I am SO VERY sorry that it has taken me so long to update. Nearly a month and I feel sick about it. This chapter was hard for me to get right and I still don't know if I'm happy with it. I had it planned out but every time I wrote it up I didn't like it, so, I re-wrote the thing about six times. I hope you all aren't too angry with me for the long wait. Please let me know what you think, and thank you all so much for your patience, for reading, and for reviewing. You guys are the best.
Disclaimer: I own nothing associated with CSI: NY.
Chapter 14
"Miss McCree, over the last few days have you noticed anyone following you?" Detective Taylor asked as I sat in his office, cup of hot tea in hand with Detective Bonasera sitting in the chair next to me. Detective Taylor told Don when he had brought me up that no one was going to get to me while I was in the lab so he should go to the hospital to check on his sister, Samantha. They had spoke quietly to each other, and I had heard the older man tell Don that he wasn't going to work the case given what happened to his sister, and although I could tell that Don hadn't been very happy to hear that he nodded his head. Don reluctantly left, but not before kissing my temple and promising to come back soon.
Detective Bonasera had joined us soon after with a mug of tea for me. They explained to me that Don's sister had been attacked and he got a call not long before he called me and the altered voice of the man all but said that I was next. Apparently, someone was out to hurt Don and he was doing so by attacking those close to him. An officer was posted outside his father's house and a guard was also placed outside his sister's hospital room. His older brother lived outside of New York, so, no one was particularly worried about him being attacked.
"No," I said honestly, still shaken by what they told me. "I really haven't left my apartment much lately and when I did it was only to my class and back. Today was really the first day I've left my place for an extended period of time."
"Today, when you were out, you didn't notice anyone that seemed to be everywhere you went?" Detective Bonasera asked and I shook my head.
"Elise was with me for awhile, so, I wasn't paying attention," I said. "I'm sorry."
"It's okay," Detective Bonasera said as she reached out and gently patted my forearm before resting her hand back in her lap.
"Is Don's sister going to be okay?" I asked looking to Detective Taylor. He took a deep breath before he slowly let it out and nodded.
"She took a pretty bad beating, but the doctor's say she's going to recover," he said and I let go of the breath I hadn't realized I'd been holding.
"Why would someone do this?" I asked. "What could Don possibly have done that would make someone want to hurt those around him?" The detectives shared a look, and I had a feeling that something like this had happened before.
"There are some things that we can't really explain, Miss McCree," Detective Taylor said as he returned his light eyes to me. "At least not until we have the perpetrator in our hands." I sighed quietly and shook my head.
"I don't understand what they could possibly gain," I said more to myself than anyone else, but I knew they were paying attention when Detective Taylor spoke.
"We've learned, Miss McCree, that sometimes there is nothing to gain except revenge," Detective Taylor said I frowned, but he had a point so I nodded my head. "We're going to have a uniform escort you home, check your apartment before he lets you in, and sit outside your building." I nodded again before I put my cup of tea on his desk and sighed as I ran my hand through my hair.
"Do you think it would be all right if I went to the hospital to see Don and his sister?" I asked and the man and woman looked at each other before Stella nodded.
"Sure, I'll tell the officer that's escorting you to bring you to Angel of Mercy and to walk you inside," Stella said and I could only nod. Apparently, they were taking the threat rather seriously and I was surprised they weren't keeping me in the station.
I felt everyone looking at me as I made my way down the hospital corridor with Officer Stonewell at my side. The seasoned officer was nice enough and was on guard even though I felt relatively safe; however, I wasn't one for attention. We arrived at Don's sister's room and Officer Stonewell greeted the other officer before I slipped inside. Don, who was sitting in the chair next to the bed, looked up and frowned as he looked at me.
"I came with an escort, so, don't worry," I said and he relaxed a bit. "I came to check on your sister and you," I said softly before I walked over to the bed and looked at the brown haired girl lying on the bed. If her face wasn't marred by bruising and slightly swollen, I was sure she was rather pretty. Her right arm was heavily bandaged and her left leg was in a cast. Detective Taylor had been right; she took a hell of a beating. "Is she okay?" I asked softly and Don sighed as he stood and walked around the bed to stand next to me.
"She will be," he said softly. "She fell asleep about ten minutes before you came in." I looked at him and frowned. He looked beyond tired and nothing like the spunky and slightly crazy guy I knew him to be.
"Are you okay?" I asked and he raised his right hand to the back of his head and scratched it before he lowered his hand and sighed.
"How can I be okay when some prick that's after me has put my sister in the hospital, threatened my friends and my father, and promised to do worse to you?" he asked, sounding upset. I shook my head and raised my hands to his face, forcing his attention on me after he looked away and at his sister.
"Hey," I said firmly, but softly. "By getting upset like this, you're letting this guy win. Your sister is hurt right now and needs her big brother to be there for her, not a pissed off brother wanting to find the guy and put him in the morgue." He let out a heavy breath before he wrapped his hands around my wrists and pulled my hands from his face to hold onto them tightly.
