Chapter VII: All is clear suddenly

"The sound of your heart beating

Made it clear suddenly

The feeling that I can't go on

Is light years away"

~*~

Mac is very determined man but he's also comforting.

So many nights passed by, so many fears vanished as I listened his heartbeat.

The mere sound of his heart beating made all things more clear. Made the fears irrational.

And then, it chased those feelings light years away. To another galaxy where they can't return.

He did it to me. He did it to Peyton. And now, he'll do and is doing it to Stella.

Because that's who Mac is. Always loving and always caring for his loved ones.

~*~

"Here are the tapes from the cam where Bessie was kidnapped," Flack brought the tapes to Mac next day.

"OK, let's watch them. How long do they save them?" Mac asked.

"It's your lucky day Mac. For some reason, they're saving them for two weeks. And that's exactly when Bessie was kidnapped. Then there's also the tape from the morning Linda was kidnapped," Flack told.

"Good. Which tape is the one where Bessie is taken?"

"This one. The second is where Linda is kidnapped".

Mac pushed the tape to the VCR and both men sat to watch it. They saw what happened the day when Bessie was kidnapped but they didn't see the person who took Bessie. One minute Bessie was waiting for her mother with her nanny and twin sister, the next, she let go of Manny's hand, when a car stopped near them. She climbed into the car and it drove away. Manuela Higgin, the nanny and Bessie's sister were watching the shop window and Manny perhaps thought that Bessie just let go of her hand because she didn't want to hold on anymore.

But then she turned around and saw that Bessie was missing.

"That must've been awful moment for her," Flack commented when they finished watching the first tape.

"Yeah. Well, let's watch the second one," Mac suggested, "Maybe we get better image of the car".

The second tape was better than the first one because it had been filmed in more daylight. The camera showed two girls in front of some shop again, waiting for someone. There was nobody with them. A dark blue car stopped near them. The driver said something to the girls.

"The other girl must be Sandra Miller, Linda's twin sister," Flack deduced. Then, all of a sudden, started to happen. Both of the girls ran to the window where the driver must've spoken with them.

"What the hell just happened?" Mac asked surprised, when they saw the driver come out of the car, grabbed Sandra's hand and dragged her to where she stood before. Then the driver ran back to his car and drove away with Linda in the car.

"The kid saw the drivers face," Flack was flabbergasted.

"Maybe she saw the license plate too," Mac hoped," Let's bring her here". But Don was already going.

~*~

"The car was definitely dark blue, very dark blue," Sandra Miller told to Don and Mac at the PD. Don had brought Sandra and her father there. Sandra had two brown pigtails.

"Do you remember the model?" Don asked.

"It was a Toyota and there were three letters and a number," the girl said.

"Wow, your daughter is very smart Mr. Miller," Don complemented Sandra's father.

"I saw the driver and the plate too," Sandra intervened, "Do you have pen and paper?" she asked and then she listed the letters and numbers of the license plate to Don.

"You're a brave girl Sandra. I was wondering if you could describe the driver to one of my colleagues so she could draw the bad person who took your sister." Mac asked from Sandra.

"Sure. Are you gonna find Linda?" she asked trustfully.

"Yes we are. Thank you Sandra. Don will take you to the sketch artist Mr. Miller. Thank you very much," Mac said to Sandra's father when the father and daughter were leaving with Flack.

"And I'll put an APB for a dark blue Toyota RAV4 with this plate," Don said to Mac.

"Good. I hope we'll find the driver before he does anything to Linda," Mac nodded.

~*~

Back at the labs, Mac met Stella who just came from the toilet. She didn't notice him though and got scared when Mac spoke to her.

"Hello Stella," he said to her.

"Oh, hi Mac," Stella said and quickly hid something to her rear pocket, blushing.

"Are you OK Stel?" Mac frowned when he saw Stella's blush.

"Yeah, I'm fine Mac," Stella assured.

"Don't you want to hear the good news?"

"Yeah, I do. But, um, I've got to meet Hawkes now so tell them later. When we're at home," Stella said and rushed away. Mac just remained standing there, in the middle of the corridor, looking after Stella when Lindsay ran into him.

"Hello Mac. I heard that you've found something new," she said to Mac.

"Yeah, we did," Mac admitted, still wondering what was with Stella.

"Good. Now, why are you standing there?" Lindsay asked from Mac.

"Oh, I just bumped into Stella and she was acting very strangely. Do you have any idea of why she's acting like that?" Mac replied.

"Hey, look at the time. I'm sorry Mac, I've got to go. I've got a meeting with…Sid. See you later," Lindsay suddenly noticed and she too hurried away as she would know something but didn't want to tell it to Mac. Mac was now even more puzzled than few minutes ago.

~*~

"Care to tell me what was that all about in the lab today?" Mac asked that night, when he and Stella were just sitting on the couch.

"I'll tell you when some things are certain," Stella said.

"Some things? What are you hiding from me, Stel?" but Stella just smiled and put her head on Mac's chest.

"You know Mac, only some time ago, I was feeling so lost and thinking that I can't go on. But now, when I'm listening your heart beating, things are getting clear. This sounds funny but it's like your heart beat chases my fears away, light years away," she said to Mac who smiled and was relieved that Stella didn't said that she was sick or anything, though his question wasn't answered.