Adam had driven to the scene straight from home so had his car. Danny arranged for Hawkes to take his ride, containing most of the evidence, back to the office while he came in with Adam. Mac didn't object because he knew that Danny would feel Adam out … about what went down at the crime scene as well as what else was on his mind.
Opening the conversation, but keeping it casual, Danny said, "So … Flack said you were looking for me. Anything besides what went on at the scene?"
Adam rolled his neck preparing himself. Danny noted it and got a little concerned before asking, "Business or personal?"
"Uh … I think I might have screwed up back in Vegas." Catching a glimpse of Danny's face Adam yelped, "Not that way! I just mean … I had plans for Vegas. With Emi. I … I was gonna take her looking at rings and … you know …" Adam sighed. "I thought we might even … get … get married before we came home. Only my brother managed to throw it all into the crapper and … and then I screwed up not making time to … to …"
Danny nodded his understanding. "Ok, so you do it now. Unless something is stopping you."
A little disconsolately Adam told him, "Nothing I can put my finger on exactly. I just … I'm getting a feeling that Emi …" Shaking his head he growled, "I don't know if I'm moving too fast, too slow … too hot, too cold … too much of one thing and not another … I … I just know it's something."
"You worried that Charlie is coming between you two?"
"Huh?! Uh uh. No way. See that's what has me scratching my head. Emi is all about the Charlie and Adam thing. I was worried that I'd have time to do it right … but … well she's making it so easy and … only I'm … I'm getting the feeling that maybe she … maybe she doesn't think I … thinks maybe I don't want to do the Adam and Emi thing as much as before … or maybe … hell, I don't know. I just know it's something. And that's on top of her having problems with this being the first Christmas without Reni. Look, when you and Lindsey had Lucy … and I know it isn't exactly the same thing … but … but did things change? Or did … you know … do something to let Lindsey know that you weren't with her just because of Lucy?"
Danny started to see it. "Oh man, did we have problems … and they started before Lucy was even born. You know, I asked her to marry me right after I found out she was pregnant. She said no."
"Wait … what?! But …"
"Yeah. I wasn't able to convince her until right before she went out to visit her parents."
"Yeah, I remember. Kinda a surprise thing and Mac and Stella were your witnesses. For the next week people had to make sure you didn't run into any of the glass walls at the lab 'cause you were really flying high … and worried about Lindsey and the baby and what her parents were going to say."
"Yeah," Danny said with a slow grin brought on by treasured memories. Turning back to Adam he asked, "You really serious about marrying the girl?"
"Oh yeah," Adam said to Danny, leaving no doubt he meant it. "I was waiting until … but look, I thought about it. If I'm waiting until Emi and I have everything all figured out and perfect, I'll be waiting freaking forever. I think Emi and I are about as fixed as we're ever going to get. My past. Her past. There's no changing it. And since it is what brought us together … I'm not saying I want to repeat it but … but I can't dig up a lot of regret that it is what brought us together. But now, there's Charlie. And I know what everyone is saying, that it would be a lot easier to get custody of him if Emi and I were married. I just don't want Emi to think that's the only reason … or the primary reason … I want to marry her."
"Man, you definitely got your work cut out for you. But … and you may not want to hear this … it might not be a bad idea to keep on waiting."
"Why?" Adam asked. He wasn't angry or disappointed, he simply wanted to know.
"Because there is Charlie; and Emi is dealing with painful memories right now. And you have been dealing with some high pressure messes the last few months. And … yeah … sounds like you need to know for sure that she'd say yes for all the right ones instead of it being just because that's what you want her to say."
Adam relaxed. Danny got it. The last thing that he wanted was for Emi to say yes only because that's what he wanted her to say. And he had his own visions of repeating the Emi-Gary-Reni thing that wound up with so much pain.
"Thanks."
"You sure?"
Adam shrugged. "I wanted advice. You gave it. I knew you weren't my fairy godmother when I asked you so … not like you're going to wave a magic wand to fix things."
# # # # # # # # # #
Later that day Mac and Jo were discussing the case in his office. Jo looked through the glass at Adam who hadn't seemed to sit still for more than a few seconds since he and Danny came into the lab. "Busy little beaver. How'd he do in the field?"
"Better than expected given the circumstances. He came close to losing it a couple of times but pulled himself back. I think Danny had to give him a couple of pointers on delegation but again, to be expected as he's never been lead on a scene before. Overall, I'm pleased. Have you been down to virtopsy to see the crime scene?"
