Chapter 25: Cat's Cradle
. . .
Mac got off the elevator in a hurry and rushed across the hall. It wasn't hard to spot her as the corridor was almost empty. She was sitting on the chair, with her elbows on her knees and her face hidden in her hands. She lifted her head at the sound of his footsteps. When she saw it was him, she jumped up on to her feet.
''She fell off the bed. She was jumping.'' She told him in a shaky voice when he was close enough to hear her. ''I told her she shouldn't do that, but she didn't listen. And she fell. I wasn't even in the bedroom when it happened, I only heard the thud.'' Jo continued under a single breath. ''She has a concussion and a broken elbow.'' She added with tears in her eyes. ''When she was lying there on the floor, not moving, unconscious... Mac, I thought she...'' Her voice broke and she hid her face in her hands and started to cry
''Shhhh.'' He told her and he pulled her closer to himself. ''She'll be fine, you'll see.'' He added as Jo clung to him. He put one arm around her and placed his hand on the back of her head, cradling it.
''God, I should stop her.'' She moaned.
''Jo, it's not your fault. She's a bright spark, it's hard to keep up with her.'' Mac told her in a calming voice. ''It was an accident.''
''I feel so bad.'' She mumbled against his shirt, still crying.
''It's not your fault.'' Mac repeated. ''Believe me, I know what I'm saying. I broke every limb at least twice when I was a kid. According to my mom, it was always my fault.'' He added in a slightly joking tone and Jo chuckled. She pulled away from him and he smiled at her. ''I can only imagine how excited she will be about her pink cast.'' He added and Jo laughed, wiping away her tears with the back of her hand.
''I hope they have a pink one.'' She sighed.
''They do. I asked the doctor.'' Mac told her, rubbing her arm lightly. She stared at him for a moment, her eyes watering again.
''I'm sorry.'' She whispered.
''Jo, we all make mistakes.'' He said slowly, his eyes locked on hers. She nodded lightly, biting her lower lip at the same time. He knew she was still heartbroken and he hated seeing her like this. ''I made Mr. Whiskers pink!'' He added with a voice full of mocked terror and Jo snorted with laughter.
''And yet you're a hero.'' She noted.
''Only because I got the color right. Can you imagine if I made him... green, for example?'' He asked and made a funny face. She couldn't help but laugh again.
''Thank you that you came so quickly.'' She told him and snuggled up against him once more. His arms were instantly around her and she smiled.
''I left the lab as soon as I got your message.''
She nodded and put her head in her favorite spot, where his neck and shoulder met, breathing in his smell, as it always made her feel calm and safe. She wanted to tell him something more, but somehow she couldn't find the right words. So she stayed quiet, hoping that he got the message, even though she wasn't able to pass it verbally. After a couple of moments she pulled away and looked at him. Their gaze met and Mac slowly lifted his hand to her cheek, cupping it gently. He could feel how Jo leaned her face upon his hand. His thumb tenderly brushed her skin right below her eye, where he could still notice the traces of her tears.
''You want to go to see her?'' He asked.
''Yeah.'' She confirmed. He lowered his hand and he instantly regretted the loss of the contact, so he took her hand instead. Then he led her towards Lily's room, not letting go of her hand.
. . .
Four hours later Lily was sleeping soundly, almost as if nothing had happened. Mac smiled at the sight and gently brushed an unruly curl from her forehead. Then he looked at her left arm. Indeed, her new cast was cherry pink.
He turned around at the sound of the door being open. Jo entered the room and closed the door, being careful not to spill the coffee she was holding. She walked towards the bed and looked at Mac.
''You want some?'' She asked, lifting the paper cup slightly and indicating what she meant.
''No, thanks.'' Mac shook his head. ''And I'm not sure you should have it, either. You need rest, not another coffee.'' He told her.
''Oh, be quiet.'' Jo answered in a joking tone and placed her hand on his shoulder.
''You want to sit down?'' He asked and started to rise, but she stopped him.
''No, it's OK.'' She said and sat on the armrest, slightly leaning towards him for support. He put his one arm around her in order to keep her from falling. ''She's been asleep for quite a while.'' Jo noted.
''They gave her painkillers, so it's normal for her to sleep.'' Mac said, stroking Jo's back unconsciously. She took a sip of her coffee and closed her eyes for a moment, not being aware that he was watching her. ''Jo, you should go home.'' He told her.
''No, no.'' She shook her head, opening her eyes quickly. ''I want to be here when she wakes up. I called Amy, she agreed to watch Rick and Ellie, she'll stay with them tonight.''
''And Tyler?'' Mac asked with a smirk.
