PARTNERS

by Graci

IT'S BEEN SAID THAT IT'S HARD TO TRUST ANYONE IN THIS WORLD, SOMETIMES YOU CAN'T EVEN TRUST YOURSELF. IT'S A TOUGH DAY WHEN ONE MORNING YOU WAKE UP AND DISCOVER THAT EVERYTHING YOU EVER THOUGHT ABOUT YOURSELF.....EVERYTHING YOU EVER BELIEVED IN......SUDDENLY DOESN'T MAKE ANY SENSE. AND YOU WONDER.....WHAT'S REALLY GOING ON UNDER THE SURFACE.

When Rita finally leaned over to shut off her blaring alarm clock, it was already eight-thirty, she was late. It was the third time in one week. As she stubbornly dragged herself out of bed, she walked out into the kitchen and began her morning ritual. Making coffee, turning on the local morning show and walking to the front door to pick up the daily paper. These tasks accomplished, she decided to sit at her kitchen table and for once, read her morning paper while drinking her cup of coffee. If she was going to be late, she might as well enjoy it. There were no phone calls and her beeper hadn't gone off. She was safe in the assumption that at that moment, nobody was looking for her and hopefully, there hadn't been any homicides in Palm Beach the night before.

Rita wasn't being entirely truthful with herself, she knew what was bothering her. The breakup with Eric a few weeks earlier hadn't left her entirely unscathed. Even though she told everyone that it was for the best and that she'd be fine, she knew that sooner or later those feelings would creep back into her life. She knew those feelings well, the loneliness, the sense of abandonment that she couldn't shake. Even though she didn't consciously acknowledge them, they seeped into every part of her life, like a thick green poisonous gas. This was the reason she overslept, and the reason that she was finally giving in to her depression, as she sat at her kitchen table reading the paper and drinking coffee while everyone at the station wondered where the hell she was.

Chris Lorenzo sat at his desk at the PBPD and stared at the overhead lock, 10:00 a.m. Any moment he expected the Captain to burst out of his office screaming “WHERE THE HELL IS RITA?”, and he had absolutely no answer. He had no idea what was going on with her, sometimes it seemed as though they hadn't been as close the past few months as they once were. After all, when he'd started seeing Jillian, and Rita began her relationship with Eric, they hadn't spent as much time together as they normally did. He thought that was the natural course of things. But in the past few weeks, everything had unraveled and now both he and Rita found themselves alone. He found out that Jillian wasn't exactly what he thought she would be, and Rita discovered that Eric was definitely NOT what he seemed. Still, through both breakups, Chris and Rita's relationship did not return to what it was before their ill-fated romances. Chris felt like he didn't even know her anymore.

It was nearly 10:30 a.m. when Rita finally walked through the double doors and sat at her desk acting as if nothing were wrong. Five minutes of nervous silence passed before Chris even felt like he could ask her where she'd been and how she was doing.

     “I'm fine, Chris, don't worry about me.” she responded firmly to his questions.

     “I just want to make sure you're okay, you haven't been yourself the past couple of weeks and....I'm worried about you.”

     “Look, I'll be fine, I appreciate the concern, but I'll survive. I just need some time.”

     “Don't we all.” Chris added, half out loud half whispering to himself.

     “How are you doing, any second thoughts about moving to Boston with Jillian?”

     “No, no second thoughts.”

     “You sure?
“Yeah,” he answered, looking straight into her eyes with that look that always made Rita turn away. “I know I did the right thing. She just expected me to pick up and leave, rearrange my life without a second thought.....”

     “It'll be okay, after we both take some time and give ourselves a chance to get over everything....I promise it'll be okay.” she answered in that soothing tone that always made Chris feel as though everything would be alright even when it seemed impossible. At that moment, he looked over at her and knew that things would work out as long as they were there for one another.

     “Okay, what do you say we get back to work and back to normal?”

     “Yeah” Rita grinned broadly, “Nothing like a few good homicides to get you through the day, right Sam?”

     “You got it.....” Just then the Captain came out of his office.

     “Lance, Lorenzo, in my office, NOW.” Chris and Rita slowly rose from their seats and walked toward Captain Lipschitz's office fully prepared for the barrage they were about to receive. He motioned for them to sit down and when they did, closed a file folder that he had been studying intently and stared at the two of them.

