Brian rarely ate lunch at his office. Generally, he invited either Blake or Freja Lundell out with him or ate at one of his favourite Italian restaurants alone. But today he wanted to have every aspect of the current case read through and know so he was more than prepared for the meeting. He was a good Detective, but Chris was an excellent manipulator and until the DA Rep settled down Brian would have to be at the top of his game.
To be completely honest, Chris's threat didn't really bother Brian. He had friends in high places, and Henry Bennett knew him and trusted him. He had shone brightly when he was at the 68th Department and the Captain of the Department still called him up when his unit was handling difficult cases. Brian, although he easily could have, didn't use his rich father or famous family name to build his business. He had built his reputation and business entirely himself. He had entered the force as a young early graduate fighting to prove himself with everything that he did.
What did worry Brian; was his reputation. Especially when it came to the public. Being seen as the hero, as the good guy in the public eye was what made Brian's career. People knew him as dedicated and good law enforcement. If that was put in jeopardy, then so would Brian's entire career. If his reputation was ruined, Brian might as well hand his position over to Chris.
At 1 o'clock on the dot, Brian walked into the conference room. His eyes landed on the head position at the oval table, his usual spot. It was currently occupied by Chris.
"Move over, that is my seat," Brian ordered. His tone was stern.
Chris glanced at him, looked like he wanted to argue for a moment before he got up and moved to one of the other empty seats. "I thought I specifically said conference room 2?"
"You did, but I prefer this one, and Detective Moore is currently working out of conference room 2," Brian said. He placed his notepad down in front of Elise before he walked around to the front of the room.
Elise technically wasn't part of the team. She didn't have the sort of qualifications that would ever allow her to be around the finer workings of a Major Crimes case, but upon Brian's request, she had started attending these meetings and discussions as well as interrogations, to take down notes for him. Brian didn't like having a part of his focus on notes, he found he missed a lot, and he liked to have all his focus on the meeting. Besides he liked the notes Elise took for him, her writing was so neat, and she used coloured highlighters and pens. They were much neater than the blue scribble Brian previously took for himself.
"Let's begin," Brian said as he pinned up a copy of Judge Andrew Evans's photo. "Judge Andrew Evans has been murdered. He was a high-profile judge who worked with the government on countless important cases, in his twenty-year service. Two nights ago he was found dead sitting in his chair at the Office of Administrative Law. Signs point to a self-inflicted drug overdose, but Mr. Bennett believes otherwise. Zayn you are going to have to get the forensic team from the 21st Department to send you over what they have for the forensic report."
Zayn Connelly was Brian's lead forensic pathologist. He was a little known for his procrastination and sort of laid-back attitude even during the more important cases. He stood at 5'9, with a pale-ivory completion. Which stood out against his dark brown eyes and black hair, making him seem unusually pale. He had an oval-shaped face, deep-set eyes, a slightly crooked nose, and larger ears and wore glasses. He always wore his lab coat around the office, even during meetings. Underneath it, he almost always wore wool sweaters and jeans. It was quite the contrast when he showed up in a suit vest to office dinner parties.
Brian tapped a button on the keyboard in front of him to pull up the pictures of the crime scene looking them over again. "As you can see the crime scene was clean, with no blood or signs of a struggle. Mr. Evans was found sitting in his chair at his desk. His secretary found him the morning of and at first thought he had fallen asleep in his chair, she attempted to wake him up when that didn't work. She phoned EMS and performed CPR until the paramedics arrived. Evans was declared dead at the scene."
Each of the team members around the table was taking down notes as he spoke. Chris was the only one simply sitting in his chair watching and listening. Brian held his gaze a moment before he looked around at the other members of his team.
"Evans was 5'10 and 195 pounds, he had brown hair and green eyes. We are waiting for the forensic report for his blood type," Brian concluded glancing at his lead technical analyst. "Freja, can you compile a list of every piece of Evans's background? Any enemies, all the people he put away, particularly his high-profile cases."
