Ok thanks for all the reviews. I got most of the next chapter done...Working out the kinks. I hope you all like this one and the next one. I'm nervous about them...:(! But enjoy...
Bluehaven4220- Aww thanks! Now I gotta go thnka BEG too! I'm glad I could help and I'm glad you liked it! Thanks so much!! :)
WinchesterWench- Aww thank you, hun! I had to add those tiny little moments. All kind of fatherly moments, in a sense. I'm glad you enjoyed it! :)
JaydenBell- Yeah, the joys of waiting. Thanks for reviewing.
hope4sall- Thanks! I had fun writing that father moment for Mac. I gotta do more of those...lol. :)
Forest Angel- lol...sorry if it did take too long. But it might be another chapter before it all comes to an end. Thanks for reviewing! :)
BEG75- HaHa...One- You plugged my story and I got a new reader...Thanks! :) Two- I was also born without the virute they call patience. Three- Thanks, for reviewing...lol. I'm a little iffy on the next chapter or two but I do know what i want to happen afterwards and I know you're going to have a big aww moment...lol. I can tell already!
For the first time in my life I had felt something I had never felt before. Fear. I had been in more than enough raids, shootouts, busts, wars and fights in my life. But never had I been scared. Never had I felt like I let someone down. Never had I felt like my heart had been ripped out of my chest. But at the mere mention of Stella's words, I felt it. I felt it all crash down on me.
"Bodies?" I choked out. I felt Mac's hand come over my shoulder as Stella nodded.
"They haven't ID them yet. They won't let anyone into the scene without you or Mac there. So we need to head over there." she told us softly. I looked up at Mac and he nodded. I slowly stood up and saw the room spin for a second.
"You okay, Flack?" Mac asked. I looked over at him and wondered how he could ask that. He even though I know he was asking because I swayed, still. He bit his lip and walked beside me out the gym.
Apparently, news had spread. I saw everyone casting looks in my direction as we walked through the precinct. Some were whispering and pointing to me. Everyone knew something was going on between me and Sara. Now I knew how Sara felt walking through the precinct when Jason had died. Everyone giving you the nod or the half smile, not wanting to give a full one incase it offended you. Right now everything thing offended me. The looks, the talk and the way they looked at me. They all expected the worst, how could they do that? Just assume she was gone.
But maybe I was at fault. Maybe I was being too hopeful. But that's what I was supposed to do, right? Be hopeful. Wish and pray that it's not Sara and Isabella…
Bella.
She's two.
"Mac!" I yelled suddenly. Stella and him turned to look at me like everyone else in the room.
"The killer." I said a little quieter. He gave me a confused look and walked over to me.
"What killer, Don?" he asked and looked around nervously. "Let's just get to the car."
"No, Mac. Don't you see? Our cases. Sara and Bella." I tried to put it together but the words just weren't forming. I'm not sure if it wasn't forming because I was getting ahead of myself or if my brain or heart didn't want to process the fact that maybe our killer had gone after Sara and Bella.
"Oh my god." Stella gasped. I looked at her hoping she could find my words for me.
"He's right. Well, could be. She fit's the profile, Mac." Stella told him. I looked to Mac and saw his face drop.
"That's a little far fetched." he told us simply. I growled and Stella grabbed his shoulder.
"It's not. She fit's the profile of what our killer goes after. She went missing at night." Stella told him.
"But Bella wasn't abused." Mac told her. Stella frowned and looked over at me. It was like a light bulb going off in my head. I ran over to Sara' desk and grabbed the latest edition of the New York Time. I walked back over to Mac and Stella.
"Here." I said holding it out for them to read. Stella took it and Mac looked over her shoulder. "Sara was reading that the other day. It's the latest statistics. She was thinking Renee might use it against her if she did pursue custody of Isabella."
"New statistics on children of police officers. Children born to a single police officer are more likely to act be the bully. Children born to two police officers are more likely to act out in revenge. Children who lost a parent to the force are more likely to grow into depression and other mood problems." Mac read out loud. "That's a bunch of crock."
"No, it's not actually." Stella said. "Well, its crazy and only a statistic and nor solely based on how people raise their kids but it could make sense."
