Chapter 78

Bobby tucked his head against the crook of his elbow and slumped over the table, sobbing. Alex stood by him, her hand gently petting his hair. There were no words that could soothe him. There was nothing that could heal the evil that had come into his life. Finally, he quieted, and raised his head up, still wiping his eyes.

His face was a deep red, and his eyes were bloodshot and puffy. He worked to steady his breath, and then he finally looked her way.

"Let's get you home," she said, as quietly as she could. She stayed at his side and steered him in the direction of the SUV downstairs. Bobby got in without a word and shut the door firmly.

Alex climbed in and started the car. "Your place or mine?" She asked.

"Uh, mine," he managed to say in a gruff voice.

Silently, she drove him home. Bobby yawned and rubbed his eyes in the car, and he was still consumed by Declan's confession. With a heavy sigh, he tilted his head back against the rest and shut his eyes.

"You need to sleep," she said, throwing a glance his way.

Bobby didn't answer. He would sleep if he could manage it. For now, he rested and filled his lungs with air, and it was all right.

Ross stayed at it. He had Jeffries book Gage, and send him to holding. Meanwhile, the Captain sent word upstairs, and Moran very diplomatically expressed condolences to Goren.

"I'll be sure and pass that along," Danny Ross said with a frown. He reviewed the notes Eames and the others had left, and then he went to holding.

Declan was on the bunk, reclining against the wall, his hands tucked behind his head. "Come to thank me, Captain?" he asked with a smug grin. "I got you your best detective back."

Ross gave the professor a cold stare. He licked his lips before he spoke. "There are some… loose ends," he started.

"Where's Bobby?" Gage asked.

Ross smiled. "He left."

"Well. I'll help him… wrap things up later."

"How did you manage to send flowers to yourself in the hospital? Who mailed the package to Pittsfield? Where is Nicole Wallace's body?"

Declan smiled and tugged at his lips with his fingers. "You tell me," he said.

"You had another accomplice, maybe more than one."

Declan chuckled. "Accomplice… it sounds so… sinister."

Ross stuck his hands in his pockets. He stared at Declan Gage once again. "They didn't know what exactly you involved them in."

"Oh, you know… what's criminal about mailing a package for an elderly neighbor?"

"He didn't question why the package had Donny's name and not yours?"

"Very clever, Captain. You know it was a neighbor and my next answer will tell you the sex of my neighbor." Declan stuck a finger in his mouth and chewed it for a moment, then took it back out and smiled. "She thought she was mailing it for my son. And in a way… she was!" He chuckled gleefully.

Ross withdrew a small notepad from his pocket and wrote down the pertinent information. "And the email to the flower shop?"

"I fibbed a little."

"But you made a call from where… the lecture hall?"

"Good… good. I couldn't very well do it from the hospital, now could I?"

"One of your students?"

"Always game to play a prank," Declan said.

"So you told them to email the order under the name Nicole as some kind of prank?"

"It had to have been a prank. Why on earth would I ask her to send flowers to me?" Declan got up and paced around in the cell. "Did you ever watch Bobby in interrogation? Have you really seen him on his game?"

Half of Ross' mouth turned up. "You mean besides today?"

Declan stopped pacing for a moment, staring at the Captain. Was it possible he'd underestimated him?

"I suppose one of your students made the reservations at the Inn, too? Or was it your neighbor?"

"She told them to be expecting him," Declan said proudly.

"And the card to Gwen in Phoenix?"

"Nicole did that herself," Declan snapped.

"She was crying in the flower shop. You threatened Gwen's life?"

"Oh, please! There wasn't any truth to that. She's only a child. An empty threat."

"And how exactly did you kill Nicole?"

"Do you know why a bed of nails won't hurt you? There are so many nails that they evenly distribute your weight. Only one? You get pricked." He demonstrated, snatching a finger in the air as if he'd just been punctured.

"You used a syringe."

"Strange Karma, eh?" He said proudly.

"And then you cut out her heart."

"I didn't… do that. Too messy."

"Another accomplice… pretty hard to explain that one away as a prank." Ross studied Gage, and the man's eyes sparkled proudly. "More college kids…the med school."

"Nicole gave herself for medical science." Declan chuckled.

Ross scrawled another note in the booklet, closed it, and frowned at the man before walking away.

"Wait, don't you have any more questions?"

