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.
5. No Progress
Adam and Hawkes were working in the AV lab on the USB stick found at the bar.
"This is going to take a while, its got a pretty sophisticated encryption code" announced Adam. Hawkes sighed.
This case was throwing up more curve balls than they'd seen for a while. "What about the computer from the bar, will that be any good?" he replied. Adam shook his head and told him the hard drive was too damaged to get anything from it, and the best thing was if they actually had the encryption key. Hawkes offered to ask Laura about it. Adam then diverted his attention to the CCTV disk as Hawkes left.
In another part of the lab Stella and Danny were studying the other finds of the day, gradually processing the items for fingerprints and other marks. Stella was reading through the note book while Danny had the envelope from the locker. He opened the envelope and slid out the contents carefully, to reveal a key and a piece of paper, which he unfolded.
"Isn't this case secret enough already?" He complained when he read the note.
Stella looked up. "What's up?"
"I've got another key and a note with the letters K-A-T." At this point Hawkes entered and they looked up.
"Hawkes tell me you've got good news" said Stella hopefully.
He shook his head, "I wish I could, but I'm running on empty".
Lindsay joined them and Danny sighed despondently. "Hey Montana, you don't wanna know what we've got." She looked at everyone and opened the file she had in her hand.
"I wouldn't be so sure, Mac told me to check my case with yours. My DB this morning has been identified as James Alders, 35, a lawyer from Philadelphia, his wife, Charlotte, came with him when he transferred about 6 months ago. She's currently missing and our prime suspect." Announced Lindsay.
Stella sighed and asked about time of death. Lindsay confirmed it had been registered at about 5am. Danny sighed this time. "Well you can just scratch you prime suspect we found Charlotte Alders at 6am this morning in Tribeca, she was killed last night."
Stella saw Don in the corridor and called him to join them. "Where's Laura?" He confirmed she was still asleep on Mac's couch. "I know she's exhausted but we're gonna need her to unravel what's going on. I wish we didn't have to disturb her, but we can't get anything from the locker contents or the stuff from the bar." Conceded Stella. "Also Angell's on her way to do Laura's interview with you. We're keeping IAB out at the minute, but we may not be able to for long." Don nodded. "We'll take a break for an hour, grab some lunch and try again" Stella suggested.
"I'll phone orders through to the Green Dragon in 10 minutes, what shall I order for Laura?" asked Lindsay. Stella said she would ask her.
"S'ok Stell, you finish here I'll go". Don announced and left before anyone said anything.
Hawkes watched him leave. "Am I missing something?"
"With Flack? … He's been on edge all morning" replied Stella.
"Maybe he had a row with his girlfriend" suggested Lindsay.
"That's if she exists. How long has he been seeing her and he still hasn't told us her name." complained Danny who always hated being the last in the loop for information and Stella knew it.
"Just because we hear all about your conquests doesn't mean everyone else has to do the same."
A short while later Stella & Hawkes were adding information to a whiteboard in the breakroom, while Danny & Lindsay were sorting out the boxes of food. Laura entered, and Stella looked over at her. "Hey, sorry about this."
Laura shrugged her shoulders. "Don says you need me, but I'm not sure how much use I'll be, we haven't really uncovered anything."
"… what can you tell us about James Alders?" Stella asked softly. Laura turned pale and rocked on her feet. She grabbed hold of the table in front of her and took a deep breath before sliding onto a chair rubbing her hands across her face, crossing her arms and leaning on the table then speaking. She knew what they were about to tell her.
"... James Ambrose, Charlotte's husband, also FBI, ... I ... I haven't seen him in 3 days. James worked out of a law office down town, he was a lawyer before joining the bureau. ... what happened?"
"He was found at home this morning by a neighbour, a single gunshot, ... execution style ... I'm sorry." Lindsay informed her.
Laura lay her head on her hands, after a moment she got up and left the room without saying anything.
"Carry on, I'll talk to her" Stella instructed before she left. She found Laura in the locker room sat on a bench her head in her hands. "Laura, are you ok?"
Laura looked up, she'd been crying, "I'm sorry, I just need a few minutes." They were quiet for a moment then Laura started to speak.
"I should have gone home last night, at least I may have got some sleep, instead I left the bar and went back to chasing leads into disappearing circles, and then getting into it with my boss about overtime, I picked up the call to the alley as I was heading home, ... We've been on this case for 4 months and got no where, what I can't work out is what suddenly happened to get here, when I left Mark this morning he never said anything"
"Flack and Angell will need a statement about when you last saw them all … they'll be ready soon"
"Of course, where?"
"My office …. Take your time" Stella walked to the door.
"Stella …. Thank you" Laura sighed, Stella had been tying to protect her all morning knowing how tired she was and how upset she had been at what happened to Mark.
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