SIUBlues6

Harvey twirled a lock of Rachel’s hair around his finger as he stared down at her slumbering face. He had insisted that she take her pain medication as soon as they got back to her apartment and she dozed off minutes later while they were watching television together.

She was stretched out on the couch with her head resting on his thigh and he had muted the television so that it wouldn’t wake her, then simply enjoyed the company. He memorized every inch of her upturned face while she laid there sleeping. She must have been exhausted, he thought, amazed that she could sleep so deeply. Her entire body was completely relaxed. She hadn’t moved a muscle since nodding off.

I miss this, he thought with some surprise. A quiet afternoon doing nothing but watching television suddenly seemed like an oasis in the riot of his life. It was a startling revelation that something so mundane could be something so cherished. Then again, nothing about his relationship with Rachel was mundane. Even moments like that, which most people would consider mind-numbing, was exactly what both of them needed. Peace and quiet. When a life was as full as theirs, those moments were rare.

He moved his fingers slowly across her cheek, enjoying the feel of her soft skin against the back of his hand. He was still uncertain about a major part of his future, but one thing that he wanted without question was Rachel in his life. It still amazed him that he hadn’t realized he had fallen in love with her years ago. The feelings that she aroused in him were so new that he couldn’t remember ever experiencing them before.

Until Nash had told him of Rachel’s interest in him, he never thought twice about the easy companionship they shared. He just took it for granted that she was a friend who was always going to be there, but no longer. He was going to let her know in every way that he could think of that she was special and he was grateful to have her in his life.

He looked up at the bouquet of lilacs that were on her coffee table. He had to make a lot of phone calls before he found a florist who would ship in the flowers for him. Lilacs were out of season and it cost him a pretty penny just to get one bouquet. But Rachel was worth it. Just the expression on her face would have been enough. She actually glowed.

“Hey sleepy head,” he whispered softly when her heavily lidded eyes drifted up to his face.

“This is something that I could get use to,” she returned.

“I wouldn’t if I were you. Who knows when we will get another day off together.”

Rachel’s heart had jumped at his statement before he clarified himself. Cold water wouldn’t have worked better at snapping her out of her drug induced drowsiness. Was he having second thoughts about their relationship? Was that why he wasn’t talking with her about what was bothering him? Because he couldn’t bring himself around to dumping her when she was injured?

“You know, Brett was way out of line earlier.” She didn’t know why that had come out of her mouth, but she had to say something. She couldn’t stand the silence any longer. “He couldn’t have been more wrong about you.”

He smiled at her concern. “I can understand the way he’s feeling. If he needs someone to blame for Evan’s death, it might as well be me.” He thought about that for a long moment. “I can’t say he’s entirely wrong.”

Rachel sat up a little too quickly and had to shake off a head rush. “I can,” she insisted as she looked him in the eye. “You couldn’t have done anything to save Evan or you would have.”

He lightly touched her face as he brushed an errant strand of hair from her cheek. It felt good to have someone be protective of him again. “But I could have stopped what happened to you,” he said softly and saw a flicker of shock in her eyes. “I shouldn’t have rode out into the open like that. It was stupid and put us both in danger. I should have waited for the spotters to give us a more definite location. Bixby knew we were all around him, but the motorcycle was the only thing he could hear coming and he took the first opportunity he had to make sure we wouldn’t be following him.”

She wasn’t sure what to say. That thought had never crossed her mind. She would have done the exact same thing if she had been the one driving. “But the way you put the bike down probably saved our lives.”

God, I love her, he thought, but before he could say the words, the phone stared to ring. “That’s got to be Nash,” he joked as he stood to answer. “Only he could have such bad timing.” He only listened to the caller for a few seconds before he covered the receiver to let Rachel know what was going on. “It’s Nash. They think they have found where Bixby is holed up.”

“Go! Get out of here!” she ordered.

“I’ll be there in ten,” he told Nash, then hung up the phone.

“My ankle holster is hanging in the bedroom closet and I think I threw your vest in there too,” she said quickly and he disappeared for a moment. She knew that he might need all the fire power he could get so she offered her weapon without hesitation. She could hear him rummaging around as she stretched back out on the couch, the last few minutes racing through her mind.

