Chapter 11: Processing
Mac walks into his apartment, expecting to find Stella waiting anxiously for him. Instead, she is not where in sight. "Stel?"
"I'm in… my bedroom," she says loudly, sitting on the bed with her knees pulled to her chest.
"Are you ready to - ?" he stops in the doorway. "What in the world happened?"
"He got in here, and I broke his nose. I told him your theory and ran to get my gun. We fought over it, and it just went off. I didn't want to kill him, just to keep him from hurting me until you came," she sobs.
"Are you hurt at all?"
"No."
"I've got to call the others to process this. Come to the kitchen with me so you don't have to look at him." When he gets off the phone, he sits down at the table next to her. "I knew I shouldn't have left you here alone. I should have made you sit in my office today so I could make sure he didn't hurt you."
"You did fine, Mac. It's an accident," Stella finds it hard not to reach out and touch his hands.
"I know you didn't mean to kill him. I guess you don't need me to protect you now that he's gone."
"Sure I do. There's plenty of other men out there who want to hurt me," she tries to make him feel needed. "I killed the only person who knows what really happened. Whoever my father is probably doesn't know he has a daughter. Listen, since I made a mess of your apartment, and you won't be able to stay in it for a couple days, why don't you stay with me?"
"I'm not sure about that. I can't intrude on your privacy. Plus, I can afford a hotel room."
"Mac, I get the results in two days. Maybe it'd be good for you to be around so I don't go insane. And whatever the outcome, I know you'll support me."
"Alright, Stel." There is a knock on the door, and he goes to answer it. "She's fine. Right now, she's in the kitchen. The body is down that hall, first door on the right."
Lindsay and Flack come in to talk to Stella while the other two tend to the body. "We need you to tell us what happened, Stel. While we talk, Lindsay will gather evidence from you."
"I had just gotten off the phone with Mac; he told me the guy who took me hostage wasn't my father and that he'd be here soon to pick me up. The doorbell rang, and I went to answer it. It was the guy who claimed to be my father; he just walked in right pass me as I stood there in shock. I explained to him that we weren't related and that he wanted to kill me because my mother had an affair and ended up pregnant. He refused to believe it and grabbed me. I punched him in the nose and ran to get my gun."
"Where was your gun?" Don asks.
"In the bottom of my suitcase in the spare bedroom," Stella answers as Lindsay takes nail scrapings and test for GSR. "Before I found it, he pushed me away. He touched my cheek and asked whether I would really kill my father. I pushed him away and got my gun out. We fought over it. It just went off while we were struggling with each other. Next thing I know, he's lying on the ground, dead. I waited on the bed until Mac came."
"Did Mac touch you at all?" Lindsay swabs the blood on her cheek.
"No."
"If we have other questions, we'll ask you."
"Stel, I need your clothes. The clothes in your suitcase should only need photographing so I'll go get something for you to change into."
"You're done processing me, right? I can go take a shower now?"
"No, you and Mac have to go elsewhere."
"Tell him to pack a bag then so I can go home and get cleaned up," she heads to the bathroom and runs into Mac.
"I'm already packed. We can leave when you're done."
A/N: One more chapter to go. I might post it later. I have to post the last chapter of BCTG too. Okay, so I have this Spanish project, which we call "dramas" because you have dialouge from the vocab for the chapter involved and sometimes actions. This one is about parties. Our prompt thingy is that we bump into a friend at a party we're having for our parents' anniversary. I've got all the dialouge and just have to come up with a prop. I don't know what to do. Got any suggestions? My partner said something about possibly bringing in a picture of my parents but I don't know. I have to see if we have one somewhere that I could bring. Ooh look, there's one on their dresser. I'm not sure when it's from though. I did good on my history test today over WWI. I only missed five out of seventy-five. That's an A. It dropped my grade like .3 of a percent though. I probably am still the only with an A in the class though. She told us all these dates we had to know, and there were fourteen dates total that she metioned when I went back through my notes and made a study sheet for my friend to quiz me over during lunch today. I knew all of them, except guess what she did: only two of them were on the test. She told us that at least seven of them would be, I just didn't know what battles were on there. Well, I think I save the rat dissection for later to tell you guys about whenever I update one of the two stories later. I have to work some more on that packet thing. Please review.