Disclaimer: Hmm… I wonder how many times I will have to put this. I do not own the CSI:NY characters, and like always if I did Mac and Stella be together.

Notes: I hoped you all enjoyed my past chapter. I have to admit this is getting hard. Fear not though, I will keep up. Please enjoy this chapter.

Chapter 10

"What do you think, Mac?" Stella and he were in the reconstruction lab. They were trying to figure out the blood spatter pattern.

"It's almost as if it were printed on," Mac looked at the spatter. They had looked at it with every possibility, but it still confused them.

"What do you mean?" Stella looked at him.

"Okay, this may seem strange, but bear with me. In art they have a process called print making. Basically, the artist draws a picture of what he wants. He would draw it on wood. Then he would carve it out. After he finishes carving, he would ink it up and put it under a press. The image would copy onto the piece of paper under it. The image would be a reverse of the drawing. To me this is what it looks like. If you look closely at this drop here, you will see that it has a corner," Mac gave his opinion.

"Are you telling me that our murderer printed blood spatter?" Stella asked.

"I'm saying it's a possibility. I've heard of stranger," Mac shrugged. They kept working at the spatter. After two hours, they were content with Mac's explanation.

"Mac, this guy is sick. The fake spatter is the vic's blood. How did he get the blood without disturbing the pool?" Stella wondered out loud.

"I don't know. I will have the blood tested for any preservatives. Meanwhile, we need to go up to autopsy," Mac told her. After dropping off the blood in tox, they went up to autopsy.

"Glad you two could make it," Sid rang out from the autopsy table. The vic in their case was on top of it. The two CSI's cautiously approached the table as if they thought something might jump out at them or maybe just Sid. Mac and Stella waited for the other to say something.

"Sid, what do you have for us?" Mac braved it. Who knows what the ME would tell them?

"A women who was stabbed," Sid simply said. Mac and Stella thought is that it.

"Anything else Sid?" Stella asked.

"Well as a matter of fact your vic had a needle mark in her arm. Here's what's weird. I didn't find any evidence that she was a drug user, and it was post-mortem," Sid gloated at his expertise.

"Thanks, Sid," Mac told him as he got the autopsy report. Stella and he turned to leave.

"Wait," Sid called after them. They turned back around.

"Yes?" Mac asked the ME.

"I found some sort of wood in her stab wounds which by the way were V-shaped," Sid replied.

"Has trace identified it yet?" Mac inquired.

"No, I also need you two to take it to the trace lab for me," Sid handed Mac the test tube.

"Thanks," Mac and Stella walked out. Mac put a rush on the trace.

"See, if that is the wood cork if the print making that would confirm my theory that our suspect is an artist. A carver has a V-shape," Mac told her. She agreed. Adam walked up to them in the hallway.

"Mac, Stella, I tested the blood. There were no preservatives," he handed the tox results to them.

"Thanks, Adam," Stella called after him. They looked at the results. Just as he had said, there were no preservatives. Her blood was as clean as a whistle.

"This case is just weird," Mac told her as he opened the door to the break room.

"So we know for sure that the blood was taken directly from her, but we don't know what the mystery wood like trace is," Stella sat down. Mac nodded.

"Do you want anything?" Mac asked. She shook her head. He got a coffee and sat down.

"This is just strange. How could our only evidence be trace?" Stella asked him.

"Let's go over this again. Our victim was in Times Square where she was stabbed with a V-shaped blade. The blood spatter from the cast off seems to be a print which is consistent to the blade being a print making tool. Our victim had a needle stuck in her arm post-mortem. She has no drug history. We are still waiting on that trace," Mac went through the case with Stella. He stood up and paced while he talked.

"Wait no more," Kendall said from the doorway. She had the results in hand.

"So what is it?" The CSI's were anxious to catch this guy.

"You know balsa wood?" Kendall asked.

"Yeah," Stella said.

"Well, it's not that," Kendall told her.

"Okay, what is it?" Mac asked.

"That cork they use in print making," Kendall handed them the results and walked out. Mac smiled.

"Okay, let me give the update to Flack. I will tell him we are looking for an artist," Stella exclaimed. They finally had a lead. She leapt up from her chair.

"Okay," Mac told her.

"Thanks Mac," she told him. Before she walked out, she kissed him on the cheek. Mac blushed a little, and Stella realized what she had done when she was halfway through dialing Flack.

"Flack," Don answered his phone.

"It's Stella. We have a lead," Stella told him.

"I'm listening," Flack replied.

"Good to know. Anyway our suspect is most likely an artist. He probably does print making," Stella said.

"Okay. You do realize that doesn't really narrow it down don't you?" Flack asked.

"Well you're the detective. See if our vic knew any artists," Stella hung up. She sighed. Stella knew that she would have to tell Mac that Flack was looking for a suspect. This is going to be so awkward was the only thing in her mind.

"Uh, Mac, I… uh… I have… uh… I have Flack looking for a suspect," Stella managed to get out. He looked up directly into her eyes.

"Okay, thanks Stella," Mac said. He finished his coffee. He cleaned out the mug. Mac sat back down. He sighed.

"Mac, do you want something?" Stella said trying to calm the butterflies in her stomach.

"Stella, I just had a coffee. Are you okay?" Mac laughed though deep down he too felt the same for her.

"Uh, yeah, this case just has me going backwards," Stella quickly lied. Their eyes locked.

"Stella, if you need to go home and rest, I can take care of this for right now. I'll tell you what you go home and relax, and if anything changes I will call you," Mac offered.

"Really, Mac, I'm fine. What about you? You look terrible Mac," Stella was concerned.

"Thanks, Stella," Mac said in mock hurt.

"Mac, you know what I mean. You look like you haven't slept in days. Are you sure you are okay?" Stella asked.

"Stella, I'm fine," Mac smiled.

"Okay, how about we go over the case and see if we missed something," Stella sat down next to Mac. They spent hours looking at the case file. When they came up with nothing new, the duo looked at it from a different angle. Shift had been over for two hours, but the detectives were so driven to finding this guy they kept working. Stella had fallen asleep. Mac was fighting a losing battle of trying to stay awake. He was losing until he saw something on the blood spatter. It was tiny and barely visible. At first Mac thought he was hallucinating because he was so tired, but sure enough it was a print. Very carefully so he wouldn't disturb Stella, Mac got up and went to the print lab. He ran the print through AFIS. Because it was taking so long, Mac went back to the break room. He got a coffee. After the sun had barely started to rise, the print found a match. The beeping woke Mac up with a start. He looked at his watch. It was 5 AM, two hours before shift. Mac went to the print lab. The match came to a Nathan Sands. He was in the system for armed robbery. Mac looked at his current job. Nathan was an art teacher.

"Flack," A sleepy Don answered his phone.

"Don, it's Mac," the CSI replied.

"Mac, do you have any idea what time it is?" Flack yawned.

"Two hours before shift. Flack, we have a suspect. One Nathan Sands," Mac told him.

"And this couldn't have waited till shift?" Flack asked.

"Flack, this guy could get away because you are too tired to get up," Mac condemned him.

"Mac, I'm halfway there," Flack said quickly.

"Yeah," Mac hung up. He walked to the break room. Stella was still sleeping. He woke her up.

"Mac," Stella said a little angry at him for waking her up.

"Stella, I'm so sorry, but I knew you would want to know this. We have a suspect. Flack is going to find him," Mac told her. Stella forgave him.

"Stella, do you want something?" Mac asked her.

"Yeah, thanks Mac," Stella said. He started the coffee up and tossed her a protein bar.