"There will be no need for ass kicking." Nick glanced at Warrick before
turning back to me. "I have no intention of hurting Ms. Sidle here."
"Good." I giggled and then leaned up to kiss him again.
"What in the hell?!" Catherine chose that moment to arrive. From the words that came out of her mouth, I surmised that she was more than a little shocked at what she saw.
As Nick and I stepped apart and I glanced over toward where Catherine stood in the doorway, my suspicions were confirmed by the expression on her face. She had disbelief written all over it.
Nick grinned at her widely. "Hey, Catherine."
"Nick." She just shook her head and finally a wry smile began to spread across her face. "Sara." I think she was still trying to process what she'd witnessed. "When did this happen?"
Nick grinned like the cat that ate the proverbial canary and slung his arm over my shoulder. "A couple of days ago."
I glanced at Nick and then giggled when I realized that once again, he had traces of my lipstick on his mouth. I made a mental note to think about changing colors as I reached up to wipe it off. He glanced at me and grinned.
"Have you told Grissom yet?" Catherine queried with a hint of concern.
Nick looked like he was about to say something when Grissom walked into the break room. "Has who told me what?" He looked at Catherine curiously and then glanced over at Nick and I. It took him a moment to process the fact that Nick's arm was around my shoulder. There was a barely perceptible movement of Grissom's eyebrows as he looked directly at me.
Nick cleared his throat and tightened his grip on my shoulders slightly. "Sara and I are dating."
I tried to restrain the smile that wanted to spread across my face at Nick's protective and possessive gesture.
"Oh." Grissom's expression reflected professionalism. "I trust you two will keep your personal life outside the lab."
"As always." I looked directly at Grissom as I replied. I could feel Nick's thumb caressing my shoulder and I knew that he knew I was relieved that Grissom didn't seem intent on splitting us up on cases.
The briefing at the beginning of shift was uneventful. Nick and I still had our case to pursue and Grissom assigned Warrick to help us. I wasn't sure if it was because things were slow, or if he wanted someone to keep an eye on us. In either case, we needed the extra help and hopefully with a fresh set of eyes on the case, we might find a new lead or catch a break we wouldn't have otherwise gotten.
Warrick had finished processing the shoe print we had lifted from the crime scene and had finally narrowed down what type of shoe it had come from. They were Lucchese boots. A very expensive high end custom handmade brand of cowboy boots. No two pairs were alike because each one was custom made to fit the wearer's foot. In fact they could take up to two months to complete from the time they were ordered. We just needed to find out if any had been sold to anyone in Vegas in the last year or so. Warrick had determined that the boots were most likely fairly new, because the wear pattern indicated that the boots hadn't been worn much.
The three of us began calling on every western wear store in the Vegas area. Dumb luck must have been with us, because the fourth store we went to had sold quite a few pairs in the last year and when we asked the manager if the name Franklin Pierce rang any bells, the man replied that he remembered selling him two pairs of the custom made boots, and that fact made him stand out in his mind. We showed him the class photo from the Citizen's Patrol class and he pointed right at him without being prompted.
Based on the size of boot sold to our suspect and the print found at the scene, it seemed that for the first time we had something solid, they were the same size. If we could find the boots and connect them to Franklin Pierce, we could place him at the crime scene.
I'm not sure if the word giddy is the right one, but we were definitely excited that the investigation seemed to still be going forward. The three of us decided to stop for something to eat on the way back to the lab and settled on the diner that was just a couple of blocks away from the lab.
Warrick seemed to be studying me as he sat across the booth from Nick and I. "So what do you see in this guy anyway, Sidle."
I couldn't help but grin, glancing at Nick before turning back to Warrick. "He is cute."
Warrick chuckled.
Nick just put his arm around my shoulder and a satisfied smile spread across his face.
I rested my hand on Nick's thigh and smiled. "Seriously, though, Warrick, what's not to like? He's one of the most genuine people I know."
Warrick nodded good naturedly. "Just remember, if he does anything to hurt you, I'll kick his ass."
