Devils & Gods 7/12
Title: Devils & Gods
Fandom: Nikki & Nora
Pairing: Nikki & Nora
Rating: R
Disclaimer: Nikki & Nora are not mine, but it kinda feels like they are. The characters from the pilot aren't either. BUT - there's a whole lot of original ones that are in this little story so...*yay* for me.
Author’s Note: Godbless coffee…
Ch. 7 - Corrupted by the Simple
“Det. Delaney,” Randy Cavanaugh greets me as we pull up to the department’s impound lot. “How’ve you been?” The man’s as cheerful as ever, with his graying hair and wide smile. He’s way too happy to greet us this morning. “Why don’t ya’ll pull around and I’ll walk you back?”
I give him a little salute and he chuckles. I follow his instructions, parking next to the booth he sits in most of the day. Killing the engine, Ann and I step from Frankie and wait for Randy to meet up with us at the front of the car.
He flips a sign in the window that says ‘Ring for service’ and locks his office up. His gate is slightly hitched due to a bum right leg he got in a car accident when he was younger. You’d think it’d slow him down, but he keeps up with even the youngest of cops that come through here.
“Well?” he asks looking me over.
I laugh a little and pump his outstretched hand. “I’ve been all right. I’ll be better if the vehicle you’re holding for us is the one we’re after. Also, this is a good friend and colleague, Assistant Special Agent in Charge Ann Flemming.” I turn to Ann, making sure to give Randy her full title and say to her, “This is the man with the keys to the kingdom, Randy Cavanaugh.”
“Nice to meet you,” Randy takes Ann’s hand and gives it a few quick pumps. He turns his attention back to me and waggles his finger. “For a minute there, Delaney, I thought you went and replaced my girl.” He tsks and gives me the old hand motions for being in trouble, his right index finger gets repeatedly brushed over his extended left one. “We’d be needin’ to have ourselves a talk.”
“Randy,” I playfully warn as he motions us along towards the back of the lot.
“Now, as pretty as this one you got with you is, that partner of yours still got a place in this old ticker,” he says and taps his chest.
I roll my eyes and agree, “I know. She said to say hello by the way. She’d have come with us, but she’s working with Ann’s partner and they needed to follow up on a few other things. So tell me, when was this brought in?”
We hang a right after a long row of cars and Randy ambles along, filling us in as we weave our way through his domain. “A uni had it towed here over night, found it over in the Sixth by the Irish Channel abandoned. So when I came in this morning and started on the intakes, I ‘member seein’ a flag come out about delivery trucks and then your name was attached so…”
“We appreciate it,” Ann tells him.
We take a left and there the truck sits. On the outside it looks just like a regular delivery van for UPS. If it were left somewhere it wouldn’t garner much attention for a while.
“Well, here she is.” He pats the side panel of the van. “The kid that brought her in already popped the padlock on the back and the side doors. I’m not sure if that’ll help ya’all, but you should have no trouble gettin’ in.”
Patting Randy on the shoulder, I nod. “Thanks.”
Dipping his chin, he says, “Lemme know if you need anything else. I’ll be in my box.” He turns on his heel and limps away from us and the van.
I look at my friend and motion my head towards the van. “Ready?”
Ann’s lips pucker and she shrugs. “Guess it really doesn’t matter.” She pulls a sheet of paper from her jacket pocket and looks at the truck’s windshield where the VIN numbers are. Nodding, she lets me know, “We have a match.”
I produce two sets of gloves from my jacket pocket and hand one pair off. I slip on the blue Nitrile gloves and we head towards the back. The rolling door isn’t open and the busted lock is in the hook that it should be in. I reach out and move the broken metal while Ann grabs the lever and tugs it back, releasing the doors latch.
With a good shove upwards, the door rolls up soundlessly on the track to reveal a spotless interior. Lights along the top of the compartments ceiling flicker to fully expose the interior. What was once a delivery truck has been remodeled to look like the inside of an exam room. In the middle of the left wall, there’s a small sink and mirror, the back has a stainless steel table that looks like it could be in Charlie’s autopsy suit.
