Disclaimer: I am not Anthony Zuiker. I do not own the characters of CSI: NY. I do own anyone you don't recognize including victims, bad guys and random characters, so don't steal them! I will put the characters back where I found them, unharmed.

AN: Here's the next chapter! Thanks to all who read and reviewed! Please continue to R&R, it helps my muse! Many thanks to Aphina for helping me out with this chapter and for writing the ending of it! My muse didn't want to let it go!

Chapter 7.

A Killer Revealed

A few days had passed since the latest victim had been discovered. Sid had confirmed that she had been killed in the same manner as the rest of the victims. Danny and Lindsay had processed most of the evidence, but they were still waiting on the DNA results.

Adam, on the other hand, was having more luck. After going through the server information, he had finally tracked down the email address of CandiLovesWilliamTheBloody. He nodded as Flack, Lindsay and Danny walked into the room, in response to his page.

"You got something?" Flack asked.

Adam nodded. "Yeah. Your killer is not CandiLovesWilliamTheBloody. Candi is really Candace Jacobs, a fifteen year old high school student from Independence, Kansas. By the way, who is now very scared since the cops showed up on her doorstep. Hopefully, it will improve her responses to reviews, if not her writing."

All three shook their heads in resignation. "So where does that leave us?" Flack asked. "What about the evidence from the last scene?"

Lindsay sighed. "Well, we are still waiting on the DNA evidence, but none of the fingerprints matched anything in AFIS. The vic was killed in the same manner as the rest of the victims."

Danny nodded. "We've got the evidence, but no suspect now. In my gut, I know that this is tied to fanfiction somehow!"

Adam nodded. "That's why I called you guys here. I discovered another story that these authors have in common. The author's penname is Willow'sDarkSide, but nothing has been posted onto the site in close to a year. None of the murdered girl's reviews were truly bad, most of them offered constructive criticism and Monica actually offered to proofread the story for the author after the last chapter was posted, but no response."

Flack looked hopeful at his comment. "Do you have a name?"

Adam nodded in remorse. "Not yet. I'm still working on it."

Flack nodded. "Okay. Let me know what you find," he said just as Danny and Lindsay's pagers beeped.

Both glanced down at it and then at each other. "DNA's back," they uttered together. Smiling, the three of them left the AV lab and headed to DNA. When they arrived, they found Kendall grinning widely.

"Ya got something?" Danny asked.

Kendall smirked. "Got the DNA profile back. Much to my surprise, considering your suspicions about the killer being female, both the hair and the blood was from a male. No match in CODIS, but I did some more digging and it turns out that there is a partial match in CODIS." Kendall stopped their, obviously teasing them.

Lindsay raised an eyebrow. "All right, you've got our attention. What did you find?"

Kendall turned and pulled up a mug shot on the computer. "This is Jason Hightower. He is currently serving a twenty year sentence in Riker's for rape of a minor. His DNA is a paternal match for our suspect." She clicked another couple of keys and pulled up a driver's license photo. "This is Andrew Hightower, his son. This is who I suspect the DNA belongs to. Without a sample of his DNA, though, this is all speculation," she concluded.

Danny and Lindsay looked at Flack. "We need to find him," Danny stated.

Flack nodded his agreement. "I'm on it," he said as he turned to leave, only to see Adam rushing towards them.

"I found out who Willow'sDarkSide is!" he exclaimed. He continued when the rest of the group looked at him. "It belongs to a local girl from Queens. Her name is Tara Hightower."

Flack looked at him. "Hightower?" he asked in shock.

Lindsay quickly sat down that the computer and being to search the records. "Jason Hightower does have a daughter named Tara," she paused. "Or, should I say, did have a daughter. It looks like she committed suicide about a year ago."

Flack looked at her. "Did the crime lab process the scene?"

Lindsay nodded and pulled up the computer records. "Yeah. It looks clean. Sid's the one who did the autopsy. She slit her wrists." She grew quiet as she read the report from the other shift. "The other shift said that there was a suicide note that indicated that she was tired of being harassed. But nothing more than that."

Flack furrowed his brow, obviously thinking about the situation. "Okay, so let's just say that the daughter, Tara, kills herself over bad reviews, so the brother is killing those who made the reviews? A year later? That just doesn't make sense."

Adam cleared his throat. "Actually, it makes a lot of sense. It probably took him a lot of time to track these women down. Look how much time it took us to track two people down and we have a lot more resources available." He shrugged. "Now that I think about it, he may have been targeting these women through fanfiction. I remember seeing reviews for each of them, excluding Samantha Miller, from a person with the penname of Tara'sAvengingAngel. At first, I thought it was referencing Tara on the show, but now maybe not."

