How are we at 110 chapters already? I never meant for it to be this long. I guess when I'm into a story, I just can't stop writing, though I'll admit, sometimes these chapters just didn't want to come. Anyway. Thanks to everyone who continues to read this, even those who are going back to reread some of their favorite chapters (I'm looking at you chapters 90, 17, and 66). Also thanks to YaleAceBella12, Faithfan2000, patrickpopp, decadenceofmysoul, LucifersAlleyCat, CaptainCharlieReagan, and the guests Coco, snowflake18540, and MirraRosee for all of your reviews.
Now, on to the part some of you have been asking about. Seeing a lot of interesting theories in the reviews but you'll to wait and find out if any of them are true.
Walking into the squad room the next morning, Baez looked and felt rejuvenated. She was ready to go back over everything and come up with hopefully a clue they had missed the first time. The minute she sat down and looked at her partner, she could tell he didn't feel the same way. "Did you not go home last night?" she asked.
Danny looked up. He looked terrible. His tie was loose around his throat, his shirt wrinkled, and he was sporting a day and a half worth of stubble. His eyes were also haunted. "Just over 38 hours ago someone shot my daughter and I still don't know who. I can't rest until I know the answer."
Baez could understand that, but at the same time she had been partnered with Danny long enough to know that if he didn't take a break, he was going to burn himself out and wouldn't be helpful to anyone. She couldn't push him though. Not too hard anyway. He just needed a soft suggestion. "Why don't you take a break? Just for a few minutes. Clear your head a little."
"Tell me that when you have kids," Danny snapped.
Baez felt bad then spotted the only other woman her partner would listen to when it got this bad. "At least talk to your wife?" Baez motioned to Linda who was just walking up. Danny put down his pen and went over to her as Baez went back to the original witness statements.
They stepped away from the bullpen and Danny looked at his wife. While he did love seeing her, he didn't like her coming all the way to the office. It meant that something was wrong. He really hoped it was something wrong with her and not his little girl or his boys. Maybe she was just pissed at him. That he could deal with. "Hey, any change?" Danny asked about his daughter.
"No. Pops told me you didn't stop by to see the boys and Erin took them to school."
He could deal with that. Her being pissed he hadn't made it home the night before ranked lower on the list of things he was concerned about than something happening to his daughter. "Something her friend said yesterday, wanted to get a head start on a theory," he explained his motives.
Linda relaxed slightly so Danny figured she was just concerned about him. He could deal with her concern. "That it's more about you than her? Don't forget she was having dinner with your brother."
His brother, he hadn't made that connection. Though it did make sense. His brother was also a cop and had put some pretty bad guys away as well. "So, it could be about him?" Danny said.
Linda nodded, glad to see he was in the mood to be open to suggestion. "Maybe. All I'm saying is don't get too into your head, okay? Even a dog puts the bone down occasionally," she warned, taking his hand.
"She's my little girl and if you think she wouldn't want this—"
"I know. I know she would tell everyone she'd want you working this like a dog, but she'd also want you to give yourself time. She's safe and stable. She, and I, know you'll figure it out, just don't burnout trying to do it alone. You don't have to do this alone. You have a good partner and I'm sure the Commissioner has authorized all the resources you need."
"Yeah." Danny ran his hand across his head making his hair stick up a bit in places.
Linda leaned up and kissed him. "I brought you a clean shirt. Why don't you change and get some fresh coffee before you get back at it? Give your mind something else to focus on for a moment?"
Danny stared at her for a moment then sighed and resigned himself to a break. "Ok. Who's with her?" If his wife was here and his sister, brother, and father were at work, he wondered who was sitting with her. It wouldn't be like his family to leave her alone. Maybe Nicky was with her cousin as Columbia hadn't gone back to school yet after summer holidays.
"Jamie and her friend Mike."
Danny's thoughts instantly stopped. His brother wasn't at work? That seemed like a first for such a boy scout but, then again, it was his niece and she was with him when the injury happened so maybe Jamie felt like he owed it to her. And then there was the other guy. "Do we really trust this guy?" Danny asked.
Linda sighed and squeezed Danny's hand. Though she had the same doubts, at least until she asked Jack about finding more information on this guy, she knew her daughter trusted him. "She's mentioned him a few times when we've talked. He seems like an ok guy. Jack also taught me how to check out his social media and he has two daughters and a son. Anna falls between his daughter and son. She's older, he's younger. He's been on the police force for years. We have no reason to think he'd hurt our kid or that there's anything improper between them. If something happened to Baez in another city, you'd be there for her right?"
"I'm also not old enough to be her father."
