Less Than Graceful: Chapter 9
Grace was having a very odd dream. She was at the seven dwarves' cottage in the woods, having a conversation with Sebastian who was in a fish bowl, and Aladdin who was sitting on top of Tigger's shoulders while he bounced.
She giggled as she watched Tigger and Aladdin bounce up...and down. Up...and down. All of a sudden, Thumper burst in, breathing heavily. "Fire!"
Grace's smile disappeared and her heart sank as she remembered that her mom was picking flowers in the meadow with Donkey. "No!" she yelled, running toward the fire.
Nanny McPhee tapped her walking stick and Grace was running away from the fire. "No, no, no, no," Grace kept repeating, but she couldn't turn around. Nanny McPhee had banged her stick.
Grace saw in her mind's eye her mom being engulfed by flames and Cinderella's evil step-mother, in a castle far, far away, smirking. "Mirror mirror on the wall," she said dramatically.
The scene faded to Alice trying to figure out which bottle to drink, but the evil step-mother's voice could still be heard. "Snow White no longer matters. Is Holly dead? What about Bambi's mother?"
"Yes to both," an ominous, distinctly Jafar-sounding voice hissed.
"Momma, no!" Grace sobbed.
"Grace," a soothing voice said. "Wake up."
"Wake up, Grace," Stella begged. The little girl was thrashing in her sleep and muttering about various Disney characters.
Grace's eyes fluttered open and she saw Stella's face. "Stella," she sobbed. It hadn't been more than a few hours since Mac had taken them to the bed.
Grace noticed Mac and turned to him with tear filled eyes. "Mac," she whispered. "It was so scary. Thumper told me there was a fire, but Nanny McPhee wouldn't let me get her. The evil step-mother stole the magic mirror and Alice picked the wrong potion, but she was okay because Jafar lit the fire." Her ramble was cut off when she let out a heart-wrenching sob.
Mac gave Stella a worried look at the brief explanation. It sounded like Disney characters were terrorizing her in her sleep. "Gracie," Mac said softly, pulling her into his arms. He could feel her sobs wrack through his own body. "Gracie, it'll be okay," he promised. "I won't let anything happen to you." He held her as Stella scooted over and put her arms around both Mac and Grace.
It didn't take long for Grace to cry herself into exhaustion. Mac and Stella still clung to the little girl as she hiccuped in her sleep. "She's going to be alright," Mac said quietly.
Stella looked up at him with tear-filled eyes and nodded. They were able to help Grace keep her mind off the death of her mom, but her subconscious wouldn't let her forget.
Mac eased his right arm out from under Grace and wrapped it around Stella. "She's going to be okay," he repeated reassuringly. He looked over at the clock. 3:13 "Come on. Let's get back to sleep."
Stella quickly fell back asleep, but Mac was content to lay awake and listen to the even breathing of the two females.
((((((((((CSI:NY))))))))))
Mac was awoken by the sun in his eyes and a soft giggle from the end of the bed. He cracked his eyes open and saw Grace standing there, sans clothing. His cheeks reddened slightly and he glanced down at Stella, half on top of him, sleeping soundly, her broken wrist by his head. "Where are your clothes?" he asked softly.
Grace grinned, obviously having forgotten about her dream the night before. "I was gonna take a bath, but I'm not s'posed to play in the water by myself." She made a face at that and giggled. "Will you put in bubbles and stuff? I really wanna play in the water."
Mac smiled slightly and carefully slid out from under Stella. She curled up at the loss of warmth, but managed to sleep on. "How about we make breakfast first?" Mac suggested, picking her discarded clothes off the floor and helping her back into them.
"I guess," Grace sighed sadly, looking mournfully toward the bathroom. Mac smiled to himself as he led her back to the kitchen. The little girl was so dramatic.
"What do you want for breakfast?" he asked.
"Hamburger?" Grace suggested hopefully.
"Pancakes it is," Mac said agreeably, lifting Grace onto the counter to help him with breakfast.
Stella woke up to the smell of breakfast. She smiled when she realized Mac had stayed the night. That was the only explanation for the delicious smells throughout her apartment. Then she remembered Grace and the terrible dream from the night before.
She stopped to watch in awe as Mac patiently watched Grace flip a small pancake. It was a sight to see: serious, broody Mac Taylor beaming when Grace managed to flip a pancake on her own.