Flack shook his head. "What ever the cause is, we have plenty of reason to pull him in for questioning." He looked at Danny. "Wanna come with me when I track him down?"

"You have to ask, man?" Danny shot right back with a grin. "Let's go." Both of them left the lab on their way back to the pit so they could find a current address on Andrew Hightower.

Within an hour of leaving the lab, Flack and Danny were walking up the front porch of the brownstone in Queens. When they got to the door, Flack knocked loudly. "Andrew Hightower, NYPD! Open up!" he yelled through the door.

Both of them heard the sound of scrambling and looked at each other before running around the side of the house. "Why do they always run?!" Flack yelled as his long legs kept him ahead of Danny.

"Because they're stupid!" Danny yelled back as they burst through the chain-link fence, only to see someone scrambling over the fence. Danny slid to a stop before running back the way he came, intent on cutting off the man's escape.

Flack ploughed forward, easily hopping over the fence before putting on a burst of speed to narrow the gap between them. The suspect rounded a corner, to take himself into the cover of the pedestrian traffic. Flack growled as his breaths began to come in pants.

He skidded around the corner, just as Danny screeched to a halt, jumping out of the car and tackling the man to the ground. The man thrashed around before Danny wrenched his arm behind him. "Stop it," Danny said harshly, slapping the cuffs on his wrists.

Flack came to a halt just as Danny hauled the man to his feet. "Ya know, we could have just wanted to talk," he said with sarcasm dripping from his voice.

"Like I haven't heard that before," the man sneered.

Flack just shook his head. "Are you Andrew Hightower?"

The man just stared at him in silence as Danny loaded him into the back of the car.

Lindsay met Danny and Flack outside of the interrogation room. "Hey guys. I've got some news for you. Adam did a little more digging on Tara and we found something interesting."

Flack looked at Lindsay. "What did you find?"

Lindsay sighed, looking very disturbed. "She had a couple of websites that she subscribed too; they were referenced on her MySpace page. All of them had to do with rape and one of them was a counseling service for victims of molestation."

Danny looked at Lindsay, clearly trying to put the pieces together. "So where does that leave us?"

Lindsay just looked at him, biting on her bottom lip. "I believe that her father was molesting her. If that's true, then that could be the real reason she killed herself. But, I checked the hospital reports and all of the physical evidence that was present when she was found death, and there wasn't anything concrete. Sid did the autopsy and did find that she was sexually active, but there was not evidence that she'd had sex within a couple of hours before here death. No hospital reports, nothing from her school about possible abuse."

Flack shook his head in disgust as he grabbed the folder out of Lindsay's hands. "Let's go catch a killer," he said as he and Danny walked into the room.

Lindsay watched them enter, but decided not to stay and watch the interrogation; some questions she just didn't need to know the answer to.

"So, Andrew," Flack began. "Do you know why you're here?"

"Because you cops haven't got anything better to do?" Andrew shot back.

"Nope, wrong answer," Flack said as he threw the folder on the table. "But thanks for playing."

Danny sat down across from Andrew and withdrew a photograph of the latest victim out of the folder. "Do you know this woman?" he asked calmly.

Andrew glanced at the photo. "Nope. Never seen her before. Who is she?"

"Angela Perkins and your DNA was found at the crime scene. How do you explain that?"

Andrew just shrugged his shoulders.

"Well, then let me explain," Danny said as he withdrew more photos, this time of the other charred victims. "You see, you killed these women and your DNA just confirms it."

"Maybe, if you come clean, we won't pursue the death penalty."

Andrew just looked at them belligerently. "I ain't saying nothing."

Flack just looked at him. "Fine. I'll do the talking for you. You stalked these women because they all gave critical reviews to your sister's story. You think that's why she killed herself."

Andrew just seemed to snap at that moment. "They deserved it! If it wasn't for them then Tara would still be alive and my family would not be in shambles!" he erupted. "Their reviews knocked her down, so yeah, they deserved to die!"

Danny jumped in. "So what, you thought you'd set them afire because they 'flamed' your sister? Why take justice into your own hands?"

"Because when Tara killed herself it broke my dad! If that hadn't happened then he never would have gotten arrested."

Danny looked at him, barely hiding the obvious repulsion at the mention of the dad. "Really? Why was he so brokenhearted at her death? What was their relationship like?"

Andrew looked confused at the change of topic. "Dad and Tara were very close. He always called her his little Princess, especially after Mom died. Tara looked a lot like Mom and that seemed to bring them closer."

Flack looked at him. "When did your mother die?"

