After his visit to the morgue, Nick knew that Carson and Hudson had died at around three o'clock on Saturday afternoon. Both boys were shot once at close range, directly into the chest, and then again two more times each after they had fallen to the ground.

This told Nick that the boys had probably known their assailant. Who would let somebody they didn't know approach them with a gun? No defensive wounds on either boy either. This further supported Nick's theory, and narrowed down the suspect pool.

Images of the young, lifeless, boys being cut open, Doc Robbins displacing their organs, displaying them to Nick, pointing to this such thing or that rushed through Nick's head. Nick hadn't thrown up at an autopsy in almost ten years. Today he had to swallow the bile back down. He was eager to get back to the lab.

Nick told Greg what he had learned at the morgue and about his theory that the boys had known their attacker. Greg nodded in understanding before sharing with Nick what he himself had discovered.

"I asked Wendy about any blood not matching our victims', and she said that the blood smear and skin we collected from beside Carson's body was not a match to either Carson or Hudson. She ran it through CODIS, no match. Greg shook his head from side to side. "But she did say that it was male DNA." He added.

Nick merely nodded, "Alright," Nick began, " . . . so an unknown male, perhaps our killer, kneeled beside Carson to deliver the final shots and scrapped his knee."

"Maybe." Greg nodded in agreement.

"Okay" Nick spoke again, " . . . anything else?"

"Yea," Greg said as he picked up a photograph and pointed to a chunky, black and gray ring in the shape of a skull. "I compared the initials on the ring . . . C.A.C . . . to the school roster for Carson and Hudson's high school." Greg explained as he handed Nick the packet of papers with the names of every Freshman, Sophomore, Junior, and Senior that were currently attending the boys' high school. "Only five names match the initials." Greg smiled before he continued on. " . . . a Senior Christopher Aaron Clemon, a Sophomore, Calvin Andrew Corley, another Sophomore, Caleb Alexander Crenshaw, a Junior, Charles Adam Crowning, and a Freshman, Courtney Anne Cinders." Greg finished with a smirk.

Nick looked from the picture of the ring to Greg, and back to the picture again. "Courtney?" He said skeptically as he pointed to the bulky, black, skull ring. He grinned as he looked up at Greg.

"Something tells me big, ugly, black, manly, gross, skull rings are probably not 'Courtney's' thing, but . . ." Greg's voice trailed off.

"It's worth looking into all of them." Nick finished. "Good work Greg"

"That's not it. The ring was found on top of Hudson's body." Greg showed Nick a photograph of the ring. Hudson's back could be seen in the background, lifted so that the photograph could be taken. "Whoever's ring this is was there when Hudson fell to the ground."

Nick nodded a few times as he handed the photograph back to Greg. "Good work. What'd you say we talk to these kids."

"Sounds good to me" Greg said placing the photographs that were now splayed across the table back into the case file.

"Meet you outside in five" Nick said as he walked toward the door, but stopped just before he exited when Greg's voice urging him to wait.

Nick turned and faced his friend. "That kid," Greg began as he walked toward Nick, " . . . the one you and Brass interrogated yesterday, Jaden"

Nick nodded in acknowledgement of the kid Greg was talking about. ". . . we should collect his DNA. I know you guys didn't have a warrant yesterday and from what I hear the kid was anything but cooperative . . . but the blood at the scene could be his."

"Yea," Nick stated as he and Greg walked out toward the Tahoe. ". . . he came back in this morning to apologize. He seemed like a totally different person. Told me he might have bipolar or something and that he panics in situations like he was in yesterday."

"Really?" Greg asked in a tone that suggested his reply was a question yet a statement at the same time. He did not really think Nick's implications of the kid turning out to be a good person were exactly true.

"Yea" Nick said getting into the driver's side of the car. "I'll call him back in, see if he'll give us his DNA voluntarily or if we'll need a warrant. It can't hurt us to have his DNA. We'll either rule him out as a suspect or catch our guy." Nick didn't admit out loud that he was willing to bet they would still be looking for their guy even after they had Jaden's DNA.

TWO HOURS LATER

After two hours of interviewing four of the five high school students with initials of "C.A.C", Nick and Greg had only one more interview left to complete. The principle of the high school, Mr. Kellen, who was assisting Nick and Greg by bringing them the students they asked for, walked into the conference room that Nick and Greg had been using as an interview room, with the last interviewee. Calvin Andrew Corley.

