Speeding Ch. 09

"So, what do we know?" Reid asked, marker poised above the white board, his back to Chris, Jason and Sheridan Detective, Chloe Davenport.

"We know she was overdosed, we know she was bound," Jason answered.

"We know she was a hoo... working girl," Chris continued, catching himself before labeling his friend's ex-wife a hooker.

As Reid was writing on the board, Chloe asked, "Are we sure she wasn't perhaps bound for fun and later accidentally overdosed?" The Sheridan Detective had been quiet since arriving, but asked a very valid question.

"Adrienne explained that the track marks were healing, indicating she hadn't used in a while. She does not feel the death is accidental," Jason answered.

"Can she prove it?" Chris jumped in, springing from his chair. "Even if this is murder, and we figure out who did it, can we prove it?"

"The evidence is shaky," Chloe agreed.

"Adrienne isn't wrong," Jason growled in defense.

Fire in his chocolate gaze, Chris challenged, "Prove it."

"Prove it isn't," Jason threw back.

Reid's shrill whistle stopped the two detectives from coming to blows. "Children!" He knew Jason was defending Adrienne more than the evidence itself, and Chris was siding with the striking Sheridan detective. What he didn't know was who was right, and working together was far more productive than taking sides. "Look, we've never had a murder in Aylesford, so we have to do this right. Maybe it was two separate incidents, and the binding isn't related to the overdose, but until we know," he stopped with a grimace. "Until we can prove something- anything- we're treating it like a homicide."

"Well, said Detective," Chloe approved with a nod, brushing her caramel colored hair away from her face.

Jason glared at the green eyed woman before returning his attention to Reid. "Plan of action?"

"Yeah, how are we going to find this evidence? We've been to her apartment, spoken with her neighbors..." Chris trailed off.

"Talk to her pimp," Chloe suggested.

"Of course! I'll just look him up in the phone book," Jason joked.

Chloe shook her head at the cocky detective. "Big Ben owns that part of town. Vice will know how to find him."

"Do it," Reid instructed before his attention was drawn to a cloud of curly blonde hair nearing his desk. His daughter. His heart broke for the time they'd lost. Bolting from the chair he'd dropped into moments before, he made his way to Annie.

When he reached her, he suddenly felt very awkward. "Hi," was all he managed to say. He almost lost his footing when he caught the small body that crashed into him. "Guess you know."

"Hi, Dad!" she squealed.

Momentarily speechless, Reid held her tight. Annie was far too excited to have him for a father. Aware of her mother's case on the board behind them, he walked her to the front of the station before finally finding words. "Annie, why are you here?"

"I want to live with you and Kendall," she answered, her words so rushed they all ran together.

Thrown, he opened his mouth to speak, but quickly closed it again. He didn't want to tell her no, but this was something he would have to discuss with Kendall. He mentally laughed at that thought. Who was he kidding? He knew Kendall's answer. The Reverend and Mrs. Shaw would be the problem. They would oppose any bid he and Kendall made for custody. Sighing, he settled for an age old parental stand by. "We'll see," he answered as he hugged his daughter to his chest. "Your grandparents want to keep you." Hit with the proverbial ton of bricks, he repeated, "Grandparents."

"Dad?" Annie looked at her father with wide blue eyes. How she loved that word. Dad.

"You haven't met my parents yet, or your uncles and aunts," Reid told her, shock on his face. How had he overlooked something so fundamental?

Silently cursing her selfish bitch of a mother, Annie asked, "I have more family?"

"You sure do." He grinned. "Whether or not you live with Kendall and me, you're coming to your Uncle Reece's wedding in a few weeks and Sunday dinner at my parents in a couple days." He'd missed so much of her life, and so had his parents.

He'd never seen Annie look so excited. "You want me?" She bounced in her sneakers.

"Of course I do, sweetheart. I just wish..."

"You wish my mother had told the truth," Annie finished. Her eyes turned sad before she told him, "Get used to it. She never told the truth. Ever."

