They visited the three bars and also stopped by the victim's bank for her financial information before heading back to 1PP to sort through everything. The bartenders had all been elusive. One had recognized Julianne's picture but claimed to be ignorant about the timing of her visit. The bank records showed no obvious problems or patterns. Alex was able to identify the drink purchases from each bar, which provided timelines for the visits but without a suspect or cooperation from the bartenders, a timeline would not help much.

By nine o'clock that night, both partners were tired from a long day that had started well before sunrise. Alex extracted herself from the conference room and started gathering her things. Bobby sat at the table in the conference room and watched Alex get ready to go. He wondered briefly where she was going. Back to her new boyfriend perhaps? He watched as she threw out the remains of their shared take out and grabbed her shoulder bag. She looked up and around for him and smiled when she located him walking towards her.

"On your way home?" he mentally berated himself. 'What do want Goren? You want her to actually confirm she's dating again?'

Alex nodded tiredly and offered a small smile, "You want to share a cab?"
Goren found himself agreeing and gathering his coat and portfolio. Sure enough, once inside the cab, Alex offered her own address, not some foreign one, and Goren found himself relieved. After Alex got out of the cab, Bobby sat back and closed his eyes. He didn't like feeling… like this. Out of control. Alex was his partner and physical proximity was part of the job. Inappropriate thoughts kept creeping into his head every time she touched him or smiled or got too close. And the thoughts were coming faster and stronger and with less warning lately.

It was after she had her sister's baby last spring or maybe it was while she was away on maternity leave. Somewhere along the way, he had realized just how vital Alex Eames had become to him. He felt unsteady, wrong without her. There was no longer a question; he was in love with Alex.

When he had rushed to the hospital after confirmation of the birth, he had found himself pacing while waiting for the elevator. He realized he was nervous to see his partner, an emotion he had never associated with Alex. He was rushed to make sure that she was still intact, physically and emotionally. And what he found when he entered that hospital room was a pale and drowsy Alex. She was quiet and obviously tired and wanted nothing more from him than his presence for a few moments. So he sat by her bedside and asked questions that had easy answers and shied away from anything of significance. He didn't mention the case he had just broken. He didn't reveal that this time when he related with the suspect his understanding centered with Alex. He just stroked her hand for a few minutes while she fell into sleep and then sat and watched for a few more minutes after that.

But that was six months ago. Alex was back to work and things should be getting back to normal. Instead, he was obsessing about whether her hair being curled at a two a.m. crime scene was a sign that she was obviously dating again.

So that night after rolling into bed and setting his alarm, he stared at the ceiling instead of sleeping. At five a.m. when his alarm sounded, his eyes felt heavy and his body tense. He took a long shower and waited in line for ridiculously overpriced coffee and got to work seven minutes later than normal. And instead of diving right into work, he sat with his face in his hand and closed his eyes and felt himself drift into sleep.

Twenty minutes later, Alex leaned in over his shoulder and whispered softly, "Wake up Bobby."

Bobby jerked up and spilled his coffee all over his shirt and almost fell off his chair. Alex couldn't help herself; she snorted a laugh before grabbing a role of paper towel and trying to sop up some of the coffee from his shirt. As soon as she touched him, he jumped away. "I'm sorry. I…Let me get it." Alex surrendered the paper towels and stepped away.

"We can stop at your place and get a new shirt on the way," she offered. Bobby just nodded and looked away.

'God', Bobby thought, 'why did I react that way?' Alex had noticed, he was sure. Now they were sitting in the car, on their way to interview a friend Julianne had lunch with the day of the murder.

"I really hope Julianne mentioned what her plans were after lunch. It would help if we could reconstruct her day," Alex pointed out. Bobby nodded but didn't respond. Alex looked over at him.

"Bobby," she started. He looked up, away from his hands.

"Bobby, what's bothering you?"

He just shook his head. A moment passed before he said softly, "Nothing."

Alex shot him a look of disbelief.

"Really, Eames. I'm tired," he managed a half smile, "I hope this friend has some answers for us."

She nodded, not believing a word he said but deciding to drop it anyway.

Julianne's friend, Meredith, was indeed very helpful. She was an old college roommate of Julianne's and the two had kept in touch over the years. The detectives met her outside of her office building.

"God, I can't believe Julianne was murdered like that. I mean, she was so beautiful and she had so much going for her," Meredith's voice started to break off.

Alex looked over to Bobby before beginning, "It would be really helpful if we knew exactly what Julianne was doing that Sunday. Did she mention anything to you about her plans?"

Meredith nodded, "Yes. She had already been to the office. Then she was planning on running some errands. Julianne worked so much that she had to use Sundays for grocery shopping, picking up dry cleaning, stuff like that. I offered to go with her but she said no, she didn't want to drag me along. God, maybe if I'd gone with her…"

Alex shook her head. "She was killed much later. Were there any specifics that she mentioned?"

Meredith shook her head.

Bobby asked, "Where did Julianne normally get her dry cleaning done?"

"There's a little place. Locally owned. It's near her apartment. I can get you the name." Bobby nodded and after a pause asked, "If you don't mind, could you tell us what you and Julianne talked about over lunch?"

