Danny and Lindsay both got out of the lab SUV and walked towards the crime scene. Mac had sent them on this one. Two bodies, a woman and a teenage girl, had been found dead in an apartment. The neighbors called the police when they heard gunshots and claimed to have seen someone run out of the apartment and down the hallway. Lindsay and Danny flashed their badges and ducked under the yellow tape.

"Took you long enough." Detective Maka said, obviously joking and enjoying the fact that she was able to give Danny a hard time.

"What's with the attitude? You don't write, you don't call, you don't pay attention when I try to seduce you? You don't even show up at my crime scenes anymore. What gives?" Danny said with mock hurt and irritation dripping sarcastically from his voice.

Maka rolled her eyes and shook her head.

"In your dreams, Messer. I've been busy doing some other work. You ready to do this work?" She asked, motioning to the apartment.

The three detectives walked into the apartment and took in the scene. The two bodies where almost laying on top of one another, the girl with a single gunshot to the head and the woman with multiple gunshots to the chest.

As Lindsay came closer she got a better look at the victim. What she saw caused her to pause and take a deep breath. While the scene was especially gruesome and bloody, it was the brown hair matted down with blood and hazel eyes staring up at her that caused her breath to catch. Danny noticed the hitch in her breathing, but didn't mention it.

"Hey, Montana. I'll take the bodies. You process the room?" Danny asked. It wasn't so much a question as it was a direction. Lindsay nodded her head, opened her kit and began to work.


Lindsay had been processing for at least 30 to 40 minutes when she stood up and stretched. There was this awful kink in her neck, and bending over to lift trace off the floor wasn't helping it go away. As Lindsay stretched, she turned towards the door to the apartment and a slight glimmer caught her eye. Lindsay walked to the door and stooped down, starring at something caught between the floorboards. There as dirt, of course, but this dirt had some iridescent flecks and was scattered in a distinctive pattern, which caused Lindsay to believe that she was looking at a shoe print.

As Lindsay snapped pictures of the print and lifted the dirt for analysis at the lab, she noted that the print was large enough and spread out as if the treads came from a work boot, most likely belonging to the suspect. Lindsay opened the door of the apartment and looked at the floor in the hallway. Sure enough, there were more iridescent shoe prints, each a little lighter on the dirt as they traveled down the hallway.

Lindsay's curiosity was peaked and her CSI skills were in full gear. She followed the dirt a few feet down the hall until everything stopped. The prints stopped in the middle of the hallway. It was confusing at first, until Lindsay noticed a garbage chute in the wall. Pulling the essential items out of her kit, Lindsay dusted for fingerprints and could feel the excitement build inside her when she realized that they were fairly new and positioned in a way that told her that someone had climbed into the chute and lowered themselves down into the dumpster below.

Lindsay wanted to pursue her lead, but walked back to the apartment first. Danny was still busy processing. He had finished one body and was working on the other.

"Danny, I found some prints that lead to the garbage chute. I think the suspect got out that way. I'm going down to see if there's anything down there." Lindsay said. She knew that Danny wasn't her babysitter or anything, but she didn't want to make him worry.

"Great. Go ahead. I'll be here." Danny said, without looking up to talk to Lindsay. Lindsay headed for the door; she didn't really hear Danny call out to her. "Hey, Montana…take a uniform with you, huh?"

Down in the alley, Lindsay finally found what she was looking for – the dumpster that the garbage from the apartment building emptied into. Lindsay snapped a pair of latex gloves on her hands, the snap of the latex echoing off the brick walls that surrounded her. Lindsay was beginning to ponder whether or not she should have brought an officer with her, when something caught her attention. The garbage in the dumpster was hanging up one side and on the edge of the dumpster a shoe print was smashed onto the paint in what looked like gooey, rotting cabbage.

Lindsay set her kit down and raised the camera to her eyes, bending over to get a better look at the print. With a series of clicks, Lindsay had the photographs she was seeking. As Lindsay set the camera down and bent down again to pick something out of her kit, she heard a rustle behind her.

Lindsay turned around to see a man flash across her field of vision, lunging towards her. Before Lindsay could identify herself or say anything, she felt a pair of hands on her and her body plummeting towards the side of the dumpster. Pain seared through her body when her head came smashing against the dumpster and as she crumpled to the ground, Lindsay was faintly aware of the blinding pain shooting through her side as her attacker seemed to flee.

Stars swam before Lindsay's eyes. She was vaguely conscious, and thought she heard what sounded like footsteps running towards her and past her. Lindsay didn't feel like concentrating – there was an overwhelming urge to sleep and she felt like giving in.

"I need a medic!" Danny shouted to a nearby officer, skidding to a stop next to Lindsay's body. "Montana! Lindsay, come on. Open your eyes baby! Come on!"

Danny looked up momentarily to watch the officers that had run past Lindsay tackle a fleeing man at the end of the alley near a cross street. As quickly as he had looked up, Danny returned his attention to Lindsay. He shook her gently, and squeezed Lindsay's hand.

"Come on, Linds. Damn it…open your eyes!" Danny said forcefully. The officers standing nearby could tell he was worried.

"You don't have to yell at me." Lindsay managed to get out as she tried to sit up. Suddenly, Lindsay yelped in pain and grabbed her side. Danny eased her into a sitting position and looked at her critically.

"You remember what happened?" Danny asked, no longer yelling now he was asking out of concern.

"Kind of. I came down here to look at the dumpster. I took some pictures and was about to swab some evidence when a guy came at me from behind… it's a little fuzzy after that." Lindsay admitted.

"You scared the crap out of me, you know that?" Danny said. Suddenly Danny felt like an older brother who had failed at his job of protecting his little sister. "I'd say from the bump on your head, you hit the dumpster and this…" Danny raised the hem of Lindsay's shirt just a bit to show the area that had caused her pain when she got up. Just under her shirt a massive bruised was forming below her ribcage. "… This probably came from a swift kick from the guy's shoe. That one's gonna hurt for a while."

Lindsay sighed, her breath hitching slightly as pain ran through her new bruise. The sound of approaching footsteps got Lindsay's attention. She looked up to see the man who had attacked her, handcuffed and walking past her with two officers. Lindsay looked back to Danny, a truly apologetic look in her eyes.

"Sorry." She said quietly.

"It's okay." Danny said, wrapping an arm around her shoulder and squeezing slightly. "Let's get you checked out and get back to the lab, huh?" Danny and Lindsay got up off the ground and walked to the waiting medics.