Chapter Text
Juliet O'Hara stepped out of her car, pressing a button on her car keys and locking it with a satisfying click. The early morning sun greeted her, she could tell already that it was going to be another hot day in what seemed to be her first proper Santa Barbara heat wave. Of course, it was nothing she wasn't prepared for, after all the Miami heat waves she had grown so accustomed to were way hotter than anything Santa Barbara had to offer.
She walked into the station, smiling sweetly at McNab who hurried past, smiling briefly, he was probably on his way to get Carlton's coffee, she thought.
The man himself, Carlton Lassiter, was sat on his desk, a pile of paperwork at his side, his blazer was hanging on the back of his chair and she spotted bags under his eyes. She attempted to get his attention as she sat in her desk but was met with the usual grunt, he didn't even look up from his paperwork.
As Juliet had learned in the six months she had been here, her partner was, awkward at best, being downright rude and insensitive at his worst. But he was a good detective and slowly, O'Hara felt as if she was gaining his respect, which brought her one step closer to befriending the man, something that other officers and the Chief herself had advised Juliet not to waste too much time on,
"He's just an anti-social jerk, I don't think he even wants friends." Officer Reynolds had even told her once.
And maybe he was right, maybe Carlton was just a tough no nonsense detective who kept his work and personal life completely separated. But the way he looked at some of the officers sometimes, laughing and talking about after-work drinks, she saw a sense of longing in his eyes, a sort of vulnerability Juliet had never seen in the man. She didn't know why, but a part of her just had a strong gut feeling that beneath that tough exterior there was just a vulnerable man who struggled to let his walls down, though Carlton would have certainly laughed in her face if she ever tried to talk to him about it.
Juliet pulled some files out of her handbag as she waited for her computer to power on. The summer months always seemed to bring an increase in violent crime, probably due to hot and irritable people getting into fights, nothing too serious. However, it meant that they had a lot more incident reports that they needed to file, they were practically drowning in paperwork at the minute.
As much as Juliet hated to admit it, she was kind of hoping for more of a quiet day. The past few days had consisted of the two detectives travelling up and down Santa Barbara, to and from the station running various errands and interviewing many dead end suspects involved in cases which ultimately wound up to be nothing more than simple miscommunications. After yesterdays mess involving a so called 'missing teen' which was nothing more than an overprotective mother with poor eyesight who hadn't been seen the Post-It note her son had left on the fridge, Juliet could tell that Carlton was starting to get more than frustrated.
So, when not even an hour after Juliet had started digging through their paperwork, Chief Vick burst out of her office, calling for everyone in the department to listen to her, Juliet groaned internally. She turned her attention to the Chief, who's sharp glare indicated that something urgent was going on.
Carlton's head bolted up as he caught sight of her in his peripheral,
"Chief-"
"I need all units down at the Pacific Premier bank immediately, we've just received a robbery alert, no one is picking up the phone and no calls are being made from inside the bank, this may be a hostage situation." Officers rose out of their seats, Carlton quickly put his blazer back on and grabbed his keys. Chief Vick went back into her office and through the blind Juliet saw her make a quick call, tapping her fingers against the desk impatiently as she waited for an answer. Carlton slammed his hand against her desk and brought Juliet's attention back to him,
"Do you know what immediately means O'Hara? There are people in danger." Carlton snapped.
"Yeah, sorry." She simply replied, Carlton rolled his eyes and marched out of the station, Juliet trailing behind.
They got into his car and Juliet turned on the sirens, Carlton said nothing as he sped down the streets, only staring forward at the road, his eyebrows furrowed. Juliet spotted the slightest hint of sweat already building on his forehead but said nothing.
Fortunately for them, whoever had decided to rob this bank had no intentions of drawing it out through hostage negotiations and whatnot, unfortunately for them, the robbers were quick enough to already be in their vehicles upon the polices arrival, which would make it much harder for them to apprehend the robbers. Carlton saw the men leaning out of the car windows and knew what they were planning on doing next. He had one hand on the wheel and the other flew to his side, grabbing his gun, sticking his arm out the window and shooting as he swerved to attempt to trap the robbers.
