Apologies for the delay- university really does consume all your time! A slightly dark chapter and a slight warning that characters may be OOC.
Since his encounter with Stella, Don Flack had been filled with a building rage directed towards Mac. What Stella had spoken of had utterly shocked the Detective and Mac's treatment of a woman considered a close confidante and friend was sickening. For months Flack had felt sorry for Mac; sorry that his long-term partner had abandoned him in such a cowardly way and without even an explanation, but now that he knew the truth, he was incandescent towards his friend. All along it had been Mac Taylor who was responsible for Stella's resignation.
But Flack would be lying if he said that his rage was directed solely on Mac. A part of it was directed towards himself for failing to recognise the signs which now, on reflection, had been painstakingly clear.
Looking back, it was obvious Stella was in love with Mac and Flack could kick himself a thousand times for not realising sooner the pain and suffering that she gladly endured in the sake of Mac's happiness; a man whom had treated her so cruelly. It was no wonder that she had fled; changing her whole life in order to forget the man whom she loved. Stella had sacrificed everything for Mac Taylor and he had repaid her with hatred and malice. It was unthinkable.
It soon became clear to the rest of the team, including the man whom Flack's anger was directed towards, himself that something was seriously wrong with the Detective. Angell had tried to coax it out of her lover but had failed as Flack had remained silent on what had angered him so. Throughout the day, Flack could feel his anger continuously build as he observed Mac and compared it to the hell that Stella was suffering in her exile. The remainder of the team, aware that there was tension between the two detectives took a wide berth and Mac himself grew increasingly annoyed and agitated by his friend's dark looks towards him.
This burning anger grew only brighter with the discovery of Amanda Jones' body in a dumpster in lower Manhattan. As they stared at the mutilated body of the teenager, Flack was once again reminded of Stella's absence and this only helped to increase his fury towards Mac as he again thought of the real reason she was no longer with the crime lab.
'Why does he do this to them? Why is he so cruel?' Lindsay asked quietly as she photographed the body.
'I don't know Lindsay...' Mac answered, his voice strained and tired, 'Sometimes people are inherently cruel and evil in this world.
'Yeah, kinda like a detective I know.' Flack bit out coldly, before walking away from the scene as his colleagues glanced at each other questioningly whilst Mac looked on, his frown deepening at the behaviour of the detective.
Once the scene was processed and the autopsy begun, the team found themselves around the conference table, again going over the evidence they had collected. The morale of all the CSIs had deteriorated dramatically since the discovery of their latest victim and this accompanied by the tension between Mac and Flack proved to be almost unbearable for the team.
For Mac, the hostility that his friend was directing towards him was beginning to anger him. He had no idea why he was subject to such childish behaviour and Detective Flack's behaviour was not only unprofessional but it was bordering on being offensive. As they witnessed the dark looks being given by Flack towards Mac, the team were growing increasingly uncomfortable.
Even Angell had been unable to uncover what had caused such fury from her partner. As the meeting carried on, the atmosphere continued to thicken with tension as Flack sat in stony silence, refusing to contribute towards the proceedings.
Jo was first with her discoveries pertaining to the original victims.
'Ok so I'll begin with our first victim, Sandra Harrison.' Her file appeared on the smart-board. '38 years old, was last seen walking home from her work as a chef. Her body was discovered outside her workplace. Second victim was Alina Kojocaru, Romanian refugee and art student at NYU. Last seen by her friends walking to class and was discovered in an alleyway in the opposite end of the city.
Third victim who went missing a week later was 54-year-old Lucy Lawrence. She went missing from her apartment and her body was found in a car park two days later. She was having an affair with Ethan Hoe and he became a suspect as a witness stated that she had seen the pair get into a fight. The next victim is Nadiya Fernandez. The thirty-year-old had just been made redundant and was last seen by her partner, walking to a job interview. Post-mortem stated she had been killed five days after she was last seen and her body was discovered a week after she disappeared in a builder's skip in the Lower East.
Fifth victim was Kate Cohen, aged twenty seven. She was a corporate lawyer and disappeared from her home. Her housekeeper found the place trashed. Her body was found in the subway four days later. The next victim was a British national Amy Kensington; she was forty-two and was last seen in Broadway by her husband and two sons. She'd returned to their hotel as she had been complaining of a headache. It is believed she was snatched en route and her body was found three days later outside a Church.