"You know, you're taking this rather well," he said and I gave him a small smile.
"Because I have faith in the team working to find this guy; they found my sister and brought her home," I said with a slight pause, "and they'll find this guy and bring him to justice." He gave me a small smile before he nodded curtly and kissed my forehead. "I know you're not working the case, Don, because it involves you but you know Detective Taylor and the others will keep you informed. Especially Danny."
"I know, Lin, I know," he said before he looked from me to his battered but sleeping sister. "I just feel like this is all my fault."
"Well it's not," I said and he looked back at me, "and you know it isn't." He sighed yet again as he raised his hands from mine and brought his hands to rest on my face. I moved mine to his waist as we stared at each other for a few seconds.
"Go home, Lin, and get some rest," he said. "I'll be there later."
"You can stay with your sister," I said and he smiled as he ran his thumbs along my cheeks.
"She's already ordered me home, into the shower, and then bed. She says she fine and that I don't have to worry," he said. "She's stubborn like someone I know." I smiled before he leaned down and pressed his lips to mine for brief moment.
"I love you," I whispered when he pulled back and he smiled at me. He didn't have to actually say it back, I could read the words in his eyes. "Officer Stonewell is my escort and will be sitting outside my building, so, you don't have to worry about me on my way home, okay?"
"All right," he said before he kissed me again. "I'll see you in a few hours. I want to talk to Sam's doctors." I nodded and pulled away from him.
"Give her my best if she wakes up before you go, would you?" I asked and he nodded. "See you," I said to him and he nodded. I left the room and smiled at Officer Stonewell. He said parting words to the officer standing outside the room and followed me down the corridor.
During the drive to my apartment we shared small talk and I asked him about his family. His wife was pregnant with the second baby, a girl to join their five year old boy. "So, how did you get Detective Flack to settle down?" he asked and I laughed as I tucked my hair behind my ears.
"I spilled coffee on him," I said and he joined me in my laughter.
"You serious?" he asked and I nodded.
"We met at a coffee shop and the first time we talked, he startled me and I spilt my coffee on him," I said.
"That's a way to leave an impression," he said still chuckling a bit and I smiled.
"I was mortified," I said, "but it obviously worked out." He nodded before he slowed the car and to my surprise, parked his car just outside my building. That spot was usually always taken.
"We'll go up and I'll check your apartment to make sure it's clear," he said and I nodded my head as I unbuckled my seatbelt and we climbed from the car. It was rather quiet that night, quieter than usual, but I figured it was because it had gotten pretty late. I'd lost track of time while I was at the police station and glancing at my watch I saw that it was nearly eleven.
Soon, we were inside and on my floor. Officer Stonewell went into my apartment to check it out while I remained in the hall but when I heard a muffled grunt and a crash, I frowned and against my better judgment I went inside. "Officer Stonewell?" I asked, hoping the man hadn't tripped over anything in the dark and hurt himself. However, I didn't get much further than the foyer because I heard a quick swoosh before pain rippled through the back of my head and I knew nothing else.
My head was pounding as I slowly came to and I blinked a few times and lifted my head only to find myself roped to a hard wooden chair and a strip of duct tape across my mouth. The room was oddly cold for the end of August and I started to shiver in the dim light that filtered through the room from a high window. I whimpered as pain shot across the back of my head when I turned it to look around. Fighting through the pain, I turned my head only to realize I was in a small basement room of some kind and a door was about eight feet from where I sat.
I looked down at my bindings and tried to free myself, but they were tied far too tightly and I knew there would be no way for me to free myself. I was then that I also realized that the chair was bolted to the floor. I wanted to cry, but I wouldn't let myself do it. Blinking back my tears of fear and pain, I swallowed hard and listened for any sound that might help me figure out exactly where I had been taken. I couldn't hear the city traffic and I couldn't hear the sounds of planes overhead. Either the room was well insolated or we were far from the city. I guessed it was just after dawn by the color of the light filtering from the high window and I couldn't make up my mind of which of my options rang truer. It was then that I heard the distinctive pounding of footfalls on stairs and immediately my eyes went to the door.
Keys jingled and I heard the bolt locks click open before I watched the knob slowly turn. My heart started to pound to match the throbbing rhythm of my head, but I kept my eyes focused on the door. I wouldn't let my fear show, just like I wouldn't' let my tears fall. I was expecting a large burly man, but as my captor stepped into the room, a sly smile on their face, I couldn't believe it. Standing in front of me was no man, but a tall lanky woman. Her dark blue eyes were wild, just like the dark brown curls about her head.
