How rumours start and friendships begin: Part One
"I heard that you were talking shit
and you didn't think I would hear it.
People hear ya talking like that, getting everybody fired up
So I'm ready to attack, gonna lead the pack
A few times I've been around that track
So its just not gonna happen like that
Because I ain't no hollaback girl
I ain't no hollaback girl."
-Hollaback Girl, Gwen Stefani
WARNING: USE OF PROFANITY AND HEAVY MONROE BASHING LATER ON. PLEASE, TO ANY D/L FANS, WHILE I APPRECIATE YOU READING, PLEASE REFRAIN FROM SENDING ME HATE MAIL. I DON'T LIKE LINDSAY AND THIS IS MY STORY. SORRY.
Danny sighed heavily and pushed up his glasses to rub at his weary eyes. He was in the lay out room, beginning the slow, methodical process of inspecting that morning's victim's clothes for any sign of trace evidence. He was tired. Another night of sitting at Lindsay's place, listening to her go on and on about some bullshit that had happened to her years ago in Montana.
He felt sorry for her. He really did. But the more she dwelled on it, the more she tortured herself and the more she kept up her Jeckell and Hyde personality changes. And the more grief she put him through if she thought he wasn't showing enough concern or compassion. What was he suppose to do? Coddle her like a child? He'd already offered to get her some kind of counselling to deal with it all. He'd even offered to go with her. That only pissed her off even more. Dealing with Lindsay's moods was like handling a live grenade. Each day you never knew what to expect when she walked into work and you held your breath every time you said something in fear it would offend her.
Its not suppose to be like this, Danny thought. When you care that much about someone and they supposedly care about you, its not suppose to be so damn hard and a struggle all the time. He'd given up on using the word love. He didn't love her. Not in the way she wanted him to anyway. It was too hard to love someone when they were as volatile emotionally as Lindsay was. Sure, he'd said those three words that night on the pool table. He'd been nearly completely wasted and had been lonely and desperate for some kind of intimacy for so long that he would have said anything she wanted him to at that point in time. So he did.Dumb move on his part. Because he'd been paying for it ever since. She held it over his head, used it against him. He'd always been there for her when she needed someone. And that was a hell of a lot.
But where was she when he needed someone? Where was she when he was hurting over little Rueben and wanted nothing more than a warm pair of arms around him, a soft voice telling him it would be all right. That the guilt and anger and grief would subside. But she wasn't there. She was off being Lindsay.
Flack had been there. As usual. He was always there when Danny needed him. He'd put his ass on the line that day with Rikki. He should have taken her in there and then on the stolen gun charge. But he didn't. He'd trusted Danny enough to handle it, to make his own decision. The best decision. That was the thing about a friend like Flack. He always had your back whether you were right or wrong. The type of friend that backed you in a bar fight and when you're sitting in a jail cell after wards, looks at you and laughs and says what a hell of a great night it had been. That was the kind of guy Flack was. He didn't judge you or look down at you. He accepted you as you and that was that. He didn't ask a lot of questions and didn't expect a lot of answers either. And he didn't expect any thanks. He went about his business quietly and unassumingly. A beer as a token of gratitude was enough for Flack. Danny only hoped if it ever came down to it, he could be that kind of friend in return.
Back to work, Danny thought and yawned noisily and reached into the paper evidence bag to begin laying the clothes on the table in front of him. I just need a couple hours sleep and I'll be good. Or maybe even an extra large, extra strong coffee to give me a boost. 'Cause this is just right bullshit feeling like this.
"How's it going, Messer?" Angell asked as she breezed into the room.
"No I don't have any results back yet and yes, I'm working as fast as I can." he replied without looking up.
"All I wanted to know was how it was going." Angell said. "Don't get bent out of shape."
"I'm sorry. It's just that I'm exhausted and things are going slowly and not too surely. I'm just gettin' to the clothes now 'cause they got a full house downstairs and they're short staffed. As usual. Any news on your front?"
"Nothing since we last talked. I was hoping that you were going to tell me that you got a hit off that print we found at the scene." she said hopefully.
