A/N : Thank you, dear friends, for the reviews and the alerts. They really do mean a lot. Without them I would have given up writing a long time ago.

Chapter 5

Danny forced his eyes open and grinned at his daughter. "Come on Daddy. Auntie Stella's making pancakes." Lucy leapt off the bed and disappeared. Danny stretched and smiled looking at the bathroom door where he could hear water running. He contemplated joining his wife for a minute but curiosity got the better of him and he grabbed a sweatshirt to see what had taken Mac and Stella out at midnight.

As he made his way downstairs he saw that Mac was stretched out on the sofa with Lucy watching a re-run of Dexter's Laboratory. As Dexter sat frantically tapping away at his over-sized computer concocting his latest plan to keep Dee Dee out, Danny was suddenly reminded of Adam. He grinned but as he rounded the back of the couch and caught sight of Mac the grin disappeared as his mouth fell open.

"What the ..." Danny managed to suppress the swear word he was about to use on seeing his daughter glued to Mac's side. "...happened to you?" Mac winced and shuffled nervously. Before he could say anything Stella answered for him.

"Oh just the usual." Her voice was heavily laced with sarcasm. Mac's wince turned into a grimace. "Running off without weapons or back-up to chase knife-wielding murderers through abandoned dairies before ending up almost crushed to death under a pile of steel barriers." Danny turned to stare at Stella before glancing back at Mac. If he didn't know better he could have sworn Mac was cringing.

Lucy was looking thoughtful. She may not have understood what the adults were going on about but she had picked up on the tone of voice. "Have you been naughty Uncle Mac?" she whispered conspiratorially.

"Only a bit." he whispered back.

"Oh" Lucy nodded as she brought her head closer to her godfather's. "Don't tell Mommy 'cos you're not allowed TV when you're naughty." Even Stella had to smile.

After breakfast, while Lindsay took Lucy to get ready for her ski lesson, the other's discussed the case.

"So do think this is a burglary gone wrong?" asked Danny as he turned to Sid. "I mean you said that there have been a lot of burglaries up here."

Sid looked thoughtful. "Possibly but according to Sam most of the burglaries here occur at lodges and chalets when the owners are away. And they are mostly interested in money, jewellery and small electronic items – laptops, mp3 players, cell phones. That type of thing. They don't usually go for B&B's – too many people around and weekend skiers don't tend to bring that kind of thing with them. Also they rarely trash the place. They're more grab and bag, in and out in a few minutes. Sandra Beale's room was thoroughly searched."

Mac nodded his head thoughtfully. "I agree with Sid. They were definitely looking for something specific. Her purse was untouched and she had a nice watch and rings. Also the fact that the perp hung around afterwards tells us that he probably didn't get what he was looking for."

"So the perp is searching the room when Sandra Beale comes back and surprises him. He kills her and then jumps out of the window and hides across the street in the old dairy until you come along?" Danny looked puzzled. "Why?"

"Perhaps he was waiting for Emily Carter to come back?" offered Stella. "She was still missing the last time we heard. Sam and Bruce were going to check the local bars after they dropped us off."

"What could be so important that this guy is willing to kill for it?"

Before anyone could answer the all important question the door-bell rang. Danny jumped up and went to answer it. After a few seconds he came back with Sam Kingston.

"Morning folks. How are you all doing?" he addressed everyone but looked specifically at Mac. He seemed genuinely surprised as Mac smiled and shook hands. Mac assured him he was fine and offered him coffee. Stella smiled sweetly at him as he accepted the coffee and sat down. Obviously heads of crime labs were a tough lot. "Well I don't want to butt in but I thought I would just give you all a quick update. Unfortunately there is still no news of Emily Carter. Bruce has checked out the two brothers from the B&B. Their alibi checks out. They were exactly where they said they were and they don't appear to have even come into contact with Sandra or Emily."

Sam broke off as he eyed the plate of pancakes. Stella smiled as she pushed it towards him. Sam grinned as he grabbed a plate and helped himself. Stella passed him the syrup which he applied liberally as he continued. "It seems that the girls lunched at Jack's bar yesterday before taking off about three."

Mac nodded. "That sounds about right. They were still there when I left with Lucy just after two. There was a group of four boys with snowboards who came in just as we left."

Sam swallowed a large mouthful and slurped at the coffee. "I reckon that they must have hit the slopes in the afternoon. Lori says she saw the girls briefly at around six on their way in. They were at Zazi's yesterday evening from about seven but the owner Ally Jackson says that she didn't notice what time they left. She's a little short-staffed and hadn't expected so many customers at this time of year so things were crazy yesterday evening."

"Zazi's?" asked Stella.

"It's a bar and bowling alley round the back of the tourist information. It's not huge but she's got half a dozen lanes, a couple of pool tables. The young folk like to hang out there. Ally was closing up when we arrived. She remembered the girls particularly Emily. Said they were with a group of guys, four of them, possibly the snowboarders you mentioned. Anyway we'll check it out again tonight. I've got a DMV photograph of Emily Carter which Bruce is going to post up." Sam finished up his pancakes and looked at his watch. "I've got to go. I'm going to head over to the ski lifts, show it around, see if we can't find the guys they were with. You ready to go Sid? I can drop you off."

