"Don't even joke about that." Daniel frowned. "Let's run this again."
"I know. Bad joke. But these scenes are way too clean."
The two sat and ran the case two more times but by the time they finished, they were no closer to any kind of breaks or developments. Their lab guy brought the results from the information pulled from the victims' hard drives but nothing added any more light.
"We need a break," Daniel said. "I need a cigarette."
"So do I and I don't even smoke."
There was so much going on, he hadn't even had time to go see Coach Jessops. Though he was worried, he could push it to the back of his mind since the coach had a squad car sitting on the house for the time being. His captain hollered for him and Daniel to enter his office, and Leo wanted to scream his head off.
"Well, you may want to hold off on that break," Leo muttered.
Though he was not ready to talk to the captain and normally the older man would leave him to work his case, Leo rose, took a breath, and walked with Daniel into the office. "Sit down," Captain Heron ordered softly, closing the file on his desk and removing his glasses. He leaned back in his chair, eyeing them with something akin to exasperation. "Where are you on this case?"
Leo exchanged looks with Daniel but his partner spoke first, "Nowhere, really. Everyone that's dead is somehow connected to Kim. We don't know if it's a coincidence or if the killer is going out of his or her way to find people Kim cares for."
"How are you connected to the recent victim?" Heron questioned.
"When I was a kid, he was my mother's doctor," Leo explained. "He was younger then, of course. I'm not sure why he's dead because I've only met him a couple of times."
"Do you think you're in danger, Leo?"
Leo shrugged. "I don't know. But I'm not about to go crawling under a rock. I have every intention of finding this ass and making him pay."
"What about this Anderson Williams? The judge's son?"
"What about him?" Leo felt the instant his back went up.
"Nothing is going on there. We have to keep an eye on him because he's the judge's son," Daniel spoke up.
Heron rose from his chair and walked to the coffee. He poured himself a cup and took a sip. "People are getting antsy about this guy going around cutting people's head off. And how are we always one step behind him every time? It's the same damn evidence at each scene and he hasn't managed to fuck up once!"
"Not yet." Leo was getting tired. There was a slight throb behind his right eye and all he wanted to do was go home and crawl into bed for a while.
With the meeting with the captain over, Leo sat at his desk, poring over files. When nothing popped, he left the office with Daniel by his side and made their way to Anderson's place. The house was locked up tight after being cleaned and after picking the lock, he stood in the threshold smiling.
"Remind me to change my locks." Daniel walked around him with a smile. "The fact that you can do that scares me."
"Hey, a lock is a lock so it doesn't matter if you change them." Leo shrugged. "Besides, it's not like you have anything in your house I haven't seen before."
"You'd be surprised. Look, the property isn't a crime scene anymore and it would take Anderson way too long to get here to give me a key. I don't have that kind of time."
"Or patience," Anderson added.
"Precisely."
Leo chuckled and they continued into the house. They started their nosing around in the kitchen being sure to put things back the way they found them. They didn't have a warrant, which made what they were doing very illegal. He chose to think Anderson wouldn't mind but what did he know? There were many layers to the professor Leo had yet to see.
The place smelled like it should after being locked up for a while and Leo had to resist the urge to pop a window open.
Daniel overturned a pillow. "What exactly are we looking for? I mean you guys obviously had cleaners come through here."
"I guess we'll know when we find it."
"That's reassuring."
Leo ignored that statement and continued from the kitchen to what looked to be Anderson's office. It felt strange being alone in the house. He'd gone through it before but as a cop with people around and he was on a mission. Then, he was searching the usual evidence. Now he just didn't know what he was doing. He was grasping for something—anything that would make this case click and snap from the funk it was in.
In a drawer at the bottom of the desk, he found a piece of paper. He wasn't sure what it was but it was folded neatly and shoved in between the tracks. He only knew it was there when he pulled the drawer out and it took a bit of muscle to get it back in. He unfolded the paper and tilted his head. It was a list of numbers and letters.