What kind of life had his child led? She already seemed far wiser than her years, but as excited as she seemed to have him for a father, it was obvious she was starved for affection. Smoothing a hand over her curly blonde head, he decided he would petition for custody. He knew Kendall would be on-board, and if they had to see a judge to be married to better their chances, he was fine with that.

Annie wondered what her dad was thinking as he held her. She knew it had to be something important with the way his eyes were narrowed. God, she hoped he wanted her. She sighed. She'd probably used up all her prayers just to get him for a father. What were the chances he'd want a thirteen- correction, almost thirteen- year old girl horning in on his life with Kendall? She knew about men and women, and she knew Kendall was amazingly pretty. No man would want to give up his privacy and let a kid live with them.

Pulling away slightly so he could look at his daughter, Reid promised, "I want you and I know Kendall does, too."

"Seriously?" She goggled at him, her jaw slack.

He flashed a grin at her shocked expression before he placed his hands on her shoulders, bending down to look her in the eye. "I would never, never have let you go had I known. I promise we'll figure everything out, and I promise I will never leave you again."

She flung herself back into his arms, sobbing like a baby and not caring a bit. "Thank you, Dad."

Arms full of crying girl, Reid pulled out his phone and called the only person who could help him. Ten minutes later, Kendall scooped his daughter up and took her to the store with her. Dazed, he made his way back to the other detectives.

"I take it she's yours," Jason greeted.

"Yes," Reid answered succinctly before turning to the board. "Now, let's figure out what happened to her horrible excuse for a mother."

"Yes, let's," Jason agreed.

~*~

"Dad said I could live with you," Annie informed Kendall on their walk between the station and the store.

Missing a step at that revelation, Kendall almost fell flat on her face. Regaining her balance, she asked, "He did?"

"Well, he said, 'We'll see,' at first, but then he said we wanted me, and you do too."

Wow. What he said was so very different than extending an invitation to live with them. "We do want you, sweetie, but your grandparents will fight us." Beverly had promised that on the day of Amy's death.

"I know it won't be tomorrow," Annie admitted, her slender shoulders slumping. She stopped then, bending to pluck a fluffy dandelion stem from a sidewalk crack. Face solemn, she said, "But you want me." She blew the seeds free of the stem, watched them float a moment before reiterating, "You want me."

Kendall watched this little girl, a girl who had far more in common with her than she knew, cope so much better than she had and swallowed the large lump in her throat. "Did you know my parents died when I was your age?"

Annie gaped at Kendall. "Really?"

She gave a jerky nod in answer. "They were pilots. Their plane went down over the Atlantic."

"What happened to you? Who took care of you?" Annie asked, concern etched into her delicate features.

"My brother, Kyle, came home from college."

"He didn't want you!"

"He was eighteen. He wanted to go to college, not raise his sister," Kendall automatically defended.

Annie looked at the ground, her fingers twisting a curl. "My grandparents don't want me."

Oh, her grandmother wanted her all right, and said as much ten days ago. "Of course they do."

Annie shook her head, sending her cloud of curls flying. "No. I'm a problem my mother left them."

"Surely you don't think that."

"It's the truth." Stiffening her spine, Annie marched toward the store, leaving Kendall rooted to her spot on the sidewalk for almost a minute.

As she ran to catch up, Kendall's mind was reeling. Did the Reverend and Mrs. Shaw really not want Annie? And why, if they didn't, did Beverly issue that salvo indicating war should Reid try and take her from them? Something just didn't add up.

~*~

"Know any good lawyers?" Kendall asked as soon as Kyle answered his phone. She knew her brother wouldn't understand the situation, but he'd be able to help. Legally, at least.

"What kind of question is that, Kendall?" Kyle made a guttural sound. "Why do you need an attorney?"

An attorney. Of course. "Reid just discovered he has a daughter and we want to-"

"Did the bastard cheat on you? I told you he wasn't good en-"

"Don't even finish that thought, or so help me, Kyle, I will kick your teeth in."

"Oh," came the startled reply.

