Okay, since there wasn't that much response to the second chapter, I figured I can either stop – or better post the next one quickly, so that we get to the better parts. Sorry, but I had to go through the case first and I needed Mac to be out of it to make this chapter work ;-)

Next one is the final one, will have some more StellaMac fluffy stuff

xPROMISEx

and I'm already working on a little one shot "fluff-only" sequel…

Please read and review – thanks!

Chapter 3

"What are you two doing here and where's Hawkes, wasn't he with you?" she asked Lindsay after she came over to her.

"Investigating a burglary with some stolen golden discs…"

Stella's eyebrows raised - another 'exciting' crime for the CSI…

"…and a homicide. Hawkes got occupied with the secretary … uh, eyewitness," Lindsay explained.

"Homicide? Nice… How comes you get to investigate a homicide while Danny and I are chasing Santa Clauses and Elvis?" Stella grumbled.

Lindsay wrinkled her forehead and tried to get all the information in order.

"Well, the homicide was a coincidence – there was the burglary and when the patrol unit checked the scene, they discovered the body in a storeroom. What was it what you said about Elvis? And where is Danny anyway??"

"That's what I'd like to know myself. Just left him for a couple of minutes to grab some food and when I came back, he was gone. Oh, and Elvis – you're not gonna believe this: First we were called because some street musician dressed as Santa was missing, his girlfriend called us. Then she showed up again couple of hours later, another boyfriend Santa was missing, too. And then she called an hour after she left the precinct to tell us that a musician they wanted to meet with, this one dressed like Elvis, didn't show up. This city is just crazy…"

"Well, maybe not…" Lindsay slowly returned.

"How's that?"

"I think we may have found your missing Elvis…"

"WHAT?" For a moment Stella forgot about Danny and how ridiculous she thought this whole day was.

"Our DOA…" Lindsay started.

"Yeah?"

"… dressed in an Elvis costume. Crime scene's just across the street, building of the record company over there," she motioned across the street.

Stella rolled her eyes. Should it be possible that this whole nonsense made some sense after all?

"And what about Hawkes and a secretary?" she tried to match the last piece of the puzzle of weird facts.

"Ah, that's just the woman who reported the theft in the first place. Secretary of the company's president, seems to be pretty impressed by our Dr. Sheldon…" Flack joked.

"Figures."

Apparently this was a piece that didn't need to be in the complete picture.

"Um, right… and where's Danny now?" Lindsay reminded her.

"Right, Danny!" Stella remembered suddenly. "He's gone…"

"What do you mean with that?" Flack wondered.

"Which part of the sentence do you have a problem with?" Stella snapped. "I already told you that I bought something for lunch for us and when I came back moments later, he wasn't here anymore…"

"Did you try his cell?" Lindsay asked.

"Not yet, I just returned and when I looked around here, I saw you guys over there…"

Lindsay flipped her cell phone open and dialed Danny's number.

XXXXX

"Messer, where are you? Everyone's looking for you. … Me? I'm here with Stella and Flack at the corner where you were supposed to be waiting for her. … We've been investigating a scene on the other side of the street and met her by coincidence. What happened? … Yeah, I see. Okay, bye, Danny."

She hung up.

"What? What did he say??" Stella asked curiously.

Lindsay slightly shook her head. Then she looked upwards and pointed in the same direction. Stella followed her gaze – and spotted Danny looking out of a window on the fifth floor of the building they were standing next to, waving down with a sheepish grin on his face.

"What the hell are you doing up there?" Stella called up to him.

"Guess I just solved our case, well, at least half of it. Found two Santas up here," Danny called back, moving a little to the side to free some space for two guys dressed in Santa costumes who now also waved to them.

"I don't get this… Get down here!" Stella shouted.

"Can't – we're locked in here!"

"Locked? How… Ah, never mind. Flack, would you come with me? Lindsay, you wanna wait here for Hawkes or do you think he won't come any time soon?"

Lindsay gave a wondering look to the building across the street, when she saw Hawkes coming through the entrance door.

"We'll wait here for you – promise!" she added after getting a suspicious look from Stella.

XXXXX

"You never get what just happened in there…" Hawkes breathlessly started when he reached Lindsay. "Where did the others go?"

"Rescuing Danny and some Santas," Lindsay explained, causing a puzzled look on his face. "So what happened, she invite you for dinner?"

"Clayton Fielding arrived shortly after you left and without even taking notice of me, he started to shout at his secretary. What the hell she was thinking, calling the police over those dumb records and so on. He got so upset, he fired her!"