Nick raised his eyebrows in mock indignation. "What if she hurts me?"
Warrick laughed. "Then you probably deserve it."
I giggled and patted Nick on the chest. "Ah, poor, Nicky." I leaned up to kiss him and I could feel him smile against my lips.
Warrick cleared his throat. "As special as all this is, we still have a case to work." He was clearly amused, but I could tell if we started to get too affectionate in front of him, he wouldn't be hanging out with us much.
After finishing our meals we headed back to the lab and decided to try and divide and conquer. Warrick contacted the boot maker to see if any of our suspect's aliases had also made purchases. He also requested records of identical measurements, just in case when everything panned out, that someone else might have been responsible. Nick had gotten all of the credit card records of the suspect and was trying to see if any sort of pattern emerged. As for me, I went back to the other victim, Mr. Williams. I thought that if we looked a little deeper into his background we might yield something we hadn't seen before.
I hadn't gotten very far into it when I noticed something. I immediately went in search of Nick. I found him in one of the layout rooms pouring over the credit card records. He looked up when I entered the room and smiled.
I wasn't wearing a smile on my face, however, and his expression changed to concern. "We have a problem."
He tilted his head slightly and looked at me curiously. "What is it?"
"Mr. Williams was something of a connoisseur of boots. Lucchese boots in particular. And guess what size he wore?" I was beginning to feel irritated.
Nick let out a deep breath. "The same size as our suspect Mr. Pierce."
"Exactly." I replied.
"Same foot measurement too." Warrick had come up behind me and had overheard me filling Nick in on what I had found.
I glanced at Warrick and then at Nick again. "Have we tested Mr. William's DNA against our other victim or our suspect?"
Both of them looked at me quizzically. Warrick was the one who asked the question. "You think that the suspect is related somehow."
I nodded. "Call it a gut feeling, but I don't think that the fact their feet are exactly the same measurement is a coincidence. I have a feeling that this case is going to get a little bit stranger before it's over."
Nick nodded. "Let's go get Greg to run the tests." He stood up and the three of us made our way to the DNA lab to have Greg compare the DNA of our suspect against that of our victims.
"What in the hell?!" Catherine chose that moment to arrive. From the words that came out of her mouth, I surmised that she was more than a little shocked at what she saw.
As Nick and I stepped apart and I glanced over toward where Catherine stood in the doorway, my suspicions were confirmed by the expression on her face. She had disbelief written all over it.
Nick grinned at her widely. "Hey, Catherine."
"Nick." She just shook her head and finally a wry smile began to spread across her face. "Sara." I think she was still trying to process what she'd witnessed. "When did this happen?"
Nick grinned like the cat that ate the proverbial canary and slung his arm over my shoulder. "A couple of days ago."
I glanced at Nick and then giggled when I realized that once again, he had traces of my lipstick on his mouth. I made a mental note to think about changing colors as I reached up to wipe it off. He glanced at me and grinned.
"Have you told Grissom yet?" Catherine queried with a hint of concern.
Nick looked like he was about to say something when Grissom walked into the break room. "Has who told me what?" He looked at Catherine curiously and then glanced over at Nick and I. It took him a moment to process the fact that Nick's arm was around my shoulder. There was a barely perceptible movement of Grissom's eyebrows as he looked directly at me.
Nick cleared his throat and tightened his grip on my shoulders slightly. "Sara and I are dating."
I tried to restrain the smile that wanted to spread across my face at Nick's protective and possessive gesture.
"Oh." Grissom's expression reflected professionalism. "I trust you two will keep your personal life outside the lab."
"As always." I looked directly at Grissom as I replied. I could feel Nick's thumb caressing my shoulder and I knew that he knew I was relieved that Grissom didn't seem intent on splitting us up on cases.
The briefing at the beginning of shift was uneventful. Nick and I still had our case to pursue and Grissom assigned Warrick to help us. I wasn't sure if it was because things were slow, or if he wanted someone to keep an eye on us. In either case, we needed the extra help and hopefully with a fresh set of eyes on the case, we might find a new lead or catch a break we wouldn't have otherwise gotten.
