Chapter 77

Elizabeth Rodgers thought back over her impromptu meeting with the Captain. He'd ordered her assistants to put the body on ice again. He'd followed her into the confines of her office, where she'd stripped out of her protective suit.

Sure, she'd been upset, but that didn't mean she needed him to comfort her.

"Elizabeth," Ross had said, stepping closer. "You're shaking."

She took a deep breath and stared at the wall, willing him to leave.

"Elizabeth…" Ross paced behind her. She could hear that scuff of his left shoe. He never picked that foot up off the floor all the way when he walked.

"My detective… Goren… I'm really concerned about him."

Anger flared up. She spun around and glared at Danny. "You're the reason this happened. You forced me to tell you, to betray his trust."

Ross frowned. "I only asked you a question, a question that I think is highly relevant to the state of my detective's mental health. You know as well as I do what these kind of stressors could trigger in him."

"Don't give me that load of BS anymore, Danny. You think for a moment. Are you really concerned for him, or for how this will look on your record upstairs?"

Ross frowned. Her words cut him, but he took it. "Look, after Tates—"

"He was right about them."

"It doesn't excuse what he did."

"Maybe not to you."

Now the Captain's face was truly sour. He put his hands on his hips and his jacket flared out behind them. "Are you all right?" he said stiffly.

"I already told you. I'm fine." She scowled at him.

"Still, you've had a bad afternoon. Take the rest of the day off."

"You're not my boss."

Ross's lips pressed together. "No, but I have lunch with your boss regularly."

She gaped at him. He really was full of himself. "Fine." She said. "I'll take some time. But maybe you should, too. If you took the time to reflect on some of this, maybe you would learn something about leading people."

He scoffed, and a deep sadness fell over him. "You think I'm a poor leader. Well…" He gave her a fake smile, no teeth. "I guess it really doesn't matter what you think."

He had stormed out, then, leaving her with her own guilty conscience to deal with.

"No."

Bobby sat in the chair in front of the Captain's desk. He turned to Alex, who stepped forward to plead their case with Ross. "Captain, it has to—"

"Someone needs to interrogate Declan, but not Goren. Look at him." He jerked his thumb in Bobby's direction. "He hasn't slept, he's emotional… after yesterday—"

"I'm sorry about yesterday," Bobby said quickly.

Alex looked at the floor, and Ross looked at Goren. "You're too emotional about all of this. You're out of control," he told his detective.

"Not any more," Bobby said. "Eames… Eames helped me. I can do this, Captain. I won't fly off the handle."

"No."

"Captain, Declan isn't going to talk to anyone else, don't you see that?!"

"Believe it or not, Detective Goren, you are not the only talented interrogator in this squad."

"No, but I'm the only one Declan Gage will open up to." Bobby stared at the Captain through puffy eyes. "He thinks of me as a son."

Ross pressed his hands against the desk and leaned down closer to Goren. "Then why did he ruin your life?!"

Bobby sat back in the chair and looked up at Alex for help. "I don't know!"

"That's why Bobby has to talk to him, Captain. Declan is smart, smart as hell. He's not going to confess to just anybody. If he did this to hurt Bobby, he'll confess just to see the pain in his eyes."

Ross looked angrily from one detective to the other. "I'd like to speak with you alone, Detective Eames."

Again, Bobby looked up to her, his eyes pleading for help. She gave him a small smile of reassurance and a nod. Wearily, Bobby got up and walked out to his desk, where he flopped heavily into the chair.

Alex shut the door and turned back to the Captain.

"I close him in an interrogation room with Declan Gage, he's liable to kill him."

"He won't do that, sir."

"How the hell do you know? I did some digging, Eames. You remember that private chat Goren had with Brady? He tried to choke the bastard."

Alex stared at the Captain. "He won't blow it with Declan." Alex walked closer to the Captain's desk. "Look, you saw all the reports from Olivet when he was suspended. She very clearly said, over and over again, that he was of sound mind!"

"One inciting incident… could trigger something in him."

