A/N: Okay, so here's chapter 2. I liked writing for a bad guy for a change instead of just BA shippiness (as fun as that is to write). I have no idea if my Bobby-psycho-analysis makes sense, I tried to make it sound like everything that he and Huang and Skoda and Olivet say.

And I couldn't for the life of me think of the names of any CSU techs, so I just used Morales, the TARU guy from SVU.

"So what've you got for us?" Eames asked the CSU tech.

"Feast your eyes on the wonders of technology," Morales replied, something like pride in his voice. "I cued up the tape to the time of your murder. It's not very good quality surveillance, but a school like that probably doesn't think they need it." He messed with a few of the controls on the machinery and the tape started to roll at quadruple speed. "Tell me if you see anything interesting."

At first there was just the usual school traffic – students leaving extra-curriculars, teachers heading home with papers in hand, the principal holding her briefcase…

"Wait, pause it," Goren said suddenly. The clock now read 7:24. "There's Mercutio. Roll it at normal speed."

They watched as their victim walked toward the doors, holding the briefcase that had been found with her body. She was alone and seemed fine emotionally. Now she was even with the stairs that she was found in, just a dozen or so yards from the exit.

As the tape rolled, someone stepped out of the partially obscured stairwell. Her face was hidden, but her clothes were obvious: the blue plaid skirt and white polo uniform of Oakton Prep. The girl said something to Mercutio to make her turn around. She smiled as the girl jogged to catch up to her. "Someone she knew…" Eames mused under her breath.

The three of them watched as the girl chatted with Mercutio. For a moment nothing happened. The mood quickly changed when the counselor's face abruptly clouded over. She stopped looking friendly; now she looked flat out angry. She turned sharply on her heel and walked away, throwing up her free hand in a gesture of annoyance.

They watched in astonishment as the still-unknown student raced up behind her and tripped her, just as Bobby had predicted. Mercutio fell face down, her briefcase skidding to a halt a few feet away. The girl stepped up beside her, positioning herself over the counselor that was now trying to get up. She reached out to grab the girl's leg, but only managed to scratch her shin. Without hesitating, the girl kicked her violently in the side, once, twice, three times. She feebly struggled to get up, but the girl pulled something out of her skirt pocket.

"Um, can you skip through this part?" Eames asked, turning away.

When she looked back again, it was over. The girl was standing over the body, just looking at what she'd done. "Come on, look up, look up…" Bobby muttered to their murderer.

And as if she had heard him, she did. Her hair swung as she checked the hall for any bystanders. Morales paused the tape when she looked their way.

The detectives were shocked at what they saw. Eames let out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding.

"Audrey van Acker," she said in a near-whisper. Silence fell for a few seconds as the three of them stared at the image before them. Even in low-quality black and white, it was unmistakably her.

"Can you zoom in on what she's holding and clean it up?" Goren asked.

As the new image materialized, Bobby squinted carefully at it. "It looks like a molding knife…" he said, trailing off. "It's a common tool used in sculpture and pottery."

Eames raised her eyebrows. "Sounds like what they'd use in the art club."

"You have the murder on tape?" Carver asked incredulously. "How'd we get that lucky?"

The two detectives and the ADA were meeting with Deakins in his office. "Miss van Acker was careful enough to swab under her victim's nails, but she was also careless enough to kill her in plain view of the school's security cameras," Eames replied, handing him a still from the tape. The look of pure venom on Audrey's face sent chills down her spine.

"What exactly does the tape show?" Carver asked as he studied the photo.

"Everything, from the argument that started it to Audrey running to the maintenance closet to get the bleach," Eames answered. "She tripped her, then stabbed her, then cleaned up and ran."

Carver sighed. "It would be nice if we had motive," he said as he set the picture on the desk. "The jury will want to know what would motivate a 16-year-old to do something like this."

Eames exhaled heavily. "We've got the argument," she said. "I just wish we knew what it was about."

Goren got his trademark haha-I-know-exactly-how-to-crack-them face. "Well, why don't we ask her?"

Audrey van Acker leaned back in her chair and stretched her arms behind her. "How much longer do I have to be here? I have a report on the Battle of Gallipoli to finish," she said impatiently, looking around the interrogation room. "I have 2 more pages to write on the evacuation in 1917."

A small smirk appeared on Bobby's face. "1916," he corrected without looking up from his notes.

Audrey sighed in annoyance. "No, it's 1917. And who cares anyway, I just wanna get this over with."

Bobby looked up at her and smiled. From her position near the door, Eames recognized the look. It was the one he used for putting suspects at ease before he started to mess with their head. She'd always enjoyed that particular smile.

"We need to clear up a few things about Ms. Mercutio's death," he responded calmly. "There're a few…anomalies we'd like to ask you about." He set his briefcase on the cold metal table.

Audrey rolled her eyes. "So you bring me in here? I already told you everything I know."

Alex took a few steps toward the table. "You see, Audrey, we don't think you have." She pulled out one of the remaining chairs and sat down. "We have footage from your school's security cameras that says you know a lot more than you're telling."