Warrick had finished processing the shoe print we had lifted from the crime scene and had finally narrowed down what type of shoe it had come from. They were Lucchese boots. A very expensive high end custom handmade brand of cowboy boots. No two pairs were alike because each one was custom made to fit the wearer's foot. In fact they could take up to two months to complete from the time they were ordered. We just needed to find out if any had been sold to anyone in Vegas in the last year or so. Warrick had determined that the boots were most likely fairly new, because the wear pattern indicated that the boots hadn't been worn much.
The three of us began calling on every western wear store in the Vegas area. Dumb luck must have been with us, because the fourth store we went to had sold quite a few pairs in the last year and when we asked the manager if the name Franklin Pierce rang any bells, the man replied that he remembered selling him two pairs of the custom made boots, and that fact made him stand out in his mind. We showed him the class photo from the Citizen's Patrol class and he pointed right at him without being prompted.
Based on the size of boot sold to our suspect and the print found at the scene, it seemed that for the first time we had something solid, they were the same size. If we could find the boots and connect them to Franklin Pierce, we could place him at the crime scene.
I'm not sure if the word giddy is the right one, but we were definitely excited that the investigation seemed to still be going forward. The three of us decided to stop for something to eat on the way back to the lab and settled on the diner that was just a couple of blocks away from the lab.
Warrick seemed to be studying me as he sat across the booth from Nick and I. "So what do you see in this guy anyway, Sidle."
I couldn't help but grin, glancing at Nick before turning back to Warrick. "He is cute."
Warrick chuckled.
Nick just put his arm around my shoulder and a satisfied smile spread across his face.
I rested my hand on Nick's thigh and smiled. "Seriously, though, Warrick, what's not to like? He's one of the most genuine people I know."
Warrick nodded good naturedly. "Just remember, if he does anything to hurt you, I'll kick his ass."
Nick raised his eyebrows in mock indignation. "What if she hurts me?"
Warrick laughed. "Then you probably deserve it."
I giggled and patted Nick on the chest. "Ah, poor, Nicky." I leaned up to kiss him and I could feel him smile against my lips.
Warrick cleared his throat. "As special as all this is, we still have a case to work." He was clearly amused, but I could tell if we started to get too affectionate in front of him, he wouldn't be hanging out with us much.
After finishing our meals we headed back to the lab and decided to try and divide and conquer. Warrick contacted the boot maker to see if any of our suspect's aliases had also made purchases. He also requested records of identical measurements, just in case when everything panned out, that someone else might have been responsible. Nick had gotten all of the credit card records of the suspect and was trying to see if any sort of pattern emerged. As for me, I went back to the other victim, Mr. Williams. I thought that if we looked a little deeper into his background we might yield something we hadn't seen before.
I hadn't gotten very far into it when I noticed something. I immediately went in search of Nick. I found him in one of the layout rooms pouring over the credit card records. He looked up when I entered the room and smiled.
I wasn't wearing a smile on my face, however, and his expression changed to concern. "We have a problem."
He tilted his head slightly and looked at me curiously. "What is it?"
"Mr. Williams was something of a connoisseur of boots. Lucchese boots in particular. And guess what size he wore?" I was beginning to feel irritated.
Nick let out a deep breath. "The same size as our suspect Mr. Pierce."
"Exactly." I replied.
"Same foot measurement too." Warrick had come up behind me and had overheard me filling Nick in on what I had found.
I glanced at Warrick and then at Nick again. "Have we tested Mr. William's DNA against our other victim or our suspect?"
Both of them looked at me quizzically. Warrick was the one who asked the question. "You think that the suspect is related somehow."
I nodded. "Call it a gut feeling, but I don't think that the fact their feet are exactly the same measurement is a coincidence. I have a feeling that this case is going to get a little bit stranger before it's over."
Nick nodded. "Let's go get Greg to run the tests." He stood up and the three of us made our way to the DNA lab to have Greg compare the DNA of our suspect against that of our victims.