Love Lies Bleeding by Remmy Duchene (carter reed txt) 📕

it was flipped upside down and that's why running it wasn't really working."

"Isha! Damn it!"

"I'm sorry, Leo. But this is hard for me. I don't even think it means anything but I… the partial came back as Daniel's."

Leo went numb. He fumbled with the counter in the kitchen and fell against it heavily. "Which Daniel?"

"Your Daniel."

"Wha—I mean… my Daniel?"

"Yes, Kim. Daniel Fergis. NYPD."

"That… that has to be a mistake. There's no way Daniel's print is anywhere in that house. It shouldn't be. It's a mistake. Maybe it was contaminated. Run it again."

"I did. Four times. It still comes back Daniel."

"That doesn't make sense… Why would Daniel…? Listen to me. I need you to do me a favor. Don't ask anyone else for help and don't let anyone else know the results you just gave me. I need you to run a background into Daniel. Go beyond everyone else. Dig deeper."

"Leo. I'm the ME!"

"Who used to be the best in the labs. Do this for me, Isha. Keep this on the DL. Find out all you can about Daniel. I don't want to believe my partner is in this. There has to be a different explanation. I'm going to stick around here until I can figure out what to do. I don't know how long they're going to pay a couple of cops to watch this house and I can't leave coach and Mildred high and dry for this joker to come by here."

"All right."

"Be careful."

Isha promised she would and Leo walked back to sit down with the others.

"What's wrong?" Anderson asked.

"Nothing," Leo lied. "Coach, can we spend the night?"

"Of course," Mildred said. "What kind of question is that? We have a guest room upstairs with an en-suite bathroom. Make yourselves at home."

They dispersed. Mildred escorted them up the stairs. They left Coach looking out the curtains of the front window right after he locked the front door and slipped the security chain on. Leo felt awful.

"Here you are, gentlemen."

"Thank you," Anderson spoke. "We really appreciate this."

She smiled at Anderson, touched Leo's cheek before closing the door behind her. Leo was looking out the window, arms folded across his chest.

"Why do you call her Nana?" Anderson questioned.

"What?" Leo shook his head and glanced at Anderson, feeling more lost than he'd ever felt.

"Mildred. Why do you call her Nana?"

Leo smiled then. "Because she's the closest thing to a grandmother I have. She's loved me over the years like I had her blood in my veins and I can't think of a better name to call her."

Anderson nodded.

He hoped the conversation would end there but Anderson's next words caused him to hang his head.

"Something happened during the phone call," Anderson's voice was low, yet crisp. "What was it?"

"Has Daniel ever been to your place?"

"Your partner, Daniel? Why would he be at my place?"

"Has he?"

"Leo, now is not the time to get jealous over some non-existent relationship with someone who seems to have a problem with me. I didn't know who he was until my dad died."

"And you're sure he's never been to your house?" Leo pushed. "Maybe at a holiday dinner and one of your friends brought someone you didn't know. That could happen."

"No. He's never been there," Anderson stressed.

"What do you mean he seems to have a problem with you?"

"The other day while I waited for you at the station, he asked me if we were seeing each other. I told him it was none of his business but he gave me this look."

"Andy, why didn't you tell me?"

Anderson shrugged. "I thought he was just trying to protect his partner. I mean a gay cop is one thing but a gay cop screwing a victim's son could cost a cop his badge."

Leo made no reply.

Anderson took his shoulder and tugged. "You're not making any sense."

"Isha managed to run a partial print they found at your place," Leo admitted. He couldn't meet Anderson's eyes. It would kill him if Daniel was really the one out to get him.

"Who's Isha?"

"It's not important. What is important is they found a match to the print from your place. It belongs to Daniel."

The room went silent then. It was the silence that came when something was just said that ended the world. It was a bad, heartbreaking kind of quiet that made Leo want to bang a fist into the wall. He refrained. He kept telling himself just because Daniel's print was found at Anderson's didn't mean he did anything wrong. It could be that his gloves ripped when they were clearing the scene. Or it could be Daniel forgot to put his gloves on and touched something. Any number of things could have happened.

"Maybe it's from when you guys were there after the break-in."

Leo shook his head and they went quiet once more.

"So what now?"

Leo looked at Anderson, who was now sitting on the bed.

"I asked Isha to look into Daniel's background."

"Are you sure that's a good idea? It can't be safe for her and what if Daniel found out she's looking into him—and he's the bad guy?"

"I've thought of that."

"I have my laptop now. Could you get access from here?"

Leo shook his head. "No. I need to have the programs installed on it. Don't worry. Isha will let us know what she finds if she finds anything. I asked her to be careful. If Daniel did anything wrong, as long as he doesn't know we're onto him, Isha will be fine."

Walking across the space, Leo knelt in front of Anderson and rested his head gently in Anderson's lap. He didn't realize he was holding his breath until Anderson sank his fingers into Leo's hair and massaged gently. Leo exhaled long and slow, feeling the small of his back throb in exhaustion. He wrapped his arms around Anderson's legs for comfort and closed his eyes. He wasn't sure how long he stayed that way but Anderson didn't move or complain. Instead, the professor simply caressed the back of Leo's neck, dragging his fingers through Leo's hair.

It