A/N: Whoa, this story went and ended when I wasn't looking! How's that for luck, chapter 25 on the mark. And you get to find out why the hell I called it "Sacrifice"! Anyway, they don't all live happily ever after but, well, we can take comfort in the fact that Tony's going to get his ass kicked (among other actions) in jail.
"Melinda's pretty damn good at this," Barek whispered to Eames behind the mirror. "Wonder if she wants a job."
"No kidding. I'd work with her."
"Quiet, you two," Deakins commanded.
Both women subsided. A second later, Barek whispered to Eames, "Claire's cuffs just went on; you ready to go mess with Tony's head?"
Alex grinned. "Oh Carolyn, I thought you'd never ask!"
"This is gonna be good," Deakins told them, rubbing his hands together like an evil genius as he watched Eames slip a mini tape recorder into her pocket. "I can't wait to see him with his feet in the fire."
Five seconds later, Barek and Eames were back at Alex's desk, where Tony was being involuntarily entertained by Logan, who was, in turn, having the time of his life pretending to be a buffoon who hadn't been allowed to take part in the interview. "Naw!" Logan was saying loudly. "I'm serious, you shoulda seen that girl! I mean, her dress was cut down to -" He broke off, pretending to have just noticed the two women. "Oh, uh, hi guys."
"Having fun over here?" Barek asked her partner with a smirk.
"Ah, I was just telling him some stories about 'the one that got away,'" he improvised.
"Now that's interesting!" Alex spoke up, feigning amazement. "Because we're here to tell Tony about the one that got away!"
"What are you talking about?" Tony demanded, glaring at her.
"Your girlfriend in there?" Barek began, casually jerking a thumb over her shoulder toward the interview rooms. "She just admitted to killing her mother."
There was a tiny pause as Tony searched for an appropriate facial expression, and then he gave her a look of shock. "Excuse me?"
"Yep," Eames said airily. "You know, it was weird! All we had to say was that we knew that one of the two of you had fired that gun, and we thought it was you, and she just started spilling her guts!"
Tony's mouth worked for a second before he got his feet back under him. "Claire said that? Wow . . . you think you know someone, and then . . ."
"No kidding," Logan agreed quickly, slapping the boy on the back and enjoying the wince it brought. "So, you didn't realize she left the apartment that night?"
Tony pretended to think about that for a moment as he decided what story to give them. "Well you know, now that you mention it . . . she did say she was running out for coffee, and I couldn't say how long she was gone . . ."
The two women tried to hide their triumphant looks.
"Tony, thank you so much!" Barek simpered.
"Oh," Alex added, not to be outdone, "you were just perfect, Tony! That's exactly what we needed to hear!"
Whatever else he was, Tony Meadows wasn't an idiot. He knew when someone was mocking him. "What the hell are you talking about?" he snapped.
"Watch your language," Logan ordered, abruptly grabbing Tony's collar and hauling him to his feet. "What say we go for a little walk, huh? What do you think, ladies?"
Barek glanced at Eames and they both grinned. "Oh, we just can't wait."
"That's what I thought. Move it, kid." He pushed Tony forward and, steering him by the hand he kept clamped on his shoulder, led the way to Interview 1, where Claire Young, handcuffs clearly visible, sat crying silently.
"Melinda," Barek said, noticing that the girl looked frightened at seeing her old abuser walk into the room, "why don't you and I step out for a minute, ok?"
Eyes on the ground, Melinda nodded and followed her toward the door. But when Barek crossed the threshold out of the room, Melinda paused on it and turned back to catch the hateful glare Tony was giving her back. "Oh, and Tony?"
"What?" he snapped.
"Between me and Claire, you got five hellish years out of us. But you know what? No more. Now it's your turn to suffer. I hope you enjoy trying to smack around your cellmate as much as you liked smacking me around." Having said her piece, Melinda turned and left the room, walking a little taller than she had when she came into it.
"Crazy bitch!" Tony shouted after her. Then, turning back to the detectives, he growled, "What the fuck was she talking about?"
"Shhh," Logan murmured mockingly, patting Tony on the head. "Why don't you try shutting up and listening for once, my friend?"
"A very good idea," Alex agreed as she hit rewind on the tape recorder in her pocket. "Because I think we're all going to want to hear this."
"Claire?" Tony snapped, fixing hard eyes on his girlfriend. "What are they talking about?"
Claire's eyes were wide as she shook her head and stammered, "I . . . Tony, I don't know! I didn't say anything . . ."
"Listen and learn," Alex told them. She set the the tape recorder in the center of the table, turned the volume all the way up, and pressed Play.
"Having fun over here?" said Barek's voice
"Ah, I was just telling him some stories about 'the one that got away," Logan told her.
"Now that's interesting!" Alex said. "Because we're here to tell Tony about the one that got away!"
"What are you talking about?" Tony demanded..
"Your girlfriend in there? She just admitted to killing her mother," Barek said.
Claire gasped at hearing this and whipped her head around to stare at Goren. "What . . . why did she tell him that? I didn't . . .!"
He laid a hand on her wrist, trying to calm her. "Just listen to the rest."
"Excuse me?" Tony's voice said.
"Yep. You know, it was weird! All we had to say was that we knew that one of the two of you had fired that gun, and we thought it was you, and she just started spilling her guts!"
