Shopaholic, Sobered up.
Chapter one
Saturday, Mac was in his office, it was 9 o'clock but in true Mac Taylor style, he had been there for several hours. Each ding of the elevator made Mac pop his head up. He'd put it down to just the irritating noise and casual small talk that could be heard as people said their good morning's to their colleagues.
Ding. "Can someone help me? Please! Does anyone know where Detective Taylor is?!"
Ellie? Mac looked up to see the young girl frantically looking around, for him. He dashed out of his office "Ellie! Over here!" As she ran to him, he knelt down in one knee expecting her to stop, but instead she wraped her arms round him in a tight embrace, burying her head in his shoulder.
Although Mac was shocked, he was worried more than anything else and he protectively stroked her hair as she begins to sob "Hey, hey." He held her at arms length so he can look at her "Now, what's the matter?"
"Well.." Ellie began between sobs. "M-mum went out shopping...5 hours ago and...she hasn't come back.
At that, Mac's detective instincts went into overdrive. Where is she? Is she okay? Is that a normal shopping day for her? Snap out of it Mac! You have to comfort Ellie!
"El look, you know what you girls are like, you go into Bloomingdales get dazzled by all the amazing clothes, then you bump into someone and have a coffee..." Ellie nods in response. "Hours can go by in a flash. I'm sure she's fine" Mac said trying to reassure himself as well as Ellie.
"Oh Mac, that's horrible! Poor Ellie, we need to find her!" Lindsey said, worry evident on her face.
"That's what I'm going to do Lindsey, but could you do me a favour and take Ellie for a walk, drink and bite to eat, just to distract her? I just need to start to try and figure this out, and I don't want to her to see because that would cause her even more distress. Is that okay with you?" Mac asked.
"Of course Mac. I'd do anything for Jo, she's like a sister to me."
"Thank you Lindsey."
As Mac watched Ellie and Lindsey walk out of the lab, one of Lindsey's arms round the young girls shoulders, he couldn't help let his composure slide a little. He started to pace around his office. After taking a few deep breaths, he took out his phone and dialled her number.
"Come on Jo, pick up, pick up."
While Mac waited anxiously, praying she'd pick up, his conscious and subconscious mind started debating.
"Don't you see it? Why do you think you keep looking up at the elevator every time it opens? Why you immediately feel happier when a certain person walks into a room?"
"What, Jo?" his conscious asked.
"Yes Jo!" his subconscious said, pointing out the blindingly obvious.
The argument was interrupted by a sweet, seductive voice.
"Hi, this is Jo Danville. Leave a message and I'll get back to you."
Damn! Mac slammed his phone down on his desk, fell back into his chair and rubbed his temples trying to calm down, decide on his next step and work out what the hell just happened in his head.
Mac began to think about all the moments he had with Jo. The brushes of skin against skin, the looks, the smiles, the winks, the comforting words, seductive words...'God, what's happening to me?' He asked himself.
You're lonely, you miss wrapping your arms round someone at night. Isn't Jo the one you love to have in your company, laugh, joke, and if you'd open your eyes, flirt with? It may not be far away for you Mac. Happiness... Its all Claire wanted for you. His subconscious answered.
Mac walked down the hall to get a bottle of water and some head space, Mac pasted Jo's office and he realised how dull the lab was without her. He'd taken Jo for granted, not realised how much he counted on her to get through one day.
She's just a good friend and I'm worried about her, that's why she's on my mind right? Yes, yes, that's got to be it. Mac reassured himself, took a big gulp of water, and headed back to the lonely abode of his office.
Lindsey looked at the young girl walking next to her, her brown orbs downcast at the pavement, the worry and upset etched clearly upon her face.
Trying to cheer Ellie up, Lindsey asks "So El, where would you like to eat? Y'know, Mac tells me you love that knew burger joint on 3rd. Would you like to go there?"
"I'm not hungry, sorry."
Lindsey sighed silently and looked at Ellie's eyes that were brimming with tears. Kneeling down to her level, she said "El, I know for a fact that Mac and the rest of our team is dong everything in his power to find your mum, and you can be as sure as hell that I will be."
A slight smile crossed Ellie's face at that. "I know, I know she cared for," I'm sure a little more by some than other members of the team, Ellie thought.
"I just feel so helpless...I know Mum said she was going to go to AllSaints but I don't know where else she was going to go...Oh God what if I never see her again?" she sobs.
