Yes, I apologise, this story has some confusing parts to it. One point however, I didn't intend on a small factor being confusing but this story seems to be writing itself. Yes - there is implied established M/A in this story but it's tiny and not overpowering the storyline which is what I feel is the most important. The relationships between the four detectives are crucial to the big picture in a small way. Kind of like the way they are on the TV Show.

Oh, and I'm bringing back Carver, simply because this is where he belongs. And for those that missed what the contents of the folder were in Chapter 3, I've repeated it in here for you. ;)

Fire Safety

Captain Daniel Ross' Office

Major Case Squad, One Police Plaza

"Well, there goes the case against Mr Webber." Ross' tone of voice was low, and he sounded irritated beyond belief that the man who had been their biggest suspect was now quickly becoming nothing more than an innocent victim in a huge web of ash and flames.

"He could have been setting up a defence for himself." Suggested Wheeler, even knowing that whilst she spoke she sounded pathetic. That'd all been heard before.

"Webber's been seriously injured." Eames objected to her reasoning, soon after Webber had rushed to confront the Detectives, he had collapsed - his lungs had been subjected to alot of stress and he'd suffered some severe burns from the flames.

"He may have been given the safe sex lecture but I guess he was never told about fire safety." Logan sarcastically supplied the only comment he felt like giving. This earned him a small smile from Ross, who quite enjoyed the odd comment to keep everyone on their toes. Hell, he'd pulled out a few of his own. "And what about that damned folder?"

"What about it? It can be argued that it has nothing to do with it. Every woman who has been interviewed has stated that he was never violent with them and Brooks was the only one burnt to death." Ross replied to Logan, making sure he was telling the others as well. He couldn't help but notice how Goren was keeping himself out of the conversation. He was leaning back in a chair, looking up at the ceiling completely lost in his thoughts.

The folder was still important in Goren's mind - it held the key to solving this case. He felt that there was something he had missed. But what? The folder had been filled with names of women, each with their date of birth and the date that they had had sex on. Next to each name was a small bag, vacuum sealed, holding a used condom. Presumebly the condom he used on each corresponding woman. The folder was simple, blue, one single colour. It had no other writing on it, nothing to lend itself to any other clue or find. Goren's mind was racing a mile a minute and he couldn't hear a word that was being spoken... actually... no one was speaking. He quickly sat up and noticed how Logan, Wheeler and Ross were staring at him but when he looked at Eames, she had a grin plastered to her face.

"You were spacing out again." Eames informed him in response to his unvoiced question.

"Uh, there was actually one woman who spoke a - a little differently about Webber." Goren said to them as his mind began reaching some sort of conclusion before they did. "W-we need to do a background check on Jessica Marshall." He stood up and looked at Ross, waiting for a go-ahead, a response.

Ross nodded, finally, and the four detectives rushed out of his office to try to break this case. Ross sighed, watching them leave. This case was beginning to look like one of those mazes where you can't seen anything but the straight, narrow, overgrown bushy passageways that have no turns in sight even though you desperately wish there was one that lead out of the maze as soon as possible.

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Lee & Grace Law Firm

Jessica Marshall's Place of Work

Reese Clark, a colleague of Jessica Marshall, was sitting at her desk quietly getting on with her own work when she felt a presence in her cubicle desk. She turned to see two Detectives hovering above her. She could tell they were detectives simply by the style of clothing the man was wearing and the badge clipped to her belt. "Miss Clark? I'm Detective Eames and this is Detective Goren. We'd like to talk to you about Jessica Marshall."

"Jess? What about her?" Clark asked, standing up so she could at least be at eye level with Eames, although she knew she'd never stand a chance with Goren.

"How long has she been working here?" Goren asked, not answering her question. The woman scowled at him for ignoring her questions but she watched Goren's soft, curious expression and changed her mind about getting upset with him.

"Almost a year." She replied. "Is she in some kind of trouble?"

"We just want to keep her out of trouble." Eames responded cryptically, frustrating Clark to the bone but she didn't want to reveal any details about the case. "Have you noticed anything different about her behaviour lately?"

