yellowpea – Thank you for your opinion on my story. Whilst I respect that is your choice, it is done for my own sanity and enjoyment and nothing will stop that. I would appreciate it you would desist in insulting my readers and my beta – they too are entitled to their own opinion. Secondly, whilst skimming profiles, I read somewhere that one in eleven readers actually review. Just because people aren't reviewing doesn't mean they aren't reading, so please don't unsult them either.

Madison Bellows – I know what you mean. It just means that my brain is going to have to work overtime to get it all figured out!

demolished-soul – I think she will – after all, look at who her 'dad' now is!

Frizzy – I had to double take then I read your name - I thought I was imagining things! Lol, I'm trying to keep season 5 spoilers to a minimum so I don't think you will have any problems here with that. I know what you mean about that whirlwind relationship! I hope you got your sleep!

Delko'sGirl88 – lol, I went to see that too, but the thing that got me about it was the audience. Me and my housemate were the only girls and then there were about twenty or so guys (nothing to do with us!). I was entertained by that all the way through the trailers! How did your interview go? I had my fingers crossed too!

sparkyCSI – yeah, you're fired! Lol. Sorry, I've just become distracted by the Fireman Sam theme that's come on the channel I'm watching. Baffling! (you may have to youtube it!). Anyways, yes, I want a wedding. I need to write faster!!

Vanessa.J – I think they're going to end up doing (;P). Don't worry on the chapters – you've got your priorities, but I shall wait impatiently!

Forest Angel – well, it's possible that Taylor has lost her mind (:s) And I hope it's not something I can't handle as a writer, but it was an idea that came to me, quite randomly (seriously – I was DJing!) but I'm going to see where it goes. It will take some research, me thinks!

meadow567 – you are completely right. I had a look back and realised just how bad it had gotten. I shall rectify it!

Hmmm, if there are no mistakes, I shall give my beta all the credit. However, as I suspect that I never sent her this, in reality, they are all mine!

There are still spoilers for Like Water For Murder, but I would also like to dedicate this chapter to ambercsiny as she gave me an idea AGES ago, which I have only just gotten around to using. Thanks, hun!

What The Eyes Can't See

Chapter 222: Where is the Love?

The lab was bustling still as Taylor exited the lift. Feeling very much like a spy, or at least, an intruder, she made her way along the corridors, trying to blend in as she kept an eye out for Quinn. Thankfully, as she stumbled across Danny, she didn't meet the red-head.

'You know, most people have a baby, rather than a teenager,' Danny told her as she entered the room.

'Cute,' Taylor frowned. 'How do you know?'

Danny laughed. 'Everyone knows. Aside from the fact that Mac briefed us that a kid would be working in the lab, Flack also shared the information.' He leant back in his chair and cocked his head at her. 'Although I don't know what this does for the pool.'

'The pool?' Taylor repeated in disbelief. 'There was a pool on us fostering?'

Danny shook his head. 'Nah, there was a pool on you two having kids.'

'There's a pool on us having kids?' Taylor again repeated.

'You're doing an excellent impression of a parrot,' Danny informed her. 'Maybe we should change your nickname to Polly.'

'Just try it,' Taylor glared at him. 'Drew is bad enough.'

'And there's that famous explosive temper.'

Taylor leant forward and smacked him. 'I thought you'd gotten that one out of your system months ago.'

Danny frowned. 'Well someone's a little touchy today. What's up?'

Taylor sighed and sat down. 'Sorry. I'm just... a little stressed.'

'You wanna tell your Uncle Danny all about it?' he asked.

Taylor laughed. 'It's nothing.'

'If there's something bugging you...?'

'It's just, I have three ghosts following me around,' she thumbed over her shoulder. 'Not including Maddy. A serial killer on the loose, an editor who wants a story, and an office buddy who thinks I know more than I'm letting on, which I do. But I can't say anything because I look like a loon, or I look like I'm getting insider information. And then I can't wander around the lab and try to make sense of things the ghosts tell me, which by the way, they're quoting scripture at me, and makes no sense whatsoever. And as it is, I can't wander around, because not only has Mac made his feelings very clear on that, but also there's some woman trying to reaccredit the lab and make sure that all procedure is followed. And then, I am back in the same situation that I was in six months ago with Cordelia, only this time, it's a teenager, who I still want to throttle for stealing my car, but we chose to foster her and I'm beginning to wonder if that's such a good idea because what do I know about bringing up a teenager?' she took a breath and looked over at Danny.

He was sat, eyes wide open, staring at her. 'Anything else?' he asked.

'I think I might be reading too much into Don's new partner's behaviour around him.'

'She is kinda flirty,' Danny nodded.

'So I'm not being paranoid?'

