Better the Devil You Know

OK, so chapter 4 is upon us. Things are going to really heat up in this chapter so hold onto your hats!! Thank you so much to the people who review and read this story. Also cheers to Laura and Amy for reading it through and giving me the confidence that I'm doing alright.

Remember – I wish the characters were mine but they aren't (except the ones that I made up in my head!)

Set after 5.09 – no spoilers any more!!! D/L all the way!!!

**

Chapter 4 – It's like being with family

Lindsay's grin reached from ear to ear as she finally spotted Nate come through the gate at Newark Airport. Being 6'4 with brown curly hair and piercing green eyes he was hard to miss.

'Nate! Nate!' She called, waving her hand, being so short she knew he may not be able to spot her so easily.

'Lindsay!' He beamed, making a beeline for her. As soon as he reached her, he dropped his bag and swung her up into his arms, a task that was very easy for him. They hugged and hugged until there was a little cough behind them.

Lowering Lindsay to the floor, he reached his hand behind her back. 'You must be Danny.'

'Yea, that's me.' Danny was attempting not to glare at this guy because he knew how much he meant to Lindsay. It was not easy though with the two of them hugging like that. 'So what brings you to our neck of the woods then?'

Nate placed his arm casually around Lindsay's shoulder, which made Lindsay glow with pride and made Danny nearly have an aneurysm. 'Well, when Bea told me that Lindsay had been in town a couple of weeks ago, I was so disappointed that I had missed her and had to come and see her.'

'Well, we're very glad you are here, aren't we Danny?' Lindsay asked looking at him pointedly.

'Yes, ecstatic.'

Lindsay rolled her eyes. Danny had told her that he wasn't jealous of Nate but over the weekend, everytime she mentioned his name the look on Danny's face was clear – jealousy. Maybe it was because she had mentioned it every two seconds or maybe because when Lindsay had shown a photo to Stella, Stella had said 'you two would have made such a lovely couple.' Lindsay knew there was no reason for Danny to fear Nate. She was with Danny and Nate knew this. Besides, there had never been anything sexual between the two of them ever.

Taking Danny's hand in hers, he seemed to relax slightly. She gave it a gentle squeeze and he turned to look at her, giving her an apologetic smile. She smiled back with forgiveness and nodded her head in the direction of Nate's bag. Sighing inside, Danny quickly picked it up and the three of them headed towards the car park.

'So, how long are you planning to grace us with your presence, Nate?' Danny asked casually as he attempted to keep up with the other two. Despite Lindsay being at a disadvantage with the extra weight she was carrying, it was nothing compared to the weight Danny had suddenly been lumbered with. What on earth had Nate packed – his tractor?

'Not sure yet, mate. Whenever Lindy Hop gets annoyed with me.' He said with a grin at Lindsay, who blushed back.

'I can't believe you just called me that!' She said, giving him a light push. Nate giggled and stuck his tongue out, quickly dodging out of the way of her hand.

'Lindy Hop?' Danny thought to himself. 'What sort of a nickname was that?' Personally he thought Montana was a much better nickname for her.

Finally, they arrived at the car. And not a moment too soon, thought Danny, who was positive that his shoulder had now been dislocated due to the weight he had just lugged along. Dumping it with a sigh of relief into the boot, he clambered into the driver's seat. Realising that it was Lindsay and not Nate that he was now sitting next to, he gave a big smile.

Lindsay leaned over and gently kissed him on the cheek, before moving her head to whisper in his ear. 'I didn't want you doing anything stupid.'

Danny chuckled softly, daring to take a sneak peek at Nate as Lindsay drew back. Nate was watching them with interest and, for a split second, what appeared to Danny to be jealousy. Danny shook this feeling off and concentrated on driving back to the city. The journey was silent except for a few moments when Lindsay pointed out various landmarks to Nate. These were usually followed by a remark from Danny about how rubbish it actually was and that tourists really bugged him.

Finally, Danny stopped the car just short of the front door to Lindsay's apartment block. Noticing the difficulty Danny was having with Nate's bag, Jack, the doorman, quickly rushed over and took it from him. Danny smiled gratefully.

'Planning on having a threesome?' Jack asked slyly, glancing at the new man. Normally he wouldn't dream of speaking this way to a boyfriend of a resident, especially one who has a cop, but he and Danny had become good friends from the number of hours Danny had stood outside, begging Lindsay to let him up.

