"Sorry- Didn't mean to interrupt you out there, love." Theo apologizes softly, putting the key into the ignition. Kestrel's eyes wander to Ellis, who's sobbing into her hands. Poor Cassius is patting her back consolingly, mouth moving as if he were trying to calm her.
"No, it's- thank you. I didn't know how to react. Guess I'm just out of it today." Kestrel replies, lack of emotion in his voice. Theo side eyes him briefly, before pulling out the driveway.
"Your head's rather crowded, is all, dear. God, what I'd pay to have a glimpse into that beautiful little world that is your mind."
Kestrel blinks a few times, slumping against his window moodily with a sniff. "You'd want a refund real fast." There's a hint of a joke, but it falls flat on Theo's ears.
"You think I'm joking. Big man, you know I'm always here for you, forever, always-"
"-No matter what, yes, yes I know, darling, sorry. Can we get back to the case now?" Kestrel jabs with a huff, only to receive a quick head shake from his partner.
"Right, you're too big for pep talks, aren't you? Always right down to business with you lot." Theo seethes with a grimace, clicking his blinker at the stop sign.
Kestrel scoffs, his original attempt at calming the waters having been tossed out the window by his coworker's snotty remark. "What do you mean by 'you lot'?"
"You, Daniels, Esther, the others at the PD." He gestures to Kestrel's entire being with a smirk, leaving his hand on his thigh briefly. "All but Cassy, I don't think I've ever actually heard Daniels say anything opinionated or based from his own emotion. Not sure the fellow even has emotions."
"Daniels doesn't talk much; only to argue about getting a coroner on scene quickly. He's awful shy in that sense." The eldest detective points out. He was never too fond of Daniels; When he had the chance to hire on an apprentice, his first choice was normally Cassius or Theo, but never Daniels.
Daniels, a 27 year old correctional officer and bailiff who often skipped around crime scenes offering aid when he had time off, who seldomly spoke at all. He was rather reserved, stoic, laid back, and didn't understand a lick of flirting or sarcasm. Kestrel would know first hand, with the amount of offhanded flirting he'd tried to start, only to be shut down by the officer's smarmy responses.
"Danny, I'm gonna need you to help me file the Naillan Elks case. Might need you down at the precinct after, as well." Kestrel had once said, preparing the flirtation. He always started slow, to catch the attention of the dim witted brunette.
"I'm sure Henderson isn't particularly busy." He shut his book, "Why do you want my help, of all people?"
"Because you and I've got chemistry." Kestrel waggled his brows playfully, feeling more rejected by the plain expressionless countenance his foolish partner returned, than the silence he emitted while in thought briefly.
"I've not taken chemistry since my forensics classes in 2016. And I know you've finished grade school, now haven't you?" There was a hint of a joke on his low voice that always made Kestrel giddy, despite his obvious lack of understanding deadforward flirting cues.
"That could be a good thing in this line of work." Theo objects with a smirk, chuckling to himself at the heavy sigh he gained as response.
"Don't side with that absolute- well, that- him-" Kestrel wipes his nose on a napkin, which had been stashed away in his coat pocket from lunch. He is pleased to note that the medicine had (finally) kicked in, and he was feeling plenty better, despite having never actually felt badly to begin with. Theo also picks up on the cue.
"Feeling better, princess?" He inquires, obvious teasing thick in his voice. Kestrel waves him off.
"Plenty, plenty. I'm going to need to shower at the PD and have a chat with Daniels. I'll need him to pick up Ellis with another officer and take her in for questioning." This quickly has the attention of the Criminal Investigator.
"No kidding? What's the shower for? Just freshinin' up for your other boyfriend?" He mocks with a wave of his hand, watching the rearview mirror, taking mental notes of cars behind him as he slows down. Theo waves them on out his window.
"I'll have you know I'm not the only one with a little affliction to cats; Daniel's got it worse, and what, with his debilitating asthma, I'll have the boy killed in minutes." He responds, avoiding the mockery to hopefully shut up his idiotic apprentice.
