Misery and Mystery

[bluebean]

A/N: I also posted this on ff.net, but I figured I'd post it here for the people who don't go on ff.net. Stay tuned for Chapter 2, it'll be up soon.

Summary: Sheldon deals with Aiden leaving while he and Stella work on a seemingly immposible case. Danny and Lindsay, meanwhile, have their own case to solve.

Misery and Mistery

[1]

He trailed kisses across her shoulders. He was standing behind her, his arms around her waste. She smiled and turned around, he took a step back. She looked up at him and opened her eyes, they widened with shock. It wasn’t who she had expected. She stared at the man before her, confused.

She blinked and he was gone.

Stella Bonasera woke up and rubbed her eyes. It was nothing that some warm milk wouldn’t help. She got up and, with her robe wrapped around her, she made her way to the kitchen. She heated the milk up and began to sip it, trying all the while to decipher her dream.

The man’s face is what confused her. She had, consciously and subconsciously, expected someone else. Who had she seen? Sheldon Hawkes.

The shrill ringing of her telephone brought her out of her thoughts.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

“I miss you,” Sheldon Hawkes said into the phone. The person on the other end sighed.

“I miss you, too. This place sucks,” she said. Sheldon laughed at the way she said it, but there was a sorry in it. It was rare for Sheldon to get so close to someone because he felt strangely secure around the dead. They didn’t judge him, they didn’t expect him to make conversation or commitments, they were just dead.

This was different, though. She was different.

“I wish you were here. Lindsay’s not so bad, but she’s not you,” he said. The voice on the other end laughed.

“I figured she wouldn’t be.”

Hawkes sighed.

“What do we do?” he asked.

“We promise to see each other again, and we call every once in awhile.”

“Sounds perfect.”

“Sounds good here, too. I’ll see ya.”

“Yeah,” he hung up. “Someday.” Leave it to Aiden Burn to be so practical.

His phone rang.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Stella and Sheldon stood side by side, staring at the crime scene before them. The body of a woman lay face down in the bedroom of a rather small apartment. There was a pool of blood surrounding her and what looked like a bullet hole in her back.

“You want this room or the rest of the apartment?” Sheldon asked. Stella shook her head, pushing away all thoughts other than the task at hand.

“I’ll take this room,” she said. Sheldon nodded and left to process the rest of the apartment. Stella watched him walk away before setting down her kit and taking out her camera. She began taking pictures of the body and the room, paying careful attention to places that could easily hide clues. Like the bed and the dresser.

The bed was made up perfectly, with the covers pulled back and folded down at the end of the bed. The sheets looked clean, and they smelled like they’d come straight out of the dryer. Stella took out an A.L.S. and shone it along the bed. Nothing showed up. She sighed and switched off her light, figuring that the sheets were more than clean. They were brand new. She put the light away and began to search the room for anything that looked out of place. One of the dresser drawers caught her eye, it wasn’t fully closed. She reached out and opened it.

Sheldon was a room away, searching the kitchen (a small corner of the room) and living areas. He had saved the bathroom for last, entirely by accident, and had finished with the amazingly clean kitchen area. He had found one hair by the sink, sitting almost innocently on the counter top. He had bagged it. He had moved on to the couch and was looking for anything that could help them. He found something. The living area was a mess, a disaster compared to the kitchen and, now that he thought about it, the bedroom. Clothes covered the couch, the remote was on the floor, books were scattered, a pile of magazines was the only order left in the chaotic room.

He took pictures of it, trying to imagine what the room looked like when it was clean. He glanced in the direction of the T.V. and saw the dust line where it had been. Someone had moved it. He dusted for prints, lifting a few good ones, and photographed the T.V.

“Find anything?” Stella asked. She stood in the doorway between the two rooms, an evidence bag was clutched in one had while she held her kit in the other. Sheldon glanced at the bag, it held a gun.

“Not much. I’m almost done here, I have yet to process the bathroom.” Stella nodded.

“I’ll do that,” she said. Sheldon nodded his thanks as she moved off to the bathroom.

[Lee]

[glow=red,2,300]Very Very good bluebean, ;D ;D are you continuing this story? [/glow]

[bluebean]

A/N: Here you go, chapter two. I'm working on chapter 3 right now, so that should be up soon. Enjoy.

