Chapter 3 – An eye for and eye

Mac went alone to the medical examiners office, Danny had made some random excuse to go and work on the evidence they had found in the lab. Mac suspected it was more to do with his fragile state than anything else. He could see Danny was more than relieved to get out from under his superiors observant eye.

Mac entered the mortuary, and was instantaneously greeted by a morbidly excited Dr. Hawkes.

"You're here about your facial kebab John Doe, am I right?" Hawkes said clearly amused by his little joke

Mac smiled, the guy certainly liked nicknaming his bodies that was for sure.

"Indeed I am, although I think I have a slight idea what the cause of death was." Mac replied with a grin still playing on his lips

"Yeah it's a obvious as it looks, Mr. Doe died from massive inter cranial haemorrhaging. Cause by the wooden stake protruding from his eye socket. He suffered a number of defensive abrasions and has significant bruising around the right side of his neck as though the murderer restrained him with they're left hand whilst bringing down the stake with the right." Hawkes demonstrated the movement by putting his hand above the right hand side of the guys neck and making a stabbing motion with the other.

"I assume the killer would have had to be quite strong, in order to drive a wooden stake so far into the victims skull." Mac said his mind almost audibly whirring.

"No not especially the tip of the stake is extremely small, so not a lot of pressure was needed to inflict significant damage." Hawkes replied in a definite tone.

"Interesting, any thing else I should know about." Mac said weighing up the information he had been given so far.

"Well the guy was a heroin user, as you can see from the track marks. And toxicology showed at the time of death, he had a reasonable amount in his system." Hawkes replied locking his gaze with Mac's

"Thanks, let me know if there are any developments, and I'd like to take the murder weapon with me." Mac said in a friendly tone

"Sure thing." Hawkes handed Mac a plastic bag with the murder weapon inside. After which Mac left.

Mac walked into the lab to find Danny working on the syringe and spoon they had found at the crime scene. He was bent over a microscope examining intently the slide, which lay below. Is glasses were perched precariously on his forehead.

"What have you got for me?" Asked Mac expectantly

Danny jumped having not been aware of Mac's presence; after the initial shock wore off he straightened and turned to face Mac, whilst simultaneously repositioning his glasses. Then giving a small cough to clear his throat he engaged Mac.

"Well DNA has come back on the syringe and it's a match for the fingerprint we found on the spoon, both samples belong to a miss Mia Wilcox, who surprise surprise has prior for possession of heroin." Danny replied his voice sounding strained

"Good, right I think me you and flack should pay this Miss Wilcox a visit." Mac said clearly elated by the lead they had come upon

"Sure thing I'll meet you out at the car I just need to get something." Danny said not looking Mac in the eye he was literally on the verge of hurling all over the other mans shoes

Mac eyed Danny suspiciously, damn the guy looked like he was about to vomit. He made a bet with himself that the thing he had to get was in fact something to throw up in.

"Ok but don't be long." Mac paused he wanted to make sure Danny was ok but then he realised he has already asked him that same question at least twice in the last 4 hours and Danny would only put up with so much. So glancing again in the younger mans direction he walked out of the lab removing his phone from his pocket in order to contact flack.

Danny watched his boss leave, and as soon as he was sure Mac was gone he bolted out of the lab and ran to the nearest toilet. And before he could even think a torrent of stomach acid came flowing out of his mouth. He retched a few more times punctuated by sounds of his laboured breathing. 'Christ' he thought to himself 'what is up with me am I dying?'

He slowly made his way out of the cubicle and towards the basins on the far wall, the loss of liquid and physical strain throwing up had on him was showing. He looked at himself in the mirror. His usually tanned complexion was pale and clammy.

"Hey Danny are you alright do you need me to get someone." Came a voice from behind him

"No I'm fine really." He grated out his throat raw and stinging, he didn't really pay attention to who the person was

"Well for one u just threw up, and secondly you must be delirious of something because you've managed to hit the jackpot and run into the ladies." Said the voice which was obviously female and had a strong New York twang to it

Danny froze 'shit I really am losing it' he spun round from the basin which he had been leaning on, and into his line of vision came Aiden Burn 'crap it had to be her didn't it'

"No really Aiden it's fine just something I ate, I feel much better."

"Well if you're fine how come it looks like someone has thrown a bucket of white paint in your face?" Aiden retorted with a smirk, although her eyes betrayed the huge sense of dread she was actually experiencing.

"Listen I've been appreciating peoples concern all day, and my appreciation meter is running low so could you lay off Aiden, I'm a little under the weather that's all." Danny replied his temper clearly rising

"Ok calm down, well just be careful ok we don't want you passing out over a microscope." Aiden said keeping her tone playful, 'best not to antagonise the poor guy' she thought sympathetically.

"Well anyway I gotta get going we have a lead on that John Doe found in the basement apartment." He said shakily, whilst running his hand nervously through his hair.

"Sure, but Messer please try not to burst into the ladies toilets again. Some females around here are not as understanding as me, next time you might not escape without a handbag thrashing." Aiden replied and then smiled at him, her eyes still full of concern

Danny half smiled at her and made his way out of the toilet

"Bye burn" he said distantly

"Bye Messer" She threw back.

She watched him hurry out the door, feeling a sense of relief that at least Mac would be with him. She knew her superior would be keeping a close eye.

The car journey over to the address of the suspect's apartment was tense to say the least. Danny looked even worse than he did this morning, which Flack had thought an impossible feat.

The arrived at the address given to them in CODIS it wasn't the Ritz by any means, the place looked run down and rotten. The suspects apartment was on the ground floor, Danny thanked God that he didn't have to try and traverse any stairs, because he was sure that in his current state any effort he made to do so would have been in vain.

Flack banged harshly on the door "Miss Wilcox NYPD open up!"

For a second there was silence then crash as though someone had knocked something over and then the sound of someone running through the apartment.

"Right I think it's time I put my shoulder of steel into action." Flack said surprisingly seriously

He backed up and bit then through his entire body weight at the door. The flimsy apartment door stood no chance against the 6"2 muscular framed flack, it gave way easily.

For a moment all three froze as the door burst inwards. Spotting movement in the room at the end of the corridor Danny vaulted in between the two other men quickly arriving in the vicinity of the disturbance. Turning to the left he spotted the body of a young woman lying unmoving on the ground. And before he could register anything else a hard blunt object impacted with the back of his neck causing him to stumble and fall into a glass coffee table.

It had all happened so fast, Mac and Flack heard the crash when they were half way down the corridor, and they're pace quickened simultaneously. When the reached the room they both rushed to the side of an semi- conscious and cut up Danny. The only other person present in the room was the girl, who was dead. Mac removed the picture from his pocket that he had got from CODIS.

Danny moaned from behind Mac

"Hey buddy you still with us." Flack said soothingly

"Ya…" Danny forced out through clenched teeth

"Well we have another murder on our hands guys."

Flack supported Danny to standing and when the battered CSI began to sway dangerously he let him put his weight on his shoulder.

"Mia Wilcox is dead."

DUH DUH DUUUUUUUUUUUH!

Thanks to all of you who have r&r'd I appreciate it. This is my first fan fiction ever so I was bit nervous as to the response I would get. And I was pleasantly surprised, I'm in between jobs at the moment lol so I will try and keep to updates regular (as I don't really have anything else to do)

Sorry about my poor use of English, never was very good at the old grammar lark. Hope it's readable.

I have a basic idea of where the stories going and what will be included but if you have any suggestions please let me know.