C

Chapter 34 – Friction (Part 2)

Mac, Stella and Lily had been called to a scene in St. Patrick's church. One of the priests had been found dead in his chamber and the Church was pressing the NYPD for quick results.

'Victim is Stephen Kusak, priest, 49, was found by the maid one hour ago, no witnesses so far,' Angell informed them.

The three CSIs covered the huge crime scene trying to find evidence. There weren't any leads except for some anonymous hate mail, so they went back to the lab to find something more to work with. Stella was in charge of the fingerprints, Lily had to work on the hate mail and Mac was going to supervise and deal with the brass.

'C'mon, Lil. Tell me you got something from the hate mail,' said Stella as she entered the layout room where Lily was working.

'Prints weren't in AFIS?' she asked and Stella shook her head. 'I found some on the letters, Adam is gonna run them soon.'

'Good. Any suspicious letters?'

'Well, none of them are nice. But there is one guy who sent four letters and they were pretty bad,' explained Lily.

'Why? What did he write?'

'He accuses Kusak of molesting him when he was a choir boy and recently molesting his younger brother.'

'You are going to Hell for what you did ... I'm going to call the police ... You'll be sorry you're alive ...' Stella stopped reading parts of the letters. 'They're quite harsh. Do we have a name?'

'Yeah. The priest kept the envelope so I'm running this guy's name for priors,' the computer made a noise, 'here we go; Joe Lawrence, did five years for arson after burning a church,' Lily raised her eyebrows.

'Sounds like motive to me,' Stella smirked. 'I'll call Angell, have her pick him up. You up for questioning?'

'Yes, ma'am,' the younger cop couldn't hide a smile.

Half an hour later, Joe Lawrence was being booked.

'So, Mac, are you coming in with me?' asked Angell.

'I'm just here to observe, Lily will go with you,' he informed the detective.

'Are you sure? Brass is breathin' down our necks for this one.'

'I'll be watching, don't worry.'

'Alright, let's go,' Angell motioned the other woman to go with her.

'Good afternoon, Mr. Lawrence, this is Detective Angell and I'm Officer Stewart. Have you been advised of your rights?' spoke Lily and Angell gave her a dirty look.

'Yes, but I still don't know why I'm here.'

'So you hate The Church, right?' asked the detective.

'Look, I did my time for that.'

'But it made you even more angry, didn't it? I mean, you felt you were doing a great thing when burning that church and you end up in prison for that, it doesn't seem fair,' Lily was trying to establish rapport with the suspect.

'It's not. The only church that enlightens is the one that burns. But I paid for that five years,' he explained.

'It still wasn't enough, though. You had to kill the priest who hurt you, didn't you?' pressed Angell.

'I didn't kill anyone.'

'He molested you, Mr. Lawrence. It must've been hard on you. And then you get outta jail and you learn he was molesting your little brother? It would make anyone want revenge,' Lily pointed out.

'You sent priest Kusak four letters threatening him, there's no doubt you killed him,' expanded Angell.

'Yeah, I sent those letters, but I didn't kill him.'

'So you're telling us that the guy who molested you and your brother is dead but you didn't do it? If that's true, you're a sad excuse for a man. A real man wouldn't have let him hurt your brother, he would've stopped Kusak,' the detective pushed.

'We get it, you were frustrated that he was hurting other kids, you didn't want them to suffer like you had ...' Lily spoke softly.

'I didn't do anything!' he screamed.

'You killed a pedophile, the world is better without him anyway, why don't confess to it?' asked Angell.

'I don't want to go to jail again.'

'They'll respect you there after what you did,' asserted the detective.

'I'm not going back,' he shook his head emphatically.

'There could've been other ways, y'know?' said Lily. 'You could've filed a complaint and he would've gone to prison. You didn't have to kill him.'

'Yeah, right! Guys like that are untouchable. They have been doing it for a long time and no one ever does anything. I had to kill him so he would stop. I couldn't let him touch my brother again,' fury was evident in his eyes.

'Now write it,' Angell pushed a block and pen towards the perp before leaving with Lily in tow.

'That was fast, good job,' Mac was waiting for them outside.

'It would've been faster if Miss Counsellor here had helped!' Angell glared at the other woman.

'Being overtly aggressive isn't the only way to get results, y'know?' Lily answered back.

'Right, kill them with kindness, that'll work,' the detective rolled her eyes.

'You were a good team in there,' Mac tried to cool things down.