Juliet opened the glovebox and retrieved one of Carlton's spare guns, talk about a quiet morning, she thought as she aimed for the opposing vehicle's wheels. There were two vehicles; a van and a car, the van tried to turn but was met with the front of a police car, the robbers car was at the vans side, meaning that if it wanted to move in that direction the car would've had to move first.
But of course, they wouldn't just surrender easily, since when was working in the police easy? As the police cars closed in on them, the car sped forward, it's tires screeching against the road, it smashed into the side of one of the police cars hard, making enough of a gap that it was able to squeeze through, proceeding to speed down the road.
Carlton cursed loudly, shooting his gun after the car even after he knew it would have no effect.
"Carlton." Juliet placed a hand on his shoulder, his head snapped back towards her, his features enraged. He grabbed his walkie talkie,
"We have a light brown Honda, license plate 85HS11J making its way down Figueroa Street, I need a unit on it. Now." Carlton barked, wiping sweat from his brow.
Juliet stepped out, gun trained on the van, along with other officers,
"SBPD! Will all individuals in the van please step out, hands in the air!" Juliet called out. Two men stepped out, each holding a machine gun,
"Put the weapons down!" Carlton practically growled. The driver; a middle aged man with grey hair; sneered at the detectives, but placed his gun carefully down, motioning to the other man, a younger, more nervous looking guy, to do the same.
They carefully stepped forward, closing in on the two, Carlton slapped the cuffs around the older man, while Juliet apprehended the younger,
"How hard is it to do your jobs, catch. the. criminal, it's not that hard." Carlton mumbled to himself, Juliet watched him apprehensively, he wiped the sweat off of himself for what felt like the millionth time, huffing in annoyance. Juliet set herself a reminder to get something for Carlton to drink, and maybe eat, the heat didn't only affect the criminals after all.
Carlton shoved the man in the back of one of the squad cars and returned to his car. Juliet on the other hand went to check the damage to the squad car that had been hit, which she found out had been McNab's. McNab looked fine, he was just a little shaken.
Juliet handed the other robber over to him and joined Carlton in his car. The Head Detective looked slightly calmer now and exhaled as she opened the door.
"Anyone injured?"
"Cars not too banged up, McNab was driving, he's okay." Carlton nodded, reaching into his cup holder and popping a piece of gum into his mouth before starting the car.
"Figures McNab would let them get away."
"I don't think there was much he could do Carlton." Carlton didn't respond, which was not unusual, if he didn't like the conversation that he simply just wouldn't continue it. And it seemed as if Carlton didn't like most conversations.
Juliet prayed that someone had managed to catch the other vehicle, then they could just ID the perps, get them in a cell and continue their boring yet necessary paperwork.
She knew Carlton was having the same thoughts as she was as he kept glancing at the radio, waiting for some sort of confirmation, or even an update on wether or not they were in pursuit. His impatience ended up getting the better of him and he reached for the walkie talkie once more as they pulled up to the station,
"What's the word on that Honda?"
"We have witnesses providing direction but we've had no view of the vehicle yet."
"Have you put out a public BOLO for it?"
"Uhm- no we're on that now though."
"I'm not gonna keep telling you how to do your job Pierce, get it done." He slammed the walkie talkie down, pinching the bridge of his nose hard and sighing heavily.
Juliet observed her partner, her lips turning down into a small worried frown, she unclipped her seatbelt, opening her door,
"Come on Carlton, the quicker we interview them the quicker we can get a lead, and hopefully we'll have time to stop and get lunch somewhere while we're at it." She tried to give a reassuring smile but it lost its confidence as she stared into Carlton's icy glare. He sighed and nodded, opening his own door and stepping back out into the sunlight, tugging at his collar uncomfortably, he was glad to be out of that hot death trap of a car, at least.