Danny quickly shook his head. 'No... I mean, yes. I mean... Don is crazy about you. You have nothing to worry about in that department. The rest of what you told me? You're good with Cordy. I think you're both going to surprise yourselves with how well you're going to be with Miley.'

'Riley,' Taylor corrected him.

'Riley. And if it helps, I'm waiting for Lindsay to finish running the trace on latest evidence, so maybe something will turn up then.'

Taylor exhaled softly. 'I hope you're right.'

'Of course I am,' Danny told her confidently.

Taylor frowned. 'So tell me about this pool.'

'Oh don't get upset about that. There's a pool for everything,' Danny shrugged.

'You guys don't have enough to do?' Taylor asked, wide-eyed.

'Of course we do,' Danny told her. 'But when you're running prints, or waiting for a warrant, or doing paperwork, it's a pleasant surprise when you win. Breaks up the day.'

'I did it!' Adam exclaimed, bursting through the door, Chad in tow.

'No, I did it!' Chad cried, snatching at the paper Adam was waving around.

Taylor turned to Danny, eyebrow arched. 'Is there a pool involving these two?' she asked him, ignoring the bickering lab rats.

'Several,' Danny admitted, suddenly lunging and grabbing the paper that Adam and Chad were arguing over. 'What's this?'

'We found the church that the gravestone came from,' Chad declared.

'What?' Taylor asked, confused.

Danny glanced up from the paper. 'The marks on the victims were cut using stone – a gravestone. And by the looks of things, the gravestone came from The Church of St. Angelo.'

'Just down the road from Ground Zero,' Adam added.

Danny looked over at them. 'And what about the paper trace?'

'We, uh,' Chad faltered.

'You decided it takes two of you to hand over information?' Danny asked, smirking. He turned to Taylor. 'I'm going to work on that. You staying?'

Taylor shook her head. 'No, I'll head over to the church. Maybe the scripture will make sense there?'

'What scripture?' Adam asked.

Taylor shook her head. 'Nothing. I'll see you later,' she told them, rising from the chair and leaving the room.

---

Taylor got out of the car and entered the church whilst Flack went to find the priest and Hawkes wandered around the grave yard. It was cool and dimly lit, and yet was reassuring and welcoming. Taylor sat down on a pew at the back and stared down to the front and the giant crucifix.

'What are you thinking about?' Maddy asked her, materialising next to her.

'I was enjoying the quiet, actually,' Taylor muttered.

'Good luck with that,' she grinned.

Taylor glanced behind Maddy, spotting the three forlorn ghosts. 'You guys remembering anything?'

'None devoted, which shall be devoted of men, shall be redeemed; but shall surely be put to death.' The two female ghosts said together.

Taylor sighed and looked at Ben. 'Anything useful?'

Ben looked around and shook his head. 'Nope. Sorry. I keep trying to remember something.'

Taylor nodded, looking down at her watch. 'Crap. I'm going to have to head to Peterson and get Riley.' She sighed. 'And I left the car at the precinct. This cab ride is going to cost me,' she sighed again. 'At this rate, private school will be the cheaper option,' she added, rising to her feet. She turned to the four ghosts. 'Look, I know that I'm probably wasting my breath here, but if you could add no contact whilst Riley's about, I would greatly appreciate it. She's got enough going on without thinking I'm a whack-job.'

'I'll see what can be done,' Maddy agreed.

Taylor blinked in surprise but nodded. As the ghosts disappeared, she headed back outside into the daylight and was joined almost immediately by Stella. 'Shouldn't you be confined in a lab?'

Stella shrugged. 'Just bringing Mac some information,' she told her, indicating to the manila folder in her hands. They walked over to Mac and Hawkes. 'I ran a search on L2729. Unfortunately, our letter/number combo is used 101 ways and counting. Did you guys find anything here?'

Hawkes waved his arm. 'Any of these gravestones can be the source of the stone used to carve his vics,' he told them as Flack joined them.

'I've shown photos of the vics to the priest,' Flack added. 'He doesn't recognise them. Neither do any of the daily guests out there.'

Stella looked around the graveyard. 'Then why here? What does this place have to do with these murders?'

'Maybe the killer's a member of the congregation?' Mac suggested.

Taylor laughed dryly. 'Too bad we don't have a name or a photo.'

Hawkes inhaled deeply. 'How can someone kill three people and not leave a piece of themselves behind?'

'Flack,' said Mac. 'I want a list of anyone who attends services or uses the church as sanctuary.'

Flack nodded. 'I'll see what I can do.'

'You know,' said Stella, staring at the closest tombstone. 'The killer's MO doesn't add up. First he kills Ben Melvoy, the attorney from New Jersey, and then three months go by and he kills Chrissie Watson and Louise Perry - Two real estate agents.'

'Yeah, I'm not seeing how this guy is picking his vics,' Hawkes agreed.

