Chapter One – A Plan Awry
Danny had worked the whole scene out in his head. Maka was meeting him to go out just as Lindsay would be finishing up her reports on the trace she had run that day. The date with Maka was one in a series, but not a relationship. It was hook-ups, no harm no foul for him, what's one more? And he would be able to see once and for all if Lindsay had any interest in him. If there was anything there, seeing him with the gorgeous Asian Detective would certainly evoke some reaction. But what Danny hadn't counted on was the suit in Mac's office. He had come about an hour ago with a file. He showed something to Mac, they called in one more suit and then called in Lindsay.
Danny watched through the glass wall as Mac motioned for her to sit down. Mac did all the talking. Danny could only see her profile, but her expression was grave. After the initial introductions, she said almost nothing. Mac said something, he seemed intense, but calm and measured. The suit pulled out a crime scene photo and handed it to Lindsay. She looked at it stone-faced. And then looked at Mac and shook her head. No. Mac said only a few words. Again, she shook her head, No. She looked from Mac to each of the suits. Her face seemed to be making a plea, or a plead. No. No. No.
Don Flack came out of the elevator. He was still on leave after the explosion, and was going stir crazy. He had to get back and soon. He had scheduled time with Mac to enlist his help in an attempt to get off of leave early. When he saw the suits and Monroe in the office with Mac, he headed across the hall to wait it out with Danny.
"Hey" Flack said. He was wearing a Yankees tee shirt and jeans. He looked like a younger version of himself without the suit. But even in jeans and a tee shirt he still seemed crisp around the edges, you almost wondered, had he ironed that tee shirt?
"Hey" Danny replied. He was going through the motions of running some kind of samples, but Flack could tell that it was the exchange in Mac's office that had his attention. Flack didn't blame him. It seemed tense in there.
"Who's that?" Flack asked motioning with his head across the hall.
"I don't know." Danny said only glancing at his friend. The friend he should have been glad to see out and about after the accident. Flack wasn't walking with a cane anymore and if you weren't looking for it you wouldn't even notice the limp. Physical Therapy was paying off.
The pair watched in silence. Lindsay put the photo down on Mac's desk and pushed it away from herself. This time she addressed only him. Her head shook again, but not as strongly. No. She made a few impassioned statements to Mac. And Mac calmly answered her, again in a short measured response.
"IAB?" Flack asked.
"That's what I'm thinking." Danny replied. "But they're none I've seen before."
"Can you think what they might want to be talking to her about?"
"No." Danny was making short notes in his evidence notebook, but they couldn't be about the sample he was still holding, as he hadn't looked away from the office since Lindsay started shaking her head No. He was trying to think of anything, any case, any interview he had ever seen Lindsay do anything anyone could possibly consider improper. If they were accusing her of something, she was right to deny it.
She closed her eyes, and a shudder seemed to start at her shoulders pass through her whole body. Acceptance. She asked Mac a short question. He answered Yes. Another question, the second suit answered, but Lindsay wouldn't look away from Mac. She repeated her question. Mac nodded, and looked down. Through the glass wall it seemed he was saying he would try.
It was then Danny was reminded of his own self-assured, and ill-founded plan, when Maka came out of the elevator. She walked up to the two men.
"Messer don't tell me you're planning on wearing that lab coat out." Danny didn't meet her eyes. She looked across the hall to see what it was that had the pair of Detectives riveted.
"What's psych services want with Monroe?" she asked.
That got both men to bolt their heads around and look at her. "What?"
"That mousy looking guy," She said gesturing across the hall. "He's from psych services. Monroe been getting out of line with suspects? Too heavy-handed in interrogations?"
"No." Danny answered. His expression relayed that he thought that was a ludicrous suggestion.
"Well…Is the big city too much for our country girl? She breaking down on the clock." She raised an eyebrow.
"No way. She's tough as they come." Flack defended Lindsay out of an instinct he wasn't aware he possessed.
"Well boys, then there must have been a homicide in the family. They call psych services in to make sure an officer of the law isn't headed for revenge with their service revolver when they get the news." Danny was staring at Maka trying to absorb the weight of her words. Damnit, no. Lindsay was getting heart-wrenching news about someone she loved, and he wouldn't be there to comfort her, because he was with Maka. He recognized it instantly, and his mind immediately began searching for a way out of this date.
"Listen Maka, about tonight." He turned his body only slightly to face her, and continued to steal side glances at Monroe through the glass walls. "For one thing, she's been in there a while, and now she's behind on those samples," he said gesturing with one hand. "So that means I'm behind on those samples and so I'm already running late. Not to mention if you're right and she's getting bad news, she's gonna need a ride home."
"No way Messer," Maka's eyes smoldered. "You begged me for this date. We're going out. If your little friend needs a ride home, let a squad take her."
Flack knew the history between Maka and Messer. He also knew the speculation, both his own and others, that Danny had a thing for Monroe. That was the last thing she needed right now if she was grieving, Messer hitting on her, and taking advantage while she was vulnerable.
"I'll wait for her. I drove here. I'll take her home." Flack said. He shifted his weight, as that right leg was quick to get stiff. Truth be told, it was probably still too early for him to be driving, but he had driven over - though he already regretted it. He and Lindsay were friends. She was a sweet kid and she didn't need to be sobbing by herself in the back of a squad car or at the mercy of Messer in her hour of need.
