Chapter Ten
Mistakes
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"I'll be damned," Danny muttered.
"What?" Lindsay asked.
"We've got a match," Danny said cheerfully, staring at the screen intently. "He left us the final clue."
Lindsay peered curiously over her husband's shoulder as all the partial prints on the screen started to come together.
The computer was in the process of bringing out a file of the perpetrator. It displayed a medium built man with brown hair and brown eyes.
Danny read the name, flashing on the screen. "Carl Muller."
"Come on, let's dig up everything we can," Lindsay said triumphantly while she stared at the man on the screen. "And Danny, get Adam here to help us."
Danny nodded and headed off.
"Got you," Lindsay whispered smugly as she pushed the print button.
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Sid stepped out of the elevator on the 35th floor. It had been six hours since he had received the latest victim and he still hadn't heard anything from the lab, he was getting worried. He walked by Mac's empty office, and a couple of lab sections, before spotting Adam and Danny engaged in a conversation. He wandered over and knocked on the doorframe. "I came up here to see if you were still around," he said softly.
"Sorry, Sid, it's been one crazy day," Danny apologized.
"Did my findings give you any clues?" he asked out of curiosity.
"Don't know yet, I just got here to try and get him to help Lindsay and me in our search for our killer," he said pointing at Adam.
Sid frowned. "You mean you've identified him?" he asked curiously.
Danny gave him a cocky smile.
"I think I've got something," Adam admitted as he looked intently at the screen in front of him, seemingly oblivious to the conversation that had taken place right behind him.
Both Sid and Danny turned to look at him.
Adam scratched his face. "Susannah Hess lives and works…," he trailed off, confusion written all over his face. "…in Asia?" he questioned.
"What?" Danny returned. "No, no, that can't be right."
Sid looked from Danny to Adam, completely clueless.
"Actually it makes perfect sense," Stella said as she walked up from behind.
The three of them turned around to look at her.
"How's Mac doing?" Danny asked, not daring to hope. However, something told him that Stella wouldn't leave his side if he wasn't on the road to recovery.
She sighed. "He is still very weak but he's holding on. Everyone assures me that he will make a full recovery, and that he was extremely lucky. However, he will be kept under close observation at the hospital for a few days," she said.
"I am not so sure Mac would want to spend a couple of days at the hospital," Sid replied.
Danny chuckled. "I bet he isn't."
Adam smiled. "You were saying, about Susannah Hess?" he wondered and looked directly at Stella.
"She worked with Aileen Masters. Susannah was employed by her company in Asia; apparently she accused Aileen's business partner, Victor Bender, of unfair business and trading on the black market," Stella explained.
"Did he?" Adam asked.
"No, I don't think so," Stella replied. "However, there are reports about a woman being seen selling drugs to the poor people in the villages. My guess is that it was either Aileen Master's or Susannah Hess, and that Victor Bender somehow found out."
"Then they got rid of him. Well that's nice," Sid commented.
Danny frowned. "Wait a minute; I thought you said she didn't have a company, when she died; that she'd lost it?"
Stella stared at him blankly.
"Earlier, you said, Aileen Masters, didn't have a company," Danny said.
Stella nodded, her brief confusion suddenly replaced by smugness. "She didn't. Aileen was arrested and deported from the country but no suspicions were ever mentioned about Susannah Hess."
"So, Aileen Master got deported while Susannah Hess gave up the shady business and turned to work at a legal medical facility?" Danny asked.
"It would seem that way," Stella concluded.
"Seriously, this Victor Bender really had a motive, it's a shame he is dead," Adam mumbled.
"There is something about that guy that doesn't add up. I can't put my finger on it but…" Stella trailed off, glancing at the case file and then at Adam. "Dig deeper, Adam, and see what you can find about Victor Bender."
"I'm heading back to Lindsay, we've finally gotten a print from our killer," Danny said happily.
Adam turned to look at him, astonished. "You did, and you neglected to tell me?" he asked.
"If you had listened to me in the first place… but no, you didn't," Danny returned.
"By the look of surprise on your face when I told you about Victor Bender I take it, the print of our killer didn't belong to him?" Stella said.
Danny shook his head. "No, it belongs to a Carl Muller. Lindsay is printing a profile as we speak," he said and began walking toward the door.
Stella nodded and followed.
"Where are you going?" Sid called.
"We're going to see how Lindsay is doing on her end," Stella said and felt the relief flowing through her veins. Even though this, Victor Bender, was a mystery to her, the snake killer wasn't; not anymore.
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There was soft knock on the door and Hawkes lifted his head from the table, yawning.
Annalyn Edwards smiled at him. "Breakfast?" she asked and handed him a sandwich from the hospital cafeteria.
"You know you don't have to stay and help me," he said sincerely, even though he appreciated it.
"When it comes to snake venoms and how it affects the human body I'm as interested as you, Sheldon, or even more interested," she replied and sat down next to him.
"I'm a bit curious; this business with the anticoagulant is it lucrative?" Hawkes asked.
Annalyn nodded. "To some extent, it is, on the black market. Why do you ask?"
