Chapter Four
A while later, Nick and Warrick sat in the break room. They were trying to make sense of all the information, or lack thereof, that they had gathered from their interviews.
Warrick sat at the table, reclining a bit in his chair. "Okay, so we've established that the group fell apart after high school, which may or may not have a relevance to our case, and the dissolution of the group may or may not have a connection with the Jack and Rebekah fall out."
Warrick rubbed his forehead. He could sense that a headache was about to hit him, a thought which only increased his frustration. The lack of a substantial lead in their case was annoying him. Surely there had to be something that they were missing.
He continued to massage his forehead as Catherine made her way into the break room. She headed over to the fridge and began to dig around in it, searching for the sandwich she had brought with her when she came on shift.
Nick sat on the couch, hugging one of its cushions. "Well, one thing we know is that the group wasn't as close as it appeared to be. There seemed to be two distinctive sides and Jack was the one that bridged the gap between them, which I'm guessing he did because he was in love with Rebekah Prescott."
"Okay, I'll buy that. It seemed like it was Freddie versus Linton and Victoria versus Rebekah, while no one appeared to have any problem with Stella. It makes sense to me why Freddie didn't like Linton. Freddie was a super-jock and Linton was a wimpy nerd. What I don't get is all the animosity Victoria had, and apparently still has, for Rebekah. She painted Rebekah as a black-hearted villain bent on the emotional destruction of Jack Moyer. That doesn't seem to jive with what the others said about her. It even contradicts Freddie's account. So which one's accurate?" Warrick threw up a hand in confusion.
Behind him, Catherine let out a derisive snort.
"You got something to say, Cath?" Warrick asked, turning in his seat to fix the red-head with a stare.
"Let me see if I get this straight. You've got this man, Jack, who's in love with Rebekah and Victoria hates her for no apparent reason?" Catherine asked, resting a slender hand on her hip.
"Yeah." Warrick confirmed.
"My dear boys, your girl Victoria is most likely suffering from what I like to call the Jealous Woman Syndrome. She's in love with Jack and can't stand it that he's picked Rebekah over her, but instead of hating the man who rejected her, she hates the object of his affection." Catherine said with a smile.
Warrick and Nick looked at each other, both realizing instantly that Catherine's analysis of the situation was correct.
"You're amazing, Cath. You waltz in here, listen to a minute's worth of our conversation, and figure it out. How do you that?" Nick asked in amazement.
She walked over to him and patted his cheek. "I'm a woman, Nicky. Nobody diagnoses Jealous Woman Syndrome better than one who has suffered it."
Throwing them a sassy smile from over her shoulder, Catherine walked out of the room with her sandwich in hand.
"Well that makes sense. I'm now inclined to believe that Victoria's assessment of the Jack and Rebekah relationship was slightly skewed." Nick gave a small laugh which turned into a sigh. He felt like he was beating his head against a brick wall. They didn't appear to be making any headway in this case.
Warrick rested his elbows on the table, considering whether or not to bring up the thought that had occurred to him a while ago. Finally, he spoke up. "Okay, so it seems that Jack was in love with Rebekah, but Rebekah wouldn't date him even though I think she was in love with him too. That had to be pretty frustrating for our boy - to be in love with a girl who felt the same way and yet wouldn't act on her feelings. What if Jack tried to force the issue with Rebekah?"
Warrick looked at Nick expectantly, wondering what his partner would have to say about this.
"What? You think he raped her?" Nick asked, leaning forward a bit. The thought had crossed his mind as well, but he wanted to let Warrick finish his thoughts before expressing his own.
"Yeah, maybe. Depends on how frustrated he was, I guess. Maybe it never got that far though. If he was trying to pressure her to have sex, that'd be enough to drive a good, church-going girl like Rebekah away." Warrick mused.
"I will admit that a similar idea crossed my mind, but look at the way she talked about Jack. She said he was a dear friend. If he had tried to rape her or force her to have sex, would she refer to him like that? She made it sound like everything was fine between them." Nick said, tossing the pillow aside.
"Maybe she lied. Maybe she finally decided to get her revenge on him. Maybe that's why she came back to the reunion." Warrick said.
Nick looked at his partner in disbelief. "You really think a girl like that is capable of murder?"
"Anyone's capable of anything. This job taught me that." Warrick answered knowingly.
"No way." Nick shook his head firmly. "I don't buy it. She's not our killer."
"I'm not saying she is. I'm just saying that she could be and we shouldn't dismiss her because she goes to church." Warrick sighed.
A frustrated silence fell between them. Typically, the men followed a similar train of thought when it came to dealing with potential suspects. This time though, they seemed to be able to agree on hardly anything when it came to their suspects.
"Okay, say Jack raped Rebekah or tried to or was forcing himself on her or something like that. Maybe someone else knew about it and maybe that person is the one who killed Jack." Nick suggested.
"That person would have to be someone who cared enough about Rebekah to avenge her like that. I think we can rule out Freddie McFarlane and Victoria Winston, so we're left with Linton Elwell and Stella Barnes." Warrick seemed to be liking Nick's thought.
"I agree and I know who I want to talk to first." Nick said with a knowing look.
Warrick nodded in agreement. "Linton Elwell. I already said that I thought he fit your original profile of the shooter. Maybe he decided to play the avenging hero or maybe Freddie was right about Linton. Maybe he got tired of living in his shadow. Either way, it's worth checking out."
Nick stopped in to use the restroom before heading to Linton's home. As he washed his hands, he caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror. Unbidden, Victoria Winston's words rang in his head.
"The jocks are still reveling in their glory days; the popular kids are still the center of attention; the wannabes are still trying to achieve that which they never will; and the nerds are still getting picked on by those cooler than them. High School is the place where most people are first labeled by their peer group and I believe that label sticks. It's with us for the rest of our lives and defines who we are."
