Part 5

Willow followed Grissom down the corridor back towards the lab and his office.  Her mind was whirling with all the information that she'd just received. She prayed to every deity that she could think of that Grissom's friend in the thinktank would come up with a reason for James Mitchell to have aged.  Even if it turned out Hellmouth-y in the end Willow wanted a scientific explanation so she wouldn't have to let Grissom and the others know there was a supernatural side to Las Vegas.  Or if they already knew about the demon side, not to let them know about her friends and their involvement with it.  That's not a secret you tell unless you absolutely have to.  Willow didn't think that Buffy would have told Riley about it if they hadn't met while trying to defeat the Gentlemen. She knew she wouldn't have told Tara about it.

Tara.  Her heart clinched at the thought of Tara.  They had just begun exploring their new relationship when a werewolf had attacked her.  At first Willow had thought it was Oz but it turned out that Oz had been in Tibet at the time. She still, after all these years, felt guilt over Tara's death.  Tara had been coming to see her about a spell that she thought would defeat that week's big bad.  If Tara hadn't known about Willow's involvement with the Slayer she wouldn't have become involved either and she might still be alive.  Her death had been one of the reasons Willow had switched majors from computers to Biology.  Sure she'd always been a science geek and had actually tried to be a doctor when she and Xander played doctor as kids but Tara's death and being a first hand witness to what Crime Lab Forensics did as they investigated a suspicious death had peeked her interest and she'd never looked back.

Gil's voice brought her out of her thoughts.  "I'll be in my office if you find a match for the prints."

Crap.  She'd forgotten about that with everything else on her mind.  "I almost forgot.  Nick found a match on a set of prints in his vic's comp room.  It was James Mitchell."

Gil stopped in the doorway to his office and turned back to look at Willow.  "James Mitchell?"

"Yep.  It looks like the threads are spreading wider."

"Or growing tighter.  See if you can find out what connections James Mitchell had with Charles Evanovich."

Willow nodded her response.  Maybe Buffy could shed light on any connections if they existed beyond casual acquaintance.  If the coroner ruled James Mitchell's death natural (or supernatural) causes Buffy would no longer be assigned to it.  There were too many homicides in the Vegas area to waste taxpayers' money on a case that didn't look suspicious.  But she'd have access to other's reports and maybe can do some digging. A slight smile graced her features at the thought of Buffy doing research for her. She'd have to tease her and start calling her research girl.

Willow heard Warrick and Nick's voices in the break room so she headed that way instead of the lab.

"Sara, you can't be serious."  Warrick gave a slight smile as he shook his head.

"What? Is this like that case where you thought the old lady died from spontaneous combustion?  Are you saying that James Mitchell spontaneously aged?"  Nick couldn't keep the laughter from his voice.

"Real funny, Nick."  Sara rolled her eyes, "I'm just saying that it looks suspicious and aren't you the least bit curious as to why someone young seemingly looked old?  Rumor has it that the bone density and teeth are those of an old man."

Nick glanced over at Willow as she entered the room and winked before he turned back to Sara.  "I can see it now, Sara Sidle discovers spontaneous aging really exists. Of course that's probably the headlines across the National Enquirer instead of the AMA Medical Journal but hey it's headlines right?" Nick couldn't contain his laughter any longer.

Willow warily came further into the room and considered Sara. She had a look of determination on her face that Willow recognized all too well.  With a sinking heart Willow realized that Sara wore her 'Resolve Face' and probably wouldn't let this drop. She wouldn't be close to the case since it wasn't assigned to her but Willow didn't doubt that Sara would keep abreast to what happened.

With a twinkle in his eye Warrick asked Willow, "So what's your theory concerning the spontaneous aging victim?"

"Grissom's checking with a friend of his that works for a genetic thinktank but other than that I couldn't tell you what happened.  Dr. Robbins is thinking of doing more research."

"See!" Sara interrupted, "Both Gris and Alfred think something's suspicious."

"I wouldn't go that far, Sara.  Sounds like Gris is just calling in an expert and Alfred hasn't seen something like this before so he's researching." Warrick said with a smile.

"Yeah, yeah you keep telling yourself that Warrick.  Remember those cases where the victims died of blood loss. I seem to recall Nick mentioning something about 'The Lost Boys' and vampires.  If memory serves you and Nick even went so far as to go to a Vampire rave where kids wanted to become vampires."

Warrick's grin grew to a broad smile.  "Yeah, I seem to be stuck with partners that think that urban legends are a reality.  First you with the spontaneous combustion theory and then Nick with his Vampires.  Though I think I remember there was this kid at the Rave that even went so far as to have gone to a dentist to get some of his teeth ground to a point. Any vampire raves in LA, Willow?"  

"Oh you'd be surprised at the number of places that claimed to be 'demon bars'."  She had learned long ago to stick as close to the truth as possible when telling others about the exciting nightlife in LA.  Hoping to change the subject Willow turned to Nick, "Did my slides get a match while I was in the autopsy room?"

Sara grinned and realized she now had ammunition with which to tease Nick more. She loved the look he'd had on his face when she and Warrick were talking about his vampire case. He'd STILL hadn't lived that one down.  "Gee, Nick if I'd known that you'd do lab work for others I'd have had you do the fiber sample that I brought in from my MIA. Or is it only pretty redheads that you do that for?"

Nick noticed that Willow's cheeks turned a becoming pink and filed the information away for later that Willow looked even cuter when she blushed. "Why? Thinking of dyeing your hair red if I said yes?" He waggled his eyebrows at Sara.

Willow smiled at Sara and Nick's teasing, they reminded her of Buffy, Xander and herself on a patrol night. They still got together and patrolled on their nights off. Since there wasn't a Hellmouth in Vegas the vamps weren't as prevalent here as they were in Sunnydale.  Vegas reminded Willow of LA where demons cashed in on the humans' vices instead of trying to make the world hell on earth…literally.

He turned back to Willow, "Sorry, the computer came up empty… but Warrick did happen to get a statement from one of the hotel's employees.  I called him after the computer came up with the Mitchell match and it seems the young Mr. Mitchell was befriended by our Charles Evanovich his last night."

"How did Evanovich die?" Sara asked as she processed this new development in the aging case.

"Well not by spontaneous aging," Warrick said with a smile. "He took a bullet to the head."

"What type of weapon?"

"We found casings from a berretta. We're checking to see if Mitchell owned one."

Catherine stuck her head in the break room, "Oh good, I was looking for you guys. Warrick, did you guys find a pawn ticket or a receipt from Joker's Wild in the vic's room or on him?"

"No, why?"

"Seems Charles Evanovich was a regular customer at the Pawn Shop. I was looking through the owner's database and there he was."

"Was James Mitchell in the database?" Willow asked Catherine and hoped the answer was no.

"Nope but a Benjamin McKim was a frequent customer. We're looking for him now to ask him some questions."

Before Willow could ask anything Grissom came hurrying down the hallway. "Come on, we've got another one. Another victim's been found like Mitchell."

Willow made a mental note to call Giles at the first opportunity.