Author: Sam

Story: Speed Trap: 8 of 23

Series: Speed-Burn

Setting: Early January, 2005. New York City.

Note: “ReCycling” takes place January 12, 2005, and “Tanglewood” takes place January 26, 2005. There was no episode released on January 19, 2005, so this gives me a week to fill in my own case(s). So, looking for which cases Danny and Aiden are working won’t help… they’re not in the actual show.

Feedback: Yes, please? Especially constructive. samwise_baggins@yahoo.co.uk

Webpage: http://www.geocities.com/samwise_baggins/index.html

Danny slipped his glasses up to his forehead, rubbing his tired blue eyes with his free hand. He’d been at this half of the day and knew he’d probably still be at it half of the night. Looking for fibers, dirt, anything they could use to link someone to murder wasn’t as easy as the cop shows made it seem. It took hours of meticulously scouring every minuscule particle: ruling out this, preserving that, on the off chance that the perpetrator had slipped up, gotten sloppy, left something worthy behind. It was long, painfully slow, and exhausting.

Maybe a change was needed. He should go pick up that liquid sample he’d taken from the victim’s fridge, as well; it was a pretty disgusting blood-like mixture he’d taken the precaution of refrigerating. Since the trace lab’s fridge was full, he’d had to store it at DNA, but he’d need to work it sometime. It might make a nice change from checking for trace on the clothes.

With a sigh, the young blond returned his wire-rimmed glasses to their standard position and pushed back from the table he’d been working at. He needed a break. Hawkes hadn’t paged to say he’d begun the autopsy and the DNA wasn’t back yet on the sample taken from the sheets, so that gave him a small amount of time to get some coffee and stretch his back, then he’d get that liquid.

Carefully, Danny once more folded the blazer he’d been examining and slid it into its bag. He carefully sealed and signed the evidence, marking in his case log so no one could later claim he’d mishandled evidence. Wouldn’t the defense just love to get that one over on the lab when it finally went to trial?

He stretched again, rubbed at a kink in his neck, and headed out the door and down the hall, barely registering the fact that Mac and Stella were at the DNA lab with someone he’d yet to meet. He could always say “Hi”, later; right now, coffee called him.

Mac nodded to Sheldon upon entering the morgue. He let a small smile play across his face at the sight of one of his closer friends. People might think it was odd, especially considering all of the losses Mac had suffered in his life, but the detective genuinely enjoyed the time he spent in the morgue with Dr. Sheldon Hawkes. It always felt like there was no pressure, he could relax and talk… or not… if he wanted. Sheldon was one person he actually felt he could confide in.

As the supervisor opened his mouth to instruct Joe to approach one of the slabs… there were actually two bodies in the morgue, not just the one Danny’s case involved but one of Aiden’s as well… Mac felt a small tug of surprise. The dark-haired man in the jumpsuit didn’t even need to be told. He walked forward, almost eagerly, and started watching intently as Sheldon worked.

The medical examiner looked up, smiled in a welcoming manner, and asked, “New? I’m Sheldon; welcome to the department.” Looking down, he casually included, “Are you familiar with morgues?”

It was a bit surprising to see Joe sliding on a pair of gloves, as if he’d been doing this his entire life. He stepped directly over to the slab, across from Sheldon, as Stella threw a glance at Mac. He, in turn, merely kept a stoic expression and watched his new tech. The new man seemed to be weighing his answer, as he had all his previous remarks.

“Joe; I’ve been in them before.”

Sheldon nodded as Mac filed away that information. Of course, these few tidbits were most likely the cover story he’d been given, the new life Joe Avery had been provided, but it would help to see if the guy actually had the required knowledge of pathology listed in the file: a morgue had not been among the locations on his list.

“Any theories on how she died?” Sheldon’s question still sounded casual, and Joe merely gestured to the body as if for permission. The doctor nodded with a smile, watching as intently as Mac and Stella.

The first thing Joe did was borrow Sheldon’s pen light and check the victim’s eyes. “No dilation. Sent a screen to Tox? Might not show anything, but you never know.” At Sheldon’s affirmative, he checked nose and mouth. Lifting an eyebrow as if surprised, Joe made a small noncommittal noise in his own throat. “Hemorrhaging in the nasal and oral cavities.” His voice sounded detached as he proceeded to lift back the flesh over the woman’s throat and chest. Dark brown eyes behind wire-rimmed glasses showed an avid curiosity. He nodded. “Trace of fluid in the throat, lungs, and,” he glanced at Sheldon, “stomach?”

With a grin, Sheldon held up some carefully marked test tubes. “Right on all three. And?”

Joe stared at the fluid samples for a long moment then went back to studying the woman’s throat. “Possible semen; should be sent to trace and DNA. Bruising of the oral cavity and throat… and the epiglottis.” His eyes darted back up to the other man’s. “She was suffocated… asphyxiation. Something was shoved down her throat; see the tearing?” He pointed to the tiny lacerations among the bruises in her throat. “He kept it there even after she passed out, maybe even after she was dead.” Joe’s face took on a fierce look of distaste. “Looks like the guy may have done it with his penis. Freak.”