Danny playfully slugged him on the arm. 'Very funny. No this is Nate, an old friend of Montana's from Montana. He's staying for a few days. Hopefully not too long.' He muttered the last part under his breath. Jack grinned at him and the two men followed Lindsay and Nate inside.

**

'Now, are you sure you're going to be alright?' Lindsay stood in front of the sofa the following morning and looked down at Nate who was sitting on it, still in his sleepwear.

'Yes, MUM,' Nate emphasised the last word. 'I've got all your phone numbers, the key to your apartment, a map, a guide to New York, and a Metro Card. I'm all set.'

Lindsay smiled and rubbed his hair affectionately. 'OK, why don't you pop to the lab at lunchtime and Danny and I will take you out. You remember where it is?'

Nate opened the map and proudly potted to the circle that Lindsay had drawn on the map. She had also marked her apartment, the nearest subway station and various places she thought he may enjoy.

'Very good! My lunch break will be at 12.15 so try to be there a bit before. It takes about twenty minutes on the subway.' There was a sudden knock on the door. 'Oh, that'll be Danny.'

'That's impressive that you know when you're lunch break is. Usually, when I ring to find out when you can talk you have absolutely no idea.'

'Well, that's one of the benefits of being pregnant.' Lindsay called over her shoulder.

Nate heard the door open and Danny greeting his girlfriend with a 'hello' and a kiss. There was then hushed voices followed by a little giggle from Lindsay. Before Nate had a chance to move closer to hear what they were saying, the pair entered the living area, Danny's arm flung casually over Lindsay's shoulders.

'Morning, Nate.' Danny said with a smile. He had promised Lindsay that he was going to make an effort with Nate. After all, there was really nothing for him to be worried about. Lindsay had explained to him that she and Nate had been friends since they attended kindergarten together. Lindsay had always seen him as her best mate and never as anything more.

'Morning, Danny.' Nate returned the politeness, although it appeared that his smile was a lot more forced than Danny's had been.

'Danny, I've invited Nate to come and have lunch with us. So, I thought we could go to Ray's.'

'Sounds good to me. You know I never say no to Ray's.' Danny grinned at Lindsay and quickly kissed her on the cheek. 'Well, I guess we'd better get going otherwise Mac's going to get angry.'

He picked up Lindsay's coat from the end of the sofa and helped her into it. 'Well, he will get angry with me not you.'

'Another benefit of being pregnant.' Lindsay explained to Nate who chuckled loudly. 'Right, we will see you later.' She walked over to the couch, leaned down and kissed him on the head. Danny's hand stretched out to her, she returned to him and took hold of it. Waving in unison the pair headed out of the apartment.

**

'So, what did you guys get up to after I left last night?' Danny asked as they made their way to the subway. After Nate had finished unpacking his things the three of them had gone out for dinner before returning to watch a movie they picked up from the rental shop. Danny had gone home at around 11 o'clock mainly due to the fact that he had no clean clothes currently at Lindsay's place.

'Not much,' Lindsay shrugged non-committally. 'Just chatted about the old times, y'know. He's the only one left in Bozeman out of our group of friends, it must be difficult with everyone having moved away.'

'Who else was there?' Danny asked, swiping his card that would allow him through the turnstile and into the subway station. Lindsay quickly followed suit and hurried after him.

'Well, there's Barry who married his girlfriend from college and moved to San Francisco. Kevin inherited a farm near Buchanan in North Dakota. And...' She trailed off, knowing Danny would realise who she was talking about.

Danny gave her a sad smile and squeezed her hand. 'Why didn't Nate move away?'

'I suppose he never had a need to. His parents were quite poorly so he spent a few years looking after them. When they passed away, he felt that he could never sell their house nor let anyone else live in it. Don't get me wrong, he's made new friends but it's never really the same thing.'

'Is that why he's come to see you?' Their train pulled into the station and the two of them hopped on board. Quickly making his way to an empty seat he put his leg up on it so that he was saving it and showing his police badge to anyone who would dare to ask him for it. Lindsay tapped him on the shoulder and he moved out of the way, letting her sit down.

