Chapter Two
Nick walked into the lab feeling better than he had in months. He headed for the break room where, after stashing a half-ass lunch, he began opening cupboards at random.
"Little Brat," he muttered.
"Who's a little brat?" came a voice. Nick bumped his head on a cupboard and closed it.
Nick turned around to see a very amused Catherine with her arms folded across her chest. "Greg is. For hiding his coffee again."
"What do you mean again? That kid always hides his coffee."
Warrick and Sara walked in. "What's the grin for?" asked Catherine.
Nick cleared his throat. "What grin?"
"Oh man! You got laid? Again?" cried Warrick. "You need to stop picking up women before there won't be any for the rest of us!" Sara and Catherine laughed.
"He's not irresistible," answered Sara.
"Well, if anyone's gonna resist me, it would be you. You've got your eye on Grissom after all." Sara blushed and everyone in the room laughed. Greg wandered in and smiled.
"What's so funny?"
"Just that Nick is apparently irresistible," answered Sara. "But I disagree."
"Because you've got it for Grissom," countered Warrick. Another chorus of laughter erupted.
Greg's eyebrows raised. "So all those years of flirting-"
"Straight down the drain," finished Warrick. "Not like it isn't obvious or anything."
"So why is Nick irresistible again? I bet that I could resist doing his samples until just before shift ends," dared Greg.
"He got laid."
"I didn't say that," interjected Nick.
Grissom walked in, and the light-heartedness evaporated. "Nick, you and Warrick take the robbery. Jewelry store." He thrust the slip toward Warrick. "Catherine, Sara, you guys are with me. DB down at the Monaco." Grissom waved hands for everyone to get to work, and reluctantly, everyone got to work.
Nick climbed into his Tahoe and started it. He waited for Warrick to buckle up, and backed out.
"You're going to tell me," said Warrick. "So you might as well just do it now, opposed to trying to talk through the crime scene."
"So I went to this place, right? It's for the nightshift. And there were all these freaks there! It was weird."
"Freaks?"
"Yeah, the kind of place that Greg would be at. I mean, people in long trench coats, all black, people were wearing sun glasses inside. And the music was loud and horrible." Warrick raised his eyebrow.
"Yeah, that does sound like Sanders."
"Anyway, amidst all this chaos there was this-this…" Nick thought hard for a moment. "She was perfect, 'Rick. A little tall, slender, her legs were amazing. They just went on for days, man, she was perfect." Warrick laughed. "Her eyes though, they were so intense, man. Big brown pools of chocolate…"
"What's her name, Nick?" Nick sighed.
"I didn't get it. See, she doesn't talk."
"So you failed?"
"No, man, that's just it! She's mute, doesn't talk at all. She would write her responses for me. I even kept the paper. I'll show you when we get back to the lab. She wouldn't write her name for me, so I never got it. And when I asked her if I'd see her again, she just shrugged. But man, she was Fine." Warrick laughed again.
"Where did you meet this girl?"
"Some place called Pandora's." Warrick thought for a moment.
"Never heard of it."
Nick slowed and put his car in park. "Greg told me about it. Anyway, we start at the front and work our way back."
"Always," came the quiet reply.
They abandoned the Tahoe as Brass approached them.
"Two masked men, two black handguns," said Brass. "That's all I've got. Lucky for us, they have a big brother system." He smiled.
"Good. Maybe we can get height and the types of guns they used," added Warrick. Nick smiled and headed toward the front.
A broken glass door at the front. Nick turned to Brass. "What else?"
"Said they kicked in the door movie style, broke two glass cases with the butt of their guns and took everything out of them."
"They didn't take money?" inquired Nick.
"No, just jewelry."
Well, that's a little odd, thought Nick. For conformation, he looked at Warrick who only nodded. Nick knelt at the glass door and Warrick headed over to the glass cases. "We're gonna need a list of every piece that was taken."
"Yeah," added Brass. "I got the owner making a list."
"Any chance this is insurance fraud?" piped up Nick.
"I don't think so. Guy seemed genuinely shook up over it."