"Bullshit. You think you know him, Captain, but you don't. You've sucked in all these stories that float around upstairs about Crazy Bobby and you've convinced yourself that you're looking out for him by watching his mental health like a hawk. Well, you find what you seek, huh?"

She glanced back at her partner, then turned to Ross. "I know my partner. I've worked with him every day for eight years. I've seen him in every kind of situation. He. Is. Okay." She stared at the Captain again, then continued. "And he's not going to blow it with Declan. Bobby loved his brother too much to take a chance on his killer going free."

Ross collected Declan from the security station downstairs, and escorted him up to Major Case. "I appreciate your coming," he said, marching quickly through the squad room.

"D-does Bobby know I'm here?" Dec asked.

"He asked for you," Ross replied. He led him to Interrogation A.

Declan paused in the door. He knew something was up, since they brought him to an interrogation room. The old man smiled. It didn't matter. "Bobby," he said cheerfully, and glanced to his side, where Eames was standing. He stopped walking and looked down, disappointed. "Oh… your partner's here, huh?"

Ross gave Eames a glance and shut the door. She smiled and stood sentry at the door. Finally, she, Ross, and Bobby were on the same page again. They were going to nail Declan. "Yeah, I was just telling him how you think I'm responsible for killing his brother," she said.

Declan laughed nervously. "Yeah, well, that's one working theory." He held a paper in his hands, and he picked at it nervously.

"Why would I do that now?" She asked. She stepped closer to the old man, softening her voice. "Wouldn't I need… what did you tell the Captain? Some 'terrible trauma?'"

"Well, you've had those, haven't you?"

Alex and Declan stood, staring each other down. Bobby sat at the interrogation table, motionless, watching.

"In spades," Declan continued. "PTSD, pent up anger…"

She glanced over at Bobby, who lowered his head.

"It's all there," Declan said, with a nervous laugh. He directed this last at Bobby, with a flourish of his hands.

Alex stared at her partner. "Yeah, it's there all right," she said quietly. Then she turned to face the old man. "But not toward my partner." Alex looked back at Bobby. It was time to set him up. "If you think he can help you, you're both out of your minds." She walked out, and before she could get the door shut, Declan gave it an angry shove.

He turned back to Goren and smiled. "Does she remind you of your mother?"

Bobby tilted his head sideways and said quietly, "C'mon, knock it off." His hands were clasped loosely on the table in front of him.

"Or Nicole?" Declan asked with a chuckle. "No? I wouldn't think so. I mean, those two women, just…you… never knew quite what to expect." Declan dropped his hat on the table. "But that's what made them so exciting, isn't it? It's tough, you know, staying engaged when you're always two steps ahead of everyone else in the room."

"It's not Eames," Bobby said clearly.

"Why?" Declan demanded. "She lacks the nerve, huh?"

"No," Bobby said. He was secure in that answer.

"The imagination, then." Declan sat on the edge of the table. "What did Reagan call it? The, uhm… the vision thing."

"That was Bush," Bobby corrected him.

"Was it?" Declan looked away and then said with a sly smile, "Talk about your father issues." He chuckled then, and Bobby tried to hide his disgust.

Alex, watching in the observation room, turned and gave the Captain a glance.

"Were we talking about father issues?" Goren asked him.

Declan chewed loudly and looked at Bobby through smiling eyes. "Isn't that what this is all about?" He asked. "C'mon, Bobby… Brady's DNA."

"You knew about my paternity test. How come you didn't say something to the Captain?"

"You told me that in confidence. You j-and don't change the subject! I get-I get lost when you do that." Declan stood and paced the floor again.

"I wasn't afraid of the test," Bobby told him.

"That's right," Declan blurted. "because you always knew. I mean, the minute you met Mr. Brady, you-you,uh… didn't it all make sense?"

Bobby stiffened in the chair, and sat back, sadly bracing himself for whatever was coming.

"Your whole life, your mother's husband never showed you love. And your mother, despite everything you did for her, she preferred the-the cankerous brother of yours to you."

"Oh, God," Alex breathed, putting her hand over her mouth.

"Why would that be?" Declan asked him.

