HOMESTAY 008

Back at Long Beach intelligence, Mariah walked briskly down the wide reception to Tucci's office. "Did you do your homework?" She spoke first.

"Good morning to you too. My homework and yours Sullivan, come, take a look at this" he cornered his table and she followed him. They sat at his PC and he showed her the similarities between Fandango and the other websites used for home stays.

"Do you have Donna and her husband?"

"We couldn't get a warrant"

"Tucci..."

"I know what you are thinking but we can go to them."

"Then arrange it. I'll go with Kinner" she stood to her feet.

"By us, I mean my detectives. I can't let you go out of my jurisdiction, we'll be breaking rules"

"Tucci..."

"Except you want Dave to know about this" this hit her like a bombshell. If Dave knew about it, he would put an immediate cross on the investigation and make her handicapped like he did last season. She couldn't risk being suspended. She'd barely thought about this when Kinner walked in.

"This is my case Tucci. I need to get in a room with these people. My brother-in-law is missing!"

If only what she meant was ex-brother-in-law. But like Dave, Tucci had principles too and Long Beach was guarded by those principles as well.

"I can understand this is personal for you but Denver is not under my jurisdiction. I can't have some cops busting people's house for information without following proper protocols. I am doing this for you Mariah; unless you want Dave sending me a letter of dismissal"

"Calm down guys."

"Damn protocols!"

"Calm down Mariah. It’s simple! We'll visit Donna and Peter"

"Mr Kinner..."

"Not as detectives. Are you satisfied?" He removed his badge and tucked it in his pocket "how about as casual people who wants to know how their new stay at Denver is"

Smart idea. Mariah looked at Tucci and he was dumbfounded. Oh sorry Mr Tucci, you don't know Shawn. He is the one who gives meaningful ideas when least expected. Nice knowing you Mr Tucci.

Mariah rolled her eyes.

"I'd have Griffin follow you" Tucci added

"It's just suppose to be my wife and I, now we have a son"

"Son? Griffin is more like the husband and you are the son Shawn..."

Tucci assessed Shawn. There is no way, he'd let a grown man like that follow them and call himself son. It was really absurd

"Fine! You two go. I will try my best to keep you off grid" Tucci exhaled in frustration

"Love you too Tucci. Will get back to you" Mariah said as she walked out briskly with Shawn following behind her.

"You know, you owe me Mariah"

"For doing your job? I don't think so" she had a wolfish grin on her face.

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Dwayne paced restlessly at the reception of Long beach Intelligence police department. He needed to talk to Mariah. His brother has been missing for six days and he feared his brother might be dead. His mother has been buzzing his phone and he had deliberately turned it off out of worry.

The doctor said she was hypertensive and that was one major reason why he overlooked Jessie's immature behavior and brought him down to Long Beach. And now, Jessie was missing.

He had both hands tucked into the pocket of his bermuda shorts that covered his knees. He needed to see Mariah, he needed to hear from her because unlike Kinner who had sugar coated words, Mariah would tell him the truth.

He was asked to wait for the detective in charge even though he made it clear he wanted to talk to Mariah Sullivan.

After a while, Griffin appeared "Mr. Jefferies?"

"Yes. Dwayne Jefferies. Any news?"

"Would you like to sit?" He offered Dwayne a seat

"Sure." Dwayne settled "any news?" He queried again

"Mr. Jefferies. Your brother has not been found...yet." Griffin said then waited to see the impression he created on Dwayne before he proceeded. "We figured..."

"I want to talk to Mariah" he cut Griffin short

"Detective Sullivan is on the field. We are still working on this."

"For how long huh? My brother never leaves for this long without contacting anyone."

"You need to calm down sir..." But before he could finish, there was a familiar voice reaching him.

"It’s okay Griffin, let me handle this" it was Mariah and she had just come out of Tucci's office with Shawn. She was going to dodge this time but Kinner had pushed her to the front. She heaved a sigh and waited for Griffin to evacuate the seat before she took it.

"What is going on Mariah?" Dwayne said through clenched teeth. Mariah steadied her breath then, carefully selecting her words, she spoke. It was high time to tell Dwayne the truth.

"We are looking at a homicide case here. We have three dead bodies..."

Dwayne shot to his feet and ran a hand through his hair.

"Jessie?"

"No. People with similar cases. I just want to prepare you for whatever might happen or what we are into but I promise you, we are going to find Jessie..."

"No you are not" A solid voice reached her. She waited, processed who it belonged to, bit her lip then turn around to see the man who might turn out to be her worst nightmare. "You are off this case Sullivan!" She growled then steadied her breath to speak.

"What?!" Even at that, she failed.

