Sorry I was gone for so long without an add but I've been a little busy. I really want to thank each and every one of you for reviewing, faving, and placing alerts on my story, it means so much to me that you like this. Also, I'm sure we all know the past between Danny and Lindsay, him cheating and all. Things are a little different in this, Danny messed up but in a different way that will be explained in the story. I'm not into giving things away but you'll see eventually.
Disclaimer: Just incase you've forgotten I do not own CSI: NY, the cast, and am in any way associated with its story. I only own my own story.
Taking in deep breaths and exhaling I mentally prepared myself for my encounter with Danny in the lab. I could see him through the glass mirror that currently separated us and was thankful for the barrier, if only it could keep him at bounds from me. Then again I liked being around Danny but with our last encounter I was unsure of how to face him. I knew I was over thinking the situation since all he gave was a simple compliment; hell Don gave me the same one. The difference was Don Flack wasn't Danny Messer. The blatant attraction that was with Danny and I wasn't shared between me and Don. Only Danny would have me acting a fool over something as a 'you look nice' it was pretty ridiculous what he did to me at times. Breathing once more I prepped myself for him and entered the lab to see him headfirst into work.
"Hey Danny," I greeted and was glad to hear normalcy in my tone, maybe whatever I went through yesterday was a phase…hopefully. I saw him raise his head slowly to give a sideways glance with a cocksure grin on his face that instantly put me on edge.
"Montana." It wasn't a greeting. There was an airy growl infused with his call and too much of a glint in his eyes that told me better. Danny was up to something.
"Yeah," I replied skeptically moving to grab a lab coat and slip it on. "So what's going on?"
"The vic's 17 year old Eliza Machete, only child of Elizabeth and Michael Machete. Apparently she's an honor student, straight A's, big sister, goody too shoes," he paused to bag what I guessed was evidence and shrugged his shoulders. "Guess she wasn't such a good girl though."
"Going to a club underage. Yeah, guess not."
"Yep. So far Sid's got the body and said he'll give me a call when he gets summin'. I got the semen off the body, obviously she was raped so I'm tryna' put a face to the sex."
"Okay, so what do you need me to do?" I asked as his eyes went from me to the table.
"See all this? This is the amount of semen we could get from her body." My eyes ran over the container that held the semen.
"That's a hell of a lot," I concluded with furrowed brows wondering if the amount was natural.
"Exactly, too much for one guy so I'm thinking that this is from more than one donor, maybe a gang raping?" A heavy sigh escaped my lips at Danny's explanation. It made sense, which was extremely discontenting, especially since the girl was so young. "We're gonna' need to split this up. The processor can't take all this at once so I'll take half and you get the other." With a short nod I went searching through the cupboards for a bowl to hold the semen and allowed Danny to divvy it up. Afterward I set it in the data scanner then stood back and watched. "So you got an alter ego or something Montana?"
"What?" I knew where the conversation was going but chose to play the fool. Maybe he'd let things go with my diversion. Knowing Danny though, it wasn't too likely.
"You usually go out like that?" The question threw me off and I wondered what he meant.
"Like what?" My voice came off harsher than intended but I had no plans on taking it back.
"Chill Montana," I guessed he caught my attitude. "I'm just saying I've never seen you like that."
"Yeah well I'm not used to dressing like that. It was a girl's night out thing. Ashlee and I used to have Little Black Dress nights through college and she wanted to bring it back," I replied with a slight shrug trying to be as nonchalant with the situation as possible.
"Yeah, your friend seems to have a lil attitude."
"Only to those she doesn't care for," I answered as simply as possible watching as a brow lifted. I wasn't sure if it was because he was confused or curious. "She knows, about our little trial and error situation." A slew of expressions overcame Danny before he settled down with a nod.
"Guess I deserve that."
"Guess you do." His eyes set on me at my agreement pulling a small smile from my lips and a shrug. If he expected anything more than an agreement he was in for it. He set himself up for a downfall plain and simple.
"You know it doesn't have to be trial and error." I waited for a hint of playfulness to follow his comment, something that told me he was being the usual Danny but nothing came. I eyed him tentatively. His eyes were every bit serious. They held nothing back and struck something inside me, I instantly diverted my eyes. "Lindsay," he didn't call me Montana and it was then I was positive there was no game being played. "Lindsay."
"Danny we…." I was never so thankful as for the moment the light buzzer sounded interrupting me and let a breath out in relief, it was only then I realized I had been holding it. I moved quickly to check the result regulating my breathing.
