Getting Too Close

Chapter 1

"Danny, if God were a woman, you'd be going straight to Hell."

Hawkes chuckled goodheartedly whereas Flack suppressed a smile.

Danny Messer looked up from his microscope at the brown haired beauty that said that and ran a hand through his own brown lochs, sighing with odd satisfaction. He'd gotten to her again. What was this? The 79th time? 116th? Who even knew anymore? Lindsay Monroe was a tough shell to crack, but once the first little chip was broken, there was nothing that could stop her from falling apart.

The Staten Island bred CSI returned his attention back to his microscope and smirked. "Trust me, Montana. If God were a woman, nothing would stop Her from wanting me in Heaven."

Lindsay tossed an aggravated look at Danny. They were supposed to be processing evidence, but it was very clear they weren't going to get much done.

It was at that second Mac walked in.

"Lindsay. Danny. Flack," he addressed them, and then turned to look at Hawkes. "We've got another case. A bartender was found dead in Central Park. Stella's already there."

Hawkes nodded his head in understanding. "That means I'll be there, too."

He left the lab without another word. Mac watched Hawkes leave out the door before refocusing his concentration on Lindsay and Danny.

"How's the case going? Did you find anything new?"

Lindsay shook her head in disappointment. "Nothing. The evidence is going in circles. Just when we think we've found a break in the case, it ends up being useless and we're back at square one. Whoever this killer is, they certainly knew how to clean up."

The mood of the room quickly changed from light and airy to solemn and frustrated.

"I interrogated the brother," Flack inputted. "But he's not giving in easily."

Mac frowned. "What did he have to say?"

Flack crossed his arms and leaned against the lab table. "Nothing new. His story coincides with the parents'."

Danny took off his glasses to wipe them clean. "So either he's a really good liar or he really had nothing to do with his brother's death."

Lindsay slammed her hand on the counter, aggravated. "We're getting nowhere."

Danny glanced at his partner, concern etched across his face. Lindsay was getting too emotionally attached to the case. Both were assigned to the death of five year old Jake Price. His body was found in a dumpster by local sanitary officials. They'd spent nearly a week going through all the evidence, but everything checked out. The sight of a dead child, brutally slashed and cut . . . it was something no one should have to see.

Mac eyed Lindsay critically before he turned to look at Flack. "Do we still have the brother in custody?"

Flack nodded. "For now. But we'll have to let him go within the next hour. There's no solid piece of evidence that we can use to keep him here longer."

Their boss threw a cautionary glance at Lindsay and Danny. "Why don't you two have a crack at him?" he suggested.

Arching an eyebrow in response, Danny looked over at Lindsay. "You up for it, Montana?"

Lindsay immediately snapped of her latex gloves. "Yeah," she said determinedly. "Let's go."

She hung up her lab coat and glanced at her reflection in the glass window to fix her hair and make-up – or lack there of. Three pairs of eyes looked at her curiously.

"Uh . . . Lindsay?"

The CSI turned around at her name being called. "Yeah?"

Flack scrunched his eyebrows in confusion waved a hand at her compact. "What are you doing?"

Lindsay glanced down her foundation, and then back up again. "I want to look intimidating," she stated, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

All three men exchanged a look. "Ah."

They simultaneously decided that it was better to just accept and not question.

As soon as Lindsay finished, Flack led her and Danny to the interrogation room. He opened the door for them and wished them luck. "You'll need it."

Upon entering the room, Lindsay could tell right off Flack was right. The brother looked no older than twenty-one and had an aura about him that screamed buoyancy and confidence. This was not going to be easy. She quickly seated herself next to Danny. The sooner they got this over with, the better.

Danny started things off

"Bryan Price," Danny read from his file. "Age: nineteen. Currently attending New York University with a part time job in a bike repair shop. Is majoring in criminal law. Does volunteer work at an orphanage. Holds not a single criminal charge."

Danny leaned back into his chair, folded his hands on the smooth, metal table, and observed the suspected perpetrator coolly. "I'm impressed, man. You've never even gotten a ticket."

"This is New York," the suspect sneered. "My cab driver would be at the receiving end of a ticket. Not me."

Lindsay flashed an almost daunted look at Bryan. The kid was fast.

"So Bryan," she said conversationally. "Majoring in criminal law. That's rather ironic, isn't it?"