Lindsey gave her a hug "You will see her again El. I'll make sure of it.
Mac was pacing up and down his office when he got the text from Lindsey that she'd discreetly sent to him on where Ellie had said she knew Jo had gone. AllSaints! He sent a quick thanks to Lindsey and him, Danny and Sheldon headed over to AllSaints.
"Excuse me?" Mac said to the shop assistant.
A young, fair haired, blonde, slim girl turned to face them "Hello Gentlemen, welcome to AllSaints, my name's Abbie, how can I help you?" Abbie said almost rhythmically as though she said the words many times before.
Mac flashed his badge. "We're not here to shop Abbie. I'm Detective Taylor and this is Detective Messer and Hawkes with the Crime Lab. Can we ask you a few questions?"
"Yes of course officer, how can I help?"
Taking a deep breath, Mac took out the photo of Jo and showed it to the assistant. "Have you seen her? She's been missing for..." He checked his watch oh shit! "...6 hours. According to her daughter she told her she was going to come in here."
Abbie studied the photo carefully, oblivious to the three detectives growing more impatient by the minute.
"Yes I do recognise her, she comes in rather regularly apparently according to the full time workers."
"Have you seen her today?" Danny asked
"Yes, I believe I have. Although I don't know if she bought anything. May I ask her name? So I can look on the computer to see if she has a membership card and then I can see what she bought, if anything.
"Her names Jo Danville." Sheldon answered.
Abbie ran it through the computer, sighs and turns back to the three detectives. "Sorry, she hasn't bought anything here since last week."
"Well, thank you for your time." Mac said, deflated. They were about to go when;
"Excuse me sir, sorry. Did you say her name was Jo Danville? I saw her today, she was looking at our new collection over there, in the right hand corner."
"Thank you...Mandy." Sheldon said, reading her name tag.
The other two detectives nodded in appreciation as they grabbed their kits and walked in the direction of the new collection stand, setting up crime scene tape around the area, plus a little extra for good measure.
"How long will this take Detectives?" Abbie asked
Mac turned to her. "As long as it takes." I will find you Jo. Mac thought.
"Would you like a drink Ellie?" Lindsey asked.
Ellie nodded. "Please may I just have water?"
"Sure" Lindsey says, handing her a bottle.
She smiles and takes it, however, looking out the window, Ellie appears in her own world until she speaks "All I want is for my mum to be happy, y'know? And I know who can give it to her, but neither of them can see it for themselves. I'm scared that they won't get to pursue it now." A sob escaping her rosy lips.
Lindsey felt guilty at the fact she had no idea what to say but also a great deal of admiration for the young girl, at her maturity and trait to put others before herself at such a young age.
Lindsey, knowing she had to say something, said, "That's all all of us want for you mother El." in an attempt to console her. "Who can't see how happy they could make your mother?" She added.
"Mac Taylor is the oblivious one. Ironic considering she's a detective, she should be able to figure it out. ." She paused. "Mum could make him happy y'know. They've both been lonely for too long."
"They most definitely have El." Damn that girl's insightful. Lindsey thought.
After looking over their crime scene for roughly an hour or so, they had found 3 pieces of trace: a single blonde hair, a fibre from what looked like a piece of clothing, and what Mac thought was droplets of sweat and 3 sets of finger prints. But nothing yet to give Mac any confidence that him and the team were headed in the right direction to find Jo.
"She isn't blonde, the fibre might not be from Jo's clothing, and how are we supposed to know? The 'sweat' might not even be sweat and the fingerprints have a chance of one in God knows how many of being her's!" Mac almost screamed in his head, his usual cool psyche, ascending to the other end of the thermometer by the second.
Danny and Sheldon were about to leave when they turned back and saw Mac still thoroughly searching.
"Mac we searched every inch of this place, there's nothing else." Danny said, just as annoyed as Mac that they hadn't found something more solid, but even though it showed in the tone of his voice, major concern for his boss was also evident. This is totally out of character for him...God, we need to find her.
"We will find her Mac." Sheldon added.
In all honesty, Mac really wasn't paying much attention. His eyes were fixed on the glinting silver chain under the stand that he'd just expertly noticed. As he gently started to untangle it from the displays grasp, Mac had a rush of conflicting emotions.
