A new Mame chapter. Again, this chapter has not been beta'ed. While my beta is back, she is busy, so I don't wanna give her too much work. I hope it's not that bad even without her help.

Now, Enjoy

Disclaimer: See Chapter One.

Chapter Two

The next morning, Ryan woke up to the ringing of his cell phone. When he checked his alarm, it told him he still had about half an hour to sleep. He groaned and answered the phone, "Yeah, it's Ryan."

"Morning Ryan, it's Natalia. Listen, I am sorry to wake you up that early, but we have a crime scene. Can you come over?"

He yawned, "Yeah, sure, I'll be there in an hour, that okay?"

"Thanks a lot." She gave him the address. "I'll see you there."

At the crime scene he was greeted with the rather peculiar smell of burned debris and flesh. Natalia was sitting on the sidewalk, sipping on a cup of coffee. She smiled when she saw him, "Hey, there. Great you're here."

"Sure. Can't we get in yet?"

She shook her head. "They haven't cleared the building yet. Should be done soon, though."

Ryan pointed a body lying close to the house, "The owner?"

Natalia shrugged, "Anyone's guess. They wouldn't let me or Tom go near it because they're afraid the building will collapse."

Ryan sat down next to her, "Who called it in?"

"Neighbours saw the building in flames a few hours ago. It took the firemen quite a long time to bring the fire under control."

"Aw, well, at least we weren't inside the building this time… How's your ear doing, by the way?"

Natalia yawned, "Yeah, everything's fine. The hearing aid really does its job. How about you?"

"Everything cool. My uncle's getting engaged… By the way, have you seen Nicole today?"

Natalia grinned, "I called her just before I called you. Apparently she's in a bad shape. Valera mentioned she had too much champagne yesterday. But she's trying to get Nicole out of bed."

Ryan nodded; he hadn't seen Nicole after the scene on the balcony. Frankly, he had been too occupied with Mame. They had said good-bye really early after Ryan had made sure Ron could drive Nicole home, and had spent about two hours in the car, talking and kissing. Then Ryan had brought Mame home and returned to his flat, immediately almost collapsing on his bed.

Now, Natalia got up, "The house is cleared. Let's go and see what Tom's got for us."

Tom Loman, who had up until now sat in his car, hurried over to the body. He started looking at it while Ryan took pictures of the house, and Natalia thanked the firemen for their work. Tom was working thoroughly. "I can't say a lot before I have it on my table, but my educated guess is that this…" He took a closer look, "…gentleman was alive when the house had burned."

"So he was burned alive?" Ryan asked.

"Yes, that's my educated guess. I can tell you more once I've seen his lungs."

"Alright. Call me, then. I'll be in the house with Natalia."

After having gone through the whole house, Natalia and Ryan sat outside again. Natalia started, "Okay, I think we can say that the house didn't just burst into flames."

"Not with the amount of accelerant we found." Ryan loosened his tie. "And I doubt that was an accident."

"Okay, so, the question that remains is whether we're talking arson or murder."

"Well, I gotta tell you, with a house burning at a time where inhabitants normally lie in bed, it sounds like murder to me. Wonder who lived here." They hadn't found an ID on the body, and nothing valuable in the house. "Frank already asking the neighbours?"

"Yep. He should be back soon with a name."

Ryan nodded, "So, I guess we're going back to HQ now."

At HQ, they were greeted with the sight of Nicole sitting in the break room. Ryan grinned and noisily sat down on the chair at her table. "Morning, Nicole. Have you had a good sleep?"

She didn't even raise her head, "If you don't want to die a slow and painful death, I suggest you shut your trap…"

He grinned, "Have you got a little headache?"

She moaned, "It's so loud outside… Everybody's breathing, the flowers are growing... I will never ever drink again…"

"And I thought you are a true Brit, with the booze and all that jazz… Seriously, you disappoint me."

She raised her head now. Ryan had to suppress laughter. She looked terrible. "I can handle a lot. Beer, that is. Not champagne…"

"I would strongly suggest you don't enter a beauty pageant today. How did you get home?"

"Ann called Valera who picked me up. I think that was about 3 hours ago. It sure feels like it. Now, beat it. You're too loud."

"I'm sorry to do this to you. I really am. Not. But we need you today. There's been…"

"…another murder. Leave me alone."

He handed her a cup of coffee, "Come on, you're gonna like it. It's very mysterious. A burning house. A burnt body. Many people to question. Come on, you cannot let Frank do all the work alone…"

"I'm sure Frank did work alone even way before I was born." She nevertheless grabbed the cup. "I shouldn't drink coffee. With all the champagne yesterday, it could get really ugly. Speaking of champagne. You left early. With Mame. Anything I should know?"

