his place, he made the final arrangements for Frank while she called and got them some plane tickets.

"We have to be at JFK at 8 a.m.," she told him, and he nodded. Alex opened the fridge, which was looking pretty empty. She shut the fridge door. "I'll order something for dinner," she said.

He checked that the door was locked tight, and then she heard him in the shower. Alex wondered about him again, and decided if he felt he had to be protective of her, she'd let him.

He didn't want to talk about any of it anymore. They ate a quiet dinner and went to bed. He distracted himself by making love to her.

Alex didn't mind. She loved him. She wanted him to be at peace.