One side of him wanted it to be Jo's so he knew that they were one step closer to finding her but the glint of hope he was holding onto by thin threads was praying that it wasn't and that he'd get a phone call and hear her sweet southern drawl on the other end. But alas, the harshness of reality triumphed again and he pulled out the blue diamond necklace and immediately recognised it as a birthday gift from Ellie and Tyler.
The joyful comment of "Oh isn't it wonderful Mac? I'm so lucky to have such beautiful children." made by Jo wandered into his conscious, weakening his barrier to his emotion a little, making the fire of determination to find her burn every more brightly in his soul.
Jo groaned as she roused from conscience. Her vision was blurred, and although her her mind wanted to sit up, get up and find a way out of here, her body wouldn't comply. The only thing her body was capable of was to move her head from side to side. The rest of her body seemed disconnected, lifeless. Moving her head to the opposite side, Jo came face to face with blood. Her blood. Jo then, became aware of the wetness of her hair and cheek, her mind then going into overdrive.
Oh God, what happened, who brought me here, why am I bleeding? And- Ow! Jo was waking up a bit more now, and she began to feel a sharp pain in her ribs.
Okay, okay calm down Jo, just breathe. Panicking won't get you out of here.
Suddenly, dim light's came on and anxiety tightened in her chest, she staying totally still expecting her attacker to come in, but nothing happened...yet she thought the anxiety still strong within her.
Looking around, Jo took in her surroundings, which where very limited. It was a box room, the walls almost looked rusty as water dripped from the ceiling. It was cold, alone and terrifying.
How am I supposed to get out of here? She thought.
Back at the lab, Mac was in his office turning over Jo's diamond necklace in his hands. I've taken Jo for granted, and now...I may not even be able to apologise.
Meanwhile, Danny was down the hall in trace, working on the fibre that they found at the crime scene. Looking at it through the microscope, Danny had never seen his particular type of fibre before. It looks like some sort of wool. He thinks. Getting out a textbook, Danny looks at textures of fibres and the basic characteristics of wool match the fibre however, looking at the properties of the of it, at an educated guess Danny thought it might have been made and manufactured abroad. Maybe ENDA would know what it is.
Just as Danny had set EDNA to find a match to the fibre, Sheldon walked in
"Hey Danny." Sheldon said.
Danny turned "Oh, hey Sheldon. How are the prints coming?"
"Unfortunately, very slowly. How's the identification of the fibre coming?"
"It's going at a steady pace. I'm just waiting for EDNA to identify it." BEEP "Ahh, here we go." Danny looked at the results "It's a mixture of wool and silk, hence the weird results. The fabric is mostly made into cardigans and it's sold in many clothes stores including AllSaints. I'll get a list of all the people that have bought one of these types of cardigans from any stores in Manhattan." Danny said.
"Good idea." Sheldon replied.
"Hey guys," Adam said as he walked in "The results are back on your fingerprints" he said, holding an iPad.
"Well, tell us then." Both detectives pressed.
Jo was now able to stand although her good balance had somewhat left her due to her head injury and was frantically looking for a way out of this prison when she was stopped dead in her tracks by a door opening from the outside in. Oh God! Breathe Jo! She closed her eyes and suddenly Mac entered her minds eye, smiling, telling her everything will be ok, that he will find her.
However, she brutally wrenched away from her relieving image before she could even wonder why that had entered her head when the door slammed and a loose outline of a figure could be seen. What stood out though was the mask. It was a classic mask used in drama production, white and smiling. As the figure stepped into the light, it became clear that it was a women. She laughed menacingly at Jo, her prey as she watched her cower into the far corner.
Finding some courage once her attacker had stopped laughing, Jo exclaimed "You won't get away with this y'know. My team will find me and lock you up."
The mask scoffed "Daddy Taylor can't help you now sweetie: your mine!"
Anxiety crawled up in Jo's chest "Don't you dare do anything to him you bitch! Please let Mac be okay. Her subconscious whispered
Furry flickered in the women's eyes and her lunged at Jo knocking her backward into the wall, cutting her back badly on the jagged surface, and pinning her there by her wrists tightly. Jo clenched her jaw, she was not about to give this bitch any satisfaction not matter how much pain her back and wrists were in.
"I do things my way, and my way only. Other wise...I do this."