Taylor shrugged. 'None of this makes sense to me either.'

Mac nodded. 'We're dealing with a psychopath. A predator who takes what he wants and doesn't leave a reason for doing so. We may never know why. Our job is to find out the who.'

'So we go back to the evidence,' Stella finished.

'We do,' Mac agreed. 'Hawkes, I want samples of every one of these gravestones. If one of them matches I want to know about it.'

Hawkes nodded. 'I'm on it,' he told them, disappearing back into the graveyard, a picture of determination.

Mac turned to Stella. 'You want a ride back?'

'Yeah, sure.'

Mac turned to Taylor and Flack. 'Taylor?'

Taylor shook her head. 'I need to catch a cab. Riley will be getting out soon, and if I'm not careful I'm going to be late.'

Flack frowned. 'That's going to cost a small fortune.'

Taylor nodded. 'It's my own fault for leaving the car at the lab. I'll know for next time. I'll see you at the lab in a while with Riley,' she told Mac before he and Stella disappeared. 'Is it likely to be a late on for you tonight?'

Flack nodded with a sigh. 'Looks like. Sometimes I wish it would quieten down. At least I have Grace to pick up the slack. And as a newbie, I got her to finish up the paperwork on Kohl.'

'You complain when it's busy, and yet you know if it was quiet you'd be bored,' Taylor laughed.

'True,' he admitted.

'I should get going,' she sighed.

'You know, I'm not sure I like the idea of you traipsing across the state line by yourself with a random taxi driver,' Flack told her, pulling her into his arms.

Taylor looked up and softly shook her head. 'You'd rather I took the subway?'

'I'd rather I took you,' he murmured.

'Now how did you manage to make that sound dirty?' she asked him with a grin.

Flack leant down and kissed her. 'Later,' he whispered in her ear as he pulled away.'

Taylor smiled and left him. She slung her bag over her shoulder and hailed a cab. One pulled up and she slid in.

'Where to?' the driver asked her.

Taylor frowned. 'Good question. Just a minute,' she told him as she rooted the address out of her bag and reeled it off at him. She could see the dollar signs flash up in his eyes in the rear-view mirror as he pulled away. And then he slammed the brakes on and Taylor went careering into the plastic divide. 'What the hell?' she cried as she got back into the seat, glaring at him. She looked up to find him with his hands up. Her attention flicked to just in front of the car where Flack was standing in the middle of the street, gun aimed at the driver. Taylor grabbed her bag and hurried out of the car. 'What's going on?'

Flack ignored her. 'Taylor, get away from the car!' he yelled at the terrified taxi driver, yanking the door open.

Taylor stared, mouth hanging open 'Don?' she tried again. There was a squeal of rubber as Mac's SUV squealed to a halt behind them and the two CSIs exited the vehicle.

'Taylor?' Stella cried, hurrying over as Mac headed to Flack's side. 'You're alright?'

'Of course I am,' Taylor told her. 'Shouldn't I be?' she asked, turning to the curly-haired woman in confusion, as Mac began talking to the driver.

'We worked out how the killer is picking his victims.'

'I still don't understand,' Taylor muttered.

Stella was prevented from explaining as her phone rang. 'Danny? Yeah... What...? Thanks.' She hung up the phone. 'Mac!' she yelled. 'That was Danny. The killer is a cab driver!'

Taylor's mouth dropped open, Flack's gun was suddenly aimed back at the taxi driver, Mac was spinning him around and cuffing him, whilst the driver was shouting, 'I didn't kill no one!'

Taylor turned back to Stella in complete confusion. 'Stell?' she pleaded. 'What in God's name is going on?!'

Stella finally turned to the journalist. 'Billboards. The killer is picking his victims using billboards a shopping list,' she said, pointing down the street at the bus shelter where Ben Malvoy's face was grinning at them.

Taylor followed the detective's extended arm and looked further down the street, spotting Chrissi, Louise, and finally herself. With a frown, she brushed past Stella and marched down the street. She hadn't gone three paces before Mac and Flack were at her side.

'Where are you going?' Flack demanded.

'Don, my picture's been up all of two days. And Reed's face is also on that poster,' she pointed out. 'I want to see what, or who, I replaced,' she told the two men.

Mac nodded and stepped to the side. Flack, reluctantly, followed suit, and followed her down the street. Like Ben, her face was also on the side of a bus stop. She turned to Mac. 'You got a knife?'

He nodded and pulled a pen knife out of his pocket, handing it over.

Taylor took it, flicking it open, and used it to prise the plastic window open. She scraped at the edges with her nails, and finally pulled the picture away. Underneath was an advert for another real estate agent – P.J. Davis. She turned to Mac. 'Mac, I'm fine. But just in case that isn't the killer you've just arrested, you need to find Reed and you need to find her,' she jabbed her thumb at the smiling face.