"I did it," Grace said, awed at her culinary talent. "Hey Mac! I did it!"
Mac turned off the burner and turned to Grace. "That you did," he agreed, picking her up and setting her on the floor. He caught Stella's eye and smiled. "Go tell Stella what you did."
"Stella! I flipped the pancake all by myself! Mac said I could be a chef when I grow up!"
Stella laughed and kneeled down to Grace's level. "He did, did he?" She nodded enthusiastically. "Well, I think we should try your pancakes, don't you?"
Grace cheered. "Yeah! Come on!"
Mac silently watched the two girls set the table and smiled slightly when Stella caught his eye. Grace tugged her away from the potential "moment" she could've had with Mac. "I want orange juice," she said decisively.
((((((((CSI:NY))))))))
Danny was woken by a someone, probably a little someone, beating on his door with the flat of their hand. He was asleep on his couch...with Lindsay curled around him.
He poked her side and she snuggled deeper into his embrace. "Lizzy, baby, mommy needs her sleep," she mumbled.
Danny's eyebrows shot up. "Montana," he said as another, more adult knock sounded. "I need to get up."
Lindsay sleepily pushed herself up enough that Danny could slip out from under her.
Mac smiled at Danny when he opened the door. It was obvious from the rumpled clothes and the lack of glasses that they'd woken him up. "Hey," Danny said.
Grace slipped past Danny. "I made breakfast, Danny," she said cheerfully. "It was so fun. Hey Montana! What are you doing here?"
Mac and Stella looked at each other before looking at Danny. "Something you wanna tell us?" Stella asked with a wide smile.
"Uh, no," Danny said, opening the door wider to allow them access. "There's nothing to tell," he clarified when he realized how his previous statement sounded. "We fell asleep watching a movie."
Lindsay was sitting up, listening to Grace's chatter. Stella was relieved to find that Lindsay was fully clothed, even if she was falling asleep while trying to listen to Grace. It seemed that Danny was telling the truth.
"Hey Lindsay," Stella said with a knowing smirk.
Lindsay blushed slightly at her tone. "I fell asleep," she lied. Actually, it was Danny who had fallen asleep practically on top of her, making it almost impossible to leave. It wasn't her fault he was a bad movie watcher. Only truly bad movie watchers fall asleep during movies like Die Hard.
Mac hid a smile at Lindsay's guilty look. She really was a bad liar. "Lindsay," he said, "are you close to wrapping up your case?"
Lindsay nodded truthfully. "It was definitely the club owner, and it won't take much to get a warrant with the evidence we have."
Grace was silently looking through the couch cushions for the remote. That's where it usually stayed at Danny's. She triumphantly pulled it out from under the middle cushion and flipped on the TV.
The volume was up really loud. Grace was completely unfazed as she looked for the cartoon channel.
Lindsay gently took the remote from her, ignoring Grace's loud protests, and turned it down. Then she put it on the Disney channel.
"Can I please have it back now?" Grace asked sweetly.
"It's on cartoons," Mac pointed out helpfully.
"He who has the remote has the power," Grace recited from memory, looking at Danny to see if she got it right.
Danny winked at Grace. "Who's going to argue with that?" he asked reasonably.
"Not me," Lindsay said, giving the remote back to Grace.
Grace nodded. "You're really smart." She smiled innocently when Lindsay's eyes narrowed.
"Lindsay, I need you to come to my office when you get to work," Mac said, not wanting to discuss his case in front of Danny and Grace.
"I need to go to my apartment anyway." Lindsay stood up and gathered her stuff. "I'll talk to you later." She smirked at Danny as she slipped out.
"She stayed the night," Grace said happily. "Did you watch a movie? Was it good? How come she was sleeping on the couch? I fell asleep on the couch, but I woke up in bed. It was so funny. My foot was in Mac's face and he didn't even notice 'cause he was snoring!"
Mac coughed softly and blushed at Danny's wide grin. "We have an early interview," Stella said quickly. Mac was about to get mercilessly teased by Danny and they really did have an early interview. There was no time for Mac to attempt to explain while Danny countered everything with an innuendo.
Danny smirked at the obvious attempt to distract him. "I'll see you two later," he promised innocently. The look on his face clearly said he was planning on grilling Grace about the night before.
