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a/n once again I have to thank my excellent beta REIDFANATIC for her encouragment and her wonderful ideas for Shane Casey's clues and ways to torture Danny and the crew. She's the best and so are you my gentle readers. Here's the next chapter for you.

Distraction

Stella dusted for prints, or rather tried to get usable prints from Lopez's apartment. Why the top hit man of the Cuban underground would chose to live in a place like this?

Her eyes strayed back to Lopez's body and the photograph found lying in blood near the hole in his chest. Pain pulled her eyes down to the hand holding her dusting brush. The hand cramped up because she clutched at the brush as though it were a lifeline to a boat in the stormy high seas.

"I've got too many prints to count in here." She finally said to Mac. "Who knows when the last person cleaned in here?"

"There's no lacking in trace," he agreed. "I found a couple of hairs adhering to the blood pool next to his left hand." He held up the plastic evidence bag.

The squeaking of a rat made Stella jump. She cursed under her breath in Greek.

"I never knew you were afraid of rats." Mac said.

She felt the corners of her mouth turn up against her will, "I'm not, it startled me. I can't stop thinking about that picture. Danny is going to freak out." She pointed with a gloved finger back at the photograph on the body. It was a Polaroid of Lucy. The picture was of the type she'd seen on computers of child predators and pedophiles. If it weren't evidence, she'd burn it.

"That's why we're not going to tell him." Mac said.

"Do you really think that's a good idea? He'll be pissed."

The subtle, but cold anger in Mac's eyes would have sent a chill into her, but for the white-hot rage in her own gut. When she got a hold of Shane Casey and his 'friends,' whoever they were, she'd kill them with her bare hands.

"I know that look Stella…" Mac said in a warning tone. "We can't tell Danny about this just yet. We don't even know what it means until Agents Hotchner and Reid look at it and we analyze it. There's no use in concerning Lindsay and Danny until we have to."

Stella ran her free hand through her hair and sighed. "I just hate that we don't have them on this case."

Mac actually smiled while checking through the drawer beneath the dusty television. "I think we've all got used to the humor and brightness they bring to the lab."

Stella began to laugh. "You mean the smart remarks and flirting doesn't irritate you anymore."

Mac lifted both his eyebrows. "I didn't say that, I just said its odd not having them here."

"Whatever Mac, you're Lucy's God father. You wouldn't have agreed to that if you didn't care about them despite their tendency to get in over their heads together."

"Let's make sure this is the last time for a while," Mac said.

The door opened behind them to reveal their profilers. "Hey… You made it here in record time." Mac said.

"GPS shortcuts, and Dr Reid, are a wonderful combination. Hotch said, "He thinks all government reports on traffic patterns of major cities is light reading."

Reid opened his mouth, then shrugged and smiled. "Yeah… I read a lot." He admitted shoving his long fingered hands in the pockets of the light beige trousers he wore that day.

"In this case, it was very helpful." Hotch continued as they both pulled on gloves.

"What do you think of that photograph?" Mac asked Hotch.

Hotch's lips thinned out as he studied the photograph. "It's more of the same." He said handing it to Reid.

"I agree…" Reid said after a very brief look. "It more pain for Detective Messer. I don't believe she's in that kind of danger. Still…" He shrugged his newly muscled shoulders. "He wants us to believe she's in the hands of flesh peddlers. That tells me that she's not because he's all about misdirection, like a magician attempting a very complicated illusion."

"I hope you're right," Stella said.

"Nothing is ever sure when you're dealing with a psychopath," Hotch said, "But in this case I have to agree with Dr Reid, it's just more games.

"Wow… I've never seen a stabbing wound look like that," Reid said carefully crouching down next to the body and effectively changing the subject.

"You think that's odd," Mac said, "take a look at this."

He picked up a book he'd found lying on top of a stack of porno DVDs, looking very out of place. Hotch took the book and the object Mac had found in the hollowed out center of the book. He read the title and his jaw bunched tight. He handed them off to Reid.

"The Spirit of St. Louis," Reid read, "An autobiography written by Charles Lindbergh in 1953. The kidnapping and murder of his son is one of the most famous child kidnapping cases of the 20th century."

"So what's he tryin' to say," Flack piped up, thunderclouds gathering in his eyes. "He thinks he's goin' to be as famous as Lindbergh? What an ego?"

"He's laughing at us," Reid held up an origami animal. It looked like a spotted dog with light brown fur.

"Why a dog?" Flack asked.

"It's a hyena, as in laughing," Reid explained as he studied the little figure and the book in his long fingered hands.

