A Shot in the Dark

[Deleted]

"I've got a pool of blood over here," Eddie told his partner. That matched with the reports they had of a single gunshot. "The blood trail extends that way." He shined his flashlight towards the road. Their victim had been thrown in a waiting vehicle.

So... alive. Or, Evan Cross had been earlier that night, when he'd been shot in front of his apartment.

Everyone knew David Cross was one of the richest men in the world, but it was hard to get to someone surrounded by a small army of private security. If you wanted to target that man, you went after someone who didn't have the same protection.

Eddie considered the situation. Should they be expecting a ransom demand? Or was there something far more sinister at work here? Whatever the truth, it wasn't a pretty picture right now, even if most of what they had was logical conjecture.

"This is going to be a nightmare, Nick. Once the media gets wind of this..." They would make this ugly fast. Eddie hated the media—half the time they made his job far more difficult than it needed to be. "The son of a billionaire. How did we draw the short straw?"

@nick

[Deleted]

I wanna see you run Anywhere you want Never let the darkness hold you back No fear of getting lost I wanna see you fly Way beyond the sun Anything you're ever gonna dream I pray that it will come But if you ever fall down straight to the bottom And you can't get back where you started Any place anytime. You gotta know for you I'll fight

Nick

Outfit

Nick's phone went off on a early Saturday morning. Or was it friday night? The two had blurred together. Oh right weekend duty. When he heard the call he fell out of the bed and landed on his back. Oh right, wrong direction. Not his bed. Well at least he hadn't rolled over anyone in the process. The ADA needed his sleep. Nick rubbed his eyes and made his way to the scene. It took maybe an hour from picking himself up off the floor to hearing his partners voice as he came in.

Pool of blood. Nick fumbled with his flashlight. He had been happily asleep when the phone had gone off. He had wanted nothing more than to shove it under the pillow. But it didn't work that way. "Nightmare is an understatement. On the drive over I found out who called this in. Whittech's company president." Oh if he could do anything to erase what happened. "I think I need some coffee, the crap my boyfriend drinks is so not coffee" There was a pause. "Though I don't think there is enough coffee for this short straw" he pointed out.

Nick pointed into the blood pool. "There is a partial shoe print. Don't know if it's usable. Where is CSU?" he had to wonder why the place looked like it hadn't been touched yet. "They are waiting on the birth of zeus again before they show up or what?" Yes Nick was grouchy and they had a lot of work to do.

⎃ @eddie

template by Sammy @ Adox 2.0

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Eddie groaned. That she-devil had called this in? "Don't tell me that, Nick. You know how my last run-in with her went." Sure, he knew they would have to question Ms. Whitmore eventually, but now he could feel that woman actually breathing down his neck. Pressure or no from her, he still had a job to do. Yet somehow his partner seemed to have a few details he didn't. "She called because… what? Doctor Cross never showed up for something?"

When Nick started to complain about his boyfriend's so-not-coffee, Eddie had to chuckle. It couldn't be any worse than what they had on a daily basis, could it? That stuff at the precinct looked like sludge. It tasted about the same. "I figure you'd be used to that. I've seen you drink that swill at work."

Eddie looked to the main entrance, a short distance away. At least there were cameras, but outside such an upscale apartment complex, he wouldn't expect anything less. "Might as well see if they managed to catch something worthwhile. Maybe CSU will show up in the meantime." The two officers they had assigned to the area could keep an eye on their crime scene until that happened.

@nick

[Deleted]

I wanna see you run Anywhere you want Never let the darkness hold you back No fear of getting lost I wanna see you fly Way beyond the sun Anything you're ever gonna dream I pray that it will come But if you ever fall down straight to the bottom And you can't get back where you started Any place anytime. You gotta know for you I'll fight

Nick

Nick shook his head. “You mean last run in with her, or that lawyer of hers?” Oh Nick had heard about that for a while. Eventually he had to start making excuses for his partner not wanting to talk to the lawyer. Nick had Eddie’s back but that didn’t change the facts. “If I knew WHY she called, I wouldn’t be suggesting that we should probably go interview her. She was the outcry witness like it or not.”