"Right, forgot, is all. Poor sucker." Theo clicks his tongue. "Taking Ellis into custody though? What's that about, hm?"
Kestrel smiles grimmly, unfurling his notes from his satchel, flipping through the evidence. "Ellis is nothing more than a liar, is what I mean."
"Go on, man." Theo coaxes.
"I think it's particularly strange- think of it, you have a habit where you greet your neighbor every single morning, not a single day of exception. Then one day, gone. Not a trace or a sight of him. What would you do?" The brunette implies, jetting down his thoughts on the pad of paper.
"I'd got knock on the door, obviously. See if he's home."
"Right, maybe you do have a brain after all." He pauses to allow for his partner to slap his wrist habitually, before continuing. " However, she doesn't. She pushes it off for days, and then just goes on vacation? How could someone do that without having a guilty, or worried conscience? And this is where it gets better."
Kestrel ponders momentarily, all while Theo leans into the wheel, careful eyes on the road, hands to ten and four. After a second, Kestrel relays the notepad from before, reverting back and forth between it and the ACE pills.
"This- the note- is in her handwriting. I think she was aware of his medical problem, and potentially helped him to buy them. She could be much more of a link to him than I thought." He adds.
"Do you think he could've brought her in, much like how elder folks bring their adult kids to doctor offices for assistance? It seems like their relationship could have been much more 'found-family' based." Theo offers absently, pressing the breaks slowly until he's stopped. Wonderful, lovely, great. Traffic, right there in front of the turn before he reaches the precinct. He digs his nails into the wheel briefly.
Kestrel snaps his fingers, about to announce that maybe Theo had all the right answers, however his phone begins to ring. Ring. Ring. Ri-
It's Daniels. The Crime Scene Analysis sighs grudgingly before answering, waving a hand to shush his partner, who wasn't speaking to begin with.
"Evening, Daniels." He doesn't bother hiding his annoyance. The nervous swat he receives from Theo forces a smile.
"Good to hear your voice. Look, I don't want to keep you any more than you want me to. Straight to the point, I've already sent a cop and Esther to take your witness into police custody." He deadpans. Though Kestrel wants to yell at him for making decisions on his own, and involving himself in his case, the thought immediately leaves his mind. Especially because that's exactly what he needed done, anyways.
"Have you? I needed it to be done anyways, but what caught your eye?" Kestrel asks, raising his brows to Theo, earning a mirrored expression, as silenced response.
"I may have looked more into her files. I saw that it stated she just returned from a week long vacation, so I made contact with her parents." Kestrel takes note of how exhausted Daniels sounded; his voice was low and hoarse, and he spoke slowly. He's been up lately working on attending the court cases for the man who lead an armed robbery. Hell, I'd be tired too, trying to hold that man back as he lashed out at the victim's that he injured prior to court.
"Both, her mother and father, attested that she never arrived, and that they never heard of her coming for a visit. I'm not saying that it's perfectly sound evidence that she could have been involved in Cabot's death, but I saw her name repeated on several of his medical sheets and bills." Daniel mutters, and Kestrel can hear the clicking of a keyboard on the other end of the call.
"I'm sure some of that can be useful to you in some way?" He offers. Kestrel can almost hear the smile, and for a second he regrets being so snarky. "Believe it or not, Daniels, that actually answers all of the questions I've been asking. We're around the corner from the precinct, so if I can borrow those files when I get there, that'd be a huge help." Kestrel regards kindly, hoping to make up for his lack of sympathy seconds ago.
"Sure, sure. Got them on my counter. Esther should be arriving to the victim's home in under two minutes." Daniels responds with a sigh, moving away from the phone mid sentence, as could be told by his voice becoming distant. Kestrel listens as Danny speaks to someone off the phone. And then the phone hangs up.
"Hung up on you?" Theo is always quick to point out the obvious. However, Kestrel just smiles, watching as they pull into his custom-made parking place.
"Let him, poor guy's burning both ends of the candle." Kestrel responds, waiting until the car is fully parked. As soon as it it, he pushes open his door, accepting his satchel of evidence, and followed Theo inside the Police Precinct.
