The address they had for Maggie Headley led them to a building of apartments stacked one on top of the other and eight to a floor for at least ten floors. The elevator was broken and they completed the climb to floor six in absolute silence. The graffiti on the first few floors carried gang colors and both men had their guns under their jackets. It wasn't the best place to live and Lee thought it was a far cry from the detached post war house the Headleys had lived in before all this went down. Of course it was likely the original house had been paid for out of pay-offs so it was a place built on sand.
They knocked on the door of apartment six B and waited. Adam had muscled his way to the front. Seemed like old habits died hard. The door opened on a chain and a woman's face peered out through the small space. Her eyes widened at the two men and Lee didn't blame her. Adam never had learned to tone down his fierce expression.
"Ma'am," Lee passed her his credentials but didn't announce who he was. Last thing the woman needed was for an FBI agent to announce his presence in a place reeking of drugs and littered with gang graffiti. She took the wallet and shut the door on him. There was a phone number for her to call. Lee imagined that was what she was doing to verify who he was.
"She's taking her time," Adam muttered irritably. "We should probably push the door in." He flexed his not inconsiderable muscles and Lee placed a gentling hand on his arm. Adam used to react to that touch with a rueful smile but all Lee got now was a flash of temper in his ex-lover's gorgeous eyes.
"Cool it, big guy," Lee muttered in return. Adam looked like he wanted to say something but the door opened at that moment and a thin, pale, and rather nervous looking woman asked them inside.
As soon as the door shut she moved into the tiny kitchenette which separated living space and cooking area. Only once she had the counter between her and the two men did she perceivably relax.
"I called my son, he had gone to the store," she said quickly.
Lee nodded. Calling the son would make sense. "I won't say anything until he gets here." They stood uneasily looking at each other for a moment. The silence was unnerving. He hated silences. No one ever learned anything by being silent.
"You have a nice apartment here, Mrs Headley," Lee lied. And then he wished he hadn't opened his mouth at all.
Jeez, she looked like she was going to cry. "Here? On the sixth floor of a building that needs condemning? How can you even say that?"
"I'm sorry—"
"I had a beautiful house. Double fronted. And a yard. Our neighbors looked out for us and we were happy. This." She gestured wildly around her. The move seemed out of character for such a small woman. "This is nothing but a punishment for us."
Silence again.
"How long will your son be, Mrs Headley?" Adam pointedly looked at his watch. Lee could feel his partner's tension from where he stood. This was not a good sign.
"Not long," she answered quickly. Lee watched as she clenched and unclenched her hands then placed them flat on the counter surface. "Could I get you a coffee or a cold drink?" she asked.
"Water," Adam said.
"Coffee. Cream. One sugar," Lee answered. Adam shot him a look. That look that spoke so much and was telling him they weren't staying long enough to drink freaking coffee. Lee raised an eyebrow in response. Maggie Headley quickly donned the façade of hostess and placed water and a coffee on the counter along with a small and very delicate plate of cookies. The offering was so much out of what should be in this small place. It was civility and normality and he could see her relax inch by inch. He sat next to Adam on a small sofa and halfway through his coffee and three small cookies they were interrupted as the door flew open and a wild-eyed young man came into the apartment. He was out of breath and his whole body screamed offense.
Adam immediately stood and pulled himself to his full height, Lee was slower to rise.
"Mom?" Josh Headley moved quickly to his mom's side and grasped her arm. "Are you okay?"
"They're FBI, Joshy."
At this he rounded on Lee and Adam. "What the hell do you want?"
"Just to ask a few questions," Lee began.
"No. No more questions. We have nothing else to say to you."
"You knew what your father was involved in, didn't you?" Adam asked accusingly.
Lee shot him a quick look. Adam was clearly not running by the rulebook.
"We didn't know anything," Maggie said. Her hand rested on her throat and her face was devoid of color.
"Well that's bullshit," Adam snapped.
Josh took the few steps to face off with Adam. Shorter and lighter, he was still standing up to Adam, as if will alone was going to drop the larger man to the floor. Lee had to admire the bravery of the guy.
