sparkyCSI - I never meant to make Mr Flack this evil! I'm going to blame my muses! lol. Loved the email - half of it, anyway... Flunk!

demolished-soul - Nah, he's sticking around for a few chapters, but the next time he's back, he will be mellowing out. I must admit, I am being cruel at the moment (:s)

meadow567 - hmmm, I am baffled! Sorry about that! But no, she's not off to prison!

Thoren - (:P) I'd certainly have better uses for those cuffs. Ah, a stuffed pig - now that's an idea!

Forest Angel - That one kinda came out of nowhere for me (although I admit the chapter was written a while ago, but at the time, it was out of nowhere!)

miss wizard of oz - kill him off? I'm tempted - I think he ended up being too nasty! lol. I'm tempted

Madison Bellows - By all means - make him as evil as you want! lol And then let me know how you sorted him out!!

laplandgurl - Well, part of that is right, and you're not hijacking anything - although I would willingly give them up for a while. I haven't been able to stop writing!

Mauradingknight - He he he, I still have an element of surprise in me somewhere! lol

Aphina - I thnk I'm being really cruel at the minute. It will all get better, eventually! It has too. (I think my life is reflecting my writing so I know it has to get better, for my own sanity... not that I've been arrested by my potential father-in-law... just the mood I'm in!)

RK9 - Um, okay - here's another chapter - please don't hit me!

No spoilers, just a brilliant beta!

What The Eyes Can't See

Chapter 166: You're worse than Hannibal Lecter, Charlie Manson, Freddie Krueger

Lindsay raked her hands through her hair, biting her lip as she stared down at the four identical documents in front of her. Her mind was telling her this couldn't be happening for a third time, but the four documents in bold, black ink were telling her otherwise. Knowing that running the test for a fifth time wouldn't generate a different result, she gathered up the documents and headed down the corridor to another lab.

'Gasoline,' Danny told her as she entered. 'It was definitely arson.' At her lack of response, he pulled his glasses down from his forehead and stared at her, frowning. 'What?'

'I think we may be in trouble,' she said, before quickly correcting herself. 'I think Taylor may be in trouble.'

'What've got?' Danny asked her, still frowning.

'I uh… I ran a breakdown on the cocaine and ran it through the database to see if matched anything. It did.'

Danny stared at her. She was flushed and definitely concerned; which was worrying him immensely. 'Whaddya got?' he asked her again.

'There was a drugs bust a while back. According to intel, half of the shipment was never seized.'

'And,' Danny pressed, trying not to grow impatient.

Lindsay let out an audible groan as she leant against the table. 'And in the drug bust, they arrested a large collection of members of Tanglewood and the Brooklyn Bullets. It was one of the many raids where they tried to get Sassone, and failed.' Lindsay handed over the sheets of paper, watching as Danny's lips virtually disappeared into a thin line.

'There has to be some mistake.' Danny muttered, looking at the documents.

'There is,' Sgt. Flack's voice boomed across the lab as he stormed in. 'The mistake being that you two are working this case. Although I can't say I expected anything less from you,' he said, directing the last comment at Danny as he glared down at him.

Seeing him tense up, a vein begin to pound in his temple, Lindsay slipped her hand over Danny's. 'Don't,' she whispered.

'What's going on here?' This time it was Mac who had entered the room.

'Your staff not doing their jobs properly,' Sgt. Flack informed him. 'But I wouldn't expect anything less.'

'My staff are my responsibility,' Mac informed him curtly.

'Mac, we were just-'

'Danny, Lindsay, my office,' he said, cutting Danny off. 'Now.'

With a final glare at Sgt. Flack, Danny followed Lindsay out of the lab, making sure to thrust the results in Sgt. Flack's face.

Mac watched the pair leave and then turned his attention to the senior IAB sergeant. 'I don't appreciate the disruption, nor the case being taken away. Taylor Turner does not work here, and she does not deserve Internal Affairs' involvement.'

'Taylor, I think you may be a little too involved in the case. I have told you once, and it looks like I'm going to have to tell you this again. IAB has this case, not CSI. Your involvement is not helping Miss Turner.'

Mac exhaled heavily. 'I think it's you who is too involved in this case,' he retorted. 'My staff will stay away from this. I expect you to stay away from them.' He turned heavily and practically marched into his office where he walked in, slamming the door behind him. 'What were you two thinking?' he demanded.

Lindsay looked down at the ground, but Danny met Mac's intense glare. 'She may not have a badge, Mac, but she's somehow worked her way into the team, whether you acknowledge that or not.'

'Daniel Messer, do not make me assign you to desk duty,' he snapped, his eyes bulging.

'Look, Mac,' said Lindsay, speaking up. 'We know Taylor. And we know that she's not a drug dealer.'

Mac sighed, sinking into his chair. 'The problem is the evidence is mounting up. And none of it is in her favour.'

Taylor was pacing back and forth, still in the interview room, still accompanied by the same cop who was doing nothing more that watch her repetitive movements. The day was slowly progressing further and further downhill, and it was showing no signs of getting better.