Audrey smirked. "See, now I know that's a lie. Oakton doesn't have security cameras." She shook her head. "A school like ours doesn't need them."

Bobby and Alex exchanged glances. "They were put in a few months ago, at the beginning of the school year," Alex said. "We watched the tape from the evening of the murder, and guess who we saw stabbing her 46 times before running off?" She didn't try to hide the disgust in her voice.

"How should I know?" Audrey replied. "I already told you, I don't know anything about what happened."

"Really?" Alex said. She pulled the camera still out of the file she was holding. "Then how do you explain this?" she asked as she slid it across the table.

Audrey picked up the picture from where Eames had set it. At first, she just looked at it, fingering the corner. After a few moments of silence, Alex spoke. "Miss van Acker, we have to tell you that you have the right to remain silent. You also have the right to an attorney. Do you want one before we go on?"

Audrey just shook her head no, still staring at the picture. Suddenly, she looked up at them. To the surprise of both, she smiled.

"Very good, detectives," she said, her voice simultaneously evil and cheery. "New York's finest cracked the case, and all it took was a video of the crime." She tossed the photo contemptuously back onto the table. "You people are pathetic."

Bobby studied her as she spoke. She was different from other criminals. She'd just had irrefutable evidence shoved in her face, but she had no reaction at all. There was no fear in her eyes, no tremble in her voice, no denials, no excuses. Just cold, unaffected stoicism. It would make her much more difficult to manipulate.

Alex's voice brought him out of his thoughts. "What was the argument about?"

Audrey casually fiddled with her nails as she spoke. "My writing," she said nonchalantly. "I gave her some of my poetry at last week's meeting. I wanted her to put it in Oakton's literary newspaper, but she told me it wasn't good enough." She looked up at Bobby, a wicked grin spreading across her face. "And nobody tells me I'm not good enough." She laughed softly to herself. Eames gave an involuntary shiver at the hatred in her voice.

A sharp knock on the window told them to head back into observation. Deakins and Carver were waiting behind the one-way glass, needing to discuss this unusual turn of events.

"This girl gives me the creeps," Alex told as she came through the door. "No remorse, no attempts to explain it away…" She turned to Bobby, who had just entered behind her. "She's what I imagine Nicole was like 15 years ago."

Bobby was staring at Audrey through the glass and stroking his chin in thought. "She has…no self-esteem," he explained. "She can't handle being wrong. To her, it's a weakness. She thinks that if she appears anything less than perfect, all the flaws that are so obvious to her will be obvious to everyone else. That's why she wouldn't admit Gallipoli was in 1916 instead of '17. Any imperfections are proof of her own worthlessness." A contemplative look crossed his face. "Her worst fear was realized when Mercutio said she wasn't good enough. She's terrified that if she's wrong, people will see her…" He nodded at her and sighed. "They'll see her as she sees herself."

Silence fell in the small room. For a few moments, the four of them just stared at the puzzle that sat on the other side of the glass. Then, snapping out of his reverie, Deakins spoke up. "You two better get back in there and see what she has to say for herself."

"Audrey," Eames began as she re-entered the interrogation room, "we need to know exactly what happened."

Audrey messed with her nails again. "I already told you," she said with annoyance. "She insulted me. I stabbed her a lot. I got some bleach out of the janitor's closet to get rid of DNA. Then I ran." She said it all as flippantly as if she were telling her parents what happened at school that day. It was eerie how little this girl cared about what she'd done and what would happen to her.

Bobby looked at her intently, as if to size her up. "You know what I don't get?" he asked her.

She rolled her eyes at him. "No, but I'm sure you'll tell me."

He smiled slightly. "Well, you don't care about what you did, right? Don't regret it or anything?"

"No. She insulted me. I wasn't about to let her walk away."

He continued to assess her. "I'd like to know how you fooled everyone," he said. "How no one ever saw past your…good-girl façade."

She leaned back farther in her chair. "Why?" she asked, repeating his question. "Because I'm very good at what I do, detective."

"Really? And what is that?"

She leaned forward, her elbows sliding along the cold metal surface of the table. The look of pure venom in her eyes from the tape was back, pulsating from her deep blue to his brown. "I make people believe what they want to," she said slowly, pausing between each word. She continued to gaze directly at Bobby, never breaking eye contact, almost as if she was challenging him. "They all look at me, but all anyone sees is a model child. The honors student with the 4.2 who volunteers and was elected student council vice-president." A sickly-sweet fake smile appeared on her face. "I'm an adult's dream. So no one reallycares what else I am." She gave a short laugh. "You should know, detectives, that people are always shutting their eyes so they can pretend nothing's there. Of course, I've never given them anything to see." She batted her eyelashes in a parody of innocence before smirking and going calmlyback to her nails.

Eames sighed as she stood up. "In that case, Audrey van Acker, you're under arrest for the murder of Caroline Mercutio. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say…"

As she recited Miranda, she pulled out her handcuffs and started to fasten them around Audrey's wrists. As she led her out of the room, she noticed something.

Audrey was laughing.