They went back into the station and were informed that the men we're both ID'd and waiting in separate interrogation rooms, thank god, a room with air conditioning, Juliet thought.
Carlton straightened out his tie and prepared to enter interrogation room A,
"Maybe I should take the older one? Don... Yach?" She looked down at the file the front desk had provided her with.
"Why?"
"Well... You seem to be a bit... Stressed today." Juliet looked down at the floor, gripping the file nervously,
*I'm perfectly fine O'Hara, and since when has stress been a factor into my skills as a detective?"
"It doesn't! You just get a little bit... Easier to aggravate..." Her voice trailed off, she wouldn't have a problem asking to take Don back in Miami, after all no matter where she was she knew people often underestimated her abilities, but this was Carlton and she was still technically new and he was her superior.
"Thanks for the remark detective, I'll keep that in mind, after all, wouldn't want to be to harsh on poor old Don." He walked past her and into Room A, Juliet simply rolled her eyes, Room B it was then.
"Alright." The large door shut behind him and he yanked his chair out from underneath the table, immediately showing this lowlife that he was not going to play good cop right now. Don simply greeted him with a sarcastic smile, the two made unblinking eye contact as Carlton sat down,
"Mr Yach, now, normally we would just book you, we have all the evidence we need, but," He put his elbows on the table, bringing his hands together,
"Your 'partners in crime' decided to make my job extra difficult, and for everyone's sake, it would be easier for you to just tell me where they went."
Don gave him a blank look,
"What partners?" Carlton squeezed his hands together tightly,
"We all saw the other vehicle leaving the bank, we've got physical evidence all over one of our patrol cars."
"What bank? I don't know what you're talking about sir." The man's eyes seemed to challenge Carlton as he put on a overly clueless expression.
"Oh don't play the dumbass card, we'll find them either way, just tell me where they could've gone."
"I'd like to speak to my lawyer." Don simply shrugged, looking way to at ease, which simply frustrated Carlton further.
After lots of back and forth and many 'No comment's from Yach, Carlton leaned forward, narrowing his eyes at the man,
"Look, a lawyer isn't going to get you shit, if you give up some information now, maybe I'll try to knock back your sentence a little, how does that sound?" He tried to smile but it was too tight and tense, making him seem much less intimidating. Yach leaned in as well, unafraid of Carlton,
"Okay Mr Detective, I'll tell you one thing." His tone was deeper and hushed, Carlton tilted his head ever so slightly with interest,
"If anyone's going to fuck up this whole operation, it sure as shit isn't going to be me. Can't say the same for little Tommy in the other room." He leaned back in his seat, a pleased smile on his face as he continued the silent battle of eye contact with Carlton.
Carlton took in a deep breath through his nose, gritting his teeth together and trying to keep himself calm. He slammed his palm against the table and quickly pushed himself up and out of the chair. It was clear he wouldn't be getting anymore out of the man, maybe an overnight stay in one of their holding cells will change his mind.
Suddenly, as he bolted up from the chair he realised how heavy and... Off his body felt. He blinked a few times as the room seemed to blur slightly, swaying on the spot,
"Hallucinations of criminals, dizziness, are you sure you're feeling alright?" Carlton's lips curled into a sort of sneer as he practically growled at the other man, sharply turning and shoving the door open, it banged against the wall, startling O'Hara.
Carlton kept walking forward, taking his gum out and throwing it into the bin, O'Hara had to speed walk behind him to catch up, popping up by his side. He could already see that look on her face when they both knew that she was right but Juliet was too mature to point it out,
"Shut up." He said, Juliet smiled.
They got back to their desks and Carlton sat in his chair, spinning round once, Juliet handed him a set of notes,
"I assumed Don would be a bit more of a dead end, Tommy however pretty talkative."
