Author's Note - Hey everyone. Thank you to everyone who reviewed. I just want to point out that I'm not a lawyer or anything so it's mostly from what I've seen on TV. I anything seems too far fetched, feel free to let me know. Thanks!

Disclaimer - I don't own CSI NY, unfortunately.

Special thank you to Axellia for the help!

************

Adriana sat at the desk that was located in the office that she was awarded when she first got the job. It was a nice size office, but that was probably because she shared with another A.D.A. The deep gray paint that covered the walls created a rather dull mood, one that Adriana was not fond of. Along with the two desks, there were two file cabinets; one for her and one for the other A.D.A. A bookshelf rested on the wall adjacent to the door filled with all kinds of books dealing with the two biggest subjects in her world: crime and punishment.

The wall opposite the door featured two large bay windows that overlooked some of the city. The view was probably Adriana's favorite thing about the office. She was located on the third floor which allowed her to get a good view of the people below without being too close. She often found herself getting up from her desk and perching herself on the edge of the window sill, staring out at the city. Her desk was farthest from the window, much to her dismay. Whoever had the other desk had the luxury of being able to simply turn their chair around to see out of the window, a luxury that made her slightly envious.

She looked up from the police report she was reading. Though the trial wasn't for another three days, she wanted to go back over her notes. She was a perfectionist and she knew it. That was why she woke up and threw on a pair of jeans and a simple college t-shirt and came into her office in a Saturday morning. She figured it would be less crowded which made it easier for her to focus. She also knew that the only thing waiting back at home were the piles of boxes that she had yet to unpack.

Adriana glanced over at the empty desk of her office mate. Though she hadn't been in New York for a whole week, she was surprised that she hadn't met whoever it was. She had been in a couple of times over the past few days but the desk remained empty. She was told that it belonged to some guy with the last name Levi but that didn't tell her much.

She looked back down at the file in front of her. The case against Charles Easton was a solid one. They had loads of physical evidence against him. A witness placed him near the crime scene at the time of the murder and the motive was clear. Susan Mayer had dumped him and made it clear that she never wanted to see him again. He however, didn't quite comprehend which lead to murder.

"People these days," she said to herself.

"Tell me about it."

Adriana nearly jumped out of chair as the mysterious voice spoke. She looked up to see a man standing in the doorway, his arms crossed over his chest and a smirk dancing across his features.

"Sorry," he said with a chuckle.

"You scared the hell out of me," she said with her hand over her heart.

"You'd be surprised at how many times I've heard that," he said, moving towards the other desk.

Adriana watched as he moved towards her desk. He looked to be about five foot ten or so with chocolate brown hair cut close to his head and light stubble going across his jaw line. Even though he was seated, Adriana could tell that he was well built, as his muscular arms were shown due the plain gray t-shirt and jeans he wore.

"I take it that you're Adriana," he asked with a smile.

"Uh, yeah. You must be Levi," she answered.

"Zachary Levi. Nice to meet you roomie," he said extending his hand.

"You too," she said politely, taking his hand in hers.

He gave her a quick grin before moving towards his desk and taking a seat in his chair. He leaned back and watched Adriana with his hazel brown eyes.

"What?" Adriana asked curiously.

"You do realize you're here on a Saturday, right?" he asked.

"I'm fully aware of that fact. But so are you," she pointed out.

"True," he admitted. "So you're really a prosecutor huh? You seem kind of young. What are you, twenty-seven?"

"Maybe."

"I'll take that as a yes," he replied with a smirk.

Adriana couldn't help but chuckle at the man. She couldn't tell if this demeanor he currently had was one of pure confidence in his ability to make first good impressions or just plain arrogance.

"So, age is nothing but a number. You're what, twenty-eight?"

"Thirty, but thank you for the compliment," he replied. "That your case?" he asked, glancing at the file on her desk.

"Yeah, it's the one for Susan Mayer."

"Ah," he said in recognition. "Estranged boyfriend comes back to kill girlfriend."

"That'd be the one," she told him, raising an eyebrow.

Zachary leaned forward in his chair, resting his elbows on the desk. "You got Grange as a judge right?"

"Yeah."

