Disclaimer: Do I own them? No. Do I want to? Only Nick….maybe Greg….oh yeah and definitely Warrick…
A/N: Special thanks and high fives to:
Jen: Thanks, hun, for your lovely comments. I couldn't help but smile while reading them! You encouraged me to buckle down and write another chapter quickly. :o)
Lynn: The dream scene took me forever to write…thanks for the compliments on it…it means much!
skyler: Aww, thank you! Here's the next chapter…
cRaZyPiXiE: Your wish is my command: I've continued it just for you! hehe…ok ok, I was going to continue it anyways…but I'm really glad you are enjoying it thus far!
forensicsfan: Thanks for your thought-out comments. I'm glad you are enjoying one of the most important "angles" in the story! :-) Your replies mean much!
adpi24: So, you want Nick and Sara together, huh? Well…..you might just get what you hope for if you wish hard enough… ;o)
A Bloom: Thank you so much for your enthusiasm towards my fic…I'm glad you are picking up on the messages I try to portray in Nick and Sara. Yay!
Alrighty, time to read on…
Dealing: Chapter Six
*********
"So, what exactly have you been working on all day?" Nick asked, taking a seat next to Sara with his coffee in hand.
"Well, I've done some looking into things…and the file Grissom had given me is that of Randy McMasters…our mystery man." Sara smiled, proud of her successful detective work. She motioned the folder towards Nick. He choked down the scolding coffee.
"No way! How did you manage to find him already?" Nick turned sideways, anxious to hear her speak.
"I made a few phone calls earlier. Turns out this McMasters guy showed up to one of Connie's dates with another man in this, like, angry fit. The guy Connie was with knew him from an old job and was able to identify him for me."
"Wait a sec…he showed up in an angry fit? Like a jealous rage or something?"
"Apparently so…the guy told me that the moment McMasters walked into the restaurant and saw Connie and him he just flipped out. Connie then took McMasters by the arm and led him outside. The date claimed he sat there for like twenty minutes before Connie returned from her "talk" with him. He doesn't know what the talk was all about; he said he didn't want to pry too much out of Connie. But apparently, the rest of their evening, she had this distant, paranoid aura about her. That's all I got out of the guy."
Nick nodded intently as he listened to her every word. "So this is big stuff, huh? We've got ourselves another suspect."
"Oh yeah." Sara confirmed. "It's a big lead."
"So, Grissom said he was already on our computers. What's he been in for?"
"In 99 he was booked for aggravated assault and weapons possession. Other minor charges were made prior to and after that. I've also got here that he was fired from his construction site job for getting into a major tussle with a co-worker. Although no charges were pressed, it's just another thing to keep in mind."
"Seems this guy has some issues. We got an address?"
"Apartment complex. Wilsher Street." Sara replied.
"Let's go talk to Mr. Temper, shall we?" Nick smiled mischievously and stood up from his chair. Sara nodded and grinned.
"I'll call Brass."
*****
Nick and Sara rode separately from Brass, leaving immediately in Nick's Tahoe.
"So, Ms. Sidle, I have to say I'm quite impressed with your little investigative work." Nick smirked, eyes on the road before him.
Sara blushed a little.
"Well, the case has been eatin' at me. It was only necessary for me to dig a little deeper." She replied and then, demeanor becoming serious, turned in her passenger seat to face Nick. "I contacted the protection home this morning."
"What?" Nick glanced back and forth from the road to Sara.
"You know, the place where they took the kids after their father became a suspect. I explained who I was and asked for the address. I wanna go see them." She stated with concern in her voice.
Nick nodded silently.
"That's great, Sara. I'm glad that you care enough to check up on them…" He paused with vacillation.
"But…" Sara paid notice to his hesitancy.
"But…I don't know…just try not to get too involved, you know? It's a weird situation."
"Nick, you weren't there to see the look on the oldest girl's face that night. I was there…and it was disturbing."
"Hey, I understand, I'm not trying to say it wasn't…I'm just saying that sometimes when you get too involved in a case, things can get too personal, and the result can be….well, messy." Nick explained himself.
"Well, she saw her mother lying on the floor in a pool of her own blood. I think that justifies a visit." Sara defensively spoke with a twinge of anger.
Nick scrunched his brow and turned to her.
