A/N: Thanks for all the reviews. I'm glad you all loved the dog. I was actually wondering what to do about him…he was supposed to just get in Flack's way and then disappear but I dunno…he just stuck around for some reason…
Disclaimer: I don't own anything.
"I'm getting tired of that man's face." Stella complained as she stepped into the break room where Mac was reviewing some reports. She had just finished a lengthy interrogation with Alan Prince. Flack was taking care of Rob Bolden. It was one of those annoying interrogation sessions where she talked, the suspect smirked and the lawyer came up with a bucketful of crap excuses.
It had been easy to track down the two suspects. There was a diner that they hung out at often and Flack and Stella had wasted no time in getting there. Both men refused to talk, much like Scott Brown had so they were forced to bring them down to the station too where they too, called their lawyers. The only highlight of the day so far was when the suspects found out they had to get into the police car and sit next to Flack's new shadow, affectionately named Fido for some reason. The look on their faces had been classic.
Flack had even gone so far as to suggest that Fido was a 'vicious killer' and contemplated aloud about whether to lock them in the car with the so-called nasty hound. Stella nearly let out a laugh when she heard that. Fido was easily the friendliest dog she had ever seen but the suspects didn't know that and they were highly apprehensive of the dog and flinched when he so much as even moved a muscle.
Now, Stella was making herself some coffee and taking several deep breaths. Mac looked at her curiously, letting her calm down first before he asked, "Are you talking about Alan Prince?"
"No, James Gallaghan, the lawyer." Stella made a disgusted face. "Flack's right, he's the slimiest sleaze bag I've ever met. He's defending all three of our suspects and I'm starting to get very, very irritated of that know-it-all, arrogant…you get the picture." She slumped down on the seat beside him.
"It isn't very unusual for friends to have the same lawyer. One of them probably recommended him to the others at one time or another." Mac commented.
"I know…it's just…urgh…" Stella ran a hand through her curls, "I'm seriously getting annoyed, having to see his face every time I want to question someone. Not to mention I'm getting tired of his lame explanations."
"What did he say?"
"You know I found prints on Danny and Lindsay's things, right? Well according to him, there is a small window between the time the things were dumped and when Flack found them. And he says that by some freak accident, they just happened to be there and went through the garbage and handled all those things. Apparently, when they found the badges, they got scared and put everything back." Stella snorted disbelievingly. "And Scott Brown is backing up their story."
"Now, the lawyer's telling all three suspects to keep their mouths shut no matter what." Stella scowled, "He's bullshitting us. Something like that has a one in a million chance of happening. I know it, he knows it…the whole building probably knows it. But he's not saying another word otherwise."
"It's only a matter of time before they crack." Mac said encouragingly, "He can't keep up all that crap forever."
"But Danny and Lindsay might not have the luxury of all that time." Stella argued worriedly. She stared over at one of the tables, where Danny and Lindsay had their now-famous bug buffet. The whole building probably, knew about the exotic delights Danny had brought in and how only Lindsay would eat it with him. And even more recently, Stella could picture the scene of them having their cold war. In its own way, it had been amusing. They obviously hadn't liked not speaking to each other but at the same time, neither of them was willing to admit they were wrong, at least not before the other did it first.
Mac noticed where she was looking and he laid a comforting hand on her shoulder. They'd been friends for so long time now that they could read each other like a book. "They'll be all right Stella. Danny's a tough kid, and so is Lindsay. They'll take care of each other." He smiled slightly, trying to lighten her mood. "It may even help them to get over their fight."
Stella returned the smile. "I hope so too." She sighed heavily, "I just don't like having to sit here, talking to people who refuse to give answers and waiting for lab results. I want to be out there, actually searching…except I know that it's not only a waste of energy but I wouldn't even know where to start."
"Believe me Stella, we all feel the same way." Mac assured her, "And all roads out of the city are closed. It's highly likely that they're still somewhere in the city." He didn't mention the bleak possibility that the perps could've gotten out of the city before the roads were closed. Scott Brown and his buddies were all still in the city, maybe the two young CSIs were too.
