CSI New York Episode IV Season 10

EPISODE IV: THOUSAND TIMES

A group of fishermen had gathered in the harbor early in the morning to carry out the normal routine: who moored boats, who went out in the sea and who, instead, repaired the nets for a catch. The radio announced "The second Friday of October opens with a debate on drug trafficking between New York and Jersey City, the police and the DEA have joined forces to stop the exodus of the drug. If you want to talk live with us on the subject do not hesitate to call!" then a piece of Nirvana began -Smell Like Teen Spirit-.

The sea was quite rough that morning and to fish would not be easy. There was also a slight fog that prevented to distinguish clearly the rocks near and far, but for the fishermen that it was a risk that was worth to run.

A ship left the harbor with a few men on board, they found themselves so off the Lower New York Bay and what they saw shocked them: an old sailboat was surfacing from the sea and there was something on the hull covered by algae. The sailors hastened to warn the Coast Guard recovered the boat and found a cadaver under the algae "Call those of the Scientific!"

Mac and his team rushed to the site followed by Angela, who officially took the place previously occupied by Adam.

Flack had begun to question how the story went to the five fishermen while Danny examined the hull and collected samples of algae. Sheldon carefully examined the corpse helped by Angela, Mac watched everything from above without a murmur, for him she was still testing.

"The victim is not in good condition, she has the signs of the strings that have kept her tied to the hull of the ship, but they are post-mortem."

Angela stood up the victim's arms "Look, a bullet hole! Now we know how she died!"

"Not so fast!" Sheldon rebuked her by removing the algae from the head "Blunt force trauma!"

Angela snorted "This means that you will need to examine her more thoroughly?" Sheldon nodded.

"The boat was sunk on purpose the chips are oriented downward!" Danny said advancing toward them "It's been quite a while that down there but I managed to find out the name well-preserved from algae!" he smiled triumphantly "This boat belongs to Maximilian Sandovall, indeed, to his wife! "

Sheldon looked at Danny from his position bent over the corpse "It is not the man who owns a villa so large as to look like a castle and which has appeared in all the newspapers ten years ago with his wife because she had allocated two billion dollars in an orphanage? "

Danny nodded "That's him! At the time he was twenty years! "

"Man!" Angela said "I would say that they took a big fish today!"

"A fish, however, will be the special of the day in the morgue!" Mac concluded.

Mac was overwhelmed by the paperwork that day and he waited Hawkes to contact him for the autopsy results, he was surprised when, instead, a blonde girl knocked and he instantly recognized her "Isabella Hammerback! I'm glad you're finally here!" he smiled by standing up

"Thank you!" she said embarrassed by advancing "Sheldon was so kind to give me the opportunity to work in the field and since the first day he sent me to you with the autopsy report!" she said by placing the sheaf of papers on the desk "Thanks for helping me to get the place! It means so much to me to follow in the footsteps of my father!"

Mac smiled "I hope that the fact that you have graduated several years in advance, it can be a good start!" he rose from his desk "Begins with tell me what Hawkes showed you!"

"Yes!" she said opening the file "The fatal blow was the one to head, the bullet only wounded the victim without affecting any vital organ!" she said sliding to Mac two X -rays "The woman was under there I would say almost a year and a half, judging from how the corpse preserved, and then more than that we have not been able to discover, apart from the name!" she smiled entwining her fingers excitedly, Mac looked at her straight in the eyes "Hold on tight, because this is Rebecca Ward Sandovall! "

Mac looked at her surprised "But from the research we have done she turns out ...»

"Dead and buried I know!"

"A case filed as suicide ..." Mac said looking out the window "We probably are dealing with a double murder!" he said turning to the girl

"That doesn’t surprise me! It’s common to happen with people so rich! Without considering that she was popular in various organizations here in town!" she smiled rearranging the sheets "The ball is now your Mac! Mark the point that makes us win the match!" she said by leaving.

Jo was greeted at the entrance of the huge villa almost out of New York, which was located in the most exclusive neighborhood sheer above the sea, by Maximilian Sandovall "I'm Detective Danville, of the New York Crime Lab. I’m dealing the case of your wife!" she began when the owner opened the door of the house

"My wife has been dead for almost two years now, she committed suicide!" he said letting her in and accompanying her in the Gothic style salon from the high ceiling with a ebony library full of tomes, also ancient, and a sofa in the middle of black soft leather "I'll be at your complete disposal for any questions you want to ask me!" he said inviting her to sit down with a wave of the hand

"You recognized the body of your wife when she was found?" the detective asked crossing her legs

"Of course!" he asserted

"You must know that this was not the body of his wife, that was another woman!"

The face of Maximilian Sandovall changed instantly "Have you found that the body, that you found this morning, is it really my wife?" the detective nodded "Nonsense! So who is buried at the cemetery? "

"That's what we want to find out!" she said by crossing her arms "The body that you recognized as your wife was covered with algae, right?"

"It was also disfigured due to the rocks that had hit!" the man added by remaining with a shocked look

"Then, how did you know that she was really his wife?" Jo asked looking at him with attention

"From the wedding ring!" he exclaimed "Yes, she had my wife's ring on her finger! I have it in the safe Detective! "

"You should give it to me Mr. Sandovall!"

Lindsay was at the cemetery with Danny to make the recovery of the second body

"Why Mac also sent you to recover this body?" the husband asked to his wife from the deep hole where he was digging

"Just because I had a child, does not mean that I can’t work!" she said throwing the earth in his hair "You keep digging, that Sheldon can’t wait to examine the body!"

