Chapter 11

Nick could feel his heart start to pound in expectation. "Who? Who's going to kill you?"

"Victoria! I'm the only one who knows the truth!" Stella was practically shrieking on the other end of the phone.

"The truth about what?" Nick asked. Stella was obviously ready to tell him everything she knew and he was more than ready to hear it.

"It's about Daniel. I want to tell you what happened." she confided to him.

"Why didn't you tell my partner what you knew when you were talking with him? You acted as if you didn't know anything." Nick asked.

Stella started speaking in a rapid tone, her voice growing more shrill as she spoke. "I couldn't do it there! She was there! I was afraid for my life! I didn't realize that Daniel had any connection to Jack's death but when I found out what happened to Linton and Freddie and then you started asking about Daniel, I put the pieces together. She's gonna kill me! I know it! I'm the only one who can tell you the truth! Please! You have to believe me!"

"Okay, okay. Where are you?" Nick asked.

"I'm at Lover's Leap." she told him.

Lover's Leap, the place where Daniel committed suicide. Was there a deeper significance to that location?

"Okay. I'll get my partner and we'll meet you there." Nick told her.

"No! No! There isn't time! You must come now! You're the only one I trust! Please, you have to come now!" Stella implored him.

Nick quickly weighed his options. If he took too long, Stella might decide not to tell him everything she knew. On the other hand, if he took off to Lover's Leap alone after what happened with Freddie, Brass would not be pleased. He decided to risk the detective's unhappiness for the sake of getting a confession.

"Okay. I'm on my way. I'll be there as soon as possible." he promised. Nick pulled out of the drive-thru line and he made his way down the road.

Pulling out his cell phone again, he called Warrick. "Hey, I'm going to be a bit late coming back to the lab. I'm headed up to Lover's Leap."

Warrick did not bother to mask his surprise. "What? Why?"

"I just got a call from Stella Barnes. She knows the truth and wants to tell me. She's waiting for me there." Nick told his partner.

"Are you kidding me?" Warrick asked.

"No. She claims that her life is in danger." Nick continued.

"So you're just gonna drive up there and save the day?" Warrick asked.

"Hey, she was already there when she called and she's in a fragile mental state. I'm not about to say no to a woman who can tie all of our loose ends together, especially when she's afraid for her life. Given how our suspects have been dying off, I figured that I ought to take her concerns seriously." Nick said somewhat annoyed.

"You want me to back you up?" Warrick asked, switching immediately from the hesitant nay sayer to the supportive partner.

"No. Just confirm that Victoria authorized that third party check." Nick told him. "I see you back at the lab."

Nick began to head towards Lover's Leap with great anticipation. He was willing to accomodate Stella's quirky demand if it meant getting the truth. He just hoped that she wasn't planning on giving him the run-around. He was tired of all the games and the half-truths. Nothing was as it seemed in this case. Indeed, he couldn't believe that the death of Jack Moyer had lead to the deaths of two of his friends and all of it centered around the shady circumstances surrounding a suicide that took place fifteen years ago. The CSI hoped that Stella would be completely honest with him.

Nick sighed. Why couldn't people just tell the truth? It made things so much easier when people were honest. He had to remind himself though that the truth was often times painful and most people desperately wanted to avoid pain at all costs. He didn't know how he would have reacted in Jack's situation, but he didn't think he'd be capable of hiding his involvement in a suicide for fifteen years. The ability to deceive had never been one of his strong points and he felt confident that his parents, or anyone for that matter, would have sensed immediately that something was wrong. If by some chance, he had managed to keep it a secret, he knew that his guilt would have eaten away at him over the years, like Jack's must have done to him.

Finally reaching his destination, Nick pulled off the road and into a parking space. There was one other vehicle occupying a space and he assumed that it belonged to Stella. It was still quite a hike to Lover's Leap, but he took off at a rapid pace. He stumbled a bit as he made his way up an incline. It was difficult to see through the thickness of the trees and he had not brought a flashlight with him.

Nick finally stumbled out of the trees and caught a glimpse of Stella standing on the edge of the cliff. She was bathed in moonlight, a sight which nearly took Nick's breath away.

Stella turned at the sound of his footsteps, her face stricken with panic. When she saw that it was him, her panic melted away into relief and she rushed forward and threw her arms around him.

"Oh thank God! It's you! I was afraid it was her!" she cried frantically.

Nick, though not opposed to having a beautiful woman throw herself at him, knew that this was not the reason he came out here and gently extracted himself from Stella's grasp. "There's something you want to tell me?"

"Oh yes. I knew that you would understand. That you would be willing to come to me." she told him, looking deep into his eyes. "I knew that we connected the other day. We shared a moment. I'm sure you felt it as well. You're the only one that I can trust, the only one that I feel safe with. Please help me."

"I'll be happy to help you, but in order to do that, you have to tell me what you know." Nick told her calmly.

"Oh there's so much to say! I don't know where to begin!" Stella regained her frantic tone.

Nick sighed inwardly and tried to remain understanding. He could sense that it was going to take a great effort on his part to keep Stella focused.

"Okay, first off, why don't you tell me why you came here?" Nick asked. He knew that this was where Daniel committed suicide but he wasn't sure if this place held a greater significance.

Stella stared at him wide-eyed. "Because this is where it happened! This is where Daniel was killed!"

Her choice of words struck Nick as odd.

"Killed?" he repeated. "Daniel committed suicide. He jumped off this cliff."

"No." Stella shook her head. "He didn't jump. He was murdered."

"So, on a scale from one to ten, how anxious are you to get this case over with?" Sara asked Warrick.

