Emily (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
iluvroadrunner6) wrote2006-08-04 11:05 pm
iluvroadrunner6) wrote2006-08-04 11:05 pm
Danny/Lindsay - Aftermath
Title: Aftermath
Author: Me!
Rating: PG-13
Summary: In the aftermath of an event, who is the one holding you on your feet?
Author's Note: Sequel to Whipped Cream and Spray Cheese and A Night at Spamalot. If you read nothing else, at least read A Night at Spamalot. Also, it's got an even amount of DannyLindsay and FlackOC, and it's pretty case-centric. It's also massively long. Sorry in advance.
“Bruised and Broken”
“—Broken arm, broken ribs, countless abrasions and blows to the face, sprained knee, and that’s the obvious,” the doctor told Mac Taylor as they looked at the x-rays on the screen in front of them.
“Detective Flack told me all this,” Mac replied, giving the man a smile, “I’m looking for the less obvious.”
At this, the doctor looked more sober, “The forensic nurse found evidence of rape, however, there was no evidence of biologicals, or lubricants, so we have no evidence for you there. There was also some internal bleeding, but that was pretty minor. We were able to clean that up in surgery.” He hesitated, taking the x-rays down from above them, “In some ways, she’s lucky. One of those broken ribs could have punctured a lung.”
“Well, we have two of our CSIs going over the scene, so maybe we’ll find something there,” Mac replied, “Do you think she’ll pull out of this?”
“That all hinges on whether or not she wakes up. I’m optimistic about her chances, but if she doesn’t wake up—”
“She doesn’t wake up,” Mac nodded, “How bout the gunshot vic?”
“Single gunshot wound to the upper chest, going right through the right shoulder blade,” the doctor replied, switching the x-rays to the other victim, “He’ll lose the use of that arm for a few weeks until it heals, but otherwise he should be fine.”
“Good,” Mac sighed, “Keep me posted on Detective Peters’ condition.” He walked out of the room, and headed down the hospital hallway, seeing Don Flack on the way. He knew the look on the older man’s face, and closed his eyes.
“I don’t want to know, Mac,” he replied, “I just want to know if she’s gonna wake up.”
“The doctor says he’s optimistic but he’s not sure when that’s going to be ,” Mac replied, “Flack, do you know if she has any family we need to contact.”
Flack shook his head, “Mom’s dead, and I don’t have clue about Dad.”
“Any siblings?”
“None she’s ever mentioned.”
“Alright, I’ll talk to her boss,” Mac replied, “Why don’t you go home, get some sleep?”
“No, Mac, I think I should be here,” Flack sighed, “I want to be here in case she wakes up.”
“Flack, she’s not going to recover overnight,” Mac replied, “The doctor estimates that if she’s going to wake up, it at least won’t be for a few days. Go home, and get some sleep.”
Flack nodded, before turning to walk with Mac as they headed out of the hospital. Mac could tell that this was getting to him. He had had no idea, until he had gotten Lindsay’s call, that Flack and Emma had even been that close. Danny and Lindsay he knew, but Flack and Emma had managed to slip right under his radar. He knew the man needed to be there for her more than anything, but he also knew that if the trauma Emma had been through was anything compared to what the doctor had told her, an emotionally and physically exhausted Flack wasn’t going to be very much good to her.
“She’s gonna be alright, Don,” he said, patting the man in his shoulder, “She’s tougher than she looks.”
“Yeah,” Flack replied, giving Mac a look, “I know.”
***
Kaile Maka sat down next to Lindsay Monroe in the waiting room. Danny was still under from the surgery, but the prognosis for him was pretty good. Lindsay was still going to wait for him to wake up anyway. The sound of that gunshot had been the scariest moment of her life.
“Alright, Linds,” she sighed, “I need you to walk me through this.”
“We were dropping off something we had got for Emma the night before,” Lindsay replied, “When we got to the door, it had been kicked in and there were sounds of struggle coming from the inside. Danny was going in, told me to stay there and wait for back up.”
“Did you go in?”
“No,” Lindsay shook her head, “Not until I heard the gunshot. I finished the call and ran inside. As I was going in, someone, I’m assuming it was the suspect, ran at me, pushed me against the doorframe, and continued to push past me.”
“Did you get a good look at him?”
“No. It all happened to fast, and I was focused on finding out about Danny and Emma, they were my priority. I went into the kitchen. Danny was against the wall, bleeding from a wound in his shoulder—”
“Oh my God, Danny!” Lindsay ran towards the man in the corner.
“Linds, find Emma,” Danny gasped, pulling on his jacket to try and stop the bleeding. She attempted to help him, but he stopped her.
“Danny, would you—” she growled but he grabbed her wrist and forced her to look at him.
“Don’t worry about me. Find Emma.”
“Where did you find him?” Maka asked, breaking through her thoughts.
“Propped against the wall, between the entryway in the kitchen.”
“Did you go find Emma?”
“Yeah,” Lindsay nodded, “She was unconscious in the kitchen, lying face down on the floor. I checked her pulse and breathing, and after verifying that, I started to try and get an assessment of her injuries. Then the back-up started to arrive. EMTs put both her and Danny on a bus, and one offered to check me out. They did, and then I came here. To wait for Danny.”