"Well, listen. I'm sure you've heard that Grange is pretty fair. But let me tell you, he's also old school. He doesn't take well to new techniques that some prosecutors use. Just keep it simple. The more physical evidence you got, the better. Keep it straightforward and to the point, alright?"

Adriana looked at Zachary with a small smile. "Thanks. I'll definitely keep that in mind."

"No problem. Just helping out the rookie," he replied. "So you know you're here on a Saturday, right?"

"And you know you already asked that right?" she countered.

"Very good," he said with a grin. "Just making sure you pay attention to detail. No but seriously, why are you here? Shouldn't you be out shopping with the gals?"

Adriana laughed out at his comment. "Yeah, right. The gals?"

"Gals, girls, chicks, homies, whatever you refer to them as."

"Well, if you must know, I just moved here from Phoenix so there are no gals at the moment," she told him.

"Phoenix? That's definitely far from New York."

"Exactly," she said with a smirk before looking back down at her file.

Zachary let out a small chuckle before opening his drawer and pulling out a file of his own. Adriana watched him for a moment before focusing her attention back on her own file.

The two sat in silence for the next half hour, each fully engrossed in their own work. She glanced up at him every now and then to find him reading intently the papers on his desk.

Though Adriana figured Zachary to be a bit cocky, she could also tell that he was probably a damn good prosecutor. Something about the way he spoke made her think he was a hell of a competitor in the courtroom.

"You wanna grab some lunch?" Zachary asked suddenly.

"What?"

"Lunch," he said. "You see, here in New York, people eat a meal, right around noon called lunch."

"Ha, ha," Adriana replied sarcastically. "I know what lunch is."

"So, do you want to? There's this little sandwich shop…" he started but was cut off by the sound of Adriana's phone ringing.

"Sorry," she told him before answering. "James."

"Adriana, its Mac Taylor."

"What is it?" she asked worriedly. She could tell immediately from his tone that this wasn't a happy news call.

"We have a problem," he said slowly.

************

Adriana stood in Mac's office, looking in disbelief at the crime scene folders laid out on his desk.

The body of Charles Easton was found in a dumpster about two blocks from his apartment. She could tell from the photos that he had been beaten pretty badly.

She picked up the one that was a close up of his face. If it wasn't for the fact that his wallet that contained his driver's license was still in his pocket, Adriana wouldn't have been sure that it was really him. The bruises on his face covered each of his prominent features, making him completely unrecognizable.

She looked up at Mac, who stood behind his desk, his hands resting on his hips and the frustration evident on his face.

"How the hell did this happen?" she asked.

"Well apparently, someone got to Charles Easton and felt he deserved to be beaten to death," he answered.

Adriana let out an aggravated sigh. "I get that, but I mean how did he get out of jail? I'm sure he didn't have five thousand dollars lying around."

"Seems someone posted bail."

Adriana turned around to see Lindsay walking into the office with a file in his hands. She sent a small smile in Adriana's direction before handing the file to Mac.

"Adriana, this is Lindsay Monroe, she's an investigator. Lindsay this is A.D.A Adriana James," Mac introduced.

"We've met," Lindsay told him.

"So who posted the bail?" Adriana asked Mac.

"Ricky Nanter," he read aloud from the file. "Do we know who Ricky Nanter is?" he asked Lindsay.

"Charles Easton's roommate," Lindsay said.

"What time?" Adriana inquired.

"According to the records, bail was paid at exactly 10:24 last night," Lindsay informed her.

"And Sid place the time of death somewhere between 9:00 and 11:00 pm," Mac added.

"So, unless I'm missing something, Charles was killed within thirty six minutes of his being bailed at of jail," Adriana assumed.

"That's a really small window," Lindsay pointed out.

"I think we should have a little talk with Ricky," Mac concluded.

"Flack is bringing him in now," Lindsay told him.

Mac nodded before turning to Adriana. "I take it you're coming," he said to her.

"Wouldn't miss it."

************

The three quickly made there was to the New York City police precinct that was conveniently next door to the crime lab. Adriana followed Mac and Lindsay through the array of desks located in the main room, some which held detectives that were busy on the phone or engrossed in paperwork. The whole room was noisy and seemed congested with people moving every which way. There was also the sound of the occasional citizen yelling something absurd as they were being carried off to the various interrogation rooms.