Danny looked at Flack. He seemed to be assessing the risk of this scenario. Flack and Lindsay were friends, that was innocent enough. Flack was no Casanova, and he wasn't Danny Messer. Lindsay could never be interested in him. It was a big brother / little sister thing if anything. He looked to Maka who clearly wasn't backing down, or leaving without him.
"OK. Fine. Can we at least wait until they're done and she comes out?" His voice seemed angry but he wasn't yelling.
"No. We had plans for 6, its 6, and I'm hungry. Lets go."
Danny swallowed hard. He started to unbutton his lab coat and get ready to go, as he passed by Flack, Don whispered "Sweet girlfriend." And Danny shot him a glare. He made an attempt to stall and get ready slowly, but Maka was a good detective and saw right through it.. She would have none of it. She turned on her heel and headed to the elevator with Messer sulking behind her.
Flack was glad the pair had left, if for no other reason, he didn't have to pretend his leg wasn't killing him. He sat down on a lab stool facing Mac's office. As Danny's luck would have it, it was only a few minutes later that Mac rose to walk the suits out of his office and to the elevator. He left Monroe in his office with her back to the labs. He shook their hands and headed to where he had noticed Flack sitting. Flack nodded to him.
"Hey"
"Hey Don." Mac said, slapping him on the shoulder, he was truly glad to see him. "You're looking well."
"Yeah thanks. I guess this is what rest will do for you. That and if you could see under my shirt it still looks like a pizza someone tilted in the box." He smiled, dryly. "What's going on with Monroe?"
Mac walked around the lab table to the same side as Flack so both men were watching as Lindsay's shoulders seemed to show that he was crying. Her head was in her hands, elbows resting on Mac's desk. But it was only for a moment. She collected herself. They could see her as she steeled herself, braced her shoulders and opened the file the suits had left.
"Her Dad's been shot, he's dead." Mac said.
"Oh man." Flack closed his eyes and his hand went to his own chest as if he too were receiving a blow. Even to Mac he just didn't know what to say. "When?"
"Early this morning. He owns a hardware store in Montana. The police there are trying to determine if it was a robbery, or" Mac stopped. Maybe he was crossing a line, and shouldn't be sharing Lindsay's personal life with Flack. But in this job your coworkers are your family, and she needed family around her to support her now, "or suicide." He gave the words a moment to sink in. "She asked for a few moments alone."
"Let me guess, Monroe's the kind of girl that started many days with a call back home, and had just talked to him this morning."
Mac nodded. They watched as she carefully looked at the papers and photos in the file.
"Those case notes, and scene photos?"
"Yes. Her hometown police know she's a cop. They sent it all to our inter-department liaison, and he brought it here."
"The suit?" Flack asked.
Mac nodded. "She asked me to help ensure they would let see the crime scene. Of course, that's not protocol, but given that these guys already sent her everything on all evidence they have, I can't see it being a problem."
Lindsay collected all of the papers and photos and put them back in the file. She brushed away the tears from her cheeks, and stood up, her back to the labs. She felt as if she had been in that office for hours and she had no idea if shifts had changed, and who would be across the hall. When she turned, she was glad to see Flack and Mac who, upon seeing her get up, had turned to each other in conversation so as to not make her feel a spectacle.
Mac had delivered the news. They knew it would help her to hear it from him. What all of them, including Mac, didn't know was her own Father's respect for Mac. When he saw he couldn't persuade her to stay in Montana, he had steered her to NY, where in Mac's lab he knew she would be looked after.
Flack had been kind to her as she learned the ropes. He was smart and funny, occasionally sarcastic, but not biting, not like Messer, not to her anyway. She also knew he was a seasoned cop. He knew when not to push, when to not ask questions that would not be answered. So she was relieved that it was they who were there, and not Danny would always push lines.
She walked up to the two men. Flack got off of his stool and without consciously thinking about it, embraced her. "I'm sorry Monroe" he whispered at the top of her head.
She was stiff in his arms. She appreciated the thought, but this was still where she worked, where she was a professional and a hug in these walls felt out of place. She was glad for that awkwardness, if she didn't feel that, she was afraid the pain, the fear, the grief would overtake her and she had to hold it together.
Flack released her and she gave a weak smile and whispered thanks.
"Why don't I get a squad car to take you home?" Mac suggested.
"No, no. I've got my car, I'll take you." Flack said to her softly, but intently. His brow was furrowed. She didn't like to impose, and certainly she knew Flack had his own issues right now. But she felt deflated and suddenly exhausted. A ride with a friend would be welcome.
"Are you sure?" she asked weakly.
"Yeah, yeah. Lets go when you're ready."
"Mac, the case…"
"We'll manage Lindsay. Call me in a few days when you know when you'll be back."
She nodded mutely, took off her lab coat, gathered a few things and took her place by Flack's side and nodded at him. As they were leaving, Mac said, "Lindsay, don't take this the wrong way, I'm sure there are capable people out there, but if you need anything, we have more equipment, more resources…we'll be here to offer help any way we can."
"Thanks Mac." She reached for his hand and gave it a soft squeeze. "That means a lot."
