A/N: somehow, by the grace of God, I actually got two chapters done in one day, lol.

Chapter 25

Thirty-six hours later:

Mac scowled in frustration. The murder case of Jack Dales was not going well. Mentally, he reviewed yet again what he and Sheldon had.

He and Sheldon had collected DNA evidence not belonging to the victim, showing at least three other attackers. Problem was, none of those unknown DNA's were in CODIS.

There had also been various fibers of unknown origin on the victim, the kind of fibers one would find in vehicles and blankets. They had tentatively identified some of the fibers as belonging to a particular make of vehicle but without a sample to compare it to, they had nothing.

Sid had confirmed that Jack had been beaten to death before being transported and thrown down the ravine and he'd found some fist-type bruising they could use to identify who hit him based on the size of the fist. There were also shoe marks on the victim's body, which had been identified as a very expensive type of shoe and a men's size 9.

Flack had managed to obtain campus security video showing Jack getting in to a confrontation with three students by the names of Edward Nashwood, Peter Markham, and Bryan Raies. That interview had not gone well as Flack later reported the students to be a bunch of stuck-up-snobs with a serious attitude problem.

Interviews around campus, however, had shed some more light on Jack, Edward, Peter, and Bryan, along with a tidbit about Jack's girlfriend, Judy. It turned out that Jack had been from a blue-collar family and was at the prominent college on a scholarship. Judy, on the other hand, was the daughter of a wealthy family. She was studying Business Management and was very, very upset about her boyfriend's death. She'd known he wasn't wealthy but, according to her and her roommate, Jack had seen something 'special' in her and treated her with respect as a person, not as a girl with a lot of money to her name. It had taken her a while to warm up to him but he'd been gently persistent and had eventually won her heart completely.

Edward, Peter, and Bryan were also all from wealthy families and they knew it and flashed it.

Many students considered the three boys to be nothing more than spoilt, rich snobs and bullies. After having dealt with them, Mac could see their point. He'd come close to punching Edward when the young prick had gotten mouthy with him when he'd simply requested a DNA sample to eliminate him as suspect. Then, of course, all three young men had lawyered up. Edward had all but bragged about 'maybe' having had a hand in the victim's death but since there was no concrete evidence, no one could touch him and money could buy a lot of things, something he was not short in supply of.

The stupid thing was, everyone else, including Jack's girlfriend, had co-operated and all had been eliminated, leaving the T's, as Sheldon called them, meaning Troublesome Triplet Terrors, but since they weren't co-operating, the case had stalled. The parents of the T's claimed they were 'good boys' who would never have been involved in such a 'horrible' incident and had refused to let Mac or any of his people search the dorms without a search warrant. Unfortunately for them, it looked like one of those parents knew a judge who'd refused to grant the search warrant without more evidence.

And that was where Mac found himself now.

He was at Randi's apartment, sitting in what was becoming a favorite chair, a cushy recliner, and he smiled at her as she handed him a cup of coffee. Fabio was at his feet, or, more accurately, on his feet, snoozing away contentedly.

"Long day?" she asked quietly as she settled into the couch beside him.

"Difficult murder case," he said apologetically.

"Any thing I can do to help?"

That was the one thing he really liked about Randi; she could listen to him for hours without interrupting, except to offer insight, insight that was often well thought-out and, on occasion, helpful. The thing was, he often found that talking to her about the cases helped clarify them in his mind and suggested new directions for him. He had to give her credit; she never shied away from the cases, not even the more grisly ones. She respected his work, just as she respected him.

"You wouldn't happen to know the Nashwoods, Markhams, or the Raies, would you?" he asked teasingly.

"Matter of fact, I do know the Nashwoods. Went to school with their daughter, Andrea. We didn't share the same social circles but she and I shared some classes together and she was always kind to me. I've also done business with the Nashwoods. Why, what's up?"

And he told her, venting his frustration and anger at the boys' behaviors.

"They act like it was the victim's fault that he got killed," Mac said. "Simply because he wasn't of their social standing. One of them made a crack about him 'sticking with his own type' because he got involved with a girl from the Melandros family."

Randi nodded in understanding. "The Melandros are a pretty wealthy Italian family that came over during the twenties and basically earned their wealth. They not only earned it but they kept it and last I heard, they were doing pretty good."

"She was pretty devastated by the murder and she was also cleared."

"And all your evidence is pointing at the three boys?"

"We have plenty of video evidence that shows their behavior, Don and I came pretty close to punching them out once or twice, and the victim had gotten in to several confrontations with them prior to his death. All we need is a DNA sample that would either clear them or nail them and they're being difficult about it."

"Makes me wonder what they have to hide," she mused. "Tell you what; if it will help, how about if I pay the Nashwoods a visit? I won't threaten them or anything, but I think I can probably appeal to them to play nice if I remind them that they have reputations to protect. The Nashwoods are a pretty decent family."

"I hate to ask but would you mind?"

Randi's answer was to reach for an address book beside the phone, which was beside the couch on a nice oak side table. She flipped through it, found what she was looking for, picked up her cordless phone, dialed a number and was soon speaking to Maria Nashwood.

"Good evening Maria, it's Miranda Wilcox. Oh, I'm fine thank you, just fine. I do apologize for interrupting your evening but I'm planning on being in the area tomorrow and was wondering if I might drop in on you, simply to see how you and your family are doing." She grabbed her PDA from the coffee table, and quickly checked her schedule. "Three o'clock? That sounds wonderful. I'll be there and I look forward to seeing you. All right, bye."

She made a notion on her PDA and smiled at Mac. "You ask, sweetie, you get."

Mac smiled back. "Thanks, Randi, I really appreciate this."

"No problem. Mind if I make a suggestion?" she asked.

"Go for it."

"Compile a disk of all the video you got of Edward's behavior, everything you have that shows him at his worst, and I'll give it to Maria, in case she has trouble believing that her son might not be quite the golden angel she wants to believe he is."

"Ammunition," Mac said, nodding.

"In the form of the truth, one they won't be able to sweep under the carpet."