"Excuse if I ask you it, but after Lucy wasn’t you less active?" he said throwing out of the hole a shovelful of earth

"Every pregnancy is different Danny," she said, finishing up arrange the camera and the kit of the investigations "Have you finished? I want to have some fun too! "

"Of course! But I always have to do the heavy work! "Danny snorted catching sight the wood of the coffin "Here we are!" he smiled triumphantly cleaning the top of the crate funeral, from the earth" Here's our Jane Doe!"

"How about you let me capture the moment?" Lindsay said smiling with camera in hand.

Mac was sitting at Christine's restaurant on a table reserved and quite close to the kitchen door. The place was full though the rush hour was long past. After a wait that seemed interminable, the door opened and Christine appeared flushed "There's hell in there! Please, excuse me!" she gasped sitting in front of him

"It's nothing serious!" Mac smiled "Are you ready?"

"Well prepared and you?" she smiled euphoric

"Nervous ..." he admitted tightening them hands

"You want to know something?" Christine said leaning towards him "I just lied!" she said whispering "Actually, I'm scared!"

Mac smiled "You'll see it will go well!" he said rising and taking the few steps that separated them. He lifted Christine up and took off her apron, after that he disbanded her blond hair which fell gently on her shoulders.

"But you're sure you can stay home from work for a few hours ?" she said turning to him

"At last I’ll find out the sex of my son! I do not want to miss even a second of our family!" he said pulling out his cell phone that was sounding " What is it Angela?"

"I found a very interesting thing!" the girl screamed euphoric

"I hope for you that it matters, I do not know what stills restrain me from firing you!" he said going out with Christine from the restaurant

"An old memo that has been preserved very well in a plastic bag on the boat how important is it to you?" Angela grinned

"It depends on the content!" Mac said briskly walking with his wife to the taxi rank

"Dr. Lionel Lars , 15:00 Friday, December 16th!"

"Tell me where you found it!" he said walking by taking Christine 's hand

"In a drawer in the cabin with other objects including a calendar, from which they 'll get along a lot, and a pen!" she explained hastily

"Do some research on this Dr. Lars!" Mac said stopping a taxi

"Already done! It is a gynecologist and he works at Trinity General! Flack is going to ask him some questions!"

Mac boarded the taxi with his wife "So I will meet him! I'm going with Christine!"

"Oh right! Today is the day of father’s chores!" she said mischievously" While we're on the topic, how the researches are progressing about mine? Did you ever find anything else?"

"A whole list of names of Marine on leave and who have been in my battalion in 1983 even if only for a few months. Some you have already examined, there remain seven or eight yet to be verified!" Christine looked at Mac concerned that perhaps they needed him "I'll leave you now, I hope you manage to find something useful on Rebecca Sandovall soon! It goes about your job!"

"Happy hours off Mac! We'll talk about my work when I’ll pass the test of second level! You know I'll make it!" she replied acid.

Christine looked at Mac snort "These are the moments where I regret having let go of Adam!"

"I could not give up listening to, you're investigating on the death of one of the women who until two years ago was known throughout the nonprofit in New York?"

"Apparently she didn’t committed suicide!" he said holding her to himself "I also have the body of the Sandovall’s tomb to be investigated!" he said looking out the window.

Jaime came to stealthily Flack by pushing him from behind "Good morning!" she greeted him looking at his surprised face

"Damn! You enjoy yourself a lot to scare me!" he said pulling her to him and kissed her gently

"I thought" she said kneel in front of him "that we could go out for lunch..."

"I’d love it Jaime!" he said disconsolately

"But you have to do ..." she huffed

"I have to go to the hospital by a Dr. Lars ... for the case!" Flack snorted taking the keys of the police car

"Then at my house for dinner tonight and you cannot refuse!" she said rising from the ground

"Okay!" Flack smiled gently rising from his chair "At eight o'clock?"

"Well done!" Jaime said by kissing him softly "Bring the wine!” she touched with the index the tip of his nose and then she walked away toward her desk.

At the hospital Mac and Christine sat outside the door of the doctor waiting for their turn.

There were about six or seven couples waiting. A woman with long hair blacks and dark hazel eyes instantly recognized Christine and greeted her with a wave of his hand, next to her sat a man in his fifties wearing the uniform of the Marines in service. He had his arms folded and a mustache, under which stood a proud and even selfish smile.

Christine stood up, followed by Mac, and stopping in front of her,  she whispered "I did not think I would have met you here, Erika!"

"What can you do? Now here I am here one year on and two no!" she smiled standing up to hug her "But you're at the number one and I bet he's the lucky dad!" she said pointing to Mac who had remained respectfully next to his wife smiling at the woman

"Yeah! You guessed it! "Christine smiled Mac taking his arm.

The Marine stood up and he came up beside his wife encircling her by the shoulders "I'm Sergeant Russell!" he said by eyeing Mac assuming the attitude of superior "At the moment I have a permit of a few weeks from Iraq!"

"Not only Sergeant, but also Chief-Instructor and there is also a Silver Star!" Mac said observing the ribbon bar to his chest

"Yes, that's right!" he said looking at Mac from above. He was definitely huge and Mac hardly reached at his chest "But don’t we already know ourselves?" Mac clenched his fists looking alia reflecting a moment and in the end he grin in a wicked manner "Yes I remember now who you are! You are -Golden Voice-! Do you still song like a bell out of tune?" he said making a big laugh

"You know each other?" their wives asked in unison a little surprised

"Certainly!" Sergeant Russell said while he still laughing "The dwarf was doing training with me!"

