A/N: Again, I'm very sorry for the slow updates, but life is running me over right now. Not to mention me getting/being sick. Anyway, I still don't own CSI:NY, CSI:Miami, CBS, or any other known entity. I own Hailey, Neil, and the rest of the bad guys. This is another chapter where POV changes, just as an FYI. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter, and please, please, please review!


Chapter 6

As soon as Mac and Danny return from the warehouse, Mac enters his office as the phone rings. "Detective Taylor," he answers quickly while I sit unnoticed in the corner of the room. Beyond venturing to the break room for a cup of coffee, I haven't really left Mac's office. And frankly, I'd rather stay here. "Okay, great. We'll see you soon." He hangs up and sighs softly. "That was Lieutenant Caine," he says, turning to me. I furrow my brow.

"I didn't think you…" I begin. He sighs again, walking towards me.

"It's my job to notice things." I nod.

"What did Horatio want?" I ask as I watch Mac sit down across from me.

"There wasn't much evidence of who took him, but they think they have a location on where he was taken to," he says. "Eric and Ryan are working there, while Calleigh is going over some things with Alexx. Horatio's on his way up here." I nod again before sighing and resting my head against the wall. "We'll find him, Hailey."

"I know. What'd you guys get at the warehouse?"

"I think I know who killed our victim. There was evidence of at least three people in the room, one of which was Tim. One was our victim, and the other was the victim's accomplice. These two were holding Tim in the room, and evidence suggests our victim was starting to get sympathetic and wanted to go to the police. The accomplice couldn't let that happen, though."

"Because he didn't want to go to prison for kidnapping."

"Right."

"So he killed the guy to avoid prison. I imagine Tim's probably telling him to either give up and turn himself in or kill himself now, because either way he's going to prison." Mac chuckles softly.

"Yeah."

"What I want to know is why? Why kidnap Tim? What do these people get out of this?"

"Our victim, Jake Laslow, was a small time criminal with big connections for drugs. He had been in prison with Neil before, probably where they met, and the two became friends."

"So Neil hired him to kidnap Tim, and things went awry when Neil was killed?"

"I don't know about that yet. We need to ID the other guys first, and see where that takes us."

"I wonder how things would've been different if Neil hadn't gone with Horatio into that jewelry store…"


(Tim's POV)

I wake up, looking around at the new surroundings. A much more posh location than last time. Most likely because it's somebody's house. The fat guy (as I've come to know him) walks in, alone. Usually the string bean's with him, but not today. I don't even think String Bean's here.

"Mornin', Timmy," he spouts in the worst Irish accent I've ever heard. This guy seriously needs to watch a movie or two, really get that down. I say nothing, because talking's kind of hard with a gag on. Instead, I just stare angrily at him, the same way I've done every day for… a while, now. I've lost all sense of time.

"You're goin' to tell me everythin' about your sister, Hailey, today. Her friends, her boyfriend, everythin' you know. Otherwise, I'm goin' to break every bone in your body, for starters." He takes off the gag, and I cough.

"You don't scare me," I reply quietly. My voice is hoarse from disuse, and sounds foreign even to me.

"Really? Because I should. Either you tell me everythin', or I'll kill you."

"Go ahead. Everyone already thinks I'm dead. Why not make it true?"

"Those friggen cops know you're not." He stomps on my foot, and I can feel the excess weight on his body working to break the bones in my foot. I groan, but maintain my control. "That's only just the beginnin', Timmy. Tell me about Hailey."

"No," I say. "You can try all you want, but I'm not going to talk."

"Tell me, and I might just let her live," he says. I shake my head, and he punches me hard across the face. "I already know she's datin' Danny Messer. I'm sure my connections can get me everythin' I want to know. This was your last chance to save her. Looks like you chose to be stupid." He kicks me in the stomach for good measure before leaving the room and leaving me to close my eyes. I rest my head against the wall as the physical pain washes over me mixed with worry. What the hell have we gotten into?


(Hailey's POV)

Mac and I are still sitting on the floor in the corner when Stella comes in. "Mac?" she asks.

"Yeah?" he replies, turning to her. She walks over, slightly confused.

"Why are you guys on the floor?"