"If you would have let me explain before cutting me off, I'd have told you that Annie's mother was married to Reid, but she cheated on him. She told Reid Annie wasn't his daughter and somehow had the paternity test back her up. Dr. Marquette had new tests run and viola, now I'm gonna be a stepmom."

Kyle made some sort of choked sound on his side of the phone. "So, you need an attorney for what?"

"We want to petition for custody."

"What? Why?"

Kendall frowned at the question, forgetting the expression was lost on her brother. She'd known he wouldn't understand, but had hoped she was wrong. "Because she's Reid's daughter," she answered simply.

Kyle let out a long sigh laced with disappointment before finally answering the question. "Talk to Marjorie Statham. She'll be able to help."

"Thanks, Kyle."

"Thank you for calling," he replied stiffly before disconnecting the call.

~*~

"You wanna talk about it?" Kendall asked when she walked into the shop. Taylor had been so quiet the past few days, and hadn't even made a comment about Annie's presence in the store. Worried about her friend, Kendall had left Annie with Jo and made her way back to Taylor's bench.

"What's there to say?" She placed the ring she'd been finishing on her bench-pin and turned her chair to face her best friend. "He's dying. Faster than we thought."

"Oh Tay, I've been so preoccupied with Reid and Annie, I haven't been there for you."

A rueful smile turned Taylor's pink lips. "What could you have done? You can't make his cancer go away," she took a shallow breath, "and you can't make me love him like he deserves."

"You are what he wanted," Kendall reasoned. "He couldn't ask for anything more."

Taylor shook her head, causing her red ponytail to beat at her shoulders. "You are so wrong. He asked for me to love him."

"You don't not love him," Kendall argued.

"You are such a good friend." Taylor hung her head. "I said the vows, even when I knew I was lying. I care about him, and God, I don't want him to die..." she trailed off, tears in her eyes, "but when he does die, I will be able to move on."

Kendall's face scrunched up at that. "So, if you were madly in love with him, you wouldn't be able to move on?"

"I'd be consumed with grief, unable to love again."

"You'd... Huh?"

"If Reid died, you'd fall apart."

She blew out a breath. "As true as that is, he wouldn't want me to grieve forever." She shuddered. "I worry about something happening to him all the time, but it's the risk I take loving a cop. We worry about each other, but at the end of the day, we never know what could happen."

"We get one great love in our lives, Kendall. You've found yours. Kevin is not mine." She sighed. "I married him anyway."

"And he's better off for it." She laid a hand on Taylor's shoulder. "Look, I know you feel guilty about marrying him, but you haven't done anything to hurt him. You're taking care of him, you're seeing him through this illness and you will potentially have to bury him. You have to get out of this funk. Feeling guilty and acting like a recluse isn't going to help anyone."

Taylor grimaced. "You're right, I know you are. It's just so unfair."

"A great looking, highly successful man, dying in the prime of his life is tragic."

"Way to be concise," Taylor joked with a watery smile.

"I try." Changing to a safer subject, she asked, "What are you working on?"

Taylor's smile was genuine when she turned her attention to the ring on her bench. "This is a special piece. The center stone is a morganite and I've copied an Edwardian period mounting to wrap around it."

It was beautiful. It looked like an antique engagement ring, but the center stone was petal pink. "Who is this one for?"

"I promised I wouldn't tell," Taylor answered with a smirk.

"Well, it's beautiful." She looked at her own specially designed engagement ring as she continued, "The woman that will get that is a lucky one."

Taylor let out a long sigh before very quietly muttering, "She has no idea how lucky."

Leaving that alone, Kendall gave Taylor a squeeze before she left her to her work again. "I'd better go check on Annie."

Taylor was immersed in her work when Kendall turned to leave. Her friend was troubled, and had a very skewed outlook on love. Letting that play in her head, she went to check on her nearly-teenaged almost-stepdaughter. She was chuckling at her own description when she made her way onto the sales floor.

