Madison Bellows - I can be nice, but then life puts me in a dark mood and it really reflects in the chapter. I agree with you on TPTB. And I certainly hope things are gonna get interesting - I do worry sometimes!

Aphina - Overworked - not sure about the brilliant, lol, but thanks. I'm hoping things that aren't suddenly appearing - I've been trying to set subtle things up for chapters!

meadow567 - it was over the Casey case - I altered the episode, nothing major! He didn't plant the drugs - although that would have been an interesting way to go! I hope I didin't keep you waiting too long!

Thoren - lol, not at all! I'm glad because sometimes I feel like I'm in the minority - I really do like Lindsay! And thank you!

RK9 - And again! Although the next update may be a couple of days off... Wednesday (which will be my first day off since Good Friday, and the last until... I'm not sure because I don't have next week's rotas - I just know I am working 10pm Sunday until 1pm Monday!) Mmmm, bacon! lol. Well, so long as people like you keep reading, I'll keep writing! Somehow, the ideas just keep coming!

HUGE thanks to my beta, sparkCSI!

What The Eyes Can't See

Chapter 168: The life has been siphoned right out of my veins

Mac hung up his phone and settled back into his chair. He hadn't left his office all night – Peyton had given up trying to get him to try to get some sleep, but had instead resorted to periodically keeping him supplied with caffeine (she was working the night shift). Both Gerrard and Sinclair were preventing him from getting any information on Taylor's case and it was frustrating him immensely.

It wasn't that he thought of the woman as family – he certainly didn't. And he definitely didn't consider her to be 'part of the team' like Danny did. It was more to the fact that she had helped on quite a few cases, and whereas she was often outspoken, and certainly stubborn, if she were to be arrested, he expected the crime to be assault related – not possession and intent to supply.

He looked up, spotting Danny and Lindsay hurrying past. Mac got to his feet and hurried over to the door, calling them in. 'I want you two in the lab,' he told them – not missing the look they shared. 'In your offices, catching up on paperwork.'

Danny nodded. 'Sure thing, Mac.'

Mac frowned, catching the time. 'Have you seen Stella?' he asked them. There was another shared look.

'She said she was checking up on Flack this morning,' Lindsay told him.

Danny nodded his agreement. 'She's been sorting his and Cordelia's breakfast,' he added.

'How is he?' Mac asked.

Danny looked at him. 'Who?'

'Flack.' Mac told him. 'You went to see him yesterday?'

'Oh,' Danny shifted on the spot. 'Not brilliant, but what can you expect?'

Mac nodded and allowed them to leave before returning to his seat, frowning. He'd been on the phone with Flack for the best part of half an hour and he hadn't mentioned Stella being there.

Stella pulled up outside the Daily's building and looked over at Adam. 'You alright?'

Adam nodded. 'I just feel wrong doing this. It's more like invasion of privacy when it's someone you know.'

'You don't have to do this,' Stella pointed out.

'I know, but you did get her editor's permission, right?' Adam asked for the umpteenth time.

Stella nodded her reassurance and indicated for him to follow her. She led him to Taylor's messy office.

'Damn!' Adam exclaimed as he surveyed the piles of papers, books and notepads. 'Are we going to find a computer in here?'

Stella gave him a push and pointed at the desk.

Adam walked over and sat down in front of it. Within minutes, he was in. 'This thing is about as organized as her office,' he muttered. 'Damn!' he exclaimed.

'What?' Stella asked.

'She's encrypted her files.'

Stella nodded. 'She mentioned that. After Sinclair had his files stolen from the Bond Case.'

'You could have mentioned it sooner,' Adam told her.

'Can you decrypt it?' Stella asked, watching his fingers fly over the keyboard.

Adam nodded. 'It's a basic encryption.' There were a few more keystrokes and Adam handed over a flash drive. 'It's all on there. I'll let you read it.'

'Don't tell me – Lindsay and Danny are with Flack?' Mac asked, standing in Stella's doorway.

Stella looked up from Taylor's files she had been pouring over at her computer. 'I think they mentioned something about that,' Stella said vaguely.

'Alright,' Mac muttered, leaving.

Stella watched him go and returned to the page she was reading.

Lindsay took a deep breath and headed for Taylor's door. As her apartment was only one floor from the top, the majority of the building was still inhabitable, short of those that lived directly below her, on the same floor, or above her. The door was covered in a smoke funnel from where the smoke had tried to escape into the corridor, but was still able to be shut.

She had only gone so far as putting the key in the lock when two officers pounced, leading her away.

Danny watched her being led to the patrol car and dashed upstairs. He pushed his way in, making sure to shut the door behind him. The kitchen – the first room to walk into, short of smelling of smoke, and covered in ash, seemed reasonably alright. As Danny stepped into Taylor's bedroom – the source of the fire, his nose was assaulted by the smell of gasoline.