Chrissie Dunbar was twenty-two and an aspiring model. Disappeared whilst at her sister's bachelorette party; her body found after a week in the river. The final original victim was Fatima Imraz, thirty-six years old and a mother of six. She was shopping with her three youngest children in a supermarket and went to get milk but never returned. Her body was found two days later outside a stationary shop.
With the exception of the first victim, all the victims were dumped in different locations from where they went missing. All of the locations were very public- that suggests our killer is able to blend in well to his surroundings.'
'Ok so what about suspects?' Mac asked, glancing towards Flack and Angell. Flack merely glared at Mac in silence and it was obvious to Jess that her partner was not willing to cooperate. Sighing slightly at his immaturity, she began to tell of their findings.
'Ok so we've been looking through the original suspects and to be honest they've all come up clean in these new killings.' Angell put their findings up on the board.
'The first suspect, Jordan Marks has a solid alibi for all the recent killings- he's serving a life sentence for the murder of his girlfriend eight years ago. We did re-check his alibis from ten years ago and there is no way that he is our culprit. Next suspect was Marcus Whate. Now this one's interesting. Following his naming as a suspect, there was a public backlash against him. He lost his job as a teacher and received a lot of threats and was badly beaten by a gang of youths. He pressed charges and won but then disappeared. We searched every known database and found no trace of him so I liaised with our fellow law enforcement agencies and discovered that Marcus Whate is dead. He was killed in a gang-related shooting in Miami shortly after leaving New York, ten years ago. Lieutenant Caine confirmed that it was a case of him being in the wrong place at the wrong time.'
'That's unbelievable.' Danny shook his head.
'Our third suspect, Hector Gonzales can also be ruled out. He is now living in Mexico. We talked to his ex-wife who said that she hasn't heard from him or seen him in five years, but a family friend told us he's in Mexico so we checked with the Mexican authorities and they confirmed it. That doesn't clear him of the original murders but I think it's unlikely he's responsible due to the overwhelming similarities.' The other CSIs with the exception of the fuming Flack all nodded an acknowledgement of this.
'Final suspect, Ethan Hoe. He's still in the city and we went to interview him. We gave us comprehensive alibis for the times of the killings and we thoroughly checked them and they're clean. Multiple witnesses are willing to testify about his whereabouts. So overall we've turned up nothing in regards to suspects.
'I think I can help.' Adam chimed in, getting up to take Angell's place at the board. 'I've been analysing that strange substance we found on Sarah Jones's trouser leg. It's gasoline but with traces of sawdust and paint.'
'That's the same as I found on Alison Williams.' Danny commented.
'Yeah and I also found some fibre under Amanda Jones' finger nails. It's a form of leather in the manufacture of hundreds of types of seating.'
'Well that makes no sense.' Jess spoke, glancing to Flack for agreement. But the detective retained his stony silence.
'Right, well that's good work so far.' Mac praised. 'Keep running every lead we have. Check everything against every database. Ok let's go.'
The team got to their feet and began to walk back to their respective work stations.
'We'll catch this bastard Mac and lock him up for good.' Hawkes spoke optimistically.
'He's not the only bastard that needs locked up.' Flack spoke, loud enough for Mac and Hawkes to hear as he strode out into the corridor.
Fed up of his attitude, Mac followed behind, deciding to confront him about his behaviour. Flack continued down the corridor but Mac's voice stopped him in his tracks.
'What's your problem Detective Flack?' Mac asked coldly, pulling rank on the detective.
It was with these words that Flack finally exploded and the pent up anger over Stella's treatment, finally was released in a cataclysmic outburst.
'Wanna know what my problem is Mac?' He snapped throwing his friend against the wall as the others looked on in horror, routed to the spot.
'You struck Stella! You struck her across the face! That's my problem!'
The lab was silent as every member looked on before them at the sight of the two detectives grappling and in horror at Flack's shocking accusation.
Mac and Flack stared at one another; Flack in fury towards his friend and Mac in utter shock at Flack's knowledge of what had occurred that fateful night, so many months ago. There was only one way that he could know about that and as Mac realised the truth, he too became filled with explosive anger and grabbed Flack, this time pinning him to the wall, using his marine training.
'You spoke to Stella?' His voice was ice as he demanded the truth.
Seeing the fury in Mac's eyes, Flack began to feel his dissipate slightly as he realised what he had broken the promise he made to Stella and revealed her secret. Feeling the pressure on his body increase, Flack finally answered.
'Yes I spoke to Stella and she told me everything about what you've done to her!' He snapped out. 'And not just when you struck her.'