Mac continued rifling through the reports while Stella sipped at her coffee, reading from over his shoulder. A few moments later, Hawkes came into the break room, looking triumphant. "Good news Mac." He said, "I pulled a hair off the cuff of Scott Brown's jacket. It's Danny's."
Wide smiles broke the faces of both Mac and Stella. "That's great Hawkes." Mac congratulated him, "It's exactly what we need to shoot holes in their stories. Let's see how they're going to explain that."
Stella took a closer look at Hawkes's face. "Gee Sheldon, you look like hell. You should take a nap or something."
"I'll be fine," He said dismissively, "I just have a little hangover…and I didn't exactly sleep much either."
"That won't do. Grab a blanket and take a nap for a while" Stella said, sounding exactly like a mother. When she took that tone, the team knew they should do as they were told.
"I don't really think…" Hawkes began to object but one look at Stella's glare and he relented. "All right, just for a couple of hours."
"Good, let's go find Scott Brown. Let's see him and James Gallaghan explain how Danny's hair got on his jacket." Stella drained her cup and followed Mac out of the door.
CSI NY CSI NY
"Hey, I heard Hawkes had a breakthrough with Scott Brown's jacket." Flack said when he ran into them on the way out of the interrogation rooms.
"Before we discuss that Flack, why is there a dog attached to your legs?" Mac looked pointedly down at the dog that was looking back at them, his tail wagging furiously.
"Oh you mean Fido?" Flack patted the dog's head proudly.
"You named it?"
"Yeah, why not?" Flack shrugged, "He seems to like me. He hasn't left my side since he helped me take down Scott Brown earlier. He didn't seem to want to get off at the shelter I took him to. I'm thinking of keeping him, but I'll have to ask someone to take care of him till I find a new apartment. Maybe I'll drop him off at my parents'."
"He took down Scott Brown?" Mac seemed impressed.
"Yup, tackled the man and everything." Flack said with pride. His face became serious again. "By the way, I did a background check on our three suspects but they have nothing to do with Danny. He never arrested any of them, didn't live anywhere near them and basically didn't know these men existed."
"So they were hired to do the job." Stella concluded. "I hope they got a name."
"That's what I thought too, so I pulled up their bank account records. Nothing there either." Flack shook his head, "If it was a hired job, they were either paid in cash or their missing buddy is holding on to the money."
"Missing buddy?" Mac questioned, "I thought we only have three of them in custody."
"Oh yes, Terry Chester. I forgot all about him." Stella pointed over at the waiting room where a man was flipping idly through some magazines. "He was with Rob and Alan when we picked them up. We can sort of tell he's one of the group from the surveillance photos but he's not a suspect yet."
Flack nodded in confirmation, "We told him we just need him to come along in case we could get him to confirm their stories. I was just going over to talk to him. Our hotshot lawyer isn't around to tell him to shut up. Maybe I could pry something out of him."
"Sounds like a plan." Mac said approvingly, "Me and Stella will be with Scott Brown if you need us."
CSI NY CSI NY
"This, Mr. Brown, is a hair that we pulled from your jacket." Mac said as he pulled out the small evidence bag. "It's a match to one of our missing detectives. Now, would you like to tell me how it got there?"
Scott's eyes widened as he stared at the evidence bag. He opened his mouth to say something but was distracted by his lawyer's hand on his forearm. They exchanged some whispered words that neither detective could quite make out but in the end, Scott spoke, "Honestly Detective, I have no idea. Maybe he was the guy who socked me in the face."
"Now that's not likely," Stella said sweetly, "You see, the way this hair snagged onto your jacket was if you were grabbing his head, or supporting it like you're doing here." She placed a photo of him holding Danny's head while his pockets were emptied out by his friends.
"So maybe I struggled with him a little, so what?" Scott shrugged in a manner so indifferent, Stella just wanted to grab his shoulders and shake it out of him.