     “Look, I know that both of you, especially you Rita, have gone through some trying personal times of late, and although I can sympathize with both situations I have to remind you of one very important fact. You are both Detectives, you have a job to do, and you have to be here on time to do it, a fact that you Rita have come to ignore the past few days.”

     “I know Cap, I......” Rita stammered, in a futile attempt to interrupt.

     “No,” the Captain interjected. “You're going to listen. In the past you been successful in keeping your personal and private lives separate, because of that history I'm going to forget the past couple of weeks. But, be warned, I don't want to have this conversation again. Do I have your understanding, here?”

     “Yeah, yes Captain” Rita responded, turning to look at Chris, who hesitatingly gave the same answer.

     “You know, I guess you're right Cap, but I thought you'd be a little more understanding.”Chris responded in subtle disbelief.

     “I have been, consider yourselves lucky that we had this talk before I really got irritated,” he said, half smiling. “Now, to the real reason I called you both in here. There was a body discovered last night on the beach. A male, late forties, disheveled appearance, no identification, we assumed he was a vagrant. Harris and DiNardo were called in on the case and we thought this was going to be your average John Doe situation......until what we found out this morning.

     “And what was that,” Rita questioned.

     “The ME began to examine the body and found some strange markings, we can't identify them. Also signs that he had been tortured before finally being strangled to death. I'm handing this off to both of you, it looks like something you two should take a crack at.”

     “Okay, said Rita, taking the file from Captain Lipschitz. “We'll get right on it, Captain.”

     Rita and Chris exit the Captain's office and make their way back to their desks in silence. After taking a brief look at the file, she handed it over to Chris for him to examine. There is a strained silence between the two of them and after a few moments Rita suggests they go down to the morgue to meet with Jill Rogers, the new ME assigned to this case. Although both Chris and Rita had seen numerous bodies in their careers, nothing prepared them for what they were about to see on the ME's slab that morning.

     “Oh, boy”....said Rita, quickly turning away to catch her breath after looking at the crumpled figure laying before her.

     “Okay?” Chris asked, concerned, putting his hand on her shoulder to steady her.”

     “Umm, yeah, this one's pretty tough to stomach, huh?”

     “Yeah,”Chris responded in amazement, “What's the story with this one Doc?”

     “Well from what I've seen so far,” Jill Rogers began, while looking at a chart in front of her. “Whoever did this was some sadist. There are lashes on his back, burns all over his body and evidence of sexual torture. The actual cause of death was strangulation. I'll let you know when my final report will be ready, should be soon, I'm almost done with him.

     “Thanks Doc,” Chris said as he and Rita exited the lab and went back upstairs.

Later that afternoon, Chris was sitting at his desk wondering what to say to Rita. Things were so strained between them, he didn't know how to break the ice. He looked up as Rita walked in, returning from lunch. They didn't have lunch together to discuss the case, the way they usually did, instead Rita announced that she had some errands to run and told him they'd talk afterward.

     “How was lunch?” Chris questioned.

     “Okay, just did a few errands, nothing special.”

     “Hey, how about dinner, tonight. We could go to that new Italian place.”

     “I don't feel like going out, Chris.”

     “Okay, how about you come to my place and I'll cook,” Rita looked up at him in disbelief at the notion of Chris cooking dinner.

     “Okay, you come to my place and we'll get take out.”

     “Alright.” Rita agreed reluctantly.

It was nearly eight-thirty and Chris had just picked up the phone to call Rita's apartment when he heard the familiar knock at his door. He put the receiver down and opened the door to find Rita standing there with a six pack and a pizza.

     “I thought we were going to do Chinese tonight.” Chris said to her.

     “Oh, I'm sorry, I just thought I'd get a pizza, you know like we usually do, if you're in the mood for Chinese, you could always put this in the fridge for later.”

     “No that's okay, this and a bottle of Chianti will be perfect.”

     As they both sat down to dinner, Chris decided he'd had enough.

     “Look, Sam, did I do something, because if I did I want to know about it so that I can apologize.”

     “No, Chris, you didn't do anything. It's me, I've just been really depressed lately, that's all. I'll get over it.”

     “I don't like this, I mean, we been through problems together before, and everything was fine between us. Why should this be any different.? It feels different doesn't it?

