A /N – OOOFT reviews...
CrImInAlMiNdScSiNyFaN87 – you're just awesome tbh. Thanks for reviewing again! And lots more Flack / Stella goodness to come!
Hockey mom – Thanks, I kinda like that line myself. And ahh... flack's eyes, couldn't we all? :D
Kat Priestly – Yeah I was thinking of going down the Hawkes/Angell route in later chapters, what do you think?
Bec0512 – thanks for your review, hope you like the next chap!
And also, before I start, I'm really confused about something...
Is Angell's first name Jessica or Jennifer? Different people seem to write different things. Please let me know what you think – I'll probably go with the majority opinion!
Okay, let's get this show on the road...
Chapter Four – Easy Does It
(Lindsay and Stella have arrived at a crime scene, Flack has just left them to go collect statements)
"Right kiddo, where the hell do we start?" Stella gently put down her kit near her feet and looked apprehensively at her colleague.
Lindsay stopped clicking her camera for a moment, but still held it to her face. As she slowly lowered it, she said in a small voice, "I don't know Stell, I just don't know".
The copious amount of blood was obviously bringing back painful memories of her friend's murders. But with a slight shiver, she shook her head and began snapping pictures once more.
The room in which they stood was truly a mess. In the centre of the room, a man's body could be seen slumped through a glass table. It seemed he'd been pushed through it, with one large shard of glass protruding through his back. Blood had pooled beneath him, and was also splattered all over the room.
Whoever had done this clearly had a lot of rage. Shelves and cabinets had been pushed over, expensive equipment apparently thrown from one end of the laboratory to the other. The floor was littered with the remains of dozens of test tubes and beakers. The two chairs in the room looked as though they had been used as weapons in the destruction of the scene, one was broken, the other halfway out of a window.
"After all, you're the boss" she added with a smile.
"Hmmm, bad day to be the boss huh? Okay, you seem to be making a good start with the pictures, once you've done the wide angles, take a tonne of evidence markers, use a macro lens and make a start on the individual bloodstains. I'll start on the broken glass and those bloody footprints, and we'll make our way to the centre of the room to the body, so we don't disturb anything. Sound ok to you?"
Lindsay, who had paused her task while Stella spoke, smiled broadly and answered "Sounds great. Some of this equipment is pretty big though, we got microscopes, scanners, what looks like apparatus for transmission electron microscopy. They've got stuff I've only read about in journals, and stuff I can't even recognise. And it's all covered in blood splatter. What kind of lab was this again?"
"I don't know, hopefully Flack can tell us when he gets back. From the looks of the equipment though, I'd guess that we're looking at something in biology maybe?" Stella stretched before bending down to pick up her camera. "There's no way I'm gonna get through this without an incentive. How about we make a pit stop on our way back to the lab? You know, refuel?"
Lindsay chuckled. "Starbucks?"
"You know it".
Both women smiled at each other, before turning back to their individual tasks.
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A short while later, the two CSIs had made remarkable progress and they were both sensing light at the end of the tunnel. Stella had collected broken glass from windows, shelving units, the glass work surfaces, test tubes, beakers and bizarrely, some green fragments that looked to be from a wine bottle. She had carefully documented one clear set of bloody footprints which traced the killer's path from the body, to the door, and then stopped, oddly enough.
Lindsay, meanwhile, had taken what felt like thousands of photographs of the room and the high-tech equipment. She had paused while photographing the walls.
"You know Stell, the blood stains on the walls? It's not high or even medium velocity spatter. It's not cast off either, it kind of reminds me of... never mind."
"No, go ahead Linds, what were you thinking?"
"Well, when I was growing up, my brothers and I used to have water balloon fights. And one time, to cut a long story short, I ran into the house and they followed me. They ended up missing me and hitting the wall behind me, which left a pattern a lot like that." She finished me pointing at the wall.
"So you think the killer had water balloons with blood, and decided to vandalize this laboratory with it?"
"No, I'm just thinking, that some of those test tubes and beakers have blood on them, what if they contained blood, and were then thrown at the wall...?"
Stella couldn't help but smile at the women before her. "And that... is why Mac hired you. So, did your mom ground you and your brothers or something?"
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It was beginning to get dark. The room had been photographed, the masses of evidence bags packed safely into boxes for transport back to the lab. Most of the equipment and apparatus were too big to be taken in the SUV, but there were still a couple of large, and not to mention heavy, boxes containing microscopes. The M.E had come and gone again with the body. Both Lindsay and Stella were crouched under one of the broken work surfaces, when Flack re-entered the room.