[2]

"Danny, what do you think of this?" Lindsay asked, handing a photograph across the table. They were flipping through pages of missing persons reports, searching for someone who resembled their nameless vic. They were waiting for results from the dental scans, and had been flipping through files for most of the morning. The vic had been found in central park, under a bench, stripped down to his underwear and covered in mud.

Danny took the photograph and stared at it. This was it. He looked up at Lindsay, who had begun to read the report.

"'Adrian Carlysle, 18. Last seen on Monday, leaving his parents apartment to go to school. Last person, reported, to have seen him was,'" she looked up, "'The door man.' Guy sounds rich." She said, reading the address of the apartment building. Danny nodded.

"So, how does a ritzy kid on his way to school end up half naked in Central Park?" Danny asked. He took the file from Lindsay and read it over again, and again.

"Shall we process the evidence?" Lindsay asked. She had begun to twitch during the long silence, and she broke it now out of impatience. Danny looked up at her.

"You get started on that, I'm gonna go pay a visit to Dr. Zao. See how this guy died.

"Danny, I've been expecting you," said Dr. Evan Zao. He had taken over as M.E. after Sheldon had been transferred to the field, and Danny wasn't sure if he'd ever get used to the change.

"What've you got for me?" Danny asked. He positioned himself across the table from the M.E., the victim's body lying between them.

"Well, cause of death was Asphyxiation due to Strangulation. You can see the bruising along the neck," Zao pointed out what he saw to Danny, who leaned in closer to look. Dr. Zao lifted one of the victim's arms from the table. "I also noticed these." Danny diverted his attention to the bruises and cuts on the victim's wrists.

"Defensive wounds?" he asked. Dr. Zao nodded.

"Yeah, but get this," he pointed at the fingernails. "What do you see?"

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Lindsay sighed and stared down at the boxer-briefs that had been on the victim. She had begun to process them, collecting the mud that lined them to send to trace. She barely turned her head when Danny walked into the lab.

"Dr. Zao have anything for us?" she asked. Danny nodded.

"Kid was strangled," he said. "Anything here?"

"Yeah, he's probably a dump job." Lindsay said. She pointed at the caked mud on the underwear. "Central Park's been pretty dry for the past few weeks, and the bench we found him under had yellow grass."

"Which means the sprinklers missed it," Danny said. Lindsay nodded. Danny put a hand on Lindsay's shoulder. "Did I mention that he's got defensive wounds?"

"Anything under the nails?" Lindsay asked in a hopeful voice. Danny sighed.

"That's just it, there's nothing under his nails."

[bluebean]

A/N: Thanks for your patience, I sorta got side tracked. Anyway, this is chapter three, I'm currently working on chapter four, so that will hopefully be up soon. Enjoy!

[3]

Sheldon cell rang. He glanced up at Stella, trying hard to ignore the ringing. They were in the lab, processing some of the evidence they had collected. He looked back down, letting the phone continue ringing.

“Who is it?” Stella asked. Sheldon shrugged, though he knew who it was. “Persistent.” Sheldon prayed for his phone to go to voice mail, he had to concentrate. The phone went silent, as if Sheldon’s empty pleading had actually done the trick.

But it didn’t help. He wanted to find out why she had called, make sure she wasn’t in trouble. Although they had officially ended their relationship a week before, part of him held out hope that they could try again. That her next job would be closer to him.

It was amazing that she could distract turn without even being in the room.

“Aiden?” Sheldon looked up and, reluctantly, let his eyes meet Stella’s. “Was it Aiden?”

“Yeah,” Sheldon returned his attention to the bedsheets he was examining, but Stella set aside the gun that she had found in the drawer to continue the conversation.

“Why didn’t you answer it?” she asked.

“Well, I am a little busy; besides, the voice mail’ll get it.” Sheldon tried to sound noncommittal, like he didn’t care.

“What are you two going to do?” Stella had returned to her work, but she continued to press.

Sheldon just looked at her. Stella glanced up at him and laughed at the confused look on his face.

“Yeah, I figured it out, mostly because Danny can’t keep his mouth shut sometimes.” Sheldon sighed.

“We’re just going to go our own separate ways, I guess,” he took a breath. “Can we just focus on the case?” They worked in silence for awhile. Sheldon searching the bedding for something that may have been missed, something small, while Stella devoted her time to printing the gun.

“Has that been to ballistics?” Sheldon asked. Stella shook her head.