“Of course,” Maka replied with a slow smile, “Did you hear any other shots?”
“No, just that one.”
“Did you draw your weapon and identify yourself upon entering?”
“Yes,” Lindsay nodded, “I did.”
“Detective Monroe, Detective Maka?” the nurse said as she came into the waiting room, “Detective Messer is awake.”
“Thank you,” Maka said, before turning to Lindsay, “You know I have to speak to him alone.”
“I know,” Lindsay replied, “I’ll wait.” Maka nodded, before heading into the hospital room behind them.
“Face the Facts”
Stella Bonasera and Sheldon Hawkes stepped into the lab, arms laden with bags of evidence from the scene. Hawkes went to take the rolls of crime scene photos developed, while Stella went to take the rest of the evidence to the layout room. On the way there, she spotted Mac speaking with a very angry Ethan Harper, supervisor for the night shift and Emma’s boss.
“This isn’t fucking fair! You get to take Bonasera’s case, and yet my guys can’t handle Emma’s!”
“In case you haven’t noticed, one of my guys was in there too,” Mac replied, “Look, I understand you’re being protective of your CSI. I would be too. If it would make you feel better, you can put one of your guys on the case with us.”
“Chelsea,” Ethan replied without hesitation, “I’ll send her to the layout room to help her catch up.”
Stella was taken back a bit. Of all the CSIs on Harper’s team, Chelsea Carter wasn’t her first choice. There had been no buzz in the lab about Chelsea’s skills forensically. The only buzz where she was involved usually came from the water cooler gossip she spread. And then this was her friend they were referring to. She was emotional, and she wasn’t the best CSI that team had.
But then again, Emma had been the best.
“Mac,” Stella began but he held up a hand to silence her before she could protest.
“Chelsea Carter is a more than capable CSI, who may have information related to figuring out who this guy is. Just because she wasn’t doing high profile cases, doesn’t mean she can’t work a scene. She’s never not closed a case.”
“But Mac—”
“No buts, Stella,” Mac replied, “Maka’s at the hospital getting Danny and Lindsay’s statements, before she comes back, I want to make sure we know the evidence so we can collaborate it with the evidence. Go set up the layout room.”
Stella bit back a response and headed for the layout room. There was no changing Mac’s mind about this, and she wasn’t about to fight him on it, but she still resented the fact that he was forcing this CSI on them who had never worked with them before. Chelsea was waiting for her in the room, and took some of the bags of evidence from her to take some of the load off her hands.
“How you holding up?” Stella asked.
“I’m fine,” Chelsea replied, “I just want to catch the son of a bitch.” Hawkes came in with the crime scene photos, and she took them from him and started flipping through them. “Catch me up, please?”
***
“How ya doing, Danny?” Maka asked as she sat down on the edge of the bed. He looked at her blearily without his glasses, and she reached to the stand next to the bed and gave them to him, “Better?”
“Yeah, thanks,” he mumbled, “I feel like I’ve been run over by an elephant.”
“You look like it.”
“Thanks, Maka.” He shifted with the arm in a sling, and gave her a small smile, “Can we just get to it already? I wanna see Lindsay.”
Maka rolled her eyes, and sighed, “Alright, let’s start from the beginning. You arrived at the apartment, viewed signs of a struggle, and prepared to enter. Were you armed?”
“Yes,” Danny replied, “I almost always carry my piece when I go out. Especially when I’m with Lindsay.”
“What did you see?”
“I entered the entryway, I could see the guy standing in the kitchen. I approached slowly, identified myself, and that’s when the guy pulled the gun. I was in the middle of telling him to drop the gun when he fired.”
“He didn’t even hesitate?” Maka frowned.
“Nope,” Danny shook his head, “Didn’t even blink. He heard NYPD, pulled the gun, boom. I was down.”
“And you never discharged your weapon?”
“No.”
“Did you see Detective Peters at any point during all this?”
“No,” Danny replied, “Maka—”
“Lindsay will fill you in, you know I can’t.”
“She’s alive, though, right?”
Maka nodded slowly, “Did you get a look at this guy.
“White guy,” Danny said, closing his eyes trying to think, “Medium build, average height.”
“Get a good look at his face?”
Danny shook his head, “Happened too fast.”
“Alright, Danny,” Maka sighed, getting up from the bed, “That’s all I needed. I’ll send Lindsay in.”
“Maka?”
“Yeah?”
“Find this guy. I want to see him burn for this.”
“We all do, Danny. We all do.”
“Walk me Through This”
“Alright, what have we got?” Mac sighed as he came into the layout room, where the CSIs had spread out the evidence in front of them.
“Point of entry was the front door,” Hawkes replied, “It looked like it was most likely kicked in. The perp then proceeded into the apartment and headed most likely into the bedroom, which we’re assuming is where Emma was. First attack occurred there.”
“There was more than one?” Mac frowned.
“Where the rape took place and where the majority of the beating took place happened in two different places,” Stella explained, “The beating took place in the bedroom. We’ve blood mixed with saliva on her pillows and sheets.”
