Star of New York

Chapter 10

"Don?!" Kate caught him on the hotel stairs.

He turned slowly, eyebrows raised, regarding her with suspicion.

"Can I grovel my way outta this one?" she asked, her chin high in a way that made him smile slightly. It was typical Kate, an apology and a challenge at the same time.

"I hope so" he replied with a sigh "House is kinda quiet without you, and tidy"

"Dinner?" she asked coyly.

"And the rest" he laughed quietly "You owe me big time Krazy"

"I know" she leaned against the wall, folding her arms "It's only been two days"

"You make a lotta mess in two days" he started slowly up the stairs "And a lotta noise"

"Can we do this?" she asked, suddenly unsure, unguarded.

"Yes we can" he said with conviction, reaching her and standing close, but not touching "You come home and we can"

"I'm coming home" she was challenging again "I always was. You were right, I was being an idiot"

"Yes you were" he leaned closer "It's a good job I love you"

She smiled, reaching out and taking his hand, looking at it "I'm sorry"

"Me too" he said, kissing the top of her head.

"I love you" she said quietly, he lifted her chin, she reluctantly met his eyes.

"I know you do" he said "That's why this is gonna be fine, because we love each other"

She cupped his face with her hand, kissing him lightly "I'll see you tonight" she said.

"You better" he warned "Or I'm comin' back over here and I'll carry you home if I have to"

"Might be worth waiting for" she said with a sly smile.

…...

"You talk to Lewes?" Don asked Mac as they walked into the coffee shop near the lab.

"I did" Mac confirmed "I changed his terms slightly"

"Two coffee's" Don addressed the waitress, the turned back to Mac "How so?"

"I told him that I want the information on the bodies first. That when we have established it's true, what he says, we, or at least I, will talk" Mac said.

"How he take that?" Don smiled his thanks at the waitress when she put their coffee down, noticing her returning smile and eye contact was slightly prolonged.

"Not good" Mac said "But he'll play ball, this is a game to him, and he wants to win, he'll still get what he wants"

"What exactly is that though Mac?!" Don asked, suddenly irritated.

"Fame?" Mac shrugged "I honestly don't know, maybe he wants to clear his conscience before he dies? I don't care much for his motives to be honest, I just want to find those girls"

"That guy doesn't have a conscience" Don growled "He's a psychopath"

"In the true sense of the word" Mac agreed "It bothers me too Don, I'm going back today"

"I know it does" Don sighed "You're just better at handling it than me"

"You're straight Don" Mac told him with a smile "As straight up as they come, and I admire that. Sometimes I wish I could see things so simply"

"You sayin' I'm simple?" Don asked with a half smile.

Mac returned his smile "I'm sayin' you're a great cop, that it's your sense of right and wrong that makes you a great cop"

"Thank you" Don replied sincerely "Sometimes I think I need to take more time and think things through, look before I leap"

Mac smiled "And sometimes your first call is the best"

…...

Don sighed as his cell rang, intercepting the look he received from Danny.

"Flack" he said, listening without comment for almost two minutes.

Danny shuffled, picking at his sleeve, cracking his knuckles, watching the tech's going about their day through the glass in the lab.

"OK, thanks" Don hung up, looking at Danny "Can you take Lindsay?" he asked.

"Why?" Danny suddenly stilled "I thought you were back on this Flack?! I thought you were coming with me to speak to the trainers wife?"

"I got a Jane Doe" Don said quietly.

"Then I'll come with you" it wasn't an offer Don realised as Danny squared to him, arms folded "We can question Lizzie Clare later"

"I'm takin' Hawkes" he said "You stay with this"

"What the fuck is goin' on here Don?!" Danny suddenly exploded "You, Mac, Hawkes, you all keep disappearing, leavin' me and Lindsay with all the leg work!"

"I'm sorry Messer" he certainly looked it right then, full of remorse "I really am, but I gotta take this"

"Yeah!" Danny shouted after him as Don left "I'll sort it out huh? No 'I' in team right?!"

…...

"Mrs Clare" Lindsay leaned across the table, trying to re-establish the rapport she'd felt they had when she'd questioned her with Flack before "I'm sorry to ask this of you, but what was the nature of your husband's relationship with Tommi?"

"Employer!" Lizzie Clare looked shocked "Why?!"

"Because we have a tonne of evidence against Tommi for killing Carl Royle" Danny said impatiently "And then your husband comes in and confesses to the murder himself, why would he do that?!" Danny asked, ignoring Lindsay's sigh of indignance.

"I have no idea" she said shakily "Tommi is really... I mean you think she did it?"

"We are just trying to get the facts" Lindsay replied "We don't think your husband did it, but a confession is strong evidence, the DA may decide to go ahead with a trial, or they may decide that we charge Tommi, or both of them. We need the truth Lizzie, and quickly"

"All I can tell you" she stared out of the window "Is that they weren't having an affair"

"With all due respect" Danny stood "I have a warrant to search these premises, so I'm gonna believe the evidence!"

He stalked out of the kitchen, leaving Lindsay to apologise on his behalf.

…...

"That showed no respect Danny!" Lindsay stormed as they looked around the small and cramped trailer that Tommi inhabited "Due or otherwise!"

"Oh c'mon Linds!" Danny fumed "Everyone's lyin' here. We gotta put the pressure on to get the results"

"Don't take your bad mood out on me!" Lindsay snapped "Or the witnesses!"

"I'm not!" he snapped back "I'm just tryin' to solve the case, without half the team may I add!"

"Oh just you right?!" Lindsay gritted her teeth "Well Danny, I hate to break it to you, but I am the higher ranking officer here, and therefore what I say goes!"****

"Oh great!" he said throwing his hands in the air "Then you sort this mess out honey, because I'm done with being given the run around by everyone!"

"That's it isn't it?" Lindsay asked "You're pissed because Don and Mac and Hawkes won't let you in on their little secret?!"

"Yeah" he deflated as quickly as he had angered "I'm sorry" he paused "I'm sorry babe, I didn't mean to take it out on you"

"They'll have a reason Danny" she said quietly "You know that"

"I know" he rubbed his hand over his face "Ahhh! Come on, let's show them what team Messer can do huh?!"

She returned his grin, looking out of the grimy window of the trailer.

"You see what I see?" She asked Danny.

"An old horse?" he stood beside her, looking over the paddock "And a lame one?"

"He's not lame" Lindsay said "He's footsore, he's lost a shoe, look"

She pointed as the horse walked away from them, his gait uneven, as each foot lifted in turn, she pointed out the foot devoid of a metal shoe "There!"

…...

**** I don't know if that's actually true, but I think that she may technically outrank Danny as he was taken off the promotion grid for CSI by Mac. I do know they're both level III CSI's which would make them equal but I needed Lindsay to call him out on his behaviour.