Freja Lundell was brilliant. If there was one person Brian wouldn't want to try and hide from it would be her. He was sure she could track anyone down if she was given the orders. When Brian asked for a list of possible vehicles or license plates, the list came quickly and thoroughly, generally in order from the most relevant to the least. She was thoroughly dedicated to her work and was a wonderful mother to her 4-year-old daughter. Zoe Pope held a special spot in Brian's heart. Freja was 5'7, with darker skin. She had dark green eyes and brown hair. She almost always wore dress pants and a lively blouse.
"Consider it compiled," Freja said with a nod, writing herself a note on a post-it.
Brian nodded in appreciation before he turned back to the file.
"You care to let us in, Brian?" Blake asked after a moment.
Brian looked up at him raising a brow.
Blake and Freja shared a looked with a small, amused smile.
"We've been here two years Brian, whenever you are deep in thought your face drifts into the most signature frown," Freja said.
Brian looked at her with a small laugh and a shake of his head. "I don't have a good enough picture to really have any ideas. But one thing is for sure, whoever killed Evans knew what they were doing. I do know I don't want the media around this. Not yet. So, let's keep this quiet, alright Gabby?"
Gabrielle "Gabby" McCarthy was beautiful. She was their media spokesperson and she was made for the job. She oversaw getting ahold of stories that may be related to their current cases and making sure that information on their cases got out before they were ready for it. She was stunning, with a perfect hourglass figure, dirty blonde, wavy hair, and perfect bright blue eyes. She was rather short standing at 5'3.
She was crazy rich; her father was part owner of the same company that owned a bunch of steaming networks. After her interview, Brian received a very handsome cheque to help ensure her the position. At first, Brian was hesitant, thinking he would send her to Moore to deal with, but she was a dedicated employee. A little crazy for the spotlight but she knew when it came time to publish any story about any of their cases she would be the author with the best details, the best interviews and the most freedom. That always seemed to tie her over.
"Come on, Brian, after looking at this case all morning you have to have some incline of what happened," Gabrielle said with a small stunning smile.
Brian laughed a little, glancing down at the file. He knew Gabrielle had a crush on him. A few days ago, he had to call her into his office and have a talk with her about maintaining a proper work relationship with him. She had begun to get a little too comfortable with him.
"Well...alright, obviously this wasn't just a random crime. This was planned, and it was thought out. The culprit made it into a well-secured building and back out without setting off any alarms or being spotted. So it was probably someone who fit in. Someone you wouldn't suspect to be a murderer. It might have been someone that Evans either knew personally or knew from his line of work. If this is connected to his work I assume it will be linked to one of the cases he worked with the government on. Your typical arsonist or thief is not going to go to the trouble of murdering the judge who sentenced them. It's also possible that this could be a family member of someone he put away. Someone who thinks their family member didn't get a fair trial."
"What about someone who was about to be put away? Could this be an attempt to keep someone out of jail?" Blake offered.
Brian paused a moment nodding slowly "possibly, but I can't see someone being this quiet and organized with that kind of motivation. I think if it was someone trying to escape time they would be trying to force terror into everyone so they would want people to know that someone is killing people. If Evans had been shot execution-style through a window, I could see a fear angle, but not with this MO. Don't —"
"But this is all speculation," Chris said.
Brian glanced at Chris his gaze narrowing a little "I was getting there; I was about to say don't rule it out, but my gut is saying no."
"Well, I'm glad your gut says no, forgive me but I will wait until the actual evidence is there. We all have work to get started on, let's do that. Speculating does very little good."
Brian frowned deeper, his jaw hardening a little. "It never hurts to come up with a picture of what we might be looking at."
"It can pigeonhole us, have us looking in the wrong direction," Chris said.
"No, it can't if you understand that you are only speculating. If the evidence is beings to point in a different direction and I am wrong, I have no problem admitting it. But the evidence is not there yet."
