9. SICKO MY NICKO

With very little else to do, Greg clocked off for the night and Tabby returned to her family for a while. She watched them still sulking around; Lucy had been given some dolls from her bedroom and she played with them quietly in the living room. Lucy seemed distant and very sad; nothing at all like Tabby remembered her, she was always such a happy child.

Eventually she returned to Greg's apartment after she was sick of being ignored, however he had fallen asleep at the dining table over copies of Tabby's crime scene photos. She slowly moved the pictures away and guided the half asleep Greg to his bed, the investigator collapsing down and sleeping instantly. Tabby returned to the dining room and looked over the photographs, feeling a little overwhelmed after a while so she put them back into their folder. She watched a bit of late night TV before she got sick of those frustrating talk shows and turned the TV of, preferring just to sit.

At around eleven Greg's alarm went off and he woke up, showering and changing into jeans and a jacket before making his way down to the open living area, spying Tabby sitting on his couch staring into space.

"What's up?" he yawned.

"The ceiling," Tabby answered, and he glared at her.

"A-ha-ha," Greg said phonetically, making his way over and sitting down beside her. "You okay? You were gone for quite a while earlier?"

"Just went over to see my family again," Tabby responded. "They're pretty much the same, sad as ever."

"Did you expect anything less?"

"I don't know what I expected," Tabby answered. "I guess I never thought about it. Do you?"

"Sometimes," Greg replied. "In my job, it comes up a lot so it's something you've always got to consider."

"You've still got a whole lot of years to go yet Greg," Tabby informed him.

"I bet that's what they said to you too," Greg pointed out.

"Yea,h but you're the hero Greg," Tabby answered. "Have you never seen the action movies? The hero always survives."

"I'm not really a hero," Greg said. "I mean, John McClane, now there's a hero. That guy is freaking immortal man!"

Tabby laughed.

"You are so weird," she said.

"Have you looked in a mirror lately?" Greg teased. "Wait, you do have a reflection right?"

"I'm not a vampire!" Tabby snapped.

"Wait, do they exist too?" Greg asked.

"I don't know!" Tabby retorted. "But if I ever bump into one, I'll give you their number."

"Awesome, thanks," Greg smiled, standing up.

After a quick meal, Greg gathered his stuff for his shift and the two made their way out to Greg's car, arriving at the CSI Lab a few minutes later.

"I'm thinking I'm going to compare photo's to the notes I took during the interviews, check for inconsistences," Greg said to Tabby before making their way into the layout room they had been using a few days prior.

The room however looked very different to how they had left it, with various bits of tire sprawled out across the table.

"Oh, where's my stuff?" Greg asked aloud.

"Sorry Greggo, you got moved."

Greg looked around as his colleague and friend Nick stokes entered the room, wearing a dark blue forensic body suit.

"I can see that," Greg said, slightly irritated as he spied his very small box of evidence that was laid out a few hours ago sitting on the ground. "Well, I'll just find somewhere else-"

"Oh no, not just moved stuff, moved case," Nick said quickly, Greg slowly placing the box down on the table.

"What?"

"Yeah, Gris wants you to help out me and Catherine," Nick explained, slowly. "I got to go search this sweet V8 car that we just brought into the garage and Catherine's stuck out in the desert collecting evidence, so I'm stealing you- apparently your case is a little cold."

"Well not really, I'm just collecting evidence, it's just starting-"

"Okay, it's fine man, I'll let you be then," Nick said quickly, not wanting to irritate Greg.

"It's okay Greg, help him," Tabby said, looking to Greg who looked back at her. "He's right, the case is a little slow and it's probably a very big car."

"You sure?" Greg asked Tabby, before remembering Nick couldn't see her.

Nick looked over to Greg, puzzled.

"Sure about what?" Nick asked.

"I mean… sure!" Greg stammered, quickly. "I'll help you out, no problems!"

Nick lowered his eyebrows before nodding a little.

"Okay, if you're sure," Nick responded.

Nick led Greg and Tabby out of the layout room and through the crime lab hallways before they turned a right and entered the open garage where a large bright blue V8 was parked in the middle of the room.

"Whoa, sweet ride," Greg commended, looking over the car.

"Yeah, pity it was involved in a triple homicide," Nick stated, before taking out a small box-cutter knife from his kit and cutting open the seals over the two doors. "Anyway, we're looking for any evidence of a female being in the car. Basically, our suspect claims he had nothing to do with the victim, however multiple sources say they caught them being a little intimate in the car. If we can prove that, we might just have our guy."

"Great, I'll go interior?" Greg offered and Nick nodded.

Nick took out his torch and began to look over the exterior of the car, paying attention to the paint and looking for marks or signs of where the car had been in the last few hours prior to when they brought it in from the suspects' garage.

Tabby moved out of Nick's way, before walking to the other side of the car, peering through the driver's door to watch Greg looking through the glove compartment, which appeared to be empty. Greg then shone his torch beneath the seat, reaching under it and pulling out a torch and a very tattered looking street directory.