"Sorry. Its a partial. Palm at that. I've got it runnin' through AFIS now and its gonna be a while. I'm not makin' any promises."
"Smile, Danny." Angell cajoled him."Life's not that bad."
"Life isn't, but work is. Or at least the environment."
"Still havin' girl problems?"
"Yes and no." he replied.
Angell arched an eyebrow quizically.
"Lindsay is still being Lindsay." he explained. "But what else is new, right? Everything goes great for a couple months and then it all goes to shit again."
"This is why I live by my old saying, never dip your pen in in the company ink."
"Yeah? So than what was that whole trying to get Flack into your ink incident?"
"None of your business, Messer. Back to Monroe. Someone needs to give that girl some serious prozac. No one can be that bummed all the time. Could they?"
Danny shrugged.
"Maybe its all an attention getter." Angell reasoned.
"Maybe... and she's lookin' for that since Brooklyn started here. Its only the first day and Linds is already got her undies in a bunch."
"Brooklyn?" Angell inquired.
"Samantha. Adam's sister. I call her Brooklyn 'cause its where she's from."
"Oh come on, Danny." Angell laughed.. "You call her that 'cause you're gonna put the moves on her."
He grinned. "That is so not true."
"Mm-hm...'
"Okay... so maybe I am. I can't help it. She's damn cute. The point I'm trying to make here is that Lindsay is in state 'cause there's the new girl takin' her place. She even got into it with Mac this mornin' 'cause he asked her to do a job and she felt it was for a new person."
Angell nodded. "The dumpster dive. I heard."
"Word travels fast." Danny said and unfolded a red and black plaid flannel shirt that smelled of body odour and just plain filth.
"This place is worse than high school, Danny." Angell said.
"This is just foul." Danny complained, grimacing and attempting to breathe through his mouth to spare his senses the putrid stench. "So what do you think of her?" he asked, grabbing a piece of clear sticky tape and concentrating on the left arm of the shirt first, peeling away any fibers or trace that may be there. "You worked with her this morning."
Angell shrugged. "She seems all right to me. Stands up for herself. She's got a bit of a temper. Dry sense of humor. Little smart with the mouth but that's okay. She's the female Flack."
Danny laughed. "Exactly."
"I'm a little surprised, Danny. You're usually drawn to the vulnerable, wounded, rescue me type. You'd have your hands full with that one."
"I always did like a little excitement in my life." he reasoned. "Asked her out."
"Yeah?" Angell sounded surprised. "You work quick. What did she say?"
"We're gonna hang out on Saturday."
"You don't waste time."
"Wasted enough on other things." Danny said.
"As long as your happy, Danny, that's all that matters." Angell told him. "Listen, I have some leads I need to chase down. I'll give ya a shout if I hear anything. You do the same, all right?"
"All right... I'll be right here." All day, he thought wearily and set to work.
Angell was on her way to the elevator when Lindsay managed to catch up to her. The CSI was returning from tox with the blood results on Tamara Collins and looked madder than hell about the state of her day. Angell had already decided she wanted no part of the Danny and Lindsay insanity that had managed to take over the lab in the short span of six months. There was enough soap opera antics and issues going around at the precinct without getting involved with lab gossip.
"Hey, Angell." Lindsay greeted her grumpily. "Got a sec?"
"Not really Monroe. I'm kinda running behind here." Angell hoped that she at least sounded pleasant.
"It will just take a second. " Lindsay assured her. "I promise."
Angell sighed and tapped a finger to her watch. "Make it quick." she said firmly. "The clock is ticking and I've got a lot of ground to cover. What's up?"
"I kinda need someone on my side here. And I was hoping that maybe..."
Angell interrupted her. "If this is about the new girl, I want nothing to do with it."
"Everybody likes her." Lindsay lamented.
"'Cause she's an amazing cop." Angell informed her. "And she seems nice and funny and down to earth. Doesn't hurt that she's so easy on the eyes either."
"All the guys are tripping over themselves trying to get her to notice them!" Lindsay fumed. "All of them! I just don't understand it! She's not all that. And she's got an attitude problem. I had to do a dumpster dive because of her!"
"Because of Mac." Angell corrected her. "Last time I checked, Mac was stil callin' the shots around here."