"You don't have a problem admitting you are wrong? Since when?" Chris asked.
Brian felt his gaze darken, pushing his fisted hands into his pockets.
"Detective Daniels, sir, if I may, Brian's hunch is usually really close to the answer. From where I am sitting, he has good instincts for this sort of stuff," Elise said softly from her chair.
Brian glanced at her a little surprised that she was willing to stand up for him against Chris.
"Well, I am glad you, a simple secretary, are so easily impressed," Chris said looking at Elise with a small frown. "What are you even doing here? You are a —"
"She is my secretary," Brian said sternly, walking around the table, and setting a hand on the back of Elise's chair. "She is doing what I ask of her."
Chris looked at Brian, holding his gaze a moment. "She doesn't have the qualifications to be around Major Crime cases. Or are you telling me you allow her to carry a gun on her too?"
Brian frowned deeply "so only people who have the ability to carry a gun should be in this room then? Is that what you are saying? So what other than me, you and Blake everyone should pack up and head back to their office? Freja and Zayn don't carry guns either. Or are you simply troubled because she is my secretary?"
"You know what I mean, she doesn't have the basic qualifications to be in this room, and you know that," Chris said.
"It is not like I ask her to perform searches or interrogate suspects. She simply takes down notes for me. Yeah, she gives input and offers ideas, but why shouldn't she? The more ideas we have the better we will be. Her name is never in the media. Truly Chris what my secretary does is truly none of your business or concern."
Chris got to his feet, shaking his head. "How does Brian's ass taste, Elise?"
"Shut up, Chris," Brian ordered coldly.
"You all will find that a lot will be changing around here. Henry wants me to make sure —"
"Bennett doesn't want anything. You are just trying to manipulate people around here to make me out as the enemy. Henry Bennett might have given you a promotion, but it is still me he trusts when it comes to the real work. I am still the one he presents these cases to. If my case reports are lacklustre or I am taking an unacceptable amount of time to solve a case, by all means, criticize how I run this office, but the daily affairs, the duties I ask my secretary to do, for example. All of that is up for me to decide, and none of your concern."
Chris held his gaze a moment. Finally giving a stiff nod. "For now," he muttered before he walked around the table and out the door.
Brian gazed after him a moment before he glanced down at Elise, "I'm sorry, don't pay attention to a word of what he is saying. All of it is just an attempt to get under my skin and piss me off."
Elise looked at him with a small smile and nodded "I have thicker skin than you give me credit for, sir. Well, I better go finish sending out those emails. Oh, I will need your signature on our donation cheque before you leave tonight. I would leave it on your desk, but I was worried it would end up getting lost."
Brian laughed a little nodding "I'll sign it before I head off today."
With that, she too headed from the room.
Brian picked up the notes she had written for him giving them a quick scan. Just like always. Immaculate. Almost cute. Did he really describe her writing as cute? How could it possibly be cute?
"So, Chris does not seem to be your biggest fan," Blake said as he got to his feet.
"No, he definitely is not," Brian said, looking up at him. "We met back in college and started at the academy pretty much the same time. He never liked that I graduated so quickly, nor that I was promoted to Detective so fast. I mean it might have been partly my fault. Back in those days, my ego was far from unchecked, I was full of myself. Trying to process everything that was going on with my mother, and her illness. I was...well, an ass, and I made a lot of mistakes. Chris just doesn't want to move past everything that happened."
Freja got to her feet shutting her laptop. She must have finished the last of her notes. "He shouldn't blame you for not being the best person back then. We were all young and stupid once. Not to mention, with everything that you went through with your mother...no one can blame you for having a few problems."
Brian looked at the two employees he considered to be more friends than anything else. "Thank you. Well, all I can say is let's solve this case by the books and as fast as possible, so he doesn't have anything to complain about."
Blake and Freja both nodded.
"Sounds like a plan," Freja said, leading them out of the room.
