AN Wow! Thanks for the reviews and liking the story so far. Here's a little more for your reading pleasure. Just remember, I warned you it moved fast!
:oP NeverMind

"Sure. Let's do that," Mac said. "I have some questions of my own for him."

Flack took Danny and Aiden to a karate dojo in Midtown, a few blocks away from the Time Warner Centre on Columbus Ave.

"I was checking Mr. Wallace's background and discovered that he's been taking classes here for the last couple of years. Recently, according to the teacher, he's taken up sword play," Flack explained.

"I finished the reconstruction and I've positively identified the vic as Raymond Wallace," Aiden said. "So at least we know we're on the right track."

They walked into the dojo to find a half dozen people practicing Tai Chi. An instructor came over to them.

"Detective Flack, good to see you again. Our sword master, Gary Reese, is in today. Let me take you to him," the man said.

Gary Reese was in a back room, performing precise moves with a long samurai sword. The way he held the sword seemed untypical to the trio. Rather than holding it with the blade facing downward, he held it backhanded so that the blade faced up.

"Mr. Reese, I'm Detective Flack, NYPD. These are CSIs Danny Messer and Aiden Burn. We'd like to ask you a few questions about your pupil, Raymond Wallace."

Gary Reese bowed to them rather than shaking their hands. "Yes, I'm terribly sorry about what happened to him. Do you have any idea who might have killed him?"

"Well, you look like a good candidate," Danny quipped.

"And why is that?" Reese asked.

"Because Mr. Wallace had his face sliced off with a weapon just like yours," Aiden said.

"Well, all of my students do have their own swords and I demand that they are kept in pristine condition," Reese explained.

"And do you teach them all to hold the sword the way you do?" Flack asked.

Reese looked down at his hand that was holding the sword. "No, Detective, I don't. I am just perfecting this way of handling the sword myself. I wouldn't dream of teaching it to my students yet."

"Maybe you have someone who's a fast learner," Danny said. "Can I see your sword?"

"Sure," Reese said, handing it to him almost ceremonially.

Danny gave him a queer look, then examined the blade with his eyes. Aiden took a swab and her chemicals out. She rubbed the swab down the length of the blade and dripped Phenolphthalien over it. The swab's colour didn't change.

"Do you have any other swords?" Flack asked.

"I have quite a few swords. I am a sword master, after all," Reese tried to joke.

"We'll need to see all of them," Aiden said with a sweet smile.

"Most of them are at home," he said. "I don't know if I'm comfortable…"

"We could get a court order," Danny said.

"But then we'll have to tear your place apart," Flack said. "If we go do this now, we'll just test your swords and be out of your hair."

Reese looked defeated. He led them to his apartment, which happened to be on the floor above the dojo.

"Wow," Aiden marveled at the numerous swords displayed throughout the apartment. "This could take a while."

"Let's get to it," Danny said.

As Danny and Aiden processed the swords, Flack took the opportunity to ask Reese some questions. "So, where were you four nights ago?"

"Uh, I taught at the dojo downstairs till about 8:00, then I went to Shannon's by the Park for drinks with some friends."

"And after that?" Flack prompted.

"After that, I went home."

"Did you take a cab?"

"No, I had my car with me."

It took Danny and Aiden another 15 minutes to get through all 20 swords, but they came up with nothing.

"Is this all of them?" Danny asked.

"Yeah – except for the ones in my car," Reese told him.

Aiden rolled her eyes and sighed in disgust.

"Where is your car?" Flack asked.

"Downstairs in the parkade."

"Let's go."

In Reese's trunk they found five more swords. Danny and Aiden split them up and got to work.

"Do you have any more swords anywhere else?" Flack wanted to know.

"No, this is it."

"Flack?" Aiden said.

"Yeah?"

She held up the bright pink swab.

"What? What is that?" Reese wanted to know.

"She just found evidence of blood on your sword," he said, cuffing the man's hands behind his back. "Gary Reese, you're under arrest for the murder of Raymond Wallace." He read him his rights and took him to the squad car while Danny and Aiden carefully bagged the swords and their sheaths. Danny called in to have the car towed and they all headed back downtown.

A few hours later in the interrogation room, Flack and Danny had at their suspect.

"So I tracked down a few of your friends that you went drinking with the night of the murder. Turns out Raymond Wallace was with you that night. In fact, you had brought him there."

"And, the blood we found on your sword matched Raymond's. We also found a rag full of his blood stuffed into the corner of your trunk. Can you explain how that got there?" Danny said.

