Disclaimer: I don't own CSI: NY.
Series: 'Kindred Spirits'.
Spoilers: Hung Out to Dry; Charge of this Post.
Hung Out to Dry
New York City was a crazy place.
Anyone working in the precinct could attest to that.
So why, Jess wondered, had Don Flack just staggered through the front door looking like he was about to vomit all over the place?
She watched him head into the lockers, hesitated a few seconds, and followed him.
He was sat on one of the benches, resting his head against the cool metal of the lockers, taking deep breaths.
"Bad case?" Jess asked.
Don shook his head slowly. "Worse. Our perp cut a woman's head off, burned the neck and strung her up from a ceiling fan."
Jess felt her legs give out, collapsing onto the bench opposite him. "Wha … What? Oh my God …"
Don nodded. "Yeah. Do that for another couple hours and you might be where I am right about now."
"Well, someone must've really wanted this girl dead, right?" Jess asked. "Ex-boyfriend or something?"
"Everyone I talked to said that everyone loved her." Don sighed. "Course that does include someone with beer bottles taped to his hands."
Despite her horror and slight nausea, Jess couldn't help sniggering. "I would've paid good money to watch you conduct that interview."
Don pulled a face. "He called me 'bro'." His phone beeped and he answered it. "Yeah, Flack. Where? Okay, we'll be right there." He ended the call and stood up. "Gotta go. They've found her head buried under a rock. There's a sentence I never wanna have to say again." He muttered, disappearing back into the precinct.
Jess kept the supportive smile on her face until the door swung closed, and then got up and raced for the bathrooms, emptying her stomach into the nearest possible receptacle. She rested her head against the mirror, breathing deeply, her eyes closed as she prayed for the image to leave.
"Angell?" Maka pulled her away from the sink, pressing a cool hand against her forehead. "I don't think you have a fever. You alright?"
"You see Flack just now?" Jess asked weakly.
"Yeah." Maka frowned. "He looked like hell."
"I …" Jess took a gulp of air and leaned against the wall as her legs shook slightly. "I made the mistake of asking what happened."
Maka pulled a face. "Must have been a bad case to make him look like that."
"Just don't." Jess shook her head. "Trust me; you're better off not knowing. You got any gum?"
"Here." Maka handed her a stick. "At least you're not on the case."
Jess smiled weakly. "True. Thanks."
"Hey, Sid." Jess greeted. "You seen Hawkes? I need to talk to him about that last case."
"He just left with Mac." Sid told her. "Apparently, he's pretty popular today."
Jess nodded absently, her eyes wandering around the morgue.
"Are you still mad at me for that little trick we pulled?" Sid asked.
Jess smiled weakly. "No. But I'll be eternally grateful if you never do that again."
Sid chuckled. "Duly noted."
The door swung open again and Hawkes strode in. "Hey, Angell."
"Hey, I need to …" Jess trailed off as he vanished into the next room. "Never mind." She jogged after him, stopping the door before it could swing closed. "You got the write-up for the Miller case?"
"Huh?" Hawkes paused. "Oh yeah. Sorry. Um …" He rummaged through the desk. "Here."
"Thanks." Jess tucked the report under her arm. "You okay?"
Hawkes sighed. "You hear about that killer? Flack's on the case."
"Oh, the headless woman." Jess grimaced. "You got the perp?"
"We have an ID." Hawkes corrected. "Shane Casey. He's going after people connected to his brother's case – the jury forewoman, the eyewitness, the defence attorney and the ME."
Jess cursed. "You were the ME? He's not getting in here, doc."
"I know." Hawkes assured her. "It's just that I've testified in hundreds of cases and his brother's case was routine – nothing in the autopsy that could pinpoint Ian Casey as the shooter. It was just on the word of an eyewitness."
"That's pretty tough." Jess commented. "You can't blame him for being angry. I mean, his method's flawed, but … where's his brother now?"
"Hanged himself on the day of sentencing." Hawkes answered. "And you're spending too much time with Mac; that's what he said about the bombing."
Jess had to hold back a shudder at the reminder of the incident. It had been just under two months since Don had returned to work, but already it was difficult to reconcile the man she worked with at the precinct with the man she'd visited at the hospital and she was starting to realise why everyone had been subdued when they met him.
"I never knew you drank until I saw you sober." She thought wryly. Then suddenly the name Hawkes had given her rang a bell in her memory. "Shane Casey? The guy Danny was telling me about with the T-shirts? Mr. He-was-the-only-sane-one-at-that-party? That Shane Casey?"
"The very same." Hawkes confirmed with a grin. "Danny's gut struck out again. He and Flack went out with Mac to check on the defence attorney."
"So they'll probably have Casey in custody before long." Jess concluded. "I don't think this guy's gonna just give up because we're onto him."
Before Hawkes could respond, Jess's radio crackled into life. "10-13, 10-13. All units, all units. 13625 Fourth Avenue."
"That's the attorney's office." Hawkes stated.
"Got it." Jess spun on her heel and ran from the lab, making it to the front of the building in record time, relieved that she hadn't bothered with the parking garage today. She could hear sirens echoing around the city and flicked on the lights of her squad car, taking off in the direction of the address.