Suddenly, he saw his fifteen year-old self reflected back at him in the mirror with all of his insecurities exposed. Was he still the same scrawny boy scrambling to prove himself as more than just a name?
In high school, he had been dependable because that's what he was supposed to be. The Stokes' were dependable. They were hard workers, loyal, goal-oriented, but always dependable. That was what was expected of him, so that's what he was. He thought it would please his parents, teachers, and friends if that's the way he was - someone you could always count on.
But at the same time, there had been this small part of him that rebelled against that idea. Not the concept of always being dependable, but the idea that he should be dependable because he was a Stokes. It's not that he wanted to let people down. On the contrary, he had enjoyed being someone that others could count on, but he had felt that he should be dependable because it was his conscious decision to be so and not because of some familial obligation.
Even as a young teenager, he had longed to prove himself as more than just the youngest Stokes child. He had gone to the same school as his brother and sisters, so the teachers and the administration already knew his family and knew what to expect from him. There was no way for him to stand out as an individual because everything had already been done by his siblings.
Throughout his high school career, what he had wanted more than anything was to be noticed for who he was, not who his family was, and it had never happened. He was constantly being compared to his older siblings and was constantly encouraged to be a credit to his name.
He could still hear his father's words ringing in his ears.
"You're a Stokes, Nicholas. It's a privilege to bear that name, but it means certain things are required of you. You must uphold the family name and everything it stands for. Make the family proud, son."
Nick had tried to rebel against that concept somewhat when he left for college. It wasn't that he didn't want to honor his family name or make his parents proud. He just needed to prove to himself, and everyone else, that the "Nicholas" part of his name was just as important as the "Stokes" part.
He tried to define himself as an individual by joining a fraternity - a thing he now found ironic as he was really just establishing his identity by latching on to a different sort of family rather than creating his own identity as an individual. Nick had tried to assimilate into the culture in which he had immersed himself, but that kind of lifestyle hadn't really appealed to him. It wasn't who he really was. Sure, he had partied and done some crazy things, but hadn't really enjoyed it. He'd given up that lifestyle the moment he graduated and never sought to reclaim it. Instead, he switched back to good 'ole dependable Nick, embracing the qualities he was raised to have and possessing an even fiercer determination to prove himself.
Here in Vegas, Nick still felt the same way. He wanted to be known and approved of by his own merit as an individual, as Nick, not as Judge Stokes' son. Yet how did he try to prove himself? By being a hard worker, doing the best he could in every situation, by being steady, dependable - all qualities that the Stokes family were known for. Though he had tried so hard to distinguish himself from his family, he still fell back upon the qualities that his family was known for. He couldn't deny his heritage and he knew that, deep down, he didn't want to.
Since high school, he had always been proving himself to someone. His parents, his teachers, his friends, his fraternity brothers, his coworkers, and Grissom. His need for approval was something that annoyed him to no end. Nick knew that it shouldn't matter what others thought of him as long as he had confidence in himself, but he had always craved approval. And now, after hearing Victoria's words, he wondered if he always would. It was an incredibly depressing thought.
The young boy on the other side of the mirror blinked at him. As Nick moved his hands to smooth the wrinkles out of his shirt, the boy did the same thing. The boy seemed to give him a look that said "I am you and you are me. That's how it will always be."
Nick shuddered at the thought and willed the reflection of the scrawny boy to fade away until he was faced with his normal self. He pressed his lips into a thin line of determination and stormed out of the bathroom. There were more pressing issues at hand and he needed to focus.
Nick was silent during the drive to Linton's home. He had tried with little success to rid his thoughts of Victoria's words. He drummed his fingers on the armrest as he further contemplated the issue.
Sensing that Nick's head was somewhere else, Warrick asked, "You wanna let me know what's on your mind?"
Nick paused for a moment, a bit embarrassed that Warrick had caught him lost in thought. "You remember what Victoria Winston said about her book? That we're the same people we were in high school?"
"Don't tell me that you bought into that load of crap." Warrick huffed, gripping the steering wheel a bit harder than usual.
"You don't agree with her?" Nick asked, shooting a look at him.
Warrick pulled to a stop at a red light and turned to look at Nick. "No way. I'm light years from the dork I was in high school. I used to be this little kid who got picked on. I was awkward and unsure of myself. Look at me now. I'm coolness personified and I know how capable I am."
"Don't forget modest too." Nick said with a smile.
The light turned green and Warrick pressed the gas pedal. "Victoria Winston is an arrogant woman who thinks she has the corner market on understanding the human psyche. There is no way that her premise is correct."
Warrick stole a quick glance at Nick and took in his uncertain face. "You think there's some validity to it, don't you?"
Nick hunched his shoulders and looked out the window. His tone conveyed the frustration that he was feeling. "I don't know. Maybe. It's just got me thinking. I'd like to think that I'm not the same person I was in high school, that I've grown as a person, but I don't know. I mean, look at the people we've been interviewing today. They all seem to be the same people they were described as being in high school."
"Well, perhaps some people retain some of the same qualities but she was implying that everyone was the exact same person they were in high school and that's just plain ridiculous." Warrick shook his head.
When Nick did not respond, Warrick continued. "To say that you're the same person you were in high school implies that you cannot change. Frankly, that's not a very optimistic view of the world. Her premise implies that people can never overcome their insecurities or mend their flaws. Everyone is stagnant. If everyone's stagnant, then no one's growing. If a person's not growing, they are not truly alive. I know I'm alive and you are too."
Deep down, Nick knew that Warrick was probably right. He much preferred Warrick's more optimistic view on life, but he was still unsettled by his thoughts. He remained silent until they pulled up in front of Linton's place.