Mac was momentarily confused by that comment but, with his temper dangerously close to exploding in fury and worry about Stella, he ignored it.
Mac's voice was ice. 'What did she say to you?'
'Like I said, she told me everything about what happened. How you struck her. What you said about her. You make me sick Mac.' Flack carried on, finally getting the chance to air all his emotions towards his friend. 'These past months I felt sorry for you because Stella left you; your own partner just upped and left you but now I know the truth. Now I know that you were the one who forced her to go. You struck her. And you don't even have the conscience to feel guilty about that do you huh Mac? Yet Stella, she's blaming herself for what you did. She's in a state. You should see what you've done to her. She's exhausted because she's so guilty about hurting you when the truth is you hurt her! You should see what you've done to her, Mac. If only you could see what that night did to her, you pathetic man.'
Mac listened to Flack's outburst in shock and his mind was unable to process it fast enough. As he realised just what Flack was saying, he became filled with a new greater rage and Mac grabbed Flack harder, shoving him harder up against the wall.
'Wait...How do you know what she looks like unless you've...' As Mac realised what else Flack was hiding he exploded in rage. 'YOU SAW STELLA?'
The silence of the lab only deepened at the latest development.
Finally after an age of silence so thick that it could be cut with a knife, Flack again answered. 'Yes I've seen Stella. We had coffee.'
'Where is she?' Getting no response, Mac shook Flack harder. 'Where is she?'
Knowing that he was defeated, Flack sighed deeply, 'She's here Mac. Stella never left New York.
And in that moment, the truth that Stella had worked so hard and expertly to conceal, was exposed.
It was one thing that he would never be able to get over- the beauty of the Detective. She really was a fine specimen: beautiful, intelligent, and stubborn. He liked those qualities in a woman. It was more fun if they fought.
And how Detective Bonasera would fight.
She had been a formidable adversary the first time he had terrorised the city and in his ten years of absence he had often wondered about the Detective's life. It had surprised him to discover that she had not yet settled down with a man but he supposed this was owing to her stubborn nature.
He could barely wait for his fun to begin.
He had it all planned out; it would only be a matter of time before either she or Detective Taylor himself came after him and then he would have great fun. He wondered how far he would have to go- how much pain he would have to inflict upon the pretty woman before he caused Detective Taylor to resort to a terrifying, primal rage. Once upon a time he would have only needed to touch her to have gained such a reaction but now that their bonds seemed so severely fractured; he surmised that he would be able to gain a great amount of enjoyment from her screams before the Detective became involved. But until that moment, there was work to be done.
He grinned viciously as his next victim rounded the corner and came into view. 'That will do nicely.' A slight demented wheezing accompanied this statement before he exited his vehicle, ready to pounce on the unsuspecting victim.
Since the shocking discovery of what really happened the night Stella left, the once respected and adored Mac Taylor had become the pariah of the lab. Every member of the lab who had overheard the confrontation between the two men now looked at him with disgust and horror in their eyes as it sunk in that not only was he the man responsible for Stella's resignation, but that he had struck her. The CSIs had been utterly horrified and had all confronted him about Flack's claims. It was as though an irreversible chasm within the lab had opened.
Mac himself was still recovering from the knowledge that Stella was in New York and this, combined with the gut-wrenching guilt he felt at what he had done, sent him into an even deeper depression than what he had been experiencing since her departure.
What he had done would haunt him for ever more. He had struck his best friend- the one person in the world who understood him, who had been there for him during the dark days following Claire's death. Stella meant everything to him. He loved her and if he was honest with himself, he had loved her for a very long time. All he wanted to do was to see her; to explain and apologise for his crimes and spend the rest of his life making up for what he had done both to her and to the remainder of his family. And so he sat alone in his office remembering Stella and wishing that she was here with him once more.
Familiar, swift heeled footsteps marched down the lab corridors.
All around, CSIs and technicians alike stared absolutely agog and aghast at the woman who strode so fiercely in the direction of Detective Taylor's office. It was utterly silent in the lab with the exception of the woman's heels but yet she ignored her captive audience, her eyes instead remaining directly in front of her at her quickly approaching destination. Without knocking she flung open the office door and stepped in. Mac Taylor looked up in dismay at the brashness of the intruder, but this dismay was quickly turned into full out shock at the identity of the woman who stood before him. For so many months he had been unable to get her face out of his mind, and now Stella stood before him, her eyes boring into his, in all her familiar glory.
Finally Stella spoke. 'You need my help Mac. You need me.'