It was afternoon now, and while the pills had helped him get through the morning and the initial files and evidence he had, reaching a stalemate with the fiber, reading Cho’s texts, feeling like every turn led him down another dead end with every corner of his life closing in around him like his prison of an office and Rick’s empty desk across from him, had Danny wishing he could take one more. He knew he shouldn’t depend on the pills just because his mood took another dive, but would one really make that much of a difference?
When he set the fiber aside and reached for the new bag of evidence, he nearly dropped it as it caught in the light. It was Cho’s earpiece. The comms Danny had ripped from his ear when he attacked him, thinking he was working with Ludgate.
Danny didn’t know where the comms had come from originally, but he’d never seen anything like them. They had to be custom made. Cho probably had a tech guy somewhere with access to good quality equipment. OrHephaestus, one of Cho’s faithful Titans. Some parts might be untraceable, but Andre was very good at his job as a CSI. He’d likely be able to connect some of the components to the manufacturer and figure out what businesses in Olympus City sold them, which would lead the police right to Cho’s neighborhood.
This was exactly the type of thing Danny hoped for from a case. But not today. Not when the evidence was Cho’s, and Danny doing his job could put the thief in the line of fire. He was already wanted by thepolice after breaking out of jail. Things could only get worse if the OCPD started lurking around his neighborhood and found out where he lived.
Danny fought the urge to throw the earpiece in the trash. Which of course he couldn’t actuallydo.
Could he?
Evidence went missing all the time. Or got misplaced. Mislabeled. Maybe it was for a different case and Boyd had been wrong when he brought it to Danny. Maybe it got stolen. There could be so many reasons for it to disappear…
And catch the attention of Lieutenant Liu from Internal Affairs.
No. Danny couldn’t. Cho hadn’t asked him to do anything. This was just him doing his job, running the earpiece through the usual scrutiny and tests.
But as he held the item in his hand, only separated from his skin by the thick plastic bag it had been catalogued in, Danny couldn’t help thinking that he owed Cho. After all, Cho wasn’t really the culprit this time. Ludgate had the diamond. He was the one who’d killed the guard. Going after Cho would just lead the police in the wrong direction. As long as Danny got the fiber to point at Ludgate or figured out some way as Zeus to prove Ludgate was behind this heist like the others and catch him, it wouldn’t matter if one tiny earpiece went missing.
Before Danny could lose his nerve, he shoved the bag into his bottom desk drawer and pulled out his pills to take one more. He’d dispose of the comms later.
R
Mal frowned again at the slew of stilted text messages from Danny. The younger man wasn’t giving him even an inch. Ludgate had gotten too deep inside his head, driven a wedge between them that treating each other’s wounds and snuggling on the sofa exchanging words filled with raw emotion hadn’t been able to remedy.
Frowning harder, Mal glanced around his apartment. He’d tried to rest after Danny dashed off. Tried to busy himself with cleaning uphis place when he got antsy from sitting around doing nothing. Took more painkillers when his head started to ache. Iced his lip and eye with the touch of his own frosted fingers. Considered one too many times whether or not to just tear away all the coverings Danny had placed over his reflective surfaces.
Did it even matter? There had to be something Mal was forgetting, something small enough for Ludgate to eavesdrop through, even if he couldn’t physically get to him using a reflection that size. Not that Mal wanted to look in the mirror any time soon anyway. Probably looked like shit.
Sitting on the armrest of the couch, he started and deleted a dozen more messages to Danny. His nemesis would come around. Hewould. Mal just had to be patient.
The sound of a key turning in his locked door lasted for far too long before Mal reacted. He blamed his concussion from the fight with Ludgate as he rushed the door, fists ready just as it started to open.
“Hey!” Lucy called out, jerking back into the hallway before scowling and storming inside past his raised hand still clutching the phone. “You expecting an ambush, slick? It’s just me.”
Mal tried not to groan as his heart rate stuttered back to normal. His adrenaline had been spiked too high all day, waiting for Ludgate to make some move. Waiting for Danny to answer him with something other than deflection. “Just because you have a key doesn’t mean you can enter without knocking,” he snarled, shutting and locking the door behind her.
“Shit, Mickey, what the hell?” she said to his beaten face. Standing in his entryway, arms crossed, the truth of her concern was only visible in the twitch of her eye.
Mal pushed past her and tossed his phone onto the coffee table. “Not in the mood right now, Luce.”
“Not in themood?Are you kidding me?” She bounded after him, hovering menacingly when he dropped down onto the sofa feeling every one of his bruises jostle. The cushions still smelled like Danny. “You look like someone’s punching bag. You know, I could have come over the second I woke up this morning, and believe me, I thought about it. Figured if I did though, Zeus might be down to his smallclothes and you’d be pissed at me for seeing just how low he can blush.”
Mal snorted. His sister was in rare form today. “Lucy…”
“You’rewelcome.”
With a sigh, Mal closed his eyes. “Thank you. For being patient and waiting to come over.” When he opened his eyes again, she nodded in satisfaction.
Practiced eyes followed the shades of purple and ugly green across his face as she sat down beside him. “Ludgate did this?”
“Not…technically.”
“Meaning?”
Mal didn’t answer.
“Zeus?”