“After this, he probably got her up and dragged her into the kitchen,” Hawkes continued, “Where we’re speculating the rape occurred.”
“Why speculating?” Mac frowned.
“We didn’t find any semen anywhere at the scene,” Stella replied, “Not even a used condom. And since there were no biologicals found in Emma—”
“We’re beginning to suspect that Emma wasn’t raped by a who but a what,” Hawkes continued, “We found a frying pan with blood on it, we’re having Adam run some tests on it.”
“Alright, Danny entered the room from the same point of entry, made his way to a point halfway between the doorway and the kitchen, within eyeshot of the perp. According to the statement given to Maka, Danny ID’d himself and the guy pulled out the gun and shot him, leaving him injured. After that he left through the point of entry, where he ran into Lindsay, knocked her out of the way and continued on the way out,” Stella took a breath and hesitated, “Maka’s canvassing the neighbors how, to see if they heard or saw anything. The only way we can really confirm whether or not the rape and the beating were two separate events is to talk to Emma.”
Mac took a minute to digest the information before turning to Chelsea. “What can you tell me about the perp?”
“Emma knows him,” Chelsea sighed, “There’s no sign to how well or why, but this was definitely personal. Just look at how he committed his crime. He had a gun, yet he took the time to inflict the pain himself, with his body and fists. According to Danny’s statement, the perp didn’t hesitate with the gun. If he didn’t want to cause Emma pain, he would have just shot her. But he didn’t. He wanted to hurt her.”
“So we’re looking for a perp with connections to her,” Mac nodded, “That narrows down the search grid a bit.” They all looked to the door when it opened and Jane Parsons from DNA entered.
“I have the results back on your frying pan,” Jane frowned, “The blood was definitely your victims, and I found her cervical cells on the end of the handle.”
A silence fell over the room, broken by a soft, whispered, “Holy shit,” from Stella. They knew what happened in that apartment, but had no leads, other than the fact that she knew him.
“Anything on the DNA from under her fingernails?” Mac sighed.
“It’s definitely male. I’m running it through CODIS as we speak, but no hits yet.”
“Thanks, Jane,” Mac replied as the woman walked out, and he turned back to his team, “Alright people. Let’s get to work.”
***
Mandel Schafer sat on the edge of Emma’s bed, watching the girl as she slept. She had been so pretty, once upon a time. Back when they had first met. So beautiful. Her smile and her laugh and her body. She had captivated his world, and his life, he wanted to give her everything. She had been perfect.
Then she changed. Started paying more attention to her job than him, started working longer hours, different hours, started spending more time at Sullivan’s than at clubs with him. He needed to put her in her place. He needed to get her back to where she used to be, back when she was perfect.
Now, well. Look at her now. Lying bruised and broken in a hospital bed, all alone, no one by her side. He reached up, ran a hand down the side of her face. He could still hear her screams as he hit her, her grunts and struggles as she tried to get him off her, her cries as he slammed the frying pan into her. That was his favorite part, the rape. Showing her for the slut she was. The slut she had turned into ever since she left him. She left him. How dare she? She left him after the first time he hit her. She threatened him with a restraining order, she moved out, moved away. Changed everything. She was just gone.
But he tracked her down. He saw her one night, outside Sullivan’s in the arms of a taller man. A different man. He saw how she looked at him, and how she was with him, and his blood just boiled. He needed to remind her of who she was. She was his, his.
His hand had paused next to her neck, as though he was supporting it with his hands, and then he started to squeeze. She was whoring herself out to some other man, another man who didn’t appreciate her perfection, her beauty, her—
“Umm, excuse me,” a voice said from behind him, causing him to loosen his grip immediately, “But who the hell are you?”
Mandy turned around, and spotted the other man who had seduced his Emma away. He felt the anger building up inside him, but he would keep it down. He wasn’t going to hurt him here. Not in the hospital. Not where everyone could see.
“Sorry,” he replied slowly, offering the man his hand, “Mandy Schafer. I’m an old friend of Emma’s.”
“Don Flack,” the other man replied, shaking it, “That’s some nasty fight bite, there. On your knuckles.”
“Oh, bar brawl,” he shrugged, “How do you know Emma? You work with her?”
“I’m dating her,” Flack stated, “How long you two been friends? I’ve known her a while and she’s never mentioned you.”
“Oh, well, we haven’t seen each other in a while,” Mandy replied simply, “We used to date, but we broke up, amiably, and went our separate ways. We talk every once in a while. I heard she was in the hospital on the news, and naturally I decided to come down and see her. Terrible ordeal she’s been through.”
“Yeah, it’s awful,” Flack replied simply, crossing his arms in front of his chest, studying the man in front of him. Something definitely wasn’t sitting right. Not right at all.
“Well, it was very nice meeting you, but I have to go,” Mandy replied, shaking Flack’s hand again before slipping out the door, “Take care.”
“You too,” Flack commented back, before reaching into his pocket for his cell phone.
“Who are You?”
Lindsay helped Danny pull on his jacket, sliding one arm into the sleeve while draping the other over his injured shoulder. They were discharging him today, and he was ready to go home. He had just hoped that there would be some better news about Emma by the time he was able to go home.
