Fake Fan Fiction ❯ FAKE In Love: Act XXI, Above And Below ❯ Chapter 4

Warnings and Disclaimers: I don't own FAKE. I make no money off of this. This is yaoi with adult situations included. Huzzah!

 

 

She was lying on her side, a crumpled piece of human being amongst the trash and dirt. Harsh white lighting scarred across the usually black tunnel and exaggerated each of her features to the point of them being too long, too defined. Ryo knelt down, his eyes searching over her before he nodded and traced one finger just above her skin.

“Blow to the base of the skull,” Ryo said. “Looks similar to Cage's wound.”

“She isn't one of his friends,” Dee said lowly. “Look at this girl. She belonged down here.”

Ryo nodded again and his features settled a little deeper. She was too damned young.

“Call Jack,” Ryo said. “We'll need all the information about this place we can get.”

“Who found her?” Dee asked.

“One of the patrols came across a group of them all over the place. We think they were swarming the body or something,” the officer at their side said. “We have one of them in custody.”

“One of them?” Dee asked with a slight frown.

“The moles,” the officer answered.

The detective's mouth thinned, but he didn't say anything.

“One of the city maintenance guys is down here,” the uniform continued. “He says that these tunnels don't need much fixing, but they've been running into some problems lately.”

“I'll talk to him,” Dee said. “You finish your notes.”

Ryo nodded absently and Dee turned to find a man in dark blue coveralls and a headlamp standing with a couple of the officers. He was pale and determinedly not looking at the body.

“I'm Detective Laytner,” Dee said.

“Stan, Stan Hoyer.”

Dee nodded and glanced down into the shadows. “You've been spending some time in these tunnels?”

The city guy nodded, the emblem for New York's public works service smeared with something dark and sticky. Dee didn't want to ask what it was.

“These tunnels were built to be solid as rocks,” the guy said, his voice firm despite the nauseous look on his face. “But lately, we've been having all kinds of problems. We've actually had to shut tunnels off because of safety issues. And the things that get broken…well, don't talk to my supervisor about it because he just says the place is getting old, but it looks to me like a lot of this stuff's been tampered with.”

Dee frowned and nodded a little.

“It's been getting worse,” the guy continued. “I'm starting to feel like I spend more time underground than above it.”

He gave Dee a shaky grin and Dee's lips quirked in answer.

“Alright,” Dee said. “Thanks for your cooperation. We've got his statement?”

One of the uniforms nodded and Dee looked at Hoyer again.

“I might have some follow ups about all of this.”

“Sure,” the guy said, nodding now so his helmet sloshed around on his head.

Dee nodded again and glanced at the officers.

“You gonna walk him out?”

“I know my way,” Stan said with another weak grin.

“We're being cautious,” Dee told him. “Watch yourselves.”

Dee padded back to Ryo, his partner finishing up a quick sketch as Dee leaned over him.

“You ready to talk to her?”

Ryo nodded and pushed himself up. He and Dee drifted across the uncomfortably bright tunnel, their shadows stretching out behind them. Two officers had a lump of blankets and rags trapped between them, the fabric parting just enough for them to catch a glimpse of defiant eyes and a small pert face.

“What do you want?” she asked, her Southern accent thick and angry.

“You know what happened here?” Dee asked, vaguely nodding back to the girl on the tunnel floor.

“Lucy got killed,” she answered, her eyes rolling. “You all can't figure that one out?”

“Watch it,” one of the officers warned.

Ryo knelt down and peered at her.

“What's your name?” he asked.

She paused, her mouth working as she stared at him.

“Corsica,” she said finally.

Ryo's lips twitched and he nodded.

“Alright, Corsica,” he said. “Do you know what exactly happened to Lucy?”

“I told you,” Corsica said. “She got killed.”

Her eyes narrowed and she settled back further into her blankets.

“She ain't the first neither.”

Dee glanced at Ryo, but his partner didn't break eye contact with the homeless girl in front of him.

“Who else died?”

A sharp bark of laughter and Corsica shook her head.

“We stopped keeping lists,” she said. “Too damned depressing.”

“There've been a lot?”

“'Course,” Corsica said. “But you all don't care until it's one of your own. Then it's front page news that walking in the tunnels can get you killed.”

“Do you know who did it?”

“If we did,” Corsica said, a faint glint growing in her eyes. “We'd take care of it.”

The words were chilling coming out of the mouth of someone Dee suspected he could throw over his shoulder and carry off. She shifted in her heavy blankets and stared over Ryo's shoulders.

“She was one of the good ones though,” Corsica said reflectively. “Did her part, worked hard, wanted out.”

She was silent and then seemed to shake her head under the mask of fabric.

“We ain't all drugged up crazies,” Corsica said. “Some of us just fell down here. It ain't permanent, it's just a stop.”

She stared hard at Ryo then, her eyes growing flat and dull.

“Though it's been getting a lot more long term lately. Lot less people climbing out of the tunnels once they go down.”

The fabric parted just enough for them to watch one grimy thumb scratch a long unbroken line across her throat. Corsica grinned at them.