"What?" Lindsay couldn't believe it. "He fired his secretary for calling the police to report a burglary, this doesn't make sense. Why would he do that? Unless…" she started to wonder.

"… he has something to hide," Hawkes finished her thought. "Exactly."

"Ah, there are the others! What's going on here?" Lindsay asked when she saw Stella and Danny coming out of the building, accompanied by the two missing Santas.

"I solved our case!" Danny announced with a broad grin. "And yours also."

"Sure you did," Lindsay dryly replied and looked at Stella who just shrugged.

XXXXX

"That was really the most exciting field experience I had ever since I started working as a CSI," Hawkes excitedly told Mac when they met in his office later. "Legends have been in those corridors, music history has been made there… I met Buster Jay on my way out!"

Mac gave him a baffled glance. "Who??"

"Oh come on, Mac?!" Hawkes waited for a sign that he was just kidding. "You don't know him? That's the hottest stuff out on the streets at the moment, on which planet do you live? How comes you never heard of him??"

Stella grinned knowingly.

"Mac's musical focus is more on Gerry Mulligan, Stevie Ray Vaughan and others like that."

Now Hawkes had a question mark on his forehead. "Who?"

"Two worlds collide…" she chuckled.

Mac shook his head, this was really not his world.

"There you are, let's get started now," he said as Lindsay, Danny and Flack entered the office. "Anyone care to tell me what happened?"

Everyone except for Stella started talking at once while Mac tried to follow and get the important information which wasn't really easy. All he knew from earlier this day was that it was something about missing Santas and a burglary. Why the entire team plus Flack was now involved in this at the same time was yet beyond his ken.

XXXXX

"Mr. Fielding arrived after the others had already left," Hawkes just said.

"He's a Santa?" Mac tried to figure out, trying to get a structure into all this.

"No, but you should see his secretary!" Danny teased with a wink to Hawkes.

"She's a Santa?" Mac asked.

"No, she gave us the hint with the doorman," Lindsay explained.

"The doorman's a Santa?" Mac slowly asked.

"No, he's the author of the songs that got the golden records that had been stolen," Danny replied.

Author of golden records? For a moment Mac lost track.

"The author is a Santa?" he frowned.

"No, he stole the records and when the patrol unit arrived at the scene, they found a dead Elvis on the same floor," Flack explained in a self-evident voice.

Mac was confused. At the beginning of the day, he had sent Stella and Danny out to look for ONE missing Santa – and now there were four people in his office, all talking at the same time, throwing names and events at him that he couldn't put to a useful context.

Who was this Elvis? What happened to the Santas? Why were Stella and Danny involved in the record company case? Why were Lindsay and Hawkes involved in the Santa case? Or weren't they? Were they reporting two parallel cases to him at the same time? Nobody mentioned the original main subject of the case at all yet – but he didn't dare asking, he was afraid that more names would be involved.

"Okay, that's it. Stop it!" he called while shaking his head and turned to Stella who was the only one who didn't say a word so far.

"Does this make any sense to you?" he asked desperately.

"I'm afraid so..." she nodded slightly amused.

"Okay..." he checked his watch. "You got 60 seconds to explain it to me."

The others looked at their watches unbelievingly, wondering how that should work while Stella calmly waited for a sign a sign to begin.

"Go!" Mac invited her to start.

"Mr. Fielding is the president of the record company. He stole the rights for a song from Graham Wilson many years ago. The song became a big hit and got awarded several golden records. Graham Wilson applied incognito for a job as doorman at the record company to get access to the master keys for the offices. Then he stole the golden records to blackmail Fielding. He wanted him to acknowledge his fraud publicly. Fielding's secretary called the police when she noticed the robbery. When the patrol unit arrived and searched the scene, they found a dead body on the same floor – dressed in an Elvis costume. Fielding had killed him accidentally. He suspected him to be the thief after he found the blackmail letter on his desk. Collateral damage. The Santas got kidnapped by Graham Wilson because they had recognized him on the street and he wanted to protect his identity. Summary: Graham Wilson stole the records and kidnapped the Santas, Clayton Fielding killed Elvis – two cases closed."

Mac stopped his watch and checked the time. Then he looked up at the others.

"45 seconds," he stated.

"See? Less is more. THAT'S how you give a report!"

You'll be my angel in the night
You'll be the one to make things right
You'll be my one and only shining star… so bright

TBC