"Now that's strange," Leo muttered to himself.
"You said something?"
Leo quickly refolded the paper and shoved it into his pocket. If they were right and this guy was going around killing people he was close to, letting Daniel in on it would only end badly. He was going to do what he could to keep his partner safely out of it. They both didn't need to lose their badges or worse, become another victim of the killer they hunted.
"Nothing at all," Leo lied.
"There's nothing here," Daniel called then entered the room. "And I'm starting to feel as if someone is playing a drum on my brain. I'm going to head home. I have to talk to the wife anyway."
"You two aren't going to fight again, are you?"
Daniel shrugged. "I'm all fought out. I'll see you later. I'm going to head home and try not to go crazy or do anything stupid."
"You do that. I'm going to go talk to the guys in the lab. Maybe there's something they missed."
"Oh, they'll take that well."
"The world's smallest violin, man."
* * * *
Time ticked by with Anderson trying to get to spend some time with Byung. It was a pain for Byung kept having things come up on days Anderson was free. Finally, Anderson put his foot down and told Byung he was getting kidnapped. After a quick stop to see Leo and bringing him some lunch, getting to Caesar's didn't take too long for it was only a couple of blocks from the precinct. It was a popular, posh gay restaurant where anyone who's anyone ate. Yes, it was mainly for gay couples but they had amazing food—especially cheesecake, something a lot of people in New York were addicted to. But Anderson didn't feel like eating more calories than he could burn that day and he didn't want to start eating junk when he felt as bad as he did.
Anderson walked into his regular haunt and stopped at the host podium.
"Hello, Marc."
"Good morning, Mr Williams. Byung's already here. This way please."
He followed the man with the cute ass over to where Byung was seated with a large cup of coffee in his hands. He shook his head because he should have known where there was coffee, Bee was a happy man. Anderson reached across to hug his friend before slipping into his seat and placing his keys on the table. After ordering a coffee, he lifted his hands to the table.
"Start at the beginning," Byung muttered.
Anderson took a deep breath. He licked his lips while wondering where the beginning of it all was. There was so much that was going through him that he had switched his cell off because he didn't want to hear it ring.
"Easy for you to say," he said to Byung and smiled at the host who brought his coffee. The man left them again and Anderson sipped from his cup. "Let me start at the beginning. As you know, after my house got tossed, I called Leo."
"Leo?"
"Detective Sung Kim."
"Oh right! I forgot you two are on first name basis now." He smirked at Anderson.
Anderson growled in his throat but continued. "He came over and went through the place. He had his forensics team go through it, as well, and in the end I just didn't feel like staying there alone. At first we were going to stay there and he'd spend the night until he changed the plans and invited me to go to his place. One thing led to another and we had sex."
"I knew it!" Byung grinned.
"Yeah. I woke up the next morning to him touching and kissing me and I just couldn't help myself. I gave my body over to him in a way I haven't with anyone else and it scares me. I mean, my father is dead and in the midst of that I am falling for a man I have no right caring for. But I can't deny the way he makes me feel. Even the fact I can't read him just scares the shit out of me. I mean, take this for example. He says things like 'I really wish I could kiss you right now' and I just…"
"Why couldn't he kiss you?"
"We were in an interrogation room and there were cameras. You know what else he told me? I don't remember if I told you this. They found a flower called love-lies-bleeding at dad's after his body was found. It was also discovered at my place after the break-in."
"Holy shit!" Byung gasped out. "So let me see if I understand this. They didn't just break in and trash the place, but they stuck around to leave that crappy ass flower?"
"'That's the image I'm getting." Anderson shook his head.
"Sounds like they know something—a small thing, but still a clue. So why are you so mad?"
"I'm not mad—not really. I'm more confused than anything else. I'm so scared to get my hopes up and then watching them crash. Especially…"
"After you two fucked…"
Anderson nodded before taking a deep breath. He pushed back against the seat with his mind racing. "For all I know, he just took me in his arms because he saw how worried I was. Damn."
