Night Shift

IV

Detective Suzanne Tamaki took a deep breath as the elevator doors opened. She stepped out and headed for the Major Crimes bullpen. Her ankle felt stiff, but there was no pain. She no longer needed a crutch. She was fit for duty.

Four months earlier, she had shattered her right ankle when she fell pursuing a suspect. Three surgeries and a lot of painful PT later, she was back. Ellison had been without a partner for long enough.

A cheer went up when she opened the door and Suzanne grinned, accepting the welcome from her colleagues. But her eyes went to Ellison's empty desk.

"He's in court," Rafe told her. "Take it easy and catch up on your open cases until he gets in. Things will get crazy around here soon enough. Doc sign you off?"

"No marathons yet, but I'm good for active duty," Suzanne confirmed.

"Good. We need you." Rafe headed for his own desk.

Suzanne wasted no more time. She pulled out her laptop and started work.

She had been a campus cop at Rainier University. After working a murder case with Ellison and Sandburg, back when he was Ellison's ridealong-cum-unofficial-partner, Ellison had praised her work and suggested she should consider becoming a real cop. She stuck with the campus job for a few years, but the time came when she needed a new challenge. Cascade PD was a challenge. She worked hard, made Detective and after a couple of years in vice, she fought for an open spot in Major Crimes and won. No one was more surprised than she was when Ellison picked her as a partner. It was hell at first, too, but they had become a good team.

So why was he in court? She would have known if they had a case on the docket. And the whole damn precinct would be talking about it if he had been arrested. So it had to be personal.

Suzanne pulled out her laptop and logged in to see what their caseload looked like. She saw that Jim had closed the most recent case. It meant they were on call for the next one. Jim should be here.

Blair was leaning over a microscope when Suzanne tapped on the glass above his work station. He looked up, adjusted his glasses and gestured toward the lab door. She headed for the door and slipped inside, staying quiet and watching until he was done.

"Hi Suz. How's the ankle holding up?"

She leaned back against the door. "You are the thirty-eighth person to ask me that this morning. It's fine. I'm a cyborg." It was true, sort of. The metal pins holding her ankle bones together were still there. The surgeon told her the bones would heal around them. She was going to be stopped every time she went through a metal detector for the rest of her life.

"All the concern getting you down?" he asked knowingly.

"I'm just ready to get back into it. So why is my partner AWOL?"

"Jessica Blake."

Suzanne nodded. "It's five years this week. Wait, is this connected to the files you sent me?"

Blair nodded. "She got Jim all stirred up again, but there might be a new lead."

"Blair, we were told to drop it. There are a lot of current cases we need to be working."

"Yeah, I know. But you don't have to live with him."

She laughed. "Yes, I do!" It was true enough. Like most detectives, Ellison put in more hours than he should. She saw more of him than his lover some weeks.

"Okay, you got me," Blair admitted. "You know Jim. He can't let this case go, and he...well, he has his own way of tracking down leads."

Suzanne snorted. "Yeah, But it was you who dug out old case files. Are you really trying to link them?"

Blair shook his head. "No. I explained this to Jim last night. It's more of an excuse to reopen..."

"No way." Suzanne held up both hands in a firm stop gesture. "Chief Banks won't go for it, not even for Jim."

"Simon will if Jim pushes for it. He knows what Jim can do. Your problem is Captain Buchanan."

Suzanne made a face. "Tell me about it. I've already been ordered to explain where my partner is."

"He didn't call in?"

"I know he went to court for the Blake woman. But that should have been over by now. We're on call, Blair. He's got to come in."

Blair picked up his cell phone and called Jim. While he waited for the connection he said to Suzanne, "You called him, right."

"Voicemail," she confirmed, and she knew Jim well enough to know that was deliberate. He was a good cop; he would have checked the message at once unless he were somehow unable to.

"Jim wouldn't have..." Blair began, then said into the phone, "Jim, are you still in court? Call me." He ended the call and looked up at Suzanne again. "It rang three times so his phone is on, he's just not answering. He might be stuck there."

Blair didn't seem worried, but Suzanne pressed, "What did you start to say?"

"Huh?"

"Jim wouldn't have...what?"

"Oh. After Jessica got arrested Jim wanted to go back into the woods where we found her. I was saying he wouldn't have gone back without me. Suz, I've got to get back to work. If Jim won't answer his phone try texting instead. He hates it enough that he'll probably call in to make you stop."

Suzanne grinned. "I'll try that. Thanks, Sandburg."

She left him to it. As she headed back toward the elevator she tapped out a text message to her AWOL partner.