"It's true, we were to do the three months of military training together, then we left for Beirut!" Mac said holding his nerve

"The poor man asked a question to Sergeant Chief Instructor on the first day and he had to sing the whole hymn of the Marine Corps doing push-ups!" he said laughing loudly by attracting the attention of all present

"You have not changed at all! You still have the ability to attract attention to you!" Mac said looking him sternly

"You know, honey" the Sergeant said to his wife "it is said that the worst years are lived in high school, but he lived them immediately after condensed in three months!"

"Keep your voice down! You want me to throw you out of the hospital?" Mac threatened him

"I used to put your head in the toilet every morning! You really hope to be able to scare me?" Sergeant Russell laughed sarcastically

"I may be on leave since 1992, but you know that I still remember how to land a man!" Mac growled through clenched teeth

"That's enough James! You're exaggerating!" Erika broke in

"Mac, calm down! Thus angry is not like you! Let's sit!" Christine invited him pulling his shirt sleeve

"It was nice to see you again -Golden Voice-!" the Marine urged

"I'm Detective Taylor of the New York Crime Lab, anyway!" he said

"See you soon – Golden Voice of Lab-!" Sergeant Russell said for the last time perfidiously.

Christine tightened her grip on the Mac that was about to turn back to face the old comrade in arms and the doctor opened the door luckily. The doctor came out holding the list of names "The next is Mrs. Taylor!"

"Thank God!" Christine whispered to herself "Here we are!" she said dragging Mac who took a last cold look to Sergeant sat with his wife, embarrassed by the scene.

Flack was sitting in the office of Dr. Lars asking him questions "You're wrong! I did not have to cure Ms. Sandovall, I had under treatment their maid! Mrs. Stewart!" the senior doctor, with a beard and glasses blacks, said shaking his head

"Mrs. Stewart, by chance, she looks like this woman?" Flack said pulling out a picture from the inside pocket of his jacket

"Not only looks like her but it's her!"

"This is actually Mrs. Sandovall! How do you explain the fact that she falsified her name to come to you to make medical examinations? "

"She probably did not want her husband to know about her medical visits!" Dr. Lars replied

"It seems a bit obvious ... What was the state of health of Mrs. Sandovall" Flack asked maintaining a posture made​​.

The doctor stood up "I've got her medical records! I show it to you!" he took the folder from the drawer and showed it to the Detective "She came to me believing that she was pregnant, that poor girl!"

Flack opened the folder by reading the report of some analysis "She had uterine cancer!" he said shocked "How much was left to her to live?"

"About a month ... I remember that when I told her, she smiled at me and said -No doctor! It will be long before my last end!-"

Flack nodded "Thank you doctor! I bring with me the folder!" he stood up and left the office.

Outside in the hall he looked toward him Mac and Christine "Judging by tour faces the ultrasound went well!"

"It went really well, Don!" Mac smiled hugging his wife "We know for sure that it's a boy! What appears to be a cyst has finally stopped growing! "

"Wow!" he smiled before getting dark and serious "I guess now you will be immensely happy, and believe me, I'm sorry to ruin the moment!"

Mac resigned sigh "What's New on the case?"

"The victim had uterine cancer and, according to what the doctor said, I think she has herself killed by someone! "

Mac nodded "I think I'll talk to Jo and ask her to re-interrogate Sandovall!"

"And their maid!" Flack added "I made her a few questions, but, apparently, she's up to her neck in this story!"

In that moment, next to Mac passed Sergeant Russell and his wife "Hello Golden Voice of Lab! Are you still here? Today you do not play to the small chemical? "

"I'm going to play it with you today, just because you're at home!" he said turning "I need a sample of your DNA!"

"You need a warrant for that little dwarf!"

Mac smiled "No, if I arrest you!"

"On what charge?" he laughed behind his mustache

"Insulting a public official!" Mac laughed with smile more treacherous than the one of Russell "I have also my colleague as a witness!"

"Know that, even though it seems, I run fast!" Flack said seriously "So be a good boy and do not run!"

Christine and Erika watched the scene affected and shocked by the behavior of their husbands

"All right!" Sergeant concluded "I deliver voluntarily for DNA testing! Excuse me, but why me? "

"Simply because you appear on a list of probable rapists!" Mac said crossing his arms "Rape that even I was not sure it had happened!"

"You speak to Angela, Mac?" Flack asked

"I want to leave to her the task of discovering the truth," he said with serious look

Erika was terrified, "Can you explain me what's going on?" She turned to her husband, "Tell me that you're not involved in this matter!"

“Beirut in 1983?" Russell asked

“Beirut in 1983," Mac confirmed

"James? What does it mean?" his wife asked.

Mac was embarrassed by the scene with my hands busy to tighten the handcuffs around the wrists of Russell

"Mac! I'll take Erika!"said Christine

"Are you sure?" Mac asked worried

"Don’t worry! See you at home!"

Mac took the sergeant's arm and Flack took him by the other and they walked toward the elevator.

Danny and Lindsay watched the autopsy report

"I can hardly believe it!" Danny said by banging his fist on the table "Everything suggests that this woman has committed suicide!"

"Maybe because this woman has committed suicide!" Lindsay said by looking at the screen "Now we also know the name! Lara Jones! "

"She was in CODIS?" her husband asked approaching

"No, in the database of missing persons! She was reported exactly a year and a half ago by the mother!"

"Here, however, I read that she is no longer alive!" he said pointing to an attached file "Poor woman! She couldn’t even cry her daughter!"

"This case is solved apart from of the ring on her finger that is still to be explained. Now we only have the murder: there is a scene and a gun to look for!" Lindsay said taking what was left of the victim's clothes from a closet and laid them on the table of the laboratory "Here we'll surely find something!"