Mac nodded. 'Good job, Taylor,' he praised her before hurrying back to Stella, phone attached to his ear.

Taylor exhaled slowly and looked down at her hands. 'I'm shaking?' she asked, surprised. Before she could look up, Flack was wrapping his arms around her, clutching at her as though there was a chance she was about to vanish.

'You are never getting a cab again,' Flack muttered into her hair.

'Don, I can't breathe!'

Flack pulled away a fraction of an inch. 'We should get you home.'

'You should go catch a killer,' Taylor corrected him. 'I should go pick Riley up. Unless you want her to catch a taxi home by herself?'

'I'm coming with you,' Flack told her.

'Don, you have work.'

'I'm coming with you,' Flack replied more forcefully.

Taylor nodded, shut her eyes and collapsed against his chest, returning his embrace. 'I think I'd like that,' she admitted into his shirt.

---

'Riley, this is Detective Taylor. Consider him your lord and keeper until you graduate,' Taylor told the glaring teenager.

'Call me Mac,' Mac told the blonde, offering a hand which she glared at. 'Right, let's get you familiar with the broom closet.' He led them to the room in question, opening the door. Or at least he tried. 'Hmmm,' he muttered, reaching into his pockets for his keys. He was about to put them in the lock when there was a bang from inside the cupboard, followed by a very familiar voice cursing. Mac inhaled sharply, his face already disapproving. 'Danny, Lindsay, you have two minutes to get your clothes back on and then I want to see you in my office!' He turned to Taylor, who was trying desperately not to laugh, and Riley, who was laughing. 'How about you acquaint Riley with the break room?'

Taylor nodded and ushered the teen down the corridor.

Twenty minutes later, Riley was cleaning the glass, iPod in her ears, and Lindsay was walking red-faced into the break room. 'The broom closet?' Taylor asked, smirking.

'We haven't had a break all day!' Lindsay objected. 'And what we do in our own time is up to us.'

'You might want to keep it more on the DL,' Taylor laughed.

'DL?'

'Down-Low; where certain activities should be kept a little more discreet,' Taylor explained. 'I'm trying to get down-with-the-kids.'

'You do realise in a single sentence that you've managed to age yourself into a whole new generation?' Lindsay pointed out, handing her a bottle of water.

'Okay, I'm freaking out about having a teenager,' Taylor admitted. She frowned. 'Hmmm, that's the same initials as you and Danny.'

Lindsay rolled her eyes. 'I have booked Ithaka for April 7th, for the baby shower.'

'I thought you hadn't had a break today?' Taylor asked, the smirk returning.

'Oh shut up,' Lindsay laughed. 'That's what Mac thinks anyway.'

Taylor laughed. 'Well, I'm going shopping this weekend for things for Riley. I'll call in and get some invitations. You still think we should go for a book theme?'

Lindsay nodded. 'I think it's a great idea. And I can't wait to see what everyone's favourite books were when they were kids.'

Taylor smiled, leaning back into the chair. 'I have to narrow that down,' she admitted. And then Maddy turned up, complete with four ghosts. 'Not another,' she muttered

'Another what?' Lindsay asked her.

'Oh, I just thought of another book' she said getting to her feet. 'Look, I don't want to keep you from your work – Mac's probably going to be on your back now. I'll see you later when I pick up Riley?'

Lindsay nodded. 'Yeah, you're right. See you later.'

---

'So much for an exclusive,' Reed muttered as he walked beside Taylor to the water.

'Reed, you're going to get that on the internet within minutes. I have to wait until the first edition tomorrow,' Taylor pointed out. 'Don't worry – you're not going to get scooped, and this way, Nancy stays happy.'

'For now,' Reed agreed as they joined Mac. 'I really appreciate this,' he told Mac.

Taylor watched as Hawkes crouched down and lifted the latest victim's head as Reed stayed back, typing away on his Blackberry. 'Same marks. They look post mortem. Mac, it looks like a killing with the same MO,' he muttered, shooting a wary glance at Reed.

'Is there an ID?' Taylor asked, wondering what the name of the latest ghost was.

Hawkes searched the victim's pockets and then shook his head. 'Nothing.'

Mac turned to Flack. 'I want every cab checked - background checks on the drivers and I want their trip logs.'

Flack gaped at the senior CSI. 'Mac, there are eleven thousand cabs in this city!'

Mac nodded, grimly. 'Our killer's a cab driver. Any New Yorker could be his next victim.'

Well, thank you for all the luck and crossed fingers. The feedback from the interview was good – it was an excellent interview and I couldn't have improved on it. Sadly, the other candidate was a little more qualified. Rats! Ah well, there will be other jobs!