Sara sat uncomfortably on the passenger seat, hands folded in her lap, eyes turned back to the road.
"Sara, I'm not trying to argue with you…I'm just trying to look out for your well-being."
"Well I don't need a babysitter." Sara quickly shot back. Immediately after the words escaped her lips she regretted them, however, her stubbornness kept her from doing anything about it.
Nick didn't say anything right away, his eyes staring ahead at the road as he drove. Sara did, however, notice an immediate speed increase after her comment.
Finally Sara faced him with an embarrassed smile. Despite her obvious tension, she let out a nervous laugh. "I—I'm sorry…I didn't mean to get nasty--"
"Let's just drop it." He interrupted, clearly annoyed. Sara blinked, surprised at his abruptness.
Inside, Sara was fuming. She was mad that she allowed herself to lash back at Nick, who was obviously just trying to be a good friend. Stop letting your problems affect your work life, Sara scolded herself. If you let this go on, you won't have any friends at all.
Sara stole a quick peek at Nick and her heart fluttered. Oh Nick, she thought, it has nothing to do with you. She sighed to herself. You just wouldn't understand.
******
Brass pressed down on the small button next to a screen door. They listened to something that sounded like a broken, garbled doorbell chime inside.
"Who's there?" A male voice shouted from within the apartment.
"Detective Jim Brass, Las Vegas Police Department. Open up."
The door was opened with gruffness. Sara jumped.
A short, skinny, 30-something male stood there, a cloud of cigarette smoke billowing past him. Nick exaggeratingly waved his hand in front of his face.
"Randy McMasters?" Nick asked in a professional tone.
"Depends on who wants to know." The man spoke in a slimy way, while eyeing Sara up and down. She wriggled, violated by his glare.
"I'm Detective Jim Brass." He identified himself once again, flashing his badge. "This is Nick Stokes and Sara Sidle from the Las Vegas Crime Lab."
The sky rumbled and Nick looked up at the blackish clouds. "May we come in?"
The guy grunted, turning around and walking back inside, leaving the door open. They took this as their invitation in.
"We've got some questions for you concerning the homicide of Connie Trevorson." Sara spoke, trying not to choke on the thick smoke-filled air as she entered into the kitchen. There was a sour smell which made her wrinkle her nose.
"Uh—," The guy held one hand up, the other grabbing for an already smoking cigarette resting on an ash tray. "I'm not McMasters, ma'am," He gave Sara another unnerving glance. Nick, noticing this, loudly cleared his throat. The guy turned away to face Nick. "I ain't got any information on that lady."
"So, you are familiar with her?" Nick pried.
"I heard of her, yeah. Randy's mentioned her a couple times before." He gruffed before succumbing to a choking fit. Nick turned to Sara, eyebrows raised.
"Is he home?" Sara continued.
"Nah. He doesn't live here anymore."
"When did he move out?" Nick followed up.
"I don't know."
"Oh come on." Nick irritatingly shot back.
"Listen, I got two other roommates in this apartment. We don't keep tabs on each other; we stay out of each other's way. It's never been any different." The man shuffled over to a drawer and grabbed himself another pack of cigarettes.
"Well, then how do you know he's gone for good?" Brass coughed out his words.
"He goes in and out all the time. Or at least he used to, but the longest he was ever gone for was two weeks. It's been about three or so since I seen him. He ain't coming back…I know these things."
Nick's cell phone rang under his belt and he quickly reacted by punching the mute button. Sara turned to him, eyebrows wrinkled.
"Anyways, like I said, I ain't gonna be much help to you guys." The man flung his cigarette butt towards the sink.
"Well, we'll figure that out for ourselves." Brass retorted and they proceeded questioning the man, looking for any information whatsoever concerning the behavior of Randy McMasters and what he had ever said about Connie Trevorson. A half hour or so later, after retrieving as much information as they could, they headed out of the apartment.
As soon as the screen door creaked open and they exited the building, rain began to trickle down.
"I'll let my boys know about this McMasters fella. We'll keep an eye out for him." Brass yelled out before saying his goodbyes and driving off.
The rain came down a little heavier as Nick and Sara headed down the parking lot to the Tahoe's parking spot. Nick noticed a determination set in Sara's walk.
"Hey, what's going on inside that head of yours, Sidle?" Nick nervously chuckled, picking up his stride to meet Sara.
