-1Hey guys,
Thanks a million to everyone that has read and reviewed so far. You guys rock!
Chapter Four
December 24th 0845
Rikers Island
"You think you caught me, Lindsay?" Aaron's shoulders shook with amusement as he stubbed out a cigarette, blowing smoke out through his nose. "You didn't catch me, Lindsay."
"You're in jail, Aaron. You're doing six consecutive life sentences. The only reason the judge didn't stick a needle in your arm is because of your lawyer." Lindsay sat back, folding her arms across her chest. "Yeah, I think I caught you."
He shook his head, his face still twisted in a dark grin.
She wondered how those girls had felt, lost and helpless, caught in the malevolence of that grin.
"You're nothing now, Aaron. All you can do is sit there, try and get under my skin. It wont work, you bastard. You're going to rot in here" She smiled, cold and brittle, wondering how he liked being laughed at.
"You didn't catch me, Lindsay." He looked away from her, dismissing her as he lit another cigarette. "I gave myself to you. I let you catch me"
She felt her blood run cold. "You're lying."
"I planted that evidence." He held up his hand, smiling. "Let me tell you, that much blood is a bitch to get off your hand."
xxxXXXxxx
"Mac! You got a minute?"
"Sure." Mac waited until Flack caught up with him "What did you get from the victim's roommate?"
"Seems like Lucy Carlson had an admirer. A particularly persistent one as well." Flack flicked through his notebook. "This guy turned up all over the place, parties and lectures. Seems like he couldn't take no for an answer."
"You got a name for him?"
"Jacob Crozier."
"Does he fit the evidence?"
"With the photo that Laura Johnston gave us, yeah he does." Flack closed his notebook, tucking it back in the inside pocket of his suit jacket. "Ali's just running him through BCI, see if he's got a record."
"Good." Mac felt the weight starting to lift from his shoulders. "Jim Steele has subpoenaed Reiner's visitation records. You and Ali go pick up Crozier, I'll start going through the records when we get them, see if we get something to link the two together."
"Will do." Flack walked out of the Crime Lab, looking for his partner. His spirits felt lighter, the Christmas decorations, usually so out of place amidst the death and crime in the lab, seemed brighter, normal, a gleam of hope for the future.
Maybe they had done enough to spare her from anymore of Reiner's mind games. He'd already broken her once. It had taken him, them, so long to put her back together.
Maybe they'd just got the break they needed.
XxxXXXxxx
Danny stared at the collection of evidence, spread out on the tables in front of them. Evidence of six lives, snuffed out by Aaron Reiners. "This guy is one sick bastard."
"Tell me about it." Hawkes frowned and lifted one of the photos. "Hey, Danny, did you see this?"
"What?" Hawkes handed him the photo and Danny stared at it a second, then started to shake his head. "Oh no. Tell me we didn't miss that."
Hawkes nodded, his eyes scanning the table, the photos laid out on the table. "Yeep we missed it." He lifted another photo, seemingly at random. "They don't look alike enough to put a flag up straight away. It's only when you see them all like this."
"Shit. Shit. He's going to kill us."
Hawkes reached into his pocket and pulled out a quarter. "Call it in the air, buddy."
"For what?"
"Loser tells Mac." He balanced the coin on his thumb. "Call it."
"Heads."
Hawkes spun the coin up, snatching it out of the air, and slapping it on the back of his other hand. He uncovered it and smiled. "Tails."
"Shit."
xxxXXXxxx
October 14th
Flack walked into the interrogation room, kicking the door shut behind him. "You want a coffee?"
"I want to speak to my lawyer."
Ali smiled as Flack handed her a coffee and pulled out a chair to sit next to her. "Seems like Aaron here thinks he shouldn't be here."
"Is that right?"
Dark eyes met blue ones through a haze of cigarette smoke. Aaron Reiner smiled around the half smoked cigarette, his mouth twisted, arrogantly, lazily. He blew smoke towards them, the air filled with the bitter acrid smell of tobacco. He didn't answer, letting his twisted smile speak volumes.
This was the guy.
This was the guy that had raped and killed, tortured 6 young women, before he'd made a mistake. This was the guy that had crawled into Lindsay's head, wormed under her skin, the guy that made her wake screaming in the night.
His face twisted, his body tense with the anger, with the desire to send Ali out of the room and beat a confession out of Reiner, Flack leaned across the table. "Let me tell you what we know, Aaron. We know you killed those girls. We got your fingerprints from the last scene. We can link you to the other victims. We got you, you bastard."
Ali pushed a photo across the table, a photo of the body of the last victim. "Still think you shouldn't be here, Aaron?"
"I want to speak to my lawyer."
XxxXXXxxx
"We got him, Lindsay."
"Has he confessed yet?"
"Not yet, but he will. We got him over a barrel. The prints, he doesn't have an alibi, he's speaking to a lawyer, and they'll try and plead it out." Ali stopped outside Lindsay's building, glancing up at the darkened windows. "You gonna be okay?"
"Yeah, I'll be fine. Just going to have a shower, crawl into bed. Night, Ali."
"Night, Lindsay."
Ali walked off, and Lindsay climbed the steps towards her building, fumbling in her pocket for her keys. She heard footsteps, dress shoes echoing in the silent street. She paused, concentrating, ignoring her keys, her hand creeping towards the gun holstered on her hip.
Arms snaked around her waist, pulling her back against his body, his lips brushing against her neck.
"Hello, Detective. What are you doing here?"
"Waiting for you."
XxxXXXxxx
December 24th
"You get anything yet?"
"Nothing yet." Mac turned another page in the visitors book. "Doesn't look like anyone's visited Reiner other than his lawyer."
"What about your suspect?"
Mac shook his head. "Not so far." He scanned down the page and turned it over, his finger tracing the lines of names and signatures, looking for Jacob Crozier's name on the list of visitors.
XxxXXXxxx
Flack knocked solidly on the door. "Jacob Crozier? NYPD, open up please." He knocked again, looking around the apartment building, the dull, dreary walls, the paint cracked and peeling.
A man walked around the corner, coming to a dead halt when he saw Flack.
"Jacob Crozier?" Flack took a couple of steps towards him, and the man turned and ran in the opposite direction. "Ali, we got a runner!" Flack took off after him, their footsteps loud in the silent apartment building.
Crozier darted around the corner, skidding as his feet slipped from under him, pushing himself up.
Ali Convery, smaller and quicker, slammed into him, knocking him against the wall, holding him there, her arm pressed against the back of his head, until Flack could slip the cuffs onto him. "Why do they always run?"
"Cos they all got something to hide." Flack grabbed Crozier by the cuffs, dragging him away. "Lets move, scumbag." He smiled at a neighbour, who opened the door to see what the commotion was, stunned by the sight of her neighbour being dragged off in handcuffs by NYPD, her hand covering her mouth. "Merry Christmas, ma'am."
End of Chapter Four
Please, read and review. Thanks!