Chapter 24: Closing in on

"Flack!", Danny sped to keep up with the detective, who was marching toward Mac's office.

"Yeah?", he answered without slowing down.

"We've made an interesting discovery at Ginzburg's."

"Please, tell me it's the map where his secretive hideaway has been circled with a red pencil."

Danny ignored Flack's joke, "our friend signed a subscription with a courier. We entered his access data and saw the story of his last deliveries. That's how he sent the cells to the victims. Every package has been delivered but one. Delivery time: tomorrow", Danny handed Flack the sheet with the details.

Don grabbed it, stopped and changed direction, "wonderful! I've always wished to receive a cell phone as a present", he smiled lightly, "thanks, Danny."

Messer shook his head walking back to the lab where he was faced by a quite normal scene. Adam was dancing his infamous "winning dance".

"You know? You and Linds dance almost in the same way. The feminine grace I see is very similar."

As usual, when caught, Adam jumped, only to calm himself when he discovered it was Danny. "People... they think that if you erase something from your PC it'll be gone forever."

"You computer tech scare me. A lot."

"Well, thank you. So... Ginzburg made lots of researches about his victims. Born dates, details about the accidents, accounts on social networks."

"He was trying to get along with them, trying to gain their trust."

"He also went on managing new comments received by Corey's fanfiction."

"You telling me these stories also receive some comments?"

"Of course! You really can't understand, can you? By the way, reviews apart, lots of mourning messages."

"Maybe they made him feel understood, loved. Okay, Adam, thank you."

"This whole story is so sad", Lindsay was keeping her eyes locked on Corey's file. It was one of the moments when she could realize how little it took to lose everything, "losing the love of your life could cause all this?", she pointed to the victims' pictures.

"It shouldn't. It's fundamental trying to maintain a sort of balance", Mac, who had lost everything, could understand Sal's motives, but he couldn't agree with them. Obviously.

"Lewis lived in a small apartment in the Village. Now, a couple and their son is living there, so this can't be Ginburg's headquarter."

"Let's check if she had other properties and belongings."

Lindsay went on reading the file.

"Let's see... she owned a car, a dark gray Volvo"

"Sal doesn't own a car, does he?"

"Her car hasn't been demolished, or sold. Actually, it's still registered in her name. The insurance policy is paid."

"Year of the car?"

"2008."

"I'll check the standard equipments. It's a quite recent model, it's probable it's been sold with a GPS. And in fact...", Mac read on the screen, "... it has a standard GPS. Let's look for something which can help us to locate it."

They moved in the lab, where Jess had joined Adam and Danny. She was telling them something.

"... and he repeated it always. Almost like an imprinting. Absurd."

"Jess, sum up, please."

"Don called. Mister Connor called him back to add something about Ginzburg's behavior. The two of them have two close telephone stations, so it happened that Mark could hear some bits of Ginzburg's conversations. It looks like that our man was used to say things like – so, your world has ended; - and you were there when your world has ended. Connor hasn't really paid attention before, but right now..."

"It's always surprising how others always look normal till they do a striking, crazy action."

"Good morning, I'm detective Don Flack, NYPD. We talked on the phone some minutes ago."

The courier manager smiled nervously, "of course, I was waiting for you. Package is over there."

Few moments later Flack was holding a box as big as a shoebox. Thought he used the original package, but I was wrong. After thanking the man, he left, ready to go back to the lab. He was about to get in the car when the window of a party favors shop captured his attention. He couldn't help entering, I know, it's so wrong, I should be already driving back, but...

The owner greeted him warmly and Flack found himself smiling back.

"Morning. The cake topper in the front window... could I see it better?"

When the owner gave it to him, Flack almost started laughing. It was perfect. The groom and the bride were both wearing a Kevlar vest above their wedding clothes, the bride was holding a gun while the groom was speaking on a cell phone. They were fabulous. And the groom has even blue eyes. Jess's gonna to adore it.

"It's unique, isn't it?"

"Very. I'll buy it."

A while later, almost whistling happily, Flack left the shop with another package.

"Only a bullet has been found."

"Yeah, and it didn't went off, so we can't compare it."

"Caliber and gun model are the same, though."

"Delivery! Who's gonna sign the receipt?"

"If you fail as detective, you'll make a great courier."

Mac took the package from Don's hands and open it very carefully. Looking at him, it was like looking at someone defusing a bomb. Fact was he didn't want to destroy hidden evidences. He cut the tape, open the cardboard box and extract the inside: a cell phone and a closed envelope. In the envelope he found a simple white paper neatly folded. On the middle, a diligent printer had given words to an insane mind's thought: Where were you when your world has ended?

And every remaining doubt about Ginzburg's innocence flew out off the window.

A/N: As you could see, this chapter hasn't been edited. So, forgive any mistakes.