Cue coffee conversation. “Oh the one day I drank it because I forgot to stop on my way in. Cute Declan Cute.” He teased. “No seriously. Coffee. Whitmore.” Had he really just put those words together? He was more tired than he thought. “If she’s anything like me, she’s not asleep” he pointed out to further his argument. This interview with Miss Whitmore was going to be more of Nick shoving Eddie into doing the interview when his partner had other ideas. Yeah that was a thing.

The video was a good idea, especially while it was fresh but they could view that back at the precinct once they had gotten their hands on it. Yes Nick had an answer for everything. He wouldn’t be him if he didn’t. Still too early. Coffee. He would figure a way to get his coffee fix and real coffee not Eddie’s version of what passed for coffee.

⎃ @eddie

template by Sammy @ Adox 2.0

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Eddie rolled his eyes at Nick's question. That man should be grateful he hadn't been on the wrong end of either of those women. He had firsthand experience with both of them. It wasn't a pretty picture. "Does it matter? They're the same damn person!"

And Nick actively wanted to seek one of those women out, in the middle of the night, and question her? Even if their coffee conversation led Amaro to think she might be awake… Suicidal wasn't a word he'd thought to label his partner with, but he was considering changing his mind right about now.

"Nope. Nope. Nope." Eddie might have added in another nope or two, but that might have seemed excessive. Questioning Ms. Whitmore was the last thing he wanted to do. Shooting himself in the foot might have been more pleasant. Actually, that wasn't a horrible idea, now that he thought about it. Solid back-up plan, if Nick didn't go along with option one. "I think the video takes precedence. Ms. Whitmore could be asleep. We should talk to her in the morning. Or later. Much later. Much later sounds good."

Eddie started walking towards the building. Hopefully his partner would follow. "Come on. A place like this will have someone on duty twenty-four/seven. Let's get their tape. Take it back to the precinct."

@nick

[Deleted]

I wanna see you run Anywhere you want Never let the darkness hold you back No fear of getting lost I wanna see you fly Way beyond the sun Anything you're ever gonna dream I pray that it will come But if you ever fall down straight to the bottom And you can't get back where you started Any place anytime. You gotta know for you I'll fight

Nick

When Eddie went off on the mini rant about Whitmore and Anderson, Nick just listened. “There something I missed there?” the man questioned lightly towards his partner. Though the rhetorical connotations of such things were laced in his words as he spoke while glancing around the room.

“You can’t just ignore the outcry witness statement.” Nick argued as he took a few steps. “I’m willing to bet if you keep putting it off she turns up irate in the office. I’d rather not deal with an irate woman who makes sure we have plenty of vests across the department. My life is not exactly the kind of leverage I am willing to risk by her showing up in a pissy mood.”

“Tape. Coffee. Precinct.” Nick corrected his partner. No he needed coffee. It was bad enough he’d been dragged out of bed. Really he wanted to smack whomever had given them weekend duty. His partner was going to be grumpy for this entire case. Nick didn’t want to deal with that.

⎃ @eddie

template by Sammy @ Adox 2.0

[Deleted]

Eddie didn't know how to make Nick understand the ferocious hell beast they'd be dealing with. Words simply couldn't do this justice. His partner didn't want Ms. Whitmore in a pissy mood? Nick would be in for quite the shock when he learned pissy was her default factory setting. You had to see for yourself to believe. "Why don't you handle the questions then, Nick? You're a people person. She'll love you."

As Eddie tried to convince Nick to deal with Ms. Whitmore, Nick was trying to convince him that a coffee stop was just as necessary. Eddie rolled his eyes. Some people were addicted to chocolate, some people were addicted to soda... everyone had their vice. And then there was Nick and his coffee. It belonged in a category all its own. Maybe he wasn't beyond a little bribery between partners. "Fine. Yes. We can get you better coffee. I'll even cover your coffee costs for a month, if you handle all of our interactions with Ms. Whitmore."

The two men stopped at the apartment's front desk. "I'm Detective Declan," Eddie said, flashing his badge to the attendant on duty to request the footage they needed. "This is Detective Amaro. We're going to need your security tapes from tonight."

