Back at the lab they all gathered to discuss the case, especially Dr. Pierce's possible involvement.

"His home was empty when we arrived... He called Ray "Dr. Langston" but he never introduced himself to him. He knows Hendriks, who shot Officer Richards with Nick's gun... We really need to look into him!" Sara said in excitement. She really hoped they were onto the man who terrorized the police for weeks.

"You guys really think this is the terrorist we're looking for?" Catherine looked at Ray. He didn't have the excitement in his eyes like Sara did. He just sat there, looking lost in his thoughts and a little angry. "Ray?"

"It's him. I'm sure it's him. I think Gerald Jobbs really was set up. He was invited into Pierce's home on the day we found him. He somehow made Jobbs shoot him, hit him and when we arrived he left. It was all part of his plan! He probably knew we were onto him and made up this plan to get away! And we bought it!" As his anger got the best of him, Ray threw his fist on the table, making a loud noise, causing the people outside the room to stop and stare through the door.

Nick was one of the people standing outside the room. When he saw Ray being upset he went in to check on his friend. "Is everything alright in here?"

They all sat in silence for a second.

"Everything's fine, Nick. Thank you." Catherine smiled at him, insinuating to him to leave.

Nick nodded. "Alright..." He turned around and left.


On his way out, Nick bumped into Greg. "Oh, sorry, Nick!"

Nick kept staring into the room his colleagues were discussing the case the whole lab wanted to see solved and didn't even pay any attention to Greg.

"Nick, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine..." he said, without looking at Greg.

"Are you sure?" Greg looked in the direction Nick was staring at. "Oh, are they discussing the case?"

Nick nodded. "It bothers me that I'm not even allowed to get a heads up about it!"

"Why do you need that? Once they solved it they'll tell us, but until then there's nothing we can do, anyway."

Nick sighed. "I know. And that's what bothers me in the first place! I won't help keep that son of a bitch off the streets! I can't just sit around doing nothing while he's still out there."

"Well then how about you help me with my case?" Greg smiled at Nick, holding the case files out to him.

Nick rolled his eyes. "That's not what I meant."

"I know. But I could really use some help."

"Alright..." He grabbed the case files and followed Greg.


Sara and Brass went to Dr. Pierce's receptionist. She lived in a small apartment near the strip.

Brass knocked on the door. "Ms. Alvarez, LVPD, we need to ask you some more questions about your boss, please open the door."

"Maybe she went out," Sara said, taking a look around the hallway.

"Wait. Do you smell that, too?" Brass asked.

"Smoke?"

When they kicked in the door, they found something burning in the living room and Ms. Alvarez lying in her bed.

"Ms. Alvarez?" Brass walked up to her, trying to feel her pulse. "She's dead."

"I wonder what she tried to burn here?" Sara held up a bowl with burned papers in it. "Does she have any injuries?"

Brass shook his head. "There's empty pill boxes next to her. Looks like a suicide."


Nick and Greg were still working on the gang-related shoot out. At first it looked like all of the victims survived, but one dead gang member was found several miles away from the scene, hours later. David was examining the body, handing bullets and everything else he found in or at the body to the two CSIs. "The gunshot wound is the cause of death, no surprise here," David said, pointing to two bullet holes in the body. "One hit his torso, he probably would've survived this one. But the other one went through his leg, severing an artery. If he'd gotten immediate help he might've survived this one, too. Well, one gang banger less on the streets to worry about..."

"Thanks, David," Nick replied, heading for the exit.

"Oh wait, guys, there's something I wanted to show you..."

"Yeah?" He turned around again.

At the same moment, Doc Robbins entered, rolling Ms. Alvarez' body into the room, followed by Catherine and Ray.

"Guys, I'm sorry but I need you to leave the room..." she said to Nick and Greg.

"Why?" Nick asked surprised.

"You know why... She's connected to our case..."

"So?"

