Disclaimer: None of the characters you recognize are mine, no matter how much I keep wishing for them to be. They belong to CBS and Jerry Bruckheiner. Song lyrics belong to The Moody Blues.

Spoilers: Just have an idea of what's going on in the curent episodes to be safe.

A/N: All this is un-beta'd so all mistakes are my own. Thanks to all of you who are reviewing, it keeps me going. hope you enjoy it...

Breathe deep the gathering gloom
Watch lights fade from every room
Bedsitter people look back and lament
Another day's useless energy spent.

"What? Oh Danny, I'm so sorry."

"Tony; he never got it when I told him the Tanglewood Boys were dangerous. I mean, him and me, we idled them for so long. Looked up to my brother. But they ain't nothing but a bunch of scumbags. Now he's paid for it." He looked down and Lindsay could see tears running down his cheeks and she stood quietly, knowing Danny needed time to think.

"I gotta go talk to Mac." He said finally and walked out of the lab without a backwards glance. Lindsay looked down the hall after him, all thought of having lunch with him gone. Danny had had one too many run-ins with the Tanglewood Boys, and they were dangerous. They had proved that already with the beating death of Danny's brother Louie last year. She was scared for him. She shivered involuntarily as she slowly walked the same path Danny had taken to Mac's office.

---------------

"Careful Stella!" Flack said as he grabbed her to keep her from falling over.

"Sorry, I didn't even see you there," she replied hurriedly, grabbing the file she had dropped, not looking into his eyes. She didn't want to think about the little feeling at the bottom of her stomach she'd had when he touched her. "I was just on my way to Mac's office, apparently that case you were on earlier has some serious problems. You coming?"

"Sure, but what do you mean? We don't even know who the victim is yet."

"Don't ask me, I just got a page from Mac telling him to meet me in his office, and that it was about this case. I don't know any more than you do."

She glanced over at Don's face. It was impassive, not letting her know anything. Does he know something that he's not telling me? She thought. But she let it go. She needed to get to Mac's office, now. One did not ignore a 911 page from Mac for very long.

---------------

"Stella, Flack, come in, I need to brief you on what's going on with the 5th street homicide."

Stella and Flack both walked through the doors to Mac's office, both fully aware of the fact that Danny and Lindsay were seated in chairs in front of Mac's desk, and that Danny was obviously distraught. This couldn't be good news.

"Now that you're all here, this is what we know. The victim from the 5th street apartment has come up with an unusually quick hit on CODIS. His name is Anthony Figlioni, and he has some affiliation with the Tanglewood Boys." Mac noticed that Lindsay stiffened and Danny flinched when he said this. Stella looked a little confused, and Flack was neutral. "Danny has recused himself from the case and has been put on desk duty for the next two weeks, so Lindsay is going to need your help Stella. We need to get this case solved quickly before the situation gets messy. Take as much overtime as you need, and find out if Sonny Sassone is behind this."

Stella still looked a little shocked. "Why is Danny on desk duty? Surely we're going to need him on other cases we get in?"

Mac sighed. She was too smart to let this go unnoticed. "Danny does know the victim, and I have given him desk duty as a result of stress. I don't want him doing too much. Sheldon and I will work whatever cases come in, and if absolutely necessary, we will bring in some CSI's from other shifts. Right, now, this is our priority. All lab work is rush, and will be first in line for any processing. Now, I suggest we all get back to work."

Finally Flack spoke quietly. "You mentioned Sassone may be involved. Is he still in jail?"

"No. He was released three days ago." It was Danny who spoke this time. My parents called me yesterday to tell me. Louie's killer is out. I haven't spoken to my parents in a long time, not since Louie's funeral. Until yesterday."