     “What's this “us”, Chris I just told you that it's me. I'm the one with the problem, not you. I'll get over it,” Rita said raising her voice.

     “Hey, calm down, I just meant......:”

     “You know, it's always “us”, never you or me. I want to know Chris when did we become an “us” because from where I'm standing I'm the one going through this, not you. Eric broke my heart, not yours.” She said, putting down her slice of pizza, standing up and walking away from the table.

     “Look what affects you affects me, c'mon you know that. We've been friends for so long that when you hurt, I hurt. That's what I mean by “us.” Sam. I know that you're hurting, I know you're upset but it will get better. I'm here for you, I always have been and I always will be,” he said as he walked over to Rita and put his arms around her. As he held her, she began to cry. As she sobbed, he stroked her hair and tried to quiet her but then thought it would just be better for her to let it all out. He led her over to the couch and she sat back, wiping her tears.

     “It's not even the whole thing with Eric, I'm almost glad that he's gone considering how he lied to me. I just feel confused about everything in my life these days. I mean Eric was just the tip of the iceberg, I've been feeling like this for a while.”

     “Why didn't you tell me.”

     “You were busy with Jillian and I didn't want to bother you with it.”

     “Well, I'm not busy with her anymore, what's wrong?”

Rita looked at him and then looked away suddenly. She knew what she wanted to say. Looking at him she stopped lying to herself for a moment and knew the real reason she'd been feeling the way she had. It wasn't really the breakup with Eric, that was a very small part of it. She wanted to tell him about the feelings she had for him, feelings she realized months earlier when Chris lay shot in intensive care and she thought he might die. She denied those feelings to herself, she almost couldn't understand them and she was afraid that she'd lose Chris' friendship. Then along came Jillian and she was safe in her denial once more. But Jillian was gone now, and those feelings had gotten harder to bury. Rita knew her defenses were crumbling and that soon, she wouldn't be able to hold back how she felt.

     “Um,” Rita looked down, pausing briefly. “It's nothing, Chris, just forget it. I'll be okay.”

     “Rita, you know that's not true. You get this upset and then say nothing's wrong, c'mon it's me here, remember.”

Rita looked up at Chris for a moment and realized one thing: she had to get out of there. She couldn't handle this.

     “I gotta go, Chris. I'll see you tomorrow,” she said as she gathered her things and headed toward the door. Chris stood up and walked up behind her, grabbing her arm.

     “Rita, don't leave, we have to talk about this!” Chris pleaded. But it was too late, she walked out. Chris stood there for a moment, almost stunned. Although he too had learned to deny his own feelings, he couldn't deny what he saw in her eyes tonight. The way she looked at him before she left......he wanted to kiss her then. At that moment, standing there staring at his half-open front door, he desperately wished he had.

That night, as he slept, Chris felt a hand on his shoulder. He felt the warm touch of soft skin against his back and kisses on his neck. He opened his eyes and turned to find Rita lying next to him. He smiled at her, caressed her face and kissed her softly.

     “I love you,” she said quietly.

     “Oh God, I love you too, I have always loved you,” Chris responded, as she laid back and he put his arms around her, kissing her passionately as his phone began to ring. As he reached over to answer it, Chris woke up and realized he was dreaming.

     “Yeah, Lorenzo,” he answered groggily noticing the time on his alarm clock: 2:34 a.m. “This had better be good.”

     “Chris......” It was Rita.

     “Rita? What's going on?” he asked her, suddenly sitting up.

     “We got another one.....on the beach......you'd better get down here.”

     “I'm on my way,” he said as he hung up the phone and reached for his sweats.

When Chris got down to the beach, he saw the the familiar flashing lights and a huge commotion. He spotted Rita talking to a uniform and made his way toward her.

     “Okay, what do we got here? he asked looking down at the figure lying on the sand. It was the body of a woman, that much he could tell.

     “Who found her?” he asked

     “I did, Chris.” Rita responded.

     “You did, what the hell were you doing on the beach at this hour?” said Chris, giving her a disapproving look.

     “I couldn't sleep, decided to go for a walk and that's when I spotted her.”

     “ME get here yet?”

     “Yeah, she's right over there.” Rita said, pointing to Jill Rogers who was standing a few feet away, writing furiously on a clipboard.