"I…" Reese sighed heavily. "Ray started coming to my sword classes a few months ago. We became friends. We hung out quite often after class."

"That doesn't explain the blood," Danny said.

"Last week, he and I had way too much to drink and we decided to spar in the park. Things got carried away and I accidentally nicked him."

"Really," Flack said dryly. "Where did you nick him?"

"On his leg. It bled pretty bad. I used the rag to help stop the bleeding," Reese tried.

"Danny, did the autopsy report say anything about a 'nick' on Mr. Wallace's leg?" Flack asked.

"Nope. Just said his face was sliced off," Danny answered.

"That's what I thought. See, there's only two things about your story that don't add up for me. First, the nick on his leg. We've already proved that that's not true. Second, you say this happened a week ago. Now, if there's no nick on his leg, that can't be true either. See, the way I figure, the only way Wallace's blood could end up on your sword is if you sliced his face off four days ago."

"Yeah. The only thing I can't figure out is why. That's more than just a slip of the wrist. You seem to be in more control of your swords than that," Danny said.

"Do I need a lawyer?" Reese asked.

"I don't know, do you?" Flack retorted.

"Come on, Mr. Reese. I can see this is bothering you. Just tell us what happened. Confession is good for the soul," Danny prompted.

"You were sparring in the park after a night of drinking," Flack started the story for him.

Reese looked back and forth between the two men, trying to weigh his options, but he was weak and he felt guilty, so with a look down at the table, he started in. "Ray had way more to drink than I did, so I was taking it easy on him. He's only been doing swordplay for a few months, so I'm obviously a lot better than him. He started talking about this girl he had got with the night before. Said she was a real bombshell. The more he talked about her, the more I couldn't help but think that it was the girl I've been dating the last half-year. When he said her name, I knew for sure that it was. I just – I snapped. I had spent a whole half-year just working up the nerve to talk to this girl and another half-year trying to figure out a way to move our relationship to the next level and he just – he waltzed in and had her, just like that. I couldn't – I couldn't believe it! So I started actually fighting him and he panicked. He couldn't keep up. I had intended to take his head off – the way a real samurai would – but I was using this new backhand technique and I didn't catch him at the right angle…"

Danny looked at him in disbelief. "You didn't catch him at the right angle," he repeated with disgust. "Listen man, as far as I know, real samurai didn't kill because his feelings were hurt – he killed because it was in his job description. You're nothing but a fake – and a bad one at that." He slammed his files shut, got up and walked out of the room.

Mac and Aiden were both walking toward him down the hall, but he could tell by each of their expressions that they hadn't actually talked to each other. Aiden had her 'We closed another case successfully' look on and Mac had his 'You are not going to like this' face. Danny preferred Aiden at the moment.

Down the hall in the other direction, two undercover police officers were approaching. Danny watched Aiden's face fall and confusion start to register.

"Danny, I need to get you into protective custody," Mac was saying as the two policemen put their hands on Danny's elbows.

"What?" Danny asked, his mind racing, trying to figure out what he'd done now.

"Mac, what's going on?" Aiden asked.

"Danny's life is being threatened by a former gang friend of his and I need to make sure nothing happens to him," Mac explained coldly.

"What? Gang? Danny, what's he talking about?" Aiden asked, searching Danny's eyes for an explanation other than the one that was starting to form in her brain.

"Come on, Danny," Mac said. "Lita's orders."

"Mac, wait…" Aiden called as the troupe started walking away. "Danny!" she called out.

Danny just looked at her with a mix of sadness and apology.

As the elevator doors closed behind them, Aiden turned to find Stella at her side.

"Stella, what's going on? What's this about Danny's gang friend? I don't understand."

"Come with me," was all Stella said. She brought Aiden behind the glass of one of their interrogation rooms. Inside, ADA Lita DiBiasi was sitting across the table from Sonny Sassone who was handcuffed to the table and giving her a cocky smile.

"Surprised to see me?" Lita asked.

"A little. I'd heard you'd come back. Didn't think they'd give you my case, though."

"Unfortunate for you," she said.

"Oh, I don't know. I'd say it was pretty unfortunate for you, sweetheart. It's been a long time since you were last in New York. My little 'rabble' as you used to call us, has quite a bit of clout now," he bragged.

"Ah," she said knowingly. "Trying to outrank me now, are you? All you've ever had was a rabble, Sonny. I mean seriously – sending Bobby to do your dirty work? I had him crying like a baby after two minutes of simply staring at him."