"Tara was six and I was twelve. I remember that Dad seemed really broken after the funeral, but we were never close. I escaped from the pain by participating in sports at school and hanging around with the jocks. But Tara was so young that she didn't understand why Mom was gone. Dad was the one that had to explain all that to her. As a result, they grew really close." Andrew glared at the two men. "So, when she killed herself, he was extremely upset."

Flack raised his eyebrows, going in for the kill. "Really? Didn't it seem strange to you that after your sister died, you father went out and raped a child who looked a lot like her?"

Andrew seemed shocked at Flack's accusation. "What?"

Flack continued, "You see, we did a little more digging after we found your DNA. For instance, did you know that your sister was a member of several rape counseling websites or a victims of molestation website?"

Andrew looked outwardly shocked, but both Danny and Flack saw something flash in his eyes; a flicker of confirmation. "No, that's not possible. Dad never abused either of us," he retorted, trying to sound convincing.

"Now, why don't I believe that?" Flack snarled. "You sat back and ignored the fact that your sister—Your Sister!—was being molested by your dad. You turned a blind eye to what was going on."

"NO! That's not true!" Andrew yelled, jumping to his feet.

"Sit down," Flack said in a menacing voice. "It is true, isn't it? You've built yourself a nice little fantasy here. Does that justify killing four innocent women?" Flack shook his head. "What I don't understand is why you killed Samantha Miller? She wasn't even registered with the fanfiction website and never reviewed your sister's story."

Andrew sat back down; feeling like his world was crumbling around him. "She saw me. That first one, I followed her into a club and confronted her, the other chick saw me. She could identify me."

Flack shook his head. "Four women dead because you refused to see what was in front of you and jumped to the wrong conclusion. Did you even care what was going on with your sister?" he muttered as he shoved a notepad in front of him. "You want to write down a confession?"

Andrew nodded, looking defeated as he began to write down his confession.

Danny and Flack sat silently, each feeling their stomach's rolling at the thought of what was going on in that house; wondering when the cycle of abuse had started. Thirty minutes later, they were walking out of the lab, disbelief still clouding their minds.

Flack pushed open the door to the tiny Irish bar around the corner from the station house. The day had been tough on them all. As Danny slipped past him, he noticed the slump in the other man's shoulders and the deep-set tiredness in his face. They were both settled on bar stools, each nursing a beer before Danny broke the comfortable silence between them.

"I just can't believe that one person could wreck so many lives," he stated taking a swig of his beer, before wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

Flack nodded his response, his fingers toying with the label on the bottle in front of him.

"It's cause and effect, Danny. If the old man had been able to keep his hands off the daughter none of this would have happened. But it did and four women are dead because some asshole made a mistake." Flack shook his head before taking a swig of his own beer and wincing as the liquid ran down his throat.

"It's a complete waste, but the world keeps on turning and this time tomorrow, we'll be at another crime scene doing what we do best," Flack finished.

"Here's to catching the killers and protecting the innocent ones," Danny toasted quietly, clinking his bottle against Flack's.

"Ain't that why we do what we do?" Flack pointed out with a tiny smile before the two

men fell into silence.

"I'm telling you you're gifted Cassie. Your writing is amazing; you should write normal fiction and try get some of it published because seriously, I think you'd make a mint, be the next J K Rowling or something," the voice carried over the quiet bar from one of the booths.

Danny and Flack paused, their beers clenched in their hands mid-sip before glancing at each other in disbelief.

They both turned in their stools at the same time to the sound of the familiar voice now giggling at something his companion had said.

In front of them sat Adam Ross and Cassie Jones, sharing a pitcher in the intimately lit booth across from them.

"You have got to be kidding me," Danny muttered his beer still halfway to his mouth.

Adam was leaning into Cassie smiling as she listened intently as he spoke excitedly.

"Wow, who would have thought Adam had game," Danny responded as him and Flack both returned back to their original position, facing the bar.

"Something good had to come of all this. A little nerd love is as good as it gets," Flack remarked the corners of his mouth twitching as a huge grin spread across Danny's face.

Danny clinked his bottle against Flack's smirking before toasting.

"To nerd love."

AN: So, what did everyone think? If you are logged in when you review, I will respond back to them! If you review anonymously, then thanks in advance!!

backstagespotlight - Thank you!

Maddy - I love Adam and I need to write more on his story! Isn't it horrible about by writing? I had much help with the ending from Aphina, so thank her!! I couldn't get it to work out how I wanted it to!!

laplandgurl - Unfortunately you do, but there are also a fair number of decent writers that make it worthwhile!! Thanks!

Aphina - That's okay. I agree...showing how they are solving the crime is the main reason that the show is possible, but some writers totally ignore that aspect! I want the killer to be caught as well!!

CSI junkie - We saw a lot of Adam in the last episode!! It was great! I hope you liked the twists and turns!!