"We've got to go back to the crime scene." She spoke cryptically.
"What?"
"There's got to be something we missed that'll trace McMasters there the night of the murder." Sara's resolve alarmed Nick.
"Whoa, whoa…slow down a sec, Sar. We're not going tonight. No one knows we'd be over there; it's just not a good idea."
"Are you kidding me? We've come this close to nabbing this guy as the murderer, and you're telling me that it's not a good idea?" Sara stopped in her tracks and looked him dead in the eye. This took Nick aback.
"Alright, let's just say we do go to the crime scene tonight. The likelihood of actually finding something is next to zilch with all the investigators and police already having trampled through the entire house. Plus it's been, like, a week."
"Gosh, Nick, I've never known you as the kind of guy to just give up. I guess I was wrong." Sara turned around, eager to get into the car, out of the cold rain. She tried to hurt Nick with her words; she didn't want him to think he made all the decisions in their case. It made her look weak, in her opinion.
Unbelieveable, Nick thought and stared at Sara, wondering who she was at that moment.
"It can wait until Monday, Sara." Nick spoke through gritted teeth.
"No, Nick, it can't. It doesn't matter, though; I'll go by myself when you drive me back to the lab to get my Tahoe."
Nick let out a grunt. "Um, no," Nick's southern drawl shown through his emphasis on his words. "When you get back to the lab you are going to get into your car and drive yourself home. You obviously need to get home and sleep." He stated matter-of-factly walking up to his Tahoe.
Sara rolled her eyes. "Oh yeah so I can get like fifteen minutes of crap sleep only to be jerked awake until morning like last night." She hissed under her breath.
It wasn't until Nick tightly yanked her arm back that she realized exactly what she'd just said. She spun her head around, her dampened hair clinging to her face.
His eyes flashed. "Like last night? Like last night, Sara?!" Water droplets flew from his lips as he angrily yelled through the loud rain. His face registered disbelief and looked as if he were breathing heavily.
Sara's heart seemed to stop beating.
Nick's grip on her arm was firm. He wasn't hurting her, just not allowing Sara to turn away and get into the car, as she so yearned to do at that exact moment.
"I thought you had a dreamless sleep, Sara. I thought your night was so refreshing that you just had to get up to come in early this morning." He recalled her words from earlier in the day. "Why did you lie to me, Sara? Why did you lie?"
Sara's lips trembled, from the cold rain or from panic, she wasn't quite sure.
Rain had soaked every inch of their bodies by this time. It was pounding all around them harder, but they continued to stand there, not budging.
"Why did you lie to me?" Nick's voice dropped to just above a whisper.
As Nick's anger turned to defeat, he slowly let go of his grip. As much as she wanted to jump in the car and avoid his face moments ago, she just stood there then, breathing heavily, her body not allowing her to move an inch.
She shook her head, wishing for the right words to speak. She wasn't sure how to respond. Nothing seemed appropriate. I never intended to hurt him, she thought to herself while watching him back away from her, smothering his face with his hands, attempting to wipe away the water in vain.
He sighed sharply and tilted his face up to the sky. "Did you have that dream, Sara?" He asked her, not meeting her face.
Sara squinted her eyes, trying to prevent the rain from clouding them any further, as she looked at him pace before her.
"I—I don't…" She trailed off shaking her head.
Nick finally dropped his head as if the anger that had momentarily escaped his body came rushing back again. He held up his hand.
"You know what? I don't want to hear it anyways." His voice was unfamiliar.
Sara blinked back, stung by his words. She couldn't blame him though; she understood his reaction, which is what tore at her heart even more.
Nick ran his hand through his soaked hair as he walked to the passenger side of the car, leaving Sara standing there completely at a loss. He unlocked and opened the passenger door, leaving it wide open for Sara while he treaded to the driver's side. Sara's shoulders slumped as she slowly entered the vehicle and shut the door.
At that moment Nick got into his side and slammed shut the door. Sara flinched.
On the silent drive back to the lab, Sara considered her gratefulness to the rain for masking the tears that so easily escaped her eyes.
******
Author's note: More to come on Nick's cell phone call…
Thanks for all your fantastic replies…in spite of begging, please,, please, please and please read and respond. Let me know what you think…Thanks! More drama to come… ;-)
