Take You from Darkness to Light, {tag Reilly}

[Gale Matthers]

Her black coffee reflected her image as her face hovered over the mug. Slowly, her hands wrapped around the cup before bringing the hot liquid close to her lips. Sipping slowly, Gale enjoyed the few moments of peacefulness before having to have another duel of wits with the detective.

The man was an impossibility and illogical and conceited at most times. Unfortunately, he was also one cop willing to listen to her while most of the older detectives would've pulled their rank--and age--on her and pretty much dismissed whatever she discovered as paparazzi rumour trash.

She recalled the first time their paths had crossed where Reilly had almost wanted to shoot her whenever she insisted her information on him and she was confident of her informants reputation. Looking back at that time, he had no reason to trust her but somehow he did and he cracked a major case, got himself a huge pat on the back, and she got her story and sealed her position as a reliable journalist.

Sighing softly at her exhaustion, she pushed it aside and drank more of the caffeine hoping it'll wake her up. The night wasn't getting any younger and she had left a message with Reilly over an hour ago to meet her here. This was their one chance in capturing Diego and she wasn't going to let him screw up all her hardwork.

Come to think of it, at this rate, she might as well be the detective and not the journalist.

Behind her, the bell tinkled as the door swung open and announced the arrival of another customer. Gale turned behind, hoping it was the blasted detective.

[Reilly Kane]

Reilly pulled the silver Audi into the parking space at the restaurant and let out a breath. Of all the people in all of Alexandria, he had to walk into Brianna Rayne's apartment. It was a shock to be sure. One that he, much to his dismay, could not shake off so easily. But thankfully he'd had Gale to thank for the lovely distraction. No doubt... it would be.

He adjusted the gun in the shoulder holster that was concealed by his leather jacket and stepped out of the car. He decided to keep his badge hidden for the time. It was better for him to be a little concealed during his off time anyway. If he needed it, it was inside his jacket.

He entered the diner and spotted a very irritated Gale and walked over to her. He flashed her a sweet smile that he knew only would irritate her as he took a seat, nodding to the two patrolmen from his precinct. He waited for a moment before speaking to her, letting her stew.

Grinning, he asked, "So, come here often?"

[Gale Matthers]

"So, come here often?"

Raising an eyebrow and pursing her lips, Gale refrained from making any snappy comebacks or else they'd be here the entire night doing nothing but exchanging senseless retorts. Instead, she got straight into the details, "For the past year, there have been a string of auto thefts where none of the cars would reappear anywhere not even in the black market."

She dragged a file from one end of the table right up to Reilly and flipped it open. "Never found until a month ago when two cars were discovered when the drivers were detained for illegal racing." Showing Reilly the same two photographs she had shown Langley earlier on, Gale continued, "The reason no one could detect the stolen vehicles was because no one could recognise them especially with all the modifications made." With the background information all sorted out, she got into the juiciest part of the night.

"I found the guy who does the transformations of the cars--he's innocent of the whole scam by the way, and has in fact made an appointment for us tonight." Gale leaned back in her chair and looked at the older man, "So, you want in on this one and get yourself another star on the shoulder?"

[Reilly Kane]

Reilly smirked as Gale launched right into her "sales pitch" so to speak. To her credit, she had done her homework on this one. He tried to listen to her as she explained about illegal street racers or something.

She plopped a file down in front of him and he actually made the effort to look over the two photos she pointed out, seeing if he could recognize either of the people. It was no surprise that he didn't, but it was worth a try. Finally, she mentioned meeting the contact she was using.

"I found the guy who does the transformations of the cars--he's innocent of the whole scam by the way, and has in fact made an appointment for us tonight. So, you want in on this one and get yourself another star on the shoulder?"

Reilly glanced at the file and flipped it shut. He considered ordering coffee but waited until they figured out what the hell was going on. Sighing, he looked at her. "You do know that my title is 'Homicide Detective". Right?" He pulled out his badge and showed her. He pointed and glanced over the wallet. "See? Right there. Hom-i-cide."

He folded his arms and glanced at the beautiful blonde waitress who stopped at their table. He smiled in admiration before ordering a coffee. He was going to need it at this rate. As she walked away, Reilly followed her swaying hips with his green eyes.

Looking back at Gale, he noticed the look on her face. "What?" Frowning he looked down at the file. "This really isn't my department, you know. I will burn so many people by doing this on my own."

[Gale Matthers]

"Right," Gale didn't budge and merely pursed her lips while staring at Reilly. "I learnt to write but never to read." Still looking straight at the detective, her hand went into her bag once again and pulled out a seperate file and tossed it at him. "Here's another one. Two bodies were found in seperate parts of town both with different MOs and they have no connections with each other except for both being male. Of course Alexandria's finest decided it was just a random killing and it was case closed, file unsolved."