"Let’s work!" Danny smiled opening the plastic bag and passing all under a lamp of laboratory at ultraviolet rays, suddenly something caught his attention "Boom! Here we are!" he said taking the tongs and showing his discovery Lindsay

"What's this? It looks like a fiber woven red!" she cried observing it

"Let's see if what you say is true!" Danny said putting the evidence on a slide and then under a microscope "We are not going long way ... it's fleece! It is a fabric used in carpets, corduroy, velvet and plush toys! "

"I would say that we are at a standstill!" Lindsay said sitting on the chair rubbing her temples

"Are you okay?" Danny asked seeing her in that state, she nodded smiling "Not even you know which way to head it?"

"Yeah!" she admitted

Sheldon was with Jo downstairs in the morgue. That was an work argument that seemed to have no end "How do I have to tell you that there is no bullet?" he asked for the umpteenth time

"So we have nothing to accuse Sandovall of murdering his wife!"

"It might well have been the governess!" Sheldon said "Think about it, the boat is not the scene of the crime and it's been too long since it happened!"

"When Mac called me yesterday, telling me that I had to take care of the case, I thought he was just talking about the interrogation of Sandovall and staff of the villa! Of course I didn’t think I would have had to direct all the operations!" she said surprised

Sheldon asserted "I understand. You thought to still have Mac as a reference point! But now the case of Angela could get a match and she will finally have justice!"

Jo looked at Sheldon in the eyes "We still have that appointment, remember?"

"Sure, but I think, for now, we can’t do anything!" he said closing the corpse in the freezer "In addition to the affairs of coroner, there are those as Detective to attend! There is the examination of a second level that comes close!"

"You have signed up for the exam?" Jo asked surprised "I thought given the fact that Sid had given you the direction of the morgue ..."

"No!" Sheldon said "I do not dare to do only the coroner!" he said pulling off his gloves and throwing them in the trash "I want to do more!" he said walking over to her "I'm not made ​​to stay closed in here or exit only to declare the dead!"

Jo found herself very close to him so as to feel its warmth "It's late, I think you're tired and you need to get some sleep!”

"For that matter, you also need to rest!" he said kissing her softly

"My daughter is waiting for me!" she said evading the kiss "See you tomorrow!" she said stroking his face.

In the early afternoon of the next day, Angela looked at the Marine sitting in the interrogation room behind the glass with Mac “I can hardly believe it!" she managed to say "My mother is coming here! She said that she wanted to see his face!"

"I don’t think it's a good idea!" Mac suggested

"My mother and I are sick! The only reason for that I wanted to know who my father was, it’s for tell him that I am happy that he would have rot behind bars!"

"You wanted to just give a name and a face to the source of your hatred!" Mac exclaimed "That's why when you thought it was me thy father thou hast threatened me!"

"You have no idea of what it means to be alone with a mother who does the reporter, alone at home or by neighbors for weeks because the only way thanks to which you can live in dignity is her job! Hoping and praying that she would return alive after three months of work in Africa in the midst of wars and revolts!" she said with tears in her eyes "Knowing that because of him my mother has not had a career and it’s for his fault that I grew up alone, it makes me sick. I'm sick at the thought that he is my father!"

Mac came up to her and put his hand over his face wiping away the tears "You're right! I can only imagine how can you feel! But if your mother sees you cry, do not you think that it would hurt her even more?"

"Now are you to be right, Mac!" she said trying to contain herself.

From the door came a woman of the same age as Mac, from short brown hair and smiled at Angela "Hello darling!"

"Mom! We will have justice!" Angela said taking her hand “Let me introduce you Detective Taylor”

The woman looked up at Mac “I had seen him as they dragged him away blood covered in the rubble of Beirut and then that damn night when ..." she paused to choke a bad thought  “I'm glad to see that you had recovered and you're still protecting our country!"

"I really admire Angela, Mrs. Meyers!" Mac smiled "I do what I can within the limits of my work!"

He left them alone to enter the hall with Flack "So Sergeant Russell" Mac began sitting in front of him "DNA testing has revealed that you are the biological father of my colleague Angela Meyers!"

"So what?" he asked

"You're in big trouble!" Flack said

"Not as much as Golden Voice! Even he was there that night and if I do his name his career will be irreparably damaged!" the Marine smirked

"My name is Mac Taylor! The woman you raped thirty years ago is out here! She saw me hurt and that night she remembers every last detail!" Mac replied with calm

"A good lawyer will be able to prove that she is suffering from the bad memory and he will establish that her testimony is unreliable!”  the Sergeant replied without batting an eyelid

"You can still save your military career and your reputation in front of your wife and your children" Flack said handing him a pad and a pen "Write the names of who that night raped that woman with you!"

Sergeant Russell smiled and shook his head "We're out of the Marine Corps Russell! Here the logic of the group above the individual does not count! Here, if you're the only one to pay, you have the worst fate!" Mac said looking at him grimly "For your sake Russell, begin to write!" Mac in reply received a spit in the face. Flack handed him a handkerchief with a look that begged him to stay calm, Mac assured him with a calm and relaxed look, he wouldn’t have given a victory so easily to his former comrade in arms.

"Take him away Flack!" Mac said getting up to leave the room "He decided his condemnation by himself!"

Jo was sitting with Danny in the living room of the house of Sandovall, in front of them were sitting Maximilian Sandovall and the housekeeper, Mrs. Mary Stewart, when a girl came into the immense room "Max you saw ..." she was struck by the presence of Detectives "I did not think we had guests!"

"Of course!" Mrs. Stewart muttered "She never thinks unlike the lady Sandovall! She is a girl who loves to play and joke!"