"Trust but verify," Linda warned. Danny nodded. Linda went back to the hospital for her shift and Danny changed, grabbed some new coffee, and then went back to his desk.
"Did you find anything last night?" Baez asked.
"No." Danny lifted a pad of paper and offered it to Baez. "All I have is the names of everyone I put away over the last 20 years."
Baez thumbed through the pages. "This is over 5 pages long," Baez said.
"Well ..." Danny said. "We should get started because on top of this, maybe it's about Jamie and his list is at least a quarter of this one."
As Danny and Baez got to work on the list, Danny had already crossed off 20 or so names, Jamie and Mike were at the hospital. They had just finished breakfast and were playing cards when Jamie was sure he heard a noise coming from his left where Anna's bed was. Jamie checked the heart monitor and her face but saw no change so he looked back at his cards. A few seconds later, he heard it again; a sound like someone waking up.
"You heard that, right?" Mike asked. "She definitely groaned?"
Jamie put his cards down on the table at the foot of the bed they had been using to play cards on and moved to Anna's side. "Hey, can you hear me?" Jamie asked.
Anna's eyes flickered open then shut again but she answered him. "Yes," she croaked. "Where ... Why does ... Am I in the hospital?" Her eyes opened part way again. They shot around the room then slowly focused on Jamie.
"Do you know your name?" Jamie asked.
"Yes. Uncle Jamie? What happened?"
"What do you remember?"
"I don't think I hit my head," Anna said.
"No, but traumatic experiences can cause memory loss. You know that," Mike said. Anna's eyes shot over to him and her heartrate spiked. Jamie took her hand and pulled her attention back to him. He needed to calm her down and find out what she knew before he called the family. Maybe she knew who shot her. He knew he probably should leave the questioning to Danny and Baez but sometimes he knew she didn't want to talk to her dad.
"How many days after Joe died do you remember?" Jamie asked.
Her heartrate leveled off. "Ok, point. Last thing I remember, searing pain in my shoulder. Someone yelling for 9-1-1." Anna took a deep breath. "Uncle Jamie, can you find a doctor? I want to get out of here."
"Sure, kiddo, and Anna, I'm really glad you're ok," he said. Jamie kissed Anna's forehead then went to get a doctor and call his brother.
Meanwhile, Anna turned to Mike. Her eyes narrowed at the other cop. He swallowed not liking being on the other end. Suddenly, he knew how the perps she took down felt. "How did you …?" she started.
"How did I know you were here? I know you said it would only be if something happened in Miami, but the thing about Emergency Contacts is they always call the first one," Mike answered.
"You flew clear across the country for me?"
"Of course I did. I'd do the same for my girls."
Anna stared at him, fighting through the fog of the morphine. "That's not it. Not all of it. Something else brought you here." It was in the way his eyes turned away from her. He was hiding something but she could feel part of her mind not connecting the way it usually did.
"Our CO talked to the Chief. They were concerned that something you did on the job came back to haunt you. They wanted me here in case I could shed any light."
"You called our CO?" she snapped.
"You left; he was riding with me. He heard me on the phone and asked what happened. When I told him, he looked panicked. Even told me to take him directly back to the station."
There could be two reasons for that panic. The first being her undercover work and the second was the only reason she could mention, so she did. "Well, one of his officers was just shot. There's people he needs to talk to. Detective Kim working the Miami angle?" She hoped the female detective was working on it because if they had left it to the New York detectives there was a chance it had gotten back to her family and she didn't want that. Her family couldn't know that she was a cop, especially not her dad and grandfather. They just wouldn't understand.
Mike's answer drew her out of her thoughts. "Yes, she is. From what I understand, your Uncle Jamie knows you're a cop?" Which meant he had done some asking around. She just hoped he hadn't brought it up around the rest of her family.
"Yes. So does my cousin Nicky, but no one else. They would be beyond angry if they found out. So you better not have told them."
"Are you sure they'd be angry?"
Her heart sank in her chest. He better not have done what she thought he did. "What did you do?"
Before Mike could answer, a nurse walked in followed by Jamie. "How are you doing today, Ms. Reagan?"
"This conversation is long from over," Anna told Mike. "Well, I'm sure the morphine has something to do with me not feeling much of anything."
"That's true. Do you remember getting hurt anywhere?"
"My shoulder. I was looking for my keys when my shoulder felt hot and there was massive pain there." She lifted her hand and touched her left shoulder. When she looked down at it, she saw it was covered by a hospital gown.
"Nothing else?" the nurse asked.
"No, that's it."
"We'll wean you off the morphine slowly so we can get an idea of where you're at."
"Thank you. Uncle Jamie, did you call my mom? Let her know I'm here?"
