Summary: During a gruesome murder investigation, Mac and Lindsay find themselves pulled in deeper than they realised.
Pairing: MeLty (Mac & Lindsay)
Disclaimer: I own nothing! & I am earning no money from this fic.
A/N's: This is my submission for my AS level Reading piece for English Language & Literature. So I need serious critique to make it as good as it can be... and since you lot are my target audience my teacher thought it would be a good idea to get your opinions.
Vivian Snyder stood back and admired her work from the shadows, smiling as she took in the beautiful scene before her, the scene that had taken her over an hour to perfect. The exhilaration from the past 3 hours was still pumping adrenaline through her body. The sight of light leaving his eyes, the final shudder of the man who had ruined her life all those years ago. Watching Dan Palmer, the legendary, ruthless businessman die at her hands, had left her on such a high that she believed nobody could bring her back down.
#Flash#
Lindsay lowered her camera from the gruesome scene before her and glanced over at Mac, who was deep in thought. Sensing that he needed his space she returned to photographing the crime scene. In the 7 years that she had been a CSI, there were very few crime scenes that had been as horrific as this one. Blood spatter was like paint on the walls, all of the furniture in the room was either broken or tipped over and the body; the body was like nothing she had ever seen. There wasn't an inch on the man's body that wasn't cut, burned or mutilated in some way. Even after 7 years of processing crime scenes she was having trouble keeping her breakfast down.
It wasn't until she noticed that Mac was giving her a calculating look from across the room that she realised that her breathing had become quite laboured.
"You okay?" Mac asked her, eyes full of concern.
"Yeah, I'm fine… Really!" she added when he gave her a sceptical look. She gave him a reassuring smile, "Don't worry about me."
Seemingly content with her answer, Mac turned away to continue processing the scene. Lindsay breathed an inward sigh of relief and returned to her work, conscious that every now and then Mac would lift his head up and look at her as if he were studying her.
When she felt his eyes on her once more she turned to face him to tell him to stop worrying about her, but he was intently staring at the wall, studying the blood on it. Shaking off the feeling that she was being watched, she walked up beside him to see what had Mac Taylor in such confusion. As she drew level with him he turned to face her, "Look at the wall and tell me what you see"
Puzzled, Lindsay did as she was told, blinking in surprise at what she saw. "This spatter is from a paint brush, real blood doesn't spray like that. It's too fine."
"Right," said Mac's voice from beside her, "So now the question becomes, why would someone paint the walls with blood?"
"Maybe the killer wanted to make a statement. The door was open, Mac, I think the killer wanted us to find this body. The media loves bloody crime scenes, what if they wanted people to know about this?"
"I don't think that's gonna be a problem," came Sheldon Hawkes' voice from across the room beside the body, "This is Danny Palmer. The media's gonna be all over this case"
"Dan Palmer?" Mac and Lindsay said together.
"But he's high profile," Lindsay said, looking back and forth between Mac and Hawkes, "He's under protection 24 hours a day, who would be crazy enough to try and kill him?"
Their answer, unbeknownst to them was hiding in an apartment across the street, watching their every move. She had just come by to check whether the cops had found the body yet, but just as she was about to turn to leave, she saw Mac Taylor walk up to the doors, rendering her incapable of movement. She had found him, after a year of searching she had found him! She had almost run after him, but then common sense kicked in. She couldn't go in there; it was an active crime scene, her crime scene. And Mac knew that she had a connection to Palmer; if she turned up she would be a suspect and if she were caught she would go back to jail again.
'No,' She thought to herself, 'I can't risk it.'
Her compromise had been to find an apartment that overlooked the crime scene, break in and wait for Mac to leave. She couldn't let him out of her sight now; if she did she could lose him forever.
Several hours and 60 bags of evidence later, Mac and Lindsay stood in the middle of the room, checking to see that they didn't miss anything. Once they were satisfied, they gathered the evidence bags and left the room to head back to the crime lab.
Half way through pilling the evidence bags into the back of Mac's truck, Lindsay glanced around, still under the impression that someone was watching her. Once again she shook it off and forced her mind back to the case.
She hopped into the passenger seat while Mac closed the trunk and made his way around to the driver's seat. When both of them were buckled up, Mac pulled out into the busy Manhattan traffic, completely unaware of the silver Chevrolet that pulled out of the next street.
