Cassandra - this chapter should make you both happy, and... frustrated? Happy, because, well, other than the first paragraph, no more Sara in the chapter, frustrated because, well I'd tell you, but it would give the chapter away! The person Sara spoke to, is the 'mole.' I'm taking liberties with the timelines for the shows... but never mind!

Daynaa - I'm glad you're liking this series. And I'm really glad you like my baby, Cheryl. There's still much more to come - I have a crazy imagination!


Cheryl, Greg and Sara arrived back at the Lab, a short time later, after having spent most of the journey back in silence. As they walked into reception, Sara's phone went off. She pulled it out of her pocket, and after a brief glance, turned to the other two. 'I have to take this. It's important.' She quickly disappeared, giving no other information.

Cheryl sighed and followed Greg back to the break room. In it were Warrick, Catherine and Nick, all stretched out over the two couches in there. 'Just the guys we were after.' Exclaimed Warrick.

'Why, what have we done?' Asked Greg.

'Ah, so speak a guilty mind,' said Nick.

Greg shrugged, and, ignoring the room's laughter, headed over to the coffee machine, whilst Cheryl sat down on the couch, next to Warrick, and leant back and shut her eyes.

'First day that bad?'

Cheryl opened her eyes. 'I had a decomp in my home.'

'Enough said.'

Cheryl sighed. 'All things considered, it wasn't that bad. At least I didn't get shot.'

'I'm sorry?' Said Warrick, sure he'd misheard.

'I used to work at the NYPD before I trained as a CSI. Got shot there the first day on the job saving my dumb-ass partner.' She chuckled, 'first day as a CSI at Miami I got shot saving my not-so-dumb-ass partner. I guess the third time is lucky.'

'I'm sorry,' Catherine told her.

'Don't be sorry. Just don't stand too close. I'm like a giant bullet magnet. I give it a month, tops, before I get shot again.' She laughed at their startled expressions, 'seriously, how I am still alive is beyond me.'

'You want a coffee?' Greg asked her, as he poured himself a mug.

'Thanks, but I don't drink coffee.'

'You what!' Exclaimed Greg, almost dropping the coffee pot.

'I don't drink coffee.'

'Oh dear,' Warrick muttered to Nick, 'she just got blasphemous in the presence of the coffee god.' Catherine laughed.

'How can you not drink coffee? It's the, the,' started Greg in horror.

'The elixir of life for all police officials?' She asked, thinking of how she had had it referred to that on numerous occasions back in Miami.

'Exactly!' Cried Greg.

'I just don't like it. So, I'm weird.'

'Then tell me you at least like tea. That's what all English people drink, right?'

Cheryl slowly shook her head. 'Nope, I don't like that either.'

'I guess there is no future together for us.' Greg groaned.

'Wow, you must have had some fulfilling relationships in the past if you base your relationships on whether or not the girl likes coffee.'

'I shall just have to introduce you to my special brew of coffee.'

'So, you'll let the girl who doesn't like coffee drink your good stuff, but we who like the stuff, you go to every painful effort to hide it from us! What has this girl done that we haven't?' Warrick asked him.

'Shown him her underwear.' Grinned Nick. From the twinkle in his eye Cheryl could see that he'd managed to read her well enough to know that he could get away with that statement to say it.

Warrick's mouth dropped open. 'Greg!'

'Oh, is that Grissom I can hear calling me?' Greg mumbled, before dashing out of the door.

Warrick burst out laughing, 'that's the first time he's been like that in ages.'

'Are you going to tease him about this, now?' Cheryl asked them.

'Oh yeah,' said Nick, 'for a long time.'

'I'm sorry,' said Warrick, 'but what exactly were you two doing to end up in your underwear?'

'My fault,' said Cheryl, 'I assumed that the guys had a separate locker room, and basically, I needed a shower after dealing with the decomp.' She looked up as Greg came back in the door.

'I guess Grissom wasn't after you, then?' Smiled Catherine, as Greg walked over.

He smirked at her, then turned his attention to Cheryl, 'Barnes is in reception.'

'Already? Should we go find Sara?'

'I already did. She said she had things to do, and that we should be capable of handling it.'

Cheryl shrugged. 'Fair enough.'

'Hey, guys, we could do with talking to one of you about your case.' Warrick told them.

Cheryl looked at Greg, 'your call.'

'You go talk to Barnes. He seemed to listen to you earlier.' Cheryl nodded and left the room, heading to one of the interview rooms the crime lab had.

From what she understood, all suspects had to be interviewed across the way, at the police precinct, but for informal questioning, there was nothing unusual about having a talk in the crime lab. So that's where she found herself.

She smiled at the officer and sat down opposite Durrell at the table. 'Good morning, I'm Detective Carter. Thank you for coming in so quickly, Mr Barnes. I wasn't expecting to speak to you until much later on.'

'I just wanted to get this over with.'

'When was the last time you saw your brother?' She asked him, making notes on a sheet of paper.

'About three and a half weeks ago. The day after I did his teeth.'

'Can you think of anyone that would want to hurt him?'

''Lil Al was into a lot of things.'

'Things? Like drugs?'

'Amongst other things.' Durrell began fidgeting with his Rolex. 'I kept trying to tell him to get out of it. Make something of his life. Like I did.'