The masked women then pushed Jo harder into the wall and squeezed her wrists, digging her nails in and Jo could feel the blood trickle down her wrists and back and just as the pain began to get too much, the predictor let go and Jo slid to the ground.
Just as her attacker started to walk away, Jo whispered "Please...don't...hurt Mac."
The women chuckled "Happy bleeding." and left, the door vanishing into the wall.
Before the emptiness of unconsciousness overcame Jo, her last thoughts were of Mac, Ellie and Tyler.
Mac looked up from the necklace as there was a knock at the door to see Adam, Sheldon and Danny. Mac gently put the necklace down and waved them in.
"What have we got on the fibre?" Mac asked Danny.
"Well, it's unusual, a combination of wool and silk. It is mainly manufactured abroad, the majority of it is used to make cardigans and many shops in Manhattan sell it." Danny replied.
"Once a list was compiled of who has bought one over the last couple of weeks, the list is very long which is surprising because they have high end clientele, but at any rate it would take too much time to go through it, time we don't have." Sheldon added.
"Can you narrow it down by people with records?" Mac asked.
"I tried that, but the people with records committed their felonies seven years ago at least and none resemble anything like our crime scene and even more annoyingly, none of the evidence found matched evidence at our crime, so there is no suggestion of a signature which we can tie to someone" Sheldon answered
"Damn it!" Mac exclaimed barely keeping the level of his voice normal.
The three detectives, a little taken aback, just stared at Mac for a second. Hoping to lighten the mood, Adam piped up; "We got a hit on the prints though."
"It matched to Abigail Daniels, the shop assistant at AllSaints." Danny finished.
Don walked out of the lift and headed straight towards Mac's office. Noticing him, Mac headed out to meet him.
"Has Abigail offered to come in voluntarily or do I need to phone the Chief and ask for a warrant?" Mac asked, as he prayed the warrant wouldn't be necessary as he really couldn't handle a lengthy argument with him, which if he had to phone him, would be inevitable.
"She's down in the precinct waiting in interrogation." Don answered, finally feeling more confidant that they were making headway on finding the culprit for Jo's disappearance, which he hadn't since this whole ordeal began.
Entering the interrogation room, Mac was faced with an obviously annoyed Abigail Daniels.
"Why am I here? I cooperated didn't I? I've told you everything I know! You're wasting your time and mine." she spat angrily.
Mac sat down and Flack began the interrogation as himself and Mac had discussed "Miss Daniels, Detective Taylor's team found your fingerprints at the crime scene." You lied, you lied you little bitch!
"Care to change that statement Abigail? Or at the very least give us an explanation that we might deem plausible." Mac added not being able to contain his anger.
"In case you'd failed to notice, I do work at that store! My fingerprints could have got there in many different ways." Abigail fired back, appearing unfazed.
"What have you been doing this morning? Go through your day step by step and don't miss anything out this time!" Mac warned.
"I do the same things everyday: work the tills, organise displays-" she was cut of abruptly by Mac.
"Did you 'organise' the display from our crime scene?" Mac asked coldly.
"Most likely, it's the stores main advertisement at the moment and therefore, the main priority, my fingerprints could have got on there easy." Abigail replied smugly knowing that she'd won.
As Mac walked out of the interrogation room, he couldn't contain his anger. "Smug little brat!" he spat.
"That she is." Flack looked at Mac and saw the raw emotions in his eyes.
"We will find her Mac." Flack said, trying to console him.
"If it's the last thing I do." Mac thought.
One breath, the intoxicating mist of tobacco and nicotine was off into the night. The shrill sound of a cellphone rang out, and it was answered.
"Hey."
"..."
"Yea, they interrogated me, chill out, the evidence they had was pitiful! We do have one problem though..."
"..."
"Yup, you nailed it. Don't worry, I'll get it sorted."
And with that, the conversation ended, the phone was thrown in the trash and the former owner walked off into the night.
HEY GUYS! WHAT DID YOU THINIK? THIS IS MY FIRST STORY SO, I'M ANXIOUS TO KNOW IF IT'S ANY GOOD. SO PLEASE, REVIEW, IT WOULD MAKE MY DAY. BECAUSE I'M GOING BACK TO SCHOOL TOMORROW, I HAVE NO IDEA WHEN THE NEXT CHAPTER WILL BE UP, BUT I'LL TRY MY BEST TO PUT IT UP ASAP.