Disclaimer: CSI is awesome. But it's not mine. It's still awesome, but it's just not mine.
"I shop, sing at karaoke bars, and take photos."
Nick smiled. "Photos? What of?"
Valerie shrugged. "Skyscapes, cloudscapes, scenery... the sky, mostly." She smiled back at Nick. "Working on Day shift didn't exactly give me golden opportunities to photograph the sky during work hours, but it allowed for great sunsets and sunrises." She tied her hair back into a ponytail. "And you? What do you do in your spare time?"
Nick shone his torch around the inside of the kitchen cabinet, looking for the elusive bullet. "Oh, this and that."
Valerie laughed. "Ok, fine, be mysterious. I'll figure you out eventually."
"You sure about that?" Nick turned back to face his partner. "In one week?"
Val's expression went from coy to serious in a second. "You never know, Nick. You never know." She flicked through Matthew Hunter's mail, a frown forming as she concentrated on the case.
Nick allowed himself a small smile. She's something, he thought to himself. She's really something. I wonder if she'd like to have breakfast with me when our shift's over...
A cheery ring-tone started, somewhat muffled, from inside nearby Valerie. The red-haired CSI dropped the mail on the table and fumbled in her jacket pocket. She looked up at Nick, apologetically.
"Could I take this? It's important."
Nick shrugged. "Don't let me stop you."
Valerie headed just outside of the apartment before she answered. Nick couldn't see her, but could hear her every word. "Hello? Oh, hey! I've been meaning to call you!"
Nick paused in his search, suddenly suspicious. An important phonecall? Who could be calling her?
"How have you been? I'm great. Listen, I'm on a case right now... No, you're not disturbing me..."
Nick forced himself to look back under the sink. No, not disturbing her at all, go right ahead...
"Yeah, I know... I'll call you as soon as I'm on break..." Valerie's voice went serious. "On my honour, Your Honour." She laughed, a musical sound. "No, no, I'm not mocking you! I'd never mock you..."
I'm not hearing this...
"Yes, I know. Ok, ok... I have to go. No, really, I have to go! No, I'll call you. I promise! Yes, I know. I've missed you too."
Valerie is just taking a phonecall. She is not using gooey pet names, she is not giggling like a love-sick schoolgirl, therefore she can not be getting a call from her boyfriend.
"Alright. Ok. Goodnight. I love you too. Goodnight."
'I love you'? Nick felt his spirits sink a little. Well, what were you expecting, Nicky? A woman that fine not having a boyfriend? She's going to be back in Seattle in a week. Don't get involved - just keep your head down and do your damn job. Don't bother; you know she's untouchable. She's spoken for.
"Find anything?" Valerie came back into the apartment, smiling her default cheery smile. "Any sign of the missing bullet?"
"No." Nick said, a little sharply, refusing to look up.
Valerie paused, then shrugged. "Ok. But you know what I think? I think we should concentrate more on finding out who was in this apartment last, rather than what killed the hunter."
"And how are we supposed to do that?" Nick asked, remembering to be polite. Polite, but keeping his distance.
"Wig fibre. Stiletto heel marks in the floor. There's got to be some other evidence of a woman in here, right?" Valerie looked around, and mock-shuddered. "Though I can't really see this place being the ideal place to entertain a woman." She sighed. "I'm going to check the bathroom, see if I can find some lipstick stains or something."
Nick sighed. "Alright." He stood up and turned back to face where Matthew Hunter's body had been. If Matthew had been standing here, and the bullet tract had been angled like this... then the missing bullet should be...
An empty hole in the tiles above the sink stared back at him like an accusing eye. Nick blinked. How come I didn't see that before?
"Nick?" Valerie came up behind him, making him jump. "Sorry," she smiled, "I seem to be scaring you a lot lately."
Nick recovered, and pointed out the hole dug in the tiles. "There's the bullet-hole, but there's no bullet."
Valerie frowned and leant closer to get a better look. Her ponytail slid over her left shoulder. "Well, that's odd. A crime of passion isn't exactly foreword-planning-type of murder. Whoever our killer was, she knew what she as doing. She had this planned beforehand to every minute detail...." Valerie stood up, biting her lip. "Except for one thing."
Nick nonchalantly stepped back a little. "Like what?"
