FIC: White Whale 5/?
White Whale 5/?
Authors: docwho2100 & pprbckwrtr
Rating: R
Disclaimer: Nikki & Nora are the property of Nancylee Myatt and Warner Bros. Television. No infringement intended.
A/N: Sequel to Lex Talionis.
Chapter 5
"Thank you for picking me up Rachel." Gerald gave the agent a smile as he clasped his seat belt.
Agent Vargas nodded once, the woman already checking traffic so she could merge.
Once they had settled into the traffic pattern, Gerald broke the silence. "So, why the chauffeur treatment? Shouldn't you and Yorkshire be working on the case?"
Rachel put her arm on the car door, her fingers playing with her lips a bit as she considered her answer. "He is engaged in reviewing past case notes with some of the local detectives. His investigation ran quite late last night and he will be delayed in joining us this morning."
Gerald barked out a laugh, "You know Rachel, in all our time together, you never had to cover for me, yet that reply was well oiled. Something tells me this is not the first time York boy has gotten... "engaged" with the locals and had a hangover the next morning, is it?"
"Not everyone is dependable and married to the job."
"Really? Then your practice goes back further, to Lauralee perhaps?"
Rachel's jaw clenched a bit, the woman offering no further reply.
"Ah, I see I have stepped in it again. I seem to always do that with certain subjects, don't I?"
"Yes Jerry, you do."
Rubbing at his chin some, Gerald watched the other agent, assessing her mood, "It's been awhile since we worked a case. I'm sorry if I butted in where I shouldn't have."
She glanced sideways at him as the traffic afforded a break. "This case means a lot for us both. I'd probably have come too. He got sloppy; we're close this time, damn close." Rachel answered, deciding to take her former partner's words as directed toward the case, not the personal.
--------------
"You know, these cases are interesting." Nikki pushed her chair back from her desk, arms curved overhead as she began to stretch, rolling her shoulder a bit to try and work out a kink.
"You've been pouring over them the last two hours, I would hope they have something, or have you just been enjoying reading about Agent Vargas's exploits?" Nora put her pen down as she watched Nikki stretch. She had been casting glances at Nikki the entire time the brunette had been reviewing the materials that had been handed out to them. Not one to sit still for too long, Nora had checked on assorted other cases they were working on as well as spending a little time at the coffee station, hanging in the background as Agent Yorkshire chatted with some of the officers. She was not sure where Agent Vargas had gone and frankly Nora was not too worried about trying to chase her down. Her absence meant the FBI agent was not trying to woo Nikki away or fill her partner's head with fantasy ideas.
Nikki puckered her lips to the side. "I have not spoken to Rachel yet." She knew she didn't need to elaborate as the conversation from last night was still fresh for them both. She only wished she could explain how the conversation had turned sour so quickly or why she had immediately jumped to Rachel's defense when Nora hadn't even said anything accusatory. Unfortunately her partner's attitude so far this morning was doing nothing to calm Nikki's ire.
"We could always bring her into the interrogation room. You do some of your best work there."
"And you would have front row seats just waiting for her to make a fool of herself, is that it?" Nikki stood.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Nora's voice rose to a defensive tone as she too stood, yet kept their desks between them.
"You're the one doing all the detecting and jumping to unfounded conclusions, you figure it out."
"Come'on Nik, look, I'm just saying there is a lot that feels wrong."
"Maybe. Are you sure the lot that feels wrong is from honest detective instinct or is it more because of your jealousy?"
"My jeal..." Nora stopped, looking around as her voice had gotten a little too loud. By the time she had looked back, prepared to defend that, Nikki was already on the phone.
"Hi Rachel, yes, good." Nikki paused as she listened. "Ah, okay, so you're doing a little research, okay... I was hoping to find time to talk to you later."
She turned to look at Nora as she listened, her face impassive and closed. The expression not a very good sign Nora thought as she shoved her hands in her jeans.
"I could stop by your hotel later, sure. If you need anything else while you are out, just call. Bye."
Nora gathered up some files, coming around the desk as Nikki hung up.
"Where are you going?"
Nora barely paused as she snatched her keys from her desk and shoved them in her pocket. "Since it seems there is nothing more here we can do, I'm going to go and check on some of our other cases, you know, the ones the citizens of this city pay us to solve." She noted Nikki starting to pick up a pad, "I can handle this stuff myself. You are finding those files so interesting, why don't you keep working on them. Or maybe talk to York Terrier over there," She waved in the direction where Agent Yorkshire was sitting, talking to some of the other detectives. "You like talking to Feds." She breezed past Nikki and out of the squad room, not daring to look her partner in the face, or wait for an answer.