“That’s it’s next stop,” she said.

“Ah.... Ha!” Sheldon picked up a pair of tweezers and lifted a blond hair off of the sheets. “If I recall, Our Miss Daisy is a Brunette.”

“Great! Speaking of our Vic,” Stella handed the prints she had gotten off of the gun to Sheldon. “Get the hair to Adam and run those prints, I’m going to go find out more about this girl.”

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

All Stella had when she walked into the morgue was a name and a crime, she hoped Dr. Zao could give her something more.

“Anything you can tell me?” Stella asked/ She held up a hand as Zao began to speak. “The obvious first.” Zao laughed.

“C.O.D. Was a bullet wound. Entered through her back and managed to hit her heart.” Stella nodded. Dr. Zao pulled out a trajectory rod and placed it in to hole in the victim’s body. “Exit wound.”

“Her shooter was shorter than her, the entry wound angles up,” Stella said, examining the rod. Dr. Zao nodded.

“Here’s where it gets weird.” Zao flipped the victim onto her stomach and pointed to her legs. There were bruises up and down them.

“Only on her legs.” Stella said, it was more a statement than a question. Zao nodded. “Thanks, doc.” Stella left. She recalled the times when Sheldon had been the one explaining how people had died, and the thought brought back her dream. She shook the memory away as she entered the lab and stood looking over Sheldon’s shoulder, he was examining crime scene photos.

“Anything?” he asked without looking up.

“We’ve got a bullet to find.” Stella said. “What about the prints.”

“Nothing.” Stella turned to leave. “How’d we miss it? How many places can a bullet end up?”

“You’d be surprised.” Stella said. Sheldon looked up, their gazes caught for a moment, and he nodded.

They left, heading back to their crime scene.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

“Find anything yet?” Danny asked. He and Lindsay were at the Victim’s apartment, looking for any clues about whey had been in central park. The Victim’s mother, after much coaxing by flack, was sitting in the living room answering questions.

“Nope,” Lindsay said. Danny smiled at Lindsay’s concentration and began to flip though a date book on the desk.

“Guess who was ditching school?” Danny said, holding up the date book so Lindsay could see it.

“M.W. Setup, 8 A.M. What’s M.W.?”

“I have no idea.”

“Could be the school play, maybe he’s in the tech crew.”

“His parents said he doesn’t do any extracurriculars besides the paper.” Danny bagged the date book and he and Lindsay joined Flack and the Vic’s mother in the front room.

“I... I just don’t understand. Adrian is... was... such a good boy.” Mrs. Carlyle said.

“We’ll let you know as soon as we find something,” Flack said. He left, followed by Lindsay, but as Danny began to leave he felt someone grab his sleeve. He turned and looked into the tear stained face of Mrs. Paula Carlyle.

“Please, find me an answer. Tell me I’m not a bad mother!” Danny placed a hand on the woman’s shoulder.

“I’ll do my best, Ma’am.”

“Take this,” She walked over to the coffee table and picked up a black notebook. “I almost forgot about it. It’s Adrian’s contacts. All of his friends’ phone numbers, emails, and addresses.”

“Thank you. This should help,” Danny took the book, and flashed what he hoped was a reassuring smile before he left.

[bluebean]

A/N: Here's chapter four. It took me less time than I thought (which is good for those of you who are reading this), so I've also started chapter five. ;D I'll do my best and try to update soon. Enjoy!

[4]

Sheldon stood in the bedroom of the apartment, staring at the perfection of the room. It amazed him how anyone could spend so much energy making sure their house was perfectly clean. Semi-clean worked for him. He sighed and left the room, heading towards the bathroom.

The first thing he did when he reached the bathroom was open the medicine cabinet. He looked at the label of every bottle, even the non-prescription ones. He didn’t hear when Stella walked up behind him.

“Find the bullet?” she asked, he shook his head.

“Didn’t start looking yet.” He took a step back and motioned towards the cabinet. “There’s no O.C.D. meds in here.” Stella stared at him.

“And?”

“We assumed that whoever killed her messed up the living room, what if they cleaned up the rest of the apartment?”

“what?” Stella glanced from the cabinet, to Sheldon, and back. “Why?”

“Well, when people are looking for things they tend to trash the place. Right?” He paused for a moment and didn’t continue until he saw Stella’s head nod. “But what if our guy cleaned up to find what he was looking for?”

