Chapter 4: Trades

"Mr. Bonasera, are you aware that you have a daughter?" Mac asks, setting a picture of a baby on the table.

"What are you talking about?"

"That's how we found you. The DNA under the fingernails of this dead woman," he pulls out another photo, "came back as a match to her, and we found you through her."

"How does she know me? I don't know her."

"She doesn't know you. She doesn't know her mother either. She grew up in foster care because you got her mother pregnant when she was only twenty and couldn't care for a baby."

"Can I see my daughter?"

Mac shrugs. "What happened to this girl?" he points to the picture of the dead woman.

"How do you know my daughter?"

"I'm her boss."

"Will I get to see her?"

"If you tell me everything and let me take your DNA and fingerprints."

The man thinks for a moment, "Deal."

Half an hour later Mac exits the interrogation room. "Should I put him in a holding cell until we get the results?" Flack asks.

"Not yet." He wanders through the lab until he finds Stella. "Stel, can you come with me?"

"I guess," she follows him back toward the interrogation room. "Do you have to question me or something?"

"There's someone that would like to meet you."

She stops abruptly, "Mac, I told you not to involve me in this."

"It was the only way to get him to confess."

"Did he tell you what happened already?"

"Yes."

"Then I'm not going in there," she crosses her arms.

"Stella Bonasera, if you won't go in there voluntarily, I will carry you in there. Just five minutes. Please."

"What do I say to him?"

"Whatever you want. You can even yell at him for getting your mom pregnant when she was so young, causing her to put you in foster care."

Reluctantly she enters the room. Mac follows her. "This is your daughter, Stella."

"You look just like your mother," her father says.

Cautiously she sits across from him. "You didn't mean to get my mom pregnant, did you?"

"No. She never told me I had a daughter. So are you married, have kids?"

She shakes her head. "You killed someone?"

"I… you're probably better off not knowing. What do you do exactly?"

"I'm a detective. I analyze crime scenes and process evidence to catch murderers."

"Have you met your mother?" Stella shakes her head again. "I'm sure she'd like to meet you. She wouldn't have given you up if she didn't have to."

"The only reason I'm in here is because he promised you you could meet me if you confessed. I'm over being alone." They sit silently for a few more minutes, avoiding looking at each other. She stands, "I still have work to get done before I leave."

After she closes the door, he turns to Mac. "Is she always like that?"

Mac sighs, "Yeah, she can be quite stubborn at times. I'll talk with her later."

Flack knocks on the door and enters. "What happened in here? She looked pretty upset."

"Take him away, Don," Mac heads to the door. "I'll take care of her."

A/N: Mac's going to get it now. He should have listened to her. But it'll all work out. One chapter to go. I'll probably post in Monday. I really need to get some more typing done, and I've had plenty of opportunity, but I have to watch my grandma's dog when they're gone. He mostly stays in his box so I'd probably be okay as long as I stopped to take him out once or twice. But I'd rather not. After this story is done, I've only got two one chapter things typed. I've got one story that's been written since like April but I've been putting off typing it since it's fifteen chapters. Then there's a ten chapter one and another one chapter one. And I'm almost done with a nine chapter one. That one I had some difficulties with. I wasn't liking the way it was going so I was going to rewrite it and make it better. But then I decided to save the first four chapters and changed the fifth. Then the sixth chapter was kind of like the old fifth with some changes. Mac and Stella are fighting in that one. It gets pretty bad. Okay... well, I think I might go practice my flute and/or piccolo. Thanks.