Directly opposite the sink there’s a built in stainless steel cabinet. The flooring of the compartment looks to be a nonporous rubber material and there’s a drainage lever in the center.
“What do you think?” I ask my partner in crime for the day.
Ann’s eyes are still studying the truck, taking in all of the details while she chews on her lower lip. Shaking her head, she puts her hands on her hips and says, “I don’t think I want to contaminate anything. Let’s call the twins and have them come out to process.”
“What about the cab?” I wonder and as she pulls her phone out of her left hip pocket and fires off a quick text message.
“We’ll go through that while we wait on Bamby and Spencer to get here. I let John know as well. He’ll probably either want to be here or he’ll want this towed somewhere so the girls can rip it apart.”
“You think this is his?” I ask and poke at the rubbery floor. Whoever did this spent a lot of time and energy in converting it over.
“I do. I just want to make sure and I want to cross our ‘t’s and dot our ‘I’s, you know?” she says while looking at her cell phone. “Okay, Bamby, Spencer, Nikki and John are both on their way.”
Her phone gets put back in her pocket and she steps on to the bumper, tugs on the strap to bring the door down and secures it again. I replace the busted padlock and we head to the front of the vehicle.
“You really think there’s anything left back there?” I ask because knowing what we know about this guy, I’m hard pressed to think that he’d chance leaving anything behind. If he abandoned the truck he did so intentionally.
“I don’t know, but if there is anything, we’ll find and hopefully use it,” Ann answers me as we each take a side of the cab. She slips into the driver’s side and I take what would be the passenger’s side.
The glove compartment is empty and Ann fishes underneath the driver’s seat coming up empty handed. Sighing I shut the lid and look at Ann. She’s practically vibrating right now and this isn’t going to help.
“Come on,” I motion her out of the truck and take hold of her right above her elbow. I lead us back the way Randy brought us and explain, “Looking at nothing isn’t helping either of us. Randy has some killer coffee in the box he calls an office. We’ll wait and have a cup.”
Ann grunts at me, but allows herself to be led away.
I think it’s going to be another long day.
Dan’s office is quiet, dark and exactly what the doctor ordered to let me eat my lunch in peace…well, there’s Dan, but he’s not so bad.
We sit quietly, elbow to elbow devouring the burgers I brought back for us. It almost feels like we’re partners again and just enjoying lunch. It’s been a long time since we’ve taken regular lunches together. I guess the changes over the past few months have been good…
For both of us.
I will say, it’s reminded me of why we worked so well together. It’s hard sometimes, to try and remember what everything was like before Nikki. Things were…some things weren’t so good, but others…
Stuff or people like having my old partner were good.
I’ll be regretting the lunch choice the next time I hit the gym, but for now, I’ll enjoy the treat. I pop the last bite of burger in my mouth and crumple up the greasy wax paper that held my lunch. Eyeing up the waste paper basket by his door, I shoot and get a ‘good shoot’ as it hits the nothing but air before hitting the bottom of the can with a quiet thump.
“Well, those pickup games at the center haven’t hurt my game,” I say with a smile.
His elbow knocks into mine and he smiles around a mouthful of French fries. “Yeah, well, you just wait ‘till I get you alone again…” he threatens and wiggles his eyebrows.
I take the last few sips of my coke and shrug. I watch him as he finishes up the rest of his lunch before I gather his trash and the rest of mine to throw away.
“How’s the case going?” he finally asks. He’s been dying to know. I’m surprised he held out for the fifteen minutes it took us to eat. Usually, he’d have started pumping me for information as soon as we sat down.
I shrug. “We found the van, confirmed the suspect and are processing a ton of evidence,” I grunt. Truthfully, while all of that is well and good, we still don’t know where this fucker’s at.
It’s getting on my damn nerves.
“Any leads on where or who’s had contact with him?” Dan asks. It’s fairly predictable. Our minds work in a similar way and if I was him, on the outside and looking in at this, I would be thinking the same thing.
“Nothing right now,” I say and stand to toss our trash. “When I go back we’ll probably start a new canvas.” The pile of paper and empty cups join the wrapper from my burger before I turn back towards my old partner.
