Thanks to everyone who reviewed and let me know the ages of Jo's children, they're not going to have a major part in this story or anything but will be in it. Mac will be the next biggest character in this story.

Disclaimer: Not mine.

Chapter 2

Jo woke up to find herself in the back of an ambulance. She saw the stocked shelves above her and different medical equipment and apparatus hanging on the wall. She turned to see Mac sat next to her holding an ice pack against her head.

"What happened?" she asked him.

"You passed out. Hit your head on a rock as you landed. You knocked yourself out cold." he told her as he pulled away the ice pack. "You're now the proud owner of three lovely stitches on you scalp."

"You like them that much, you can have them." Jo joked as she sat up and gently felt them.

"It's nice to see your feeling yourself again." he smiled, referring to her usual humour. "You had me worried back there. Suppose I know why you acted the way you did."

"It's gotta be a sick joke, Mac. John Curtis is dead… I..I killed him." she said as the images of him attacking her, slamming her head first into a mirror, taunting her, before she shot him, flashed before her eyes. She rubbed her eyes as if to rub away the memory.

"You said it. It's just someone playing a sick joke on you." Mac agreed. He hesitated before he said, "Maybe you should take a step back from this case."

Jo's gaze shot up at him and she began to shake her head, "No! Mac, if this is someone playing games with me then I want to be the one to catch them." she told him, her tone told him she wouldn't take no for an answer.

"Ok." Mac said. "For now." he added.

"That's all I'll need Mac, because I'm gonna find this prick before he kills another woman." Jo said determined.

~0~0~0~0~

"Night Arnold!" Casey shouted as she left the back entrance of Arnolds bar where she worked as a waitress. She stepped into the alley and the door slammed shut behind her. She reached into her bag and pulled out a packet of Marlboro cigarettes, she lit one up and began making her way down the alley towards her car.

She'd only taken a few steps and just one puff from her cigarette when she heard a crash behind her, the sound of trash cans falling against the hard floor. She spun around and scanned the alley behind her, she saw nothing, no one.

The sound came again but from behind her the other way. She spun round on her heels and screamed as a cat jumped out from behind some more trash cans next to her, knocking them over. It took a second for her heart to stop pounding. When it did she crouched down and picked the trash can up, not seeing or hearing the figure creeping up behind her.

~0~0~0~0~

It was the next day when Lindsay was coming out of the lab, looking over the evidence she had just analysed. She literally bumped into Mac who was walking past. He had to put his hands on her shoulders to steady her again.

"Thanks, Mac. Err, sorry." she said in a bit of a daze.

"Its fine." Mac said with a smile before he began to walk away.

"Hey, Mac, is Jo around yet?" she asked, following after him

"No, not yet. Everything ok?" he asked.

"I just got finished up going over what little evidence we found at the scene last night. There's really not much to go on. As usual our perp is careful not to leave us any clues behind. There was one thing though. We found hairs on the body…did Jo examine the body lower that the stomach?" she asked.

"No." Mac said, wondering where she was going with this.

Lindsay looked at him and he could see the confusion on her face. "There were hairs on the vic's thigh. I ran them through the system and they came up a match." she said.

"What does that have to do with Jo?" he asked.

"The match was made to Jo's DNA." Lindsay told him.

~0~0~0~0~

Jo was at home, almost ready for work. Mac had told her to have a lie in and make sure she was feeling well enough to work. She'd had the lie in only because it had taken her hours to fall asleep and when she finally did she slept in because her alarm failed to go off which she didn't understand.

She was annoyed with herself for sleeping in as she finished off getting ready for work. She picked up her coffee mug, that she had just re-filled, and went to take a swig. She yelped in pain as she lost grip of it and the hot contents of the mug spilled all over her chest.

"Ouch! Shit!" she yelled as she peeled off her sweater and shirt. She threw them on the floor where they landed with a wet slap. She ran into the bathroom and climbed straight into the shower cubicle. She turned the cold water on and let it fall against her burning chest.

She stood there until the burning pain went away. When finally it did she stepped out, the bottoms of her wet jeans slapped against the tiled floor and she cursed again, she was going to be even more late for work now.

~0~0~0~0~

It was another twenty minutes before she was ready to leave for work...again. She was just collecting her keys when there was a knock on the door. She walked over to it, intending to leave after she dismissed whoever was at it.

She opened it up and was taken aback to see Mac standing there. "To what do I owe the pleasure?" she asked with a smile. Mac always had the ability to make her smile without even saying a word to her. She suddenly noticed how Mac's gaze was fixed on her chest. "Up here, Mac." she said pointing to her eyes, still smiling.

