"Detective Jennifer Angell, NYPD, Homicide." Angell pushed her badge up for him to see. "You already met my friend, here, Detective Danny Messer, CSI. You're name Buckley or not? I'm not about wasting my time."
He glanced over at Danny. "She always this pushy?"
Danny nodded.
"Even in bed?" the kid asked.
"Unbelievable!" Angell threw her hands up as she turned on her heel.
"Hey, now. Don't insult the lady with your lack of maturity," Danny put a hand up.
The kid leaned back against the building that Danny had thrown him into when he had grabbed him from behind.
"I'm Sean Buckley. But everybody calls me Bucky."
"See? How hard was that?" Danny asked. "Why'd you have to be such an ass when Detective Angell asked you? Apologize to the lady."
Bucky grinned, unbelieving. "You serious?"
Danny nodded, his jaw tight from how serious he was.
"Sorry about being an ass," Bucky whispered.
"Apology accepted," Angell answered, dryly.
"What do you want anyway?"
"You know Chloe Philips?" Danny asked.
"Yeah. She's my girlfriend. Why?" Bucky asked.
"She's dead. You know that?"
The kid's face turned pale. "Ally's dead?"
Danny glanced over to Angell. "So, you called her Alice, too?"
"Well, yeah. I knew her before she was in that movie."
"How long you know her?" Angell asked.
"About five years, I guess. Since her and her Mom moved here from Boston. We went to school together. She was a year behind me. We started dating after she graduated."
"You an actor, too?" Danny asked with a smirk.
"No. I'm not an actor."
"What'd ya do, then?"
"I work at a shop down on 22nd. I rebuild engines. You two need a lube job?" Bucky winked.
Danny cocked his head to the side. "You wanna haul his ass in as bad as I do?"
"Yeah." Angell returned his smile with one of her own.
"You ain't got nothin' on me, Detectives. I haven't spoken to Ally since..."
"Since when?"
"A couple nights ago. When did this happen?"
Danny bit his bottom lip. "Were you with Alice a couple nights ago between midnight and 2 a.m. by any chance?"
The kid thought for a moment.
"Tell him, Bucky. If you don't come clean now, he'll just dig it up later and, trust me, you don't want Messer diggin' into your past, cos he'll find all kinda weird shit on ya," Angell told him, seriously, even though she was making it up as she went.
The kid sighed heavily. "Alright. I was with Ally a couple nights ago on the bridge. Me and her and Erin had gone up there to get high. Just smoke some marijuana--ya know? Mellow out. I passed out pretty early on into the night. I don't know what happened after that. I--I woke up at Maurice's the next morning. I just figured they brought me here."

I'M SMOKIN' CRACK!

i must have been half asleep the other night when i posted chapter 6, because i left out part of it. i know. i know. it was late!

ENJOY! :)


* * *
Maurice's was an Italian Restraunt in Brooklyn, near the old neighborhood.
Both Danny and Angell knew the place well. As kids, both had come in and ordered a Canole from time to time. It was much like most other places in Brooklyn--it was a restraunt by day and a seedy place for the few mobsters left to do their business. But two Detectives were not there to bust some low ended mob fellow--they were there to find Sean Buckley.
"That's our boy," Danny whispered to Angell when they were a couple yards away.
The skinny kid on the corner, smoking a cigarette, was a dead-ringer to the photograph Flack had supplied. He did not see them as they approached.
"NYPD!" Danny shouted more out of habit than actually feeling that it was necessary to do. He held up his badge.
The kid turned. Registered the two Detectives headed his way. And bolted.
Danny thrust the small kit he had been carrying into Angell's open hands, and took after him, his legs not spanning quite the distance that the kid's was, because he was well near six feet tall. Angell did not radio for back-up, because she knew Danny would gain ground on the kid before he had time to duck out of sight. There was not many people on the street at this time of day, most were in their air-conditioned offices, so it only took Danny a few meandering sprints to get close enough to grab the kid and push him up against an empty building which set dark amongst the restruants and shops.
"What're you thinkin', huh?" Danny breathed heavily against the kids' back as he pushed him into the cool glass. "You runnin' from a cop? I coulda shot ya back 'ere. What was you thinkin'?"
Angell came upon the scene, her face a little flushed. "You betta answer him, Kid. He'll just keep askin'."
"I freaked out."
"You freaked out?" Danny glanced over to Angell with a smirk. "He freaked out."
"I heard," she agreed with a smirk of her own.
"You're lucky, Kid. Jen and I are from the old neighborhood. We can see how you could've freaked out when you heard that back 'ere." Danny's accent was thick.
Angell watched as he turned the kid around. Danny let go of his arm and stepped back next to Angell, brushing against her shoulder for a moment as he took his kit from her. The kid flexed his muscles, massaging his wrist.
"I didn't hurt ya," Danny told him, his voice full of sarcasm.
The kid frowned. "What do ya want?"
"You're name Sean Buckley?" Angell asked, nodding toward the kid.
The kid smiled, slowly, taking the woman who stood before him for the first time. "Who's askin'?"