He’s moved from his seat and is now perched on the edge of his desk. His hands are laced on top of his head and the shirt sleeves of the pale purple button up he’s wearing are rolled up. The black tie hangs loose around his neck and the few top buttons of the shirt are undone.
His head cocks to the side as he studies me and I can’t help but ask, “What?”
I watch him struggle with wording, his jaw working open then closing a few times before he finally settles on something that he wants to say. “John filled me in on what’s going on, Nora.”
Shit.
I make a face and shake my head. “We’re good right now.”
His eyebrow cocks. “You sure?”
“Yeah,” I sigh and wipe my palms on the sides of my legs. “I mean it has Jill and Ann nervous. Thanks for that by the way.”
“I just don’t see why you didn’t tell me the real reason you guys wanted Jill here at the station.” His hands drop to his sides and he stands. He invades my space and gently takes hold of my arms, right above my elbow.
I let him press up against me and hold me in place. I search his eyes and see the concern, the worry and the fear. His jaw muscles bunch and distort the stubbly skin that covers them.
“I’m sorry,” I say honestly, quietly.
“You’re impossible sometimes,” he grumbles. I shrug. He’s right. His tongue darts out and he licks his lips. “I…have you talked to Nikki yet?”
I sigh and try to push him away now. The guilt from the past few months coils in the pit of my stomach and tightens my chest. I really don’t want to have this conversation. The one he’s been pressing for at least a month. “Dan,” I warn quietly.
He doesn’t let me go. Instead his grip tightens a little. “I’m…Nora, I get it, really, but you need to tell her. She has a right to know.”
I look away from the pleading brown eyes and focus on the purple fabric in front of me.
“You have to decide what’s best for you,” he says gently. “That’s what I want from all of this - that and for you to be happy.”
I’m about to respond, but his door is pushed open. John’s head pokes through and stops as we turn to him. Dan only letting one of my arms go as we twist in the man’s direction. “Uh…” he stammers and his face pinches. Ann’s partner recovers quickly and he gets out, “The kids are back. We’ve a briefing in five.”
I nod. “Be there in a minute,” I say and he disappears just as quickly as he came.
We wait until the door clicks shut and I turn back to my old partner. He’s still giving me that annoyingly affective wounded look and I shake my head.
“I’ll tell her,” I whisper. “I promise. I just need…”
“Time?” he asks trying to bite back the hurt in the question.
I nod. “I need to figure out how, this won’t be easy.”
I use my free hand and run it back through my hair, willing him to understand.
“Okay,” he finally concedes.
“I need to…” I trail off and look behind me to the door.
“Go,” he says letting my arm go.
I can’t help myself. I wrap him up in a hug and give him a peck to the cheek. “Soon, partner.” I mumble against the skin. “I’ll tell her soon.”
I feel him nod before I turn away and head to the briefing, wondering just how much time he’ll actually give me.
The entire task force is sitting in the conference room by the time I get there. John and Ann are quietly talking at the front and the rest of the team…
They all look about the same. Benny and Travis are talking quietly, Dom’s firing off a text message, Lucy, Georgia and Jesse are looking over paperwork, the doctors are reviewing God knows what on their computers and Nikki, my Nikki’s looking at me.
I give a quick shake of my head to banish the last bit of conversation I had with Dan to refocus. It doesn’t help when Nikki’s sitting next to my chair and I feel the now familiar rock of guilt that’s taken residence in my stomach.
Her head slightly cocks to the side in question as I round the table and take my seat. I swallow the knot in my throat and suppress the urge to come clean right then and there, but…
This isn’t the time and really isn’t the place either.
“You okay?” she whispers at me. She leans right so that our voices stay low.
I arch into her and cast a quick glance around. No one is even sort of paying attention to us, so I give her a quick peck on the cheek. The smooth skin startles me after just having given one to Dan. His cheeks, even right after he’s shaved are still a little rough. The contrast is startling and I shrink back in my chair.
“Nora, baby?” Her eyes are a little wide, her voice a little high.
“Good,” I mumble. “Just…” I trail off unsure of what to even say to her.
Her brow furrows, but she nods. “I get it,” she tries to reassure me.