Nick and Greg both desperately hoped to get something from Calvin. Even if the kid didn't kill Carson and Hudson, he may have been there when it happened. He may know who did.

The other four interviews had yielded nothing useful to their case. Christopher, Caleb, Charlie, and Courtney knew nothing about the murders besides the fact that Carson and Hudson had been killed. And they knew nothing about the ring. The kids didn't seem suspicious, and after years of interviewing suspects, Nick could tell that their claims were genuine.

"Hi Calvin" Nick said as he motioned toward the teen with an outstretched hand. "Sorry to pull you out of class, but we've got to ask you a few questions."

Calvin chuckled slightly. "That's alright. I was in math." This remark earned a quick smirk by both Nick and Greg, and Calvin shook Nick's hand before sitting down.

"My name's Nick Stokes," Nick gestured toward himself and then to Greg, " . . . and this is Greg Sanders. We're from the crime lab."

"Is this about Carson and Hudson?" Calvin asked quizzically. He looked to Nick and then to Greg with sad eyes before speaking again. "The whole school's talking about it."

"Yes." Nick began, " . . . it is. We just have to ask you a few quick questi-" Nick started to explain but was interrupted abruptly.

"What happened to them" Calvin shot out in and aggressive tone. "Who would do this?" Calvin started again, this time sounding even more angry. "They were both such good kids."

Nick and Greg shared a glance before Greg asked what they both were wondering. "You knew Carson and Hudson?"

Calvin looked up at Greg in disbelief and his eyes started to tear up. His eyes became covered with a watery film, and with a blink, a single droplet slid down Calvin's face. "They were my best friends."

Nick and Greg shared another quick glance as Calvin wiped the tear away from his face. They had no idea that Calvin was so close to Carson and Hudson.

"I'm sorry" Nick said softly as he and Greg sat down across from the kid. "That's hard . . .I know" He added the last two words even softer, almost hesitantly, as if he really did not want to know how it felt. But he did.

Greg looked toward Nick and understood exactly. Warrick had been his friend as well. The three of them had been really close, but Greg knew that Nick and Warrick always had a closer relationship. They had been friends for a long time.

It had really hurt when Warrick had been killed. Greg didn't know what to do. He felt useless, incapable, and guilty. No, it hadn't been his fault that Warrick had been shot, he had reasoned with himself after a while. But he still couldn't help but think that maybe if he hadn't left early to catch his flight maybe he would have been with Warrick. Maybe McKeen wouldn't have shot his friend. Maybe McKeen would have shot him instead. Maybe . . .

"I know this is hard, Calvin . . .but we really need to ask you a few questions if that's alright" Greg said slowly.

Calvin cleared his throat. "Yea . . ." He wiped at his face. "That's fine."

Greg nodded his thanks and pulled out a picture from the file on the table. "Do you recognize this ring?"

Calvin looked to the picture to Greg and then to Nick, and then back to Greg. "You found it!" He said happily.

Greg and Nick shared a glance. "This is yours?" Nick said a little confused.

Calvin shook his head no, and then quickly shook his head yes. "No . . .well, yea. It was my dad's, his name was Calvin Andrew Corely too, but he gave it to me . . .before he died." Calvin said the last few words slowly, but there was still a smile on his face. "Where'd you find it?"

Greg and Nick shared another glance. They certainly weren't going to tell Calvin exactly where they found it. He didn't need to know that it was on his friend's body. "At the crime scene" Nick said quickly.

The smile on Calvin's face started to fade. "At . . .Carson and Hudson's . . . crime scene?" He asked hesitantly.

"Yea" Greg said softly. Calvin nodded and pushed the picture away.

"When did you lose the ring, Calvin?" Nick said, changing the subject.

"Umm . . . well, I didn't lose it." Calvin said a bit angrily. "Someone stole it out of the locker room after a hockey game" He explained.

"Out of the school locker room?" Greg asked as he wrote something down on the paper.

"Yea" Calvin nodded.

"And when was this?" Greg asked him.

Calvin shrugged. "It was after our last home game . . .so about two months ago"

"We're going to need the names of all the players on that team" Nick said.

"Sure" Calvin said. "I've got a roster in my locker."

Greg and Nick followed Calvin to his locker. The boy opened it, and posted on the locker door was a list of names. He took it off and handed it to the CSIs.

"I think I knew who did it . . ." Calvin's voice trailed off.

Both Nick and Greg read down the list and stopped halfway through. One name caught their eyes. Jaden Landon.