AN: I don't own any of the CSI:NY Characters or any of the show's storylines that I may refer to from time to time, but the rest of the plot is mine.
14. Is this for real?
Stella and Danny had returned to the lab. They were studying some of the evidence they had brought back with them.
"I got a burned security tag" announced Danny.
"That's how she got them off the clothes, but it had to be some kind of portable blow torch to do that" Stella said looking at the melted plastic in Danny's hand. Angell entered.
"I finally got the details of this morning's attempt from the deputy manager, took the threat of a warrant to do it though." She announced.
"So what have we got?" asked Stella.
"She doesn't know who the kid was, but she vouched for the detective, apparently she's the daughter of one of their suppliers, she's got an account there and paid off the kid's $900 bill." Angell announced.
"I only know one detective with that clout. ... Laura ... We have no idea about the girl?" replied Stella.
"Why would Laura do something like that and on a cop's salary where would she get the money?" argued Danny.
"Danny, you been someplace else the last month? Laura's family run a top perfume business, she just doesn't flaunt her inheritance. But that doesn't explain the girl."
"I don't know if this will help, I persuaded them to print it from the security tape." Angell said handing a photo to Stella. "She looks kind of familiar but I can't place her"
"She's pretty, but I don't recognise her." She handed the photo to Danny.
"Shit, I do ... It's Flack's sister, ... I've seen her at the house before, she crashed with them a few weeks ago after a fight with her parents. ... I'm sure its Megan." He answered. He looked up from the photo his brow furrowed. "Does Flack know?"
"I don't know. He's back from the Queen's maze, but I haven't seen him. ... I should have recognised her, Laura's had her on a tight leash in the squad room since she came in, I think she's trying to protect her."
"We'll need to talk to both of them." Sighed Stella.
"Stella, you don't seriously think they're involved?" asked Danny.
Stella shook her head. "No, but they may have seen something which might help us."
Lindsay entered the room. "hey, heard you're chasing a shoplifter, Adam has some pretty groovy footage for you to see from the security tapes, something about ectoplasm; he's also finished the disk from the other case he was working. I'm gonna run it over and leave on Flack's desk." She told them with a grin.
"Montana, be careful. Flack's still hung over he won't be in a pretty mood, especially when he finds out what his sister has been up to today." He joked.
"I think I can handle him" she replied throwing Danny a seductive glance before leaving.
"Will you two please put all of us out of our misery and get it over with" badgered Stella seeing the wistful look he had watching Lindsay move down the hallway.
"Get what over with?" asked Danny trying to sound innocent. Stella shook her head.
"You know" she answered and looked at Angell. "Where's Laura now?"
"I'll find out and we can go talk to them" Angell offered taking out her phone and moving into the hallway.
x X x
Don was pacing the interrogation room with Megan sat at the table and Laura stood back against a wall. Megan looked nervously at her brother. She knew he was mad, she saw it in his eyes. He had entered the room a few minutes ago and hadn't said a word to her yet.
"Don't pull your tough detective silent crap on me" she shouted finally, unable to stand his silence any longer. Don stopped pacing and leaned on the table opposite her and glared at her. She shrunk back, she didn't remember ever seeing him this mad.
"Tell me Meg do I have a reason not to be mad at you? Laura said you'd tell me, so right now all I know is that you're here and you're in trouble and you better have a damned good excuse as to why you dragged her into your problems!" he yelled at Megan who jumped at the tone.
"I'm sorry" she sobbed. "I never meant-"
"That's your problem Meg, you never mean-" He began again as Laura crossed the room to him.
"Don, listen to her" Laura counselled as she rested a hand on his arm. He dropped his head and pushed himself away from the table. Megan looked between them tears streaking her face. Laura nodded at her to continue and slowly she told Don what had happened. He started pacing the room again as he listened. A deafening silence fell over them again, the only sound were Megan's sobs and the squeak of Don's shoes as he paced around the room. He stopped and stared out the window and ran his hand through his hair, then he looked at Laura, who went over to him.
"What do I do?" he pleaded with Laura quietly.
"I'm going to tell you what I told her, this is between you two and your parents. I've done what I can to limit the damage. She got off with a warning, I've settled the bill and I'm keeping the clothes. ... I think she's learnt her lesson." Laura whispered.
Megan watched the two of them talking, their voices low so she couldn't hear. "What made her do it?" Don asked.
"Leave that to me, I need to deal with them" Laura answered an edge to her voice.
"Why?" he asked as Laura looked away, he turned her face towards him, she closed her eyes.
"... She was trying to be like Cassie ... My damn sister has been casting her influence again." Laura whined as she opened her eyes and looked out of the window.
" ... Kat, look at me" Laura turned to him and found herself staring into his eyes. "You're not responsible for either of them, let me handle it, it's time your sister learnt that she can't keep screwing your life. ... You really think Meg's learnt her lesson?" he asked.
"Yeah, I do, ... look at her Don, this has really given her a wake up call, she's terrified of you and your Dad and what you will do." They looked at Megan who was still sitting at the table her head down her hands fiddling with a tissue.
Laura's phone rang, she unclipped it from her belt and looked at it. "Dispatch, I've gotta take it." She sighed and went outside.
Don stared at Megan for what seemed to her like forever. She wasn't looking but she could feel his eyes on her. She waited.