"Hey you guys, how's it going in here? Ouch." He paused, looking at the five evidence boxes stacked near the door. "You CSI types don't travel light huh?"
Stella answered him without looking up; she appeared instead to be focused on something Lindsay was doing. "What you're looking at detective, is almost seven hour's worth of solid processing. And if those boxes don't contain all the answers to this case, I'm gonna need some serious retail therapy!"
"Nice" came the reply, "You ah, not quite finished? One of your boxes isn't sealed."
"Nearly, we were just about to call it a day when Linds spotted some broken glass under here that doesn't have any blood on it... So we're guessing it got here after the murder took place, 'coz I don't think anyone could have wiped it down. Either way, we have the very edge of a bloody fingerprint on one piece."
"Enough to run through AFIS?"
"Nah, we're not that lucky."
Don Flack stood in the doorway in the slowly darkening room, confused. Lindsay had yet to speak, and neither had looked at him, and whatever they were doing was obviously interesting.
"I don't think you two have moved an inch since I got here. Something wrong?"
"Don, just shh a minute okay? We just...need...to... concentrate."
He started to say something more, but stopped when he saw Stella's hand fly up to stop him. Curiosity peaked; he picked his way slowly across the room towards the two CSIs, and leaned slowly over Stella's shoulder, unnoticed by either of the women.
Lindsay's jaw was set, her brow furrowed in concentration, and her brown eyes narrowed in determination. Her small hands were supporting a glass conical flask. It was badly cracked, and the pale blue liquid inside was in great danger of spilling everywhere is the fragile container was to shatter. As Lindsay held it, Stella was trying to cautiously ease the flask out of its rack, and into a secure container, where three damaged flasks could already be seen. Her face couldn't be seen from Flack's present position, but he was sure she would look as deep in concentration as Lindsay.
"Come on... easy does it... we nearly... GOT IT!" Stella exclaimed triumphantly.
As soon as the last of the containers were secure, Flack said softly "So whaddya have there, ladies?"
Stella, unaware he was standing so close, had jumped violently, whipping her head around and cricking her neck. "JESUS FLACK, what are you doing creeping up on us?! You could have made us break evidence! What if..." She trailed off, suddenly aware she was overreacting. Lindsay was stifling giggles, and she was certain Don was holding back one of his trademark grins.
Saving her friend from embarrassment, Lindsay straightened her face and caught Flack's attention. "Well, Stella realized that these look really out of place with the rest of the equipment. They look like they belong in a chemistry lab, not a biology lab, like we assumed this is...?" She left her sentence hanging, with a questioning look at Flack, who nodded in agreement.
"Yeah, that's what I got from the co-workers."
"Exactly, so they're out of place. If we can identify the blue liquid, then maybe we can identify its source, and find out how it got here..."
Stella interrupted her colleague: "Yeah, and if someone had made us break them, then we might not have been able to do that." Her tone was more playful this time, having recovered from her shock. Flack sensed her tone and saw the sparkle in her eyes, giving him the green light for a little flirtatious banter.
"Well Ms Bonasera, you have my deepest apologies for startling you. Perhaps you'd let me rub that sore neck to make it up to you?" Try as he might, he couldn't stay coy, chuckling as he ended his sentence. "Or maybe you'd allow me to help you carry all these boxes back to the lab?"
"You don't have to do that! I mean, you better help us down to the car, but the lab's way out of your route! Right Linds?"
Lindsay had been staring at her cell, which was vibrating. Cancelling the call, she looked up. "Well, if he wants to muck in with the rest of us, who are we to turn him down? Thanks Flack, I don't think we're in the right footwear for heavy lifting."
Catching Stella's mutinous expression, Lindsay smiled to herself. Yes, easy does it, she thought. She and Danny had danced around things far too long, she wasn't about to see Stella and Flack do the same. Her face fell as she thought of Danny, and looked once more at the cell phone still in her hand.
"Okay, so you're done now right? Which boxes are ya gonna trust me with?"
Stella and Flack slid back into their easy banter, as they walked towards the exit.
"Hey Lindsay, you coming? I think Starbucks is calling out to us" Stella smiled at her friend, eyes full of sympathy. She had a good idea whose calls her friend was ignoring.
Lindsay responded by thrusting her phone back into her pocket and striding over to the boxes, picking one up.
"You know, I think I could use a muffin now too."
A/N - Make me happy... review please! xxx