She leaned in closer and locked her blue eyes with his, "Here's the thing, when those two cars popped up and we, the reporters of Alexandria, tracked down the vehicles using the chassis serials, we found out the identities of the original owners."

Moving back into her seat, she continued, "Now, do you want to take a guess at who those two owners are... or shall I say 'were'?" She extracted the photographs of the victims and placed it side by side with the pictures of the stolen cars. Enjoying the look on Reilly's face, she went on, "Homicide enough for you, Detective?"

Enjoying the moment for a while longer, she then returned to her explanations, "I crossed tracked a few more random killings of Alexandria since these two and found at least five more. All of them seem to have lost their cars as well and according to the guy who modifies the stolen vehicles, his done up at least a dozen so there maybe more out there. The question I have now is whether the guy kills for fun and has the cars as a trophy or is it the other way around?"

Gale picked up her coffee mug again just as the blonde waitress came back with Reilly's own. Hiding behind a sip of her drink, she licked her lips and shrugged at Reilly's frustrated expression, "I didn't tell you about the murders first? My apologies then, it probably slipped my mind. Must be the part of my brain where I can't read homicide properly."

[Reilly Kane]

"I didn't tell you about the murders first? My apologies then, it probably slipped my mind. Must be the part of my brain where I can't read homicide properly."

Reilly leaned back in his seat, pulling the badge back with him. He watched her for a moment, the snide look on her face as she looked at him. Normally, he would have a quick quip for her. Normally, he would have sleep. But instead he'd had over 36 hours without sleep, a murder in his ex-fiancee's home and now a pissed off reporter. He really wasn't in the mood for his typical comments. At least, not at this moment in time.

"See?" Reilly slipped the badge back into his jacket and looked at Gale. "If you had started with that, we would have been done by now. What do you want from me?"

He cupped the coffee in his hands, adding cream and entirely too much sugar to the liquid and stirring. He took a quick sip and winced, adding a bit more of the creamer before looking up at her. He knew she had issues with him. He was nothing like his brothers, that much he knew. But from the first moment Reilly and Gale had met, they had been at odds with each other. Nothing had changed.

"You know, this isn't going to be as easy as you think. If this is truly something else going on, then you are going to have to sit this out and let me do the investigation."

[Gale Matthers]

A lot more patrons had entered the cafe since they were here. Gale absent-mindedly watched every new person who walked into the place, just giving them a glance before looking back at Reily. At least this time round, there was a lot less snark exchange.

Must've been a bad day for him.

"You know, this isn't going to be as easy as you think. If this is truly something else going on, then you are going to have to sit this out and let me do the investigation."

"Sit this one out?" she replied with an arched eyebrow. "Really doubt that's possible since the mechanic we are supposed to be meeting tonight knows me and doesn't know you. I suspect you won't get much cooperation with him even more so with that badge," she motioned at his shield with a nod.

Replacing her mug on the table, she leaned in closer and scooped up the files and photographs. Carefully placing them back into their respective folders, she piled them together and gently pushed it towards the detective. "Most of the details are here; names of victims, car models, and tonight will be the suspect.

"We wouldn't need to arrest the suspect tonight, but at least get an indication of who he--or she--is."

Shrugging her shoulders slightly, she continued, "Could you honestly tell me that you don't want this?" On the outside, she had the usual steely emotionless look. But within, she was afraid that he would say 'yes' and this will be pushed to another person, leaving her in the dark.

[Reilly Kane]

"Most of the details are here; names of victims, car models, and tonight will be the suspect. We wouldn't need to arrest the suspect tonight, but at least get an indication of who he--or she--is."

Reilly sighed and ran a hand through his short brown hair. It was sorely tempting to tell her 'yes'. After the day he had, he wanted to go home and get his typical two hours of sleep. Then he could get started on the memo to his Lieutenant about why he had passed over the case early to the on-call detective. Personal reasons suck. But still, he had a personal reason for wanting to help out Gale too. He owed her that much.

"All right, fine. You win," he said finally. He took a brief drink of his coffee and glanced around the diner. He nodded at a friend of his father's and scratched his jaw. "Under one condition. And this is a sticking point, Gale. You follow me. If I tell you to stay in the car. You stay in the damn car this time. No exceptions."

[Gale Matthers]

She paused for a while as Reilly presented the rules to her if he were to go on this lead. Contemplating it, she finally dipped her head in agreement, "All right. What you say goes."

Digging through her bag, she pulled out a few bills and placed them neatly on the table. "Drink up, Detective or else we're going to be late for our appointment." Looking at him, Gale figured that she'll accept his ultimatum for now, but she'll figure out something when need be. In the meantime, it was more logical for her to agree especially since they needed him there tonight.