"He said she was too good to waste on a dumpster dive! Can you believe that shit? That he wanted her processing with him and Hawkes, not digging through trash. What the hell is that about? We all have to do the crap ass jobs once in a while."
"And I'm sure she's done her fair share." Angell said. 'What's the issue? All this 'cause you got a dressing down from Mac? Big deal. Try getting one from Gerrard in front of the entire precinct."
"She's a fucking bitch!" Lindsay raged. "I can't stand her! Walking around here like she owns the goddamn place! Like she's fucking Queen shit or something! Watching all the guys waste their time and make fools out of themselves!"
Angell just couldn't take it anymore. And even thought she knew what she was about to say would certainly cause the shit to hit the proverbial fan, she just could not stop herself. "Guess is not too much of a waste of time." she said "Danny managed to score a date with her.'
Lindsay stared at Angell in disbelief. "What?" she managed through a shaky breath.
"Shoulda treated her better Monroe. He's moved on. Rightfully so. You can't string someone along and pay with their feelings like that. A guy can only take so much. Guess he felt he was wasting his time on you and moved on to something better."
"Who told you this?" Lindsay hissed. "About him asking her out?"
"He did. Don't believe me? Ask for yourself. I gotta go. You had your chance, Monroe. You blew it. I guess its true. You don't really know what you have until its gone."
Lindsay stared daggers at Angell's departing back.That fucking little bitch! she fumed, stomping down the hall. Messing around with my man! I'll get that little bitch if its the last thing I do!
She stopped dead in her tracks just down from Mac's office when she saw Mac and the young auburn haired woman she'd been off hand and rude to earlier, step out of his office, bright smiles on their face as they exchanged a handshake.
"See you bright and early tomorrow, Carmen." Mac said. "Welcome aboard."
Carmen turned to leave and saw Lindsay looking on in shock and horror.
"See ya tomorrow, sunshine." Carmen told the girl from Montana and winked and headed for the elevator.
I am completely and utterly screwed, Lindsay thought.
The fountain pen was not where it was suppose to be. They'd gotten to the apartment at a quarter after one and immediately went to the roll top desk in the den. Nothing but the empty leather case.
"So what exactly are we looking for?" Flack asked, snapping a pair of latex gloves onto his hands.
"A pen." Sam handed him a picture printed from the computer from the case folder she'd brought along. "The store e-mailed Sheldon a photo of the exact pen they sold Tyler Mann two months ago. Only difference is the color. This one is green. We're looking for a burgundy pen. An eighty dollar fountain pen to be exact."
"Eighty dollars for some plastic and some ink?" Flack asked, shaking his head. "And honestly, who the hell uses a pen to kill someone. I've seen some pretty weird shit made into weapons, but never a pen. Whether it be worth eighty cents or eight hundred dollars."
"Whatever does the trick." Sam figured and began rummaging through the desk, shoving papers out of the way. "I'm more a traditional weapon kind of girl." she said. "You know, guns, knives. The predictable, violently brutal shit."
"Why does that not surprise me?" Flack asked. "You seem like the violent type."
"Some people get off on that stuff." she informed him. "I didn't realize you were so fragile."
"Hey, as long as you don't pull out an ice pick to drive into my brain stem, you can do whatever you want with me and to me." he told her.
She smirked. "I'll have to remember that. Where's that fucking pen!?"
"You got a foul mouth on you for a girl." Flack told her.
"Hey, I'm from Brooklyn and I work in a male dominated profession. I have language that can make a drunken sailor blush. You're very sensitive Detective Flack. I can't talk about sex or violence or swear. What kind of fun are you?"
He smirked when she intentionally bent over in front of him to give him a clear view of her ass. And it was a hell of an ass. Keep professional! he heard Mac scream in his head. Mac didn't mind the office relationship thing if you were able to keep things separate. Professional on one side, personal on the other. Never the twain shall meet. But it was damn hard.
"I'm the kind of fun that will make you forget anyfun you ever had before me." he told her confidently.
"Yeah?" she smiled, up to the challenge. "We'll see about that. Now are you going to help me search or are you going to stand there and stare at my ass all day?"
