Chapter Eight:
Mac had walked straight to the lab along with Adam after his 'chat' with Rachael, curious as to what Adam had found. In the darkness of the AV lab, Mac found himself in front of the large screen, the image of Lucas Garcia staring down at him. There was more than a passing resemblance between him and his sister, the same warm eyes, same honey blonde hair. Lucas was thin, strangely so. Danny and Lindsay had figured he'd been out on the streets for a while.
"What was so important Adam?"
"Well, I um, studied the tape and I think I've picked something up right...here." Adam paused the footage and played it back in slow motion. A slight flash moved across the screen, and disappeared out of sight. "I think it's the murder weapon, looks like it could be a knife."
"Adam, we didn't find anything at the scene. Danny and I went through everything in that alleyway and we found nothing."
Adam rubbed his forehead with his index finger. "I know boss, but...okay I don't know, maybe...somehow you missed something." Idiot! You don't tell the boss that maybe he somehow missed something! Adam inwardly cursed himself.
A silence ensued. Mac didn't look impressed. And then he turned back to the screen. "Okay, play that back to me again." He carefully studied the footage for the umpteenth time. "The window."
Adam glanced at Mac, confused. "The window?"
"There was a broken window down the alley, but no glass at the scene to suggest that it had anything to do with the murder, it was already broken." Mac headed out of the room in search of Danny. They had to get back to the crime scene.
XOXOXOX
Danny headed back into the alleyway with Mac walking a step ahead of him. "So, whadda we looking for, Mac?"
"The footage showed one of our suspects tossing what looked to be the murder weapon in this direction." Mac spoke, pointing from where the object had been thrown.
"We checked the whole alley and we found nothing. Zip, nada-"
"I know, but this window..." Mac pointed again, this time to a pane less window in a door. Looking to where the object had been thrown from and then back towards the hole, Danny was bemused, unsure as to what his boss was suggesting. To slice the risk of looking stupid, however, he kept his mouth shut, but kept an eyebrow arched quizzically.
"Our suspect tossed the weapon through the window, which had already been broken." Mac pulled out his flashlight to take a closer look through the gaping hole in the door, where he was met with a shining glint from the blade...they had found the murder weapon. He signalled for Danny to take at look at his findings with a satisfied look on his face "Let's hope we find some prints on that thing."
"Whoever tossed this," Danny pointed through the glass. "Would've been a great pitcher for the Yankees"
XOXOXOX
After heading back to the lab, Danny processed the knife he and Mac had found in the abandoned warehouse. He had matched the blood to Lucas Garcia confirming this was the weapon they were looking for; he now hoped the prints he'd pulled would come up with something. Lifting his glasses from his face he pinched the bridge of his nose, this case had taken its toll on him, and everyone else in the lab. He knew it had been hard on Rachael. Unable to do anything she'd sat idly by and waited on some new piece of information. Stretching in his seat, Danny smiled at the sight of his new, very pregnant wife waddle into the room. "Hey babe, thought you were heading home?"
Lindsay smiled back to her husband as she approached where he was seated; resting her hand on his shoulders she placed a gentle kiss to his head. "I was, but then I heard you and Mac found the knife that killed Rachael's brother." She said with a sigh. "You got anything off it yet?"
"Just ran the prints and am currently waiting for a match. Have you spoken to her?"
"No, not yet; I don't really know what to say. Flack was gonna call by her place and check up on her later, I think he likes her." She giggled.
Danny rolled his eyes. Ever the matchmaker.
He raised an eyebrow to his wife as the computer noisily beeped before them "Boom...we gotta match"
Lindsay peered over his shoulder to see who the print had matched to "Hector Lopez, has priors for assault, rape and the list goes on; wow sounds like a nice guy" She commented sarcastically.
"Linds, this is huge; I'm gonna go find Mac. You; need to go home"
"Yeah I'm going" she shrugged giving Danny a small kiss as they parted.
Danny found Mac in his office looking over paperwork. "Hey Mac, we got a hit. Blood on the knife is Lucas's and the prints belong to this guy" He passed the computer tablet over to his boss so he could see the findings.
