Warrick bounced his knee up and down as he waited for Ecklie to come into the interview room. Brass just looked at him feeling sorry for the whole team, Ecklie was waisting time while the real killer was getting away, but it was his investigation. Both Brass and Warrick looked up as Ecklie walked into the room.
"Mr Brown, you didn't work last night did you?" Ecklie asked as he sat down at the table
"No I had a court date scheduled for this morning so I had the night off to prepare" Warrick answered wondering where he was going with this.
"Funny, lab tech Hodges saw you leaving Supervisor Grissom's office around 7.10am" Ecklie mentioned as if it was nothing important
"Yeah, I was here last night I had forgotten to collect my tie from Nick, I stopped by Grissom's office to see if he had any more leads on the case I'd been working on with him and Catherine the previous shift" Warrick answered with hostility in his voice he didn't like Ecklie's accusing tones
"How is your gambiling problem going CSI Brown, I have it on good authority you were in the monte carlo last week. Is it possible Supervisor Grissom found out and he called you into his office, that maybe he was about to fire you, he'd saved your job before but maybe this time there was nothing he could do, you got angry stabbed him and left" Ecklie sneared at the last comment
"No, I didn't even see Grissom when I was at the lab last night, he wasn't in his office so I left" Warrick spat out angrily
"You really expect me to believe that after the amount of times he's saved you from being fired, I'd say you got angry that he wasn't willing to put his job on the line this time for you , god knows why he did it so many times before, It's ok Warrick you can tell me the way it really happened" Ecklie said in soothing tones
"You're a real piece of work, I'm going this interview is over." Warrick paced out the door .
Ecklie turned to Brass and asked "Was it something I said?"
Brass looked at him in disgust, "I'm off to get your next suspect, try to play nice"
Nick had already heard from Catherine and Warrick that Ecklie was playing dirty, so he had knew what to expect or so he told himself as he sat down at the interview table.
" CSI Stokes, you were the second person on the scene is that correct?" Ecklie asked
"Yes, Sir" he was going to give precise answers so that Ecklie had nothing to play with
"What alerted you to the scene?" Ecklie questioned
"Sara's scream" Nick answered in a sharp tone
"And when you arrived on the scene where was CSI Sidle?"
" Kneeling down by Grissom" Nick tried to shake the image out of his head.
"And what was the time between you hearing her scream and you getting to the door" Ecklie asked staring straight at Nick
"A minute, I was by the locker room when I heard it" Nick answered trying to work out the exact time it would take
" I hear you're a good CSI, but Grissom's always holding you back, shift was over why were you still at work? Was it because you were trying to impress him, must be hard when everybody else is favored by Grissom but you, must make you angry, I know I would be by now you should be doing lots of solo assignments, but looking at the record you've only done 5 in the last three months" Ecklie shifted his papers, and then moved his eyes back up at Nick.
"I had just finished a case I was about to head home, I would never kill Grissom just because he cares about how I can become a better CSI, in fact I like him for that" Nick stared right back at Ecklie
"How close are you and CSI Sidle?" Ecklie asked as if it was of no great relevance
"She's my colleague, and friend why?" Nick had taken the bait
"You sure it's not more than that, like you might do something for her but no one else like help her get rid of your supervisor, cover each other with an Alibi" Ecklie had stooped to a new low
"I don't like what you're insinuating, I wouldn't stab him to then try and save him, I don't think I have anything more to say to you, if you have any more questions you can reach me through Detective Brass" and with that Nick left out into the corridor.
Brass followed him out into the hallway.
"The nerve of that guy, did you hear him, Griss could die and all he could think of was whether or not I get to work Solo's, damn him" Nick released all the anger that had been building inside
"I know Nick I know" was all Brass could answer as he guided Nick towards the exit.