'In answer to your question, yes. He's taken a few months off work and is going around all of us. I think he was visiting Kevin when I went home. Actually, Kevin's girlfriend was in Bozeman whilst I was there and I met up with her, sweet girl. I think Nate's really enjoying getting connected with all of us again because he said to me that it was like being with family again.'

'He obviously means a lot to you.' Danny said, trying to word his sentence correctly, not wanting to upset her by his tone of voice.

Lindsay thought for a moment. 'Well, they all do really. But it was after...after the girls died that we became really close. Barry and Kevin dealt with it in one way and Nate and I in another. He was a lot more sensitive than the others and he took their deaths hard. Almost as bad as I did.' Tears were starting to form in Lindsay's eyes as they often did when she talked for too long about her friends.

Danny gently pulled him to her and gave her a squeeze before talking about something happier. 'Y'know what Nate is doing is not a bad idea. Maybe we could do that after the baby's born, go and visit all your friends. We could do it as part of our honeymoon.'

'Yes, but only people who are getting married go on honeymoons.' Lindsay reminded him as she stood up to get off the train. Danny had not mentioned getting married since that day he had proposed after asking her about her family's medical history. Not exactly the way he had imagined doing it and had vowed to himself that next time it would be much better. That had been a few weeks ago now and remembering what Lindsay had said about it being the wrong time, he was beginning to wonder when the right time would be. So, he decided to begin dropping hints, never actually proposing but seeing what her reaction would be. This time it had been negative but he could always try again another day.

'Well, even if it wasn't for our honeymoon we could still go, couldn't we?' Danny quickly followed her onto the platform with into the crowds of people.

'Yes, I think it's a wonderful idea. Thank you.' She quickly pulled him to her and gave him a long, hard kiss.

'Hey, don't thank me. Thank Nate.'

'Nah, you're much more fun to thank.' She told him with a grin, leaning in for another kiss. Danny was certainly not complaining, she could thank him all day if she wanted.

**

'Right, Danny, Lindsay – updates. What have you found out?' Mac walked into the layout room where they were both hard at work. Lindsay was in the process of scanning the imprint from the vic's wrist into the computer, whilst Danny was processing the bullet that Sid had pulled from the body.

'I'm just scanning the imprint in to see if I can find out the make of the watch that the vic was wearing. Mac, obviously someone kept this body well preserved for the past ten days. After all, we all initially thought that he had been shot that morning. Also, the imprint on the wrist is fresh so it was definitely not removed at time of death.' Lindsay turned to the computer screen as the image flashed up. Peering closely at the screen, she closed in on a particular area.

'What's that?' Mac asked, gesturing at the screen. Lindsay recognised the cymbal immediately.

'It's a Kelvin Hoat watch, very rare and expensive. Each watch has a unique code so that it can be traced back to the owner. I'm going to look to see if the code has imprinted itself onto the skin.' She expertly scanned in on the area where she knew the code to be. Then frowned slightly. 'That's odd. The code is always at the 10 o'clock position, along with the date that the watch was purchased but they are both missing. It appears that someone has scratched them off.'

'Why would someone do that?'

'Maybe because of this.' Danny stood up from what he was doing and opened up an evidence bag. Pulling the vic's cellphone out, he quickly plugged it into the computer and went into the phone's outbox. He opened up a message which read, 'Thanks for giving me your watch. I have what I always wanted in return for giving you what you always wanted. Go to the cops and I'll take you down too.'

Mac slowly pieced the bits of information together. 'It appears that Mark Foreman did something for the watch owner in return for the watch.'

'Yea, something illegal.' Danny quipped to himself. 'So do you think the watch owner is our suspect?'

'He must be, otherwise why would you deface a Kelvin Hoat watch,' Lindsay replied, reaching for her bottle of water and taking a sip. 'He must have known that we could trace it back to him, so he probably scratched it off before handing it over to Mark. He knew that if Mark got caught and squealed on him then the watch could be used to find him.'

'So, why not remove the watch at the time of the murder?'

'Boom!' Danny suddenly shouted out as his computer made a confirmation sound that it had found something. 'I've been running the bullet through IBIS and it came from a gun that was used in a previous crime.'

'What was it?' Both Lindsay and Mac leaned over either side of Danny, trying to get a better look

'It was used for poaching in North Dakota back in 2006.' Danny tapped the keyboard a few times to find out who it was registered to. 'Look at that. It's registered to a one Mark Foreman.' A picture appeared next to the name and their vic was looking back at them.'