The girl looked down embarrassed and intimidated. Jo looked at her puzzled, she had no more than twenty-five years, and seemed to have some connection with Mr. Sandovall "Who is she?" she finally asked to the owner of the house

"My wife! I remarried since one month!" he said smiling "It was an intimate ceremony and there was the press!"

"Mrs. Sandovall, you sit down, too?" Danny asked gently

The girl, visibly agitated sat next to Mr. Sandovall

"You have never met Mrs. Rebecca Ward Sandovall?" Jo asked

"No, I only know what everyone knows and what Max told me: Rebecca committed suicide”

"Where did you meet?" Asked Danny

"In Monte Carlo! He was on vacation, and I was the caregiver of a wealthy English lady! We fell in love and he asked me to marry him right away" Mrs. Sandovall said

"I would say that since you are all three to be interrogated separately, it is better to move to the Police Department," Danny concluded by inviting them to follow them.

Mac sighed opening the door and, when he closed and double-locked behind him, he leaned against it and slid up to sit on the ground.

Millie came instantly with Christine

"Mac, what happens? Are you sick? "Christine asked agitated

"No, he's fine! He's just shocked!" Millie said noting the look of Mac unfocused "I do not see this look in his eyes from the first year of high school!" Millie said lowering and placing his hand on the shoulder of Mac "How about you tell us what happened?"

"It happened what we already knew would have happened!" Mac said standing up and helping her mother to do the same "The problem is that I don’t know how to say it to Russell’s wife!"

"Erika is a friend of mine for some years now, I’ll talk to her!" Christine said taking her jacket

"You forget that she is pregnant and they have four children!" Mac said

"She trusts me!" Christine insisted

"Try to convince her then, to make Russell talk!" Mac said preparing to go out again.

Jo was listening to the Mrs. Sandovall in the interrogation room while Danny was busy with the governess in the next room and Lindsay was talking with Mr. Sandovall.

"When I met Max, I was immediately told by the lady that I had under guardianship that he was a widower and that he had been completely destroyed by the end of her marriage!" she drummed her fingers on the table "That huge mansion, it is his family house for generations by now. I can go anywhere, but not to the little house on the beach where the boat of Rebecca a time was moored. In that place Max has closed all the things of his late wife to not see them ever again, to not remember her!"

"What's your relationship with the governess instead?" Jo asked

"We don’t get along, she is still tied to the old Mrs. Sandovall. She considers me a kind of ornament, a replacement that Max found for not living alone!" she said bursting into tears

"That's why you are scared of her!" Ms. Sandovall nodded to Jo

Danny listened to what the governess had to say "For me, Rebecca has never committed suicide! I've always said that it was Mr. Sandovall to kill her! "

"But how can you be sure?"

"Those two loved themselves to the madness! But Mr. Sandovall was unstable for some time! The fact that he has remarried after a year and a half from the entire story shows how the fact of the murder wants to be concealed!" the woman said fair

"So for you was Mr. Sandovall?"

"If I were you I would do a check in the old Rebecca’s  hut!" the governess suggested "Something  had happened there!"

"Christine?" Erika said surprised soon as she saw her at the door of her apartment "What are you doing here?" then she looked at Mac "And him? Why is he with you?! "

"We need to talk to you about James, of what the police discovered!" Christine said entering with her husband in the modest flat. A boy of thirteen surveyed the newcomers with fear and distrust, next to him there were three little girls of eight, five and three years “Hello!” Mac greeted them showing at once kind.

"Hello!" the smallest said followed by the other two. The male kept looking at Mac as if he was afraid

"Arthur, bring your sisters in the other room!" Erika chimed

"What does Arthur have?" Mac asked

"Afraid, afraid of all male adults. His father follows him with a strict and rigid line of education, too much. He doesn’t realize that he is not one of his recruits!" she said placing the sofa "Fortunately, he is almost never at home! When there’s no James Arthur is optimistic, upbeat, it's like every pre-adolescent must be! But when his father comes home ... he is transformed!"

"James has always been this way, he wanted perfection, he did not tolerate the weak elements and he punished them severely, even on the battlefield." Mac said sitting down with Christine

"What can you tell me about James?" Erika asked

"He has proven to be the father of a member of my team, he is involved in the first person in the facts of Beirut." Mac said

"Who are the others?" Erika asked in a firm voice

"He refuses to speak, he uses the code of honor of the Marines, a code that is not written on paper, but that all members recognize!" Mac explained

"You're the only one who can do something about Erika!" Christine said looking at her friend "You can avoid that he ends up in prison for life!"

"If he speaks, he can really serve the sentence in a reasonable time?" she asked looking at Mac

"He'll be convicted of rape, but he should do it long before the need the U.S. Marines!" he told her.

That evening Jo was with Danny and Flack to examine the Sandovall’s hut looking for more evidence

"Boom!" Danny said with a smile in thirty-six teeth "Carpet pile, the same color present on the clothing of Rebecca!" he said looking at the carpet put in the hall as runner "A special type of carpet! I would say that we have our crime scene!"

Jo looked carefully at the table ornamental leaning against the wall, under a mirror "Take a look here! The angle is chipped! "

Flack noticed a hole in the wall in the bedroom, it was quite low "There is something here!"

Danny hurried forward into the room and looking at the hole he exclaimed " Nice Don! We have the bullet hole!" he reached into the pliers “Jo we are lucky! It's still here!" he said putting the bullet in the bag "I'm sure it's a revolver!"

"Well then we try the revolver!"

They plowed the hut from top to bottom, but there was no trace of the weapon.

