Chapter 4

Alex sat in the interrogation room, her head down on the table. She couldn't believe she was here. She didn't know how she ended up here.

Gil had explained the evidence that had led to interest in her. Apparently, there were hairs with her DNA in a blood and water-filled bathtub. She wasn't sure how they ended up there, but she knew how it looked. She also knew, had they been anyone else's, this interview would have been a demand and not a request.

The door to the room opened and Detective Sofia Curtis entered. Brass had excused himself from the interview. He had met Alex on a number of occasions and didn't want this to compromise the investigation. Sofia, on the other hand, had heard stories of Alex, but never met her.

Alex lifted her head and looked at Sofia. Sofia sat down across from Alex.

"Alex Hart," she introduced herself, extending her hand.

Sofia took her hand. "Detective Sofia Curtis," she responded.

"Sofia," Alex repeated, recognizing the name. "I've heard good things about you."

"As I you," Sofia said, sliding a folder over to Alex. Then she continued, "Before we start, is it ok if we search your apartment?"

"Yes, it's alright," Alex said. She knew she really didn't have much choice. If she didn't agree, they would just get a warrant. At least this way she appeared cooperative. Plus, she knew she didn't have anything to hide.

On the other side of the two-way mirror, Brass made a phone call. CSIs from the day shift were being sent to search Alex's apartment. Too many of the graveyard shift knew Alex personally.

Sofia motioned for Alex to open the folder. Alex obeyed and found some pictures inside. The first was a picture of the woman who had been murdered. Her face looked familiar and Alex searched her memory to place her.

Sofia saw the look of recognition on Alex's face. "You've met her?" she questioned.

Alex continued to stare at the face. "She looks familiar, but I'm having a hard time placing her. Do you have a name?"

Sofia shook her head. "We haven't been able to identify her yet."

A memory flashed through Alex's mind; strobe lights, pounding music and an argument. "Ohhh," Alex said, remembering the woman.

Sofia looked at her questioningly. "You do know her?"

Alex nodded. "Well, not really," she stated. "I've met her though. She threw a drink on me at a club because her boyfriend was hitting on me."

Sofia took out a notebook and started to write something down. "When was this?" Sofia questioned.

"It was about a week ago," Alex replied. "The night before I left for Virginia."

"Were you with anyone?" Sofia knew Alex and Greg were dating and so expected the answer to be yes.

Alex sighed. "No, I was alone."

Sofia raised a questioning eyebrow.

"Greg had to work," Alex answered her unasked question. "So I went alone."

"Did you catch the woman's name?" Sofia asked, trying to direct the conversation back to the incident.

"Um," Alex placed her hand on her forehead. She thought back to that night. What did he call her? She thought. "Heather," she finally answered. "The boyfriend called her Heather."

Sofia started writing again. "Ok, so what exactly happened?"

"I was at that new club, Viva, and after dancing for a few hours needed something to drink. I sat down at the bar and ordered. Then this guy, who was obviously intoxicated, sat down next to me and offered to buy me a drink. I declined; I don't take drinks from strangers. And while he pushing this drink on me, this woman, her," Alex slid the photograph of the murdered woman over to Sofia. "She comes up, seemingly intoxicated as well, and starts yelling at the guy. 'How can you hit on someone else when you're here with me?' And he starts up, 'Heather, Heather, it's not like that, she's hitting on me.'

"So I'm just sitting there, waiting on my drink and trying to ignore the two love birds. Then Heather decides that the guy is telling the truth and starts calling me names. I ignore her and so she grabs my hair and yanks. I turn around to say something and then just as the bartender put my drink in front of me, she picked it up and threw it on me."

"What happened then?" Sofia asked, looking up from her notes. That could explain the hairs, she thought.

"I left," Alex stated. "My shirt was soaking, what else was I going to do?"

"About what time was that?"

Alex paused for a moment, thinking. "It was about 2:30."

"After that?" Sofia asked.

"Went home. Went to bed. Got up the next morning and left for Virginia," Alex finished her story.