Then, five minutes later, her radio crackled into life again. "10-13, 10-13. 10-4 copy that. All units, all units. Suspect in custody. Repeat. Suspect is in custody."
Breathing a sigh of relief, Jess cut her speed and turned the sirens off, turning to head back to the precinct.
When she arrived, however, the scene she was greeted with was not what she expected. The entire squadroom was subdued and quiet, certainly not the atmosphere she'd been expecting after the capture of a serial killer.
Danny stood near the door, rubbing a hand over his face, and she jogged over to him. "Hey. What happened?"
Danny just shook his head, raised a vague hand in both greeting and farewell, and headed out the door.
"What happened?" Jess repeated, now really worried. "Where's Flack?"
Maka gestured towards the break room. "In there. I wouldn't do that if I were you, Angell."
Jess paused with a hand on the door-handle. "Why not?"
"You ever seen Flack when he's pissed off?" Martinez asked.
Jess shook her head. "No."
"That much is obvious." Vicari muttered. "Or you wouldn't even be considerin' it."
"Trust me, Angell; you don't wanna do that." Martinez warned.
Jess rolled her eyes and pushed the door open.
Almost immediately, she realised what they meant. The temperature in here seemed to be several degrees colder than the squad room, although that might have had something to do with the pure fury in Don's eyes as, arms folded and jaw set, he stared down four uniformed officers, who were gazing at the floor.
For a second, she had a high school detention flashback, but that passed when he turned to her.
"Detective Angell. Thank God; maybe you can tell me if I'm going crazy or not." Don glared at the uniforms once more for good measure and then focused on her. "If you have a serial killer in custody, what do you do?"
Jess hesitated. "I'm not entirely sure what you mean, Detective Flack."
"If you had a serial killer in custody, when do you remove the cuffs?" Don elaborated.
Jess raised an eyebrow. "You don't. Those cuffs stay on until he's in an 8x12 cell. Of course that's true for any criminal."
"What if that killer wanted to use the bathroom?" Don asked.
"You cuff him to an officer and make sure he's accompanied at all times." Jess answered slowly. "All stuff you learn in the first year at the Academy, Detective Flack. I appreciate I haven't been here very long, but I was hoping that you had enough faith in my training to realise that I at least knew that."
Don didn't smile. "I do, Angell, but I also thought that these four knew that, before they let a serial killer escape from under our noses!" His last comment was directed at the officers and they shrank back as a man.
"They did what?!" Jess demanded. "What the hell happened?!"
"I don't know, but I now have to explain it to the captain!" Don let out a sigh that was closer to a growl. "You lot just get the hell outta my sight. Now!"
Looking relieved, the four scuttled out of the break-room towards the squadroom and Jess smiled sympathetically as Don sank into a chair, burying his face in his hands. "Long day, huh?"
"Look can say that again." Don agreed, his voice muttered.
Jess patted his shoulder comfortingly. "I'm sorry."
Don lifted his head, his eyes still sharper than usual. "It's not your fault, Angell; I shouldn't have dragged you into it just now."
"No, I dragged myself into it." Jess smiled. "The others warned me not to and I didn't listen. They've got a point though; I think one of them wet himself."
Don pulled a face. "Urgh, is that what that smell is?" He sighed. "I got people at all bus terminals … airports …"
"That won't work." Jess shook her head. "I don't think this guy's done yet. He'll stay in the city until he's avenged his brother."
"And that means Hawkes is still in danger." Don scowled.
Jess frowned thoughtfully. "Maybe not. This guy's not stupid; he'll know we'll be waiting. I think whatever he does will be more subtle this time."
"You sure that's not just wishful thinking?" Don asked.
"Probably." Jess admitted. "You okay?"
"No." Don sighed. "No, I'm not okay; I got a psychopath roaming the city and now I gotta explain to the captain how I let him escape."
"This is not your fault!" Jess protested.
"You wanna tell the captain that?" Don asked rhetorically, standing up. "This is not gonna be fun."
"Good luck." Jess called after him, before sitting down herself, realising that her legs were shaking too much to bear her weight anymore.
How could this happen? What's gonna happen now?
Jess took a few minutes to compose herself, before getting up again and re-entering the squadroom on unsteady legs.
No one took any notice of her reappearance, except for Vicari, who muttered, "Told you so."
Ignoring him, Jess dropped into the seat behind her desk, pulling out the report Hawkes had given her and running an eye over it. She felt like she was in a particularly unpleasant dream, but no one else seemed bothered by the fact that Shane Casey was back on the street.
Apparently reading her expression, Maka wandered over. "This happens every so often, Angell; we don't like it, but it's part of the job. But it's Flack's problem; if we all got caught up on it, we'd never get any work done. Forget about it."
Jess smiled weakly. "Right. Got it."
But she didn't.
Realistically, she knew that it wasn't her problem, but she had a feeling that her concern had little to do with a serial killer escaping.
She just wasn't sure if it was due to the camaraderie they had formed in the hospital …
… or the anguish she'd seen in his eyes over losing a murderer.
Either way, she was sure that Shane Casey's return was going to affect them all.
AN: About the drinking quote, it actually has nothing to do with drinking. Basically, Jess hadn't realised how much the bomb had affected Don until she saw him back at work. Just thought I'd clear that up. Review please!