"Yep, both of them. I agree that it started in the dressing area. Looks like the body was then dragged to the stairs, stood up, then allowed to fall down the stairs to make it look like he tripped. Sid said it was a good cover up. The secondary damage covered up the original head trauma. A casual observer might think that the alcohol found in our vic's system caused him to lose his footing on the stairs."
"As good as the cover up may have been, it shows carelessness or inexperience to have missed the blood splatter in the dressing area. And given the time of death based on liver temp it may have been because it was dark in the room at the time and they didn't want to bring notice to themselves by turning on lights. The nighttime security detail reported that they saw nothing unusual."
"Maybe they were sitting around drinking coffee, not doing their jobs?"
Mac shook his head. "I don't believe that to be the case. Time stamped security footage shows every guard walking his assigned route and checking doors, both interior and exterior. Whoever did this knows the theater lay out and knows it well."
At that moment Don Flack appeared at Mac's office door. "First vic's name is Elizabeth Eaton, aged twenty-two, former drama student at NYU. No one reported her missing because she left New York to head to Burbank, California for a job in a soap opera for the summer. Apparently she never let any of her former acquaintances know she was back in town … or at least none that have admitted to it. But get this, she was the original understudy for the actress who is playing Olivia Toms in that play about her life. She was also the one that did the original designs for the costumes for the play. I'm betting the one she was wearing when she died was a prototype or whatever you want to call it. That'd explain why the theater manager – Mr. Pain in the Ass Montague – thought it was one of the ones currently in use."
"I take it you've had another run-in with the manager," Mac asked, noting Flack's very real anger at the mention of the man's name.
"He called the Mayor's office. Apparently some kid the Mr. Mayor is related to the long ass way around has some bit part in the play." Rolling his neck to release the tension he apologized. "Pardon my French. It has been one hell of a day and it don't look to get any better. Jamie called in sick."
Jo's eyes widened and said, "Uh oh."
"Yeah, uh oh so that's why I'm standing out here in the hall instead of coming in. I'm showering in sanitizer but … just dammit, we don't need this right now. And do me a favor and tell Danny and Adam to be careful so they don't take this stuff home. Got a call from Officer Beckham's husband … he had to take her and both his kids to the ER a couple of hours ago … she's 7 months pregnant, already on desk duty, and this shit just ain't … she might lose the baby and you know they been trying like hell for three years to get knocked up."
Jo put a hand over her mouth in horror and Mac got a very serious look on his face before asking, "Do they need anything?"
"So far we got it covered. Some people from the other precincts have stepped it up. We'll return the favor when it's needed. But here's the thing, the Captain is beginning to think maybe them hookers did it on purpose. Or maybe it was their pimp. It was already suspicious why they'd bring them kids with 'em … ain't exactly a profession where you bring your kids to work if you know what I mean … and a little birdie that owed Wesoslowski said he'd heard some of the girls talkin' like it was a good joke."
Adam had come up just in time to hear the last and said, "Whoa … that's all this city needs … biological warfare."
"Aw man," Flack said backing up. "Don't even. And stay back, I could be contagious."
Adam stepped back but only so he could grab something off of a cart he was pushing. He handed two boxes to Flack and said, "Merry Christmas."
Flack read their labels and immediately opened both boxes. First he put on a pair of latex gloves and next he put a paper surgical mask on. "Thanks," came his reply, muffled by the mask. "We're already out down at the precinct. We're getting more but …"
When he started walking away Adam said, "Hang on." He tossed the man a bottle of sports drink. "And keep someone on speed dial just in case. I called Emi and she said this stuff hits …"
Flack suddenly paled and then turned and practically sprinted to the bathroom.
"… fast."
Mac pinched the bridge of his nose but before he could say anything Adam told him, "I already have all of the lab techs wearing standard PPE as if we'd had some kind of contamination and Kendall is supervising sanitizing the common areas like the breakroom as well as the work stations like EDNA and all of the microscopes, etc. Call went out and Building Maintenance is notifying everyone on the other floors and putting signs in the elevators and stairwells, and everyone is calling their cleaning staff to try and stop this stuff in its tracks. We're making up 1:9 bleach solution as needed to kill off any contamination but it is going to slow down getting test results."
"Do it anyway," Mac said. "Just make sure that no cross contamination of evidence occurs."
"We've already locked everything down. Shigella doesn't live long outside the body so as long as we don't re-contaminate from other sources the lab should be ok.