Title: Aftermath
Disclaimer: see chapter one
Across from the abandoned lot
Zeus finished up with the Eddie's S.U.V. and called Christine to let her know he had found it and where she could find it.
He and Sam waited in his car for Christine to arrive, each lost in their own thoughts.
"Hey Zeus? Do you think this is going to lead somewhere? That we will be able to clear him?" Sam asked.
"Don't tell me you are tired of him already?" Zeus teased.
"No, I'm just trying not to get my hopes up that we can get Eddie's life back. I know it's torture for him to be stuck at the house instead of hitting the street trying to solve this case." Sam replied.
"Hard to tell. We know Deacon is very calculating but we just have to hope someone working for him makes a mistake. There is definitely a print on the seat adjuster so we just have to wait and see what Christine finds out." Zeus said.
"Berto is working on narrowing down a possible site where Khan was tortured. There was a floor cleaner on Khans pants and shoes that Berto is working to tie back to a location. It's a cleaner that is only available to certain companies and Chris got us a list of the properties using it. He's working on finding places not in view of traffic cams." Sam said.
"When he gets it narrowed down let me know. I'll go with him to check it out." Zeus replied.
"Ok. I'd just as soon not find that crime scene." Sam answered.
"How are you handling everything else? You had me worried the night Eddie got arrested." Zeus asked.
"I had myself worried. I came close to breaking my sobriety, but I didn't. I'm doing better. I talked to my sponsor yesterday and having Eddie around helps. I was just so afraid for him, that something would happen to him." Sam answered.
"What did you decide about the movie?" Zeus asked.
"I turned it down. It's not the right time and the thought of Deacon having something to do with it? Makes me cringe." Sam said with a shudder.
"Looks like Christine is here, not sure who she has with her." Zeus wondered.
"That's Mick. He's one of the Medical Examiners, and believes Eddie is innocent." Sam said.
"Stay here. I'm going to go talk to them." Zeus instructed.
Zeus exchanged pleasantries with the detective and was introduced to the young M.E. "I wore gloves and I left everything as I found it. There is a fingerprint on the seat adjuster. Can you let us know if that leads to someone?" Zeus asked.
Christine assured him she would keep him posted. "You might want to get her out of here before the flatbed gets here." She tells Zeus.
"We were never here. Thanks Christine." Zeus replied as he headed back to the car.
Back at Sam's house
Zeus and Sam arrived at Sam's and updated Eddie and Berto on the situation with Eddie's S.U.V. "Christine is going to let us know if the fingerprint leads to anyone. Sam told me you were working on figuring out where Khan was held before he was killed. Have you had any luck with that?" Zeus asked.
"We narrowed it down to three that we think are most likely. I'm not sure if I can narrow it down further or if we should just go check those three." Berto answered.
"Lets start with those. I'm ready when you are." Zeus said.
"Let's go then. The sooner we find the scene the sooner we can prove Eddie was no where near there." Berto replied as he took his keys and followed Zeus out the door.
Sam busied herself with mundane tasks that Monica normally did around the house, desperately in need of the distraction. Unfortunately because Monica was a very good assistant there wasn't much to do. As she finished the last task her phone rang. It was Mick calling. Sam hit the answer call button and put it on speakerphone so Eddie could hear as well.
"Hey Mick. You are on speaker you've got Eddie too." Sam said.
"You are too, Detective Rollins is here too." Mick replied.
"We've got a problem, the print came back from your S.U.V. and it belongs to Emily Speer." Christine said.
"Wait, Emily Speer as in the woman who hired us to find her missing money?" Sam asked.
"That's her. I'm going to pick her up when I leave the morgue. Is there anything I need to know?" Christine queried.
"Just what we already told you, she came to us to track down her missing money and property, and then after the con man was killed we found out she had a connection to Deacon. What was she doing in my S.U.V.?" Eddie asked.
"That's what I'm going to try and find out. I will let you know what I find out." Christine said.
Interrogation room
"Do you want to tell me why I'm here?" Emily Speer demanded.
"You want to explain why your fingerprint was found in Eddie Valetik's S.U.V.?" Christine replied.
"What do you mean? I've never been in his S.U.V.?" Emily answered, confusion evident on her face.
"Your fingerprint was found on the seat adjuster of this S.U.V. why were you in it?" Christine said, showing a photo of Eddie's vehicle.
"A friend asked me to drive the S.U.V. to a parking lot for her." Emily replied.
"Why?" Christine asked forcefully.
"I don't know? She got a new car, was selling this one maybe? I don't know." Emily answered fidgeting in her chair and no longer meeting Christine's gaze.
"What friend?" Christine asked handing Emily a legal pad. "Write down what you know."
"Instead I think I need my lawyer." Emily answered.
"Ok. We will play it that way. You heard her, she wants a lawyer." Christine said as she got up and walked out.
Sometime later
"After speaking with my client I've advised her to cooperate. She has nothing to hide." The older man seated next to Emily said as Christine reentered the interrogation room.
"Ok, who asked you to move the vehicle?" Chris asked.
"Her name is Evelyn Collette. She's a former colleague. She called me and asked me to move the vehicle for her. She followed me and drove me back to my car." Emily answered.
"Why that parking lot?" Christine asked.
Emily looked at her attorney and he nodded for Emily to answer. "I didn't know when I got there that this was going to happen, but this guy met us there and he returned my jewelry that that con man stole from me and paperwork showing where my missing money was. He also gave Evelyn a package." She answered.
"That didn't seem odd to you?" Christine asked.
"It did, but I was so glad to have my money back I just put it out of my mind." Emily answered.
"Write everything down, including where you picked up the vehicle. Don't leave town." Christine replied as she grabbed her cellphone, got up, and left the room.
Zeus' vehicle
Zeus and Berto had gone to the first two locations on the list and come up empty. As they were about to head to the third location Berto's phone rang. "Hey Christine, what's going on?" He asked.
"Did you get to the third location on your list yet?" Christine queried.
"No, on the way there now. Why?" Berto asked.
"I just got an address where Eddie's S.U.V. was picked up, it's that location. I'm headed there now." Christine answered.
"We are almost there, we will look around outside for any evidence but we won't go inside." Berto replied. "See you there." He said as he disconnected the call.
Authors Note: sooooooooo sorry this took so long to post this and that it's so short :( it's been rough trying to write this for two reasons. One: it's hard to write when I'm uninspired without the show or news about the show and two: I fell into another fandom and Ive written multiple fics for the other fandom cause it's easy to be inspired with it. I *am* committed to completing this story, and hopefully it won't be so long before the next update.
Thank you for the feedback, I strive in every fic I write to try to be authentic to the characters, so the greatest praise is to be told a fic is believable. Thanks again. Hopefully I will have another (longer) update soonish.