After printing the metal safety lock box that they had discovered underneath the floorboards of Eli Sheridan's office, Danny was now working on the lock. The only prints he'd managed to get so far belonged to the man himself, Eli Sheridan. No big surprise there. The lock on the box wasn't the best as far as lockboxes were concerned and it didn't take long to pick with the aid of a small Swiss knife. Removing the contents of the box Danny began looking through them. There were various types of legal documents including insurance policies, wills and social security cards. But it was the last document that captured his curiosity.
Adoption papers.
The Sheridan's had adopted Jeremy at birth. Danny checked the pile of legal papers once more to see if there were anything to suggest that perhaps Gracie had been adopted, too. But there were none. The name of the agency at the top of the official paper popped out at him, Forever Family Adoption Agency. He picked up his cell phone and speed-dialled Flack's number. Two rings and the Homicide Detective answered.
'Flack.'
'It's Messer,' Danny said into the mouthpiece. 'Found something, could be nothing; but could you see what you can find out?'
'Name it,' Flack replied.
'Got an adoption paper here for Jeremy Sheridan, dates back to his birth in '92. The agency is Forever Family Adoption.'
'Got it. I'll get back to you,' Flack responded.
'Thanks, Flack.' Danny closed the call and set his phone back down. Moments later he was still looking through the papers when the doors to the Trace Lab opened and Olivia came through carrying two Styrofoam cups of coffee. 'Mornin', Detective,' he greeted her.
She handed him one of the coffees and offered a smile. 'Thought you could do with this.'
'You're a lifesaver.' He accepted the cup with a grateful grin. 'No cinnamon twist?'
'They were fresh out. Be glad for that which you've been given.'
Danny peeled back the lid and took a sip of the steaming hot liquid. It was like an angel crying on his tongue. He sighed. 'How you feelin' today?'
Olivia knew from experience that the casual comment hadn't been made out of simple politeness. There was a lot of weight behind it. What had happened in the Sheridan's kitchen was still fresh on her mind. 'As good as can be, I guess.'
'You sleep?' he asked.
She shook her head. After taking a shower, she had poured herself a stiff drink, turned on the TV and sat on the sofa for the next two hours just staring at the screen. She remembered glancing at the clock once and seeing it was almost five in the morning, but she couldn't remember drinking half a bottle of Vodka. An hour later she'd been forcing her eyes open to the early morning news on CNN. They were still covering the Sheridan murders.
There were beginnings of hollow circles beneath her eyes. This case was affecting them all. But for Olivia it was something else. It felt like it was almost personal. Even after he'd left the Lab the night before and arrived home, Danny hadn't been able to shake off what had happened back at the house.
'How you getting on here?' she said, directing his attention away from her. 'See you managed to get the box open.' She took a sip of the coffee. It was already her third that morning and it was only just gone eight-thirty.
Danny put his cup down and handed her the adoption paper. 'Jeremy was adopted.'
Olivia took the paper and nodded. 'I know.'
'You know?'
'Dropped by the hospital to check on Gracie earlier. She has leukemia, Danny.'
'What?'
She lifted her head and met his stunned gaze. 'Yeah.' She nodded. 'She's dying.'
Danny exhaled heavily and dropped his head. 'This isn't right. None of this...is right.'
'The family were tested as possible bone marrow donors, all except Jeremy. Because he wasn't their natural child.'
'What're her chances?'
'Slim,' replied Olivia.
Danny let go of another heavy sigh. Then quickly drew himself up and pointed a finger at the adoption papers. 'Flack's reaching out to the agency. See if anything comes up. I don't know, it's just a stab in the dark.'
The Trace Lab doors opened and Mac came inside. 'How we doing? Anything so far?' he asked the two CSI's.
Danny turned around to face him. 'The only thing I found is an adoption paper,' he nodded at the paper in Olivia's hand, 'telling us that Jeremy Sheridan was adopted by the family at birth. Got Flack on it.'
Mac took the paper from Olivia, quickly scanning it. 'No papers on Gracie?'
'None that I found,' Danny shook his head.
'Adam's working on the shoe impression you took from underneath the side window. Any news on the cigarette butt you found?' Mac asked.
'I saw Chad on my way in, he's working on it as we speak,' Olivia told him.
'And Hawkes is busy with the blood,' Danny added.
'Okay, let's keep at it,' nodded Mac. 'Danny, you and me are heading back out to the house in a little while. Olivia, could I have a word? In my office?'
'Sure.'
She followed him out of the Lab and around the corner into his office. He sat behind his desk while she closed the door, then gestured for her to take a seat.
'How are you doing?' he asked her.
Meeting his eyes, she had been curious as to why he needed to talk with her in private. Now she knew. First Danny and now Mac. 'I'm fine,' she told him.
Just like Danny, Mac was all too aware of the circles forming around her eyes. He had spent a good thirty minutes the night before, sitting in his office, replaying the events of the day over in his head. He had been torn between right and wrong and had toyed with the decision that when she came into work that day he was pulling her off the case. No arguments. But he kept hearing her in Gracie Sheridan's bedroom.
I want to take the lead on this case. Kids. They're what I know.
Stella's words of wisdom had began ringing loud and clear and in the end he decided against it. Pulling her off the case wasn't going to change anything. Her problems would still be there and he didn't care to add to them. But he'd be a liar if he said the haunted look in her eyes wasn't affecting him.
'Did you go to the hospital?' he asked.