--------------
"Ah it's my gumbo loving buddy," Charlie greeted Nora as the detective entered the lab.
Nora made a sour face as she covered her nose with her hand. "Gah, what is that?" She paused as she noticed trays set out in front of Charlie, each with assorted piles of liquefied material, the colors seeming to touch on the all the shades of the rainbow. "Um, never mind, I don't wanna know, you got a few minutes?"
Charlie was already laughing from Nora's initial reaction, her increasing discomfort broadening his smile. "I'll meet you down the hall in ten, good?" He began laughing harder as Nora was already running from the lab.
-----
"So what can I do you for?" Charlie asked as he entered, finding Nora sitting by a desk, reading over a police report.
"Give me something good."
"Someone sounds frustrated."
Nora huffed a bit a she threw the report on the desk. "It's just getting crowed in the squad room."
"And you want an excuse to go fishing out on the bayou..." Charlie let a bit of his Cajun accent slip in as he said the last, the ME letting his thoughts wander to his planned weekend boat trip. He blinked as he heard a clicking sound, smiling as he focused on Nora's fingers, the detective busy snapping her fingers in front of his face.
"I thought I was the one trying to escape," Nora teased as Charlie gave an apologetic shrug. "Have you been able to find anything?"
"Well, the bomb crew is still working over what they found, which, might I add was a pretty foolish thing to go playing with." Charlie paused, looking expectantly at Nora.
The blonde tipped her head down, having the decency to look scolded as Charlie was one of the few who she'd capitulate to regarding her brash streak. "Yeah, okay, it was, a little..." she looked up as he heard Charlie clear his throat, "Okay, um, a lot?" She paused looking for acceptance, her expression still askew as Charlie's expression remained stony. "What?"
"Nikki stopped round yesterday, was showing the Feds our fine facilities. She pulled me to the side needing to just talk with someone, you scared her Nora, bad. Durn, if I pulled something like that with my wife, I'd be sleeping on the deck for weeks and groveling for a mess of a time."
Nora responded with a grunt, not wanting to acknowledge the logic behind Charlie's words.
He watched Nora a moment and knew she needed to stew on this more; he'd caught on quick when he started working with her this was her M.O. and approach to many things. It's been particularly ramped up since her brush with death. He moved to a set of organizer trays, pulling out a folder, coming to stand beside the detective as he opened it.
"I may have something for you. In my spare time, I reviewed some of the old files Yorkshire provided. I picked up on a few things."
Nora nodded, a hopeful look in her eye, "What should I be seeing?"
"It's what we are not." Charlie explained; he paged through and pointed at a case from about five years ago. "See the cause of death? And then the weapon?" He waited for Nora's nod before continuing. "That type of wound would leave a mess of a trail. A forensic tech's wet dream."
Nora snickered knowing some of Charlie's staff and the enthusiasm they displayed when detailing a scene.
"But in this case there was nothing."
"So the killer cleaned up?"
"Yes and no," Charlie flipped a page and walked his fingers along a few line to draw Nora's attention. "Look at all of this evidence collected. I mean that place was a walking landfill of evidence turds."
Nora pulled back, a skeptical look on her face. "The one piece of evidence that could lead to what we need was lost amongst all of the rest. There were multiple signs of forced entry - so which was right? There were documents scattered, mail opened, drawers pulled out just slightly to suggest perhaps they'd been opened so all contents had to be documented. Food fixins left out making it look like someone had been eating. All those things collected to be tested for DNA and trace evidence." Charlie licked his thumb and used the moistened pad to turn the page, continuing to run down the list. "Obvious movement of items indicating they were out of place, pictures switched on walls so faded areas would catch the CSI eyes. The trash cans were filled, often right out of a nearby fast food dumpster. Towels and clothing were wet and laying around.... getting the picture?"
Nora slowly nodded as she looked at the extensive list.
"Nora, these are all right out of college textbooks and what they teach rookies to look for. Basically this person front loaded the scene knowing everything would have to be filed, collected and tested. Yet in each case, small pieces were meticulously cleaned up and removed."
"I didn't know you knew big words like meticulous." Nora held up her hands in apology at Charlie's scathing look. "Alright, so..."
"So, someone knew what would bog down the case and did it. Also, I checked somethin' else. On a couple cases it seems evidence just went right missing. Something that would need..."
"An inside source to do the walking." Nora finished Charlie's sentence seeing the ME nod.
"So, able to go fishing?"