"Lindsay." I heard a gruff sigh escape Danny's lips but focused on the task at hand.
"I got two guys over here, Erin Johnson and Marshall Davis." Silence loomed between us for a moment before I heard yet another sigh escape Danny's lips.
"I got a Shawn Rayford and an unknown, guess he's not in the system."
"Well let's go get who we found, I'm sure we by the end of interrogation they'll be giving names." Hitting the print button on the screen I waited for the papers to come out of the system, grabbed it, and was out of the door to report to Mac.
"Lindsay," I heard Danny call and could feel the strain in his voice but upheld my strength.
"Danny we're at work, on the job, and on a case. Can we not do this right here and now?" Ignoring the slight droop in his features I took his faint nod and turned to continue leading on the quest for Mac's office.
"You wanna' tell me where you were last night?" We were on our first suspect of the four with one currently anonymous.
"You wanna' tell me why I'm here?" I caught his mocking and guessed from then on he wouldn't be one to break, luckily we had two others.
"How about you answer our question first?" All eyes set on me when I spoke up but Danny's soon diverted towards our suspect once more. "Marshall?"
"I was at home all day." I caught Danny's eyes which lit up in a smile because we caught him. Direct evidence countered against his claim of his whereabouts.
"See now Marshall, here lemme' show you something. It guide you towards telling us the truth" Evidence was soon placed on the table, discarded for eyes to see. You see this kid; this is a 17 year old girl dead and gone. Now look here buddy," He paused to point at the semen on her body in the picture. "This is semen and look here now this, this is evidence that says that a good amount of that semen is yours that tells me you weren't at home all day so let's try this again. Where were you last night?" I caught a look of sheer horror on his face but also drawn was guilt, he did something. "Marshall." Danny seemed to be loosing his patience.
"I….we…I was at the club, it was a bunch of us," he stuttered out and I was sure he was afraid now which also meant he was beginning to tell us the truth.
"Which club?"
"Elixir," he replied and I nodded. We needed to get exact details from him.
"Go on."
"She approached me and we hit it off you know, we danced, drank a bit together but I eventually lost her."
"You're 23 Marshall what are you doing with a 17 year old girl?" I couldn't help but wonder what he was thinking.
"I didn't know!" His hand flew to his face then darted through his dark locks, he looked distraught. "She told me she was 19; I didn't know she was underage."
"Continue with your story," Danny pushed. "It's obvious you and a few of your friends saw her later."
"She…we were drunk towards the end of the night and we went into the bathroom."
"Who's we?" I questioned using this as the opportunity to get the name of the anonymous rapist and possible murderer.
"Me, Erin, Shawn, and Jason."
"Last names please."
"Why...we didn't, we wouldn't kill the girl," he quickly cleared up and I wondered if he really expected us to take his word for it. From his stance I was guessing he did.
"That's for us to prove Marshall now first and last names please, make this easy on yourself." I watched as he thought through before giving a straining sigh.
"It was me, Erin Johnson, Shawn Rayford, and Jason Franklin."
"Now continue," Danny instructed once more.
"I had to use the bathroom and they followed I guess, can't really remember. I went into the girls' bathroom by mistake but I was wasted you know. Anyways so I opened the stall and there she was. I…we…..we thought she was just wasted, I mean we were and we just took advantage of the situation and left. We didn't know she was dead and we didn't kill her…."
"But you raped her, that's enough to pull you in."
"What! But I gave you all the information…I didn't…" Danny signaled for the officer behind us to pull him in and take him away. Moments later I stood gathering the papers Danny discarded with a heavy sigh. This case was seriously making me sick.
"So we have a rapist but no killer, back to the drawing board?"
"Or of to a lunch break?" I eyed Danny slightly thinking over his proposition but shook my head as denial.
"There's a lot of work to be done Danny," I explained slowly waving the papers to show just how much but it didn't seem to work over well with him.
"Doesn't have to be done on an empty stomach Montana," Danny coaxed, using the stack of papers as a rope to pull me in and for a moment I allowed his movement but pulled away before we could get too close. I smiled at the work he put in but shook my head once more.
"Have a good lunch." Grabbing the papers from his hold I turned and walked away wishing I could allow myself to succumb to Danny so easily but I couldn't. Mentally I was screaming yes at him but to open my mouth and accept his offer was a challenge. Flashbacks to the turmoil that came from accepting Danny before never fails to attack my mind when I prepare to give myself to him. It was just too much, I couldn't do it….I just wasn't strong enough.