"You owe Laura, you realise that?" he said calmly, even though it wasn't how he felt. Megan nodded. "You'll have to pay her back every penny I don't care how long it takes, you got that?" He said forcefully.
"... I never asked her to do that" sobbed Megan.
"Doesn't matter, she bailed you out, you're lucky, you've escaped without a record ... you've got a second chance, not many kids your age in trouble get that." He stressed.
Laura put her head round the door. "I'm sorry I've got a call out, not sure when I'll be back." She told them. "You two ok?" Neither of them answered her. "Ok bad question. I'll talk to you both later." She closed the door.
"Stay there" Don told Megan and followed Laura.
Outside the room Laura headed into the squad room and emerged a moment later with her coat. Don stopped her.
"... I'm sorry I've gotta go" she pleaded.
"I know, .. I just- we'll talk later, you shouldn't have been dragged into this" he answered rubbing his hand across his face. "Are you ok?"
"Tired, and my head is still fuzzy, but I'll be ok. You?" she replied.
"yeah, be careful" he whispered tiredly as he gave her a quick kiss and she walked away.
x X x
Stella and Danny were with Adam one of the labs, Adam was wearing a yellow jacket with reflective strips, standing in front of a camera, the image being displayed on a large screen behind them.
"What do ya got Adam?" asked Danny.
Adam waffled about ectoplasms and Imelda Marcos before Stella stopped him and he explained the reason for bringing them in. That the coat the suspect wore on the CCTV was made of a reflective material, which interrupted the infrared signals on the security camera.
"Creating the void, making her disappear." Said Danny with an amused grin.
x X x
Laura arrived at the theatre to be greeted by a uniformed officer. "Hey Detective, this is a weird one, hope you've got a good stomach."
"How weird are we talking?" She asked her head beginning to pound.
"Garcia's built like an ox, even made him puke" the officer answered.
"Great, that's all I need today, show me what we've got." She asked and he lead her inside. She cast her eyes around and pulled a torch from her pocket shining it at the items scattered around. Following the items she closed in on the body. Taking a deep breath she leaned against the wall, forcing herself to remain on her feet as she pulled her phone from her belt as she remembered finding herself in a similar position to their victim at the end of a previous case. She'd been lucky, the team had tracked her and SWAT had rescued her before anything really bad could happen, but she knew how frightened this girl would have been. Her fingers trembled as she dialled the lab.
"Mac .. hi ... its Laura, I've got Lindsay on her way over, but we're gonna need some extra help, ... I know your stretched, but this is gonna take most of the night with one CSI, what about Adam? ... that's great, thanks, oh and we'll need the ME too. ... No, I'm ok. ... I'm still hungover and the scene kinda caught me by surprise." Her voice was shaky as she spoke to Mac, but she thought she successfully brushed him off.
Laura hung up her phone and made her way outside. "Peters, what do we know? ... any id on the vic?"
"Caretaker opened up about an hour ago ready for tonight's performance. He always does a walk round and found what you saw, got out and called us."
"ID?" she asked again.
"Not so far, Caretaker doesn't know her. We're pulling CCTV to find out more." Peters answered.
Lindsay arrived at that moment, and approached Laura. They entered the theatre together. "I hope your hangover is better than mine this is not pretty. Adam's on his way to lend you a hand, Mac couldn't spare anyone else." Laura advised.
"So what have we got?" she asked.
"Female vic about 25 no ID so far, looks like she was tortured, ME will need to determine actual cause of death, but anything on stage could have done it." Said Laura as they made their way to the actual scene.
"Are you going to tell me the set up?" asked Lindsay.
"I'm not sure I can, my brain is still processing everything, you need to see this for yourself" answered Laura. Lindsay gave Laura a confused look. "It's the sort of thing I saw in Vice, but whoever did this is perverted and took it to the next level."
A moment later Lindsay saw why as she took in the scene for herself. She cast her eyes across the stage, then slowly lifted the camera and began taking photos.
x X x
Danny and Stella returned to the lab, Mac's office was empty and the rest of the team were out so they headed for the breakroom while they planned their next move. Angell joined them a few minutes later.
"I talked to Megan Flack, she didn't see anything that could help, but she is pretty strung out at the moment."
"I'm not surprised if Flack's laid into her" answered Danny.
"That's just it, I don't think he has, I'd expected him to be more vocal, but she looked like she was getting more of the silent treatment." Angell told them. "He's taken some personal time and taken her home."
"What about Laura?" asked Stella.
"Called out to a scene at an off Broadway show." Replied Angell. "I'll talk to her when she gets back."
x X x
Laura was watching Lindsay working the scene and was only vaguely aware of someone entering the theatre. "Wow, I've read about this kind of thing, but I never thought I'd see it. Is this for real?" gasped Adam arriving at the scene.
"Does the dead body look real Adam?" asked Lindsay. "Get over here I need you to collect all the stuff on the tables and bag it to go back to the lab."
"I'll go check on the ME" announced Laura as she turned away. Now Adam had arrived it didn't need her presence and the whole scene was giving her the creeps as the scene in the warehouse several months ago played over in her mind again.
Thanks to brainDamage089 for turning my English into American to make it more authentic.
Thank you too for the reviews.
The references to Laura's previous case goes back to Crossed Paths if you are interested.