“You OK?” Lindsay asked, as he turned around to face her.
“I’m fine,” he replied, “C’mere.” He gestured to her with his good arm and pulled her into a hug. Her head rested against his chest, and his chin resting on her head.
“You scared me, Danny,” she whispered, curling her arms around his waist and holding him tighter against her.
“I know,” he sighed, pressing a kiss to the top of her head, “But we’re gonna be OK.”
“I’m just worried about Emma and Flack,” Lindsay sighed, “I mean, he doesn’t know the extent of what this monster did to her. How are they gonna handle that? How are they going to—”
“They’ll take care of each other,” Danny replied, tilting her head up to look at him, “Just like we do.” She cupped his face in her hands and kissed him softly. “I love you, Montana,” he whispered as the kiss broke and she laughed.
“I love you too, Danny.”
As they both headed out of the hospital, they spotted Flack having a frantic conversation with someone on the phone. They slowed and Lindsay gave the man a concerned look, trying to figure out what was going on.
“The guy who did this to her,” Flack explained, getting off the phone, “ I think he was here.”
“What?” Danny said, taking a glance into the room where her friend was lying, “Did he hurt her?”
“No,” Flack sighed, “But the things he were saying to me just weren’t adding up. I didn’t get a good feeling about him.”
Lindsay and Danny both knew that this could be Flack just being overprotective, but his gut tended to be a good one. They had heard from Chelsea that there was a very good chance that this was a personal crime, so Danny wanted to check and see if it rang any warning bells for him before agreeing with his friend.
“What’s his name, Flack?”
“Mandy Schafer.”
At the sound of the name, an angry scowl crossed Danny’s face, and he started to make his way out of the hospital. “Son of a bitch—”
***
Both Danny and Chelsea stormed into Mac’s office at the same time, completely oblivious to each other, only seeing red for this news from Flack.
“We know who did this.” Their voice said it at the exact same moment, and it alerted each of them to the other’s presence in the room. They gave each other a look, while Mac spoke up.
in
“Who?”
“Mandy Schafer,” Chelsea replied, “I don’t have any physical evidence, but I know it was him.”
“How?” Mac replied.
“Mandy’s her ex,” Chelsea began, “He was extremely controlling, and expected her to spend all her time and attention on him, rather than her job and her friends. He suddenly felt the need to ‘put her in her place,’ and that’s when he turned scary. The first time he hit her, she was gone. Emma was smarter than to stick around, but he started stalking her and threatening her. She had to change her entire life to get away from this guy. He must have finally tracked her down.”
“A gut feeling doesn’t stand up in court, Chelsea,” Mac replied slowly.
“We both know that, but there’s got to be some way to prove—” Danny began, when Jane came in.
“Mac, we got a hit on the DNA from under Detective Peters’ fingernails,” Jane began, handing him a folder, “He has priors for aggravated assault, so his DNA was in the system.”
Mac studied the folder for a second, before looking over at Chelsea, “Go pick Schafer up.”
Chelsea could feel the sardonic smile creeping up the side of her face as she got up and got ready to leave the room, “I’m gonna enjoy this, Mac. I really am.”
“Do it by the book, Chelsea,” Mac warned.
“I always do,” Chelsea replied before slipping out the door.
“Being There for You”
Flack was sitting on the edge of the bed, holding her hand in his. He knew more than he had wanted to know about the case. He knew down to the grittiest details. Stella had tried to get him to go back to the hospital, but he had insisted on watching the interrogation.
The man folded faster than any of them had anticipated. In fact, he felt that he had nothing to hide. He had seen Emma as his property. His woman, his pleasure. What he had done to her was above the law, above her rights, above treating her like an actual person. Flack felt like he was going to be sick when he heard about the pleasure Schafer took in what he had done to her. How much he enjoyed inflicting the pain he did.
He placed his head in his hand, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, silently begging her to wake up, so he could try and help her make a step in the right direction. A step to helping her move on. He felt like he was stuck in the moment and couldn’t move forward, and he wanted to move forward. But he needed her to move there with him.
Danny was watching his friend from the window of the room, and felt Lindsay’s hand in his as she came up behind him. “How’s he doing?”
“He’ll be OK,” Danny sighed, “He shouldn’t have been watching that interrogation. Now he knows more than he ever wanted to know.”
“This must be tearing him apart,” Lindsay whispered.
“It’s killing him,” Danny replied, “I know if that would’ve been me, I wouldn’t be able to hold myself together.”
“And Don would have your back,” Lindsay replied, “Just like you have his now.” Danny turned to her and kissed her on the forehead, before giving her hand a squeeze. His silent way of saying thank you. Holding him on his feet.
***
Emma opened her eyes, blinking slightly at the brightness of the room around her. She didn’t realize where she was at first. She was in a room. A nice white room, and there was someone holding her hand.
And then it suddenly came rushing back to her in one violent bloody mess. The sound of the door being kicked in. Him grabbing her. Seeing his face. Feeling the blows. Feeling the—oh, God.
“Ems?” Flack voice entered her thoughts, like the calm in the storm, “Emma, sweetheart.”
