Disclaimer: I am not Anthony Zuiker, Ann Donahue or Carol Mendelsohn. All the characters of CSI: NY are not mine…I'm just borrowing them for a little bit. I promise that I will put them back, exactly the way I found them when I'm done….Oh, Cory Reid is mine and I will take credit for anything she does. :)
A/N: Spoilers for Hero's also: the song is "Breathe" by Seven Channels
Chapter 6.
Breathe
Several weeks had passed since the human slave case had gone cold. Cory was still on the money trail trying to pin down Carlos Ortiz and her frustration level was rising. She felt like she had hold of slippery fish and she just couldn't keep hold of him. In all the cases that she had investigated, she could tie them to Mala Suerte but not to Carlos Ortiz.
Cory remembered Mac's words and tried not to get as frustrated, but it was hard and she didn't feel like she could talk about it to anyone at her job. She knew that there was a mole, even though there was no evidence to corroborate that.
After a long sixty hour week, she decided to go to Ray's to see if the gang was there. I just need to talk to Mac. The way he gave me that advice, was almost like he was going through the same thing.
Traffic was hectic and while she was driving to the bar, she heard about the former cop who had been killed and burned in a car. That's awful…I wonder if any of the guys knew her?
She parked at her house and decided to walk to Ray's, so that way if she got drunk, she didn't have to worry about driving.
It was about 8pm when she walked into the bar. She saw Flack first and then the rest of the gang sitting around the table. She could tell from their faces that something was wrong. She had never seen Flack without a smile and his face was grim.
Taking a deep breathe she walked up to the table. "Hey, y'all. What's going on? Why does everyone look so down?"
Cory looked at everyone seated at the table. Neither Flack nor Danny seemed to be able to get any words out. Stella started crying and Mac and Hawkes just swallowed hard. Oddly enough it was Lindsay who answered her question. "We lost one of our own today," she said quietly.
"Oh my God. I'm so sorry. Is there anything I can do to help? Do you need anything that the FBI can provide? I detest cop killers and I will stop at nothing to see that they are brought to justice."
Mac smiled a little at this. "No. She was a CSI and left enough clues that we were able to catch her killer. It's a man that we have been after for a very long time."
Cory was curious. "What was her name?"
"Aiden. Aiden Burns." Danny was so choked up with emotion that he could barely get the words out.
"Do you mind talking about her? What was she like in life? It might help the grieving process?"
Danny got upset at her words. "Don't tell me about the grieving process!! You have no idea how I feel!"
"Danny, calm down," said Mac.
"It's okay, Mac." Cory said. "He has to let it out. And Messer, what makes you thing that I have never lost a friend that I cared about in the line of duty? Huh? Do you think that only city cops have that burden to bear?"
Something in her voice effectively killed Danny's rage. "Gawd, I'm sorry, Cory. I just wanted to lash out at something."
"I understand, Messer. Tell ya what. I'll buy you another beer if you tell me all the great things about Aiden." Danny agreed.
A couple of hours and a couple of beers later, the tension in the air had lessened somewhat. Everyone was remembering Aiden for who she was instead of for how she died.
Cory noticed a lag in the Karaoke singers and decided to pay tribute to the women that she was just introduced to, even if she was dead. She got up from the table and went to the DJ booth.
"Hey. I want to see if you have a certain song." Cory leaned over and told the DJ which song she wanted.
Back at the table, Lindsay noticed that Cory had not come back yet. "Hey, do you know where Cory went?"
No sooner than the words were out of her mouth, Lindsay heard Cory on stage.
"NYPD lost one of its own today. I'd like to dedicate this song to her and to all of the men and women of law enforcement that have sacrificed their lives to make the streets a safer place."
Music came on.
"It' been so long since you've gone away
And I know things will never be the same
I break it all down so it will show to me clear
All the while I'm wishing you were here.
In my dreams I can see and feel your face
But next to me sits an empty space.
Sometimes, life doesn't make any sense to me,
I need some time to heal and some space to breathe.
I'm breathing you in and I'm breathing you out.
Breathing you in and breathing you out.
Breathing you in and breathing you out.
I'm breathing you in...Yeah, yeah.
As I lay on the floor and I wonder why,
The question lingers, why did you die?
I thank God for you and the memories,
But I still wish you were here with me.
I'm breathing you in and I'm breathing you out.
Breathing you in and breathing you out.
Breathing you in and breathing you out.
I'm breathing you in...Yeah, yeah."
While there was a slight musical bridge, the words that Cory was singing started to sink in Danny's head. Even though he could tell it was a rock song, he had never heard it before and it touched him in a way that he had not expected. It mirrored his feelings about Aiden.
"Gone away and I pray for the strength to
The strength to carry on.
I'm breathing you in and I'm breathing you out,
I still feel you though you're gone.
I'm breathing you in and I'm breathing you out.
Breathing you in and breathing you out.
Breathing you in and breathing you out.
I'm breathing you in...Yeah, yeah.
Breathing you in and I'm breathing you out.
Breathing you in and breathing you out.
Breathing you in and breathing you out.
I'm breathing you in...Yeah, yeah.
Breathing you in and I'm breathing you out.
Breathing you in and breathing you out.
Breathing you in and breathing you out.