“Why not clean up the living room?”

“Maybe he didn’t get the chance, or maybe he didn’t have to.” Stella nodded and took a step back, getting out of the confinement of the bathroom.

“It’s a good theory, but let’s try to find the bullet.

Sheldon nodded, but didn’t follow her out. He took a few photos of the medicine cabinet and then made his way to the living room. He stopped in the middle of the room and stared at the T.V. He could still see the faint circles on the floor that marked where it had been before.

Glancing at the bedroom door, the blood pool and the T.V., Sheldon moved around to the side of the T.V., the back was against the wall. He took more photos and then pulled it foreword.

“I found it.” He called, staring at the bullet stuck in the plastic T.V. back.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

Danny watched as Lindsay looked over the results from what little trace they had. All they knew was that most of the mud on the Victim wasn’t from central park, but Lindsay kept flipping through the results.

“Are you convinced that we’re going to find something, Montana?”

“Did you check his contacts, see if M.W. were initials?”

“Yes, closest I got was Michael, but his last name is Cleveland. No W’s there.”

Lindsay sighed. She shut the folders in front of her and stared at Danny.

“Are we had a dead end?” Danny grinned. “Spill it, Messer.”

“I had Flack bring in Michael Cleveland. His name was in the Date book two days before Adrian died, and next to it Adrian wrote ‘Meet at M.W.’”

“I hate it when you do that.”

“Do what?”

“You know.” She left. Danny sated after her for a moment and then laughed.

“Oh, that.”

He began to leave to follow Lindsay when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned and smiled at who it was.

“Aiden! How’re you doin’?”

“Fine. Is Sheldon around?” Danny looked at her for a minute, then nodded.

“I still get confused when you say that.”

“Danny, focus, is he here?”

“Nah, he and Stella went back to their Crime Scene for something.”

“Know when they’ll be back?”

“Uh, now?” he pointed behind her and she turned to see Stella and Sheldon walking towards her. They were deep in conversation and Sheldon stopped walking entirely when he looked up and saw Aiden.

“Hey, Aiden,” he said, walking to stand in front of her when he regained the use of his legs. Stella and Danny exchanged knowing glances, then they both went their separate ways; leaving Sheldon and Aiden alone in the hallway.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

“What’s M.W., Michael?” Flack asked. He and Danny sat across from Michael and his mother. Michael’s mother had a look of obvious worry on her face.

“It’s a club.” Michael said.

“What does it stand for?” Danny inquired. Michael glanced at his mom, obviously weighing his options.

“A kid is dead, Michael, and according to his Date Book he was at this ‘club’ before he ended up in Central Park.” Flack stated. Michael leaned foreword, as if he was praying that his mom wouldn’t hear what he was about to say.

“Mud wrestling.” his mother’s face quickly changed from worry to anger.

“Mud wrestling? Like, wrestling in the mud?” Flack asked, trying to hide the amusement in his voice.

“Yeah.”

“So you guys were Mud wrestling?”

“That’s what I said! But, look, Adrian was alive when I left. I swear.”

“Can you tell us where?” Danny asked.

“This guy, Peter something. I don’t know his last name. We go to his place. I don’t even know exactly where it is, I always got a ride.”

“Thank you.” Danny and Flack left, lingering only to hear the mother’s angry voice say “You said you stopped that nonsense” before they headed to find Lindsay.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

Stella had to bite her tongue when Sheldon walked into the room. She wanted to ask about Aiden, find out what she had wanted, but she didn’t want to pry. So, she stuck the case.

“We found out where our Miss. Daisy worked. Or, rather, who she worked for.”

“Oh?” Sheldon looked tired and Stella glanced at here watch. Their shift had been over for an hour.

“And I suggest we let it rest for the night. Get some sleep.”

Stella watched him leave. He had given no protest and Stella couldn’t help but feel a little worried about him. She wished mac hadn’t gone to the conference in Las Vegas, he would have known what to do.

[bluebean]

A/N: Sorry for how long this took to write, I had a bit of a spell where I couldn't think of how I wanted this to go. But, here's chapter five. It's a bit of a filler chapter, but Chapter 6 will probably have more substance. I'll get chapter six up here as quickly as I can. Enjoy!

