| In the aftermath of 9/11, some surprises turn up. Just who is the murder suspect? My first true L&O mystery. |
| A slow day in homicide. What a concept. Lennie sighed and stretched, wondering how long this was going to last. The entire city was still in a state of shock; even the bad guys seemed to have holed up for the time being. Just as well; after the insanity of Tuesday, he was grateful that things had quieted down. Things were starting to think about returning to normal. Traffic this morning looked like people were heading back to work. Phone lines were being restored. Of course, police lines were a priority, so they got back up first. But it didn�t help when half the numbers he tried to call were still out of service. Made it damned difficult to follow up leads on the cases they had been working before the world changed. He shuddered, not wanting to think about what had happened. Instead, his thoughts wandered back again to what had become his personal definition of �life before.� The picnic Sunday afternoon at casa Curtis. It had been a slice of all-American perfection. A beautiful summer Sunday afternoon. Serena and Isabel playing off to one side, while Olivia played hostess. Jack and Rey were deep into �chef� mode, discussing cooking while Rey slaved over the hot grill. Lennie�d had to laugh at them; he�d suggested they should host a cooking show on the cable TV Food channel. At one point, he�d gone inside to use the bathroom; on his way back, Isabel was waiting for him in the living room. He smiled, remembering the conversation. �Uncle Lennie, can I talk to you?� Lennie looked at her, wondering what she had been preoccupied with all day. �Sure honey.� He sat down on the couch and waited. She stood there, biting her lip, then finally sat beside him, looking up at him. �What is it, sweetheart?� he finally asked. �I think I�m like you, Uncle Lennie. Gay.� OK, that one he wasn�t expecting. �Sweetie, what makes you think that? You�re much too young to be even thinking about things like this!� �Daddy says it�s when you�d rather be with people like you; you know, boys with boys, like you and Uncle Jack. I don�t like boys, Uncle Lennie. I�d rather play with girls. So I�m gay, right?� He sighed. Dear lord, he had forgotten how literal children could be. �No, I don�t think so, honey. There�s a little more to it than that. Besides, most girls don�t like boys until they get a bit older. Nobody expects you to like them yet.� She pouted. �Sally Kelly likes boys.� �And how old is she?� �Same as me.� �Well, then she�s starting early. Most girls don�t until they�re 13 or so. My girls �� He trailed off, suddenly very depressed at the thought that he really had no idea at what age Cathy and Julia had started dating. Isabel saw the sadness on his face. �You still miss Cathy, don�t you.� Her small hand rested on his. He pulled her close. �Just like you�ll always miss your mom, honey.� He leaned down and gently kissed her head, sighing. �But really, honey. Don�t you even be thinking about this now. Your time for boys will come. Probably sooner than your dad would like.� He chuckled and hugged her. �Come on. Let�s get back to the picnic, OK?� �OK.� She looked up at him, and Lennie once again realized how lucky he was. He had missed out on so much with his daughters. Rey�s family gave him at least a taste of what he had missed, and for that he was grateful. He smiled and took her hand, leading her to the picnic table in the back yard. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Lennie sighed, wishing fervently that the peace and simplicity of that day was still possible. The ringing phone startled him out of his reverie. He picked it up. �Briscoe.� There was a moment of silence on the line. Then a gasped, �Dad? You�re OK?� His stomach did a somersault. �Julia? Honey, is that you?� �Yeah. I�ve been trying to call since Tuesday. They said on the news the phones were down, but I�ve been so worried.� �It�s, OK, honey. I�m fine. Wasn�t anywhere near the towers.� His voice was getting very shaky. �Thank god.� Was that a choked sob he heard? He wanted desperately to keep her on the line, but couldn�t think of a thing to say. Was this his chance, to finally reconnect with his remaining daughter? But how? What to say? He needed time to think. �Julia, honey, I�m at work. I really can�t talk now. But I want to talk, sweetheart. Can I call you this weekend?� �Yeah. Yeah, I�d like that, Dad.� �OK. I�ll call you Saturday then. I � I love you, sweetheart.