Case 5: A Russian Case

So far in the day all that had taken up JJ's time had been the trial for Trish Colletti so he'd spent most of it at the gym while he had the chance before being called to a case.

He got there just as David did, and Chief King.

"As you may have guessed we have a major situation on our hands. Anton "White Bear" Levin, the Russian mafia's head, was killed here in his restaurant. We need this solved quickly otherwise we'll be dealing with a lot of angry Russians, keep me informed and try not to rattle to many cages." His stern look passed over both of them.

"Yes Sir." The soldier had to stop himself from saluting and watched as the Chief walked away, sliding smoothly into a sleek Jaguar.

Walking into the high class restaurant and both paused in their tracks looking at the splatters of blood and the mangled corpse.

"Well, someone had a temper." David snorted at his partner and began looking around, picking up a smashed phone and working on unlocking it.

"Agreed, though it could be a robbery, the registers empty." The red-head hummed absently as he collected several things.

A bloodied napkin, a ledger that rested not far from the body and may or may not be important.

"Well I'm sure Nathan's going to have fun, let's go."


They dropped everything off at the lab before turning to the next of kin.

"Mikhail Levin." The blond sneered at them. "We're sorry to inform you that your father was murdered earlier today."

The Russian man gave a harsh bark of laughter. "What?! AH! Good riddance! This SVOLOCHE sure didn't see that coming!" He was positively gleeful.

"Not a good relationship then?" JJ asked sardonicly.

"The old man never thought me worth anything, bet he wishes he'd kept me close now." He snorted, face distorted with bitter happiness. "You better hope you find who did this first. I may have hated the bastard but he was blood and death must be avenged."

He just slink away in the apartment.

"Hell, what happened to blood is thicker then water?"

"The blood of the covenant is thicker then the water of the womb." The brunette looked over as the red-head was piecing something together. "Meaning the blood spilt on the battle fields or used to form the pact of the covenant will always be stronger then mere birth."

"You believe that?" He flipped over a card with a worn number, bagging it.

"Yeah I do, I love my family but because of the life I've had with them, but I also love the guys I served with and that's because of what we went through." He shrugged. "What about you, any family?"

"No, I was an only child as we're both my parents, lost them a few years back in a car accident when I was twenty three, had a wife, Charlotte, she couldn't cope with the worry. You?"

"Two sister, three brothers, Dad, bitch who I use to call Mom and my Nana. I think Mikhail has a girlfriend." That threw David off before he looked at the constructed carton. A pregnancy test.

"That would be me, Eva Coleman." They turned around to see a dark skinned woman with flowing black hair.

"Miss Coleman, Detectives Jensen and Jones, we're investigating the murder of Anton Levin."

"Anton." The came out faintly as she sank into a near by seat.

"You've meet him then?" JJ crouched in front of her, creating a barrier to where Mikhail might be, he didn't like the look of the scratches on her neck.

"Um, Once, he was kind, a nice man but him and Mikhail aren't close."

"Well anything else, let me know." He handed over his card and she gripped it like a life line.

They left in JJ's car as always.

"So your family?"

"Ha, ha. Well Rixton's the oldest, she's black ops, past that I haven't a clue but she's the Alpha of the family, you do what she says when she says it." Jones looked vaguely frightened. "But she's always there for you if you need her."

"Nick and Eli are the twins after me, smart, charming, they could charm the gods themselves. They're soulmates really, two halves making a whole, own a bar in the quarter." A found smile decorated his handsome features.

"Liza is the second youngest, more of a girly girl, likes make up, boys, wearing and shopping for pretty dresses, that sort of thing but will still toss around a football (American Football for fellow Brits), owns her own gallery."

"Brandon is the youngest, sweetest thing you'll ever meet, he's in college at the minute studying to be a doctor. Nana is a mixture of him and Rixton. Has Bran's sweetness but you always do as she says, she could lead an army with a smile."

The red-head chuckled and it took all of the brunettes effort to focus on the road.

"My Dad, Tyler, is great, just like Rix but not as intimidating, most of the time. Marcia." He snarled the name. "Is a bitch who only married our Dad for money." He shook his head to clear the dark haze. "But overall I have great family, if slightly violent." He laughed as he finished and Jones snorted.


"Guys, I got something off that phone." Alex had emerged from his lab. "Look at this."

"Wait, is that Marconi? And who's he talking to?" Jones was leaning on the back of Jensen's chair, the hot breath against the younger's neck making him shudder.

"No idea, I couldn't find him in the database. Guess you'll just have to ask Marconi."

"Thanks Alex." JJ smiled, a flush of spreading across his cheeks. "Lets get going, I've been wondering about this guy."

Jones looked at him in worry as he sped away, not realising what he'd done.


"Marconi." A pudgie guy at JJ's height struted over like something out of Saturday Night Fever.

"Jones, my favourite dim wit, and who's this?" He looked at JJ wearily.

"His boyfriend." Marconi went stark white, eyes wide in fear while Jones made sure he didn't choke on air. "Detective Jensen, what was your relationship with Anton Levin?"

"I admired his work, nothing more." He said stiffly, eyes still lingering with fear.

"And this photo from Anton Levin's phone, would you be willing to tell us about it?"

"I don't know, don't remember, is that all?" Oh how he loved scaring arrogant jerks.

"For now, thanks for your time." He pulled David away, resting a hand against the small of his back.

"That was genius."

"Thank you."


"So we're waiting on the handkerchief, body and the ledger, we have no other leads or evidence." Jones huffed, he hated waiting like this.

"It's ten at night Doll, we can wait or better yet go to bed, and in the morning we can go intimidate our favourite little snitch."

Jones snorted before looking at him with a bright smile.

"How about a beer?"