"There are wooden floors between the living room and the bathroom. If Miss Murderer was wearing her stilettos, there'd be holes in the floor, right?" Nick nodded, and Valerie added, "Well, there wasn't. And I'm guessing she was barefoot to ice Mr Hunter. I think she wore them in, then took them off somewhere between the door and the couch."
"So, what, we're looking for a pair of shoes?"
Valerie shrugged. "She may have taken them with her, she may not have. But it's a start."
Nick nodded. "I'll see what I can find."
Valerie frowned. "Nick, we're partners. We work together on this, remember?"
Nick nodded. "Yeah. I know."
Valerie frowned, but said nothing.
"Did you find anything in the bathroom? Makeup smears, toilet seat down, things like that?"
Valerie's frown smoothed itself out. "Not yet. I came to tell you about the shoes, remember? I'll go look now."
Nick headed for the entranceway, trying to tell himself to be a little more civil. Valerie was his partner, and they were working together in this case. That was all.
As far as Nick was concerned, Valerie was a no-go area.
She was pretty, though. Nick smiled at the elephant-foot umbrella-stand. And pretty smart. And she was a fellow Animal Planet junkie.
No, stop it. She's taken.
Three umbrellas in the umbrella-stand. Could one have them belonged to the killer? Nick took them out, one by one. A zebra print, a leopard print, and a plain black umbrella came out. Nick sighed. Either Matthew Hunter had a real animal fetish, or the killer brought two umbrellas with her. The trophies all over the apartment answered that question loud and clear. Nick threw the three umbrellas back into the elephant's foot with a sigh.
All the umbrellas were the same length, but the black one stuck out. Nick frowned, and tried to push it back in. It wouldn't go.
"Nothing," Valerie came back in. "Not even a smidgeon of blush powder. And I've never known a girl not to use the bathroom for a touch-up." She shook her head and set down her kit. "But there's nothing!"
Nick looked up. "Remember what you told me about elephants?"
"Of course," Valerie smiled, "How could I forget?"
Nick smiled at the pun, then reached into the umbrella-stand. "Well, I think you were right." He pulled out a pair of stiletto heels.
"How ironic." Val smirked. "Hide the things which made the footprints in the foot of something that doesn't leave footprints."
Nick examined the shoes a little closer. "I don't see any blood on the shoes..."
"She took them off before the carpet, remember?"
"But there is something here."
"Let me see." Valerie came over and held her hand out for the shoe. Nick pointed to a moist patch near the toes. Valerie smirked. "Blister. Whoever wore these wasn't used to wearing them." She paused, and frowned. "Can we get DNA out of blisters?"
Nick shrugged, then bagged the shoes. "We won't know until we try."
Valerie smiled at him. "Nice work."
Nick smiled back. "You too, Valerie."
"Call me Val."
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"Doctor, doctor, gimme the news."
"Stomach full of heart pills. The old guy OD'ed." Dr Robbins held up a metal tray for Warrick's inspection. "Some weren't even digested yet."
Warrick nodded, grim but triumphant. "I thought so."
"Care to share with me before you run off your report?"
Warrick nodded, "There was a victim, David Carson. There was a motive - he recently came into the money. And the suspects? All in the family. I liked the mother for this... she seemed really eager to get me out of there, and she didn't seem too concerned about her father-in-law's health. But when the clock went off while I was on the road, I got to thinking. Maybe it wasn't anyone's fault - maybe it was just an accident."
"I sense this clock was the killer."
Warrick nodded, and wryly continued. "The clock's timer was set to go off every four hours, according to the Carsons. But the clock goes off every half an hour. Someone changed the timer. One of the kids told me he and his brother were having 'turns' on their Nintendo. I think they were using the clock to tell when their turns were up, not knowing how important the clock was to their grandfather's health. It's not that hard to reprogram an alarm clock."
Robbins chuckled mirthlessly. "Accidental overdose."
Warrick shook his head. "I can still blame this on Mrs Carson... if I felt malicious. If it wasn't for her, Grandfather Carson wouldn't have been trained to take a pill whenever the alarm went off, and he wouldn't have OD'ed."
"Like a trained poodle, jumps when you give the word. Even if you put it at the edge of a cliff."
"Exactly."
A/N: Only a few chapters to go... now open: suggestion box for the next episode. And also, as always, the little review bar thingy down the bottom there is open. 24/7, like 7-11... only without those locks on the doors.