Author's Notes: Yes, It's been ages. Yes, I'm sure none of you are still reading. But I really hope that you are, and that you continue to do so. :D. This chapter is long overdue, and a bit on the short side (although I –did- update two stories in less than 3 hours), but I hope you'll still read it and enjoy it, and of course let me know what you think of it. I had to get this stuff out of the way to push forward to the –good- part of the story. You know what they say, "things can always get worse"….and it wouldn't be right for me not to throw a few curveballs to these two, especially in this series.

Raise your hand (or click the review button) and let me know if you're still here. Feedback encourages updates. :D

Thanks for reading!

Jenny

Chapter Eight:

Brittany closed the heavy wooden door, waiting for Brass to take out a notepad and pen before approaching a confused Sara, "This is strictly informal. I don't want you to feel like we're singling you out or pointing fingers, we just have a few questions that need to be addressed."

"What's going on?" Sara asked, still fighting the fatigue that held her mind in a foggy vice grip "Is this about Greg?"

Brass motioned for Sara to sit, and as she perched anxiously on one of the plastic waiting room chairs, he glanced down at his notepad, "How well did you know Angelle Orgeron?"

"Well enough to know she was trouble." Sara replied bitterly, meeting Brass's weary eyes with her own angry ones, "She was a liar, and a thief. I can only hope she's far away from here."

Brittany spoke up, clearing her throat slightly, "So there was tension between the two of you?"

"You could say that." Sara replied, "Greg Sanders and I used to date, and after we broke up, he moved on with Angelle. There's bound to be some tension. That, combined with her criminal history put us on opposite sides of the fence, so to speak."

Brass jotted a few notes down before asking quietly, "When was the last time you had contact with Angelle?"

"It's been awhile." Sara shrugged, "I try to avoid her as much as possible. A month or two, perhaps? Do we have to do this right now? I'd like to go see Greg, if that's alright."

Sara moved to stand, but Brass held up his hand, "Not so fast, Sara. Were you aware of a domestic dispute between Greg and Angelle?"

Blinking several times, Sara slowly responded, "I don't know if you'd call it a domestic dispute…but I know she took off out of town with all of his stuff. He was pretty pissed, she completely depleted his bank account, his apartment. He came over to my apartment to see if he could stay with me until he got back on his feet, and then he collapsed."

"So this dispute took place today?"

"As far as I know." Sara replied quietly, "Why? What's going on? Does this have anything to do with Greg's illness?"

Ignoring her questions, Brittany cut in, "Besides yourself and Greg, do you know if anyone else had any…troubled….relationships with Angelle?"

"Troubled? What do you mean by that?" Sara questioned, "I don't know who their mutual friends are, but I don't know of her having any enemies among my group of friends. Outside of that, I don't know. What's going on?"

Brittany ignored Sara once more, spitting out, "When was the last time you made contact with Nick Stokes?"

"I…I don't know." Sara stammered, her head starting to throb as she replayed the last few days in her mind, "At the start of the last shift I worked, there was a meeting between he, Greg, Grissom, and I in Grissom's office, I guess that's the last time I saw him."

"And your relationship with CSI Stokes is strained as well?" Brittany asked sharply, her eyes narrowing, "How is the relationship between Nick and Greg?"

Sara's hand moved protectively to her abdomen, her voice trembling slightly as confusion gave way to nervousness, "Strained. They used to be pretty good friends, but Nick and I sort of had a fling after Greg and I broke up, and the relationship didn't end well. There's been a lot of tension between the three of us."

"To your knowledge, does Nick have any close contact with Angelle?" Brass asked, cutting in before Brittany began another string of questions. He tapped his pen against his notepad as Sara's mouth opened and closed a few times, the brunette obviously at a loss for words, "Any contact?"

Sara shook her head, "Not that I know of, but Nick and I have barely been speaking for the last month. I don't know what he does in his spare time. What's going on?"

"Sara, you and I have known each other for a long time, haven't we?" Brass asked quietly, the tone of his voice commanding Sara's brown eyes to meet his own gaze, "We've always been honest and straightforward with each other, haven't we?"

Sara nodded numbly, her mind racing at the possibilities of where this conversation was heading. The questions had jumped from topic to topic so quickly that she was nearly dizzy, and now both Brittany and Brass were looking at her with a mixture of sympathy and suspicion, their voices toned with a slight sense of urgency. Something was happening, and her heart sank as she realized that they wouldn't be questioning her like this if they didn't think she was somehow involved.

"Yes." Sara replied, her voice cracking slightly, "What's going on?"

Brass closed his notebook, glancing at Brittany before turning his attention back towards Sara, "Greg Sanders has accused Angelle Orgeron of drugging him over the course of their relationship. I don't know how much you know of his medical condition, but it looks as if he's been ingesting some sort of poisonous herbal substance. While interviewing Greg, we got a call from dispatch…Angelle Orgeron was found murdered at McCarran, coroner's estimated TOD was sometime during the night last night."

"So why are you questioning me? I was here last night." Sara reminded him, holding up her wounded arm as she tried to digest all they were telling her, "Rebecca was the nurse assigned to me, and she popped in every hour or so to wake me up. Greg was with me all night."

Brass nodded, sighing heavily, "I know you were here, both you and Greg have been accounted for…but we found your ID Badge at the crime scene, as well as some biological evidence that is being processed at the lab as we speak."

"Sara, we think someone's trying to frame you for murder." Brittany spoke quietly, "We just have to find the link connecting you to the victim. It's obviously not Greg…but we have to start here and work our way out."

Sara blinked rapidly, trying to process all of this information as the room began to wobble around her. Murder? Framing? Evidence? Woozily rising, she darted into the bathroom, barely making it before becoming ill.

Brass and Brittany exchanged a glance before being interrupted by a knock on the door. While Brittany went to answer the door, Brass tentatively took a step towards the bathroom, "Are you okay?"

"No." Sara replied, coughing as tears threatened to spill from her tired eyes, "Someone's trying to set me up as a murderer, am I supposed to be okay?"

Brass was silent for a moment before sighing heavily, "We're going to do everything in our power to nail whoever this is. I don't want you worrying about it, you've got a solid alibi. Stay out of trouble, lay low, and this will blow over. Britt and I are going to leave you alone for a bit to compose yourself. When you're feeling better, Greg wants to see you."

Sara mumbled a quiet thanks, barely able to contain her sobs until the door clicked shut behind Brass. Curling into a ball on the floor, she began to sob earnestly, wondering just how bad things could possibly get before they had to start improving.

TBC