"Only if it's at my place, I can't guarantee that I'll stay awake." As if to prove his point he yawned widely behind his hand.

"Fair enough."


The two detectives lounged around, David looking at a photo on the mantle while JJ snuggled into the couch.

"Is this your family?" The image was of many red-head's, blonds and brunettes around an intricate wooden table in a large sun room.

"Yeah, Rix is on the far left with Bran on her lap." Rixton reminded him of a wolf, brown hair thrown up with warm brown eyes and an inviting smile but something innately deadly lurking beneath. Brandon, maybe eight, was a sweet cub curled in her lap, looking much like a younger, male version of his sister.

"Then me, Dad is stood behind me." The man leaning on the teens chair was almost identical to JJ now only Tyler had the warm brown eyes of his daughter. "Marcia is next to him."

The blond women was beautiful but cold, an ice queen and he instantly disliked her as she held herself stiffly, above the others.

"Nana is sat just next to her." The women looked like her daughter Marica only as open and warm as the rest of the family with greying, chocolate brown locks in an elegant bun.

"Liza." She wore a beautiful dress that twisted around her developing frame, with soft blond curls and the warm green eyes of her grandmother.

"Then of course Elie and Nick." One was a well built, dark brunette, more so than the rest of the family with warm brown eyes, in his lap sat a dirty blond, who's features leaned more towards their mother, including his eyes, their legs tangled together as they stretched towards the table.

Looking at the photo he couldn't help but be shocked and awed by how alike they looked and how happy, the only one who didn't fit that picture was Marcia and to the untrained eye she'd have slipped in perfectly.

In the time David stood there his partner had fallen asleep and he chuckled, throwing a blanket over him, gently brushing stray strands of silken red from skin before checking the locks and letting himself out.


For the first stop of the morning they swung by to see their little rat and while it sent them sewer diving they at least got good results out of it.

The victim's wallet, a golden watch, gold chain and the jackpot, a meat tenderizer.

The moment they got to the station they hit the showers with lemon shower gel, scrubbing until their skin was pink to get the smell out. Silently they dumped their jeans and t-shirts in the chem waste.

"Stop!" They froze at the entrance to Grace's lab. "Did you use lemons?" They nodded. "Good boys. In you come."

They laughed and walked towards her.

"Well, the napkin was covered in your victim's blood and hand sanitizer, the killer obviously wiped their hands." That didn't really rule anyone out but okay.

"And I found hairs in the golden watch and after a quick look under the microscope can safely say they are from an African-American woman. There was invoice in Anotn's wallet, I sent it to Alex, but it was covered in hand sanitizer."

"Thanks Grace."

They went up the stairs to the next floor.

"Hey guys, I looked through that ledger and an invoice that was taken from the dead guy's wallet." Alex didn't even turn around. "The invoice is signed by one Dimitri Balanchine, and the invoice was for Marconi's club the Blue Flamingo."

A look of cold victory spread over Jones face.

"Hold you're horses, this isn't Marconi's murder, I'm betting on a Levin. What about the ledger?"

David deflated before turning to Alex.

"Well it gave me a few headaches but I managed to crack the code. It's a list of all the orders and deliveries that the restaurant has made but a few areas were forged to cover up irregular activity, in Dimitri Balanchine's handwriting."

"And the card?"

Alex developed a devilish smile.

"Bart Williams."

The detectives turned to each other, grins turning dark as they planned that little visit.

"Thanks Sugar." And the they went to their last stop, the morgue.

"Nathan, what have you got for us?"

"Not much." He sighed over another body (through his mask). "The Victim was hit with that meat tenderizer 36 times but anything useful got taken in that drain. From it all I can tell you that the killer is six foot tall and that Anton Levin was a fighter, the killer will have scratches. I can't tell you more then that."

"Understood, thanks." Even if the information hadn't helped much.

Just as they were leaving a thought occured to the younger detective.

"Hey Ramirez! Were there any complaints near the Levin's restaurant last night?"

"Yes, someone called to complaints about a fight." He told them excitedly.

"And you're only telling us this now?" Jones crossed his arms, hips tilted to the side and JJ cast him an appreciative look while Ramizer blushed.

"It was an old woman yelling about a commies invasion! And you told me not to bother you with crazy people stuff."

"Find the recording and send it to Alex ASAP." The officer bobbed his head as they left and drove to the dingy alley where Bart leaned against the wall looking far to smug.

"Bart care to explain why you didn't let us know Mikhail Levin was your client?" Jones smiled darkly, sending shivers down the snitches spine who stepped back, bumping into solid muscle, spinning to see the solider.

"Come on!" He trembled. "Mikhail's one of my best clients."

"Spill Bart, or you may find out what they do in Guantanamo bay." The little coward nearly pissed himself.

"Ok, ok! Mikhail called me the other day, he was freaking out about his girlfriend's affair and needed a fix to relax."

"And there's our motive." JJ mumbled, gripped Bart's shoulder, shaking it roughly as they departed.

"So daddy was having an affair with Mikhail' s girlfriend."

"Hum." JJ pursed his lips. "You know what let's wait on that recording."

The brunette paused, tipping head to the side in a cute puppyish way.

"Okay JJ, I trust you." And that shouldn't make his heart swell but he'd be a damned lair if he said it didn't.


They started on their reports until Alex came running down the stair excitedly only to drag them up and play an isolated recording of two, dim, angry voice in Russian.

"You bastard. It wasn't enough to disown me you ducked my girlfriend.

I did more than that, unlike you some of us know how to treat a woman."

JJ translated and then came the sounds of the fight.

All it took was a quick trip and they had Makhail and a full confession.

Later that night two little words appeared on the red-head's phone from an unknown number.

Thank you

"You're welcome Eva."