Back at the Crime Lab parking lot, Mac and Lindsay were met by Hawkes who helped them with the vast amount of evidence that they were attempting to carry between them.
As they walked up to the doors of the Crime Lab Lindsay's stomach rumbled loudly.
"Hungry?" Mac said with a playful smile.
She blushed and ducked her head, "Shut up." And though she tried to seem mad at him she couldn't help the small smile that had appeared on her face.
"Ouch," Mac feigned offence, although he, like Lindsay, was also grinning. "I was going to ask you if you wanted to take a break and have lunch with me, but as your boss I could quite as easily tell you to get to work instead" he teased.
"Awww, I'm sorry," Lindsay said with a pout, which morphed into a smile, "I would love to go to lunch with you."
"Who said the offer was still standing?" He replied with a sly smile directed at her as he ducked out of the way of Lindsay's hand that she had attempted to playfully swat him with.
Vivian sat seething in her car; she had followed Mac back from the crime scene and was walking up to Mac as he was entering the building. She stopped dead when she heard him ask that woman out to lunch. He'd forgotten about her. When she'd felt the tears of anger form in her eyes she had hurried back to her car and sat in silence, blinking the tears away.
After regaining her composure her anger returned with a vengeance and she vowed that she would get Mac Taylor back if it were the last thing she did; whatever it took, she would do it.
After Mac, Lindsay and Hawkes had dropped the evidence off to their respective departments, Mac and Lindsay headed back out of the building and walked to the diner a few blocks away, the conversation switching between the case and their plans for the weekend.
As Lindsay sat opposite Mac in a booth of the CSI's favourite diner she allowed her mind to relax and she felt more peaceful than she had in weeks, although that may have been to do with finally getting a good night's sleep after working several double shifts in a row more than due to Mac's company. But she was glad for his company all the same.
After an hour of laughing, flirting and talking of fond memories, Mac, being the responsible man that he is, suggested that they head back to work.
On the short walk back to the crime lab, Lindsay noticed Mac looking nervous and just as she was about to question him, he tentatively reached out and slide his hand into hers. She smiled at him and squeezed his hand softly to reassure him; his edgy demeanour instantly subsided and he returned the squeeze.
They walked in a comfortable silence and Lindsay tried to comprehend what was happening, she was holding hands with her boss. She silently scolded herself for becoming involved with a co-worker again, the last time she had dated in the office was Danny Messer, and she regarded that as one of the biggest mistakes she had ever made.
After Danny had cheated on her she had subconsciously put up a figurative wall of defence and try as she might, she couldn't break it down. But recently, since she had gotten closer to Mac, the wall just seemed to crumble, without her doing a thing.
The moment they walked through the doors of the crime lab, Hawkes spotted them and hurried over to them.
"Hey Mac, Linds, we got a match to one of the gravitational blood drops, and it doesn't match the vic."
"Who is it?" Mac asked as they walked towards the layout room.
Hawkes showed them a portable screen containing the details, "Her name is Vivian Snyder, she was convicted back in 1982 for killing her landlord, and she pleaded self defence but a security tape proved otherwise. She was released just over a year ago when she completed her 25 year sentence."
Lindsay turned to say something to Mac but the words died somewhere on the way to her mouth when she saw Mac standing several feet behind her.
"I can't be on this case." Mac said abruptly.
"What? Why? What's wrong?" Lindsay said, concern evident in her eyes.
"I- I knew Vivian," Mac stuttered, "She was my girlfriend before she went to jail."
Just as Lindsay was about to reply, Stella rounded the corner, "Oh, Lindsay, there's a letter for you down in reception, a tall woman with dark hair dropped it off. She didn't leave a name."
Puzzled, Lindsay headed down to reception to claim the note, telling Mac to wait for her so they could talk things out.
She returned 10 minutes later, clutching the letter, and looking at it fearfully. Silently she handed it to Mac, who, upon reading it, looked up at Lindsay then dropped the letter and hurried of to reception with a picture of Vivian Snyder in his hands.
Hawkes, puzzled at the strange behaviour of his co-workers, picked up the piece of paper and read,
Stay away from Mac Taylor,
Or I will do to you what I did to Dan Palmer.