"Isn't that answer obvious?" he retorted.
"Focus, Don! Focus! Must find the murder weapon!" she yanked at the bottom drawer of the desk. It wouldn't budge. Locked. She reached into her hair, pulled out one of the bobby pins she wore and stretched it out with her teeth. "Stand back and watch the master at work," she said when she noticed the perplexed expression on Flack's face. "Trust me... this works every time..."
"Why do I feel like I'm watching someone commit B and E?" he asked, as she stuck the bobby pin in the lock on the drawer and wiggled it back and forth.
"So sinister." Sam said and continued to work on the lock. "Come on... come on... rat bastard..."
"That is never going to work." Flack said.
No sooner did he get the words out of his mouth, there was a faint click and a victorious smile spread across her lovely, youthful face.
"What was that you just said?" she asked. "Can you repeat that?"
He sighed in defeat and shook his head.
"Never doubt the woman, Don. Ever."
"What? They teach you that in Arizona? How to pick locks with bobby pins?"
"I learned the technique when I used to break into cars when I was living in Brooklyn." she said.
He stared at her.
"That's a joke. I was just joking. When I was in college, I locked myself out of my dorm room more than a few times and taught myself how to do it." she opened the drawer and shone a small flashlight inside. "Besides," she added as she began her search. "I sucked at grand theft. I could never get the ignition to start. Hold this?" she asked, holding out the flashlight.
He took the flash light and cast the beam into the drawer. She was in front of him, the drawer between them, on her knees as she searched thoroughly. Her head was directly in line with his belt buckle. He swallowed noisily and forced himself to look anywhere but at the back of her head.
"Focus, Don!" she said, when she heard him swallow and noticed him shift awkwardly. "Get your mind out of whatever dirty place its been in all day and keep it on the job."
"Just to give you the heads up, that guy from Arizona? No word on him so far. I've got his picture and description of his car and licence plate number at every toll coming in to New York. No one's seen him. Yet."
"Thanks for doing all that. You must have some serious connections."
"A few." he admitted. "So... this guy... who exactly is he?"
"Just some guy I wouldn't give the time of day to and he couldn't accept it." she lied. She hoped it wasn't an obvious lie. She just wasn't ready to get into the details of her trouble past engagement. Especially with Flack. And especially at work. "He was no important and he couldn't accept that he never would be. Then he started harassing me and calling me all the time and the other basic stalker bullshit."
"You ever file a complaint?" he asked, hoping he sounded more curious and less like he was fishing for information. Something just wasn't adding up. Coming all that way after a woman just because she wouldn't go out on a date with you or return your call? No way. There was more to it and he was going to get to the bottom of it. Even if it killed him to hear the truth.
"I don't know what IAB is like here, but in Phoenix, they don't know their ass from their elbow. I figured I could handle it on my own."
"And when you couldn't you just packed up and came here." he concluded.
"Pretty much."
"So what kind of cop is he? Detective? ESU? Narco? What?"
"State trooper actually." she said.
"How'd a girl from the crime lab ever meet a state trooper?" Flack asked. "Paths must not have crossed much."
"A friend of a friend's boyfriend." she explained. "She asked me to go out with him, thought I might like him. I didn't. End of story."
"So he wasn't your boyfriend or nothing like that." It was more of a statement than a question.
"It was one date." she sounded irritated. Flack didn't know if it was because he was asking so many questions or because she was pissed the search wasn't going so well. "And one date does not make a boyfriend." she added, moving to another drawer on the desk and rummaging through it. "He was just a guy." she assured him.
"Same way as I'm just a guy?" Flack asked.
"You're different." she replied.
"How?"
"Because I actually like you. A lot." she admitted. "And I... do we really have to talk about this at work?"
"No." he said and was silently for a few moments. "But how about I take you out to dinner Friday night after work and we can attempt to talk about it then?"
She smiled up at him. "Detective Flack," she said coyly. "are you asking me out on a date?"
"I guess I am." he replied.
"In that case, is it casual, dress up?"
"Non-casual. I'm not exactly the beer and wings on a first date type. That's more like the second."
