CSI:New York : Who Are You? (Don Flack/OFC fanfic)

Heart Of Glass

'Ai'ight,' he said shaking off that last thought, 'fill me in. Tell me what I need to know.'

'Never knew you were so interested,' Olivia said smiling to herself. The night of Marty's relentless flirting with Lindsay and Danny's reaction was still fresh in her mind. Clearly, his too. 'Maybe you should take it up with Lindsay,' she suggested. 'I'm sure anything you want to know she'd be only too happy to tell.'

Danny snorted. 'She never talks about herself. It's all work, work, work.'

'Have you tried asking her?'

'Asking her?'

'About herself.'

Danny shifted in the seat and folded his arms over his chest, staring out of the windscreen. 'I've tried. I get the impression she thinks I wouldn't be interested in anything she has to say.'

'Would you?'

'Sure. She's okay.'

'Well, okay then.'

'What's the deal between her and Pino, anyhow?'

Olivia allowed herself a small grin. 'They're friends.'

'Yeah, sure,' came Danny's snorted reply. 'I've seen the two of them, all cosied up. They ain't just friends.'

'Why do you care?'

'I don't, just...curious.'

'Same as. Y'know,' Olivia said as she steered the SUV onto West 50th, 'if you like her so much, you could try less teasing and more talking. Show an interest. Maybe ask her out.'

'Whoa, back it up there, Sparky. I said I was curious. It's not like I wanna marry her.'

She glanced across at him, one eyebrow lifting. 'Don't do her any favors,' she said in her driest possible tone.

'That's what keeps them comin' back,' he told her with a cocky wink. 'Treat 'em mean and - '

'You really are something,' Olivia groaned and parked the SUV outside of the rather palatial looking home on West 50th.

'Thanks.'

'That wasn't a compliment.'

'From you it was.'

She rolled her eyes. 'Grab your kit, Romeo.'

The flash of police lights and the crime scene tape had attracted their usual crowd of onlookers. Both CSIs grabbed their kits from the trunk of the SUV and were met at the edge of the paved driveway by Flack.

'You two again?' he said as they neared him.

'Gotta love Mac's sense of humor,' Olivia told him.

'I think he's hoping if he partners us up regular we might start liking one another,' Danny piped up.

'Twenty plus cases, still not happening,' Olivia quipped.

Flack smiled at them both. 'I feel all fuzzy. It's like a scene from a buddy cop movie. C'mon,' he turned towards the house, 'I'll walk you through what we got. Vic's name is Jason Tam.'

'Who called it in?' Danny asked as they followed Flack up the driveway and towards the front door.

'The wife, Susan Tam. She was on the telephone, when the call ended she found him lying at the bottom of the stairs.' Flack stepped inside the front hallway to the house. On the outside the house was palatial, the inside was just as, expensively decorated in a sparse semi-Asian style. Luxurious to the hilt.

'Nice place,' Olivia mused. 'So she didn't hear him fall?'

'Women and telephones, need I say more?' Flack replied.

She smiled at him and looked at the beautiful oak staircase that faced the front door. 'It's bad feng shui to have your stairs facing the front door,' she said as she scoped out the room.

'Certainly was for this guy,' said Danny. The body lay on its left side, legs bent, on the parquet flooring sprayed with blood. Jason Tam was in his mid-fifties; medium build with clipped black hair greying slightly at the temples and dressed in taupe dress pants with a white shirt. 'Accidental?'

Flack raised both eyebrows. 'Isn't that your job? Not sure what went down. Which is why you were called. When I interviewed Mrs. Tam she said,' he flipped open his note-pad, 'and I quote, "He was a wonderful man. I can't believe this has happened".'

Olivia was snapping different angles of the body and the blood spatter. 'Past tense,' she noted. 'Unusual in itself.' They all knew from experience that usually when a person was in shock after something like this, they referred to the victim in the present tense.

'Where's the wife?' asked Danny, opening up his kit and snapping on some latex gloves. He dropped to one knee and began examining the body.

'Outside. Playing the part of grieving widow to the hilt,' replied Flack.

'What's our vic's line of work?' Olivia asked continuing to snap off shots.

'He's a successful businessman, owns a small retail chain in Queens and another in New Jersey. From all accounts, guy was doing well for himself,' replied Flack. 'How's it looking?'

'Not good for the wife,' Danny surmised. 'He's gotta contusion to the head. They say the first hit's for free, only falling down the stairs isn't a one-hit affair.'

Olivia leaned in to take a closer look at the wound. 'It should have bled out to a much greater degree, judging from the amount of spray.'

'So maybe he was dead before he fell,' Flack suggested.

'There's no ligature marks around the neck, no stab or gunshot wounds...aside from the contusion, which isn't consistent to the way he fell, not much to go on first glance.'

Olivia nodded at Danny. 'Then we process what we have and sit tight until the coroner's report,' she said. 'But it begs the same old question, if it was the wife, what's the motive?'

'Take a look around, guy's loaded,' Danny said, rolling Jason Tam's body over. 'Which means he's probably got some sweet life insurance.'

'Ever the pessimist, Messer. Anyway, it's too early to be making any assumptions, I guess,' Olivia said moving up the staircase. She took out her flashlight. 'I got drops of blood here.' She opened up her kit and took out a swab. 'Could have happened on the ride down.'

'Some ride,' commented Danny.

'While the two of you clean house,' Flack cut in, 'I'll have another chat with our merry widow.' He disappeared outside leaving the CSIs to do their work.

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COPYRIGHT. © ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Debra Jay. 2006