ANFinally! Pumped out another chapter for you. I have some goodies up my sleeve yet, I promise. Sorry for keeping you hanging, but a good story takes time to brew. It's heading quickly to a conclusion now, so hopefully you won't have to wait on me too much longer!
:oP Nevermind


I can't believe she beat me. I had not counted on Lindsey's resourcefulness. She used her feminine wiles to wrangle four computers with which to search different parts of each database. I think that's cheating. I don't care what she says about me charming three lab techs to help me process my evidence. I totally would've had her beat.

So now I'm out 100 bucks and we still have no leads. We know who the vics are, but we still have no idea who our killer is.

I hate it when the evidence leads to nothing but dead ends.

We plugged away anyway, eliminating suspects as we slowly sifted through all the conflicting evidence I had processed. Lindsey was in a particularly good mood. She joked around with me a lot and if I'd been paying attention, I might've concluded she was flirting with me.

But I wasn't really paying attention. I was still thinking a lot about Maria. Flack had told me that Gerry Malo was just about as straight-laced as a New Yorker could get. Never been in trouble with the law apart from one or two parking tickets and as far as Don could tell, had no connections with Tanglewood.

Flack was the first person other than Mac I told my story to. He didn't say much. Just furrowed his brow and nodded at all the right spots. He thanked me for telling him and that was the extent of it. It's good to be a guy.

I also ended up taking that lab tech out for drinks. She'd come on so hard and heavy I felt like I had to. Besides which, it was a good distraction. I didn't end up sleeping with her, but I did kiss her. That was only because she would not have shut up otherwise.

I'm pretty much indifferent to women at this point. Except Maria, of course, but she's a different story. She and I have history. I can't help caring about her. She's called me a couple times, just to tell me she's doing okay. She knows I'd be breaking down her door otherwise.

Speaking of Maria, what the hell is she doing back at the lab?

"Danny, come look at this. Is this cat hair? …Danny?"

I wasn't paying attention. "What in the…?" I muttered before abandoning Lindsey in the lab to find out where Maria had gone.

When I threw the door open to the room behind the one way glass, I only caught a glimpse of Mac before the door slammed closed on my face, knocking my glasses off.

"What the fuck?" I demanded, choosing to shoulder check my way into the room. "What the fuck is she doing back here, Mac?" I asked, anger rocketing my blood pressure.

"You shouldn't be here, Danny," Stella said softly from beside me. I didn't care. I had a score to settle.

"You tell me what she's doing back here," I hissed. "She's been through enough shit without you harassing her like this."

I didn't hear Lindsey creep into the room, holding my glasses.

"Her story is not matching up," Mac finally said, his killer gaze fixed firmly on me. This man could kill me with his pinky if he wanted.

"Fuck that. She told you the truth."

"No, Danny, she didn't. Not the whole truth," Stella's voice stayed calm and soft. I wasn't about to back down just yet, though.

"Let me talk to her," I demanded.

"No," Mac said, daring me to push him. Fuck that. I grew up on the streets; you don't try to intimidate me like that. I'd take him on if I needed to. I needed to talk to her.

"Let me talk to her," I said again, answering his challenge. If we'd been lions, we would've been circling each other, vying for the alpha position.

Stella stepped in and saved us from ourselves. She stepped in front of me to take on Mac's murderous gaze. "He might be able to get more out of her than either of us could. Let him talk to her." I admired how her voice never changed. She could give Fay Wray a run for her money.

After what felt like hours of Mac and Stella communicating without words, Mac finally gave an imperceptible nod. Stella, still very much in control of the situation, touched my elbow and seamlessly guided me into the interview room.

The look on Maria's face broke me. She looked completely defeated. I immediately went and knelt in front of her. I took her face in my hands and kissed her without even thinking about it. "Hey, hey, it's okay."

A tear slipped from the corner of her eye and I knew right then that the shit I'd been waiting for was about to hit the fan in a very violent way.

"Danny, I…" She couldn't look at me. I pulled the other chair over so that I could sit right in front of her. She reached out and took my hand in hers, beginning to massage my palm and fingers the way she used to when we were kids. I brushed her hair away from her face.

"It's okay," I murmured. "Just tell me what happened."

"You'll hate me," she said, still not looking at me.

"No I won't. Come on, Maria, you know me better than that. I could never hate you."

She gave a wry chuckle. "No," she said so softly I hardly heard her. "You'll hate me."

"Just tell me what happened."

"I went back to him."

"To who?"

She looked up at me and I knew. Sonny.

"When?" I had to stifle the bile rising in my throat, threatening to make me vomit.

"A year and a half ago. He just…" she looked away, but didn't stop massaging my hand. "He never stopped pursuing me."

I had to control my breathing. That motherfucking…

"When he was arrested, I went to see him. He asked me to find you and convince you to get the charges dropped. Told me if I loved him…" she trailed off.

"And did you…do you love him?" It took all my effort to get that out.

"Don't ask me that," she said.

"Just tell me."

She just looked at me and I knew.

"And Carlos?"

"Let me finish…please."

I nodded.

"I couldn't do it. I couldn't betray you like that. A week later I went back and told Sonny that. He…he lost it. That's why he sent Carlos."

"To change your mind," I finished for her.

She nodded.

"And did he?"

She didn't answer me. She didn't look at me, but she let go of my hand and I saw the tears start to fall. I stood up, shoving the chair across the room as I did. "You happy now?" I asked Stella and stormed out of the room.

I went to the locker room and started beating on my locker. It hurt, but it was nothing compared to the rest of my pain. Betrayed by my best friend. I couldn't believe it.

I looked up to see Lindsey standing there, timidly holding my glasses out to me. I forced myself to calm down, thanked her and took the glasses from her. She didn't say anything, just sat down next to me on the bench.

When I finally got a hold of my breathing, I turned to her. "Let's go for drinks," I said. She started to protest, but I put a finger to her lips. "Humor me, please." She nodded and got up to get her coat.