"Fuck you," Josh had anger dripping from his voice. "Take your badges and your guns and leave us alone. We've told you everything we know."
"You've told us nothing," Adam near bellowed.
Give him his due, Josh didn't back down. Lee hesitated to step in. He didn't know what Adam was playing at but for a few more seconds he would let this play. Maybe there was a game plan?
Josh clenched his hands into fists, much as his mom did earlier, and gave Lee the impression he might come out swinging. There was an awful lot of anger inside Josh. Even a casual observer could see that.
"What do you want to hear? The lies he told us? About the money deposited into bank accounts for what he had done that we gave to charity? You already know all that."
Lee thought back to the files in the car. There wasn't really anything else they had said.
"We don't know anything else."
"Why?" Lee said softly. He moved subtly in between Adam and Josh who both took a step back and away from him. Josh in surprise, Adam probably in disgust at being stopped.
"Why what?" Maggie replied.
"Why did he do it? Did you have debt? Was he gambling? Were there medical bills to pay?"
"No. Nothing like that. I already said all this." Maggie looked at her son with wide eyes and a pleading expression. "I don't know why he did that awful thing—"
"This is harassment," Josh snapped.
His interruption stopped his mom in full flow and her hand fluttered from her throat to her mouth. She caught Lee's gaze and looked away. You didn't have to be able to read people to know she was withholding something.
Josh took a step closer to his mom. "My boyfriend is a lawyer," he said. "You can't do this to us—"
"Your mom asked us in," Lee explained evenly. He wasn't going to comment on the lawyer remark. A lawyer wasn't going to stop Lee and Adam getting to the bottom of this. Anyway after seeing Maggie's reaction there was no way he was leaving without seeing what she was keeping back.
"What are you studying?" Lee changed the subject.
"What?"
"At NYU? It's a doctorate, is that right?"
"PhD in criminology." Josh looked at him suspiciously.
"Guess education like that isn't cheap," Lee said conversationally.
"I work," Josh snapped. "You think my dad killed a girl and destroyed years of good policing for me to get my degrees? My grandparents left me money."
Adam moved in a heartbeat and in a repeat of what he had done to Lee this morning he had Josh facedown on the counter. Only this time it wasn't sexual. Fuck. Was he reading Josh his rights? Adam wasn't a freaking cop.
"…anything you say will be used against you in court…"
"Leave my son alone. He's not done anything—" Maggie was clawing at Adam's arm.
"Let me up," Josh was shouting.
Lee moved as his brain caught up with what was happening.
"…attorney will be provided at no cost…" Adam's voice was calm in amongst the chaos.
"Adam—" Lee pulled at his other arm but Adam wasn't moving. He was gripping Josh and reading him his freaking rights like he had all the power to do so. "We're arresting you for withholding information pertinent—"
"Wait. Wait!" Maggie was nearly hysterical. She had taken a step back from Adam and her son. "There's a list. Stop. I'll get it. Please stop."
Adam released Josh from his position over the counter but still gripped an arm. He stared down at Maggie with an implacable gaze on his face. All Lee could think was what the hell was going on? He caught Adam's gaze and there was nothing there. No hint of what the fuck the other man was playing at. Maggie backed away, tears falling down her cheeks. Then she took a box marked Christmas from a tall shelf in the corner of the apartment. Rummaging inside she pulled out a bundle of Christmas cards tied with a red ribbon. She held it close to her chest.
"It's all that is keeping us alive—" she said brokenly.
"Mom?" Josh pulled away from Adam's grip and Lee was relieved when Adam let him go. In two strides he had his mom in a hug. "What is it?"
"He said I should keep them. That if I had them then they wouldn't touch us." She raised a trembling hand to Josh's face. "Touch you."
"Who said, Mom?"
"Your father."
Josh guided her to sit on the sofa. "What are they?"
Shakily she held the pile out to Lee who took it carefully from her. After pulling the ribbon the cards were loose in his hands but inside, buried deep in amongst velvet and poetry, was a small notebook no bigger than a few inches across.