"Do you mind explaining?" Mac asked.
"Some believe that the pressure to stay in line and not get in trouble can push a child to act out later in life or regret their parents. So having one cop or two as parents, you have a sense to be good. That's too much for some kids. For me it was. I had to watch what I said because otherwise my dad would get my ass. That's what they mean. The pressure and stress of being a child of a cop can lead to attitude problems. Look at me!" I told them basically what Sara had told me the day before.
"That could be seen as a form of abuse, Mac. If the killer read this, he could have gotten the wrong look. Sara is the lead detective on this. What better way to make a bag, Mac." Stella finished for me. Mac rubbed his chin and looked at us.
"Bring all the evidence out from the cases. I want every lab tech called in and I want the evidence to be looked over again and again until we find something. Get Adam to look over everyone. I want you and Danny to come with me to the scene. Get Lindsey to run Sara's phone records, credit cards. I want to know a full time line by the time we get back. When you're done with that, meet us at the scene." he told Stella. She nodded and walked off.
"You're going to have to ID the bodies." Mac told me as we walked again.
"I know." I whispered.
"Alright, you heard Stella!" I yelled. "The only thing that is to be worked on right now is the evidence I am handing you. Michael and Kendall, you two get the first case. Sheldon and Kent, you get the second. And Lindsey, you and me are working with the last case. Stella and Danny are working with Mac on processing the next case. When they send the evidence over I'll work with them on that."
"Adam, are they sure it's the same killer?" Lindsey asked.
"They seem to think so. But either was this woman needs to be caught. So until Mac says otherwise, this is our main priority." I told her. She nodded and opened the box of evidence from the last case.
"Are you close to Sara?" she asked after a few moments. I sighed and spread the pictures of the scene out.
"Yeah, we good. She's the only one around here that doesn't make me feel uncomfortable. Not that everyone does. But she's just different." I tried to explain.
"She's the only one that didn't look at me as a newbie. She knew I had experience so she didn't consider me a newbie." she smiled. I smiled and looked over at her.
"Exactly. She doesn't judge you or make you feel like your not as good as the other people here." I agreed.
We arrived at the scene, which was right smack in the middle of the Hudson. I saw the tow truck pulling the car out and I saw the scuba officer walking out next to it. I watched as they unhooked the SUV and the coroner walked over to the driver side door. I looked over at Mac and he looked about like I felt. His usual stern face was now full of sadness and worry.
"You two stay here." Stella spoke softly from the back seat. "Wait until the get them in the body bags. I'll go ahead and start processing what I can. Then I'll let the tow truck haul it to the garage lab." she said and got out. I kept my eyes on the scene in front of me. There were people waling around trying to make sure the SUV didn't fall back into the river, people trying to keep people and photographers away and of course, the people trying to get the bodies out.
My eyes shot open when I saw the blonde hair of the woman being pulled from the driver's seat. I looked through the people and my heart fell. I jumped out the car, ignoring the yells from Mac. I pushed through the group of on lookers and through the yellow tape. I saw Stella drop her camera and rush over to me.
"Flack!" she yelled. "Stop him!"
I ran over to the gurney where they laid the body and the man pushed me back.
"I'm Detective Don Flack." I told him quickly. Stella and Mac caught up with me and looked at the man.
"He's going to ID the bodies." Stella told him. The man nodded and waited for the other tiny body to roll up. I felt like dying seeing the tiny body bag. I felt Mac walk away and went to turn away when Stella stopped me.
"I'll get him." she whispered. I looked back at the coroner as he slowly unzipped the first bag. I closed my eyes and covered my nose at the smell of the already decomposing and wet body. I took a deep breath through my mouth and calmed myself before opening my eyes.
"Oh god." I choked when I saw the blonde. Her blue eyes were wide open and her neck slit from side to side. I felt my breakfast come up and quickly turned around to throw up. I heard Mac yell and run over but Stella held him.
"It's not her! It's not her! Tell me, it's not her." he yelled. I had never seen him this way. I stood up and looked at him.