"Scott, don't talk." The lawyer, James Gallaghan said. Stella scowled at him for a moment. Could a man get any more detestable? His dark hair was slicked back with so much oil, he could probably skate around on his head. He had an equally oily, smug smile and his suit was so impeccable, it looked like he bought a new one every day.
"Stop lying," Mac said sternly, "You were part of a five-man gang who took down Detective Messer, and brought along Detective Monroe when she decided to get herself involved. I want to know if this was a personal thing, maybe one of you had a grudge against Danny, or if someone else hired you for this. I want answers and I want names, and I want them now."
Both Scott and his lawyer stared at Mac for a while and then they had another hushed conversation once again. Finally Scott said, "I was working alone, with some other guys I just met that day. Someone was paying us to take down a detective. He told us where to go and who to strike. It's got nothing to do with Rob or Alan."
Gotta say something for him, at least he's a loyal friend. Stella thought grudgingly. Even when he was stuck in a situation like this, he was still looking for a way to get his buddies off the hook.
"Who was this man?"
"I don't know. I don't ask questions like that. I didn't even manage to get a good look at him." Scott said defensively.
"Really?" Stella's look was skeptical, "Did he pay you in cash or did you just take a check?"
"Of course I took cash. What do you think I am, stupid?" Scott leaned forward on the table and glared directly into Stella's eyes. "Rob and Al have nothing to do with this. They were just in the wrong place at the wrong time." He growled, "I don't know who the rest of the men were and I have no idea who was paying me. You happy now?"
"You must've gotten a name or two."
"They're probably fake. Most people aren't stupid enough to give out their real names to people they don't know so well."
"Tell you what, why don't you just give us those names and we'll find out for you if those men were idiots." Stella slid a piece of paper and a pen across the table with an expectant look on her face. Scott exchanged a helpless look with his lawyer but slowly picked up the pen and began to write.
CSI NY CSI NY
"Terry Chester?" Flack asked politely from the doorway. The man reading the magazines looked up casually and then stood up.
"That would be me." He acknowledged, "When do you plan on letting my friends go? We have tickets to the game tonight and it starts in a couple of hours."
"Sorry, investigations are still pending. We might have to hold on to them a while longer." Flack answered in an official tone. "I just want to confirm a couple of things with you. Is that all right?"
"Hey, it's why I'm here." Terry answered with a casual shrug of his shoulders. He looked down at Fido and immediately shied away from him. "Could you get him out of here? I-I-ah-ah…" He let out a great sneeze that made Fido jump and hide behind Flack's legs, "I'm allergic." He sniffed miserably.
"Of course," Flack agreed amiably although he didn't put much hope in the dog sitting still if he left him waiting outside. "Fido, come here. Sit boy." He smiled when the dog actually did as he was told and he patted him proudly. "Good boy. Now stay here for a minute, all right? I'll be right out." The dog just looked back at him with soft brown eyes and then laid down on his belly, as if going to sleep. "I guess that would work too." Flack murmured in amusement.
"Just out of curiosity Detective, what did they do last night that's gotten all three of them down here?" Terry asked inquiringly when Flack came back into the room.
"We'll get to that in a moment," Flack evaded the question. "Now, were you with Scott Brown, Alan Prince and Rob Bolden last night?"
"Oh yeah, we were having a couple of drinks last night, got ourselves pretty wasted. We must've hit like, three different bars at least. We took the subway home. Scottie was the last one off, as I remember."
"Were you with Rob and Alan when they got off?"
"Nah, they were planning on partying some more." Terry waved his hand dismissively, "They got off first, and then it was just me and Scott. I left him alone when I got to my stop. Scott was more than stone drunk. I ain't surprised if he got himself into trouble last night."
"As a matter of fact, he did. His blood was found at a crime scene where the train conductor was shot in the leg and two detectives were abducted."
"What, really?" This man could make it as a professional actor. If Flack didn't know better, he might actually buy this totally ignorant act the man was trying to pull. "Jesus…but what's this got to do with Rob and Al?"
