Sara silently processed the evidence in front of her; A blood soaked nightgown.
The body of a woman had been found in the desert, stripped of her clothes, with the nightgown clutched in her cold right hand.
Sara kept replaying the case details in her head, like a CD that kept skipping.
She didn't know why the specifics were swirling around her mind but it was getting a bit annoying.
"Hey, didn't know you were working tonight," A somewhat quiet voice greeted.
Sara spun around to see Jenna leaning against the door frame; Something didn't seem right by the look in the tall brunette's eyes.
"Hey yourself. Something wrong?"
Jenna entered the room, a small grin on her face.
"No, nothing's wrong. How are things your way?" She replied, sitting down on the empty chair next to Sara.
"Okay. Liz has a cold and I feel stupid but other than that, they're good. Nicky's treating you well?" Sara continued the conversation.
She bent over the nightmare once more, closely inspecting the blood stains.
"Very well; He's such a gentleman! I love him so much," Jenna sighed. "My shift is almost over; Going home to get some much needed rest. I'll see you later."
With that, she vanished faster than she had entered.
Sara shook her head as she maneuvered the clothing to examine the left shoulder of the garment.
Nearly three hours passed and no new evidence from the nightgown surfaced; She had combed every inch of the material and nothing.
With an exhausted sigh, Sara set off to the break room in search of coffee; As she neared it, muffled laughed could be heard.
"What the hell?" She mumbled to herself as she walked into the break room.
Nick, Jenna, and Greg were all seated at the table, giggling and laughing hysterically over something.
"Sara, how nice of you to join us!" Greg greeted through gasping breaths; He was trying to stop laughing but no luck yet.
"What! Aren't we supposed to be working?"
Nick wiped his eyes and smiled. "Yeah, but we're just taking a break. Really, we looked over some evidence for a while but decided we needed a break."
Sara rolled her eyes as she strode over to the coffee pot; A delicious smell was wafting through the air. It took her a minute, but Sara identified the aroma as Greg's special coffee.
She lifted the pot and poured some into a Styrofoam cup; Greg jumped up from his seat, hands held out in front of him in a surrendering form.
"No-no-no, please! That stuff is expensive!" He whined.
Sara took a sip from the cup in her hand. "Are you going to get back to work?"
The young man's shoulders drooped; Sara pulled her pinky finger from the coffee pot, making him shriek in the shrillest voice she had ever heard from a man.
"No, don't drop it! Please, I'll finish my work!" He gave in unwillingly.
Sara nodded her head and handed the pot to him; Nick burst out laughing once again.
"Man, no wonder you don't have a girl! You love your coffee more than you could love her!"
"Shut up," Greg chuckled. Then to his coffee he whispered, "It's okay. Daddy has you."
Jenna covered her face in her hands, an attempt to hide her laughter.
As Sara left the break room, still sipping the Blue Hawaiian coffee, she looked at Greg with her most evil look.
"Remember Mr. Sanders, I can know where you keep that coffee. Watch your back."
The door to the break room closed, but the laughter of Nick and Jenna could be heard, even through the thick doors.
"Babe, wait up!"
Sara turned around, being careful not to spill her drink, and saw Gil suddenly at her side.
"What did you call me?"
They began walking toward the room where she had been examining the nightgown.
"I don't know; What did I call you?"
"'Babe'. You've never called me babe! What's with the sudden new name?"
Entering the room with a sigh, he immediately slipped on a pair of rubber gloves and turned the gown on its back.
"I'm sorry, it was just the first thing to come to my mind. Look at this," He pointed to a slit in the back of the nightgown.
"What's that?"
Sara hastily pulled on a glove and picked up a pair of tweezers lying on the table; She carefully opened the tear and removed a small brown fiber.
"I'll get it to trace," She answered her own question. But before leaving, she added, "Hey, you can call me babe anytime."
She smiled at her husband; He returned the smile and she rushed off to give the lab rats something new to look over.