“Don,” she gasped, squeezing his hand, and he pulled her into him, pulling his arms around her, whispering comforting words in her ear as she cried into his shirt, letting him be her rock, letting him hold her on her feet.
THE END
Author: Me!
Rating: PG-13
Summary: In the aftermath of an event, who is the one holding you on your feet?
Author's Note: Sequel to Whipped Cream and Spray Cheese and A Night at Spamalot. If you read nothing else, at least read A Night at Spamalot. Also, it's got an even amount of DannyLindsay and FlackOC, and it's pretty case-centric. It's also massively long. Sorry in advance.
“Bruised and Broken”
“—Broken arm, broken ribs, countless abrasions and blows to the face, sprained knee, and that’s the obvious,” the doctor told Mac Taylor as they looked at the x-rays on the screen in front of them.
“Detective Flack told me all this,” Mac replied, giving the man a smile, “I’m looking for the less obvious.”
At this, the doctor looked more sober, “The forensic nurse found evidence of rape, however, there was no evidence of biologicals, or lubricants, so we have no evidence for you there. There was also some internal bleeding, but that was pretty minor. We were able to clean that up in surgery.” He hesitated, taking the x-rays down from above them, “In some ways, she’s lucky. One of those broken ribs could have punctured a lung.”
“Well, we have two of our CSIs going over the scene, so maybe we’ll find something there,” Mac replied, “Do you think she’ll pull out of this?”
“That all hinges on whether or not she wakes up. I’m optimistic about her chances, but if she doesn’t wake up—”
“She doesn’t wake up,” Mac nodded, “How bout the gunshot vic?”
“Single gunshot wound to the upper chest, going right through the right shoulder blade,” the doctor replied, switching the x-rays to the other victim, “He’ll lose the use of that arm for a few weeks until it heals, but otherwise he should be fine.”
“Good,” Mac sighed, “Keep me posted on Detective Peters’ condition.” He walked out of the room, and headed down the hospital hallway, seeing Don Flack on the way. He knew the look on the older man’s face, and closed his eyes.
“I don’t want to know, Mac,” he replied, “I just want to know if she’s gonna wake up.”
“The doctor says he’s optimistic but he’s not sure when that’s going to be ,” Mac replied, “Flack, do you know if she has any family we need to contact.”
Flack shook his head, “Mom’s dead, and I don’t have clue about Dad.”
“Any siblings?”
“None she’s ever mentioned.”
“Alright, I’ll talk to her boss,” Mac replied, “Why don’t you go home, get some sleep?”
“No, Mac, I think I should be here,” Flack sighed, “I want to be here in case she wakes up.”
“Flack, she’s not going to recover overnight,” Mac replied, “The doctor estimates that if she’s going to wake up, it at least won’t be for a few days. Go home, and get some sleep.”
Flack nodded, before turning to walk with Mac as they headed out of the hospital. Mac could tell that this was getting to him. He had had no idea, until he had gotten Lindsay’s call, that Flack and Emma had even been that close. Danny and Lindsay he knew, but Flack and Emma had managed to slip right under his radar. He knew the man needed to be there for her more than anything, but he also knew that if the trauma Emma had been through was anything compared to what the doctor had told her, an emotionally and physically exhausted Flack wasn’t going to be very much good to her.
“She’s gonna be alright, Don,” he said, patting the man in his shoulder, “She’s tougher than she looks.”
“Yeah,” Flack replied, giving Mac a look, “I know.”
***
Kaile Maka sat down next to Lindsay Monroe in the waiting room. Danny was still under from the surgery, but the prognosis for him was pretty good. Lindsay was still going to wait for him to wake up anyway. The sound of that gunshot had been the scariest moment of her life.
“Alright, Linds,” she sighed, “I need you to walk me through this.”
“We were dropping off something we had got for Emma the night before,” Lindsay replied, “When we got to the door, it had been kicked in and there were sounds of struggle coming from the inside. Danny was going in, told me to stay there and wait for back up.”
“Did you go in?”
“No,” Lindsay shook her head, “Not until I heard the gunshot. I finished the call and ran inside. As I was going in, someone, I’m assuming it was the suspect, ran at me, pushed me against the doorframe, and continued to push past me.”
“Did you get a good look at him?”
“No. It all happened to fast, and I was focused on finding out about Danny and Emma, they were my priority. I went into the kitchen. Danny was against the wall, bleeding from a wound in his shoulder—”
“Oh my God, Danny!” Lindsay ran towards the man in the corner.
“Linds, find Emma,” Danny gasped, pulling on his jacket to try and stop the bleeding. She attempted to help him, but he stopped her.
“Danny, would you—” she growled but he grabbed her wrist and forced her to look at him.
“Don’t worry about me. Find Emma.”
“Where did you find him?” Maka asked, breaking through her thoughts.
“Propped against the wall, between the entryway in the kitchen.”
“Did you go find Emma?”
“Yeah,” Lindsay nodded, “She was unconscious in the kitchen, lying face down on the floor. I checked her pulse and breathing, and after verifying that, I started to try and get an assessment of her injuries. Then the back-up started to arrive. EMTs put both her and Danny on a bus, and one offered to check me out. They did, and then I came here. To wait for Danny.”
