CHAPTER SIX
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
A/N: A question was raised about the time-line of this story. This happens three-four weeks after Child's Play. Also, I'm sorry for the long wait for this chapter; I got a little busy these past few days. And I want everyone to be aware that I had already mapped this story out before The Thing About Heroes aired, so I'm completely disregarding the conclusion of Mac's 3:33 caller.
The morning sun shone through the slits in the blinds of her bedroom, as if to mock her pain. Another day and perhaps another blow. Time did not stop no matter how much life knocked you down.
The world keeps moving.
Lindsay groaned and curled up tighter in her bed, burying her face into her pillow. Through the pounding of her head and battling the fuzziness that accompanied it, slowly, painfully, Lindsay recalled the past events and was two things.
Heartbroken and extremely thankful to Mac for giving her time off. She wasn't strong enough to face him yet. Would she ever be? Lindsay could picture a dozen pint-sized little people in her head, shaking their fingers at her in disappointment, scolding repeatedly in tiny voices, 'See? This is why office relationships never work.' Stupid girl.
Tears leaked out of the corners of her closed eyes. Danny...
From the first moment she saw him, Lindsay knew that Danny Messer was dangerous. He was a gorgeous man and what made him so dangerous was that he knew it. In the beginning, it was being new, in the lab and in the city, that made it easy to keep her distance. But slowly, slowly, the real Danny began to show himself. He wasn't perfect, neither was she; both of them had major issues, skeletons in the closet, and were complicated individuals by themselves Put them together and it was bound to be turbulent.
But it became so much more than that. When she was with Danny, it was explosive, full of amazement, hesitance, passion, want, need...it did not take much for Danny to get under her skin. Before, Lindsay's heart skipped whenever Danny was close; his smile, his sparking blue eyes, toned body, but now it jumped and jerked, filled with the knowledge that he was hers. It always made her catch her breath and a smile radiated from her face knowing that he was her guy. Danny's girlfriend. Lindsay's boyfriend. It sounded juvenile, but feeling giddy emotions was human nature. The time they spent together at first felt so right. But it seems...that it wasn't meant to last.
He started out by ignoring her. Fine, she could handle that; he was hurting and this was how he dealt with it. He got cold. Began avoiding her. Was this how he handled breaking up with all his girlfriends? And finally slept with someone else, taking weeks to confess. Lindsay guessed that she was lucky he even told her. Now, this woman might be having his baby. She had pegged Danny right; he was dangerous and he had wrecked her.
She shook her head, immediately regretting it as the pounding grew worse and Lindsay let out another groan before heaving herself out of bed, stumbling toward her bathroom. Aspirin was a definite friend after she began her drinking spree shortly around 1:30 in the morning, passing out who knows when.
But hey, it made her feel something different, right? Lindsay twisted her face into a scowl, dry swallowing the white pills and mocking Danny's words from yesterday or rather earlier that morning. Needed to feel something other her own personal agony. Maybe she should go out and sleep with Mr. Joe-somebody and throw it in Messer's face. How would he like that?
A second later, Lindsay dismissed her bitter thoughts. Shoving them and anything remotely related to her Italian co-worker and now ex-boyfriend in a metaphorical lock-box, secured and buried in the corner of her mind.
Lindsay supposed it was a good thing that Danny never really visited her place. It had become her sanctuary more than ever. She looked at her drawn face in the bathroom mirror under the horrid florescent light and asked herself if she was strong enough for the coming days. The last real thread keeping her up and keeping her grounded was gone. She would find refuge in Danny's arms no more. Her lips would never touch his and they would never look the same way at each other again. Pain and heartbreak would be the only things that colored her vision of him.
Although, she still had to work with him and it would hurt like hell for awhile, but there was healing in pain too. When she was fifteen, Lindsay thought her world was over when her best friends were taken from her, but it didn't and she moved on. The feeling was the same now and she would have to struggle to hold on once more.
So yes, Danny Messer had wrecked her, but he sure as hell hadn't broken her.
Besides, her jaw clenched, her parents needed her right now.
Padding into her kitchen, still not turning on any lights, Lindsay began cleaning up while making up a plan. From her conversation with Evan, he had told her that Noah, her other brother, the middle Monroe, was on his way back to Montana. Noah, closer to her in age by only being a year older; Lindsay was closer to him and she needed to be there. To that end, she started the coffee-maker and booted up her laptop, checking for available flights.
By the time the coffee was ready, Lindsay found two flights heading to Bozeman later that day, both with stop-overs, but she'd take what she could get. Picking up her cell phone, she hit speed dial 2 and waited.
"Taylor." Mac's voice was always so steady, much like the man himself. She envied him that. Lindsay didn't waste any time. "Hey Mac. I'm going to need to take some time off." She took a sip of her coffee.
She heard him sigh."Lindsay..." and she hastened to reassure him.
"Mac, relax." She set her cup down. "I'm not...I'm not going to do anything. I just...need to be with my family."