"Because it's the only place in Mac's office you can sit and no one outside can see you," I answer. She looks sympathetically at me. "Everyone in the lab knows about Tim's fingerprints being at the scene, and everyone's just acting funny. And then seeing me hanging out in Mac's office? Even more weird. I wanted to hide."

"I'm sorry," she says softly.

"What's up?"

"The pill Danny found crushed up on the floor was diazepam."

"Benzos," Mac says.

"Yeah, and they're not available without a prescription. Turns out they belonged to our victim, Jake Laslow."

"But you can bet he wasn't taking them," I say.

"His tox is clean," Stella confirms.

"So, they used the diazepam to subdue Tim."

"Only, I think he somehow managed to avoid taking them. Danny found a couple crushed up pills there."

"Maybe Jake stopped giving them to Tim. Kidnapper's remorse?"

"Something tells me this whole situation has gotten out of hand," Mac says, standing up. "Somewhere along the line, something went wrong."

"Why else would you risk taking a hostage across state lines?" Stella says.

"But no one in Miami knew Tim was still alive," I point out. "They all thought Neil was Tim and they knew they buried him. They didn't know Tim was still out there."

"Who in Miami knew Tim had a twin?"

"I don't know. Horatio had to, because Neil's in CODIS and AFIS. If he ever committed a crime down there, Tim's DNA would come up just the same as Neil's. I'm sure Tim explained it to him. As for the rest of the team, though, I don't know that anyone else did until now."

"What about Tim's enemies in Miami?" Mac asks.

"I don't know that he had any more than the rest of us do," I reply. "He's had some bad takedowns, but I don't know that any of them got out or would hire people to kidnap him. I don't know that Neil was in with any of them. Because in order for this to work, they had to know Neil."

"Who in Miami knew Neil?"

"I don't know, Mac. I don't know anything about Neil's life. You could ask my mom, but I don't know anything." He nods, thinking.

"Did Neil owe anyone anything?" Stella asks. "Something where they might take his brother to pay for it?"

"I don't think so, but even if they did, the evidence doesn't really suggest that," I say. "I mean, they had Neil pretend to be Tim. If they were after Neil and using Tim to get to him, why would they have Neil pretend to be Tim?"

"So, Tim is our intended target," Mac says as Danny walks in.

"Got a hit on another set of prints at the warehouse," he says. "They came back to a David Jeffries, con man down south. He has some outstanding warrants for theft, burglaries, assault with a deadly weapon and, get this, kidnapping. He's been on the run for years, last thought to be seen in Miami, Florida."

"So, David is our guy holding onto Tim," Stella says.

"But who is he working for?" Mac asks as Aiden walks in.

"I might have an answer for that," she says as Flack joins us as well. "I was looking at known associates for Jeffries and Laslow, and came up with this guy." She hands a file over to Mac, who looks at it. "Vincenzo Garafonti, leader of the Garafonti crime family here in NY. Another known associate for the family is…"

"Neil Speedle." Shit. I knew he was in with the mob, but not that mob.

"Yeah. Neil was the one that started the whole Miami part of the family with David Jeffries after Neil got out of prison last month. They mostly front the drug trade and stay away from murder as much as possible."

"Trying to stay below the radar," I say.

"Right," Aiden says before continuing. "Now, Garafonti let Neil pretty much lead the Miami group, which consists of Jeffries, Neil, Laslow, and another guy named Chris Hollister. Hollister, however, washed up in DC a few weeks ago, capped in the back of his head."

"So, Chris was in on it, then didn't want to run, so they killed him."

"According to the organized crime unit, Garafonti knew Miami was his more renegade group, but didn't sever ties with them until Hollister wound up dead. The only one left of Miami is Jeffries."

"But still, what did they want with Tim?"

"Maybe it was Neil exacting his revenge?" Danny asks. I shrug.

"I don't know," I say.

"If that's the case, why keep him in hiding now?" Mac asks.

"Because it proves that Neil's dead. Tim can't be Neil, but Neil could be Tim."

"Plus, letting him go proves jail time," Aiden says.

"But why keep him alive all this time?" Flack asks. "I mean, Neil's dead. Why keep Tim around?"

"Jeffries needs Tim for something," Mac says. "We need to know what that is and find them before things get worse."