I'm breathing you in...Yeah, yeah."
Thunderous applause rang out after she finished the song. "Thank you."
She walked back to the table, a little choked with emotion. She saw Lindsay and Stella openly crying and Mac, Hawkes, Flack and Danny were all swallowing hard, trying to suppress the emotions that they were feeling.
"Hey y'all. I hope you don't mind about the song. Every time we lose an agent, when we all go out after the funeral, I always sing that song. I figured that it was just as appropriate now."
Mac was the first person able to speak. "That was beautiful. Very appropriate." Mac's throat closed up on him again.
Lindsay, who had never met Aiden, calmed down after that. "That you, Cory. I wish that I was able to do something just as touching." She stopped talking as their waitress walked up carrying a round of drinks.
"Here ya go guys. Drinks are on the house this round."
The group looked up in surprise. "Thanks."
"No prob. Greg, the bartender, said that if you guys lost one of your own, you deserved a round on the house." With that the waitress walked away.
After everyone finished their drinks, people started wandering off. Lindsay and Stella decided to go home, Flack and Danny wanted to go somewhere else to drink a little more and Hawkes had to go back to the lab. Mac was getting up to leave when Cory put a hand on his arm. "Mac. Can you stay a bit? I need to talk to someone about a problem and I think you are the right person."
"Sure. What can I do to help you?"
"Remember when I told you that I think that there is a mole in my investigation?" Mac nodded yes. "I went back over my files, thanks to your advice. I found that all the data I've received the last two years has had data missing. Not enough to be noticeable unless under intense scrutiny. I'm not sure what to do."
"Have you talked to your supervisor about it?"
"That's just it. I'm afraid that if I go to my supervisor than the mole will find out and it will set the investigation back even further!"
"What types of data are missing?"
"How much do you know about accounting?"
"Not much. I do my taxes, that's pretty much it."
"Let me explain a little. There is one basic rule in accounting. Every thing balances. The basic formula is Assets equal Liabilities plus Equity. Everything on one side of the equation must equal everything on the other side of the equation."
Mac nodded his head. "Ok. I'm with you so far."
Cory smiled, her eyes twinkling as the talked about one of her passions. "Well, when companies are entering transactions into their systems they use something called journal entries. The most basic way I can explain journal entries is like this. When a company buys…let's say it's a machine, there is an entry showing where cash went out, but also showing where the equity from the machine itself came in. That make sense?"
"A little."
"Well. I spent the last week going over all the journal entries in every file that I have. Some of them are missing. Thus the missing data."
"You don't feel comfortable talking to your supervisor about it?"
"Mac. I don't know who to trust. All of the data that is corrupted has come from this office. I just don't know at what point in the chain of custody that the evidence was compromised. Worse case scenario, someone pretty high up is on Mala Suerte's payroll and is feeding them the information about where we are going to raid. Best case scenario, someone is playing with the evidence when we get it into our custody. I really hope that it's that one because if it's not, unless we find the mole we will never catch Ortiz!"
Mac looked at her thoughtfully. "That is a pretty bad problem. What about going to a superior in another department? Would they be able to look into the problem discretely?"
"If I had more than suspicions, then yeah I could do that. But all I have right now are suspicions. I don't have anything to back it up, except some missing data that even I had to search for days to find." Cory looked frustrated.
"I don't know what to tell you other than sometime, if there is a mole, that person will make a mistake and leave a trail for you to follow. I've learned to always follow the evidence. It will never lead you wrong."
Cory got up. "Thanks, Mac. I needed someone to tell me that I'm doing the right thing. I'm going to go home and look over the evidence a little more. See if I can find anything else. Thanks again."
Cory grabbed her coat and walked home, lost in thought.
When she got back to her apartment she had mentally made a list of all the possible people that could be the mole. She pulled out her laptop and turned it on.
Quickly, she opened up a new spreadsheet and began a list. She was determined to find out who the mole was and how the data was being corrupted. She was talking to herself while typing.
"Let's start at the bottom at work up. The only lab techs that work on the data are John, Scott and Fernando. I've only know them a couple of months, but they don't look like they're living beyond their means. Then you have Ashley, Bernard and Phillip. Again, they don't seem to be living beyond their salaries. Next, we have Liz and Byron. They have a lot more access to the data and the skills to cover up if they have gone rouge."
Cory chewed on her thumbnail. "The next people in line are me and Travis. We are the two highest up people that know what is going on day to day. I know I'm not the mole, but Travis? He wants to catch these bastards as much as I do. He hasn't been spending any more money that what he earns. Damn. I need to take a closer look at all the computers that were seized."
Cory laid her head back on the couch. I just need to rest my eyes for a sec. That was her last thought as she fell asleep.
chili-peppers-i'm so glad you love it! it's been frustrating at times (my muse and i are arguing right now about the direction of the story) but it's so nice to see that people actually like what i'm writing! i haven't seriously written anything except poetry in the last 10 years.
axellia-don't worry about late read! i'm a night owl so i'm usually lurking online at that time (usually later on weekends)...fm radio took me a while to work out too, so don't feel bad. hope you like this chappie.
screaming-poetically--i don't just like DP...i'm officially addicted...it was so bad when i travelled in europe a while back and no one there had even heard of it (even at the hard rock cafe)!