"And what makes you think there'll be a second?" she asked, eyes sparkling up at him.
"'Cause your nuts about me all ready. Admit it."
She smiled and sat back on her heels and wiped sweat from her forehead. "Its not here." she said in disappointment. "If Tyler killed her and wanted to cover his tracks, he would have just put the pen back. He told me where to look for it. No murderer proclaiming innocence is going to tell you where to find the murder weapon."
"So what are you thinkin'? The real killer tossed it?"
"We already looked in all the garbages earlier. Either he took it with him, or its here somewhere. Somewhere," she sighed heavily. "This place is huge. It could be any where. I say we start in the living room. The actual scene of the crime and work from there."
"I say I get a couple uniforms to catch the other rooms." Flack said.
"That's the best thing you've said all day." she said with a wink and left the room.
She thought of all the places an object as slender as pen could end up in the living room. Where someone might stash it as they left. The list was endless. Then she remembered the defense wounds on Tamara Collins' hands and forearms that suggested she engaged the attacker. It was plausible after she was stabbed and the killer removed the pen from her neck, she lashed out and knocked the pen out of the perp's hand.
Samantha stepped back and put a visual together in her mind of the attack. If that theory were true, then Tamara would have been down on her back with the killer leaning over her. The wound suggested a right handed attacker. If the pen was knocked away, it would travel to the right and back.
What was to the right and back? The white leather couch and an antique, cherry wood display cabinet that went straight to the floor. Nothing could get under there.
Samantha grabbed her flash light and laid on her stomach in front of the couch and cast the beam under neath. "You dirty little bastard." she said a loud and slipped her hand between the couch and floor. And came up with the pen. That had a cracked tip and blood still present.
"Gotcha." she said.
"Anything?" Flack asked as he came out from the kitchen.
She grinned broadly and held up the pen.
"You're amazing." he declared.
"Adam!" Sam rushed into the trace lab, calling her brother's name. "I need you!"
"Nice to be needed." he said and pulled himself away from the microscope he'd been peering into for the last half hour.
"I need you to run this right away." she tossed him a cotton swab with blood on the end of it.
"What's this?" he asked.
"Tamara Jenkins' blood. Or at least I think. I need it confirmed."
"Your girl that was stabbed in the neck with a fountain pen? But I thought Flack had the boyfriend in custody and he looked good for it?"
"He did. At the time. And it still might be him. I won't know until Sheldon gets a hit off the finger print we pulled off the pen I found at the scene. This is huge Adam. Can you? Will you? Please?"
"Not a prob." he assured her.
"You're the best!" she gushed and pecked his cheek and went to leave.
"I heard about you and Danny." Adam suddenly called to her.
She double backed. "Excuse me?" she asked, eyes narrow.
"That you guys are seeing each other. I have to admit, I was really surprised. You know, considering you and Flack in the kitchen yesterday made it look like it was you and Flack and not you and Danny."
"Whoa...back up a second. Seeing each other? Me and Danny?"
"Its okay, Sam. If you think you're ready this soon for a relationship, I will not stand in your way. You were right, what you do or who you do is none of my business. And while I'll worry and show concern, I will respect your wishes and mind my own."
"Danny and I are not seeing each other." Sam defended herself.
Adam regarded her skeptically.
"We're not!" she remained adamant. "We're friends. He asked me if I wanted to hang out on Saturday and I said yes. Where the hell did you hear the idea that I was seeing Danny?"
"Well, its a long chain of people really. Mary in ballistics told Craig in tox and then Craig told Allison in the lay out room ad Allison in turn, told Kendall while they were on break together and Kendall told me. She thought I already knew."
"And where did Mary whoever the hell she is hear this shit?"
"Apparently, she over heard Lindsay ranting to Stella and..."
"Lindsay." Sam mumbled and hurried from the room.
"You didn't hear it from me!" Adam called after her.
"Hey, Flack." Angell greeted him as he entered the precinct just as she was leaving. "Heard the new girl found the murder weapon. She's having a hell of a first day, huh?"
"She's been pretty lucky so far." he agreed.
"Did you hear about her and Danny/"
Flack's eyes narrowed. "What about her and Danny?" he asked warily.