"It's connected with the case; one of the victims once had a company in the manufacturing business," he explained.
"What's her name?" The snake researcher asked, suddenly even more interested.
"Aileen Masters," he replied.
Annalyn shook her head. "I am afraid it doesn't ring a bell," she offered.
"Susannah Hess," Hawkes tried.
Annalyn frowned and looked him in the eye. "She worked for many years at a medical facility back in Asia. How is she involved in all this?" she questioned.
The former ME made a face and stared down at his empty cup. "She was one of the other victims," he answered somberly.
"I didn't know her very well, but I think I knew her enough to say that she was a decent woman that didn't want to earn money on poor and sick people," Annalyn replied. Seemingly upset that a person she thought she knew would turn up dead in New York.
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Lindsay glanced at Stella as the phone started ringing.
Stella took a deep breath and prayed it wasn't from the hospital. She placed the phone next to her ear and answered, "Bonasera."
"It's Flack, I'm sorry to bother you, are you with Mac?" the homicide detective asked, wasting no time on further introduction.
"No, I'm back at the lab, he said he wanted me here and assured me he would be fine. "Are you there, has something happened to him?" Stella asked as she felt her heart starting to beat faster.
"No, I'm sure Mac is fine. Trust me, I want nothing else than to head over and make sure, for myself, that he is but right now I'm standing at a crime scene. It looks like our killer is on the move again," Don said.
Stella breathed a sigh of relief, not that she usually did when someone called in a murder, but this time it was special. "Okay, tell us where and Lindsay and I will come over," she replied.
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Stella parked the car and threw a hasty look at her watch; it was almost noon, and swore under her breath. The work at the crime scene had taken longer than expected and she had to leave Lindsay on her own. She walked briskly through the hospital entrance and then rode the elevator to the third floor. She forced herself to calm down as she walked over to the nurses' station and flashed her bag. "I'm here to see Detective Taylor," she said.
The young nurse, whom she thought she'd recognized from the day before, smiled at her. "Stella Bonasera?" she asked softly.
She nodded.
"He's been waiting for you," the nurse said.
"Thanks," Stella said as she turned around and began to make her way toward his room. It didn't take her long to round the corner and stand outside his door. She had the decency to look sheepish as she entered his room.
"I'll come by tomorrow morning, huh?" he questioned.
"Sorry," Stella said as she sunk down in the hard plastic chair next to his bed.
"How's it going back at the lab?" Mac asked with a wry smile.
"We're starting to make some progress but the killer is still going strong. I have just come from another crime scene," she replied unhappily.
The look on Mac's face told her he was far from amused with the news.
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Two hours later, the team, minus Mac and Sheldon, plus Flack, had gathered in the conference room.
"Okay guys, are you ready for this?" Adam asked walking up to the rest of them. "Richard Wollen, our latest victim, turns out to be a highly renowned psychiatrist. I made some phone calls, did a little research, and guess what?" Adam leaned over the computer next to Lindsay and punched in a command.
Seconds later a file was displayed, showing a psychological evaluation of a man named Drew Jackson. "This file was sent here by Dr. Wollen's colleague, Jeannie Cole. It took some persuasion to get her to hand it over, but when she understood the importance of it, she was quite willing to make an exception to the doctor patient confidentiality," the lab tech said.
"Wait a minute," Flack said, recalling his talk with Mr. Samuels at the zoo. "That's the name of the guy who got John Barns job at the zoo," he said skeptically.
"Exactly," Adam said and opened up another file, showing the merits received from the New Orleans Zoo. "He's also been working abroad, for example in Brazil and Asia, with dangerous animals, mostly snakes," Adam finished with a satisfied look on his face.
The color drained from Stella's cheeks as she glanced at a picture of Drew Jackson, it was the same person as Victor Bender, except he was much older.
"So," Lindsay said. "Dr. Wollen was onto him about the murder of John Barns and threatened to go to the police if he didn't come clean. Luckily, he did what he usually doesn't; he shared the information with his colleague and friend Dr. Jeannie Cole," she said.
Adam nodded. "They discussed it as late as yesterday evening, after they'd been watching for news about our investigation and news about Mac," he said.
"How did the psychiatrist figure it out?" Flack asked curiously.
"During their latest session, Drew Jackson's behavior had been irrational at best. He had mentioned a former partner, that he had loved very much, and how he had felt betrayed by her," Adam answered, remembering his conversation with the psychologist's partner.
"Aileen Masters?" Danny asked skeptically
Lindsay nodded, "Must have been," she said.
"He claimed he couldn't get a decent job anymore. The last job he had, had been taken from him, without him doing anything wrong, and given back to some guy who didn't deserve a second chance," Adam said as he relayed the information he had been given just moments before from Dr. Jeannie Cole.
Flack sat down as realization hit him. "He was talking about John Barns," he said.
"We were right all along, it is connected, all of it," Danny whispered.
Stella pressed her lips together in a thin line and set her jaw. 'Carl Muller, Victor Bender, Drew Jackson, you'll never hurt anyone again,' she thought darkly.
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To be continued.
Well, that was another long chapter ; )
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