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

What More Is There?

Danny wasn't finding anything in Gracie Sheridan's bedroom. No blood, no fibers, no hairs, nothing. Olivia had been more than thorough when she'd processed the little girls room the night before. He opened up the closet doors and began to shuffle through the rack of dresses and skirts, nothing out of the ordinary there. Turning on his flashlight he searched the shelf above that was piled high with games, dolls and toys. He wasn't expecting to find anything, but he knew Mac wouldn't be completely satisfied without another search. He then focused his light on the pile of shoes in the far left of the closet as he began to sort through them.

There was nothing.

He straightened up with a sigh just as his cell phone rang from inside his jacket pocket. With a gloved hand he took it out and answered. 'Messer.'

'It's Flack.'

'S'up?'

'We're at the hospital. Olivia's talking to little Gracie.'

'Hope she's having more luck than I am.'

'Could say that. You at the house?'

'Yeah,' Danny sighed. 'Mac's got me searching Gracie's bedroom, but I don't know what he's hoping for. Place is clean.'

'Don't be so sure,' Flack told him. 'Look in the closet.'

'I'm in there now.'

'Then I need you to look at the back wall.'

'Okay.' Danny frowned. 'You gonna tell me why?' He pushed aside the rack of dresses until the back panels of the closet were visible. They looked just like any other ordinary closet panel.

'Behind those panels is where Gracie was hiding.'

Danny nodded. 'Gracie had a hidey hole.' The pieces were beginning to fit. He began feeling the wall, the grooves of the panels, then began to gently tap his way down to the closet floor. Solid, solid...hollow.

Bingo.

'Got it. Gimme a sec.' He pushed against the hollow panel and it gave way, opening up. Danny trained his flashlight into the small, dark space and peered inside. To the left there was a length of cord and he pulled it once, the overhead light illuminated the windowless space that had been painted a bright, sunny yellow. 'Yeah, this is definitely where she was hiding,' he confirmed. There were dolls sitting on chairs at a small pink table, and books and teddy bears were strewn all across the floor.

'Anything out the ordinary?' Flack wanted to know.

'No.' Danny looked in all four corners of the space. Because there was no window, the only way in and out was through the panels. 'Our perp definitely didn't know about this.' He glanced at a pool of something beside the doll's tea party. It looked and smelled like urine. 'Ah, bless her,' Danny murmured.

'What's that?'

'She must've soiled herself.'

Flack's sigh ricocheted down the line. 'Gotta tell you, Danny, this little girl...she's one amazing kid.'

After Danny ended the call he swabbed the urine stain as extra evidence and eased himself out of the opening. Gathering up his equipment he left the room and made his way down the hallway towards the master bedroom.

Mac was standing over the blood pools where the family had been positioned. The last few hours had caused the blood to darken to almost black. It looked garish against the cream carpet. He looked up when Danny came inside.

'I know why Gracie was spared,' Danny said. 'Flack called from the hospital, asked me to check out the closet. Found a crawl space, a purpose built hidey hole. So even if our perp did open up the closet doors, he would've had no way of knowing she was behind the wall.'