Author's Note: An extra long chapter today especially for all the fans out there R&R'ing. I really appreciate all your comments and encouragement! And as always Muchas Gracias to D.D. for the incredible job she does in keeping me true to the characters!
DISCLAIMERS: I do not own any of these characters. They belong to Jerry Bruckheimer and the wonderful writers for CSI: NY. Any resemblance to scenes from the episodes is included for clarity and continuity and I do not claim any of those as my own work. However everything else is mine.
The Picture
Lindsay returned to the lab to prepare the sample. She could do this part of the job in her sleep and that is exactly how she felt as if she were in a nightmare and she couldn't wake up. Would it never end she thought to herself. Preparing the sample took the better part of the day and after she had sent it off to Adam, she got out the evidence from the NY victim and tried to match it up with what she knew about the Bozeman victims. Maybe if she could isolate a difference it could be a clue that would point them to a suspect. After all, Bozeman is a different place than New York and the killer may have had to adapt in some way for those differences. That sounded so morbid she thought to herself. But that was how she was paid to think.
By quitting time, if there is such a thing in the CSI world when you are actively working a case, she had examined all the evidence and hadn't come up with a thing. She realized she hadn't eaten all day so she packed up the evidence put it away and headed to the break room. Nothing in the vending machines looked appetizing, so she absentmindedly looked in the refrigerator. She noticed the sack from the eating establishment Danny had gone to yesterday evening and realized that must be her dinner he brought back. When she looked into the sack and confirmed it to be hers she carried it to her office. She really didn't want to run into anyone in the break room and have to engage in idle chit chat. She was relieved to see that Danny wasn't around even though she would have been happy to see him if he had had any breaks in the case.
She sat at her desk and chewed thoughtfully on her sandwich. She reached into her desk drawer and pulled out the picture of her and Laurel from Laurel's wedding. She had been meaning to get a frame for it and put it on her desk before the NY murder had happened but alas that plan had fallen to the wayside. She took off the Mickey Mouse watch and laid it beside the picture. Laurel, I hope to God we catch this guy. I want to see him squirm and burn in hell.
Then the emotion just seemed to overwhelm her and she pushed back the picture, the watch and the food and laid her head and arms on the desk and cried.
Danny came in softly and was about to put his hands on her shoulders in comfort when he spied the picture and the watch. It was a very carefree and happy Lindsay with her arm around a bride. The bride looked ecstatic as brides should look like on their wedding day. But there was something else about that bride. She somehow looked familiar. What was it? Lindsay and the bride didn't exactly look alike except around the mouth. They had that same wide-mouthed smile with those perfect white teeth and the same adorable cleft in the chin. Otherwise the bride had twinkling blue eyes while Lindsay had those big, brown, soulful eyes. And the bride's hair was pulled up onto her head but he could see that it was a shade lighter than Lindsay's. He wanted to flip the picture over and read the caption on the back but he also didn't want to violate Lindsay's privacy. Lord knows he was having enough trouble trying to get her to open up to him without her catching him trying to take a peek of the back of one of her personal pictures.
So he settled for turning himself around and leaning back against her desk right beside her. She wasn't crying now and he knew that she knew he was there. "Lindsay," he said softly.
"What?" came her muffled response.
"Let me take you home."
"I'm in no mood to talk, Messer," she replied defiantly.
He knew when she called him Messer that it was going to be a tough sell. "I'm in no mood to talk either," he replied dryly.
"And I'm also not in the mood for anything else!" she retorted lifting her head and staring at him with her tear-stained face and a determined set to her jaw.
His heart tightened to see the sadness in her face but he was not going to take no for an answer. "Look Monroe, I don't want to fight with you, I'm not looking for anything from you. I'm just trying to do a nice thing for you because I can see that you are emotional, exhausted and in an extreme need of a break from this case. That's all."
As much as she hated to admit it, he had an excellent point. She looked at him a moment longer and then sighed, "Okay, lets go." She turned to her desk to gather up her stuff and noticed the picture. She shot him a guilty look but the expression on his face was unfathomable.
All the way to Lindsay's apartment, Danny kept thinking about the picture on her desk and that guilty look on her face when she realized he had seen it. Something just didn't add up. Why would such a seemingly benign personal snapshot warrant such guilt?
When he parked near her apartment, he turned off the SUV, turned to her and took a deep breath. "I'm not trying to pry here, Lindsay, but you seemed upset about the picture on your desk. If there is anything you want to tell me, I'm listening."