~*~

Reid paced the hall in the Sheridan precinct. He and Jason had come down here with Chloe to meet with Amy's pimp, Big Ben. Chloe had promised two of her Vice guys would bring him in, but so far he and Jase had been cooling their heels for hours with nothing to show for it. Maybe the female detective had been onto something when she'd suggested talking to this guy. If Vice couldn't find him, it was possible he had something to do with Amy's death.

"Something doesn't feel right, here," Jason said as Reid made what seemed like his fortieth pass down the hall. "Why are we still just standing around?"

"Who's standing?" Reid quipped.

Rolling his eyes, Jason started with the rundown of what they knew yet again. "Adrienne believes the overdose was purposeful, we know Amy was tied up, we know she had a pimp. What does that tell you?"

"She was still selling her body, but she was trying to kick the heroin?"

"Right. Why was she trying to kick the heroin?"

"Why did she do anything?" Reid tossed out without thinking. He winced when he caught Jason's far from amused face. "Okay, I'll bite. Why do you think she was off the drugs?"

"I think maybe she wanted to go straight. Maybe she wanted to come home."

Reid held up his hands. "That's quite a jump there, Detective."

"Think about it."

Reid made a show of tapping his finger on his cheek and stroking a non-existent beard. "Nope, still don't make the jump. The woman left her kid- my kid- with her parents without a backwards glance ten years ago."

"Says her mother."

"Right. Why would her mother lie?"

Jason shook his head, his lips compressed in a thin line. "I don't know, but something about that woman rubs me the wrong way."

Reid laughed at that. "It's because she's a church lady, and you're not even close to a churchy person."

"Well, it might be that," he agreed with a short flash of his lady-killer smile, "but I think there's something she's not telling us."

"You thought there was something up with them that day at lunch, didn't you? That's why you didn't like the idea of leaving Annie with them."

"I hear you're petitioning for custody," Jason sidestepped.

"We are." He raked a hand through his hair. "I can't believe the Shaws had anything to do with Amy's death."

"No?" Jason asked, his irritation with Reid evident.

Reid blew out a breath as he stopped pacing. "What's your theory, Jase?"

"I don't really have a theory, but things just aren't making any sense." He threw is hands up in frustration. "You said Mrs. Shaw told you you couldn't take your daughter."

"Right," Reid agreed, not at all sure where Jason was going with this.

"What if," Jason jumped from his chair, pacing himself now. "What if Amy wanted to get clean and come home and Beverly didn't want her to?"

His handsome face a mask of confusion, Reid asked, "So, to keep her granddaughter, she killed her daughter?"

On a roll, Jason ignored his partner's incredulousness and went on. "Let's say, Amy called mommy dearest and told her she wanted to come back. Maybe the overdose was accidental. Maybe she just wanted to get Amy hooked on it again so she couldn't come home."

"Geez, Jase. With all that conclusion-jumping, I'm surprised you haven't broken a leg," Reid said sarcastically.

"I know it's a stretch, but let's look at the facts."

"Let's," Reid prompted.

"Bear with me, here," Jason warned. At Reid's 'get on with it' expression, he did. "Her pimp is nowhere to be found, we haven't turned up a drug dealer, an unhappy john, nothing. Her behavior for the last decade is consistent, but then, sometime in the last few months, she gives up the smack. Something changed."

"I'll give you that, but cleaning up her act to return home?"

"Why else would she get clean?"

"Let's say that's the reason, fine. Why wouldn't her pimp or her dealer take her out?"

"They may have. I think her parents- at least her mother- know something, that's all."

"Because she rubs you the wrong way?"

"Don't get your nose outta joint. I could be wrong."

"You are," Reid said more firmly than he felt. His daughter was with the Shaws, and if even a little bit of what Jason was thinking was on-target, he shuddered at the thought of something happening to her now that he'd found her.

"You sure about that?" Jason asked, not really wanting to be right, but sure he was onto something.

"No," Reid admitted. "I don't know what to believe, but we're not ruling anything out just yet."

"That's all I ask."

~*~