The door opened and Sgt. Flack once again entered, indicating that she should sit. She did, hoping that he was bringing her better news.

He wasn't.

'So, Miss Turner, are you sure you don't want that lawyer yet?'

Taylor shook her head. 'No. Because I haven't done anything. And I know how this works because I have seen enough interviews to know.'

Sgt. Flack settled back into his chair and stared across at her.

Taylor stared back. Flack had definitely picked up a thing or two from his father.

'Well, Miss Turner. I've been having my team run various pieces of evidence, and I would like a little clarification on some of it.'

'Really?' Taylor asked as the sarcasm laced her voice. 'You mean you're not going to jump to conclusions?'

Sgt. Flack linked his fingers together, settling them on the desk in front of him. 'We ran the cocaine to see if it matches anything seized in an earlier bust.'

'And?' Taylor asked when he didn't continue.

'And we made a match. To a drug bust last November.'

'And?' Taylor repeated.

'We arrested a lot of members of the Brooklyn Bullets and the Tanglewood Boys. And according to the undercover officer, a large proportion of the drugs that should have been seized weren't. And yet here they are.'

Taylor slowly shook her head. 'Look, I don't know anything about that bust, and I don't know how those drugs appeared in my apartment. Someone has got to be setting me up,' she told him, her eyes pleading with him to believe her.

'It's funny you should say that,' he told her. That leads me to my second query. I would like you to explain something we found on your laptop.'

Taylor could feel the blood draining from her face. 'Those files are private,' she told him.

'No, those files are evidence,' he retorted.

'It's research,' she admitted.

'To take over the leadership now Sassone is in prison?'

'What?' Taylor asked in disbelief. 'No!'

'Then would you care to explain why you're researching it?'

Taylor pinched the bridge of her nose as she frowned. 'It's for a story,' she told him.

'Funny,' Sgt. Flack told her, dryly. 'Because according to your editor, he doesn't know anything about it.'

'That's because he doesn't know anything about it,' Taylor snapped.

'You make a habit of hiding things?'

That was it: the moment when Taylor lost all patience for her potential father-in-law. 'Seriously?' she snapped, the chair squealing across the tiled floor as she stood up abruptly. 'What is your problem with me?'

'Sit down,' Sgt. Flack told her, coldly.

'No,' Taylor retorted. 'This is ridiculous!'

'Sit down!' he bellowed at her.

Slowly, Taylor sank back into the chair, regretting losing her temper. 'Those two gangs have been popping up far too frequently,' she explained, trying to keep her voice level. 'They've been getting more and more powerful over the last few years, especially the Brooklyn Bullets, and let's face it; the police have been pretty useless. I was just trying to get as much information on them as possible. To be honest, I hadn't even thought about what I was going to do with it once I was finished. Hand it over to your son? Publish a giant exposé? I really hadn't thought.'

Sgt Flack pursed his lips before inhaling deeply. 'And how do you explain the large payments into your bank account?'

Taylor screwed up her face in confusion. 'What are you talking about?'

'The weekly payments from felons?' Sgt. Flack explained calmly.

'Oh!' Taylor breathed a sigh of relief as she worked out what he was talking about. 'That's easy. That's, well, child support. From my brother. He's in prison in California, but I'm looking after his niece. I told him it wasn't a problem, but he insisted.' She smiled at Sgt. Flack, until a smile began to creep across his lips.

'And what about the other payments?' he asked her.

The smile fell from Taylor's lips. 'What other payments?'

'From the other felon,' Sgt. Flack half explained.

Taylor shook her head. 'I have no idea what you're talking about.'

The smile grew as Sgt. Flack settled back into his chair. 'You have been receiving weekly payments of two thousand dollars for the past five months.'

Taylor's eyes practically bulged out of her head. 'I've what?!'

'We checked your finances, Miss Turner. You had an initial payment of twenty thousand dollars in May, and regular payments since. Are you telling me you didn't know about that?'

'No, I didn't,' Taylor told him, shaking her head.

'Don't you check your bank account?'

Taylor shook her head again. 'No. Not really. I get paid more than enough to cover my rent and all my bills.'

'And what about shopping?'

Taylor shrugged. 'I'm about as good with my finances as I am with cooking. I do words, not numbers. So long as I don't have a letter from the bank telling me I'm overdrawn, I don't tend to pay any attention. And as for shopping, I've had no time. What with a child, my job and all the ghosts – I barely have time to sleep. And I can tell you I certainly don't have time for criminal activities, not with the dead coming to see me left, right and centre.'

'The dead?' Sgt. Flack repeated, scathingly. 'I think it's a little too late to be trying to pull off the insanity plea.'

Taylor froze as she realised what she had said. 'Crap,' she muttered, running her hands through her hair. 'Oh crap,' she repeated softly as she realised just how much trouble she was in. 'I think it's time I made that phone call I'm entitled to.'

Well, I have to go to work, but I will update again tonight!