-----------------------------

Whilst Cheryl was talking to Durrell, Greg had been filling Nick, Catherine and Warrick in on their case. Now, Greg and Warrick were on their way to DNA, whilst Nick and Catherine were headed out front to head over to the PD to see if they could get a background check on Barnes.

Catherine yawned, 'this has been a long shift.'

Nick nodded in agreement, his eyes automatically sweeping the parking lot as they walked past it. He stopped suddenly, grabbing Catherine's arm, 'what are the chances of that?'

Catherine followed Nick's pointed arm. 'A Jaguar XK?'

'Did the computer finish running the DMV check?'

Catherine glanced at her watch, 'it should have by now.' The two did a 180 and headed back into the crime lab. As they were walking into the evidence room, they were joined by Warrick and Greg.

'So,' said Warrick, 'we've just come from DNA. The hairs found at Greg's crime scene came back as a match to Crane. And the matter from my crime scene are a match to the decomp found at Cheryl's.'

'Which means, Crane killed 'Lil Al,' said Greg, 'but there's nothing which connects Durrell to the crime scene, or to Crane.'

'Ah,' said Catherine, 'I've just finished checking the DMV database. Durrell does have a Jaguar XK. And we have those prints at our crime scene. If Crane killed his brother, there is definitely motive there.'

'And we have the suspect here in the building.' Said Nick.

'Alright,' said Warrick, 'Nick, you want to go in and join Cheryl?'

----------------------------

'Are you alright there, Mr Barnes?' Cheryl leant across the table and rested her hand on his, 'I realise this is hard, but you are helping.'

Durrell nodded, 'could I have a drink?'

'Sure. Coffee?' Durrell nodded, and Cheryl turned around to the officer. The officer nodded at her, and then left. Almost as soon as the door closed behind him, it opened again, 'that was,' Cheryl turned around, 'Nick?'

'Mind if I join you?'

'Sure,' she shrugged, moving over so he could bring a chair under the table next to her.

'Hi there, Mr Barnes. My name is Nick Stokes. I'm also with the crime lab. Do you mind if I ask you a few questions?' Durrell nodded. 'Where we you yesterday evening, around seven?' Cheryl looked at Nick curiously, but said nothing.

'At home.'

'And is there anyone who can verify this?'

'No. I was home alone. Why is this relevant?' Durrell began fidgeting.

Cheryl leaned over to Nick, 'what's up?' She whispered.

------------------------------------

On the other side of the one way mirror, Warrick, Catherine, Greg and Grissom were watching the interview.

'He's fidgeting,' said Greg.

'Just because he's fidgeting, doesn't mean he is killed Crane, Greg.' Said Grissom.

'No, but it means he's guilty.'

'He could have been doing something he's embarrassed to say.'

Greg pouted and turned his attention back to the interview. Before he could focus in on what was being said, the door opened.

'Ah, Greg, here you are.' It was Sofia. 'I ran a check on the dental surgery. It's owned by a Durrell Barnes. But he's anything other than a dentist. Unless he learned everything from prison. He's been in and out for the last twenty years, on various offences, including possession of an illegal fire arm, assault, aggravated burglary, and several DUI's. I think we should get him in to the station and have a chat with him.'

Greg stepped to one side, and allowed Sofia to see into the room. 'He's already in.'

Sofia's reaction was not what he expected. She drew her gun. When the others turned to see why, their mouths dropped.

----------------------------

Nick merely smiled at Cheryl, before turning his attention to the man opposite. 'You have a Jaguar, don't you.' Cheryl suddenly realised where he was going with this.

'Yeah. Why? I didn't steal it.'

Nick ignored the implication, 'does the name "Glenn Crane" mean anything to you?'

Cheryl watched Durrell. He seemed to freeze, then all of a sudden, he jumped to life. Literally. He jumped back from the table, sending the chair flying. Cheryl and Nick jumped to their feet, ready to react, when they both noticed the gun.

'I aint going down for this.' He yelled, switching where he was aiming the gun between Cheryl and Nick.

'Now, look,' said Nick, holding his hands out in front of him, 'you haven't done anything yet. Why don't you just put the gun down before this goes anywhere?'

'It's already gone somewhere!' Durrell yelled. 'I killed Crane.'

Well, that was a confession and a half. 'Why don't you just do what Nick suggested, and put the gun down, and we can all talk about this reasonably.' Said Cheryl, also with her hands out in front of her.

'I don't need to talk to a kid about this. What could you possibly do?'

'You just had to bring the age thing into this, didn't you?' Snapped Cheryl.

'Cheryl,' muttered Nick, 'angering the person holding a gun at you is hardly going to help the situation.'

'Look, just shut up. Before I shoot you.'

'So go ahead and shoot me already. You won't be the first, and you may as well follow the trend. It is my first day, and all.'

And then there was a loud bang as a gunshot echoed around the room.


Mwahahahahaha (evil laugh) look at that for a cliff-hanger. And y'all will have to wait a week to find out what happened!

So, you've read this far... and as I'm not going to post again for a whole week (!) why don't y'all take advantage of this break to let me know if you like/don't like/or think I'm just plain evil!