Sid nodded. "I'll meet up with you all later. Back here for lunch?" Mac and Stella nodded. Danny saw them to the door as Mac and Stella cleared away breakfast.

"So what's the plan?" asked Danny. Stella and Mac looked at him quizzically. "Oh come on. I know you're both going to investigate. What do you want us to do?" Just as they were about to protest that they were on vacation, Lindsay leaned over the balcony.

"You take the room and we'll take the dairy. I've just got to drop Lucy off at her lesson on the way and drop in at the drug store." She rolled her eyes as Lucy's voice screamed something about a lost glove. She disappeared without waiting for an answer as Danny took the stairs two at a time to get ready. Mac watched Stella load the dishwasher as he washed the pans. He put them to drain and dried his hands. As Stella switched it on he slipped his arms around her waist.

"Are you still mad at me?" he asked.

Stella twisted around until she was facing him. "Yes" she said sternly but Mac could tell by the look in her eyes that she wasn't really mad. "You promised you would stop all that." she admonished. "Mac, it's hard enough as it is without me worrying about you."

"Stella, I'm sorry. I really didn't think that there was any danger. I was as surprised as you when I realized the perp was still there. Besides I'm fine."

Stella pushed herself away and stuck her hands on her hips "Fine?" she huffed. "Mac have you looked in the mirror this morning? Besides the cuts and scrapes I should like to point out your arm is 'stitched' up with duct tape and the rest of you has bruises the size of oranges." Stella's curls bounced up and down as her arms waved in the air illustrating her words. "Not to mention that there's a bruise on your ribs which is clearly several days old so obviously wasn't from last night." Mac tried to brush that off with an excuse but Stella was in full flow. "You promised when I left for New Orleans that you wouldn't take any unnecessary risks, that you'd take a back seat for take-downs."

"I don't ..." Mac was about to protest but then decided it would be totally pointless as Stella was clearly not having any of it. He tried retreating to the living room but it wasn't to be. Stella stormed after him.

"Really? Do I have to mention the incident with the Devarro brothers, the Vonner Club, the incident on the roof … not to mention the shooting at the lab, the car crash ..." Mac winced. "... and you still haven't told me exactly how you got that scar on your left hip?"

Mac whipped around to face her. He felt the colour rise in cheeks which then turned an even deeper red as he noticed the highly-amused looks on the faces of Danny and Lindsay as they stood on the stairs watching them. Judging by the way their heads flicked back and forth between them, clearly the explanation of how Stella knew Mac had acquired said scar amused them as much as the reason for it's existence. This thought had obviously occurred to Stella too as she blushed prettily and murmured something about needing to use the bathroom before they went out.

Mac gathered up his dignity. "You'd better be getting along. You don't want to be late for Lucy's lesson. We'll meet you at the B&B." As he made his way upstairs he could hear Danny's laughter all the way to the front door.

'*****'

In the bright light of day the room looked worse than ever. Both Mac and Stella were frustrated at not having their kits. But at least Sam had the basics. Stella dusted the window frame for prints while Mac photographed the blood spatter in the bathroom. He picked up the bloodied towel and put it in a bag and put it with the other things that they had taken for analysis.

Stella opened the window letting a blast of cold air into the room. "Where'd you find it?" she shouted. Mac could just make out Danny's voice but not what he was saying. "Okay, we'll meet you downstairs in five." Stella shut the window with a bang. "Danny found the knife buried in the snow where you fought last night. Says there's a broken window on the other side of the building so the perp must have got out that way. There were dents in the snow where a vehicle was parked but the snow covered any tracks. And Lindsay's casting a boot-print with blue glass embedded in it."

Mac frowned. "Casting a boot-print? With what? She hasn't got her kit."

Stella grinned at him. "You'll be surprised what you can do with a leg waxing kit!"

Mac cringed much to Stella's amusement as he ripped off his gloves pushing them in a trash bag. He looked once more around the room. What had the perp been looking for and where was Emily? As if in answer his cell rang. Mac picked up and grinned.

"Morning ..." Mac's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Actually I know. We are currently processing the scene!" Stella frowned wondering who he was talking to as he rolled his eyes. "Yes I know we're supposed to be on vacation … okay so it's a working vacation! … Local PD asked for our help. What was I supposed to say? " Mac winced as he listened to a verbal ear-bashing from the other end of the phone. "All right. Get everyone together. We'll be back at the lodge in an hour. Get Adam to set it up." Mac listened some more grimacing slightly and then hung up with a curt good-bye.

Stella tried to suppress a smile. "So how's Jo?" she asked as she bent down to put away the fingerprint powder in Sam's kit.

"Fine!" Mac shot her a warning glance. "You're not going to believe this but our cases are related."

Stella shot up straight. "What?"

"Sandra Beale and Emily Carter are from New York City. Local PD requested background checks on them from NYPD. Seems it raised some flags. Emily Carter is a Person Of Interest in our current case - the homicide at Angelo's bar."

"The bar fight with the six cases of glass to be processed?" as Stella as she and Mac turned to look at the evidence they had collected. Stella picked up the small bag with the shard of blue glass in it. "Any of it blue?" she asked.

"Why don't we ask them? Adam's setting up a conference call in an hour."