Ross didn't even turn back. He had everything he needed for his detectives to track down the rest of the evidence. The case against Declan Gage was going to be airtight.

"Yeah, he's finally sleeping, now," Alex said, brushing a hand through her hair. She glanced back at the bed, and saw the heavy rings around his eyes, even in sleep. "Thank you, Captain. And… I'm sorry." She listened to him speak and nodded her head. "Okay. Yeah. I'll see you then." Alex hung up the phone, paused, and then dialed again.

"I don't want to go anywhere," Bobby complained, following her obediently to the car.

"Just humor me, Bobby."

He paused at the door, rubbing his neck anxiously. Then he opened the door and got in. As he pulled the door shut, he spoke to her again. "I'd rather stay home, Eames. I'm tired."

"I know. But this is important."

"This is important."

She almost smiled. "Yeah. It is."

He folded his arms, frowning. She could make him go, but she couldn't make him enjoy it. Honestly, he didn't think he'd ever enjoy anything again.

She pulled the car to a stop and looked at him. "This is it."

"A pizza joint."

"Yeah." They got out of the car. Alex walked around to his side. Bobby leaned against the car, his arms folded and looking at the ground.

She tugged on his arm gently, and reluctantly, he followed her inside.

The place was buzzing with conversation. Lewis was talking cars with Logan, and there were some other friends there, as well. One or two detectives from Major Case, and a couple of old friends from narcotics. There was even a pool of people from the offices downstairs.

Lewis saw him first. He broke off from Logan and scooped Bobby into a hug. "Hey, pal!" He said. "I hope you're hungry. We've got the whole buffet to ourselves."

Bobby smiled weakly, and Logan interrupted to shake his hand. Fin Tutuola sauntered up, giving Goren a clap on the shoulders. No one spoke of his recent losses, his tragedy. They all shared stories of their time with Bobby, stories of friendship.

Bobby got himself a plate and filled it. He sat down beside Alex, and was shocked to see Elizabeth Rodgers in the room. His face paled, but he got back to his feet.

She saw him, too, and paused, waiting for him to approach.

Bobby rubbed the back of his neck and looked briefly at the floor. "Uh, I, uh… are you okay?"

She stood tall and nodded quietly. "Are you?" she asked him.

Bobby waggled his head, not quite a nod but not a shake either. "Better than I was. I-I'm sorry… Elizabeth."

"I'm sorry, too. I didn't tell him everything, but… I shouldn't have told him anything."

"No. It's okay. I know you didn't… mean any harm. And… I am sorry."

She smiled at him. "Your dinner's getting cold."

Bobby's eyes softened, and impulsively, he pulled her into a hug. They separated awkwardly and she shooed him back to his table before going to get a plate for herself.

Bobby sat down across from Alex, who was smiling at him. "You, uh… orchestrated this… so I wouldn't feel alone."

"You're not alone, Bobby."

His lips turned up. "Th-thanks."

Their eyes met for a moment of pure affection, and then he picked at his food. "I'm gonna get a cold one. You want one?" She asked him.

Bobby nodded, and Eames' spot was soon filled by another of his friends. She squeezed in, too, when she returned, and laughed to hear the stories of Bobby's antics with his other friends.

Alex came home with him afterward, and her kisses healed him even more. Now she slept in his bed, and he sat on the couch with a family album on his lap. He wasn't staring at the pictures anymore, though. He was leaning his head back against the couch, thinking about Captain Ross.

He didn't know if Ross thought he was crazy or not. He didn't particularly like him. But when it came down to it, Bobby realized that the Captain had given him more leeway than he probably should have. Alex had told him how the Captain had wrapped up the case, too. She'd invited him to the party, but he had declined, saying he was still following up on the retrieval of Nicole's body.

Bobby thought about that. Anyone else might have just taken the confession and sent it on to the DA, but Ross was taking care to tie up all the loose ends… the same way Goren himself wrapped up his cases. Danny Ross was making sure that justice would be served. For Bobby. And for Frank.

He took a deep breath, realizing that he was finally getting sleepy. Bobby gave Ross one more thought before he got to his feet and went to bed. Through it all, everything with his mother, with Donny, with his suspension, and now with Frank, the Captain had stuck by him. Whether he thought he was crazy or not, he'd stuck by him.

Danny Ross had earned his respect.