"Dave?" Kinner had come to the scene

"You too Shawn"

"What is going on?!" Dwayne was impatient. Was he wrong to have thought Mariah would handle the case well? Mariah glanced at him; he had a puzzled look on his face. She was going to say something but Tucci came to her rescue.

"Captain Dave Mars"

"What is this about?!" Dave snapped

"Why don't we talk in my office?"

"Both of you too"

Mariah turned to look at Dwayne and his eyes was peering at her, holding on the same way it did before he slapped her with a divorce and here she was again letting him down. She stood like that for many seconds, feeling guilty before the words rolled out of her mouth. "I am sorry Dwayne"

"Sorry? Mariah you promised"

"I did! And I am sorry Dwayne" that was the first time she'll tell him that. She had been sorry times without number but was too Sullivan to let it roll from her mouth but now, she was putting the ego aside and put verbally the words she was too proud or too scared to speak.

"Mariah..." But she left, again.

In Tucci's office. She barged in, she always did and in the room, Dave, his two body guard, Kinner and Tucci were waiting for her. "Dave you can't throw me of this case!" She yelled as soon as she came in.

"I already did Mariah! And I’m having both of you on the next flight to Nexus" Dave snapped

"I am this close. We have liable suspects..."

"Suspects Mariah. That's all you had last time and nothing else"

"Let me on this one Dave"

"Can you even hear yourself speak?" Dave tucked his hands in the depth of his pocket "you took a case outside your own jurisdiction without proper legalities. You broke the law Mariah..."

"But..."

"Let me finish. You broke the law and that makes you a criminal."

"That's enough Dave!" Kinner interjected. "A case got buried..."

"Not buried but closed. We found nothing!"

"Now, there is something! We have kids out there who would probably die if we do nothing. So you know, out of seven, three are dead!"

"This is not our call. Not yours, not mine! We have protocols!" Dave turned to Tucci "you thought I won't find out? The bad part is, the agency thinks I let you onto this one"

"You only care about yourself Dave." Mariah snapped

"You are blinded by this Mariah. Take time off! Go on rehab, it is getting into your head."

"Okay, Dave, we have a cover case. We are also talking about a young man who left your jurisdiction to ours and disappeared, so we have to work together on this one." Tucci added

"I don't care what jurisdiction he left. He is in yours now which makes it your business. I never remembered signing any transfer letter for Mariah and Shawn to work on this."

Mariah scoffed "People are dying Dave!"

"That's nature. So until you get your shit together, I would send the agency your suspension letter so you won't drag the rest of us down your psycho shit-hole" his voice was firm.

"You know what Dave, I always thought there was still some human left in you; people are dying and all you care about is god dammed reputation!"

"Mariah..."

"Let me finish. It's my turn to finish! You are a self-serving narcissus who would do or say anything to keep his goddamned medal even if it involves people dying." Mariah voice trembled

"I came here to tell you personally Mariah that we would allocate other people to do this. Not me, not you, not Shawn. You don't belong here. I am doing this for you. Or would you rather let the agency handle this?"

"I'd rather you do nothing at all Dave"

"You are suspended Mariah and you too Kinner, end of discussion" Dave said sternly

"Dave..."

"End of discussion Sullivan. You will listen to me this time!" Silence shook the room like someone pulled the plug. Sullivan froze; it hit her like a bombshell. What she didn't want to let happen was happening fast and clear. It began to play in slow motion.

“Jessie is missing” she said in a trembling voice “this is big of a deal for me Dave.”

“That’s why you need time off Sullivan and let the agency handle this one”

She looked at Kinner and he had the same frozen look on his face, the tempo of her heartbeat increased and the maniac playing tins and kettles in her head just reached a crescendo.

Dave had just threw it against her chest and the air around her had began to suffocate her. Everywhere seemed blank and the lights around began to fade.

Kinner had told her to go to the hospital but she was waiting for it to build up and it just did.

She muffled a weak "you'll regret this" and stormed out.

"She's being dramatic" Dave groaned as soon as she left. This angered Kinner. Like Sullivan, he had the same driven passion for the case - people were dying and all Dave cared about was reputation. Outrageous!

"You are the one being dramatic Dave. She didn't want to run it by you because she knew this is the kind of stunt you'd pull" Kinner looked at Tucci who was caught between whatever web Dave had spun around them.

"There is nothing I can do if the agency cancels" Tucci shrugged.

"You know what Dave, if these people die, I will stick it to you for the rest of your goddamned life!"

"We are following protocols!"

"Protocol demands you save a life before any..." Kinner's voice broke "Mariah is right, if you don't pull back, you'll regret this" He said firmly and stormed out as well.

Dave was dumbfounded. He was only being protective of his own but they couldn't see it. He looked at Tucci who shrugged again "don't look at me" Tucci rested in his seat "you pulled your men back. I would do everything in my capability to solve this case but if it proves abortive, it’s all on you"

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