"Yeah," Mac agreed weakly.
When they were on their way to the lab, Stella couldn't help but tease Mac. "You froze in there," she said casually.
Mac looked over at her. "Excuse me?" he asked mildly.
"When Danny was about to say something about you staying the night. You froze."
Mac was getting flustered. "No, I didn't," he said. "I just...wasn't going to, uh, say anything."
"Right," Stella said doubtfully. "You were just going to stand there while Danny said things about us sleeping together?"
Mac blushed. "No! We didn't--" Stella burst out laughing, and Mac realized she was teasing him. "That's not very nice," he chastised with a grin.
They pulled up to the lab and met Lindsay on her way in. Her hair was a little damp from the quick shower she'd taken before coming in to work. "Hey," she said cheerfully.
"I need you to do a little background check on Anna Wilson and Elizabeth Nettle," Mac said without preamble.
Lindsay raised her eyebrows. "The teacher and the waitress friend?" she asked.
Stella hid a smile. She had known that Lindsay was keeping an eye on the case. "Yeah," she said agreeably before Mac could say anything about Lindsay unnecessarily butting into their case.
"Okay," Lindsay said. "I take it I'm not needed in your office anymore?"
Mac shook his head mutely.
Stella patted him on the shoulder. "Don't worry about it, Mac," she said. "She's doing it because of Grace."
Mac looked down at her, knowing she was referring to how Lindsay'd already known about the case. "It's because of Danny," he corrected.
"Danny, Grace, same thing," Stella said dismissively.
"Not really," Mac said thoughtfully. "Danny's a little taller."
"Just a little," Stella agreed impishly.
Mac chuckled. "Are you coming with me to interview Elizabeth Nettle?" he asked.
Stella gave him a saucy look. "You couldn't stop me," she said, only half joking.
Mac silently agreed.
The apartment of Elizabeth Nettle was a lot more elegant than they expected. It was answered by a bleary-eyed young woman. She was quite short with narrowed green eyes and an attitude problem. "Do you know what time it is?" she demanded crossly.
Even though it was obviously a rhetorical question, Mac looked at his watch. "A quarter past ten," he answered.
"Ten?" The girl looked positively outraged. "I've only been asleep for two hours. Come back later."
Stella held up her badge. "Elizabeth Nettle? I'm Detective Bonesera. This is Detective Taylor. We need to ask you a few questions about Holly Daniels."
That seemed to tame her. "Come in," she said somberly.
Stella and Mac declined the coffee that was offered to them, but Elizabeth poured herself a mug full and drained it quickly. "Do you have something about Holly?" she asked after pouring herself a new cup.
Stella cleared her throat. "We might, but we can't release any information quite yet," she said apologetically.
"How well did you know Miss Daniels?" Mac asked.
"I was a friend of her husband's before he died," Elizabeth said. "I've known her for close to seven years."
Stella nodded. "Do you know anyone who would want to kill her?"
Elizabeth shook her head. "I honestly don't. I wasn't well liked at the diner, but everyone loved her. She was sweet and actually cared about people. I was only there for the money."
Mac looked around. "Ms. Nettle, it doesn't seem like you would be in need of much money."
"Don't let the place fool you," Elizabeth said bitterly. "Daddy pays the rent. He cut me off and kicked me out of the house, but he can't bear the thought of me on the streets or doing desperate things for a place to sleep. He has no problem with me starving as long as I have a place to stay..." She cleared her throat. "Holly was my best friend."
"What do you know about her breakup in January?" Stella asked. Mac gave her a questioning look, but she ignored him. She had a hunch and she was going to run with it.
"Grace was playing on the table and fell onto a broken chair. She got hurt pretty badly, but Danny was great. He did everything he could to make her comfortable. They went to some school thing and Holly talked to Grace's teacher...the next thing I knew, she broke up with him."
"She didn't say why?" Stella pressed.
Elizabeth thought about it. "She said she was doing what was best for Grace," she said reluctantly. "I don't know what made her think that, but it had something to do with the teacher. Holly loved Danny, and I can't see her doing it on her own."
"The teacher convinced her to break up with Danny?" Mac asked incredulously.
"I don't know for sure," Elizabeth warned. "I just know that she was devastated even though she was the one to break up with him."
Stella sighed. She wasn't sure how she was going to tell Danny that Holly had broken up with him to do what was best for Grace. He would be pretty upset. "The DWIs..."