"Not really. I guess she's been losing her cool alot quicker lately but that's just Jess. She's all about control." Clark replied, shaking her head when she thought about just how much the woman liked to be in control of every situation she's in.

"She likes to be in control." Stated Goren and Clark nodded. Goren and Eames had already been to see her desk, and they'd seen her apartment. All tidy, immaculate, eveything has a place and a place for everything. "With people here? Friends? Boyfriends?" Goren watched Clark as a knowing smile appeared on her face.

"Everyone but especially men. Jess backs down to no man. It's the reason she's still single." Clark told them and Eames smirked, the woman was revealing more information that it seemed she wanted to. She seemed to be tightlipped about it but now they'd started her she was on a roll. "I even laughed at her about it the other week in the car park."

"Why? What happened to make you do that?" Eames asked.

"She seemed to be trying to get some guy to phone her all week, it was driving all of us crazy, so when I saw her in the car park looking pissed at her phone, I made a crack about it." Clark told them with a laugh and a grin.

"She was angry at him." Goren said, looking around Clark's office. Clark nodded in reply.

"Very." She said and the two detectives looked at each other and nodded.

"Thank you for your time Ms Clark, we'll show ourselves out." Eames told her, as they turned and left the cubicle and headed for the door. "Looks like we bumped into the office gossip. I bet she's popular around the watercooler."

Goren couldn't help but smile at Eames' comment. "Yes, but she did confirm that Jessica liked to be in control and she wouldn't have readily excepted Webber's brush off."

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City Hospital

Webber's Room

"I can't believe that you still think I killed that cop!" Webber gritted his teeth as the fiery agony shot through his burnt back once again and he tried to settle himself down but even the sheets were aggravating the burns on his neck. "Look, I didn't burn myself. Why would I put myself through this?"

"To make yourself look innocent." Logan told him, going with Wheeler's earlier suggestion offering a rational explanation for the reasoning behind such an act, "It might hurt now but hey, in a few months the scars will have gone and you wouldn't have had to face a prison sentence." Sighing in frustration Webber growled at Logan, who was stood beside Wheeler next to his bedside, whilst a nurse tended to his medical needs.

"I want it on record that I didn't do this. My house is in ruins, my life is now upside down and you people keep harrassing me. At this rate I'm gonna to need a shrink." He spat out the last word and glared at Logan. "Why don't you guys go do something useful? And find the bastard that just burnt down my home!!" he yelled at them. Wheeler looked at Logan, who shrugged, enjoying the verbal display that Webber was putting on.

"Are you in any pain Chris?" the nurse asked, kindly, looking at him with sympathetic eyes and he growled at her too.

"Yes!" he hissed through his teeth, "Which is precisely why I wouldn't have done what you guys are implying." The nurse looked at the detectives, telling them with her eyes that they need to stop this line of questioning.

"Alright, Mr Webber, why don't you tell us what happened yesterday evening when you returned home?" Wheeler asked, deciding to take a different approach for his and their benefit.

"Nothing, I went to make myself a drink. I went into the kitchen I thought I could smell something funny but I wasn't sure." he looked at them, he seemed sincere and quite shaken whilst he was telling them the events as he remembered them. "I went upstairs and then went to lay down for a while. I thought that I was dreaming when I could smell some smoke... but I wasn't because my whole house went up in flames. That's when I realised that I was being burnt on my back I rushed out of the house and called 911."

"On your cell?" Wheeler asked, just to check. He nodded and closed his eyes.

"They say your life flashes before your eyes when things like that happen to you. I thought that it was a load of bullshit. Now I know it wasn't and it really does."

"You didn't see anyone? Hear anything?" Logan asked him, watching Wheeler take some notes. Webber shook his head.

"No, I didn't notice anything other than that smell when I came home."

"What did it smell of?" Wheeler asked him as he closed his eyes trying to remember the smell.

"I can't remember and anyway, I'm not very good at recognising smells." He told them, annoyed that they would think he'd remember such a stupid detail. Logan found his attitude annoying as well, and was desperate to leave.