"They paged her; she'll be up soon," Jamie said. "You're at St. Victors."
"Of course I am." Anna rolled her eyes.
"Relax, you're in good hands," the nurse said.
"I know. So, when can I get out of here?"
"We'll see. It's up to the doctor. Can you tell me how you feel?" the nurse asked.
"Angry but floaty," Anna said.
"How's that?"
"I'm angry because he's here, but you can't do anything about that and floaty because of the morphine. Like I said, it's preventing me from feeling much of anything," Anna said, pointing first to Mike then to what she assumed was the morphine IV bag hanging just above her right shoulder.
"Ah ok." The nurse checked her over and made a few notes on the chart. "Are you experiencing any memory loss?"
Anna shook her head. "I remember getting hit. Nothing after that."
"Okay. Soon as the doctor is free he'll come check on you." The nurse handed her a button on the end of a stick. "This is your morphine button, use it if it hurts."
"Thank you," Anna said softly. For a moment, she wondered if the button actually did anything. She knew sometimes that patients abused morphine and you couldn't give them too much but giving them something that made them think they were controlling their pain was psychosomatic and made them think they were getting relief. The mind was a powerful thing when you believed something so much.
Jamie caught her attention as the nurse left. "Anna, the detectives are going to be here soon. Are you going to be ok talking about this?" he asked.
"You think I should call a lawyer? I don't think I did anything wrong and technically you are a lawyer," she asked.
"This is not your fault and that's not what I was saying," Jamie said gently.
"Anna, you were just shot," Mike jumped in. "I'm sure your uncle is just worried that this will put undue stress on you." Anna looked from one cop to the other.
"Exactly. If you're not ready, I will make them understand that," Jamie said. She wasn't used to this protective side from Jamie. She knew he had it, all Reagans did, but he was usually the most easygoing of them so he didn't often come off protective, at least, not around her.
The longer they talked the more Anna's senses came to her and that's why she was starting to see he was also hiding something from her. Maybe there was something else going on here that would explain the protective side of him. "Uncle Jamie, I just got shot and am doped up, but that doesn't mean all my senses are gone. I love you and I know you're not trying to hurt me but you are hiding something. You can either take pity on me and tell me or I'll get it out of you but it will take a while." Anna tried to push herself up on her elbows but a sharp twinge shot through her left shoulder and she dropped back to the bed.
"Don't hurt yourself," Jamie told her.
Mike took pity on her. "The detectives on the case ..." he drew her attention. "I may have mentioned you're a cop."
She tried to take a deep breath and slowly let it out. "Okay. Something still feels off though." Anna whimpered as the pain started setting in. She stared at her uncle.
"Are you in pain? Between us," Jamie asked.
"Not yet," she answered.
"Anna," Danny said, entering the room. His entrance stopped Jamie from pushing any further though Jamie could see her heartrate rising slowly on the monitor next to her bed. That could be because Danny was had just entered.
"Dad. You should be at work," Anna said.
Danny brushed the question aside as he approached the bed. "How do you feel?"
"I'd feel a lot better if people stopped asking me that."
"Can you tell us what happened, Anna?" a female voice asked.
Anna looked at the doorway. She was slightly surprised to see her dad's partner in the doorway. Something was going on here. Something major but it felt like she was tangled up in reeds near the dock and couldn't get to open water to see the big picture. "Detective Baez? Why would ..."
Danny helped her out like he always did when she was stuck. "You shoot at someone outside of a cop bar it makes it a major case, especially if they just came out of said cop bar," Danny said. She felt a rush of gratitude towards him, and by extent, his partner for being on this case. They were going to solve it, especially since she knew her dad wasn't going to put the bone down until there was nothing left on it. Then something else hit her.
"But it's a conflict of interest," she protested. They brushed that off too.
"Just tell us what you remember," Baez said gently. Again, the morphine running through her system made her care just a little less about being brushed off.
Anna explained what she could remember like she had to Jamie. She faced Baez and ignored her dad as she talked. "I was having dinner with Uncle Jamie and when we finished he walked me to my car. I was looking for my keys when my shoulder got really hot. You know it's not really like it is on TV. On TV, they always seem to know they've gotten shot. Not true. My shoulder just felt hot. Like when you get that blast of heat after opening an oven that's on or stepping from the A/C into the outdoors on a hot summer day. I don't remember seeing anyone around me. I did ... I may have heard …" Anna's chocolate eyes darted away from the female detective and she tried to focus on that day in particular though she also wasn't sure how long ago it was. To her it felt like just hours but the stubble on both her dad and Jamie's faces hinted at longer.
"Anna?" Detective Baez asked.