Christine came home tired and stressed with Mac at her side "Aren’t you working tonight?" she asked closing the door

"No, I will spend the evening with you!" he smiled rolling up his shirt sleeves "The subway has made you tired!" he noted seeing her yawn "Sit down on the couch! I'll prepare something for dinner!"

In the kitchen Mac was surprised by his mother at the stove and by the parents of Christine "Good evening!" Mac said

"Good evening!" the father of Christine replied with a searching look

"Why that look Mr. Whitney?"

"I read an article just released on the internet that will be the first page of tomorrow! It is true that in Beirut in 1983 the Marines raped an American reporter?" he asked accusingly

"You are not wrong that's it, I'm still investigating to find those responsible! I know that soon, although, the Marine Corps will intervene and I hope it will happen soon!"

"Mac, we know you for so many years, you were also a friend and colleague of our son. I need to know, you were there that night and you have participated in the thing?"

Millie had a sudden jerk "How dare you to accuse my son?!"

"Mom!" Mac restrained her "Please! Calm down!" he turned to the father of Christine " Yes, I was there, but I was hurt and I did not do anything!"

"So you see who it was?" Christine’s mother churches

"No!" Mac sighed "I haven’t much to work on, but I got caught one of the culprits!"

Mac began to rummage in the pantry and in the cupboard looking for kitchen tools

"Mac get changed if you want to cook! This is one of the most beautiful shirts that you have!" his mother addressed him.

Mac had in his hands a wooden spoon and a jar of sauce and he had to put down them puffing "When do you come back to Chicago?"

"When my grandson will be born!" the woman said taking the wooden spoon and the jar left by his son on the kitchen counter and she began to prepare the sauce.

Christine's father stood up from the chair on which he sat and he followed Mac in the bedroom throwing a quick look at the daughter who had fallen asleep on the couch. Mac was shirtless and he was looking for a short-sleeved shirt that can be worn in the antique dresser that elegantly furnish the room. In the mirror, his busy image was reflected and it was at that moment that Christine’s father saw two Mac’s scars: one on his back, more recently and delineated, and one in his chest, older and irregular as well as large. He stared at those signs surprised.

"Mr. Whitney what you're doing on the door of my bedroom?"

"Just checking Christine!" he said hastily

"But she is there in the hall!" Mac said pulling at the end of a purple t-shirt "Don’t lie! You wanted to make sure somehow that I wasn’t lying!" he said smiling calm "Come in and close the door! I will tell you in detail how it happened" he said standing up his shirt to show the old wound on the left side of the chest "On condition that it remains between us! My mother does not know I was injured so severely! " he said donning and sitting down on the bed.

Danny was at home with Lindsay who was serving steamed vegetables and roast chicken for dinner

"I don’t like vegetables!" Lucy exclaimed throwing the fork on the plate

"Lucy, vegetables are good! I even eat them for your little brother and soon he'll eat them too!" Lindsay said stroking her cheek "Be a good girl!" the girl shook her head with disapproval

"Then do this" Danny said taking a portion of vegetables "Whoever finishes first between you and me is the champion and will be able to watch television!"

"You can watch what you want?" the little girl asked excitedly

"Of course, until nine o'clock and not at eight-thirty!" Danny said holding a fork

"All right!" the little girl exclaimed

"Three, two, one ... go!" Danny said slipping into his mouth carrots and potatoes followed closely by his daughter who ended the dish for first

"I won! Dad you lost!” little Lucy exulted

"Good girl!" he said rising and kissing her  "I'm sorry but now dad has to go back to work!"

Lindsay was surprised "But tonight you don’t have the turn!"

"Jo was able to get a warrant for the house of Sandovall! As soon as we found something I promise I'll be back!" he said kissing her "Do not be the despair of your mother, Sid!" he said stroking the cheek of the child in the cradle and, given another pat on the Lucy’s head, he left the house.

In the subway, Danny noticed a man sitting next to the door that seemed to know. He walked over and was surprised to see that he was a relative of the victim on which he was investigating "Ludwig Ward! What are you doing at this hour on the subway?"

"Do not tell me that you're a journalist too! No comments on the discovery of my cousin!" he snorted. Danny in response pulled his shirt and show the distinctive "I would say that I should answer the question then!" he sighed leaning back in his seat "I'm going to visit Mrs. Stewart! She wants to talk about Rebecca!"

"Well! I take this opportunity to ask you some questions then!" Danny said sitting down next to him" You are recently back in town, what have you done far from New York to date?"

"Business, I was in Italy in Rome to discuss the potential opening of a branch of my company!" he said quietly.

The subway stopped several times but in the end the two men got together at the same stop and walked toward the huge villa.

Jo and Flack had already begun to pursue the rooms, Danny joined them and it was he to find a safe in the library "Mr. Sandovall, open the safe!" Maximilian Sandovall was dumbfounded but he agreed to the request for Danny "What do we have here? A revolver!" he examined it and he passed it into the hands of Jo who examined more carefully

"The caliber of the bullet is the same!" the woman Detective concluded looking at Flack

"Apparently the ritual phrase for me!" he said not surprised "Maximilian Sandovall, you're under arrest for the murder of your wife!"

"But it was not me! I did not do anything!"

Mac looked at his mother to go to her room and turn off the light, the father of Christine was no longer in the home and the mother-in-law was alone with her daughter sitting on the couch "Do you not have any particular desire?"

"To tell you the truth I have one, but I have to wait until tomorrow morning at work to satisfy her!" she smiled sitting cross-legged on leather sofa

"Why do you have to wait until tomorrow?"