He set his kit down and headed over to where hole in the wall where the cocaine had been found and began taking pictures. The fire had started on the opposite wall – the one that adjoined Marty/Cordelia's room. Which couldn't just be coincidence. Danny leant over and picked up a piece of the plaster that had come away when creating the wall. It was crumbly – like it hadn't dried out properly before the wallpaper was set over it. With a frown, he turned his attention to the wallpaper.

Taylor's walls were a pale lilac, but under around near the hole, it was darker. Danny's frown deepened as he picked at a piece of plaster attached to the a piece of wallpaper. He cocked his head as he stared at the fragment, and then looked at the wall by the window – a part untouched by the fire.

If he was right, Taylor wouldn't care, and if he was wrong… well, Taylor would probably be in prison so long that it wouldn't matter.

He pulled out a small hammer and chisel from his case and hammered at the wall, pinging a piece of wall free. He picked it up and stared at it. And then sighed. It looked no different.

Nevertheless, he pocketed them and continued examining the apartment.

An hour later, and he concluded that anything considered as evidence would have been collected by the other shift. There was nothing in there that was going to help. He ran his hand over his hair and gave the apartment a final check.

Flack took a seat in the interview room opposite his father. 'I was wondering how long it would take for you to haul my ass in here.'

His father glared at him. 'How long have you been living with Miss Turner?'

Flack leant back in his seat his eyes never leaving his father's. 'Why Dad? I didn't know you cared that much about my personal life.'

'Answer the question, Donnie.'

'It's Detective Flack,' Flack told him.

'How long have you been living with Miss Turner, Detective Flack?' Sgt. Flack asked him.

'Technically, we're not living together. We're in the process of finding an apartment together, but we still haven't found one.'

Sgt. Flack pursed his lips. 'How long have you been staying regularly at Miss Turner's?'

'We've been seeing each other since the beginning of the year, so I guess since then,' he said shrugging nonchalantly. 'But you'd know this if you ever turned up to the dinner invitations you've been sent.'

Sgt. Flack's eyes narrowed briefly. 'And how would you describe her relationship with Sonny Sassone?'

Flack screwed up his face in confusion. 'Sassone? She doesn't even know him.'

'It seems your girlfiriend is hiding things from you,' Sgt. Flack told him, pushing a copy of the visitors log of Rikers in front of his son. 'She's made two trips to see him, and he has sent her several letters. She's also been receiving monthly payments from him.'

Flack looked down at the information in front of him, trying to process it. 'I'm pretty certain that there's a reasonable explanation,' he told his father, retaining the coolness in his voice which belied the confusion in his head. 'It's probably for a story.'

'Interesting,' his father mused. 'And the cocaine in her bedroom walls. Would that be for a story also?'

Flack let out an exasperated sigh. 'Look, if you're going to arrest me, do so and call my union rep in. Otherwise, I'm leaving because this is the most pointless interview I've ever been involved in,' he told his father firmly as he rose to his feet.

Sgt. Flack also rose to his feet. 'I tried to warn you that that woman was trouble, Donnie.'

Flack glared at him. 'If you have any further questions, you can actually directe them through the union rep.' He turned and left, without looking back.

Somehow, his feet acquired a life of their own and he found himself down in holding.

'Flack, I can't let you in,' Bosco told him. 'I'm already on your old man's bad side.'

Flack glared at him. 'I can knock you out if that'll make it easier for you?'

Bosco held his hands up. 'I so don't need this crap right now, Flack,' he informed him, but stood his ground.

'Flack?' Mac's voice barked across the room.

'Stay outta this, Mac.'

Mac walked over. 'Don, don't blow this. Get upstairs and meet me in the AV lab.'

Flack looked at him. 'The AV lab?'

'It's the only room without glass windows and it's soundproof. It's the only place where we can all talk freely.'

Flack's look turned to one of confusion. 'Huh?'

'Just because we've been taken off the case, doesn't mean everyone's dropped it,' he told him, although he looked somewhat annoyed.

'Alright,' Flack conceded.

Mac glanced at his watch. 'No we just need to wait for Danny and Lindsay to get back.'

'From where?' Flack asked.

'Your place, I would assume,' Mac told him as he pulled his ringing phone out from his pocket. 'Taylor… yes… yes… Monroe…? Yes… I'll be right there.' He looked up at Flack. 'The AV lab,' he repeated.

Flack nodded and left, still feeling like he was being left out of the loop. Mac watched him, to make sure he got on the elevator, and then he left himself – time to discover what Lindsay and Danny had been up to whilst they were at Flack's'.

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