''Yes, he'll be there, too.'' Jo admitted with a sigh. ''He dogs her every step.'' She added and Mac chuckled lightly.
''Love. Nothing to do about it.'' He said. She gave him a long stare.
''Why don't you go home?'' She asked. He held her stare for a moment, thinking that she should know why he wouldn't.
''I'm not going anywhere. Someone needs to watch you two.'' He said, half-jokingly.
''Right.''
After a couple of minutes he felt that she was leaning against him more heavily. He glanced at her face and saw that her eyes were closed. She was barely holding the paper cup, balancing it on her thigh. He took it from her hand and placed on the floor, right next to the chair. Then he hesitated slightly. He was sure she wasn't comfortable in this position, but he didn't want to wake her up. He slowly pulled her into his lap and brought both his arms around her. She murmured something and shifted a little, but then she became still once again. He smiled. It was almost like having a cat sleeping on his lap.
. . .
A quiet scrunch cut into Jo's dreams, but she decided to ignore it. She was way too comfortable to even open her eyes and check it. But there was this sound again, louder this time. And again. Finally she let out a sigh of annoyance and opened her one eye. For a moment she couldn't figure out where she was, but when she did, she sat up quickly. With a little bit of surprise she noticed that she had been sleeping in Mac's lap. Then she turned her head and looked at Lily's bed, finding out from where the strange sound was coming from. She saw Lily who was clearly trying to leave the bed. She tried to stand up, but Mac's arms were effectively holding her in place. He murmured something incoherent at her sudden movement.
''Lily, don't!'' Jo told her in a warning tone, which caused her to stop and at the same time woke Mac up. He let go of her and she stood up. ''What are you doing?'' She asked Lily, quickly moving to the bed and lightly pushing her back towards the middle of the bed.
''I want to go home.'' Lily answered in a quiet voice.
''Oh, honey... You can't go home. Not yet.'' Jo told her, sitting on the bed next to her. ''You fell off the bed, remember? You hurt your head and broke your arm.'' She explained. Lily looked at her pink cast, then back at Jo.
''But it doesn't hurt.'' Lily said.
''That's because the doctor gave you medicine.'' Mac told her. ''But they have to watch you a little more to be sure you're OK.''
''But I don't like it in here.'' Lily complained.
''It's OK, we're here with you.'' Jo assured her and put her arm around her.
''I'll talk to the doctor and tell her she's awake, maybe she'll want to check on her.'' Mac told Jo.
''OK.'' Jo nodded and Mac left the room.
He found the doctor rather quickly, but he had to wait as she was with another patient. In the meantime he checked his phone and saw several unanswered calls from Danny. It didn't seem that the doctor would be free anytime soon, so he decided to call Danny back.
''Hi, boss.''
''Hey. What's going on?''
''As you remember I testified today in Dennis Brown and Dribs brothers' case. Henry and Terry were convicted of first-degree murder, second-degree murder and rape. They both got life without parole.''
''That's good.'' Mac told him.
''Yeah, the only problem is with Dennis.'' Danny told him.
''What problem?'' Mac asked, furrowing his eyebrows.
''His defendant raised a reasonable doubt about his participation in those crimes.''
''That's ridiculous. We have a dozen of witnesses who saw his car in front of the Coopers' house.'' Mac said.
''Yeah, his car. No one actually saw him and he claims that Dribs brothers borrowed the van from him.'' Danny explained and Mac shook his head.
''How about the kidnapping?'' Mac asked.
''That's another thing. Brown said he had nothing to do with that.''
''He was in that house on Stepping Stones Lane with Dribs brothers, for God's sake!'' Mac growled, loosing his cooling.
''I know. But he said he was there to get his van back and he didn't know about Rick. He said he came next morning, when Rick was already gone, so the judge bought his story.'' Danny finished with a sigh.
''That's unbelievable. What about Rick's statement? He clearly said there was three men in that house.'' Mac noted.
''That's actually the only evidence that proves that Dennis took part in the kidnapping, but the judge decided it was too little. He said that such a serious accusation can't be based on a statement of a little boy, who clearly was in shock.''
''That's complete bullshit.'' Mac snorted. ''His statement was very clear. We both know that Dennis took part in all this.''
''Yeah, we know. But we need another evidence to prove it. And Mac... We have only 48 hours to find it. Otherwise he would be accused only of illegal gun possession and attack on a police officer. But it will be hard even with this last one, as...''
''His defendant will say that we didn't have a warrant and we didn't show our IDs.'' Mac finished for him.
''I'm afraid that's exactly what's going to happen.'' Danny sighed. ''We need to find something or he will get away with this.''