I don’t know what she thinks she gets, but I know it’s not what’s going on in my head right now. There’s no way she would know or could even guess. I wasn’t expecting Dan to do what he did months ago. We went out for drinks, he drug me out while Nikki was at some function and…
Everything changed.
Months later and I’m still sitting on a fence that’s starting to hurt.
“Okay,” John interrupts my thoughts and brings everyone’s attention to the head of the table. “Good to see everyone made it.” His gaze sweeps over the room and then lands on me. It lingers and I feel the flush spread over my cheeks. The look stretches for a few more moments before he breaks it and looks down at the report in his hands. “We’re going to share a little and then get to work. Spencer, do you want to start us off?”
His daughter’s head pokes up from behind her laptop and she says, “Yeah…” she looks at her sister who gives her a slight nod before she stands and continues, “The truck definitely belonged to the killer. We spent the morning tearing it apart and managed to find a good deal of evidence.” She grabs a small stack of papers from the corner of the credenza and begins to pass them out as she carries on, “The killer, and I’m hard pressed to name him right now, so…”
“Stick to unsub, kiddo,” John gives her.
She takes a breath and nods. “So our unsub doused the interior of the truck and its back with chlorine and then hosed it down. That was a smart in some regards and stupid in others. The trace evidence we could have pulled from the drain was destroyed, but we know that the interior of the cargo hold was bloody. He also missed a lot of spots.” She hits the ‘on’ button of the projector and waits as it whirs to life. An image appears a few seconds later and I see the back of the truck. The interior of the cargo hold has been gutted and parts of the floor have been pulled up to reveal the metal underneath.
“The sealant used to lay the flooring down wasn’t nearly strong enough and it wasn’t uniform throughout the area. That caused some cracks and allowed blood, water and other body fluids to seep down and settle. The chlorine bath adhered to some it, not all of it. We’ve got Dr. Ophoven and Benton running the samples against our vics. Just so you know, we’ve already matched Jennifer Denbow’s blood type to a sample taken. Since we’re still going through everything, more information will present itself, and we’ll keep you updated.”
“Good work girls,” Ann tells them and then jumps into the next leg of the meeting, “While we’re waiting on that, we need to regroup on Davison’s whereabouts. Lucy will be holding a press conference at two this afternoon with Davison’s DL photo and some hotline numbers to promote call-ins. Dan’s offered up a rotation of uni’s to take the calls and man the phone lines.”
My friend heads to the white board, grabs a marker and starts writing down the eight-hundred numbers that will be released with today’s news. “Write these down and make sure you hand them out if you talk to anyone.”
I scribble the numbers down on my notebook and she turns back to us. “Some of this will be a waiting game. In the mean time, I want to tear his life apart. I want to know who he has the most contact with, I want to know what his favorite foods are. Hell, I want to know who is childhood best friends were. No stone, ladies and gentleman. He’s hiding. Any place he thinks may be safe won’t be by the end of today.”
“We’ve already started in on that,” Dom says, holding up a folder. “We’re breaking down everything. His parents, who weren’t as shocked as they should have been when I called, are actually on their way down here. We’ve got calls out and are expecting to have bank, credit, tax and other sundries of information here shortly. Benny and I were thinking that if we could take a few minutes and look it over, see if there’s a pattern…”
“That’s good,” Ann nods their way. “Smart. We’ll let you six keep going with that. Full report by the end of the day?”
Benny salutes. “You got it.”
The rest of the detectives and the two agents nod.
Ann’s chest rises and falls, letting loose a deep lungful of air. “While you all put that together, Nikki, Nora, I know you have a lot of connections in this city. I want to put them to use.”
“What do you have in mind?” I ask and get a pat to my leg.
Cutting a quick look to Nikki, she motions to my hand. It registers when I look down, the pen in my hand is tapping rapidly against my notepad. Stilling my movements, I tuck my hands in my lap and look back up at Ann.
“We’ll split up and begin knocking down the doors of the people you know that are connected in New Orleans. Davison is hiding somewhere. I’m hedging my bets and saying that a friend of yours or a friend of a friend will be able to point us in the right direction.”
Nikki and I look at each other and nod. “There’s a few people we can hit up, sug,” Nikki drawls and sends a wink to our friend.
