Chapter 3

Nick was bent over Catherine's shoulder chatting amicably about the information up on the computer screen in front of her as Greg stormed in. Nick'd been able to get a few hours sleep and felt much better.

"You look a little ragged there, Greg," Catherine commented looking at his mussed hair and slightly sunburnt face.

"There's no one around to care," he snapped back.

"Whoa. What's up your butt, dude?" Nick's retorted, his smile fading.

Greg sighed. "Nothing. Can we just get on with this?"

"Sure, Greg." Catherine turned back to the computer screen. "And just for the record...there are plenty of people around that might say something to Ecklie even with him on vacation, so I'll make this brief and then you need to hit the locker room."

"Fine."

"I've been scanning through our files and I found two more bodies that match your DB's back two and a half weeks before the first two I mentioned. These murders were processed by day shift which is why it didn't register on any of our radar. This means that the time frame between murders isn't consistent," Catherine explained.

"All drown, all strangled, all dumped on their front lawns. I'm surprised the press hasn't gotten a hold of this yet," Nick mused.

"I put a rush on the tox screen. All four of these guys had lethal levels of a sedative in their blood and trace amounts of alcohol. If your two do as well…then we have a match."

"Sedative? To keep them compliant?" Nick mused aloud.

"Probably," Catherine agreed.

"Strangled, drown and poisoned. Talk about overkill," Greg quipped.

Catherine rolled her eyes.

"What about the water in their lungs?"

"Traces of chlorine," Catherine smiled.

Nick nodded. "Pool water. Now all we have to do is find the right pool. Greg, the identity of the DB from this morning is Richard Fine. Why don't you start looking for a connection between the two recent murders and I'll see if I can link any of these past ones. Cool?"

"If you think I can handle it," Greg smarted off.

"Hey, we don't always get what we want," Nick quipped back but Greg didn't respond.

"Greg. Hit the locker room and then go get yourself some coffee," Catherine ordered. "I'll keep digging and see if I can find anymore bodies matching this MO."

"Fine," Greg said again as he stomped out.

"Cut him some slack. He had a date right after work so you may have interrupted things," Nick explained quietly to Catherine. "And that can cramp a guys style in more ways than one, if you know what I mean."

"Yeah, well, he needs to get over it. We have work to do," Catherine retorted solidly back at him. "You're social lives shouldn't effect your work."

"I hear you," Nick shoved his hands into the pocket of his tan Dockers. "I'll...ah...talk to him. After he's had some coffee."

"Good."

Nick found Greg slumped in a chair in the breakroom, changed into proper clothes, his hair slicked down, nursing a cup of his special coffee. "So...ya get caught with you pants down, didn't ya?" Nick smiled knowing from recent experience how irritating it could be.

"Can we just not talk about it?" Greg asked abruptly.

"Sure, Greg." Nick pulled up slightly on his pant legs and sat with elbows on knees. "I just know what it's like to be seriously in the middle of something...or someone...and have that phone ring. Happened to me just yesterday as a matter of fact. Takes a while to rev the engines back down. I understand. But Catherine's right, you have to be careful around here. Ecklie is jealous of our loyalty to Grissom and he loves to get at us. You don't want to end your career before it's really started."

"Maybe I'm just too immature for this job," Greg retorted taking a sip from the Styrofoam cup in his hand.

"I wouldn't say that," Nick stated seriously. "I've seen your work. It's top notch."

"Rumor has it that...someone...here at work is saying that," Greg worded his sentence carefully, looking Nick straight in the eye.

Nick snorted. "Then all they've ever seen of your work is you screwing around in the lab, having a good time at your job and they took it the wrong way. Anyone who knows you wouldn't say that." Nick met Greg's assessing gaze firmly.

"You wouldn't?" Greg asked.

"No." Nick stated firmly. "I wouldn't. Now can we get back to work before Catherine rips us a new one."