     “Same markings as the John Doe found a couple of nights ago. Another thing,” she said as she bent down to lift up the plastic sheet covering the victim's body,” you have to look at this for yourself, Chris.” Chris bent down to look under the sheet and was instantly repulsed at what he saw. She had been sexually mutilated.

     “Man,” he said incredulously. “This one is a psycho.”

     “Yeah, you got that right partner.” Rita added as she re-covered the victim and stood up.

     “Male, female, this guy does not discriminate.” said Chris as he walked over to Rita's side. “Sam, you think we have a serial killer here?”

     “I don't know, Chris, I don't know.”

After spending the night at the station, Chris was tired. He looked up at the clock and saw that it was almost ten a.m. He and Rita both briefed the Captain on the discovery of the body and had been looking at the ME's report on the John Doe victim while waiting for the preliminary on their latest victim. Chris realized he was still in his sweats, and noticed that Rita was wearing the same thing she had on at his place the night before.

     “Hey, what were you doing on the beach so late anyway?” he asked her from across his desk.

     “I told you, I couldn't sleep.” she responded casually never lifting her eyes up to look at him.

     “Then why are you wearing the same outfit you had on at my place last night?”

     “What the hell is this, the Spanish inquisition?”

     “You never went home did you?”

     “Chris, drop it please. I told you I needed to be alone so after I left your place I went walking and ended up on the beach, that's all.” said Rita, slightly annoyed.

     “Rita we need to talk.....this is getting scary.” As Chris finished his sentence, the Captain walked in and called both of them into his office. Rita seemed relieved as she made her way over to talk to the Cap.

     “Okay, what do we have here?” said the Captain in his usually demanding tone. Rita explained what they'd learned so far. They'd gotten a positive ID on the John Doe.

     “Name's Stephen Roth, he matched up with a missing persons report filed about three months before we found him.” Rita began. “He was reported missing by his wife. Apparently he was once a very prominent member of the business community here. He ran a chain of restaurants, until about a year ago when the company was sold out from under him and he went broke.” That's all we have so far, we're getting the wife in here this afternoon for identification and hopefully we'll get more then.”

     “Anything on the woman?” Captain Lipschitz asked.

     “Not yet,” Chris responded. “We're still checking for a missing persons report on her...so far nothing. All we know is that she was roughly the same age as the other victim, late forties, had the same markings and cause of death was the same. Only difference was the mutilation. ME is checking for any other signs of sexual assault.

     “Keep on it, in the meanwhile I'll try and keep a lid on everything. We don't want the press to get their fangs into this, they'll turn it into a circus and scare the hell out of everybody. Now both of you, GO, GO!” he shouted, shooing them out of his office.

That afternoon, Melissa Roth sat in a private interrogation room sipping coffee from a paper cup. She put down her coffee and paused for a moment. As she burst into tears she grabbed her purse, hunting around a for a tissue. Chris reached over and handed her a box of Kleenex.

     “Thank,” she managed to say through her sobs.

     “I'm really sorry, Mrs. Roth. If you don't want to do this now we can......”

     “No, no that's alright Sergeant,” she said, cutting him off.

     “It was those people, you know, it was them. I know they had something to do with this.” she stammered as she spoke, choking back tears. Rita, sitting next to her, across from Chris, shot a look at him before she spoke.

     “What people, you have an idea who might have done this to your husband?”

     “I told him not to get involved, I told him that something would happen,” she began, sobbing.

     “Mrs. Roth, please if you have an idea of who the killer is, we need to know. Now, what do you mean by “those people.” Rita asked slowly, being careful not to further upset her.

     “About two years ago, Stephen started to talk about this organization some of his business friends were talking about. It was called “The Leadership Society”. He told me it was a center where they gave seminars to the business community about investing, increasing your company's earning potential, you know, that kind of stuff. I didn't think anything of it. I was never involved in my husband's business. It sounded pretty harmless to me, until Stephen started to spend more and more time there. Some nights he didn't come home at all, I thought he was having an affair. Looking back I almost wish that was true, I could've handled that.” she stopped for a moment crying harder, wiping her tears.

     It's okay, Mrs. Roth, take your time,” Chris said.