 

Dee was leaned back, his feet propped up on his desk and a file open on his lap. A cup of coffee steamed absently at his side, recently refilled by his partner, and a heavy look of concentration covered his face. He turned the page slowly and reached over to write a quick note on the pad on his desk. The computer hummed across the office, Ryo's fingers pattering over it in a staccato of sound. They worked in silence for almost another twenty minutes before Dee threw down the file and looked at his partner.

“I think we made need to revise our theory,” Dee said finally.

Ryo nodded and propped his head in one hand.

“I--”

The knock on the door interrupted abruptly and both looked up as Rose stepped inside. He glanced between them and then settled back against the door as he clicked the lock into place.

“So, developments?” he asked.

Ryo and Dee exchanged a quick glance, their expressions carefully neutral. Rose's eyes narrowed.

“We think that Cage wasn't a primary target,” Ryo said slowly. “More of an accident.”

Dee nodded his agreement. Rose's frown deepened and he looked between the two of them again.

“And you're basing that on?”

“The uniforms grabbed a homeless girl in the tunnels at the scene of our second victim,” Dee said. “But that's not our second victim. Based on the testimony we got, we're thinking she's at least our fifteenth.”

Rose's back stiffened and he shook his head.

“You're basing all this on the word of some homeless girl? You'll never keep track of her long enough to get her on the stand, and she'll get ripped apart anyway.”

“We're not thinking about the trial,” Dee muttered. “We'd like the catch the bastard first.”

“We've got evidence to back it up,” Ryo said and slid a file across his desk.

Rose reluctantly pushed away from the door and peered down at it. The paper was filled with dates and case numbers, all of recent murder scenes found in or under Central Park.

“They all have the same M.O.,” Ryo said. “And with the exception of Cage, all were homeless. The cases were filed, the bodies buried, and the connection just hasn't been made until now.”

“Different cops and different shifts underground,” Rose murmured. “It's unlikely, but possible.”

“Unfortunately so,” Ryo said. “We've only just started looking, but there's a chance there are more buried in our records.”

Rose stared down at the paper in silence for a moment and then flipped the folder closed.

“This doesn't leave this office,” he said quietly.

Dee frowned and Rose shook his head.

“If homicide gets a hold of this, they'll only use it to further prove their theory,” Rose said. “It's perfect. A deranged homeless killer murdering other tunnel dwellers under Central Park.”

“They'd just have to grab any bum off the street to have a suspect in custody,” Dee murmured.

Rose nodded. “They've been in the papers lately after IA's last house cleaning. Homicide needs good press right now and closing off something like this would definitely count. So as far as the rest of the precinct knows, this is still a case limited to Alex Cage and the homeless girl found in the tunnel nearby. Clear?”

“Yes sir,” Ryo answered.

Dee nodded thoughtfully and then leaned back in his chair.

“How in the hell are we going to get any kind of evidence on this?” he muttered.

 

Dee hefted the bag of burgers and glanced over at Ryo as they pulled away from the drive through window. One eyebrow lifted.

“Hungry?”

“I never stopped for lunch today,” Ryo said. “I got distracted with Jim's lab reports on those crime scenes.”

Ryo rubbed at his eyes and leaned back in his seat.

“Jack really did sample the hell out of that tunnel,” Ryo said.

“You know it's not going to be enough,” Dee said as he pulled out back into traffic.

Ryo's lips lifted into a tired smile.

“Optimist.”

Dee chuckled and glanced at the fast food again.

“And I thought the monkey was supposed to be on dinner duty.”

“He's got late practice tonight.”

“Lucky me,” Dee said with a grin. “I might get that chance to knock the couch apart after all.”

“That reminds me,” Ryo said. “We need to get a new couch.”

“Yeah,” Dee said as he snorted softly. “That's just how I want to spend my day off.”

 

Dee shifted a little, a frown pulling at his face as his senses slowly woke up. He was warm and relaxed, and there was the faint sound of television static. He groaned quietly and one eye peeked open.

The living room was dark with long stretched shadows and the sound of the city drifting through night. He was pushed back on the undamaged side of the couch, his partner curled up close to him and sleeping just as deeply as Dee had been a moment before.

Dee sighed and lightly brushed his fingers through Ryo's hair.

The remains of dinner were still spread on the table, along with the Cage case file. They'd eaten and then fallen asleep on the couch while they discussed motives and what kind of profile they should build for their killer. It just wasn't right. They'd come off of one tough case only to be shunted right on to another. They were obviously too good at their jobs. Ryo's head turned to nuzzle back into Dee's neck and the dark haired man smiled.

It wasn't all bad. Nothing could look completely hopeless with a warm Ryo in his arms. His fingers drifted down to the nape of Ryo's neck and lightly petted there.

“We should move to the bed,” Dee murmured.

Ryo made a little noise against his neck and tightened his hold around Dee. Dee thumbed across fine hairs and the slight bump of the top of Ryo's spine.

“Bed,” Dee breathed again.

“You have a one track mind,” Ryo mumbled against his pulse.

Dee chuckled and Ryo lifted his head enough for their eyes to meet.

“We need a vacation,” Dee said quietly.

Ryo nodded.