That last word was barely audible, but Mac caught it all the same. He looked to Sheldon for confirmation, and was suitably impressed when the African-American man laughed and nodded enthusiastically.

“Dead on, Joe.” He suddenly looked a bit sheepish and added, “Ah… no pun intended.”

The look in Joe’s eyes as they met Sheldon’s equally dark ones was one that Mac would remember for quite some time. It wasn’t disapproving, but it was intense and serious. “Of course not; need those taken upstairs?”

Mac jumped in before Sheldon could hand over the samples. “I’ll take them, Sheldon. Thanks. Joe, Stella?” And with barely a nod for his friend, Mac signed for the tubes and turned, heading quickly for the elevator and the lab upstairs.

“Shit!”

Sounding shocked and angry, Danny Messer’s voice rang through the entire lab.

With a severe frown, Mac hurried his stride, ignoring the fact that Joe would most likely have to drop behind. He didn’t often hear Danny lose it in the lab; the volatile investigator was more likely to swear at a suspect than a sample. This time, however, it wasn’t a perpetrator or a defenseless bit of evidence that had the New Yorker fouling the air. It was a lab tech from the AV department.

“Danny!” Mac’s voice held an edge of steel, and the blond turned his tirade on his supervisor.

“That was evidence, Mac! This,” and the next phrase that came from Danny’s mouth was profanity, in Italian. He concluded with, “destroyed it! Look at it… all over the floor!”

The tech appeared ready to sink through the floor, if only he could. He sent the crime lab supervisor a nervous look, then looked at the fluid all over the ground, amid shards of glass. “I didn’t see him… I was…”

“You were running in the,” another rather offensive word, “lab,” and Danny ended with a string of words even Mac, with all his time spent in New York and in the military, couldn’t, or wouldn’t, translate.

The firm voice of Mac cut off both swearing and defense. “Stop!”

Through the immediate silence that followed... the entire lab seemed to come to a complete stand-still... Joe’s quiet voice was heard. “Give me those clothes and I can get that evidence out of it.”

Mac turned towards his newest person. As there was hardly any more that could be done to the evidence, he nodded. “Fine. Danny, Kyle, give your clothes to Joe. Joe, get as much as you can from what’s here.” The ex-Marine then looked around the lab and frowned severely. “Back to work; the evidence won’t gather itself.”

Danny was fuming, but there was little he could do. He was covered in some unidentified liquid, which very likely had blood in it, and shards of glass. And Mac just ordered his case into the hands of a rookie; Danny would have remembered the tall, dark-haired man with the intense eyes if he’d been working in the lab for any length of time.

“The longer you take, the more it soaks in.” The quiet voice surprised Danny, and he looked directly at the man called Joe. Something about him was very familiar. Not recent-familiar, but long-time-ago-familiar. He was sure he’d met this guy, in the academy maybe?

With a few more choice Italian swears, Danny started stripping his clothes off. If he moved from the center of the hall, he risked contaminating the evidence even more. This was perhaps the most humiliating day he’d had since joining Mac’s team.

Stella held out a large evidence bag, and Danny sighed, reigning in his tongue. He glared at the bag, at his jacket, then back at the bag, before shoving it inside. That was quickly followed by his shirt, belt, and trousers, leaving Danny standing in the lab hallway in nothing but his briefs. This day couldn’t get any worse, could it?

“Well, that answers the big question.”

It could.

Turning his head, careful not to move his feet as the new tech worked around him, he caught Aiden’s amused smile full on. Terrific! Did she have to be here? Couldn’t she have been in the morgue or something? Danny merely gave her an intense frown and determined that the best way to defend his pride was with a quick comeback.

“Hey, when you got it, you got it.” Her look of total amusement made him even grumpier as she strode past and down the hall. Danny was too pissed to be appreciative of the view.

“Here, Danny, put this on.” Stella held out a long lab coat, her face a polite mask but her green eyes dancing with laughter.

He reached for it with a barely grumbled, “Thanks.”

Before he could slip it on, however, Joe stood and stopped him. “Your hands.”

Offering his already extended hand, Danny snidely said, “I thought we didn’t need a new tech.”

The rude remark didn’t seem to register on the guy as he swabbed Danny’s hand. He merely nodded his head, used the back of his wrist to push up his glasses, and said, “Name’s Joe, thanks for the welcome.” He gestured for Danny’s other hand, swabbed it, and let it go. “Done.” Then the man was taking the bags of clothing Danny and Kyle had provided, along with his carefully collected samples, and heading for the trace lab.

Stella gave the younger man a gentle shove on the shoulder and he frowned at her. She pointed towards the locker rooms, and the waiting jumpsuits. The investigator nodded and sighed, then turned to catch a final glimpse of the new tech.

Danny watched after him, less angry but now perplexed.

Where had he met that guy?