[5]

“He’s a midget?” Sheldon asked, staring down at the poster that Stella had laid out on the table. The poster was purple, with a man’s head in the center and the words Mystical Max’s Magic and Mysticism written around the head.

“He’s a midget,” Stella confirmed. Sheldon laughed a little, and Stella couldn’t help but smile. He had been rather quiet since he got to work, and Stella could barely contain the questions she wanted to ask, but his laugh was all she needed to be put at ease.

“So, what exactly was Miss Daisey’s job?” he asked, looking up from the poster.

“Far as I can tell, she was his assistant.”

“So, she’s the one who got sawed in half?”

“I guess so,” Sheldon smiled at her, and she smiled back. “I’ve got Flack bringing Mystical Max in for a little mystical chat.” Sheldon nodded.

“I think I”ll go check with Adam on that hair.” Sheldon said. Stella nodded and watched as he left. She rolled up the poster and tucked it under her arm before heading off to wait for Flack.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

“Anything on that hair?” Sheldon asked as he entered the lab. Adam held up his hand, and Sheldon raised an eyebrow in confusion.

“Okay, what’d you say?” Adam asked.

“Anything on that hair?”

“Yeah, it’s male.” Adam went back to whatever he had been doing, and Sheldon waited a few seconds.

“That’s it?”

“Yep, that’s it.” Sheldon left Adam to his task, whatever it may be, and set off to find Stella. He wanted to be there when she and Flack had their ‘chat’ with Mystical Max.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

“You know, it would help if this Peter kid had a last name,” Danny said. He was flipping through Adrien’s contacts while Lindsay looked through the date book.

“I just wish we had more evidence,” Lindsay said. “Some mud, a date book, and a list of contacts isn’t much.”

“Cheer up, Montana, we’ll find something.”

“Don’t call me Montana.”

The room returned to silence. The sound of pages turning periodically breaking into the room, and the occasionally sigh ripping through the silence.

“You want some coffee, Montana?” Danny asked, standing up. He stretched his arms over his head and yawned, Lindsay laughed.

“Sure, Messer, I’ll take some coffee.”

“Good,” Danny left the room and returned a few minutes later with two cups of coffee. “Fresh from the break room, ready to be choked down if you’re feeling tired.”

“Just work, Messer,” Lindsay said, but Danny could hear the laughter in her voice and he smiled to himself as he sat back down to work.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

“Mystical Max, at your service,” the little man said as Flack led him into the room. Stella glanced at Sheldon, who shrugged. The man bowed to Stella before sitting down. “What may I do for you my lovely lady?”

“Do you know this woman?” Stella pushed a picture of the victim across the table. Max stared at it for a moment, and then shook his head.

“No, should I?” he asked.

“I should think so, she’s your assistant,” Flack said. Max pulled the picture closer, reached into his breast pocket and slipped a pair of glasses onto his face.

“She looks so different without makeup,” he said. “Yes, yes I know her. Cordelia Daisey. A fine lass, a fine lass indeed.”

“Do you know why you’re here?” Flack asked. Max shrugged.

“Because you want a private showing,” he said with a grin. The grin disappeared when Flack’s face remained stolid.

“Miss Daisey is dead,” Stella said. “She died yesterday.”

“That’s not possible, I spoke with her this morning.” Max said, matter-of-factly.

“Face to face?” Sheldon asked. “Or over the phone?”

“Face to face, we had to go over tonights schedule.”

“Can I get her phone number and address?” Flack asked. Stella and Sheldon left as Flack continued to question Max about his assistant.

“How can she be dead and alive?” Sheldon asked.

“I’m going to find out.” Stella said, heading for the labs.

[Summer]

WOHO Bleubean you have talent. ;D

More more more!!!

[bluebean]

[6]

“Find anything?” Lindsay asked for the third time in five minutes. Danny sighed and leaned back. He flipped past another useless page and ran a hand through his hair.

“No, did you?” he asked. Lindsay shook her head. Danny glanced over at her, then down at her empty coffee cup, then back at her. “More coffee?”

“No...,” she trailed off, lifting the date book from the table.

“What?” Danny asked.

“M.W. Peter’s house 8AM,” she said.

“We’ve established that he skipped school to go do this mud wrestling thing at this Peter guy’s house, Montana,” Danny sighed.

“No, keep listening. Get ride from Carl H,” Lindsay finished triumphantly. “If he got a ride from Carl, then Carl knows where Peter lives.”