"Lindsay, I understand. I really do, but you're too personally involved." He sounded like he was shuffling some papers around. Typical Mac. Never left the office.
"Personally involved? Mac, half of Bozeman is personally involved! I used to call the chief of police Uncle Charlie until he became my boss, half the Bozeman PD are friends of the family, those volunteers out there searching for my parents are all personally involved, most of them come over for regular dinner visits, attend church together. My parents are god-parents to at least a couple of their kids as am I to others. Friends from high school, university." She paused. "Mac...I'm not going to be doing any cowboy tactics...please. My brother needs me there. My other brother is flying to Montana as we speak and I'm here. I can't..." she took a deep breath, "I can't not be there, Mac, please."
Mac sighed heavily. "While those are all good points, Lindsay and as much as I do want you to be with your family, please believe me when I say that I am doing this for your own good. While all those people you listedare involved, none of them can also confess to having a connection to your parents and Katum. Lindsay, your presence there may just cause additional stress. It might even rile Katum up even more."
"But Mac - "
Pausing for a moment, Mac continued, "I can give you two extra days off Lindsay. Two more days, but then I need you back here at work, bright and early Sunday morning. I know you Lindsay, you're not the type to just sit back and let others work if you think you can do something about it. But that's what you're going to have to do, Lindsay. Sit back."
Silently letting out a breath, Lindsay held up her hand, even though he couldn't see it. "Fine. I understand, Mac. Bright and early Sunday morning." She hung up and sat in silence before her brown eyes caught the web page still on the airport bookings page. Flight from JFK to Bozeman, Montana with a stop-over in Indianapolis at noon.
It was nine in the morning and Lindsay was holding her breath as she booked herself a flight.
Mom. Dad.
Mac set the phone down, taking a moment to frown concernedly at as though he could see Lindsay through it. She sounded better, but why did he get the feeling it still wasn't over.
"Trouble?" Stella asked, having caught the last end of Mac's conversation when she entered his office a minute ago. Automatic concern rose in he eyes when she heard Lindsay's name.
Shaking his head, Mac said, "It's fine. Got some bad news back in Montana that she needs to deal with. " He looked at his colleague. "What's going on?"
Stella kept her place by the door. "Got a call. Dead body uptown. Interested?" She grinned.
Mac ducked his head to cover a laugh and moved to grab his coat and kit. Across the lab, he caught sight of Flack talking to Danny and he mentally shook his head. First Danny, now Lindsay. He could only hope that his team would emerge from this healed and strong.
"Angell's meeting us there."
"I'm driving."
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"Gunshot to the head and heart." Stella reported to Mac as she couched over the body. Together, they gently rolled the dead woman onto her side.
"No exit wound for either," Mac commented.
Ruffling through the victim's coat and pants pockets, Stella announced, "No ID on her or any personal effects; it's possible that robbery was the motive."
Letting his eyes rove over the body, Mac frowned a moment, staring at the Caucasian woman's face. Her eyes were open. Expression frozen. There was a niggling thought in the back of his mind.
"There's too much blood here to only be from these two wounds, especially around her stomach area. I don't see any punctures, but..." With Mac's help, the two carefully unbuttoned the woman's green silk shirt and were taken aback by what they saw.
"LIAR," Stella read the word carved into the woman's stomach in big bold letters. "A message?"
"Or a punishment," Mac said. "With these shots and this message, I'd say this was personal." His eyes flitted back to Jane Doe's face. "Someone really didn't like our victim." After further examination of the body and taking samples, Mac signaled the coroner while he and Stella searched the area.
"No blood splatter or spray. No evidence of a struggle." Stella checked the nearby dumpsters.
"There's nothing here to indicate she was shot here."
Stella walked toward him with a slight frown. "Are you thinking this was a dump job, Mac?"
He raised his eyebrows, but said nothing as the two continued to search for any evidence in the alley to connect the place to the victim and crime. Spotting an odd sight, Mac shaded his eyes as he looked up at the fire escape of one of the buildings and he moved closer.
"Find something Mac?" Stella called, some distance away.
He turned to answer, arm still raised, when a single gunshot rang out.
Screams rose from the bystanders, drawn in by morbid curiosity, and more than a few ran for safety. The police on the scene had their guns out in mere seconds, eyes scanning while, on the concrete, Stella rolled to find protection up against a dumpster; her gun in her hands.
Peering around cautiously, her green eyes widened with horror. "Mac!"
He lay unmoving.
A/N: I don't really know what age Lindsay was during the whole Katum thing, so I guessed. On an off-note, did anyone else feel slightly unsatisfied with the conclusion of the 3:33 caller? I mean, it seemed so slick, the way the caller knew everything (the missing luggage, the finding of Mac in London with the hotels, the skeleton (how in the heck did he manage that without being seen?), the subway sabotage, etc...) It all seemed so slick! And then, boom, in one episode, they managed to find him quite easily. I don't know, maybe it's just me, but it wasn't as explosive as I thought it'd be. 'shrug'