Thanks to everyone who reviewed it. Mucho apprecitated. This one is longer, I think. And Krazy, the Greg Angst will be coming very soon, just have to do a few things first. lol. Just wait and see, and the drama will be laid upon thou!
Chapter 2
In the city, you can't see the stars. But once you're out of it and into the desert, you can see hundreds of them. You can see how they shine all night, even when you're not smiling. You can see how they make pictures in the sky. Nick noticed things like that. He noticed the little things in life.
Catherine was driving the SUV to the scene. Neither spoke to each other, so Nick gazed out the window at the star-speckled sky. When he was younger, he would look out his bedroom window at the stars when his parents argued. He would look for a shooting star and wish on it; that his parents would stop arguing.
The large vehicle stopped moving. Nick looked over at Catherine and then opened the door. He clutched his case and walked over to Brass. Brass turned around and met Nick's eyes. Something was in Brass' eyes. He had the same look in his eyes when one of their own was lost. For a moment, neither spoke. Brass then broke the silence to give him some information.
"22-year old female. Intern at the governor's office. Name is Shelley Kingswood. The officer was 26 years old. Name is Joseph Black. Just joined the force a year ago. Weapon of choice was a 9mm, a glock. Found some rope nearby. Most likely a shoot and dump job," said Brass, with a hint of sadness in his voice.
'Thanks," said Nick in his smooth Texan accent.
He walked near one of the dead bodies, where he found Catherine kneeling down and taking pictures. A flash went off with every click of the button. It lit up the dull features of the dead body; Shelley Kingswood's body.
There was a single gunshot wound in her, through the heart. Blood had seeped through the hole and had dried on the shirt. The blood had turned in an ugly shade of brown. There were deep ligature marks around her wrists. Nick was thinking someone had grabbed her or tied something around the wrists.
"Cath, look," Nick said, pointing to her wrists.
"Could be from the rope over there," Catherine noted, nodding towards the rope a few yards away. She snapped the camera a couple of times near the girl's wrists.
They move on from the body over to the stray piece of rope. Nick put down a marker and Catherine took a picture. Nick picked up the rope to take a closer look at it. He found something on it: hair. And something else.
"Is that blood?" asked Catherine, looking over Nick's shoulder.
"I don't know. And there's a hair. I'll bag it and Greg can run it through," Nick said.
They bagged the rope and went on to the next body. The body was the officer's. He was lying in a different position than that of the girl: he was kneeling. A rope was wrapped around his neck like a noose. And his throat was slit. The very sight was gruesome.
"It looks like someone had it for officers," said Catherine.
"Yeah," Nick said softly and then turned away.
Nick dealt with dead bodies all the time. But this time it was different. He knew the officer. The sight of the officer kneeling to die wanted to make Nick be sick. He walked away from the dead body, leaving a very confused Catherine behind. She ran to catch up with him. He was sitting down away from the dead body. Catherine came over by him and sat down.
"Nicky, what's wrong?" she asked.
"I know him," said Nick in a dull voice.
"What?" Catherine said, very surprised.
"I know him," Nick repeated.
"I caught that," she said, "But how?"
"Just a friend," he said.
"Nick, you shouldn't work the case."
"I'll get over. I'll be fine."
"Talk to Grissom when we get back. He'll have a say in this." Nick got up and walked to the body.
"Fine," he said, giving in to Catherine's request of talking to Grissom, although he had a bad feeling that he still wouldn't be able to work the case.