A/N: Enjoy!

The Day of Love and Friendship

Chapter 4

"I can't believe it's been a week."

Grissom walked to the bed and handed his wife a brown file folder, saying, "I'm surprised the report came back this quick." Motioning for Sara to move, he sat on the bed, toed his sandals off his feet, and stretched beside her.

Sara opened the folder and began to read the lab report. A few minutes later, she said, "Weapon was matched to the tenderizer mallet in the bucket. No fingerprints on the handle. Fingerprints in the store were from the victim and the three women." She looked at her husband, asking, "Isn't that odd? What about customers? We lifted dozens of prints in that place—we didn't cover every surface but you'd think we'd have found one not belonging to these four people."

Grissom punched his pillow before answering, "According to the wife, Alex Mincho was meticulous about keeping his shop clean and wiped everything down with bleach before opening up in the afternoon." He scooted close to his wife, playing with the silky sleeve of her pajama top.

Sara flipped through several pages before laying the report on the bedside table. She said, "You went with the chief to talk to Maggie and Neva today?" She settled back on the bed with her husband's arm around her.

"We did— We didn't get much from them—almost the exact responses we got at the shop. Aurora has moved back in with her husband. The funeral was several days ago—Juan and Tony were there. Everyone seems to have liked him—Juan called it 'golden opinions from everyone', ideal husband, good, kind, handsome." Grissom's voice lowered as he added, "I swear to you—one of the women said he was a handsome man in the coffin."

Sara giggled softly, saying, "Maybe that's why everyone thought he was such a good guy—he was handsome." Raising her head so she could face Grissom, she said, "The day this happened—when we were in the shop and the women came downstairs, something struck me—it was a passing thought but I thought Aurora was the only one who looked—I don't know—but I thought she looked grief-stricken."

Grissom made an indistinguishable murmur as his hand covered Sara's. "Tomorrow is Valentine's Day—let's do something together. My students have enough to stay busy and your tortoises can wait a day."

"I'm good with that." She gave him a wide smile, eyes shining.

"It's not very romantic," Grissom gave her a mischievous grin. "I'd like to look at the shop again—it's still closed up—all the meat was cleared out by Chief Barton and a couple of others. He was there when Aurora packed her bag to leave but I don't think the place has been well-searched."

Sara laughed again as she kissed his nose and then his mouth. From her husband, she expected nothing else. Her leg went over his thighs as she said, "I cannot think of a better way to spend the day with my lover—searching that smelly shop and apartment."

"Are you laughing at me?"

"Never! I would not dream of laughing at my husband!" Her finger gently traced across his eyebrow and into his hair. "Maybe we can talk to the wife and daughter—there was something off about those three women—and you have a way..."

Her husband chuckled, hugging her close. "We'll go back to the shop—honestly thought the killer would show up at the police station."

"It's a nice night." Sara lifted her head from his shoulder and looked out the open window as a breeze stirred the thin curtains.

"What? I'm not going there tonight!"

Sara laughed, saying, "It's a nice night to be in bed with you, dear. I don't want to search a butcher shop in the dark!" With a soft laugh, she said, "but I can think of something else to do." Her hand slipped underneath his tee-shirt.

His hand moved from her hip along her thigh to her knee. "You know I love you to distraction," he said right before he kissed her.

With whispered words, the alluring scent of arousal, with fingers and lips exploring, and in a slow, deliberate building of passion, their soft moans mingled together until a shuddering climax broke over Sara. Waiting until she convulsed gently and clutched him so passionately she left small marks on his skin, Grissom experienced the intense, pleasurable waves of his own climax.

His last thought before sleeping was of doing this again tomorrow night but with more foreplay—taking more time—and with something he'd found while poking around a tourist shop. His face nestled against Sara's neck; her lips pressed into his hair. He knew this was paradise.

The next morning, they walked along the water front with its souvenir shops and restaurants, tourist agencies and drinking places, coffee cups in hand and watching the tourist boats anchored in the calm bay.

Sara said, "This is a beautiful place to spend Valentine's Day."

"Any day with you is Valentine's Day," Grissom said as he wrapped his arm around her waist. "And this is a beautiful place."

Where they were living for three months was an apartment located at the Darwin research center—luck and their previous research had gotten them the short-term work while primary researchers, a husband and wife, had taken sabbaticals.

Walking on the almost deserted street, they talked about the murder—the first one in decades in a place where most residents left doors unlocked—and the possible reasons for the murder.

"The women have to know more but there is no indication of who would want to kill him," said Sara.

"Well, we know the how—not the why. Every person who has been talked to says Alex was a good person."

"And not for money—no one knows how much he had in the drawer, but it couldn't have been a much."

They stopped for a moment and watched as a group of tourists took photographs of the sea lions along the dock. Turning from the waterfront, they walked several blocks to the market street. Along the way, the town was waking up; the smell of coffee and fried bread infused the air. A few shops were opening for early morning shoppers.

Grissom had gotten the key for the back door of the butcher shop earlier and when they turned into the alley, both realized it was not a typical back alley.

"This is more of a path—a lane—than a real alley," Sara said as she noticed a couple of bicycles leaned against walls, no trash cans lined up for collection, and looking up, flowers were blooming in window boxes and laundry was fluttering on clothes lines.

"And anyone could get in and out of here without being seen." He had a key in his hand as he said, "Let's open the door and let it air out."

A few minutes later, they were standing in the back space of the butcher shop—almost where the body of the butcher had been found. Sara pulled on gloves and passed a pair to Grissom before she found the light switch. While she had smelled worse, the store reeked of bleach with an undercoat of old blood and rancid meats.

The store was dark; store windows were still covered but rusted out holes let in points of light.

Grissom said, "I'm going upstairs and open windows. This place smells."

Sara chuckled and waved as he opened a door to the stairs and disappeared. Walking around the shop, she envisioned the body on the floor. The man had been face down, the wounds on the back of his head. As she thought, she pulled out her phone and found the photos she'd taken.

As she compared photos with her observations, a table had been moved against the wall—probably to remove the body, she thought. A jumble of boxes, a roll of white paper, and spilled utensils were scattered under the table.

Later, she would say she did not know why she kneeled and began to pick up the gadgets but as she grabbed a second handful, her fingers touched something else. Leaning forward, her fingers found the slim object.

She didn't hear Grissom return until he said, "Windows are open—it will smell…" He stopped as she turned, extended her arm, holding a cell phone in her gloved hand.

He said, "Alex Mincho's cell phone was in his pocket. The chief returned it to his wife after the funeral."

A/N: A cliff hanger of sorts! Real life gets in the way so next chapter may take a bit longer. Thanks for reading!