Yesterday, both Nick and Greg gave a statement about what happened with Julian. Their statements were important for the D.A. to decide whether or not the case was worth prosecuting.
Nick was back to work for over a week now and Greg was more and more used in the lab. He was either working both in the lab and out in the field or doing overtime working in the lab. He was swamped with work. The only upside of it was that he got distracted from his own thoughts. He wasn't able to think about Julian all the time. He also didn't get too much sleep.
Finally, he had time for a coffee break.
Sara and Nick were sitting in the break room when Greg joined them. "I'm starting to want Julian back here," he said with a smile on his face as he sat down next to Sara.
"That bad?" she asked smiling.
"Funny you should ask, you brought me two dozen DNA swabs! They're not going to process themselves on their own, you know. Ray gave me a urine sample and Catherine had seven used condoms to process!" he replied in an upbeat voice. Despite being tired and a bit overworked, he was in a good mood.
"I actually have a box full of DNA samples waiting for you," Nick said smiling while reading in a newspaper.
"You're joking, right?"
"I'm afraid I'm not."
"From the Shannon Craig case?"
"Yes and no. Catherine assigned me to another case, too. You're not the only one being swamped with work, you know."
"Well... That's good to know," he replied sarcastically.
They joked around for another ten minutes when Catherine and Ray walked in.
"Nick, Greg. In my office, please?" Catherine and Ray shared a look as she walked out.
Catherine didn't want them to see this, but Nick and Greg insisted to come here. The news came as a surprise, neither them, nor Catherine or anybody else expected this to happen.
And still, both Nick and Greg couldn't help but think that justice finally was served when they saw Julian like that.
"The D.A. wouldn't even have pressed charges. Julian would've run free," Catherine said as she looked at his lifeless body. His face was smashed beyond recognition, but they were sure it was him. "The lab director even would've given him his job back."
Greg was speechless. He had no idea how to react to this. It was like a bomb being dropped off on him.
"Who did this?" Nick finally asked. He was as shocked as Greg. He threatened to kill Julian more than once, but of course never meant it. In his eyes, Julian was a sick psycho who needed to be locked away, but he didn't think he deserved to die.
"We'll hopefully find out soon," Catherine said.
Julian's body was lying in the guest bedroom of his apartment, the one Greg woke up in after a night out with him. Detective Reed was walking up on the three from the hallway. "What are you two doing here?" she asked rather irritated.
"They wanted to be here," Catherine tried to explain.
"Out. Both of you! All three of you, actually. You can't be here!"
"Why not? What's wrong?" Nick asked confused.
"Don't you get what this looks like? You're lucky we didn't arrest you yet."
"Arrest us? Wait a second... You think we have anything to do with this?" Nick asked outraged.
"You had enough reason to do this, don't you think?" As Reed noticed their shocked faces, she quickly became more compassionate. "I'm sorry. I know you don't have anything to do with this, but the D.A. might consider you two as suspects. You just can't be here.
The CSIs gathered in the break room again to process what just happened. Julian was dead. No one was sure how to feel about this. No one liked him, but before he started stalking Greg, he wasn't exactly a bad person, either.
They discussed it for over half an hour, but Nick didn't involve too much into the conversation. They talked about their feelings following his death and Catherine said she'd try her best to get a replacement for Julian's position as soon as possible. They also decided whether or not they want to attend his funeral. Greg wanted to pay him his respect, but figured his family might not want to see him there, as well as Nick. So Catherine and Ray decided to go alone, with Sara showing no interest of going.
"Okay, then... Let's get back to work," Catherine said as she got off her seat. They still had a lot to do, with five cases on their hands.
Although either one of his colleagues could use a hand in their cases – especially Nick, who had to work two cases – Greg had to work in the DNA lab again. Concentrating on his work wasn't easy as he kept thinking about Julian. He wanted to feel bad. He wanted to mourn his death. After all, no matter what else happened, for a short time period they were friends. But he couldn't. He wasn't exactly glad that he was dead, either, but he felt safer now.
"Are you done with my DNA samples?" Nick walked in.
"Not yet," Greg replied hectic. He was doing several samples at once, trying to get the results quick. Nick looked around in the lab. "Is that from the Shannon Craig case?" He pointed at DNA swabs that were still sealed.
"Yup. Didn't have time to work on those yet."
"But you've already started processing the stuff from my other case? And from Catherine's?"
"Mhm," he said, running around the lab. "You're kind of in my way." Greg tried to gently shove Nick away from a drawer he needed to get into.
"Greg, what the hell? This case is important to me! And I thought you cared about it, too!"
"It is! But it's not a priority." Greg was with his back turned to Nick on the microscope.
"Excuse me?" Nick said angrily, grabbing Greg by the shoulder to turn him with his chair around. He was now face to face with him. "I need these results!"
"Nick, calm down. And loosen your grip, will ya?" Greg shook Nick's hand off his shoulder. "She's been dead for three years. Whoever killed her could be anywhere now, but he's probably not a threat at the moment. Catherine's peeping Tom, turned rapist, could strike again anytime! You know exactly how this works, I can't let my emotions decide which case to work first!"
Reed, accompanied by Brass and two officers, walked in. "Excuse me."
Both Nick and Greg turned their heads around. They both knew it had something to do with Julian, but the look on Reed's and Brass' faces told them it's not good news.