"Sure thing, Nick." Greg frowned. "Look. Sorry I overreacted. You were right. I was right in the middle of...something really nice...and I don't know how much longer she's going to put up with the interruptions."

Nick grimaced. "I hear ya. I got the same problem. So the sooner we crack this case the better off both our social lives will be."

Greg smiled. "Deal."

They spent the rest of the day tracking down leads and discovered that in all three cases the two men murdered were best friends, but they found no swimming pools to test the water sample against. Catherine, true to her word, managed to get them both out early with a promise, extracted from both of them, that they would go straight home and get some sleep...alone.

So it was two days before Nick finally got back to Bethany. She had him meet her at a different address instead of the hotel. It was a bit of a drive but it was a beautiful day so he didn't mind. He pulled up in his black Chevy Tahoe to a rather run down house with a neglected yard. It looked like it had been a rather nice ranch style home at one time but had seen better days. The lot was quite large. The nearest neighbor was at least half a mile away. At first he thought he had the wrong address but then he saw Bethany come bouncing around the corner. She waved at him, smiling brightly, her French-cut string bikini leaving little to his imagination. He eagerly leapt from his vehicle, pulling out his duffle bag as he did so.

"I have to go change," he called to her.

"Front door's unlocked," she called back. "I'm around back."

Nick took the front steps two at a time and went inside. There was a heavy coating of dust on everything. The large living room had sliding glass doors with large windows on either side. Through them he could see a rather well maintained swimming pool where Bethany was currently doing laps.

After trying several doors and finding the kitchen and a rec room, he found a bedroom in which to change. There were pictures of Bethany on the walls as a small child. He smiled at them. She'd been cute then as well.

Quickly he changed into his swim trunks and headed to the pool.

"Hey!" he called.

She swam to the side and climbed up the ladder. "Hey, yourself," she said wrapping her wet body around him. She kissed him quite thoroughly for several minutes.

Finally, he broke it off. "So what is this place? I saw the pictures of you in one of the bedrooms."

She smiled. "This was my parents place. When they died they left it to me. I don't like staying here because it's so far to commute but I keep the pool up. I like being able to come out here and have my privacy."

"Nice," Nick commented, grinning.

"I have another surprise for you too, if you want, but let's get back into the water." She led him over to a Jacuzzi area, under an awning. "Don't worry. The heat's not on," she told him as they stepped into it.

Lips and fingers then began some serious exploration, so it was a while before either of them spoke. Nick was quickly back to needing to adjust his trunks again but Bethany seemed turned on by him so much that it didn't matter. His brain was pleasantly fogged over with the pleasure of warm skin on skin when his ears picked up a noise like a car pulling into the driveway out front.

Suddenly, Bethany pulled away slightly. "How would you feel about a threesome?" she asked boldly.

Nick's brain stuttered at the quick left turn of thought. He'd been definitely contemplating a twosome coming together any minute now, but this... He quickly glanced around. "Ah...that's not exactly what I had in mind. Um...I mean...I'm game for a lot of things, but I guess I'm a little old fashioned when it comes to things like that."

Bethany pulled away from him, pouting. "Greg said you'd say that."

"Greg!" Nick spit. "What do you mean, Greg!"

"I ran into him at the grocery store yesterday. We got to talking and since you guys are such good friends, I thought it might be a lot of fun." She trailed a long finger up Nick's leg. "Greg said you'd be too arrogant to agree to it. But I told him I'd convince you."

"Arrogant?" Nick frowned. "I don't think I'm..."

Her fingers reached their destination and Nick grabbed her wrist to stop the competing input to his brain.

"Yeah, arrogant. He said that even though you're friends, you shut him out. That you think of him more as a boy than a man. That you'd never go for sharing me with him even if I really...really...wanted to."

"No! That's not…" Nick started to deny her words.

Her other hand grabbed him through his trunks.

"Whoa!" Nick shouted as he leapt to his feet. "I'm not into this!"

He spotted Greg standing near the corner of the house looking incredibly wounded and angry.