Note: I know I said Sunday...but I figured you'd all appreciate getting this chapter a day earlier! Not sure exactly how much longer this will go...I've got a couple more surprises up my sleeve...so stay tuned, I'll update as quickly as possible!
Sunday 5:00 p.m.
"Damn, when'd it start raining?" Nick asked as he and Warrick ran to the waiting SUV. They were meeting Brass at the apartment of Brian Ferris and Kevin McCallum. Grissom had gone home for a couple hours before coming back to his office to catch up on paperwork before the start of shift. "This city was not built for this weather," he shook his head, his increasingly shaggier hair spraying water, as he climbed into the passenger seat.
"Their apartment's on the north side of campus?" Warrick asked starting the ignition.
"Yeah," Nick nodded with a yawn.
"Dude, have you gotten any sleep since last night?" he asked making his way into traffic.
"I crashed for an hour or so in the break room this afternoon," he shrugged.
"You don't think you're pushing this a little hard?" he asked glancing at his friend from the corner of his eye.
"Rick, don't start this," Nick sighed looking out the passenger window. "Griss has already been on my back."
"Hey, I'm not starting anything," the man said raising a hand up in defense.
"You're just worried," Nick bobbed his head with a roll of his eyes. "I know the drill. Look, I'll pull myself out before I get too deep."
"You look tired is all, bro."
"I'll be alright. If we get done with the kid's apartment I'll take a couple hours before shift," he shrugged hoping to appease his friend.
It seemed to work. The two rode the rest of the way in silence.
The rain had all but stopped when they arrived to the campus apartment. Brass was waiting for them outside.
"I had the landlord open the place up for his," he said meeting the CSIs halfway down the walkway. "Kevin McCallum is nowhere to be found."
"That sucks," Warrick sighed as the three men entered the first floor apartment.
"Looks like the kids are a little behind in their housekeeping," Brass smirked.
Nick and Warrick pulled on their latex gloves and got to work.
"So, what exactly are we looking for?" Brass asked taking in the posters hanging around the room as he pulled on a glove of his own.
"Aw, you know Jim," Nick said heading to one of the two bedrooms down the hall. "Anything that could link these guys to the robberies."
"Right," the man nodded flipping cushions on the sofa, "silly me."
Warrick had found his way into the connecting kitchen as Brass fumbled around.
"Hey, I could have some blood here," Warrick called out. He was busy pulling out a cotton swab to test the miniscule drops he'd found in the sink.
"Check this out," Nick said returning to the living room, his prize, a 9mm semi-automatic, in hand.
"Damn," Warrick said looking up. "These guys are just felony stupid."
"Let me guess," Brass said, "under the bed?"
"Top of the closet," Nick shook his head placing the gun into a clear evidence bag.
"Ah, of course," the detective said.
"We're positive for blood here," Warrick said pulling out his spray bottle of Phenolphthalein.
"Whoa!" Brass said from beside the couch.
"What've you got?" Warrick asked turning around from the sink.
Brass held up his prize.
"Nice," the CSI said taking in the evidence, a black tee shirt. "Please tell me there's some blood on that shirt."
"You're the scientist, Rick," the detective smiled handing over the shirt.
"We'll have to get a DNA sample from Brian Ferris," Warrick said as Nick joined the men again.
"I found some nice kicks," he smiled holding up another evidence bag.
"Man, those are some sweet Nikes," Warrick said admiring the two pair of sneakers. "Expensive, too."
"Well, hey, we've got plenty to hold Ferris on," Brass said.
"We'll have to match his DNA to the blood to slam his case shut," Warrick said.
"We still need to find Kevin McCallum," Nick said placing his bagged evidence on the floor. "We really don't have that much to nail these guys. And there's still a third suspect out there."
"A left handed shooter," Warrick nodded remembering Nick's description from the first scene.
"From what I've seen, these kids could just be accomplices. Our shooter is still unknown," Nick nodded.
"It's safe to say, without Kevin McCallum we don't have a case," Warrick nodded.
"Who's to say even if we find this punk, he'll talk?" Brass asked.
"You place a murder charge in front of a scared kid…"Nick started as he heard a commotion at the door.
There, if only for a brief second, stood Kevin McCallum. Taking in the scene and most notably, Nick and Warrick he quickly took off down the lawn.
"Damn it!" Warrick said quick to catch tail as Nick ran out of the apartment. "Why do these dumb-ass kids always have to run?"
The rain slicked sidewalk made it only slightly harder to run. The asphalt parking lot, however, proved otherwise as their suspect began weaving in and out of cars. Nick was on his tail as he slid on the blacktop and slammed into a car.
"Shit!" he said as Warrick quickly caught up with him. "Go left," he pointed to his partner quickly picking back up on the chase. The kid was fast.
The CSIs were being lead to a park across the street.
Damn it, Warrick thought quick to follow suit and dodge traffic. Wet grass was not a good running surface. This is gonna end now, he shook his head as he and Nick simultaneously jumped their suspect from behind.
"Get off of me!" the boy yelled. The commotion quickly grabbed the attention of the few passerbies in the park. They were soon congregating near the ruckus.
"Are you stupid man?" Nick asked bringing the kid to his feet. "What'd you run for?"
Kevin McCallum just glared at the criminalist.
"What you don't recognize him?" Warrick asked escorting the kid back to the apartment. "You just say him two days ago, remember?" he said gruffly leading the boy across the street. "You're a punk, you know that? You made me get my good jeans dirty."
"Go to hell," the kid said.
"Now, there's no need for hostility," Nick said as the three approached the apartment. Brass was on his radio.
"Scratch that," he said into the hand-held device. "Suspect is in custody."
"You must be crazy kid," he said turning the kid to cuff him, "of just felony stupid. Kevin McCallum, you're under arrest in connection with four robberies. If you're lucky we'll even award you with six murders," he said into the kid's ear as he led him to the waiting squad car. "Take him to PD," the detective said to the officer shutting the car door.
"You okay?" Warrick asked Nick as they watched the car pull away.
"I'll live," he nodded rubbing his shoulder as they returned to the apartment. They gathered their evidence and did another run through of each room, making sure they got everything that seemed in the least bit relevant to their case.
"Look, it's almost seven," Warrick said looking at his watch as they climbed back into their Denali. "I'll get this stuff going in the lab. Why don't you go home for a while?" he said to Nick as they pulled away from the college campus. "We can let this kid sit in a cell for a while. You need to get a couple hours of sleep."
"Yeah," he nodded willingly taking his friends advice. He was running down quickly. There was no way he'd make it through shift tonight without a hot shower and some sleep.
Arriving back at the lab Nick parted ways with his partner and climbed into his own truck. It was already dark; the temperature was dropping rather quickly. It was already in the lower 40's. He hated the cold of nighttime, the cold of the desert.
Forgot to leave a light on, Nick thought as he pulled into his driveway. His house was dark. He grabbed his mail and unlocked his door. Laying his keys on the nearby table he checked his answering machine. Three new messages. They'd have to wait.
He made a beeline for his room and crashed.
Two hours should do it, he thought setting his alarm. It would give him time to shower and get back to the lab in time to follow up on the evidence before the team powwow at the beginning of regular shift.
Sleep was good. And for two hours, that's what he did. He slept.