"Anybody that can corroborate your story?"

"The boyfriend and the bartender can verify that she threw the drink on me, but no one saw me home. You could also probably find the airport shuttle driver who took me to the airport," Alex informed her.

"So you weren't angry at this woman?" Sofia asked.

"Of course I was angry," Alex replied. "But mad enough to kill her? No. Plus, I'm not a violent person."

"Oh? What about your past assault conviction?" Sofia questioned.

Alex quickly looked at the two-way mirror. She knew Gil was there, listening, watching. "Turn the mic off," Alex demanded.

Sophia did as she requested. This was a voluntary conversation at this point. "It's off," she informed Alex.

"This is off the record?" Alex requested.

Sofia nodded.

Alex turned so that her back was facing the mirror. She only knew of one person who could have told Sofia about her record.

Behind the mirror, Gil turned to Catherine. "What conviction?"

Catherine was stunned. She thought Gil knew. "I-I…" she didn't know how to explain.

"What's she doing?" Brass asked before Catherine could answer, noticing Alex turning away from the mirror.

Gil knew what she was doing. Alex was aware of his ability to read lips.

Back in the room, Alex started, "I don't know what Sara's been telling you…"

"Sara?" Sofia interrupted. "What does she have to do with this?" she was confused.

"Sara told you about my record," Alex stated.

"It wasn't Sara," Sofia told her. "It was Catherine."

It was now Alex's turn to be confused. "Catherine?" she questioned aloud. How does she know? Alex questioned to herself.

Sofia nodded. She wasn't sure why this was news to Alex.

"Well, it doesn't matter," Alex replied, shaking off her own questions. "It was a juvenile conviction and my record was expunged."

"If it was expunged and you didn't tell her, how does Catherine know?" Sophia asked, wanting to satisfy her own curiosity.

Alex wanted the answer to that question herself. The only think she could think of was that Sara had told Catherine. She could only hope Catherine was the only person Sara told. "Sara must have told her. She's the only one who knew."

Sophia was surprised by Alex's answer. She wondered why Grissom didn't know. "How did Sara find out?"

Alex looked over her shoulder at the mirror again. Then she turned back around, put her head in her hands and sighed. "Sara did some detective work of her own. There are a few articles that mention my trial."

"But you just said you were a minor. They don't put the names of minors in the paper," Sofia was trying to straighten out the details.

Alex sighed again. "The local paper printed my name, which they weren't supposed to do. I got a small settlement out of it. All the larger papers that picked up the articles took my name out. Sara happened to find the archives of the local paper."

"You do have an assault conviction, though?" Sofia repeated her earlier question.

"Like I said, it's inadmissible and that's all I'm saying about it. Now, if you want to move on to something else, you can turn the mic back on and we can go back on record."

"Ok, moving on," Sofia said, turning the mic back on. "So what time did you get to the airport?"

While they couldn't hear Sofia and Alex, Grissom asked some questions of his own. "What conviction is she talking about?" Grissom asked Catherine.

"She didn't tell you?" Catherine responded even though the answer was obvious.

Grissom shook his head.

"She was convicted of assault and book making when she was a teenager. It was a juvenile conviction."

Grissom, for the first time, finally felt like a parent. His child was hiding secrets from him. He wondered what else Alex wasn't telling him. "Did she tell you?"

Catherine shook her head. "I found some articles about it."

"Where?" Grissom questioned.

Before Catherine could answer, however, the mic in the interview room was turned back on and they went back to listening.

Sofia interviewed Alex for a couple more hours, trying to nail down the details of the last week. She was also trying to give the CSIs enough time to process Alex's apartment. They might find something that would shed more light on this situation.

Grissom heard the rest of the conversation, but barely listened. All he could think about was the fact that Alex was keeping secrets from him. This wasn't the first time she'd omitted something. Granted, they'd only known each other for about seven months, but these weren't little things that she wasn't telling. He was beginning to think, even after all they'd been through, maybe he didn't know her at all.