Adult content in this chapter

Chapter Six: Heroes

"Do I really look like I should still be in high school?" I asked Mike as we were walking in the park together. Over the last few weeks anytime, we went on calls together people commented on how young I looked. I tried not to let it affect my work.

"I try not to think about it," Mike said, "You want a hotdog? These are the best in town." He motioned to the hotdog cart.

"Sure," I answered. He handed me a dog and we sat on a park bench. He watched me as I put the dog in my mouth. "What?"

"I was just thinking of something else your lips could wrap around," he joked. I smiled.

"Maybe later," I winked at him as I finished eating. He took my trash and tossed it in the trashcan.

"I hope so," he took my hand and we continued walking together. I smiled and leaned against him. As usual, when we started to connect his pager went off.

"What is it?" I said when he hung up the phone.

"Girl was shot," he answered, "You want to come with?"

"Ok," we walked back to his car.

"Lovely neighborhood." I commented sarcastically when we pulled up.

"Nice of you to join us," Briscoe said as we climbed the stairs.

"Did someone hear the shot?" Mike asked Officer O'Brian.

"Not in this building," O'Brian answered, "They get under their bed and hope no one comes through the window."

"O'Brian," Mike responded, "Knock on every door."

"Drug dealers have terrible manners," Carl with CSU said.

"Guess they don't go to cotillion," I said.

"She get those bruises when she fell?" Mike asked.

"Not unless someone threw her down," Carl answered.

"You find anything?" I asked David, another CSI agent.

"A .45," he answered, "Confident guy. Only one shot."

"Where did you find it?" I asked.

"In the bedroom," David responded.

"Looks like a drug deal gone bad," Mike said when I walked to where he and Briscoe were talking.

"How many drug addicts do you think there are in town?" Briscoe asked.

"Do I get to take the quiz after class?" Mike asked sarcastically.

"600,000 give or take. But not many are high school heroes," Briscoe answered showing us a graduation picture of the victim.

"Dawn Bryan Class of '95," I read, "Most likely to succeed." I shook my head and we headed down the stairs to talk to the neighbors.

"This place was fine until she moved in," the woman said, "She's from Park Avenue. She wasn't great but she had nice stuff."

"She doesn't have nice stuff now," I responded.

"She sold it a few weeks ago. She said she was raising cash for her boyfriend," she replied, "She let him deal out of her apartment."

"Did you see him?" Briscoe asked.

"Don't know that I'd recognize him," she answered, "Have you called her family?"

"Not yet," Briscoe responded.

"They're uptown 83rd. Her mom used to bring her food," she said.

"Thanks," Briscoe replied.

Bryan Residence

"We didn't see her much," Mr. Bryan said.

"She liked people," Mrs. Bryan added, "She had a good heart."

"Her neighbors said you visited her," Mike stated.

"I need to lie down," Mrs. Bryan stumbled as she stood. Her husband helped her down the hall.

"To mom, Dawn will always be queen of the prom," Dawn's brother, Leon, said.

"You don't sound convinced," Briscoe noted.

"I tried to get her into rehab," Leon responded, "She stole my mom's wedding ring."

"So her boyfriend," Briscoe stated, "It wasn't about romance?"

"She said he was clean," Leon answered.

"I saw him coming out of Dawn's place twice," Mr. Bryan said when he returned, "Skate, she called him."

Back at the precinct

"Skate?" Capt Craigen said, "All you got was his street name."

"Do I look like a magician?" Mike responded, "I'll just pull his name out of my ear."

"Sorry, Mike," Craigen responded, "I didn't shoot the girl."

"I don't know," Mike stated, "This girl…"

"I called the 1-9 and the 3-1," I said, "They got a Slinky, a Silky, no Skate."

"Our luck," Briscoe said, "Good think we're not gamblers or we'd lose our cahoneys. The only usable prints were hers."

"Why don't you carry a sign up and down First that says 'Skate'? Maybe he'll come running," Craigen responded.

"I've got a better idea," Briscoe replied. "Come on Mike, let's go."

"Savannah," Craigen said to me, "Stay here we've got to talk."

"Ok," I responded, knowing nothing good came after we've got to talk. "Catch up with you later." Mike and Briscoe headed out.

