A/N - i don't own DP.
final chapter. :p and, again, sorry for the update wait...:s i have no excuse
Seven: Revelation
Sam burst into the office the next day, Danny close on her heels. She had run into him in the elevator, and he seemed just as excited about the dénouement of their mystery as she was.
Though, of course, she was not showing it.
Danny leapt through the doorway behind her. "We know who the thief is!" he sang.
Every head in the room shot up at the much unexpected entry.
"Seriously?" Tony said, shocked.
"I beg your pardon?" Maria stammered, removing her glasses.
"Who is it?" Edward asked excitedly.
Marilyn just started choking on her coffee when she realized Danny's top two buttons were undone.
"Sam, why don't you tell them?" Danny said, looking extremely chuffed.
"It's Gerald Monk."
Sam's revelation was greeted with stunned silence.
Edward stood, and spoke first. "I never really thought…are you sure?" He asked quietly.
"It can't be!" Marilyn said, having recovered from her coughing fit. "He was at the party until after it was stolen! He came back to find it missing!"
"And whose word do we have on that?"
She fell silent as she realized that the only person confirming Monk's story was Monk himself, silently berating herself for being so stupid.
Maria shook her head, replacing her rimless glasses. "Why? Why on Earth would he steal it?"
"When we interviewed him, it became very clear that he craved adventure. He wanted to go on holiday – to ski, bungee jump. He's bored with his life. What better way to spice it up than to steal a priceless gem? He knew all the security codes. He probably shut them off before even rappelling from the roof."
Edward was nodding slowing. "Yes, and he would certainly have the money to buy the equipment used."
"And," Sam said, as an image suddenly popped into her mind. "At his apartment he had a centerpiece on the table – a large circular glass platter. I'm certain it was the piece of glass missing from the window."
"Yeah!" Danny said, remembering the platter she was talking about. "The one with the apples on it!"
"But if he did do it," Maria said, always the voice of reason. "And it certainly looks as though he did – where's the gem?"
Tony and Danny knocked on the door of Monk's apartment floor. Sam, remembering the events of last night, had suggested the two men go in front. She felt a little degraded, but she could not help but remember the feel of his arm crushing into her throat.
The door was opened by Monk himself. He started in surprise at the six person detective unit standing before him, looking dead serious.
"Gerald Monk, you are under arrest for the theft of the Rose Sapphire and the assault of a government officer." Tony recited him his rights as Danny quickly slipped on the handcuffs. Monk looked dazed, as if he was unsure of what was going on.
And suddenly he sprung alive, as though he was a slow motion video jerked into normal time.
"You can't arrest me! You government idiots!" He turned, fuming to Sam. "Miss Manson, please tell them that this is insane!"
"Insane? If this is insane, what were you last night, as you told me in excruciating detail how I was going to die?" His pupils dilated. "While you dug your arm into my throat?" His mouth opened in fear. "While you tasered Phantom?"
His face twisted from one of fear and disbelief to one of furor. He bared his teeth and snarled at her. "You bitch! You malicious little–"
"Now, now, Mr Monk," Danny said, sounding light, but with a deadly glint in his eye. "Be nice, or your sentence might include resisting arrest. A few more years, that'd be."
Monk flashed his searing glare onto Danny. "You can't arrest me without proof!"
"Okay, proof. Sam? Got anything?" Danny turned to her, smiling.
She bit her bottom lip.
"Sam? Where's the sapphire?" Marilyn sounded on the verge of desperation, glancing warily at the bound man before her.
Sam closed her eyes slowly, and her finger came up unconsciously to tap her lower lip. Suddenly her lilac eyes flashed open. She grinned at Gerry, whose eyes widened as he realized she had figured him out.
She turned and walked towards the fireplace. She knelt down and stared at the gaudy gems inlaid in the mantel. One pink one stood out from the others, flashing beautifully in the light. She put her fingers on either side of it and pressed. She depressed two secret buttons whose outlines were just visible up close. The gem popped out into her hand. She looked at the pink stone in wonder, then grinned cockily, tossing it into the air as she turned back to her teammates.
"Not the best hiding place, Gerry."
"Don't call me that!" he growled.
"Oh," she whined, throwing his own words back at him. "But you told me to."
He scowled murderously at her.
Later, after the police had arrived and taken a steaming Gerald Monk into custody, Sam handed a plastic bag to one of the scientists who had shown up to fingerprint the gem, just in case there was further incriminating evidence on it.
He took it with a puzzled expression, lifting out a plain white glove.
"Can you tell me whose they are?"
He nodded, still looking bemused, replacing the glove in the bag.
She watched him walk away with mixed feelings.
The team received a note from the upstairs offices commending them on their solving of the high profile case. The Mirage Museum and Gallery was so pleased to have the priceless gem retrieved in time for the exhibit they had had planned that they awarded each member of the team two hundred dollars in thanks.
Sam sat in her chair while the rest of the team practically skipped around the room with drinks and cheers.
She was staring at her computer monitor. On it was a picture taken from the bridge that night when Phantom had saved her. They had almost landed; their feet not quite touching the ground, and she was staring up at him. Her back was mostly facing the camera, and Phantom was almost face on to it.
She stared into his eyes. They looked different in the photo. They radiated with an unearthly glow in real life. The green enveloped you, mesmerizing you.
She had to hold back her fingers from reaching up to trace her finger down the line of his face.
"Who are you?" she whispered almost silently to herself. It was not just a question as to his true identity.
Suddenly there was a knock on the door. She jumped, immediately shutting the internet window and pretending to have been doing her mounds of paperwork – as, of course, she should have been. She heard speaking, then the door shutting. Marilyn appeared beside her, with a manila envelope.
She beamed down at her partner. "This is for you. From forensics," she added as she handed Sam the envelope.
Sam accepted it silently, staring at it. Her finger reached up and ran along the edge of the seal.
"Who are you?" she repeated, as she pulled the seal open.
oopsie. a story that ends in a cliffie :) it's fun being evil.
review please!!!
FunkyFish1991