Don Flack flashed his badge at the rookie as he passed under the yellow tape, already feeling the summer afternoon heat taking a toll on his mood, nothing like several hours processing, or watching other's process to wear him out. Personally, he liked spring, when it was warm enough for a t-shirt and cool enough to stay dry, even when you were playing cat and mouse with a twenty something gangster who would probably run themselves right out of their baggy jeans. It had been known to happen.

He glanced at the rookie who seemed to be turning a faint shade of green as he looked on the scene before them.

"First body?"

"Yes sir."

"Go for a walk, do some canvassing, see if anyone heard or saw anything. The last thing we need here is someone contaminating the evidence."

"Yes sir" the younger man said gratefully, disappearing around the corner. Flack hoped the kid was grateful enough that he would think to bring some water when he dared return.

"Hey Mac" he greeted the CSI, watching as the other man leaned low over the body, digging through his pockets with latex gloves. Mac looked up and shook his head. They wouldn't be so lucky.

"I wouldn't worry about it" Flack said, leaning in for a closer look himself, taking in the various gang and prison tattoos on the man's arms and bare upper torso. "This guy is definitely in the system. So what are we thinking here?"

Mac raised his eyebrows. "I got here maybe two minutes before you did Don, we've got what we've got."

"Oh, c'mon Mac. Look at this neighborhood, look at this guy, look over there, that might just be the murder weapon." Mac chuckled and lead the way farther down the alley. A dumpster on wheels had been pushed up against the building, half covering a graffiti sign that someone had artistically woven across the bricks. But they weren't looking in the dumpster, in fact, Flack did not envy the person who would eventually be forced to dig through the bags of trash for any evidence. They both got to their knees to look beneath the metal can, at a handgun that was sticking out from behind one of the wheels.

"Danny's on his way with the camera, so for now were just locating and marking. He'll take photos when he gets here, then we can bag and tag, wrap up our friend here and get back to the lab."

"Air conditioning?"

They straightened and made their way along slowly, eyes on the ground, looking for other trace evidence. The thing about any alley was that it was filled with all kinds of trash. Cigarette butts, cans and garbage, used needles, decaying animal droppings.

"So is Lindsay around here somewhere?"

Mac glanced up from his external examination of a pile of junk against the opposite wall.

"She's off today. Why?"

"Oh. I thought I saw her car when I pulled in down the street, and you said Danny wasn't here yet. Guess I was wrong."

Mac's eyes narrowed for a moment, then he shrugged. "We always use department vehicles when we go to a scene.I expect Lindsay's catching up on some sleep."

"Right."

"Liking the heat?" Danny called, appearing on the other side of the tape, camera in one hand, kit in the other. Flack reached out and held up the tape for him to pass underneath.

"How you doing man?" he asked, clapping his friend on the back.

"Great. Jealous of Linds. She told me she was sleeping in, then she was gonna take Lucy and meet a friend for lunch. Tough day."

"Well, the faster we get done here, the faster we get out of here" Mac reminded them. "You can bag and tag Danny."

"Sure thing."

A minute later, Danny set down the camera and extracted the weapon from beneath the dumpster. He straightened, examining the piece in his hand.

"Murder weapon?" Flack asked, earning looks from both CSI's. "Hey, It's a reasonable question."

Mac shook his head. "I've marked several shell casings, as far as I can tell from two different weapons. Danny?"

"Glock 9, recently fired, as to if it's the murder weapon or not..."

"Ya, okay, I get the point" Flack said, raising his hands in surrender. "I'm gonna go help my boys out, see if we have any witnesses. Holler if you need me."

Ten minutes later he was back, notebook still in hand, open to an as yet blank page.

"That was fast" Danny commented, lifting yet another cigarette butt and sliding it into an envelope, marking and sealing it.

"Ya well. Apparently no one around here saw or heard anything that's gonna help us out. Either their deaf, blind and telling the truth or their scared of the repercussions of talking."

"You didn't get anything?" Mac asked, looking over Flack's shoulder at the empty pages.

He shrugged. "One kid saw two sexy bitches and a baby. Apparently it's some sort of crime for such a sweet piece of ass to be all tied up like that." He rolled his eyes. "And the owner of the cafe down the street, which is probably just a cover for some drug ring by the way said that this guy might have been in there eating pizza, supposing our vic has an eyeball tattooed on his head."

"No such luck."

"I'll have my guys come back when we have a solid I.d. You guys almost done here?"

"Ya, almost."

"See you back at the lab in an hour?"

"Sure thing."

He slipped back under the tape and made his way from the crime scene to his vehicle down the street, holster unclipped just in case. The place gave him an uneasy feeling and it wasn't just the boarded up windows and the half dozen sets of eyes that were clearly watching him from various points on the street and from behind their curtains. He would have bet that not a thing went down on that street that someone didn't notice and he was pretty sure that the crime had been no different. He leveled with his car and beeped it open. The metal handle burned his skin as he touched it. He was not looking forward to getting into the vehicular oven.

The sound of a crying child made him turn quickly, searching for the source, and his eyes came to rest on the car that he had mistaken earlier as Lindsay's. The sound of the crying child was coming from within the sweltering hot car. He wondered how long it had been there, baking in the sun.

He crossed the distance in a few quick strides and shoved his face up against the tinted window of the back seat in order to see inside.

Lucy Messer stared back out at him.

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