"And I'm about to push him to his limits."
________
Upon entering the precinct, welcoming the warmth that polarized the windy temps outside, Kestrel renders a heavy sigh of relief. Trailing behind his partner, he notes the cleanliness of the hallway. Floors mopped and practically shining. Poor Esther has been so bored with lack of cases, she's taken the custodian's job again.
Theo knocks on the bullpen's door, before brushing it open without response. "Danny, you home?" He calls into it, disappointed to see his elder coworker pacing drastically, pages in one hand, eyes glued to the laptop on his right.
"Clearly- yes, obviously. The lights are on, aren't they?" Daniels snaps wearily, if not slightly uncharacteristically irritable, pausing briefly to drop his papers onto the desk, watching the screen with keen eyes. Kestrel is bemused by the delight that came with seeing his smartass of a friend out of sorts. Especially when his mannerisms now differed drastically from the phone call moments prior. He only ever got so snappy and nervous when he was tired.
"Glad to see you're in a good mood. Shouldn't you be resting? Esther ought to have your head for that." Kestrel teases, though not without accepting his coworkers files. He arches a brow upon noticing that it was (despite being messy and written with the obvious scrawl of Daniels' left hand) the exact quotes of conversation he must have had with Ellis' parents moments prior to their arrival.
"I should b- What? No, no Kestrel don't start with me. There's work to be done, now." Daniels pauses, scanning the Analysis over, before wrinkling his nose, pushing him away swiftly. "You're covered in fur, Godsakes-" His breath hitches briefly before he clamps a hand to it.
"I was going to say that, you git. I'm overdue a shower, what with the victim's cat rubbing my pant legs the entire while." Kestrel smirks, bemused for a second as Daniels recoils sideways, sneezing into his sleeve.
"Hope you've got some strong antihistamines, because today's going to be a long day for you." Theo adds after his partner, watching keenly as Daniels straightens the pages at his desk. He gives a sharp sniff.
"What makes you say that?" He asks, already sounding several tones more tired than before, most likely the mental image of this being the least of his worries.
"Ellis- the lady you'll be having to interrogate- is awful fond of Mr. Cabot's stray cats." Kestrel responds with an obvious air of mockery, however it dissolves as he becomes apologetic. "Though, I'm more worried about the case filing you'll need to do after."
Daniels rifles his cabinet, retrieving a bottle of pills, which shook in his grasp. "Wonderful. I'm sure I can manage." Briefly, he waves to Kestrel and Theo, before gesturing to the coat hanger. "Take your coats off for me, if you will." His breath hitches again, and he finds himself pitching forward, sneezing in a fit.
"Look at me; only been a minute and I'm at mends." He sighs loudly, though it's obvious he isn't mad at either of the detectives; He's just upset to be interrupted by his own poor health. Ketsrel clicks his tongue, peeling a fur coated jacket off, and hanging it up.
"We really had intended on washing before seeing you, but the showers are a ways past your desk." Kestrel points out, gesturing towards the door that lead to the bathrooms. Daniels simply blows his nose on a lose napkin, stashed away in his pocket.
"Sure sure, not either your faults. Stay clear of my desk, please. Can't risk contaminating the one thing in this office I hold dear." Almost as if to exemplify his mention, the creaking of doors can be heard, and Kestrel is aware that it was most likely Esther and Ellis, arriving to prepare for interrogation.
"Time I take my leave and clean off, then. Danny, I trust you've got this under control?" Theo murmurs soothingly, unbottoning his collar and loosening his tie. Daniels rubs at his nose, unobjected. "'Course- get cleaned off and leave your filth in the lounge. Someone oughta pick it up for dry cleaning sooner or later." He turns to his desk, mopping his nose with a tissue, other free hand pulling up a slide on his laptop, which presented Ellis' file.
Theo brushes past to the washroom, awaiting Kestrel to follow suit. "Oh, and Daniels?" Kestrel calls back, looping a limp tie over his shoulder. He doesn't await response, before adding, "Good luck, dear."