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Chapter Five

October 15th

He stayed awake, watching her as she slept. He wanted to be there, wanted to be awake if she needed him, if the nightmares came back and woke her. He knew all about the dreams this bastard had given her, all about the times she had woken in the night.

He liked to be there, with her, there to protect her while she slept. Keep her safe. He needed to keep her safe. Safe from whoever, from whatever was haunting her dreams.

And while he was there, she was safe, protected. She could sleep, free from the nightmares that seemed to haunt her when he wasn't there.

He ran his hand down her arm, watching as she smiled, even in her sleep. He smiled too, leaning forward to kiss her head through her hair, the smell of her perfume lingering in his senses.

He wished he could be there all the time.

He stayed awake, watching her as she slept.

xxxXXXxxx

December 24th

"Tell me about Lucy Carlson." Flack didn't look at Jacob Crozier, toying with his coffee cup, staring at the desk as he asked his questions.

"I don't know any Lucy Carlson."

Ali pushed the photograph across the table towards him. "This Lucy Carlson." She tapped the photograph. "The one you were obsessed with. The one you stalked. The one you killed."

Flack lifted his coffee cup, smiling grimly. "Still say you don't know any Lucy Carlson?"

"It wasn't like that."

"So what was it like?"

"We were friends."

Ali raised her eyebrows. "That's not what her friend says."

"Which friend? Her roommate? That bitch always hated me." Jacob's lip curled in a sneer, a fragile veneer of bravery over his fear. "Thought that she was too good to hang around with me."

Ali leafed through the folder. "You got a temper, Jacob?"

He shifted, uncomfortable in his seat, unwilling to meet her eyes. "Sometimes. When I drink, sometimes…." His voice trailed away and he shrugged.

"You ever loose that temper when you'd been drinking around Lucy?"

"What? No! I didn't do anything to Lucy! I didn't hurt her!" His eyes, wide and frightened darted between Ali and Flack. "I swear to God, I wouldn't do anything to hurt her."

XxxXXXxxx

"How are they doing in there?"

Mac looked around, away from the glass at the sound of Stella's voice. "Okay." He hesitated for a second. "Listen, Stella. I paged Lindsay, told her that we had a suspect in custody and to wait until she heard from me." He shrugged, an apology for sending her to Rikers in the first place. "I didn't want Reiner to get too much time alone with her."

"You're going to have to tell her to go back in." Stella handed him the page and he glanced at it, frowning.

"It's not him."

"I'm sorry, Mac. DNA doesn't match up. It's not him."

"So we're back to square one." He handed the results back to her. "No suspects and no evidence."

And a killer obsessed with one of his CSIs.

"Maybe Lindsay will be able to get something from Reiner." Stella tried to smile, putting a comforting hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry Mac. I know you would have spared her this if you could. I wish I had better news for you."

"We go where the evidence leads." He sighed heavily. "I better go tell Flack to kick Crozier loose." He opened the door to walk out of the room, almost colliding with Danny as he tried to come in. "Danny?"

"Mac, got something for you." Danny laid the photographs out on the table, Stella and Mac crowding in behind him. "Me and Hawkes went through the old evidence and we came up with this."

"Oh my God."

"They all look like…" Mac's eyes flicked to the window of the interrogation room. "Have you told him yet?"

Danny shook his head. "We were hoping you'd do that."

"Me?"

"Yeah." Danny grinned ruefully. "He'll only try to kick my ass if I tell him."

XxxXXXxxx

October 15th

"I don't want to talk to you."

"Oh yeah?" Flack sat down opposite him. "That's too bad shit head. You're going to have to talk to me."

Aaron Reiner smiled, gesturing with his cigarette, the tip gleaming faintly in the darkness. Flack wondered how many of those he had smoked since they had arrested him. "See, I know it wasn't you that caught me."

"Is that right?"

"Yeah." Aaron leaned across the table. "You see, I know a little about the way you guys work. It was a CSI that found that evidence. I want to talk to the CSI. I'll tell her everything that you guys want to know."

He sat back, his face twisted in a dark, malevolent grin.

Despite himself, Flack shivered.

XxxXXXxxx

"I'm Detective Munroe." Lindsay pulled out the chair and sat down opposite Aaron Reiner. "You wanted to talk to me."

"So you're the one that caught me." Reiner smiled, as he lit another cigarette. The ashtray on the table between them was filled with butts, the room cloudy and full of the acrid smell of his tobacco. He studied her for a second, then sat back, smiling to himself.

"Something funny, Aaron?" Her voice was cold and brittle. Angry.

His smile twisting, mocking, he shook his head.

"You said you would tell me what we needed to know. So talk. Tell me about those girls."

"In a bit. An answer for an answer, Detective Munroe." He shrugged. "Otherwise I stay silent, and plead insanity. I've talked with my lawyer, he seems to think that any reasonable jury can be persuaded to accept that view. And my lawyer is very, very good."

They needed this. Needed him to confess.

Slowly, reluctantly, she nodded. "Okay. An answer for an answer."

He smiled, tapping his cigarette against the ashtray. "How have you been sleeping, Detective Munroe?"

XxxXXXxxx

December 24th

"You okay, Stella?"

She turned at the sound of his voice, forcing a smile that did little to ease the lines of weariness and stress on her face. "Yeah, just needed to get some fresh air."

"You worried about her?"

Stella laughed, the sound fragile in the early morning chill. "Of course I'm worried about her. I'm worried about her, about him, about the team if we cant catch him. About what we might do to catch him."

"We already caught him, Stella."

"Do you really believe that, Mac?"

"Yeah. Aaron Reiner got under her skin and he's trying to keep on playing his game." Mac tightened his fist, his eyes blazing with anger. "And I'm not going to let him break her again."

XxxXXXxxx

Rikers Island 1000

She put her phone back into the pocket of her jeans. Taking another moment to pull herself back under control, scrubbing at her eyes, at the dark rings surrounding them. She took a deep breath and pushed open the door, walking into the room.

"It wasn't him, was it, Lindsay?"

She paused, her hand on the back of her chair. "What?"

"The man you had in custody, the man your colleagues thought was the killer, it wasn't him, was it?"

"No."

"Mac Taylor called you out of the room, while they interrogated him, so you wouldn't have to talk to me." He laughed bitterly. "Do you remember when we met, Lindsay? Do you remember what we played?"

She pulled out the chair, sinking slowly into it, nodding. "An answer for an answer."

"An answer for an answer." He leaned forward, taking a long drag from his cigarette. "I'll tell you what you want to know, if you tell me what I want to know."

An end to this, to this nightmare. To her nightmare.

"Okay."

He smiled and she knew that she had given him the answer he had wanted from her. She should have walked away when she had the chance. But now she was trapped, pinned by his dark eyes, lost in the haze of cigarette smoke. "How long have you been sleeping with him, Lindsay?"

End of Chapter Five.

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