Did he really think that he almost got her killed? The idea seemed ludicrous to her.

When Harvey returned, he knelt down next to her. “I’ll be back as soon as I can,” he promised, then hesitated. This was too easy. She was waving good-bye without one word about going herself? “Now you’re not going to sneak out of here again when I’m gone, are you?”

“No, Papa Hen. I don’t think I could stand up right now even if I wanted to.”

He looked at her a little suspiciously. He couldn’t believe that she wasn’t fighting to go. He knew that she would want to see Bixby arrested as much as anyone. “I’ll fill you in on all the details when I get back.” He lightly ran his finger across her cheek as he stared down at her for a long moment. He leaned down, gave her a small peck on the lips, then he was out the door.

Rachel stared up at the ceiling. Why did everything seem so precarious suddenly? Insecurity wasn’t usually one of her weaknesses, but she definitely felt weighed down by it at that particular moment. The thought of losing Harvey left her with a gaping hole where her heart use to be. It had only been a fraction of an instant when he told her not to get use to being together. But in that fraction of an instant, she felt like she had no soul left.

She hadn’t realized it before, but she was risking everything on the chance that they could make a go of a personal relationship. Either she would have it all or have nothing. She couldn’t imagine working with Harvey if their attempt at romance failed. It would hurt too much to see him every day. Once those floodgates of emotion had been unleashed, she was hopelessly in love with him. Her own personal Pandora’s Box.

“I must have been insane,” she whispered to herself.

Shaking off the unwanted thoughts, she focused on the other thing that had surprised her. How did she miss the fact that Harvey was blaming himself for what had happened to her? In the instant before she was shot, she was impressed with how quickly Harvey was laying the motorcycle down after the shouted warning. His reflexes were what saved her. She was sure of it. How could he think that his actions had caused it?

“Oh, I knew this was going to be a bad idea,” she whispered to herself as she rubbed her throbbing temples. Everything had happened too quickly between them and Harvey was back peddling fast. She had watched him do that before with other women and she hated the thought of him pulling away from her.

Damn Nash. He was the one that had lit that firecracker. If only Harvey hadn’t confronted her about it. If only she could have hid the fact of how deep her devotion went, then things would be different. They would have been there for each other, like always, but Rachel would still have her heart in tact.

* * *

When Harvey knelt down next to the Cuda, Nash looked around for his partner. “Don’t tell me that Rachel let you out of her apartment without throwing herself in the trunk of your car,” he teased.

He nodded his head with a wiry smile. “And she even gave me her ankle holster,” Harvey returned in an equally shocked voice.

“Damn man! You’d better marry that woman.”

Harvey chuckled. “Nothing better than a good dose of pain pills to get things under control. She has been in and out for the past few hours. Is Bixby inside?” he asked, tipping his head toward the small inn they were outside of.

Nash nodded as he climbed out of the Cuda. “We just got confirmation. Two minutes later and you would have missed the whole thing. We lucked out. Bixby finally slipped up. One of our guys just happened to be checking out when Bixby was checking in and recognized him from the file he had given us on himself.”

His ears perked up at the thought of someone from the SIU checking into a remote inn on the edge of town. “Anyone I know?” Harvey asked jokingly.

“Don’t even go there,” he warned, then flipped open his cell phone. “Agent Lombardy?” Nash asked, trying to keep the laughter out of his voice when Harvey started to crack up. “I’m just calling to let you know that we are on our way to the Sea Cliff Inn to arrest Bixby.” He could hear the DEA agent cursing as he flipped the phone closed once more, then started into the inn.

“I love it when you do that,” Harvey remarked with a smile. “Oh, and you forgot to mention the fact that there are three Sea Cliff Inns around the city.”

He snapped his fingers. “Did I forget that? Damn, my memory just isn’t what it use to be.”

Heavily armored officers were clearing out the staff as Nash and Harvey passed through. No one spoke. Hand signals were all that were used as everyone moved into position. Everyone had been warned of Bixby’s abilities so no safety precaution was overlooked.

