Disclaimer: Don't own the characters, sadly.

Summary:

The trial is over and Lindsay Monroe is back in the Big Apple. This story follows her and the CSI team as they follow a string of dead bodies and a seemingly untraceable serial killer. Welcome back to the city that never sleeps. DL

Author's Note:

A million apologies to readers/reviewers/lurkers, I've needed to take a break from this so I can sort out real life before I sort this out. I hope this was worth the wait, and if not, I promise I'll do better next time.

The Invisible Man

Im the invisible man
Im the invisible man
Its criminal how I can
See right through you.

The scene outside the hotel was one of chaos and hysteria. It was just after noon and all manner of tourists and New York businessmen and women were milling around the cafes and restaurants in the area. It would be fortunate, one would suppose, that the police department had plenty of witnesses to what looked like a suicide. However, as Hawkes found, this was not to be an open and close case.

When all the evidence had been collected from the body and the area around it, Mac and Hawkes headed up to the room where the man had jumped from.

"Your DB is Jason Cault." Flack informed them as they reached room 620. "Originally from Memphis, he's in New York for a job interview."

Mac nodded and surveyed the room. It was moderately sized with a bed to the left side and an ensuite bathroom on the right. The curtains billowed into the room where the window remained open, and despite this fact, he could still detect the faint smell of cigarette smoke that hung in the air. The usual sounds of New York- cars, crowds,- was replaced by a collage of voices, some shrill, others dazed, but all utterly confusing the officers who were taking down their statements.

"Now get this," the homicide detective consulted his notebook, "the woman staying in the next room," he pointed to the left, "619, said she heard scuffling and muffled voices followed by a yell around 11:56. When she ran to her window and looked down, she saw your guy lying on the sidewalk."

Hawkes frowned as he dusted around the window frame. "So he was either arguing with someone who pushed him out the window, or someone was trying to get him not to jump. Do you have any witnesses that place someone else in this room?"

"Nope, no one saw or heard anything other than the lady next door."

"Let's hope we get something from the room then, or we'll have another cold case on our hands." Mac fished out his cell to call Sid. "I'll have Sid page us when he's ready."

The dumpsters, Danny thought as he clambered out of one and into the other, were actually quite clean- as far as trash goes anyway. Thanking whoever was responsible for the two plastic bins, he picked up another bag of rubbish and began rummaging through its contents.

He had found very little of use in the time he had been sifting through the first dumpster- old takeaway cartons, potato skins and even a rotting chicken's head. He did find some cigarette butts but they were in a bag so far near the bottom that he concluded that unless the people living in those buildings habitually threw out their trash in the small hours of the morning, none of them would hold DNA evidence leading them back to the killer.

Danny grimaced and prepared himself for at least (he reckoned) two more hours of searching. At least it's still relatively cold, he thought to himself, otherwise you'll be hitting the lab smelling worse than a skunk's armpit.

In the break room, Stella was nursing a coffee while glaring intently at the file in front of her. Danny had called her an hour ago to let her know that the first dumpster was effectively useless, she was not happy. What were they dealing with here, the invisible man? The killer leaves no traces, not even half a footprint for the team to work on. Looks like this perp did their homework.

Stella knew that people can be unpredictable. However, while you can't second guess who's going to be a murderer, you can still tell what sort of person they are by their methods and means. This killer was meticulous- everything looked planned, organised. They didn't give themselves away, indicating that they were probably planning to throw more dead bodies at the crime lab.

"Lucky the media isn't on this one yet,"Stella muttered to herself, "Or they'll be having a field day."

She was distracted from her thoughts by the clicking of heels behind her. Her gloomy mood brightened considerably when she saw who it was. Standing up to give the young woman a hug, Stella said, "Good to have you back kiddo, how're you holding up?"

Lindsay bit her lip. "I'm doing good, but the lab work is killing me."

Stella looked down on her sympathetically. "Don't worry, I'm sure Mac will have you out on the field again soon."

"I know, this is just… testing my patience."

"So did everything go OK in Montana?"

Lindsay smiled and nodded. "Yeah, I'm glad it's all over, it feels like such a weight off my shoulders. When it all ended… I felt, I felt free. I mean, the weeks leading up to it… I really can't thank you enough for-"

Stella waved her hand, "Hey, that's what friends are for, right?" Her demeanour then turned serious. "How did your parents take the fact that you're back here?"

Lindsay sighed. "They were never happy with it in the first place, but… they understand, I think. My mom cried, a lot, and begged me to stay a little longer and think it through." She shook her head. "My dad was just quiet. I think he's kinda given up on making me reconsider. Guess it was difficult for him to see his only daughter up and leave."

"It must have been…" Stella's thoughts wandered back to her own family, not her foster parents, but her biological ones. But before she allowed her musings to become too grave, she decided to change the subject.

"So how's your case going?"

Lindsay pulled a face. "Nothing so far. I'm waiting on results from a substance found on the bedside table and prints are running but I'm getting nothing. I just hope Sheldon gets something good soon."

"Well at least you've still got evidence coming in." Stella took a sip of her coffee. "I think we're all out, just waiting on the MEs for the skulls and Flack for the background checks."

The younger woman give her a lopsided smile. "Glad I got swapped out then."