Next>>>
Fandom: Nikki & Nora
Pairing: Nikki & Nora
Rating: R
Disclaimer: Nikki & Nora are not mine, but it kinda feels like they are. The characters from the pilot aren't either. BUT - there's a whole lot of original ones that are in this little story so...*yay* for me.
Author’s Note: Godbless coffee…
Ch. 7 - Corrupted by the Simple
“Det. Delaney,” Randy Cavanaugh greets me as we pull up to the department’s impound lot. “How’ve you been?” The man’s as cheerful as ever, with his graying hair and wide smile. He’s way too happy to greet us this morning. “Why don’t ya’ll pull around and I’ll walk you back?”
I give him a little salute and he chuckles. I follow his instructions, parking next to the booth he sits in most of the day. Killing the engine, Ann and I step from Frankie and wait for Randy to meet up with us at the front of the car.
He flips a sign in the window that says ‘Ring for service’ and locks his office up. His gate is slightly hitched due to a bum right leg he got in a car accident when he was younger. You’d think it’d slow him down, but he keeps up with even the youngest of cops that come through here.
“Well?” he asks looking me over.
I laugh a little and pump his outstretched hand. “I’ve been all right. I’ll be better if the vehicle you’re holding for us is the one we’re after. Also, this is a good friend and colleague, Assistant Special Agent in Charge Ann Flemming.” I turn to Ann, making sure to give Randy her full title and say to her, “This is the man with the keys to the kingdom, Randy Cavanaugh.”
“Nice to meet you,” Randy takes Ann’s hand and gives it a few quick pumps. He turns his attention back to me and waggles his finger. “For a minute there, Delaney, I thought you went and replaced my girl.” He tsks and gives me the old hand motions for being in trouble, his right index finger gets repeatedly brushed over his extended left one. “We’d be needin’ to have ourselves a talk.”
“Randy,” I playfully warn as he motions us along towards the back of the lot.
“Now, as pretty as this one you got with you is, that partner of yours still got a place in this old ticker,” he says and taps his chest.
I roll my eyes and agree, “I know. She said to say hello by the way. She’d have come with us, but she’s working with Ann’s partner and they needed to follow up on a few other things. So tell me, when was this brought in?”
We hang a right after a long row of cars and Randy ambles along, filling us in as we weave our way through his domain. “A uni had it towed here over night, found it over in the Sixth by the Irish Channel abandoned. So when I came in this morning and started on the intakes, I ‘member seein’ a flag come out about delivery trucks and then your name was attached so…”
“We appreciate it,” Ann tells him.
We take a left and there the truck sits. On the outside it looks just like a regular delivery van for UPS. If it were left somewhere it wouldn’t garner much attention for a while.
“Well, here she is.” He pats the side panel of the van. “The kid that brought her in already popped the padlock on the back and the side doors. I’m not sure if that’ll help ya’all, but you should have no trouble gettin’ in.”
Patting Randy on the shoulder, I nod. “Thanks.”
Dipping his chin, he says, “Lemme know if you need anything else. I’ll be in my box.” He turns on his heel and limps away from us and the van.
I look at my friend and motion my head towards the van. “Ready?”
Ann’s lips pucker and she shrugs. “Guess it really doesn’t matter.” She pulls a sheet of paper from her jacket pocket and looks at the truck’s windshield where the VIN numbers are. Nodding, she lets me know, “We have a match.”
I produce two sets of gloves from my jacket pocket and hand one pair off. I slip on the blue Nitrile gloves and we head towards the back. The rolling door isn’t open and the busted lock is in the hook that it should be in. I reach out and move the broken metal while Ann grabs the lever and tugs it back, releasing the doors latch.
With a good shove upwards, the door rolls up soundlessly on the track to reveal a spotless interior. Lights along the top of the compartments ceiling flicker to fully expose the interior. What was once a delivery truck has been remodeled to look like the inside of an exam room. In the middle of the left wall, there’s a small sink and mirror, the back has a stainless steel table that looks like it could be in Charlie’s autopsy suit.
Directly opposite the sink there’s a built in stainless steel cabinet. The flooring of the compartment looks to be a nonporous rubber material and there’s a drainage lever in the center.
