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

The Ties That Bind

Once again Mikey McCarthy sat across from Danny and Olivia. He was managing to look even more bored than he had done an hour earlier. The fact that they were keeping him there didn't bode well. If they were going to charge him with ID theft why hadn't they done that already?

Olivia had called Flack with the DNA results and right now he was on his way to the Royalton Hotel to hit Susan Tam with another round of questioning. Danny pulled out a chair and sat, in his hand he held the results and his smile was wide as he surveyed Mikey McCarthy.

'What?' the young man asked with a defensive shrug.

'I'm a happy man, Mikey,' Danny replied.

'Good for you,' he replied sourly. 'Someone gonna tell me what the hold-up is? If I'm gonna be charged with something - '

'When I asked if you knew Susan Tam,' Olivia jumped in, 'you said you didn't.'

McCarthy shrugged. 'So?'

'That seems a little strange to us.' Danny spun the paper round and pushed the results towards him. 'Seeing as how she's your mother.'

A flicker of something registered in the young man's gray eyes. His throat bobbed as he swallowed, but he didn't say anything.

'Those are the DNA results we pulled off a couple of mugs in the Tam's kitchen. Both salivary donors have half the alleles in common. One belongs to Susan Tam and the other,' Danny pointed a finger at him, 'belongs to you, her son. Heads up, you might wanna change your story about not knowing her.'

McCarthy exhaled and shook his head. Then he leaned back, flinging out an arm allowing it to dangle over the back of the chair. 'Okay,' he said almost carelessly, 'whatever. So she's my mother. Big deal.'

'Why lie about it?' Danny wanted to know, to which McCarthy just shrugged. 'So who's idea was it to drug Jason Tam with the codeine? Yours or mommy's?'

'It wasn't like that,' McCarthy muttered.

'Then how about you tell us how it was.'

The young man's eyes glazed over as he stared down at the table top before him. 'It just happened,' he finally said. 'It wasn't like it was planned or anything.'

'So how was it?' pressed Danny.

'She was unhappy, ok? Their marriage had been over for months, she was just going through the motions. Guy was a lunatic, seriously depressed. Tried to off himself a few times and each time he tried she'd call me up crying, saying she wanted out.'

'So why didn't she?' Danny wanted to know.

'Because she felt obliged. Like she owed him something. She just wanted her life back.'

'By taking his,' said Olivia.

McCarthy's gray eyes lifted. 'You don't know what it was like for her,' he said, his voice hard. 'Living with a guy who could snap at any given minute. Not knowing when he left for work whether he'd even come back again. I hated seeing her miserable.'

'So she couldn't divorce him without sending him completely over the edge,' Danny coded. 'She didn't want to take that risk.'

'That's her. Always thinking of others. Told her it would never do her any good,' the young man muttered sourly.

'Or maybe she couldn't divorce him without losing her alimony,' Olivia said wandering around the table. 'She was in a no-win situation. Afraid to leave, obliged to stay. That's where you came in.' She sat on the corner of the table nearest McCarthy and he met her eyes. 'So you figured you'd help her out, five million reasons to make sure you get a little something for your efforts. But was killing him really the easy option?'