Chapter 4 [Crime Scene—Central City's East Side]

Even as the others dug into their sweet meat, Barry crouched over his latest subject, a thirty-something woman with multiple gun shots to the chest. He had looked the body over and begun to inspect the crime scene. His small brush dusted for fibers and prints. His eye scanned the walls and such. "Impact's got to be small arms fire. Probably a 9 caliber."

Joe nodded in appreciation. While he and Eddie could very well do the same analysis, they might miss a few things that Barry's trained (and admittedly faster) eye could discern. "Ouch. Looks like someone did it at real close range too."

Eddie grimaced at the shattered bottles of turpentine on the workbench behind where the woman would've been standing. "Looks like someone wasn't a real crack shot." He surveyed the weatherbeaten workbench. For a couple of minutes, he studied the faded and splintered pine. "Hey, Barry. Bring your kit over here!"

"What's up? Find something?" Barry queried while bringing the bag over.

"Yeah. Your bullets. Maybe we can get this wrapped up and get some lunch after all," Eddie noted.

"Sorry, Fellas. Singh wants this site processed ASAP," Joe disagreed jarring them back to reality.

"I vote we run over, eat, see the girls and run back. Fifteen minutes tops," Barry interjected.

Eddie sighed. "If Lisa Snart weren't there, I'd be right with you. Your secret remember?"

"Yeah she doesn't know. Right." Barry pulled a couple of slugs out of the old bench and bagged them. "Find anything in that wall, Joe?"

"Ol' Tex doesn't seem to be much of a shot. Remind me to put him down for my competition at the range next time," Joe noted with a bit of sarcasm in his voice. "Kind of like watching you dance circles around your new intern."

Eddie arched an eyebrow at his partner. "Joe, they're doing okay. Let them have their own pace." Personally he was glad that Barry had moved on with Patty so that he and Iris could be together again.

"Aww. You both are sticking together. Must be all the double dates," Joe cracked albeit good naturedly. He found a slight discoloration on the floor beside the victim's hand. "Think I've got something too." He snapped on a pair of lavender exam gloves and crouched beside the spot. "Blood." He gently picked up the left hand. "Maybe there's some skin under the finger nails?"

"Definitely worth a look," Barry agreed. He scraped and collected samples from the dirt and under the fingernails. "We'll need to dust her clothes for prints too just in case." Just then his phone's buzzer went off. "Wonder what that is?" He checked it and rolled his eyes. "Figures."

"Aww…she's wishing you were there now? You two are so cute, Barr," Joe teased.

"Remind me to have Iris sweep our place for bugs, Barry," Eddie indicated half-seriously while rolling his eyes at the older man.

"Tell me about it," the CSI concurred before reading the message from Patty:

"Umm, hey! Sorry to give Joe more stuff for the Crap File. Just wanted you to know what you were missing. Yeah I know you'll get even later but wanted you to feel included. By the way, Caitlin was wondering if you could check on Felicity? Apparently there's something up.

And *if* you are so inclined, there is an awesome place in San Francisco called Lin Sun's. Bring me with you and I'll get dinner….

Love you!

Patty"

Barry considered the message curiously. What could be going on with Oliver and Felicity? He recalled the aborted argument over the former's son, William and how drastic that proved to be where they were all concerned….

….fortunately a fight wiped away by his rerouting of time and them into their current alternate reality of sorts….

"Nice!" Eddie complimented. "Things are definitely looking up."

"We can hope," Barry presumed while dealing with the bad feeling in his stomach. "I just hope that Felicity and Oliver are okay."

"What now?" Joe queried with a bit of anxiety. Having dealt with Zoom only all too recently, he was in no mood to tangle with a new threat so soon. He could see the concern written on the younger man's face. "Something up, Barr?"

"Yeah well. There might be something." Barry examined the entire area at super speed finishing in a couple of minutes flat. "You might look at the wall over by the west door for prints. The door's been jimmied as well. Glass is broken in the northeast window too." He removed his gloves and set them in his bag. "Hey. Can you hang onto my stuff? I have to deal with this."

"Don't worry, Barry. We've got this. You two get out to Star City and help there," Eddie assured him. "We'll file the report and get back to you." He accepted the materials from his friend. "We'll let Singh know you're working on the report."

"Thanks. See you tonight, Joe." With that, Barry sped away from the scene while rushing for the restaurant at super speed.

"Guess we'd best leave this stuff in his lab?" Eddie asked not sure what the procedure to cover up his friend's sudden exits.

Joe shrugged. "I'll make sure it looks like he's in there. Trust me. Seriously I hope everything's okay in Star City. I don't want any other bad news showing up on our doorsteps."

"You and me both," his partner concurred as they set to cordoning off the scene and radioing for back up.