She spoke slowly, not sure if she remembered true events or if she was making things up. "I think I heard the shot ... maybe it was more than one …"
"There were three shots," Danny said.
"Reagan," Baez said. The last thing he should have been doing was telling her parts of the case she couldn't remember. The young woman still wasn't looking at them. Her eyes were unfocused and her tone was soft.
"I wish I could remember." Anna took a deep breath and slowly let it out. "The shot sounded weird though. Like it was muffled from a suppressor." Her eyes finally focused back on the detective by the door. "Your next question is who. I don't know. Sure, there's some scumbags that I've arrested but it's like you always say, Dad, only one percent of the guys you put away will ever come—" Anna's face crumpled and she let out the most pitiful whine anyone had ever heard. It took everything in Mike to stay seated. Before Anna could reach out, Danny rushed to the bed and perched on the right edge. His professionalism went out the window and so did anything about solving this case by the book. All that he could think was his baby was hurting and he needed to protect her by stopping the pain.
"Anna, what is it?" Danny asked. His heart was breaking at the pain she was showing. Anna's right hand shot out and gripped Danny's right hand. "Anna?"
"It hurts," Anna whined.
"Your shoulder?"
"My back."
Danny carefully helped Anna sit up, trying not to jostle her shoulder and hoping it would relieve some of her pain. "Get a doc!" Danny snapped.
"He's coming," Jamie said. He stepped up to the bed and found the button the nurse gave her. He pressed the button, instantly giving Anna relief. She sagged against her dad, her head coming to rest on his chest.
After several long moments, she spoke. "That pain, it wasn't from my shoulder," Anna said.
Everyone stared at her but none was more confused than Danny. "From your back? Which part?" he asked.
"Lower back near my spine."
"Ms. Reagan, what is it?" the doctor asked, rushing into the room.
"She said there is pain in her lower back," Danny said furiously. If this doctor or the other one had missed something they weren't going to like him very much.
"Ms. Reagan?" the doctor pushed, ignoring Danny.
"Uh-huh," Anna whimpered, tightening her grip on Danny's hand.
"Ok, let me take a look." The doctor approached the bed and lifted the back of Anna's hospital gown. Danny also looked. Sure enough, on either side of Anna's spine were two large, purple bruises. "Do you know how you got these two large bruises on your back?"
"I don't know," she whimpered again. It was taking nearly everything in her not to start crying. Though the morphine was helping, it still hurt, especially as the doctor prodded around the edges.
"What do you think, Doc? How's it possible for her to have bruises she doesn't know about?" Danny asked.
The doctor looked at him but seeing how much the young woman was clinging to him, he decided to be honest. "If I had to venture a guess, they remind me of bruises that cops get when a bullet strikes the vest. I can up your morphine level a bit but it's only going to hurt more when you come down off it."
"I'll be fine. When can I get out of here?" Anna sat back up slightly and looked at the doctor.
The doctor checked her shoulder wound. "Well, it looks like the incision site is healing well but I don't want to rush it. I'll check back in on you in a couple hours and we'll go from there," the doctor said. Anna nodded and the doctor left the room. Anna leaned her head against her dad.
Baez spoke up. "A bulletproof vest would explain how there were three bullets recovered from the scene but only one had blood on it," Baez said softly.
"But how? I know weren't wearing a vest, I hugged you," Jamie said. Part of his question was up for the air though most of it was directed at Anna.
Anna stayed still against her father. "Anna, kid," Danny prompted. She didn't want to answer though. Mike did it for her.
"You were wearing it, weren't you? The CO said you couldn't," Mike said.
"The CO said not on duty. I wasn't. Hell, I wasn't even in the state."
"Wearing what?" Baez asked. Danny sat Anna back a bit to look in her eyes.
"There was an attempted robbery at the diner I worked at almost 18 months ago. This guy pulled a gun and long story short, when the cops showed up he was disarmed and tied up. Turns out, my friend Riley's dad owns a fashion design company in Mexico. One of his product lines is bullet resistant ware. The fabric is made from top of the line, brand new stuff. The fabric itself is bullet resistant. No plates required. She gave me a long sleeve shirt and a tank top. She said if I was going to go around taking down armed robbers who have guns pressed to my side, she should get me one of her dad's bullet resistant shirts. I'm not supposed to wear it on the job because it's not standard issue," Anna explained.
A myriad of expressions flitted across Danny's face as he processed everything Anna had just said. The thing that stuck was his daughter taking down an armed robber with very little training and the training she did have shouldn't have been enough to guarantee a takedown of said robber. He couldn't focus on that now though it was all he wanted to focus on. Instead, he had to focus on the hard part and just thank his lucky stars she was alright. "Well, that explains things. Now for the hard part," Danny said.