“Of course,” Maka replied with a slow smile, “Did you hear any other shots?”
“No, just that one.”
“Did you draw your weapon and identify yourself upon entering?”
“Yes,” Lindsay nodded, “I did.”
“Detective Monroe, Detective Maka?” the nurse said as she came into the waiting room, “Detective Messer is awake.”
“Thank you,” Maka said, before turning to Lindsay, “You know I have to speak to him alone.”
“I know,” Lindsay replied, “I’ll wait.” Maka nodded, before heading into the hospital room behind them.
“Face the Facts”
Stella Bonasera and Sheldon Hawkes stepped into the lab, arms laden with bags of evidence from the scene. Hawkes went to take the rolls of crime scene photos developed, while Stella went to take the rest of the evidence to the layout room. On the way there, she spotted Mac speaking with a very angry Ethan Harper, supervisor for the night shift and Emma’s boss.
“This isn’t fucking fair! You get to take Bonasera’s case, and yet my guys can’t handle Emma’s!”
“In case you haven’t noticed, one of my guys was in there too,” Mac replied, “Look, I understand you’re being protective of your CSI. I would be too. If it would make you feel better, you can put one of your guys on the case with us.”
“Chelsea,” Ethan replied without hesitation, “I’ll send her to the layout room to help her catch up.”
Stella was taken back a bit. Of all the CSIs on Harper’s team, Chelsea Carter wasn’t her first choice. There had been no buzz in the lab about Chelsea’s skills forensically. The only buzz where she was involved usually came from the water cooler gossip she spread. And then this was her friend they were referring to. She was emotional, and she wasn’t the best CSI that team had.
But then again, Emma had been the best.
“Mac,” Stella began but he held up a hand to silence her before she could protest.
“Chelsea Carter is a more than capable CSI, who may have information related to figuring out who this guy is. Just because she wasn’t doing high profile cases, doesn’t mean she can’t work a scene. She’s never not closed a case.”
“But Mac—”
“No buts, Stella,” Mac replied, “Maka’s at the hospital getting Danny and Lindsay’s statements, before she comes back, I want to make sure we know the evidence so we can collaborate it with the evidence. Go set up the layout room.”
Stella bit back a response and headed for the layout room. There was no changing Mac’s mind about this, and she wasn’t about to fight him on it, but she still resented the fact that he was forcing this CSI on them who had never worked with them before. Chelsea was waiting for her in the room, and took some of the bags of evidence from her to take some of the load off her hands.
“How you holding up?” Stella asked.
“I’m fine,” Chelsea replied, “I just want to catch the son of a bitch.” Hawkes came in with the crime scene photos, and she took them from him and started flipping through them. “Catch me up, please?”
***
“How ya doing, Danny?” Maka asked as she sat down on the edge of the bed. He looked at her blearily without his glasses, and she reached to the stand next to the bed and gave them to him, “Better?”
“Yeah, thanks,” he mumbled, “I feel like I’ve been run over by an elephant.”
“You look like it.”
“Thanks, Maka.” He shifted with the arm in a sling, and gave her a small smile, “Can we just get to it already? I wanna see Lindsay.”
Maka rolled her eyes, and sighed, “Alright, let’s start from the beginning. You arrived at the apartment, viewed signs of a struggle, and prepared to enter. Were you armed?”
“Yes,” Danny replied, “I almost always carry my piece when I go out. Especially when I’m with Lindsay.”
“What did you see?”
“I entered the entryway, I could see the guy standing in the kitchen. I approached slowly, identified myself, and that’s when the guy pulled the gun. I was in the middle of telling him to drop the gun when he fired.”
“He didn’t even hesitate?” Maka frowned.
“Nope,” Danny shook his head, “Didn’t even blink. He heard NYPD, pulled the gun, boom. I was down.”
“And you never discharged your weapon?”
“No.”
“Did you see Detective Peters at any point during all this?”
“No,” Danny replied, “Maka—”
“Lindsay will fill you in, you know I can’t.”
“She’s alive, though, right?”
Maka nodded slowly, “Did you get a look at this guy.
“White guy,” Danny said, closing his eyes trying to think, “Medium build, average height.”
“Get a good look at his face?”
Danny shook his head, “Happened too fast.”
“Alright, Danny,” Maka sighed, getting up from the bed, “That’s all I needed. I’ll send Lindsay in.”
“Maka?”
“Yeah?”
“Find this guy. I want to see him burn for this.”
“We all do, Danny. We all do.”
“Walk me Through This”
“Alright, what have we got?” Mac sighed as he came into the layout room, where the CSIs had spread out the evidence in front of them.
“Point of entry was the front door,” Hawkes replied, “It looked like it was most likely kicked in. The perp then proceeded into the apartment and headed most likely into the bedroom, which we’re assuming is where Emma was. First attack occurred there.”
“There was more than one?” Mac frowned.
“Where the rape took place and where the majority of the beating took place happened in two different places,” Stella explained, “The beating took place in the bedroom. We’ve blood mixed with saliva on her pillows and sheets.”
“After this, he probably got her up and dragged her into the kitchen,” Hawkes continued, “Where we’re speculating the rape occurred.”
“Why speculating?” Mac frowned.
