Robbery In Progress

*Emma*

After arriving back in New York, Drew and I went to Kelsey and Matty's precinct to finish up paperwork and all the boring stuff that goes into police work. I also wanted to check in on Joe and Sarah. They had visited Samantha while I was gone and I was curious to see how it went.

Okay, all of that was true, but I didn't need to go to Kelsey's precinct to do it. I just needed to see Kelsey. Even though our relationship, or whatever you wanted to call it, was messy and thoroughly undefined, I knew her presence would make me feel better about what went down in Florida. She was most likely going to ignore me or something but it would still help just to be able to soak up her nearness.

What I absolutely did not expect, though, was that she would walk right up to me and pull me into a hug. Unexpected, yes. But I definitely enjoyed it.

Without a care in the world about who else was there or who might be watching, I slid my arms around her and tucked my face up against her neck. I was so entranced by her cherries and vanilla scent that I almost missed the fact that she was talking.

"You know that it wasn't your fault, right? It's tragic, but it is not your fault." One of her hands was gently running up and down my back and it felt amazing. I forgot what it was like to be comforted, how depressing is that? "I know," I murmured softly.

"Good," she replied before pulling away from me. I instantly felt cold without her near. "Then, I can go back to being mad at you. I'm glad you've got that straight, though." Then she walked away.

Dumbfounded, I stared after her for a minute. Drew pulled me out of it with a long whistle.

"You really know how to pick 'em. Good luck with that."

With a huff in his direction, I stalked off to the room Joe and Sara were being held in. His laugh followed me all the way.

They both stood when I stepped into the room, curiosity on their faces telling me no one filled them in on what happened in Florida just yet. Lucky me.

I motioned for them to sit back down as I moved to join them at the table. "I promise to tell you about what went down with Jason, you both deserve the resolution. But before we get to that, I would really like to know how your trip to the hospital went."

When their curiosity and worry instantly turned into relaxed and happy expressions I knew that was the right move. No reason they should sit on edge for the whole talk.

"It went well. Thank you for letting us go and see her. I realize how difficult that would have been to arrange," Joe replied. He reached out for my hand and continued when I reciprocated, "it was a difficult few months without her, especially since we weren't sure if she was okay. It helped ease our minds to see her again."

"I'm so glad," I smiled and squeezed his hand. "Now that the case is over, I'm sorry to say that you'll have to be taken to jail. But I suspect the judge will offer you both bail considering neither of you have been a flight risk at any point and it's been made clear time and again that on your own accord you aren't a risk to society. I would imagine your defense attorney, whether you hire one or use a court appointed one, will argue you were under duress. That, along with your assistance on this case, which the prosecutor will be passing along to the judge for us, is good news for you both.

The prosecutor will likely offer a plea deal, your lawyer would have to decide if it was a good one or not based on what's offered, but you've got a good chance of going through trial and being acquitted. If it got to trial, I know Detectives Collins and Lawson would testify with me on your behalf."

"Thank you for that," Sarah added in. Relief clearly releasing the tension in her shoulders. "Thank you for everything, honestly. I'm not sure what we would have done if it wasn't you who took this case."

"Any good negotiator would be doing the same thing I am. It's a blessing and a curse to be this way. I'm sure your dad could back me up on that."

He chuckled but shook his head, "a good negotiator would have brought us in and called it a day. It's the great ones that go above and beyond like you and Kesley."

My heart swelled at the compliment, "you know, I've looked you up since we confirmed your identity. You weren't so bad yourself, back in your day."

"I was so good, that I know you're stalling right now." His jab was light hearted but I could sense his need for answers. "Tell us what happened," he added softly.

I sighed and leaned back, "you are good." After taking a moment to collect myself I shot them a smile intended to comfort, "no more stalling. Promise. Samantha told me when I met with her that she overheard them talking about an airport, she couldn't recall the full name but it started with 'Fort'. That led us to Florida, based on traffic cam footage we found, we narrowed the possible escape down to four flights. All leaving out of Fort Myers.

"We located him on airport security cameras, and when we approached Jason took a hostage. I attempted to talk him down, but was unsuccessful. He turned his gun on me and my teammate, Drew, took the shot. It was discovered after the fact, that Jason has a life insurance policy with his sister as the beneficiary, but they wouldn't pay out if the cause of death was sucide. When his escape plan didn't work, and when I prodded him on his sister, I suspect a light bulb went off in his head.

"He knew protocol would require someone to shoot if he turned a gun on a fellow officer and used that to his advantage." I paused for a moment to let all of that sink in. "Jason was pronounced dead at the scene. His body is being transferred back here for a funeral of Rose Roberts choosing."

We all sat in silence for I don't even know how long.

"I'd like to meet Rose, if we could, at some point. Maybe that would help me feel like all of this was worth it."

I smiled at Joe, "I suspect it will. I've heard good things about her."

I spoke with them for a bit longer before finally taking my leave. I still had that paperwork to finish up and I was exhausted for all the travel and events over the last few weeks. I needed a good night's sleep and maybe tomorrow I would have a good plan for fixing all my problems.

One could hope anyway.