"Okay, let's go find him."
XOXOXOX
Flack knocked quietly on the door in front of him, folding his arms he leant against the frame waiting for it to open. He was just about to knock again when it slowly opened, revealing a tired looking Rachael Garcia.
She gave him a smile "Hi" stepping to the side to let him into her apartment "You want something?"
He glanced around the room, noting the various pictures sat on the side table and large elaborate television stand, the little things that seemed so fitting to Rachael's personality; he turned to face her and returned the weak smile that she was giving to him. "No, I just wanted to make sure you were okay; I know you said you'll be fine, but I'm not convinced."
Rachael's smile grew into a slightly more genuine one, she definitely wasn't expecting him to turn up at her place but she was pleased that he had. Maybe Stella had been right.
"I will be fine, promise" She moved into her kitchen with Don in tow, switching her kettle on to boil the water she pulled two mugs from the cupboard "I think I owe you a coffee, you want one?"
"Yeah sure; this is a nice place you got here"
"Thanks, it's taken too long to make it look nice though" She had to admit that she did feel a little bit uncomfortable, she wasn't used to having visitors turning up unannounced and the fact that she hadn't gotten around to showering and cleaning herself up she knew she still looked like crap. "You know I still can't get my head around this"
"You will, you know you've got friends here to help and to talk to"
"Thanks, that's always good to know" The awkwardness lifted from between them as they slipped into conversation, well it mainly consisted of her rambling.
"Did you call your ma?" He knew it wasn't the greatest question, but he had to ask.
"Uh, yeah; she's flying over should be here tomorrow evening. I'm just glad that she's staying in a hotel and not here; I'm not too sure I could cope with that. I know that sounds selfish but my mother, well she is a bit much sometimes" Rachael let out a slight laugh at the thought of her mum. She certainly was something.
"What about your pa?" The smile disappeared from her face as soon as the words had escaped his mouth.
"Ah, well we um...we don't speak to him anymore. He's probably the reason Lucas turned out like he did."
Don noticed the sad, cold look that had entered her eyes. He reached over and placed a hand gently on her arm. "Rachael, I'm sorry I didn't mean to pry"
She felt the electricity shoot through her arm as he touched her. The more she kept from her new friends the more she was going to alienate herself from them, she had found that out in Miami, she began to feel more at ease the more she told people about herself.
The ringing of a cell phone filled the room; Don pulled it from his pocket and answered rather abruptly. "Flack"
Rachael busied herself in the kitchen whilst he took the call, she didn't know who was on the other end but she knew it was work and could her pretty much everything that Don had to say.
"Really, yeah okay; I'll be there in ten" He hung up the phone as Rachael walked back into the lounge where he was standing. "Hey, that was Danny; I gotta go"
She raised her eyebrows quizzically; if it was Danny on the phone then it was probably something to do with Lucas. Don knew she'd figured that out.
"Look, I probably shouldn't be saying this but he found something. We got a lead; and a suspect"
"Oh, okay. Well you have to go; I know it's asking a lot, but you'll keep me in the loop. Just a little bit?" She asked, hoping that he would; but knowing that he more than likely couldn't.
He smiled at her bluntness "I'll see what I can do" He wasn't sure why he'd done it; but in a matter of seconds he'd closed the gap between them, leant towards her and gently brushed his lips against hers. Almost as quickly as he'd done it he backed away "I'm sorry, I shouldn't of done that; I have to go"
A surprised and confused Rachael stood glued to the spot, she just watched as he closed the door behind him; trying to comprehend what had just happened. She knew that under different circumstances that would have been different.
XOXOXOX
Flack rubbed a hand through his hair and started up the Sedan and headed to meet Mac and Danny at the warehouse where they were expecting to find Hector Lopez, and hopefully the other suspect they were yet to identify.
Pulling up the building he spotted the pair at the back of the Avalanche strapping the vests to their bodies, from what Danny had told him over the phone Hector was a very dangerous guy and things in the warehouse could potentially turn messy quite quickly.
He stepped from the vehicle and strapped on his own vest before joining Mac and Danny. "So we know if he's actually in there?" he questioned.
