"I'll try to get us the warrant asap." Sofia said when they left the casino.

"We'll go back to the lap with the information we got here and check if there's anything new. You call us?"

"I'll come over."

"Thanks."

"No worries."

"In which connection do detective Curtis and Mister Sorronov stay?" Macy asked Sara as son as they were in the car.

"I have no idea."

"You work together."

"That doesn't mean I know all the people she knows."

"And as her partner?"

"As I said I don't know all the people my colleagues know."

"I'm not talking about work, Sara."

Sara looked surprised at Macy.

"Come on, I'm not blind. I can see the way you look at her, see the way she looks at you. You're more than colleagues. Not my business, but I thought, you are close enough to know how she and Sorronov ended up like this."

"I don't…." Have a relationship with detective Curtis, Sara wanted to say. It was more a reflection and made her feel guilty as soon as the thought entered her mind. Who was she that she wanted to lie about Sofia? She wasn't ashamed. But it felt wrong to talk about her as a lover when she was working. She had to separate private and business life as far as it was possible.

"But I can ask her."

"It will probably not change anything."

"No, but you're right, it was odd."

"It gave us a lot of things faster, unfortunately they are not close enough to get us in the room."

"Maybe we're wasting out time with this guy."

"Or he is the reason why sergeant Portfield ended up dead. Another possibility is, he vanished at the same time, out of the same casino, he might be dead as well."

"Then we need to find his body. I'll asked the coroner about John Does in the last two days."

"And I'll talk to my colleagues in L.A.."

"Hey, I'm still waiting for the warrant." Sofia came into the room where Sara was sitting, writing her report.

"The judge's not your friend?"

Sofia smiled and sat next to Sara. After a second of thinking she laid her hand softly on Saras, pet it shortly and put it back in her lap.

"You wanna know?"

"Is it important for the case?"

"No."

"Then I don't have to know." All she needed to know were things about her case.

"Would you like to know?"

"Sofia…"

"Sara, I asked you as my girlfriend, would you like to know why I know Sorronov?"

"Will I like it?"

"It doesn't matter if you like it or not, it won't change anything."

"I trust you…"

"If you want to know it doesn't mean you don't trust me, honey." Sofia's eyes found Saras.

"Tell me, please."

"He's a friend of my mother. They got back together a long time. He knew me when I was in kindergarten."

"That's it?"

"That's it." Sofia smiled.

"Why didn't you tell us?"

"It's not important. He helped us out with some things but he won't bent over backwards for me."

"How many important people do you know?"

"It always depends on what you call important. The most important person I know is you. At least for me, you're the most important one. I love you."

Sara knew her face went red. So much for separating work and private life.

"I…love you too."

"I know." Sofia blinked. "Keep your hands off my double. I don't like it that you spend the whole day with her. What happen if you mistake her for me when you're alone with her? When the fire in her eyes hit on you."

Sara had to laugh quietly. "No need to worry. She forgave us the little scene yesterday and she figured out we're more than colleagues, said you can see it the way we look at each other. But I can't see any fire in her eyes, must be a thing that only Warrick can see. Your eyes are much nicer. The blue eyes I wanna drown in."

"I think we can work on that later."

"I hope so."

"In case we won't finish together, I'll come over to your place. Whoever is there first makes the breakfast?"

"Sounds fair."

"Good." Sofia got up. "I'll annoy the judge a little bit more to get our warrant. Any luck with the check-in form?"

"Three different prints, two probably of the employees, the third one should Cooper Alice. So far the computer found one match, the guy who check our man in."

"Let's hope the computer tells us who's number three. We don't need the name of the employees, we want the guest's name."

"I'll call you as soon as I know more."

"Okay. See you later." Sofia formed her lips for a second to a kiss and walked away, leaving Sara alone.

Sometimes it was hard to work together. Sometimes all Sara wanted was throwing herself in Sofia's arms for a few seconds and feel Sofia's skin on her skin.

"I've got at least ten different prints." Sara moved her hair out of her face. They had waited three hours for the warrant of the room. As soon as they got it, Macy, Sofia and Sara went back to the Stratosphere Tower and as Mister Sorronov had promised, got exit to the room without a problem.

Meanwhile they had a face to the name of Cooper Alice. Ironically the man had longer black hair and seemed to be in his fifties.

"I got the prints from the housekeeper." Sofia came back with a set of prints. "Four were in this room in the last two weeks. And four different guests."

"Makes eight plus our Mister Alice and…whoever. Room service?"

"There were some room service order, they're still checking who served the orders."

"The housekeeper was right, Cooper didn't use the bath." Macy came out of the bathroom. "I looked for prints, hair, fibers, nothing."