@nick

[Deleted]

I wanna see you run Anywhere you want Never let the darkness hold you back No fear of getting lost I wanna see you fly Way beyond the sun Anything you're ever gonna dream I pray that it will come But if you ever fall down straight to the bottom And you can't get back where you started Any place anytime. You gotta know for you I'll fight

Nick

Once they had gotten coffee real coffee, they headed back to the precinct with tapes in hand. Nick would deal with this Whitmore woman. Honestly, how bad could she really be? Clearly Eddie didn’t know how to deal with hormonal Marines, which was what Nick had on his hands with his ex wife. Nothing could be worse than that. He got out of the car and headed up the small steps to the front of the building. The only thing that sucked about being Major crimes or anything else was they had the basement. Intelligence got the lost, that was totally not fair.

Then again he was glad that he didn’t have an office that was behind a cage on the stairs… Like really what was so important going on up there? Honestly, that wasn’t on his mind as much as the case was. Setting the keys down on his desk, he shoved the thumb drive from the camera in the computer to get hard copies of the crime scene loaded while they went fishing through tapes. Nick knew how to have so much multi tasking going on it was unbelievable.

Though honestly, SVU had always been so crazy, but this was a bit easier pace. That didn’t mean he didn’t slow down any but it was nice not to be as short handed as NY SVU had been or LAPD.

⎃ @eddie

template by Sammy @ Adox 2.0

[Deleted]

As much as he ragged on Nick for his coffee addiction, Eddie had to admit: he was grateful he'd picked up a coffee of his own on their way back into the precinct. Early hours and long days were part of the job description. Caffeine was one way to keep going. He'd even gone through a couple mugs of the station's coffee, as the ridiculously early hours of the morning had finally given way to something most people would consider to be normal.

The security tape from Evan's apartment complex hadn't turned much up. They'd be able to glean some information—for example, they knew the kidnapper was approximately an inch taller than Doctor Cross—but nothing actionable. Maybe Ms. Whitmore would be able to tell them more when she arrived. Or, rather, tell Nick. Eddie had been able to convince his partner to handle the interview. In exchange, Eddie would provide a month's supply of coffee. He considered it a fair trade—he'd cautioned Nick several times about the hell beast, but if he didn't want to listen, or thought he could handle the woman, who was he to argue? Either way, Eddie was still convinced Nick had no idea the minefield he was about to walk into. If the situation weren't so dire, he'd be sitting back with some popcorn when his partner finally met his match.

As it were, part of him felt guilty for the admiring the body of a man that had just been abducted, as he started up the pertinent portion of the security tape one final time, hoping to catch something—anything—he might have missed the first dozen times. Perhaps it was stubborn refusal to accept there was nothing else to be found, but they had a few minutes to spare before Ms. Whitmore reported for her interview. "You know, Nick, he really does have a nice ass." Some people had it all: looks, intelligence, and money. Doctor Cross was one of them.

That was how Eddie came to review the footage for the last time—a futile effort. He leaned back with a sigh as the abduction ended with professional-level speed. This certainly wasn't just a crime of happenstance; this looked to have been planned for some time, and the person responsible knew what they were doing. He and Nick would have their hands full on this one. He popped the tape out and tossed it onto his desk. If it wasn't obvious before, it was now. They weren't going to be learning anything else from that.

Eddie rubbed at his temples. Statistically, in these types of cases, the first forty-eight hours were the most important. If you didn't find a solid lead within that time frame, the odds of solving the case dramatically decreased. And right now, that was exactly what they had. Nothing.

His email pinged and he clicked it open. An anonymous caller confirmed to be the abductor had phoned in to 911 about his ransom demand—and a video he'd uploaded to the internet. That video being the proof of life. He insisted that it be passed on to David Cross. Eddie clicked play.

When the video started, the first thing Eddie noticed was the large, open space—an abandoned warehouse, perhaps? Evan sat, center focus, tied to a chair, head lolling off to the side and blood trickling from the side of his mouth. He looked to have taken a pretty good beating already. Eddie could hear a voice emanating from off-camera. The kidnapper. "Wakey wakey! Say hello to your dad!"

Evan responded, looking towards the camera, albeit sluggishly. He spat up blood. "I told you. We're not exactly on the best of terms right now. What makes you think he's going to give you anything you want?"