'Why did you even send her with me, Mac? She's a uniform, for God's sake!'

'She's working as a C.S.I. right now and is qualified to perform all parts of the job. I thought Lily could help you with interrogation and she did well,' replied the head C.S.I.

'It's not my first interrogation, okay?' Lily's tone was harsh.

'Until you get one of these shields, you're just a rookie to me,' Angell spoke with disdain.

'She's my investigator and it's my call if she interrogates suspects. So you can either file an inquiry with IA or mind your own work,' Mac spoke with his 'marine tone'.

Angell pursed her lips and left without saying anything.

'Thank you Mac, that was ... very nice of you. I appreciate it,' Lily was shocked. She definitely wasn't expecting that support from him.

'It's true. She wasn't just questioning your abilities but my judgment too. And I don't like that,' said Mac as they were getting into the car.

'I just don't know why she got so mad. I mean, the guy confessed.'

'She's upset about Flack.'

'Whaddya mean?' she was confused.

'You're back in his life now that you're working in the lab. You have cases together, you see each other often and she feels threatened by you,' explained Mac.

'But he chose her. I mean, we were together and he ruined it 'cause he chose her over me. She shouldn't feel like that at all,' she was still puzzled.

'Jealousy isn't rational. Besides, you and Flack go way back, you've shared many things.'

'When you put it like that it kinda makes sense but ... the past is the past.'

'And sometimes it's too strong and it brings people together.'

'Wow. That was deep, Mac.'

'I've been hanging around Stell too much lately,' he smiled and they stayed silent throughout the rest of the ride to the lab.

A few hours later Hawkes, Adam and Lily were running evidence in the different computers at the AV room when Flack came in.

'Hey guys, where's Messer?' he asked.

'He went home to his wife,' answered Hawkes.

'Oh. Thank, doc,' the detective paused. 'Do any of you want to have a drink with me?'

'I still have a lot of work to do, Flack. Sorry,' Adam barely took his eyes off the screen.

'Pass,' Hawkes shook his head.

'How 'bout you, Lil?'

'No, thank you,' she said coldly.

'And what if we turn it into dinner? I'll buy,' pressed Flack.

'I don't think it's a good idea, sorry.'

'Why not?'

'Ask your girlfriend.'

'Okay guys, have a good night,' Flack left.

Twenty minutes later Flack was knocking on Angell's door.

'Hey, what are you doing here?' she was surprised.

'I know we weren't supposed to see each other tonight but I really wanted to do something and everybody rejected me so ...' he explained and she laughed.

'Okay, but only because you were rejected by everyone,' she kept chuckling.

'Thanks. So how was work today?' he sat on the couch.

'Normal, I guess. Yours?'

'Pretty average. Nothing worth mentioning?' he pressed.

'No. Why?' Angell was getting suspicious.

'Just asking ... have you seen Lily lately?' he asked nonchalantly.

'What did she tell you?' Angell was irked.

'Nothing. That's why I'm asking you.'

'Look, we worked a case together and we happen to have a different approach to the job. That's all,' she explained grudgingly.

'Okay.'

'I mean, she's a rookie, she shouldn't be working as a detective.'

'She's workin' for Mac, y'know? There are some things that come with the territory.'

'Of course you would defend her!'

'I'm not defending her,' he lifted his hands in mock defense. 'I'm just sayin' ...'

'Yeah, well, I think Mac screwed up with this one.'

'Did she make a mistake or something?'

'Yeah! She goes around asking suspects if they want a lawyer and telling them everything's gonna be okay. That's not how you get a confession.'

'Did you get a confession, then?' he asked.

'Yeah. But thanks to me.'

'Then you've got nothin' to worry about.'

'You just have to downplay it, don't you?' Angell rolled her eyes.

'What's that supposed to mean?' he got defensive.

'Miss goody-two-shoes can never be wrong in your eyes, no matter what she does,' she was clearly upset.

'That's unfair, Jess. I'm just sayin', if Mac didn't intervene and you got a confession, then it's all good.'

'Whatever. I'm not arguing with you because of this so either you watch a movie with me or leave,' she told him matter-of-factly.

'What's on tonight?' he turned on the TV. Angell wore a self-satisfied grin the whole night.

Okay, here is the second part, as promised. Don't expect an update for at least three weeks because I'll be extremely busy. Do leave a review with comments/suggestions/tips, etc. By the way, it's so weird to keep writing Stella! It's like she never left. As usual, thanks to sparkyCSI for being awesome.