I was only going to post two chapters, but I decided I wanted to leave things on a happier note (as it may be an age before I update again). So I'm spoiling you with three whole chapters!

What The Eyes Can't See

Chapter 230: A little death makes life more meaningful

'I'm sorry,' Taylor frowned. 'What?'

Jordan handed over a file. 'The existence of carvings on the victim's necks.'

'First of all,' Taylor said, glancing down at the images in the folder. 'I don't do blogs – this isn't my work. Second of all, I certainly didn't leak this.'

'Are you accusing this lab of leaking information to the press?' Mac queried angrily.

Jordan just waved a hand in Taylor's direction. 'If the shoe fits?'

'And do you realize how many people share the same shoe size?' Mac asked her. 'Plenty of people, right on up to the mayor's office, were privy to that detail, Jordan.'

'Did you question them, or was it just easier to come in here and question us?' Taylor asked her.

'I'm looking for answers,' Jordan told them. 'The last thing I want to do is question your integrity, Mac, but this administration is at breaking point. If this leak came from this office, I can't help you.'

Taylor watched Jordan stride back out of the office before turning to Mac and handing the folder over. 'Mac, its Reed.'

Mac frowned. 'Reed has been at a scene, but from where he was standing, he couldn't have seen the carvings. He couldn't have known.'

'Well, he's not been getting the information from me and I can tell he's not been getting it from you.'

'Well he's getting it from somewhere,' Mac muttered angrily. 'And I'm going to find out where.'

Taylor watched him go before heading out into the lab to find Lindsay. She found her peering down a microscope. 'I think we're going to need that contingency plan.'

Lindsay looked up and sighed. 'I'm considering calling up and cancelling the booking altogether. The last I heard, Mac wanted everyone working on this until we caught him.'

'So please tell me you've got something that's going to bring us closer to working it out?' Taylor asked hopefully.

'I have a hair that isn't human,' Lindsay frowned. 'And I have no idea what it is. The computer's running it now.'

Taylor blinked. 'It's a monkey.'

'I'm sorry. What?' Lindsay asked her, giving her a puzzled look.

Taylor shrugged. 'Humor me?'

Lindsay frowned, but headed over to the computer. 'Alright, I'll shorten the search parameters.' She hit a few keys and within seconds, the computer was bleeping that it had a match. 'How the hell did you do that?' Lindsay asked, staring at the computer in amazement.

---

Taylor was sitting in the break room, munching on an apple. Lindsay had gone straight to Flack with the information and he and Grace had arrested a suspect. She had already called Nancy after seeing the missed calls and explained that she was following a lead.

'Like Reed?' Nancy asked.

'I guess,' Taylor told her. Frankly, she was just avoiding her office. She hung up and began looking through her messages. She had had several from Nancy demanding she tell her where she was, along with the voicemails.

She was just about to read one from an unknown number when the collection of ghosts appeared. She sighed and set her phone down.

'Thank you,' said Jimmy.

'Oh,' Taylor said in surprise. 'I wasn't expecting that.'

Jimmy took a breath. 'Look, I can't say much, but as a cop, I feel obliged to say something. Your friend's in trouble.'

Taylor stared at him. 'Which friend?'

'That's enough of that,' Aiden announced, appearing out of nowhere, though accompanied by another ghost. This one was female and blonde. 'Swap?' she asked Maddy, before disappearing with Jimmy.

'That's not fair!' Taylor told her. 'Who's he got?'

'The writer,' the fake blonde told her.

'The writer? Reed?' Taylor asked. She got to her feet, already dialing Reed's number as she flew out of the door and ran to Mac's office, running smack into him. 'It's Reed, Mac. He's got Reed.'

Mac looked at her and ushered her into his office. 'He left his keys in the door, his backpack on the floor – there's no question this is foul play. I've got Lindsay trying to track his phone.'

'I'm not getting any answer – it's going straight to voicemail,' Taylor told him as she hung up. 'Have you tried his parents?'