"It's not her." I coughed. His body relaxed and looked like he was about to fall. He walked over and unzipped the tiny body bag and sighed.
"They looked exactly alike though." I muttered. He nodded and looked at the tiny girls' stomach.
"It's our killer, alright." he sighed.
"Mac, you might want to take a look at this." Stella called from the back of the SUV. We walked over, suddenly more confident, and looked at the back. There was a tiny bag with a piece of paper inside. Stella opened the bag and Mac grabbed the paper. He unfolded it as I looked over his shoulder.
'Il suo tempo è ora.'
"Sara knew Italian. Mine's all faded away by now." I told him. He looked around and held up the paper.
"Who knows Italian?" He yelled. I looked around and saw a rookie uniform walk over.
"I do." he said in a thick New York accent. I smirked, of course he does.
"What's this say?" I asked and let him it.
"Your time is now." he read. I nodded and Mac waved him off, after a quick thank you. I looked at Mac and he sighed.
"Well, let's get this towed back to the lab."
I was watching every move they made. Mostly to make sure they got everything, even though I wouldn't know if they missed something. But also to see what Sara found so fascinating about this. She always had this thing about watching them process a scene or anything. She watched them in the lab and ask what test they were running and why. Some days I worried she would quit working with me to go back to school and become a CSI. But she said she was fine just watching and helping every once in a while rather than reading boring science books.
"You don't have to stare so hard." Stella smirked. We were all calmed now that the bodies weren't Sara and Bella's. Granted, they were still missing but we kept the hope alive that they were just that, alive.
"I'm just observing." I told her and peered over her shoulder as she looked through the SUV. So far they had torn it apart, literally. Danny had ripped the bumper off but he was just in a bad mood. He hadn't said a word since Mac told him what was going on. He just jumped up and started processing. I didn't push him to talk. I knew how he was. In fact, this was the best way for him to work. All riled up and would take anything as trace. I just felt bad for the lab techs.
"I think we've done all we can." Danny sighed crawling from underneath the truck. "We have torn it to pieces, which Sara will not like but there's nothing else. And we've already sent up three bags of stuff that might not be anything."
"But Adam said he was looking over every bit of it." Stella told us. I nodded and rubbed my chin. I heard a beeper go off and Stella looked at her phone. Her face brightened as she looked at us.
"Adam's got something." she told us and we all took of for the lab. Oh, if he breaks this case, I'll please Sara and never be mean to him. I'll wait on that lab rat hand and foot.
"There has to be something we're not seeing." Lindsey sighed. I nodded and set my chin on the table. I had looked at every case with every body else and still found nothing. Part of me felt good about that, we hadn't missed anything. But the other part was hoping someone had over looked even the tiniest thing so we could have one up on the crazy woman. And this new evidence hasn't done anything to help out. It was all wet and it wasn't a real scene like the other in the warehouses. So there had to be something else.
"I know but what?" I mumbled and sat up. I looked over the table and over the pictures. "I have a feeling Sara would be able to tell us what it is. Sometime she's more of a CSI than a detective." I whispered to myself.
I tilted my head and looked at the pictures. What could be there? We've got all we could from the evidence. Now what else is there? There has to be some connection. Think like Sara, think like Sara.
"What about the buildings?" I whispered. Lindsey looked over at me.
"What about them?" she asked.
"A connection." I whispered again. She gave me a funny look and watched as I pinned the pictures of each scene up on the marker board. "Give me the addresses to the buildings."
"71 Monty St., 45 Hollen Rd., and 70 Norris Ct." she read off. I nodded and write them down.
"Type them into the computer." I told her looking at the board. I heard her type and turned to look at them.
"What are you thinking?" she asked.
"There's not a lot of two digit addresses in New York, Linds. But she picked these. Maybe they aren't random." I told her.
"You think it's a location?" she asked. I shook my head and typed them in again.
"No, it's something else. She was most likely a child abuse victim. She leaves clues so why not leave some hidden." I told her.
"Okay, I get that. But what could it be?" she asked me. I stared at the numbers for a moment and then looked over at the pictures. All had child abuse cases…
Cases.
"What if it's a case number?" I asked as the light bulb flashed in my head.