Nick Stokes walked into the Las Vegas Police Station with a knot in the pit of his stomach. He hated cases that involved kids; they all did. It was part of the job, and as much as he wished it wasn't, as much as he hated his job on those days, which by the way were becoming more and more often, he still had a job to do. He had to detach himself emotionally and do what he did best. Put the pieces together.

He had just come from the gruesome crime scene; drenched in blood, littered with the remains of two teenage boys. They couldn't have been more than fifteen, and now they never would be. He had taken pictures of the victims, processed the scene with Greg, and had been called to the police station by Captain Brass to collect evidence off of the main suspect; another fifteen year old boy. The day just kept getting better and better.

Nick didn't understand how a person could kill another human being; or well he used to be naïve to such a notion. He had recently experienced himself how someone could murder another in cold blood, for he himself had almost killed someone, and most days he wished he had pulled that trigger, and still most days he hated himself for thinking in such a manner. He was filled with rage, uncontrollable anger, and the desire for revenge. McKeen had murdered his best friend. He had killed Warrick Brown. But how a child, a young boy, could muster such comparable rage, such an overwhelming urge to kill another, was beyond him. He was well into his thirties and he had only felt that way once. This boy was fifteen. And the empathetic side of Nick was sympathetic toward whatever it was in this kid's life that made him feel that way.

Nick walked down the dimly lit hallway toward the interrogation room Brass had called him to, and the knot in his stomach deepened as he got closer and closer to the room; completely dreading what he was going to have to do.

He turned the handle on the door a few seconds later and walked inside the smallish room which was quickly becoming heated by the humid summer air. It was barely noon and the temperature had already toppled over one hundred degrees. It's gonna be a hot one. Nick thought to himself.

Brass acknowledged Nick with an upward jolt of his head as Nick walked into the room and closed the door behind him. Nick nodded back and placed his silver crime scene kit on the metal table in front of him. He looked at the kid sitting across the table and his heart dipped a little. Why do they keep getting younger and younger? He asked himself, half expecting an answer.

The boy had straight, shaggy, brown hair that extended just over the top of his ears, of which his green-blue eyes contrasted greatly. The kid was skinny, and from what Nick could tell, the kid looked pretty tall for his age. His height or maybe an inch shorter.

"My names' Nick Stokes" Nick said as he started taking a fingerprint kit out of his silver case. He looked back up at the kid when he didn't inform him of his name, and the boy merely cocked his head and gestured with his hands in a manner that said So what? Who cares? Nick glanced at Brass quickly before carrying on, and Brass simply rolled his eyes at the kid's attitude as if to say, This one's a punk.

"I'm a Crime Scene Investigator. I'm going to collect some evidence off of you. Take your fingerprints. Check your clothes for any evidence that might be located on them." Nick continued on and received a blank stare from the young man across the table from him.

"Can you give me your hands please" Nick asked the kid politely regardless of the fact that the kid had barely even acknowledged Nick. The kid took his hands which were resting atop the table and slowly folded them across his chest, obscuring them from Nick.

Nick sighed out loud, "C'mon. Let me see your hands please. If not I can have my friend Ben over here help you" he motioned toward the greatly muscular cop standing in the corner of the room. "It's up to you" This time the kid merely shrugged and gave Nick a sarcastic smirk.

"Alright, enough with the crap" Brass said strongly as he made his way closer and closer to the kid. "Give Mr. Stokes your hands . . . now" He strongly emphasized that last word as he leaned in closer to the boy.

The kid smiled and took his hands out of concealment and placed them onto the table as they were before. Nick moved in closer to the kid and picked up one of his hands. He pressed the kid's thumb into an ink pad and then expertly rolled his finger over the correct slot on the fingerprint form. The kid also leaned in closer to Nick, looked at him with a smile, and spit right in his face.

"Hey!" Brass hollered as he yanked the kid up out of the chair by the collar of his shirt and pulled him forcefully over to the doorway. "That's enough, kid!"

"Jim!" Nick shouted as he wiped the spit off of his forehead. "It's fine" Nick began as he turned around to face Brass and the kid who were now behind him. "It's fine" he repeated himself.

Brass huffed out some steam through his nose and jerked the kid back over to the table, practically throwing him back down in his seat. "You're lucky you got him processing you! If it was me you spit on . . ." Brass began to shake his head back and forth as a sarcastic smile ran across his face. He pulled a chair right beside the kid and sat directly next to him, one hand on the kid's shoulder. "Behave" Brass ordered.

The kid just sneered. "I'll be a good boy" The boy said mockingly. He flung his arm out to Nick in a rude manner and starred at Nick with an insincere grin.

Nick took the kid's hand and finished fingerprinting him. He placed the chart down on the table. "What's your name?" Nick asked the kid with a solemn expression. "Ask me nicely" the kid spat out in a sing song voice.

Nick shook his head from side to side as a sarcastic smile spread across his face. Brass glared at the kid with wicked eyes. "What's your name" Nick stated again in a forceful tone. The kid leaned forward with a hand cupping his ear, "I didn't hear the magic word" the kid sang again.