"Found a street directory," Greg said to Nick, flipping through the pages, "and a standard looking torch."

"Basic stuff to have in a car I guess," Nick answered, opening the hood to the car and looking at the car's engine.

Greg gestured to Tabby to look under the drivers' seat and Tabby nodded, moving around the chair to feel underneath before shaking her head.

"Nothing," Tabby said slowly and Greg sighed. "Did you check the compartment in the console?"

Tabby pointed towards the small compartment just below the radio before Greg leant over and opened it, shining the torch inside.

"Hey Nick, can you hand me some tweezers?" Greg asked his colleague.

Nick left the car and picked up some tweezers from his kit by the door before handing them to Greg.

"What have you found?" Nick asked, peering inside the car.

Greg lent forward again and used the tweezers to grasp a small object inside, pulling it out into the light to reveal a used condom.

"Jackpot," Nick said, moving back and picking up a small bag before Greg placed the condom in it. "Well, that's what I call evidence. Good find bro."

"Ah, can't take all the credit," Greg stated, as Nick returned to his kit and placed the evidence bag atop it.

When Nick turned back around, he was suddenly stricken with both fear and confusion as the driver's car door slammed shut without anyone touching it.

"What the hell was that!?" Nick cried, puzzled.

Greg looked to Tabby who gritted her teeth together, having just instinctively closed the car door once she had finished looking through it. Greg looked back to Nick and applied a boggled expression.

"What was what?" Greg asked, quickly.

"The driver door just slammed shut on its own," Nick stammered, walking over to the driver's side of the car whilst Tabby moved the opposite way to avoid him.

"Maybe it was the wind?" Greg supposed, before wishing he hadn't.

"We're inside Greg," Nick stated firmly, looking over the door before looking up to Greg who looked a little nervous.

Nick re-opened the car door, surveying over it and closing it again whilst Tabby jumped over to Greg and they shared a worried glance before looking back to Nick who was still opening and closing the door curiously.

"No, it was definitely something else," Nick deduced, looking over to Greg and lowering his eyes. "Are you okay? You've been looking really on edge lately. Is there something you wanna tell me about Greg?"

Greg quickly shook his head, glancing to Tabby again who looked apologetic.

"Greg?" Nick asked again, walking around the car again and crossing his arms, watching him closely.

Greg sighed a little. There was nothing he could do to get out of it. What else could he say? Make up some scientific mumbo-jumbo that Nick couldn't understand? Nick would just find out what it meant and demand the real answer- Nick wasn't one to let up.

"Okay, fine," Greg said causing Tabby to worry. "It was Tabby-"

"Greg!" Tabby whimpered.

"What do you want me to say?" Greg demanded; looking to Tabby, whilst it appeared to Nick he was looking to thin air. "He saw the door close!"

"Greg, what's goin' on?" Nick asked slowly, looking concerned for his friend.

Greg took a deep breath and gestured towards Tabby.

"This is Tabby," Greg introduced, Tabby waving at Nick even though he couldn't see her. "She's the victim in my case. She's dead… but she came back… as a ghost… and now she's helping me with my... her... investigation."

There was silence for a while, before Nick burst out in loud laughter, practically falling onto the car and holding onto the rear view mirrors in order to stay up. Tabby and Greg just watched him, both unsure what to say.

"The sensitive one my ass," Tabby stated, plainly.

Nick finally recovered, wiping his eyes and smiling.

"That's a good one Greg," he commended, before returning his face to serious. "But seriously what's going on? Is this some kind of lab rat prank I'm not in on?"

"No, I told you the truth," Greg responded, firmly. "Tabby is real; she's standing right next to me. She was looking in the car and closed the door accidentally."

"No more mucking around Greg-"

"I'm not mucking around!" Greg retorted, quite cross that one of his best friend's wouldn't believe him. "Tabby, prove it. Do something."

"I'm not a circus monkey," Tabby snapped, Greg looking at her with pleading eyes so she yielded.

She sighed and crossed the floor to the whiteboard in the corner.

"Greg, please, I think you need some time off-"

"Shush, look!" Greg pointed to the whiteboard.

The marker below the board slowly seemed to pick itself up and write in dark, bold letters across the board, "BELIEVE ME NOW?"

Nick's eyes quickly went from bemused to absolutely terrified, almost jumping out from their sockets as his jaw dropped the ground. He pointed at the board, where the marker still seemed to float in midair due to Tabby holding it.

"What… how… that…!?" Nick stammered, unable to get any words out.

"It was Tabby," Greg told him firmly. "I don't know how but she came back as a ghost and I'm the only one who can see her. I've been trying to solve her case for days on my own, but you're right, the case has gone a bit cold-"

"No pun intended," Tabby interjected.

"-And unless I solve it before this time next week, she'll disappear forever and never know what truly happened," Greg finished, Nick still seeming shocked. "So there you go Nick, that's what closed the door, that's why I've been acting strange. Now you can report me for madness if you want, but one way or another I am going to solve this case."


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