„Ray." Nick went into the break room. Langston was sitting there, looking through files and sipping on his coffee. „You got anything useful for me?"
„Well... I found out that no one seems to be looking for that kid, does that count?"
„Hardly..." Nick smiled at Langston. „But I may have something that could help us" He held up a bag.
„What's that?" Ray took the bag and looked at it.
„Why don't you take it to Hodges and find it out for me?" Nick smiled, leaving the room.
„Hodges, are the results ready?" Ray came in, a few hours after he brought the bag to him.
„No." He was looking through a microscope.
„What's taking you so long? It's important, you know."
„Yeah, and what I'm looking at right now isn't, right?" He sighed „I don't have any results because it's DNA-boys job to do that." From all people in the lab, Hodges was irritated by Julian the most. Probably because they were very much alike.
„DNA? What was it?" Ray was confused „A piece of bone?"
„Actually a piece from a tooth. Did the victim chip one of his?"
Ray took a look at the autopsy report „No..."
„Well then it's probably a piece of the attacker's right? Maybe Julian got a hit in Codis."
„Thanks, Hodges"
As Ray walked out the room, Hodges continued, not noticing he's alone „Julian... I wonder why he still has the job. This brown-nosed know-it-all..." He turned around to find Ray gone and rolled his eyes.
On the way to the DNA-lab, Ray bumped into Greg. „Excuse me... Oh, Greg. We found a chipped tooth, it might belong to the killer!"
„Where did you find it?" When Greg was at the crime scene he didn't see Nick picking up a tooth.
„David found it. It was sticking in the vic's clothes. I'm on my way to get the DNA results, let's go."
„Alright..." Not feeling very comfortable facing Julian again after he made a scene in his lab, he followed Ray.
„Okay Julian, what have you got for me?" Ray asked kindly.
„Ready in a minute!" Julian said with a smile on his face. Ray was the only person in the lab he really liked and respected. Ray really seemed to attrack the bootlicker-kind.
Greg rolled his eyes. It was always like that, when Ray turned a sample in Julian was working as fast as he could. Still not as fast as Greg or Wendy did, but faster than usual.
„Okay, here we go..." Julian said, taking the paper from the printer. „Looks like we got a hit in Codis!"
„Really?" Greg said surprised.
Julian gave Greg an annoyed look and turned to Ray. „You should try to track her down"
„Her? The chipped tooth is from a woman?" Ray was surprised. „We're quite sure she's not the murderer..."
„Well..." Greg said „We can link her to our victim. That should be enough to bring her in."
Julian rolled his eyes „Glad I could help" He said, slightly sarcastically, looking at Greg.
„We found this in a dead man's clothes" Nick tossed the bag with the tooth on the table.
„I don't know what you're talking about" The woman said. She was obviously on some drugs, had a hard time paying attention to what Nick was saying. She also had bruises all over her face. „Why am I here?"
„Because we found traces of your DNA on him" He showed her pictures of the dead man.
She started to laugh.
„What's so funny?" Nick asked her in disgust.
„I didn't think he'd do it..." Suddenly her face changed from happy to sad. „This son of a bitch tried to kill me..."
„This guy? Do you know his name?"
„He's some John who thought he could trick me out of my money."
„Can you tell me what happened?"
„We were having some fun when he started to choke me... Then he hit me. And hit me. And hit me some more... He didn't pay nearly enough to be allowed to do that. When I was lying on the ground he took the money he just gave me and left." She explained with tears coming down her cheeks.
„He just left you there?"
„Yeah... and he said he'd kill me if I told anyone."
„And you didn't?" Nick was curious.
„Well... life on these streets is though... You need people to take care of you..." She took a cigarette out of her purse.
„So you told your pimp" He took the cigarette away from her „Smoking's not allowed in here. What's his name?"
She didn't answer.
„Okay, you can either give us his name or we'll take you off the streets for good. You're our only murder suspect at the moment." Nick was getting impatient.
„What? I didn't murder nobody!"
„Then give me his name. We have enough evidence to press charges. What do you think the jury will say to a hooker with a drug addiction who killed a John?" Of course they didn't have enough evidence to press charges, but Nick knew it would scare her.
„...Alright..."
Greg was walking by Sara, smiling at her, but didn't stop.
„Hey, Greg!" Sara called after him.
„Yeah." He turned around, having a smile on his face.
„Where are you going?"
Greg gave her a confused look. „Interrogation room. Why? Is there somewhere else I need to be right now?"
Sara smiled „No, of course not. Did you find a suspect yet?"
„Actually, we have. It turned out our vic almost killed a hooker. They're bringing her pimp in right now." Greg sounded quite excited.
„A pimp? Are you sure you want to be there when they talk to him? I mean, these guys can be pretty intimdating, don't you think?" She was concerned. She thought he should take it slow, after what he just told her hours earlier.
Greg smiled at her „I appreciate you worrying so much, but you shouldn't. I'm fine."
„I wish I could believe you..." She smiled back at him, gently touching his arm. „Just don't ask too much of yourself, okay?"
Greg rolled his eyes. Everyone seemed to think they needed to protect him. It made him feel like a victim. He already did, anyway, he didn't need his friends to treat him like one, too. „I told you, I'm fine. Everyone wants me to just go on with my life as if nothing happened when they do everything they can to remind me something DID happen!"
Sara was shocked. She didn't expect that and felt really bad. „Greg, I'm sorry... I..."
„No, don't be sorry. I really do appreciate you all caring for me, but it's just too much... I can't handle it right now. Just forget what I said earlier and stop treating me like a victim..." He stormed off.
For a minute Sara just stood there, gazing into space, trying to process what just happened. She never saw Greg like that. He's not the type of guy to pick up a fight whenever he get's the chance to. In fact, Sara couldn't really remember the last time she saw him fighting with anyone. In fact, he was usually the one trying to break up a fight, even if it didn't involve him. And now he went off on her like that. It sure didn't help her worrying about her friend less than she did before.