“What do you think?” I ask my partner in crime for the day.
Ann’s eyes are still studying the truck, taking in all of the details while she chews on her lower lip. Shaking her head, she puts her hands on her hips and says, “I don’t think I want to contaminate anything. Let’s call the twins and have them come out to process.”
“What about the cab?” I wonder and as she pulls her phone out of her left hip pocket and fires off a quick text message.
“We’ll go through that while we wait on Bamby and Spencer to get here. I let John know as well. He’ll probably either want to be here or he’ll want this towed somewhere so the girls can rip it apart.”
“You think this is his?” I ask and poke at the rubbery floor. Whoever did this spent a lot of time and energy in converting it over.
“I do. I just want to make sure and I want to cross our ‘t’s and dot our ‘I’s, you know?” she says while looking at her cell phone. “Okay, Bamby, Spencer, Nikki and John are both on their way.”
Her phone gets put back in her pocket and she steps on to the bumper, tugs on the strap to bring the door down and secures it again. I replace the busted padlock and we head to the front of the vehicle.
“You really think there’s anything left back there?” I ask because knowing what we know about this guy, I’m hard pressed to think that he’d chance leaving anything behind. If he abandoned the truck he did so intentionally.
“I don’t know, but if there is anything, we’ll find and hopefully use it,” Ann answers me as we each take a side of the cab. She slips into the driver’s side and I take what would be the passenger’s side.
The glove compartment is empty and Ann fishes underneath the driver’s seat coming up empty handed. Sighing I shut the lid and look at Ann. She’s practically vibrating right now and this isn’t going to help.
“Come on,” I motion her out of the truck and take hold of her right above her elbow. I lead us back the way Randy brought us and explain, “Looking at nothing isn’t helping either of us. Randy has some killer coffee in the box he calls an office. We’ll wait and have a cup.”
Ann grunts at me, but allows herself to be led away.
I think it’s going to be another long day.
Dan’s office is quiet, dark and exactly what the doctor ordered to let me eat my lunch in peace…well, there’s Dan, but he’s not so bad.
We sit quietly, elbow to elbow devouring the burgers I brought back for us. It almost feels like we’re partners again and just enjoying lunch. It’s been a long time since we’ve taken regular lunches together. I guess the changes over the past few months have been good…
For both of us.
I will say, it’s reminded me of why we worked so well together. It’s hard sometimes, to try and remember what everything was like before Nikki. Things were…some things weren’t so good, but others…
Stuff or people like having my old partner were good.
I’ll be regretting the lunch choice the next time I hit the gym, but for now, I’ll enjoy the treat. I pop the last bite of burger in my mouth and crumple up the greasy wax paper that held my lunch. Eyeing up the waste paper basket by his door, I shoot and get a ‘good shoot’ as it hits the nothing but air before hitting the bottom of the can with a quiet thump.
“Well, those pickup games at the center haven’t hurt my game,” I say with a smile.
His elbow knocks into mine and he smiles around a mouthful of French fries. “Yeah, well, you just wait ‘till I get you alone again…” he threatens and wiggles his eyebrows.
I take the last few sips of my coke and shrug. I watch him as he finishes up the rest of his lunch before I gather his trash and the rest of mine to throw away.
“How’s the case going?” he finally asks. He’s been dying to know. I’m surprised he held out for the fifteen minutes it took us to eat. Usually, he’d have started pumping me for information as soon as we sat down.
I shrug. “We found the van, confirmed the suspect and are processing a ton of evidence,” I grunt. Truthfully, while all of that is well and good, we still don’t know where this fucker’s at.
It’s getting on my damn nerves.
“Any leads on where or who’s had contact with him?” Dan asks. It’s fairly predictable. Our minds work in a similar way and if I was him, on the outside and looking in at this, I would be thinking the same thing.
“Nothing right now,” I say and stand to toss our trash. “When I go back we’ll probably start a new canvas.” The pile of paper and empty cups join the wrapper from my burger before I turn back towards my old partner.