"Grace was always safe," Elizabeth interrupted. "She was always either with me or with Danny. Holly only got drunk on important holidays or anniversaries. Somehow, even when she left in a cab, she usually ended up driving."
There was a little more talk about Holly, but nothing that would've been useful to their investigation.
Mac finally stood up. "Any other information you could give us would be helpful," he said.
"I can't think of anything else," Elizabeth said honestly.
"If you do, give me a call," Mac said, giving her his card.
Stella was silent the whole way back to the lab. Mac was trying not to look at her, but she kept sighing or tapping her fingers on the console or was just generally being annoying. "Stella, stop," he finally ordered.
Stella looked over at him. "Excuse me?"
"Tapping, sighing...stop." After a thoughtful pause, he added, "Please."
Stella fidgeted, but refrained from sighing or tapping. Mac turned on the radio to distract her, but she was still fidgety.
When they got back to the lab, Stella practically jumped out of the car as she made her way inside. Mac caught up to her. "What's going on?" he asked.
"It was the teacher," she said.
Mac shook his head. "There's no proof," he reminded her.
"I may have some," Lindsay interjected from behind them.
Stella turned around with a knowing smile. "Just the girl I was looking for. What did you get?"
"A little over a year ago, Anna Wilson had a family. A little girl around Grace's age and a husband. They were found dead. Strangled with a tie." Lindsay passed the case files to Mac. "Anna was suspected at first, but she was quickly cleared."
Mac flipped through the files. "Her epithelials were all over the tie!"
"It was all explained. She did the laundry, she tied the ties...Plus, she had an alibi."
"A school conference," Mac said dully. "Didn't leave at all. Not even a bathroom break."
"It would be pretty traumatic to find your spouse and kid dead. Maybe she was recreating it," Stella said thoughtfully.
"That is possible," Mac said.
"Do you think it's enough to get a warrant?" Lindsay asked worriedly.
"Only one way to find out," Mac said.
Mac wouldn't allow Stella or Lindsay to come with him to get the warrant, but he got it. Considering the judge he'd went to was a hard ass, Stella was quite curious. She was quickly distracted by the facts of the case though.
They caught up with Anna just as she was letting her students out for recess. "Detectives," she said, surprised. "What brings you here? Is it Grace?"
Flack passed her the warrant. "I trust you'll cooperate?" he asked.
Anna's breathing sped up and she read it over twice to see if there were any loopholes. "You have to understand!" she said desperately.
"Open your mouth," Stella ordered. Anna reluctantly complied. There was no way out.
Mac watched wearily as Anna's eyes took on a wild look. He was quick to intervene when the school teacher took a sloppy swing at Stella.
Flack cuffed the woman. "You're under arrest for assault," he said almost gleefully.
On the way back to the lab, Stella was sulking. The hit had connected, and, even though it hadn't done much damage, her pride was hurt. "You could've warned me," she grumbled.
"You're a certified CSI," Mac teased. "You should've seen it coming."
Stella gave him an icy look. "Thanks for all your support," she said.
Mac's eyes had a slight mischievous glint. "You attract trouble," he said simply.
Stella looked over at him with mock-outrage. He was staring at the road, but his smirk gave him away. "You're one to talk," she retorted. "Remember that time when you were shot, stabbed, and slapped all in the same day?"
"It's funny how you associated being slapped with being stabbed and shot," Mac said lightly.
Stella just shrugged. "Why do you think she did it?" she asked, trading the light subject for one that was a little more troubling.
"I don't know," Mac admitted. "It could've been anything. Losing a child and husband so suddenly and so terribly had to be quite traumatic."
Stella thought about what she would do if she lost Mac...if she lost Grace... She quickly pushed those thoughts aside. That wasn't something she wanted to think about.
Grief can destroy a person, but it can also make a person grow stronger. Anna let her grief destroy her and drive her to...well, murder.
TBC...Writer's block sucks! The good news is that I'm out of school for the summer...two whole months before I have to go back. What did you think about the part with Lindsay and Danny? Heh. It's an opening for a sequel if I decide to write one...which is a definite possibility because I have a plot outline and everything. Just a few chapters to go and it'll be done! By the way, Die Hard is a good movie. It has the right amount of action and drama/romance.