Lindsay looked at Danny and felt her heart break. She saw the pain in his eyes and knew that his past was no more fortunate than hers had been. The only difference was she now had closure, a life-in-prison settlement to help with that. Danny had nothing. This was a constant threat. She wanted more than anything to just hold him in her arms, like he had done with her after the trial. To protect him like he had protected her. She settled with laying her hand on top of his gently. He responded by grasping it tightly and looking deeply into her eyes.

"I'll see you tonight; I'll drop by your apartment after work, okay?"

He just nodded, throat too tight to speak, as she got up and walked with Stella out of the office to go back to processing the crime scene.

---------------

Lindsay sat at the computer in the lab, staring at the screen where a blank "No Match" had popped up in front of her. Again nothing. Stella walked in, and the look on her face told Lindsay she had fared no better. Damn. Whoever did this left nothing behind – absolutely no evidence.

"What'd you get?" Stella asked.

"A big fat zero staring at me from the computer screen."

"Same here. Ok. Let's look at what we've got. A bloody knife used to cut off the vic's fingers. Only problem is it belongs with a kitchen knife set from the vic's apartment. There are no fingerprints, no separate blood donors, no fibers, no hairs; what have we got left?"

"Nothing. Absolutely nothing." Lindsay finally said out loud. "We're not even back at square one here Stel, we're in the negatives. Unless something miraculous happens, we find a new piece of evidence, or Sid comes back to tell us he made a mistake, then we have nothing."

Just then a beeping made both women look at their phones.

Vic left some more evidence after all. You may want to take a look.

-Sid

Both women read the message, took one look at the other, and headed down to the morgue.

---------------

Flack was having a dickens of a time. Nobody wanted to give him a straight answer and he was starting to get frustrated.

He had driven over to the prison where Sonny Sassone had been held, trying to find out the reason behind his release. And no one would tell him anything. He finally got a wayward answer from another inmate. "His time was up, his time was up, his time was up..." Flack couldn't remember how many times the guy had said that, whatever it meant. All he had gotten so far was that Sassone had been released to be put on house arrest. Great punishment. No wonder he has no problem committing crimes. It's not even like we punish him for it.

He pulled the visitor's log from the time Sonny was in prison and found one name that popped up again and again. Flack just stared. That couldn't be right. No way. Why would he be visiting Sonny?

---------------

"I looked over the vic several times, and found something interesting. Take a look."

Stella leaned over the body to look at what Sid was pointing to. On the vic's right hand, below the knuckle, there was a thin slice, possibly a knife wound.

"Laceration to the back of the hand, most likely made by the killer, but get this. It wasn't made from the same knife as the one used to cut his fingertips off. Look at the shape of the wound, and how smooth it is. This cut was made by something sharp, and circular. And I found a piece of it in the hand."

He held up a pair of tweezers that were grasping a thin piece of what looked like glass. "Even better, I got some DNA off of it, not matching our vic's. I think it may have belonged to the killer. DNA already has it; the results should be ready soon."

"Thanks Sid."

Lindsay bagged the piece of glass and headed up to DNA with Stella.

"You're just in time for the results of the foreign DNA on that glass pulled out of the vic's hand." said Adam as the two CSI's walked into the DNA lab. "Found a match in CODIS." Stella leaned forward and read the name on the computer screen.

"No way. That can't be right"

"It is. I checked it, that's your guy." Lindsay glanced at the screen and her insides felt like they had disappeared. This was not good. Not good at all.

While the three of them were looking at the blinking name on the screen, Stella's cell phone rang. It was Flack.

"Hey, I just finished looking through these prison visiting records for Sonny Sassone. One name keeps popping up, I have a feeling that we need to talk to him."

"I'm getting the same feeling over here." Stella answered.

Flack said a name, and Stella agreed. "Yeah, his DNA was just found on a piece of glass in the vic's hand. I think he needs a chance to explain himself."

Lindsay's insides returned, but now they felt like they were filled with lead. Flack had come across the same name? This was not good. Lindsay prayed that this would not hurt Danny as much as she thought it would. This was going to be a long shift.