"Because I wish to blueberries ..." she said sullenly "And I can’t ask Mac to go out and buy them!"

"Why?" Mother churches already seeing Mac advance in their direction

"I'm allergic to blueberries!" he exclaimed sitting in the armchair available in the living room next to the window and he looked out. He smiled for a moment, he stood up and he went up to the four steps that separated the living area from the small mezzanine where he devoted himself to work. On the table in ebony wood he searched a yellow folder from the library and behind him he took a volume of anatomy. He returned then to the armchair.

"Can I ask you a personal question?" he asked the women seated who nodded "If you were to kill a man in front of the apartment with a gun, which tactics would you use?"

"What?" the mother-in-law asked

"It's a cold case right?" Christine asked standing up and looking out the window "If I had to kill our neighbor across I would make sure that he is still at the window to have more chances to kill him with one shot ..." she frowned for a second her face "Maybe I'd start yelling at him that I needed help ... he overlooks and I could shoot!"

The mobile phone of Christine’s mother rang "The company is nice, but my husband has just parked below and tells me to get there!" she stood up and hugged her daughter "Anyway, in my opinion, it would not be enough to hold him in place window, you should have someone quick ready to intervene in case I fail! Maybe inside the apartment of my neighbor across" she said to Mac

"You would be good serial killer you two!" he joked opening the door of the house

"Good night, dear ones!" the mother of Christine smiled coming out.

Mac turned to his wife after he had closed the door and crossed his arms "That look that you have I don’t see it by a bit on your face ... what's bothering you?" Christine said

"Blueberries eh?" he asked "How long are you eating them?"

"Every morning since three weeks!" she exclaimed revealing her secret "If you're still alive it means that I’m very cautious!"

Mac took her in his arms "Do not tell me you want them even now!" he said heading for the bedroom

"Not now! Because I want something else ..." she said kissing his cheek "Close the door!" she whispered to him on his lips "I want to be cuddled without hearing your mother's snoring!"

Mac lay down on the bed and took his wife in his arms "Exactly to December our son should be born" Christine said puffing and broken away she sat up throwing shoes on the ground

"We'll get away with the cold of New York very soon!" Mac said to her pulling off his shirt.

"I'm so tired that I did not even have the strength to put my nightgown!"

"I'll help you!" he said pulling out her the shawl from behind and lowering the zipper of her dress. Christine raised her arms and she found herself in her bra in front of Mac who smiled "Incredible! You feel that he is moving?"

"You still do not believe it! You'll see that as soon as they will put him in your arms you will realize of being a father!" Christine said doing tuck to herself her nightgown

"I hope to relies it before, because I have a few ideas on how to decorate the room!"

"Yeah sure, as soon as they will tell us that the new home is ready!" Christine snorted falling on the pillow

"Moving House was what we wanted!" Mac said standing up and taking a pair of pants of a suit. He laid down on the bed and Christine laid her head on his chest and closed her eyes. Mac gently massaged her back and listened to her breathing "What are you thinking?" he asked looking at her smile

"At all the times that I have listened to your heart beat! This is certainly the best time! You are not life threatening, you're not upset, you are not worried about me and your job worries are minimized!" she looked up at him leaning her elbow on his chest "And what are you thinking?"

"At all the times I have looked death in the face! Since I know I will become father I decided to run least possible risk and for now it works!" he smiled

"Get you almost torn to pieces by a dog is the least possible risk that you can run?" she said taking his right arm "Fortunately, the sign is going away! At least this adventure won’t have a lasting impression!"

Mac changed the subject "The brave idea to buy that house in colonial style on Staten Island was brilliant, but without the necessary money to buy it entirely, it will never be completely ours!"

Christine went back with her head on the chest of Mac "I still have the restaurant that gives profits! Part of the money will keep coming!”

They were about to fall asleep when Mac had to get up to answer the phone "Taylor, what's up?"

"Detective! Sandovall’s villa is on fire! Your colleague, Jo Danville, needs you! The situation is critical!" the policeman shouted at the other end of the phone

"I’ll be right there!"

Mac dressed quickly, he took the gun and he kissed his wife on the forehead "I'm sorry!" he said before leaving "We will resume here next time!"

Jo was able to see the Mrs. Sandovall between that survived of the fire "I have to talk about something which was kept from my husband in his study, Detective!" she whispered agitated while the paramedics were taking her the blood pressure "There was a letter from Rebecca in the desk drawer which he could not throw, he is in prison unjustly."

"Wait, what are you trying to say? Do you have proof?" Jo asked

"Not any more since they are burned!" Mrs. Sandovall said standing up "That was a letter from Rebecca that communicated to Max his intention to commit suicide with a gun of the safe! He went to the little house on the river to dissuade her, but in the scuffle a shot set off, then Max went looking for help but when he returned Rebecca was gone and even the boat!"

Mac came close to Jo and introduced himself to Mrs. Sandovall "Detective Taylor, I have just been notified of the fire, I'm sorry to have lost the house!"

"If it were only that the problem Detective! I lost the evidence that could exonerate my husband there and for me it is a thousand times more important than the home!"

Mac leaned toward her "If you telling the truth and we can find some relevant evidence, your husband will be acquitted. But you must tell me everything that happened, starting when her husband was arrested until now!"

Mrs. Sandovall nodded "I thought the world was about to fall on me, the governess then decided to resign tonight after dinner and I didn’t stop her. She said that she would move immediately and so I went to sleep, then the fire alarm went off and now ... well, You know the rest of the story!"

Mac was joined by the Captain of the firefighters who told him of a tragic news "The fire is arson! An ancient candlestick was used to set fire to the curtains and carpets of the room. We also have a victim: Mrs. Stewart, she was holding the candlestick!"

