.backtracking.

Central Park
Monday, July 19th

Munch and Fin stood near two teenagers who were sitting on a park bench while they recovered from what they had seen. The girl's face was red and tear streaked as she buried in her boyfriend's chest, clutching at him as though to assure herself he was alive and not dead like the corpse they had unfortunately found. He rubbed her back slowly in comfort as he talked to the detectives. "We were just walking through the park when we found her. Wish we never had too."

"Those bushes are out of the way," Fin said. "Why'd you two go over there?"

"We went off to get a little privacy, you know." The teenage looked slightly embarrassed.

"And how old are you two?" Munch looked disapprovingly at the couple over the rims of his glasses.

"Well, I'm seventeen and she's, uh…" he stumbled for a moment, "seventeen too."

"I see." Munch made a point of looking at a notepad he had in his hand. "Well, there must be some kind of mistake here because according to the police officers who arrived on the scene, your girlfriend here is fifteen."

The teen's face fell and he exclaimed in a panicked voice, "Oh man, please don't tell her parents or anything! They don't know we're going out and her dad, he's crazy! He'd totally flip out and wail on both of us! I'd never get to see her again!"

"Much as I disapprove of your relationship, there's really nothing we can do about it. We have no evidence concerning your intentions once you got behind those bushes." Munch paused for a moment before continuing in a caustic tone, "Although next time you might want to consider a place with a bed. It's a little more comfortable."

Fin gave his partner a look then said, "You have a car or do you need an officer to take you home?"

The boy drew himself up as though to recover his dignity in the act. "I can drive us. I've got a car."

"Good." Fin and Munch left the teens and walked over to meet Olivia and Elliot who were heading towards them from where they had been inspecting the body.

"What'd they see?" Elliot called out.

Fin shook his head. "Nothing, by the time they found the body, the perp was long gone."

Olivia shook her head angrily. "Damn. Do we have any idea of who she is?"

"No I.D. but one of the cops gave me this." Fin showed them an evidence bag containing a ticket stub to a club. "It's dated last night. Found a couple a feet away from the girl. I'm thinkin' we should head over there with a picture and see if it jogs anyone's memory."

Elliot nodded, giving them a Polaroid taken of the girl's face. "You go do that. Liv and I will finish up here then go tell the Cap'n what we've found. Also, there were numbers carved into the victim's legs. It looks like some kinda code but neither of us can figure it. We're gonna show it to Huang and see if he can make some sense out of it."

.break.

Munch and Fin got out of their car. Munch looked at the building appraisingly. "Nice place," he commented as they walked towards the door.

His partner nodded. "It's gotta cost an arm and a leg to get in here."

Munch glanced at him. "Do I detect a hint of resentment in your voice?"

"I haven't been in one of these places in months," Fin replied, declining to elaborate on whether it was his schedule or money situation that didn't allow him to go clubbing with the rest of New York. He flashed his badge at an employee who was cleaning up the building and she wiped her hands off on a clean rag as they approached her and Fin introduced them. "I'm Detective Tutuola and this is my partner, Detective Munch. Can you tell us who was lettin' people into your club last night?"

The woman eyed them testily. "What's this about?"

"We have reason to believe that a murder victim came here last night." Munch showed her the photo of the girl. "Recognize her?"

She shook her head. "No, I'm not good with faces. You're gonna wanna talk to Greg. He's over there." She pointed to a tall, burly man lifting up chairs and setting them upside-down to rest on the tables.

"Thanks." They walked over to Greg who kept working as he asked them, "What do you wanna know, officers?"

"She come here last night?" Fin replied as Munch showed him the photo.

Greg stopped to look at the picture. His bushy eyebrows shifted as he glowered at the picture in thought. "Yeah, I think so. First time I saw her here though."

"Isn't she kind of young to be allowed into an establishment that serves alcohol?" Munch asked. Although his tone was friendly, the accusation was still evident.

"Yeah, I thought so too, but the guy she was with gave me her I.D. and it looked legit so I had to let 'em in. You know how it goes. Nothing I could do." Greg shrugged.

Fin and Munch pounced on the new information, Munch quickly inquiring, "She was with someone?"

Greg nodded. "Yeah, one of our regulars."

"What's his name?" Fin asked.

"I don't think I'm supposed to tell you that." Greg turned his back to the detectives and starting putting the chairs on the tables again.

"Hey, listen, man!" Fin snapped angrily. He grabbed the man's shirt and turned Greg to look him in the eye. "This girl is dead and your man is probably the last guy who saw her alive. Help us out here." Greg stared at Fin sullenly as the black detective finally let go of his shirt in an irritated manner, obviously disgusted by the man's apathy towards the dead girl. "C'mon, Munch. Let's get outta here. This guy ain't gonna be any help," Fin growled.

He was turning to go when he heard a muttered, "Brad, Brad Sinclair," spoken by the man behind him.

"What?" He turned back to look at Greg. "Brad Sinclair?"

"Yeah, that's him. Though don't tell my manager or anyone I told you." Greg glanced around skittishly. "He brings us a lot of business, not all of it legit, ya know? Like with the girl."

"He make fake I.D.s?" Greg didn't reply but a slight, yet visible, flinch let Fin know he had struck the nail on the head.

"Can you give us his credit card information or-" Munch began to ask but Greg cut him off with a sharp gesture.

"Look, just giving you his name could get me in deep shit. Don't push me for anything else." Greg went back to putting up chairs, communicating to the detectives that he would say no more.

"Well, thanks for the name," Fin said, motioning to Munch that it was time for them to go. As they walked out of the club, Fin's phone rang and he picked it up. "Tutuola… all right. We'll be right there." He hung up.

"What was that about?" Munch asked his partner with a slight impatient tone to his voice.

Fin's smile was small but it was triumphant. "That was CSU. They said they found the girl's I.D. at the scene and are checkin' it for fingerprints."