Nick glared at the kid and Brass chuckled sardonically. "What's your name, please" Nick uttered. The kid nodded. "Magic words can get you a long way" he continued.

"Your name" Nick's voice grew louder, more powerful. The kid put his hands up in a surrender like motion. "Jaden" He said through a sly smirk.

"Last name" Brass ordered as his grip on the kid's shoulder got tighter. "Landon" The kid declared.

"Well, Jaden" Nick began as he took some more supplies out of his kit, "I'm going to need to check your clothes for evidence so if you could stand up please" Nick took out his ALS and his special orange goggles that allowed him to see organic matter with the ALS, out of his kit.

"You know," Jaden started, "I think I'm gonna sit, but thanks for asking" He nodded toward Nick. Brass snapped and again ripped the kid up out of his seat. "The man said get up"

"Okay, okay" Jaden chuckled as he stood beside the table, arms folded across his chest. He shook his head in one swift motion, causing his shaggy hair to stir around.

"Jim, can you get the lights?" Nick asked as he placed his goggles over his eyes and turned on his ALS. Brass flicked the lights off and walked back over to his place beside Jaden.

Nick swept the illuminating blue light over Jaden's torso, but nothing lit up; his clothes were blood free. He swept the device over the rest of Jaden's body and came up with nothing. "You can turn them back on now, Jim" Nick directed as he switched off his ALS and removed the goggles.

"What'd you do? Huh? Did you change your clothes?" Brass asked the kid as he got closer and closer to Jaden, looking at him with scorn.

"Nah man, like I told you earlier. I didn't kill those guys." Jaden smiled and shrugged innocently. "You got the wrong guy." Jaden said as he smirked back up at Brass.

"Like hell" Brass uttered as he looked across the table at Nick who was now removing something else from his kit. Nick took out supplies to test for gun shot residue and dabbed the sticky device over Jaden's hands. He looked at it when he was finished. Nothing.

"Negative for GSR" Nick informed Brass who looked back at him with a look of disbelief. "What'd you do? Wash your hands too?" Brass glared at Jaden who was still smiling idiotically.

"Nah. I already told you. I just didn't kill those guys." Jaden shook his head from side to side slowly as if this entire interrogation was a game. A game that he was winning. A game in which he could control the outcome.

"Can I go already?" Jaden asked impatiently as he started to rise from his chair. Brass gave the kid an "are you kidding me" type look as he grabbed onto the kid's arm, about to shove him back down into the chair, "Absolutely not."

"Jim" Nick interrupted. Brass gave him a look that said what the hell are you doing, but Nick continued anyway. "We have no evidence to hold him."

Brass couldn't believe what his friend was saying. This kid was a punk. A puke. A disrespectful jerk. He had spit on Nick. He was practically mocking the murders of two teenage boys. And Nick wanted to let him go. The hard part was that Nick was right. Brass had no evidence to hold Jaden on, and as much as he disliked it, he was going to have to let the kid go.

"See!" Jaden said to Brass as he pointed a finger in Nick's direction. "Listen to this guy" Jaden looked up toward Nick, "What'd you say your name was . . . Nate?"

"Nick" Nick replied coldly. "Yea, whatever" Jaden shrugged Nick off, " . . . listen to this guy."

Brass sighed a deep, long sigh, as did Nick. "Jaden Landon, you're free to go." Brass said reluctantly. At this, Jaden jumped out of his chair. "Sweet" he smiled as he walked over to the door. "Nice talking to ya fella's" and with that Jaden walked out of the interrogation room and out side.

"This sucks" Brass said as he and Nick walked out of the interrogation room together and down the hall. "The kid did it. He practically bragged about it, and we have to let the little punk walk just because we don't have any evidence to hold him yet."

"Yea" Nick sighed out as Brass poured them both a cup of coffee. "Well, if Jaden did do it, then we'll find evidence of it and arrest him." Nick finished as he took a sip of the disgusting sludge.

Brass almost spit his coffee back up. "If he did it? If? Nick, buddy, I know you CSI guys are all about the evidence and whatnot, but this kid murdered Carson Virder and Hudson Gaines. I know he did."

Nick shrugged. "Well, right now Jim, there's no evidence to support that. I can see that the kid's a punk but that doesn't necessarily mean he murdered Carson and Hudson."

"I can't believe this" Brass put his coffee down on the table next to him, and gestured with his hands in a, what the hell, sort of manner. "Who's side are you on Stokes?"

"The victims'" Nick said earnestly. "As much as it may suck, Jim . . . the accused are assumed innocent until proven guilty, and Jaden deserves that right."

"He murdered two fifteen year old boys, Nick!" Brass shrieked with annoyance.

"We don't know that Jim. It's a horrible thing that those boys had to die and justice will be served. But we have to make sure it's to the right person. We can't jump to conclusions. I want to get the guys who murdered Hudson and Carson just as much as you do, but I also want to arrest the right guy, so that the real guy isn't free to kill more innocent victims."

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