     “Melissa, call me Melissa and I want to get this all out.” she responded firmly catching her breath and telling the rest of her story. Chris and Rita couldn't believe the story they were hearing from this woman. “The Leadership Society” was run by a man named Martin Crowley. The seminars he gave had nothing to do with business. The organization was really some kind of Church and Steven Roth was trying to get his whole family involved. But she never fell for it. Melissa Roth explained that after a while, she realized that her husband was somehow being brainwashed into giving up control of his company, until he finally lost it last year.

     “When we lost the business, my husband went crazy. I had to put him in a hospital, but he got out a few months ago and disappeared.” I never saw him again, until today.” she added, dissolving in tears.

     “Chris can I see you outside?” Rita asked. They both stepped out into the hallway.

     “We should check out this “Society.” Chris began. “Also, after we get an ID on that Jane Doe see if she has any connection to this.”

     “Yeah, I'll get on it, you make sure Mrs. Roth is taken care of Chris.” Rita said as she walked down the hall into the Squad Room.

It's was nearly nine-thirty when Rita realized that she hadn't slept in nearly two days. She'd been working hard on the case and thought that it was time she went home, took a shower and went to bed. She looked over at Chris who had been on the phone with police departments all over the state trying to get any missing persons information on the dead woman they had found. When he hung up, she told him she was calling it a day and going home to get rest.

     “Leaving so soon? We've got a lot more work to do.” he reminded her.

     “You forget, I didn't get ANY sleep last night and I'm going to go home and pass out.” she said as she leaned back in her chair. She looked over at Chris who was staring intently at her.

     “What?” she asked

     “Nothing.” Chris said quietly. “Did you eat anything tonight? We never got any food.”

     “You're always thinking about food. Actually I am hungry......”

     “Okay, we'll go grab something together on the way home.” Chris said firmly.

     “Chris......I want to go home.....I have to ” Rita began.

     “I'm not taking no for an answer, I'm buying you dinner, let's go.” he said, standing up, taking her hand and pulling her out of her chair.

They went to a small Chinese restaurant near Chris' place. The dinner conversation was mostly about the case they were working on, although Rita caught Chris looking at her strangely several times during their conversation. She began to feel uneasy and finally decided to ask him what he was looking at.

     “Chris, what are you doing, you're making me nervous.” she said looking down at her plate.

     “What do you mean?” he asked cautiously, “Since when do I make you nervous?”

     “Since you started looking at me like that, stop it.”

     “Looking at you like what, I don't know what you're talking about, Sam. You're just tired, stop imagining things.” Rita put her chopsticks down and leaned back in her chair. She knew she wasn't imagining this, although she was tired, she wasn't that tired.

     “Okay, does this have something to do with last night? Because if it does I told you everything is okay,” she lied.

     “We have to talk about what happened.”

     “What do you mean, nothing happened.” Rita asked puzzled. Could Chris have sensed something? she asked herself, terrified at the thought.

     “You know that something did, you felt it too....I know you did.” Chris asked as he reached across the table and placed his hand on top of hers. No sooner did he do that when she pulled it away....

     “Are you crazy, Lorenzo?” she said as she stood up and walked away from the table.

     “Rita, wait......!” Chris shouted, as all of the other diners turned to look at them. He quickly took out his wallet and plunked some money down on the table as he ran out of the restaurant after her. Rita was halfway to the parking lot when she realized that they had taken Chris' car and hers was still at her apartment. She had no way of getting home. By that time Chris had caught up to her.

     “Rita, c'mon stop running away from me!” he pleaded. “Just talk to me, okay?” I can't take this anymore!” Just then, Rita stopped and turned around to look at him. She was suddenly embarrassed at how she was behaving. She walked towards him slowly and, reaching him, took his hand into hers.

     “Okay, that's better.” said Chris as he looked into her eyes.

     “Now maybe we can talk.....” as he spoke, Rita reached up and caressed his face as she brought her lips up to his and kissed him. He kissed her back, until, almost in disbelief, he broke away for a moment and looked at her. Was this really happening? He wanted to make sure it wasn't a dream.

     “I can't believe I just did that.” Rita said, taking a deep breath. “I'm sorry, maybe I shouldn't have.” Chris couldn't believe she had said that and in response grabbed her and kissed her passionately until Rita was sure she couldn't feel anything except his lips touching hers.

     “I am so scared, Chris.” she said breathlessly as he kissed her neck.

