SD - Hello lurker! Thank you for appearing and saying that - it really has cheered me up! I hope you're managing to find a way out of the job!!

laplandgurl - yeah, he can see them, but can't hear them... why? Have I completely blanked that fact somehere - it wouldn't surprise me if I had (:s)

Aphina - it tuned out to be vodka, and I was hammered... I need to learn how to drink again! I 've been reading over what I have coming up - I think that sh'es gonna end up having a nervous breakdown!

RK9 - I was kicking myself, but there's no way she and Sheldon can be together (:c) The following day was better - lol, I went into the other job, saw my eye candy, and spent the day messing around ahem working with one of the lads in the office!

demolished-soul - Thank you for the e-hug - it worked! And he is too good looking to be locked up! lol

sparkyCSI - Snow - that's crazy!! And I think you may have witnessed my drunkeness - I shall not be watching that film when not quite sober!

meadow567 - Thank you - here's another for ya!

Madison Bellows - My mind works in mysterious ways, that's for sure! If she needs a drink now, I dread to see what she's gonna need in a few (storyline) weeks! And thank you!

What The Eyes Can't See

Chapter 161: My bones ache my skin feels cold And I'm getting so tired and so old

After having the ghost wave a ring in her face for the majority of the ride back, Taylor headed back upstairs to the crime lab, locating Danny almost instantly. She sat down opposite him and stared at him until he focused in on her.

'I had to see someone,' he explained vaguely.

'And who was that important that you risked the paintwork of Maggie?'

'Who is Maggie?'

'The car, Danny. The car.' She shook her head. 'Look, about the case you're working. The dead guy in his underwear.'

'What?'

'He keeps showing me a ring.' She frowned. 'Well, he's now wearing a ring on his muddle finger, which he keeps waving in my face, but I'm choosing to see that as a clue rather than him swearing at me.'

Danny smiled as Stella and Mac walked into the room. 'Anything?'

Stella nodded. 'Actually, yes. Hawkes was working in ballistics yesterday. He test fired two different handguns.'

Taylor frowned. 'So?'

'So,' Mac explained, 'if he fired the gun and then slid the sweatshirt on later at home, traces of residue could have easily transferred to his sleeve.'

Stella's face fell. 'So we've explained the GSR. What about the cash in his pockets?'

Mac frowned. 'Let's treat Hawkes as he is – our only viable suspect. Let's interrogate him, right here, right now. Lets ask the hard questions, see what answers we come up with.'

'Okay,' agreed Stella. 'So what the hell was he doing on Green Street, that early in the morning?'

Danny leant forward in his chair. 'He works the late shift, Tuesday and Wednesdays 2 till 8. I know for a fact he goes running after he gets off. He says it's the only way he can wind down.'

Taylor nodded. 'I usually go with him. The streets are quieter at that time. We either leave here, head up Broadway, or he comes to mine and we head up Broadway. Then we head through the Park and go home through the side streets. It's only since I've had Cordelia that I can't go with him all time.'

'Okay, good,' Mac nodded. 'Has he been in that bar before?'

Taylor shrugged. 'Not when we've been running. There's a water fountain in the Park we always stop at that, but that's about it.'

Danny looked up. 'We've been in before. I'd say two or three times, maybe.'

Mac sighed. 'So it's possible he was casing the place.'

Taylor frowned. 'But even if he was, what was his motive?'

Mac shrugged. 'Maybe he needed money?' he suggested.

'Nah,' said Danny, shaking his head. 'He never mentioned anything about being strapped for cash.'

Taylor nodded. 'We talk about a lot of things, but money has never been a topic of conversation.'

Stella walked around the table and perched on the end of it, looking thoughtful. 'Three weeks ago, he started working the nightshift. That's overtime.'

Taylor grinned. 'Actually, he took the night shift because it's cooler. Three weeks ago your AC was completely on the blink.'

'He did move into a new apartment,' Stella continued.

Danny held his hand up. 'I'm telling you Stella, the motive is not money.'