"Let's hope so huh" Mac replied as he walked towards the building with the other two men following closely behind. "This guy will be armed, and there could be several dangerous people inside; watch your back at all times."
They approached the large open metal door on the front of the warehouse with several other armed cops alongside them, Mac turned to both Flack and Danny with a nod before barging through the entrance "NYPD, Don't move" He held his gun towards a tall, burly looking man who certainly wasn't Hector Lopez; as he slowly edged towards a small wooden door on the back wall of the building.
The sudden sound of gunfire filled the room and the three detectives moved behind the large metal crates scattered around the space to shelter from the bullets being pelted in their direction as the burly man made his escape. The noise stopped momentarily, Don gave Mac and Danny a knowing look and signalled to the other officers who had entered the building to cover before the three of them quickly headed to the door at the back of the room after the man that had disappeared moments before; and hopefully to find Hector.
They cautiously made their way through the door, guns raised. Turning to where the noise had come from they spotted their suspect; Hector Lopez. Flack and Mac made their way towards him whilst Danny kept an eye out for any unwanted guests.
Lopez stumbled as he weaved his way through the obstacles blocking his way as he ran, glancing back he noticed the detectives were catching up to him. Unaware of the box that lay in front of him, with a thud he hit the ground; giving Flack chance to cuff him before he could escape.
Mac approached as Flack was dragging Lopez to his feet "Hector Lopez; you're under arrest for the murder of Lucas Garcia"
Lopez growled "Murder, I ain't done no murder"
XOXOXOX
Back at the precinct Flack paced the interrogation room whilst Mac sat, stone faced opposite Hector Lopez. "I have your prints on the knife that you killed Lucas Garcia with, so don't tell me you don't know anything about the murder Hector" Mac barked.
Flack stepped closer to the table and placed his hands on his hips "I could pin this all on you; but I know you didn't do it alone and I'm greedy. So tell us who your partner is"
"Naw man; you got it wrong. I ain't got no partner." Lopez smirked.
They were both losing their patience which the Hispanic man sat on the other side of the table, clad in a garish green shirt unbuttoned revealing a dirty white wife beater; just visible at the top of the rounded neckline of the vest was a tattoo. Mac knew this was a gang tat, but one he'd never seen before. He opened the file that he had placed on the table and pulled out a photograph; a still that Adam had pulled from the CCTV footage, clearly showing two men attacking Lucas and shoved it towards Hector. "If that's right, then why are there two people in this picture attacking him?" Mac pushed.
The smug look on Hector's face dropped "I ain't sayin' nothin' man" He shrugged.
Flack had had enough "Right, get up" He barked and placed the cuffs back around Lopez's wrist before shoving him towards the officer that was stood by the door. "Get him outta here"
Her rubbed a hand across his face and sighed as he closed the door behind Hector and the officer as they left the room.
"Somehow Flack, we'll find him" Mac was pissed, he hadn't expected Hector to roll on his partner without a push; but he wasn't budging one bit.
"Yeah"
XOXOXOX
Nikki A/N: Hey everyone, right well this is one chapter I was particularly concerned about, I know M loves it and I really do hope you all like it, I know that was a little bit of a random moment and possibly inappropriate but it's done, so pretty please let me know what you all think! Also, just a quick heads up the next few chapter won't be posted as quickly as the last few have, unfortunately I have got too much RL stuff going on that is taking up far too much time so I won't have as much chance to write as much!! Again BIG thanks for all the reviews, alerts and whatnot! Oooh, and I also want to mention that the title of the story 'With Every Heartbeat' is actually a song originally by Robyn, but it was covered by Girls Aloud which is the version I kinda worked from and it sounds beautiful, just wanted to mention that so if you find it go have a listen! Nik :D
Mary A/N: Mary A/N: Hello! Well!!! Bet ya'll weren't expecting that :D
To be honest, neither was I, but I love it!! Ahem, anywho, a massive thanks to all who have read and reviewed thus far - and alerted, and favourited! -, please, please, please feel free to press the wee button, we'd appreciate it very much :D