     “Nothing to be scared of, c'mon.....” he said, smiling as he led her to the car and drove them to his apartment. Walking through the front door, Rita realized how nervous she was. She couldn't believe this was really happening! After all this was Chris, her partner, her best friend, her rock for nearly five years! Although she knew she loved him, she never thought she could love him like this. She felt his hand on her shoulder as he turned her around to face him. He smiled as he began to kiss her lips, her cheek, working his way down her neck.

     “Chris, what are we doing?” Rita asked in a futile attempt make sense of what was happening.

     “Something that should have happened a long time ago.” Chris responded lost in the feelings he had for her. There was no turning back now.

     “I love you, Rita, I love you so much. I always have. You can't tell me you don't feel the same way. I saw it.....I saw it last night. This has nothing to do with Eric or Jillian or anybody else. This is you and me. It's time we both realize the truth and.......Rita didn't give him a chance to finish, wrapping her arms around him as she kissed him deeply. He reached down and began to unbutton her blouse.

     “I love you too,” she said quietly, as Chris removed his shirt and then lowered her onto the couch. As he made love to her, Rita thought of everything they'd been through together, everything they'd been to one another, and finally understood the words to every love song she'd ever heard.

When Rita opened her eyes, she turned to find herself in Chris' bed, alone. She turned to look at the clock and saw that it was still quite early. As she sat up, she heard footsteps coming up the stairs.

     “Good morning,” Chris said smiling, handing her a cup of hot coffee. Rita, suddenly feeling very naked, pulled the bedcovers up a little higher as she took the cup from him.

     “Thanks,” she managed to say quietly before taking a sip.

     “It's still kind of early, we don't have to be at work for a couple of hours, yet.” he said as he climbed back into bed with her. Rita put her cup on the nightstand and pulled the sheets off the bed, wrapping herself in them as she stood up.

     “I'm going to go home then and change for work, okay?” she answered nervously.

     “What's the matter?” Chris asked, sensing something was not quite right.

     “Nothing, I just think I need to go home,take a shower and get dressed for work.”

     “Sam, c'mon, what's wrong.” Chris asked, but before he could get an answer she had already grabbed her clothes and gone into the bathroom to dress. When she emerged, he was waiting for her.

     “What?” she said looking up at him.

     “Just want to make sure you're okay with all of this......you don't regret anything do you?” he asked her.

     “No....” she said quietly, looking at him. Just then phone rang. Chris hesitated for a moment, looking straight into Rita's eyes, then walked over to answer the phone. It was the Captain.

     “Yeah, Cap....what....where?” he asked hurriedly. “We'll be right there, Cap.”

     “What's going on?” Rita asked

     “Melissa Roth, she's at Society, we gotta get down there before she does something stupid.”

Chris and Rita's squad car screeched to a halt in front of a large estate. The front gate was wide open and the guard who'd been standing in front of it lay in a pool of blood. Chris ran over to check the guard's pulse and as Rita looked over to see if he was still alive Chris shook his head and confirmed that he wasn't. They were both startled when gun shots came from the main house. As they made their way up the path to the front door, guns drawn, the shrill sirens of backup police cars coming up to the gate could be heard. About six uniforms came running up the path behind them. As they approached the front door, they could hear the screaming.

     “Police, open up!!!” Chris shouted, identifying himself before the door was inevitably broken down. When there was no response, they broke their way in and found a bloody scene. In a huge white marble entryway there were three women lying on the floor, all had been shot and seemed dead. As the cops made their way further into the house they could hear a woman shouting. It was Melissa Roth:

     “You killed my husband, you bastard! I'm gonna do to you what you did to him, you sick son of a bitch!” When Chris and Rita entered the Main Room, they saw Melissa Crowley standing over a terrified Martin Crowley holding a semi-automatic gun to his head. “I'm gonna make you people pay for what you did to my family, to all of the families!” she screamed as she began to cry. “You killed him, you took everything from him and then you killed him, why, why?” she wailed.

     “Mrs. Roth PUT THE GUN DOWN NOW” Chris shouted as he made his way closer to her. Rita covered him.

     “Go away, let me handle this, he's getting what he deserves, him and his so called Church, I'm gonna blast them to hell!”

     “Mrs. Roth, DON'T......” but it was too late. Melissa Roth emptied her gun right into Martin Crowley, who now lay in a crumpled heap. As she dropped her gun to the floor, she was tackled by Chris, Rita and two of the uniforms. Chris cuffed her as Rita read her her rights and she was led out of the house. Chris and Rita both stood in the middle of the main room and looked at the carnage around them.