'How can you be so sure?' Stella asked with a frown.

'Because the bouncer said the shooter fired his weapon after he already had the cash.'

'You talked to the bouncer?' Mac asked in disbelief, anger touching at his words.

'Danny, what were you thinking?' Stella cried, just as outraged as Mac. 'You can be accused with tampering with the witness, or interfering with an investigation!'

'Way to anger Papa Flack,' Taylor muttered under her breath.

'Taylor's right,' Stella told him after the dirty look he sent in Taylor's direction. 'And Gerrard is looking for any excuse to come at us.'

'Flack's dad hated me before he met me, and Gerrard's been after my badge since I started.'

'So why did you go see the bouncer?' Mac fumed. 'You might as well have just handed your badge over to him.

'I'm sorry, all right?' Danny apologised, holding his hands out in front of him. 'But look, I didn't break any rules, all right. I just bent them a little bit - I didn't break them.' He looked up at Mac. 'But look, Hawkes was pulled out the back seat of an unmarked police car. His hands were cuffed behind his back. I mean, he looked like a suspect before they even ID'd him.' He shrugged. 'I just wanted to know the bouncer was sure.'

Stella pursed her lips. 'And?'

Danny sighed. 'He said that Hawkes did it. And that after he did it, he took the money from the register and he still shot the bartender.'

'Oh come on,' Taylor muttered. 'That's about as in character for Sheldon as me saying he dresses up in drag as Beyonce at the weekend.' She sat back in her chair. 'That's not Hawkes behaviour. It's like someone… someone setting him up.'

Mac looked thoughtfully at Taylor. 'Someone's framing him. There's no other explanation.'

Stella frowned. 'He would have to have been planning it for the last three weeks.'

Mac nodded. 'They must have been watching him to know when he was working the late shift. That he goes running after work wearing those types of clothes, running in that particular neighbourhood.'

'And that I have Cordelia now,' Taylor added. 'Which means he would have to know when Don is working so he knows when I can't go. That's really heavy preparation. He couldn't do it on a whim because I could be there.' She stopped and bit her lip.

Stella shook her head. 'But how would they know he's working ballistics and he got GSR on his hands?'

Mac shrugged. 'They got lucky.'

Taylor drew in a deep breath. 'But why would someone want to do this? Why would somebody want to take down Hawkes? I mean, it's Sheldon.'

Danny nodded. 'And why this way?'

'Because someone's trying to prove a point,' said Mac.

'I don't follow,' Taylor told him.

'A bartender took two shots in the chest, the arrest was made based on id of a single eyewitness – the bouncer. It's not much evidence to go on. The average citizen might just believe that the justice system doesn't work. Sound familiar?'

Taylor shook her head. 'No.'

Stella, on the other hand, nodded. 'Shane Casey.'

Danny scowled. 'That son of a bitch is back.'

Taylor looked at them, frowning slightly as she tried to remember. 'The severed head?'

Stella nodded. 'The severed head, the elaborate t-shirts, the guy impaled to the tree…'

'The guy who escaped custody,' Taylor mused. 'But Don never really explained why Casey was after Hawkes. I mean, why he was killing people.'

'His brother was sentenced to life imprisonment for robbing a bar and shooting the bartender in the process,' Mac explained. 'He was then found dead in is cell.'

'Casey blames the legal system for the death of his innocent brother.'

Taylor sighed and glanced down at her watch, letting out a little yelp when she realised what the time was. 'Cordelia,' she cried, leaping to her feet and running out of the doorway.

She made it to the school, only just. There were only a handful of kids left to be collected at that time. Cordelia was standing with them, with her teacher, who was waiting, supervising them.

Taylor flashed the teacher a grateful smile and bustled Cordelia into the car. 'Sorry,' she apologised as they pulled away. 'Did you do anything interesting in class?'

Cordelia muttered something about a Bumblebee, and then stuck her nose into a book she had extracted from her bag.

