Finding out the truth

There was this song for a jeans advertisement in the early nineties and this song shot itself in Sara's mind when she saw the new detective. Tall, sporty, the right amount of muscles visible under the t-shirt, short black hair green eyes. To say it with the words of this song: Mister Boombastic!

"This guy is hot!" Cath was sitting next to Sara and her eyes were on the new detective too. "If he wants, he can interrogate me all night long – in private."

"Same here." Sara sighed. "Mister Boombastic."

"You mean, Mister Lover, Lover? Yes. He makes even Warrick look like an innocent school boy."

"What means a lot, especially when you say it."

"Warrick and me were never more than friends."

"Uhm-hum." Sara smiled. Sure they weren't. But everybody could feel the tensions around Warrick and Cath.

"For this guy I could forget that you're not supposed to fish at the work area. I mean, he's a detective, not a csi, that should be far away enough…too far if you ask me."

"We have to make him switch to csi."

"I'm more than happy to teach him all the secrets of the job."

"Which secrets do you mean? And which job?" Sara smirked. The csi job or Cath's old job as a dancer.

"Well, I'm sure he'd be a perfect private dancer. Maybe I should offer a little lap dance. Didn't do that in a few years."

"Ecklie will be delighted when you start to dance in the lab."

"Sara, I'm talking about private lessons. Lindsay is the next weekend not at home, I'd have all the time in the world."

"There he is, coming in."

"I wish." Sara bopped Cath softly in the kidneys. It seemed like they had to fight over the new man around the lab.

"Good evening, Ladies." Wham, even his voice was pure sex. Smoky, like he had a few whiskeys and a cigarette with them. His eyes, both of them were on Sara and Catherine and Sara had no idea how Cath felt, but she felt like the temperature in the room had risen about twenty degrees since the detective was in the room. Or was it just her blood running around like crazy in her system?

"Hi Steve." Oh my goodness, what happened to her voice? She sounded like a teenager. How embarrassing.

"A quiet night so far." Steve leaned against the table, his eyes still on both women.

"Yes, I wouldn't mind if it stays this way." Cath said.

"A night without a crime in Vegas? Would destroy the reputation of the city, don't you think?"

"Sin city can be nice every now and then."

"We can hope. Anybody up for a breakfast later?"

"Sure." Cath and Sara said at the same time.

"Sounds good." He gave them a smile and left the room.

Both women sighed. What a man. What a treat for the eyes.

Vegas didn't stay that quiet. Later Sara and Cath were out on different cases. Sara caught a robbery on a side street of the Strip, Cath was out in the north. A gang had beaten two teenager unconsciouses.

"Alcohol and cigarettes."

"What a combination." Sara got back on her feet. She had kneeled on the floor, looking for fibers and traces. To her disappointment it wasn't Steve who was waiting for her at the scene, it was Sofia. What a bad alternative. Sara bet Steve was with Cath and Cath wouldn't let this chance slip away. She'd try to get a date with the hot new detective for the weekend and as far as Sara knew Cath, she always got what she wanted.

"Worth killing for." Sofia took another look around.

"Is it?"

"The clerk is still in a coma, they doubt he'll make it. They got the money, the cigarettes and the expensive alcohol."

"Was it a gang?"

"What does the evidence tell you?" Sofia smiled.

"So far? Three bullets, one in the victim, two in the shelves, I haven't finish processing, so there might be some more. A lot of broken glass, blood behind the counter, likely the victims, but I took several examples to make sure. A lot of fingerprints on the counter, what is no surprise, almost everybody touches the counter while they're paying. Even if we get some hits on that, it will be difficult to prove they were related to the robbery. This is a busy shop."

"If we find the prints of a gang member on top of every other print, we'll likely have a hit. What's about the shelves?"

"Haven't looked there yet. It's a kind of difficult to be fast when you're working alone." Greg was supposed to be with her but he didn't feel good so Sara was on her own. Warrick and Nick were with Cath, Gil had his own case.

"Want me to help?" Sofia offered.

"You miss the lab work? Or are you bored?"

"Neither of it. I took all the statements of the witnesses around, could have a walk around the place to find some more but it's three in the morning, I guess most of the hotel guests who can see the shop are asleep or too busy with other things so that they won't bother to look out of the window."

"Gloves are in my kit, so is the rest. Got some new green finger print powder."

"Green?" Sofia raised an eye brown.

"Yeah, was a free example, Ecklie gave a set of it to everybody. Got a problem with that? Is green not your color?"

"I can wear every color." Sofia grinned and got herself some gloves.

"It's definitely the color of your new colleague."

"Steves? Why's that?"

"Don't tell me you haven't had a look into his eyes. Magic green. I didn't know I'd go for green eyes, but wham, they are great."

"He's a nice guy." Sofia said simply.

"Nice guy? Yeah. Hot."

"Do you forgot your work over him?"

"No, he makes my work nicer. More exciting."

"Means you're disappointed that you found me here and not him."

It would be rude to agree even if Sofia was right. Sara was sure there was a more polite way to say, she'd prefer Steve. But since when did she care if she was polite or not?

"Well, you've got your good sides too."

"Really? Tell me about them."

"You can help me with finger prints."

"Oh." Maybe Sara's way of being as nice as possible wasn't that nice at all. At least she had tried.

Sara was excited. She had a date. Well, kind of. She had asked Steve out for breakfast after shift, only him and her. It was a kind of hard to get to him without anybody around but she had managed. If Cath would find out, she'd kill Sara. But Cath had her change the night before when they were together on a case. Now was Sara's time.

