Chapter Two – Grief
Summary: Nick and Catherine investigate the case together; Warrick is questioned.
Nick and Catherine were in the conference room discussing the case. "So far there's not much to speak of. No suspects, unless you want to count the annoying neighbor Tom. Any samples of, well, anything are being analyzed, no information yet. I don't know how we can do this; to get any information right now, we need to question Warrick. We'll need to talk to him sometime, anyway, I guess," said Catherine.
"Did you know anyone who might have wanted to hurt her…revenge…anything?"
Warrick sighed. "Nobody I can think of."
"Did she have any ex-husbands…ex-boyfriends?"
Warrick looked up. "One person, her ex Doug. Nice guy, though. He is – was a friend of hers still, so sweet to her. His eyes glistened, even in the dimly lit room.
"Did you ever talk to any neighbors; did she?"
"Not much. We were still moving into the place, working overtime sometimes, staying with each other a lot. Didn't really get to socialize with the neighbors much."
"What about a guy named Tom?"
"In the neighborhood?" He was given a nod. "I think I might have talked to him. Right around his fifties, sandy-colored hair cut kind of short…may he was a little on the short side, too."
"That description seems accurate," Brass said. "Did she ever go for walks, anything like that?"
"Sometimes she'd walk around the block if she had time."
"Did she get along with her family?"
"Yeah, they're really tight. They're great with each other…"
"Anything important you can think of?"
"Yeah…you can ask me any questions, you can have anything of mine, anything of hers, if it'll help you find the creep."
"Not that I didn't already believe him, but now we've got absolute proof that it's Tina." Catherine's face was grim and Nick looked at her in much the same way, most likely not knowing what to do or say. He and Warrick had a pretty close friendship, and he, too, was at a loss for words.
"At least we have something," Nick said after a long and awkward silence.
A young man with dark hair peered in the window and knocked quickly on the door. He opened it a little bit and said, "Are you Catherine Willows and uh…Nick Stokes?"
Nick nodded. "Come in."
"I was told to deliver this folder of information to you," the man said a little nervously. He looked like he was a bit younger than Greg, who was just now going out in the field instead of staying around the lab.
"Thanks," Catherine said, taking the folder form him. After the man left, she sat at the table and gestured for Nick to have a seat, as well. She opened the folder and saw a copy of a footprint.
"Ah, the muddy footprint," Nick said. "A match already?" He sounded confused, but delighted that there was finally something to work with.
"Apparently," said Catherine. "Let's see…a "Vans" brand, men's…style is called "Ranks," size nine."
"You think we should ask Warrick about that?" Nick queried.
"Absolutely," said Catherine. "Anything helps; let's see if he recognizes the picture of the shoe." She handed a photo from the folder to Nick; it had a picture of the shoe style they might be looking at.