She looked at him with those deep brown eyes filling with tears and he knew he had to comfort her. He couldn't stand seeing her like that and not doing something about it. He pulled her over to him and wrapped his arms around her.
She knew it was over then, she just couldn't hold it back any longer. She cried a river on to his shirt front and he murmured into her hair that it was going to be okay. When she was done she pulled back and said simply, "It was my sister, Laurel, on her wedding day."
"You two looked very happy," he said tucking a strand of wavy hair behind her ear.
"We were," she said softly as she looked away. "I really need to go to sleep." She was so weary and sad she didn't care anymore what happened. She just wanted to numb herself.
"Let me walk you up." Danny got out, came around to the other side of the SUV and opened up the door. He laced his fingers through hers and pulled her out of the SUV and up against his chest. He held her eyes with his and said, "Some day Lindsay Monroe." and left it at that. She couldn't even feel her heart flutter when had pulled her closes she was so numb. He was a perfect gentleman as he walked her up, unlocked her door and made sure she got inside. Then when he heard the locks click, he let out a long breath and said "Get some sleep, Montana."
He heard a muffled "Okay" from the other side of the door and then he was gone.
Lindsay absolutely could not think anymore. She ran a tub full of hot water and bubbles, grabbed a bottle of red wine from the kitchen, undressed and sank into oblivion. Two hours later, with the empty wine bottle lying on the bathroom floor and the tub water tepid to the touch, she hauled herself out of the tub. She was going to have one heck of a hangover tomorrow but at least she would sleep tonight. She remembered, right before she collapsed onto her bed, to turn on her alarm.
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Danny drove distractedly to his apartment. Lindsay's words of Laurel, sister, wedding day, was, were kept running through his mind. He couldn't quite put it all together. Man he needed sleep but first a beer or two to take off the edge, then he would sleep.
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BRRRINNGG!
Mac distractedly reached for his office phone.
BRRRINNGG!
It was awfully late for an office call, 11:30 pm, he thought as he picked up the phone. If he were being called to a crime scene, it would have been his cell phone. Who could this be?
"Detective Mac Taylor. NY CSI," he answered the phone.
"Detective Taylor, this is Detective Bill Pressman, Bozeman CSI."
"Yes, Detective Pressman, I remember you well. I can never repay for letting one of Bozeman's finest come to work here as one of New York's finest. She has a great future here with the department. So what warrants the call?"
"Actually it is Detective Monroe that I am calling about. I've been out of town for the past two days and I just got back this evening so I apologize for calling at such a late hour."
"No, no problem. CSI's keep crazy hours as you well know."
"Yeah, yeah I know," he chucked lightly. "Look I saw the request for the cold case files on the string of murders on the young women here in Bozeman. Actually I'm quite surprised that Detective Monroe is working that case."
Mac's lips pressed tightly together, "Please go on."
"Well the last victim in that string of murders was a Laurel Peterson, Lindsay's younger sister. The whole family was very broken up about it and I took Lindsay off the case because well you know, conflict of interest."
Mac let out a sigh. "Pressman, I really appreciate you bringing this to my attention. Detective Monroe has not spoken to me about that detail so be assured I'll be dealing with her tomorrow."
"Well sorry to be the bearer of bad news but keep me posted. I'd love to see that bastard caught, drawn, quartered and dragged through the streets of Bozeman or New York for that matter."
"Will do. Goodnight."
"Goodnight."
Mac carefully placed the receiver back in the cradle. He pressed his fingers tips together and brought them to rest against his upper lip. This was disturbing indeed. It certainly explained Lindsay's very startled reaction to the crime scene. He just assumed it was due her familiarity with the murders from Bozeman and shock at seeing one in New York. But he'd assumed everything was on the up and up when Lindsay came back and worked the scene as a complete professional and then told him in the car on the ride back to the lab that it wasn't personal.
Mac slammed his fist on the desk. This was such a cowboy thing to do no pun intended. He never expected something like this from Lindsay, maybe from Danny yes but not Lindsay. Danny was the loose cannon at times and he had purposely paired them together a lot hoping that Lindsay's level headed ways would rub off on Danny. Maybe it had happened the other way around.
He'd have a talk with Danny tomorrow too. He wondered if he knew about Lindsay's sister. He hoped not or that would be two issues he would have to deal with.
Mac made one phone call before he packed it in for the night and then sighed as he looked around the crime lab on his way out. Enjoy the peace and quiet now, tomorrow is going to be a difficult day.