Chapter 76

They called someone to bring Declan in for an interview. In the meantime, Alex tried to call Bobby. He didn't answer. No surprise there.

She thought back to that look on his face when he asked her Do you really think I'm capable of this? And she hoped to God he'd read her mind then, like people always said they could. Wearily, she dropped into her chair at her desk. She caught a glimpse of the Captain walking back to his office from the john. Bastard.

How calmly he'd spoken… I have to go upstairs with this, get him a psych consultation.

The Captain really thought Bobby had lost his mind! She tried Goren's number again and when his voice mail picked up, ended the call angrily and smacked the phone down onto her desk. Alex folded her arms tightly across her chest.

And of course anyone, everyone, would believe he was right about Bobby. Ross was sure painting a believable picture, all right. She snatched up the phone once more and dialed him again. "Bobby, it's me. You have to know where I stand on this. C'mon, Bobby… I need to talk to you. This is no time for assumptions." She sighed heavily, and her voice broke when next she spoke. "Give me a call."

The crying stopped when the anger swelled up again. He thought of the Captain and wrote him off. Ross! Ross thinks I'm a whack job. Bobby sat on the floor, arms tucked around his knees, and rocked slowly as he thought about the tone of Ross' voice when he said "your father."

Then he thought of Elizabeth Rodgers. Maybe he could sue her. She was a doctor, after all, and he'd asked for her help in confidence. She betrayed him for Ross? They'd worked together for years!

For a moment, Bobby wondered how he could be such an expert profiler and yet not know something as simple as who he could trust. He pushed himself to his feet, and clenched his fists. He had to get to the bottom of this. He had to know why.

Declan walked right past Eames' desk and announced his presence to the nearest male detective. "I've been summoned by Captain Ross?" he said.

The man pointed toward the Captain's door, and Declan sauntered in that direction. Alex watched him through narrowed eyes, knowing she should catch him and detour him to a conference room, but hating Ross just enough to want him to do it himself. She ducked her head down and pretended to be busy with paperwork.

"Eames," Ross said suddenly, standing over her desk. He gave her a sober look, knowing she must have seen or heard Gage in the room before he'd gone to his office. Without another word, he led Declan to the room where Goren and Eames had laid out the case on the board.

Gage studied the bulletin board. He couldn't help himself. He leaned close to each item on the board and looked at it carefully before moving on to another. All the while, he told his story.

"So I'd just finished my lecture. I was going down the staircase. Someone bumped me and, uh, I woke up in the hospital."

Alex noticed how he seemed to linger over the items concerning Frank. She stepped forward. "Before, you said it was a woman."

"Did I? It happened so fast," he said, turning to her. Just as quickly, he spun back to the board.

Alex circled around and gave a sigh as she sat down across from the Captain. "While you were giving your talk, did you notice anyone or anything out of the ordinary?"

Declan leaned on his hand and dropped into the chair beside her. "I do not look at my audience! I lecture from notes now. I stay glued to my cards or I go off on tangents. You see?"

"Dr. Gage, before all this, were you in touch with Detective Goren?"

"Didn't I see you at his mother's funeral?" The man countered.

Alex shook her head. She remembered when Declan swept through the funeral. He'd managed to draw Bobby's attention, and most everyone else's. It was like the man thought the world revolved around him. Lewis was the one who'd thanked him kindly and sent him on his way.

Gage took off his hat and flopped it hard against the table. "You've moved off Nicole Wallace as a suspect."

Alex gave the Captain a glance. He could see it, right? How something with Gage just wasn't right?

"Why?" Dec demanded.

Ross glanced at Eames before he answered. "The postmark on Nicole's heart. The heart was removed before you were poisoned."

Declan sat and seemed to ponder this. He shook his head. "It's not Bobby. Not possible."

Eames nodded, too. At least the old man sided with her on that.

"You sure?" Ross prodded.

"He certainly wasn't the one who bumped into me. That I would have noticed. He is caught in a trap set up by someone close to him." Declan waved a finger in Alex's direction. "Maybe even you."

She was dumbfounded. "Excuse me?!"

"You care about your partner, deeply. You know more about him than almost…"

"I don't need to listen to this!" Alex cried, her hatred for Declan Gage rising to the surface once more. "You can have the room," she told Ross. She got to her feet and left.

"Oh," Declan chuckled as she slammed the door lightly.

"That was uncalled for," Ross declared.

"You have to look at all the options, Captain. Now we're back to Bobby. Why would he snap… now, hmmm? In midlife. Any, uh, psychopathology would have manifested itself earlier." Declan chewed on pieces of candy while he spoke. "Or…?"

He spoke to Ross as if he were one of his students, and the Captain didn't appreciate it. "Or, Doctor?"

"Or… lain dormant until some sort of inciting incident. It would have to be something major, something that shakes his foundation to the core."

Ross thought of Brady. It was possible that Goren had truly snapped.

"But this looks like revenge," Dec continued. "And everyone in Bobby's life, including you, me, Eames even…"

Ross's phone beeped and he quickly dug it out of his pocket.

"has to be a suspect. It doesn't surprise me, actually."

Ross read the text, and his jaw dropped. He pushed himself hastily to his feet.

"Genius can be very difficult to work with. Are you even listening to me?" He asked the Captain, who was now leaving the room. "Captain?" He turned and watched Ross nearly jog to Eames desk, bark at her, and she chased after him.

