Case 17: The Last Supper
The two detectives had a few trying days of reports and court cases so were almost glad to be called into the chief office, almost.
"Gentlemen, a woman was found dead in her kitchen this morning. Given the state of the victim it may be anything from accidental poisoning to viral contamination." Samuel King looked grave as he spoke and rightly so. "As such I'm sending Nathan with you to inspect the body." They nodded and began to walk out. "Oh and both of you have confirmed time off for when requested." He added and they gave their acknowledgement.
They both climbed into the SUV, Dorian being placed into the back, he was perhaps twice the height of what he had been. David looked across at the red-head and saw his partner was coiled with tension, looking out the window.
"So what's with the time off?" JJ's voice was gruff as if he were holding back a snarl and it sent a shiver down his spine.
"Well this girl I know invited me to come stay with her family for the holidays. I figured her brother would ask with Christmas only being a week away but he never did." Fuck was Christmas only a week away, where had the bloody time gone.
JJ laughed, shoulders shaking as a relieved breath exited his lips.
"I'm sorry." The smile on his face clearly said he was calling himself an idiot as he rubbed his eyes. "David, would you like to come with me to New Orleans for Christmas?"
"I'd love to." He grinned and they both laughed.
"I'm so sorry, I've been meaning to ask you since Rix mentioned it but it never seemed right." He heaved a sigh. "I didn't even realise it was a week away."
"You're forgiven." David grinned. "To be honest neither did I, we need to go shopping." The other hummed his agreement before dissolving into laughs again and the only reason Jones didn't follow was to keep his eyes on the road.
They pulled up to the building and took the lift to the victim's floor.
"Nathan!" David called to his colleague who shouted back instantly.
"It's okay! You can come in!" They both sighed in relief before walking through the doorway into the high end apartment, the victim slumped on the kitchen isle before them.
Nathan unzipped his hazmat suit and turned to them with a smile.
"She died from some form of food poisoning from what I can tell, I'll know more when I get back to the morgue while you guys find out if it was deliberate or not."
They both grinned their thanks and set about their work as the Medical Examiner and his minions got to work moving the body.
In the apartment they found a box of chocolates in a heart shaped box and a food wrapper the logo all but erased before turning to the husband who was in the bedroom.
"Mr Thompson." He sneered at them as they walked in.
"The 'Detective Dream Team', of course you'd be working on Daisy's murder. Well get on with it." He gestured for them to begin, and they could already tell he didn't care about his wife.
"Simple questions. Did you have any reason to kill your wife and did you eat out anywhere recently?" The red-head spoke, his eyes emerald stones in a cool mask.
"Of course I didn't kill her, if I did then my standard of living would have gone down considerably." He snorted, straightening the cuff of his shirt. "And yes, we went to Chez Valentine last night, my wife didn't speak a word the whole time." He seemed a little disgruntled but nothing more then that.
"Very well Mr Thompson, you're free to go but the apartment is a crime scene now so this officer will let you pack a bag then escort you out." David spoke plainly, completely professional in a way he often wasn't. "You'll be notified when the scene is cleared." And they turned and walked away.
"Fucking asshole." David sneered once they were by the car and JJ squeezed his hand in reassurance.
David quickly sorted through the chocolates and found a card, 'Congratulations. Love, Ashley', and called Alex to find out who she was.
JJ on the other hand found out where the greasy wrapper came from.
"Al's Hotdogs." He murmured to himself.
"Best hotdogs around. Alfred has a stand just by Cooper Park. He's blind so he won't have seen anything but regardless, he may know something." JJ nodded to his love and as always, David was driving.
They soon reached the spot and the solider felt a shiver go through him. He knew he recognised that name because it was right beside where the dummy bomb had been planted.
"Hey Alfred!" He walked beside his partner, the slighter man's hand resting against the small of his back.
"Hey Jones, not been around for a while." The black man spoke as he served a customer.
"Been busy recently. May I introduce my partner JJ."
"Nice to meet you."
"You to. You've done a lot for this place so thanks and from what I heard it's partners in more way then one." The boys laughed, they couldn't argue that.
"Yeah, we are. As much as I would like to say this was a social call I can't." The Southerner sighed. "Daisy Thompson was killed via poison, did you serve her recently?"
"Daisy's dead?" He looked completely shocked and it took a few moments for him to compose himself. "She came here everyday, yesterday included, though. Yesterday I heard her throwing up." He said confused, lips thin.
"Thanks Al, you've been a great help." David spoke, smiling so Al would hear it in his voice.
A quick look and they found out where the victim had been sick and collected a sample and JJ found contaminated hotdogs and took those as well.
They were just about to leave when JJ spotted a small paper bag with Chez Valentine written on it, food still inside.
Soon enough they were being tested in the lab and the boys were at Chez Valentine.
The kitchen was spotless as they entered and JJ quickly spotted very disturbing things for a kitchen.
A stained apron and a cake with pink, something dripping from it. He also found a torn article and a yearbook, also with torn pages.
"What the hell are you doing in my kitchen!? I will not allow this!" A sever looking woman in a chef's outfit stomped in.
"Valentine Montgomery I presume." Jones turned to the woman and JJ continued with his collecting as the chef raged at his partner for daring to accuse her. He felt himself twitch and resisted the urge to strangle the woman, remembering why you weren't suppose to work with your partner.
"I've got everything, let's be going. Miss Montgomery." And they left, his instincts telling him who they'd be arresting.
Back at the station JJ was piecing things together while David dropped the samples at the lab.
He firsted heard the footsteps, a familiar sound he'd easily memorized, next he could hear the light breathing just behind him and just before strong arms circled his shoulders he smelt the sandalwood shower gel.
His lover kissed his temple, then his cheek before lingering on his neck just below his jaw. He smiled as David leaned on him.
"Your gorgeous." He shivered as it was whispered against his skin.
"Look in the mirror Doll, you'll see gorgeous." The elder chuckled at that and pressed another kiss beneath his jaw.
He'd just finished with the torn page.
It was an article reviewing Chez Valentine that was anything but flattering. The critique complained about undercooked food and the restaurant being dirty.
"Tobias Sharp. Are we sure this is the right restaurant he's talking about?" David asked and his lover shrugged as he got to work on the yearbook.
And he found out why Tobias didn't like Valentine.
"They were in the same year in their chef's school, one is stuck a critique while the other own a Michelin star restaurant, spiteful much?" The southern snorted just as Alex appeared.
"Found your Ashley. Ashley Collins is the assistant of Gabriel Thompson. I also looked for some information about that Gabriel Thompson and he is the CFO of an investment bank in Eastfield Market. He made a little fortune a few years ago, thanks to an educated guess on the stock exchange." Their nerd spoke excitedly and they chuckled, getting up and ruffling his hair before they left.
What changed the whole case was when Tobias Sharp mentioned that the waiter had given him the wrong meal.
JJ decided that they could wait for the results tomorrow and dragged his lover out to get changed then shopping.
The last time he'd had this much fun shopping was when the whole family had gone together, telling jokes and enjoying being together. It shocked him that he could have this much fun doing something he normally hated because of one person.
The next day they got their killer and it turned out Daisy had been an unfortunate bystanderd because of a waiters mistake. Valentine was singing like a canary even without the evidence so all in all it was a good few days.