Danny had already started flipping through Adrien’s contacts, again.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

“I found our other Miss Daisey,” Sheldon said, walking up behind Stella.

“How?” She asked, staring down at the file she had been studying, trying to decipher how there could be two of their victim.

“The phone book,” Sheldon dropped the tome onto the table. “Apparently they’re twins. Er, were.”

“So, Max was talking to Cordelia’s sister thinking it was Cordelia?” Stella muttered. Sheldon nodded.

“Actually, he was talking to Cordelia,” he said. “Flack's bringing her in now.”

“All right,” Stella closed the file and handed it to Sheldon. “Put that away, meet Flack at the door, and I’ll catch up to you in a few minutes.” Sheldon nodded and left. Stella put her head in her hands and closed her eyes. She hadn’t gotten any sleep the night before, a combination of the case and the reoccurrence of that dream.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

“We have a problem,” Danny said. Lindsay looked over his shoulder at the Address book and Danny pointed out their dilemma. There were three Carl H's; Carl Hervin, Carl Hilot, and Car Hey.

“We'll just have to talk to them all,” Lindsay said. “I wish this kid would've written in more detail.”

“Yeah, well, at least this way his mom won't figure anything out,” Danny said, his voice sullen. “Anyway, I'll let Flack know that we've got a few kids we need to bring in.”

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

“She can't be dead,” the woman said. Sheldon still found rather eerie that she was the splitting image of the dead body that was currently lying in the morgue, but he shook the feeling away and pushed a photograph of their victim's lifeless body in front of her sister, the real Cordelia Daisey.

“She is,” Stella said. “And we were wondering when the last time you saw her was.”

“I haven't seen her since she started working for Max,” Cordelia said. “I think it's wrong to trick people.”

“Since she started working for Max?” Sheldon asked. Cordelia nodded.

“Max says that you're his assistant. In fact, so does his poster,” Stella said. She slid Max's poster over the picture of the victim, who they now knew was Irene Daisey. Cordelia played with the corners of the two pieces of paper, lining the up perfectly, before taking a good look at the poster. She started to laugh.

“I'm not Cordelia, I'm Irene,” she said. Sheldon and Stella exchanged looks.

“Can you excuse us for a moment?” Stella asked. The woman nodded and Sheldon and Stella slipped out of the room.

“What is going on here?” Sheldon asked. Stella shook her head.

“Nothing good,” she said.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

“Scratch Carl Hervin off our list, he's only there because Adrian pays him to do his homework,” Danny said. “And Carl Hey is his contact for getting test answers.”

“That leaves Carl Hilot,” Lindsay said. “Flack's talking to him now.”

“Shall we join them?” Danny asked. Lindsay nodded and they headed to the interrogation room, where Flack, Carl Hilot, and Carl Hilot's mom awaited them.

[bluebean]

A/N: This is it! The last chapter. I mostly just finished it here because I was sick of not having it finished, and yes, I know, it's a bit rushed. Enjoy, lemme know what you think!

[7]

“I’ve got it,” Stella said as she walked into the lab holding out a piece of paper. Sheldon took it, his fingers brushing against Stella’s sent a small shiver down her spine.

“A missing person’s report?” he asked.

“For Irene Daisey’s boyfriend,” Stella said. “They found his body yesterday, and I had Adam run his DNA, it matches the male DNA from that hair.”

“So he killed her and then died?” Sheldon asked, raising an eyebrow.

“No,” Stella responded. “He died first, and there was hair under his fingernails.”

“Hair?”

“Head hair, to be precise.”

“Max’s?”

“Adam’s running it now.”

“And Max and Cordelia?”

“Flack’s bringing them in.”

Sheldon smiled at Stella as they walked down the hallway, and Stella found her curiosity getting the best of her.

“What did Aiden want?” she asked, and instantly regretted it. Sheldon sighed and shook his head.

“She’s moving,” he said. “To Philly. She’s going to work the cold cases there.”

“At least she’s sort of close,” Stella said, praying that they reached Adam’s lab quicker than normal.

“Yeah, sure,” Sheldon said, and he fell silent. Stella didn’t press, and was relieved when Adam rushed out of the lab to hand them his results, he then proceeded to rush down the hall. Sheldon and Stella stared after him, then exchanged shrugs and looked at the results.

