Beauty & The Beast (Book 1)

17. Warning

After their interview with Tommy Holt's father, Tess and Cat set up the board at their desks and called over Joe to tell him what they had so far.

"We have three working theories," Cat says, "one, abusive dad no record but according to colleagues he has a reputation of being a hothead. We're following up on his alibi." Joe nods, sucking off the spoonful of chocolate pudding he was eating.

"Wallet girl's number two?" he asks.

"Well, we don't have a cell phone so IT's trying to get access to his email, see if there's any suggestion of a relationship gone bad," Tess says while he looks at her, chewing on another spoonful.

"And three," Cat adds, "maybe Tommy got himself into trouble again. We're waiting to hear back from tox, see if he was taking his meds."

Joe nods again. "Great," he looks at Cat, "Chandler, head to the vic's apartment. Vargas," he looks at Tess. "Morgue." He turns and starts to walk away.

"You're splitting us up?" Tess asks.

He shrugs. "It's called divide and conquer. See that way, you can wake up for early morning practice." He winks and then continues walking away.

"Does he have money on this game or something?" Cat asks, stepping closer to Tess.

She sighs, crossing her arms.

"No!" Joe says. He wasn't that far away that he didn't hear Cat. "Pride. Okay, this is about the whole precinct," he waves a hand around the room. He points at Tess. "It's about you too, now be her coach."

Tess groans and shrugs at Cat. "Joe, I - " She didn't really want to coach Cat, seeing as Cat was really bad.

"Go team!" Joe says over his shoulder.

Cat lifts a brow at a pouting Tess, who just closes her eyes and sighs sadly.

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

At their warehouse loft, JT was busy doing crossword puzzles when Vincent walks in.
"Hey," he says in greeting, but Vincent ignores him, opening a cabinet he'd walked to and starts to take out medical supplies. "Not even gonna ask," JT mumbles and looks down at his puzzle.

"I just found a kid beaten unconscious in a dumpster," Vincent says.

"And what, you're gonna operate on him?" JT looks over at him. "That's cool."

"No, he's at the hospital. Catherine just asked if there's any evidence." Vincent grabs a couple of latex gloves and puts them in his bag. JT shakes his head. Vincent glances sideways, rolling his eyes. He knows JT has something to say but is keeping quiet. He gets up to his feet and turns to face his friend. "I'm just helping out okay."
He felt good helping, to get out of the loft and do his own thing. JT gives him a look. "You know for once JT, I almost feel normal."

JT scoffs and lifts his hands, sitting back. "Okay," it was time to speak up. "I gotta stop you there. Normal? Like you could put on a pair of rubber gloves and head off to work for the day?" He blinks. "She may have you feeling almost normal big guy, but Muirfield doesn't agree. You are still their experiment that went awry and they're never going to stop hunting you d - "

Vincent was getting more irritated with JT. He mocks him and says, "Hunting me down, yes, okay I get it," he groans. He rolls his eyes. "You're gonna give yourself an ulcer." He starts to walk away, JT just staring after him. "I'm gonna go help Cat."

"If anything happens to you that's on her!"

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

The last thing Cat remembers seeing before she was shoved into a black SUV's backseat and then tied to a chair in the middle of an abandoned parking garage, was three men in suits grabbing her and the non FBI agent sitting in front. She's fought them off but they managed to grab her anyway on the way to Tommy Holt's apartment.