"It's abou' time ye woke up," she said, her rasped voice heavy with a distinctively Irish accent, another fact about my captor I wasn't expecting. "I was beginnin' ta think I'd done ye in with one blow, and where would da fun be in dat?" She walked slowly over to me, like a cat stalking its prey, and my eyes didn't leave hers as she did so. "If I take this off of ye, ye'll be able ta scream all ye like because no one will hear ye." She reached forward and ripped the tape from my face, probably taking a good portion of skin from my lips, chin, and cheeks with it. She giggled when I let out a short scream as stood up straight and waived the piece of tape at me. I looked at her with narrowed eyes and licked my bleeding lips.
"Who the hell are you?" I asked and the smile fell from her face before she smacked me soundly across the cheek. My head snapped to the side and I took a deep breath before I looked at her and blinked away the water that sprang to my eyes from the force of her blow.
"I'm a woman gettin' revenge for the death of her husband," she said thickly. "His sister was jus' a pawn ta keep him distracted so I could get ta ye, and it worked better than I thought." She let out a laugh as she raised her head back and looked towards the ceiling. "The lass was stumblin' home drunk when I got ta her."
"What does Don have to do with the death of your husband?" I asked, wanting to get inside her head a little bit and find out just why she was doing what she was doing. Her sapphire colored eyes glared at me, all the joy seeming gong from her face as she glared down at me.
"Ye think he's all good 'n noble, but he's a bastard," she said. "He killed me husband and left me to raise our three boys alone."
"When?" I asked, hoping to keep her talking but she wasn't having it.
"Shut it," she snapped. "It doesn't matter when, all dat matters is dat I'm going to leave him just as miserable as he left me." Suddenly a knife gleamed in her hand and I swallowed hard as I looked at the shiny metal and then back into her wild eyes.
"I'm sure whatever it is you're planning to do won't help anything," I said. "You'll just be arrested and taken away from your children. You don't want them to grow up without their mother do you?"
"I won't get caught," she said, her sinister grin once again returning as she looked at me. "By the time they find ye, ye'll be long cold and they'll have a lovely video to watch." She gestured behind her with the knife and for the first time I noticed a small camcorder set up on a tripod the red light shining brightly as it recorded the scene in front of it. "Now be a good lass and scream," she said before she ran the knife along my bound left arm. I bit back my scream, the cut wasn't deep and I wouldn't bleed out from it, but it was very painful.
"Come on, give 'em a show," she said as she twisted the tip of the knife along my arm and pushed it in a little deeper. A scream came unwillingly from my mouth as a burning pain ripped through my arm. She laughed and looked at the camera before she raised the knife from my arm. "We're going to have so much fun," she said. I couldn't stop the lone tear that rolled down my cheek, and I silently prayed that Don would find me sooner rather than later.
Don was speeding to Elina's apartment, lights flashing and siren blaring. It was just after mid-night and he had been saying good bye to Sam when his phone rang. It had been Danny, calling him to tell him the one thing that made his blood run cold; 'He's got Elina.' Don's heart had plummeted and Sam told him to go that she would be fine, and without a word he had left with his heart somewhere near his feet. His mind was racing and he found it hard to focus, but he had to get to her apartment. Mac and the others were there and he needed answers. He parked his car and climbed out, barely taking the time to throw it in park and turn it off.
"What the hell happened?" Don asked as he stormed over to Danny who was talking to Stonewell as he sat in the back of an ambulance with a bandage being applied to his left temple. Danny stepped forward and put his hands on Don's chest as he charged at the officer. "You were supposed to be guarding her!" Don yelled and Stonewell looked away from him as Danny pushed him back towards his car. With a shove Don pushed Danny away and turned around.
"Calm down, getting worked up isn't going to help us find her," Danny said to Don's back as his friend fumed.
"What happened?" Don asked as he turned around and raised his hand towards the building.
"The perp was in her apartment, hidden in the dark, when Stonewell entered to do a sweep," Danny said. "Before Stonewell could turn on a light he was hit over the head. He woke up about thirty minutes after he was hit and radioed in. We're still trying to put all the pieces together, man."
"You're sure she's gone?" Don asked and Danny pursed his lips as he gave him a curt nod.
"Her purse was lying just inside the door, but no Elina," Danny said and Don sighed before he ran his hand over the top of his head.
"I don't get any of this, Dan," he said. "Why didn't the guy come after me? Why go after my sister and my girlfriend?"
"Because whoever this guy is, he wants you alive but he wants you to suffer," came Mac's voice from behind him and Don turned around. "He left this behind." Mac held up a clear evidence bag and Don took it into his hands and read the writing on the paper.
"Your fate shall be as you made mine, nothing left to do but pine. You shall find what you seek, but she'll be gone and you weak. For you have too many places to look for the love that I took," Don read before his eyes scanned across at least a hundred addresses scrawled along the page. "This guy writes a crappy poem and leaves us with a hundred places to look for her?"
"I've already got people on it, Don," Mac said. "We're putting together teams and we're hitting each location immediately. I know we don't have much time." Don handed the evidence back to Mac. "We're going to get her back."
"But will she be alive when we do?" Don asked heavily, knowing that it would take hours to even start looking for her and by the time the sun rose that morning, it may already be too late.