Byung grinned. "Don't worry about it. I believe it's called a booty call. He's a cop. He probably hadn't gotten laid in a long time. Don't take it personally. His cock spoke for his brain and there's nothing you can do about it."
He nodded for as per usual, Byung was right. "Yeah. Oh well, what can you really do, right?"
"Right. At least you had a good come and…"
"Would you gentlemen like to order?" a female voice interrupted Byung's words and they both spun to face her.
"I'll have the omelet delight," Byung informed her.
"I'll have what he's having," Anderson piped up. After she was gone, they faced each other again.
"You did have a good one, didn't you?" Byung pushed.
"Oh, it was good." Anderson brought his cup to his lips. "And you know this stereotype they have about Asian men being small?"
Byrung smirked.
"It's just that—a stereotype."
Byung laughed. "Of course it's a stereotype. I've seen a picture of Leo Sung Kim. I had a friend look into him when you said you were spending the night at his place. I know—I shouldn't have, but a guy can't be too careful. That man is massive."
"And controlling in all the right ways."
"Well, maybe you should fight to have him in your life, even if it's not true love."
"You're a slut, you know that?"
"Guilty as charged. Maybe you should head on back over to the station."
"What for?"
"What do you think? You have to go back. Make him make you come!" Byung blurted out in Cantonese.
"You're trouble and you're cruising to get me shot." Anderson laughed. While they continued their conversation, Anderson reached into his pocket and turned his cell phone on out of habit. No sooner was it on than it began beeping. When he slid it open, he saw two numbers; one number he didn't recognize but the second he knew. "Gimme a second," he told Byung and excused himself, exiting the restaurant to check the messages. One message was from one of his teacher's assistants, telling him the papers were all ready for grading. Anderson dreaded that. He loved reading about Homer but marking papers made him want to cry sometimes. The second message was from Leo saying he'd try calling back. He didn't think it was urgent or Leo would have tried calling back. He went back to his friend with his heart beating a bit faster. His ass barely touched the seat when the phone rang again.
"Hello?"
"It's me." Leo's voice was tight.
"Is everything all right? You sound strange."
"Fine… can I see you?"
"Can't this wait until later?"
"Please… for about ten minutes."
Anderson glanced at his watch then over at Byung who was chewing with a concerned look on his face. "Okay, ten minutes—but then I really have to run because I don't have much time before my next lecture."
"Deal."
* * * *
"Detective…"
"Don't talk to me right now." Leo held up a hand, shoved his badge on his belt, and turned out the door. The journey across the parking was short and he dropped his files into the trunk and climbed into the car. He knew he probably freaked Anderson out but he couldn't wait any longer. He was tempted to use the siren but knew that wouldn't end well. It wasn't official police business and no one was in danger. He was hoping Anderson would be waiting for him but he pulled into the empty parking lot where they were to meet and turned the car off. It dawned on him then the lot was empty and the only building on it seemed to have been abandoned a long time ago. Leaning forward, he had to squint to eye the faded writing on a haphazard sign on the side of the structure. He shook his head for he recognized it. It used to be an empty spot for a carnival that went belly-up years before.
He glanced at his watch for what had to be the millionth time. When he looked up, he saw Anderson's car pulling into the space beside his. He pushed from his car and walked around to greet Anderson by taking him into his arms, pressing him into his car, and kissing him deeply. Feeling Anderson's lips under him and tasting his tongue left Leo weak and vulnerable. He craved that feeling—he yearned for the feeling of the complete love and fire he felt when he was with Anderson. Leo felt sexy and wanted when Anderson looked at him with fire in those big brown eyes. He never had that with anyone else. There never been a man seeming to be so obsessed with ripping his clothes off in pure, raw, lust. Right there in the middle of the abandoned lot, Leo allowed this man to drink from his lips and to turn him on even more than he was mere seconds before. When his brain felt as though it would explode if he didn't lift his head, he pulled his mouth away and pressed his forehead to Anderson's.