Iceberg

Danny looked outside. Night had fallen, but the rain hadn't stopped. "Come on, Linds. We've gotten a lot done today. We'll go to the evidence tomorrow. Let's just eat here. Best pizza in the world."

Lindsay sighed. She couldn't resist. She'd tried so hard and she was like a spring wound too tight. All of that energy suppressed inside was now released, "Fine."

Danny grinned and called the waitress back, "I think we'll take that reservation."

CSI:NY

As the waitress led them to a booth in the back of the restaurant, Danny couldn't believe that he'd actually convinced Lindsay, the same Lindsay who had stood him up on a date, to have dinner with him!

They sat opposite each other and he could tell that she was nervous…but what she was nervous about, he wasn't sure.

"So tell me, is there anything on this menu that doesn't have the word 'deep-fried' or 'double-stuffed' in it?" Lindsay asked, her sarcasm evident.

"Aside from the drinks, nah."

Lindsay waved the waiter over, "Well then, when in Rome, right? A medium-sized double-stuffed 'Meat Eater' pizza…and a…large beer."

"Drinking, Montana?"

"I'm not the one driving us back," she said, handing her menu back to the waiter.

Danny chuckled, "I'll have what she's having."

After the waiter disappeared, they returned to sitting in an awkward silence… Danny felt like a cartoon that should've been twiddling his thumbs right about now. "So…how's…work been…and stuff…?"

Lindsay shrugged, "It's been okay. Just dealing with some things from the past… so do you think we should give Nick a call? Arrange a meeting for tomorrow?" she reached for her cell phone sitting on the table, but Danny stopped her.

"Come on, can we not talk about the case?" Danny asked.

She reluctantly drew her hand back, "I thought this was a business dinner."

"Okay Lindsay Monroe, whatever you say."

By the time the food finally arrived, all the tension between them was gone; the ice was melting at last.

"Mmm, this is really good," Lindsay said with her mouth full after she took a bite of her pizza. It looked more like a pizza pie, but it was still delicious.

"Toldja," Danny smirked and took a swig of his beer. He hadn't had anything to eat except for some coffee in the early afternoon, but he didn't feel hungry. Of all the women he'd ever taken out on a date, he had never seen a single one order such massive portions and drink beer. But then again, none of his dates had ever tasted mealworm spaghetti or a fried tarantula before…

He completely forgot about the pizza in front of him and concentrated on Lindsay devouring her dinner, which he found strangely attractive.

"Aren't you going to eat that, Messer?" Lindsay asked, gesturing to Danny's uneaten pizza.

"Hell yes," he grinned and dug in. His appetite was working again.

As the night wore on, the two slowly adjusted back to how they used to be; laughing about past memories, gossiping about coworkers, discussing old cases; neither one of them had noticed how late it had gotten until one of the waiters came up to them and informed them that the restaurant was closing.

"You drive," Lindsay smirked, tossing Danny the keys and then hopping into the passenger seat.

"I'll drive you home," he offered.

"No, really, it's okay. I'll just take the subway!"

"No, you aren't. We can't risk you finding a body on the tracks!"

"Hey, as I recall, it was you who found the subway surfer, not me. I was—."

"At the opera, yeah, I remember," Danny grinned. He swore that she was trying to kill him, showing up at a crime scene dressed like that.

When Danny pulled up at Lindsay's apartment, he felt like he should lean in and kiss her, but this was supposed to be a 'business' dinner.

"Thanks for the evening out," she said, blushing slightly. "It was probably the most fun business dinner I've ever had."

Danny nodded, "See ya tomorrow…Montana."

Before she disappeared into her building, she flashed him one of those heart-stopping smiles and he almost jumped with joy. The iceberg that had stood between them for weeks was melting…slowly, but it was better than nothing. For once in his life, Danny couldn't wait to go to work tomorrow.

CSI:NY

"Montana, what do we got? Sid said we should meet him at the M.E.'s office ASAP, ready to go?" Danny announced the next morning. He'd gotten less than six hours of sleep, but the night before had been worth it.

"Yeah, sure…just trying to look up an address for a Steve Banks…he isn't in the system, but he is on Google," Lindsay said, still staring at the computer screen.

"Google? That's impressive."

"Yeah…apparently he's some sort of math and logic genius. Won a ton of awards for math competitions across the country. Really doesn't seem like a violent 'I'm going to kill my girlfriend and leave her body in a hallway' kind of guy."

Danny shrugged, "Do you have an address? We can go check it out after we see Sid."

"Right here," she picked up a piece of paper from the printer. "Come on, we don't want to keep Sid waiting. God knows what he'll be doing."

"It's not everyday that I get someone my daughter's age on the autopsy table," Sid sighed, placing his glasses around his neck. "Jade Littlewood was extremely healthy, as one would expect of a 17 year old girl. Cause of death wasn't blunt force trauma as one would think…it was a poisoning of some type…I sent stomach contents down to tox."