'I guess that explains it then.' Lindsay said, gazing thoughtfully between her screen and Danny's. 'Can I run my theory, Mac?'

Mac nodded and turned to Danny who was grinning, they both enjoyed Lindsay's theories.

'I think that Mark must have gotten greedy and wanted more than the watch. After all, the message was sent five days before TOD. Mark probably realised that he could bribe the watch owner more than he already had so must have gone round to see them with his gun. I think Mark threatened this guy and a fight broke out, the gun ended up in the hands of our suspect, who shot Mark in blind panic. I don't think that this guy would have kept the body for ten days if he had been planning on killing him. I reckon that he held onto him whilst he figured out what to do. Due to all the worrying, he completely forgot about the watch until the last moment when the body got dumped and he removed it.'

'I see your point, Lindsay,' Mac said respectfully. But Mac being Mac he always had to turn things around and look at it from another view. 'But what if this was all planned?'

'What do you mean?'

'We know that the last place Mark was definitely alive was in Jamestown three weeks ago. There is no record of him ever getting on a plane, a bus or train. His car was found at his house and he definitely did not get a taxi because all his money is still in his wallet. This has to mean that he was murdered in Jamestown.'

'So, why then was his body dumped in New York?' Danny said slowly, catching on to Mac's theory. 'If he was murdered in a panic then there would be no reason to drive his body over 1500 miles. OK, I can see that you may hang onto the body for the ten days but then you would just dump it somewhere nearby.'

'I definitely think this murder was planned and the dumping of the body in Manhattan is a message.'

'Message to whom, Mac?' Lindsay wanted to know.

'I'm not sure, Lindsay. But we are going to find out.'

**

Lindsay groaned in frustration. She had been trying to figure out who their killer was but everytime she thought she had gotten somewhere, it only led to a dead end. Lindsay knew that her best lead was the watch. When Sid had examined the body there had been no prints or trace anywhere so Lindsay knew there was no point in running anything. If only she could find out who that watched belong to. A Kevin Hoat watch was something that was treasured and only given away as a last resort. The owner would wear it with pride and the engraving of the code would mean that if ever the worst was to happen and it got lost, it could be found as soon as possible.

'Lindsay, are you running those prints?' Stella's voice shook Lindsay awake.

Lindsay turned, confused. 'What prints? Sid checked the body and there weren't any.'

'Well, I just got a phone call from the new ME saying that some prints have suddenly appeared. They probably took a little while to come up since the body had been frozen.'

Stella turned at the sound of a knock. A lab tech was holding out an evidence bag which contained the prints and two photographs of their location on the body.

'Looking at the position of these fingers, two of them on the neck.' Stella said, pointing them out.

'Our killers possibly? Wanting to make sure that he was dead?'

'Looks that way. Let's run them through and see what we get.'

Lindsay opened the scanner and laid the prints inside. The scan whirred into live and the green light moved up once, twice and then stopped. The print blinked onto the screen and Lindsay clicked the button to do a nationwide search.

'So, how are things going with you and Danny?'

'Great, really great. It's been fantastic just getting to know each other again. Although, there won't be much of that going on this week.'

'Ah yes, your visitor. Got lots of things planned for him?'

'He's coming here at lunchtime and we're-'

'Lindsay Monroe?' A voice interrupted them. The women turned to the doorway to see a tall man with balding hair that neither recognised along with three of their own security men.

'That's me.' Lindsay said slowly, raising her hand as if she were in school.

'My name is Special Agent Harry Nichols, North Dakota FBI.' As he spoke, he flipped open his badge to prove that he was really who he said he was.

'Hey, Lindsay are you read-' Danny came sauntering in to the room, stopping dead when he saw Special Agent Nichols and the three security guards. 'What's going on?'

'Danny, in a minute.' Lindsay held up her finger, telling him to be quiet. 'What can I do for you, sir?'

Suddenly the computer flashed up a picture and a name. A sudden gasp filled the room.

'Lindsay Monroe, I'm arresting you on suspicion of the murder of Mark Foreman.'

**

A/N: Mwah-ha-ha! Thought I'd give you a bit of a cliffhanger there!! If you want to find out more, you'd better review!!!