''That won't happen.'' Mac told him firmly. ''Start working on all the evidence we got. I'll be in a lab as soon as I can.''
''OK. See you there.'' Danny told him and hang up.
. . .
When Mac returned to Lily's room, Jo was able to tell something was wrong even before he said anything. It was this furrow on his forehead. It always appeared when something was eating him.
''What did the doctor say?'' She asked with a deep concern.
''She'll be here in a minute.'' Mac answered.
Indeed, in a moment the doctor entered the room. She checked Lily's head and her pupils. Then she asked a few questions. It seemed that Lily's concussion was rather light as there was no signs of it anymore. The doctor also said that the fracture wasn't bad, there was no displacement, so Lily's arm should be as new in about 4 weeks.
''I guess it will teach you not to jump on bed, sweetheart.'' The doctor said with a sad smile and Lily nodded. ''Don't worry, she'll be fine. I'll check on her in the morning and if everything is fine, she can go home.'' She added, looking at Jo. Then she left the room.
''That's good news.'' Jo said, smiling at Lily.
''Will you stay with me tonight?'' Lily asked.
''Sure, we will.'' Jo confirmed. ''Right, Mac?'' She asked, looking at him. He was unusually quiet – he hadn't said a single word when the doctor was examining Lily.
''Actually... I need to go to the lab. Danny just called. They need some help with the case.'' He explained.
''I thought you said you're done with this case.'' Jo noted, furrowing her eyebrows.
''Yeah... but something new came up.'' Mac told her evasively. He knew that it wasn't good to keep it from her, but he decided she had enough bad news for one day.
''But you're gonna stay with me, right?'' Lily asked, tugging at Jo's sleeve and making her look down at her.
''Yes, I will.'' Jo assured her and sat down on the bed next to her.
''OK, so... I call you in the morning.'' Mac said and left the room in a hurry.
Jo couldn't fight the odd feeling that he wasn't telling her everything, whether it was work related or not. She thought how he had been before, how he could spend a couple days in a row working on a case. She thought he had changed over past months, but maybe it was just temporary, maybe it wasn't possible for him to put anything else above his job, not even his new family.
''Are you mad at me?'' Lily asked quietly.
''No, honey. I'm not mad at you.'' Jo told her and kissed her head. ''I'm just worried that you got hurt. And I'm sad that Mac didn't stay with us.'' She admitted truthfully. She felt how Lily snuggled to her side, so she put her arms around her and hugged the girl.
. . .
''OK, Rick's in his bed.'' Tyler said, sitting on the couch. ''Also my mom texted me that Lily's fine, but she needs to stay at the hospital till tomorrow.''
''That's good. I was slightly worried about her.'' Amy answered. She looked at Tyler. He seemed to be lost in his thoughts. ''What are you thinking about?'' She finally asked, guided by her curiosity.
''Well... I was just wondering how my mom is able to do that.'' He said slowly.
''To do what?'' Amy asked, confused.
''To take care of children. I remember when I was a kid, I had the dumbest ideas ever. Like making a bone fire in the middle of the kitchen.'' He said and Amy laughed. ''I wanted to roast marshmallows.'' He explained. ''Or doing a swan dive in the bathtub, jumping from the top of the washing machine. My mom stopped me at the last second.''
''Oh my God! You could have killed yourself!'' Amy exclaimed with horror mixed with laughter.
''Yeah, especially that the bathtub was empty. Tiny little detail that escaped my notice.'' He added and Amy laughed even more.
''How old were you?'' She asked.
''Four maybe?'' Tyler answered and she nodded. ''I thought I was indestructible. I guess I watched too many cartoons.'' He added with a smile. ''No, but seriously. How people do that? Kids are so... tiny... and fragile. If I had one, I'd be constantly concerned that I break it.''
''Tyler, you can't 'break it'.'' Amy laughed. ''It's not a toy.''
''Well, OK. But it can get sick or get hurt. Someone can hurt it.'' He said. ''If I had a kid I'd be constantly worrying about it.'' He added seriously.
''Of course you would, it's always like that when you're a parent. It's like... having your heart outside your body. Your child is always on your mind.''
''Exactly. I'm sure I'd go crazy.'' Tyler said, rolling his eyes.
''So you don't want to have kids?'' Amy asked. It sounded like an innocent question, but the way she stared at him, waiting for his answer, told him it meant a lot for her.
''I didn't say that...'' He answered slowly. ''But not now, that's for sure.''
Amy kept quiet for a moment, then she asked, ''What if it happened now? Or... soon?''
''How soon?'' Tyler asked, furrowing his eyebrows.