"An eleven." Warrick sighed. "I can't take any more surprises. I just want to wrap this thing up before the end of the shift."

Sara sighed sympathetically and rested a hand on Warrick's arm.

"Now, if this fax would just come through, we'd get the proof we need to link Victoria to the murder of Jack Moyer." Warrick shot the fax machine a dirty look as if it were deliberately withholding the evidence.

The fax machine decided that it was time to grant Warrick the object of his desire. It emitted a beep, announcing the arrival of the long-awaited fax.

"At last." Warrick cried. He moved towards the table and grabbed the paper.

As he looked at the paper, his face clouded over with concern. Sara was immediately at his side.

"What is it?" she asked.

"Oh no." he breathed. The man took off like a shot out of the lab, leaving Sara behind in confusion.

Warrick didn't take the time to notify anyone of where he was going or what he was doing. He just needed to get to his car. He needed to get to Nick.

"What do you mean he was murdered?" Nick asked, surprised.

Once again, he had been thrown for a loop. Things were becoming much more sinister and yet much clearer. If Victoria had been an accomplice to murder, there would be no way she would want the truth exposed. Of course she would have Jack killed to protect herself.

"He was murdered! Thrown off this ledge!" Stella told him. "I was here! I saw it happen!"

She walked away from him, staring down at the depths below. She teetered on the edge, as if remembering the event which Nick imagined that she must be.

"Tell me." He walked closer to her and put his arm around her, gently pulling her away from the ledge. "Tell me everything."

"We knew, all of us, that Daniel was in love with Victoria. I could never figure out why exactly, but there was no doubt in anyone's mind that he was. The idea that someone like Daniel cared for her and even dared to believe that one day they would be together made Victoria sick. She was always so arrogant, believing herself to be better than everyone else." Stella clutched on to Nick as if her very life depended on it.

"It was all her idea - getting Daniel to come up here. She wanted to teach him a lesson. Rebekah never would have let it happen if she'd been around but she wasn't and Jack was so depressed. He wasn't thinking clearly otherwise he never would have let it happen either." She suddenly let go of Nick and walked towards the trees.

"The four of us, Jack, Freddie, Linton, and me, where hiding behind the trees, watching everything that happened. We saw Daniel arrive and come up to greet Victoria. He started talking to her, saying how much he cared for her. He even started to recite some poem that he'd written for her. Victoria went along with it for awhile, pretending that she felt the same way he did. The four of us thought it was quite funny. At first."

After saying this, Stella moved away from the trees and walked towards the ledge. Her face had a vacant expression. She seemed to have no control over what she was saying. The words just poured forth from her mouth.

"Then something happened. Something changed. Daniel said something about them being as one. Victoria took offense at this and dropped the charade. Her whole demeanor changed. She got angry with Daniel, shouting that they would never be together. They were not equals. He was not fit to wipe dirt off of her shoes." She paused and turned to look at Nick, her eyes wide and fearful.

"I'd never seen her like that before. It terrified me. Then Victoria struck Daniel across the face and pushed him. He stumbled backwards towards the ledge. He did not defend himself against her. I don't know if he was unable to or unwilling to. He just looked so heartbroken. She kept shouting at him and pushing him. I didn't realize what was happening until it was too late, but Jack darted forward, yelling for Victoria to stop but she didn't. Instead, she turned to look at Jack and then gave one final push and Daniel went tumbling over the ledge." Her beautiful face was contorted in agony, complete with silent tears streaking down her porcelain face.

"It was awful. She killed him in cold blood and we watched her do it."

Nick stood there, paralyzed by Stella's haunting tale. He knew he shouldn't have been surprised by the tale of cruelty that had just been related to him. He heard things like this every day, but there was something so spine-tingling about the way Stella had given her account of the murder.

The sound of his cell phone going off shattered the silence that had settled between them.

"Stokes." he answered, turning away from Stella's haunted face.

"Nick! Man, you're in trouble." Warrick's anxious voice greeted him.

"What do you mean?" Nick asked, a sinking feeling growing in the pit of his stomach.

"We found out who authorized that third party check. It wasn't Victoria Winston." Warrick told him.

"Who did it?" Nick asked, already fearing the answer.

"It was a company check belonging to Flight of Fancy Theater Company. Nick, that woman you're with is dangerous." Warrick warned. "Are you armed?"

"No." Nick told his partner. He hadn't felt the need to arm himself to go to the drive-thru. He heard Warrick swear in response to this revelation.

"Okay. Don't tip your hand. I'm coming up there and I'm bringing reinforcements. Be careful and hold on." Warrick said.

"I understand." Nick replied. He ended the call and turned to look at Stella. She was watching his face closely which made it even harder for him to keep it unconcerned.

"What's wrong?" she asked, taking a step towards him.

Nick fought the urge to take a step back. He didn't like the idea of allowing Stella to close any more distance between them, but recoiling would make him look suspicious.

"Oh, that was just my partner. He was just keeping me up to date about an issue at work." Nick tried to act nonchalantly but felt that he was failing miserably.

"Hmmm. I don't buy it. I guess you can't act." Stella mused, taking another step forward. "Something's happened."

It wasn't a question.

Nick kicked his mind into overdrive in an attempt to think of something convincing to say.

"It's nothing. Just something regarding another case. He..." Nick started to say, but never got the chance to finish.

Stella went rigid and her eyes grew wide. "I will not let you win." she cried determinedly.

With lightening speed, she reached into her jacket, pulled out a gun, and aimed it at Nick.

Author's Note: Just wanted to thank everyone who has left feedback for me. I really appreciate it.