A/N: Thank you for reading and for all those lovely reviews. Hope this is making sense so far.
Chapter 4
Don Flack stood at the graveside for a moment before laying down the roses he had brought. He felt the anger surge through him as he recalled stepping up to the memorial the previous day and finding the unwelcome gift that had been left. What the hell was this guy up to? First Jodie, then Sid, now this. Each time something personal. Don couldn't help but wonder who would be next. He stood up as his phone rang indicating an incoming message. He frowned. A car accident in Queens. Why would he be called to that? He was about to call in when he heard a sharp cry from behind him. Turning round he saw an elderly lady standing looking down at a gravestone in horror.
He walked swiftly over to her. "Excuse me Ma'am, is everything all right?" Don asked. The old lady looked up at him with tears in her soft blue eyes.
"Oh I'm so sorry!" she said. "I didn't mean to disturb you. I was just so surprised. Who would do such a thing?" She pointed at the flowers on the grave. Don looked down at the little posy of slightly wilted pink flowers pushed hastily into the flower holder at the side of the stone. "Fancy stealing flowers from another grave and putting them here." The old lady wiped her eyes. "I can't imagine who would do such a thing. It's not right."
"What makes you think that they were stolen?" asked Don gently.
"Oh! I see them every week on the grave over there." She pointed towards the path where there was a seat and a refuse bin. "There's always fresh flowers on it. Every week. Beautiful posies just like this one. Poor little thing. She was only six when she died. Why would someone take flowers from a child's grave and put them on my Walter's? It's not right." She bent down and picked up the flowers and turned to take them back. Flack glanced at the gravestone. He remembered there had been someone there yesterday when he had discovered the Marigolds on Jess' grave. He tried to think back but he hadn't been taking much notice. He had been too upset at finding the chess piece. Don followed the old lady and watched her put the little posy back on the child's grave opposite the seat. She shook her head gently in dismay. "Taken so young. So sad. At least they're waiting for us in a better place." She smiled, patted Don's arm and wandered back to her husband's grave with her own flowers. Don stood and watched her for a second, a sudden feeling of warmth spreading through him. He had noted the date on her husband's stone. The old lady had been bringing him flowers for 18 years.
'.'
'CSI - NY'
'.'
Jo waved to Don as he pulled up. He got out, ducked under the police tape and wandered over to the car. He waved at Bellamy who was interviewing a witness and glanced at the fire department guys who were clearing away their cutting equipment.
"Hey Jo. What's up?" Don flashed her a quick smile. "Isn't Bellamy good enough for ya?"
Jo grinned at him as Detective Marcus Bellamy joined them. "I heard that Flack but I thought I'd drag you down here to show you how the pro's do it." Marcus grinned at Don, their friendly rivalry making Jo roll her eyes. Marcus suddenly looked serious as he walked them over to the wreck of the car that had taken a nose dive into the wall. "You're not going to like this though. Car's registered to Bruce Guthrie."
"Guthrie?" Every hair on his body stood on end as a feeling of dread came over him. "As in the guy from Human Resources?"
Marcus nodded. "Yep. Fire guys had to cut him out. He's on his way to N.Y. General but he's not looking good despite the air-bags deploying." They all examined the front of the sports car that was concertinaed by the impact. "My first guess is brake failure." Marcus pointed back up the road. "No skid marks. Picked up speed on the hill. Tried to brake for the junction. Nothing happened. He swung the wheel at the last minute but he must have hit this wall at close to seventy miles an hour."
"Well we won't know the exact cause until we get it back to the lab." Jo said as she looked closely at the roof of the car. "Mm. Odd." she said. Marcus and Don leaned over and peered to see what she was looking at. "The paint here is peeling away." Jo took tweezers and pulled several sticky fragments of paint and scraped them onto the inside of a jar.
"Not from the impact?" asked Don.
Jo shook her head. "No it's tacky, like it's been partially dissolved. I'll get it looked at back at the lab."
"Is there a … you know?" asked Don. Marcus looked at him strangely. Jo looked at them over the roof on the car and shrugged her shoulders to indicate that she didn't know. They both ducked down, Bellamy mirroring their actions.
