A/N : Thank you, thank you, thank you for the reviews and the alerts. So I guess I had better keep writing updates then ...? Please believe when I say I am trying not to write too OOC but please allow for a little artistic licence and that I wrote this on vacation ... (imagine avatar with red cheeks and sheepish grin!) ;-)

Chapter 6

In the conference room, Sheldon Hawkes and Jo Danville leaned forward in their seats peering at the monitor in front of them.

"Did you do that skiing?" asked Sheldon, tipping his head to one side, as he noted the bruise along Mac's jaw and the cut over his eye.

Mac cleared his throat. "Er not exactly..."

"No he didn't!" interrupted Stella sounding as though she was reciting her grocery list. "He was chasing a knife-wielding murderer around an abandoned dairy."

"What?" Jo threw her hands in the air in frustration. "Honestly Mac! You're supposed to be on vacation."

"It's not my fault ..." Mac grumbled.

"Yes it is. You should have called for back-up." Stella admonished.

"He never calls for back-up." moaned Jo as she rolled her eyes.

"Tell me about it." Stella and Jo exchanged sympathetic looks. Mac looked from one to the other and decided to put a stop to this especially as Danny was now leaning against the kitchen bar looking like a Cheshire cat in anticipation of Stella and Jo joining forces to verbally rip him to shreds.

"Can we get to the matter at hand? Emily Carter. Bring us up to speed on what's happening at your end," he ordered as he threw Danny a warning look.

"Okay." Jo looked at the file in front of her. "Saturday night at 11pm, two guys got into a fight at Angelo's bar. One of them gets hit over the head with a glass bottle. The perp then pulls a knife and stabs him before turning on the owner, surprisingly named Angelo. Amazingly Angelo survived the attack ... he's in Trinity recovering. We have a description of a white male in his fifties wearing a dark suit, no tie. He was about 5' 11'', roughly 180lbs, short cropped dark hair, recent scar over his right eye ..." Jo broke off trying to suppress a smile as she glanced at Mac and then at Stella. Danny cracked up. Even the serious Sheldon Hawkes had to smile.

Mac looked very unhappy as Stella grinned at him. "Oh come on Mac. You've got to see the funny side. It sounds just like you."

"I don't weigh 180lbs!" he huffed much to everyone's amusement as Jo continued.

"The owner said he hadn't seen him before but he clearly knew the victim as they had spent some time talking before the argument broke out. And you are going to love this - the victim is one Ronnie Escott!"

"Whoa!" Danny pushed off the bar and came to look over Mac and Stella's shoulders. "Ronnie Escott? He's been on NYPD's most wanted books for months. Money laundering, racketeering, prostitution rings, illegal gaming you name it. This guy has probably done us a favour." He then paused for a moment. "Sure it wasn't you Mac?"

Mac arched an eyebrow as he turned around and glared at Danny but even he had to smile. "Where does Emily Carter fit in?"

"According to Angelo, Emily is Escott's mistress. Angelo swears that he saw Emily bend over Escott and that Escott told her something before he died. Mac, Angelo is positive that he saw Emily take something from Escott's inside jacket pocket."

Mac thought for a moment. "What do you have on our vic Sandra Beale?"

Sheldon shook his head. "Nothing much. She's Emily Carter's landlady. According to the building super Emily rents a room from Sandra. She works as a freelance beautician, doing massage, facials, manicures at her clients' homes. She has her own business card and web site. Looks legit. Don's at her place now with Adam. Apparently it's been turned over. Someone was looking for something. "

"The question is what? It's obviously something that our killer wants badly enough to follow Emily and Sandra here." Mac sighed heavily and ran his hand through his hair. "By the way, did you find any blue glass at the scene?"

Sheldon nodded. "Yeah, there was a blue coloured bottle. Bombay Sapphire. It was one of the first ones that Adam put back together. Why?"

"Because we found a glass shard embedded in the carpet in Sandra and Emily's room." answered Stella. "And Lindsay managed to cast a boot-print from the dairy that also has blue glass in it so if we can match the glass we could place our perp in that bar."

Sheldon looked surprised. "Lindsay's got her kit with her?"

Mac shook his head and pulled a face. "Leg wax kit!"

Sheldon's eyes widened clearly as impressed as Mac had been earlier. "Leg wax? Would never have thought of that."

Mac shrugged. "Me neither.".

Stella and Jo smiled at one another. "Would have been surprised if you had."

As no one seemed to to have anything else to add, Mac nodded and pinched the bridge of his nose between his eyes where a headache was beginning to form. "Okay let us know if you find anything that will lead us to identifying this guy."

Sheldon and Jo nodded as they once more leaned closer to the screen. Sheldon screwed up his eyes. "Is that duct tape?" he asked as Mac glanced down at his arm and hastily pulled down the sleeve of his sweater. Jo opened her mouth but Mac leaned forward, and with a disarming smile, hit the disconnect button.

"Lunch time." he announced just as the door opened and Lucy stomped into the hall followed by her mother and Sid who was carrying a large bag of groceries.