Nash and Harvey pressed themselves up against the wall as they reached the men with the battering ram standing outside of room twenty-two. “Go,” Nash whispered into a handset he had produced from his pocket as he gave the men with them a nod. A simultaneous crash from inside the room was nearly drown out by the splitting of the cheap wood door as two waves invaded.

Harvey entered directly behind the point men to see a tidy hotel room. It was as if no one had been there at all. Bixby was no where to be seen. “Clear,” was repeated several times by the men checking every nook and cranny. Harvey shook his head as he looked over at Nash walking into the room. “Maybe we missed him by five minutes, maybe he hasn’t been here at all today. This guy is good.”

“Yeah, but he had better be long gone. He’s already made one mistake. Now we just need to find his weak spot and wait for him to make another,” Nash said as he reached into his breast pocked to pull out his ringing cell phone. “Nash.”

“Congratulations, Captain Bridges. You just became the man that nearly caught me.”

“Bixby.” Nash clenched his jaw as he walked over to the window quickly to see if Bixby’s car was outside.

“No one has ever gotten closer, Captain. You should be commended.”

Nash could hear the car engine in the background so he knew that Bixby was speeding away. “Why don’t you swing by and congratulate me in person.”

Bixby laughed at the suggestion. “Don’t worry. You’ll have your chance again. You’ve got something I want.”

“Sinclair is going away for a long, long time, bubba. I’m sure someone will catch up to you before he sees the light of day again.”

“Now don’t disappoint me, Bridges. You and I both know that a man like Sinclair doesn’t go down easily. You’ll have your chance and so will I.”

Nash flipped his phone shut as he strode out of the room with Harvey in tow. “We’re going to have to sit on Sinclair.”

“Bixby thinks that jail time isn’t justice enough?” Harvey asked having heard enough of the conversation to guess what had been said at the other end.

“He won’t stop until Sinclair is six feet under which means we’ve found our soft spot.”

“Thinking of using Sinclair as target practice?” he returned hopefully.

“You’ve got it. Do you think Rachel would mind running a search on her pc at home? We’re going to have to put everyone we can on this if we’re going to be ready for Bixby next time.”

“Are you kidding? She’s probably doing that as we speak. Rachel hates to be left out of the loop.”

Nash glanced at him again as they stepped out into the parking lot once more. “Yeah and that’s one quick lady too. She nailed me for letting it slip to you that she might be interested in you.”

Harvey chuckled as they stopped to converse for a moment. “I can just imagine how that went.”

“I’m lucky I’m still alive, brother,” he joked. “So how are things going between you and Miss McCabe?”

“She’s amazing, Nash,” Harvey said sincerely. “That woman knows me better than I know myself.”

“Hmm. That could be a good thing or a very bad thing,” he said warily.

“You’ve got that right, brother!” Harvey returned. There were moments when he wanted to strangle Rachel for understanding him so well and moments when he couldn’t be more grateful to her for the same reason.

Nash waited for a few more seconds, then broached the one topic he knew that Harvey would be battling within himself. “So have you decided if you want to keep the job or not?”

Harvey jerked back slightly at the direct hit and looked at his captain questioningly. Was he so easy to read? “How did you know?”

“Because I went through the same thing myself several years ago. It’s one of the hazards of the job. If you spend any time with it at all, you end up losing a lot of people you care about. I think for anyone who loves the job the way we do, there always comes a point when we ask ourselves if what we are doing is enough.”

“That’s exactly what I’ve been wondering,” he admitted. “I’ve been trying to figure out how to weigh the good against the bad. I mean, look at what happened last night. We got Sinclair, but we lost Hanson and nearly lost Rachel.” He shook his head at the absurdity of it all. “Was that a fair exchange?” he asked. “Then you have to consider that, basically, Evan was killed because of a mistake and all of my training meant squat. So what’s the point to all this?”

Harvey surprised himself a little when all of that came pouring out. He hadn’t been able to give a definite reason for his doubts until he was finally able to voice them to Nash. There had to be some logic behind good people dying when nothing else seemed to change.