     “Unbelievable, she didn't seem like the type to go nuts like this, are you okay Sam?”

     “Yeah, yeah, I'm fine, well if she was right about Crowley, guess she solved the case for us.”

     “Only one way to find out.” Chris responded as they walked out of the house and headed towards the car.

Back at the station, Chris and Rita both briefed the Captain. He also had some information for them. It seems that some of the other family members had come forward, including the family of the dead woman they found on the beach. They confirmed that the victims had been members of Crowley's Cult, they called it, and were involved in some ritualistic behavior. All of the members were wealthy members of the Palm Beach business community and all had somehow lost that wealth to Crowley. When Steven Roth was found the rest of the families had begun to come forward out of concern for the own loved ones mixed up in the Church. They had a clear picture of what was going on in Crowley's house.

     “So then it was some kind of cult these people were mixed up in, but how do we know that Crowley was the killer, could have been anybody in there.” Rita asked.

     “Well, I guess being that most of the members are either shot dead or dying, it's a mute point, right Cap?” Chris said looking at the Captain.

     “We're going to continued conducting interviews with family members, but yeah, we hardly have anyone left from that place. We'll be able to better determine after we talk to these people, just what was going on. Melissa Roth was taken to a psychiatric hospital for evaluation, she was incoherent when they brought her down to the station.

     “She didn't seem that way, I mean she didn't seem like.....”Rita stopped what she was saying and looked down for a moment. She better than anyone right now understood not really knowing someone, especially yourself. Melissa may have seemed like a grief-stricken wife, but deep down she was a killer. Something even she may not have known until the very end.

The rest of the day was spent interviewing family members and trying to get a clearer picture of Crowley and his “church.” It was becoming more and more apparent that the murders were the result of ritualistic torture committed by the Church members, maybe even Crowley but they could never know for sure. It was nearly six p.m. and Chris and Rita sat at their desks busily working when Rita looked up.

     “Hey, you haven't said anything for a hour.”

     “Guess that's what happens when you're busy,” Chris said, looking up at her.

     “You okay?” she asked him.

     “Yeah, fine, I mean we've seen alot of these things right. We should be used to it by now....”

     “You never get used to it.” Rita said, looking down.

     “Rita, about last night.....?”

     “Yeah,” she answered, cutting him off.

     “I mean, you're okay with it, right? We haven't really talked about it all day and I was just worried that something was wrong......

     “Nothing's wrong, Chris, I just......

     “You just what.....

     “I just don't want to have this conversation here, that's all. We shouldn't talk about it at work.” Rita answered, her voice slightly lowered. Chris stood up and walked over to her.

     “You know I meant everything I said to you last night, don't you?” he whispered to her as she sat at her desk.

     “I know....I just think we should talk about this. It's not as easy as you think, it's going to change everything, our friendship, work, everything.” she responded as she stared into his eyes. Those green eyes, she never could resist them. As she stood up to meet him face to face, she realized that they were standing very close to one another and backed away, obvious of the other people around them.

     “Are we almost finished here yet?” Chris asked, in a breathless, soothing tone that only Rita could understand.

     “Umm, yea, I think we can pick this up in the morning.” she responded. Chris reached over, picked up his jacket and he and Rita walked out of the squad room together. Their departure did not go unnoticed, Captain Lipschitz stood by his office window watching them as they left, in fact, he had been watching them all day. He hoped this time that his instincts were wrong.

As they entered Chris' loft, Rita couldn't help but feel like they were back at the scene of the “crime.” She almost laughed quietly to herself thinking about, this is where it started and this is where they needed to talk.

     “Do you want to get something to eat,” Chris asked nervously, “I don't know what I have in my fridge, probably nothing.”

     “There you go again, always thinking about food.” Rita said, smiling at him. They stood for a moment, silently looking at one another. For a moment Rita felt like a schoolgirl meeting a boyfriend for the first time, she couldn't remember the last time she felt that way.

     “Sam, I meant everything I said to you last night, I love you, always have.” Chris said quietly, taking her hand.

     “You know, Sam, the first thing I thought about when I got up this morning was that I felt like I had lost my best friend, Chris. I mean, last night was incredible. You made me feel things that I thought were long gone, but now I'm afraid.”