"Thank you," Mac replied cordially and turned to Jo "The Governess has destroyed the house and she lost his life," Mac concluded, "But from what we understand she was very close to Rebecca ... she did not kill her!"

Mrs. Sandovall stood up "I am willing to come to the center, to make me question Detective!"

Danny appeared from behind remaining shrouded in smoke after the fire brigade "However, I would like to make a few more questions to Ludwig Ward!"

"It was the favorite cousin of Rebecca! That's all I know, "said Mrs. Sandovall

"In what relationships were you with him?" Danny asked alongside Mac

"I had seen him once by accident ... he had come to pay a visit to the housekeeper to talk about Rebecca and a letter saying that it would have destroyed Maximilian forever accusing him of murdering his wife!"

Mac looked the innocent eyes of the woman and he was convinced that she was telling the truth "Danny, go to the judge and ask for a search warrant for the house of Ludwig Ward and then bring him to the department. I think Jo and I won’t sleep tonight!"

At the police department Ludwig Ward barely kept his eyes open "Oh, come Detectives! I have told you everything there was to tell you! I just want to get some sleep!" the Suspected grumbled

"I do not think it's enough! You have not told us what your relationship was with Mrs. Stewart!" Jo ruled

"We were lovers, right? Rebecca knew about it and was fine, until it happened to me to be even her lover and the letter that was mentioned by the new Mrs. Sandovall is a letter in which she was telling me to be pregnant!"

Mac and Jo looked at each other with understanding for a short time "Our agents have found the letter and are now comparing the handwriting with that of Rebecca, we will soon know what is the truth in all this!" Mac said approaching with menacing step to suspect "I assure you, that if what you told us is a colossal lie, you'll spend the worst night of your life!"

Jo opened the door, letting the policemen on duty to bring Ludwig Ward in a cell.

When the suspect was brought out, the two detectives were alone with many questions and very few answers "Danny made wake up Sandovall, now we have to wait for what we are told by him!" Jo said to break the silence

"I want the evidence Jo! Do you understand that if we don’t find anything to incriminate the cousin we must let him go? I don’t think that Mr. Sandovall is so clever to be able to kill someone, but all signs point to him!" the rhetorical question of Mac and his subsequent affirmation made ​​to remember a detail to Jo

"The corner chipped of the furniture in the hut! If the blunt instrument where the victim hit her head is that, it means that someone must have pushed her with forcefully, but he must be someone who is strong enough to blow up an entire corner of a piece of furniture!"

"This exonerates Sandovall and brings us back to her cousin, but unfortunately it’s not enough since there is no DNA!"

The door opened and Hawkes made ​​his entrance with some shocking news and the two detectives were silent instantly "Flack told me that you were here! You know the girl disappeared acknowledged as the wife of Sandovall due to the ring?"

"Of course, Lara Jones" Jo said

"She was the fiancée of our Ludwig Ward and they had to get married! Look at this article" the coroner said passing a tablet to Mac and Jo still sitting around the table "-Mysterious future bride of a millionaire disappears-a title that has really earned the first page! »Mac smirked.

Danny came in with an account of his interrogation without knocking "I did not know that now the meetings are done here! However, Sandovall told one thing that his wife had failed this night: he knew from Rebecca that she was pregnant by her cousin, an ingenious idea to make him pull a trigger! As far as he says, he was stuck in a dreary game by his wife and her cousin. He confessed that his marriage took place just to save the good name of Ward, in debt up to their necks!"

"If you do not have more Danny, it’s not enough!» Mac criticized him

"The confession that he hated his wife, but not enough to see her dead, it’s not enough?!" Danny was a little shocked "Mac, tomorrow in the afternoon he goes from here because his lawyer will prove that the gun’s shot was an accident and that he could not have killed his wife for lack of evidence!" he said throwing the dossier of the interrogation on the table "You were concentrated for a few days on Angela chores without finding anything relevant to frame the other culprits. Thou hast made ​​a personal affair, since you were there!" he walked over to him "This case instead, on which we are investigating, is the case that can make us play the reputation and when you're the one who made less than all to ensure the murderess to justice!" he ruled angry

"But now it’s you to make it a personal affair Danny!" Mac said standing up "Remember that the detective in charge of the crime lab's me! If I thought that you could get by, while I solve another case, it is because I trust you and I know that you are able to do it!"

The others looked on without saying anything and Danny continued his harangue "You called Jo, you told her that it was she to take up the case and you left us at the mercy of hidden evidence untraceable!” anger had reached its peak "Lindsay and I have passed an entire day on clothes torn to shreds and what did we find? A fiber that has traced to a crime scene but has no trace other than the bullet of the revolver that only Mr. Sandovall has used and it was not that to kill the victim!"

"Mac, why don’t you try to analyze the clothes?" Sheldon intervened to mitigate the situation "Maybe Danny and Lindsay have missed something ..."

"Don’t you dare to say that Lindsay and I don’t know how to do our job Hawkes!" Danny growled.

Jo put her hand on his shoulder and led him to the door

"Leave it to me, Jo! I'll talk with Danny" Sheldon concluded replacing her and going out with Danny

Jo walked over to Mac "This case is creating a lot of tension and not just in the media! The anxiety is so palpable that I do not think I will govern for a long time! So, do something!" she turned and left Mac standing without giving him a chance to react.

Many times they found themselves in critical situations, maybe a thousand times if not more, yet they were always remained a strong and united team. This time something had broken and Mac felt, for the first time since he did that work, a feeling of rejection towards him.