'They haven't talked to him since yesterday. Your editor?'

Taylor shook her head. 'Nancy's under the impression he's following a lead.'

Lindsay came hurrying into the room, scowling. 'I can't get a signal. Reed's cell is turned off and there's something wrong with it because even the phone company can't turn it on.'

'We can't help him if we can't find him,' Mac cried in frustration.

Taylor took a deep breath, raking her hands through her hair. 'Hey Mac,' she said, her eyes falling on one of the screens behind him. 'He's posting on his blog.'

'For weeks I've been investigating the Cabbie Killer murders with a certain morbid fascination,' Mac read aloud.

'This is in real time,' Lindsay realized. 'I'll see if I can track an IP address,' she told Mac before disappearing as quickly as she had appeared.

'What I never anticipated was becoming part of the story,' Mac continued as more text appeared on screen. 'At this moment I'm sitting face to face with the brilliant criminal who had made the greatest city in the world his victim. He wants you to understand. He wants me to give you his message.'

'Are you telling me Reed's source is the Cabbie Killer?' Taylor asked in amazement. Part of her was in awe at who his source was.

Mac nodded. 'And now the son of a bitch has him.'

The door flew open for a second time and this time Quinn burst in. 'What the hell's going on? I've just seen Lindsay and she's telling me he's got Reed.'

'And another female victim,' Taylor added. Mac gave her a sharp look. Taylor pointed back at the screen and Mac turned his attention on the message that had appeared.

'Claire.'

'If Reed's using Claire's name in his blog, he's got to be sending you a message, Mac,' Taylor frowned.

'Mac, who is Reed to you?' Quinn asked sharply.

'He's Claire's son, Quinn. She gave him up for adoption before we met. When he came looking for his biological mother he found me, unaware that she had died.' His attention was caught by Danny, who was waving him over in the lab opposite.

'You knew?' Quinn asked her after Mac had left.

'Knew what?' Taylor asked carefully.

'Who Reed was to Mac.'

Taylor shrugged. 'It wasn't my secret to tell.'

'It could have helped with the case,' Quinn pointed out.

'Up until now, how has that had any bearing on the case?' Taylor shot back at her.

'It would have told us who Reed's source was.'

Taylor rolled her eyes. 'Puh-lease, do you really think Mac – Mac – is the one to be leaking information to the press?'

'He's got you in his office.'

Taylor glared at the red head. 'Do you actually read what I write?'

Quinn shook her head.

'For crying out loud! There's a pattern here. The ones accusing me of being here for a story are the ones who don't read my work to know that's exactly not what I do. God!'

'You're right. I owe you an apology for that,' Quinn told her. 'And I know Mac. He wouldn't allow you to be here if you were repeating privileged information to the world. It's just you are a journalist.'

Taylor was ready for a retort when Mac burst into the room. 'Please tell me how we can have all this technology and not know where he is?' he asked them in despair.

'At least while he's blogging we know he's alive,' Taylor offered.

'It's not enough,' Mac told her. 'I should never have given him access to the case.'

'Like that was going to stop him,' Taylor told him. 'Look,' she said, pointing at the screen. 'Another post.'

'Corn flaked? Could be a typo,' Quinn muttered.

'Wait,' said Mac. 'Taylor, scroll back up.'

Taylor frowned. 'What do you see?'

'Hawkes found yeast trace on Reed's backpack. It's not corn flaked. It's flaked corn,' Mac explained. Glacier and Comet are hops and Australia's a type of wheat. It's ingredients.'

'Ingredients to what?' Taylor asked. 'Brewed Beer? He's in a brewery?'

Mac nodded. 'Taylor, find me a brewery in midtown. We're heading in that direction'

He and Quinn disappeared leaving Taylor with Google.

---

Taylor held off as long as possible before leaving the Crime Lab – hoping to hear something on Reed. After making Lindsay promise faithfully that she would call with something, she headed over to Jersey to pick up Riley. Much to her complete surprise, Riley was sitting on the wall, outside the school, pouring over a Chemistry textbook with the boy Taylor had chased off only days earlier.

