What Are You, Mick St. John? [ch. 22] PG13

NocturneInCMoll
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What Are You, Mick St. John? [ch. 22] PG13

Post by NocturneInCMoll »

Author’s note: Yes, believe it—this really is Chapter 22 of What Are You, Mick St. John?. I am so sorry for the long delay. Back at the beginning of the summer, my Moonlight Muse went AWOL; I didn’t feel like writing or even reading anything to do with Moonlight. so I dropped off the boards for a while. But the muse has been returning lately—let’s hope she sticks around for a while!

Beta: Barb (Bank1115) is awesome.

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.



What Are You, Mick St. John?—Chapter 22

Carl sat down at his desk and picked up the phone. “Yeah, it’s Lieutenant Carl Davis—is ADA Josh Lindsey still in the office?”

I’m sorry, Lieutenant, Mr. Lindsey didn’t come in today except to pick up some papers.”

“Oh,” Carl tried to sound surprised. “He called me earlier, I guess he must have been on his cell. Just remind him to call me, will you? Thanks.”

He hung up with a sigh, then dialed Josh’s cell number. It went straight to voicemail. “Hey Josh, it’s Carl Davis. Just checking in, didn’t hear back from you.” He dropped the receiver back on the cradle. Okay—groundwork laid. Now, if anyone inquires about that little phone call Josh made to me earlier, I can make it look like we were playing phone tag instead of deadly fun and games with vampires. Vampires…even if I told the truth, no one would believe me—except maybe Maizie…Maizie!!! Oh boy…I hope they figure something out so she doesn’t have to make a choice like Josh did…though I’d like to think she’d make the right one…but I guess you never know. Josh sure didn’t. But then, I guess jealousy makes good men fools.

He leaned back in his chair and took the Cleaner’s business card out of his pocket. The number 555-2562 was written in bold red gothic script on black stock. Geez—they’re just asking to be found out as vampires, aren’t they? He flipped the card over; it was blank. He traced the numbers with his fingertip. I wonder… He pulled his keyboard out towards him and did a search on the number. It was an unregistered phone—completely untraceable. Like that’s surprising…but now I still don’t know her name. Although, who knows how many names she’s had over however many years—but maybe I’d better not think about that too much.

Carl tucked the card back into his pocket and forced himself to concentrate on some paperwork. He let himself look at his watch after what felt like half an hour and was exasperated to find it had only been ten minutes. Damn! —and what am I even doing, I can’t call her yet. She’s still…wait, better not think about that too much, either. He looked surreptitiously around the room, suddenly sure that everyone’s eyes were on him—but they all appeared focused on their work. Now you’re getting paranoid. Kostan’s really starting to rub off on you—and that’s probably not a good thing.

With a deep intake of breath, he pulled another file off his stack and absorbed himself in the paperwork. Well over an hour and several glances at his watch later, Carl’s cell vibrated suddenly on his desk and he nearly jumped out of his seat. “Davis,” he answered.

It’s done.”

It took Carl several seconds to realize that the call had ended and he still had the phone up to his ear. Swallowing, he flipped it shut and tossed it on his desk. It’s done. Josh Lindsey is dead. He bowed his head to his desk for a moment and took a few deep breaths in and out.

“You all right, Lieutenant?”

Carl’s head snapped up. One of the desk sergeants was standing in front of his desk. “What? Yeah, I’m okay.”

“Bad news?” the sergeant inquired.

“Bad news?” Yeah, you could say that. “No, it was a wrong number,” Carl growled.

“Wrong numbers never put me that out of joint,” the sergeant raised a questioning eyebrow.

Are all cops this nosy?—Am I this nosy? “It—well, let’s just say I was expecting a big call, and thought that might be it, but it wasn’t it,” he managed to grin.

“Ah. New lady friend?” the sergeant nodded knowingly.

Who hired this guy? Carl let his grin widen and hoped it didn’t look too forced.

“Ah-ha! What’s her name?”

Carl hesitated. “I’d rather not say…” …because I don’t know it, and even if I did know it, it might be a secret. Geez, it’s like she’s Cinderella or something. But at least I have her card burning a hole in my pocket rather than a glass slipper.

“Fair enough,” the sergeant said.

Carl noted with irritation that he didn’t appear satisfied. “Look, it might not work out, so—and I need to get back to my paperwork.” He poised his pen over a piece of paper and looked pointedly at the sergeant.