Nora closed the folder, "Maybe, just maybe."
Authors: docwho2100 & pprbckwrtr
Rating: R
Disclaimer: Nikki & Nora are the property of Nancylee Myatt and Warner Bros. Television. No infringement intended.
A/N: Sequel to Lex Talionis.
Chapter 5
"Thank you for picking me up Rachel." Gerald gave the agent a smile as he clasped his seat belt.
Agent Vargas nodded once, the woman already checking traffic so she could merge.
Once they had settled into the traffic pattern, Gerald broke the silence. "So, why the chauffeur treatment? Shouldn't you and Yorkshire be working on the case?"
Rachel put her arm on the car door, her fingers playing with her lips a bit as she considered her answer. "He is engaged in reviewing past case notes with some of the local detectives. His investigation ran quite late last night and he will be delayed in joining us this morning."
Gerald barked out a laugh, "You know Rachel, in all our time together, you never had to cover for me, yet that reply was well oiled. Something tells me this is not the first time York boy has gotten... "engaged" with the locals and had a hangover the next morning, is it?"
"Not everyone is dependable and married to the job."
"Really? Then your practice goes back further, to Lauralee perhaps?"
Rachel's jaw clenched a bit, the woman offering no further reply.
"Ah, I see I have stepped in it again. I seem to always do that with certain subjects, don't I?"
"Yes Jerry, you do."
Rubbing at his chin some, Gerald watched the other agent, assessing her mood, "It's been awhile since we worked a case. I'm sorry if I butted in where I shouldn't have."
She glanced sideways at him as the traffic afforded a break. "This case means a lot for us both. I'd probably have come too. He got sloppy; we're close this time, damn close." Rachel answered, deciding to take her former partner's words as directed toward the case, not the personal.
--------------
"You know, these cases are interesting." Nikki pushed her chair back from her desk, arms curved overhead as she began to stretch, rolling her shoulder a bit to try and work out a kink.
"You've been pouring over them the last two hours, I would hope they have something, or have you just been enjoying reading about Agent Vargas's exploits?" Nora put her pen down as she watched Nikki stretch. She had been casting glances at Nikki the entire time the brunette had been reviewing the materials that had been handed out to them. Not one to sit still for too long, Nora had checked on assorted other cases they were working on as well as spending a little time at the coffee station, hanging in the background as Agent Yorkshire chatted with some of the officers. She was not sure where Agent Vargas had gone and frankly Nora was not too worried about trying to chase her down. Her absence meant the FBI agent was not trying to woo Nikki away or fill her partner's head with fantasy ideas.
Nikki puckered her lips to the side. "I have not spoken to Rachel yet." She knew she didn't need to elaborate as the conversation from last night was still fresh for them both. She only wished she could explain how the conversation had turned sour so quickly or why she had immediately jumped to Rachel's defense when Nora hadn't even said anything accusatory. Unfortunately her partner's attitude so far this morning was doing nothing to calm Nikki's ire.
"We could always bring her into the interrogation room. You do some of your best work there."
"And you would have front row seats just waiting for her to make a fool of herself, is that it?" Nikki stood.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Nora's voice rose to a defensive tone as she too stood, yet kept their desks between them.
"You're the one doing all the detecting and jumping to unfounded conclusions, you figure it out."
"Come'on Nik, look, I'm just saying there is a lot that feels wrong."
"Maybe. Are you sure the lot that feels wrong is from honest detective instinct or is it more because of your jealousy?"
"My jeal..." Nora stopped, looking around as her voice had gotten a little too loud. By the time she had looked back, prepared to defend that, Nikki was already on the phone.
"Hi Rachel, yes, good." Nikki paused as she listened. "Ah, okay, so you're doing a little research, okay... I was hoping to find time to talk to you later."
She turned to look at Nora as she listened, her face impassive and closed. The expression not a very good sign Nora thought as she shoved her hands in her jeans.
"I could stop by your hotel later, sure. If you need anything else while you are out, just call. Bye."
Nora gathered up some files, coming around the desk as Nikki hung up.
"Where are you going?"
Nora barely paused as she snatched her keys from her desk and shoved them in her pocket. "Since it seems there is nothing more here we can do, I'm going to go and check on some of our other cases, you know, the ones the citizens of this city pay us to solve." She noted Nikki starting to pick up a pad, "I can handle this stuff myself. You are finding those files so interesting, why don't you keep working on them. Or maybe talk to York Terrier over there," She waved in the direction where Agent Yorkshire was sitting, talking to some of the other detectives. "You like talking to Feds." She breezed past Nikki and out of the squad room, not daring to look her partner in the face, or wait for an answer.
