AN Okay, here's another chapter for your reading pleasure. Thanks so much for all the feedback – I really appreciate it. You've inspired the writer's block out of me it seems!

I feel like I need to apologize in advance. I have quite a different approach to my fics than Dream does so I'm sorry if things don't go the way you might think they should…I think I've finally worked out where this is gonna go, so hold on, this could get bumpy!

P.S. I haven't mentioned it, but I'm hoping you've all assumed that I don't own any of the CSI:NY characters. I'm just borrowing them for my story. I hope no one minds!

:oP NeverMind

It was a gruesome scene. I've seen a lot of pretty gruesome things in my time as a CSI, but there is little as gruesome as disemboweling. What was even more gruesome was that this was our third disemboweling in as many months. Someone fancied themselves Jack the Ripper and I, for one, did not appreciate it.

I could see Lindsey was not appreciating it either. She's really good at masking her emotions at a crime scene, but I can always tell when she's having trouble. Her jaw sets in a hard line and she gets really snappy.

I pulled my kit out of my trunk and attached my badge to my belt buckle. Because I needed to distract myself so I could steel my stomach against the gore I was about to deal with, I thought about how I really liked these jeans Maria had borrowed me. It's weird how my mind wanders to the strangest things at seemingly the most inappropriate times.

As I headed over to the crime scene, I saw that Lindsey had stopped what she was doing and was waiting for me. Her expression had changed. She looked concerned, but I could see the concern was aimed at me.

"Hey," I greeted her.

"Thanks for coming," she said. Thanks for coming? Isn't this my job?

"Uh – I'm kinda supposed to. Mac won't pay me otherwise," I told her.

"Right. I just – with everything that happened yesterday…"

"It's cool."

"How is your friend?"

"She'll be all right." Why is she suddenly so concerned about me? Maybe she just identifies with Maria. That must be it. "Shall we?" I asked, indicating the scene.

"Oh. Yeah. Uh… Both are females in their early 20s. No I.D.'s yet. Hammerback'll take prints when he processes. I bagged their hands, just in case."

"Same M.O. as the others?"

"Sadly, yes. Man, I'll be glad when we catch this guy."

"Me too. Let's get on it."

We spent the rest of the day processing the scene. This guy seemed to like making our job as grueling as possible. He wasn't shy about leaving trace everywhere. The trouble was that 90 per cent of it had nothing to do with the crime at hand. I hated to say it, but this guy was good. The last two murders took us almost two weeks apiece to sort through all of the evidence just to get to three identical strands of hair that we couldn't link to anything else. Hopefully, now that we sort of knew what we were looking for, this would go faster.

I offered Lindsey a ride back to the lab when we were done at the scene. She accepted rather quickly and I was a little surprised. She'd tended to keep a cautious distance from me since her first day. It had become a running inside joke between me and Flack. He'd be amused to learn this new development.

Lindsey started expounding on her various theories about who our suspect might be, but my mind had wandered back to Maria. I wondered if she'd made it to those two events she'd had to cover. I should really look into this Gerry Malo guy. She spent a lot of time with him and I needed to be sure I could trust him. For all I knew, he was another one of Sonny's henchmen. I'd been out of that scene so long I didn't even know who was who anymore.

Sonny had always had a weird fascination with Maria. He'd become infatuated with her from the first day he met her. I remembered how he'd pursued her back in the day. He always wanted me to try to hook them up, but I refused. Something in my gut never really let me trust that guy. I mean, yeah, I was in his gang, but that didn't automatically mean I trusted him. What makes Sonny so dangerous is that his loyalties are inconsistent. He's loyal to whomever is convenient to him at the time. Granted, he's always loyal to himself – that you can count on.

I remember how angry I was when I found out that Maria had finally decided to date him. Oh lord, how we fought. I also remember how devastatingly beautiful I thought she was then. Her eyes flickered and flashed and her cheeks had gone all flushed. She'd clenched her hands and argued with me in every language she knew and I almost kissed her. I can't remember now why I didn't.

"…at the very least, I hope that we're not dealing with a copy cat because that'll just make things way more complicated. You wanna draw straws over who gets to comb through missing persons? Danny?"

I realized I'd pulled into the parking lot under the CSI building. Had she been rambling on this whole time? Geez, I gotta get my head back in the game.

"Uh, I'll do whatever you don't want," I offered.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"Yeah, why?"

"I'm the rookie. I always get the crap jobs. Especially when I'm working with you," she said.

"Yeah, well I figure I been hard enough on you. Boom. You're initiated. Congratulations."

"Okay…" she said, not quite believing me. "I'll, uh, I'll go check with Hammerback and then run the prints through CODIS and Missing Persons."

"Are you kidding? I offer you an out of the crap job and you take it anyway?" I asked.

"Don't be so sure. If this is the same guy, you've got 2 weeks of sifting through irrelevant evidence ahead of you. I've only got about three days of searching databases."

"Maybe. But if this is the same guy, I know what I'm looking for."

"Wanna take bets on whose job'll take longer?"

"You're on. 50 bucks."

"50?" she laughed. "Come on, that's no bet. C-note, winner takes all."

"C-note?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. "Since when are we using gambling lingo, Montana?"

"Since I asked you to stop calling me that," she said with a cheeky grin before leaving the car.

I have to admit, I like it when she tries to keep me on my toes. She might not be from New York, but she has no trouble keeping up with me when she wants to. Flack and I actually have a running bet that she's posed for Playboy before. Something about her girl-next-door look, goody-two-shoes, keener attitude thrown in with her dry sense of humor, the occasional tackling of a suspect and that look she gets in her eye when she knows she's got the upper hand makes us think she might have a wild streak we don't know about yet. What does that one pop song say? A lady in the street but a freak in bed? There are days when I'm tempted to find out.

I dawdled a little heading inside. Figured I'd at least give Lindsey a head-start. She deserved it if she was gonna haveta cough up a 100 bucks for me in a few days.

I ran into Flack in the lobby. He looked just about as tired as I felt. Some days I wondered if he didn't have the worse job. At least evidence doesn't usually talk back.

"Hey, man. Good news. Giambi confessed to the rape," he told me.

I frowned. "What about Sassone? Did he mention anything about Sassone?"

"No. Won't admit Sassone is involved at all."

"It's not good enough, man. Sassone ordered it. He's the one we want."

"I wish I could help but my hands are tied. Rapes take a back seat to all these murders."

I ran a hand over my face. This was not good news. "I'll talk to Maria. Maybe she can give me a lead I can pass on to you."

Flack shook his head. "Mac'll have your head."

"It doesn't matter. I'll never be out of his bad books anyway."

He shrugged. "Whatever. You know how to reach me."

"Yeah. Thanks man." I was about to head upstairs when I remembered Gerry Malo. "Hey, could you do me a favor? Run a background check on a Gerry Malo. He works with Maria at the Times as a photographer. Just wanna make sure he's on the up and up."

"Sure thing. Text me the info," he said before heading out the door.

Upstairs, the place was in an organized sort of chaos. Lindsey hadn't been lying, New Yorkers had seemed to self-destruct overnight, causing our lab to feel more like a war-zone than anything else. I was kinda glad I had a lot of work to do. Meant I'd be left alone for the most part.

Hawkes and Stella breezed past me, talking about two different cases at once. Those two could multi-task better than any of us. I can't think about more than one case at a time.

I went to look for a room with an available light table, but they were all being used. There was some space with one of the newer lab techs who was working on what looked like child's clothing. I knocked and asked if it would be all right if I could join her.

If I hadn't been so distracted, I might've been all over that smile she gave me. But I had $100 to win so I got to work instead.