     “Afraid of what?” Chris asked, puzzled.

     “Afraid that everything is going to change, our friendship, our work relationship everything. You are the most important person in my life and I don't want to lose you.” Rita said, her voice trembling.

     “Rita, c'mon, Chris began. “What would make you think that you're going to lose me? I'm not going anywhere, Sammy.”

     “No, Chris you have to understand, everyone that I've ever loved, has left me. I've lost all of them. My parents, my foster parents, everyone. Your friendship meant everything to me, because it meant that I was safe. I could love you but still feel safe. Now, I don't know what's going to happen. I'm in love with you, I know that I somehow always have been, but now things are different.”

     “Yes, you're right they are different. We found out that we can be lovers as well as friends. I'm still your best friend, Sam.”

     “Best friends don't sleep together, Chris.” she said looking down.

     “Look Rita, I know that with our histories it's hard to imagine having a successful relationship and I understand that you're scared about what this might mean for us, but I gotta tell you I'm excited about it.”

     “You're excited about it?” Rita asked incredulously.

     “Yeah, because I don't see it as losing my best friend. I realized that the one thing that I really wanted, needed really, was someone who I was in love with, who would love me back, be my best friend, my lover, all of it and I just found out that that person has been standing next to me for the past five years. I'm actually happy about it. You see, even though you're worried about our relationship and what this might mean and everything, I know that deep down you're crazy about me, Rita.” said Chris putting his arms around her and planting a quick kiss on her forehead.

     “Oh yeah, Lorenzo, you think I'm crazy about you?” she replied sarcastically.

     “Yep,” he responded kissing her passionately. After a moment he stepped back, as if a thought had suddenly struck him.

     “Why don't we think of it this way, we not losing our friendship, we're just taking it to a higher, deeper level.”

     “What level is that? she asked. Chris reached for her right hand and removed the Irish claddagh ring he had given her as a sign of their friendship, he then took her left hand and placed it on her ring finger. Rita stood stunned for a moment and then it all made sense to her, she understood what Chris was saying. She smiled softly at him and then reached up to kiss him.

     “One thing though, we do have to decide what we're going to do about work,” she said quietly as he gently kissed the back of her ear.

     “Yeah, we do, it'll only be a matter of time before Cap figures this out, he's weird like that.” Chris responded, reaching around Rita and slipping his hand beneath her shirt.

     “Well, what are our options?” Rita asked, unbottoning his button down shirt and planting quick kisses on his chest.

     “Ummm, we could try an keep this quiet. I'm sure we're not the only cop team to get involved like this, no one has to find out.” he continued, his hands reaching up to unhook her bra.

     “I don't think so, Sam, Lipchitz is all knowing, he'll find out.” Rita responded breathlessly, as Chris quieted her by covering her mouth with his.

     After they'd made love for what seemed hours, Chris and Rita found themselves on Chris' floor next to his couch.

     “How did we get here?” Rita asked, amused.....

     “I don't know, I think we fell off the couch....” Chris said as turned to her and smiled. “We gotta tell Cap.”

     “Yeah, he's gonna find out anyway, I don't think we can keep this quiet, Sam,” Rita agreed.

     “You're right we can't, especially since I want you to move in with me.” Chris asked confidently.

     “Move in?” Rita said, surprised.

     “Yeah, I want to be with you all the time, Rita. I'm crazy about you like no one else in my life and I want you here with me....”

     “Move in,” Rita repeated, laying back against a throw pillow....”Lipschitz will throw a fit.”

     “That's why we have to tell him. I want us to be a couple, you know....a couple everyone knows about. We live together for a while and then get married, have kids.”

     “Whoa, slow down Chris! I'm crazy about you too, but are you sure you want to go this fast?” Rita asked quietly.

     “I sure do. We've known each other for years, Rita. I love you so much and....

     “I love you too, but...”

     “But, nothing....we need to make decisions and I know you want this as much as I do. I think we're great together and you do too. Let's just make it official.”

     “We won't be partners anymore, are you ready for that?” Rita asked cautiously.

     “Yeah, we'll we could quit, be PI's or something together. Lots of possibilities.” Chris added.

     “Yeah,” Rita answered, “Lot's of possibilities. We have a whole lifetime to figure them out.”

END