Meredith smiled, "I met this loser last week. We went out a couple of times until I found out he was married with two kids. We laughed about it. I'm always attracting losers." Bobby smiled. "What kind of men did Julianne usually attract?"

Meredith sighed, "The nicest guys. Always. Her fiancé, Jake, he was a really great guy."

"No losers for Julianne," Alex commented.

Meredith stopped and thought for a moment before slowly saying, "Actually. It's funny you mentioned that. When I was telling her about last week's loser, she said this guy had hit on her in a piano bar the weekend before."

"This would have been the weekend of September 2nd?" Goren clarified.

"Yeah. She said it was funny; it was exactly a month after she broke up with Jake. She was wondering if maybe it was a sign that she should have married Jake after all."

Alex pushed her hair back and asked, "What else did she mention about this guy?"

Meredith shook her head, "Just that he was a real loser. My type, we joked. He gave her the creeps. And then he acted really insulted when she turned him down. He said something about her being a snob and then he scared a little. He said he knew where she lived," Meredith's eyes widened as she spoke. "Oh god. You don't think…. This guy was the one. The one who killed her? We laughed about it."

Alex and Bobby exchanged a look.

"We don't know anything," Bobby assured her, "You've been very helpful. Thank you." As the partners walked away, Alex smiled up at Bobby and whispered, "Let's track down Mr. Creepy."

An hour later, they were sitting at a table in the piano bar, sorting through credit card receipts. The bartender was predictably unhelpful. He had shoved the receipts at them and walked away to help a patron.

"We don't even know what we're looking for Bobby. He could've been paid in cash. And if he did pay with a card, there are 300 receipts with male names on them."

Bobby nodded. "Let's make a list anyway." He handed her a yellow legal pad and a pen. Her hand brushed against his arm as she took the items. He pulled back his hand back, almost violently. Alex looked up in surprise.

"Bobby," she started but was cut off by Bobby.

"It's nothing," he said shortly, immediately bending over his own legal pad, scribbling names furiously. Alex watched him for a moment, mystified by her partner's behavior.

By the time they got back to 1PP, it was already four o'clock. They updated Deakins and started running the names of the credit card holders through the police database. A few hits came up for non-violent offenders. A couple of shoplifters, a couple of incidences of breaking and entering. No violent criminals,; no one with a stalking MO.

At eight o'clock, Alex stood up. "It's been three days. We are no where."

Bobby looked up to see her pacing. Quite the role reversal, he noticed. Usually it was he, not his calm partner, who paced out of frustration. He must have had an amused look on his face because Alex stopped suddenly and glared at him.

"What?"

He waved helplessly, "Uhh nothing. I'm not used to seeing you so… frustrated."

"This is a wild goose chase Bobby," she yelled gesturing to the list of names.

Deakins picked this moment to stick his head into the conference room.

"Hey, you two head home. Pick it up again tomorrow."

Bobby shrugged and stood, gathering some of the pictures and putting them into folders. Alex watched him clean up, her hand on her neck, messaging out knots. Bobby looked up as she did and almost dropped the file in his hand. She looked…tense but something about the way she was rubbing her neck… God, he had to get out of there. He rushed past her and didn't wait for her to catch up before taking the stairs eleven flights down.

Alex just watched him go. She was growing accustomed to his crazier than normal behavior of late. She tiredly gathered her own things and waited patiently for the elevator.

She arrived home at nine o'clock. It took a long shower, a glass of merlot and an hour of staring at the ceiling before she was able to fall asleep.

But sadly, sleep was not meant to be. At 12:13 a.m., her cell phone started dancing it's way across her dresser. She stood and stumbled in her sleep and answered shortly, "Eames."

Captain Deakins' voice was clear and awake. "We've got a body. Looks like the same guy as Julianne Meyer's murderer." She scribbled down the address, hung up the phone, cursed loudly and pulled some clothes out of the closet.

Goren was not sleeping when he got the call. He made it to the crime scene twenty minutes ahead of Eames. When he saw Eames walking towards him, he almost broke out into a dance. Her eyes were tired, her hair was pulled into a messy clip and her clothes were different than earlier that day. He smiled broadly and was awarded with a scowl. He chuckled but stepped out of her arm's length to avoid danger.

"Shut up Goren."

He stepped away, amused, and she glared at him again and then asked harshly, "Tell me about our vic."

Bobby took a deep breath, "Dr. Beth Charleston."

Eames eyebrows shot up.

Bobby continued, "Head of cardiovascular surgery at Mount Sinai."

"Successful lady," Eames observed, "Just like Julianne."

Bobby nodded frantically. "Wait till you see the way he left her."

Sure enough, Beth Charleston was face up, completely nude, arms and legs spread wide and bloody from lethal cuts.

Eames cursed softly before putting on gloves and squatting down next to Bobby.

"Same guy," Alex whispered into Bobby's ear.

He closed his eyes and forced his thoughts off of Alex's hot breath and onto the body lying in front of him.

"Same guy," he agreed.