 

“You know, maybe we should let Homicide bump in on this one,” Dee said as he and Ryo walked up from the precinct garage.

“What?”

“No, think about it,” Dee said with a grin. “They announce they've caught the killer, some cracked out loony from the Park, and smile and nod in all the papers for like a week. And then we drop the bomb that this is actually a serial case and haul in the real culprit. Imagine the kind of publicity we can drum up with that.”

“Rose would love it,” Ryo answered wryly.

Dee's eye twitched.

“Well that just shoots that plan all to pieces,” Dee muttered.

They paused outside the building as Dee quickly finished his cigarette, still trading back and forth a few quick barbs before they headed inside. The police station had its own personal smell, and upstairs in the Criminal Investigations unit, it smelled like paperwork and must. They really should have gotten a new building instead of some old hand me down.

“Dee-sempai!”

Years of pouncing had triggered an automatic response in Dee, so despite the fact that JJ Adams no longer attempted to throttle the love out of him, the detective still flinched back and threw an arm up in defense.

“Good morning,” JJ crooned happily. “Your CSI has been pacing around the floor since the middle of my shift.”

“Great,” Ryo said. “Morning JJ. How was the night?”

“Busy,” JJ answered and handed over a night shift summary. “Drake and I covered two robberies and a guy that tried to beat his wife to death with a frying pan.”

“Ouch,” Dee said.

“He says she started it. Wait till you read about Ted and Erin, now they had a night,” JJ said.

“Why? What happened?” Dee asked.

“They got egged,” JJ said with a grin.

“What?” Dee laughed.

“Some activists didn't file their paperwork, and when they went to break it up, the protestors started throwing eggs,” JJ said.

“Oh, I can't wait to see Richardson again,” Dee said gleefully.

“Anyway,” JJ said. “Rose told me to check in with you guys and see if you needed me and Drake at all.”

“Maybe,” Dee said as he shrugged and led Ryo further down the hallway. “We'll give you guys a call when we get some idea of what we're doing next.”

“Okay, sempai!” JJ bellowed. “Have a good day, you stud!”

“He's a lot quieter when Tim is here,” Dee muttered.

“He's just happy to see you,” Ryo answered distantly as he flipped through the night report. “No activity in Central Park.”

A relieved breath escaped Dee and he nodded.

“Good news.”

“Guys!”

Dee fumbled with his keys a little and glanced irritably back as Jack stumbled to a halt next to them. The CSI was looking a little haggard and nervous and pulled a weak smile into place as Dee pushed their office door open.

“Morning,” Ryo said, casually setting down his paperwork and then adjusting his shoulder holster. “What are you doing hanging around down here so early?”

“It was me,” Jack blurted.

Dee and Ryo exchanged a glance and Dee threw his hands up.

“Well thank God you finally confessed. Now what exactly are the charges?”

Jack winced and carefully shut the door before he spoke again.

“I think I'm the one who tipped off the press.”

Dee stared at him in silence and then suddenly closed his eyes and shook his head.

“Goddammit,” the detective muttered. “Why would you do something like that?”

“I didn't realize I was talking to a reporter,” Jack answered. “My cousin, she just got hired on at the Times. We were talking about what it's like at our jobs, how I work directly with cops and she spends all her time on the crime beat.”

“Oh Jesus,” Dee groaned. “She's a crime reporter?”

“I know, I know,” Jack practically wailed. “I told her I was working on an interesting case and I guess I never said that it was off the record so she just…”

His voice faded and he shrugged helplessly. Ryo turned on the computer and sat down with a soft sigh.

“And?” Ryo asked.

“And, what do I do now?” Jack asked.

“First of all,” Dee said. “You tell your reporter cousin in no uncertain terms that if she ever wants any information from you again, she makes it clear when a conversation is on the record.”

“And then,” Ryo continued. “You never talk with her about anything that could remotely be considered interesting or printable. Ever.”

“Yeah,” Dee agreed. “And finally, you `fess up. They're looking for whoever leaked all that information and if they have to track you down instead of you coming forward, you'll never get out from under this.”

Jack slumped.

“I was afraid that was what you were going to say,” he mumbled.

Dee leaned back in his chair and stared at Jack. The guy was young, and it wasn't all that hard to make a mistake like this. They'd all done it at some point or another. It was one of the many reasons Dee hated the press with such a passion. There'd be some fall out from this, Dee was sure of that, but probably nothing worse than a reprimand in Jack's file and a reminder to keep his mouth shut. Dee sighed and turned to Ryo.

“So, anyway, what's our next move, partner?”

“Well,” Ryo said. “I was thinking that our killer is most likely someone who hates homeless people. So maybe what we need to do is talk to someone who gets along with them.”

“Blackjack?” Dee asked with a scowl.

“No,” Ryo said as he shook his head. “Mother Lane.”

Dee blinked and then grinned.

“That's brilliant.”

Ryo smiled a little and flipped through the rest of the e-mail sent over night.

“Let me finish this and we can drive over.”

“Great,” Dee said and turned back to Jack. “Hey, don't tell Rose about what happened until we get back, because it's going to be hilarious and I don't want to miss it.”

“You're going to hell, Dee Laytner,” Ryo said flatly.