"Nick, I hate this as much as you do, but when we find this guy... I don't want anyone having a reason to doubt our investigation. You're too involved in all of this, you can't be in the room when she's being examined... I'm sorry."

Nick rolled his eyes. "What, you think we're going to tamper with evidence just because this jerk attacked us?"

"Come on, Nick... Let's go, we need to bring this to Bobby," Greg said, trying to push Nick to the exit.

"Nicky, you know I don't think that. But you also know how these things work. The defense attorney will try everything to win the case. And now, please step out..." Catherine held the door open for Nick and Greg. If she was able to, she'd let them help with the case. But they both were personally too involved to guarantee their objectivity. She was experienced enough to know that a defense attorney would do anything to get his client out of jail, she knew it would look bad in court if Greg or Nick worked on the case.

"Fine!" Nick said irritated and shook his head when he left the room.

"I'm sorry, Catherine..." Greg apologized for his colleague.


"She did commit suicide." Doc Robbins stitched Ms. Alvarez up again.

Ray shook his head. "But why? This can't be a coincidence."

"I can't tell you the "why", I can only tell you the "how", but... I don't think it's a coincidence, either.

"Yeah, well, maybe the burned paper will tell us the "why"." Ray walked out.


"Hey Nick!" Greg ran up to Nick, who was walking down the corridor. "Where have you been? I thought we wanted to go see David together."

Nick avoided answering his whereabouts. "What is it he wanted to show us earlier?" He kept walking down the corridor.

Greg looked surprised at Nick and walked with him. Why didn't he tell him where he was? "...Uhm..." He lost his focus for a second. "Yeah, right... Take a look at this!" Greg handed him a picture of the dead man's body.

"What exactly am I supposed to look at?"

"Here!" Greg pointed on the left calf. "Do you see that? He had a tattoo that was removed."

Nick had a questioning look on his face.

Greg rolled his eyes with a smile on his face. "It was a gang tattoo! He wanted out!"

"So?" Nick asked.

Greg could see Nick's lack of interest in the case. "What's wrong, Nick? I thought you wanted to help me with this case."

"Am I not helping, Greg?" he said sarcastically. He finally reached his office. The one Catherine gave him a few years ago, the one he decided to share with his colleagues. He sat down at his desk.

"Is this about what happened with Catherine earlier... Or is there more to it?"

"I'm fine, alright? I'm just a little tired."

"Come on, Nick, I can see that you're not alright. Talk to me."

Nick laughed and rubbed his eyes. "For weeks I could see that you were not alright and you didn't want to talk. I respected that. And now you want me to cry on your shoulder because I'm a bit upset?" He didn't want to be that harsh to Greg. He didn't even mean what he was saying. But Nick was tired, frustrated and stressed out. He sighed. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to..."

"No." Greg stopped him. "It's okay..." You could see in his eyes that Greg was hurt by what Nick said because it was true. Well, not all of it. Nick didn't really respect that Greg didn't want to talk to him. He pushed him to talking every once in a while. But the rest, Greg thought, was true.

"You should take a break. I can handle the case alone." Greg smiled at Nick and headed for the door.

"Don't patronize me!" Nick yelled at Greg.

Greg stared at Nick. What was that? Where did that came from? What did he do wrong? "I... I'm sorry, Nick. I didn't mean to..." He was confused. What was he apologizing for? Should he have apologized? Greg was shaking. After all that happened in the past months, it didn't take much to make him feel uncomfortable.

Nick released a deep sigh and stood up. "I apologize, okay?" he said rather unconvincing.
Greg nodded. His apprehension was clearly visible.

"I... Please don't look at me like that! I don't know why I said that, I really didn't mean any of it!" Nick was ashamed for what just happened.

Greg shook his head. "No, it's okay, really..." He tried to force a smile. "I should get back to work. You... you can decide whether or not you want to be part of this investigation." Greg left the room hastily.

"No, wait..." Nick tried to keep Greg from leaving, but he was already gone. "Damn it..." he whispered to himself.