Bryan crossed his arms. "You can cut the friendly chat. In fact, you can cut the whole interrogation. I know you guys don't have anything on me, so there's no reason to keep me here. Law says so."

Danny and Lindsay swapped looks of disbelief. Barely two minutes into the cross-examination and Lindsay already didn't like the guy.

"You're little brother is dead, Price," Danny snarled. "That's all the reason we need to keep you here."

"On what grounds?" Bryan countered, snickering. "Where's your evidence, Detective?"

Danny's eyes flashed a dangerously.

Lindsay nearly toppled her chair when she shot up from her seat. "Your brother is dead, Bryan. Dead. As in murdered," she fumed. "The normal reaction wouldn't be indifference. The normal reaction would be concern and distraught. If you really were innocent, you'd be willing to spend every moment in here to help solve this case, even if you were accused. You wouldn't be trying to snake your way out on a technicality."

Danny tugged on her arm and tried to get her to sit down.

Bryan looked amusedly at Lindsay. "You're being bias. Those aren't normal reactions. Those are common reactions. I deal with grief my own way."

"You– " but the Montana CSI was cut off.

"All right," Danny said, tossing a warning glance at his fellow interrogator and doing the same to Bryan. "If you'll excuse us for a moment, Mr. Price."

And he hastily dragged Lindsay out of the room.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Lindsay demanded, once they were out.

"Me?" Danny cried incredulously. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

Lindsay blinked back unanticipated tears. She looked down the hallway and tried to calm down her labored breathing. Her hands were shaking uncontrollably.

"We weren't even in there for five minutes, Montana!" he reprimanded. "And already the suspect's got you riled up. You just proved to the guy that he's winning."

She licked her lips and gazed through the window of the interrogation room, avoiding Danny's face.

"You can't do this," he continued. "You're getting to close to the case. If you keep this up, I'll have no choice but to tell Mac."

Lindsay was in shock and just about burst out laughing. "You're going to tell on me?"

Danny took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes tiredly. "Yeah, I know it's out of character for me. I also know how much you care about this kid. And I know you want to bring the killer to justice. That's all the more reason we have to do this by the book. So if that means pulling you off the case, then I'll do it. Don't think I won't. You want to catch whoever did this? Convict the guy with your head, Montana. Not your heart."

Chastised, Lindsay bit her lip and looked at Danny desperately.

He stared back unwavering.

'Damn it,' she thought.

He was right. She knew he was right. That didn't mean she was going to admit it, though. But she had to give him credit. He'd come a long way from the brash, irrational, and overemotional Danny she'd once known. Not that he was always calm; he still got heated every now and then. And when he did . . . well, she wasn't going to go into detail about that.

Lindsay locked eyes with him. "You learned that from Mac, didn't you?"

It wasn't so much a question as it was a statement.

Flack chose that moment to pop up out of nowhere. He walked up to them, a slight expression of puzzlement upon his face.

"Hey," he greeted. "You two done already?"

Danny glimpsed in Lindsay's direction, who was currently evading both men's eyes.

"Yeah," Danny answered disappointedly. "We're done."

Flack nodded in understanding. "Guess I'll tell 'brother dear' he can go home."

Lindsay waited until the door of the interrogation room closed completely before she spoke up.

"I just want to know why this happened," she said. "Jake Price was only five years old. How could anyone take away a life that hadn't even started yet?"

Danny exhaled noisily and rested his head against the wall. "That's like wanting to know the meaning of life. Chances are, you're never going to know until it's all over. And that's if you're lucky."

The door to the interrogation room opened, and Bryan Price treaded out with Flack and another officer escorting him. Bryan's cold, electric blue eyes locked with Lindsay's. A sudden chill went up and down her spine. She took a hesitant step back, and would have gone further if her backside had not made contact with the wall that was neglectfully there. Danny noticed this disturbing interaction and decided to divert the guy's attention.

"Don't leave town anytime soon, Price," he advised.

Bryan broke his stare down with Lindsay and gave a fleeting look of apathy to Danny before smirking at Lindsay. The instant they were out of earshot, Danny rounded on Lindsay.

"You okay?" he asked.

Lindsay nodded her head mechanically. "I'm good."

She looked anything but.

(A/N): Okay. So how was it? I know I started things off really fast, but I'll get into deeper details about the case when I write more. I just thought it'd be a nice change to have readers almost seem like they were walking in on the case. Tell me if it creates that effect or not.