“There’s nothing fair about dying,” Nash returned, giving the best answer he could. “Whatever you decide, Harv, you’ve got to make sure that it’s the right choice for you. This is an unforgiving business we’re in. You’ve got to have your head and your heart in the right place or it will chew you up and spit you out. There’s no room for doubt.”

Harvey was silent for another long moment as he took his words to heart. “So how did you decide when you weren’t sure you wanted to stay on the force?”

Nash shrugged his shoulders. “I just couldn’t picture myself doing anything else.”

* * *

“I finally found the connection between the warehouses and the auction company,” Rachel announced without preamble when she let Harvey into her apartment. She returned quickly to her computer where her search program was still running. “It’s the two other dealers on the board of directors for the auction company. Leonard Kratz and Bobby Reed. They don’t own the warehouses themselves, but a couple of the men working for them do,” she explained. “It’s a paper trail thing. It’s only a matter of time until we can tie all of them together.”

“How did I know you would already be up,” he asked rhetorically. “And why are you dressed?” he asked incredulously. “You’re suppose to be resting. Staying off your feet. Taking your medication. Any of this sound familiar?”

Rachel continued to tap at her keyboard. She hadn’t heard a word of what he had said. It barely even registered with her at all and then she simply assumed that he had been asking about her discovery. “I’ve already called Nash. He’s getting a warrant issued for both Kratz and Reed while we try to track them down. Between the two of them and Sinclair, they have the entire state of California covered and were just venturing out to the surrounding states. Can you imagine getting your drugs delivered right to your door? They’ve got this thing down to a science. It’s brilliant.”

Harvey shook his head. She was a pit bull. Once her mind was focused, that was all that could get in. “I was just stopping in to see if you wanted anything for breakfast,” he told her. He was tired and hungry. He had already been in the office for hours doing paperwork even though it was barely past nine in the morning.

“Wait a minute.” His eyes narrowed suspiciously when he suddenly realized why she was dressed. “You’re not thinking about going on the bust?”

Her eyes darted up to his as he leaned over her desk. “You really don’t think you can stop me, do you?” she countered.

“I don’t have to stop you, sweetheart. Nash will,” he told her. “He’s not going to let you anywhere near the action until he is certain that you’re not going to pass out on him.”

Rachel’s eyes grew when she thought about the faint at Evan’s apartment. “You didn’t tell Nash, did you?” When he didn’t respond, she cringed. “You did! I can’t believe it. The biggest bust we’ve had in years and you just scratched me from the line up. Thanks Harv.”

His mouth dropped open slightly in disbelief. “Rach, you were shot a couple of days ago or did you forget about that all ready. You need to have time to heal.”

“It’s a couple of cracked ribs, Harvey. It’s not like I had major surgery or something.”

“I’m not arguing with you about this,” he warned her as his cell phone started to ring. He didn’t waste any time pulling it out to answer it. “Yeah.”

Rachel’s brows drew together when Harvey suddenly turned and walked out of the room. She wondered for a moment if it could be Nash, but the angry tones she heard coming down the hallway suggested that she wasn’t the only one planning on doing something that she wasn’t suppose to be doing.

She had barely made it to the doorway to follow when Harvey returned, then she became very concerned. There was a presence about him, one that she couldn’t quite identify, but he wasn’t the Harvey she knew. His eyes actually looked cold.

“There isn’t any point in continuing our conversation because Nash isn’t going to let you anywhere near the busts. You might as well get back into your pj’s and go to bed. I’ve got something that I have to take care of right away, but I’ll be back after while.” He gave her a quick peck on the mouth, then headed for the front door. “Think about what you want to eat and I’ll stop and get it for you.” Without even a backwards glance, he was gone.

Rachel stared at the door for exactly two seconds, then hurried back to her bedroom to retrieve her shoes and her gun. “I don’t think so, Leek,” she said to herself as she followed him out the door. She didn’t even bother putting on her shoes before jumping into her car. She had a glimpse of his Cruiser turning the corner and she didn’t want to take a chance on losing him.