He’s moved from his seat and is now perched on the edge of his desk. His hands are laced on top of his head and the shirt sleeves of the pale purple button up he’s wearing are rolled up. The black tie hangs loose around his neck and the few top buttons of the shirt are undone.
His head cocks to the side as he studies me and I can’t help but ask, “What?”
I watch him struggle with wording, his jaw working open then closing a few times before he finally settles on something that he wants to say. “John filled me in on what’s going on, Nora.”
Shit.
I make a face and shake my head. “We’re good right now.”
His eyebrow cocks. “You sure?”
“Yeah,” I sigh and wipe my palms on the sides of my legs. “I mean it has Jill and Ann nervous. Thanks for that by the way.”
“I just don’t see why you didn’t tell me the real reason you guys wanted Jill here at the station.” His hands drop to his sides and he stands. He invades my space and gently takes hold of my arms, right above my elbow.
I let him press up against me and hold me in place. I search his eyes and see the concern, the worry and the fear. His jaw muscles bunch and distort the stubbly skin that covers them.
“I’m sorry,” I say honestly, quietly.
“You’re impossible sometimes,” he grumbles. I shrug. He’s right. His tongue darts out and he licks his lips. “I…have you talked to Nikki yet?”
I sigh and try to push him away now. The guilt from the past few months coils in the pit of my stomach and tightens my chest. I really don’t want to have this conversation. The one he’s been pressing for at least a month. “Dan,” I warn quietly.
He doesn’t let me go. Instead his grip tightens a little. “I’m…Nora, I get it, really, but you need to tell her. She has a right to know.”
I look away from the pleading brown eyes and focus on the purple fabric in front of me.
“You have to decide what’s best for you,” he says gently. “That’s what I want from all of this - that and for you to be happy.”
I’m about to respond, but his door is pushed open. John’s head pokes through and stops as we turn to him. Dan only letting one of my arms go as we twist in the man’s direction. “Uh…” he stammers and his face pinches. Ann’s partner recovers quickly and he gets out, “The kids are back. We’ve a briefing in five.”
I nod. “Be there in a minute,” I say and he disappears just as quickly as he came.
We wait until the door clicks shut and I turn back to my old partner. He’s still giving me that annoyingly affective wounded look and I shake my head.
“I’ll tell her,” I whisper. “I promise. I just need…”
“Time?” he asks trying to bite back the hurt in the question.
I nod. “I need to figure out how, this won’t be easy.”
I use my free hand and run it back through my hair, willing him to understand.
“Okay,” he finally concedes.
“I need to…” I trail off and look behind me to the door.
“Go,” he says letting my arm go.
I can’t help myself. I wrap him up in a hug and give him a peck to the cheek. “Soon, partner.” I mumble against the skin. “I’ll tell her soon.”
I feel him nod before I turn away and head to the briefing, wondering just how much time he’ll actually give me.
The entire task force is sitting in the conference room by the time I get there. John and Ann are quietly talking at the front and the rest of the team…
They all look about the same. Benny and Travis are talking quietly, Dom’s firing off a text message, Lucy, Georgia and Jesse are looking over paperwork, the doctors are reviewing God knows what on their computers and Nikki, my Nikki’s looking at me.
I give a quick shake of my head to banish the last bit of conversation I had with Dan to refocus. It doesn’t help when Nikki’s sitting next to my chair and I feel the now familiar rock of guilt that’s taken residence in my stomach.
Her head slightly cocks to the side in question as I round the table and take my seat. I swallow the knot in my throat and suppress the urge to come clean right then and there, but…
This isn’t the time and really isn’t the place either.
“You okay?” she whispers at me. She leans right so that our voices stay low.
I arch into her and cast a quick glance around. No one is even sort of paying attention to us, so I give her a quick peck on the cheek. The smooth skin startles me after just having given one to Dan. His cheeks, even right after he’s shaved are still a little rough. The contrast is startling and I shrink back in my chair.
“Nora, baby?” Her eyes are a little wide, her voice a little high.
“Good,” I mumble. “Just…” I trail off unsure of what to even say to her.
Her brow furrows, but she nods. “I get it,” she tries to reassure me.