Taylor sighed and focused on the traffic that seemed to have suddenly appeared from nowhere.

By the time Flack returned from work, Taylor had cooked the pair of them tea (EasyMac), watched a film with Cordelia (High School Musical) and had tucked her in bed with the book (Harry Potter).

And she was exhausted.

Flack walked into the bedroom, pulling of his tie, and found Taylor in bed with her laptop. Taylor looked up and smiled wearily, pushing the computer to one side as he flopped down on the bed next to her.

'How are things going?'

Flack scowled up at the ceiling. 'He's driving me mad.'

Taylor sighed. 'I don't get it. I mean, sure he's Internal Affairs, but if the case involves you, to some degree, why is he here? He can't be the only IAB officer in the state of New York.'

'He's not,' Flack told her. 'Thing is, my dad still carries a lot of weight in the Tri-Borough. And if he wants to get involved, he will.'

Taylor glanced down at him, playing with his hair. 'But surely he shouldn't be?'

Flack shrugged. 'Like he was with Marty, he's trying to protect me. The thing is, I don't need protecting,' he told her, clearly frustrated.

'Have you told him this?' she asked him carefully.

Flack looked up at her. 'You've met the man. Does he seem like the listening type?'

Taylor slowly shook her head.

'We stopped talking, you know,' he admitted quietly.

Taylor stopped playing with his hair and stared at him.

'About six years ago.'

'Why?'

Flack scoffed. 'Messer.'

Taylor wrinkled her nose up as she shifted herself into a more upright position. 'Come again.'

'When dad worked in narco, he spent half his time arresting Danny's father. So when Danny became a cop, let's just say he wasn't pleased.' Flack scowled again. 'He was fuming when I came in one night after going for a few drinks with him and Aiden. Told me to keep away.'

'Does Danny know about this?'

Flack burst out laughing. 'Of course not. How do you think he'd react if I'd have told him that?'

'Good point,' Taylor muttered.

'So I spent five years with the occasional strained dinner. Of course, your son getting blown up will change your outlook. He figured not talking to me nearly killed me, so now he's going to protect me by talking at me. And it doesn't help that he's in IAB. They have far too much power.'

'And I'm clearly not helping matters,' Taylor sighed.

'Not with the father/son relations,' Flack shrugged.

Taylor looked out of the window, suddenly feeling very guilty.

'But the thing is,' Flack continued. 'I don't want to live at home with my dad.'

'Yeah, but I don't want to be the reason why you two don't make up.'

'Taylor,' Flack smiled, 'you are just one of many reasons on a list as long as I am tall. We weren't talking properly before you came onto the scene, and you're certainly not the reason why we're still not talking.' He pulled himself into an upright position and shuffled back next to Taylor. 'What are you up to?' he asked her. 'Next column?'

Taylor shook her head. 'I've got to go see Alex about that next Saturday.'

'What about the Pig Farm?'

Taylor shut her eyes with a wince. 'That's Saturday, isn't.'

Beside her, Flack nodded. 'Yeah.'

'Crap,' Taylor muttered.

Flack patted her knee. 'We can reschedule?'

Taylor shook her head. 'No, you two go. I don't want to disappoint Cordy.'

Flack nodded. 'So what are you doing?' he asked her again.

Taylor pulled the laptop back onto her lap. 'This Shane Casey thing. I didn't know the story behind it until this afternoon.'

'And?'

Taylor shrugged and placed the laptop on Flack. 'See for yourself.'

'Shot For $192 on 192nd.' Flack read. 'It's an article about the bartender Casey's brother shot.'

Taylor nodded and pointed to something on the screen.

'You wrote that?'

Taylor nodded again. 'One of the first, and last, articles I wrote – before I stopped reporting the crime, and started describing it. Not that it helps in any way,' she shrugged.

'Taylor,' Flack muttered. 'Turn the laptop off and come get some sleep.'

My room is a tip... I'm going to tidy it then hit the hay before another day at work! Thanks for reading, and I hope y'all are still enjoying!