'Riley, what have I told you about hanging around with this man?' Taylor demanded.

Riley and the male in question jumped off the wall, but neither of them made any attempt to move. 'Taylor, this is Chase Brighten.'

'I don't care what his name is,' Taylor snapped at them.

'He's sixteen,' Riley quickly told her. 'He's only just sixteen!'

'My ass he's only just turned sixteen,' Taylor started to say when Chase produced a driver's license.

'I really am only sixteen,' Chase told her, before earning an elbow in the side from Riley. 'Ma'am,' he added.

Taylor took the card and eyed it suspiciously. 'How do I know it's not fake?'

Riley rolled her eyes. 'Who in their sane mind would have a driver's license to say they're younger than they are?'

Taylor shot her a glare. 'Not two days ago was Don investigating a case where the murderer and rapist was a twenty something year old pretending to be a school kid, so don't ask me that question.'

'Ma'am, I really am sixteen,' Chase told her.

'And if I ask that question to your parents, what would they say.'

'Very little being as they're dead,' Chase retorted.

'I know Chase from the orphanage. He's my best friend, not my boyfriend,' Riley quickly explained. 'And we're happy for you to let Don do whatever checks he needs to do to prove he's sixteen.'

Taylor chewed at her bottom lip as she eyed the dark haired boy. She handed him the ID back. 'Alright. Here's the deal. I'm going to call the school tomorrow-'

'It's Saturday tomorrow,' Riley interrupted.

'Fine. I'm going to call the school on Monday and check if he's a student here. If they can confirm it, and the orphanage can confirm his age, that will be good enough for me,' she told them. 'And then you're going to have to come around for dinner,' she said to Chase.

Chase let out a dismayed sigh, earning another jab in the ribs from Riley. 'Yes, ma'am,' he told her.

'And you can call me Taylor,' Taylor sighed. 'Right, we need to get home,' she told Riley, who was smiling at them. 'You're not out of trouble yet, missy.'

Riley nodded. 'I know.'

The two of them headed for the car, leaving Chase to head in the other direction.

'I'm not going to skip school anymore,' Riley told her as they were heading back over the Jersey Bridge.

'I should hope not,' Taylor muttered.

'And I'll do whatever chores you need me to do around the house.'

Taylor eyed her suspiciously. 'What do you want?'

'Nothing!' Riley objected.

Taylor arched an eyebrow at her.

'Alright,' Riley confessed. 'I was hoping for something.'

'Mmmmm?'

'I was wondering if you could make a slight amendment to the grounding. I would like to go to Stella's baby shower,' she quickly added before Taylor could say anything. 'And you'd be there anyway, so it wouldn't be like I'd be going anywhere. Plus, it would save you the hassle of trying to find a babysitter.'

Taylor frowned. 'Actually, I hadn't thought about a babysitter.' She sighed. 'Fine. But you should know that it might not happen tonight.'

'Why not?' Riley asked, her mouth dropping open.

'Because everyone is busy trying to find the Cabbie Killer, and I don't know if Mac will tear himself away to get Stella there. He was supposed to be the one to get her there,' Taylor explained.

'Well, I can do that,' Riley offered.

'And what about the rest of her friends?'

Riley smiled. 'If they're anything like Stella, they'll catch him.'

---

'It's on!' Lindsay exclaimed happily.

'What?' Taylor asked. She had been pacing back and forth in the kitchen for the best part of an hour. Not long after they had returned home and Riley had disappeared in her room to get something ready for this evening, she'd gotten a call from Flack. They'd found Reed. The thing was the Cabbie Killer had left him fighting desperately for his life with his throat slashed, and the Killer had gotten away.

'Tonight,' Lindsay explained. 'We caught him. The Cabbie Killer. And Reed's going to be alright. Although…' She trailed off.