"Is he trying to tell us that Lucy is dead?" Stella said, her voice catching hard on 'dead.'

"We find him, and then we'll find Lucy." Flack said, as though it were a foregone conclusion. "I mean, the whole Cuban money thing and Lopez was just to throw us off."

"That's what I believe," Reid said as he handed the book and the origami animal over to Stella to bag. "Wherever she is, he's not with her. He wouldn't have the patience or the inclination to take care of a one year old girl."

"Are you saying you think someone's helping him?" Mac demanded as the two men from the ME's office arrived and began to ready the body for transport to the morgue and Sid's waiting hands.

"Yes… I thought so the minute the news reported the kidnapping," Reid admitted. "I didn't want to work on that assumption though, until we had reason, and now I think it's a guarantee that we'll find Lucy somewhere other than where we find Casey."

Stella watched the rest of their 'team' watch Dr. Reid. There was something down in his eyes as he spoke to them that pricked at her heart. Odd…

"Let's get back to the lab and get the evidence processed." Mac said, breaking the hush that had fallen over the filthy room in the wake of the body leaving for the lab.

000000000000

Lindsay opened her eyes to the setting of the sun. Swathes of golden light shone into their bedroom, side by side with the dark shadows that lived in the corners of the room. Sometimes the light didn't reach into the darkness, she thought.

Danny's hands circled her waist tightly. It was as if he was afraid that she would just float off into space if he let go. She stretched and tried to get loose from his grasp without waking him up. She'd been sleeping in the same position since their late pizza lunch and her side hurt. His hands loosened their hold on her, as though he knew, even in sleep, that she needed to move.

She turned over and studied his sleeping face. The obvious lines of pain around the corners of his mouth had deepened in the last ten days. He'd aged years since lying on the floor, shot, bleeding, and unable to stop Shane Casey from taking away their beautiful little girl.

"I wish I could take away your pain." She whispered.

His eyes fluttered open at the sound of her voice. "I'm sorry," he said around a yawn.

She reached over to run her hands through his hair. "You don't have to apologize. I know how much you love Lucy."

"I love you too," he said, lifting up onto one elbow. "I keep messin' stuff up with you. I never learn my lesson."

She felt a smile lifting the corners of her mouth. "That's why you've got me Messer."

He jabbed a finger into her shoulder, "Don't get cute Montana."

The genuine smile on his face made her heart sing. "You know you wouldn't last a day without me." She stated it as fact.

He laughed, the first time she'd heard him laugh since that awful day and night. "I hate to admit it…" He grunted at her jab to his shoulder. "I hate to admit it…" He began again, "you're right. My life has changed so much since I met you. You and Lucy are the lights of my life. I don't want to live it without ya."

"It's a good thing, because I happen to feel exactly the same way about you."

He pulled her back into his arms and kissed her softly on the lips. Heat raced up her spine and into her face in time with the racing of her heart. "Please promise me you'll never leave." Danny whispered as he kissed her neck.

"You can't get rid of me that easily Messer, but if you ever shut me out again…" She pushed him over on his back. "I'll make you wish you'd never been born."

"Yes ma'am," He laughed rearing up to kiss her.

0000000000

Lindsay pulled on Danny's robe a while later and went out into the kitchen. She removed a couple of bottles of beer from the refrigerator and the makings for sandwiches. The loaf of wheat bread sitting next to the bottle of milk reminded her how much Lucy liked PB and Js. Tears welled up in the corners of her eyes and dropped down over her cheeks. How many more reminders would they have to face until she came back to them.

"Hey…"

Strong arms wrapped around her waist to pull her close. "Don't cry Lindsay."

"I can't stop thinking about her and wondering if she's okay or if she's hurt." She sobbed.

"I'm sorry Montana, this is all my fault." He dropped his arms and headed over to the living room and the couch.

"How can you say that? We all thought he was dead. We should've known better than to believe that something like a fall would take care of him." She sniffed as she climbed into this lap with the beer bottles in her hands.

Danny took one of the bottles and drank deep. "I shouldn't have related to him or felt sorry for him in the first place. If I hadn't sympathized with him, maybe he wouldn't a fixated on me. You should hate me for that."

Lindsay slapped his bare chest. "Stop talking like that. You're the kindest man I know. Of course, you'd show some sympathy no matter the consequences. It's who you are."

"It didn't used ta be who I am." He countered. "I learned it from you."

Lindsay smiled. "I'm glad I could teach you something."

"I love you so much," He said again. "Thank you for putting up with me."

"That's easy…" She leaned in for a kiss. "I happen to love you too."