"According to Greg, who works on the videos to help Archie, he stayed ten minutes in his room, he left just seconds after our victim left. He used to front door while the victim used the side entrance to Las Vegas Boulevard. Means, they might have been on the same bus."

"Time to open his suitcase." Sara took the suitcase and placed it on the bed. "Damn it. A number lock."

"I know what you can do for the rest of the night." Sofia grinned.

"Dream on. Lift the suitcase."

"Why?"

"Do it."

Sofia took the suitcase. "It's light, like nothing is inside."

"Exactly. Shake it."

Sofia shook the suitcase. No sound of anything.

"Okay, he arrives here with an empty suitcase, leaves the hotel at the same time like sergent Portfield, something is very wrong." Macy said. "Did he have any other bag?"

"Yes, a little daypack. He took it with him when he left the hotel."

"His stuff. With a little bag, he never intent to stay the four nights he booked. Why do you book a room for four nights when you don't stay?"

"Well, if you book for one night and don't appear for the check-out, people start to look for you. Book four nights, that gives you plenty of time to vanish. I beg when we have a closer look at his credit card, it doesn't exist anymore." Sofia guessed.

"Might be possible."

"I'll take the prints and the suitcase back to the lap." Sara got a huge bag out of her kit.

"I'll send the photo of Mister Alice to missing persons, check the credit card and try my luck again with the bus." Sofia sighed. "And I'll talk to Mister Sorronov again."

"I hate these days with double shifts." Sofia snuggled closer to Sara and laid her head on the shoulder of the investigator.

"The only good thing was we could work a lot together."

"You had my double the whole time with you."

"Yeah, surrounded by two Sofias, poor me."

"Lucky you."

"That's in the eye of…ouch." Sara ribbed her hip. Sofia had punched her. "Violence in the relationship. Domestic violence."

"You get only what you deserve."

"That's what the abusing husbands say."

"Sara." Sofia placed her finger on Sara's chin and turned the head of the brunette so that they looked each other in the eyes. "Don't say things like that. You know I'd never hurt you, don't you?"

"Yes." Sara kissed Sofia's tip of the nose.

"Good. It might be a joke, but I know you had to live with domestic violence. I don't want you to be reminded of this time in any kind of way in our relationship."

"You don't strike me as a violence person. Some people say, when you grow up as a child with domestic violence, you're likely to end up in a relationship like this when you're older. I guess that's a reason why I hated to date, I didn't want to end up like my mother. Being in a relationship to find out, the horror of the childhood returned and I've to go through all that again. I know I'm not strong enough to survive that again."

"You don't have to. I won't let you go, you're stuck with me, Sara Sidle, get used to it. I'd rather marry you than letting you go."

"Was that a proposal?" Sara grinned.

"No, it wasn't. You know why? Cause you'd say no and I won't ask until I'm sure you'll say yes."

"You also know I'd say no because it's too early not because of you? Beside the fact it's impossible and illegal for us to get married here, I'd marry you in a few years."

"Few years? Hey, I wanna look stunning on my wedding photos in this long, white dress. Can't get married when I'm old, full of wrinkles and nothing is where it's supposed to be. Time is working against my body."

"Can't believe that." Sara let her hand run through Sofia's body. "This body looks perfect to me. Better than the ones of the show girls in the city."

"So you watch the show girls?" Sofia smirked.

"I saw a few, the job brings that with it."

"Not private?"

"No, not private. I don't take the flyers they offer you on the Strip, why should I? Got the most beautiful woman at home."

"There was a time before me. Hard to believe, but somehow you manage to escape my charm for a long time."

Sara laughed. "Yes, I did. Before you was Grissom. I came to Vegas because of him, had this…accident with Hank that showed me, I'm not happy wasting myself with somebody I don't really want to be with. There was nobody between you and Gil, I told you, I don't separate sex and love. Again the time with Hank showed me, I don't enjoy either sex or myself when I try to make compromises here."

"You strike me as happy when we're together, you told me you love me, it looks like I made something right."

"You did. You do."

"Good. Honestly I couldn't handle losing you, Sara. I can't and I don't want to imagine a life without you. Living without you seems to be senseless."

"In that case, be nice to me and I might stick around you longer." Sara smirked. If Sofia wanted her, the blonde had to work for that.

The phone ended their sleep five hours later.

"Mhmmm?" Sara's voice was not very happy.

"Sara, it's Gil."

"You know what time it is?" She didn't but she felt like she slept only an hour.

"I'm sorry but I need you in. Sofia too."

"Did you call her at home?!

"That's what I'm doing right now, I think." She could hear him chuckle. Yes, somehow her home was Sofia's home too.

"What happened?"