I don’t know what she thinks she gets, but I know it’s not what’s going on in my head right now. There’s no way she would know or could even guess. I wasn’t expecting Dan to do what he did months ago. We went out for drinks, he drug me out while Nikki was at some function and…
Everything changed.
Months later and I’m still sitting on a fence that’s starting to hurt.
“Okay,” John interrupts my thoughts and brings everyone’s attention to the head of the table. “Good to see everyone made it.” His gaze sweeps over the room and then lands on me. It lingers and I feel the flush spread over my cheeks. The look stretches for a few more moments before he breaks it and looks down at the report in his hands. “We’re going to share a little and then get to work. Spencer, do you want to start us off?”
His daughter’s head pokes up from behind her laptop and she says, “Yeah…” she looks at her sister who gives her a slight nod before she stands and continues, “The truck definitely belonged to the killer. We spent the morning tearing it apart and managed to find a good deal of evidence.” She grabs a small stack of papers from the corner of the credenza and begins to pass them out as she carries on, “The killer, and I’m hard pressed to name him right now, so…”
“Stick to unsub, kiddo,” John gives her.
She takes a breath and nods. “So our unsub doused the interior of the truck and its back with chlorine and then hosed it down. That was a smart in some regards and stupid in others. The trace evidence we could have pulled from the drain was destroyed, but we know that the interior of the cargo hold was bloody. He also missed a lot of spots.” She hits the ‘on’ button of the projector and waits as it whirs to life. An image appears a few seconds later and I see the back of the truck. The interior of the cargo hold has been gutted and parts of the floor have been pulled up to reveal the metal underneath.
“The sealant used to lay the flooring down wasn’t nearly strong enough and it wasn’t uniform throughout the area. That caused some cracks and allowed blood, water and other body fluids to seep down and settle. The chlorine bath adhered to some it, not all of it. We’ve got Dr. Ophoven and Benton running the samples against our vics. Just so you know, we’ve already matched Jennifer Denbow’s blood type to a sample taken. Since we’re still going through everything, more information will present itself, and we’ll keep you updated.”
“Good work girls,” Ann tells them and then jumps into the next leg of the meeting, “While we’re waiting on that, we need to regroup on Davison’s whereabouts. Lucy will be holding a press conference at two this afternoon with Davison’s DL photo and some hotline numbers to promote call-ins. Dan’s offered up a rotation of uni’s to take the calls and man the phone lines.”
My friend heads to the white board, grabs a marker and starts writing down the eight-hundred numbers that will be released with today’s news. “Write these down and make sure you hand them out if you talk to anyone.”
I scribble the numbers down on my notebook and she turns back to us. “Some of this will be a waiting game. In the mean time, I want to tear his life apart. I want to know who he has the most contact with, I want to know what his favorite foods are. Hell, I want to know who is childhood best friends were. No stone, ladies and gentleman. He’s hiding. Any place he thinks may be safe won’t be by the end of today.”
“We’ve already started in on that,” Dom says, holding up a folder. “We’re breaking down everything. His parents, who weren’t as shocked as they should have been when I called, are actually on their way down here. We’ve got calls out and are expecting to have bank, credit, tax and other sundries of information here shortly. Benny and I were thinking that if we could take a few minutes and look it over, see if there’s a pattern…”
“That’s good,” Ann nods their way. “Smart. We’ll let you six keep going with that. Full report by the end of the day?”
Benny salutes. “You got it.”
The rest of the detectives and the two agents nod.
Ann’s chest rises and falls, letting loose a deep lungful of air. “While you all put that together, Nikki, Nora, I know you have a lot of connections in this city. I want to put them to use.”
“What do you have in mind?” I ask and get a pat to my leg.
Cutting a quick look to Nikki, she motions to my hand. It registers when I look down, the pen in my hand is tapping rapidly against my notepad. Stilling my movements, I tuck my hands in my lap and look back up at Ann.
“We’ll split up and begin knocking down the doors of the people you know that are connected in New Orleans. Davison is hiding somewhere. I’m hedging my bets and saying that a friend of yours or a friend of a friend will be able to point us in the right direction.”
Nikki and I look at each other and nod. “There’s a few people we can hit up, sug,” Nikki drawls and sends a wink to our friend.
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