'Although what?' Taylor asked her warily.

'Although, Mac's at the hospital with Reed. It looks like they're going to release him tonight and let him go home. We're going to have to find some other way to get Stella to the restaurant.'

'I think I can do that,' Taylor frowned, glancing up at her ceiling.

---

The restaurant they had chosen was a small, homely place in the middle of the village. There were a few other customers in there, but they had a secluded corner to themselves which the owner was more than happy for Taylor and Lindsay to decorate.

Flack and Danny were busy rearranging furniture whilst Adam and Chad were unhelpfully playing with the pacifiers and diapers that Angell, Peyton and Grace were trying to arrange as a table feature.

'I can see her,' Sid announced, hurrying over from the window where he had been keeping watch.

'Right, everyone back around the corner,' Lindsay ordered.

'You looked tired,' Taylor muttered at Marty as she squeezed in behind him.

'You're not looking so hot yourself, Drew,' Marty shot back at her.

'I'm just concerned,' Taylor told him.

'I'm here, aren't I?'

'That's not what I meant,' she told him before Riley and Stella rounded the corner.

'SURPRISE!' everyone yelled.

There was a moment's pause before Stella clutched at her stomach and pulled a face. 'Oh God,' she gasped.

'You've induced labor!' Riley cried.

Everybody's mouths dropped open in horror. 'It's alright,' Sid said, stepping forward. 'I'm a doctor.'

At which point, Stella and Riley burst out laughing.

'That is so not funny!' Lindsay exclaimed.

'You didn't think a surprise party through, did you?' Riley laughed. 'What did you except to happen?'

'You told her?' Taylor asked.

'Enough,' Stella laughed. 'I smell dinner,' she announced happily as she allowed Sid to lead her to a chair at the head of a table.

'We have a Meze Platter to delve into whilst we're waiting,' Taylor told her, mispronouncing the name and causing Stella to laugh.

'And presents,' Chad declared, plonking a wrapped item in front of her.

'We were going to save those for dessert,' Peyton told him, irritably.

Chad's eyes widened. 'I thought we were going to start with presents?'

'Well if you and Adam had been paying attention to what was being said, rather than who could stack the diapers the highest, you would know that,' Angell pointed out.

'We were hoping that Mac might be here by then,' Danny explained.

'He's here,' the man in question announced, leaning over Stella's shoulder to place his present on top of Chad's, before leaning back slightly to kiss Stella's cheek.

'How's Reed?' Stella asked him.

'He's going to be fine,' Mac told them all. 'He's at home with his parents.' He took the chair next to Stella and glanced around the room. 'I know this is Stella's night, but I just wanted to say thank you to all of you for helping catch this guy. I don't care what anyone says – you are the best team I could ask for.'

Stella sniffled and pulled a Kleanex from her purse. 'Sorry – it's all the hormones.' She pulled Mac's present towards her. 'Well, this is a bit heavy.'

'I should explain,' Taylor told her as everyone took seats around the table and began helping themselves to the platters on the table. 'We have a theme of stories. We figured that every child should have a good collection of books so we went and got you our favorite books from when we were children.'

Stella beamed. 'That's a brilliant idea – thank you.'

'You haven't seen Chad's favorite book yet,' Adam muttered.

'Hey!' Chad objected. 'There is nothing wrong with comics!'

Stella laughed and unwrapped his present.

'Just how old are you?' Riley asked as Stella discovered the entire Harry Potter collection.

'I was told books,' Chad told them. 'And I actually like Harry Potter.'

'Thank you, Chad,' Stella told him as she reached for Mac's present. It was a hardback collection of the Just So Stories. 'I used to love these!' she exclaimed. 'Thank you.'

'Here,' Taylor cried, thrusting a present at Stella. 'These were my favorites.'

'What?' Danny asked, laughing. 'The entire Nancy Drew collection?'

'No,' Taylor responded smugly as Stella ripped off the paper to find the Famous Five collection.