“It’s Max,” Sheldon said. Stella nodded.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

“I didn’t do it,” was all that Carl Hilot would say. Danny sighed.

“We aren’t saying you did anything, Carl, we’re just trying to find out who did,” Lindsay said. “Now, do you remember taking Adrien to Peter’s house for Mud Wrestling?” Carl’s mother bristled at the mention of Mud Wrestling, but she didn’t say anything. Carl sighed and leaned back.

“Yeah, I took him,” he said. “And we wrestled, and Pete and Addy were still goin’ when I left.”

“Does this Peter have a last name?” Danny asked. Carl looked down and his mother smacked him on the arm.

“Answer the man or you’ll be in as much trouble as Peter’s going to be,” she snapped. Carl sighed.

“He’s my brother,” he said. “Peter Hilot.”

Danny and Lindsay exchanged glances and Flack was out the door in an instant.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

“Hello, Max,” Sheldon said amiably as he sat down across from the magician. Max smiled back.

“Couldn’t get enough of me?” he asked.

“Well, not exactly,” Sheldon said. He slipped a photograph from the file he was holding and slid it across the table, one of a pale blonde man wrapped neatly in a garbage bag. Max stared down at it for a minute, and then laughed.

“What’s this supposed to be? Some sort of joke?” he asked.

“Not a joke at all,” Sheldon said. “Do you recognize that man?”

“No.”

“You killed him,” Sheldon said, “and you don’t recognize him?”

“I haven’t killed anyone,” Max retorted. Sheldon sighed, wondering why interrogation was never as easy as it looked on those TV shows.

“You killed Mark Fynn, Irene’s boyfriend, because Irene didn’t wan to date you,” Sheldon explained. He slid a photograph of Irene’s legs to the small man, who lifted them and stared at the bruises. “You caused those bruises, and then you killed her boyfriend and sent your assistant to clean up.”

“Oh? And where in your theory does it say my assistant would help me commit murder?”

“The part where it says she’s in love with you,” Sheldon said, sliding a stack of letters across the table. “We found these at her apartment. Addressed, but never sent.”3

“I want my lawyer,” Max said.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

“Cordelia, how are you?” Stella asked. The woman across from her raised an eyebrow and shook her head.

“I told you, I’m Irene,” she said. It was Stella’s turn to shake her head.

“Not according to your prescription,” she replied, sliding a picture of a pill bottle across the table. Cordelia examined it and then sighed.

“So I’m Cordelia, so what?”

“So, you killed your sister,” Stella said.

“What are you talking about? Max did it,” Cordelia replied.

“Oh, really?” Stella asked. “That’s not what I think.” She slid a pile of envelopes containing letters across the table. Cordelia picked the up and skimmed over them as Stella spoke.

“We found those at Max’s apartment. He had sent them to Irene, but she sent them back,” she explained. “So Max killed Irene’s boyfriend, Mark, and sent you to clean up his mess. Irene came home early, and you had to kill her.”

“You have no proof,” Cordelia said, “That I was involved in anyway.”

“We have your fingerprints on the plastic bag used to wrap Mark up,” Stella said. “We can pin you as an accessory.”

“I want my lawyer.”

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

“So, Peter,” Danny said, “you wanna explain what happened?”

“He’s a freak,” Peter said, which earned him a smack from his mother. “The creep tried to kiss me!”

“So, what? So you killed him?” Danny asked.

“I didn’t mean to! I just, I held him under the mud for too long.”

“With your arms around his neck?” Lindsay inquired, slipping a photograph of Adrien’s neck across the table.

“I’m sorry,” was all Peter would say. Flack had the kid stand up and cuffed him and as they left Danny leaned back and looked at Lindsay.

“It sucks when kids kill kids,” Lindsay said, Danny nodded.

“Let’s grab a bite, Montana,” he suggested.

“One condition.”

“That is?”

“Don’t call me Montana.”

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

“That,” Sheldon said as he and Stella watched Cordelia and Max being lead away with their Hand’s cuffed, “was annoying.”

“Yeah,” Stella replied. “Hey, you wanna go out, grab a bite to eat?” Sheldon thought for a moment, then shook his head.

“Nah, I think I’m just gonna go home,” he said. “Maybe some other time.”

“Yeah,” Stella said as he walked away. “Some other time.” And she left, replaying her dream on the drive home.