DISCLAIMER - Still don't own it. Boo.

A/N - OK, this is the last chapter I already had written - although all of them have been heavily polished up! So there may be a wait till the next one. On the other hand, maybe not… Oh, cookie if you recognise the reference in here to a CSI episode, and the last quote that will be in this story…

The following morning, Stella arrived at the lab to find that everyone else was already hard at work. The break room was empty, and a half-full pot of coffee was still hot when she found it. Normally even the most diligent of lab techs would take a little nudging to work at full pace with the boss away, but Stella's only clash had been with Lindsey, who was not involved in Mac's investigation. Her triple-homicide case was still running. Sheldon, who was watching a foot-high stack of security tapes, was probably just as concerned. She walked out of the room with her coffee in hand, only to collide with Danny.

"Hey Stella." he said, recovering quickly, and rushing past her.

"Hey - wait, where's the fire?"

Danny spun on his heel. "Louise - document analysis. She's taking a look at the latest letters."

Stella swallowed a large mouthful of scalding coffe, and jogged to catch up with the younger CSI as he barrelled toward the lab tech's station. Louise Richmond was one of the most experienced techs they had. Anything that went through her was pretty much guaranteed to produce results. Despite this success rate, she was also notorious for complaining about the quality of the equipment she worked with, and the fact that she still did not have a room of her own to work in. It was shared with two other techs, who were also involved in document analysis.

As always, Louise's work area was pristine. She gestured to chairs as the CSIs walked in, without even looking up. There were two computers on her left - one that dealt with departmental emails, reports, and so on, and another which dealt specifically with document analysis. On the wall next to her desk, a large screen displayed what she had under the scanner. It was the note Flack had told them about in the bar. With a quick glance sideways, Stella caught Danny's eye. The younger CSI looked just as disturbed by it as she felt.

"Uh - huh." Louise murmured to herself.

Danny frowned. "What?"

The tech ignored him for a moment, while she magnified a small area of the paper. Tiny dots appeared in one corner of it. They formed a small line, almost like a drag mark.

"Looks like a defective printer."

"And that helps us how?"

Louise fixed him with a glare. "You wanna take over here? Or can I just do my job?"

"Hey, come on guys. Let's remember why we're doing this, and calm down." Stella said.

"Paper's high-end. Very expensive stuff."

The CSIs sat patiently and listened as Louise took them through a few notable points. It was nothing that could help them get any closer to finding the guy, but once they had a suspect, it could be useful. Eventually, she stopped, and turned towards them.

"Look," Louise sighed, "I want to be more help, but there's nothing remarkable about these notes. Next step is fingerprinting… but I wouldn't hold your breath." She took off her glasses and chewed absentmindedly on one arm of them. "This guy is clever. I don't think you're gonna find a damn thing."

Meanwhile, Mac walked into the lab feeling oddly nervous. He worked hard to keep up a professional exterior, and Timothy Baywarer was destroying it. In telling Flack, and getting it all out in the open, he felt Stella was destroying it too. A little voice in the back of his head reminded him that he would have done exactly the same in her position. In fact, the voice - which sounded oddly like Claire - said, you wouldn't have reacted half as well as she has, would you?

"Hey Mac. Good to see ya."

He smiled briefly at Danny's cheerful greeting. "Hey."

"You back from suspension so soon?"

"After half a day? No. Chief wants to speak to me." Catching a flicker of worry crossing the younger man's face, Mac rolled his eyes. "He's not gonna fire me."

Danny tried to look convinced. "Yeah. Uh - Stella and me just looked at the last letter. Nothing on it."

Mac nodded. He hadn't expected there to be. "I'd better go. The Chief doesn't like to be kept waiting."

He turned away from Danny and headed for the elevators. In truth, Mac had been hoping to get to his office before anyone saw him, in case there were any more letters. As he stepped into the elevator, his hand reached into his jacket pocket, and rested on the corner of a slim white envelope.

Part of him knew that he should give the note to Stella, or Flack. But everything was spinning out of control so fast that he couldn't relinquish it. Timothy Baywater was his problem, not theirs. Mac's shaking hand took the envelope out of his pocket. He looked at for a second, before tearing it open. It was the same thick paper, but this time, a piece was torn off one corner. Mac inspected the plain side carefully. There didn't seem to be anything special about it. He opened the letter.

TAYLOR

'WOMEN ARE NATURALLY SECRETIVE, AND THEY LIKE TO DO THEIR OWN SECRETING.'

THIS COULD BE TALKING ABOUT CLAIRE. SHE HAD HER SECRETS, AND I WILL PASS THEM ONTO YOU BEFORE THIS ENDS. YOUR FRIENDS WILL NOT BE SUCCESSFUL IN THEIR EFFORTS TO FIND ME. PERHAPS YOU WILL GIVE IN, IF I TELL YOU THAT WE HAVE ALREADY MET. THINK BACK, TAYLOR. WAS IT YEARS AGO, IN CLAIRE'S COMPANY? OR WAS IT YESTERDAY MORNING, ON THE SUBWAY? THEY CAN TRY TO STOP ME, BUT IT WILL BE IMPOSSIBLE AS LONG AS NONE OF YOU KNOW WHAT I LOOK LIKE. WATCH YOUR BACK.

T.B.

He folded the letter back up, and slid it into the envelope. His heart was thudding in his chest. Over the past few days, Mac had tried to convince himself that Baywater was having no effect on him.

Instinct told him that he should hand the letter over. For a moment, Mac tried to stop himself. The elevator stopped, and the doors opened. His hand shot out, and stabbed at the buttons. With a jolt, the elevator moved again. This time, instinct won.