''I don't know... Let's say... in a year.'' Amy answered with hesitation.
''That's way too soon.'' Tyler said, shaking his head. ''I'm not ready to be a father. To be responsible for someone else. I barely can take care of myself.'' He joked and Amy forced a small smile. ''Are we going to watch something?'' He asked, changing the subject.
''I don't know.'' Amy answered with a shrug of her shoulders. ''You pick.''
''I picked the movie last time. Do you remember how it ended?'' Tyler asked with a smirk.
''You mean the movie?'' Amy teased.
''No, I mean watching it.'' Tyler answered and pulled her closer. Then he kissed her gently.
. . .
''Have you found anything?'' Mac asked, entering the lab. He quickly took off his jacket and put on his lab coat.
''Not yet.'' Danny told him. ''We read the witnesses statements. One of the neighbors said that he was walking the dog that night and saw the van parked in front of the Coopers' house. He took a look at the guy inside the van and he said he probably could recognize him.''
''And...?'' Mac asked, feeling that this wasn't the end of the story.
''When I visited him today, he retracted everything he had said earlier.'' Flack told him.
''That's pretty strange.'' Mac said. ''He didn't say why?''
''No.'' Flack shook his head.
''Is it possible that Brown 'convinced' him to do so?'' Danny asked.
''I doubt it. He couldn't send a letter with threats to the possible witness while being in jail. They check all the correspondence.'' Mac noted.
''So we need to find another proof that Dennis was there.'' Danny repeated.
''I'll check who he contacted with while being in prison. Just to be sure.'' Flack said and left the lab.
Mac and Danny leaned over the table where all the evidence from the crime scene was placed.
''You know Mac, if he wasn't in the house, only waiting for the Dribs outside, in the van, none of the evidence that we collected in the house will point at him.'' Danny sighed. Mac thought at what he said and nodded.
''So what do we have that was collected outside the house?''
''Well, we have two sets of shoe-prints. But they came back as Henry's and Terry's.'' Danny said.
''Which might be the proof that Dennis never left the car.''
''Yeah.'' Danny confirmed. ''We can only prove that his car was at the crime scene. Based on the witnesses statement and the tire-prints...'' Suddenly his voice trailed off. ''Wait a moment...'' He said and moved to the other side of the table. ''I remember collecting a few cigarette butts. They were lying right next to me when I was making the tire-print impression. One even stick on it.'' Danny told Mac. ''Yeah, here they are.'' He said and showed Mac a bag with cigarette butts.
''Have you tested it for DNA?'' Mac asked.
''No, because we found out it was Dennis by matching the car to him. Also...'' He stopped suddenly, looking at the bag.
''What?''
''They all have red lipstick on them...'' Danny said slowly.
''Run them for DNA anyway. I'll keep looking for something else.'' Mac told him and Danny left the lab in a hurry, leaving Mac with all the evidence. While looking at it he felt like being in that house once again. He looked at the bloody blouse and at the torn underwear, at the smashed cell-phone. He picked up the sealed bag with the broken toy. He remembered they had found it in the bedroom, next to the closet where Lily had hidden. He placed it back on the table, right next to the bag with three bullets they had taken out from James Cooper's chest. Then his eyes landed on the bag with the silver pedant they had took off from Julie Cooper's neck. He turned the bag around and found engraver with Rick and Lily's names and their dates of birth. He sighed deeply and wondered if he really was able to take care of them as good as their real parents had done. Probably not. He didn't want to compete with them, by any means. But he didn't want the kids to miss their parents as much as he was missing Claire. He was aware that such a loss always created an aching void, but he also knew it was possible to make it ache a little less.
''I have results!'' Danny exclaimed, barging into the lab. ''There are two sets of DNA on every cigarette butt. One came out as unknown female. But the other – is Dennis Brown's.''
''Boom.'' Mac said in response.
. . .
A/N So as you probably figured out, I decided to add some crime-related twists to the story. Now I remember why I do that so rarely – because it's freaking hard! Not only to come up with the plot but also to deal with all this vocabulary. Sheeesh!
Anyway, I hope it didn't ruin the story... As well as all the mistakes (because it hasn't been proofread, just like the last one).
This line about "outiside heart" is taken from 'Once&Again' - I love it, very accurate.
I really appreciate all the comments. I'm rather surprised that anybody is still willing to read this story after such a long beak. But well, on the other side, there are some authors that if I saw them posting, I'd run with the speed of light to the laptop to read the update. Right after performing a happy dance.
Yup, UrbanMuse, I'm talking to you (*the look that Horatio Cane gives to a dead body over his lowered sunglasses*).