She was sitting in a dinner, waiting for him. He was already five minutes late, but she'd wait for him. Even if he never really said, he'd be there. To be honest, he said, he doubted that he could make it but she was willing to give it a try. No matter how small her chance was.

"Hey."

Sara couldn't believe her eyes. That had to be a bad joke her eyes were her playing her. That wasn't Steve. That person came not even close to Steve.

"Sofia." Why did she always end up with the blonde? What was wrong with this universe? She had asked for Steve, the hot handsome guy with the black hair and not for the annoying, smug blonde detective. Somebody must have messed up her order. That was worse than getting a meat lover pizza delivered.

"Steve's sorry, he couldn't make it."

"I see." Seems like he had the time to call Sofia. Or maybe they just met somewhere when he had to take off. After all, they worked in the same department, the same floor. It was only natural that they saw each other more frequently than Sara saw him. Wasn't that another reason not to like Sofia? She was closer to Steve.

"He could have called me."

"He had to go, I met him on the run. He couldn't get you in the lab, didn't have your cell phone number. So I figured you'd be already here."

"Thanks for stopping by."

"Can't let you wait for hours."

"I wouldn't wait for hours."

"Not even for Steve?" Sofia cocked her head. It was obvious she didn't believe Sara.

"No, not even for Mister Boombastic."

"Mister Boombastic?" Sofia chuckled.

"Yeah, that's what Cath and I call him. Can you remember this advertisement almost twenty years ago? For the jeans and the song, I guess it's called 'Mr. Boombastic' and Steve reminds us of the hero in the ad."

"I won't tell him."

"It's not the best thing to tell him. We're colleagues."

"And his ego is already big enough."

"Says the smug blonde."

"I'm not smug. Not that smug."

"Oh please, I saw you in the interview room last week with this guy, the burglar. First you let him think you're the good cop, you were flirting with him and then you torn him apart into a million pieces to leave the room at the end, smiling, knowing, you had broken his whereabouts and his ego."

"That was quite a good job." Sofia congratulated herself. She had enjoyed that interview. The guy had thought he had her in his hand to find out, she was playing him.

The waitress brought them some coffee.

"Cream?"

"Yes please." Sofia said.

"Sugar?"

"One please."

"Ma'am?" She looked at Sara.

"Black please."

"Black is beautiful."

"In my opinion, cream only belongs into a good sauce and sugar in chocolate."

"That's a way of seeing it. Are you always that strict? On only one lane?"

Sara's eyes narrowed. How as she supposed to understand that question? "What are you asking for?"

"Do you give yourself the same rules in your private life as you have in the job?"

"I don't give myself rules, I simply know what I want and what I don't want. And I want a plain black coffee. Any problems with that?"

"No. I prefer a black coffee in the evening before I go to work."

"See."

"I'm not trying to insult you Sara, when I ask you a question. No need to shoot evil eyes at me. I don't try to lure you in a trap."

"Never trust a detective who plays people all night to get what she wanted."

"I'm only playing the bad guys."

"Uh - hum."

"Did I ever play you?" Sofia's face was serious.

Sara didn't really need to think. "No." No, Sofia had never done anything that explained why Sara reacted that sensible to her. It was a strange for the investigator too that she was so simply annoyed with Sofia. It annoyed Sara that Sofia annoyed her so fast without doing anything.

"Where is your colleague gone to?"

"Mhm? Oh Steve. He got a call from Brass, had to go to a casino. Some drunk guys have tried to rip off a few machines and somebody tried to rob a roulette table while security was with the machine guys."

"The security cameras should show who it was."

"That's the clue, the camera wasn't working. Insider job."

"To rob a casino table isn't the smartest thing. It takes a lot of time to open it. Should be easier to rob the cashier."

"I'll give the message to the next stupid thief I'll see. Should be tonight." Sofia laughed.

"And then you'll get me with conspiracy. No way, I won't let you catch me."

"You're planning something?" Sofia cocked her head amused.

"If I would, you'd the last person I'd tell about."

"I'm assaulted by your mistrust."

"You're a detective."

"I'm sure you'd tell Steve to run away with him, living on a tropical island for the rest of your lives."

"Sounds good. I'm a fan of sex on the beach and tequila sunrise."

"Are you talking in both cases of cocktails?"

"Who knows."

"In case you don't do it, I think, sand isn't the best place for a quiet time together."

"Depends on the size of the towel."

"And who's around, watching you."

"Can be a piece of the excitement."

"Like becoming a member of the upper 10.000."

"Nothing else to do in a plane."

"My flights are usually not longer than two hours. By the time I've stopped worrying if the take off was alright, we're going down already."

"Is the detective afraid of flying?" Now it was Sara who was amused. As a scientist, it was absolutely clear to her why a plane was flying and that it was the safest way of traveling in the world.

"I don't have wings, means I'm supposed to stay on the ground."

"Do you go swimming?"

"I do. I can swim without any help, in every direction. I try this with flying, I'll fly in one direction, straight and fast."

"You're really scared."

"I'm suspicious."

"Afraid."

"Considered."

"Don't worry, I won't tell anybody what a pantywaist you are." Sara laughed. The smug detective was a pantywaist when it came to flying. That was something she could enjoy.

"Bite me."

"I prefer my bagel, thanks."

"The next time I'll let you wait for Mister Boombastic."

"Next time, I'll wait in his bedroom for him. And he'll be very close around and then spend the rest of the day or night or both with me. There won't be another date in a dinner. It's too public anyway." Yes, the next time she'd let Steve bring her the coffee to bed, after they had make long and very satisfying love. No more waste of time in dinners.