Brian laughed a little, stepping into his office. He organized a few things before he grabbed his bag, slipping the case file and his computer into it. Slipping his coat on, he headed out the door. Pausing at Elise's desk.
"Is now a good time to sign that cheque?" Brian asked.
Elise nodded unlocking a drawer in her desk and pulling it out. "Here," she said passing it to him and a pen.
He scribbled his signature down, before passing it back to her. "Is that really 5% of this month's profit?"
Elise nodded as she placed it back in the drawer. "Must be, it's what Reine gave me."
"It was a good month then," Brian said in approval. "Are you really okay? I really meant what I said, ignore what Chris said."
Elise looked up at him with a smile and nod "yeah, I really am fine."
"Okay, good. Well, have a good night," Brian said.
"You too, sir."
Brian didn't know why she insisted on calling him 'sir'. All of his employees referred to him as 'Detective Harper' as did practically everyone else that he associated with. Everyone except those part of his Major Crimes unit. They were able to refer to him as 'Brian'. Brian had insisted for a long time that Elise refer to him as 'Brian' and drop the 'sir.' In his eyes, she was part of the team. But it didn't seem to stick, and anything was better than 'Mr. Harper,' that just made him turn around expecting to see his father.
No bar tonight. A simple night at home. It's what you need. If you go to the bar, you are liable just to sleep with another girl. Brian knew his unconscious spoke the truth. He sighed softly and obediently started the drive to his apartment.
When he arrived home, Katie greeted him promptly. "Welcome home, sir. How was work?"
"Alright," Brian said slipping out of his jacket, "make me a scotch Katie, then you can head home for the night."
"Yes, sir."
Brian headed to his closet, changing into a bathing suit. When he walked out, Katie was gone, and his scotch was sitting on the counter ready for him.
He spent half an hour in the hot tub. Then after changing into a pair of black basketball shorts, he sat down in his loft office to do some work.
He spent two hours working on some odds and ends for his finished case, catching up on what the defence was planning on putting forth. From the looks of it, it would be another easy win. Especially with such a stacked jury.
Brian ordered pizza for dinner, heading into his workout room to kill time before it arrived. When there was a knock on the door, Brian walked over to open it. He was sweaty and breathing rather heavily.
Brian opened the door, passed the guy the money, and grabbed the box. "Keep the change."
"Thank you," the teen said.
When he finished eating, Brian returned to his office. But instead of doing more work, he decided he would look at dog breeds. Taking the idea that Evan had presented him to heart. As Brian scrolled through a list of dog breeds, he took note of breeds which sounded appealing to him or ones he remembered liking as a kid. He had grown up with a Labrador, but he didn't think that fit his current lifestyle. Maybe a breed like a German Shepard or Doberman.
Glancing over at his phone when it rang, he pressed the green button on the screen, turning it onto speaker. "Harper."
"Hey, how is my little brother doing?" greeted his brother's voice from the phone.
Brian shook his head with a small unamused laugh, leaning back into his chair. "Younger brother. You agreed to stop calling me 'little' when I was taller than you."
"You and I both know you wear lifts in all of your shoes, that is cheating."
"My lifts are not three inches tall. Come on younger brother Ian, younger."
Ian laughed over the line, Brian could almost sense the amused eye roll. "Fine, how is my younger brother doing?"
"I am doing good. How about you? How is work going?"
"Oh, it's fine, actually kind of peaceful for this time of year."
"How are the kids?"
"Good. Esme managed to pick three dandelions today at her soccer game."
Brian laughed deeply placing his phone to his ear as he moved down to the living room, leaning back on the sofa. "Only three? Well, that is an improvement."
"Is it? I think Eden and I really have to decide if soccer is even worth it anymore."
"Ian she is three, the most important thing is she is outside with other kids in the fresh air. You used to say the same thing about Maxim and now look at the kid. He is a very dedicated little hockey player."
"Yeah, I still don't know where that comes from."