Bobby slowly turned his head, gave a little shrug. "She knew that I could take care of myself. She worried about him." He lifted his eyes to meet Gage's again.

"Yeah. She did," Declan agreed. "Didn't she?" he asked Bobby. "So you did what you could for him. You put him back in touch with your mom… at the end, and what did he do, hmmm?"

Bobby opened and closed his mouth painfully.

"Hmmm?" Declan prompted.

Alex glanced over at Ross again. From their vantage point, it looked very much like Declan was the one interrogating Bobby. She was on tenterhooks, afraid to let it go too far. She couldn't stand to see Bobby hurting like this. But Alex shifted her weight on her feet and stayed put. They had a plan, and Bobby would never forgive her if she didn't let him follow it through.

"He betrayed you," Declan was telling Bobby. "He tricked you into putting your career on the line for a nephew you never even knew existed."

Bobby hung his head, his face sour with pain.

Declan stripped off his coat. "All right, all right…" He hung the jacket on the back of the chair and cleared his throat. He spoke again as he sat down in the chair. "There's a theme here, Bobby. Did you ever ask yourself why? Why nobody ever came through for you?" He paused, and Bobby's hurt face blinked back at him. "Do you think it was your fault?"

"Yes," Goren said quietly. He glanced up at his mentor, and then back down. "I've thought that."

"It isn't, you know." Bobby glanced up and down again in the pause that followed. "They failed you," Declan told him. "You did everything you could for them. And more."

Bobby gave a nod of agreement. He thought about it again, and nodded more firmly. He caught his breath and whispered "thanks." Then he offered Declan a kind of a smile.

"Just like I did for Jo," Gage said.

Bobby's gaze dropped. "You think you did everything you could for Jo?"

"I did the best I could," Dec said. "I'm a single parent."

"You told me that your relationship with her had never been better. She's in a coma."

Declan tapped his lower lips with one finger, and he started to smile. "I didn't want to upset you," he lied. "I know you two are close in your way. And… you had enough going on." He kept his finger to his lips and he smiled slowly.

Bobby stared at him. I was right. Declan did this. All of this. Sadly, Bobby looked away. When he turned back, he gave a small smile, too. "You're good," Bobby said. Declan smiled at the compliment. "For a man with diminishing capacity," Bobby added, "you can still hold your own." He got up from the chair, turned his back on the old man, stuck his hands in his pockets. He looked for Eames in the two-way for a brief second, then looked at the gray block wall in front of him.

"Diminishing capacity?" Declan asked. "What are you talking about?"

"Jo's refusal to see you… is that what pushed your mind over the edge?"

"What, you think I've lost it? I am a tenured professor now. I lecture. I write books."

Bobby pointed to the man's filthy hands. "You forget to wash your hands. You eat candy without the wrapper."

"Yeah, well am I a bad boy, huh?" Declan joked.

"You ate month-old Christmas dinner. What's the matter, the thought that the food had turned never came to you?"

"I get busy with my work, that's all."

"Executive function," Bobby declared.

"Oh, you want to do the Wisconsin card test? The Stroop?"

"I don't need to," Goren told him. "Your frontal lobe's been blown out, okay? It's too much formaldehyde… drug abuse…" Goren had spent enough time with man in CID to know how he'd hovered over preserved body parts, corpses, studying killers and perfecting his craft. He also knew how much he liked to smoke weed, how he said the drug enhanced his mental abilities, opened up his creativity. And since those days, Declan had spent years working on college campuses, where marijuana was easily available. The guy had destroyed his mind.

"Genetic roulette, that can be a factor," Declan said, turning the game against Bobby again.

Bobby tilted his head in exasperation. It's not about me! "Man with your knowledge…it must have been excruciating… to know what your future was, you know? Your loss of judgment. Your lack of inhibition."

Ross looked over at Eames and gave her a nod. She was right. Bobby was fine.

"There's no meds for that," Goren continued.

Declan looked up at him. "There's occupational therapy," he joked. "I'll make, uh… uh…uh…" he deflated, unable to find the word. "w-the, uh…" His hands danced in front of him. "Collages!" He looked up at Bobby and chuckled.