"Huh!" Declan said, disappointed. He turned back to his candy.

They heard the crash as they rushed into the autopsy room. Two attendants stood in a corner, out of harm's way, or so they hoped. Goren tossed over another instrument tray, screaming violently. "This is my life! And you promised that this would be confidential! You promised me!"

"Detective!" Ross shouted, standing close to Rodgers.

Alex took in the damage and Bobby's demeanor in one sweep of her eyes. She hovered by the door, her heart racing, worried that he might do even more to damage his good name.

Ross turned to Elizabeth. "You're all right?"

She was shaken. "Fine, I… I… dropped my tray," she said, staring blankly ahead. "Nothing… broken, no damage."

Ross looked over at her, astounded that she would lie for him, after Goren's behavior. Alex went around the exam table and stood closer to Bobby.

"Let's go for a walk," she told Bobby quietly.

He leaned against the table, hung his head, then turned and followed her. She waited in the hall for him, and was encouraged that he took her advice. "Bobby," she said, but he walked past her, down the hall and out the side exit.

"I was trying to clear you!" she cried after him. He was so angry, she practically had to run to keep up.

"Good, detective," he growled.

"But there's an insurance policy on your brother." This made his steps slow. He looked at her. "Payable to a Swiss bank account in the name of William Brady."

Bobby put his hands on his hips and considered her words. "Fr-Insurance policy on Frank?"

"Someone's gaslighting you."

He paused, looked away, then back to her. "That's what Declan said."

She stared into his eyes. Damn it, Bobby, can't you see I'm on your side?!

He swallowed and shut his eyes. Then he took a breath and looked down at her again. He finally saw it. He saw the devotion there, and he couldn't handle it. He took two long steps past her and started down the sidewalk.

"Bobby, Bobby, wait!" Alex hurried after him, then fell into step beside him.

He was walking so fast it was taking his breath away. "Declan said it would be someone from my past, someone who knows Wallace's history with me." After five more steps, he turned to look at Alex again. "I thought… I thought of Jo." He stopped, and looked into Alex's eyes. She nodded, and watched him walk away.

Bobby sat in the check-in area at the pen, waiting for someone to grant him permission to see her.

"Detective Goren!" A nurse called. "You're here to see Jo Gage?" she asked him.

He got to his feet and walked over. "Yeah," he replied.

"You should have called."

"Well, I was afraid that she'd tell her father that I was going to come for a visit, so…"

"Mmmm… that's highly unlikely," the nurse explained. "She's still in a coma. Extreme blood loss deprived her brain of oxygen. Psych had just cleared Jo for visitation. On the morning of her father's visit, we found her in her cell. She'd bitten her tongue off."

Goren stared. He thought back to Gage's proud reply to his question about Jo. Declan had lied.

Alex's phone rang, and she answered it quickly. "Bobby?"

"I, uh, c-can I…? I need to, uh… talk."

Alex's heart swelled. "I'll be here, Bobby."

He arrived at her apartment forty minutes later, a troubled look on his face. "Eames, I'm, uh, Alex…"

"Come on in," she said, and closed the door after him.

"I thought you were…"

"I never doubted you, Bobby."

Tears sprang up and his breathing became ragged. Alex approached carefully, then reached out one hand to slide it across his back.

He pulled her into an embrace and sobbed. She held his shaking body and didn't even notice the tears that fell from her own eyes.

Finally, they separated enough for her to lead him to the couch. He sat down beside her, still crying as he said, "I'm sorry."

She pressed her cheek against his, her hands lightly holding him to her. "I'm sorry, too."

They grasped each other again, and held on until some kind of strength returned.

"I… uh… I don't know why, but… it's Declan. Dec is b-behind all this."

Her eyebrows twisted and she waited for him to explain.

"I went to see Jo. She's in a coma. He lied to me, said she was doing well. He lied, Alex! Somehow, he… he's the one…"

"Okay," she told him, and tried to quiet him.

"I'll have to… to interrogate him. I have to… get him to confess."

"No, Bobby. That's too much."

"I have to. He's… Declan's shrewd. He won't tell anyone else." Bobby sighed and scratched his whiskers. "I just… I can't figure out why… I mean, there's something wrong with him… the old man's losing it, Alex. Who would eat month old goose?"

She listened and nodded. Bobby told her everything, every piece of the puzzle, and every random thought he'd had. He told her how Declan had warned him not to rule anyone out.

They made a plan to call the Captain, bring Declan in for an interrogation tomorrow. Then Alex worked to take his attention off Declan Gage.

She held him. She talked to him about Frank, about his childhood, about Lewis. She made him something to eat. Alex talked to him most of the night, until she couldn't deny her own exhaustion.

"I've got to get some sleep," she whispered, and he nodded. Alex held his hand and looked into his eyes. "You know I'm with you, Bobby, right? Every step?"

He hung his head, but he nodded again. She leaned in and kissed him until she was convinced that he had faith in her again.

Bobby held her until she fell asleep, then slipped out of the bed. His thoughts wouldn't give him any peace, and he didn't want to disturb her. He milled about, and he mourned his brother. He even mourned Nicole, and wondered how in hell Declan had pulled that off. And he grieved for Jo, who had only turned out as she had because of her father.

Sometimes he cried, and sometimes he simply sat, thinking. With the morning came Alex's quiet support.