"I got some sort of fabric or something," called Warrick.
"I'll take that and raise you a potential foot print," returned Nick.
"Blood!"
"BULLET!"
"Alright, you're even," stated Brass. "This isn't a competition."
"Aw, come on now, Brass. A little competition can be great motivation."
"I'm thinking fraud," muttered Nick.
"Professionals, lookin' for something specific."
"Yeah, how much?"
"Forty bucks."
"You're on," added Nick.
Idiot, thought Nick. What kind of professional leaves blood behind? Nick shook his head and gathered glass from the door, piece by piece. He'd be damned if he wasn't going to get this shoe print. Once he decided he'd done enough photographing, potential printing, collecting and swabbing, he stood up. Nick looked around and saw no one else, so he walked back outside with his evidence.
Warrick walked over with a small box. "Got the video tapes from tonight, three different cameras."
"Good. We'll get those to Archie. See if maybe we can get something."
"He said they don't pick up sound, so…" Nick nodded in understanding and loaded up his Tahoe. "Back to the lab, then?" Nick grunted in approval and climbed in.
"So tell me more, about this girl."
Nick's face lit up like a Christmas tree. "Her hair was dark, and it was in front of her face. She was small, and kinda tall for a girl. Very slender."
"She could be a model," chimed in Warrick. "I mean, could be why she didn't want you to know her name."
Nick pondered this for a moment. "Yeah… a model…I mean, she was very pretty. Way prettier than Kristi ever was."
"Whoa, man! I saw Kristi once and she was a bombshell!" Nick nodded thoughtfully.
"A model. She did say her ride was there… Whatever that meant. I followed her to the parking lot, but by the time I got there, she was gone, man."
When they arrived back at the lab, Nick dropped his evidence off in the appropriate places and headed to one of the layout rooms. Piece by piece, and girl forgotten, he began trying to put the pieces together. A couple hours later, a knock came at the door. Nick looked up to find Warrick leaning against the doorframe.
"You look like you could use a break."
"Man, there are so many pieces that I keep seein' the same pieces!"
"Let's take a break. Heard Sanders made coffee not too long ago." Nick grinned.
"Say no more," added Nick as he headed for the break room. He pulled out his half-assed lunch, and poured himself some fresh coffee. He sat beside Sara.
Greg and Warrick walked in almost at the same time and they both headed for coffee. "Shouldn't you be running our samples?" teased Warrick.
"I'll have you know, Grissom dumped tons of samples on me and said they were priority. Those are currently running, and I'll start yours when I finish. And you shouldn't be drinking my coffee." Greg poured himself a mug and leaned against the counter.
Warrick smiled playfully. "Sorry, it's just that Nick keeps talking my ear off about some girl that he met. Said she's perfect."
"Yeah? What's her name?" asked Greg. Nick suddenly felt frustrated.
"I don't know," he admitted. Greg raised an eyebrow. "She was gorgeous. Look, I went to that place yesterday-the one you told me about-"
"Pandora's?" asked Greg. "On a Tuesday?" Nick nodded. "Hah, that's sin's night." Nick frowned.
"There were some really weird people there, but, anyway, there was this girl… She was really beautiful. She had long legs, black boots, black shirt, black miniskirt, tight a-"
"Spare me the details," pleaded Sara. Nick nodded thoughtfully.
"Really tall, pretty thin, actually."
"I might know her," added Greg. "Anything else?"
"She's mute." Sara and Greg both raised their eyebrows. "So she wrote to me." He pulled out the paper and unfolded it for them to look at. "Warrick thinks she might be a model."
Sara looked at Greg and appeared thoughtful for a moment.
"Yeah, I'd know this handwriting anywhere." Nick's eyes sparkled with hope.
"What's her name?" begged Nick. "Please, G, I gotta know." Greg shook his head and laughed a little.
"I don't actually know her name. I don't know anything about her." Nick looked desperate at this point. "But I'll tell you that she goes there a lot." Nick grinned.
"Well, I'm going back tonight." The rest of the group laughed at him.