"Mr Webber, is there anything else?" asked Wheeler, "Anything that you're not telling us?"

Webber shook his head and opened his eyes to look at her directly, "Actually, I'm glad you people have my folder." Logan looked amused and looked at Webber not hiding it. "Because that means it's safe." Logan look at Wheeler, who began to head for the door.

"Wonderful." Logan mumbled, shaking his head as he followed his partner out of the room. Once he is out of his earshot he turns to Wheeler and speaks quietly. "He's acting concerned about his home but all he really cares about is his precious collection."

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Major Case Squad, One Police Plaza

When Wheeler and Logan returned to the office they walked through the double doors to see ADA Ron Carver and Ross talking to Eames and Goren, who were sat at their desks. Goren seemed to be his animated explanation and Eames was just watching, waiting for her que to jump in and back her partner up on his long-winded explanation. Whatever it was, it looked like they had got something important, based on the fact that Carver was there. Logan and Wheeler walked over to the desk, Logan sitting on Eames' desk again and Wheeler remained standing. This was when Eames had finally chosen to pipe up and speak, "Jessica's parents were both killed in a house fire 7 years ago, although it was deemed accidental, that fire and the fire at Brooks house are actually identical."

"Now, you've got my attention." Said Carver, who had been dismissing their case against Jessica Marshall ever since he had been called up to the squadroom a little under 30 minutes ago. Eames pulled a few manila folders from her desk and showed them to him.

"So, what are we thinking here?" Logan asked, he needed to know what he had missed. "That this Jessica set Webber up?"

"She was the only one who refused to back down after the initial contact with Webber, she knew about the folder he kept and that still didn't get her in the door." Goren explained, his hands moving around in small circles as he spoke, his elbows on his desk, not even making eye contact with anyone whilst he spoke. He didn't need to, he knew that they were there. He also knew that Eames would back him up if he needed it.

"Yes, but is that really enough reason to kill a woman and then burn down his home?" Wheeler asked, voicing the concerns that everyone was having.

"She - she liked to be in control, her home, her office, her life." he continued, finally looked at someone, at Wheeler because she had voiced the concern.

"Basically Webber was threatening to hold the remote for her." Eames told them. "And have her on pause."

"To make this stick, we'd need a confession." Carver told them, handing the folders back to Eames and allowing them a moment to think about it.

"Can we get a search warrant?" Logan asked, making Carver look at him with curiosity. Goren nodded his approval, that would work.

"What would you be looking for?" Carver asked, looking at Ross for some kind of explanation but not getting any.

"Gloves." Logan answered a nanosecond before Goren spoke up as well.

"Her control." Goren almost spoke over him and they stared at them both. They'd both come up with different reasons to get the search warrant. "She likes control, she's not going to like us looking through her stuff and..." Goren looked at Logan. "Gloves would've been used in both house fires when it came to switching on electrical appliances and turning on all gas outlets." Logan wanted to thank Goren for backing him up but he guessed that he would have to wait until later.

Carver looked at them both thoughtfully and shook his head in amusement. Yep, he was back at Major Case and already he was being asked to get a search warrant for reasons that seemed far fetched, but he'd missed it and was glad that he'd decided to return. "I'll get you that search warrant, Detectives." he nodded to them and headed out of the squad room. Eames smirked somewhat when she noticed how thankful Logan had looked just then and apparently she hadn't been the only one. Ross had watched the whole thing with amusement.

"Be careful, Detective, you don't want us to think that you're getting soft." Ross told him, as he walked back towards his office and Logan tried to back a comment. He looked at Eames who was trying to hide her amusement at Ross' comment and failing by the second. Logan decided to just walk away from it, but before he headed back to his desk, he winked at Eames and nodded at Goren to show his gratitude. He had figured that Carver wouldn't have gone for his idea of a search warrant if Goren hadn't said something and even though everyone was laughing at him, he was appreciative.

Now all they needed to do was get her to confess, well that should be a piece of cake... right?

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TBC

A/N Lee & Grace Law Firm is completely made up and if it does match a real one, whoops! I didn't mean for it to do so.