The kidnapper entered the frame, his boot connecting solidly with metal, as both Evan and the chair toppled to the ground. The masked man knelt over him, digging the sharp end of the knife into the bullet wound—and kept on digging until he drew a loud cry of pain. And still kept going. "Because, if he doesn't meet my demands, I'm going to kill you, Evan. You don't want that, do you? That pretty little thing you call a girlfriend would be terribly distraught."

Evan snarled through gritted teeth, showing a surprising amount of defiance. "CPD is going to find you. And when they do, I hope to God they put a bullet square between your eyes." Eddie had to admit: Doctor Cross certainly had guts. Most people, if placed in his shoes, would be far too terrified to say the same, but if his kidnapper planned on actually collecting money, Evan needed to be alive—and Evan would know that. So, this was his way of fighting back, of staying sane through the torture?

Eddie could have sworn he heard a chuckle from the kidnapper. Great, they could mark down that their bad guy had at least something resembling a sense of humor. "It's not exactly a hello, but you were appropriately vocal. I'll take it." He patted Evan on the cheek. "Good boy."

The masked man stood and, facing the camera, issued an ominous declaration. "You have seventy-two hours to comply with the instructions I've provided. Just remember: every second you delay is another second I have with him. I'd suggest, for his sake, you not take too long."

@nick , Vanessa Whitmore-Cross

[Deleted]

I wanna see you run Anywhere you want Never let the darkness hold you back No fear of getting lost I wanna see you fly Way beyond the sun Anything you're ever gonna dream I pray that it will come But if you ever fall down straight to the bottom And you can't get back where you started Any place anytime. You gotta know for you I'll fight

Nick

Eddie turned to getting the video tape set up. Nick was glancing over the crime scene photos when none other than Vanessa Whitmore came strolling in. Followed by her security detail? People like that had so much money to throw around that they wasted it on being followed around by people all day? Well who was Nick to question it? Though he didn't really pay her much attention. Though he did manage to get her to wait by his desk.

"Yeah well that guy with the nice ass has a girlfriend who's early" Nick pointed out as he came into the room. Though he didn't realize that Ms. Whitmore clearly wasn't listening and following directions. He had told her stay put and she was now entering into the room like a rabid chiuauhua. Okay so maybe Eddie WASN'T exaggerating about this woman.

Though Vanessa stopped in her tracks as she saw what was on the viewing screen. After she let her stomach contents escape into the trash can she started yelling at Nick and Eddie. "Zkurvysyn , biezh do haaye!"¹ Vanessa snapped as she punched Eddie across the face. "You sit here and make comments uncalled for instead of finding him!" Clearly she was acting out as a result of being upset from what she had seen.

Nick hadn't moved fast enough in trying to remove Vanessa from the room. "Ms. Whitmore You need to go sit down!" He instructed as he started pushing her backwards merely by walking towards her until she took a few steps back. Then he would take a few steps forward.

"Zavři hubu!"² Vanessa hissed darkly before slapping Nick. That was going to sting. She was angry. Well angry was another thing all together. Nick was going to have his hands full with her but there was little he could do right now. She backed away and took off running. Martin sighed. Well here they went again. He gave chase until she slammed the door to the bathroom practically in his face.

Nick looked towards his partner. He was certainly not going to chase this woman into the ladies room. He glared in the direction as Vanessa took off. "You always get that reaction out of women?" Nick teased a bit. Though really he was concerned as he tried to take a look at Eddie's eye. Vanessa had thrown a pretty powerful punch.


1 - Son of a Bitch! Go to Hell"

2 - Shut Up!

