Chapter Six: Our Suspect Is What?

"Any word on that DNA test?" Mac Taylor asked Adam Ross the next morning.

The young lab tech nodded. "Your results are in. And Mac, I want you to know that I ran them through four times. I even powered down the machine and started over again."

"You're not telling me you found krypton again, are you?" Mac Taylor asked him.

"Haha…no." Adam shook his head. "Maybe you better look at it for yourself." He handed over the results to Mac. Mac scanned the paper.

"You ran this through-"

"Four times. Count them. The results are the same."

Mac looked at the tech. "Adam…the DNA under our victim's fingernails belong to Grayson North…who has been dead for a week."

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In Mac's office, Stella and Lindsay were trying to calm a hysterical Mariah Banks. Not sure what else to do with her, Danny and Lindsay and Sheldon had brought her to the lab. Lindsay had supplied her with her extra set of clothes from her locker, and Danny had made coffee. The frightened young woman sat shivering in Mac's office.

"I-I know you said wait," Mariah told Lindsay. "And I did. I swear to you. I don't remember going outside. I just remember all of a sudden being out there…and feeling very, very scared. I took off running. Then I heard him behind me." She took a sip of her coffee and continued. "I turned into the alley, and then he was….he was there and he threw me down and…and I remember his eyes. They were gold, and like…glowing. Then you showed up…and he ran."

Mariah looked into Lindsay's eyes, terrified. "Is he going to come find me? Will he kill me like he did Gennifer?"

Stella met Lindsay's eyes. "No," Stella told her firmly. "We're not going to let that happen."

There was a knock on the door, and Detective Don Flack stuck his head in. "May I?"

"Come on in, Flack," Stella said, smiling. "Flack, this is Mariah Banks."

"Nice to meet you, Miss Banks," Flack said. "You mind if I ask you some questions?"

Mariah nodded. "O-Okay."

"Great." He looked at Stella. "Stel, you mind if we use the office?"

"Go ahead," Stella replied. "We still on for lunch tomorrow?"

"Absolutely. I'm always up for free food."

"Wait, who said I was buying?" Stella asked as she and Lindsay got ready to leave the room.

Flack grinned at her. "I believe you did."

"When?"

Flack raised his eyebrows at her. "I think you remember."

Lindsay distinctly noticed that her friend Stella turned a bright shade of pink. Lindsay bit her tongue to keep from laughing. "We'll see you later," Lindsay finally managed, and grabbed Stella's hand and pulled her out of Mac's office. Once outside, she couldn't hold her laughter in anymore.

Stella smacked her with her open palm on the shoulder. "Oh, stop that," Stella said, but even her mouth was twitching towards a smile.

Mac came out of the DNA lab. His features were grim. Stella noticed almost instantly. "Mac?"

He pointed inside to where Adam was busily resetting the equipment to put the DNA sample from under Gennifer Holland's nails to the test. "Our DNA taken from under our victim's fingernails comes back as belonging to Grayson North, age 36."

"Great, we've got a hit. Let's go find him. What's his address?"

Mac tapped the results page. "Eastwood Cemetery, row 31, plot 17."

Lindsay's jaw dropped. "Wait. He's dead?"

Mac said, "That's why we're running it through for a fifth time."

"Mac, if it comes back to Grayson North again, do you realize what we're going to have to do?" Stella asked him.

He nodded grimly. "Yeah. We're going to have to go dig him up."

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