"I don't know, maybe he just picked it up at a pawn shop or something."
"Your saying that Zoe would pawn a locket I gave her?"
Kate rubbed her eyes. As much as she would love to believe the necklace meant absolutely nothing to her, she didn't want to hurt Nick's feelings by leading him to think that. "No, I don't. But there has to be a reasonable explanation for it.''
"Why? Because Carl is so honest? Because he would never steal? Because his rap sheet is clean? Is that why you think that? Let me tell you something, Carl is a weasel, not only is he a weasel, but he's a weasel that steals whatever isn't nailed down and another thing..."
"Your yelling at the wrong person here."
"I'm not yelling..." Nick was yelling. "...and you tell me why you think he didn't steal it!"
Kate's yelled a response, but it was more out of frustration and wanting to be heard over O'Malley, rather than anger. "Because he's your friend! Now stop yelling at me!"
Nick took a deep breath in. "I'm s..." Nick stopped before an apology could be made. "I just want to find out how he got it, that's all."
Two hours later, and fourty six known hiding places Nick knew to look for the gnome turned up nothing. The detectives decided to get back to headquarters to begin their research on the link.
By six pm, most of the officers had gone home. Nick set his files aside and shut down his computer.
"Time to call it a night?'' Kate did the same to her desk.
"Yeah, sounds good to me."
"Want to try that mexican resturant you were talking about last night?"
Nick shook his head. "I can't."
Kate's heart dropped. "Have plans?"
"Yeah."
"With Zoe, I presume?"
"She invited me to dinner at her place tonight, catch up a little on stuff."
"Didn't you do that last night?"
Nick turned back towards her. "Kate." A wide grin crossed his face. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were sounding a little on the jealous side. Maybe your our Giant that has a problem with the mortal sin of envy."
"Oh, please." For a moment, Kate was sure she was blushing the color green. "Your my best friend, I'm simply asking how your date went last night. It has nothing to do with jealousy." Kate crunched up her face as if a thought just occured to her. "But I am disappointed about dinner."