� He barely choked the words out. He heard a deep breath on the other end. �I love you too, Dad. Bye.� �Bye.� He hung up the phone, fighting back the tears. Ed was watching him from across their desks. �Lennie? You OK?� Lennie shook his head and got up, practically running into one of the empty interrogation rooms. // Julia loves me? Did she really say that? // After the stresses of this week, it was more than he could deal with. He sat there, holding his head in his hands, shaking. Was this really happening? He hadn�t talked to her since Cathy�s funeral. Gloria had been so mad at him, blaming him for their daughter�s death. Julia had at least given him a hug, but had stood firm with her mother through the rest of the day. Lennie had stayed with his friends, his new �family� after the funeral, rather than sitting shiva with Gloria and her clan. He hadn�t talked to any of them since. A knock at the door brought his head up. Ed poked his head in. �Lennie?� He sighed and nodded at his partner. Ed came in, closing the door behind him. He perched on the edge of the table next to Lennie. �You want to talk?� Sympathetic brown eyes looked down at him. He took a deep breath. �My kid, Ed. That was my kid, checking to see if I was OK.� Ed knew a little about the situation, not much since Lennie didn�t talk about it much. But he could see how much it meant to Lennie. He reached out and squeezed his friend�s shoulder. �Julia? You never said much about her.� �We haven�t spoken since Cathy�s funeral, and barely then. I guess I gave up on being part of her life, figured she hated me as much as Cathy did.� �Maybe you were wrong. Or maybe this insanity made her realize what was really important.� A smile tried to form on Lennie�s lips. �My kid loves me. I never thought I�d ever hear that again.� His eyes were bright with unshed tears. Ed realized that Lennie wasn�t going to be of any use right now, and frankly, they didn�t have a lot of work to do anyhow. He deliberately kept his tone light. �Look, man, you�re not going to get anything else done today. Why don�t you knock off early? I�ll make some excuse to the Lieu. If anything important comes up, I�ll call you, OK?� Lennie pulled it together and smiled at his partner. �Thanks, Ed.� Another quick squeeze of his shoulder. �Get out of here.� ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ He sat in the guest bedroom, digging through the few boxes of things he�d brought when he moved in with Jack. He�d never been much for accumulating �stuff.� But somewhere in there � ah! There it was. A box of old photographs. An old Simon & Garfunkel song floated through his mind: Time it was and what a time it was, it was a time of innocence, a time of confidences Long ago it must be; I have a photograph Preserve your memories; they�re all that�s left you. Family photographs; reminders of a happy time. He hadn�t looked at them in years; too painful now. Cathy and Julia, so young. Gloria, actually smiling. A world that just didn�t exist anymore. But somewhere in there . . . yes. A photo of Julia from high school, she had sent him from Florida. They had tried to stay in touch for a while, but distance on top of an already strained relationship had been too much. Then when Cathy was killed, and Gloria blamed him, it felt like the last straw. He hadn�t even tried after that. She�d be what � 31 now? God, time went so fast these days. He didn�t even want to think about his grandson. Six already. �Lennie?� He jumped at the sound of Jack�s voice. �Jack! I didn�t hear you come in. What time is it?� �6:30. How long have you been back here?� �Came home early. About 4, I think.� Jack sat down on the bed beside him. �Photos? I don�t think you�ve ever taken these out before.� He looked at the photo Lennie was holding, curious. A teenaged girl, obviously a school portrait. �She called, Jack. My baby called to see if I was all right. She said �� his voice broke. �She said she loves me.� He looked into Jack�s eyes, and the tears finally spilled over. Jack gently brushed them from his cheeks. �Julia?� Lennie nodded as Jack pulled him into a tight embrace. �Oh, Lennie �� He held on until he could breathe again, Jack�s hands gently rubbing his back. Finally, he pulled away, looked into his lover�s eyes. Jack smiled at him, an arm slipping around his back to maintain their connection. �So?� �She just wanted to know if I was all right. Didn�t really talk much; I couldn�t think of a thing to say.