Participants:
Appearence by:
Scene Title | I Can Feel Her |
---|---|
Synopsis | Seems Cassidy and Liz now share an emotional link. After spending a couple of day feeling Liz's emotional turmoil, Cassidy finally calls Cardinal looking for her friend. |
Date | August 25, 2009 |
A conversation over cellphones
When the first wave of terror hit Cassidy was getting her morning coffee at the precincts sludge factory. The sudden onset of the emotion made the redhead jerk with shock, sloshing hot coffee across the hand holding the mug, scalding it. That was just the first wave.
The progressed during the day to a point the detective couldn't think straight so at the insistence of Coren, she went home saying she had a headache. Of course, her partner knew otherwise. Something about the feels where… familiar. Like she knew the source, but the answer was only at the edge of her mind and evading her capture.
But it was that night, curled up in the spare bedroom that Cassidy realized… not so much what.. but who she was feeling. It was Elisabeth, her friend and confidant. That brought a chill through her. Had she not been completely exhausted at that point, she might have called Cardinal.
After a long night of stress and emotions, even at one point crying cause she could only endure it knowing something was wrong… Cassidy finally passed out from exhaustion and slept most of the day away only waking when something new happened. Two days she did this…
Pouring a fresh cup of coffee from the maker she insisted on putting over at Coren, Cassidy's eyes are darkened with her lack of sleep and the horror of what she's been going through. Mixing in sugar into it, she suddenly remembers. "Oh fucking hell." she murmurs putting the coffee down and hurrying to her coat still draped on Coren's couch. Digging out her phone, sits on the arm of the couch and scrolls through numbers until one shows….
Library Cutie
Cassidy hits the dial button and moves back into the kitchen, listening to the line ring. "Come on.. pick up.. please… " Leaning against the counter a hand moving to grip the cup, another wave of Liz's terror hits her again, making Cassidy gasp…. then it fades into… something like peace…. Oh god… what's going on. "Pick up the damn phone…" She snaps impatiently, pressing a shaking hand to her forehead, she can't take this much longer.
Click. At last.
"O'Shea?" The number was recognized, of course, recorded as it is in Cardinal's contacts list. His voice is terse, curt, impatient, "I'm busy— what's up?"
"Think you took long enough?" The detective snaps before she thinks, making herself wince. It's obvious the long couple of days is getting to her. Her free hand drops to grip the edge of the counter as she rocks side to side a bit. "Sorry, Richard. I— " He can hear her take a deep breath and let it out as she asks as calmly as possible, even though her voice is shaky. "By any chance is Liz with you?" Silently, she prays to hear him say yes. Please, god let it be a yes.
Frankly, Coren insisted on more than her going home all throughout that day, but Cassidy can be so bloody stubborn — it's hard to get her to look after herself instead of other people. "Don't swear," he says, and it's not really serious when he says it, but his head is throbbing and he really has no patience left in him. The whole situation ruffled his own feathers, frankly, but he would never admit it aloud. He goes back to reading his paper, something he almost never does. He doesn't even get the paper, but the guy across the hall asked him to hold all his mail, so he may as well get something out of it.
"No." It's not a casual 'no'. It's the sort of 'no' that you get when you ask the question 'is the nuclear arsenal secure' and get the answer that you aren't hoping for. There's a shift of Cardinal's grip on the phone, audible in a slide of fingertips, before he adds in carefully controlled tones, "She— I got word that Humanis— picked her up. We're, we're searching for her now."
Glancing over her shoulder at her partner, set on giving him a glare, Cardinal's words tear her thoughts away. Again the chill settles over her. "Oh great." Those words come out sounding very shaky and laces with sarcasm. There is a moment of silence as she debates on telling him the rest…
"Um… Richard." She sounds like she's bracing herself to deliver some bad news. "I think something really bad is happening to her." There is a sniffles as tears fill the woman's eyes, even as she struggles to keep her voice level. "I can feel it… I've felt it… Terror.." She chokes back the fear before continuing, " Lots of it.. But… Something else…" She still feels it.. "She feel at peace suddenly. I — I was hoping that meant she was with you."
The response to those words is mere silence for long moments, until the detective might wonder whether or not Richard Cardinal is even still on the line. At last, he asks quietly, "At peace, but… you can still feel her?" That, at least, means that she's still alive, if true.
"For the moment. It comes and goes. I can only guess either this link I have with her is only catching it now and then… Or there is nothing when she's out." Cassidy's words are still shaky and sounding exhausted. She's quiet for a moment as the emotions are suddenly cut off again, but she doesn't tell Cardinal. No need for him to worry about that, let him think she's alive. "Ever time it goes silent I worry.. But just when I don't think I'll feel anything else. It starts all over again."
"Can you tell— anything else? About where she is, or what— " Does he really want to know what's happening to her? Probably not. No, probably definitely not. "— anything?" A hint of pleading in his voice, although he's trying to sound businesslike.
Shaking her head, Cassidy whispers, there is something like shame in her voice. She feels horrible for what she says next, "I'm sorry Richard… It's not like with Coren. I can only feel her emotions… and her mine. Though from the terror I'm getting I doubt she'd notice or even know what's happening." She leans forward and rests her forehead against a cabinet and sighs softly. "Wish I could give you more. "
"She's alive. That's… enough." A breath's drawn in, hissing against the speaker as Cardinal exhales it again, "Can you do me a favor? I need to know the current residence of William Dean. Helena Dean's father. He's in the city somewhere right now."
He can't see it, but Cassidy's brows lift high on her head. "Yeah, hold on. Let me get some paper and a pencil." She murmurs. There is the sound of her searching around and then her whispering the name softly as she writes it, "William Dean." She eyes the name and sighs, at least she sound calmer as she speaks up again. "Yeah, I'll get cleaned up and go in and see what I can find in our files." A glance goes to Coren, "I'll give you a call once I see what records we can dig up. Anything else?"
"No." Quiet, Richard finishes, "I'll give you a call if— when— we hear something. Let me know if you or Coren do on your end. Get— contact Felix Ivanov. You can trust him, with this at least. Tell him what happened to Liz. Tell him— I don't know. The only names I've got are Dean and some bald guy named Danko."
The second name is written down as well, Cassidy might as well check that one while she is at it, course she'll probably come up with a million Dankos. Again she nods, "Yeah, I'll do that." The detective head into the hall, giving Coren's shoulder a pat in passing. "Good luck in finding her and I hope it's soon." She murmurs those words. For a moment it seems like she's done talking, but then the next words she says are cold, "And if you get a chance.. hurt those bastards really good. Slow is preferable." Amazing how feeling someone's terror for days will toss one's morals out the door.
"Plausible deniability, Detective," Cardinal replies quietly, "Plausible deniability."
Click.