"Well, unlike some men, who shall remain Danny and Bobby, I'm not in love with or afraid of you. And if I had known you were prosecuting me beforehand, I wouldn't have sent Bobby," Sonny qualified.

"Who would you have sent? Carlos? My grandfather owns his family. He wouldn't come near me with a ten-foot pole. And you should be afraid of me, Sonny. You should be very afraid. I have years of grudges built up with you. I got into law because I couldn't touch you back in the day when you tried to rape me. Now, you've played right into my hands."

"And that's another thing. My lawyer will drown you with our history."

"Your lawyer, if he's worth half his salt, will tell you to keep your mouth shut about our history because it will only make you look worse than you already do."

Sonny glowered at her for a while. "I still have another ace up my sleeve," he hissed at her.

"Let me guess – Danny. You don't think I would have counted on that from day one? You don't think that I would have made sure he was as far away from this as possible? You know, you're more stupid than I remember."

"You still don't have your evidence," he said haughtily.

"Oh no? That's funny. I seem to remember Detective Taylor telling me that it had all mysteriously reappeared on his desk today – along with some new evidence that makes my case pretty much air-tight." She pulled her hair away from her neck, revealing her bruises. "Bobby shouldn't have touched me," she said softly.

She stared him down for a few moments and let the gravity of her words sink in. "Starting to get that sinking feeling, Sonny?" she asked.

He glared at her. "I will win this," he said.

"You can certainly try," she said, indicating to an officer to take Sonny away. "But I wouldn't get my hopes up."

"I wanna see him," Aiden said to Stella in a low voice.

"I'll see what I can do," she told her.

Danny was pacing the hotel room, yelling at his boss. "What the hell is going on here? You don't just snatch me away from work and put me in custody like this! What the hell did I do this time, Mac? I told you about my involvement with Tanglewood – wasn't that enough for you? Just fire me already, Mac, then I'll be out of your hair!"

"This is for your own good, Danny," Mac said calmly.

"My own good? My own good! Leaving Lita unprotected and locking me up here is for my own good? What are you, dumb? It's her he's after! I need to make sure nothing happens to her! He's already tried to kill her once!"

"But you're the leverage, Danny."

"What do you mean, I'm the leverage? I don't understand anything that's going on here! What the hell is she doing back here anyway and why in god's name would they even think of giving her the Tanglewood case? I mean, it's not like they don't know who she is!"

"Danny, you need to calm down. You're jumping all over the place. I can't talk to you like this."

"Like this? You're the one who put me here! Why is she always trying to protect me from that guy? I can take care of myself!"

"Danny – shut up and sit down," Aiden said from the doorway. Her dark eyes were on fire and her body was alive with tension.

Danny was so shocked by her appearance that he did what he was told.

"How are you connected with Sonny Sassone?" she demanded.

"I used to run with Tanglewood," he told her, his nervousness increasing.

"How do you know the ADA?"

"We used to date."

"How did you get out of Tanglewood?"

"She got me out."

"Aiden," Mac interrupted, "You shouldn't be here."

"I need some answers!" she snapped at him. "You lied to me," she accused Danny.

"I didn't lie," he tried to protest.

"You didn't tell me what was going on. That day of the shooting, you didn't tell me you might be in trouble. I could've helped you."

"How? How could you help me, Aiden? By getting killed yourself? That's no help to me."

"I could've – I could've done something!" she exclaimed, exasperated. "Why am I always kept in the dark? I'm not a little kid! I thought we were supposed to be a team!"

"We are a team, Aiden," Danny said.

"No! This is not a team! This is a bunch of individuals lying to each other and shutting each other out because of pride! I trusted you!" she fired at him.

"So what? So I didn't tell you I was in a gang. What? You need to know every detail of my life? What else do you want to know? That I have a foot fetish and have to sleep with a nightlight? Is that what you want, Aiden?"

"Shut up, both of you," Stella interjected. "Look – this has been a crazy week for all of us. Here's what's gonna happen, plain and simple. Danny, you're staying here in protective custody until this trial is over and I don't care whether you like it or not. Lita obviously takes Sassone seriously enough to think this is necessary, and therefore, so do we. Aiden, you're going to come back to the lab and help Mac and me finish processing the evidence on Sassone. We'll lock you and Danny in a room to have at each other another time." She looked at each person in the room to make sure they had understood her clearly. "Let's go."