Baez finished his question for him. "Can you think of anyone who would want to hurt you?"
"I can't think of anyone who knew I was in New York before I got shot," Anna answered.
"What do you mean?" Baez asked.
"The decision to come to New York ... I didn't tell anyone but my CO until four days before I left. Then I told my grampa and Mike. The rest of my family didn't know until I was here."
"Okay, so maybe they found out some other way," Danny said.
"You didn't answer the question, Anna," Baez said.
"My dad's always said only one percent come back. I'm sure someone in Miami's run that list and as for anyone in New York ... It's been two and a half years since I've seen anyone who wasn't a really good friend. I know I should have kept my head on a swivel. I'm smarter than this, I'm … I know better. I should have seen him coming. I—"
"Stop!" a new voice demanded.
Everyone looked towards the door and saw Linda standing in the doorway behind Baez. Baez stepped out of the way. "Mom," Anna said softly.
Linda smiled at her daughter then turned her glare on her husband as she entered the room. "I know you have a job to do, Danny, but she was just shot and she's recovering. Enough questions for today, she needs to rest," Linda told her.
"Mom, I've been asleep for ... How long?"
"Two days," Jamie supplied.
"I've been asleep for two days; I think a few questions won't hurt."
"You had surgery and you've been unconscious for two days. You weren't actually sleeping."
"Your mom's right. We have enough to do and your need to rest," Danny said.
"I am not a child!" Anna snapped, pulling back. She winced when she jostled her shoulder.
"Anna, that's not what we're saying," Danny answered.
"No, you're just saying that I don't know enough about how I feel to make a competent and sane decision about whether or not I'm up for questions." Anna looked at Jamie and Baez, both of whom avoided her eyes then she turned to Mike. He was giving her the same look her dad was. "No. Not you too. My actual dad is sitting right there. You have been a great surrogate dad and friend but I need someone on my side. You wouldn't do this to your girls, would you?" Anna asked, not giving her actual dad a chance to rebut.
"Of course I would, finding out who shot you is very important but what's more important, what's most important is that you recover. That you put yourself first. It might happen again but you can't think about that. When you're better, then you can focus on this guy."
"You want me to put me first?" Anna asked. "Fine. Then maybe you should all go. I'm clearly not up for visitors anyway," she growled.
"Anna, that's not—" Linda started.
"No, just leave me alone," Anna told her mom. She turned her eyes away from everyone in the room and the four cops slowly filtered out. Linda sighed heavily as she walked over to her daughter.
"I love you and I'm glad you're okay." She pressed a kissed to her daughter's head then followed her husband out of the room. "Well?"
"She doesn't know and doesn't remember seeing anything," Danny answered. Linda looked around the hallway and saw Jamie a few paces down it on the phone. "He's updating Dad," Danny explained. Linda nodded.
Meanwhile, Anna tried to calm herself down. She loved her family, she really did, but sometimes, they just pushed her too far. She gently settled back into the pillow and stared at her phone. Then she realized Nate may have an answer. So, she picked up her phone and called him. "Hello?" Nate answered after the third ring.
"It's me. Did you hear about the storm?" she asked, speaking in code. If he was surrounded by other cops, she didn't want to chance them overhearing and blowing her cover.
"Yeah," he said shortly. He must have been busy.
"Can you talk?"
"No. Unless you make it quick." Oh he was definitely busy, or just in a place he couldn't talk.
So, she pushed forward to get the answers she, or Detective Baez, would need. "Am I going to need a poncho or umbrella?" She was asking if she would need to take protection against her cover being blown. A poncho meant sheltering in place until the threat was gone and an umbrella meant she needed to change up her routine and stay away from her normal places until he was sure how bad the breach was.
"Your SPF works fine."
She froze. He couldn't be right. What he was saying was that her cover was still intact and all she needed was to make sure she used her undercover name as Mary Miller and she'd be fine. "You're certain?"
"100%. I checked the weather."
"Nate," she pushed.
"I trust my weatherman, you trust me. As long as you have the SPF, you're fine."
"Ok, thanks." Anna hung up and relaxed. At least she knew her cover hadn't been blown so there was no chance of the shooting being related to her undercover work. So, she tried to think of what she had missed.
Ok, be gentle, what'd you think? For those of you keeping tabs: Jamie, Danny, Frank, and Nicky all know she's a cop. Outside her family, it's Mike, Baez, and Jim. Does anyone think someone else is going to find out? And what are they going to do now that they know Anna doesn't know who shot her? Somebody's on the right track here and that's all I'll say about that.