by Carol Roi
With a sigh, Jim dropped the pen he'd been fiddling with on his desk. "Thanks for all your help, Mr. LaFollet." He turned to the stenographer. "Can you get those typed up for his signature?" At the man's nod, Jim turned back to the blond bodyguard. "We may have some further questions once your client gets here, but for now I think we're done."
Getting to his feet, the detective crossed the room to where his partner was sitting. "Okay, Chief, give. What are you and Dee doing here, and what's your involvement with this?"
Blair tilted his head back and blinked up at his friend owlishly. "Hey, if I had my way, I'd be snug in bed right now."
"Don't jump all over him, Jimbo. I asked Sandy and Dee to come down. I thought I would need a ride home, since my leg was giving me so much trouble. But it's just fine now." She shot Dee a meaningful look and a grin.
Jim shook his head. He was about to make a flippant comment, when a middle-aged man stormed into Major Crimes. "Ellison! What in the hell is the meaning of this?" As he turned to face a pissed off Norman Ventriss, he heard his guide's heart rate shoot through the roof. Shit! He should have warned Blair.
"Thanks for coming down so quickly, Mr. Ventriss. I'm sure-"
Spying Blair in the chair behind the sentinel, the man took a step forward, and Blair rose to his feet awkwardly. "Professor Sandburg, I should have known you would be involved in this! Killing my son wasn't enough for you, was it?"
Blair raised both his hands in a gesture of compliance. "That wasn't my fault, man."
The man was almost foaming at the mouth. "Oh no? You're the reason he was in that fucking jail cell! You just couldn't leave well enough alone, could you?"
"He was a murderer, Mr. Ventriss. He belonged in jail."
"That was never proven, you son of a bitch. He never got his day in court. You're the murderer as far as I'm concerned! You're the one who killed my son!" Ventriss threw a hard right at Blair's face.
Both Sentinel and Champion moved in defense of the Guide. Diandra was quicker, her hand stopping Ventriss' fist in mid-air. "I wouldn't do that, if I were you."
His dark eyes flashed angrily at the tall Immortal. "Who in the hell are you?"
Her grip tightened painfully on his hand. "Let's just say I'm not a cop." Their gazes locked for a long moment, then Ventriss backed down with a small shudder at the look in her cold eyes.
The door to Captain Banks' office flew open. "Ellison, Connor! What in the hell is going on out here?" Spying Ventriss, the tall man lowered his voice and pasted a smile on his face. "Mr. Ventriss, glad you could come down to help us out. I think we'd all be more comfortable in my office. Detectives?" Megan and Jim followed Ventriss into the other room and Simon closed the door.
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Diandra turned to Blair to find the color slowly returning to his face. "You okay, Lobo?" He shook his head slowly, and she pulled him into a tight hug. She could feel faint tremors rocking him. Pressing her cheek against his hair, she whispered, "You want to talk about it?"
He nodded against her shoulder. "Yeah, give me a minute." Finally he let go of her and sat on the edge of Megan's desk.
She moved to stand between his legs, resting her hands on his shoulders. "Who was that?" she asked gently.
"Norman Ventriss." He leaned his cheek against her arm. "His son Brad was a student of mine at Rainier last spring. He was also a cheat, a rapist and a murderer, but because his father is head of QuestScape he thought he could get away with anything, including having me beaten, and then fired from the university."
"What!"
"Yeah, that's what I said. Only no one would believe me that this guy was bad news, until he turned up in some photos taken by the murdered man as part of his investigation of piracy at QuestScape. Just another of the big potholes in my relationship with Jim." He let out a long, resigned sigh.
Dee's fingers tunneled under his loose hair, massaging the back of his neck. Blair leaned his forehead on her shoulder. "Umm, thanks, that feels good." She pressed a kiss to the top of his head. "So, to make a long story short," he continued, his voice slightly muffled, "we caught Brad trying to escape the country with his girlfriend, and he went to jail without bail to await trial. Only he was killed in a jailhouse brawl in September and never made it in front of a jury."
"And his father, believing his son was innocent, blames you."
Blair lifted his head to meet her eyes. "That's the weird part, his dad knew he was guilty, that he was the one stealing from QuestScape, and that he had murdered the investigator Ventriss Sr. had looking into it. He still tried to help his son escape. And yeah, I guess he does still blame me for Brad's death. If I had just shut up and given him the damn C on the plagiarized paper instead of digging into it, he would still be alive."
She looked deep into his eyes, seeing regret and fear and sadness in their deep blue depths. "You did the right thing, Lobo, you know that. Whatever happened to him was a result of his own actions."
"I know, but…there's a man in there still grieving over his son." She pulled him into another embrace, feeling him bury his face in her neck. They remained in that position for a long time.
Closing the door to his office, Captain Simon Banks sighed before turning to face an irate Norman Ventriss and his two detectives. "Again, Mr. Ventriss, thank you for coming here so early in the morning--"
"Just get on with it, Captain." Ventriss snarled as he paced the small area in front of the man's desk. "I do not appreciate getting called in the middle of the night, telling me my offices have been broken into and I have to come up here to confirm some story the thief your people caught has concocted."