I walked with Captain Craigen into his office. I breathed so the nervousness didn't reflect in my face. He sat down behind his desk. I took a seat in front.

"I know you're a good cop," Craigen started, "But some of the suspects and other cops have a hard time taking you seriously because you look so young."

"So are you sticking me on desk duty until I look older?" I asked.

"I had a better idea," he said, "There's an undercover program I think you would be a good fit for."

"Vice?" I asked.

"We'll talk about it more once I have all the details," he said.

"Ok," I replied. Craigen opened the door. Briscoe and Mike just locked up Jonas Stark. "Skate?" I looked at Mike.

"Yeah," Briscoe stated, "You want to leave him in central booking?" Two uniforms took him.

"I don't him arraigned until your witnesses can shine headlights on him," Craigen answered.

"Here's a headlight," I said looking at my computer screen, "A year ago that liquor store robbery on Skate's sheet, they dug a .45 slug out of the wall. It matches the slug they pulled out of Dawn Bryan."

"We don't have the gun," Craigen started, "Two: There was an unidentified woman at the robbery that was never found, three: Even a bad lawyer says that woman was Dawn and Skate walks."

"Where did he ditch the damn gun?" Mike stated.

"Let's get this line up started," Briscoe said. He and Mike took the neighbors to view the line up.

"We had to cut him loose," Mike said to me when he came back out, "Briscoe and I are going to talk to the family again."

"Ok, you want to meet for supper?" I asked.

"Francos, about 5?" he responded.

"See you there," I said. He winked and left with Briscoe. I continued searching for any information we could use against Skate. Nothing. I needed a break. I headed out it was almost time to meet Mike anyway.

Francos Bar and Grill

"We're still working," Mike said explaining why Briscoe was joining us. I nodded.

"Looks like I'm no longer going to be your shadow," I said. Mike pulled out the chair for me and then sat across the table from me.

"What? Why?" he asked.

"Donnie is getting me assigned to some undercover unit," I said, "Didn't really give me much information. What did you find out about Skate?"

"Someone was after him," Briscoe said, "He owed someone and they'd kill him if he didn't come up with the cash."

"And he'd kill Dawn if she didn't come help him," Mike added.

"I'll have the club," I told the waiter. Mike and Briscoe ordered their food. "Maybe they should just legalize it."

"That'll be good. Another half a million crack heads," Briscoe said sarcastically.

"You don't know that," Mike replied, "I wouldn't do it, neither would you."

"A junkie will be a junkie if it's legal or not," I added.

"So we should just sell it in the drugstores?" Briscoe asked.

"Folks wouldn't kill each other over it," I answered.

"You got any junkies in your family?" Briscoe inquired.

"I don't, Mike?" I responded.

"Just booze and if it were illegal they would cook it up on the stove," Mike answered.

"Write your congressman," Briscoe responded. "The first time we saw Skate he was hiding from someone."

"You think they beat him up at Dawn's apartment?" I asked. Briscoe nodded.

"And the girl too," Mike added, "Find the guy that was after him, maybe we'll get a witness."

"The girl Skate was with when we picked him up," Briscoe stated, "Maybe she knows who he was running from."

"Keisha White," I said finishing my sandwich, "She works at a peep show on 45th."

"You want to tag along on this one?" Mike asked.

"Sure, maybe I'll get some pointers," I smiled and winked at him.

At the peep show

"My girls don't get into trouble," the manager said.

"Yeah, they're all nuns," Mike said.

"Go on pick a door," the manager stated, "Get excited it's on the house. Your girl there can watch too."

"Which door is Keisha White?" I asked.

"Ain't got no White," the manager responded and looked at me, "You 18? You could work here. You got a nice rack. Guys would line up to watch you take off your top."

"Suppose we find out find out one of his girls with out with one of the customers. What would he get?" Briscoe asked.

"Promoting prostitution," I answered, "That's a class 'D' felony. He'll be locked up a few months and we take all his assets."

"Ok, she's in booth D," the manager responded, "Don't take up too much of her time."

"Hey your wife and kids are outside. You better drive them home," Mike said to the man in the booth.

"You, outside!" Briscoe shouted at Keisha.

"Two lonely cops, you always get your kicks together," Keisha said, "See you brought a girl with you. Kinky."

"We can talk now or you can lose a day's pay down at the station," Briscoe responded.