"He asked her out. I guess they're hooking up on Saturday. Good for him."
"Where'd you hear this?" Flack tried to hide both the surprise and the anger in his voice. Danny Messer, you are a complete and utter bastard, he found himself thinking once again.
"Danny. If you ask me, its about time he moved on from Lindsay." Angell commented.
Flack turned on his heel and headed back out the door.
"Where are you going?" Angell asked.
"To the crime lab." he replied. To kick Danny Messer's ass, he added silently.
Sam stormed into the locker room. A futile ten minute search for Lindsay Monroe had turned up nothing. It was one of the lab techs that had squealed in the end, saying that they had seen the girl from Montana head in to the change room. Something about spilling something on her shirt during an experiment. All Sam heard was locker room and that was it. She was on the war path and no one or nothing was going to stop her.
Lindsay was at her locker, just doing up the last button on her shirt when someone grabbed a hold of the locker door and slammed it shut. She found herself staring directly into the irate golden eyes of Samantha Ross. The look in those eyes caused Lindsay's stomach to knot and perspiration form on her brow.
"Look, Monroe..." Sam slammed her hand on the locker to keep it closed when Lindsay attempted to open it. "If you want to talk shit about me, have the fuckin' balls to say it to my face!"
"Listen..." Lindsay attempted feebly. "I don't...'
"You call me a stuck up self righteous bitch. You tell people I have an attitude problem. What? You didn't think I'd find out? My brother works here. And everyone knows my brother. Of course it would get back to him. I don't know what kind of crap the girls back in Oklahoma or North Carolina or wherever the hell it is your from are willing to put up with, but the girls in New York don't tolerate this high school sophomore bull shit!"
"Sam, I was just upset that Mac acted the way he did at the crime scene. It was nothing personal against you."
"Do I look like fucking stupid, Monroe?! You're just upset that I dethroned you from your new girl pedestal. I'm sorry if I gave you the impression that I thought I was better than you. Truth is, I am. I'm damn good at my job and Mac respects that. And second, you're pissed because Danny and I are getting close. But Danny and I aren't seeing each other. He's cute and he's really nice and funny, but I have no interest in him other than a friend. I'm just hanging out with him. And if you treated him a little better, you wouldn't have to worry about other women."
Lindsay just stared at the irate CSI.
"Now I'm going to make this short and sweet for you Monroe. Keep your mouth off of me or I will knock you into the middle of next week. There'll be two hits. Me hitting you, and you hitting the floor. Got it?"
Lindsay nodded.
"If you play nice, so will I. Let's make working together and with the rest of them team as pleasant as possible for everyone. Okay?"
"Okay." Lindsay agreed meekly.
"Don't fuck with me Monroe." Sam warned her and left the room.
She hadn't gotten ten feet from the locker room when she saw Flack coming off the elevator. He spotted her as well and walked briskly towards her. Looking just a little pissed off.
"Oh God what happened?" she asked. "Please don't tell me something got screwed up with the case."
"Something got screwed up all right." he replied. "You seen Danny?"
"Not in the last few hours. Why?"
"Angell just told me you and him are seein' each other."
"What the fuck?" Sam nearly screamed. "How many people did Lindsay tell this bullshit too?"
"So its not true?" Flack asked hopefully.
"What?" she looked at him incredulously "You actually thought it was true?"
"I just thought that was the reason you got all bent out of shape when I kissed you yesterday." he explained. "I thought maybe you were making something up because you didn't want to hurt my feelings by saying it was Danny you were interested in."
"You can not be serious. I am not interested in Danny. He's trying to be my friend and I am trying to be his friend! That's it! He asked me out and..."
"He did ask you out though." Flack frowned.
"As a friend." she stressed. "To hang out. That's it."
"But you're not interested in him." Flack needed clarification.
"Are you hearing the words coming out of my mouth?" she asked, aggravated. "I am not interested in Danny." she slowly pronunciated every word.
"But he's interested in you." Flack concluded.
"Oh my God..." Sam put her hand to her forehead, exasperated. "What is wrong with the people in this place?" she asked. "This place is like a fucking three ring circus. One more time. Danny asked me out. I said I just wanted to be friends. End of story."