She struggled with fitting her shoes on her feet while she was driving. Harvey was zipping through town so fast that she was afraid that she had lost him when the PT Cruiser came into view once more. He had haphazardly pulled it halfway onto the sidewalk in front of a dilapidated house, but he was nowhere in sight. Rachel recognized the house to be one of a local gang’s former hide outs and she knew then that Harvey was going after the gang members who shot Evan. It was the only thing to explain the look on his face after the hurried phone call.

As she got out of her car, she didn’t even bother with her holster. She tossed it back onto the car seat after removing her gun and extra clip which she stuffed into the back pocket of her jeans. Her imagination was running wild with possible scenarios that she may be walking into. She didn’t like how any of them turned out.

She didn’t even remember crossing the unkempt lawn or bounding up the concrete stairs. Her entire focus was on the sounds coming from inside. There was only a slight scuffle, then Harvey’s voice, indistinct, but nearby reached her. She eased down the hallway and darted a glance into an adjacent room where she saw two teenage boys with their hands on the wall and Harvey behind them.

Harvey slapped the handcuffs a little more roughly than necessary on each of his captive’s wrists. He had just stared reading them their rights when he heard the unmistakable sound of a bolt being drawn back on a gun.

He turned his head slightly and, out of the corner of his eye, he could just make out another teenager pointing a semiautomatic weapon in his direction. “You don’t want to do that, son,” he said in a reasonable tone of voice. “Being in the car and pulling the trigger are two different things.” He had no way of knowing for certain who was standing behind him. He could only hope that it was a scared kid and not the callous killer.

Rachel forced her breathing to slow as she watched through a well-placed bullet hole in the thin wall. The angry teen move slowly toward Harvey and his friends . This is not good, she thought to herself. The only hope she had of beating the trigger finger on the semiautomatic was if he kept walking in her direction. Just two more steps, she ordered silently.

“What’s one more cop,” the boy asked in return, then froze as well when he heard a gun cocking right next to his ear.

“One more cop means your busted,” Rachel answered him, the barrel of her gun inches from his head.

Harvey turned the rest of the way at the sound of her voice. The boy was slowly moving his arm around so that she could take the gun from his hand. His eyes closed as he let out a small burst of air. He hadn’t seen the third teenager and it almost cost him his life.

“You must be Tyrone,” Harvey guessed as he left his two suspects against the wall to approach the boy in Rachel’s custody. He pulled out a plastic tie from his pocket and shoved Tyrone back until he assumed the position against the wall. “You’re going to find out exactly what the cost is for killing a cop.”

Rachel’s eyes locked with Harvey’s as he slipped the plastic cord around Tyrone’s wrists. There was only a hint of the person that she knew to be seen in the icy blue of his eyes. “Call it in,” she whispered to him before walking over to the other two suspects.

He had handled that bust so wrong and she wasn’t going to let him finish it by taking the boys downtown himself. She could only guess how he had gotten the one piece of information that no one else at the SIU had been able to obtain, the names of the kids in the car. She was certain that he had already broken so many procedures that Nash was going to be riding him for days. She wasn’t going to let him throw his life away too.

* * *

Harvey leaned back against the rail outside the SIU, his hands stuffed in his pockets as Nash paced in front of him. “I don’t even know where to start,” Nash admitted as he rubbed a hand over his mouth. “I would have expected this kind of behavior out of Evan, but not you, Harv.” The recklessness that Harvey had displayed was so out of character for him that Nash was at a loss. He knew that quoting procedure was completely unnecessary. Harvey knew what he was and wasn’t suppose to do. “You’re lucky that Rachel was smart enough...or stupid enough to follow you.” On that point, he wasn’t sure which one of them was more careless, Harvey or Rachel. “If you had called, you would have had back up.”

An entire list of excuses filled his head, but Harvey knew better than to voice a single one. He knew that Nash would see through the subterfuge. He hadn’t said anything because he wanted to be the one to get Evan’s killers. They both knew that. It was arrogant and stupid, but it was what he needed to do.

