Mac nodded and looked from Flack to Danny and said, "Aiden, take Danny into the other room and process him from head to toe. Bag those clothes and anything else that might be of interest to us."
Aiden nodded and grabbed her tool kit that she had put on the floor earlier and said, "Flack, can you accompany us to another room?"
Flack removed Danny's cuffs and looked him in the eye, a slight smile tugging the corner of his mouth, "You're not gonna run are you?"
"Smart ass," Danny mumbled under his breath as Aiden pulled him away from Flack. She led Danny to the nearest empty room, which happened to be the bedroom. She closed the door behind Danny and Flack, who stood to the side of the closed door, and then she turned to survey the room.
She looked at the Queen sized bed that sat just behind Danny to his right. It had the look of an obvious night of rolling in tangled sheets. The blanket was lying in a heap partly in the floor and on the foot of the bed while the top sheet was twisted and turned in the center of the bed. One pillow was leaned against the head of the bed while the other was hanging precariously on the edge of the side farthest away from them. Danny was silent while he watched her eyes move from object to object processing what she saw. He had worked enough crime scenes with her to know just what she was thinking.
Aiden's eyes moved from the bed to the chair next to the window directly opposite the door and she saw that a very elegant, and expensive black dress was tossed across the back of the chair and a man's suit jacket was lying across the chair arm. She looked at Danny and mentally matched the dark color and wool fabric of the suit jacket with the dress wool slacks that he was now wearing.
Her thoughts drifted for a moment to the body in the other room and she put two and two together and realized that the victim was wearing Danny's white dress shirt; probably the same one that he wore yesterday while they processed the Perez scene. Danny cleared his throat to bring her attention back to the room. "Aiden," He began but she held up her hand to stop him.
"Danny, let's don't do this." She leaned over and placed her toolbox that she had been holding down on the floor and pulled out her camera. "I need to take photos."
He reached out to touch her shoulder but she jerked around slightly to detract his touch, "You know the drill Danny, so let's just get this over with. Okay?"
It very nearly tore his heart out to hear the sadness in her voice, the pain. He was the cause of it all. Aiden had been a good friend to him and they were great partners. Mac had put them together a lot lately as both were up for promotions soon and they needed field experience without Mac and Stella's supervision. It had been a way for them to find their bearings together and they were making a pretty good team.
Danny sighed and stood with his hands down at his sides giving her the best angles for her snapshots, then spoke softly in answer to her plea, "I'm sorry that you have to do this, Aiden."
"Better me than someone you don't know." She snapped photos one after another and when she walked around to his right side and saw the tattoo peeking out from under the tank top, she lowered the camera and reached out tentatively and touched it brushing her fingertips over the letters ever so softly. "I had no idea you had this."
He jerked slightly at her touch and mumbled noncommittally, "It wasn't my proudest moment. I'm just glad it's over."
Moving the edge of the tank tee shirt aside to inspect the tattoo closer she noticed the red puffiness around a single date below the "In Date" and touched the ink that looked newer than the rest of the tattoo. As she rubbed the new date, he flinched, "Ouch." He reached over his shoulder and rubbed his hand over the tattoo and then looked behind him to the dresser mirror trying to see his upper right shoulder. "Hey, this date is new. Aiden, I didn't have this put on my tattoo." Flack was instantly at their side looking at the tattoo as well then writing it down in his notebook.
"What?" She asked confusion etched across her dark brows watching Danny rub his hand over the tattoo causing it to begin to bleed where the newest ink had been embedded into the skin.
"I mean, I didn't have this date added on my tat." He pointed to the offending point in the tattoo. "I don't remember getting it." He paced around the room and stopped at the dresser opposite the bed closer now to the mirror and looked over his shoulder at the reflection of the tattoo in the mirror then rubbed his hand absently across the newest date on his tattoo that read 03/03/05 even though it was reversed in the mirror. Flack and Aiden both stood behind him looking at the same image in the mirror.
"What the hell did you do last night?" She asked as she shook her head in disbelief, "Danny, how could you have gotten new ink without knowing about it?"
"I don't. I couldn't. I just went out with Andrea." Shifting from foot to foot, he rubbed his forehead with his thumb and forefinger on his left hand trying to stave off the migraine that he could feel building. He pushed his glasses up and run his hand through his unruly hair, his frustration beginning to get the best of him, he sighed and continued, "It was her sister's birthday. We went to The Carlyle."
"Okay, look, who is Andrea?" Aiden asked as she began taking pictures again while Flack took notes as Danny answered Aiden's questions.
While Danny talked she processed his clothes for fibers and lifted some hairs from the back of his shirt.
"Andrea is, uh, was Senator John Cohen's daughter. She and I have been dating off and on for almost a year."
"Dating? Humm?" Aiden questioned and looked up at him from where she was squatted next to the tool kit, a wry grin on her face.
"I said off and on." He sniffed and looked at her sheepishly, "She works and lives in DC and we get together when she's going to be in town. Kerri, her sister, turned twenty one yesterday and her parents threw her a huge party at The Carlyle."
"Wow, ritzy, and to think I didn't even know my partner was dating a Senator's daughter, hmm." Aiden stopped her photographing and handed Danny a large paper bag then said, "Here, put those clothes in this and after you get dressed, meet me out in the foyer."
"Okay," Danny took the proffered bag and turned to go into the bathroom then stopped and looked back, "Aiden?"
She looked back from the door and whispered, "Yeah."
"Thanks," He hesitated for a moment then looked down at the floor then back up at her with his head tilted to the right, a shy smile in place, "For everything."
She knew at that moment that he didn't do it and would have to help him prove it, some how, some way, "You bet, partner."
He grinned and turned away with Flack in tow, leaving her to stand alone thinking about the turn of events today. Her partner was being accused of murder and the odds were not in his favor if he was innocent which she believed to be the case.