--------------
"Ah it's my gumbo loving buddy," Charlie greeted Nora as the detective entered the lab.
Nora made a sour face as she covered her nose with her hand. "Gah, what is that?" She paused as she noticed trays set out in front of Charlie, each with assorted piles of liquefied material, the colors seeming to touch on the all the shades of the rainbow. "Um, never mind, I don't wanna know, you got a few minutes?"
Charlie was already laughing from Nora's initial reaction, her increasing discomfort broadening his smile. "I'll meet you down the hall in ten, good?" He began laughing harder as Nora was already running from the lab.
-----
"So what can I do you for?" Charlie asked as he entered, finding Nora sitting by a desk, reading over a police report.
"Give me something good."
"Someone sounds frustrated."
Nora huffed a bit a she threw the report on the desk. "It's just getting crowed in the squad room."
"And you want an excuse to go fishing out on the bayou..." Charlie let a bit of his Cajun accent slip in as he said the last, the ME letting his thoughts wander to his planned weekend boat trip. He blinked as he heard a clicking sound, smiling as he focused on Nora's fingers, the detective busy snapping her fingers in front of his face.
"I thought I was the one trying to escape," Nora teased as Charlie gave an apologetic shrug. "Have you been able to find anything?"
"Well, the bomb crew is still working over what they found, which, might I add was a pretty foolish thing to go playing with." Charlie paused, looking expectantly at Nora.
The blonde tipped her head down, having the decency to look scolded as Charlie was one of the few who she'd capitulate to regarding her brash streak. "Yeah, okay, it was, a little..." she looked up as he heard Charlie clear his throat, "Okay, um, a lot?" She paused looking for acceptance, her expression still askew as Charlie's expression remained stony. "What?"
"Nikki stopped round yesterday, was showing the Feds our fine facilities. She pulled me to the side needing to just talk with someone, you scared her Nora, bad. Durn, if I pulled something like that with my wife, I'd be sleeping on the deck for weeks and groveling for a mess of a time."
Nora responded with a grunt, not wanting to acknowledge the logic behind Charlie's words.
He watched Nora a moment and knew she needed to stew on this more; he'd caught on quick when he started working with her this was her M.O. and approach to many things. It's been particularly ramped up since her brush with death. He moved to a set of organizer trays, pulling out a folder, coming to stand beside the detective as he opened it.
"I may have something for you. In my spare time, I reviewed some of the old files Yorkshire provided. I picked up on a few things."
Nora nodded, a hopeful look in her eye, "What should I be seeing?"
"It's what we are not." Charlie explained; he paged through and pointed at a case from about five years ago. "See the cause of death? And then the weapon?" He waited for Nora's nod before continuing. "That type of wound would leave a mess of a trail. A forensic tech's wet dream."
Nora snickered knowing some of Charlie's staff and the enthusiasm they displayed when detailing a scene.
"But in this case there was nothing."
"So the killer cleaned up?"
"Yes and no," Charlie flipped a page and walked his fingers along a few line to draw Nora's attention. "Look at all of this evidence collected. I mean that place was a walking landfill of evidence turds."
Nora pulled back, a skeptical look on her face. "The one piece of evidence that could lead to what we need was lost amongst all of the rest. There were multiple signs of forced entry - so which was right? There were documents scattered, mail opened, drawers pulled out just slightly to suggest perhaps they'd been opened so all contents had to be documented. Food fixins left out making it look like someone had been eating. All those things collected to be tested for DNA and trace evidence." Charlie licked his thumb and used the moistened pad to turn the page, continuing to run down the list. "Obvious movement of items indicating they were out of place, pictures switched on walls so faded areas would catch the CSI eyes. The trash cans were filled, often right out of a nearby fast food dumpster. Towels and clothing were wet and laying around.... getting the picture?"
Nora slowly nodded as she looked at the extensive list.
"Nora, these are all right out of college textbooks and what they teach rookies to look for. Basically this person front loaded the scene knowing everything would have to be filed, collected and tested. Yet in each case, small pieces were meticulously cleaned up and removed."
"I didn't know you knew big words like meticulous." Nora held up her hands in apology at Charlie's scathing look. "Alright, so..."
"So, someone knew what would bog down the case and did it. Also, I checked somethin' else. On a couple cases it seems evidence just went right missing. Something that would need..."
"An inside source to do the walking." Nora finished Charlie's sentence seeing the ME nod.
"So, able to go fishing?"
Nora closed the folder, "Maybe, just maybe."