Rachel following him into the action wasn’t something that he had anticipated. She had been so intent on going in on the bust of Kratz and Reed. He had expected her to fight for that, but he knew that Nash would nix it. It never occurred to him that she would follow him instead. That was the mistake that haunted him. Had he done the same thing with Evan? Had he led his partner into danger, and just not noticed it?

Nash stared hard at him, his pacing finally ceasing as he stood next to Harvey. “I want you to take a couple of days off,” Nash said with conviction. “You’re not going to do me any good until you get your head on straight. Figure out what you want to do. You’re off this case, Harv.” When he turned to protest, Nash gave him an unwavering glare that said he would tolerate no argument. “I’m not going to help you get yourself killed just so you can get rid of your guilt over Evan.” He looked out over the bay. “Go home,” he ordered.

Harvey hesitated for a moment, then walked off. He knew that arguing wouldn’t help. Instead, he took a long drive in his PT Cruiser and found himself on a small beach down the coast from the city. He stood out on the rocks for hours, looking out at the endless sea. The little strip of sand was dwarfed by the towering rocks beside it. It was not even a dot on the map as far as the world was concerned.

Somehow, he identified with that tiny beach. His insignificant existence meant nothing to the rest of the world. Like the highway just a few yards from the sand, life seemed to pass by unaware and yet, he knew that he wasn’t alone. His life was filled with people that he cared about and who cared about him. His son was at the top of that list. Jerry was the best of him. Jerry was his soul. Without him, there would be no life left in him.

Somehow, Rachel had managed to steal his heart at a time when he didn’t think he had anything left to give. She truly knew what a partner was suppose to be, a part of his life, not in charge of it. She didn’t try to run it or change him, she simply walked with him. Through the good times and bad.

Then there was Nash and the SIU. It was as much a part of him as Rachel or Jerry. Just like Evan was.

With each move he made, he had hoped to put Evan’s ghost to rest. The funeral, cleaning out his desk, packing his apartment, finding his killers. Harvey knew that he was shouldering more of the blame than necessary for his death, but he couldn’t assuage the guilt. He had seen too much death. The world had thrust so many horrors into his life, including holding his best friend’s hand as the life ebbed out of him.

All that he could remember was the look in Evan’s eyes. There had been only pain at first, then the fear had come when he realized that he was dying, then there was an odd sort of peace in the last few moments. It was almost like Evan could see beyond this life into the next and he wasn’t afraid anymore.

It was Evan’s eyes that haunted him day and night.

Harvey woke up in a cold sweat every night since the shooting. That horrible moment would replay itself with grotesque twists. Nightmares of his hands covered in the blood of his best friend. Evan would plead with him not to let him go. It was hell in the Twilight Zone. Sleep became an unwanted necessity.

Harvey sighed heavily as he stared off at the expanse of the ocean. Nash was right. He had to get his head on straight if he wanted to keep working at the SIU. He wasn’t only putting himself at risk. He was endangering the lives of every man and woman working with him. He had no choice. He had to exercise Evan’s ghost.

“I’ve done everything I can, buddy,” he said to the wind. “I’ve made things right for you. Now it’s time to make things right for me.” He felt his throat tighten at the finality in his words. “I’ve got to let you go.”

Absently, he tossed a pebble into the waves, then looked down at the others in his hand. One pebble was gone, but he still had the others. Evan was gone, but he still had Jerry, Rachel and the SIU. It seemed so simple somehow.

He stuffed the remaining pebbles into his pocket as his thoughts turned to Rachel. He could still see the look that she had given him when she had stumbled into his bust. He had seen disappointment there and possibly even a little distrust. He knew that she was just as confused by his actions as Nash. There hadn’t been any consistency in his life since Evan was killed. He abruptly allowed his passions to take over, subconsciously usurping Evan’s role in their partnership. He was reacting without thinking, without even considering who he may be hurting in the long run.

In the end, it had been two of the people he cared for the most. Rachel and Nash.

Harvey really wished that he could explain to them how he was feeling. He had managed to piece together some of it when talking with Nash, but there was so much more. He had lost his partner. Even his divorce from Bonnie couldn’t compare to that feeling of loss. He still had Evan to lean on then.