"Once," she said. "He did wrong once. That's all. We've been paying for it ever since."
Lee flicked through the book. A list of names, dates, observations, all in the same sloping scrawl of one person. A couple of names jumped out and he guessed the analysts back at the office could pull something out of the meaningless jumble of codes and symbols.
"Gareth said if I let it out of my sight then they would know and it would be the end of things for him and us. He told them… told them that there was evidence stacked away at a bank, somewhere. Copies of this notebook. They never looked to me. They asked him to kill the girl and he said no. They told him if he didn't they were going to kill Josh. That it didn't matter what he had to use against them. I'm so sorry."
"It's fine, Mom." Josh was holding her close. He may well be reassuring his mom but he didn't look so calm himself.
"They weren't going to kill our sweet boy, your dad wouldn't let them," she said between sobs. "He was so sorry. Always so sorry. But we couldn't let them hurt you."
Adam had moved to one side and was on his cell. Lee shook his head. This wasn't how he'd expected this to go down.
"We need to take this information. You understand this could be exactly what we need to connect the dots with Alastair and finally get charges to stick. If he's put away then you'd be safe." Lee was lying. Even he could hear it in his voice.
"It could also be nothing." Josh was resigned and he shook his head. "It may be a freaking laundry list, it doesn't have to be evidence or any kind of naming names."
"I'm sure they watch us," Maggie interrupted. Fear haunted her eyes. "It's a balance you see. They leave us alone and Gareth stays quiet. But if that balance tips—"
"We'll get you to a safe house," Adam announced as he ended the call.
"We're not going anywhere," Josh said defiantly.
"Call it a holiday." Adam wasn't listening. Instead he was crossing to the window to look out onto the street below.
"You can't make us leave," Josh protested. "I have a life, my degree—"
"Josh." Maggie's voice was thick with tears. "I don't want to be here anymore."
Josh stared at his mom. Confusion and worry was etched into his expression and he turned to look at a bookcase with a single sad pile of magazines on the third shelf from the top, offering everyone else his back. He slumped, defeat showing in every line of his body. Lee waited for him to turn and quickly agree to leave. Instead, straightening of his spine, he turned back to face Lee with determination on his face.
"Take my mom," he said firmly. "Make sure she's safe. I'm not going with you." His own startlingly green eyes, just like his mom's, were suspiciously bright with unshed tears. Whether because of grief or anger Lee couldn't tell.
"Don't be so damn stupid," Adam snapped.
Lee stopped his partner from talking with a raised hand. "We can't make you go," he said. "But I want to keep you safe."
Adam backed down from his confrontational stance and Lee considered what he should say. In the end he said nothing as Maggie did all the persuading for him.
"I'm scared, Josh. Please don't leave me on my own."
The expressions passing over Josh's face ranged from angry to despairing to accepting. Finally Josh sat quietly. Then, visibly making a decision, he rose to his feet and pulled his mom with him.
"Let's pack a few of your things," he said softly. They disappeared through the only other door. Lee took a moment to calm down and looked about him at the evidence of life in this small place. He assumed that through the only other door was the mother's room. The sofa in this main room was set up as a bed with a cascade of blankets and there was a Grisham and two books with unpronounceable titles lying on the floor next to an empty glass. He supposed that was where Josh had been sleeping. If the duffle on the floor was any indication then the young guy was living out of a single bag. He glimpsed inside the second room when the door opened. It didn't look much better in there than it did out here. He waited patiently—he had a lot to say and he needed mother and son out of the room so he could speak his mind openly.
As soon as the door shut behind mother and son he rounded on Adam.
"What the hell was that?" he whispered loudly but didn't stop to listen to a reply. "Warn me next time you want to throw the rules out of the window and play good cop bad cop." Lee was holding tight to his anger now that the immediate issue had passed.
"You saw she was hiding something," Adam said drily and just as low in volume. "I used the skills I have—"
Lee couldn't stop the incredulousness in his voice. "Beating and threatening a kid—"
Adam huffed a quiet laugh. "I didn't beat on him—"
"You threatened him though."