"We found another body and it seemed to be the guy who followed Porterfield."

"Shit. Where?"

He gave her the address. Meanwhile Sofia was awake. Knowing it was something about the case she got up and started the coffee machine.

"They found the man we suspected as the killer of Porterfield. He had been shot and it looks like he died not long after Porterfield."

"Somebody wanted both dead? A coincidence? He killed Porterfield and got killed by… friends of the soldier? Somebody who watched the killer killing him and thought, he wanted what he got and killed him?"

"I've no idea." Sara looked for something to dress. "Fuck. I need to wash and iron and…I need some time for my household."

"I'll help you, I'm a master in ironing."

"I knew you'd come handy one day with all your suits."

"They need to be perfect, I hate it when my clothes are full of wrinkles."

"Snob."

"I call it style. Got your coffee." Sofia handed a coffee mug in Sara's hands and kissed her.

"I got our breakfast in the fridge, sandwiches. Who's driving?" With Grissom and Macy on the scene, they wouldn't surprise anybody when they arrive in the same car. And Sara could go back to the lab with Grissom.

"The detective of course."

"Of course." Sara grinned. This time she would let Sofia drive without any further argument. She wanted her coffee and sandwich. The next time, when they had already something to eat, she'd ban the blonde on the passenger's seat.

It took them twenty minutes to arrive at the scene. Enough time to have breakfast and talk about possibilities. Sara loved talking cases through with Sofia. Hearing the case from the side of the detective was always interesting, the fact that Sofia had been a CSI added another plus to Sara's list. Sofia knew how to think and how to work as a CSI; she knew when she and Sara were together on a case, what Sara was thinking and doing.

Grissom and Macy were at the scene, so was David.

"Hey." Sara said.

"Thanks for coming in early." Grissom smiled at her. "Detective."

"What do you want me to do, Grissom?" Sofia asked.

"Officer Kenner was first on scene, he can give you the heads up."

"Thanks."

"Bullet?" Sara looked at the body in front of them. The man was lying on his face, blood was next to his head.

"Possible gunshot to the head, yes. We're about to turn him." David said. "Could somebody give me a hand?"

"Sure." Grissom helped him to turn the man. Sara took her camera and started to take photos. The man was around seven foot tall, two hundred pounds and had black, long hair. His eyes were closed and there was nothing on him that suggested he was here for a special reason.

"The vic was found by a worker of the company that owns this place." Sofia came back to the investigators and watched them processing. "I'll talk to this man, but there is one thing I wanted to know if you noticed that. This area is around a mile away from where we found Portfield. When we assume he followed Portfield, they might have been on the same bus the whole time…"

"We've got nothing that leads us in that way." Grissom stopped her.

"I can tell you one think these two guys have in common; besides the place they stayed in."

"Which is?"

"The company that owns this area has the same owner like the company we found Portfield. You don't see it on the first look, but when you dig a little bit, you'll find out, these companies are owned by Marco Bertolli."

"Do we have to know this man?"

"Marco Bertolli is a mob boss from Queens, New York. He started to buy companies in Vegas five years ago, owns four so far. I'm not sure how far coincidence goes."

"I don't believe in coincidence." Macy got up. "Good work, detective. I want to talk to this man, maybe he can give us a reason why there are two dead bodies on his premises."

"Sofia, do you know where to find Bertolli?"

"His main residence is in New York. I'll look his Las Vegas address up."

"You ever worked a case with Bertolli as a suspect?" Sara asked. She was surprised that Sofia knew so much about this mob boss.

"Not the suspect, the victim. His wife got killed in Vegas two years ago. Rumors are, another mob family ordered the hit. I'll get the files out when I'm back in the department." Sofia smiled and left.

"A good detective, who thinks like a CSI and a cop is priceless." Macy said.

"The gain of the police was our loss." Grissom threw a short look at Sara. "I wish we had her still with us."

"We've got her eyes on the scene, that has to enough." Sara smiled.

"Looks like a .45 caliber to me." Macy got closer to the wound. The gun had entered the head right in the center and because there was no exit wound, the bullet had to be in the head.

"Like Portfield. Same killer?"

"We're getting similarities between him and Portfield. Do we have an i.d. on him? I mean something, that doesn't say his name is Cooper Alice?" Sara still didn't believe this was the real name of the man.

"No i.d. at all, no wallet."

"Money in his pockets?"

"No."

"He didn't walk here, he needed some money or a credit card to get here. I don't think he hitchhiked. Whoever killed him took the wallet, made it look like a robbery. I'll have a look around, maybe he left something on the scene that will lead us to him." Sara took her kit and walked away. Nobody could kill two men without leaving any evidence.