"Skate was in trouble," I stated, "Who did he need money for?"

"Skate don't need no money," she replied.

"You make money for him on your back," I said.

"No he'd print it in the basement," she responded.

"Yeah? Well we can print your name on a warrant. Accessory to murder," Mike said.

"I don't know, all right?" Keisha replied, "He didn't say who."

"What about the cut on his head?" Mike asked.

"That was that Bryan girl's fault," Keisha answered, "They came looking for him at her apartment. She gave him up and they beat them both."

"He still needed the money," Mike stated.

"She said she'd take care of it," she replied, "Guess she didn't."

"That would make him angry," Briscoe stated.

"Look Skate gave me stuff to spend time with him," Keisha responded, "I don't get personal."

Back at the station

ADA Paul Robinette was looking over all the evidence we had gathered on Skate. "We can't pick him up again. We don't have anything new to hold him on."

"Y'all expecting a call from a plumber?" I asked hanging up the phone, "At the Bryan girl's apartment. Place is flooded. He found something you may want to see."

Dawn Bryan's Apartment

"We covered every inch of this place," David, with CSU, said.

"You didn't check the pipe?" I asked.

"Who the fuck checks the sewer pipe?" he responded.

"The neighbors will need air freshener for a month," the plumber said, "Sewage is soft but if you put something big in it sooner or later, it clogs."

"I guess that's a .45?" Mike stated holding the evidence bag.

"It wouldn't have spilled over if this door wasn't left open," the plumber stated.

"You had three guys here? Did you take a nap after we left?" Briscoe asked sarcastically.

"I didn't notice the pipe was open," David answered.

"It wasn't open?" Briscoe replied.

"I don't know," David said.

"You've got plastic gloves in your budget for a reason," Briscoe stated, "You just didn't want to stick your hand in the sewer pipe."

"You think someone's still in forensics?" I asked.

At the forensics lab

"Four days in a sewer pipe," Mike stated, "If there's still prints I'll call Sister Maria and make a pledge now." I smiled. Mike was raised Catholic but he wasn't practicing.

"Almost your lucky day," the lab tech said, "No prints and the number's burned."

"How is that lucky?" I asked.

"He said no prints," Briscoe responded.

"On the gun," the tech added. "The sewage wiped the gun clean. Well not clean but no prints. The clip however had a partial thumb and a full index matching the set they sent me. Jonas Stark AKA Skate."

"You're beautiful," Mike responded.

At my apartment

Mike sat down next to me on my avocado couch and draped his arm across my shoulders.

"So it was the mom that did it?" I asked.

"The brother framed Skate," Mike said, "I'm done talking about work. I think you promised to wrap your lips around something." He cocked his eyebrow and looked at me.

"Now?" I asked.

"I'm ready any time," he smiled. "But now is ok with me." I slid my hand down his pants.

"I can see that," I responded feeling him stiffen in my hand. I stroked him softly and pulled him out of his pants. I smiled and put the tip in my mouth. He let a soft moan escape his lips. I continued stroking and sucking him.

"Oh yeah," he said as he came in my throat. I sat up and leaned back against the couch. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," I answered.

"You didn't have to do that, you know," he said, "I was kidding."

"I didn't do it because I thought I had to," I responded, "I wanted to."

"Ok," he said, "Did Donnie tell you anymore about the transfer?"

"I'm supposed to start tomorrow," I said, "Guess we won't be able to see each other as much."

"We should take advantage of the time we've got then," he said kissing my neck.

"Ok," I pulled his face to mine and kissed his lips softly. He intensified the kiss and slid his hand between my flesh and the band of my pants. He found my moistening folds. I sighed against his lips.

"I want to taste you," he said and slid down my pants. He entered me with his fingers and licked my clit slowly. I laced my fingers through his hair. I threw my head back as I quivered against him. He brought his face back to mine and kissed my lips. I felt him hardening against my thigh. I reached down and guided him inside me.

"You wanted that huh?" I nodded and lifted my hips to meet his. I felt my thighs shake as I came again. He pulled out and came on my stomach. He grabbed a tissue and wiped it off.

"Mike?" I said leaning against him again.

"Yeah?" he responded.

"I think I'm going to miss seeing you all the time," I said.

"Me too," he kissed the top of my head.