Brian laughed softly running his hand through his hair. "How is Eden?"
"Good. She just got her new Fellow, and she is far more competent than she was expecting. That should lighten her workload quite a bit which is good. She had to miss Reggie's baseball game for the third time and she's really beating herself up because of it."
"At least it is because she was trying to save lives, remember when Dad missed your big Model UN speech because he had a golf tournament?"
"Yes. God, I was mad at him."
Brian laughed a little.
"How is work going for you?"
"Eh, it's okay. It was a little slow for a week or so there as we were in between cases, but we got a new case in today so it should be better."
"It's not another one where you try and take on an entire crime ring on your own is it?" Ian asked.
"No. Just a simple wrongfully murdered subject."
"You know that phrase 'wrongfully murdered' is so — are you insinuating that there have been 'rightful murders?'"
Brian shrugged a little "I mean yeah, I think occasionally, there is a good reason to commit a crime, maybe even one as dreadful as murder. Though that does not mean I think they should not be punished."
Ian fell silent a moment before he spoke again, "so I have some news."
"Here I thought this was a simple 'we haven't talked in a week' call."
Ian laughed softly through the phone "it was mostly that. But also, I wanted to tell you that the head of my department quit. I got the news today that I am going to be his replacement."
"Holy shit Ian, that's great! Congrats man."
"Yeah, I am very excited, as I'm sure you can hear —" Brian could. Ian sounded ecstatic. "— I get fewer surgical hours if I want, more time to do my research, a raise. I am on-call quite a bit more, but that also means I get more vacation time."
Brian could hear just how thrilled his brother was at his own success and it brought a prideful smile to his lips.
"You more than deserve it, Ian," Brian said with a smile. "Next time I am in Miami we will have to go out and celebrate. Drinks on me."
"Well, see, that is my true reason for calling. I start in two weeks, and with Eden's new Fellow, we figured now would be a really good time for a trip up to DC. We haven't been up there in a while. How would you feel about a visit?"
"You know I would love to see you guys. It would be nice to see the kids again, it's been too long."
"So, six months is too long?" Ian asked, his voice filled with amusement.
"Yes, in fact, it is. When are you planning on flying in?"
"It looks like Friday afternoon, sometime. Will you be able to meet us at the airport?" Ian asked.
"I don't think so. I have court...but I should be home around 3-3:30ish. But I will have Matthew pick you up from the airport. We can hit up the bar and celebrate then. I guess I have to go and get something for the kids sometime this week."
"You don't 'have' to, just because Esme expects to be present with a toy the moment she sees you does not mean that it should happen," Ian said, slightly amused disapproval.
"I have been spoiling them since Reggie was born. That is my job. I am their favourite Uncle. What am I supposed to do? Suddenly stop? Besides, I like spending money on things for them. They love everything I have ever bought them and it's better than what I normally spend money on."
"Yes, the expensive grown-up toys and hookers are too much," Ian said with a laugh.
"No hookers, Ian. My rugged good looks and charming nature make hookers rather redundant."
Ian broke out laughing.
Brian smiled a little speaking again once his brother had regained his composure. "Well, I am rather excited about this visit. We can go up to the cabin over the weekend and then see the sights during the week while I'm off. I should call my friend at the White House and see if he can get us a tour."
"Brian, I think the kids are still a little young to truly appreciate something like that. Even Reggie. Eden and I have already been, remember when dad all took us?"
"Oh, come on, Reggie is not too young to get the concept that his Uncle is cool and knows people at the White House," Brian replied with a small laugh.
"I guess not. Well, I will see you Friday, I should go Cecilia nearly has supper ready. Have a good week at work, stay safe, alright?"
"Always. And hey, really congrats, I can't think of anyone who deserves this kind of promotion more," Brian said to him genuinely.
"Thank you," Ian said, a bright smile laced in his voice. "Talk soon Brian."
And with that, the call ended.