"Their prints were found all over the detectives' belongings, which were all thrown in the trash. Now, is it possible that your friends were not as drunk as they seemed?" Flack watched him carefully for this one.
"Trust me, they would've mistaken their own dads for a hooker."
"They don't seem to have much of a hangover for men who were completely wasted." Flack commented. "Most people would stay in bed with their pillows over their heads for the rest of the day."
Terry's eyes flickered wildly around the room for a moment, thinking fast. "It's a secret family recipe my mother has for when my dad gets those terrible headaches. It works wonders for a hangover. I sell them some every now and then, it comes in very useful. And as you can see," Terry smirked, "I'm not suffering."
"Hmm, wish I had that recipe." Flack commented absently, thinking idly of Hawkes' zombie state. So far, his story was matching the rest of them, that they had all gotten drunk and then Rob and Alan had gone off in search of more liquor while the other two went home. They must've practiced this story a million times to get it down so perfectly because unless, by some coincidence, they were telling the truth, there was no way their statements could match so well without discussing it with the others.
According to Rob and Alan, they were both extremely wasted and wandered into a station somewhere. Apparently, they had found it to be a funny idea at the time to empty all the trash cans for the janitors to pick up. The first bin they found already had the two detectives' things in it and the two men became interested. They rummaged a bit more and found the badges. According to both of them, that was when they realized something wasn't quite right and dumped everything back into the trash before getting out of there.
It was crap. It had to be the lamest excuse that Flack had heard in a long while. The chances of those two getting their hands on the bags and wallets within that small timeframe of when the perps left and the station master sent a technician over had to be one in a million or something like that. The problem was that they were all sticking to the story like glue. All their statements corroborated with each other so that damned lawyer had a reason to believe that it was true, no matter how unlikely.
"Do you know if any of them own a gun?" Flack asked.
"Nah," Terry answered, "We've all done a bit of time on the inside. We can't get guns with rap sheets like ours."
"Was there a fifth guy with you last night?"
"No, just me, Scottie, Rob and Al."
This was getting ridiculous. He was lying. Flack could feel it in his bones. "Look," Flack growled, stepping closer to the man, "We know that five people were involved in this abduction. Now, two officers…two of my friends are out there, dead or in the hands of a maniac, we don't know. Things aren't looking very good for your friends right now and frankly, your future isn't looking very bright either."
Terry smirked, unfazed. "I don't really mind. I'm sure my lawyer can help to brighten things a bit. You've met him already I believe." He pointedly opened his magazine again and sat back down into a chair.
Flack's nostrils flared with anger but he couldn't say anything. The door opened behind him and then there was the excited barking of Fido as he ran up to the detective, followed by rapid sneezes from Terry's direction. Flack cracked a smile and began to lead Fido out the door, only to find Adam standing there looking curiously at the dog. "Should I even ask?"
"No, because I'm tired of explaining the story to everyone who asks." Flack said shortly, "Get Stella or Hawkes to tell you some other time. So what do you want?"
"We got a hit on the bullets recovered from the scene and the conductor's leg." Adam said helpfully, holding up the file. "I was going to look for Mac and pass it to him but I suppose you would do just as good." Flack opened the file and began to read, only barely listening to Adam's commentary on the side. "I did a background check on him but he appears to be clean, no rap sheet or criminal history but he did go to school with the rest of our suspects. I also pulled up his bank account records since Mac wanted the same of the other suspects. A large amount was deposited just last night. It'll take me a while to find out exactly who made the deposit though." It was impossible to miss the growing grin on Flack's face. "Is this good news?"
"Good? This is great!" Flack would've whooped in celebration if he didn't hear Terry Chester still sneezing slightly in the background. "Wait till Mac hears this. You might've found our last and final thug Adam." Flack clapped him on the back and took the file in search of Mac, Fido still following him like a little shadow.
TBC…
All right! That's it for now. I know…I'm evil but this chapter is long enough and I'm thinking of showing Danny and Lindsay next. So thanks once more to my reviewers and tune in for the next chapter!