Carlton leaned forward, raising his eyebrow,
"The important question is do we have an address?" Juliet smiled proudly, she pointed her finger at the notepad,
"5744 Langworth Alley."
"That's Tommy's house?"
"That's the best part, they all live together, it's Don, Tommy, his brother Durran and their father Andrew. Mum's out of the picture, I assume she wasn't exactly okay with their 'lifestyle choices'." Carlton nodded,
"Well, I'm sure the Chief wants this to be dealt with as quickly as possible, let's go over and see what we can find." He opened his desk drawer and popped another piece of gum in his mouth.
Juliet turned to her desk and grabbed a quick drink of water, luckily this meant she was turned away and didn't see the brief swat Carlton's body gave as he stood up once more, blinking an extra few times to clear the blurriness from his eyes. She nonchalantly passed him the bottle and Carlton stepped back, raising his hands up as if the bottle carried some sort of disease.
"You don't expect me to drink from that O'Hara."
"It's a hot day, you need to stay hydrated."
"Yeah, and I will, sanitary water of course, not this bacteria infested piece of plastic." Juliet rolled her eyes, placing the bottle back down, but Carlton saw the slightest hint of worry in her eyes. He felt a small flash of remorse,
"Uh, let's go check that address out then, if we're quick maybe we can even get some lunch on the way back." He quickly looked away, awkward, Juliet smiled softly and nodded,
"Sounds good."
--
The address ended up leading to a modest looking bungalow which didn't seem anywhere big enough to house four adult men. Despite not having a warrant Carlton knew that this was a situation beyond reasonable suspicion and they had a right to enter the house. He was going to immediately kick the door in, however, Juliet had thought to try the handle first. You'd think bank robbers would think to lock the front door.
You could definitely tell this was a male dominated living space, the inside was complete chaos. Paper, garbage and dirty clothes littered the floor. The furniture was old and looked as if it had been taken directly off of the street. It was clear these men were having money problems, unopened letters from the bank were stacked on a small coffee table.
If they didn't have enough evidence against the men before, it seemed as if they had based all of their knowledge of how to rob a bank off of TV shows and movies. On the dining room table there was a large sheet of paper, a layout of the bank, colour coded footprints showed the exact path each person would take into the bank.
The house was empty, and there were no direct notes that showed where they would be going after the robbery or what they would do incase their plan went wrong. There was however, a couple of travel pamphlets all relating to England, and a uniform hung on a chair, a grey jumpsuit with a small logo on the breast pocket, which Juliet recognised as the name of a company sharing a name with a warehouse not ten minutes from here, 'Mammoth Moving & Storage'. A very dull looking family photo revealed that three out of the four men were employed there, it was the best shot they had right now, the only logical lead.
"Okay, so, we can either go to the airport, which would probably be a useless waste of time because if they had decided to leave immediately they're long gone by now. Or, we check out that warehouse, maybe interrogate a few of their co-workers, find some more potential leads if we're lucky."
"Warehouse sounds good to me."
"Good, I'll call McNab and tell him to let the airport know we're sending extra officers, just incase."
Carlton wiped his face with the sleeve of his shirt, Juliet could see the armpit stains beginning to sleep through his suit. Juliet cringed,
"Carlton? Do you want to take off your suit jacket or something? You seem a little hot." Carlton pursed his lips, his eyebrows raising,
"Really? It's hot? I hadn't noticed." He looked away, trying to appear unfazed.
Suddenly, the pieces clicked, of course he was treating it like a competition, Juliet hadn't been too disturbed by the heat. How could this man be so serious and intelligent, and yet so immature?
"Really?" She said incredulously, "Well, I'm absolutely boiling." She took off her suit jacket and folded it over her arm, fanning her face.
"Yeah, I guess it's a little warm." Carlton shrugged, before getting his keys out of his pocket and casually strolling out of the house. Juliet exhaled loudly in annoyance, trailing behind him. To the warehouse then.