Megan spoke up before Ellison could, "Mr. Ventriss, that's just it. The suspect we have in custody claims you hired them to perform a security check. "
Ventriss didn't say anything, just scowled.
"Did you hire someone to do a security check?" Jim's voice was low as he ground out the question from behind clenched teeth.
"What the hell difference does that make, Ellison?"
"Answer my detective's question, Mr. Ventriss," Simon nearly shouted at the man.
The owner of QuestScape flushed a bright red before he spat out his answer. "Yes! I've been suspecting I've got a security problem, of the type WindHawk Securities is reportedly the best at locating and neutralizing."
"There, that wasn't so hard, now was it?" Jim gestured for Megan to take a seat, perching himself on the edge of the table and grinning feral-like, as Ventriss dropped to the couch beside Connor. "Now, maybe we can get on with the reason we asked you down here?"
Simon waved off Ellison's remarks, not caring for the look in his senior investigator's eyes. "Mr. Ventriss, I know you've been pulled in here, without so much as a by-your-leave, but I would think you'd be anxious to have this whole mess cleared up."
"I am! I just don't want to get railroaded into something that might not look so hot on my already tarnished public record. Thanks to this department."
Spotting the confused look on Connor's face, Simon made a mental note to get her a copy of the Ventriss case file, to bring her up to speed on the department's past run ins with the man, and his son. "That could've been avoided, you know."
"Right." Ventriss shot a look of hatred past the Captain and out into the bullpen. "Like Professor Sandburg out there wasn't behind everything that happened to Brad."
Pinching the bridge of his nose, Jim shook his head. "No, he wasn't. Brad was behind everything that happened to him and Suzanne Nadine. Blair was just the one who caught on to what was happening."
And made damn sure we caught on to what was going down as well. Should've heard the kid out before that bastard came after him with hired muscle and baseball bat, Simon thought.
"Oh? So I was just supposed to stand by and let my only child be railroaded?"
Simon sank into his office chair, dumbfounded by the man's attitude. "Look, Ventriss. You know your son had be
en stealing from your company and Complexium. That he had shot and killed the private investigator you had hired to look into the thefts. You know all that, and yet you sit there and still try to put the blame on someone else?"
"The only evidence your people were able to connect to Brad was regarding the murder. As for the rest?" Ventriss shrugged. "Let's just say I was willing to forgive and forget. I dropped the charges, remember?"
"I remember. I also seem to recall your team of lawyers cut a sweet little deal for you as well. And, after Brad died in jail, all the charges against you and Henry Nadine were dropped." Jim snorted disgustedly. "If I had my way, you would've been sitting in the same jail cell with your son. Instead, you walked out of here fourteen hours after your arrest for Aiding and Abetting..."
"Jim..." Simon's voice held a tinge of warning.
Ventriss rose to his feet, glaring at Ellison. "The jail cell my son was killed in, Detective? The same cell you and others of this department sent him to? The one where he was supposed to be 'safe' until his trial date? Is that your idea of justice!?"
"Better than what you got." Jim muttered under his breath. Simon heard him clearly, and, judging by their expressions, so did the others in the room.
"Ellison! Back off!" This time the Captain's voice rattled the windows of his office, as he reached out to stop Norman Ventriss from charging into his Detective, just as Connor made her move to restrain Ellison.
"Jim, this isn't the time or place for this..." Megan whispered quietly from her position between the two men. The expression on her face made it clear she didn't really understand what was behind their anger.
The silence following the bellowing shout of Simon Banks reigned supreme in the tight confines of the office, until Ventriss broke off his eye contact with Ellison and calmly asked, "May I see the woman in your custody? To make sure it is the same one I hired?"
"Of course. Connor? Take care of that will you?"
"Yes, Sir. Mr. Ventriss, if you'll come with me?" She led the businessman out of the Captain's office.
"Tell me, Inspector - was there a disc found in the thief's posses..." The door closed off the rest of the man's question to the woman escorting him out.
Jim moved as if to follow them, wondering aloud what the hell Ventriss was talking about and how the hell the man had jumped to the conclusion the 'subject' might have had anything on them when arrested.
"No, Ellison. Stay here." Simon waited until Ventriss and Megan had left his office before turning on Jim. "What the hell were you thinking?"
"He pisses me off, Simon! Seven months later and he's still trying to lay everything Brad did at Sandburg's doorstep." Jim cocked his head slightly to one side, and Simon knew he was tracking Ventriss and Megan through the bullpen.
"It pisses me off as well, Jim. But you cannot hound a businessman of that stature without facing some pretty serious consequences. Look, I know you don't like the 'political' game that was played there, Jim. But try to remember this; while that man is no longer the CEO of his own company, the company he built from the ground up, he is still the owner and President of QuestScape. And while I don't like it any better than you do, the charges against him were dropped by the PA and the Feds chose not to charge him either." Sighing, the Captain sat back in his chair. "Jim, this time Ventriss is a potential victim, or rather QuestScape is, and that means the PD - and that means you - have to step lightly here."