"Not like I was going to carry through on an arrest. I'm not a cop."
Like that made any sense at all. Pretending to be a cop made it all okay? "What happened to procedure? There are more subtle ways—" Lee pushed his fingers through his short hair and then left his hand there for a moment, twisted in it. The sharp twinge of pain grounded him for a second. It didn't last long when Adam huffed a laugh.
"Screw subtle," he bit out harshly. "You and your pansy-ass FBI rules weren't going to push her. Only thinking her son was in trouble was going to do that. You see a weakness, you go for it."
"What the hell? Weakness? These are people. You're not some renegade and you're not outside the law." Lee was right up in Adam's face.
"Never said I was." Adam looked down and nonchalantly examined his fingers. Like nothing mattered. Like threatening the son was the right thing to do. Christ. This man knew how to press every single one of Lee's irritation and temper buttons. "Her weakness is her son. We got what we wanted. Job done."
"Job done. What's wrong with you?"
"Wrong with me?" Adam looked confused. Shit. Did Adam really think he had done nothing wide of the mark? "There's nothing wrong with me."
"It never used to be just about you getting the job done." Lee sounded horrified. Adam was impetuous and quick thinking but forcing a desperate woman's hand by threatening to arrest her son? That was way past acceptable.
Adam looked up and his expression changed from calm to hell on earth in a split second. "Don't question what I do or how I do it," he spat out. "You no longer have the right."
Lee ignored this. He was on his soapbox and still very firmly in horrified mode. "No wonder the FBI is worried about Sanctuary if this is what it's about. What are you? A band of rebels that think they're above the law?" Lee hated and regretted the words as soon as they left his mouth. Rebels? Why did he use that word? "I'm sorry—"
Adam's lips thinned and he leaned close. "You wanna know why I cut the corners there? Huh?" Adam plowed on, "I want this finished 'cause the sooner it's ended the faster you can fuck off out of my life."
They had retreated to opposite corners when Josh and his mom came back out of her room. Maggie had packed two small carry-ons and Josh scooped his own duffle, a phone charger and the two books. He left the Grisham. In those bags was their life and for a few seconds Lee felt a heavy weight of guilt that they were doing this.
Part of him felt Maggie and Josh should go to a FBI safe house; but it wasn't a big part. He didn't even begin to argue with Adam over this. There was still the unplugged leak. The same leak connected to Morgan Drake, the Bullens and God knows what else. Whatever his opinion of Sanctuary after what he had just seen Adam do, he wasn't going to compromise the woman who, in fear of her life, had protected her husband's secrets for so long.
"I need to phone Eric, my boyfriend." Josh was firm and gripped his cell tightly.
"No phone calls, not to family, not to friends. Not even to the boyfriend," Adam said dispassionately. Lee frowned. Adam sounded hard, implacable, and it wasn't the Adam whom Lee had loved. In fact, Lee had to face the fact there was nothing of the Adam that Lee had loved in the man who stood before him, not one speck.
Adam took the cell from Josh's hands and turned it over. Removing the SIM he dropped it to the floor and smashed it with the heel of his boot. Josh said nothing; he looked shocked at first but then merely resigned.
"Phone stays here," Adam said. He threw it on top of the blankets on the sofa. "Do you have a cell, Ma'am?"
Maggie blinked at him in confusion. Lee was worried she was close to losing it.
"No," she said. "I don't have a phone. Is that important? I don't understand." She looked to Josh who simply pulled her in for a close hug.
"Mom has never had a phone," he explained. "What will happen to my dad? Have you thought about that?"
Adam looked at Lee to answer this and Lee wasn't sure where to start. "I'll pass this on to Sanctuary. They can talk to prison services or the Feds," he reassured. "We will ensure that he's in a secure wing."
"Thank you," Maggie said a little breathlessly.
"You okay, Mom?" Josh was worried.
She leaned against him. "I will be," she said simply.