"Okay... so what about me?" Flack asked. "You just want to be friends with me, too?"
"Don, we are not having this conversation here. I've already told you that I need some time before I can get into anything with you. I just got here and I need to get my bearings and work some stuff up. I need a few days. To tidy up this crazy Atlanta cop thing. By Friday, things should be solved. Can you do that? Give me until then?"
Flack nodded. "I'm sorry if you think I'm pushing you. Its just because of the intensity of how I feel about you. Feeling this way, especially so quickly? Its new to me."
"Its new to me, too." she said. "and that's why I need this time. Okay?"
"Okay." he agreed. "But I'm still gonna tear Danny a new one."
"He has no idea what happened between you and I yesterday or how we feel." Sam defended her friend. "He just asked me out. No big deal. Okay? Leave it alone. It was just a rumor started by some jealous immature little bitch who..."
Adam came rushing out into the hallway. "Sam! Flack!" he called when he spotted them and sprinted down the hall. "Glad I caught you guys. I just got two separate blood donors off of the blood on the swab. First one was our vic, Tamara Collins. Second was this guy." he handed Flack a computer print out of a mug shot.
"Jefferey Tanner." Flack read off the paper. "Did time for a sex assault he committed back in '03."
"Which is how we got lucky finding him in the system." Adam said excitedly. "Now get this! This is the best part right here. You guys are gonna love this..."
"Adam." Sam said gently. "Just spit it out."
"His previous address is where Tamara Collins lived. He moved out eight months ago. And guess where he moved to."
Sam shrugged.
"I give." Flack said. "Where?"
"To the apartment below Tamara Collins. She filed a complaint with the NYPD that he was harassing her. Only it was never followed up because the cops said there wasn't enough evidence to charge him with anything. And you think that's strange? This is where it gets really good."
"Adam!" Flack snapped. "Take a breath, buddy."
Adam did just that. "Hawkes just called." he said. "That print on the murder weapon? It belongs to Jefferey Tanner."
"I'm on it." Flack told Sam and walked away quickly. 'Meet me downstairs in half an hour. If I'm running behind findin' him, I'll call. You remember how to use your phone, right?"
"Very funny, Flack." she called after him and watched him board the elevator. She turned back to her brother who was watching her with a weird grin on his face. "What?" she asked.
"So it is you and Flack." he said, nodding.
She glared at her little brother. "Adam..." she said, a warning tone in her voice.
"I'll shut up now." he said and went back into the lab.
Jefferey Tanner. Thirty eight years old. Advertising agent with Wallace and Brown. The same agency Tamara Collins worked at. He was tall and lenky with red hair he wore in a brush cut and vibrant, defiant green eyes. The first thing Sam noticed when she sat down across from him was the small puncture wound on his right palm that had traces of blue ink around the edges.
"Tell us why you did it, Jefferey." Flack said calmy, from across the room where he leaned agasint the window ledge.
Mac, Lindsay and Hawkes watched and listened in the next room through the one way glass.
"I don't know what you're talking about." Jefferey said in response.
"Sure you do." Sam said and slid the same photo Flack had pushed in the face of Tyler Mann earlier across the table. "Tamara Collins. Your upstairs neighbour. She lived in your old apartment. The young woman that you raped and stabbed ad left to die on her living room floor."
Jefferey leaned back in his seat cockily, hands behind his head. "I didn't rape or kill anyone."
"Reminds me of D.J. Pratt when we collared him for Aiden." Mac commented to Lindsay and Hawkes.
"This isn't going to well for you, Jefferey." Flack said. "You've already lied twice in two minutes. And I hate liars."
"Good for you." Jefferey retorted.
"How'd you hurt your hand?" Sam asked, nodding at the injury.
'Work place accident."
"That looks like ink in the wound." Sam observed. "Tamara Collins had ink in her wound too. I have these tests that can tell me if the ink in your wound matches the ink in her's. How about you let me take a sample and I'll run the tests."
"I know my rights, lady." Jefferey snapped.