"You better be. At least you'll still have hair by the end of your case, I on the other hand…"

The two women shared a laugh, happy in the knowledge that while the outside world was in shambles, they could still depend on each other, and the rest of the team, to brighten up their day a little. However, this was not to last as the beeping on Lindsay's pager signalled the end of their break and the two women parted to focus on their respective cases, promising to catch up at a later time.

If there was one thing that Flack did not like, it would have to be talking to people who had already had way too much to drink. I present to you Mr Gerard Barden. At 2pm, he was already pretty far gone, sitting at the hotel's small bar and clutching an empty glass in one hand.

"I'm telling yous, I saw… I saw nuttin. But that, that guy was one dumb bastard." The drunken man waved his glass at the exasperated looking barman. "What's so damn special 'bout that piece o' paper anyway? If you asks me," he leant forward in the stool and jabbed his finger into Flack's chest, "the guy was definitely into somethin'."

The tall detective resisted the urge to roll his eyes and instead asked, "Are you sure you didn't see him talkin' to someone, give someone a package…?"

"I already said," Gerard slid unsteadily onto his feet, "the guy… was a loner. Sat 'lone, and man, that is one ug-ugly tie." At this he swayed dangerously forward and promptly threw up all over Flack's tie and shirt.

Flack looked down in disgust at the mush that was currently making it's way downwards towards his shoes. Definitely do not like drunks, he thought to himself.

"Nice improvement on the tie," smirked a female voice behind him.

He grimaced and turned to greet the newest edition to his team. "Haha, very funny."

"So what do you want me to do?" The young woman was careful to stand a good distance away.

"You good to stay with this case?" Detective Jennifer Angell was definitely a tough cookie. Being one of very few women in the team meant she had to work extra hard to prove that she was just as capable as her male counterparts. And prove it she did. She was very focused and an extremely goal-orientated woman. She was even a little scary sometimes, which always surprised Flack because he never expected as much as that from her, or any of his other team members at that. She reminded him a little of Aiden, he remembered sadly, sassy, smart and able to give as good as she got.

"No problem. You busy then?"

"I've got a nearly cold case, thought I'd let you have the easy one."

She rolled her eyes. "Suuure."

"Hey doc?" Flack yelled across the lobby. Seeing the former ME raise his head, he continued. "I'm outta here, say hey to Lindsay for me?"

Angell gave him a questioning look.

"She's back from Montana, I heard Mac put her in the lab."

"I never really worked with her before."

"Well she's on this case." He shrugged his shoulders and watched as two uniforms arrived to drag Mr Barden from his position on the floor.

"Sober him up, James?" Detective Angell instructed the dark haired man, "I want to question him later, when he's coherent."

Stella greeted Danny with a hidden grin. He had just returned from taking four showers to attempt to wash away the afternoon of dumpster diving and looked more than a little disgruntled.

"I don't believe it Stel," he was saying, "nothing, nada, from that entire alley apart from a few pieces on glass?" He shook his head. "How close are you to piecing it all together?"

Stella sighed. "We're getting there, but there are so many missing pieces that we'll be lucky if we get just one partial from it."

Danny swore. "What about evidence from the vic's body?"

"Nothing unusual. Trace Sid got off her eyelashes was ordinary makeup and there was nothing strange about what we got from under her fingernails either."

The Staten Island native swore again.

"We'll crack it, whatever it takes, right? Danny? Danny?" What Stella saw caused her to worry and smile at the same time. They had been walking past the trace lab. Danny's head whipped around so quickly she could have sworn she heard a crack.

She was there, standing in the middle of the lab frowning at the evidence in front of her. Man, you need more sleep, Danny thought to himself, seeing things again? Maybe I should get some sleeping pills tonight. But when he looked back, she was still there, but this time she was joined by one of the lab techs who was handing her a sheet of paper. He watched as she broke out into a breath-taking smile, the one she used when things start to make a lot more sense.

He turned to look at Stella, who bore a rather guilty expression on her face.

"You knew?"

She nodded hesitantly.

"Am I the only one that doesn't know?" Danny starting to get pissed off.

"Well, there wasn't enough time this morning, otherwise I would have-"

"And I the only one that doesn't know?" He repeated his question.

"Mac has her working with Hawkes and Flack-"

"Flack knows? Before me?"

"I don't know, Danny."

"Damnit Stella, she gets back and no one even thinks about letting me know?"

"It wasn't a priority Danny." Mac's stern voice cut in. "Now get back to work, if you have a problem come talk to me later."

Danny was fuming mad. He clenched and unclenched his jaw several times before storming past his boss without saying another word. When he was out of sight, Stella closed her eyes briefly before looking up at Mac.

"That was harsh."

At least the man had the decency to look a little uncomfortable, but that was gone in a flash and Mac the boss was back. "It had to be done. We've got enough to do as it is."

"Someone should have told him. Have you seen him lately?"

Mac let out the breath he didn't realise he had been holding. "I don't want him to be distracted. He's a good CSI and I don't want that to change."

The Greek woman nodded in resignation. "So you want to talk over the cases?"

"Ah, the invisible man…"

"Or woman…"

As their voices faded, Danny marched back along the corridor he had just left. How can they treat it so casually? They act as if she's never left, never had to go through the trial, never… left him…He peered into the lab, hoping she would still be smiling, still happy, still there.

But she wasn't.

Lyrics from The Invisible Man by Queen

Author's Note 2: As always, feedback it loved, be it good or bad. :)