"What happened?" he asked, seeing how red and inflamed her chest looked.

Jo tried to ignore him as stepped aside so Mac could step inside, after all it was no big deal, just an accident.

"Jo!" Mac insisted.

"I spilled coffee over myself is all!" she told him with a smile.

"You need to go hospital, it looks painful." he told her.

"No, I'm fine. Its barely even blistered. I just want to get to work." she said as she grabbed a fresh sweater off the back of the couch and pulled it on over her black tank top, wincing at the mild discomfort it caused her. She had her back to Mac and so knew he didn't see her wince but when she turned to face him she wasn't so convinced.

Mac remained on the same spot, hands in his pockets, staring at her. Although he was silent his stare told her he had a million questions.

"Mac what is it?" she asked as she stepped closer to him.

"They found hair on the victim." he told her.

"That's great. It could tell us who our perp is. Did we get a match from the system yet?" she asked.

Mac nodded. His silence was beginning to worry her. "Well, geez Mac, don't leave me wondering. Who'd it belong to?" she asked.

Mac hesitated before he answered. "You." he said.

Jo looked at him and shook her head, unsure whether she had heard him right or wrong. "What?" she asked.

"The match was made against your DNA." Mac told her.

"How can that be? I barely looked at the body. Where bouts on her body where they found?" she asked.

"I can't tell you that, Jo."

She couldn't hide her astonishment from him, "Can't tell me?" she questioned as she took a step back from him to lean on the back of the couch.

"Jo, I have to take you off this case."

"Just because my hair was somehow transferred onto the body?"

"They weren't transferred Jo, they were planted. I asked Lindsay to take a second look at the hairs and we realised the hairs were somewhat degraded. They were aged Jo. Somehow someone got stands of your hair and put it on that body for us to find..." Mac said.

Jo was too annoyed to hear every word he was saying or really understand the full extent of his words. She did notice when there was a knock on the door. She put her hand up to silence Mac and walked over to the door.

She opened it up and waited for the delivery man who stood there to say something. Mac couldn't help but look over her shoulder at the tall, dark haired man, "Josephine Danville?" the man asked before he held out paper work for her to sign.

Jo was in a daze but she signed for it anyway. She half smiled at the delivery man, thanked him and closed the door. She stepped into her kitchen with Mac following behind, both of them silent.

"Jo…" Mac began to say.

"So what am I supposed to do if you take me off this case?" she asked.

"There is no if about it, Jo. You are off the case." Mac told her firmly.

Jo shook her head at him. "This should be my case. Curtis was my perp."

"John Curtis is dead." Mac reminded her.

"So I thought." Jo scoffed as she looked at the package in her hand. It was a small box, wrapped up in typical brown paper. It was the name in the corner of it that suddenly caught her eye. Carefully she opened one end of the packaging. It came open easy and the box inside slid out into her other hand.

She looked at the box in her hand wide eyed, as did Mac. It was a clear plastic sandwich box and inside was bloody severed hand.

Jo looked up at Mac who was already on his phone calling for the team.

~0~0~0~0~

Jo was sat behind her desk, slumped over it with her face hidden behind her left hand, in her right was her desk phone. "I'm glad you're having a good time, sweetie." she said, not noticing that Mac was now standing in her doorway, listening. "Ok, Ellie. Love you too sweat-heart. Speak to you tomorrow." she said before she hung up.

Mac noticed how she seemed to be staring at the phone which she held down on the receiver. It was only after a second that he realised it wasn't the phone she was looking at, but her hand.

He reached up and gently knocked on her door. It clearly startled her but she smiled as soon as she saw him standing there.

"Can I come in?" he asked.

Her reply was a nod and another smile.

Mac walked over to her desk and sat down opposite her. "Was that Ellie you were speaking to?" he asked, trying to make conversation, something that had never been difficult between them.

"Yeah," she said turning to face the phone, wishing she could be there with Ellie. She wanted a hug from her daughter, a hug to make everything seem better. "It's her first school trip where she's staying away longer than a week.." she told Mac.

"Is she enjoying it?"

"I don't actually think she wants to come home." she laughed.

Mac just smiled and was about to talk about something other than what he had come in to tell her.

"Mac, just tell me whatever it is you need to." Jo said knowingly.

He hesitated momentarily before he said, "So far we have no body to match the hand to. The delivery guy checks out so we have no idea where it came from. He just found it in his bag."

"That hand was fresh, it was put into the delivery mans bag when he came into my building."

"We checked the CCTV Jo, he came in alone and no where in your building was anything put into his bag."

Jo leant back in her chair and ran her hands through her hair.