The sergeant cleared his throat. “Yes, of course sir.” He lingered awkwardly for a moment, then moved over to the file cabinet that had been his original destination.

Carl shook his head. Geez, and I thought vampires were the only nosy ones with no tact. He scratched his signature onto the page in front of him, then put it aside and stared at the next sheet of paper for several moments as his thoughts inevitably drifted back to what Ms. Cleaner was doing now, and wondering how it had all gone with Josh—and when and how he’d “find out” about Josh Lindsey’s death.

He got his answer fifteen minutes later when a call came from the assistant to the chief of police.

Lieutenant Davis, Chief Murphy needs to speak to you immediately.”

Carl felt his heart jump in his chest. This must be it. “Thank you. I’ll be right up.”

********************************************************************************************************

“Lieutenant Davis,” Chief Murphy greeted him as Carl walked through the door to his office. He gestured toward a seat in front of his desk. Carl took it, and the chief pressed his hands together in a triangle and began speaking immediately.

“Twenty minutes ago, a 911 operator received an anonymous call about several bodies at a bar near Chatsworth. First officers on the scene recognized one of the bodies.” The chief pressed his lips together grimly for a moment. “It was ADA Josh Lindsey.”

Carl sucked in a breath as he rose suddenly and turned away. “No…No! —How?”

“Looks like he took a few bullets. I don’t know the particulars yet, but—lucky for Lindsey—it seems rather tame for a Tejada assassination.”

“Damn!” Carl whirled around and smacked the wall in front of him. He leaned against it for a moment, then he turned back to face the chief. This better look and sound good. “What the hell was he doing at a bar at this time of the evening?”

The chief cleared his throat. “The bar appears to have ties to Chemma Tejada.”

Carl stared at him, shaking his head furiously. “You know, Josh tried to call me this afternoon, but as soon as I answered, he said he’d have to call me back. He never did, so I finally called his office an hour or two ago. They said he never came in today except to pick something up. I tried his cell, but just got his voicemail.” He started pacing the room. “I thought he was busy, or something. If only I’d paid more attention to how he sounded—maybe that was when it started; if it was Tejada, he kidnapped him and brought him to that bar. Damn!” he finished fiercely.

“Lieutenant Davis—Carl, you can’t blame yourself for this.”

Oh, I don’t. Carl just shook his head. “Yeah—well, I’ll try and hold judgment until I get all the facts.”

“That’s why you’re a good detective, Davis. Keep it up.” Chief Murphy eyed him closely. “If you think you can keep your head, I’d like you to take lead on this—you already have an idea of who we’re dealing with.”

You have no idea. “Of—of course,” Carl managed to choke out. He swallowed. “Yeah, I can handle it. I want this.”

“Good,” the chief nodded brusquely and leaned forward, “—Let’s get this son of a bitch. Lindsey wasn’t a cop, but he was on our side.”

He was on a couple of sides, Chief; one was ours, the other was wrong—a whole other dimension you don’t realize exists and probably never will. “Yes, sir.” Carl saluted on his way out the door, but then stopped abruptly. “Has someone told Beth—Turner, his girlfriend?”

“No; she hasn’t been notified. I’ll be making the notification myself after I visit the scene. Thankfully it hasn’t hit the news feeds yet; the uniforms are keeping the scene under wraps—but who knows how long that’ll last.”

“You’d better let me go with you. It’ll be easier coming from a friend.” If she still considers me that.


To be continued...
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Re: What Are You, Mick St. John? [ch. 22] PG13

Post by wollstonecraft61 »

I can't help but feel sorry for Josh. I don't know how Carl was able to live with the knowledge of what was going down, even if his own life was at stake (sorry, no pun intended). How is Beth going to react, even though she, too, knew what was going down? Great story, Noc. I was so glad to see this posted. (We need to bow our heads for Josh, all the same.)
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Re: What Are You, Mick St. John? [ch. 22] PG13

Post by mitzie »

So they did take care of Josh!! The way he was acting towards them he did deserve it. I hope that Carl will be able to keep up the pretense of not knowing anything!! Wondering how Beth will be feeling about all this??!!

