AN: I don't own any of the CSI:NY Characters or any of the show's storylines that I may refer to from time to time, but the rest of the plot is mine.
4. Who, What, Where …..
Laura began bringing everyone up to speed with what she knew and the undercover op. She took a deep breath and began her explanation.
"1st victim, Charlotte Alders, alias Santana from Philly. Danny did you find anything on her?" Danny shook his head. "One prior for prostitution in Philly about 6 months ago."
Laura asked if they'd also checked her finger prints. "No, should we?" asked Danny.
Laura nodded. "Just to plug the gap. She's really Charlotte Ambrose, from DC …. She's FBI."
Mac, was resting his chin in his hand, the niggling feeling he'd had all morning intensified and his head began to pound. This definitely wasn't going to be an easy case, and it was definitely going to get very political, not only were they sharing jurisdiction with Vice they would now have to deal with the Feds.
"We've been trying to break into a human smuggling/prostitution ring run by Asian gangs with most of the girls coming from the orient. The ones we're aware of are all underage. Mark was running it with me. Charlotte was working the case for the Feds, we didn't know till last week. Since then we've pooled our information and we've worked together. We've got several others undercover with the gangs, the bar was the drop zone. Our options to contact them are extremely limited." Laura paused and looked round the assembled group. "Officially I've been told to back off, but I know I can help. Mark and I have worked on this case for about 4 months, if he's hidden information I don't know who else would know where to look. Stella says that Mark was-" She rocked on her feet, Don who was closest placed his hand in the small of her back to support her. She took a deep breath then looked up to him, her eyes conveying her appreciation, before continuing. "That they wanted information from him."
Mac sighed. "We're going to have to move fast on this, and we'll get heat from all sides. The FBI will probably want to take over the case, but we've got an interest too."
"Where would he keep any information about the op?" It was Stella who asked. Laura looked up and ran a hand over her face before she replied. "No where obvious, but it would also depend on how much time he had, there's a place at the bar and a locker at Grand Central. Did you find any keys?"
"There were a couple we found, stuck between cushions in a booth. Could you identify them?" Stella asked.
Laura nodded, "I should be able to." Mac saw a way forward. "OK Laura you take a look at the keys and identify the one for the locker. Danny you and Sheldon go pick up anything that's there and take uniforms with you. Flack go with Stella and Laura to the bar, get anything else you can from the scene. Laura was there a plan if Mark wasn't at the bar? Were any of the other staff involved?"
Laura shook her head. "Just us, I was the back up, but our guys won't come back there now, not with the publicity this is going to get. I need to place an ad in tomorrow's New York Times and I need a disposable cell phone, they'll call me if they have anything, but my boss wont authorise it. Says they'll have to come back in, which is the instruction if they have not seen a message within 2 days. That could be disastrous for the case, all our work would be wasted and Mark would have died for nothing!" Laura shook with exhaustion and emotion. Stella stepped over to her and rested a hand on her arm.
Mac could see the sense of her argument, to a point. "Don't worry I'll talk to your boss. For now check the keys and the bar." The meeting over everyone left and Mac picked up the phone for the first of what he feared would be many calls in that political game he was being drawn into.
Down at Grand Central Station a short while later Danny and Hawkes approached the locker identified by Laura. Danny held an evidence bag with the key, at the last moment he slipped it into his gloved hand and opened the locker, inside was a small envelope he took it and put it in an evidence bag which Hawkes held out. Danny closed the locker, removed the key and replaced it in the evidence bag before they turned away and left.
Meanwhile uptown Stella, Laura and Flack entered the back room of the bar which was used as an office, Laura was visibly shaken by the mess there which is worse than the bar area, she looks around, then goes to the fire door and opens it a few feet into the corridor she stops and kneels down, before running her hand along the floor where it joins the wall, then runs her hand around the brick and pulls it free behind it is a notebook and a pc USB stick, she takes them and drops them into the evidence bag Stella is holding, she puts the brick back as she found it, and Flack offers her his hand to stand up. She was pale and her eyes were puffy and red, where she'd been almost constantly rubbing them for the last few hours. As he pulled her to her feet Don could tell it wouldn't be much longer before she collapsed completely. She had been catching short bursts of sleep in the car and at her precinct while he talked to her boss, but that wasn't enough to live on. He made sure she had found her balance before he let her go.
"Nice job, I wouldn't have seen that" Don commented. Laura looked over her shoulder, "That's the idea, unless you knew where to look you wouldn't. The hallway has 2 fire doors, Mark and I were the only ones who new the codes to turn off the alarm and it's the only place not covered by CCTV. It was deliberate because then if someone was trying to get out here we'd know."
Stella looked around the office area then to Laura. "CCTV? Lindsay checked."
Laura looked at Stella, "Please tell me you have the disk" Stella screwed up her nose, "we didn't find anything not even a camera."
Laura went to the corner of the room, then down some stairs to the basement, Don started to follow her when she returned holding a DVD case, which she handed over to Stella, who kept her eyes on Laura. "Let's get this stuff back to the lab, see what it tells us and while we do that, you can hit the couch in Mac's office, before Flack has to carry you, not that I think he'd mind, but it won't do much for your reputation, falling asleep on the job."
"Hey, Stell, give her a break, she's been going for almost 36 hours straight, tell me you wouldn't be in the same condition under the circumstances" Don countered.
AN: Chapter 5 Taster: Back at the Lab the team compare notes on the case. A new victim is identified and Laura comes under more pressure.