"You look tired." Mac said.

"Yeah, I didn't sleep well last night. My head was hurting." she lied.

"Then go home, have a hot cocoa and a nice bubble bath and go to sleep." Mac suggested.

Jo could only laugh. "Yes boss." she said as she stood up, his suggestion sounded like a good idea.

~0~0~0~0~

Jo walked through her apartment, double checking everything was switched off and that windows and doors were locked. It was only once she had done all these checks that she finally went into her bedroom and climbed into bed.

She had fallen asleep quite quickly but it was only a restless sleep. She was tossing and turning so violently that when she woke up she had to fight her way out of the blankets. Once she was free she sat with her head resting in her hands. She wished she could go back off to sleep. She was soo exhausted.

She had to look up and stare through the dark when she heard something, a rattling. She wasn't sure if it was coming from outside or inside her apartment but she heard it loud and clear.

She leant across the bed, reached into her dresser and pulled out her gun. Once she had it loaded and ready she crept out of bed. Moving slowly and silently she crept across her room. She opened the door and struggled to check it was clear in the hallway but finally she stepped out of her room.

She could still hear the rattling sound and it was coming from the end off the hallway. She tightened her grip around her weapon and made her way down the hall, the sound getting louder. She was so busy concentrating on being silent that she forgot to dodge the creaky floorboard outside the bathroom.

As soon as she put her weight down on it, it let out a loud creak of protest. She hopped off it but she knew if someone was in her apartment they would have heard it. She stood still for a moment and listened…. The rattling had stopped…

She took a deep breath and made her way to the end of the hallway. She wanted to turn on a light but it was safer for her to be in the dark, her eyes had already adjusted to it so she could see almost perfectly. She looked around her living room and saw nothing, no-one. She could see into the kitchen from where she stood and there too she saw nothing, no-one.

A noise made her head snap to the right. It was then she saw the envelope sitting on the floor by her front door. She flipped a light on and quickly checked the living room and kitchen again.

As she walked over to the envelope she realised the noise had been someone…or something trying to get in her apartment, there was no-one in it. She was unsure at first whether or not to open the envelope, but curiosity won over. She flipped it over and saw that it was indeed addressed to her. Jo Danville, the writing was clear, crisp, masculine.

She took a deep breath before she opened it. Inside was a folded piece of paper. She unfolded it and began to read it.

"Central Park, the spot in the picture.

You'll find the rest there.

From one Sinner to another.

John Curtis"

Jo gripped her gun and pulled her front door open. She checked the hallway before she ran out into it. If John Curtis had been there, he wasn't anymore. Relaxing a little, she reached into the envelope and pulled out a picture. The picture was of her and Ellie, visiting their favourite spot in the park, where they went every Sunday.

~0~0~0~0~

It was cold and very dark in the park. Jo knew exactly where she was going but the route seemed so different at night time. She froze with her heart pounding when she heard rustling in the bushes next to her. She put her hand on her weapon that was in its holster, attached to her belt.

She pulled it out and took a slow, steady step towards the bushes. She was about to take another when someone jumped out at her. They were quick, like a spring. Jo fell to the floor and heard her gun slide across the floor. She rolled onto her side and tried to reach out for it but the person who had jumped out at her kicked her hard in the ribs.

She rolled onto her back, groaning in pain. She heard her attacker running away from her. She slowly rolled over and immediately saw her gun was gone. "Great…" she muttered as she pushed herself up.

She began brushing herself off. She hated that she had allowed herself to get set-up. She suddenly felt something wet on her hands, at first she thought mud, but it was when she turned her hands upside down to look at her palms that she saw they were now covered in blood. She knew she wasn't injured, other than her bruised ribs. It was someone else's blood.

As she stepped forward into the bushes she realised she hadn't been setup but she had gotten there too quick, not giving the perp chance to leave. She pushed her way into the bushes, her head telling her not to, telling her to call for back-up first. She'd gone no more than a few feet into the thick bushes and thorny shrubs when she came across the body of a woman.

She noticed that one of the hands was missing, the clothes were torn and across the chest was carved 'sinner'. Laying on the woman's stomach was a picture. Jo carefully stepped closer to bloodied and beaten body so she could study the picture. It was of her, crossing the street, totally unaware someone was taking her picture.

There was black writing on the corner of it, the same writing that had been on the letter in the envelope;

"Jo,

Hope you like your present.

See you again soon,

John Curtis."

Jo stepped back and pulled out her phone. It rang just two times before Mac answered. "Hey, Mac, it's Jo. I need you to come down to Central park…with a team."

TBC

Thanks for reading. Please review and let me know what you think.