Harvey shook his head. He had to get the focus off of what he had lost and concentrate on what he still had. He couldn’t keep looking back when he had so much to look forward to. It was time for him to move on.

* * *

When Rachel opened up her apartment door to see Harvey standing in the hallway, her heart went out to him. His eyes were downcast and he looked as if he didn’t have a friend in the world. Like a lost puppy. As he stepped inside, his arms slowly circled her waist and they simply held each other for a long moment. “It won’t happen again,” Harvey whispered against her ear. He was going to do whatever it took to get back in line. He couldn’t stand to see that disappointment in her eyes again.

* * *

“How was your trip down south, bubba?” Nash asked with a smile when Joe walked into the SIU.

“Don’t ask,” Joe returned sullenly, snatching up the messages from his desk before walking over to Nash’s. “My father and Inger’s mother actually hit it off,” he complained.

Nash chuckled at the imaginary drama. “So what’s wrong with that?”

“What’s wrong with...?” he asked incredulously. “They’re ganging up on me, that’s what. Ulla is even teaching my father Swedish and I know that it’s so they can talk about me behind my back. To make matters worse, my father is now coming up here for an extended visit.”

Nash had to cover his mouth to keep from laughing, but that only lasted for a moment, then he couldn’t help himself. “Look at it this way, bubba. Maybe your dad will invite your mother-in-law down to stay with him and you’ll get rid of both of them.”

“Don’t even go that route, Nash man. Knowing my luck, they will probably get married. Talk about a nightmare.”

“That’s definitely one thing I don’t miss about marriage, the in-laws. Good luck, bubba. Sounds like you’re going to need it.”

“So what’s been going on around here? You still working the Sinclair job?”

“We’ve uncovered eight warehouses, four of which were filled top to bottom with cocaine stuffed merchandise,” he said with pride.

“What about the other four?”

“Empty. We can only assume that the other warehouses were in preparation of taking their internet auction scam coast to coast. That was one wild ride, let me tell you, bubba. Complete with federal assassin.”

“You’re kidding?”

“Name’s Gerald Bixby. DEA agent gone berserk or so they want us to believe. Now supposedly on a manhunt for the guys who testified against him.”

“Oh goody. A spook with a bad attitude. Just what we need in the city.”

Nash gave him a weak smile, then revealed how personal it had become. “He took out the undercover agent in Sinclair’s organization at the bust, then got away. He got Hanson in SWAT and nearly got Rachel too.”

“Is Rachel okay?” Joe asked quickly when he glanced over to her desk and saw that she wasn’t there.

“She’s fine. She got a cracked rib by taking one in the body armor. I gave her a couple of days off. Harvey is the one I’m worried about.”

Joe nodded when he took a moment to think about the situation. “Rachel getting shot and Evan’s death. He must have it bad. Has he said anything about quitting.”

Nash gave his shoulders a shrug. “We talked about it briefly, but he hasn’t come to a decision yet. I’m hoping he’ll stick it out.”

“What about arrangements for Hanson or his family?”

“Collection’s going around and, of course, there is always the widow’s fund. The funeral’s tomorrow.”

“Let me know who to give a check to.” Joe turned around and sat down at his own desk before asking, “By the way, what was Bixby being charged with?”

Nash made an expansive gesture with his hands. “Everything from discharging a weapon without authorization to first degree murder. You name it, bubba, and they were charging him with it.”

“A railroad job?” he asked curiously.

“As far as we can tell, it was a righteous shooting. Harv has been digging into it and the evidence against Bixby was half baked. We think that’s what Bixby wanted us to find out.”

Joe’s eyes narrowed. “What do you mean, that’s what Bixby wanted us to find out?”

“You’re not going to believe this one, bubba. Bixby actually gave us his case file.”

“You’re kidding?” he asked incredulously.

“He wanted us as witnesses to what was really going down, I suppose. He is so sure that he could bring us in on this, dredge up his story, and still walk away. That overconfidence is going to be his downfall.”

Joe shook his head at the logic. “But what good is it going to do him to get his name cleared, when he still has murder charges facing him by taking out Griggs and eventually Sinclair?”