“We didn’t find any semen anywhere at the scene,” Stella replied, “Not even a used condom. And since there were no biologicals found in Emma—”
“We’re beginning to suspect that Emma wasn’t raped by a who but a what,” Hawkes continued, “We found a frying pan with blood on it, we’re having Adam run some tests on it.”
“Alright, Danny entered the room from the same point of entry, made his way to a point halfway between the doorway and the kitchen, within eyeshot of the perp. According to the statement given to Maka, Danny ID’d himself and the guy pulled out the gun and shot him, leaving him injured. After that he left through the point of entry, where he ran into Lindsay, knocked her out of the way and continued on the way out,” Stella took a breath and hesitated, “Maka’s canvassing the neighbors how, to see if they heard or saw anything. The only way we can really confirm whether or not the rape and the beating were two separate events is to talk to Emma.”
Mac took a minute to digest the information before turning to Chelsea. “What can you tell me about the perp?”
“Emma knows him,” Chelsea sighed, “There’s no sign to how well or why, but this was definitely personal. Just look at how he committed his crime. He had a gun, yet he took the time to inflict the pain himself, with his body and fists. According to Danny’s statement, the perp didn’t hesitate with the gun. If he didn’t want to cause Emma pain, he would have just shot her. But he didn’t. He wanted to hurt her.”
“So we’re looking for a perp with connections to her,” Mac nodded, “That narrows down the search grid a bit.” They all looked to the door when it opened and Jane Parsons from DNA entered.
“I have the results back on your frying pan,” Jane frowned, “The blood was definitely your victims, and I found her cervical cells on the end of the handle.”
A silence fell over the room, broken by a soft, whispered, “Holy shit,” from Stella. They knew what happened in that apartment, but had no leads, other than the fact that she knew him.
“Anything on the DNA from under her fingernails?” Mac sighed.
“It’s definitely male. I’m running it through CODIS as we speak, but no hits yet.”
“Thanks, Jane,” Mac replied as the woman walked out, and he turned back to his team, “Alright people. Let’s get to work.”
***
Mandel Schafer sat on the edge of Emma’s bed, watching the girl as she slept. She had been so pretty, once upon a time. Back when they had first met. So beautiful. Her smile and her laugh and her body. She had captivated his world, and his life, he wanted to give her everything. She had been perfect.
Then she changed. Started paying more attention to her job than him, started working longer hours, different hours, started spending more time at Sullivan’s than at clubs with him. He needed to put her in her place. He needed to get her back to where she used to be, back when she was perfect.
Now, well. Look at her now. Lying bruised and broken in a hospital bed, all alone, no one by her side. He reached up, ran a hand down the side of her face. He could still hear her screams as he hit her, her grunts and struggles as she tried to get him off her, her cries as he slammed the frying pan into her. That was his favorite part, the rape. Showing her for the slut she was. The slut she had turned into ever since she left him. She left him. How dare she? She left him after the first time he hit her. She threatened him with a restraining order, she moved out, moved away. Changed everything. She was just gone.
But he tracked her down. He saw her one night, outside Sullivan’s in the arms of a taller man. A different man. He saw how she looked at him, and how she was with him, and his blood just boiled. He needed to remind her of who she was. She was his, his.
His hand had paused next to her neck, as though he was supporting it with his hands, and then he started to squeeze. She was whoring herself out to some other man, another man who didn’t appreciate her perfection, her beauty, her—
“Umm, excuse me,” a voice said from behind him, causing him to loosen his grip immediately, “But who the hell are you?”
Mandy turned around, and spotted the other man who had seduced his Emma away. He felt the anger building up inside him, but he would keep it down. He wasn’t going to hurt him here. Not in the hospital. Not where everyone could see.
“Sorry,” he replied slowly, offering the man his hand, “Mandy Schafer. I’m an old friend of Emma’s.”
“Don Flack,” the other man replied, shaking it, “That’s some nasty fight bite, there. On your knuckles.”
“Oh, bar brawl,” he shrugged, “How do you know Emma? You work with her?”
“I’m dating her,” Flack stated, “How long you two been friends? I’ve known her a while and she’s never mentioned you.”
“Oh, well, we haven’t seen each other in a while,” Mandy replied simply, “We used to date, but we broke up, amiably, and went our separate ways. We talk every once in a while. I heard she was in the hospital on the news, and naturally I decided to come down and see her. Terrible ordeal she’s been through.”
“Yeah, it’s awful,” Flack replied simply, crossing his arms in front of his chest, studying the man in front of him. Something definitely wasn’t sitting right. Not right at all.
“Well, it was very nice meeting you, but I have to go,” Mandy replied, shaking Flack’s hand again before slipping out the door, “Take care.”
“You too,” Flack commented back, before reaching into his pocket for his cell phone.
“Who are You?”
Lindsay helped Danny pull on his jacket, sliding one arm into the sleeve while draping the other over his injured shoulder. They were discharging him today, and he was ready to go home. He had just hoped that there would be some better news about Emma by the time he was able to go home.
“You OK?” Lindsay asked, as he turned around to face her.