Ryan actually blushed a bit, "Well, no, not really. It's not really your business, is it?"

"It's not, but if you're blushing like a love sick kid, I'm definitely interested." While her face was still pale, there was a certain glint in her eye and an amused, if forced smile on her lips. "Come on, tell me."

He pondered about it for a second, but then decided that she was his friend and he could tell her, "Well, nothing special, really. I slept at home. We just kissed. A few times… Can you stop looking at me like this, please?"

The glint in her eye had turned into real amusement, "Come on, Ryan. That's great, I'm sure she's a nice woman. Although she didn't really appear like it." Then suddenly, she scratched her head, "Wait a second. You kissed?"

"Yeah."

"And today somebody burned to death?"

"Yeah…"

Now, even the paleness had gone from her face, "That is so funny. I need to work on that case. I'll get me some ibuprofen."

"What is so funny about it?" Ryan got up from the table and followed Nicole who headed to the Trace Lab.

"Oh nothing. Sure there wasn't a cow anywhere near the house?"

"I don't really know what you're talking about."

They reached Trace Lab, and Nicole opened the door. "Hey Mikey. What did happen when Mame kissed a buyer from out of town?"

Travers, standing next to Walter, raised his head, "You shouldn't come to work if you're still drunk."

But Walter grinned, "That kiss burned Chicago down." (1)

"Thanks, Biggie." She turned back to Ryan, "See the fun in it?"

Ryan frowned, "Oh yeah, you can see me lol-ing on the floor. In the meantime, has any of you two found out what accelerant was used in my case?"

"What? It wasn't a kiss?"

Ryan rolled his eyes, "No, Walter, it was not a kiss."

Walter grinned brighter and produced a sheet, "Then it might have been the gasoline."

"Thanks, Walter. So, judging by the amount of gasoline Natalia and I found in the house, the guy who did it must have purchased quite a lot of it. Nicole, call the stations around the crime scene, see if they had a big purchase during the last… 24 hours."

"Or we look for a lantern."

"What?"

Nicole just shrugged, "They say there's a possibility that a cow kicked a lantern back when Chicago burned down. That this started the fire."

"Will you stop this Chicago story?" Ryan shook his head and left the Trace lab again. Outside, he let out a big sigh. He would need to find out what they were talking about. And there was only one address he could go to to figure it out. So, he walked over to the DNA lab. Maxine Valera was maybe young, but she knew about all sorts of things. And since Walter and Nicole knew about it, it meant something classic. A book maybe.

He opened the door, "Hello, Maxine."

She only reacted a few seconds later, "Oh, yeah, right, that's me. What do you want?"

Ryan was puzzled, "How do you know?"

"In 5 years, you've never called me Maxine before."

"Oh. Okay, yeah. Yeah, I need some information."

Valera sat down on the nearest chair, "Information? On what? DNA? I thought you were a chemistry genius yourself."

"Not DNA, no. It's more… What do you think when you hear the name 'Mame'?"

Maxine answered immediately, "The song. Put the blame on Mame. From the movie, Gilda. A classic. How come you haven't seen it?"

"It does seem sometimes like I live in a cave. What's the song about?"

Maxine closed her eyes, "Well, Mame is a femme fatale, and the song tells you basically that she was at the origin of the Great Fire of Chicago, the Manhattan Blizzard, the San Francisco Earthquake, and the shooting of Dan McGrew. Because she's just that fatale. Why do you ask?"

Ryan sighed, "Your girlfriend and her big bro are making fun of me because I kissed this girl called Mame yesterday and now work on an arson case."

Valera looked at him for a few seconds, and then she started laughing, "Oh my God… That's really a coincidence! Yeah, sounds like something Nicole and Walter would love!" Then she added, still grinning widely, "Well if you like, they show the movie tonight at one of the smaller cinemas downtown. I actually planned on going there with Dave Benton. Why don't you join us? So you at least know why Nicole is making fun of you."

"Thanks, I appreciate the offer, but I don't want to disturb you two…"

Valera shook her head, "This is not a date. Dave and I go to the movies every week, we love classics. If you feel uncomfortable with it, I'm sure the gang would like to join."

"The gang?"

"Nicole, Natalia, Walter, Travers… Maybe we can convince even Jesse. We could go clubbing after the movie. It's Friday night, after all."

"So that I can hear Nicole and Walter cracking jokes about me and Mame all night?"

"Yeah. So, you're in or out?"

Ryan sighed, "Aw, well, count me in. After all, it's Friday night, and I'm sure clubs are all Halloween themed already. Sounds like fun."

"You bet."

(1) First verse of Put the blame on Mame

Hm. Has Mame really got something to do with that? Is she really so fatale that her kiss can burn a house down? It's Halloween, after all... Stay tuned for more. And review, if you like.