New year, new chapter :-) Thanks to everyone who's been reviewing and also to those who couldn't log in (but reviewed anyway) and those who didn't have time yet because of real life interferences and to those who ... forgot so far ;-)
Hope you remember where we stopped - short summary: Stella told Mac about her meeting with the Chief (Please remember this is another Chief than on the show, this story has been written before I knew that guy!) and now we move on with the case (the missing kid from the mansion):
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Chapter 14 – Rumors and More Rumors
"He was really nice, Mac…" Stella finished telling Mac about what had happened while she was upstairs.
"I have to make a confession…" he reluctantly admitted.
Stella wrinkled her forehead and looked up at him again, since he was still standing behind her, his hands softly massaging her shoulders.
"You know, when you saw him coming out of my office earlier…" Mac carefully went on.
"Yeah?"
"He talked to me about it then, I just couldn't tell you."
"What did he say?" Stella asked nervously, afraid that the Chief might have told Mac something other than what he told her.
But what sense would that make?
"He told me if I would hurt or disappoint you in any way, I would be in really big trouble," Mac smiled while Stella dropped back into his chair with a sigh of relief.
"What?!?" she almost laughed in disbelief.
"Stella, you know he likes you. He doesn't have any children and you are like the daughter he never had. He cares about you in more than a professional way even if he can't really say that officially. He also said that there won't be any problem with the IAB since we are not officially partners like cops on patrol, but work in different combinations within the team. Of course there could be a problem because technically I'm the supervisor – even though we have the same rank - and there might be trouble within the team because others might suspect preferential treatment or feel disadvantaged, but I convinced him that this wouldn't be an issue. For now I still think we shouldn't publish the news yet, but eventually the others will learn about it anyway."
"Hum..."
"What is it?"
"Well, now that even the Chief is backing it up..."
"Yeah?"
"What if we increase the validity of the rumors?"
"Anything special in mind?"
"Don't look at me like that, Mac Taylor!" Stella grinned and rose from his chair to pick up the folder with the print results from the floor next to a file cabinet where she had tossed it before going to meet the Chief.
Suddenly Mac grabbed her from behind after making sure nobody was watching from outside of his office.
Stella jumped in surprise and hit her head at the opened top drawer of the cabinet.
"OUCH! Not again…" she groaned. "Dear Diary,...today my obnoxious boss tortured me again…"
Mac chuckled.
"You know that there will also be rumors if I keep running around here with bumps and bruises all the time, don't you?" Stella complained with a smile.
"Well, one more reason to prove that there's nothing wrong between us, right?"
Mac approached her with a suggestive look in his eyes. Then he placed his hands on her waist and pulled her into a slow and tender kiss.
"I would love to but I'm afraid my boss doesn't allow any flirting at the lab," she teased him as she freed herself from his embrace, reminding him of what he had said to her after she had told him about Sid flirting with her at the morgue a while ago. Yet she was more than happy about his changed attitude and enjoyed the frequent close moments more than anything else.
"We don't exactly flirt, do we?" Mac asked rhetorically as he pulled her back into his arms. The look in his eyes told her that this game wasn't over yet.
"Well," Stella started, squirming herself out of his grip again, "since it's still early morning and we didn't really do anything yet – how about if we try to get some work done first, hum?"
"Hey, I'm the boss! That's my line," he smirked.
"Stella, we got a result from the blood samples!" Adam called as he burst into the office. Then he stopped abruptly, giving Mac a confused look until he realized it was his office and therefore no surprise to find him in here.
"Sorry… Morning, Mac, I didn't want to, I'm sorry, did I interrupt something?" he stammered, not sure where to look.
Mac tried to avoid a grin. He would never understand what Adam's problem was. He was the best analyst they had at the lab, yet he always seemed very confused, insecure and almost shy when it came to talking to him or Stella.
Fear of authority?
This, even though Mac didn't consider himself as a very authoritarian boss.
"Relax, Adam," he said therefore. "What have you got for us?"
Stella gave Adam an encouraging nod which he returned briefly, then he turned to Mac to answer his question.
"I analyzed the blood you collected from the guinea pig cage and fur and it's not a match to the hair samples you gave me from the little boy's hairbrush. But I found common alleles which indicate close degree of relationship."
He was back in his familiar profession.
"Mother or father?" Stella asked him.
"DNA is male," Adam replied. "And it can't be the father. Parents give half of the DNA to a kid, 50 is father and 50 is mother. Which half is what, is purely coincidence. Test results are clear. It must be a close male relative, maybe a brother?"
"There was no brother. They didn't mention another son," Stella said, turning around to Mac with a questioning look.
"We didn't ask them…" he musingly returned her remark.
"Yeah, right. If not noticing that one son is missing, why mention there's another one in the picture," Stella sarcastically mumbled aloud.
"Looks as if we need to talk to the 'masteries' again," Mac commented.
"Then you should possibly also ask them if their animal is a known user…"
"What???" both Mac and Stella turned to Adam with surprise.
"Um, I also found trace of cocaine on the hair samples of the guinea pig. And when I tested the hair powder you brought me – almost pure cocaine."
This brought Stella's thoughts back to the folder with the print results she still had in her hands.
"Hum…"
"What is it?" Mac asked her.
"That might explain the print result I found," she replied slowly.
"When exactly did you wanna tell me about that?" he wondered.
"Actually when I was on the way here in the first place and then…" she hesitated.
"Right, okay," Mac realized they didn't need to discuss the reason for the distraction in front of Adam. It wasn't necessary that others knew about Stella's talk to the Chief or anything else yet.
"So why don't you just tell me now what you found?" he asked instead.
"Sure," Stella returned with relief. "A print lifted from the pig's cage got a hit in AFIS. Belongs to one Nigel Chesterfield, got busted for possession last year. No further arrests. Apparently daddy's lawyer got him out against payment of a larger sum for the local drug rehabilitation center…"
"Chesterfield…" Mac mumbled.
"Let me guess," Stella cynically asked. "Same league as Prescott, right?"
Mac shrugged in return.
"Figures. Well, whatever 'coterie' he or his family belong to, we will have to have a talk with Mr. Chesterfield Jr.," she stated.
"We will," Mac confirmed.
Cases like this one were never easy, but he was the last one to put social status over the law. If there was something wrong, they would find out, money or no money involved. In front of the law and therefore in front of his judgment, everyone was equal.
"I'll call Flack to bring him in. And you…" he pointed at Stella, "… are invited for lunch. I think you might need a little moment off, hum?"
She nodded wordlessly.
TBC
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Okay - if life allows it, please drop a review! Meanwhile, I finally started working on the next chappy for "Picking" (which would be a chapter related to "A Man A Mile") and I have a vague idea of where to start the sequel to the "Kiss" story (the Christmas/New Years one). But you go first now ;-)
xxxlittlesheepxxx