Sid had nothing more to add from his preliminary investigation so Mac cleared away the laptop and took it back to his room. He put it in its case and sat down on the edge of the bed, his head in his hands. Questions whirled around his mind. Where was Emily Carter? What had she taken from Ronnie Escott? Who had killed Escott? Was it the same person that had killed Sandra? Was there a murderer running around? Mac listened to Lucy's excited chatter. He didn't like the idea of this guy being anywhere near his god-daughter. Lost in thought he was oblivious to Stella coming up behind him until the bed sagged under her weight and she wrapped her arms around him.

He lifted his head to look at her. Stella looked into his worried eyes and knew that he wasn't going to stop until he had caught this man. "Do you think she's dead? Emily Carter?" she asked.

"Either that or she's hiding. That's what she came up here to do. Hide."

Stella nodded as she thought out loud. "She calls up at the last minute, books for a week when they wouldn't normally come. She persuades Sandra to come with her. Somehow our perp finds out they've come here. Follows them to retrieve whatever it is that Emily took from Escott. He searches their room but Sandra comes back early. He kills her and waits for Emily ... What do think she took?"

Mac shrugged. "I don't know. Something small that fits into a pocket. Wallet, money, keys .. what would Escott have on him that he would want Emily to take?" Suddenly Mac straightened.

"What?" asked Stella seeing Mac had thought of something.

"You said she called up at the last minute and booked for a week when they wouldn't normally come. How did they get here?" Mac grabbed his phone and skimmed through the contacts list. He tapped Don's name.

"Don? Do you know if Emily or Sandra have a car?" Mac listened as Don related the information. "Okay, got it." He nodded at Stella. "Yeah, I'm fine ... Don't you start!" He ended the call but not before Stella heard Don's laughter at the other end of the phone. Mac cleared his throat. "Don's already checked. Last call they made was to a car hire firm. They've got a blue SUV."

"Okay, I don't recall seeing one outside the B&B last night. Why don't you call Sam and see if he and Bruce can locate it then come and have some lunch. Don't forget you're supposed to be on vacation. Besides you have your other woman to entertain this afternoon." Stella smirked as Mac gave her a withering look. He picked up the phone again and called Sam, briefly relating the information. He tossed the phone onto the bed and thought about lunch but then he had a change of heart and pushing her back onto the covers planted a kiss firmly on Stella's lips.

"There's only one woman in my life."

Stella grinned. "And don't you forget it!"

A little over forty-five minutes later they both went downstairs rather sheepishly expecting everyone to be waiting on them for lunch. However their absence appeared to have gone entirely unnoticed as Danny, Lindsay and Sid were gathered round the bar separating the kitchen from the living room. Lucy was perched on a stool at the other side of the kitchen making shapes out of the leftover cookie dough while the adults had vandalised a fondue set, a wire coat-hanger and a large plastic bag. A tube of super-glue lay on the kitchen counter. They were attempting to lift a latent print from the handle of the knife that Mac's assailant had dropped the previous evening.

"Come on, come on." muttered Danny.

Sid peered closely at the knife while Lindsay held the bag and the coat-hanger. "I think we're getting something."

After a few seconds Lindsay squealed excitedly and lifted the plastic. "Got it! A perfect print."

"Okay babe. Hold it steady." Danny focussed the camera of his cell phone on the print. "Let's see if Sheldon can get us a match."

'*****'

Stella glided down the wide slope in a gentle turn as she followed Lucy. She was amazed by the apparent ease with which the little girl confidently followed Mac down the Esplanade. Stella was glad that she had decided to take a revision lesson the previous day as it had been many years since she had skied last but Mac was right. It was like riding a bicycle though she wouldn't have liked to tackle anything more difficult than a blue run. At least one advantage of their jobs was that they all kept fit which was essential for skiing. They glided down to the bottom of the slope. Mac flicked his skis to one side and came to a gentle stop as he watched Lucy snow-plough her way to a stop in front of him.

"That's great Lucy! Good job!" Lucy's face lit up with pride at the praise from her godfather. "Time to take a break. You thirsty?" he asked as he stepped out of his skis. Lucy nodded. Mac helped her with her skis while Stella undid her helmet. Mac looked at the sky in the distance. "Best stop now anyway. Looks like bad weather rolling in." Stella nodded in agreement as she too looked at the dark heavy clouds over the mountain peaks. Taking their time they made their way over to Jack's stopping at the lockers to exchange their ski-boots for apres-ski. Stella helped Lucy first and accompanied her up onto the terrace while Mac finished stowing the gear.

Stella sank gratefully into a chair as Jack came over to take their order. "I wonder if Mommy and Daddy have finished their lesson. Can you see them?" she asked Lucy who immediately stood on her chair and looked out over the slopes. Stella smiled at Jack and ordered hot chocolate for her and Lucy and coffee for Mac. She looked around for him wondering what was taking him so long. Curious she got up and peered over the edge of the balcony. Stella frowned as there was no sign of him. She did however see Sid heading towards her. She waved as he approached.

"Hey Stella! Lucy! I'll be right up." True to his word, it was only a few minutes before Sid made an appearance. "Where's Mac?"

"That's what I'd like to know." huffed Stella. "I left him stowing our gear. He was right behind us and now he's vanished into thin air."