⎃ @eddie

template by Sammy @ Adox 2.0

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[attr="class","samnah"]

[attr="class","samleft"] [attr="class","samleft2"]

[attr="class","samright"] Sam followed her boss into the police precinct. Detectives from the Major Crimes Unit had called Ms. Whitmore in to answer some questions pertaining to the disappearance of Doctor Cross. He'd failed to show up for a date at one of the local bars. That in itself was concerning. She'd never known Evan to be late. More like five minutes early. To everything. It didn't matter what. One of the detectives—she very much recognized him from the hospital—had brought up a video and clicked play. Sam quickly realized its intent: a combination proof of life and ransom demand. She could only watch in horror, however, at the scene unfolding before her eyes. Her friend was being tortured and there was nothing—absolutely nothing—she could do about it. She wasn't used to feeling helpless, but right now, that's exactly what she felt. The nearby retching sound caused her to look to the left, as Vanessa emptied the contents of her stomach into the nearest trashcan. Then she started to go off on the two detectives, screaming in Czech, but before Sam could calm her down, Vanessa delivered a brutal punch to Eddie's face, slapped Nick, and raced off towards the bathroom. Just about right for the pregnant woman. This was going to require some serious damage control, but then Vanessa had just seen her boyfriend getting tortured. While Sam wasn't good at this type of thing, she wasn't about to stand by and do nothing. She marched right up to Martin, who was standing outside of the bathroom, having just had the door slammed in his face. "Martin, let me handle this. It requires a woman's touch." She pushed past the Head of Security. The sight that greeted her wasn't a surprise. Vanessa was hovering over the sink, tears streaking down her face, looking positively sick. "Vanessa," Sam called out softly, as she followed her employer into the women's restroom. She never called her boss by her first name, ever, even if she did think of her as a sister. Sam did the first thing she could think of: pull the other woman into a hug. Evan was her friend, too, but it was nothing compared to the relationship Vanessa shared with him. "Vanessa, I know things look bad right now, but Evan's going to make it out of this. You have to believe that. You just know David Cross is going to be applying all sorts of pressure on CPD to find his son." She giggled. "Knowing what I know about that man, I almost feel bad for the police. And that's assuming he doesn't just pay the ransom demand. I'm positive he can afford whatever the amount. That's how I know Evan is going to be okay." Vanessa Whitmore-Cross , @eddie , @nick [attr="class","samright2"]

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[Deleted]

[attr="class","eddienah"]

[attr="class","eddieleft"] [attr="class","eddieleft2"]

[attr="class","eddieright"] Eddie hadn't bothered to look up when Nick informed him that Vanessa Whitmore had arrived. If he didn't see her, did that make her arrival less real? Maybe, but either way he needed to do everything he could to safely recover Doctor Cross. He had started to jot down any initial impressions, clues, or evidence from the ransom demand that jumped out at him when the yelling began. One second he was doing his job, the next he was getting punched in the face. And this... this was why he wanted to avoid Ms. Whitmore at all costs, why he'd insisted his partner handle her interview. Eddie winced. In the end, it hadn't done him a whole lot of good. That woman certainly had quite the left hook. "There's a reason I prefer men, Nick. Women are more trouble than they're worth." Eddie was quick to remind his partner of their arrangement. There were no take-backs allowed. And he couldn't leave his eye untreated. "So we had a deal. You were going to question her. I'm going to go get some ice for this." Then he'd come back and start reviewing their evidence with a fresh eye. "Good luck." @nick , @samantha , Vanessa Whitmore-Cross [attr="class","eddieright2"]

deltra of gangnam style

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[Deleted]

I wanna see you run Anywhere you want Never let the darkness hold you back No fear of getting lost I wanna see you fly Way beyond the sun Anything you're ever gonna dream I pray that it will come But if you ever fall down straight to the bottom And you can't get back where you started Any place anytime. You gotta know for you I'll fight

Nick

Nick wasn't at all put off by Eddie being short with him. Women more trouble than they were worth? Yes that was probably true. Maria had been a handful and going behind her back for psychological treatment. "I had a wife once. You are preaching to the choir" he reminded him shaking his head. "Hopefully my daughter will not take after her mother." Okay well changing the subject a little bit to try and get Eddie to put his mind on anything except Ms. Crazy in the bathroom.

"I will go question her, but I am certainly not doing so in the women's room. Come on let's go get you some ice for that eye" he agreed. Nick shook his head. "While the Gorilla keepers look after their charge, I am going to grab something to eat." He was just going to grab a snack. "Did you want something?" he offered.

"Good luck." Nick gave his partner a look. No he didn't get rid of him that easily. "Nice try. Like I said. I am not going in that bathroom." Oh no. He would NEVER live that one down.