Claire made a choked, incoherent noise. "Why . . . why . . ."
Tony was pointedly silent, watching her protests impassively as the tape continued.
Tony's voice, sounding surprised: "Claire said that? Wow . . . you think you know someone, and then . . ."
"Tony!" This time Claire was glaring at him, not looking at him entreatingly. "You know . . .!"
"No kidding," Logan said. "So, you didn't realize she left the apartment that night?"
Tony again: "Well you know, now that you mention it . . . she did say she was running out for coffee, and I couldn't say how long she was gone . . ."
Alex snapped off the tape recorder and sat back to watch the fireworks she knew were about to erupt.
"Tony!" Claire said again, pleading now. "That wasn't you, right? They faked it."
Tony gave her a look that was slightly contemptuous. "They know, Claire. They know you did it. You can stop lying now."
She gaped at him "What are you talking about? I didn't do anything!"
"You remember what Melinda told you, Claire?" Bobby said, leaning forward to say it almost in her ear. "She said that to him, you're expendable. Do you believe her now?"
"I . . . I . . ." She looked back to Tony, obviously wanting desperately for him to prove Goren and Melinda wrong. "You know I didn't . . ."
"Stop lying!" he shouted at her, and if Alex hadn't known what kind of scum he was, she might almost have believed his attempt at earnestness. "Tell them what you did!"
Claire stared at him as it slowly dawned on her that he truly wasn't the man she had always thought he was. "Are you saying I killed my mother, Tony?" she asked not letting any emotion into her voice.
"I'm sorry, honey, but they're the police and I'm obligated to tell them what you di-"
"Liar!" Claire shot to her feet, her chair skidding across the room, and, before anyone could restrain her, clamped her hands on his shoulders and shook him, hard. "You fucking liar! They told me you would, but oh nooo, I wouldn't believe them. Just like I wouldn't believe there was anything wrong with you." She released one of his shoulders to jab a finger toward him. "You all were right. He did do it! He . . . he killed my mom. I saw . . . I saw . . ."
"That's enough, Claire," Goren said quietly, taking her by the arms and pulling her away from Tony. "You can get back at him by telling us the truth about that night and sending him to jail."
Claire nodded shakily and let out a deep breath.
A second later, Tony was on her, trying to wrap his fingers around her throat even as Bobby towed her away. "Bitch! You goddamn bitch!" he screamed into her face. "I spend a year with your sorry ass and -"
"Enough!" Alex hit him from the side with all of her body weight, slamming him past Claire and into a wall.
Logan, a split second behind her, dodged past her body and pressed a forearm against Tony's throat. "You like trying to strangle people, Tony? You think this is fun, cutting off someone's air?" He increased the pressure and leaned closer, sneering into the man's face. "You like it when they tell you they love you while they beg you to stop? You're fucking scum!"
The door to the room opened and Barek strode in, moving quickly but not running. "I've got him," she told Goren, who couldn't decide whether it was wise to release Claire so he could help with Tony. "Mike," she said quietly, taking hold of her partner's bicep but not actually trying to pull him away. "Let him go."
Bobby pulled a sobbing Claire to the door, wanting to get her as far away from her raging boyfriend as possible. "Take her," he ordered a uniformed officer who was standing outside the door When the officer tried to pull her away, though, she tenaciously clung to Bobby, crying harder.
As if summoned, Melinda appeared next to the officer. "Claire," she said softly, wrapping an arm around the girl's shoulders. "It's Melinda. Tony's going to jail and you're going to help put him there. Come on, let's get you out of here, ok?"
Managing a slight nod, Claire allowed herself to be pulled away from Bobby and threw her arms around the only other person in the building who knew what she was experiencing: Melinda Parker.
Bobby watched the officer and the two women until they were out of sight, then turned back into the interview room to evaluate the situation.
Things appeared to be under control. Once again, it was Barek and Eames who were restraining the man. Logan stood slightly behind them, arms crossed and obviously only holding onto his temper by a thread.
"Do me a favor and hold him while I cuff him?" Alex asked her partner over her shoulder. She wished she didn't have to ask for help, but it was a pragmatic decision; together, she and Barek didn't find it difficult to hold Tony back, but if she released him to get her cuffs, Barek might not be able to hold him alone. None of them wanted to chance letting Logan near him again, so Goren was the only other option.
Nodding, Goren reached between the two women and planted a hand on Tony's solar plexus, pinning the man to the wall, then forcibly turned him to face it as Eames cuffed him and recited his rights.
A few seconds later, she led him to the door and shoved him through it into the arms of the waiting officer.
"You know what really scares me?" Barek said sadly when Alex had closed the door and moved to stand next to her partner. "It's that the only reason that we were able to help Claire is because of the death of her mother. If he hadn't killed Gabrielle, if you guys hadn't been called in . . ."
"He would have kept going until Claire was dead," Alex finished, shaking her head.
"Her life in exchange for her daughter's," Goren said slowly. "It's the ultimate sacrifice."
THE END
Endnote: If you're depressed that this story's over, you can take comfort in the fact that the next time I get an idea for a casefile, I'll probably make it a continuation of Sacrifice, the same Sacrifice was a continuation of Spilled Blood. So just cross your fingers, or something. Oh yeah, and reviews are always nice too!