She nodded. 'This morning.'
'You saw Gracie?'
'She was sleeping. I said I'd drop by later.'
'Did you speak with her doctor?'
Olivia shifted restlessly in the chair, not particularly relishing this game of back and forth. 'Yes, Mac, I saw her doctor. I know she's dying,' she bit out. She met his gaze head-on and for a moment made him feel somewhat foolish for treating her like a child. But even though she was clearly agitated by his kid gloves treatment Mac wasn't fooled. She was taking the news of the little girl's illness very hard indeed.
'I couldn't be certain that you knew.' He paused for a moment, then said, 'Olivia, I need your assurance that you're not going to treat this case any different to any other you've worked.'
'Isn't the first rule of forensics that we're supposed to treat each case differently?'
'Yes, we are. I meant on a personal level.'
'Right,' she nodded stiffly. 'Well. I don't think I can do that. There's a little girl dying in hospital and her family are lying cold in the morgue. This case is very personal.'
Mac held back a sigh. 'It's hard to separate yourself emotionally, Olivia. It's what makes us human - '
'I know, Mac,' she cut in. 'You've told me this before. Look, I understand where you're coming from, but I'm fine. I'm more than fine.' It was a little white lie of course. But she thought by putting it out there that it would make a difference. Not that it did. She could tell by the way Mac was perusing her that he knew she was anything but. 'You want my assurance that I'm not going to become too personally involved?' she went on. 'Well, I'm sorry, I can't give it to you. I don't need to explain my reasons for that. You know my reasons. What I can give you is my total commitment to this case. You know I won't give it anything less than a hundred percent.'
He hadn't expected anything less from her. In all the months she'd worked on his team she had never given a case any less than her all. He left it at that. He'd wanted to discuss the possibility of another meeting with Dr. Rennick but didn't want to press it or risk alienating her. He would be sure to keep an eye on her, though. 'Fair enough,' he compromised. 'But there's one other thing I want from you.'
'Okay.'
'Your honesty. If at any time it gets too much or you need to take a step back, I'm trusting you to tell me, Olivia. I don't want you running yourself into the ground. I need you to remain objective and sharp.'
Remembering the panic attack that had besieged her the night before had her swallowing hard. She trusted Danny not to say anything, but couldn't help feeling guilty after Mac's little speech. Even so, she nodded her head. 'And you know I will. On all counts. A tired CSI is a sloppy CSI,' she said reminding him of a past conversation.
'Right.' He nodded. 'Okay, back to business. Gracie Sheridan is our only viable witness, which means that we need to talk with her. We also need a reference DNA sample to match against the blood drop you found in her room.'
'She couldn't have seen anything, Mac. She was too terrified to come out of the closet.'
'But she would have heard voices. At the very least she could tell us whether our killer was male or female. If there were more than one of them. Because so far, aside from the shoe size indicating a possible male, we haven't had any hits anywhere in our database.'
Olivia nodded. 'Okay, then I'll do it.'
'I was going to suggest that. She seemed to take to you last night. Are you going to be okay to talk to her?'
'It'll be fine,' she told him.
Over Olivia's shoulder Mac could see Flack coming toward his office and waved his hand at the Detective, gesturing for him to come straight in. 'I've asked Flack to go with you. That way he can take notes while you give Gracie your full attention.'
'No problem.'
The door opened and Flack came inside. 'I managed to track down the adoption agency Danny left me with. They were an Internet based ministry. I say were, because they went out of business three years ago.'
Olivia turned in her seat, a frown creasing her brow. 'An adoption agency going out of business?'
Flack offered a shrug. 'Clearly there's no money to be made in family happiness.'
'Since when was adoption about making money?' she said shaking her head.
'Got me. It was a faith-based organization that helped women in their unwanted pregnancies. They had an office based in the Bronx until they closed their doors.'
'Any indications that Gracie may have been adopted?' Mac asked.
'Negative,' said Flack. 'I'll dig a little deeper, see if I can come up with a name of whoever ran the place. Other than that, not much else to go on right now. You ready to head down to the hospital?' he asked Olivia.
She nodded and got to her feet. 'Yeah, let me just grab my kit. I'll meet you out front.'
'Okay,' said Flack. He waited until Olivia left Mac's office before turning back to him. 'Is she okay?'
'I hope so.' Mac leaned back in his chair. 'I need you to do me a favor, Don.'
'Name it.'
'I know the two of you are close - '
'We're just friends,' Flack cut in and immediately kicked himself at his own abruptness, as the astute and seasoned Mac Taylor was now running a thoughtful gaze over him.
Mac had been under the impression that Olivia and Flack were much more than just friends. He could remember the day he'd seen the two of them out in the intersection. The day after he had kissed her. He quickly brushed aside that last thought. He hadn't thought about it in the last couple of weeks and had no intention of, either. There was something flickering over Flack's features that told Mac that he too had thought they were more than friends and from the way he'd felt the need to quickly clarify the situation, it was obvious that it hadn't been completely agreeable on both sides.
'That's your personal business, Don,' Mac said. 'Talking to Gracie probably isn't going to be the easiest thing. I trust you'll help her out if she needs it.'
Flack was a little puzzled by the request, but nodded anyway. 'Sure. No problem. Anything else?'
'That's all.'
'A'ight. We'll catch up later,' Flack said and then he left Mac's office to meet with Olivia.
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Copyright © 2006 [Debra Jay] All Rights Reserved