"A you know what?" asked Bellamy wondering what he was supposed to be looking for. Don searched the passenger side and Jo the driver's side while Bellamy looked on puzzled. Jo reached into the back of the car and pulled the jacket from the hook. She felt in the pockets, her eyes widening as her fingers came into contact with a small hard object. Slowly she withdrew it from the pocket and held it up for them to see.
"A pendent?" queried Marcus.
"A rook!" Don's stomach turned over as he saw the black wooden chess piece dangling from the string.
'.'
'CSI - NY'
'.'
Mac poured himself a coffee, stirred in some sugar and made his way wearily to the conference room. He could see Sid and Sheldon comparing notes and Jo deep in conversation with Don. Adam joined him in the corridor.
Adam handed him a thick file. "Here you go boss. Lindsay asked me to give you this before she left. She finished up the trace on the knife and … I got a match on the DNA. Results are inside. Just needs your magic signature and that's another case closed. Whad'up?"
Adam attempted a Michael Jackson impression which made Mac smile. Mac patted him on shoulder as they took their places in the conference room. "Great job Adam. What would I do without you?" Adam beamed.
"Any news on Bruce Guthrie?" asked Mac as he sank into a chair and took a hesitant sip of his coffee.
Don shook his head. "He's critical. On life support. It doesn't look good Mac. This guy upping his game?"
Mac agreed. "It certainly looks that way. What do you have for me on the accident?"
"Definitely not an accident." Mac turned to look at Sheldon. "That partially dissolved paint Jo lifted from the roof of the car? We found more trace on the hood. Analysis shows it to have been dissolved with sulphuric acid, a composition consistent with lead-acid batteries."
As Mac frowned, Jo added. "It looks like he sprinkled the car with battery acid. Some of it got into the electronic controls including those for the braking system." Mac's frown deepened. He looked at Adam.
"Nothing from the chess piece. It's as clean as a whistle other than a partial belonging to Bruce Guthrie. Same for the string which is just your average household string." Adam shrugged. "And I'm not having any luck with a source for your chess pieces. They're hand-made but none of the stores I've contacted so far stock anything like them. Sorry!"
Mac smiled at him. "He knew that Adam would keep plugging away at it." Mac spun his chair round to study the boards behind him. Jodie's dog, Sid's garden, Jess' gravestone, Bruce's car ... Mac's phone rang.
"Hello. Lindsay! … Whoa! Slow down! What? Oh my God, is she all right?" Everyone in the room jumped picking up on the tension in Mac's words. "No go home. I'll meet you there." Mac hung up. Jo shivered dreading what he was going to say. Slowly he spun back to face them. His eyes were as hard and cold as ice. "Danny and Lindsay went to pick up Lucy from school. As she came out she handed Danny an evidence bag saying his friend had asked her to give it to him. It contained a chess piece."
'.'
'CSI - NY'
'.'
Rowan Leech slurped cereal from a cracked bowl, splashing the milk over the table. He glanced at the images on the television screen, a handsome young reporter filming the removal of a car wreck. He didn't need the sound to know that the crash had happened in Queens and the driver was in critical condition. The scrolling titles across the bottom of the screen told him everything he needed to know. He threw his spoon down in irritation. That wasn't supposed to have happened. That had spoiled his game-play. He bit his thumb for a moment before picking up the spoon again; at least it wasn't a completely wasted day. Getting the little girl to come to the fence during recess hadn't been so hard. She and her friends had been playing there every day for two weeks. At first he had thought it wasn't going to work as she had staunchly declared that she wasn't to accept things from strangers but the sight of the evidence bag had clinched it. Of course she recognized it from Mommy and Daddy's kits and it hadn't been hard to persuade her that only Daddy's friends would have one. It was a pity that he couldn't have been there to see their faces when she handed them the bag but there was nowhere to hide and watch and too many cameras outside the school. But it had been fun watching Taylor leaving the crime lab building early and flagging a cab. He had even been close enough to hear him give their address. Rowan grimaced. That would have to be his last trip to the crime lab though. He hadn't counted on running into Adam. That could have ruined everything.
Rowan got up from the table and finished the cereal. He threw the bowl into the sink and ran water over it. He would have to wash up the dishes as it was almost full. He shut off the tap and listened to the water drip into the sink. That would have to wait. He had his next moves to plan.
'.'