� �You�re not just going to let it drop with this?� �No. No, I told her I�d call this weekend. By then I should be able to think of something.� �Good.� The arm around his back squeezed in a hug. �Don�t let her slip away, Lennie. She opened the door � keep it open. Maybe some good can come from the hell we�ve been living through this week.� Lennie rubbed his face and leaned into Jack. �I hope so.� Jack leaned over and kissed him. �Me too. You want to get some dinner?� ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ They had just settled onto the couch after dinner when the phone rang. Jack answered it. �Hey Jack. Um, I hate to do this, man, but I gotta talk to Lennie.� �Ed, it�s almost 8PM. Your shift is long over. Go home already.� �Look, I was just about to leave when the call came in. Lieu says to tell Lennie to get his butt out here.� Jack sighed heavily and handed the phone to Lennie, who had already figured out what was going on. �What�ve we got?� �Homicide, two vics, maybe suicide, over on Lexington.� �OK, give me the address.� Jack handed him a notepad, which for once was actually sitting next to the phone. �Got it. All right, meet you there in a few.� He handed the phone back to Jack, who hung it up as Lennie dragged himself up from the couch. �Sorry, Jack. Duty calls. Don�t wait up � no telling how late we�ll be.� Jack got up and reached out, catching Lennie before he could grab his suit coat, and pulling him in for a kiss. �I wish you didn�t have to go.� Lennie smiled. �I know. But I do, so you�ve got to let go.� �Oh, all right.� Jack gave in, but not before his hands drifted south to squeeze Lennie�s ass. �Hey!� Jack laughed. �So get out of here already before I decide to not let you.� Lennie grabbed his jacket and got while the getting was good. Lennie pulled up at the crime scene, a nice single-family home in the suburbs. Ed was already there. �Hey. What have we got?� Ed pointed at the victim. �White male, mid-30�s. ID says his name�s David Blake. Looks like a blow to the head from that lamp.� A heavy brass table lamp had been dropped on the floor next to the body.� �Didn�t you say two vics?� �Other one was in the garage. White female, mid-twenties. Looks like she tried to suicide on the monoxide, but the car ran out of gas before she died. She�s still alive but unconscious, EMT�s took her to the hospital. California license, Katherine Michaels.� Lennie�s blood turned cold. No, it couldn�t be. He was seeing coincidences because of Julia�s call this afternoon. This couldn�t be Katherine Michaels, nee McCoy? Jack�s Katie? OK, same name, lived in California. Big state � surely there were lots of women with the same name. Who were about 25 years old. // Coincidence. That�s all. // Ed was looking at him. �Lennie, you OK?� He shook himself out of it. �Yeah, fine. So any idea what happened?� �We got a call about 45 minutes ago. Anonymous. Got here, door was unlocked. Blake dead on the floor. Found the girl in the car, looks like the motor was running until it ran out of gas. Lucky for her, I guess.� �Yeah. Live through the suicide just to go to jail for murder. Her boyfriend, you think?� �That�d be my first guess.� They let the crime scene team do their thing, while they searched the rest of the house. There were a couple of suitcases in one of the guest rooms. Ed frowned. �Maybe not his girlfriend. If she was staying here.� �Not necessarily. Hell, most of my stuff is still in the guest room at our place. Especially if she just got here from CA, she might be sleeping with him even though her stuff is in here.� They didn�t find anything to indicate what the motive might be. Best guess was a lover�s quarrel, she accidentally kills him, then tries to kill herself. Their best hope was that she would wake up and tell them what happened. It was past 11PM when Lennie finally got home. The apartment was dark except for the bathroom light Jack had left on for him. He quickly undressed, shut out the light, and slipped into bed beside Jack. He just couldn�t shake the feeling � what if this was Katie? He was glad Jack was asleep; he wouldn�t have wanted to answer questions about the case right now. With a sigh, he tried to put it out of his mind, wrapped his arm over the sleeping man beside him, and tried to get some sleep himself. Continue on to Daughters Ch 2 Send me some feedback Back to the Story Index Disclaimer: These characters belong to Dick Wolf and NBC. I'm just borrowing them for fun, not profit. |
| Daughters Chapter 1 Thursday 9/13 |