Disclaimer: I don't own CSI:NY.
Series: None.
Spoilers: Risk.

Chapter Fifteen – Risk

"Hey, Angell!"

It wasn't uncommon for Don to call her as she left the precinct, but today it wasn't her partner's voice that stopped her. Danny jogged up to where she was waiting, a tired grin on his face. "Any chance of a ride?"

"Sorry, Danny; I got the subway in today." Jess smiled apologetically.

"Damn, me too." Danny sighed. "I just don't particularly wanna deal with that, you know?"

"Trust me, I do." Jess agreed as they began walking again. "What train do you get?"

It turned out, though Jess wasn't really surprised, that they got the same train, although she got off a stop before him.

It was even darker down in the subway tunnel, since their shifts had finished late, but the train was still packed.

They managed to squeeze into a space right at the front of the train, next to the cabin that held the driver.

Jess was exhausted and she leaned back against the wall, her eyes closing of their own accord. The train jolted slightly and she fell into Danny, who wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "Don't worry about it."

So she stayed where she was, his touch more reminiscent of an older brother than that of a close friend.

Then …

"Jess?" Danny shook her. "Is that what I think it is?"

"Hmm?" Jess forced her eyes to open and shook herself, peering out of the window and on to the tracks in front of them. "If you're thinking it's a dead body, then yes."

"Hey!" Danny began hammering on the driver's door. "Hey, you gotta stop the train!"

Seeing that the man was wearing headphones, Jess pulled her badge from her belt and held it up, forcing the door open, allowing Danny to slip inside and pull the handbrake hard, causing the train to shudder to a halt, inches from the body on the tracks.

Jess swapped her badge for her radio. "This is Detective Angell; we've got a DB on the line." She gave Dispatch the location and replaced her radio on her belt, trusting them to get the line shut down.

"Where's your PA?" Jess asked.

The driver pointed wordlessly to a mic.

"Danny, you start processing." Jess told him, informing him with a look that she'd had no idea about this turn of events. "I'll take care of things in here." She turned the mic on. "Ladies and gentlemen, if I could have your attention please. My name is Detective Angell, with NYPD. There is a body on the tracks and we need to shut down this line until it's no longer a potential crime scene. The driver is going to head down the train to the other control room and take you back to the last stop."

Jess handed the mic back to the driver and climbed out of the train, edging down to where Danny was leaning over the body, opening the kit he always kept with him. As soon as she was clear, she signalled to the driver, who nodded and disappeared from view.

About ten minutes later, the train began moving again and disappeared in the opposite direction.

"You sure you got nothing?" Danny asked, shining his pen-light into the kid's eyes.

"I'm sure." Jess pulled out her radio again, requesting some more officers. "Young." She commented, crouching beside the body.

"Yeah." Danny sighed. "What do you think? 20? 21?"

"21." Jess decided. "At least I hope so, because it smells like he's been drinking."

"Could be carrying a fake." Danny pointed out.

"God, I hope not." Jess groaned, searching the victim's pockets, pausing only to pull on gloves; a fake ID would create a lot more paperwork than she was prepared to deal with. She found his wallet and extracted his driver's license and student ID. "This isn't a fake. Randy Williams, 21, student at Chelsea University. How long was your last shift?"

"Eighteen hours." Danny sighed. "I should start taking extra caffeine in my coffee."

"I hear you're catching bodies on the way home now." Don teased as he caught up with her at in the crime lab break-room.

"Hey, Danny found the body, not me." Jess corrected. "I heard Aiden grumbling about brokers earlier; what's up?"

"QT Jammer supposedly hung himself out of his office window." Don explained. "He was a stock-broker and we needed to deal with his under-broker; Aiden's not a big fan of the whole concept, let alone him."

Jess chuckled. "You got anything."

"Only that he was suffocated first." Don tilted his head curiously. "You got nothing?"

"It hasn't been a very good day for that." Jess admitted. "Just give me a minute …" She closed her eyes, putting together the broker, the suffocation and the faked suicide.

After a few seconds, Don's face appeared in her mind accompanied by a memory of laughing so hard she actually cried. Even the memory of his expression elicited a giggle.

"What?" Don prompted.

"Birdseed." Jess stated.

Don looked lost. "What?"

"Birdseed." Jess repeated, grinning. "I'm not telling you anymore than that, Detective."

Aiden stuck her head round the door. "Flack, we got a lead. Cecil Arthur, last seen leaving QT Jammer's office a few minutes before TOD. Oddly enough, he's one of the few people who actually made money yesterday."

Jess's grin grew even wider as another piece of the puzzle fell into place. "Do me a favour, Aiden, and try to get it on video."

An hour later, she ran into them again as they traipsed back in, Don muttering something indiscernible as he cleaned remnants of bird seed off his jacket. He gave her a look as he passed that promised retribution for not warning him.

Aiden only paused to hand Jess her phone. "I want a copy." She warned with a smirk. "And thanks for the tip."

AN: This is more of a filler chapter so, since I'm going away for a week and I'm a lovely person, you get an extra one now.