“I’m fine,” he replied, “C’mere.” He gestured to her with his good arm and pulled her into a hug. Her head rested against his chest, and his chin resting on her head.
“You scared me, Danny,” she whispered, curling her arms around his waist and holding him tighter against her.
“I know,” he sighed, pressing a kiss to the top of her head, “But we’re gonna be OK.”
“I’m just worried about Emma and Flack,” Lindsay sighed, “I mean, he doesn’t know the extent of what this monster did to her. How are they gonna handle that? How are they going to—”
“They’ll take care of each other,” Danny replied, tilting her head up to look at him, “Just like we do.” She cupped his face in her hands and kissed him softly. “I love you, Montana,” he whispered as the kiss broke and she laughed.
“I love you too, Danny.”
As they both headed out of the hospital, they spotted Flack having a frantic conversation with someone on the phone. They slowed and Lindsay gave the man a concerned look, trying to figure out what was going on.
“The guy who did this to her,” Flack explained, getting off the phone, “ I think he was here.”
“What?” Danny said, taking a glance into the room where her friend was lying, “Did he hurt her?”
“No,” Flack sighed, “But the things he were saying to me just weren’t adding up. I didn’t get a good feeling about him.”
Lindsay and Danny both knew that this could be Flack just being overprotective, but his gut tended to be a good one. They had heard from Chelsea that there was a very good chance that this was a personal crime, so Danny wanted to check and see if it rang any warning bells for him before agreeing with his friend.
“What’s his name, Flack?”
“Mandy Schafer.”
At the sound of the name, an angry scowl crossed Danny’s face, and he started to make his way out of the hospital. “Son of a bitch—”
***
Both Danny and Chelsea stormed into Mac’s office at the same time, completely oblivious to each other, only seeing red for this news from Flack.
“We know who did this.” Their voice said it at the exact same moment, and it alerted each of them to the other’s presence in the room. They gave each other a look, while Mac spoke up.
in
“Who?”
“Mandy Schafer,” Chelsea replied, “I don’t have any physical evidence, but I know it was him.”
“How?” Mac replied.
“Mandy’s her ex,” Chelsea began, “He was extremely controlling, and expected her to spend all her time and attention on him, rather than her job and her friends. He suddenly felt the need to ‘put her in her place,’ and that’s when he turned scary. The first time he hit her, she was gone. Emma was smarter than to stick around, but he started stalking her and threatening her. She had to change her entire life to get away from this guy. He must have finally tracked her down.”
“A gut feeling doesn’t stand up in court, Chelsea,” Mac replied slowly.
“We both know that, but there’s got to be some way to prove—” Danny began, when Jane came in.
“Mac, we got a hit on the DNA from under Detective Peters’ fingernails,” Jane began, handing him a folder, “He has priors for aggravated assault, so his DNA was in the system.”
Mac studied the folder for a second, before looking over at Chelsea, “Go pick Schafer up.”
Chelsea could feel the sardonic smile creeping up the side of her face as she got up and got ready to leave the room, “I’m gonna enjoy this, Mac. I really am.”
“Do it by the book, Chelsea,” Mac warned.
“I always do,” Chelsea replied before slipping out the door.
“Being There for You”
Flack was sitting on the edge of the bed, holding her hand in his. He knew more than he had wanted to know about the case. He knew down to the grittiest details. Stella had tried to get him to go back to the hospital, but he had insisted on watching the interrogation.
The man folded faster than any of them had anticipated. In fact, he felt that he had nothing to hide. He had seen Emma as his property. His woman, his pleasure. What he had done to her was above the law, above her rights, above treating her like an actual person. Flack felt like he was going to be sick when he heard about the pleasure Schafer took in what he had done to her. How much he enjoyed inflicting the pain he did.
He placed his head in his hand, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, silently begging her to wake up, so he could try and help her make a step in the right direction. A step to helping her move on. He felt like he was stuck in the moment and couldn’t move forward, and he wanted to move forward. But he needed her to move there with him.
Danny was watching his friend from the window of the room, and felt Lindsay’s hand in his as she came up behind him. “How’s he doing?”
“He’ll be OK,” Danny sighed, “He shouldn’t have been watching that interrogation. Now he knows more than he ever wanted to know.”
“This must be tearing him apart,” Lindsay whispered.
“It’s killing him,” Danny replied, “I know if that would’ve been me, I wouldn’t be able to hold myself together.”
“And Don would have your back,” Lindsay replied, “Just like you have his now.” Danny turned to her and kissed her on the forehead, before giving her hand a squeeze. His silent way of saying thank you. Holding him on his feet.
***
Emma opened her eyes, blinking slightly at the brightness of the room around her. She didn’t realize where she was at first. She was in a room. A nice white room, and there was someone holding her hand.
And then it suddenly came rushing back to her in one violent bloody mess. The sound of the door being kicked in. Him grabbing her. Seeing his face. Feeling the blows. Feeling the—oh, God.
“Ems?” Flack voice entered her thoughts, like the calm in the storm, “Emma, sweetheart.”
“Don,” she gasped, squeezing his hand, and he pulled her into him, pulling his arms around her, whispering comforting words in her ear as she cried into his shirt, letting him be her rock, letting him hold her on her feet.
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