I love this story and can't wait to find out what happens next... :yahoo: :yahoo: :yahoo: :clapping: :clapping: :clapping: :clapping: :hyper2: :hyper2: :thud: :gasp: :eek2: :dizzy: :whistle: :devil: :yahoo: :yahoo: :yahoo: :clapping: :clapping: :clapping: :clapping: :thud: :thud: :thud: :thud: :notworthy: :heart: :flowers:


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Re: What Are You, Mick St. John? [ch. 22] PG13

Post by NocturneInCMoll »

Thanks so much, Woll & Mitz! Yes, Josh is really gone. I feel a little bad for him, too. And Carl, and Beth. We found out a bit of what Carl feels this chapter. He certainly is under pressure, but hopefully people will probably just chalk up any distress/acting oddly to having someone he worked closely with being murdered. We'll see though if he encounters any problems with the investigation, though...

Beth will appear in the next chapter, but of course we'll only see how she's doing from Carl's perspective.

P.S. FYI, there should be a chapter of Fever Redux coming soon, too!
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Re: What Are You, Mick St. John? [ch. 22] PG13

Post by redwinter101 »

:hyper2: :hyper2: :hyper2:

Oh I'm so happy to see this chapter, Julie. :hug: I loved the tension - I swear I could feel Carl jump when the phone rang. I think he's going to struggle to keep up the charade...

I can't wait to see what happens next.

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Re: What Are You, Mick St. John? [ch. 22] PG13

Post by wpgrace »

DELIGHTED to see this story back! And I'm all curious as to how it'll work out from here...
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Re: What Are You, Mick St. John? [ch. 22] PG13

Post by NocturneInCMoll »

Yay! Thanks so much, Red! :hug: Carl is definitely under pressure, but I'm starting to feel like maybe he did a bit of undercover work back in the day...that would certainly help him now. I think his biggest problem will be making sure the lab techs don't find anything weird again, since all indications so far seem to be that it was Tejada.

Thank you very much, Grace! :biggrin: I'm happy my muse is back, for the moment at least. I have part of the next chapter written already, so hopefully some of your curiosity will be relieved soon.

In the next chapter, Carl will visit the crime scene, and will be notifying Beth of Josh's death. We'll see how she is taking it.
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Re: What Are You, Mick St. John? [ch. 22] PG13

Post by darkstarrising »

I'm so happy both you and your muse are back!! :hug:

Now let's see how good an actor Carl is. So, far, so good.....but one little slip up is all it takes.

Love this line
I guess jealousy makes good men fools.
No truer words were ever spoken...Carl was talking about Josh, but he could be talking about anyone.
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Re: What Are You, Mick St. John? [ch. 22] PG13

Post by NocturneInCMoll »

Thanks so much, Karen! :hug:

I haven't decided yet if Carl will make any slip-ups. At least we can be sure he won't go on national television and blurt out, "Joshua Lindsay was murdered by vampires!"

I think in essentials Josh was a good man, but as we saw in this story, and even in Moonlight, jealousy makes you do stupid things sometimes...and he paid the price.
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Re: What Are You, Mick St. John? [ch. 22] PG13

Post by RangerCM »

Such a tough situation. Not that Carl could do a single thing to change things here, but I can't help but think that this is going to rip him up inside for as long as he "lives." Hmmm. Maybe that would be a solution!
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Re: What Are You, Mick St. John? [ch. 22] PG13

Post by NocturneInCMoll »

Thanks for sticking with the story, Ranger! :)

It is definitely a tough situation--for Carl, but especially for Beth (who he will see in the next chapter). So, wait--what's your solution? You think Carl should die, too? ;)
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Re: What Are You, Mick St. John? [ch. 22] PG13

Post by coco »

I read this last night but have only found the time this morning to leave my reply.

Add me to the list of those excited to see this great story back. :hyper2:

Wonderful update again, Nocturne. :clapping:

*is excited for more* :D
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Re: What Are You, Mick St. John? [ch. 22] PG13

Post by NocturneInCMoll »

Thanks so much, Coco! :biggrin: It's good to be back. :woohoo:
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Re: What Are You, Mick St. John? [ch. 22] PG13

Post by oldspa »

I have just re-read this story and I Know What You Are, Mick and enjoyed them very much again. You write Josef and his snark so well - I sit here alone laughing til my stomach hurts. I also love the Carl/Ms Cleaner scenario; human male/female vampire is a fresh perspective.

I really hope you are going to continue.

/p
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Re: What Are You, Mick St. John? [ch. 22] PG13

Post by NocturneInCMoll »

Thank you so much, Oldspa! I'm so glad you still enjoy them. Glad you like Josef and Carl & the Cleaner. I have fun writing them. :laugh:

I am planning to continue, I've just been busy lately. I did do a little bit of work on the next chapter recently, though!
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