"Oh bullshit, Simon! He's no more a victim than you or I... Oh fuck!" Jim bolted from the room, passing Megan who had stopped at her desk to pick up the files on Lee Eolia, rushing to catch up to Ventriss who had continued his way to the interview rooms without her. Evidently his time spent in the same rooms, back in May, was what led him straight to the one their suspect was in. He caught up to the man just as he pushed his way into the room where Eolia was being held.
Keeping track of the passage of time, while shut off from the world, isn't easy. In fact, I'm no longer sure just how early in the morning it is but the day is starting to sap my reserves. The room is completely bare, except for the remains of the two cups of coffee and the sandwich I had earlier. The inactivity is really dragging me down. I can still feel the presence of Immortals in the area, which is not exactly conducive to relaxation, even if I know the buzzes I feel are most likely Diandra and Jan-Michel.
Leaning back in the chair, I stretch my arms above my head. The resulting release of tension in my upper back, accompanied with a quiet couple of 'pops' as the tendons let go, feels wonderful. Patting my hands over my hair, I realize my chignon is a complete mess and remove the two pins holding up the mass. It takes a while, but I manage to finger comb the tangles out and soon the tresses are in a little better shape, even if it is a trifle too long to really do anything with without benefit of a brush or a comb. Slipping the pins into my pocket, I decide to do something. Anything to relieve the tedium of waiting.
Rising to my feet, I step over to a corner of the room and begin to stretch, working out kinks which have built up in my muscles. I don't have much space to work in, and limit myself to a contained version of Tai Chi. The kata I've chosen usually takes me about thirty minutes to work through, and I sit on the floor when I'm done. I'm more awake now, but the recent events have me puzzled. How could I not have felt LaFollet's pre-Immortal state? And just what the hell is Sandburg? When we met earlier, last night actually, outside the Church, I know I at least split his lip, but when he showed up here, there was no evidence of the injury. And then there was that sense of…power I picked up from him when our hands touched.
Sitting in a lotus position, I slip easily into a meditative state, one which allows me to think clearly yet still be aware of my surroundings. I'll work on the puzzle that is Blair Sandburg later; right now I need to find out why I didn't detect Jan-Michel's status.
When the former Naval Security Specialist came to work for WindHawk Securities five years ago, I didn't have much contact with him. Azir usually handled the training of our operatives while I handled the Public Relations and setting up our contracts. Either or both of us could make the trips to the various corporations to set up the final deals. It was those trips which required us to take along a few so-called bodyguards. Not so much to be bodyguards, but to let them see the lay of the business we were contracting with, to get their take on the situation.
Rotating my head on my shoulders, trying to release more tension, I switch mental gears. Sandburg. Blair. Lobo. Chief. What is his story? When I ran into him, or rather, he ran into me, at Rainier the other day, he acted like a student. Told me he was when I confronted him in the alley behind the church! But then I see him here, at the station, wearing a laminated ID badge with the police crest on it. So what the hell is he? A student? A Watcher? Or something else?
And that tingle I felt when we inadvertently touched hands when he handed my coffee over to me, what in the heck was that? Is he a 'preemie?' An Immortal not yet born? And if not, how in the hell did his split lip heal so quickly?
Sandburg must be a future Immortal. Maybe that is why Diandra has taken him under her wing; to train him, to initiate him into the Game, to prepare him for his Immortality. But if that is the case, why is she sleeping with him? What does she get out of that? What does he get out of it for that matter? Okay, besides the obvious...
The click of the door opening draws me back from my musings and I look up to see Norman Ventriss storm into the room, with a harried Detective Ellison rushing in a few seconds later. I rise to my feet and face the two men.
"You shouldn't have barged in here!" Hmm, the Detective seems pissed. He should be, one normally does not let the victim of a crime come face to face with the perpetrator. Ellison takes a deep breath before asking, "Is this the woman you contracted with, Mr. Ventriss?" The words are civil enough, but I can hear the cold anger running like a deadly undertow beneath the surface.
"Yes, Detective. It is." Ventriss' words are clipped with barely contained anger himself. His eyes bore into mine. "W
here is the disc, Ms. Eolia? My people can't find it anywhere and from what I gather, the illustrious crime scene technicians this lousy excuse for a PD hires haven't found it either."
I nearly scream in frustration, banging my hand against the wall. "I don't have it! I never even saw the damn thing!" I send my best "you really don't want to mess with me look" at the businessman. "Mr. Ventriss, I will tell you one thing I discovered last night."
"Oh? And what might that be?"
"Your security sucks. I've been in bathrooms that had better security measures." My voice is cold, but it's the truth. "As for your damn zip-drive, if I had it don't you think I would've turned it over to the police the moment I was arrested?" He blanches, but I'm not done yet. "I don't have it, I never had it and for your information there was someone else in that lab. A masked intruder who tried to kill me. He's the one that more than likely has your damn hardware!" As the last words leave my mouth, I realize I've taken several steps towards the owner of QuestScape and Detective Ellison let me. Why?