They made their way past the desks and into the hallway. They entered one of the doors into the viewing room. Adriana saw who she assumed to be Ricky Nanter sitting nervously in the chair across from Flack who sat in his chair, staring intently at him.

Ricky was tall and lanky with dirty blonde hair and clothes to match. Adriana didn't know if it was possible for someone to look liked they smelled, but that man certainly did.

"So Ricky, you wanna tell me about last night?" Flack asked him.

"I don't know what you're talking about?" he replied, looking everywhere except at Flack.

"I'm talking about you bailing out your buddy Charles Easton at exactly 10.24 last night," Flack said, his voice getting louder.

"So, that's not illegal," he countered.

"Yeah, but murder is."

Ricky's head shot up at Flack's comment. The amount of surprised registered on his face made him an unlikely candidate for the crime in Adriana's opinion.

"Charlie's dead?" he asked, sounding like a kid who just lost his puppy.

"Yup, he was murdered. Right after you bailed him out," Flack informed him. "So what, you go and bail him out, but he isn't as grateful as you think he should be so you begin to show him how unhappy you are?" he asked, getting up out of his chair.

"Wait, you think I had something to do with it?" Ricky asked in disbelief.

"Didn't my last comment make that kinda obvious?" Flack said sarcastically.

"Look, I didn't kill Charlie, alright. I came to the station during my break and paid for his bail, then went back to work," he explained.

"Where do you work?"

"At the Smarty Mart on the corner of sixth and Lex," he answered.

"Where did Charles go?"

"He said he was going back to the apartment."

"So how does someone who spends all day making slurpees end up having five thousand dollars to bail out a guilty roommate?" Flack questioned, pacing the side of the room opposite to Ricky.

Ricky looked down at his hands before answering. "Um, someone gave it to me," he said slowly.

Flack let out a light chuckle, shaking his head. "You expect me to believe that someone just gave you five thousand dollars."

"Look, some guy came into the store and asked if I was Charlie's roommate. I said yes and he offered to give me the five grand for the bail plus five hundred for myself."

"And you just took it?"

"Yeah. Wouldn't you?"

"So did you get a name?" Flack asked, ignoring his question.

"No, he didn't say," he said. "Look all I know is that he was a chubby old white guy with brown hair," he added after seeing the disapproving look on Flack's face.

Flack just rolled his eyes and headed towards the door to leave.

"Hey wait, can't I go?" Ricky asked.

"No," Flack said simply.

"Why not? I didn't do anything."

Flack shrugged as he reached out for the doorknob. "I just don't like you," he deadpanned before completely leaving the room.

Adriana watched the entire interrogation through the view glass. She had to admit, she was impressed. This was the first time she was able to see Flack in complete work mode and she saw that he was a natural at what he did.

Flack entered the viewing room and let at an aggravated sigh. "If this guy's alibi checks out, we got no reason to hold him."

"So, where does that leave us?" Adriana asked.

"We focus on Charles Easton. Why would someone want to kill him?" Mac spoke up.

"The guy was arrested for killing his ex-girlfriend. Someone close to Susan Mayer maybe felt that they needed to take matters into their own hands," Lindsay pointed out.

"Could be random or gang related. The guy didn't live in the best of neighborhoods," Flack added.

"Let's focus on what we have. Flack, see if there is any surveillance in the convenient store. I want to know who this mystery donator was. My guess is that whoever it was wanted Charles Easton out of jail, so they could show him their version of the justice system," Mac said. "Lindsay, you and Stella go back to Easton's apartment. See if there were any threats made to him personally," he added before turning to Adriana. "We'll keep you updated on anything we find."

"I appreciate it," she said with a small smile.

Mac gave her a small nod and headed out the room.

"Well, it looks like your first case just became your second," Lindsay said with a smile.

Adriana shrugged. "Well, the first one would have been easy. This one, not so much. But hey, I like a challenge," she told her.

Lindsay smiled before leaving the room, leaving Flack and Adriana alone.

"If I charged this guy with pure stupidity, you think you could win a conviction?" he asked jokingly.

"Despite my marvelous prosecuting skills, stupidity isn't illegal."

Flack let out a small chuckle before leading her out of the room. "It should be."