Chapter 7


The door shut and Flack walked up to the one way window. He could tell that the boyfriend was really shocked, unless he was just a great actor. Angell turned toward Don and studied his face, trying to see inside his mind.

"That was genuine. No one could pull off an act that convincing," she said, looking back to Sean Kollins. He'd now put his head down and his whole body was racked in sobs. Angell pitied him; Flack could hear it in her voice.

"Yeah, I know. Still, with the way this case is, we can't rule him out." Angell nodded and Flack motioned her out of the room. Along the way, he told one of the nearby officers to let Kollins out.

Angell followed Flack out to his desk, where he bent over to dig through mountains of paper. Angell looked around his 'domain'. Aside from his huge stacks of paperwork, there was nothing that showed of the man that sat here. No family pictures, no birthday cards, no nothing.

"You need to get some pictures in here, Don," she stated.

"Well Jess, if you want, you can send me some...though I doubt they'd stay here long. See, there are a lot of guys here who wouldn't mind seeing you...," he started, turning to her with a twinkle in his bright blue eyes. Angell moved forward and covered his mouth with her hand, effectively stopping the rest of the sentence... along with time. For a moment, it was the two of them; Angell's hand slowly moving away from his mouth, his breath hot on her skin, and Don looking down on her face. For a moment, she saw his eyes darken and her breath hitched in her throat. Oh boy...

The slamming of a door seemed to awaken each of them that they were standing in the crowded police building, surrounded by about fifty other people. Angell dropped her hand and quickly stuffed it in her pocket. Flack turned back to his desk and grabbed his phone.

"I, uh, gotta call Mac," Flack said, grabbing out his phone. Angell felt awkward, but nodded, and with a quick 'See you later', she was gone. Flack sat down in his chair, closed his eyes, and let out the breath he didn't realize he'd been holding. Damn door.

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About forty minutes and two phone calls later, Mac was still stuck with no leads. Flack and Angell had interrogated Sean Kollins, with no results. The boyfriend had been truly shocked to hear about the death of his girlfriend. Besides that, his alibi checked out. And according to Danny and Lindsay, the vet clinic didn't provide many answers.

Okay, so we've got a young, high profile business woman. She was drugged with chloroform, which is common, not much useful there. She was beaten with a rolling pin, which has no symbolic meaning to Ann Roth. She was shot twice, using a nine millimeter. And all we have to go on is a red carpet fiber from a van that was reported stolen.

The case just had too many loose ends. According to the people at Kendall Industries, Roth was well liked with few enemies, and the few she had all checked out. Something is missing.

Bringing him out of his thoughts was a bombshell in a black dress walking past the windows. Her hair was put up, but a few curly strands fell around her face. She was wearing a light jacket of some sort that covered her arms. But what was most stunning was the way her eyes twinkled. Mac had to remind himself to blink when she walked in the door, and quickly swallowed to re-wet his throat. Her heels made a clicking noise across the floor and she came to a stop in front of his desk.

"Well, Mac, I'm going to be heading out," Stella said, satisfied to the look in his eyes. But as quick as she'd caught that look of want, it was replaced just as quickly.

"You do know it's about freezing out there?" he said, motioning to the frosty city out the window.

"Yeah, but I only plan on being outside between the cab and the building." Seeing that Mac was not convinced, she added "I'll be fine, Mac. I'm a big girl."

Mac didn't tell her the real reason he wanted her to wear something a little less...open. He didn't want anyone looking her like he'd been just seconds before, including Ross. But she wasn't his to influence, and he simply nodded his head. "Have a good night," he said before turning back to his screen.

Stella stood a few more seconds, looking at the stone face of her boss. He looked like he hadn't slept in days, and she guessed he probably hadn't. "Mac," she said, staring at his face until he had to look back at her. "Promise me you'll get some rest. This case isn't going to go anywhere for the night." He promised and she walked out through the glass doors. Walking back to the lockers to grab a thicker coat, she knew he lied.

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The rest of the day was very uneventful for Mac, as he caught up on paperwork and tried to make some sort of connection between Ann Roth's life and the evidence that was found. Being a Saturday night in December, the building was fairly quiet. Danny and Lindsay had gone home, but he was sure they were probably sitting in a restaurant somewhere. He knew their relationship was inevitable, and was just glad it didn't interfere with their work skills. Flack and Angell were probably either doing paperwork for other cases or went home.

He was analyzing the rolling pin, trying to find any DNA other than Roth's that they'd missed when his phone rang. Looking down at the caller ID, he didn't recognize the number.

"Taylor."

A raspy, broken voice responded on the other line. "I've got another." Mac was stunned for a moment, but waited for the voice to continue before he spoke. There was a pause and Mac took the time to type in the phone number to trace the call. "She should have known. She shouldn't have tried...she should have known her place." And with a harsh click, the line went dead.


Haha, well, I got a request put in some more Flack/Angell, and there's my attempt. Pretty much the rest of the story is only gonna be Smack, but I'll try to add little hints of the other two...

By the way, some people were wondering when this is supposed to be...I think it would go between 'Taxi' and 'Hostage'...Lindsay isn't pregnant (not that I'm against it) and Flack and Angell aren't dating yet.

I've got to say I was kinda surprised at the reviews I got for last chapter, I kinda thought it sucked, but apparently you, the readers, didn't. Well, thanks for them, and keep em coming...good news, we've got a freeze out tommorow (for all our warm weather readers, thats a snow day with no snow...the temp is too cold to go to school) so I'm gonna try to finish the whole shebang in between cleaning and making firewood, but I'm still gonna post one at a time. Well, enjoy and have a good night...

~moviefanatic17