'I don't know why you're acting all smug,' Danny told her. 'It's still a wannabe detective story.'

Taylor poked her tongue out at him whilst Flack leant over and gave Stella his present. 'My books differed somewhat to Taylor's,' he told her.

'Not what I expected,' Angell frowned as Stella held up Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer.

'Here, Stella,' Hawkes said, walking around to place an enormous present in front of her.

'You had to outdo everyone, didn't you?' Danny muttered, grinning.

Stella pulled back the paper.

'Encyclopedia Britannica?!' Danny exclaimed. 'You're telling me that was your favorite book?

'And that surprises you?' Angell asked.

'And what did you get her?' Danny shot back at her.

Angell sent a smallish parcel around the table.

'Thank you, Jess,' Stella muttered, finding a copy of The Wind in the Willows.

'That's not very girly,' Danny told Angell.

'Four brothers,' Angell pointed out. 'I was a tomboy. And what did you come up with, dare I ask?'

'Lindsay and I have these for you,' Danny said, handing over their present.

'Only because you didn't read when you were a kid,' Lindsay muttered under her breath, loud enough for everyone to hear, whilst Stella unwrapped several Roald Dahl books.

'And this is from me,' Peyton said, handing over what was revealed to be the Beatrix Potter Collection.

'Thank you, Peyton,' said Stella, before reaching for Sid's offering.

By the time the main course was being served, Stella's collection had grown to include Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass from Sid; The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Chronicles of Narnia from Adam; Treasure Island from Marty; The Strange Case of Dr Jeckyll and Mr Hyde from Grace; and The Velveteen Rabbit from Riley.

'These are all fantastic. Thank you,' Stella muttered.

'And now the maternity leave begins,' Mac announced.

'The baby's not due for another month,' Stella pointed out. 'I did take early maternity leave.'

'Because you didn't want to be near the chemicals in the lab,' Mac pointed out.

'More like you didn't want me near the chemicals,' she grinned before tucking into the large meal in front of her.

They finished at a reasonable time and everyone had dispersed apart from Mac, who was loading up his car with the presents so he could take Stella home, and Flack and Riley, who were waiting for Taylor to finish helping Mac.

'Mac, can I ask you something,' she asked as they packed the books into the trunk.

'Sure,' he told her. 'What's up?'

Taylor frowned. Midway through the meal, the ghosts had appeared to thank her, and even though she had ducked into the bathroom, none of them had been willing to explain the bible quote they had all been so willing to repeat at her. 'The ghosts of the victims kept repeating something at me and it still doesn't make sense. I was hoping, as you'd been involved in everything, you might get it and explain it to me?'

'Ghosts?' Mac sighed.

'"None devoted, which shall be devoted of men, shall be redeemed; but shall surely be put to death.",' Taylor quoted.

Mac gave her an intense stare. 'How did you know about that? Did Flack say something?'

Taylor shook her head. 'No, the ghosts told me.'

Mac inhaled deeply. 'The Cabbie Killer was a ticking time bomb. Alone, delusional. Faces on the Billboards made him angry. He saw their slogans as false promises and lies. His victims were sinners who were doomed and in need of redemption. The only way to be redeemed was be killed and given passage across the river Styx. He saw himself as Caron, the Greek god,' Mac explained. 'Also known as the ferryman. His duty was to offer them passage. The quote is Leviticus 27:29... L2729 - the scratchings on the back of his victim's neck. It was his way of passing on a message.'

'Seriously?' Taylor asked, eyes wide in disbelief. 'The guy was a loon.'

Mac nodded. 'The city was a hostage to fear, to panic, to turn against one another. All because of one man's rampage. Now that he's locked up forever New York can begin to heal. We all can begin to heal.'

Taylor took a deep breath and nodded. 'Thank you.'

'The ghosts really told you that?' Mac asked.

'Yeah,' Taylor nodded.

'Hmmm,' he mumbled, shutting the trunk. 'Interesting.'

So, what book would you have given?? (:P)