Sara furrowed her brows. This couldn't be true. Her request to talk to a suspect was denied.
"Screw that!" She scrunched the piece of paper and threw it on the floor and kicked it angrily against the wall. Why was she surprised? She had asked to interrogate a man who has lots of money, lots of influence and a lot of important friends but had no alibi for the evening a young woman died. Instead, he would have had a motive. The young woman was his affair, if she had talked about that to anybody, about the things, she had learnt about him and his business, he would have been in a lot of trouble. Rumors came up that she had been about to sell her story to a tabloid press and when he had heard about that he made her shut up. Forever.
When Sara saw Laura Lane for the first time, the twenty year old woman laid on top of a dumpster, her throat was slashed and she was naked. A man, who had been seen fleeing the scene, was their first suspect. Or, like just learnt, their only suspect. Because her suspect wasn't a suspect anymore. She had managed to talk to him, maybe two sentences, before he buttoned the lips and called a lawyer or an important friend.
"Language, please."
"Deputy Chief Curtis." Sara crossed her arms. Since when did the Deputy Chief leave her office? "What do you want?"
"Do you have a problem with your paper work?"
"No."
"Why do you throw your papers on the floor then?"
"Apparently you can kill a young woman in this city and don't get punished for that. As long as you have the right friends and enough money."
"Eric Smith."
"You know him?"
"I'm here because of him."
"Great." There was her reason why Sofia Curtis had left her office and why Eric Smith wasn't a suspect anymore. Sara just found his important friend in the department. "Just great. Tell your friend, he can make you a Chief, I won't come back to his place anymore."
Sofia raised an eyebrow. "Do you say he bought me?"
"I don't say anything. I just wonder how someone who had qualified for a detective got pulled into the lab, worked there for quite a while and then returned to the police force can be a Deputy Chief another three years later. That's quite a career."
"I worked hard for it."
"Sure. A lot of work, some good friends."
"Be careful what you say, Sara."
"Some favors. You shake some…hands…smile…use your…name…do some politics and after that, you're almost on top of the police department. I'm sure Smith will make sure, you'll be taking another step to the top today."
"I don't like your tone, Sara and neither do I like what you suggest."
"I don't like men who kill young women because they want to tell the world the truth and who get away with it because they fucked the right person or know somebody who fucked the right person."
"I think you crossed a line here."
"Yeah? How often did you cross a line?"
"I warn you."
"Was that the reason why you weren't at Warrick's funeral? Because you and McKeen were such good friends? Didn't he promise you a great career in the department? He was so fucking right."
"You'd better shut up now."
"Yeah? Why? Will you call one of your friends and tell them that I was not nice to you? Tell me, who did you fuck from the lab? Ecklie? You give Ecklie a hand and he gives me trouble? Or are you already in a higher position? Who was it?"
"Grissom. Repeatedly."
Sara stared at Sofia for a second before her open hand slapped the face of the blonde.
"Sidle! In my office. Now!"
Where the hell did Ecklie come from? Sara was sure he hadn't been around before.
"Bite me." She hissed, turned and left the room, ignoring Sofia and Ecklies request to come back. Her right hand was shaking a bit, she could still feel how it had met Sofia's face. She hadn't planned to slap the blonde, it just happened and it felt good, it felt right. And by the moment she hit Sofia's face, she knew she would have to pay for it.
The doorbell rang for the third time. Sara didn't bother to look up anymore. She didn't want to talk to anybody, she wasn't home for anybody. She tried Grissom's number. Again.
The person you've called is temporary not available. Please try again later.
"Fuck!" Why wasn't he there when she needed him? She heard the doorbell again.
"Fuck off!" She yelled. There were times she had been friendlier, a time she had used words, that wouldn't have been beeped in a TV show. But she didn't feel like talking to anybody, she didn't want to see anybody. She knew, she had lost her job earlier today and she didn't need anybody to talk about this. She didn't need anybody who told her they were sorry, she didn't need anybody to tell her to apologize, to tell her, what she did wrong, that it was all her fault. She didn't want to see anybody, that was all she wanted.
"For crying out loud." Whoever was in front of her door rang the bell more frequently and didn't seem to accept that she didn't want any contacts. She got up, went to her door and pulled it open. "Will you fucking leave me alone?"
"No."
"You're the last person I want to see." Sara turned and slammed the door. Sofia was on the top of her list of people she hated most right now. And this annoying woman had put her boot in the door, so that Sara couldn't close her own front door.