"Yeah," Bobby agreed, and the pain was back in his face. "You do that already."

Declan rolled a piece of candy between two of his fingers, and his smile faded.

Goren got closer, no longer trying to hide the pain. "You cut and pasted the pieces of my life together."

"Very good, Bobby, you may be on to something," Declan said. He waggled his finger in Bobby's face. C'mon, you'll get it.

"You did this… didn't you?" Bobby said with an accusing finger. "You killed my brother."

"No, no, that was Nicole." He nodded.

Bobby paused, thinking. He leaned back, swayed his body as he held himself up with his hands. Then he stood up tall. "How did you find her?" He asked.

Declan laughed. "My latest book. I wrote about women serial killers, like Jo. Like her. I knew she'd find it, then find me." He laughed again. "She tried to seduce me, Bobby!" He smacked Goren lightly in the gut. "I think you and I may be the only two men who ever said no to her. It's the only way to engage her."

Goren stiffened, overwhelmed with disgust again. "Yeah," he said quietly. He returned to the chair. "And then once… once you engaged her?"

"I convinced her that I was furious with you about Jo." He smiled proudly. "She said she missed having a partner."

"And my brother?" He asked quietly. "That was her idea?"

"I let her think so. I knew she could get at him. She said it didn't take much. You know, a little smile, a little shove."

Bobby's face screwed up tight, and he fought back tears. "Declan, you son of a bitch," he said trying hard not to sob.

"He was going down anyway. Bobby, I didn't want him taking you with him."

His face reddened, and it was all he could do to keep the tears from falling. "You did this for me?" A bitter anger was on his lips, even with the tears.

"No." Declan removed his glasses and paused in thought. "For both of us," he said. "After Jo, I had no one."

Bobby listened as he glared at the man.

"And you…you're the son I never had. When I saw you at your mother's funeral, you broke my heart. I wanted you to engage again, so I gave you a puzzle… to solve… to play."

The anger retracted again, and grief washed over Goren's face. "A puzzle?" The tears were going to win out this time. "You think that I needed her to get me back in the game?!" He swallowed hard.

"Precisely." Bobby started to cry. "And after she'd accomplished that, naturally she turned on me, but I was waiting." As Declan spoke, Bobby gathered his strength. He pushed the tears back again, and sat up straighter. "You should have seen her, Bobby, when she realized it was finally her time. She looked up at me with those big doe eyes of hers…"

Pain streaked through his heart as he remembered Brady referring to his mother that way.

Declan continued in perfect imitation of Wallace's Australian accent. "And she said, 'you tell Bobby he's the only man I ever loved.' As if a monster like that were capable of love."

The pain was consuming him now, but he refused to let the tears fall. "Who else?" Goren asked.

"I'm curious, you know." Declan pulled at an eyebrow as he thought. "Who are you going to miss more? Nicole? Or your brother?"

Bobby fought against the pain. "Tell me who else." He breathed. "Who else did you kill? Donny?"

"Your nephew? No!"

Some measure of relief flooded through him, and he pressed his lips together. He swallowed, tried to breathe again.

"Oh, I wouldn't have done that, even if I'd found him. I—that wouldn't have helped you!"

Bobby's anger kicked in again. His head shook in a kind of a nod. "Helped me," he whispered. "Helped me." He said it louder this time. He stared at Declan.

The old man cocked his head, and actually appeared to care. "You still don't see, do you?"

Bobby shook his head.

Declan reached out to hold Bobby's face in his hands. "You're younger than you know. You—" Bobby jerked away, disgusted. "Frank, Nicole, me… we're dead weight. I wanted you to have a clean slate." Declan paused, and still couldn't believe that Bobby didn't understand. He smiled. "You're free now." Goren paled and stared at him in horror. "Bobby," Dec whispered. "You're free."

Goren was speechless. He barely budged when Ross and Eames burst in and arrested Declan. Alex put her hand on Bobby's neck. Slowly, he turned, looked into her eyes, and then burst into tears.