"We have rights, too," Flack told him, standing at the edge of the table, hands on the surface as he leaned forward. "They're called warrants. And I can get one. Or maybe I can just go with the evidence we already have against you."
"You're in the national DNA data base because of the assault you committed in '03." Sam told him. "Because of that, I was able to take your DNA and match it to the blood on this." she showed him a photo of the fountain pen. "The pen that killed Tamara."
"We've got you, Jefferey." Flack said as he sat down. "So how about you just come clean and tell us what happened last night."
Jefferey remained silent.
"I talked to the real estate agent that sold your apartment." Sam said, "He told me that you were very adamant about accepting Tamara's offer even though it was well below your asking price. Detective Flack and I thought it was strange that you'd take a twenty five thousands dollar loss like that so we started digging around and asking questions. Turns out you knew Tamara. You worked with her at the ad agency. When the officers talked to you this morning, you said you didn't know her at all."
Flack held up three fingers. "That's how many lies you've told." he said to Jefferey. "Wanna go for the whole hand?"
"The agent also told us that you were adamant about purchasing in the same building." Sam continued. "Even though he had found you something even better. And that you stayed in a hotel for three months until an apartment in that building became available."
"Then we found out Tamara complained you were harrassing her." Flack added.
'Why'd you do it Jefferey?" Sam asked.
He released his hands from behind his head and sat properly in the chair. "She told me she loved me." he said quietly.
"You were in a relationship with her?" Sam inquired. "For how long?"
Jefferey sighed. "Over a year." he admitted. "We met at work. Started an affair. For a whole year she told me that she loved me and promised to leave Tyler for me."
"Then she got pregnant and everything changed." Sam concluded.
"She wouldn't leave him. I begged her and begged her when I went to see her last night. I even offered her money! She wouldn't take it. She said Tyler proposed and she loved him and wanted to be with him."
"And you lost it." Flack said.
"Women, they say things." Jefferey attempted to explain. "They put all this stuff in your head and you believe them and you fall in love with them and then you find out it was all lies." he turned pleading eyes to Flack. "You're a guy! You understand!"
"No." Flack said shaking his head. "I don't."
"We argued." Jefferey continued. "She threatened to call the police. I snapped and I picked up the pen from coffee table and I stabbed her."
"And then you left her there." Sam chimed in. "And while she was bleeding to death, you took the time to take off your clothes and put on some of Tyler's while you cleaned the blood up so you wouldn't get the mess all over yours and if the cops found his clothes with her blood on it they'd assume he was the killer. And when you were done cleaning up, you put your clothes back on and dumped Tyler's down the chute."
"To frame him." Flack said.
Jefferey's hands were clasped tightly in front of him and silent tears spilled down his face as he rocked back and forth. "I'm sorry!" he sobbed. "I'm so sorry! What have I done? I loved her!"
Sam shook her head sadly. "You murdered a beautiful young woman and her unborn child." she said in disgust. "And all you can say to us is that you're sorry and you loved her? You're going to be getting a lot of love where you're going, Jefferey. Those cons are gonna love you when they find out you murdered that baby. They love to prey on guys like you. You'll make a real nice bitch for someone."
"For the next twenty five to life." Flack threw in, as he and Sam stood up and began gathering up their papers.
"Damn..." Sheldon shook his head in disbelief and appreciation. "She's good, Mac."
The boss of the crime lab smiled broadly. "She's fitting in just nicely." he said in approval.
"I really did love her." Jefferey cried out as Sam and Flack approached the door.
Flack snorted. "Ya had a hell of a way of showing it." he said and slipped out the door.
'What will happen to me?" Jefferey asked Sam before she could leave.
"Its not up to me." she replied. "And if it was? Trust me, you don't want to hear the answer."
Aphina: I'm glad you liked the way Flack and Carmen respond to eachother. And Gavin is there to offer his support and his condolences. You'll be surprised how Flack reacts!
Madison Bellows: lol! I am so sorry you needed therapy after that last one. Its okay. I needed a stiff drink after writing it! LOL! More Moran to come!
Lily moonlight: I'm glad you enjoy the use of the flashbacks and the little cliffhangers.
Next chapter: a little girl time!