"Excuse me." She stared angrily at the blonde. "Get your boot out of my door. Now!"
"No."
"I didn't ask you to do so, I told you to do so."
"I ignored it and I'm still ignoring it."
"You've no right to be here."
Sofia held up a letter. "I've got something for you."
"Yeah? If Ecklie wants to fire me, he can do it himself. Or do you owe him a favor? An ordinary favor."
"Let me in."
"No."
"Do you want all your neighbors to listen to our conversation? I won't leave, I won't let you close the door. We can talk here in the hallway and have everybody listening or we talk in private in your apartment. Choose."
"I said I don't want to talk to you at all."
"And I told you, I don't care and will talk to you anyway. You can't choose if you want to listen but you can choose the place where we talk and how many people will listen." Sofia's voice was cool but calm. She neither seemed to be impressed by Sara's anger nor by the fact that the brunette had smashed her face a good two hours ago.
For a few seconds Sara stared into Sofia's face. There was no sign that the blonde would back off. She stood there waiting for Sara to make a decision.
"One minute." Sara opened the door and let Sofia come in. Without waiting or talking to the blonde she went in her living room, stopped right in the middle and crossed her arms again. She looked at Sofia. "Stop sneaking around, my apartment isn't your business." Sofia shouldn't think Sara didn't see the way she had looked around. She didn't let her in to show her around or let her have a picture of Sara's apartment, she wanted Sofia to say, what she had to say and more than that, she wanted her to leave right after.
"Say what you have to say, your time is running."
"Ecklie wants to fire you."
"Not for the first time. Forty seconds left."
"He wants to see you in his office at noon."
"I want the sun to circle around the earth. We all want so many things. Thirty seconds. Why are you here? Are you his messenger? His post woman? Did you ring his bell twice? Twenty seconds by the way."
"I wonder what you'll do when the minute is over."
"I'll kick you out."
"Sure."
"Ten seconds."
"Nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one. Still here. And now?"
"Get out!"
"No."
"I won't ask you again."
"No need to, I won't leave. I'm not done."
"I am."
"That's your problem."
"No, this is my apartment. I let you in for a minute, your time is over, get the hell out of here, Deputy Chief Curtis."
"Is it just me or does my title make you pissed off?"
"The way you got your title."
"You think I slept my way to the top."
"It doesn't matter what I think. You're here to tell me that Ecklie wants to fire me. I heard that, you can go now. Job's done, go and get your bone."
"You know Ecklie can't tell me what to do."
"Do I look like I give a fuck?"
"Alright, I'll leave you alone after you answered me a question."
"What?"
"Do you want to lose your job?"
"I won't do you or your friends a favor. I don't sell myself or my opinion to anybody. I think Smith is a suspect, no matter who his friends are. If that makes me unemployed so it will be."
"That's not an answer."
"It's a damn answer. Take it or leave it."
"Do you want to lose your job?"
"I answered your question, leave."
"No, you didn't. I want to hear a clear yes or no."
"Get. Out. Of. My. Apartment. Now! I'm fired, I can't lose my job again and I will slap you again. If I have to, I'll punch you out of my apartment."
"You've got an anger issue, Sara."
"Yeah and you've got a hearing issue, Deputy Chief. Do I have to write down that you should leave now?"
Sofia shook her head. "I tried it."
"Yeah, go and get some treats for that. Be a good bitch."
"Sara…"
"Go!" Sara opened her front door. "Leave me alone."
"As you wish." Sofia left the apartment.
As soon as the blonde was out, Sara slammed the door and locked it. That was enough, she wouldn't open her door anymore. Not today. She was done with the world. Same for telephone and cell phone. She turned off both and dropped on her couch.
Anger issue. At least she was an honest member of the law enforcement team and not a person that rich people could buy. She really worked for her job, she didn't sleep with anybody to get further. She didn't…she saw the letter Sofia had left on her table. She grabbed it cursing , torn the envelope apart and got a paper out. Clearly written by Ecklie. It told her nothing new, she had to be in his office by tomorrow noon. She had to get her paper and leave all the things that belonged to the crime lab in his office. Fine, if that was what they wanted, that was what they'd get. She didn't want to work for a team, a team leader, who was bought by politics and celebrities. She wanted to work for the truth. And everybody deserved the truth, no matter if rich or poor.