Nash shrugged his shoulders. “My guess is that he’s going to settle the score his own way and then we will never see him again. That’s why we need to catch him before he leaves town.”

Joe smiled broadly. “I smell a scheme.”

Nash chuckled. “Let’s just say we’ll be prepared next time we run into Mr. Bixby.”

* * *

Rachel hurriedly scribbled down the name and address from her computer, then went in search of her keys. Within minutes, she was out the door, just missing Harvey’s arrival. It didn’t take him long to realize that Rachel had flown the coop and he shook his head. He knew that she would take off eventually. She was a workaholic just like everyone else at the SIU.

As he started back out of the apartment, he noticed that her computer monitor was still on. That was definitely out of character for her. Rachel must have been in a hurry when she left, he surmised.

Curiosity getting the better of him, he moved the mouse slightly to get the screen saver to kick off. His eyes narrowed as he read an obscure newspaper article about an Asian boy in Chinatown.

He had seen her reunite so many families over the years. Missing children were her passion. For awhile, she was bring in one child a week. Mostly runaways. She had a knack for finding people. It was one of the things that impressed him about her most. Much of her free time was spent chasing down leads on missing person cases. He never quite understood why she focused on the Asian population specifically. He knew that she use to live in Chinatown and he supposed that was the reason. She had many friends in that area of town and it would only be natural for her to help them when she could. In any case, there were many people indebted to her for that choice.

He made a mental note of the address on the screen, then headed for Chinatown. He had been with Rachel a few time when she went in search of missing kids, but he had always gotten the impression that she preferred to work alone in those cases. He knew that she would avoid dangerous situations to protect herself as well as the child, but he didn’t like the thought of her wandering around town by herself. She had looked like she was going to fall over when she walked in on his bust the day before and that worried him.

As he turned onto the street where she was headed, he slowed the PT Cruiser as he scanned the crowd. Rachel generally chose a public place to speak with the people that she was searching for so that both of them would feel safe. It wasn’t long before he spotted her sitting outside of a tea house, her head downcast as she stared into an empty cup. He quickly found a place to park, then walked over to her. “I can’t tell. Is that expression good news or bad?” he asked as he stood by her table.

Rachel looked up, confused. She glanced down at the tea cup in her hand and was surprised to see that it was empty. She didn’t even remember drinking it. “Both, I suppose,” she returned, setting down the cup with a thud before standing. “I found the Chan boy. He’s okay, but he doesn’t want to talk with his family. I’m not sure what to do next. He just turned eighteen so he doesn’t have to check in with his parents, but I know they are worried about him.”

“Maybe that will be enough for his parents,” Harvey suggested. “Maybe they just need to know that he’s okay.”

She shook her head solemnly. “That wouldn’t be enough for me,” she said sadly. She looked up into his face and saw a myriad of questions in his eyes. “Would that be enough for you? Just to know that Jerry was okay, but not getting to see him?”

Harvey drew in a deep breath as he shook off his suspicions. “No. It wouldn’t,” he answered honestly. “But it’s better than nothing.”

“That’s true.” She was lost in thought for a moment, then she shook it off and smiled at Harvey for the first time. “What are you doing down here? I thought you were going to spend some quality time with Jerry.”

“Anna had already planned on taking Jerry to her folks for dinner so I’m getting him afterwards. I’ll have him tonight and all day tomorrow.” He was looking forward to his time with Jerry, however brief. “So, I stopped in to check on you, but I should have known you wouldn’t stay put for long.”

“You know how these missing person cases go. You have to jump on a lead as soon as it appears or the people are gone again. It was the first real break that I had in awhile so I couldn’t just let it go. Maybe it will give the Chan’s some peace of mind to know their kid is all right.”

Harvey paused for a long moment. He could tell that there was something more on her mind, but she apparently wasn’t going to share it with him at the moment. “What do you think about grabbing some dinner? There’s a fabulous Taiwanese restaurant not far from here.”

She smiled mischievously. “Is that your idea of asking a woman out, Leek?”

“Okay, okay. I know I need some work.”

* * *