⎃ @eddie

template by Sammy @ Adox 2.0

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[attr="class","eddienah"]

[attr="class","eddieleft"] [attr="class","eddieleft2"]

[attr="class","eddieright"] Eddie sighed. It wasn't an ideal situation. Hopefully Ms. Whitmore's security could give her an attitude adjustment real fast. He and Nick were doing everything they could to locate Doctor Cross, but their investigation had just gotten underway. Sure, Eddie could understand her being upset; what she'd done went beyond that. Maybe there was more than they knew going on with WhitTech's CEO, but rarely did a kidnapping get resolved in the first few hours. They needed her cooperation, and right now they didn't have it. Eddie lowered his voice, though there was little chance that any around them would hear them speaking anyways. "Just be thankful we're not dating that... ferocious hell beast in the bathroom." The implication was clear. How Doctor Cross put up with her, he did not know. Nick may have been trying to distract him from the nutcase in the women's restroom, but he'd gotten decked in the face. He hadn't lost his sense of humor. Eddie chuckled at his partner's description of the zoo that had come to their precinct. "I'll assume vodka is off the table, since we're on the job... so maybe some of those pork rinds from the vending machine?" If Nick refused to budge on entering the women's restroom, then Eddie wanted pork rinds. Not really a breakfast item, per se, he knew, but they were his go-to food when he was stressed, and Nick knew it. @nick , Vanessa Whitmore-Cross , @samantha [attr="class","eddieright2"]

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[Vanessa Whitmore-Cross]

[attr="class","de1"]

Vanessa's heart was breaking and everything was in slow motion. She bit the inside of her cheek trying to hold back the emotions but it was pointless. Vanessa cried relatively easily the images of her own torture were flashing in her head. With the images of the video clip flashing right behind them. Vanessa could feel the helplessness and the fear all over again. She was leaning over the sink just letting everything go. She'd moved past what had happened to her in many ways. Why did Evan have to know what that felt like now?

Anger was building, Vanessa didn't even try and stop herself as she punched the mirror. There was a good bit of force behind her weight. The mirror cracked under the weight of her fist. She noticed she'd sliced her hand in the process. Running the water she froze a good moment before just turning it off. Opting just to grab a paper towel from the dispenser to stop the bleeding.

She leaned back over the sink with her hand to the side of the sink sitting on the paper towel to continue to stop the bleeding. Not that it was her first priority right now. Vanessa was soon pulled into a hug by Sam. Vanessa had her own pressure on the CPD. Two large companies pressing in key places. "You are NEVER okay from that Sam!!!" She lashed out , but at least she was talking. Sam had no idea what she was talking about.

Right now Vanessa wanted her dad; but he was out of town. She just cried as she held onto Sam after lashing out at her. Pulling out her phone she leaned on Sam as she texted David. 'Evan's is a crime scene, you are welcome to stay with me.' She didn't care if Sam saw it or not. Vanessa knew his parents were going to be hurting too. Was it so wrong to want to watch out for them?

Sam was giggling? Really?? Vanessa shoved Sam off of her. "This is funny to you!?!" Vanessa took off running out of the bathroom smacking Martin with the bathroom door. He took off running after her as she started spiraling down the staircase and just kept running. Martin wasn't far behind but Vanessa was upset. He caught up to her and pulled her into a bear hug. So much for a woman's touch. He spun the woman around and rubbed her back.

Martin looked up at Sam giving her a look, they were in for a long few days. Martin had already doubled her security. "I've got you." He offered Vanessa just hugged Martin and looked towards Sam.

"I want Daddy" Vanessa whimpered on his shoulder. Martin continud to rub her back.

"I'll see if I can get in touch with him. Why don't we get home?" he was asking questions. It wasn't really an option but he knew better than to watch his words.

"No. I have a few office calls to make" Vanessa pointed out. Martin knew what she was doing. He didn't think she needed to do that in this state. Pushing some of her hair from her tear stained face Martin sighed. She was in no state to be putting pressure on her contacts.


⚓ _{@samantha,@eddie,@nick} ⚓

[attr="class","de2"]VANESSA WHITMORE

♦.♦

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