"Poisoning?" Danny asked. "Lindsay and I didn't find any trace of powders or ingestible items when we were there. Any needle marks? Anything?"
"None," Sid sighed. "I wish I had more for you. But there are a couple more things…I found several cuts around her neck and some abnormal bruising all on her left leg."

"Domestic abuse? Any of it related to COD?"

"No…and the bruises seem to have been here for quite some time…it's not clear to tell where she got them from…Here is some trace that I collected from the head wound…seems like wood of some type…"

"Sid, are you sure those are cuts?" Lindsay pointed to the marks around the neck. "A suspect mentioned a boyfriend. Hickeys?"

"It's possible…although I've never seen anything quite like it," Sid put his glasses back on. "I remember when I was in high school…I was on the lacrosse team, never did get many girlfriends--."

"Sid! Anything else?"

"No, just some trace that I already sent to the lab," Sid shrugged. "I'll let you know if I find anything else."

As they left the medical examiner's office, Danny shivered, "Eugh, can't imagine a high school Sid…so should we uh…pay another visit to Hathaway Prep?"

"Read my mind."

CSI:NY

Danny didn't like high school. He had been one of the lesser-known jocks; baseball hadn't been as popular as football. And in his senior year, in order to get into a good college, he'd become a bit of a nerd. Contrary to what people at the lab said, he hadn't achieved his 'player' status until he was twenty-one and above. He preferred college. High school, he hated.

"Let's see if we can find this Steve guy," he said to Lindsay. "You got a photo? They all sort of look the same to me."

"Yeah, here," she handed him an old newspaper article. In the picture was a brown-haired, a slightly geeky-looking boy. Looking up, they saw the same boy from the photo in front of them.

"Steve Banks? NYPD. Could you come with us please? We have a few questions to ask you."

"Jade is WHAT?"

"Dead."

Steve looked positively distraught, but Danny didn't believe him for a minute. The guy was a genius, could be a pretty good actor too.

"Where were you last night at around…8:30?"

"Wait, you guys don't actually think I had anything to do with her death?" Steve gasped.

"Yeah, shocking right?" Danny stated flatly.

"She was my girlfriend! We loved each other! We've been dating since elementary school! Why would I kill her?"

"I don't know, Steve," Lindsay said. "She sure spends an awful lot of time with your friend, Nick Buchanan? Maybe you got jealous, had an argument…things got a little out of hand--."

"I would never kill her," Steve muttered, glaring at them both.

"Then you won't mind helping us prove that," Danny said. "Where were you last night?"

"With Nick…We had a few things to discuss." The bell rang and the halls were soon empty. "If anything, you should be talking to him. He and Jade spent more time together than I did with her…are we done here? I have class," Steve scowled.

"For now," Danny called out. Turning back to Lindsay, he shrugged his shoulders, "I don't know, Montana. This guy seems like a pretty good suspect to me. Girlfriend spends more time with his friend, gets jealous, takes the first thing he finds and whacks her with it? Sounds like motive to me."

Lindsay wrinkled her eyebrows in confusion, "It sounds plausible, but Sid said that COD wasn't blunt force trauma. It was poisoning, which means that her murder was premeditated, not an accident. And then there's Nick Buchanan, who we have yet to see again. His alibi didn't check out and he failed to tell us how close he was with Jade…so I say we go back to Nick, he seems to be our number one suspect."

Danny nodded and the two walked down the hall towards the door.

CSI:NY

They were back outside the door of Nick Buchanan. Lindsay knocked twice, but there wasn't any answer. Danny checked his watch; it was already 3:30…school should've been out an hour ago.

"Nick Buchanan? NYPD, open up!" he knocked again, his gun at the ready. Lindsay nodded and when there was no answer, he used all his force to kick the door down.

"Call 911!" he shouted as soon as they were inside. Sprawled face first on the ground was their primary suspect: Nick Buchanan.

Lindsay pressed both her fingers to Nick's neck; no pulse. "He's dead," she declared. Danny called off the paramedics and instead, phoned the coroner.

"Two dead teenagers in two days?" he asked, snapping on a pair of gloves. "Are we looking at a serial killer? Maybe someone's got a beef with the executives."

"Rigor hasn't yet set in," Lindsay said. "Vic's been dead less than 6 hours."

They both looked around at the apartment; the furniture seemed undisturbed and nothing appeared out of place or stolen. It seemed strange for someone to be murdered in the afternoon.

"Think I got something," Danny said while lifting a couple prints and swabbing DNA from different beverage glasses: ginger ale in a martini glass and an iced tea in a scotch glass. Rich kids.

"Same," she held up a crumpled photo that had been in the victim's hand. "Wait, Danny, come here. The faces have been scribbled off…must've really upset Nick." She dropped it into an evidence envelope.

Standing up, she gestured towards a door down the hall, "I guess we should take this to the bedroom?"

Danny did a double take. "What?"

Lindsay looked at him curiously, "Move this," she gestured to their open cases, "to check the bedroom for evidence."

"Right, right. Evidence," Danny nodded, "I knew that."